Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Precious Mudblood	By : magentasouth Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 79302 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I neither own nor profit from any part of the Harry Potter universe

Chapter List
- 1-Precious Mudblood
- 2-Ch 2
- 3-Ch 3
- 4-Ch 4
- 5-Ch 5
- 6-Ch 6
- 7-Ch 7
- 8-ch 8
- 9-Ch 9
- 10-Ch 10
- 11-Ch 11
- 12-Ch 12
- 13-Ch 13
- 14-Ch 14
- 15-Ch 15
- 16-Ch 16
- 17-Ch 17
- 18-Ch 18
- 19-Ch 19
- 20-Ch 20
- 21-Ch 21
- 22-Ch 22
- 23-Ch 23
- 24-Ch 24
- 25-Ch 25
- 26-Ch 26
- 27-Ch 27
- 28-Ch 28
- 29-Ch 29
- 30-Ch 30
- 31-Ch 31
- 32-Ch 32
- 33-Ch 33
- 34-Ch 34
- 35-Ch 35
- 36-Ch 36
- 37-Ch 37
- 38-Ch 38
- 39-Ch 39
- 40-Ch 40
- 41-Ch 41
- 42-Ch 42 (edited. longer)
- 43-Ch 43
- 44-Ch 44
- 45-Ch 45
- 46-Ch 46
- 47-Ch 47
- 48-Ch 48
- 49-Ch 49
- 50-Ch 50
- 51-Ch 51
- 52-Ch 52
- 53-Ch 53
- 54-Ch 54
- 55-Ch 55
- 56-Ch 56
- 57-Ch 57
- 58-Ch 58
- 59-Ch 59
- 60-Ch 60
- 61-Ch 61
- 62-Ch 62
- 63-Ch 63
- 64-Ch 64
- 65-Ch 65
- 66-Ch 67
- 67-Ch 67
- 68-Ch 68
- 69-Ch 69
- 70-Ch 70
- 71-Ch 71
- 72-Ch 72
- 73-Ch 73
- 74-Ch 74
- 75-Ch 75
- 76-Chapter 76
- 77-Ch 77
- 78-Ch 78
- 79-Ch 79
- 80-Ch 80
- 68
- 69
- 70
Warm lips
grazed her own.�

She smiled, half asleep and shifted slightly against the body stretched
alongside her in bed. �

�Wake up...� the soft voice murmured against her and kissed her gently.

Her smile
faltered slightly with the voice, as her memory of last night�s events filtered
back.

She
cracked her eyes open slightly, only to startle.� The shapes.. and shadows were all wrong!

�Where am
I?!��

She glanced up at the figure leaning over her, peering at him in the dark.

�Shh shhhh..� you�re fine.� Calm down.�
You�re okay.�

�Draco, where the hell
are we?!� How did I get
here!?� I was in my room.� Where�s Tom?!!�

Her hand went to her neck, finding only the familiar loathsome bead.�

Had it worked?�� Perhaps Tom had taken
the emerald pendant with him � but why was she here?!� Where was here,
anyway?!

�You�re
at the Manor..

...In the master bedroom.� You.. you�ve been a bit ill and it was
decided that you�d be better off here for the moment.� ��

She felt
uneasy suspicion flicker.� That was a
rather Slytherin phrasing.� Who had decided?!� Tom?� Draco!?.. Why?� Tom had insisted she make a blasted horcrux
and she�d, like an idiot, gone along with it with hardly a murmur of
protest.�� She�d swallowed whatever was
in the potion..�
What had happened then?!� What had
happened between then and now to put her in the master bedroom of
Malfoy Manor � a place from which Tom had removed her practically as soon as he
was certain that doing so wouldn�t shatter her fragile emotional balance in the
wake of Lucius� death.

That
thought caused a pang again.� Regret.. guilt.��

�The Dark
Lord had you make a horcrux..� Draco started.� She nodded impatiently.� He hesitated, looking at her for a long
moment.

�The potion he used had only been tested on males.� It didn�t agree with your physiology.� You�ve been ill for a long time.�� You haven�t woken in..
well..�

He turned away and lit a tall candelabra.� The soft golden light illuminated the room.

Draco looked visibly older. �She gaped up at him in horror.

�You�ve been sleeping for a long time, Hermione.� We couldn�t wake you.� It was only recently that I found a potion
that would bring you back.�

She
furrowed her brows, confused.

�Where�s Tom?!� Shouldn�t he be here, if
there was a chance I might wake up?!� Why
isn�t he here?!� Or..
Severus..?!�

Draco bit
the inside of his cheek and looked indecisive.

�Well.. You�ve.. been
gone for a ..long time.�� Some things have happened while you were
sleeping.�� Its..
all somewhat complicated and probably better discussed
after you�ve had some time to recover and adjust.�

The reticence and concern on his face cracked and transformed into almost painful
relief and care.

Hermione.. I�m
so glad it worked..�
I�m so glad you�re back.. You have no idea how it was...after it happened.�� It was like you were gone...And no one could do anything.�

I...

I missed you so much!!��

He swooped down suddenly and kissed her cheek, wrapping his arms around her and
holding her as if she might fly away at any moment.�

�I missed you, Hermione.�� I love you �
you remember right?!�� You.. know I love you?!�

She
smiled slightly and hugged him back.��
She felt a bit tired..� Her arms were heavy.

�It�s ok, Draco.�
I�m not going anywhere.�� I..love you too.�

A little quiver of discontent made itself known in her belly.�� It was true, she supposed.� She cared for Draco..
there was just the silent comment inside �I love
you...but I love Tom more.�

�I..need to know where Tom is though..� I don�t want to hear about it later.. I want to know now.�

�Draco?...�

She could
feel him sigh and clutch her tighter.� �It�s better we talk about it later.� You shouldn�t get too excited right now.� You need to rest!�

Now she
was worried.

�DRACO!� I don�t care if I need rest � I don�t care
about whatever it is that you�re worried might happen to me if I get �excited� �
I want to know where Tom is NOW.� Tell me or I..�

�Alright! Alright! Merlin, Granger � you�ve been awake for
five minutes and it�s like you�ve reverted to the horror of Hogwarts
again.� Calm down.� I�ll tell you alright!?�

She
attempted to scale back her worry and relax the tense way her muscles were
tightening.� �Yes.� Sorry.�
It�s just.. important.. to
me.� Please Draco..�

His eyes seemed to both soften and heat when she pleaded with him.�� It made her very slightly uncomfortable, she
realised.

�Look.. there�s no easy way to say this,
Gr..� Hermione..�� He�s... dead.�

She
blinked at him, not understanding.

