A/N: Finally an update. Sorry guys I've been working on a novella for a scholarship. It's nearly done now though, let me know if your interested in reading it. D Enjoy.

o11

Hermione woke early the next morning and made toast in the small kitchen that adjoined their rooms. Slathering it in butter and jam she sat in one of the overstuffed armchairs and stared out the floor to ceiling window which faced the Great Lake. Draco must have smelled her food because shortly after she settled into the chair he emerged from his own room.

"Morning," He said softly, making his way towards the kitchen.

"Morning," Hermione replied, equally softly. She hadn't forgotten her conversation with her Elven guardian the night before. It had been difficult to forget her guardians parting words.

"You're up early," Draco offered as he charmed bread to a toasted brown.

"I haven't been sleeping as much," Hermione said refraining from adding more.

"Oh."

"Plus I have that meeting…At ten"

"Right. I ran into the woman you're going to meet last night after…"

"Really?"

"Well I think it was her. Professor Serali, she's teaching Care of Magical Creatures."

"Draco we need to talk," Hermione said. Draco turned away from her to butter his toast. He didn't reply. Hermione sighed and turned her attention towards the window once again.

"She broke the engagement ring you know. Completely destroyed it."

"I know," Hermione replied without thinking.

"How?"

"I just do," she replied. "I really think we should talk."

"About what?" Draco demanded turning around. He took a bite out of his toast while staring at her. Hermione refused to waver this time.

"About last year, about the Yule Ball…After that night-"

"I don't want to talk about last year," Draco interrupted. He picked up his other piece of toast and stormed towards his rooms slamming the door behind him.

Hermione sighed and pushed herself off of the chair making her way to her own rooms. The bed was made already, probably by a house-elf, and a parchment envelope resting on her pillow. The lilting green script was easily recognizable as Pansy's. Hermione sat on the edge of her bed and split open the letter, it was an invitation.

You are cordially invited to a start of the year ball hosted by the Slytherin Princesses.

To be held last night before classes begin.

The Ball is formal attire only, invitation only and upperclassmen only. If you want to bring a guest it must be cleared by the hosts.

You know the place. No RSVP required.

-Blaise, Pansy, Hermione and Cecile



Hermione was surprised to see her name on an invitation for a Ball she hadn't even orchestrated but it didn't necessarily surprise her. Pansy had taken Hermione under her wing and had apparently decided that she was Slytherin material. Undoubtedly her marriage to Draco had sealed her title. Placing the invitation aside, Hermione went to the foot of her bed and opened her trunk. Reaching through the uniforms she pulled out a long cardboard box and placed it on the bed. Staring at it for a few long moments she went back into the trunk for a pair of black trousers and a lavender blouse.

Stripping she was pulling the trousers on when Draco walked in.

"Oh…Gods. Sorry Hermione, I didn't mean –"

"It's fine," Hermione said as she pulled the trousers up and turned towards him. "What do you want?"

"What is this ball you guys are planning?"

"I'm not sure. Pansy and Blaise must've put it together. I'm just on the invitation."

"Can you put…that on," Draco said pointing to the blouse. Hermione picked it up and slipped it on buttoning from the top down. "What are you wearing?"

"It's a surprise."

"I need to match my outfit to yours," Draco said pointedly.

"I didn't realize we were going together," Hermione replied.

"Hermione this isn't funny anymore. Do you want me to go with another girl?"

"Yeah, why don't you take that blonde tramp? In fact, why don't we just get divorced since this marriage doesn't seem to be doing very much for either of us," Hermione screamed. Without realizing it she threw her hands up and was engulfed in a blue-green inferno.

"Hermione that is quite enough," a voice said from the doorway. Someone clapped three times, only it sounded more like thunderclaps to Hermione, and the inferno disappeared.

"Really Hermione, that was quite childish and you could have killed him." Hermione stared at the woman standing in front of her in disbelief feeling a little faint.

"Your…from my dreams," Hermione said softly. Draco looked between the two uncertainly as Dumbledore entered the room as well.

"Draco I don't think you were invited to this meeting. We will speak later," the woman said. Draco waited a moment to long and Dumbledore took his elbow moving him out the door.

"Later Draco," Dumbledore said softly. Draco nodded numbly as the door shut behind him.

