Author's Note: Hello again! The first ¾ of this chapter practically wrote itself. I can't believe how much attention last chapter got—thank you guys so much! 16 reviews and 400 people following? I know I've said it before, but as this is the first time I've written a story like this, I'm just astounded by the response it's received. Thank you so much. Seriously, all the notifications totally brighten my day.

March: Headlines

Hermione and Draco looked at the paper over breakfast. Sure enough, there it was, splattered all over page 3, more or less just as they'd read it the night before. They read it together so that they would be prepared if anybody at work commented on it.

You'd hardly recognize them if you saw them today, but Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy are standing out more than ever before. Granger, long described as a bookworm, was looking absolutely stunning in a flirty turquoise dress when we spoke, and Draco Malfoy was holding her hand. What could have brought the two former rivals together?

I call it fate.

From their own words, they tell a different story. A story of growing up, and finding that the branches of their lives had woven them far closer together than the distances from which they had sprouted.

Malfoy is now on the path to becoming an Auror, which he says he owes in large part to Granger. "Hermione has a way of getting under your skin, of challenging you to be the best that you can be, and making sure that if you're not living up to your full potential, you know it. It didn't take long for her to get inside my head, for me to realize that things she was saying were things that had been on my mind for a long time, and to acknowledge that it was finally time to act on them." Malfoy, who's family has been on the murky side of the law before, is turning over a new leaf with his dedication to becoming an Auror and enduring the three years of rigorous training required.

Granger, famous from an early age for her friendship with Harry Potter and her subsequent role in aiding him, along with Ronald Weasley, in the fight against a terrible evil. She says that now, she is fighting a different battle—the battle against large potion manufacturers to own up to the responsibility of making sure customers know which of their regularly used potions may have poor interactions with other spells or potions they use. When asked about her personal life, Granger smiled and squeezed Malfoy's hand. "Well, I'm still friends with Harry and Ron of course, and all of the Weasleys. I share a flat with my good friend Ginny."

I had to ask Malfoy if any of his friends were taken aback by his decision to pursue a career as an Auror and he claimed that they weren't. "My two closest friends are glad to see me on a fulfilling path, though with such an intense training program, I don't have nearly as much time to go out with them as I used to. We're all moving into the next stage of our lives—steady jobs, and coming home to someone who cares for us."

When asked about their rough history with one another during their Hogwarts careers, Granger and Malfoy didn't believe it would have any negative impact on their current relationship. They've assured me that they've both changed and grown into better individuals than they were as adolescents and they're excited to be entering the next phase of their lives hand in hand. Looking at the two of them together now, it's hard to believe there was ever any animosity between them.

Chance encounters between the two over last fall led to their budding romance, and now wedding bells are on the horizon. If you think you might be on the receiving end of an invitation, clear your calendars for July 25th. I couldn't help but wonder if there was any special significance to the date, and saw a troubled look pass between the happy couple. When I inquired further, Granger responded, "I know it's ridiculous, but I had dreamed about having a fall wedding. Fall is just such a great time for change, you can taste it in the very air." I noticed the quiet creep into the room and looked at Malfoy, wondering if he would divulge an answer. Apparently, there hasn't been much media coverage of it, but a number of families received letters from the Ministry of Magic families of a certain blood type are being targeted by a Ministry policy dictating that family members of a certain age marry someone of another blood type. They were given a one year deadline.

I watched as Malfoy kissed Granger's temple and told me, "There's going to be a hearing held on the 24th to decide if the law is in violation of wizarding rights, or if it's a v bnecessary precaution to prevent another war." I've fact checked this story and it breaks my heart to hear of anyone putting a deadline on something as important as this. I hope that the hearing goes well and Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy can reschedule their wedding for the fall—I expect an invitation.

Ron met up with Harry at the Lighthouse, just like Harry's note had suggested. Harry was just starting to show him around and introduce him to some of the improvements he made when Ron lost his patience. He had to know. "I'll be a perfect audience in five minutes, I swear. Right now I need to know. Am I crazy? Well?"

