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: Many thanks to Axellia for being my beta!

Visited Upon the Son

© SparkyCSI

Chapter 3. Truce

When Hermione woke up the next morning, she felt better than she had in the previous two

months. She slowly got up, the events of the previous day playing through her head.

Merlin! I can’t believe that I spaced out on Draco. I feel so bad. I know that he is

not his father, but…Hermione’s thoughts skidded to a halt at the memory of Lucius. She

felt her muscles shiver at the memories that were invoked.

Hermione got out of her red and gold bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. While

she stood under the hot spray, she allowed herself to mentally picture Draco. She calmly

examined the picture in her mind. She realized that he had grown up in the previous five

years. He was a couple of inches taller and judging by the muggle clothes he had been

wearing, he worked out. She also realized that his hair had not been slicked back like she

remembered.

Thinking about the physical changes that Malfoy had undergone, she found she wanted to know

if he had truly grown up. She knew that her outlook on life had changed dramatically after

the war, so had the lives of many others. She sighed at the depressing turn her thoughts

had taken.

She gave herself a mental shake and directed her thoughts to more pleasant subjects, namely

the upcoming school year. Finally, she had finished getting ready, her hair pulled back in

a utilitarian, but fashionable manner with a light amount of make-up on. She took one last

look in the mirror and returned to the bedroom to get dressed. She looked into her wardrobe

and decided that since the students were not back yet, she was not going to wear her wizard

robes. Instead, she dressed in a conservative pants suit with a pair of sensible pumps.

She grabbed her wand and made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

When she entered the hall, she smiled softly at a few of the teachers that were present.

Many of the professors had been teaching when she was in school, although there were a few

additions. Professor Trelawny had been killed at the beginning of the war by Voldemort, who

was upset that she did not remember the prophecy that she had spoken and Professor Sprout

had retired after being disfigured in the final battle. Taking their positions were Firenze

and Neville Longbottom.

Hermione smiled brightly at Neville, who had been the Herbology professor for the previous

three years, and took a seat next to him. “Good morning, Neville. How was your holiday?”

Neville smiled back at her. “Good morning, Mia. My holiday was terrific. I summered in

the States.”

“Really?” asked Hermione. “Where did you visit?”

“I started my trip in New York City and then travelled through the South. They have some of

the most interesting plants in the southern part of the States. In Louisiana, in fact, they

have this wonderful swamp plant that I am going to try to cultivate during the school year.

I believe that it might have some healing properties which might help reverse scarring.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows. “Really? That sounds wonderful. Won’t it be hard to

cultivate a plant native to that part of the States here in England?”

“It will be a challenge. I must get both the temperature and the humidity perfect otherwise

the plant will not grow. I’m looking forward to the seventh years helping me out with my

project.”

Hermione nodded and they proceeded to discuss their holidays while eating their meal.

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Draco awoke slowly, stretching languishly in the large bed. He laid there for a couple of

minutes before making his way into the bathroom, to take his shower. In the shower, he

reviewed the events of the previous day. I wonder why Granger reacted the way she did.

It’s almost like she was reliving something. I know for a fact that I never did anything to

her.

Draco stopped while washing his hair. “Okay, stupid boy. You did call her horrible names

for six years. What? Did you really expect her to act like you never did any of that?”

Draco sighed, as the conscience he had found after failing to kill Dumbledore reared its

ugly head. “I have so much to apologize for. Damn it, Malfoy’s don’t apologize!”

That’s what your father always told you, look where it got him, said the nagging

voice. Sighing in defeat, Draco laid his head against the cool tiles and stopped

struggling. “Fine you stupid conscience! I’ll apologize!” he shouted, feeling insane for

having a conversation with himself.

Deciding that he had spent enough time arguing with his conscience, Draco hurriedly got

dressed in a pair of trousers and a white button-down shirt. He cast a quick drying charm

on his hair and ran a brush through his silky locks. Taking one last glance in the mirror,

he began to make his way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

He was halfway there when he heard a voice call out behind him, “Mister Malfoy. We need to

talk.”

Draco turned around and looked at the stern Headmistress walking towards him. “Professor,”

he said nervously. He thought back to her warning in regards to hurting Hermione. “I

swear, I didn’t do anything to Gran—I mean Professor Granger.”

