Chapter 2
Hermione was soaring lazily around the yard, watching William and Harry below her, who were throwing a quaffle back and forth trying to outdo the other's catch or throw. She was leaning down over her broom; her legs wrapped securely around it while her upper body was resting on the handle, one arm swinging freely back and forth in the wind while her other was comfortably nestled underneath her cheek.
This was life, she had decided. She could happily do this every day for the rest of the summer and not feel like she had wasted a single minute. Since she had received her broom on Christmas, she had spent every moment either reading or on it high into the air. Sure, it was loads more fun when she had someone to fly with; but she honestly didn't mind just chilling. Feeling the wind whipping her hair around while her cheeks reddened from the blood rushing through them, was a feeling she didn't think could compare to anything else.
Over the past half year, she had found herself questioning her own judgment on multiple occasions. Did she actually want to be on the quidditch team? Could she compare to the other people who would be trying out alongside her? Wills had said that she was 'good' but was she that good? And would 'good' be 'good enough'? Or would she just be making a fool out of herself?
Her brother had told her about having 'mandatory flying lessons' at school. Maybe that would help improve her flying? Anyway, she had a full year to decide whether or not to try out or not; no need to get caught up on the idea if she wouldn't have the time for it.
No one needed to tell her about priorities.
She quickly found herself zoning out as she watched the boys. Her mind was racing through the subjects she would be taking in the coming year, the people she would meet and meet again. From there, her mind wandered to the blond boy whom she had met at New Years. Draco Malfoy. They had owled back and forth since then and met once or twice in London; nothing too pushy. But she found that she quite enjoyed his company; both in person and in writing.
She used most of her free time either alone or with Harry, Neville or Daniel, so talking to someone else was really nice from time to time. He gave her the personal and academic counter play that she wouldn't necessarily get from someone she had known from when she was in diapers.
"They're heeeeereeeeeere!" someone yelled below her, and she was violently brought back to the real world, gray eyes and white hair instantly dropping to the back of her mind. She straightened up on the broom, and focused her eyes and ears on Harry who was riding back to the house as quickly as possible; quite possibly trying to break his neck on the way. She wondered if there was some information she had missed, when Wills yelled from below her.
"What are you still doing up there?! Your letter just arriv-" William never finished the sentence as she popped her goggles back over her eyes and flew as fast as she had ever done before, trying to catch up to Harry. She knew damn well that she would never succeed, but that had never stopped her from trying.
She landed shortly after him, dropped her broom on the warm grass and threw her goggles down beside it. She would pick them both up later, but right now she really couldn't care any less.
It was with a wide grin that she picked up her letter from the table and looked at the front;
Ms. H. Granger,
2nd room on the right
42 Edge Road
Eyam
Derbyshire
Containing her glee momentarily, she carefully opened the letter and read to herself.
Oh, this was so exciting!
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked back and saw her brother standing there watching her. "I'm going to Hogwarts!" She exclaimed loudly, throwing herself into his arms, laughing without abandon. She gave him a quick squeeze after that, and let go, turning around to look at Harry and Daniel, Sirius' and Emmeline's son, both sporting large grins and a letter of their own.
"And we'll all be there!" She said gleefully, looking forward to having her brother around daily, again. These past two years had been beyond weird, not to say difficult - not that she would ever tell him that. When he wasn't acting like an idiot, he was the absolute best.
…
At the strike of 10 in the morning on Wednesday the 21st of August, Hermione stepped out of the fireplace and into a grand, beautiful room. with her mouth hanging slightly open in shock, she took in her surroundings.
The room itself was quite possibly the size of a stadium. It was ENORMOUS. Enormous and absolutely stunning. To her left, large windows filled the wall and at first glance she thought she saw… a lake? And something with large white feathers?
She stepped further into the room, on what looked like some kind of stone floor. Perhaps marble or quartz? Gold like cracks made their way through the white rock, making it a perfect match for the other colors of the room.
Was she in the right place? Were there other places called 'Malfoy Manor' out there? She didn't think so. Wouldn't he have been more specific in his letter, then? She looked around again, trying to figure out what to do.
To her right were two sets of matching double doors, with beautiful details of silver and gold that seemed two adorn the door frames - almost forming what looked like snakes, slithering across the wall.
In front of her was a neat set of two matching sofas, and a coffee table between them. She supposed this was some kind of waiting room for people arriving from floo? It would make sense, though she had never seen it before. Though, now that she thought about it; this was most likely the largest house she had ever been to before, so the chances of ever actually seeing a receiving room was close to zero.
Not really knowing what she was supposed to do with herself, she carefully made her way through the room towards a set of double doors at the other end of the room. As she got closer, she noticed that they were identical to the other two doors on her right.
Just as she was taking a step forward, the double doors in front of her slowly opened. In the doorway, surrounded by bright light like some kind of angel, stood Mrs. Malfoy. The woman let out a large sigh and smiled at her, before turning around and calling down the hall; "I found her! she's in the old sunroom!" Then she turned back around to Hermione who was patiently waiting to be addressed.
