Twelve years had passed since the end of the Wizarding War. Twelve years since Harry Potter ended the life of the most evil wizard ever known, Lord Voldemort, fulfilling a prophecy that was created at his birth. Twelve years since the "Golden Trio" of Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and of course Harry Potter, were honoured for their roles in the war and became three of the world's most famous members of the wizarding community. Hermione had married Ron and accepted a high ranking position with the Ministry of Magic, while he was signed to play keeper for the Chudley Cannons, his dream since boyhood. Harry and Ginny married shortly after, Harry becoming an Auror and Ginny opting to stay home and start a family like her mother did. They all had what appeared to be happy lives with paths leading them to bright futures.

Hermione sat in her office looking out the window, reflecting. I can't believe it's been twelve years already. She had just finished reading the article in the Daily Prophet about how today marked the twelfth anniversary of Voldemort's death. It was dark outside, as it often was when she finally left work, but tonight it was even later than usual. She would make some excuse to Ron when she made it home about piles of paperwork, despite knowing that she actually had an empty desk for once. He didn't need to know that. Not that he would care in the slightest. She mentally added. Ron had been forced to leave the Chudley Cannons after just two seasons due to an injury and never quite recovered from it. Not to mention the…estrangement...from Harry and Ginny, his own sister.

"I suppose I should head home and face the music." She said aloud to no one in particular.

Hermione never knew what to expect when she walked through the door of the flat her and Ron shared together. Would he be in an uncharacteristic good mood, or would she spend her evening walking on eggshells, cleaning up Ron's mess trying to avoid conversation. As soon as the door creaked open she could smell the booze and knew it would be the latter…again…

"Ronald? I'm home." Hermione shouted into the seemingly empty flat. Looking around she saw empty firewhiskey bottles littered the floor and a figure leaning in the doorway of their master bedroom in almost complete darkness. Slowly it stepped into the light of the living room. "Merlin! Ron you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing just standing there with no light on?"

"Don't ask me what I'm doing! What were you doing Hermione? You expect me to believe you've been at work all this time?" He said angrily, drunkenly staggering toward her. Hermione crossed her arms across her chest as if to protect herself from the onslaught she knew was coming.

"Yes I do expect you to believe that because that's where I was."

"Right. Until Midnight? Paperwork again? You really take me for a fool don't you?" He was coming closer to her and Hermione felt the door against her back. She hadn't even realized she had been backing away from him.

"Yes Ron. Paperwork. My job as assistant to the Minister for Magic does tend to come with a lot of it! I've never given you a reason not to believe that!"

"Oh really. You haven't? Maybe I should call up my best friend Harry, or better yet my little sister and ask them about that…oh wait, I can't since they're no longer in my life because of you!" Ron spat, his face turning red. Hermione could feel the angry tears behind her eyes and struggled to hold them in. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"This again Ronald? It was not my fault what happened with Harry and Ginny! It's been nine years! Can't you just let it go?" She realized as soon as she said it that what she said was a bad idea.

"Let it go!" He roared. "You just expect me to let it go that while I was out getting physiotherapy for my quidditch injury, trying to save my career, my whore of a wife was trying to sleep with my best friend? My best friend who is married to my sister, that same wife's supposed best friend?!" He was inches from Hermione's face now, screaming and spitting and all she could smell was the alcohol on his breath.

"Ron…" She tried to squeak out her voice sounding much smaller than she would have liked. The tears were coming now and there was no stopping them. She wished she wasn't so weak. "We have gone through this over and over again…you know that isn't what happened. You really have to believe that!"

"Yeah, but see I don't believe it Hermione. I don't believe that my best friend, the boy who fucking lived, the guy who walked into a forest prepared to die at the hands of Voldemort to save the wizarding world, would come into MY home and try and seduce MY wife. How the hell did you think I would believe that crock of shit!"

"Because it's the truth!" She screamed at him. She was sick of having this same fight when Ron was drunk and feeling melancholy, which she reminded herself was almost nightly these days. "I never wanted Harry! I only ever wanted you! How you can't see that I'll never understand Ronald but it was ALWAYS you! Harry was my best friend too! Do you not think I miss him and Ginny? I am Godmother to James and I will never see him again! Do you really think I am such a selfish heartless bitch that I would try and destroy their marriage and their family let alone my own?"

"I don't know how you did it or what your thought process was! All I know is I walked in and he was on top of you kissing you! As you know I left before I could see anything else!"

