Secrets

Present Day

It was the hottest day in seven months, and she was glad to be free. Free of her house, free of Lavender´s nagging, but most of all - free of her troubles. Not that her troubles ever went away, but it was looking like a promising start to the day. If she could just keep her mind off of it long enough . . .

Hermione walked down Diagon Alley as if she had seen light for the first time in years. Her arms swung happily by her sides and she looked around at her surroundings with such glee that she was sure that at any moment the strange looks would start barrelling at her. But for once, she couldn´t seem to bring herself to care. Diagon Alley was full with people, all of them out to enjoy a good day´s shopping in the nice weather. Hermione liked nothing more than the feel of the oncoming summer, and the sporadic sunny days made her smile at just the thought.

If Lavender could see me now . . . Hermione thought back to her friend, who had practically had to push Hermione out of the house that morning. Now, Hermione couldn´t even remember why she´d bothered to protest. She was trouble free, and that was all that mattered.

Hmmm . . . where to go?

Hermione shrugged back the right arm of her cloak, checking the time. She still had ten minutes before she was due to meet Ron, and she needed (or rather, wanted, seeing as Ron often moaned about the size of her bookcase) a new book. She veered quickly to the right, strolling into Flourish & Blotts and automatically over to The Dark Arts section.

No wonder Ron blames this for my nightmares, Hermione mused, picking up a large, blue, leather bound book with a twisted demon face on the cover. She shuddered, placing the book back carefully and deciding to head for nicer areas that day.

A couple of minutes later, Hermione strolled out of the shop exactly the same way she´d strolled in, but this time with a nice new book tucked under her arm.

And now, to meet Ron . . .

Hermione turned towards The Leaky Cauldron, the smile still firmly plastered on her face. In the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley, someone coming the opposite way slammed right into her, making her jump and the book fall to the cobblestones with a thump.

The offending person quickly muttered an apology, stooping down to scoop up the book. He was dressed in a long black cloak which skimmed the ground, the hood pulled up over his head - strange dress for the nice weather. He turned around, straightening up and offering the book back.

Hermione´s smile fell. She was sure she heard a gasp, but she wasn´t sure if it came from her. Her heart sank and everything flew back. All the problems she´d been harbouring came flooding back at her as her heart rose in her chest, trying to pound its way out. Draco Malfoy stared back at her, his face expressionless. His outstretched hand wavered slightly, but he was a blank canvas.

Hermione´s breath caught in her throat. Her mind was echoing the same thing over and over again; No, no, no. She struggled to find her voice, "D-Draco?"

"Surprised to see me, Hermione?" he said, smiling slightly.

Hermione almost smiled back, but her face muscles seemed to be stuck on `shocked´. She should´ve known he´d try and make a joke out of the situation. That was him all over.

She swallowed. Try again. "What are you doing here?"

Draco put his hands up, tugging the hood securely over his head and hiding some of the distinctive silver-blonde hair that was showing.

"Just a bit of light shopping," he replied.

"Have - have you seen . . ." she trailed off. No, of course he hadn´t seen Ron. There were no bruises on his face.

Draco knew. "Weasley?" he shook his head, "No. I haven´t seen him. Is he here?"

Hermione was aware she was nodding. She took a deep breath, trying to control herself. She knew from experience that it wasn´t good when your body moved on its own accord. "I´m going to meet him."

"Don´t let me stop you," he said pleasantly, stepping to the side.

Hermione ignored him, slightly annoyed that he was acting as if their bumping into each other was a regular occurrence.

"What are you doing here?" she looked directly at him, trying to lock his eyes, but his gaze seemed to fall everywhere but on her.

"I´ve moved back," he replied, concentrating on something behind her.

"Really? Where? When?" Hermione was shocked, but tried not to show it. That seemed easier said than done.

"Two weeks ago, about.Not far from here."

"Oh. I see. You should´ve Owled, or something."

Draco cocked his head, an eyebrow raised and looking straight at her for the first time. "Because you´d really want to see me?"

