*Thanks, as always, goes to Couer de Danse, EmoPrincess21, Meridian13, Nicky ninja, Nobody has no body, chapou69, katnisscato28, kay-felis, pettybureaucrat, , Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, EmilyBarbaraand, HarryPGinnyW4eva, Wolfisis, irishgirl686, lisa8, redbone85, soareedustwdgirl29, team.114, witbeyondmeasure92, wintersong1954 for the follows. You guys continue to blow my mind. I might have missed one of you or repeated one of you and if I did I'm sorry about that. It's been a while (I know, I know, sorry) and I'm just slightly confused what is what…

A special thanks to Emilypooh Luvs Trueblood and LaBan 2013 for the favorites. I'm so glad my story means so much to you.

And my eternal love goes to SummerFruit, (thanks for the point about elementary schools and when I have time and remember I will definitely change that. Seriously, really helpful. I always forget different places can have different words, even in English.) ASJS, (very creative theory and I didn't think it through all the way…definitely not as much as you, but I wouldn't worry about the charm too much. I just have it in place so Hermione and Malfoy's relationship can develop easier. The question is, how is their relationship going to be when it's public?) and Couer de Danse (thanks so much! I'm glad you're loving this story so far.)

I forgot to add, sorry please forgive me, Wolfisis and ttt for the reviews. I'm glad both of you love the story and I think updates will be happening frequently now :)

In other notes: I'm very aware it's been longer than I promised. The trip was longer than I thought and then I had a couple days of really bad jet lag. I still can't stay awake past eleven which is just sad. Anyways…the updates should come much faster now because I don't have any trips or anything planned. I do start school in two weeks but school, and definitely the start of it, shouldn't hinder me much. I love you guys and please stick with me. This story is worth it.

The next night over dinner Hermione apologized for disappearing the day before. It had felt like the right thing to do at the time but when she'd gotten home that night Ginny had been so worried that she'd done something wrong; handled the situation in an inappropriate way or something. Harry, who had, of course, seen Hermione before, had spent the last couple of hours trying to calm her down and reassure her that Hermione was alright and getting the attention she needed.

"Oh, Hermione," Ginny sighed. "There's no need to be sorry. I overreacted. I should've realized that it was going to be hard to talk about it in the beginning, even with us. And I even understand going to Malfoy, as he witnessed it and saved you from it; you don't have to fill him in. Okay…I don't understand but I'm trying to," Ginny finished, placing her hand in Harry's.

"It's not complicated. I think…I think he might be my friend."

"Huh?" Harry said, confused. "Malfoy? Are we talking about the same person because if we are then the better question would be what happened to Hermione Granger?"

Hermione shot him a patronizing look. "Nothing happened to me. He's…I don't know how to explain it right but he's changed. He's different from when we went to school. He's still an arrogant bastard but he's not cruel or vindictive anymore…or a coward. War did something to him just like the rest of us. It's taken a long time for me to have an open mind about it all but he's been there for me and I trust him. I hope it isn't misplaced."

"You still aren't sure?" Harry asked.

"Well of course not. It's still Malfoy. I don't want to be unprepared and get hurt."

"You'll have to bring him over for dinner sometime," Ginny declared.

"It's not like that, Gin, and he would absolutely hate it. And so would Harry." Harry nodded agreeably along with Hermione's statement. "Besides he still can't leave his home."

"Well if it does turn into something like that you have to. Promise me."

"It's not going to." Ginny stared her down until Hermione grudgingly promised. It just seemed like a ridiculous one. She wasn't going to fall in love with Malfoy. She wasn't that stupid or masochistic. She hoped. Every once and a while it felt like if she took an interaction one step farther she could fall in love. She wasn't that open minded yet though and generally uninterested in a relationship with her childhood bully. I mean, who did that? Didn't stop her brain from thinking about it though. She would often claim that she simply wasn't interested in a relationship, period, to calm her thoughts, but it was always a lie and didn't fool her.

At work the next day she finally got the law she'd been trying to pass for ages through. The stiff conservative assholes had finally seen what she was talking about. It was the same thing every time and yet every time she tried to pass something they needed to be reminded of the plights of muggle borns in the magical society.

