A/N: Sorry it took so long guys, but I got super busy with school work and stuff. I wanted to give a HUGE Thank You to every one who reviewed 100+ YAY!!!

Anyway, this chapter is kinda long but it needs to be to get everything in there, I'm sure you guy's wont mind. Haha. Thanks again to everyone who read, and reviewed. Hope to hear from you again. YOU'RE THE BEST!!! Isisss2868

I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER …YET, PAPERWORK IS SUCH A PAIN.

Chapter 12…Explanations…

"I still can't believe it…you're married, to Draco Malfoy no less." Parvati shook her head and smiled before turning back to the clothes she was putting away.

"It is rather odd," she answered, not really paying attention. She was preoccupied with the pictures she was setting up. Most were of her, Harry and Ron, but there were some of her and her parents, and the group photo from her wedding.

"It must be wonderful living at the manor." Parvati continued, sounding slightly wistful.

Hermione just shrugged, "I guess." She didn't think it would be polite to disagree.

"You guess?" Parvati turned, looking incredulous. "You lived there, for like months…don't you know? It's so grand…I bet there are like a hundred rooms." She got a dreamy glint in her eye that made her look somewhat crazy.

"It is rather large." Hermione sounded more resigned than anything.

"You don't like it. How could you not like it?" She paused, thoughtful. "Granted his parents are a bit scary, being former death eaters and all, but I'm sure they're loads better now. And you only had to see them at meal times, right."

"Actually I didn't see them at all. They left after the wedding"

"See… that huge house with just the two of you. You're so lucky. Isn't she lucky Lavender?"

Lavender, who had been sitting on her bed the entire time, didn't think it was luck and said so. "Come on Parvati, do you honestly think she got one of the best looking, richest guys available, on pure luck. Pur-lease. I would bet my last knut that she did something, she made it happen."

Hermione turned around when she heard the venom pouring out of the other girl's mouth. "Excuse me! You think I did this! Not that it's any of your business, but I was subject to the law just like everyone else and if I got paired with the person you wanted, sorry, but I had nothing to do with it. You're just going to have to blame someone else." The nerve of some people.

"You're full of shit, Hermione. You weren't subject to shit." Lavender's yelling echoed throughout the room, making it louder. "Don't look so surprised, I know all about you getting to choose"

"I didn't get my choice."

"But you didn't try that hard did you? You know what really bothers me? Not the fact that you got Malfoy. No, it's the fact that you pretend to want Ron. You made everyone think that you loved him, wanted to marry him, even; when really you just didn't want anyone else to get him. You should be in Slytherin. You act just like them. Conniving, Manipulative. You didn't want me to have Ron, Noooo, you made him break it off, and then you just left him cold. Were you always planning on marrying Malfoy or is this something you recently cooked up?"

"You're mad!"

"Am I?

"Despite what you may think, I did love Ron and I did plan on marrying him."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care what you believe."

"You may pretend, but you know you didn't want him. If you did you would have fought harder. Merlin, aren't you supposed to be clever? The brightest witch of the age, they call you. And you expect us to believe you couldn't find a way around a stupid marriage decree…The Montgomery sisters left the country. Why didn't you do that? They left rather than get married, are you going to try and tell me that you didn't think that? Or you know, you could have just gone down to the ministry and pulled some strings. I'm sure Harry and Ron would have gone with you...you could have stormed the ministry and demand they let you marry Ron. I would have, but maybe you didn't think of that either. And they call you clever…humph…you can't even lie convincingly."

"This is ridiculous…storm the ministry, can you hear yourself…do you know how insane you sound?!?!"

"You act like you haven't done it before!"

"Because of Lord Voldemort...Because the most evil wizard of the century was trying to destroy the world…Because innocent people were dying…not because I wanted to have my way about something." She threw her hands up in exasperation; her breath was coming in short gasps showing just how much this conversation bothered her. "Did the war teach you nothing…people lost their lives so we could have peace…their lives, Lavender...the least I can do is help secure it now."

