Chapter Nine.

Post

Hermione wasn't sure what to do. She had been awake for over an hour and could hear Draco and Jane moving about in the house, but she wasn't sure what to do. The night before after she had gone over what had happened to Kingsley he had told her that he didn't think that she was the same person either. That just like Draco, she was changing. The easy friendship that she had with Harry and Ron was her foundation, but it was just that… a foundation to grow on. He made the point that she was growing into her own person, and that person was kind, forgiving and cared for, even by the people that she least expected. She had rushed back here with the thoughts of talking to Draco, but somehow, that talk had not gone the way that she had thought. She expected to show up and just talk to him in a civil manner. Instead, she had practically assaulted him the second that she apparated into the study, and even though he hadn't seemed to mind, she was so embarrassed. Do I just go downstairs and pretend that it isn't weird that I'm here?

An amazing smell started to waft into her room from downstairs and she buried her face in her pillow, trying to ignore it, but it eventually won out. Getting out of bed she made the bed up the muggle way, she wasn't going to risk using magic in the house, not when there was the chance of Draco getting blamed for it in the next review meeting. She stopped by the bathroom long enough to wash her face and dampen her hair slightly, trying to tame the excessive fuzziness. It didn't help as much as she had hoped, but she didn't have any other option but to go downstairs and face her hosts.

She could hear Draco and Jane's voices as she paused at the top of the stairs. She didn't want to eavesdrop, but she wanted to know if they thought it was as weird for her to be there as she felt it was, so she waited to descend, and listened.

"Why do you think it's weird?" She heard Jane say, Hermione felt her stomach sink at the question.

"You would've had to been there to understand," Draco said.

"Well, I wasn't there… so you're going to have to explain it to me." Jane's irritation told Hermione that they had been going back and forth with this conversation for a while now. "You like her but you think that it would be too weird?"

"I was horrible to her, Jane," Draco said. At his tone, Hermione could almost see him run his hand through his hair in frustration "I was more than horrible, I was nothing short of an ass. I called her filth and slurs. She's Muggle-born and I was raised to think I was better than that. I didn't really feel that way towards her, but I had to act that way towards her. If I hadn't my family would have gone after her, and I didn't want that to happen either."

"She will understand that," Jane said, her tone kinder this time.

"She's already forgiven me for standing by while she was being tortured. There's only so much forgiveness that I can ask for." The pain in his voice made Hermione's breath catch in her throat.

"You can't tell her what she can and can't forgive you for. Draco, you've changed so much. You're not the same person that you were and you can't keep carrying around all these burdens. The past is the past, it's time to move on…and if you care for Hermione Granger, then you should care for her and stop worrying about what everyone else is going to think."

The pounding of her heart in her ears made it impossible to hear his response. Hermione leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. If you care for Hermione Granger, then you should care for her and stop worrying about what everyone else is going to think… Did he care for her? She took a few deep breaths trying to catch her breath before she steeled herself and started down the stairs. She made sure the stairs squeaked under her steps so that they would know that she was coming, and tried to school her features into those of someone who hadn't overheard their conversation.

"Good morning!" Jane practically sang at her as she entered the room.

"Morning." Hermione lingered at the door unsure what she needed to do. The two of them were practically in a dance of preparing food, serving food, making coffee, she wasn't sure where to go that wouldn't be in their way. Draco seeming to sense her hesitation and set down the plate he was holding to pull out one of the stools and offer it to her. "You sleep well?" he asked as she sat down.

"Very well." She said, and it wasn't a lie. The bed was amazing compared to the one that she had in her own small apartment, and knowing that she wasn't in the house alone seemed to ease her enough to sleep soundly and without nightmares. "Thank you, both, for letting me stay last night."

"Anytime!" Jane said as she came over to set a plate of eggs, toast, bacon, and fruit in front of her. "We love having the company, don't we Draco?"

"Yes, we do." Hermione smiled a little color flooded his cheeks before he came over to give her a cup of coffee.

