Draco awoke a little short of mid morning to be greated by a note, hovering mid air at the bottom of the staircase, announcing that Hermione had "gone to the library".

He could only presume she meant the little known about establishment at the end of Diagon Alley, to which his father had been a well established founder, and not the famous Hogwarts library thousands of miles away.

Sighing to himself, and grumbling under his breath at the incompetence of her absence, Draco walked into the sitting room and headed straight to the kitchen, where he made himself busy by charming the bread and butter to make themselves useful and create toast. Life would be just so much easier if there was a house-elf here, was all Draco could think as he watched the bread hover to the oven and set itself on the grill, the door banging shut automatically.

It had been a week, but Hermione had been in the library again since it opened at 7am, sat in the same position as she had been every day. She'd been going in every available space between work and and outings with friends and her mum. Draco still had no idea, even though it was almost the only thing to occupy her brain. Numerous books found their way into her brain; yet as she flipped through the pages and searched through the shelves, all she was lead to was more rumours, more additions, more guesses-but no answers. Nothing to say that someone had survived. Not one single story. Nothing. She could have sat there till the wick of her candle had burned out, sat in the shadows alone but all the details held nothing significant. Not even a sense of direction.

Words and letters scrambled their way into her brain, some making sense, but none connecting to that all important sentence which she knew held the key. Hermione has never believed in ripping books, but now her faith in keeping them scared had been secured. There was just something in that rushed, quick handwriting that made Hermione passionate on the fact the end or the sentence held the key, knew the answers, had the cure.

Towards the later end of mid-day, Hermione closed the books in front of her with a sigh and placed them back onto the shelves, little further into her quest than when she had first thought of it. Removing herself from the library, Hermione existed and made her way towards the main Alley.

Stepping aside to let a mother and child pass her, Hermione strolled the familiar route in search for something to eat. Her mind circulated all she had read in the past two days, the clues and the symptoms and the ideas and the hopeless rambles that spilled out in every book, the same lifeless words just typed onto a page with no meaning behind them.

After all this reading and research, Hermione could probably become a Healer, if she practised enough. The thought made her laugh slightly as she lost herself, and then she suddenly remembered what Draco had said, that his mother had been a Healer; that she had said there was no cure for this. Part of her wanted to believe that Mrs Malfoy had only been saying that because maybe she didn't want her son to go through with it? Go through with the treatment. Draco had been outcasted by his family for wanting to get help with the illness-well, as far as she was aware, that was the reason.

Casting her eyes to her right, Hermione allowed the smell of freshly baked bread to flood her nostrils as the warm fumes floated to her from a large stand displaying a variety of pumpkin, cinnamon, lime, chocolate and all kinds of filled loaves in a hundred different sizes. Giving in to the temptation, Hermione picked up a still hot, liquorice and almond plaited loaf and took it into the main body of the bakery with a distracted care.

Shit.

All Hermione could think of was a whole host of swear words as she gazed upon the lanky body of Ronald Weasley leaning haphazardly across the counter as he flirted with the young woman on the till. Trying to go unnoticed, Hermione pretended to peer into the glass case of cakes as she watched the redhead from her peripheral vision, using the reflection of the glass to track his movements away from her.

"Would you like anything?" A soft voice suddenly rang in her direction,
Sighing inwardly at the fact she couldn't get by unnoticed, Hermione raised her head and handed the cashier the bread with a smile.
Hermione turned her body slightly away from Ron and watched the assistant bag the bread and walk towards the till.
"That will be one Sickle please."
Hermione's heart plummeted as she realised there was no way out of walking near to the man who was starting to lose his attention on the jar of cinnamon sticks that he was currently admiring. She took tentative steps towards the corner of the room, where the till and both other occupants of the extremely small shop stood.
Hermione extracted her purse from her bag and handed over the coin, and received her parcel from the woman,