�What do you mean?!� Why?!� How?!��
Draco!!!� You�re kidding.. or .. or lying.. �Don�t joke about this � it�s not funny � where
is he?!�

Draco
turned away slightly even as he moved closer and held her tightly.,
his fingertips stroking over her arms.

�It�s not a joke.� I�m sorry..� He...He is
dead.� For good this
time.� There weren�t any horcruxes hidden away anywhere.� He is actually dead�

She tried
to struggle against his arms and he held her even tighter. �NO!!!� NO � HE�S NOT!!� He�d never
let himself be killed.� He�d never not
have at least one horcrux.. HE�S NOT DEAD,
DRACO!!�� I.. I
CAN BRING HIM BACK!!!� I�ll BRING HIM
BACK!!�� She hyperventilated, trying to
pull away from the blond boy clamping her down in place.

�He is dead.�
There�s nothing you can do.� He
didn�t take the binding necklace off you so you can�t use your ability to do anything...�

...it...It will be ok, Hermione�

He was drowned out in her wail of horror as she understood exactly what he was
saying.�

She was a squib forever.

And Tom was gone.�� Forever.

�NO!!�� NO!!� He CAN�T...�
�HOW?!-� she
sobbed hysterically.

Draco
took a deep breath and sighed.

�It was
Potter-��

He gripped her and shhhed her over and over as this
new information loosed howls of pain.�

�Shhhh.. stop.. it�s ok.. Potter�s gone too.�� I killed him, alright?!� I .. avenged.. them both..�

she froze.

Them both?!

The
horror must have been visible on her face even through the contortion of the
emotion that was already overpowering her

�Wh..� she couldn�t quite manage to get enough breath
around her gaspy sobs to get the words out.�

He understood even so.

�Severus....
I don�t know what happened to Lestrange..� He might have
escaped.. but I�ve never heard
from him.� I�ve been giving you a potion
that I found in a book in the library�

Everyone.

Really everyone.�
Severus was gone..

and Rodolphus... who knew.. and ...and Lucius too..

...and Harry... but that was the only good part really..

Maybe they weren�t.. maybe it
was just..� There had to be some way for
it not to be true.�� There had to be!!

�H-..�� She sucked in
her sobs for a moment, holding her breath and choking out the question she
needed answered.

�How�

Draco
released her a little and got up on his elbows again to look down at her.� His face was tight and miserable.�

�Hermione.. You need to rest.� We can talk about it when you wake up.. I�ll be able to give you a calming potion then.� Please..� Please just let it go until you wake up!�

�NO.� NOW!� She screeched, aware of how she sounded and not caring about
anything beyond the thought that there had to be some mistake somewhere.� Something Draco hadn�t noticed.

The blonde sighed and leaned down, pressing a tentative kiss to the corner of
her mouth.

�Alright.��

I�ll tell
you.� Just..
stop-..� he petered out,�
as if unsure what he wanted her to stop doing.� Stop panicking?� Stop crying?�
Stop screaming?� Stop
mourning?�

�I�ll
tell you � � he snapped his fingers.� There was a soft crack as a house elf
apparated in.� �Please get me one of the
pale yellow potion phials on shelf two marked with an s� he instructed it
quietly.�

It cracked away.

�-I�ll tell you, but then you have to sleep for a while, ok?� It�s...�
it�s� important, Hermione.� I�ve waited so long for you to come back.. You have to recover..�

The elf
cracked back into the room and passed up a tiny bottle before bowing and
popping away again.

He showed
her the bottle.� Or at least.. through the dim blur of her eyes
she saw him lift it to show her.� There
was a vague line of his arm and she didn�t much care about the potion.

�This is a very mild sleeping draught, ok?�
If I tell you.. you
have to take it so that you can get some rest afterward.� Alright?�

She nodded blindly, just anxious for the answers.

He looked
at her for a long moment and then nodded decisively, turning and placing the
bottle on the bedside table.�

�Ok then..

So... the last thing you can remember is the Dark Lord giving you the potion
for the Horcrux, right.�� And before that
he dissolved your binding with Potter..�

She
nodded uncertainly.

�Well.. after you were sleeping he went
to check on Potter apparently.� I know
this because the prat told me all about
what happened later on.. but
we�ll get to that shortly.��

The Dark Lord visited him and he was ..sorry... or he felt sorry for him or something.� I don�t personally believe that but it�s what
he said.� And because he felt sorry for him, Potter
managed to convince him to let him use his magic.��

Since.. he couldn�t use his
magic against him anymore.. he thought it would be fine or something.�� Draco rolled his eyes as if to call Tom an
idiot.�

�He even
gave him his wand..
can you imagine?!..
I think that he must have taken a knock to the head or something.� I don�t understand at all why he did it..�

As if realising that he was getting off the point he gathered himself again and
continued.� �So..after ..father.. Severus was quite upset..as
you recall, I�m sure.��

She nodded again slowly, trying not to think about Lucius
right now..

�Well.. when you wouldn�t
wake up he went bloody spare!.. he was furious
with the Dark Lord for having done it to you without even consulting him about
the potion.� He tried everything to get
you to wake up.� None of it worked.��

The Dark Lord was crazed.. He killed ten or twelve
Death Eaters at the last meeting on a whim.��
He was spending more and more time with Potter..
Potter said that he cried..� ...and eventually
The Dark Lord took off the wards around him.�

He just let him roam around free in
the castle!��

It was terrible.� I couldn�t stay at the
manor and avoid him because you were
there.. and I had to make
sure you were safe.. I had to be sure that one of them wouldn�t suddenly take
it into their head to Avada you or
something, to put you out of your misery.��
I had to..be there.. all
the time.�

�Potter..was...

Well... lets just say that
he was an opportunistic bastard and leave it at that...

- And he started visiting Severus a lot too.�
I wasn�t thinking too much about it at the time because I had my own
worries and I was just happy if he wasn�t in the room with me..�
but I should have thought of it.. I should have
seen it coming.�

He paused and chewed on his lip uneasily, seemingly inwardly focused.� She had blinked away her tears somewhat and
was listening as hard as she could.. looking for.. anything... something
that might help.�

Draco looked worried.

�He used
the imperius on Severus� he said finally and
sighed.�

�I always thought that no one could master my godfather�s mind � after all, he
fooled Dumbledore for years.. but I guess I was wrong.�

He imperiused him and then he made him poison the
Dark Lord while he slept.�� He couldn�t
do it himself you see.� The binding
prevented him from actually raising a hand against him..
prevented him from firing a spell.. but
it seems it didn�t prevent him from controlling someone else to spill a few
droplets in the right place at the right time.�

...and the Dark Lord died.�

She shook
her head slightly.. no.. he couldn�t.� She
wanted to know how he knew..� where was the
proof?!� What was the potion.. how did he know there were no horcruxes?!

