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CHAPTER 19.
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My Dear Hermione,
I am so excited!
Harry has taken leave from work for a week and he's taking me to Capri!
He's so excited about the baby!
My morning sickness has reduced considerably and according to Harry I'm not that hormonal any more.
So he jumped at the chance of having a holiday for just the two of us before the baby comes.
You know how it gets after a baby.
We may not get a chance for a holiday anytime soon!
Mum has lost it.
She sends food almost every day and although that saves me the trouble to cook, it is spoiling Harry because once she stops sending he'll expect me to cook as good as mum.
And you know I'm nowhere close.
Although mum's offered to give me lessons.
Angelina and Katie are pregnant too!
I bet the twins had decided to get their wives pregnant together.
They want their sons to be together.
Yes, the twins are having boys.
It's going to be a mad house.
The boys will be a month younger than Ronald James and I'm afraid he's going to get roped into all sorts of pranks!
That's about it on my end.
How are you?
How's work?
I bet you never take any time off.
You better be here by the time I deliver Hermione Granger.
My baby needs his Godmother.
You've got 8 months notice.
Start packing!
Oh that reminds me, I need to pack now.
We are leaving in the morning and tonight we are going over to Andy's to meet Teddy.
So I better get packing.
You know Harry. He's bound to forget important things so I have to pack for him too.
I'll send you a postcard from Capri.
Harry says he's booked us a cottage by the sea!
I'm so excited!
Harry sends his love too!
Love you Hermione.
Take care of yourself!
Ginny!
Hermione couldn't help laughing at Ginny's letter.
She was so thrilled about her vacation that it was emanating from every sentence of her letter.
Ginny's letter was contagious. Hermione found herself getting excited for her friend.
She was glad that pregnancy was treating her well.
As a Healer, she had seen that women, who found it difficult to get pregnant, usually had difficult pregnancies.
But Hermione was sure that Harry would take care of her.
"Bloody hell Granger. How have you not smacked that owl yet?" Draco said.
Hermione was startled by his sudden presence.
"When did you get here?" Hermione asked, folding the letter.
"Just now. And the ruddy owl's constant pecking is bothering me already. Why don't you just get rid of it?" He asked as he picked an apple from the fruit basket and bit into it and settled on her couch.
"Oh dear. I totally forgot about Sinatra. I got so busy reading Ginny's letter." Hermione said as she hurried to feed him a piece of bread.
Sinatra got busy with his bread and Hermione went about looking for a spare bit of parchment.
"Oh the famous letters of Hermione Granger. Are you going to reply?" Draco asked.
"Yes. Of course I am." Hermione said.
Draco rolled his eyes. "I meant are you going to actually write in it?"
Hermione faltered for a bit.
She had been feeling much better lately.
She barely had any time to dwell over the past.
She would complete her shifts and Draco would be there, ready to drag her into doing something or the other.
It had not even been 5 days since he had shifted into her building and Hermione felt like Draco had been her neighbour forever.
It felt so natural to have him there. It was like they started right where they had left.
Well, Draco had to be given credit for that.
His letters filled the void that his absence created and Hermione never felt like it had been 3 years since she had seen him last.
Maybe she could write to Ginny now.
She certainly was in a better place.
She was spending time with Draco Malfoy. He was from her past.
Surely she could establish contact with Ginny again.
But then again Draco had always been a separate entity in Hermione's life.
For the longest, no one knew about their friendship.
So Draco had never been a part of Hermione's life in the way that Harry, Ginny, Ron and the Weasley's were.
Talking and meeting Draco was easy. Natural.
His face didn't remind her of Ron or of her life back in London.
Therefore allowing Ginny and Harry into her life again would mean reopening all wounds.
Well, I have to try sometime. She thought.
"I don't know. I mean I think I could write. But I'm not so sure." She answered Draco's question.
"How about you just write to them? You don't have to tell them where you are or anything. You read their letters all the time. It wouldn't hurt to write once in a while." Draco stated.
"Hmm. I get that. I really do. But if I start writing they'll expect me to go there or tell them where I am. And I don't know if I'm ready for that yet." She pondered out loud.
Draco threw the core of the apple into the bin and washed his hands.
He came and sat next to her on her dining table for two.
She clearly had never expected to have guests over, judging by the size of her table.
"When I heard about Weas.. Ron, I dropped everything and came back as soon as I could. But it wasn't soon enough. I came to know that you had requested for a quick funeral. No one there knew you were going to run away soon after. I wanted to meet you Hermione. I missed you by an hour. You have no idea how much I curse myself to this day for not reaching earlier." Draco said.
"I'm sorry." Hermione said softly, staring at her hands.
"It's not your fault. You needed to get out. His family was grieving and you wanted to grieve on your own. I get that. But I met Potter and his wife. If he was surprised to see me I couldn't tell. He was too distraught. Not over Ron. But over you. Everyone was looking for you. He was so worried that I think in those few days that we were searching for you; he forgot to grieve about Ron. Ginny was stronger than the rest. She assisted Potter in looking for you and never once did I see her cry when we met up. Seems as if she had diverted her attention from Ron to you. " Draco continued.
"I left a note. Why was everyone still looking for me?" Hermione asked sounding surprised.
"You leave a note and you actually though we would read it and fold the note in half and get on with our lives?" Draco asked incredously. "Of course we had to look for you. You were vulnerable. We had to find you. How could we leave you alone?"
"You teamed up with Harry and Ginny to look for me?" Hermione asked.
"I didn't care. I just had to find you. I don't know if Potter was happy about it or not. But he didn't say anything. He seemed to expect it almost. I take it that you must have told them about our friendship?" Draco asked.
Hermione nodded. "After you left for Japan, just a few days before my wedding, I told them. Of course I told Ron first. He was not happy."
Draco laughed. "I would'nt expect anything else. Of course he wouldn't be happy. I was a git to you for 3 whole school years and a git to them throughout school. What did you expect?"
"True." Hermione conceded. "But Harry took it better than Ron. No surprises there."
"He was devastated. Both his best friends had left him. Ginny was at a loss as to how to deal with him. Hermione, I've seen them without you. Imagine, his state was so bad that I felt for him. You were our best friend and I knew what he was going through. And it wasn't pretty. And I know if you had seen what I had, you wouldn't waste a single second and go meet them as soon as you could. You're a kind person innately, Hermione. Don't do this. Write to them. That's the least you can do. You owe them that much."
Hermione was tearing up by now but Draco made no move to comfort her.
He figured that she needed to know that the people she left behind were the same people who were still waiting for her.
She had been selfish then and she was being selfish now. Not that Draco could blame her.
But she had to stop pushing her friends away.
And if he had to resort to guilt to make her do that then so be it.
They weren't lies though. He was speaking absolute truth.
"I've been so horrible. I wonder how they don't hate me by now." Hermione sobbed.
"They love you. That's why they understand that you did what you did. They just want to hear from you. The would love to meet you. But if you could only start replying to their letters, it would be enough for them for now." Draco said.
"I'd hate me by now. Are you sure they don't hate me?" Hermione asked.
"I don't hate you. And I wrote you a lot. Without any replies. They are your best friends Hermione. I'm sure they will go berserk with happiness if you write to them." Draco reasoned.
"Okay. I'll try. But not yet. Ginny's leaving for a holiday. She gets back in a week. I'll write to her after that." Hermione said.
"Promise?" Draco asked.
She nodded. "Promise."
Draco heaved a sigh of relief.
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Hermione writing to Ginny finally!
She's getting closer to being old Hermione!
Next up: Hermione and Draco go bungee jumping!
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