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Hermione's Keeper	By : Talented_Mrs_Lupin Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 17549 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I dont own anything to do with harry potter and i make no money this is only fanfiction

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The Knight bus whizzed around a corner on to an old country road, they had burst through a magical barrier that was between a magical community and a muggle one. The muggle community had been bustling, children screaming at their parents, teens walking hunched over with their cell phones in front of their faces ignoring where they were going. People had been running back and forth, shopping, having breakfast or brunch with friends and then the bus went through the barrier and Hermione was back in the magical world. She marveled at how different the two were, there were no teens with phones in front of their faces but she did see some out playing Quidditch, no kids screaming at their parents but plenty playing with friends in big green lawns and there was calm and happiness. Hermione had attempted to live in the muggle world after she finished up her schooling but she found it to be too loud, too fast and way to uncaring. She’d been ruined by the magical world, after the war true happiness had taken over it and that was all she wanted.

“Where’d you say you were going again, Miss?” The conductor asked, it used to be Stan Shunpike, according to Harry, but he’d killed himself during his time in Azkaban during the war. This was an older gentleman with greying hair, kind and sparkling dark blue eyes and a friendly smile that Hermione returned to him.

“Malfoy Manor” Hermione answered, his smile dropped immediately and he looked worried “Are…are you sure, Miss?”

“I am” Hermione answered, intrigued by his reaction. She’d never given it much attention before, being caught up in her own drama, but it seemed like while everyone had apparently forgotten about Draco Malfoy but they did remember him and were weary of him.

“I’m sorry to ask this, Miss” The man said “But I have…had a daughter that would have been your age and it’s just, the Malfoy’s…they are not good people and I know that I would not have let her visit that place alone”

“What’s your name?” Hermione asked, she felt the familiar feeling of loss in her chest when he spoke. After the war almost every story started with ‘I have…had somebody’ and the more she heard it the more it hurt.

“Carl Spear” He said, with a smile “And you?”

“Hermione Granger” She answered, she saw recognition light his eyes and then deep sadness “If you, like everyone else in the magical world, read the Prophet then you know that I’ve been having a difficult time recently” He nodded “Draco Malfoy has offered me a job”

“Miss Granger” Carl said, suddenly crouching in front of her and clutching her hands “Please, you don’t have to go to him and accept his money for whatever sick and twisted things he wants you to do…my wife and I will take care of you!” He lowered his gaze but it did nothing to hide his tears “Please…”

“Mr. Spear” Hermione said “You misunderstand me. Draco is an old acquaintance of mine from school, he is indebted to me and to pay me back for keeping him out of prison he’s hired me as his house manager” She smiled warmly at him “You don’t have to worry about me” She tapped her wand that was in a holster on her forearm “I can take care of myself against people if they mean me harm”

“I’m sure you can” He said standing up and walking to the front of the bus “There’s only another ten minutes until we reach your destination” He looked out the window again.

“Tell me about her” Hermione said softly “About your daughter, I don’t remember anyone with the name ‘Spear’ at Hogwarts did she go there?”

“No” He answered “I didn’t like the Potions Master when we went to view the school” He smiled at her “Her name is…was Olivia and she was very bright, charismatic, funny, an artist when it came to things like Potions and Charms” He looked back at the scenery flying by at an impossible speed “She went to Durmstrang and was one to the top students there but then the war broke out” He looked haunted “We thought leaving her in the school would be safe and when it became apparent that she was not we tried so hard to get her back home…the magical carriage that I employed to bring her home was attacked by death eaters…the Auror’s found the bloody carriage deep in the woods, miles from the wizard made dirt road they were supposed to be traveling on”

“Was she dead?” Hermione whispered, her hands were over her mouth “Olivia…was she dead?”

“She has to be” Carl answered “And I’m assuming she was tortured, they found the men that had been traveling with her for protection, murdered not far from the carriage but they never found her” The bus started to slow down “I hope that she has found her peace in the afterlife”

“I am so sorry” Hermione whispered to him, when he stood she did to because the bus was now coming to a creaking stop in front of an old, dark grey iron gate that had a large rusted ‘M’ on the front “If you ever need anything…”

“Miss Granger” Carl said, taking her hands in his “Remember my name and call upon me if you ever have need to, if he does something that harms you or scares you call me through the Floo or call for the Knight bus”

“Thank you” Hermione said to him, there was emotions creeping up her throat and she wanted nothing more than to burst in to tears because as sad as it was this was the first person to show her kindness in many years.

