Chapter 1
Directly upon arrival at Malfoy Manor, dinner was served by two house elves, who were introduced to her as Bimsy (Tipsy’s sister) and Lacy. They both greeted her happily and insisted for her to just call one of their names, if she ever needed anything while she was here.
In a place like that, Hermione had expected a large dining hall, but instead they sat down on a small table on the balcony of a large room in the first storey of the Manor, in what Draco had called the private wing, for family and certain guests only. It was a beautiful evening and Hermione found it extremely pleasant to eat outside. It wasn’t fully dark yet and the balcony offered a beautiful view on the grounds. The peacocks were still out and from here, Hermione could see that behind the house there seemed to be a hedge maze.
The Malfoys had promised her a tour of the Manor after dinner and Draco would show her the grounds the next day.
The food was excellent and while they ate, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy asked them about their exams and if anything interesting had happened. She noticed a small frown on Lucius Malfoy’s forehead when Draco mentioned that Dumbledore had tried to convince Hermione to switch houses.
When dessert was served, Lord Malfoy looked at her. “I assume you were informed about the Trace.”
Hermione nodded. McGonagall had explained that the so-called Trace was put on students automatically upon their first arrival at Hogwarts and Dumbledore had given a little speech about it at the beginning of the year. It was a charm which allowed the Ministry to detect magic performed by underaged wizards and witches. Underage magic was banned outside of school and would result in expulsion. She definitely was not willing to risk that. “I was. I will not do any magic during the holidays, of course.”
To her surprise, he gave her a small smile. “That was not what I was going for. Do you know how it works?”
Now that she thought about it, she really didn’t. “No, I don’t.”
“It is a charm laid upon each student upon entering Hogwarts for the first time. It is unable to trace magic performed by your person or your wand, it merely traces whether magic is performed in your close proximity while you’re not at school.”
Hermione frowned. That didn’t really make sense. “I would assume that you and your wife perform magic around Draco all the time, and so do your house elves?”
“Very good. This is why the Trace is flawed at best and absolutely useless for children growing up in magical households.” He hesitated. “I admit, there are some good reasons. If children with Muggle parents perform magic at home and draw attention to themselves or do harm to themselves or others, the parents will not be able to deal with the situation and there is a strong risk of a breach of the Statute of Secrecy.” Even if she found it a little unfair, Hermione had to admit there was a certain logic to that argument. If Draco accidentally harmed someone by using magic, his parents would be able to undo it themselves or know where to turn to, if they couldn’t. Also, there was a bigger risk of magic being exposed in a Muggle area than in a magical home. “Wizarding parents are strongly advised by the Ministry to prevent their children from doing magic as well and even to take their wands away during their time at home,” Malfoy continued. His wife smiled indulgently at him, obviously knowing what was to come. “However, since this is merely strongly advised and not the law and the Ministry has no right to tell me what to do in my own home anyway, I will not take your wands away. The rules are simple and apply to Draco as well.” He looked at his son, probably thinking that a little reminder wouldn’t hurt. Knowing Draco, Hermione agreed with him there. “Do not use harmful or destructive magic while you’re here and don’t try new spells without supervision. Draco informed us that you like to read. We will show you the library later, which you are free to use, and if you come across a spell you would like to try that you didn’t cover in school yet, please come to me or my wife. If we don’t consider it dangerous, we will let you try, but one of us should be present. Using spells you learned at school is perfectly fine and you don’t have to ask for permission. No hexes, no jinxes and no experiments. Understood?”
“Yes, Sir.” The rules made perfect sense and this was far more than she had expected.
“Good. And please call us Lucius and Narcissa, all of Draco’s friends do.”
After dessert, they showed her the rooms that would be relevant for her during her stay. Downstairs was a large drawing room they mainly used when they had guests, just like the dining hall with the long table Hermione had imagined would be there.
The kitchens were also downstairs, but they didn’t enter.
In the entrance hall close to the main entrance they had used earlier was a fireplace, which was connected to the floo network, although the wards prevented strangers from entering without permission. Apparition was also not possible on the grounds and in the house, just like at Hogwarts.
When they went back up the grand staircase they stopped in front of a large double door and when Lucius opened it, Draco grinned at her expectantly.
Hermione could see why. This was the Malfoys’ library; the biggest library she had ever seen and according the Draco, the biggest magical library in all of Europe and probably most of the world. Now that she saw it, she had no doubt he was right. It didn’t end with the floor level, but the ceiling was much higher than in the other rooms and there were several staircases to upper levels and countless shelves full of books.
Draco chuckled from behind her. “Breathe, Granger.”
“I am breathing. I think.” She may also start crying any moment, but she tried very hard not to. While everything about Malfoy Manor was gorgeous, this was a whole different level. It may just be Hermione’s new favourite place in the world.
