So, the last chapter was short, and I feel the same coming off this one, but I'm determined to start putting a better head forth on this. Let's see where we can get things moving.
Hermione sat in the café. Her best friends were due to arrive. Of course, it was not any of her doing but it seemed like Ginny was a force to be reckoned with. When Hermione had said something about how neither of the boys having responded to her owls and that she just didn't think that they were going to be happy with her engagement it had sent the red head into a blaze of fury. She watched the fire light in her eyes and saw how the anger seemed to set in her face and she went for both boys in such a wild way that by the end of the day she had received a letter from Ron and Harry both saying that they would be happy to join her to talk about things. Once Hermione had sent out a letter to both of her boys, she sent another one off towards Ginny thanking her and even going as far as to ask her to join in.
Though she knew if she was busy at the café that Ginny would have no problems picking up where she was slacking so she could carry out a conversation with the two men. She could feel her nerves swarming her body and knew that they would all be here at any moment. So far, she had been lucky on the fact that it was a little past ten and they were slow for the weekday as most were still shopping around instead of coming in for an early lunch. Hermione kept glancing over her book taking in little strays as she went through wiping down the countertop.
She heard the tinkle of the front bell and her head snapped up from her book and she saw the long red hair of Ginny and a smile graced her lips. "Hey." She called out as Ginny came walking through and hopped onto a stool in front of Hermione. "I take it the two whiners haven't shown up yet?" Hermione knew that she loved the two boys but they really did have a great streak at making Hermione feel like a jerk or in the wrong every time she turned around growing up and now they were doing it to her even as an adult. She had to give herself a hard shake of the head to release the memories and Hermione took it as her answer.
Ginny wrapped her hands around Hermione's as she took a seat in front of the bushy brown-haired woman and smiled. "Don't worry. I'll make sure they understand with force if they don't understand with your words." Her female best friend was saying with a slightly much happier than what one would say when mentioning physical force. Hermione gave a small giggle and let her eyes roam off towards the door at the sound of the little bell that rang once more.
And there they were, her two best friends from school. Both looked a little more on the distressed side of matters. But other than the little bit of what looked like stress lines they both looked healthy. She immediately came out from behind the counter and rushed over to both of her boys and wrapped her arms around their necks pulling them into a monstrous hug that had both men choking as they were yanked down to her height. "Geeze Mione!" Ron managed to gargle out. Hermione realized how hard of a grasp she had on them and released her hold smiling brightly. But it started to fade when she saw the looks on both of their faces. Of course, they weren't going to be a bit pleased about how everything was going.
Hermione led them over towards the end of the counter and walked around it. "Can I get you guys a drink?" Ron took a seat next to Harry, who had taken a seat next to Ginny. "Tea." Harry said giving Ginny a quick peck before Ron muttered something about water. Hermione busied herself quickly getting Harry a tea and looked back at the two. "Kind of shocked that you'd still be working in this place after having Malfoy claim you as his." Hermione took a deep breath and she heard a slap against skin and Ron crying out in pain. "What? I mean did you really think she would?" Hermione went to grabbing some sugar and set the tea in front of Harry. "It does not matter if she worked out scooping dragon dung! If she loves it that is all that matters. And Malfoy didn't claim her." Hermione defended right away.
Hermione grabbed a glass and poured the cool water from the pitcher before she leaned against the counter setting it in front of Ron. "I just mean I would have thought she'd be a little higher up on some chains." Hermione looked at the two men and then towards Ginny a bit sadly. "The thing is Ron she is doing what she wants." Hermione gave a shake of her head. "Narcissa and Lucius offered for me to stay at the manor and simply learn the outs of their family, but I told them I really needed to get back to work during the days." The look of shock on Ron's face was pure gold to his sister. "When the hell did you start addressing them as such?" Hermione tried to wave it off. "What happened to the pureblood assholes?" Harry asked suddenly.
Hermione looked at the counter for a bit and took in a deep breath. "I understand this is all very weird and if we were still in school possibly very wrong. But we have aged, and things have changed." Ron scoffed. "Changed is right. You're with the guy that tormented us through our years at Hogwarts! You are engaged to the guy that's aunt tortured you!" Hermione ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "Just let me explain okay?" She looked over both boys and they just watched her both seemed ready to interfere.
"It all started right here. I was working and next thing I know Draco comes in through the door. He didn't see me but when I came to take his order, he went into a whole different Malfoy than we have ever met before. He was suddenly so polite and shy." Another scoff came from Ron. "Probably to give you a trick of his own Hermione." Ginny gave the back of his head a slap and Hermione could not help but give her a thankful look.
