A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for 3k+ views. It means a lot to me! Do you think the story is going too fast? Like, the pace of Hermione and Draco's relationship? Read the A/N at the end of the chapter to find out when the next chapter will be out. On with the chapter!

Three months later.....

September 2007

That day, Draco came home drunk for the third time.

Third time in the past three months. 

Hermione Granger was peacefully sleeping when she was woken by the sound of footsteps outside her door. Shaking her head, she closed her eyes in order to go back to sleep.

Barely another minute had passed when someone knocked on her door. "Who's there?" She asked, but received no answer.

Again, someone knocked on her door.

Sighing, she got up from the bed and walked towards the door. When she opened it, she saw a little girl standing there, clutching her favourite ferret soft toy to her chest and sniffling softly. 

"Athy?" Her eyes widened. "What happened?" 

She bent down to her level and placed her hand on her best friend's daughter's cheeks, wiping away the tears. "Tell me what happened, Athy." 

"B-bad d-dream. B-bad p-people." Athy whispered and wrapped her arms around Hermione's neck. "I-I for scared. Don't wanna be alone." 

Hermione smiled sadly at her. Athy was like a sponge, she would just head absorb whatever someone said around her, and would keep repeating it afterwards. 

Just last week Harry had said, "Oh shit," in front of the little Malfoy, and she kept repeating it for at least two days. 

Draco had looked thunderous when he had come home after visiting Theo, and saw his daughter playing with her toys while repeating, "Oh shit," again and again. 

He would have hexed Harry, if he wasn't stopped by Hermione at the end moment, saying that he was responsible for the four year old James asking his parents what 'Damn it!' meant after Draco had accidentally dropped his cup of coffee on his shoes, and said those words aloud in front of them. Look

After that, Hermione had forced both of them to apologise to each other, and they had to, not wanting to anger her, or Ginny for that matter. 

Not that it helped the matter in anyway, of course. The two children still kept repeating whatever they had heard, and Harry and Draco could only look at each other and shake their heads. 

Hermione picked up the little girl and went back inside her room. "Where's your dad, Athy? He would want to know that you got scared, wouldn't he?" 

She sat her down on the bed, and used her wand to close the door. "I bet he would hex those bad people in your dream, you know? After all, how dare someone scare his sweet little girl, huh?" 

Hermione internally frowned as she remembered the day those dreams of Athy had started. They were roaming around Diagon Alley when someone had grabbed Draco's arm and slammed him against the wall, shouting, "How dare you come here, Death Eater? How dare you start attacking us again?" 

As if that wasn't enough, that man had showed Hermione, who was carrying Athy that time, the photo of Voldemort which had been printed in the Daily Prophet that day, when a village had been attacked, and Rita had written that the attackers were the noseless idiot's supporters. That man shouted at Hermione, as according to him, instead of arresting Draco and throwing him in Azkaban, she was being best friends with him. 

Not that they knew anything about the attack, of course. They didn't have time that day to read the Daily Prophet, so it was suffice to say that they had been shocked when that man had slammed Draco against the wall. Sure, people still whispered and glared at him when he walked past them, but this kind of treatment? 

It hadn't happened in years. The last time it had happened was just a few months after the war, and two months before Draco was accepted into Auror traning. 

And since then, Draco had to work overtime at the Ministry. Hermione would have to do that as well, if she was an Auror of that Ministry, but considering she worked for the Australian Ministry, and had just come here for the programme, she wasn't required to work overtime. But that's not to say she didn't help them to come up with plans to catch the Death Eaters. She was still Draco's partner, of course, and she worked with him on the cases during the day, and when her work was over for the day, she would leave the Ministry and go to Narcissa's house, where she and her friend would simply talk or play with Athy.

Since the Aurors didn't know who was the leader of the group that was behind the attack, they decided that the people who solved this case would be the ones Kingsley trusted the most, and also the ones who had never done anything to risk the safety of the Wizarding World.

That also meant that a few Aurors didn't like the fact that not only Draco was a part of the group, but he was kind of a leader as well, alongside Harry. They worked on the case after the usual Ministry hours were over, and would often have to work while being hungry, since they didn't have time to eat food.

Although nobody said much during day time, it was clear that nobody in the group, except Harry and a few others, wanted to work with Draco. They had never liked him, but ever since the news of the attack had came out, they were convinced that Draco was one of the attackers, and so, while they still bad mouthed him, they had started to interrupt him while he was speaking about something in the meetings, and use every opportunity they got, to let Draco and everyone else know that they thought nothing of him but a filthy and cowardly death eater.

And it was becoming too much for Draco.

As a result, on most days, he came back home with a bad mood. But he tried to not take it out on anyone else.

And as for those dreams, the first time when it had happened, they had just thought that it was the result of a cartoon movie Athy had watched a few hours back. Well the 'carytooni' movie according to Draco. 

