A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for 2k+ views. It means a lot to me! Hope you guys liked the last chapter. So, a new character, Caleb Warrington, was introduced. And, we have established that Hermione is still in love with Draco, and he is just being his usual stubborn self. Read the A/N at the end to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter!
"So what do you think of the idea?" Narcissa asked Hermione as she finished telling her about what she and McGonagall had been discussing.
"I like it. I really do." Hermione smiled. "I think it will really help the kids specially those who are muggle borns and have no idea about our world until they receive the Hogwarts letter."
"That's one thing for which I would like it if you would help me." McGonagall told her. "Since you are a muggle born, you know perfectly well how it felt when you got to know about magic, and what all difficulties you faced while adjusting with something you had never thought existed."
"Of course! I would be glad to help you. And maybe we can even have some programmes for their parents, so they can get a better understanding of our world. After all, they will be sending their kids to a place they can't access for more than half a year."
Hermione turned towards Narcissa as she said this, whom she knew was perfect at organising things like this.
Seriously, the Malfoy matriarch was a brilliant planner and organiser. And she loved organising these events, specially galas and balls.
And weddings too.
She did, after all, organise her son's wedding.
"Leave the planning of all the events to me." Narcissa told her. "Just let me know the date of the opening of Mini Hogwarts, and I will make sure everything is done by then."
Hermione smiled at her. "Seriously, Narcissa. You should become an event organiser or something." It wasn't the first time she was suggesting her best friend's mother to do that. "You have got so much talent, and we all love your galas, you know?"
"Thank you for that, Hermione." Narcissa smiled back at her. "But you know that I am quite satisfied with planning things for my family and friends. Besides, I don't think many people will appreciate me planning their events for them."
McGonagall frowned. The treatment of her friend and her family by the whole Wizarding World had always been a sore point of her. She couldn't understand why would people treat Narcissa harshly?
She did save Harry's life after all.
If it weren't for her lie to Voldemort, and for her son to give Harry his wand, the noseless idiot would have easily won the war.
"If someone causes trouble or misbehaves at the programmes, I won't be taking it lightly." McGonagall told them. "I wouldn't tolerate someone insulting my best friend and her family for something that had happened almost a decade back."
That was why she and Narcissa had kept their friendship quiet. They knew how RIta Skeeter would write a very disgusting and annoying article full of lies.
And they knew that everyone would think that Draco was allowed to come back to Hogwarts, and was also made the Head Boy because of their friendship.
Which was wrong.
Hermione nodded. "I agree with you." She too didn't like how everyone treated her best friend and his family. "But I don't think they would cause much trouble. After all, they wouldn't want to destroy their children's chance at proper education, right? But if they do, we will just have to handle them."
McGonagall nodded while Narcissa sighed. "I don't want you two to do anything like that." But she knew that the two witches in front of her were quite stubborn. "I would hate to see such an interesting and helpful idea getting backlash because of what a few people think or say."
Hermione and McGonagall looked at each other before the latter changed the subject. "Anyways, do you think Athy will attend Mini Hogwarts?"
"I think so." Narcissa nodded. "Draco obviously wants what's the best for her, but I think he will hesitate a bit at first. He doesn't want Athy to get treated badly just because he was once a death eater, albeit not by his choice."
"I think we should let him look at the file first." Hermione suggested. "It contains all the details, so maybe that would help matters a little bit."
"Where is the file right now?" Narcissa asked.
"Oh it is in the Ministry of Magic Important Records and Files room." McGonagall answered her. "I wanted to keep it with me, but Kingsley told me that we need the permission of the Wizengamot before we can think of opening it. I told him that any worker could access that room, and the file is supposed to be confidential. But he assured me that he would try his level best to keep it safe."
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A few hours later.....
"You are going to apologise to Draco today, and explain why you hate Muggle Borns." Narcissa told him as they stood outside their son's house. "And that's final."
"What if I don't do that?" Lucius asked her.
