Hi Guys! I know this chapter is terribly late (again, please don't kill me)

It's summer and the weather is great so I suppose my muse has been spending time at the beach or something. Besides, this chapter has been quite difficult to write. I hope you guys will forgive me!

I want to thank Sampdoria, Aredente Farfalla, fanfoction fan (I did not spell this wrong, that's the way he/she spelled it), KitKat, A and Legolas's Mione0233 for reviewing last chapter!
I would also like to thank my Beta for kicking my ass about this chapter. Trust me, if it wasn't for him, this chapter would be a mess.

Now, without keeping you any longer from this chapter, I present to you: Chapter 14!

Chapter 14 - The hand of an old friend

Drink with me to days gone by

To the life that used to be

At the shrine of friendship

Never say die

Let the wine of friendship

Never run dry

Here's to you
And here's to me

Drink with me- Les Miserables

Hermione's hands were shaking. She knew they were and still she chose to ignore it. Therefore it wasn't really a surprise that she eventually spilled most of her tea all over her crisp white blouse. She gasped. Thankfully the tea wasn't really hot anymore but spilling warm liquid all over your clothes couldn't really be considered comfortable. She reached for a napkin and wiped away most of the tea. Then she shot a desperate glance towards her husband.

Lucius didn't notice. He was too caught up in trying to feed Esmeraude the remains of her breakfast. Most of the porridge clung to either her hair or his. On other days the sight would have been ridiculously funny, but right now both Lucius and Hermione where too tense to notice.

After a few more minutes Lucius finally noticed his wife's distress and kindly offered to take Esmeraude with him to the library after breakfast. He stated that he was supposed to be the one watching her that afternoon anyway. Hermione sighed with relief and gladly accepted his offer. She loved Esmeraude more than she could say, but that didn't change the fact that the girl could be a handful. Immediately after they left she went back to her rooms and changed her clothes. Then came the hardest part. With everything finished that had to be done that morning and Lucius watching after Esmeraude, Hermione had nothing to do but wait, which – in this case – equalled worrying. Hermione looked at her watch. It was only five minutes past eleven and Ginny was supposed to be arriving at twelve. The one good thing about a portkey was that you knew precisely when people would arrive. The one bad thing about a portkey was that you knew precisely when people would arrive as well. In this case it meant almost an hour of useless waiting and more worrying. As if she hadn't worried enough over the past few days.

The first day after her date with Lucius, Hermione had been in a great mood. Nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed. The way he acted towards her showed that he too had felt the change in atmosphere between them. He was still terribly correct and polite but something had changed in his voice when he spoke to her and in his eyes when he watched her. It wasn't just gratefulness anymore, there was something else there as well.

And then came the letter which had affected both her and Lucius' light mood. It had been a letter from Ginny that contained both a few long red hairs in a corked test-tube and the date for the next hogsmeade weekend. Next week's Saturday.

Both Hermione and Lucius had gotten nervous with the prospect of Ginny arriving at Malfoy Manor, though neither of them would admit it. Up until then it had really seemed like a good plan to invite her over, but as the date came closer their doubts got stronger and stronger.

Of course Lucius didn't really have anything to worry about; he wouldn't have to meet the girl after all. However, she would be arriving in his family home and the fact that he had nearly caused the girl's death at some point – no matter how much he had regretted it later – did not help at all.

Hermione was just worried about what Ginny would say about the choices she had made. Her letters had not really been accusing, but well, it was hard to tell something like that from a letter. Even thought Ginny had agreed to visit her at the manor, Hermione couldn't put her mind quite at ease. She knew Ginny long enough to know that the girl was perfectly capable of protecting herself and even if she would be coming alone she would be able to cause quite some damage.

Hermione shook her head – no, this was Ginny she was thinking about, Ron's sister, Harry's wife, a friend. There was no reason to worry. No reason at all.

Of course she wasn't surprised to find that that thought didn't ease her nerves one bit.

After picking up and laying down the same book for at least ten times, without actually being able to read it, Hermione decided it was time for a cigarette, even if only to have something on her hands that wouldn't actually need focus.

She went onto the balcony and lit up, noticing that the air didn't seem as freezing cold as it had been only a week ago. On the edges of the lawn she could see the snow retreating and little pieces of snow and ice where falling from tree branches. It was still terribly cold, but at least the frost seemed out of the air.

At five to twelve Hermione was standing in her kitchen, the place where Ginny would arrive. One hand was gripping her wand tightly while the other was fidgeting with one of the buttons on her blouse. She wasn't sure where to put her wand. Putting it away seemed terribly foolish to her because it would mean she wouldn't be able to protect herself fast enough if necessary. However, keeping it clutched in her hands the way it was now would look very hostile. She sighed, realizing that she wasn't the only person who had lived through a war not too long ago and that Ginny would probably feel uneasy enough without having a wand pointed at her the moment she arrived. Hermione stuck her wand in her back pocket, took a deep breath, and waited.

And then, all of the sudden, a slight whooshing sound and a flurry of red hair and black Horwarts robes announced the arrival of Ginny Potter née Weasley.

To Hermione's utter shock the red-headed girl directly raised her wand and pointed it right at her. In a split of a second Hermione realized how foolish it had been to put her wand away and she went to grab it, knowing that she was already too late.

"Finite incantatum!"

Of course, nothing happened. Hermione felt relief flow through her as she realized what Ginny had tried to do. Had she been in the girl's situation she would have probably done the same. Next thing she knew the girl flung herself at Hermione and pulled her in an embrace so tight that it could put Molly Weasley to shame.

"I'm sorry 'Mione! I'm so sorry I scared you. I had to be sure you weren't under the imperio or something. I'm so glad to see you!" Ginny rambled.

