Adventurous Hearts Part III: Merlin's Tomb

Chapter 3: A Sort Of Date







Hermione apparated to the front steps of Malfoy Manor nervously. She stared up at the huge historical manse and took a deep breath for courage. She raised her hand to the ring dangling from the serpent’s mouth and slammed it against the plate three times. Within seconds a house elf opened the door.







“Oh! Missy Granger, hello again!” The small creature named Ronan greeted her.







“Hello, Ronan, may I see Mr. Malfoy please?” She asked.







“Comes inside, Missy, it be too cold out on the porch for you!” He said, ushering her in and directing her through the foyer to the front parlor. “You waits here.” He said before winking out of sight. Hermione shrugged out of her fur collard cloak and draped it over the chair.







“Breaking out the heavy artillery are we?” She looked up to see Draco standing in the doorway.







“I see I should have specified which Mr. Malfoy I wanted to see.” She said.







“You look a thousand times better than when I saw you last.” He said. “I never thought I’d say this, but you look rather incredible, Granger.”







She had gone shopping after she and Severus had eaten breakfast and bought a new outfit with the seduction of Lucius Malfoy in mind. It was emerald satin, sleeveless with a square neckline and a fitted bodice, flaring at the hips into a full skirt and swirled around her legs when she moved. Her cleavage was enhanced by the new matching bra she wore beneath it, pushing her breasts together and up so that they plumped over the neckline just a bit. She wore a pair of matching, strappy heels and had left her legs bare beneath the skirt.









“Thank you, Draco.” She said. “Is your father home?”







“No…he had a dinner date this evening.” He said.







“A date?” She hated the way her voice cracked over the word. “I didn’t realize he was dating.” She said softly.







“He doesn’t normally; this is the first in a long time.” Draco said, watching her reactions closely.







“Oh…I uh…I think that I was mistaken in coming here.” She said, her hope fading at the knowledge that he was on a date. “I will let you get back to…whatever you were doing.” She said, reaching for her cloak.







“Don’t rush off, would you like to join me for dinner?” He asked.







“I don’t think so, thank you.”







“Come on, Granger, you’re all dressed up already, no sense in wasting the effort.” He said. “Let me take you to dinner, we can talk, catch up…maybe even be friends.”









She stared at him thoughtfully, considering his invitation. She felt foolish, coming to see Lucius and discovering he was on a date. She was hurt and she wanted to go home for a cry, maybe a drink.







“I wont take no for an answer, let me go upstairs and change and I will take you to The Rose Garden.” He was being very nice, and that made her somewhat suspicious.









“I’m not going to have sex with you.” She said. Draco grinned.







“I’m not interested in my father’s women.” He said.







“I’m not your father’s woman, remember.”









“If you say so. Just come with me to dinner, don’t make a big deal about it, it’s just dinner.” He said.









“Fine, but I’m buying, I owe you for being so nice to me last night and making sure I was safe and taken care of.” She said. “Thank you, by the way.”









“You’re welcome. You can pay if you want, I won’t stop you, I’m a modern wizard and it isn’t like this is a date.” He said. “Give me a few minutes to change and make a reservation, I’ll be right back.”











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The Rose Garden was the most elegant and prestigious dining establishment in the wizarding world. Only the very wealthy could afford to patronize the restaurant and therefore it was a very popular place to wine and dine prospective business clients as well as to impress a date. Hermione and Draco were neither, but both were wealthy and the idea of a night out, even between a pair who was only semi-friendly appealed to them both.





A reservation was easy enough to secure, both the name Malfoy and Granger opened many a door in their world. Their attendance together did not go unnoticed, and surprised more than one individual as they stopped off at the cloak room. Draco’s manners were without fault as he took her cloak and checked it with his own.







The maître’d led them through the restaurant, the interior of which gave credence to the name itself. The walls and carpets were the softest shades of rose, the tablecloths a delicate rose print, the china pattern covered in teensy little hand painted tea roses. Each table held a fresh flower center piece and the room was filled with the mingled scents of gourmet food and flowers. A band played softly, the music loud enough for the dancers to enjoy a spin on the floor, but not overwhelming to the point that the diners could not converse without yelling.







