Alright. Chapter two. Very long awaited, I'm sure, by some of you. Anyway, here you go. There's some more about Draco and Hermione's relationship, and I'm thinking that if anyone is interested I'll write a small story on how exactly it happened when either this or Trouble is done. I'm not sure I can concentrate on more than one story. Read, Review, Remember that I do not own JK Rowling's property nor am I presumptuous enough to claim that I do.

"I was a spy." Those four words were spoken with such intensity that Hermione couldn't doubt them, and her mind, still as sharp as ever even with her anger and repugnance, pieced together the logic. She flashed back to that day – and she remembered the look of utter sadness on his face as he stood at the door to her prison cell only to be wiped away by a classic Malfoy smirk; forward a few days – he had been the one that casually sent a Bombardo at the metal bars of her cell, being careful that no shrapnel hit her, and he had turned his back as she had fled. "Like Blaise. Hermione, I never wanted to, but I had no choice. One of the other initiates would have had to otherwise, and they wouldn't have been nearly as…gentle."

She visibly crumpled. Although she still did not trust him, she had to believe him. And of course, she forgave him. He had gathered her up, still murmuring 'I'm sorry.' It was as if part of her always believed in him, just as part of her always believed in Severus Snape.

They had stood like that for several minutes, her sobbing into his shirt and he trying to hold himself together. This was no one important to him – yes, she had been his friend, and yes, he had hurt her, but he could live without her. Guilt did not ride on him that night. Well, it did, but he would prefer it if it didn't. "What are we going to do, Draco?" she murmured into his now tear-stained shirt. "I don't want to raise a child alone, and I will have him."

"Him?"

"Seriously, Draco, there are more important things to worry about right now. What are we going to do?" she said, making it sound like they were in this together, making him realize that they were in this together. This pregnancy might have rekindled their friendship, he thought, and although he wished it to be under different circumstances, he was glad that she forgave him. Blaise and Ginny might forgive him if Hermione did; after all, she was the one he hurt most. She forgave him. She was…fretting over nothing. It was easy to slip into their old banter, the bickering and insults.

"You're still a worrywart."

"And you are still a ferret."

"I'm wounded!"

"Indeed."

"Please don't do the Snape imitation."

"I ensnare your senses, do I not?"

"I mean it, Hermione."

"Sure you do."

"Always."

"Forever?"

"Of course."

"Then what are we going to do? You know I can't do this alone. I have Ginny and Blaise, but you have more responsibility in this child then they do. They don't know; they have no idea I'm talking to you right now. They would have thought me crazy," she murmured, and she collapsed into racking sobs again. It had been so easy to forget for a moment where they were, but Hermione's mind inevitably travelled back to the current dilemma. "I have no one."

"Hermione, shut up."

"Draco…"

"I said be quiet. We'll do this together. I'll help you. I don't know why, but you of all people have successfully managed to guilt me into it," he growled, putting a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. She squeaked. It was infuriating, her squeaking. Somehow, he knew that she wasn't satisfied with him helping her raise a kid out of guilt, perhaps it was because she rarely used guilt-tripping as a method of getting what she wanted. "It was a joke, Hermione. He's my child too."

"He is."

"And he's a boy?"

"Yes, Draco. You are going to have a son."

"I'm sorry, Hermione, more than you could ever know."

"I know, Draco. I think I always knew that you would never…well, do that, unless there was a benefit. I think I always knew that you were good at heart," she said, placing her hand on his chest. "I forgive you. I haven't said that yet."

"I knew you did. You're far too predicable, little Mudblood."

"Ferret."

"Know-it-all."

"I hate you."

"I hate you, too."

"Indeed."

"Hermione!"

Suddenly, the weak smile left her face as she came to realize something. "They won't forgive you, not as easily as I did. I – well – I am not nearly as temperamental as Ginny is, and Blaise – he's hopelessly in love with her and would do nothing to make her angry," she muttered, turning away and crossing her arms over her chest. "They hate you, really and truly hate you. For abandoning us, for turning towards the Dark, for…what you did…for getting off the hook, they hate you."

