You know it, I don't own it.
Chapter 12: Another Question.
"Selena, how did you get through that door?” Severus looked at his little girl and wondered once more why exactly the Dark Lord wanted her, wanted his daughter. It was becoming more and more obvious to him that she had some sort of magical powers, and they weren’t uncontrollable bursts like most children her age had, either. The door she had just come through had been warded, and heavily at that.
“The door didn’t want to open, Daddy.” She looked at him as if it should have been obvious. “You used magic to close it.” Selena was looking at him with innocent black eyes.
“I know I used magic to close it, but you opened it without magic, did you not?” It was strange to lose yourself in eyes you had seen in the mirror, every day of your life. He had always found those eyes staring back at him strange instead of beautiful, but they looked beautiful in the face of his daughter.
“I don’t know, Daddy. The door was closed, so I asked it to open. It did.” It was as simple as that, to Selena. Though she noticed that everybody was now looking at her strangely again.
“Ah well, perhaps it would be best if we explained a little, and leave the door for later? Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy do you wish to stay? Or could you perhaps take Selena back to her rooms?” This came from the Headmaster, and it was obvious he wanted to discuss this “asking the doors” business privately, later.
Hermione looked at Draco. It seemed fairly obvious that Draco wanted to stay, but Hermione knew that it would only distract her friends from what was being said. Besides, she didn’t want to think of Selena hearing everything that might be said between them. Giving Draco another squeeze, she asked him quietly if he would go with her and Selena; they could hear what had been said later.
Draco wanted to say no, he wanted to stay and make sure her friends didn’t do anything to make the situation any worse. He was a Slytherin and wanted to protect himself, though he realised he wanted to protect his sister as well. Maybe it would be better to go with them. It would give him the opportunity to spent time with Hermione alone. Taking one more look at the others, he held out his arms to Selena. “Do you want to come with Hermione and me, Selena? We can have some breakfast together.”
Sliding out of her daddy’s lap, she walked over to her brother and let herself be picked up. “Can I play with you and Hermione?”
“Yes, you can.” This was Hermione. “Say bye to your daddy and Uncle Albus, now.”
“Bye daddy! Bye Uncle Albus!” She waved her little hand before the three of them walked through the door, towards Severus’ private rooms. They walked into the sitting room, and remained quiet for a while, just looking at each other. Even Selena seemed to realise that something serious was going on. The last week had been filled with many of these silences. Draco knew it made her miss her Mother and Lydia, even though the House elf came to bring her food every day. Feeling her holding on to him a bit tighter, he almost expected her question of what was going on, to come.
Draco looked at Hermione and didn’t know what to say. Setting Selena on the couch he walked away from both girls and turned himself to the fireplace. “I don’t know. What did just happen, Hermione? Why are your friends all over us all of a sudden?” He wasn’t really angry at Hermione, and though the questions came out with a bit of malice, it was obvious that he was more frustrated than angry.
“I don’t know, Draco. Look, why don’t we just sit down and finish our breakfast? I know I hardly had anything to eat and there isn’t much we can do till your godfather gets back and tells us what happened.” Calling for Nalya, Hermione asked for a bit of breakfast for all of them.
While they waited for the food to arrive, Selena spoke up again. “Hermione, who was that?”
“The people in the other room who were talking with Daddy?” Answering with a silent nod, Selena asked Hermione to continue. “They are friends of mine. They wanted to know why I spent so much time with you, Draco and your daddy.”
“Are they friends like you and Draco?” The question was all innocence, and it confirmed to Draco that she indeed did not know about boyfriends and girlfriends.
Hermione chanced a look at Draco, who was still quietly standing by the fireplace. Was Draco a friend like she was friends with Harry, Ron and Ginny? If she were honest with herself, then the answer had to be no. Draco was a very different kind of friend, the kind of friend you didn’t just have fun with, but one you shared everything with.
She shared almost everything with her friends, but with Draco she was willing to share even more. The question was if she could tell Selena this with Draco so obvious listening for her answer. Taking a chance, she used her Gryffindor courage and answered truthfully. “No, Draco is a different kind of friend.” Now all she could hope was that Draco would understand.
They had had a few awkward silences ever since this whole episode began, but this was the worst yet. It seemed that Draco understood exactly what kind of friend Hermione meant, and even though he had thought about the same thing, thought he wanted it, he didn’t know what to do. There was such a history between them, so many bad memories they both needed to forgive and forget, but mostly it brought back to both of them that he was supposed to hate her, according to the Dark Lord.
“Hermione, I… that is we… oh, Merlin.” Sweeping a hand through his hair, Draco almost growled in frustration. But Hermione had picked up on the signs and knew he wasn’t rejecting her.
“It’s okay, Draco. Maybe… maybe we should wait a bit. See how this all works out.” Yes, they should be concentrating on the war, but it didn’t make putting their feelings on hold any easier. Looking at each other, they silently came to the same conclusion. If they got through this war alive, there would be nothing stopping them from being together.
Sitting back down, one on either side of Selena, they turned towards the food in front of them. Hermione started to get a plate of food together, looking at it with a slight smile on her face. Selena, too young to fully understand what was happening, looked between her brother and friend. Draco, for once, had hope in his heart that maybe, just maybe, his change of fortune was the best thing for him.
Just when they were about to finish their breakfast, the door to the living room opened again, and Severus and the Headmaster walked in. With one look at their faces, Hermione quickly conjured up two more cups and poured tea for them. She knew that Draco was just as anxious as she to hear what had happened, but she let the two men be until they were ready, keeping her questions to herself.
It was the Headmaster who spoke first. “Your friends have returned to their common room, Miss Granger. They have promised their silence on everything concerned and will not badger you into talking about it.”
“Have you told Harry about the attack, sir?”
“Yes, I have, Miss Granger. I also told them that Mr. Malfoy will be refusing the Mark when Voldemort calls on him.”
“So they know everything.” Draco’s voice sounded almost desolate. “They know about Selena, they know about me, they know about the attack. I might as well stop coming down for breakfast or stop sleeping in my dorm - at least then the other Slytherins won’t know where to find me.”
It was his godfather who responded. “Draco, believe me when I say that you need all the friends you can get in this. And however much it pains me to say this, when Potter promises not to tell, he really doesn’t tell. We should be more concerned about Selena at the moment.”
The room went completely silent, and the shock that had come with Severus’ proclamation that Harry Potter could be trusted changed and attention shifted to the little girl in their midst once more.
AN: I'm so sorry this took so long. Real life took a big swing at me and struck home. Now, finally, I have a new beta, Tempest of Dreams, and she did a wonderful job on this chapter. I haven't written much more, but at least two more chapters are done. When I'm back from holidays, I'll get them online.
Thank you to everyone who had the patience to wait for this, and also to everyone who kicked me to get me going again.