A/N- So this is the last real chapter! The next is the epilogue and once I get that back from my beta I'll post it. Hopefully I'll have it back in a couple days. I'm sad that this story is over but I'm really hoping everyone liked it and I just want to say thank you to everyone who added the story to their alerts and also to those people that reviewed! I really appreciate it all.

Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven

Hermione woke up late at night for no reason whatsoever other than that she had been stressed out recently and had a lot on her mind. She had been sleeping restlessly before she woke up fully anyway, so she got out of bed and approached the window.

What she saw there made her heart soar.

"Draco," she whispered, her fingers lingering on the glass for a moment before she turned and hurried down the hallway, desperate to get outside and see him. She didn't know why he was just standing there the way he was, but she wanted to see him. It had been a long week.

When she rounded the manor she didn't see him anymore, and she felt her stomach drop when she realized he was laying on the ground. Had something happened?! She rushed forward and threw herself onto her knees in front of him, bending down to whisper his name; when she was fairly close to his face his eyes snapped open and she recoiled in shock. This was not Draco.

The man's hair changed from platinum blonde to a shoddy straw colour and it didn't look as fine as silk, no, it resembled straw in both colour and texture; his eyes were a muddy brown, his face changed from Draco's handsome one to one that looked almost old, even though it wasn't. It was a face that had been through too much for such an age.

Before Hermione could even think the man sat up and wrapped his arms tightly around her, standing with her in his embrace so he could turn into the pressurized feeling of apparation. The moment before he was pulled through the tube, so to speak, he saw Pippa Pierce running toward them.

That changed his plans, slightly – he knew Pippa would recognize him instantly; they had just hung out together a week previously, after all.

/

Theodore Nott took Hermione directly to Pippa's apartment. He knew that Blaise would be informed immediately that he had taken Hermione – which meant that Draco would be told as soon as possible – and the first place they would look was his apartment. He was planning to take the witch there at first, but once Pippa saw him he knew the jig was up. No one would look in her apartment though, that was for sure… not anytime soon, anyway.

"Who are you?!" Hermione Granger asked, and Theodore felt his blood pressure spike. She still had no idea who he was! "Take me home, please! Just take me home!"

"Go to the Flint residence!" the man yelled before turning to the witch in front of him. She was confused until she heard the telltale crack of apparation; someone had accompanied them.

Theodore struck her in the face before forcing her into a wooden armchair, binding her there with his magic.

"You don't recognize me, Hermione?"

Hermione was terrified, but she tried to keep it together. If she could keep the man talking then maybe she would be found before anything too serious happened; she had a child to worry about, too.

"Well, I saw you at the Malfoy ball…"

"Yes! You did! And if you had bothered to pay any attention at all you would have noticed me plenty of other places, as well. You were just too busy with all those other wankers to notice me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Instead of telling you, I'm going to show you."

"Please don't hurt me," Hermione whispered, shaking like a leaf.

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you. Not yet, anyway…"

Hermione swallowed. She needed to keep it together, because she wasn't about to let her and Draco's unborn child die.

Theodore Nott reached into his pocket slowly and pulled out a small bowl with a flourish. He pointed his wand at it to enlarge it and Hermione watched as a Pensieve formed in front of her eyes. Her captor approached it and began unloading memories into it rapidly.

How could someone that she didn't know have so many memories of her? While he was busy she looked around, noticing that the flat they were in was very feminine. This couldn't be this man's home…

After a few minutes the straw haired man turned back to her, pointing his wand threateningly.

"I'm going to allow you to move, but you need to walk right over here and get in this Pensieve. Any funny business and I'll kill you instantly, with no explanation as to why I'm here or doing this."

Hermione nodded and once she felt she was free from the chair she had to will her legs to hold her body weight. They were trembling so hard she wasn't sure if she would stumble or not, but she made it to the man in a few short steps and stood beside him, looking at the Pensieve as though it were a snake waiting to attack.

"Get in there," the man growled, poking her in the back with his wand.