"Then you are most welcome to sleep in the basement tonight." She smiled at him. "Nobody is going to stop you."
Lucius shook his head. "You can't do that." Before she could say anything, he added, "It's my house too, after all. And so I refuse to sleep in the basement."
"Very well." Narcissa narrowed her eyes at him. "I was being generous when I told you that you can sleep in the basement. But since you have decided to be a stubborn and idiot person, feel free to sleep in the gardens."
"Or better," She added, "On the road outside our house tonight. And if someone sees you, then you can tell them why your wife is not allowing you to even take a step inside your house."
Lucius scowled at her. "You are crazy, and evil as well." But he decided against arguing with his wife.
You could never win an argument from Narcissa Malfoy.
"What are you two doing here?" They jumped and turned away from each other to look at Draco, who was standing in front of the door. "More specifically, what is he doing here?" He added, tilting his head towards Lucius.
"Oh my little sweet dragon." Narcissa smiled as she walked towards her son to hug him. "I didn't notice you standing there."
Draco rolled his eyes at that. "How many times have I told you not to call me that name, Mother?" But he knew his mother wouldn't stop doing that, ever.
He knew his mother loved calling him that. Just as she loved embarrassing him.
Specially in front of his friends and well, everyone else too.
"Hush now, my precious dragon." Narcissa patted his cheeks. "You will always be my little dragon. Anyways, why are you standing out here?"
"Well I felt someone entering the property because of the shift in the wards, and when even after a few minutes, the person didn't enter the house, I thought I would come and see who came here." He told her. "Then I noticed you two standing here. You didn't answer my question though. What are you two doing here? And why didn't you come through the floo?"
"Well we just wanted to talk with you about something very important." She looked back at her husband, and then continued, "And we weren't sure if you had changed the wards so as to not let Lucius come through the floo after everything that had happened, so we decided to just apparate outside of your house."
"As I am sure you clearly remember, Mother, he disowned me." Draco spat, refusing to look in his father's direction. "I didn't stop thinking of him as my father. So I had no reason to change the wards. If anything, he would have changed them to not let me come through the floo in your Manor in France. But since I didn't come there even once in these past few months, I don't know about the wards."
Lucius looked down at his feet when he heard the cold tone his son was talking in. He knew his son would talk like this, but it still hurt.
Not that he blamed Draco for that, of course.
He wouldn't even dream of doing that, knowing perfectly well that Narcissa would kill him if he dared to try blaming him.
"Father doesn't even look like he wants to be here." Draco stated. "Then why has he come here?"
Lucius' head snapped up when he heard his son call him 'father', but the little hope he had inside him, slowly vanished when he noticed that Draco was still not looking at him.
"Well..." Narcissa looked at him sheepishly. "I made him come here. As I said, we, or rather, your father has to talk with you about something very important."
"I figured." Draco muttered. "Oh really? He wants to talk? Well he had had fifteen freaking months to talk with me, I didn't see him coming here then. I have a half mind to just hex him and not allow him to step inside my house right now-"
"Draco, behave-"
"Don't you dare tell me to behave now, Mother." He snapped. "I have the right to talk like this, with all that he made me suffer through. If my teenage years weren't enough, he just had to mess up life after that as well. But don't worry, he is my father and I am not going to do those things."
Lucius closed his eyes. "Draco," He started, and opened his eyes after a few moments, "I deserve to be talked like this with, and I am not going to argue against that. You probably don't even want to see my face currently, but there is a topic that we have to talk about. Once we do that, I promise I will leave, and not come back here if you don't want me to."
Draco closed his eyes and leaned back against the door. "Fine." He said after a few seconds. "You two can come inside. I hope you will behave yourself, Father. I won't tolerate anyone disrespecting Granger or her kind."
As they walked inside, Narcissa tutted and shook her head. "I think it is high time you start calling her Hermione, Draco, you have been best friends for years now."
