Don't hate me for loving the Malfoys, okay?

Happy reading.

Chapter 6

Dinner at the Potter's was one of Hermione's favorite moments. She always took a seat next to Harry, who always had a hard time eating vegetables, and the grownups would let them go and play by the time the first Firewhisky bottle was open. It was heavenly for her to be surrounded by her parents and the Potters, she loved all of them, but tonight something was weighing on her mind so she couldn't be as happy as always.

"So we have lunch at The Burrow tomorrow, right?" Sirius asked and Remus nodded.

Harry smiled.

"Ron told me that there's a hill near his house where we can use brooms" he said excitedly "we might even play a Quidditch match with Fred and George."

Lily smiled warmly at her son.

"I'm glad to see you excited," she said "but stop distracting yourself from eating the lettuce from your plate."

Harry pouted and Hermione chuckled.

"Are you excited to go to The Burrow too, Princess?" James asked Hermione.

"Ehm…" Hermione said a little unsure "I'm not sure if excited is the right word for it."

Remus frowned.

"Why?" he asked curiously "you've been exchanging letters with Ron too, right? I thought you couldn't wait to meet the magical countryside."

Hermione shrugged as she stabbed her lettuce nervously with her fork.

"Yeah, I know" she said quietly "it's just that…"

"Ginny!" Harry chimed in and the whole table turned to look at him "she's nervous about Ginny!"

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand under the table to show her gratitude.

"Oh" Lily said "that's right, you haven't had the chance to meet some girls near your age."

Hermione nodded slightly.

James wanted to ask if she had any female friends back at the orphanage but, Sirius and Remus, warned him about how that was a forbidden topic. Hermione always got anxious and sad whenever someone would mention, or ask questions, about her life back there so everyone pretended that it never happened.

"You don't have to worry" Lily said "I used to be anxious around girls too when I was a child, but I'm pretty sure that Ginny will be nice, she's Molly's daughter after all."

"I hope so" Hermione said smiling.

After that the topic was changed and once Harry ended eating his vegetables the children were dismissed. Hermione chuckled at the image of his father smiling while opening the Firewhisky bottle.

Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and they both ran upstairs to play.

"Don't get drunk" Remus told Sirius "you won't be able to stand a lunch with the Weasleys if you have a hangover."

Sirius scoffed.

"I'm an expert at drinking, Moony."

James shook his head, Sirius was going to have one hell of a headache tomorrow.

Once they reached Harry's room Hermione took a seat on the bed.

"Thank you" she said to Harry "I didn't want to lie, you saved me back there."

Harry shrugged.

"That's what friends are for" he said while taking a seat next to her on the bed "why don't you want to go to Ron's house tomorrow? Did something happen? Was he rude on a letter?"

Hermione sighed.

"He's sort of rude in all of his letters, that's not the problem" she explained.

"Then?" Harry insisted.

Hermione took a deep breath as she saw Harry's green eyes. He was her best friend, she could confide in him. Without hesitation she grabbed his hand and decided that she wanted to talk about what was bothering her, she didn't think that sharing it with her parents was the right thing to do but Harry was different, they always kept each other's secrets.

"You have to swear that you'll keep this as a secret" Hermione said seriously "I promised Draco that I wouldn't tell anyone."

Harry nodded.

"I promise" he said as he squeezed her hand and a silent oath settled between them. The first time it happened they both wondered why their magic was reacting like that but now, at eight years old, they got to the conclusion that it didn't matter.

Their magic was always weird whenever they were together.

"Well, I went to visit Aunt Cissa yesterday" Hermione started "and everything was great, even Uncle Lucius was there, he finally returned from his trip."

Harry nodded to let her know that he was following the story.

"Well, Draco was insisting about wanting ice cream but special, the new one of Diagon Alley with hundreds of flavors" Hermione said while rolling her eyes at her cousin's antics "and in the end Uncle Lucius accepted to take us."

"Did something happen at Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded.

"We found a table just outside the store so Draco ate his ice cream there with Uncle Lucius and me" she said "Aunt Cissa decided to stay at home…"

"You know" Hermione said while Draco ate his ice cream happily "you might get chubby if you eat too much dessert."

