Chapter 37

Time Past

In the two months since Draco and Ron's confrontation, Hermione hadn't once spoken to Ron; though she often talked with Draco about what happened. Draco didn't really go into too much detail; he didn't think she needed to know everything about that night's events. He did tell her, however, that he'd only struck Ron twice, once with his fist and once with his forehead. She wasn't thrilled about his fighting, but she had known that Draco needed to 'settle the score.' Even love could not stand in the way of a bruised male ego. She was truly a forgiving person, she wanted so badly to forgive Ron for all of the things he did and said, but couldn't find it in herself to do so. Though she was relatively positive Ron hadn't meant to hurt her, the fact remained; his words rocked her world. One would have thought with every point Ron made, Hermione would doubt Draco's actions, but she went the exact opposite. Her feelings for him only grew, she knew in her heart he would never let anything bad happen to her, if he had any control in the situation. Everything they'd gone through, they went through it together. It wasn't only Hermione who had to endure pain, Draco was there as well.

Many things had changed in the two months. One was, the very morning after Draco and Ron's little spat, Pansy was sent home. Dumbledore didn't get into great detail with Hermione or Draco; he only informed them that Pansy would not be attending their graduation. Draco knew more about Pansy's family than anyone else he knew, and he was positive she was going to be in a fair bit of trouble. He didn't care enough to ask Dumbledore if she was going to return to Hogwarts next year, but he was sure she could. He and Hermione didn't speak much about Pansy; the only thing she told him was she was glad that the 'dirty git' got what she deserved. His response was a laugh, nothing more. Now that Snape was in Azkaban and Pansy had been expelled, Draco and Hermione didn't have any more real problems. Ginny and Harry were still around, though a bit less because of Ron, Neville and Seamus too were often seen trailing after the pair. Draco had never had such a strong sense of self as he now possessed, Hermione was his, he had real friends, and he was about to leave Hogwarts forever so he could start his family.

Another change was that Draco's, as well as Ron's, face was healed, finally. Draco's face had taken quite the beating, not only was it still injured from his fall from the bed, but Ron's fists reopened those wounds as well as created more. The only visible signs that he'd ever gotten into any kind of scuffle were a scar near his left eyebrow and a few smaller ones under his bottom lip, but those were hardly noticeable. He knew the scars he sported were reminders of the things he'd gone through, reminders of how hard he'd fought to get where he was, and that wasn't something he was willing to give up.

Draco thought, many times, about the events of that night. He hadn't meant for things to go so far, but being the son of Lucius Malfoy, he wasn't willing to let someone trample him. Sure, he let Ron get the best of him, he'd even smiled throughout the whole ordeal, but looking back on it, he realized that wasn't the best course of action. What he should have done was simply yell at Ron, like Ron did Hermione, and leave it be. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't let Ron get away with speaking to his future wife in such a manor. His feelings about Ron had changed, the moment he had to ask for help, but just as quickly as they changed from bad to good, they went back. He didn't know of any thing he'd ever really done to Hermione to cause such ill feelings from Ron.

One night at Dinner, he sat alone, since Hermione had retired early, and Ginny and Harry were off somewhere coddling Ron, thinking.

'I know the row I had with Ron was hard on Hermione, but I really think it's best that he isn't around anymore. If he was hiding his feeling about her, about me, that long, there's not telling what could have happened. But this time without him has proven its self useful. Hermione and I have grown so much closer. Everyday I notice something else about her. When her stomach first began to grow, that was the single most happy time of my life…Well, one of them. Harry and Ginny, Seamus and Neville too, are really great people, better than I ever would have given them credit for. Harry tries to get me to play Quidditch with him, but I can't… Damn leg. I suppose it isn't such a loss though, he was, after all, the only reason my father bought me into the game. Ginny though, she's something. All of her talks with me and Hermione about the baby; you'd think she was the one having the child. A few weeks ago, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Neville, Seamus, and I all had drinks at The Three Broom Sticks, and it was just like we've all known each other out entire lives. None of them even give me a second thought anymore, I'm not just Malfoy, I'm Draco now. And Weasley isn't there to impose or be jealous. I really thought he was a friend there for a little while. But really, Hermione was the only reason he gave me a chance. I suppose the one thing that gets to me is how he blames me for everything. He doesn't accept the fact that sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing anyone can do to stop them. That's all in the past though. I have the graduation, the wedding, the baby, all of these things to look forward to, and so much more. I finally have the life I deserve. I'm not worthless anymore, I'm good for something. I'm good for Hermione. Ha, there's a thought, I'm good.'