Draco sat in the armchair and waited, flipping through the Daily Prophet, until Professor Dumbledore and Serali emerged from Hermione's rooms. He stood as soon as they walked out.

"What…What was that?" he asked, sounding uncertain of himself.

"Hermione invoked an Elven defense mechanism. She must have felt threatened by whatever you two were arguing about. She threw a lot of strength behind the invocation. It was very dangerous, you could have been killed," Professor Serali responded. She sounded unsympathetic about his impending death.

"She's resting now. The invocation drained her Elven power substanstially, you probably will not see her again until tonight." Dumbledore added.

"And should I worry about another one of those spells?"

"No, her power has ebbed for the time being she will not be strong enough to invoke such a strong spell for quite some time. This does not mean that you should upset her. I have taught her the most basic of control techniques but it will take months before she is in full control of her 

powers. You would do best to remember she is not always in control." Professor Serali swept from the room after this, leaving Dumbledore with a stunned Draco.

"She's something," Draco muttered under his breath. Dumbledore smiled knowingly. He gestured to the seat next to Draco.

"Do you mind?"

"No, of course not Professor," Draco responded.

"I wanted to know if you had any news for me," Dumbledore said as he sank into the chair.

"Voldermort is bidding his time right now, I'm not sure why. He has been waiting to see what Harry's next move is I think – since Harry has changed tactics under the new minister."

"Of course, well I just wanted to know if anything had changed since the last time we spoke. I expect your father is doing well?"

"Better than expected I'm sure. I haven't spoken to him since the wedding; he was in France for much of August."

"Ah…Well please keep me informed Master Malfoy. You know the password to my gargoyle should an emergency arise."

"Yes sir," Draco replied.

"Have a good night then," Dumbledore said. In a blink he was gone, though Malfoy wasn't sure how. Technically no one could apparate within the castle but Dumbledore was a talented wizard – if anyone could manipulate the laws it was he.

"Hermione are you coming or staying," Draco asked for the third time, exasperated.

"Give me one more minute. Gods, you so impatient," Hermione yelled through the door. She pulled the last lace tight and stared at herself in the mirror. Her hair was elegantly arranged on top of her head, held in place by charmed emerald chopsticks. The dress she wore was a deep silver silk with a plunging neckline and an a-line skirt. The skirt had a long slit up the right leg which ended about two inches above her knee.

"Can you come in here a minute?" Hermione called pulling a necklace from her jewelry box. Draco walked in dressed in his usual black slacks and silk shirt with an emerald tie. He stopped, hand on the door knob and stared for a minute before coming to his senses. Hermione was beautiful but her face was pale and seemed strained.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Draco asked as he took the necklace from her. It was a single diamond on a white gold chain. He reached his hands in front of her and drew the necklace back, clasping it with ease. He stared at her in the mirror, hands on her shoulders. She stared back at him and nodded slowly.

"I'm fine…Ali told me I would be fine after I had dinner and you watched me eat lunch and dinner."

"If you say so, let's go then."

They walked side by side through the halls until they reached the Room of Requirement. The double doors opened to admit them and Hermione pasted a smile on as they entered. The room was decked out in typical Slytherin fashion with an open bar, manned by a third year, and slightly loud music.

"Glad you could make it darling," Pansy said, kissing Hermione's cheek. Hermione returned the gesture and repeated it with Blaise.



"I just adore your dress where did you get it," a blonde sixth year, who Hermione assumed was Cecile, asked.

"It was my mother's," Hermione said softly before turning towards Draco. "Can you get me a martini please?"

Draco nodded and disappeared.

"Starting early," Cecile asked.

"I don't really think that's any of your business," Hermione replied hauntingly. Pansy looked at her with a smirk.

"How do you like the room," Blaise asked, changing the subject effortlessly.

"It looks great. I like the third year manning the bar personally."

"A prince in training," Cecile offered.

"I figured," Hermione replied. "Should I be expecting many of these get togethers this year?"

"We'll try to give you more notice next time. We decided last night at dinner and…well obviously it was a little bit hard to keep you in the loop." Pansy said as Draco returned with her martini in one hand and a glass of gin in the other.

"We'll catch up with you later," Pansy said dragging the two girls off to greet the newest arrivals. Hermione sipped her martini surveying the crowd. She was bored, and tired and possibly a little bit worn out, but she didn't want to admit that to Draco. The music switched to a waltz and several couples moved onto the dance floor.

