Incomplete

Hermione thought she was about to suffocate. After her trip to the Ministry Ron had started working from home and ensuring she was never left alone. She spent every waking moment with him aside from going to the loo. Finally on the fourth day Ron woke her up at around ten in the morning, "Darling, I'm going out to work for a few hours today, okay?" He spoke to her as though she might break if he were to use his normal voice; it was like he was walking on eggshells around her meanwhile Hermione felt the same way about him in case she got a repeat of his behaviour from the other day. She'd never seen Ron act like that before and it had scared her.

"Oh." Hermione replied and nodded, "Alright then." She couldn't help but feel a little excited at the prospect of being left alone for a little while.

Ron seemed concerned, "Will you be alright by yourself? You won't leave?" He asked and she could see his face tighten slightly at the idea of her going out again, Hermione shook her head and he smiled, relief washing over his features. She loved his smile, and the way he could look at her like she was the only girl in the world. Hermione did love Ron, she really did. He leaned in and she brushed her lips across his gently. "I'll see you later."

Ron got up and left the room, she heard him go through the Floo and pulled herself out of bed, swinging her legs around and pushing herself to a standing position. She took a deep breath and went to go for a shower. The warm water felt so good on her skin and she relished being alone for a change, Ron was getting so overbearing. Hermione couldn't help but wonder if all of this was coming from something, perhaps Ron had found out she was having an affair and… Oh, her head hurt just thinking about it. She winced a little, feeling like there was some block in her mind.

She got out the shower and pulled a cream coloured silk dressing gown around herself, tying it tightly around her waist. The fabric felt so lovely around her skin and she smiled as she walked through the house. It was wonderful having the place to herself. She thought she heard the pop of an apparation outside but when all was silent for a couple of minutes Hermione shrugged it off.

There were four knocks at the door just a few seconds later as Hermione was about to go off and get changed into some actual clothes for the day. "Oh for goodness sake." The brunette muttered under her breath as she went to answer the door. "Hello?" Hermione asked as she opened the door. Harry stood at the other side awkwardly and Hermione smiled at seeing her friend.

"Thought you might appreciate if I came the muggle way and not through the fireplace." He said and she laughed lightly, opening the door wider to allow him in.

"Well I did hear you apparate in but the sentiment is there nonetheless." She said and pulled her robe around herself tighter as Harry closed the door behind him. "I'm just going to change into some clothes." She said and Harry nodded, "Make yourself at home."

She changed into some jeans and a white vest top, no sense in wearing anything more than casual when she was just going to be round the house with Harry, he had seen her in all states after all. "I just thought I would check up on you to make sure you were alright." He said and looked at her as though she might break if he spoke too loudly. "Ron was-"

"Oh Ron doesn't need to worry about me, I'm fine." She snapped, "Sorry I don't mean to snap but he's being a little suffocating." She said and sighed.

"He's just worried about you; he's scared you have another accident." Harry said and Hermione shrugged, she had a feeling the only reason Harry was here was to make sure she didn't leave the house for the day, but then she wasn't very sure if that was on Ron's part or Harrys. It was difficult not being able to trust her friends one hundred percent, but she couldn't when there was definitely something that they weren't telling her, something she was missing from her mind.

They sat in silence for a little while before Harry cleared his throat, "So, there's something I had been meaning to tell you before you had the accident, but it's a good thing I didn't since you wouldn't remember." Hermione chuckled at that before he continued, "Ginny's pregnant."

"Oh my god!" Hermione gasped and leaned over hugging Harry who looked extremely chuffed, "Congratulations! How far along is she? Is it a boy or girl? When is she due? How long have you known?" She asked, flooding him with questions.

"One at a time 'Mione!" He said and they both laughed, he had the largest grin on his face, Hermione was so happy for him. At the same time she felt a pang of sadness wash over her and she had no idea where it was coming from. She chose to ignore it and tried to shake the feeling off as she let go of her friend. "We found out just over two months ago, but Ginny wanted to keep it quiet for a while. She's going to start showing soon though, she and I fought over who got to tell you and Ron."

"And you won." Hermione stated, Harry nodded with a smile. "I'm so happy for you, have you thought of any names yet? Or if it'll be a girl or a boy?" She asked and Harry shrugged.

"I might like to name it after my parents depending on which gender it is but I don't know if Ginny would be up for that. We'll see." He said and Hermione nodded, Harry really did deserve to be happy, she was so pleased for him.

"Oh Harry, that is wonderful news." Hermione said, "Does Ron know?"

Harry shook his head, "I'll tell him later. I'll have to go into work and I'll see him there." He said and she nodded, it was such good news. Harry and Ginny would make great parents, she knew it.

After Harry left Hermione found tears skimming at the edges of her eyes, she told herself it was just because she was so happy that Harry and Ginny were having a baby but deep down there was a bubble of sadness in her heart so big she thought it might pop. But she couldn't work out why she was so upset, it wasn't as though Harry and Ginny having a baby should be upsetting news for her? She was happy for them, she really was. Nevertheless a couple of tears slipped down her cheeks before she was able to wipe her eyes, "Pull yourself together Hermione Gr- Weasley." She scolded herself and pulled a book down to read, reading always made her feel better anyway.

