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Snowbound	By : TempestLore Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 4303 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own anything in the Harry Potter fandom and I make no money in writing this work of fanfiction. Only the plot is my own.

Chapter List
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Snowbound
Chapter Three
The Wandmaker
    “Draco, wake up,” I said to the sleeping blond. “Come on Dragon, half the village are outside the tent, and they’re eager to meet us it seems,” I uttered and it was true. A multitude of men, women and even children gathered around the tent outside in the snow. Harcourt, which the bearded man introduced himself as, finally, this after dropping the mother of all bombshells on us, he suggested that we pay a visit to the town. I had a million questions, questions that I fired off in rapid succession while my handsome boyfriend—husband laid on the floor of the tent, passed out cold. Harcourt told me to take care of Draco, that as his new wife that was my primary duty and that the answers were coming. I felt more than a little insulted. As if I wouldn’t care for Draco? I’d been taking care of Draco since the train crash! “Draco, wake up! You are not leaving me here with these people alone. Wake up!” I said with a raised voice, and I was aware that I probably sounded a little irritated but I didn’t care. Harcourt was standing over me and assessing me, at least that’s how it felt to me at the time.
     “Shit, what happened?” the blond said when he popped his eyes open.
     “You passed out when you found out that you married me,” I stated bluntly.
     “Oh yeah, I thought that was a bad dream,” he said and he winked at me. I was in no mood for jokes, so I hurriedly helped him to his feet and then I shoved a glass of water into his hand and told him to drink it. Harcourt stared at me disapprovingly but I just shrugged him off as I passed Draco his coat. “Granger what’s going on? Are we going somewhere?” Draco asked, confused.
     “Yes Dragon, we are. First we are going outside to meet the villagers. Apparently we have stumbled upon an ancient witch tribe from what I can gather. Then Harcourt here is going to take us on a tour of the village,” I said feeling overwhelmed. “Am I to assume that you have a wand maker in this village? I should like to replace the one I lost,” I said as I raked a hand through my wild, fly-away hair.
     “Yeah, I need one too, though I don’t know but I think I’d like to try and make one?” Draco said and I stopped and stared at him. Make one? Make a wand? O…k…
     “What did you just say?” Harcourt asked, turning around to face Draco. He was positively beaming. He looked like he’d just won the Muggle lottery or something and then the pudgy woman, one of the villagers I gathered, who was standing in the doorway of the tent, quickly turned and whispered something to the aging man behind her. He in turn told another and another and soon the hiss of whispers from the villagers sounded like a zoo full of snakes with everyone whispering. I was beginning to lose my patience with all of them.
     “I just commented that I might like to try my hand at making a wand. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, but my Father said that it wasn’t a dignified profession,” Draco said and my eyebrows flew up. I’d never heard him talk about wanting to be a wandmaker, not as a career or even as a hobby, but then why would I have known that? I’d only been close to him for a short few days.
     “We are so very lucky indeed. Everyone,” Harcourt said and he raised his hands and stepped outside to address the crowd that was gathered, “We have a Wandmaker again!”
     “Excuse me, what in Merlin’s name is going on?” I asked. “Draco says he wants to make wands and suddenly he is the new Wandmaker?” It was preposterous, ridiculous even. Draco was smiling and he looked genuinely happy, which boggled the mind.
     “Draco do you know what’s going on?” I whispered in the blond’s ear. He merely shrugged and looped an arm around my waist and told me to just go with it. That seemed to be an easier fete for him than it was for me.
     “Please, join us in the village for hot chocolate. We want you to meet our Mayor,” Harcourt said and then he waved his wand without saying so much as a word and a horse drawn carriage appeared before us. Draco shrugged again but then escorted me into the carriage.
     “I swear I feel like Dorothy right now,” I said as the carriage began to move.
     “Who’s Dorothy?” the blond asked but I just waved him off.
