Chapter 19

Ten days in the hospital wing. Ten. Over the last two she'd picked fights with both Draco and Teddy just for something to do. In her defense, their combined hovering and coddling was stifling even if they did mean well, and she'd apologized profusely afterwards.

Neville and Luna had been to see her several times, but none of her other friends had made an appearance. So that's why, when she was finally, finally, being discharged just in time for the leaving feast, she was surprised that Harry showed up asking for her.

Draco and Teddy both bristled at the announcement of his appearance. And while Hermione felt sympathetic towards their defensive behavior, they also didn't get to dictate her friendships, so she ignored them, hoping to avoid an argument. "Let him in please, Madam Pomfrey. I'll talk to Harry and then we'll be out of your hair."

She made a mental note to speak to Aunt Cissa about arranging something special for the school Mediwitch. Ten days of healing was far outside of her usual purview, and she had never faltered in Hermione's care. And while her fierce guardianship during her auror interview had been unnecessary - Aunt Narcissa had never left her side - it had been much appreciated.

"What!?" Draco and Teddy screeched - predictably- in tandem.

"You can't!"

"Absolutely not!"

"No!" She held up one finger in both of their directions. "I appreciate your concern, but you don't get to tell me how to live my life. He is my friend and I want to talk to him. He means something to me and I don't want to spend all summer wondering what he has to say for himself. Please step outside."

She felt badly about how upset they both looked. The last time she'd seen Harry she'd reinjured herself, but she was healed well enough now that she was in no danger of doing that again. And they couldn't hover at her side every minute for the rest of her life, which she was fairly sure they would attempt to do if she wasn't firm with them.

Especially Draco.

Her stern expression and tone of voice apparently did its job. They both sighed but gave her a kiss on the cheek in turn, and then started to leave the room. They passed Harry in the doorway and the way the three of them all glared at each other was so over the top that it was nearly comical.

Harry stopped just inside the room, shuffling nervously on his feet. She gave him a tentative smile.

"Are you-"

"How are-"

They spoke at the same time.

She laughed. "Go ahead."

He also laughed, but she could tell how nervous he was. However, he spoke. "I heard you were being released tonight. Does that mean you're better?"

"I still have potions to take, but yes, I'm much better."

"Good," he sighed in relief, "that's good."

"I was going to ask how you are, but I guess that's a stupid question," she answered, there was no way he was okay following Sirius' death. Hermione may have been only sixteen but she was smart, her parents were medical professionals, and most importantly she knew Harry. He was brave and great in many ways, but he was in no way emotionally prepared to deal with this situation.

"It sucks. But I'm better than I thought I would be, actually."

That was the most she thought he would be able to admit, so she just nodded. "I'm so sorry, Harry," she whispered.

He swallowed repeatedly and nodded. "You sent Dobby to me," he said, voice thick.

"I did, or rather," she smiled wryly to herself. "I suggested that if he wanted a family that I might know somebody. That elf does as he pleases. Did you bond with him?"

Harry nodded and finally met her eyes. "After he answered all of my questions about what was in your letter and then gave me a stern talking to about how I'd treated Miss Calla."

"Oh!" She let out a startled laugh, "I didn't know he was going to do that."

"I think I needed to hear it. I'm really sorry, Hermione. Or, um, do you prefer Calliope?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No, like I said the other day, I think it would just be weird if you called me that. Hermione is just fine."

"Okay, that's good, because you're right, it would be weird. This is all really weird."

"You're telling me," she snorted.

"Why did you send him to me?" Harry continued to scuff the toe of his shoe against the floor and just generally squirmed, confusing Hermione, as he seemed to be far more uncomfortable than she thought the question warranted.

"Well, he needed a family. I could tell he didn't want to bond with Hogwarts. He wasn't really happy here. And I knew that you could use an elf. He explained all the things that he could help you with, didn't he?"

Harry just looked at her for the longest time, frowning. "Yeah, he did. But that's not what I meant. I was wondering why you sent him to me after the way I talked to you?"

Hermione's heart sunk, she knew her friend's self-confidence was in the garbage, but it was painful to witness. "Oh Harry. Because you're my friend, and I know you're hurting right now. I had an idea that might make things a little better for you, something which costs me nothing."

"Well thank you, it's more than I deserve."