There was something inside of her that was waiting to come out, something she had locked away that she needed to discover. Hermione knew there was, she knew she would not feel this unsettled if everything were as great as everyone made out they were. But the trouble was how could she get those memories out? She doubted a pensieve would work, considering she needed to have the memories in the first place, and after looking through as many books as possible, Hermione couldn't find a spell to recover amnesia. There was one person who she was sure would tell her the truth, one person she could – perhaps – trust.

Draco Malfoy.

The brunette pulled some parchment out and a quill, she began to write a letter to the person she had supposedly had an affair with.

To Draco,

This letter is by no means an admission to the accusations and implications you made regarding our friendship back when I was in the hospital. However, I would be willing to hear your side of the story (and find out a little more about these years that I'm missing) and I think you might be the answer to all of that. Can we meet one day when Ron is at work?

Hermione Granger Weasley.

She sent the letter off with her and Rons owl and eagerly awaited the response, wondering briefly if she would even get one, Draco might have decided to hell with her and he would move on with his life. She was able to entertain the idea that perhaps something might have been there between the two of them as he knew things were not right at home, she knew. "You can't lie to yourself forever." Hermione murmured to herself and then thought she must truly be going crazy.

After about an hour, her owl returned with a letter back. She tried not to be too excited as she opened it, and of course it was from Draco.

Hermione,

Thought you'd never ask.

DM

That night when Ron returned from work (she had put the response from Draco in the false bottom of her drawer where the picture of the two of them was) he was over the moon about Harry and Ginnys news. "Can you believe it?! I'm going to be an uncle!" He said and picked Hermione up before spinning her around. She felt dizziness overcome her momentarily before laughing.

"I know! You'll be such a good uncle too, you're good with children." She said and Ron kissed her on the lips gently as he brought her to the ground, she smiled at her husband.

"And you'll be an aunt, can you just imagine?" He said excitedly and rushed into the kitchen to stuff his face with some food no doubt. Sure enough when he emerged there was a packet of Bertie Botts every flavour beans in his hand. He absent mindedly picked out a brown one and threw it back into his mouth before grimacing. "Eurgh! Compost!" He said and shook his head. "Always is a gamble."

"Did Harry tell you when he came into work then?" Hermione asked and Ron nodded, they walked over to the couch and armchairs in the living room and he threw himself down on the armchair.

"Yeah, he said he'd been round was everything alright? Were you okay?" Ron asked quickly and then leaned forward, checking her forehead and looking around for any signs of a bruise or injury.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped and slapped his hands away before smiling a little, "I was fine honestly. I think Harry just came round to check on me." She said and Ron seemed to calm visibly, she really did feel a bit molly-coddled. "I can survive a little on my own you know." She said and Hermione could swear she saw anger pass over Rons face as he turned away from her.

When he looked back it was with bright happy eyes, "I know that, I honestly do I just worry. How could I not? You're in a fragile state." He said and placed his hand on her knee.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Honestly Ron I feel fine." She said.

"You can't remember four years of your life Hermione how is that fine?!" He snapped, getting angry. His ears went bright red and she began to see the very same anger that she had seen the other day come out. "No, sorry. I'll calm down. I just worry; this can all be a fresh start for us, something new." He said and hugged her so tightly she couldn't breathe. Hermione felt a thought niggling at her yet again, if everything had been so fine then why would they need a fresh start?

xxx

The next day Hermione waited until Ron had left for work before getting herself ready, she put a little make-up on and did her hair, putting some nicer clothes on than she wore for Harry the day before and it was only after doing herself up that she stopped and realised that she had even done it. "Oh for merlins sake, why am I doing this? There's nothing between Draco and I. I just want him here for answers." She said and rolled her eyes at her own foolishness, it was almost an automatic thing.

She sent off an owl to Draco informing him that Ron was at work and precisely fifty minutes later she heard him coming through the Floo. Within seconds he was striding out into her living room and dusting off his robes. "Hermione." He said and smiled at her, glad to see her. She smiled nervously trying not to think about how odd it was for Draco Malfoy to be in her home.

"Draco." She greeted and gestured for him to sit down, "Please take a seat." He went and sat down on the couch and pulled a small vial of clear liquid out of his robes, placing it on the coffee table. "Is that veritaserum?"

"Yes." He said and raised an eyebrow, "I wanted you to be sure that you were hearing the truth from me."

Hermione shook her head, "But people skilled in occlumency can resist the potion." She said as though she were reading directly out of a textbook, "So how would I be sure?" She knew Draco was skilled in that area.

He laughed a little but more to himself and not to her, "Nothing ever gets by you Hermione. I promise I will tell the truth, plus I've never been all that good at resisting veritaserum anyway, just try it." He said and she nodded, still not fully trusting Draco yet, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to use some.

She poured him a glass of water and watched as he dripped three drops into the cool liquid, Hermione watched the ripples as each one went in before Draco picked the glass up and downed its contents. They waited in silence for a few seconds before Hermione cleared her throat and decided to begin asking him questions. "Alright, I'm not really sure where to begin." She said and looked over at him. "But I suppose I'll start with this. Were Ron and I happy before I had the accident?" She asked.

