Hermione stood at the foot of her bed, trying to process the conversation she had heard between Draco and Lucy. 'Love' he had said, he didn't want to lose someone he loved again. True, he had denied it when Lucy asked but he had said it, Hermione was sure. He had also said that he was scared and that's why he left in a rush and spent the day avoiding her; it wasn't that he didn't want to be with her. Still, she thought, that didn't make things any simpler.

She climbed back into her bed and picked up her book from the bedside table. She read and re-read the first sentence countless times but it just wouldn't go in; the words made no sense. All she could think about was Draco, if he felt that way about her then iwhy/i couldn't they be together? She felt as though she should march over to the Hog's Head and ask him that herself. As soon as the thought popped into her head, Hermione decided that was exactly what she was going to do. She climbed out of bed once again and crossed the room to her wardrobe. After swapping her cotton pyjama bottoms and vest top for a pair of jeans and a thick knitted grey jumper, she headed to the fireplace in the living room, determination coursing through her.

She had just grabbed herself a handful of the acid green floo powder when a loud banging on her door made her jump. She walked to the over to answer it, disgruntled at the interruption. When she opened the door, she found the last person she expected to standing there.

"Draco? I was just coming to find you."

"I saw your conversation with Lucy," he spluttered, "the one here, about me."

"What?"

"A memory, I went on my own. It was here, you told Lucy what had happened between us and you said it was just a one-night thing for me-"

"Wait," Hermione interrupted, "you went to a memory alone too?"

"Too?"

"Yes," she explained, "I saw Lucy talking to you in the Hog's Head; she must have gone there after she left here."

"You heard…?"

"Everything, yes. And honestly, Draco, I'm more confused than ever. I understand why you're scared, after what you've been through, who wouldn't be? But I'm not going to change my mind about you, I know that you're different and, more importantly, I know why."

"Exactly, you know about Evelina. You said to Lucy that you thought I was still in love with her and I think you might be right, I think a part of me always will be, it doesn't change my feelings for you, Hermione, but it should change yours for me," he said sadly.

"I don't understand…"

"How could you be with me knowing that I might never get over her?"

"Draco, we all have pasts, even me. Yes, yours may be more awful than mine but you can't let that stop you from being happy," she looked into his eyes trying to read his expression.

He didn't speak but continued to look back at Hermione, processing her words. Her face changed, though she had been struck by an idea.

She spoke again. "Come in, sit down."

He followed her inside and closed the door behind him, she took his hand and sat him down on the large charcoal grey sofa that took up most of the space in the living room.

"Wait here," she told him.

"Where are you-?" he began, but she was already heading out of the flat.

"I'll be back soon!" she called back to him.

As Draco sat completely confused on her sofa, Hermione raced to the outside of her flat beyond the wards that protected it and apparated. Her destination appeared before her; she climbed the stone steps and knocked on the black door that bore the number twelve. Moments later, the familiar face of her best friend answered the door.

"Hermione! It's late, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine Harry. I need a favour please. You remember Roger Harker who worked in your department for a while? He works in the Department of International Co-operation now, I've had to liaise with him quite a bit lately on my project and I really need to speak to him. Is there any chance you know where he lives?"

"Er, yes actually. Ginny and I had dinner with him and his wife; I think Ginny has the address written down somewhere. Do you want to come in for a drink whilst I find it?"

"No thanks, I'm in a bit of a hurry," Hermione was rocking on the balls of her feet as she spoke.

"Are you sure everything is okay? Surely this could wait until work tomorrow?" Harry asked sceptically.

"It's fine, I just really need to speak with him."

"You know I had a very similar visit from Malfoy last night, he turned up on my doorstep unannounced asking for your address, said it was a work thing. You would tell me if something was going on wouldn't you?"

"Of course," Hermione lied. "I just really need that address."

Harry nodded and disappeared for several moments before coming back with a piece of parchment that had an address written on it that Hermione recognised as central London, not far from the ministry. She thanked Harry and skipped down the steps before apparating to the address in her hand. She found herself in front of a block of modern looking flats and pressed the number on the intercom that corresponded with the one Harry had given her. A man's voice answered.

"Hi Roger, it's Hermione Granger, from work. Can you come down a moment, I need a favour."

Minutes later the main door into the building opened and Roger stepped out. He was a tall man who had not one hair on his head but a thick black beard covered his chin, he greeted Hermione with a warm smile but with confusion in his eyes.

"Hermione, what's going on?" he asked.