He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

�I�m sorry.� It�s what happened. �I can�t change it.� I wasn�t even there.� He boasted about it later on to me..�

At the time all I knew was that the Dark Lord hadn�t been seen in a while.. and then I found Severus in his
potions lab.� He was....dead.��

Uh..�� very dead.��

I thought Potter was quite friendly with him before everything went to shit...
but it seems he really wasn�t.�� Not
ever.� He was just an amazing actor.�� No one could do.. what. He...��

The blonde swallowed and shook his head firmly.�

�So I
know, ok?� I�m absolutely certain that
Severus is not alive.� I know that
neither of them had Horcruxes because Potter said so.� He said he�d checked with some spell.� He was pleased.. cocky.. it was obvious that he was
sure he had nothing to worry about on that front.�

Hermione
felt numb.�� It felt like she was waiting
for the other shoe to drop.�

She was certain that any second the black horror of panic and tears would wash
over her again but for now everything felt preternaturally still.� The way Draco scrutinised her registered
dimly.��

She tried to tell him to go on but she had no voice, it seemed.� Her lips moved but no sound came out.

�See.. this
is why I wanted you to rest before we talked about it.� You never listen to me!� You always know bloody best, don�t you!�� I should have forced you to sleep first.�

He stroked the hair away from her face before she shook her head, dismissing
his concern and knocking his hand away.

�What
happened next� she managed to spit out in a tiny voice.

He seemed
to suppress a sudden flash of anger and closed his eyes, calming himself.�

�Hermione.. I care
for you..� �I
love you!!�� ..you
are making me hurt you and I swore I�d
never do that.� Please..
please..could you listen to me and sleep first?�

She shook
her head again.�I�m fine.. I ..need
to know..� Please Draco!�

He sighed
again and looked down into her eyes, tilting his head slightly.� �Damn it..� I can never say no when you do that.� I�m sure it must be some affect of..of.. what you are..� When you say please..
every part of me just wants to give you the
world.�

Hermione.. you know you�re
safe now, right?� None of them will ever
hurt you again!� You�re safe here with
me.� and... and if you ever want to leave... you can.. I�ll let you..

I�ll never keep you locked away like they did.�
I love you... but I�ll always be yours...not the other way around.. you understand that?�

There�s nothing in the world I want more than to be with you... but if you don�t
want me around.. I�ll... I�ll find a way to live.. I�ll let you have what you want.� You are the most important thing in my life..�

He kissed
her again..gently..lingering
on her lips as if hoping she�d respond.

She
wanted to.. she really did..
She wanted to kiss Draco and comfort him, like he was trying to comfort her �
but she just..couldn�t..right
now.�

It was Tom.� She wanted Tom back.� She wanted it to be not true.� ��She
didn�t want to be free with Draco
Malfoy � she wanted to be caged with Tom.�
She didn�t care if she didn�t
have her magic.. didn�t care
if she wasn�t allowed to come and go or even walk around outside
unguarded.� She didn�t care if he could
be a little cruel sometimes..� She loved him.��

Although there was a part of her that could feel happy..
relieved.. to be here with
Draco rather than.. for example.. somewhere
else with Harry.. She couldn�t work
up the feeling to kiss Draco the way he obviously wanted her to.�

She passively let him kiss her and he eventually pulled away looking sad.

�Maybe..after you�ve gotten used to the way things are now..� he
murmured as if trying to convince himself.��

He seemed to sigh and then looked up at her again with determination. �-After
Severus.. Potter said he wanted to come here.�
He wanted me to take him to the Manor.. he wanted to bring you here so that you�d be safe while he
looked for a way to bring you back.�

I... went along with that.� He..wanted a...consort...
in his bed.. wanted to have me bow and scrape and suck
and fuck on command..�� He let me live for that reason alone.�

And I...did everything he wanted...because I knew that eventually he�d figure
out how to bring you back..�

And he
did.��

He was excited about it..� He told me all about how you were going to
marry him, apparently he�d found a different binding spell that would be even
better than the last one.. and
then in time there�d be children and a family..�

Well.. there�d be his children.� I
was never to touch you again, of course.�
He�d probably have killed me after you woke anyway.� I don�t think Potter would have been as
forgiving of betrayal as the Dark Lord was..

...and that sentence sounds so fucked up to my
ears too.

But that didn�t matter because I already had a plan in place by then.� I�d had a long time to think about it. ��He never even saw it coming.�

Muggle snipers.�

They were miles away.� Cloaked.. hidden..� I needed to
use something that he couldn�t repel, you see.�
I needed to do it when he was unguarded.�
He was never unguarded with me
around � but he did sometimes enjoy taking a swim in the pool.�

He�d set up wards like you wouldn�t believe.. but as it turns out � they don�t repel objects well.�� Tossing something at them, the object just
moved slower � more inertia.�

Bullets move pretty fast.� The dampening
of the wards didn�t slow them much at all.��

�He was
probably dead on the first shot to the head, but I�d told them to keep shooting
till they ran out of bullets and he was like..lace.. when
the elves fished him out of the pool.�

Draco narrowed his eyes spitefully and she had the feeling that there was
something vengeful and righteous to it.

�And then
obviously I tore the place up to find his solution to bringing you back.. I thought he�d hidden it in a warded room he kept but
after I had the top wardbreakers working on it round
the clock for a week and I finally got in � there was nothing there about
it.�

It took me months of searching to figure out that he hadn�t written anything
down at all � he�d kept it in his head.�
And then it took me even longer to locate every book he�d had his hands
on within the last five years and go through them one by one till I found what
he�d found.� But I did find it in the
end.�� It was a combination of a spell
and a potion.�

And then after I found it.. well..
I carried it out earlier this evening and....here you are.� Back..� still you.. Still Hermione...�� He smiled,
relieved and thankful.�

�I was afraid that it might work but you might not remember anything.. or you might be completely
different or something.� I was..concerned that using it might kill you somehow.. or.. make things worse. �I�m-..�

He broke off and curled down again, pressing his face to her neck � inhaling deeply
and then kissing her lightly over and over again.

�I�ll never let anything happen to you again..� he
mumbled against her.� �Please...please stay with me, Hermione..� I�ll make you
happy.� I know what you like.. I�ll give you anything.. anything you want..�
Please.. say you�ll
stay with me..� Just for a while. �Just give me time to show you how it could
be...�

She wasn�t
sure exactly what else she could do.

�How long
was I...sleeping..� she asked quietly.

He stopped kissing her and rested his forehead against her skin pensively.

�Three
years.�

She
jumped slightly. �Three years?!�
No wonder Draco looked older.�

She wondered whether she would too, but remembered the Dark Lord�s spell.� No.. she would look the same as she did on the day he made her
immortal through his own fear of death.�

Draco would get older and one day die while she remained perpetually seventeen.. perpetually exactly the same.

