A/N: Hello and welcome to the sequel to All I Need. IMPORTANT: You will not understand the nature of things if you haven't read All I Need. That said, tarry forth.
"Dear Draco,
I can't tell you how much I laughed at your last letter. Seems like your summer has just been a virtual cornicopia of excitement. And wow! I can't believe Crabbe and Goyle managed to get girlfriends! I'm willing to make a wager on how long THAT will last. I say not past the first two weeks of school... loser pays for a round of butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks on our first Hogsmeade trip. What do you say? At any rate, my summer's been fairly uneventful. I've been reading a few muggle books that I want to get finished and working in my parents' office to make a little extra money. However, my parents decided that in celebration of my making Head Girl and as it's my last summer at home (crossing my fingers, anyway!) that we're to take a holiday in the south of France for the next two weeks. We should be back just before Harry's birthday, and I'm to spend a few more days at home before staying at the Burrow for the remainder of the summer. Mrs. Weasley insisted. So I am sorry to have to cut this note so short, but I've got to get packed! Mum and Dad have been pestering me to get ready, but I've gotten lazy over the summer. I will eagerly await your next letter, but I don't think I'll get it until I've reached the Burrow. The Procrastinator, Hermione"
Hermione had just arrived at the Burrow and was beginning to unpack her things in Percy's old room. It was so neat and tidy, it was hard to believe that Percy wasn't still living there. He was living in London, working for the Department of Sports and Games, if you would believe that. His friend Oliver had talked him into it somehow, but Percy absolutely adored it there. She put down a pile of folded clothes to examine the things on Percy's dresser: a smiling picture of Percy, his new fiance Penelope, and Oliver Wood, taken on graduation day; the clipping from The Daily Prophet with the whole family on their trip to Egypt; his old Head Boy badge, which again read Big Head Boy; finally, a formal family portrait, all of the Weasleys grinning and waving. She sighed. Hermione hated change more than anything. A familiar sleek owl flew into the open window and dropped a letter and a small package amongst the belongings on the dresser. She grinned and opened the letter, petting the owl as she read.
"To The Procrastinator, protector of all those who put things off,
Can't believe you're actually going to the Burrow. I'm assuming Potter will be there, and the youngest Weasley (the only tolerable one, if you ask me) so it won't be all bad. Don't do anything with Weasley - Ron, I mean, not to confuse him with Ginny or anything - that you'll regret. Anyways, Mother and Father have yet to make any plans for our summer, but that is to be expected. Father's out 'taking care of business' and Mother has been trying to set me up with some insufferable fifteen year old daughter of one of her friends that she plays bridge with (yes, my mother plays bridge.. honestly). The girl looks fine - stunning, by all standards, with this sleek black hair and a porcelain doll face - but she opens her damn mouth and she somehow manages to whine about everything. 'Oh Draco, what a beautiful day,' manages to sound like a tired five year old who wants something. Like nails on a ruddy chalkboard, she is. Knows nothing about anything. She goes to say something but all that comes out is wind that's been sweeping around her skull for a while. The worst part is, Mother invited her to stay in the manor with us while father is away. Needless to say, Mother is remarkably terrible at this cupid business. So one day while I was bored, I managed to sneak off and shop for something. I've sent it with this letter... I do hope you like it. Open it." Hermione noticed for the first time a small black box near the owl's claws. She untied the piece of twine and opened the velvet box to find a glint of silver wrapped in black velvet folds. She pulled the ring from its home and inspected it. It was a sterling silver ring, with no adornments. Hermione looked at it quizzically until she noticed that inside of the ring was engraved a dragon. She grinned at Draco's cleverness, and slid the ring on. It was a perfect fit. She continued reading.
"You'll note that it's a plain sterling silver ring, no embellishments to be seen. Look inside the ring, however, and you will find that I had a dragon engraved using a simple spell. I bought you this ring to remind you of our friendship while you were at the Burrow... Silver, remember? And, so as not to arise any suspicions from anyone, I left the outside plain and instead put the dragon on the inside, closer to you. Though, the plain thing is metaphorical as well - that's how I am around you, just plain old Draco, no extra trimmings and no pretenses.
