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Hermione Granger was getting married to Ronald Weasley in one week. After years of mutual pining, angst and resentment, they finally made it.
This close to the wedding, Hermione should have been dealing with last minute preparations, or at the very least dreaming of the day she tied her life to the man of her dreams.
Instead, Hermione found herself in muggle London, standing in front of a rather posh jewelry store called The Dragon’s Hoard, waiting for her turn to go in and see the newest collection from the store’s elusive and very mysterious designer.
You’d think she was out there looking for last minute accessories for her wedding, but in reality she was escaping from the stifling ambiance that the Burrow has her suffocating in lately. Between Ron’s refusal to lift even a finger to help, Mrs. Weasley’s incessant nagging to do all things the “traditional” way and Ginny’s whining about when Harry will finally pop the question so she could prepare for her own wedding, Hermione had needed to breathe. She needed some time for herself.
So on this warm June morning, she got out of there with a vague “need for some muggle wedding customs things - you wouldn’t understand” to her fiancée and booked it out to muggle London faster than anyone can say Velum.
Finally inside the store, and despite the many glittering displays around her, Hermione gravitated towards a display case in a far corner, featuring a rather gorgeous snake bracelet cuff. The deep green of the emeralds that made up the segments of the snake’s body, interspersed with polished silver segments and the compelling face of the snake with its large diamond eyes captivated her in a way that made her stare with longing. Even with its open maw and pointy looking silver fangs, Hermione thought the snake looked rather fetching, for a reptile that is.
Looking around the glass stand, she couldn’t find a price, so she tried to hail one of the many busy store assistants. Not that she could possibly buy the piece, it looked to be rather expensive, but she was curious.
“That’s not for sale, I’m afraid.” A voice from behind her made her turn around. She was greeted by a familiar face.
“Sarah!” Smiling, Hermione acknowledged her primary school classmate with a squeeze to the arm. She and Sarah Tompkins weren’t close, but she was one of the more tolerable ones in their school, at least Sarah didn’t bully her like the others.
Remembering that Sarah’s parents owned a jewelry store, she asked, “Is this your store?”
The blonde, blue eyed woman smiled back, “It used to be, but Judas bought my dad out a couple of years ago, turned it into a real posh shop, didn’t he?”
“Judas? Is that really the designer’s name?”
“No, but only my dad knows what it is. All I know is he’s some rich bloke with a tragic past no one wants to talk about. He’s really fit, though. All tall, blonde and broody.”
“Sounds like someone has a crush.”
It was nice talking to someone normal about something as mundane as a crush. Though Hermione was intrigued by the mysterious Judas, whose upscale jewelry shop was all the rage, she wanted this conversation with Sarah for other reasons. A conversation that didn’t involve lace, table settings or whether or not her very muggle parents could attend her very magical wedding.
“Come have coffee with me, I’ll tell you all I know about him!”
-.-.-.-.-
Coffee turned into brunch, that turned into tea, as Hermione and Sarah caught up with each other’s lives. Hermione found out that Sarah was now a primary school teacher, her subject was Maths but because there wasn’t an opening, she had to settle with teaching English instead. She was still single but was actively dating almost every weekend.
Hermione also found out more than she wanted to about the lonely Judas, who came to Sarah’s father’s store some seven years ago looking to pawn off some jewelry. He claimed his parents had just died, and because he was underage, the government was keeping his inheritance until his 18th birthday and in the meantime, could Mr. Tompkins please buy his rather large ruby and diamond ring?
Mr. Tompkins was skeptical at first, thinking the ring was stolen, but after talking with the boy, found him to be well brought up and just really down on his luck as he claims. As the boy was leaving, he stuffed the money he got from the sale of his ring into a rucksack, which caused a sketchpad to fall out. Mr. Tompkins was intrigued by the drawings and asked the boy if he wanted a job designing jewelry, to which the boy readily agreed.