�Oh..� she whispered softly.

Her mind went back over everything that he had told her.

�And Rodolphus?�

Draco
groaned softly as if the question bothered him.

�I don�t
know where he is.� I can have people
looking for him if you want.� I can�t
promise anything though.� I think he doesn�t
want to be found.� Maybe he�s worried
that Potter will kill him.�

She
nodded. �Please look for him.�

He pulled a face and agreed with a nod against her.

�You have to take the sleeping draught now, Hermione.� It�s very mild.� Trust me.. you�ll hardly notice it.�
It will help you rest.� Please..� He retrieved it and held it out
to her.�

She didn�t
want to sleep.

But the way he was looking at her, with such fearful uncertainty..made her feel like she was being maybe a little unreasonable.� He seemed really worried and.. she could understand that..�

Three
years..�� How
much of that time had he spent being Harry�s slave?! ��All so that he could save her.�

She
opened her mouth and allowed him to pour the little peppermint flavoured potion
in.�

He seemed relieved afterward.�

He dimmed the candles, extinguishing all but two and slid down in bed
again.� One arm went under his pillow and
the other slid over her to rest his palm over her shoulder, embracing her
lightly.

She sighed, feeling the mild tiredness and allowing herself to yawn.� With very little difficulty she turned and
slipped into her normal sleeping position.�
He moved immediately to spoon up against her and the hand that had been
on her shoulder traced down lightly to rest on her abdomen.�

Behind her she felt him harden slightly, but he didn�t seem inclined to do
anything about it and after a while she fell asleep.

Her
dreams were full of dark shadows and holes..�� She was lying in bed but where Tom should
have been in bed, there was a hole down into blackness..� Where Severus should have lay there was
another..� She
inched about, trying not to fall down into either abyss.�

In the periphery dark figures moved about.�
Once she heard her name whispered in a tone of longing.

There were no faces and she couldn�t make out the voices of anyone she knew.

She woke
up once in a panic but Draco�s shhh shhhing and stroking and the little butterfly kisses he
placed on her shoulder calmed her down enough to drift off again.

The rest of her night was thankfully dream-free.

When she
woke up slowly, eased back into her mind by the yellowish light through tall
drawn curtains, Draco was already awake.�

He had obviously been so for some time as he lay on his side with his head
resting on his arm, watching her with an avid expression. �

When she looked at him, he smiled slightly.�
It had a component of childlike wonder to it.� After a while he reached out and traced a
fingertip down the side of her face, brushing aside the long brown curl that
was lying on her cheek.�

�you are so beautiful.�� He said quietly.� �and you don�t even know
it.�

She
blushed slightly at the compliment she just did not believe and his faint caught gasp and raised eyebrows in
reaction reminded her of someone looking at a kitten that had just done
something adorable.�

and then her memory returned of what had
happened.� Tom.�� Severus..�

and she didn�t feel like smiling any more.�

She wanted Tom back.� She wanted to be
lying in bed with him right now.. the glimmering red watching her
with that quick, clever, dangerous mind behind it.� She wanted to see the hunger in his eyes.

�Do you want
some breakfast?� Draco asked.. although
it was obvious he had been thinking about something else entirely.

She supposed she wasn�t really vehemently opposed enough to breakfast to make a
fuss about it and risk having a discussion about how concerned he was for her
health.

They had croissants
with melted butter and small bowls of freshly picked raspberries, blueberries
and blackberries.��

It was wonderful.� �Even if she had no appetite and really
preferred not to be pleased about
anything right now.. she couldn�t
really help it.� It was nice..

Draco glanced at her frequently and asked her several times if she wanted
anything else.. if the
croissant was warm enough or the fruit ripe enough.. If she wanted tea or juice.. if she wanted a twill biscuit
with the berries.� She felt slightly
overwhelmed with the volume of his
attention.. the amount of
it.� It was as if he was terrified that
she might decide not to speak to him again because her tea was too sweet or her
breakfast not prepared exactly to requirements.

She tried to reassure him.. and
he did calm slightly.. but she could tell that on an
underlying level he was still incredibly tense.

She
wondered what it would be like to wait for someone so long..
to miss them so
much that you�d do anything at all to get them back.� How horrifying might it be to finally see
them again only to find that they no longer wanted to know you.

She
wondered whether it might be possible to somehow bring Tom back.. and if she could.. how long it might take.. and
whether he would still want her afterward.

But..of course he would.� He didn�t really have much choice, did he?!�

She felt guilty for that thought.

Perhaps it was selfish of her to want him back so badly.� Perhaps wherever he was, he was at
peace?!��

She conceded that she was indeed entirely selfish because she wanted him back
even if he was at peace somewhere.� He was.. everything.

...And there her thoughts returned to Draco.�
Because..it seemed that she was everything to him.�� It seemed very much as if he felt about
her the way that she felt about Tom ...and really, how exactly would she feel
if she brought Tom back and then he pined away over
Severus and ignored her completely.��

No.. Worse.. How would she feel if he pined
away over harry... Someone who had hurt her.. someone she hated.�

That was probably how Draco felt.

After
breakfast he helped her up carefully.�
She really didn�t see why it was necessary.� She felt quite strong enough to walk
unassisted.�� Nevertheless he helped her
into the bathroom and ran her a bath, then hovered at the side the entire
time.� She wondered whether it was mostly
the wish to disrobe and climb in with her or the fear that she might somehow
flake and drown while he wasn�t watching.�

Whatever the reason, it was quite distracting.��
Whenever she lay back and closed her eyes to relax, he would say
something to her prompting her to respond, as if to make certain she was still
alive.�

He insisted upon washing her hair for her.�
It was nice.. but
weird.�� She had the feeling of being
somehow almost like a possession that he was protective of � much like he�d
cleaned and replaced the elfin crystal goblet after they�d drunk the gelfthornberry liqueur.

Afterward, as he was helping her out and wrapping her in a towel, she took the
opportunity to look at him more closely.�

His hair
was shorter, for a start.� It fell in a soft
silvery white wave to just below his ears.�
It suited him, she supposed, although she had liked the longer silk he
wore before.

He was.. harder now.� His face looked colder than it had looked when
last she had seen him.�

He was still perfectly toned and immaculately groomed but there was something
bitter that was closer to the surface now than it had been before.

She supposed he was allowed to be
bitter and angry now.� Before.. Tom or Lucius would have likely
punished him if he�d displayed anything other than the perfect mask they
preferred.

The silvery eyes flicked up to her own as he was
tucking the towel in and narrowed almost imperceptibly in speculation.�

�Yes..� I�m sorry.� The wizarding world hasn�t yet invented
potions to prevent aging altogether.� ...I�ve
done what I could with the means at my disposal.�

He said it quietly, ruefully, looking away from her; his brow furrowing ever so
slightly.