But when those dreams had continued, and on top of that, Athy would always bury her face in her dad's neck whenever they would go out or see other people approaching them, they understood that she was having dreams of either Voldemort, or people like the man who had treated Draco like that.

Well their confusion became clear when Athy suddenly started sobbing and refused to look at the paper when once again Voldemort's photo was printed. 

Hermione had never seen Draco that angry at Voldemort ever before. He didn't even stop to think before throwing that paper in the fire, cursing the noseless idiot as they watched it burn.

"As if ruining my life wasn't him, he had to ruin my daughter's too." Draco had glared at his dark mark while saying that. "And I can't thank Potter enough for defeating him."

Yeah well even though he was grateful to him, it didn't mean that Draco would start calling him by his first name now. Not that Harry was planning to do that anytime soon, of course.

Imagine them, former enemies, and now friends, even though Draco wouldn't admit that, calling each other by their first names.

Draco had shuddered when Hermione had suggested that once. And Harry had simply blinked at her, shaken his head and left their office, muttering how he could never imagine Draco calling him Harry. 

But that was simply absurd to Hermione, as Harry already called him Draco, but he was opposed to the suggestion of them always calling each other by their first names. 

According to the pair of them, it would just not feel the same if they started doing it. "I am already tolerating him for your sake, Granger. And calling him anything except Potter or my brilliant nicknames would be so uncomfortable." Draco had told her. 

Hermione was brought back from her thoughts when Athy smiled at her. But she didn't answer her question.

And Hermione found that to be weird. Whenever Athy had bad dreams, she would always go to Draco's room. Or if, by chance, Draco was sometimes late, he would always open his daughter's bedroom's door to kiss her forehead, and would see her crying in her sleep, he would carry her to see his room.

And Hermione knew that as Athy would always tell her how her dad fought off the monsters. And if not for her, Draco would tell her how Athy had a bad dream again, and how he couldn't wait until they would catch the attackers.

"Athy?"

"Door didn't open." She simply answered.

Hermione's brows furrowed. Draco's room's door didn't open? It was odd, really odd. Yes he had a few spells on his door, but they had never stopped Athy from entering his room before. They only informed him who was standing outside his bedroom.

She would have asked her about that, but at that point, Athy yawned and rubbed her eyes. Hermione smiled and tucked her in. "Good night, my dear Athy."

Once she was sure that the little witch was asleep, which was actually a miracle since Athy always liked to hear stories about Hogwarts even if she didn't understand some of the thing, before bed and would always refuse to sleep until someone told her those stories, Hermione got up from bed and left her room.

She walked towards Draco's room and knocked on the door. But he didn't answer.

She tried knocking again, but the result remained the same.

Finally, she opened the door and took a step inside. She sighed when she saw that his room was empty. 

"Draco....." Hermione shook her head and left the room.

He had told her that he would be late, and not to wait for him. Hermione had assumed that he had come back when she was asleep, but that wasn't the case now.

She was about to go back to her room when she heard a 'crack'. She quickly climbed down the stairs and saw a blonde wizard leaning against the fireplace. 

"Draco?" 

"Did anyone ever tell you that you are a beaver, Granger?" Draco's words were slurred, he had clearly been drinking. 

Hermione rolled her eyes and approached him. "Yeah a certain blonde ferret had done that many times."

"But you are not a usual beaver." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You are an adorable beaver. But shh! Don't tell anyone I said that." 

Hermione bit her lip to stop her from smiling. Trust a drunk Draco to speak like that. 

"Draco, you are drunk and probably tired as well." She wrapped an arm around his waist as he stumbled. "You really need to go to bed, Draco. It's literally past midnight. Besides, you have work tomorrow as well." 

"You are so bossy, Granger." Draco grumbled. "Wonder how Potter tolerated you as his best friend. Perhaps I should ask him for a tip or two." 

"Never thought I would hear you ask Harry for his help." Hermione smirked. "I should tell him, no wait, everyone else about this."

Ignoring her statement, Draco asked her, "Tell me one thing, Granger, were you ever in love with Potter?"

Hermione blinked at him. "Are you crazy?" She would hex him if he started talking about those fourth year Daily Prophet articles. "You know perfectly well that he is like a brother to me, nothing less, nothing more." 

"He is your best friend." 

"So?" 

"Weasel is kind of like your best friend too, though I never really understood why. I would never make him my friend, let alone my best friend." 

"Why are you saying this all, Draco?" 

"Why am I an exception?" 

Hermione stared at him as they climbed up the stairs. "I-I don't understand what you mean." 

"Don't know why people call you the Brightest Witch of Your Age." He muttered. "You are bloody oblivious, and an idiot. Those two useless idiots are your best friends, and you aren't in love with them. Then why am I an exception?" 

Hermione stiffened. No, there's no way he was saying what she thought he was. There's no way he was asking her that question. It's impossible. 

"You aren't in love with your best friends, then why am I different?" Draco asked, not noticing how she had tensed beside him. "I am your best friend too, ain't I, Granger? Then why are you in love with me?" 