"Thankyou." She smiled automatically, then realised she had spoke and blood rushed to her cheeks as she tried to turn away quickly.
"Hermione?" Ron's deep voice was behind her ear.
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, "Shit." She breathed out, turning around on the balls of her feet.
"I didn't even notice you." Ron looked stunned, oblivious to the fact Hermione had been purposely trying to go unseen by him.
"Me neither." Her voice broke slightly as she tried a forced smile, directed in Ron's general direction as she avoided trying to look at him.
"I've been trying to look for you all day." Ron answered, marvel still in his voice as he deflected her hidden coldness.
"Have you?" She asked, her voice snapping under the strain to stay light.
"Yeah," Ron glanced at the shop assistant, who was now arranging a new display on the window, and then turned back to Hermione, "Look, do you fancy going out for lunch or something? I really want to speak to you."
"Er, I don't know." She replied, taking a step backwards towards the open doorway.
"Please, 'Mione," His voice sounded pleading, his eyes softening, causing her heart to stiffen as she tried not to give into him, "I need to talk to you."
Hermione allowed herself to look into his eyes and her heart softened, giving in under the pressure, "Okay."

Relieved, Ron showed Hermione to the door and led her outside into the golden light of the day which shined into their eyes and made the edges of eachother blurry as they stood looking at one another in an awkward but needed silence.
"So..." Ron started, bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly as he nervously brushed a hand through his shining hair.
Growing weary of the awkwardness between them, Hermione rolled her eyes and looked up at the man, "Look, Ron," Hermione sighed, her words hanging in the air as she saw Ron's face look down at her own, the ghost of his boyhood showing on his face,
"I'm starving, so can we...get this over with?" Her voice shifted as she smiled and tried to make the harsh statement sound less sarcastic and more polite.
Hermione really wasn't one for bitterness, but when it came to Ronald Weasley, she couldn't help but want to be nothing but sour to him.
"Well...where do you want to go?" Ron asked, looking up at her through a sheepish smile as he sunk his hands into his pockets.
He'd suddenly gone from a cocky and confident man, flirting with the baker's daughter, to a shy and awkward boy who was begging for forgiveness under Hermione's watch. It almost made her pity him."I don't know, Ron," she breathed out, exasperated, "this was your idea!" she let out a shaky laugh which fizzled out as soon as he bowed his head in despair.
"This was a bad idea, wasn't it." Ron mumbled, his face still at his chest as his hands went deeper into his pockets.
"No, it's really not..." Hermione probably could have told him it was needed, that the elephant in the room was suddenly being noticed and maybe they should talk rather than argue, but right now, in the middle of the street, wasn't the right time. "You know I've never been able to decide where we go to eat!" She smiled widely and forced herself to give off a convincing laugh, which must have worked as Ron looked up at her with a small smile, agreeing.

Finally seated opposite each other, in a homely styled cafe at the end of the Alley, Ron tried to make small talk as they both reflectively looked over the set menus.
"So did you get that case I gave you, at work." Ron coughed into his fist, and the placed the menu down in front of him and looked at Hermione through watery eyes.
"Erm, yeah." The woman answered, thinking back to the amount of work she had preoccupied herself from.
"What did you think?"
"It was er...certainly interesting." Hermione raised her eyebrows, then discarded the menu and smiled at Ron.

The case was certainly interesting, a group of Hogwarts students had, according to Neville and his associates at the school, captured a 'high level spirit' which was apparently now was dying to break free and try and wreck havoc in the school. It seems, to Hermione at least, that Neville had yet to get over the fear of the Hogwarts ghosts.
"Are you gonna go and check it out?" Ron asked hopefully, staring at her intently as she raised a glass of water to her lips.
"Maybe…" she placed the glass back down on the table and watched as a waiter walked towards them, "It'll probably be a long time before I go back to Hogwarts," She smiled and waited for Ron to make a final check of his menu as the waiter came further towards them, "No doubt it's a hoax, anyway."
"I don't think so…" Ron answered hurriedly, "I'll have a Bacon and Tomato Sandwich." Ron directed up to the waiter with a grin, pausing his train of thought.
"And I'll have a pasta carbonara, please." Hermione smiled up at him once he had scribbled down Ron's order.
The casually suited waiter smiled at them both and replaced their menus on the stand beside them, then walked off to serve the next table.
"Neville seemed pretty sure." Ron directed back at Hermione again.
"Neville always seems pretty sure of a lot of things." Hermione smiled toothily, allowing herself to grin at her friend's expense.
"Yeah…but was it useful?" Ron asked, trying to subtly press his input.
"I guess, as I said: it was interesting." She smiled and drank another gulp of her drink before turning to look out of the window.
"You should look into it."
"I probably will."

