𝐌𝐎𝐂𝐇𝐀 | 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦

twenty-three

"Ron?" Draco asked, frowning at the paper in her hands. "This has to be against the rules. I can call Astoria-"
"It is against the rules," Hermione interrupted. "It is. But Harry gave it to me."
She swallowed. "I think we should read it."
Draco gave her a long, unreadable long. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "What's the worst that can happen?"
"He cursed it," Draco suggested. "He's sent you a death threat. He's sent you-"
Hermione shook her head. "I trust Harry."
Draco shrugged. "Whatever you want to do, love. It's up to you."
Hermione opened the letter. Her hands were shaking, and Draco snaked an arm around her waist for support. She leaned against him as she unfolded it, reading it aloud.
"Hermione,
I'm sure the last thing that you want is to hear from me. Which is absolutely understandable. I was being a right prat- more than that. I was completely out of line, and what I did was unforgivable and just awful. I sincerely apologize to you and Malfoy, and I am not asking for your forgiveness. I just want you to know that I am truly sorry and I've realized that what I've done is beyond the realm of forgiveness.
I heard that you were in the hospital. Harry told me everything about Abraxas and Natalia. Blimey, Hermione, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that. I know that it couldn't have been easy for you- especially in a basement like that. I hope you're doing okay. Harry said you're going to be alright, which is good. He and I were working on your new cases while you were out, so that you wouldn't be all over them. We figured you'd try to work on them while you were still recovering, so we did them for you without telling you. Sorry, Harry told me it was supposed to be a secret. Astoria and Blaise helped though, so don't worry. There aren't any mistakes, and we did summaries of everything we did. Your secretary has them.
Congratulations on your engagement! I'm very happy for you. Mum wants you over for brunch to celebrate, but I'm sure Ginny's already told you that. I've been visiting with Mum and Dad for the past week, but I'll be leaving beforehand, so don't worry.
Sincerely,
Ron."

Hermione looked up at Draco. His eyebrows were raised, mouth open slightly. "Wow."
"I can't believe this," Hermione said slowly.
"He actually realized how wrong he was," Draco said.
"No! They took over my cases without telling me about it!" Hermione exclaimed, wrestling away from him to grab her phone and dialing Blaise. Draco shook his head.
"Hello?" Blaise answered on the first ring.
"Blaise Zabini."
"Oh, shit. Hermione-"
"When were you going tell tell me, Blaise, that you took over my cases without telling me?" she shouted. "I didn't even know! They were in my in-box, not yours! Sharing is not caring!"
Draco snorted. Blaises sputtered, "I swear it wasn't me! It was Potter and Weasley, and they just asked Astoria and I to make sure they didn't mess it all up! They didn't do a shabby job at all, Mione, I promise, Emily's got all the paperwork. Weasley even wrote up detailed summaries, he knew you'd freak out."
Hermione was still seething. "You will go to the office and get them from her. Now."
"Mione, it's Sunday. She's not in the office," Blaise complained.
"Then you will seek her out and get them to me by this afternoon," she said slowly, enunciating her words very carefully. "Understand?"
"Fine," Blaise groaned.
"Blaise? Can you hand me a coffee?" Hermione heard Ginny say on the other end of the phone.
"Yes, hold on-"
"Is that Hermione? She sounds mad," Ginny said, coming closer. "Hi, Mione."
"Hi, Gin," Hermione said, her tone lightening considerably. Draco laughed again, and Hermione scowled at him. "How are you?"
Ginny shrugged. "Eh. Still blind."
"I know."
"Shut up. You can yell at Blaise again now."
"Nope," Blaise said quickly, hanging up. "Bye."
"Are you done raging?" Draco asked lightly.
"No. Maybe. We'll see," Hermione said. "Can't believe this."
"Come on, Mione. Astoria was supervising. She knows what she's doing," Draco said. "Plus, Potter's head of his department. He's not too stupid."
"I suppose," Hermione huffed.
"I can't believe Weasley did all this," Draco said. "He must feel really bad."
"Yeah," Hermione said, turning the phone over and over in her hands. Suddenly she said, "I want to talk to him."
"Ron?" Draco exclaimed. "Hermione..."
"I'll bring Harry with me," she said quickly. "You read the letter. He's not going to be a git, and if he is, we'll both hex him."
Draco sighed, seeing the resolve in her eyes. "I can't stop you."
He hugged her from behind, nestling his head in her shoulder. "I hope it goes well for you, my love."
"Me too," Hermione said quietly.

(A/N: i am determined to finish this by christmas. do you guys prefer more updates, but they're shorter chapters, or updates less often with fairly long chapters?)