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A Creative Solution	By : cristinstar Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 19002 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor the characters from it just playing in JKR's sandbox. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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They arrived at her flat's front door, and Draco released her gently so she could drop the wards. Dazed from their kiss and abrupt Apparition, it took Hermione a couple of moments to gather her wits enough to do so. Once it was clear, Draco followed her through the threshold and stopped abruptly in front of her sofa, where Hermione dropped her purse.

"Did you redecorate?" he asked, turning in place. "What happened to your books?"

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes before answering. "I sold most of them."

His eyebrows rose, and his voice was quiet as he asked, "Pardon?"

"I said I sold most of them." She shrugged, trying to play down her mortification at having to explain just how broke she was. "What good were they doing just sitting here collecting dust? By selling them I figure I'm helping someone who couldn't afford to buy them new, and it got me through a couple more weeks."

He walked around the room, noting some empty shelves. "Are things so bad, that you were willing to part with your beloved books?"

Face burning, Hermione justified her decision. "Well, I did not sell reference books, or those that I want to re-read. And besides, I can always go to the Library, if I need to."

"But you also got rid of the bookshelves!"

She sighed in humiliation. "What part of 'I need money' was not clear, Draco? I wouldn't be trying to sell my Maiden's Blood if there were other options!" She turned to the kitchen area as she said, "Besides, it isn't as if I've sold any of the essential texts, or rare editions, or my favorites. Just the books I no longer need. Now, we are not here to discuss the sad state of my library, are we?"

Not waiting for his agreement, she changed the topic, "Would you like something to drink? I can offer you tea, coffee, or water."

"Water will be fine, thanks," he said, much closer than she anticipated. Whirling, she was surprised to see him casually leaning against her kitchen counter.

In her tiny kitchen Draco seemed to take over the space, charging the air between them with his energy, his size, his cologne, and his personality. Hermione turned away from him and tried to busy herself in the kitchen. She bent down to grab a tray first, then reached into the ice box for the jar of water, and finally opened the tall cabinets to reach for glasses. Wanting to use her better glassware, she reached high, standing on her tiptoes.

"Let me," murmured his voice, very close to her ear.

Startled, Hermione jumped slightly. She would have turned around to face him if it were not for his arm encircling her waist, preventing her movement. His hand cradled her tummy, pressing her gently against him as his other hand sought out the glasses, slowly trailing upward over her arm, giving her goosebumps. Breathing evenly against her ear, almost lulling, he brought one glass down without relinquishing contact with her arm.

Her hand was still outstretched when he gently placed the glass on the counter. He inhaled deeply and when spoke, directly into her ear, his tone was melted caramel. "If this is going to work, Hermione, we need to get accustomed to touching each other, don't you think?"

Holding her breath, Hermione realized her heart was beating so fast he would be able to hear it. However, Draco merely said, "Breathe."

She took a deep breath in, and exhaled it choppily as his hand traced the path upwards on her skin again, this time taking little detours to caress her. Hermione jumped when he touched her inner elbow, surprised it was so sensitive. He teased her there with little caresses, and also paid particular attention to the inside of her wrist, before grabbing the other glass and bringing it down through the same meandering path. Kissing her earlobe, very gently, he placed the second glass on the counter.

At the contact with his lips Hermione shivered all over. He used the arm that was holding her to him to turn her, and his other arm caged her against the counter. Hermione was not sure what she would see when she looked up at his face, fearful that this was just one of the common seduction tricks in his repertoire. However, all she saw was a shy little smirk on his face, his eyes bright and happy. Draco was normally good looking, but when he was happy like this, he was breathtaking. Caught in how handsome he looked in that moment, Hermione did not move for a few seconds while her eyes roamed the planes of his face.

"Do I have sugar on my chin?"

His question jolted her out of her admiration of his features. She squirmed her way out of his hold, saying, "Oh, no, not at all. I was just thinking --"

Chuckling, he released her. Walking towards the sofa, he rejoined, "A dangerous pastime, indeed."

Without answering, Hermione poured the water into the glasses and brought them over. Draco squinted, holding his glass up to the window to scrutinize the contents, seeing little things floating in the water.

In a tart tone, she explained. "It's lemon, Draco. I may have no money, but I still like things to be nice."

