An Equal and Opposite Reaction

Hermione had slept through lunch, which was fine by her, since she didn't want to look at any of those people anyway, let alone eat with them. Instead, she went straight from the field to the library workshop, where she began processing the fronds to be made into paper. It required some spell craft at each phase, but Hermione could do it all mindlessly by now.

Hermione had worked for nearly two hours when Acara let out a loud growl and prowled along the door.

"You are not happy, then?" Ariulo asked from outside the doorway. Acara was baring her teeth, and Ariulo wasn't interested in being made into a late lunch.

"Come, Acara," Hermione croaked. Her voice was tight and ragged from crying earlier, but she wouldn't hide it from Ariulo. The cat obeyed, retreating to sit beside Hermione's stool, backing up all the way. Her teeth were still bared, but the growl was more of a quiet hiss.

"When you were not at lunch, Marcela told me what happened. I came here after taking him to his father, but you must have still been in the field," Ariulo said as he entered the room. He walked around by the wall until he could see Hermione's face. Her eyes were red and swollen and her face was splotchy. Ariulo felt his heart clench.

"Your concern for me is appreciated," Hermione said as she ripped through another frond, never looking at him. Usually they spoke in light banter and entendre, so her use of the formal language and inflection was an affront in and of itself.

"Hermione..." Ariulo tried to step forward, but Acara moved between them, eyeing the man menacingly.

"I have work, Ariulo," she said, finally looking up at Ariulo, letting him see just how miserable she was. Hermione picked up a tub full of soaking fronds that were ready to be made into paper and walked away from him.

Hermione had a very productive day. Usually she made four books a day, but today she made nine. That was one perk of working through dinner. When Hermione and Acara left the workroom, they went straight to her cottage, where dinner was waiting for her on the table. It sat there untouched as she wrote letters into her journals, letting everyone know what had happened and that she wouldn't be available as much since she would have to take care of this. She never touched her supper, unwilling to take any gifts or peace offerings.

Hermione was sitting in her chair with Acara across her lap, staring at the coals in her hearth, when Malfoy senior rapped on her door frame. "May I come in?"

"Why ask? We both know you will do as you please regardless of what is permitted."

"Manners, of course. I hate to interrupt your sulking, but..." He started to push her curtain aside and was ducking under the door frame when Hermione responded.

"Sulking? You horrible piece of shite, get away from me," Hermione said as she Conjured a ball of fire the size of his head with one hand.

Lucius, being a sensible chap, stopped his progress. "I see. Well, in that case, may I draw an analogy before we part ways?"

Hermione turned away from him and let the ball of fire dissolve as she looked back into the embers in her hearth. Who cared what he did?

Lucius cleared his throat and said, "I'm sure you would not have elected to have the riotous curls you have atop your head, and I remember your hair was quite unpleasant in years past, but you have learned how to manage them exquisitely. Why can't the same be said for Draco?" As he finished, he stood as though he was actually expecting a response, but she never acknowledged him, so he eventually turned away, feeling very maudlin. He'd never felt badly for anyone before, so he was sure that it was some by-product of the bloody mark on his chest now.

Lucius walked back to where Draco and the Council were sitting. When Draco had told him about the offer to train as a mage, Lucius had felt invigorated. Always quick to recuperate, Lucius was ready to join the rest of the people for dinner, enjoying sitting with the Council, despite Hermione's marked absence. As he approached, Lucius could hear Isova chatting with Draco about training while the others awaited Lucius' return.

"Well?"

"She Conjured a fireball as big as my head, instantaneously. It was extremely impressive," Lucius said, moving to sit between Marcela and Maank. "Besides that, she is sulking."

"What did you say to her?" Ariulo said as he pet a morose-looking Dondi in his lap.

Lucius couldn't ignore all of the animals at the table. Maank had a breed of falcon waiting for him in a tree nearby, which would sometimes flap down to nuzzle him with his beak. Marcela had a chinchilla that would hop in and out of her lap erratically. Once, it had jumped into Lucius' lap, and he couldn't help but let out a slightly undignified, "Gah!" before the thing settled for thirty seconds and then leapt away. Cissy had chinchilla coats, so he'd known it'd be soft, but it was something entirely different to have one flitting about in one's lap.

"I asked if I could interrupt her sulking..." Isova turned and looked at him, gasping loudly. "...And then I asked why she couldn't just accept Draco and get on with her life, through analogy."

