Chapter 11

Lunch was just as hilarious as could be expected with the twins carrying most of the conversation. Ginny made eyes at him the entire time and he seemed to be in extreme distress.

Granger was watching it all unfold with a rather unsuccessfully hidden smile and Draco was glaring at her every now and then, which made her erupt into giggles every time.

Fred and George paid her no mind and just kept on reiterating proudly about how they had managed to skive off most of their lessons in school just by being twins, but somehow they had never failed an exam either. Draco found that rather impressive.

It turned out that the two of them were pranksters to the extreme and they regaled enthusiastically about their exploits both in school and out. At one point they had even disrupted an exam with fireworks outside. Not their own exam of course. They had been helping their youngest brother escape a history exam, much to Granger's chagrin, who had been well-prepared for that exam.

He also found that they had much information about Granger. One of them being that she hadn't ever been unprepared for a class, exam, pop-up quiz or even a teacher's question. She had always read the textbooks ahead and every teacher had loved her. Even the teachers who hadn't been teaching their classes.

It was unnerving just how like her brother she was. He remembered Will quite well and he had been exactly the same.

Granger had blushed to the roots of her hair and raised her chin in the air. "Excuse me for liking to be organized. Just because you've both scraped through school, that doesn't mean the rest of us should."

Draco chuckled and she threw him a scowl. He smirked right back. "Don't take your temper out on me. I was almost as bad as you in school. The biggest difference was that some of the teachers didn't like me."

Her lips quirked slightly. "Well, I suppose."

Ginny Weasley seemed to feel rather left out of the conversation. "I myself were great in school. The teachers all loved me."

At this declaration, Fred and George exploded. "They did not! You just weaselled out of every punishment they were trying to give you!"

She shrugged haughtily. "Same thing. And I hardly ever got caught." She winked at Draco in a seductive way. Or Draco supposed it was meant to seem seductive, he barely stopped his shudder from being visible.

Granger was eying him with a frown, what did that mean?

He had a feeling that the arrival of Ginny Weasley would complicate his comfortable days at Dartmoor a lot.

Harry showed Ginny to their house and got her settled in and Hermione resumed her training with Draco.

They had worked in almost complete silence for an hour or so, before he asked her a question. "So which room do you think she'll chose?"

It was the most unexpected question from him. She frowned, considering the question before answering. "Probably the red one. She likes that colour and it does have a gorgeous view of the Manor."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "What made you chose the blue room?"

She smiled. She really loved that room. "It is light, airy, the bed is perfect and the view of the lake and the treeline and the rolling hills is stunning. And I can see the sunset from my room."

He just watched her, gauging her reaction carefully. "Why are you friends? You seem very different."

She shrugged, not really knowing how to answer that. "Why are you friends with Harry? It's unexplainable. She might be different from me but she's my friend and I don't have that many female friends."

He smiled crookedly and it suited him very well. "I find that hard to believe."

She rolled her eyes. "Women find me strange. So does most men but I'm okay with that. Both me and my brother are kind of outsiders."

He cocked his head, considering her. "I don't find you strange."

She smiled again. "Thank you."

They stood in silence for a beat and just watched each other until he cleared his throat. "Right, let's get back to work. Try holding the mallet like this…"

And they worked through the afternoon without even mentioning anything but the training once.

By the time she was walking towards the Dowager House, she had worked herself to the bone and now she was looking forward to a quiet evening with a book.

She opened the door only to be met with raucous laughter coming from the kitchen. But something smelled really good so perhaps she could just eat dinner and go to bed early.

In the kitchen Fred, George, Ginny, Harry and Luna were laughing and Hermione felt the corners of her mouth tug up.

Luna had dispensed with the Malfoy uniform and Ginny was bombarding Harry and Luna with questions about Draco and his friends at a furious pace. "Is Draco single? Does he have money of his own? Does he actually live in his parents' house full time? Who is Blaise? Does he have a title too? And how about money? And Theo is already a duke? The ladies, who are they? Are they very posh? Do they look polished? Are they pretty? Has Draco ever dated any of them?" Harry looked very uncomfortable with the barrage of questions and Hermione couldn't blame him.