Hermione took a deep breath and leaned down until her nose broke the surface of memories; she fell face first into the murky substance and landed lightly on her feet in what she knew was definitely Malfoy Manor. A young Draco and Theodore were on a couch in the sitting room in front of her, and the older Theodore with the premature lining on his face stepped up beside her.

"Listen," he said, and Hermione obeyed. She was listening to Theo question their teachings while Draco adamantly refused to listen to the boy; Draco was arguing that they were being taught what they were about muggleborns for a reason and it wouldn't do them any good to deny it.

The memory changed numerous times, but it was always the same situation – Theo questioning what could be wrong with muggleborns and Draco defending the things they had been taught.

/

Hermione was young, probably eleven, and on the school train.

Her compartment door opened and a young boy entered, he looked extremely proud, even though he was quite reedy, and he sat down opposite of her in a very confident manner.

"You're a first year, I'm assuming," the boy said, and Hermione nodded. "I am as well, Theodore Nott," he said, reaching forward to shake her hand, "but my friends call me Theo."

"My name is Hermione," she answered, shaking his hand and then settling back on her bench, where she spent a rather enjoyable half hour talking to Theodore about Hogwarts.

"Well, I should go find my other friends," the boy said, standing up to excuse himself. He did so with a slight bow.

/

Theodore was still incredibly young and was walking down a corridor in the castle, it was dark out already but it wasn't quite curfew for their year. He passed Greg Goyle and asked the boy where Draco had gotten to, since he knew the two were together that evening. Goyle grunted about someone crying in a classroom and Theodore approached the door where Greg indicated his blond friend had gone.

"Are you okay?" he heard his friend ask gently, and Theodore moved to the side of the door so he could eavesdrop effectively.

"Get out," a girl whispered. Silence followed her words and Theo was considering opening the door and 'finding' them, but before he could put his idea into action the door flung open and none other than Hermione Granger came bursting out, turning and running down the hallway in the opposite direction of him.

Theodore was shocked, to say the least – he knew exactly how Draco felt about muggleborns, and everyone knew for a fact that the girl was a mudblood; so why was his friend attempting to comfort her?

Draco came out moments later and headed in the same direction as Hermione. Neither noticed the small boy standing outside the door with a completely confused look on his face.

/

Hermione noticed that Theodore's memories started to take an obsessive turn; if he wasn't constantly watching her or Draco he was trying to catch them together.

/

Theodore was standing outside of a broom closet door listening to what was happening inside intensely. He could hear the specific sound two people's mouths made as they kissed without abandon, and he couldn't really believe that he had seen Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger enter it moments before.

Thankfully they were only kissing.

/

Hermione watched herself walking down the corridor, late for a class judging by how fast her legs were going – she was doing nothing short of jogging. Theodore Nott was walking in the opposite direction of her and as they were crossing paths he smiled and said "Hey!" and Hermione smiled back and continued on her way.

"I don't think she even knows my name," Theo whined.

"That's a good thing," fifteen year old Draco snapped. "She doesn't need to you know your name."

"I approached her yesterday and she just smiled at me and just walked by," he said, and as far as Hermione could tell that was a massive overstatement. The boy hadn't approached her, he just smiled and said hi, so she smiled back.

"Why would you approach her?" Draco asked, sitting up straighter; put on edge. "You have no need to approach that filth."

"I like her, Draco!"

"How can you even like her if she's never even talked to you?"

"She talked to me on the train."

"When we were eleven. That was four years ago, for Merlin sake! Stay away, this is going to cause you problems, I can see it already."

"She's special," his friend replied, a twisted grin on his face that made Draco stop and look at him.

"She's a mudblood. Let it go."

Hermione knew that Draco was trying to deter his friend from her, but Draco didn't fully understand how much Theo was obsessed with her, and with him, for that matter. Draco didn't know that Theo was watching their every move, and he definitely didn't know that his friend knew about his relationship with Hermione.

