A/N: Again, thank you so much for your reviews!
Something you should know before reading this chapter: Crups are magical creatures that strongly resemble terriers with two tails.
I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 6
Hermione sat at her kitchen table, looking thoughtfully at the book she had just finished. The first book in a trilogy, ending in a bloody cliffhanger, because of course it did. It was currently Sunday, 4 pm and approximately 15 hours after she had left Malfoy Manor.
There was absolutely no way she could go back already to get the second volume. But on the other hand, she wouldn't disturb anyone. She would just quickly go upstairs to the library, and be gone within five or ten minutes.
She stood up resolutely, turned around and before she could overthink - something she sadly tended to do - she grabbed the book and also "Rebecca" from her bookshelf. She would just leave it on a table in the library for Draco to find or maybe give it to a house elf. Then she went through the fireplace.
It worked, the time for her to get through was far too short for anyone to give permission to enter. The familiar feeling of travelling through the floo network lasted only seconds and then she stood in the foyer again. Everything looked like the day before and she pushed the feeling of being an intruder away and turned to the stairs.
This time she wasn't anxious, like when she had first arrived, or distracted by Lucius' explanations about blood magic, so she paid more attention to the portraits of long-dead Malfoy family members. They all followed her with their eyes, but didn't say anything. It was slightly disconcerting. Hermione also noticed that they all looked so very much alike. White-blond hair, grey eyes, some of the facial features were very similar; all of them handsome men or beautiful women. Only the wives of some of them differed strongly. There was one family portrait with one of the previous Lord Malfoys apparently, a beautiful but arrogant looking dark-haired woman, and two children, a boy and a girl. Their faces did have some features of their mother, just like Draco looked a little like Narcissa, but everything else was a spitting image of their father. It stroked her as weird. She knew that dark hair for example was more dominant in genetics than blond, still all of the Malfoys, those by birth of course, seemed to share the same signature traits.
Oh well, she was here for a book, not family history that wasn't her business at all.
She opened one of the library double doors … and stood right in front of Draco Malfoy, who had obviously just reached out to open the door himself from the other side. His hair was slightly ruffled and Hermione didn't find that endearing at all, thank you very much, but otherwise he was impeccably clothed, even on a Sunday afternoon. She tried very hard to not think about her very old jeans and the jumper with a cat on it. Draco was carrying two potions books and stared at her for a long moment - and then the prick started laughing. "I … I should have expected you."
Trying very hard to keep a straight face, she waited for him to stop. For a moment it seemed like he would, but as soon as he looked back into her face, he started again.
"Are you quite done?" She asked primly.
"Not really, but I'll do my best."
"How very gracious of you."
In an obvious effort to calm down, he took a few deep breaths, then he looked at the two books she carried. She placed "Rebecca" on top of his two the books. "That's for you."
"Thank you! And are you already done with that one or did you hate it so much that you gave up after a chapter or two?"
She grinned. "I couldn't put it down and really need the second book! The cliffhanger is just cruel!"
Draco stepped aside to let her enter the library. "I know. But do you know what's really bad? Waiting two years for the next book. Two years between each book when they first came out."
"Oh, that's terrible!" She meant it, that was indeed horrific. "I'm so glad all of them are out now. There are only three, aren't there?"
"Yes, thank Merlin for that."
"If you'll excuse me, I have to find out, if Rosie is alright."
Draco looked positively delighted. "So I'm not the only one who only cared about Rosie's fate after book 1!"
"How could you care about anything else?"
"Right? Theo and Blaise were all about Turiel and his dragon, but he's the main character, so it's pretty obvious he's alive."
"Yes, but poor Rosie could easily be killed off and she's my favourite character. Why did he even take her on this quest?"
He grinned. "Well, I guess he didn't have a Crup sitter available. Also, most of the quest part would have been boring without her."
"True."
She made her way upstairs to the fiction section and heard his steps behind her. "Take both books. The ending of the second one isn't much better."
"Thanks for the heads up." She put back book 1 and took the other two.
The two of them left the library side by side and walked slowly downstairs. "Have you been working on a potion?" She asked with a quick look at the books he was still carrying.
"Yes, but I'm a bit stuck, so I didn't mind a break."
Hermione nodded. "Do you deliver them to shops or St. Mungo's?" Those were two of the main ways for potioneers to make money – not that Draco needed it. He obviously wasn't teaching and he didn't seem to have a privately owned shop.
"Neither, really." He stopped in front of the fireplace. "I do have a contract with St. Mungo's to provide them with complex potions and antidots, if they're needed, but I don't really want to spend my life mass-brewing Pepper-Up Potions and frankly, I don't need to. What I want to do is develop new potions and improve the ones that need it."
