"It doesn't matter," said Ginny dismissively. "He wasn't real, he was a memory of someone he used to be. If he had been real maybe I could've changed his mind, but he was frozen in his opinions and had no qualms betraying me to suit his own needs."

Draco cleared his throat. "Does Potter know?"

"Harry knows enough, but he doesn't know how I felt about the boy. He was there to watch me suffer the consequences of caring about someone that cared so little about right and wrong, and he was there to save me when I got screwed over," Ginny forced herself to drink, before she continued, "But he will never truly understand, and I'm sure if he did, he would be horrified."

"You make it sound like you were in love with the Dark Lord," Draco laughed, as a wary expression flitted over Ginny's face. His jaw dropped in comprehension, "You were? But– But– how?"

"I wouldn't call it love," Ginny hissed scathingly. "I was eleven, he was a charming, attractive boy. I loved that boy, I wasn't in love with Voldemort." She was pleased to see Draco flinch.

"How is that even possible? Did you get trapped in a Pensieve?" Draco whispered.

"Long story, but it involves your father and a diary," said Ginny, cutting off Draco as he tried to interrupt. "I am not getting into the story and I don't even know how we ended up on this arc, but no one knows what I have just told you. Harry knows that I was quite, taken, with Tom Riddle at one point –enough to do as he bid me to, but he doesn't know the extent of it," she broke off as she jabbed a finger into his chest, "and you, sir, will not say a word to him. Understood?"

Draco nervously cleared his throat again. "Understood."

Ginny's expression cleared. "Good. The entire point of that was to inform you that Harry doesn't understand how deeply I feel about watching people I care about go over to the Dark Arts, and we are still working out, so it doesn't matter if Hermione can sympathise but not empathise. Relationships are not formed on the basis of shared horrific experiences, and nor does their presence guarantee that they will last."

"Got it," Draco confirmed. "I won't mention what you told me to anyone else."

"Thanks," said Ginny, her face softening. "Even if I didn't mean to tell you, I'm kind of glad it slipped out. I think we're bonding," she finished dryly.

"So it would appear," agreed Draco pleasantly.

"You're not Voldemort, Malfoy," said Ginny, dropping her voice again. "You, unlike him, are redeemable, and if there is anyone from our side that truly understands that, it's Hermione."

"I was still a Death Eater," Draco said, his tone cynical and full of self loathing.

"You were sixteen," said Ginny, incredulously. "We all made idiotic choices at sixteen. Harry dumped me when he was sixteen, Ron dated Lavender at sixteen," she broke off with a grimace, "and is apparently still an idiot, Hermione told a herd of Centaurs she was using them, my brother Bill managed to enrage his part Banshee girlfriend…must I go on?"

Draco suppressed a grin. "Is obstinacy a purely Gryffindor trait?"

"Perhaps," Ginny grinned. "Is unfounded arrogance a Slytherin one?"

"Definitely," Draco grinned back.

"Cheers to that," winked Ginny, as they clinked glasses.

They were soon rejoined by Harry and Hermione, and the four of them made their way over to the refreshments table where they found Percy Weasley and Audrey in deep conversation. A quick look around revealed to Hermione that Pansy and Theo were currently mingling with some of Theo's clients at the Ministry, while Blaise was nowhere to be seen. Draco too, had arrived at the same conclusion.

"Do you think she killed him?" he whispered to Hermione, only half joking.

Hermione smothered a giggle as she tucked her clutch securely into the crook of her arm. "She doesn't look particularly homicidal, though I don't know if that's because she's already satisfied those urges," she paused as the familiar feeling of exhaustion overtook her once again. "Perhaps we should sit down for a bit."

"Are you alright?" Draco had his arm around her waist in concern. "You've gone deathly pale."

"Maybe my skin has finally caught on to the fact that I'm a Malfoy now," Hermione joked weakly, as black spots swam into her vision. "Okay, we should sit down right away, I feel a bit faint–" she broke off tersely as she tried to locate chairs. "I really don't want to faint in the middle of this ball."

