Buckingham Palace
Chapter 29
In lieu of a Hogsmeade weekend this Saturday, the 6th and 7th year students were taking a field trip to London, where they would be visiting Buckingham Palace, and Parliament. Shortly after 10am the group was gathered in the Great Hall preparing to leave.
“Good Morning 6th, and 7th years. This morning we will be traveling similar to your last field trip. Portkeys will take us from Hogwarts, to Kings Cross, where our muggle transportation will be meeting us.” Professor Campbell explained.
“Please take hold of your portkey, and we will be off in, 3, 2, 1.”
Before she could finish saying three, the groups were all whisked away by the magic of the portkey. They came to land, some more gracefully than others, within Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station.
Some of the students who were still not acclimated to portkey travel, were groaning, retching, and struggling to regain their footing. Professor Campbell gave everyone a few moments to settle before ushering the group out of the platform entrance.
The group would be taken from Kings Cross Station, to Buckingham Palace on a classic, red, double decker bus.
Hermione chose to continue her separation from Ron, and Harry by sitting with Neville, and Susan. The group was soon joined by the Slytherin contingent who had decided Hermione was their unofficial muggle world ambassador.
“Hermione, so what are these places we are going to?” Pansy asked.
“Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the Queen. Parliament is the location where the governing bodies meet.” Hermione answered.
“So we are going on a glorified house tour?”
Hermione couldn’t help but bring her hand to her forehead, and shake her head.
“Technically yes. Pansy have you never been outside of Diagon Alley, or the Ministry when in London?” Hermione questioned, although she had a good idea of what the dark haired girl's answer would be.
“No. I haven’t. I don’t think any of us have had the opportunity to explore outside of Diagon, and the Ministry.”
Daphne, Theo, Draco, and surprisingly Neville nodded their heads in agreement with Pansy.
“So you have no idea the true scale of the muggle world, and infrastructure?”
Again, the group, Neville included, nodded their heads to confirm her suspicion.
"Buckingham palace is significantly bigger than any magical home I've ever seen, including your place Malfoy."
This was the first time Hermione had brought up what happened at Malfoy Manor. Neville, who knew what happened, and the group of Slytherin's, excluding Theo, immediately stilled.
"When have you been to Malfoy Manor?" Theo, who clearly could not read the room, asked. Hermione started laughing at the pure innocence of Theo's question.
"Merlin Theo. Fucking think…" Pansy said.
Theo, the most socially awkward of the group, looked at Pansy confused. Then Theo looked back and forth between Hermione, and Draco, before looking at Pansy, who rolled her eyes. After a few more moments of thinking Theo ended up having a realization.
"Oh… OHHH… Shit, fuck. I'm going to go Avada myself now." Theo said
His face turned red, as he buried it in his hands.
Hermione's laugh was even stronger now with Theo's embarrassment. Soon the entire group was laughing at Theo, which ended up being a great ice breaker for what could've turned into a tense situation.
"Is it really that big of a building?" Pansy asked.
"You tell me. We are about to pass the front now."
Following Hermione's statement, their bus passed the Queen Victoria Memorial, giving the students their first glimpse of Buckingham Palace. The purebloods she was surrounded by were speechless, as the bus passed making its way to the side entrance.
"Merlin. How were the muggles able to create something like this?" Daphne asked.
"Technology." Hermione answered simply.
"I never thought I'd see a home bigger than the Malfoy’s.” Pansy said, in awe of the spectacle that is Buckingham Palace.
"How is it, all of you grew up in the UK, a country dominated by the non-magical population, but you've never seen any of the muggle world, or even wondered about it?" Hermione asked the group of purebloods.
The purebloods around Hermione just looked at her. Neville was the first to say anything.
"For Gran and I, we primarily kept to our estate. Anytime we went out it was to other magical places, or family. Anytime we went out of the country, or on vacation, it was always to go see family."
The other pure bloods in the group nodded, agreeing with Neville.
Their conversation came to a stop as the bus slowed. The students were ushered off the bus and into the tour reception room. Once again Hermione was with her Slytherin's. She was flanked by Daphne, and Pansy as though they were the group of popular girls in the movie Clueless. Not far behind, Draco, Blaise, and Theo trailed along keeping a close eye on the girls.
When all the students were inside they were introduced to their tour guide.
