Chapter Text
Hermione Granger was not one to back out of things simply because of nerves, but she was considering heading into the Head of the Magical Liaison's office and asking her boss to reassign her duties. There was, however, no logical reasons or her to do so. There also wasn’t an actual reason for her nerves other than the fact that years-long buried emotions were itching to be on the surface of her heart again. All this because there was an even slight chance for her to make eye contact with Bellatrix again. Really, it was probably a 1% chance, maybe even less, so what was she so nervous for? Taking a deep breath and chuckling at how ridiculous she was being, Hermione finally decided to knock on the big looming door in front of her.
When a war that seemed to inevitably lead towards chaos and bloodshed was suddenly stopped in its tracks, Hermione was in the middle of taking the proper training steps to be an Auror moving from her position in the Department of Magical Creatures. However, a month-long stalemate led to heated discussion among the Wizengamot about the impending chaos. What followed were months of silent assassinations, a change in Heads of Houses, public muggle tortures, and the death of The Dark Lord and his inner circle. So it was over just as fast as it came, but the tensions were higher than ever and everyone feared that a similar war would occur again in the future. Another month later and it had become the consensus that the purebloods would need to learn more about muggles while the muggleborns needed to learn the old traditions. Hermione thought it would have been such an impossible idea to bring up to the Heads of the Noble Houses, much less have it been pushed as an actual law. Yet here they were, and the war tensions had significantly lessened. Really, she didn’t think it would be that simple. So she had changed her path from a soldier-in-training to staying in her office fighting for the rights of non-human magical beings. At least that was her plan until an owl arrived at her apartment, carrying a Ministry business-sealed letter from the newly restructured Department of Magical Liaisons. Hermione had gained her reputation as a steadfast, intelligent witch who wasn’t scared to back down when it was necessary to defend what she believed in. Plus, she was basically one of the more accomplished muggleborns known throughout the British wizarding society. Needless to say, she hadn’t given it too much thought when she accepted her new job offer. After all, who better to teach basic muggle studies to young pureblooded children than a muggleborn? It was her amazing luck that landed her to be assigned to none other than Draco Malfoy. And by amazing, I mean the world just seems out to get me, Hermione thought idly, Or I’m making a big deal out of nothing. Surely I can push away old teenage feelings.
The sound of the door slowly opening snapped her out of her musings, and Hermione unconsciously brought her hands down the side of her robes. Squaring up her shoulders, she nodded to herself as she readied herself for the person behind the door. Please don’t be her, please don’t be her , Hermione thought as she tried to keep her nerves down, I can’t believe I’m even this nervous, pull yourself together Granger!
“Well, welcome to our home Miss Granger”, the voice of Narcissa Malfoy broke through Hermione’s nervous mantras pulling her focus towards the sister of the woman she’s been so nervous to see again.
“Hello Mrs. Malfoy, it’s my pleasure. I hope I’m not too early”, she tried to give a small smile towards the hostess. Growing up in Hogwarts, the two hadn’t really crossed paths too often since Narcissa was older than both her and Bella. Plus the two Blacks were both in Slytherin, while Hermione kept to herself and her small circle within the Gryffindors. Looking at her now, she could see that Narcissa had matured into an elegant woman who seemed inevitable to be even when they were teenagers. Narcissa Black always carried herself with an air of formality about her, someone who was respected by her peers.
“Oh not at all, Draco and I had just finished our lunch. Please come in, I’ll go call my little boy. I hope you don’t mind if I sit in on the first session? I do want to see what kind of lesson my son is taking.”
“No worries Mrs. Malfoy, my job here is to just connect the two worlds of magical and non-magical upbringing. For now, I’ll only be telling Draco about the basics of how muggleborns experience their childhood compared to his own.”
The two chatted as they both walked through the main hallway and into a big room with a sitting area in the far corner. Hermione eyed the big bookshelves lining up the walls of the room, not surprised by the atmosphere of what seemed like a cozy, studious room. This was Narcissa Black, well Malfoy now, after all. She had remembered the slight admiration she had for the older girl when they were still students at Hogwarts. While a lot of her peers seemed eager to declare themselves as bullies towards non-purebloods, Narcissa had kept her head down in books focusing on her studies. It surprised Hermione a lot when she had come to learn of the marriage between a silent, calculating Narcissa Black and a loud, boisterous Lucius Malfoy. They had married right after graduating from school, and several months later produced an heir for the House of Malfoy.
“Draco, your new tutor is here darling.” Narcissa called out for the little boy wiggling around in a dark red sofa in the corner of the room. He was struggling to open a box of chocolate frogs, and his face turned a slight pink as he realized he had been caught. His mother tried very hard to not chuckle, giving her real emotion away by the small upward quirk of her lips. “Now what did we say about chocolates? Maybe after your lesson, little dragon. Come, I’m sure Miss Granger is a very busy lady and we don’t want to waste her time.”
Ducking his head, young Draco stood up to walk towards the two ladies, then proceeded to look up at them as he stuck out his hand towards Hermione, “Hi Miss Granger, my name is Draco Malfoy and I’m 7 years old.”
Hermione gave him a warm smile as she shook his hand, “Hello Draco, I’m Hermione Granger and I’m 22 years old. I’m not sure if your mother has told you of why I’m here, but I’m your muggleborn studies tutor. We’ll be talking about how muggle children grow up.”
The young Malfoy only responded by nodding his head and all three proceeded to sit down on the chairs surrounding a wide oval table. Hermione for her part, took out the expanded bag she had brought with her. She thought it was a good idea to bring in Muggle toys and items so she could demonstrate things to Draco with visuals. There were even pictures of her from her own childhood.
She let out a small breath, reminding herself of her lesson plans and pushing out any thoughts of a curly, black haired woman from her mind. You expected too much by hoping she'd even be here, her own head wouldn't just let it go, Isn't it better this way anyway? I thought we moved on by now Hermione. Getting annoyed by the internal clashing of her head and heart, Hermione cleared her throat and pushed a children's book of muggle Fables towards Draco.
And so it began.