A/N: So like if y'all could tell me what you thought of my attempt at some fluff was, that would be great because I was unsure if I was able to get my vision across. Regardless, thank you all so much for reading! I hope things are improving in your communities!


Lucius sighed, looking up from the journal he had been documenting his life in and looked at Narcissa. She was sitting on the other side of his study's desk, glaring at him until he acknowledged that she was wanting to talk to him. When Hermione got home from their outing, he did not bother trying to explain himself and gave Narcissa a few days to come to him. "Why don't you trust me?"

"I trust you, I'm just upset with you. She doesn't want to see Andromeda anymore, and she helped Hermione a lot! I don't want to force Hermione to continue her sessions, but I don't want her to get worse again."

Lucius closed his journal, giving Narcissa his full, undivided attention. "Andromeda wasn't the only thing helping her. She's grown and I felt like she could handle the truth now, rather than wait and let it be worse later. She would resent everyone but Draco, when you and Andromeda saw it fit to finally tell her about the dietitian office." He rattled off his reasoning in a neutral tone. He had became stressed with the upcoming gala, as true to Narcissa's word, people started canceling their services, which left him low on energy.

"Dentist office." Narcissa threw her hands up, but let them fall again. She was completely exasperated with him, not for him messing up the name of the late Granger's careers, but for knowing that Lucius had a point with Hermione being resentful.

" I wouldn't have done it if I felt she couldn't handle it." That got him a scathing look from Narcissa, but she remained quiet- a silent request for him to elaborate his point. "You and I both read people, Cissy. We read them in different ways of course, but I regularly practice picking out one's strength and weaknesses. In business, I use it against my partners leaving them with nothing to use against me in the event things do not work out." Lucius rested his chin on the hand that was holding the white peacock quill. "Visiting the house and the business is providing her with a bit of closure that she will need to finish dealing with on her own. She's bull headed, and needs to go for the kill in one shot- in a manner of speaking," Lucius added when Narcissa gave him a astonished look at his phrasing. "But she'll only do it after she's done her research and feels ready." Or her hand is forced he thought to himself as Severus' face flashed in his mind, but didn't mention it as Narcissa was not going to budge on her stance. Like, Hermione, Lucius preferred to handle things in one go himself, but was experienced enough to know that things did not often work out that way. "Did I tell you that she nearly threatened me again? Her mind was made up to go. She handled it well enough. She was more upset at the muggle who sold it than anything else."

"That doesn't mean that was what was best for her." Narcissa took a deep breath, but said nothing more. Lucius knew that he had one his wife over temporarily, but did not gloat as he opened up his journal again. He recognized that she was stressed about Hermione, but was in fact trusting him to possible be right about the muggleborn's behavior. "Why do you think Fudge did it? Obliviate her I mean?"

Lucius stopped writing again. "Something personal had to have happened. There's no reason for a Minister to have gotten involved with an international murder case all because one of his citizens was involved. Not to mention he doesn't have a spine- I'd be surprised if he did the charm himself." Lucius had said this all in a matter of fact tone before continuing his writing. It was a conclusion he had decided on long ago and knew that there wasn't anything they could do for Hermione's memories that wouldn't be pleasant. While the spell wasn't strong enough to do permanent damage, like give Hermione short-term memory loss, Andromeda said that it was still too strong for even her to undo it safely. "How has everything been at the Ministry?"

Narcissa took a deep breath before her hands went into fists. "Well enough. Fudge has started to talk about the gala without me having to bring it up so I have no doubts he holds a big enough grudge to get in the way of a good time. However, he insists on bringing that cow Rita Skeeter."

Lucius made a sound somewhere between a curse and a grunt. "I'll have to tend to the wards then. I don't want her to crawl into any places she shouldn't be."

"And," Narcissa stood up and crossed to Lucius' side of the desk, leaning against the drawers in his dark desk. "He has another request."

Lucius leaned back into his chair and looked at his wife. He knew whatever she had to say wasn't horrific, or else she would have started the conversation with it, but her change in stance meant he wouldn't be pleased about it regardless. "What is it?"

"I've already contacted the designer, he has to come by to get Hermione's and Draco's measurements anyways."

