Disclaimer: I am not JKR

Liberation

Chapter 14

Hermione rolled back over and looked at the clock on her bedside table. It was not even six yet, not even light outside. The words that were tinny and distant the night before now echoed loudly in the cavernous space that was her brain as if Harry was shouting right into it. 'He would be gone every morning, Hermione. Be careful there.' Hermione pounded the pillow that was Draco's for a minute before burying her face into it and screaming loudly. After roughly three minutes of this display, Hermione put the pillow back down and calmly sat up.

"Calm down, Hermione," she said aloud to herself. "It doesn't mean he doesn't care, it just means he is not ready to make that leap."

Feeling reassured, but not reassured enough to feel better, Hermione jumped out of bed. The best way to avoid the heartbreak that was surely going to settle in was to go to work, so she did just that. She quickly threw on some clean clothes, ran one brush across her teeth, another through her hair, and she was out the door. Not more than ten minutes passed from waking to leaving.

Draco woke early to a mouthful of Hermione's hair. At first he had a flashback that he was waking up with a face full of sand, but he recovered quickly and was able to extricate the hair without disturbing its owner. She was sleeping so peacefully he refrained from pushing the messy curls away from her face so he could see it better. Instead he glanced at the time and satisfied that it was too early for her to wake up soon he slipped out of bed to get breakfast. He knew of a great little bakery that made the best croissants and if he hurried he would be there just as they opened to get the freshest bread.

After carefully and quietly slipping his clothes on, Draco snuck out of Hermione's room. To avoid waking her, Draco went outside before Apparating to the alleyway behind the bakery. It never even dawned on him that it was the first time he woke in the morning in someone else's house with the full intention of still being there when that someone woke as well. He was happy and contented and couldn't wait to surprise Hermione with breakfast in bed. He was really pleased with himself for finally finding the person he actually wanted to wake up to. He would have settled for Eliza if he had to, and he knew they could have been reasonably happy together, but Hermione was bliss, and he was elated.

Perhaps it was Draco's intuition or his connection with Hermione was deeper than he thought, but he could sense something was wrong the minute he walked through her front door. His trained eye for details noticed that her light travelling cloak wasn't hanging by the door anymore, but he thought maybe he'd imagined seeing it there the night before. He didn't think so, though and it took less than a minute to check each room in the small cottage and see that she was no longer there.

He unceremoniously dumped his parcels on the table next to the leftovers from the previous night. He stared at his watch in disbelief. He was only gone for twenty minutes. Surely she wouldn't just get up and leave that fast unless it was some sort of emergency. Perhaps she decided to go out and get breakfast too. There was the possibility that she woke, saw him gone and was upset, and he didn't want to discount that. He did think it would be an overreaction for her to leave so quickly though. Only twenty minutes was an awfully short amount of time for her to get out of the house with. She also didn't clean up the mess from the night before, which didn't seem like her.

Draco decided to wait a bit just to see if she was off on some strange early morning. While he waited he cleaned up the kitchen. He perused through her bookshelves and walked outside to explore her back garden. After waiting for an hour he was finally convinced that she was not coming back home. Now Draco was hurt and upset wondering what he could have possibly done wrong to make her leave so fast. He decided to go home, take a shower, and then send her an owl to make sure she was all right.

Susan Mainwaring, Hermione's boss, slipped her head in the office to see the young woman bent over a stack of paperwork.

"You're here early. I wasn't expecting you until around nine." Susan let herself all the way in the office taking in Hermione's slightly dishevelled state and sullen face.

Hermione glanced up briefly from what she was writing as she responded. "I woke up early. I figured it would be a good idea to come in and get caught up on some paperwork, and respond to some owls."

"Hmm," Susan hummed as she settled into the chair across from Hermione. Hermione knew what was coming next. Susan was going to pry a little in her private life and then offer some motherly advice. It was not that Hermione didn't like or want Susan to treat her that way, it actually felt good since she was estranged from her own mother, but she didn't want to admit that there might be something wrong with her and Draco already.

"I thought you had a hot date last night," Susan continued. "I just figured that you would be far too tired to come in at," she glanced at the wall clock, "six thirty in the morning already hard at work."

Hermione blushed brightly at Susan's spot on insinuation. She definitely planned on still being in bed, but she wasn't planning on being asleep while she was there. Hermione still said nothing, and wrote another line on the letter she was working on.

"Aha! So, it was a good night? Why the sullen expression?"

Hermione sighed and put down her fountain pen again. "Let's just say it wasn't a good morning."

Susan leant forward in her chair a little bit so she could look up into Hermione's downturned face.

"Let me guess, great night in bed, but you woke up alone?"

Hermione sighed deeply. "Exactly."

"I wouldn't worry about it. My husband and I didn't spend a whole night together for weeks and we've been married twenty years. Granted we were both sneaking around, but oh, that was a horrible thing to say. I'm sure everything is fine; he is a man after all. They take longer to commit."

"I know," Hermione murmured. But I thought it was different this time, and Draco has a history of this...