~~~~~~0~~~~~~
     The village was actually nice, which threw me a bit. When I saw the way the villagers dressed I rather thought that the Watti witches and wizards were perhaps a more primitive people, but their village was anything but primitive. They had all the modern conveniences that the Muggle world did. In fact, in comparison to the wizarding world like say--Diagon Alley, the Watti village looked like a drastic upgrade. As the carriage rolled down Main St. I couldn’t help but notice the rows of cottages that were all adorned with picket fences and a multitude of various beautiful trees and shrubs. The feeling of nature, wild and untamed yet still tastefully manicured, was prevalent throughout the town, as if a great deal of respect was paid to…well…nature. It seemed to be the running theme. Everywhere I looked there was spruce trees, evergreens, cherries and rowan, holly and juniper, oak and just on and on. Some of the variety trees were not even native to Europe let alone Scotland or England, so I wasn’t sure how it was that they thrived, especially with all the snow that had accumulated.
     “It’s quite a nice village, isn’t it?” Draco commented and I couldn’t disagree, it really was.
     “Look, there’s the wand store. Driver can we stop?” Draco asked and the carriage stopped for us. “You want a wand, right?” the blond asked and he hopped down from the carriage and extended his hand to me.
     “I thought you wanted to make one?” I challenged.
     “I do, but I need to get the instructions that the old wand maker left for me,” the blond said and then he clamped his mouth shut.
     “What do you mean that were left for you?” I asked.
     “I don’t know what I meant, nor why I said that,” Draco responded.
     “You’re lying. Draco tell me what’s going on, I don’t like this one bit?”
     “Granger, I’m not bloody lying, I swear it. I don’t know why I said that, but I just know that I am supposed to go into the wand shop and someone is going to be waiting for us. He’s going to give me something, something that will help me.”
     “You better not be having me on,” I said grumpily. “Well come on then, let’s go inside and get your instructions shall we,” I said almost half mockingly.
     “I’ve been waiting for you,” a man dressed in an old fashioned suit complete with top hat said when we entered through the door of the wand shop. “You arrived precisely on time. Trelayne, pleasure to meet you young newlyweds and what a beautiful couple you make. I’m the Mayor here. Excuse my excitement, I really must admit that this part of my duties is by the far the most rewarding, not that I don’t enjoy all of my work. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this is! The last time the Matrimonial Tree picked a non Watti couple our village was blessed with twenty years of good fortune! We don’t mix with the wizarding world, it’s very rare. The Muggle world, yes, but our notorious falling out with the wizarding world occurred centuries ago so you won’t find too many like yourselves here, although there are a select few, Harcourt being another wizard from the wizarding world of the Ministry.”
     “Well I hope you won’t hold that against us,” I said with the voice of concern.
     “Heavens no, no. We are delighted to welcome you to Wattingham. Congratulations Draco and Hermione,” he said and he eagerly shook our hands. I was feeling completely gob smacked and I leaned into Draco, pressing my body tightly against him. As if sensing my unease he wrapped a snug arm around me and kissed me on the temple.
     “I’m sorry, we’re a little bit out of the loop here.” Draco said politely. “And can you tell us about the tree again and how that all works?”
     “The Matrimonial Tree! It called you and thankfully you answered the call. Oh, before I forget these are yours. It’s with great regret that we’ve been without a Wandmaker for a year, bit Clyde knew that you would come and kept those assurances up right up until the day he died, bless his soul. See here, he left you his journal. He even named you, so imagine what a delight it is to meet Draco Malfoy in the flesh, oh and his new bride Hermione Granger of course,” the Mayor said as if my arrival was just an afterthought. He thrust the journal into Draco’s hands and chills shot down my spine when I saw the words on the cover that read, “Secrets of the Trade,for my successor, Draco Malfoy.”
     “Of course,” I said sarcastically and I rolled my eyes. Draco dug his fingers into my back and then shot me a look of warning. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but this is all terribly confusing. We were in a train accident and then our broom broke and we just stumbled upon that bit of forest where the heart shaped tree grows. None of this was planned at all. Please stop acting like this was all destined to happen because it wasn’t! Cripes am I the only one here who isn’t going insane?” I shouted when I could no longer contain my anger. Draco looked up from the journal that he was perusing, the one that was weirdly labeled with his name on the front of it, and shook his head at me in disapproval. I felt like we were being, had. It was all a big ruse, it just had to be.
