A Granger Family Reunion

Chp 15 : The Book Thief (How Dramione meets)

    The bushy haired woman clad in a formal trousers and shirt entered the old brightly lit shop filled with floor to ceiling bookshelves . It was the closing time for Flourish and Blotts , the famous magical bookstore in Diagon Alley

   It was well pass 11 , except the shopkeeper and Hermione , the bookstore was void of anyother living being or so she thought . Even the usually crowded Diagon Alley was quiet except some occasional passerby .

    She had been so indulged in her work at the ministry , she didn't even realised that it had been way past her working hours . Hermione was tired and all she wanted to do was go home and sleep in her warm bed . Dinner be damn .

   There were slight dark circles around her eyes , her usually tamed hairs were frizzy and sticking at all angle , and her sleak and ironed shirt , now had creases and the top two button opened . In short she looked far away from the 'Golden Girl' or a ministry worker .

     But she needed to buy the book . She had been patiently waiting so long for the new exclusive edition of  'Hogwarts : A History' (that also described the second wizarding war and tells more about how the  four founders managed the wizarding schools in more detail!! ). And so had most of the magical folks in waizarding world it looked like , as there was only one brown hardcover book with 'Hogwart : A History' etched in golden words lying on the speckless shelve .

     The book was published a few days back and she had been so busy with her work , she was working on changing some of the laws for the betterment of centaurs , it had been difficult for her to take even a minute break to apparate to Diagon Alley and buy the book .

    But atleast she wasn't late . If she had missed it , she would have to borrow it from someone because only 10,000 copies were publish . There's no fun in it . As Hermione went to pick the hardcover book from the shelve it zoomed out from it resting place . Startled she turned and came face to chest with a man who was holding Her book in his outstretched hand , a very pale hand she noticed .

    Hermione was really pissed as she looked up and stared into the silver stormy eyes . She had to admit though , Draco Malfoy had grown well . The before lanky kid was now atleast 6 feet tall , not overly bulky but muscular and that chiseled face which was sporting the infamous smirk . Spoiled git! Hermione thought .

    She had hardly seen Malfoy in the last few years . The Young wizard was hardly seen outside of the towering walls of Malfoy Manor that he now owns . Lucius Malfoy died while serving his sentence in Azkaban and soon after that Narcissa Malfoy too .

   Draco and Narcissa weren't sent to Azkaban , Harry was somewhat behind it . But most of the artifacts found in the manor were confiscated by the ministry and both of them had to visit the Ministry of Magic once a month like all the other wizards who had fought on the darkside and were not sent to Azkaban , for three years .

   Though in the third year , the young Malfoy was left with no blood relative .
Hermione should have felt hate , anger or even disgust while looking at her ex-bully and their ex - arch nemesis .
But she didn't feel anything , sure she was pissed that he had stolen the book , but apart from that there wasn't anything .

   The war had surely did a number on her . She had fought in the war as a teenager , that relied more on books than believed in herself unlike her two bestfriends did . But she had survived the war as an lady that was confident in herself , the magic that flowed inside her veins and the knowledge that she had gained from her experiences . And she knew the war had changed Malfoy too , like everybody else .

   She could tell that because his smirk was missing the usual malice , his eyes were mocking at her and not filled with disdain . There were dark circles and tired line on his pale face showing that he hadn't gotten a decent sleep in the past days .