*Draco's POV, Tuesday, July 19, 2001*

AN: Wow this story has a lot of followers considering how shitty those two chapters are… thanks. Also, thank you for the review that acknowledged my idiocy, and Theo's mother is alive, and his father went to Azkaban for 2 years and was placed under house arrest after giving up other Death Eaters. Because of his incarceration, Theo is the current Lord Nott. I'm not quite sure if that was ever addressed in canon, but even if it was, this is how I'm using it for all intents of this fanfiction. Now that I'm done rambling, I hope this chapter makes up for the fact that I haven't updated in over a month.

Draco and Theo Flooed to the hospital, hoping that Hermione was still there with Ginerva (although why she would be, as all it should have taken was a Rennervate to get her back up and on her feet, they couldn't guess). As they got into the hospital (which was crawling with reporters), they went to talk to the witch at the front desk who, rather shockingly, pointed them to Ginny's room immediately.

As they walked to her room, Draco was wondering how many reporters paid them any mind and noticed that they went to Ginny's room. He shook the idea from his mind as he stepped into the room that, no matter how many times he walked in one, smelled horribly like death, whether someone had died there or not.

Ginerva Weasley was sitting up in her bed in said room, wide awake and looking very pissed off.

"HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU BROUGHT ME TO BLOODY ST. MUNGO'S BECAUSE I PASSED OUT. YOU ARE A PILLOCK THAT NEEDS TO AV-," she cut herself off as she noticed the smirking men in the doorway.

"Merlin, you need to calm down Gin, I panicked, I'm bloody sorry," Hermione said faintly, tilting her head up to look at the boys. "Hello Draco, Theodore. May I ask why you're here?" Draco watched as her features switched between troubled, confused, nervous before she gave a start. "Oh, I-"

I interrupted her before she got a chance to say more, though I don't know exactly what to say, "Hermione… it's Skeeter's article. Is it true?"

Hermione's face flushed with rage, but rage that quickly subsided. She gave a small snort then questioned "Which part? That I got one of the 'Pureblood Letters' or that I'm a lying bitch?"

Theo looked shocked at her lack of couth, though I had told him about her. I told him that she swore like any other person, no matter how the media portrayed her. Well, most of the media. Though Theo cursed just as much, he seemed shocked that the Golden Girl would do it.

"Granger, I may not know you well, but we went through 7 years of school together and I highly doubt that you're a 'lying bitch.' That being said, is it true that you got a letter?" Theo looked embarrassed for a fleeting moment, then his face got this far-off look that he uses to mask his emotions.

Ginny, who had been silent since we had walked in, chimed in that Hermione knocked her out, and that everything Skeeter wrote was true. Hermione responded to that by casting a Langlock jinx, much to Ginny's dismay. I mean, finding your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth would cause a bit of distress. Severus taught me that spell when I was 10. I miss my godfather. He was more of a father figure than Lucius was.

His sacrifice was inevitable. Right from the start, when Severus had Dumbledore place my mother in protective Order custody, we knew someone would die. When I became a spy for the light, I thought it would be me. Severus taught me to be a Legilimens and gave me lessons in Occlumency. He was much better at it than I was, and I was so sure Voldemort would be able to see inside of my mind and kill me on the spot. My mother was protected, but I was still living in the same house as a mad man. Everything that Severus did for me, the fact that he was a good man, despite what some may think, he still died.

I didn't go to Azkaban because multiple Order members testified that I was a spy. My father, on the other hand, got a life sentence. My mother moved back into the Manor, which I was granted Lordship over. I became Lord Malfoy when my father went to prison, which I still am torn over. On one hand, I wanted less than nothing to do with the name my father had sullied into meaning nothing more than prejudiced, Death Eater, murderers and the like. On the other, I could make the Malfoy name into something better, something more.

A hand, shaking my shoulder jars me out of my memories, as I look up to see Theo looking anxious, Hermione looking concerned, and Ginny looking confused. "Oh uh- uh sorry… wh-what were you saying?" Great. When I zone out or zone back in, I stutter. A lot.

