After being hugged and kissed by everyone in the Burrow Hermione looked around until she found Seth and Brenda. They were talking to Seamus who was articulating wildly and using his hands to describe some big thing. She guessed he was describing some magical event.
She sat down on the ottoman by the fire and let out a long sigh. She was emotionally and physically exhausted and hoped to steal a moment for herself.
She felt someone looking at her and turned around to see Draco, he looked apprehensive and nervous. She tried not to meet his eyes and turned around.
She loved Draco more than she loved anything (except her baby) but when she looked at him all she could see was the expression of anger he had on his face when she told him about her pregnancy. That night changed her perspective of him. Not that Draco had never been cruel to her, on the contrary. Most of the years they had known each other had been spent with Draco making Hermione miserable. But something changed during the war.
She would never forget being in the Final Battle and seeing him fighting on their side. Seeing him deny his father and the Dark Lord and publicly swear himself to the light in front of his parents and the Dark Lord.
The next couple of months had Draco living in headquarters while his parents were in Azkaban and his home was seized by the ministry. They placed him in headquarters because Sirius and Tonks lived there and were his only family and to separate him from Harry and Ron who still weren't convinced of his loyalty. He as still nasty to her but it seemed that there was no malice behind his words and he was just saying them for the sake of keeping something normal in his life.
Hermione lived in the headquarters too since her parents were still obliviated. The war had just ended and she was still trying to locate them in Australia since they seemed to have moved from where she had left them.
Harry and Ron lived in the Burrow, and for a while she did too but she told them she needed to be apart from them after living in such close quarters for months while on the run. Which was a half truth because she also wanted to be closer to Draco who seemed to be living in misery about his parents and the Order's general mistrust of him. She pitied him at first and his situation which no one seemed to be helping him with.
Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and baby Teddy also lived in headquarters. Together they had quiet dinners and didn't bother each other much outside of that. Draco never left his room in the beginning. He would shout at her and insult her like he did when they were younger but slowly she drew him out and they would spend entire nights talking in the library.
He trusted her and for some reason she trusted him. Sirius and Tonks learned to trust him too, knowing what it was like coming from a dark family and breaking the stereotype. Remus trusted Sirius and Tonks' opinion and extended that to Draco eventually. They were a happy little family in Grimmauld Place.
Occasionaly she would go to the Burrow to see Harry, Ron, and the Weasleys but she would never spend the night, always wanting to see Draco before she went to sleep. He seemed to feel the same way because whenever she would floo back he would be waiting near the fireplace for her return no matter the hour.
They would make a pot of tea and keep talking. They never ran out of things to talk about and even when they sat in silence it was comfortable. It was a friendship that was growing into something more. She felt a flutter in her chest when she saw him in the mornings. She would be reading and look up to see him looking at her. They innocently flirted and sometimes they held hands.
Harry's 19th birthday was hosted at a wizarding club, and the whole Order was invited but mostly the younger crowd was expected to attend. At first Draco didn't want to go to "hang out with Pot-head and the Weasel" but Hermione managed to convince him to come. She dressed in a tight red dress and did her makeup nicely. She remembered feeling really attractive and excited because she would be somewhere with Draco that wasn't the dusty old library amd he would be able to see that she was more than boring old Hermione. He of course dressed elegantly and it made her feel nervous when he looked at her for the first time that night. She could see he was attracted to her and she felt excited and scared.
Her, Draco, and Sirius (never one to miss a party) apparated to the club to meet the others who were already at the bar. She made a point to have everyone say hi to Draco and be nice to him. In the end she spent most of the night talking and dancing with him alone giving the excuse that she felt bad that no one else wanted to talk to him, so she would" but in reality she was glad that she had the opportunity to see a different side of her.
Contrary to popular belief she loved parties. She loved staying home with a good book but occasionally she craved the party scene. That night she was drinking with Draco and her friends and taking celebratory shots for Harry and got very drunk. Draco had to take her home for some reason, she couldn't remember. He apparated them into the hallway that held both of their rooms and was about to bid her goodnight but the combination of the party, the alcohol, and the way he was holding her made her feel like the best thing to do was grab his face and kiss him.
She remembered being so scared that he would push her away and break the kiss and call her a mudblood. But he returned the kiss just as passionately as she and they stumbled into a room which if she recalled correctly was his and kissed all night. They didn't have sex that night. Draco later told her that he was scared that she was only snogging him because she was drunk and didn't want to take advantage of her. But that night is what sparked their romantic relationship.
Months after that they kept their relationship a secret from everyone. They would sleep together in his room, they had their own floor so they didn't fear someone walking in on them in the morning. In front of Tonks, Remus, and Sirius they would mock argue and pretend to be annoyed with each other but they would laugh once they left the room. Those months were magical for Hermione. She was happy with Draco and didn't have to deal with everyone's opinions and criticisms.
