AN: Thank you for all the support! It is very deeply appreciated!

"How much longer do you think it will take Hermione to seduce Uncle Severus?" Draco lowered his menu and met Ginny's eyes.

"She claims to be getting closer," Ginny put her hand around the stem of her wine glass.

"But…"

"Well, she's made some interesting decisions this last week which I think could harm her chances with him."

Draco lowered his voice. "What kind of choices?"

"I think it was a mistake to let her hair return to its usual form and to forego the makeup." Ginny raised her glass to her nose. "She looked cute with her new look, but she incinerated the products I gave her."

"She isn't straightening her hair anymore?"

"No." Ginny inhaled the scent of her cabernet. "But she says Severus prefers it that way."

"Has he told her that much?"

"She claims a week ago he mentioned it was more natural. Other than that, he seems to have no opinion on it."

"That's Uncle Severus for you, never telling anyone what's on his mind." Draco returned his attention to the menu. A few moments ago, he had settled on the eggplant parmesan. Still, his mind wandered to the chicken piccata. The latter sounded delicious, but he knew from experience the former was divine. Was he willing to try something new, or stick with what he knew? The decision was more difficult than he cared to admit…

"They've started having tea in the library," Ginny continued.

Draco took his eyes off the menu. "Oh really."

"Yes, they've been doing that for a week. Severus makes the tea, and she provides the biscuits. They research while they enjoy tea time."

Draco hummed.

"I'd imagine it's a good sign that Severus is opening himself up to her a little," Ginny took a sip of her wine.

"It's an excellent sign. Uncle Severus rarely shares tea with anyone. If he's having tea with her, that means he's warming to the idea of her as a friend." Draco frowned. "Too bad we need him to be in love with her, sooner rather than later."

"Patience," Ginny took another sip of her wine. "We knew it was unlikely that he would fall in love with her overnight."

"True." Draco exhaled. "And Uncle Severus doesn't fall for anyone, at least not easily. I should be impressed that Hermione is working as quickly as she is."

"It isn't fast enough for you though." She put down her wine glass.

"No." Draco sighed.

Ginny gave him a sympathetic look. The candlelight between them softened her features. He relaxed.

"I can encourage her to work faster, although I don't know how advisable it is for her to push your godfather," Ginny warned.

"No, if we encourage her to push Uncle Severus harder, she'll just drive him away. We'll be in a worse position than we are now."

"Agreed."

Before either could say another word, the waiter appeared. Ginny order the chicken alfredo while Draco settled on the eggplant parmesan. Sometimes it was nice to stick with what one knew, especially if it was cheaper.

"So," Ginny drawled. "Has anything else of note occurred?"

"Shouldn't you know the answer to that?"

"No, I don't have your schedule in front of me."

"You don't need to pretend you didn't see The Daily Prophet," Draco began. "I'm well aware of the front page story."

"What front page story?" Ginny picked up her wine glass once more.

"You haven't read it?"

"No, between this and practice I've had no time to check on whether an owl has even come to my apartment."

"Hannah and Astoria graced the cover."

"Oh." She sat up straighter. "What did they say?"

"They just got married."

"Ooh." Ginny scratched the table. "That has to hurt."

"It doesn't. I'm honestly happy for them." His lips twitched upwards.

"Really?"

He nodded.

"I sense a but."

"Father isn't. He's going to be so upset." Draco groaned. "He won't be able to shut up about this for the next week or so."

"He seems more upset about all this than you do."

"You have no idea, Draco moaned.

"I might actually," she answered. "Mum and Dad were upset when I broke up with Harry. It took them almost two years to shut up about it."

"Did they tell you that you'd soiled the Weasley name forever and exposed them to disgrace?"

"Nothing quite that extreme, though they made it clear they were disappointed that Harry would no longer be their son. Mum accused me of shattering one of her most cherished dreams of welcoming him into the family, and Dad accused me of being a tease and breaking Harry's heart. It was a personal offense that I had fallen out of love with Harry."

"Isn't it weird how parents make the entire breakup all about them?"

"I don't think everyone's parents behave that way, but ours certainly did."

"Agreed." Draco picked up his wine glass and sniffed his white Zinfandel.

"I don't think Mum's ever looked at me the same since I broke up with Harry. There's a distance between us which wasn't there before. Sometimes, things are awkward between Dad and me too. Sometimes I wish I'd never developed a crush on Harry. It would've kept their expectations in check."

"I wish it was different for you."

"I wish it was different for you too."

"To meddlesome parents." He raised his glass.

"To meddlesome parents." Ginny clinked her glass against his.

Together, they took a sip of their wine.

"Why did you break up with Potter? You pursued him so hard when we were in school, yet you broke up with him only a couple of years after graduation." Draco asked.

"We both realized the only we were dating was because it was expected of us." She lowered her glass.

