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Thursday, 23 August 2012

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[Hermione:] You two are coming tonight. Right?

[Harry:] Me and Ginny will be there at seven. Kids will sleep over at Bill and Fleur's.

[Hermione:] When will Arthur and Molly be back?

[Harry:] Ginny says they will be back in eight days and four hours.

[Hermione:] Have you heard from them?

[Harry:] They called yesterday. Seems like they are having fun pretending to be muggles.

[Hermione:] Good for them.

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

Hermione and her Hogwarts gang were still putting on some final touches when the guests started arriving. The entire place was filled with tiny magical lights, both purple and white. These would move when people approached and they were impossible to catch. Whenever someone walked across the room the lights would ripple around them. The effect was rather fun and Isabel had walked back and forth several times just to amuse the others.

They had decided not to serve the magical muffins on opening night. Proper food would be required with the wine. They had also decided that although only friends had been specifically invited, it was a party. The doors would be open and anyone would be welcome to join them.

First to arrive were George and Ron who gave her a quick hug and a bottle of Ogdens. Not two minutes later Charlie and Anita walked in with Hermione's parents, followed by Hagrid. Hermione immediately transformed one of the chairs into an oversized couch so Hagrid could sit down. Then she went to greet her parents.

Hermione's parents were still living in Australia. It turned out that the memory spell she had performed on them had not taken particularly well. She had probably been too emotionally upset at the time. They had forgotten about her and moved, but by Christmas they were both experiencing vivid dreams about having a powerful witch for a daughter. By end of February they had come to the conclusion that magic may be real and their own daughter may have sent them away for their own safety. But although the memory spell had faded the compulsion she had instilled in them to move to Australia was quite strong. Even if they knew the truth they could not even consider the possibility of moving back to England. When Hermione found them none of them could tell if their love for Australia was genuine or if it was the result of a compulsion. In the end they were unwilling to subject themselves to more magic in order to return to England. So they stayed.

Hermione was not allowed to install a floo in a muggle residence so she bought a one room apartment down the street from her parents for the sole purpose of having a floo connection to Perth. She registered it under the name of Hoppetossa and tried to visit as often as she could. And since her muggle parents were not able to use the floo on their own, she had asked Charlie and Anita to go get them. Which they had.

Slowly but surely the place filled with familiar faces. Some had been invited, and others had not. It was a party. Marcus Flint stopped by with most of his quidditch team, and so did Oliver Wood. Hermione wondered if that would be a problem but apparently quidditch professionals were very friendly towards one another as long as their feet were on the ground.

It is true what they say. Time flies when you are having fun. Pansy came and brought Daphne and Alexey with her. Daphne convinced Oliver Wood to DJ so he aparated back to his house to pick up his DJ-ing equipment and soon there was dancing. Isabella and the rest of the new graduates sent messages to people and the rumor spread that there was a party in Diagon Alley. Hannah Abbott started serving alcohol at the counter at some point, although Hermione decided not to have too much to drink, due to the fact she suspected there was a reporter or two in the crowd.

[Draco:] How is it going?

[Hermione:] Like the kind of party no one would ever invite me to.

[Draco:] Are you at least having a little bit of fun?

[Hermione:] Mostly I am just tired at this point.

[Draco:] You poor thing.

[Hermione:] How do you end a party?

[Draco:] With fireworks? Fire-breathing dragons? Firehose? Fire?

[Hermione:] Excellent idea. I'm going to find George

[Draco:] Good luck.

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Friday, 24 August 2012

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It was the morning after the party and the place looked like a warzone. Hermione, Isabella and Erik had decided not to clean up last night and just deal with everything in the morning. They regretted it now.

The giant signs in the windows stated that they would open in 30 minutes so it was time to take out those wands and start clearing the mess. Start warming the tea and arranging those cupcakes. Erik and Henry had showed up early and were busy with setting up the caffé. Isabella and Hermione were trying to remember how they had decided to place the tables around the room.

Hermione suddenly heard a pop from the back room. A sure sign of someone apparating into the store. Before she could go investigate Draco and Theo came out looking amusingly at the mess.

"So, I am guessing it was a good party yesterday. Judging by the mess of this place I would say it was not a particularly family friendly atmosphere."

