I claim no rights to these characters, if not for the wonderful writings of J.K Rowling they would not exist. The song this story has woven into it's pages is Mercy by OneRepublic.

~Part 1~

Angel of Mercy

All I wanted to say
All I wanted to do

Is fall apart now

It was late, very late, when Draco finally left his office. He had thrown himself into his work, unable, or perhaps unwilling, to go home at a decent hour. He knew only too well what might greet him when he got home. The first night it had happened he was angry, the second night he was furious, but after that he had decided to come to terms with his wife's infidelity. He didn't love her; she didn't love him, so why should he care if she had found someone who could give her what he wouldn't? The affair stressed him though; he still hated to come home from work to his wife and her lover, which is why he had started working later and later. The downside was that working to avoid his wife, he rarely saw his son.

Snapping out of his thoughts as he walked into his house, he realized that tomorrow was Saturday. He stepped into Scorpius' room and smiled at the small boy with pale blonde hair that slept peacefully. The boy lay sprawled out upon the bed, his tiny arm flung off the side of the bed, and the covers half-falling off his body. With a soft smile, Draco walked over and straightened his small son out. He gently lifted the boy's arm and laid it carefully onto the bed; then he readjusted the blankets. He paused as Scorpius shifted at the contact, but his breathing evened out again and he stayed asleep. Draco made a silent promise to Scorpius that he would take him to the park the next day, before walking into the bathroom and preparing for bed. When he had finished with his nighttime routine he settled in on the couch in their spacious living room, not brave enough to try his own room, for fear of what might greet him there. He stared at the ceiling of his room, knowing where he had gone wrong but wondering how different things would have been if anything had been changed.

Morning came quickly, the sun rose bright on the crisp autumn day and Draco dressed quickly before waking his son. Scorpius was thrilled when his father told him of his plans. Draco spent an hour trying to force the wriggling three year old into a warm, navy blue, pullover jumper, muggle jeans, and grey sneakers. He raced around in excitement, tumbling over again and again like only a toddler can manage. Draco Apparated them a little ways away from a small muggle playground- already filled with giggling children. On Scorpius' insistence, they walked to the park with the little boy perched on Draco's shoulders. For an hour, Draco chased the energetic child through the maze of colorful slides and swings. Exhausted but happy, for once, Draco laughed as the small child's grey eyes shone with excitement as he raced off once more. His laughter stopped quickly when little Scorp took a tumble and landed at the feet of brown haired woman whose back was to them. Draco ran to the little boy, concerned. He scooped up the boy just as the woman turned around. Draco froze as her all-to-familiar brown eyes met his.

"Malfoy?" The woman asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Granger," he acknowledged, "or is it Weasley now? I was just enjoying a beautiful autumn morning with my son. Is that a crime?"

"Actually, it's back to Granger now." She said softly, "No, it isn't a crime but really, why are you here? This is the last place I would expect to see you. It's muggle, you know."

"Why's that, Granger?" He asked.

" 'Why's that' meaning my name or my shock at seeing you here?"

He shrugged, not quite sure which he was referring to either.

"Both I supposed." He said to accompany the shrug. This was strange; here he was talking to none other than Hermione Granger, but the strangest part was that neither of them seemed to mind that much. She clearly was too preoccupied with her thoughts to completely understand what was happening here, and to Draco it was just a relief to finally see a familiar face that wasn't associated with work or his wife. The sad look that filled her eyes left Draco wondering about what had happened to her and the Weasel. No, she hadn't said anything specific but it was clear that something wasn't right. On top of that all, what was so strange about him at a muggle playground? At least he had a child with him! She was by herself, or so it appeared, and she was still the one questioning him on his appearance.

Truthfully, it wasn't that odd for him to be associated with muggles, but to someone else, it was probably a bit of a shock. After the war, he had pulled himself to the background. Surprisingly to him, fading to the background had been relatively easy; after his father arranged a marriage for him to Astoria Greengrass he had taken up a research job in the potions lab at St. Mungo's. He worked in small lab researching and testing various new potions to help the Healers. In the small amounts of free time he had, he worked hard to make amends for the horrible deeds of not only himself, but his whole family throughout the war. Granger's silence pulled him out of his thoughts and he noticed that she, too, had become absorbed with thoughts of her own. Sorrow filled her expressive brown eyes but he saw a twinkle of something far within the swirling depths, hope maybe? She seemed to realize he was watching her and looked up with a deep sigh.

"I don't really want to tell you Malfoy, of all people, but I need to talk to someone about this and since Ginny and Harry already know, and you offered I suppose I can tell you my story. But only if you tell me yours, particularly why you look like you never sleep." Hermione said seriously.

How could she tell? No one else he knew could tell that something was going on, except for his mother who knew the whole story, he tried his best to cover the bags under his eyes with glamor charms and leave the rest up to his acting skills. To most people, he came a cross as merely distant, but somehow Granger had seen through it and saw the exhaustion he worked so hard to hide. Did he really want to share his troubles with Hermione Granger of all people? But No, of course not, but he did want to talk to someone, anyone, and she was offering to let him open up to her. He decided to accept her offer; after all there were worse people to tell. At the very least, he could assume she would probably be one of the least judgmental people he could share his story with. Making up his mind, he decided to take her up on her offer. He couldn't deny his curiosity at her sorrowful demeanor. What had happened to the fiery witch he knew at Hogwarts?