"That's great!" She found the topic fascinating, although she herself preferred to just follow recipes when it came to potions. "Are you going to tell me what you're working on?"
"Nope. I'm just at the beginning anyway and I'm not sure I'm going anywhere with it. But next week I'll present the potion I created for my final assignment at the Ministry. I'm sure you'll be interested in that one."
"Oh, you got your results?"
"Yes. I passed with honours." It probably wasn't in nature of any Malfoy to be humble, but he wasn't overly smug about it either, so that was something. "The potion was deemed completely new and original, which is one criterium, and it will be extremely useful in practice."
"That's great! Congratulations!"
"Thanks."
"I'll invite you out for a drink next week. To celebrate. Maybe after you had your presentation?" It had to be something of importance, if he went straight to the Ministry with it.
"Sounds great."
"When is it anyway?"
"Tuesday, 10 o'clock."
"Oh bugger, I can't attend then. Your father and I have a meeting with the Minister and a few other people to present our progress. I suppose it won't help to pester Lucius about it?"
"No, he doesn't know either. I'll tell you both afterwards. Promise."
She rolled her eyes. "Ok. We'll meet you in the canteen at 12."
"You think my father is going to be caught dead in the canteen?" Draco asked dryly.
"You're probably right. Ok, we'll meet in front of the canteen and he can choose where we go."
"Oh good." He sounded far too relieved.
"So I take it the canteen is not good enough for you either?" She should have known. Spoilt prats, both of them.
He just shrugged.
With determined long strides, Hermione walked towards Kingsley Shacklebolt's office. It was very early in the morning, so she hoped she'd be able to catch him before he had any meetings.
And she did, although his secretary tried to prevent her from entering. Hermione ignored the woman and just walked in.
"Good morning, Kingsley. I need to talk to you."
He knew her well by now and with a somewhat resigned gestured, he waved his secretary away.
"What can I do for you?"
Hermione sat down on a chair opposite him. "It's about Lucius Malfoy."
"Is that so?" He didn't sound particularly surprised.
"What's that nonsense about him not being able to tell anyone to do magic for him? I thought the probation was only about him not being allowed to do magic himself." Her voice was angry and she didn't care.
Kingsley looked unimpressed. "What's the point, if he can just tell Narcissa to do whatever he wants her to do? She's a powerful witch, Hermione. I'm sure he finds enough ways to let her know anyway."
"That's not the point," she snapped. "It's punishment enough not be able to do magic. Even I can't imagine not doing magic every day anymore, let alone for five years. For him it must be even worse, he doesn't know a world without magic. And it's humiliating enough to have to ask someone else to do something he can easily do himself, not even being able to do that and having to find 'ways around' is just way over the top. He can't even call his house elves when he wants them to bring him something for tea."
"Oh, you've been invited for tea now?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
The Minister sighed heavily, leaned forward on his desk and looked straight into her eyes. "Everything. You know I care about you, Hermione."
"Of course, but …"
He interrupted her. "I've been watching you for a while, here, in the press ... And I've been worried."
"There's no need …"
"Would you let me speak?" He leaned back again. "I know you had a bad break-up and I know what Molly did and knowing Harry, he's probably taking Ron's side."
She nodded. The few times she had seen Harry in the Ministry, he had been nice, but he had always brought Ron up, so she tried to avoid him. She hadn't heard from Ginny in a while, but they had never been particularly close, they were just too different.
"And I know that you probably still miss your parents. And I understand you feel somewhat lonely right now."
She frowned. "Not really." That wasn't even a lie anymore. Sure, she missed her parents, she always did, but she didn't feel alone. She spent a lot of time with the Malfoys and had also met George a few times. Even Theo was really chatty every time she met him at work. Actually, she felt less lonely than she had in the past few years, when she had been constantly surrounded by Weasleys and Harry and had always felt like an outsider. Molly had been distant with her ever since she had mentioned that she wanted to wait with having children until her career was stable. And even that had only been half-true. She also hadn't wanted to bind herself to Ron like that. Harry and her had had less and less to talk about and when there had been trouble with Ron, he had always been firmly on his side. Sure, he had comforted her sometimes, but sooner or later, the suggestion to forgive Ron had always come up. The only one she had felt close to had always been George.
It was different with the Malfoys and even with Theo. Her and Narcissa got along splendidly, she could spend hours talking to her and never grew bored. Lucius was an excellent and sharp conversationalist, he actually listened to her views and when they argued, he often made valid points instead of just changing the subject and he actually challenged her. He had taught her so much, too. And then there were the moments in which he was surprisingly considerate. And Draco … she just loved spending time with Draco. They had so many common interests, he was incredibly smart, just as interesting to have a conversation with as his father, just not quite as formal in his demeanour, and he often made her laugh.