Lucius smiled when he got what Narcissa meant, he was in such disbelief. "He said I needed to change my costume?" Lucius could laugh if he wasn't annoyed with how short notice it was.

"He said he would make a better Zeus." Narcissa pursed her lips, thinking back to the conversation. 'Hate' was too kind of a word to describe what she felt for Fudge.

"How petty. To tell the host he needs to change his outfit and to have the hostess be the one to say something." Lucius narrowed his eyes bitterly. "And Skeeter is supposed to make a better Hera than you?" He scoffed. Narcissa was more than just his queen for one night and every day he lived he made sure of it as she had always done for him.

Narcissa gave him a humorless smile. "Oh no, he said that I don't need to change."

Lucius threw his quill down at that and it snapped from how the ends of the feathers weighed it down on one end. "So rumors can start that he also has you for a mistress? Absolutely not-"

"Which is why I paid the designer to clear her schedule for the next few days so he can redesign both of our costumes." Narcissa tucked a piece of hair behind Lucius' ear. "Although we could have just kept the same outfits and add different accessories or-"

Lucius put a hand on his wife's lap, completely thankful to have her around. "What good is money if we can't spend it? And you'll send Senor Sirianno into an early grave if he hears you think you can just change the smallest things on anything he has put together to give it a new name." Narcissa laughed and placed a warm hand on to the hand Lucius had on her thigh. He brought her hand up to his lips and gave it a peck before resting his cheek on to it. "I wish I could just kill him."

Narcissa rubbed her thumb that was against his jawline. "I know, but we'll never get away with it. Not in the near future anyway."

"Not in the near future." He echoed. When he spoke again, his voice was filled with an old venom that she hardly heard in his voice anymore. "But in the mean time I'll make him pay for the derisive, impertinent behavior he's shown to all of us."

Narcissa smiled like a school girl being asked on a date by her school crush. The grin was accompanied by a fluttering in her chest, knowing that Lucius had included Fudge's offenses against Hermione into his vow.

Narcissa couldn't of imagined ever marrying anyone else.


Hermione walked from her suite, to Draco's bedroom on the following Saturday. She had been avoiding seeing everyone outside of meal times as much as she could since she found out that Dr. Dixon had sold the dentistry. She thought back to the times she and her parents had spent with Dr. Dixon; Hermione would run tiny errands around the office for them during the school holidays when she did not have a babysitter. She thought of the times he had come over for dinner several times each month, and when they went to sporting events together. He had even been to several of her concerts and performances! Not once did Hermione think to become suspicious or question his understanding of the business.

Because of this, Hermione had holed herself in her room with the emotions that felt as if they would crush her petite body if she tried to move. While she was cross with Dr. Augsen for trying to hide the truth from her, she had started to take the therapist's suggestion even more seriously and practice clearing her mind. Something she could successfully manage only when playing her cello.

Hermione rapped her knuckles on Draco's door once, twice, then waited. She heard Draco's owl hoot, but didn't hear any other sounds. "Draco? Are you in there?" When she got no response, she gently cracked open the door and peeked inside, listening for the sound of water running to indicate if he was in the bathroom or not. Still not hearing anything, Hermione decided to do the rude thing and step inside. She walked to the bathroom but the light was off and the door was wide open with no one inside.

She looked around the room, nothing appeared to be different from the last time she was there except from the books by his bedside. Biting her lip, she glanced at the open door to his bedroom before tip toeing and reading the spine off of the titles. The Triwizard Tournaments - Was it Worth it?, Flying with the Canons, and Potion's Making - Grade four. Hermione's nose crinkled at the selection, but smiled that he seemed to take his studies seriously when compared to Harry and Ron. Hermione had almost finished reading the last book in the Malfoy library that had referenced ghosts. There were only two books and she came to the conclusion that if her parents were able to turn into ghosts, they would have returned already. It hurt to have her hope die by it helped he become more at ease. Hermione picked up the Triwizard tournament book as she was intrigued by a piece of history she hadn't heard of yet. She flipped it open to where Draco had placed a piece of parchment as a bookmark in the text. She tried not to look at it, but she caught Pansy's signature at the bottom. How Draco was to Ron was Pansy to Hermione. Hermione tried not to hate any of her follow students, but Pansy was the only one who made that hard. Once she caught sight of the signature, she didn't bother to continue to be polite.