Remus was the first to find out when he went into Draco's room one day looking for a book he lent Draco and found Hermione's bra on the floor. He confronted them about it that night before dinner and he told them he approved which motivated Hermione and Draco to tell Sirius and Tonks. They didn't seem surprised but that didn't stop Sirius from giving Draco the "if you hurt her" speech. She loved Sirius very much and had become close to him since she started living in his house. Tonks just gave her a look that said she wanted to talk about it privately later.
The Order had been slowly trusting Draco in the months before that. Sending him on small missions to track rogue Death Eaters and eventually he proved he was a competent member of the Order and good at tracking the death eaters since he knew their habits and mindset.
They started sending him on more and more missions which made Hermione very nervous. She would lay in his room and look up at the ceiling waiting for him to pop in and roll into bed with her. He came back to her every night except one.
She remembered having a bad feeling in her chest. After waiting hours after he usually arrived home she decided to go downstairs and find a task to occupy her mind. Sending him a patronus could give him away and put him in danger so she had no way to contact him.
She started washing the dishes from dinner by hand. She was looking out of the window in the kitchen into the darkness waiting for something to happen. She was worried out her mind and growing more and more impatient by the minute. Horrible thoughts were going through her head about him being dead and never seeing him again when a loud pop broke her silent worrying she turned around with a plate in her hand and saw him standing there intact and unhurt. She felt so relieved that she dropped the plate and jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around him and sobbed out of relief into his neck.
She opened her eyes but instead of seeing an empty kitchen she saw Harry and Ron standing there gobbsmacked. She remembered being so embarrassed and flung herself from Draco's arms and tried to play off what had just happened but Draco stopped her and explained that he took Harry and Ron out to a pub after their mission to talk about her and their relationship. He told her that he knew she was feeling bad about lying to them all the time and that she wanted their blessing so he got it for her.
The boys were obviously reluctant at first but they had grown closer to Draco since they spent time together during the missions and had to learn to trust him in dangerous situations.
They all talked for a while and eventually Harry and Ron went home. She and Draco finished cleaning the kitchen and went up to his room. And it was there in his bed with him laying next to her that she realized that she was madly in love with him.
….
Hermione hadn't let herself think about these memories for a long time. She had been repressing them for a long time to not have to deal with the pain of dealing with her lost love. But being in the Burrow and surrounded by all these people opened a floodgate of memories of her and Draco. But experiencing them here felt so much better than in her apartment in New York.
She looked up and saw Seth and Brenda approaching where she was sitting. She stood to meet them and they seemed shocked and tired. She felt scared that they would reject her because of her being so different like the muggles of her childhood. But as soon as they met Brenda and Seth hugged her and she laughed in relief.
"so are you coming back to New York or are you going to stay here Em- I mean Hermione" said Brenda
Hermione looked around and thought about where she should stay. Her heart screamed at her to stay here in the warmth of the Burrow and her friends and Draco but her mind told her that everything couldn't go back to normal so quickly. What Draco did was horrible and even if he didn't remember it she always would. Her heart would forgive Draco in an instant but her mind would take more convincing and Hermione was rational above all.
"I think I'm going to go home with you guys" she said looking at Seth and Brenda and they both sighed in relief
Seth hugged her and said "I thought we would never see you again Emily" She hugged him back and said "You can't get rid of me that easy Seth"
Harry and Ron were noticing the exchange between the three of them and surrounded them asking questions about what Hermione would do and who she would stay with.
"How can you leave if you just got back?" exclaimed Ron
"Stay at least for the night Mya" pleaded Harry
Her eyes searched the crowd who were all chatting and having dinner and found Draco looking at her expectantly. He wanted her to stay but wouldn't pressure her decision. Her heart ached for him but she would be strong. 'It is for the best' she told herself.
Turning to Harry and Ron she explained to them that all of her things were in New York and she had a job and doctor's appointments that couldn't be cancelled. They looked like two small children being told that their mom was going away.
"C'mon boys its not like you wont see me again I promise! I'll be back soon and you guys will be sick and tired of me" they all laughed at that but seemed worried. She realized they didn't trust her to come back and in reality what was stopping her from changing her name and going somewhere else in the world.
She met Draco's eyes and looked to the side, silently beckoning him to come over. They walked together to the staircase and sat down and much to her horror they barely fit side by side because of how huge she had gotten.
She wanted to tell Draco that part of her forgave him but the other part just needed time to forgive him. She felt sorry for him, having to be forgiven for something he didn't even remember doing. They sat together in silence and she put her head on his shoulder.
"Are you going to go to New York tonight" he asked
"Yes"
"Why?"
She sighed and looked at him and thought about what she would say hoping for some eloquent answer that would accurately portray her feelings and tell him what she needed to say
"I don't know" so much for a beautiful answer
He made to get up and she put her hand on his thigh to stop him
"You could come with me, at least for a couple of days and keep me company" she whispered and was afraid he would say no to her terms.
He turned to look at her and smiled so small that she wouldn't have seen it if she didn't know him.
"I'd go to the end of the earth if I was following you" and she could feel her heart flutter like it did before.
….
