Chapter 13

Lavender knocked on the extra bedroom in the dorm that she shared with Ron. Hearing no reply, she silently opened the door and walked in. "Ron? Are you awake?" she asked as she saw him sprawled on the bed that he had conjured up to sleep. She waited for him to reply but realized that he wasn't listening to what she had to say.

Ron was staring into space, thinking about all that had gone wrong over the past year. How he had slipped up and cheated on Hermione. Hermione, the girl whom he had liked ever since their fourth year. Finally, after five long years, he had finally gotten her. The kiss that they had shared in that corridor, their first kiss, had felt like a dream come true. But then, he had to go on and ruin everything. He just had to cheat on Hermione. What was he thinking? In one moment of weakness, he ruined both his and Hermione's life. And, of all the women in England, in the world actually, he had to choose Lavender Brown. Lavender, the only girl who had managed to get on Hermione's nerves. The girl with whom he had managed to make Hermione cry multiple times in their sixth years.

Lavender looked at Ron, who was deep in thought, as she inched closer to Ron and nudged him awake. "Ron? Please, I need to talk to you," she whispered as he blinked rapidly and returned to reality.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I need to talk to you about something," Lavender said hesitantly as she gazed at him. "What?" he asked, leaning towards the bed's headboard. Lavender swallowed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "It's about Hermione. Hermione and you" she whispered, looking at Ron's face. "What about her? She's not talking to anymore, is she? I don't know what she's up to anymore," Ron muttered turning his head to stare at the canary yellow walls.

"And why do you think you are not talking anymore?" Lavender asked, trying to catch his eyes. "Really lavender? You don't know why she isn't talking to me? You didn't hear me bellow at her and blow my top off like a volcano in front of the whole school?" Ron asked her sceptically. "I was there, Ron. I heard it all. But what I'm asking you is why were you even angry at her? It wasn't really her fault, was it? Nothing that has happened over the past week is her fault. So why did you shout at her, and blame everything on her?" she asked slowly as if she was talking to a child and not a 19-year-old.

Ron stared at her, with his mouth open. "Well, I mean, she wasn't angry! She's moved on. She- she isn't upset anymore. I made a mistake, a really big one at that, and I hurt her. I know. But how did she get over me so quickly?" he asked rather quickly, the words tumbling out his mouth.

"No, that's not it Ron. Think about it. Why are you really upset? Is it because Hermione is over you, or is it because she got paired with Draco Malfoy. Is it because you are angry that she is over you, and isn't crying over you and has moved on, or is it because she isn't angry that she got paired with Draco, and that she isn't protesting against this?" Lavender pressed, trying her best to help Ron get his priorities straight. He ogled at her for quite a while, thinking to himself and trying to figure out why exactly was he angry. After quite a while, he nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, yeah you're right," he began. "It's a bit of both actually. I didn't even realize it until now."

"Well, now that you have, go to her," Lavender said, smiling as she got up. "Got to her? And do what? She won't even look at me, let alone talk," Ron said, his face falling. "Go apologize to her, you idiot! You can't force her to forgive you, but you can at least ask for it," She said and left him alone with his thoughts.

Draco cursed whoever was ruining his beautiful Saturday evening under his breath as he got up from his comfortable corner of the couch. Putting down his Potions textbook, he reached the door to the dorm and pulled it open to reveal Ron standing outside on tenterhooks. Raising an eyebrow, Draco crossed his arms against his chest and leaned against the doorframe. "Why are you here Weasley?" he asked, his words laced with venom. Ron swallowed hesitantly before answering "I need to see Hermione."

"Why? So you can taunt her and make her cry again?" Draco asked, seconds away from blowing his top off. Ron glared at him, taken aback seeing how Malfoy was defending Hermione. "What? No, I need to apologize to her," he whispered. Draco studied him for a few minutes while Ron grew steadily impatient and then slowly moved aside to let him in. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ron entered and walked towards the bedroom door. Draco followed him, trying to decide whether to leave them alone or to stay with them in case things got out of hand.

What happened suddenly that Weasley was so eager to apologise to Granger? Did someone set aside time to knock some sense into him, urging him to correct his mistakes? Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts, he pushed past Ron and knocked on the bedroom door, calling for Hermione. After a moment of shuffling, Hermione opened the door, holding a quill and roll of parchment, meaning she was still working on her assignments.

"Dr-Malfoy, what's wrong?" Hermione mumbled as she put the quill and parchment aside, and began pressing down creases on her clothes. "Nothing's wrong, someone's here to talk to you," Draco said and retreated to settle onto the couch. Hermione stared at Ron with wide eyes, wondering why he was here. "Hey Mione," Ron said, grinning sheepishly. Draco snorted, listening to Ron being stupid, causing Hermione to look past him stare at Draco incredulously. She whipped her head back to glare at Ron. "What are you doing here Ronald?" Hermione asked calmly. "I wanted to apologize to you," Ron whispered, hoping Draco won't hear. Nodding slightly, Hermione entered the bedroom and beckoned Ron to follow.

"Who is it?" Hermione asked as soon as she shut the door behind her. Ron stared at her, oblivious as to what she was talking about. "Who's who?" he asked. Hermione scoffed at him and shook her head. "Who convinced you to accept your mistake and apologize to me?"

