Visited Upon the Son

Disclaimer: I live in Texas, not Scotland, so I am obviously not JK Rowling. I’m

just playing with the wonderful characters that she created. I promise that I will put them

back the way I found them when I’m done!

AN: Here’s the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R.

My muse loves the attention.

Visited Upon the Son

© SparkyCSI

Chapter 19. Surprise!

A week had passed since Draco had come back from Blaise’s. He had tried several times to

corner Hermione, but she was adeptly avoiding him, and he didn’t know how. The only thing

that he could think of was that with all the time she had spent running around the castle

with Harry and Ron, she had knowledge of passageways that he didn’t. The only time that he

had seen her was at meal times; even then she was sitting at the opposite end of the table

from him.

He was so frustrated that he’d considered asking the House Elves for assistance, but he

couldn’t seem to work up the courage.

Neville watched the development carefully, assessing the situation before deciding to

intervene. So, on the Saturday after the start of term, he confronted Hermione in her

quarters before breakfast. “Mia? Why are you avoiding Malfoy?” he asked her

bluntly.

Hermione’s head shot up at the question. “I’m not,” she answered hesitantly.

Neville just shook his head. “That’s bollocks and you know it. I’ve been watching you for

the past week and every time he gets near you run the opposite direction. What’s going on

in that brain of yours?”

Hermione just sighed. “I don’t need to hear that he’s found a way to prevent us from

getting married,” she replied softly.

Neville raised an eyebrow. “Why? I thought that was want you wanted?” he asked

carefully.

Hermione looked into the fire for a couple of minutes before choosing to respond. “I know,

but that was before I came to know him,” she admitted. When Neville didn’t respond, she

continued, “He’s nothing like his git of a father, and that surprised me. He’s easy to talk

to, we actually have a lot in common and I didn’t expect that.”

Neville looked at her carefully, her quiet words a confirmation. “You love him,” he stated

simply.

Hermione looked up at him. “Yeah, I think I do, but there’s no way he can feel the same

way.” She looked down at her hands in sorrow. “With all the Pureblood crap that he grew up

with, there’s just no way this will ever work. He might bend enough to count me as a

friend, but never as anything more than that.”

“How do you know that? Did he say that?” Neville queried. “He has changed, Mia. Even I

can see that.”

Hermione just shook her head. “When you are taught to hate for the first seventeen years of

your life, it’s impossible to change.”

Neville felt his heart break at the simple words said in utter defeat. Grimly, he decided

to stick up for Draco, even though his feelings toward the man were still less than

charitable. “No, it’s not, Mia. Yes, it is hard to change, but don’t you think that with

all he suffered during the War he deserves for you to give him a chance? The War affected

so many people, both good and bad. Everyone deserves a second chance.”

Hermione looked at him, confusion shining in her eyes. “So have you forgiven him?” she

asked in surprise.

Neville winced at the bold question before exhaling quietly. “Not completely, but I do

respect what he’s done. It took a lot of guts to come back here knowing that people were

not going to be happy that he was here. Knowing that even though the Ministry cleared him,

some people were always going to believe that he was his father’s son. Look at how we all

treated him at the beginning of the year. You were the only one besides Minerva that was

willing to give him a chance. What changed your mind? Did he show you that he really did

take the Dark Mark?”

Hermione looked at him before she got up to leave the room. “What changed was the look of

total disgust in his eyes as I finished telling him what happened to me. I can’t do this,

Neville. I just—can’t.”

Neville felt his heart drop at the depressed tone she was speaking with, but he knew when it

was pointless to argue with her. “Fine. I’ll drop the subject for now, but you’re going to

have to talk to him, Mia. Sooner or later—and for your sanity you should do it sooner.”

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Draco awoke Saturday morning, determined to make Hermione talk to him. She couldn’t escape

to her classes, so he felt a little more hope. He rose earlier than he had planned in hopes

that he could catch her before she had a chance to run away. He had been planning this

since Wednesday, when he finally concluded that she was not going to be easy to find.

After he dressed, he called out to Dobby and the little Elf arrived with only a moment’s

delay.