Hermione couldn't even get halfway through it before stopping from how annoyed she grew. She felt like she could hear Pansy's wining and couldn't bear to finish. So what if Pansy wasn't allowed to pick who she wanted to dress up as for the gala. So what if she couldn't match whatever Draco said he would be. Hermione herself ended up picking the first thing that came to mind when Narcissa asked as she received the letter on one of her 'bad' days. Persephone had been chittering by her side when Hermione received the letter and it back with the owl's name. Dr. Augsen had been concerned about the choice, as Persephone had a reputation for being one of the more feared goddesses but Hermione pointed out that Kore was innocent in comparison to most of the Gods in Greek mythology.

Hermione flipped to the front of the book to find out what the Triwizard tournament was. She was roughly three pages in, forgetting that she was not in her own room when she was interrupted by an agitated Draco.

"What are you doing with my things?"

Hermione looked up to see him striding over to where sat on the end of his bed. "I was-" He snatched the book out of her hands and she pulled her hands back. "I came to look for you and didn't see you. I-"

"Well, I wasn't in a book!" Draco put the book on top of the rest of the ones he had on his bed side table. He had already been irate when he found the 'note' that Blaise had left in his coin purse and had sent a reply on what he would do to the Italian when he arrived for the gala. Finding Hermione with the one book that had another letter he had in it, had caused him to grow even more upset.

Her mouth gaped open like a fish before she decided to shut it and stood. "Nothing." She fled the room instead of arguing back. Hermione knew she may have been rude, but hardly thought she deserved to be yelled at the way she had.

Draco sat on his bed and picked up the Triwizard Tournament book wanting to pick up where he left off. Immediately, he eyed the letter Pansy sent and studied it before putting it back in his book, deeming Hermione hadn't seen it. The letter meant nothing to him of course, it just happened to be the first thing he had around him without getting up to get a legitimate bookmark.

Draco sighed knowing he needed to apologize to Hermione for over reacting. It wasn't her who put the letter with his galleons and she wasn't looking through his things like he initially thought. Draco walked to his door and back again several times. He would start walking to the door, fully intending to face her and apologize, but would get cold feet and turn around when a doubt convinced him to recede back into his room. It was an argument he knew would never end until he made amends so after building enough frustration at his lack of action, he made it out of his bedroom and into the hallway.

Even has he walked, doubts still teased him about what he was facing. She'll be mad. I would be, too. She may just yell at you instead. Reckon, that'd be fair though. His thoughts continued in that fashion until he was outside of her suite. Draco reached to turn the knob, but stopped himself, thinking that would for sure have her scold him. He knocked, but heard nothing. He then turned the door knob and could hear the muffled sound of the cello coming from her room and he knew that Hermione had not heard him knock.

He found himself in the same position he had been in over the last few days. Draco had wanted to approach her, show her what he did with the flowers and ask her to spend the days with him as he had already grown bored since coming back from Hogwarts, but the sound of a solemn cello had always stopped him cold in his tracks. Not only was he bored, but he partially wanted to try and one up Harry and Ron with the flowers and hardly thought interrupting her was appropriate to validate his ego. He decided that if Hermione wanted to be bothered, she wouldn't of had been a recluse in her own room.

Which was probably why she was in my room. He thought glumly. At the thought, he plucked up the courage to knock. He raised his arm to the door, but before he could make a sound, there was a faint snapping sound and Hermione exclaiming in pain. "Ow!" Draco opened the door to see Hermione gripping the instrument's bow in one hand while her other hand was in a fist that was starting to drip blood. "Oh, bugger!"

"Are you all right?" Draco opened the door wide and took a step inside. He was automatically greeted by a glare, which he returned with a guilty look. He was genuinely sorry for acting how he did, even if somewhat justified, but made sure he turned his charm on when looking guilty so Hermione wouldn't be inclined to be terribly harsh on him. Draco knew confrontation was inevitable, but he hated dealing with negative consequences even more.

