Healing the Heart (Dramione)

38 || Forget the Rules

It had been a week since she'd been released from the hospital and they still wouldn't let her go back to work. The Director gave her very firm orders to take some time to recover strength before returning. Hermione was ready to jump back into work the second she was cleared but The Director wouldn't hear of it. Each day she would ask when she could return only for him to reply with, "Just take it easy for now." He'd eventually just started sending her morning Owls telling her, Not today either.

She decided to spend most of her newly found free time with Ginny and Teddy. Each morning she would leave The Burrow, Mrs Weasley had insisted that she sleep there until she was "feeling better", then she would head to Ginny's for the afternoon. And thus the days went by with a painfully dull crawl.

Initially, Ginny had thought about asking Hermione if she'd heard from Draco, but refrained when Teddy did it for her; it was easier to forgive a child than a friend.

"Auntie 'Mionie, where's Draco? I haven't seen him since Christmas." Since the Christmas dinner, Teddy had insisted on keeping his hair blond like Draco's. He sat at the table poking at his lunch. "Make him come play with me." He pouted.

"He's busy with work, Teddy. He won't be coming by for a while." Due to the events in France, the two hadn't spoken much, which made Hermione realize how few of friends she really had.

"Would you run to the store and grab some things for dinner tonight?" Ginny grabbed a quill and began writing down ingredients. "I'd go myself but I have to watch Teddy. Maybe you could take Ron with you?" She handed the parchment to Hermione. "He's off for the night."

"Of course." Surprisingly, she and Ron were working on mending fences in their relationship. He realized that he'd been a pig and she understood how stubborn she'd acted. Regardless of that fact, the days still felt monotonous and this errand did nothing to break up the mundane.

"You didn't have to come, you know." After she had picked him up from work and explained the situation, he'd begrudgingly agreed to join her.

Ron nodded. "I know, but I wanted too, sort of. We haven't been able to spend time together, just us, in a while. Now what was it Ginny wanted us to get?"

Hermione pulled a slip of paper from her back pocket and studied the list. "Well, she needs chicken, flour, carrots, potatoes, and various other things. We'll be able to get them at the nearby store."

Ron let out a slightly irritated sigh. "Why couldn't she have gotten this stuff herself?"

"She's watching Teddy."

"Harry's there. He got off of work as well." He stated. "Why couldn't he have gone?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and opened the door to the store they had come upon. "Because, they asked us to go. Here we are."

Ron dramatically groaned and walked through the entry way. "Fine. But I still think Harry should be forced to come next time."

"Right, you can tell him that."

~~~

Draco meandered through the streets that night. He wasn't going anywhere just killing time before he went to bed, a routine he'd fallen into as of late. These past few weeks had proven to be a growing torment to him. He and Hermione hadn't truly spoken since France and Blaise was usually helping wrap up the remaining ends of The Cure and providing teaching on how to brew it which generally left Draco alone in the evenings. With nothing better to do, he had taken to walking around after work. Tonight was no different.

No matter how many times he ran through talking to Hermione, it never ended well. He had been relieved that The Director continued to force Hermione to rest, but he almost wished they could work together again. He believed that seeing each other in the work setting would be less tense than in a personal one. That maybe they'd sit down in the break room and all would continue as it did before their fight.