The past week had not been a good week for Hermione. First there was yet another failure in Australia, leaving her rather hopeless when it came to her parents. Then Malfoy had stopped returning her letters, leaving Hermione in a state of confusion every time she thought of him. She had no idea what she'd done to upset him or if it was even her fault. And then, walking through London with Teddy and Harry, people had assumed that she was a mother and complimented her on how nice her family was. The first time it had happened Hermione had barely managed to get out an indignant, "I'm only eighteen!" before Harry had started laughing hysterically. Teddy had, of course, started laughing then too.

They'd been stopped on muggle streets no less than nine times before Hermione had insisted on going to Diagon Alley. There, at least, she knew people would know who they were and wouldn't assume they were a family. Teddy had been thrilled to go and see the shops, as most of the magic he saw was with Andromeda. It was almost harder to keep track of him though, because he ran off to look in every window. Eventually Hermione had to pick him up and carry him around, which had Harry laughing again.

Teddy was babbling excitedly after being passed to Harry, who was pulling them into Quality Quidditch Supplies, though Hermione wasn't surprised by that. Andromeda and Harry had gotten him a training broom for Christmas which had quite obviously been the boy's favorite present. Hermione had a feeling too, that growing up with Harry as a godfather would leave the boy with no choice but to like quidditch. After nearly an hour of looking at brooms though, Hermione was growing irritated. "Come on," she muttered sighing. "Can't we go to Flourish and Blotts? Wouldn't you like to pick out a new story for bed tonight, Teddy?" It was something Hermione had been doing since she'd showed up on Christmas eve; Teddy seemed to love Hermione reading him stories before he fell asleep. It really had been kind of Andromeda Tonks to invite her to spend the remainder of the holiday with her, Teddy, and Harry. It had probably been at Harry's insistence too, but Hermione didn't mind. She was too relieved that she didn't have to be alone to care.

"Yes!" Teddy said excitedly. He put his small hands on both sides of Harry's face so he would look at him, which only made Harry grin. "I wanna go,"

It had to be the boy's favorite and most clear phrase and Hermione smiled when he said it. "Not even five more minutes?"

"No,"

And with that they left the quidditch shop and made their way to Flourish and Blotts. Hermione was instantly at ease as they stepped inside; she stopped letting the rather bad week affect her and she smiled. Books really were wonderful ways to calm down. Teddy pulled Harry over to look at a selection of books with brightly colored covers while Hermione went to the back of the store to look at a book she'd heard a few girls in her year excitedly talking about in the great hall. Everything was beginning to go perfectly now, and Hermione was pleased.

Until she saw familiar blond hair.

It had to be Malfoy, as Hermione knew no one else with that exact shade of hair. His face was hidden behind a book, a rather thick one at that, and she was sure he hadn't seen her. Hermione was unable to stay calm then. He'd just stopped returning her letters. It was like he'd dropped right off the face of the planet, just like her parents. And so, folding her arms across her chest and fixing a cold expression on her face, she walked up to him. "I see you have all of the time to do anything, except reply to my letters apparently," Hermione said coolly. Hermione's anger didn't really cool down, as he decided to ignore her and shift the book closer to her face. "Malfoy," she said, a large frown growing. "Malfoy, I'm trying to talk to you!"

"Go away," he muttered, his voice just as cool as her own.

"No, I-"

"Granger get the hell away from me,"

His tone shifted ever so slightly to something that almost resembled fear, though Hermione had no idea what he would be afraid of. "Malfoy why did you just stop-"

"I said leave,"

"Not until you talk to me!" she demanded, yanking the book out of his hands. In an instant she went from being angry to more furious than she had been in a while. "Malfoy-"

"What part," he said, standing up and sounding just as angry as she felt, "of go away do you not understand?" He was glaring at her, Hermione knew, though the fact that his right eye was partially swollen shut made it less clear. It wasn't just his eye though, in fact the entire right side of his face made her feel as if she wanted to throw up. "Stop bloody staring at me!" he said furiously.

Hermione blinked and tried to tear her gaze away, but it wasn't working well. He was slightly swollen and it was obvious that he'd been badly bruised, but it appeared the bruising was starting to heal itself because much of his skin was a yellow-green color. It was only then that she noticed the bulkiness of his left arm, though she didn't want to mention that now. He seemed upset enough about her even seeing his face. "What happened?"