Hermione didn't know what to say to that. She loved Harry and he was important to her, but his apology didn't negate the hurt she felt over his reaction to discovering her true identity. However, she also didn't want to dwell on that, it must have taken a lot of courage for him to come to her like this and it was appreciated. "Dobby's a powerful elf who occupied the most important position in House Malfoy. I would hurt for any elf longing for a family, but it was especially hard to see Dobby like that. I'm glad you bonded to him."

"I hurt him by freeing him," Harry sighed.

She shook her head. "You weren't to know, you meant well. He wanted it, he was hurting worse where he was."

Harry's head shot up and his eyes flashed. "And you're just okay with that? What about S.P.E.W.? How can you be around people who would treat elves like that?" He demanded.

"Right, now he says it properly," she murmured to herself, then she took a deep breath. "Teddy and Draco would never mistreat an elf, neither would Aunt Cissa, and honestly. I'd never let them get away with it if they tried. Draco thought Dobby had died, he was horrified when he found out what had happened; he still is. We were willing to bond with him ourselves but we weren't sure if Draco's connection to Uncle Lucius would sour it, and he prefered you anyway."

"Merlin, this is so weird," Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "You and Malfoy? Really?"

"Really."

"But he's Malfoy! He's-"

"I know he's a snob and a bully," she interrupted.

"He's a bigot, Hermione! He's practically already a Death Eater," he shouted, gesticulating wildly.

Hermione's eyes fell shut and she reached blindly for Harry, pulling him to sit next to her on the edge of the bed. "He is a bigot, and it's not okay. But that doesn't stop me from loving him, that's just not how love works. And let me just say that there's more going on there than you know, more than I can tell you without breaking his confidence. I'm not asking you to understand, or to try and be his friend, all I'm asking is that you put a little bit of trust in me and don't make me choose between you."

Harry blew out a long breath. "I don't even know what to think anymore. I've learned some things lately. Some things I don't know how to begin to process, and normally I would probably ask you but…"

"Now you don't know if you can trust me?"

"Can you blame me?!" He practically shouted. "I mean I want to, you're my best friend. Or, you were, but now it seems like your loyalties lie elsewhere."

"They haven't changed."

"Your father is a Death Eater!" He snapped.

"So was Sirius' brother," she countered, refusing to look away from him.

He narrowed his eyes in her direction. "That was a low blow."

"It was just a reminder, Harry. Are you in the business of judging people for things that their relatives do and that they have no control over now? And may I remind you that I have two fathers, and my other one, the one I've spent most of my life with is a muggle?"

He appeared slightly shamefaced by this reminder.

"I will admit that I will fight tooth and nail before I allow any harm to come to Draco or Teddy. But don't you see that I know better than anybody how this disgusting ideology, which has split not just our society, but families, is? So, I also plan on fighting to eradicate it. Just as I always have."

"Sirius broke away from his family," Harry huffed, but Hermione could tell that he was running out of steam.

"That was brave of him," she answered softly, "but everything that I ever heard Sirius say about his parents was that they were cold and cruel and he was anxious to get away from them. My memories of my family are of a warm and loving environment. That doesn't excuse my father or my godfather's actions. I will never, ever, support the Death Eater cause. As individual men I'm still figuring out how I feel about them. I assume it will be a long process," she bit back a sob. "But I have your back Harry, when it comes to Voldemort, whether you believe it or not."

There was a long period of silence.

"I actually kind of get that."

"What?"

"About your father."

"You do?" She couldn't keep the incredulosity out of her voice.

"Yeah," he breathed. "It turns out that my father wasn't quite who I thought he was either."

Hermione was morbidly curious about what that statement meant, but she could sense that this was the wrong time to ask. So, they just sat together for even longer this time until Hermione began to realize that it was only a matter of time before Teddy and Draco came beating at the door. "Hey," she nudged his shoulder gently with hers and was pleased when he didn't flinch.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if, once we left Hogwarts, you would be okay with me calling Dobby. I wanted to send you some books, maybe check in on you."

"Books?" He questioned, finally meeting her eyes, his own sparkled like they had so many times in the past when he was teasing her.

She decided to call his bluff. "It hasn't escaped my notice that you actually like reading in your spare time, you just don't want to admit it to Ron. You named Hedwig after a witch who wasn't even mentioned until at least half way through our first year history of magic book."

He quickly looked away and she nudged him again. "I won't tell him. Anyway, the books are of the practical variety. Social etiquette, wizarding politics, history of humans with other magical races, that kind of thing."

