Author's Note: They set up to come clean to the former Grangers. Warning: slightly fluffy :P

Draco stared out the window as Hermione did one last once-over to make sure they had everything. "We never really took anything out of the bags, you know," he called. "No point looking for things."

"It never hurt to double-check," she replied brusquely.

"Say - that woman likes you. Exactly like you." He beckoned her to the window - Hermione gasped.

Stepping out of Wilkins' Dentistry on the other side of the street was - her mother.

She collapsed onto the bed. Today was getting stranger and stranger.

Draco sat beside her, tentatively stretching his arm around her. When she didn't shrug it off, he squeezed her shoulder gently. "You can't let things stay like this," he said quietly. "I know - believe me, I know - parents are important. Don't let them slip away like that."

She looked up at him. "I obliviated them because - well -"

"You didn't want what happened to my parents to happen to yours," he said bitterly. "I know."

"Oh, Draco, I - I'm so sorry." She put her arms around him and held him close.

"Come on," he said, pulling away after a moment.

"What about him?" she gestured at Yaxley.

He thought for a moment. "Fine. We go back, hand him in, and come right back. Deal?" He paused. "Who am I kidding? You're Granger; I'm Malfoy. My word goes."

She rolled her eyes, but placed her arm on his nonetheless. They appeared in the Auror department.

"I didn't know you can apparate into the Ministry," he frowned.

"Aurors can - into the department. In case, you know - last-minute escapes or aid, that sort of thing. It's been that way since 1896, when a dispatch was killed on a mission because they apparated to their home and then tried to floo in. The prisoner broke out and attacked during the process."

He nodded. It made sense. "Only you would know the history, Granger," he said wryly.

She said nothing, stopping at Kingsley's door. The sign on it said he was in - she knocked.

"Come in," he boomed.

They entered, suddenly aware of how odd they must look. It wasn't the time for self-consciousness, though.

He was floored. "Already? You haven't even been gone 24 hours!"

They looked at each other. "His traces were easy to detect, sir," Draco offered.

"I'll want a report on the full details of the capture, for record pur-"

"Mr. Shacklebolt, can I - I need to return to Sydney," Hermione interrupted. "It's urgent."

"We need to return to Sydney," Draco corrected.

Kingsley seemed slightly confused.

"It's my parents, sir - I've found them."

"In that case - by all means, go ahead. Do you want to - er - take Mr. Malfoy with you?"

She looked at the blond for a minute, thinking.

In first year, when Harry and Ron had come to her aid and defeated the mountain troll - they really had no choice but to be friends. You couldn't not be. This was similar, she realized. What had happened in Yaxley's flat - she and Draco really had no choice, did they? It was going to happen, whether she wanted it to or not. Love or lust - this blond Slytherin Prince was the one person who knew what her life had really been like, besides Harry and Ron. He knew what it was like to live in constant fear of Voldemort, moreso than any other teenager who'd lived through those times. He knew what she'd gone through, letting go of her parents - and he made her realize she needed them back. He was a fellow intellectual - someone she could really talk to, for the first time ever. He knew what had happened with Dolohov - even Ginny didn't know that. He'd seen what had happened with Yaxley.

And she'd seen the hole in his fortress, too, hadn't she? She couldn't abandon him - leave him behind - not now.

"Hermione?" Kingsley brought her back down to earth.

"Yes," she said firmly. "I'll take him with me."

"Like there was even a question," Malfoy muttered sarcastically. "Honestly, what do you think you'd do without me?"

She smiled.

Back to the beach - to the thoroughfare - to the flat they had been in. They dropped their bags off - who knew how long this would take? - and went to pay Wilkin's Dentistry a visit.

"Erm - excuse me - I'd like to schedule an appointment," Hermione said to the pretty brunette receptionist.

"They're booked today," she replied. "I'm sorry."

She nodded, expecting as much. She wasn't going to press it, though - the muggle patients didn't have to change their schedules just for her. "When's the earliest you have?"

"Tomorrow, 2:30."

"That's fine," she smiled.

"Name?"

"Hermione J. Granger."

"Are you new?"

"Yes, I am."

"I'll need your insur-" A blank paper was slipped across the counter, and a light Confundus charm placed on the unsuspecting muggle woman. "That seems perfectly in order," she said placidly. "Thank you; have a nice day."

"Why didn't you schedule yourself for today? You could have found a way, you know-"

"If I'd wanted to. It didn't mean that much to me, honestly. The muggles don't need to-"

"They're muggles, Granger. Muggles. They-"

"They're people too, whether you admit it or not," she retorted, folding her legs beneath her as they sat down on the pebbly beach.

