AN 6/2/15: For those that have been following the story so far, I have edited and I posted all chapters again. Thank you for reading the story and I am almost done writing the whole thing

Disclaimer: In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental.

The war had been over for five years now, but that didn't mean I could stop thinking about it. I had helped with the restoration of Hogwarts for the first few years. I was even offered a job as a professor there by McGonagoll but I turned it down, said I needed some time. Ron had proposed a few years ago and we were still engaged. I continued to tell Molly that I hadn't found the right venue or the right dress or some other excuse. The truth was that I didn't have anything planned for the wedding. I felt stuck, like I was waiting for something drastic to happen so that I could deal with it.

But the world was fine right now, nothing bad was happening. Yet I still spent most of my time crying. I stayed inside of my home so that I wouldn't risk losing it in public. I screamed and yelled at my friends when we were having a simple conversation. Luna had stopped coming over anymore. I would break down if we were out of some ingredient so that I couldn't cook what I wanted. I knew I was a wreck but I figured I would just get over it eventually.

If I wasn't crying I was sitting in my favorite chair reading a book. I would just read all day, every day. I fell asleep almost every night in that chair. Ron didn't even carry me into my room when he came home from work, if he came home from work at all. He was an auror and I hadn't gotten a job. I thought of applying to be a librarian but I needed a degree from a University to be anything more than a volunteer. I didn't know how much Ron made, but I was vaguely aware that we were struggling financially. I escaped into my books and forgot about the world every day. I rarely ate more than a meal a day. I wasn't healthy but this was the only way that I knew how to cope. I would get better eventually.

I had finished doing the dishes, my one goal for the day, and sat down with a book and a cup of tea when there was a knock on the door. I sighed and approached the door. My outfit would have to do; just a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, I wasn't even wearing a bra. I looked through the peephole and saw a tall blonde man with large glasses in a suit flipping through some paperwork. He looked vaguely familiar. I opened the door and he continued looking at his paperwork.

"Hello sir or madam. I am Mr. Malfoy and I am here on behalf of Gringotts. We need to discuss your missed payments on your house. May I come in?" And that's when he finally looked up. "Granger?" He looked me over with confusion in his eyes.

"Took you long enough to look up." I crossed my arms and leaned on the door frame.

"You look like shit, what the fuck happened to you? You looked better during the final battle."

"Thank you, that is exactly what I needed to hear from the fallen pureblood who is running menial errands for Gringotts."

"Wow, how original, I don't hear that at least once a day. Can we just get this over with? If I had realized this was your house I would have given this case to someone else."

"You can come in, would you like some tea?" I walked into the house and Malfoy closed the door behind me.

"Please, black if possible," He followed me to the kitchen and sat at my table. It was odd to see him without a sneer on his face. "Is Weasley here as well? It looks like all payments have been through his account." He was flipping through his paperwork.

"No, Ronald is not here, I doubt he even will be here tonight." I brought the tea over and sat across from him. He had stopped flipping through his paperwork.

"I had heard the rumors but I couldn't believe them. I thought if they were true you would have left him."

"Well, the rumors are true. He has a different companion each week. It's just how he's dealing with the war." Malfoy stared at me for a little while like he was trying to solve a puzzle. I just sat there sipping my tea.

"Well, we should work on this paperwork then. You two are seven payments behind, policy states that once you hit nine your home gets repossessed. It says here that someone contacted Weasley at the four payment mark however it does not go into details about that meeting. There are several options that we can get into. Malfoy looked up from his paperwork and watched me for a minute. I knew this was happening. I couldn't be angry or upset when I just let it happen. "Granger, what is your occupation? Weasley's is filled in with his monthly income which doesn't come close to your mortgage payment but yours is blank."

"I don't have a job." I felt his eyes trying to see through me. He was trying to figure out who the hell I was. I was too. Malfoy closed his file and pursed his lips.

"You are going to lose the house if you don't get a job." He looked concerned while telling me what I already knew. "Do you have any valuables you could sell while you look for a job?"

"No, everything was destroyed in the war." I took another sip of tea.

"Including you." I looked up at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You're clearly not who I remember." Draco stood up and gathered his file. "I will be visiting until you lose the house per my job, not that my visits are going to help." I suddenly thought that my tea looked very interesting. Draco made his way out of the kitchen then suddenly stopped and turned. "You can't just sit and wallow in self pity like the world has ended. The world doesn't stop just because you can't handle what happened; believe me, I tried. I lost the manor because of what side of the war my family forced me to be on. Every one of my businesses folded. I barely got this job. My parents are as good as dead rotting away in Azkaban. You have a hell of a lot more to live for and you are fucking wasting it. The Hermione I knew would never let her fiancé cheat on her with everything that walks. You were always in control and aware of everything. Nothing could get to you. I watched Bellatrix torture you and even then you were the strongest person I knew." He was yelling at this point. I could only stare at him like a child being reprimanded. I hadn't realized he saw all of this or even cared.

"Why do you even care what happens to me?"

Draco looked down at his shoes and then back at me.

"We were all in difficult situations. I acted the way I did to survive. I regret every word I ever said. I have always cared." He was looking at me with such passion. He was different then I remembered. During the war it looked like he was prepared to die at any moment. Now it looked like he had something to live for. "I'll be back next week at the same time. Thank you for inviting me into your home." He turned on the spot and left.

Why did he care?