Who would have a thought 2 chapters in less than a week?! Don't get used to it though ahah! I also wrote about 5 chapters of another story in 2 days, which I'm loving to write so keep an eye out for that over the next few weeks or so! Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to follow/favourite/review!

-HermionesPolyjuice xo

Chapter 12

It was when Hermione admitted to who she had seen in the bookshop the tears started to come. She couldn't stop the shaking sobs and continued to make Draco's shirt wet with her tears as he pulled her into his arms.

"How could I have been so stupid to come here? I knew he lived here. I was going to run into him soon. How was I such an idiot?" Hermione hiccupped pulling away from Draco's arms.

"Hermione, look at me." Hermione hesitated for a few seconds before lifting her head and looking Draco straight into his grey eyes,

"You were not an idiot. You may not have remembered he lived in this area but so what? Why would it matter? I saw you leaving and you didn't look like yourself so there's no reason to believe he would recognise you."

"I guess. But what if I hadn't have changed? He would have recognised me."

"But is that a problem?" Draco asked. Hermione sat there in silence, thinking. Was it a problem if Charlie knew she was here? Was she just overreacting? Seeing him didn't mean anything, really. He wouldn't know about her unless she told him, which she clearly had no intention of doing. It would be nice to have someone else she knew to talk to.

"I guess maybe it's not," she finally said quietly. Draco beamed at her.

"Exactly. You don't need to tell him anything, but it's not going to hurt him knowing you're safe. So maybe you don't change your appearance. Stay who you are and if you bump into him again so be it."

"Why do you always talk so much sense?" Hermione asked with a dry laugh as Draco shrugged.

"You know what it does mean though?"

"What?"

"There's a magical community nearby." Hermione laughed, and the duo sat there in silence simply appreciating the other's presence.

"We should probably crack on with the potion again," Draco suggested after a while. Hermione let out a groan but nodded. They heaved themselves off the bed and headed down the corridor to the living area, Hermione summoning her collapsible cauldron from her beaded bag in the process.

Draco set about lighting a magical fire and getting the first lot of ingredients ready as Hermione made them some sandwiches.

"What else need preparing?" Hermione asked as she joined him a few minutes later.

"You can cut up the foxglove into small squares and then crush some asphodel," Draco instructed handing her a handful of purple and white flowers and a knife. They set about to work, Hermione working on the flowers and Draco making the blaze powder.

It wasn't long before the first ingredients where ready and added to the cauldron. This time Draco didn't mess up the stirring of the blaze powder and when he added the eel eyes the pale-yellow potion fizzed before turning a dark grey.

"So, it looks like we leave this for three and a half days, stirring seven times clockwise every 500 minutes. Right I'll set an alarm now for the next time. We'll just need to make sure someone's always around at the time and ready to stir it perfectly," Draco said as he stood and walked to an old alarm clock and set it for 8 hours time. Hermione stood up and stretched, loosening the muscles in her back from sitting hunched over the cauldron for so long.

"So, what now?" Draco asked as he picked up the last sandwich and took a bite. Hermione shrugged.

"Do you want to go see the fortress?" she finally asked, her eyes sparkling.

"I guess," Draco said. Hermione jumped up, grabbed a coat and pulled on her boots. Draco laughed as he followed suit and within five minutes they were out the door and walking to the end of the village.

"I think it's up the hill," Hermione said looking up a rather steep looking path.

"Can we apparate?" Draco asked, a sense of dread as he looked up.

"Absolutely not, we're walking," Hermione said in astonishment and she took off up with winding path. Draco groaned but followed the incessant witch. They walked in silent for a good hour, until the fortress ruins came into view. They clambered over the rocks for another 20 minutes until they finally reached it.

"Wow, it's beautiful from up here," Hermione panted as she took in the view around them. The sky was a clear blue and they could see for miles of forests, villages and water. Even Draco had to admit it was breath-taking. The duo wandered around the fortress, examining it closely.

"You know what. I reckon this used to be inhabited by wizards," Hermione muttered a long while later.

"What makes you say that?" Draco questioned.

"I just get a sense of magic. It feels powerful. Do you not?" Draco shrugged.

"I mean I feel like my magic is kinda tingling but I'm not sure really."

"Hmm…I might have to see if Deana has a book on the history of it," Hermione mumbled, more to herself than to Draco. Draco couldn't help but let out a laugh, causing Hermione to jump and glare at him.

"What?" she demanded.

"You and your books," he smirked.