Harry let out a breath and tried to find the words. He leaned against one of the walls and looked at his friend, not sure how he was going to respond to what he had to say. "Either they're the best actors I've ever met…or they're crazy about each other. Either way, I don't think you need to worry about Hermione. If they're not acting, then he's as head over heels as she is."

Hermione was only mildly surprised to have received an invitation from Narcissa during her lunch hour. Really, she should have expected it. Narcissa wouldn't let them drop a public bomb like that and not have something to say about it.

Still, she and Draco had other plans tonight, and they weren't going to postpone them. Narcissa would have to wait a while longer to interrogate them.

Hermione had insisted to Draco that he did need to take a night off to himself, to do something he enjoyed. She could hold down the fort and fight the good fight on her own for a night. She would fight the entire fight on her own if necessary, though it was certainly better with company.

And now, Hermione was talking as companionably as she could with one of the more robust members of the Wizengammot, kneeling in the earth while they planted some exotic new singing tulip that had been delivered earlier that day. The witch rather reminded her of Professor Sprout. As she saw the witch accidentally wipe a bit of dirt onto her nose and started in on a lecture on all things coming at their right times and seasons, Hermione saw her opening to discuss the law.

Draco had gone to the pub for a drink with his teammates after the day's training. Moody has pushed him extra hard to be sure that he had recovered from whatever bug he'd had the day before. Draco wondered if the man really believed him yesterday or just had decided it wasn't worth arguing about. He listened with half an ear to Bones and Boot and the others grouse about Moody, finding himself content to listen rather than to actively complain too much tonight.

He wondered how Hermione was managing with old Ragnus. From what he'd heard, the woman wasn't a bad sort, just rather…earthy. A bit of an odd one compared to some of her peers. He was sure Hermione would do fine with her.

"Draco, you've been staring into your beer for five minutes, mate, you okay?" asked one of the others.

He blinked and composed himself. "Fine. Just a bit bored listening to the same complaints over again. Isn't there anything new to talk about?" He took a sip of his Pale Dragon to see if it would bring himself a bit more back into the moment.

There was a general sort of snicker around the table. "We could talk about your wedding. How come none of us have received an invitation?"

Draco smirked, "Who says I want to see you there when I've got to look at your sorry faces the rest of the week?"

An easy banter picked up for a while, though Susan eventually pointed out, "You still haven't brought Hermione 'round to see us all. Is it because of Ron?" There were nods around the table as though this would be an acceptable reason not to bring Hermione around. Not all of the faces around the table had graduated in his year from Hogwarts, but enough of them had that they knew Ron and Hermione's history. Draco noted that Weasley was absent from the group tonight.

"She's busy tonight. We do have our own lives. One night, when she's bored and clearly has nothing better to do, she'll come out and see you all. In the meantime, she's got better company." He smirked, standing and draining the last of his ale. "I'll be heading out now myself." As Draco left, he wondered where exactly he'd go. He hadn't gotten up with any particular intention beyond leaving the table. He supposed he could go see Blaise. It had been ages since he'd seen him. With that in mind, he turned on his heel and Disapparated.

Blaise was home from work, but Ginny was still out. She had a late practice tonight. He was just on the verge of possibly deciding to do something domestic (he could use something clean to wear tomorrow), when he was saved by a knock on the door. Blaise smirked when he opened it and saw Draco standing there. He wondered if perhaps his friend had gone and made the brunette in his life testy. He invited him in.

"What? No dinner to greet me? You ought to take lessons from Hermione," Draco said, casually lounging on his friend's couch.

Blaise lifted an eyebrow and took a seat across from his friend. "Oh? And have you displeased her in some way that she's kicked you out of the flat tonight?"

He rolled his eyes. "Hardly. I'm taking the night off. Wouldn't want to spend all my time with her—I know you and Theo must miss me terribly," he drawled.

Blaise snickered. "I'll let Theo speak for himself, but if he's like me, he's more interested in staying home doing things we'd rather not invite you to join in."

Draco rolled his eyes again. He did not need the reminder that kissing Hermione yesterday had been the most physical he'd been in months now. "Spare me the mental images. I can only imagine Hermione's response to such an invitation." He adopted a feminine voice, "Do you think there's a polite way to turn them down?"

