Thanking;

Echizenochi
Mihika
CinziaTwut
MaronTodai
Daisy Seary
SaruDM

For reviewing the previous chapter.

2 updates in a day!

what can i say? The juices were flowing!

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CHAPTER 18.

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Draco had a good time shopping for his 'new' flat. Or at least he acted as if he was having a good time.

Everything was "oh this will go well!" And "isn't this colour just amazing? I think it'll really bring out the contrast!"

At first Hermione was only half heartedly agreeing but when he picked up a disgusting looking green rug that had an even darker and horrible green line of ugly tassels, she almost gagged.

She absolutely forbade him to buy that. And after that Draco chose the gaudiest and worst things of the lot, knowing full well that however disinterested Hermione was, the utter abomination of his choice would irk the living daylights out of her and she would in turn get more involved.

"Gosh Draco. What has happened to your choice? You've been flying for so long that you've forgotten how people on land live."

Draco smirked. "See? That's why I dragged you here. Oh look! These curtains have buy one get one free!"

"Since when did Malfoy's get excited about sale's and gimmicks like buy one get one free? I was under the impression that you probably pay more at the cash counter and never take change back."

"Haha. Very funny. If you must know, ever since I started earning my own gold, I realized that hard earned money should never be wasted. But enough about that. I'm going to get those violet drapes. You should look about for the ones you like."

"Me? I'm not shopping for myself." Hermione said.

"Yeah I know." Draco rolled his eyes. "But I can't have 2 sets of curtains in my living room can I? Someone's got to use the other one. Might as well be you. Those brown ones are really terrible if you ask me."

Hermione stood thinking for a while.

She wasn't really into shopping but the variety here was insane.

And secretly she wished that Draco would have picked the peach and orange shaded sheers instead of the violet drapes.

They were simple and elegant and the colour just made everything brighter.

She could imagine herself waking up and curling with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate in the morning and the sun streaming through the sheers.

Well, it couldn't hurt to get those.

And it wasn't like she was buying them.

It was buy one get one free after all.

Although she made a mental note to pay her half to Draco later.

And Draco was right. What would he do with 2 sets of drapes?

Externally, she made a big deal of getting those 'free' drapes but inside she couldn't wait to change her brown ones into her newly acquired ones.

Draco looked satisfied with his conquest.

Hermione had begun to take interest and it made him happy.

Even though he had bribed the salesman to put up the 'buy one get one free' sign and he in fact would be paying for 2 sets, he didn't care.

As long as Hermione was getting back to being the old Hermione, he was happy.

He even forced her into getting a few colorful and varied sized cushions for her living room.

After a lot of forcing and bantering, the duo left the shop with arms full of bags.

They shrunk their shopping in a deserted lane and walked a bit ahead towards a restaurant that Katherine had highly recommended.

They ordered and while they waited, Draco asked for some wine.

"Muggle wine Draco?" Hermione asked amused.

"Yeah why not? I really like the flavour." Draco shrugged.

Hermione shook her head in partial disbelief. "It's amazing how muggle you've become."

"Is it? I think you're to blame." He said cheekily.

"Hey!" She said indignantly. "I merely used to explain things to you when you got curious. I never asked you to try anything."

"And yet I did." Draco said smiling. "And I must say I'm glad I did. It widens our horizons, don't you think? Trying out new things, sailing new seas."

"Oh my. Try to rein it Malfoy. Using muggle references. I think I might just die of shock." She said laughingly. "And since when did you get all philosophical?"

"It's nothing really. It's just that after we became friends, I found it easier to be curious about your way of life. As in the muggle way. And after all, they are people too. Who are doing so well for themselves without magic. You introduced me to all those things and I couldn't help but be curious to try it all out. And truthfully, after my parents passed, the fact that blood really didn't matter sank in more you know. Wizards and muggles, purebreeds and half breeds and muggle borns all die at some point, don't they? So what's the difference? It's better to co-exist and adapt to all good things that each world offers."

Hermione gaped at him.

She knew that Draco had become way more tolerant than what he used to be in school.