"Oh, it was actually Lavender," Ron muttered. "Look Hermione, I-I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight, and I just everything just burst out of me. I didn't mean a word of it. You are the best witch I have ever met! If it hadn't been for you, I and Harry wouldn't have survived so long. You're brilliant, really. I'm the git," he said quickly. Hermione sat down on the bed and nodded at him to continue.

"I made a huge mistake, and I know that I hurt you. I shouted at you because I was angry. You were over me, and you were not upset when you got paired with Malfoy. It made me think that maybe you didn't really love me, and that's why you were over me within months. And, I thought that you would be angry, and furious when you got paired with that Ferret," he said.

"Ron, I did love you, but I got over you because I convinced myself that you were happy without me. Ginny and Harry helped me through it, and I am okay now. Don't think that it was because I didn't love you, because I did," Hermione said, running her hand through her hair. "and besides, I survived a war. Don't you think I'm strong enough to hold out through a break-up?" she finished, smiling slightly.

"I know you're strong. I'm just stupid like I have always been. But, why aren't you angry that you got paired with Malfoy? He bullied you, bullied us, for years. He called you a Mudblood and what-not?" Ron asked sitting beside Hermione. "Ron, don't you get it? He's changed. His father forced him to be a Death Eater and he did it to protect his mother. He-he apologized to me. He realizes his mistakes, and that's what matters. I'm not happy that he is my fiancee, but I'm not furious either. We'll try to make it work till we're supposed to and then we will get a divorce," she explained, smiling at him.

"Are you sure he's changed?" Ron asked her tentatively. "Yes, Ron. He apologized to Harry and Ginny too. He's trying to be friendly. He really has changed, and I'm sure he'll apologize to you," Hermione said and got up. "Wh-what? No, that's okay, I don't want to talk to him," Ron said, too quickly. "Yes you do," she whispered before opening the door.

"Malfoy?" she called to him as she approached him. He looked up from his textbook, his eyes narrowing. "Yeah? Did Weasley say something?" Draco asked, putting his book aside. "Oh, no, he apologized to me," she replied, wondering why he was concerned. "And, I want you to do the same," she said. "Who am I supposed to apologize to? And why am I supposed to apologize?" he scoffed at her, reaching for his book again. "To Ron. You apologized to Harry and Ginny, and he deserves an apology too. You taunted him as much as you did us," Hermione stated. "Fine," Draco whispered, throwing his book aside. She smiled brightly at him and returned to Ron with him in tow.

"Weasley," he said, his jaw clenching. "Malfoy," Ron said, standing up. "I am sorry for all the times I taunted you and your family. It was wrong and disrespectful of me, and I shouldn't have done that," Draco said, his eyes focused on the rug spread across the floor. "It-It's fine, but I gotta warn you," Ron said. "What?" Draco asked, lifting his head. "If you call Hermione names again, I and Harry'll make sure you never speak again," Ron said calmly, but with rage. Hermione's eyes widened and she pulled Ron aside. "I'm sorry, he didn't mean that, did you Ronald?" she asked, her eyes drifting between Draco and Ron.

"I did!"

"He's right."

They both said at the same time. "Wait, what?" Ron asked, looking at Draco. "You're right. I don' think I'll call her names again, but if I do, it would only be fair if you do that," Draco said, the corners of his mouth rising slightly into a smile. "Okay, I think I'll go now then," Ron said and hugged Hermione before leaving. She followed him out to close the door behind him. She returned to find Draco sitting on the bed, waiting for her.

"Draco, did you really meant that?" she asked him softly, sitting beside him. "What? About calling you names? Yeah, I did," he whispered, smiling. "Thank you," Hermione whispered and stood back up. "It's been a week that you've been sleeping on that awful couch, and I'm sure it hasn't been very good for your back, has it? So, you can take the bed for the next week, and I'll sleep on the couch," she said, grabbing a pillow. "No, that's fine. The couch is quite comfortable, and I can't let a woman sleep on the couch while I am sleeping on the bed," Draco said, rising from the bed.

"Thank you. That's very sweet of you," she said and flopped back onto the bed. "Goodnight Hermione," Draco said, closing the door behind him. "Goodnight!" Hermione shouted back as she laid back down and begged sleep to return.

rooske01: Well, I'm sorry I disappointed you. What I wanted to convey through the last chapter was that even though Hermione is taking this Marriage Law thing pretty well, she still has doubts that Draco would go back to being the mean and obnoxious person he was years ago. She then comes to terms with the fact that he has actually changed and that he won't ever be as cruel and mean as he had been as a child. Hope his clears it up and that you liked this chapter XX

StarGirl114: Thank you so much for understanding. Hope you like this chapter.

Vision173: Thank you so much. I just believe that Draco has a soft side and he refuses to let his guard down and let anyone see the vulnerable side of him.

scrappy8: Thank you XX

YourFan: Things are better than before. Not good, but that's just how life is, isn't it?

LiterarianRose2995: Glad you liked the joke. That was actually something I said in real life to my friend and we had just burst out laughing while I was still in tears.

Lots of Love,

Until Next Time,

Cheerio!

XOXO