Chapter 3

The book shop had been quite quiet since it opened for the day two hours ago with the exception of 4 costumers that had come by in which Hermione helped them with their purchases and orders. She remained in the front of the store by the front desk where she sat reading a book. Draco stayed towards the back trying to find something to busy himself with. The only contact made between the two was when Hermione had to ask Draco if a specific book was in stock. Other than that, they hadn't spoken to each other that morning and Hermione was looking forward for some quite reading time, until…

"Granger!" Draco called out to her from the back storage room.

"What?!" Hermione yelled back not looking up from her book. It was a good thing there were no costumers there at the moment or Hermione wouldn't have yelled so loudly.

"Get over here!" Draco yelled, a little anger rising in his voice. Hermione sighed and dropped her book on the table before walking to the back of the shop.

The storage room was a medium sized room where all the packages of books were kept and other needs for the shop. There were shelves and bookcases all around the walls as well as boxes all over the floor. Hermione thought it looked like a huge mess in there, but Pansy always assured her that she knew where everything was and it was organized to her liking. Hermione couldn't see how the random stacks of books and boxes were organized. Every time she walked into the storage room she wanted to rearrange everything, but she respected Pansy's wishes and just decided to not go in there as much so she wouldn't have to see the mess.

"What's the problem, Malfoy?" Hermione asked him as she stood in the doorway. She folded her arms and leaned on the door frame as she waited for Draco's answer. He was frantically searching for something while he threw things around the room. "If Pansy knew you were rearranging things she will have a huge fit."

"I'm not rearranging the room. I'm looking for something. You better not have thrown it out!" Draco said while he searched some more.

"What is it you're looking for? And why would you think that I threw it out?"

"It's a black box that I put right here," he said and pointed to a shelf near the back wall. "I left it on the shelf the last time I was here and now it's gone. You were in here a few minutes ago, you must have taken it!"

"What? Pansy could've been the one to throw it away! I didn't touch a black box. I didn't even see one!"

"Don't lie to me, Granger. What? Did it just grow legs and walk away by itself?"

"I didn't see your stupid box, Malfoy!" Hermione said, getting irritated at him. She left the room and walked around the back of the store looking for this black box. There was no way she was going to let him blame her for something she didn't do. She didn't find it around the shop so she walked back into the storage room to see Draco still digging through the packages like a wild animal. Hermione looked around the room when she suddenly saw a black object in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to the right side of the room and sure enough there way in the back of the top shelf was the box.

"Is that what you're looking for?" Hermione said to him. Draco looked up to where she was staring and saw it. A small pinkness formed on his face from embarrassment when he realized that he replaced it on the top shelf himself a few days ago. He grabbed the small box and placed it in the pocket of his cloak. "I told you I didn't throw it out. You owe me an apology." Hermione smirked.

"Sorry about that." Draco mumbled before pushing past Hermione and walked back into the shop. Hermione was quite shocked at his quick apology. She was preparing herself for an argument that never came. After the shock wore off, she walked back to her previous seat at the front desk and picked up her book where she left it sitting a while ago.

"What's in that box anyways?" Hermione asked, a little curious as to why it was so important to him. Draco walked over to the desk and casually leaned on it.

"It's a ring that my father gave me before he died. It's been passed down from generations of Malfoys. I hope to pass it down to my son someday."

"I'm sorry, about the death of your father." Hermione lied a little. She wasn't all that sorry since all she remembered about Lucius was that he treated her, Ron, and Harry horribly. But he was a father to Draco and losing a parent is hard to handle.

Draco shrugged and stared at his hands. Hermione looked at him for a brief moment and could tell that the topic was something he didn't like to talk about. So she let it go and returned her attention back to the book.

"Why do you like to read so much? I swear that's all you ever do." Hermione heard Draco say. She peered up from her book and saw a smirk on his face. She couldn't help but smile herself.

"Books allow someone to escape their own lives, even if only for a minute, and enter another's. It allows you to see things from a different perspective. I love to just forget about everything going on in reality and absorb myself in a work of art. Plus you learn a lot from books, too."

"Is life treating you that badly?"

"No, I never said anything that. It's just nice sometimes to let your mind wander and books help me do that." Hermione smiled.

Draco nodded in agreement. He understood what it was like to just let his mine imagine. His mind was where he could think of the craziest things and no one would be able to judge him for it. His thoughts were sacred to him and he only said what he had to when it was necessary. Like his feelings for Hermione. He thought about her all the time, but never once let it known. He thought about how she was smart and how she always annoyed him with her know-it-all attitude, but secretly loved. He thought about how she was probably the only girl he could have a decent intelligent conversation with. He thought about what it would be like if they were friends.

"Tell me about yourself." Draco blurted out of nowhere all of a sudden.

