Chapter 22: The Talk

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And so, Monday's classes came and went. Hermione rushed through the Head of House meeting; there was nothing overly important for them all to talk about anyway, and then she and Draco walked to Harry and Ginny's room. She'd talked to Harry earlier and he'd agreed to get Ron to their room in preparation.

She and Ron had been on decent terms now for a few weeks, finding a comfort level talking in groups together, as well as making a point to walk up to each other for a conversation once a week or so. Try to gradually get to a point of not feeling uncomfortable around each other. It was clear to Hermione that Ron hoped they would retain their friendship as well, which is what made her want to be honest with him and give him the decency of a private conversation between friends, as opposed to catching him off guard with everyone else.

She and Draco paused outside Harry's door and he squeezed her hand reassuringly, "I love you and I'll be right here by your side. You've done nothing wrong."

She nodded, taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.

"Come in!" She heard Harry call.

She pushed the door open, walking in with Draco in tow.

"Hey, Hermione," Ron waved with a sheepish smile that fell immediately as he saw Draco behind her. He'd continued being cordial to Draco at Harry's request, but he certainly had no intention of hanging out with him, "I was just about to head off to bed," he said a bit rigidly.

"I actually need you to stay for a few minutes," Hermione said a little breathlessly as he looked at her with furrowed brows. He'd tried to politely excuse himself and assumed she knew why so he didn't understand why she was making it awkward for them all.

Draco closed the door behind them and came to stand next to Hermione, "Evening, Weasley," he said, trying his hardest to convey some kind of polite tone.

Ron looked over at Harry, who gave him his own uncomfortable smile.

"What's everyone on about tonight?" Ron turned back to Hermione.

"Well, there's something I — we — wanted to tell you," she said, willing herself to keep speaking and not to give herself a reason to pause, "So I'm just going to get right to it. Draco and I are dating. We wanted everything to be out in the open and I wanted to be the one to tell you."

Ron's mouth fell open as he gaped at her, processing her words in a similar way that Ginny had.

"We've been together since the holidays," Hermione continued, filling the silence, "I knew the timing of everything wasn't great so I tried to be respectful to you and keep it quiet for a little while. But now I need to be respectful to Draco and let everything be out in the open."

There was another bout of silence as they waited for his response.

"Have you gone mad?" His words were dangerously quiet as he found his voice, "Or is this some kind of joke?"

Draco took a step forward towards Ron, not at all a fan of being treated like he wasn't in the room, "It's most certainly not a joke, Weasley."

"I'm not talking to you," Ron said, looking back at Hermione, "How could you possibly go from me to Malfoy?"

"Ronald I told you if you didn't want to give him another chance that was your prerogative. But you know I did. I know him as a completely different person than you do. If you just give him a chance—"

"Are you fucking kidding me," Ron stood up, turning on Harry, "Why is no one else outraged by this?"

"She told me a month ago," Harry said calmly, "And Ginny last night."

"And everyone just thought it would be fun to gang up on me with it tonight?"

"We're not ganging up on you, Ron," Hermione kept her voice even and strong, "I wanted to be honest with you, but I expected your reaction wouldn't be a pleased one so I asked Harry and Ginny to be here with us so we can all talk rationally."

"I'm still trying to figure out how you think there's a rational conversation to be had," he said scathingly, looking at her like he didn't even know who she was anymore, "So did you leave me for him? Or were you already with him when we called off our engagement?"

"Neither Ronald. You and I both knew we weren't happy and that we weren't supposed to be together. Nothing happened between Draco and I until after we broke up."

He wasn't even listening to her, "I guess this explains why you started going to your Sunday meetings early and going on dates to the Three Broomsticks."

"We were leading the Dueling Club together and had Head of House duties. And we were friends."

"Funny how quickly that translated into something more once I was out of the picture."

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I didn't start developing feelings for Draco earlier because I did," she said as Ron snapped his mouth shut at the admittance, "But I didn't cheat on you, Ron. And I didn't leave you just because I had a crush. You and I weren't working. We weren't happy. We hadn't put effort into our relationship for years and it was a long time coming. Of course my feelings for Draco played a factor in making a decision when it came to you and I because that wouldn't have been fair to anyone if I didn't address it, but it was far from the only factor. So yes, once you and I were broken up, I took some time to think about what I needed to move on from our relationship and what I wanted in the future and another month later Draco and I talked and we acknowledged that we were feeling the same way. That's life. It's unexpected and unplanned, and sometimes it's messy. I did my best to put space between everything and not make any rash decisions but at the end of the day, it's just something that happened. I'm not sorry I fell for Draco because he's a wonderful person. And just because you and I broke up doesn't mean I don't care about you. You'll always be important to me and your friendship will too if we can move past this. You and I were always better as friends and we've both agreed about that."

