A/N - Okay, firstly, thank you all for the nice reviews. This chappie has a stupid title, I know, but again all my creative genius was used up in righting the chapter itself, so please ignore it. Nothing much to say since Elfinmaiden hasn't reviewed yet and asked me any questions (glares at Elfinmaiden) so on with the chapter...

Chapter 12 – The Past, Present and Future

Harry took them for lunch to a small restaurant near the apartment, called Shooting Star. They had a pleasant lunch where Hermione noticed more and more how deeply Harry had fallen in love with Laetitia. She was rather captivating, with her wise, innocent ways. Hermione couldn't help liking her and she felt again and again that she was just the right girl for Harry.

After that, Laetitia said she had to go home and Harry kissed her goodbye softly on the lips. He took Hermione back to his place and made her tea.

"What do you think of Laetitia?" he asked her, somewhat tentatively.

"She's wonderful," replied Hermione, smiling. "She's very unique and very beautiful."

"Isn't she?" said Harry, his whole face lighting up. "When I bumped into her at the book shop a year ago and she said sorry in that long, beautiful way of hers...I couldn't help it. I invited her for coffee and within a few minutes she had gotten me to agree to let her help do up my apartment. She's so amazing."

"I can't blame you. And I do think she's perfect for you," she replied.

"Yeah, and she's trying to become a painter," he said, though he had already said it five times that day. "She paints so beautifully."

Hermione looked up at the picture of snow-capped mountains that Laetitia had made for Harry and completely agreed with him. "She does. I don't think she'll find it at all hard to make it big."

Harry smiled and seemed to get lost in his thoughts, until he said abruptly, "Oh, I have to tell you something important."

"What?" asked Hermione.

"There's a small area in Scotland, which is quite uninhabited except for a few villages, and there've been an alarming number of killings and kidnappings there lately. Now, usually Professor Dumbledore wouldn't bother himself with things like this, but we have information that leads us to believe that an unnamed Death Eater is currently residing there and you know how enraged the Death Eaters were after Voldemort's death; they vowed to take revenge. It's possible that this Death Eater is gaining power and is behind the killings and kidnappings. If that's the case, he has to be stopped before he gains enough power to come to London and attack here."

Hermione had sat up and was listening interestedly. An old fire had entered her eyes. "So what are we going to do about it? Do we have to go to Scotland?"

"Not yet. Dumbledore's sent a few members of the Order there to see if they can find anything. It may be a false alarm, but we're not taking any chances," replied Harry.

"Hmmm..." said Hermione distractedly.

There was silence for a few moments, until Hermione suddenly asked, "Harry, do you think Draco might know something about this? I mean, his father was a Death Eater."

"I don't know," he replied. "He might, but I'm not sure. You could casually mention it to him and see how he reacts. If he seems open, ask him carefully."

"All right, but I can only ask him on Sunday and that's going to be a little tough, considering it'll be his engagement party," she said. "By the way, how come he invited you?"

"I don't know. I was pretty shocked myself," replied Harry. "I wasn't going to go, but I realised that since it's a Malfoy party, there might be interesting people there, if you know what I mean. Who knows? We might just discover something important."

At the same time, thunder was brewing at some distance.

"You called Harry Potter for your engagement?" came a cold, angry voice.

"Yes," replied an equally cold, though not angry, voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS?" thundered the first voice.

"Nothing. I just mean that I called Harry Potter for my engagement," replied the second voice.

"He is our enemy! He is the one responsible for the downfall of our Lord! How could you?" exclaimed the first voice.

The second voice became chillingly cold. "He was not my Lord."

"He was our Lord! He was your Lord! If not him, then who? That wheezing, old Dumbledore? If you think you will achieve fame and glory through that man, you are much mistaken," said the first voice.

"I don't want the fame and glory you speak of," replied the second voice, in a cold, but soft, tone.

"You are going against the wishes of your whole family! What will people think? Do you know that we have invited those whom Dumbledore would love to get his hands on? Those whom he didn't even know were still alive? And what will happen once that Harry Potter goes back and tells him? What face will we show to our society?" asked the first voice, clearly exasperated.

