Sorry for the shitness and if there are any errors.

It was an exhausting day for Harry. It had been an exhausting weekend. All he thought about was Hermione and how he could get their friendship back. Grovelling and begging for forgiveness crossed his mind many times. Sending her flowers and an apology hindered him. He thought of going to Kingsley and sorting it all out holding hope that she would at least talk to him. But no matter what ideas he thought of to try and get back to where they were, he just knew that it would just simply not work. She had already spoken her mind. She already told him how she felt. And now she hated him.

Acknowledging that still didn't make him feel any better. He still felt like he had wronged…Like he had failed one of the most important woman in his life. A sinking feeling began to seep into his stomach, again. He had never felt so low. Over the weekend he moped around, depressingly stagnant was his attitude. He didn't want to eat but then when he did, he'd plough back his food as if he were a man starved for days on end. His interaction with his wife he made centred around Hermione and what he should have done, what he should not have done. By the time Sunday night rolled around his lovely redhead snapped.

'There were a lot of things you could have done, darling.' Ginny muttered over their usual Sunday roast dinner. 'But you can't live on shoulda, coulda, woulda's. Not with this anyway. Just own it and accept it and hope and pray to Merlin that Hermione comes around. That's all you can do."

'But I should do more for her.' He pleaded. He speared his roasted potato with his fork but it never reached his mouth. 'I must find a way to make it up. I must.'

Ginny set her cutlery down and stared sternly at him. 'Look, your best friend bitched slapped you with Lucius Malfoy's scalp. And then she had some very nasty but truthful words for you. If you think that Hermione is going to just forget about it over the weekend or crumble and succumb to whatever you have thought of to get her to forgive you, then you have another thing coming. Just give her time to process everything. Don't expect her to rationalize everything straight away like she always has.'

'But that's always been Mione' Harry protested softly.

'We have never seen her in love, Harry.' Ginny said ever more softly. 'We have never really known what she could be like with those she loved. And now we do. It's a hard lesson for you, especially. But it's something that only she can fix.'

'What if she doesn't want to?' He whispered.

'Oh, stop being such a pessimist, love.' Ginny scorned. 'Just give her time and no more interfering. Ok?"

It took a few minutes for Harry. But he agreed by nodding, very slowly.

'Good, now let's focus on us for now.' Ginny happily changed the subject.

Snapping out of the flashback he changed out of his Auror robes. He had just gotten home, Ginny was preparing dinner. He kissed her when he arrived. She smiled, said hello and told him to go and freshen up. She seemed perky, he wondered what about as he changed into flannel dark green sweats and a plain black t-shirt. He made his way down stairs to the dining room and frowned.

Ginny had set three places at the table, as far as he knew, they were not having any guests. He walked into the kitchen to find his wife muttering a few colourful expletives as she pulled a burnt sponge cake out of the oven.

"Would like some help?" He offered.

Ginny looked up at the door way. "No, it just looks like we won't be having desert."

"I believe this is your first attempt at making desert." He teasingly grinned at her.

"And trust me it will be the last." Ginny rolled her eyes. She set the burnt mass on the bench and with the flick of her wand, made it disappear. She looked over at the stove top where her Shepard's pie proudly sat. "At least we won't be starving, the pie turned out okay."

"Hmmmm, it looks delicious." Harry murmured. He moved closer to his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist. He suddenly remembered the extra setting and asked, "Who is joining us for dinner?"

"Draco." Ginny said easily.

"Oh" Harry voiced his surprise. He did not expect Draco of all people, to be joining them for dinner without Narcissa and Hermione.

"Yeah, he called earlier asking if we could meet up for dinner." She paused. "I was surprised, but I mean come on, he's a pretty cool guy now. You don't mind do you?"

"Of course not, He's welcome here at any time. I'm just not too sure how Narcissa would feel about it."

Ginny spun around to face her husband. His green eyes looked worried. "Darling, Narcissa knows that Draco is now a man. He makes his own decisions. And she wouldn't object to him coming here."

"But- Harry began to protest.

"No but's." Ginny interrupted. "I had lunch with Narcissa today, she's all good."

"She is?" The disbelief in Harry's tone was evident.

"Of course she is." Ginny smiled. "She's actually a bit of smart arse once you get to know her, properly."

Harry's eyebrows rose, "I find that hard to believe."

Ginny laughed and soon it became infectious and Harry joined her. She wrapped her arms around his neck still laughing when she pulled him down for a kiss. She did not know how much she missed the light moments between them until then. Since the incident at the Manor, they were all too serious, both absorbed in the concerns of Narcissa and Hermione's relationship.

