Hellooooooooo, kiddies! You are not my kiddies but you ARE my beloved slave masters. Because you have hung out with me for DAYS and I haven't posted in almost a year- did you know that? A friend of mine told me that and I was SHOCKED, I had to post immediately. I'm writing two books and going to school on TOP of my fanfiction life so I appreciate your patience but you are being mistreated and I understand that. Honestly, you deserve better. Hopefully I will neglect school and write my stories and become famous for the stories so I won't have to do school YAYYY.

Either way. I love you. You deserve better. You're the shit, fans. This is short but really I'm writing more now legitimately.

The next night, Draco scribbled in his little black notebook all the thoughts inside his head. He had written down Nanette's story and little snippets of memory of how she was so he would never forget her. But now he wrote about Hermione. The way her brow furrowed when she did homework; the smile she tried to repress when he was being silly; the way her body moved and jerked when he touched her in intimate places. He sat in the tub now, purging himself of the mess of his mind. Hermione washed in the shower behind him. "Have you done your essay yet?" he asked over the noise of the water.

"Which one?" she replied.

"Both."

"I want to edit my Potions essay one more time, and maybe start writing my study schedule for finals." She shut the water off.

"It's March, finals are three months off!"

Hermione sighed and stepped out in her towel. "As I tell Harry and Ron every year, you can never start too early."

"Well, if we believe anyone it should be you. I mean, you get the highest grades every year."

"Thank you, I do." Draco closed his notebook and gestured that she join him sitting in the tub. "But I'm all wet," she protested.

"I don't care, come here." She wrung her hair out into the sink then sat on his lap, legs hanging out the side of the bath. He sighed into her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. They sat in silence for a while, recent events weighing on Draco's mind.

"Have you gone through Charlie's things yet?" Hermione asked as though she sensed that that was what troubled him. Draco shook his head. "Well, there's no rush." She didn't want to seem pushy.

"Let's do it now," he said suddenly and they stumbled out of the tub.

"Are you sure you want me around? I can read in the other room, I'm sure it's very personal-"

"Hermione, if I don't want you around for something, I"ll tell you. Don't worry about it."

Don't worry about it, she thought. But I'm so good at worrying. She slipped on her pajamas and sat next to him on their bed. He had the box out now and was staring at the wedding photograph. Charlie beamed at his bride as she radiated with joy.

"They never had any children," Draco said.

"He had you." Draco let slip a small smile. Hermione gently lifted the frame from his hands and left the room; he followed her out the door and watched her place the photo on the center of the mantelpiece about the common room fire. "Now he can watch over you just like he did at the Manor." Draco's face was stoic, but he nodded.

The rest of the box was filled with a very random selection of items. Most of his things, Draco guessed, the Malfoys kept, claiming them as their own property. One of the richest families in the nation and still they could never spare a dime for one not their own. Charlie's room at the Manor had been bare at best with plain, simple furniture and nothing more than was necessary.

Hermione pulled out a set of military medals from World War II. "It's very uncommon for wizards to take part in Muggle wars," she said. "He must have been very brave." Draco said nothing. There was also an old spinning top, a thick stack of letters, a barely-used scratched up notebook, and a small pouch of sickles and knuts. The notebook was blank save for a few addresses scribbled on the last page. Draco promised himself, and Charlie, that he'd one day let these people know of Charlie's passing. The top had no magical element as far as they could tell. A few receipts lined the bottom of the box.

There were about 20 letters in the stack, each from someone named "Bea". Hermione and Draco read thought them in silence, commenting on who she was or what they were about now and again. It was clear from the first letter read that "Bea" was Charlie's sweetheart during the War. Draco found a passage in one letter than explained that Bea was short for Beatrice.

"Draco," said Hermione about eight letters in. "I think this woman was Charlie's wife." She flipped over the page in her hands. "And I think she was a Muggle."

"What?" She showed him the letter she had been reading.

"I think he told her when he was on leave. Listen, 'I told you on the Green that I would think about your proposal and I have. I have spent hours trying to understand this condition of yours and, I'll be plain, I cannot understand it still. But Charlie, I love you, and I would be deeply proud to become your wife.' 'Condition?' Do you think he told her he was a wizard?"

"Sounds like it." Draco lowered the letter in his hands. "I can't believe she was a Muggle and he never told me." He thought back to the day Charlie had told him his opinion on Muggles. Had the old man been too scared to tell Draco his past? Was he afraid of the Malfoy family? Or of Draco?

"He probably didn't think it was important," Hermione urged. Draco laughed. He doubted many people would find that detail unimportant, but was grateful for her comfort all the same.

"Was he a religious man?" she asked.

He nodded. "Very." Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's body.

"Well then maybe you can think of it like he probably did. That he's with God now in Heaven." Draco's whole body tensed between Hermione's fingertips. "Draco?" He shot up off the bed, the tattered notebook falling open on the floor. He sprinted to the living room, Hermione trailing behind.

"What is it?" she cried, startled. He was holding the case file open, loose papers fluttering to the ground. Draco looked up, horrified.

"They didn't kill themselves."

Cliffhanger hahahahahahahahahhahahhhahahhahahahahaaaa. Don't worry, I got you. More chappyter soon. Hokay thanks. Seriously love you.