/

"Hermione Granger?" Flint asked Theo, and Hermione's stomach dropped to her feet when she set eyes on the two men who had raped her all of those years ago. Seeing their seventeen year old forms was something she really hadn't wanted to deal with.

"She's Potter's friend, right? Tight little mudblood? Hot?"

"That's the one," Theo said, grinning devilishly.

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem, mate, but do we get to know why?"

"No," Theo snapped, "just take the gold and don't ask me any questions. Remember, take her at any opportunity and send for me immediately after she's apprehended."

Hermione's head started spinning. Her rape was orchestrated by someone who was obsessed with her?

Why?

Theo was sitting on the couch in his packed common room when a small Patronus approached him quickly; it said the words Theo had been waiting to hear quietly, not attracting any attention. He got to his feet instantly and looked around carefully before he deemed it safe to leave the common room. Draco wouldn't even notice he was gone because the wanker was so busy fighting off Pansy Parkinson. The sandy haired boy hustled down the corridor and made a beeline for the school's old potions classroom, meeting the two older boys and a very unconscious Hermione Granger inside.

He had been waiting for this day for years.

"Good," he said, his face splitting into a smile, "Leave me with her for a little bit. Once I'm done you two can do whatever you want, but I definitely get her first."

The older Hermione walked as far away as the memory would allow her, covering her ears to the boys' sounds of pleasure while he used her unconscious body for his own satisfaction. Hermione was doing everything in her power to not vomit on the floor with the realization that this was real and had indeed happened to her without her knowledge.

She had had no idea that there had been a third.

Draco was going to murder this man.

/

Theo watched the couple closely and felt a strange sense of power in his chest when he realized how ruined they both appeared. Draco had been unusually pale for days and he was extremely on edge – he was also giving Flint and Montague death looks at every opportunity he had when he thought no one was paying him any attention. Theodore also saw him staring across the hall at his girlfriend during every meal, clearly worried.

Hermione looked skinny and ill. He hadn't seen her eat a decent meal since the event had taken place.

Poor girl.

/

Theo was walking alongside Blaise and they saw a girl sitting at the edge of the lake, her knees drawn to her chest and her shoulders heaving. Blaise insisted on approaching, but Theodore hung back a little bit, knowing full well who she was. He didn't want to get too close to her, she did something unusual to him; no other girl affected him the way she did.

Instead Theodore stared at her and wondered why she never noticed him yet she wasted her time with all those mudblooded idiots. They'd all pay, one day.

/

Theo was standing outside a broom closet again, and this time the sounds coming from within were much more lewd than simple kissing. He figured they liked the possibility of getting caught, because it wasn't like it was hard to put up a silencing spell. He had watched them closely enough to know that they didn't do things like ordinary teenaged couples; he had watched Hermione flash her knickers to Draco in classes plenty of times.

How no one else caught on to what they were doing was beyond him.

/

"Get up!" Theo screamed at Hermione as a new memory started to form; she was crouched in the distance with her eyes shut and her ears covered.

She didn't acknowledge him. He strode over to her and grabbed her by her arm roughly, hoisting her up to her feet while he ignored the tears on her cheeks.

"Get up and watch, bitch, or I'll drag your arse out of here and be done with it all!"

Hermione opened her eyes slowly and forced herself to continue watching demented scenes of a twisted mind. The things she saw had happened, definitely, but Theodore saw them in a different way than they had actually happened.

He was sick.

/

Theo was heading back to the common room late one night; too late, actually. He had been wandering the castle looking for his star crossed lovers for ages. He wasn't impressed by how quickly Hermione had gotten over her rape and he figured a lot of it had to do with Draco's constant presence in her life.

He had expected them to both be ruined by it for ages, maybe even break up. He hadn't expected it to bring them closer together.

He stumbled and stopped when he heard a very familiar giggling coming from an empty classroom near the dungeon stairs.

He wanted to see what they were doing, no, he needed to see. He opened the door as slow as possible to ensure it didn't squeal and give away his post.

