Ch. 27

Hermione's POV

I couldn't help but laugh to myself at how nervous Draco was right now. My parents had invited me over for lunch a week after my failed meeting with Ron, and I decided this was the perfect opportunity for them to meet Draco.

He was standing in front of my mirror, fixing his tie for the millionth time and I rolled my eyes, coming up behind him. "You don't need to wear a tie, Draco."

"I need to make a good first impression," He stated nervously. "I can only imagine what all you've told them about me."

"I just told them there was an annoying prat at school," I shrugged. "I didn't tell them it was you."

He frowned in the mirror and redid his tie again. I sighed and whirled him around, pulling the tie off his neck and tossing it onto the bed before putting my hands on his cheeks.

"You look very handsome just the way you are," I said with a smile. "The tie would be overdoing it, I promise."

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking down at his outfit. He was wearing a very nice black button-down and dark grey slacks, which both fit him very well.

I nodded and gave him a quick reassuring kiss. "I promise."

He smiled finally and returned the kiss. "So this is not too much?"

"Maybe roll your sleeves up to the elbow," I said, looking him up and down. "You look like you're going to a fancy dinner otherwise. It's just tea and lunch with my parents."

"Again, first impressions," He said as he started to roll his sleeves up. Then he nodded at me and asked, "What are they going to say about your arm?"

I looked down at the almost fully healed wounds from my splinching. They were still fading into the skin, and the healing salve was helping them disappear and preventing them from scarring. I shrugged and went to search through my closet for a sweater. "They know what happened, so I'm sure they're expecting something."

"They're not going to blame me for that, are they?" I heard him asked from the bedroom as I walked into the closet.

"Of course not!" I exclaimed. "They know it was Ron's fault."

"Just making sure!"

I shook my head and sighed, pulling down a large grey sweater to go over my shirt. My parents liked to keep their house moderately warm, but the sweater was light enough that I should be alright.

Stepping back out, I stopped and looked at Draco, smiling as I leaned against the doorframe. He was starting to spend the night at my apartment at least every other night (he finally dropped the excuse that he was making sure I wasn't reopening my wounds and admitted that he just wanted to spend time with me), and some nights I would spend at his apartment. It was nice actually, having two places to go back and forth between. They both felt like home now, especially when he was there with me.

"What?"

I was brought back out of my thoughts by him looking at me curiously, and I shook my head with a smile. "Oh, just got lost in thought."

He smiled in return and kissed my forehead before asking, "Are you ready?"

"I should be asking you that," I laughed.

"Probably," He said, tilting his head back and forth. "But I know that if I say no, you'd still make me go regardless."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I would never make you do anything you didn't want to do."

"Except that one Potions essay," He muttered.

I smacked his arm playfully and he laughed before pulling away and sitting on the bed to put on his shoes. I pulled on a pair of black boots and my grey sweater while he stood up and waited for me. Taking his hand, I gave him a smile before apparating us to my parents' house.

After I had found them in Australia and restored their memories, my parents decided to buy their old house in Heathgate but still decided to travel around the world. Thankfully, they had kept the large bushes outside of the front of the house since they knew I would always apparate to visit them, and it gave me a private area to apparate into so that the neighbors and passing muggles couldn't see.

I smiled up at the old house and gave Draco's hand a squeeze before saying, "It's not really much like you're used to, but-"

"But it's the home you grew up in, and I think it's marvelous," He said with a grin as he looked up at the brick. "I always thought that the manor had too much unused space anyway."

I led him around the bushes and up to the front door, using the new key my parents had given me after they moved back in. Draco watched in curious silence and I laughed slightly before opening the door. The smell of warm soup and bread cooking greeted us and I smiled happily. I did miss living with my parents, but since they were travelling most of the time I decided it wouldn't matter either way if I was still living at home or not.

"Jean! Hermione's here!"

Draco's POV

Hermione let go of my hand to go hug her father, who was standing up from the couch as we entered the living room. He wrapped her up in a very tight hug and I heard him say, "Good to see you, sweetie."

Her father let go as her mother walked into the room from the kitchen with a large smile on her face. "We missed you so much, dear!"

Hermione gave her mother a large hug and then gestured to me. "Mum, dad: this is Draco."

Hermione's mother took a few steps towards me and held out her hand with a warm smile. "Hello, dear! It's so nice to meet you; Hermione's told us quite a bit about you recently!"

I saw Hermione blush out of the corner of my eye and I grinned while saying, "It's a pleasure to finally meet both of you. Hermione talked so much about her parents while in our last year of school."

Her mother smiled and reached back to put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Lunch is almost ready, by the way."

Then she turned and went back into the kitchen, leaving the three of us alone. Her father was looking me up and down as I turned to him and held out my hand. "Draco, sir."

Her father took my hand and gave it a firm shake. "Please, call me Richard!"

I nodded and he gestured for both of us to sit down on the other side of the couch. It was an L-shaped blue-grey couch, and he took the shorter end while Hermione and I sat on the longer end. She sat closest to him, leaning against me slightly but turning to face her father.

"How was your trip to Greece, dad?" Hermione asked excitedly.

Her father smiled and leaned forward so that his elbows were resting on his knees. "Oh, it was beautiful. You would've loved it, sweetie! We could've spent an entire week in Athens."

Hermione beamed and I couldn't help but smile as well. "How long were you in Greece for, sir?"

"Oh, about two weeks," He answered with a shrug. "Jean and I have always wanted to travel, and after Hermione restored our memories, we decided that life was short and began our dream."