When things in her life took a turn for the worse Hermione did the one thing she did best, work. If you were busy you didn't have time to dwell on the things you couldn't change. It had been a week since Finn had left for New York, and she hadn't heard from him once. She hadn't really expected to hear from him but with each passing day the hallow feeling within grew larger. She had taken to sleeping in her office most of the week, she had spent one night at the flat Draco had offered her. The utter feeling of loneliness was too much to handle, the next morning she had headed into the office and hadn't left since.

She of course was hiding the fact she was sleeping in her office from everyone, she knew if Harry knew he would demand she stay with him and Ginny, but she couldn't, being around happy people was too much to handle. So she would tell everyone she was working late, and when they were gone, she would transfigure her desk chair into a cot, she would be up hours before any Ministry workers came into the office, slip down stairs to the Auror office and take a shower in the locker rooms before heading back to start her day. She knew she couldn't keep this up, but for now it was working for her. It was Friday though and she knew that she was going to have to figure something else out for the weekend. Maybe the Leaky Caldron.

Draco had left the day after he had found her in the hotel room, and like Finn she hadn't heard from him either. This unsettled her, well Helena at any rate. She had been working on the visa's his employees were going to need when work started in the London office's in a few weeks' time. It had been decided that each member of staff would be given a personal port key that would allow them to travel from New York to London on daily basis. It would be asking to much for all his employees to move, and England didn't have enough potion brewers as it was. For now, this would be the best solution. Over seeing all of this and working closely with Magical Transportation department was no easy task. Not to mention all the other things Kingsley and Percy had her working on, it kept her busy though, and being busy was what she needed to keep her mind off her dismal personal life at the moment.

"Hermione, Hogwarts wants to know when you will be heading there to make the arrangements for the gala?" it was Percy, he had stuck his head around her office door.

"See if they have time to meet with me over the weekend." She said not looking up from the paperwork that was sitting in front of her.

"I am not your secretary Granger." Percy said in a clipped tone.

"Yeah well, I should be sitting in an office in New York right now, but I am not. I am here dealing with things that should have been dealt with weeks ago." She said in a tone that matched his own.

"I'll ask." He said before leaving her to her bad mood. If she went up the school, she could stay at the Three Broom Stick's she thought once he was gone.

By noon she had gotten word that a meeting for tomorrow morning had been set to go over plans for the gala. She thanked her assistant before sending her on her way but not before asking if she could run down to the canteen to grab her a sandwich. Ideal minds meant dwelling on the things one couldn't change she reminded herself.

It wasn't till six when Harry walked into her office did she look up from the work in front of her. "Ok, we have given you the week." He said when he took the chair in front of her desk.

"Harry I am fine." She said in a tone that would fool no one.

"You are not fine, so I don't know why you a pretending to be."

"It's just a break-up, it isn't the first one and I am sure it won't be the last."

"It is ok to not be ok. You do know, that right? You really liked this guy, it's ok to be upset that it is over."

"I just can't get the look on his face out of my head." Hermione said rubbing her eyes as if it would make the image go away somehow. "I hurt him, I lied to him Harry."

"Why even do it in the first place." Ginny had asked her the same thing when they had talked the night before. "Aren't they friends?"

"I don't know, I just felt like somehow my friendship with Draco was like I was cheating on Finn, I know it sounds ridiculous."

"Do you like him? Draco I mean."

"What no of course not. We became friends, it was nice to have someone from back home, even if it was Malfoy."

"Hermione," he gave her one of those looks as if say he didn't believe her. "With everything from the past you can honestly say that you have no feelings for him outside of friendship."

"It's complicated Harry. Yes we are entangled in this stupid curse, but that isn't us who we are now. Besides I turned Helena off months ago before we started to get to know each other. They have nothing to do with this." She didn't mention that Helena had been keeping her company in her head for the last week, he didn't need to know that.

"I think they have everything to do with this. You are afraid for anyone to find out just how connected you are to him. And I think the fact that Finn knows the legend of the two of you, you are even more afraid. How can you let someone in if they don't know the whole picture, if you don't let me know all of you." He gave her a sad smile, he more than anyone knew what it was like to be caught up in something so much bigger than just yourself.

"You are right."

"Have you talked to either of them this week?"

"No, I don't think Finn ever wants to talk to me again and I think Draco is trying to give me space."

"Maybe you should try calling Finn."

