A/N: Happy Friday everyone! ISSUES TO ADDRESS: A lot of you feel like Hermione doesn't care about the prophecy – I assure you, she does. But she knows she's got to eventually die and this isn't going to stop her from living her life. On the flip side – I hope you noticed how Riddle was acting, because that was the emphasis in the last chapter, not Hermione's supposed carelessness. Thank you for commenting! I hope I cleared that up.

Thank you to: tfobmv18, Jade2099, Diamondreamer, leo says gerr, semantics, JRRTFrk, Alexybath and meow21 for reviewing.

I don't know why I don't like this chapter all that much. The next chapter I like better – see you all next week?

Chapter 26: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Hermione:

So much work to do, not enough time! So, so, so much work to do... OUCH! Fuck! Paper cuts are a bitch. Damn... right. What was I thinking? Oh, yes. So much work to do, not enough bloody time! Disorganization... damned bureaucracies!

These were just a few of the thoughts running through my head as I sat at my desk, poised perfectly in my ridiculously beautiful office as would be expected of the future wife of Draco Malfoy. I was having a slight panic attack, true to form. I had drafts due, deadlines to meet and a goddamn weeding to plan! There were not enough hours in a day to do all this shit.

Had I actually praised Draco for getting me two jobs and finally proposing? What a stupid mistake. I take it all back. I fucking hate him!

It was as if speaking of the devil had summoned him to me, for my door opened and I heard voices drifting in, disturbing my concentration. I could place his voice in a crowd anytime, anywhere, without even looking up to confirm. Yes, I was that obsessed with the man, but that was allowed now that we were engaged. Even my mind couldn't get enough out of the word.

"Love?" he called from his place at the door.

"Mm?" I responded half heartedly, not bothering to look up lest it encourage him to continue talking. Couldn't he see I was busy?

"I have a surprise for you."

He was excited, I could tell, but I really was not in the mood for another one of his little surprises. He had been showering me with gifts of all kinds, because now I couldn't say no to expensive, lavish and absolutely unnecessary things anymore. It was apparently a rule. Now that we were engaged, he was allowed to buy me whatever struck his fancy and I was not to say no. It really only added to my stress. I realized he was only trying to be sweet in the way males are, but damn, it didn't make up for the fact I was working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at something.

"Baby, not now. I'm busy," I said. I knew I was being ungrateful and he really was just trying to be nice, but it couldn't be helped. I was too stressed to be nice. This was almost as bad as my third year at Hogwarts, except this time I didn't have a time turner to help me get things done.

"Well, now we know who wears the pants in this relationship, Malfoy."

I looked up so quickly, I was sure everyone in the room had heard my neck crack. I was met with the lovely sight of Draco glaring at my best friends, who stood just by the door of my office. A messy haired Harry Potter and a bright and freckly Ginny Weasley, holding hands smiling at me.

My heart skipped a dozen beats and I could barely breathe, I was that shocked. Wasting no time, I ran towards the pair and embraced them as tightly as I could with my mouth still wide open.

"Told you I had a surprise..." muttered a very disgruntled Draco from somewhere behind me.

I ignored him for the moment. It could all bloody wait! "What are you guys doing here?" I nearly shouted.

"Maybe if you stop strangling me," Ginny gasped, "Harry might fill you in!"

Grinning guiltily as Ginny massaged her neck, I turned to Harry for an explanation. "Oh, I had to come here to meet with the Auror department at some conference, convention or something. It was rather boring, Ginny can attest to that," he paused, looking at me as if assessing my well being, which he probably was. "Imagine my surprise when I'm told you don't work there anymore?"

I grimaced, now putting my arm unconsciously around Draco's waist, which I imagine they didn't fail to notice. When I raised my hand to brush the errant stray hairs off my face, Ginny gasped.

"Hermione, what's that?" she nearly shouted.

"What's what?" I asked, scrubbing at my face, looking at Draco for help. When he just shrugged, I looked back at Ginny who was staring at me with a half excited, half shocked expression on her face. "I...Is there something on my face?"

Harry sniggered, but Ginny just walked forward and grabbed my hand, literally pointing to my engagement ring. "This! What's this?"