On this Friday night, exactly two weeks away from graduation, Draco, Hermione, and Ginny sat together, in Draco and Hermione's bedroom, in self conjured chairs. The three of them had been spending the most time together; Draco thought this was because Ginny was Hermione's only female friend. He didn't mind Ginny's company though, he often thought about the time she'd walked in on him and Hermione naked and laughed. She was a better person than he'd ever thought, then again so was pretty much everyone else.

"So, Hermione, what are you going to name the baby? I know we've talked about it, but have you decided?" Ginny asked, taking a sip of tea from the steaming mug she held in her small hands.

Hermione shrugged and shook her head. "I really can't decide, Gin. Draco and I have spoken about it, but there are so many possibilities. We don't even know what the baby is yet. I suppose it will be easier once we find out."

Draco stretched his arm out and patter Hermione's growing belly gently. He smirked, "I can't wait until your belly gets so big you can't see your feet."

Hermione's mouth fell open as she gaped at him. "What? What kind of comment is that?"

Ginny giggled, she knew Draco was in for it.

"I… er…" Draco stuttered. "I was just, you know, saying…"

"Draco, I'll have you know, I will be fifteen weeks pregnant tomorrow, and so it will be a while before that happens. And just for that little comment, I'm cutting you off!" She folded her arms across her chest, but before she did that, she swatted Draco's hand away.

His mouth fell open. "What! Wait a minute there. That's not fair! How did we go from talking about names to me being cut off?" He looked from Hermione's stone face to Ginny's red one and back. "I must protest there. I really don't see what was so wrong about that remark. I said I couldn't wait, not that I wouldn't want to be seen with you."

Hermione huffed. "Regardless, you're still cut off!"

Ginny decided it was her turn to chime in. "In all fairness, Hermione, I don't see what was so bad about his comment. But I do want to tell you two that I would rather you save this conversation for sometime when I'm somewhere that isn't here. Please."

Draco smiled at Ginny and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively, "What's the matter ickle Ginny-kins, you don't like to hear about such unspeakable things? Are your ears too young? Because your eyes surely are not."

Involuntarily, Ginny kicked Draco in his left shin causing him to whimper. "Jeez, Draco, I'm really sorry about that." She apologized.

Hermione laughed and pointed at Draco's face. "That hurt, didn't it?"

He rubbed his shin vigorously, "Damn. Now that was uncalled for and yes, it hurt." He was teasing Ginny and she knew it. He, Madam Pomfrey said, had regained all of the use of his legs he was going to regain. He still chose to walk with his cane, because it helped keep him steady, but he didn't have to use the chair any longer. Though his left leg was still more effected, and basically useless, he didn't complain about it anymore. Besides, for Hermione, or anyone else who wanted to know, the slight scraping sound his left leg made as he dragged it along was a signal that he was close. His leg didn't hinder his everyday activities in anyway, he hadn't been playing Quidditch for sometime, so it wasn't such a big deal anymore, he was injured; he dealt with it.

"By the way, Hermione, when do you get to find out the gender of the baby?" Ginny asked trying to get her mind of Draco's faking injury.