Part of her wanted to go back to Malfoy's the very next day but the last thing she wanted to appear was desperate or needy. Although something told her he wouldn't mind all that much. And honestly, she hadn't been spending much time with her friends recently.

After work her and Ginny decided to go shopping in Diagon Alley.

Hermione needed a couple replacement robes for the ones that were becoming worn and Ginny wanted some ice cream from Fortescue's which was now run by his son and she also wanted to browse Flourish and Blotts for any of the lastest books that might be of interest to her. Hermione was always up for a bookstore. Ginny also suggested they stop by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to see George…check up on how he was doing. The attack had been a long time ago but Hermione had hardly even asked about him. It wouldn't be a bad idea to drop in and say hi. They apparrated into the Leaky Cauldron, tapped on the right brick, and then stepped through the open doorway onto the very familiar street. It wasn't as busy as usual, considering the later time that they had arrived, and they stopped first at Madam Malkin's Robes, since Hermione's need was most pressing and they weren't entirely sure when the stores were going to close up shop for the day.

Madam Malkin was as friendly as usual and commented on the beautiful women both girls had turned into. Hermione got three new sets of plain black robes for work and one forest green pair for fancier attire and then they set off to Fortescue's. Ginny ordered a hazelnut chocolate ice cream and Hermione ordered one of the many sundaes that the shop had to offer with extra hot fudge. Her parents had always slathered the fudge on when she had been a kid and she'd never been able to break the habit.

The two girls grabbed a table outside with their ice cream and they watched the people walking and chatting as they ate. They didn't say anything until they were both done and Hermione sat back into her chair, getting comfortable, and murmured, "God that was so good. I needed that."

"Ice cream does fix everything," Ginny agreed happily.

Hermione smiled at her best friend who smiled back, but only briefly. "Hermione, I just want to say something. Can I say something without you interrupting or shutting down?"

"What is it?"

"I know that a really horrifying experience happened to you recently and that you don't want to talk about it. I wouldn't want to talk about it either, I'm sure, but I would like to point out that if you do, you'll heal faster. It's like horses pulling a cart. If there's only one horse the cart isn't going to move as fast and that horse will be exerting much more energy but if there's multiple horses the cart is moving faster and the horses aren't having to pull as hard. I want to be the second horse."

"You're comparing yourself to a horse."

"I like horses," Ginny said defiantly. "Listen, I don't really want to know what happened. Not really. I know that whatever you have to say will disgust me and make me scared, worried, unhappy, and disturbed but I can't leave you alone in this."

"I'm not alone."

"You're telling me Malfoy is a horse, aren't you?"

An image of Malfoy as a horse popped into Hermione's head and she burst out laughing. It took Ginny a minute to realize what she'd said but then she joined in, appreciating the image in a different way than Hermione. And once they started laughing they couldn't stop. Sometimes Hermione would stop and Ginny would begin calming down but then they would look at each other and it would start back up again. Hermione felt the weight of unease and paranoia disappearing the longer she laughed and she realized she was going to be okay. She didn't need horses, as Ginny so eloquently put, she could tug this all by herself. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to tell her friends so they were still confident in her trust in them.

Ginny and her kept agreeing they weren't going to laugh anymore and eventually it was true. They were both gasping for air and holding their stomachs.

"Okay," Hermione sighed, and she launched into the story of what had happened. She went over every gruesome detail, not avoiding a thing and Ginny was the perfect listener. She gasped at all the right moments, appeared uncomfortable at all the right moments, and grasped Hermione's hand in hers at the perfect time. Hermione was suddenly very glad that Harry had decided to marry Ginny. They hadn't ever been close when they'd attended Hogwarts. Sure they would talk when they were around each other and they didn't go out of each other's way to not do so but it hadn't been until Harry had joined his life with hers that they really began to see each other all of the time. They'd become fast friends once it had been jump started by Harry and Ginny's relationship and quickly they'd become inseparable. And as Ginny was listening intently to her story, Hermione wished she'd spent more of her life being friends with Ginny. She would've understood her concern with exams and homework, her brief fling with Viktor Krum, and the times she sided with Harry instead of Ron, however painful it was. Ginny was compassionate and understanding of everything Hermione had ever told her.