It started out slow and throughout Hogwarts he would yo-yo between being a jerk and a nice guy but Hermione held on and she had faith in him.

Which had paid off in the end.

After the fall of Voldemort and capture of most Death Eaters and leaving Hogwarts, Draco had become freer and with Hermione's help he had almost lost all prejudice and his ingrained brain washing.

"Wow. Draco that's deep." Hermione said. "I'm sorry about your parents. I know I've not been the best friend. But I heard about them quite late and frankly you never spoke about them in any of your letters." Hermione said softly.

"It's okay Hermione. I don't blame you. I didn't want to talk about it. Well, father passing was not so bad since we were never that close. But it still hurt. He was my father after all. Inspite of forcing me to take the dark mark and practically feeding me to Voldemort, he still was my father. But mother had always protected me. Or at least tried to. Her going was a blow. I really wish I'd have spent more time with her." Draco said wistfully.

Hermione covered his hand with her own and looked at him directly gently.

"I'm sorry. I really am. For everything. About your parents. About not being there. About not replying to the letters. I'm really sorry. My reasons are no excuses and I don't know if I'd be any good at condolences due to my own grief. But I really can hardly handle my own losses let alone help someone through theirs. Oh dear. I sound terrible Draco. I'm such a bad friend." Hermione moaned into her hands.

"Hermione. It's okay. Don't beat yourself up. I didn't expect anything from you. I don't want you to feel so bad about it. My parents lived well as long as they did. Well, father was under house arrest after the war but at least it was better than Azkaban. Don't be sad about it. I'm fine now." He placated her.

"How do you do it?" She asked.

"Do what?"

"Be ok about the loss of people in your life."

"I don't know. But in a way I'm always travelling. You could say I'm pretty much being as avoidant a personality as you." Draco said.

"But you're still Draco. The one I knew. As in the one who was my friend. Not the ferret in school." Hermione said smiling slightly.

"Funny Granger. You're still partial towards that nick name aren't you?" Draco asked.

"It was hilarious. Even though we were friends and I was pretty mad at Moody for doing that." Hermione said giggling.

"I don't know. It's just that I feel better knowing that they didn't have to suffer. They were ill for long before they died. So knowing that they are probably in a better place helps." Draco explained.

"That may be it." Hermione mused.

The waiter came with their food and they nibbled it in silence for a while.

Draco refilled their glasses and they continued to eat.

"Katherine was right." Draco said. "This place is excellent."

Hermione nodded. "I don't go out much. So I'm not really aware of many places. But Katherine's a saviour in such cases."

"She's awfully like you." Draco said.

"I know. I felt that too when I met her first." Hermione shared.

"But now I don't know." Draco said.

"Don't know what?" Hermione asked as she polished the last of her dish.

"Katherine is similar to old Hermione. Not new Hermione." Draco said.

"You're actually referring to me as old and new now?" Hermione asked slightly amused.

"What can I do? You have changed." Draco said.

Hermione sighed. "I know. But it's not intentional, I swear. It's just like I'm not into anything anymore. Only work keeps me sane."

"I'm not blaming you Mione. Of course you don't want to be like this. But you can try can't you? Look at you now. Sitting in a restaurant with your new drapes and cushions and an old friend. You actually cracked a few feeble jokes too." Draco said.

Hermione slapped his hand playfully at his jibe.

"It's easy with you. Well not easy really. You give me no choice. So whether I want to or not I have to give in to you if I want to retain my sanity. You don't leave me any choice." She smirked.

"That's why you needed to tell us about your hiding place sooner. We only wanted to help. You know that having someone only helps to cope. You didn't leave my side all of our 6th year even though I was an arse to you and practically threw you out of my life. You crawled your way back every time." Draco stressed.

"Yeah. I remember." Hermione said with a faint smile playing on her lips.

"What are you looking at mudblood? Oh my apologies. You must have never seen a proper pureblooded wizard before. Now go away before you lay your filthy sight on me." Draco yelled.

"Is that all?" Hermione asked in a bored tone, pretending to examine her nails.

