"But... do you like her though?" Blaise smirked.
"My eleven year old self yes, but my nineteen year old self? I don't think so.."
"Ah, keep telling that yourself until you can no longer call Hermione, Granger"
"Piss off, you've been teasing me about her for years now! Don't you think it's time to move on?" Draco said, sitting down on the sofa, trying to relax.
"Hmm, let me think about that once you stop being such a wuss"
"Say that again and I'll be kicking you out of the quidditch team,"
"Says who?" Blaise teased. "Says me, now I have to go, need to go get some shut eye"
"An alternative term for dreaming about Hermione because I can't get her personally because I'm a pure blood and she's a muggle born but in my fantasy we get married and have kids?"
Draco took him by surprise, flicked his wand at Blaise and said, "stupefy!" Which made Blaise came flying and knocking off of his chair.
Draco had went home, making his way to the forest, making sure that no one was following him. He now lives in a cabin in the woods near his tree house full of potions, he had spent his money to build it himself near a river.
Though he was isolated from the village, he felt at peace, and he was comfortable. And even if he feels lonely, he would simply come by and hang out with Blaise and Pansy. The two were the only people who knew where he lives.
Before he could even walk up to the door, carrying a box of books with him, a familiar owl had past down unto him and gave him a letter. The letter had dropped down right onto the box in which he saw the familiar wax seal in front, a rather black wax with a golden stamp of "M" on it.
He was sure enough it was from his mother, because the stamp was their family stamp. But how could his mother know where he is?
He entered his cabin, feeling an instant coziness because of the cold. The place was so much different than the Manor. He's got a small living room, a one bedroom with a master bed, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. And that has done it for him for over one year.
He places the box down on the coffee table, Sitting down in his sofa to open his letter, and he then read,
Draco,
It's been a year and luckily I came across Pansy Parkinson and asked her where you live, thus I have now sent my letter for you. Please come visit me in the manor tonight, we need to talk. Otherwise if you don't, I will just invade your privacy instead.
Love,
Mother
He sighed as he read, placing the letter back onto the envelope, plummeting down onto his sofa.
He was deciding whether or not to come by his mother's invitation. But of course, he had no choice. He didn't want his mother to visit him here.
After a few minutes, he had finally said that he is willing to come by the Manor.
On the same night, he had fixed himself up for his mother, turned off the fire from his little fireplace and left the cabin. He then apparated himself on the way to the Manor.
Being upon the large gates of his mansion, he had to admit he missed it. He missed everything no matter how dull it looked.
The gates had recognized Draco and so it let him in. Walking along the silent steps towards his house, he muttered under his breath, "lumos" that flickers a light on his wand, making his way to the front door.
Of course, no one else would have opened it because they no longer have a house elf, he pushed the doors open hearing a loud creek from it. The whole place was spotless, but still dull.
He made his way onto the dining area, where he had seen light coming from it.
He saw his mother on the other end of a long table, patiently waiting for him to arrive with a feast of food awaiting for him at the table.
His mother had been very thin than she was before. She creeked a smile upon her lips, and her eyes started to water at the sight of his son not being able to see him after a very long time. "Draco, it is you.."
But of course, ever since after the war, Narcissa had stayed in the manor alone and no one had taken care of her but herself. She had felt embarrassment within herself so she hid under the large house so everyone would think she regrets every choice she had made that involved the dark lord.
She came closer to Draco who kept a stale face, gave him a big hug. "what have you been to lately? I've been all alone in this miserable place" she cried. Tears finally streaming down her face, cupping her hands on Draco's cheeks.
Draco felt immediate sadness flowing unto him, making him cry as well. He had to admit he did missed his mother. But he didn't want to follow any more cruelsome things. But he hugged his mother back and they both cried.
"Come now, eat. You know I've made all of these for you. I was afraid you wouldn't come, otherwise coming out of the house would have been a waste of time"
And so they did. Everything tasted so exquisite, Draco felt the instant nostalgia because everything Narcissa had cooked for him was all of his favourite homemade food.
