Author's Note: Check the blog for a gorgeous picture I posted this morning of the snow, and a photo related to this chapter.

Chapter 12

Some Kinda Good Kinda Hold On Me

"She's gone?" Scorpius shouted. Draco was sure that even Dmitry and Davius heard him in the kitchens.

It was the morning after Hermione's departure, and Draco had not been looking forward to informing Scorpius of her absence. This had been why.

"Yes, Scorpius. Hermione has left. She's had to go back home to take care of her sick mother."

"Hermione's home is here!" he shouted. Draco hadn't seen him this fired up in a long time.

Not since Hermione came here… a little voice in his head reminded him.

"No, Scorpius, it is not," Draco said firmly. "She lived here for a while, but she came from somewhere else first. She has a mother who needs her."

"I need her more!" he yelled. Draco sighed heavily. There would be no helping this…

"Scorpius, if you can't behave, I'm going to have to keep you in your room all morning."

"No!" he shouted. "I'm supposed to be having lessons with Hermione!"

"Scorpius," Draco said, trying very hard to keep his voice even. "You cannot have lessons with Hermione this morning. Hermione is not here. I will have to search for a new governess for you."

"I don't want another governess! I want Hermione!"

Draco would lose his temper very soon, he knew it.

"Scorpius, I need you to go in your room and not come out until you can talk to me civilly," Draco said stiffly.

"No!" Scorpius shouted again, and he did an abrupt about-face to run away and…

…disappeared.

Draco's jaw dropped.

"Scorpius!" he shouted, panicking. His son had just apparated. Without realizing it. At six years old. Where could he possibly have gone?

"Scorpius!" he shouted again, and Michelle came running out to him from the bedroom.

"Draco, what's the matter?" she asked.

"Scorpius! He's gone! Disappeared before my eyes! Apparated!"

Michelle stared at him for a moment.

"Scorpius has apparated? Draco that's impossible…"

"Apparently not!" Draco yelled, facing her. "My son just disappeared right in front of me after turning around sharply. What does that sound like to you if not apparition!"

"I… I'm not sure, Draco…"

"Exactly. He's just apparated to God knows where!" He paused. "Dmitry! Davius!" he called. They appeared before him immediately.

"Yes, master?" they said together.

"We have heard you and the young master shouting," said the first.

"Is something wrong?" asked the second.

"Yes!" Draco shouted. "Scorpius is missing! He's apparated by accident!"

"Sir?" they chorused together incredulously.

"Find him!" Draco yelled, and the two Orhommes disappeared immediately.

He was panting.

"Draco…"

"What!" he snapped. Michelle touched his arm.

"Come now, let's go outside… you need to calm down…"

He was silent.

"Draco…"

"Fine."

She led him out to the back gardens and they sat down on a bench together. He was still fuming.

"Draco, please, be calm. Dmitry and Davius will find him."

Draco knew that they would, they had never let him down with anything before and they possessed a lot of magical power, ability, and intuition.

However, he was still a parent who had just lost his son. He was bound to go a little crazy.

Dmitry and Davius did not keep Draco waiting long. It had been an agonizing half an hour before they appeared in front of he and Michelle in the back gardens, each of them holding one of Scorpius's arms. Draco stood up immediately.

"Where did you find him?"

"Frolicking about in the west gardens, sir," said the first Orhomme.

"He'd caught a rabbit, sir," added the second.

Of course.

Draco leaned down and picked Scorpius up. He held him tightly and Scorpius squirmed.

"Never… ever… do that to me again," he said, not letting him go.

"I didn't mean to, Father…" Scorpius mumbled.

"You are staying right here in the back gardens and clearly in my sight for the rest of the day, do you understand me? And for heaven's sake stop terrorizing the rabbits…"

"Yes, Father…" Scorpius said as Draco put him down. He dashed off into the gardens, staying a fair distance away but always looking back to make sure Draco could still at least see him.

Draco sighed, and then sank back down onto the bench. Michelle took his hand.

"I nearly had a heart attack," he said, looking at his knees.

"I could tell," Michelle said. "Your concern and love for him is quite obvious."

"It would kill me to lose him," Draco admitted. "And it would kill me to raise him without a proper mother."

Michelle was silent, staring at him.

He looked up and met her gaze.

"Michelle, I've put it off long enough," he began, and pulled out his wand.

A square velvet box appeared in his hand.