"Good Morning. My name is Charlotte, I'll be your tour director today. Before we get started, I would like to remind you that this is not only a historical building, it's also a workplace for hundreds, and the Queen's home. Please stay with the group at all times. As some of you may have noticed, the Royal Standard is not flying over the palace today, meaning the Queen is not in Residence."
Hermione nodded her head subconsciously.
Pansy turned and started whispering to Hermione.
"Why does a damn flag denote anything significant?"
"It's the Royal Standard, it's flown over any location where the Queen is spending a significant amount of time. It lets commoners, and those not of her inner circle know where she is." Hermione whispered, answering Pansy's question.
"Well that's dumb. It would also alert her enemies to her location..."
She looked at the black haired Slytherin, blinking, trying to take in what Pansy just said. Hermione started sputtering, unsure how to respond.
"I think that's the most Slytherin thing I have ever heard." She whispered in response.
"Really!" Pansy exclaimed giddily, in a tone far louder than was acceptable in their current location. "Thank you so much for the compliment Hermione!"
"Only you Parkinson." Malfoy chided with a smile.
This was the first time Hermione noticed Malfoys smile, his genuine smile, not the contemptuous smile he generally gave. She found she rather liked his smile, and wanted to see more of it.
Hermione was pulled out of her internal musings over Malfoy's nice smile, by a chuckle from the group. The shared laughter also seemed to squash any nerves the purebloods had about being in the large, unfamiliar, muggle place.
The Hogwarts students fell into a rhythm, following their tour director around the palace. There was a sense of awe shared by all of the students, regardless of blood status, as touring Buckingham Palace was a rare opportunity unless you went with your family.
What really captured the attention of the pure blood students was how much history they were seeing throughout their tour. Sure, many wizarding families kept detailed logs of their family history, but that was not comparable to the history they were seeing, and learning. They were walking the same halls walked by Kings, and Queens which lived hundreds of years before them, and that was a lot to grasp.
As they entered the ballroom, their tour director explained the significance of the space, and its many uses over the years. She told them of the many famous people who had walked through the room during formal court in the 1700's and 1800's, and those who had attended state banquets over the years.
To Hermione's surprise, Pansy was enamored by the history she was learning. Her eyes held so much curiosity that Hermione was sure the pureblood witch was bursting with questions. Malfoy on the other hand appeared astonished by the vast expanse of muggle history now laid out before him. Daphne, Theo, and Blaise remined curious, but pensive pensive as they absorbed all of the new information. Hermione was happy to see her new pureblood friends enjoying the marvel that was English History.
As the group was leaving the ballroom to continue their tour, Hermione heard someone trying to gain her attention.
"Psst, pssst. Hermione!" Pansy whisper yelled.
"Yes." She responded politely.
"The tour director lady keeps saying palaces plural! As though there are multiple. How many more places like this are there?" Pansy asked in astonishment.
"A great number actually, and not all belong to the Royal Family these days. Many are privately owned by wealthy British citizens." Hermione said, thinking of her grandparents' home.
Pansy's jaw dropped, and she just stared at Hermione. It was as though her brain had stopped working. After a moment, she seemed to collect herself enough to respond.
"You're joking. You have to be."
"Not at all. Come on Pans, we should catch back up to the rest of the group." Hermione said, as she pulled a stunned Pansy Parkinson by the wrist to meet up with the remainder of their class.
"Where the hell have you two been?" Draco hissed.
"Pansy had questions. I was trying to answer them without distracting the group."
"Well I have questions too, Hermione. Me next please."
Draco's excitement caught Hermione off guard, and she caught another glimpse of that genuine smile she was starting to enjoy seeing.
With butterflies in her stomach she responded with a simple "Okay". Her face betrayed her as she blushed from Draco's attention. That blush did not go unnoticed by Pansy or Daphne.
Hermione's internal monologue was spouting off. Wondering what the hell was going on, and when the hell they started blushing at attention from Malfoy.
Before she could stop herself, all of the etiquette lessons she had taken over the years took over.
"Mister Malfoy, please let me know any questions you may have. I would be happy to answer what I can."
On autopilot, Draco responded in an equally polite manner. "Of course. Shall we start now?"
The unusual pair hung back in the drawing room, as the rest of their class advanced. The awkwardness only lasted a brief moment, as the pair, whom many expected to be mortal enemies, were in each other's presence privately for the first time. Then Draco took Hermione by surprise again.