Hermione decided to ignore his question. "I'll have you know I had the decency to knock before going in your room." She placed the bow on to her desk to use her free hand so she could pick up the cello and place it on the bed. She got up and entered her bathroom to run water over her wounded hand. Draco took a few steps forward to follow her and glanced at the cello on the bed. One string had snapped while she was playing, making it clear why she had blood all over her hand. The metal would have sliced through butter like a hot knife with the force it had behind it. She had just placed a towel after running cold water over her fingers when he stopped in the doorway. "What do you want?"

He placed a hand on on the door frame and drummed it nervously considering his word choice. "I wanted to show you something."

She looked up at him before removing the hand towel to show that the blood flow was not slowing. She wanted to scream in her frustration, but screaming would not stop the bleeding and only make her look completely barmy. "You don't get to yell at me, barge into my room then act like nothing happened. I know you won't apologize so the least you can do for me right now is to just leave me alone."

Draco had let her have the first few jabs at him for free, but refused to tolerate it any longer as his agitation came back. "And you don't get the right to go into my room when you knew I was not in there and look through my things." He said this as he slowly approached her, giving a hard stare that had her look back down at her hand. "Let me see." His voice dropped his cold tone, but was still demanding.

"No, I just need to keep pressure on it."

"Hermione, for once don't be stubborn." He grabbed her wrist in a firm, but gentle way so he would not hurt her further and pulled the towel from her grip. Careful not to touch her blood- blood, not mud like he had imagined in his younger years- on the towel, he used the clean parts of it to straighten her wounded fingers. The laceration was as deep as he thought it would be across three of her fingers. "I'll be back, run cold water on it."

He walked away, not bothering to see if she would listen to his instruction. He walked back to his own room and retrieved his homemade first aid kit to bring back to her bathroom. When he got back, his anger started to dim when he saw she had her hand under the cold water. He grabbed a clean hand towel and shut off her water supply after opening up the kit. Inside he had everything he needed to fix up the wounds Lucius would leave on him or Crewe.

Bringing her hand closer to him, Draco could see some of the bleeding had stemmed, but he knew he needed work fast to prevent a mess. He quickly applied the sanitizer over the wound with a square pad. Hermione didn't show any signs it stung like he expected her to and quickly applied the healing gel for open wounds before he wrapped the padded gauze around the lower parts of her fingers.

Hermione watched his concentrated face closely as he worked, once again being reminded how short she was. As Draco took care of her, she felt her anger give way to another set of emotions. She was amazed by how precise he was while remaining tender and efficient, but instead she was watching his face. His eyebrows were slightly pulled together to create several tiny creases between them, she was able to see the streaks of green in his eyes again but the shadow that crossed his face was too dark for her to see the blue. His features are as sharp as they were in first year, but he seemed to be growing into them. The high cheekbones no longer looked feminine like they were still on a prepubescent boy, and his chin no longer awkwardly jutted forward. Instead, she was reminded of a model in one of the dentist ads at her parents office; his skin was perfect, eyelashes were so long that she knew Parvati would throw a fit over them and his sharp features, from his nose to his jawline, belonged on a Greek statue. "Is that too tight? Flex your fingers a little."

Hermione blinked several times at where her thought process had gone and suddenly felt too close to Draco. She wiggled the her fingers to test that the gauze would not restrict her blood flow. She made a tiny noise in the back of her throat at the pain of the cuts, but her fingers were comfortable otherwise. "It's fine." The pain brought her from the thoughts of his looks to how he kept helping her and she suddenly felt helpless.

He secured the double sided spello tape to the last bit of gauze he wrapped around her wrist. "There." Satisfied, he looked from her hand to her face. Hermione's jaw was clenched and she looked like she was fighting off tears. He was confused and grabbed her wrist, preparing to rip of the tape he had just secured. "You said it wasn't tight."

She withdrew her hand from his grasp before he could undo what he had done. "It's not my hand... I feel like I can hardly take care of myself. You keep taking care of me- saved my life even. And I-" Her voice warbled and she stopped speaking so she wouldn't cry. "I just feel dependent and incapable-."

