The Turning

Don\'t own anything except the plot.
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Everyday Nonsense

Once back from their two-month long honeymoon, Draco and Hermione settled into a routine. Up at eight for breakfast and a quick shag. Shower, get dressed and off to their various activities. Draco spent most mornings going over the myriad accounts belonging to his father. The sheer amounts of bribes and payoffs Lucius was involved in was staggering to say the least.

Draco knew that a certain amount of his father\'s influence had been purchased. He didn\'t know *how* much of that influence came from the exchange of Galleons and Sickles. Draco looked at it all with a fair bit of sang-froid. It was, after all, the way things had been (in both Wizarding and Muggle societies) since time began. Still, Draco meant to do things the honest way and dispense with all of that.

Other mornings, he oversaw his two vast estates and the income he drew from them. They still, even in the twenty-first century, were operating under a feudal system. The estates in Wiltshire had massive amounts of farmland attached to them. The land was enhanced magically to produce the most delectable vegetation. No one else but a Malfoy could perform the charm. Thus, whenever the harvest was in, the fruits, vegetables and flowers brought a veritable Amazon River of coin flowing into the Malfoy coffers. And that was just the legitimate stuff. The Malfoys also had their greedy little fingers in (discreetly, of course) all sorts of unsavoury activites. Polyjuice brothels, illegal potion and animal trade, even a few black market Muggle contacts all provided ill-gotten funds to vault number 497 in Gringotts. These matters and others were what kept Draco occupied during the course of the day.

Hermione was working on her Potion Master\'s fellowship. She wanted to train under Rodrigo Aguila at the Mexican Conservatory of Magic but decided to stay close to home. At present she was apprenticing with Snape. He proved to a tough teacher, far worse than in her school days. Snape was more exacting and driven to perfection. Aside from their professional relationship, Snape was given to dropping by their house for Sunday tea. Draco was always delighted with these visits from his godfather, never missing an opportunity to taunt him a bit. Snape never missed the opportunity to rise to the bait. Thus, the two of them always provided a bit of amusement for Hermione.

This particular Sunday brought the arrival of someone totally unexpected. Severus rang them on the floo saying that he wouldn\'t be over as there was a draught that he was working which needed his close attention. Therefore, Draco and Hermione were spending a leisurely Sunday in bed, reading the paper and doing whatever they felt when the bell rang.

They looked at each other and Hermione said, \"Were you expecting company?\"

\"No, were you?\"

\"No. Ron and Harry know better than to come over unannounced after the events of last week.\" Hermione shot Draco a saucy grin. The two men had ded ded to pay their old friends a visit. Unfortunately when they stepped through the fireplace, they had been treated to the sight of their comrade in arms getting thoroughly shagged on the dining room table. The two beat a hasty retreat to the Burrow. Ever after that no one descended on the Malfoys without first checking with them.

\"And so they do. So it must be someone who isn\'t in regular contact with either of us. Who could it be?\" Draco was puzzled.

\"Only one way to find out, isn\'t there?\" Hermione raised her eyebrow at Draco.

\"I\'m going.\" Draco slipped out of bed and went to open the door.

\"Wait. I think you\'d better put this on.\" Hermione tossed him his dressing gown.

Draco grinned. \"Yes, I think I better had.\" He shrugged on the garment and left the chamber.

Hermione snuggled back beneath the covers of their bed. She\'d just opened up the dailies to the \'Change when she heard Draco exclaim from downstairs.

\"Mother!\"

(Is your mother really downstairs?) Hermione queried her husband mentally.

(She is.) Hermione could hear Draco\'s tenseness ricocheting around her brain.

(I\'ll be right down.) She got up from bed, cast a quick cleaning charm and threw on a blouse and pair of slacks. Sliding her feet into a pair of flats, Hermione came loping down the stairs to greet her long-missing mother-in-law.

\"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy.\" Hermione came to a stop beside Draco, slipping her fingers into his. Hermione was quietly astonished at how clammy his hand felt.

\"Hello, Miss Granger.\" Narcissa was as beautiful as she ever was. Her pale blonde hair now had a few silver strands running through it, giving her the look of being gilded.

\'s *\'s *Malfoy* now, Mother.\" Draco asserted with gentle force.