McGonagall looked surprised at Draco’s quick denial of wrongdoing. “I know you didn’t,

Draco. I just thought I would give you a friendly warning. Hermione has some horrific

memories that she is dealing with, so be on your best behaviour around her.”

Draco drew his brows together while he processed the information that McGonagall had given

him. “What type of memories?” he queried.

McGonagall smiled at him. “That is something that you need to ask her. Now I suggest we

get to breakfast before it is all gone.”

Draco nodded and walked silently beside the older woman. When they arrived at the hall, he

graciously held the door open and motioned for her to precede him.

They walked into hall and Draco immediately noticed that there were only two free seats.

One next to Hagrid and one next to Hermione. Draco decided to take the lesser of the two

evils and sat next to Hermione.

“Granger,” he said coolly. He turned his gaze upon Neville. “Longbottom.”

“Malfoy,” Hermione replied just as coolly.

“Mal…Malfoy,” Neville stuttered.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Longbottom, stop stuttering. You are not worth the energy to

curse.”

Hermione fought down her temper, but turned a burning gaze on him. “Malfoy, you are a right

git, do you know that! If you are going to be an arrogant arse all year, I’ll hex you

myself!” With a huff, she turned to Neville. “Let’s go outside, Neville. At least there,

the air will be cleaner.”

The pair quickly gathered their belongings and left the hall.

Draco steamed while eating his eggs. How dare she! She’s nothing. She just a dirty

little mudblood. How can she even compare to my intelligence. I’ll show that know it

all.

Draco’s thoughts kept seething while he ate breakfast and noticing the judgmental stares of

the other professors, he decided to leave the hall quickly.

Outside, Hermione felt the anger coursing through her veins. “How dare he,” she raged to

Neville. “We’ve been professors here for years. How dare he walk in and just expect us to

bow to him? He should be grateful that Minerva decided to take a chance on him. He should

be rotting in Azkaban right now…” She trailed off her rant with a growl.

Neville looked at her. “Mia, really. It’s okay. I expected worse from him. I’ll just be

happy if he keeps out of my way. Merlin knows I’ve had enough of his hurtful comments to be

able to brush them aside. You should too.”

Hermione sighed as she realized the truth of what Neville was saying. “You’re right,

Neville. It still just makes my blood boil. But we must show a united front to the

students. I will not let a personal grudge drive a wedge of hatred between our two houses.

We’ve worked so hard these last years to minimize that.” She turned her gaze to the lake.

“I’m going to have to be the bigger person here. I’ll speak with him tonight at the dinner

and inform him that we are going to have to come to a truce with the way that we speak to

each other during the school year.”

Neville nodded as he also gazed over the lake.

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Later that night, Hermione was standing in front of her wardrobe, trying to decide on what

to wear for the formal dinner that the professors were having that night. She took out a

royal blue set of dress robes and then threw them down in disgust on the bed. “No. That’s

not right. Urg…Why am I having such a hard time choosing something to wear?”

She sat down in a chair and exhaled in her frustration. You’re just trying to impress

that git, you know, a nagging voice inside of her head said. No, I’m not! she

replied back with some force. “I am not trying to impress Malfoy!” she said aloud. Growing

irritated with herself, she got back up out of the chair and made her way back to the

wardrobe. She pulled out a formal black dress and decided to wear that. It was floor

length and had spaghetti straps with a sweetheart neckline. She slipped into the dress with

the matching black four inch stilettos with conviction.

Hermione walked into the bathroom and began to fix her hair and make-up. She decided to

highlight her eyes and coerced her hair into soft waves. With one final glance into the

mirror, picked up her wand and put it into the concealed pocket on the side of her dress.

She took a deep breath and walked out of her room.

When she walked into the Great Hall, she was struck with a sense of wonder. The ceiling was

enchanted to show all of the stars and constellations, with candles floating a few feet

below them. There were tables set up, each with room for four settings and low, melodic

music softly playing. She smiled as she walked up to McGonagall.

“Wow, Minerva. You went all out for this.”

McGonagall smiled. “Of course my dear. This is the last chance to be completely with

adults until next June. I want all of us to enjoy it. You will find that each table has a

name plate. I did manage to make sure that you and Mister Malfoy are nowhere near each

other.”