Hermione ignored Theos comment as she came over to greet them. "I didn't know we had an apparition point back there. I guess coming by when it is actually open is not something the two of you would consider."

"We consider ourselves VIP guests so we reserve the right to pop in on our own schedule."

Theo winked as he handed over a box of chocolates which Hermione immediately opened and made available on the counter (after having one herself).

"I see. Do you want a cupcake? Comes with an "I support Hermione" tattoo, free of charge."
"Seriously Hermione. Are you marking your followers now? Isn't that going a little bit too far?"

"It's purple and pretty and comes off in 10 hours. All in good spirits. We even have a big sign warning people about it. If you don't want to show your support then you don't get the free cupcake."
"That is actually pretty genius. Marking people also comes with the added bonus of irritating the other candidates."

"Speaking of the other candidates; Do you guys have any idea what they is upto this weekend?"

"Flourish and Blotts has a huge sign out front. It seems like everyone smart enough to publish an autobiography will be there at some point this weekend. A few of them are also doing book signings in the second-hand bookstore, which is smart considering not everyone can afford Flourish and Blotts."
"Shut up Nott about my decision not to publish an autobiography. I am being different. It's cool to be different. I am the muggle-born after all, and everyone knows muggles are weird."
"Your words, not mine."

"And where is Zabini?"
"Around somewhere avoiding us"
"Smart guy."

The three of them chatted while Isabella and Erik did most of the cleaning up. Hermione told them who had been there the night before and they complimented her on the cecoor. They both decided to get cupcakes and immediately the back of their hands said "I support Hermione Granger for Minister for Magic".

Hermione noticed that Draco stayed pretty quiet, happy to have Theo take care of most of the conversation. He made a few short remarks every now and then, but mostly he was just in the background. Thinking back, she realized that this was usually the case. On the few occasions when they had been alone together he seemed to have no problems talking, but with others around he drew to the background and mostly stayed quiet. She was surprised how completely different his behaviour now was from the Draco she remembered at Hogwarts, who always had to be in the spotlight, preferably throwing insults at people. She would have to ask him about this at some point.

They didn't stay long. When it got close to opening time they said their goodbyes and disappeared to the back where Hermione could hear them apparating away.

"Since when are you friends with the likes of them?", came from Isabella

Hermione turned to the young adults and saw dislike and something bordering on animosity on their faces.

"Those two were in my year at Hogwarts. I wouldn't call them my friends exactly, but neither would I throw them out. They have votes like anyone else and everyone should be welcome here. I am not aiming to be one of those Ministers of Magic that favours friends and barely nods at anyone else. I would like to be the kind of minister that everyone can support, no matter which house they got sorted into when they were eleven."

"But those two are evil. They were probably Death Eaters."

"Their fathers may have been Death Eaters, I will give you that. But that was a long time ago. You may not know this, but I fought really hard for the rehabilitation program after the war. And a part of that rehabilitation is for the rest of the magical community to forgive those that the orbs judge to have changed their ways. Those guys were barely of age at the time of the war. Shunning them, or locking them up for that matter, is not the way for a society to heal."

Hermione was not sure she had gotten through to them. Maybe Pansy was right about the younger generation seeing everything in black and white. It was so easy when you could just define who was a hero and who was the villain. Good and evil and a neat little ending where the knight slays the dragon. That was what children were taught. It took maturity to see the grey's and realize that not all heroes are perfect and not all villains are truly evil.

She tried a different approach.

"People are rarely truly evil. The actions of some are evil, but people are usually more complex than that. We rarely know what is going on in the heads of those we call our enemies. Some people do evil things intentionally while others are not aware of the damage they cause. Some turn to darkness when they have been hurt. Being unkind to anyone is never a good idea."

Her audience did not seem convinced.

"That is why it was so perfect to use the orbs rather than just send everyone to Azkaban. I for one, trust the judgement of the orbs and if the orbs say those two have changed their ways then I am ready to forgive and forget. You should at least be willing to uphold a conversation with them."

There was still a sceptical look in Isabella's eyes and Henry's quiet demeanor was somehow more hostile than usual, but there was no time to work on that further because it was time to open the doors. There seemed to be quite a crowd gathering in the street outside.

- # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # - # -

[Hermione:] Why are you always so quiet when there are people around?

[Draco:] Habit I suppose.

[Hermione:] How so?