"But at what cost"

"At any cost!!!" The thought of all the people that were gone still wrenched at her heart. In her mind's eye, she could see Colin Creevey with his camera, the camera Dennis carried every where. She could see Tonks and Remus, who would never get to see their son grow up. Sirius…Dumbledore…Snape…the list went on and on. Tears were streaming down her face, but she refused to back down. She wasn't going to go through this more than once. "Let me tell you something…This may be all about galleons to you…about who got the better husband… and who stole who from whom… but some of us can see the bigger picture. Some of us, the more clever ones, know what the alternative is. The death…the destruction…the mayhem…all that pain Voldemort caused…that'll all be back, people will die if this doesn't stop. If the ministry doesn't control this, then they will loose control…and then…then Voldemort would have won…so yes, I gave in and married Draco Malfoy. I stayed in the country and supported the ministry because I will not let him win."

The room went from echoing yells; to deathly quite in the space of a heart beat. No one spoke. No one moved. Hermione and Lavender stared at each other. Lavender was shocked, Hermione was livid and poor Parvati was stuck in between.

Moments later the silence was broken by the annoyed tirade of a certain red-head. "What in the name of Merlin's arse is going on?" She came in and shut the door behind her. "We could hear you yelling down in the common room." She made the statement to the room at large. She glanced over at Hermione and her breath caught. Hermione was crying. The only time she had seen Hermione cry was at Dumbledore's funeral and the sight of it now didn't please her. Hermione was like her big sister, her voice of reason. Hermione always listened to her when she had a problem, and Ginny loved her just as much as she loved her brothers. No, nobody made her big sister cry. Turning to the other girls in the room, she pulled out her wand and said, "You have five seconds to apologize for whatever you did and then hope I don't curse you anyway, just on principle."

"We didn't do anything," Parvati shrieked. Everyone knew Ginny had a bit of a temper and having been in the DA with her, Parvati really didn't want to take her on. Ginny may not be as smart as Hermione or as powerful as Harry, but she was scary enough.

"Don't lie to me." Ginny was losing her patience.

"Really Ginny, it's okay," Hermione soothed. "Lavender was just being herself, she can't help it if she doesn't know what she's talking about. But, I'm okay. Besides, I could have jinxed her myself if I had wanted to." She cracked a small smile. Hoping that was enough to reassure her. The last thing she needed was to have to explain to Professor McGonagall why, on her first day as Head Girl, there had been a duel in her dorm room.

Ginny smiled back before lowering her wand. "So it was you yelling?"

"Yeah, had to clear up a few things. But, I think it's settled now." She looked questioningly at the other two girls. Parvati was bobbing her head up and down. The poor girl, all she wanted to know was what Malfoy Manor was like. Lavender was nodding yes too, though she still didn't look happy. Oh well, as long as she keeps it to herself, I don't care. She thought to herself. All this over a boy…A boy that broke up with her almost a year and a half ago…girls. She thought scathingly. This is why… most of my friends are blokes.

----------------------------------DMHG------------------------------------

"Blaise…"

No answer.

"Blaise." Draco called again, this time a bit louder with the same fruitless results. "Blaise get your arse out of bed." The lump in the next bed didn't twitch. "This is getting nowhere." He muttered, scowling to himself. Then, hit with a sudden epiphany he walked around his bed to his side table. After opening the hidden latch on the side, he removed his wand and smiled. Deciding to practice his non-verbals, he brought his wand down in an arc and was rewarded by the jet of water that shot out and landed on the sleeping boy.

It was the funniest thing Draco had ever seen and he couldn't help but laugh at the scene Blaise was making.

"WHAT THE FU" his tirade was cut off as he jumped up and got a face full of water; making Draco laugh harder. "ENOUGH!" he yelled.

Draco brought his wand down, but was still too overcome with hysterical laughter to actually say anything. He looked up and his laughing fit started all over again. Blaise was standing there in his black silk sleep pants and no shirt; he was dripping wet and looking positively livid.

"What the hell was that for?" He screamed at the snickering Draco.

"To wake you up," Draco answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"For?" He asked through clenched teeth. Blaise was by no means a morning person, and that was definitely not how he had planned on being awoken.

