Chapter 31 - Parchment
Anger was good. Anger was very good. The more Hermione thought about what had happened, the more furious she felt, and the more she felt like herself.
Hermione inhaled deeply and felt her heart burn cleaner with the fury flowing through her at the thought of how Malfoy kept jerking her around. He knew she fancied him. Furthermore, he knew she was trapped in this bloody stupid curse that meant the whole bloody world, muggle and wizarding, couldn't interact with her unless they were of Malfoy's blood or polyjuiced as a Malfoy. He knew she had no one else, and yet he still tried to seduce her. And for what reason? To appease his loneliness? To ensure her loyalty?
"Does he think I would just abandon him?" she whispered, her voice cracking on the pain of the thought halfway through. She wasn't that kind of person. Then again, Malfoy had been abandoned by most of his former friends. Perhaps it wasn't that shocking he wouldn't trust her with even that.
Hermione sighed heavily and slid down the wall to sit on her heels. She had slipped into an abandoned classroom near the Gryffindor quarters after storming away from Malfoy. She didn't feel like being around the others even if they couldn't see her, and it had a nice, gloomy feel to it that matched her mood. "Why does he have to be so persistent?" He had tried to kiss her again that evening and had even demanded to know why she refused him, and that parting hug… that was not the sort of hug given between friends, no matter what he claimed.
"He acts like… but he can't possibly…" Hermione hesitated to give voice to her thoughts. He certainly hadn't fancied her when he mocked her earlier that day for suggesting he might have genuine feelings for her when they had… how had he put it? Not been on speaking terms three days ago? Yet, his attitude had changed sometime between when Narcissa attempted to break the curse and when Hermione met with Malfoy for dinner.
Of course, Narcissa may have had a hand in changing his behavior too. It certainly made more sense than Malfoy suddenly falling for her after failing to break her curse. Alternatively, perhaps Malfoy decided a shift in approach was necessary given what they learned. Maybe he had given up on her freedom and decided… what? To try even harder to seduce her? Hermione shook her head. Malfoy could be a git, but he had standards for his own behavior. Yet, he had been different since dinner. Hermione snorted away the brief consideration that he might have been cursed. He was still 100% Malfoy, even if his behavior to her had changed slightly. Well, Malfoy's behavior change timed with when Narcissa had attempted to break the curse. They had to be related somehow.
Hermione frowned, wishing she could jot this down. She could think on her feet, of course, but she did better with ink and something to write on. The most likely explanations, given the timing, were either that failing to break the curse somehow helped Malfoy come to fancy her or that Narcissa influenced his behavior to change, whether intentionally or not. Putting it that way, Hermione sighed in disappointed relief. Malfoy had already made it very clear how important his mother was to him. It was as she had thought earlier down in his room. He must be treating her differently because of his mother. What had Narcissa said to him?
Hermione shuddered. Was it possible that Narcissa, of all people, had encouraged him to court her? Narcissa had certainly been more progressive than even Malfoy had realized, judging by his reactions to what Narcissa had revealed in the library. Furthermore, Hermione could see where the Malfoy family might stand to gain quite a bit in influence and power by connecting themselves to the witch who was at Harry Potter's side during much of the war. It was actually a rather brilliant strategic move. Lucius would never agree, of course, but Hermione got the impression that Narcissa didn't much care what Lucius thought anymore. After all, Narcissa had tried to break the curse that Lucius had set on Hermione.
"Right," Hermione muttered, staring at the cursed bracelet on her wrist, and then the ink on her skin from where she had taken notes earlier in the library. She had forgotten about them entirely since Narcissa had tried to break the curse. Perhaps the writing was like her wand had been, and it would escape her attention unless Malfoy altered the curse?
Hermione froze. Malfoy had altered the curse before to let her write, and it had been done so naturally she hadn't even thought much of it at the time. The snake parchments they had used for passing notes!
"Surely, he could make more," Hermione said, pulling to her knees and then standing as she realized what this meant. Even if she were cursed, she could still take notes and study properly if she had parchment she could write on. "And with parchment…" Hermione said, trailing off with a brilliant smile. With parchment, she could write Malfoy using the owl post. She could be friends with Malfoy from a distance that was safe for her heart.