Jane sat next to her and pushed a container of creamer over towards her. Jane's plate wasn't overflowing like Hermione's but instead just had one piece of plain toast on it, and she was holding her coffee mug as if it was providing more comfort than warmth.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked.

Jane looked over at her and before she could put her brave mask on, Hermione saw the flash of the truth about other woman's feelings in her eyes. Jane nodded but didn't say anything further.

Draco watched the two women with concern. He knew that Jane was going to need time to get over the events of last night, but he was glad that he was there to prevent her from getting hurt. He had tried to coax her thoughts on the situation out as soon as she entered the kitchen, but she had just shut him down saying that she just wanted to pretend that it hadn't happened. After that, she had seemed happy to dote on him and his feelings for Hermione instead. He wished that she would just talk about how she was feeling because he wasn't sure how to voice how he was feeling. Last night had taken him completely by surprise. He had never held Hermione before. When they were shopping she had touched his arm, and even pulled him up by his hand and held it for a few minutes, but it was platonic and he knew that. Last night she was flush against him, her face buried in his chest and he had held her. There was nothing platonic about that embrace, and it had just felt….right.

He chanced a glance over at her. She was nibbling on her toast and talking to Jane. Jane seemed a little uncomfortable with the conversation, but Hermione's kindness and concern shone through as she got Jane to open up a bit about what had happened last night. He figured it helped that Hermione had been with Jane when she talked to the police, he was stuck in the ambulance getting his jaw and hand seen about and hadn't heard the first-hand account of the events. Draco stayed quiet as he watched them, he didn't want to interrupt the two of them and he knew that Jane needed to talk about it or it would eat at her. He couldn't help but to smile as Hermione pulled Jane into a hug, and Jane looked like she was feeling better already, she stole some of the fruit off of Hermione's plate and that movement in itself told him that she was going to be alright. He liked the thought of the two of them being friends too. Jane was like the friend that he had never had, and he liked thinking that she approved of Hermione.

"I'm going to go check the post." He said as he strolled out of the kitchen. He could feel both of their eyes on his back as he left the room, but he willed himself not to look over his shoulder at them. He was positive that Jane was going to meddle, and not wanting to walk back into that meddling he took his time outside. He checked the flowerbeds to make sure that the weeds hadn't started to come back yet, and made sure that there were no caterpillars on the vegetable plants before he checked the box. They had a lot more mail than usual, but there was one large envelope in particular that caught his eye. Sorting it to the top of the pile he read his name and the address of the house in the familiar handwriting of his mother. He took a deep breath, excited to see post from his mother, but also wondering if the thickness of the envelope was because she had heard about the events of last night. He shook his head as he went back in the house, reminding himself that muggle post didn't run that quickly, and anything in the large envelope wouldn't have to do with that.

When he went back in the kitchen he could tell that meddling had occurred. Jane looked overly satisfied with herself and Hermione blushed at the sight of him. He could feel his own cheeks redden as he set the rest of the mail on the counter in front of Jane and held up the envelope for the two of them to see.

"You got post?" Jane looked over at Hermione and raised her eyebrow.

Hermione smiled but kept her gaze on him.

"I talked to Kingsley a while back about getting your mother to try harder at the muggle lifestyle." She shrugged her shoulders a little. "If she started giving it more effort then she would be allowed to send post to you or whoever else that she wanted."

"It seems that she's been doing better then." He laughed as he showed the thickness of the envelope.

"She really has." Hermione gave a sincere smile as Jane started to cull through her own pile of letters. She paused on one official looking letter and shot Hermione a look.

She waited until she thought Draco was well involved with reading the novel sized letter his mother had sent him before she leaned over and showed the envelope to Hermione. Hermione's eyebrows furrowed. "The ministry?" she whispered and Jane nodded. Jane opened the letter and held it up so that both of them could read it at the same time.

When Draco looked up from his mothers note he saw both women reading an official-looking letter. He recognized the ministry's seal on the discarded envelope next to Hermione's plate, and his blood instantly ran cold. He lowered his mother's letter and watched them as they read, and by the time that they turned the parchment over to the other side the color had drained out of both of their faces.