Hermione uncrossed her arms, "Well, Madam Pomfrey said we can find out once I am sixteen weeks, if we like. But in the muggle world you have to be in your second trimester, somewhere between twenty and twenty two weeks. We don't have as much high tech equipment here, not that it would work, so I could be having septuplets for all I know." She laughed uneasily, "I don't think I could handle that many children."

"I think it would be great to find out what the baby is right before graduation. That would be a wonderful graduation present." Ginny beamed at Hermione. She was probably the one that showed the most support for Hermione and Draco's decisions. She hadn't been a happy girl when she found out about the fight between her best friend's fiancé and her brother, but she couldn't decide which boy she was angrier with. She gave Ron a good telling off, and only told Draco off a little. She thought it was very immature of both parties involved, but didn't make a big deal of it, for Hermione's sake. Harry and Hermione both had told her their sides of the story and she was convinced Ron had been wrong for saying anything. She and Harry talked about the situation more than once but neither of them mentioned it to Draco or Hermione. They honestly hadn't expected Hermione to keep form speaking to Ron for so long, but supposed it was best.

"I agree, Ginny. Mine, we should have Madam Pomfrey tell us the sex of the baby when we go to see her next week." Draco said, letting his hand venture back to rest on Hermione's stomach. It wasn't all that obvious that she was pregnant, under her school robes, but the pale pink sun dress she was wearing told a different story. She decided she didn't care what her fellow students thought about her. She was carrying the child of the man she was engaged to marry and that didn't have anything to do with a single one of her classmates. But anytime, other than on weekends, she did hide her tummy under her robes. She didn't want to make it too obvious after all. So far, though, no one had said a single word to her about it, which she supposed was a good thing.

"I don't know, Draco. I would rather you not say the word 'sex' around the baby. But I kind of think it would be nice not to know until he or she is born. It'd be the best present ever." Hermione smiled and patted his hand as she spoke.

Draco gave a half smile. "Sorry. I guess it would be nice to be surprised. Whatever you want is fine with me."

"I think it's a brilliant idea." Ginny said smiling. "But, it's getting late, so, I'm going to leave you two alone and get to bed." She stood up from her chair, waved her wand, causing it to disappear along with the mug she held in her hand and smiled at her two friends before turning to walk away.

"Good night." Draco and Hermione said in unison.

She waved her hand behind her just as she exited through the portrait hole, "Night."

Hermione and Draco curled up together in their bed, having already changed into their pajamas, which for Draco was just his dark green boxers and for Hermione, a yellow tank top and her panties. Hermione lay on her back with Draco on his left side beside her. He placed his right hand on her stomach and rubbed lightly, which he'd been doing more often. Hermione smiled as she gazed into his grey eyes and thought 'He's so beautiful.'

"Mine." Draco breathed into her hair.

"Humm?" She answered.

"I can't wait until we're married and the baby gets here." He said kissing her temple.

"Me either, Draco. I know we haven't really talked about a date, but when do you want to get married? I would like to be married before the baby comes, and well… we only have five months for that." She turned over onto her side, to face him as she spoke.

He sighed and brushed a few stray curls from Hermione's face. "Anytime you want to do it is fine by me, but I don't think it's going to be soon enough. I suppose we could wait until after graduation. But then we're going to have to send out invitations, if you want to invite anyone, and do all of that mess."

Leaning up to kiss him she said, "That reminds me, we haven't even asked anyone to be in the wedding. We aren't prepared at all for this. Who are you going to ask to be your best man? And who am I going to ask to be my matron of honor? Ugh." She wrung her hands in frustration.

He smiled, "Well, I was thinking about that the other day, in class…" Hermione gave him a stern look, because he'd just admitted he wasn't paying attention in one of his classes. He continued, after giving a sly sort of smile, "And… well, I would ask your father, because he's been more of a father to me than my own ever was, but he's going to have to give you away, so that's not possible. Then it dawned on me. The only close male friend I have is Harry. Do you think it would be alright if I asked him?"