She felt
suddenly sad.�

The thought of Draco... after finally getting rid of an abusive psychopathic
Harry.. then spending all of
his time researching and shopping around for expensive potions and means by
which to preserve his appearance so that she might still want him when he
revived her..

�You�ve
cut your hair.� Other than that.. you haven�t aged a day� she said
softly, shifting her head to catch his eye.

�Draco... You have to understand.. I�m..�� She drifted off and bit her lip.� How did she say �- I�m going to be 17 forever and one
day I�ll end up burying you..�

�I
considered approaching one of the vampire clans, you know..�
he said quietly.� �Lestrange
seemed to manage being one well enough.� But... I thought..�� His eyes widened and then he shook his
head.� �Nothing.�� I thought nothing.� It was ridiculous.� Come on.. I�ve got
clothing prepared for you.� We�ll dress
and then I�ll give you the grand tour.�

She
wondered what he had been thinking.� It
seemed like he didn�t want to say
though.�

If it was important � it would come up again, she was sure.�� And it was better not to discuss the idea
of Draco becoming a vampire just yet.�
That wasn�t a good idea.� Rodolphus... well.. She�d cared
for him greatly.. but at
times it had really been clear that he wasn�t human anymore.� At times he hadn�t been able to think for the blood.� She didn�t think that the generations of
snooty Malfoy�s would quite appreciate their line
coming to an end with a voluntary vampire.

Draco led
her back out to the bedroom and then turned, taking her to a door on the same
long wall.� Within, she actually
gasped.� Had he bought up every clothing
shop in Diagon Alley?!� The room was vast and stocked with aisles of walls with tiny miniaturised
outfits in rows.� Like
dolls clothes in a toy store.� At
the end of the room there was a tall mirror that stretched from floor to
ceiling.� It seemed to have a button on
the side of it.�

He strolled through the room in the manner of one extremely familiar with their
surrounds. They walked down the left side of the room, Draco looking at the
tiny garments with a thoughtful eye.��
Finally he selected a tiny robe in pearl coloured silk.�

It reminded her a little of a wedding dress.

Seeing the hesitation on her face he laid it back and moved along slightly,
pulling out a simpler one in a deep Mediterranean blue.� It was about as far away from the pearly
wedding dress as could be imagined.� It
spoke of the oceans and white stone cliffs in Greece.�� He took it, enlarging it as a matter of
course, and moved to the next row where...hundreds
of tiny pairs of shoes were lined up in rows waiting for a Barbie doll to fit
them.�� Chewing his lip slightly he
pulled out a pair of tiny blue flat sandals with thongs that were intended to
be tied around the calves.

She
noticed that most of the shoes in the vicinity of the sandals had very low
heels or no heels at all.� A little
further along, the heels were higher and toward the end they were intimidatingly high stilettos.�

Good grief.� Was he thinking to train
her?! ��Still?!� After..everything?!� What the hell for?!� What was the point now?!

�She managed to cut off the thoughts
that wanted to follow on and drag her into a black morass of misery at the
thought of not seeing Tom again.� She
refused to allow that thought to seed.�
She would not deal with
this.� This was not something to adapt to � She would get him back.. eventually.� Maybe she�d have to wait a while.. but eventually she�d see him
again.

When
Draco also selected a tiny set of matching silky blue underwear for her, as if
she had somehow been lobotomised to the point of inability to dress herself,
she began to get just a little bit annoyed.�

Had he been going out and hand picking clothing that he wanted to see her
in?!� That was more than a little creepy,
no matter how much he had worried and missed her.

�Draco �
I can walk, you know.� I�m not actually injured� she snipped and confiscated the clothing from him.�

He blanched
and looked very sorry, immediately surrendering them and stepping back.

�I didn�t mean...�

I�m sorry Hermione.� I..
just.. ..

...I won�t do it again.�� He looked at
her hopefully.

Fine.� She�d wear the
bloody clothes he picked then.� Good
grief!�

�It�s ok, Draco.� Just..� Please don�t treat me like this anymore.� I can walk on my own.� I can wash my own hair..� I can certainly
pick my own clothes.�� Guilt flooded her
momentarily.

�Thank you.. for buying all
these things.. They are..all
..lovely.� You really didn�t need
to-�

�I wanted
to..� he interrupted softly. �You can�t blame me for
it.. He did
the same thing.. I saw your wardrobe.�

I�ve just had a lot longer and a lot more time on my hands..

If you don�t like..anything.. tell me.. please..and I�ll remove it.. or fix it or..�
he swallowed.� �I�m sorry. ��I�ll... I�ll leave you to dress, shall I?�

She
smiled uneasily and nodded.��

He stepped away and paced out of the wardrobe looking troubled again, leaving
her to her kingdom of dolls clothes

She
dressed uneasily in front of the tall mirror.�

The dress fit as if it had been made for her. ��She wondered suddenly whether it had.� She wouldn�t put it past Draco to order her tailormade clothing.�

When she had finished strapping and binding and fiddling with the sandals, a
house elf popped in suddenly, making her jump.�
She�d had the sudden frightening feeling of someone who was in someone
else�s house and had just been caught snooping rudely.� It was unreasonable to feel that way, but she
did.�

The elf
was wearing a little uniform.

She hadn�t
looked at the one that came in the dim candlelit room last night.. But here in the brightly lit dressing room it was
impossible to ignore that the tiny creature was wearing a strangely dapper
black uniform with silver trim and the Malfoy crest.�

Draco had given his elves clothes?�

Ok.. he�d been.. polite to them for her.. she�d seen
in the past � but this was just a step further than polite.� He�d said on the beach that Malfoy elves were
blood bound.� Was it even possible to free them!?� After the fuss they�d made at Hogwarts, she
couldn�t even imagine how difficult it might have been to persuade them all to
accept clothes.�� But she supposed � he could
probably order them to take them.. or something.� Did that actually defeat the purpose of
having freedom to choose?� She frowned,
unsure.� It was probably a good thing
either way, she reasoned.� If they were
still working here then they were choosing to do so.�

�Good
morning Miss Hermione� the elf said with uncharacteristic eloquence.

�Lord Malfoy sent me to ..a-assist ..you
.with your hair� it�s ears dropped slightly as if embarrassed at its own
momentary stutter.�� She blinked at it.� When it had said Lord Malfoy, for a moment
she had thought that Lucius was somehow here.� It was ..strange.. to think of Draco as the Lord of a Manor.

�um.. Thank you.� May I
ask your name?� she managed, without tripping over herself too much.

