A/N: Yay, a new chapter. :D After this, we believe there are only 2 to go. It's almost over! Again, a HUGE thank you to everyone who reviews- especially to those who review every chapter- it's always a pleasure reading your comments and opinions. :) Thank you so much! This chapter is a little serious, as Draco and Hermione have to sort out more issues- we hope you guys enjoy it anyway!

Chapter 12

When Hermione woke up the next morning, she felt much like she had on the first morning of waking up beside Draco, minus the headache. She blushed, remembering the night's bedroom activities.

She turned her head to look at Draco, who was sleeping on his stomach, one arm flung in her direction. He had been understanding and, in Hermione's opinion, inordinately pleased and smug to find out that he had been her first. It had helped him understand her reluctance to sleep with him, and he'd been considerate and had taken things slowly- the first time. All in all, it had been one of the best nights of Hermione's life.

She checked the clock- it was still early. A persistent, nagging feeling inside her kept asking her if it was too soon to have slept with Draco, whom she had really only known for over a month. Whom she could only remember knowing for over a month, she reminded herself sternly. There was a great difference between the two situations. Draco had told her not to think about it, and to just accept it, and Hermione was trying. She was trying her best, but sometimes she couldn't help feeling that it wasn't her life she was living.

"Do you regret it?" Draco's soft voice broke through her musings. He had woken up and was watching her, reading quite accurately the conflicting emotions on her face. "Last night?"

Hermione turned on her side to face him, and smiled. "No, I don't," she said truthfully. "It felt right."

"But?"

She looked sheepish. "But I just can't help thinking that-"

"Ah," he sighed, "thinking."

Hermione glared at him. "We're not all as adept as you are at turning our brains off."

"Believe it or not, people do it all the time," he said, irritation flashing across his face. "It's called feeling. You just let go of logic and feel whatever you feel at the moment."

"So if I feel like jumping off a cliff, I should?" she countered.

"I don't mean that you should act without thinking," Draco retorted. "Just consider your feelings, not just your thoughts, when you make a decision. Think and feel, just not at the same time, or they'll interfere with each other. How can you think clearly if you're too emotional? How can you feel properly if you're too logical?"

Hermione still glared at him. "Thank you for your advice, oh wise one. But I have to think. It's how I live."

"If you keep thinking, you keep remembering. If you, five years ago, kept thinking about the horrible things we did to each other at school, how did you ever fall in love with me? You must have decided to feel instead." He gave her a small grin. "I bet you fought it then too."

"I bet I did." She frowned. "Ginny asked me if I wouldn't feel stupid once we get our memories back and I still insist that I can't love you." She sighed. "I suppose I would."

"I know I would. I'd feel downright foolish that I probably promised to love you forever and then, when forced to start over, I found I couldn't do it." He sounded slightly bitter.

"It just takes me a bit more time," Hermione said, annoyed. "And what's happened to you, anyway? Why don't you hate Muggleborns anymore?"

Draco shrugged. "It's your fault. No one who's known you for as long as I have can possibly go on believing that Muggleborns are inferior, you know. You're living proof against all the crap I was led to believe."

Hermione smiled slightly, pleased. "Really?"

"I hated you for it, at first. But then I came to admire you. Never thought I'd marry you, of course." He reached over and brushed her hair back from her face. "And now, even though my memories tell me otherwise, I feel happy when I'm with you. I love you, and I don't want to stop loving you. I think that even if I lost my memory a hundred times, I'd always eventually still love you."

"You're like Narcissa, then," Hermione said. "But that's a rather strong sentiment, isn't it? You can't be sure of that."

"It's what I feel."

"I thought you said that's what you think."

"Then it's both," Draco said crossly. "Which means I'm probably right."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Draco frowned. "What is your problem this morning? Why are you in such a rotten mood? I thought we took a step in the right direction, but we're back to fighting."

She shrugged evasively. "It's what we do, Draco. You and I. We fight."

"That's the stupidest argument I've ever heard. So the next time I'm a grouch, I'll just say 'this is what we do, Hermione. We fight.'"

She stayed silent, so he pressed on. "Honestly, Hermione, what's wrong?"

"It's not like you're in the best of moods this morning," she shot back.

"You started it!"

"You started it, with your 'ah, thinking' comment."

"Well, it's your fault for thinking, then," Draco snapped, frustrated. "You said you 'didn't regret it, but'. Honestly, it's like you're not trying."

Hermione flushed. "You find this so easy, don't you? All we had to do was go on a date, dance, kiss, and have sex, and everything's all right, isn't it? Problem solved. Back to normal."

"I never said that."

"It's just-" her breath caught in her throat, and she wanted to cry with frustration. "You seem to have accepted this much more than I have. Why? Doesn't it bother you anymore? And why can't I accept it? I've already admitted that I love you, and I really think I do. Believe me, Draco, I wish I didn't feel this way."