Draco leapt into action, and before Hermione had fully comprehended what had taken place, he had managed to sweep her into one of the small balconies that the ballroom led out to. She was barely aware of him conjuring a chair as she swayed on the spot and held on to the railing for dear life. Strong, warm hands pushed her into the chair and gently tilted her head back.

"Better?" Draco asked, softly, as he Summoned a goblet of strong Butterbeer and took her beaded clutch from her.

"Slightly," Hermione nodded, as she took a delicate sip. "I don't know what happened."

"Do you think you should ease up on the drinking?" he suggested cautiously.

Hermione shook her head, her heavy curls rustling. "It wasn't the drinking. It was something else. I felt as though I'd just performed a particularly draining amount of magic."

"Should we take you to St Mungo's?" Draco questioned in alarm. "We've been at this thing long enough."

"No, that's fine, I feel a lot better now," Hermione said in a placating tone. "I must've just overexerted," she put a small hand on his shoulder.

"There you both are," Harry interrupted, as he walked into the balcony. "We've been looking for you two, Blaise appears to have left his girlfriend all by herself and the toasts start in five minutes."

"Let's go find him," said Hermione firmly, as she stood up. To her relief, her vision remained unimpaired. Draco looked as though he was going to intervene, but Hermione swept out of the balcony before he had a chance to do anything else except follow her, still holding her clutch. They wove through the groups of people until they finally found Blaise, sitting outside in a balcony much like the one they had just vacated.

"Blaise?" Draco stepped forward, and took in the bottle of Firewhiskey in his best friend's hand. "Have you just been sitting out here drinking?"

"I don't know what to do," Blaise said miserably, as he took another swig. "I've always known that I was a coward, but now my cowardice is hurting people other than myself. I'm hurting her, and I can't bear–" he broke off as he took another long swig of the amber liquid.

Draco looked to Hermione for help, unsure of which 'her' Blaise could be referring to. Hermione stepped forward and gently prised the bottle out of his hands. "You're not a coward," she said firmly. "You are just a man with two choices. You have to decide if it's worth losing the bird in your hand for the chance at two in the bush."

"Huh?"

"Muggle saying I suppose," Hermione waved her hand dismissively. "It says 'a bird in hand is better than two in the bush', which basically means, it's sometimes better to stick with what you know for sure you have than to let it go and chase after something that has the potential to be better than what you've got."

"I don't get it," Draco's brow was furrowed. "Couldn't you just Summon the two extra birds?"

"It's a muggle saying Malfoy," Hermione replied with exasperation. The problem with the Wizarding world was that with magic, anything was possible. "I was trying to make a point–"

"Badly–" Draco cut her off.

"Then you do it." Hermione shot back.

"Blaise, mate," Draco put an arm around his friend and hoisted him up. "Pans and Audrey are both outside, and you don't want either of them to see you like this. If you end up married to either bird, think of how much manipulation material they will have for the next fifty years. Do you really want this moment dredged up in petty arguments by either harpy for the rest of your life? I don't think so, so get your shit together and have your breakdown privately in a dark corner of your bedroom with the curtains drawn and no witnesses."

To Hermione's shock, Blaise grinned and nodded. Boys.

The three of them made their way back into the ballroom, where trays of champagne were floating amidst the guests. To Hermione's relief, few had noticed that they had been missing in action for the last twenty minutes. They made their way to where Harry, Ginny, Pansy, Theo, Audrey, Ron and Lavender were standing. Apart from a questioning look from Pansy, no one chose to comment in their disappearance. Audrey gave Blaise a tentative smile and he whispered an apology for his absence in her ear.

"Having a good night Hermione?" Ron asked, his hair tousled and his cheeks ruddy from the champagne.

"It's been good," Hermione said carefully. "Are you both having a good night?"

"Our night has been perfect," Lavender answered, with a simpering smile at Ron. "You look tired Hermione," she leaned forward, a believable expression of sympathy on her face. "Is tonight getting to be too much for you?"

"Why would it be too much?" Hermione replied, feigning ignorance.