He shook his head, deciding he'd leave off. It sounded like his friend was still rather sexually frustrated. "So, since you clearly haven't been coming over and spying on my alone time with Ginny, what have you been up to?"

Shrugging, Draco shifted in his seat. "I do what I can. That bastard Moody kidnapped us last week and left us in the woods for two days. I spent this weekend taking cooking lessons from Hermione so the old geezer won't be able to blindside me again."

Three, thought Blaise. Shall we go for four? He'd make this one an easy one. "I read the paper this morning."

"Don't you have a job to do?"

"Well, it'd be irresponsible to spend all of my time working. I've got to be looking out for your interests after all. You looked pretty cozy in these pictures." He leaned out and picked up the newspaper, thumbing through until he found the right page.

Draco looked at the page. He and Hermione had already read through it this morning. It was cheesy, some of the language was a little too flowery, but hopefully it was having the desired effect. Hermione and he had already had to shoot down his mother's rather adamant dinner invitation for this evening—the letter he'd gotten from his mother at lunch time was followed shortly after by a note from Hermione saying that she'd already rejected the invitation on both their behalf's. It felt good to take a little of the power away from the Malfoy matriarch. He smirked at the thought. And, hopefully the end of the article would help raise awareness about the idiotic law that was turning his life upside down. He found his eyes straying over the pictures for just a moment. The photographer had made some surprising choices.

The first picture was a candid shot of them in the library. Draco remembered that he had been making fun of some of the photographer's more elaborate poses. They were standing by the window, and they both looked happy, animatedly engaged in conversation. The picture was positioned near the line about "fate".

The second picture was of Draco mounted on the broom, his hand extended to Hermione to help her get on behind him. It was near the part about him turning his life around and becoming an Auror. Maybe Whittaker had thought he looked gallant then? Personally, Draco would have picked a picture where Hermione was doing something a little more active. It was more her. He'd said as much this morning.

The last picture was the most surprising, but it was also Draco's favorite. It was from astronomy tower. They weren't kissing, that would have been too blatant. Draco had to give the man credit where it was due. He had caught their faces just after they'd broken from the kiss, still close, looking at one another. Even just looking at the photo, the air felt charged.

He was vaguely aware that Blaise had said something that had prompted him to look at the photos in the first place and made a response. "Hermione and I had to spend ages with the photographer yesterday to pull this off."

Four, thought Blaise, doing his best not to smirk. "You don't look like you terribly mind."

Draco chose to ignore his friend's comment. "So, enlighten me, what have I missed in the wide world beyond Hermione's flat?"

Blaise shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I heard Parkinson got into a cat fight at the Bouncing Ferret last week and Greengrass tossed her out on her ass. Haven't seen much of Theo lately, or Greg and Vince. Though I heard a rumor that Vince went to some sort of Ministry do to try to get himself paired off with someone."

"Any takers?"

"Hell if I know," he said. "Surely you're not spending all your time schmoozing with oldsters about that idiotic law. What are you doing with yourself?"

Draco gave his friend a look. "This is my first night out without Hermione in tow in a while. I have training all week, we meet to go over our information in the evenings, I spend all weekend with her."

Blaise stifled a yawn. He was ready for dinner. He supposed they ought to go somewhere and get something. Draco was up to six now. Time to goad him? "Well, I suppose you're probably pretty sick of her." He saw a look of confusion pass briefly over Draco's face before being replaced with something neutral.

"I'm not sick of her. She's not that bad." He was almost surprised to hear himself say the words. "It's not like we spend that much time together. Besides, Hermione's funny and has something to say worth listening to—most of the time anyway, even if she is a bit bossy. She's a better hostess than you are—dinner on the table every night, and you haven't even offered me anything to drink," he mocked.

"Don't you spend pretty much all of your waking hours with her that Moody doesn't own your ass?"

Draco hadn't really thought of it that way. "Moody has me all day pretty much every day," he finally said. "I only see Hermione in the evenings and on the weekends."

Blaise was quiet for a moment, just watching his friend. If Draco wasn't going to say anything about it, it was Blaise's job to point it out to him. "You do realize of course that her name is in practically every other sentence that falls out of your mouth, don't you?"