"That's none of your-"

"It's my damn business, Malfoy, don't you dare say it's not,"

"Why would it be-"

"We're supposed to be friends, aren't we?" she asked, cutting him off again. "And friends are supposed to, oh I don't know, write a letter when they've been beaten to a pulp!"

"I wasn't beaten to a pulp," he muttered, glaring angrily at his shoes.

"Well it's pretty close!"

"Whatever, Granger. Can you just leave me alone now?"

"You obviously don't know me very well,"

"What?"

"Look at you, Malfoy. I want the full story-Don't you dare protest, I think I'm owed that much after you stopped writing me-and then I'm going to help you,"

"And how do you plan on doing that, Granger?"

"By healing those bruises, at least that's the start,"

"If I wanted them healed I would have done it myself,"

"Well then why haven't you?" He was silent, still not looking at her, and still angry. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to just tear his book away when he was trying to get her to go away, but Hermione was glad she had. She just wanted to know what had happened to make him look so dreadful and she wanted to help; he could use her help. "Mal-Draco," she said hesitantly, watching as his eyes snapped up to meet hers. She'd used his name only once before but using it felt right in the moment. "Just tell me what happened?"

"Not-" Hermione was prepared to hear him tell her no again and tell her that he just wanted her to leave. Instead, he said, "Not here,"

"Come back with me then, all right?"

"Come back? Where, Granger, do you expect me to go?"

"I'm staying with Harry and Andromeda Tonks-" The side of his face that wasn't bruised paled and Hermione frowned; he was doing that quite a bit lately, or at least it felt like he was. "Who I just realized is your aunt, isn't she," she muttered. Hermione had known that Andromeda was Malfoy's mother's sister, but for some reason she hadn't made the connection that they wouldn't have been a close family. "I'm sure that if she saw you like this then she wouldn't object,"

"I'm not going there," he said once she'd finished. "Especially if Potter's going to be there too,"

"Is now really the time for-"

There was a sudden cry from a few shelves over, one that sounded far to familiar to Hermione. "Ne!" Teddy screamed. Hermione could hear Harry trying to calm the little boy down, but he'd never been amazing at that. "Ne!" He couldn't say her full name, it was too complicated for him and they'd all agreed that the last two letters would work.

"What on earth is that?" Malfoy asked, looking around with an expression that Hermione was sure was surprised.

"Teddy," Hermione said, looking to the shelf. She was about to run off to go find him and make sure everything was all right, but she had a feeling Malfoy would run off if she left him. "Come on then," she said reaching out and grabbing his arm. Malfoy shrunk back almost immediately, a hissing noise escaping his teeth before Hermione released him. "What-"

"That bloody hurts, Granger!" he said angrily, holding his arm against his chest.

"What-Oh just explain later," Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed his other arm, the right one, and pulled him toward the sound of the crying before Malfoy could say a word about it.

Teddy was still crying when they reached him and Harry, and Harry looked so relieved to see her he barely even looked at Malfoy. "He dropped a book on his foot," Harry explained quickly. "And then it bounced back up and knocked more off the shelf,"

Hermione sighed and bent down to pick up the crying toddler, who sniffed and hugged her tightly. He mumbled something that Hermione was sure meant something like I didn't mean to, though she already knew that. "It's all right," she whispered, trying to remember the right way to calm down children. She'd watched a few children during summer vacations for extra money for books, but it had been a while since she'd dealt with one his age. For a few minutes, as she got Teddy to stop crying, Harry and Malfoy just stared at her. It wasn't until Teddy finally giggled at something Hermione was saying that the two boys looked at each other.

Malfoy's face hardened almost immediately, but Harry simply looked shocked. "What-"

"Harry, I doubt he really wants to talk about it with you," she said quietly.

"But his-Hermione look at his face,"

"Unless Granger's blind, Potter, she's already seen it,"

Hermione threw him a glare. She wasn't entirely sure how Harry and Malfoy would act together, now that the war was over and especially now that Hermione was friends with both of them. She was hoping that meant they would be nice to each other, but there was no way to be sure. "Tired?" Teddy asked quietly, poking at her cheek and frowning.