Draco sighed, his anger melting away as he saw how confused Hermione was. "It does bother me," he said, moving closer and taking her hand, afraid to push her by wrapping his arms around her. "It bothers me that I can't remember you, but that's all. Everyone says we were madly in love- even my parents say so- and if that's how I feel about you now, I'm not going to fight it. It's sudden, and yes, strange to be in love with you after disliking you for as long as I can remember, but it's… it's the truth." He rubbed his thumb against her knuckles soothingly. "This is how I try to see it- we were in love, have temporarily forgotten our relationship, but we're still together. That's basically what it is, although it doesn't seem that way; to us, it seems like we were never together to begin with. But we were, and that's what I tell myself."

Hermione's fingers tightened against his, and she drew a shaky breath. "It makes sense," she said quietly, her eyes still bright with frustration, "but why can't I accept it as easily as that?" She closed her eyes, and the tears began to fall.

Draco wiped her cheeks and pulled her closer, this time wrapping his arms around her. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Maybe it's just not your way, and you'll have to explain differently to yourself. I'm sorry for being impatient, for rushing you. And for saying that you're not trying. I know you are."

She smiled shakily. "Sometimes everything seems right. Other times, I feel like- like I'm living someone else's life," she confessed. "This isn't quite the life I imagined for myself- it's better, actually- and you're not the person I expected to fall in love with."

"I feel like that sometimes," Draco admitted. "Especially when Ralph is around. You've accepted him more than I have. I still feel awkward when he's with us."

"But you're such a good father. You spend lots of time with him. He loves riding on your shoulders. He loves you. Not just who you used to be, but you, now."

He gave a crooked smile. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

"What was Lucius like?"

"He was great. I don't remember ever playing zoom and whoosh with him," Draco grinned, "but we would do other things together. We'd go flying, play chess, Exploding Snap, poker, all sorts of games. He was always busy, but he'd make time for me. That's why whenever I disappointed him, I felt horrible about myself."

"A lot of people used to say that he put too much pressure on you."

"He expected a lot from me, and I didn't deliver. There was a time when we did grow distant," Draco said, frowning slightly. "That was during the war. He couldn't talk about what the Dark Lord was planning, and that was all he could think about. After the war, however, we became closer than ever."

"What did you think though, about him supporting Voldemort?"

He bit the inside of his cheek, annoyed at her questions, but trying not to show it. "It would be hypocritical of me to say he was wrong, since I was one of the Dark Lord's servants too. At first, I was proud of him, even though the Dark Lord seemed rather evil. But like I said, I adored Father. I was eager to please him. But when I needed to do something, I couldn't. I found out that Father was… mistaken about the Dark Lord. Father realized that as well, but we were in too deep to get out. We were relieved when Harry finally won."

Hermione stayed silent, thinking. "There's so much I don't know about you," she finally said. "Maybe that's my problem."

"You don't trust me." The revelation hit Draco like a punch in the gut. "And with good reason, I suppose," he added, thinking of the Dark Mark on his arm.

"It's not that," she hastened to reassure him. "I just don't know everything about you. I'm sure I would have asked you about everything before marrying you," she said with a smile.

"True." He frowned slightly. "Why don't I feel the need to know everything about you?"

Hermione shrugged. "There's nothing to know. You already know about the war, and the rest, which is basically my job, we already spoke about on our first date."

"I suppose your theory makes sense," he concluded, after considering it. "But you can see that my family and I aren't what you expected."

"I know. And I wouldn't have married you if I had my doubts. I trust you, Draco," she said, leaning forward to kiss his lips. "I just don't know you that well."

"So how will we fix this problem?" His arms tightened around her, and he returned her kiss, making it far less chaste than the one she had given him.

"I don't know," Hermione said breathlessly, once she had pulled back.

"What?"

She giggled. "The problem. You asked how we would fix it."

"Oh, right." He grinned. "I've no idea."

"Just figuring out what the problem was made me feel better," she said. "I'll just ask you if I think of any questions."

"All right." Draco kissed her again, then looked up to check the time. "Damn," he swore. "We should start waking up earlier, so we can actually get something accomplished before work."

"Hard to do when we sleep so late," Hermione murmured, her lips busy against his neck.

"Hermione-"

There was a sharp knock on the door, before it was unceremoniously flung open. Draco groaned again as Hermione disentangled herself from his arms.

"Good morning, Ralph! You're up early."

"I woke up and couldn't sleep. I'm cold." He climbed up onto the bed and between his parents. Hermione thanked Merlin that she had the foresight to erase all traces of the previous night's activities with Draco. She hugged Ralph under the covers.

"Better?"

Ralph nodded but wriggled out of her grasp. "You're squishing me."

Hermione laughed and stood up, heading for her wardrobe. "Okay then, you stay here first, I have to get ready for work. You can sleep again, if you want."

"I'm hungry." To prove his point, his stomach made a gurgling sound.

Draco chuckled. "That's funny." He stopped laughing when he saw a cold glare directed at him. He glanced at Hermione, but she was heading for the bathroom, so he looked back at Ralph.

"Stop making fun of me."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you grumpy today? What happened?"

"I had a bad dream last night, and Jeeves said I couldn't see you! I wanted to! Why couldn't I?"

