Temptation
Pour Deux
by
Annie
Adrienne
Chapter
10
Arriving
At Last
Hermione
spotted Draco in the Great Hall instantly- he was the only boy there. Absently,
she remembered it was
about
four in the morning- he’d said something about alternate transportation.
Right now, though, she was much too
tired
to think about it. The parties, the potions, the bloody butterbeer… and
the shock of waking up with a face full
of
jet-black hair that morning. Thank God the mirror had still been asleep,
she didn’t even want to know what she
looked
like.
“Ready?”
he asked as she got within hearing distance. She nodded, unused to the
waves of glossy, straight black
hair
that fell around her face at the slightest movement. He stared at her for
a moment, and she scowled.
“What?”
“Nothing,
you just-” he couldn’t finish, gesturing to her face. She rolled her eyes.
“Oh
come on, Draco, I can’t look that much like Snape-” He pulled a small hand
mirror out of his duffel bag
wordlessly.
She snickered, supposing he had to keep one nearby in case a hair fell
out of place- he was more vain
than
most girls she knew. She raised it in front of her, fearing the worst-
and finding the best.
“Oh.”
She breathed, green eyes darting back and forth across a pale ivory face.
She was- beautiful. There was no
other
word to describe it. Her skin was smooth and creamy, unfreckled for once
in her life. Her nose was perfect-
slightly
pointed, but not too long or too short. She realized with a start that
she’d inherited Snape’s high cheekbones-
but
on her they were fragile, delicate and feminine. She saw Draco nodding
out of the corner of his eye, but it
barely
registered.
She
recognized that face. Recognized it from only a few weeks ago, that morning
in the prefect’s bathroom, with a
few
minor changes of course. But this wasn’t just Snape. This is what she had
been meant to look like.
“You’re
beautiful, Hermia.” He said quietly, wrapping his arms around her waist,
and hugging her close to him. She
smiled,
still staring into the mirror.
“I
know.”
*****
“Master
Draco, will ye be having anythin ter drink?” a scratchy voice broke through
Hermione’s daze of sleep, and
she
sat up with a yawn. The driver, as an afterthought, added, “And milady?”
“I’ll
take a vodka and tonic.” Draco said, looking at Hermione. She couldn’t
help but feel a bit awkward- she’d
never
had a drop of alcohol in her life. Draco seemed to pick up on this, and
he turned back towards the fogged
glass.“Something
light for Hermia, Maxwell- she’s still a bit sick from traveling. We should
be their presently anyway,
if
I recognize the country.”
Hermione
could see Maxwell’s toothy grin through the mirror of the car, and she
shivered. The shaggy-haired man
laughed.
“Right
perceptive, you’re gettin, Master Draco.” He wheezed. “Soon you’ll be drivin
this car yourself, I daresay.”
“I
think not.” Hermione interrupted haughtily, to Draco’s surprise. He smirked
at her, and she smirked back. “I would
hope
Draco will never have to lower himself to these- Muggle- forms of
transportation. In fact, if all goes well, we’ll
both
be getting our apparition licenses next year. Of course, I can already
apparate- but Uncle Serverus said it
wouldn’t
be wise to do so right under that Dumbledore’s nose.”
Draco’s
eyes widened as she finished, and her smirk only grew wider. She gave off
another yawn, curling her legs up
on
the car seat and laying her head in Draco’s lap. He leaned down to give
her a quick kiss on the lips, and whispered-
“You’ll
be perfect.”
She
was quite enjoying this already. It was like playing a role in a film,
or a play, except the stage wasn’t
two-dimensional.
She got to wear beautiful clothes (she’d done a very handy bit of work
on her wardrobe with a few
charms),
and makeup for the first time in her life. And her leading man didn’t hurt
one bit.
The
rest of the car ride passed without event, though Hermione was a bit frightened
when Maxwell turned around to
give
Draco his drink, and her a bit of iced tea… an ‘Arnold Palmer’, her parents
would have called it. He must have
been
using some sort of spell to steer the limo.
It
seemed to be hours she spent in that bloody car- she couldn’t help but
feel a twinge of sympathy at the muggles,
without
magic. Poor creatures. Forced to resort to all kinds of crazy machines
to make up for their sad lacking.
They
entered a valley, lush and green, a silvery mist covering the road in front
of them. The car came to a pair of steel
iron
gates, which quickly parted, and drove on, Draco growing visibly more excited
by the second.
“You’ll
love it, Hermio- Hermia.” He gushed, barely forgetting to use her ‘new’
name, eyes fixated on the smoggy
window.
“I’ve never seen a house more beautiful-”
“Nor
have I.” Maxwell added, glancing back at the sleepy girl. “Well, here we
are then, Master, and Miss.” Hermione
liked
the sound of that, and so, apparently, did Draco, for her flashed her a
dazzling smile and jumped out of the car,
going
around to the other side and opening the door for her. She giggled, and
took his hand as she stepped out of the
car,
for the first time laying eyes on Malfoy Manor.
She
was taken aback at the mere size of it. Her head spun, unconsciously calculating
how much marble it must have
taken
to build only what she could see. It looked supernatural in the hazy fog,
glowing but not shining. It was long
and
tall, four stories or more it seemed, not including the soaring round towers
on either end. The top of the house
was
domed, a sculpture of a man (looking not unlike Draco… or his father, for
that matter) with a snake wrapped
around
his arm, and a sword in the other adorning the pinnacle.
In
front of the house, there was a fountain- nearly as wide as it was tall,
creating a wall of foaming water in the middle
of
the circular driveway. It was a statue of a woman, seated in a high-backed,
jewel adorned chair- or more, throne.
Her
eyes seemed to glitter emerald green, though it could have simply been
a trick of the water. She shuddered at the
mere
feeling of power that emanated from her- and her breath caught in her throat,
as two people stepped forward
from
the great arching stone doorway.
Lucius
and Narcissa Malfoy were walking towards her… and smiling.
Narcissa
ran forward first, throwing her arms around her son. Lucius followed at
a more leisurely pace, embracing
Draco
after Narcissa had pulled away from him. Draco looked supremely embarrassed,
flushing a deep red. After
a
moment of simple beaming at her son, Narcissa turned to Hermione, a smile
lighting up her delicate features.
“Lovely!
Oh, my dear, my son has excellent taste.” She leaned down and embraced
Hermione, much to her dismay.
She
quickly regained her composure, though, looking to the much older couple.
“Sir,
Madam, it’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard such wonderful things about
both of you from Uncle Serverus,
and…
you have been most generous to allow me to stay in your home.” She curtsied,
looking to the ground, and then
looking
up into their eyes. To her amusement, she seemed to have passed the test,
for Narcissa shrieked in happiness,
pulling
her son in for another apparently embarrassing hug.
“Takes
after him.” Lucius muttered under his breath, the closest thing to a warm
smile Hermione had ever seen
sneaking
onto his face. She grinned to herself, and to Draco, as Maxwell came around
to the front of the house,
levitating
the bags next to him.
They
all stepped into the foyer of the house, and Hermione paused, looking back
to the fountain, and the car. The
statue
of the woman seemed to glare at her, but it did not matter in the least.
After
all, she fit in perfectly.
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