The rest of the ride was peaceful, Hermione fell asleep on his shoulder and Draco read some more of his book. When the carriages dropped them off they snapped into professional mode, seeing random students everywhere they looked. They made their way to their separate chambers with a quick wordless goodbye as they parted.

Hermione's mind was racing the second they parted, unable to shake her torn feelings. She liked him, that much was clear. Did she trust him? In some ways. Could she see herself with him long term? Sometimes. She was never this indecisive or reckless with her love life. Then again, Ron was the only real relationship she ever had, and that wasn't a high bar. She felt automatically guilty for diminishing her relationship with Ron, but she knew it to be true. Her experience with Ron was linear. Sure they fought a bit as children, but nothing about that crush or relationship was a risk. He was familiar and he was comfortable…until he wasn't. Hermione shook her head, forcing her mind to move on from that subject. She was determined to try something different with Malfoy, go with the flow, let her emotions make decisions for her. It was easier to do that now anyhow, without the wizarding world's future hanging in the balance based on her actions or lack thereof. Hermione made a point of ignoring her racing brain, she instead made a mental checklist of things to accomplish today. Though busy she was, she also wondered how long it would be before Draco returned from his visit to his mother.

Draco was also combing through his rapid thoughts. He couldn't believe Hermione would ever be interested in him as anything, much less romantically. He kept replaying the kisses in his mind, wanting to feel them again and again. He couldn't believe how well she could read him, it almost creeped him out. He had gone his whole life being stone cold, only for Hermione to see right through him. He noticed himself smiling as he looked at his bathroom mirror. He knew he shouldn't get his hopes up, that Hermione could change her mind any minute now. He also couldn't shake the nagging feeling that his father's release would hinder this new development. Draco quickly got dressed and made his way to the greenhouse. He wasn't surprised at all that Neville was already there waiting, as he was running a bit behind today.

"Sorry I'm late." Draco greeted, patting Neville on the back.

"All good." Neville said cheerfully, and the two headed off to the edge of the grounds, where they could apparate to St Mungos. "I heard about your father…" Neville said sheepishly.

"Did you?" Draco questioned dryly. Neville nodded but didn't say anything else on the subject. It seemed his voicing of the fact was his way of offering an olive branch, one that Draco was ignoring. "Have you ever tried to fix them?"

"My parents?" Neville's shock was evident. "I'm not much of a healer, so no." Neville answered thoughtfully and looked down at his feet.

"You're the herbology teacher Longbottom."

"Yes I know that." Neville's voice was a smidge above normal, showing some annoyance.

"Don't plants heal people?"

"Yes but I grow the plants so that others can manipulate them to use them for healing purposes." Neville retorted, stopping in his tracks. "Malfoy…don't go down this hole. If there was promise for a cure, St Mungos would be the first to know." Neville's tone was wise, as if this particular idea he already suffered for. Draco was silent for a long time before he spoke again.

"I don't give up easily." He said, beginning to walk again and Neville followed his lead.

"Well that's going to come in handy." Neville said with a laugh. "Hermione." He added, seeing Draco's confused expression.

"I don't know wh-"

"Come off it mate!" Neville cut him off, surprising even himself when he used mate. "I've known Hermione since we were eleven, don't try to lie to me about what is or isn't going on." Neville seemed to be protective of Hermione, and Draco was quite happy about that. He liked that she had people around that cared about her. "Look at you! You like her, I've never seen this expression on you before." Neville was laughing, and Draco laughed with him after a second or two.

"I'm ignoring you." He finally answered, and this just increased Neville's confidence in his theory. They had now reached the edge of the property and promptly left with a POP and landed in front of a condemned department store called Purge and Dowse Ltd, which served as a magical gateway to St Mungos. They checked their surroundings and stepped through the brick wall, and arrived at the magical hospital.

