Draco woke three days after his birthday to over thirty get well cards, flowers and presents. He stayed for four days after that to assure the Healers that he was not about to drop dead.

He felt like elf shit the entire time he was conscious, hence why he spent most of his waking hours trying to bribe some poor sap into giving him more potions. The feeling wore off as the days passed, and soon enough he was allowed to leave.

On the way out his parents caught up to him, Blaise and Pansy, and insisted they come to the manor. Draco had only agreed because he knew his mother would pamper him with all his favourite foods, which was something he had never quite outgrown.

After Draco had wiped off the many lipstick stains left on his cheek by his mother, he pulled his father aside and told him as much of what had happened twelve days ago that he could remember. It was not something he wanted to relive and through some parts he struggled to go on with, but he kept going because he thought it was something his father should know, that he should know who was responsible and why his mind was tampered with.

It was when he got to the part of Hermione getting stabbed did he finally decide that that was enough, and suddenly the overwhelming urge to see her made the waiting on his favourite meals less worth it.

Though he did not eat much, it was still late by the time Blaise had taken him back home. He Apparated them so that they were in the hall, but because all the halls looked alike it was a few floors down too many.

He explained on the way up flights of stairs that he didn’t want to arrive inside the flat in the off chance the sound would frightened Granger. Scares weren’t ideal for the stiches above her hip, should she pull them. It made her sound uncharacteristically weak, and an unsettling feeling kindled inside him.

Blaise gave Granger a smile when she opened the door to them, more so cautious than usual. She looked terrible. Her eyes seemed duller, dark circles beneath them; her skin pale, freckles near invisible; her mouth was turned down at the sides; her hair was flat.

But when she noticed Blaise was not alone, she changed. She stood taller, and her expression lifted, like a balloon that was getting blown up. Her mouth opened and closed for a moment. And then she moved and hugged him. A gentle sort of hug, the type he imagined mothers without house elves gave their children when they tripped and scrapped their knees.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, and when they pulled apart again to go into the flat, Draco looked back and found Blaise was already gone.

“Have you had dinner?” she questioned as he closed the door behind him. “Showered? When are you supposed to take your potions, or did they give you healing creams?”

“Granger,” he began firmly, “I’m a big boy. I can look after myself.”

She stopped talking, and an awkward silence followed. Neither one knew what to say, if they should talk about everything that had happened or leave it. There was much to say; yet it was unclear how to say it.

“I did something for you,” she said suddenly, moving into the kitchen. Draco followed slowly, watching as she rummaged through the fridge.

“I told you, I can feed myself,” he told her, less annoyed than the first time because the way she was bent into the refrigerator gave him a spectacular view of her arse. But then she turned back again too quickly, and he hastily started explaining why his gaze was down there when, as his eyes lifted, he saw what it was she had been bending over to retrieve in the first place. 

A circular cake with sliced pieces of apple planted neatly all around the top, cinnamon sprinkled all over with several candles. It wasn’t the neatest cake he had ever seen, some slices of apple were thicker than others; it looked a little too brown on one side and he was sure it would crumble everywhere once it was cut. But strangely enough, it was these imperfect details that made the cake perfect.

“You did this?” he asked after a moment to regain his composure.

“No, actually I got Crookshanks to make it,” she said, and when he did not laugh she poked him playfully. “I was kidding, Draco.”

He watched her put the cake on the counter. “Yeah…” he said slowly, the word drawled out. “I know, I just…” But he did not know how to explain what he was feeling, the warmness he was experiencing that she would do something like this for him foreign.

“Considering you pretty much missed your birthday I thought I’d being it to you,” she explained, oblivious to his bewilderment as she lit the candles with the tip of her wand, illuminating her rosy cheeks and wild hair.  “I’m no baker though, and for a lot of things I had to get my wand to help me out, which, I might add, didn’t do much good with my arm still being dodgy, but it turned out edible, I think.”

Draco blew out the candles after Granger made him listen to her sing Happy Birthday horribly off key, and together with only the glow of the kitchen light on, they ate at the dinning table in peaceful silence. She may have said that she was not an experienced cooker, but there was no cake finer than one filled with luscious apples. She had to quickly put it away in the fridge before he demanded to consume the whole thing and then sat down beside him again, and for long seconds there was nothing.