As they all sat down on the couches, Lucius started, "I want to tell you why I really hate Muggle Borns, and why I had told you to hate them."
Narcissa smiled reassuringly at him, and he continued, "When I was in Hogwarts, I was in love with a muggle born."
Draco choked on his coffee.
"You mean like Snape?" He asked. "He loved a muggle born too, didn't he?"
"How do you know about that?" Hermione asked him. "I don't recall telling you about his life at Hogwarts."
"Well I had overhead Potter telling you and Weasel about him in the Head's Dorm." Draco admitted. "I heard that Snape was in love with Potter's mother."
"Can we get back to the matter?" Lucius interrupted them. "As I said, I was in love with a muggle born, and she is the reason I started hating them too."
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The next day.....
"Draco Malfoy!"
The said person turned around to glare at the person who had dared to bother him while he was going to the break room for lunch.
You don't dare to disturb Draco when he is hungry, and tired from all the work he did, that is, if you don't want to deal with his temper.
But that look changed to a happy expression and Draco grinned as he saw who had called him. "Caleb! It's been so damn long."
Despite knowing that Caleb had come to the Ministry yesterday, through Harry of course, Draco had not been able to meet him. And since he didn't know where he was staying, he wasn't able to contact him either.
And he had already sent his pet eagle to send a letter to a Minister official in Australia, and he didn't trust anyone else to deliver his letters safely.
His friend cum younger brother grinned back at him and immediately pulled him into a brotherly hug.
Yes, Caleb was a hugger.
Much to Draco's chagrin.
"Uh huh." Draco grumbled as he pulled away. "You can stop being a hugger in front of me, Caleb, you know I am not bothered with this stuff."
"Oh yes," Caleb smirked at him. "If I had any doubts about you being an imposter, your statement just cleared them. But I suppose I could have just mentioned the ferret incident and then look at your expression to see if you were an imposter."
Much to Draco's annoyance, Narcissa had told Caleb everything about when he had become a ferret in his fourth year.
"Or well, I could have mentioned the first year incident too. You know, when you ran out of the forest while screaming?" Caleb asked. "I love hearing that story."
Yes, Narcissa had told him that too. In fact, she had even told him a few stories, including the embarrassing ones, of baby Draco to him, and the fact that he hates peacocks.
"I wonder if that's how you would react if we go to a Haunted House which are there in those Muggles' shopping malls." Caleb suggested. "I could even invite everyone and bring a camera as well."
Caleb, much to his parents' dismay, loved Muggles and their world. He often sent a few Muggle things from France for both Narcissa and Draco.
"Are you done?" Draco rolled his eyes at him. "Seriously, I don't know why but you just love to insult me everytime we meet."
"Well what can I say?" Caleb shrugged. "You are too easy to wound up, and your reactions are just so funny."
He sighed, knowing there was no point arguing with him. "Anyways, so what brings the great 'Caleb I am so busy to even answer a call Warrington' here?"
"Hey, I did apologise for not answering your call, didn't I? I told you I was on a date. And to answer your question, there were a few reasons as to why I came back to England."
"And what are those important and precious reasons, may I ask?" Draco raised his eyebrows at him.
Caleb held up one finger at him. "Well the first one is obviously for work. The French Ministry was sending someone here for a mission to catch a traitor, so I volunteered. And, Kingsley told Luis Martin, who is the French Minister of Magic, that I could work here as well, as an investigator of course. Both the Ministries had been trying to find someone who could work for them, and can help solve the joint missions. So when I was coming here, Luis recommended me to Kingsley, and since I am originally from England, and worked in France for several years, I was able to get a job here as well."
"Well Congratulations for the job, Caleb." Draco smiled at him. "You have become a pretty important person now, huh? Wait does that mean you are back for good?"