\"Oh, yes. Do forgive me. A mere slip of the tongue.\" Narcissa smiled silkily. \"Are you going to offer your mother a chair or will I be forced to stand here, Draco?\" Her mild tone was underlaid with a sort of steely menace. Hermione could see where Draco got his air of danger from. He inherited it, along with everything else, from his parents.

Apparently out of practice with his chere maman, Draco directed her to an overstuffed armchair. He and Hermione sat on a sofa opposite her, both feeling as if they were both being judged and being found lacking.

\"Why didn\'t you invite me to...the ceremony?\" Narcissa seemed to have choked over that word.

\"Frankly, Mother, I didn\'t think you\'d have wanted to come.\"

\"To my only offspring\'s nuptials? Don\'t be absurd.\" She sniffed at her son disdainfully.

\"Well, it\'s too bloody late. We can\'t re-enact the entire thing for you now. If you\'d have shown even the *slightest* bit of interest -\"

\"What was I have supposed to have done, Draco? Tell me. First you take up with this girl, about whom we\'ve heard nothing but the vilest sort of vitrol from *you*, then you allow her to BURN DOWN my home. Then you\'ve contrived in the most despicable manner to have your father carted off to Azkaban.\"

\"Aren\'t you just being a bit melodramatic?\" Draco sneered at Narcissa. \"True, when I first met Hermione I thought she was a little snot-nosed know-it-all. But then again, she thought I was a spoiled, arrogant little prat. We were both wrong. And let me suggest, *dear Mother*, that if you hadn\'t allowed Lucius to nearly kill me with his kindness, Hermione wouldn\'t have been forced to take action. As you can see, the manor has been restored quite nicely and even you don\'t have anything to complain about. Now about Lucius.\"

And here, Draco\'s eyes cut into his mother\'s like fresh forged steel. \"I contrived nothing and well you know it. Your husband, my father, is one of the most evil creatures ever spawned by man. He is depraved and debased and I quite like the idea of him spending the rest of his days locked up in Azkaban. He not only masterminded the death of Hermione\'s parents, he also managed to give me something to fear every time we had a school holiday. He tried to kill her during that last battle and if I hadn\'t found her, he might have succeeded.\" Draco gave his mother a disgusted look. \"If you\'re so *concerned* about Lucius, why weren\'t you there to lend him a helping hand? I\'d heard tell of that little skirmish in the Department of Mysteries. You weren\'t there to back up your everloving spouse. Anytime Father might have needed the assistance of his witch-wife, you were nowhere to be found. Not the actions of someone who is so concerned with what happened to Lucius.\"

Draco bore into his mother with a ruthlessness Hermione hand rarely seen displayed. She wasn\'t frightened by him. However, she thanked her lucky stars that she would never be on the receiving end of his rage. Even now faint sparkles of magic began fizzling at the edges of his form, slightly scorching the couch they were seated on. Only Hermione\'s calm manner and mental cooling charms kept the entire place from catching on fire. She could not take any of Draco\'s anger into herself, that would only add fuel to the fire as her temper usually was holding by a thread. It was a thick thread, but a thread nonetheless.

Narcissa\'s amethyst eyes flashed at her son. She rose to her full height, towering over the pair of them seated on the sofa. \"You will regret your words this day.\"

\"I sincerely doubt it Narcissa.\" Narcissa grew visibly angrier at Draco\'s casual use of her given name. \"I suggest you leave.\"

\"Oh, don\'t worry. I\'ll leave you and your little mudblood to your previous activities. By the way, Draco, you might want to bathe. I can smell her all over you. Eau de low born wench does not suit you.\"

Hermione could no longer contain herself. She leapt from Draco\'s side, fists balled at her side. \"Better than being an intolerant, inbred piece of slime. I hear you\'re something like the village doorknob - everyone\'s had a turn.\"

\"Watch yourself, Muggle born.\" Narcissa whipped out her wand, pointing at Hermione. Hermione watched as the older woman seemed to grow until she towered over the taller, younger witch.

\"Ple\" H\" Hermione raised her hand and Narcissa\'s wand came flying out of her hand and into her adversary\'s. \"Silly parlour tricks.\"

Hermione twirled Narcissa\'s wand in her fingers. \"Should I snap this? It would be ever so easy, wouldn\'t it my love?\" Hermione caressed the slender willow wand in her fingers, addressing Draco with the patented Malfoy drawl.

