Chapter Four

246 11 3
                                    

Hermione quickly averted her gaze, focusing on the toddler in front of her instead. The child seemed happy, not yet corrupted by prejudice and foolish pride. Unaware of the hatred her family members felt towards people like her. She started to say something, but when she saw the warning on Malfoy's face she snapped her head back up. 

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten", she muttered - not too unkindly, because she didn't want Luce to think she was some kind of monster. 

Malfoy shook his head in disdain and grabbed his cousin's little hand. 

"What are you doing here?"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Excellent question. What would I be doing here, I wonder? Certainly plotting an evil plan of some sort. Certainly not reading a book or working on some homework. That would be really far-fetched, because who on earth would do that in a library?"

Malfoy grunted, but before he could come up with one of his clever retorts, they were startled by some voices downstairs.

"Draco! Draco!"

Hermione saw Malfoy's already pale face whiten even more. It seemed his precious parents had finally arrived and his father was calling for him. To her surprise Malfoy didn't seem happy about it. In fact, it appeared he was a little scared. She had no idea what that was about, but she couldn't help but wonder if maybe it had something to do with her presence in their house. Or maybe she was imagining it all together.

"What's that?", asked the little girl in front of them. 

It was the first time Luce Malfoy spoke and it surprised Hermione how clear her high-pitched voice sounded. She didn't know much about children or their development and wondered if it was normal for a three-year-old's speech to sound so grown-up already. She had a cousin herself, Michael, but even at the age of four she often found it difficult to make sense of the sentences he spoke. But she had long since realized he wasn't the smartest kid in town altogether. Luce seemed different. More alert, definitely clever. Her eyes were constantly fluttering around the room, trying to make sense of everything she saw - often fixing her gaze on Hermione. It made her a bit self-conscious.

Malfoy cleared his throat and picked Luce up so she was now sitting in his arms.

"That's uncle Lucius. He's calling for us. Let's go say hi, okay?"

The little one's face lit up and she nodded enthousiasticaly.

Hermione almost smiled. Almost. This was something new. She didn't think she'd ever heard Malfoy speak with such kindness or care. It made him seem like an entirely different person. Had Pansy Parkinson been here, she probably would have swooned over it, but Hermione wasn't so easily moved. So Malfoy had a softer side to him, it didn't make up for all the times he was a total jerk. In fact, she was pretty confident no one at school had ever seen him like this.

"Draco!"

Malfoy turned around without giving her so much as another glance and left the room with a confident step. But when the door closed behind them, she heard his footsteps falter - as if he was putting off meeting his father for as long as possible. Hermione had sworn to herself not to get tangled up in the family's business, but as much as she tried, she couldn't help but wonder what all that was about. It didn't exactly please her to see Malfoy rattled, but it did give her a hint of satisfaction that he wasn't as confident as he always appeared to be.

Silver DawnWhere stories live. Discover now