It was only two years ago, after five years of working and being celebrated as a jewelry designer with his bold and beautiful designs, that Judas’ inheritance was released. As thanks, he offered to buy the Tompkins’ store for double the price, prompting said owner to go on early retirement. Sarah apparently drops by the store every now and then to chat with the boy, now a man who she had befriended. Hermione teased her friend about that but the blonde just shrugged and said that Judas was a big flirt, but his heart belonged to someone else.
As they were leaving the coffee shop, Sarah turned to Hermione.
“Oh! I know! You should come with me to the art auction tomorrow! Judas also paints and sketches and he has a couple of paintings up for bidding tomorrow!”
Hermione hedges, “I don’t know, Sarah. I’m pretty busy with work…”
“Oh please! I really want to go and no one wants to come with me.” Sarah pleaded.
“Why are you so excited to go anyway, haven’t you seen enough of his work by now?” Hermione teased back.
“But this one is special. Judas told me himself that he’s letting go of one of his earliest pieces. It’s a painting of the only girl he’s ever loved.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, apparently he’s been in love with her forever. They went to school together, but she never saw him that way. Judas says it’s time to finally let go, so I wanna see this painting of her! Even if I can never afford any of his pieces, I wanna see the face of the girl who dare ignored that hunky piece of a man!”
Hermione let out a small giggle. It was nice to have some girl time, she never had it at Hogwarts. “Alright, alright. We’ll go. Text me the time and place and I’ll be there.”
-.-.-.-.-
“Where have you been?”
Hermione had just walked in to the Burrow after flooing from the Leaky Cauldron when her red faced, red haired fiancée rounded up on her.
“In London, I met a friend and we got carried away with catching up.” She said.
“Who’s the friend?”
“Sarah. I went with her to primary school.”
“I thought you said you didn’t have friends in primary school?”
“I didn’t. We weren’t friends until now.”
“Sounds a bit mental to be friends all of a sudden after one day.”
Hermione sighed. “What’s the matter, Ron? What’s this really about?”
“You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?” Ron Weasley’s face was steadily looking more and more red like his hair.
“What? Ron have you gone insane? I’m marrying you in eight days! I have never cheated on you and you think just because I went out one day, suddenly I’m cheating?” Hermione’s voice was rising, catching the attention of her future mother in law.
“Hermione, is that you? Oh good! I need you to go over the seating arrangement with me one more time.” Said the Weasley matriarch.
“Are you making space for my parents now?” Quickly losing her temper, Hermione taught to just let it out in the open.
“Well, no dear. Of course not, they’re muggles. We couldn’t change the wedding ceremony to accommodate them.” To anyone else it may sound sweet or motherly but to Hermione, it was nothing but dripping with condescension.
“They’re my parents!”
“Hey, I’m not done talking to you, and don’t raise your voice at my mum!” Ron interjected.
“I am sick and tired of not having a say at my own wedding, Ron!” She raved at the man she was supposed to marry. “And I am sick and tired of your jealousy as well! You’re even jealous of Harry, who has been nothing but your best friend since first year!”
If possible, this statement made Ron’s red face even redder. “I know you two had sex in the tent after I left! You can deny it, but I know Hermione!”
Hermione closed her eyes in frustration and prayed for patience, when Mrs. Weasley weighed in. “Ron, let the past be. You’re marrying her anyway. As long as she did not have a child with her time with Harry, what does it matter.”
Hermione could not believe her ears. The woman was actually feeding her son’s delusions!
“For the last time, I did not, have not slept and will never sleep with Harry Potter!”
Hermione turned to leave, not being able to stand the two Weasleys any longer.
“If you leave right now, we are done Hermione!”
Instead of turning at the threat from Ron’s voice, she went right into the floo and called out for Grimauld place.
Landing in Harry Potter’s front parlor, Hermione took a deep breath and saw her best friend walking into the room with a slice of pizza half way to his mouth, eyes wide at what she supposes was her frazzled appearance.
