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.
The sound of his steps died out and Hermione let out a deep sigh. This was only her second day here. There were still twelve more days to go. This was a challenge unlike any other and she had a feeling this was going to be even harder than last year's O.W.L. exams had been.
She spent the rest of the day in the library, working on a transfiguration homework for professor McGonnagall. They were studying Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and its possible exceptions in class. To her great pleasure the Malfoy library contained all of her school books, so she made a lot of progress. By the time it was time for dinner she was halfway. The assignment was to write one scroll, but obviously that wasn't going to cut it (she really need to include the information she found on Thomas Grangold whose research had proven the second law was inconclusive) so she planned on starting another scroll tomorrow. She had more thane enough time on her hand here, so there was absolutely no need to rush anything. At least it kept her busy. Not having anyone to talk to was very lonely. She hadn't gone with this much solitude since that horrible time when she was fighting with both Ron and Harry in her third year. The memory still haunted her.
* * *
When Hermione left the library and went to her room to leave her homework there (she really didn't want Malfoy to find and copy it), she found she was getting nervous again. Having dinner with Malfoy was bad enough, but she could only imagine how much worse it would be with Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy present. It was with a small heart that she went downstairs and entered the dining room.
Malfoy was already seated at the table and for once seeing him was almost a relief. To her extreme satisfaction his parents where nowhere to be seen. Yet. They were still alone. Slowly she walked towards him. Luce wasn't here either and she wondered where the girl went when Malfoy wasn't entertaining her. Perhaps the nanny stayed here too. However hard she tried, she could not imagine a world where Narcissa Malfoy took care of little children - not even her own kin. The thought made her chuckle, which bought her an annoyed glare from Malfoy. Hermione ignored him and sat down on what had somehow become her regular spot opposite him.
She had not forgotten the fight they had had the night before and she was not planning on making easy conversation with him. And for a while everything went according to plan. They had dinner in silence. A silence that was only broken when Isa came in to bring a new load of baked potatoes. The friendly girl smiled at her, which seemed to anger Malfoy - but that was to be expected since everything related to Hermione made him sulky. Unfortunately Isa did not dare speak to her with one of her employers present, but she was extra polite and when she was done serving Malfoy only grunted an almost inaudible thank you. It made Isa's smile only brighter and the girl left the room as cheerfully as she had entered it. Hermione couldn't help but admire her confidence.
The servant's appearance had broken the silence and Hermione's curiosity eventually got the better of her. She sipped from her water before cautiously asking:
"Are your parents not joining us?"
Malfoy raised his eyebrows and snorted.
"Not likely."
She opened her mouth to ask why, but he had anticipated her question.
"Yes, Granger, because of you. You can't possibly blame them for not wanting to dine with you?"
She grimaced.
"I suppose not."
"I didn't think you would mind, actually. It seemed easier this way."
Hermione couldn't hide the surprise from her face.
"You were actually considering my feelings?"
He rolled his eyes.
"Don't push it. Mine and yours both."
After another awkward silence Hermione ventured to continue the conversation.
"Will they stay here the rest of the holidays?"
Malfoy's face hardened.
"Yes", he replied coldly.
At first she was taken aback, wondering what on earth she had said wrong this time, but then she realized there was more to it. He was definitely displeased, but for the first time it might have had nothing to do with her. She thought of the way he'd reacted in the library earlier that day when his father had called for him. Perhaps things weren't going so well between Mr. Malfoy and his darling prodigy. Curiosity burned in her veins, but she kept silent. He was never going to tell her what was going on and she didn't want him to mistake her gloating for concern.
"Okay", she said instead, a hint of a grin playing around the corners of her mouth.
He looked up at her and Hermione did her best to ignore the way his eyes searched her face. She wished she had never payed attention to them at all, because her gaze was almost involuntarily drawn to them.
"You think that's funny, Granger?"
She just shook her head, now definitely smiling. It's just that it was so easy to predict how he was going to react. As if he hadn't aged a day since she had first met him on the Hogwarts Express. If he hadn't hurt her so many times over the years she might have felt sorry for him. He hid every feeling away behind a mask of annoyance and pride. He always had. She had learned to recognize his anger and jealousy. This was something different. Something she hadn't encountered yet, because somehow it had nothing to do with her. So she didn't know what war was raging behind the mask, but she did know that something was going on. And since there was nothing else to do, she decided she might as well find out what it was.