[Draco:] They remember the war and what I did. If they don't realize I am there they don't leave the room.

[Hermione:] Seriously?

[Draco:] Or throw tomatoes, or hexes, or punches.

[Hermione:] I don't even know where to start with that. What's wrong with people?

[Draco:] I wasn't kidding when I said I was surprised you hadn't hexed me yet.

[Hermione:] What about Theo?

[Draco:] Few people know what he did during the war. They suspect, but they can't prove it.

[Hermione:] Was it bad?

[Draco:] Theo? Not as bad as some of the others. Not as bad as setting Greyback loose at Hogwarts.

[Hermione:] That was a monumentally stupid thing to do, you know.

[Draco:] I know.

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Sunday, 26 August 2012

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Hermione's house was a white semi-detached, three story high building with a basement in what the Londoners call Little Venice, just north of Paddington. After her time in Cambridge, when she had been renting an apartment in a muggle area, she had started to understand why so many magical families choose to settle in rural areas. In Cambridge she had to severely limit her wand usage at home, or she risked the neighbours talking about bad internet reception and flickering lights. And everything was so interconnected in apartment buildings that it was even difficult to set up the wards and shields she wanted to set up.

When she decided to stop studying and start working she also decided it was time to buy herself a house. Preferably in London. She had considered living in a purely magical community, but simple things like being able to give out her address to relatives and old acquaintances was something she wanted to be able to do. She probably looked at 30 different properties before seeing this one. It was perfect. The area was great and the house was fantastic. With over 3500 square feet and 6 bedrooms it was much too big for one person, but she figured she could just fill it with books, friends and magic.

At first it had worried her that the house was semi-detached. What if she didn't like the neighbour? What if her magic started causing troubles? But the house was too good to pass up and she figured she could work around whatever problems would arise somehow. By a pure coincidence she later found out that, Charles, the gentleman who owned the other side of the house was a squib, so many of the careful modifications she had made to her own side of the building had been unnecessary. They got along splendidly and she had even lent him a house-elf once when he needed help renovating the basement.

These days the house elves had free reign over the basement, and that is where they also had their little laundry service. On the ground floor she had the entrance hall, the drawing room and the living room which featured a fireplace large enough for two people to floo in or out without hitting their head or elbows. It also had the kitchen and and the dining room. The two upper floors had her master bedroom, her office, the library and three guestrooms that were rarely used plus a large balcony and a beautiful roof terrace where she could look over the canal. One day she was going to take up running and go out in spandex every morning like everyone else in the neighbourhood seemed to be fond of.

Hermione absolutely loved her house. It had been very expensive though. It was more than she could afford at the time, which meant she had to borrow quite a lot from Harry. Her job at the ministry had not given her enough income to pay him back, but once she started F:R:E.D with George the money started pouring in and the first thing she did was to pay Harry back. The house was hers now and it would take a lot for her to agree to live anywhere else.

Today had been a long day in Diagon Alley. With only a week left until the Hogwarts Express would leave platform 9 and 3/4 every magical family seemed to be out shopping, and all the kids had heard about the purple cupcakes and wanted one. Hermione's place in Diagon was becoming informally known as "Purple Palace", and although no one seemed to be able to remember who had come up with the name it seemed to be catching on.

It had been a full house all day, so Hermione had declined and invitation for dinner from Hannah and Neville. She just wanted to go home, sit down in her library and listen to the silence. If she had the energy to open her eyes she would possibly consider accio-ing a book. But she didn't.

The elves knew not to disturb her in the library. If she was in there they were only allowed to enter when called and they were never allowed to pop directly into the library. Upon their insistence she had agreed to have one of those magical tables installed by her chair. This table had its counterpart in the kitchen so they could send her snacks, drinks and the occasional message when she was cooped up in the library.

She had been in there for an hour when her fred gave a jump in her pocket.

[Draco:] We have a problem. Can you come over here tonight? We need to strategize.

[Hermione:] Not a chance that I am getting out of this chair. What is it?

[Draco:] My source at the Daily got a hold of tomorrow's headline.

[Hermione:] How bad is it?

[Draco:] It could be bad, hard to tell at this point. I only got the headline.

Hermione threw her head back and once again considered taking up swearing. She really did not want to move even an inch. Every muscle in her face hurt from smiling and talking all day. She knew she should deal with this, but she was comfortable. Going to Nott manor this late did not seem like a good plan.

