17. Soon Enough

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Chapter 17 – Soon Enough

Five days later, Hermione was sitting outside on the porch, writing in her journal. She heard a noise above her, and looked up to see a colorful bird land in a second-story window. She watched as Malfoy opened the window to allow the bird entry. The Wizarding world primarily used owls for their posts, but on occasion other birds were used. Hermione remembered Harry telling her that Sirius had once used an exotic bird.

Hermione had never seen such a bird come to the Edge before, and she was instantly both curious and suspicious. She hesitated a moment before running inside to confront Malfoy about it. She left her book by the chair and went inside.

"Blasted bird," he said, sucking his finger where the bird had bitten him. He untied the letter from its leg and opened it hastily.

Dear Draco,

Thank you for the update. We were starting to worry when a week passed with no word from you. We are glad to hear that Harry has apparently given his blessing to you concerning our daughter, however violently it was mentioned. Please do not take it lightly; you of all people should know how much Harry means to her.

We are perfectly set in the way of provisions, but Steve requests a book called, "Electrical Wiring for Dummies." It can be found in most large Muggle bookstores. Once he's finished reading it, I'm sure he'll be asking for electrical equipment. Don't worry, we'll send you a detailed list of what we need.

We cannot express in words often enough just how grateful we are to know that Hermione is being taken care of. We can sleep well at night knowing she is in good hands.

We look forward to seeing you at Christmas.

Us

Draco wrote a quick reply, promising to send the book as soon as possible, then tied the letter to the bird's leg and sent it off. He left his room to get lunch downstairs and found Hermione standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed, looking at him questioningly.

"What now?" he asked.

"What was that bird?"

"Toucan, I think," he said, and started to walk toward the stairs.

"Where did it come from?" she asked, not moving or missing a beat.

"What's with the questions? I don't have to answer to you."

"Were you writing those people? In New Zealand?"

"Yes, not that it is any business of yours."

"They were Muggles."

Bugger. "So?" he said, as if he wrote to Muggles everyday and everyone knew it.

"So, why are you using a bird to write Muggles? And anyway, I thought you hated Muggles."

"As I've said before, there's a lot you don't know about me, and it causes you to wrongly assume. For example, I would like to go and eat lunch now. In addition, you are in my way." He gently moved her aside, careful not to touch her skin, and started down the stairs.

"You're not getting off that easy," she said, following him.

He rolled his eyes, but continued toward the kitchen, not speaking to her. He went through the kitchen, fixing himself a sandwich, while across from him Hermione stood watching. Draco sat down and started eating, and she sat down at the table facing him.

When he was halfway through his sandwich, Hermione said, frustrated, "Okay, you win. Happy? Now, please tell me."

He finished chewing. "No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Why?"

"I'm curious."

"Tough."

"Please."

"No. And no amount of pleases will get me to answer you. May I finish my lunch in peace?" He enjoyed the times they bickered, because now they weren't full of hate. They were mostly in good fun, at least for him. His words and retorts did not have the bite or the hard edge they once did when he talked with her. He usually left the interaction feeling better than he had before.

"No," she said, crossing her arms.

He closed his eyes, secretly relishing making her so annoyed. "Tell you what. You come visit me on my island in 20 years, bring that chocolate cake, two cherries this time for knocking off ten years, and then I'll tell you." He took another bite and proceeded to ignore her.

After a few minutes, she groaned because she knew she wouldn't get an answer from him. "Urgh!" she yelled. "You make me want to scream!"

He looked at her innocently. "Me? Why, Granger?" then he took another bite.

Hermione stood from the table and huffed back outside.

ooo

Since his conversation with Harry on Sunday, Draco spent the week watching Hermione with respect to her work habits. He noticed that she spent a ridiculous amount of time at work, then came home and usually worked until midnight. The next day, she did the same exact thing. He and Harry weren't working nearly as hard as she was, even though their work was much more physically exhausting.

That night at dinner, Draco broached the topic of Hermione quitting.

"Granger. How is work?"

She looked at him, curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how are you doing with your workload?"

"Oh. Uhm, fine, I guess."

"How has your productivity for your task here been?"

"It's slowed a bit," she admitted, putting down her fork. "Why?

"I think you should quit at the Ministry."

She frowned. "Really?"

"Yes. I think you should focus on the Death Eater task. The time for the conclusion of our activities draws ever nearer."