"It's okay Ginny, I understand. Just never-ever do that again, I'm usually not that much off guard. I doubt you'll get away with it a second time without me hexing you into next week out of reflex."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at Hermione and grinned. "Well, there is hardly any need for me to do it a second time, now, is there?"

There wasn't even the slightest trace of hostility in her voice and Hermione couldn't help but feel relieved about that. She looked the girl over. Ginny looked better than she had done when Hermione had last seen her. Her hair was full and shiny, her eyes had gotten some of their old fire back and she had put on some much-needed weight. Hermione remembered what Ginny had looked like just after the final battle; tired, very skinny and grief-ridden. Of course some traces of that grief where still there. It wasn't really a surprise, Ginny had lost a brother that day and that obviously wasn't easy to cope with. It wasn't supposed to be.

"Merlin, Ginny, you have no idea how much I've missed you." Hermione sighed.

"And I've missed you 'Mione. To be honest, we all have." Ginny's eyes had turned serious.

Hermione felt the guilt creep up on her once more. She knew she couldn't put this conversation off forever, but decided it would be best to try and avoid it for now. Ginny didn't seem to be a threat, but Hermione had both a husband and a daughter to protect. She wasn't going to tell Ginny everything before she was absolutely certain that the girl was not going to use the information against them.

"I know, and I'm sorry." Hermione replied before continuing in a much happier tone of voice "So, you got married! I'm so happy for you, for the both of you."

"Thank you!" Ginny smiled. "I wish you could have been there. It was beautiful."

"So do I. Perhaps you could show me the pictures sometime."

"Oh I most certainly will! Until you're absolutely sick of seeing them." Ginny grinned.

Hermione led Ginny to her sittingroom, their flow of words never stalling.

Both girls knew they were beating around the bush, Ginny's unspoken questions hung in the air as fog but she had enough restraint to not throw them at Hermione immediately. Instead they chatted about her marriage with Harry, how they both knew they where a bit young to get married but hadn't wanted to put it off. "We knew we wanted to stay together forever. And with everything that had happened the wizarding world was very much in need for some celebration. 'the-boy-who-lived-twice' getting married was just the thing for that."

Hermione grinned. "You don't call him that in public, do you?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

Ginny shook her head. "I doubt he would appreciate it. You know how much he hates all the titles that the wizarding world has thrown upon him over the years, but it is fun to annoy him with it when we are alone. By the way, did you know that Luna and Neville are expecting?"

That bit of information was new to Hermione and in the next hour she subjected Ginny to what seemed like a million questions about who had gotten married to who and who else was expecting. It was good to hear that most of her friends where recovering and picking up their lives. At the mention that both Ron and Harry, along with nearly all their classmates that had been on the run during their seventh year, had followed a crash-course at Hogwarts to make up for it and then taken their N.E.W.T.s Hermione felt a sharp pang of jealousy. She could only hope that she would be given the same chance some day.

Just as Hermione's stomach started snarling, one of the elves brought in some tea and cucumber sandwiches on a silver platter. Before leaving it made a ridiculously deep bow to Ginny, and with a slight nod of its head towards Hermione it left.

They talked some more. About how Molly was driving Fleur, who was only two months pregnant, up the wall and how Ginny expected her to hex Molly at some point, probably when her hormones kicked in. And about little Teddy. As his godfather, Harry had obviously offered to take Teddy in after the death the boy's parents. He had stated that auror training could wait until Ginny was done with Hogwarts and any study that she may want to pursue afterwards. However, Andromeda wouldn't hear any of it. She had said that even though she wasn't very young anymore, she was perfectly capable of taking care of her own grandson. At least until Harry and Ginny 'where done doing the things young people do' as she had stated it. Harry had felt bad about Andromeda having to look after an infant, but Ginny had understood – and so had Harry after she had explained it to him. She shook her head at Hermione and continued. "I love Harry, I honestly do, but he can be so thick sometimes! Andromeda left her parents and sisters to marry Ted. Now both her husband and her only daughter have died along with her son-in-law. Teddy is all she has left. I honestly don't understand how he didn't see that immediately."

Hermione shrugged. "Harry has always had a very strong sense of what he's supposed to do. He is Teddy's godfather so I suppose he saw it as his duty to take Teddy in. Especially because Sirius was never able to do the same thing for him."

Ginny sighed. "You're right Hermione, I never looked at it that way. See, that's why we can't go without you. You're just so darn smart."

They spent a little more time talking about Teddy and his new habit to turn his hair golden with black spots after he had seen a leopard on the television that Harry and Ginny had in their apartment.

Eventually they ran out of subjects. All subjects but one. Hermione knew it was coming because Ginny suddenly looked very nervous. "So...Hermione...do I need to ask the questions or are you just going to tell me how all of this..." She gestured around the room. "came about."

Hermione sighed. She knew she would have to tell the story eventually and the last couple of hours had convinced her that Ginny was still the same girl she had always been and that she could be trusted. "I suppose I'll just tell you. How much time do we have left? It's quite a long story."

Ginny looked at her watch. "I think we've got about four hours left."

"Okay, I'll try to stick to the details then..."

Yes I know, major cliffhanger. I hope you guys believe me if I tell you I'm sorry about that but trust me if I say that the next few chapters will be worth it. They'll be flashbacks and hopefully they'll answer most of your questions! Lots of drama coming up.

Once again: Please review! Your reviews really help me to keep this story going!

(oh, and make sure you don't forget to log in if you want me to reply to your review! I can't reply to anonymous reviews and with the new reviewing system it's easy to forget to log in sometimes)

Love,

LoversCure

Chapter's (full) title: Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow