A Safe, Devoted Darkness

Chapter 8

Hermione knocked a sharp, confident three times on Draco's front door. She'd never visited him at home before; a home that was very much not Malfoy Manor.

She didn't have to wait long. Draco opened the door with a grim, resigned look.

"Hi," she said.

"I suppose you want to come in to talk?"

"You weren't at work."

Draco frowned and pulled the door wider. Hermione accepted the unspoken invitation and brushed past him.

His house in the countryside, while as secluded as his former manor, was more cottage than castle. Everything felt light and open; pastel and cream decor and large windows to let in plenty of sun.

Hermione strode boldly into his sitting room and perched on the sofa, hoping he would follow.

"Tea?" he sighed more than asked.

"Yes, please."

She allowed him privacy and silence while he prepared two cups, knowing he wouldn't even need to ask how she took hers.

He set a steaming cup in front of her and then sat on the furthest point of the sofa away from her. Hermione sipped her tea, allowing the warmth to calm her nerves.

"I came here to thank you."

"Thank me?" he scoffed. "You should be hexing me instead."

"I'm sorry. Draco, I'm so sorry, I—"

"Don't."

"You saved me from—"

"Stop."

"But you did, you saved me and I—"

"Fucking stop Granger!"

She clamped her lips shut.

"It was my fault, all right? I should never have left you alone with it, not when I could tell..."

He broke off and stared down at his hands.

Hermione didn't know how to breach this rift, not when he didn't even want to address what had happened between them. This man had made her come with his voice, fingers, and tongue. And now he wouldn't even look her in the eye.

"Harry said you figured it out," Hermione said, breaking the tense silence. "How the device worked and how you could enter it."

Draco still wouldn't look at her, anchoring his palms on his thighs.

"Yes, you'd absorbed the entire curse, so I was able to enter undetected. It didn't want me so long as I played along."

"It was more powerful than we realised," Hermione said. "It had been feeding off us the entire time we worked on it. Wading through our thoughts and... and desires until one of us made contact."

Her. The weaker one.

Discussing the device as they normally would at work seemed to mollify him.

"It's meant as a parlour trick. But this one had gone dodgy. I think it tried to leech off your magic so it could imbue your power. It thought it could make you feel safe and comfortable enough by surrounding you with familiar faces. By surrounding you with people you... the people you love."

"But it got it wrong."

Draco finally looked at her and she tried to hold his gaze, tried to make him understand why it had gotten it so wrong. Why he hadn't been initially included in her ideal comfort bubble.