He smiled. "Mother would be proud."

"Your mother is one of the most gracious women I have ever met." She sipped her water. "I wish I had her poise and control. It never ceases to amaze me how different she is compared to her sisters."

He frowned before answering. "You have Lucius to thank for some of that," he said. "He wanted her to be the perfect pure-blood wife." He sighed. "Don't get me wrong; I am very grateful that Mother is so different from Bellatrix. But sometimes I wish she had just a bit of Aunt Andy's spontaneity. You know?" His smile was wistful as he elaborated. "That she could sit on the floor on Christmas morning and open gifts with her hair in disarray, like Aunt Andy did with Teddy last year."

Hermione smiled too, remembering when she had discovered that Tonks had inherited her disregard for decorum from her mother. If anything, Ted had been the staid, proper one in that relationship. "You're right, your mother is too much of a lady to sit on the floor when there are perfectly good chairs around." She paused for a moment, before deciding to jump in and ask him about something that had puzzled her for years. "Why are you so bitter toward your father, Draco? I know that his actions towards others were reprehensible but he clearly loves you, and --"

"He doesn't love me like a parent should love a child, Hermione." Draco's eyes were unfocused, looking towards the window as he sipped his water.

She frowned. "I think he does love you. I know he's a very private person, but I saw how he hugged you and Narcissa after the battle, and I know that part of the plea bargain he made with the Ministry was so that you would have a shorter sentence. If spending more time in Azkaban isn't enough to show you that he loves you --"

"That was guilt, Hermione, nothing more, nothing less," Draco's voice was bitter. "He sold me to the Death Eaters, did you know?"

She shook her head, quite surprised at this revelation. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "I'll tell you, but this stays between us, alright?" He looked at her, waiting for her assurance of discretion.

She nodded, saying, "Of course, Draco."

"The summer of our fifth year, while he was in jail, Lucius orchestrated things so that I had to take the Dark Mark." Draco stood up and began pacing through the small flat, raking his hands through his hair once more.

His voice was brittle as he continued, "He knew what the consequences would be for failing so spectacularly at recovering the prophecy, and he gave me up instead." A humorless chuckle escaped him. "And the worst part is, I can't fault his decision to give me up instead of letting them..." He stopped by the window, both hands in his pockets, looking out.

"Instead of what, Draco?"

"Instead of letting them have Mother." He sighed, unbuttoning and rolling up his sleeves. "I would have done it, chosen to take the Mark, to spare her. But I did not even have the choice. He had already signed the decision as Head of the Family, and I had to follow it. I still have nightmares of the night the Carrows showed up to collect me for the initiation rituals with Lucius' letter in hand. My own father..."

His gaze was fixated on the faint remnants of his Dark Mark as he continued speaking. "What kind of father forces his child to become a killer?"

"Oh, Draco." Hermione glimpsed how keenly Draco must have felt Lucius' betrayal. Wanting to offer him some succor from his inner turmoil, she stood up to get closer. From his trial she had known he was forced to become a Death Eater to spare his mother, but she had not realized that the choice had not been his own. Poor Draco, and poor Narcissa! It was not surprising that she had done everything she could to protect her son, going to Snape and to the Order, knowing Draco had been placed in this untenable position to spare her pain. And poor Lucius as well: what a choice he had! Give up either his wife or his son to a bloodthirsty psychopath.

Draco continued his bitter monologue, unaware that she had moved. "I wasn't even supposed to be marked. Severus and my mother had come up with a plan..." He paused for a a few breaths, lost in his memories.

"I had looked up to Lucius since I was a toddler; I idolized him. Throughout my childhood, I only wanted to make him proud, to grow up to be like him. But that night the pedestal upon which I placed Lucius came crashing down, and I started questioning everything he had done. When I thought back to our second year, I was nauseated. I mean, what kind of father would give a piece of Voldemort's soul to an eleven-year-old girl?"

Hermione walked behind where Draco stood at the window, and cautiously placed her hands on his shoulders. She felt him tense infinitesimally as she ran her hands down his crossed arms, until she was embracing him from behind. She rested her head against his back, once again wishing she was tall enough so her head would reach his shoulder.

