A/N: Oops, posting this a day later than intended. This is the second to last chapter! We know some of you- maybe most of you- were surprised when we announced that there would be two chapters left. We suppose you know what that means- either they remember soon, or they don't. (Haha, how cryptic). Thanks again for all the reviews- we hit 200 with that last chapter, which is something we hadn't imagined before. :) Haven't replied to them yet, but will do. :D You guys are awesome!

Chapter 13

Draco woke up to an empty bed on Thursday morning. He frowned, sitting up. The bathroom door was open, showing it was unoccupied.

"I'm here," Hermione said from the window seat, where she was vigorously writing on a piece of parchment.

"Work?" Draco asked. He hadn't realized she was busy.

"Not really," she said, putting down the pen and parchment and making her way over to the bed. "I just needed to let out some of my thoughts." She took a deep breath. "I'm nervous about seeing my parents later. Sometimes I think we shouldn't tell them. I mean, things are going so well, it's almost like we haven't forgotten." Draco stayed quiet, knowing there was a 'but' on it' way. Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "But then I think about my promise to myself not to leave them out of my life anymore. And I know that telling them is the right thing to do."

Draco gave her a reassuring smile- at least, he hoped it was reassuring, as he wasn't quite used to giving comfort and had no idea how to go about doing it- and motioned her closer. Wordlessly, she sat down beside him and he put his arm around her, gently turning her head so he could kiss her lips. "You'll do fine. Merlin, Hermione, you've faced You-Know-Who, haven't you? Led the resistance, and everything? Faced my parents?"

"Who turned out to be perfectly lovely people," she pointed out.

"But you didn't know it at the time. Besides, I'm sure your parents are perfectly lovely people as well." Draco grimaced. "Don't let my father catch you calling him 'perfectly lovely', by the way. I doubt he'd take it as a compliment."

"He would, but he'd hide it very well." Hermione grinned. Then she frowned. "Hey, you're changing the topic. We were talking about my parents."

Draco smirked. "I'm distracting you. I can think of other ways..." he trailed off as he leaned in to kiss her. She allowed his kisses for a few moments, before pulling away.

"I don't want to be distracted, Draco, I want to talk about this." Hermione had never been one to willingly distract herself; not when she had a problem to analyze. Harry had once said she'd be able to think herself out of a corner should she ever paint herself into one.

"Talking's overrated," he murmured, trying again.

"Draco."

"What?"

"You're not helping," she said, slightly frustrated.

"I don't know how to help you, Hermione!" he snapped, suddenly irritated, and not a little hurt that she kept pushing him away. "You know I'm no good at comforting people, I have no bloody clue what to say to you. I apologize for stupidly trying to distract you and for thinking it might actually help," he said sarcastically.

"All you have to do is listen!" Hermione cried exasperatedly. "Just listen to me, Draco, is that so-"

"Just listen?" he interrupted skeptically. "Listen and watch while you begin to cry, you mean."

"I'm not crying!"

"You will. Girls always do. You said yourself that you cry easily. Go have a good sob session with Ginny, for all I care."

"Selfish bastard," Hermione seethed, standing up and clenching her fists. It wouldn't do for Ralph to see his father with a big red handprint on his cheek. "All I ask is that you listen and provide a little bit of feedback, but all you care about is getting your morning shag."

Draco stood up as well, towering over her. "I was trying to help you!" he shouted furiously. "I never thought you'd prefer to worry about something that probably won't be as bad as you think it will be!"

"Even if it won't be that bad, I'm worried about it so the least you could do is be sympathetic!" Hermione yelled back.

"Well how about this? I'm NOT! I think it's pointless to worry about it, and that you're being stu-"

"I'm not being stupid, you arrogant git! You're being selfish, hard-headed, and hard-hearted." She Summoned her clothes and strode into the bathroom. "Let me know when you're ready to talk."

"Only when you're ready to be reasonable!" Draco shot back. He grabbed his own clothes and, fuming, went to use another bathroom. He couldn't believe Hermione had accused him of just wanting sex. He had honestly, honestly been trying to help her, and that was all the thanks he got for his effort. Was that what she thought of him?

Breakfast was a strained affair. Ralph talked quite happily about seeing his grandparents, while his parents glared at each other over their coffee mugs. They both lingered over their coffee, neither wanting to be accused of 'running away', until Hermione realized she only had ten minutes to get to the office. Cursing her husband, she raced upstairs to brush her teeth, while Draco gave Ralph a lecture on the perks of owning your company.

The row lasted the entire day. At lunch, Hermione Flooed Jeeves to instruct him to have Ralph ready by the time she got off from work, so that they could go straight to her parents' house. She didn't want to risk bumping into Draco at the Manor, in case he returned before going off to meet his friends. If Hermione was being honest she would have said that her anger with Draco served to dilute her anxiety, but it didn't improve her mood. It was with extreme effort that she pulled herself together. She was only seeing her parents, after all.

As with many things in life, what Hermione had been dreading and agonizing over turned out to be much more enjoyable than she had expected. They greeted her warmly, although she could detect a hint of concern in their looks. As soon as she could manage it, Mrs. Granger got Hermione alone so they could talk openly without Ralph listening. She led her daughter to the kitchen to help with dinner.

"All right, dear, what did you want to talk to us about?"

Hermione took a deep breath. "Over a month ago, now, Draco and I woke up, and we..." She paused and swallowed hard, noticing the look of concern on her mother's face. "We couldn't remember being married. We remembered each other from school, but we couldn't remember being in love. We had lost that part of our memories."

Whereas Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had burst out laughing, Mrs. Granger gasped in shock. "But you hated each other in school!"