"I don't eat too much dessert" he excused himself stubbornly "you just eat too little food, there's nothing wrong with a little ice cream."

Hermione chuckled.

"Sure, so the cookies the house elves sneak for you don't count?" she asked playfully and Draco gulped while looking at his father.

"Draco" Lucius Malfoy said "you have to take care of your teeth, too much sweet may ruin them."

Draco smiled smugly at Hermione.

"And you might get chubby too" Lucius said after a pause and then Hermione smiled smugly at Draco.

"Are you sure you don't want ice cream?" Lucius asked Hermione.

"Oh no" she said smiling at him "thank you so much, Uncle Lucius but I think I ate enough at lunch."

Lucius nodded.

"Narcissa and I worry sometimes" he told her while patting her head "the fact that you cannot eat a lot might have negative consequences in the future."

"It's okay" Hermione assured him "the potion gives me the extra nutrients I might need, there's no need to worry."

Lucius nodded.

"Besides" Hermione added while looking at Draco "my dear cousin seems to eat for both of us."

Lucius smiled at that while Draco scoffed and Hermione laughed.

It was then when it happened, a man with worn out robes stopped next to the table and Lucius Malfoy was on his feet instantly. Hermione and Draco gulped as they noticed how tense, and angry, Lucius was. It was unusual for him to show his expressions so clearly in public, not to mention that the Alley was crowded today, Hermione wondered why he reacted like that when he noticed who the man was.

Arthur Weasley was facing him with anger written all over his face.

Hermione thought about greeting properly, he was a pureblood patriarch after all, but Draco grabbed her hand to stop her. Hermione looked at him confused but he simply shook his head, it was a sign to let her know that this was his father's business, only his.

"Lucius" Arthur Weasley greeted and Lucius Malfoy put himself in front of the table.

His expensive robes blocked Hermione and Draco's vision but they could still listen to the interchange of words.

"Your trip went well, I presume?" Mr. Weasley said and Hermione thought that he sounded disappointed.

"I fail to see how that's any of your business" Lucius said coldly "but everything went according to my schedule, thank you for asking."

"Where did you go?" Arthur asked curiously "did you see one of your old… acquaintances?"

"Let me ask you an honest question" Lucius said evading the question "what makes you think that I'll discuss my personal business with a wizard of your… category? If I were to describe to you my work I'm pretty sure you wouldn't understand."

"Why's that?" Mr. Weasley asked offended.

"Because unlike you I do not spend my time inside an office while earning just enough to buy food" Lucius said coldly and Hermione winced inwardly.

Her uncle was really angry.

"At least my work is honorable" Arthur Weasley retorted.

"What makes you think that mine isn't?" Lucius asked calmly.

"You might have fooled The Order once" Arthur Weasley said "but I do not buy your act, your Dark Lord is long gone but you are still investing in the dark arts."

Lucius chuckled.

"Please, Arthur don't make a fool of yourself" he said "you already attacked my family once, don't make the same mistake, I won't forgive you a second time."

"Is that a threat?" Arthur asked.

"Is only a threat if you try anything against my family" Lucius said darkly "something tells me that you know better than that."

"Have a nice day, Lord Malfoy" Arthur Weasley said while walking away angrily.

Hermione frowned confused.

"Arthur Weasley attacked the Malfoys?" Harry asked.

Hermione stood up from the bed and started to pace around Harry's room.

"I know, that's what shocked me the most of the whole conversation" she said "so I asked Draco about it when we went back to the mansion."

Draco was jumping on Hermione's bed. Whenever she stayed over he would sneak into her room at night so she could read to him or to teach him the most interesting spells she learned inside the Black library, tonight wasn't an exception. Hermione smiled at his antics, she loved having a cousin and Draco, while spoiled and sometimes bratty, was awesome with her, he was always kind and always listened to her whenever she had something to say.

"So, dear cousin" Draco said as he stopped his jumping "which interesting spell did you learn this week?"

Hermione smiled at him as he took a seat next to her.

"I'll tell you" she said "but I want to know something first."

Draco crossed his arms.

"This is weird" he said "you're always excited about everything you learn."

Hermione nodded.