"You think I need that?"

"I think," she lowered her voice. "I think Voldemort is after you and you need every advantage you can get. I also think we've been ignoring many of the basic tenets of this society and just expected to get away with it. It wasn't our fault, we didn't know better, but I think it's time to remedy that."

He frowned. "Since when do you care about that?"

"Since I got my memories back and with them a whole other perspective."

"I thought you said that your ideals haven't changed."

"They haven't. But you couldn't very well expect to win at quidditch without knowing the rules of the game, could you?"

His face began to dawn with understanding.

"And if you thought those rules were unfair, then you'd need a damn good understanding of them to make your point, and change them, wouldn't you?"

His lips twitched and then he started to shake his head. "Send me your books, Hermione."

"I knew you'd see reason," she grinned.

Draco and Teddy were literally leaning on each side of the door when she opened it just a couple of minutes later, looking like they were prepared to charge in at any time.

"Everything okay?" Teddy asked.

"Everything is fine." She reached out a hand behind her for Harry who took it and allowed her to grasp his arm. "Lets go."

All three boys started to protest.

"I'm not so proud that I can't admit I need some help getting all the way to dinner. Do any of you want to bow out?" She challenged.

They immediately went silent.

"This isn't exactly neutral," Draco hissed as he hovered at her side.

"Everybody knows that Harry is my best friend. I can't be expected to just abandon him," she hissed in return before shooing him forward.

"What does that mean?" Harry murmured in her ear.

"We- me and Teddy, and the Malfoys are trying to position ourselves as neutral for the time being. With Voldemort and all that," she shrugged, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal.

He came to a startled halt. "You aren't going to the Order?"

She squeezed his arm. "That was my first thought too, but do you really think that we would be accepted, much less welcomed? And our fathers, for all their faults, are still our fathers. I'm not ready to sentence them to death by taking sanctuary with the enemy. This isn't like with Umbridge, this is...a dance."

Harry squeezed his eyes shut and took a long breath, but she was gratified to see that he kept his temper. "I hate that I understand what you mean," he eventually said. "I hate that I think I probably need to learn to dance in my own way."

"Me too. But I'll send you all the books that you can read. In fact, you can feel free to send Dobby to me whenever you need something you can't find elsewhere. It's nice to have resources," she shrugged self-consciously, "But I'll understand if you don't want my help."

"I need to think," he breathed.

"Yes," she chuckled, "good idea."

He appeared momentarily startled but the small joke also seemed to jolt him out of his stupor and he began walking again, Teddy and Draco were waiting on them just a few metres ahead, both eyeing them speculatively. She just shook her head.

The Great Hall went silent when the four of them entered it - mostly - together despite the fact that there was still a few minutes before the start of the feast. It took a moment for Hermione to realize that Teddy and Draco, who had preceded them, had not broken off to go to their own House table but had circled around to follow her and Harry to the Gryffindor table.

"I'm sorry, boys," she turned and spoke to the two Slytherins once she and Harry had reached an open spot on the benches near their friends, "were you resorted while I was in the hospital?"

"Of course not," Draco snorted indignantly, but Teddy's eyes were narrowed in contemplation.

"Then go back to your own table."

"Calla!"

She softened slightly at the panic on both of their faces and lowered her voice. "It's the Leaving Feast. Your House has won the Cup, you should be over there celebrating with them. I'll be just here, you'll be able to see me the whole time."

Teddy let out a long sigh but then stepped forward, kissed her forehead, and stepped away, but Draco's eyes were intense.

"Dragon," she soothed, "you've literally wrapped your namesake around my wrist."

She held her bracelet up as a demonstration. "I don't think anybody is in any doubt that we belong together," his eyes met hers at that statement. He smirked and he too stepped forward until he could sweep her - gently- into his arms, and then he lowered his lips to hers and delved thoroughly into her mouth.

The Hall remained in stunned silence at their display - if it was possible the silence became even more overbearing - and so her small whimper was easily heard. He pulled away, but then pulled her back in to leave one hard kiss on her lips before ripping himself away and stomping off in a predictable temper that he hadn't gotten his way.

Hermione was thinking that it would almost be cute - if it wasn't so obnoxious - when those thoughts were interrupted by the voice of her roommate, Lavender Brown: "Oh Merlin, it's going to take all night to talk about this!"

Perhaps Draco would get his way and she'd spend her night in the dungeons.