"No, it's not."

Blaise couldn't help smirking. "Get up, let's go get something to eat."

Draco glared at his friend, not moving. He was not okay with being mocked. "No. You don't just say something like that and change the subject. What are you getting at?"

"Why not change the subject?" he asked innocently. "You said I was wrong. Let's go."

Draco knew when he was being played, and fumed. "So what if I mentioned her a few times? You're right. We spend a lot of time together. It's not like we have much of a choice. My life pretty much revolves around her at this point." He wondered why he had even bothered coming over here tonight. He supposed it was mostly just that Hermione was doing something else and so he was at a loose end. And he had wanted to see Blaise, until the bastard opened his mouth.

Blaise spoke quietly, looking at his friend, meeting his gaze. "Are you so sure some of that isn't by choice?" He paused and then went on, sure that he had Draco's attention. "You don't have to spend nearly as much time with her as you do. You could hang out with me, or Theo, or Vince, or Greg, and just let your mother think you're with Hermione. I've seen the way you look at her, Draco, and I have to tell you, you're not that good of an actor."

Draco said nothing.

The other wizard rose to his feet. "I'm going to go out and pick up some dinner and bring it back. If you're still here when I get back, we can talk, if you want. Or completely ignore each other and get drunk, whichever you prefer." He left then, with Draco still stewing in his own thoughts.

There's nothing to be thinking about, Draco reasoned. Hermione was everything he'd said earlier—funny, smart, a little bossy. Passionate. Compassionate. Attractive. Over-attached to that demonic little kitten. She definitely had a sharp edge to her at times—he could still remember his surprise when she'd burned his mouth not so long ago. She wouldn't put up with crap. Was it such a terrible thing to be friends with her? To spend time with her? Of course not.

Draco took Blaise's broom off of the rack by the door. He'd go find his own dinner.

Hermione had only been home from her meeting with Ragnus long enough to feed Monarch before there was a knock at the door. There was hardly time for her to say "Come in" before the door opened and Draco stood there with a pizza in one hand, and a broom in the other. "Tell me, you didn't fly one handed while balancing a pizza in the other," she said.

He scoffed at her. "I did not. I just happened to have the broom on me and didn't want to set it down. I thought I might go flying tonight."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did your mother see you when you went home to get it? How mad is she?"

Draco snorted, coming in without waiting for an invitation and setting the pizza down on the coffee table. He leaned the broom against the wall and went into the kitchen for beverages. "I didn't want to risk running into her. I borrowed Blaise's. He wasn't home, but I doubt he'll mind." He came back out with drinks in hand for both of them. "How did you manage tonight?"

"Oh, I can hold my own. Ragnus came out very strongly in our favor as it happens," she said, grinning. She summoned a couple of plates from the kitchen. "I'm sorry Blaise wasn't in tonight. Maybe we can catch him another time. Did you have a good time all the same?"

Draco brushed the comment about Blaise aside. "Fine night. Went to the pub with everyone after training. Tell me about how old Ragnus was. I've heard some stories about her."

Hermione wasted no time in telling him about the afternoon and evening she'd spent with the old woman. She still had damp and dirty patches on the knees of her robes from kneeling in the dirt with her. She spoke animatedly, tucking her hair back behind her ear when it escaped, and pausing whenever Draco laughed. She agreed with him as he decided it probably would not have been a terribly enjoyable evening for him. "I just can't really imagine you kneeling in the garden and getting dirty."

He looked at her incredulously, rather offended. "I was on the House Quidditch team for years, grass-stains, mud, sweat, and all. I can get dirty."

"Only when it suits you," she countered.

He grinned a little. "True. Quidditch was worth it. I'm not sure I'd be quite as willing to ruin a good pair of pants over a couple of singing flowers." As they continued chatting, he decided she was far better company than Blaise. Blaise could go screw himself.

When the pizza was mostly gone and they had settled into a comfortable quiet, he broke it by asking a question. Well, it wasn't really a question.

"Come flying with me."

She looked at him, barely arching an eyebrow in response. "I'm not really fan."

"You told me to do something I'd enjoy tonight. Merlin knows when I'll have another night off. I went out with the blokes from work. Came here. Now, I want to go flying. The sky is totally clear tonight. Come with me."