"I'm just awfully curious" she explained and then pouted at him.

Draco smirked.

"This has something to do with what happened at Diagon Alley, right?" he asked her and Hermione bit her bottom lip anxiously.

"Am I that obvious?" she asked.

Draco shrugged.

"Not exactly," he said "but that's the only interesting thing that happened today."

"I thought that it was scary" she said pensively "I was worried that they would start dueling in the middle of the Alley."

Draco laughed.

"I would've loved to see that" he said "father would've won without hesitation."

Hermione smiled at that, she agreed with her cousin.

"What do you want to know?" Draco asked.

"Well, when did Arthur Weasley attack you? Why did he do it?" she asked "I couldn't believe it when I heard it."

"Oh" Draco said frowning "well I don't remember that but my parents told me. You have to promise not to tell anyone, mother doesn't like to talk about it."

Hermione nodded.

"I promise" she said and Draco sighed.

"Well, do you know why father decided to betray the dark lord?" he asked and Hermione shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because mother found out she was pregnant with me" he said smiling "father decided that he wanted something better for his son, somehow he never doubted that he would eventually be defeated."

Hermione listened intently.

"So, since the war was bad, back in the time mother stayed home the whole time" Draco explained "and father took the first chance he got to contact The Order and assure them that he was on their side, he agreed to work as a double agent."

Hermione's eyes widened.

She didn't know that part of the story.

"According to what father told me, James Potter and Sirius Black were the first ones to believe him."

"That's hard to believe" Hermione said frowning "dad is pretty skeptical."

Draco shrugged.

"I don't know why, but they both supported father so they agreed his role inside the order" he continued explaining "but some people, like Arhtur Weasley, didn't agree with that decision at all. Apparently he thought that father was simply going to betray them in the end so to prevent that sort of thing father agreed to have Arthur Weasley near him."

Hermione didn't want to imagine how awkward that could be, it was clear as day that whenever Lucius Malfoy and Arhtur Weasley were close things were tense.

"Father agreed to have Arthur Weasley watching over him" Draco said "but that wasn't enough for him, because one day father had to go outside the country and Arthur Weasley came here to the mansion."

"What for?" Hermione asked apprehensively, she didn't like where this was going.

Draco shrugged.

"I guess he thought he would find proof that father wasn't honest with the order" he said "the only one inside the mansion was mother, and some house elves, but he didn't find anything so he left. Mother said that he left the mansion like a mess, it was really stressful for her."

Hermione nodded.

"I can imagine" she said.

"Unfortunately father was taking too long on the trip this time" Draco said "so mother spent the first months of her pregnancy alone."

"Well, not exactly" Hermione interrupted him "you were with her… sort of."

Draco nodded smiling.

"Mother said that I was the only one who gave her enough courage to stand the whole thing" he said "Arthur Weasley kept on coming unannounced and mother was already at edge, every time he came the house would end up as a mess and he kept saying things against father and that would make mother extremely anxious."

Hermione was having a hard time imaging Ron's father, the same man who would smile kindly at her during the order meetings, doing this short of stuff towards a pregnant woman.

"But one time" Draco continued "mother was walking the gardens and she found a baby dragon."

"A baby dragon?" Hermione asked confused.

Draco nodded, this was his favorite part of the story.

"It couldn't fly and somehow it ended up injured in our garden, it was really tiny, well that's what mother says" he explained "I think it came through the forest that's behind the mansion."

"And what happened to the dragon? Aunt Cissa has never mentioned having such a pet."

Draco sighed sadly.

"Well, mother took the dragon in and took care of it for a while" he said "it was nothing but a baby so she was planning to give it to a dragon reserve before it grew up too much. She believes that the pregnancy was making her quite sensitive, or perhaps she was feeling alone, but she got really attached to it."

Hermione tilted her head confused, perhaps pregnancy did something funny to women because she couldn't imagine Narcissa Malfoy having a baby dragon around. That sounded a little more like Hagrid, she hadn't met him yet but her parents had told her all about him and his obsession with magical creatures.

"But" Draco said "once the baby dragon was still a little weak Arthur Weasley came back."

Hermione's eyes widened.