[Draco:] I can probably convince Batty to serve something that isn't purple.

It seemed very important to Draco that he get to speak with her. He almost sounded like he was pleading. She probably should see him. But he would have to come to her in that case. She was much too comfortable here.

[Hermione:] If you want to talk to me you will have to do it here.

[Draco:] At your house? Really? Are you sure?

[Hermione:] Sure, why not. You dont scare me, Malfoy.

[Draco:] OK, how do I find you?

[Hermione:] Step into a floo, throw down some floo powder and shout "Villa Villekulla".

[Draco:] Seriously? What's wrong with 'Granger residence'?

[Hermione:] The ministry said I could register my floo connection under any name.

[Draco:] They should probably have some guidelines for floo network names.

[Hermione:] Where would be the fun in that?

[Draco:] Am I going to find a horse on the patio?

[Hermione:] Possibly. Are you going to make fun of me all night or get over here?

[Draco:] I'm heading your way. See you in two minutes.

[Hermione:] I'm in the library.

[Draco:] Of course you are.

Hermione called for Spike who respectfully popped in outside the threshold of the library. She told him Mr. Malfoy would be stopping by and to show him in. Then she closed her eyes, determined to get a moment of rest before having to deal with whatever catastrophe Draco would bring.

A few minutes later she heard Draco approaching. She reached for her wand and since her chair was the only one in the room she just transfigured it into a 3 seat couch so there would be room for Draco to sit down. He did.

"No monkeys or horses that I can see."

"I keep the animals on my pirate ship."

"Of course you do, Pippi."

Draco was holding some papers and now. Fiddling with them. Now that he was here he seemed undecided if he wanted to talk about whatever had him worried. Hermione was equally unsure if she wanted to hear the bad news. As long as she didn't know she didn't have to deal with it.

"What would you have called this house if it had been up to you?"

"I don't know. I probably would just have used the street address."

"You are no fun."

They stayed quiet for a bit, Hermione just being exhausted and Draco deep in thought about something.

"I am too tired to guess, so sooner or later you are going to have to tell me."

"I suppose I am. Do you have anything to drink?"

Draco was startled half to death when Hermione suddenly yelled on the top of her lungs for Spike, who promptly appeared at the door of the library. Draco asked for 'a drink, any drink, just something with alcohol' and Hermione asked for 'whatever he is getting'.

Spike disappeared and a minute later two Moscow mules appeared on the table in front of them.

"Well, at least it isn't purple," Draco muttered and Hermione nodded in agreement before taking a sip of her drink. She then just waited for Draco to pluck up his courage and tell her.

"OK, you may not know this but the Daily Prophet is printed at night. This means the headlines and the layout are set the evening before. Usually everything is set by eight, but they leave some room for last minute changes until midnight."

Hermione just nodded. She knew enough about the Quibbler to be able to guess this was how it worked at the Prophet."

"For a few years now I have been paying a guy at the printer to forward me the headlines at night. It gives me a small forewarning if some huge story is about to break."

Hermione decided not to comment on what she thought of such practices.

"I am guessing I will not like whatever lies the Prophet will be printing tomorrow."

"No, I am guessing not."

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

"You must remember that I only get the headlines. It can make it hard to guess what an article could be about. And also, this may not be the final version. Sometimes the editor changes things last minute."

"So that's a 'no' then?"

"What?"

"You're not going to tell me whatever you don't want to tell me."

Draco sighed and handed over his papers. It was a simple list of headlines, no indication of how big any given article was or if it had accompanying pictures or not. Towards the top of the list she saw the offending headline:

"Shacking up with snakes - Has our hero Granger been seduced my the dark side?"

"Wow. When did the Daily Prophet start referencing Star Wars?"
"Referencing what?"
"Oh nothing. It's just a muggle movie. They call their magic 'the force' and they have super villains that are using 'the dark side of the force' or something. Most of the movies are dedicated to stopping set super villains."

"I know about Star Wars, Hermione. But seriously. Is that all you have to say about this? That this is a movie quote? That's like finding a picture of your girlfriend cheating on you and commenting on the sheets being of good quality."

"I don't have a girlfriend. If the Prophet is about to suggest that I me and Pansy are an item then I am sure people will see through that. She is not my type."