"Breakfast…class…my own amusement… whatever works for you." Draco intoned from his spot by the door.

Blaise glared as he made his way to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later a dry but clearly still annoyed Blaise emerged. They walked up the steps to the common room which was devoid of people, everyone having gone to breakfast before their first class of the school year.

Draco glanced at he angry man beside him and couldn't help but remember his face, full of water and dripping. He started snickering to himself again.

"You do realize I'm going to get you back for that." Blaise didn't even have to ask what he was laughing at. He was clever enough to know that had Draco done it to anyone else, he would be laughing too. But he hadn't done it to anyone else he'd done it to him, and that meant war.

"You'll try," Draco conceded. "But, you'll soon realize you can't and you'll give up." He said confidently. "You might as well just forget about it now, and save yourself the headache."

"We'll see…" he said watching the wall reform itself, before heading towards the great hall. "Besides, it will give me something to do now."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, that I unlike you am a healthy well adjusted man… I enjoy bedding my wife whenever possible, and did so quite frequently. Now, seeing as my wife now resides in a tower, on the other side of the castle with a door that asks the most ridiculous questions, surrounded by teachers and students who like to mind everyone's business but their own, I have a feeling I'm going to be deprived of my husbandly rights for awhile; which leaves me with a fair amount of free time. And, if that wasn't bad enough, I have to worry about an albino prat drenching me in water every morning. Soooo to alleviate my building tension, I'm going to get you and it's going to be bad." Blaise opened the doors.

"Whatever keeps you occupied. I, on the other hand; have no intention of abstaining from my 'husbandly rights' as you call them. But, maybe you can. Always new you were a pansy… Like I said though, whatever keeps you occupied." Draco glanced around the room in search of the subject of his conversation. He found her eating a bowl of cereal, and having an animated conversation with the dim-witted duo. Her Head girl badge gleamed in the morning sunlight and it struck him that the problem wasn't so much how to break the rules, but convincing her to break the rules.

"How do you plan on accomplishing that?" Blaise got a contemplative gleam in his eye.

"No idea," he said without a hint of concern. "But I will." Draco grinned wickedly as he sat down and grabbed the plate of links, and some eggs. "I will."

"Well, let me know if you figure out something." Blaise said, through his orange juice.

"With pleasure."

The rest of breakfast past amicably enough with small talk and the like, but all too soon the heads of houses could be seen descending from their perches, bringing with them further proof that the summer was over.

Draco watched dispassionately as Professor Slughorn waddled over towards them.

"Ah there, the newly married Mr. Malfoy; I must say you made an excellent match, yes you did. Where is the new Mrs. Malfoy, if I may ask?"

Draco looked at the man, barely suppressing his annoyance. Before he married Hermione, Slughorn hadn't spoken ten words to him outside of class, and now he comes right over acting as if they were the best of friends. Despite it all he managed to answer, "I'd imagine she's at her table."

"Ohh? Yes, yes. I remember now. I had forgotten she wasn't a Slytherin. Pity that. Well, you and she will have to stop by for dinner one of these days…yes I insist, my way of saying thank you, you know, for remembering a poor old man like me at your wedding. You and Mrs. Zabini as well, Blaise," he said turning to the snickering black boy to Malfoy's right. "We'll make something of a party of it," he continued, talking more to himself than to the boys "…such a pity I didn't get to stay for the whole reception, but with the gate crashers and…well you know what happened," he said, coming to himself. "But yes, we'll have to have a start of term gala, a welcome back so to speak. I think I'll invite some others to…not a lot, but a nice party number….but look at me, I digress. Supposed to be handing out schedules and I'm planning parties." He chuckled as he started shuffling through the squares of parchment in his hand. "Malfoy…Malfoy…Mal ah ha, there it is…Mr. Malfoy, and now Zabini…right on the bottom…well there you are boys. Good day then." He waddled off, apparently to harass some other poor soul.

"Well there you are. You got your own invitation to a Slughorn party, aren't you thrilled? In no time you'll be apart of the slug club: teas, dinners, the whole bloody nine yards." Blaise laughed, enjoying Draco's annoyance.