"How so? You seemed to genuinely love him."

"I had a huge schoolgirl crush on him, but after the war it became clear that we only had Quidditch and my family in common. A year into the relationship we were just going through the motions."

"The Daily Prophet said you were going to be engaged though."

"Harry brought that up the day we broke up. He asked if I had ever envisioned us being married, and I admitted I hadn't. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'me neither.'" Ginny grinned. "We had a big laugh about it, hugged, and announced our breakup to my parents."

"That sounds, amicable."

"It was," she answered. "We're still friends to this day. He goes to my games occasionally, and I attended his wedding to Luna, at their request."

"At least you were able to salvage something."

"Yeah, not everyone can do that."

"I wish I could've maintained a relationship with Astoria, but she stole my money. It's a bit hard to come back from that."

"It would be."

"I don't even know why she did it." Draco shook his head. "I would've given it to her with if she'd asked."

"You would've paid for her to go away?"

"That's a bit harsh, but I would've helped her start her new life, one where she could've been happy."

"That's really generous of you." Ginny took another sip of wine.

"It has little to do with generosity, but everything to do with being glad she was finally living life her way."

"Did she never want to be with you?"

"No," he said. "And I knew that going into the relationship."

"You did?" Her eyes grew.

"Yes, she came out to me as a lesbian the day we began our, uh relationship."

"Why on earth were you two seeing each other if she was not interested in you?"

"We were purebloods, so it was expected that we marry and have children. Because I was a Death Eater, I was a pariah. I thought she'd be the only one who would be interested in me. At the time, she wanted children, and wanted to please her parents. It seemed workable from those angles, even if she would never be attracted to me."

"Matters of the heart aren't business transactions though," she argued. "At least they shouldn't be."

"I know that now, but at the time I thought I could endure being with someone who didn't love me. Astoria did too, until she discovered she had a curse which was slowly killing her."

"Oh Merlin," Ginny whispered. "I had no idea."

"Very few people do. Please don't tell anyone you know."

"I won't, I promise."

"Good," Draco said. "She didn't take the news well, which is why she began frequenting the Leaky Cauldron and having a few shots of Firewhiskey in her spare time."

"And Hannah owned the pub."

"Yes, Astoria told me Hannah would watch out for her when she drank, just to make sure she wasn't being harassed by any of the rowdier patrons. Astoria noticed her watching one night and picked a fight with her. If you believe the story, Hannah yelled, 'forgive me for caring about you!' Astoria said she was so touched anyone outside of the Slytherin House would care about her she broke down in Hannah's arms and cried. That's probably where their love affair began."

Ginny hummed.

"She began going there every night, and coming home later and later. I didn't think much of them spending so much time together at first. I noticed she was becoming distant, but I figured that may be just pre-wedding jitters. Still, she was rarely drunk, so I knew she wasn't an addict. She always seemed happier after her outings too. Then…."

"The galleons were gone, and she and Hannah had run off to the United States."

"Astoria was finally living life the way she wanted." Draco smiled. "I can't fault her for that, though I wish I'd been given some warning that I would be out some galleons."

"Things should've been handled better, but I admire you for seeing things from her perspective."

"I would rather her be happy with Hannah than living the rest of her life miserable with me. For that alone, I'm glad she's with her."

"If only Lucius would shut up about it."

"Yes." Draco exhaled. "If only he didn't see the whole affair as a personal affront and blame me for choosing the wrong woman."

Only the low chatter of the other patrons could be heard as they drank their wine. Draco examined Ginny. That brown dress brought out the red highlights of her hair nicely, as well as the sparkle of her brown eyes.

His thoughts did not end at her physical appearance though. Very few people could understand having an overbearing parent such as Lucius. Still, Molly Weasley was no walk in the park. Angelica's parents had been so hands off it was hard for her to relate to his problems. It was nice to have a friend who understood him…

"Draco?"

His mind return to the present moment.

"Since we're on the subject of happiness." She swallowed. "Hermione has mentioned being afraid that Severus is going to be miserable when all is said and done."

"I would imagine he won't be happy. Very few people take pleasure in being dumped," he admitted.

"Do you think there's any way at all to address her concerns, to make things easier for Severus when things end?"

"It will be up to Hermione what she does with Uncle Severus once she receives her last payment. Although," Draco swallowed. "I hope she lets him down easy, if that's what she plans to do."

"If he understood the situation, he may understand why she did what she did."

"It won't change the fact he was played like a violin."

"But in the meantime, he's happy, correct?"

"If Hermione is telling the truth, then he's feeling something akin to happiness."

"And happiness based on a lie is better than none at all, right?"

"I honestly don't know," Draco admitted.

"Neither do I," Ginny whispered.

Draco stared into his wine glass, hoping whatever happened, Hermione would find someway to salvage his godfather's sense of self-worth.

Merlin knew he deserved some true happiness.