On and on the questions went and Hermione went over to the twins who were inspecting the secret door with alight interest. They were pondering how the door worked and if they could build their own. She bounced a few ideas around with them and they would begin experimenting at the Burrow as soon as they could. To Hermione that seemed rather ominous but at least she didn't live at the Burrow.

They spent hours together in the kitchen, the six of them and it was fun. The twins and Harry took care of most of the entertainment and they spent most of the evening laughing and trading friendly insults.

Despite it all, Hermione just couldn't help but think about Draco. It was stupid that he was so ever present in her mind but she couldn't seem to put a stop to it. It wasn't a conscious choice nut she didn't really want to stop it either. Their moment this afternoon, however brief, had touched her deeply. But her head was still spinning about it all and she followed the others upstairs in a daze as Ginny still needed to get settled.

Ginny got all of her suitcases unpacked. There were eleven suitcases in all and Hermione was dizzy just looking at the sheer amount of dresses she'd brought. Hermione had brought five dresses in total. Ginny had twenty-two, including three elaborate ball gowns.

And of course she ended up choosing the red room and all of her suitcases were stashed in the yellow room across the hall. There weren't room for them anywhere else.

The twins and Harry had 'helped' her unpack. Mostly they had just mocked most of the clothes Ginny had chosen to bring and even Ginny had joined in the laughter. When she finally went to her room, both her ribs and cheeks were sore from laughing.

She was massaging her cheeks when her phone rang. It was Will and she smiled, she had missed him.

"Hi Will." She collapsed on her bed with a dull thud

There was no greeting, no hello or anything. "You do realize that with you gone, mum have focused on me for marriage, right?"

She grinned, happy to hear his voice. "I realize that but that is my gain so I have no urge to change that particular state of circumstances."

He chuckled. "Of course you don't. But you can help me deflect."

She closed her eyes, knowing very well where this was going. He continued. "Mum is still on about your deal. And you've only attended one event."

"Shite. I know." She groaned loudly.

"The Badminton House Trials begin on Wednesday. We could go together on Saturday?" He sounded hopeful and who was she to deny him really. He never asked anything from her.

"Can I just think about it for tonight? Then I'll call you tomorrow." She hedged.

"Sure." He sounded entirely unbothered.

Her eyes narrowed. "Wait, why do you want us to go?"

There was a pause and she found it very suspicious. He cleared his throat and he said very fast, "I might have made my own deal with mum."

She flew into a tizzy. "What?!"

"Calm down please. You are blowing it completely out of proportion." He sounded much too calm.

"I am not! Tell me." Hermione got up and started pacing around her room, too restless to lie down any longer.

He was still calm, much to her aggravation. "I just want to conduct my research in peace. And if I attend seven events too, she has agreed to leave me be. At least for now."

She sat down and said through clenched teeth, "Blasted copycat."

He laughed. "I know, brilliant isn't it? I've already been to Aintree with you, so we can do all seven together. That'll minimize the pain of it all."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Right. Let me think about it. I'll call you tomorrow."

He chuckled, much too cheerful for her current mood. "Cheerio my darling sister." And the line went dead and she glared at her phone. She fumed silently but seeing as her brother wasn't around for her to yell at, she decided to put it from her mind for now.

She needed to sleep on it and get out of this irrational anger. She knew it was a brilliant idea for Will. Their mum was quite determined to marry both of them off and he had no intentions of courting anyone, yet anyway. He was much too occupied with his vast amounts of data and the investments that he was in charge of.

Her final thought before going to bed was that her entire family was too intelligent for their own good. Especially their mum. Hermione had a shrewd idea that she had gotten exactly what she wanted by baiting both her children to attend the season.

Dammit.

Draco arrived early to the stables the following morning. He felt grouchy and took it out on a stable boy when Harry pranced in and sent the stable boy to ready Hermione's chestnut mare for the day. "What's got you in a snit?"

He knew very well what he was mad about but he didn't want to admit it. Even to himself. So he didn't answer, which was probably the wrong move when dealing with an overly jolly Harry Potter in the morning.

Harry grinned at him in an absolutely maddening way. "Oh! Right. You don't want to be inside the stables all day. With Gin. You want to be outside. With 'Mione. Right."

Draco wanted to slap the grin right off Harry's face. "I prefer to be outside." He ground out through clenched teeth.

