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"She really had no idea what was going on?" |
"Do you think she would've stayed with him if she'd known?" |
"No, she doesn't strike me as the type to just roll over and take that from anyone." |
"No. She was about five seconds away from hexing his balls off, her words, before I stepped in. As much as I would've loved to see the weasel lose his balls, I didn't think Rose should see her mother hurt her father." |
"So, when is she going to go back to him? She's married to the two-timing git and divorce isn't something that's done in the Wizarding World. She'll just have to find a way to live with it and you'll have to give her back to him." |
"Over my dead body is she going back to that wanker. Do you seriously think I would just send her back to that bastard?" he stated vehemently, his hands curling into fists on the table. |
"So you still love her then. Even after all this time?" |
"Always," replied Draco without hesitation. |
"What does she want to do?" |
"She says she's not going back to him. She and the girls deserve to be treated better than an option. You should have seen the confrontation between her and Weasley yesterday. He treated her like shit and has for years. That asshole had the audacity to blame her for his affair. She told him she wasn't going back to him. He tried telling her she was whether she wanted to or not. He thought she was alone and he could say or do anything he wanted. He tried to obliviate her when she wouldn't comply." |
"Do you need help hiding the body?" Theo asked, sardonically. |
"Not this time, but I'll keep your offer in mind." |
"So, divorce really is her only option, unless she's willing to brave living in sin with you for the rest of her life." |
"As much as I would be willing to live in sin with her, I don't want to leave Weasley with that kind of power over her. Divorce didn't sound too bad from how she explained it. According to her, divorce may be something that isn't done in the Wizarding World, but it's done frequently in the Muggle world. She says that families benefit more by divorce than unhappy couples being forced to stay together. The couples learn to work together for the benefit of the children. I don't know how well Weasley is going to work with her on raising the girls, but at least they won't be fully under his power." |
"But mate, we're not in the Muggle world," Theo said. |
"I know. She may need our help convincing the Wizengamot to grant her a divorce." |
"Well she has my vote. No matter what's needed." |
"Thanks mate. Means a lot." |
"Let's get the Snakes together for drinks this week. Bring Hermione. She might like hanging out with girls," Theo suggested. |
"Sounds like a good idea. I'll drag her out if I have to." |
"So, are you going to pursue her?" |
"Eventually. It's too soon to even think about trying to convince her to be in a relationship with me. I won't deny that's what I want but I know she needs time to heal first." |
Draco stopped by Hermione's office in the Department of Magical Education after his lunch with Theo. He had a feeling his arrival there caused a flurry of excitement. He walked through the warren of cubicles to the back where a dragon-looking woman guarded Hermione's office. He looked at the name plaque on her desk, Methuselah Edvard. Methuselah had a sharp, pinched face with a hooknose. Perched atop her nose rested a pair of red cat eyeglasses. Her gray hair was pulled back into a severe bun. |
"Is Mrs. Granger available, Mrs. Edvard?" Draco asked politely. He thought it would be better to get on her good side. She would keep Hermione from him if he angered her. |
"Do you have an appointment?" She asked, frowning up at him. |
"No. I came to make sure she ate lunch." Honesty would also probably be best when dealing with this woman. |
"I took her lunch in thirty minutes ago but knowing her, it's still sitting on her desk." she replied disapprovingly. |
"I'd like to rectify that situation. And I will be coming to get her for lunch from now on. What time do you have her lunch hour scheduled? |
"Noon to one, Mr. Malfoy. It'll be good for her to get out of the office. I tell that girl she works too hard." |
"Thank you, Mrs. Edvard. If I may?" |
"Go right on in, dearie," she said with a smile. |
Draco walked into Hermione's office. She was sitting at her desk with her lunch untouched pouring over a file. "Mrs. Edvard, I'm afraid I haven't finished lunch yet." |
"Yes, that much is apparent," Draco said as he walked in and sat down in the chair facing her desk. |
"Draco, what are you doing here? How did you get past Mrs. Edvard?" Hermione asked him distractedly. |
"I came to see if you ate lunch today. Obviously, I was correct in checking up on you. You need to eat." |
"I know, but there's just so much to do." |
"You'll burn yourself out if you keep working so hard. Take a break. Eat." |
Hermione acquiesced quicker than he thought she would. She must have been really hungry. "What have you been doing today?" she asked between bites of her sandwich. |
"Looked over budgets until my eyes crossed and I was almost in a coma. Picked a fight with Shacklebolt about the vacant Wizengamot seats. Then I went to lunch with Theo. I had a feeling when I got back that you had never left so here I am. I would've come to get you had I realized beforehand that you work through lunch." |
"How did you really get past Mrs. Edvard? No one gets past her without an appointment. People are scared to even ask her if I'm in." |
"Malfoy charm," he replied with a grin. |
She snorted at him. "Right. Is she out there in a full body bind or something?" |
