Again, thank you all for your wonderful reviews and all of the alerts/favorites! I really appreciate it!

I think the general consensus is to not make Ron a villain, which is my original plan for him. Thank you all for your input and suggestions! And I love hearing all of your thoughts on the story, so keep it coming!

Here's a long chapter for you all and a return of some old faces.

Draco and Hermione spent every free moment of the next two weeks with one another. They had fallen into a sort of routine with one another. The only time they weren't together was when they were asleep for the night or when they were at work.

They met for breakfast in the mornings, lunch in the afternoons, and often spent supper eating out, but Draco had taken to cooking dinner for the pair of them when he was not working.

Hermione accompanied Draco to Amanda Lopez's wedding and she and Amanda began a friendship after a few mishaps on the day of the wedding. Hermione, being the clever person she was, managed to save Amanda's day by secretly using her wand to fix the accidental tears in Amanda's wedding dress and the discoloration of one of the bridesmaid's shoes due to a wine spill. She was even the one who dropped Amanda and her new husband, Dr. Eric Anderson, off at the airport for their four-day honeymoon to Greece since all of Amanda and Eric's friends are all doctors, preoccupied with the extra work at the hospital that they were left with in Amanda and Eric's absence.

When they were together, Draco had taken to simply watching Hermione. He always paid close attention to her after seeing her again, but now he watched her more closely. He couldn't deny a growing attraction to her, but he felt like she would never feel the same about him, no matter how close they became. He saw himself as a good friend in Hermione's eyes and nothing more. Not to mention the fact that he would never dare to admit his growing feelings for her.

As he carefully watched her, Draco noticed that Hermione was healing. Slowly, very slowly, but she was getting there. He did notice that she still continued to slip into moments of lifelessness and a depression and he knew that she was thinking of her parents. He longed to help her accept their deaths so she could finally be at peace with it and herself. He recognized a lot of what he went through in her, but was always careful in how he approached it to her.

Since they spent so much time together, Draco unintentionally ignored his other Wizarding friends. He still hung out with his Muggle friends from the hospital from time to time and Hermione joined them whenever they would go out for drinks or bowling. Hermione already distanced herself from Potter and Weasley and the rest of their group of friends. Draco could see the concern on Potter's face every time he visited Hermione at work, but Potter never said a word to him nor to Hermione. Only once, when he merely reminded Draco of Ginny's baby shower and his wish to have Hermione join them.

But one day, nearly a week after Amanda's wedding, Blaise Zabini strolled into the hospital waiting room. He mentioned to the nurse that he was waiting for Draco Malfoy whenever Draco was free and unknowingly sat down next to Hermione in the waiting area. Nearly an hour passed when Draco finally emerged from behind the double doors, looking exhausted and paler than normal.

Blaise saw the blonde, nearly white, hair and stood immediately. "Draco," he called. A look of confusion and surprise crossed over Draco's face.

"Blaise? What are you doing here?" Draco took a step toward him and gave him a manly hug.

"You've been avoiding me, Draco, so I had to venture out and seek you myself."

Draco grinned at him and looked down at the seat next to Blaise. Hermione was engrossed in her book and didn't budge nor hear the interaction between Draco and Blaise right before her. He reached down and took the book from her.

"Hey!" she cried out, reaching up for the book.

"I just got out of surgery and I'm starving, Hermione," Draco said. He saved her place and closed the book. "You remember Blaise Zabini, Hermione? And you remember Hermione Granger, Blaise?" He gestured to the dark-skinned man standing next to him, who nodded at her.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Nice to see you, Zabini," she said in a shy voice.

"Likewise, Granger."

Hermione glanced at Draco accusingly. "I didn't realize you already had plans today."

"Well, I did. Not with him, though." He looked at Blaise. "Would you like to join me and Hermione for lunch?" Draco checked his watch. "A late lunch." He helped Hermione stand up since she didn't move from the chair. "If that's all right with you, Hermione."

"That's fine," she said, standing up and stretching her legs.

"And you, Blaise?"

