Ch. 14

In the morning they both went to pack for their trips out of the castle and walked to the carriages on the edge of the property. Neville joined them since he would be heading home for the holidays too.

Both Hermione and Draco tried to keep the conversation on Neville at all times since they wanted to deflect any attention he cast their way. Neville noticed what they were doing and it made him uncomfortable.

When they got on the train Neville saw a compartment that had two other teachers in it and popped in as soon as he could. There wasn't enough room for all three of them.

Hermione kept walking and found an open compartment and Draco followed her inside and shut the door. They kept their distance and sat down directly across from one another. It was odd for Hermione to think of being away from him, and also odd that she was feeling so strongly about it. She realized that she had come to depend on his friendship more than she even dreamed possible. She decided to hold up her book but couldn't read as she tried to process her emotions.

Draco had looked up at Hermione periodically and she had a sad look on her face while she read. He couldn't bring himself to ask her what was wrong because he was afraid of giving away the sadness in his own voice. He realized it had been a long time since she had turned any pages.

When they reached the platform they both sat there for a moment. "I think you should go first," she said, holding back some tears as she looked away from him and pretended to stare out the window.

He knew that sound in her voice. Draco stood for a second, it was hard in that moment not to comfort her. He wanted to reach out to her but placed his hand on the door instead and forced himself to leave the cabin. Next thing she heard was the door closing and she closed her eyes as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

When he got off the train he could see her wipe something from her cheeks and stand up and leave the compartment. He turned and his mother was there to greet him, excited to see her son. He gave her a hug as Hermione left the train and pretended not to see him. She saw her own parents and gave them a big hug as Draco's mother turned around and saw Hermione and her parents and glared at them and made a tutting noise.

"I take it she's a teacher now too?" she asked Draco in a cold drawl.

He nodded his head, watching Hermione but not glaring. He had a pained look on his face. His mom had noticed.

"What's that look Draco?" her voice was full of surprise.

He looked away "It's nothing, let's go." He picked up his trunk and led his mom out of the station.

Being back at Malfoy manor was not pleasurable for him. After the war his father and mother were charged for their war crimes. His mother had served a year in the new wizard prison and his father was given a life sentence of house arrest after paying nearly all his fortune to not be locked up for life in prison. Draco was not charged because the wizarding world saw it as his parents' fault that he had any involvement, but being a Malfoy carried a stigma of shame that he would never be able to shake.

He loved his mother most, and although he loved his father he had lost almost any respect he had for him long ago. His mother felt she deserved the sentence she was given, and it nearly killed his father when she refused to let him pay for an easier sentence for her. During her sentencing, Draco spent most of that year with his father, locked up in the manor. It was the longest year of his life.

When she had been released and saw her son there waiting for her she was relieved. She thought he would harbor ill will towards her and her husband for getting him involved in their dealings with the dark lord, which she felt she fully deserved. Draco's forgiveness meant everything to her.

For years there was a cold distance between her and her husband that had gotten better after the war. Staying with Draco at the castle during the war was something she decided to do and when she told her husband she wasn't leaving her son, he stood by her. They both made a terrifying stand for love and it was the start of something new for them.

Lucious was happy to have his son back at home and wanted to hear all about his son's life. "How are things going at Hogwarts?" He asked.

Narcissa was the first to answer, "Lucious, you remember Granger, the friend of Potter's? She's teaching at the school with Draco."

Even though the war was over, Potter and his friends had been a snare in their side for a long time. The parents grew not to dislike Potter who was their own son's age, but they specifically didn't care for Granger, his muggle born know it all and very talented friend.

Lucious raised his eye brows. "Is that true?" he looked at Draco.

"Yeah." He didn't want to go into detail, Hermione was a subject he didn't want to talk about. "She's helped me out quite a bit this year…" he began, showing that any contact between them was amicable.

"You? How could that mud"

"Hey," he was cut off when Draco interrupted. He usually was the perfect son and never ventured to correct his parents, after the war he was more keen to speak his mind, but those moments were few and far between. "Not in front of me, okay?" He ignored his parent's looks and sat down.

Narcissa exchanged looks with her husband and spoke. "How has she helped you?" she asked.

"I had a Slytherin student sorted into my house who is muggle born and has been having a hard time. I asked Granger to talk with her and help her out…" He wasn't about to tell them about their friendship.