She squealed and kissed him quickly, again, "Oh, Draco, that's wonderful! I'll ask Ginny to be my matron of honor, because well, she's my best friend, and she and Harry would look so wonderful walking down the isle together. It's going to be so great!"

Draco chuckled and raised an eyebrow at her. "Aren't trying to play match maker are you? Remember this is our wedding not theirs."

She laughed, "Me? Never. I know who's wedding it is, Draco."

He smiled. "Right. You would never do that. But now that we have that sorted out, we still need to pick a date. I don't know who you want to be there, other than your family, but the sooner we chose a date, the sooner we can start making arrangements. And who is going to marry us anyway? I don't know anyone that can do that."

Hermione gave a short laugh, "Draco, honestly. Professor Dumbledore can marry people, didn't you know that? Or well… There's the Minister, but I don't really know him and… I'd feel more comfortable with Professor Dumbledore."

Draco caressed Hermione's cheek. "Alright, we'll ask Dumbledore if he will do it then."

Hermione shot up in bed, almost landing on top of Draco, "What about graduation day? I mean anyone I would want to invite will already be here, they won't have to make an extra trip, and then the whole school will be here as well. See, so Ginny and Harry wouldn't have to make arrangements to travel, and Harry's ignorant Aunt and Uncle couldn't keep him from coming. What do you think?"

He nodded and sat up as well. "I think that is brilliant. What better of a way to really show everyone?"

Hermione scowled. "I'm not suggesting this to burn anyone. I'm suggesting this because it will be convenient for everyone."

Draco gave a half crooked smile and looked down, "I know, I was just saying, if we did it at graduation, then everyone would be able to see how much we love one another and that we aren't afraid to show them."

"Okay then, it's settled. We will go to Professor's Dumbledore and McGonagall in the morning and speak with them about it." Hermione said excitedly.

Draco's response came in kisses. He first kissed her lips, supporting her head with his hand and placing the other around her waist. Hermione smiled between kisses and let her self fall against the soft mattress, Draco following her down. He leaned against her, careful not to put too much pressure on her stomach, still kissing her, but now his kisses trailed down her jaw bone to her neck. She allowed him to kiss her for several minutes, dragging her fingernails lightly against the flesh of his back. Draco's hand traveled from Hermione's waist down her thigh and back up again, to the inside of her thigh where he rested. The passion in his kisses was Hermione's first clue as to what he was getting at.

Once she was sure he wanted more than kisses, she sat up and roughly pushed him back. "Just what do you think you are doing Mr. Malfoy?"

He gawked at her confusion etched in his pointed face, "I was… I wanted… You know what I was doing."

She crossed her arms over her chest, "Sorry about your luck mister, but I told you, I'm cutting you off."

His face fell, "What? You've got to be kidding me." He tried to move his hand back to the inside of her thigh but she hastily moved out of the way.

"I assure you, I am not joking. I'm dead serious." She said, not showing any visible signs that she'd been fooling around.

He blinked lazily at her. "Okay, fine. Two can play at that game." He threw himself back on the bed and turned over, putting his back to her.

Hermione followed suite, she rolled over onto her left side, making it so her back was to his. Reaching out for the lamp on her bedside table she said, "Good night."

"Night." He muttered grumpily.

When the light was extinguished Hermione pulled the blankets up to her chest and settled herself in. "I love you."

Draco sighed and pushed himself over onto his stomach. "Love you."

Saturday morning came as the sun wrapped her loving arms around both Draco and Hermione. Hermione stretched her arms above her head as she glanced over her shoulder at Draco. He was still asleep. She thought about how beautiful he was, even when he was sleeping. A smile played at the corners of her mouth while she continued to stare at him. He was laying on his stomach with his face toward her, his right leg, which was the one closest to Hermione, was pulled up almost into his chest and his right hand clasped on the back of his neck. She didn't have to guess where his other two limbs were, having slept with him many times, she knew, his left hand was underneath him, somewhere around his stomach, and his left leg was hanging off the side of the bed. He looked so innocent while he slept, and yet somehow very uncomfortable.

