A Small Mess
Hermione shivered underneath the Leaky Cauldron sign that was currently being fixed by the owner, Tom Abbott, while he was grumbling under his breath. She held her tongue from the urge of telling him that his weak sticking charm was the only reason the sign had fallen so easily in the first place.
She spotted a man from the Ministry waddling his way up Diagon Alley with their portkey in hand. "Miss Hermione Granger and... Mr. Malfoy." He heaved, reaching the Leaky. "To Beccles for vacation together, is it?" He said eyeing the Leaky sign that seemed to be tipping once more.
"Yes sir. I believe we have about two minutes left?" Hermione piped.
"Correct, Hermione." Malfoy said smoothly, picking up her bags off the ground and slinging them over his shoulder, the straps of her bags resting against his knit sweater. "Punctual as always, darling." He said. There was a pause in the air as they turned to look at each other and let out a collective laugh, Malfoy's cheeks turning a slight pink. Hermione ignored the way her stomach felt after staring at the way he tilted his head back to laugh, his platinum blonde hair framing his face. It was a cover, after all.
"Mr. Malfoy!" Shouted a high-pitched voice. "How does it feel to be dating Hermione Granger? Have you spoken to Ron Weasley?" A few passersby's around her turned, and Hermione's eyes narrowed at the familiar face of Rita Skeeter. Rita Skeeter who, despite speaking quite loudly, was refusing to make eye contact with her.
"We're just on our way to vacation Miss Skeeter." Hermione spoke, all laughter gone. "Getting away from the little sordid bugs that crawl through the various drains of London, that's all." She said sweetly, stepping closer to Malfoy. His coat brushed against hers, and Hermione nearly shivered.
Skeeter's mouth curled and she took a glance behind her before nodding. "I'm glad to hear it. Good day Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy." Her curt footsteps stepped past them and continued on through Diagon Alley.
"What was that about bugs?" Malfoy leaned in and whispered, so close Hermione could smell his cologne—water lilies.
"Sorry to interrupt, but please grab hold of the portkey!" The Ministry man exclaimed—Hermione had forgotten he was even there—and he thrust a little bent spoon into their hands.
Surging forwards, Hermione grasped the portkey with a hand and Draco's free arm wrapped around her as the air began to buzz. It was a feeling close to Apparating, but with an almost extreme amount of twisting. Her hair whipped around her face as Hermione felt a swooping in her stomach and saw black stars in her vision. The smell of water lilies and spice filled the air as the Wizarding World around her buzzed together in a mix of colours. Hermione struggled to intake air as the ride finished, just as quickly as it had begun. With a final pop, she knew they had made it.
"Oh—" She heard Draco's voice faint in the background as she felt soft grass under her feet and stumbled forwards. "Granger—" A firm arm circled her waist and Hermione was righted against Draco as her vision cleared.
"Ugh—" Her head dipped against his arm before she righted herself once more. The grip on her waist loosened.
"I take it you're not a fan of long-distance travel?" He said and Hermione could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
She gulped in the east coast air as she looked ahead to see a vast field of grass and trees, and saw a little path that led down to what looked like a town that was settled in between surrounding hills. "Not so much." She said stepping out of his grasp. "Did we portkey into a field?"
"The grounds of the house." Malfoy turned behind him to point. "There it is. Come on." He said quietly, trudging his way behind her.
Hermione turned and swallowed a gasp. The house was more of a manor; much like the main Malfoy Manor, the little French chateau stood proud against the garden that stood around it with large purple hydrangea bushes and shrubs scattering the sides of the house.
Hermione realized Malfoy had already walked a few yards forwards and she glanced around for where she had dropped her bags before realizing that he had already gathered them long before their portkey. Picking up her nerves, she followed Malfoy towards the house.
***
"I am Cricket, Mistress Granger. I has read about you in the paper, oh yes, Cricket and Millet have—"
"Cricket." Malfoy said gently, setting down their bags. "What did I tell you?"
Cricket, the small little house elf, seemed to ponder for a moment before remembering. "Oh! Mr. Malfoy is told me to tell you, Mist—Miss Granger, that Cricket is a compensated and free house elf! Oh yes, Cricket is buy many dresses..." She continued on, and Hermione looked at her almost bemused. The house elf was dressed in a pink layered chiffon dress with orange wool socks that hung off her little legs, with a small pair of black heels supporting her feet.
Hermione smiled. "I think you and I will become great friends. Please call me Hermione."
"Miss Hermione." Cricket repeated blushing.
Hermione was completely enamoured with the elf.
Malfoy cleared his throat. "Cricket, if you could show Granger to her room, please."
"Oh absolutely, sir. Does Cricket need to take Mr. Malfoy's bags upstairs?" She asked rocking on her heels, staring up at Malfoy who towered over her. Hermione had a small flashback to the time in second year when Malfoy and Lucius had bumped into her in Flourish and Blotts, Dobby nearly being the size of Draco then.
"That won't be necessary, Cricket. Get settled, Hermione; I'll see you in a few hours." He said turning, waving his hand and vanishing his set of bags. He walked down the hall and went up the staircase at the end, disappearing past the portraits and paintings that were hung against the dark green wall paper.
Hermione turned and crouched next to Cricket, who hid her face behind her hands with a few giggles, and picked up her bags. "Off we go, Cricket."
Cricket led Hermione up a smaller flight of stairs, small paintings surrounding the trip up alongside framed drawings that seemed to have been made by Draco when he was younger. The top of the stairs led to another hallway, of which Hermione's room was in the middle. There was a canopy bed with dark blue bedsheets and blankets; the dark hardwood floors were covered in various spots with charcoal carpets, and nearly all the other furniture in the room matched the floor. That, aside from the Slytherin green curtains and ornate iron wrought lighting fixtures.