"I'm so sorry you had to wait for so long, dear. We just returned home after the house has been under renovations, and quite frankly, none of us knows where we are half of the time." She laughed lightheartedly and smiled brightly back at her, as she moved forward. She grabbed Hermione's hand and carefully looped her hand around her arm.
"Oh, I'm so sorry if it was a bad time to do the shopping. I can come back another day?" She started, really not wanting to be a bother.
"Nonsense" Mrs. Malfoy stated, while she steered them out of the room and to the left where she could see Draco and a larger version of him (his father?) walking towards them from the end of the hall. She found herself wondering how they had been able to hear Mrs. Malfoy calling when they were so far away. Maybe it was a spell? "We have spent the past couple of months in France, going into Diagon Alley will be quite refreshing. Also, My Draco hasn't stopped talking about his 'new friend' for months - I simply wouldn't be able to stop him, even if I wanted."
Hermione felt her face grow warm at the older lady's admission, but answered nonetheless; "Well, I'm glad to have a new friend as well. Being around the same group of people my entire life can get a bit boring sometimes."
"I can quite imagine, my dear." The woman came to a halt and let go of her arm as they reached Draco and the older man. Draco flashed her a large grin which she easily returned. "Hermione, this is my husband and Draco's father, Lucius. Lucius, this is Draco's friend, Hermione." She said casually, her hand moving from the man and back to her.
"It's lovely to meet you, sir." She said, giving a small curtsy. Now that he was closer she definitely had no doubts about the man being Draco's father. They were true look-alikes; It was astonishing.
He held his hand out to hers and shook it lightly. "The pleasure is all mine, miss Granger. I've heard a lot about you."
Hermione blushed deeply, while she heard Draco groan loudly in front of her. She thought she heard something about 'merlin' and 'embarrassing'… But she wasn't sure, so she chose to ignore it.
Luckily, the children weren't left to their own feelings and thoughts for long after that, as they had to leave for Wizarding London shortly after. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy casually and happily walked arm in arm, while they discussed what to buy, where to get it and in what order they should get about things.
"I think…" Mr. Malfoy said, stopping just before the fireplace that Hermione had arrived in moments earlier. He let go of his wife's arm and turned around to look at Draco and Hermione in turn; "How about we start by getting you two, your very first wands? hm?"
The two kids looked at each other, eyes wide in amazement and excitement, and nodded in unison. This day was going to be AMAZING!
And amazing it had been.
As promised, they had gone and gotten their wands first. Hermione, being a lady, had been instructed to go first and was after a couple of tries, rewarded with the most beautiful wand of Vine wood and with a core of Dragon heartstring. ACTUAL Dragon Heartstring. She couldn't believe that she would have something from an actual dragon, on her at most times. But the absolute best was the feeling of holding her wand in the palm of her hand; she felt complete. She felt like nothing would ever be able to stop her in achieving greatness, as long as she had this wand to help her. For the first time in a very long time, she felt important - she wasn't a nobody anymore.
While she was still coming down from her rush of emotions and adrenalin, it had been Draco's turn to choose a wand. After a bright glimpse of light filling the room with warmth, he walked away with a Hawthorn wood wand, with a core of unicorn hair. She had never actually seen a unicorn, but she wondered if maybe it would be a good match considering the amount of platinum blond hair involved in the combo. Also, wasn't there something about unicorns symbolizing goodness in characters? She found that quite fitting as well, though she would probably have to read up on unicorn when she came home to make sure she was right.
Now with wands in check, they went to get cauldrons, parchment, quills, inkpots, Draco got an owl as per his parents request and then they went to get their school books. Even though they were there on a Wednesday, the shop was packed with children and their parents; picking up the books for their appropriate years.
"Why don't the two of you go look around, and mum and I will find your books?" Mr. Malfoy asked, looking at his wife for confirmation.
"Absolutely," She said quickly with a smile, "Run along kids, then maybe we can go have some ice cream once we're done? We'll come and find you." Then she clapped Draco on the shoulder and turned around with her Husband to find their books. Hermione smiled to herself at the sincerity of Draco's parents, and their insistence on the fact that the two friends also had fun on their day out of the house. She was starting to like them more and more for each passing sentence.
"Come on! I have to show you something!" He said, pulling her from her thoughts. He grabbed a hold of her arm, and dragged her up the stairs and along the shelves until he suddenly stopped. They were surrounded by books, on shelves twice her height and she was loving it. She could see dust particles floating around in the air and smell the scents of books - both old and new. And people wondered how she could spend hours in a bookshop just walking along the shelves. Draco pointed upwards to a book just out of his reach. It was sort of furry and had eyes which were currently staring them down. All four of them. She thought she could see teeth… Could a book have real teeth? It was like the book itself was wrapping itself around the pages, like it had tentacles.
"What is that?" She asked as she crunched up her nose in distaste. It didn't look entirely friendly nor inviting, and for the first time in her life, she didn't want to pick it up. This book; she could be without.
