Chapter Eleven: Complicate

"Hermione! It's so good to see you!" Hermione smiled brightly as Harry, Ron, and Ginny greeted her at the door to the Burrow.

"Oh, it's been way too long!" Hermione said, hugging Ginny and Harry. Ron stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, as though he didn't want Hermione to hug him. Only slightly offended, Hermione heard Mrs. Weasley's voice.

"Don't leave her standing out there in the cold! Invite her IN!"

Hermione stepped into the warm atmosphere of the Burrow, immediately surrounded by various-sized red-haired Weasleys, all smiling warmly at her.

She loved the atmosphere here at the Burrow. It made her forget all the coldness of the autumn…all the loneliness.

But you weren't really alone….

She shook her head forcefully, only after realizing she was still in front of a lot of people. She looked nervously up at them. "Eh…"

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Erm…yes, I'm fine…just…tired…" she said quietly, hoping it was a believable lie.

Everyone laughed as Mrs. Weasley said, "Go on up to Ginny's room, darling, and take a nap. You know where it is."

She nodded and smiled in thanks before dragging her bags up the staircase, sighing in relief. Nice going, Hermione. How would you explain what you were really thinking about to them? To even say you had had a civil conversation with him would be suicide…to admit you KISSED him?

She opened the door, falling onto the air mattress on the floor. She unconsciously reached her hand up to her lips, still remembering the kiss that Draco Malfoy had given her only hours before. She closed her eyes, remembering his warm lips and his hands gently running through her hair.

She wanted so much to hate it, but she had to admit that he was a good kisser. A very good kisser. And she had kissed him back. She hadn't pushed him away; she had kissed him right back.

She remembered him yelling that he was sorry as she had run out the door.

But was she sorry?

Of course she was! What was she even saying? That she felt something for Draco? For that…that…Death Eater?

He's not a Death Eater.

He's still a Malfoy.

He doesn't want to be.

But he doesn't want to help Harry either.

But she found herself thinking of him, and unable to get him out of his mind.

She quickly sat up as Ginny, Ron, and Harry all entered the room. "Hey Hermione," Ginny said brightly. "We decided to come keep you company."

"Good, I've been so lonely this year!" she joked.

"I'd rather be lonely than in Slughorn's class. Or Defense Against the Dark Arts. We're going to do boggarts again, Hermione!" Ron complained.

"Boggarts? Who's the new DADA teacher anyways?"

"Some new Ministry-appointed bloke, Professor Cooke. I wish they had just gotten Professor Lupin back."

"Yes he was definitely our best so far; maybe he could've broken the curse that goes along with that position," Hermione sighed.

"We could've had him all along except for that git, Malfoy," Harry grumbled.

She tried so hard to keep an emotionless face as Harry said his name. Judging from the look Ginny sent her though, she guessed she hadn't done such a good job.

"I wonder where he got off to. Hope he's dead."

"Why?" she said, before she could stop herself.

"Because…he's…Malfoy?" Harry said as though it were obvious.

"Oh, well, yes of course, I was just a little confused," she said, ignoring the heat rushing to her face.

Ron's eyes were fixed on her. "So who was that mystery guy anyways?"

"No one!" she said loudly and quickly. Why did I ever tell them that?

"Oh c'mon, tell us!"

"You don't want to know," she said, honestly.

"Yes we do," they all said.

"Trust me, you don't."

"What? Don't tell us it was like Seamus or someone…that would be gross," Ron said disgusted.

"Seamus was at school all year, you dope," Ginny pointed out.

"Look, I really would like to forget about it," Hermione said, hoping they would understand. She kept thinking back to the kiss, to his eyes…to his perfectly toned chest…

Ginny's eyes went wide. "Whoa! How…Who! RON! HARRY! GET OUT! Girl-Talk time!"

Ron and Harry looked at each other, then at Ginny. "Why?" they both said, confused.

"Just get out!" Ginny shrieked.

Reluctantly, they got up and went downstairs, closing the door behind them.

Ginny rushed over to where Hermione was sitting on the air mattress. "Who was that guy?"

"I'm not telling you!" she protested.

"You're bloody in love with him!"

"No I'm not!" Hermione said forcefully.