     “I understand, please pardon my insensitivity. I was born here so this is normal for me, but Harcourt, he was once an outsider, a wizard from the same dreadful wizarding world that you both derive from, so he is the one who can help you both through your transition from one world into another. Excuse me, I’m just going to have a quick chat with him outside,” the Mayor said and Draco and I were alone in the wand shop.
     “Look at these wands Hermione,” Draco said fingering a long wand that was smooth but had some spring in the wood as it would easily bend. “Pick one. I can make us proper ones later. These notes are extensive, but we should at least have a temporary wand for now.”
     “You are joking aren’t you? You want to stay here? No, I don’t want one of these wands,” I said angrily. “I want to purchase my wand from Ollivander’s like I’ve always done before.”
     “I’ll make you one,” Draco smiled and continued to test out all of the wands in the shop, which weren’t many which I thought was slightly odd.
     “Strange you never told me that you wanted to be a wandmaker,” I said casually, still feeling perturbed.
     “Not really. I mentioned it to Father once and he debated it in his mind. He then gleefully crushed my dreams. He said that it carried a little bit of prestige with it, but that it didn’t hold any real power. Then he mentioned the competition, Ollivander himself, and how perhaps Ollivander would have a nasty accident and his living will would show that he’d left everything to me. I told him to nevermind about making wands, I was only joking. I figured Ollivander would be killed if I pushed the issue, so I dropped the whole notion.”
     “Your father gives me the creeps. I’m sorry, but he does. Draco, what do you know about these people? Have you ever heard of an ancient witch and wizard population living in Scotland called the Watti?”
     “Sure, there are hordes of ancient sects living and thriving all over Europe and even the Americas. The Druids for starters. I’ve not heard of the Watti, but it doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagination to believe that a place like this exists. Hermione, I rather like it here, so when Trelayne comes back in, if you could lay off the snide comments a bit? Don’t get me wrong, I love a good snide comment just like the next bloke but this might be a place for us to make a new start, so let’s not get off on the wrong foot, cool?” the blond said and I just nodded.
     “I’m sorry. It’s as if the whole village is excited that you are here, but me, I’m just your wife. Your wife! I still have loads of questions about how all that works,” I said and Draco agreed with me.
     “You always need to be the best don’t you? You’re an attention seeker, just like blasted Potter.”
     “I am not! Am I?” Merlin, was he right? Was I jealous that the Mayor and seemingly everyone else were excited to see Draco but not so excited to welcome me into their village?
~~~~~~0~~~~~~
     They put us up in the cozy apartment above the wand shop. They had apparently been awaiting Draco’s arrival (and mine to a lesser extent) for some time. The place was lavishly decorated and they even placed romantic rose petals on the bed. They were arranged in the shape of a heart, just like the Matrimonial Tree. I nearly fainted when I went into the second bedroom in the flat. The nursery. Draco and I both shivered when we saw it. He slammed the door closed and we both decided that we would pretend that that room didn’t exist.
     “Granger, Harcourt will be here is dinner ready?”
     “Everything is ready, I’m just warming the stew on the stove. I didn’t want to make a big fuss over dinner. I want answers, that’s why he’s coming, right?”
     “Of course. Please just remember your manners. If something bothers you try not to blow up. You can blow up at me later, alright Granger?” I scoffed. Draco lecturing me about manners? That was a joke. He’s a Malfoy for Merlinsake!
~~~~0~~~~
     Dinner was a disaster. The meat in my stew was overcooked (who am I kidding it was burnt to a crisp) so Draco took it upon himself to whip up a quiche instead. The worst part about it was that he was a superior cook to that of me. He told me that he spent a lot of time with the house elves as a kid, so naturally that involved being in the kitchen and around most of the food preparation. I was slightly sore about it, but did he have to be so good at everything? All I wanted to do was to get back to Hogwarts. At least there I knew my role. There I had friends who counted on me and needed me. There I got good grades, and there I didn’t have a husband whom everyone loved--and who just happened to also be a great cook. He was also an expert in the bedroom, but I wasn’t complaining about that. I just wanted out of Wattingham so by the time that Harcourt actually got to the nitty-gritty of how and why their wizarding world differed from ours, I was in no mood to keep an open mind.