"I´d want to know if you were here," she replied.

"Well," he said, looking away. "Now you know."

There was silence. Draco glanced around, looking like he was interested in his surroundings. Hermione stared at him, thinking back to the last time she´d seen him. She shook her head, not wanting to think about it. That was what today was for, wasn´t it? To get away.

"I . . . I have to get going," she stammered.

His eyes swivelled back round. "I guess I´ll see you around then," his mouth curved in a slight smirk. "Give Weasley my regards."

Hermione didn´t smile back. "Goodbye, Draco."

She took the book from him and walked away quickly, past him and down the alley, weaving through the crowds. When she arrived at The Leaky Cauldron, she glanced back, but he was no longer there. Taking a deep breath, she ducked inside the pub.

The Leaky Cauldron was emptier than usual. A group of local wizards that were there everytime Hermione went in stood at their usual spot at the bar, talking to Tom.

Ron was sat in one of the booths by himself, nursing a half-full tankard of butterbeer still frothing over the edges. He looked utterly bored, and as Hermione approached him, she checked her watch and winced to see she was almost ten minutes late.

"I see you finally made it," Ron said, glancing up as she neared and put down his drink.

"Sorry. I got caught up," she replied, slipping into a seat opposite him and putting the book on to the table with a dull thud.

"I didn´t think you´d come," Ron said. He carried on, a resentful edge creeping into his voice. "Lavender said you would, but I tend to not believe anything she says these days."

Hermione sighed. "No one likes a bitter person, Ron."

"No one likes a cheating person, either," he snapped back.

"She´s sorry, y´know."

"Yeah, so she says, but I really don´t care," he downed the last of his drink and rose to his feet. "You want a drink?"

Hermione nodded and watched her friend´s retreating back as he headed to the bar, ordered the drinks and chatted with a Ministry wizard as he waited. Her mind went back to Draco. She smiled to herself, thinking it was strange the people you associate with the words you hear. `Draco´ always made her think of Ginny, due to the youngest Weasley´s mad crush on him back at Hogwarts. Hermione knew for a fact that the word `cow´ triggered Ron to think of Harry. Apparently, there was a long, manly,summer afternoon spent lying in a field amongst the cows some years back. She didn´t even want to know.

"So," Ron said, sitting back down and placing two steaming butterbeers on the table, "how is Lavender?"

"I thought you didn´t care?"

"I don´t care for what she says, but I care for how she is," Ron corrected.

Hermione frowned and took a sip of her drink, not sure why Ron had bought them warm drinks on a warm day. "I thought you spoke to her?"

"I did, but it was only to ask if you were coming, and then before I could get round to the pleasantries, she´d hung up on me."

"In other words, you pissed her off again?"

Ron mulled this over for a moment. "It would seem that way."

Hermione grinned slightly. "She´s fine. A little persistent, but fine," Her face switched to serious. "You should come round. The anniversary will be here soon."

Ron leaned back in his seat, sighing deeply, "It´s been five years already?"

Hermione nodded. The fifth year without her best friend would be hard on Lavender, like it was every year, but Hermione knew Ron would be there for her.

"How´s the family?" Hermione asked, wanting to change the subject to a happier one.

"Ah, they´re okay," Ron waved a hand, "they want you round for dinner soon, by the way. Mum´s been asking about you. Ginny´s home from France soon, and Bill arrived home the other day, so she wants a family gathering."

Hermione smiled, thinking back to her `second family´, as Molly Weasley often said they were. "That´ll be nice."

They talked for a while more,of anything that was happening and anything they wanted since they´d last seen each other. Hermione couldn´t help think of Draco though, and he was plaguing her mind the whole time.

"Ron," Hermione spoke slowly, trying to sound casual, but knowing she was failing. "I ran into someone today. That´s why I was late."

Ron didn´t seem to notice the change in her actions. "Oh, really? Who?"

"Draco Malfoy," she replied evenly, but a slight wobble in her voice came into play as soon as she spoke his name.