"I love you, and I know you will be a good mother to Scorpius." He opened the box, revealing a stunning platinum ring set with a one carat diamond with a half carat diamond on either side.

"Will you marry me?"

"Oi! Harry!"

Hermione heard Ron's voice coming from the entryway. She looked up at Harry curiously, her eyes red and her cheeks tear streaked.

"He usually just lets himself in…" Harry explained guiltily. "In here, Ron!" he called back. Hermione buried her face in Harry's shoulder again.

"Ah! I just wanted to—" Ron stopped abruptly as he came around the corner of the room and saw Hermione hugging Harry's arm like it was her last string of life.

"Hermione?" he asked curiously.

"What, Ron…" she mumbled into Harry's arm.

"I… What are you doing here? Thought you were over at Malfoy Manor?" he asked, totally bewildered.

She sniffled. "I was. I just came back last night."

Ron put some uninformed pieces together and suddenly blurted out, "What did the git do to you? I'll go over there and give him a piece of my mind…"

Hermione sat up suddenly and looked at him. "No!" she said quickly.

"Dear Merlin, what did he do to you?" Ron exclaimed, seeing Hermione's tears. "Hermione, come here, good Lord…" he stepped over to her and sat down on her other side. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around him, now crying into his shoulder. Ron held her awkwardly while he gave Harry a questioning stare.

"It's a long story…" Harry said. "She's… had a rough few weeks…"

"I can see that," Ron said, glancing down at the crying woman in her arms. Hermione knew that neither of them had seen her this upset since her father had died eight years previously. She was stuck in some strange love triangle and had no idea what to do about it.

Why would she be crying so much if she wasn't truly in love with Draco?

At this thought, she sat straight up.

"I have to go back," she said. Ron's confused "What?" came at the same time as Harry's "I know."

"What do you mean, 'go back'?" Ron asked. "You've just come home and you're crying your bloody eyes out…"

Hermione sniffled and wiped at her tears before Harry handed her her wand.

"Right, thanks," she said quietly, and performed a few spells until she'd returned her countenance to normal.

"Hermione, I'm a little lost…" Ron said, staring at her.

"Oh, Ron," she said, smiling at him and standing. "You're always a little lost, aren't you?"

Before she could hear his reply she'd turned on her heel to apparate back to her mother's.

Her mother was a little startled when Hermione appeared in the kitchen. Her mother had been sitting at the table reading the paper.

"Hermione!" she cried. "Goodness, you scared me… Back so soon? I thought you'd be gone more than just a few hours."

Hermione beamed.

"Harry and I have just had a most wonderful talk, Mother…"

Her mother regarded her curiously, and a little suspiciously.

"And…?"

"And I've decided to go back to the Manor."

Her mother was speechless.

"Mother?"

"Hermione, you're really going to need to fill me in here," her mother said, reeling a little. "You come home late last night and collapse in my arms crying, you're depressed this morning, and then have a talk with Harry and suddenly you're desperate to go back to the place that's upset you so much? What's gotten into you!"

Hermione still smiled.

"Mother I… I think I'm in love!" she exclaimed.

"In love with who?" her mother demanded.

"With Draco!" Hermione answered.

If it had been anyone else, Hermione would have laughed at the expression of absolute horror and bewilderment on her mother's face.

"Hermione, darling, are you not well?" her mother asked.

"Yes, Mother, I'm quite well," she answered. "I have to go back to the Manor and face my problems. I need to tell Draco how I feel and see if he feels the same way…"

"And if he doesn't?" her mother prodded.

"Then I stay on at Malfoy Manor as governess anyway, whether Draco stays with Michelle or not."

"Michelle?" asked her mother. "Who's Michelle?"

"Draco's giflfriend," Hermione explained quickly. "Sorry, Mother, but I have to go upstairs and pack!"

Hermione raced up the stairs and her mother stared after her, her mouth agape.

Her daughter had gone insane…

"Harry! She's completely off her rocker! She's unhinged!" Ron said, pacing around Harry's living room. Harry sat in his same spot on the couch, watching him.

"That happens to people when they're in love," Harry said, smiling.

"Harry, stop kidding yourself! She can't seriously be in love with Malfoy! And there's no way he loves her! She's setting herself up for heartbreak!"

Harry had filled Ron in on the story after Hermione's departure.