"He asked me to sit and talk with him. And hearing the whispers of Draco going off to fight the war off in the West I couldn't help but think something was certainly different about him. I just wanted to see what it was. So, I agreed to, but told him we'd go somewhere else. I ended up taking him off towards a spot by some water and next thing I know we were talking about what life was like outside of Hogwarts. He had been working on trying some different experiments on potions and working on the idea of an apothecary."
Hermione took in a deep breath after starting to get as much out as she could before Ron or Harry interrupted her. She turned around and started to make herself a cup of tea and then rubbed her eyes. She wished that they would stay quiet before making comments and getting in their questions. "While we wasted away the day sitting by the lake, he asked me if he could write me while he was away at this war." Ron gave a growl, his hand rubbing over the back of his head where his sister ended up hitting him. "We were writing back and forth constantly. Then things went to a different level. Draco was in the battle that happened in New York." Hermione took another sip of her tea. "I thought he was dead. I could only tell you I felt nothing, but dread and fear and I didn't know what to do."
"How in the world could you feel sad over losing him? He's only doing this to try and make sure no one looks at them closely like they have been since the end of the war with You Know Who." Ron started once more, and it was Harry's turn to give him a look that let him stay quiet. She was thankful that Harry had given the look this time. "The point is writing to him constantly I was having feelings for him. I found that I was attracted to the man that was writing to me and showing his true feelings and his real mind. Not the kid that he was back in Hogwarts. And suddenly the attack and no word from Draco made me scared and depressed I couldn't move without crying. Ginny was there to help me carry on and get a bit of strength through it all."
She stopped and all eyes moved over towards the sound of the bell as an elderly couple walked in and Ginny immediately got up off her stool and walked over to help the two. She knew the place well enough and what she didn't know she'd be more than happy to ask Hermione. They all watched Ginny for a couple of minutes before Harry spoke. "So?" Hermione found herself being pulled from the darkness that had started to eat away at her. She remembered the chilling fear that was eating at her as she waited for the worst news that Draco had indeed died. What she would be doing now if it had indeed been true. Would she still be working here? Would she have worked towards something new to make Draco a little prouder of her?
Hermione shook her head. "Finally, his letter showed up to me. I had waited for the worst news ever to come to me. And then I saw his handwriting and I wanted to sob with relief. He was telling me he was safe and that I was the thing that kept him alive. That I was his guardian angel. Then he had told me he loved me. I had to write back to him right then and there. I had found myself sending back the same affection. I told him I loved him as he had told me he loved me."
"But that's just from writing letters!" Ron cried out. Harry sighed and shook his head. "Well of course its from writing letters!" Hermione snarled. "We were writing nonstop and going on about secrets and how our daily lives were going." Harry looked at her. "That doesn't exactly mean you could love him. It could be that you were feeling alone." Hermione rolled her eyes and went to wash out her cup as Ginny went to making sandwiches. "It's not like we planned on it when we started to write. It's just what happened." Hermione leaned on the counter. "I just don't see how you could get love out of writing a few letters." Ron said a bit irritated. Hermione rubbed her temples and decided to put it as simple as she could. "Neither do I Ronald." She said in a snappish manner. "But it happened. Somehow, it turned into we were having feelings from showing our true personalities through the letters we were writing and off that we found that we were attracted to such a thing."
Hermione watched as Ginny served the older couple and started to have a small conversation with them before going to refill their beverages. The silence between the three old friends was chilling and Hermione looked at them once more as Ginny started back towards them. "It wasn't long before Draco showed back up. Ginny was here with me when he came limping through the door and next thing I know I was holding onto him."
"They were making out." Ginny started in a sing song voice. Hermione shot a glare at Ginny as she heard the guys make noises. "Right away you start making out with the guy?" Hermione ran a hand over her face. "Well of course I did. I told you that we had said I love you." She said feeling annoyed with her friends. I had not seen him in a while and it all just came out of nowhere." After another quick glare at the smiling redhead she started back once more. "He was back, and it was only for medical reasons. He had to go into St. Mungos the following day and get a check up. He asked me to accompany him and I at once agreed."
"Dinner." Ginny ended up coughing and Hermione rolled her eyes. "And yes, he had me join his parents for dinner the very night he got back into town, and once again I did accept the invitation." Hermione watched as Ginny left to go check on the older couple and she was silent for a moment listening to the older couple talk to the fill in waitress. "It was an awkward situation. I knew how Narcissa and Lucius felt about me, and Draco just seemed dead determined to spend what little time he had here with me." She heard the boys start talking but she had started to zone out as she went back to the start of that day. It had been a scary moment for her to go through to that house, but she also knew that Draco was fighting his own fears of what his parents would say with her being in his life. For that reason, she had sucked it up and made her way into the manor.
