39. A Woman Who Can Keep a Man's Love, And Love Him In Return, Has Done All The World Wants Of Women
Hermione quickly stepped out of the fireplace, and her eyes immediately fell on Draco, who was sitting on the couch and looking through the glass of fire whiskey that was lying on the table. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice her.
“Draco?” she addressed him softly.
Confused, the blond looked up from the glass he had poured himself some time ago, but wasn't about to drink it, and looked in amazement at the brunette standing in his living room. "Hermione," he breathed in surprise.
"I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced, but I need to make sure you're okay," she explained the reason for her sudden appearance and hesitantly sat down on the couch, leaving plenty of space between them.
“I'm not, but I never was, so why does that matter? I've always had a volatile personality, and it was only a matter of time before I finally did something to lose the only people I cared about. People who cared about me," he sighed resignedly.
"Don't say that," she said brokenly. "I'm sorry," she added in a whisper.
Draco shook his head. "Do not apologize. You said you were a bad person, but I hope you know you're not. I'm the bad one here. I always have been. And now I'm finally going to pay for it."
"No, don't say that," she repeated, sitting closer to him, and checking the time on her watch. "Haven't we all paid enough already? Blaise just needs time. He has to come to terms with it and it won't just happen overnight."
"And I'll give him the time," Draco nodded. "As for paying, I've always gotten away with it. Always. They locked up father, but they left everything to us. After the war, I only got out on condition, and that's because you all spoke up for me. Thanks to the mother lying to Voldemort. Can't you see it? I got away with everything, so I probably thought I could get away with this too. I didn't take it seriously. It didn't matter how many times you warned me, how many times you told me it was a bad thing. I wanted it, so none of it mattered to me. I thought it couldn't have such dire consequences."
"I think you'll enjoy yourself in France, even if you didn't want to go," Hermione sniffed, knowing he was right in a way. And she didn't have enough time to comfort him. She just wanted him to know that he could still count on them, even if it might not seem like it at the moment.
"I've changed my mind, a change of scenery will do me good," he grimaced. He still didn't really want to go to France, but he was sure that being there would help him. It was really time to get his life together. He couldn't keep letting others save him. Or excused him.
Hermione looked at her watch again. "You will write, won't you? I don't want us to break contact."
"Of course I will," he assured her.
"It just takes time. Everything will be fine," she tried to reassure them both.
Draco nodded again. He somehow didn't know what else to say about it. He was glad she had come, but as she said it would take time. They said what they needed. And it wasn't like they were saying goodbye forever. There was no need to make more of a drama out of it.
"Looks like you must be somewhere," he said as he noticed her checking her watch for several times.
Hermione looked at him apologetically and hugged him tightly. "Everything will be fine," she said again before standing up and walking over to the fireplace.
"Don't get divorced again," he mumbled with a small smirk as she scooped up the floo powder.
"I can't speak for Blaise, but it's not in the plan," she said, giving him a small smile before the flames turned green.
A scene similar to Draco's was waiting for her there. Except that Blaise was staring impatiently into the fireplace. The strange thing was that he was as surprised to see her as Draco was.
"You're back," he said with relief, which shocked Hermione for a change.
"Of course I am," she blurted out immediately and was sitting next to him in a second. "You really didn't believe me?"
Blaise shrugged. "Draco always had a certain reputation," he mumbled reluctantly. He didn't want to admit it, but maybe that was why it bothered him so much. He remembered all too well how all the girls at school were after him. He was afraid.
The brunette shook her head in disbelief and took his hand. "Don't say, I think you had a reputation at school too. Do you want to remind me what it was about?" she teased him.
"Who told you that?" he asked in surprise.
"Theo, who else," she laughed.
"The jerk," he hissed softly, even though he wasn't really mad at him. The truth was that he tried to hide this side of him from Hermione, especially when they started dating, but what could he do? Gossip spread very quickly at Hogwarts, so she must have heard something about his escapades even without Theodore.
"Not at all, actually it helped me a lot that time," she admitted and hugged him. She couldn't get enough of him when she finally had him with her after so long. She had to make up for all the lost time when she wasn't around him.
"How come?" Blaise wondered with a small frown on his forehead. Was his marriage to Hermione going to be the next thing he would be grateful to his friend for? He was beginning to wonder where he and Draco would be today without Theo...
“I don't know, Theo knew you better than I did. And even though I had no reason to question you, you know my head. Thoughts of why you would even want to be with me popped up here and there. It calmed me down when Theo told me how serious you were about me and that he'd never seen you happier," she said with a smile.
Blaise hugged her tighter after her words and kissed her hair. "How did it go?"
"We don't have to talk about it. I know you are not comfortable with it. But I believe your paths haven't parted forever," she answered vaguely, pulling herself out of his embrace so she could straighten up and look into his eyes. She still held his hand, though, because just sitting next to him wasn't enough for her. "Let's talk about us."
"Gladly," agreed Blaise.
“How are we going to do this?” she wanted to know because even though she was so happy they were back together, she needed a plan.
"I'd take it slow, but I'd say the moving could easily happen in the next few days, what do you think?"
Hermione nodded. "And where will we live? I guess I'm not ready to go back to our old house," she admitted with a heavy heart. It broke her heart, but her last memories of that place weren't exactly happy. It was their first home together, and even though she grew attached to the place, she didn't think she would be able to get back there.
“So it'll probably be easier if I move here than you and Charlie move in with me. We can always look around for something bigger," he suggested.
"I love you," she blurted out and kissed him.
She knew that the three of them still had a long way to go, but she couldn't help but think that it all turned out well after all. She wasn't going to let Blaise go and she was convinced that Blaise would forgive Draco in time. And as for Draco... He didn't know it yet, but she liked to think it had turned out well for him too. After all, France is full of beautiful women, and maybe one of them will catch his eye.