"Fair enough. Still, I was surprised."

"Why?"

"I'd have thought you wanted away from me as soon as possible." His voice was distant as he stared out at the azure blue ocean. Grey clouds still hovered in the sky - the storm hadn't arrived yet. The sun peeped through a crack in the clouds.

"Did you really think that?" It was posed nonchalantly, as though she was asking about the weather.

When he looked her in the eye, she could see the fire behind his eyes, clear and plain - the sun coming out from behind the clouds and staring her in the face. "Just tell me, Granger. I can't do these games anymore. One minute you're telling me you can't be-"

She pressed her lips to his, silencing him completely.

He fell back at first, taken aback by her move, then pushed against her, cupping her face in his hands. She ran her hands through his hair.

They pulled away. "Not here," she whispered.

An instant later found them in the flat again.

"I was never one for PDA either," Draco laughed, lunging forward for another kiss. He stopped abruptly. "Tell me - why?"

"There are some things that you can't go through without -"

"Falling in love?" he laughed. "Perhaps. God forbid I go through those things with a muggle - but I guess it's too late, I already have."

"You're terrible, you know that?"

"You were the one who told me never to change."

"Yeah - don't." He kissed her once more, holding her close.

Never again would he let any man lay so much as a finger on her, he decided. After all that she'd been through - they'd been through together - he wouldn't allow it.

They weren't holding hands in the waiting room. Neither had much of a taste for any kind of public affection, really. But when the nurse called Hermione back, Draco went with her.

"Sir," the nurse began. "I don't think-"

"Yes?" He gave her his most dazzling smile. She was swept off her feet. At least she could look at him if he was back there, right? My, what an attractive man.

"It shouldn't be an issue," she coyly replied.

As soon as she turned her back, Draco rolled his eyes.

Hermione grinned at him, settling down in the chair.

The nurse came back in to clean her teeth. "You look just like Dr. Wilkins. Isn't that odd?"

"Yes, very."

The blond wizard watched, slightly fascinated, as she picked and polished the very white, very straight teeth in front of her.

After what seemed like an age, she sent Dr. Wilkins in.

"Hello there, lovely - oh how odd. You look just-"

"Like you, I know," Hermione's voice was pained. "Draco-"

He turned, guarding against any innocent nurse who wandered in on the conversation by accident.

Behind him, one brown-haired witch was fighting back tears as she raised her wand and murmured the countercharm, restoring the memory of her mother.

"Mom?" she whispered. "Please say you-"

"Hermione? My Hermione? Oh my goodness - what-"

"Listen, listen," she sat up straight, breathing fast. "I need you to keep pretending that you're Monica Wilkins, okay? I'm just a patient, just pretend. I'll meet you at home in the evening and explain everything, I promise."

Dr. Gr-Dr. Wilkins nodded, and quickly wrote out an address for her. "Here," she whispered. "I want a full explanation, young lady."

Hermione nodded meekly. "Yes, Mom."

"I want a full explanation, young lady," Draco mimicked as they entered the flat.

"Oh, shut up, you," she laughed.

"Seriously, though. I want a blow-by-blow of how you realized you couldn't live without me," he grinned cockily.

She sobered up. "Watching Yaxley do that to you in his flat - I don't know. I just - I wanted so badly to make sure you were okay - because I didn't want to think of what life would be, without you making wisecracks and unnecessary blood purity jokes all the time."

He smiled. "Yaxley has a lot to answer for - but I'm kind of grateful for everything that he brought about, really. It's weird, isn't it, the way things work out?"

"Very," she agreed.

"Two months ago - I would have been happy to marry Astoria, have kids, send them to Hogwarts - as long as they ended up in Slytherin, of course - and maybe do a stint in Azkaban to restore my family's wealth."

"And now?"

"I honestly don't care, as long as I'm with you."

"Yeah right."

"Okay, okay. Fine - I want my estate back in my hands completely. I want my mother to approve of you - desperately so."

She understood where that came from. "It's mutual, don't worry - the mother thing. Goodness knows, Mom knows enough about you already."

His eyes went wide. "What have you told her?"

"Only the truth - that you're a foul prick who can't think of a nice thing to say to me because you're a bloody arrogant sod."

"You've left out the most important bits."

"Which are?"

"That you can't live without me," he replied. "And that I'm a bloody good kisser."

She laughed. "I'll be sure to tell her that, too."