“I think the wedding is off, Harry.”
-.-.-.-.-
Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon crying on her best friend, who offered not only his shoulder but the comfort of home as well.
It was always her dream to become Mrs. Ron Weasley, but the months leading up to the wedding had emphasized just how flawed that dream was. She cried for her lost dream, but mostly she cried at how blind she was to all the signs around her.
She cried for the times that Ron belittled her achievements in the Ministry of Magic, even as he flunked out of Auror training. She cried for the times she had made herself small to pander to his need to always be the center of her world but never returning the favor. She cried for all the times she let Mrs. Weasley dictate how she should dress or she should act, as a witch of a certain position (whatever that means) should. She cried at all the times she tried to be Ginny’s friend, only to hear her endless tirade of anything and everything that wasn’t Harry Potter. She even cried for all of the times that she pretended to have an orgasm, just for her intimate time with Ron to be over and done with.
It was dinner time when Arthur and George Weasley came to Grimauld place, bearing all of Hermione’s clothes and belongings, similar looks of pity on their faces.
Seeing the proof of the end of her first and only real relationship, Hermione felt a jolt to her system. It was then that she stopped crying. She realized that instead of grief, all she felt when she saw her things was relief. It felt like she could finally breathe again, the feeling wasn’t all that different from the time she emerged from the Black Lake after Victor Krum rescued her for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. It was like a breath of fresh air. Cleansing and freeing.
For the first time in a long time that night, Hermione fell into a deep and relaxing sleep.
-.-.-.-.-
The next day, determined to put the past where it belonged, Hermione met with Sarah again after repeatedly assuring Harry that she was fine. This time they were in a large auditorium just outside of London, filled with obviously rich people. Champagne and wine was being served as they sat down to watch the bidding. She was glad she took the time to dress up in her swankiest floor length gold dress. She even put on some make up, if only to cover how puffy from crying her eyes were.
As the bidding commenced, Sarah filled her with stories of Judas’ only love. Apparently the girl was always getting into trouble because of her friends and Judas was forever trying to help her even without her knowing it. She heard tales of Judas trying to get school authorities involved, only to be rebuffed because the girl’s friends came from influential families. There was one story that was strangely familiar but not in a way that Hermione could comprehend.
The story goes that there was one unqualified teacher who always enabled the girls and her friends’ adventures, and in an effort to get the Headmaster or the Board of Director’s, which the boy’s father was a member of, to investigate the teacher, Judas purposely got himself injured in class. Thinking that the teacher was finally going to be sacked or at least reprimanded, Judas was devastated that his efforts were thwarted by the Headmaster and Judas himself was painted to be a boy just out for attention.
Many of the stories were of a similar vein, the girl and her friends getting away with everything and Judas sadly bearing the brunt of their actions. Hermione was captivated until the auctioneers brought out the first painting by the very person they were talking about.
It was a painting of a woman who was vaguely familiar, in the painting, the woman was wearing a white flowing gown, black hair streaked with blonde billowing in the wind and a white lily stuck in her hair. The woman was elegantly lazing at the edge of a pond, looking intently at her reflection. The curious thing about the painting was that the woman had blue eyes, but her reflection in the pond had startling green ones. The auctioneer stated that the painting was entitled “The Lily Within”.
Sarah was quiet as the bidding started for the painting, letting Hermione stare in front and try to figure out why the woman was so familiar to her. Sarah quietly wondered to her if this was the woman that Judas was in love with, but Hermione wasn’t sure. The woman in the painting didn’t look to be school aged. If she were to guess, she looked like she was in her early twenties.
A hush went through the crowd as the painting sold for almost 300,000. Hermione’s eyebrows shot up at this. Judas must really be popular in the muggle world then.
Another painting from Judas was taken out, this one was smaller, only about a foot and a half on all sides. As the auctioneer removed the black draping, Hermione felt ice in her veins, she sat up straight and just froze. She vaguely heard Sarah’s gasp and the auctioneer calling out that the painting’s title was simply “Her”.
Compared to the previous one, this painting was stark, almost painful to see. The black background was harsh, you could see the lines of the brush as if it was slashed instead of painted. There were only two things in the middle of the painting, the back of a small girl, her bushy brown hair almost eclipsing the front of the painting, but it was the face in the ornate silver mirror in front of the girl that held Hermione’s heart in a chokehold. It was her face. Or rather, it was the face of Hermione Granger as she was at the Yule Ball in fourth year.
It couldn’t have been painted from memory, could it? It was so accurate, the color of her periwinkle dress, the way her hair was piled on top of her head but half flowed down to one side. Even the details of her necklace and the pins in her hair were painstakingly correct.
Hermione knew Sarah was talking to her, knew her friend was likely asking questions, but all Hermione could do was stare at her face in the painting in front of them as stories from the day before and today came rushing back.
The only girl he ever loved.
They went to school together.
She never saw him that way.
The stupid adventures of the girl and her friends.
The blatant favoritism from the school’s officers.
The serpent bracelet cuff.
The DRAGON’S Hoard.
The only girl he ever loved.
Judas.
There was only one person who it could be. Hermione did not let herself second guess as she stood up abruptly and scanned the crowd.
Sarah was pulling her, sushing her, she doesn’t know, as her eyes looked for the familiar head of platinum blonde hair.
It was almost in slow motion as Hermione turned her head to the back of the auditorium and stopped dead at the man staring intensely back at her.
He was lounging on the back wall, looking for all the world like he had nothing better to do. Posture lazy, both hands in the pockets of his perfectly tailored suit. Hermione noted that compared to the last time she saw him, at his trial where she pleaded his case for him, he had filled out. Tall and broad shouldered, he was no longer the sad, gaunt teenager she knew. His face was no longer pointy, in reality it was angular, patrician if one wanted to be particular. His hair was no longer slicked back, instead it was artfully tousled. His eyes. His eyes looked black from where she was, but she knew they were steely grey.
As she catalogued his features, in her head Hermione was silently comparing the sneering, cruel boy she knew to the desperate, pining, loving boy that Sarah had painted. It was hard to reconcile and she needed answers.
With a whispered, “I need to go” to Sarah, Hermione squared her shoulders and marched her way to stand in front of her childhood bully.
“Draco Malfoy” she said as she reached him.
Said man straightened and pulled his hands from his pockets.
“Granger”
Just that one word. Her name. He always drawled out her name, but this time there was no sneer in it. It almost sounded seductive in his deep voice. Was his voice always this deep?
Before Hermione could respond, Draco held out his hand. Almost as if in a trance, she took his hand and he gently pulled her out of the auditorium.
They did not stop walking until they were in the alleyway behind the building where he rounded into her and pulled her close as the pull of apparation tugged at her.
-.-.-.-.-
The next thing she knows, she was standing on top of a building, the whole of London seemingly spread out before her, she looked up at the man who brought her here and saw him gazing curiously at her, still holding her. She stepped out of his arms, and instantly felt cold.
“Where are we?”
“My apartment rooftop.”
“It’s nice.”
“Yes.”
“Why.”
That smirk. It used to be infuriating. How did it become so attractive?
“Why what?”
“Why did you paint me?”
“A lot of reasons.”
“Why are you selling it then?”
“It no longer serves its purpose.”
“What purpose?”
“Hope.”
It was the most intense and yet shortest conversation she has ever had and it left her with more questions than answers. Looking down at her hands, she noticed that they were trembling. She fisted them to keep them steady.
“I like the other one better.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, two mothers. Both doing everything for their children. I like the way you portrayed their differences and similarities.”
Silence.
“I’m right, aren’t I? That was your mother with Harry’s mother’s eyes. Lily’s eyes. The Lily Within. The bravery of both mothers to stand up to Voldemort to protect their sons.”
Another smirk.