     “So you’re saying that your children are not taught spells, even practical ones? You don’t do any verbal magic? You let a tree decide who should marry and who shouldn’t? You leave everything to chance and your wand decides the proper outcome of a spell, not the caster? It sounds like hokie magic to me. That’s wishy washy. Magic has a defined set of variables and as the caster we are to set the outcome. Just like potions have ingredients, spells have certain variables too. You can’t just hope for the best you actually have to work at controlling it and there is a defined process to that, like it or not,” I challenged and Draco slammed his fork down on his plate and then stood and literally yanked me out of my chair.
     “May I have a word with you Hermione? In the other room,” he said sternly.
     “Fine,” I drawled and I followed him into the bedroom.
     “I know what you’re going to say Draco, but Harcourt is wrong! We need Charms class, and Transfiguration, Divination I will agree that we don’t need, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy though we need too! Leaving everything to chance, believing in some force in nature and being in balance with the world around us, it’s all a load of poppycock, Draco. Surely you agree with me? Please tell me that you agree.”
     “No, I don’t agree with you Granger. I hate the wizarding world of Harry Potter. I hate that we are separated into Houses, forced to learn material that is deeply flawed and then taught that theory is fact when it’s not Hermione! I like it here. I have friends here. People don’t hear my name and run for the hills, that, or turn their nose down at me and assume that I am a Death Eater. I for one am very interested in learning their ways and that includes their beliefs about magic. I’ve always known that forcing our wands to bend to our will was wrong. It never felt natural to me. I’m tired of fighting against my wand for control. Haven’t you ever felt that way when your wand really doesn’t want to perform the spell that you are forcing it to work? I’d like to try it their way, at least for a while. There’s no harm in just exploring their ways, right? If you are so sure that all the shit we learned at Hogwarts is the true and only right way to do magic, then why are you so defensive and so against exploration of it? If the way we were taught is the right way, then shouldn’t it stand up to any and all scrutiny? Hmm?” Draco said and damn him he was right.
     “Alright, well I do have to agree with you on that, but it’s as if these people and whoever the first witch or wizard was who started this weird sect just couldn’t control their magic, so instead they made this whole world around the notion that you never have to learn to control magic. It’s a farse Draco.”
     “Yes, control. Our wizarding world is all about controlling magical forces for our own personal gains. Maybe, just maybe the Watti are right and we are wrong--that we become more enlightened and more powerful, magical beings when we let the magic wield us, versus us wielding or controlling the magic.” He let out a deep sigh and then his tone softened once more. “Hermione, I like it here so can you please not offend Harcourt, he’s just trying to help us, just like everyone else here,” Draco said and he gripped me by the arms and pressed his lips to mine where he gave me a passionate snog.
     “Yes Dragon, for you I will give it a chance, but you have to understand that I have spent my entire life striving to be the best at all of the things that the Watti deem wrong with our world. I’m worthless here but in our wizarding world I’m something, I’m someone.”
     “That’s ego talking, Granger. You completely disregarded how much I need you. Is that not important to you as well?” he asked and his eyes looked sad as if I’d forgotten him, because I guess I had.
     “I’m going to go out there and make you proud of me. I need you Dragon and I’m going to do this for you—at least for now. I can’t say that I want to uproot and live here, not like you do, not when we have unfinished business back in the wizarding world, but I will try it here, at least for a while.”
     “Great,” he said and he looked relieved. “Hey, I’ve been working on a wand for you, it should be finished tomorrow. I just want to polish it up for you one last time. I think you’re going to like it.”
     “Aww, you made me a wand?” I said and I kissed my sweet boyfriend—er—husband.
     “Well, I knew you were stubborn but I figured that you would eventually come around,” he said and he gave me a playful smack on the bum.