"Well, Won-Won is here with a date, surely it can't be easy for you to see that," continued Lavender, her face still carefully arranged in a mask of sympathy. "And you don't look your best."

Draco intervened. "That's probably because I kept Hermione up entirely too late last night," he said with a wink. "Though I think she looks gorgeous."

"That red really does look good on you," Pansy inserted. "It's very tasteful," she let her eyes wander over Lavender's robes, a slight expression of distaste on her face. "Especially compared to some of the robes people decided to wear tonight."

"Thank you," said Hermione sweetly.

"We need some drinks," said Harry, with a pointed look at Lavender.

"Too right Harry," Kingsley stepped up next to them. "We're starting the toasts now, so get yourselves some drinks, Vanessa, if you would–?" he broke off and turned to Vanessa, who nodded and waylaid a floating tray full of champagne flutes. Blaise relieved Vanessa of the tray and handed everyone a flute.

"Excellent," beamed Kingsley, as he pointed his wand to his throat and cast a Sonorus. "Thank you all for coming," his magically enhanced voice boomed through the ballroom. "I would like to propose a toast, a toast to something that has been essential in the rebuilding of the Wizarding world. We have all endeavoured to make our world a better place than it was a few years previously, and for us to continue to do so, it is important to recognise the struggles and sacrifices that several upstanding members of our community have made. In this new world, we strive to move forward and eradicate our past mistakes, therefore, I would like to toast to putting our differences aside and aspiring for unity."

"To unity," they all murmured dutifully and sipped their drinks.

A smattering of applause broke out in the crowd. Kingsley raised his glass to Harry, who grinned back. Hermione, too, found herself smiling as she watched Kingsley lift his spell and work his way through the crowd. Everything said and done, the Annual Ministry Ball did boost a feeling of community and morale amidst the survivors.

"So Hermione," Lavender broke off from Ron to stand next to Hermione and Draco. "I love what you've done with your hair tonight, it looks almost manageable."

"Almost," Hermione agreed through gritted teeth, as she sipped her drink.

"It must be good to have all of Malfoy's money at your disposal," Lavender commented, her voice dripping with honey. "Otherwise looking this well would be difficult."

Hermione sipped her drink again instead of bothering with a reply. Draco, however, chose to come to her defence. "Money doesn't buy class," he let his eyes linger scathingly over her robes. "Nor does it buy manners, or I would've happily sponsored the purchase of some."

Lavender gasped, and Ron, typically attuned to any sort of distress his girlfriend might have walked over. "Everything okay, Butterfly?"

"Fine Won-Won," Lavender said, her eyes flashing with malice. "Malfoy here was just telling me something about how he needs to buy manners."

"Nor does money buy intelligence apparently," Draco sneered. "I was referring to your distinct need to purchase some manners, mine are nothing short of excellent."

"Lay off mate," Ron intervened as he put a protective arm around Lavender.

"Tell your girlfriend to stop insinuating that my wife is a galleon-digger and I will happily never talk to her again," Draco said coolly.

"She wouldn't do that," Ron protested. "Lav insult Hermione? I think not."

"You think not all right," Hermione muttered.

"Let's just drop this misunderstanding shall we?" Harry interrupted, as he disengaged himself from Ginny's arms. "We're here to have a good time."

"I agree with Harry," Lavender piped up, her eyes deceptively round and innocent. "Let's just forget about all this and be mature."

Ron looked over at Lavender as though she was the first sunrise he had ever seen. "Are you sure, Butterfly?"

Lavender nodded, obviously eager to leave the conversation. "Let's go say hello to your parents." She smartly turned around on one dangerously sharp stiletto heel and half-dragged Ron away from the group towards an unsuspecting Molly and Arthur, who looked less than pleased to be accosted by Ron's girlfriend.

"That was fun," Harry grimaced. "You okay, Hermione?"

"Just fine," Hermione smiled reassuringly. "Thanks for coming to my defence Malfoy, who would've thought that one day you would be my knight in shining armour?"

Draco laughed shortly. "She was getting on my nerves. Besides, what sort of stupid nickname is Butterfly? Blast-Ended Skrewt fits much better."