"And we woke up hating each other. I went to Harry's house and spoke to Ginny, and she told me we had been married for years- I thought we had gotten drunk and had ended up..." Hermione coughed suddenly, her face bright red at what she had almost revealed to her mother. "I mean, I didn't know what to think. Then Ginny told me about Ralph- and Merlin, I feel so horrible, forgetting my son."

To her credit, Mrs. Granger made no reference to the few months when she had forgotten her daughter. Instead, she asked, "But what happened? Why did you lose your memory?"

"At Harry and Ginny's anniversary party, Draco and I were arguing about something, and George slipped us each a potion that was supposed to make us forget what we had been arguing about," Hermione explained. "It reacted with the alcohol we were drinking, and ended up making us forget our entire marriage." She grimaced and shook her head. "He hasn't been able to come up with an antidote yet. Draco and I kept hoping the problem would resolve on its own, and that's why I hadn't told you yet, but I... I didn't want to shut you out of my life again."

"Oh, Hermione." Mrs. Granger embraced her daughter. "You did what you thought was best." Hermione hugged her mother, tears welling in her eyes.

"It's so hard, so frustrating," she confessed in a small voice. "It's hard to pretend that everything is normal, but we have to, for Ralph's sake. I'm not sure if he knows something is wrong. And sometimes it just doesn't feel real. How can I have a son? How can I have raised him to be the wonderful little boy that he is? Me! I'm no mother."

"No one is born a mother," Mrs. Granger pointed out, the corners of her lips turning upwards in a wry smile. "You became one when you had Ralph, and then you learned how to be a good- great- mother, and learning is something you do extremely well."

Hermione stayed quiet, accepting the comfort she found in her mother's words. She knew they were true.

"How are you and Draco getting along?" Mrs. Granger asked curiously.

Hermione chuckled a bit, pulling out of her mother's arms to wipe some tears that had escaped. "It was awful, in the beginning. We hated each other. We both believed we were insane to have married each other, and that we were most likely on the brink of a divorce anyway... We didn't even share a bedroom. But neither of us could sleep properly, so eventually I moved back into the bedroom, and it worked." She outlined the rest of the story to her mother, hesitating as she reached the end, unsure how to describe the current state of affairs. "He's accepted it more easily than I have, but I'm getting there. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster." She shook her head. "We fought this morning, though. It was pretty horrible." She cringed, remembering some of the things they had said to each other.

Mrs. Granger laughed. "You always fight, and you always say that. I'm glad not everything has changed." Her eyes flicked to the clock on the wall, and she started. "Oh dear, we'd better start serving dinner. Ralph must be starving. Let's continue this after we eat."

The meal passed smoothly, with Mrs. Granger helping Hermione field the questions Mr. Granger asked about the details of her life, as he didn't yet know that she had lost her memory. Hermione longed to ask her parents how it had happened that they had forgiven her so completely, but she supposed it had to do with time, as much as with Ralph and Draco. Her parents adored Ralph and, much to Hermione's surprise, seemed to like Draco much more than she had expected. They seemed to appreciate him for being the man who did the unexpected and not only married their daughter, but had also given them a grandson.

"Do you know if you and Draco have discussed Ralph's schooling?" Mrs. Granger asked her daughter as they tidied up after the meal.

"I don't think we have," Hermione said, searching her memory. "We've both had a lot on our minds."

"Well, you need to decide soon, dear," Mrs. Granger said. "Ralph is certainly old enough for a playschool."

"Yes, that's true." Hermione frowned, suddenly annoyed at herself for not knowing her and Draco's plans for Ralph's future. "I suppose he'll study in a nursery for now."

"As far as I know, Draco wants him to be home-schooled, like most wizarding children. He says it's very difficult for them to mix with regular children without giving away that their parents are magical."

"I'll talk to him about it," she promised.

"Do that. Although maybe you should wait until he's in a good mood."

Hermione chuckled. "I could be waiting for a long time."

Draco wasn't yet home when Hermione and Ralph got back to the Manor. She hadn't expected him to be, as he had cleared his schedule for the next day so that all his meetings would be in the afternoon, indicating that he meant to come in late. Hermione helped Ralph shower and prepare for bed, after which she read him Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump and The Wizard and the Hopping Pot. Once he was asleep, she readied her files for her meeting the next day and got herself ready for an early night in, having gotten little sleep the night before.

She woke up a few hours later, and saw a tiny sliver of light from under the bathroom door. The sound of the shower confirmed that Draco was inside. She lit her wand and checked the time- one in the morning. Not too bad, she supposed. She tried to go back to sleep, but found that she was now waiting for his return.

After what felt like ages, the shower finally turned off. A few more minutes passed with Hermione still turning restlessly, trying to get comfortable. The light turned off just as the door opened, and Draco paused.

"Hermione?"

"Mm." She still wasn't sure if they were friends or not.

"Did I wake you up?" he asked, his voice a whisper as he made his way to the bed.

"I woke up while you were in the shower. Couldn't sleep again."

One side of the bed sank as Draco lay down. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault." She paused, her sleep-fogged mind trying to figure out if he was apologizing for waking her up or for their fight that morning. She asked him.

"Both, I suppose," he replied after a while.

"I'm sorry, too," she said. He nodded. They lay quietly for a while, until Hermione asked, "how did your dinner go?"

"It was great. Good to be back with the old crowd," Draco said. "And yours?"

"It went well. Better than I had thought. My parents seem to love you."

"Like my parents love you," he smiled. "Let's sleep, Hermione. You've got an early meeting tomorrow." He reached over and pulled her closer, and she willingly curled herself into his embrace, breathing in his freshly-showered scent.