Everything but the plot belongs to JK Rowling. After this, there will be one more chapter, and an epilogue. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Chapter 14

The Saturday before the election was a perfect crisp fall day. It was the kind of day Hermione loved. The kind where the weather is cool enough for a cozy sweater, but not cold enough that you need a coat. She decided that today was a perfect day to run some errands.

Hermione was out and walking lazily down the street in Diagon Alley by mid-morning. She was taking her time, enjoying the light breeze, and appeal of the familiar scents wafting out of various shops. Before commencing her shopping, she decided to pop into Wizard's Brew for a coffee before running the rest of her errands.

She opened the door to the small cafe, and felt warm air, and the comforting smell of coffee and pastries, greet her. Standing in line, she decided on a black coffee and a pumpkin pasty, make that two pumpkin pasties. If she came home without a treat for Draco he would spend the whole rest of the day whinging. "Weird that I just expect him to still be there," she mumbled to herself, and wrinkling her nose.

It had become Draco's habit to spend almost all his time at Hermione's flat. He only occasionally returned to his to grab clean clothes, and often some terribly unhealthy snack that Hermione refused to keep in her kitchen.

She spent the rest of her time in line worrying about whether that comfy habit of his would continue past Monday.

While she was waiting in line, she felt the uncomfortable prickling feeling on the back of her neck. The feeling she got when she was being stared at unawares. She looked around the shop, and was beyond irritated when she spotted the group unashamedly gawking at her. Ron, accompanied by Lavender Brown (not surprising, he did always seem to go back to that little bint whenever he had a bit of a dry patch), Ginny, and Harry. All but Harry were staring at her and whispering, not even trying to be subtle about it. She heard the words "slut," and "pathetic" thrown in a few times. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Harry didn't participate, she noted. He just sat looking rather uncomfortable. Harry certainly wasn't an angel, but he never was one for pointless gossip.

Hermione let out a huff of breath, and turned back around. Thankfully, as she did, the barista called her name and set her order on the counter. She grabbed it quickly and walked out of the warm shop. She carried on with her errands, trying to keep the vexing indident out of her mind. If her former friends were bent on being that immature, she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of dwelling on it.

Sunday morning, Draco sat at the breakfast bar in Hermione's flat, drinking his coffee and reading the last of their campaign ads.

He had to pat himself on the back for his own genius in coming up with the idea. This last one especially was exactly what Hermione's campaign needed. They had managed to gain the support of former Hogwarts professor, and current werewolf, Remus Lupin. He had written a wonderful piece about the flaws in the current werewolves' rights laws, and how they affected those living with lycanthropy.

Draco wasn't really surprised by the high quality of the writing. Lupin did always seem like a smart bloke, though he wouldn't have admitted it in his younger years.

A few hours later found Draco and Hermione sitting on the floor around the coffee table, reviewing polling data, and discussing wording for both concession and victory speeches. The polls for the general populace put Hermione far ahead, but the polls of Wizengamot members essentially had the two candidates head to head. If a candidate won the popular vote and lost the Wizengamot, or the other way around, the candidates would spend a week defending their policy positions, before a recall election would be held. This would happen again and again until a consensus was reached. Although this rarely happened, it could result in a stalemate, with nothing getting done in government. It really was a terrible system.

The pair were disrupted from their work by the telltale roar of the floo. The Boy Who Just Wouldn't Die stumbled out of the floo and into Hermione's living room. He was met with stunned silence from both Draco and his witch (he only called her that in his head, but he was hoping that after the election he could start using it out loud).

"Er, hello, um Hermione, erm, could I have a word for a minute?"

Draco's mouth formed into a thin line, and he had to keep himself from audibly growling, but when he looked over at Hermione, her eyes were soft.

"It's okay. Draco, could you give us a minute?" she said softly.

"Yeah, I suppose. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

The kitchen was the perfect spot to "give them some privacy" but also hear every word they were saying. Draco could see them through the open archway door, and pretended to read the newspaper while listening to their hushed conversation.

"Um Hermione," Potter began, "I'm not really sure where to start. I am really sorry about everything, especially what happened the other day at the cafe. You don't deserve that at all. They were being really immature, and I should have said something to them."

"It's not a problem, Harry," Hermione responded. Draco had to fight back a snort of derision. "Thankfully my self esteem does not depend on Lavender Brown's opinion of me," she said hotly.

"Yeah, well, it was really out of line. We all have been, especially me and Ron. I don't know what we were thinking. I guess I was just shocked and didn't know what to think, and he was being well…"

"Ron," Hermione supplied.

"Yeah that about sums it up."

"I also want to apologize for everything we said about you and Malfoy. That was way off Hermione and you didn't deserve that. I know you would never cheat on Ron, and I certainly know you would never sleep with Malfoy."

"I am," Hermione started, "sleeping with him, that is. But it didn't start until Ron and I were broken up, I wouldn't do that to someone, even a git like him," she finished quickly.

"Oh…" Potter replied. "Well, um, I suppose what you do in that department is none of my business, and I'm sorry anyhow."

"You're right, it's not."

"Is it serious?"

"Honestly Harry, I don't know."

"Oh, well, Er, do you suppose we could have coffee sometime this week and we could catch up, you know, talk about it?"

"I really don't want to discuss my sex life with you, Harry."

"Erm, that's not when I meant," Potter stumbled on his words, his hand scratching the back of his neck."

"I know Harry," Hermione chuckled. "Coffee sounds good, owl me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you have a lot of work to do."

"Yeah, I do, so I'll see you this week?" Hermione said with a small smile.

Potter gave her a small wave and disappeared via the floo.

Draco continued to read the paper for a few more moments, contemplating his romantic situation. She said she didn't know if it was serious. Did that mean she wanted it to be, or she didn't want it to be? Or was she just saying that to get Potter off her back? The questions swirled around in his head. He needed to cement his position in her life. He wanted it to be serious, the seriousest in fact.

He decided there was nothing for it besides continuing to be as supportive and affectionate as possible. He slowly walked back in the living room and resumed his seat on the floor next to her.

"You heard every word of that didn't you?" she asked with a chuckle, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure did," he responded with a cheeky grin, and placed a small kiss on her forehead.