�I�s..� My name is Tizzy.� The elf said. �I am
to be your personal elf for morning dressings�� The creature�s brow furrowed slightly
as if it knew that its last words were not quite right but didn�t know why.

�Lord Malfoy says that I ..am.. to always ask what you...would...like
for your hair and no just doing.�� It
beamed, as if it had completed a difficult task.� She smiled back.

�Thank
you, Tizzy.� I�m pleased to meet you!� If you could dry my hair and put it into a braid, that would be very nice of you.�

The elf
shifted from foot to foot uneasily but nodded and smiled again.

�Yes Miss Hermione� it said and raised one hand, barely twitching the tiny
fingers.� She felt her hair dry, straighten, and twine itself into a
complicated braided up-do on the back of her head.� Several strands detached themselves and
trailed down the side of her face, framing it.�

�Is ..ok, Miss?� the elf asked fearfully.�

Hermione looked at herself in the mirror.�
It wasn�t at all what she�d meant � but she did have to admit that it
was better than what she would have
asked for.� The style was intricate and
flattering.. it managed to
look much more grown up than a simple plait.

�Yes Tizzy.� Thank you� she praised. �The elf beamed
and cracked away looking overjoyed.

It was
impossible to miss the way Draco�s eye moved over her when she slipped out of
the dressing room.� He was leaning back
in a chair by the window, looking the very image of �master of all he surveys�.�� He jumped to his feet as soon as he could
pull his eyes back in and tried for unaffected.

�You look..breathtaking..� he said quietly.� �I�ll ..try.. not to stare.� I know
you hate it.� You make it difficult though.�

Come on.. We�ll start downstairs, so that you can
develop an idea of where everything is in relation to the foyer and the four
main staircases.�

Her smile froze only slightly.� It seemed
that �the grand tour� was possibly a bit more involved than she had
imagined.�

�Don�t
panic..� he said, smiling and there was, for a moment,
a hint of that same smug arrogant ferret.�
�If you get lost, you only need to snap your fingers for a house elf.��

He came closer and offered his arm.

This was something that she�d only ever really faced at balls..
it was strange to be treated this way by Draco..� It reminded her of the peculiar little meal
they�d shared before their bath.�

He accepted her tentatively ventured hand and placed it on his arm.� His eyes shone for a moment, as if he was
suddenly painfully happy.� Then it was
gone and he was leading her slowly out into the chilly polished halls of the
Manor.

The Manor
was...overwhelming.

And tiring. �It felt
like it went on forever.

there seemed to be endless broad corridors of
seemingly superfluous rooms.��
Everything was decorated in a style that felt like a museum had collided
with Coco Chanel.� It was all so
painfully, horrendously elegant and tasteful.�
She felt uncomfortable just being inside it.� There was far too much marble and unnecessary
excesses of ornamentation.�

She hadn�t
even realised she was in the downstairs ballroom until Draco had described it
as such.� It seemed the very structure of the room had altered since
she had last been in it.� Nothing was the
same..the floor.. the walls..
the light fixtures.. Draco had informed her that the ballroom
had been moved to the east wing last year.

As if one simply picked up a room and shuffled it in somewhere else.��

That was apparently exactly what had been done.�
While they walked through a large, overly decorative, carven-wood door,
he was telling her about the foundation spells of the ancient structure which actually
allowed its dimensions to be altered by the current Lord.� It was a somewhat complex business to replot the entire structure, however, comparatively
speaking, far simpler than other magical means of renovation on that
scale.� She listened to him talking about
hiring wizarding architects and designers as they strolled down the short corridor
and mused to herself on the fact that the entire place
was apparently intentionally intimidating
and ostentatious.� There was no other
explanation if it had so recently been redesigned and altered.

Was this all Draco�s taste?� �She looked around herself with a more judicial
eye.

The long broad hall that they were walking through now was completely open on
one side with huge towering glass windows that stretched from the floor to the
delicately plastered ceiling ten metres above.�
The view outside was breathtaking, looking out over a vast rose garden
that tapered down to a small lake on whose banks stood weeping willows.� Beyond them, in the lake, an island was
visible, upon which further willows stood, along with what appeared to be a
small cottage.� The gardens between the
Manor house and the Lake were planted in avenues of Rose bushes that appeared
to be different plants that had grown together and interwoven into almost
hedges.. Blue roses blended into teal then yellow,
through white, pink and past red into black.�
It was extraordinary!� The entire scene
seemed surreal, it was so peaceful and lovely.

The voice
from behind them stopped her in her tracks.

�Ah there�s my favourite little mudblood..�

Draco�s
expression darkened to murderous levels.

�Father.� We
discussed this.� At length!..� You will keep a civil tongue in your head or
I shall not allow you to speak with her.�

All the
tiny hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end.

Lucius.

Lucius was here.

How did he.. She�d seen him die on the beach.� Had Severus somehow..
was it a trick!?�
Had Severus only pretended to
kill Lucius.. She�d come
back and he was gone.. Even Tom hadn�t seen it.� Severus had simply pointed to the ocean.� That wasn�t an answer!� He could have meant � he apparated away back
to bloody Europe to hide out.

Oh god.� �

Immediately,
Draco had his arms around her, stroking her back and pulling her close.�

�Hermione.. Hermione.. Calm
down.. You are safe.�
I promise.�

She clung to Draco and shook.� Any second
now Lucius would be behind her..
He�d-.. he�d start to do all
those.. things again.. He�d threaten her.. make her do things..he�d..

�Oh come
now.. You enjoyed our time together.� I recall you tempting me to another round
with Dolph. �Draco.. release the girl. �I
wish to see her again.�

Draco
held her more tightly when she started to whimper.

�Merlin.. It was a bad idea to bring you in here.� I�m sorry Hermione..
I..wanted to introduce you to my family.� I.. I spoke with
him.�� I didn�t think he would be foolish
or selfish enough to do this.

Look!�� He tried to turn her.�

She resisted.� She didn�t want to see
him.� If she looked at him it would just
provoke him.�

She didn�t know whether Draco could beat Lucius in an
impromptu duel.� He certainly hadn�t
tried to face Harry.. it wasn�t
really his way to be confrontational.�

�Hermione.. you must turn
around and look.�

It�s fine.� You�ll see..
He�s a portrait.� Oil and Canvas,
Hermione.� He won�t ever hurt you
again and if you ask it of me, I�ll take him off the wall and burn him.� �

She
stiffened.� Then she did turn and glance
over her shoulder.

