Draco didn't come back that night or the next. Hermione avoided his parents the first day he was gone but the second one proved impossible.
"Hermione, where is Draco?" Narcissa asked her over breakfast.
"I'm not sure, he must have some last minute wedding stuff to help Harry with," she lied.
Narcissa exchanged a look with Lucius.
"I'll meet you in the lab," she said quickly as she rushed to get away from the knowing stares of his mother.
"You will talk to that girl and find out what happened." Narcissa told her husband with a firm order.
"Darling, what on earth makes you think she would ever confide in me?"
"Because you both are a lot more alike than you realize."
"Surely you don't actually believe that." He questioned.
"You will find out what happened," Narcissa asserted again.
Lucius sighed, "I will… try my dear." He stood up to follow her down to the lab.
Lucius found Hermione desperately slicing ingredients trying to keep back her tears.
"You'll ruin the potion you know." He told her as she stopped cutting and looked up at him.
"The salt water will ruin the properties of that root," he said again.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, sitting up to wipe her tears. Lucius handed her a handkerchief.
"I don't know what's came over me. I'm so sorry, I'll start over Master Lucius." She tried to compose herself, grateful for the handkerchief.
"Lucius." He said, "today I am just Lucius. We won't be doing any work today in the lab."
"Why? I'm sorry, I'm really fine! I'll just go gather some more roots."
"Hermione. Please sit. This doesn't reflect on your apprenticeship at all. How about I make a deal with you? You tell me what is going on, what's wrong, and I will start talking to you about the war. I will let you help me cope with my memories."
Nothing shocked her more than a proud man like Lucius offering up his vulnerability on a platter.
"Okay." She agreed. Then she started confiding in him. Once she started opening up she found out that she couldn't stop! She told him everything, her depression, her anxiety, her relationship with Theo, the baby, the miscarriage, Draco, the time turner. Everything. He listened for a long time.
"And it's not because I don't love Draco, because I do! I love him madly! What is wrong with me that I would even consider going back and changing things."
Finally Lucius cleared his throat to speak, "Hermione, did you know that Narcissa had an affair with Severus Snape?"
"Um, yes actually, but I really have no idea what that has to do with anything. No offense." She added and he chuckled.
"Life is about choices, my dear, would Narcissa have been happy with Severus? I'm not sure. She seemed to be at the time, but perhaps it was just lust disguised as love. Only she could tell you that. Is she happier with me now than she would have been with Severus? I'm not sure. It's hard to compare emotional depths of relationships. But I do know one thing, when she committed to me she let go of all the past and gave me her whole heart. She committed to me 100%.
You are not committing 100% to either man. You're floundering. My son is… stubborn but he has a good heart. I'd hate to see it broken, but if you can commit to Theodore over him, than that's what you need to do. I'm going to leave but I'm going to give you a task. Sit down and think of your future as if you were with each man.
Hopefully the answer will come to you. If not… well go and smell the Amortentia in the back. Perhaps that will give you some clarity on where your heart is at." He stood up and patted her arm awkwardly.
"Thank you Lucius." She said and with a sigh she started to think.
—
"What's wrong with him?" Asked Ron, eyeing Draco on the couch.
"Broken heart I reckon." Harry replied sadly.
"I am laying right here!" He bellowed back at them.
"So she told him then?" Ron asked.
"No she did not tell me! I found the blasted thing."
"Merlin she's daft sometimes." Ron replied, sadly shaking his head.
"You knew about this?" Asked Harry indignantly.
"Look mate, I don't know how it happened, but for some reason she finds me a safe place to be when she's done something awful. Which happens a lot more than you'd think."
"What did she say to you?" Draco demanded.
"Nothing really, She was torn up about the whole thing, asked me what to do. I told her to talk to you!"
"Yes well, she obviously made her decision." Draco growled, eyes focused on the little otter that was sadly pacing on his arm.
"Draco's convinced she is going to go back to be with Theo, and that his tattoo will just disappear when it happens." Harry told a perplexed Ron.
"Well cheer up mate! The otter is still there! Great news eh? If she was going to do it, it'd be gone by now!" Ron was patting his shoulder smiling.
"I don't even like you." Said Draco. Harry laughed.
"For what it's worth, I don't think she's going to go back either. Fight for her!" Harry said again, trying to drive home this point to his sad sod of a friend.
"Harry's right! Fight for her!" Ron encouraged.
"This is a terrible idea." Draco stood up and paced for a few moments. "This is a Gryffindor idea, which means it is a terrible idea... this is a Harry Potter idea, which means this is a horrible, ridiculous idea."
He paused his pacing, "Okay, Harry I need parchment and a quill, Ron, I need you to find out where she is and tell me immediately!" He started to walk to the floo before hesitating.