Hermione got out of the bus and Carl handed her all her things which had been stuffed in to just two duffle bags that were only slightly extended with magic. She used a sticking charm to stick them to herself and walked up to the gate. They didn’t open, she touched them and they were solid, there was no call box and after a moment she tentatively pushed against the giant structure with all her weight until it creaked open but only about two feet before getting stuck again. With an annoyed sigh Hermione squeezed through the small opening thanking merlin that she hadn’t been eating that much or else she wouldn’t have fit at all. She’d been told once, that the Malfoy Manor and the grounds were the most beautiful in all of the magical world and that people used to stand outside the gates for just the smallest peek at those grounds. What she saw wasn’t what she’d been expecting and it made her sad to see the ruin that awaited her.

What Hermione was standing on had once been a gravel driveway of some sort that she imagined carriages had once driven up. The driveway now had weeds that had sprouted up around the gravel, the lawn was highly overgrown with grass that came up to her chest, she could see that the backyard was just as overgrown as the front, there was a gazebo that a tree had fallen on and ruined, an old building of some sort in the overgrown garden that had broken windows and the door was hanging from its hinges. Hermione sighed and wondered why Draco had let his home and yards fall in to such a deep disrepair, she walked up to the faded and chipped black front door that was atop six wide, cracked and gritty marble stairs and knocked on it. The door opened slowly, obviously by magic and in a small circle of light stood a tiny house-elf in a cute little black dress with a white pinafore, she had cute little gold earrings in her large flappy ears that signified that she was a bonded elf. She smiled hugely at Hermione when she took the few steps in to the house, she heard the door closing softly behind her.

“Miss Granger” The elf greeted her, she moved closer to grip the muggle-born’s offered hand eagerly holding on to it tightly. Hermione looked at the elf in wonder, she didn’t know that Draco had free elves working for him and it made her smile to think that maybe he had changed even if just a little “I am so happy to meet you”

“Thank you” Hermione said with a small laugh “And you are?”

“I apologize most humbly” She said with a small laugh “I am Kippy, I am the masters personal elf” She looked proud “I make sure the other house-elves are in line, that they are cooking enough food for everyone and that the rooms we are allowed to clean get and remain cleaned…but mostly I make sure that the master is fed, clean, thinking about work and all around taking care of himself…with my help” She looked at Hermione who quickly looked away from the elf’s ears and the second pair of earrings, studs, that were above the hoops she wore “You are looking at my earrings”

“No” Hermione said, her face turning crimson instantly and she lowered her gaze “I mean…I’m sorry to be so rude”

“I understand that it is odd to see a female house-elf wear more than one pair of earrings” Kippy said “I am bonded to my mate, Cy, but he was not my intended. The elven fates matched me with another elf but he was killed in the war and half a year after that I was bonded to Cy” She shrugged her tiny shoulders “When we are told who we are bonded to the male elf gives his mate a pair of studs as a way of saying they are happy that they have their mate”

“I am sorry you lost your first mate” Hermione said honestly “I hope that you are happy with your new mate”

“I am” She smiled “We have a wonderful little daughter who is the light of our lives” She swept her hand back “Let me show you to your bedroom”

Hermione was shown up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway to a white door that had been recently scrubbed clean. Kippy flicked her fingers and the door opened revealing a cute little sitting room with thick carpeting and dainty little chairs, two steps up and there was a bed big enough for three with a cream colored blanket on it and many little pillows, there was a bathroom with a swimming pool sized bathtub and finally a closet that had its own changing area with about six mirrors to see your body from all angles. Hermione put her bags down and smiled at the house elf.

“So, what will my duties be?” She asked.

“Master Draco sleeps all day” Kippy told her “You are to make sure that the shopping gets done, if he needs clothes repaired you are to bring them to the store, get the house in to running order and keep it there and to make sure that all his meetings are met and you may even have to step in for him when he has to actually meet people in person…he does not like the public very much and with good reasoning” Hermione opened her mouth “Pay and all that will have to be worked out with Master Draco”

“When will he be awake?” She asked.

“Usually later afternoon” Kippy answered “Around three but he’ll likely nap again around five and then go out like he does every night around eight”

“When does he work?” Hermione looked shocked at the simple way she spoke about something that was not normal at all “People are not supposed to be asleep during the day and up all night, it’s not natural”

“It is how he’s been since his mother died” Kippy said sadly “I am sorry miss but if you want to know more about that than you need to ask him, I feel like I am talking about things I have no right to discuss with anyone other than him”

“You’re a very faithful elf” Hermione praised.

“Thank you” She said happily “You may take the rest of the day until he’s awake to become acquainted with the house, the elves and what will become your job within it” She smiled and turned to leave the room and the girl behind.

