Cafe

Chapter 17

"Whatever you need," Draco thought about it for a second. Maybe he could talk to George about it. "Do you want me to talk to him about it?"

"Draco, you would have to go into Diagon Alley and walked into his shop." 

"Hermione, I am going to have to come back into the wizarding world eventually. Sooner than later, I would imagine. Your life is there, and I want to share that with you. I can't hide forever."

"If I hadn't come to your cafe, you could have," Hermione smiled at Draco as she said it.

"No, if Marget had minded her own business, I could have," Draco laughed and kissed Hermione.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she wanted me to meet you after the first time that you came into the shop. Of course, I didn't know it was you. When I brought you that first coffee, it was to please her. I figured that you would be another girl that Margret thought was cute and tried to set me up with. I was horrified at first that you were sitting in that booth, but now I am really grateful."

"Did you make a habit of going out with girls from the cafe?"

"No, actually. It infuriated Margret. She would always introduce me to ladies she thought were my type, and then I would sit with them while they had their coffee and then never speak to them again."

"You obliviated them, didn't you?" Hermione could see it now. Draco obliviating them as they left so they wouldn't remember the cafe or him. 

Draco was wide-eyed that Hermione had figured out his secret. "Well..." 

"I knew it!" Hermione laughed loudly, and Draco just watched as she tried to calm herself. 

"I didn't want to go out with any Muggles."

"Why not?"

"I didn't want to fall in love," Draco didn't know how else to put it.

"Why not?" Hermione was curious now. 

"What if I fell in love with them. I couldn't marry them. Keep the biggest part of myself a secret from them, and I would only be allowed to tell them if we had children. What would they think about me? Keeping secrets from them for so long. It isn't fair to them."

Hermione thought about it and decided that it was a fair reason. He was trying to spare the heartache for both of them, and she smiled. He was changed, and she was happy that he had, and she had found him. 

"You know that is thoughtful of you, Malfoy," Hermione said, teasing Draco. 

"Are you always going to call me Malfoy?"

"Of course I am, and you are always going to call me Granger. It is what we do,"

"I like calling you Hermione,"

Hermione kissed Draco, and he pulled her into him again, kissing her back. She sat up suddenly, and he was a little concerned. 

"If you are living in the muggle world and your mother has passed, what happened to the Manor?"

"Well, at the moment, it is just there. Nothing is really being done with it."

"What do you plan on doing with it?"

"I am not sure."

"We could turn it into something," Hermione started thinking of a million projects that it could be made into.

"The Manor?" Draco didn't really want it to be turned into anything, "It shouldn't be anything."

"Why not?" Hermione put her hands on her hips and looked at Draco with a frown.

"Hermione, if we do turn it into something nice, all I am ever going to remember about that place is that He lived there. Or the beating that I used to get from my father. I don't have any good memories in that house."

"Well, I have terrible memories there too. Maybe it would help to turn those around and have a new slate."

"And if it doesn't work. If it just makes the memories worse than they already are?" Draco wasn't convinced. 

"Don't you think that it worth a try? At least if it is worse, we would have one another. I promise you if we do this, and it hurts you more than helps you, we can stop."

"Alright, and if I think it is making your nightmares worse, we are stopping," 

"Deal," Hermione kissed Draco. She stood up and sat down in the chair next to Draco and summoned a piece of paper and a pen. She was getting started right now.

"Right now, really?"

"Well, we have all the time in the world, right. When we go home, we are going to get caught up in work."

"Hermione, it is beautiful outside, don't you want to enjoy it?"

Hermione sighed, nodded her head, and stood up, heading to the bathroom. She came back out in a swimsuit and started packing a bag to go to the beach. Draco followed her lead, and he changed as well.

After a while, they headed out and went to the beach. Hermione worked on this project, though, while they were there. She did enjoy the sunshine.