Chapter Seven
Day Two
Monday morning came faster than it should have. Hermione's body felt as if it had been lacking something important and right away she knew she shouldn't have missed out on Mrs. Weasley's delectable spread for dinner. It left a hole in her stomach that a biscuit and coffee would not fill.
It was only her second day staying with him and he was nowhere to be found. The couch where he claimed he would sleep was empty which didn't concern her as much as it should have. In retrospect it could have been that she'd hurt his feelings when she attempted to pry into his personal life. Draco Malfoy was an entity from another universe as far as Hermione was concerned. He still had a way of making a person feel insecure about themselves but not in the same way he used to. Instead of bullying her he would tease her, which wasn't the far from home but it was relaxing to know he wouldn't verbally assault her anymore. Hermione hated to admit it but he made her nervous. She had wanted to get to know this new person with the same face but the opportunity never presented itself.
It took nearly all her courage to go to the bathroom, undress herself and get in the shower. Not knowing where he was while she was bare in his apartment made her feel edgy, and she didn't want another incident like the one with Harry. If another man saw her without proper clothes on before she was married she wouldn't allow herself to be called anyone's wife. She'd be ruined. Hermione locked the door and kept her wand on the sink counter in case something should happen. She didn't know what to expect from this "new Malfoy." He hadn't advertised that he was a different man but he didn't have to. The sole fact that he invited her into his home was a major difference in character. It seemed like "mudblood" was no longer in his vocabulary, for which she was immensely thankful. It wasn't a pretty word and she was so incredibly tired of hearing it. As she lathered up her hair and upper body she heard the unmistakable creak of the front door being opened and then shut, causing her to feel unsure of herself. Nothing seemed certain while she was naked within the same vicinity as another man. She couldn't hear much else over the shower water, but she rushed to clean the rest of her body and rinsed off, wasting no time as she put on fresh clothes.
It was unlikely that he stayed out all night. He didn't strike her as the "party animal" type, but she decided she didn't know him well enough to make any assumptions about him. With extreme caution, she opened the bathroom door and poked her head out. There was no movement that she could hear so she ventured out a little further and saw him passed out on the couch. It was weird living here and she just knew it would never be okay, at least not internally. He made her feel awkward and uncomfortable and it was only her second day. Fortunately she would be leaving for work soon and she relished in the fact that he wouldn't be there, but that he would be here unconscious. I suppose he did stay out all night, unless maybe, he slept somewhere else, with someone else? Never mind, it's none of my business!
The brighter side of things was her brand new wardrobe. As rude as Malfoy was for suggesting she needed better clothes, he had been right. Everything she owned was starting to get too small or outdated. She spent the rest of her Sunday at muggle and witch boutiques for a much needed shopping spree. Combinations of the two types of clothing were quite nice when done together correctly. A lovely winter ensemble now filled Malfoy's closet and drawers. She still had a few summer things to wear until it got too cold. Where his clothes were now was a mystery to her but she didn't have time to ask and he wasn't around to answer. Not that he ever answered her questions anyway.
The sun had just reached the horizon and she was ready to eat after depriving herself of a proper dinner. A glass of water and a bowl of porridge was all she had for dinner last night and it hadn't been enough. There wasn't anything quick to eat left and she didn't want to risk being spotted by Malfoy in his kitchen as she wasn't sure how he'd feel about it, so she apparated to a breakfast café located a few blocks away. By the look of things Hermione was the first to arrive. She made a mental note to go grocery shopping for the two of them and opened the door. It was barely seven o'clock in the morning but she had always been an early bird. Unlike a certain Weasley, whose mantra seemed to be "better late than never, right?"
Instead of driving herself up the wall thinking about him, she sat down at the table closest to the door and picked up a paper menu. It was ripped in some places and a few of the words were difficult to read because of how old and smeared the words were. Everything was written in green ink. With a quick and silent "reparo," she mended it and picked her favorite hot stew served with toast and an English muffin.