“Yes, Master Draco?” he asked.

“Dobby, is Hermione still in her quarters?”

“Yes, Master Draco. Master Neville is in with her right now,” he answered quickly.

“Thank you, Dobby. Can you let me know when she is alone? I have a surprise planned for

her,” Draco returned.

Dobby nodded his head emphatically. “Yes, Master Draco,” he said before he

disappeared.

Draco smirked as the little Elf left and got ready to put his plan into motion. He gathered

up all the supplies he had acquired over the previous few days and set out to the Room of

Requirement to put the first stage of the plan into motion.

About an hour had passed when Dobby returned. “Master Neville has left Miss Hermione’s

quarters,” he reported.

Draco nodded before thanking the Elf. “Thank you, Dobby. Can you do me another favour?”

At the Elf’s nod, he continued, “I’ve got Hermione’s surprise in the Room of Requirement,

but I don’t want her to know that she is meeting me, lest she figure out the surprise. Can

you make sure that she comes to the room in about an hour?”

Dobby looked doubtful, his loyalty to Hermione showing. Draco saw his indecision and

pressed a little further. “Please? I really want to surprise her.”

Dobby finally nodded. “Miss Mia has been very down…”

“I’m going to try and make her happy,” Draco interjected.

Dobby contemplated for another moment before finally agreeing. “Okay, but if you hurt Miss

Mia…” he trailed off in a menacing voice.

“I promise. I’m not going to hurt her,” Draco said solemnly.

Dobby nodded, not quite believing him, but willing to give him a chance. With one final

threatening look, Dobby disappeared.

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Draco was getting ready to leave his quarters when a knock sounded on his door. Feeling

nervous, he opened the door only to find Neville standing there. Looking at him with

curiosity, he said, “Professor, what can I do to help you?”

Neville looked at him, his expression guarded. “Why did you leave Hermione?” he asked

neutrally.

Draco fought off a sarcastic reply. “When?”

Neville fought the urge to roll his eyes. “After she told you what had happened to her?” he

replied instantly.

Draco sighed before opening the door fully and gesturing for Neville to come inside. “Look,

not that it’s any of your business, but I was in shock. I needed time to think.”

“Think about how you could end it?” Neville shot back.

“No!” Draco yelled, his anger rising. “Look Longbottom, I am fully aware of how much like

my father I look and trust me, that doesn’t make me happy. Merlin, I was so upset when she

told me that I wanted to find a way to resurrect his corpse and kill him myself! I’ve come

to care for Mia and it breaks me to hear what she had to endure.”

Neville’s eyes bore into Draco’s, sensing the truth behind his words. Finally, he sighed

before sticking out his hand. “Then you have my support. I tried to tell her that you just

needed time to process everything, but she’s not listening to me.”

Draco stared at Neville’s hand in amazement before grasping it into a firm handshake.

“Thank you.”

Neville smiled at him before tightening his grip fractionally. “Just remember, you hurt

her, you’ll regret it.”

Draco knew that Neville was not joking about that. “I’ll do everything in my power not to

hurt her,” he said solemnly.

Neville nodded and left Draco’s quarters.

Smiling, knowing that he had the support of her friends, Draco left to go to the Room of

Requirement to finish setting up.

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Hermione was sitting in her quarters, staring at Ginny’s latest owl wondering how long it

would take the younger girl to send a Howler, when Dobby appeared. She looked up at the Elf

in startlement. “Dobby?”

“Miss Mia, please come with me to the Room of Requirement,” he stated simply.

Hermione shook her head. “Dobby, I don’t want to leave my quarters,” she returned morosely.

Dobby shook his head. “No Miss Mia, you must come! Dobby has a surprise for you.”

Hermione stared at him fondly before sighing. “All right.”

Dobby bounced in his excitement. “Good!” Then he snapped is fingers and her clothes

changed from her simple jeans and T-shirt to an elegant black skirt and pale pink blouse.

She was even wearing her favourite pair of knee high stilettos.