"So Draco, I want to ask what have you done since you've been gone?" She asked calmly.
"Uh, well I soul searched and that was it. Currently living out of town but it's all good."
"Draco... I'm sorry for what I said to you. You know I was just trying to follow the rules"
"Let's just leave it, mother." He said.
"All right. Oh Draco, Pansy mentioned me about a girl you've been seeing..." Draco's heart began to skip, quickly looking at his mother, and started to worry if she had known about Emma, even though they clearly went on one date.
He gulped down his food and said, "w-what girl?"
"You know, Draco, I'm not surprised you'd want to be with her. After all, she is really intellegent."
Intellegent? Who is she talking about? He thought.
He took a sip from his goblet of water as his mother then broke the silence,
"But of course, as a mother I'm sorry to say..." she took a deep breath and placed her spoon and fork down the table and said formally, "you cannot marry Hermione Granger."
Draco spat out his water and said, "What?! H-Hermione? Marry?! Mother what the hell are you talking about?"
"Well I suppose you know the rules, my son but... The purebloods must go on. It's tradition! And since you are turning twenty next year I suppose we could start getting arrangements if you'd like. See any purebloods you'd like to get to know. But of course I'm not forcing you into marriage just yet. But I'm already telling you this so you'll know" Narcissa said calmly.
"I am not dating Hermione Granger! Why would Pansy tell you that?"
"Oh that's because I read the news the other day and so when I saw Pansy I quickly had to call her and ask about you and your love life."
"But I am not seeing her. We don't have a relationship whatsoever. We're just... friends" he scoffed.
"I see... so you've gotten peace with them?"
"Not all of them. Weasley's still annoying as ever, Potter's sticking up his job in front of me, and Granger.. well, let's just say we're good"
Narcissa grinned and held his son's hand to say, "I'm proud of you finally..." and then her words trailed off and said, "nevermind."
~
Harry was on his way home after a long day of work, feeling rather upset that Ron didn't do much this day, except for tagging Theodore Nott. But the rest was nothing. Ron had only looked for Draco and never came back. He felt a bit of anger that he worked hard today in the ministry and Ron was trying to deal with his jealousy. So coming home that night, he wanted to confront Ron about it.
He reached the burrow, he saw everyone practically busy except for Ron, who was chilling silently near the fireplace. Harry took a deep breath and walked to him to say,
"Ron, we need to talk"
"Oh hey Harry" said Ron, still looking at the crackling fire.
"Oh hey Harry, how was your day Harry? Was it good Harry? My day was great, thank you very much how about you?" Said Harry sarcastically.
"You sound like Collin Creevey"
"Well it would be nice working with Collin Creevey than you who is lying there chilling whilst your best friend is having an inquiry at work" Harry spat. "Oi, I didn't mean to.. It's just that... look, I know you're mad about me bothering Hermione but seriously, if you were in my shoes and you see Hermione picking sides with Draco would you be happy?"
"What are you talking about?" Harry sat down next to him.
"I mean that Hermione defended Draco Malfoy from me. She defended our nemesis!"
"Why?"
"I don't know either." And then it went silent, that they could only hear the ruckus from the kitchen, and the crackling fire in front of them.
"Should I go talk to her?" Harry asked.
"I think you can. Ask her everything."
"Ron, are you really sure this is a good way to move on?"
"I've moved on, believe it or not, Harry. I'm just worried about her that's all."
"But what if... it has come to a conclusion that Draco Malfoy is what Hermione thinks he is? How would you feel?"
Ron didn't reply. Instead Harry then nods and stood up, agreeing to talk to Hermione right after this. In fact, Slughorn's party is indeed tomorrow night, so that would be a good chance to talk to her.
"Harry, Ron! Come, dinner's ready! Go call your brother George to come down now" Molly said, holding a big platter of roasted chicken with juicy gravy on top.
