Working for Malfoy

Chapter 46: His Feelings and My Choices

Our feet hit the ground and I gasped at the sight of the house in front of us. Honestly it wasn't even a house. It was a mansion.

"Draco. this is not a house." I said. "This is a mansion."

He just laughed. "What did you expect? I'm a Malfoy."

I smacked his arm lightly before laughing as well.

"Malfoy! Are you going to unlock the door or make us stand outside all day?" Blaise hollered from the porch steps.

"Chill out or you are staying outside. Why are you complaining anyway? You've seen the inside before." Draco hollered back.

"Other people want to see it though." He argued.

"Impatient much?" I asked.

"Always." He smiled before leading me up to the door.

He pulled out his wand and muttered something beneath his breath. The doors opened and revealed an extravagant interior with a chandelier in the middle of the room. There was a small table in the middle of a room sporting a vase with a few roses in it. There were two staircases on either side of the room leading up to the second floor. To the left, there was a doorway leading to the living room, and to the right there was a doorway to the dining room.

I walked around a little bit and looked around the first floor. When I finished exploring the bottom floor, I went up the left staircase and down the left hallway. There were two doors on either side of the hall and one at the end of the hall. The two rooms on the right were bedrooms and the left side held another bedroom and a bathroom. The very end of the hall was a huge room that looked to be a study or library room.

The rooms were huge as well. They were about the size of one of the dorm rooms back in Hogwarts.

I backed up into the hallway and went to the other side to see what was over there. There was the master bedroom with a bathroom the size of the living room of the house my parents used to live in. On the far wall, there was a walk-in closet the size of the bathroom. I went back into the bedroom and just stood completely shocked at the size of the room. It was the size of two of Draco's bedrooms.

"Surprised?" I jumped at the sudden noise and turned to see Draco leaning against the doorframe.

"No, not at all." I replied sarcastically. "This room is two times the size of the one at the manor."

"Actually it's three times bigger than the one at the manor." He pushed off the doorframe and walked towards me.

"You're kidding." I asked with wide eyes.

"I wouldn't lie to you." Was all he said.

I just rolled my eyes with a smile.

"What do you think of it?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you're going to be living here as well. I want your opinion. Whatever you don't like, we can take out or remodel." He said.

I just stared into his blue grey eyes, looking for some giveaway that he may be messing around, but all I found was sincerity.

"Honestly, I wouldn't do anything to it. It's a gorgeous house. Once you get some furniture in here, it will look amazing." I said.

"It's we." He corrected me.

"We?"

"Yeah, you are going to be living here too so I want you to be happy as well. I will do whatever you want me to and take your opinion into account." He nodded.

I just smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything."

He just looked at me before shaking his head with a small smile before it disappeared.

"You know, I don't think I ever would have agreed to this if it wasn't for Luna."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"When she was captured and locked in our cellar, I would bring her a little bit of food every night I could because she didn't deserve to be trapped down there. None of them did. One night when I went down to give her some food, she stopped me and asked if she could tell me something. I agreed and sat down across from her. She told me that something was going to happen when the war was over. If it wasn't for the state of mind I was in, I would have brushed it off and called her Loony. Instead, I just nodded and turned to leave when she called my name. She said that if something happens to the Weasel or Potter to take care of Hermione. I don't know what she meant by that but agreed anyway because I thought that after the war, everything was going to change and be somewhat normal again." He stopped to take a deep breath before continuing.

"When the law passed that muggle-borns and blood traitors were to be taken to Alcatraz and sold to pure-blood families to be slaves, I realized what Luna meant by taking care of you. Three and a half years ago, when I stepped into that room to choose who I was taking home, I remembered what Luna had made me promise and knew that I couldn't break that promise. That's why I chose you. I didn't realize at the time that you were going to be the one to bring me out of the dark room I didn't know I was trapped in. It was almost like I was in the prison cell and not you. Every time I saw you do something around the manor and flinch when I walked in the room, I knew then that she wanted me to protect you because no one would do anything to me because of blood status. Somehow, she knew that I would protect you and I don't know how she knew." He stepped closer to me and grabbed my hands.

"If I could talk to her one more time before she died, it would have been to thank her. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here with you right now. I probably wouldn't have given you a second thought and chosen the Hufflepuff." He said.

I just stared at him with a shocked expression.

"Hermione, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I don't want to lose you again. That is why I want you to stay here with me. I'm giving you the choice because I am releasing you."

I looked at him with a confused expression. "Releasing me?"

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a folded piece of parchment, and held it up in front of me.

"The day I took you out of Alcatraz, I had to sign a paper like you would an animal. This parchment tells people that you are mine and this is the proof. This morning, when I decided that we would take a trip over here and knew that I wanted you living with me, I wanted you to be free. With this parchment, you don't have the freedom you deserve."

"I didn't know anything had to be signed." I whispered.

"And you can forget about it." He said before pulling out his wand and lighting the parchment on fire.

I stared in shock as the parchment burst into ashes in his hand and fell to the ground.

He put a finger under my chin and lifted my face up to look him in the eyes.

"I like you Hermione, I really do, but your choices matter more than how I feel." He said.

"What if I said my choice was the same as your feelings." I whispered.

He didn't show any physical reaction, but his eyes said it all.

"Really?" He asked, coming out of his shocked state.

"Really." I smiled.