"It's 'the monster book of monsters'." He said with awe dripping from his voice. "Those who choose 'Care for Magical Creatures' will have that book in like… third or fourth year. I think I'll take that class, just to get that book. My dad says you have to stroke it along the spine for it to open up, otherwise, it will ATTACK YOU!" He looked utterly thrilled at the prospect.
She looked at him in complete disbelief; "You do know you can buy the book without taking the course, right? But also, are you insane? A book that will attack you unless you stroke it on the spine? It sounds like something that shouldn't be within reach of children - or anyone else for that matter." He was grinning wide as he walked further down the shelves, looking up and down.
"I think it sounds amazing. I mean, I know stuff happens in the world that sucks." He gestured with his hand to a book just in front of him about the wizarding war. "But that's before our time, right? I want to have fun while I'm at school."
"Yeah, me too." She knew all about the wizarding war first hand, but there was no need to tell him that. It wasn't like it was some kind of need-to-know basis that she was best friends with the Harry Potter, but it also wasn't something she was spouting it to the world. The kid had been through enough already. "I can't wait for classes to begin though. I'm really excited."
"Why? I mean… It's school." He scrunched up his nose in distaste. Obviously, he wasn't a study type. Oh well, hopefully he had other qualities.
"Yeah, I know. But I don't surround myself with transfiguration or charms." She said with a shrug. "Well, only when Grandma, Aunt Em or Sirius are around really." She added with an afterthought.
"What do you mean? Don't your parents do magic?" He asked, looking at her confused.
"Umm… No. They're muggles. Well, Mum's a muggle, dad's a squib." She said slowly, wondering if maybe she should have lied instead. Being a muggleborn witch (well, technically a half-blood) was fine for the most part, but there were still some social circles where it was utter taboo and the worst that could happen. And she only just now realized that she had no idea where he and his family stood regarding blood purity. She might as well just have lost someone she had only just started considering as a friend. "Is that a problem?" She asked tentatively.
"No…" He pulled out the word like he wasn't sure about what he had said, but then straightened up and looked her square in the eye. "No, I don't have a problem with that, and neither will my parents. But I know that some of my parent's friends have a problem with it, which means that some of our classmates have as well..."
"Oh, I don't want to cause problems with your friends!" She said quickly, backing away from him with her hands waving out apologetically in front of her. She turned around to leave but he grabbed her arm before she could.
"Please don't go," he said quickly. He loosened the grip on her arm but didn't let go of her. Instead, he stepped closer to her. "You're not causing problems - they are. My family is a part of 'The Sacred 28', and some people think that gives us some sort of responsibility to the Wizarding Community." He suddenly looked tired, like this was something he had said a thousand times already.
"And do you believe them?" She asked slowly, not knowing what to do with herself.
"No. My mum and dad consider themselves… sort of neutral. Like, they're being told lots of stuff, but they just nod and smile and then tell me not to believe them once we get home. It can get really tiring sometimes. But then I meet someone like you, and then it all makes sense." He smiled at her and suddenly let go of her arm. She could feel her skin prickling with goosebumps when the warmth of his hand left her skin. For some reason, she found herself wanting him to put it back on her arm.
"But I think this is something I should talk to them about, you know? They think that something may be under wraps, but they don't know what… and they don't tell me stuff… But… but me being friends with you - I mean, I really like being friends with you. But I don't want them to get in trouble." He was tumbling along and around the words, and she could almost feel him believing in the reasoning. But she was hurt, and sad, and right now she just wanted to go home. But she gave him a small smile instead, trying desperately to radiate understanding that she couldn't feel inside her aching chest.
"No, I get it. It's okay. I don't want to cause any problems… Why don't we go find your parents and see if they're ready for Ice cream? I hear Fortescue has a bunch of new flavors!" She smiled brightly at him, hoping that he couldn't see right through her. He smiled back at her and nodded slowly, before they went and found his parents.
…
August 31st, 1991
Hermione,
I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to write to you, I really have no excuse other than time slipping between my fingers.
Mum and Dad say that for the time being, they don't think we should be seen together in public. They have no issue whatsoever about us being friends, but they agreed that it may cause mayhem in the higher circles of society if a pureblood is seen spending time with a muggleborn. Dad's afraid that some of the parents in the school board would try to make school difficult for you, but he's in the school board, and will do everything he can so that it doesn't happen.
I'm really sorry if this means you don't want to be my friend anymore, but I understand why.
Draco Malfoy
As Hermione sat on her bed reading the letter, she didn't know if she should cry or laugh. She had a friend, who couldn't show that they were friends. They basically had to keep it a secret, and she didn't know how she felt about that. Over the course of the past few months, she had started looking more forward to leaving for school with the prospect that she would be going with both Harry, Neville, Daniel and Draco. Now, she didn't know what to think anymore.
Well, at least she wasn't going alone, she reasoned before dropping the letter into her packed trunk.
