Comments | post_bellum: RP: Manor-born and Muggle-born

pb_draco in post_bellum

RP: Manor-born and Muggle-born

Mar 14, 2009 17:07

Characters: Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger
Location: Malfoy Manor
Date: 14 March 2000, after their appointment
Status: Private
Summary: Draco takes Hermione for a tour and some reassurance after Meeting The Parents
Completion: Complete

( Please try and overlook my human side//I know I'm such a bad example )

place: malfoy manor, hermione granger, 2000 03, complete, draco malfoy

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pb_hermione March 14 2009, 23:24:24 UTC

Hermione was tense. She knew she was tense. She knew she looked tense. She knew that everyone there had known she was tense, which only served to make her tenser still. The tension did not go away simply because she and Draco had left his parents to take a tour their home. In fact, it only served to increase Hermione's anxiety.

Before last night, she'd been slightly nervous but not particularly tense about the introduction to his mother, which Draco had told her would take place in his mother's family home. Then last night, the platinum ferret that was her boyfriend, decided he should 'probably tell her' that the location had been changed and not only would she be introduced to Narcissa but also to Lucius and the introduction would occur at Malfoy Manor. Hermione had been more than a little upset with him over springing it on her like that, even more so because apparently he'd known all week and hadn't had the bollocks to tell her right away. It wasn't that Hermione had found it particularly frightening encountering his parents ( ... )

pb_draco March 14 2009, 23:56:17 UTC

Oh, god. Her voice. It was, if possible, more tightly strung than it had been during the conversation earlier, and Draco felt the back of his neck tightening up in response. Her anxiety almost seemed to transfer to him through her fingers, and he was a little lost about how to help. It was his fault, a good portion of it, because he hadn't bothered to tell her the location was switching, but he'd had good intentions. He thought they'd been. He hadn't wanted to tell her ahead of time, because he hadn't wanted her to have an entire week to fret.

Her reaction when he'd finally told her, though.... Draco forced himself to hide the grimace he wanted to make just recalling it. Perhaps he should have let her fret. "Nowhere with purple walls," he said, trying to keep his voice low and soothing. "And absolutely not that room. Love, I don't go in there if I can avoid it." He started to reach for her other hand as well, then realized with her nervousness, it was best to allow her to keep her wand-hand free. Instead, he cradled the ( ... )

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 00:27:06 UTC

"Stop sucking up, Malfoy. I'll be fine. I had to do this sooner or later, right? I just wish I'd had time to mentally prepare myself is all." Hermione took a deep breath and looked up at him. She couldn't change things now and her tension wasn't making this any easier on Draco either.

"Library. There's a library isn't there? Maybe a walk outside first though. Perhaps the peacocks will try to carry you off and I can have a laugh over it. You look as if you could use a smoke too." Hermione knew she was mental when she enabled his smoking.

pb_draco March 15 2009, 01:05:55 UTC

"I wasn't," he said, just on the verge of sullen, because he had been a little bit and she'd caught him out at it. "You are beautiful, and you look especially lovely today. Not that you don't look lovely every day, but you look extra lovely today, it's pretty obvious you took some effort. I mean, not obvious, not to anyone but me, and for god's sake, shut up, Malfoy." Draco sighed and let go of her hand to rub his forehead, cursing himself silently.

"Library. Yes. Definitely. We can take a walk if you like, though I do intend to hex any peacocks that get within thirty feet of me, thank you very much." He didn't press too hard on the snippishness of that from her. She was anxious and upset, and she deserved to be a little bitchy at her uncommunicative boyfriend. She was very anxious if she was encouraging him to have a cigarette. Draco spoke to the air, demanding their wraps, and a house-elf appeared instantly. It handed him their garments and disappeared just as quickly, and Draco tossed his cloak on a decorative side ( ... )

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 01:31:20 UTC

Hermione squeezed his hand. "I know you mean well, Draco. I know you meant well holding off on telling me about the change of plans for today. That doesn't make it any easier on me, though," she told him honestly as she smoothed the skirt of her suit. "I do appreciate the compliment. Truly." He was sweet trying to make her feel better.

"I would love to see the greenhouse." Anywhere that would get her out of here while she regrouped would have been good but she would love to see the orchids Malfoy told her that his mother grew. Hermione accepted his help with her cloak and cast a spell on her shoes to keep them clean before they went out. "Does your mother tend the greenhouse herself or does your gardener do that too? I assume there is a gardener, isn't there?" Possibly more than one given the size of the place.

pb_draco March 15 2009, 02:00:41 UTC

"I just didn't want you to have the whole week to worry about it," he said, shoulders slumping a little. "If you'd known all that time that you'd be meeting Lucius as well as my mother, you ... well, I don't know what you might have done. Changed your mind, had a panic attack, run away. No idea."

He took her hand again and led her out of the house. As soon as they were outdoors, he let go, drew his wand and cast his usual repelling charms, and lit a cigarette. Almost groaning with a relieved exhale, he made a gesture at the gardens and towards the greenhouse. "House-elves," he said with a shrug. "Mum's out there a lot, though. She loves getting to do it herself."

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 02:35:17 UTC

Hermione sighed, "That's not the way I work, Malfoy. I thought you understood that. I like being well prepared. If I'd have had more time, I'd have bought one of the books on your home and looked through it. I'd have quizzed you about it on Tuesday and Friday so I'd be thinking about the interesting things instead of worrying about the drawing room ( ... )

pb_draco March 15 2009, 03:21:43 UTC

Draco shoved his hair out of his face with his free hand, blowing a cloud of smoke over his shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, with full honesty behind the apology. As much as he hated having to say those words to anyone, he found himself saying them on a fairly regular basis to Hermione. He also found that he didn't mind quite as much, since it was her. "I know you like to plan. I know you like to have your lists and your color-coded schedules. I know."

