Typical Disclaimers Apply

A/N: Hello again! Gryffindor's Goddess, sjrodgers108, RadicalReason, Silverbirch, Azrulai, and Lilo are all amazing because they reviewed my last chapter, so many thanks goes out to them! If you haven't reviewed, you should try it. It's pretty great. Dumbledore would encourage it.

Hermione's stomach was twitching with butterflies the moment she Apparated into the Ministry of Magic. Today was the day she was going to ask Draco to live with her. For the first time in years she was excited. She was smiling at strangers, walking with a bit of a skip in her step, and saying hello to people to whom she usually gave a stiff nod.

"Harry!" she called. Harry turned, missing the doors of the lift close. His eyes narrowed, searching for whoever had called after him. Hermione waved him over. His eyebrows furrowed and his green eyes narrowed even more, but he came over. "Hi, how are you?" she bubbled. Before he could answer she continued, "I got to talk to Ginny yesterday. Are you two back together yet?"

Harry stared at her, clearly dumbfounded at her complete personality change. "Are you on drugs?" he finally said.

"No," she said with a giggle. "I'm excited!"

Harry gave her a guarded look. "Why?"

"Well, don't tell anyone but," she dropped her voice, "I'm going to ask Draco to move in with me!" His jaw dropped. "Isn't it great?"

Disgust was taking over Harry's features, his mouth settling into a scowl and his jaw clenching. "I cannot believe you," he snarled.

"What?"

"Ron's still warm in the grave and you go on and shack up with the first bloke who comes along? What is wrong with you?" People were turning to stare. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Harry beat her to the punch. "I don't get you, Hermione. For months you barely spoke to anyone, now here comes Draco, who apparently has gotten a lobotomy or shock treatment since he tried to kill us in Hogwarts, and you're a completely new person!" He was yelling now. "You know, I get that Ron wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life in mourning, but I'm fairly certain he wouldn't want you running off with the son of the man who's responsible for his death," he spat, turning around.

"You think I haven't thought about this?" asked Hermione, causing Harry to stop in his path. "Do you think I haven't talked to him? That he hasn't proven to me that he's changed? Because he has. He's not seventeen anymore, Harry. He's on our side now."

Harry turned back and shook his head. "You're going to end up disappointed, Hermione. Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater." He paused for a second before adding, "And to answer your question: no, Ginny and I haven't gotten back together."

By the time Hermione had gotten up to her office, the majority of her shock had worn off and been taken over by doubt. Sure, it wasn't surprising that Harry would be upset about her moving on; Ron was his best friend. But Ginny wasn't upset at all, and Ron was her brother. And no other Weasley had reacted negatively—although George's idea of sending Draco to McDonald's was a bit wicked. Still, she didn't want to trade in her old family for a new friend.

"Good morning," she called wearily. Draco looked up from the memo he was writing and grinned at her.

"I see you've managed to go twenty-four hours without getting drunk again," he said mockingly. "Or have you discovered one of the many ways to disguise a hangover?"

She rolled her eyes and took a seat at her desk. "So, sorry to spring this on you out-of-the-blue, but I've been thinking lately—"

"Really? That's a switch." Hermione turned around and glared at him. He shrugged as if to say, "It's true!"

"Anyway, I've been thinking that, perhaps, you and I should move in together." If Draco had been drinking coffee, he probably would have spit it out all over the memo he was writing. Instead he just seemed to choke on his own saliva, his hacking cough mixing with laughter. "Move in together?" he finally forced out.

"Yes," said Hermione, through teeth clenched so severely her dentist parents would have heart attacks.

Draco laughed a bit more, "You think we should move in together," he stated.

"Have I not made myself clear?"

"You do realize that living together is about one step below marriage, don't you?" Hermione's eyebrows came together. She pursed her lips, thoroughly confused. Draco was still talking though, "I think that's moving a little too fast. We haven't even slept together yet." He wasn't yelling, not even close, but he still said that loud enough for a few people outside the office to laugh a little awkwardly and look a bit confused.

Hermione laughed with them, before she shot Draco another glare and closed the door. "I didn't mean it that way," she hissed. "I don't even think we should continue seeing each other. I meant that you should be my flatmate." He looked confused. "You know, we could split my rent and everything. I've got an extra bedroom and everything."

"You don't want to keep dating," he said flatly. "You not only want to break our relationship off but you actually want me to move in with you and live in your extra bedroom? Hermione, I don't think I've ever heard something this ridiculous before!" He shook his head, "Merlin, I've heard of mixed messages, but this has got to be something from another planet."

"I don't see what the problem is," said Hermione icily. "I just thought, maybe you'd want to live with someone other than your mother." That was kind of a low blow, but he'd started this whole damn argument and he wasn't going to get the last word in. Not like Harry had.

"Don't bring my mum into this," said Draco firmly. He stood up and strode over to her desk, resting a hand on it. "Is this you trying to let go? Or are you just trying to alienate me because you're starting to like me?"

Hermione laughed sharply, "And you seem to think I'm the mad one. I just said I don't want to date you, and if I need to make it clearer, then no, I do not like you, fancy you, et cetera. And I don't usually try to push people away by inviting them into my home."

"Yes, but you didn't actually think I'd say yes to that, would you?" Hermione stared at him, dumbfounded. "I mean, you knew I wouldn't want to move in with you. You must have know that I'd say no, we'd stop dating, and eventually things would get so awkward that one of us would switch into a new office, thus ending any contact between us."

Hermione paused, her mouth slightly open and her eyes narrowing. "No one thinks like that," she finally said, once the initial shock wore off. Draco looked her in the eye. She returned the stare with as much malice as humanly possible.

"Hermione, I—" He was interrupted by a loud pounding on the window. Percy Weasley, who had been demoted to messenger boy (that wasn't his real title, just what everyone called him) after he hadn't done anything to fight against Voldemort until the very last moment, was standing outside. He looked flushed, like he'd sprinted across the entire Ministry. He knocked again, slightly softer this time now that he had their attention.

Hermione got up and opened the door. "What is it?" she asked tiredly. Still breathing hard, Percy responded, "We just heard...I've just told Harry..." A few panic-based scenarios ran through Hermione's mind: a mass breakout in the Ministry Prisons; Arthur was dead; Voldemort had come back to life and was periodically killing Order members...the last one seemed a bit ridiculous. "We just heard from St. Mungo's; I'm supposed to send out a notice, but you all were so close to her—"

"Who?" gasped Hermione.

"She hasn't been well for awhile, but, ah, it was still quite a surprise," Percy filibustered, his freckled cheeks flushed.

"Get on with it," Draco growled.

"Well, it's Professor McGonagall. She must have had a heart attack, and she, er, died."