Disclaimer: obviously not mine. Why would it be on a fan fiction site?

Chapter twenty

Chaise was in the Parlour reading a skateboarding magazine when the trio arrived.

"Herm!" Chaise cried joyously when she walked in the door. She allowed him to hug and kiss her before pushing him away gently.

"It's great to have you back, Herm." He gushed. "I missed you so much! The house is so bloody empty without my beautiful girls"

Hermione had just enough time to glance over at Charlie and Malfoy, both of whom looked ready to vomit, before Chaise swept her into another hug.

"Uh…Chaise?" Hermione peeled him off and pushed him back. "I'm going to be staying at Malfoy's until my parent's come back… so he can spend time with Shia and all…"

Chaise's handsome face suddenly became twisted with rage. He looked over at Malfoy who stiffened visibly.

"You told her, didn't you?" Chaise said in a low voice, taking a step forward. "Even after you promised… you told her" he whirled around to face Hermione again, this time with a pleading look on his face. "Herm, I'm not like that anymore. They fixed me. Why do you think they'd let me out if I wasn't well?"

"It's not that, Chaise, really" Hermione said quietly. For some reason she believed Chaise. She knew she wanted to believe him. "But some of Malfoy's relatives came all the way from Wales to see Shia so we're going to stay there"

"Let Shia stay there!" Chaise, grabbed her arm. Both Malfoy and Charlie stepped forward but neither of them did anything. "You can stay here with me!"

"Sorry, Chaise, but I'd really like to be with Shia for a while. I will be back, I promise"

"Let's go" Malfoy came in and pulled Hermione away.

"Please stay, Hermione!" Chaise tried to follow them but Charlie blocked the doorway with his massive figure.

Malfoy dragged Hermione out onto the front steps and they apparated together.

"What the hell was that?" Malfoy asked, outraged, the second they hit solid ground outside the Malfoy manor.

"What was what?"

"Promising you'd come back? You shouldn't have done that… now he'll be waiting for you!"

"He isn't evil, Draco"

"Yeah but he's mad enough to be"

Charlie arrived at that moment looking extremely pissed.

"Bad move, Hermione" he said darkly, dragging her into the house. "Never promise a madman anything. The only way to break that promise is to kill him"

"He isn't mad!" Hermione wrenched free of Charlie's gripped and backed away. "Didn't you hear what he said? He's fixed, better, no longer insane! And I'd beg you to stop butting into my life! I can be with anyone I want, Draco Malfoy!" she turned and stormed towards the exit.

"I'm just trying to help, Hermione" he said softly.

"Well stop, I don't want your help! I-I hate you! I hate both of you!" She ran from the room leaving both Charlie and Malfoy looking hurt and broken.

Hermione spent the whole day locked in her room with Shia and once again cried herself to sleep.

The next day she woke late feeling lonely and empty. Figuring she'd have to apologise for the day before, she sought out Charlie. He was in the kitchen with Anik and Mark and when Hermione explained herself he graciously accepted her apology.

Next she went in search of Malfoy. She guessed that he would be working out like usual so she went straight to his gym.

Instead of finding Malfoy, though, she found Blaise Zabini.

"Zabini? What are you doing here?"

"Looking after Malfoy," he answered.

"Why would you need to look after him?"

"Because he's self destructing. And you want to know why, Granger? Because of you. You're screwing with his mind."

"Where is he now? I need to talk to him"

Blaise shrugged. "He took the slip this morning. I presume he went to a pub. That's where he spends all his time these days… drinking and running after you"

Hermione bit her lip then turned and left.

Back in the kitchen she grabbed Charlie.

"Charlie, I want to go to the Weasley's. Are you coming with me?"

Twenty minutes later Hermione and Charlie were walking up the garden path to the back door of the burrow.

It was Harry who answered the door and he didn't seem to surprised to see her.

"Welcome back, Herm" he said, casually twirling his wand between his fingers. "You look pale… did you recover properly?"

"Yeah… it's just little things"

Harry led her to the empty kitchen and they sat down together.

"So did you get in trouble for coming to see me?"

"Like you wouldn't believe" Harry sighed and summoned a glass of water with a flick of his wand. "First Molly screeched at me. Then Dumbledore showed up and had a good old yell. I swear to god I have never seen him so angry and I was gone for less than fifteen minutes!"