She looked miserable and the last thing Draco wanted her to do at that moment was cry. "Hermione Granger is a lot of things, but she is not incapable." Draco made a show of stepping back and putting a hand on his chin. He slowly walked around her as if he was appraising a race horse. "No, no, a little worse for wear, but very much capable to live up to her name."

Hermione smiled and shook her head, not being able to resist his attempts at lightening up the mood. "Have you always been this much of a goof?" Her stomach turned as she still felt fragile, but she followed his lead on distracting her.

"Only when someone's in need of a laugh." He placed his hands on his hips as he gave her a cheeky grin. Draco chose not to point out that he was the one who often needed a laugh and gave her a wink.

"Ah," Hermione gave him a knowing look as she placed her hands on her hips, mocking his playful air. "So you're Salazar Slytherin's village idiot. I've been mistaken then." She waved a hand as if to dismiss him and exited the bathroom, walking back to her bed.

"Oh, you don't want to know where I stand in my house- Reckon it'll give you nightmares." With several long strides he was by her side again, where he gave her a playful poke in her back before they both looked down at the cello.

Hermione ran her fingers over the now empty space where the D string was. She looked at the time and saw that Dr. Augsen would have been arriving by now, if Hermione hadn't asked Narcissa to cancel the appointment. Narcissa wasn't happy about it, but obliged. "What was the thing you wanted to show me?"

"You're not going to restring it now?" Draco himself was the type of person to tie up loose ends as soon as possible if he could help it. Something that both his mother and father made sure was drilled into him. "Can't be terribly hard. Have you ever restrung a piano?" Draco slipped back into his opinionated attitude he often reserved for Hogwarts.

Hermione, whose reaction was to go on the defensive, placed her hands on her hips. "Have you?"

He looked back at her when he heard her waspish tone and sneered. "Relax, I didn't mean anything by it."

Hermione didn't miss he hadn't answered her question, but decided not to press him on it to keep things between them peaceful. "It's not hard, but it's annoying. It'd be best if I waited till I healed- I'm bound to be even more frustrated if I tried to do it now." She picked up the cello and walked into her closet where she placed the cello in its case.

Draco waited for her to come back before speaking again. "It's out in the garden. You'll probably want to change out of your night gown."

Hermione looked down at her pink nightdress. "Right." Narcissa had taken the liberty over the school year it seemed to add to Hermione's closet. Her closet was now filled with dresses, skirts and blouses on one side that all looked more than worth its weight in galleons. Hermione was hesitant to wear anything that she had not owned previously, but when she tried to wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that Narcissa relocated to the opposite end of the closet, she found them to be too small. It struck Hermione as odd as the muggle clothes she brought to Hogwarts still fit her- albeit slightly tighter than it had in the beginning of the academic year. "Will we have to go through the maze by any chance? That's actually why I was looking for you earlier, I was hoping you could teach me how to get through it."

Draco gave her a small smirk. "You really need to get out of the house more, Hermy."

Draco barely had time to duck and run out of the room as she immediately sent an unlaced trainer flying at him. "Village idiot!" She could hear him laughing in the suite and she couldn't help but join in herself.


Hermione could see why Draco had said she needed to get out of the manor more as soon as she stepped outside. Her mouth dropped as she looked around the inner garden that had formerly been sectioned off from the outer garden by the maze. "What happened to the maze? And the creatures?"

Draco pointed to the hedges bordering the new path connecting the two gardens. "They're behind the horticulture. The maze was split in half so there are creatures on each side to make a proper path to the outer gardens. It took mother and father an entire week to rearrange everything."

Hermione continued to look horrified as she walked forward to check the hedges for any sign of what Draco was saying. As with any magic that was done properly, there wasn't even a shimmer of a glamour. "Do the creatures still have enough space at least?"

"Yes. Father and Crewe are still tending to their needs, even more so that some of them are sentient enough to be stressed about the move- even if they can't tell the difference on the inside." Draco felt his stomach flip that Hermione seemed to care about animals and creatures almost as much as he did.

Hermione bit her lip before lightly touching the foliage in front of her. "You've already asked these questions then?"