She stood from the bed, stretching again, and walked around to where Draco lay. Quickly she bent down and kissed his cheek then scurried off into the bathroom. She knew as soon as she woke up that she was going to be sick and wanted to get in a kiss before that happened. The morning sickness was beginning to wear off, but for some reason it wasn't wearing off quick enough. After vomiting, twice, she flushed the toilet, brushed her teeth, and undressed to get into the shower.

She stood in the shower stall for at least ten minutes once she was officially clean, simply holding her hands on her stomach. Another smile spread across her lips as she thought.

'I'm going to be a mother in only a few more months, and even though I have to wait to see this baby's smile I already love it. How is it that I can love something I've yet to see? I'm going to be married to the most wonderful man I've ever met, have his child, and never have to work if I don't want too. How is it that I've gotten so lucky? I went from being sidekick to The Boy Who Lived, a brainy know-it-all, a book worm, to being the future wife of Draco Malfoy and mother of his child. Everything happened so quickly. Despite the bad things, all of them, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Those are memories Draco and I have made together and I never want to lose them.'

She brought her hand up to her lips, kissed it softly, then placed it back on her stomach and whispered, "I love you."

Once she was out of the shower, she wrapped a towel around herself and walked out into her bedroom. Draco was, not so surprisingly, still sleeping, and she had been correct in assuming his left leg was hanging off the bed and this left arm was underneath him. She laughed quietly at his position as she pulled a sky blue dress from her wardrobe. She stepped into her clothing and towel dried her hair quickly due to the fact she was incredibly hungry. The one thing that bothered her, which was only a little bit, was how tight her clothes were getting. Her dress wasn't exactly trashy tight, none the less; it was getting a little too tight for her taste. What did she expect though? Her stomach was growing and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it, after all where was the baby going to live if not inside her?

She ran her hand through her damp curls and sighed. She didn't want to wake Draco because he seemed so peaceful but she didn't want to go down to breakfast alone either. Deciding to wake him anyway, she strolled over to him and knelt down beside him.

She kissed his shoulder and threw her arm over his back. "Draco." She whispered. Nothing. "Draco come on, it's time for breakfast," She sad a bit louder. Again, nothing. This time she spoke in her normal voice and shook him gently, "Draco." Still he didn't move. Whacking him in the back of his head she said, "Draco!"

"Ouch!" He groaned while he laughed.

"Ugh! You little git!" Hermione scolded.

He laughed again, "I just wanted to see how long you would wait before getting mad."

"So you were awake the whole time?" She questioned standing up.

He rolled over onto his back and stared up at her smirking. "Yeah."

Shaking her head in frustration, which sent her brown locks flying over her shoulders, she shouted, "You!"

"It's terribly annoying when you don't get what you want isn't it?" He stated nonchalantly standing up from the bed, stretching.

"No, you're the one that is annoying!" She simply glared at him as he stretched. She wasn't surprised to see his stomach was still well toned, even though he was no longer playing Quidditch. She had witnessed him working out several times and laughed each time. She thought it was funny that he cared so much about how his body looked, but in retrospect, she cared just as much about hers. This really wasn't the time for such thoughts though, she was annoyed.

He chuckled, "Yeah, but you're the one that's holding out on me. I told you already, two can play at that game. What I failed to mention is how I was going to participate. Just wait, I'll have you begging for it." That same old smirk spread across his lips, but only for a second before Hermione wiped it away for him.

Before he knew what had happened, Hermione was standing in front of him and his left cheek was stinging slightly. "What the hell was that for?" He pouted, making 'puppy dog' eyes at her.

Hermione stood, her hands placed firmly on her hips, wearing a not so happy expression. "You deserved that. Just feel lucky I didn't punch you, again."