Somehow, with a little more coaxing, Hermione found herself bundling up into jeans and a warm sweater and letting him Disapparate her wherever he chose. He knew a few areas secluded enough to be suitable to a night flight without being spotted by Muggles.

Hermione had never been a great lover of flying. She was capable of it well enough—like anything she'd set her mind to, she was able to learn it. It just wasn't her preferred mode of travel or entertainment. She half wondered why she had let Draco drag her out here, but she didn't ponder it too closely. She had not only told him to go out and enjoy himself tonight, she had insisted that he do it. If he wanted to spend his free night out flying and have her tag-along, well, she had insisted that he do what he wanted. She just hadn't anticipated him choosing this.

They flew for what seemed like quite a while. It wasn't terribly easy to converse when going at any sort of decent speed—and Draco didn't like flying slow—so they were mostly quiet. Hermione sat behind him, with her arms wrapped around him to be sure she wouldn't fall off. At one point, they stopped, hovering in the air, and looking at the stars. Hermione began naming them and was surprised when Draco named some of the others.

When they finally went back to the flat together, Hermione found herself yawning. It was later than she'd realized.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Draco asked, smirking. He leaned the broom up against the wall.

She smiled wryly. "It's still not my favorite way to travel, but I'll admit, the view was great." The sky had been absolutely clear tonight. It had been worth going out and experiencing it tonight. "Are you going to return that tonight?" she asked, gesturing at the broom.

He looked slightly surprised by the question. "I figured I'd stay here again. No sense going home with my mother in the mood I expect she's in. Though if we wait too long to see her, she'll show up at your office and try to bully her way into my training session." An odd look passed over his face. "I think I'd actually like to see her try that. I'm sure she could put up a bit of a challenge to Moody."

Hermione found herself snickering at the mental image she conjured of Narcissa bullying her way into a top secret Auror training class to lecture Draco. It really would be priceless. "I don't doubt it. And of course you can stay. Let's go to bed."

They took turns getting ready and then climbed into the bed and turned out the lights. "Did anyone give you a hard time about the newspaper today?" he asked quietly.

"No, not so far. Not really at least. Though I did receive notes from Mrs. Weasley, Lavender, and Parvati indicating their surprise about it all and wondering where their invitations were," she said softly. "Did you?"

"Nothing too important. Boots and the others had their little digs when we went out, but I got the last word."

She snickered, turning over in the bed and lying on her side. "You usually do." She hesitated. "Did Ron say anything?" No matter how long things had been over between them, she still worried that he might have trouble with this whole thing.

"He didn't say anything to me," Draco said honestly.

She sighed. "Well, that's probably a good sign. Good night, Draco."

"Good night, Hermione." Draco lay there in the dark for a while, staring at the ceiling. When he was sure that her slow and even breathing indicated she was asleep, Draco rolled over onto his side, bringing himself close to her back. He let himself drape one arm around her midsection, and closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Draco and Hermione survived the next few days. He avoided going back to the Manor, not wanting to deal with his mother. He had enough clothing at the flat that he wasn't in any urgent need to go get anything. Likewise, he didn't bother returning Blaise's broom to him, though he had no opportunity to take it for a flight Thursday or Friday, as they had dinners scheduled with two more members of the Wizengammot. They left Friday's meeting unsure of how successful they'd been, but they were running out of time.

His least pleasant surprise on Friday was to find that Ginny had finally come back to the flat for a bit. The look on her face told him that Blaise had probably told her whatever he thought he knew about Draco. He wasn't pleased at the prospect.

"Hi, Ginny," Hermione said cheerfully. She hugged her friend. "I was starting to wonder if you'd left for good."

She shook her head. "No sense in that. I've got to check in on you two every so often and make sure nobody's dead. What sort of roommate would I be if I let you off one another while I was out having a good time?"

"There's some leftovers in the fridge if you want them, but they're from a few days ago. And I've been meaning to tell you, I'd really like to see Fred and George start putting some more warning labels on their products. I'd love to see more of their testing results."

Ginny looked at her friend, finding her both endearing and exasperating. "Can't you stick to one cause at a time?"