“Kippy” Hermione called and the elf turned back to look at her “I hate to ask you this…but I’m curious, who was it that you were bonded to originally?” She had a sinking feeling that she already knew the answer but she needed it confirmed.

“Dobby” Kippy said sadly “It was back before the war, before Master Draco freed us all and offered us a wage it was when Master Lucius was in charge and he was a cruel man” She looked sad “When we were bonded Dobby wanted to get us out of this house, he wanted us to be free and be able to make money and live as we wanted to…so he helped Harry Potter as much as he was able to in hopes that Mr. Potter could free us but Dobby never told him about me therefor it was only he who was safe and I stayed here” She wiped her eyes “I kept my head down and did all that was expected of me and hoped he would find a way to free me, I knew that after the dark lord was gone it would be better but he died before that happened”

“I am so sorry, Kippy” Hermione said, fresh tears falling down her cheeks, it felt like all she did was cry nowadays “I knew Dobby…”

“I know” She smiled “I know, get some rest and then tour the house” With that she walked out of the bedroom and Hermione let her, feeling horrible.

~~~//~~~

Draco opened his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall of his bedroom. Three in the afternoon. He frowned, why in Merlin’s name was he awake at this time of the day? He thought hard for a moment and then sighed, ah yes, Hermione Granger would be in the manor now. The thought that she was somewhere, possibly close to him, at that moment made his stomach twist in a way he hadn’t felt since Hogwarts. Since the last time he’d seen her when she was happy, before all the bullshit with Voldemort coming back, before the hard fought war made smiling impossible for those who fought it.

“Master” Kippy spoke from her usual corner “Miss Granger is here, I told her about the jobs that she will do here, she asked many questions about me and a few about you and now she is resting in her room”

“She chose not to investigate the house?” Draco asked with a smirk on his face, laying his head on his bent arm and looking at the elf “Not like her in the least”

“She cried, sir” Kippy told him “When I told her about…the mate I was first bonded to and she cried herself to sleep which is what she’s doing now”

“Crying or sleeping?” Draco asked.

“Sleeping” Kippy answered with an annoyed look at him because she knew that he was just being a pain in the ass “After much crying…are you sure that bringing her here was a good idea?” She looked at the ground “After what happened to her here, are you sure that she would want to live here?”

“She’s here, isn’t she?” Draco asked.

“After she has enough money to rent an apartment and get back on her feet?” Kippy asked “Will she still want to live here in a place that is probably the source of her nightmares?”

“Oh, right” Draco spoke slowly “I hadn’t thought about that” He got out of his bed and started to gather his things for a shower because he knew that there would no sleeping now “Leave me, I will be down momentarily”

An hour later and Draco was sitting in the rarely used dining room. There was dust all over the room, he wrinkled his nose at it and wondered how long it had been since he’d been in there. Probably since before his mother passed away, some rooms were just too hard to enter now that she was gone. Even his fathers study, though he hadn’t been that close to him, was difficult for him to go in to because it reminded him that he was now an orphan. It was amusing, in a sick way, to Draco that he used to make fun of Potter for being an orphan and there he was, an orphan as well and he was almost certain that Potter handled it better at age eleven than Draco was at twenty-seven. He snorted to himself and took another deep drink of his strong, black tea and told himself that he was mental. Comparing Potter to himself there was no comparison, Potter was better than he was in every way.

“You look like you’re thinking about something unpleasant” Said a familiar voice from the doorway “Bad memories”

“Just thinking about how I picked on Potter” Draco answered Hermione’s inquiry “And now I sit here realizing that he’s better than me…and probably always was”

“Harry was better than you in Hogwarts” Hermione told him, she smiled as a kitchen-elf brought her in some tea and finger sandwiches “But he is no better than you now”

“The great Potter has fallen?” Draco said, lifting his tea to her in a small salute “This thought makes me feel a bit better, please…continue”

“Wow” Hermione said “You were so different when you came to the…er…boarding house and now you’re the same old Malfoy”

“Hardly” Draco said “I am a shadow of the boy I used to be”

“Boy?” Hermione asked “Not man?”

“I never got to be a man” Draco told her “I fought in a shitty war that we had no way of winning just to keep my family safe, I spent two years sitting in a cell in Azkaban and then the next five years locked in my house”

“But after…” Hermione started.

“The world had moved on” Draco continued, he was only twenty-seven years old but as he said the words he felt like he was a hundred “And I had…have no idea how to move with it, I go out in the world during the day and everyone looks at me with fright, horror even. Mothers pull their children out of my path, women look ready to scream rape if I look at them, men spit at me and when there were investors to be met I realized they didn’t want to work with me they wanted to look at me like I was a circus creature and not an equal”