"He made a mess of the house again but it was worst this time" he said "apparently no one could contact father, Arthur Weasley believed that father went to betray The Order so he searched around the mansion again but this time…"

"He found the baby dragon" Hermione said with her lower lip trembling.

Draco nodded.

"The dragon got scared and, although it wasn't on the best conditions, it flew towards the forest completely scared, mother didn't even get the chance to say goodbye."

Hermione blinked the tears that were threatening to come out.

"After that things got harder for my mum" Draco said and Hermione noticed how his voice trembled "she said that she was so sad about the dragon and she was so worried about father too that she passed out on the stairs."

Hermione gasped.

"She almost lost me" Draco said and then cleared her throat "she had to stay in bed for the rest of the pregnancy."

"And uncle Lucius?" Hermione asked.

"Apparently someone at the Ministry messed up his apparition permission" Draco said "it was never proved but he still believes it was Arthur Weasley, luckily he was able to return home and after finding out what happened he didn't leave mum's side."

Hermione sighed.

"They never forgave him" she said understanding "that's why uncle Lucius put himself between you and Mr. Weasley today."

Draco shrugged.

"He put himself between him and us" he corrected "you're family too, my parents love you."

Hermione blushed happily.

"I'll keep the secret" she promised.

"Be careful around the Weasleys" Draco advised her "they claim to be goody two shoes but… well, mother still gets sentimental whenever she sees a dragon."

Hermione nodded.

"That's why she named you Draco?" she asked.

Draco simply smiled smugly.

Harry stared at Hermione with widened eyes.

"Wow" he said finally, it was a lot of information to process.

Hermione nodded.

"I know" she said sadly.

"That's why you don't want to go tomorrow?" Harry asked curiously.

"I never said that" she said "I'm just worried that I might, you know, get angry when I see Mr. Weasley, you know how my magic reacts whenever I'm angry."

Harry nodded.

"It's quite scary" he agreed and then smiled at her "but don't worry, I'll be there for you! And besides, that's in the past. You should think about how amazing your aunt is, she overcame all of that and now you can enjoy your weekends with Draco."

Hermione smiled.

"You're right about that" she said "I'll do my best tomorrow."

Harry nodded.

"It'll be fun" he said "and perhaps seeing Mr. Weasley's family will give you a different perspective of him."

Hermione smiled, she doubted that but it would be worth a try.

The next day Remus smiled at the sight of Hermione enjoying the summer breeze and the sun on her face.

They were visiting The Burrow along with the Potters. It was the first time that Hermione was visiting the countryside of the magical world and Remus and Sirius were enjoying seeing her happy while exploring the Weasleys garden. Fred, George, Ron, Harry and Hermione were seeing Percy struggling while fighting with a garden gnome. The adults couldn't listen to what they were saying but Hermione was laughing and that was good.

She was wearing a green sundress, it was a gift from Narcissa obviously, and she was wearing a ponytail. Remus looked amused at Sirius who was also wearing a ponytail, with a contempt sigh he remembered how those two decided to wear matching hairstyles.

"Remind me" Sirius said casually "why are you doing this?"

Hermione huffed as she used her hands to comb Sirius's hair. It was messy, just like hers, and he didn't seem to care to go around looking as if he had a wild nest over his head. She didn't care either but it was fun to tease him about it.

"Your hair is long enough to make a ponytail" she explained "I want to see how you look with one, I'll wear one too."

"It'll suit me" Sirius said confidently "everything does, after all."

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Stay still, dad" she said "I'm almost done, don't you want to cut it?"

"Hell no" he said quickly "Moony likes it like this, he likes to pull it when we're…"

Remus cleared his throat to interrupt Sirius, he was seeing the whole thing and he couldn't help but smile at the sight of Hermione trying to fix Sirius's hair. It was amusing and he wanted bad a muggle camera for the occasion, he wanted to ask Lily where to buy one.

"If we could leave the indecent jokes aside," Remus said finally "it would be great."

Sirius winked at him.

"You might want to hurry up, Princess" Sirius said "we're supposed to be at The Burrow in half an hour."

Hermione smiled and kept on working.

Remus chuckled at her focused stance.