It was the very wrong thing to say because Harry began hooting with laughter. "Don't you worry Drakey, I'll have fun with Hermione outside and you do you." He paused with a wink. "And Ginny."

Draco growled low under his breath. "Fuck off you wanker."

Harry barked a laugh and left him to be grumpy on his own. Draco looked around for something to do. The problem was that his grooms and stable boys were brilliant at their jobs and the stables looked immaculate. There were no floors to sweep and no stalls to muck.

He wandered a bit, saying hello to the ponies in their stalls when Harry walked up with Bolt. He was tacked up and ready. Draco approached the large animal with a measured pace but Bolt stood proud and ready.

Harry smiled and gave Bolt another piece of apple. "He's ready." He handed the reins over to Draco along with Draco's helmet. "Push him hard, you need to get that anger out of your system and you have an hour and a half before 'Mione and Ginny arrive."

Draco was in awe. Bolt was magnificent and when he used the stirrups to climb into the saddle, he easily felt the power of the muscles rippling in the animal below him.

He didn't pause to think, he just guided Bolt out of the stables and soon they were pounding hard into the forest surrounding the core estate.

Bolt rode like the wind rushing through the trees. It had felt like moments and they were already miles away and going further with every breath.

It was a punishing ride and it was exactly what he needed to clear his mind. The whooshed by tree after tree and many small cottages on the Malfoy Lands. He didn't stop before they reached the edge of the forest. Even from here, he still couldn't see the end of his family lands.

He panted and so did Bolt. They both needed a break he reckoned so he sat and admired the view while Bolt ambled over to a little stream for a drink and nibbled on a patch of grass.

He sat there on the top of a hill, looking out over a picturesque village and the surrounding fields. He could see the morning hustle and bustle on the town square and the main street.

It was strange to watch but also fortifying. It was his birthright. He had been born to be a duke and he was even a duke with royal blood from his mother's side. Most people in the modern world didn't seem to think about any of that at all. They didn't consider the nuances of dukes but he had been brought up to think that it was vitally important.

So strange.

His world was so aloof from every else's. It always had been. And it would all be his some day. He would have responsibility for everyone living on Malfoy lands and a lot of the wealth of most of the surrounding counties. It was rather a daunting prospect.

However, a dukedom wasn't what it once had been. He didn't have power the way that dukes had back when even the steam engine hadn't been invented yet. But his family did have a seat in the House of Lords. It was a responsibility that his father took very seriously and Draco had no intentions of skirting the responsibility of his future title.

The current Prime Minister, Cornelius Fudge, was partial to the old system where the hereditary lords of England had the most to say about the governing of the country. Draco saw it differently. He found it somewhat outdated but his father enjoyed that kind of power, no matter how archaic it might seem.

As he watched the goings on in the village below, he couldn't help but think that at least some of those lords would probably be rather out of touch with the needs of a Brit in todays world.

Most of the lords had vast estates with everything as it used to be. That a far cry from how a Brit living in London or Manchester lived their life. For most people, life was fluent. They moved to a new flat, a new house, they changed their jobs, they might lose their job, they might struggle or thrive but it was all fluent because it was all susceptible to change.

It was so far from the aristocratic world that Draco had grown up in. Their family had lived on the same estate for centuries without moving an inch. He didn't really think that they, as lords, had the right to device the laws of the country. Of course, on paper they didn't. But with Prime Minister Fudge so enamoured by the aristocrats of Britain, they got a fair few of their wanted changes through him.

Fudge might have been a commoner but he acted as if he was a Lord of the Manor himself. Draco had met him more than once and he seemed just as out of touch with reality as the rest of them.

He sighed, it was the same for himself. He had been primped and pampered his entire life. All of his closest friends were from the aristocracy, except for Harry. Harry was great at keeping him grounded because it was easy to get lost in this bubble.

And he wouldn't really call Granger a friend. Not with the thoughts he had about her on a regular basis. But he liked being around her very much. And she might come from a wealthy barony that was centuries old but she didn't seem out of touch with the real world at all.

So what made the difference?

Probably the choices. If one chose to interact properly with the real world, became a part of it instead of hiding away on a vast estate in the country, perhaps that bubble could be changed somehow.

But did he want to change it?

That was the true question. And somehow, his anger seemed to have evaporated completely.

Hermione ate breakfast with Ginny and marvelled at the difference in their appearance.