Draco walked close beside her, his hand resting lightly on her back as they followed the tuxedoed man through the dining room. Draco couldn’t help the little smirk that tugged at his lips when he saw his father sitting at the table with Amelia Diamatti. She was a lovely young woman with her long brown hair and blue eyes, albeit a bit on the shy side. It was all he could do not to laugh when his father looked up and saw them coming.







“Draco Malfoy, you brought me here on purpose didn’t you?” Hermione said, seeing Lucius sit up straight and glare in their direction.







“Why on earth would you think that?” He asked. He could practically feel his father’s glare from across the room.







“I don’t want to see him with someone else.” She said softly.







“He needs to see you. If you want him, make him fight for you.” Draco whispered, sliding his arm around her, settling his hand into the curve of her waist.









“Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to help me?” She asked, the army of butterflies in her stomach began an erratic cadence as they neared.







“Because he has pined for you for the last few months, he wants you. After so many years of misery, I just want my father happy.” Draco said as they stopped by the table where his father sat with the young woman. Lucius immediately stood, his eyes heated and locked on Hermione. She was stunning in her emerald dress, her hair loose and curling softly. Why in the hell was she on Draco’s arm?







“Hello Father, fancy meeting you here.” Draco said, a broad grin on his face.







“Draco.” Lucius fairly growled. “Hermione, you look lovely.” He said softly, unable to take his eyes off of her.







“Thank you.” She said, wishing she could just put her arms around him and settle her cheek against that comfortable place on his chest that seemed carved out to fit her perfectly.







“This is Amelia Diamatti.” Lucius said, recalling that he was not alone. “Amelia, this is my son Draco and his companion is Dr. Hermione Granger.”







Amelia smiled, her gaze taking Draco in with a little more interest than was probably proper when on an evening out with another. Draco and Hermione both said hello and received a soft smile in greeting.







“What brings the two of you here? Together?” Lucius asked, offering his son a glare that nearly had the power to wound. If Draco wasn’t secure in his knowledge that his father loved him he might fear he would be challenged to a duel.







“Oh, well it was by accident actually. Hermione stopped by the house to see you, but I told her you had a date.” Draco watched his father inhale sharply then hold his breath. “When I saw how absolutely beautiful she looked I couldn’t resist inviting her to dinner. She was just too stunning not to take out and show off.”







The smug look on Draco’s face made Lucius long to cuff the boy. She had come to see him, dressed to kill, to seduce, and he was out with another woman. His eyes drifted over her, admiring the way the satin clung to her curves. They narrowed when he saw his son’s fingers curled around her waist.





“I am sorry I was unavailable to you, perhaps we should schedule another time to meet….soon.” He said, trying to fight the urge to reach out and forcefully remove his son’s hands from her.







“I don’t want to impose myself on you.” She said, smiling. “It wasn’t important, apparently I was mistaken.”





Lucius gasped, physically jolting just a bit at her words as though she had struck him in the solar plexus. It was important, he needed to talk to her, to see her, to touch and hold her.







“Well, if you will excuse us, Hermione and I are famished and we would like to enjoy our meal.” Draco said. “Pleasure to see you, Miss Diamatti.” He said with a smile. “I will see you later, Father.”







Without another word Draco guided her to their table, the maitre’d had waited patiently for them to finish their conversation with his father. Draco made a great show of holding out her chair for her, seating her, making certain to run his fingertips over her bare shoulder before taking his own seat, knowing full well that his father was watching his every move.







“You took more pleasure in that than you should have, Draco.” She said with a soft laugh.









“He looks like he wants to throw a curse at me.” He said, settling in across from her with a smile.









“I feel awful crashing his date.” She said. “Though it certainly didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things did it?” She opened her menu with a snap.









“It isn’t a real date, I told you that, and he hasn’t. He has moped around the manor for months and I am sick of it.” Draco said, reaching out to take her menu. “Please, allow me to order for you. Don’t get all prickly, father is watching and the more it seems I am trying to romance you the more interesting a shade of red he becomes.”







