Beauty From Pain

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Hermione had to push against the wave of emotions and disjointed thoughts that rushed forward at the sight of Draco Malfoy walking into her shop. The last thing she needed was for him to be aware of the turmoil her conscience was currently suffering through.

"Good morning, Draco." She winced internally at the hitch in her voice when she said his name.

Either he didn't notice, or he knew better than to point it out. "Good morning," he said with a barely-there smile.

She noticed he didn't say her name, but she couldn't say she was surprised. A small part of her was disappointed, but she pushed that even further back in her mind.

"Let me finish a few things here, and I'll meet you in my office."

Draco nodded and made his way to the back of the shop. While waiting for Hermione to join him, he perused her shelves admiring her pictures and books. He raised an eyebrow at the vast collection of Magical Law and Patenting books before his gaze zeroed in on the collection of pictures on her desk. He had missed those during his first visit.

There were five in total, each frame a different size but organized in a way that they framed the edges of the desk. It was such a Hermione thing, he thought, to carefully arrange photos on a desk.

Draco noted the two pictures of landscapes first. One was of a snowy mountain top with small figures in the background, so small they could be mistaken for dots of ink. The other was of a beach with a lone figure standing in the water, body encased in shadows thrown from the setting sun. Muggle pictures, he realized based on the lack of movement within the wooden frames. The other three, however, were distinctly magical. One was of the most hideous cat Draco had ever seen. It's orange, scrunched up face looked as if it had been hit one too many times with a door. The cat sat poised for the picture, and the only sign of movement was the swishing of its tail. The next picture was the picture of the Golden Trio that Draco had been expecting. Arms slung over each other's shoulder, the three laughed at a joke told just before the picture had been taken.

There was a small tug in Draco's chest at the unadulterated joy written across their features. Blinking quickly he moved his gaze to the final picture and frowned. Two people he didn't recognize walked hand-in-hand down a street, smiling at each other and seemingly oblivious of the camera.

"My parents."

Draco jumped back a step, wide-eyed and startled by Hermione's sudden voice from the doorway.

"It was our first visit to the Wizarding World," she said as she made her way over to the desk. She smiled softly in the direction of the picture and said, "Feels like forever ago."

Draco realized she was smiling the same smile he had seen when he had asked her about the muggle world: wistful and sad. Not feeling comfortable with pressing her further, Draco simply nodded and walked over to the couch he had sat on during his previous visit. He tossed his cloak over the back of the sofa and sank comfortably into the cushion with a quiet sigh.

Hermione sat on the couch opposite of him and asked, "How is your arm healing?"

He hesitated briefly, years of impulse telling him to hide his arm from her. Slowly rolling up his shirt sleeve, he held his arm out for her to examine. "I think it's healing well. There's no soreness or lingering pain."

She gently took his wrist and turned his arm this way and that, carefully examining the ink and skin underneath. "It looks like the tattoo covered the mark well. No extra charm work necessary, thank Merlin, which means we can jump straight into the next design." Lifting her sketchbook, Hermione tapped her lip with the end of her quill. "Any ideas?"