"I'm sorry? Did you just ask me to tell you about myself?" Hermione had to check to see if she was only imagining him saying that. Draco laughed a laugh Hermione's never heard come from him before. It was like an amused like with no malice. She didn't even know if a Malfoy would be capable of having a laugh like that. It was something she was definitely not use to, but found herself feeling as if she wouldn't mind hearing it again.

"Yeah, I guess that question was out of the blue. I honestly don't know why I said it. You don't have to answer or anything." Draco said and mentally slapped himself for acting like such an idiot.

"What would you like to know?" Hermione asked. Draco never really thought about that before. What didn't he want to know about her?

"Well, since I told you about my father, maybe you could tell me a little something about your parents."

"Oh…um, well, my mum died last year from a muggle disease," Hermione told him, her voice drowning into a light whisper. Draco mentally slapped himself again. He definitely screwed things up with this one.

"I'm sorry, Granger. Let's not talk about this." He said kindly, showing a different side to him. Hermione smiled slightly and shook her head.

"No, it's fine. She's in a better place now and I know I have an angel always watching over me." Hermione said. Draco was surprised that she was being so open with him. He wanted to hug her then, but opted not to. "My dad moved away to America a few weeks after the funeral. He comes back to visit sometimes, but mostly I go over there to visit him."

Just then a costumer walked in, breaking up the serious talk between Draco and Hermione, and asked Hermione for help in locating a book. She nodded at the costumer and walked out from behind the desk. She gave a small smile to Draco as she passed by him, walking to one of the many bookshelves knowing exactly where the specific book was.

Draco couldn't help but smile, too. He knew from her smile, with his in return, and from their conversations that a friendship was starting to bloom between, although it was a very small friendship. He should be happy. That was what he wanted, right? Wrong. He wanted something more than that, but he wouldn't allow it to happen. After taking so long to get over her, was it worth going back? Probably not. He would most likely get rejected by her. She would never want to be with him. Draco decided that he would allow nothing more than a minor friendship, maybe even just acquaintances, happen between them, if he can help it.

When Hermione arrived back home that night she was completely exhausted. A bunch of costumers flocked in almost around closing time. Even Draco, to his delight, had to help out, there were so many. It was even worse that the costumers were rude and impatient. Hermione wanted to tell them all off, but didn't for the sake of the shop and the sake of herself because if Pansy knew that she was yelling at her customers something bad would go down, even though she knew Pansy would never physically harm her. She just wanted to be able to sleep without fear lingering around her.

The first thing Hermione wanted to do when she got home was to take a bath. Then, she'll have dinner and relax a little before getting ready for bed. But sometimes things don't always turn out as planned. When Hermione walked into the kitchen to greet Pansy and Blaise, whom she heard talking in that room, she was given the biggest surprise of her life. There sitting around the small dining table was Pansy and Blaise, but there were two other guests in the room. One had brown hair and the other had red hair. Both of them were wearing Quidditch robes.

"Harry?! Ron?!" Hermione exclaimed as she ran into the arms of her best friends. She almost tripped and fell on the counter stool, but that didn't stop her. Having them right then and there in front of her, and after not seeing them for almost two months, she couldn't have been any happier. "What are you two doing here? I thought you guys wouldn't be back until much later."

"That's what we thought, too, but Oliver surprised us by giving us a week break." Harry informed her. Hermione smiled, silently thanking Oliver Wood, the captain, for letting her best friends come home.

"Yeah, we've been back since yesterday." Ron added.

"How did you know I was here?" Hermione asked them.

She had not told anyone about her move to Pansy's house except for her father. Mainly because the only friends she was really close with was Harry, Ron, and all of the Weasleys. Ron and Harry were away for Quidditch so she wasn't able to tell them. She hadn't seen any of the Weasleys in quite a while and didn't have the time to go visit them, but she planned to do that soon and let them know. Hermione thought about it again and assumed that they probably already knew from Ron and Harry, but still planned to visit them. She'd forgotten how much she really missed them.

"When we came home we immediately wanted to come see you, Hermione, but when we got to your flat the landlady said you haven't been living there for weeks. We were so worried. Mum and dad didn't know where you were. Ginny and George were no help either." Ron explained to her as they took a seat around the dining table.

"We went to see Percy at the Ministry to see if he knew where you were or if he had heard anything. Blaise overheard us asking Percy about you and he told us that he knew where you were, that you were living with Pansy Parkinson." Harry said, filling in for Ron, who had busied himself with the scones Pansy put on the table.

"We thought he was joking at first and we were angry that he would make up something like that. But then he told us that he wasn't lying and that he could prove it to us. He brought us here and said you would be back by eight and if you weren't we could hex him."

"And you're here now, so I guess I'm off the hook." Blaise said with a smirk.

"I guess you're right. Sorry about doubting you, mate. We owe you and Pansy for taking good care of Hermione when we weren't here for her." Harry said.