Lucius Malfoy sat comfortably in a leather wingback chair
before a merrily blazing fire, a brandy snifter in his hand and a large window
depicting green gardens at sunset behind him. �

There was a massive gold ornate frame around the portrait.� He looked smug.�

�Oh allow
me my sport, Draco.� She is so very
lovely when she is terrified like that, don�t you agree?� That wide-eyed panting and trembling is most
evocative of her coital bliss..� One further pleasure which I will never again
have the opportunity to sample..tragically.. due to your shameful
betrayal of your own blood.�

Hermione
felt white hot righteous fury well up inside her.� She wished
she had her magic.� She wished she had a
bucket of paint!�

�Yes.� Burn him.� She said quietly.� ��

Draco
sighed heavily.

�If it�s what you want.. I�ll have the elves prepare a
bonfire at once� he muttered quietly..

Lucius leapt to his feet sputtering in shocked and
indignant disbelief� �DRACO!� You wouldn�t!!�� Hermione!!�
It was..humour..
nothing more!� For
Merlin�s sake � have some perspective!�

Draco
hissed at him venomously �Father.. sit
down and be silent.� I warned you not to force my hand.��

While Lucius continued to alternately rant at his son
and cajole her, Draco snapped his fingers and told a tiny uniformed house elf
to prepare one of the fires in the lower dungeons.

�Do not
be so ridiculous, boy -you will do no such thing!� This voice was new and came
from the other direction.� It sounded..familiar however. �There was obviously something in the tone.. in the cadence that all Malfoy�s shared.� A
certain entitlement perhaps..�

�Lucius has always been a fop and an imbecile and
while I know his brother and I would enjoy
watching him burn, were the opportunity at hand � unfortunately you do not have the authority to burn any Malfoy
family portrait - the foundation spells themselves will prevent it.�� Do you believe you are the first Malfoy to bear a grudge against a
relative?! �Kindly cease talking such
stuff and nonsense.�

Hermione
turned her head and found a man who looked younger
than Lucius, perhaps in his late thirties or early
forties.� His pale blonde hair was tied
back into a short queue and he was clean shaven.� The dark blue ribbon band binding his hair
matched his dark blue double breasted suit.�
He had eyes that were more blue than grey and a
wider, more angular jaw than Lucius or Draco, who
seemed to represent a progression toward narrow more pointed features.� This man looked somehow more masculine. Although
he did possess the same gravity.. he
also seemed lighter, more friendly.� She
had the feeling that he probably had quite a sense of humour..
and almost certainly a pleasant deep laugh.�

�Grandfather
� I am the Manor�s Lord now.� If I choose
to burn a portrait, I will.�

Draco managed to sound petulant and childish without whining in the
slightest.� But the man didn�t respond
because, since she had turned, his eyes had been fixed upon her with a slightly
bewildered, faintly frustrated expression.

�Don�t I know you?� he asked.. although
his tone was so uncertain it seemed almost as if he spoke to himself.

�I�m.. almost certain... I�ve
seen your face before somewhere..� So...familiar..� But impossible, obviously.� You cannot be more than... - why, I doubt you
are even twenty... Have you perhaps
been in the Manor before?.. perhaps
I have seen you walking through the halls at some point..�

He tapered off and walked closer till he was life size in the frame, standing
as if before a window looking out.� �Come
closer...please..��
I would like to see you� he asked with a tone that almost managed not to
sound imperious. ��

Hermione
frowned at him slightly.� �Well.. it�s possible I suppose.� I�ve been here..twice
before.� I was here only a few days ago.�

�-years, Hermione� Draco corrected. �It has been days for you..perhaps.� but for myself.. and for my grandfather Abraxas, if he saw you at all while
you were here with the Dark Lord � it has been a little more than three years.�

Lucius had now also moved to the very front of his frame
and stood towering slightly, looking down at them both, disconcerted.

�Hermione.. Please come here.� I ...should not have frightened you,
perhaps... but I would like, very much, to see you.� Forgive me...Let me look at you..please.�

She ignored him and walked closer to the other portrait, moving out of Lucius� view as she walked further down the long hall.� �The frustrated psychopath gave a short growl
of irritation behind her.

She stood
directly below the elder Malfoy.�

She had the strangest feeling that he was somehow familiar too.� It was obviously just the extreme similarity
of all the Malfoys visually, but it was rather like
the feeling of having seen someone in a film or on the street but not being
able to place where you had seen them.� �And it wasn�t quite... right either..� As if she were looking at a child star who had grown up.�� Perhaps there was some picture of him at
Hogwarts somewhere.

�Did you play quidditch perhaps?� she asked, trying
to put her finger on it..

The man
brightened.� His smile was radiant.� Like the sun coming out from behind clouds.� �Yes!�
I was the Slytherin Keeper for three years.� 42 through 44.�� His smile faltered.� �I should undoubtedly �have played in my final year but I
found I had quite lost my enthusiasm for the sport..� It is as well.� It�s a foolish game.�

Hermione
could sense that Draco, who had stepped up behind her now, was bristling in
offense.� He had played quidditch..
and clearly had never considered it a foolish game.

�Perhaps
I�ve seen a picture of you at Hogwarts at some point� she mused aloud.� �although... I
thought the team gallery only went back to the late sixties..�

�it does.�� 1968
is the first year� Draco chipped in, sounding a bit impatient. �We really
should introduce you to the others quickly.. or we�ll be here all day, Hermione and I would like to take
lunch outside by the glen and-�

Abraxas, ignoring him entirely, looked slightly confused.� �My grandson called you Hermione..�
Is that your name?�

She nodded, feeling that strange not-quite-right-ness
again.� The elder Malfoy was feeling the
same way it seemed.

�Are you perhaps
called something else?� A nickname or something of that kind?� I had thought sure your name was something
shorter than..Hermione
� Although, it is a very beautiful name, of course..
and it certainly suits you.�

She
smiled, pleased at the gentle flattery.�

�..well... I had some friends once who called me Mione..�

The man
tried the name out a couple of times, his lips moving in a strangely appealing
way.� She shifted her eyes away from
him.� This was an oil painting of a dead
ancestor, certainly not someone she should be considering attractive.� Good grief!

�It is closer..� perhaps that is what
I was thinking of.. but it still does not seem quite..
right..�� the blue eyes danced over her as if drinking her in.� �But.. I suppose it
does not matter greatly.� I am very
pleased that you will be joining us here.�
I would like to welcome you on behalf of the entire family.� I hope
you will be very happy..�� His gaze drifted to the boy behind her and
hardened pointedly.�

She felt Draco place a somewhat possessive hand on her shoulder.