"Hermione?" She blinked a couple times and looked at Harry. "I'm sorry, I got lost for a second." She said with a frown but then quickly started. "We had dinner and Lucius and Narcissa were still very against it though they were not so vocal as they once would have been." She rested her head on her palm and looked at the older couple smiling and laughing at one another and she felt a small smile tug at the corner of her lips. She could only hope that her and Draco would turn out like that. They would live to be some old couple that smiled and laughed at each other so lovingly. "We went in to see the Healers and sadly they were not sure what was going on with Draco. They had hit a line of magic that they had never encountered before just like the Americans." Harry frowned. "The Americans didn't know what it was? They are the ones fighting this constantly."
Hermione gave a sad shrug. "They are the ones that took him back to keep fighting." With their words she could only think that Draco had been the only one out of the three of them to see any of the real battles that had been going on over in the West. She was at least thankful that neither of them had seen the dark ways that were coming through. She went back to her story. "He went home with having to take so many potions and just a walk around Diagon Alley Draco was no longer able to use his leg. We just got lucky that we were able to get ahold of Severus." The sigh that came from her mouth was much louder than the previous ones. "SEVERUS!?" Ron was saying loudly. "When the hell did you start befriending all of these people Hermione?" She needed to keep an even breathing to keep her own temper in check. Ron was always good about getting her to rise to the occasion.
"These people are someone that Draco loves, and it means I'm not going to just have him pull away from them. If anything, I'll be there to try and have something to do with these people." Hermione looked between them. "And at the same time, he is supportive of you guys." Ron glared. "Well considering we weren't trying to kill him and constantly bully us during school I can see why he is supportive of us." Her hand ran over her face and her fingers were being pressed into her eyes. "Either way Ron! I am supporting him. After having Severus look at Draco, he ended up finding that this curse seems to spread pain as you dig at it to figure out what is causing the issue." Hermione carried on quickly before Ron could get a comment in to distract her from her story.
Hermione heard the bell ring and watched as the couple left the building and thankfully Ginny was wiping down their table. "So, Severus and I started to dig through books. Looking for any kind of a curse that could cause something like this. We have been digging forever and then after possibly exhausting our routes in every book we could find Severus took off towards the States to gather a larger collection to keep going through." Ginny came around wiping her hands off and smiling as she caught a look at the boys faces and looked over at Hermione. "We went back to St. Mungo's and they held him for the night finding only what Severus had found. It was at this point they cleared him to go back."
Ginny shared a sad look with her friend and Hermione took in a deep breath. "The day before he left, we all had just finished breakfast and Draco stopped me and asked me to marry him right as we were getting into the garden. I was so thrilled I didn't know what to do with myself." Hermione started to laugh at the look on their faces. Ginny was of course smiling brightly and the boys both looked disgusted. "I can't believe you said yes." Hermione shook her head and smiled still. "It doesn't matter. I love him and he loves me." She found herself starting to explain the dinner. She let out a lazy sigh as she found herself escaping back to the night.
Her shopping trip with Narcissa had worked better in her favor. She knew going out with the Malfoy's normal robes were not a thing especially with dinner in mind. She had picked up on of the newer sets from the hangers in her closet and had started to work on her hair. She rarely did much with it and she knew that it was going to take a bit of time. She found herself spending a good time straightening her hair and then starting to add softer curls through out it instead of just a bushy mess of them hanging everywhere. Once she was done with her hair she worked on her makeup. Her eyes studied each piece set in front of her, the idea of having to go through this art once more was a bit scary as she still never took to using much makeup unless it was deemed necessary.
She had worked on it carefully taking the time with each swipe of her hand before she found herself happy with what she had managed. She had stuck to earth tones to keep it simple. She didn't want to throw something that was a little too much for the Malfoy's. She had just started to pull the robes from the hanger when there was a soft knock on the door. Hermione pulled a bathrobe around her and opened the door to be met with Narcissa holding a box. She moved back and let the older woman come through. Hermione had closed the door and followed the woman to sit on the bed. Narcissa had said something along the lines of she didn't think Hermione had gone home to get something to wear so had taken one of the dresses that she had ordered for her after their day of shopping.
