Questions of Science

Disclaimer: Negative

A/N: I still love you guys! PLEASE PLEASE review!!!! It makes me write faster! Oh and i'm still taking emails for the update list!!

The title comes from the song “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane…I would recommend listening to it, because it describes a lot of what is happening in this chapter!


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Chapter 9: Somewhere Only We Know

Hermione read through the notes dictated by the quill from that morning. Ok fine, she wasn’t really reading the notes, she was thinking about what had just taken place in the garden.

Draco and Hermione had walked into the house that morning and he had left her to do her work while he went to do his own. A little time apart to think had been unspoken and mutually agreed by the both of them.

Her mind was reeling. Had she really just fallen in love with Draco Malfoy after knowing him on friendly terms for only a week?

How could they both have fallen in love so fast when they had hated each other for all those years before Draco showed his true colors? When Hermione had found out that Draco had betrayed the Dark Lord, she had toned down the detestation she had for him in school into a subtle dislike for the arrogant boy.

This was all accelerating so fast. It was as if all those years that they had loathed each other were just an accumulation of passion and raw emotion about to erupt into something…passionate and emotional.

That still didn’t explain why they were in love. Of course Hermione needed to know the reason behind it. How could they know for certain that they loved each other? How is it possible that she loved him and he loved her all in a week’s time…?

Then it hit her. It was so simple, yet so disregarded.

Love isn’t something you think about, it’s something you feel.

That’s how she knew that she loved him. When he had held her in his arms as she cried that morning, she hadn’t thought about anything really. But she had felt love. She had felt it with her heart and not her mind.

Psychology couldn’t explain it because it had nothing to do with mental processes. As much as that field of science tried to elucidate love and attraction, it was never going to fully comprehend the entire abstract notion.

Hermione smiled as she confirmed her feelings. She really was in love because for once, her brain hadn’t told her to love. Usually she relied on her mind for everything, but this hadn’t come from there, and yet she felt that it was right all the same.

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A few moments later, Hermione’s thoughts were interrupted by Snot.

“Healer Granger, Master Draco requires your assistance with Mistress Narcissa…it seems she is not herself!”

Hermione quickly put the notes down and practically ran across the hall to Narcissa’s wing. She found Draco standing next to his mother, looking grim and Narcissa chatting away happily, sitting in a chair by the window.

“What’s going on?” Hermione asked, walking closer to them.

“I have no idea.” Draco said and motioned for Hermione to listen to Narcissa.

“Hello Lia!” Narcissa said and turned to Hermione. “That sure is a pretty pink suit.”

Hermione was still wearing the blue and black halter dress.

“Narcissa, when did you wake up?” Hermione asked calmly.

“Hmm…I don’t know. Now, when do I get to see that pretty baby of yours? Oh there it is. Isn’t Noah such a nice boy for holding the baby for you?” Narcissa asked, standing up from the chair and pointing to Draco.

“Narcissa, do you know who we are?”

“Well yes dear, what a silly question. Lia and Noah. I met you earlier this year at our summer house in Bath.” Narcissa said and picked up a pillow as if it were a baby. “Such a cute baby you have, Lia.”

Hermione walked over to Narcissa and set the pillow down, holding her by the upper arms and to face her.

“Narcissa, you need to focus ok? Take a breath. Take two breaths. Listen to my voice and don’t allow your vision to stray.”

Narcissa looked scared for a moment but did as she was told, closing her eyes and taking a breath. Hermione kept her hold on the woman, waiting for her to calm.

Narcissa opened her eyes and stared at Hermione. “Why are you holding me like this Lia? You have the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen and you’re so tall.”

Hermione was easily four inches shorter than the regal witch.

“She’s having a visual hallucination.”

She turned to Draco who was watching with a grief-stricken look. “Draco, I need you to keep her right here while I go grab a neuroleptic potion. Please don’t let her out of your sight.”

Draco nodded and guided his mother back to the chair, keeping his hand on her shoulder, to keep her from straying.

Hermione ran back to her wing and rummaged through her potions and treatment cabinet. She found the red liquid that she was looking for and ran back to the other side of the hallway.

She walked briskly over to Narcissa, uncorked the phial, and held onto it for a second.