“There’s so much to talk about,” she said.

“I know.”

After a pause: “Why do you think he did it? Theodore?”

He hadn’t thought much about Theo, hadn’t had the time to, but he found he had an answer, and he spoke with his fingers tracing the lines on the wooden table. “It doesn’t matter what’s transpired between us as adults, what we’ve said, done. It doesn’t change that when we were kids, we were friends, and I think he remembers that.”

“What’s going to happen to him after the trial?”

“Azkaban, most likely.”

Granger worried her bottom lip. “I don’t think he should be there. He helped us.”

Any other time, he might have commented on the Gryffindor nature to her words. But it had been a long day and he was tired and so he gave a light shrug. “Doesn’t change that he helped them too. But I’m going to attend his trial. See what I can do for him, maybe instead of a life sentence I can get him a few years. With the news of my engagement to Ophelia it shouldn’t be hard,” he said bitterly. Though it was good news he could get Theodore off, he was still marrying someone he did not want to, and with the threat of Death Eaters gone, it was becoming harder and harder not to think about it. Or maybe it was all the potions he was on that were making him angrier.

Granger stood from her seat suddenly and walked up the stairs into her room, Draco’s eyes following her until she came back down with something wrapped that was no doubt a present.

“Ta-dah!” she said, holding it out for him to take. Obviously she was no expert wrapper. The paper was crinkled badly and in some places torn, not to mention the pink reindeer, meaning that this was leftover from Christmas.

Draco raised an eyebrow, feeling both amused and uncomfortable that she would get him a gift. At first, he started tearing away at it delicately, but at the ‘hurry up and get it over with’ look Granger shot him, he threw caution to the wind and ripped the paper apart. 

The frame inside was silver with engraved swirls. The picture in the centre was one he hadn’t even known had been taken. It was Boxing Day. Granger had just come back from Weasley’s with Blaise and Pansy already in the flat, waiting for her. At some point during the day Pansy had decided they needed a ‘family photo’ together. It hadn’t been a success, each time someone was not looking at the camera or had their eyes closed or looked uglier than a troll. Draco had convinced Pansy to give up and told her which button to press to turn it off. He remembered finding it on long after they had left, and he realised now that the button she must have thought was the off was instead the one to take a photo. It wasn’t hard to confuse poor Pansy.

Unexpectedly, this particular photograph wasn’t… bad. The right hand corner had Pansy coming back from taking the unknown picture to join everyone else on the floor, where wrapping paper was scattered everywhere. As she sat down, she started to fix her hair, oblivious to the conversation around her. Blaise sat beside her, his hands open in wild gestures as he grinned widely and told a story that surely must have been funny, because Hermione, who was sitting opposite him, was laughing so hard she almost fell backwards. Draco was between the two, a small but amused smile on his lips that had nothing to do with the joke as he watched Granger half topple over.

The picture depicted each of their personalities so well that for a moment Draco had trouble speaking. And when he did, it was with the first thing that came to mind.

“Stupid Pansy,” he said, trying to sound dismissive. “I told her which button it was.”   

“Draco?”

“It can’t be that hard to tell the difference between the huge silver one and the small sliver one, can it?”

“Draco?” Her voice was soft.

“Yeah?”

“Do you like it?” she implored gently, eyes anxious as if afraid he would deny her.

He hesitated, and then said awkwardly, “Yes. I do. Thanks.”

She smiled brightly. “Good, because if you didn’t, I wasn’t going to get you another one – where are you going?” she added when Draco stood. 

He gestured for her to follow as he went straight for his room. “There’s something I’ve got to show you. Keeping in mind I had no idea if I’d ever give this to you, or more accurately, if I’d ever have the nerve to.” 

“You got me something?” The surprise in her tone was to be expected.

“Around the time that picture was taken.”

“Then… why are you only giving it to me now?”

“I was supposed to give it you to at Christmas,” he explained, now going through his draws. “But I, as I said, I lost what little nerve I had.”

He took out a rectangular package, wrapped messily in brown paper. No card, because hey, presents were one thing, cards with cutesy messages and dogs in Santa hats were another.