Draco, who lounged again the sofa, eyed his wife with new respect. She\'d had little opportunity to display her powers in such an obvious fashion. He quite enjoyed it. \"Oh yes, it would. I daresay it would be amusing to see what would happen.\"

He trailed his fingers over Hermione\'s hip slightly, causing her to slowly smile. This little show of solidarity was not lost on Narcissa. She and Lucius had employed similar tactics themselves. A very tiny smile teased the corners of Narcissa\'s mouth.

\"Fine. I shall leave you be - for now. Don\'t think you\'ve heard the last of me.\" She swept out of the house, managing to slam the heavy oak door behind her.

\"The very cheek of that - that woman! Coming into *my* house and saying the deplorable things about her very own son.\" Hermione fumed and began to pace. \"I\'m of half a mind to go after her and teach her a lesson.\"

Draco pulled her back down to the couch. \"Don\'t bother. She\'s gone back into her hidey hole by now.\"

Hermione looked after the door. \"Still. Makes me a little uneasy.\"

\"Me, too. I\'ll strengthen the wards about the grounds. Much good as it may do. The lands and house are enchanted not to refuse her entry. Only my father could do that and as he\'s still in prison...\"

\"Perhaps we could just set new ones. I mean...we are magi, you know. If we combined our magic she wouldn\'t be able to break through so easily.\"

\"You may be right, love.\"

Hermione bounced from the sofa. Draco grinned after her. She was always like this in the throes of a new project. \"I shall see what I can do about it immediately.\"

A loud *puff* followed by a deep voice came into the conversation. \"See about what, Hermione?\"

Hermione whirled around and saw Snape dusting himself off. \"Severus. I thought you weren\'t coming today.\"

\"I changed my mind. The potion will keep.\" Snape looked at his godson, still in his dressing gown and possessing a wicked case of bedhead. \"I see what you were doing before I came. Honestly, Draco, couldn\'t you have dressed?\"

\"For your information old man, you just missed my charming mother. I hadn\'t the time to bathe and change.\" Draco scowled at the older man.

Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise. \"Narcissa was here?\"

\"Hm. And angrier than a nest of hornets.\" Hermione answered Severus\' question. \"She warned me to \'watch myself\'.\"

\"Don\'t take her threats to be completely idle. I remember one time in school when Narcissa Black didn\'t get her way. She hexed the poor girl who\'d thwarted her into last week - literally,\" Severus warned them.

\"How did she manage to get away with that?\" Draco queried. \"Didn\'t agents from the Department of Mysteries come and check out the ripple in time?\"

\"Your mother covered her tracks well. She forged a note in the girl\'s handwriting saying that she had been experimenting with a complicated incantation and if she turned up missing that she had obviously done the spell correctly.\" Snape paused. \"When the agents got there, the girl was gone, the note was there and they felt that the only thing to do was go fetch the girl from the previous week before she caused an irreparable rift in the space/time continuum.\"

Draco was appalled at his mother\'s behaviour. \"So...what happened then?\"

\"When they brought the girl back she kept going on and on about how Narcissa cursed her. She was raving and so they stuck her in St. Mungo\'s psych ward.\"

Hermione had a sinking feeling. \"Who was this girl?\"

\"Alienor Tirith, Luna Lovegood\'s mother.\"

\"So...\" Draco looked bitter. \"My mother caused that poor woman to go insane and kill herself and try to kill her daughter. Another life ruined by the Malfoys.
Se
Severus looked sympathetic. Lucius had effectively ruined his life. As a former Death Eater there was no way that his line would continue because no sane witch would marry him. Truth be told, all of his activities had only served to make him a bitter, wounded and scarred man. He knew he wasn\'t fit company for anyone of the fairer sex and he was almost at the point where he preferred it that way.

\"It\'s true. Alienor never recovered from that experience and passed on her madness to her daughter.\"

Draco got up from the couch and swept upstairs. He couldn\'t take the evidence of his mother\'s cruelty and malice. It seemed that the last of his illusions about his family had been shattered. He\'d known, seemingly since birth, that his father was a bastard. But he was willing to overlook his mother\'s part in it because she\'d always been the doting one. Now he had to face that his mother was indeed a fit mate for his despicable sire.