"Do you remember this one?" Draco asked quietly.

"it's the one we danced to at Yule," Hermione replied, unimpressed that he remembered.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked, a little unnerved at her reaction.

"Sure," Hermione drained her martini and the glass disappeared. Draco followed suit with his gin before leading her onto the floor. She fell into step with the waltz and lost track of it as the music carried her. She felt light headed, maybe the alcohol hadn't been such a good idea. Then the room started spinning.

"Hermione? You alright," Draco asked.

"I think we should leave," Hermione said stiffly. Draco swept her into his arms and nodded to Pansy and Blaise on his way out.

Draco was laying Hermione in her bed when she woke up. He smoothed a piece of her hair back and smiled.

"You looked beautiful tonight," he offered.

"You know, you're really two-faced. One minute you're in love and the next you hate me. I can't keep doing this Draco."

"Look Hermione, I'm trying I don't know what else to tell you."

"Tell me the truth. Do you love me?" Hermione stared straight into his eyes and he met them forcefully. He was tempted to say yes, he did but he knew she knew the truth.

"No, I don't. But I think I could, someday."

"I want to talk Draco, I want to know who that blonde girl from your memories is."

"I don't want to talk about her Hermione. This is why I act like I hate you. Every time I try to make strides towards at least being friends you throw it in my face. What am I supposed to do?"

"I just want to know Draco. It's not like I tried to see her, you gave me the memories. You wanted me to see them, Ali said ti was the only way."



"Ali's wrong. You saw it because you wanted to see my flaws, my weaknesses."

"Why would I need to see your weaknesses?"

"To try and figure me out, why else?"

"Draco, I'm not trying to control you. Remember you talked me into this marriage. You wanted to marry me for Voldermort. You tried to kill me."

"I didn't know about the god damn ring, why is everyone trying to accuse me of killing you."

"Why didn't you want me to get pregnant."

"That was Voldermort's orders; I only did as I was told. Dumbledore said it wouldn't be a big deal."

"Draco…You don't love me but I've loved you for over a year. I can't keep living like this. It's killing me. I need to talk to you about last year. About Yule."

"I'm not talking about Yule Hermione, that's when my mother died. That's when I lost the only person I ever loved. That's when everything fell apart."

"Draco after the ball…When we had sex, I conceived." Hermione said quietly. Draco stared at her but she remained silent.

"Conceived, like a baby?"

"I miscarried before my third month…You're the first person I've told besides Ali. I didn't know how to tell you, I didn't want you to be angry."

Draco was quiet for a long time. At first he sat on the bed and then he paced around the room. At one point Hermione dozed off but woke when he spoke.

"Her name was Ophélie Cédolin. Her father was a duke in France before Voldermort had their family killed. We grew up together; our mother's were very close. The vision you saw was the night before she was killed. I knew she was going to die, I knew but I couldn't tell her. I'd been sent to make sure the family remained in the house. She saw me, when he was casting the death spell. She saw me and called my name, begged me to save her like I promised. But all I could do was watch. I couldn't save her and I worry sometimes that I won't be able to save you."

Hermione remained silent, sensing there was more he wanted to say.

"I promised you if we married that you wouldn't have to choose sides. I was lying because I needed to convince you to marry me. The vision you saw on our wedding day was true, but not entirely. I wanted you to marry me so that I could protect you. Dumbledore said the only way I could keep Voldermort from touching you was if I married you and mixed our blood. He said something about some prophecy made by Trelawny that involved us somehow…But he was very vague. Hermione, I did everything I did last summer to protect you and I know it hurts you. I was unfaithful, I had to be. I don't love you and I don't know that I ever will. But I am fond of you."

Draco sat on the edge of the bed and Hermione put her hand over his. He met her eyes uncertainly and she offered a small smirk.

"I think I can live with fond for now."

"Good because I don't think I have much else to offer you."

Hermione drew him close and kissed him deeply.

"I've missed you," he said gruffly as he kissed her again, inhaling her scent. And he realized it was the truth. He had never missed a girl before, but he had missed her.



"I've missed you too." Hermione said, kissing him again and again. Her hands slid to the buttons of the shirt and they came undone on their own. Her elven powers definitely came in handy sometimes. That night they finally consummated their marriage.