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Draco chuckled as he set down the paper. "Who was Luna's reliable source?" he asked Hermione. |
Hermione set down her spoon and looked over at him in amusement. She dabbed at her lips with her napkin. The bit of drool was flaking off slowly from the side of her mouth. "I might have sent her a copy of the proposed bill with notes on what some of the legal jargon meant." |
Draco wasn't surprised. He was a little disappointed that he hadn't thought of it first. Draco shrugged off his disappointment though. It was Hermione's right to spread news of the bill she had a hand in creating as she saw fit. |
Draco picked up a letter and opened it. He smiled as he scanned the contents. |
"Who's that from?" Hermione asked curiously. She spread a generous helping of butter and raspberry jam on her toast before returning her attention to him as she took her first bite. A glob of jelly slid off her toast, and Hermione made a grab for it but missed, and the jelly landed with a splat on her pajamas. |
"Mr. Parkinson," Draco answered with a grin, resisting the urge to laugh outright, setting the letter back down on the table, "We've been invited to Parkinson Lodge for tea this afternoon." |
"That's good news," Hermione responded as she cast a quick scourgify on herself. "I suppose we should go to Ollivander's first and see what he has to say." |
"Well, you're the one that slept in this morning," Draco said wryly, calling attention to their differences in attire. |
"I was tired," Hermione said defensively, "Did Rose get to school okay?" |
"It was fine," Draco reassured her. |
Hermione finished her breakfast, kissed his cheek, and wandered upstairs to get ready for the trip to Ollivander's. Draco finished reading the newspaper while he waited for Hermione to return. |
The Daily Prophet was littered with editorials concerning the divorce bill up for vote, both for and against with accompanying comments from various Ministry officials with similar views as the journalist writing the article. The society page was full of speculation on the fate of Draco and Hermione's relationship should the bill pass or not pass. Both sides seemed to agree that the divorce bill would have no impact on the longevity of their relationship, but should the divorce bill pass, speculation abounded on when they could expect an announcement of upcoming nuptials. |
Hermione returned to the dining room just as Draco was closing the paper. She was dressed warmly for a visit to Diagon Alley in a lilac cashmere sweater and navy dress pants. She had her navy peacoat draped over her arm. |
"What if he says he won't vote with us?" Hermione worried as Draco helped her put her coat on. |
Draco wrapped his arms around her waist. Hermione leaned back into his embrace. Draco planted a kiss on her temple. |
"Stop worrying so much," Draco said with assurance, "Everything will turn out just fine." |
Draco approached this divorce bill as he'd approached many things in his life. His typical Malfoy self-assurance didn't allow room for any doubt that he would fail. Draco was determined to get what he wanted, and he'd done everything in his power to ensure that his aims were achieved. Hermione would be divorced tomorrow. Draco was absolutely assured of that result. |
"I know. I just..." Hermione said, worrying her lip and wringing her hands. |
"You just want everyone to vote with you because you think you're right," Draco said. Hermione stiffened ready to defend herself. Draco continued cajolingly before she could interrupt, "And you are right in this instance, but you'll never get everyone to agree with you. That's just not how politics works." |
"But it's the right thing," Hermione protested, "People deserve not to be forced to stay in unhappy marriages." |
"I agree with you," Draco reassured her, "But you know the world isn't always black and white. People don't always agree what is right and wrong." |
"I hear what you're saying," Hermione said haltingly, "It just means a lot to me that this passes." |
Draco kissed her temple again. "I know. It means a lot to me too." |
They took the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron. The two of them stepping out of the fireplace caused a few curious stares among the few patrons scattered about the pub. Hannah waved to them from behind the bar and called a greeting. They called their "hellos" back to her but didn't stop to talk. |
