Compatible Evil

Chapter Eight: Bad Bobby Malfoy

The Malfoy grounds extended for acres and acres of rolling British countryside; it engulfed a third of the New Forest at the pinnacle, and dipped down to the coast in three different tangents. The gardens attached to the house however were of a more modest size, enclosing two tennis lawns, a huge lawn, a small romantic wood, three miles of water works and a flower garden. It was to this flower garden that Narcissa retired after her uncivilized lunch and hour's nap, wrapped in a thicker silk mantle over the delicately sprigged Egyptian cotton gown.

"What can Dobby do for Lady Malfoy?" Dobby, overly anxious to please and glad to be away from the tiny tear-aways, flapped his ears at Narcissa.

"A glass of iced tea," Narcissa commanded regally, rather glad that something obeyed her, "with three and a half ice cubes and a twist of lemon. Perhaps an iced bath-bun as well."

"Whatever Lady Malfoy wishes for, Dobby will get Lady Malfoy."

"Well go and get it then!" she snapped.

When Dobby returned to the garden bearing a small silver platter on which stood a tall glass of ice tea with three and a half ice cubes, a twist of lemon and a plate with a large bath-bun, Narcissa was seated at a wrought iron table, reclining in a matching chair. Her blonde hair had been released from the tightly wound bun, and spilt down her back, and her customary sneer was replaced with a look of peace. Dobby felt a rush of elation as she didn't open her eyes as he deposited his tray; maybe he wasn't such an awful houself after all. Lady Malfoy was pleased with Dobby!

"Dobby?" Narcissa called suddenly, and Dobby's little elfish heart sank, "Where are the children?"

"Miss Hermione and his honourable Master Draco," Dobby said, "they is out on the main lawn, Lady Malfoy."

"The main lawn?" Narcissa sat bolt upright, and then relaxed again, "I'm sure someone remembered to lock up the chimera."

"Of course, Lady Malfoy," Dobby idly wondered who it was, as this had been his old job, "But Dobby will check on them once he has done his chores."

"Good. You are dismissed."

"Blooper?" Hermione asked, patting the soft, neatly clipped grass, "would you like to play?"

"Playing is fun," Draco conceded, "Yes, Draco would like to play."

Hermione smiled at him widely, her neat French pigtails waving in the slight breeze. She rolled the large red and green ball Narcissa had bought them to Draco, and he caught it. The ball, easily the same size as them, rolled back and forth between them again, bouncing on the perfect turf. Hermione hesitated suddenly; the breeze on her neck was getting warmer suddenly. Shrugging it off, she threw the ball back to the other child, who caught it and laughed.

"Wha's funny?" Hermione asked.

"Mummy," he confessed as he pushed the ball smoothly towards her, "in the clothes shop. She was so funny."

"Yeah, your mummy is funny," Hermione admitted, shifting uncomfortably, "Blooper, my neck is warm."

"Your neck?" Draco asked, and looked up.

He laughed loudly, pointing at something behind Hermione.

"The chimera has come to visit us;" he chortled happily, "Draco calls him Bobby."

"Bobby?" Hermione turned towards the direction Draco was pointing in, "He's really big."

The goat head turned towards her and snuffled at her hair. Hermione giggled at the tickly feeling the soft tongue and dry lips made against her bare neck and brown curls. She reached a tiny hand up and patted it enthusiastically as Draco moved over to stand with her eagerly.

"Hello Bobby," he said happily, "do you want to eat me?"

The lion head laid itself on Draco's shoulder, and then very suddenly grabbed him. Draco shrieked with laughter and Hermione watched in awe as the lion tossed Draco high into the air and caught him again in one huge velvety paw. She patted the goat absently as it licked her pink knees with an abrasive tongue. Draco was tipped back onto the ground, giggling.

"Again!" he shouted.

The lion tossed him further again, catching him by the neck of his tiny robes and shaking him gently. The little boy, laughing loudly, swayed from side to side, making a brokenly happy sound like a klaxon, falling and undulating. The lion mewed suddenly and licked his head enthusiastically, leaving his hair covered in big sloops of lion spit.

"Can I have a go?" Hermione could no longer contain herself, "Please Draco!"

"Okay," Draco charmingly stood to one side and spoke to the dragon head.

"Eat me too please!" Hermione asked the lion eagerly.

The lion happily sniffed her over, and seized her in its mouth. Hermione shrieked with delight as the lion shook her up and down and then tossed her in the air. She was flying suddenly, her skirt around her waist, flapping her arms like wings before the lion caught her softly and deposited her on the lawn.