"Like hell I will." Draco said, standing up. "I have no intention of gracing his 'gala's' with my presence. Malfoy's have standards."

Blaise just laughed and looked over his schedule as he stood up, "This is the same schedule as last year."

Draco glanced down at the parchment "Good. Now, I don't have to memorize a new one…Later."

"Where are you going?" Blaise asked, confused. They both had a free period next. "I thought you didn't have lessons until after lunch,"

"Posting a letter," he called back over his shoulder not even bothering to turn around.

Draco walked briskly up the path to the owlery. It was still the first day of classes so the pathway was empty; as no one really had any news they needed to send home, yet. Taking the steps two at a time, he walked in to the dark little building and noticeably cringed. There were way too many birds in too small a space. His pet, Adonis, needed his space. Draco would have much preferred to keep Adonis in his room, but as there were no windows, that was unadvisable.

Sending the bird off a few minutes later, he assured himself the bird was gone before turning to leave. On his descent back to the castle, he stopped only to look longingly at the quidditch pitch. He would win the cup this year. He was going to catch the snitch this year if it killed him. He had a plan, oh yes, and as soon as he got the package he was looking for, it would be set.

Continuing his trip with a little more bounce in his step, he contemplated the people he would allow on his team. Thanks, in large part, to his private training sessions at home, he knew his keeper and two chasers; but, he needed three more players. Surely, out of the whole Slytherin house he could find three descent players.

---------------------------------------------DMHG-------------------------------------------

Hermione sat her books down on the common room table and plopped herself into the arm chair next to Harry and Ron.

"So, how was Ancient Runes?" Ron asked smugly from where he was relaxing; having had a free period after first lesson.

"I wouldn't know…I had Arithmancy just now, didn't I?" She bit out.

"Same difference, both bloody useless if you ask me."

"Well, it's a good thing I didn't ask you…Did you start on your Herbology homework?" She asked before he could comment on her earlier remark.

"No!!" He looked aghast at the very thought. "It's the first day Hermione. No one does homework on the first day."

Harry just shook his head, but he at least had the courtesy to appear abashed.

"But it's NEWT year Ronald. NEWT's. We need to start studying now."

"Oh, not this again. Wasn't doing this in 5th year bad enough? You need to mellow out a bit," Ron said, cautiously, leery of making her mad.

"And, you need to buck up," she snapped back.

"Hermione, have you seen Ginny? She's got my Which Broomstick, and I kind of need it." Harry asked from her other side, clearly trying to keep them from arguing. An endeavor that Hermione and Ron we're both extremely grateful for; just not for the same reason.

"No I haven't. I can go see if it's in her room if you like," she said, not paying attention to the conversation as she had pulled out the chart she needed to translate for homework.

"No… I have it. She gave it to me to give back to you ages ago." Ron said, jumping up and running for the stairs.

A few seconds later he came back down, carrying with him a bright catalog with broomsticks zooming across the front. "Sorry, 'bout that. I would have given it to you earlier, but I got caught up reading an article in there…did you read it?"

"Which article?" Harry asked. There were only a few in the whole book, but he hadn't had it for long before Ginny took it.

"The one about Nimerick Nimbuselton. You know, the bloke that makes the Nimbus series."

"I read half of it."

"Well then, you know about the new brooms."

"No. Didn't get to that part. Just him explaining about the problems with the older ones." Harry was getting into the conversation as he needed a new broom this year. He seemed to need a new broom an uncommon lot.

"Ohhh…well, yeah, but he's coming out with two new ones, the Nimbus 2004 which is supposed to be a little sleeker than the 03. Doesn't have much different, but it looks a lot cooler...The big thing is the prototype, no one knows what he's calling it, and he won't mention it but to say that it's still in testing…a few people saw it, though."

"Really! What'd they say about it?"

"It looked like it was faster than the firebolt. Can you imagine? Faster than that…" Ron shook his head in disbelief, a look of pure rapture on his face.