Harry snickered. "Ron always did want to follow the butterflies."

"I think we're a bit behind on our drinking game," grinned Hermione, as she raised her glass. Draco and Harry laughed, and touched their glasses to hers. "Here's to Ron finally getting to follow the butterflies, and to giving us hours of endless amusement and potential hangovers." Pansy raised her glass from next to Theo with a wink. "Cheers."

The next second, Hermione felt the familiar tug of a Portkey and she found herself being transported from the elegant ballroom, amidst far-away screams from the people that had been standing next to them.

Bloody Karma…

Draco felt himself land somewhere uncomfortably rocky with a thud. He groaned slightly at the memories that it dredged up, but quickly sat up to assess his surroundings, unwilling to make the same mistake twice. Next to him, Harry and Hermione were feebly stirring, slowly sitting up to do the same.

"Where the hell are we?" Harry asked, as he located his glasses on the ground next to him.

"Some sort of forest clearing apparently," Hermione had managed to get up and was looking around. Sure enough, they were in a small clearing in a particularly dense forest that Draco fervently hoped wasn't Amazonian. A shallow brook bubbled peacefully not far from them.

"Who the hell would send us here?" Draco paced around the clearing, looking irritable. "And why us?"

"We can discuss this later, let's get out of here first," suggested Harry, as he picked up his wand. "From my experience, you don't want to linger in an unknown place that an unknown person sent you to."

"My bag is missing!" Hermione exclaimed, as she inspected her surroundings.

"I gave it back to you as soon as we walked into the ballroom," Draco reminded, as he helped her search. "You had it with you during the toasts."

"I know," Hermione groaned. "It must have slipped out of my hands as we were transported here. It's probably back at the ball. My wand was inside my bag, just great."

Harry knelt on the grassy forest floor and picked up a cracked champagne flute. "I'm willing to bet that one of our flutes was the Portkey."

"Mine was still in my hands when I landed," Hermione pointed out, as she held out her immaculate flute. "I'm guessing it was this one, and we all got transported because our glasses were touching."

"Well we can discuss then when we get back," Draco intervened firmly. "Let's just get out of here first. Shall we Apparate to just outside the Ministry?"

Harry nodded. "We can contact the others and seal off the place once we get there. Hermione, you will have to Side-Along." There was a slight moment of hesitation as Hermione wondered whom she should pick to Side-Along Apparate with. Draco was her husband, but Harry was closer…

"I'll take her," said Draco, leaving no room for argument. "If anything happens as soon as we get outside the Ministry, I will be able to Apparate her quickly to the Manor."

"Alright, on three then?" Harry waited for Hermione to latch on to Draco's arm. "One, two, three."

Nothing happened.

Draco swore loudly. "Anti-Apparition wards."

"What now?" Hermione quickly disengaged herself from her husband.

"We need to make a Portkey I suppose," said Harry, as he picked up a rock from the forest floor. "This should do." He pointed his wand at it and said, "Portus."

"Isn't it meant to glow?" Draco asked doubtfully, as the rock remained unchanged.

"I don't think this is working," Hermione bit her lip in frustration. "They must've cast wards over this place to stop us from making a Portkey or Apparating."

"How did you lot get out the last time?" Harry asked, as he tried the spell again.

"My ring, it acts a bit like a Patronus and sends messages. I could send a message to mother and ask her to make us a Portkey back." Draco pulled the owl ring off his finger and blew into the owl softly. It sprang to life and slowly fluttered away on it's tiny metallic wings.

"We should send a Patronus to the others and let them know we're safe," suggested Harry, running his hands through his messy hair.

"What if they're being watched?" Hermione asked doubtfully. "Someone, somewhere knows exactly where we are. Best not to tempt them to come after us and make sure we don't stay safe."

"Besides, mother will know we're safe when she sees the owl," Draco pointed out reasonably. "I just don't know how long it will take for her to get that message and to send us a Portkey."

"Well then it looks like we're staying here for a while," Hermione said eventually. "If there is no other way for us to get home than an external Portkey we have no other choice but to wait. We could pretend we're camping," she said, forcing herself to sound cheerful.