Very quickly Draco shook his head. "No, you were miserable actually. He might have been happy but you weren't. Otherwise you would've never come to me." He smiled smugly then and she rolled her eyes, "He wasn't treating you right at all."

"What do you mean? How so?"

"Well…" Draco seemed almost reluctant to answer but had to because of the potion, "He used to get angry with you a lot and try to control you, but you're bloody Hermione Granger, you can't be controlled." He laughed, "You argued a lot, well constantly actually."

"When did we start being unhappy? I mean I remember at my wedding four years ago we were perfectly happy." She said almost sadly.

Draco shrugged, "I'm not sure, everything seemed fine when you and I started working together three years ago. You were so happy then, almost bursting with it. And then one day you came in and you were really upset but you wouldn't tell me why, you never did." He said and furrowed his brow, "I never knew and it seemed to go from there, which was about two and a half years ago, we started seeing each other about two years ago." Draco explained and Hermione listened, soaking all of this in, she wondered what it could have been to upset her so much beforehand, it had to have been more than just a silly fight, but what?

She thought for a while about the next question, "And how did we start… I mean… what happened for us to…?" Hermione trailed off, unable to finish the question.

"Do you mean how did we start seeing each other on the side?" He asked and she nodded feebly, "Well at first we didn't get on at all, we were always sparring and fighting and jumping down one anothers throats, but that was how we were. Then we built up a routine where we would be civil for a while and then fight again, and then when you came in that day all upset, you'd lost your fight. It was really scary actually, and for ages you just got on with things and didn't really speak to me until one day you were crying. But you still didn't tell me what was wrong." He paused and cleared his throat. "Then one day you were really angry and we started fighting and then, we were just kissing. We had sex on the des—"

"Draco! Please!" Hermione held her hands up to her ears as though she didn't want to hear, "I don't want to hear all the dirty details!"

"You were there."

"Well I don't remember it." She snapped back and crossed her arms, feeling her anger flare back and Draco rolled his eyes.

"Want to?" He asked and she stared at him in absolute shock.

"Are you being serious? I'm asking you here to try and fill in my memories after I lost them and you're flirting with me?!" She exclaimed and threw her hands up. "I don't know why I'm surprised."

"You really shouldn't be." Draco shook his head and smiled, "It's so nice to fight with you again."

Hermione fixed her eyes on him, "So is that all we are? Fighting and sex, fighting and sex, rinse and repeat?" She asked and he was confused at her muggle shampoo reference.

"Rinse and repe-, what?!"

"Never mind. Is it though?" She rose to her feet.

Draco did too, "No Hermione we were so much more than that. Yes it started out that way but then we began to spend time together, we loved each other Hermione. We went on dates, you took me to muggle London more times than I can count because we were less likely to be seen, on our one year anniversary I took you to Florence in Italy, we were in love. You were going to l-" Draco stopped himself and looked away from her.

"What?"

"No, I shouldn't say it."

Hermione pushed further, "No tell me. Tell me Draco I have to know."

He seemed to hesitate, battling with himself before finally taking both her hands and staring her right in the eyes, she didn't think she'd ever seen someone look so intense in all her life. "You were going to leave Ron for me, right before the accident, you were going to leave him for me."

She felt like she had been hit in the stomach, winded. Hermione fell back onto the couch and gasped, it couldn't be true, it couldn't. She opened her mouth to say something but they were interrupted with the sound of the floo.

"Oh for fucks sake." She heard Draco say and looked up at him; they both stared at each other for a moment before he apparated out and she was alone for literally a second then Ron was walking out of the fireplace, had Draco really been there for that long? It had felt like minutes.

She looked at the clock and saw Ron had been gone for two hours, she greeted him with a kiss. "Are you alright?" He asked and she nodded, feeling quite numb.

"I'm just going to lie down, I'm tired." Hermione excused herself and went to bed, curling up under the blankets and shutting the world out. She had been going to leave Ron? It was hard to believe but still, was it true? Hermione was so confused and she had no idea what to think, she didn't know what the implications could possibly be if Dracos words were true.


So there we go! Chapter four is done! I was so pleased with the response to the last chapter, I don't know if it was because of what I said or because it's finally getting into it or not but I was so happy with all the reviews! I responded to you all individually, those of you with accounts, but if you don't have an account I can't reply. :( It was so good and it clearly motivated me to write a faster, and longer, chapter for you guys!

I hope you like it, I'm quite satisfied with this chapter and I think a few things came into light here, although maybe you're left with more questions. I'd love to hear them! What do you think had Hermione so upset? Merlin I'm worse than an English teacher, making you analyse my story. Still, I hope you liked it and please review! :) It'll motivate me ;)

Also I have a oneshot as well if you fancy giving that a go, it was a quick thing I wrote one night so it might not be particularly good but I still quite like it.

And I don't have anyone beta-ing this story but if someone wants to, please feel free to tell me and we'll work it out!

-dramionedarling