"In the interest of formality, given our location of course, my lady." Draco said as he offered Hermione his arm.
Whenever a lady was offered a gentleman's arm she must always happily oblige, as long as there is not an impropriety of course. So once again, the aristocratic autopilot took over. This is how Hermione found herself on Draco Malfoy's arm.
Now Draco was the one caught off guard by the automatic response he received. He recognized how Hermione's response was reminiscent of how any well brought up pureblood lady would respond, as if it was second nature. That type of response only came with time, and repetition. He was starting to realize that each time he interacted with Hermione, he was left with more questions than before. Setting his thoughts aside, he began to lead Hermione around the drawing room.
"I was unaware of how well the muggles tracked their histories." He began. "I truly think they have a better account of history than magical historians do."
"There certainly is an extensive history. When you dive into the history books, you find that things have been recorded in some manner for thousands of years."
"That is astounding. The furthest I've seen recorded in my family's magical history is the 1500's in France." Draco said.
"Ah, so it's also a magical custom to keep a written family history, and to not just rely on society?"
Draco was trying to ignore his shock at the similar custom, and focus solely on answering the question. "Yes, many magical families record their history in a grimoire."
"Many old English families do as well. I was introduced to my family grimoire at 15."
"How far back does yours go?" He asked, allowing his curiosity to get the best of him.
Hermione chuckled at his forwardness. "The earliest we've found is from the seventh century, during Anglo-Saxon rule. There may have been more, but we assume they have been lost to time."
Draco was impressed. Hermione had a more established family history than he did.
"That's impressive." He expressed.
"We are lucky that our family was able to preserve our history." She trailed off, stopping in front of a familiar painting.
Noticing Hermione had stopped, Draco looked for what had her attention, and noticed the painting she was looking at.
"I feel like she's going to walk out of that frame." He said, hoping he was acknowledging the painting that captured Hermione's attention.
"Agatha Bas, by Rembrandt. He certainly has a way of making his work stand out. Also, the way he captures her expression is different from so many other painters in his time. It is captivating."
"You like art?" Draco asked, surprised.
"I do very much. Whenever my family travels we always try to find new museums to tour."
Again Draco found himself staring at Hermione, wondering who she truly was. Outside of Hogwarts she seemed so much different than the bushy haired bookworm he had come to know over the last seven years.
"What is your favorite museum?"
"Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The way the Dutch masters play with natural light in their work is captivating. Are you a fan of art?" She asked, looking up at Draco.
"I am. I haven't been able to see much outside of magical spaces given my parents' views on all things muggle. So seeing all of this artwork in one place is a treat." He said as he looked around the room, admiring their surroundings. He continued, "I heard there is a museum in France called the Louvre that has some amazing pieces. I would love to go there one day."
"I've been!" Hermione said excitedly. "It is absolutely beautiful. There are a lot of tourists though..." She trailed off for a moment. "You've surprised me today Draco Malfoy. There seems to be far more to you than the scaly, snake like exterior you have projected over the last seven years. I look forward to getting to know this version of you better, but for now we should rejoin the tour."
It was official, Draco Malfoy had been left speechless from what Hermione had just said. Unable to do anything else, he blindly followed Hermione, who still had hold of his arm, back to their classmates.
The unlikely duo walked arm in arm back to their classmates. They were now surprisingly comfortable in one another's presence, which didn't go unnoticed by their friends. They arrived back to their friends, still arm in arm, and continued walking around in that fashion until they heard a loud, unnatural cough from Theo which caused Draco to look up.
Theo was trying to make Draco realize that he still had Hermione's arm, and people, mainly Neville and Ginny, were beginning to notice. In that moment, Draco dropped Hermione's arm as though he had been holding a hot coal.
Hermione, who had forgotten she had Draco's arm, was acutely aware of the moment he pulled away. She was surprised to find she missed the feeling of his warm, muscled forearm under her hand.
The remainder of the tour passed quickly. Hermione continued answering questions for the Slytherin's whenever she could. Before long, they were all being ushered back onto the bus, where Hermione found herself seated next to Draco. She was oblivious to Draco's crush on her, and the fact her Slytherin friends knew, and had orchestrated the seating on the bus.