A/N: My apologies for the wait, but real life does get in the way sometimes. Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, and special thanks to everyone who left me a review. It's always great to find those review notifications in my inbox. Now, on with the story.

Disclaimer: Sadly, the Harry Potter world is not mine, though I am having fun playing in it.

I want to change the world
Instead I sleep
I want to believe in more than you and me

But all that I know is I'm breathing
All I can do is keep breathing
All we can do is keep breathing now

All that I know is I'm breathing
All I can do is keep breathing.
All we can do is keep breathing

Ingrid Michaelson – Keep Breathing

Draco was really not sure how to react to the words that Hermione had just spoken, so he settled for repeating them. "You spent six months in Australia with Adrian Pucey?"

"Yes, I did."

"But . . . why? You do know he was in Slytherin, don't you?"

Hermione looked at him in incredulity before she laughed suddenly and unexpectedly, lightening the atmosphere considerably. "Really? I had no idea! Ade was a Slytherin?" She shifted to face Blaise with a playful expression. "Blaise! Did you know he was in your house?"

Blaise snorted, and behind Hermione an unlikely smile turned up the corners of Pansy's mouth. "I might have had an inkling, cara."

"Are you quite done mocking me?" Draco said sulkily, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm sure we could get some more mileage out of that one," grinned Blaise.

"Prat," Draco grumbled. He looked back to Hermione thoughtfully, wondering why she had spent so long in the company of the wizard who had been several years ahead of them at Hogwarts. He had never known Pucey well, having only associated with him through the Slytherin quidditch team.

"Let's all sit down, shall we?" Pansy motioned to the kitchen table and moved to take a seat, the others following after her.

Once they were all settled, Draco directed his attention back to Hermione. "So, Granger. Explain yourself."

She bristled slightly, all traces of humour wiping from her face as she straightened. "Let's get one thing straight here, Malfoy. I don't take orders from you. I never have, and I never will. Are we clear?"

He stared at her, holding back a flippant retort. "I suppose so."

"Good. Now then, about Australia. I had to deal with a personal matter after the war, and Ade was kind enough to offer to help me."

Draco quirked his head at her, both at the information that she offered, and her casual nicknaming of the older Slytherin. "He offered," he said dryly.

"To help me, yes."

"Just like that?" asked Draco skeptically.

"Yes. Just like that. I know it may be an unfamiliar concept to you, but it actually is possible for people to do things just to be nice."

"For some people, perhaps. But a Slytherin? Not likely," Draco scoffed.

Hermione rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Maybe that's how things work for you, Malfoy, and if that's the case then I feel sorry for you. But all of my best friends now are Slytherins, and I am quite confident in telling you that any one of them would help me if I needed it, no questions asked."

The blond raised an elegant eyebrow, genuinely surprised to find that both Pansy and Blaise were nodding in agreement with the war heroine. He was sure that when they were all in school together, none of his housemates would have acted purely out of altruism, much less openly acknowledged it. Seeing them do so now was quite a shock, and he was not at all certain how he felt about it.

"Fine, whatever you say. But moving on, Pucey volunteered to go halfway around the world with you, so . . . what? You just left? What about Scarhead and the Weasel?"

She sighed, but Draco noticed that she said nothing to correct his use of the derogatory nicknames. He also couldn't help but notice the comforting hand that Blaise, seated next to her, placed on the small of her back. "To answer your first question, yes. Ade offered to come along just a few days before I planned to leave; I had already arranged for an international portkey, so all he had to do was join me. As for Harry and Ron, well, they were unhappy."

"That's an understatement," Pansy mumbled. "By unhappy, she means that the three of them had a screaming match in the middle of the Ministry atrium on the morning that she left."

"I see," said Draco. He had been wondering why the male part of the Golden Trio had not accompanied her, and a fight of that magnitude would explain it. "Obviously, they didn't approve of Pucey going along with the three of you on your jaunt to Australia. You didn't warn them?"