He sneered. "That isn't nice."

"I don't care. I'm hungry, your child is hungry, and you're playing games! Ha! I'll show you two can play." She scoffed, walking toward the wardrobe. She pulled out a simple grey t-shirt and some dark blue jeans and threw them into Draco's chest. "Put these on and let's go."

Draco caught the clothing as they hit him and muttered something under his breath. He quickly dressed and ran his slender fingers through his white blond hair. "Fine. Let's go."

Ginny and Harry glanced worriedly at one another when they saw Hermione and Draco approaching where they sat at Gryffindor table. The reason for their looks was sitting directly across the table from them, with flaming red hair. The two Gryffindor's leapt from their seats and practically ran at Hermione and Draco.

"Hey!" Ginny yelled, standing right beside Draco.

Draco covered his ear with his hand and sneered, whipping around to face Ginny. "Hi…"

Harry stood in front of his three friends. "So, what are you two up to?"

Hermione's brow furrowed as confusion spread over her face, "What do you suppose we would come into the Great Hall for, at this time in the morning, Harry? And Gin, what was that about?" She hadn't meant to be so blunt with her friends, but she was aggravated because of the game Draco had played and very hungry.

Harry and Ginny shrugged.

"If you'll excuse us, we're going to get something to eat now." Hermione said trying to push past Harry.

Harry didn't budge.

"Get out of the way, Harry." Hermione demanded.

Hermione grabbed Draco's hand as she pushed her way around Harry. He, Draco, honestly didn't know what was going on but the sound of Hermione's voice surprised him. He hadn't expected her to be so rude to her friend, and somehow knew he was the cause of all of this. Just as soon as he and Hermione were behind Harry, he saw why Ginny and Harry had been so quick to greet them. Ron was sitting about half way down Gryffindor table, seemingly oblivious that Draco and Hermione had entered the Great Hall. Draco hadn't really seen much of Ron since their falling out, but then again, he tried to avoid confrontation, just as he assumed Ron did.

Swallowing hard Draco stopped walking and tugged Hermione back to him. "Mine, is there any way you can just wait a few more minutes to eat?" It wasn't that he was worried about what Ron might do; more that he didn't want to have to deal with him. The two boys were lucky Dumbledore was never informed of their spat, but Draco didn't think he would miss a fight in the Great Hall. Not that he was planning on attacking Ron, because he wasn't, but there was no telling what Ron may say. And Draco, being Draco, wasn't going to stand for any sort of comments from him.

Hermione huffed. "No!" she pulled her hand from Draco's and continued, "I'm hungry, Draco, and I will eat right now. What's the big…"

Before she could finish Harry and Ginny were standing beside her and Draco's hand had ceased her chin, turning her head in Ron's direction. She pulled her face from his hand and turned to glare at him. "I don't care who is there. I'm eating!" With that, she stomped off toward her house table.

"Oh balls." Draco sighed and hurried after her, Ginny and Harry close behind him.

Hermione reached the table first, closely followed by Harry and Ginny, because they were faster than Draco. She plopped herself down beside Seamus, across the table down a few places to Ron's left. She didn't hesitate to grab her plate and begin piling food on it. Harry and Ginny, then finally Draco, simply stood behind her. Draco stared at the back of Hermione's head, and Ginny and Harry at Ron.

Seconds after Hermione had taken her seat, Ron looked up from his plate, straight at Draco, his face flushed and the food he had previously been chewing fell from his open mouth, into his lap. The look on his face told two stories, one about being startled and the second about being terribly angry. Neither stories mattered to Draco though, he hadn't yet seen them. Ron abruptly stood from his seat, hitting his knee on the table which caused it to jump off the ground several inches. The racket caused several heads to turn; Hermione's being one of them. Ron's eyes shifted from Hermione's face to Draco, who still hadn't looked at him, then to Harry and Ginny.