"No worries. We would've done the same even if you were here." Pansy smiled, as she got up and patted Hermione's hand. "We'll leave you three alone now. I know there's much to talk about and a lot of catching up to do between the three of you."

Pansy reached her hand out towards Blaise and he gladly grasped it with his own hand as he stood up. Pansy smiled at them while Blaise gave them a nod, receiving the same from Ron and Harry and a smile from Hermione, as they walked away from the table. Hermione thanked them just as they left them room and turned back to Harry and Ron. There was so much to talk about, but she didn't know where to start. She was just so happy to have them there with her that words didn't even feel needed.

"You're probably wondering why I'm living here..." Hermione said.

"Actually, Pansy explained basically everything to us. About how you lost your job and how you were evicted from your flat. Why did you come to us for help, Hermione? We would've been there for you in a flash." Harry said.

"Oh yeah, because you could totally just leave Quidditch to support me. I couldn't even get a hold of you two, not knowing which city you were in everyday, how was I supposed to owl you?" Hermione said. Harry and Ron looked a little hurt by her words. She sighed before starting again. "I didn't ask Pansy to help me. She just…sort of did. I know you both would've helped me in a heartbeat if I asked, that's why you're my best friends and I love you."

"We love you too, Hermione. That's why we want you to talk to us if you ever need anything. We feel bad all the time that we're always away from you and we're sorry that we weren't here when you needed us most." Ron said. Harry nodded in agreement.

"There is absolutely no reason for the two of you to apologize. Quidditch is something that you both love dearly and finally being on a great team is something I would never take away from you guys. I would never ask you to quit something you love just for me. That would be way too selfish of me. Besides, I'm a grown adult. I can take care of myself."

"That's not what we heard from Pansy. In fact, she said that if she didn't find you that night you would've drunk…"

"Let's not go back to that day." Hermione cut him off, silently writing a note to self: tell Pansy to shut her big fat mouth. "So how is everyone? Ginny? Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?"

"They're great, but they miss you terribly. Why didn't you go to them for a place to stay or at least tell them that you moved?" Ron asked.

"Honestly, I was quite embarrassed. I didn't want to tell them that I was fired and evicted. I wasn't planning on telling anyone, really. I was going to try to get a job and get everything back in order before anyone knew. Plus I know there are already quite a few people living at the burrow and I didn't want to be a bother. I did plan to visit them, but I just never got the chance."

"Well, we're taking you over to the burrow tomorrow. No excuses." Harry told her with a stern look. Hermione laughed at him, but nodded her head.

"Alright, we'll go tomorrow after work. Now, enough about me, how's the relationship going with Ginny going? Getting married anytime soon?" Hermione said with a sly grin on her face. Harry's face grew pinkish and a small smile forming on his face.

Harry and Ginny had been dating for almost two years. They were probably the most in love couple she had ever seen, next to Blaise and Pansy of course. Sometimes Ginny would go with Harry and Ron as they travel around to different countries because they could only be away from each other for so long. Harry had been telling Hermione and Ron that he wanted to propose to Ginny many times, but didn't know when and how. Hermione and Ron's answer would always be the same. A simple 'just do it already'.

"I really do want us to get married, but I…I just want it to be a special moment for us and I don't' know how to make it special. What if I mess up? What if she says no?" Harry said, with a look of hurt on face as the realization that Ginny would deny him occurred.

"Harry, she loves you! She's loved you for years! I doubt that she would say no. As far as making it special, a nice romantic dinner would be perfect. No matter what, just you proposing is a special moment in itself." Hermione said to him and placed a hand of comfort on top of his.

"Thanks, Hermione." Harry smiled at his friend.

"Yeah, Harry, just ask her soon. I'm tired of listening to her whine about how you're never going to ask her to marry you and all that nonsense." Ron said.

"Ron!" Hermione slapped him lightly on the back of his head. He frowned and rubbed his head, but didn't say anything else.

"She's been saying stuff like that?!" Harry said frantically, looking at Hermione.

"No, she hasn't. Don't listen to Ron. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Plan it out, Harry. When the time is right you'll know. I think we've had enough about this. Tell me about Quidditch." Hermione said. Harry and Ron's eyes lit up and both began to ramble on about it. Hermione just laughed and shook her head. She really wasn't as into Quidditch as they thought, but she didn't say anything.

The rest of the night was spent talking about Quidditch, plans to spend some time together over the next few days before they left again, and visiting the Weasleys the next day. They stayed up until two in the morning just talking. Hermione was tired and sleepy by then, but she didn't care. She was just happy to be with her two best friends.

A/N: Please review! I really want to know what your thoughts are on this story.
I haven't been getting much feedback, but I'm really happy with what I've gotten so far.
Thank you to those who have left a review :D

-CHIBZ