I'm home sick today, and I think Leap Day is a good day for that. I feel like, by working on Leap Day, I'm giving the company an extra day of my time. We wouldn't want that, now would we? Anyhow, enjoy the chapter, and kudos to those of you who guessed Hermione's visitor correctly.

Chapter 26
"Harry?"

He offered a hesitant smile and rose from the settee. Neither moved closer, and Hermione took a step back after wrenching her hand away from Draco. "Why are you here?" she asked before turning to Draco. "Why is he here?"

"To apologize," Harry answered as he continued to keep his distance from the angry witch. He had seen her wand in action and had been on the receiving end of it, and it was an experience he wished not to repeat.

"I don't want to hear it," she said. She turned, ready to walk away from Harry Potter for the final time, when Draco caught her by the wrist.

Try as she might, she couldn't shake free. It wasn't the hand that held her in place, but the beseeching look in the loving gray eyes of her fiance. "Hear him out," Draco implored. "Let him say what he has to say, and then make up your mind about tossing him out."

Sighing, she nodded and sat down across from Harry. Draco left, closing the doors behind him so they would have a bit more privacy. She wished he had stayed. It was too uncomfortable being left alone with Harry. A little over a year ago, she had been to Malfoy Manor for the first time, and under much more torturous conditions. Then, she had wished for Harry or Ron. She had wished that Bellatrix Lestrange would stop or kill her. She had wished that the Malfoys had never existed. She wished Draco hadn't been forced to rape her.

Now, though, it was to the Malfoys to whom she clung. They were family, and more importantly they were her family. Harry had cast her aside, and she wasn't sure she could accept his apology. She would hear what he had to say. Maybe she would even listen. But she wouldn't forgive him for what he did.

"Hermione?" Harry asked. She looked up, brown eyes honing in on green behind round glasses. "How do I make this better?"

"Find a time turner," she suggested. "Go back in time to last June when you decided that having Draco Malfoy's baby made me the enemy."

Leaning forward, Harry rested his elbows on his thighs. "You weren't...you're not the enemy, Hermione," he said. "After the war, after losing so many people - my parents, Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, Fred - I couldn't stand to think of anything else changing. I wanted peace, just once even if it was only for a minute. Ginny and I were supposed to be together. You and Ron were supposed to be together. And then you told us you were pregnant, and I felt betrayed. I felt vindicated in being mad at you because it was Malfoy, and then Ginny told us what really happened, which only further proved that I was right in my anger."

Hermione leaned back against the seat back and clutched the throw pillow now in her lap. "What changed?" she wondered. "How does one go from disparaging me in the paper and yelling at me in restaurants to coming to my home, asking to make up?"

Pulling off his glasses, Harry rubbed his tired eyes. "Malfoy happened," he replied. "He showed up at Grimmauld Place. How he did it, I'm not sure."

"Narcissa is a Black. She would be able to find the house," she interjected.

Nodding, he continued, "For two days straight, he waited. Sitting on the stoop, pounding on the front door, threatening to follow me everywhere I went until I agreed to talk to him. And yesterday I did."

The pillow was tossed aside and she stood. Harry's eyes followed her as she walked away, but not towards the door. Rather, she stood by the fireplace, watching the flames lick the logs. "What did he say?" she asked.

"Well, he told me what happened here that night we were captured," Harry said. "He figured out how to modify his memories so she would think he actually hurt you. You lied to us to protect him because you honestly believed he didn't do anything wrong."

"He didn't," she said softly.

Harry rose and joined her by the fire. "Why didn't you tell us then?" he asked. "You could have told us what really happened."

Hermione shook her head and noticed for the first time that she had tears in her eyes. "I was afraid you would have used it against him," she said. "At the trial. I didn't want something held against him that he had no control over."

"I think I understand," Harry replied. "Does this mean we're okay now? Or at least something close to it?"

Again, she shook her head. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she walked away from the fireplace. It wasn't until she reached the double doors that she turned around. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Harry," she said. "But what you did - turning the Weasleys against me, saying I should have aborted my daughter, the horrible things you've said about the Malfoys - I can't forgive that. Not yet anyhow."

When she left the parlor, Pansy was waiting for her. She said nothing, but embraced her friend with no need for an explanation. The parlor door closed and footsteps echoed off the marble floor of the foyer as Harry left Malfoy Manor. It wasn't until they heard the front door close that Hermione pulled away. "Do you want to talk about it?" Pansy asked, keeping her hand on her friend's shoulder for support.

"Not really," she replied tiredly. "I'm just going to check on Naya."

"Don't be mad at Draco," Pansy pleaded just as Hermione's foot touched the first step. She stopped and turned back to her friend. "He was just trying to help. I know he didn't mean to upset you."

"I know," Hermione said, a small smile curling her lips. She continued up the stairs and entered her room. Draco laid across the bed beside Naya as she excitedly waved a small stuffed bear. "Hey," she greeted him, shutting and leaning against the door.

Draco looked up warily, wondering where she had stashed her wand. "Would it be dangerous to ask how it went?" he inquired. "And please keep in mind that our daughter, she who you love most in this world, is right beside me, and you wouldn't want any harm to come to her."

Smiling, Hermione moved away from the door and placed her wand on the nightstand. She took a seat near Naya's head and gently smoothed down her hair. "Thank you," she said finally, turning her attention to her fiance.

"Is he still breathing?" Draco asked. "All limbs are still attached? No bloodshed?"

"Nothing like that," she replied with a laugh. "We just talked. I think it'll be a while before we can be friends again though."

Draco sat up and kissed her cheek. "Maybe someday," he said, getting off the bed.

Sure, Hermione thought, maybe someday.