Muggle Marriage Law 51599

Cap 11

They walked out of the manor quietly. They didn’t speak for a while. She slipped her small hand into his. He hesitated for a moment but he smiled slightly and squeezed her hand. She blushed slightly as a tingle ran up her arm. The walk to the Leaky Cauldron was a short ten-minute one as they walked hand in hand.

Draco breathed in as they finally arrived at the travel point. He reluctantly let her hand go. He gave her the duffle bag. He reached into the pocket of his robe and held the familiar thin stick out. He smiled and gave her back her wand. “I guess this is where we part,” he said, looking into her eyes, his grey eyes piercing through hers. She took the wand from his hand. She nodded at him.

She looked down, blinking back a tear. Draco lifted her chin with his finger. He rubbed her cheek with his thumb. He bent down, thought twice, and then kissed her on her cheek. He turned to walk away.

“Draco,” Hermione said softly as she adjusted the strap on her shoulder. “Can I buy you breakfast?”

Draco turned. He searched her face again. Hermione seemed as if she were holding her breath. “Hermione, really.”

“Draco, please,” Hermione almost sounded as if she were begging. She cleared her throat. “Think of it as one last wifely duty.”

He nodded with a smile. “Okay,” Draco said stretching his hand out. “The Cauldron’s breakfast ware isn’t that great, though.”

Hermione reluctantly placed her hand into his. She smiled back warmly. “I was actually thinking of a muggle eatery.”

“You’re not trying to poison me are you?” Draco smiled again.

“Very funny,” she smiled back. She led him through the Leaky Cauldron and into the muggle world. “Come on.”

* * *

“Ono Kine Grindz,” Draco said, reading off the sign above the entrance to the small eatery. “Why would
anybody enter a place that tells you not to?”

She smiled up at him and nodded their entrance. He canted his eyebrow, but returned her smile and followed.

They headed towards a booth near the rear of the café. The head waitress, a matronly like older woman, smiled to herself as she grabbed two menus and headed towards the young couple.

“Hermione,” the older woman said, smiling and taking the young woman into her arms. Hermione blinked back tears.

“Hey, Lani,” Hermione smiled as she took a step backwards. Draco stood quietly. Hermione turned to the young man.

“So who’s the handsome stranger,” Lani asked as she pointed towards the booth for them to sit down.

Hermione blushed. Draco also colored slightly. “Um, Lani Makena, I’d like you to meet Draco Malfoy,” the young witch hesitated, “A good friend of mine from school.”

“Ah, a fellow teacher, then?” she smiled.

“Actually, no,” Hermione tried to find the right words. “He and I went to boarding school together.”

“School sweethearts?” Lani smiled jokingly.

“No,” the young couple both answered quickly.

“I’ll be right back with some coffee,” Lani laughed.

“So what’s good?” he asked as Lani poured the two of them a cup of coffee. Both Hermione and the older woman raised their eyebrows.

“Everything’s good, Draco,” Hermione said as she opened the menu in front of him as if he needed help doing it.

“Hermione, may I suggest the usual?” the woman gave her a gentle smile.

Hermione nodded and gave her both of their menus. Draco was a little surprised. He shrugged his shoulders at her.

“Coming right up,” the older woman headed back to the kitchen.

“What did we just order?” Draco asked a little dumbfounded.

“Sunday Special,” Hermione said before taking a sip of her Kona coffee. She savored the taste.

“Um, it’s Friday, Hermione,” Draco said logically.

Hermione couldn’t help laughing as she looked at him. He eventually joined her.

“So, Hermione,” Lani said returning from the kitchen. She hovered near Draco’s side of the booth. “Where have you been hiding yourself?”

“I’ve been busy, Lani, traveling throughout England,” Hermione lied. She watched as the older woman smiled back at her.

“So what sort of sights have you both seen?” the older woman smiled at Draco.

Draco looked at Hermione and then back at the older woman. He smiled back at her. “Hermione and I have seen the whole gamut of what England has to offer,” he bent the truth.

She smiled as she turned to her old customer. Hermione noticed that Lani caught a glimpse of the gold wedding band on her left ring finger. Hermione’s ears started to flame. It was a good thing she decided to wear her hair down today.

“I’ll be right back with your order,” she smiled again before she left the young couple.

“She seems like a nice lady,” Draco said as he took a sip of his coffee.

“She is,” she smiled. “I practically grew up in this place. Lani’s the closest thing I have to family.”

Draco studied Hermione’s face. She looked down at her cup, averting his eyes, afraid she would break out in tears. “Mom, Dad, and I used to come here every Sunday morning to have breakfast when I was growing up. Even after getting into Hogwarts, we wouldn’t miss a Sunday on holidays,” she said, stirring her coffee.

Draco smiled back at her. “I get the impression that the food is divine here.”

“You betcha,” Lani interrupted as she brought them their rather large order. Draco looked at his side of the table and wondered how the old woman was able to balance all the dishes. She smiled, “Enjoy.”

“Thanks, Lani,” Hermione said as the older woman squeezed the younger woman’s right shoulder before leaving the couple to eat in peace.

Draco still couldn’t believe the amount of food that lay before the both of them. It was family style service. The stack of banana macadamia nut pancakes was high. The platter of different meats was just as high: pork sausage patties, Portuguese sausage, Spam, bacon and ham were in mounds. Two sets of eggs were also set on a platter: four over medium eggs and a mound of well scrambled eggs sat along side each other.

“I thought Dumbledore was the only one who could conjure up such a feast,” Draco said, still wide eyed.