"I guess so." He smiled sheepishly. "And to answer your question, yes I am indeed back for good. Obviously, I will still be going to France for some missions, and also, for reviewing my job there and helping a few naive Investigators there. So, I am required to go there once a month, and stay for like four to five days. Other than that, it's my wish if I want to visit France or not. And neither Luis nor Kingsley have any problem with it, considering I have lived for several years in both Wizarding France and England, so I have plenty of experience and I am familiar with the areas, so I should not have any problem, or feel uncomfortable."
"I know you won't have any problems, but still, you can always come to my house if you face one, or just want some help." Draco told him, the tone of his voice being enough to advise Caleb against arguing. "My door is always open for you."
"I know that, and you don't know how much I appreciate it, and well you too. Thanks Draco, for everything you have done for him, and continue to do so as well." He told him sincerely. Then, he held up two fingers, and continued, "The second reason is you and your family. I missed you and Narcissa so much when I left the country during your eighth year. And I know we owled regularly, and even visited each other, but it wasn't enough, you know? And then I also missed your wedding, Athy's birth, all the birthdays and so much more. When Harry face timed me during that little munchkin's birthday, I just wished I could have come there. I wanted to be there for you when Astoria left us, but due to my job, I couldn't. I love my job, and I was not sure if I would get to do the same work here as well, and I had built a life in France. When I got to know about the offer, I decided that enough is enough. I may love my job, and my life in France too, but they were nothing compared to what I had here. I have my family, which is you and Narcissa here, and so, as soon as I got the offer, I packed my bags and came here."
The ex Slytherin Prince smiled at the wizard in front of him, whom he treated like a younger brother. "Well I am really glad that you have come here. Even though we kept in touch all these years, it just wasn't the same. And I really want Athy to meet her uncle Caleb."
He chuckled. "I want to meet that little witch too. Harry told me that she was asking about me when she saw our photo. Is that true?"
Draco nodded. "I wanted to tell you myself, but of course Potter can not keep his nose out of other people's businesses."
Caleb smirked and shook his head. Even though a lot has changed in these past seven years, the rivalry between Harry and Draco was still there.
Well it has changed it to a friendly banter now, and if it weren't for Hermione, those two wouldn't even tolerate each other.
"Anyways," Caleb said as he held up three fingers, "There is one more reason too. And it's... um... it's quite new but it feels so right. Can you guess the reason?"
Draco's eyes widened. "No way! Don't tell me it's because of a girl. Or is it? Tell me. Who is she? Is she a witch? Is she from England? Does she work here? Have you met her parents? Are you in love with her? Does she love you? Have you proposed? Or will she do that? Are you two engaged? When is the wedding? Wait, do you trust her? Really? Did she ever hurt you? Do I need to have a talk with her? And-"
"Woah woah woah. Calm down, Draco." Caleb put his hands on his shoulders. "No need to switch on your overprotective older brother mode. We have been dating for a week now, so no, we are not engaged. And to answer your question, yes she is a witch and she is from England. And also, she works here in the Ministry."
"Oh and- wait, did you say a week? But you just came here yesterday, and you said that your witch is from here, and works here. So how come you two have been dating for a week?"
Caleb hesitated. He knew Draco wouldn't like this part. "Umm well I didn't come here yesterday. I have been back in England since a week-"
"A week?" Draco exclaimed. "Are you kidding me, Caleb? What is wrong with you? You have been here for a week and you didn't come to visit me? Seriously? This is how much I mean to you? How much you appreciate me? Why the hell would you not tell me? Or did you-"
"Stop!" He took out his wand and used Silencio on Draco. "Will you stop for a second, Draco? You won't even let me explain." He shook his head, and continued, "Yes, it's been a week since I came here, and yes, I should have visited you, but I am sorry I didn't. You remember I told you a few minutes ago that the French Ministry wanted to catch a traitor? Yes? Why are you not answering?"
Draco glared at him. He pointed towards his mouth and Caleb sheepishly removed the spell. "I never should have let my mother suggest you to silencio me every time I ask questions." Draco told him. "And yes, I do remember. So you were doing that mission when you came here?"
