A/N: Can you believe it? Finally! An update! Sorry for the wait for both stories. I am working two jobs, and I moved. Life has been hectic. Here is a short update. Working on The Flame as well, and will possibly be a short one. But next time, it will be longer. Thanks for your patience.

Same Disclaimer: I own nothing, and get no money for it. Just the happiness of someone reading my fiction of fiction. thank you.

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"Granger, I never knew you were such a cheater," Draco exclaimed as Hermione won yet another round of exploding snap.

She snorted. "Oh, please. You just think I'm cheating because I'm winning, and you, my dear ferret, are losing." Hermione smirked up at him through her eyelashes.

Draco scowled, "Never going to let me forget that, are you?"

She wasn't certain if he was truly upset or not. "We laughed at the time, but later, that evening, Harry and I talked about how wrong it was of Moody to do that… well, at least we thought it was Moody at the time."

"Not even a nasty little cockroach?" his gaze met hers briefly before flickering back down.

Hermione reached out, and touched his hand. "You might have been that at the time, but, no one deserves that."

"Thank you," he flipped his fingers over and brushed his against her own.

They moved their hands apart when they heard movement at the door, both sharing a small smile at their similar actions.

Adrian had entered along with two adults. The woman had long, straight brown hair, pulled back in a clip, and her eyes were a warm toffee color. She was slender, and dressed in a lovely blue day-robe. She was also short, and if these were her parents, the way Hermione was thinking they were, this is where she got her height from. The man was tall, and still muscular, his blonde hair cut short to keep control of the natural wave.

They stopped as soon as they saw her. Adrian continued on into the room, approaching the two still sitting at the small table, the remnants of their game around them. "Keeping busy, I see," he teased.

"Promised I'd keep her occupied, didn't I?" Draco smiled at his longtime friend. "And I have discovered something of vast importance…"

The couple kept moving forward slowly, but their nerves were visible to all. Hermione's stomach had started to jerk a little bit, too. "And what's that?" Adrian asked, moving to pull Hermione gently to her feet.

"Granger, cheats."

Hermione let out a short bark of laughter, "I do not, Malfoy." The look on his face brought a little bit more laughter out of her, and she knew he was doing it to help ease the tension in the room. "Malfoy is just upset that he keeps getting beat by a girl," she informed her brother. "Although, after all these years, he should be used to being beaten by THIS girl."

Now it was Draco's turn to bark out a laugh. He stood and moved to the two adults. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Pucey. I'm glad to see you up and about again."

The woman, Roswynn, hugged Draco, and the man, Archibald, shook his hand. "We wouldn't be if not for your family. It's good to see you again, Draco," the man spoke.

"I didn't know you were friends," the woman blurted.

Draco turned to her. "It's a more recent development."

Hermione cleared her throat, and moved slowly over with Adrian's help. "We became friends after we began working together with the Order." Both pairs of eyes were locked on her. There was almost a desperate quality to the way they flickered over features, like they were stranded for days in the desert with nothing to drink, and she was an oasis they happened upon. "Hello, I'm Hermione."

Though no tears were falling, the woman choked out a small sob. The man gripped her hand tightly, and smiled at Hermione. "Yes, we know who you are. We've seen you in Diagon Alley before," his voice was soft spoken, similar to Adrian's. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Hermione."

The woman hesitated for but a second. "You're beautiful."

Hermione blushed. "Thank you."

"I always knew that when you grew up you'd be beautiful. I'm sorry," she shook her head. "I… we promised we wouldn't put pressure…"

The man wrapped his arm around the small woman's shoulder. "What Rosie is trying to say is, we wanted to come meet you, but we didn't want you to feel like we were trying to force you into anything."

Hermione was quick to assure them, "Oh, oh, I don't. Not at all. If I wasn't ready, I would have never told Adrian it was okay. I am still very confused by everything, but I wanted to meet you too." Her legs were trembling a little bit, but she didn't want to give in to the weakness.

Draco was frowning where he stood. "Hermione, you're still not well. Why don't you lie down, and Mr. and Mrs. Pucey can talk to you while you rest?"

She wanted to be angry with him, but she couldn't. Adrian had already started to lead her back to her infirmary bed, and she knew Draco was only looking out for her, which, if she admitted it, still seemed a bit bizarre.

As she became comfortable on the bed, everyone besides Draco pulled up chairs close by. Draco seemed to be hesitating, and Hermione had a feeling he was going to leave.

Draco knew he should go. This was a private time for their family, and, well, as close as the Pucey and Malfoy families were, they weren't related… which Draco was more than grateful for. As he began to make his excuses, Hermione reached out and brushed her trembling fingers on the side of his hand. The look in her eyes was… not desperate, but nervous certainly.

"Why don't you sit here, Draco," she patted the side of the infirmary bed. "No need for a chair."