Ron paled, dropping his tankard to the table. "Malfoy?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. Draco. I bumped into him, coming out of Flourish and Blotts."

"You didn´t talk to him, did you?" Ron asked, starting to lose his cool.

"Of course I did. I couldn´t just walk past him as if nothing happened."

"My God, Hermione!" Ron cried, the anger rising in his voice, "You know you shouldn´t talk to him!"

"No," Hermione pointed out, trying to stay calm. "You tell me I shouldn´t talk to him. I haven´t seen him since . . .," she trailed off, her eyes falling to the tabletop.

The anger dropped from Ron´s face. "What did he look like?"

"Oddly the same.He had his hood up. He looked strange, dressed like that."

"He won´t want anyone to recognise him. A lot of people hate him. If they knew he was back in the area . . .," Ron sighed. "I don´t want you to talk to him, Hermione. He´s dangerous."

Hermione looked up at him. "Ron Weasley, you know full well he is nothing of the sort!"

"A lot of people don´t believe that," Ron replied.

"Yeah, well a lot of people also believe you´re the worst Auror there´s ever been, but you don´t believe them, do you?"

Ron´s eyes narrowed. "That´s completely different."

"It all has to do with the same thing though, doesn´t it? If Harry hadn´t of -"

Ron cut her off, his eyes flashing. "Don´t you dare say it."

"If Harry hadn´t died," Hermione said it anyway, but instantly regretted it from the way Ron´s face fell, "then no one would think Draco was dangerous, or that you were a bad Auror. Half of those `people´ don´t know anything about what happened."

Ron spoke quietly. "People believe what they hear. What they read. Unless you´re gonna go publicising it and telling everyone exactly what happened, they´re gonna carry on believing it."

Hermione knew she was on the brink of tears. She rubbed her eyes, not wanting to cry in front of Ron, even though she had countless times before. "They think it´s your fault. They think you killed Harry."

Ron stared back at her, his face as expressionless as Draco´s had been earlier. "That´s because it is my fault."

"No, Ron, you know that´s not true!" she was getting angry now and was about to be overcome with tears any second. "Stop saying that!"

A few witches near-by turned to look at them, frowning at the loudness of their voices. Hermione ducked her head, hiding behind her hair and hastily wiping her eyes, while Ron reached out and took her hand. The witches turned to each other, whispering quickly. Hermione knew they recognised her and Ron, so she lowered her voice.

"Did you know Draco was back?"

Ron shook his head, hissing, "No, of course not!"

"Oh," Hermione replied. "I thought maybe you´d know from the Ministry."

"No, they also tend to believe what they hear," Ron said dryly, giving her a pointed look.

Hermione sighed, hating how Ron blamed himself for Harry´s death as well as hating how people always assumed what had happened. Ron was right, though. There was nothing she could do to change people´s opinions on that day. Even though she told herself countless times that it didn´t matter what they thought as long as she never forgot the truth, Hermione was crushed that anyone would ever think that it was Ron´s fault - including Ron himself.

"What did Malfoy say?" Ron asked. Hermione could see he was more interested than he was letting on, whether it was out of shock or pure curiosity.

"Not much," Hermione told him. "Just that he´s moved back. I was too surprised to think about it." She smiled wryly at the irony of it all. "I keep thinking of things I should´ve asked him, y´know? Things that I´ve wanted to ask him all this time. Typical, as soon as I see him I forget everything."

Ron shrugged. "I can imagine how weird it would be. It has been a long time."

"Too long," Hermione nodded in agreement, absentmindedly chewing lightly on her bottom lip as she thought back to Draco. "He looked pretty shocked too. Not that he actually made an expression other than the usual I´m-a-pretty-boy-in-total-control smirk or the I-make-girls-literally-faint smile, but I could tell."

Ron grinned. "He did always know how to stay the ironic detachment guy."

"But you know what was strange?" Hermione continued. "Everything felt okay, as soon as I´d seen him. Like this whole day, I was so weary about it, coming out so close to the anniversary and all that, but he seemed almost . . . familiar."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "You haven´t seen him in almost five years. Plus, you know you can´t stay locked up for two weeks every time the anniversary comes around."

