Diamonds

11. All For You

Narcissa Malfoy turned out to be the single most intimidating woman Hermione had ever laid eyes on. Her features, though fair, looked sharp enough to cut any hand that caressed it. She was tall and slender, standing proudly separate from the crowd, at the same time somehow managing to seem a part of it. The Malfoy matriarch appeared to be listening to a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Pansy Parkinson and was dressed with about as much sense. Draco pointed them out to her, grimacing slightly as he shifted his grip on his trunk. "That's mother, and the dark haired woman is Pansy's mother, Prudence Parkinson."

"Ironic," Hermione muttered, letting her trunk clunk as it slipped off of the steps leading into the train. "Since that's the least prudent dress I've ever seen."

"It's a gown. And it's Mrs Parkinson. I think she models for Witch Weekly." He smiled as Hermione groaned.

"Of course you know someone who works for a trashy magazine."

"'Trashy'? Really? Are you sure you aren't just jealous of people with better positions than you and your parents?"

Hermione was wondering if divorce rates were high- or, indeed, existent at all- in the wizarding world. "My parents are dentists. We're rather well off, at least according to the standards of our neighbourhood. For example, there's room for all the books you've sent me because they could afford to build an extra room at the back of our house."

"They built an extra room? You didn't already have a library?"

"Where exactly do you think I live? I grew up in the suburbs of London, Draco, not an estate in France." She laughed aloud, shaking her head. "Honestly, I swear I said 'rather well off', not 'rich as the Queen'."

"Draco." Narcissa had drifted away from Prudence Parkinson, her calm, cold voice filling the lull in conversation between the pair of students.

"Mother!" Draco beamed at her, dropping his trunk again to hug her. Hermione looked on as the woman returned the gesture, releasing him after a brief moment. "This is Hermione, Hermione Granger."

"Your betrothed," the woman nodded to her, and Hermione had never felt so self-conscious about her buck teeth or frizzy hair, the things that made her seem real and human when she looked in the mirror. These little imperfections made her herself and not some other shallow girl, set her apart from, for example, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, two gossips who kept her up at night with their inane chatter in their dorm. "It's my pleasure, Miss Granger. Are your parents aware of the decision we've agreed upon?"

Hermione swallowed, trying to make herself look taller and, in her own opinion, failing spectacularly. I had to choose jeans and a sweater, she moaned internally, looking at Narcissa in her emerald green coat. "Yes. My mother is aware of the arrangement, I checked everything that Draco suggested with her. She agreed after I promised I'd ask you to have me spend a day with her just before Christmas. She'll understand if you can't, of course, she'll just be disappointed."

"We can't have that, can we, Draco?"

He was shaking his head when Hermione looked at him. She wasn't sure, though, if this was him agreeing or disagreeing with his mother, not until he spoke. "Hermione agreed to stay with us as a favour to me. I promised she could see her parents ."

Narcissa's expression didn't change from the polite mask, but she wasn't looking at the young witch, something that soothed Hermione's nerves considerably. She drew her wand; Hermione winced unnecessarily as Draco's mother cast a spell to shrink the trunks. Hermione lifted her own, while Draco's was removed from him. "Aren't you going to offer to take her trunk?"

Draco blushed. "Hermione, do you-"

"I can take my own," she interrupted.

She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought Narcissa's expression changed, curiosity showing through as she peered at the muggle-born. Hermione didn't think capturing the womans attention was a great idea, not then, not ever. But of course, she would have her attention for a long while yet. That came with the Malfoy name.