Silence fell between the two again as Hermione continued to stare absently out of the window, her mind drifting from what she'd read-or hadn't read-in the library, to the random and unimportant file sitting on her desk about a Hogwarts ghost to Draco sitting on her sofa eating up her film collection, to anything that would stop this little burning ball of fire that was growing in her stomach every time she thought of the man sat opposite her.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked, trying to meet her gaze as she failed to blink for about a minute and a half.
"Oh," Hermione exclaimed, shaking her head as she came back into the present and turned back to Ron, "yeah, I'm good-just lost myself."
"You always used to do that." Ron laughed slightly and then let his face drop as the words sank in.
"Yeah…" Hermione let her shoulders fall as she dropped her head slightly, her teeth biting down gently on her lower lip as she fought for soothing to say to lighten the suddenly damp mood.

"Look, Hermion-" Ron started, but was suddenly interjected by Hermione,
"Do we have to do this now?" She asked, exasperated.
"Why not?" He asked defensively, hurt ringing though in his voice as his face fell further.
"Because, for once, I want to be able to sit down with one of my…old best friends and be able to have a good time." She plastered a smile on her lips but her eyes didn't show amusement.
"This is the first time we've spoken properly in months." He nodded in agreement, inadvertently discounting, yet referencing, the two meetings they'd encounter in the past month which hadn't ended well.
"Yeah, well..." Hermione trailed off, feeling the punch in the stomach.
"Hermione," Ron started, taking a deep breath as he waiting for Hermione to look back up at him, "what are you doing with him?"
"With who?" She asked back, suddenly defensive as she momentarily forgot about their last meeting.
"You know who..." He lowered his voice and lent slightly towards her, "Malfoy!"
"Oh!" Hermione could have laughed at the suspense, "I'm not." She added casually, then took her plate off the floating tray in front of her and then passed it to Ron.
"Then why did you-he say he was with you?" He asked, confused, as he took his own plate.
"I said nothing of the sort!" Hermione exclaimed defensively.
Ron turned a deep shade of red as his embarrassment showed up to his ears, "Maybe not you, but he definitely did!"
"Well...he's not." She said the words to reassure Ron, but somewhere inside her sunk as she realised the truth behind the simple phrase.
"Will he ever be?"
Hermione shook her head a little sorrowfully, "No." She breathed out, then looked back up at Ron, who was staring at her with concern.

"Then what was he doing in your office?"
"Probably the same thing you were?" Hermione picked up her fork and stared at the pasta in front of her, "That's what I walked into anyway."
"I'm sorry, about that, but-"
"But what, Ron?" Hermione interjected, "Draco is my friend and you damn well beet him up in my office." She stabbed at her pasta before thrusting a forkful in her mouth.
"He's not innocent in it!"
"I never said he was!" She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes before lowering down her fork and looking Ron in the eyes, "All I'm saying is, something that I haven't been completely honest with Harry and you about, is that..." She took a moment to find the words, before carrying in with a softer voice, "Ma-Draco came to me at the start of the month, and asked for my help. So that's what I'm giving him."
"Help?" His voice was full of disgust.
"Help." She nodded, taking another helping of pasta, "And if you and Harry and whoever aren't happy with that, then we'll just carry on being...distant, or whatever the hell we are now."

