Well I've already managed to fuck up my posting timeline lol - Sorry about the wait!
Chapter 4Draco and Hermione appeared on a gravel lane and Hermione looked around in fascination at seeing where he lived.
The road was more of a large, well-travelled path, and Hermione could see other houses in the far distance, but Draco's was magnificent.
He had called it a cottage, but she never would have referred to it as something so quaint. It was huge, made of old stone and bricks. They started walking up the gravel path that led to the front door, splitting the large front yard in half. There were hedges and sculpted trees lining the pathway, but Hermione couldn't tell what shapes they were supposed to represent due to the snow covering them.
The main door was up a short staircase and boasted a covered porch with a hanging bench on one side, and she thought this doorway probably led to the main area of the house, but there were wings on either side that jutted out, probably containing bedrooms.
There was a thick forest several metres away from both sides of his house that stretched into the backyard, and she had to assume he was on a fairly large plot of land. It literally looked as though his property had been cleared out from a dense forest just to ensure he had the privacy he needed.
The winter snow was thick and untouched all over his property, save for some animal prints that crossed the front.
"Is this a magical community?" Hermione asked, the first thing that popped into her mind. She couldn't imagine that he would ever live among muggles, but she needed to know how much, if any, magic could be used.
"Yes, but the neighbours are a decent enough distance away that I'm sure it would hardly matter."
Hermione nodded and Draco ushered her up the stairs with a hand on the small of her back, causing her stomach to swoop for a moment.
"This is beautiful, Draco!" Hermione complimented as she stepped through the front door and looked around.
"Thank you," he said, helping her remove her cloak. It was late February and still blistering cold outside, but Draco had a roaring fire in the living area and his house was comfortable.
He hung her cloak on a band of hooks before removing his own and hanging it as well. They toed out of their boots and left them dripping on a rubber mat beside the door.
"It's freezing outside."
"Which is why I made a nice beef stew for dinner, along with some crusty rolls."
"You made them?" Hermione asked, stunned. The last thing she ever expected was that Draco Malfoy could cook.
"I did," he replied, a small grin on his face, but he couldn't help looking her up and down in appreciation. She was wearing dark trousers and a long sleeved blue blouse that dipped low in the front and clung to her healthy curves appealingly. "You're radiant."
Her face heated up immediately and she met his eyes. He was sincere, that was clear with the way he was looking at her. She couldn't remember a time anyone had ever looked at her in a way that actually made her feel beautiful. She had hardly ever received compliments on her looks outside of her small group of friends, and Draco made her feel seen for the first time in a long time.
He led her to the kitchen, passing through a spacious living area that was scattered with pictures of himself with friends and Quidditch memorabilia. There were comfortable looking couches in a charcoal black facing each other and a huge fire roaring in the grate that was so large she wouldn't even have to duck to stand inside. Two large bookcases flanked each side of the mantel, stuffed with books of different sizes and colours.
Hermione stopped to take in the complete cosiness of his home before she entered the kitchen. There was a large island with a butcher block counter, a cast iron rack above where a dozen different copper pans were hanging. There was a large space off the side of the kitchen that held a huge circular dining table and chairs.
On the stove there was a large pot that Hermione assumed held the stew, and the crusty rolls were sitting on a wire rack to the right.
"Wow," she breathed looking around. "I love your house!"
Draco smiled at her before he ushered her to sit on a padded stool at the island.
"What would you like to drink? I have wine, pumpkin juice, sparkling and flat water, or is there something else you'd like?"
"Just water is fine. I've never really acquired the taste for pumpkin juice and I don't drink."
Hermione Granger likes the truth. Time to man up, Draco, old boy.
"I don't drink anymore either, just so you know. I might as well be honest, I was developing a problem, a bad one, and once I learned of Ava's pregnancy I quit."
She could hear the small hint of something in his voice, and she figured he was being honest in a diminished sort of way.
"That must have been hard," she replied. "I think with everything we've all gone through it's a little too easy to develop some bad habits."
Draco nodded thoughtfully as he filled her glass and Hermione smiled at him, accepting her water and setting it down in front of herself. She eyed it for a moment, apprehension in her features, and Draco felt a chill skitter down his spine.
Something had happened to Granger.
"I'm going to throw another log on the fire quickly before we eat, if that's okay?" Draco said, deciding to not push and to give her a moment to check the stew, rolls, and drink for any sort of potion or poison.
He thought for a moment to be offended, but he couldn't muster it up within himself. They didn't really know each other yet, so it was fair that she was slightly apprehensive. He would give her some time to get used to him.
To trust him.
"Sir," Po said from beside him as he was standing in the living room, startling him. "You received a letter while you were out. I've left it in your office."
