Disclaimer – Do not own anything.

Living with Regrets

Chapter Two

Harry's birthday was always considered a special day. Even before the day he killed Voldemort, this day seemed to be different than the rest. Maybe it was because Harry never truly had a family that he could say was his own. This had a tendency to make people over compensate for his lack of relatives. Harry seemed to take in the attention but always with a sense of humbleness. Which always annoyed Draco Malfoy.

Of course, Draco Malfoy was never part of the festivities or even was aware that it was Harry Potter's birthday until after he killed Voldemort. The Daily Prophet tried to make it into a national holiday, as if celebrating his birthday was a reason not to show up at work.

Draco Malfoy thought all of this while he watched the smiling group of people. He had the misfortune of having chosen a restaurant that was hosting the savior's party. This was the reason for his foul mood and the untouched food in front of him.

"Malfoy, you look like a puppy trying to reach his master. Stop staring." Blaise Zabini remarked in between bites.

"You annoy me sometimes." Malfoy finally looked away from the group after watching an emotional moment when Ginny gave Harry her present.

"But you were the one who invited me out as company. How's your wife?"

"Alive and well, I assume. Haven't spoken with her since I dropped her off with her mother." Malfoy finished his wine and motioned to the waiter to bring some more. "Leave the bottle."

"I'm sure she's anxiously awaiting your return. Planning on getting smashed?" Blaise questioned. When Draco nodded Blaise gave him a surprised look.

"Why?"

"Because I can and I've had a terrible month trying to get the manor in order before I leave. It's bad enough that the Ministry are keeping an annoyingly close watch on my financials." Draco finished off his second glass and began to pour another. He motioned to Blaise asking if he would like one as well.

"No, thank you. I thought your mother took care of that with Potter?" Blaise quietly asked. It was not common knowledge that Narcissa helped Harry by lying to Voldemort but it was also not hard to come to that conclusion.

"That is the only reason that I am here in front of you and not locked in a cell. However, the agreement was to only keep the family out of Azkaban, they didn't promise not to keep a close eye on us."

A loud crash followed by laughter could be heard throughout the room. Draco groaned and picked up his glass again.

"Harry! You're not allowed to do that! Harry!" Hermione yelped across the room.

Draco Malfoy couldn't help looking to his side to see what the man did. He was currently trying to convince the nearby patrons to move their tables over to make a dancing floor.

"Let's go over and give our birthday wishes before either one of you is too pissed drunk to remember that you are supposed to not hate one another." Blaise stood up and finished his drink and waited for Malfoy to stand. "Are you getting up?"

"Yeah."

Malfoy stood up and slightly stumbled from the wine. Blaise rolled his eyes and mumbled some obscenity under his breath.

"Speak up." Malfoy slightly slurred. He said it again to test himself; he seemed more drunk than he thought. He probably should have eaten his dinner and he looked back at his plate as it got farther away. Blaise caught him looking longingly at their table and smirked.

Soon they were at the head of the table and all eyes were on them. Harry Potter turned in his chair with a goofy grin on his face. Malfoy instantly thought that Harry looked terrible while drunk. His mood instantly brightened at the idea that the 'Harry Potter' looked like he was close to death at this moment. He looked at the other people sitting at the table and recognized most of them.

Blaise looked at Draco and then Harry knowing that neither one would be the first to speak.

"We wanted to come over and say happy birthday." Blaise said.

Harry didn't say anything and just looked at both of them with a blank stare.

"Thank you, Mr. Zabini. I apologize for Harry's lack of manners but he is not currently sober enough to accept any birthday wishes." Hermione said next to Blaise. She wasn't exactly sober either by the looks of the empty glasses in front of her.

Blaise nodded and motioned for Draco to step forward. When he made no motion to come forward, Blaise grabbed him and made him the focus of everyone around.

"Gra…I mean Weasley. I suppose that I shall tell you happy birthday for Potter, but I doubt that you have manners either. I'll just forgo saying happy birthday in general. I do hate being polite to people." Malfoy mumbled the last sentence to himself. Hermione, however, caught what he said.

Draco plopped down in the empty chair next to Hermione before anyone could object. Blaise, however, stood where he was and glanced around the table to make sure that no one was reaching for their wand.

"No, please sit." Hermione mumbled with sarcasm.