"Remember when I first started working with international schools and I had to meet with that awful witch from France, Jarvis wanted you to meet with him and you begged me to get him to get someone else and so I met with her alone instead? You said you owed me one."

"Yes…?"

"Well I need that one now."

It was almost an hour later when Hermione finally returned to her flat, and Draco, who was now very irritable.

"Where on earth have you been?" he demanded.

"Out. I needed to go and see someone, to get this," she held up another piece of parchment, this time with a different address.

"What is it?" Draco asked.

"You'll see," she replied simply.

She reached out a hand and he took it, leading him out of the flat and to outside of the building.

"We're going to apparate; I'm not telling you where so we'll have to do slide along."

"Okay…"

She closed her eyes and focussed entirely on the address she now had memorised. After a few seconds of the uncomfortable feeling of being squeezed through a tube, Hermione felt her feet on the ground and she opened her eyes. She was facing a huge pair of open iron gates, it was dark out but they could both make out that the words at the top read Cimitero.

"Cemetery…" Draco whispered. "Hermione, how…?

"I know a man in International Co-operation who owed me a favour. They have a record of every witch and wizard there ever was in every country. He went to the ministry, told security he'd left some important paperwork behind that he needed so he could find out where Evelina was buried after she died. You said you locked yourself away afterwards, meaning you didn't go to her funeral. You didn't get to say goodbye, Draco. I'm giving you the chance to."

Draco gazed at Hermione in shock and amazement. "This is…I can't believe you would do that for me. But I don't think I can go in there."

"You can, and if you need me to, I'll come with you," she told him sincerely.

He took a deep breath and nodded. Hermione took his hand once again and led him beyond the gates. Countless headstones could be seen in every direction and Hermione knew it would be difficult for them to find Evelina's grave.

They walked slowly through the many rows, still hand in hand, though Hermione was holding onto Draco for her own comfort now rather than his. It was dark and the trees were casting odd shadows on their path, Hermione didn't like cemeteries during the day never mind at night. She was looking over her shoulder trying to locate the source of a noise that had made her jump a little when Draco spoke.

"There," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Hermione whipped her head around and looked in the direction he was pointing. A white headstone marked Evelina's grave, bearing her name and a message in Italian that Hermione did not understand. Draco stood at the foot of the grave and stared at the ground at his feet. Hermione slipped her hand out of his and placed it at the small of his back. He pulled out his wand and waved it, making one single white calla lily appear on the grass.

"They were her favourite," he explained to Hermione without looking at her, "but she never wanted a bunch of them, just one. I used to give her one lily every week on a Saturday to mark each week we'd known each other."

A tear escaped Hermione's eye and she let it fall, not wanting to wipe it away in case Draco saw.

"You should say something," she told him quietly.

"I don't know what to say. I'd feel stupid anyway," he dismissed.

"It's not stupid. You need to try and get some closure, Draco."

"You're right," he said and sighed. "I just want her to know I'm sorry. I should have been there, at her funeral. I just couldn't face it, going to her funeral meant she was really gone. I didn't even know this was where she was buried; I didn't even bother to find out. She would be furious with me. I never told her this, but her temper scared me. She was a typical fiery Italian," he laughed. "Thank you for bringing me here, Hermione, I didn't realise it until this moment but I needed it. I'm ready to go now."

Hermione nodded and he took her hand before turning to face Evelina's grave once more. "Goodbye, Lina. Sleep tight."

They walked out of the cemetery in silence and waited until they were beyond the iron gates once more to apparate back to Hermione's flat and then return to her living room. She made them both a mug of tea and they sat in comfortable silence on the sofa.

Draco drained the remainder of his tea, took Hermione's cup and set them both down on the coffee table before taking her hand.

"Thank you," he said.

"What for?"

"For everything you did for me tonight. The trouble you went through to find where Lina was, taking me there and staying with me. That can't have been easy for you."

"It wasn't," Hermione said truthfully, "but you needed it. How do you feel?"

"Better than I've felt in a long time," then he added, "with the exception of last night."

Hermione laughed and he continued. "Seriously though, I'm sorry for leaving, and I'm sorry for ignoring you today. You know why I did it but that's no excuse, you didn't deserve it. You are an amazing person Hermione Granger, even more so than I thought."

There were a few more moments of silence, Hermione waited for him to speak again, sensing that he had more to say. When he said no more, she finally broke the silence.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked, unsure of the answer.

He stood up and pulled Hermione to her feet, tucked his finger under her chin and tilted her head up so that she was looking into his eyes.

"Bed, if you'll still have me?"

She closed the gap between them and kissed him deeply, giving him his answer.