"Precisely." He nodded. "I wanted to first catch the traitor before meeting you all, because he didn't know I was here, and to meet you, I obviously had to come to Wizarding London, and he could have seen me. I didn't want to take that risk. He hates muggles and their world, so since the past week, I have been staying at a Muggle hotel, and I caught him day before yesterday."
"So this girl..." Draco started. "Was she alright with spending time with you in the Muggle world? Because that's where your dates took place, right?"
"Oh I forgot to tell you. She is a Muggle born." Caleb smiled. "And it was actually her idea. She didn't want to grab attention towards us, so that was another reason why we had our dates in the Muggle world."
"So am I going to meet your mystery girl now?" Draco asked him. "Don't leave me in suspense now, Caleb."
He grinned and pointed towards the direction of Draco's office.
There, standing a few feet away from the door of his office, was a witch. "She's the mystery girl." Caleb told him.
Draco's eyes widened as he saw who the girl was.
Hermione Granger.
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"Hey Pansy!" Blaise called her. "How about that item for Draco's birthday gift?"
"You want to buy him a ferret soft toy?" She rolled her eyes. "Draco won't like that."
"Or we can always buy him a real ferret? What about a peacock?"
"Draco will kill you, Blaise." Pansy told him.
"He wouldn't dare. Narcissa would save me." Blaise grinned at her. "I am her favourite."
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"Her? Y-you are dating her?" Draco stuttered. "You can't be serious. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
There was a emotion inside him, a feeling he felt when Draco heard Caleb was dating Hermione.
But for the life of him, he couldn't understand why he was feeling like that. He should be happy for Caleb.
Caleb was confused. "Why can't I be serious?" Then he narrowed his eyes, and added, "Do you know her, Draco? Or are you hiding something from me?"
"I-I well..." He didn't know what to say. "Of course I know her. How can I not know her? I have been best friends with her for years."
"Oh well she didn't tell me that." He shrugged. "Anyways, I am meeting her at her house later today, so I guess I will ask her about you-"
"You are not meeting her at my house." Draco said before even thinking.
"Your house?" Caleb's eyes narrowed. "Why did you say your house? Tell me, Draco. You can't lie to me."
"She lives with me." He admitted.
His eyes widened. "Seriously?" Caleb wasn't expecting that. "She told me that she has a flat in Muggle London, and she just found a new recipe yesterday, so she wants to try it. And we still aren't ready to hang out in the Wizarding World. The two reasons why I am going to her house. We will just have our date there."
"Well you aren't having your date in my house, Caleb. I have a two year old daughter for Salazar's sake. You can have your date in the hotel you are staying at. And tell me how serious you two are. Are you just playing with her?"
"Of course not, Draco." Caleb shook his head. "I really like her, ever since I met her in Paris-"
"Paris? You met her in Paris? When?"
"A month ago. She had come there for some Ministry work, and I was assigned to help her. She stayed there for a week, and I eventually asked her out. Obviously, we both knew that she had to go back, so we didn't put any title on our relationship, we simply hung out. But as soon as I come back, I send her a letter asking her to meet me in the hotel."
Draco mentally facepalmed himself as he remembered he was the one who had encouraged Hermione to go to Paris for work.
"Remember when I didn't pick up your call because I was on a date?" When Draco nodded, Caleb continued, "Well it was with her. When you called me, I was on a date with her in Paris."
He didn't pick up his call because of Hermione? Seriously?
"But why didn't she tell me?" He muttered, not realising that Caleb had heard him.
"I don't know. Let's ask her shall we?" Not giving Draco a chance to reply, Caleb grabbed his hand and dragged him forwards.
Draco was not looking forwards to asking Hermione why she didn't tell him. After all, she knew how he treated Caleb, and that he was still in touch with him.
His steps slowed down as they neared her. But Caleb was not even looking at Hermione.
Draco looked at Caleb when they walked past Hermione and stopped next to the girl who was talking with the Brightest Witch of her Age.
