His Girl by greenflowerpot

Chapter 4

- NOT MY STORY!! ALL CREDITS TO @greenflowerpot ON A03!!

The satisfaction of beating Dmitri was short-lived.

Within minutes of walking away, leaving Dmitri in a whimpering heap on the driveway, Draco's triumph began turning to uncertainty. Something that had not occurred to him before now seemed blindingly obvious: Dmitri was going to tell Hermione.

Draco's stomach twisted. Yes, the idea had been to intimidate the other boy into staying away from Hermione, but in only a few short days Draco would be back at school and unable to do a thing to keep Dmitri from Hermione. And when Hermione found out about what Draco had done...

Draco frowned. The easiest thing to do would be to have Dmitri fired. He knew that Mr. Bover, Malfoy Manor's head of staff, would not blink at the request. Dmitri was only a stable boy, after all, and Draco the sole Malfoy heir. If Hermione asked where Dmitri had gone, she would simply be told that he had not been performing his duties as well as expected. And then Dmitri would never have reason or opportunity to encounter her again.

The idea was a fairly solid one but Draco felt a twinge of guilt in his chest. Not towards Dmitri—he couldn't care less what happened to the stable boy—but towards Hermione. She had been so happy about making a new friend. Was it really right to interfere so callously, giving her nobody to talk to or spend time with while Draco was hundreds of miles away at Hogwarts? Draco's mouth twisted uncertainly, but then set into a firm line. He could give Hermione anything she wanted later. Later, when they were older, when Draco was done with Hogwarts and had mustered up the courage to tell her how he felt, he would marry her and buy them a big house to live in together and she could have all the friends she wanted. Just not now. Not while Draco was off at school and some boy could still steal her away from him.

Having made up his mind, Draco shoved his concerns to the side while he and Hermione had dinner together. His parents were out of town at a Ministry event so they ate in the kitchens instead of the formal dining room. Afterwards, Draco did his schoolwork at a table in the library while Hermione lay down on the rug in front of the fireplace to read her novel. He had forgotten how nice it was to just be able to look at her. Draco gazed at the dark curls tumbling onto the pages of her book, the playful kick of her stockinged feet as she read, and his heart hummed with contentment. All he wanted to do for the rest of his life was keep her happy and safe and expensively dressed, reading endless books by the fireplace.

When the clock struck eleven and Hermione's yawns became too wide and frequent for her to read any longer, she closed her book. Draco put his quill down as she padded softly over to him.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," she said. "Will you be up much longer?"

"Just want to finish this Potions essay," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, 'Mione."

Hermione hummed sleepily in assent and kissed Draco on the cheek, leaving the soft scent of vanilla behind her after she left the room. Draco waited until he heard Hermione's footsteps disappear down the hall and the click of her bedroom door before he stood up. He knew that Mr. Bover worked late and could often be found sipping on a bit of brandy in his office before midnight. If Draco spoke with him tonight then in all likelihood Dmitri could be dismissed and no longer an issue by tomorrow morning.

Mr. Bover's office was in a separate building on the grounds, just across the gardens from the main house. As Draco made his way there, a feeling of unease grew in him. Something was off. It took a few minutes of walking to realize what it was: it was far too dark. Usually the Malfoy estate was lit with floating lanterns after sunset, glowing orbs that bathed the grounds in soft light, but today the gardens were nearly pitch black. Draco could hardly see the fog of his breath in the cold air before him. His footsteps sounded too loud in the darkness, and he had the strangest feeling that he was not alone. In the back of Draco's mind, a warning bell started to go off.