Hermione looked down at her outfit with a genuine smile. “So, I was underdressed?” she

asked.

Dobby just motioned for her to follow him and soon they were standing outside of the room.

“Go in, Miss Mia,” he said.

Hermione looked at him nervously. “Aren’t you coming in with me?”

Dobby shook his head. “No, this is part of the surprise. Now go in,” he said

insistently.

Hermione sighed and slowly opened the door while biting her bottom lip. She walked inside

to find the little Parisian café that Draco had created for them and was tempted to turn

around and leave. In fact she did turn, only to find that the door disappeared.

“The door won’t be visible until you let me talk to you,” a quiet voice said.

Hermione whipped her head around towards the voice. “What? You can’t seriously hold me

hostage, Malfoy,” she spat out.

“I’m not holding you hostage. I’m making you listen to what I have to say,” he responded

quietly. “If you want to leave after you hear me out, then you can.”

Hermione looked at him; he was wearing a nice pair of black slacks and what looked like a

black silk shirt. She glanced at his eyes, which were pleading with her. She shook her

head. “Fine. I don’t think it will change anything.”

Draco sighed in relief. The worst scenario he’d come up with was that she had hexed him

into oblivion and the fact that she had agreed to at least listen to him, was a step in the

right direction. “Please, sit,” he said, holding the chair out for her.

Hermione sat down reluctantly. “So…”

Draco sat down, taking a sip of the wine that had already been poured. “When you told me

what had happened to you, I was overwhelmed. I don’t think you know how strong you are to

have survived that. Anyway, I felt shock, disgust at what my father did and a blinding

rage. I knew that I had to get away or I would take what I was feeling out on you and that

wouldn’t be fair.”

Hermione’s felt her flutters of hope begin in her heart. “Why did you leave for so long?”

she ventured.

“I really didn’t mean to, but I went to Blaise’s and found out that his mother was a rape

counsellor. He had a lot of books in his library that gave me an insight to what you had to

endure.”

“So you told Blaise?” Hermione asked in a carefully neutral tone.

Draco looked at her, deciding that honesty was the best policy. “Yeah, but I made him swear

a wizard’s oath that he wouldn’t repeat it. If he does, he’ll be stripped of his magic.”

Hermione sighed, not happy that someone else knew, but accepting of the lengths that Draco

went through to try and protect her. “All right. Go on.”

“Anyway, I knew that I couldn’t talk to you that night. I was so angry with my father, the

bastard,” he said scathingly, “that I wanted to reanimate his corpse and kill him myself.”

Hermione smiled. “But, like I said, I didn’t want to take that out on you. You don’t

deserve that.”

Hermione smiled again. “Thank you. I’m sorry that I wouldn’t let you talk to me; I just

tried to bury my head in the sand.”

Draco reached across the table and grasped her hand lightly, running his thumb over her

knuckles. “I care about you, Mia,” he said softly before rising from his seat. Hermione

let out a gasp when he dropped to one knee before her and pulled out a ring box. “Even

though we technically don’t have a choice, I want to do this,” he began nervously as he

opened the box.

Hermione gasped as she caught sight of the two carat diamond, set in platinum. It was very

simple, not ostentatious with the only stone being that of the diamond. Her hand covered

her mouth as Draco murmured the words, “Hermione Jane Granger, would you do me the honour of

becoming my wife?”

Hermione felt tears begin to fall down her cheeks as she nodded her head. “Yes,” she

whispered as he placed the ring on her finger and then she threw her arms around him in

joy.

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AN: Thanks so much for the reviews, guys! I’m working hard on chapter 20, so I

should have that posted on time next week!

LadyBlueEyes – No worries! I’m glad that you enjoyed it enough to reread it all! Thank you

so much! I’ve tried so hard with it and hope that it is realistic. I get the copywrite

figure by doing it in word. You just put parenthesis around a lower case c and word makes it

for you! I then copy the document into notepad (to add the html code) and it keeps it.

Thanks for the review!

Kazfeist – Yes, she is being very stubborn and ostrich-like. He is. The ending of this

chapter surprised me!