"There's too many things wrong with the world. If I had time, I'd be over helping Harry as well, but when I don't have time, I suppose I'll have to be content leaving Deputy Potter in charge of some parts of saving the world," she mocked.

The girls broke out in a little laughter and even Draco found his lips curling in a smile.

The three of them chatted conversationally for awhile, Ginny never once mentioning what Blaise had implied Wednesday night. The nearest she came to saying anything was catching sight of the broom leaning against the wall and asking Draco if he was done with it—if he was, she'd bring it back to Blaise in the morning.

"You're not going back tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I've got to give him some time to miss me, don't I?" she teased. "Unless you two would rather be alone?" She arched an eyebrow in such a comical way that it was clear she was joking.

Except that Draco knew she wasn't. He did his best to keep his face neutral, but he knew when a barb was meant for him. He responded dryly, "Oh yes, Weaslette, if you weren't here, the two of us would have ripped each other's clothes off and been ravaging one another on the kitchen table by now."

She snickered. "Well, feel free to ask me to leave at any time. Just leave subtle sign somewhere, like a sock on the doorknob, that sort of thing."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh yes, we're just itching to defile every inch of the flat. Honestly, Gin, our relationship is very professional."

Ginny snorted and excused herself to go rummage in the kitchen for ice cream. It might have been her imagination, but she would have sworn Hermione's face was just slightly pink. She brought out a bowl for herself and one for Hermione. Draco looked slightly affronted. "Go get your own," she said, plopping herself on the couch next to Hermione. "Well," she said expectantly, looking at Hermione.

She took the bowl from her friend. "Well, thank you?" Ginny rolled her eyes. "I had to send him away, but he'll be back in a minute." She shot a look at the kitchen. "You two looked pretty cozy in the paper. I saw the pictures."

Hermione pursed her lips and looked at her friend. "It's the same as it's been for months now, Ginny. We're friends. And we understand that what we're doing is…acting the parts we have to play to change the Wizengamot's mind," she hissed. She saw Draco coming back and tried to look properly interested in her ice cream.

"Sorry about that, Malfoy. I only had two hands, ladies first and all that," Ginny said, watching Draco sit down on the chair.

"It's okay, Weasley. I know you just wanted to stare at my ass while I walked into the kitchen," Draco said, smirking.

"Oh, yes, be still my burning loins," she said, in a dead monotone.

Hermione leaned across the coffee table, looking for the remote and finding it. "You two are being too nauseating for a Friday night. Let's watch something, anything." She turned on the telly and flipped until she found something bearable. She missed the smirk on Ginny's face.

Monarch came and curled up on Hermione's lap, insinuating his head under her hand and demanding to be petted. She complied. Cats were so uncomplicated. They made their demands and you could comply or not; it was your skin.

Eventually, whatever program they'd turned on ended and Ginny announced that she was going to bed and she'd see them in the morning. As they watched Ginny retreat, Draco and Hermione looked at one another. "I suppose we should head to bed as well."

"I guess so." Hermione gathered Monarch in her arms and eased him on to the couch next to her, looking at Draco in the chair. A new program came on the telly, one that immediately made it clear that it would be filled with explosions and more special effects than anything this late at night ought to have. She turned it off.

Draco eased himself out of the chair and watched Hermione go to their room and grab her pajamas. She took them into the bathroom with her to brush her teeth. Draco teetered on the edge of knocking on Ginny's door and talking to her. He didn't want any more displays like she'd done tonight. He didn't want her joking about this. Before he could fully talk himself into it, he went to the bedroom instead and changed into something he could sleep in. As Hermione came back into the room, he walked past her to brush his teeth. He glanced at Ginny's door once more and left, going back and shutting the light off and crawling into bed. There was a gap between himself and Hermione. They said goodnight to one another and he rolled over, facing away from her.

As he lay there in the dark, Draco decided he'd talk to Blaise tomorrow. He knew what he wanted. He had a few weeks to make her fall for him.