"That was fun!" Hermione chanted, moving back to petting the goat.

Draco has his arms around the dragon head as it teasingly tried to shake him off. Finally the little boy let go, sending himself rocketing sideways into Hermione. She toppled, and Draco's new pin pierced her finger. As they lay on the ground in a tangle, laughing, the tiny droplet of blood smeared over Draco's jumper.

"Draco," Hermione said at last, "you're squishing me."

"Sorry," Draco repentantly struggled to his feet.

Hermione followed him happily, tangling her little fingers in the goat's mane. A rather strange sensation spread over her limbs, as if someone had cracked a giant egg on her head, dripping down. Draco gave her a rather shocked look, and she could feel her limbs and clothes lengthening and expanding. Soon a pair of teenagers were sitting on the lawn, the chimera above them, still enormous. Hermione laughed, and was surprised when Draco joined in briefly.

"I have blood on my jumper," he said at last, inspecting himself, "when did I cut myself?"

"You didn't," Hermione replied, dusting down her flared skirt, "I cut my finger on your pin."

"Your finger?"

Draco's face went from pale to ashen in a moment, and Hermione looked at him in surprise. The lion was sniffing wildly above them.

"Granger, back away slowly," he whispered, "sweet Merlin preserve us."

"Why, what's wrong?" Hermione surprised, turned her back on the chimera to look at him better.

"Granger!" Malfoy's voice was urgent, "don't turn your back! That's a fully grown wild chimera."

"What? So?"

"The Malfoy chimera has been trained to destroy muggleborn blood."

"But it was perfectly friendly a moment ago," Hermione said irrationally, panicking.

"We weren't smeared with your blood a moment ago!"

"What do we do?" her voice rising in hysteria.

"Stay calm!" he snapped, "It would be alright if my jumper wasn't covered in blood."

"Then take your jumper off!" she bawled at him.

"No good! It won't stop and think 'hey, he's stopped smelling like muggleborn blood'!"

"It might distract it though!" she bellowed, throwing the red and green ball with all her might over the dragon head.

The chimera was either toying with them or it wasn't as clever as it seemed to be; because all three heads snapped backwards and got tangled up. While it was untangling itself, Malfoy managed to wrestle his way out of his jumper.

"Throw it!" Hermione squawked as the chimera swivelled round to look at her with three pairs of beady eyes.

Malfoy threw it as hard as he could and even as the Chimera turned, he was barrelling with Hermione past it. Within seconds their hearts were pounding and they were gasping for breath, a stitch forming instantaneously in Hermione's side. Draco's arms were half around her waist and his hands grasped her wrists tightly. Behind them the lion roared furiously, and a heavy thumping alerted them to the chase of the beast.

"Run!" Draco bellowed needlessly, because they were both running as fast as they could.

"Help!" screamed Hermione, hoping anyone could hear them.

Draco risked a glance over his shoulder, and stumbled. Hermione tugged him upright, but his weight brought her down on top of him.

"Run Granger!" Draco yelled in her ear, the chimera getting closer and closer, "Run you idiot!"

"I'm not leaving you here!" she proclaimed boldly, tears running down her cheeks, "We'll be eaten by the bloody thing together."

"Idiot!" Draco screamed as the chimera poised above them, one heavy paw raised above their heads.

"Dobby!" came a sudden horrified shriek.

Narcissa Malfoy, fully revitalised after her break, had come out to see if the children wanted to help her rearrange the dining room for a party she was hosting tonight (clearly having not learnt her lesson, or determined to reassert her authority), screamed for the houself desperately. Her son, her precious heir, was lying with a Gryffindor girl on the lawn with the chimera poised to eat them whole. She grasped the garden wall for support.

"Lady Malfoy?" Dobby appeared even as the chimera slashed Hermione's face lightly, playing with its new prey, "What can Dobby do for the fabulous Lady Malfoy?"

"The chimera!" she shrieked.

"Draco!" Hermione screamed loudly, "We're going to die!"

"No!" Narcissa screamed as the chimera brought down three heads to bite their necks, "No!"

"Bobby!" a sudden bellow from the houself; "Bad Bobby!"

The chimera paused, later Draco would swear a slightly guilty look came into its eyes, and dropped itself on its back suddenly, partially squashing the pair of teenagers.

"It's going to crush us to death!" Hermione whimpered, blood pouring onto Draco's face from hers.