Hermione only hesitated a few seconds before leaving the classroom and rushing the long walk back to the Slytherin dungeons. When she got to Malfoy's room, she froze. She needed to knock to set boundaries between them, and yet, she couldn't interact with the wood of the door when she tried.
"Malfoy?" Hermione called out. It felt awkward and rude when so many other rooms were nearby, but then again, only Malfoy could hear her. "Malfoy, it's me, Hermione. Please open your door."
The door opened a moment later, and Malfoy gazed down at her. "Hermione." She tried to ignore the way hearing her name in his voice caused pleasant tingles down her arms.
"May I come in?" Hermione asked, then thought better of it as she felt her heart respond to his proximity. She wished she could force it to be as rational as her mind. No matter how she fancied him, she was not interested in being used by him. "Or actually, here is fine. I have a request."
Malfoy narrowed his eyes slightly. "A request," he stated, his face otherwise expressionless.
"Your snake parchment. Could you make more of it? Or perhaps even charm a journal with it?" Hermione asked.
Malfoy stared at her. Hermione began to wonder if he hadn't heard her, but then he pushed back off the doorframe and went into his room. He went to his writing desk, gathered the smaller of two stacks of parchment from the desk, bound them in a leather sleeve, and held the bundle out to her. "Will this do for tonight?"
Hermione froze. He had already spelled papers for her? Her eyes went to the second, much larger stack of parchment remaining on Malfoy's desk, and the two journals beside them. How much had he planned to make? The corner of her mouth curled down. How long had he known she could write if he were willing to spell the paper? She grabbed the paper from him and glared. "Did you know?"
Malfoy shrugged. "I only realized after you headed back upstairs. I've been spelling what I can since so you can write more." He walked back into his room, leaving the door open.
Hermione took the clear invitation and followed after him, forgetting her previous resolve to keep her distance until after she was already in the room, and it would be too awkward to simply leave again right away. She shut the door behind her with no small amount of trepidation. Fortunately, however, Malfoy didn't seem to be focused on her so much as the work she had interrupted.
Malfoy sat back down at the desk, picked up his wand, and continued muttering spells under his breath on the next parchment in the stack. "Unfortunately, it has to be done one parchment at a time," he said, pausing to do another spell on the next piece, "for me to be confident it will work for the whole page." He spelled another.
"Could I write your mother?" Hermione asked, thinking of both Narcissa's request and her desire to know whether Narcissa had encouraged Malfoy to court her.
Malfoy hesitated, then spoke. "Narcissa Malfoy is allowed to read the correspondence of Hermione Granger written on spelled secret parchment so long as it does not reveal what is already known about the curse."
The bracelet on Hermione's wrist jingled, causing her to inhale quickly. "Does that mean it worked?" she asked.
Malfoy spelled another piece of parchment and set it out for Hermione with a quill and inkpot on his desk. He then stood up and offered Hermione his chair. "May as well find out," he said.
Hermione took the seat, which was still warm from Malfoy, picked up the quill, readied it, and then realized she didn't know what to write. "What should I say?"
Malfoy rested a hand on the back of the chair and leaned over Hermione's back to look at the blank page. "Whatever you like, but addressing her first would be a good start."
Hermione looked up and back at him to find him watching her with a smirk. "Funny," she sniffed, and then attempted to write the words "Dear Narcissa" on the page. The quill's nib met the parchment, and the ink stayed. A strange feeling washed over Hermione as she realized it had worked. "This was spelled for Narcissa to see as well?"
Malfoy nodded. "It was, but I've realized something," he said in a voice that sounded at once both disappointed and yet somehow playful. "I'm afraid I can't just give you that parchment, Hermione."
Hermione tensed up and felt her heart simmer in rage. Was he really so low as to charge her for the ability to communicate with his mother? "What do you want, Malfoy?"
Malfoy straightened up and remained silent until Hermione twisted around in the seat to face him. "Draco," he said. "I want to hear you use my name. Call me Draco, Hermione."
Hermione's voice felt trapped in her throat. His request wasn't unreasonable, and yet… Somehow, calling him Draco made him feel more like a stranger, somehow disconnected from their many years as adversaries. It made her feel uncertain, like she would no longer know what to expect from him.