"I highly doubt this is about Pansy."

They fell silent for a bit. No it probably was not about Pansy. Hermione, who was exhausted just let her eyes close for a moment. She wondered if she had fallen asleep for a second when Draco spoke.

"I shouldn't have danced with you. There were too many people watching."

"Relax Malfoy. They were all too busy having fun to notice us. Besides, that was weeks ago. Not really newsworthy anymore, I would think."

"It doesn't matter. Weeks ago or years ago, you should never be seen within five meters of me."

"You don't know if that is what this is about. This could be anything and this could be nothing. We will find out tomorrow."

"You should try to take this seriously. This could ruin you."

"I doubt it. The Prophet has printed lies about me before. Somehow I always survive."

"And if it's about me or Theo."

"I don't know. The best approach is probably to ignore it. If I get asked specifically about something then I will just tell the truth."

"Which is?"

"I am not 'shacking up' with anyone at the moment, but even if I was it would be none of their business."

"You are going to have to give a better answer than that. You are a public figure. People feel entitled to have opinions about any and all of your private business."

"I'm too tired for this. Tell me how you would handle it."

"I don't know. If this is what I think it is about then you have simply been seen around 'snakes' too much lately for anyone to believe the truth. This is exactly the sort of thing I was trying to avoid. Again, I'm really sorry about the dance."

"Stop the self-loathing. I was there. It takes two to tango. It's not your fault."

"Tango?"

"Just something people say. Means I wasn't exactly kicking and screaming and running away from you. The dance was just as much my fault as it was yours."

"We have been seen together too often. What if people figure out I have been helping you?"

"Ok, let's think of this logically. From the word 'snake' we can assume they are picturing me getting naked with someone that got sorted into the noble house of Salazar Slytherin, but it does not necessarily have to be you. I think we can assume no one knows about us getting drunk together in Salisbury, right?"

"Right."

"Then there was Greengrass manor where I disappeared with Zabini under mysterious circumstances after he saved me from Parkinson and I was not seen again that night. This could very well be about Zabini, you know."

"I suppose."

"At Nott manor I talked to you, Nott, Flint and the quidditch players for a bit. It could be any of them."

"But then you were seen dancing with a Death Eater."

"After the press had left, and besides; you are not a Death Eater."

Draco closed his eyes at that and leaned back on the couch.

"I believe you may be the only one of that opinion. I, for example, distinctly remember being branded. It was not pleasant."

"A tattoo on your arm does not define you for life. Even back then you were barely a Death Eater. Not a proper one at least."
"Why are you being so stubborn about this?"
"Because I know what you did."

Draco was silent at that. Hermione decided that it may be time to finally talk about the elephant in the room. Tiptoeing around difficult subjects had never really been her style.

"Thank you for that, by the way. I would not be here without you."
"You would have made it. Rescue was on its way."
"They would not have made it in time and you know it. Your dear old aunt was not holding back. Frank and Alice Longbottom lost their minds to that curse and I would have too if you had not been there. I heard you in my head. It was still torture, but you didn't let me slip into oblivion. So thank you."
"Bellatrix really was a sociopath."

"She was a proper Death Eater. And you are not. You may have toyed with the idea at some point, but you never went over the edge."

"I did my share of despicable things."
"I am sure you did. But you also chose to save me when I needed saving."
"Is that why you haven't hexed me? Some sort of life debt?"
"Pretty much."

"Good to know."
"That was some impressive mind magic, by the way."

"Combination of legilimency and something I read in a rather despicable book at the Malfoy library."

"You are a talented wizard. Bellatrix never suspected a thing."

"Snape was a good teacher."

They went quiet again. It was nice just sitting here in the library with Draco. There was a comfortable silence between them now. Or maybe she was just tired. She did notice him holding his forearm as he sat there deep in thought.

"Do you always keep it covered?"

"What?"
"Your mark."
"Of course. Do you think I would walk around with that thing on display?"

"Let me see it."
"Why?"
"Just… just give me your arm."

Draco extended his arm to her and she carefully folded up his sleeve. The dark mark had faded a little but it was still quite visible. Back in third year she had once seen Snape's mark. Back before Voldemort's return. This one looked exactly like it. The mark was born of dark magic and it was permanent. It would never be completely gone. But at least it was dormant now that Voldemort had been killed. Hermione drew out her want and Draco immediately became suspicious.

