Saving the Enemy

Chapter 13

Hermione

    “What is this tattoo parlor thing?” Hermione hears Draco ask with sincere curiosity as they turn into a parking spot in front of one. Hermione had added this into her plan for the day when she saw him gazing at his mark with so much disgust and hate this morning, as if it defines him. As if it is the first thing people see and he isn't given a chance, nobody tries to see the man he has become. It will never go away, but he can at least get it covered.

    “It puts a permanent design onto your body, kind of like the mark you already have. The plan,” Hermione says but hurriedly continues as he looks down at his arm in self-hatred as soon as she lifts her previous spell, revealing his mark again, “is to get your dark mark covered. They can place a design over it, replacing something that I see you hating everyday into something you love, something that makes you happy. You shouldn’t let that mark define you, so this is an opportunity for you to show that you are a different person now. If you don’t want this, then we can leave right now. This stop is going to be run by you.”

    “Granger, thank you,” Draco breathes, looking speechless. “Of course I want this. How...I...Well, I can’t even begin to describe how much this means to me.”

    “Of course, I want you to love everything about yourself, see what I see in you.”

    “What exactly do you see in me that could lead you to care this much?”

    “This strong man who has been through so much but still finds it within himself to get up every morning with a smile. The kind of man that makes breakfast for me when I wake up late, who hold my hair back when I can’t hold my alcohol in the morning,” she jokes, making him smirk at the memory of this morning. “That’s a glimpse of the Draco I see.”

    “Thank you,” Draco says before unbuckling himself for once to lean over and kiss Hermione with a gentle touch, a heart stirring kiss that melts her, pulls her towards him. She hates to pull back but she knows the appointment is soon.

    “Let’s go,” she says before opening her door to start towards the door of the parlor. Draco grips her hand when he catches up to her. She smiles up at him when he opens the door for her, allowing her to wander in first. They are ushered to one of the back consultation rooms that contains a chair for the one getting the tattoo. Draco sits down in it and they look over at the tattoo artist.

    “Hello, I’m Colin, I will be your tattoo artist today. I understand we wish to get a cover up, so could we look at the original tattoo first?”

    Colin has short brown hair with dark brown eyes that look over at Draco’s visible “tattoo” with critical eyes, analyzing Merlin knows what. His long slender fingers trace over the mark, looking at it intrigued.

    “It must have been done without the proper equipment for it to be faded like this,” he says, making Hermione quickly intervene since Draco doesn’t understand all of this fully yet.

    “Yes, he got it at a skeptical parlor several years ago. He doesn’t like it anymore and wishes to get it covered up.”

    “I see, so what are you looking to place over this…”

    “Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, sir,” Draco hurriedly answers the unspoken question, extending his hand to Colin who takes it quickly.

    “Mr. Malfoy, what exactly do you envision for this?”

    Draco looks as if he is thinking deeply with his eyebrows scrunched together and his lip in between his teeth. His eyes light up when he knows of something he would like to get, but he look over at Hermione, almost as if asking an unspoken question.