Ch. 49

"Paris!" Hermione exclaimed as she twirled excitedly to see all of her surroundings. "Oh, Draco! This is amazing!"

Ginny embraced Blaise, who had smacked Draco on the arm and muttered, "Next time tell me!"

They had landed at the base of the Eiffel Tower, which Hermione insisted they immediately go up. But after a lot of convincing from Draco on why they needed to put their luggage away first, she begrudgingly agreed and Draco promised they would come back again later that day.

Draco apparated them in front of another pair of gates, these gold and black. He waved his hand over the lock and the gate opened, and he gestured for the other three to enter first. Hermione stared up at the large building in front of her in awe, then back at Draco.

"Is it the entire building?" She asked.

He laughed slightly and shook his head. "No, only a part of it. It's not as large as the Malfoy Manor, but it's still beautiful."

The four of them walked inside and Draco led them up a set of stairs to the third floor. There was a grand set of doors off the stairs and Draco pointed his wand at the lock, muttering an incantation that Hermione didn't recognize.

When the lock clicked open, Draco looked at her and said, "There's a special charm on the doors that only the wands of Malfoy family members can open. When we marry, your wand will be added to that list."

He smiled at her and then opened the doors, with Hermione and Ginny rushing in with their bags. They both stopped as soon as they entered, their mouths hanging open as they looked around. The walls were white with a gold trim, and the light was flooding in from the many windows. There were fireplaces on either side of the room with a beautiful mantle and a large gold mirror sitting on top of both that spanned up to the ceiling. There were two large crystal chandeliers hanging down which Hermione marveled at as she walked underneath them to the windows. The windows started about a foot off the floor and spanned up to the ceiling, and Hermione could see a small balcony outside. She would have to check that out later.

"Merlin Malfoy, is this bathroom all marble?!" Ginny yelled from an unknown room.

She laughed and heard Draco reply from behind her, "Of course! Malfoys only get the best!"

Hermione looked at the detailing of the fireplace when she heard someone come up behind her, wrapping their arms around her waist and saying quietly, "That's why I have you."

She smiled and turned around to see Draco there, smiling down at her. After a quick kiss from her, she asked, "So where is our bedroom?"

"Right this way, my love," He said with a gestured to the side.

As he led her towards their designated bedroom, he caught sight of someone that hadn't been there before standing outside on one of the balconies suddenly off the living room. He glared and quickly led Hermione away to the bedroom before using the excuse of forgetting a bag in the living room to leave the bedroom and walk back out.

He pulled the window open to see Scabior grinning on the small balcony. With a growl, Draco said quietly, "What are you doing here?"

"I have news you'll want to hear," Scabior shrugged before pointedly looking past him with an evil grin. "The girl is still as pretty as I remember."

Draco growled louder. "Touch her and I will rip you to shreds. I'll get them out of here for an hour while you tell me the news; just cast a Disillusionment on yourself so they don't see you!"

Scabior grinned and disappeared into the surroundings while Draco closed the window. He tried to calm himself down before he entered the bedroom, and once he saw Hermione he smiled and leaned against the doorway, watching her put away her clothes.

"It's so beautiful here, Draco," She said, looking up at him when she noticed he was there.

"I'm sure you'll love it here," He replied, putting his hands in his pockets. "You know, there's a little café on the street corner that you and Ginny should go to. They have wonderful scones."

"Trying to get rid of me already?" She giggled with a raised eyebrow.

"Only for an hour or so while Blaise and I plan a few extravagant things for us to do while we're here!" Draco smirked as he pushed off the doorway and slowly walked to her. "And besides, I've always wanted to approach a pretty girl at a café and just sweep her off her feet."

Hermione smiled and looked away to hide her blush. "Fine, Ginny and I will get out of your hair while you two plot."

"It's not plotting, love, it's " Draco said as he kissed her cheek. "And you're going to love it, I promise."

It was a short walk to the café thankfully, since it was cold. Hermione cast a warming charm on their jackets and pants, which Ginny thanked her profusely for as they walked.

"So," Ginny started as she held her mug of tea, "What do you think they're planning?"

"I'm not sure," Hermione said. "There are a lot of places here that I would love to visit, and I'm sure Draco knows that. Maybe they're just trying to figure out a schedule of sorts."

The two girls were getting a lot of looks, which they ignored as they continued chatting. Hermione brushed it off as they were bound to get looks anywhere they went due to their enhanced beauty from the Veela DNA. After a few minutes, Ginny sighed, ducking her head down slightly and said, "Maybe we should have picked a table in the corner."

Hermione shook her head. "It wouldn't be as easy to leave then if someone was bothering us."

"I suppose." Ginny finished her tea. "At the same time, we are witches with heightened abilities."

"True," Hermione grinned. "Do you want to order another round?"

"Might as well," Ginny said as she checked her watch. "We've only been here about thirty minutes. Draco and Blaise said at least an hour."

"It couldn't possibly take them that long to plan out everything, could it?" Hermione asked with uncertainty.

"Well they aren't you, so I'm sure it's going to take them that long," Ginny answered with a grin. "Come on, next round's on me."

Draco leaned against the wall of the study, eyeing Scabior who was sitting on the couch against the wall. Blaise was leaned against the desk that was directly opposite the couch, and he was glaring at Scabior.

"So what is this news you have, Scabior?" Draco asked.

Scabior grinned as he leaned back, draping both of his arms against the back of the couch and looking at Draco. "First, I see where the lovely muggleborn gets her looks."

Draco growled. "Watch it, Scabior."

The man on the couch put his hands up in defense. "I'm just saying."

"Get on with the news," Blaise said sternly while Draco calmed himself down.

"Well," Scabior started as he replaced his arms on the back of the couch. "So I've been following them around as you asked. They believe their names are Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and had moved to Melbourne in Australia after whatever the girl did to their memories. They have their own business as dindints or whatever."