Hermione was sitting on the desk with her thighs spread wide and her skirt hiked up, her shirt was unbuttoned almost entirely and her bra was pulled down around her waist, her breasts completely naked; Draco was positioned between her open legs, his pants dropped around his ankles and his neck bent, mouth wrapped around one of her bare nipples. Theo could tell that they were trying to be quiet, but the grunts and moans coming from the couple were enough for him to feel his own pants start to tighten.

When Hermione started a quiet course of "Oh, God, Draco," over and over Theo knew he better make himself scarce, but he wanted to hear her climax. That was something he had never heard from her before and he just really wanted to see what it sounded like.

He wasn't disappointed.

It was almost a keening sound, but she was trying to keep her voice down so it was a cross between high pitched sobs of pleasure and whimpers. Draco's legs were shaking and he was grunting as though trying to keep it together, but Theo knew his blond friend wasn't going to last much longer. Hermione was thrusting, moaning, and her chest was heaving right in Draco's face, she was riding out her climax and the moment Theo realized it was Draco's turn he fled the room.

He didn't want to see that.

Unfortunately his elbow hit the doorframe on his way out; he was so aroused he could barely think straight, never mind walk properly. He slipped through before the couple could see him and he all but ran down the hall. He didn't need Draco rushing out and catching him.

/

Theo was rushing down the hall to his common room late at night again. He had just received a missive from his father and was told through code that he would be getting his Dark Mark as soon as school was out in a couple weeks. Apparently Draco had already got his and Theo had a thousand questions for the boy; he had heard it was extremely painful and was wondering if it was true or if it was just something people said to make the newcomers nervous.

He was almost to the blank stretch of wall when he was bowled over by an incredibly upset Hermione Granger who was running in the opposite direction.

Theodore narrowed his eyes when she didn't even acknowledge his presence, but when he was heading to their dorms and saw that Draco Malfoy was in tears and trying to talk to Blaise that he realized something major had happened with the couple.

"Finally," Theodore said under his breath as he avoided the scene and went to his own room for the night.

One thing that was brought to his attention from the entire situation is that Blaise Zabini knew about their relationship as well. That was something to keep in mind.

/

"Mrs. Malfoy! Imagine seeing you here," Theodore said, and he looked to be about the same age as the man standing beside her.

"Theo, a pleasure," Narcissa said, holding out a dainty hand for him to shake.

Narcissa was holding a formal dress on a hanger, and Theo canted his head slightly when looking at it. It was much too small and much too young for the woman before him.

"Who are you shopping for? Surely Draco wouldn't be comfortable in such an outfit," Theo said, grinning lopsidedly at Narcissa Malfoy.

She laughed lightly.

"As much as I would love to see that, this is actually for a family member of mine in France."

"France? I wasn't aware you had any family remaining in France."

Narcissa suddenly became nervous. Her story was good enough for inconsequential shop girls, but it wasn't refined enough for people who actually knew her family.

"A niece," she said weakly, backing away from Theodore's narrowed eyes. He was deep in thought, and he knew that Hermione had been removed from her flat… wouldn't that be just too neat, if she had ended up right back in Draco's lap?

/

"Bugsy!"

"Master?"

The small elf appeared before Theodore, one of the few things he had managed to keep from his old life.

"I have something I need you to do."

/

"Where the hell could they be?" Draco snapped, wanting desperately to find his fiancé.

"I don't know, Draco."

"Did he see Pippa?" Draco asked Blaise suddenly. "Did he see her?"

"I have no idea, it's possible."

"If he knew that Pippa had seen him, where would he go? He wouldn't go home, because that would be the obvious first place we'd look."

Blaise sighed, "I don't know."

Draco stood still for a moment in the silence of the empty flat. The Auror's would be arriving soon, he was sure, because the flat that belonged to one Theodore Nott was probably filled to the brim with evidence of the previous murders that had taken place.