"Just a bit Teddy," she whispered, watching nervously as Harry and Malfoy stared each other down. "And you?"

"Yes," he said, nodding slowly.

"Harry," Hermione said, taking his attention away from Malfoy. "Why don't you take Teddy back? He's getting tired,"

"Aren't you going to come?"

"No," she said, hoping it would end there. But Harry gave her a questioning look and opened his mouth to speak. "We have something to discuss," Hermione said, nodding toward Malfoy. She handed Teddy to Harry, who also gave her a confused look, but he smiled slightly a moment later.

"Bye-bye," Teddy said, waving as Harry carried him out of the shop.

"You're coming with me," Hermione said after they were out of earshot.

"Granger I really think you should just go back with-"

"I will not leave you here in this state," she said quietly. "And you're just going to have to deal with that,"

"But I-"

"What part of you're going to have to deal with it do you not understand?"

He stared at her for a moment, frowning. "Where are we going?"

"Corner of the Leaky Cauldron," she said, leading him out of Flourish and Blotts and toward the Leaky Cauldron. "And if you have a problem with that, well, then you'll have to figure out where we're going yourself," For a moment Hermione was afraid they were going to start arguing again, as she knew that she was irritated with him and he was irritated with her, but Malfoy only shrugged and followed her. He didn't seem to be in the mood for an argument which was good because Hermione wasn't either. The Leaky Cauldron was quite crowded when they entered it and Hermione saw quite a few eyes look at them with surprise, though Hermione sent a small glare back in their direction and led Malfoy to an empty seat. He stared at her, looking as uncomfortable as he had when she'd gone into his room. Hermione still couldn't believe that she'd slept in his room before the holiday; it was so incredibly unlike her to just fall asleep anywhere, though she had been very tired. She pulled out a small purse, much like the one she'd used last year, and began digging around in it. The best thing to heal his bruises would be the bruise removal paste that Fred and George had invented and Hermione knew that she had some in her bag.

"Maybe we shouldn't be here," Malfoy said. With anyone else Hermione would have been sure they were nervous, but he sounded calmer than he had the previous times he'd spoken to her.

"Why?"

"People are staring, Granger, and I don't need any rumors flying around. Not after the Daily Prophet this morning,"

Hermione blinked and paused her search as she looked at him. "What happened in the Daily Prophet this morning?" she asked. Malfoy stared at her, raising an eyebrow, and Hermione scowled. "Oh, please. You try being in a house with a two year old and getting to read the paper in the morning. I haven't looked at it since I got there; all Teddy wants to do is play. And not even with Harry right now, with me because apparently Harry's too good at chasing games or-" She realized she was rambling and found Malfoy to be rolling his eyes. "I take it you want me to shut up about him?"

"No, go on," he urged, beginning to smirk but looking slightly pained at doing so. "The longer you talk, the less I have to,"

"Right," Hermione muttered, resuming her search. "I still expect you to tell me the entire story,"

"Somehow I doubt that will happen,"

"Somehow I doubt you'll get out of my sight if it doesn't,"

"Granger I really don't need to talk through this,"

"Sure you don't," she said, rolling her eyes. "But you're going to, for my sake. I have a tendency to worry about my friends when they're hurt and if you don't explain to me what happened then I'm afraid I'll have to-"

"I get the point, Granger," he said, staring at her hand warily as she pulled out the small container. "What is that?"

"It'll get rid of the bruises," she said, not wanting to tell him that it was Fred and George who created it. Hermione was half sure he wouldn't let her use it on him if he knew it was designed by Weasley's, though if he tried to get out of it she would freeze him. Hermione frowned slightly as she scooted closer to him, which only made Malfoy look at her skeptically.

"What are you doing?"

"Well someone's got to put it on and it'll be easier if I do,"

"But I-"

"Please just let me do this, Malfoy. It will go a lot faster," He hesitated before nodding stiffly and staring at her with a blank expression. Hermione was tempted to ask for a smirk, as it made her more comfortable than the way he was looking at her now, but she didn't want to upset him. And so she simply dipped her fingers in the paste and gently applied it to the bruises that took up most of the right side or his face. "You can explain while I'm doing this," she said quietly, well aware that he was staring at her but choosing to focus only on the green on his face.