“Draco, I need you to hold her down, because after I give her this, she might convulse and tremor. I don’t want her to hurt herself.”

“Why can’t we just magically restrain her?” He asked.

“Because that will frighten her, and having you there to hold her will bring her comfort. I never magically restrain my patients. It has horrible repercussions.”

Draco nodded again and stood in front of his mother, kneeling down in front of her. He grabbed her arms and held them down, to the sides of the chair.

“Let go of me, Noah. My, that’s a funny hat you’re wearing.” Narcissa said as she looked at her son.

“Narcissa, would you like something to drink?” Hermione asked.

“No.” Narcissa said with a shrug.

“Please Narcissa; I need you to drink this.”

“But I do not want to drink anything.” Narcissa said stubbornly.

“It’s a beauty potion, Narcissa, not that you need it. But it will add youth to your features.” Hermione lied.

“Is that so, Lia? Well maybe a little won’t hurt.” Narcissa said and opened her mouth, since Draco was still holding her arms down.

Hermione took a breath and brought the phial to Narcissa’s mouth. She tipped the contents back quickly, and shut Narcissa’s mouth with her hand, because the potion wasn’t the nicest tasting one out there.

Narcissa tried to move and choke and cough all at the same time, but Hermione and Draco held her still.

Finally, with tears in her eyes, she managed to swallow the liquid. Hermione let go of her mouth but warned Draco to keep hold of her.

Narcissa’s arms tried to struggle out of Draco’s hold, but he was much stronger than her. Tears were running down her face from the bitter taste of the potion and the struggle of not choking on it. Her body started to tremble and she started to sob.

Hermione pulled Draco’s arms off of his mother and knelt down in front of her.

“Narcissa?” she asked as she moved the blond hair out of the woman’s eyes.

Narcissa sniffed in reply.

“Narcissa, who am I?” Hermione asked, taking Narcissa’s hand in hers.

Narcissa remained quiet.

“You need to rest Narcissa. There is a strong sedative in the potion I gave you and you need to sleep. I’ll apply a nourishment charm to keep you fed while you’re out.” Hermione said and with Draco’s help, maneuvered Narcissa back into bed. She fell asleep almost instantly.

Hermione applied the nourishment charm, which acted almost like an I.V. and also applied a status monitor that would alert Hermione of any irregularities by having her wand vibrate.

She motioned for Draco to follow her back to her office.

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Hermione sat down behind her desk and Draco lay down on one of the couches in the office.

She quickly scribbled the day’s occurrence and all the steps she had taken to treat it. She could hear Draco’s breathing and it sounded so peaceful, almost as if he were asleep.

Hermione looked up from the notes and found him looking at her. He just looked drained, no happiness, no hope, nothing.

“She was doing fine this morning. I thought we were progressing.” He said solemnly.

Hermione sighed and got up from her chair and knelt next to the couch where he was laying.

“Your mother was extremely strong this morning. It took all of her energy to relive those things and to hear them from her son. What she just experienced was a visual hallucination. I was actually expecting it at some time, I just didn’t know when.” Hermione said softly, yearning to stroke his cheek, but she resisted. He needed space.

“You are so wonderful with her.” He said and looked at the ceiling.

“So are you. A weaker person wouldn’t be able to handle it.” Hermione said and this time did reach out to stroke his cheek.

He closed his eyes at her touch. “How did the analyzing go?”

She laughed quietly and pinched his cheek softly. “Don’t make fun of me.”

Draco smiled, opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. “I’m not making fun. I did the same thing.”

“Really?” Hermione asked with a smile.

“No.” He replied and laughed. “But I did think a bit about things.”

“What did you think about?”

“I don’t know. Just, if this was really what I think it is. And if we’re not mistaking it for something else.”

“Like lust perhaps?” Hermione said, having thought the same thing.

“Yeah, whether it’s really love or maybe just primal attraction. But then I thought about it some more and realized that it is love.”

“How did you come to that realization?” she asked with a soft smile.

“I don’t know.” He said. “I just trusted my instincts.”

“Same here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Except I’m not really used to it. Following my emotions and feelings like that.”

“It’s not that hard. Just go with it. Makes life interesting. You want to hear something?”

