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"We missed you, too," Hermione reassured her daughter. She smoothed a hand over Rose’s hair, which looked like it had once been a braided chignon that was likely too old of a hairstyle for a five-year-old. Her hair had come undone sometime during school and hung in unraveling braids down her back. "Did you have fun at Nana’s?" |
Rose nodded enthusiastically. "Nana Cissa let me play dress up with some clothes we found in the attic. I pretended I was a princess and I got to wear a giant crown. It was very heavy. I tried wishing for it to be lighter, but that didn’t work, and Nana Cissa told me to wear a different one. She told me that princesses wear smaller crowns and queens only wear the big ones on really special occasions. Is that true, Mum?" |
Draco guided them over to the queue for the Floo, while Rose continued telling them all about her sleepover with his mother. He hated waiting in the long lines to leave, especially today when he was tired. Draco tried to imagine his father waiting in line to use the Floo anywhere, and failed. He couldn’t imagine Lucius Malfoy waiting his turn to use the Floo. Lucius would’ve marched to the front of the line, shoving women and children out of his way with his walking stick. Not that Lucius Malfoy would have ever let Draco go to a public primary school, even if it was for magical children. |
Hermione, Rose, and Draco finally made it to the front of the line and arrived in the study at Spinner’s End. Draco plopped gratefully onto the sofa, while Rose ran off to greet Tansy and wheedle a cookie or three from her. Hermione meandered over to their desk. Draco could hear a drawer opening, the clink of glass vials rattling around, and a cork popping, indicating that Hermione had downed another dose of anti-nausea potion. |
"What’s this?" Draco heard Hermione ask. |
Draco propped himself up on his elbows to find Hermione holding up an envelope. Draco lay back down on the sofa. |
"I don’t know. Who’s it from?" Draco answered lazily. |
Hermione seemed to find out who the sender was because she then said, "This better not be what I think it is," with a hint of trepidation and anger. |
Draco groaned as he heard the words that ruined his perfectly well-thought-out plan to remain on this couch for the rest of the afternoon. |
"Who’s the letter from, love?" he asked, his arm still draped over his eyes. |
"What the hell?" Hermione screeched. |
Draco sat up now. He was starting to worry that the letter was hate mail or something from Weasley that a sympathetic guard smuggled out of Azkaban. "Who is the letter from?" he asked again in a tone that meant he wanted an answer. |
Hermione responded by handing over the letter with an angry "Here." Draco grasped the letter and bypassed all the contents, and went for the signature at the bottom. The name "Lavender Brown" was scrawled across the bottom of the page, and Draco let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t something worse. His eyes moved back up to the top of the page to read the letter. |
January 18th, 2014 |
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your generosity in hiring me for the position of Assistant Manager of Granger House. It meant the world to me that you saw something in me that recommended me to this position. I want you to understand how much it meant that you would offer me employment and find a place for me in your foundation. |
I feel that I must resign from my post as Assistant Manager. My actions and reputation appear to be a detriment to the respected organization you are trying to create. I apologize that my notoriety has created negative publicity for you and Granger House. |
I hope that my resignation will cease the negativity directed at you and Granger House. It saddens me to leave; however, I believe it to be for the greater good. Without me, your organization will grow. Without my presence, people will trust you again when you say that you offer protection to women and children in abusive situations. I would not want my continued employment with Granger House to deter even one woman from seeking the shelter she needs from an abusive spouse. |
"Well, it seems that she’s taken care of this problem for us," Draco said, folding the letter back up and handing it over to Hermione. |
Hermione took the letter from his hand and smacked his shoulder with it. "That’s what you’d like, isn’t it?" she practically growled and struck him again with the letter. "For me to just abandon her!" |
Draco took the creased letter from her hand before she could start hitting him again. "You’re not abandoning her, but it’d odd for you to want her to be a part of our lives. I don’t understand why you’re this upset that she decided to quit rather than continuing to damage the reputation of the domestic abuse shelter you created." |
Hermione paused and looked thoughtful. Draco hoped for a second that he’d gotten through to her, and they could put this behind them, so he could go back to lazing on the couch. His hopes were dashed though a moment later when Hermione stubbornly stamped her foot. |
