Author Note: HI guys, so I noticed some confusion in the reviews and while I love that everyone is getting so riled up over Draco and Astoria, I wanted to clarify where the characters stand at the moment.

Firstly, Astoria is in no way trying to hurt Hermione, Yes she did see the looks they were giving each other at the wedding and was annoyed by it as she wants people to believe they are a love match, however, she has no idea of the extent of what was between them. For all, she knows it was just ex's seeing each other for the first time in years. As Draco has made no effort to inform her otherwise, I can't really blame her for not thinking its a huge deal. Add to that that both Astoria and Draco think Hermione has also moved on due to Charlie's little prank. So no, she is in no way out to get Hermione.

One of you asked why Harry would not want to help if he knew that the two still had strong feelings for each other. The answer is, at the moment, he doesn't know that. The only people that know Astoria and Draco's match is platonic at the moment are the two of them. Harry knows that Hermione never moved on, but Draco has been gone for years and just turned up with a fiance. Harry is loyal to a fault so would never condone breaking up an engaged couple that he believes to be in love, even for Hermione.

Draco's journal was her new addiction. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't stop reading his thoughts. She thought about what Harry had said about responding if she needed closure and soon found that she was writing her own notes to him in the margins. For every note she read, she wrote back what she wished she could have told him.

Dear Hermione,

I dream of you. A lot. But the worst is when I think I've stopped dreaming, when I wake up at 3 am and you're there with me, sleeping peacefully, and all the loneliness goes away, but then I wake up for real. That's the worst.

Dear Draco,

The loneliness isn't the worst feeling, the worst feeling is being forgotten by someone you know you could never forget.

01. 01. 2002

Dear Hermione,

Why do people find any random person to kiss at midnight? I suppose anyone can kiss you, but not everyone can ignite your soul. Without that, what's the point?

Happy New Year Hermione.

Dear Draco,

Because who do you go too when the only one who can bring you that feeling is the one causing you pain?

06.07.2004

Dear Hermione,

I got engaged today. It's never going to stop hurting, is it?

Dear Draco,

What exactly? Giving someone the best of you and watching them choose someone else? No… I don't believe it will.

Before she knew it, she was nearing the end of the journal. It was then that she realized she didn't want to finish it. Writing to Draco, even in a way that wasn't real, had made her feel something that she hadn't felt in years. She looked back at what she had written. On some pages, she had poured her heart out to him, things that she wished she could have said to him before he left. On others, she had snarked at him for his comments just as she would have done if he had been sitting in front of her.

Looking at her watch, she realized it was 6 pm and she was in danger of being late for Molly's Sunday dinner. She flipped to the second last page of the journal and read what was there.

11. 10. 2004

Dear Hermione,

I get married in a month, but when I saw you standing next to Weasley today, I was 17 again. I wanted to scream when Weasley had his hands on you.

There is something about you that I'm scared to lose, because I know I'll never find it in someone else.

I love you, but right now I hate you.

I miss you, but we are better off apart,

I want you out of my life, so you can live yours,

but I never want to let you go

This was written on the day of Ron's wedding! By the sound of it after Charlie had played his little joke, or maybe after they had danced….NO! What the hell is he playing at? He's engaged! She was suddenly indignant on Astoria's part, but then she remembered Draco hadn't actually told her anything at all. You can't condemn a man for his thoughts Hermione she sighed deeply, picking up her pen. Her former self was right, she should have never read his journal.

Dear Draco,

You know that I am furious with you for writing such things while your lovely fiancé waits for you. I don't want to turn this page because then you'll be gone again. It sucks when you know that you need to let go, but you can't because you're still waiting for the impossible to happen. Now that you're back, I ache at the thought of not seeing you again, but I can't bear to see you with her.

When we first met I had no idea you would be so important to me, but I will never forget the moment that I realized I loved you.

You smiled, and my brain turned off. It was instantaneous but gradual at the same time and I thought "Oh Shit. I love him". I fell in love with you because there is nobody else like you. If I could have anyone, it would still be you.

And you're right. I hate you for that.

Setting down her quill and turning out the lights of her office, she apparated to the burrow, desperately in need of a good meal, and one of Molly Weasley's comforting hugs.

"So are you looking forward to the new department opening tomorrow Hermione?" Molly asked as she passed the roast potatoes.

"Absolutely, it will be interesting working with a whole new team - working with his fiancé you mean -, but it will be a nice change of pace. Magical creatures deserve the best medical care just as much as we do and it will be nice to establish my own piece of legislation."

"I must say, Hermione,, I think you've done extraordinarily well, you will actually leave a legacy at the Ministry, even if your whole career amounts to nothing from now on, everyone will remember that you wrote in the legislation that founded a ministry department" Percy and his wife Audrey were practically salivating at her.

"Err, thank you Percy, but hopefully the rest of my career won't count for nothing" she stated to the general laughter of the table.