He was trying to think what he would do. Well, what he would do if he was an insane psychopath who was clearly obsessed with Hermione.

He'd take her to the least obvious place, of course, but where would that be? Pippa had seen him, and Draco was fairly sure that Theo had probably seen her too. The moon was almost full so it was throwing off plenty of light.

"What's Pippa's address?" Draco asked suddenly, snapping his eyes open and turning to Blaise.

"You think that's where he went?"

"I think it's possible," Draco said, and before he could explain Blaise had him by the arm and pulled him into side-along apparation.

They appeared in the living room and Draco stumbled slightly while trying to get his bearings.

"I still have plenty of things I've promised to do to you," he heard Nott threaten. Hermione whimpered and Draco was confused about why they hadn't heard their arrival. It wasn't as though apparation was silent.

"Pippa has roommates and has a constant spell on her room to keep the sounds out. She's a healer and works shiftwork… she sleeps at odd times," Blaise said, almost as though he had read Draco's mind. Blaise fired off a patronus while Draco put up anti-apparation wards on the apartment – Nott wasn't getting away that easily – and Blaise surged forward, throwing open the door. Draco followed and almost fell over when he saw Hermione tied to a rather small bed, her arms extended above her head. Nott was standing beside her with his wand pointed at them.

"It's over, Nott," Blaise was saying. "Everyone knows where you are and they'll be here shortly."

"Why would you take her?" Draco asked, trying to keep his voice calm but he was genuinely curious. "And why did all those people need to die?" He edged toward Hermione as he was asking, trying to distract the man and prolong the time until the authorities arrived.

"Why did I take her?!" Nott almost screamed, his eye rolling in his head slightly. "You knew how much I loved her! You knew it all those years and didn't care, you took her for yourself! Did you think I didn't know?!"

"You didn't love her, Nott. You didn't even know her."

"I loved her!" he yelled. "I still love her! You sat there constantly telling me that she was filth and I deserved better, but you were fucking her behind everyone's backs. You knew how I felt about her!"

Draco could see that he wasn't going to get anywhere with that line of questioning.

"And all the others? Why did they need to die?"

"While she was ignoring me she was spending her time with them. She knew their names and laughed with them. She spent time with them and even touched them! She wouldn't touch me willingly. Hell, she wouldn't even speak to me! I deserved her attention much more than all of those mudbloods, and there she was spending her time with them instead of me! And you! You stole her from me, Draco! You knew, and you stole her."

"How did you get on my property, Nott?" Draco desperately needed that piece of information.

The sandy haired man turned to Draco and gave him a truly deranged grin, "It's interesting," he started, "that no one, including you, listened to Hermione's story about the war a little closer. She didn't even catch on and she was the one who lived through it! House elves, you imbecile!" Draco groaned inwardly. How he hadn't figured that out, he would never know.

"I knew from their account of what had happened at your manor that the elves could get in and out of your wards with witches and wizards with no problem. My own elf was delivering letters to Hermione for me for almost a year, taking them directly to her room. After the ball I was really starting to miss her plus I was running out of photos to accompany the letters, so I began to get my elf to bring me through the wards with him. I didn't do anything to her, not then, I just wanted to see her. I can't say I was thrilled that she was in your bed; it didn't seem to take too long to rekindle the relationship between the two of you. My elf helped me get her out of there tonight though, since he had to apparate the two of us out of your wards."

Nott was telling them everything because he was desperately enjoying the looks on their faces. He had outsmarted them all and he knew it, they knew it, and he relished in it.

"Why wouldn't you have just taken her when you had those opportunities to take photos?"

"I couldn't just take her, Malfoy. I have to do things a certain way, and besides, I still had other people to finish off before I got to her and made her understand that this was ALL HER FAULT!"

He screamed the last words with wild abandon and Draco's eyes widened.

"If she had just paid some sort of attention to me; given me a chance when I so desperately wanted it instead of ignoring me for all those morons… things would have been different."

"What about Draco? Hermione ignored every male in school for Draco."