"Carissa!" Caleb grinned at her, and wrapped his arms around her to give her a quick kiss. "All good?"
"Of course." The said girl smiled as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "I was just discussing the job details with Hermione."
"Okay. And listen, I wanted to ask you something. Why didn't you tell Draco that we are dating?" Caleb asked her.
Carissa looked at him in confusion. "Dra- I mean, Mr Malfoy? Why will I tell him? This is the first time I am meeting him."
This time it was Caleb's turn to be confused. Turning towards Draco, he asked, "I thought you two were best friends since years and that she was living with you?"
Before he could answer, Hermione asked him, "You two have met before, Draco? And since when is she living with us?"
"You too live with Draco?" Caleb asked her. "Are you three best friends or what? And hey, this gives me an idea. We can go on double dates. Or even just a night in at your house, Draco."
"No!" He shouted. "And wait a second, you are dating Carissa? And not Granger, Caleb?"
"What?" Caleb exclaimed. "Are you kidding me? Why will I date Hermione? She's your girl. My girlfriend is Carissa. She's the one whom I was talking with you about."
"Why will Caleb date me?" Hermione asked, ignoring the part where he said she was Draco's girl. "I have never even met him before today."
"And since when am I living at your house?" Carissa asked Draco. "And sorry to be rude, but we aren't even friends."
Draco sighed, realising what was going on a little too late. "So, Caleb," He started, "Carissa is the girl you met in Paris, and the one with whom you have been going on dates this past week?"
He nodded and his girlfriend said, "I had to go to Paris a month ago due to Ministry work, and we met there."
"You were in Paris?" Hermione asked her. "I went to Paris a month ago as well. How come we didn't meet there?"
Before she could answer, Caleb asked, "Umm excuse me, can someone please tell me why Carissa is living with you, Draco?"
"I will explain everything to you later. We should go now." Draco told him.
"Oh wait," Hermione said before they could walk away, "She, I mean Carissa Smith, is our secretary from now on. Kingsley just told me a few minutes back."
"Great." Caleb grinned. "That means I can come here to visit you any time, my dear girlfriend. And- oh wait, where are my manners, honestly? I am so sorry, I didn't introduce myself before. I am Caleb Warrington."
"Hermione Granger." She smiled and shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Caleb."
"Well Miss Granger," Caleb smirked at Draco and continued, "Draco's told me all about you. I swear, so many letters that he sent me during your eighth year were about you. And-"
Before Caleb could embarrass him further, Draco dragged him away from the two witches. Once they were out of earshot, he asked, "Why would you tell her that?"
"Why not?" Caleb asked back. "I just thought she should know. Anyways, why is Carissa living with you-"
"For Salazar's sake, Caleb! Carissa doesn't live with me. When you pointed towards the girls, I thought you were talking about Granger."
"Why will I date her?" He asked him. "She is your girl, Draco-"
"She is not my girl-"
"Okay fine, she is your witch." Caleb finished, ignoring the murderous glare Draco sent his way. "And bro code says that you do not date your brother's girl-"
"Stop with this muggle bro code thing." Draco snarled. "And I am not dating Granger, okay? We are just friends."
"Whatever." He shrugged. "So you know how I was thinking about you and Hermione coming to a double date with me and Carissa, right? Our girlfriends can get to know each other better and we can simply hang out. In fact, we should plan it for today, or maybe tomorrow...."
"Anyways, what does Narcissa think of your and Hermione's relationship? Is she happy?" Caleb continued, despite Draco trying to interrupt him every time.
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Later that evening......
"Why am I doing this?" Draco muttered as he opened the door of Blaise's laboratory and stepped inside. "I can still back out if I want."
But he knew that wasn't an option anymore. He had to do this. He will do this, and then he would be able to prove that Blaise, Caleb and everyone else were wrong.
He wasn't in love with Hermione and this would prove that.
Walking towards the cupboards, he started looking for a particular potion. He knew Blaise must have kept it around somewhere.