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't," Harry said. "But I'm not going to stand by and watch her be miserable while she wonders 'what if?' for the rest of her life."

Ron glared at him.

"Ron, you can't protect her forever."

"Says who?" he countered.

"Says me, and says her," he replied. "It's not fair to her, Ron. You're her best friend, not her father. If this is a huge mistake, then let her make it. It's better than if she tortures herself for the rest of her life wondering if staying here was the biggest mistake of her life."

Ron was not convinced.

"Ron, she's a grown woman," Harry said.

"I know that, Harry."

"Then you need to stop treating her like we're all still seventeen."

Ron sighed deeply.

"I suppose you're right, Harry…" he started. "I just worry about her…"

"I do, too," Harry said. "She'll let us know if anything is wrong."

"I sure hope so…"

Hermione arrived outside the front gates of Malfoy Manor in the bright sunlight of mid-afternoon. She called for Dmitry and Davius and they appeared beside her immediately.

"Mademoiselle!" they chorused together. Hermione beamed.

"You have returned!" said the first.

"We have missed you dreadfully!" exclaimed the second.

"I'm only been gone one night…" she said.

"One night too long!" said the first.

"How can we serve you?" asked the second.

"Where is Scorpius?" she asked.

"Playing in the back gardens, mademoiselle," answered the first.

"May I take your trunk to your room?" asked the second.

"You may," she said, smiling at him. He smiled back, grabbed her trunk, and disappeared with it.

"Would you like me to take you to the young master?" asked the remaining.

"That would be lovely," she answered.

"To the back gardens, then, mademoiselle!" he said, and she took his hand and suddenly she found herself on the edge of the back gardens. She saw Scorpius ahead of her attempting to scale a tree.

"Call should you need anything!" said the Orhomme, and he disappeared. Hermione watched Scorpius for a moment before beginning to jog toward him. He turned around on a branch, caught sight of Hermione, and fell from the tree in surprise.

Draco had been mindlessly watching Scorpius climb a cherry tree when he saw him suddenly fall. His mind jerked into overgear and he stood up quickly – but before he could even draw his wand, Scorpius had frozen in mid air.

"What on earth…" Draco said.

"What is it, Draco?" Michelle asked, but then she, too, saw Scorpius suspended halfway between the tree and the ground. "Oh, my… his magic truly is powerful, isn't it?" she said.

"Hang on a moment," Draco said, watching closer. Scorpius was indeed suspended in mid air, but not frozen. He was moving and squirming and shouting something… and laughing… Draco watched as Scorpius was slowly lowered to the ground until he was standing on his own two feet and then heard him shout…

"Hermione! Hermione! You're back!"

Draco watched, unbelieving, as Scorpius ran away from the tree and right into the arms of his governess, who was stowing her wand.

"Draco…" Michelle said. There was an edge to her voice. Draco was silent.

Hermione had drawn her wand quick as a flash and used a simple levitation spell to keep Scorpius from hitting the ground. He had run up to her and thrown himself into her arms. She'd picked him up and spun him around and held him there close to her.

"I knew you weren't leaving for good! I just knew it!"

She just smiled at him, then looked up and saw Draco and Michelle watching her from the patio.

"I think we need to let your father know I've returned," she said quietly. He nodded his head vigorously in agreement and she put him down and led him to the patio by the hand. Draco stepped down the patio steps to meet her.

"Hello, Hermione," he said warmly.

"Hello, Draco."

"I had hoped you were not truly gone forever…"

She smiled meekly.

"Is your mother faring well, then?"

Hermione suddenly remembered the lie she'd told in her letter.

"Yes… I mean, she's… she thought that I could do far more good for Scorpius here than I could ever do for her at home," she explained. Scorpius beamed up at her.

"Guess what I did this morning!"

Hermione looked down at him. "What did you do?"

"I apparated!" he exclaimed.

"You did what?" she gasped, then looked at Draco. He gave her an embarrassed smile.

"He really did," he affirmed. "Turned on his heel and disappeared. Dmitry and Davius finally found him in the west side gardens."

"Well aren't you a precocious little thing…" Hermione said to Scorpius. Scorpius, not knowing what 'precocious' meant, remained silent.

"You've actually returned just in time for the news, both of you," Draco said, walking back up on the patio steps toward Michelle. He took her hand and helped her to her feet.

"As of this morning, Michelle and I are engaged to be married."