Chapter 24: Coffee Talk

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

"How are you?" Hermione asked as she took a seat on the couch, Ron settling into the armchair across the coffee table.

"Alright," Ron nodded unsurely before following up his comment with, "Conflicted; disappointed."

"I know it was a lot to take in last night," Hermione said, not totally confident in which direction this conversation was heading, "But thank you for your passivity today in front of the others."

Ron nodded again in acknowledgement, looking down to focus on what he came there to say, "My reaction last night had everything to do with Malfoy. Not about you moving on."

"I know."

"I obviously wish it was anyone but him."

"I know."

"But since it's not my choice-"

"Correct."

Ron flicked his eyes up to her for a moment before continuing, "I am doing my best to come to terms with it. Because of course I care about you. That's why I'm so bothered by it. It's been impossible for me to imagine what change you and Harry possibly could have seen in him to want to give him another chance. But after hearing what he had to say last night, I can see some glimpse of what you meant. I didn't think Malfoy was capable of regret or remorse, or an apology if I'm being honest. And he proved me wrong. I'm not telling you I'm ever going to really empathize or be friends with the git-" Hermione pursed her lips at him, "-But I get he's changed in some way. And it's your life and you can make your own decisions. I don't want us to not be friends. I don't know how that works when you're dating him, but I guess we can try and figure it out."

"That means a lot, Ron, that you're willing to try and see past it," her eyes softened, seeing the gesture, even if he'd never been one with eloquent words. She knew this would never be easy, but it was better than angry, yelling Ron.

"We've been through a lot together," Ron said seriously, "You were there for me during some of the hardest moments of my life and I know our relationship wasn't always good, but you were my best friend and I wouldn't throw that away. I just hope," he paused and Hermione knew another warning was coming, "I just hope you've considered what dating him means. I mean - are you going to holiday with the Malfoys? And what about when you're out in public with an ex-Death Eater? People see us, see you, as a war hero, whether you want them to or not, the wizarding world is going to be watching."

His tone wasn't harsh, just exasperated and Hermione gave him a soft smile, "All things in time," she said simply, "I don't know what lies ahead for Draco and I, and I know there are going to be difficult times. He's got a lot of demons that he still deals with. But we'll deal with it one day - one thing - at a time. I'm not scared of what comes along with dating him as long as we're in it together. And we are."

She thought it would be more difficult talking about her relationship with Draco to Ron, but it didn't feel that difficult at all. She didn't see any reaction of pain at the talk of her moving on and being so completely settled on another person. The only look in his eyes was concern and still an underlay of confusion at the whole predicament.

"I worry for you," Ron said quietly, "About what the Prophet will say when they get wind of the story, because you know Rita Skeeter is still working the gossip column and has been waiting for a reason to get you back for blackmailing her after the Triwizard Tournament. I worry about the flack that story will bring back on Hogwarts, highlighting that they hired an ex-Death Eater to parents or students that might not know what Malfoy was. It could open the floodgates all over again on him. And, by extension, on you."

"We'll brave the storm," Hermione reassured him, "Dumbledore hired Snape. Hogwarts still stood strong. Besides, even if some parents have their opinions, the students know Draco as their professor, and he's a great teacher, Ron. They really like him."

"I guess I just had to voice my concerns," Ron gave her a crooked smile, "But it seems like your decision is made and I know better than to try and change Hermione Granger's mind when she's set it on something."

"I'm really proud of you for how you're dealing with this."

"Well you know I don't like it, so let's not give me more credit than I'm due. But since we're being open with each other, I've been seeing someone for the last month, so it's really just been about grappling with your choice in partner being Malfoy."

"That's great, Ron," she smiled broader at him, "Can I ask who?"

"Padma," Ron chuckled, "I made such a great impression on her at the Yule Ball."

Hermione laughed, "Yes, I'm sure that was it."