“What?”

“When I was younger, my mum would always tell me something. I don’t where she got it from, but it always kind of stuck with me, and I knew that it would almost be a mantra for me if I were to ever live long enough to feel so strongly about someone.”

“What was it?”

“She used to say that love is giving someone the ability to destroy you and trusting them not to.”

Hermione couldn’t think of anything to say. “I’ve never heard a truer statement.”

“Yeah.” He said and looked at her closely. “Do you feel, I don’t know, strange about all this? Merlin, do you really, truly think we’re in love?”

“Do you?”

“Well yeah, I mean, when we talk about things, I feel as if I’m connecting with you and that you understand me even if I don’t understand myself sometimes. When we were in school, I really hated you, I mean I just thought you were the most annoying thing on the planet.” He said and saw her smile. “I don’t think that now of course, I mean you have your moments where I want to shut you up, but then you’re just so damn pretty sometimes that I want to kiss you.”

“You are a horrible romantic.” Hermione said with a laugh.

“Are you saying that I’m sappy?” He asked with mock surprise.

“I’m saying that you are a girly-girl when it comes to love.” Hermione said, egging him on.

“Girly-girl?” Draco practically yelled. “Is that what you call people who use the right-side of their minds? Hmm?”

“Yes.” She said in jest.

“Well I’d rather be a girly-girl, horrible romantic than a scientific, robotic realist.” He said with a proud smirk.

“Doesn’t being a girly-girl somehow deflate your masculine ego?”

“I’m very confident in my sexuality, thank you very much.” He said obviously. “There’s nothing emasculating about using one’s emotions and depending on one’s instincts to live life.”

“Draco, there’s something I have to ask.” Hermione said after awhile.

“What is it?” He asked, sitting up and pulling her up onto the couch next to him.

“Well, I just, well how are we supposed to go about this? I mean, what’s going to happen?”

“Merlin.” He said with a sigh.

“What?”

“I knew you were a ‘plan-ahead’ type, I was just hoping you wouldn’t pull it out so soon.”

She pushed him in a playful fashion and faked a pout.

He ignored her ploy. “Can’t we just take it day-by-day? Whatever happens just happens? I mean, you said you don’t want fancy dates and gifts and all that, as much as I’d like for you to have them.”

“This is all a bit confusing, that’s all…I w-want to say something, but I don’t want to offend you.” Hermione said nervously.

Draco caught on to her emotion and took her hand in his, stroking her palm with his thumb.

“You can’t offend someone who has no self-respect.”

Hermione’s mouth opened in stunned sadness. “Draco, no. Don’t think like that. Why do you feel that you have no self-respect?”

“As if it isn’t obvious, Hermione. The minute I joined the Death Eaters I lost all of it. It was a given. After everything that has happened, I’m definitely not proud of what I’ve become. Seeing my mother suffer through her insanity is just another fucking nail in my coffin. Nothing can offend me.”

Hermione wanted to cry. The arrogant boy she knew from school had long ago disappeared into someone who had absolutely no sense of worth.

“I respect you.” She said moving closer to him. “I respect you for realizing your mistakes and instead of running away, helping to bring down the most evil being in years. I respect your devotion to your mother. Anyone else would have sent her to a Mental Care Facility or just left her to die. I respect you for trying to better yourself, for recognizing your flaws and your strengths.”

“Hermione, I told you before anything happened between us that I’m one step away from losing my mind. I have demons and horrors in my life that I don’t want anyone to know about. The only reason I tell you is to help my mother.”

That last part hurt. “You mean you wouldn’t tell me those things just because you love me, because I want to help you?”

“I wouldn’t tell you those things because I love you. No one as pure as you should be exposed to what I’ve been through. I need to deal with these things on my own and I need you to understand that. I asked for you to be my mother’s neuropsychiatrist, not mine.”

Hermione nodded. “But whatever you do tell me, I’ll use it to only help, never to hurt you.”

“That’s why it’s love.” He said with a smile. “You have the ability to hurt me with your knowledge, yet I trust you enough not to.”

Hermione couldn’t help herself but lean in and kiss him. He almost pulled back in surprise, but deepened the kiss, holding the back of her neck and pulling her closer to his body.

