I'm pretty sure the air conditioning just came on. Not cool, work, not cool.

Chapter 9
"Gee, Hermione, I'm flattered," Pansy replied sarcastically. "But I'm married."

Hermione scowled. "I meant other men," she clarified.

All joking aside now, Pansy was taken aback by her request. "What about Draco?" she wondered. Hadn't she just spent her afternoon trying to convince him that he should be with Hermione?

In response, she shrugged. "What about him?" Hermione wondered. "It was his idea. He told me to find someone else, so that's what I plan to do."

Sighing, Pansy got to her feet and gathered up the bags she had left by the front door. Wordlessly, Hermione followed her to the kitchen and helped her put everything in its rightful place. "But you don't want someone else. You want him," Pansy guessed.

Hermione arranged the apples in the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. "Draco and I got what we needed from one another," she stated with an unflinching lack of care. "I get a baby, he gets an heir that will break his marriage contract. We owe each other nothing else."

Pansy took the bag of fruit from her friend's hand and placed it aside. "You're a terrible liar, Hermione," she said softly. "Even after all these years of befriending Slytherins. I could hear the pain in your voice when we talked earlier. The both of you can deny it all you want, but you belong together. I thought having this baby would make the two of you see that."

"You know how I feel about him," Hermione admitted. "I thought he knew how I felt about him. But he made it clear that, although he loves me, he'll never be in love with me. So, what? I should just wallow because some boy doesn't like me?"

"He's not just some boy," Pansy insisted. "He's Draco. After all the two of you have been through, and how you somehow managed to become friends despite it all, I would have thought he'd be more than just some boy to you."

Sighing, Hermione leaned back against the counter. "I've tried this before," she reminded her friend. "Ron and I were best friends, and I found out he didn't want me either. And now look at us. I can't lose Draco."

"Were you okay with losing Ron?" Pansy wondered, taking a seat on the countertop.

She shrugged. In the past few months, she'd hardly given Ron a thought. Draco's contract had given her something to focus on. Her mind was set on having a baby, on having Draco's baby. There was no room in her mind for Ron or their split. "Yeah, I think I am," she finally said.

"So what makes Draco any different?" Pansy asked.

With tears in her eyes, she looked down at her shoes. "He's my best friend," she answered honestly. "The last ten years, he's been by my side through everything, good and bad. He knows all of my annoying habits, and they don't bother him. When I'm in a bad mood, he knows exactly how to pull me out of it. I love him, and I know he loves me. If not being with him preserves our friendship, then that's what I'll do."

"Hang your happiness," Pansy added. "God, you Gryffindors are just too damn good. Be selfish for once, Hermione. If Draco's who you want, then go for it. Or date someone else to make him see what he's missing. He doesn't want to lose you either. Whatever decision you make, just remember that."

Hermione nodded reluctantly. It seemed like good advice. But when put into action, would it backfire? Would she lose Draco? "Do you think he'd be jealous if he saw me with someone else?" she asked.

Pansy grinned devilishly. "Absolutely he would," she replied. "Which almost makes me think I should find you someone. What about Adrian Pucey? Tall, athletic, gorgeous, and he's got a brain to boot. He might be perfect for you."

Hermione remembered him. A couple of years her senior, she had first met him on the Quidditch pitch. It was the day Ron had attempted to curse Draco with a broken wand, and Ron spent the afternoon burping up slugs. Gorgeous, as she recalled, was the perfect way of describing the former Keeper.

"What if Draco starts dating though?" she asked as she considered the set up.

Pansy slid off of the counter and moved to the refrigerator. "Well, I guess he either didn't want to date you, like he says, or he's trying to make you jealous as well," she replied. "This could be a very long, very sick cycle. Which is why I say you either forget about being with him romantically or you say something to him. I know you're not afraid to speak your mind."

"I'll talk to Draco," she decided. "Don't set anything up until then."

The flat was too quiet. It was too empty. Draco hated being alone, knowing that Hermione had chosen to spend the night somewhere else. The house was dark as he lay in bed, willing sleep to claim him. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he could not fall asleep. He tossed, he turned, he drank warm milk, he tried counting sheep. Getting out of bed, he padded across the room to the bathroom that connected his and Hermione's rooms.

"Dreamless sleep," he muttered, searching through the various potions vials and shampoo bottles and rolls of toilet paper beneath the sink. He groaned with frustration when he came up empty handed. Moving to the other door, he entered Hermione's tidy bedroom. She wasn't one to hide potions from him, especially one as crucial as a sleep aid. Though time had passed, the nightmares were still frequent. But there was none to be found there either.

Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, he sighed. The soft white comforter and yellow pillows smelled like her, and he laid down to inhale the scent. "Merlin, what's wrong with me?" he wondered, closing his eyes. He missed her. It had been a day since she had spoken to him, since he had seen her. And he missed her.

Knowing sleep would not come, he did the one thing he hoped would work. He went to the Zabini's house.

The house was dark and quiet as Draco tip-toed to the second floor. It wouldn't do to wake any of the house's inhabitants. More than once, he had felt the wrath of an armed Pansy Parkinson-Zabini, and he wished to never repeat the experience. He knew exactly how to avoid the squeaks in the carpeted stairs, and breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the guest bedroom. Moonlight was all he had to illuminate the room, but it was enough.

Hermione slept peacefully in the center of the queen-sized bed. He debated waking her, but feared scaring her in the middle of the night. Instead, he pulled back the blanket and slipped into bed beside her. It wasn't until she was in his arms that he finally fell asleep.