Draco thought back to his talk with Lucius in his study a few nights ago. It was odd to be in his father's study and not have a finger laid on him. He only considered himself that lucky a handful of times and the context of the conversation this last visit had made the event even more strange. If Draco was not so intact with the wards that he could identify the different magical signatures of the manor's residents, he would have thought his father had been polyjuiced. "Yes." He joined her side looking at the edge of the hedge. Draco knew he couldn't see inside due to the magic being too thick for anyone to see through. Even if someone were to stick their hands a few inches into the foliage they would meet a magical barrier that probably had a hex ready for any intruder- or escapee- who didn't immediately pull away. "When I become the head of the house and everything is officially under my name, I'll free them all. They don't deserve to be away from their homes. I imagine it'll take some time as some creatures won't know how to survive in the wild anymore, but it'd be worth it." It was the first time he admitted this to anyone, so he had been looking at the greenery, and assumed Hermione had been doing the same. He was surprised to see her looking up at him with a look of wonder on her face. "What?"

She blinked several times and gave a shy smile. Hermione thought about what to say before deciding to be honest about what was on her mind. "I never guessed you had this side to you is all. I'm happy we're friends. Grateful, even." Draco felt a smile grow across his face without him even trying. Hermione found the smile to be endearing and immediately flushed, appalled to think such a thing. She walked towards where the fruit trees were with her hands on her face, to try and hide her blush from him.

He jogged to her side, but she refused to look at him and draw more attention to her face. "Excuse me, but did the Gryffindor Princess just say that I was worthy to be in her presence?"

Hermione gave a sly smile as she looked at him from the corner of her eye, slightly withdrawing her hands. "Don't let it go to your head. There's not many people I can rename as village idiot if we become too good of friends."

Draco dramatically put both hands to his chest. "I'm hurt you think so low of me, your majesty."

She turned to look at him head on, removing her hands entirely as she grinned at his antics. "I never said that, now." They reached the end of the maze and were in the outer gardens. To her left she could see the stone walls of the owlery, and the area in front of them resembled a large prairie where the grass hardly reached the tops of her trainers. She briefly remembered hearing Lucius mention during one of their dinners that the gala would be hosted outside and wondered if the Weasleys had changed their minds about coming. "Where is this thing you wanted to show me?"

"This way." He started walking off to the right and she followed. The grass grew taller as they passed the trees that circled the opening, but only by a few inches. They walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached three greenhouses. Each one as identical as the next, all as big as the Hogwarts ones that were made to house twenty students. "What have you been doing to your hair?"

Hermione touched both hands gingerly to the top of her head. It didn't feel as frizzy as usual, but she wanted to make sure she wasn't putting the extra effort into her hair if she didn't need to. "I asked Narcissa for help with my hair and she gave me a new shampoo and conditioner. I suppose it would make sense that wizards should use products made for wizard hair." Narcissa also provided potions to add to her hair, but Hermione was to hesitant to try any of them out yet, her hair already feeling a tad heavier underneath the new concoctions. "I'm not sure if it's working."

Draco glanced back at her before opening the door to the first greenhouse. "It is."

When the door was fully opened, they were completely hit with the humid air laced thick with the earthy smells of the plants inside. Hermione quickly shuffled in and started looking at the shelves of plants. There were all kinds in front of her; Dittany, Jumping Beans, Mimbulus Mimbletonia, Moly and the shelf went on. Hermione crossed the room to the other wall, where there were 20 gallon tanks stacked from floor to ceiling that were growing aquaphilic plants. There was parchment in the top left corner of each tank labeling what was inside. Hermione briefly read off the first tank's list as she approached it... Filamentous Algae, Curly Pondweed, Gillyweed and Hydrilla.

Hermione had never given a second thought to how much money the Malfoy's had other than when Draco had shown her the library, but she was fully processing what 'wealthy' and 'Top Ten Percent of Wizard families in the World' meant. "This is insane. Was this also something Narcissa added?"

