This is basically just to tie up some loose ends with Hermione and her friends, where exactly Draco and Hermione are in their relationship, etc.

Fluff, fluff, fluffity, fluff, fluff.


Hermione had been ignoring her cell phone for the past two days in hopes that maybe her friends would stop calling. It was cowardly, she knew, but she didn't know what to tell them, and by the voicemail that Ron and Harry left, they were less than happy.

"You can't ignore them forever you know." drawled Draco from his spot on the couch.

Calista and Cato nodded in agreement, but Blaise shook his head.

"I think she needs to give them time to calm down. If she answers the phone now they're just going to gang up on her and it's going to lead to an argument."

Hermione gave Blaise a thankful look but Draco snorted, "You can't just run from your problems."

"So how about you go deal with your parents then?" snapped Hermione.

"We're not talking about me."

"Well maybe we should be." she said.

Draco opened his mouth but Cato interrupted, "Hey now. Let's not get into an argument about it. Hermione, you need to deal with your friends, and Draco, you need to deal with your parents."

They both sighed and said, "I'm sorry." at the same time.

They chuckled and Draco asked, "Forgive me?"

Hermione smiled and moved so she was sitting on his lap, "Of course."

He kissed her cheek and said, "Well counselor Cato, how do you suppose I go about dealing with my parents?"

Cato scowled at his sarcasm, but replied nonetheless, "I think both of you should go talk to them."

"Are you insane?" asked Hermione, not liking the idea of having to confront Lucius and Narcissa. Especially since she'd actually have to be on the first floor instead of his bedroom.

The first floor where she was tortured during the war. Yeah. Not really something she wanted to revisit anytime soon.

"Think about it Hermione, if they see you maybe they'll realize-"

"No," she said, interrupting Cato and standing up.

"Hermione," he tried, attempting to reason with her.

"No," she said again. "I'm not going there. End of story."

Cato looked to Draco for help, but he shook his head, following Hermione outside.

"Hermione," he said, catching her hand.

"Draco, please don't." she said quietly.

"Can you just tell me why?"

She yanked her hand out of his and said, "Because I don't want to."

He rolled his eyes, "Since when are you-"

"Since I got tortured there Draco! Excuse me for not being particularly keen on facing that again."

He could have slapped himself for being so stupid. He hadn't thought about that. Not that he liked to in the first place. That wasn't exactly a great time for him either.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly, pulling her towards him.

She relaxed slightly, trying to tell herself she was being stupid. Those times were long gone-yet and still she didn't want to face it.

"You don't have to come, especially not to meet my parents."

She didn't say anything, just stood in his arms, enjoying the feeling.

"You okay?"

She nodded, "It's not that I don't want to be there when you tell them, I just don't want to be at the Manor."

"I suppose I could ask them to meet us somewhere."

"Although you might want to leave off the part about me being there." she said with a small smile.

He chuckled, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

She let out a sigh and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"Biting the bullet."

She took a deep breath and dialed Harry's number.

He picked up after the second ring and said, "Nice of you to finally call back."

"I didn't know what to say to you. And I knew you were mad. I figured it might be better to wait until you'd actually let me explain myself." she said quietly.

Harry sighed and said, "Alright. Explain."

"You know why I came to Rome."

"Yeah, to get away from Ron." he answered.

"Well yes, but not just because of Ron. I wanted a chance to start over in a place where nobody knew me." she said slowly.

"And Malfoy fits into this how?"

"Well Calista and I were at a club and he was there too...and then there was this thing with Calista being drunk and I had to stay the night with Cato and Draco and-"

"You what? You're a witch Hermione. You have this thing called a wand and you could have apparated here for the night." he interrupted.

She rolled her eyes, "Are you going to let me explain or not?"

He let out a frustrated sigh but told her to continue.

"At first I was just as put off by him as you are, but Harry, he really has changed."

"You mean to tell me-"

"He's still an arrogant arse," she said, talking over him, "But he's a good person. He treats me right, he-"

"Well that's all fine and dandy, but what about his parents? Do you know the kind of shit they're telling the press? It's pretty bad Mione." he said.

"About disowning Draco right?"

He laughed, "Right, maybe two days ago. Now they're talking about how their son must be under a spell. A spell that you put him under, because, and I quote, 'there is no way our son would entertain such a frivolous idea.'."