"I'm sorry, Harry" Hermione looked down. "If I hadn't been so wrapped up in myself then I would have just given Shia to Malfoy"

"So Malfoy told you about Chaise?"

"Yeah… he told you too?"

"Of course. Why do you think I came so quickly?"

"Hermione!" Ron came into the kitchen looking surprised and pleased. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting" Hermione replied, standing up and hugging him.

"Well that's a nicer greeting than you gave me last time" Ron touched his jaw gingerly as Ginny, Fred and George came in.

"You still whinging over that, Ronny" Fred said mockingly.

"Well it still bloody hurts!"

"So, Harry" Hermione said as the Weasley children began arguing amongst themselves. "Are you and Parvati hooked up or what?"

"We sure are" Harry grinned sheepishly. Hermione smiled. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed having her friends around.

Molly came in after that with Lupin and Tonks and invited Hermione and Charlie to stay for a nice homemade lunch.

They stayed all afternoon chatting and joking like usual before Hermione reluctantly said goodbye and went home with Charlie.

Malfoy still hadn't returned home from wherever he had gone and Narcissa was in a very bad tempered mood. Hermione and Charlie paused outside the dining room for a minute and listened to her raging.

"I can't believe him!" she stormed. "He goes out without telling anyone! What if he's hurt? What if something happened to him?"

"I'm sure he's fine, Narcissa!" Gabrielle said calmly. "All the boy's are out looking for him. They'll be back soon"

"For the past few weeks… I knew he was depressed… and I knew it was bad but now this? With the dark lord and his father on the loose and everything!"

Hermione shook her head sadly and went upstairs to Shia.

"Hey, sweetie" she cooed when she found her daughter away in her cot. Shia gurgled and smiled.

Hermione couldn't help but smile back.

Hermione was just passing through the entrance hall on the way to the kitchen when Malfoy returned home. He slipped through the front door quietly but let it close with a snap. Hermione stopped and studied him properly for the first time in weeks.

His face was sunken and pale and he had dark rings around his eyes. His clothes were hanging off him and he was swaying slightly.

"You look awful!" Hermione said before she could stop herself.

"Thank you" he smiled shiftily. "So I take it you still hate me?"

Before Hermione could answer a door slammed behind her.

"DRACO MALFOY!" Narcissa came flying down the hall followed by Gabrielle, the twins, Charlie and Mark. "Where the bloody hell have you been? I should… I should…"

"You should what, mum?" Draco hissed, a dark look falling across his face.

Narcissa raised a hand to slap him but he caught her by the wrist.

"Don't you dare" he snarled. "I can do what I want, when I want. You aren't going to stop me…"

The hall filled with sudden noise. The twins where yelling at Draco, telling him to let his mother go. Gabrielle was yelling about how ungrateful Malfoy was. Both Mark and Charlie were yelling for silence.

"Draco" Hermione said, just loud enough for him to hear. He looked over at he the released his grip on his mother. Gabrielle continued to screech at him but he paid no attention. Instead he walked over to Hermione. She took a gentle hold on his wrist and led him away from the noise and havoc and up to his room.

"Go to bed" she ordered at the doorway.

"I'm really sorry, Hermione" he said, ignoring her order. "For whatever I did to make you hate me."

"I don't hate you. Now go to bed!" she closed the door in his face.

Despite Hermione's reassurance that she didn't hate him, Draco's depression increased over the next few days. Every morning, before anyone was up to stop him, Draco would leave the house. On two of the days he came home looking worn and tired: Hermione guessed he had been out looking for his father.

On the other two days he came home completely drunk and had to be put to bed by one of his assassins before his mother began one of her frequent rants.

It was on the fifth day that Malfoy left the house when Narcissa lost it completely… but instead of throwing things or screaming; she simply sat down and bawled her eyes out, sobbing and speaking of how she went wrong.

Hermione had had enough. Draco had put his mother through enough hell. It was time he stopped acting like a silly child and started taking responsibility for his family; especially his daughter.

Without bothering to tell Charlie that she was leaving, Hermione put on a travelling cloak and set out into the increasing darkness.

That I love you
I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
and you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore.

Lucius reappears in the next chapter so stay tuned!