Chapter Fourteen

Hermione had cried herself to sleep last night; her parents had just been murdered. It was horrible, she didn't want to let Ginny own, so she still went shopping and then she got dragged to the Burrow. Hermione rolled over in her bed; she could feel the dried tear steaks staining her face. It had been a really long day yesterday, and she still hadn't been able to find Dragon.

Hermione sighed; she knew it was after eleven, but she didn't want to get out of bed. And she didn't have to really; Crookshanks was too old to eat every day and she didn't start her training until after the weekend. But she couldn't stay in bed forever, Just a little longer, she thought, rolling over.

She was just drifting off again, when she heard someone knock on her door. Hermione groaned, "Who is it?" she shouted from her room.

"Ginny!" came a muffled voice from the hall.

Hermione sighed, now she had to get up. She rolled out of bed and shuffled down the hall. Opening up the door she felt a smile spread on her face. Ginny had found Dragon. "Oh Ginny!" she shrieked, "Where'd you find him?"

Ginny smiled, "He was wandering the park out in front of Grimmauld Place." She said, shrugging.

Hermione smiled, and bent down to pet the wolf. Wagging his tail, Dragon barked, "Awee, I missed you too." Cooed Hermione.

Ginny frowned, "Hermione," she said, stepping closer, "are you alright?"

Hermione sighed; she could feel tears welling up in her eyes, "I don't know Ginny," she moaned, "I just feel all messed up."

Ginny hugged Hermione and sighed, "That's okay Hun. You're supposed to feel like that, and it can't help being pregnant." Ginny paused and stepped back, "speaking of which" Ginny said, grinning and poking at her belly, "someone's getting pretty big!"

Hermione groaned, "Thanks Ginny…" she said sarcastically.

Draco had been wandering aimlessly around the city, looking for some way to find Hermione. He was just about to give up when he spotted a ginger stepping out of her apartment. He pricked his ears; this was probably the only time Draco'd been happy to see a Weasley.

Trotting up to her, he'd barked. The Weasley had jumped and pulled out her wand, but after she saw who it was she relaxed and looked around. Draco assumed she was looking for Hermione, because she looked back at him a moment later and asked if he was lost. He'd played along, hoping she'd bring him to Hermione. And he was right; the Weasley had walked down the street a few blocks and came up to a familiar apartment. Draco'd barked in excitement which caused her to laugh; he guessed that she was having a really good day, because he couldn't understand why anyone would find a barking wolf funny. Cocking his head, Draco had followed her inside and up to Hermione's apartment.

Draco tilted his head up at Hermione, she seemed relatively happy to see him, but she also looked sad. Draco barked and she smiled at him, making cooing noises, Again? He thought, tilting his head, What is with girls and barking wolves? Draco shook his head and trotted into the apartment.

Jumping on the couch, he looked back the Hermione and the ginger. They seemed to be talking about something, but Draco couldn't hear them.

Yawning, Draco realized how tired he was; he spun around on the couch and laid down. Resting his head on his paws, Draco felt his eyes begin to droop.

When Draco woke up a few hours later, the Weasley was gone from the doorway and so was Hermione. He felt a low growl start to build up in the back of his throat. Jumping down off the couch, Draco padded towards her bedroom; he could smell a fresh scent coming from there.

Pushing the door ajar with his nose, he saw a lumpy shape on the bed. Draco sighed, she didn't leave, he though, hauling himself on to the bed next to her. He was still pretty tired, and it didn't seem like Hermione was going to be getting out of bed any time soon. Draco didn't care, he needed to catch up on his sleep and he had a feeling that Thomas wasn't done here.

Draco felt Hermione shifting in her sleep as he started to drift off to sleep, he rolled over and stretched. He could feel sleep seeping into every part of his body. Draco had been noticing that he needed more sleep the longer he stayed in his wolf form; he sighed, he knew that he should be back at the Manor but he didn't want to deal with Pansy and her stupid threats.

Draco huffed, he was getting hungry, but he also wanted to sleep. He leaned over to Hermione and poked her with his nose; when she didn't stir, Draco laid back down; he wasn't getting feed any time soon. Licking his lips, he rested his head back down on his paws and closed his eyes, yawning.

Hermione woke up with a bunch of fur in her face; spluttering it out she, managed to fall off the bed with a thump. From the ground she could see Dragon sleeping sprawled over her bed. Giggling, Hermione got off the floor and walked to the bathroom.

She looked like a mess; her hair was sticking up everywhere and she had dark circles under her eyes. Hermione groaned, now she just wanted to go back to bed again. Checking the clock she saw that it was after noon. Hermione sighed, she couldn't go back to be now. Hermione sighed, she might as well clean up.