"Quite all right. I apologize for dropping in unannounced."

"All right, then," Draco said, trying to cover up the growing tension between the three of them. He quickly led them to the cafeteria and sat down at the same secluded table that he and Hermione had been sitting at for the past two weeks. "What's been going on, Blaise? How is everything? Pansy?"

"Everything is fine, Draco. Pansy is doing well. Wondering when you'll follow our shoes and settle down."

"Oh, yeah right." Draco grimaced at Blaise. "It's been a long time since we've last seen each other."

"Indeed it has," Blaise replied. He nodded to Hermione, who sat on Draco's left, while Blaise was across from the two of them. "It's been an even longer time since I've seen you, Granger. Which is odd since we both work at the Ministry."

"Well, you Unspeakables rarely venture out of the Department of Mysteries."

Blaise smiled at her. "What can I say? I've always liked the dungeons."

The two of them continued to small talk about their work at the Ministry and the people that they work with. Draco smiled listening to them speak to one another. Two of the people he cared most about seemed to be getting on with one another.

"So, Draco, I wasn't aware that you and Granger had become such a hot commodity."

"What?" Draco glanced at Hermione, turning pink in his cheeks. "Hermione and I aren't dating. We're just friends."

Blaise noticed a fleetingly sad look in Hermione's eyes when Draco said the word, 'friends.' He raised an eyebrow at them. "Oh, my mistake. Well, the pair of you must come over some time for supper with me and Pansy." He chuckled at Hermione's disgusted expression. "I know you and my wife have had your differences in the past, but if you could befriend this idiot, then surely you could overlook Pansy's past indiscretions." He smiled at Hermione. "She's changed since the war, too. Still feels terrible about trying to give up Potter when he showed up in the Great Hall that one time."

Hermione nodded and looked at Draco. "Sure, if it's all right with you."

Draco nodded. "Of course."

Blaise stood up. "I must go. I just wanted to see you and catch up with you, Draco." He and Draco grasped hands and Blaise leaned down to kiss Hermione's cheek. "I'll see you around, Granger."

"Yeah," she replied. "It was nice seeing you."

"You, too." Blaise winked at her and waved as he headed out of the cafeteria. Hermione turned to Draco as soon as Blaise disappeared from their line of sight. "Your friend's charming."

Draco glowered at her. "Thank goodness he's married now. Or else I wouldn't have let you within five feet of him."

"You wouldn't have let me within five feet of him? And what on earth gives you the right to do that? Besides, I'm a Mudblood, remember. None of you Slytherins would've even thought to come after me."

"Oh, come on, that was a long time ago. And Blaise is different now, too. He never really—well, I mean, obviously, he was for the Dark Lord back then and all, especially since he was in Slytherin, but Blaise has always been a bit more…open-minded about a lot of things as opposed to everyone else in Slytherin. And he used to chase anybody in a skirt. Quite frankly, I'm surprised Pansy's the one who calmed him down. I thought for sure it was going to be Daphne Greengrass or somebody else. Imagine if it was Millicent Bulstrode."

Draco shuddered and Hermione laughed. "Do you talk to them often?" she asked. "Your old Slytherin friends? What about Goyle?"

Draco shook his head. "No. Really, when I left the Wizarding World, I only stayed in contact with my mother, Blaise, and Astoria. And through my mother, Aunt 'Dromeda and Teddy. And Pansy, through Blaise. Other than that, everybody was completely cut off."

"Do you wish to get back in touch with them?"

Draco shrugged. "Not particularly. I'm happy with my life and I'm sure they are with theirs, so why shake things up?"

Hermione smiled. "You shook things up in my life."

"No, I didn't." Draco furrowed his brow. "That was…an unfortunate circumstance that brought us back in each other's lives."

"Well, you're helping me piece it back together."

Draco grinned at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He stroked her cheek with his finger and wanted to say more. He opened his mouth to speak, intending to tell Hermione that he found her beautiful in every way. But they were interrupted by his pager going off. Draco looked at it in frustration. "I have to go," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I understand." Hermione smiled at him and gathered up the trash. "I'll take care of this, you go take care of your patient. You said you get off at 10:30 tonight?"