This kiss was lazier than the previous ones, no sense of urgency, no sense of need. It was glorious, like the others, but it held an understanding. An understanding that they were both still unsure of each other, yet they were willing to discover so many new things.

Hermione pulled back and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

Draco smiled at her and she realized that it was the same as the first smile he had ever given her. It seemed to light up his face and exude a feeling of satisfaction.

“What were you going to say before we got into that whole offended, no self-worth thing?”

“Oh. I was going to ask if you thought that the only reason we fell in love was because…well because we were isolated here together.” She said quietly.

He smiled softly and noticed her shame in having thought of something awful like that. “At first I did.”

She looked up at him in surprise.

“I thought that the only reason I could ever fall for you was because you were the only girl around for years. But that isn’t true. I already told you I believe in fate. Fate brought you here to this house to take care of my mother. Fate knew what she was doing. She’s a tricky bitch.” He said which made Hermione laugh.

“I didn’t fall in love with you because of the isolation. You saw past my previous indiscretions and you allowed yourself to find out about me, the real me. Not the person I was raised to be but the person I had to discover on my own.”

Hermione nodded along to him. He made so much sense to her.

“You know what scares me the most?” Hermione said after he had spoken.

“No, what?”

“Not knowing what’s going to happen. That’s absolutely terrifying to me.” She said and turned to face him. “With science, you know what’s going to happen. You study and you follow a set of rules and instructions and you should always get the same results. But with this, anything can happen and it could be good or bad. That’s a scary thought.”

He smiled at her and put his arm around her shoulders.

“That’s probably the most fun thing about it. Not knowing what’s coming up ahead. The surprise, the suddenness, the spontaneity…it’s invigorating.”

“We’re at polar ends.” Hermione mused. “That’s a scary thought, too. That ‘opposites attract’ study keeps popping into my head when we agree on different things.”

“But Hermione, we’ve proven that study wrong. We’ve proven science wrong. Opposites do attract. Hell, they fall in love, even.”

Hermione laughed and hugged him tighter. He did make sense, even when he went against the science that she held dear.

“When is she supposed to wake up?” Draco asked.

“The potion usually lasts about 12 hours. She’ll be up by tomorrow morning.”

“Well, I have a lot of work to catch up on…I really neglected the payrolls I was supposed to come up with, thinking about everything. I don’t know how you get any work done.” He said teasingly as they got up off the couch.

“Oh, I got used to it.” She said and followed him to the double doors of her wing.

“Will you join me for dinner then?” he asked, before opening the door.

“Is it a date?” she asked with a small smile.

“Do you want it to be?” he asked, taking her hand in his and kissing the back of it.

Damn his lips, even if she had wanted to say no, she wouldn’t have been able to. “Yes, that sounds wonderful. Casual though, I don’t feel like putting on makeup and heels and all that.”

“You don’t need that stuff. I like to see your face unhidden. I love your natural beauty. It enthralls me.” he added with a sneaky smile.

“Well your beauty haunts me, now get moving and I’ll see you at dinner.” She said and playfully shoved him out of the door.

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Dinner was wonderful. Draco was wonderful. She was wonderful. Everything was just…wonderful. They could talk about anything together and she knew he wouldn’t judge her and he knew she wouldn’t judge him.

Their food stayed half-eaten as they found out more about each other, running over each other’s answers with questions and questions with answers. There was so much to say to each other and so much to laugh about, joke about, tease about.

They didn’t talk about the shady stuff…there was a time and place for that.

Every time he smiled at something she said, her diaphragm would stop working, ceasing her breaths. She felt empowered to make him smile.

“So she finally convinced me to straighten my hair. I think she actually cried once or twice just to sucker me in. Belle is the most colorful and most dramatic person you will ever meet.”

Draco nodded and then looked at her thoughtfully. “I liked your hair better the other way.”

“Really?” Hermione asked with a hint of shock.

“Yeah. I think curls give a girl character. I mean, you look beautiful either way, I just liked the curls.” He said and took a sip of his water.

“Thank you. The next time I see Belle, I’ll find out how to get them back. If I do it myself, I won’t have any hair left.” Hermione said with an embarrassed laugh.