"Yeah, so you and Lavender have told me."

Ron smiled. "Then I´m glad you finally took our advice."

"Ah, I dunno," Hermione mused with a shrug. "Maybe I shouldn´t have come out. Then I wouldn´t have bumped into damn Draco Malfoy and know that he was back in town."

"You say that as if you think bumping into him was a bad thing. Which," he pointed at her for emphasis, "it was."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You know it wasn´t."

"All I know is that Draco Malfoy must be back for a reason. One, I think, that I don´t really want to know."

Hermione contemplated this for a moment. What if Draco was back for some reason? But then what could that be? She sighed, knowing she was thinking too deep about the whole situation. Draco could just have moved back because he simply liked living here, he didn´t have to have any reason such as the one she knew Ron was getting at.

"So why do you think he´s back then?" she asked anyway.

Ron shrugged, running his finger around the rim of his empty tankard. "I don´t know."

Hermione knew he was lying. He did, of course, have his own interpretation into Draco´s sudden appearance, but she also knew that he would cover it up in a hope of protecting her. Ever since Harry had gone, Ron took the protective role up even further. Hermione also knew, as Ginny often pointed out, that she should just tell Ron to stop looking out for her as she could handle whatever came her way, but telling Ron to leave her alone would be like telling Ginny to join a nunnery. It just wouldn´t work.

There was a silence for a couple of minutes. After a lousy attempt to change the subject on Ron´s part, Hermione knew she should just leave it for the afternoon.

"I should get going," she said, getting to her feet. Glancing at her watch, she noted that she´d been out for past two hours. A record for this time of year.

Ron nodded, following her to his feet. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I´ll talk to you later, or something. Will you be okay on your own?"

"Yeah, of course.Bye," she gave him a quick smile and picked up her book before turning on her heel and exiting the pub, back into the busy street.

Not feeling all that joyful about the nice weather anymore, and rather not wanting to risk bumping into any other unexpected people, Hermione decided to Apparate back to the house. She was standing on the doorstep in a matter of seconds and quickly let herself in. As soon as the door closed loudly behind her, she sighed, feeling the security of home come settling back. It was a good feeling. She decided she needed a nice, hot bath to try and rid herself of all these Draco Malfoy thoughts she was suddenly having.

"Hermione? That you?"

Hermione stopped halfway up the stairs as Lavender came into view through the arch that led in to the kitchen down below. She was brandishing a duster and a bottle of polish.

Hermione grinned at the sight. "Finally getting rid of those spiders, eh?"

"Meh," Lavender shrugged, then grinned deviously, "I´m thinking about leaving them up as a present to Ron."

Hermione laughed. "You two are driving me crazy."

"So, did you have a good afternoon out?"

Hermione shrugged. "It was okay," she knew she should tell Lavender about Draco, but this time was hard for her friend as it was. Why go bringing up Draco Malfoy when all it would do is upset her?

Hermione had been renting a room off of Lavender ever since they´d left Hogwarts. At first it had just been simply because Lavender had needed someone to be there for her, but her and Ron hadn´t got round to the moving in together part of their relationship yet, so Ron suggested that Hermione move in with her. So she did, at first just part of a short-term agreement, but almost five years later, she was still living there.

"I´m glad you went out," Lavender said.

Hermione nodded slightly, smiled, and then carried on up the stairs. Forgetting all about the bath, she headed straight into her room and threw herself on to her bed, burying her face in the soft quilt and thinking about that day all over again. Eventually, she sighed, pushing herself up and leaning back on the wall at the top her bed.

That was when she saw it. Propped up on her bedside table against a smiling, moving picture of Ron, Harry and her was a small envelope, with one word on the front, elaborately written in green ink. Hermione.

Reaching over, she picked it up, frowning. Who was sending her letters? Turning it over, she ripped it open slowly and took out the piece of parchment that was inside, unfolding it carefully.

He is still alive.