They were here so often that the Welcome Witch no longer needed their names for check in. They walked right past the desk and watched as the pen wrote their names down. Name tags then appeared on their chests as they walked the halls. When they reached the Spell Damage wing on the fourth floor, they parted ways with a slight nod. Neville's parents were at the end of the hall and around the corner to the left, while Draco's mother was at the third door on the left when you entered the wing. Draco watched as Neville disappeared out of sight, and took a deep breath before entering his mother's room.

Narcissa Malfoy lay motionless on an white hospital bed, a shell of the woman Draco remembered. Draco approached and sat at her bedside, cupping her hand with his. For a long moment he sat there, stroking her hand and watching her breath methodically. He took an exaggerated breath and cleared his throat.

"Hey ma…first week of school this week. I have Nott's nephew, who's an insufferable little brat. I've already given him two detentions, but it doesn't seem to matter to him. He reminds me so much of me ma, righteous and reckless. Thinking that his pureblood status makes him untouchable. If only I could show him where it all gets you." Draco's voice broke and he cleared his throat. "I've been researching a lot ma, trying to bring you back to me. I need you more than ever, with dad getting out…I don't want to face him alone." Draco's voice was sad, his eyes filled with emotion. "Granger kissed me." He blurted out and laughed lightly. "Who would've thought that would have been my news to share. I think I like her, time will tell."

Draco spoke to his mother for a long time about everything going on in his life, and then kissed her on the forehead and left her room. He didn't see Neville yet so he started walking slowly in that direction. He stopped at the corner, seeing Neville leave his parents room in tears. That was unusual for him. Neville always seemed so used to this sad life, but today he was the one with red eyes when he met with Draco.

"You okay?" Draco asked the silly question, knowing full well nobody in this situation is ever okay.

"I…"

"You don't have to tell me." Draco said quickly, noticing Neville's reluctance.

"No it's okay." Neville answered, waving his hand in the air. "Some days are harder than others…" Draco nodded. "...sometimes I feel like I'm pausing my life to wait for them, but what if they never come back." Neville was sniffling as they walked back through the wall onto the muggle street. They left with a POP and appeared right outside the Hogwarts boundaries.

"How are you pausing your life?" Draco asked, trying his best to sound sympathetic as they walked.

"Luna wants kids."

"And you don't?"

"I do, but part of me feels like I'm not ready. Maybe that's because of my parents, maybe it's not, I dunno." Neville ran his hand nervously through his hair.

"Luna seems patient enough, it'll work out." Draco said reassuringly and they walked back in comfortable silence.

Hermione spent her day setting up her lessons for the week and researching some magical remedies for Draco's mother. He didn't ask her too, but she felt she should help if she could. She spent hours in the restricted section, looking through spell damage medical books and dark magic residue books. She didn't realize how long she'd been in there until she heard a familiar voice greet her from behind.

"Hey bookworm." Draco said, sneaking a kiss on her cheek before sitting across from her. Hermione tried to hide the books from his sight, but he already saw them and his smile faded. "Are you researching for my mom?" He asked, his eyes unreadable.

"And Neville's parents." She covered, but Draco wasn't fooled. He leaned toward her quickly and kissed her softly, Hermione reacted too late and he was already sitting back in his chair. "Sweet of you." He said, picking up the dark magic book. "I never thought to look in one of these."

"Well I know technically Cruciatus isn't dark magic, but it basically is because it's unforgivable." She said, and Draco's eyes lit up. He jumped from his chair.

"I need to talk to Potter." He said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, but she grabbed his collar.

"Tell me." She demanded, their eyes locking and heart rates rising.

"Come with"

"Deal." She answered, and jumped up to join him. She quickly put the books back in their places and they rushed out of the library, getting a look from Irma.

Hermione pulled him towards her chambers, not needing to explain that she had Harry's place hooked up to the floo network. She rushed in, stepped in the fire, threw the powder and stepped out in Harry's living room where Ginny was reading a book on the couch.

"Well hello, welcome to my home." She said sarcastically and shot them a look as she closed the book.

"I need Potter." Draco said.

"Don't we all." She answered, rolling her eyes and pointing to the kitchen.

"Potter we need to talk…" Draco said a little out of breath.