“Dig in, Draco,” she smiled as she grabbed three pancakes. Draco raised his brows at first then smiled back. He grabbed a stack of four pancakes.

He piled his plate up fairly full. He shook his head smiling to himself. He still couldn’t believe how much food was still left even after Hermione piled her plate full. They sat quietly gulping down food, savoring the taste.

* * *

“I followed you yesterday,” Draco said, enjoying the last of his pancake and Portuguese sausage. She studied him as she stirred what was remaining in her coffee cup.

“They promoted me to lead inspector. I have to work with Dean Thomas,” Draco continued.

“He’s a good guy,” Hermione said, squinting at him. “You followed me?”

“I wanted to tell you about the promotion,” he said, “And about the loophole.”

She looked down at her cup of coffee. Draco watched as a tear dropped from her eyelash. “I haven’t visited them since before we . . . got married,” she said looking up as she blinked back another tear.

Draco looked at her thoughtfully. “You were very close to your parents,” he said studying her face.

“Yes,” she said softly. She looked into his eyes, which didn’t seem so harsh anymore. “I was twenty minutes late for dinner that night.”

She shut her eyes again, trying to fight back tears. “There’s one thing about teaching that will never get old. You meet some verbose parents sometimes. Their kid was a good kid overall. Academically, he wasn’t all that great,” she gave him a weak smile. “By the time I got out of the school building, I was already ten minutes late. It was one of those days when I wished I had my wand with me; it would have saved time to apparate.”

She looked up at him, “I broke into a run. It’s a good thing I had on muggle running shoes that day. It would have been a half an hour walk. I figured I’d get there in half the time if I sprinted. I tried calling the house with my cell phone; all I got was the answering machine.

“They were probably already dead by then, though,” she looked up into his eyes again.

He took in a deep breath. She gulped. “Draco,” she said, pausing for a very long time. “Were you in on it? Did you . . .”

“Corey Reimers was in charge of that mission,” he said. It was his turn to look into her deep brown eyes. “I didn’t even know we were targeting them, Hermione.

“Hermione,” he put his hand over hers. “I got there about the same time you did. I was actually afraid you’d notice me there. I tried to look as inconspicuous amongst the gathering crowd as I could.

“I’m really sorry, Hermione,” he said squeezing her hand reassuringly.

“It wasn’t your fault, Draco,” she said looking at him sadly. “There’s a muggle saying. We say that everything is fair in love and war.”

She tried to smile. She gulped again. She caught a glimpse of her wristwatch. It was fifteen minutes to nine. She looked up at him and then turned to find Lani. “Lani,” she motioned to the owner, “Check please.”

Draco looked at Hermione. He knew their time together was almost up. It was his turn to give her a weak smile.

“You’re going to be late for work if you don’t start out now,” she said reaching into her pockets.

“Hermione,” he said laughing. He fished a twenty-pound note from his pocket. “I’ve got it.”

“Draco,” she said picking up the note and handing it back to him. “I told you that I was treating you to breakfast.”

“Hermione,” he said smiling as he got up. “It’s all right.”

“Draco,” she said resting her hands on his chest. She gulped, trying to regain her composure. “I’ve got this one.”

Draco knew it was no use arguing with her. He watched her place her own twenty-pound note on the table, way too much money for the ten-pound breakfast. She tried to pull her duffle bag onto her shoulder. Draco beat her to it. He placed it on his shoulder, silently offering to hold it for her until they got outside the café.

They both waved to the older woman and her cook husband. “Come back, soon, you two,” the woman said, smiling.

They returned her smile as Draco held the door for her. They exited the tiny café, full and ready for the Friday. They walked in a peaceful silence as they neared the travel point.

“So what are you planning to do now?” he asked as they reached the small entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. He gave her the duffle.

“I don’t know,” she said shrugging her shoulders after placing the duffle strap on her left shoulder. “Probably try to beg for my old teaching job.”

“They won’t just give it back to you?” he asked genuinely concerned as he tried to stall for as long as he could. He was going to be late for work that day; not a very good way to start his lead inspector career.

She smiled. “After Mom and Dad were,” she paused. “After they passed away, I asked for some time off. I didn’t think I would go back into the war.

“I already lost Harry, Ron,” she began as tears started to flow. Draco took her in his arms. She trembled, crying into his chest. She finished softly, “I couldn’t let Mom’s and Dad’s deaths be in vain, Draco.”

He just held her there for a moment. Several passersby raised their eyebrows at the young couple, wondering if the two were saying their last goodbyes.

“Everything’s going to be all right, Hermione,” he gently pushed her off to look into her eyes. He smiled, “I promise you.”

Hermione returned his smile. She hesitated for a moment before she kissed him on his cheek. “You’d better go,” she said, tapping his shirtfront. She turned to walk away.

Draco wanted to grab her and just hold her for a while longer. Draco watched the back of her move farther and farther away. He turned to open the door of the Wizarding bar. She turned suddenly. She adjusted her duffle.

“Draco,” she said softly. He heard her. He turned expectantly. “I hope you find that one true someone,” she paused, giving him a weak smile, “with whom you will fall in love and share the rest of your life.

“Good luck to you Draco,” she said, smiling sincerely at him, before turning the corner. Away from his
eyesight, she allowed the tears to flow.

Draco stood dumbfounded again, allowing her words to settle. He took in a breath, debating whether to go after her. He took hold of the door that only Wizarding folk could see, closed his eyes as he framed her face for the last time into his memory, and then entered the establishment with a slight sense of urgency, as he knew he was already ten minutes late for work at the Ministry building.