"How could that even happen, I've never heard of a…muggle born…being in Slytherin!" Lucious added.

"Don't know, that's on the sorting hat." Draco tried to steer the subject. His heart started to feel heavy, thinking about Hermione and missing her witty humor and being close to her. He started to feel distant in the conversation with his father and stared at him and nodded without actually hearing anything he said. His father didn't notice as he continued a rant about the sorting hat.

Hermione enjoyed spending time with her parents and was having a wonderful holiday. She missed being around Draco and her dreams began to get worse not having him there to comfort her. A few times she dreamed that he was torturing her instead of his aunt. On those nights she couldn't even get back to sleep.

A few years ago her parents had gone on vacation without her. When they came back, they noticed that Hermione had changed and she appeared to be struggling with something. She planned to restore their memories, but the more she thought about it, it was hard for her to try to explain she was in a war they knew nothing about, so she thought it best to keep them in the dark rather than worry them. They had tried to talk to her about her change in behavior a few times, but she just told them that since she was such a good teen, behaviors from her teen years must be setting in later than normal and she laughed them off.

After the holiday she went to the burrow for a few days as planned to celebrate the New Year.

All her friends were there, Harry and Ginny, Ron, and all the Weasley's. She was glad to see them again and quickly got them caught up on how she had been doing since most of them didn't bother to write as much as Hermione would like them too. She decided to leave a few things to herself.

Ron looked over at Hermione, "Heard you and Malfoy are getting along really well." He chided.

"Actually we are." She said in a matter of fact way that said the matter was closed for discussion.

In the morning she came to the table to eat her breakfast and visit when a post owl came in and dropped a letter for her. "Me?" she asked the owl, not sure who would be writing to her. She could see from the pen that wrote the hand that the letter was from Draco. She wanted to read it later when she was away from prying eyes, but the owl didn't budge. "Oh, alright," she said as she quickly read the letter.

He wrote the following:

Hermione,

Can I see you later today? I should have given you your Christmas present before we left. I won't stay long. If you agree can I come at 9:30pm just outside the main road to your friend's house?

Happy New Year,

Draco

She knew there was a get together at the Weasley's this evening and with so many people they might not notice that she was gone. She tore off a chunk of the paper from the bottom of his letter and wrote back yes and gave it to the owl.

Everyone was watching her, wondering who the letter was from. She tried to smile and began asking Harry some questions about his auror training.

Neville and Hagrid had come for the party as well as some of their other friends. There was singing and drinking and they had a lot to be happy about as they faced another year with Voldemort gone. She was enjoying the company and at 9:25 she told everyone she was getting fresh air and stood outside, walking to the main road of the property. She should have brought a jacket, it was freezing.

After a few minutes she heard a loud pop and Draco had apparated just a few feet in front of her. She was so relieved to see him that she nearly hugged him, but stood rooted to the spot, waiting to see how he acted towards her first.

"Hermione," he reached out to her, glad she had met him on time. He held her hand for a moment. "Your hand is so cold!" his fingers went up her arm and he could feel she was ice cold. He was so happy to see her and glad also for the excuse to get close to her right away. He took off his cloak while she protested and he draped it around her and kept one hand on the small of her back, bringing her in closer to him. "That's better. How have you been?" There was longing in his voice.

She didn't have much to share, other than she had been missing him quite a bit. She didn't think it was best to tell him that. "It's been good, getting to see family and friends. I've been wondering how you've been doing…"

"Oh, so you've been thinking about me Granger?" he said sarcastically.

"Shut up," she pushed him lightly. "Have you been sleeping okay?" She was concerned about him.

He noticed her tone sounded a little worried and wanted to reassure her "Well, it's been alright." He said not wanting to draw attention. She knew how his nights typically went for him. "Yours?"

"…not that great," she answered honestly. He could see she had a sad look on her face again.

"Well I got you something that might help you sleep better," he held out a candle for her, "or at least help you relax. I've been using it before bed and it's helped me. He blushed slightly but it was too dark outside to notice. She took the small glass container in her hand and saw that it was pretty.

"Thanks Draco, I got you something too," she pulled a book about advanced potions from countries around the world out of her hand bag.

"Cool, I've been wanting this!" he said as he flipped through the pages.

He looked down at her and she was smiling at him, happy he liked his gift.