"What are you doing?"
"I know an excellent concealment charm. I want to try it on you."
"Ok. Just don't hex my arm off."

Hermione started the incantation. The wand work was intricate and she had to make alterations to the way she usually performed it because his skin tone was so different from hers. But after a couple of minutes the mark was completely hidden.

Draco stroked the skin, amazed. He could still feel the mark but there was nothing to see.

"Wow, that is really good. What is that charm?"
"You learn amazing things when you go looking in old books at the library. This one was in a 200 year old book on beautifying charms and potions."

"Why on Earth were you reading a book on beautifying charms and potions. Aren't you pretty enough already?"

"I have a scar of my own to cover up."

And Hermione, trying not to think about the compliment she had just received, stretched her own forearm towards Draco. He ran his fingers along it and felt the distinct remnants of multiple scars. It felt like letters but he could not make out what it said.

"What is it?"
"Bellatirx's handiwork."

And Hermione grabbed her wand again and ended the charm that she always wore on her forearm. The red letters spelling 'MUDBLOOD' became visible, as ugly as they had ever been. Draco was so pale he almost looked like he was going to be sick, but his fingers continued to gently stroke the scars.

"For a while I tried to find a cure or a counter curse, but in the end I just gave up and looked for a concealment charm instead. It has to be redone every couple of days or so, but it allows me to move about in public without the pity-stares."

"I'm really sorry about this. I wish I could have stopped it."
"You did what you could. Getting yourself killed would not have solved anything. Don't worry. I have accepted it as a part of my past. War leaves us all with ugly scars. But as long as it is concealed then people don't have to know about it and can go about their business not bugging me about my scar."

They stayed silent for a minute just thinking back to that day. Not a day they really wanted to remember.

"You are going to have to teach me the charm. And to Theo. He would really appreciate it. He hates his mark with a passion."

"Bring him over some evening and I will teach it to both of you. Just not tonight. I'm exhausted."
"Could you also teach it to my mother? She is so ashamed of hers."

There was a moment's hesitation before Hermione answered. "Of course."

"Are you just saying that because you think you owe me some life debt?"

"Pretty much."
"So how far can I push my luck with this? Will you teach the spell to my father too?"
"I'd rather not, but if it's important to you I might."

"Do all my homework for life?"

"We are not in Hogwarts any more, but sure."
"Will you do a strip tease for me?"

"Very funny."

"Oh, everyone knows how much you like riding dragons."

"Maybe I would consider it if you had heroically duelled your aunt and stopped her from almost slicing off my arm with a cursed knife."
"But as you so accurately pointed out, I would not have survived that duel."
"So it was a good thing you didn't throw yourself in front of your aunt's wand."
"Bit it does mean I don't get a strip tease."

"You win some, you lose some. Live with it."

"Bummer."

"So if I teach you my trick, will you teach me that mind trick of yours?"

You mean this one. +

Hermione had closed her eyes again and jumped awake when she heard Draco's voice in her head.

"Yes, that one. How do you do that."

"There is just a trick to it. And you have to do it wandlessly, but I'm sure that's no problem for you."

"Can you do it with anyone? And what's the range of the spell?"

"The range is limited and no, you can't do it with just anyone. You have to know the magical essence of your target. I developed the spell to communicate with my parents during Voldemort's invasion of the Manor. It was not like we could communicate freely with him around. And even this way was risky. But at least the Death Eaters couldn't overhear us and report back to him."

Draco sighed and sank back into the couch as he continued.

"It took me weeks to learn to recognise their magical essence. They were slightly faster at recognising me and each other once I explained how I had managed it. But I didn't have weeks to figure you out. I still can't believe I found your magical essence as quickly as I did."

"I'm happy you managed it then. I was slipping. I was almost gone when you got in there."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing. It was not your fault."

"We used to do this for one another, you know. Keep each other sane while under the crucio. Reach out for support instead of retreating into sanity."

Hermione's hand had found Draco's and their fingers entwined.

"Why did you decide to save me?"

"You needed it."

"Even after all those years of calling me names."

"I'm not a monster. There is a difference between calling people names and torturing them."

"Thank you."