Hermione and Draco exited the Leaky and made their way onto Diagon Alley. The street was quiet with morning shoppers strolling leisurely down the street. The cold, rainy weather that pervaded Muggle London didn't affect the wizarding shopping center. It would not do for witches and wizards to be slipping and sliding down the cobbled streets. |
Draco opened the door to the dark and musty wand shop. He'd been to Ollivander's three times in his life. Draco's first visit was like many witches and wizards. The pompous youth entered Ollivander's with his mother and father to pick out his first wand. |
After the war, the wand never seemed to work right for Draco. After his probation was lifted, he'd gone to Ollivander's to ask for help. Draco was surprised to find that his changed nature was the reason the wand wouldn't work anymore. He simply wasn't the same person he'd been at eleven, which didn't seem much of a surprise to Ollivander. |
Draco's second wand was chosen. An eighteen inch, elm wand with a dragon heartstring core. It was very similar to the Malfoy wand that had been passed down for generations before being destroyed by Voldemort, a wand that was rumored to have belonged to Armand Malfoy. Ollivander behaved oddly when this wand chose Draco but refused to explain himself. Just stating that it was "curious" that the wand had chosen him. |
The third visit was like many parents" visit to the shop, accompanying their excited offspring as they took up their heritage and were paired with their first wands. Scorpius came home with an eleven inch, cedar wand with a unicorn hair core. |
The chime above the door rang as Hermione and Draco stepped inside. Ollivander's shop was as it had always been. Wands in their boxes were stacked on shelves behind the counter organized in a way that probably only Ollivander knew. |
Garrick Ollivander wandered up from the back of the store. The old wandmaker hadn't changed much over the years. His graying hair stuck out at odd angles as if he'd gotten frustrated and starting pulling on his hair. Ollivander spotted Hermione first, and a toothy grin broke out on the old wizard's face, deep lines bracketing his mouth. |
Ollivander grasped both of Hermione's hands in his. "It's so wonderful to see you again, my dear," he beamed. |
"Always a pleasure, Mr. Ollivander," Hermione said, smiling up at the wizard. |
Ollivander let go of Hermione's hands. "I've been wondering when I would see you two in my shop. I've been expecting you for months now." Ollivander smiled at the two of them. |
"I'm sorry," Hermione started, unsure, looking between Draco and Ollivander, "Why were you expecting us?" |
"The wands," Ollivander said, looking like that should answer their question and not raise more. "Let's see them," he said, gesturing impatiently for them to hand over their wands. |
Draco followed Hermione's lead and handed his wand over to the wizard. Ollivander held a wand in each hand and looked up at them in wonder. |
"Very rare, very rare," Ollivander muttered to himself. |
"I've been meaning to ask," Hermione began, "Why is it that I can use Draco's wand just as easily as mine?" |
Ollivander looked at Hermione as if he had expected her to have already figured it out. Draco looked sharply at the man. It had been a long month. Neither of them had devoted any time to contemplate why their wands responded to each other's commands. |
Ollivander handed their wands back to them. "I remember when you came to get your replacement wand," Ollivander said to Hermione with a distracted air, "I hadn't even opened the shop back up yet. Thirteen inches, cedar wood with a dragon heartstring, reasonable springy." |
"Yes, but why..." Hermione tried to interrupt. |
Ollivander turned to Draco, gesturing at him with an open hand and ignoring Hermione's attempt to interrupt. "And then you came in a year later. Your wand was not responding to you anymore. It was really no wonder with everything you'd gone through. The wand that chose you was very much like the Malfoy wand. Very sad that it was destroyed. Very old, very old." |
"Okay, but why..." Hermione tried again. |
"It's the cores," Ollivander said as if it were apparent. |
Dragon heartstring cores weren't that uncommon. Draco didn't understand why it should seem obvious that their wands responded to each other. |
Ollivander sighed dramatically at Draco and Hermione's identical blank looks. "Antipodean dragons mate for life. Your cores came from a mated pair. The wands are mates," Ollivander made his shocking announcement and started pacing the front of the shop. "I didn't think anything of it until young Malfoy came and claimed the second wand, but I've known you two were supposed to be together for fourteen years." |
