Author's note: I just really wanted to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter; I really appreciated your input. This is my first fanfiction, so I would love to hear any construtive criticism you have for me. I'm currently looking for a beta, so if any of you think you might be interested in being my beta for this story please contact me.
Chapter 2
Hermione paused outside of Harry's room mentally preparing herself. How was she supposed to prepare herself for breaking someone's heart? She reminded herself that Harry wasn't actually in love with her but she knew that he wouldn't take it well regardless. She gritted her teeth and pushed open the door- only to find the room behind it to be Harry-free. A little startled by this as Harry had only been out of his room for meals in the past few months. Hermione began to close the door when the large moving photograph on the wall caught her eye. She walked inside and came to stand in front of the plasma-sized scene re-playing itself over and over again.
It was of a beautiful day at the burrow. Ginny, Harry and the Weasley boys had been playing four-aside quidich and Mr Weasley had given Hermione his camera so that she could sit in the shade and take pictures of them if she wanted to. She had always taken one when she finished a chapter. She had been reading Hogwarts A History and had actually dropped the book midway through a sentence to snap this shot of Ginny swooping towards her laughing her musical laugh. Ginny winked at her from the frame before she accelerated and in a whirlwind of red hair dodged Charlie and scored for the fifth time in a row.
A sad little smile crossed Hermione's features before she turned and headed out to look for her best friend.
She found him forty minutes later up in the attic, looking calmly out of the window with Hedwig sitting on his arm.
"Hey,"
"Oh, hi Hermione. Lovely weather isn't it?" he said gesturing to outside the window, where a fork of lightning flashed across the sky. Hermione nodded absentmindedly, wondering for the thousandth time how to delicately approach the subject or whether to just rip off the metaphorical band-aid.
"You know this place is dusty and cramped enough to remind me of my old cupboard under the Dursley's stairs." Hermione scowled at this.
"Do you want me to enlarge it a little and I can set up more cleaning spells-"
"No, no don't bother. I don't mind remembering." Hermione got the feeling that he wasn't just referring to his time with the Dursleys.
"Harry we need to talk about the engagement."
"Hmm, I guess we do. So have you started planning the wedding yet?"
"Well no, not exactly."
"Blimey 'Mione, are you feeling ill or something? I would have thought that you would have everything organized down to the last flower arrangement within 48 hours." he teased lightly, finally looking away from the window and at her.
"Harry I'm not so sure the wedding is a good idea."
Hermione blurted, looking away from his face and at Hedwig instead. So much for Gryffindor courage, Granger she thought. When she glanced back at him she was surprised to find him looking at her with a bemused expression.
"Hermione, are you telling me you want to elope? Because if you are I'm going to have to ask you a few questions to make sure you're actually you." outright laughing at her now.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm not trying to tell you I want to elope."
"Well, what's going on then?"
Before Hermione could answer there was a loud 'CRACK' and Dobby appeared in front of them, his numerous hats teetering precariously on top of his head, his bat-like ears quivering anxiously.
"Harry Potter, sir! There is Ministry officials banging on the door, demanding to see you, sir! Dobby hears them talking. They wants to take away the Miss! They says she is under arrest." Harry and Hermione exchanged looks. Dobby looked down at his mismatched socks and then up at Hermione "Did Miss do something bad?" he asked.
"Not that I know of," Hermione thought about everything that they could have on her. She hadn't done anything illegal since the end of the war and even then it had usually only been morally grey or necessary to bring down Voldemort, all which she had been pardoned for due to her role in his downfall.
"Hermione leave. If they have a warrant for your arrest they will take you to Azkaban until I can sort this out. But they can't do that if you're not here. Go hide out somewhere for a while. I'll send Dobby to get you once I've sorted this out. Go."
Harry got up, Hedwig hooting with irritation at being jostled from her comfortable position on his arm, and wend downstairs first. Just as Dobby popped out of the attic Hermione remembered her wand was on the nightstand. She also remembered what else she had left by the nightstand. She broke into a run.
That kiss. Despite having become friends over the past several months, once she saw what he was about to do she had still expected his lips to be as cold as he had been towards her during their school years. But no, his lips had been soft, warm and generally very pleasant to kiss. Hermione skidded around the corner and flung open the door to her room. Draco was was the picture of relaxation lounging in the seat that she had vacated earlier and was reading her copy of Magic Most Evile.
"Interesting choice for an ex-deatheater." she quipped as she grabbed her wand and summoned her beaded purple bag that she still always kept prepared for emergencies.
Draco raised an eyebrow at her and closed the book.
"How did Potter take it? He's not kicking you out is he?" Hermione had summoned her coat and umbrella and was zipping up her boots, while a large portion of her books cleared themselves off her shelves and climbed into the purple bag.
"No but in about a minute there will be ministry officials all over the place trying to arrest me."
"That bad? I didn't think he had it in him to arrest you just because you rejected him. How very Slytherin of him. If I recall correctly, my father mentioned an aunt did something similar. Of course, her lover ended up dead but only after she framed him for a very messy murder... What?" He stopped talking when Hermione gave him a look that would have stopped a stampeding hippogriff in its tracks.
"Okay, one, I didn't have time to tell him before Dobby came in and told us about the ministry clowns waiting for me. Two, Harry and I aren't lovers. And three, let's go before they arrest us, please."
He grasped her elbow and the disapparated with a soft pop.