"Wow…I bet it cost a bloody fortune, though." The thought didn't seem to bother him. Getting a bright idea he flicked through the pages until he got to the order form in the back. Scanning through until he got to the N products his sigh of disappointment could have put out the fireplace, had it been lit. "It's not for sale yet…it says: 'In testing.'"

"I told you." Ron still looked fondly at the catalog. "But the 04 is in there. You could get one of those…it would outstrip Malfoy's 01 like it was nothing." Ron wanted nothing more than to beat Draco at any and every opportunity.

Harry's nod in the affirmative was cut off by Hermione's entrance into the conversation.

She had stood up, leaned over Harry's shoulder, to look at the magazine. "Actually, Draco's getting a new broom." She sat down again, tucking her legs underneath of her.

"WHAT!!! WHY?!?!" Harry and Ron were both outraged. In their minds, Harry was the only one allowed to get new brooms.

"It is rather wasteful," she agreed. "But, he says, he's had the nimbus 2001 long enough. It needed to be upgraded."

"So what's he getting?" Harry wanted to know for one reason, so that he could get something better.

"Probably a Firebolt," Ron said, bitterly.

"No, he doesn't seem to like the firebolt," Hermione commented.

"Why's that?" Everyone liked the Firebolt.

"Because Harry has one." She said, simply.

"But Harry doesn't have it anymore." Ron said gloomily. That was the best broom in the world and now Gryffindor no longer had it.

"I know that. And, you two know that. But, I didn't think it was wise to point it out to him. So now, Harry can get another one, and you guys can win the quidditch cup."

They looked at her incredulously. She had never taken in interest in the goings on of quidditch before.

She decided to put them out of there misery, the curiosity seemed to be causing them no small amount of pain. "Malfoy and I have something of a bet going on and I want to win it. To do that, I need you guys to win the House cup. Got it?" She looked sternly from one to the other.

"Technically, I'm not on the team yet," Ron commented, though he didn't seem that pressed about the issue.

"I can't hold tryouts until I get another broom."

"Why don't you just use a school broom? You've done it before." Hermione wasn't seeing what the big deal was.

"Are you serious, Hermione? There are Butterflies that go faster than those brooms. Harry can't practice on those."

"He can until he gets another one."

The boys looked at each other and shook their heads. Bet or not, Hermione really didn't understand.

"Do you know what type of broom he's getting?" Harry asked again. He needed to know these things.

"No."

"Do you think you could find out?"

She cocked her eyebrow at him. "No, I will not spy on him for you."

"C'mon, Hermione...How else will we know what to prepare for?" Ron pleaded.

"Prepare for a game of quidditch, just like every other time. Just because I want us to win, doesn't mean I'm going to stoop down to underhanded standards. And, you shouldn't either, Ron." She took on her severe McGonagall looking demeanor.

"You tricked him into not getting a Firebolt." Harry didn't want to give up.

"I did not. He said, he didn't want anything you had. I just never pointed out that you no longer had one…and, for all I know you could get another one. There really was no trickery involved. However, going and finding out what broom he's ordering, just to come back and tell you two, is spying and that's trickery." She nodded her head, agreeing with herself. "Besides, what does it really matter, it all comes down to the person, not the broom anyway."

"I don't care how good the person is. If you put him on a 20 year old Silver Star, and put a first year on the Firebolt, I bet the first year would catch the snitch," Ron grumbled to Harry, loud enough for Hermione to hear as he glared at her.

"Very funny, Ronald." She glared right back at him.

"Maybe we should just go to lunch now." Harry noted that while Ron and Hermione still argued about the same amount, it was less good-natured. They were less forgiving; but he supposed that's what happens when you break up with someone, so-to-speak.

"Great, I'm starving. And, as I'm going to have to practice extra hard to make up for my not knowing what type of broom I'm going to be facing, I'll need to keep up my strength," Ron said with a slight bite to his voice.

Harry thought he heard something that sounded suspiciously like, 'You need to practice extra hard, either way,' come from Hermione's direction. But, when he looked, her lips were set in a grim line. Neither of them spoke again for the remainder of the lunch period. Just like old times, Harry thought to himself.