~~~~~0~~~~
Two months later…
     Mrs. Draco Malfoy, that is who I had become to the town of Wattingham. The Wattis’ saw me as that and nothing more. My whole identity had changed literally overnight. Draco was the esteemed, Watti, Wand Maker, which meant that he and I were invited to residents homes for birthdays and holidays, special occasions and everything else under the sun. Gone were the days of going to Diagon Alley to pick out a wand. No, in Wattingham wands are made specific to the caster. Therefore, Draco had to know the woman,man,boy or girl by which the wand was being made for. Their wands were made with a more personal touch specific to the user. The wands had to know their owners. You can imagine how that translates into the life of a wand maker. It means that Draco had a working knowledge of that man, woman or child’s inner desires, sexual preferences, likes and dislikes etc... It was just too much! It would take him weeks just to make one personalized wand. Not that he complained, because he didn’t. He loved making wands! He would walk through the woods, alone mostly but often times I would join him, where he would pick out the best Oak tree or Rowan or Maple or anything really and then he would carefully remove one of the smaller branches careful not to damage the tree. From there he would carve it and then he would make the core which is a trade secret, one that Draco won‘t tell even me. There are really negatives though to his line of work, at least from my perspective. Last month it was a twenty-five year old witch, who had legs that went on for kilometers and who chest rivaled that of the Muggle country singer Dolly Parton. She was a native who was born and raised in the village. I hated the way she fawned all over Draco, asking him to take walks through the woods with her so that she could show him which trees were her favorite. When I complained, he suggested that I come along so that everything was on the up and up. I knew it was and Draco’s sudden never-ending supply of sweetness and understanding was unnerving to say the least. I almost wished that he would shout at me and call me a Mudblood, something, anything that would make me feel like we were equals again. He immersed himself in Watti philosophy and we would have nightly arguments about their version of history, especially pertaining to the Ministry of Magic and all things “our” world. He had swallowed their whole way of life. All of it. He claimed that he never fit into our world at all and that it was destiny that he and I would be in the train wreck and that he would fly us directly to the Matrimonial Tree. He even went so far as to tell me that my error, when I cast Bombarda was all part of it, that I rarely made errors like that so that in itself was also an unfolding of our destiny. In his version, we each did our part so that he and I would end up at the Matrimonial Tree, including me just happening to have a tent that we pitched right next to it. In a nutshell, Draco believed that nothing was by chance, that all of it happened for a reason and that coincidences didn’t exist. I had a very difficult time understanding their way of thinking, but it was Draco himself who was able to explain it to me better. According to my husband, and yes Draco fully embraced me not only as his girlfriend and lover, but also as his wife. It was a bit harder for me to embrace, but he said that was only because I had preconceived notions of what a wedding should be, which was mostly based on the Muggle world where there were a bride and a groom, and a cake, and a church, and the whole nine yards. But back to what I was saying about love. It was never a spell. Try to wrap your mind around that one. It took me weeks to actually ‘get it’. Our love was already there, albeit latent and unrecognized. The flame between us already existed and all the Matrimonial Tree did was to fan the flames. So instead of wasting a decade or more in a love and hate relationship with Malfoy, the tree helped us to progress by growing that flickering flame into the raging inferno, one that would have happened sooner had it not been for external factors like the impending war, different Houses at school and blatant bigotry (mostly on Draco’s part but also on my part). Those influenced or impeded our relationship. The Watti, in my husband’s opinion were more powerful witches and wizards than even Dumbledore or Voldemort, and he retained that the reason that the Ministry of Magic left them alone to rule over themselves rather than forcing their laws down their throats, was that they knew the Watti were a more powerful race of witches and wizards. The Ministry was afraid of the Watti, or so Draco would have you think. The jury was still out on whether or not I believed in any of that or whether I thought it nonsense. Draco said that the reason I couldn’t believe that or refused to allow myself to believe it was because I hadn’t given myself over to their brand of magic and that if I actually gave my new wand a try I would not only see it but would feel it firsthand. So, I decided to try it.
~~~~~0~~~~
     I watched him as he dressed before the mirror. He looked so handsome as he put on a pair of dark slacks, and a button up shirt, a shirt I had successfully pressed for him without screwing it up and putting iron marks on his snazzy white designer shirt. I wished that he didn’t have to go but he had work to do at the wand shop. He’d been making wands for a set of twin, ten year old boys and their Mum was bringing the twins in to give the wands a go on and to test them out in case they needed some last minute adjustments. Draco was a perfectionist when it came to his work, something we both had in common, so if a wand needed adjustments he would sometimes stay up all night in order to finish it, which unfortunately meant that sometimes he worked late into the night. He had an extra bounce in his step on that morning, so I knew that he was excited to get to work and yet I wished that he wouldn’t leave. I was bored most days with nothing much to do and lately I’ve been feeling needy which was not an emotion that I was comfortable with so I never asked him to stay. It didn’t seem fair to do that. I was a big girl who should have been able to entertain myself. “I thought I’d try out my new wand today,” I said when I saw that he was nearly done dressing and would leave shortly.
