Hermione arrived at her flat that night thinking about Draco Malfoy. As she took off her shoes and sat down on the couch, she kept replaying his face that afternoon in her head. He had walked past her with his shoulders back and chin up, looking like the proud, arrogant Slytherin he had been his entire life. But for the brief moment their eyes had met, Hermione would have sworn that he looked wounded. It unsettled her. Truth be told, she had wanted to talk to him the next morning about the fight. He was right - what did she know about his life? She knew he had changed. He wouldn't have been with her at all that night if he hadn't. But despite her best efforts, he managed to evade her. Eventually she stopped trying. But today when she had seen him, it had brought it all back. She had thought about running after him in the crowded ministry hallway, but she knew it wouldn't have helped. She didn't even know why she cared so much. Why did she care if Malfoy was getting along with her or not? But she knew if she didn't apologize, she would never forgive herself.
Glancing over at the clock, she was shocked to see how much time had passed while she was lost in her own thoughts. She quickly changed out of her work robes and slipped on a pair of jeans, a beige sweater, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Grabbing a pair of shoes, she rushed over to the floo.
"The Burrow," she called out, slipping her shoes on as she stepped inside the fireplace. As she arrived, she was hit with a wall of sound as various members of the Weasley family ran back and forth. Barely noticing her, Teddy ran by with James on his back, with the latter yelling, "Faster! Faster!" Hermione walked in, laughing, and went into the kitchen to say hello to Mrs. Weasley. In the kitchen, Molly was busy scolding Victoire, who had been pulling on the cat's tail. The four year old barely seemed to notice, and ran giggling out of the room as Hermione walked in.
"Hermione, dear! So good to see you," Molly exclaimed, giving Hermione a hug. "I'm sorry for making you all rush after work, but I thought it would be lovely to be able to celebrate Teddy's birthday on the actual day. Make yourself at home, I think Harry and the gang are out in the yard." Hermione thought about offering help, but she knew that Mrs. Weasley would just wave her away and tell her not to worry, so Hermione headed outside to the backyard.
Outside, there was an exhilarating game of Quidditch going on. With the Weasley family growing, they were able to have almost fully formed teams. Hermione watched as Ginny streaked after George, trying to get the Quaffle away from him. Her red hair flew behind her like a bright flag, and faster than Hermione could follow, she was flying toward Ron at the goalpost. She roared triumphantly as their makeshift Quaffle went into the solidary hoop behind him. She stuck her tongue out at her brother and flew back to the center of the field, ready for the Quaffle to be back in game play. As Hermione stood there watching her friends play, she heard someone call her name.
"Hermione!" Lavender yelled, coming over from across the yard with a drink in hand. "It is so good to see you!" Without any warning, Lavender put her arms around Hermione, wrapping her in a tight hug. Hermione reluctantly tried to reciprocate, but Lavender had her arms pinned and she could barely lift her hands. When she was released, Hermione stretched out her arms, glad to be out of the hug.
"Hi Lavender. It's good to see you too. How have you been?" she said politely, forcing a smile on her face. Hermione couldn't help but glance down at the sizable diamond on Lavender's left hand. She quickly glanced back up, hoping Lavender didn't notice.
It didn't seem like she had. She was busy going on about her job - she worked in a shop that focused on the art of Divination, selling crystal balls and predicting the future of her customers. She was telling Hermione about a customer they had in that afternoon, whose death of her husband she had predicted.
"...And she went as white as a ghost, Hermione! I felt so terrible. But when the tea leaves show you something, you have to tell the customer. I couldn't lie to her! Oh, hi Ron!" Hermione glanced up as Lavender was cut off and saw Lavender and Ron passionately kissing. The quidditch game must have just stopped to take a break because his hair was still sticking up wildly and he had his broomstick in the hand he didn't have around Lavender. Hermione discreetly coughed and the couple broke apart.
"Hi, 'Mione," Ron said, turning red at the realisation that Hermione was right there. "Are you ready to get dinner?" And without waiting for her answer, he made a beeline for the tables set up on the far side of the yard, Lavender right in his footsteps. Hermione hung back, thinking about what Malfoy had said about her and Ron the first week they had worked together. Why should you be completely miserable? She had rebuked him in the moment, but was she really happy? She hadn't been on a date in over a year and a half, and the only people she hung out with were Harry and Ginny. She was doing well in her career and considered herself fairly successful, but that was different than being truly happy with her life. The only other friend she had regularly talked to was no other than Draco Malfoy, and now he was actively avoiding her and refusing to talk to her. As she came to these realizations, her chest started to feel tighter and it felt harder to breathe. I just need to take a short walk and catch my breath, she told herself. She walked around to the side of the house and saw she was alone, but the feeling in her chest was becoming worse and she had to sit down. Her breath came in gasps and her throat felt tight. What is happening to me?, she thought as she put her head between her knees.