"You misunderstand," Hermione said. "Ron and Harry were never going to come with me. They came to the Ministry that morning to see me off, and that's when they found out about Ade."

"Oh," Draco said, honestly startled. "I don't understand. This was obviously something important, if you were there for six months. And if Pucey found it in him to go with you, why weren't they planning to do the same?"

"Because they're selfish bastards who were too busy mucking about and doing absolutely nothing of importance to realize that their best friend needed them," Blaise muttered darkly.

"Blaise!" Hermione scolded him. "That's not true. Things after the war were difficult for everyone, you know that, and they were getting their lives in order. Harry was about to start auror training and Ron was preparing for quidditch tryouts."

"Hermione, don't even start," Pansy exclaimed. "You know as well as Blaise and I do that had they really wanted to help you, they could have postponed those plans easily. They chose not to go along, because they chose to put other things before you."

Draco looked on as his oldest female friend made her point in what was clearly an old argument. Hermione sighed, leaning into Blaise as she turned her attention back to the blond. "Never mind all that. The point is, even though they never planned to go with me, they were rather vocal in their disapproval of Adrian making the trip as well. I wasn't about to miss my portkey, so in the end I left with them still angry at me."

"And Pucey?"

"He came with me," she said simply. "Initially we both thought that I would only need his help for a few weeks at most, but things changed. I stayed in Australia for half a year, and Ade stayed the whole time." She sighed then, a melancholy look crossing her features. "We didn't speak until again until after I'd been there for a month. We had another falling out, and, well, I haven't spoken to either Harry or Ron since."

Draco took a moment to absorb this information, then quirked his brow at her. "So the Golden Trio is no more?"

"Ugh, I always hated that nickname," complained Hermione, shaking her head ruefully. "But, yes, if you want to put it that way, you are correct."

"Hmm," the blond hummed, well aware that he was still missing key pieces of information. "I suppose that helps explain why the three of you are no longer joined at the hip, but you never really told me why Pucey went with you. Or what you were doing in Australia, for that matter, not to mention how you ended up with Zabini here," he gestured at his old friend.

"No, I didn't. I may let you know more in time, but that is really all I am comfortable telling you right now. It's not as though you're one of my friends, you must admit."

Draco's eyes widened in surprise. Her blunt statement stung more than he cared to admit, but he could not deny its truth. No one could say that he and Granger were friends, and were he in her place, he would have revealed even less than she had. "I suppose I can accept that," he nodded. "But what happened after the three of you fought?"

"Well, I was terribly upset for a long time afterwards, and it sort of put my plans – what I wanted to accomplish while in Australia – on hold for a while. Eventually, I was able to do what I went there for, though the end result was very different from what I anticipated."

"Thank goodness for Adrian," said Pansy under her breath. Draco turned to look at her sharply, wondering what she meant by that.

For her part, Hermione only shook her head. "Yes, thank goodness Ade was there with me. He really helped me through a very trying period in my life."

"I see," Draco said, still not entirely sure what to make of the story. "And then? You came back?"

"Yes. I came back to England, got my own flat, and began work as a healer trainee. I got reacquainted with these two," she indicated Blaise and Pansy with a tilt of her head, "through Adrian, and eventually we all became close friends."

"Wait, so when you said that you haven't spoken to Potter and the Weasel since that falling out. . . "

"I meant it quite literally."

"Merlin, Granger, are you serious? I thought the three of you were inseparable! Best friends forever, and all that rot." The shock was clear on his face.

"Yes, well, apparently not," she said dryly. "Befriending even one Slytherin, never mind four or five of you, appears to be an unforgivable offense."

"Psh, you're better off without them, cara," Blaise assured her.

"Well, that is certainly true, much as I hate to admit it," agreed Draco. "It's their loss."

"I'm sorry?" questioned Hermione, astonished.

"Oh please, not that you're my favourite person or anything, but it's not as though it's some secret that you're the only reason those two are still alive," he said grudgingly. "Everyone knows that. I'm surprised those two can tie their own shoes without you there to supervise them."