Narcissa smiled down at her. “As Lucius already mentioned, you are free to roam the library and read whatever you can take out of the shelves. Books we consider not appropriate or dangerous for children are under an Age Restriction Charm and can only be taken out by someone of the relevant age or older. If they don’t move, there is no use in trying further.” So this was why Draco had been so eager to get into the forbidden section of the library at school. There were certain books he couldn’t get to here. Hermione supressed a grin. “You are allowed to take books to your suite, but please bring them back when you don’t need them anymore and treat them with care. Many books here are rather valuable.”
“I will! Thank you!”
Her suite was in the private wing and according to Draco exactly the same in structure as the ones the family members had, with a huge, comfortable sitting room, a bedroom with a large four-poster bed, a luxurious bathroom to be reached from the bedroom and a small bathroom which could be accessed directly from the sitting room. There were also three extra rooms. One of them was a study, the other two were not furnished. If the suite was used by a child of the family, Narcissa explained, they could furnish them as they pleased; one of Draco’s was for example a potions lab. Later they were often used for children of their own until they were old enough for their own suite. Both the bedroom and the sitting room had fireplaces, but without access to the floo network. The only fireplace with access, other than the one in the entrance hall, was the one in Lucius’ study.
“If you need us when we are in our suite, just tell Bimsy to fetch us,” Lucius said, which Hermione understood as a polite way of asking her to respect their privacy. “If you want anything to eat or drink outside the regular meals, just tell the house elves as well.”
When they had bid them goodnight, Draco stayed and they sat down in the sitting room.
“This place is amazing,” Hermione gushed with a huge grin. “You said it was big, but I had no idea.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice, I guess.”
“You guess?”
They laughed.
“Did you see the maze from the balcony?”
“Yes! I thought it was a maze! Are we allowed to use it?”
“Of course we are! We’ll go tomorrow.”
The first few days just flew by. They spent a lot of time outside, but always had meals together with Draco’s parents and they usually spent some time with them in the evenings in the sun room, the room with the balcony, where Narcissa played the piano for them or Lucius read aloud from a book or they just talked. It was whole different world from what she experienced at home, where she was usually on her own. Hermione liked them both a lot and it grew increasingly harder to imagine them as followers of a dark wizard who had terrorised the Wizarding World and caused a war. They treated her respectfully, included her in conversations and it was obvious how much they loved their son and each other. They weren’t overflowing with affectionate gestures, at least not in front of Hermione, but she could see it in countless little ways and she found herself envying Draco just a little. He probably had no idea how lucky he was.
On the second day, their friends came to visit and while they all had dinner together, this time indeed in the dining room as they needed a bigger table, Lucius, who had attended a meeting of the Board of Governors that afternoon, told them that Professor Quirrel would not return next term and Dumbledore was looking for a new Defence teacher. Again. Nobody was surprised by that. Quirrel had been a bundle of nerves by the end of the year.
On the fourth day of her stay, Blaise came to visit and he and Draco wanted to go flying. Hermione, still unwilling to get on a broom when it could be avoided, was all too happy to spend the afternoon in the library.
She took her time to walk through the different sections, to breathe in the smell of the books, the best smell in the world in her opinion. Eventually, she sat down at a table by one of the large windows with one book about Charms and one about the war against Voldemort, one she hadn’t seen in the Hogwarts Library. However, it basically contained the same information she already knew.
Still, she was so focused on reading that she didn’t hear Lucius approach until he spoke. “I suppose you don’t enjoy flying?”
She flinched and looked up.
With a small smirk he sat down on the chair opposite her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s alright. I just didn’t hear you coming. I’m not very good at flying and I don’t enjoy it very much.”
“Narcissa is the same. She was quite mad at me when I bought Draco his first real broom for his sixth birthday.”
She grinned. “So I suppose you do enjoy flying?”
He nodded. “I do. I was on the Quidditch team when I was a student. Chaser.”
Somehow, she couldn’t imagine Lucius Malfoy on a broom, he was always so … proper and elegant. But Draco had told her that he had taught him to fly.
Then she remembered something. “Oh, I have a question about something I just read, if you don’t mind.” She didn’t quite dare to ask about the war, it was the charms book she was talking about.
“Please ask.”
She put aside the book about Lord Voldemort and opened the other one on the relevant page. “It’s about Expansion Charms. The book says that untraceable Expansion Charms are illegal.”
“That is correct.”
“But regular Expansion Charms are not, are they?”
“No, but they are rather complicated. There are adults who can’t perform them properly.”
“Could I still try to put one on my school bag? It would be rather useful.”
Lucius gave her a small smile. “They are indeed useful. Narcissa has expanded all of her bags. Go get your school bag and your wand. We’ll see how far you come and if you don’t manage, which would be absolutely nothing to be ashamed about, I’ll expand it for you.”
Smiling, Hermione thanked him, got up and fetched both her bag and her wand. After an hour, her bag was properly expanded and she had done it herself. Admittedly, she wouldn’t have managed it by herself, at least not nearly so quickly, but Draco’s father was a great teacher; he was patient and his explanations and corrections were easy to understand.
When she managed to perform the Charm, he did look a little taken aback, though. “I see why you have such good marks, Hermione. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t expect you to manage that so quickly or … at all, really. Well done.”
