The Road

A Duel

A week has passed since Draco's arrival, and as Blaise and the rest of them prepared for trial, there was an uneasy feeling in the air. Not only were they hiding a fugitive from the Wizarding World, but they were hiding Draco Malfoy, an individual who would be good as dead if caught. The curtains were constantly closed and Draco hadn't set foot outside of the hotel room. Hermione offered to brew him some Polyjuice potion, as a means of being able to leave, but he refused. Not for risk of the effects wearing off publicly but because he wasn't ready to see that world again.

The plan was simple enough. Harry will present the case to the Wizengamot himself and the rest of them will sneak Draco to the door, as a precaution in case he's apprehended wrongfully before the council sees him. There,  Blaise will be there to present the defense. Now with enough evidence from Blaise and Harry's pull with the Ministry, it may just be enough to win the trial.

But that didn't stop Draco from being an absolute wreck.

Every night, Hermione would look at him across the dinner table and he was somewhere else. Maybe he was in Cherrywood, she thought, thinking about Molly and Abby.

Maybe even thinking about Mary.

It would take a very long time to bring him back down from wherever he went in his thoughts, just to get him to look at her. But whenever he did, whenever he finally looked thoughtfully at her, he was back and whatever he was thinking about disappeared.
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Hermione left the hotel early the next day to hopefully pick up new robes for Draco to wear to trial. Seeing as he didn't want to leave his cave, she took the measurements herself and was off.

She took her time reaching the shop. Although the old timey look of Cherrywood held a special place in her heart, it paled dramatically in comparison to the literal magic of Diagon Alley. Wizard and Witches greeted her with familiarity along her walk, and she couldn't help but taking a look into the other stores for what she had missed while away.

As she stepped into Madame Malkin's, she felt the old building creak with the arrival of another customer, and the lavish robes looked ready to be worn. Hermione brushed her fingers along the expensive fabrics and realized she quite missed the feeling of the magical garments.

Just as she rounded the corner, her eyes shot open to find Ron at the end of the aisle with his girlfriend, Lavender Brown. Hermione quickly stepped back around the corner with her back pressed against a rack of robes, begging in her mind that they didn't see her. Thankfully, she could still hear them talking quietly to each other. As Hermione was ready to make a run for the door she heard the shrill but motherly voice of the Madam herself on the second floor practically announcing, "Is that Ms. Hermione Granger?! My dear, it has been so long!"

Suddenly, she was very aware of the two sets of eyes that looked up quite quickly to the back of her head.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted as she spun around and received a tackle of a hug. Lavender followed subtly behind him and amicably greeted her.

"I didn't know you were back in town!" Ron was astounded. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

Hermione hesitated. "I wanted it to be a surprise," she lied.

"Well, are you back for good? We really missed you, Hermione. Wait until Harry and Ginny find out. Mum's been asking about you too."

"Really?" Hermione expressed, "Well, I can't wait to see her then."

"Come on, let's go and see Harry!" he said while grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards the door. Hermione took a quick look at Lavender, who surprisingly didn't seem to mind the gesture. "Well, actually," Hermione interrupted while pulling her arm out of his grasp, "I was hoping to come by the Burrow later and surprise them. You all still have dinner together every night, right?"