Draco nodded, standing up. He sipped the last bits of his soda. "Yeah."

"Do you want me to rent a movie? I'll meet you at your place."

"Sounds like a plan." He gave her another kiss on the cheek and patted her head. "Gives me something to look forward to." His pager went off again. "I really have to go now. Sorry!"

Draco ran to his patient's room and found him surrounded by nurses and coding on the bed. "What happened?" he asked, running to his patient's bedside. A nurse filled him in and Draco quickly worked on the patient. After a few moments, the patient was stabilized. Draco pushed the hair out of his eyes and proceeded out to the nurse's desk to fill out the chart.

"Have I told you that I like her, Malfoy?"

Draco groaned loudly and looked up. Amanda was sitting behind the desk with her hands behind her head and her feet resting on the table. She looked like she was in the midst of looking up things on the computer. "Go back to your research, Lopez."

"It's Lopez-Anderson, now."

"That's way too long to say. I think I'm just gonna settle for calling you LA."

"LA?"

"Lopez-Anderson. Now, don't make me say it again."

"Say what?"

"Shut up."

Amanda flashed a grin at him. "I like her. Don't scare Hermione away with your 'I-don't-care-about-the-world attitude."

"Hermione knows me better than you ever will, so I think I'm okay."

"Ah yes, but Hermione and I are becoming friends, so you better get used to my presence."

"Oh joy."

Amanda laughed. "I do love how she's given you a life outside this hospital, though. Makes the race for chief resident better for me." She leaned in and lowered her voice. "No offense, but before she came along, I really thought you didn't have a life outside this hospital. I thought you were a bit of a loser, in fact. But, she's made you more bearable to be around. You better scoop her up and ask her to officially begin dating you before somebody else does."

Draco looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on. Like I don't get it. I know you like her and she likes you, so why not?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Are we in grade school? Really? We are not having this conversation." He recapped his pen and roughly tossed the chart onto the desk and walked away.

He finished the rest of the day in a daze and hurried home to meet up with Hermione. He was already a few hours later than what he told Hermione since one of his patients needed emergency surgery.

When he finally arrived at his flat, he found Hermione passed out on his couch with one of the many books that she borrowed lying on her chest. Draco smiled at the sight. Her hair was in a wild, tangled mess around her head and she had a trace of a smile on her mouth. Her face was so peaceful and Draco wished that he had seen her more at peace when she was conscious. He immediately knelt down and easily lifted her from the couch and carefully placed her in his bed. He wrapped the covers snug around her and left his room before she could wake up.

During his next round of days off, Draco and Hermione went to Blaise and Pansy's house for supper, at Blaise's request. Hermione was understandably very nervous, especially at seeing Pansy again, since it was the first time she'd actually talk to her. Like Blaise and Hermione, Pansy also worked at the Ministry, in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and while they had seen each other around the Ministry, they've never spoken.

Draco rubbed Hermione's shoulders as she sat on Draco's couch, waiting for him to get ready. She was trying to read Looking For Alaska by John Green, even though she hadn't finished Dune yet, but her eyes read the same line over and over again.

"Are you all right? Pansy won't bite," Draco said, sitting down next to her to tie his shoes.

"I'm just nervous, I guess."

"You were fine with Blaise, though."

"But Blaise never made fun of me at Hogwarts."

"Well…he did. Sometimes." Draco smiled at her and shook her shoulder. "And I did…unless you don't remember that, which is just fine with me. But she's different. She really is."

"Okay…" Hermione sighed and put down book after saving her place. "How are we getting there?"

Draco gestured to the fireplace. "Floo."

"All right," she replied. They stood up and Draco gave her the address to Blaise and Pansy's house. She went through the fireplace and Draco quickly followed.

"Nice to see you, Draco," Blaise said, quickly giving him a hug. He gestured to his right. "Hermione made it through all right." She gave him a small smile.