Hermione opened the box and smiled as she pulled the black dress out from the box. It was a slim fitting on, and she knew that Narcissa would have a proper fit for her. Her eyes had caught a pair of black heels that were hiding under the dress. "I'm glad he found someone that cares as much as you do." Was all Narcissa had said before standing from the bed to go and get ready herself. Hermione had run her hand over the dress before starting to slide it on. Narcissa seemed to know her clothes just like Lucius knew his jewels. The dress had fit beautifully. Hermione had slipped on the heels that added a couple inches to her height before she joined Draco at the main entrance to the manor.
Draco had taken her in with wider eyes and Hermione had tried not to blush as she smiled at him. He had taken her around the waist, and they had waited for Lucius and Narcissa to join them. Once they had arrived at the restaurant Hermione had been captivated by the large inside. Her eyes took in the bright décor and the many waiters and waitress dressed to serve the finest that walked through. She loved how Draco had held her close to him as the walked through following a man, Lucius and Narcissa off to their own table. Through dinner Draco constantly had his hand in hers and they could do little more than stare into each other's eyes with nothing but love.
Once they had walked out, she saw a bright light and she was suddenly being asked about their proposal. How had it happened? When did they plan the date to be? She felt Draco wrap her in his arms and he planted a kiss onto her lips as the cameras had started to flash repeatedly once more and questions were turned towards Narcissa and Lucius. She had not heard a word of what was said as she was so wrapped up in him. He had broken their kiss and pressed his forehead to hers before saying something about going home.
She could only find herself smiling dreamily at the memory of it and how she had loved spending the time with him that night. It had been nothing more than just holding onto him, kissing him and making every promise she could that he'd be on her mind and that she'd be fine but would be more worried over him. "MIONE!" She found herself jumping, all of them had been trying to get Hermione to answer them and she was so wrapped up in her own little world. Ginny suddenly giggled. "Anything interesting?" Hermione felt a blush creep over her cheeks, and she cleared her throat. "Sorry, but nothing much happened we had dinner that night and next thing I know we are on the front page of the morning prophet." Ginny gave a knowing smile and it took everything she had not to give Ginny's hand a swat.
"I just don't understand it." Ron said after a moment of silence. "I don't think I'll ever be able to see what you have done here." Hermione looked at Ron and then looked at Harry. "I think it'll just take a little time." Harry came up with. Hermione felt as if her heart had been let down. It was silly to think both guys would go ahead and say whatever makes you happy, we're here for you. And right away it seemed as if Ginny could sense the same thing coming from Hermione because the look on her face was pure fury. Harry seemed to be able to sense the danger they were in and spoke quickly. "I mean I still love you Hermione it's just that, you know, it's Malfoy." Ginny ended up swinging her hand down on Harry's arm and he ripped it back wincing. "Ow! I mean he's been a right prat forever. I just have to get used to the idea."
Hermione watched as a set of five came into the shop and Ginny gave both men a death glare before heading off towards the group. "So, wait. Are you living there at their manor?" Ron asked. Hermione found herself looking up at the ceiling as she thought it all over in her head. "To be honest I've been there for a bit now. But I have my apartment still and I've not really been there at all since Draco had come back home. And to even more honest, Lucius and Narcissa seem to like having me around." Their jaws dropped. "So, you are!" Hermione rubbed her eyes and sighed. "To be honest I'm not sure. But it seems like right now I am." Ginny came rushing past to get a cup of tea as the bell rang letting her know there was a couple entering. Hermione started to make some tea herself. "I have been doing research still and Narcissa seems to prefer to have me around a little, since I guess Draco went back over towards the States."
"So, what are you a replacement?" Ron started at her and Hermione gave a huge heave. "For crying out loud. It's just easier to make sure to have the right books around and they are all stashed at Draco's place. If his parents don't mind, then it shouldn't bother you. Severus has been staying a good chunk of the time too! They just want someone to figure out what is wrong with Draco." Hermione took a drink from her tea and heard another ring of the bell. Lunch rush must be getting ready to enter. She looked at the guys. "Just think it through for a couple days. I don't want this to end our friendship. But please just think it over. It's not like I'm asking you to be best friends with him. Just to be okay with who I am going to marry who I want to spend the rest of my life with." Hermione found that she could feel some tears welling up. She had to do her best to fight them off. Lunch rush did not go well with emotional Hermione.
Both men shared a look with one another. They gave a small nod. "I can try Hermione, but like I said it's just really weird." Harry started and then stood up from his bar stool. "I'll talk to you here soon." He gave her a smile as Ron stood up and gave her a small nod. "We'll see what we can't figure out in our time." Hermione gave a shake of her head and took another drink of tea before giving them both a smile. "I'll see you around then." She said before she started off towards the newest table that had just sat down.