"Thank you, Po. Did Ava ask for anything while I was gone?"
The small elf, dressed today in what looked like a tiny Hogwarts uniform, all but rolled his large bulbous eyes.
"She demanded that Po run her a bath, Sir, and also asked for some non-alcoholic elf made wine."
Draco nodded, glad she hadn't asked for anything overly ridiculous of the elves, as she was wont to do whenever she realised Draco was out of the house. Luckily he hadn't been gone all that long.
"And did you inform her that I was bringing someone over for the evening? So staying in her room would be best?"
"I did, Sir."
"Excellent, Po. I think that's about all I need for -"
"You have an elf?!"
The accusing voice of Hermione broke through his sentence and Draco looked up in shock.
"I have three, actually," he started slowly, confused about her ire.
Po backed away slowly as Hermione Granger started breathing heavily from the doorway.
"Three slaves?!" She snarled, her eyes flashing as she crossed her arms tightly across her middle.
"Excuse me, Miss," Po started, a long finger in the air. "Po is not a slave!"
Hermione looked down at the elf, and she grimaced noticeably as she tried to tamp down her fury.
"Well, do you get paid?" She asked snarkily, glaring at Draco again. Her tone of voice made it very clear that she expected the answer to be a resounding "no".
"Yes," the tiny elf responded. "I get paid ten whole galleons a week."
Hermione was completely mind boggled now, Draco could see it. He had heard a rumour at Hogwarts that she was obsessed with freeing elves, but he hadn't even considered it when he invited her over.
"Ten galleons?" She asked almost breathily, and Draco realised she was trying to hold onto the anger to make a point.
"Ten galleons for a week of work?"
"No no, Miss, Po only works a few days a week. It is Po's job to keep the house cleaned up and Po works Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but is always a call away. Mr. Malfoy offered me more than that but Po couldn't agree. Ten galleons is plenty."
The wind went out of her sails immediately, and her cheeks started to burn in embarrassment.
"Speaking of which, I was just going to say that you're free to leave for the rest of the weekend. Don't forget to collect your pay on your way out."
"Thank you, Sir," Po replied with a small bow before his little legs hurried him from the room.
"Was he wearing a Hogwarts uniform?" Hermione asked in confusion after a moment of silence.
Draco grinned at her. "He always has the strangest clothes on, but he seems to enjoy it so I try not to make too many jokes at his expense."
"I'm sorry I immediately accused you of having slaves."
Draco shook his head slowly. He thought back to the Malfoy elf that Harry Potter had freed when they were younger, always secretly pleased that Dobby had gotten free from his father's clutches.
"My parents treated the Malfoy family elves horribly as I was growing up. The elves raised me, basically, taught me almost everything I know, but my parents were still positively ghastly toward them. I always vowed that I would never do the same thing if I was ever in the position to have my own elves."
Hermione nodded silently, understanding blooming in her eyes.
"I have two other elves, Kit is the landscaper and he's usually around for a few hours a week in the winter, but in the summer he's here almost every evening. He manages a fairly large vegetable garden near the back of the acreage, as well as all the other landscaping chores.
Gus is my chef. Well. Gus would be better explained as an instructor for me. He's been teaching me to cook for years. At first he was only here to be my chef, but his time has dwindled the more I've learned. Now he comes over every Sunday and teaches me a new day of meals."
"That's incredible," Hermione responded, smiling at him happily. "I'm assuming you enjoy cooking?"
Draco led her back to the kitchen, watching as she took a sip of her water. He'd have to assume she'd checked the rest of the meal while he was talking to Po.
"It's one of my favourite things to do," Draco replied.
He pulled down two bowls and filled them with a hearty stew, making Hermione's mouth water as he placed it, a spoon, and two rolls in front of her.
"I can't cook," Hermione said miserably before dipping her spoon into the rich broth. "Both my parents worked full time and my mum wasn't much of a cook herself, so there wasn't a way for her to pass on the knowledge she didn't have. I've grown up managing to get by but I honestly don't have much interest in learning. I'd rather make potions."
Draco watched as she lifted the spoon to her lips and her eyes lit up.
"This is delicious," she told him genuinely, already going for another spoonful.
They chatted for a while about his elves, and then moved on to the time he spent in France, Hermione asking after his friends' health. She seemed legitimately interested in them and he had no problems sharing stories about them from their youth.
"Theodore is fairly good friends with a few people closer to your circle; Longbottom and Abbott are close with him, and also he's somewhat friends with Ernie Macmillan. They all go way back, before we were even in Hogwarts."
