Chapter 6

Hermione arrived home after having dinner with Draco. Though tired, it was the kind of exhaustion that came with having a good day. Ready to tell Pansy all about it as her friend readied herself for work, she was stopped by the sight of Ron on her sofa. "Ron, hi," she said, shocked to see him. "What, um, what are you doing here?"

"The better question, I think, is why weren't you here?" he shot back.

Toeing off her shoes, she replied, "I was helping a friend today."

"Pansy said it was your mum," Ron stated.

Mentally chastising herself for the mistake, Hermione nodded. "Right, but that was this morning," she replied. "An old colleague from the Ministry needed my help with something, so that's where I've been. How long have you been here?"

Ron shrugged. "Couple hours," he said. "We were supposed to have dinner at home tonight. Mum was looking forward to seeing you. Said you hadn't been by to visit in awhile."

She had completely forgotten about dinner with the Weasleys. "Could I maybe go next week instead?" she asked. "I'm kind of tired."

Shaking his head, he got to his feet. "Fine, whatever," he muttered. Though he seemed ready to leave, he stopped and turned to face her. "I just want to know what's going on with you. You've barely spoken to me these past few weeks. You're always busy, which is baffling since you don't work. You stopped coming around to see the family. I'm starting to think that this friendship with Pansy really isn't the best thing for you."

Hermione scoffed, amused by his comment. "Yes, Pansy is the reason we aren't working," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Pansy's the one who cancels our plans. Pansy's the reason you care more about your job than me. And that's fine, Ron. What you do helps people and you're good at it, so I'm not going to complain about that. I just...just once, I'd like to come first."

Sighing, Ron leaned against the stone fireplace. "I'm sorry, Mione," he replied. "I didn't think that my job might be getting in the way."

"It's not just that," Hermione said, sitting down. "Work isn't the only problem. It's us, Ron. We used to be inseparable. Now, I see you once a week, and it seems like we never have anything to say."

"So, what do we do?" he wondered, expecting Hermione to have all the answers.

But she had none to offer. At least, none that would make him happy. "I don't know," she finally replied. "Do you want to be with me?"

Ron nodded. "You know I do."

Though she didn't fully believe him, she let that go for the time being. "Do you think we could try to make more time for one another?" she asked.

"I think we could," he agreed.

"Okay, good," she replied. "So, where's Pansy? She's not hiding out in her room, is she?"

Ron frowned. "No, she said she was going to work early," he told her. "Something about the salt and pepper shakers being low. I think she just wanted to avoid talking to me."

Hermione set to straightening up the living room - replacing the pillows on the sofa and chairs, hanging up jackets and sweaters, and getting rid of the soot around the fireplace. "The two of you could also try to be nicer to one another," she pointed out. "I really don't think it would be impossible. I mean, if Malf-"

"What?" Ron asked.

"What?" she replied, hoping he had missed her slip.

"Did you say Malfoy?" he asked. "Are you and Malfoy...friends?"

Shrugging, she began to line up the shoes near the front door. "I don't know," she mumbled. "I don't think so. I just work for him."

Ron gave an incredulous guffaw. "You...you work for him?" he asked. "Since when? Doing what? How long have you been keeping this from me?"

Hermione sighed and got to her feet realizing there was nothing left to distract her. "I just started today," she told him. "We ran into each other a couple of weeks ago, and he offered me the job last week. He has a little girl who's so sweet, but he needs someone who can take care of her."

"So he asked you?" Ron asked, utterly bewildered by this turn of events.

"What's wrong with me?" she wondered.

Shaking his head, Ron sighed. "Nothing, Mione," he replied. "It's just the past, the way he treated you. It doesn't sit right with me that he's suddenly asking you to watch his brat. What's his plan? Abandon the kid with you? Malfoy's not exactly above running away from responsibility."

"He's the single father of an eight month old, Ron," she stated. "He's not running away from this responsibility."

"Why not?" he wondered. "He's got you now to take care of this kid. He doesn't need to be the parent now that he's got you to do it."

Letting out a frustrated breath, she glared at her boyfriend. "I have no intentions of becoming Lilah's mother, nor does Draco plan to abandon his child," she said angrily. "Now, please, drop it."

He felt up his hands in surrender. "Fine, I'll just be going then," he muttered.

"Have a good night," she said with a bite in her voice. When Ron was gone, Hermione huffed and grabbed the pot of floo powder. Tossing it into the hearth, she stepped in and called for Draco's house. "Hi, sorry," she said when she stepped out.

Draco was seated on the sofa with the morning paper that he hadn't had a chance to read that morning. "Hi," he replied. "Everything okay? Your hair is so...big."

"It gets like that when I'm upset," she told him.

Putting aside the paper, he gave her his full attention. "Why are you upset?" he asked. "And why did you come here?"

Hermione shrugged. "Pansy's working and I couldn't think of any other place," she admitted. "Well, any other place where disparaging a Weasley wouldn't be frowned upon. My parents don't exactly approve of my relationship. Apparently, 25 is too young to start thinking about settling down."

Draco chuckled and patted the cushion beside him. "I was married at 19," he told her. "That's too young to settle down. Who is it you're looking to settle down with?"

She took the proffered seat and sighed. "I'm not," she replied. "Ron and I are still together though. If you ask me, he married his job a long time ago, and I've just been his mistress for the last six years."

"Astoria and I had the same problem," he shared. "I was too involved with my job, didn't spend enough time with her. So, she left."

Staring straight ahead, Hermione debated whether or not to ask the question that had plagued her since Pansy had told her about Draco's past. "Could I ask you something?" she wondered. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to though."

Draco nodded, knowing exactly what she intended to ask. "You want to know if Astoria is Lilah's mother."