He sighed, scuffing his boots as he walked. "It's just...." Preferable to him telling people it's all right to kill me. "I'm just afraid that he won't be able to stop at polite. I can't. Seems like every time I talk to him, I push and push him. Even when I'm actually trying to stay civil, I can't. I want him to tolerate you, I want him to accept you. But there is always this little voice in the back of my head that says he's just waiting for me to drop my guard long enough so he can hurt you, and that once he's done with you, he'll take care of me. Lineage is ( ... )

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 03:50:00 UTC

"You apologized already and I've accepted it. I didn't say what I said to get you to apologize again, Draco. I don't work that way either. I know you're sincere." She didn't approve of people who seemed to want their partners to suffer for every mistake and apologize over and over.

Draco was scuffing his boots, which he usually only did when he was uncomfortable. "I noticed," she said in response to Draco saying he had trouble remaining civil. "It's very counterproductive, but you know that already. You do realize I'm not all that easy to take out, don't you?" Away from the house, she was feeling better. Hermione looked over the garden as they walked. "Draco, it's very clear to me that both of your parents love you. Your father doesn't want to get rid of you. He's trying hard to get you back." Hermione understood there was more going on that Draco had told her but she didn't need to details to recognize the affection she'd seen after the Battle of Hogwarts still existed between all three of them.

pb_draco March 15 2009, 04:14:30 UTC

"That's part of the problem, though. You're not easy to take out. You've faced down Death Eaters before, and you've come out victorious. The problem is, at least once that I know, one of those Death Eaters was him." Draco laughed, bitterly, shaking his head. "It's total fucking madness to be aware that my girlfriend has beaten up my father. Even if he could forget you're a Muggle-born, there's no possible way he could forget that."

He took a long, deep inhale, burning a full inch off the cigarette at once and holding the smoke in his lungs until he absolutely had to let it go. "On the plus side, he did make it through today. He is trying, I can see that." Draco flicked the cigarette into the air and snapped his wand at it, Banishing it before it could fall. "I'm the one who's not trying. Just wish I knew why."

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 04:52:35 UTC

"Language, please," she said mildly. "I didn't you know. Fight him I mean, not directly, other than helping create the diversion so we could all get away. He went another direction." She'd only been conscious for the fights with Crabbe, Rabastan Lestrange, Jugson, and Dolohov. And she'd refused to make a stink about what happened at Malfoy Manor. Everyone got out alive and that was good enough to be getting on with.

"I'd be interested in learning why too," she said softly. "I certainly hope it's not because beneath it all you're not sure about us." It bothered her that Draco apparently wasn't interested in trying to make things smoother.

pb_draco March 15 2009, 05:48:37 UTC

He'd popped one of the mints he'd started carrying habitually since he'd started dating her, and Draco nearly choked on it when she spoke. Coughing, he spat the mint into a hedge and wiped his mouth with the edge of his cloak. "No." He laid one hand on her shoulder, then slid it up to cup her cheek, staring into her eyes. "No, Hermione, that's not it. That is absolutely not it. I am not the least bit unsure about you. Not in the slightest ( ... )

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 15:33:24 UTC

"Draco, you do understand that the primary reason our relationship has gone more smoothly than either of us expected is because we talk to each other, don't you? Not only that, we listen to what the other has to say even when we disagree," often only to pick the other's argument apart but still, it was listening. "You might try that with your father." He mentioned waiting for something horrible to happen and the possibility of being disowned. "So what are you doing? Trying to force your father into disowning you so that you can get it over with? Trust me, all either of us would have to do to convince anyone I've not been potioned or Imperioed would be to have them view a memory of us bickering," she said wryly, but much softer than she would have had she not been so tense all day ( ... )

pb_draco March 15 2009, 17:34:55 UTC

Draco twitched the edges of his cloak out from between them and pulled it around her, wrapping her up with it. He held it closed with one hand and smoothed the other over her back. He didn't want to think about what she was saying, but he couldn't stop. Every word dug into him, latched onto his spine and twisted until it felt like his knees were going to buckle from the pressure. She knew where to get past his shields, had learned too well how to sting him, and it was worse when everything she said was true. Draco shut his eyes and took a slow breath, then dropped his head to her shoulder, the position less awkward than usual with her choice of shoes. "I'm sorry," he murmured, his arms tightening around her when her voice thickened up with emotion. "I'm sorry. Hermione, I'm not meaning to treat you like that. Treat us like that. I don't mean to, I don't, I swear. I love you. You're worth the world to me."

pb_hermione March 15 2009, 18:08:45 UTC

Hermione soothed his back with her hands. "Oh, Draco. I don't think for a moment you meant to. When people are hurt they sometimes do things without really thinking them through. I know I have."

"I know I may never fit in but I want so much for our children to know they belong and that they have family. A few short months with me isn't going to erase what you went through but you need to try letting the past go." Hermione knew that wouldn't be easy for him but perhaps if he understood what he was doing, he'd be capable of controlling himself better around his father.

pb_draco March 15 2009, 18:48:36 UTC

Draco turned his face to her neck, inhaling the scent of almonds off her skin. "I don't know if I can," he mumbled. "Let the past go. I want to forget about it. Hell, love, I want to pretend it all never happened. But I can't. It's quite literally a part of me. Burned into my flesh." He tensed his left arm against her side, then forced the muscles to relax as much as he could.

"I can't forget what I had to do to save my family. The things I had to do for his sake. Murder? Torture? everything I had to do to try and save him." Draco shut his eyes against the side of her neck, his voice going unexpectedly raw. "And he wasn't even there."

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