Draco, who had been watching her between the vines of a Peperomia Hope plant hanging from the ceiling. He parted the vines with one hand as he spoke. "She did. Too much of a bother to go out and-" mingle with the riff-raff. He remembered his mother stating when he asked about the greenhouses himself as a child. He caught himself, knowing Hermione wouldn't of had liked that and had let the vines fall back into place. "Go to the apothecary every time she needed something. Mother happens to like potions a lot and goes through quite a few ingredients in a month's time." He amended before continuing. "And a few cauldrons." Draco thought back to two summers ago where Narcissa had been brewing a particularly nasty potion but the cauldron bottom seemed to melt away due to the potion and the heat. She was livid and a week later, Lucius had found a way to cut off the companies main material supplies until the CEO personally came by the manor to give a proper apology, along with a few of their best, wand-made cauldrons.

Hermione accepted the answer, nodding at the tables, tanks and shelves in front of her. "Your favorite subject is potions too, isn't it?"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, but in a playful manner. He started to make his way towards the back of the green house on the side they entered in from and she followed on the opposite side. "What makes you think that?" He was excited to hear how her thought process worked as he had always seemed to take a unique point of view when tackling tasks at Hogwarts. He listened with his head low as he walked, keeping his face neutral as to not react to her observations.

"You're much more disruptive in potions than in any other class which means you don't need to focus as hard. Of course this could be attributed to Snape being your Head of House so naturally he would favor the Slytherin's over anyone else." She paused to see if he would say anything to confirm or deny the thought, but he remained silent so she continued. "But I personally think he takes the subject too seriously to allow anyone to slide, so you must do well with it. Then there's the fact that I've noticed you've had two different potions books at your bed side table now. Narcissa's interest in potions could have definitely helped grow your own interest, too, as my father did with music." They had reached the back of the greenhouse and she looked like she had something else to say but didn't want to say it.

Draco, who was in slight wonderment already, encouraged her. "Go on, I want to hear it all." Hermione glanced at him then looked away, raising her bandaged hand to run over her hair.

"We can't do magic with our wands until we turn seventeen, and there are a lot of healing salves and balms you can make from brewing- which you had in your first aid kit."

Draco tilted his chin up, understanding why she had been hesitant to say anything. It was always a rough subject to even think about, but he didn't get upset she brought up his abuse since he asked her to explain her thoughts. "Well, you're right. About all of it. How do you do that?" He stopped in front of a table that had several pint sized pots of dirt in it that had a plastic cover over them.

Hermione bashfully shrugged one shoulder. "I just pay attention. It also helps not to be a social butterfly like some people," she bumped her shoulder into his lightly, testing the waters on how far she could tease. "You see a lot more things that way." Or when you're forgotten about. Hermione didn't say when she thought about Harry and Ron. It was then that she realized she may have started to fancy Ron as more of a friend after she recovered second year, but that was quickly changed with his actions over Christmas break.

An odd thought had hit him then and it made Draco's hands shake as he was thinking something that his father would beat him bloody for. Why hate muggleborns if they're just like us? And we like them? The thought had him throw up more occulemncy walls as he looked her over. They dress differently, he thought as he eyed an outfit he had seen her wear in the halls of Hogwarts. They use different devices and weapons, he thought about the gun Hermione had shown him. But... They're sentient, intelligent, and I have yet to meet a more capable witch my age.

"Draco?" Hermione snapped her fingers several times in front of his face seeing the dark look consume his features. He jumped back and her bemused look faded seeing his reaction. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine. Just thought of something I need to address later." It was a lie, but he picked up the first pot and held it between them to his shaking along with change the subject. "I have decided to try and add to mum's flower field." He held the pot out to Hermione who took it and brought it close to her face. She thought she could make out what it was but it was hard to tell.

"Is it a stem? I don't see a bud or anything." She looked at Draco to see him pick up another pot and hold it out to her where she saw the same thing.

"They are." He took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn't be mad at what he did. "You left the bouquet on the floor in Muggle London. I thought that I could try to have the flowers regrow their roots. I know the rose," He nodded his chin towards the pot she was holding, which had the largest stem in it. "Should do just fine as they're known to for it. I'm not so sure about the other flowers, although I'm sure a potion could help..." Draco let his voice trail off as she stared at him in shock. The silence caused him to panic and he placed the pot he was holding back on the table. "The idea was to section off a part of the garden to plant them in memory of your parents so you had something here to remember them with." Hermione hastily put down the pot and hugged Draco so hard from the side that his ribs hurt. "So you don't hate it?" He managed to ask though the tight grip.