Granger’s face was lit with anticipation as she held the present, running her hands over the top of it, feeling out the indents and shape. He knew she must know what it was; there was only a few things that could get her face to look like that.

Eagerly, she ripped off the paper with two easy swipes to reveal the book. It was the one she had practically thrown herself against the store window, way back before the first Sixth Month Ball when they were in Diagon Alley, moments before Neville and Luna had found them. There being so few of the original copies of Hogwarts: A History, it hadn’t been cheap, and when she looked back at him, a kind of happiness in her eyes that only books could do, he knew she was thinking the same thing. The most expensive gift she had ever received was from the person she hated the most.

“Draco… this must’ve cost galleons, you shouldn’t have – I mean, my frame was nowhere near this – of course, if I had your kind of money, I would, but I don’t and this – this is too much –”

“Stop your prattling,” he said with an eye roll, already passing her out the door. “I’m not running out of money anytime soon, might as well do some good with it.”    

She stopped him before he could leave, spread her arms and moved closer, but Draco backed away.

“This moment is already too weird for me,” he told her, keeping his tone light to ease off the harshness of his words. “I’d much rather we do no hugs otherwise we’ll only be a step away from being one of those couples who wear matching sweaters.”

“We’re not a couple,” she said, dropping her arms awkwardly.

“Right,” Draco said quickly, face heating. “I didn’t mean… well, you know.”

She nodded, looking down. “Yeah, I know.”

“Yeah.” He also nodded, rocking backwards on his heels. “Well, I, um, I’ve got to go… over there.”

And he quickly headed down the stairs, hiding himself in the lounge room and turning the television volume up high, as if that alone could drown away his embarrassment.

***

By another one of their unspoken agreements, they did not speak about Theodore, that night in general, his engagement, or the reality that this was their final month together. The days went by as though nothing had changed, save for a few minor details like Granger needing help to lift things and occasionally wincing and holding her waist, and Draco, who had to sometimes lay down to rest for a couple of minutes at a time to regain some of his strength. But gradually the remnants of what they had been put through wore off, and they no longer needed pain potions or bandages and could move and work about as they had always done. And for a few weeks Draco had begun to sink back into the old routine, had almost started to feel happy again, until Mr. Jennings reminded him that he would have to start packing up his belongings and hand over his badge.

Packing up took the course of two working days, mostly because he was in no rush. Granger had came in several times, trying to help, and each time he would calmly tell her that it was fine. That he was old enough to pack up his own things because it would be nothing compared to when he would have to pack up his belongings at home. But she had grown still more persistent, which irritated him, and Draco said one thing to her and then she another and somehow the whole thing had blown up into an argument that resulted in her throwing a stapler at his head. Minutes later, after Hermione had already stormed out, Alexis came in. He saw that she was going to ask, but before he even let her speak he had thrust one of his boxes into her manicured hands and told her to take it downstairs. Draco did not quite understand why, but at that point in time it was Alexis whom he wanted to be there, and not Hermione. He suspected it was because seeing that look of sadness on her face only reminded him that he was sad too. It was easier having someone around who did not care as much, such as Alexis, than to have someone who cared so much it was unbearable, like Granger.   

Nonetheless, that was the first inevitable sign that things were ending.

The second came to him by owl during dinner. He recognised the over exaggerated loopy handwriting before he’d even saw who it was signed by. The letter consisted as always of friendly small talk and congratulations and condolences about what had happened, and other things he merely skimmed over. The real purpose was Natalie wanted him to spend four nights over at their manor to get acquainted with the place. He and Ophelia were not by any means living with her forever, but apparently she and his mother had thought it would be a good opportunity to see how he and Ophelia got along when they weren’t at grand balls or weddings. While the letter did say he could refuse if he wished, Draco knew that in actual fact it was out of the question. Natalie was only giving him the pretence of a choice.

He wrote his acceptance and then went to find Granger. It was only when he was seconds away from opening his mouth did he realise telling her was another matter of its own. Draco was well aware that it was not his fault for having to stay with the Hopkins’ and that it was a perfectly reasonable thing to inform Granger of, expect it didn’t feel right telling her he would be spending the next four nights over at some other woman’s house. But it had to be done.