"This is a terrible, awful idea." He repeated, before changing his mind and heading to the shower.
When Draco disappeared to get clean, Harry went about his task. Ron firecalled Ginny and got lucky with Hermione's location.
Draco emerged clean with his clothes scorgified and a gleam in his eyes.
He grabbed the parchment and quill from Harry, "Well?" He asked Ron.
"Oi! Sorry, she's at the Manor."
Draco started writing, using a spell to hide the parchment from the other boys. A few minutes later he stood up.
"I'm going to fight for her."
The boys started cheering! "Yeah! Fight for her! Yeah!"
"You two are idiots!" He said giving each one a slight hug before he stepped in the floo.
—
Hermione saw it all when she thought about her future with both men, both futures made her heart burst she wanted them both so badly.
With Theo, he was intense, and poetic, deep, and soulful. She saw traveling, and making love, and adopting children. She saw him playing her songs as she drifted off to sleep. She saw flowers, and champagne, and a tenderness to the way he touched her and spoke to her. She saw her soulmate.
With Draco, he was sexy, and adventurous, intelligent, and fun. She saw them doing silly activities like the crossword puzzle. She saw laughter, and muggle movies, flying on Columba, and dancing the Macarena. She saw books, and tequila, and a deep joy in the way he touched her and spoke to her. She saw children with ice blonde curly unruly hair. She saw her happiness.
Soulmate. Happiness. Soulmate. Happiness. Both. She wanted both. The question she had to ask herself was how important was it to her to be in love with her soulmate? To spend her life with a soulmate. Was it the most important thing? Could a love built from the ground up mean more and become stronger than that? Her love for Draco felt that strong. It felt that powerful. So really what it came down to was who could she not live without?
She paced some more. Finally she gave up and went over to the damn Amortentia, she opened it and smelled… well that was surprising. She thought as she leaned in to smell the potion some more. She looked down at her sad little dragon tattoo pacing her arm looking like he wanted to cry.
She stood up and immediately ran up to their room.
Draco stepped out of the floo.
"Hermione!" He shouted, pulling her into a hug.
"I'm so sorry, I never should have walked out. I'm not going to just let you go back to him." He said strongly raising his hand to hush her as she tried to speak to him.
His hand was shaking. Then he pulled out his parchment and began to read.
"Things I would change if I had a time turner:
1. I would go back to Hogwart's and do my school years over, taking care to be humble, and kind and make friends with all redheaded individuals, saviors of the wizarding world, and nerdy know it alls.
2. I would reason with my father and show him that his way of thinking isn't always the right way, convincing him that blood purity is not the right answer.
3. I would be respectful to all hippogriffs.
4. I would keep all Bulgarian quidditch players away from you and ask you myself to the ball.
5. I would convince Slytherin to join dumbledore's army, and take down that bitch a whole lot sooner.
6. I would confide in Dumbledore if snake face tried to brand me and seek asylum for my family instead of becoming a death eater.
7. I would avada my bitch of an aunt if she touched a single hair on your head.
8. I would not have sex with Astoria Greengrass, and I certainly wouldn't have sex with any lady in the library, unless it was you.
9. I would hide your parents and keep you from having to wipe their memories.
10. I would convince you to date me, and only me and I would cherish you every day.
He pulled her to him again. Wiping her tears.
"I also wrote you a song. Well a poem rather, but I think it will sound good with piano."
He walked her over to the piano in their library and sat her down next to him. Then he started to play a beautiful melody.
"There's a girl,
a women,
She ruins me.
Destroys me.
Breaks me.
Compells me.
Once upon a time we were enemies,
Once upon a time we were friends,
Once upon a time we were lovers.
Lovers
Love her
Kiss her
Touch her
There's a girl,
A women,
She's ruined me.
Ruined me
Destroyed me
Broke me
Compelled me
Ruined everything I thought I knew
Everything I thought I was
Everything I used to want
Destroyed every belief I held as truth
Every unjust I was giving
Every notion I was living
Broke me away from my past
All the pain I held inside
All the darkness pushed aside
Compelled me to be different
To try to be good
To fall in love with her
Now there is only her.
She is my greatest gift for bad behavior
My reward for my failure
There's a girl,
A women,
She ruins me."
"Hermione, there are a lot of things I regret that I wish I could change, but I wouldn't change a thing, not really, because everything brought me to you. All my horrible choices and the horrible war, gave me you. It all led me to you. Bad things will happen in our lives but I want to be there for you and go through them together. I don't want our lives to be perfect. Perfection is really fucking boring. I want to experience all the amazing things and all the complete utter shite that happens in our lives with you. Always you. Please don't choose him, chose me. Stay with me. Please."
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I have to go." She said, and she kissed him on the cheek before she ran to the floo.