“That poor girl who is with him…”







“Has no interest in my father or he in her. She is in town and her father asked mine to escort her to dinner, no doubt hoping to land her a very wealthy husband. However, my father is interested in only one woman.” He said. When the waiter came Draco placed an order for the two of them, a four course meal for two consisting of a salad, lobster, soup and a decadent chocolate cheesecake.







Draco made sure to smile at her a lot through dinner. They spoke of their days at Hogwarts, the war, University, her job, his job, all of the things that had transpired in the years that had passed. They found a place where they could let the past go and simply start anew as friends. Hermione was glad she had come, and not just because of Lucius.











From across the dining room Lucius watched Hermione and Draco. Every time the boy smiled at her, or made her smile, said something that made her laugh he wanted to get out of his chair and toss his arrogant offspring across the room. How dare he ask her out? And then flaunt her in front of him knowing how he felt about her? He was angry, every nerve in his body vibrating with it as he watched them.







“Do you not approve of your son’s date?” Amelia asked finally after having been ignored for nearly an hour. “I know of Dr. Granger, she isn’t a pureblood, does it bother you?”





Lucius turned his head quickly to stare down at the young woman speaking to him. He had been dreadfully rude ignoring her the way he had, but he just was not interested in her. It was nothing against her, she was lovely, soft spoken and well bred, but she wasn’t his Hermione.







“Her blood has nothing to do with it. Such trivial things mean nothing to me anymore.” He said.









“Then what has you looking like you wish to hex them?” She asked, following his gaze to where his handsome son led the beautiful witch onto the dance floor. Lucius didn’t answer; he was too busy fighting for control as he watched Draco pull Hermione into his arms, holding her close, too close as they danced.







Hermione was smiling at something he said, one hand resting on his shoulder while the other was tucked neatly into his as he led her to the slow, steady rhythm of the band. His hand sat low on her back, just above the low-cut of the back, his thumb touching the soft, warm skin there.







“He’s going to burst something in a minute.” Draco laughed, watching Lucius from the corner of his eye.







“Why are you Malfoys so sadistic?” She asked, amused and curious about Draco’s behavior.







“I suppose that by entertaining myself with another’s discomfort I spend less time focusing on the things that are miserable in my own life.” He laughed.







“Why so interested in your father’s personal life?” She asked. “You seem so determined to push us together when I was certain that you hated me.”







“I don’t hate you. I can’t say you would be my first choice for him, given that you have been screwing my godfather for nigh on a decade and Merlin knows what you got up to on that Island if your drunken ramblings are anything to make assumptions from, but for whatever reason, he wants you.” Draco said. “I am not the boy I once was, I now know the difference between right and wrong and I can make my own decisions, I have grown up. I just want him happy, Granger, and if you make him happy then I want you for him. It’s really quite simple.”







Hermione leaned back and looked up at the handsome young man who she had always considered her enemy. She could see the truth in his words, he had grown up, he was no longer the boy she remembered.







“I never thought I would say this, but I’m proud of you, Draco.” She said softly, leaning up to kiss his cheek.







“Oh shit…” Draco muttered, he saw his father move quickly, smoothly from the chair, his long legged stride moving him across the room quickly towards them. He wanted to push his father’s buttons by flirting with Hermione in front of him, get him riled up enough to actually do something, but her innocent little kiss on the cheek was like setting a powder keg on fire, his father was explosive.







“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked when Draco suddenly stiffened and stopped moving.







“Storm is coming and it’s going to be a bad one.” He said, just as his father reached them. Lucius clamped his hand hard on Draco’s shoulder, his fingers digging in painfully.







“I’m cutting in.” Lucius growled.







“But I’m not finished dancing with my date, dance with your own.” Draco said, trying not to show the pain he was feeling.







“Draco….” The warning in his voice was enough; Draco let her go and stepped back. He knew his father, knew that dangerous tone. He walked away slowly, then with a smile slid into his father’s chair beside the abandoned Amelia.







“Hello again, Miss Diamatti.” He said. “Forgive my father, he can’t help himself.”







“So that is why he was so angry…he loves her.” She said, watching the older wizard, pull the witch close to him.







“Yes, he does. So, tell me about yourself.” Draco said, turning his attention from the dance floor to the abandoned witch sitting beside him.