Merlin, that's enough with the sappiness. Consider the ring my present to you for making Head Girl and a token of my unending gratitude for your help. Do tell me all about France, and as little as possible about the Burrow. The Badass (hah!), Draco" Hermione couldn't help but smile again and chuckle at Draco's signature. He'd outlined 'badass' with little flowers and smiley faces. She looked back down at the ring. She did think it was very thoughtful of him to send her such a present - as if she could forget about him anyway. Hermione's smile turned into a slight frown. She couldn't keep fawning over Draco this way, not when she was staying at the Burrow. Getting over Draco was harder than she had thought, and though there were dozens of self help books on the subject, it was the first time that going to the library had failed to solve Hermione's problem. She put his letter away with the rest of his letters that she had saved, and pulled out a piece of parchment to return his note.
"Dear Badass (nice flowers),
Oh, you really shouldn't have gone to all the trouble about the ring. I couldn't forget about you if I tried!" 'Which I have,' she thought sadly. "But the ring is beautiful, a perfect fit which is hard to manage with my thick fingers! I'm not kidding you when I tell you I'm going to keep your owl - she is so beautiful and she's really taking a liking to me!
France was stunning. We've been down there before, but this summer the waters were so brilliantly blue that I wanted to take some with me. The sun was always shining, and I'm afraid I got quite a tan while I was there, which is horrible for my skin. We did stop off in Paris for a few days, which was great. I explored some of wizarding Paris, which was so exciting. Besides the Beauxbaton kids, I've never really met any French wizards! I'm sending you something I picked up for you while in France. It was intended to be a birthday present, but I'm too eager to give it to you. Stop reading and open it. SERIOUSLY DRACO, I KNOW you're still reading!" He laughed. She knew him all too well. He opened the brown paper parcel that his owl had brought back for him and smiled, feeling his heart stop at her heartfelt present. Anyways, it's so weird here at the Burrow. It's just Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Charlie, and me most of the time. Mr. Weasley works overtime what with the war and all. It's not the same - it's so quiet, it's eerie. And poor Charlie hasn't been the same since he was so wounded in battle. It's such a sad atmosphere; Mrs. Weasley is so afraid of losing someone, after being so close to losing Charlie. Sorry to ramble. I've got to go, Harry's just arrived. We're going to Diagon Alley soon, though I don't know when. I hope to see you there! Enjoy the remainder of your summer. Le Paresseux, Hermione" Draco sighed. He hated her being at the Burrow. He was afraid of what Ron would try to get out of her or what he would even do to her. Ron was not the weak child he had been when he started Hogwarts, and Draco was sure that he could easily overpower Hermione. He pushed all pessimistic thoughts out of his mind, and looked at the poetry book. He knew that she must still have feelings for him, to get Draco such a gift. As much as he tried, he'd thought of nothing but Hermione all summer, longing for her presence. No matter. He was going to Diagon Alley soon as well, but knew they could never owl each other enough in the time they had left to arrange for a meeting. He would just have to hope they ran into each other. He tucked her letter with the others.
"It's a poetry book. I remembered you said you only had the one, and you'd already read it a dozen times. I know you don't want to risk your dad finding it, so I put a spell on it. To all outward appearances, it will appear to be a blank notebook. If you want to read it or anything, just tap it with your wand and say 'Apparaissez'. It can also be translated to English or French, 'Anglais' for English and 'Français' for French. I wasn't really sure if you could read French, but I'm pretty sure I heard you speak a bit once. Just to be sure, I put a translating spell on it.
"Dracoooooooo!"
He sighed. "What, Karissa!"
The girl walked into his room and pouted. "Dracooo, I'm hungry."
"So get something to eat."
"I don't know where to go."
"The kitchen?"
"What's that?"
He lay on his back and sprawled his arms across the bedspread.
"Merlin, erase me from this planet!" he pleaded.
Karissa laughed in her high pitched, ditzy way. "How's he supposed to do that? With a giant pencil?"
He gave one last pleading look at the ceiling before leading the vacant excuse for a girl out of his room.