Draco winked and smiled at Hermione before turning his attention to Pansy, who'd just entered the living room.

"Draco!" Pansy cried out, hurrying forward to give her friend a hug. "It's wonderful to see you!"

"Hi Pansy!" Draco exclaimed, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well, Draco." She turned her attention to Hermione. "Hello…Hermione…" The name sounded odd coming from Pansy's lips. She stiffly gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek and smiled at her.

"Hi Pansy," Hermione replied. "Thank you for inviting me to your home." She smiled at her. Draco squeezed her arm in thanks. He grinned at her.

"Well…from what Blaise said, you and Draco have become good friends, so maybe we should bury the past and try to be friends as well. After all, we do both work at the Ministry."

Hermione nodded. "That would be nice." She smiled in return.

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Shall we head into the kitchen to eat? I'm getting hungry just standing around." He led the others into kitchen where he and Pansy served the food. Hermione looked around in interest.

Draco leaned over to her and whispered, "House-elves scare Pansy. She would never have one in her home."

Hermione nodded in response. As a pureblooded wizard and witch, Hermione had been wondering why Blaise and Pansy didn't have a house-elf to serve the food or welcome them into the home. She tasted everything and complimented Pansy on her cooking. The dinner conversation took on a life of its own and soon, Hermione found herself laughing at Blaise's remarks and agreeing with some of Pansy's. As she had earlier found it easy to talk to Blaise, she also found it easy to talk to Pansy.

Later on in the night, after their plates had been cleared away and dessert had been served, the four of them settled into the living area, with Blaise and Pansy sitting on one couch and Draco and Hermione on the other. Again, they settled into an easy conversation and Draco was telling Blaise and Pansy about his latest case, with Hermione interrupting him every so often. She soon excused herself to the bathroom, leaving Draco with Pansy and Blaise.

Pansy stared after Hermione as she walked down the hall. "Such a shame I didn't like her at Hogwarts, Hermione's actually quite fun to talk to."

"Yeah," agreed Blaise. "Too bad your girl didn't end up in Slytherin, Draco," he teased.

Draco rolled his eyes. "She's not my girl. We're just friends."

Pansy snorted. "Right. Not yet, anyway. It's written all over your face, Draco. You're falling for her, aren't you?" She nudged Blaise. "It's just like fourth year all over again.

Draco shook his head. "We're just friends," he repeated. "I don't have feelings for Hermione like that. And she doesn't have them for me. Besides, nothing ever happened in fourth year."

Blaise smirked. "Yeah, and you going on and on about her in that dress." He nudged Pansy. "What color was it again? Red?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Blue."

Blaise and Pansy laughed. "If only Potter had actually killed the Dark Lord when he was a baby. Maybe we wouldn't have grown up with that stigma on Muggle-borns. Then Draco and Hermione probably would've ended up in Slytherin—"

"Ravenclaw, she's still too smart for her own good."

"Slytherin," Blaise continued, "and they probably would be married by now with a bunch of little babies who are getting ready to go to Hogwarts, too."

"Please," Draco said. "Even if it that were true, Hermione would never have settled down after school to have babies."

"Ah, so do you do wish it were true!" Blaise laughed gleefully.

"What? No! I didn't say that!"

"Didn't say what?" Hermione innocently asked, walking into the living room. Pansy and Blaise gave her knowing looks that made her feel a tad uncomfortable.

"Nothing, nothing," answered Draco. "Blaise and Pansy just think they're being funny."

"That's because we are funny!" they said at the same time. They looked at each other with a grin and slapped hands.

Hermione laughed. "Hogwarts would've been so different if we had all gotten along back then."

"See!" Pansy nearly screeched. "Hermione agrees with me!"

"About what?"

"Never mind…"

Hermione gave her a strange look. "Well, all right then."

"It's getting pretty late, Blaise," Draco said, standing up. "We should be going."

"Thank you for supper, Pansy," Hermione said, standing up and giving her a hug. "I had a really great time tonight."