"I don't think anything you did could ever count for nothing Hermione" Daphne smiled. "Didn't you live for getting house points?" she added cheekily, causing Hermione to blush and a general round of laughter to erupt across the table.

"Only so these two could lose them all" she tossed her eyes at Ron and Harry good-naturedly.

In light of recent events, she found that her eyes couldn't help but drift to Molly, as she fussed over her children and squeezed Arthur's hand as he complimented her on her cooking. Will I ever have this? She wondered.

The evening ended too soon for her liking but, as Percy had loudly reprimanded, they did all have work in the morning.

"We should have lunch this week Hermione, you, me, Harry and Ron, we can catch up?" Daphne begged as she hugged her.

"What about me?" Ginny protested.

"Sorry Ginny, but you're not going to be at work, are you? I mean you're welcome to join.."

"Absolutely not!" Harry said instantly. "It's bad enough you came to dinner tonight Gin, you're supposed to be on bedrest." Her husband said, rubbing her swollen belly.

"But I'm bored!" she pouted.

"Oh stop whining Ginevra" Molly teased "believe me once you have two children to run around after you will miss being bored!".

On that note, Molly kissed everyone goodnight and waved them all off into the floo. Once again, Hermione couldn't help but note that she was the only single party leaving.

The Zabini Manor

"Holy shit!" was not the response Draco had been expecting when he landed on his best friends' doorstep, though in hindsight, it probably was the correct one. He was immediately yanked into a brotherly hug that was very un-Blaise like.

"Drake, you're really here. In person" Blaise seemed awed.

"Yes well, I have something for you that couldn't be put in the floo" he smirked, holding out a paper envelope.

"You're getting MARRIED?" Blaise cried in surprise, barely glancing at the invitation. "In a MONTH?!"

Draco waited patiently for the shock to wear off. "Why the rush mate, did you manage to knock her up after all?" Blaise smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Draco frowned at the implication of the last couple of words. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Is Granger pregnant? come on mate you know I won't tell".

"Blaise…"

"I'm just so glad you two finally got your heads out of your asses"

"Blaise"

"I mean everyone could see she was miserable without you"

"BLAISE" he yelled, intending to correct his friend before his heart rate went up any more. Instead, he found himself sitting and asking "what do you mean she was miserable without me?

"She didn't tell you? figures, proud Gryffindor's and all that" Blaise rambled, his focus on pouring far too much whiskey into Draco's glass.

"Slow down Blaise, I can't heal people tomorrow if I'm drunk" he cautioned.

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you" Blaise waved his hand dismissively. "It all started the night you disappeared after she passed out in the library"

"Hermione passed out?" he asked worriedly.

"Yup, I was there, demanding to know what she'd done to you, Weaslette accused me of giving her a panic attack, but it can't have been that because she was out for almost two days. Pomfrey never did figure out what was wrong now I think about it. Probably would have been a lot worse if she had knocked that bloody potion over us though".

"Potion?" Draco interrupted sharply.

"Yeah, she was being her usual bookworm self, reading about some potion, muttering in French when I got there, though I'm not sure she could actually speak French" he frowned"any way the whole thing spilled when she passed out. Bloody lucky that she didn't get in on her, silly bint."

What little colour Draco had ever possessed drained from his face. "She passed out, and she spilled a potion in the library" he repeated, deadpan.

"Yeah, anyway, after you left she wasn't right for the rest of the year, never saw her outside of classes, but I would see the Weaslette, sneaking food and carrying it to the heads dorms. She didn't speak to anyone, it was like she stopped existing. She seemed to get better once she was away from Hogwarts though, from what I can tell she's happy with her work, she's certainly managed to climb high enough at the Ministry.

So, when exactly were you going to ask me to be your best man? Four weeks is not a great amount of time to get robes made…"You better not have asked Goyle?" Blaise paused as though he had tasted something horrible and waved a hand in front of Draco's face.

"Drake? Mate? Are you listening to me?"

On second thought, Draco downed the Whiskey in one. What the hell did I do? he wondered as a cold feeling of dread seeped through him

"That's the spirit!" the intoxicated Italian whooped, oblivious.

As soon as Draco apparated home, he could think of nothing but writing to Hermione. It wasn't until that evening that he realized his journal was missing. He spent the night blasting apart his study looking for it and it was there that Astoria found him the next morning.

"What in heavens?" she rushed over to the slumped form he had made against the wall, his head in his hands.

"I lost her" he mumbled, the after effect of the Whiskey still not completely worn off.

"I'm right here Draco!" Astoria said impatiently. "Honestly, I haven't seen you like this in years, I'm getting you some pepper up potion and then you're going to tell me what was so important that you blasted your study apart and made me late on my first day!" she said crossly, storming down to the cellar.

Ten minutes later, post-pepper up potion, Draco and Astoria were arguing.

"It doesn't matter" Draco insisted.

"It matters if you're willing to blow the house apart Draco!" she kept scolding him. As if he wasn't feeling guilty enough about his disloyal thoughts.