By now the smirk on Harry's face had disappeared as he realized which finger and hand the ring was placed upon and he too began to stare at me questioningly. They both were in shock. "It's...my engagement ring," I said point blank.

Well hey, there was no point beating around the bush, was there?

"You weren't even going to tell us you were bloody engaged?" Harry spluttered.

I grimaced and I could feel Draco growing more and more awkward by the second. "You must have missed our owl..." I offered pathetically.

In truth, there had been no owl. I'd been meaning to send one for ages now, but hadn't had the time nor the will to put up with such a daunting task. How do you tell all your friends, family, and acquaintances that you were getting married to your old school arch nemesis, who was the son of a Death Eater? Not to mention the fact that he had been a poor excuse of a death eater himself, but a death eater nonetheless.

The news that they had just missed my big news midair cheered them up immensely. "I'm so excited for you!" Ginny squealed, while Harry patted Draco on the back encouragingly.

I suppose the situation could have been much more awkward than it had gone.

/

Harry and Ginny had decided that they needed an extended vacation to get away from the "day to day". In reality, they had probably noticed how extremely happy I was to have them there, and decided to take pity on my helplessness/lack of friends and decided to stay. Yes, I had Draco, and of course he was a wonderful fixture in my life. But Draco could not substitute the void Zara had left in my life. A girl just needs to have some kind of friend around to divulge the things she could not tell the love of her life.

Knowing Draco, he had probably begged Harry to stay.

Whatever the case was, I wasn't going to ask questions and ruin it. Besides, who needs to have that kind of conversation when you had people to help you plan your own wedding? It was a gift that I was not going to look in the mouth. Ginny was a godsend and had a lot more sense in these matters than I did. I was not flailing anymore to make all my deadlines meet! And I was a lot happier for it.

It was on one of these wondrously happy days that I met Draco, Ginny and Harry for dinner at a pretentious Italian restaurant. I was so happy in fact, that I wasn't even bothered that the restaurant was pretentious and that the hostess was rude as hell until she figured out I was Draco Malfoy's fiancée.

Bitch.

"Sorry I'm late," I smiled, completely ignoring the waitress now that she had shown me to the table. Kissing Draco quickly as a hello just to show the now stunned hostess that I had a little dirt on her (no judging, New York turns women into evil beings). I hugged my two very dear friends close, before finally taking my seat and flipping through the menu.

"What held you up?" I heard Draco ask.

"Hm? Traffic on 5th. I'm famished, what are you all getting?"

It was a pleasant evening, overall. We ate, drank wine, talked about the most ridiculous things and I realized that I had missed my friends more than I had realized over the past year. Yes, I loved New York, and this was my lifelong dream, to be here – work here – but was it really enough? It was as if the group had sensed my thoughts because the conversation turned to what I dreaded most.

"We have to go back in a few days, unfortunately. I've gotten 18 owls already about crises..." Harry remarked with a roll of his eyes. Working his way up the ranks of the Auror department had meant that his presence was almost constantly required. It was a good thing that Ginny had decided to work towards a similar career path and was only a year or two behind him or their relationship would not have lasted as long as it had.

It wasn't a judgement, it was experience. Ron and I had proven to be incompatible for that very reason. But Ron was supposed to be the last thing on my mind. I didn't want to think about him or his current...predicament that I had been the cause of. Especially not now that my friends were going back to their own lives.

"Are you sure you have to leave so soon?" I pleaded. I caught the look Draco gave me and ignored it. "You could stay another few days... we don't mind, do we, Draco?" He shook his head.

"No," he spoke for himself, smiling at the pair sitting across from us. "You're more than welcome to stay, of course." I felt him squeeze my hand under the table. It was embarrassing that he was aware of what was going on through my head. For once, I didn't want him to know me so well. I didn't want him to think that he wasn't enough for me, or that I was so weak...

"We'd love to," said Ginny, this time. "Maybe next time though, okay?" she asked, looking at me concerned. What was this? Hermione pity fest time?

I put on a bright, wide smile. "Of course. Next time. Shall we order dessert?" Everyone at the table relaxed, as if they'd just been waiting for me to explode. How strange, right? It wasn't as if I was a ticking time bomb or anything... right?