"All right, Granger. It's a deal, but lets take this some place warmer, Scorpius' nose is pink and this wind is starting to pick up, how about that little bakery over there?"

She nodded in agreement, smiling gently at the small boy in his arms, who had fallen asleep.

"He looks just like you." She said, looking back up at him, before turning and walking towards the shop.

A small bell chimed as they walked in the door, signaling their arrival. A cheerful attendant at the counter greeted them as they entered the cozy restaurant. They found a small table, tucked away in a corner, where Draco laid Scorpius down on a cushioned bench, before going to the counter to order warm cups of tea, before coming back and looking expectantly at Granger. She sighed once again, pausing to gather her thoughts, before launching into her story.

"After the war, Ron and I settled down together and got married, we were married about a year when I became pregnant. I've always known that I wanted to become a mother, so of course I was thrilled that my dream was finally coming true. Ron, on the other hand, was less than excited. You see, after Fred's death Ron wasn't the same. He didn't know how to cope with the deaths from the war and he hadn't gotten a job, he moped around the house while I was at work, only happy when we were together. With me being pregnant I wasn't going to be able to work so I told him he needed to get a job. It escalated into a huge fight. Ron had started drinking after the war but had gradually stopped, after our fight he went back to the alcohol. He came home drunk that night, and I lost it. He became very angry when I began crying and yelling at him. He…he pushed me down the stairs, and I…I landed on my stomach, hard. The baby didn't make it and I also broke my arm. So I left. It's been two years now; I haven't talked to him since we divorced. I just can't forgive him." She finished with tears in her eyes as she looked down at the table. Draco looked at her with shock on his face; Ron Weasley had hit her? He had killed his own child, just because he didn't want to get a job?

"I'm sorry," He said, at a slight loss for words. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

She smiled weakly, "It's over, I've moved on, I guess, for the most part… Your turn now."

Draco launched into the story of his marriage. He told her about Scorpius, about Astoria's cheating, about his father's death, about realizing how little his father had cared about anything other than blood and status, and finally about how he had no idea where to go now. Looking at her face he realized how pathetic his story sounded, he realized it was his fault, he needed to do something, he needed to get Scorpius out of his faithless mother's grasp, he needed to get himself out of there.

"You shouldn't stay there," she said, as if she could read his thoughts," You should go now. Save Scorpius from this. I'll go with you, if you need."

That shocked him to the core; Granger had just offered to help him! He could tell she was also lightly shocked at her offer. She was right, of course. He should do something, right away, before it was too late. They needed to go to the Ministry.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Hermione. Please, can we go now?"

She laughed, a beautiful sound. "Of course!"

They took off, apparating to the Ministry of Magic, Marital Affairs office. Draco explained his situation to the clerk who gave him everything he needed for a divorce.

"Had it really been that easy?" Draco thought to himself.

"That was it?" He said aloud, "That's all I needed to do? Bloody hell, if I had known it would be that easy I would have done this a long time ago!"

Hermione smiled to herself, it hadn't really been that easy, but Draco didn't need to know that Hermione had pulled a few strings. She didn't want, or need to explain that to him. Especially when she couldn't even explain to herself why she had done that.

By that time Scorpius had woken up, and was asking Draco if Hermione could come over for dinner.

"Please, Daddy? Mum never comes to dinner anymore and I really, really like 'Mione" the child said, subconsciously adopting Hermione's old pet name used by Ron. Draco saw her wince as Scorpius said the name, but she didn't say anything. Merlin, this woman was strong, not that he didn't know that, but it still amazed him.

"Well, what do you say Hermione?" He asked, gently directing the invitation towards her. This was so out of character for him, he should be wallowing in self-pity right about now, not trying to ease another person's pain! He found himself studying Hermione once again, watching as she pondered over the choices in her mind.

Meanwhile, Hermione was shocked at the invitation. She had expected him to want to disappear after confiding in her. After all, that was typical Malfoy behavior, forever running away. However, the fact remained that he hadn't. Instead, he stood there extending an invitation to dinner. Oh, how life had changed! Every rational part of her screamed at her to reject politely and never see him again. For some reason, she couldn't. Maybe it was the fact that the rational side of her had protested to confiding in him, and she had resisted and now felt a tremendous relief. Maybe it was the fact that she had just poured her heart out to this man who had once been her nemesis. Or maybe it was the fact that she was just plain lonely. Whatever the reason she found herself saying,

"Yes, I would love to."

Wait, what? Draco couldn't believe his ears. She had actually agreed to come! He watched as Scorpius's face lit up.

"Well we should head back to the Manor then and wash up." Draco said, after recovering from his shock.

Angel of Mercy, how did you find me? Where did you read my story?

The song ran through Draco's head over and over. That was what Hermione was. She was his angel of Mercy. She had picked him up and dusted him off.