After three hours Hermione's apartment was empty again with the exception of Draco. Potter and the Aurors had gathered everything they had needed so he put his wand to work and began fixing what he could. For what he couldn't he threw out or neatly put aside in case there was a muggle way of going about it and Hermione could somehow salvage it. The last thing he attempted to repair was the wall that still had that awful moniker. He sighed, raising his wand to it, but abruptly turned around with it raised when he heard the sound of apparation behind him.

Draco put a hand on his chest and let out a deep breath. "Merlin, Granger, I could've attacked you! What are you even doing here? I told you to go to your parents."

Hermione crossed her arms. "You didn't tell me that I had to stay there."

"I had to tell you that?" He groaned a little and ran his hands through his hair. Hermione stared at him and then she looked around the living room.

"You fixed my apartment."

He nodded. "I did. I wish I had gotten a chance to fix that though before you could see it again."

Hermione could see the "that" Draco was referring to. She drew closer to him, standing by his side as she read the words up close. She frowned.

"I can't believe someone would go as far as to destroy my apartment and write something like this."

"There are crazy people out there." Draco said simply. "I just hope that there's no one crazier than this. If something were to happen to you because of me-"

"Stop." Hermione said forcefully. "Don't think that way."

"How can I not? I mean, look!"

"I know, Malfoy, I do. But if I had turned away from every challenging experience in my life then winning the war would've been a lot harder than it was. This is just…" Hermione bit her bottom lip. "This is just another war we have to win."

Draco stared at her. Her serious expression. Her watchful and expectant eyes. She was a stubborn witch, he had to give her that. Eventually he conceded.

"You're a sore loser, aren't you?"

Hermione smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him tight. "Yes."

Hermione ended up staying with Harry. She had insisted that she was fine, but both he and Draco fought her on it saying that until the person who had vandalized her apartment was caught, that she shouldn't be there. Draco had taken the liberty to ward Hermione's apartment. Brilliant as she was, she could be a bit naïve to the dangers of the world despite how much better it was now that Voldemort was gone. That said, he found it astounding that she hadn't had one set of protection wards over her apartment –mostly muggle neighborhood or not.

As the week went on, day after day with no luck as to finding the criminal, Draco became more on edge. He kept thinking, "What next?" Was someone going to track her down and attack her? Lure her into an alley and threaten her? Obviously the person who had it against her now was a non-Voldemort supporter, but what if the next incident did involve a supporter? It would sure enough be more than just some words written on a wall.

Draco shivered.

Nothing had been able to ease his distress. Not Hermione, because she was the source of his discontent –or at least her safety was. Not the fact that his Auror training letter had come earlier that day. Not even how delighted she had been when he had told her it was coming or the congratulatory romp when the letter had flown in through their hotel room's window. He had gotten a room for them last night because he was sick and tired of having to traipse through Potter's house just to see her. They would be staying there again tonight. At least he had that to look forward to.

"You know, mate, the idea is to eat before you get all liquored up. Not after."

Draco merely grunted. "Sobering Up Potion before I go back. Granger will be none-the-wiser."

Theo shrugged, although his curious eye never left his friend. "So she doesn't know then that you've been drowning your tension away with burning brews?" He chuckled. "Some attentive girlfriend you've got there."

"She's very attentive, thank you." Draco snapped. "She knows I'm upset just fine. Drop it."

"Fair enough, fair enough. Although, you should learn to rein in those emotions of yours. When something like what happened to Granger happens again, you can't afford to fall apart."

Draco stilled his glass on its journey to his mouth. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. You think that'll be the last time they'll try something again?"

"They?" Draco's eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me that you know who vandalized Granger's apartment?"

"No," Theo said, and then added evasively, "Simply that I might have heard a rumor."

"Tell me." Draco ordered. "Tell me right now."

"So you can do what?" Theo challenged. "Ruffle them up? Send a hex or two?" He huffed, then smirked a little. "Your girlfriend wouldn't like that much, I bet. So convinced that you're a changed man and all."

"I am."

"Then act like it. I'm not going to tell you what I may or may not know just so you can do something stupid."

Draco frowned and then relaxed. He motioned for the bartender to fill his glass and he downed it in seconds. It was refilled just as fast too.

"I'll give the information to Potter." Theo said after some minutes passed. "Anonymously, of course."