�I would
do anything to make Hermione happy,
Grandfather.� I hope she will be happy
here too..� If
not.. we will go wherever she
can be happy.�� He squeezed her shoulder gently and placed
his other hand lightly on her waist, guiding her subtly away from the
portrait.�

�Come on.. there are a lot of
other obnoxious works of art to meet.�
You can come back here another day and speak if you want..��

Draco led
her through what seemed like an endless progression of blonde attractive men
and the occasional woman.� �Only those
who are Malfoy by blood gain a
portrait place here after death� he explained.�
�The witches you see here are all unmarried sisters and daughters.� Once a Malfoy witch marries, she forfeits her
place within the family.�

Hermione thought this was quite unfair but forbore to have what would no doubt
amount to an argument about it.� It
certainly explained why the witches she had been introduced to had been.. for the most part a little plainer
than the men.. and had had in most cases expressions
of wistfulness if not outright loneliness.��
The prettier specimens seemed more wistful, than the plainer ones.� One in particular tore at Hermione�s
heartstrings.� A little girl of no more
than five or six who informed her with a tragically adult voice that her name
was Caro Angelique, after her mother, who had been Angelique Sangsauvage before her arranged marriage.�

Draco tried to politely drag Hermione away but she shook him off and continued
to speak with the strange little girl who it seemed was one hundred and ninety
three years old.�� She still spoke with
the high woodwind voice of a child but seemed so sad.� Apparently she and her mother had been killed
because of a dispute over allegiances between the great wizarding families of
France in at the end of the 1700s.� She
had been dying to go and swim in the lake again for a hundred and fifty
years.��

When she lamented that there was so little to do as a portrait - particularly in light of her childlike
appearance, Hermione sighed and felt so sorry for her.� Until she complained that due to it, she couldn�t
even enjoy ..physical intimacy.. with
any of her more distantly related family as some of the others did.� At that Hermione blushed deeply and soon
thereafter allowed herself to be dragged away by Draco.

�Good god.. You mean they..� She scrunched
her face, unable to hide the disgust.� They
were related..
fathers, sons, brothers.. there
were few � very few women.. did they seriously....?!

Draco
smirked widely and laughed at her.�

�Well... they�re daubs on canvas, Hermione.�
They are hardly in danger of breeding.�
I suppose it�s one of the few things they can do.� They cannot read.. cannot walk far.. although.. perhaps I might
commission a painting of the lake.. Perhaps they might enjoy a swim or a punt
after all.. and you seemed so
touched by the tragic tale of my great great great great great
great cousin who cannot shag due to the ..standards.. of the others.

She
sputtered and struggled not to say what she was thinking � which was something
along the lines of �you people are absolutely sick.. how can
you even think about sleeping with
your own family members.� Sleeping with
your great grandfather is an even more repulsive idea than sleeping with your immediate
family.� That is all just.. just..� aargh.� What is wrong
with the bloody Malfoy family?!!��
Admittedly she had slept with both Father and Son..
but that hadn�t been her choice.� She wouldn�t have
had anything to do with Lucius if she had possibly
been able to avoid it!

Draco
seemed greatly amused and his buoyant mood persisted all the way through lunch,
which they indeed took on a terrace overlooking a small glen.� A mossy stream ran down through it and the
forest on either side of the narrow valley looked both ancient and cultivated �
it was somehow far too picturesque to be natural.� While they sat and consumed small Italian toasted
tomato crostinis, a deer came and drank at the
stream.�

Hermione was hypnotised.� This place was
so..painfully..beautiful.� ..So peaceful... How did the Malfoy�s end
up being- or at least..how did Lucius end up being such a
psychopath?!

The
season seemed to be early Spring.� The world had become green once more but the
deeper warmth was not yet in the air. Draco watched her quietly as she relaxed
in the sun.� He still had the slight
nervousness about him, but it seemed to be slightly calmed by her admiration of
the lovely countryside around them.. her enjoyment in meeting his family.�

She hoped he wouldn�t spoil everything by starting in again on how much he
hoped she�d stay here.

He didn�t. �Instead he took her for a
walk through the forest.� �

It was even
more lovely than the other views she had seen so
far.� Birds sang and she saw numerous
small animals moving about, entirely uncowed by their
presence, as if they had forgotten the fear of humans. ��After a while, he tentatively took her
hand.� His skin was warm and soft and
dry.� It was..nice..to walk like this, she decided.

Of course.. thinking about
that only reminded her of Tom again.� �

Draco, somehow more aware than she ever gave him credit for, released her hand
again and took them down another track where the trees were closer and climbing
vines festooned and draped between them.�
As they walked he brought up the issue of current events, informing her
of some of the changes in the wizarding world since last she�d heard.�

Apparently
a man called Barker Rowan was now Minister of Magic and was doing a passable
job of maintaining the British Wizarding world in a position where its allies
and antagonists overseas did not collectively view it as an unstable liability.�

The damage of the last war was being rebuilt and although there had been no
overt pursuit of former Death Eaters for their crimes, there was also no
continuation of meetings and activity by those who had previously served the
Dark Lord.� They, just like everyone
else, seemed to prefer to move on with their lives without making waves. �

She wasn�t sure what she thought of hundreds of murderers getting off scot
free, but before she could really work up an opinion to venture on it, Draco
had steered the topic to the rebuilding of Hogwarts.� Hermione found herself
interested and was easily led to discuss the changes that were being made to
the building.�� Skillfully,
Draco guided their conversation through the many charities and organisations
that had sprung up to care for the families of those hurt by the war, and the
lasting beneficial changes in the policies of the current administration toward
Muggleborns and halfbloods.� It seemed that these were to be contacted at
a much younger age and introduced to the wizarding world gradually by means of
summer camps.� As they talked, she forgot
about the darker matters that had been weighing on her mind and eventually,
when they were enmired in an amicable debate on the parents
of muggleborns� rights, Draco gently took her hand again and this time, her
mind didn�t flow immediately to Tom. ��This
time it stayed on the blonde boy who, she found, she really did enjoy being
with.�

When they
reached a grassy clearing in the forest and he pulled out a miniaturised
blanket and restored it to full size, spreading it over the grass and gesturing
for her to make herself comfortable, she felt actually quite happy.� It was..wrong to
feel happy.. and the guilt for her happiness was hot
on her heels..but nevertheless she couldn�t help a
certain peaceful tentative hope that ..even if things
were not how they should be � they were a lot better than they might be.�

She sat down and Draco joined her and after a while they both lay back and
watched the clouds.��

it was..strange.�� To feel both sad and happy at the same time
was strange.�

This
place wasn�t normal.. obviously
being here wasn�t normal.. but to watch the clouds
drift by overhead � to hear the wind rustle through the trees gently.. to feel the warm woolly cushion of the blanket over the long
grass.. It all felt somehow so much more normal than Tom�s strange extreme
world.�

Draco
captured her hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a light kiss to each of
her fingertips in turn and releasing her again.�

She sighed softly.

It really
could be a lot worse.

Author note.

Review replies can be found at
http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/18725-review-replies/
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Precious Mudblood