Malfoy swallowed, as if he suddenly realized he may have asked too much. "I don't want to think of my father when you address me. Please, Hermione."
Hermione swallowed. That, she understood. Malfoy, no, Draco… she would have to get used to thinking of him as Draco. Draco understood too that she could not refuse his request with that reasoning, even if it made her uncomfortable. It annoyed her, and yet, his tenacity for having his way also amused her. After all, with the curse, he could claim much more power over her, yet he was using a simple guilt-trip to convince her to call him by his preferred name, which was honestly well within his rights anyway. She was the rude one for hesitating. She smiled at the absurdity of it all. "Okay, Draco."
Draco froze, and then a smile blossomed across his face. "Not too painful, was it?" he teased. "I would invite you to stay the night, but I expect you would like to have more options sooner than later," he said gesturing towards the remaining stack of parchments and the journals. "I'll mark the ones you can share with my mother."
Hermione hesitated. "Could I get some that let me write to Ginny and Harry as well?"
The smile fell from Malfoy's, no, Draco's face in an instant. He sighed, then quirked his lip. "What are you offering?" he asked her.
Hermione scowled. "They're my friends."
Draco sneered. "They're 'friends' that think you're crazy for fancying me, want you far from me, and have repeatedly threatened me since you were cursed, even though I had no more choice in the matter than you. Why should I put my time and magic into something that is clearly anything but beneficial for me?"
Hermione pouted. It wasn't that Draco was wrong, but she wouldn't have needed him at all to talk to her friends if she hadn't been cursed by Draco's father. Then again, Draco wasn't his father. He wasn't the one responsible. "What would you accept?" she ended up asking him.
Draco considered her. He stepped in closer to her, then crouched down until his eyes were level with hers. He looked to her lips and studied her as she unconsciously wet and parted her own. He leaned in closer, and Hermione had a moment of inner panic as she wondered if he was going to demand a kiss in payment, and if she were willing to pay it.
"I'll think about it," he said softly, his breath mingling with her own before he drew away. "You can think about it too."
"R-right," Hermione stuttered, looking away as her face flamed from what had nearly happened. Would it be cowardly to return to writing Narcissa instead of continuing to face Draco? "I'll… think on it," she said, and she realized she would. If Malfoy, she meant Draco, were serious about her, even if for the wrong reasons, she was more willing to consider… well.. a lot. How much, she wasn't sure, but if he was serious about claiming her for ulterior reasons, there was a chance he might develop genuine ones as well with encouragement.
It was something Hermione had never considered before… at least, not for herself. Sure, she had read the odd book where a couple was thrown together with the expectation of physical intimacy and emotional attachment came later. They were a bit absurd, but entertaining enough. Suddenly, Hermione thought of the book George had gotten her, Ten Titillating Tales of Trapped Trollops, and wondered if they had any such stories and whether they might offer inspiration. Her flush deepened, and Draco raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.
"Thought of something?" he asked lightly, shoving his hands in his pants.
Hermione froze. She expected she should flirt back, and about four different phrases swam through her head for turning it on him, but she also wanted to tell him to shut it for teasing her, and the end result was her incoherently mumbling.
"What was that?" he asked.
"I'll let you know tomorrow," she ended up saying, and immediately regretted it at the look of mischievous delight on his face. "G'night, Malfoy."
"Draco," he corrected.
"Right, sorry, Draco, night," Hermione said, standing and collecting her new bundle of parchments and the letter she had begun to write Narcissa.
"Night, Hermione," Draco said smugly and held the door for her on her way out.
When Hermione made her way back to her dormitory, she took a deep breath. "It's time to do some research," she muttered to herself. "Now, where did Ginny leave that book?"
Thank you if you're still with me and this story. The last ~4 years kicked my butt. As it turns out, both my kids have substantial behavioral delays, and they have needed me with them 24/7 to keep them safe and well. It's been hard. I've missed writing sorely, and I hated putting this story on hold for so long. I hesitated to even post this not knowing when the next chapter will come, but both my husband and my Beta said it was better to put it out there than wait, so you can thank them for this coming a little sooner. Wishing everyone the best out there!