"Of course,"

More minutes ticked by. They were at the Leaky Cauldron, taking up the habit of drinking and chatting as they always did from time to time. Theo worked for a couple retailers and travelled often to trade and procure goods. It was legitimate…for the most part.

"Do I have to tell you that you and Granger dating is-?"

"No, so don't. I've had more than enough people jumping down my throat about it."

"Your mother, I presume?"

The blond shook his head. "Not in the normal sense at least, no. But aside from her, the only person really on my side with this is Blaise."

"Ah yes, Blaise. Why am I not surprised? He's a dreamer. An optimist. He thinks you can do whatever you put your mind to if you try hard enough."

Draco scoffed. "So what does that make you? A pessimist?"

"It makes me a realist." Theo said simply. "Granger doesn't belong in our world, and you know it."

"Our world?" Draco half-sneered. "Last I checked, Nott, I wasn't the one dabbling in foreign and illegal goods in my spare time."

"And last I checked I was never once a Deatheater."

The blond's teeth clamped down, hard. "Exonerated. Exonerated Deatheater. Why does everyone seem to forget that?"

"Because they don't care." Theo told him. "Once a Deatheater, always a Deatheater."

Draco's stomach churned at his words. He could feel himself wanting to let his shoulders droop, his head sagging right along with them. However, the last time he had done that Hermione had promptly lifted his head up, warning him that if he ever did it again she would simply have to hex him. He smiled at the memory of it.

"There's one witch who cares." He said before finishing off his drink. "Once Granger does why should anyone else matter?"

Theo chuckled. "I can smell Blaise just dripping off of you. You might not give two rats' arses about other people, but what makes you think that your little girlfriend won't?

Draco sighed. "Theo-"

"No. You listen to me, Draco. Whether you want to believe it or not, there is such a thing as our world. Your mother, the rest of your family, your friends and acquaintances. They all make it up. Not everyone can be as cordial and charming like Blaise. The man's a walking fairytale. Our world is brutal and unkind, not to mention dangerous. The war may be over, but that doesn't mean years upon years of animosity and prejudice are. Do you really want to Granger to be part that?"

"No, of course not, but she can-"

"What? Handle it?"

Draco swallowed thickly and nodded. Theo snorted.

"If you say so. Let's see how well she can take it when she walks into a room with people waiting to spout the word 'mudblood' at her.'"

Now, in Draco's head, he knew that Theo hadn't called Hermione such a terrible name. He had just used an example. But the fact that it had left his lips at all had lit a fire in him that had grown too wild for him to put out. Not to mention that two hours worth of liquor was fueling that fire terribly.

Theo's glass had fallen from his hands as he found himself whirled around in his seat, his back half-over the counter, with Draco's hands on his throat.

"Don't you ever put her name and that word together again!" He snarled at him. Theo could barely breathe. He was vaguely aware of a huge commotion and people trying to get Draco off of him, but it was getting hard to see. Instead he managed to tug his wand out of his pocket and send a nonverbal Stinging Jinx his way.

Draco let him go promptly and swung his blistering hand around. "Damn it!"

Theo sat up, coughing wildly, and stared at his friend with wide eyes. "Get a bloody grip man! I didn't say that she was one!"

He knew that.

"For Merlin's sake!" Theo continued. "If you were ready to kill me for that-!"

He was.

"-what if it was something worse?"

He didn't know.

"You can't take on the whole world, Draco. It's just not practical!"

That was something else he knew. Draco took a moment to look around the room. With the way people were looking at him he could just envision what the Daily Prophet headlines would look like. Deatheater Attacks Patron at Local Pub. Deatheater Turns on Friend. Things Go Violent at the Leaky Cauldron –an up close and personal shot of him in the process of strangling Theo to death.

"Sorry," Draco mumbled. He watched as the mass of people surrounding them parted as he headed their direction so that he could make it to the Floo. Once he stepped inside, a healthy set of Floo Powder in his hand, he was taken away back to the hotel.

Author's note: Oh, things were so good! And then Draco had to go and get shaken again :(. An emotionally upset and, not to mention, drunk, Draco, is not a very good combination.

I'd like to take a moment to thank White Bishop for suggesting WAY early on, for Draco to have a conversation with someone a little less like Blaise. Someone not as "optimistic," to use Theo's words.

-WP