Draco noticed that her face was flushed due to the alcohol that she has had throughout the festivities, she didn't look much better than Potter. He barely glanced at Blaise as he conjured a chair to sit in next to Ginny.

"Speak up." Draco was proud that this time it did not come out slurred.

"Nothing, Malfoy." Hermione said louder. She grabbed the rest of her drink and drank it quickly.

"What the fuck is he doing in my seat?" Ron said behind them.

"Just having a drink with a colleague. No reason to get upset Weasley, my intentions are purely innocent." Draco slurred the last word and quietly repeated himself till he said it properly.

Hermione gave him a questioning look and did not say anything. She could not hear what he was saying and only assumed he was muttering something foul. She looked at Ron apologetically and motioned to the end of the table where his sister was sitting with Blaise.

When it was obvious that no one was going to speak first Blaise had to speak up again.

"So, Mrs. Weasley, are you excited about first day of classes?"

Everyone stopped what he or she was doing to stare at Hermione.

'I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood." Ron stared at Hermione. "What does he mean, Hermione?" Ron calmly asked which scared Hermione regardless of the alcohol running through her veins.

"I really do not know." Hermione whispered.

Draco looked to Blaise and gave him a what-did-you-do kind of look. Blaise shrugged.

"You're teaching at Hogwarts, aren't you? Or has someone else replaced you?" Blaise looked around, somewhat confused.

Hermione didn't mean Ron's eyes. She began playing with her napkin and the unanswered question seemed to hang in the air.

"Holy shit. You haven't told anyone." Malfoy started laughing hysterically. "You did not tell your husband that you will be leaving for Hogwarts in a couple of weeks." Malfoy looked at Hermione sitting next to him and noticed that she didn't find his sense of humor amusing.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Hermione whispered.

Ron walked up to Hermione and grabbed her out of her seat and dragged her to the front of the restaurant. Many patrons watched as he roughly grabbed her and Apparited just outside the doors.

"What is your problem?" Hermione said as soon as they got inside the house.

Ron slammed the door behind them and put a locking spell on the door with a flick of his wand.

"Guess?" Ron said sarcastically. "How long?"

"I don't know, a month or so."

"You've known for a month that you'll be going to Hogwarts but haven't said anything to me! I'm your husband!" Ron screamed. He kicked over the coffee table, sending magazines flying across the floor.

"And it looks like my husband is acting like a spoiled child." Hermione screamed back. She went to pick up the magazines.

Ron grabbed her wrist and pushed her back and shoved her into the wall.

"Don't you fucking call me a child. You're the one who didn't tell me that you were leaving in two weeks. When were you planning on doing this?" Ron stood a foot away from her, keeping within her personal space so that he could reach for her if she tried to leave.

"Tonight."

"That's convenient."

"This is why I didn't want to tell you. Since you've become an Auror you've had anger problems. This added on to your existing anger issues have caused you to be sweet and loving one moment to violent the next." Hermione tried to push Ron out of her way but he stepped forward and slammed her back against the wall. Hermione saw the pictures next to her rattle.

"Don't you dare blame this on me. As if you are scared of me and what I could say or do. I haven't forgotten what you're capable of and how cunning you can be." Ron whispered into her ear while holding her arms tighter. "You will not blame me for you're lack of courage or your shitty attempt at being a wife."

Hermione remained silent.

"You will not go and that's final." Ron leaned back and grabbed her chin roughly so that he could look into her eyes.

"You don't own me, Ron. I'm leaving in two weeks. If you want to act this way till I leave that's fine. However, I will not have a husband that makes demands that he himself would not follow." Hermione managed to grab her wand from her back pocket and stun Ron before he noticed. "I suggest you cool down and speak with Harry about defensive moves. I believe it may be embarrassing to your co-workers if they knew about this."

Hermione just finished putting the rest of her items into her bag when a light knock sounded at the door.

"Hey." Ginny peeked around the corner. "You leaving today?"

"Yeah."

All teachers had to arrive two weeks before the students just to assure everyone was acclimated before having to watch over students.

Ginny walked into the room and sat down on the bed. They both felt the awkwardness in the room but neither one was going to be the first to mention it.

"I'll see you at Christmas. I'm not planning on staying there unless I'm needed." Hermione said distractedly. She was currently writing a letter to Ron giving him her holiday schedule in case he feels forgiving.