Draco didn't quite care for how smug the wizard looked as he imparted that information. |
"Why didn't you say something?" Hermione asked aghast. |
The smug look fell from the wizard's face at Hermione's tone. "I... I didn't think... You weren't together," Ollivander stammered helplessly. |
"You didn't think that it would be important for either of us to know that our wands are mated," Hermione snarled. "You didn't think it was significant for either of us to know that we're supposed to be together." |
Ollivander seemed to wither under Hermione's sharp glare. Draco was just impressed that she hadn't pointed her wand at the wizard. |
"The wands are rare," Ollivander tried pathetically to explain. "Wandmakers usually don't use heartstrings from Antipodean dragons if the dragon was mated because both must be used, and then there's the risk of using a mated wand, but I was short on supplies, and I was willing to use whatever I could get. They are rather cheap because wandmakers typically don't buy them." Ollivander got distracted by this thoughts and muttered wistfully, "But they came out beautifully though. Some of my best work." |
"That still doesn't cover why you chose not to say anything for fourteen years," Hermione interjected sharply. |
Ollivander jerked, pulled from his reverie. In a quiet, pleading voice, Ollivander tried to better explain himself, "The war had just ended, only a month gone by, when you came in, Hermione. I didn't mention it when the wand picked you. I didn't think it mattered. When young Malfoy came in a year later, and your wand's mate chose him, I didn't mention it to him. You were tortured in his home. I still remember what your screams sounded like as his aunt tortured you. He was a Death Eater. I wasn't going to tell him that his wand had a mate. That it meant you two were supposed to be together. I thought I was protecting you." |
Draco didn't like the excuse, but considering what had happened to Hermione in his home, he could understand why the old wizard didn't say anything to him. Ollivander probably thought he would be handing Hermione over to be abused again, not that he would possibly be saving her from years of abuse at Weasley's hands. |
Draco rubbed his hands down Hermione's arms, trying to calm her. Hermione was quickly losing her patience with the wizard. No doubt envisioning everything that could have been different in their lives had she known that one detail. Once again a choice had kept them apart, delayed him finding her, and it was difficult for Draco to accept. |
"You mentioned something about the risks of using a mated wand," Draco said, trying to direct the wandmaker's attention to himself instead of the desperate pleading the wandmaker was currently subjecting an infuriated Hermione too. |
Ollivander's gaze snapped to Draco, and he looked bewildered for a moment by the statement. A shudder passed through Ollivander, and then he answered the indirect question as if the answer was evident to anyone with half a brain. Draco barely refrained from hexing the wizard, and only because the answers were far more important than his need to release his aggrevation on the old wandmaker. |
"Well, they won't duel against one another, that's obvious." Ollivander ignored Hermione's growl of impatience and started pacing around the front of the shop. "Wands are made to be protective of their owners, but mated wands are difficult because they are oftentimes more protective of their mates to the point where they might risk their owners in order to protect their mate from harm." |
Ollivander stopped pacing and looked at them. "That's why wandmakers don't use them. People don't wands that might not protect them." |
Ollivander started pacing again, and Draco's hand twitched on his wand, wanting to immobilize the wizard and get him to hurry up with his explanation. Hermione didn't seem to be in a better state. Her hair was starting to fluff out with little blue sparks zinging out the ends. |
"They're notoriously difficult to pass down to family members. The two wands can't go to just anyone," Ollivander muttered as he wore the floorboards down in front of them. |
"Don't you think," Hermione spluttered in rage. She stepped in front of Ollivander to stop his pacing and wagged an admonishing finger in his face. "Don't you think it would have been important for us to know this when we got our wands. It would have been nice to know at least that my wand had a mate that it couldn't duel against." |
Hermione spun on her heel and stalked towards the door. Draco followed her. She had her hand on the doorknob when Ollivander called after her. |