Draco looked at her as though she had grown an extra head. "You need tents to go camping, Granger. In case it has escaped your notice, it's us against the great outdoors here."

Hermione smiled. "Tents, if only we had one." She elegantly rested a length of exposed leg on a nearby boulder and hitched her dress up, revealing an intricate ruffled garter.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Draco, standing in front of Harry to block his view.

Harry chuckled. "Really, Hermione? A garter?"

"Just in case I ever got stuck without my clutch," Hermione grinned back, as she delicately pulled the garter off her creamy thigh and looped it out of her ankle. "It doesn't quite have everything my bag had, but it has enough."

"No mobile library then?" Harry snickered.

"Well it has a few essential books," Hermione muttered defensively, as Harry laughed.

"Have you both gone completely mental?" Draco snapped.

Harry took pity on the blond wizard. "Hermione has the tendency to always be prepared, in case of the eventuality of any of us having to flee."

Draco was stunned. He looked at the frilly garter in Hermione's hands, as she turned it inside out revealing tiny, carefully sewn and buttoned pockets. "That has supplies?" he managed to sputter out.

Hermione carefully unbuttoned a tiny pocket and extricated a miniscule piece of fabric. She held it out to Draco with an amused smile. "Would you do the honours? I seem to be missing my wand."

"Engorgio," Draco muttered, as the piece of fabric swelled up to it's regular size in a plethora of tangled ropes, poles and fabric. He examined it in disbelief. "A tent?"

"My spare tent," Hermione clarified, as Harry started to set it up using his wand. "The bigger, more comfortable tent is in my clutch, but this will have to do."

"We should set up wards, just in case," said Harry, as the newly erected tent stood in front of them. "You should probably do them, Hermione, you were always the best at them."

Draco watched –still numb with disbelief– as Hermione borrowed Harry's wand and set up interlocking layers of wards around them. He didn't know whether to be slightly scared at just how intelligent his wife was, or to be incredibly proud. He settled for an ambiguous mixture of both, feeling as though he was in over his head if he ever thought to seduce someone as clever as her.

"Doesn't this bring back memories," Hermione commented, with a rueful smile, as she handed Harry his wand back. "Wards, tents, sharing wands…"

"At least this time you're the one without a wand, now you know how it feels," Harry replied, as he pocketed his wand.

"Just, wrong," Hermione agreed. "Shall we?" she played mock-hostess as she indicated to the others to troop into the tent.

It was easily the smallest tent Draco had ever been inside. The tiny area that passed for a sitting room was largely taken up by a wooden table and four plain wood chairs. A squashy couch had been squeezed next to it, along with a tiny coffee table and a vividly patterned rug. From the corner of his eye, he could see the counter tops of a tiny kitchenette.

"We are never letting Hermione cook," Harry muttered to him in undertone. "Trust me on that."

Draco was mildly taken aback with the show of camaraderie and found himself giving Harry the ghost of a grin. "I'll take your word for it Potter."

Harry nodded vehemently. "You're lucky you never had to experience it first hand."

Hermione plopped herself down on the sofa as she watched the boys whisper through narrowed eyes. She cleared her throat loudly. "I guess this is home for the time being. It's getting pretty late, we should probably think about sleeping."

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep knowing that Ginny is worrying about me," Harry admitted.

"Which is why I came prepared this time round," Hermione said triumphantly. "I'm going to make us some hot chocolate and put a mild Sleeping Draught in it."

"You brought milk?" Draco looked at her with disbelief.

Hermione flushed slightly. "I might have gone to a muggle camping store and asked for a list of things people took camping."

Harry grinned. "You finally stopped letting good old Gamp and his exceptions get the better of you?"

"I realised that it was slightly silly to not carry the most essential of his five exceptions," Hermione confessed, with a self-deprecating grin. "Especially since I didn't even have to bring all that much. Quantity can be increased, if you recall."

"Wait," Draco interjected, finally working out what the others were talking about. "The last time you lot went off, you didn't think to take any food?"

