The New Law

The Realization

       

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Hermione stepped out of the fireplace at the Burrow only to almost be flung right back in because Ginny was a little eager with her welcome hug.

"Hey, Hermione, how are you, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. How are things at the manor?" Ginny inquired as the two young women sat down at the kitchen table.

"It's fine. Malfoy's been surprisingly pleasant lately. Too be honest it kind of freaks me out how we can have a normal conversation without biting each other's heads off." Hermione told her friend.

Malfoy had indeed been rather pleasant towards her lately, striking up conversations during meals and leaving the Prophet out for her in the mornings. Now don't get it wrong, he could still be a complete arse, but he was beginning to be quite tolerable as of late.

"I kind of have a favour to ask," Hermione began after they had finished catching up on the latest news and what not.

"Lay it on me," Ginny said, a curious look on her face.

"Well, you know how we just got married and didn't invite anyone or anything," Hermione began. Ginny nodded.

"Yea, my mum wasn't too happy about it and basically she is arranging a wedding that my family can be a part of and I need to have some of my friends be there... So what I'm really asking is if you would mind coming to my fake wedding?"

"Of course I will come to your fake wedding 'Mione, I am after all your best friend. And on that note, I do hope you know I expect to be your fake maid of honour," Ginny gushed teasingly.

"Of course," Hermione agreed, smiling warmly at her friend.

Asking Harry and the rest of the Weasleys went surprisingly well. She thought they wouldn't want to play nice with Malfoy. They took it well though and told her that they would do it for her sake, which she appreciated a lot.
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"How are things in the Malfoy household," Theo asked as he plopped down on the sofa next to Draco in the sitting room of the north wing. Blaise was sat in one of the arm chairs opposite them.

"Don't know mate, it's weird having her live here I'll tell you that," Draco said.

"You know the weirdest part though. She isn't as bad as I thought she would be. I mean, sure she can drive me crazy, but we do have quite interesting conversations. It's quite nice actually." He continued.

Theo and Blaise gave each other knowing looks.

"Is it now?" they asked in unison.

Draco rolled his eyes at them and took a swig of his firewiskey.

"You know, I thought it was weird with Luna in the beginning, but it's surprisingly nice spending time with her. She is extremely accepting as well, which is a nice change compared to a lot of other people I've known." Blaise said.

"I always heard she was a bit of a nutter," Theo noted.

"Well, she is a bit strange, I'll give you that, but it's not nearly as bad as people made her out to be. She's not a complete looney. She's very sweet actually."

Draco listened to his friends talking and fell into thought. He contemplated if he should just talk to his friends about these feelings or thoughts he was having about Hermione. It was always nice talking to Blaise and Theo, they were good listeners and though they might tease sometimes, they were never serious about it, that's just what friends do sometimes, they joke around and tease, but it's never mean or condescending or anything. They were like that with each other all the time the three of them. They always had each other's backs in the end.

"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" Draco asked after a while.

"Of course you can," they responded, looking curiously at him.

"Well, it's about my...wife..." Draco began.

The two men looked expectantly at him.

"I've been having these thoughts or feelings or whatever. I don't know. I feel weird about it, but sometimes, there's just something about her. The way she looks when she's lost in a book or the way her eyes light up when she's talking about something she's passionate about. I've never felt anything like this before. It freaks me out. Also, she is Hermione Granger after all. Gryffindor princess, golden girl, war hero Hermione Granger."

Theo looked at his friend then he turned to the fire place and seemed to be thinking over what to say. Blaise seemed at a loss for words. After a few minutes Theo turned to Draco with a serious expression on his face.

"Draco, you do know that you're in love with Hermione Granger don't you?"

Draco froze. That was not the response he was expecting.

"I'm not in love with her," Draco denied quickly. Feeling a little awkward now.

"Right...not at all. The way she looks when she's lost in a book, the way her eyes light up, you bloody well sound like you're in love with her. If you want to deny it, fine, but you're only lying to yourself" Theo said.

Draco looked at Blaise.

"Don't look at me mate; I happen to think he's right."

"I'll tell you how I know," Theo continued. Draco nodded an okay.

"I know, because that is exactly how I would talk about Daph, who I am undeniably very much in love with. Absolutely besotted in fact." He explained.

"Oh," was all Draco could say. He continued with taking a sip of his drink and looked into the fire, his friends snickering beside him.

"Draco Malfoy in love with a Gryffindor, and a muggleborn one at that. Who would have ever guessed?" Theo proclaimed.

"Well, I don't really care about blood anymore, you know that, so the muggleborn part isn't really too unlikely, but yea. The Gryffindor part...who would have guessed." Draco agreed.

"I didn't even guess it myself. I didn't realize that's what it was," he continued.

Draco was feeling a bit lost. He didn't know how to go from there. What was there to do anyway, he couldn't very well do anything about it. He knew that Hermione definitely didn't feel anything remotely close to that towards him. She could be civil with him, but that was just because she was a kind person. She was just waiting for an out. She was probably planning on getting a divorce the first opportunity they got. No one would want to be with Draco ex-death eater Malfoy.

He did hope though, somewhere deep inside of him, he did hope.