Vacivitas

Chapter Twenty-Six

Trigger warnings: this chapter has Malfoy placing and creating false memories again, so there is references to rapes that have never actually occurred.

Mentions of suicide attempt

Chapter Twenty-Six

Malfoy sits at the table with them at supper.

It's horrifically awkward. He sits at his normal seat, at the very end of the table across from Hermione's. Faye sits beside Hermione; Tillian hesitates, but takes a seat next to Malfoy. The food the elves bring is delicious, as usual, but Hermione finds that it tastes like ash when she has to look at the arsehole that's in her direct line of sight.

Tillian looks like Ron used to look when he didn't like someone–glares, surliness, and sour looks. Faye seems nervous, perhaps a bit intimidated, but she tries to be friendly. Malfoy is polite, with few responses. Hermione doesn't speak at all.

She's not surprised, though. There's no part of her that thought Malfoy would ever be best friends with her friends. They were here for her sake, not to be a big, happy family in the Malfoy Manor.

"Are you happy?"

Hermione frowns down at her plate. Why did he care if it made her happy? The only thing he cares about is blood. Why keep his blood supply happy? There's no point to it.

"Thank you for letting us go outside, Mr.—erm...Dra–" Faye stumbles over her words, looking at Hermione as though she knows what Malfoy wants to be called by them. "Mr. Malfoy?"

"Malfoy is fine," Malfoy says, cutting his meat with a straight spine and elegant movements.

"Oh," Faye says with a relieved smile that brightens her face. "Then Malfoy, thank you for letting us go outside. We had a fun time in the hedge mazes."

Malfoy's gaze briefly flickers to her before he nods, his expression almost wary. Like he doesn't quite trust her, or know how to talk to her.

Hermione takes a bite of her food, wondering if this is how Malfoy would have spoken to her at school if she weren't a Muggleborn. Polite, but with the general caution one has when speaking to a stranger.

"We had fun, didn't we, Tillian?" Faye asks, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

Tillian is a storm cloud. "I guess."

Hermione notices Malfoy's brows rising, but he doesn't turn to look at Tillian.

"What do you mean, you guess? You didn't even want to come back inside!" Faye exclaims.

"Unfortunately," Tillian says with light, careful words and emphasized syllables, "my mind was preoccupied with the well-being of our Hermione here. She was upset this morning, you know."

Hermione's heart skips a beat. She and Faye exchange glances. Malfoy takes a slow bite of his meat, chews it just as slowly, and doesn't react.

"Yes, we all care about Hermione," Faye says, sending him a pointed glare. "But you did have fun in the mazes."

"Sure," Tillian says in a sickly-sweet voice. "It was really fun being let out of the cage for the afternoon."

Hermione glances from Tillian to Malfoy and back again. This is reminding her of school in an almost humorous way, even if the reason for Tillian's dislike is morbid. Tillian does not like Malfoy.

She grimaces and takes a delicate bite, sipping her juice. She looks at Malfoy over the rim, searching for any sign of a reaction from him. If it were Hermione speaking to him the way Tillian was, they'd probably be arguing and she'd end up with his hand around her throat, or something else equally dramatic and pointless.