"I'll teach you the spell sometime. Although the spell is useless until you manage to find your target."

"How many people can you project towards"

"Just you and my parents. There was never any real point in projecting to anyone else. After the war I was just happy that I was able to talk to people without the constant fear of being overheard saying something that would cause punishment for me or my parents. Occasionally it has occured to me that it would be useful to be able to project to Theo, but I've never really bothered trying to find his magical essence. It would probably just freak him out."

"Why are you living at Nott's? I am guessing you could afford a place of your own if you wanted to."

"I don't want to live at Malfoy manor, for obvious reasons, and he has a habit of inviting people to move in, so it just sort of happened. You may have noticed that our circle of friends isn't that big. People aren't very fond of having us around so we stick together. We were the ones stupid enough to get ourselves marked. There is no coming back from that."

"Well, you guys can be my friends if you want."
"Whatever you do, do NOT tell that to the press tomorrow."
"You are way to scared of public opinion."

"And you are way too eager to commit political suicide."
"Ok, ok, whatever you say. I am the puppet and you are the puppet master."

"And you better not forget it."

"But I would like our plan to include the long term goal of people stop being mean to snakes in general. People need to stop shunning you guys. It's ridiculous how people are still mad at Pansy 14 years after she made one stupid remark in the midst of battle back when she was a frightened teenager."

"How did 'saving the snakes' suddenly become your new quest?"
"When I decided it should be."

"I see. I am not sure the puppet master approves."
"And the puppet master becomes the puppet."
"That does not make sense. Are you feeling Ok`?"
"Of course not. I fell asleep ages ago. This is just me sleep-talking."
"Is that a thing?"

"Obviously."

"So what is your plan, sleeping beauty?"
"Wouldn't you like to know."
"Yes, I would. Please wake up and tell me."

Hermione sighed, opened her eyes, let go of his hand and sat up to face him.

"Ok, here is the plan. I am going to make Harry take a day of work tomorrow and stay by my side all day. Whenever someone mentions the article he can be the one with something to say about this whole thing. He is the one who saved the world and no one ever questions his judgment is who is Ok and who isn't. If he says that we have friends and acquaintances from all four Hogwarts houses, then that's it. End of story and checkmate against the press."

"Wow. That is… That is devious, underhanded and absolutely ingenious. Playing the Potter card. Brilliant move."
"Thank you very much."
"Will Potter really do that for you?"
"He made me fly from Hogwarts to London on an invisible thestral when we were kids, just because he had a sudden urge to visit the ministry. I have endless leverage over him. He works to much anyway. It's not like he needs the money."
"No, he could easily join our newly established ridiculous-sums-at-Gringotts club."

"But you see where I'm going this plan of mine, don't you?"

"Not really."

"If we are going to take full advantage of Harry's seal of approval for snakes everywhere then we need some former slytherins hanging out at Purple Palace tomorrow and within a week or so you, Theo and Harry need to be seen talking together."
"You will just not let this go, will you."
"No I will not."
"Well the first thing is easy. How about Daphne, Eloise and Pansy."
"Remind me. Who is Eloise again?"
"She was a couple of years ahead of us. She is friends with Daphne."
"Sure. I can send a message to Pansy if you contact the other two."
"Unless the article is about you and Pansy, for in that case we might want to call in some guys instead."

"That would be funny. Although if it is something that ridiculous then I am not calling Harry in to deal with it. Rumors about me and Pansy being an item are not even worth addressing."

"I suppose you can."
"So what if it is Blaze? I think that would make the most sense, really. We have been seen talking on numerous occasions lately. I even bought a signed copy of his autobiography last Friday."

"If it is Blaze then you need to call in Potter. It could be detrimental for both your candidacies if people thought the two of you were shagging."

"Isn't he with Astoria?"
"Who knows. I think they have broken up, but I might be wrong."
"And here I thought you knew everything."

And with that Hermione gave a giant yawn that made Draco realise that it was well past eleven and she needed to be rested if she was supposed to deal with the press in the morning. He offered to levitate her to bed, whereby she replied that getting into her bedroom was a little bit harder than that. So he just wished her a good night and headed downstairs for the floo as she stumbled towards her bedroom.

The last thing she heard as her head hit the pillow was Draco's voice in her head.

+ Sweet dreams, Hermione. +