“That is why you hide” Hermione said, finishing her tea and pushing the plate of untouched sandwiches away from her “That’s why you go out only at night but tell me, don’t you miss being the center of attention”

“No” He said, his eyes narrowed at her “I see that you still speak before thinking, nice to know that for the future” He stood up and looked at her “What do you have planned for this house?”

“What do you mean?” Hermione asked, innocently. She lowered her eyes to the table in front of her and placed her hands, palms down on the dusty surface.

“Don’t play coy with me” Draco said “You’ve been here since about ten this morning, I imagine you’ve already redecorated my house ten times in your mind…am I right?”

“Of course not” Hermione said quickly, her face turning a bit pink that told him all he needed to know.

“I don’t really care what you do to any of the rooms here” Draco told her “Just tell me what you’re doing and before you do it”

“I don’t want to do anything to the rooms” Hermione said and he raised an eyebrow “Though I would like to maybe…clean everything up a bit and make this place look more like a house than a mausoleum”

“Whatever makes you happy” Draco smirked “Well, it appears that I have a few hours to spare…would you like the grand tour?”

“Of course” Hermione said as she stood up from the table “But I have a question”

“Of course you do” Draco smirked as he led her out of the dining room “What is it?”

“There’s a few questions actually” Hermione admitted and he sighed but nodded that she could continue “The house-elves…”

“Are all paid employees” He told her and she nodded.

“Why do you dote on Kippy and not the others?” She asked.

“The others are new employees” He told her “Kippy was born the same year as me, she is young for an elf but she watched me get abused by my father, neglected by both parents and just…well, she was there for everything and when I freed all of the house-elves that my father kept enslaved, she was the only one that stayed with me”

“That’s good” Hermione smiled “I like that” She sighed “Okay, another question” He nodded “Why have you let this house become so…rundown?”

“I just stopped caring” Draco answered simply, Hermione noted that while he spoke like he used to as if he didn’t care she saw pain in his eyes and actually felt bad for him “After a while it no longer made sense”

“What about Malfoy, Inc.?” Hermione asked and he sighed looking around the room.

“Okay” He said, clearly uncomfortable “That’s enough questions…I need a drink” He turned.

“But…” Hermione started and he turned around quickly.

“What?!” He snapped, he was so suddenly angry that it made her step back “What did you think was going to happen when you moved in?” He shrugged “I think I have been more than a little accommodating answering your questions and all but now I am done and don’t want to talk anymore, okay?”

“Fine” She said, her eyes narrowing and the anger that she felt had nothing to do with him and all to do with herself. She was mad at her need to make him a good guy when he had yet to prove that he was such, a few freed house-elves wasn’t going to erase the years of torment she’d suffered at his hands. She was just so lonely, without her friends for so long that she’d been hoping that Draco Malfoy could take the spot of Harry and they’d be friends immediately. She was so stupid.

“I’m going to go and get ready to go out tonight” Draco said as he started up the stairs “Don’t wait up”

“Why would I?” Hermione hissed at him.

As the sound of her shoes tapped away angrily while she walked, Draco was forced to stop in walk up the stairs. Memories of his father telling his mother not wait up for him as he went out to fuck whatever pureblooded slut had caught his attention and his mother responding the exact way Hermione had. The only differences were that Hermione had no reason to wait up for him, he was neither her husband or her lover, and his mother had always looked sad, hurt and betrayed when his father walked out and Hermione had been annoyed. He also had no clue why he’d been so open with her, his discomfort with the public, it appeared, didn’t extend to Granger. Draco had been so sure that he would be cool and aloof around her, nervous maybe and unsure how to relate but there he was chattering away like a fifteen year old girl with the latest gossip. He was sure that it had something to do with fact that he knew that she knew him at his best which happened to also be when he was at his worse because he’d been such a prick. She had no expectations of him, didn’t expect him to be nice for any reason or flirty, she knew that he was a right bastard and something told him that Hermione Granger didn’t care, that she was hurt now and broken but if he pushed her a little she could become whole again. That she could become the Hermione Granger that had once put a mean, old Chief Warlock in his place in front of the whole ministry. Somewhere in the back of his mind and deep within his chest he wondered if she could or even would want to help him learn how to become Draco Malfoy again.

A/N: I hope that this was liked. I know that Draco was being OOC however he’s also locked himself away from a world that he doesn’t remember so I figured that it’s likely he would kind of clasp on to someone who would remember him as what he used to be. Then he catches himself of course and tries his best to retreat back in to himself as much as possible. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!!!!
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Hermione's Keeper