Chapter 20's hit the road! This is twice as big as the previous chapters so ENJOY! And thank you glazedwater and Meli for your wonderful reviews

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Finally, everyone was ready to go to Hogsmeade. They were walking down to the carriages together.

"Hermione," Ginny said.

"Yeah Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"You must be really happy now, right?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, afraid that she had done something wrong.

"Our shopping trip got cancelled. You must be dancing with joy." Ginny laughed.

"No.. I.." Hermione couldn't think of anything to say, so she just chose to ignore it.

"Here we are!" Pansy said as they reached the carriages.

All of them walked towards the first carriage. Hermione, who was coming last, tripped and fell over Draco who was walking in front of her. Draco, in turn, was going to fall on top of Harry who was climbing onto the carriage. Luckily, Harry climbed into the carriage quickly. Hermione and Draco were on the ground, with Hermione on top of Draco. The other six students from the carriage were laughing at the scene before them.

"It's not funny!" Draco yelled. "Hermione, would you please get up?"

"Huh?" Hermione asked.

Draco sighed. "I said, could you please get off me so that I could stand up?"

"Oh.. sure.. sorry." She stammered and stood up carefully, taking care not to fall again.

"Alright!" Draco said. "Now get in Hermione."

Harry smiled at the two of them.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but only six people can get into one carriage. So I'm afraid you'll have to look for another one. Goodbye!" he said as the carriage moved away.

"Well come on then." Draco said, turning to Hermione.

"Now we've got find another carriage." Hermione sighed. "I'm going to kill Harry when we get to him."

Draco smirked and led the way. They soon got hold of a carriage, which was the last one. They were alone in the carriage. Both were silent for a while, then Draco spoke up.

"You know Hermione," he began. "I always thought that Gryffindors were stuck up, haughty and proud. But now, being friends with you guys, I realize I was wrong."

Hermione's eyes softened. "It's alright" she said and went over to him and held his hand.

"What's happened to me now?" Hermione thought. "Why am I holding his hand?" But she felt she didn't want to let go, so she held on to his hand.

Draco was dumbfounded once more. "She hugged me back there and now she's holding my hand? But I like the feeling. Her hands are so warm." He thought for a minute and then slapped himself mentally. "I suppose both of us have gone mad."

They sat like that for the rest of the ride.

Draco and Hermione jumped down from the carriage and looked around for the others. But there was no one in sight.

"Where are they?" Draco mused.

"I'm going to kill them if they've gone off without us." Hermione said.

Suddenly, Hermione felt someone push her and she went tumbling straight into Draco. Once again Hermione fell on top of Draco.

"Gosh! Hermione, do you really like to fall on top of me so much?" Draco yelled.

"Shut up Draco!" Hermione said as she struggled to stand up. "I didn't fall on top of you on purpose, someone pushed me."

Hermione stood up and looked around herself. She couldn't see anybody near her. She suddenly felt someone poke her from behind.

"Hey!" she yelled and whipped her head around only to look into a pair of green eyes that she knew all too well.

"Harry!" she shouted. "It was you who pushed me upon him!"

Harry laughed. "Well, yes. You see, my hands were aching to push somebody and you were in the right place."

"Why do you people target us each time?" Draco asked exasperatedly as he stood up.

"Because you guys are perfect for these kind of things." Harry said.

Hermione sighed. "Alright, where are the others?" she asked.

"Actually," Harry said. "We were waiting at the entrance of the shop. But I, being the good person I am, offered to come and give you two some company."

"Great." Draco said. "Come on, let's go." He said and started walking.

They walked to Madam Puddifoot's Tea shop. The others were standing at the entrance.

"Get in all of you." Draco said, holding open the door.

Draco went in last. As soon as Draco stepped in, Madam Puddifoot came over to him.

"Hello, ." she beamed. "Mr and Mrs. Malfoy are seated in the special room. Shall I get someone to show you the room?" she asked.

"No thanks." Draco said. "Is my father also here?" he asked.

"Yes sir."

"Thank you." Draco said and moved towards a door near the back of the shop.

"I didn't know there was a special room in this shop." Ron whispered to Hermione.

"Neither did I." she whispered back as Draco turned the door handle.

They stepped into the room and looked around. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny were astonished. Draco and the rest of the Slytherins were not as surprised as the Gryffindors, as they had been there a number of times. Draco scanned the various tables for his parents.

There were several tables inside the room, but all of them were covered magically. You could see everything if you are not sitting at a table but people sitting at a table couldn't see anyone else. Draco spotted his parents at the largest table in the room and walked over to them. Blaise, Theo and Pansy followed readily, but Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny went on with hesitant steps.

"Guys," Hermione said in a low voice to Harry, Ron and Ginny. They all turned to her. "We promised that we would give them a chance if they ever asked for it. And now, they're asking for it. We have to give them a chance. Right?"

"Yes." They agreed. "We'll give them a chance."

And then they too, walked to the table behind the Slytherins. Just as they neared the table, all of the room disappeared from view. It seemed as if theirs was the only table present. As they turned towards the table, they saw Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Both of them didn't look their age at all. In fact, they looked much younger. Narcissa looked splendid for her age. They looked towards Draco as he began to speak.