"Me too," Pansy replied, sincerely. "I hope we can meet sometime for lunch."

"You'll have to book it in advance, Pans," Blaise cheekily replied. "Hermione's lunches are usually already taken by Draco."

Pansy smirked. "Oh, well, I, of course, don't want to interrupt you guys."

"Oh no, you can join us, Pansy! Draco doesn't mind, do you, Draco?"

Draco was already in the midst of shaking his head when Hermione asked him.

"See, he doesn't mind."

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Already answering for you, mate?" he mouthed. He smirked and gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you around, Hermione."

"Yeah, if you come out of the dungeons once in a while."

"I'll make my way up. As long as there are no Aurors around." He and Hermione laughed.

"Come on, Hermione," Draco said, nudging her towards the fireplace. He gave Pansy a kiss and an angry look. "Leave it!" he hissed.

Pansy shook her head and waved to them as they disappeared through the fireplace.

The next morning, Draco woke up on his couch and smelled freshly brewed coffee. He and Hermione Flooed back from Blaise and Pansy's to Draco's apartment and they decided to watch a movie. Hermione had fallen asleep during the movie and Draco carried her to his bed, spending the night in the living room. He stretched his arms and his legs and threw the blanket from him. "Hermione? Did you really make coffee?" he asked, standing up.

Hermione laughed from her seat at the dining table. "Yeah, right. I bought some." She gestured to the food spread out in front of her and nodded over to the empty take-out cartons. "I got breakfast for us."

"I see." Draco staggered over and began drinking his coffee. "I'm so glad I'm off today."

"I'm glad you're off, too. You've been working awfully hard lately. And long hours."

Draco nodded. "What do you think of Pansy?"

"She is different," Hermione said. "Not at all what I would've expected."

"Yeah. She's a lot easier to stand now that she and Blaise are married. She was so annoying back at Hogwarts."

"Weren't you two together at one point?"

Draco shrugged. "It didn't mean anything and we both know that. We both knew it back then, too." He smiled at her. "I'm sure she hopes you two can be friends."

"I hope so, too."

"You know, after the war, the Slytherin house just felt completely decimated. Especially for us older ones, who've grown up thinking one way. It was really hard to know what reality was after. That's probably why a lot of us drifted apart. Blaise and Pansy didn't even talk to one another again until a few years ago, at some Ministry party, ball or something."

"Oh, the Ministry Ball? I would've guessed that the Slytherins all stayed in touch."

Draco shook his head. "No, not really. We always knew what the others were doing, but we never kept up with one another. Except for me and Blaise. Well, Blaise to me, actually."

"He seems like a really good friend."

"He is. Like a brother." Draco took a bite of his eggs and savored the taste. "What are you doing today?" he asked with a full mouth. He swallowed loudly and drank his coffee again. He winced, feeling a burning sensation on his tongue. "Do you have plans?"

"No. Do you?"

Draco nodded. "Would you accompany me somewhere?"

"Where?'

"It's a surprise," Draco said mysteriously. He continued to eat his food as Hermione badgered him with questions. "Seriously, Hermione, I'm not telling you, so you might as well stop." He glanced at the clock. "When you're done eating, are you going to Apparate home and get ready? Do you want to meet back here in about an hour? We have to be there by 1:00."

"Where are we going?" she continued to ask.

"If you keep asking me, I won't even bother going anymore."

Hermione eyed him suspiciously. She finished the rest of her eggs and stood. "I'll see you in an hour." In a crack, she Disapparated from Draco's flat and reappeared fifty-five minutes later. "Draco!" she called. "You're late!" she yelled, teasing him.

"You're early!" he yelled from the bedroom. "Fix your damn watch!"

Hermione chuckled and pulled out a book. She sat on Draco's couch and barely made it past the first two paragraphs before he came out of his bedroom, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved, button-down shirt and holding a large pastel blue bag.

"What's in the bag?"

"Nothing," Draco said, dropping it at his side. He produced a blindfold from his pocket and held it up to her. "Do you trust me, Hermione?"

"Um…not with that blindfold."

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun."

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Not like that. It's just…it's a surprise."

"All right," she said warily. "I'm not sure about this." She reluctantly stood in front of Draco with her back toward him.

"Of course you're not." Draco leaned forward and unintentionally inhaled her floral-smelling perfume. It smelled divine. He carefully wrapped the blindfold around Hermione's eyes and waved his hand a few times around to make sure she couldn't see. "Are you ready?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, but if you don't want to go, then we don't have to."

"Well, now we have to go since you've made it this big production."

Draco chuckled. "Okay, then." He moved to stand directly in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. "But there are a few things, though."

"What's that?"

"When I take off the blindfold and you really don't want to be there, then tell me and we could leave right away. But give me at least ten minutes there. Also, I'm doing this for you. Just remember that. And…if…if you don't want me there, let me know, too. And I could disappear."

"Why would I want you to disappear?"

"Just follow those things, okay?"

"Okay," Hermione said in an unsure voice. She held out her hands and waved them around, looking for Draco.

"Right here," he said, taking her hand into his. He squeezed it tightly. "Are you ready?"

Hermione nodded. "I guess I have to be."

Draco chuckled. "And there's that Gryffindor courage, right?" He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek before Disapparating with a crack.

A few seconds later, they reappeared on a hill. Draco took Hermione's hand and quickly led her down the hill and toward an oddly-shaped house. He kept a running commentary on what was around them, helping her maneuver around the things she couldn't see.

They finally reached a gate where Draco was met by a familiar man. Draco nodded to Harry Potter as Harry quietly opened the gate and allowed them in.

"Are we there yet, Draco?" Hermione asked in an impatient voice.

"Yes."

"Well, can I take this damn thing off?"

Draco was silent for a couple of seconds. He wasn't sure if he really wanted her to take it off. "Yes," he said in a softer voice.

Hermione pulled off the blindfold and initially stared triumphantly into Draco's eyes. She looked around at her surroundings and saw the familiar yard outside of the Burrow. She saw Harry standing near them with an unsure expression on his face. Hermione turned to Draco and jabbed a finger in his chest. "You tricked me!" she accused him.

"I had to!" Draco protested. "It was the only way you would've came!"

"I want to leave."

"No. Stay."

"I want to leave now."

"No." Draco's voice grew more firm. He glanced at Harry.

"Please, Hermione," Harry pleaded. "It's Ginny's baby shower and she wants you here, I'm sure of it."

"Funny, last time I saw her, she didn't seem to want to have anything to do with me."

"But I do. This baby is mine, too, and I want my son to know his Aunt Hermione."

Hermione crossed her arms and glared at Draco. "You tricked me," she accused again.

Draco shrugged. "I'm not sorry about it."

"I want to leave."

"At least eat something first."

"No."

"Thirty minutes."

"No."

"Fifteen."

"No."

"Ten."

"No."

"Five."

"Why are you even here, making me go? You hate them."

"But you don't."

Harry watched their interaction with great interest. He desperately wanted Hermione to go inside and he didn't particularly care for Draco, but he seemed to be the way to Hermione right about now. After what seemed like a long time, Hermione reluctantly relented.

"Fine," she hissed. "Five minutes."

"Ten," Draco hissed back.

"Eight."

"Deal."

Harry smiled, but knew it looked forced. He didn't like how Draco was closer to Hermione than he was. He wrapped Hermione in his arms and felt her freeze. "Let's go inside," he said abruptly dropping his arms. He led the way to the house, with Hermione dragging her feet behind him and Draco walking even slower after her. Harry opened the door and stepped aside to let them through. "Everyone, look who's here."

Hermione stepped through the door right when a sea of red hair pushed their way into the kitchen. The entire Weasley family, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood all stared at her, speechless.

Yes, it's the day of the baby shower and Draco tricked Hermione into going! And what do you think of this friendship between Blaise/Pansy with Hermione?

Please let me know what you think and leave a review if you have a chance! Thanks for reading!