"That is your concern and not mine. I am not interested in the woes of your society," replied the second voice, ice cold.

"You speak as though you are a stranger to our family, Draco. You are the heir. You have certain duties to fulfil. I forgave you the first time you went against us, but I will not forgive you again. If you do anything to ruin this alliance, you will have me to answer to," said the first voice.

"I will answer to no one. I have agreed to this alliance because it suits my purposes. I do nothing to fulfil your obligations to your...acquaintances," said Draco.

"Defiant boy! Have you no sense of family at all?" expostulated the voice.

"My sense of family died two years ago. I need not remind you of why it died," replied Draco.

"But, Draco, what could we do? The Lord wished for it..."

"Once again I say he was not my Lord and his wishes were not my concern. Whatever your reasons were for doing it, I don't wish to know. The fact that you did it is enough," replied Draco.

The voice sighed. "There is no reasoning with you."

"It is not something that can be reasoned."

Footsteps could be heard and a door was slammed.

Hermione had a really good time at Harry's place. She was going to come the next day in the evening after she saw her parents off for the weekend. Harry had asked her what she planned to do about Draco and Kevin, but she hadn't decided. As she went home, she thought about it, but though she suspected Laetitia might have been right, she didn't know how she could just go and tell Draco. After all, he was getting engaged. Just the thought of it brought tears to her eyes and she mentally scolded herself. Why did she love him? She couldn't think of anything about him that had made her fall in love, yet she was definitely deeply in love. And Laetitia had been right about the fact that they were perfect for each other. Both very intelligent, stubborn people, yet fiercely loyal and very caring about those they loved. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. It was too late. She had been stupid and not admitted her feelings to herself and now it was too late. Would she ever be able to love anyone again? She certainly didn't feel she could. And now how would she go for his engagement party? She sighed. Everything was complicated again.

She didn't want to break up with Kevin, though. She felt it would be very unfair to him. But again she wondered whether it was more unfair to go out with him when she was in love with someone else. She knew she wouldn't like it if someone did that to her. She would rather they came clean. For once, Hermione Granger, one of the brightest students Hogwarts had ever had, was at a loss about what to do. Her name may live on at Hogwarts for generations as being the only one that had gained an 'Outstanding' in all her O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.S., but she had no idea how to solve all the problems in her own life.

She reached home at about seven o'clock and went to her room to write to Draco to congratulate him and say that she would come for his engagement and wedding. It was hard to write that she wished them happy and she wondered how she would actually say it to his and that awful, smirking Marissa's face. It took her a long time to write the letter and by the time she was done, Miss Watson called her for dinner. She sat down to dinner with her parents and they discussed their plans for the next day.

"Our flight is at four-fifteen," said her father. "We're taking a taxi to the airport and you could come to the airport and then be dropped off near that place, Diagon Alley."

"All right," replied Hermione.

"I hope you've discussed all your plans with Harry," said her mother.

"Yeah, I told him I'd come in the evening tomorrow," said Hermione.

"Okay," said her mother. "Have you started packing?"

"Not yet, but I will, once we finish dinner," replied Hermione.

The rest of the meal was spent in discussing California and the upcoming Conference. Her parents were clearly very excited about it and Hermione was happy. They hadn't been out of town for a long time and though they were going for work, they would get time to sightsee and relax.

After dinner Hermione went up to her room and packed for her stay at Harry's house. She was also looking forward to two days of relaxation. They had nice things planned, like the quidditch game, going to Diagon Alley and looking around, sitting at Plusha's Café and generally lazing around. Laetitia would accompany them to the game, but Harry had told Hermione that he would spend time with her that weekend and anyway Laetitia would keep herself busy with her painting. Hermione had been touched by this gesture and she was very grateful for it. She liked the idea of spending time with him and putting her problems aside. She would also meet Ron and cheer him up. She was missing him, since she hadn't seen or spoken to him for almost a week. There was only one glitch in the plan; Draco's engagement party. It started at six o'clock on Sunday and she was going with Harry.

She fell asleep with mixed emotions, as usual.