Without knowing how to respond, Ron rounded on his sister, "And you're okay with this?" He asked incredulously, "You don't like Malfoy much more than I do. You've told me you think they're crazy for being friends with him."

Ginny glanced at Draco and then back at Ron, "No, Ron, I don't understand it and I've got plenty of personal issues to work through with Malfoy, but Hermione is my friend and she's happy and you both decided mutually to split, as I remember it. You even said you knew it was the right decision and should have happened a long time ago. So when it comes to her dating Malfoy, I'll do some internal thinking and I'll try to get to know him, and I'll see what happens."

Draco watched the girl as she talked. There was a fierceness in her words that told him she meant what she said. He could even appreciate that she wasn't sugarcoating it. He knew he'd been a prick and he deserved her distrust, but he also knew he could earn her trust if she gave him a chance. And he believed her when she said she would. She clearly was the kind of person who spoke her mind and didn't double back. She'd told Hermione she would support her, so she would.

Ron finally looked back at Hermione, "This is absolutely the most disrespectful thing you could have done after our breakup. Dating our enemy. The one who—"

"I know his past, Ron."

"Do you—"

"Weasley," Draco cut in and everyone turned to him, "I know I did some horrible things when we were younger. There is no amount of anger you can throw at me that would surmount how I feel about my own past. I'm sorry for everything my family and I caused you and your family. I can apologize as many times as you need. But I'd like us to move past this. I don't want to be the monster you think I am."

"It's not me you need to apologize to, Malfoy. It's Ginny, for what your father put her through with the chamber of secrets; it's Bill, for letting Greyback into the castle sixth year. It's Fred, for being on the side that murdered him."

Draco looked over at Ginny, whose eyes flashed with pain at the mention of Fred, "I'm sorry for what my father did to you. I had no idea he had any part in it at the time."

Ginny nodded but knew her issues weren't the priority right now, "You and I can have this conversation another time, Malfoy."

He looked back at Ron, "I had no idea Greyback would be coming into the castle that night. He wasn't supposed to be here and no one else was supposed to get hurt besides…"

"Dumbledore," Ron said viciously.

Draco paused as they stared at each other, he'd known this wasn't going to be an easy evening but this was his chance to finally put it all out there to the one person that didn't want to listen, "I have a lot more to explain on that case than what I'll say now, but yes. I would never have let Greyback in around my own friends. And I didn't want to kill Dumbledore. But I thought seeing my task through was the only way to protect my family. I lowered my wand when he said he could help us," Ron scoffed but Draco continued, "And Fred—" his own voice got a little tighter than he'd like, "I did apologize to Fred. At his funeral after everyone else left. I apologized for all of it. Everything I ever did or contributed to. I sat there for hours by myself until it got dark just talking to his tombstone. If anyone, Fred's heard it all, I just wish I could have said it sooner."

Ron stared at him, "Why in the world would you have gone to Fred's funeral?"

"For that reason exactly. I know we never got on, but I thought the twins were funny. Fred deserved to still be here and his life was taken unfairly. So I went; I stood at the back by the line of trees and I waited until I could go up and say my piece and it all just came out. So Weasley, I am sorry. More sorry than you'll ever understand or that I'll ever be able to convey to you. But I am sorry for all of it. And I'm sorry that I can't change what happened and that I couldn't have been the one to take Fred's place because believe me, in that moment I wanted to," his words hung heavily in the room as he tried to dial back all of self-loathing he'd felt in the months after the Battle of Hogwarts. He cleared his throat a little, "But I can change myself, and that's what I've been trying to do. Even more so with the support of Granger and Potter. Turns out being around people who want to see the best in you tends to pull it out."

Draco glanced over at Harry who was giving him some kind of encouraging, crooked smile. He and Hermione were really the only two friends besides Pansy and Blaise that he'd ever confided those feelings in and he'd never even told them about his talk with Fred. But he had to take down his walls if he had any hope of gaining people's trust. Not that he ever thought he'd really gain Ron's… but the best he could do was show him the unedited version of his side of the story. It didn't take away what he'd done, but maybe it humanized it even a little.

Ron was quiet, looking like he was still deciding where to take the fight from there as Hermione took a step forward to Draco and interlaced her fingers with his.

"You don't have to be enemies," she said softly, "We didn't come here to fight with you, Ron. I just wanted to be honest and we want to try and put everything in the past and coexist and hopefully retain a friendship eventually."