"Shouldn't you?"

"We covered this already. I do hate you."

"No, you don't."

"Oh, of course I don't. You and I…well, we're closer than they thought. We always were. I suppose that's what hurt the most, but you – I knew you. You wouldn't have done it willingly. You wouldn't have enjoyed it. You – well, I don't know," she said. "I still don't trust you. I don't know how long it will take for me to trust you."

"It's enough that you'll forgive me."

"I know."

"Insufferable girl."

"Indeed."

"Hermione." Her head was still on her desk, her arms crossed underneath. She was mad at him. She was mad at Ginny. She was mad at Blaise. But most of all, she was curious. Why would the pair suddenly seek them out after they had broken up, quite messily, from what she could tell; even upset, he thought she was beautiful, although she hardly agreed. It had been a rocky start for them. "We'll figure something out."

"I know."

"Merlin, this again? Listen to me – I have a plan," he declared, rubbing her shoulder. She looked up at him, obviously aghast. Draco's plans were never good. They occasionally resulted in mass chaos, but mostly, they just resulted in failure. "It's foolproof. I get Blaise, give him some Sober-Up, and take him to the park. You calm Ginny down, and contact me with the galleon when you're done. We get them back together. It's simple."

"And destined to fail utterly, Draco."

"He wants her back, she wants him back."

"Ginny and Blaise are not as simple as that."

"Sure they are."

"No, they aren't, Draco. You're too wrapped up in yourself to realize that not everything is simple in relationships. Just because we get along with simplicity and acceptance does not mean everyone in the world does," she said, looking at him sternly. She referred to their easy way of making up after their sometimes explosive arguments. They had different views on a lot of things – Ginny and Blaise were one of them. Hermione suspected that although her boyfriend wanted the two back in their lives, he still bore a grudge against them.

"And you know this how?"

"I did date Ronald. We would go days without talking to each other."

"So?"

"According to Molly, the rest of her family is similar."

"Oh."

"Indeed."

"Hermione!"

"Draco!"

They shouted each other's names in faux horror. Promptly, they both burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Well, that settles that. My plan?" She nodded, and slipping her hand into his, smiled. He smiled back, trying to reassure her. "Well – shall we go? First to get Blaise sober and then I'm sure you'll have to deal with Ginny." She squeezed his hand, a silent encouragement. She would be all right, although he was not looking forward to confronting their two ex-best friends. Everything had gotten complicated because of the war.

Before, his friendship with Hermione had come surprisingly easy, spurred on by the fact that their best friends were dating. Then, he was forced to break off with all three of them by Lord Voldemort and the Order. Of course, he still saw Blaise at the larger meetings, when everyone was summoned, but even then, they avoided each other. Then he had raped Hermione, and Blaise' avoidance had become downright shunning. He hadn't blamed him. He would have shunned himself had he been able too. The look that had been on her face – and then, the discovery that it wasn't enough to prove his loyalty to the Dark Lord; it had almost been too much to bear.

"You are infuriating, Draco Malfoy."

"There we go. That's my Mudblood."

They were both unaware of when he stopped calling her Mudblood as an insult, and when she had started allowing it as a term of endearment. She still faked offense at it most time, just for kicks and giggles, but now, well, she acknowledged with a watery smile. "Come on, ferret. Let's kick this thing in the rear before it eats us."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Still hand-in-hand, they tossed the powder into the fireplace. Unfortunately, when they stepped through to the other side, they were not prepared for what they saw. Blaise was fast asleep on the floor, an empty bottle of butterbeer – Hermione refused to let anything stronger into her house – lying slightly askew. Draco smirked. Hermione gaped. Not only was he asleep, he was stark naked. Shutting her eyes, the young woman hummed to herself, attempting to forget such a scarring sight. Blaise in the nude was not something either of them ever wished to see, especially after he had been drinking. The smell of alcohol wafted from his skin, and the magical aura that surrounded him crackled erratically.