Draco shot a Blaise an 'Oh, thanks' look, but Theo answered immediately.

"I couldn't kill Draco! He was my friend… since we were children we were friends. There's no way I would have been able to kill him."

Draco was having a hard time keeping up with the man's logic. He couldn't kill Draco for being the only one who was actually at fault of having Hermione's attention, but he could hurt Draco by kidnapping his fiancé, doing something to break her – Draco didn't miss the tear stains on her cheeks and the blatant fear in her eyes – and planning on murdering her gruesomely. Never mind the letters he had been sending Hermione for over a year.

In the silence that followed Nott's confusing statement Draco suddenly pointed his wand at Hermione and unbound her. Immediately after those actions several things happened at once.

Hermione rolled from the bed, hitting the floor and staying down seconds before the area she was laying went up in flames. Blaise had screamed, "Stupefy!" while Nott was trying to hex Hermione, and he hit the ground with a loud 'thud' as Hermione scurried to her fiancé.

"He's barkers," she cried, throwing herself into his arms.

"Clearly," Blaise said. "But the Auror's should be here shortly to deal with him."

Draco pointed his wand at the man and ropes sprung out and tied him up tightly, "He won't be going anywhere."

The shimmering lights from the Pensieve grabbed both Draco and Blaise's attention almost immediately after Nott was bound.

"What's that?" Draco asked, moving forward.

"Nothing. Don't go in there, Draco," Hermione begged, and the blond turned to her with a questioning look on his face.

"What is it?"

"Nott's extremely twisted memories. Please don't go in there."

Blaise took it upon himself to enter the memories almost immediately. Hermione sighed.

"I'm so sorry," Draco said, gathering his witch in his arms tightly, "I should have been there tonight. I shouldn't have left like I did."

"I totally understand why you needed your own space, Draco, and I'm sorry that I made you feel like you needed it."

Draco dropped his hand to Hermione's stomach, "Is it true?" he whispered, his hand caressing her belly.

"According to Pippa."

"I'm glad," he said, "and just in time too, since we've caught the scum of the universe. We can be a normal, happy family."

Hermione gave Draco a small, almost sad smile. She didn't think they would ever be considered 'normal', but she didn't want to tell him that.

The Auror's burst into the flat before he had a chance to ask her why she was giving him that look, lead directly by Harry Potter. Hermione groaned but gave no other indication that she was upset the dark haired man was in her vicinity.

They were extremely efficient, but Hermione had to yell at a man who was about to take the Pensieve for evidence; Blaise was still in there, after all. Nott was rounded up and apparated to the Ministry immediately and they told Hermione she would have to go in for questioning within the hour.

Harry avoided the couple.

There was only one Auror left in the room who was waiting to take the Pensieve to the Ministry when Blaise emerged from the basin. The moment his feet touched the floor the Auror had the bowl in his possession and apparated away with it before Blaise even had time to vomit on the floor.

"Nott?! Did you know before tonight?" he asked as soon as he was finished heaving on his girlfriend's floor.

Hermione shook her head no and gave a very pointed look at Draco, although she was embarrassed that Blaise had seen that particular memory, on top of others.

"I tried not to look at the more private ones," the Italian said, watching Hermione closely. He looked sheepish and she was having a hard time meeting his eyes, "I swear, I didn't look. Although that man is completely barmy."

"What is it?" Draco asked, watching the two closely. "What were the memories?"

"You can tell him," she said to Blaise. "I have to go give a statement."

"So do Blaise and I," Draco reminded. "But while you're giving yours Blaise can fill me in."

/

Pippa was holding Hermione's hand tightly while she told the authorities what had happened. They wanted to know how the man had lured the victims out of their safe houses so easily. Hermione knew they were being killed at their safe houses and she still fell victim to his trap.

"He had transfigured himself somehow to look exactly like Draco. I don't know how he did it, but I was looking out my window and saw Draco outside, so I went to see what he was doing."

"And it was Theodore Nott?"

"Yes."

"What did he do to you while he had you in his possession?"

"He forced me to look at memories of his from when we were in school – one of the Auror's has them, so you can view them yourself, please don't make me watch them again or relive them by telling you about them. He said that he murdered all of the muggleborns he did because I was friends with them, but I actually think that he's confused… I think he murdered them because he doesn't know what he's supposed to feel toward my heritage and he doesn't like that. Whatever his reasons, he did it. He told me. You have him in your custody now."

Hermione looked at Pippa suddenly and then began searching the floor of the office with her eyes; Pippa understood suddenly and conjured a garbage pail for the poor girl to vomit in.

"As a healer I must insist that Miss. Granger be released. She needs her rest after this traumatizing experience. If you have any more questions for her they can wait until she's feeling better."

The Auror motioned that they could leave, but he was scribbling on a piece of parchment and didn't seem to really care either way what the two females did at the moment.

The moment Hermione opened the door there was a loud squeal and she was suddenly engulfed in long blonde hair, arms around her back squeezing her tightly.

"Are you okay? I was going out of my mind with worry, and I hadn't heard a word from Draco about how you were. Pippa had a patronus from Blaise but that was only to tell her to come to the ministry. Oh, Hermione, dear, don't scare me like that ever again."

"I'm okay, Narcissa. Theodore Nott didn't have a chance to harm me; Draco and Blaise showed up before he did any lasting damage."

"Where's my son?" she asked, her eyes wild.

"I'm not sure," Hermione answered, extracting herself from Narcissa's grasp slowly and watching Severus, who looked to be at a complete loss.

"Let's go look," she suggested, and Narcissa took off immediately to find Draco with Pippa in tow. Severus hung back and Hermione matched his slow pace; she had a feeling that he wanted to speak to her.

"I know I haven't had many conversations with you and you know you were nothing but a thorn in my side during school; but I knew then and I know now how important you are to Draco. I can't express how sorry I am that I did nothing to help you from the young monsters in my former Hogwarts house when you were sixteen and that I didn't help you from a different one of them now. I had no idea… no idea how many would be affected by such a young age from the trials of war, and for that I apologize."

Severus lengthened his strides, almost as though he were running away from her, but she let him go while she thought about his words. He felt guilty, and he really shouldn't. He played his part in the war and it was a part that not many were brave enough to take on; Severus Snape was a great man, and Hermione vowed from here on out she would be nicer to him and try to be closer as well. He was to be a pretty permanent part of her life from now on, as far as she could tell.

Hermione walked aimlessly because she really had no idea where Draco could have gotten to and she hadn't spent enough time at the Ministry to know her way around other than to get to the Ministers office and out of the building. She decided her best bet would be to wait at the Atrium.

Ron Weasley spotted her almost instantly and made his way to her.

"Hermione," he greeted, "I'm so glad to see that you're alright. I was really worried."

"Hello, Ron. I'm fine, thank you."

Ron's jovial smile faltered.

"Look… I need to apologize to you. I was a right git and I was way too focused on the idea that my best male friend would never lie to me, and while I was doing that and… well abusing you, really, I forgot to take my best female friend's attributes into account."

Hermione said nothing, just stared. Ron had never been one to apologize without being pushed into doing so.

"I'm really sorry. I knew when Harry sent that curse at you that something was really off. I was upset by what Malfoy was saying too, but I wasn't about to hurt you because of it. I wanted to contact you so many times, but I remembered the look on Malfoy's face when we were leaving the manor that night and I just really didn't think he or you would appreciate the letter. I've wanted to patch things up though, Hermione. I really miss you."

Hermione cracked a small smile, she would be lying if she said she didn't miss her friends as well, but things were so different now. Although, just because things were different didn't mean people weren't as well. Maybe Ron was really ready to change and let bygones be bygones.

"Draco and I are engaged," Hermione said, testing him. "We were waiting for this to pass so we could have a real wedding, and now that it has I'm sure it will be soon. Narcissa has been in planning mode for months."