He sighed, covering her hands with his own, bringing her more firmly against him. Draco continued speaking while looking off into the distance. "He taught me to cause fear, to mistreat others, instead of teaching me compassion and trust. Instead of having friends, I was to 'make connections' with the right people." He huffed bitterly. "Lucius filled my head for years with all that rubbish about blood purity, when anyone that has read up on genetics could see that all the inbreeding was only poisoning our gene pool."

After a couple of seconds of silence, Draco snorted and continued speaking. "At first I couldn't believe that my proud father was following a half-blood monster, or that my own godfather was a half-blood. It was years before I realized that the more fanatical the pureblood, the more they had to hide."

"Draco, our parents aren't perfect, but they try to be the best parents they can be within their own belief systems and limitations."

He continued speaking as if he had not heard her last comment. "Letting the Dark Lord deface the Manor was too much. I don't know if the Malfoy name will ever recover the prestige it carried before Lucius let himself be..." He trailed off, keeping his silence for a couple of minutes.

Then, with a sigh, he lifted her hands to his mouth and kissed each one. "I cannot apologize enough for how much of a prat I was to you when we were kids, Hermione, but I will keep trying." He turned around, keeping hold of her hands as if they were turning during a dance.

As he turned, his serious expression melted into the smirk she knew so well. "Enough about these depressing topics." He draped her arms around his neck, running his hands down to her waist. "I believe we were interrupted in the middle of some very enthralling negotiations, weren't we?" He angled his face and brought it closer to hers, seeking a kiss.

Still reeling from the emotional conversation, Hermione was surprised to find his lips on hers. Before it became anything more than a brush of his lips, she quickly pulled back. "Wait!"

He groaned and let his head fall on her shoulder. "What now?"

"I have some questions about this joint venture."

He sighed, blowing air onto her neck, and Hermione shivered in reaction.

"Of course you do." Straightening up, Draco guided her to sit on the couch. "Come sit, and we can discuss the rest of them." He sipped from his water glass while she joined him. "Which question would you like to start with?"

Blushing, Hermione asked, "Well, for starters, how are we going to collect this Maiden's Blush? How much will it sell for? What -- "

He interrupted her interrogation with a smirk. "One at a time, Hermione," he teased, "If I'm going to give a lecture on this salacious topic, we'll need some more appropriate libations."

"Shall I make tea, or would you prefer coffee?"

"Conversations about sex call for something else, don't you think? Let me take care of it. Tibby!" Draco called, and his personal house-elf popped into existence next to the sofa.

"Master called?" he asked, bowing.

"Miss Granger and I would like some wine from the cellars, Tibby. Something light and refreshing, if you would not mind fetching it."

"Yes Master Draco. Some of the rosé we bottled last year for Master Zabini, perhaps, for you and Missy Granger?"

Draco lifted an eyebrow, looking to Hermione for her decision.

"Yes Tibby, that will be lovely. Thank you," she said. Tibby promptly Disapparated, and quickly Apparated back, with a chilled unlabeled bottle of rosé and two crystal glasses in his hand.

"Will that be all for now, Master?" he asked.

"This will be great, thank you, Tibby," Draco answered, as Tibby left with a soft popping noise.

Hermione's eyebrows rose high as she saw Draco opening the bottle wandlessly. "I had no idea you were so versed in wandless magic."

Draco smiled, pouring them both wine. "I'm thrilled to impress you with my prowess, Hermione," he teased, "but this parlor trick is much easier than <i>Summoning</i> items from other rooms. I would be happy to teach you one of these days -- I'm sure you would master it quickly if you were interested."

"Thank you." Accepting her glass from him, Hermione briefly changed her line of questioning. "I did not know your house-elves were working for the Zabinis."

"Blaise was kind enough to help us out. He needs seasonal help in the vineyards, and instead of hiring Muggles, he pays the same fares to the Malfoy elves."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "The Zabini I know from school would not broker you such a deal unless there were something for him in it, Draco. What is he getting in return?"

Draco smiled enigmatically. "Is helping friends only the realm of goody Gryffindors then?" he teased gently, holding up his wine glass for a toast. "To our joint business venture. May it bring us pleasure, happiness, health, and wealth. Cheers."