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Oh really? I haven't seen Neville for a couple weeks now but a group of us go out for brunch at least once a month and he's always there. He's being vetted to take over for Professor Sprout after year end. Well, he's always had a natural touch with plants.
Hannah has actually become a fairly close friend of mine over the years, which has been great. Ernie is actually a bit newer to our friend group, he started dating Dean Thomas just a few months ago.
Neither Neville or Ernie has ever mentioned a friendship with your friend Theodore, but they've probably never had a reason to bring it up."
"Theo is so easy going that he can make a friend out of just about anyone. He had his reasons for going to France, but he could easily come back here. Some people were cruel to him after the war, which made it easy for him to leave, but coming back is always an option for him."
"Maybe he will one day," Hermione offered. She knew that Draco was feeling lonely without any of his friends in the same country.
"Maybe," he answered, looking unconvinced.
"I'm pretty sure Pansy Parkinson has always hated me with a passion," Hermione observed, running the last of her crusty roll in the bottom of her bowl.
"I doubt that," Draco said with a small chuckle. "I think the war obliterated any sense of the shite we were fed as children. I also think that she would like you."
"Really?" Hermione asked, looking a little perturbed by the idea.
"They'll be coming to visit once the baby is born, so I guess we will find out then."
He said it so casually that Hermione warmed instantly, interested that he included her in future plans without seeming to think about it.
"Have I ever mentioned that I source as many of my own ingredients as I can?" she asked him a bit later as they sipped coffee.
"It's what really got me interested in Potions as a career, to be honest. I have a passion for magical creatures - I didn't know anything about them until I was almost twelve, don't forget - and I didn't want to have a source that was hurting the animals."
Draco was watching her intently, those silver eyes of his almost drinking her in.
"For the next week and a half a large flock of Jobberknoll will be migrating through a forest at the base of Ben Nevin in Lochaber. I'm going to go hunting for their feathers in two weeks when they're gone, if you'd be interested in coming with me?
"Sure," he agreed, with almost no hesitation.
—-
They met the indicated Friday and Draco had to admit, at least to himself, that he was nervous. He hadn't been exposed to any wild creatures during his childhood, other than in a controlled classroom (except for that Lockhart moron's pixies) and he certainly had never sourced his own potion ingredients.
He wasn't too thrilled about the idea, If he was being totally honest, but he wanted to spend the time with Granger. He vowed to himself that he would try new things with her guidance, and his life had been utterly boring the last few years, so really, what would it hurt?
She appeared in front of her flat wearing a modest cloak, thick pants, and snow boots. Her hair was pulled into a knot on top of her head and she had fluffy blue earmuffs on. She eyed his standard cloak, slacks, and dragonhide loafers in wonder, but didn't say anything.
At least not right away.
Which he really should have been prepared for.
"You should have dressed warmer," she all but scolded. "It's mid March, not bloody July. You're going to freeze to death in the mountains!"
Draco just smiled and wiggled his wand in his hand. "Heating charm," he replied.
"And the shoes Draco, really?"
"What's wrong with my shoes?" He asked casually as she rolled her eyes at him, trying to bite back a smirk. Having her all concerned about him was really adorable, but he was also a wizard.
She clasped his hand in hers and Apparated them to a beautiful valley tucked between large mountain ranges.
"Wow," he said, looking around. "Have you been before?"
Her plump lips turned up into a smile, her teeth flashing for a moment as her eyes lit up. "I've been coming here since after the war. I told you I prefer to source my own ingredients and it was an excellent way to get some alone time when I needed it the most."
Draco hummed in agreement as he took in the weather. It was colder than it was outside Granger's so he waved his wand and transfigured his cloak into something warmer before changing his slacks into wool. He changed his loafers into boots, and conjured a scarf that he wrapped around his neck casually.
"Show off," Hermione huffed, crossing her arms at him before she broke and started to smile warmly. The look on her face made him smile back, and if she looked at him that way every day he knew he had at least been successful with something in his wretched life.
"Anyway, so you came here for alone time," He gestured at her to continue. He wanted her to keep sharing things about her life with him.
Something had happened to Granger.
"Yes, because everyone was just always on my back after the war, it felt like everyone wanted something from me and I just didn't have anything left to give. I took some time away from my friends and started travelling to spots like this."
"It's when I realised that I wanted to pursue potions, not only would it be lucrative since so many shops closed permanently throughout the war, but it also let me be free to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I love Harry but I was always so wrapped up in his life and everything he had going on that finally taking time for myself and to worry about myself was a necessity. I needed the space and I needed to find out who I was without him, you know?"
"Yeah," Draco agreed, following her up a small rocky hill, wondering when he would be able to figure out just who he was.