Hermione woke up and realized that Draco's arms weren't around her. It was with a pang of surprise that just for an instant she wished they were. She opened her eyes and realized he was nowhere on the bed. She could have sworn that when she woke up in the middle of the night last night, his arms were around her. She waited for a moment, wondering if he was coming back. As she took a deep breath to focus her for the start of the day, she realized she could smell…eggs? Sausage? Slightly burnt toast? She followed her nose out into the kitchen.

Ginny stood there drinking coffee and watching Draco successfully cooking breakfast. Sausages were spread out over three plates, and he was working at a pan of not-quite-fluffy scrambled eggs.

Brushing her hair back behind her ears, Hermione smiled, getting out jam for the toast in the toaster and placing a still hot slice on each of their plates. "Good morning, Draco."

"Bit busy here, Hermione," he said, battling with the pan, which was starting to burn.

"Just take it off the heat. There's enough residual heat in there to cook it the rest of the way anyway," she suggested, refilling his mug that she saw on the counter and pouring a cup of coffee for herself.

In almost no time, the three of them were seated around the table having breakfast.

"This came out great, Draco," Hermione said honestly, taking a bite. "It was a nice surprise not to have to get up and cook."

Draco shrugged as if it was no big deal. He'd woken up this morning and thought she might enjoy waking up to a hot breakfast. "Well, you've only cooked dinner for me about a hundred times. I figured it was probably about my turn." He was pleased that she seemed to be eating the food and enjoying it. It made for a good start. He'd been tempted to speak to Ginny this morning about the decision he came to last night, but he decided to put it up. He was perfectly capable of charming someone without having to resort to getting advice from her best friend.

"So what's the plan for today? Are you two going out to save the the world, one bad-tempered warlock at a time?" Ginny asked cheerfully.

Draco and Hermione looked at one another. "I was thinking about taking a break from it today. We did pretty well this week. I thought we might go get a few more of those things we discussed putting in your survival pack," Hermione offered.

He thought that was an excellent idea. He refused to be caught unprepared the next time Moody tried to kidnap him.

There was a tapping sound on the window and Ginny got up to let the owl in. The owl flew straight for Draco, and he recognized it, pulling off the letter at once. He tore it open and glared at it. Hermione came to read it over his shoulder while the owl moved itself onto the back of the chair and nibbled at the wood.

Dearest Hermione and Draco,

It wounds me that you didn't feel you could trust me enough to let me know about your plans. I do hope you're alright, as I haven't seen you in days. I don't even know if that madman of a teacher you have may have kidnapped you again, Draco. I do hope you're reading this and not lying hurt and cold somewhere.

In other news, I've invited the Grangers over for dinner tonight. There's simply so much to discuss. I do hope you'll join us, but I understand if you can't find room in your busy social calendars to entertain your parents. Jane and David are expecting me at 6:30 to Apparate them to the Manor, though if you would prefer to do it yourself, you are more than welcome.

Your loving mother,

Narcissa Malfoy

Draco glared rather generally about the room and threw the letter on the table in disgust.

Hermione hardly looked any happier than he did. "Well, I suppose I know what we're doing tonight."

He nodded grimly. No matter how much he disliked the notion of having dinner tonight with his mother and Hermione's parents, the alternative was unthinkable. The Grangers could not be allowed to spend an evening alone with his mother. Who knew what sort of mischief she might cause? "Do you think reinforcements would help?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione shot a glance at Ginny and then looked back at Draco. "It couldn't hurt. Your mother likes Blaise, right?"

He snorted softly, going to look for something to write with. "Some days, I swear she likes him more than me."

"Are you free tonight, Gin?" Hermione asked.

The redhead did her best to bite back her amusement. "Oh, I think we could make time for this."

Author's Note: I hope this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations. Like I said, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you had as much fun reading it. I would have liked to make it longer, but I decided to cut it here in favor of getting it up sooner rather than later. Please let me know what you think. I know the article was a little cheesy, but I kind of felt like the journalist I pictured in my head might just write that sort of thing. I'm excited to see where the next chapter takes me. I'm still shooting for weekly updates on Mondays. Part of the reason this one is getting cut here is because I was out of town all weekend (it was awesome, by the way). My BFF is coming for a visit starting tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much writing I'll get done this week, but I'll do my best to update again by next Monday!