Right! I could keep thinking that. No one was monitoring my thoughts, anyways. Who would know? Denial is absolutely wonderful.

Over a shared bowl of a vanilla fudge Sunday, Draco finally broke the awkward silence that had followed.

"Actually, maybe next time won't be so far off," he said.

Everyone looked at him, confused and curious. I was completely alert in attention. He dipped his spoon in chocolate syrup and took his time enjoying it, while we sat there in anticipation waiting for an explanation. Unfortunately, this was a habit of his that I was completely aware of which he completely denied ever doing. Giving attention to your food while talking about important things is not appropriate. Especially if you look like a sex god when you eat.

"Well?" I finally prompted.

He looked up as if he were surprised, which he probably was. The man had the tendency to become engrossed with his food – especially all things chocolate. I rolled my eyes and he smiled a little sheepishly. "Oh. Well, Malfoy industries in the UK are expanding."

Well that was news.

He looked at me quickly to confirm I wouldn't interrupt before continuing. "It's very tentative, of course. But I'll need to be there to oversee and manage. I was going to spring the news when I had a more concrete idea but..." he trailed off.

Everyone knew what that little but meant. He had said it for my benefit so that I wouldn't feel so damn depressed that Harry and Ginny were practically abandoning me. It was so sad that I wanted to slap him over the head for being so... so what? Considerate?

Damn you, Draco Malfoy... I could feel his hand come to rest on my knee under the table but I shook it off. I did not need to be distracted right now, especially when we were discussing the future.

"How long would you be there?" I heard Ginny enquire.

Draco looked at me again, and the meaning behind his glance was very clear. "Six months, maybe," he said, slowly, still staring at me. "A year... it's all quite indefinite."

Draco:

After I had given her the news that we would possibly be going back to her friends and old life, I had assumed Hermione would be happy. But instead, she seemed as if she were horrified at the idea of going back home. Who could blame her? After what had happened the last time we were there...

She ignored me for the rest of the evening. After we had left Ginny and Harry for the night at my house, we both silently apparated back to the apartment. She cleaned up a bit, still absolutely silent and ignoring me. When there was nothing left to do, she started to get ready for bed.

There was nothing I could do except follow her actions. I watched her through the mirror as I brushed my teeth, hoping that she'd say something, but she just continued ignoring me. It was almost frustrating and I wanted to yell at her for being so childish.

So what if I had made the wrong decision by spewing out big news like that at dinner? She didn't have to punish me for it. Everyone makes mistakes.

By the time we had both gotten in bed, turning out the lights, I was thoroughly aggravated. Lying on my back with an arm over my head covering my eyes, I heard her turn onto her side to face me. I knew she was watching me, probably waiting for me to say something, but now I felt like being childish too. I didn't feel like apologizing or talking, really.

It could wait.

But apparently, she couldn't wait.

"When were you going to tell me that we were going to move back?" she finally asked in a small voice.

I sighed. "I told you. I was going to ask you when I had more information. I might not even have to go – really. If you hadn't wanted to, I would've either travelled back and forth or had someone else handle it. It's honestly not a big deal."

Peaking out at her from under my arm turned out to be a mistake. She was considering what I had just told her, a mask of concentration painted onto her face. When she started to chew her lip, I couldn't help but gather her into my arms and kiss her gently.

"We don't have to do anything you don't want. I would never, you know that don't you?" She nodded and kissed me again.

"What do you want?" she asked, pulling away from my lips.

I considered her for a moment, thinking. What did I want?

"Anything you want, love."

And so, we made love twice that night, before passing out completely.

When I woke, the sun was just beginning to rise. I found her staring at me, gently stroking my hair. Pulling her close to me, I buried my nose to the crook of her neck and sighed. I would do anything to keep waking up with her every day just like this.

"I want to go, Draco," she whispered.

And just like that, it was decided that we would be moving, going back to a life that we had both consciously left behind.

/

Unfortunately for Hermione and I, no decision can be made without the press knowing about it. Just a week after Harry and Ginny had left and after I had confirmed that I would, indeed, be heading back to London for some time, an "insider" from my company leaked the information to the tabloids.