"Cheers," she answered, touching their glasses together, and took a small sip. It was very good, light and refreshing. She was about to ask him about the strange wording of his toast when he started speaking.

"I must say, the house-elves really outdid themselves with this vintage. You'll enjoy knowing that they are quite happy to be paid by Zabini."

She smiled wryly. "If their payment is to be enjoyed by others, like we are enjoying this wine, I am not sure it can be considered payment."

"Oh, this bottle is not really part of their payment. Blaise lets them keep the extra wine they make each year, since he does not have the storage capacity for it, as long as our house-elves bring their own bottles. That is why the bottle does not have a label."

"Are you saying you are reusing wine bottles?" He nodded. Who would have thought that the Malfoy family would be one of the first pure-blood families to adopt recycling? Bemused, she asked, "If not in wine, how do they get paid?"

"In galleons, of course."

"Really?" She was skeptical. "I championed the idea for several years, but the house-elves have made it clear that they do not wish to accept payment. 'It would be like Missy Granger paying her mother for each meal' they told me."

"Ah, but that's when you suggested they be paid by their Masters, their families." He smiled broadly as he explained, stretching his arm across the back of the sofa. "Our house-elves are being paid by the Zabini family, and they use their funds for the needs of the entire Malfoy family, plus whatever maintenance project they choose to do on our properties."

Hermione's mouth dropped open. "Wait just a minute," her voice rising as she asked. "You have them using their pay for your own gain?"

"Not quite," Draco amended. "We use the funds to make sure all the Malfoy family members, including our elves, are properly fed and cared for. Mother and I would not have been able to feed them otherwise, and, as you know, it is quite traumatic for house-elves to change families."

He sipped his wine while she mulled over his explanation, before continuing to speak. "You have to admit it is a good solution, letting all of our house-elves stay with us without dramatic rationing."

His hand began playing with her hair, caressing her nape underneath the curls in a most distracting manner. Hermione shivered, and he pretended not to notice as he explained the plan in detail.

"Then, after all our food and medical needs are covered, they collectively decide what use to give their remaining wages. Mother and I have a vote each, just like any of the elves. It has driven Lucius nuts!" He smiled gleefully. "Sometimes they vote for the strangest things - for instance, last year they decided to wire the Manor for Muggle internet, and this year it was a wireless upgrade."

Hermione was having trouble understanding what Draco was so happy about, partially because his distracting caresses were making it challenging to concentrate on his words, and partially because his words did not seem to make sense. "That is very strange, you're right. We barely manage to make electronics work in most wizarding houses. Did you have a computer anywhere in Malfoy property when they did this?" Draco shook his head in the negative as he played with the stem of his wine glass. "So where would they have gotten the idea?"

"I may have encouraged them slightly, and now Mother and I have laptops that work all over the Manor." Draco's smile was firmly in place as he continued teasing her neck with gentle touches.

Confused even more, Hermione asked, "What do you mean?"

"Can you imagine anything that would drive Lucius further up the wall than having the Manor wired for Muggle internet?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise. "You mean you did it just to harass your father?"

"Not just, no. It has proven to be very useful, I'll have you know," he explained. "Although to be fair, the house-elves certainly have shown a predilection for choosing to improve the Manor in ways that Lucius most categorically would not, and does not, approve of."

"Please tell me they did not hurt themselves in punishment afterwards," she implored.

"They didn't," he answered, smoothing his hand over her shoulder. "Merlin, you're so tense! Relax, Hermione, they did not hurt themselves." He began massaging her shoulder, and Hermione involuntarily gave a little appreciative moan as he found the tension knots in her muscles.

"Mmmmm… I thought that the house-elves were compelled to please their Master..."

"They are," Draco explained, "but Lucius is no longer their Master."

Her eyes opened widely at that revelation. "What? How?" Hermione was completely taken aback by these revelations about the internal politics of the Malfoy family.

"You're going to keep tensing up, aren't you? I'll tell you, just lean your head forward a bit, Hermione." She did, and he brought his other hand to be able to massage both her shoulders at the same time.