“Still the brightest witch of the age I see.”
“My school friend Sarah told me something.”
He looked down. “Ah, Sarah.” His voice suddenly sounds defeated for some reason.
“Yes, she said the painting being sold today was the painting of the only girl the painter ever loved. The girl he went to school with. The girl he protected from afar.”
His laugh was strangled as she gazed intently at him. He still didn’t look up.
“Of all the people in the muggle world, I had to open up to the one who you knew.”
Hermione wanted to ask, but she was afraid of the answers so she asked a different question instead.
“Why Judas?”
At this, he finally lifted his head to look at her. There was a deep sadness in his gaze that tugged at her heart. It was so powerful that she wanted to reach out and hug him to her, to tell him it was okay. Instead she waited, the cool pre-dusk air causing goosebumps on her bare arms. She should have worn heavier clothes.
“Why not? It’s fitting don’t you think? First I betrayed my heritage by falling for a muggle born girl. Then I betrayed my school to save my family. And then I betrayed my cause by siding with the enemy and causing the downfall of the Dark Lord. Hence, Judas.”
“Was it really your cause?”
“Not since I met you.”
She took a deep breath.
“Why the muggle world?”
“Why not? No one really knows - knew me - here. I needed a place to be myself while the whole wizarding world was crucifying me. The Light side because I was a Death Eater. They took half my money and held the other half hostage until they finally could not prove that I was a true criminal. The Dark side because I was a Blood Traitor who sold out the pureblood cause in the name of self preservation - or so they thought. There is no place in our world for someone like me.”
“Or so they thought?”
“I did it for you. All of it, for you. How can I believe in blood purity, when you were the shining example of a muggle born? Top of the class. Good to the core.”
She couldn’t help it anymore, Hermione took a step closer and reached out a hand to cup his cheek. Draco closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.
“Thank you.” She whispered.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you testify for me? Why did you fight so hard for me not to be sent to Azkaban?”
“Because you were a child. We were all children who had no childhood. Who had to grow up too soon and fight a war we didn’t have any right to be in. We all did things against our own will. You shouldn’t have to suffer for the follies of old men.”
“And that’s your answer.”
She went to remove her hand still cupping his face but he held it there, his thumb drawing circles on her skin, his eyes still closed as if he was savouring her touch.
“That is the reason I fell in love with you at thirteen. Your unfailingly kind heart and your own brand of fire and justice. Even as I tried so hard to put that fire out, to diminish you and put you in your place as my upbringing tells me to, you did not lose your fire.”
“But I did…”
He opened his eyes, grey eyes that held a soft glimmer of tears.
“Why?”
“Because I fell in love with the wrong man.”
Still holding her hand, he lowered it to his lips, gently kissing her palm and then putting their entwined hands to his steady beating heart.
“Then why are you marrying him?”
She could feel his heart quicken as he asked.
“I’m not. Not anymore.”
There was a missed beat to his heart, and then it raced, its rhythm suddenly like a thousand stampeding horses. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t say anymore as the intensity of his grey eyes bore in to hers as if willing to see into her soul. There was something in his eyes that held her, that grasped at her. It was then she realized that her heart was not broken, not truly, not by Ron. It was only a little bruised, but it was slowly healing.
“Give me a chance. Let me show you how it is to be loved.”
It was at that point that Hermione Granger finally found the coherence between the boy she knew to the boy of Sarah’s stories. It was in his eyes, his Judas eyes that held a million promises. The eyes of a supposed betrayer that only ever followed his heart. She knew his actions were borne out of love, misplaced maybe, but love nonetheless. A love she could see clearly as her eyes held his.
There were many, many things that they had to go over. Questions that needed answers. There were possibly a thousand obstacles that needed to be faced, but at that moment, all she could see was the clarity of his gaze, the kind of open adoration that she had not seen in anyone. It made her heart stutter and she felt herself let out a deep breath.
“Yes.”
-Fin-