“So what are you going to do on your weekend off?” He asked.

“Well actually, I was going to take your mother to Ron’s wedding.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“It is the perfect opportunity for her to see the positive side of marriage and not the one she has had to face. The wedding happened to fall at a perfect time and I’m so glad I can utilize it to implement another strategy of treatment.”

“You’re going to leave me alone again with the house-elves?” He asked with a look of unease.

Hermione smiled. “Yes, why?”

“Merlin, last time when you went shopping with my mum, they decided that I needed cheering up so they put on a talent show.” He said with a look of annoyed reminiscence.

“They didn’t!” Hermione said with a laugh.

“Oh not only that, but they said I had to be the judge.” He said seriously.

Hermione couldn’t hold back the laughter…the image in her head was too much.

“It’s not funny!” He said with fake consternation. “I had to sit through two hours of ‘house-elf master theatre,’ ‘house-elf karaoke,’ and ‘house-elf dance-a-thon.’ If it hadn’t been for your whole birthday surprise thing that day, I probably would have been in a shitty mood all night. Would you stop laughing!?” he said with a smile.

For some reason, that just made her laugh even harder, and before she knew it, she had snorted. Snorted while laughing. Like a fucking piggy.

She quickly clamped her hand over her nose and mouth and stared in merriment as Draco laughed.

“Excuse me.” she said after a while, as if that would cover up the huge faux-pas.

Draco smiled at her. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. That was probably the most relaxed thing possible. Cute, too.”

“Cute? Lord, you’re more deranged than I thought.” She said playfully and got up from the table.

He stood up and held out his hand for her.

That gesture, oddly, sounded a million alarms in Hermione’s head. This had been their first date. Did he have anything planned afterwards? Was she supposed to have something planned? Did he want…sex?!?!

Draco stopped in his walking to look at her. “Stop it.”

She shook herself out of her thoughts to look at him. “What?”

“Stop analyzing. I swear, you’re going to drive me up a wall and we haven’t even been in love for a full day yet.” He said.

“Sorry, I just…” she trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

He held her face in his hands. “I told you that we were going to take this as it comes. No planning ahead, no future arrangements, just living in the moment. If you really are uncomfortable with that, then just tell me and I’ll, I don’t know, make an agenda for you or something.”

“Ha-ha.” She said dryly, but loving the way his hands held her face so tenderly. “So what now?”

“I was going to show you something you haven’t seen before.” He said and took her hand in his, leading her out of the dining room.

Hermione’s thoughts went astray again. ‘Oh goodness, I hope he doesn’t mean his bedroom. I’m in love with the fool, but I don’t think I have the nerves to go through with all that tonight…Merlin, he looks so good from behind. I’m so glad he doesn’t wear robes in the house because those navy slacks are just…Ok, so I’m officially a weird pervert for staring at his bum for so long. Oh Zeus, he’s looking at me and he’s smirking…DAMN!’

“I thought I told you to stop.” He said and brought her closer to him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they crossed the foyer.

“Bad habit…or a good one. I haven’t decided yet.” she said and leaned in closer, inhaling his manly scent that made her ovaries tingle.

“Well it’s a bad one if you keep staring off into space like that. It’s eerie.”

He led her through to the gardens, where the horrible questioning sessions took place and where Draco and his mother had breakfast every morning.

It was dark outside, no light at all, save for the small sliver of moon up in the sky. Hermione practically held on to Draco as he walked her through the fragrant garden and into the hedge maze. She couldn’t see a thing and wondered how on earth he knew where he was going.

They walked on for about 7 minutes, her squinting in the moonlight to try and see what was around them, and him holding onto her tightly and expertly walking a trail she couldn’t even see.

The Malfoy hedge maze was one of the first things established on the massive acreage of land. The first dweller of the Malfoy Mansion in the 1420’s had arranged for it to be constructed and difficult to solve.

The middle of the maze, which was the point that people were supposed to find had only been seen by three out of hundreds of Malfoys. That’s how hard it was to maneuver the maze.

After what seemed like ages, he finally stopped and she felt him reach for his wand. The next second, many small lights appeared, floating lazily above them.

Hermione’s mouth dropped open. “Are those butterflies?”

