Questions
"Are you ok?"
"How did you survive?"
"Where have you been?"
"How are your injuries?"
"How did Draco find you?"
"We all thought you were dead?"
"What happened in that house?"
"How are we going to tell everyone?"
"Do you think it's safe the whole world knowing she's back?"
I stood silently blinking as everyone around me was blasting questions around the room, shock still hanging in the air. We were stood in Professor McGonagall's office with McGonagall, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Narcissa, Blaise all staring at me as I gripped tightly onto Draco's arm. I was so grateful for all he had done and happy to be back I just wish they'd give me a second to breathe. Standing up was already getting difficult, this was the longest I'd been up and about since everything had happened and I wasn't sure how much longer I could manage.
Draco seemed to notice me struggling as he wrapped a protective arm around me earning a dark scowl from Ron.
"Guys, let her breathe she needs to sit down, she's still recovering." He announced loudly causing the whole room to move apart and allow me to sit down. I felt relief flood through my body as I was able to sit and the questions seemed to be directed towards Draco instead now. He refused to stop holding my hand and I was grateful for the warmth his grasp brought me.
"How did you find her?"
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Why didn't you come back sooner?"
"Did you know she was ok before?" Everyone's heads flicked across to Ron as his spiteful question bounced around the room. Draco growled slightly clearly getting frustrated. His grip on my hand tightened slightly.
"No, I didn't Weasley. I left the funeral because I couldn't take it anymore and I went to everything started for me and Hermione. I went to her childhood home the one place I knew she'd been truly happy. I wanted to feel close to her. I sat there for days and then this guy came out and he eventually told me Hermione was healing inside. They were a muggle family and I knew I shouldn't use magic around them, so I didn't. I focused on Hermione and getting her well enough to come back and this is where we are. Apparently, Hermione appeared on their doorstop and asked not to go to the hospital. Luckily, Harley, who was the man's wife, was a nurse and knew enough to help Hermione. She still needs more time to heal but she's made leaps and bounds in such a short time." Draco explained to the room finally creating a silence amongst them all. They all looked between each other as they tried to get accustom to the new information.
"It's a relief to see you Miss Granger. Scorpius will be very happy, he's sleeping and Violet's watching him at the moment." Narcissa spoke gracefully and spreading relief through my body as I thought of Scorpius. He was safe and healthy and seeing him was all I could think about right now.
"Well it'll be a hard transition for you Miss Granger, a lot of people will have questions, but I think we should start by getting Madam Pomfrey to look you over." Professor McGonagall announced causing panic to flood through me.
"No, I'm fine, I don't need to go to the hospital wing." I said quickly causing a lot of confused faces to stare my way, including Draco. I couldn't go to the hospital wing because I knew Madam Pomfrey would ask too many questions and figure out too many things. I needed time to research what had happened and figure it out for myself.
"Well at least let us all pamper to your needs for a few days." Ginny said seeming to understand the extent of my panic as she stepped forward and hugged me awkwardly over the chair. I felt the slight shake in her hands as she tried to tell herself that this was really happening. There was a slight murmur around the room as the others started to mutter to one another.
"Very well but if your condition worsens any more I must insist you go to the hospital wing." McGonagall replied sternly to which I nodded.
"I'll make sure of it professor. Now if you guys don't mind I'll take Hermione back to the Head's common room, any of you are welcome to join." Draco said authoritatively commanding the room once more.
"If it's all the same mate, we'll be around in the morning, you two need rest." Blaise said speaking for the others. Draco smirked clearly grateful that it would just be the two of us for tonight.
After several hugs and murmurs of "I'm glad you're ok" Draco and I made our way out of the office. His supportive arm around my waist kept me moving forward, I could think of nothing better than settling in for the evening and getting some rest, it had been a long day.
"Do you want to go straight to bed?" Draco asked softly as we climbed carefully through the portrait hole. I nodded gently feeling the tiredness in my eyes.
"Would you stay with me?" I asked quietly causing Draco's head to spring round eagerly, making me laugh.
"I'll take that as a yes." I chuckled as I led him up the stairs towards my room.
**** The Next Morning****
"Morning beautiful." Draco muttered beside me as I blinked a few times growing accustom to the morning light. It felt so good to be wrapped in Draco's arms once more his pale chest keeping me warm, I couldn't believe how tired I continued to feel despite doing nothing for the past few weeks, but my mind had been busy. I knew I should tell Draco about everything that had been going on, but I needed to figure it out for myself, he'd just worry, or blame himself and I needed to find out how this all worked. For now, I was just glad to be in Draco's arms again, as much as I had hated him for what he had done I couldn't blame him. He'd fought as hard as he could to change his ways as a result of what had happened to me and he'd fought on the right side in the end. He'd lied to protect me from my own memories, and he'd kept my son safe, I really couldn't blame him for that. I wanted to take things slow and get to know him fully this time around but we had a connection that was hard to deny.
"Good morning." I mumbled back snuggling into his chest once more.
"How're you feeling today?" He said stroking my hair as he yawned.