"Oh, shut up," Hermione growled, making Draco laugh even more. Hermione stalked off to examine something further ahead and Draco just watched her. His life was certainly taking a turn. Never would he have expected to become best friends with his school enemy and to appreciate her company just baffled him. His thoughts were interrupted by his wand beginning to vibrate in his pocket.

"Crap. Hermione!" he called running off to catch up with her. Hermione turned around at the sound of his footsteps.

"What?"

"The potion needs stirring soon so I'm going to head back. Take your time though, no hurry," he said.

"Oh, right, OK. Thanks Draco," Hermione mumbled. Draco looked at her carefully, she had almost looked disappointed. Deciding not to question anything he smiled at her before disapparating with a pop. Hermione's eyes widened. He hadn't even looked around to check they were alone. How could he have been so reckless? Hermione cast her eyes around and was relieved to see that there was no one around. It was just them, and now it was just her.

Hermione continued to wander the perimeter of the fortress for a while longer before decided to heading back down to the village below as the wind started to pick up. She walked down the winding path to the end of the village and was relieved to see that many of the shops were still open.

10 minutes later she pushed open the door to the bookshop for the second time that day.

"Ah, Hermione. You're back. I wondered where you disappeared to yesterday," Deana called as she recognised the witch who entered her shop.

"Good afternoon Deana," Hermione smiled at the elderly shop owner. "Do you happen to have any books on the history of the fortress? I was just up there and was intrigued by what it may have been."

"Hmm…I may do. I don't know if I've sold my last copy. Let me just have a look." The woman walked around the till and headed to the corner where Hermione saw there were many books on various countries in Europe.

"If it's anywhere, it should be around here," Deana muttered, more to herself than to Hermione. Hermione watched as the shop owner scanned rows of books and almost lost hope before Deana let out, "Ah-ha, I thought I'd still have it." Deana turned around, a small hardback book in her hands and handed it to Hermione. Hermione took it excitedly and glanced down at the cover: The Myths and Legends of the Fortresses of Europe.

"This is perfect, thank you. How much do I owe you?" Hermione asked rummaging in her pockets for her purse of Romanian money.

Once Hermione had paid she made her way back down the high street towards her flat, humming to herself. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't even notice where she was going and that she walked straight into something sold.

"Woah. Watch it," a gruff voice came from above Hermione as strong hands grabbed her arms to stop her from falling over.

"I'm so sorry, caught in my –" but Hermione stopped short as she looked up and stared straight into unmistakeable blue eyes. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

"Charlie?"

"Hermione? Oh thank Merlin you're OK. What are you doing here?" Charlie asked as he pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"I…err…what are you doing here?" she asked trying to avoid that question because being honest with herself she didn't quite know why she was in Romania and didn't feel like telling Charlie because she 'had a feeling'. Charlie laughed at her question.

"I happen to work at the Reserve less than a mile down the road," he snorted raising his eyebrows as if to ask her the question once more.

"Honestly, I don't know. Just felt right," she admitted looking down at the floor.

"Hermione, are you hiding?" Charlie asked, concern filling his voice.

"What? No," she replied but not sounding at all convincing.

"Hermione. Why are you hiding? Who are you hiding from?" Charlie questioned, sounding a little sterner with each one.

"I'm not!" she cried indignantly but by the way Charlie's eyebrows moved up his forehead she knew he didn't believe her.

"Look, Charlie. I've got stuff to do, I'd better be off," she said and started to walk away from the Weasley. She made it a few steps before turning around.

"Oh and Charlie, please don't tell anyone," she begged of him. Charlie shrugged but didn't say anything for a while as if he were contemplating what to say next.

"Fine, but only if you promise to meet me for coffee on Thursday," he requested back of her. Hermione hesitated, she knew it wouldn't be the best idea to agree but at the end of the day what did she have to lose? It was only Charlie and if it meant she had someone else to hang around with other than Draco then that couldn't be too awful, could it?

"OK," she said. They exchanged smiles before Hermione turned around once more and headed down the street to her flat, Charlie watching her with a big sense of curiosity.

[-||-]

Hermione burst into her flat, making Draco jump up from the sofa.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked as Hermione stormed into the living room and slumped down into an armchair.

"Nothing," Hermione grumbled.

"Really?" Draco raised his eyebrows. Hermione groaned.

"I agreed to coffee with Charlie on Thursday," she admitted staring up at the ceiling.

"Hermione, I told you earlier, it's not a bad thing to see him," Draco said.

"I know that. But I still don't think it's a good idea," Hermione responded.

"If you really aren't keen then just cancel."