"She and I haven't talked too much the last few years but we both work primarily around the grounds with her tending to the creatures for her classes and in the forest, and me down and back to the Quidditch pitch, so we stop to chat whenever we run into each other. But over the holidays she actually reached out when we were all home saying her sister had been having a rough time thinking about Lavender recently and she asked how I'd dealt with her death and if I had any suggestions for Parvati. Seems I was the only other one she could remember from Hogwarts who had an, ahem, strong connection to Lavender. I'm guessing she didn't remember how messy our breakup was. I kind of sent along some advice of how I'd tried to cope with Fred's death, seemed more applicable since I'm not sure I ever appropriately grieved for Lavender."

"Losing a brother tends to overshadow everything else," Hermione said softly, "But we were all there for Lavender's funeral. It may not have felt like you were fully there, but you were. It was almost like a collective grieving for those months after the Battle, for everyone we lost."

"That whole summer felt like I was just moving through the motions," Ron nodded uncomfortably before clearing his throat, he wasn't usually one to talk about his war trauma, "But yeah, so she sent another message back thanking me for my advice and telling me Parvati was doing better after the holidays. Then we just sort of started sending letters back and forth for those holiday weeks about our lessons and how times have changed since we were all students, and once we were back to the castle after break, we started talking more in person at dinner and around the grounds and eventually, I invited her out to the Three Broomsticks for dinner. It's nothing serious yet but it's going well and headed in a good direction. She still makes fun of me for not asking her to dance."

"Good, you deserve it. You were a terrible date to her," Hermione said with a grin.

"Well you showed up with Krum, didn't you? A bloody international quidditch star; talk about a blow to the gut at the time."

"Stop, you know Viktor and I are still good friends."

"You and I both know he always wanted more than that with you."

"But he was also always very respectful of you."

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, I just wanted to stop by and try to clear the air from my reaction last night. I'm sure you expected it, but I want you to know I'm trying to be understanding. And, as difficult as it is to say, I appreciated that Malfoy put everything on the table and showed his cards last night. It made it hard to keep yelling. Which was good so I could take some time to myself to digest. I want him to be the better person you think he is, for you. And I saw some glimpse of hope last night that at least he's not the prat he was at Hogwarts."

"Well thank you," Hermione said, "Truly, that means a lot. And I'm happy for you that you're seeing Padma."

Ron stood, more than ready to be done with serious conversations, and Hermione followed suit, "Well, have a good night, Hermione. I'll see you at breakfast."

Hermione pulled the door open for him, "See you at breakfast."

As she shut the door behind him she felt an overwhelming sense of relief that what felt like the last thing standing in their way had calmed. She went to bed contentedly that evening, ready for normal life to set in.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

Draco awoke early the next morning, blinking his eyes open and taking in the dark outlines of his living room. He groaned, "fuck." He turned over on the couch, glad he'd charmed his windows to be a dark shade of grey last night as his head pounded. "Fuck," he breathed again, groping around on the coffee table until he found his wand. He pointed it in the general direction of the shelf in the corner, "Accio Revitalization Serum." A small bottle flew forward off the shelf and Draco caught it, eyes still shut, uncorking it and downing it in one gulp. He groaned again and covered his eyes with his arm as the potion took affect. He felt his brain working to unfog as air hissed out of his ears. After a good ten seconds of the uncomfortable side effects, he felt the tension in his head release and blinked his eyes open again with a sigh as the letter from his father protruded his thoughts once more.

He'd considered his options last night and decided his best course of action would be to have his mother meet Hermione as soon as possible. Soon enough where his father wouldn't take the step to write his mother first. If Lucius told her specifically to denounce their relationship he didn't… think… she would listen, but it would certainly be on her mind and could make her more guarded in person. He'd also decided he wouldn't tell Hermione about the letter from his father. He didn't want to put her off when things were finally supposed to be calm for them. He also figured it would make the meeting with his mother easier for all of them without the subject of his father on all of their minds.

He finally pushed himself from the couch and headed to the bathroom to freshen up before he'd meet Hermione in the Great Hall for breakfast again.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

The week went by without incident, Hermione and Draco meeting with McGonagall for a two hour meeting about how to conduct themselves and their relationship in the presence of students, classes and extracurriculars returning to normal with less whispers, and Hermione receiving a note from Pansy about meeting in Hogsmeade for coffee that weekend. She'd felt her lip pull up as she read the note, written in neat, drawling handwriting much like the author's own personality. Harry had insisted they all meet up afterwards for a double date at the Three Broomsticks to which Ginny hesitantly nodded in agreeance with a forced smile. She hadn't sought them out to get to know Draco yet but Hermione knew she'd need her time given her own experiences with the Malfoys.