"Well I needed food that would stay preserved," Hermione defended, her eyes flashing. "This time, I have a solution. Cans."

Harry was staring at her in disbelief. "You brought canned food?"

"And longlife milk," Hermione confirmed. "So, hot chocolate?"

"Will someone bother to explain to me what a can is?" Draco demanded hotly, annoyed at the fact that his wife and her best friend seemed to be speaking in some sort of muggle code.

Hermione left Harry to do the explaining as she busied herself with making the hot chocolate. She paused briefly before spiking her own drink; there were only two bedrooms in the tiny tent, and for the first time she would be forced to share some sort of intimacy with her husband without any form of coercion. Hermione found herself baulking at the thought. Ridiculous levels of sexual tension were to be expected when any hot blooded heterosexual male was put in close proximity of an equally hot blooded heterosexual female for an extended period of time. Sexual tension didn't make their forced marriage real, but intimacy was a whole other ballgame that she wasn't sure she was ready to delve into. Playing games with Draco Malfoy had an undertone of dark, thrilling danger to it that left Hermione a mixture between curious and frightened. No, she thought to herself as she stirred the Sleeping Draughts into the boys' drinks, there is no way I am going to bow down to this. If we're intimate without a reason, or at the very least a good excuse, all it will leave is the glaring factor of intentions. Maybe even unvoiced desires for this to be more than it is. No.

"Here you go," she said, forcing herself to sound cheerful as she handed Harry and Draco the mugs.

"Thanks Hermione," said Harry gratefully as he sipped the hot beverage. "Shall we pick our rooms before we get too sleepy?"

"You and Malfoy pick," said Hermione quickly. "Someone needs to keep watch. Constant vigilance, remember?"

Harry was frowning. "Are you sure we need that?"

"And why didn't we discuss whom it would be before we started drinking Sleeping Draughts?" Draco scowled and set his cup down.

"Does it really matter?" Hermione asked airily. "I'm up later than you both anyways, and I wanted to do some reading."

Draco was looking at her suspiciously. "I thought you were tired?"

"Adrenaline rush," Hermione said loftily, as she crossed her arms and surveyed her husband.

"Alright, if you're sure," Harry said tentatively, realising that it was impossible to talk Hermione out of her plan.

Hermione gave him a small smile. "I also have some pajamas. I only packed one pair of Malfoy's, but we can duplicate them."

"You really do think of everything," Harry admired.

Draco stayed quiet, his eyes narrowed speculatively.

The boys finished their drinks and headed to their bedrooms with their pajamas not long after, though Draco had suggested that it would be unnecessary when Harry had tried to leave her with his wand. The knowing glint in her husband's eye tipped Hermione off to the fact that at least he had figured out that her motives to stay in the living room had more to do with guarding their tents. Hermione hoped that her Draught had been powerful enough to ensure that she could get a few hours of sleep herself and wake up before either of them did. She found herself regretting her decision to only put a single drop in both their mugs, but at the time, Hermione hadn't wanted to knock them out just in case there was something to worry about.

Sighing to herself, she changed into her own pajamas. She had managed to steal back a pair of her old purple pajama bottoms and a v-necked t-shirt from the cupboard while Narcissa had been preoccupied with Julius. She was glad that at the very least she had some nightwear appropriate for company. She tied her still silky curls into a ponytail and settled down cross-legged on the couch to read, just in case either boy was still awake. Typically, Hermione found herself getting lost in her reading, and only looked up close to two hours later when she heard muffled screaming sounds from Harry's bedroom. Jumping to her feet, she raced into Harry's bedroom, and threw the door open.

Harry was having a nightmare.

She shut the door behind her quietly and slowly made her way to the thrashing form tangled in the bed-sheets. She perched on the small bed and gently put a cool palm to his sweaty forehead. He seemed to calm down slightly by her touch, but she was loath to let him continue with his bad dream. Biting her lip, she slowly shook him awake.

"Hermione?" he muttered groggily.

Hermione looked down at him with sympathy. "You were having a nightmare honey, sorry to wake you up." She gently brushed his hair off his forehead and handled him his glasses.