Hermione nodded. “Thank you, Minerva. I really appreciate that.” She nodded to the older

woman and began to explore the room, looking for her seat. When she found her table, she

smiled. She was seated with Professor Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey and Firenze. She continued

to wander around the room and found that Malfoy was seated with Professor McGonagall, Hagrid

and Madam Hooch. Their table was on the opposite side of the room as Hermione’s. Smiling

in relief, she walked back to her table to take her seat.

Ten minutes later, she was in an animated discussion with Professor Flitwick about the

differences between Charms and Transfiguration. She paused in the mid-thought when she

heard McGonagall get up for her speech.

Once there was silence, McGonagall began to speak. “Welcome, Professors; those of you whom

are returning and those for whom this is the first time here. I am Minerva McGonagall,

Headmistress. This is the annual pre-starting term feast in which we can get to know our

fellow professors. I must go over a few things for those who are new, so forgive me if you

have heard this before.

“While there are no things forbidden to the professor, I must warn you to take care in the

Forbidden Forest. There are many magical creatures there who would like nothing more than

to harm humans. We allow these creatures to live there to help guard the castle. Also, I

want to reiterate the fact that we must show a united front to the students. For this

reason, I must stress that if you have a personal problem with another member of the staff;

please work to resolve it as soon as possible.” McGonagall spared a glance to look at both

Draco and Hermione.

“Now,” she continued. “Let me introduce you to the Heads of House. For the Gryffindor

House, it is Hermione Granger. For Hufflepuff, Neville Longbottom. For Ravenclaw,

Professor Flitwick and for Slytherin, Draco Malfoy.”

The rest of the staff applauded politely with each name called. Once the applause had died

off, McGonagall motioned for silence again. “Now, with introductions completed, enjoy the

feast!”

Hermione glanced towards Draco and noticed that he was wearing muggle clothes again. He was

dressed in a black suit with a monochromatic silver shirt and tie that complimented his

aristocratic looks. He was still not slicked back. Huh. He’s wearing muggle clothes

again. The snot nosed little git who would not be caught dead near anything muggles have

embraced their fashions. That tells me that he has mentally changed, but how much?

Hermione stopped her wool-gathering and looked down as the food appeared on the plate before

her. Trying to stop herself from obsessing over Draco, she turned back to Flitwick and

continued their conversation.

On the other side of the room, Draco was quietly eating, trying to avoid conversation. He

had not missed her pointed look at both him and Hermione when talking about resolving

personal differences. He was so intent on ignoring everyone that when McGonagall asked him

how he was settling in, he almost missed the question.

He shook his head slightly. “I’m sorry, Professor. I was lost in thought. I am settling

in fine and I took the time today to go over my lesson plans for the first week. I’m

especially concerned about learning the level of the other students.”

McGonagall smiled. “I do believe that you will find them up to par. I do hope that you

don’t have any problems with the sixth and seventh year students. They would have been

first and second years your final year of school.”

Draco nodded solemnly. “I am aware of that. Although, if any of the students hold grudges,

then I expect the trouble to come from the seventh years. I am prepared to be the most

hated professor.”

McGonagall nodded and turned her attention to Hagrid, to ask him about his upcoming lessons,

lest they be too dangerous to subject students to.

Draco was grateful that her gaze was off of him and quickly finished his meal. Once done,

he excused himself from the table and began to mingle with the other professors, who had

also finished.

He was surprised by a light touch on his arm and turned to find Hermione gazing at him,

warily.

“Malfoy? May I have a word with you?” she asked politely.

Draco nodded and motioned for them to walk outside. Once outside, he looked at her

expectantly. When she didn’t say anything, he decided to speak up. “Well, I don’t have all

night Granger.”

Hermione gritted her teeth. “Did you not hear what Minerva was talking about? She was

speaking to us, in particular. Look. I know that we don’t like each other, but in order to

have a successful school year, we need to come to a truce, okay?”

Draco drew back at the venom in her words. “Fine. I’ll be civil to you in front of the

students. Don’t expect anything else.” He threw those words over his shoulder as he walked

back into the castle.

Hermione just stood where she was, battling her emotions at the familiar tone to his

words.

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AN: Only one review for the last chapter? Did it suck that bad?

Kissy5444 – It looks like you tried to review…but nothing came through.

EmmyloveDraco – I hope you enjoyed! I just updated chapter 6 on fanfiction yesterday, so I

hope to be caught up to where I am posting at the same time by next week. Thanks!