Now it felt liberating. She loved Hermione and treasured her friendship with Narcissa but she needed to focus on her marriage. Her husband always carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He always felt that he was responsible for everything and anything, especially when it came to the well-being of those closes to them. The red head needed her husband to put his focus on her, not only to distract him from his quarrel with Hermione but also because there was no longer only going to be two of them in their little family.

Harry smiled down at his wife but inside he was reeling. Ginny had lunch with Narcissa. What did that mean? Did Hermione know about it? If so does that mean there will be progress in repairing their friendship? He chose not to bring it up but that did not stop him from hoping.

(~)

"Hey." Draco smiled at the door. A twelve pack of beer dangled in his hands. He was dressed casual in dark jeans and a white woollen jumper. "I thought I could bring something to drink."

"Hey, I could do with a beer." Harry smiled letting the blonde through the door. They chatted lightly as they walked into the kitchen. Draco started to laugh when Harry told him about the failed sponge cake.

"Hello Draco." Ginny smiled

"Hey Gin." He smiled back. He took two bottles out of the pack, handed one to Harry and then offered one to Ginny. She declined saying that she didn't feel like it. Both men shrugged and Draco opened himself a bottle, while Ginny put the rest to cool in the fridge.

"Have you heard from your Mother?" Ginny asked, her head still in the fridge as she put the beer away.

"On Saturday I went to see her. She was a bit..weird." He started. He took a quiet sip of his beer and shoved his free hand in his pocket. "She had some sort of domestic with Hermione and was ready to leave if Granger didn't go back. I haven't heard from her since, so that must mean they are ok now."

Harry was quiet.

"They are probably having a fuck fest as we speak." Ginny announced rather loudly as she close the fridge door and turned to the two males. Harry wore a frown and Draco looked as though he was about to vomit. The picture on his face made Ginny giggle.

"Thanks a lot." He muttered sarcastically. "I didn't really want a picture of that."

"And now you do." Ginny said sweetly.

Draco shook his head and looked at Harry. "She can't control herself can she?"

Harry laughed, "Nah, you should see her when she teases Hermione and Narcissa to their faces, she's even worse."

"You should hear your, Mother when she gives it back." Ginny scoffed at Draco. "Not quite the Ice-Queen everyone labelled her. She's a rather hot blooded witch."

The red head laughed as Draco tried and fail to stop himself from gagging. With her wand she summoned the food into the dining room and walked passed both men before saying in between giggles; "Oh don't look so revolted Draco, you're lucky we aren't having tacos for dinner."

(~)

After nearly half an hour at the table Ginny was astonished at how much they had all eaten. Draco and Harry practically inhaled their food, leaving nothing much but a few moans of delight at how good her Shepard's pie turned out for conversation. She was even surprised at how much she had eaten but she was glad Harry was too occupied with his plate to notice she uncharacteristically gobbled all her food. She very nearly laughed when Draco leant back in his seat and rubbed his belly.

"Ginny that was some pie, thank you." He murmured.

"Yes Darling that was scrumptious." Harry agreed.

"You are both welcome." Ginny took a sip of her water. She eyed both men, Harry was completed sated, just smiling into thin air. Draco however, looked uncomfortable. She decided to tease him; "Did you eat too much Draco?"

The blonde shook his head and took a sip of his beer. He was unsure of how to approach what was troubling him, he didn't want to step on anyone's toes. But when he remembered Ginny had had lunch with his mother earlier that day, it gave him the guts to just get it out. "I came here wanting to talk about Hermione."

"Oh" Was all Harry said.

Ginny remained silent.

"Yeah," Draco took another sip of his beer then set the bottle down on the table. "I don't want her to end up in Azkaban but we need to do something about Lucius' death. There must be some way we could find to avoid a severe punishment. I know that she's angry with you, Harry, but you are the only person who could help her get out of it."

"I don't want her in Azkaban either." Harry said quietly. "But she doesn't want to know me anymore Draco and until that changes, I can't do anything."

"There must be a way we could help her, maybe if we go-

"You two don't need to worry about Hermione's fate." Ginny interrupted. She may not have known until that moment that Draco actually did care for Hermione. It wasn't all a show. And Harry, well, she knew her husband would lay his life down for the stubborn brunette even if she never wanted to speak to him ever again. The point was Ginny saw that both men cared for Hermione, for her well-being and for Narcissa. "She went to the Minister and tried to hand herself in."

Both Draco and Harry gasped. Their jaws dropped and their eyes widened. Ginny could not help but giggle, they both looked like two school girls being told the latest gossip.

"What?" Draco whispered.

"I need to go and see Kingsley." Harry abruptly stood up from his seat.

"Not so fast." Ginny held her hand up. She waited until Harry had sat back down then she chose to speak. She relayed what Narcissa had told her to both men. And as simple as it sounded she saw the disbelief in their eyes. Maybe it was because they actually saw Hermione slit Lucius' throat? Perhaps it was because there was, especially after the war, a common belief which was often practised that if one murdered another, they would get punished for it.

