The Marriage Decree

Chapter 11: All Posh and Proper

Back at their house, Draco heads upstairs to their room to hang his clothes on the right side of their wardrobe which is apparently his side now. He doesn't know where Hermione's gone so he takes as much time as possible to hang his clothes up. He's not used to spending all this time with one person. Besides Blaise but when he's with him they both keep to themselves with the odd conversation here and there.

After about an hour of putting his clothes away, casting a few ironing spells for the clothes that need them, he makes his way downstairs to place the few books he brought with him on their bookshelf. He finds Hermione lying on the couch reading one of the books they had been provided with.

"I think we're going to have to enlarge the bookshelf." She mentions as he starts stacking his books alphabetically.

"How many books are you planning on bringing?" He asks. The bookshelf seems big enough already. He's only brought thirty-five books with him. It had taken him hours it narrows it down to those thirty-five.

"Not many, about sixty or so. I'm only bringing the ones I haven't read yet and one or two I'd like to reread." She tells him.

He turns around to check if she's joking or not. Her eyes are still on her book so he assumes she's being serious. He taps the bookshelf with his wand muttering the enlargement spell, doubling the bookshelf's size. Similar to their bed and wardrobe, Draco takes the right side of the bookshelf since there's a dividing section down the middle of the shelves. Once he's done, he turns to face Hermione to find her already looking at him.

"When do you want to go shopping?" He asks her standing up off the floor.

"I suppose we can go now and get it over with." She announces getting off the couch leaving her book open on their coffee table.

Draco pulls his cloak back on then grabs his shoes, taking them to the back door to put on since Hermione doesn't want their carpets to get dirty. Hermione's already waiting there with her cloak and shoes on ready to leave. She locks the door behind them then they set off down their garden path towards the large green in the centre of the estate. There's a few people already walking around the shops or sat in the café or restaurants. He notices that most of the people are alone or with their friends rather than with their partner.

The first shop they enter is the market. Hermione hands the basket to Draco as she fills it with bread, milk, eggs, butter and some fruit and vegetables. She finds out that he has 'a completely healthy addiction to apples' as he puts a bag of five in the basket.

They walk around the rest of the shops not really needing to buy anything else. She finds it funny that the restaurant is called 'The Pentagon'. There's a local branch of Tomes and Scrolls that they have a look inside. It's very small with only a few hundred books. Hermione and Draco probably have more books together than this bookshop. After circling the shops, they head back their house to put their shopping away.

Hermione ends up doing it by herself as Draco disappears upstairs somewhere. When she's done and she's tidied up a bit, she goes back to the book she left on the coffee table. She doesn't know how long she lies on the couch reading but it must have been a while and she hasn't heard anything for Draco since they returned from shopping. She places her book back on the coffee table with a sigh then heads upstairs.

She looks in their room but there's no sign of him in there so she knocks on the bathroom door. Nobody answers. She turns to face the third door upstairs. She really hopes he isn't in there. She's not ready to see that particular room yet. Just as she's about to knock on the door, she hears a creak from above. She nervously looks up to find the hatch to the attic, which she hadn't noticed before, is open.