"We'll be back at school soon Hermione, just a few more days, right?"

"Right," she said.

He pulled her in for a hug and she threw her arms around him, putting all her effort into the hug. It was several moments before they broke apart.

"Happy New Year Hermione," he whispered in her ear. Hearing his voice whisper to her gave her butterflies.

She leaned her face over on his and lightly pressed her lips to his cheek then released him. He felt heat rushing to his face. He had to resist the urge to turn and kiss her on the lips. He wasn't ready to let go of her as she moved in his hands, he instinctively loosened his grip and took a step back from her.

She started to take off the cloak.

"Just give it back to me at school," he waived off her arguments. "It's too late, I'm leaving." He started walking away from her, not wanting her to get any colder.

"Draco," she called out to him and he stopped. "Thank you," she said as she turned away and started walking towards the house. As she got closer she could see a few people from the party were outside, talking in a group. As she approached Ron called out to her.

"Oi Hermione," she walked closer to them all. "Next time your boyfriend comes over you know he can come in right?"

Hermione blushed and mumbled "not my boyfriend" loud enough for them to hear.

"I don't understand how it happened," Ginny started, "but if you're happy that's all that matters," she encouraged Hermione while Harry started laughing.

"Give it a rest Ginny, Hermione would never be interested in Malfoy," he said while laughing. He made eye contact with Hermione and when she didn't laugh he stopped as well. "Hermione?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly.

Ron and Harry were aghast and Ginny looked triumphant as Hermione turned to walk back inside the party. After visiting for a few short minutes she went up to her room and lit her candle.

The candle smelled like all her favorite things and smelled strongly of the evergreen smell that Draco usually had. He was right, the candle did relax her. Instead of ringing in the New Year with all of her friends downstairs, she spent it upstairs getting the first good rest she had in two weeks, thinking of the person who should be lying next to her. She was still wearing his cloak and having his scent around her relaxed her as she drifted off to sleep.

There were a few more days of vacation before she caught the express back to Hogwarts. She walked with her parents to the station and her dad carried her trunk for her through the platform. She saw that Draco was there with his mother and she tried to pretend both of them weren't there while she started to say good bye to her parents. Was she mistaken, or was Malfoy walking toward her?

Malfoy and his mother reached Hermione and her family and Hermione stared at him for a moment.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" he asked her in a whisper as she continued to stare at him. Draco was wearing his muggle clothes and his sleeve that covered his dark mark. She had to tell herself not to stare.

"Mom, dad, this is Draco and his mother, Mrs. Malfoy." She didn't feel it appropriate to introduce her by first name since they weren't on first name terms. She was surprised to see Narcissa shake her parents hands and not sneer afterwards. Draco looked pleased to meet her parents.

"Draco, so you teach at Hogwarts too. Hermione tells us you're head of Slytherin house?" Her father began.

Narcissa eyed Hermione curiously, she had mentioned her son to her parents?

Hermione was surprised how well her father had paid attention.

"Yes, it's been a good year so far. Your daughter is a great addition to our staff, we're lucky to have her." He blushed as he complimented her.

She sometimes hated it when he was nice because it was so unlike his character, but he sounded genuine.

Narcissa had looked like she was uncomfortable but it was obvious she was trying her best to be polite. She nodded her head at both parents and spoke quickly to Hermione. "It was nice to see you Ms. Granger," she said before turning away. Draco also nodded and followed his mom to say goodbye.

"What a polite young man," her mother commented.

"He's okay," Hermione added, looking at her stunned parents. "What?"

"You've only talked about him most of the trip," her father said.

Hermione gave a bashful look, things had gotten awkward. "Love you guys and I'll see you this summer." She said as she gave them one final hug and boarded the train.

When she got on there were teachers as well as students returning to school from the holidays so there wasn't going to be room to sit alone. She saw Draco was already sitting in a compartment and there was room for one more, but she passed it up to go sit with some students instead. He did his best to hide it but he felt a little dejected. Even if they couldn't talk openly, he just wanted to be in her presence and take in the sight of her. His heart lifted slightly when he saw she was still wearing his cloak.

When they were back at the castle grounds, Malfoy grabbed her trunk as well as his and put them on the carriage they were taking. She saw he had her trunk and got in the carriage and they took off together. They didn't share more than a few words during the ride.