"Thanks," he muttered, looking embarrassed. "It's been a while but sometimes they come back–"

"No need to explain," Hermione waved him off. "We all have them. There's a reason the elves at the Manor lace all our nightly hot chocolates with mild Calming Draughts and Dreamless sleep potions."

"I think it's just being back here, the memories it dredges up," Harry said softly, as he moved over for Hermione to sit comfortably.

"I know, it's not easy for me either," she confessed.

Harry took a deep breath. "I'm worried about Ginny. I don't want her to be going out of her mind with panic, but I don't want to put her in danger by communicating openly."

"I know," Hermione murmured, as she put her arms around her best friend. "We'll get a Portkey out of here before long."

He snuggled closer to her and rested his head on her shoulder. "I really hope so."

They lay like that for a minute, and then Hermione grew business-like. "Sleeping Draught?" she offered, as she wriggled out of the bed.

Harry nodded. "Probably a good idea. I won't be able to go to sleep without one."

Hermione excused herself and went back out to the kitchen. She busied herself with fixing the hot chocolate so that she wouldn't have to think about the way her heart was aching for her best friend. She felt like an idiot for thinking that just because she wasn't around to witness them, the nightmares had stopped. Harry was the closest thing she had ever had to a sibling, simply put, he was her only family in the Wizarding world. Harry meant something to her with his unwavering loyalty and uncomplicated friendship that Ron never could. With Ron and the Weasleys there were conditions and complications, especially since the breakup. She recalled a night that she and Harry had drunk a few too many pints of Gillywater not long after her breakup with Ron.

"You know I love you right?" Harry had slurred, as he slopped his Gillywater down the front of his robes.

She had given him an indulgent smile. "I know, and I love you too."

"Your breakup with Ron just drove home the fact that the Weasleys aren't a guaranteed family," Harry had mumbled miserably into his drink. "If anything happens with me and Gin, they will all pick her side out of family loyalty. Even Ron. You're the only one I have who will stick by me no matter what."

"You will always have me honey," she had assured him.

And now, years later, it was still true. She and Harry had weathered so many storms, that their bond was difficult to break. Of course, it had changed slightly since Harry was still dating Ginny and she was now married to Draco, but Harry would always be her default family, no matter what. And it hurt her to see him this way.

Hermione was brought back to the present by the milk boiling over. She hastily relieved the magical kettle of it's liquid and stirred another Sleeping Draught along with the chocolate powder. Satisfied that this batch would hold, she knocked gently before she entered his room. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Harry said gratefully as he sipped his drink. "Would you mind terribly staying? Just for a few minutes."

"Of course I'll stay," Hermione fought to keep her voice even. Harry had been so starved of love during his childhood that even now, years later, he could be so insecure about asking for some affection. To drive the point home that she was not going to bolt the second he opened up too much, Hermione slid under the covers and soothingly ran her fingers through his hair. Her touch seemed to do the trick, because Harry drifted off even before his mug was completely empty. Hermione rescued it from his fingers and set it down on the bedside table quietly. Even though Harry was laying down while she was in a sitting position on his bed, he gravitated towards her body warmth and shifted his head on to her lap. Feeling oddly maternal, Hermione continued to stroke his hair until his breathing grew heavy.

Hermione wasn't sure when she drifted off next to Harry, but she jolted awake as the door to his bedroom flew open. Both she and Harry jumped unwillingly as they took in the clenched jaw and flashing grey eyes of the blond wizard that stood at the threshold of Harry's bedroom.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he hissed, his voice full of bitterness and malice.

A/n: I am so completely floored by the sheer magnitude of reviews, alerts and favourites I got on my last chapter! This update took slightly longer than usual because I was out of pre-written chapters and went a bit OCD proofreading it. Hope that you have all enjoyed my update, and once again, thank you SO much for all the reviews! They keep me going when RL gets too intense. Some of you asked me if there is a pattern to my updates, and indeed there is. I update whenever I have a really stressful day ahead of me so that your reviews cheer me up, so thanks to all of you for putting a very huge smile on my face.