"I'm wounded," he clutched at his heart theatrically, "I don't know why anyone would be scared of her. She called me dearie and let me stroll right on in." |
"Seriously, what did you do to her?" she asked as she finished her sandwich. |
"I'm not joking. Malfoy's are known for doing what's necessary to get our way. Occasionally that means being nice and polite to the dragons who guard the treasure we seek." |
Hermione burst out laughing. "Silver-tongued snake. I've eaten my lunch now get out of my office, so I can get some work done." She got up and they both walked to the door. |
"I'll come get you at four so we can go get Rose." he said and closed the door behind him. |
"Mission accomplished, Mrs. Edvard. Thank you for your help. I'll be back at four to take her home," Draco said as he passed her desk. |
"See you then, dearie." |
The rest of Draco's day passed uneventfully. At fifteen minutes to four he left his office on level two and took the elevator up to level four. He walked into Hermione's office for the second time that day. |
"Back again, dearie," Mrs. Edvard said by way of greeting. |
"Yes, ma'am. Is she ready or do I need to go help her find the door?" Draco asked with a smile. |
"Best go in and see if you can oust her." |
Draco walked quietly into the room and shut the door. Hermione was so engrossed in her work she didn't hear him come in. Tendrils of hair had come loose from her bun since he was last there. She was chewing on her lip as she read through a file. She opened another file and Draco decided they would be there all day if he didn't intervene. |
"It's time to go get Rose and head home," Draco said. |
"I just have a few more things to sign and then I'll be ready to go," Hermione replied, not looking up at him. |
"Do they have to be turned in by tomorrow?" he asked. |
"No, they're not due until next week," said Hermione. |
"Then, they can wait until tomorrow. We can take Rose to the park before dinner. I haven't really shown you around. Come on, let's go." Draco took the file from her and set it back in her "To Do" bin. He helped her into her coat and took her briefcase from her. |
Draco escorted Hermione out of her office. They both said goodnight to Mrs. Edvard and headed to the main floor of the Ministry and apparated to Rose's school, then home. |
Draco sent them all upstairs to change into comfortable clothes and he changed as well into dark jeans, light blue t-shirt, navy jacket, and black sneakers. Hermione came out of her room wearing a red jacket and jeans. Rose was already bounding down the stairs with a purple tutu over her jeans and purple jacket. |
They walked out the front door onto a quiet street lined with townhouses grouped in threes with small alleys separating them. The houses were painted soft colors, mostly whites, creams, blues, and grays. |
At the end of the street was a park with a river running along its border. They walked along the path toward the playground. Once it was in sight, Rose ran ahead to play with the other children. Draco and Hermione walked around the playground, keeping an eye on Rose, but mostly just walking in circles. |
"This area looks so new. Has it always looked like this?" Hermione asked. |
"Have you never been to Cokeworth before?" he asked and Hermione shook her head no, "You know that I inherited Spinner's End from Professor Snape. This was his family home. Cokeworth was a dying industrial town when I inherited the house after the war. That river over there was so polluted it was black. There was almost nothing and no one left here. I basically used one of the Malfoy vaults to buy the town. Cheaply, I might add with the promise to revitalize the area. I got rid of the factories that were polluting the area and hired project managers. We came up with a plan to clean the town up and turn it into a nice, wizarding suburb." |
"We had to create almost a whole town from scratch and then entice people from the wizarding community to come live here. We started with the city center. Revitalized the government buildings, created shops, restaurants, pubs, and a few nightclubs. Then we worked outward on the homes, creating diversified neighborhoods." |
"So you bought a town because you inherited a house. Seems a bit greedy. What about the people that lived here?" she asked. |
"I bought a town because it wasn't fit to live in. If I was going to live here, it needed to be more habitable. As for the people that were living here, I bought their houses from them for a generous amount and told them they could buy their homes back from me for the same amount they sold it to me once I finished renovations. I made nothing on those deals. I did make a lot selling the abandoned renovated houses and the businesses." |
"Look around you and see what my greed has accomplished. I made a large profit from my greed, but I didn't take advantage of these people. I sold them good houses and businesses in a nice area. My greed took this dirty, dying town and made a thriving economic center. My greed created this town where magical folk can raise their families in comfort and safety. No one else could have created this. No one else would have cared to try." |
"It is very lovely. I agree that no one else would have bothered with creating this, let alone have the resources to do so. I noticed that Spinner's End is much larger than the townhouses around it. Did you do that?" |
"Yes, the original Spinner's End was very small, especially compared to what I was used to. The townhouses on either side were abandoned, so I created one large home out of the three." |