Isova, a very short, very brown woman with an amazingly long black braid, looked at Lucius like he was a complete idiot. Then she said, "For such an intelligent man, you are such a stupid ass!" Maank and Ariulo tucked their chins and laughed, and Marcela let her broad smile stretch across her face. "That is it, the blond men are forbidden from talking to her! And that one is married! He should know better."

"Mother has a lot of jewellery," Draco added helpfully, enjoying the rare opportunity to rib his father affectionately.

"Draco..." Lucius scowled but saw the impish delight in his boy's eyes and let him get away with it as always.

Ariulo stood and cradled the listless Dondi in his arms after giving Lucius a hearty clap on the back. "We'll give her time; she's a clever girl." Then he walked to his cottage and went to sleep.

Draco, though, did not want to give her time. He was young and driven and stupid, and he wanted to go snog the girl into realising this was the best thing that could happen for them. He had just talked himself into it when Isova pinched him meanly.

"If you are to do this, you will submit to our will, and when I say you won't talk to her, you won't talk to her." Isova was nearly two feet shorter than Draco, but still he feared her already.

"Yes, ma'am," Draco said and settled back in his seat.

Maank took pity on the men and tried to change the subject. "Now, tell me about this Mudblood situation, I don't quite think I grasp it."

Draco froze as soon as he heard the word tumble from Maank's lips. Fortunately, his father took pity on him and sent him off to the cottage. Then Lucius, Maank, Marcela, and Isova got down to the dirty work of trying to unravel years of psychological trauma that had been inflicted upon Hermione.

Lucius showed Draco where Hermione's cottage was, and the next morning they watched her depart for breakfast. If they had known what was different, they would have been more worried than they were.

First, Acara had exited the cottage ahead of Hermione, which was rare. Hermione usually had to drag her lazy beast to breakfast. When Acara had come out, she sniffed the air and found the two wizards immediately. Still, her tail thumped on the curtain, and Hermione came out. She had slept, but restlessly, always on her guard that Draco would come to her. Fearing Isova's wrath, he'd stayed away, because while technically it wasn't talking to Hermione, Draco didn't think that Isova would buy it.

Hermione's casual pace was slower than usual, her anxiety about seeing everyone stringing her out a little bit. Her plan was to give special attention to the children, since they were innocent in this, and she still had to take them out to the lake that day, as was the typical morning for them when she wasn't in the field. As she walked with Acara, the cat did not play, but looked for any possible interceptors, her muscles flexing and rolling as she walked. It made her look rather dangerous.

Lucius and Draco followed them until they converged with the women and children going to breakfast. At least she was coming to eat instead of spending the day in her cottage. It was something.

Hermione ate her breakfast with Kress, who was quickly filling her in about all she'd missed yesterday. He was better than a newspaper; he always said just what he knew and implied nothing else. The women who greeted Hermione asked neutral questions, and the whole affair went off more like it had before Draco came. It was a blessing for Hermione.

There was one thing, though, that set Hermione off a little. When Dondi came to sit with Acara as they always did, he was looking rather pathetic. Acara had licked his face and groomed him, but still Dondi just lay there. She'd promised herself she wouldn't look around for the man who'd put her back into this position, and she kept that promise. She wasn't sure of whether or not she should be proud of that, but that's what Hermione did.

One of the children let out a tiny screech when they jumped into the chilly lake. "Battat! You silly thing. Let me warm it first." Hermione smiled and dove under the water, doing a couple somersaults before coming up for air in the middle of the lake. She summoned the fire, and soon the water was perfectly comfortable. "Now you whelps can swim! Come! Play!" Hermione said as she backstroked to the other end of the lake where there was a nice rock she could lie on while she watched the kids. Acara was already there curled up with Dondi, and Hermione looked around for Ariulo.

"You might as well come out," Hermione called, unwilling to leave the kids swimming to find Ariulo.

"I was trying to give you time, but Marcela says I'm moping."

Hermione turned to see Ariulo coming up from under the rock. He'd been sitting in the shadows watching her.

"What would you have to mope about?" Hermione said, wrapping a light blanket around herself, wishing it would actually protect her from the world. She looked at him for a response, but he was just looking at her with a face full of regret. "That's what I thought." She called for Acara, and then Disapparated to her cottage. Let Ariulo watch the children today, for all she cared. When Hermione and Acara arrived, they climbed into her hammock, where Hermione cried herself to sleep again. She woke up late in the afternoon and went straight to the library for the rest of the day and into the night.