"How could that be?" Harry asked. "The Minister could not let her just get away with it, there had to be some sort of consequence for her."

"I agree," Draco drained his beer bottle empty. "You must have heard wrong."

Ginny shook her head. "No Narcissa was quite clear when she told me. Hermione actually got away with it, I think it was more to do with her role than anything else."

"It doesn't make sense, but then she only answers to the Minister so she does have quite a strong tie to him." Harry murmured then laughed. His laughter caught Ginny and Draco off guard, they both stared at him as if he belonged in St. Mungo's.

Draco looked at Ginny, "Is he ok?"

Ginny shrugged, "Being married to me must have finally driven him crazy."

Draco laughed, "I don't blame him."

"Oh, shut up."

Once Harry's laughter had subsided he took an enthusiastically long sip of his beer. Still smiling he shook his head in mirth.

"Out with it, love." Ginny pressed

"Who would have thought, that they only person to actually get away with murdering that piece of shit, would have been Hermione?" He asked smiling. In some weird sense he felt proud of her. She definitely did deserve an honour for being the smartest witch of their generation. He would have had a trophy made for her just in jest, if she were still talking to him.

"Hmmmmm" Draco hummed. He then saw the humour in the situation and began to laugh as well. The one time, old Granger loses her shit and would most likely fall from grace because of it, she actually does not have to face the consequences and would be able to go home to his mother, probably for a nice hot cup of tea and a discussion on Wuthering Heights!

"This isn't amusing you two." Ginny scolded.

"No it isn't" Harry agreed. Then he said something so uncharacteristically Ginny's eyes widened at the table; "Now Draco will get the chance to call Mione, Mum."

What Draco said next wiped the smile off Harry's face and made Ginny's jaw drop, "Granger will be a better parent than Lucius. I'd have her any day over him."

(~)

Oh Gods, I need to tell her, Hermione thought. She didn't want to ruin their date, she didn't want to ruin the moment. But how could she carry on when she went spastic over Narcissa hiding the rape from her? Though the blonde's predicament was a lot more severe than what Camilla was to Hermione, the young witch knew how Narcissa felt about it. She was about to be very hypercritical if she didn't say anything. She was glad that Narcissa was not facing her, the older witch would have seen the her face reacting to the thoughts churning in her head.

Hermione wrapped her arms tighter around the blonde. She buried her head in the crook of Narcissa's neck and breathed in, slowly intoxicating her senses with the blonde's alluring jasmine sent. She was about to say something when the blonde beat her to it.

"Tell me more about your travels." Narcissa murmured softly unaware of her lover's inner turmoil. She watched the fairy lights sway, being tickled by a soft breeze. "I want to know more of what you've experienced."

Hermione cleared her throat. "What would you like to know?"

"Anything…Everything.." That was as casual as Narcissa Black would ever sound. She was more than happy, she was over joy. She knew the difference between the two. Happiness was momentarily. It did not last. It was a cycle. It could get overcast or completely wiped away as if it never happened. And then it would happen again. How she felt in that moment, in between Hermione's legs, on a blanket in the young witch's parents backyard, was more than that. So much more that she could see beauty in the most smallest of things that she would have never noticed before. Things that were so miniscule and insignificant before were far clearer, far more obvious to her sight. She couldn't even stop herself from smiling.

"I've been all over the world." The brunette's voice was husky and tentative. I need to tell her, now!

"Then you must have seen a lot." Narcissa said quietly. "Tell me your favourite country and why."

Narcissa was met with silence as Hermione thought for a bit. When the brunette found her voice it was filled with mirth. "I don't have a favourite country that I've been to but I absolutely fell in love with the Middle East. I spent some time in Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Turkey. The history, both muggle and wizardry is so rich, I find it hard to believe that there could be so much turmoil now, especially in the muggle sectors."

"Hmmm, I thought you would have preferred a tropical destination." Narcissa mused.

"Nah, But I have been to Samoa." Hermione said easily. "Don't get me wrong it is a beautiful country. The pale sandy shore and crystal clear blue waters, the easy going life style was just something that wasn't for me."

"What took you to the middle of the Pacific Ocean?" The blonde queried.

"It was a mission that wasn't really to recover any relics, but to try and find a solution to remove the dark mark." Hermione answered, she then launched into a full explanation. "Tattooing derived from Polynesia, not just in the muggle world but also in our world. If there was any way of finding a way to get rid of the Dark mark, it would mean going back to the origins of it. I spent a few months there and learnt that both worlds held similar view to wear a tattoo."

"And was?"