Ron had muttered angrily under his breath and stomped his way upstairs like a little kid. Molly had noticed it and so did Arthur so they asked Harry, "what's wrong with him?"
"Hermione.. he thinks she's currently flrting with Draco." Harry said, taking a seat at the table.
"Well Hermione is a bright young gal, I don't see her doing such thing. Daily Prophet might be wrong" said Arthur.
"That's exactly what I told Ron.. but I just guess he might be jealous" Harry shrugged. "Oh nonsense! I'll go talk to Ron. Go on and eat" said Molly who went upstairs to look for Ron and George.
Ron had woken up George from his nap, and he quickly noticed Ron wasn't looking well so he asked, "what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing" he scoffed.
"If it's about Hermione then go look at the brighter side, there's Lavender, Romilda, the Patil twins" he joked, teasingly poking Ron's sides.
"Stop" Ron sighed. "You don't understand, George... she's with Draco. Saw it on the news. I just can't believe it,"
"Honestly brother, why should you care? Hermione's happy, right? And if she's happy, then you should be happy. You can't do anything about it. Just support her. There's nothing wrong with that, right? And let's just say Draco's up to something. I think that's the only time you come around to get her out of it. Much better if you ask me. Because if Draco is trying to use her and you saved her, you'll be her knight in shining armour."
Ron didn't agree however. Though tomorrow was slughorn's party and Harry's supposed to talk to Hermione that night. So he would have guessed Harry will fix everything up instead of following George's advice.
But behind all of it, there's Molly, peeking through the door, without the two noticing. She cracked a bit of a smile as she saw her two sons bonding. She wouldn't want fo ruin it since it was perhaps the first time George had said something wise to Ron ever since. So she went down instead.
~
Draco insisted himself to stay at the Manor for the night for his mother, then left right after lunch to practice for quidditch.
However they have to wait until the hufflepuffs had ended their training, so Draco and other of his teams were forced to watch the try-outs instead.
He watched the first years try out for keepers, the third years for beaters, and one small average boy who was trying to get one golfball as a temporary snitch. Theodore Nott and Blaise snickered over the people who were horrible at it. "If this was the quidditch league they'd be out the first second they step into their broomsticks" said Theodore Nott.
But Draco on the other hand was silently watching over them. He saw Susan Bones trying out as a chaser. And she was pretty good at it.
It wasn't in Draco's nature not to insult anyone especially the hufflepuffs, so Theodore looked at him, waiting for something to say.
"What?" Draco asked.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Theodore asked.
"About?"
"About their horrible try-outs of course! Aren't they going to battle us out for the quidditch world cup? If the hufflepuffs become our team for hogwarts I'd rather come back to azkaban at any moment"
"Give 'em a break, Nott.. Look, it seems like Susan's got her back" Draco pointed at her, which in coincidence Susan was looking at Draco too.
"What is it with you? I've been gone for just a year and now you're all softy"
"It's because of Granger" Blaise whispered into Theodore's ear.
"You going out with Granger now? Wow. After all these years, you're still in love with her." Said Nott.
"Nott, shut up. I'm not in love with her. I've been over her, all right?"
"Yeah, since when? Since your father told you not to?"
"Hate to admit yeah" said Draco, even though he was lying. He was the only one who knew himself that he hasn't gotten over Hermione Granger until after the war, where he had no other choice but to let her go, thus leaving his side at hogwarts to go back to his family.
~
Vote & Comment!
Sorry it took me so long to publish this but I still hope you guys like it! I also changed the book cover what do you think?
I've also read your comments and messages about depression and once I was reading it, it made my heart warm and I wasn't actually expecting anyone to care but you guys are absolutely the best! There are some who are still battling depression but I do hope you overcome it ♡ I love you guys so much and don't ever forget that you matter, ok? We're all in this together! (Currently trying to battle mine one out all because of you guys)
Also we have reached 6k reads thank you so much!
Again, still doing dedications & easter eggs so watch out and as always, see you in the next chapter x