"I still love you Hermione." Ron said deeply, his voice echoing his expression.
Hermione's eyes flickered back to his, not sure what to say-she wasn't expecting this reaction.
"Aren't you angry at me for letting Draco into my life, after everything?"
"Hermione, he set an enlargement charm on your teeth in second year-"
"-Something of which my parents were proud of, I do believe Madame Pomfrey made a perfectly good job of giving me normal teeth."
"-and if you're happy to help someone like that," Ron pressed on, ignoring her defensive comment, "then you're a better person than I am." He smiled sincerely, and then raised the sandwich to his lips.
Something in Hermione melted as he said the words-admittedly, the image was ruined as soon as he took a messy bite out of the large burger-but she didn't have enough empathy left in her to comment on his heartfelt statement.
"Ron, if you don't mind, then why did I walk in on you two going at eachother like second years over my desk?"
"Because...because I didn't think," He looked fleetingly back at her again, "I just lost it. The thought of you two together ma-made me feel sick and I just...I guess I just saw red." He shrugged, and carried on eating, both their appetites the stomach of their conversation as Hermione tried to think of how to properly respond.

"Have you told Harry?" Hermione asked as they finished off the last of their meals.
"No-I thought you should."
"Is that why you came to see me today? To try and get me to tell Harry I was /seeing Draco?" She laughed a little at the wit of it, of course that was the reason; she had just thought it was a fleeting visit he had try and pretend was planned.
"No," He answered, searching her eyes, "I came to find you to tell you that-even if you were with Malfoy-that I still love you and I want another chance."
Another stone dropped in Hermione's stomach as she sat, her fork suspended midway to her mouth, and let the words sink in.
"Still love me?" She croaked, trying to find the status quo.
"Of course I still love you, 'Mione." Ron scoffed, setting down his burger and placing his hand further down the table, so it was almost touching hers.
"I-I..." Hermione started, at a loss for words as she removed her hand from the table and onto her lap sharply.
"Was this a bad idea?" Ron asked, more to himself, as he brought his arm back towards himself slowly.
"No, no." Hermione told him automatically, shaking her head for emphasis.
"I didn't expect you to feel the same way," Ron smiled at her, replacing the burger back in his hand casually, "as I said, I thought you were with Malfoy."
"And you were just going to tell me anyway?" Hermione looked up through shaded eyes, already knowing the answer.
"Of course." He watched her reaction as she lowered her head, her heart sinking as she shrivelled back into a small hole within herself.

"Can we have the bill please?" Ron asked a passing waiter, after an uncomfortable, thick silence crept over the table again.
"Certainly, I'll be right over." The waiter's words were left hanging in the air as the two smiled at him and reached for their money.
"No, no, it's okay." Ron reassured Hermione as she retrieved her purse from her bag.
"No, I can pay for myself." She smiled, dread flooding over her.
The waiter came back and placed a small scroll on the middle of the table, which they both peered over, the tops of their heads touching slightly.
"Please, let me." The man smiled, his expression and mind set.
He started taking the coins out of his wallet, Hermione's eyes watching as he counted out the change.
"No, it's fine." Hermione stated, unzipping the small bag.
"I want to pay."
"Ron, this isn't a date." Hermione told him firmly, placing a hand on wallet.
The man stopped and took a deep breath, before nodding and putting his wallet back in his pocket.

"I'm sorry." He admitted, watching as Hermione placed her own money down.
"No, I am," Hermione said sorrowfully, looking up to see Ron's fallen face, "How about you come back to mine?" The words came out bf she could stop them, the request coming out as she lost herself in the moment, "Catch up on old times?" She found herself suggesting as she managed a smile.
"Are you sure?" His voice had perked up, but he was evidently trying to stop his face from showing the same excitement.
No. Hermione thought to herself, "Of course I'm sure." Hermione laughed, pushing herself out from the table as she inwardly scolded herself with a small wince.