"Umm… mate why don't we go and…" Harry began.

Hermione cut in. "Damn it! This it complete rubbish."

Draco, Ginny, Seamus, Harry, and Neville, as well as about ten other Gryffindor's gawked at Hermione. They hadn't expected something like that to come from her mouth, Draco least of all because she'd told him not to say the word 'sex' around the baby. And well… the baby was closest to Hermione.

"This is our house table and we all eat here. It's ridiculous to have to hurry off just because Draco and I come along. If someone isn't finished eating, they should stay and finish. We can all be civil and just ignore the other person's presence." Hermione finished, taking a bite of her toast.

Finally a look other than shock or anger crossed Ron's face, disgust. He sneered. "That's quite alright; I've just lost my appetite anyway."

He turned his back to Hermione and Draco and began walking away. Before he got too far, Draco said, "What was that Weasley?"

Ron stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. "You heard me, Malfoy!"

Hermione grabbed Draco's wrist in her hand and tugged at it, "Draco."

Draco wrenched his wrist from Hermione's clutch, "No! If you have something to say, by all means, please do."

Harry rolled his eyes behind Draco. He didn't want to have to whiteness another row between his best mate and his… other best mate. He gave Ginny's shoulder a slight push with his arm, just to get her out of the way incase something did happen.

Ron turned on his heel and locked eyes with Draco. "Why would I ever have something to say to someone like you?"

Draco bounced from the heel of his feet to his toes a few times. "Oh, good come back."

"Shove it." Ron replied, annoyed.

Hermione jumped out of her seat, grabbing Draco's wrist again, this time roughly so he couldn't break free. "Look. Draco, Ronald." She glanced into the faces of both boys as she spoke, "I will not tolerate any more of this. Draco, you need to just sit down and shut it!" She pulled on Draco's wrist hard, knocking him off balance which almost made him fall. "And you, Ronald, I've heard enough from you already and you haven't said anything to me. I don't know what you're trying to do here, but I rather wish you would just stop it. You don't like him, he doesn't like you, get over it. I will not forgive you for those hurtful things you said or the things you did, ever, but I do not wish to go on feuding with you either. We are not children anymore! You're Harry's best mate and Ginny's brother and those two, coincidently, are my, and Draco's, best friends, so we're bound to see one another sometime. It isn't fair to the two of them to have to hurry off with the other when one of us enters a room. I've had all of this I can stand."

She paused for a few seconds and looked around her table into the faces of her fellow students who just happened to be staring at her. "You all just shove off, there's nothing to see here. I'm not speaking to you, so stuff it and mind your own business." Every single head turned back to the plate in front of it, obviously embarrassed. She then directed her attention back to Ron, who had turned again to walk off. "I'm not finished!"

Again Ron stopped, though he didn't know why, and turned around.

"Ronald, I'm not saying we're friends but I'm not saying we should be enemies either. I don't care what you think of my being with Draco or about what you think of him. You said a lot of mean, degrading things, and I'm not going to forget that, but I think this has all gone on long enough. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. Just because we are sitting at the same table you are, doesn't mean you have to converse with us. We'll mind our business so long as you do." Hermione looked into Draco's, slightly pink face, "Agreed?"

Draco nodded, not looking up at her. He had taken her almost knocking him off his feet as a sign to sit down, so he was less noticeable. "I suppose."

"Ron." She said.

Ron nodded as well, trying desperately to hide the anger which bubbled inside him. "Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm going now."

Hermione took her seat again, and wordlessly began eating. Harry and Ginny eventually sat back down in their original places as well. Neither of the friends said a single word to one another through out their entire meal, all too afraid Hermione would snap at them just as she had done Ron.

A/N: As promised, here's chapter 38. Thanks for all of the reviews :) And again, I'm shooting for 13 again this time. 13 wins the update ;) Again, thanks to UltimateAuror for being my BETA and everything else.Sway