"Right. It'll be at Mum's this year. She's rather excited, George will be there and he's promised to have a date by then."

"He's already looking for a date? It's only August."

"I know." Ginny laughed. "You know George. He most likely has plenty of dates to choose from. Mum threatened to arrange a marriage if he doesn't settle down soon. I think she's a little upset that Bill and Fleur are the only ones who are having children."

Hermione smiled and didn't comment on the fact that having children right now was the last thing she was thinking about…and hopefully Ron wasn't thinking about that either.

"She's getting impatient. I went out to lunch with her the other day and she was complaining how old she was getting and how she could die at any moment. Then dropped a few hints about babies."

"That woman will never die." Ginny said. "How are you getting to Hogsmeade?"

"Oh, I'm scheduled to Floo out at 4. I have about ten minutes or so to finish getting ready." Hermione looked at the wall clock and mentally kicked herself for not noticing the time earlier.

"Well, I will see you off." Ginny got up and grabbed her bag and walked out of the room.

Hermione picked up her letter and put it on Ron's side of the bed. They haven't talked since Harry's birthday and have somehow managed different sleeping schedules so that neither one of them had to deal with the awkward silence before falling asleep.

Once Harry and Ginny made it back they did mention that Malfoy and George got into a fight. Malfoy made a joke about George's non-existing ear and George made some crack about family orgies and they were soon punching one another and trying to hex each other. This cheered up Hermione at the time but shortly after Harry managed to revive Ron who immediately got up and threw a lamp that was on the table next to him.

Hermione exited the room and went into the living room where there was a fire already going.

"I know it's none of my business but what you did to Ron was pretty shitty. But, you're like a sister so I've managed to look at it from your point of view and I hope everything goes as planned this year." Ginny quickly said. She shifted her feet and looked at the fire and didn't seem to mind the additional heat to the room.

Hermione knew that this was a type of apology and didn't think it necessary to point out that she didn't actually apologize.

"Thank you, Ginny. Say bye for Harry for me." Hermione walked up to Ginny and quickly hugged her and then went to the fireplace and grabbed the Floo powder.

"The Three Broomsticks!" With a flash of green, Hermione disappeared.

"Damn it, Weasley. Can you keep track of time at all?" A voice mumbled from above her. After leaving her house she slammed into someone who was still in the fireplace she was trying to enter.

The person put his hand on her chest and pushed himself up. Not caring that he put his full weight on her.

"Sorry." Hermione said before the unexpected weight pushed the air out of her lungs. She started coughing hard trying to regain her breath.

The man stepped over her body and went to pick up his bags. Hermione could hear him say something to Rosmerta and then exit the pub.

"Hermione, dear, you might want to get up. Someone will be entering within the next five minutes."

Hermione nodded and got up off the ground. She went to pick up her bags and quickly left before making a bigger fool out of herself.

It was warm outside and Hermione chose to walk to Hogwarts instead of taking a carriage. She was halfway down the street when someone shoved her and pushed her into a wall. She lost her breath the second time in less than five minutes and it caused her to start coughing again.

"Stop coughing. You have my bag." Hermione managed to look up at the man who rudely pushed her into the wall. She was not that surprised to find Malfoy looking back at her expectantly.

"I don't have you're bag." Hermione said stupidly.

Malfoy grabbed the black bag out of her hand and replaced it with a green one. He rolled his eyes and walked away quickly.

"Hey!" Hermione yelled and ran to catch up with him. Once she got to him she grabbed his arm and spun him around to look at her. When he spun around she forgot what she wanted from him and just mumbled something instead.

"What?" Malfoy drawled and then looked at the carriage waiting behind them. When it was obvious she wasn't going to explain herself he shrugged her hand off his arm and went to the carriage without looking back.

"I liked him better when he's drunk…actually when we're both drunk." Hermione mumbled to herself.

She looked down at the newly placed bag in her hand and saw that it had a family crest on it. She rolled her eyes and debated about returning his bag back to him and then comment on his stupidity of exchanging his bag, just to get his again in return. Hermione decided that she would take her time and make her way to Hogwarts like originally planned. She only had books within the bag that he still had and there was no reason to search him out to get it back.

Thinking of Malfoy's annoyance when he realized that she still had made Hermione skip her way towards Hogwarts. Then stopped a few minutes into it thinking that seeing a 25-year-old woman skipping was never a good sight.