young man returning home

Chapter 18 Drizzle in the Garden

Hermione began to hate the rainy season when the eaves were raining like rain, as if all the unhappy things happened in such a gloomy rainy day.

She stood in front of the recessed floor-to-ceiling windows on the tower, watching the mirror lake drop by drop, with ripples, and Hogwarts shrouded in mist and rain.

The rain is getting heavier.

She was a little cold, coughed slightly, and was about to turn around and leave.

In the promenade connecting the towers, there was a crisp sound of dragon leather boots kicking and falling.The rain outside the eaves almost covered the sound of footsteps.

In the exquisitely decorated corridor, at the corner, a long and slender shadow covered the ground, walking around, getting thicker and thicker.Like a shaking window in an old-fashioned movie.Through the two huge candles stuck in the exquisitely carved patterns on the eaves of the corridor, one can clearly see the haggardness on the pale cheeks of the visitor, and the iconic long platinum-blonde hair was slightly curled up by the wind, flickering on the ground. Snuggled in the collar of the windbreaker, it draws a strange saw-shaped shadow.

Hermione hadn't expected to see him here.

"Horse...Malfoy..." Her voice trembled slightly due to excessive surprise.

"Granger, don't look at me like that," the old man waved his snake-head wand, trying to remain calm, "You know, if it wasn't for my son, I would be ashamed to make this trip."

Mr. Malfoy raised his pointed chin arrogantly - this action is very similar to Draco!Hermione was startled, her head was a little dizzy, and in her misty eyes, the figure of old Malfoy and Draco were slowly overlapping.

She probably missed him too much.

Lucius walked up to her: "Granger, I should thank you. Although you don't know what I'm talking about now. Thank you for fulfilling and understanding the helpless heart of being a father-for your righteousness. He nodded slightly, and it was rare for Hermione to see his father's gentleness and kindness on Lucius' face for the first time—maybe it was something Draco had never seen before.Reflected by the flickering candles in the corridor, old Malfoy looked like a soft sculpture.

"He...is he okay now?" Hermione was a little nervous.

"What do you think?" Old Malfoy asked smartly.

Hermione pursed her lips and said nothing.

"Don't you want to go see him?"

Hermione looked up with a bleak smile: "Look at him? Will Mr. Malfoy need a visit from a Mudblood? He has trampled on my dignity and feelings!" She met Lucius' gaze without fear: "Tsk tsk! The texture of the dragonhide boots is so good! The humble dignity of the mudblood under Malfoy's feet is like powder!"

"Heartless Gryffindor!" Lucius sighed. "Granger, don't you even want to go to my son's funeral?"

The sound of rain was overwhelming.It quickly overwhelmed the conversations of the wizards on the tower.

At the corner of the corridor, the desperate father staggered old.Behind her was the little witch in black robe, her frail figure stretched out by the candlelight.

She remembered that rainy evening, when she followed Lucius out of Hogwarts, she walked with the panic of losing the whole heaven.She was trembling all over, and her fear was spreading to the sky. The rain that kept falling dripped down her hair, rolled over her pale cheeks, and overflowed into her lips and teeth, making her feel bitter.

She was like a child who followed Hamel's Pied Piper out of the town, a thoughtless ghost living in her empty body, and she followed old Malfoy with a blank expression on her face.To find her boy, a child who may have died.

"Ah... that kid..." old Malfoy sighed softly, and turned to look at her, "Hermione, you look terrible." No stranger to "Granger", the honorable Malfoy first Call her that for the first time, Hermione, - like his son.

She bit her lower lip and said nothing.Tears overflowed from her big empty eyes, mixed with cool rain, and soon flowed down again, sinking into the muddy soil.

Old Malfoy dragged out a piece of black leftover material from his pocket, chanted a spell silently, the material gradually unfolded, and it turned out to be a high-quality wizard's robe.Lucius handed it to the shivering little girl behind him: "Put it on, the Waterproof Charm is what you need now, Gryffindor."

Hermione finally raised her head slowly, her eyes were full of complicated emotions, she froze for a moment, but didn't reach out her hand.

"Don't doubt my purpose, I think Draco would also like me to treat you kindly." The old man said.

She didn't hesitate this time, and mechanically put on the wizard's robe, which she thought was just right - black robe, in the Muggle world, the outfit of a black widow who lost her husband!

"I'm sorry, but my rare kindness has frightened you so much."

"You're welcome, Mr. Malfoy." She actually felt that it was Draco standing in front of her, and she was responding to Slytherin's tricks with her usual teasing tone.

Obviously not, where is poor Draco now!

"We have to hurry up." Lucius waved the wand of the snake head.

Hermione sat in front of the window with her chin in her hands in a daze, and the light rain continued outside the house—it was still an annoying rainy day.The water droplets on the window mirror kept rolling down, and soon condensed into water columns, splashing down, washing the glass window shiny in a short while.