"But it's that job that helps me get the information I need to work on my task. How will I stay up to date with what's going on?"

Harry spoke. "You've finished going through the Death Eater files, so there shouldn't be much you need from the office. The rest is deciding about which group they go in."

"True, I suppose it's okay. It's been nice having those files so readily available, though. Things change, and we get more information all the time."

"How are the groupings coming?" Draco asked.

"Slowly, especially since my Auror work has been so demanding. I've barely started with it. I have the three main groups, and I started with the easy ones. Your family, actually."

Draco quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly. "Oh, do tell, Granger."

She smiled. "Well, let's see. Your father will be in the turn-in group, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan will fight, your mother will be taken for questioning but released, and Ted and Andromeda Tonks are not to be involved."

Hermione didn't miss the look that crossed Draco's features when she described the outcome for Narcissa; he looked grateful, and there was a softness she'd never seen before. It made her insides squirm, and though she wanted to, she couldn't tear her eyes from his.

"What about me?" Draco said, still looking at her with that softness.

"You're still in the unknown group," she said, quietly.

The softness vanished, breaking the spell, and he smirked at her. "I'm a runner, of course."

Hermione quickly looked away from him and said, "Even with a full pardon?"

"A tropical paradise awaits me."

"But with a full pardon, you'd be free to walk around, do whatever you want, go wherever you want."

"And every single person I meet will run from me; cross to the other side of the street; hide their children from me. Smile politely, when in fact they're trembling in fear, a fear I can smell. No, that's no life for me."

"If you did more, if you helped people, did for others, showed them that you're – "

"What?" he sneered. "Different? Changed? Do you think I'm changed?" he asked, his voice almost a shout.

"I – I don't know. Sometimes I do," she said timidly.

He blinked, astonished. "Really?" She nodded. "Fool," he said, bitingly, peering into her eyes, daring her to challenge him.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears and she ran from the table.

"Why did you say that, Malfoy?" asked Harry, angrily. "You are changed."

"I may be different, but I'm hardly what you'd consider completely reformed, don't you agree?" Draco asked. "And I don't want her thinking any differently."

"Why not? What harm would it do? Are you afraid she'll get under your skin? Afraid she might mean something to you?"

Draco scowled. "Not this again, Potter."

"Yes, this again, Malfoy."

"No, Potter," he said, quietly. Maybe it was because he was tired, but he didn't have the energy to deny Harry's accusations. "I'm quite aware of your opinion on the matter, and don't need to hear it again. I don't know what will happen in our work, or how it will end, and I don't want her to become attached and then something happen."

"Or for you to become attached."

Again, Draco merely glared at him.

"Like I said before, you're just scared."

"No. I'm looking after her, like I promised."

"And scared."

Draco was tired of this conversation, and Harry was right, after all. "Maybe a little."

ooo

Hermione quit her job on Monday as suggested, though she didn't inform Harry or Malfoy. From the Ministry, she went straight to Flourish and Blotts, applied there, and was hired on the spot. She would start on the coming Thursday, which meant she had a few days off. After the conversation in which Malfoy had called her a fool, Hermione avoided him. She berated herself for letting it get to her; she knew he was different, and she shouldn't have let what he said bother her.

Nonetheless, he had been out of line; he would have to make it right.

After leaving Flourish and Blotts, Hermione went to see Ron and Ginny at the Burrow and stayed with them for a couple of days. The time she spent with her friends was precious time, and Ron made her laugh. A lot. Action in the war was at a low point, and many people were taking advantage of the relative peace to spend time doing normal activities such as shopping and Quidditch.

To Hermione's surprise, Ron had taken up with a girl. Quidditch and shopping were one thing, but beginning a romance in the middle of a war seemed ludicrous to her.

"Ron, there's a war. You're in it! Your entire family is involved. At any second, you could find yourself surrounded by Death Eaters, wands trained on you, with no hope. Why do you want to have a relationship?"

"Hermione, we shouldn't stop living just because there's a war," said Ron, as he kneaded dough in a big bowl for his mother. Hermione was mixing dry ingredients in another, Ginny, the liquid ingredients. "If we do, then they've already won! The Dark side wants to instill fear in us. If they do, then we're half-defeated already. If we keep living, keep loving, keep fighting with everything we've got, we won't enter battle half-dead. It's love that keeps us going, it's love we're fighting for. Love is what they're trying to destroy, to replace with fear and hate. Don't let them, Hermione. If love comes around, take it and hold on. It just might save you in the end."