Hermione flushed. "Oh. Thank you, I think."

He nodded curtly. "Don't think this means I like you or anything. But really, you were their best friend for how long, and they stopped talking to you because you made friends with someone from another house? Ridiculous."

"There, see?" Pansy looked at Hermione pointedly before turning to Draco. "We've been telling her the same thing forever, but it was ages before she listened. You're just confirming what we've been saying, and she can hardly say that you're biased because you're her friend."

Draco was confused. "What is she talking about?"

Hermione remained silent, casting her eyes downward. It was Blaise who spoke up to answer the question. "For a long time, Hermione was under the impression that she was to blame for the breakup of the friendship, at least in part. That she had done something wrong, somehow."

"Bollocks," said Draco bluntly. More than anything, he was annoyed. The idea that the witch in front of him, the witch who was nothing if not a survivor, had thought herself responsible for her friends' behviour – well, it rankled. "I don't like you, Granger, but it's hardly your fault that those two are gormless prats."

"Yes, well, I realize that now, and I suppose I knew it back then, too. It's just, at the time, the whole thing was so hurtful. It was all I could do to keep from falling apart completely. They had been such a big part of my life – my whole world, really – for so long. It was like. . ." she faltered, trying to think of the right words, "Like I had to remind myself how to breathe again, without them."

Draco grunted in disbelief. "Ridiculous. What was that last argument about anyway?"

"That doesn't matter right now. All you need to know is that we fought, and as a result we no longer speak."

He glanced at Blaise, who had started rubbing her back in soothing circles. "I see. And where do you come in, Zabini?"

The Italian gave Draco an odd look. "What do you mean, where do I come in? You know that Hermione and I got to be friends that last year at Hogwarts. We sort of lost touch after that, but then after she and Ade came back we all started spending time together."

"She and Blaise more or less picked up where they left off," Pansy added. "It was a little different for me; we never really spoke much during school, so it took me some time to get used to having her around."

"Understatement of the year," grinned Hermione. "If I recall correctly, the first time Ade brought me along to dinner and you were there, you asked what the bloody hell he was doing with that, as if I were a thing and not a person, then proceeded to ignore me for the rest of the evening. It took several outings before you would deign to acknowledge me."

"Yes, well, I never expected to be having dinner with a lowly Gryffindor, much less the muggleborn third of the Golden Trio. Status, you know."

"You're such a bitch," said Hermione with a straight face.

"Why thank you. And you are a complete shrew."

"Snake."

"Wench."

Draco's mouth fell open as he watched the two women exchange barbs, the growing smiles on their faces belying the words they spoke. When they noticed the usually taciturn blond gawking at them, they promptly dissolved into giggles, Blaise joining them in their laughter. Draco was even more dumbfounded. Since when did Hermione Granger do anything so girly as giggling? With Pansy Parkinson, no less?

"Oh, close your mouth, Draco," said Pansy as their laughter subsided. "What happened to your sense of humour?"

"He has one?" Hermione questioned dryly. "Don't look so shocked, Malfoy. Pansy is my best friend in the world, other than Blaise here. We're allowed to tease each other."

He frowned, still unsure of how to deal with a world in which Hermione Granger was good friends with his former housemates. "I see. So you came back from your Australian excursion, and decided snakes were better than lions. And you and Blaise?"

"What about us?" Confusion was clear on her face.

"Aren't you sleeping together?" he asked brusquely.

"What!" she exclaimed, quickly turning bright red. "No! Blaise and I are friends. Very close friends, but just friends."

"Mia is my best friend," Blaise shrugged, but did not offer any more information.

"So you just happened to spend the night here last night?" Draco asked skeptically.

"Well, no," she hedged. "I do have my own place, but I end up staying here more often than not, for various reasons."

"I see."

"No, I don't suppose you do, but that's all you need to know. Actually, you didn't need to know any of that, so what I should really say is that's all I'm willing to tell you. For the moment, at least."