"I do like what you did with it. It is very "Lord of the Manor" but not cold and stiff like you would expect from that type of home. It's very warm and welcoming." |
"I'm glad you like it. It's almost dinnertime. Let's grab Rose and head back." |
The three headed back home with Rose in between them. Draco took their jackets and hung them up. Hermione sent Rose off to wash her hands. Hermione grabbed his left arm after he had finished. She brushed her fingertips across the faded remains of his Dark Mark. "I guess some scars never fade." she said. |
"Do mine bother you?" he asked. He had always been ashamed of that particular scar. The mark had faded over time, but never fully went away. Draco wore long sleeves, even in summer to hide the mark. It felt odd watching her touch it as if it were nothing but a fading tattoo. |
"No, we all have scars. They are a part of us. Reminders of the sacrifices we made to survive. Do mine bother you?" |
"Only because of the pain you endured to get them. Nothing will ever change how beautiful you are to me." He remembered hearing her being tortured and watching it. He had been helpless and afraid. He lied the day they were brought into the Manor. He knew it was them the second he saw them. How could he not? They were around each other for years. He knew that if he gave them up, she would have been killed, so he lied and created doubt, buying them enough time to figure a way out. But her torture at the hands of his aunt had always haunted him. |
"Draco, I'm not..." |
"Mummy! I'm all washed up for dinner. See!" Rose said as she came running into the hallway, interrupting whatever Hermione was about to say. I'm not, what, he wondered. They separated and faced Rose as she held her hands out to be inspected. |
Draco led them to the dining room and held out chairs for Hermione, Rose, and Tansy before taking his own seat. The dishes levitated around and everyone dug in. Rose regaled them with tales of her first day of school. She seemed to have liked it and got along well with her classmates. She liked her teacher, Miss Crow. Draco couldn't remember which one she was. They were all so young. |
"You said you got into an argument with Shacklebolt today. What was that about?" Hermione asked after Rose left the dining room to play before bedtime. |
"Wizengamot seats. Thirteen have been vacant since the end of the war fifteen years ago. With two wars so close together, the old pureblood families that held seats are dying out." |
"Why not hold an election to fill the vacancies? The council shouldn't be controlled by so few people." |
"That's exactly what this week's argument was about. I've argued with him countless times over the years, telling him there need to be more people in the governing body of the Ministry, so that pure-blood ideals aren't allowed to reemerge." |
"Aren't all these families intermarried? Surely there are heirs left." |
"Yes, but they are either ineligible because they were Death Eaters or are already holding a seat on the council." |
"So, some of you hold multiple seats because you are the last remaining heir to multiple families? Do you get to cast votes for those empty positions?" |
"No, one person, one seat, one vote. I am currently the heir to two additional seats." |
"What has been done in the past to fill vacant seats?" |
"As far as I know, we've never had this problem before. There's always been someone to inherit the seat. So many families died out in the war, were imprisoned, or lost." |
"I'm sure there's a law somewhere that details how to fill vacant seats, but our government still relies too heavily on pure-blood families to make up the governing body. What about the common people? Where is their say in making laws that affect their lives?" |
"You want to give the governing to the masses? Nothing would get done. You can't get a large group of people to come to a consensus on anything." |
"It's not like you need a consensus. The people would just vote on issues that are important to them." |
"But who decides what's important enough to hold a vote on? How are the people going to get access to the information needed to make an informed decision? Most people aren't going to bother. They're going to either not vote or base their opinions easily accessible sources, like the media and we all know how accurate they are. You want to give the vote to the uneducated masses?" |
"I think you're vastly underestimating our society. Don't you think that if our society had taken a more active role in the government we wouldn't have been forced to fight two wars?" |
"Who knows what our society would be like? Voldemort didn't rise to power because people weren't involved in the government. He was able to rise to power because he appealed to the ideals of disaffected citizens." |
"Disaffected citizens! You have got to be out of your mind. Those were not the actions of people dissatisfied with the government. Those were the actions of people who were blinded by prejudice and hate." |
"You think I don't know that! I lived it. I lived with that monster in my house. I saw people that I grew up with thrown into the dungeons of my house. Tortured. I didn't have the luxury of being blinded by prejudice. I saw everything for the horror that it was." |
He stared at Hermione. They sat there glaring at each other across their half finished plates of food. Hermione looked away from him. |
"You said the families with seats are dying out. How do we save the Wizengamot? How do we save the very foundation our government rests on?" |
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