"Does Miss Hermione like her room?" Cricket asked, picking and setting her bags down on top of a wooden chest.
"It's beautiful Cricket."
"Cricket is happy Miss Hermione is spending time at the manor. Mr. Malfoy is only visit in the summers, so Cricket is get quite lonely Apparating between the Manor and here." Hermione could only assume she was referring to the main Malfoy Manor.
"A few weeks, Cricket." Hermione said softly, almost immediately missing her flat back in London. She went to sit on the edge of her bed, admiring the small embroideries of peacock feathers in gold and dark green.
Cricket smiled. "Cricket is let Miss Hermione rest. We see you for dinner."
"That's perfect, Cricket."
***
Hermione must've managed to fall asleep on top of her covers, because she woke to the sound of wailing. Nearly toppling out of bed, she threw open her door and realized that night had fallen—the windows that normally illuminated the hallway were dark with the curtains drawn, and small wall lamps that travelled down the corridor were lit.
"Oh no, Pax!" The shrill sounded as if it was Cricket that was screaming.
"Cricket?" Hermione yelled down the hallway. "Cricket where are you? Malfoy?"
Hermione rushed down the stairs and followed the crying as it became louder. She ran past the main hall and into what looked like the kitchens, running almost blindly.
"How will we fix your leg, Pax?" Hermione's vision filled with Cricket squatting beside another slightly smaller house elf that was sobbing. A large pan beside them was discarded, and it looked as if it had made the gash in the house elf's leg. Fuck.
"Oh Miss Hermione!" Cricket sobbed. "Look at Pax's leg."
The other house elf looked up at Hermione and began to cry louder. "That's not a wizard, Cricket!" He cried.
"No, no, no." Hermione said hushed and crouched up to the elf's leg. "I can fix this for you. Hold still?"
"NO!" Shouted Pax.
"PAX!" Cricket wailed back. "LET MISS GRANGER FIX YOUR LEG!"
"SHE ISN'T A WIZARD!" Shouted Pax back.
"SHE IS! LOOK SHE HAS A WAND." Cricket pointed to Hermione's wand in her hand.
"Pax." Hermione started softly, realizing that he looked young enough to be a baby. "Let me fix it, please."
With a sharp nod from Cricket, Pax pouted but nodded once at Hermione, and then swiveled his face to look at back at Cricket.
Hermione pointed her wand at his leg and whispered. "Episkey."
The gash that was on his leg cleared, and both Cricket and Pax hugged each other, Pax's sobbing decreasing to small tears.
"I told you she'd fix it, didn't I?" Cricket said softly patting Pax's head. Pax nodded against Cricket, refusing to turn to look at Hermione. "You are Pax's first witch, Miss Hermione. Pax's is only used to Mr. Malfoy."
"Oh, Pax." Hermione said sitting back and breathing in relief. "I have magic like Mr. Malfoy." She raised her hand and showed Pax the little sparkles that were emitting from her fingertips. Pax gasped against Cricket.
"Cricket—Oh my." Draco stood between the doorframe, eyes widening seeing Hermione sitting on the kitchen tiles next to Cricket and Pax who still had blood on his legs. Hermione felt a surge of anger fill her chest.
"Where were you?" Hermione turned and hissed, almost immediately on her feet.
"I went out to check the grounds—"
"The grounds? You have a baby house elf in your manor and you just left? Don't you know they're notorious trouble makers?"
"What baby house—" His eyes zeroed on Pax's face, and then moved to Cricket's.
"Oh, Cricket can explain Mr. Malfoy!" She sqeaked.
"You brought Pax with you?" He asked her in disbelief.
Cricket burst into tears, and was soon followed by Pax. "Pax is not like to stay at Malfoy Manor by himself."
"You make a baby house elf clean the Manor?" Hermione said, her voice getting higher and higher as she swiveled back to face Malfoy who looked bewildered, his eyes darting between Hermione and the house elves.
"No! Pax is... Pax just sits and occasionally plays with my mother. Who do you think I am, Granger?" He sniped back. "Cricket just brought him to the Manor one day; was I supposed to say no?"
"Pax is not mean to knock over the pan!" Cricket said softly. "He is just looking for Cricket."
Hermione slowly realized there was a lot more on the floor than the pan; entire bundles of vegetables and fruits, spices that were knocked over and split, and even flour covering a corner of the kitchen. She nearly bit back a laugh. Baby house elves were almost worse than trolls while growing up.
"Cricket." Draco sighed, bringing a hand up to his head. "Will you set up a place upstairs for Pax? And please get that blood off his legs."
Cricket nodded and dragged up Pax into standing, him barely reaching her elbows. With a crack of Apparation, they were gone.
Hermione let out a small laugh. "I didn't expect you to have a baby elf here."
"Neither did I, frankly."
"Hello!" Called a low voice from behind Draco. "Draco is that you? How is it that I had to hear from the Daily Prophet that you were shacking up with the Hermione Granger? A little funny if you ask me, especially considering I've never introduced the two of you."
Draco stepped into the kitchen beside Granger and the two of them faced Theodore Nott, a tall wizard who had grown over the last few years, his dark hair and eyes contrasting the bright yellow jumper he was wearing, who now stood where Draco was moments ago.
Theo stood in front of them with his eyes widening at the absolute mess of a kitchen, his hands now out of his pockets and instead crossed at his chest as he leaned against the doorframe. Theo let out a low whistle, a shit-eating grin forming on his face. "I suppose the two of you were always explosive."