"I gave her a job when no one else would. When people would question why I would want to associate with my former husband’s mistress. She shouldn’t just quit because times got tough," Hermione snarled, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. |
Draco narrowed his eyes at her as if he were trying to penetrate into her brilliant mind. Were these pregnancy hormones? Gryffindor stubbornness? Did she feel like Lavender was abandoning her? |
Draco took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to genuinely understand why she was upset about this. "I don’t think she quit because times got tough, love," Draco said consolingly. He reached out and pulled her stiff form down to sit beside him on the couch. Draco rubbed Hermione’s arms reassuringly. "I’m sure she just thinks she’s doing you a favor in quitting so you don’t feel like you have to fire her." |
Hermione jerked away from him and grabbed the crumpled-up letter. "I’m not going to let her do it. This organization is about helping women, and she needs help." |
Hermione stood and went over to the fireplace. |
"Hermione," Draco called after her, "please, just respect her decision or at least sit on it for a day or two and let things mellow out." |
"I’m going to talk to her, Draco, and you’re not going to stop me." |
With that pronouncement, Hermione was through the Floo and off to lay siege to Lavender Brown. |
Draco huffed as he watched Hermione leave. Please let it be hormones, he prayed. He knew Hermione’s Gryffindor bleeding heart wouldn’t let her just abandon someone she decided to help, which was why he loved her so much. She was so different than a Slytherin. Sure she had her moments of craftiness and cunning, but deep down, she cared too much about people. Slytherins were different. Yes, they cared and loved people, but usually only those closest to them. Those that had earned their respect and loyalty. Draco wouldn’t have bothered to help Lavender Brown if he were in the same position as Hermione. Forgive, maybe — eventually. But to help her, and often at Hermione’s expense — never. |
It wasn’t his decision, though. If Hermione was determined to help Lavender make something of her life, Draco would support her decision. Draco nodded to himself as his decision was made, not that it was a difficult one. He went in search of Rose so that they could chase after Hermione. |
Draco found Rose and Tansy working side by side on making their dinner. Rose was up to her elbows in flour with it liberally sprinkled over the hunter-green jumper his mother had dressed her in that morning. She cut biscuits into circles with a cup Tansy had given her and placed them on a baking sheet. |
Draco went over and kissed Rose on the forehead. "Let’s get you cleaned up, princess," he said. |
"But I’m helping Tansy make dinner," Rose protested. |
Draco thought about just leaving her here with Tansy, but he didn’t like the idea. Tansy wasn’t Rose’s nanny. While Tansy didn’t protest at being asked to look after Rose, Draco didn’t want to get into the habit of expecting Tansy to take care of her whenever they popped out for a while. Besides, he and Hermione hadn’t spent any time with Rose since yesterday morning before dropping her off at school. |
"I just thought that maybe you’d want to go with me to visit Uncle Charlie," Draco wheedled. |
"Uncle Charlie!" Rose exclaimed, clapping her hands and sending a cloud of flour into the air. |
"These biscuits look great," Tansy praised. "Thank you for your help, Miss Rose." |
"Thank you, Tansy," Draco told the house elf. |
Tansy bobbed her head, and her cheeks tinged a little pink. "You’re welcome, Master Draco." |
Draco stepped out of the Floo with Rose into Lavender’s living room. Sounds of arguing could be heard from deeper within the townhouse. |
"Earmuffs, princess," Draco instructed. |
Rose gave him a scrunched-up look of confusion. Draco placed her hands over her ears, and Rose giggled. Draco smiled to himself and led Rose through the living room to the kitchen, where the source of the arguing was. |
He pushed open the swinging door to find Hermione and Lavender on opposite sides of the center island. Draco stopped just inside the entrance to look around the room. Lavender’s kitchen was decorated simply. Unlike her living room, which was a testament to her name, the kitchen had white cabinets with black marble countertops. |
While Lavender and Hermione were battling it out across the island, Charlie was lounging on a corner farmhouse table with his feet kicked up on the bench. Charlie was also munching loudly on popcorn and appeared to be watching an entertaining show. |
"What the..." Hermione screeched, caught sight of Draco and Rose in the doorway, and amended, "French toast!" |
"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked Draco. |
Draco went over to Hermione and dropped a kiss on her brow. "Sorry to intrude," he apologized to Lavender. |
"Why not? The more, the merrier," Lavender huffed at him. |
Draco turned to Hermione, "I just thought Rose would like to see her Uncle Charlie." |
"Uh-huh," Hermione said, not buying his excuse. She turned back to Lavender and said, "Draco thinks that I should just let you resign." |
"Don’t get me involved with this," Draco protested, not wanting to be drawn into an argument between the two witches. He had no problem disagreeing with her, but he wasn’t going to take someone else’s side against her. |