Hermione picked up her quill again. "I really want to get caught up on all this so if you could have reception hold my mail and tell visitors I am busy, unless it is an emergency, I would appreciate it."

Susan left with a knowing smile. Around lunchtime Harry came into Hermione's office holding a greasy bag and a bottle of butter beer. Hermione had completely forgotten that they'd agreed to meet for lunch until he walked through the door.

"Oh, Harry! I completely forgot!" She was supposed to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron almost an hour ago.

"Right, I figured that. What's with the warden out there? Your reception wasn't going to let me in," Harry said as he plopped down in the seat across from Hermione. He was unfazed by the fact that she stood him up, it happened to both of them frequently when they were caught up with work, which was usually all it was. "I brought some of Tom's famous fish and chips."

"Oh, good. Comfort food," Hermione said her mouth watering. She moved her work aside and conjured place settings for the both of them and started pulling the food out of the bag. She was famished from not eating all day. "As far as not letting you in, that is my fault I wanted to be left alone today."

"Why?" Harry asked around a mouthful of potatoes. He took a careful look at Hermione and noticed that she was a bit off colour.

"No reason, I simply had work to catch up on." Hermione quickly took a bite to avoid having to say anything else.

Harry wasn't fooled. "Out with it, Hermione. I wasn't going to ask, but how was your date last night?"

"You ask as if my date has something to do with my catching up on work," she said after taking a long drink of the butter beer.

"Hermione, your door is always open, today it's closed. You only do that when you are upset, like when you found out your parents weren't moving back after you restored their memories," Harry replied gently. "Come on, I know you."

"Fine," she sighed giving in. "The date was fantastic, the whole night was fantastic, it was just this um, I don't want to give any details."

"You don't need to. Does this have something to do with what Eliza mentioned about the morning after?"

After a long pause she finally nodded feeling tears well up behind her eyes.

"That bastard," Harry swore.

"Harry!" Hermione admonished. "It's not really his fault. We haven't been together for long, and we never really talked about where things were going exactly, just that we knew we wanted to give it a chance. I think maybe I just need to take a step back and give him his space for a day or two."

Harry's mouth was set in a firm line. "Is that what you want?"

"Well, no, but I don't want to push him either. He's transitioning in his career and thinking about other things right now," Hermione wanted her to be one of the things he was thinking about. "Unclench, Harry. I admit I am a little sad he was gone when I woke this morning, but it really isn't the end of the world."

"I'd still like to give him a good hard shake." Harry drained the last of his butter beer and tossed the bottle in a neat arc across the room into Hermione's rubbish bin. "Seriously, Hermione, you aren't like Eliza or me for that matter. You know what you want, and you wouldn't have gone with Draco if you weren't willing to commit. Can you really be with him, and not have him feel the same level of commitment and be willing to show it?"

Hermione turned her face away from Harry and wiped away at a lonely tear as it trailed down her cheek.

"No, at least not for long."

Draco sent Hermione three owls during the course of the day and not a single answer was returned. He tried to visit her early in the afternoon at work, but the cretins working the afternoon shift wouldn't let him anywhere near her office. He lingered for a moment pretending he had to use the loo and was about to sneak past the desk when he saw Harry leaving her office. Draco quickly ducked back into the loo to avoid being seen by him. So, Potter was allowed to see her, but not him? After the night they'd just spent together Draco was really surprised. Apparently it didn't mean as much to her as he'd thought. Or, even worse, he really did frighten her and she wasn't ready for sex yet.

The afternoon sky had turned as dark and stormy as Draco's mood as he aimlessly walked the city's streets. After about an hour he settled onto a bench at the base of the Millennium Bridge just next to the City of London School. He sat for another hour more on the bench staring at, but not really seeing, the River Thames flow in front of him. The sky continued to get more threatening and kindly old man even stopped for a moment to rest his feet next Draco. After one particularly dangerous flash of lightning in the distance the man jumped up.

"Best be off, don't want to get in the storm. You ought to think about leaving as well, lad," he said congenially to Draco.

Draco grunted in response without even looking at the slightly put out old man. He walked away grumbling about how the kids are getting ruder and ruder every generation. The man did at least have the effect of bringing Draco back to the present. He'd spent his whole time walking and sitting thinking about what to do with Hermione. The solution was almost the same for whatever might be wrong. The fact that she'd ignored his owls was enough for him to keep his distance. It was really making him angry that she was. Obviously she was upset with him, considering it was she who didn't come back that morning. He could deal with her hurting him, but he would never forgive himself if he'd hurt her last night and she was too embarrassed or ashamed to talk to him about it. It did hurt, he admitted to himself. He was heartbroken. The ball was in her court though; he was going to wait for her to come to him.

Draco didn't get up to leave until the first of the raindrops fell quick and cold on his face. It didn't take long for the rain to turn into a downpour and even though he Apparated from the first alleyway he could find, he was still soaked through when arrived home.

A/N: Okay, super short chapter I know, but this was a good place to leave it off I think. Only one more left, so I would love to hear your thoughts on what should be in it!! Thanks for all your reviews!