This was her third day at Malfoy Manor.Unlike before, the manor was as quiet as a death row.The honeysuckle is still the old honeysuckle, the cypresses are lush and lush, and the beech forest in the distance occasionally flies by, making a series of fluttering sounds.However, this manor hidden in the jungle gave Hermione a completely different impression at such a special time.Pale, cold, lifeless.

Hermione was no stranger to Malfoy Manor.Except for that dream that was both real and illusory, she had actually been here before.How long has that been?Draco brought her here to look for out-of-print books on black magic. At that time they were researching a potion together. Draco seemed to be very obsessed with this medicine. He would always casually reveal that Malfoy's upbringing had never been Anxiety not allowed: "Hermione, I'm late... I don't have time."

In her free time, Hermione always wondered, what exactly was Draco looking for back then?He seems to keep a very close desire to get closer to the answer to something.At that time, they were not together, and Draco's eyes still showed unpredictable tenderness.He would reach out and pin her drooping locks of hair behind her ears. For a long time, this action has been replayed in Hermione's mind in slow motion, so familiar and gentle, as if a long time ago, he Just did that.

It was also on that day that Hermione met Narcissa for the first time.The noble lady walked down the stairs slowly, calmly and gracefully.The dazzling light made Hermione hardly dare to look directly.However, when Narcissa heard her husband talking in his dream upstairs, she was slightly at a loss, and her expression looked like a shy and flustered little girl.At that time, Hermione was thinking that the original Miss Black became the current graceful Mrs. Malfoy, maybe she did it willingly.There may have been a beautiful unknown story that happened in this cold manor of pure-blooded nobles.

Thoughts returned to the present.Hermione stood up, looking at the scenery outside the window through the glass window where the rain was streaming.Jessica the owl seemed to be playing happily in the water, her wings fluttered up and down, and her mouth made strange rattling noises from time to time.What a strange bird!

This owl should belong to Draco, and he has a deep affection for it.Thinking of Draco, Hermione felt sad again. During the three days she was in Malfoy Manor, she didn't hear a single word from Lucius about him!This manor buried Draco's childhood, and it was about to destroy Draco's love.

On the day Lucius brought her back to the manor, unexpectedly, Narcissa greeted her personally at the door.When she saw them, she seemed a little excited, and hastily told the elf to open the heavy door.

"Are... all right?" Mrs. Malfoy's lips trembled slightly.

"Everything is going well. Sissy." Lucius took his wife's hand and kissed him lightly.

"Hermione?" Narcissa glanced at Hermione who was trembling in the corner, then turned her head and complained to Lucius, "You frightened that child! Why didn't you tell her our purpose? Draco... the truth Well, it's not that bad..."

"I don't say that, the stubborn Gryffindor won't come here! Well, Sissy, he...is our only son!" Lucius shook his head angrily, "Actually...in fact... We should really have a nice funeral, shouldn't we?"

Narcissa almost cried: "Please, please! Don't say it!"

"Sissy, for Merlin's sake, don't be angry with me, okay?" Lucius softly comforted his almost out-of-control wife.

Of course Hermione didn't know what happened, she was just a sculpture standing in the rain, mechanical and numb.

"Hermione, don't you mind staying in Draco's room? Nora has already packed it," Narcissa gradually regained her composure, walked up to Hermione and said softly, "I don't think you will refuse. You will not refuse an innocent help mother."

That night, Hermione took a hot bath and changed into clean clothes - although she was surprised that there were clothes for girls of the right age in the manor.Draco was a pampered and only child, and there was no way any of his sister's clothes were left here, and obviously it couldn't be Narcissa's clothes when she was young. "Maybe Malfoy's cousin," thought the little girl.

When Hermione finished drinking the hot soup brought by the elf and curled up on the soft bed, she felt her body relax a bit. ——Just then, there was a loud knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Hermione sat up mechanically.

"It's me, miss, it's Nuo, Nuo Nuo, Nora, the elf Nuo..."

"Nora?!" Hermione almost jumped up. "Come in!"

The door was gently pushed open - the elf staggered in with an exquisite plate, "Miss, this is a snack, Madam told me to bring it here, no, don't get hungry."

Of course Hermione wasn't in the mood to care about snacks!She almost grabbed Nora's hand: "Nora, where's Draco?"

Nora broke free in horror, her big eyes rolled around: "Master...Master..."

"Ok?"

"Nora doesn't know! Nora doesn't know anything! Miss, don't make things difficult for Nora!" The elf shook her head desperately!

"What the hell is going on here?" Hermione asked cautiously.

Nora took out the tray containing the small dishes and slammed it on her head frantically: "Nora doesn't know anything! Ma'am won't tell you anything! Nora doesn't know anything!"

The bedroom door creaked and was pushed open again, and the noble lady's voice sounded coldly:

"—Nora!"

The author has something to say: This chapter is a draft box,,, the author is taking an exam. . . .