Roswynn looked between the two. While she didn't know Hermione, which tore at her heart still, she did know Draco. She could tell he wanted to stay, but was trying to give them privacy. The Pucey matriarch appreciated this, but it was unnecessary. Adrian and his friends had practically grown up in each other's homes, and while a few years younger, that didn't exclude Draco, Blaise, or Theo. The Pureblood children had been a tight-knit group. Well, at least most of the Pureblood children. Now, if she was reading the signs right, it seemed as though there was something between the young Malfoy and the girl who was her daughter. "Sit, Draco, tell us about your parents," she bade.

Normally, sitting on an unmarried girl's bed would be deemed inappropriate, but these were definitely different times. However, Archibald Pucey did find himself holding his tongue as the young man took a seat. He knew it was better if the boy stayed. He and Adrian would give a certain cushion to this meeting. But, he promised himself, he would be speaking to Adrian about Ariad… no, Hermione and Draco's relationship. He'd always been told they despised each other, but the way his little girl had looked to the young blonde man was much more than a 'new friend'.

His little girl. Merlin he hadn't thought he'd ever see her again. For so long they'd hoped and prayed that they would find their missing daughter. It was only in the past year they'd just hoped they would someday find the body. In the wizarding world, everyone knew that in most of these situations if the child was missing for more than a month, they would most likely only be recovering remains. They just so rarely happened. Most might mean four out of the six missing children in the past forty years. He'd known he'd somehow been cursed when his child joined that minute number. Now, here she was, sitting with them and their son, willing to get to know them. She'd been here, this whole time; treated horribly, tortured, and had fought in the war.

Archie couldn't stop looking at her. She was beautiful, his little girl. He would just be grateful that they had all survived, and were now reunited. "Yes, we haven't seen them in a few weeks. They came to visit at the house where the Order hid us, but then with the final battle, and dealing with the Ministry…"

"They are doing well, Sir, Ma'am," Draco took the seat gingerly, worried that he would offend the elder Pucey's by taking such intimacy with Hermione. "Father had a meeting at the Ministry this morning, and Mother was speaking to the elves and some contractors on fixing the Manor. Voldemort did much damage while staying there," he looked down with a frown as he remembered. "I don't know how long Father will be, but I know that Mother is going to come see Hermione later today."

"That's lovely," Hermione beamed. "I can thank her for the books."

Draco couldn't help but smile back at her. "She's very concerned for you. I know that she's also arranged to have tea with Molly Weasley."

Now there was shock in the room. When Arthur Weasley's father had lashed out, attacking all Purebloods, the man had destroyed the future of his two sons. Bilius, the older brother, had turned out much like his father, but Arthur was a good man. Unfortunately, Bilius was the brother to inherit, and when that had happened he'd cast his younger brother down into poverty.

For the Malfoy's and Weasley's however, the rancor between them had nothing to do with poverty. The feud between the two families had been going on for over two centuries. When they'd had children, it had gotten worse. Narcissa was only able to have Draco, while Molly had seven. There was much bitterness there.

"When we joined the Order," Draco began, seeing the startled looks, "my parents and the Weasley's had wanted to end the feud, but they couldn't. Befriending the Weasley family under Voldemort's nose, well, that would have been waving a red flag at a bull-dragon. But that's over now, and with what Molly and Arthur are going through…"

Hermione reached out and touched his hand again lightly. He'd trailed off, and she knew that he was thinking that mentioning the situation would hurt her. "I'm so glad your mother is going to be there for Molly. They're both wonderful women who love their children very much."

Roswynn smiled at the two, "I'll be glad to be able to speak with Molly in the open again. We've been friends for so long, but she was always so concerned about safety for all."

Hermione looked delighted at this bit of news. The Weasley's, no matter what Ronald had done, were like a family to her. Knowing that they were friends with the Pucey's made her feel even more comfortable speaking with them now. "They have been a wonderful family to spend time with over the years."

It was silent for a moment before Archie cleared his throat, "So, what are you planning to do now, Hermione?" He was proud of himself for not stuttering over the name.

"Well, Professor McGonagall has offered to let us return to school next year to finish our education and get our certificates. Harry and I had already decided to do that before everything. We've all been staying here for safety. There are still active Death Eaters out there, and we're sure they're going to be looking for revenge. After that, I'm honestly not sure what I'm planning on doing." Hermione thought very carefully on how to phrase her next words. "The Grangers, the Muggles who raised me, are for all intents and purposes dead. I erased their memories, implanted new ones, and sent them to Australia to protect them." Again the room was speechless with shock. "I had planned to see what would be needed to undo that memory spell, and go retrieve them. But I'm not sure when I'll have that opportunity."

"I've always been very good with memory magic," Roswynn said hesitantly, "I could help you, if you'd like?"

"You would do that?" Hermione knew it was most likely due to the information the Grangers might have concerning how they came to have Hermione, but… still, the offer had been genuine and kind. She knew the entire thing was painful for Roswynn Pucey.

"Oh, dear child," Rosie smiled tremulously at her daughter. I would do just about anything for you."