School has been BUSY and I've had no time for anything. But thank you all for your reviews which were very nice to read, I'm glad you like it so far.
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Draco didn't think that he read realised what had happened until later that night. The nurses had gone saying that they would return in the morning to check on Hermione's condition. Now that the Manor was empty, it seemed far too quiet.
For her part, Hermione seemed to have taken it much better than he thought she would. But then again, it was clear she was having a hard time with it. The tables had turned; he was the one sitting on an emotional ledge and showing it, while she went about her business as usual, not revealing the hurt within.
This frustrated him to some extent; that he couldn't be the calm collected one. The more he thought about it though, the more he blamed himself. Clearly the stress of the situation had caused the deterioration in her health and because of that, they had lost a child.
No doubt Potter and company would be angry at him. Why was everything so wrong? Hadn't they done everything right? It seemed too cruel for her to go through this when she had survived the war, survived such a horrific event only to suffer in her marriage.
"I don't want to be angry at you." She said quietly some hours later.
He looked up at her, unable to understand what she was meaning. "But you are?"
She breathed deeply, "yes, to some extent I am."
"I expected it." He replied blandly.
"But I don't want to be." She persisted.
He turned away from her, back to face the empty fireplace, "why not?"
"Because it's not your fault; you didn't want this." She came to stand at his side, but he didn't look up.
"No this may not have been what I wanted, but it doesn't mean I didn't cause it."
She said nothing for a while, just standing there, still and quiet. Eventually she moved and sat on the chair beside his. "A part of me wants to leave," he was sure his heart skipped a beat at her words, "I was upset at you and that's why I left before; why we crumbled."
It was odd, he thought, that they should have fallen so far from each other over this when they hadn't encountered such difficulties when they found out he had murdered her parents. He still went cold at the thought.
"I think that I have a right to be angry because…you've taken three lives from me."
The words hit him like a bludger. Three lives? Her parents and the baby; she was quite the mind reader, he thought ironically.
"And yet my anger doesn't seem justified." She continued in soft tones, "I know you're different and that you would never do that now; I'm sure of it." He looked up to see her staring intently at him. "And I know you never meant for this either."
"It's pathetic." He observed, "you are have every right to be angry at me and I'm surprised you aren't. I would have understood if you had left."
She didn't reply immediately, instead they shared the room in silence. At some point she must have started a fire, the flames flickered over their vision. Slowly, the sky outside was darkening.
"I think it would have been a bad time for a baby." Her voice was calm, as if she was stating they were about to have dinner.
"Perhaps." He replied, trying to sound just as indifferent. "We weren't exactly on the best of terms."
He saw her head move slightly from the corner of his eye as she spoke, "no, so now we can try to fix things."
"Always the logical one." He uttered quietly, surprised when he heard her chuckle.
"So they say."
The warmth from the fire spread slowly towards them as darkness closed in.
"Have you eaten?" Draco asked suddenly.
Hermione looked to him, raising her eyebrows, "yes, why?"
"It's late; you should get some rest." He rose; his muscles protesting slightly after sitting in the same place for so long.
Hermione was smiling slightly at him, "Yes I think so too." She rose and pecked his cheek before exiting the room. It took him a moment as he stood there to realise that he had the first true smile on his lips in a long time.
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Harry, Cho, Ron and Padma came to the Manor at lunch time several days afterwards. There was a certain tension in the air as they were seated around the long dining table.
"How are things going with the company?" Harry asked at some point.
Draco offered a small smile, "Quite stable."
Ron glanced up, "the press seemed to have left it alone for now."
"That's true." Draco nodded all of a sudden noticing the forced courtesy of the conversation, "I'm glad of it."
Both Harry and Ron nodded in absentminded agreement and Draco caught Hermione's lips twitch slightly. She seemed to find the situation more than a little amusing and he supposed anything that improved her spirits couldn't be all that bad.
"So Hermione," Cho broke in, also smiling, "you're well?"
"Yes I am, thank you." Hermione replied nodding, "I'll be back at the ministry within the next few days."
"Any plans that we can know about before everyone else?" Padma asked with mock seriousness.
Hermione laughed out loud then, "no, no, I'm afraid nothing I can tell you right now."
"What use is knowing the Minister of Magic if she isn't going to let us in on secrets?" Ron added with a grin.
Hermione smiled sweetly, "I don't tell government secrets, well not to most people." And here she gave Draco a pointed look to which he had no reply.
After the party had left he was still confused at the conversation that had passed over their meal, but choose not to say anything about it for now; she seemed to be in a very good mood.
"We should have friends over often." She observed.
"How often?" He asked with caution.
"Oh don't look at me like that, I mean just to have casual lunches. It's a nice change to just having two people in this huge manor." She was standing in front of the window, the setting sun framing her ginger locks and that questioning smile on her lips.
He would have found it hard to refuse her anything when she looked just so at peace, something he missed dearly. As odd as it was to say, it seemed that not having the baby was doing them an enormous good. He had devoted much more attention to her afterwards and she had responded with equal attentiveness.
"Sure Hermione." She regarded him strangely but he didn't care enough to wipe the grin off his face.
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It's a short chapter I know, but I hope it portrays the mending of things. Your reviews are much appreciated.