"Because we were sleeping," Draco lied, glad that his son couldn't read his mind. "You can't always get what you want, but I'm sorry about last night."

The glare softened into a pout, and a sniffle.

"Are you still angry?" Draco asked.

"No."

"Good. Now go back to sleep, you're probably tired from waking up last night. No more scary dreams." He planted a kiss on Ralph's forehead and settled down to wait for his turn in the bathroom. When Hermione stepped out, he carefully rolled off the bed. "He's cranky because he had a nightmare last night, and Jeeves wouldn't let him disturb us," he told her quietly.

Hermione blushed. "Jeeves knew?" she whispered.

"Be glad that he did, or Ralph would have come in. I'm sure the elves know everything that goes on in this house."

She glanced over at the bed. "He's spending the afternoon at Molly's, today. Hopefully he cheers up."

"I won't be having dinner here, remember? I have that business dinner with that guy from Finland. Why don't you and Ralph eat at the Burrow?"

"Maybe." She gave Draco a coy smile. "I'll see you at breakfast- I have a huge appetite and I blame you."

Draco smirked. "Blame me all you want, but that won't stop me from doing it again tonight." He pulled her to him and kissed her soundly.

"Looking forward to it," Hermione murmured, before stepping out of his reach and walking over to Ralph. She smoothed his hair gently and kissed his cheek, then headed for breakfast. She made sure Jeeves knew to bring Ralph to the Burrow, and to tell him she'd pick him up after work.

At the office, Hermione kept glancing at her watch, wondering distractedly how Ralph was doing. She still wasn't quite comfortable dealing with him when he was in one of his tempers. At half-five, she rushed off to the Burrow, eager to see him.

"Hi Molly," she said, as soon as Mrs. Weasley opened the door. "How's everything?"

"Come in, come in," Molly replied, stepping aside to let her pass. "Everything's just fine, he's with James, they're playing with their trucks out in the back."

"I hope Ralph wasn't any trouble? He was in a bad mood when I left this morning."

"A little bit cranky, but when James arrived he seemed to cheer up. I think he was just tired. You know how young children are. You don't have to leave immediately, do you? I've just made tea."

"Some tea would be lovely," Hermione replied. She peeked out of the kitchen window to see the two boys playing. "Where's Lily?"

"Setting up a tea party for them in the living room."

Hermione shook her head and sat at the table, gratefully accepting a steaming cup from Molly. "I don't know how you do it," she confessed. "You manage to keep three very active children happy and safe."

Molly chuckled. "It just takes practice, dear. And Merlin knows that after the twins, most other children are easy to handle. You wouldn't believe the things those two got up to." Her eyes grew suspiciously moist, and Hermione knew she was thinking of Fred.

"Molly-" she began, reaching for the older woman's hand.

Molly shook her head. "I'm fine, dear. I can talk about him. I was just thinking about what you said. A mother can't keep them 'safe' forever." She sighed. "It's such a blessing having George, of course. Although I still can't believe he erased your memory like that!" Hermione smiled, seeing the transformation from grief to indignation. "That was too much!"

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions," Hermione quoted.

"That's true. Although I swear, those two were scheming since they were in diapers!" Molly regaled Hermione with several anecdotes of Fred and George's mischief, giving Ralph and James enough time to enjoy Lily's tea party.

After Draco had returned from his dinner and Ralph had been put to bed, Hermione called her parents to remind them that she and Ralph were visiting them the next day. Once she had set down the phone, she sighed and turned to her husband. "I wish we didn't have to tell them."

"Maybe our memory will return by tomorrow," Draco said hopefully. "How is the antidote coming along?"

Hermione had visited George's laboratory earlier that day, during her lunch break. She frowned. "It's not. Their attempt didn't work. Neither George nor Lee can remember what they've forgotten."

"What went wrong?"

"They probably didn't put enough powdered unicorn horn," she said. "It needs to be stronger. And I have no idea why they felt the need to put in some ginseng. It's supposed to be good for memory, but not magically-induced memory loss. Anyway, I gave them a recipe they could try. I'm not sure if it will work, though."

"It probably has a better chance of working than theirs," Draco said, turning on their television. It was a new addition to his parents' bedroom, and Hermione had taught him how to use it a few days before. He stretched out on the bed to watch. "The longer they take, the less likely it is that we'll remember everything, right?"

Hermione nodded. "If only we could find the trigger," she said, sitting down beside him.

"Maybe childbirth," he said, looking up at her teasingly. "Should I get you pregnant again?"

"It might work for me, but what about yourself?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Should I try getting you pregnant as well?"

"How will you do that?" he laughed.

She reached for her wand. "I'll start by removing the bits that aren't necessary."

"I was joking," Draco said defensively, rolling onto his stomach.

Hermione smirked. "So was I."

He waited until she had put down her wand before turning over onto his back. "It's Mr. Bean," he said, glancing at the TV. "He's hilarious." Hermione smiled at his enthusiasm for Muggle comedy and settled down beside him to watch.