Wonderstruck

Chapter 16: Three Malfoys & A Granger

 As the sound of the bell rang throughout the manor, Lucius waved his wand at the door, opening it.

 “Hello Mother, Father. This is Hermione Granger. Hermione, these are my parents,” Draco introduced after they walked in, feeling quite insipid introducing people who already knew each other.

 “Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy,” Hermione replied politely.

 “You can call us Narcissa and Lucius,” replied Narcissa with a kind smile.

 “I’m here, you know,” spoke up Teddy, breaking the repartee.

 “My apologies, this is Theodore Lupin,” Draco introduced with a smile.

 “But you can call me Teddy,” Teddy added, flashing a contagious smile. “Is this your house? It’s really big. And your hair is really pretty. Like my mom’s. But hers is red.”

 “Thank you,” Narcissa replied with a smile. “How about we head over to the gazebo?”

 As they headed over to the gazebo, Narcissa and Lucius fell behind, watching Hermione and Draco walking together with Teddy on Draco’s shoulder.

 “Is that Andromeda’s grandson?” asked Lucius quietly, taking his wife’s hand.

 “Yes. She told me about him once. In a letter. Before she…,” Narcissa stifled a sob. “I never replied. I even saw him a the…funeral, yet I never said anything. Even when Harry offered to introduce us, I refused. How can I ever forgive myself?”

 “Cissy, look at me,” Lucius demanded, wiping the tears from her eyes. “We still have time, we can make up for it.”

 After a few moments of silence, Lucius asked, “She really changed him, didn’t she?” watching Draco who was spinning Teddy in circles.

 “Yes, that she did.”

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 The day went by much quicker and less dreadful than either Hermione or Draco expected it to. Lucius and Narcissa were too occupied with Teddy to interrogate Hermione, who was more that happy with the shift in attention. Most of the day was uneventful except for one of Teddy’s many outbursts.

 Teddy was, once again, speaking of Victorie and how they were going to get married eventually. Suddenly he declared that he wanted to be the ring bearer and Victorie wanted to be the flower girl for Hermione and Draco’s wedding. Although he soon moved on to the next topic of him getting flowers for Victorie, the awkwardness lingered and Draco began regretting having ever taken Teddy to Hannah Abbott’s Flower Shop.

 Just as he finished his story about the flowers and the watergun fight, Lucius spoke up. “We have a flower garden here. Why don’t you and Draco pick something out for Victorie?”

 “Can I really!?” Teddy asked, his eyes widening with excitement.

 “Sure, darling. And Draco can even put a charm on it so they don’t die,” Narcissa replied with a smile. “And you can get Binky to clip them for you.”

 Draco cast a questioning glance at Hermione, who smiled in return, before hoisting Teddy upon his shoulders and declaring, “Let’s introduce you to Binky” and walking to the garden.

 “Hermione, we want to thank you for all you did for our son,” began Narcissa.

 “Before you say anything, let her finish,” Lucius added as Hermione showed signs of interrupting.

 “The year after the war was not a very pleasant one for the Malfoy household. Lucius and I were both on trial, and frowned upon by society. Harry’s support for us helped improve the circumstances, but we still went through a lot for the first few months,” Narcissa began, lost in the memories. “Draco wanted to stay with us and be there for us during the trials. But we both felt that he’d be better off if he went back to Hogwarts to finish his final year. At first, he was miserable and lonely. His letters had an aura of forced cheerfulness in them. But soon, something changed. A certain potions partner kept appearing in his letters. Mistakes were materializing in his usually meticulous letters. Something had changed. He had changed. And it was you who changed him.”

 “We’d both like to thank you for saving our son and giving him a reason to live,” added Lucius.

 Hermione was stunned and for the first time in her life she didn’t know what to say. She was saved from responding by the arrival of Draco and Teddy with bouquets of flowers. On their arrival, both women wiped tears from their eyes.

 “We should go, now. Mr. Chatterbox here almost talked my ears off about sending the flowers to Victorie. I was debating whether or not to place a silencing charm on him,” Draco declared.

 The last statement earned him two glares from the women and caused Teddy to stick out his tongue at him.

 As they were about to leave, Hermione turned to Lucius and Narcissa and said, “Thank you. For Everything,” trying to put all the emotions and things she couldn’t say, into those short phrases.

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 After the flowers were sent, dinner was eaten, and Teddy was asleep, Draco and Hermione were exhausted. As they sat down on the couch with cups of butterbeer, Draco began, “So, today wasn’t as horrific as I expected it to be.”

 “Hmm? Yeah,” Hermione replied, her mind clearly elsewhere.

 “Did you even h--,” Draco began before he was interrupted by Hermione.

 “I think we should stop this right now,” she declared, standing up and walking to the kitchen.

 “What? Drinking butterbeer?” Draco asked confusedly.

 “No,” Hermione replied. “This deal. We have to end it. Your parents…”

 “What about my parents? Did they say something?” asked Draco as his eyes hardened and he rose to follow Hermione into the kitchen.

 “I can’t lie to them like this,” Hermione whispered with tears glistening in her eyes. “They are going to hate me when they find out about it.”

 “No, they won’t hate you.”

 “Of course they would hate me! I’d hate myself if I were them,” Hermione replied, tears now streaming down her face.

 Without realizing what he was doing, Draco strode up to Hermione and enveloped her in a hug. In years to come, he will be unsure what made him do it. Whether it was the image of her with tears running down her face, the sad look on her face or something completely different. As his arms went around her, she melted into him, settling her head on his shoulder.

 Hermione didn’t know how long they stood there. It could’ve been minutes, it could’ve been years, yet the tears flowed on. At some point, Hermione forgot why she was crying. It seemed like she was releasing all the tears she had ever repressed. Slowly the tears stared to ebb and her eyes began to droop. She was nearly unconscious when Draco carried her to her bedroom and deposited her softly on her bed.

 He lightly kissed her forehead and whispered, “Goodnight, Mione,” before leaving.

 The last thing Hermione remembered was a faint, yet lingering, scent of spearmint that triggered a long forgotten memory. She vaguely remembered Professor Slughorn and potions before she succumbed to the comforting arms of sleep.

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