"'Mione?" she heard someone call. Her eyes widened, but she couldn't move. She didn't want anyone to see her like this! "'Mione?" the voice grew louder, and then the person was next to her, placing their hand on her shoulder. "Hermione, what's wrong?" said Harry, his voice full of concern. He took her by the shoulders and sat her up, telling her to take deep breaths with him. Slowly, her breaths started to come out more evenly and the tightness in her throat and chest began to loosen.
"Thank you Harry," she said when she was able to speak without gasping for air, "I don't know what came over me. I have never had that happen before."
"You were probably having a panic attack," Harry stated before looking away. "I used to have them all the time."
Hermione's eyes widened. Harry had never told her this before.
"When were you having panic attacks?" she asked, touching his arm.
"It was the year after we defeated Voldemort. They would just happen out of nowhere, and then all of sudden I was back in the forest and I couldn't breathe. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Ginny, I don't know what I would've done that year. She was my rock," admitted Harry, smiling at the thought of his wife. Then he looked at Hermione knowingly and said, "Hermione, obviously you have something going on, or else we wouldn't be here. However, I know how much you hate attention on you, so we better get to dinner before everyone sits down. How about I come over tonight after this, just me, and we can talk. Does that sound good to you?"
Hermione smiled at her friend's generosity, and said, "That sounds great Harry."
He helped her get to her feet, and they were able to make it to the dinner table before Molly had been able to corral all of the Weasley relatives to sit down. They took their places at the table, giving each other a knowing smile. Harry sat next to Ginny, who had James on her lap. He was just over a year old, and had a hard time sitting still. He was presently trying to wiggle out of Ginny's arms, but screamed, "Dada! Dada!" when he saw Harry, his chubby arms raising up. Harry placed him on his lap, where he contently played with Harry's plate. They sat near the head of the table, with Teddy at the head. The six year old was wearing a birthday crown and smiling from ear to ear. Hermione ended up next to Percy, who she got along with well enough. As they waited for dinner, they chatted pleasantly about work, Percy very complimentary about her work on the elf legislation.
Walking out of her floo later that night, Hermione felt stuffed. Molly Weasley made delicious food and Hermione always ate way too much. Teddy had been so excited when Molly came out levitating a four layer yellow cake with thick chocolate frosting, and Hermione had happily eaten a large slice. She walked into her kitchen and poured herself a nice glass of white wine, and settled onto the couch. She was curled up into the corner of her couch reading her book when she heard a loud crack and Harry was standing next to her front door, taking off his shoes.
"Hey 'Mione. Sorry I took so long. If I don't help tuck James into bed, he throws a fit. Plus tonight he wanted two books," he sighed, running his hand through his unruly hair. "I shouldn't complain. It's nice that he loves his Daddy so much." He smiled and made a motion for her to scooch over, and sat next to her on the small couch.
Hermione put her book down on the coffee table, pulling her legs out from under her and said, "No worries Harry. I got lost in my book anyway, so I barely noticed. Do you want anything to drink?" She motioned to her glass, "I have white wine, a couple of pints, water, juice…" she trailed off, trying to think of anything else she had.
"I'll take a beer, Hermione, thanks," Harry replied. She went to the kitchen, pouring the can into a tall glass. She walked back into the room and handed it to Harry. He took a sip and looked at her, and said, "So, what is going on with Hermione Granger?"
Hermione sighed before launching into the story about the fight with Malfoy after they had been all together at the Leaky Cauldron. She went into detail about how she tried to apologize, but Malfoy had been very skillfully avoiding her. And finally, she talked about that afternoon and the way it felt when their eyes had met, and how she couldn't stop thinking about his comments about her happiness.
"And honestly Harry, I don't know that I'm really that happy. Just watching Ron and Lavender kissing today sent me over the edge. It seems really weird, but I was enjoying the friendship between Malfoy and me. I would have never thought I'd ever say that, but now that he isn't the insufferable prick he was in school - well, most of the time he isn't - he's actually pretty funny and he's damn intelligent." She finished her story and looked at Harry, gauging his reaction.
"Well Hermione, that sounds like quite the pickle," Harry offered up unhelpfully. Hermione glared at him, raising an eyebrow. Harry put up his hand and said, "Hold on. I wasn't finished. I was going to finish with saying that you are going to need to talk to Malfoy. I never thought we'd be in this situation either, but Malfoy seems like he's changed for the better. When I see him in the Ministry, he's always polite with me, and I have not heard anything about him having anti-Muggle tendencies at all. So if you enjoy his friendship and he makes you happy, then you need to make it right." He finished and sipped on the beer again. "You really know how to pick a brew 'Mione. This is damn delicious," he murmured, still sipping.
Hermione giggled, feeling better now that she had told someone what was going on in her mind. She sighed and said, "You're right Harry. If he's going to avoid me at the Ministry, then I'm going to have to go over to his flat. I remember where it was at. Good thing tomorrow is Saturday - I'll head over there after running my morning errands." She settled back into the couch and sipped her wine, her mind spinning with what she was going to say to him. She just hoped he wanted to listen.