"Hermione, the Malfoys are not your friends."
"Oh, really?"
"I'm not trying to ruin anything for you, but please be reasonable. They spend some time with you and here you are, speaking on his behalf. Don't get me wrong, I respect Lucius and I believe he stands for your current project. But he's a manipulative bastard and he's not your friend, neither is Narcissa. I don't know about Draco, but I'd be careful with him, too. I don't even want to know how many people, even some working for the Ministry, would immediately drop everything I told them, if Lucius Malfoy showed his displeasure. I respect him, I listen to his advice, but I always question it thoroughly, because I know that the only side the Malfoys will ever be on is their own. And no, I'm not going to change the conditions of the probation. Whether it will be lifted, will be decided by the probation board in spring next year, just like every year, but it will not be changed as long as it's in force. And I have to ask you to leave now, I have an appointment in three minutes."
"Do you really think I'm that easily manipulated?"
"I don't think you're easily manipulated, but I also think they're bloody good in what they're doing. Please be careful."
Hermione tried and failed to focus on work and it bothered her.
She knew Kingsley meant well and hadn't she been telling herself the very same things? So why did it hurt to hear it from Kingsley? She didn't care when Ron told her to stay away from the Malfoys, but he was just stuck in the past and jealous. Kingsley wasn't either of these things, he had a certain respect for both Lucius and Narcissa, but he also knew what they were capable of and he was genuinely trying to protect her.
Still, could all this time they had spent together just be for the sake of manipulating her into doing exactly what she had done today? The familiarity, the access to the Manor library … And if so, was Draco involved, too? The thought hurt. For a moment it even crossed her mind that the forgotten milk had been planned so she would understand exactly how far the probation restrictions went and they could see how she would react. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? Well, it wasn't beyond them, but she had thought … What exactly? That they wouldn't do this to her? That she was somehow special?
Kingsley was probably right; she was being naïve. In the end, she was still a muggle-born and despite Narcissa's nice words, in their worldview she was beneath them.
Someone knocked on her door and she was finally distracted from her rather depressing thoughts.
"Yes?"
Draco entered, closed the door behind himself and slowly made his way to her desk. "I just wanted to let you know that you made my day fucking miserable."
She raised her eyebrows. "Did I now?"
"Yes. I started 'Rebecca' yesterday and today I promised father that I would accompany him to some appointments when all I want to do is find out how it ends."
Despite herself, Hermione laughed. "You poor thing! I'm doing quite well, Rosie's alive and well and I made myself stop before anything exciting could happen that would distract me all day."
"Good for you," he said sarcastically.
"Aren't you supposed to shadow Lucius?"
"Yes, but I have ten more minutes of peace, before the long suffering begins."
"Hmm … That sounds quite dramatic."
"Believe me, it is. You have no idea."
Hermione snorted. "Oh, I do. Last week I finished the detailed report on how we are planning to use the budget we have so far and what we will do with the co-workers we'll soon have. He just skimmed it and handed it back wordlessly."
"Let me guess? Then he looked at you like 'Haven't I taught you anything?'"
"Yes!"
He laughed. "Did you rewrite it?"
"Of course I did!"
"And is it better now?"
"Unfortunately, yes. More favourable for us, anyway." He laughed again. "But the verdict's still out. I owled it to him on Friday. Is it a good sign that he hasn't taken it apart yet?"
"It's not a sign at all. Mother decided that he's not allowed to work on weekends, so you'll probably hear from him today or tomorrow."
It was her turn to laugh. "At least there's someone who can tell him what to do."
"It's the biggest family secret." They both grinned, but her grin soon turned wistful. That certainly wasn't the only family secret.
"Everything alright?" Draco asked.
"Yes, just a bit of a bad day."
Draco looked at his pocket watch. "I only have five more minutes, but how about we go to the pub today instead of tomorrow? I could meet you by the fireplaces at 5?"
"I thought you really wanted to get home so you could read?"
"I did. But the book isn't going anywhere. And I thought you might want to talk about it. Or get wasted, whatever you prefer. I'll even floo home and get you a Hangover Potion so you'll be functioning tomorrow."
She smiled. "Very considerate of you." Hermione was somewhat aware that it was a bad idea, but she didn't have to talk about what was bothering her. Draco really, really was the wrong person to confide in when it came to that. Still, a drink or two wouldn't hurt. "Ok. I'll meet you at 5."
~ tbc~