But it wasn't like he was going to ask Blaise for his help.
There was a reason as to why he had made sure that Blaise and Pansy weren't present in his best friend's home before he had come here.
Sure, he was allowed to come here whenever he wished, but he didn't want those two nosey idiots, specially Blaise, to be around when he tested a particular potion.
The potion being none other than the one Blaise had asked him to brew yesterday.
Amortentia.
He knew Blaise had brewed a few love potions among the other ones as he worked in the Ministry, and also sold the potions to the shops in Diagon Alley.
"Finally." Draco muttered as he found the potion after a few minutes. "Now I can prove all of them wrong."
As he placed the bottle of the love potion on the table, his thoughts drifted back to the conversation he had had with Caleb a few hours back.
He thought about the feeling and emotion he had felt when he had thought that Caleb's girlfriend was Hermione.
Jealousy.
Why had he felt like that?
Rather than that, he should have been happy for Caleb. Happy for both of them in fact.
He should have been happy that his best friend Hermione was with a wizard like Caleb, whom he trusted with his own life, and knew that he would never do anything to hurt her.
And as for Caleb, he knew Hermione was perfect for him, their personalities were so similar, and he knew she would never judge anyone based on their families and past.
But Draco was jealous when Caleb told him about the mystery girl, whom he thought was Hermione.
He remembered heaving a sigh of relief when Caleb had introduced Carissa to them.
But he couldn't understand why he had felt like that. Why would he be jealous if Hermione was dating him, or well anyone else for that matter?
She could be with anyone for all he cared.
Even with Cormac McLaggen.
Okay well, not him. Draco shuddered as he thought about the former Gryffindor. He was bloody disgusting.
And certainly not Ron either.
He had never liked him, and would never do so either. Draco was just glad that Hermione had never been in love with Ron. He wouldn't like being in his company, or even tolerating him for his best friend's sake.
Apart from those two, she could date whoever she liked. Draco didn't give a damn about that.
But Draco knew that was a lie.
There was clearly a reason why he had felt like that. A reason why he had been jealous and Draco hoped that the love potion would help him to figure it out.
He opened the bottle and leaned down to smell the potion. "Now this would help me prove that I am not in love with Granger."
But Draco couldn't have been more wrong than that.
Just as he had leaned down, he could clearly smell a few familiar scents. Wide eyed, Draco leaned back and shook his head.
"This love potion is not right." He muttered as he placed the potion back in the cupboard. "Blaise had definitely made a mistake while brewing Amortentia."
"I will just go back home and brew Amortentia myself." Draco decided as he left Blaise's laboratory. "That will definitely prove that I am not in love with anyone, specially Granger."
Honestly, he doubted that the potion was not correctly brewed.
Or that another love potion will give him different results.
But Draco being Draco, an awfully stubborn person, would not admit those thoughts aloud, even to himself.
As he apparated to his house, his thoughts went back to the scents he had smelled in that 'wrongly brewed' love potion.
The scents being old leather, mint toothpaste and a vanilla orange shampoo.
Draco knew perfectly well a witch who used that particular shampoo. She had been using that ever since she had become the Head Girl, and it had become her favorite.
How could he not know or recognise the smell of that shampoo? He had himself bought that shampoo for her when they had gone to Muggle London a while back.
But those scents... they brought back memories. Lots of memories. Both happy as well as sad ones. The ones which made him smile, and also the ones which wrenched his heart.
Those particular scents, old leather, mint toothpaste and the vanilla and orange shampoo, were the ones Draco had smelled back in his potions class, when Slughorn had partnered him with Hermione for a week, because he had been planning to prank someone with Blaise, in their eighth year.
And those scents weren't Astoria's.
A/N: That's it for this chapter. It was 5800+ words. Hope you guys liked it. So Lucius revealed something. Random question: Favourite trio? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you!
Next chapter on 27/12/20(Sunday).
Until next time.