She was understanding and polite about it, as he knew she would be, but she could not fool him and completely manage to hide the slight fall of her face. Nonetheless, he departed with an awkward goodbye, and began the first day of hell.

Their manor was six times the size of their ballroom and about double the size of his parents, looking precisely as he imaged it would. In fact, every room looked like something from a model home, rather than one a family actually lived in. There were no personal items lying about anywhere, no stray rubbish or a pinch of dust in sight. He was taken on a tour of the place that lasted around three hours, and even then he hadn’t seen all the rooms and had already forgotten where anything was.  

Night arrived at an agonisingly slow pace, and with nighttime meant bedtime, and with bedtime came the inevitable conversation about where he was to sleep.

As it turned out, Natalie was in charge of everything but whom her daughter slept with, which Draco found was a nice change. She told him to talk to Ophelia about it, and so began the long journey of trying to find her in a house the size of five hundred and fifty-eight museums.

He spotted her an hour later, wondering up stairs to some other floor he hadn’t known existed, and was so thrilled that the search was finally over that in brief panic, should he lose her again, Draco ran over to her before she could vanish forever on the upper floor. Panting and trying to catch his breath, he asked her where the hell he supposed to sleep. When she said to go and find her mother to ask, he felt sure he would kill himself then and there.

“I’ve already asked your mother,” he told her, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Oh,” she said, and then her cheeks tinted pink. “Well, I suppose, seeing as how we’re… about to be married, we should get used to, uh, sleeping together?” The way she said it made it should like a question. “I’ll show you where the bedrooms are,” she said, and headed back down the marble staircase.

Draco trotted after her, all his concentration focused on not losing her or becoming lost. After a couple minutes she halted in a hallway full of doors.

“Can you remember what rooms are what?”

Draco did not hesitate to shake his head, and she smiled gently.

“Okay, so the end room,” she began, pointing, “is where mother and father sleep. The next one up is for my cousins and –”

“Hold on,” Draco interrupted, his brain working slowly through his exhaustion. “You have a dad?”

“Everyone has a dad.”

“Yeah, but, well. You know what I mean. I haven’t seen him anywhere. Not even a glimpse.”  

“That, Draco, is because he’s always working alongside the Minister of Magic. I told you this one other time –”

“No, you didn’t –”

“Yes, I did,” she corrected. “And you would know if you listened for a change.”

He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. She was right. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

As Ophelia looked at him closely, he thought something changed in her eyes. Like she was sighing inwardly. “I’ll spare you the long speeches of whose room is whose and let you know that these four here,” she gestured over to the closest doors, “are the guestrooms. The door two up from the right is mine.”

“Actually,” he called after her, having already started to her room, “I think I’ll take a guestroom. Is that all right?” 

She did not seem surprised by this, only nodded without turning.

Once the five days were up, he gladly returned home. Granger came around from the kitchen a little too fast, cheeks puffed from the breakfast stuffed in her mouth. She tried to greet him only to end up half-choking to death.

“How – how was it?” she asked when her fit had ended, holding her chest as her eyes watered.

He tossed off his shoes and shirt because he was damn right hot in these ridiculous formal clothes and also because Granger’s schoolgirl reaction to him half-clothed never failed to amuse him.

“Boring as hell,” he replied, not stopping as he crossed the room.

“Did, u-um, you, uh – how was Ophelia?”

Her stuttering had him glancing over his bare shoulder at her. “Normal…”

She followed him to the foot of the stairs. “And the, um, bedrooms? Where they… nice?”

Draco was on the second floor before he realised what she was on about. Subtlety wasn’t her strong suit, and he smirked, ensuring that she saw. “Granger. You can relax.”

“I don’t know what you’re –”

“Nothing happened,” he assured, continuing on to the bathroom.   

“I don’t care what happened between you and Ophelia. It’s none of my business,” she said after him. But before he closed the door after himself, he heard: “Draco?”

“Mmm?”

“Thanks.”

He smiled. 

________________________________________

Next chapter; the departure. Sorry this chapter and the last one weren't that exciting, I just needed them out of the way. From here on tho, it gets pretty tense as we approach the end. I'm guessing four chapters? I don't know exactly, but we're working to the finish.  

Oh, and a very Merry Christmas to you all! :)