     “Yeah?” he said and he smiled as he adjusted his tie. “I think that’s great. It’s about time,” he said sweetly.
     “You want to stay and watch? I might need some pointers.”
     “Uh, well I really should be at work by now, but…yeah sure I want to see how you operate, woman,” he said with a wink. I went to the dresser and took out the pretty, blue box where my wand was stowed and then with a deep breath I gripped it between my fingers.
     “Alright, so what do I have to think about again?” I had no clue how to use Watti wands, which was absurd since my husband was the town’s wandmaker. Gosh I was a bad wife in that respect.
     “Try not to think about it in that way, baby,” Draco said and he sat down on the bed next to me. “The wand is merely a tool, like a guide. Its magic will follow the path of least resistance. It will show you that which you might not recognize, but which is already there. It will offer you a direction is all. The fun part is trying to figuring out what its magic means. It isn’t always obvious but it’s always trying to tell you something,” Draco said and I nodded. I was nervous but I thought I’d give it a go.
     “Help me find my way,” I said, even though no words were necessary, in fact they weren’t encouraged. I closed my eyes and flicked my wrist. When nothing happened, I opened my eyes. I was about to tell Draco that it was no use, that Watti magic was impossible to perform, but I was stopped my his soft lips on my mouth.
     “Damn baby, you are so hot,” he said and his hands were all over me. That’s when I felt the draft on my rear and I caught a look at myself in the mirror. I was astonished to see that my nightgown was all but gone. I was naked in my husband’s arms.
     “Great, you made me a porno wand,” I said very much turned on by my husband’s fiery kisses, but just as much disappointed that I didn’t actually perform some worthy magic.
     “There’s nothing wrong with the wand,” he purred and then he began to undress himself as he pulled me down on the bed.
     “Then why did it strip me naked? Oh, I get it it’s for you. It was giving you a gift, which is apparently me naked.”
     “No, I don’t think so though I’m not complaining one bit,” he chuckled. “Tell me this Granger. Were you wishing that I’d stay home with you today, I mean before you reached for the wand?” he asked and I became teary-eyed. I always miss you when you’re gone!
     “Yeah, I’m sorry Draco but I feel rather useless here and bored and you looked so handsome that I was wishing that I could find it in me to ask you to stay with me a while.”
     “And the wand knew that I couldn’t resist your hot, little arse so it stripped you down so I would stay. Well that’s it, I’ll rabbit (rabbits are what they used to carry mail, not owls) Mrs. HobGoblin and tell her to bring the boys in tomorrow—something more pressing came up,” he said and then he climbed in between my legs. I never grew tired of making love and Draco for all of his perfection, was indeed perfect at that too. We did it not once but three times that day and it was aces spending the whole afternoon with him, alone.
~~~~0~~~~
     “Again? I swear this wand must want me to get pregnant with your baby,” I said when once again I performed magic and once again it stripped me down. Draco never complained and he always complied as he undressed and took me to bed where he made sweet, passionate love to me.
     “You don’t seem to understand that you are the vehicle that drives your wand, so it’s not the wand wanting anything, it’s you Hermione,” he said. “I love that you want me baby. You get on top this time. Let’s see what you got for me, witch,” he challenged. Yes, our sex life was in full swing, so at least that part of our marriage was on solid footing even if I still didn’t feel like I fit in to the Watti way of life. I missed school and I missed my friends. I was dreadfully homesick but I kept it to myself. Draco finally had a career that he loved, the respect of the community and a life to be proud of. How could I take that away from him when he’d had such an awful life before we’d come to be with the Watti? I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth and that was that I just wanted to go back to Hogwarts and finish school.