"I'm sorry, Hermione." |
Hermione looked coldly at the old wizard, her voice glacial as she said, "Sometimes saying nothing does far more harm than telling an uncomfortable truth." |
Hermione harshly wrenched open the door and stalked out into the cold, London air. Draco quietly closed the shop door, not bothering to look behind him at Ollivander, and walked down the steps to join her on the sidewalk. |
"I'm so mad," Hermione said heatedly when Draco joined her. |
Draco was almost resigned to it. He could even understand Ollivander's actions in not saying anything to him. The old wandmaker had spent time as a "guest" in the Malfoy dungeons for a time. Draco considered himself lucky that the wizard had been willing even to sell him a wand. There was nothing they could do now to change Ollivander's actions. They couldn't go back and change any of the choices that led them away from each other. |
"I know," Draco said, then shrugged, "Well, at least that answered a question." |
He guided her down the street away from the front of Ollivander's shop in case the wizard decided to try to accost Hermione on the street with more apologies. It wouldn't do for The Prophet to catch a photo of Hermione hexing the beloved wandmaker in the street. |
Hermione stopped and stamped her foot in anger and frustration. "Why aren't you madder about this?" she demanded. |
"There's nothing we can really do," Draco said with an air of resignation. |
"But we could've been together sooner," Hermione protested. |
"We made our own choices too," Draco reminded her. |
Hermione huffed a little at his statement. They ambled along the street, making their way back to the Leaky. Draco walked beside her with an arm draped over her shoulder. Hermione eventually wrapped her arm around his waist. |
"We didn't ask him how he was planning to vote tomorrow," Hermione said quietly. |
Draco looked down at her and smiled. "Well, we can go back and ask him if you want," he said still grinning. |
Hermione looked incensed by the prospect of going back to ask Ollivander to vote with them tomorrow. "I am not going back there to beg for his vote," she huffed. |
"I don't know," Draco started playfully. "He would probably agree to anything you asked of him right now," Draco finished with Slytherin slyness. |
Hermione looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. A calculating gleam came over her face, but then she shook her head and said, "No, I'm just as likely to hex him right now as ask him anything." |
Draco shrugged with a careless lift of his shoulder. "We can guilt trip him tomorrow then during the council meeting," Draco said with an air of unconcern. |
Tea at Parkinson Lodge |
Afternoon of January 16th |
Hermione's innate curiosity soon overrode her anger at Ollivander. They found that the wands indeed refused to duel against one another. |
"We should try a Patronus," Hermione suggested. She was practically bouncing in excitement around the study. |
Draco rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know how to cast a Patronus," Draco admitted. "I don't think I even can." |
"Oh," Hermione said, "I can show you how." |
"Yes, but I don't think I can," Draco persisted. |
"Why?" Hermione asked her hands on her hips and tapping her foot in impatience. |
Draco wondered if she was being deliberately obtuse or if she'd forgotten in her excitement. Draco decided to err on the side of caution and decided that she'd probably forgotten. |
"Hermione, Death Eaters can't cast a Patronus. It's well known," Draco said calmly. |
Hermione closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist, and he wrapped his arms around her. Draco thought that maybe she realized that it was hopeless to try to teach him the spell and was consoling him. |
Hermione looked up at him and smiled. "I think that is pure rubbish," she said. "Will you at least give it a try?" she wheedled. |
Draco sighed. He couldn't very well turn her down, and when he failed, she would be the only one that knew he couldn't do it. He nodded in acquiescence. |
Hermione squealed is happiness and bounced out of his embrace. She started speaking rapidly, "Okay, so the first thing you have to do is think happy thoughts." |
"And you're going to sprinkle pixie dust on me, and we'll fly away to Neverland," Draco responded sardonically. |
Hermione glared reprovingly at him, "Funny. Try to take this seriously." |
"Lioness," Draco protested, "I don't think I can do this." |
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