Hermione and Draco walked down the path to Hogsmeade together early Saturday, hands interlaced and swinging lightly between them. Draco would be taking care of some personal shopping before lunch, starting with an appointment at Madam Malkins' secondary location that had just opened in town for a new set of dress robes - apparently to commemorate their grand opening, they'd received a rare shipment of unicorn hair to entice new customers in the area and Draco insisted it made a difference in the tailoring or else he wouldn't bother investing in a new set right now. As they reached the village he'd pulled her in for a kiss and a quick whisper in her ear about not to believe a word Pansy said about him and she'd laughed, stealing one more kiss before they split ways for the morning.

Hermione walked into the Three Broomsticks, looking around before she saw a flash of black hair being thrown over a shoulder. She'd seen Pansy twice now out at the Alchemist Den, but this would be their first one-on-one interaction and she was a bit nervous, if she was being honest with herself. Pansy used to be the mean girl and was Draco's best friend. She knew she wasn't the same anymore, but it didn't lessen her nerves.

She walked over and the girl looked up, her bright green eyes sparkling at her as she stood, "Granger!" she grinned at her, pulling her in for a kiss on each cheek, which Hermione adapted to quickly, though caught off guard.

"Hi, Pansy, thanks for inviting me out," she returned a smile as they sat.

"Of course, it's been too long, we should have done this sooner," she waved it off, pulling a mug forward towards herself, "I've been here for a while looking through some work files, so I've ordered already, but I'm sure Rosmerta will be around again in a moment."

"That's fine, how have you been?"

"Oh I'm wonderful," Pansy said airily, "I generally just work from seven in the morning til noon during the week but there's an event coming up next month for the International Confederation of Wizards so I've been basically full time the last month. It's been busy, but obviously nothing I can't handle. Plus it's made me pull back some time from Nevelious so he's been missing me, and that's fun. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that."

"So you're still seeing the chaser from the Wasps?"

"Yes, I've decided I quite like him," she said coyly, "Nev's not as pompous as some of the other Quidditch players I've gone out with. More the type who writes novels in the off season and wakes me up with fresh coffee before he leaves for practice. Such a breath of fresh air."

"He's seemed like quite the gentleman from the small amount of time we've all spent together. Did he go to Hogwarts?"

"Oh no, Beauxbatons, actually, he's French; a couple years older. "

"One of the languages you speak then?"

"Yes, that and a few others. And how have you been, Granger?"

"Really good," Hermione said with an unintended tone of relief, "Things are very steady right now."

"And were they not before?" The tone didn't go unnoticed.

"Morning, miss, can I get you something to drink?" Madam Rosmerta's voice broke into their conversation and Hermione was glad for an extra moment to decide how to tackle the question, "I'll take a tea, please."

"Coming right up," Rosmerta moved onto the next table and Hermione turned back to Pansy.

"Well, we just kind of let our relationship out to the world this week," she said, unsure if Pansy knew it'd been a secret or not.

She furrowed her manicured brows, clearly she hadn't known, "Why was it not out to the world before?"

"Well, I was actually engaged to Ron," Hermione cleared her throat a little, "When I reconnected with Draco, not sure if you knew that."

Pansy's mouth formed an "oh" shape and she nodded as she took that in, "Well that's messy, isn't it?" she said rhetorically, sitting back and taking a sip from her mug, "I have so many questions," she sounded intrigued and excited and Hermione knew it'd be better to give her the semi-full story before she started asking those questions.

And so, she embarked on the story of her time getting to know Draco, and the overview of some of the more obvious issues with her relationship with Ron and the breakup, glossing over some extraneous details in between, and the time to herself, and then the ultimate conversation with Draco about their feelings for each other. By the time she'd finished the tale, she was halfway through her tea and Pansy had refilled the cappuccino she was drinking, leaning in to take in every detail Hermione was willing to share.