~~~~0~~~
     “Hermione,” I heard a knock at the door. I looked at the clock and noticed that it was mid-afternoon and that I was still wearing my nightgown and lying in bed. I guess you could say that I’d fallen in a bit of a rut. I felt worthless as a wife. Draco would come home from work in the evening after having a full and rewarding day and then he, not me, would cook dinner. Not just any dinner either, he could have worked as a gourmet chef his cooking was that good. No wonder he always complained about how awful the food at Hogwarts was. When you have a talent like his that was going to waste it’s no wonder he thought the potatoes had too much salt in them and the fruit was never ripe enough nor sweet enough and the drinks were watered down and on and on. The knocking became more frantic and I sluggishly got out of bed. “Alright, I’m coming. Hold your horses,” I called out as I wrapped my robe around me and dragged a hand through my messy mop of hair.
     “Ugh,” I said when I looked through the peep hole and saw Cassandra Applebaum on the other side of the door. She was the wife of the wizard Doctor Jack Applebaum and she was the epitome of domesticated housewife. They had a rack of kids and her hair always looked perfect with not one hair out of place. Her kids were always clean and dressed in all the latest Muggle fashions. She was polite and perfect and she said all the right things and ugh, just ugh. They were friends of ours too so I had to let her in.
     “Hermione, so good to see you,” she said and then she breezed into our flat.
     “Draco’s not here,” I said as I closed the door.
     “I know that silly, I came here to see you. Jack told me, well I guess he talked to Draco and he hinted that you might need a little help adjusting to life here,” she said and she shot me a pitiful look as she patted my hand.
     “Draco said this to Jack?” I said with narrowed eyes. How dare he!
     “Well not in so many words. He’s concerned about you--he’s such a godsend, isn’t he? Before he came when our wands would break we were left stranded, without any magic at all.”
     “Yes, Draco is a godsend,” I said growing ever the more irritated with my perfect husband. If they had known him back at Hogwarts. He was fooling everyone and it was starting to make me ill! I was a Prefect for Merlinsakes, I had near perfect grades and I was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Draco was hated by almost everyone. If they only knew. I listened to her drone on and on about Draco and how bloody good he was until I’d had enough.
     “Cassandra, are you in love with my husband?” I accused. She looked flabbergasted and she covered her mouth with her hand to hide her horror stricken expression.
     “Why, no Hermione! I love Jack with everything that I am. How could you ask me such a thing? I have four beautiful boys who depend on me and each one of them reminds me of Jack.”
     “Yeah, I’m sorry. Please forgive me for saying such a thing. It’s just that, well, everyone likes Draco so much and he has this whole life here. It’s as if he wants to forget everything about our life before we got here and let me tell you, Draco was not such a nice person in that world. Merlin’s beard please stop talking about him like he’s perfect! He is not perfect, do I make myself clear?” I found myself shouting for no good reason other than my own stupid envy.
     “Please don’t bring up Merlin. He was a horrible wizard who tried to wipe the Watti out because he feared our magic to be more powerful than his own,” Cassandra said and she was dead serious. “He’s viewed as a war criminal by the Watti, a sorcerer who resorted to cheap tricks and black magic to achieve what your previous wizarding world referred to as great deeds. No, do not mention the name of that murderer around me Hermione Malfoy,” Cassandra spat. It was the first time I’d ever seen anything out of her that wasn’t cheerful.
     “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? A war criminal? Merlin? Merlin was the greatest sorcerer to ever live! The whole foundation of the wizarding world is based on Merlin and his accomplishments and teachings. You are all insane, you and your freakish town,” I screeched, my hands waving through the air like a madman. “Get out of my house, Cassandra, and you tell Jack that he can tell my perfect husband that I am doing superb. Never better actually.”
     “Merlin killed my twenty-second Grandmother because she spurned his amorous advances. She’d fallen in love with a man, a Watti man for whom she married and had a family with. She had twelve children when Merlin took his revenge!”
     “I am sorry to hear that, I really am. Now, get out!”
~~~~~0~~~~~
Draco,
I am so sorry to leave without saying goodbye, but I can’t stay here anymore. I blew up at Cassandra Applebaum today and said some things that I can’t ever take back. I know you were just trying to help me fit in better, but it’s just never going to work. I know you will be happier without me in your life. In time you will find a good, Watti wife and you will have all the things that you deserve in life. I guess sometimes love just isn’t enough, and there is no place for me here, in this world. I’m going back to school. You might not believe in that world or it’s teachings but it’s all that I know and I’ll lose myself completely if I stay. Please don’t be hurt.