"That once you get one, you wear it for the rest of your life." Hermione laughed. "I spent all that time there trying in vain to find a solution, when one chief tattooist told me that there was none. There were no special potions or spells that could take a marking off, he almost wanted to kill me for asking and was highly offended that anyone did not take it seriously before receiving one."

Narcissa giggled, "So you went there for nothing."

Hermione nuzzled the blonde's head and whispered, 'Yeah, but I did get a tan though."

Narcissa giggled again. She kept her eyes on the floating lanterns when she casually asked her next question, "What is the one thing you have learnt from all of your travels?"

Hermione was quiet before she said; "That no matter how far in whatever corner of the world one is in, one can still be more alone at home than what they are while they are away."

Narcissa thought about Hermione's words. "You do not feel like that now, do you?"

"Of course not." Hermione admonished. "Before you, I couldn't wait to get out of England. I always held my hand up for the most difficult of missions because I knew they would take longer, which meant I spent more time abroad. Then when a mission was completed I made sure that I was not home longer than two or three weeks."

"Is that because you were lonely?"

"Not entirely." Hermione whispered. "I didn't really hang around Ginny, Harry and Ron much after the war. I just ended up marrying my job and it led me away from them, from England, from my reality."

Narcissa remembered Ginny saying something similar to that once.

"I just couldn't be around the life that was mine when my parents died. I mean, come on, how could I just go back to living like that after it cost them their lives?" Narcissa wanted to turn around and face the brunette but she was sacred, that now Hermione was talking she might stop. So she didn't move. "I wasn't going to marry either Harry or Ron as everyone was expecting. I couldn't even appreciate my beginning, which started off as being born to two muggle loving parents. How could I carry on? The guilt gnawed at me so much on the inside that I found it easier to cope with while I was abroad. But whenever I came home, it would eat me alive."

Narcissa laced her pale fingers in between Hermione's. She squeezed them in a loving gesture. She would never realise how much she underestimated the young witch until that night. Hermione was a beautiful person. She cared, she loved, she listened and she felt that she didn't deserve to share her life with anyone. There was no one for her to talk to, no one to share an experience, no one to laugh with, cry with, not until now. "It does not feel like that anymore?"

"No, it definitely doesn't." Hermione whispered. "I couldn't wait to come back to you. I know it was only one weekend for us, but that seemed to be enough for me. I made my decision the morning after the ball."

The blonde frowned; "What decision?"

"That I never want you to leave me." Hermione husked out. She saw the way Narcissa squirmed and knew it was because there was a shiver running down the blonde's spine. "I knew then that I wanted more from you, that I wanted all of you."

Narcissa felt her nipples harden over Hermione's words. For someone who couldn't bear to be touched after the incident, she couldn't wait for Hermione to finally have her dirty way with her. Some part of her wondered why they hadn't already done the deed. She was quietly shocked that Hermione didn't claim her the previous night, instead the brunette insisted that they lay in bed and talk more.

"But I must tell you that I received a letter from Camilla this morning." Hermione felt the blonde stiffen, she hugged her tighter. "She is coming with her parents to Lucius' funeral and she wants to meet up."

Narcissa ripped herself free from Hermione's embrace and stood. She looked down at the young witch who wore a bewildered look on her face. The blonde couldn't believe it. They take two steps forward and then get pushed fours steps back! How difficult was it just to be with someone one loved without the interference of others?

Hermione could practically see Narcissa's mind reeling. "She said that she will be in England by the end of the week and I-

"You think that you are the only one who could get jealous and possessive enough to kill?" The blonde's fine hair rose in a magnetic force as her natural magic crackled around her. "Then you have another thing coming when you see what I could get like!"

"Cissa-

"Oh, don't Cissa me!" Narcissa yelled. She clenched her fists at her sides as her whole body shook in anger. To her dismay her nipples were still rock hard, she could feel them brushing against the cotton padded fabric of her bra. "What are your plans with her?"

"Nothing!" Hermione threw her hands around in the air and stood. "I don't want to fucking see her. But I thought you should know which is why I'm telling you!"

Narcissa's whole demeanour changed quickly as Hermione's words registered. She blinked a few times then cocked her head to her side. "You haven't made plans to meet with her?"

"No, and if you had of let me finish, I was about to tell you that.' Hermione muttered. She closed the distance between them, she grabbed the blonde by her small frame and hauled her into her arms. "I knew that you would never allow it so I had made no plans to meet her, at all. I'm going to ignore her letter."

"Oh no you're not." Narcissa said sharply.

Hermione's face scrunched up, "Why?"

Narcissa steadily held the brunette's gaze and said forcefully, "You are going to arrange to meet up with her and we will settle this once and for all."

A/N; I'm not too sure if tattooing did in fact derive from Polynesia, so please don't be offended if it hasn't.