"I can't do that. That'll just make him worry again and then he'll send an owl to everyone else and they'll be here in a flash and then they'll find out and…ugh, I just can't," Hermione said, practically shouting the last bit.

"OK, so don't cancel. But what's so wrong with meeting him with coffee?" Draco questioned, shuffling along the sofa so he was closer to her.

"I just don't want to let anything slip," Hermione admitted looking down from the ceiling and straight into Draco's grey eyes. Draco snorted.

"Hermione, you're not going to let anything slip. I practically had to force the truth out of you, what at least three months after I first saw you. There's no way you're going to say or do anything that will make Charlie suspicious."

Oh how Draco Malfoy was so wrong though. Charlie was currently sat on his own bed in his tent on the edge of the dragon reserve thinking. He was confused. Something had seemed so off and so different about Hermione, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. It was making his head spin and was making him more frustrated by the minute that he couldn't work out what changed in Hermione since he had last seen her. Hopefully he would be able to work it out on Thursday when he saw her next.

[-||-]

Thursday soon arrived, much to Charlie's delight but Hermione's dismay, and they could be found sitting awkwardly in a small café on the high street of Enisala.

"I don't think we've sat in silence for this long ever before," Charlie said with a laugh trying to diffuse the tension.

"No, I don't think so either," Hermione admitted taking a sip of her large coffee, needing all the strength she could muster to get through this little gathering.

"So, where have you been all this time?" Charlie asked, the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since bumping into her on Monday afternoon slipping out.

"Germany," Hermione said not looking at him.

"Germany?" he repeated in shock, not exactly what he had expected.

"Yeah, I found a hut in the Black Forest so was living there and then Draco joined me about a month after the battle," Hermione explained.

"Draco? As in Draco Malfoy?" Charlie asked, sounding disgusted.

"That's the one. But he's changed now Charlie, he wants to do better," Hermione said, annoyed at his tone.

"If you say so," Charlie responded, not sounding too convinced, however. They sat in silence, neither of them quite knowing what to say.

"So, why Romania then? Wanted to see a certain dragon tamer eh?" Charlie finally asked with a suggestive wink making Hermione snort into her coffee.

"Honestly, I had forgotten you lived here," Hermione admitted. "I felt like I needed to go somewhere else, was getting a little fed up with the one room hut and so I disapparated and appeared here."

"Interesting," Charlie said, his own suspicions raising but not voicing them. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows.

"I mean, you would have thought given how much time we had spent together you would remember where I lived," Charlie added, trying to sound hurt but honestly, he wasn't surprised.

"Probably but I had other stuff on my mind, sorry," Hermione said before clamping her mouth shut knowing she had probably said a bit too much.

"Other stuff on your mind? Like what?" Charlie questioned, not backing down from the opportunity.

"Oh, just other stuff you know."

"So informative you are, Hermione."

"Just stuff from the battle," Hermione admitted, thinking it would be easier to twist the truth than make up a whole lie on the spot. But thankfully Charlie didn't say anything, as if he was convinced with her answer.

"What about you, what have you been doing since?" Hermione asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from herself.

"Oh you know. Just looking after the dragons," he replied nonchalantly.

"How are they doing?"

"Pretty well actually. We had another hatching the other week, so I seem to be playing Daddy to a 10-day old Chinese Fireball. I should introduce you one day if you're going to be staying here long term," Charlie added as an afterthought. He had really missed Hermione and all of their evening conversations.

"Yes, that would be amazing," Hermione said, her eyes blazing with excitement.

"Perfect, I'll work out when suits me best and send you an owl," Charlie responded with a smile. The rest of the conversation went much smoother as they talked about Charlie's work with the dragons, how some things just never change. It wasn't until Charlie's wand spun on the table and he jumped to his feet saying he needed to be at the reserve that they ended their conversation and agreed to meet for another coffee exactly a week later.

"Bye Hermione. It was great to see you again. Stay safe," Charlie said, wrapping Hermione in a hug.

"You too, Charlie. Don't get too burnt," she added with a smirk.

"Oh and Charlie –" she began.

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone you're here," he said with a smile before turning around and hurrying off towards an alley where Hermione knew he would be disapparating back to the reserve. With a smile on her face she walked in the opposite direction, back towards her house. But the smile was wiped off her face less than 100 paces later as she saw a thick black smoke coming out of some windows of a building. It didn't take long for her to realise the windows were the same ones in the living room of her flat and she took off, sprinting towards the smoke.

(A/N: hope you enjoyed it, please review (got a record number of reviews for the last chapter so lets try and break it again yeah?!))