"Look!" Hermione gasped once they were at the top of the small incline. Draco choked back an amazed gasp.
The scenery alone was beautiful. A lush forest stood below them and stretched on for kilometres, edged by a long grass field the width of a quidditch stadium. The browned grass was growing in clumps, snow dotting the ground between them, and there were hundreds of blue feathers, glinting up at them like sapphires.
"There are hundreds," Draco breathed in awe. He had never seen anything like it in his life.
"Now remember," Hermione said, suddenly all business. "Jobberknolls are silent, so we really need to keep our eyes out. The only time they make a sound is if they die, whether it is by an animal or a human. They're protective of their feathers, even the moulted ones, until they leave. If you spot one, shout and apparate directly to my flat. Make sure you keep your eyes covered as best as you can, because I've been told they go for those first."
Draco had to fight the urge to look for her book bag for a moment; she looked exactly like he remembered her at school. She had one hand planted on her hip and was watching him with her large amber eyes.
"Got it," he agreed absently, staring at the scenery before him.
He was still nervous but now more excited than he had been previously. This couldn't be too hard to do, there were hundreds of feathers just waiting to be plucked from the grasses and ground.
"Also please remember we are in a completely uninhabited area and there are other wild animals around."
"You bet, Granger," he responded, already beginning to make his way down the hill carefully. It was slick from ice and snow and Hermione watched him for a moment before following, glad that he had changed his footwear.
Draco approached his first feather and quickly picked it up, holding it between his forefinger and thumb, inspecting it closely. Hermione had told him that she sourced only the best, and anything that didn't pass her inspection was left behind.
The feather in his hand was pristine. Five different shades of blue spotted along the entire thing, darker at the top and lighter toward the bottom, where it faded into white. The dots were all perfectly symmetrical, making just this one feather look like a work of art.
He placed it in the pouch hanging from his belt that Hermione had supplied him with, ensuring the feathers wouldn't be damaged.
He continued to collect and inspect as his thoughts waned away from his task and moved to the woman currently headed to the west of him, picking up and inspecting feathers on her way.
She was… magnificent. Really like nothing he expected at all. She was fun. She could make him laugh in one second and turned him on in the next, and she had no idea that she was doing it to him, he could tell.
He found almost everything she did sexy, and the way her large doe eyes would capture his own and draw him in was something that he had never experienced before. She was insecure about a few things, her supposed weight gain for starters, but she was also so small compared to him that he didn't even realise it unless she pointed something out. He was easily a foot taller than her, and when she had held his hand to Apparate them to the forest his own swallowed hers up completely.
And she was so passionate about everything in her life that he figured he could just sit there and let her speak for hours on end, as long as her attention was on him. He had things he wanted to ask her about - her barren flat for starters, but he knew that as she got more comfortable with him she'd begin to share.
He wanted to know her fears and insecurities so he could soothe them and make her feel stronger. He wanted to know what she felt like, her skin, her body, her love.
He was already in too deep. She'd never reciprocate his feelings.
His thoughts broke and his mind came back to focus when he heard it, a horrifying screaming sound, and he remembered when a Jobberknoll died it would repeat every sound it had ever heard, only backward. He swung around to look at Hermione, surprised to see her watching him just as shocked.
He knew he was supposed to Apparate away directly to her flat, but he couldn't go first; she needed to get to safety before he did. He should have insisted upon this when she mentioned it, but he didn't know that his instinct to protect her over himself would be so strong.
He started running in her direction, the loud harrowing scream still ripping through the air.
He turned his head toward the sound as he started his first few running steps and saw over a dozen blue birds heading in his direction. They were small, but vicious, and Hermione had made it perfectly clear that they were to gather ingredients without actually hurting any of the animals.
"Shite," he muttered, wondering why she hadn't Apparated away yet.
She had made it quite far from him, but he was at least halfway to her before he slipped on an ice patch and went down for the count.
"Draco!" She screamed, her voice echoing in the valley as she started running in his direction.
He was on his feet as quickly as he could get up, but he was slipping on the icy patch beneath his boots and couldn't get any decent footing. While Jobberknolls themselves were known to be silent, he could hear their wings slicing through the air as they closed in on him.
He finally got his feet steadied beneath himself again and continued, sliding every third or fourth step but keeping it together.
"Duck!" Hermione screamed, less than three metres away from him, but he was too late and felt a sharp sting on his ear, and then another on the back of his neck.
"Shite!" He yelled again, batting his arm behind him. To hell with not hurting the birds!
"Quick!" Hermione called, and reached out a hand. Draco clasped it quickly and tightly the second he was close enough, gasping as a sting rent the top of his head and Hermione twisted them into Apparition.