Hermione went to go after him but Severus grabbed her arm. \"I\'ve got to go talk to him.\"

\"Not now.needneeds to deal with this by himself.\"

Hermione snorted. \"When did you get to be so sensitive?\"

\"I\'ve known Draco for far longer than you have,\" Severus couldn\'t resist sneering a bit at the impetuous Gryffindor. \"And I\'m used to his tempers.\"

\"So am I.\" Hermione pulled a face. \"I have to admit, you\'re right.\" She sat down again. \"Now, how am I to keep you amused until he comes back down?\"

\"Please. I\'m not some withered old maiden aunt who you have to entertain.\"

\"No, you\'re my maiden uncle.\" Hermione smirked at Severus.

\"That\'s bachelor to you. And I\'m hardly withered and old.\"

\"That\'s true.\" Hermione gave Severus an appraising glance. \"Actually, you\'re not bad. Not at all.\"

He inclined his head at her. \"Thank you,\" he replied mockingly.

It was true, for a man of forty-two and all of those years hard lived, he was in surprisingly good condition. The mustache and clipped goatee he now wore called attention to his well shaped mouth. The hair was just as dark as ever. Now that Severus wasn\'t a man living on the edge of certain death, he took better care of himself. The hair wasn\'t greasy, merely shiny. The teeth weren\'t yellow now that he\'d stopped smoking and let Madame Pomfrey fix them up a bit. The charm he\'d used to enhance his unkempt appearance was left off and he\'d lost that razor-sharp thinness. That is not to say that Snape had gotten fat, but only filled out a bit. Regular flying and the occasional Quidditch match as referee kept him in shape.

\"You\'re welcome.\" She pulled the bell and a well-turned out house-elf popped into their presence.

\"Ah, Blinky, would you be so kind as to send up tea? Three cups, please.\"

\"Yes, ma\'am. Blinky will see to it right away.\" The elf popped out of sight.

\"*Clothed* house-elves Hermione?\"

\"Yes, I insisted. They\'re all still legally tied to the house, but now they have the option of leaving if they so choose. I give them each a stipend which is kept in a vault at Gringotts so that if one does decide to leave, they have something with which to start out.\"

Blinky returned with a fully loaded tray containing a silver tea service, china cups, saucers and tea plates, scones, jam and sandwiches. Hermione thanked the elf and he left them to their own devices.

Severus shook his head as he poured himself a cup of the steaming brew. \"All hail Mother Teresa.\" He saluted her with his cup.

She laughed. \"Hardly. My S.P.E.W. campaign didn\'t work at Hogwarts and trying to free the elves here was near impossible. So I came up with a compromise, much like Dumbledore did.\" Hermione took a sip of the tea and added a bit more honey.

\"I see.\" Severus took a long swallow. \"This is an excellent brew. Is it Chrysanthemum?\"

\"Yes, from my gardens. I took the first flowers of autumn and dried them along with my other herbs for brewing. It\'s also got a bit of rosehip in it.\"

\"Ah. I thought as much.\" He nibbled off of a crustless egg sandwich.

\"I could give you the recipe if you like.\"

\"I don\'t grow flowers, remember?\" He quirked an eyebrow at her.

\"I\'d forgotte

\"How is your independent project going?\"

\"I\'m starting to think that it\'s complete crap. I can\'t keep leeching Remus, the man\'s nearly anemic as it is,\" she replied tartly.

Severus chuckled briefly. He could imagine the amount of blood samples Hermione had taken from the werewolf. She always had been very thorough in her research. \"Perhaps you need to look closer to home for your thesis experiment.\"

Hermione frowned at him slightly. \"What are you suggesting?\"

\"Come now, Hermione. Isn\'t there something else besides lycanthropy that intrigues you? Some condition a bit more personal?\" He served up the pointed interrogation with a piece of strary try tart.

Hermione forked up a bit of both question and pastry. She chewed thoughtfully as Severus eyed her expectantly.

\"Are you suggesting that I study myself? As a mage?\"

\"Precisely Miss Granger.\"

\"Malfoy,\" she said absently, still thinking.

To Severus whenever she turned on that brain of hers, she was Miss Hermione Granger.trestress Malfoy concerned herself with tea and etiquette and the maintaining of her gardens. Miss Granger was the bookworm, occupied with beakers and cauldrons and obscure draughts and tinctures. It was Miss Granger whom he identified with - not this polished creature sitting before him. He\'d known Miss Granger far longer than he\'d known Mistress Malfoy. And facts be known, he far preferred Miss Granger.