"Keep in mind that I felt completely betrayed by him with my Mark, and the year after, when he allowed the Dark Lord to move into the Manor to use it as his own. I wanted to stop the Death Eaters' depravity going on in my own home, and spent quite a bit of time doing research about pure-blood traditions. During that time, I came across an interesting ritual." He was smiling proudly when she glanced at him. "You see, by endangering all of the living members of the Malfoy family and soiling the ancestral home, Lucius was not showing particularly good leadership. So I organized a conclave of the paintings of earlier Heads of the Malfoy Family, and Renounced him."

"Renounced him?"

"Yes, Renounced him. It is a pure-blood tradition that has rarely been enacted throughout history, because it cannot be undone. It is not only by choice that I do not call Lucius my father, it is because I am unable to do so after the Renouncing."

Hermione pulled away from his hands, taken aback by the constant stream of surprising revelations. "So you are the current head of the Malfoy Family?"

"The one and only. According to our Family Oath, I am now responsible for the welfare of our lands and our people, which mostly refers to the house-elves and the Manor. Since the Renouncing, Lucius does not have any legal claims to the Malfoy properties, remaining funds, and all that -- even the Manor is outside his jurisdiction."

"What did your mother do? Is their marriage still valid?"

"Mother was not pleased, but she eventually came around to understand my need to go through with the Renouncing. Their marriage is still valid -- it isn't as if he does not exist anymore." He finished the contents of his glass, and said, "Come here, let's get these muscles back to normal." Turning her around in her seat, he moved closer to her back and resumed both the massage and the explanation. "You know that despite Lucius' incarceration they are still in frequent contact, right?"

Hermione nodded, feeling quite ignorant about the whole domain of pure-blood traditions. Would there be books in the University archives about the Renouncing process? Or would it be something passed on solely through the pure-blood family grimoires, that could only be read by the family members?

"We chose not to make the process and his name change public," he said, "but for all intents and purposes, Lucius <i>Malfoy</i> does not exist anymore."

Quite confused, Hermione grabbed her glass, and sipped some wine as she tried to understand the ramifications of this ritual. "I don't follow, Draco. Didn't you say earlier that it is not as if he doesn't exist anymore, when we talking about your mother's marriage? But just now you said that Lucius Malfoy does not exist anymore. What do you mean?"

"Come on, brightest witch of her generation and all that, you can figure it out." As he teased her verbally, he tantalizingly caressed her nape.

Besieged by another wave of goosebumps, Hermione retorted hotly, "I could, if someone was not distracting me!"

Draco chuckled, and explained, "What I meant is that we can still talk with Lucius, and about him, which you can see from our conversation just now. However, he is no longer a member of the Malfoy family."

"I am so confused, Draco. What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that since the Renouncing, his magically binding name is not Lucius Malfoy anymore, it is now Lucius Gamp, after his Mother's family."

"So your mother's name is Narcissa Gamp, now?"

"No, Mother is still a Malfoy, with all the rights that come with the name."

Dear Readers: What do you think Zabini is getting in exchange for hiring the Malfoy family elves? Leave your guesses in the reviews, and when that part of the plot unravels, we'll have a little award for the winners. I've already promised the deleted scenes compilation to the winners of the previous two questions, so for this open mystery, I was thinking of offering the winners a preview of the next chapter after the mini-mystery is explained in the story.

Chapter Notes: Giving credit where credit is due: The notion of Renouncing a family member might remind you of sshg316's Disavowal process, from her story "Heart and Soul." "Heart and Soul" is a very sweet story where Draco and Luna come together romantically after Hermione and Severus' marriage. If you are interested in those pairings, go read it!

Her notion of Disavowing is that it is used as a threat to bring wayward children back into the family fold, and if carried through, makes the family act as if the Disavowed child never existed. In contrast, my idea of Renouncing is that it can be enacted by any family member to bring about a change of family leadership, and remove the Renounced person from the inheritance line. Once Renounced, the familiar ties between between the Renounced person and their original family are not recognized. However, Family members can still speak of, and with, someone who has been Renounced from the family.

The notion of Lucius' Mother being a Gamp is part of this story, not canon. Only three of Draco's grand-parents have been mentioned by JKR; the fourth, Abraxas Malfoy's wife, has not yet been named. The Gamp family was mentioned by JKR in the Black Family Tree, where she wrote that Hesper Gamp married Sirius Black (1877-1952), the son of former Hogwarts' Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black.
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A Creative Solution