The spacious entrance hall, the portraits of generations of wizards who had lived in Malfoy Manor hanging on the walls, and the stone floor beneath their feet, almost completely covered by magnificent carpets.
The moment one stepped into the place where Draco's family dined, these enviable decorations came into view...
The Malfoy dining room was as lavish as something out of a film or a novel, with an extra long luxurious table that could seat more than a dozen wizards at once.
Even though there were only a few of them, the dinner laid out before them was so abundant it felt as though a whole crowd of guests might appear at any moment to join the meal.
Worth mentioning was the mountain of baked cookies, which Narcissa had spent the entire afternoon preparing. The sight of it left Hermione utterly stunned.
Only then did she finally understand why Draco's expression had been so strange...
All in all.
Hermione's first face to face dinner with Draco's parents passed without any unpleasant incidents or awkward mishaps.
With Narcissa and Pansy there, the atmosphere at the table was nowhere near as stiff or uncomfortable as she had imagined.
Aside from Lucius completely ignoring Hermione's presence, he had barely eaten a few bites before leaving first because he had matters to attend to.
When Lucius left, it was Nait, the oldest and longest serving house elf of the Malfoy family, who accompanied him away, and the two disappeared right in front of everyone.
Only a house elf could do something like that.
At the same time, it was easy to tell from Narcissa's worried expression that this had already become normal. Perhaps the only reason he had taken the time to sit down and eat at the same table today was because Draco had just come home from school.
Sure enough, he had only been there a short while before leaving Malfoy Manor again.
Of course, it was also possible that he had wanted to see for himself what kind of muggle-born witch could possibly make Draco treat her differently.
As Draco's father, Lucius naturally knew exactly how proud Draco was. Earning his approval was no easy thing.
Let alone for a mere muggle-born...
...
After dinner.
For safety reasons, Draco did not immediately take Hermione back to the home in the outskirts of London. Instead, he had her choose a room here and stay at the manor.
As for arranging Hermione's room and daily needs, his mother, who was unusually excited about it, showed tremendous enthusiasm, which made Pansy, who had once received the same treatment, terribly jealous.
Lady Narcissa was supposed to be hers in the first place...
In any case.
Even if Hermione sent a special letter home to let her family know, she still could not stay at Malfoy Manor for very long.
Leaving aside Lucius's reaction, if too much time passed, there would be no way to explain it to the Granger couple. In fact, even Pansy and Astoria left Malfoy Manor a few days later.
Just as Hermione was still unable to understand why Draco would not let her go home, Draco came to find her himself...
In the room that had been given to Hermione.
The air was filled with the fragrance of top quality black tea and the sweetness of baked cookies, the lovely scents lingering through the small room.
But despite that relaxed atmosphere, the conversation that followed was anything but relaxed...
Clink.
Setting down the teacup in his hand, Draco looked at Hermione, who was sitting upright across from him.
Whether it was because Draco's expression was unusually serious or because being alone with him made her nervous, Hermione, without even realizing it, straightened up as well and met his gaze with the same solemn seriousness, though she had not paid much attention at first...
"I'll take you home myself today."
"Today? I'm going back already, that soon... ahem, I mean, when?"
"We're leaving in a moment."
"That's it?"
The matter was certainly important, but honestly, Hermione did not think it was serious enough to warrant this kind of attitude from Draco. With how stern he looked, anyone who did not know better would think something grave had happened.
Seeing the genuine confusion in her eyes, Draco shook his head. "Besides taking you home, we need to talk about your parents."
"My parents? What do you mean?"
The moment she heard this involved her parents, Hermione froze, then looked at Draco in alarm.
Had something happened at home?
Realizing she had misunderstood, Draco quickly explained, "I don't know what you're imagining, but what I'm about to say is definitely not that."
"Then..."
"You know very well what kind of people the Death Eaters are, don't you?"
Although she still did not fully understand what Draco was getting at, Hermione answered at once.
"Evil, insane, and completely without moral boundaries. That's what I've heard and what I understand."
"Mm, that's not far off. So, have you thought about one thing?"
"You mean..."
Hermione was by no means slow witted. Once she connected everything he had said so far, she seemed to understand what Draco was trying to say.
"Let's think about the worst possibility. What if the Dark Lord sets his sights on you, or even on your family?"
"......"
Just imagining it made Hermione's face turn pale with fear and panic.
Because she understood perfectly well that Draco was not exaggerating. Given the Dark Lord and the way those lunatics under him operated, this was entirely possible.
More than possible, it was inevitable.
If Draco and Hermione kept growing closer, and the Dark Lord still could not get his hands on Draco, then things would inevitably head in a terrible direction.
And the Granger couple, as muggles with absolutely no ability to protect themselves against wizards, would become a massive opening to exploit...
At that thought, Hermione immediately grasped the seriousness of the problem and stepped forward to grab Draco's arm.
"If you're bringing this up, then you must already have a solution, right?"
Draco did not answer immediately. Instead, he fell silent.
In truth, Draco had long wanted to find a chance to talk to Hermione about her parents.
And just as she had said, he really did have a few options.
First, bring Hermione's parents to a safe place until the threat of the Dark Lord had been eliminated.
Second, from this moment on, make sure Hermione never again became involved in anything related to Draco...