"I can see it in your face when you said you didn't want to talk about it! You were blushing! How far did you go with him?" Ginny demanded.

Hermione hesitated, and she immediately knew that was the wrong thing to do.

"OH MY GOD!" Ginny screamed.

Immediately Ron and Harry were back in the room. "WHAT? WHAT'S WRONG?"

Ginny just stared at Hermione with her mouth wide open. "Hermione…she…whoa…" she trailed off. Then she stood up, smiling. "Oh Hermione, I'm so proud of you!"

"Why?" Harry and Ron said together, looking suspicious.

"Hermione met a guy…did more than meet a guy…who knows how much more…" Ginny said in a sing-song voice before skipping out of the room.

Harry and Ron turned to look at Hermione. "'Did more than meet a guy'?" Ron asked in a weird tone.

"I'm hungry, are we eating soon?" Hermione asked.

"Dinner's ready!" Ginny yelled from downstairs, still in a sing-song voice.

Hermione smiled at her friends. "It's so good to be back with you guys!"

She practically ran down the stairs to avoid anymore questions, cursing Ginny for knowing so much about these things.

Later that night after dinner, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Harry were all sitting up in Ron's room talking. Thankfully, dinner had forced the thoughts of Hermione's "mystery guy" from all their minds and they had just been catching up for the past few hours.

She didn't want to talk about him.

Or think about him.

He was wrong.

She knew that.

So why did he seem so right?

She shook her head, determined to enjoy the time with her best friends, and forget Draco. She didn't even know what he was to her…or what she was to him.

These were her friends…her best mates. And it was so good to be back with them.

Sometime during the talking, Ginny fell asleep on Harry's shoulder. Hermione smiled at Harry, who was absolutely beaming.

They were good for each other. She had known that Harry only wanted to protect Ginny when he broke up with her, but she knew that it would do neither of them any good. He needed her. She needed him.

Early in the morning, Harry fell asleep, his head falling against Ginny's. Ron and Hermione both laughed at this.

Then the room fell into silence.

"So…you had fun in New York?" Ron asked, conversationally.

Hermione thought back to when she wrote the first letter to Ron and Harry, and when she met Draco in the park. When she had gone back to find him…and when she had teased him and tried to feed him his hamburger. When he had run away, and when he had been standing at that bridge. When she found him outside her apartment, and when he told her he was not a Death Eater. When she chased him away, and when she found him again…when he smiled at her.

"It was certainly interesting. Never a dull moment," she said, truthfully.

Ron nodded.

Hermione shivered in the winter air, and Ron stood up, bringing a blanket over to her. "Here."

"Thanks," she said, smiling at him.

Ron smiled for the first time since she had walked in the door.

Hermione couldn't keep the smile off her face as she and Ron walked behind Harry and Ginny as they searched the Hogwarts Express for an open compartment. She saw Ginny's eyes fixed on Harry, and Harry holding onto her hand as they maneuvered around the other students. They would be good together. They were a cute couple. Perfect.

She glanced beside her at Ron, who was trying his best not to notice the two and the fact that they were getting back together. She knew Ron didn't have a real problem with them being together, but she guessed it might still be awkward. "Ron, don't let it bother you," she reassured him.

He looked over at her. "Who said I was bothered?"

She just smiled and looked away, finally settling in a compartment next to Ron and across from Harry and Ginny, who were in a heated conversation about the Spring Ball. Hermione had just found out about it, but was not so excited about it. Who would she go with? There would be no Viktor Krum to save her from complete embarrassment.

And then her mind took her to a place she didn't want to go.

Draco.

She had managed to keep him out of her head for the better part of the week. She had had so much fun with her friends without having to think about him anymore.

And now she would have to see him. Now she would have to figure out what to say to him…and what she wanted.

How could she break his heart though…assuming that he fancied her in that way? His father was a murderer, his mother was dead, and he had more enemies than Harry would ever have. He was alone in every way.

She shook her head, startled by the train starting. Maybe she could avoid the issue entirely. Maybe….

"Hermione, are you there?" Ginny asked, waving a hand in front of Hermione's face. She snapped back to attention.

"Sorry, I just spaced," she explained.