\"I say, Severus, did you hear me?\"

He was pulled from his reverie. \"I\'m sorry, I was wool-gathering for a bit there.\"

Hermione\'s mouth quirked. \"So I see. Please pay attention this time. I was saying that I think that would be an excellent project, but what does it have to do with potions making?\"

\"What if there was a brew that could bestow what you, Draco and Potter have been gifted with?\"

Hermione was taken aback. \"Sounds suspiciously like Dark Magic to me. If I did discover such a potion, we could end up with a thousand Voldemorts on our hands. I didn\'t almost die just to see that happen.\"

\"Still...it\'s intriguing isn\'t it?\" Snape\'s voice was nearly singsonging his words.

\"You\'re the devil, Severus Snape.\" Hermione laughed and shook her head.

\"So I\'ve been told.\" He actually smiled at her over the rim of his cup.

A more distant expression clouded her features as she turned over their conversation in her mind. \"I can see where you would be an effective Death Eater.\"

Hermione could\'ve shot herself the minute the words were out of her mouth. Severus\'s face had lost that elusive amusement and became shuttered and stony.

\"I\'m...I\'m sorry Severus, I didn\'t mean it quite like that.\"

\"Pray tell, *what* exactly did you mean?\" He\'d become the commanding teacher again and she the quivering student. It felt as if they were sitting back in the Potions classroom.

\"I meant\" He\" Hermione trailed off nervously. She\'d already offended him. She didn\'t want to do it again. Hermione picked her words carefully. \"I meant that...you were so charming and persuasive in that moment that I could see where you could bend people to your will.\"

To her surprise, Severus softened. \"I see. I wasn\'t always the evil bastard professor you\'ve always known and destested. After the awkwardness of my fifth year, Lucius took me under his wing and groomed me. He and I are cousins, you know,\" Snape added as an aside. \"Said that he couldn\'t have anyone in his family being as backward as I was. And I was very very backward. I was jealous of Black, Lupin and Potter. They were everything I was not: popular and handsome. I was a scrawny boy who was so wrapped up in my schoolwork that I couldn\'t even be bothered to even change my knickers with regularity. In short, I was pathetic. However, by the end of my sixth year, things had changed.\"

Hermione was intrigued. This was the most Severus had spoken to her ever. \"How so?\"

But before Severus could continue, Draco came back down the staircase, dressed. If he wasn\'t smiling at least he wasn\'t scowling anymore.

(Are you all right, love?) Hermione probed her husband\'s mind tentatively.

(I\'ll live.) She could hear his sarcasm winging around her brain. (It\'s not everyday that you find out that your mother is a murderous bitch.)

There was silence between them and Draco smirked. (WhNo pNo pithy comments? No empathizing psychobabble?)

Before Severus\' curious eyes, Hermione rose and smacked her spouse across the face before going upstairs. \"Might I enquire as to what that was about?\"

\"No, you may not.\" Draco rubbed his face, trying to erase the raised red handprint emblazoned on his moon-pale skin. \"Just chalk it up to me being a complete and utter prat.\"

Draco sat on the still warm place where Hermione sat. He took a sip of tea from her cup and grimaced. \"She always did put too much honey in her tea.\"

He poured himself a fresh cup and added one cube of sugar, a splash of milk and a bit of lemon. \"So. What\'s the real reason for your visit today?\" Draco questioned his godfather.

Severus snorted. \"When did you become so astute? Never mind. I came to discuss Hermione\'s progress on her thesis project.\"

\"Ah.\" Draco took a sip and ate a corner of a chutney filled sandwich. \"She\'s been working quite diligently, as I\'m sure you know.\"

\"Yes. But as I\'m not to instruct her, only observe and make the occasional comment here and there, I rarely get to see that part of her work.\"

\"You just want to see her laboratory, admit it, Severus.\" Draco gave his godfather a knowing grin.

