Little Secrets

Chapter 4

Draco hadn't really been surprised to see Hermione with an armload of books, but he had been surprised when she did exactly what he told her to.  Aunt Bella was ruthless and would no doubt say horrid things about Hermione if she knew she could hear.  When the Floo lit up and both Aunt Bella's and his father's heads appeared in front of him, he was double glad he'd sent her away.  His father was sure to make him check for listening ears and after showing him there was no one listening, the real talk began.

"What's the update on Potter?"  his father demanded without much preamble.  Draco refused to be upset with his father for getting down to business.

"I don't have one,"  Draco grumbled.  He should have known that's all his father would want from him.  At the very least he could have asked Hermione if she'd been in touch with her friends.  Then he'd have a better answer than the idiotic one he'd just given his father.

As expected, Lucius Malfoy was visibly disappointed.  Aunt Bella at least pretended she wasn't disgusted, but his father couldn't have cared less.  Draco waited for his father to scold him and give him a speech on making the Dark Lord proud, but it didn't come.  Instead, there were several seconds of silence where Draco stared at his irritated father and Aunt Bella.

"Why?"  Lucius finally asked.  Draco narrowed his eyes and Lucius pursed his lips.  "Why do you not have an update?"

Draco hardly resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  His father hadn't honestly expected an update this early on, had he?  Even Lucius Malfoy himself wouldn't have been able to get someone to trust him so quickly.  Of course, there was that little tidbit about him and Hermione being very close, but his father didn't know that.  Not even his mother knew the true extent of their relationship and how Draco's feelings were quickly developing.

"She'd a Mudblood, Father,"  Draco hissed, spitting the word as he said it.  His father's lips twitched but he hid his anger well.  "It's not easy for her to trust me after last year's mission."

"She doesn't have to trust you, Draco, darling,"  Aunt Bella chimed in.  Draco glanced at her, already not liking what she was about to suggest.  She wiggled her eyebrows and said,  "She just has to want you."

"If you think I'm going to allow my son to defile himself,"  Lucius spit,  "With a Mudblood, then you are very mistaken."

Draco sighed as his father and Aunt Bella bickered for a minute about the importance of his mission and how he needed to be ready for anything.  Clearly, neither of them cared what he thought which Draco figured was just as well.  He would never give them an honest opinion and he pretty much intended to not do what they suggested, but they could at least have enough decency not to argue about him in front of him.

"How's Mother?"  Draco asked, promptly ignored by both.

With a sigh, he got up from the couch and wandered up the stairs.  He thought about checking on Hermione, but the last thing he wanted was for his father or Aunt Bella to know she was in the dorm.  Instead, he walked into his bedroom and grabbed a book for Transfiguration.  He took it back into the living room with him and was unsurprised to see neither of the heads in the fireplace had noticed his absence.

Rather than try and get their attention, he opened his Transfiguration book and read ahead in it.  He was two chapters in when he was snapped out of his own world by his father's voice demanding his attention.

"Yes?"  he drawled, setting aside the book.  His father scowled at him fiercely but Draco was unaffected at this point.  Seventeen years of the same look lost its touch at some point and Draco had stopped caring for his father's opinion a year or two ago.