---------------------------------DMHG---------------------------------------

Hermione stomped towards her Ancient Runes class not bothering to notice who she passed or even who was in the class with her. She marched straight to the front of the room and sat at the very first table. There were two chairs to each table, but she figured no one would sit with her as most people didn't like being at the front of the class; which was just as well, 'cause she didn't feel like having company any way.

She was still reeling from her lunch experience. Leave it to Ron to ruin the meal for everyone, and by everyone she meant herself. All he would talk about is how well the team would do if they knew what type of broomstick Draco was getting. It was utterly ridiculous. She had even asked him if he knew exactly what brooms the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs were riding. He just ignored that question. 'Typical Ron…" she thought to herself. ' typical…hear something he likes and never lets it go…but hear something he doesn't like, Ohhh Noooo!!! Can't answer that one…lets just ignore it; it'll go away…Git.' "Complete Git." She muttered aloud as she started unpacking her bag. It was stretched to the seams, like usual, so she had to be careful of how she pulled things out, lest it tear.

Having nothing better to do as she waited, she opened the top book 'Timely Translations, and How to Accomplish Them' and began to read from where she left off.

"Is there a time when your nose isn't in a book?"

Hermione started, she hadn't noticed anyone come in, but as she looked around, she could see the classroom was partially full. Turning back to the speaker she answered, "It's relaxing."

Draco rearranged her books on her half of the table before sitting down himself. He looked at her again, taking more time to notice little details about her appearances, things like her furrowed brow, drawn lips and tense posture. "Is something wrong?" he asked although he was fairly certain he knew what it had to do with.

"I'm fine," she replied tersely.

"Yeah, you look it. Why don't you try telling the truth?" He drawled.

"Be careful Malfoy, someone might think you actually care." She glared at him through half lowered lids.

"And they would think you're trying to hide something. Malfoy." He answered back, not at all perturbed by her sour mood.

Her head snapped up, she wasn't use to being called that. She cracked a small smile before saying, "Sorry…old habits."

He nodded, but was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to answer the question.

"Tell me why you care, and I'll tell you what's up."

Shrugging he said, "Because you're up here moping and acting like someone killed that ugly cat of yours." She gasped, outraged at his insult on her cat but he just smirked and continued, "And, though we both know better, people are going to blame me for your upset, which I can't have. So thus…here I am, trying to figure out what's wrong, so I can fix it for you and then go back to my peaceful life." That wasn't exactly true, whereas he did notice her moping and he was sure they would assume he did something, in general he didn't care what they thought. No, he just didn't like her being upset and though he did wonder where that line of reasoning came from, it would have to wait until later when he could examine it properly. He arched an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to uphold her half of the deal.

She sighed, slightly disappointed. What did she expect? Him to announce his gut wrenching concern for her happiness, for him to get down on his knees and start spouting poetry about her eyes, and beauty and love and what not. Please…This is Draco Hermione. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she said, "I had a bit of a row with Ron. It's really not a big deal…we fight all the time…it just seems, it just seems a little more malicious now." She finished, looking up.

"What were you rowing about now?" He figured, Weasley was still trying to get Hermione from him. Idiot just won't give it up, will he? He frowned and thought of some possible ways to inflict permanent damage.

"You actually…he wanted to know what type of broom you're getting." She answered tentatively.

"So you told him." Draco said bluntly.

"No, of course not," she said hurriedly. "I don't know myself, and even if I did, I'm not going to spy on you for them and likewise I won't spy on them for you." She said sternly.

Draco looked at her in amazement. He had assumed she would tell them; he knew she was a loyal friend. Draco honestly didn't know what to think about that. As long as he could remember he and Hermione had been enemies; but here she was defending him, from Ron no less. He couldn't express the emotion that washed over him. The strength and intensity of it scared him. He had never had to deal with these feelings and didn't know how to handle them.

Lucky for him the professor chose that moment to step into the class, effectively stopping all the chatter that was floating throughout the room.

Draco leaned over and whispered, "Thanks," in her ear so the professor wouldn't hear it.

She shot him a quick glance, before nodding at him in return. His breath sent tingles down her spine. Suddenly, she was glad they were in a populated classroom.