Ron smiled a genuine smile, "I'm glad for you, Hermione, and I really do hope I'm invited to the nuptials."

Ron passed with that one sentence.

"Of course you will be."

"With a plus one?" the red head asked, smiling shyly.

"Definitely. Who's the lucky lady?"

"I don't think you know her. She's actually French, I met her through Fleur."

"I'd love to meet her, one day."

"I'll owl you," Ron assured, backing away slightly when he saw Draco emerge from a lift on the other side of the hall. "And Hermione? Don't be too hard on Harry, either. I know what he did was a lot worse than anything I did, but he has felt nothing but shame for the last while and he really does miss you."

"No promises," she told the red head, who turned and headed for a fireplace so he could floo home.

Draco approached and pulled her into his arms tenderly.

"Let's go home," he said.

/

"Blaise told me everything," Draco said that night in their bedroom. He was sitting on the edge of his bed while Hermione stood at the dressing table, rubbing lotion into the skin of her arms. "I'm… I'm so sorry that you went through that alone. He said he vomited once in the memories and still wasn't able to keep it together when he emerged."

"Draco," Hermione said, turning to him. "I love you, but I don't want to talk about this. I'm sorry, I know that you want me to get it off my chest and what not, but I honestly just… I'm okay. It was a shock, of course, but I just want to move on with our lives. I want out of this rut. I want to get married, have our child, and move on."

Draco stood from the bed and approached her slowly, reaching his hands out and placing them on her still flat stomach. Hermione rested her back on his chest and leaned her head against him. "I just want to be that normal, happy family. I want to leave this all in the past and move ahead with our lives."

"Of course," Draco said, willing to do anything to help her be happy. "I completely understand and I definitely don't disagree. I've had enough of the depression, as well."

"When do you think your mum is going to have the wedding set for?"

"As soon as she can," Draco said with a grin. "She almost fainted when I told her you were pregnant and she said we needed to get the wedding out of the way as soon as possible – she's terribly worried that you'll start showing too soon."

"I won't be surprised if she doesn't have the whole thing set to take place in three weeks," Hermione joked.

She wasn't wrong.

Hermione made sure that there was an invite for Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter plus guests sent out with the rest. Draco didn't even argue with her about it, which she was grateful for, and she had a feeling that he wanted her to make things right with her friends, even if he did hate them.

/

The ceremony was beautiful and elegant, and quick, thank Merlin. Hermione hated being the center of attention and standing at the altar with Draco Malfoy for more than twenty minutes was just not something she was interested in. Narcissa had arranged everything perfectly, and Hermione was glad the task had been taken from her hands.

She would have gone insane if she had to do it on her own.

Hermione had just finished placing a forkful of cake into her husbands' mouth when they were approached by her friends. Both men looked distinctly nervous, but Ron still went in for a hug, which Hermione gratefully bestowed him.

"You must be Sylvie," Hermione said to the gorgeous brunette standing beside Ron, "I've heard so much about you."

"Oui," the woman answered with a smile, "Eet ees a pleasure to meet you, Miss Granger," the woman replied with a slight roll on the 'R' in her surname, and then she giggled delightedly before saying, "Oh, pardon moi, I of course meant Mrs. Malfoy."

Hermione immediately liked her.

Draco bit the bullet and extended his hand to Ron, who looked surprised for a moment before grasping it in his own and giving it a hearty shake. He figured he may as well get used to the red headed git now, since Hermione had made it very clear while the two friends were owling each other constantly the last three weeks that she had decided to forgive both of her friends for their past. She had been adamant that she would only forgive Harry if he had turned over a new leaf, and judging by the small red-head at his side, he had decided to try.

"Harry!" Hermione said, pulling him into a hug that lasted an appropriate amount of time before backing away and saying, "Who's your guest?"

"This is Lydia," Harry said, pulling the small woman closer.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said, extending her hand.