\"Shut it, boy. I had a two-fold purpose for coming.\" Severus polished off a scone. \"It seems that old Flitwick is retiring and Minerva has asked that I become Deputy Headmaster.\"

Draco raised his eyes in surprise. \"And you\'ve come to ask my opinion?\"

Snape sniffed in vague amusement. \"Not particularly, but I\'m sure you\'ve got one.\"

\"I don\'t have so much of an opinion as a question. Why? You\'ve never let be a secret that you hate teaching. Why take on the added burden of administrating along with teaching and overseeing Slytherin House?\" The younger man pinned his godfather and mentor with a inquisitive glare.

\"Because...who else would there be?\"

\"There are others, Severus.\" Snape got up and went to the window to look out at Hermione\'s carefully tended gardens. Draco continued on, \"I remember all those nights you paced the halls of Hogwarts, trying to sleep, to forget the horrors you visited on all those innocents. Trying to forget your parents. If you haven\'t forgotten, you\'ve done your part. Lord Voldemort is dead. Stop trying to redeem yourself in the eyes of those who have already forgiven you.\"

Snape barked a bitter laugh. \"The Dark Lord is dead you say? Is he? I still hear him you know. He\'ll never be dead. Never. Ask Harry Potter. Ask your wife. She knows. You know, don\'t you? In that secret part of your heart that you keep locked away, you know. Despite all of the \'redemption\' that you think you\'ve earned, you know. He\'s there. beckoning you on. Making you want to continue. But you fight every single day, not because you want to, but because you *have* to.\" Severus turned away from the window. \"I\'m taking on posiposition to keep me occupied. If you just want to know.\"

\"You\'re going to work yourself into an early grave.\"

\"It is my sincerest wish, my son.\"

\"That\'s grim, Godfather.\"

Severus only smiled a sick grin. \"Tell your wife that I expect her in the lab at exactly eight in the morning tomorrow.\"

Draco scoffed. \"You ought to be man enough to tell her yourself.\"

Severus looked up to the ceiling above and then back to Draco\'s still reddened face. \"I\'ve no wish to be slapped like a little bitch.\"

And with that, Snape stepped into the fireplace and flooed back to Hogwarts. Draco tried speaking to Hermione but she\'d firmly closed her mind against him. He sighed deeply. Despite their five years together, they were still very much the same people they were when they met. Despite living together and sharing nearly every detail of their lives together they still managed to snip and snipe at each as if it were required. Perhaps it was. Besides, he thought with a wicked grin, make up sex was the best thing going.

\"I heard that.\" Hermione came back down the stairs dressed in a pair of dark blue denims and an old, stained t-shirt with Kurt Cobain silkscreened across the front. \"Do you really just fight with me so we can have hot, sweaty, unbelievable shagging?\"

\"I\'m not saying anything that might incriminate me.\"

\"Too late.\" Hermione came around behind Draco and ran her fingers through his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp. He nearly purred feeling her short nails on his skin. \"Seriously, Draco. Are you all right?\"

\"I\'ll do.\" He fell silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Hermione did not pry. \"I just was...disappointed in Mother. Although that little scene should have been completely expected.\"

Hermione kissed the top of his head and rested her cheek there. \"Don\'t worry about it. She might come around.\"

Draco sighed. \"I doubt it. But enough of that. You\'ve dressed down, where are you off to?\"

\"The gardens. I\'ve got more mums in bloom and it seems that the spate of warm weather has kept my sweet peas flowering. Then there\'s lupine and hollyhock to be harvested.\" She pulled away from Draco. He grasped her hand and pulled her around to the front of the sofa.

\"You know, I\'ve always liked you in these Muggle trousers. Denims you say they are?\" He ran his hand over the time-softened indigo hued pants.

\"Hmm.\" Hermione preened silently in the admiration of her husband. \"I\'ve had them for awhile. They\'re a bit snug now.\"

\"Not a bit. I think they\'re just right.\" Draco looked at the way the cotton hugged her bum.

\"You\'re a lech, you know that?\"

\"What? For admiring my lovely wife\'s adorable bottom?\" He gave her an impish grin and gave her a mild smack on the aforementioned body part.

\"Ouch. You\'ll pay for that.\" Hermione got a soft look in her face. \"I\'m really sorry that I smacked you earlier - and in front of Snape.\"

\"I shouldn\'t have goaded you on like that. You were only concerned about my reaction.\"

\"Apology accepted. Now, I really must get going. It\'s near to five and the days aren\'t nearly as long as they were.\" She let go of Draco\'s hand and left the hall to tend to her flowers.