"Look, dad" Hermione said after a while and put the mirror in front of his face "what do you think?"

Sirius smiled widely.

"I told you it would suit me" he said and then looked flirtatiously at Remus "what do you think?"

Remus thought that it looked amazing, but he didn't want to say it aloud. Sirius didn't need to have a bigger ego. Unfortunately Remus couldn't help but keep staring at him and wondering if he could really use it on their private moments so he could pull it, just like Sirius suggested.

"Dad" Hermione said confused "you're blushing."

Remus gulped and mumbled something.

"Damn" Sirius said proudly "I left you speechless."

"Oh, sod off" Remus said blushing deeper and Sirius and Hermione laughed.

"You were jealous, right?" James asked Sirius while taking a seat next to him "Harry and I always match so you wanted to match with Hermione too."

Sirius shrugged, he was wearing black sunglasses, in the end he was suffering from a hangover.

"You don't match with the pup" he said "he just inherited your messy hair, Hermione and I decided to wear ponytails today because we look awesome, that's it."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Hermione decided it for you" he said "if it were up to you, you would go around without combing your hair."

"But you love my messy hair" Sirius said dramatically "stop complaining."

The lunch was going well, the Longbottoms were running late and Lily was helping Molly in the kitchen. Remus offered to help but Arthur advised him that it would be for the best not to get in the way of Molly and her kitchen, he didn't insist after that. All of the Weasleys children were really nice with Hermione when they met her, especially the twins, they greeted her and Harry as if they were part of the family.

Remus was really thankful.

"Arthur" Remus said "I haven't met your daughter yet, I thought she and Hermione could get along."

The Weasley patriarch smiled at him.

"Ginny is just shy so she's probably taking her time getting ready" he explained "I also hope that she gets along with Hermione, I'm afraid that being surrounded by boys might make her quite… rude."

Sirius smirked.

"Nah" he said "with parents like you? I'm pretty sure she's a good kid."

Arthur smiled at that.

"Yeah" James said amused "I mean, look at Hermione, even with Sirius around she's amazing, Moony has being doing an amazing job."

"I'll hex you, prongs" Sirius said while pointing his want at the Lord Potter "I'm serious."

"I know who you are" James said and Remus rolled his eyes at the lame joke.

It was then when a little redhead girl ran towards the garden, since the living room was quite far from the staircase she didn't notice the adults but they all saw Ginny Weasley approaching Ron in the garden.

"Oh, it's happening" Sirius said "perhaps now you'll stop being a worrywart."

Remus sighed. He just wanted Hermione to be a little less apprehensive towards girls, hopefully Ginny could be a good friend for her.

Hermione was holding Harry's hand when Ginny Weasley stepped in the garden ready to play with her brothers. She was a redhead, just like everyone else in her house, and had pretty blue eyes. She was a year younger than her but she looked nice, her button like nose was also cute.

"Ginny" Ron said happily "look, these are Harry and Hermione, I told you about them."

Ginny smiled at Harry first and Hermione noticed how she blushed a fiery red.

"Nice to meet you!" Harry said without letting go off Hermione's hand.

"Nice to meet you" Ginny said "I heard a lot about you!"

Hermione frowned and then Ginny looked at her.

"Hermione Black?" Ginny asked and she nodded.

"Pleasure" Hermione said defensively.

"It's a surprise that you look so much like Sirius Black" Ginny said "considering how you're not her real daughter, I mean."

A heavy silence fell between the children and Hermione felt the need to pull Ginny's hair, but that would've been rude, so instead she smiled widely at Ginny and said as nicely as she could.

"Well, it's weird for you to be so pretty" she said using a smile that would've made Narcissa Malfoy proud "considering your ugly personality, I mean."

Harry and Ron gaped.

The lunch was barely starting.

Thank you for reading, sorry for taking so long to update, it took me quite a while to write this chapter. I hope you liked it. By the way, I'm planning to make the next chapter the last one before reaching Hogwarts, unless you want to read a little more about them like this, let me know what you think, okay?

I also want to thank all the people who leaves reviews, you are the ones who encourage me to keep updating this silly fanfic.

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Pd. I apologize for my grammar mistakes.