When Hermione was finally done reliving the story, they both remained silent, still clasping hands. "I don't think we're going to make it to George today," Ginny said. Then she stood, tugging Hermione with her, and they walked arm in arm to Flourish and Blotts. Ginny let go of Hermione once they were inside and the girls split up as they got lost in the maze of books both literally and figuratively. Hermione stroked the spines as she walked down aisle after aisle, occasionally pulling a book from it's place and reading the back to see if she was interested in diving into the topic of which it was concerned. By the time she got to the front desk she had three books and she handed over the proper amount of money without complaint, hugging the books to her chest.

The day had been the best thing Hermione could've asked for. She was curled up into bed now reading one of her new books and she'd taken a long bath just before. Her muscles were calm, her brain was fuzzy with pleasure and she knew that her sleep was going to be ideal tonight. She felt completely healed. She was aware that was almost impossible but the healing process had to be in gear. She was going to have to thank Ginny again in the morning. Maybe get her something.

She read her book until she woke up in the morning. Her bedside light was still on and the book lay across her chest. Her neck was cramped up from the uncomfortable position it had been in all night but all the same she was rested. And that had been far from happening in the last couple of days. In fact, Hermione wasn't sure she'd actually been sleeping before now. This felt very different from the "sleep" she had been getting.

She got out of bed and stretched her hands high above her head, waking up her body and feeling out her muscles. She padded downstairs, still in her pajamas, and ate some cereal at the table. Both Ginny and Harry joined her a couple of minutes later with their own bowls of cereal. Harry wasn't a morning person at all so Ginny and Hermione remained silent so that he wouldn't rip their heads from their shoulders. It was that bad.

Hermione went back upstairs and got dressed for work. She wanted to wear something nice today, even though it was a casual day at work, so she slipped on a skirt that was almost too short to be professional and a dark red top that clung to all of her curves and dipped low enough to show a little cleavage. There was a beautiful bow in the back of it so she pulled her up into a slick bun so that it was visible then grabbed a black leather purse out of her closet and transferred the contents from her pink purse over with a wave of her wand before apparating to work.

Work was fine and very normal, to Hermione's relief, and when she got back to the Potter's that night something less normal became apparent. Nobody was home. Hermione was shocked into a frantic paranoia that she knew hadn't quite disappeared, clearly it had just needed a catalyst, and ran around the house trying to find some sign of a person, dead or alive, or a note. She checked the kitchen last and found that she should have checked it first to save her all of the trouble because anti-climatically there was a note placed very obviously on the kitchen table. Hermione walked over, trying to calm her breathing, and smiled when she saw Harry's untidy scrawl.

Hermione,

We went out for dinner with Ron and his new girlfriend. He wouldn't tell us who she is so don't ask. Not that you can. Anyways, Ginny kind of figured you wouldn't want to come so we left without you. I have no idea when we'll be back because Ginny thinks it's polite to hang out and socialize whereas I would prefer coming home as soon as possible. I bet I won't like this girlfriend. Scratch that, I should be positive. This is my best friend I'm talking about. Point is, we'll be out late so don't wait up or at least go do something fun. At least have more fun than I will. And yes you'd be right if you think Ginny was not supervising this note.

Love you,

Harry

P.S. You should teach me how to make my wand write things down for me because I know it's possible and probably totally easy, but I wrote this by hand and now that very same hand is cramping a bit.

Hermione laughed at the postscript and crumpled up the note in her hand before tossing it into the garbage can. She hadn't been expecting such a wonderful opportunity to see Malfoy without getting any crap about it. She bustled around the house trying to decide whether she should inform him first that she was coming and whether or not she should change her clothes. They were probably too formal for hanging out with a friend. She eventually decided not to do either. Malfoy had told her she could never impose anymore and seeing as he couldn't really leave his house, or at least his street, he probably wasn't doing much. And she didn't change her clothes because despite every reason that would make it seem like a good idea, she felt sexy. Really sexy. And that was awesome.

She knocked on the door and re-considered her decision not to tell him that she was visiting. It was later than she thought it had been and he was probably relaxing for another night alone and didn't need or want company. Maybe he was even having dinner. God, she was being so rude.