"Draco, Hermione asked if you knew what the letter meant." Theo's voice lowered, realizing that I was embarrassed.

Ginny, who had a freshly detached tongue, piped up with the seemingly unavoidable question, "Are you okay Malfoy?"

And, of course, I lied. "Yes, Ginerva, I'm fine I just got distracted."

She winces at the use of her real name. "Please just call me Ginny, or Weasley if you must."

"Okay, Ginny but you have to call me Draco."

"Deal."

Theo clears his throat, then cuts in saying "Ginny, in the most polite way possible, I assume your parents never explained the Marriage Laws of the Sacred 28 to you or your brothers?"

Ginny looked offended and opened her mouth to retort, but before she got the chance to do that, Theo cut her off saying "No, I mean because the Laws haven't gone into effect in over a century. That was not intended to be a slight against your family at all."

Ginny closed her mouth, then responded "No, they never did. They never mentioned it at Hogwarts either."

"To answer your question Granger, Draco told me he thinks the letters are referring to an old pureblood, more specifically an old Sacred 28 tradition. In this horrid excuse of a tradition, the head male of a family has to give the single females' hands away in marriage. It almost always is within the Sacred 28, if not she will go to a powerful pureblood family. The few times that a witch has gone to a half-blood family has been when that family is powerful. For instance, Ginny, you might be married off to Potter if your father arranges for such to happen."

Hermione made a sound of discontent before muttering about the barbarousness of it all.

She then spoke up, repeating what she said under her breath and then "What does that have to do with me? My parents are muggles that don't even know who they are anymore, not a family in the Sacred 28."

The other three of us all gasped at that, apparently Ginny was none the wiser about that then we were. Hermione stared at the floor, realizing what she said; while the others of us shot each other looks, begging the others to ask the question we were all thinking. Theo gave in. "Grang- Hermione… what are you talking about?"

She looked up, and there were tears in her eyes. "Right before 7th year, I Obliviated them. I erased every memory of myself from their minds, then I fucking sent them to Australia. I couldn't let them be killed. So they now think their names are Wendell and Monica Wilkins. I tried to fix their memories but-," she collapsed on the floor sobbing. Theo dropped to his knees to comfort her, while I closed and locked the doors, cast Muffliato at the door, and then cast Animagi Revelio Maxima. After nothing happened, I joined them on the floor.

Theo had his arms around her and she cried into his shoulder, her body wracked with sobs.

He looked at me, unsure of what to do. I mouth to him to rub her back, and he does so.

After a bit, Hermione starts to calm down and she stops crying. When I offer her my handkerchief, she accepts it with shaking hands.

She looks at me, then at Theo (who still had his arm around her, in a protective way). Her expression is guarded better than most Slytherin's.

"I'm sorry Theodore, Draco. I don't quite know what came over me. You guys are the first people I've told that to. I didn't quite realize how much it would affect me." She blushes, and it's easy to tell how embarrassed she is.

"First of all Hermione, don't you dare apologize. You've been through so much, and you haven't told anyone that in almost 4 years? You deserve to cry as much as you need to. Second, please just call me Theo."

"Thank you both for everything." Turning to Ginny she says "Gin… don't tell Harry and Ron. Please?"

"Of course 'Mione. But- why didn't you tell us? I thought something was off, given that you haven't gone home for the holidays since the war, but you never said anything."

"I wasn't ready."

Ginny nods, and thanks us. Looking at Hermione, I ask "Would you like us to stay, or leave?"

Knowing what the answer will be, I regret asking the question. When I have my suspicions confirmed, my heart sinks to my stomach. Theo and I stand up, and I help Hermione up. As we turn to go, her small voice calls our names. We both turn back around to make sure she's okay.

What neither of us was expecting was for her to pull us both into hugs. Theo's face looked confused but happy.

As I walked out of the building, I felt like I was walking on air.