Ron turned towards Harry again, still not speaking.

"You'll always be my best mate, Ron, I'm here to talk on both sides. If you want to talk after they leave, we can talk all night. But I do hope we can all be friends together eventually also."

Ron, realizing he was on his own nodded slowly, "I need some time to myself right now," the words were tense, but more calm than earlier, "This is more than I was ready for."

"Ron—" Hermione started.

"I need to go," they locked eyes and she could tell he was hurt and angry. But he also must be conflicted, or else he'd still be yelling.

"Okay."

Ron looked around at them all again, pausing an extra beat on Draco, looking like he had more to say, but instead he walked to the door and took his leave.

As it closed behind him, Hermione and Harry caught each other's eyes sadly. They'd been best friends for so long. She hoped she hadn't just torn the three of them apart for good. But she loved Draco, which was something she was so positively sure of, that she knew she'd done the only thing she could. It was the right decision. She just had to hope Ron would come around. Or at least just not make a horrible scene in the morning.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Ginny broke the silence in the room.

Hermione let out a long breath, "Could have gone better, too."

"I'll go check in on him a little later," Harry said.

"You don't have to," Hermione shook her head, "We did what we needed to and he'll react how he's going to."

"I'm still going to. I think maybe he needs a little bit to sift through his thoughts on the matter and then I think it'll be good for him to have someone to talk it out with."

"Did you really go to Fred's funeral?" Ginny said to Draco, still breaking down what was said, herself.

Draco nodded, feeling a little awkward, "Yes, like I said, I felt I had to be there and apologize as it was someone you never should have lost. I'd never told anyone about it because I saw it as a very personal thing and it felt almost self-serving; like I thought perhaps it would lessen the guilt I felt if I apologized to someone. But if anyone should hear it, it's you all."

"That was bold of you," she said, looking deep in thought and Draco waited for her to elaborate, unsure if she was angry he'd gone, "We probably would have given you a lot of shit if we'd seen you there, but you went anyway. Thank you for apologizing to Fred. Wherever he is, I bet he'd have appreciated it. Self-serving or not, it was a bold thing to do."

Hermione watched as they shared a look of mutual respect and her lip pulled into a crooked smile as she looked at Draco, "I'm glad you shared that story with us," she said before turning to Ginny, "I'd never heard it before either. But I did see him at the funeral, so I know he was there. I just didn't feel it was my place to mention it."

"I think I should get off to bed," Draco said, ready to be with his own thoughts as well. He was glad he'd said what he'd wanted to, but it still wasn't easy for him to be vulnerable with those he didn't know so well, like the Weasleys.

"I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at seven tomorrow," Hermione reassured him, "Get some sleep."

He leaned down and kissed her softly, "You too," he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and tried to return her look before turning to the others with a final nod, "Thank you for being here to support us tonight."

He left the room and Hermione walked over to Ginny, hugging her tightly, "I'm going to head to my room as well, but thank you again."

"We told you we'd be here and we are," Ginny responded with a tight squeeze back.

She moved over to Harry who hugged her just as tightly, "Night Hermione."

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The next morning, Draco climbed each step to the Entrance Hall with his heart beating faster than normal in his chest. He had no idea what they were going to walk into this morning, but whatever it was, they'd walk into it together. As long as Hermione hadn't changed her mind. But of course she wouldn't, why would he even think that? Because it was his biggest fear at this point, that's why. He knew she loved him, but he was still so worried that she'd come to her senses and walk away from him when she realized what being with him meant. It meant stares from others. It meant defending past actions he didn't want to defend himself. It meant having to be in the same room as his parents eventually. It meant a lifetime of traversing the Wizarding World on the arm of a Malfoy. A part of him still couldn't imagine this relationship being worth all of those concessions for her.

But as he ascended the last step he lifted his head and saw her standing there amid a few lingering students; a smile on her face, and an endearing look in her eyes that told him she was ready for this to take the next step; she was ready to walk that road with him through the easy days and the difficult conversations. As he walked up to her she held out her hand to him. A gesture that meant more than he could describe.

"Good morning," she said casually, like this was the most normal day in the world.

"Good morning," he grinned back, taking her hand and squeezing it gently in his, his thumb brushing against hers, "Are you ready to head in?"

She nodded definitively, "I'm quite hungry this morning."

"Well I hope the breakfast selection is to your liking then," he quipped, leading the way to the open doors to the Great Hall, where the students and teachers were gathered, as always, before the day's classes.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, hope everyone is staying healthy and safe!