Draco nodded shortly, not liking being deprived of the full story, but hoping that he would get all the details later on. "Fine."

"Good. Now, are you joining us for brunch?" She sighed when Pansy gaped at her, clearly surprised at the abrupt change of subject as well as the unexpected invitation to the bane of her school years. "What? Clearly he knows we are all going to brunch, and he may not be my favourite person but I have better manners than to purposely exclude him from a gathering of his friends. Myself excepted, of course."

Draco shrugged when they all looked at him. "Why not, I've no other plans at the moment. You're going out, I presume?"

Blaise nodded. "There's a new place in Diagon Alley that we haven't tried yet, we were planning to go there. Firesong, it's called."

"Okay. What time? And who is going, exactly?"

"We were planning to eat at 10:00. Mia, Pans and I will be there, of course, but Theo will be there as well."

"Nott?"

"Do you know any other Theos?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, no. I suppose I was half expecting that we would be meeting Gryffindors, but it seems you really weren't kidding when you said all your close friends are Slytherins. I am curious about why Pucey won't be there, though. After spending six months in a foreign country with him, I would expect a friendship to have developed."

Blaise winced, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close as she closed her eyes briefly, sighing. "No, he won't be joining us. Ade and I… it's complicated."

Draco's eyebrows shot up. "Complicated?"

"Yes, complicated. Complex. Difficult."

"Yes, thank you for the vocabulary lesson," he rolled his eyes. "But how exactly are things complicated?"

"Again, not something I am going to discuss with you."

"Oh, come on, Granger. What, did you have a horrible break up or something?" he mocked.

"Mind your own business, Malfoy," she glowered. "I am not going to answer just to indulge your curiosity or need to ridicule me."

"Who said I was going to ridicule you?"

"Prior experience. No one had to tell me."

He opened his mouth to retort, but quickly shut it again upon noticing Pansy's glare. "Fine. Brunch, then. Shall I meet you there?"

"We were all going to meet here and go over together, actually," said Blaise. "You can either hang around here with us, or you can go home and come back in a bit. We were going to gather here at quarter of."

"Fine. I'll head back to the manor for now, but I'll be back at quarter of ten."

"Great, we'll see you then. I'm going to go finish getting ready for the day," said Hermione, getting to her feet. Pansy quickly followed suit, trailing after her into the sitting room.

Draco turned to Blaise once the women were gone, assessing his friend coolly. The Italian returned his gaze, waiting for him to speak. The blond contemplated everything that had just been said before settling on, "I never thought I would see that day that Granger would choose Slytherins over her old mates."

"Well, to be fair, they were the ones to turn their backs on her first. They discarded her like so much rubbish, for nothing more than being willing to stand up for someone who was helping her. Also, that fight in the Ministry that she mentioned? Weasley lost that famous temper of his and called her a whore."

"You're joking."

"I wish I were. You can see why she was upset. Then when they finally contacted her again, it was only to demand that she come back to England and stop hanging around with Pucey. Well, you know how she feels about being told what to do."

"Ah."

"Indeed. On top of that, they never apologized for the fight in the atrium. That was the last straw for her."

"What about the rest? Weaslette and the other Gryffindors?"

"Let me ask you this. Did you ever see her spending time with housemates other than Potter and Weasley when we were in school?"

Draco started. "Huh. No, I suppose not. At least, not very often."

"Exactly," nodded Blaise. He glanced over at the grandfather clock in the other room, then stood. "Anyway. If you want to know more, you'll have to convince her to tell you. You really only got the bare bones, but it's not my story to tell."

Draco got to his feet, making his way to the floo and grabbing a handful of powder from the cloisonné container on the mantel. "Fine. Make no mistake, I will find out what happened, but I'll leave it be for now."

Blaise shot him a pensive look as the blond stepped into the fireplace and called out Malfoy Manor. "Any why is it so important that you know so much about Granger?"

Draco was taken aback by the question, and flabbergasted at what his friend might be implying.

When he landed at his childhood home, though, he was even more appalled at the realization that he had no answer.