“No, those are anaboflies. Very similar to butterflies, except these give off a bright glow when charmed. Right now they’re in mating season, so they glow the brightest.”

It was as if a portion of the starry nighttime sky had amplified. The glowing bugs gave an orange-ish light around them as if they were candles or dull light bulbs. Hermione looked down from the anaboflies and looked to where they were standing.

It was the middle of the maze. The grass underneath their feet was the finest St. Augustine grass that money could by. Hermione could have slept on that grass if she wanted to. There was a beautiful fountain with a sad-faced Grecian-style statue pouring water out of her goblet. The water was different also, not clear or blue, but iridescent. The flowing colors were hypnotizing.

There were many flowers in the middle of the maze. The smell was overpowering. The sweet, musky, citrus-y, floral smells all blended into one. It was an Eden on earth, a real paradise.

Draco watched Hermione’s face take everything in. He had kept this place a secret from everyone he knew. Everyone, even his mother. Nobody alive knew about this place except for the two people standing in it at the moment.

Hermione looked to the man who stood at a distance, watching her. “It’s indescribable. Too much for words.” She said breathlessly.

“I call it Jannah.” He said and walked closer to the fountain, Hermione following close behind him.

“Jannah?” Hermione could not recollect having heard of that before.

“It was either Jannah or Arcady.” He said and sat down on the ledge of the fountain, patting the space next to him for her to sit. She sat down, not taking her eyes off of his as he spoke. “Arcady is the English form of the Greek word Arcadia. According to Greek mythology, Arcadia is undisturbed nature in its most astonishing form.”

“I know about Arcadia, but I don’t know about Jannah.” Hermione said, watching his eyes shine as he shared information.

“I read a book on muggle theology and religious beliefs. One of the more interesting subjects that muggles have.” He said in a non-offensive way. “The one idea of paradise is prominent in most of those religions and particularly in the main triad monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”

Hermione stared at him in slight shock. He really did read way too much. She let him continue.

“Now Jannah means Paradise in Arabic. I picked it because it had a nice ring to it and because that language is the most closely related language to Aramaic, which is one of the original languages of the Judeo-Christian history. So I kind of chose that to encompass all three of those theological theories into it.

“Plus, it’s unique.” He added as an afterthought.

“Very, very unique.” Hermione said, looking at the fountain behind her. “I had no idea you knew so much about…well everything.”

“I’m not even close to knowing a little bit of everything.” He said and held her hand. “But if I find something interesting, I read about it and it just kind of sticks with me.”

“Yeah same here. I just never ventured towards the liberal arts before. But hearing you talk about them with such an aura about you, well it makes it seem so bloody fascinating.”

“You sure have a sharp tongue for a girl.” He said with a small smile, his hand still holding hers.

“When you’ve hung around Belle for as long as I have, it just sort of slips. She uses curse words more than normal ones sometimes.” Hermione said laughing. “Does it make me seem crude or crass or unsophisticated?”

“Not at all…it makes you seem so approachable and a bit rebellious. I think that you were such a little anal-retentive snot growing up, that you needed to start expressing how you really felt with words that were meant to stay in pubs.”

Hermione feigned offense and withdrew her hand from his with a small pout. “I was not an anal-retentive snot.”

“Oh yes you were. I admit I wasn’t all that great, so you have to admit to it too.” He said, moving closer to her.

“Weren’t all that great? Try haughty, egotistical, little prissy-doll.”

He laughed and snatched her up close to him, bringing them into an embrace on the edge of the fountain.

“Prissy-doll?” he asked in her ear.

“Yeah. Prissy. Doll.” She accentuated each word as he grew closer to her face, closer to her pouty lips.

“H-mph” His words were smothered with Hermione’s lips. He tasted so good to her. She tasted even better to him. He could have sat all night out there with her in his arms and all their problems far away. That was what was the hardest to forget…the problems. The many, many problems.

He pulled away first, soon missing the warmth of her tongue and lips and smiled at her.

“You’re the only other living person who knows about the middle of the Malfoy hedge maze.” He said quietly.

“I am?” she asked, looking around.

He told her the history of it, how it was supposed to have only been seen by two other Malfoy ancestors.

“So how did you find it?”

