When she awoke, night was falling outside her window. Shocked that she had managed to sleep through the majority of the day, she got up slowly and stretched, wondering why she felt so incredibly horrible.

It was only when she looked out the window and saw Lucius' broom standing up outside their front door that she remembered what had happened and instantly felt sick to her stomach. She sat down quickly to relieve the nausea and decided she had to see her friends. There were some things in this world that were okay to withstand alone, but Hermione had been through enough and needed her friends, now more than ever.

She grabbed her quill and parchment and jotted a quick note. "Harry and Ron, please meet me in Hogsmeade up by the Shrieking Shack this Wednesday at noon. I have loads of new information to tell you and I need your advice. Love, Hermione." She rolled up the note and attached it to the leg of Gadget, whom she had claimed with her when she made the move her new home. "Be careful," she whispered to the owl as he sailed out of sight.

She sat down on the bed again, placing her head in her hands. She didn't want to go downstairs for she knew Lucius would still be there and the last thing she wanted to do was face him while she was still so full of rage. "I'll wait a while," she told herself, pulling out her journal. She began to record more random thoughts that drifted in and out of her brain, determined to find a way to tell Harry and Ron the news without absolutely destroying either one of them.

How am I supposed to tell them that I have the chance to leave the place I've dreaded for so long, yet I can't find the courage within myself to do it? she wrote in her diary. For so long, I've craved to move out of this hellhole and back to my old home of Hogwarts. I realize now that that can no longer be, but Mrs. Weasley might let me stay at the Burrow. Hopefully, because if not, I have nowhere else to go.

She put her quill down and thought for a moment. What she had just written seemed like she was going to leave for sure and for the longest time, that seemed like the right answer. Everything in her mind pointed to her departure. But what would things be like if she stayed? Although the option was there, she had never fully considered it. Would Draco be kinder? Would he actually let her get a job and separate from his father's old-fashioned ways? Could she live under the same roof as him without being married to him, or would she marry him? That was the biggest decision of all, for she couldn't decide if she truly loved him or not. As Draco had claimed earlier, love was a powerful emotion and she didn't know him well enough to say that she was in love with him. It was too difficult. She loved Ron, didn't she?

That gave her something to think about as she waited for Draco to come up to bed. She saw Lucius sail off into the night around eleven, looking even more disgruntled than before. Hermione smiled faintly as she tried to picture the scene in her mind: Draco and Lucius arguing about whether or not Draco had the right to offer Hermione the chance to leave. She recalled the look on their faces when she had said she had to think about it. She imagined Draco was pretty convinced that she would be gone out the door before he even had a chance to finish his sentence.

She waited impatiently for him to come upstairs, wondering if it was right that they still sleep in the same bed. Hermione had a lot to talk about him with and she also needed his honest, unbiased opinion. She soon heard footsteps on the stairs but instead of heading towards the bedroom, she heard them fade away in the opposite direction down the hallway. A door opened and shut quietly somewhere upstairs and Hermione knew instantly that he had gone to sleep in the guest room.

Curling down under the warm covers, she shivered, not so much from the chill of the open window but more from the fact that when she needed Draco, he was so far away.

Two days later, Hermione and Draco still hadn't spoken. They tried to avoid each other as much as possible and Hermione only left the bedroom when Draco was at work. He continued to sleep in the guest room, giving Hermione the space she had asked for.

On Wednesday morning, she dressed quickly and ate a small breakfast before journeying out to Hogsmeade. She hadn't received replies from either Harry or Ron, so she assumed that they would be waiting for her at the Shrieking Shack, as she had asked. Upon entering the village, Hermione caught sight of Padma Patil, Parvati's twin sister, working in the Three Broomsticks. She considered going in for a quick drink but her watch told her it was a quarter to twelve and she had no time to waste. Draco would be home early that day and she was intent on talking to him.

Hermione took a seat on the grass by the hill of the Shrieking Shack. She scanned the thin crowds that paced up and down the cobblestone streets for a familiar sight of the messy black hair or flaming red hair. She squinted into the sunlight (the first sunny day in what seemed like forever) to a pair walking down the street, rather lopsided. As they got closer, Hermione's eyes settled on the scar she had known for seven years. Jumping up from her spot, she dodged the people in the streets to throw her arms around the two of them together.

"Whoa, Hermione!" Harry cried, smiling. "You're going to knock us over. Again."