But, without fail, Malfoy came and answered the door. He blocked her way as was becoming customary and smiled down at her. Not smirked, smiled. He was happy to see her. That made all of Hermione's worries dissipate and she smiled back.

"Hi," she said. Malfoy had an expression on his face as though he'd been knocked out. Very strange. What had he been doing?

"Hi," Malfoy replied. He couldn't imagine why she'd wore that for a social visit but she was a total knock out. He had no idea where to look. It was too much.

"Are you going to let me in?"

"Nah, I thought I'd let you just freeze outside a little longer," he laughed, recovering quickly, and stepped aside, "Of course I'm going to let you in. What are you doing here?"

"Harry and Ginny went out on a double date and it's kind of weird being alone in a house that isn't actually yours. You're not sure what to do with yourself so I thought I'd come and say hi."

"Well you did that. Would you like to leave now?"

"Oh fuck off," she laughed shortly, "You know I don't."

"So who'd they go on a double date with?"

"Ron and his new girlfriend. Apparently he wouldn't say who she was so I don't actually know who I've been replaced with."

"I forgot you guys had dated. How was that?" Malfoy smirked.

"Don't start insulting my friends. That isn't going to help your case at all. But it sucked, yeah. Not because he wasn't amazing but because there wasn't any sparks or chemistry really and we needed that to survive. I mean, we were already best friends so…"

"So chemistry is important to you then?"

"Yes, of cour…why do you care?"

"I know that you didn't ask me but if I think we would have some fucking awesome chemistry, judging by how well we fight and irritate."

"You're right, I didn't ask. Let's stop talking about this. What were you doing when I came and interrupted your evening?"

"Honestly," Malfoy began, "I was sitting on my couch and staring at a wall considering my place in this world."

"You are full of so much shit."

"I was napping actually."

"Oh. Why the hell are you napping like three hours before it's socially acceptable to go to bed?"

"Because I have officially run out of things to do. I'm tired of reading the books that I own, I'm tired of eating the food I have, and I'm tired of trying to learn new things and become a more enlightened individual. I never even wanted to be enlightened about anything. So all I do is sleep and eat these days. Or try to sleep. Luckily you come often enough that I don't get tired with those things either."

"We need to get you something to do."

"I agree. If it gets really desperate I'm going to start journaling and I promised myself the moment I was born that I wouldn't never be a man that journaled. It would be unfortunate if I had to break that promise now."

"Hmm…well I don't have anything for you now but at least while I'm here you don't have to nap."

"Are you sure you don't want to nap? I'd be okay if we both napped…cuddled…" he smiled cheekily.

"Would you stop flirting with me, please? We're friends. That's it. That's all we'll ever be, Malfoy, so don't make me unnecessarily angry," Hermione huffed.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just in a mood tonight. It might have something to do with almost being bored to death, literally. I'll stop."

"Thank you. How about we play a game?"

"Game? This doesn't mean the game we played last time, right? Because that was horrible. I mean, learning about you was fascinating but telling you about myself was not nearly as memorable."

"Why don't you like talking about yourself? Most people do, you know."

"Because I haven't even come to terms with what has happened in my life. I can't share my life with people if I keep trying to suppress it. You know more about me than anyone besides my parents has ever known about me," Malfoy admitted.

"What about your friends at school?" Hermione asked. She was slightly taken aback by the direction of the conversation. She'd expected Malfoy to answer her question with some cheeky response or to shoot a question back at her, but instead he had decided to get personal. Hermione wasn't complaining, but it was strange. Either way, she was definitely going to run with it.

"In Slytherin? Have you been around those people? I'm not saying that I didn't like them or that I didn't belong there or that I'm not proud of it but you can't reveal any sort of weakness to any of them. Most of us are ambitious and will do anything to survive and if bringing a person down until their crawling on their knees is the way to do it, then there will be no question that it's done. Besides, I haven't ever wanted to tell anybody. I didn't even really want to tell you."

"Then why did you?"

"I don't know," he whispered, shifting his eyes away. Hermione watched him closely, trying to catch his eyes with her own, and she quickly understood that he did but he didn't want to tell her. She wanted to press him with questions until he was as this as a piece of paper but she knew she had to let it go. Partially because she knew what the answer was and knew that he was right not to tell her. It was likely she didn't actually want to know his answer.