"Roll over Bobby," they suddenly heard, and the huge weight was removed, "good boy."

Hermione Granger was completely frozen, draped over Draco. The sky seemed a terribly bright shade of blue, the grass beneath them was the comfiest thing she had ever lain on, and Narcissa's shrieks of jubilant delight the sweetest music she had ever heard.

"Draco!" Narcissa dropped to her knees next to the teenagers and began lacing Draco with kisses, stroking Hermione's hair in relief as well, "I thought you were going to die! Don't you ever do that to me again you stupid boy!

"Mum," he said weakly, "I can't breathe properly."

"Oh," Hermione was very happy to be alive suddenly, "that's because I'm lying on you."

She rolled off his and they got to their feet shakily. Narcissa was draped around Draco's neck, weeping, as they walked back to the Manor, like a giant feather boa. Hermione followed them up, casting anxious looks over her shoulder as Dobby continued to scratch the chimera's stomach contentedly. Narcissa sank onto the outdoor sofa thankfully, a hand pressed to her heart dramatically.

"Mum," Draco glanced at Hermione, "I think Hermione and I had better go back to school while we're still adults. Is that alright?"

"Yes, yes," Narcissa flapped a hand at them, "I'll see you in a week and a half, and not a day sooner do you understand? And when you get back, you are not to go anywhere near that chimera!"

"Yes mum. Sorry for all the bother."

"You weren't that bad when you were genuinely small," Narcissa reminisced, "although once you did try and eat your father's wand. Now, have a nice time at school and try not to argue again, will you?"

"We'll try, Mrs Malfoy," Hermione promised as Draco smirked.

Narcissa looked at the young woman and, with her eyes filling with tears, clasped her in a large hug. Hermione's blood smeared all over the cream silk, but Narcissa waved it off as she surveyed them with a hint of pride in her eyes.

"Draco!" they heard as they activated the portkey, "Bring Hermione to visit some day!"

They landed, Hermione clutching her stomach, in their shared Head room.

"We ought to go and see Dumbeldore," Hermione said awkwardly.

"Yeah," Draco agreed, looking rather dazed, "hey, don't tell anyone about the wand thing, will you?"

She laughed then as they filled out of the room, but caught his pale, smooth hand suddenly in hers just before they left the entrance hall. He looked at her in surprise, but didn't try and remove her hand immediately.

"I just wanted to say thanks," she admitted, "and I'm sorry about all the mess."

"Well, I'm sorry that I left you all those bruises," he admitted seriously, and she grinned.

"We'll call it quits then," and he agreed to her proposal.

Seemingly possessed by something (in her opinion) she leant forwards suddenly and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek in thanks. As Draco froze, cheeks blushing furiously, she slipped inside the Great Hall, mentally berating herself.

A streamer fell on her head rather painfully; bringing with it a birch tree onto her shoulder, but that is another story entirely. It is one that involves Professor Snape, his favourite and only godson, and a slicing charm. Needless to say, it knocked any happy thoughts out of her head and she had to go to the infirmary with Malfoy to get their injuries checked over.

…

Thanks to; wiccan-witch88; lil-kasumi-rain; foxeran; Sunflower18; Zoey; lilpuppy3; silent-serpent; Prin69; E.A.V; Draco's Blackrose; SmearedBlackInk & everyone else who I haven't mentioned!

Do they have adult mentalities? (Foxeran)

They have a mixture of adult and child mentalities; they carry irrational dislike, hurt and memories with them, and also have moments when they seem to be adult minds in child bodies. They're quick on the uptake because they're clever children.

Is there a plot? (silent-serpent)

Yes, there is a plot! However, the romance (I assume the plot you are referring to is this one) does progress fairly slowly as I don't think there would be a kind of:

Draco: forgive me for all my past transgressions!

Hermione: Oh, of course! Everyone makes mistakes!

Draco: Will you come with me to the Three Broomsticks on Saturday? – Which I own by the way…

Hermione: I can't possibly trust you, but I'll come anyway!

Insert sloppy kiss and a trip to the bedroom here

Also, I tend to write fairly elliptically, so the plot is spun across a load of chapters.

Are they going to keep changing from adult to child? (SmearedBlackInk)

Yes – there is a reason they keep changing, and until they can sort it out, they'll be changing fairly regularly! Besides, they're more fun to write as children!

I apologise for the delay in this chapter, but having a terrorist attack does tend to disrupt things like this.