And of course, that leak turned into an international sensation.

It was an absolute fiasco.

Now, not only were we being stalked to the point where security was needed to keep the cameras and pushy reporters back, but we also got piles and piles of mail flooding our apartment. There were so many owls that I had to hire someone to deal with the situation.

It was worse for Hermione.

She became the centre of attention. Suddenly, ministry representatives began to badger her for her time, claiming that they had amazing job offers for her. Owls began to pour in from the British Ministry of Magic, offering her better deals. It became a war between states, literally. Apparently, those who held my girlfriend under employment would automatically have me support them in funding and of course, in the papers.

Not that they were wrong. If that was what Hermione wanted, that is what I would be doing.

But they didn't leave her alone. Even when she publically announced that she would not be leaving her employment at Malfoy Industries, they continued harassing her in the hope that she would change her mind.

It was as if both ministries of magic were fighting over what would be their new funding source and of course, their new public posters. Slowly, they began trying to outdo each other, not only with the job opportunities, but at every front. Eventually, it wasn't even about who would get Hermione to come work for them. It was a battle of who would get Hermione and I as citizens.

We got offers of houses, cars, broomsticks, dinner reservations at overly booked restaurants, star treatment on the streets... eventually, it got ridiculous. But how often do you get bribed by the Ministry of Magic? The best thing to do, it turned out to be, was ignore them all and let it be carried out on its own.

But, of course, the majority of the mail came from fans. Some of it was addressed to me, of course, stating how sad they were that I had decided to abandon them and that they had no reason to live any longer (I kid you not, things like this cannot be made up or exaggerated). But a larger portion of it was addressed to Hermione.

Unfortunately, more than half of it was hate mail.

... How could you force the poor man to go back to YOUR country? You selfish whore! ...

... Everyone knows you're feeding him love potions. Have the decency and let him go. ...

... You don't deserve him, celebrity seeking bitch...

This, Hermione said, she could handle, that she had handled it in the past and that it didn't bother her whatsoever. But when several of the letters held dangerous, damaging items (curses and the like) I decided to have them all screened. She didn't want me to take care of the situation. She said people had the right to free speech and if they wanted to write to her, which was absolutely fine with her.

Nonetheless, when I got news that someone had tried to ship a banshee to her, I put my foot down and had all of the mail banned. At that point, she was forced to agree that her safety was far more important than anything else.

Regardless, she seemed to be taking the entire situation quite well. She seemed glad to be going home to her friends, but entirely subdued. I couldn't figure it out until one day when we were packing up a few things from our room I saw her pause suddenly at finding something in a drawer.

When she didn't move for a few minutes, but simply stood there hunched over the object, I went over and saw that she was holding a piece of paper with pretty writing scrawled all over it.

"What's that?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her.

"Oh, this is just... something I forgot I had." She continued examining it, then chuckled a little. "Zara and I would have lunch in the cafeteria sometimes, but we couldn't really speak freely there... so we would pass notes to each other. You know, like in school."

She read a line out to me and laughed a little, but there was no joy in it. She kissed my cheek, smiled sadly and went back to packing the contents of the drawer. I watched her for a while, contemplating. Yes, she was happy to be going, but at the same time... there were things holding her back.

Then it hit me and I knew what needed to be done.

/

On a Saturday morning, bright and early I left Hermione sleeping in our bed to do something I hope she wouldn't kill me for later. I had a good feeling that if this went well, she would be a lot happier. But if it didn't go well and she found out about it – I'd be a dead man walking.

Barely walking and barred from bed. And that would be unbearable as any man can attest.

Unbearable I tell you!

Feeling a little silly as I walked down a quiet suburban street at an ungodly hour (WITHOUT COFFEE!), I tried to make it look like I had a legitimate purpose for being there. Well. Obviously I had a legitimate reason to be there, but I felt quite out of place regardless. It felt as if community patrol would suddenly pop up and take me to jail for trespassing.

Of course, I had been here before with Hermione countless times. But without her here, it felt just...wrong.

But that was exactly why I needed to do this.