"D-draco you don't know what you are talking about. You are drunk and tired and saying nonsense." 

"Oh come on, Granger." He chuckled. "Drunken words are sober thoughts. We both know that. Then why are you lying to me?" 

Hermione took a deep breath. There was no use in telling him the truth, he probably won't even remember all of this in the morning. 

But then again, if he wasn't going to remember, could she tell him that she loved him? 

Could she pretend, just for one second, that she was just telling him that she loved just like any other girl told her significant other? 

Before she could make a decision, Draco commented, "But do you know how absurd it is? You, the Golden girl, loving me, an ex death eater?" He let out a humourless laugh. "Sounds like joke of the century." 

"Draco, don't you dare start all that death eater crap again-" 

"Ah there she is, my dear best friend defending me like always." He grinned at her. "Can I tell you a secret?" 

Hermione nodded, her brows furrowed. 

"I used to have a crush on you when we were younger." He whispered to her, as if he was scared that anyone else would hear. "But don't tell anyone, specially Blaise, you know how he will tease me." 

Hermione sighed, thinking about how she herself had been in love with him during their eighth year. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.

"You know, there is a thing I have done, which I am both thankful for, and also regret." Draco told her, looking away from her.

He continued, "But I can't tell you about it."

"And why is that?" They had reached his bedroom by that point, and Hermione opened the door using her free hand.

"Because you will hate me then, Granger." Draco frowned. "And I can't bear that. Rather you not knowing what happened, then you hating me. Though I think I still haven't forgiven myself for doing that, and maybe if you knew, you would never forgive me as well."

Hermione decided against paying attention to that. He was drunk, and had no idea what he was talking about.

She made him sit on the bed, and gently laid him down, removing his shoes and jacket. "I will put a sobering potion here before leaving, it will help you in the morning."

Before she could leave, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, her face inches away from his.

"Have I ever told you how perfect you are, Granger?" He whispered. "The person who will get to be with you, will be so damn lucky. But I hope that when that happens, you won't forget about me. I am your best friend, remember?"

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, begging her mind to stop thinking about her love for him. She begged her mind to stop thinking how she could never be with him.

"Good night, Draco." She whispered and kissed his forehead.

Hermione walked away from him, without waiting for his response. When she reached the door, she took one last look at him, and thought that he whispered something.

But thinking that it was just her imagination, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

But if she would have paid more attention, she would have been shocked to hear what he whispered.

She would have probably given him the sobering potion then and there, and ask him why he said that.

For Draco Malfoy had just whispered, "Mia," when his hand touched his forehead where she had kissed him before he fell asleep. 

---------

"So, did anything interesting happen lately?" Astoria asked as she Hermione, who was sitting on the floor in front of her portrait, stare at the adjacent wall, lost in her thoughts.

As she wasn't paying attention to anything else except her thoughts, Hermione jumped when she heard Astoria's question. "Not anything interesting but...." She hesitated. "Draco got drunk again yesterday."

Astoria sighed. "Hermione...... This all is becoming too much for Draco, he won't be able to handle it alone." She added, "And you can't leave him right now, Hermione." 

"Astoria-"

"Hermione please." She requested. "I know this is your dream job, but you do know that once you took this job, you will have to permanently stay in Australia? You won't be able to come back here, Hermione." 

"I know." Hermione admitted. 

"And Draco will not be able to accept that. You don't know how much he suffered when you first left, Hermione. And you are planning to do it again. And on top of that, Draco is suffering with the case, and he is drinking to make him forget about everything else. You told me that he hasn't even spend much time with Athy these past few weeks."

Astoria continued, "I know you have your own life, Hermione, and I can't stop you, but please just listen to me this once." She looked away from her. "Only you can help him, Hermione. I wish I could be there, but I can't. And that doesn't mean I will do nothing when I see how he is suffering right now. You were the only one Draco opened up to about whatever happened during the war, and visiting Hogwarts brought back those painful memories. Please Hermione, please just stay until he gets better." 

Hermione nodded after a few seconds. "O-okay, I will help him."

"Thank you, Hermione, thank you so much." Astoria smiled at her. "And if you hadn't listened to me, I would have told this all to Narcissa the next time she would have come here, and she wouldn't have liked to know that you are planning to go back to Australia." 

"You Slytherins are so cunning." Hermione laughed. "And also, Ginny would have never forgiven me if I did that. I would have ruined her plans, or whatever she meant when she said that the last time I met her." 

A/N: That's it for this chapter. It was 2900+ words. Hope you guys liked it. It was supposed to be longer, and better, but I have got my exam tomorrow, so I didn't have much time to write it. I promise the next one, it's part 2, will be better. Random question: What do you like about Narcissa Malfoy? Answer in the comments below. Vote, comment and please share my story. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you! 

Next chapter on 17/1/21(Sunday). 

Until next time.