Chimera

Chapter 14

Draco came in from lunch one afternoon to find Hermione sat at her desk eating pasta.

"Eating in the office, Granger? That's a whole new level of sad."

"It was too hot to go outside," Hermione said simply, not looking up from the book in her hands. "Besides, I'm not working!"

"Oh, is that 'The Hobbit'?" Draco asked. He leaned forward across his desk, squinting at the cover. His grey eyes lit up in delight.

"You know it?"

"I love it!" Draco exclaimed. "'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.'"

Hermione gaped at Draco. The excitement faded from his face and was replaced by a mask of indifference. Hermione felt guilty for accidentally crushing his moment of openness.

"I always liked this quote," Hermione said, hesitantly. "'If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world'."

"I never quite understood that one," Draco sneered.

Hermione sighed and went back to her book. She stole glances at Draco, who was staring blankly at the wall opposite. He had a faraway look in his eyes.

"Have you read 'Lord of the Rings' as well?" Hermione asked at last, trying again.

"No, what's that?"

"It's by the same author, it's about the ring that Bilbo finds in 'The Hobbit'."

"Does it have dragons in it?"

"Er, no?"

"Ah, that'll be why I haven't heard of it," Draco nodded. "I had a bit of an obsession with dragons when I was younger, what with my name and all. Did you know there's not actually many stories about dragons in our world?"

"Your parents let you read muggle books?" Hermione blurted before she could stop herself.

"Well, Mum did. She was never very good at telling me 'no'. Father just made me write essays afterwards about all the ways the muggle authors were stupid for writing factually incorrect dragons."

"How...fun?"

"Small price to pay," Draco grinned. "Besides, I quickly figured out he wasn't actually reading the essays, so I'd change the first couple of paragraphs, just in case, then I'd duplicate them."

He smirked as Hermione's face showed her struggle between horror at cheating on an assignment, and surprise at him purposefully ignoring his father's demands. Instead of saying anything, Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment and started rapidly writing.

"What are you doing?"

"Shush," she commanded.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her and watched. A curl fell forward into her eyes and she impatiently blew it out of her face. She stuck her tongue out between her lips as she concentrated.

"Here," Hermione said, thrusting the paper at him. It was a list of names, split into two lists. "The ones at the top are all authors who write about dragons. The ones at the bottom don't have dragons in, that I can remember, but they're fantasy writers that I think you'd like."

"Oh, I know some of these! Anne McCaffrey writes about the Dragons of Pern, right? I read every one of those I could get my hands on,  though she lost me when I got to the books about like...space, and technology. I had no clue what she was talking about."

A flicker of shock crossed Hermione's face, but she tactfully chose not to respond. She had lived in the wizarding world long enough to know that the simplest of muggle inventions mystified the community.

"So, where do you suggest I start?" Draco asked, his quill hovering over the list.

"Well, that depends on whether you're ready to spread your wings and fly out of the dragon's nest," Hermione teased.

"I think I can consider some non-dragon options," Draco said, ticking off the authors he already knew.

"In that case, I reckon you should go for Terry Pratchett. I think he's the perfect mix of fantasy and snark for you."

"What are you trying to say?!" Draco cried in mock offense.

Hermione smirked at him and returned to her book.

*****

When Hermione came into work on Monday, she found Draco lounging with his feet propped up on the table. He was so engrossed in a book he didn't hear her come in.

"Whatcha readin'?" Hermione asked.

Draco jumped and hurriedly stuffed the book into a drawer.

"Uh, nothing," he muttered. "How was your weekend?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow and twitched her wand at his desk. There was a thumping sound deep inside it. After a moment, the book forced the drawer open and flew into her hand. She smirked.

"Terry Pratchett's 'Hogfather', eh?" Hermione flipped through the pages, smiling fondly at the characters and ignoring Draco's scowl. "Death is one of my favourite characters. Him and Granny Weatherwax."

"She reminded me a little of Professor McGonagall," Draco admitted quietly.

"Yeah, I can agree with that," Hermione laughed. "A less literate and more terrifying version of her, though."

"I dunno, Professor McGonagall was pretty terrifying."

Hermione looked at him in surprise. A faint blush coloured his pale features. She tactfully looked back at the book in her hands. One page had a slip of paper in it, despite the embossed leather bookmark further into the book.

"What's this for?"

"Oh," Draco said, turning redder. "I wanted to ask you about something Death says. I liked the quote, but I didn't really understand it? He said - HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE."

"Oh, I love that quote! I'm impressed you remembered it, actually. That was word-for-word."

"I always had a talent for the dramatic arts," Draco smirked. "So what does it mean, the 'falling angel and the rising ape'?"

"It's a reference to religion and evolution," Hermione explained. Draco looked no less confused. He shrugged helplessly at her. "Oh, um...it's not very easy to explain, actually. We have a meeting in twenty minutes to prepare for, and I definitely can't explain it in less than that. I'm sorry..."

"That's fine," Draco said, masking his slightly crestfallen expression.

"Maybe...maybe I could explain over lunch?" Hermione suggested. "If you're not meeting your mother, that is..."

Draco looked stunned at her suggestion. He nodded slowly, lost for words.

"Yeah, sure, that would work," Draco said finally.

"Uh, great, sounds good..."

They both turned to their desks and pretended to work, neither quite focused on the papers in front of them.