"Was he like this when you left?" she asked, and both of them did not Draco to answer. Hermione had seen the startled look on her boyfriend's face, although it had quickly turned to a smirk and she had then squeezed her eyes shut against the horrific sight. "I take it he wasn't? Well, Draco, do something! I will not have a naked man in my parlor!" He chortled – too characteristic of him, indeed – and immediately set to putting Blaise back into himself. At least, back into himself enough that Hermione and Draco could find out what happened between their erstwhile friends.

Ten minutes later, and although he was rather groggy, Blaise was sitting upright, no longer drooling, and after an Evanesco, no longer smelling pungently like firewhiskey and butterbeer. Draco sat next to him, slightly off to the side, turned towards him, looking expectant, while Hermione was not in the room, having excused herself to go scrub her brain (she was actually taking the memory and depositing it in Draco's Pensieve, just to get it out of her own mind – also as a prank, but…more to get it out of her own mind). "So, what happened, mate?" Draco said tentatively, hoping that a sober Blaise would be more than a minor improvement on a drunken, raving Blaise. "You gave Hermione quite a fright."

"Once upon a time you wouldn't have cared. I still don't think you do. I won't watch you hurt her, Malfoy," he hissed, glaring at his friend. "You raped her. You impregnated her. You tricked her into living with you."

"I think, Blaise, you would find that she tricked me into living with her. You know the story. She forgives me. It's about time you did too," Draco reasoned, trying to stay calm. A year later, and it was still a sore subject for him, his brutal treatment of the woman he loved – and he had loved her then, just had not realized it until later. She had been important. "But you aren't here to declare to me how much you hate me. Ginny broke up with you. Why?"

"I dunno."

"Blaise."

"Fine," the Italian boy snapped, bristling at Draco's superior, parenting tone. He used it all the time on little three-month-old Sebastian and Hermione said he had gotten quite good at it. "She thinks I cheated on her with Cho Chang. I didn't! I would never go for that twig of a girl; Ginny doesn't believe me. I don't blame her. The Ravenclaw bitch used Polyjuice. She broke into our house. She tricked Ginny."

"What on earth did you do to Chang that made her want to frame you?"

"I told her that she was worthless to the wizarding world if all that she was going to do was model lingerie that she didn't fill out," Blaise said, chuckling darkly despite the mood he was in. "Her face was priceless. She had been hitting on me, and I wanted to detach her. I'm afraid that I never told Ginny about it." His voice was monotonous – it lacked pitch, timbre, and depth. It scared Draco, more than he cared to admit. He still thought of Blaise as a friend, even though sometimes the man disgusted him. Hell, Draco felt abandoned, and he sure as hell knew how Hermione felt. She had cried and cried the night Ginny and Blaise told her that she was being irresponsible and until she left Draco, they wouldn't be speaking to her.

Obviously, circumstances changed.

"That was stupid of you not to tell her. Did you tell her it wasn't you in…bed?"

"I tried."

"She didn't believe you?"

"She didn't believe me."

"MIA! Get out here. Blaise has something to tell you."

"I do not."

"You are apologizing to her, because otherwise your sorry ass will be back on the street. You left her, when she needed you most. Yes, she had me, but she needed her friends. She cares about you two, and you both were petulant about the whole situation. I explained it to you – it was necessary to retain my cover and insure her safety!" Draco burst, anger bubbling up from its resting place. He was standing now, looming over the sitting man, his fists clenched against his sides. The muscles in his narrow jaw twitched.

Hermione entered the room, hardly glancing at Blaise. "What is it?" she said, her emotions barely masked. There was sadness, and regret, and hurt – along with anger and resentment. Did Hermione Granger resent Blaise? No, perhaps not, but then again…one would never know.

"Mia…Hermione, I…I'm sorry for abandoning you. I just couldn't believe that you – and him! – would…you know," he said, "I'm sure you did the right thing, but I meant well. I couldn't stand by and watch him hurt you again. And you weren't listening to us. I couldn't stand it. Ginny was furious – at him, not you. She couldn't stand it. We…well."

"You two are the most selfish people in the world."

"I think I deserved that," Blaise said somberly.