"Hate it?" She stepped back and wiped the few tears that escaped from being so touched by his gesture. "The only thing I hate was that you were a total arse before when you're actually one of the most kind hearted people I've ever met. I can't believe you thought to do this." She placed a hand over her heart, trying to stop it from beating so wildly.

"I'm not a nice person." He straightened as he thought of the students at Hogwarts he was not sorry for bullying. "I just choose to be nice to you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and started ticking off her finger with every name she said. "And Blaise, and Theo, and Pansy-"

Draco made an unintelligent noise at the mention of Pansy. "Not Pansy. Put that finger back down." He waved a hand at hers. "She's much too annoying and the reason why Buckbeak was on trail."

Hermione gave Draco a look of disbelief. "Not Pansy? You're always with her."

"No, she's always with me." Draco shook his head and almost explained how most purebloods, like the Parkinsons, tried to force their children into marriage at a young age. Pansy happened to be one of the few families that Draco did not have a direct familial relationship to, and was still within the sacred twenty-eight. When she found this out, Pansy made it a personal mission to try and get Draco to fall for her, with her parents encouraging her with every attempt. Draco was grateful that Narcissa and Lucus did not put the same pressure on him as they trusted that he would never marry anyone who they found to be less than worthy of the Malfoy name- although they still had him study the family tree. "I'm just as bad to her as I am to Potty and Weasel."

Hermione crossed her arms as her eyebrows came together at the mention of her other friends. "I don't like it when you call them that."

Draco gave her a once over, and looked away. He didn't want to start an argument, but his pride told him not to back down, so he compromised: "Tell me, what do they call me when I'm not around? It must be worse than what they say to my face and I imagine you don't try to correct them either." Draco didn't look at her still, but he felt her release a deep breath.

Hermione knew he was right. As much as he wanted to argue, she couldn't so she clenched her jaw thinking about how to change the subject. She thought of Pansy's letter again, wondering why he kept it if Pansy really meant nothing to him. She watched him look at his nails for dirt as he continued to avoid eye contact with her. She finally decided after a couple of breaths to skirt around what she wanted to ask, without having to admit she had partially read the letter. "So what God are you going to dress up as?"

Draco looked up at her then, silently relieved that she didn't try to defend Harry and Ron. "Same one I named my owl after." He sounded bored with the idea of the gala and Hermione thought it made sense. While the Malfoy's may not have thrown many themselves, they were bound to be invited to many with they fact they were the muggle and wizard definition of upper-class. "You?"

"Same actually." Hermione straightened out the flower pots as they were crooked instead of in a perfect line like he had it before. "Well, what's your owl's name? You never told me."

Draco smiled mischievously. "Is that so?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, not trusting a smile she recognized too well. "I reckon I would have remembered it if I did. I know which ones are Zeus, Posideon, and Hera. Oh, and the scops owl is Hermes, but I don't know what yours is named."

"Oh, well, I guess you'll have to find out at the gala." He started to laugh when he say her face.

"That's not fair, I told you mine!" Hermione stomped her foot which made Draco laugh even harder.

"And?"

"You're being a git." Hermione huffed, and made her way back towards the exit.

"Aw, don't be like that!" He laughed as he followed. "Don't leave!"

"I have to." She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder, a mischievous smirk of her own gracing her lips. "Your parents will tell me if I ask nice enough, I'm sure."

Draco wasn't expecting that and broke into a run after her while trying to be careful not to hit anything. She shrieked and took off, nearly halfway to the maze by the time he was able to close and secure the door of the greenhouse.

Malfoy men don't chase after anyone or anything, Draco.

Draco barely hesitated as he took off after her again at full speed. Oh, shut up old man.


A/N: If anyone is curious about how to reroot roses, just google "How to reroot Roses." It's surprisingly an easy process? With the right products anyway...

InsideTheFridge: Thank you :DD

MotekElm: Thank you! T-T I always get so nervous when writing intense things.

Cali Dreamweaver: Oh my, I am so sorry, but I am glad to hear you were happy to win! I am sure you're absolutely beautiful though!

CharmedMistletoe: Thank you for your feedback, I enjoyed that part too lol