Your wife,
Hermione Granger
     I laid the quill down on the kitchen table and folded the note in half where I propped it up next to the fruit basket. I wiped the tears from my eyes and then with a suitcase in hand I left. I hated leaving, especially so close to the holidays, but I knew I couldn’t stay. I was turning into someone I despised and Draco deserved better than that. I was proud of him for changing his whole life around yet I was a failure for not being able to do the same.
     I knew that there was a town not far from Wattingham, and that there I could catch a train, one that would take me back to London and then from there I could board the Hogwart’s Express, the train that would take me back to the only home I ever knew and ever wanted to know.
~~~~~0~~~~~(change of POV)
     It was late when I arrived back at the flat and all the lights were off. I was quiet as not to wake Hermione. I had a surprise for her. I’d bought a cottage, one of the homes on Main St. that had a beautiful garden, a pond and a white picket fence that my wife had commented was cute. I’d also taken it upon myself to invite her parents there for the Christmas holidays that were only a fortnight away. I couldn’t wait to hand Hermione the keys to our new home. I’d have done anything to cheer her up. I was so bloody proud of her for giving everything up for me. I knew she was having trouble fitting in and that she missed her friends, so I’d asked my mate Jack if his wife could perhaps stop by the house in the hopes that another woman could get my wife smiling again, that or just get her involved in something. I couldn’t bear to watch her sink into depression and I’d already arranged to take a full month off from work so that I could concentrate fully on all things Hermione. If only her magic had led her to a career, like what happened with me. Both Trelayne and Harcourt seemed to think that the reason for that not happening for Hermione like it did for me, was that Hermione still had not let go of her other life. They were certain that once she embraced the Watti way of life that her dreams and ambitions career or otherwise would be fully recognized and that she would finally be happy, but Granger was more impatient than even I was and the waiting game had proved to be a practice in futility.
     “Shit, I forgot the flowers,” I cursed myself when I realized I’d forgot to stop off at the florist and at such a late hour they were sure to be closed. “Well, she will just have to settle for me,” I said and I threw the brand new house keys into the air and caught them in my hand. That’s when I noticed the note on the table. It had my name on it and I quickly snatched it and began to read. Upon reading her words my legs felt shaky and I dropped to the floor, letter in hand where I silently sobbed. She left me. “This cannot be happening,” I wept.
     “I won’t let you go Granger. I just can’t. You stupid woman! All I ever wanted was you, without you all of this means nothing!” I shouted and thunder cracked overhead. “Right, well that’s it. If she’s going back then so am I,” I said and then I hurriedly began to pack.
~~~~0~~~~
     “’Mione, is that you?” I heard his familiar voice and I turned on my heels to see him coming through the heavy door of the Great Hall. He was a sight for sore eyes and I nearly teared up at being back at Hogwarts. I’d missed it so bad. “It is you. We thought you were dead. ‘Mione, before I lose the nerve and spend the next two years like I did the last six, I’m just going to say it. I love you,er—I mean I’m in love with you and I can’t do any of this without you! Merlin, I thought I lost you,” he said and he took me into his arms and hugged onto me so very tight. I froze in place upon hearing his declaration of love. I wasn’t expecting that, how could I have known? But then, what he did next threw me for a double loop as Harry Potter leaned in and kissed me in full view of Ron and in front of the entire student body.
Review!?
Author's Note: It will slow down a little now that they are headed back to Hogwarts but I have some really fun stuff coming up. Draco is not going to go down without a fight, so we will see a little of the old Draco, but with a new and more confidant frame of mind. I'm not so sure he feels anymore like he's standing in Harry's shadow, but Harry will definately complicate things for Draco and for Hermione.   Anyways, let me know how much Hermione is getting on your nerves, or maybe you agree with her? Let me know, if you want :) Thank you so much to the reviewers and to the person who emailed me a link back to some of my older stories. TYSM! I will try to update my profile to show the link back to stories on this site that I wrote on my JennyPenny name although many more recent ones still remain lost. TYTYTYTY!
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