"Not that game," whispered Hermione into the silence. It sounded like she was yelling. "I was thinking something more like a board game. Sorry or Life or something."

"What are board games?"

"Oh we are so playing a board game. I'll be right back. Don't move." And she apparated out of the house.

Before Malfoy could even actually move, Hermione was back with a box in her hands that read "Life" in large, vibrant colored letters. Malfoy gazed at it curiously and Hermione set the box on the ground right where they were, still in the entry of the house, and began pulling out the pieces. Malfoy sat down across from her and watched as she assembled the board. Even though he was focusing intently on what she was doing, he still didn't understand what exactly they were going to do or what he entailed. So instead, he watched the little furrow between her brows as it crinkled and unwrinkled depending on how much focus she was exerting at the time. He wanted to run his thumb between the middle of the fold and kiss her brow. "Ugh," he thought to himself, "If you're going to think about things you shouldn't at least think about sex, not stupid sentimental things like kissing eyebrows." Of course, with that reprimand he found himself thinking about sex. He was really going to have to learn how to control himself before this got out of hand.

"Okay," Hermione said, tugging him out of his spiraling descent into trouble, "So these are cars. Things Muggles use for transportation. You get a car and I get a car. It's the marker for where we are on the board. What color do you want to be?"

Malfoy was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed, "Er…green, I guess."

"Oh stop worrying. It's just a game. I'll be yellow then. Okay so this thing here in the middle, with the numbers? You spin that each time it's your turn and it tells you how many spaces you get to move across the board. Now would you like to go to college?"

"What?"

"Well the perk of going to college is you get a choice when you have to get a job and some of the jobs require a college degree but you do have to pay money for it which means you start at a disadvantage."

"Er…"

"College it is then," Hermione laughed, placing her piece at the college entrance as well. She proceeded to explain all of the rules of the game and what some of the spaces meant and how to win. Malfoy still had no idea what was going on but he was willing to try because Hermione seemed to think moving a piece of plastic around a board was fun. He shifted so he was a tiny bit closer to her, which she didn't appear to notice and they played.

Hermione ended up winning, understanding the perks of the jobs better and ending up with the yellow salary card, but Malfoy was surprised to find that he'd actually had fun. Not only that but he wanted to play again and this time, he wanted to win.

They played three more games and by the third game Malfoy had finally won his first game. Hermione didn't want to end on a bad note so they set the board up one more time but by the end they were both stealing each other's money very obviously that they decided it would be more constructive to start throwing the money at each other. Hermione was trying to hoard the hundred dollar bills and Malfoy was trying to hoard the fifty dollar bills. It wasn't long before Hermione had sneakily gathered all of the hundred dollar bills but Malfoy had one in his grasp. Hermione reached over and tried to snag it out of his hand but he held on hard. She kept tugging and they kept moving closer and closer to each other until Hermione was lying all the way on the ground and Malfoy was hovering over her as they both still wrestled for the bill. Then Hermione gave up as she burst into laughter and flung her bills into the air, showering Malfoy's head with them. She laughed even harder when she saw the paper decorating his head and he moved down to tickle her for revenge. She wasn't laughing anymore but gasping for air. You would have thought she was being strangled if it wasn't for the smile on her face and her hands reaching for Malfoy's stomach as well.

Malfoy ceased tickling first and rolled over so that he and Hermione were lying right next to each other, their head's arched so that the tops of them were touching. They were both breathing hard and their hearts were beating fast, although Malfoy was no longer sure why his heart was beating this fast. He couldn't remember being this close to Hermione or being so entranced by the lovely smell of her perfume. Or how her hair spiraled out across the carpet and slightly over his face and how absolutely blissfully happy she looked. She was so beautiful.

Hermione rolled over onto her side and leaned her head against her hand as she smiled at him. "See? Wasn't that fun?"

Malfoy nodded, flipping himself over the same way so that their noses were practically touching. Hermione was shocked by the sudden closeness and wriggled back a bit so that the distance was more appropriate and less confusing. She shouldn't be confused right now. Malfoy was still staring at her, unblinkingly and Hermione couldn't break his gaze. She wasn't even sure she wanted to.