"I don't think that is a good idea."

"Aside from all of your personal issues, you two will be presenting the Auror Army in a few weeks at the Conference. Don't you think that maybe you should be on the same page with that?"

"Kingsley told me today that he and Emily would take care of the presentation to the Confederation when he came in this morning to tell me that my things from New York would be arriving on Monday."

"Do you think he knows?"

"Knows that we had a personal relationship, maybe but if he does he didn't let on. He said that we had done some great work on getting it this far, but they would take over to get to the finish line. We would get credit if it is passed of course for our hard work, but we won't be privy to the goings on of the conference."

"Typical." Harry said with a frown. "Are you heading up to Hogsmead tonight? I heard Percy talking about the meeting set for Hogwarts in the morning."

"That's the plan, I still have a little work I am trying to get done here before I go."

"Hermione, I think you should call it a night. It will all be here waiting for you on Monday. You had a long week."

"I won't be much longer I promise. Why don't you and Ginny come up dinner tomorrow."

"I know you have been sleeping in your office all week." All she could do was look guilty, there was nothing she could say. She had hoped she had hide it better than she obviously did but it is what it is. "I won't ask you why, or why you wouldn't just come stay with us, but working yourself to the bone won't make it all go away. You still have to deal with it, hiding away in a hotel room and bearing yourself in work isn't going to work. You have to feel the pain for it to start to heal."

"When did you become so wise Mr. Potter?" she said with a sad smile.

"Not really sure." He wore a half smile as he stood and headed for the door. "Ginny and I will be there for dinner. Just let us know what time." He said before walking out.

Hermione looked around the office and sighed, he was right. She was going to have to feel it all before she could think about healing. Even the thought of it made her heart hurt as she started to gather her things, knowing Harry would send one of the guards in after her if she didn't leave now, she started gathering the things she was going to need for tomorrow before heading out for the weekend.

Escaping London seemed to help as she checked herself in at the three broom sticks and got settled for the night. Being back here so close to the school brought back some of the memories from when Helena first appeared in her waking conscious. She had been terrified in those days, the threat of war loomed closer with each passing day. It had taken her a few weeks, but she had figured out Draco was Henry and it made her heart hurt. The boy who loved to torment her was gone but was replaced with someone she didn't recognize, and it scared her, Harry was obsessed with figuring out what he was up too convinced that he had become a death eater. It would turn out that he was right of course in the end. All of this though had made her decision easier, she knew that even when Henry awoke in Draco it wouldn't change anything not really, maybe it would change the way he felt about her, but it wouldn't change the positions they had both been put in. It was classic catch twenty-two, they were damned if they did and damned if they didn't.

She had broken her own heart that day though, when she had sent him away. He was lost and he needed someone to lead him back to the light, and she could have been that person for him, but she wouldn't allow it of herself. At the time the person he was didn't deserve it, and she couldn't afford to allow herself to do it, a part of her may have loved him then but she had to put distance between them or they would be stuck where they had always been, limbo.

She thought about what Harry had asked, why she had kept it from Finn, her budding friendship with Draco, she had known all a long it was silly to do so. There was something about this version of him though that had drawn her in, she knew the moment she saw him that day outside of Emily's office. This Draco was worthy of her, this Draco could make her fall in love with him, outside of who they were as Helena and Henry. That's scared her, because if she allowed herself to do so, she would never be able to stay away. But even with all her careful planning she had fallen for the blonde. It was way she couldn't be honest with Finn, why she couldn't be honest with herself. This time she couldn't blame Henry or Helena for it, she had cut that connection off, no she Hermione Granger had started to fall for the boy who haunted her childhood. She wanted so badly for it work with Finn, he was great they had no history, they could start fresh with a clean slate. While she sat there, and mulled over the things she hadn't allowed herself to think of all week she realized that the pain she felt wasn't because Finn had left, but because she realized somewhere deep down, she would never be able to make it work with Finn or with anyone else for that matter was because it had always been Draco, in every life. It would always be just him and she had pushed him away finally and she wasn't sure she would be able to get him back.

He had fallen in love with Emily after all, which was something she had never been able to do. Sure, she liked Finn a lot. She liked the way he made her feel, the idea of him was what had drawn her to him, but she didn't love him and she didn't think that given all the time in the world she would ever be able to say that she loved him. Finally admitting all of this to herself she allowed the pain to overtake her as she fell into a fitful sleep.