Hoping in the shower, Hermione felt the warm water ease of the tension in her shoulders. She felt it cascade down her back and make splitter splattering noises as it hid the floor. Hermione smiled, hot water really does help, she thought, washing her hair.

By the time she got out, it was almost two and Dragon was pacing around her room. "Well someone looks hungry." She thought, getting dressed. He barked in agreement as she pulled on a shirt. "It's a bit late for lunch, "she said, "and too late for breakfast," she giggled, "So that just leaves snacks."

Walking into the kitchen, Hermione started digging in her cupboards. She really needed to go shopping. She sighed and looked at the wolf, "Well," she said, shrugging, "Looks like we'll have to go out." Dragon barked as Hermione went to the door. Hermione laughed, "Yes, you too. Come on." She called, patting her leg, "Let's go."

Draco was padding after Hermione, as she wandered down the street in Hogsmeade. There was only ice cream in Diagon Alley, so there was no point in going there (because let's face it, no one goes to the leaky cauldron). But there were a few pubs at Hogsmeade and The Three Broomsticks even let pets in; if Draco could even be considered a pet.

It was raining when they got there, so Hermione had to through a clock over them. She pushed open the door to the pub and followed Draco in. He cocked his head; it's a lot emptier in her that usual, Draco though, as he jumped up onto a nearby booth.

Hermione got him some dragon's meat, which she laughed about when she ordered. Draco just pawed at his nose, wow, he though looking away from her. She got herself some form of three bean salad, he thought it looked like an owl pod but it explained the lack of food in her house.

After they ate, Hermione wandered around the town for a bit. She bought some candy at Honeydukes and went to look at the Weasley's joke shop. They'd bought out whatever one had been here and put in their own. Draco couldn't really remember what any of the names of the stores here were, he' never really liked coming. There were never any small kids to pick on.

The sun was starting to go down by the time Hermione turned back to him, "Dragon," she called, patting her leg, "Come here; I promised Ginny I'd go to the Burrow tonight for supper." Draco pawed at his ear, he didn't want to go there, but he didn't want to leave her alone. So he padded up to her and let her apparated them to the Burrow with a *POP*.

There weren't many people at the Burrow that night, Harry and Ron were at the Ministry. Ron was taking a year off school to try and decide what he wanted to be, so Harry was helping him get a job in their legal department.

As Hermione helped set the table she saw one of Fleur's kids chasing Dragon around the garden with his tail between his legs. She couldn't help but laugh; he reminded her of McGonagall, he was very stern but he was also nice. Hermione thought it would be funny to see her being chased by little kids.

Ginny was outside with George talking about Charlie's upcoming marriage. He was marrying some girl he'd meet over in Romania, but apparently she was a sweetheart; even Mrs. Weasley loved her.

When the table was set, and the food done being cooked, Mr. Weasley called everyone to their makeshift dining room. Hermione thought it was more an enclosed porch than a dining room, but there were heating charms for the winter and cooling charms for the summer.

Mrs. Weasley had made some pig, beans, carrots, and so much more food that Hermione felt like she was back at Hogwarts. She was sitting next to Fred and Ginny, George was across from her and Fleur and Bill were next to him. Charlie was visiting with his brides parents in Poland, so he wasn't around to hear about his wedding plans.

Molly had taken over his wedding and was planning the whole thing herself, with some help from Ginny and Fleur of course. Hermione smiled, it seemed like no girl could resisted the thought of planning the wedding. Then she frowned, she didn't feel the need to help with the wedding; Hermione had never cared much for weddings. That was probably why she didn't want to get married.

Supper past by pretty uneventful until the pudding; Hermione was just serving herself some chocolate pudding when she heard Dragon barking from the yard. Hermione frowned, but a few moments later Harry and Ron walked in. As soon as she saw Ron she felt her face go bright red and she quickly looked away; glancing back she noticed that his face had gone red too.

She was about to get up and leave, when she saw Dragon creep in. Hermione frowned, she was about to scowled him when he began to growl. And then everything got chaotic; Ron freaked and sent the table flying with his wand, Mrs. Weasley and George went chasing after it. Harry started yelling about the house trying to figure out the in the bloody hell a wolf was doing in the house, only to stop when he saw Hermione. She saw him frown before he turned and stormed out after George to help with the table. Fleur had taken the kids out side and Bill and gone with Mr. Weasley to the kitchen to find something to clean up the mess with.

Hermione sighed, that just left her Ginny and Ron. Ron opened his mouth first, "What in the blazes is going on here, and why in the name of Merlin is there a wolf in my house." He shrieked, waving his wand around.