This infuriated Draco even more because he knew that the last thing she cared about was how her nails looked. And to actually give her nails more importance than the insults he was throwing at her! The nerve!

"Nothing original? Come on Draco. I know you can do better." Hermione egged him, coming closer to him.

"Get away from me. Don't you dare come any closer Her... Granger! "He spat out her last name.

"Or else? You'll stop me?" Hermione asked. "But how will you? For that you'll actually have to touch this filthy mudblood won't you?"

Draco flinched.

"And being in the same room with me and breathing the same air I do is so unacceptable to you, then how are you going to push me away? No amount of sanitization will be able to wash off my mudblood germs from your hands." Hermione went on.

"Stop Hermione. Stop. Why are you doing this?" Draco pleaded.

"You know very well why." Hermione said sharply.

"I don't want anything to do with you. Do you not understand it?" Draco said rudely.

"If you would perhaps put more effort into your acting I'd probably be convinced. But sorry Draco. I just don't believe you." Hermione said easily.

"I hate you." He spat.

"You don't. Come now. Don't be a child. Don't resort to such juvenile insults. If you really want to hurt me, be more creative." She goaded.

"Are you deaf? Or so thick skinned? I've spent weeks trying to get you off my back and you still don't get the message." Draco said in frustration.

"And you can keep trying. Be my guest. But I'm not leaving you alone. I've had it defending you in front of Harry all the time. He's convinced you are up to something. For the longest I fought with him against this but now I'm starting to have my doubts. And let me tell you one thing Draco Malfoy. I'll find out what you're up to. And when I do, be rest assured that I will absolutely not let you go along with whatever it is that you're being forced to do." She said and marched off, leaving a stunned Draco behind.

Draco collapsed on the floor. Insulting her always took great energy out of him.

It was as if his entire being was fighting against the words in his head and on his lips.

Hermione barely cared about what he said. She was convinced it was an act.

Somewhere he was glad that he wasn't hurting her. But she was supposed to be hurt dammit.

How else would he convince her to stay away? Nothing was working. Nothing.

And when Hermione found out that he was trying to kill Dumbledore, he didn't know what would happen.

Yes, he used the word when and not if. Because she was Hermione Granger. There were no 2 ways about it.

She had promised that she would find out and now it was only a matter of time.

He was a goner for sure. He didn't know what was worse.

Having Voldemort force his misdeeds upon him or facing Hermione after she found out.

Draco almost laughed at the absurdity of his thoughts. Comparing fear of Voldemort and fear of Hermione in the same plane! If anyone ever found out, they would certainly deem him mental and place him next to Lockhart at St. Mungo's.

But Hermione's faith in him somehow steadied him. He had no idea what he was doing. But the fact that Hermione had not budged soothed him a bit. Even if he did admit this grudgingly.

"You never once left me. Even though I did everything I could." Draco said, interrupting her train of thought.

"How could I? You needed me." She said simply.

"Also we were bound in school. I couldn't run away like you did." Draco said.

"But you didn't give up either." Hermione said.

"I tried. But it was difficult since you could have been anywhere. You had it easy. You could always corner me in school. Especially with Potter's map. "Draco joked.

"Oh please. It took me ages to figure out you kept disappearing into the room of requirement." Hermione scoffed at his remark.

"But you did eventually." He said.

"Just like you." Hermione said.

"I got lucky." Draco shrugged.

"You call getting hit to death by a temperamental bludger lucky?"

"Of course. It led me to you. I wouldn't have it any other way." Draco stated.

"Idiot." Hermione said lovingly and shook her head.

"You do realize I'm not letting go." Draco said.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Hermione sighed.

But Draco and Hermione both knew that just like how Draco was actually relieved that Hermione had his back in the 6th year, similarly, Hermione was glad that he was here today.

Not like she was going to admit it to him anytime soon.

But she had a feeling that he already knew.

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Hmmm. Too intense?

It had to happen.

They had to get the conversation out of the way!

I hope it didn't get too much for you'll.

But as I said there would be some angst.

Hope you'll liked!

Thanks for reading!

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