Draco moved over to where Charlie and Rose were sitting and sat on a corner of the bench. |
"Popcorn?" Charlie asked, holding out the bag for him. |
"No thanks," Draco replied. "What’s your take on this?" |
Charlie stuffed another handful of popcorn into his mouth and munched thoughtfully on it. "Typical Gryffindors, the both of them," he said after he swallowed. |
"You can’t do this to me, Lavender!" Hermione yelled. |
"Care to elaborate?" Draco asked. |
Rose was sitting between Draco and Charlie. He caught her sneaking handfuls of popcorn out of Charlie’s bag and thoroughly ruining her dinner. |
"I’m trying to help you, you daft witch!" Lavender yelled back. |
Charlie gestured over to Lavender. "Well, Lav is trying to be noble and quit so that Hermione doesn’t feel like she has to fire her, and she feels guilty about all the bad publicity she caused Hermione." |
"And Hermione?" Draco prodded, curious to see what the older man’s take on Hermione’s behavior was. |
"I don’t need your help!" Hermione screeched. |
Draco and Charlie shared a look at Hermione’s statement. |
"Well, Hermione’s always been much more selfless than other Gryffindors," Charlie started. |
"Good, then you don’t need me working for you!" Lavender practically growled. |
Draco nodded in agreement. He knew the only reason Harry and Weasel passed their classes was that Hermione "helped" them with their assignments. And by "help," he meant he was pretty sure they copied off her exhaustive papers. |
"That’s not what I meant, and you know it!" Hermione said in frustration. "This scandal will blow over in a few days. But, that’s no reason to just throw away a good opportunity." |
"Tell me if you think I’m wrong, but it seems that Hermione is almost compelled to help those in need, even if it’s at her own expense," Charlie continued. |
"It feels like she’s overreacting a little bit, doesn’t it?" Draco confessed. |
"She’s stubborn. You know that," Charlie said, waving off Draco’s concern. "Hates to be wrong about anything." |
"Hermione, people aren’t going to trust me," Lavender said with a pleading tone. |
Charlie rose from his lounging position at the table. "Why don’t we go upstairs and let these two figure it out?" he suggested. |
Draco rose as well and followed Charlie upstairs to the loft. Lavender’s three children still at home were there. Lydia was curled up on the front window seat, reading a book. Daniel was sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by blocks and building little towers out of them. Draco watched as Arthur came over to Daniel and kicked over his blocks. Daniel wailed at his brother and picked up a block. Then, just as his arm was cocked back and ready to launch the block at Arthur, Charlie sprung forward and plucked it from his tiny grip. |
"We don’t throw things, Danny boy," Charlie admonished. |
"He kicked over my blocks!" Daniel protested. |
"I know, and I’m going to have a talk with him next. But we’re talking about you now," Charlie said. |
"But he," Daniel started to protest again. |
"No," Charlie said firmly, "you don’t throw things at people. Why don’t we throw things?" |
"Because someone could get hurt," Daniel replied with a pout. |
Arthur was slowly inching his way around the room. Draco could tell the boy was trying to get down the stairs to avoid being yelled at. Draco was still standing at the top of the stairs and blocking the boy’s path. Draco wondered if he thought Draco wouldn’t interfere. |
Charlie snapped around and leveled a severe look at Arthur. "Don’t you move one more step," Charlie told Arthur in a pretty impressive "dad voice." |
Charlie seemed like he was catching on pretty well to his new parenting role, especially compared to the last time Draco spoke with him. |
Arthur sullenly looked down at his feet and shifted from side to side. |
"Why did you do that to your brother?" Charlie knelt down and asked Arthur. |
"I don’t know," Arthur mumbled. |
"Do you think that was a nice thing to do to your brother?" Charlie persisted. |
Arthur shook his head "no." |
"No, it wasn’t," Charlie agreed. He lifted Arthur’s chin up and made him look at him. "I want you to go over there and apologize to Daniel for kicking over his blocks." |
Arthur shuffled reluctantly over to Daniel and muttered a sullen "sorry." |
"Sorry for what," Charlie prompted. |
Arthur heaved a sigh and said in a rush. "Sorryforkickingoveryourblocks." |
"Say it like you mean it," Charlie said. |
Another sigh from Arthur, and he shouted, "SORRY FOR KICKING OVER YOUR BLOCKS!" |
Charlie rolled his eyes and let the matter drop. "Play nicely now, please." |
While this whole altercation had gone on, Rose moved over to the window seat where Lydia was. Rose seemed to be determinedly trying to get the older girl’s attention without flat-out demanding it. But, unfortunately, Lydia seemed just as determined to ignore the younger girl. |
"What are you reading?" Rose asked Lydia. |
Lydia didn’t respond but held the book up higher where Rose could read the cover. |
"What’s it about?" Rose tried asking. |
Lydia continued to ignore Rose. |
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