"I lost my journal, ok! It was special, it had a sentimental value" he chewed his lip in anger, not wanting to explain himself further.

Astoria frowned, Draco Malfoy was possibly the least sentimental person she had ever met. He didn't hold onto things when they were no longer of use to him. What was so special about this journal then?

"Where do you last remember having it?" she sighed.

"It's always in my satchel!" he snapped.

"Fine. Then when did you last put your satchel down?" she asked calmly, refusing to rise to his tone. "Didn't you have it when…"

"When I came to get you from Hermione's office," Draco said weakly. "Yes". His mouth had now gone completely dry. "Yes, I think I did".

"Well come to work with me and find out. I'm sure Hermione would have handed it in" she coaxed. "And you can tell her why I'm late" she added with a glare.

Hermione didn't know what she expected on her first morning as Head Liaison of a joint department, but she certainly didn't expect the breach alarm on her office to go off ten minutes into delivering her legislation.

"Please excuse me," she said hurriedly, causing a murmur amongst the reporters, who slowly started to sneak after her. Somebody breaking into Hermione Granger's office could be big news.

"Astoria!" Hermione gasped, lowering her wand.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, I tried to stop him…" Astoria rolled her eyes and shot her a very knowing look.

"Malfoy, get your ferrety ass out of my office, how dare you!" she trained her wand on his back.

"No need Granger, I am leaving quietly, now that I have this back" he clutched the journal to his chest tightly, his eyes black.

"No!" she almost screamed, he couldn't have it back, she had written in it! "That's mine! I made it myself" she hissed.

"For me, I believe," he said curtly.

"I don't believe I ever bequeathed it to you, did I?" she fired back. She knew she was being ridiculous, he had owned the thing for years, but all she could think was that she couldn't let him see her additions.

"JUST GIVE ME MY JOURNAL" they both yelled, each seizing one side of the book.

"For Merlin's sake, ARRESTO MOMENTUM" Astoria, pointed her wand at the journal, suspending it in mid-air, unfortunately, the pages flipped wide open as she did so. "You're both acting like children!" she quipped, stepping closer as the color drained from both parties faces. Draco knew that Hermione was close enough to read his writing, and Hermione knew that there was no way Draco couldn't see her notes in the margins.

At least Astoria couldn't see the inked messages, they both thought silently. The young woman pocketed her wand. "Honestly, you're not the first two people to own the same journal" she huffed "there's a simple way to decide who the rightful owner is "Appare Vestigium" she pointed her wand at the diary and watched in surprise as it hovered back towards Hermione.

"But..." Draco began to protest.

"As I said, I made it myself," Hermione told him smugly, knowing he would figure it out. She had never been happier that she had tried to appeal to Draco's fancy taste by using Goblin-made silver. As they had discovered from their interactions with the not so delightful Griphook during the war, the true owner of any goblin-made object is the maker.

"Yes well" Astoria recovered before Draco, who was still staring dumbly at the journal in Hermione's arms, she thought she saw his eyes narrow slightly as she hugged it closed to her. She realized that she had been giving him the impression that she prized its contents. "Many apologies Miss Granger, it seems you too have the same taste, we will see ourselves out, won't we dear? " she dragged the flabbergasted blonde from the room and busied herself trying to get rid of the reporters that were starting to hypothesize about "the Granger-Malfoy altercation".

Hermione canceled the rest of her press conference and sat at her desk with her head in her hands. She had technically - but not technically as the spell demonstrated - stolen Draco's private thoughts. He would figure out the riddle of why the journal had come to her and would realize that he couldn't get it back by magic, but that didn't mean they could just leave this unresolved.

...

Draco was fuming as he paced back and forth about the manner. Astoria had berated him for being childish and embarrassing her at work on her first day. He wanted to be furious with her for casting that spell and giving Hermione back his journal but he couldn't tell her that, so he had resorted to storming through his former ancestral home like a moody teenager.

The worst part was that he knew she had read it. Even if he had never seen her handwriting etched beside his or the way she hugged the book close to her, as though it meant something, he would still have known that she had opened it purely because his Hermione would never have been able to resist. He was sure she had probably tried, he smiled to himself fondly as he imagined the pained look of restraint he remembered seeing on her face whenever someone held information back from her. She had probably warred with her good Gryffindor sense of honor far more than he would have done if things had been reversed, but her efforts would have been futile. Hermione Granger couldn't keep her nose out of a book or a good mystery, let alone a mysterious book!

"BLAISE!" he growled in frustration.

1 hour later

"So let me get this straight, you're not marrying Granger, you're marrying mini-Greengrass" Blaise looked exceptionally confused.

"Her name is Astoria you git, and yes, that was the plan"

"was?" Blaise raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is." Draco said hastily "that's the plan" he let out a deep breath.

"Ok...so where does Granger come into this then? Blaise asked patiently. It was a long time since he had seen Draco in such a mess.

"Well, to be honest, it's entirely Potter's fault!" Draco glared.