She chuckled. "Since when did you get so smart?"

He smiled. "You told me that two years ago, remember? At least, the general idea. I probably mixed it up a bit."

Hermione tried to remember what it felt like to believe what Ron had said, but that was before her parents had been killed. Since then, things hadn't been the same for her. Thinking of her parents made her think of Draco, which made her both a little happy, and a little sad. "I don't remember much from then, Ron. Sounds idealistic to me."

"Well, it's true. Every day when I wake up, I feel like there's something worth getting up for, and that's seeing her one more day. I could fight off ten Death Eaters if it meant another hour with her."

"Luna."

"Yes."

Hermione thought about how skilled at fighting Draco was and she wasn't sure anyone could fight off ten Death Eaters alone, assuming they were similar to him. But maybe, just maybe, if a person had motivation enough, they could. Ginny left the room to find Molly, smiling slightly and humming.

"You know, Hermione," said Ron, under his breath. "I think there's something going on with Ginny."

"What do you mean?" Hermione whispered.

"Every morning when I see her, she's got the same look in her eye that I feel. Like there's someone she's getting up for. Has she said anything to you?"

"No, not at all."

He frowned. "Huh. Well, I still think there's something."

"Have you asked her about it?"

"Yeah!" he said, a little too enthusiastically, because he sent a wad of dough flying through the kitchen. Hermione laughed.

"And?" she asked, now finished with her task.

"She just shrugged and said she had no idea what I was talking about."

"Maybe she does have a little secret, and she doesn't want to share. I think that's perfectly fine. Let her have her secret."

"Do you have any secret loves, Hermione?" Ron asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Me? Very funny, Ronald."

"I'm serious. Sometimes you look that way too, only not all the time. Like this morning, I saw it when you first came down to breakfast. And the other day, when you were reading by the fire."

Hermione didn't like to think that there was enough going on in her life to warrant bearing such a look. Draco was – Draco. There would always be an impassable gulf between them, even if she didn't want it there. Right now, she certainly wanted that gulf. She needed that gulf. She was working on the business of forgiving him, and had enough to worry about without adding anything else.

ooo

Wednesday night she returned to The Edge to stay the night and prepare for work. She had hoped to come in unnoticed, but Harry was in the drawing room, looking over some papers. He looked up when she entered.

"Hey, you. Where have you been? Mal – we've been worried."

"I've been at the Burrow. I quit the Ministry on Monday, as instructed, and took up at Flourish and Blotts. I start tomorrow."

"That's great, Hermione! I'm glad you'll finally be somewhere you really want to be."

She sat down on the floor in front of him. "Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"What's the first thing you think about when you wake up?"

"Ginny."

She smiled.

"Why?" he asked.

"Something Ron said, that he said I said. About love and fighting for it."

Harry considered her for a moment. "I think I remember that. It was before your parents…"

"Yeah, it was," she said, smiling sadly. "I probably believed it then."

"You don't anymore?"

Without thinking about it, she looked toward the stairs. "I don't know. I agree that we should fight, and that love is something worth fighting for. Ron also said that I should grab hold of love if it comes along. What are you two cooking up? He sounded like you did a few weeks ago, telling me to be open to things."

"Ron is a very smart man."

Hermione laughed. "Which is a little surprising. He was always smart enough, but he never seemed very introspective. I think his injury changed him. He's different now. He's still Ron, but he seems older than he is. As though somewhere along the way he passed us by."

"We're in different worlds right now. He's waiting on the fringe, still able to live a little. You and I are in the thick. Sort of. We will be; or, I will be, at least. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does."

"Our perspectives are different. It's understandable that he would seem different."

"I know, I guess it just hit me today that he's really not here, and he's not going to be."

They sat in silence for a few minutes; then Harry said, "Hermione, what's the first thing you think about when you wake up?"

She thought hard. "Honestly?" she laughed. "I think how nice it is to be warm. No matter what, I wake up warm, all snuggled under – " She stopped talking, aghast at what she had almost said – his cloak. Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"Snuggled under what?" he asked, innocently.

"N-Nothing," she said. "I'm going to bed."

Harry smiled. She'd figure it out soon enough.

ooo

A/N: Well? What did you think? I'm sure not many people were surprised, but I didn't expect it to be a big huge shock. I can't wait to hear what you think! Theories... speculation... I want to hear it all:)

Thank you for reading! New chapter SOON!