She looked over at Draco, but he was staring out at the street, clenching and unclenching his fist.

"Great. Just bloody brilliant." She said with a groan, already dreading setting foot in London.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think anybody really believes the crap they're saying." said Harry, trying to console her.

"How's Ginny? Is she really mad?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Surprisingly, no. She's Bat Bogey-ed Rita Skeeter a few times on your behalf." he said chuckling.

She laughed and said, "Tell her I'm going to stop by in a few days and visit."

There was a pause and he asked, "When are you coming home...to stay?"

She'd been dreading that question.

"I don't know Harry...I like it here." she said softly.

"Well yeah, but Mione, this is your home, all your friends are here. Hell, even Draco lives here."

That was another something that she had to think about. Especially since she hadn't exactly voiced to him that she actually intended to stay in Rome.

"I know all you guys are there, and yeah I know Draco lives there too, but at one point in my life I'm going to have to do something for me."

And Harry understood that. "Well you better expect that there will be waterworks when you tell Ginny."

She smiled, "Hey, nothings set in stone yet. I don't know what I'm doing, and for once, I'm just not worried about it."

"Good for you Mione." he said, a smile in his voice.

"I'll let you know when I'm coming over okay?"

"Alright, love you."

"Love you too." she said, before hanging up.

She turned to Draco and could tell he was upset.

"Draco,"

"When were you going to tell me?" he asked, not looking at her.

"Didn't you hear me? I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal." he repeated, his face that same mask of indifference she'd seen so many times.

She sighed and looked out at the street, "Don't you understand why I'd want to stay?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because everyone you know, everyone who cares about you, your life is back in London." he said.

"Yeah, and so are memories with Ron, and memories about the war, memories about the people we've lost, the people I've lost, my parents-" her voice broke on the last word and she took a deep breath.

Draco felt bad for acting like an arse, but he didn't want her to stay in Rome, he wanted her to come home with him. Although that wouldn't work out too well considering she wanted nothing to do with Malfoy Manor, and his parents obviously wanted nothing to do with her.

"Well what would you want me to do? Stay here? I have a business-"

"I would never ask you to move for me. I get that you have responsibilities and things that tie you to London, but I don't. I don't have a job that needs me to specifically work from London, and I definitely don't have family there. Sure I have friends, but how hard is it to apparate or floo over here?"

"That's not the point. If you live here and I live back home, sooner or later we're going to start living separate lives and it just won't work out."

"Every relationship takes work Draco." she said, trying to reason with him.

"Yeah, but why make our already complicated relationship even more complicated by trying the whole 'long distance' thing? I mean why Rome of all places?"

"Because Calista's here."

"What does she have to do with it?" he asked.

"She's the only family I have left." she said simply.

He ran a hand through his hair and then pulled Hermione into a hug, resting his chin on her head. "Where do we go from here?" he asked quietly.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "Where do you want it to go?"

He let out a deep breath and said, "I don't want to lose you."

She moved her hands to either side of his face and said, "You're not going to."

He smiled and leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss.

"Is it safe to come out now?"

They both turned and Cato, Blaise, and Calista stood in the doorway.

Hermione nodded and Draco rolled his eyes.

"Did you get everything resolved?" asked Calista, her eyes on Hermione.

She really wanted Hermione to stay with her. She loved having her around to talk to, and having someone else living with her, but she understood why it was a hard decision for her.

"For the most part." said Hermione, looking to Draco.

He nodded, "Yeah, the only issue seems to be my parents."

Hermione rested her head on Draco's chest with a sigh, "Which would also be the biggest issue."

Blaise nodded and said, "Maybe it won't be too bad..."

Cato snorted and Draco looked at him like he was crazy.

"I'm trying to be positive." he said, sticking his tongue out at them.

Calista chuckled and said, "How about we stick to realism? At least for a little while."

Cato and Draco nodded, Hermione was smirking, and Blaise scowled at her. "You know, it wouldn't kill you guys to be a little optimistic."

"Yeah, but these are my parents we're talking about."

Blaise sighed and nodded, "Yeah, they're not exactly fairytale parents are they?"

They all paused for a moment and Hermione had enough.

"Okay, enough of this sulking crap. Let's go out and have some fun."

Calista nodded in agreement, "That's my girl."

They all chuckled and headed out to see where they'd end up on the busy streets of Rome.