It was then that Hermione noticed both boys were covered in dirt as if they had been rolling around on the ground. "What happened?" she exclaimed.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Ron decided it would be fun to take the 'short route' to the village from his house. Needless to say, it wasn't the safest."

"Those boulders weren't there before!" Ron insisted before beaming at Hermione. "How are you?" he asked tentatively.

"Okay," she answered, wiping away a few stray tears. "Things have taken quite a turn."

"You're pregnant," Harry stated and Hermione let out a half laugh, half sob.

"No," she said. "Things are much worse than that."

"Let's go get a drink and discuss things," Ron said quickly, eyeing the village around them. "Malfoy could be lurking anywhere and he'll kill us all if he sees us together."

"Watch what you say, Ron," Harry said, grinning as they entered the Three Broomsticks. "Hermione's now a Malfoy, too."

"That's just the trouble!" Hermione cried. "I'm not!"

All around them the chatter continued while the boys sat in silence as Hermione sobbed. "And this is a bad thing, why?" Ron muttered. Harry shot him a dirty look and Ron immediately went up to get three Butterbeers.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked gently, his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "You married Draco; therefore you are a Malfoy."

Hermione shook her head miserably as Ron returned from the bar. "Draco told me a few nights ago that his father hired a fake minister to perform the ceremony. We're not really married."

"That dirty slime!" Ron exploded but Hermione hushed him.

"Draco had nothing to do with it. It was Lucius."

"Big surprise there," Harry said, sitting back and taking a long drink from the mug in front of him. "Was there ever a time you doubted he wasn't really a jerk?"

"Draco gave me a choice," Hermione continued. "I can leave or stay and really marry him." She had decided that morning to make things less complicated. If she chose to stay, she would marry him. It just seemed right that way.

"Well, good, then!" Ron immediately looked more cheerful. "You can stay with us! Harry's already staying for now until he goes to live with Lupin for a while."

Something deep in the back of Hermione's mind jolted. Lupin. Remus Lupin and Lily Evans. Dare she tell Harry about his mother's so-called betrayal to his father? Would it make a difference?

"Mum surely won't mind," Ron continued, unaware of her hesitation. "Fred and George have included me in on the joke shop and we're moving it to a bigger venue, right here in Hogsmeade, actually. So there will be plenty of room at the house. What?" The look on Hermione's face had finally halted Ron's incessant chatter. "You do want to leave, don't you?"

Harry had frozen in the middle of taking a drink of his Butterbeer. He stared at the two of his friend as Hermione slightly shook her head.

"I don't know," she replied in a small, meek voice.

"You don't know?" Ron roared incredulously. "How can you not know? You hate Malfoy! You hate everything his family stands for!"

"Yes, but I've gotten to know him."

"Oh, well that solves everything then!" Ron cried, standing up. "I suppose if I had gotten to know Jack the Ripper, then he would have been an alright guy, too! Well, congratulations Mrs. Future-Malfoy! I hope you get screwed again like you did this time!" With that, Ron turned and stormed out of the tavern, half its customers staring in wonder. Hermione pulled her cloak further over her head and groaned.

"You can't really blame him," Harry said calmly. "For months now, all he's talked of is how great it would be if you left Malfoy and came to live with him. Then the opportunity is dangled right in front of his face and snatched away like a toy."

"I didn't say I definitely wasn't leaving!" Hermione cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "I'm just not ready to make that decision yet." She studied Harry closely. "You understand, don't you?"

Harry was quiet for several moments. "Hermione, I've had to make a lot of hard decisions in my life," he responded truthfully. "And I sometimes wonder if I could ever go back and change them. That's Fate for you; when you choose a path, it affects you for the rest of your life. I often wonder what would have happened had I chosen the other path."

"What should I do?" she asked timidly.

"I can't tell you what to do, Hermione," Harry told her, finishing off his Butterbeer. "But I will talk to Ron. He'll be okay after he settles down a bit."

Hermione nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Harry, for everything."

He smiled as he stood up. "No problem. Are you coming?"

She shook her head smiling. "No. I'm going to sit here and think for a while."

"It's loud in here, though."

"Sometimes, if you want to get answers, you have to listen to several different voices at once."

Harry winked at her and hugged her quickly. When he left, Hermione buried her face on the table in her arms and wept quietly.