The waitress seemed impatient with her, regardless of the lack of customers. It's not like she has much to do. No tip for you then, missy. Hermione ignored her attitude and ate her food in peace. By the time she finished it was just half past the hour and she couldn't wait any longer to present her new proposal to her boss, Ella Wainwright. However she didn't arrive at the office until after eight. Hermione wasn't due to clock in until eight thirty. She frowned at her wrist watch and thought of apparating anyway, telling herself she could tidy up her office and hopefully put her in a good enough mood to promote her. As she picked up her bag she saw a telephone near the exit. It was as if all her problems had disappeared in that moment; no more staying with Malfoy, she could just call her parents and ask to stay with them.
Miss prissy waitress probably won't let me use it unless I leave a nice tip. Well that's just not happening, I'll use a phone booth. I think there's one on the next block.
She began her walk for the booth at a quick pace. There wasn't much time left before she had to go into work and she desperately wanted refuge. The last time she had been to Australia was to retrieve her parents and she didn't get much time to see the sights. The majority of her time was spent explaining to her parents why she'd sent them there in the first place. At first they'd felt a little betrayed. The Grangers never saw much of their daughter's talents because of the laws about underage wizardry and magic in front of muggles. But they came to understand the danger of the situation and, after all, they trusted Hermione's judgment more than anything and they knew she wouldn't have done it if it wasn't very important.
Hermione smiled at the memory of their reunion and rushed the rest of the way to the machine. She opened the booth and impatiently dialed her parents' other house number.
"Hello?"
"Mum? It's me, I was wondering if I couldn't ask you something."
"Oh Hermione, it's so nice to hear from you. You left so fast the other day, I was under the impression you forgot we would be leaving. It's so nice down here; your father's really enjoying himself all over again." A tone of whimsy laced Jean Granger's voice, something that always made her daughter smile.
Hermione could hear her dad in the background. He was more than likely in their backyard playing shuffle scrap, a game they'd invented when she was a little girl which was, in the simplest terms, a combination of shuffleboard and checkers.
"Yes, mother it's nice to hear from you too. I was wondering if I couldn't come join you two down there."
"Hmm," Mrs. Granger's frown was obvious even from over the phone. "I'm not so sure, dear. It's kind of like our little tradition, these trips we take at the end of summer. You know we take you with us at the beginning of summer and during the holiday season, but your father and I get so little time to ourselves these days. It's been very busy at work."
"I understand," Hermione's mood had fallen and her mother could hear it.
"Is something wrong dear?"
"No, no it's just rather boring here and I thought a change of scenery would be nice."
"I know what you need. How about a job change if you're looking for new scenery? You don't seem very happy with your work and you were always so passionate about becoming a doctor as a young girl. You could go to university now and try it for a little while."
It wasn't a bad idea but she had her career plan in check. Everything was under control as far as she was concerned. one day she was going to be the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and people would thank her daily for all the hard work she'd put in and accomplishments she had.
"Hermione, are you still there? I've got to go now; your father needs a little help with something. But don't forget that we're showing the house when we get back. We're thinking about selling and moving into a smaller space. After the fumigation the contractors are going to start remodeling and making it up nice for potential buyers. The new place we picked... it's closer to the office and the commute is less timely. We'll show you around once we're settled, all right?"
"All right mum." She hung up and exited the phone booth. This complicated things. Unless Hermione admitted she was completely wrong and stroked Ron's massive ego, she would be stuck at Malfoy's place until the super for their building returned. No. Staying at the Burrow is simply not an option.
On her way to the Ministry entrance, she found herself thinking more of Harry and Ginny's situation. She saw him just ahead of her and flagged him down to ask him if they resolved their issues.
"No, we haven't. She was jealous of you, Hermione."
Her eyes went up in surprise. "You must be joking. Ginny knows there's never been anything between us but friendship."
"I didn't mean jealous like that. She feels like I should have taken her with us when we went to search for Horcruxes. She thinks it was selfish of me to leave her there."