“I used to run into the maze when I was younger, searching for it. It was like this unattainable goal. Something I couldn’t have. And yet, I wanted it so bad. I wanted to claim that I had found it, that it was something no one could take away, something that my father could be proud of.

“I found it after I had this huge row with my father about me joining the Death Eaters. I was still fourteen, it was Winter Break and he brought up the subject. To tell you the truth, I really was just not into it. I think at that point I was more lazy than ethical. Didn’t want to dirty up my robes or anything.” He said with a hint of a smile.

Hermione smiled at his honesty. He was at a personal, internal point where he could poke fun at himself.

“He just let me have it. Saying I was a disgrace to the Malfoy name, a disgrace to pureblood wizards everywhere, and even a disgrace to anyone with magical blood…which was pretty intense for him to say.”

He sighed and continued.

“I was a second away from flipping him the bird and just leaving. But instead I just came out here and walked into the hedge maze. I think I went through it for about twenty minutes until I found the middle.”

“You must have been excited.” Hermione said.

“I actually was, but not because I found the middle, but because I had finally found a place where no one could find me. From then on, after every row, after every Death Eater meeting I would run out here and just sit. I would stare at Adrasteia for hours.”

“Is that the statue in the fountain?” Hermione asked, turning around to look at the solemn-faced structure.

“I don’t know who put this fountain here, I’m sure it was the original ancestor who built the maze, but this fountain it’s so…I don’t know, significant.”

“How so?”

“Well, the legend of Adrasteia is that she was a nymph who was given the task of protecting Zeus from his father Cronus, who was going to kill him in fear that he would take over in power. Adrasteia and her sister Ida hid Zeus in a cave and whenever he would cry, they would make noise with their swords and shields so that Cronus wouldn’t hear Zeus crying and come kill him.

“This might sound ridiculously stupid, but I always thought that when I came out here to get away from my father or to try and rid myself of the memories of those meetings, that Adrasteia was protecting me…you know, like how she protected Zeus from his father.”

Hermione looked into his eyes. His grey, trusting, broken, saddened eyes.

She wished he could have had real protection in his youth, she wished he didn’t have to grow up in a home where he needed protection from anything. He had not been treated fairly by fate early on in his life.

“That’s not stupid at all.”

He smiled at her and stood up, stretching out his long legs from sitting for so long.

“I think we should head back in before the house-elves send out a search party for me.” he said and helped her off the fountain. She laughed and put her arms around his waist.

“Those house-elves really do care for you.” She said as he led them back through the dark after charming the anaboflies off.

“Maybe too much. After Snot and Poopy refused to play with me, I was a horror to all of them. But they took it in stride and when I went into hiding at the manor, I apologized to them. Merlin, you’d think I’d offered to make them royalty the way they acted when I apologized.”

Hermione laughed and held onto him tighter; enjoying the broadness of his upper body and the many steps she had to take to match his long strides.

“Never thought you’d be someone a house-elf looked up to.” Hermione said with a laugh.

“Yeah I know. My ancestors are probably rolling in their graves, shocked at how their descendant could ever be a decent person.” He said jokingly.

Before she knew it, the light from the manor appeared and they were inside all too soon.

Draco led her up to the third floor and they both checked to make sure Narcissa was ok. Two house-elves were watching over her and Hermione re-checked the nourishment charm and her vitals.

They quietly left the room and stood outside of Hermione’s double doors.

Before Hermione could feel any anxiety or nervousness, Draco caressed her cheek and kissed her softly.

“Goodnight my love” He whispered against her lips.

She repressed a sigh of loss and replied. “Night.”

She watched him walk away and before her calves could manage to dissolve and leave her immobile, she stepped through her doors and let out a long, lovely sigh.


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A/N: horrible fluffiness!! EEK! I’m personally not a fan of it nor am I very good at portraying it…I like the drama and the angst better muhahahaha.

I hope you guys enjoyed their little ‘date’ and I hope I explained their feelings and their thoughts well enough! I’ll never know if you don’t tell me!!

The next chapter will be a lot more exciting, so I can’t wait for that.

PLEASE REVIEW! I will write the best scene for you guys if you do!! Well I don’t know if it will be good, but I’ll try!!!