"Since when does the all-powerful, focused Hermione Granger "space"?" Harry joked.

Hermione pretended to be offended before breaking down into a laugh.

Ginny just got an evil, knowing smile on her face. "I will bet money that she is daydreaming about that classmate she met up with in New York."

Hermione could feel her face get red. "Oh c'mon," she said exasperated. Nothing says I have to tell them the whole truth….

"Tell us, Hermione, is he coming back to the school now too?" Harry asked, teasing.

Ron was unusually quiet.

"How would I know?" Hermione said, proud of herself for coming up with that.

Ginny just smirked and shook her head at Hermione.

Hermione looked away from her friends and out at the passing countryside. A new, horrifying problem had arisen.

What do I do when I get back to school? Ignore Draco? Still hang around with him and piss of my best mates? Tell them that he's not so bad? Yeah…they'd surely believe that.

She couldn't ignore Draco…how could she do that to him?

But how could she betray her best friends like that?

They would never understand. Draco might understand, but she could already feel her heart breaking as she thought about when she had found him in that alley and he had been in so much emotional pain.

She sighed, pressing her face up against the glass, wondering when life would be simple again. Probably not until 'Death Eaters' and 'Voldemort' are no longer part of normal conversations, she thought sadly.

"Hermione, you okay?" She heard Ron's voice break her thoughts. She turned to face him.

"Yeah…yeah…I'm fine. It's just…" Tell them, Hermione…, "well, you see…um…McGonagall has assigned me to look after Dra-Malfoy and I'm just not…."

"MALFOY?" All three of her friends shouted his name in disbelief, staring at her.

Oh damnit all! How could you forget they didn't know he was coming back?

"Oh…um, guess you didn't hear…."

"MALFOY?" they all repeated again.

"McGonagall sent me a letter while I was in New York…she's inviting D-Malfoy back to Hogwarts, and I'm supposed to watch him wherever he goes," she said casually, still cursing herself for being so careless.

"How the bloody hell can they invite him back?" Ron practically shrieked. Hermione shrugged. "Maybe he's different."

"YEAH RIGHT! This is MALFOY! He's been a jerk since the beginning of time!" Ron screamed.

"He's a murderer! They can't allow him back! It's endangering the well-being of all the students of Hogwarts! I'll hex his arse into next week the MINUTE I see him!" Ginny yelled.

"Why the hell isn't he in Azkaban? He should be there for LIFE! He's a bloody Death Eater!" Harry yelled as well, his face turning red with anger.

"This is absolutely outrageous! How did they even find the filthy jerk?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know, I just got a letter saying I was his official baby-sitter." She hoped beyond hope that they would just drop the subject.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "You seem awfully calm about this."

"You weren't there when I opened the letter, Ron. I've had a significant amount of time to cool off."

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?"

Hermione bit her lip. "I was trying to forget about it, myself. Plus, I didn't want it to ruin our visit. I hadn't seen you guys in so long."

Ron looked at his feet. "Sorry Hermione. Didn't mean to accuse you of anything."

She smiled a small smile at him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "No harm done, Ron. And you're right, I do seem awfully calm. But believe me, all of the United States of American heard me when I opened the letter saying he was coming to Hogwarts." Not entirely a lie…she remembered her shrieking when she had found out he was accepted back and his…STOP IT YOU BLUSH ONE MORE TIME IN FRONT OF GINNY AND SHE'LL FIGURE IT OUT.

"Well, he'll be under my constant watch…I guess I could "dispose" of him," Hermione said, fighting back giggles. They were more hysterical than anything else, but she hoped her laugh would throw them off.

This made the whole compartment smile.

Still smiling, Ginny stood up. "Harry and I are going to the snack trolley. I need some comfort food after this disturbing information. You guys wanna come?"

Ron stood up to come along, and then looked down at Hermione. Hermione shook her head. "No thanks, I'm fine."

Ron gave her a suspicious look before following the renewed couple.

Hermione hit her head against the glass window.

You are so stupid.

She sighed, unable to stop her mind from drifting back to Draco.

Letter Nine: Lucius Malfoy to Draco

Meet me tomorrow at midnight at the Manor. We have much to discuss.