"Oh, please. I'm sure that is not the case. Ginny knows how important it was that we go and it wouldn't have worked well if she did come since Dumbledore didn't leave her anything in his Will. He had a plan for each of us. Besides, there's no way Mrs. Weasley would allow us to take Ginny with her and it was far too dangerous for her anyway."
"Yeah, well she doesn't think that way. She feels like she was in just as much danger staying at Hogwarts seeing as it was filled with death eaters."
"Where is all this coming from?" Hermione was very curious. Ginny never mentioned wanting to go with the trio and didn't say anything about it to Hermione.
"She just as much said that was the case. She said that the Death Eaters at Hogwarts were threat enough for danger and that they had an inkling about her... and Neville... being together and they didn't use it against them there so they wouldn't have used it against her and I if we took her along."
Hermione took a pause and looked down. They were in the Ministry and alone in the elevator. "I'm certain that she was only saying that out of anger. Ginny didn't want to go with us, she just didn't want you to break it off with her. Although she would have been in just as much danger if not safer coming with us. But there's nothing that can be done about that now, it's in the past."
"Not exactly, at least, not for Ginny it isn't. She fell in love with Neville Longbottom in my absence and she's says he's more than just a rebound. She refuses to listen to a word I say and insists I move on. What am I supposed to do?"
Hermione was in a bind. She loved Harry too much to see him down like this and she loved seeing how happy Neville made Ginny. It wasn't fair that he should ask her to pick sides. "Harry... you must be considerate of her feelings even if they are misplaced in your opinon. You should listen to her and move on," she said simply.
"What?"
"She's right Harry, there's nothing more to say. Even if her feelings of abandonment are unjustified she had every right to move on. She fell for you a long time ago and waited for you to feel the same way even after forcing herself to try and like other guys. I saw how much it hurt her when you started having feelings for Cho Chang, and it brought her down so much. If the only thing standing in between you getting her back was Neville then she wouldn't hesitate to take you back. But seeing as how you weren't together with her and she has real feelings for him, I say you should leave her to her happiness. Let them be."
"So I should just let her settle for him? How can you say all that? You know there was nothing that could be done! After Sirius's death I didn't want anyone else to die because of their connection to me. Moody was more than a reminder that I was the reason for all of the deaths going on and I couldn't bear to see her name on a gravestone. I couldn't have protected her even if I hadn't broken it off with her." Harry was having a hard time keeping his voice level but their location was preventing him from shouting too much.
Hermione sighed and took his hand in hers. "What makes you think she's settling for him, Harry? If he's been making her happy then of course she wouldn't want to go back to you, which is exactly why I say you let her move on. She's in a good place now. Look at it from her side of things for a moment. Should she and Neville break up and she wanted you back, would you take her? Besides, even broken up, people knew you had dated in the past. They still could have used her against you if they wanted to just like they used Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood against us. They knew we were friendly with them. That could have just as easily been Ginny in the Malfoy's basement. Don't you see? It isn't the fact that you didn't take her with you; it's the simple fact that she feels stronger for him than she does you. If that wasn't true she would have went back to you a long time ago. I'm sorry Harry, but that's just how it is. I hate to say it but she's probably just using those feelings of resentment as ammunition to tell you off."
"Even still, I can't let her go so easily. I want her back," he repeated. It was too weird talking about his love life out loud. He was still a guy after all.
"I know that, Harry. If you really love her then give her space. She might come back and she might not. But a huge part of loving someone is letting them be happy even if it isn't with you. It's maddening, trust me, but making her feel guilty about her decisions is only going to make her hate you."
He was silent for a while then turned to her. "You're right. Let me walk you to your desk."
"No, no, no that's perfectly okay. I can go back on my own. You go about your business and try to cheer up. If I were you I would start thinking of other places to live other than the Burrow."
"Are you sure? It's no trouble I can manage it before meeting the Head Auror."
"No, don't worry about me." She gave him a hug and a wave goodbye before speed walking down the hallway.