"I'm not sure I-"

"Malfoy I'm not going to take another one of your excuses. I want to know what happened, all of it. And if you could throw in why you decided to just stop writing me back too, that would be great,"

He was silent and his jaw clenched, but after a moment he let out a sigh. "They're intertwined, Granger," he muttered. Hermione paused, looking at him with a bit of confusion before continuing to try and apply the paste. "I left one laying around,"

"Didn't you plan on burning them? Why didn't you?"

"Granger if you want the damn story then you're going to have to deal with not having your every little question answered," he said quickly, almost like he hoped she wouldn't be able to agree to his terms.

Hermione knew that wasn't an option though, so she nodded. "Go on then,"

Malfoy continued with a small glare in her direction. "I left a letter out, from you. My parents never come into my room, so I didn't think about it," he explained. "They decided to look for me there a while ago, and they found it. Needless to say they weren't happy," Hermione was tempted to comment, but she kept her mouth shut and kept dabbing the paste on his face. "I was in the library. Apparently they'd decided to let my father speak with me; my mother probably didn't want to deal with a fight. It wasn't that bad at first, he was more angry than anything else," Hermione almost smiled; it sounded to her like he wanted her to be sure nothing too bad had happened. "But then he called you a-" Malfoy stopped again, glaring at her. "Could you not press so hard?"

"Sorry," Hermione muttered, putting the last of the paste on. "It should heal in about an hour,"

He nodded and sighed. "So am I done talking now too?"

"Definitely not,"

"Whatever," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "He called you a mudblood," The word rolled so easily off his tongue and even though Hermione hadn't heard him say it that year until then, she still found herself disgusted. It was vile; she wished he never said it again. "I told him not to and tried to explain why I was going against him, but he really hated that and-Damn it Granger, stop looking at me like that,"

"Like what?" she asked, though she knew she'd been starting to smile at him. She'd watched him stand up for her when it was with Ron or anyone else at school, but this was his father they were talking about.

"Just-Okay don't look at me at all, got it? It's going to be a lot easier to get out that way," Hermione rolled her eyes then and nodded before shifting her gaze to the table. For a long few minutes after she did that, Malfoy remained silent. Hermione glanced at him to see a pained expression on his face. She was only seconds away from telling him he didn't have to say any more when his mouth opened again. "He thought he could beat the opinion out of me," he said quietly. "Mother couldn't have known that was his plan, otherwise she wouldn't have allowed it to happen. But she didn't come until I-" There was another pause and Hermione looked at him only to find that he was staring at her forehead. Before she could think that it would make him uncomfortable, she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Granger what are you-"

"Just a reminder," she said quietly. "That I'm here or whatever," Malfoy rolled his eyes, but he didn't push her hand away.

"She didn't come until she heard me scream," he said quietly, still avoiding looking at her. "Of course I didn't scream until my father tried to get rid of the Dark Mark-"

"Wait, he did what?" Hermione asked, horrified.

"He tried to cut it off," Malfoy said awkwardly, his cheeks going a light shade a pink that Hermione was sure would have been darker had they been alone. "That's why it bloody hurt when you grabbed my arm,"

"I didn't know," she said immediately.

"It's not like I expected you to,"

"But why would he-"

"Honestly, Granger, I can't tell you. It was a little hard to hear what he was saying when I..."

"I understand,"

"It was something about not deserving it though, that or turning into a blood traitor,"

"But why would you be a blood traitor?"

"You know associating with someone like you isn't exactly what purebloods like my father think is acceptable,"

"And do you have a problem with it?" Hermione asked cautiously.

Malfoy stared at her, his eyebrows raising. Hermione was almost positive that she saw a hurt look flicker across his face but it was quickly replaced with a scowl. "If I had a problem with it at this point, Granger, I wouldn't be sitting here right now telling you about the shitty week I've had," He stood up then, fury taking over his expression. "If I had a problem with it I wouldn't have agreed to be your bloody friend. And I definitely wouldn't have been wandering around Diagon Alley ever since Christmas hoping that one of these damn days you would come around so I could at least see you!"

He stormed off before Hermione even had the chance to process his words. By then she didn't know where she would find him. It was with a defeated sigh that Hermione stood up and prepared to apparate back to Harry, Andromeda, and Teddy.