It took me a whole five minutes to figure out that indeed, this was the right house. Walking up the steps I rang the doorbell and waited. A minute passed, then two while I stood there in anticipation and feeling more than a little stupid. Was this necessary? What would I even say to her?

When another minute passed I rang the doorbell again, and still nothing. When I finally rationalized that I had given it my best shot and began to leave, the door opened. Turning, I found a very ruffled looking woman standing there in a nightgown looking thoroughly harassed. She wasn't paying me any attention, but still looking over her shoulder, yelling at someone.

"No. Put that down! Charlie, can you please take your sister back to bed?" After a minute of her attempting to discipline her children, through which I just awkwardly stood there, she finally addressed me. "Yes, how can I help –"

That is, until, she saw who I was.

"Hello, Zara," I offered pathetically.

She stood there with her mouth slightly ajar, regarding me as if she didn't know what to make of my presence. Then, she abruptly stepped back in, shut the door and left me standing on her porch like an idiot. I stood there a minute, scratched my head and attempted to process what had just happened.

Again, when I made to leave, the door opened once again and Zara stepped out once more, this time donning an oversized sweater.

"I hope you don't mind if I don't offer you to come inside. The kids..." I just nodded my head in understanding. She gestured towards a couple of chairs that were scattered over her porch and I gratefully accepted the offer. "Would you like some tea?"

"I think we're past that now," I said, honestly.

She stared at me, for a moment, simply analyzing. "There is nothing you can say that will fix it." She seemed determined, but I had come here with a strong resolve.

"There are a lot of things that you, or anyone, don't know about Hermione Granger. You shouldn't judge her by what you think you saw."

"I was there. I saw enough, and there's nothing you can say that will change what she did to me! Do you understand?" she said, getting up to leave and go back inside.

"Hear me out, won't you? You owe her at least that much." She hesitated.

"I have a... mental condition." I paused and grimaced. Hearing those words come from my own mouth was a shocking experience. But I had to do it for Hermione. "Hermione has had to deal with...it, all on her own, because frankly I don't have anyone other than her." She sat down, heavily. "My healer said I have the tendency to disassociate myself from my personality when certain...memories from the past – from my past – come up."

She seemed confused. "What does this have to do with what happened?"

"She was intoxicated, Zara."

"That doesn't mean –"

And at that point, my clearly composed facade snapped. "No, listen to me. She was intoxicated. From the morning to when you found her – and all because of me. Because I practically abandoned her for weeks at a time! Your scumbag of an ex tried to rape her, do you understand? And I couldn't stop it because I was too busy agonizing over the past. If it hadn't been for you that night..."

She seemed as horrified as I'd felt when Hermione had related the story to me.

"You can't hold it against her. If you want to blame someone, blame me. It's all my fault..." But she seemed too shocked to answer. "You might not want to ever see her again, but we would love it if you came to our wedding. I'm sure you know we're moving to London for a while?"

She barely nodded in acknowledgement, sitting there desperately gripping the chair she sat in.

"Owl me if you are interested. I can arrange transportation for you and your children." With a smile and a look back, I made my exit, hoping that I'd made enough of an impact for all issues to be solved.

Hell, even if she didn't come to her senses, at least I had tried. And that was what would count.

A/N: Unsigned Reviews

Jade2099: Being the brightest witch of her age, I think Hermione's mind would be rather chaotic and, as you accurately described, like running a marathon. I'm glad you caught that – it's EXACTLY what I was going for. And because Draco is after all a Malfoy – I'd say he's pretty good at the hiding stuff. : ) Thanks for reviewing!

Diamondreamer: : ) I don't like keeping people waiting. I hope it works out too – thanks for reviewing!

Alexybath: I'm glad you liked it! If you liked the last one, I'm sure you're going to like chapter 27 just as much. And maybe you've got Riddle figured out, maybe you don't. You never know. The guy's too slippery to understand most of the time. Thanks for reviewing, as always.

Meow21: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! I don't have a Tumblr but I update every weekend (Friday or Saturday normally) without fail. If all else fails, you could always create an account and add the story to your story alerts and it'll email you. Sorry for being unhelpful...