She preened under his praise. “You explained it very well.”
“Possibly. But very few second year students would have managed that, no matter how well it was explained.” After a moment his gaze fell on the book she had been reading when he had come in and Hermione suddenly felt guilty. It was something of common knowledge in the Wizarding World, of course, but she couldn’t help feeling like she had crossed a line, especially since he had been part of that particular piece of history. He didn’t seem to mind, though. “A small advice. When you read books like that, please remember that history is written by the winner.”
She perked up. “What do you mean? Draco … he mentioned that Dumbledore isn’t the hero everyone thinks him to be.”
“That is true. Did he say more?”
“No.”
He gave a small nod and wandlessly – at home he didn’t carry around his wand all the time – and non-verbally, summoned a book from the upper levels, which came flying towards them with a terrifying speed until it slowed down right before their table and easily landed in his hand. She was impressed to say the least.
The book wasn’t particularly long, maybe 300 to 400 pages by the looks of it, and when he handed it to her, she could see that the title consisted of one word only: Occlumency.
“This was something Draco and his other friends had to learn before school. Do you know what Occlumency is?”
“No.” The word was completely new to her.
“There is Legilimency and there is Occlumency. Legilimency allows you to invade someone’s mind. It’s not what most people think of as mind-reading per se, but similar. A Legilimens can, with eye contact, invade your mind and look through your memories, find out secrets, information and so on. If you are not prepared, you may not even notice.” That sounded horrible! “Occlumency is, among other things, a protection against Legilimency. It is an equal mixture of magic and self-control. The more organised your mind is, the easier it will be for you to shut someone out. In its simplest form, you try to keep mind blank and shut down your emotions, but a skilled Legilimens will easily get past that. When you are more advanced you can push certain memories forward, memories that you don’t mind for the Legilimens to see and try to fool him into believing that is all there is to find while the things you want to hide are safely packed away. For example, behind an imagined wall.” He gave her a small smile. “Or in a library full of books that can or can’t be opened. If you know the basics of Occlumency, you are also sure to notice, if someone uses Legilimency on you.”
Hermione listened attentively. This was such an interesting topic and one that was completely new to her. Also, she guessed that there was a reason that he brought that up now.
“A strong and more ruthless Legilimens may still try to break through your barriers and that can be a difficult and painful process. A battle of minds, so to speak. However, this is not a level that needs to be reached for the basic information I’d like to share with you. The advanced level will suffice and even there it could be argued that I’m slightly paranoid.” She gave a small smile at that, but nodded immediately when he asked, if she was willing to learn.
“Good. However, even at your learning speed, three days will not suffice.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “Draco mentioned that your parents didn’t want you home for Christmas.”
She blushed, but nodded. “They don’t like that I can do magic. I think it scares them. That’s why they don’t like it when I’m around.” Her voice was very quiet; her whole life she had been made to feel like that was something to be ashamed of, that there was something wrong with her.
Lucius sighed and she could see something like disgust in his eyes. Not with her, though. “Well, I’ll have to talk to Narcissa, but I have no doubt that she will not mind if you stay for the rest of the summer.”
Her eyes widened. He wanted her to stay all summer? That sounded too good to be true! Could she accept?
“If she agrees and if your parents give their permission, would you like to stay?”
“I’d love to!” She replied immediately, but then hesitated. “But I don’t want to impose. You’ve already been so generous.”
“Nonsense. Just so you know: We like having you around. So does Draco.”
Hermione felt her eyes well up and quickly dropped her gaze.
Lucius was quiet for a moment, then she felt his hand over hers and she couldn’t stop a few tears from falling. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You are very talented and intelligent. Something any parent should be proud of. It’s their loss, if they can’t see.” She tried to stop it, she really did, but no one had ever said something like that to her, no one had ever wanted her around, at least not until she had made friends with Draco and the others. But she was still twelve and it was different coming from an adult. A quiet sob escaped her and although she could tell that Lucius Malfoy was most certainly not one to give hugs easily, with the exceptions of his own family when they were amongst themselves maybe, he got up, went down on one knee before her chair and a moment later she was crying on his shoulder, with his arms around her.
After Hermione had calmed down, he went to find Narcissa and it didn’t take long for her to come into the library to assure her that of course she could stay for the rest of the holidays and Lucius was already on his way to her parents to get their permission.
He was back rather quickly. Obviously, they hadn’t needed more information than that she would stay away for the rest of the summer and then return to school, even if he didn’t say it out loud, not to her at least. Right now, the relief and joy of being allowed to stay was far more prominent than the knowledge that her parents had no quarrel with letting her stay with complete strangers after not having seen her for a year.
Draco and Blaise, when they finally came in, ruffled and exhausted from flying, were thrilled when they heard she would stay and Blaise immediately went to tell the others.
After dinner, Lucius gave her a short introduction into Occlumency and afterwards, when they sat quietly in the sun room, listening to Narcissa play a beautifully haunting piece on the piano, Hermione felt more at home than she ever had in her young life.
~tbc~