"Much better, somehow having you here helps." I said making him smile softly. Little did he know that it was true, I actually had been healing a lot better since Draco had found me, something else I had to look into.
"I honestly feel like I can breathe again now that I have you here. I could stay here forever." Draco smirked as we enjoyed the peace.
"As much as that was cute can you two get your butts downstairs you have guests." I felt a blush fly up onto my cheeks as Blaise's voice floated through the door and Draco laughed heartily next to me.
"Knew it couldn't last forever." He muttered as we clambered out of bed and Draco waved his wand getting us both ready. I felt a few stinging pains ricochet around my chest as I moved but I knew I couldn't make a big deal about it, I hadn't wanted any magic healing my body for a reason so that meant it would take longer for me to heal but it was all I could do to help figure out what this was. I just couldn't tell Draco about the pain I was in. He would insist I got help from Madam Pomfrey.
In the common room, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Blaise and Narcissa (Holding Scorpius) were all waiting with a couple of smirks and a clear scowl from Ron.
"Morning everyone." Draco said smirking his eyes lingering ever so slightly longer on Ron's face than anyone else's. He had a lot of his old swagger back and I could tell he felt as though a weight had been lifted from his body. Maybe it was the fact he couldn't remember anything that happened that night or maybe it was that his secret was finally out, but he was certainly free.
Strolling over to Scorpius he lifted him out of Narcissa's arms and high into the air as he giggled loudly.
"mmumm" He shouted joyfully as I stepped closer to him. Giving him a hug and a kiss, I was so happy to see his tiny face again. I thanked Narcissa for having him and turned around to Ron and Harry.
"Can we talk?" I asked them both as the others moved over to the fireplaced to continue their conversations. Both boys followed me out of the portrait hole, and we stood in the corridor for a second in silence.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I treated you both before I was taken." I said at last, I'd missed the three of us hanging out and whilst things were different now it didn't mean we had to be.
"Honestly, Hermione, we're just glad you're ok." Harry said quickly giving me a hug. I expected this from Harry, through everything he was reliable.
"Ron, I'm sorry for everything that happened between us, I've missed our friendship." I said turning to Ron who was staring stubbornly at the ground.
"I should be apologising 'Mione, I was stubborn, I let hatred get the better of me. I love you Hermione and losing you nearly broke me." Ron's eyes finally met mine and I felt guilt, our friendship shouldn't have been surrendered so simply.
"Ron, I love you like a brother, and if you're honest I think you feel like that too. I know you don't like Draco but he's trying, please give him a chance." I explained watching as Ron's face fell slightly.
"I'll try. I'm not promising anything though." He grumbled slightly causing both Harry and I to laugh.
"come on, they'll think we've run off." I said gesturing for us to go back inside.
The rest of the day we all spent enjoying each others company, Ron and Draco kept a suitable distance from one another but the day was filled with laughter and Joy. I tried to answer as many questions from everyone as I could but steered clear of anything to do with my research. Now I just had to find a way to slip away from Draco to do some real research. As the night feel we got Scorpius tucked into his bed and waved goodbye to Narcissa, Ginny, Harry and Ron. Blaise was stood over Scorpius watching him rest.
"Oh Blaise I've still got that book I borrowed from you, I'll grab it before you go." Draco said hurrying off to his room as Blaise stared at me smirking.
"What?" I said, wondering why he was staring at me.
"You're hiding something." He replied simply stepping closer to me as my heart skipped a beat.
"…I … I don't know what you mean." I stuttered trying desperately to keep my voice level. Blaise chuckled as he paced around me, making me nervous.
"Oh but you do, there's no way you could have escaped that house. My guess is something happened to you, or you did something that shouldn't be possible. That's why you didn't want magic touching your body in case it happens again. You want to research, you want to keep it a secret. It scares you." He muttered in a taunting tone and strolled around me studying my reaction as he spoke. My breath caught in my throat and I knew I couldn't keep it from him.
"Please don't tell Draco." I replied quietly, finding myself annoyed by his smirk.
"Let me help you research. We can figure out how to deal with this and make sure Draco doesn't know. It'll be our little secret." Blaise responded calmly. Sighing with relief I looked down at Scorpius as he slept soundly.
"Deal but if anyone finds out I'll know it was you." I replied sternly making Blaise smirk one more time before he hugged me tightly causing me to wince.
"It's good to have you back." He muttered softly causing me to laugh. Draco was leaning against the door frame by the time we pulled apart from out hug and smirked raising an eyebrow.
"Now, now Blaisey, you best not be stealing this beauty from me." Draco said still smirking but I could hear the pang of jealousy in his voice.
"Wouldn't dream of it mate." Blaise said taking the book off of Draco and turning back to me. He winked smirking and made his way out of the portrait hole. "Nighty night."
*****End of Chapter****
Thanks for reading! Two chapters released close together! Hope you are enjoying the story as much as I am enjoying writing it! Hopefully there will be more coming soon although as I mentioned before this all depends on my work load. What do you guys think happened to Hermione? Let me know! Thank you all for reading! Stay happy and healthy! Xoxo