"Snap out of it," she thought to herself. "This can't be fucking happening." At that, her eyes flicked away and Malfoy, who had been holding his breath, let it out and returned to his back and staring at the ceiling. The longer he stared at it the more he realized this was the last thing on earth he wanted to be doing.

"Fuck this," he said aloud.

"What?" Hermione said.

"I didn't mean to say that out…you know what, yeah. Fuck this. I know what I'm about to say isn't going to be helpful and that you don't want to hear it and that technically we definitely aren't ready for something like this but I'm done sitting here pretending that something isn't happening here…to me at least. I used to be one for avoiding anything that terrified me but you're strong and I know you would do it if you were in the same position as me."

"Malfoy," Hermione whispered, "Whatever you have to say, just say it. Stop rambling."

"I'm into you. And I don't mean into you like I really really want to have sex with you. I mean I do. That would be great but that's not all I want. Earlier, when I was watching you set up the game, I wanted to run my thumb down that crease right there," he said, reaching over and running his thumb down the very same crease now, "And I wanted to kiss your brow. I've never thought about a woman like that and every time I do I try and tell myself to stop but it's becoming pointless. I want to know everything about you and whenever you leave I want to beg you to stay. I want to beg you to never ever leave. And I don't know what that means for us or for me, even, but I do know that more than anything I want to kiss you. I want to kiss you so bad. I wanted to five seconds ago and I want to now. And I don't want it to be like the first time I kissed you so I won't make a move but I think it's time you knew where I stand."

Hermione cast her eyes downwards, towards the carpet and frantically began chewing her fingernails. "Malfoy…I…er…"

"I know. I'm not stupid. You are definitely not on the same page with me. Just let me know when you are, okay? If ever."

"Okay," Hermione whispered. Then she said, "I should go."

"If you'd like." Malfoy stood and offered her his hand. She grabbed it and he pulled her up from the floor. He waved his wand so the game was all packed up and he placed it into her arms. She accepted it without a word, paused for a second, and then set the game down on a table beside the door. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and brought her cheek against his chest. She could hear his heart beating much faster than normal and the fact that she couldn't return the words he'd just said saddened her immensely. Especially since she'd been feeling some of the same things he was all night. But she wasn't on the same page with him. He was right about that. Every fiber of her being was fighting the words he was saying and her pride was definitely getting in her way. How could she ever admit to a relationship with Draco Malfoy? She couldn't even do it to herself. How could she admit to something like that when she couldn't even call him by his first name?

She pulled away and ran her fingers across his cheek. His face softened at her touch and she quickly retracted her hand at his reaction. "I'm so sorry…Draco."

"Don't be. Hermione."

"I promise I'll think about what you said, okay?"

"You already are," Malfoy laughed, fingering that crinkle between her brows one more time, "You're forehead is all wrinkled."

"Are you okay?"

"If you think that I didn't know what I was getting myself into then you'd be wrong. Yes, I'm fine, Hermione."

"How? I wouldn't be."

"Remember when you asked me why I told you about myself when I hadn't for anyone else?"

Hermione nodded.

"It's because of what I told you, obviously, but it's also because I knew that it wasn't going to be in vain."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew that it wasn't just a shot in the dark that you could feel the same way about me too. And I still feel that way. Which means, yes, I'm okay because I'll be okay."

Hermione didn't know what to say to that so she hugged him one more time and then walked out of the door. She waved at him before she disapparated and he waved back at the now empty space. He wasn't really alright. He'd lied, mostly. He did believe that he would be okay and soon.

Hermione wasn't okay either. Every thought was occupied with the words Malfoy had told her. Both Ginny and Harry had said something when she'd come back into the house but she hadn't really heard them. She went straight upstairs and collapsed on her bed. Part of her was angry, thinking that that had been a shit thing for him to do but another part of her was undeniably antsy and excited. Someone liked liked her again. She let those feelings flood out the negative ones and it became clear that they weren't alone. They were joined by their friends. The friends she'd been suppressing with all of her might. Hermione could like like him back. Hermione did like like him back and there was nothing she could do about it. Not anymore.