Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is in this story, except the plot, and any characters that you do not recognize. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling!!!

Yankee Accents

Chapter Ten: England and Delaware

Written By: Auburn Lily

Two weeks after Hermione's visit with Molly, she flew back to Delaware. The morning was dreary and overcast, and the ocean was a steely gray, with sugary white caps that glazed the crests of waves. The further the plane flew south, the heavier Hermione's heart grew, until she felt it could fall with the rain that pelted the runway in the states. Thunder rumbled overhead as she collected her baggage, and lightening forked across the sky as she drove home in her run-down Honda Civic.

Her apartment was in a worse state of dereliction than when she had left. Unfortunately for her, the food that she had left in the microwave two months ago was now sprouting antennae.

Hermione's life had hit an all-time low. She felt worse now than ever before. Even after she had divorced Draco and come to live here. Her state of depression was unsettling, and she felt there was nothing she could do to mend the situation. She was sub-consciously angry with herself for leaving, and not just the last time. From the beginning. Perhaps if she had stayed with Draco, the one person she had ever, and could ever, love, she would be happy. Perhaps if she had stayed with Draco, brown-haired little girls would be running around Flourish 'N Blotts instead of tan Egyptian princesses.

Crookshanks was currently chasing the lively dust bunnies that haunted the corners of the apartment, and Hermione, taking pity on his sneezing soul, raised the wand that had made the trip back with her, and whispered, "Scourgify." The past two years of grim that Hermione had left unattended, including the shrimp fried rice monster, were wiped away to reveal cleanliness that she had thought she never would again see. Crookshanks, looking slightly putout at the lose of his playmates, sprawled across the moth eaten sofa. Hermione didn't argue with him.

Hermione truly wished that this was the way it could be. That she could simply "Scourgify" away the past nine years.

To put it bluntly, Hermione was still very much in love with Draco. And, quite predictably, there was nothing she could do about it.

She wondered if she even wanted to go back.

Draco was really her only reason for leaving, and he would really be her only reason for returning. He was, for some reason, repelling and compelling at the same time, and Hermione couldn't decide which force was more prominent.

Hermione set to work cleaning out her study, charming every thing to minute sizes and packing it all in a large, musty old trunk. Then she moved to her bedroom, which barely held anything anyway. She stripped the bed of the sheets and pillows, and piled them on top of the old, under-used books in the trunk. When she finished, she stepped back to admire the broken room, in all of its barren glory and wonder.

She dragged the trunk out into the front rooms, and set it next to her suitcases and shoes. Crookshanks observed her from a far, anxious curiosity etched across his squashed face.

She threw away the food that resided in the fridge, and she sent the garbage to the bin outside. She apparently didn't care about muggle precautions any longer. She conjured up a large can of fresh tuna and, after opening it, set it on top of the counter for Crookshanks to eat.

"Here," she said as she slipped her coat through her arms. "Eat this whenever, and then throw it out."

Crookshanks watched her with detached regard, and then laid his head back on the flat pillow. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, slipped her heels on, grabbed her purse, and shut the apartment door behind her, the iron numbers swinging on their rusty nails.

---

After Hermione called Jessa on her cell, she drove to the coffee shop across the street from the hospital. Jessa had told her she got off work in twenty minutes, so Hermione bought a coffee and sat down in front of the fire to wait. She had taken her shoes off of her sore feet, and now her panty-hosed toes toyed with the frayed, fading hearthrug.

Jessa limped in fifteen minutes later, and threw her purse done on an armchair before collapsing on top of it. She removed her nurses' cap from her head, and her tangle of inky-brown hair fell to her waist. Her dark eyes bled tiredness and her usually red lips were skin-colored and chapped.

"How was England?" she rasped as she tore her white keds from her blistered feet.

"Boring and unenlightening," Hermione replied darkly. "How's the hospital?"

"Boring and unenlightening," Jessa countered before getting up and ordering a double-chocolate latte with a double-chocolate brownie. She strode back to Hermione with her whipped cream mug, in one hand, and brownie-topped porcelain plate in the other. She sat down in her seat, only to shoot back up and kick her purse onto the floor with her feet.

"So," she said, as she got settled. "Let's go into more detail about your trip."

"Met Draco. Had sex. Found out he's married. Think I'm pregnant." Hermione replied bluntly, sipping her coffee in between each sentence.

"Hmmm," Jessa hummed, rubbing her chin with chocolate-laced fingertips. "Sounds quite serious. Who's he married to?"

"Some Egyptian whore," Hermione answered hostily, in a particularly crude manner. "They have four girls."

Jessa grimaced and took a sip of her latte. "Anything else happen worth noting?"

"I found out Molly's going to die, Harry's still in love with me, Ron got married to some Irish princess, and Draco's wife, Ausel-something-or-other, wants me to be his mistress." Hermione replied. "Oh, and I also got a job offer to teach at my old school next fall."

"Sounds quite exciting," Jessa said nonchalantly. "Are you going to take it up?"

"Surprisingly, I was seriously considering it. I turned it down at first, but now I'm reconsidering. I don't want to leave Molly, and if I am pregnant, I'm going to need a much more flexible job than hospital work."

"Well, if you do leave, I'm coming with you. There's nothing here for me anymore, and I can't stand it here. It's so boring when you're gone, and Jeroy has been a real jerk lately."

Hermione snorted and said, "I told you so."

"Don't even give me that," Jessa replied through gritted teeth.

"Anyways, I don't really think that you should come," Hermione said, guiltily. She had never told Jessamine that she was a witch.

"Why not?" Jessa demanded.

"Because there are a few things that you don't know about me," Hermione answered sheepishly.

"Well, than tell me," Jessa said simply, picking chocolate chunks out of her brownie, and popping them sporadically in her mouth or coffee mug.

"Well, I can't just tell you," Hermione explained. "It's a bit more complicated than that."

Jessa observed her through narrow eyes, and arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

'You can trust Jessa,' Hermione thought to herself. 'And you know you'd like it better if she was there in England with you.'

Hermione sighed heavily, and downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp. "Meet me back at my apartment. I'll show you there."

"Okay, I'll be right behind you, I just have to finish this brownie."

'See you in a bit."

Hermione strode out to her car, mentally noting that it was now late afternoon, and still torrential rain was spilling from the sky.

A/N: Hello everyone… I'm really sorry it's been such a long time since I've gotten a chapter out. This one isn't as long as I was hoping it would be (there is actually a part missing because I wanted to get the chapter out as soon as possible. That part will of course be included in the next chapter) and I'm really sorry if it's crummy work. I've been incredibly busy… but next week schools out, so hopefully then I'll have a bunch more time to write.

But anyways, down to business. I really do appreciate all of the reviews I have gotten (before this chapter goes up, I'll actually have more reviews than chapters-sarcasm is implied there), but those of you who don't review, and then expect me to update, are looking for something that won't be there for a while. When people don't review my story, I feel like no one is reading it, so I don't really have anyone to put it up for. I know that this thought in itself is ignorant, but when I don't have any reviews, I don't really feel motivated to write. So, in the end, I would really appreciate if more than one person reviews the chapters that I put up. And I think that I have reviewed all of the people who have reviewed my stories thus far. If this is untrue in any way, shape, or form, I beg your forgiveness, and please contact me immediately. But reviews really are greatly appreciated!! Thanks a bunch, and hope to have another chapter up this weekend.