"Hello father," Draco greeted politely. "I didn't know you were going to be here today."

Lucius Malfoy nodded. "I didn't actually plan on coming." He replied. "I had a meeting, but it was postponed for tomorrow. So I thought I could come along."

Blaise, Pansy and Theo greeted Lucius and Narcissa similarly. Now it was the Gryffindors's turn. Hermione glanced at her friends. Harry, Ron and Ginny looked tentative to say anything, so Hermione spoke.

"Hello Mr and Mrs. Malfoy, it's nice to meet you." she said.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Granger." Narcissa said.

"I heard you are Head Girl this year." Lucius said. "Congratulations on making it."

Hermione smiled at him. This was getting a lot easier. "Thank you." she said. "And please call me Hermione both of you."

Narcissa and Lucius both smiled at her. Harry, Ron and Ginny were now feeling a bit more confident about speaking to them after seeing Hermione do it so very easily. They greeted them in a similar manner.

"Please take a seat, all of you." Narcissa said.

They all sat down. Lucius and Narcissa sat on opposite sides. Hermione, to her dismay, found herself sitting next to Narcissa. Draco sat beside his father. Harry happily sat beside Hermione and beside him sat Ron and Ginny. Similarly, Blaise sat next to Draco and Pansy and Theo sat next to him.

"Well," Narcissa began. "We first want to apologize for our behaviour in the past few years." She said looking at Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny.

"We have been really bad," Lucius spoke up. "but we had to do so to save our families. We had no choice. We apologize to you for all our mistakes." He said.

By now, Hermione really did think she could get a heart attack. Lucius Malfoy was apologizing to them? Or was she daydreaming?

"We are very ashamed of what we have done and we regret it very much." Narcissa said. "And so, we want to make it up to you. That is why we have come here to invite you all to tea at Malfoy Manor tomorrow, 4 PM."

Even though they had accepted the invitation from Draco, they felt a bit nervous to accept the same from his parents.

"Look," Lucius said. "It might be a bit hard for you to come after all that has happened there. But the house has been re-decorated. It is no longer the gloomy house that it once was."

Now they had to speak at any cost. They had remained quiet for a long time. Once more, Hermione was the one who spoke.

"We would love to join you for tea." She said, putting on the best smile she could muster.

"Thank you so much Hermione." Narcissa said gratefully. She then turned to Harry, looking at him expectantly.

"I… uh.. I would love to come too." He said.

Ron and Ginny said the same with smiles on their faces. Hermione observed Lucius and Narcissa. They looked genuinely happy. Who knew there was such a soft side to them? She watched as Narcissa ordered Butterbeers for them.

"So," Lucius asked Hermione. "What do you plan to do after you graduate Hermione?"

"I want to become a Healer, Mr. Malfoy." She replied.

"That is a really good choice for a profession." He remarked.

"I think so." Hermione said.

"Do you know the basic information about the job?" Lucius asked.

"I've actually done some research," Hermione said and began to tell Lucius all that she had read.

Everyone else watched on as Lucius and Hermione exchanged views on the topic. They seemed to get along really well.

"Enough Lucius." Narcissa interrupted after a while. "Let me talk to her for a while."

"Sure." Lucius said and turned to talk to Harry. Draco, meanwhile was observing his mother and Hermione.

"So tell me Hermione dear," she said. "Do you have interest in cooking?"

"I love cooking Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione said. "I've actually made a few cakes and other dishes too."

"Really?" Narcissa asked. "You must show me one day. And please call me Narcissa."

"I'd love to, Narcissa." Hermione said.

And then the two went on talking about cooking, fashion and the latest news. Draco went on listening until he got tired of sitting quiet. He called his father.

"What is it Draco?" Lucius asked.

"Father, look." Draco said, looking at Hermione and his mother. "They're getting along really well. I never thought such a thing could ever happen."

"Well," Lucius said. "Neither did I think that I could communicate so easily with Gryffindors."

"You know father," Draco said. "Hermione has been the one who was ready to give us a chance right from the beginning. She is very different from what I thought of her."

Lucius nodded. "She is different Draco." He said thoughtfully. "She is ambitious and also very witty. I could sense it as I talked with her. I never thought I would say this, but I actually quite liked conversing with her."

Draco laughed. "I have never seen you talk so freely with anyone except mother and me." He said.

Lucius laughed too. "Yes." He said. "After talking to her, there is one thing that I can say for sure."

"What is it?" Draco asked with interest.

"Hermione is the perfect and ideal daughter-in-law for our home."

"WHAT?" Draco said in shock.

His father just smiled at him and turned to join Narcissa and Hermione in their conversation.

Draco was surprised that his father made such a judgement after talking to Hermione only for nearly 10 minutes. But his father was a person who could judge others accurately in a short amount of time. He would just speak with a person for say 15-20 minutes and make out the person's character. Draco himself had wondered that how his father judged people in such a short amount of time? But Lucius's judgements always turned out to be right. Could it be true this time? Draco sat dumbstruck. He began to think.

"If father said that Hermione was his daughter-in-law, then that would make her my…" his mouth hung open.

"WIFE"

Lucius is behaving pretty well, isn't he? Please review!