"You knew though, didn't you?" Pansy's lips had been glued into a smirk for the duration of the story, "That you were falling for him. And that he was falling for you."

"I had an inkling," she said, evading the full truth.

"Mm hmm," Pansy's lips pulled wider, if that was even possible, "So did Draco go in for the steal while you were still with Weasley? He's not usually one to keep his feelings hidden. He goes for things he wants."

Hermione sputtered for a moment and Pansy laughed, "He put it on the table," she finally said, "And I acknowledged that I was feeling similarly. And then I pulled away and dealt with my relationship with Ron. Something I had been teetering on for months anyway. It was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, I guess you could say. But we didn't do anything wrong per se."

"Draco is as straightforward as they come," Pansy sighed, "I'm not surprised, but I am kind of proud of him for not crossing the line."

"No, not totally," Hermione said before she could stop herself.

"So he did try something?" Pansy pried.

"Well, I mean telling a girl you want to be with her when she's with someone else is trying something on its own, isn't it?" Hermione responded.

"You're not wrong," she took another sip from her mug, realizing they were in a territory Hermione likely didn't want pushed any further, "Well I'm glad you two figured it out sooner or later. I'd been missing running into him at the Den, he hasn't been in years until he started seeing you. It's special to him there, a place he can go and let loose and not worry about people judging him. He wouldn't take just anyone."

"That's nice to know," she felt herself smile, she knew she was special to him, but it was nice to hear it from someone else.

"He was a mess for a long time, you know," Pansy said, her voice more serious now, "He was in a dark place and the only people he really saw were his mother, myself, Blaise and the potions master he was working with. Pushed everyone else away. Tried to push us away until we pushed back and he let us in. I'm sure he's told you the regret he feels, but I feel it's my obligation to reiterate how deep it runs."

"Of course he has," Hermione nodded, "I do hope he can move past it one day."

"And if he can't?" Pansy asked with interest, "Is that something you could handle long term? The turn in moods, the self-deprecation, the never-relenting regret he tries to hide away?"

"Well, I guess it will just be something we figure out how to deal with together," she said slowly, realizing Pansy might have wanted to get coffee specifically to have this conversation, "I care for Draco very much."

"But you've lived very different lives, experienced things completely oppositely. Do you think you can find the compassion to empathize with something that was so against everything you stand for?"

"I've told Draco I forgave him for his part in everything. I don't believe he wanted to be a part of the things he had to be and I see he's not the boy he was at Hogwarts. And I do empathize with him, no matter which side, I see how far he's come in making changes for the better and accepting responsibility."

"Well that's wonderful then," Pansy nodded, considering the responses, "Draco's worked hard to climb back up from the grave his father dug him and it's clear you're there to offer him support even when the details are as muddy as they are," she flashed her a small smile, cocking her head to the side, "Sorry, I didn't mean to grill you, but this is the first chance we've gotten to really talk and Draco is important to me and I needed to know you were serious about him."

"I am," Hermione said confidently, "And I understand your concern; my friends grilled Draco when we told them about our relationship. But he makes me feel like it doesn't matter what comes our way as long as we're together, you know? It feels like what I've been waiting for all my life."

Pansy reached her hand across the table and covered Hermione's, "So sweet," she drained the last sip of her cappuccino and set her glass down, shifting the mood, "So tell me about you now, what do you like to do, where are you from, what's your favorite color, all of it."

Hermione let out a laugh and settled against the back of her chair, ready to have a nice light chat. They sat there for another hour talking before Pansy looked at her watch and called it a morning to go meet Nev after his practice at the stadium. She'd promised to send an owl along again soon for another coffee date with less serious talk, and had left Hermione to read for a bit before Draco, Harry and Ginny would arrive.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Well, this is another chapter that ended up being just way way too long by the time I finished it so I had to split into two parts. The second half of this chapter is coming soon, complete with moooore romance - just in the editing phase. I promise it won't be another long wait! Hope everyone is doing well :)

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