Where Hermione wore her faded and trusted riding clothes, Ginny's was brand spanking new and very tight. It put her body utterly on display for all the world to see and Hermione couldn't help but question if it was even comfortable to wear.

Ginny just grinned. "Come on 'Mione, don't be such a prude. I need to look like this to catch Draco. We're going to spend every day together this week, just me and him." She sighed with stars in her eyes and Hermione felt an irrational surge of jealousy bubbling up.

It was true, Hermione would be working with Harry while Draco got Ginny up to snuff inside the stables on Parsley. Hermione was uncertain if Ginny had any idea just how hard work it was but she put it from her mind. She needed to concentrate on her training for the day.

They walked together to the stables only to come upon Draco riding in on Bolt. He jumped down and Hermione ignored him and walked over to Bolt while Ginny descended on Draco.

Making an effort to ignore the conversation between her friend and her crush, she cuddled up to Bolt, who seemed just as determined to comfort her. She was falling for Bolt fast, he was just perfect.

Tearing herself away from Bolt, she caught a few bits and pieces from Ginny's near-attack on Draco. "Do we get to ride together, like in the same saddle?" "How old are you? And do you have a girlfriend by any chance?"

She tuned it out and went over to join Harry. He was tacking up their ponies and she pointedly continued to ignore Draco and Ginny completely as they mounted and exited the stables.

It was a fun day, Harry was great at giving her directions from his own seat but seeing him try to do some of it himself was hilarious.

After talking with Will, she had decided to go to the Badminton Horse Trials. He would join her after all. It was a seasonal event and it featured her favourite animal in the world. It was a part of the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing and it may not have been polo, but it was still a rather spectacular experience.

Hermione was seriously debating what to wear and considered the weather more than once. It was on the grounds of Badminton Park, the Duke of Beaufort's estate that was situated nearly close to her parent's estate in the Forrest of Dean. Really, they were practically neighbours.

Actually, her parents knew the duke quite well. He was a sort of an honorary uncle for Hermione and her parents always enjoyed the day at the Badminton grounds.

Harry tried to hook her mallet and she refocused on the lesson at hand but Harry wasn't focused on the lesson. "So what are we doing this weekend?"

She paused. "We?"

"Of course, we! I'm not letting you do anything fun without me" He grinned with an exaggerated wink.

She rolled her eyes at his usual antics. "Well, Will called, we're going to Badminton."

He looked around, as if searching for something. Hermione ignored him. "Oh right, that's this weekend. How's the old geezer anyway?"

She huffed. "I wouldn't know, I can't stand to be around his grandson."

Harry made a face. "I remember him, the pompous arse."

Hermione nodded. "I know. But that's what we're doing this Saturday."

Harry smiled cheekily. "Well, I'm coming with. It could be fun."

A female voice interrupted them. "Where are we going?" It was Daphne, followed by Pansy and Astoria, who came around the corner of the stables.

They all looked so effortlessly elegant. Astoria was in a long pale blue summer dress with a cardigan and espadrilles, Daphne wore grey pants, a black tank and a jean jacket and Pansy was, unsurprisingly, the most striking though. She wore all white, white linen pants, a white loose linen tunic paired with just a pop of her bold red lip.

Hermione felt very underdressed in her favourite riding gear.

Harry grinned happily. "Hermione and I are going to Badminton with her brother."

Daphne smirked. "Brilliant idea! Let's all go, I can do Saturday."

"The weather's supposed to be nice." This from Astoria.

Pansy sniffed. "Badminton is acceptable I suppose. It is usually a pleasant day."

Harry scoffed with a smirk. "Acceptable?"

She pursed her lips and Hermione became rather suspicious when she noticed that Harry went a bit cross-eyed at the sight but Pansy replied as if nothing had happened. "Only if you find something acceptable to wear. An upgrade if you will."

Harry went all dopey and Hermione cleared her throat. "Then it's a great thing that we have all week to do that, right?"

Pansy cocked her head ever so slightly. "Sure." Hermione didn't know what to make of that answer.

She looked around and of course, Daphne had a very conspiratorial expression. "Perfect. I'll text everyone."

As usual, please let me know what you think!

And thank you so very much for your brilliant comments, some of you actually made me laugh out loud!

HBSJ