"Had you stayed you would have seen me shoving him off! You would have seen me hex him and scream and yell at him too! But you never stayed long enough to find out the truth! I have told you this I don't know how many times now Ron! He came here after a night of drinking with his auror buddies and confessed some sort of undying love for me and when I tried to tell him to sod off and go home to his WIFE he tried to climb on top of me. That is the part you walked in on before you ran off to get pissed at the bar! Before you went and told Ginny what you THOUGHT you saw happening. If you want to blame someone for not having your sister or your best friend in your life, blame yourself! I sure as hell do!" She had never gone that far before but she had had enough. There were only so many times she could have the same exact argument. There was only so many times she could hear him call her a homewrecking whore before she snapped… WHACK! All of a sudden her left cheek and eye were throbbing. Ron had done the unthinkable. He had backhanded her across the face and she could already feel his handprint swelling and bruising.

"Hermione…I…"

"Save it Ron!" She said holding her face in one hand and holding him away from her with the other. Without another glance at him she turned tail and walked back out the door of their flat, leaving him calling her name into the darkness.

Hermione wandered the streets of London, her tears dried to her face, a concealment charm hiding the bruising, trying to think of somewhere to go that wasn't home. She ended up at a park bench somewhere in the muggle part of the city and just sat there, thinking about her life and what had become of her marriage, the realization washing over her that she had no where to go, no friends whose doorstep she could arrive on with her bags packed if she left Ron. The tears flowed again and she let them fall unabashedly to the ground as she cried for everything she once had. It hadn't always been awful with Ron. She remembered their first two years of marriage when they were happy. Sure Ron had his issues with having lost his brother to the war, and everything he had seen, but for all intents and purposes they had been happy then. She remembered him carrying her over the threshold on their wedding night and how they had made love for the first time, being able to say they were each other's firsts. She remembered the conversations they had about starting a family of their own, and the plans they had made. Work for a couple years, save enough to buy a bigger house in the country where Ron could teach the kids to play quidditch out of sight of prying muggle eyes, but as Ron got more famous with the Cannons, and was away more he started to become increasingly distant. Hermione wondered if there was truth to the many stories she heard about what happened on those trips, but always wanted to believe in Ron's fidelity. Then the injury happened and he became moody and depressed. Focused solely on physiotherapy and trying to get his career back despite being told he may never be able to play professional quidditch again. They were already struggling by this point before what perhaps should have been the nail in the coffin of their marriage, the night with Harry. That was also when Ron's heavy drinking started. After that Hermione made sure to secretly cast contraception spells on herself so there could be no chance of accidentally bringing a child into the mess that was their lives.

As the sun began to rise over London, Hermione silently dried her eyes, cast a charm to make herself look more presentable and made her way to work early. It was only 6am when she arrived at her office. She was three hours early. She looked at the telephone sitting on her desk and noticed the flashing red light. She cursed herself inwardly for helping the office learn to use some muggle technology, knowing there was probably an entire inbox worth of messages from Ron waiting to be heard. With a sigh she picked up the receiver and punched in the passcode for her extension. She had been right. They were all from Ron. Messages saying he shouldn't have done what he did, messages begging her to come home, messages saying he couldn't stop picturing her in bed with another man if that's where she was, and finally a rather calm message swearing that he would quit drinking and would do what it took not to lose her. Hermione deleted them all and leaned back in her desk chair.

It's not like I have anywhere to go anyway. My parents were found and murdered by Voldemort, my best friend thinks I'm a slut who wants her husband, my other best friend is the reason the former believes that, and everyone else from Hogwarts that was my friend has either moved on, or died in the war. I made a commitment to this man, and he's really all I have. Maybe he actually will quit drinking this time. A part of her chastised herself for being so pathetically naïve, but the other part, the steadfast stubborn part, reminded her this is the bed she made and she now has to lay in it.

At 8:30 Hermione double checked her concealment charm was still hiding the bruising on her face and began the process of starting her day. She reviewed her day planner and checked on appointments that she had, as well as any appointments the Minister had in case she needed to remind him. Everything looked pretty standard, one meeting with all of the department heads in the morning for both her and Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic, and then one appointment for just him in the afternoon. All it said was "Meeting D.M. 12:30pm. Undisclosed location." That's odd, she thought to herself, normally I know exactly who and where the Minister sees and goes. She put it out of her mind, stood up, smoothed her skirt and prepared to walk to the Department Head meeting. She thanked Merlin that Harry had never made it to be head of the Auror Department. Not because she didn't want her former friend to succeed, but because she just couldn't take the awkwardness. She had somehow managed to avoid him for the past nine years, and she planned to keep it that way, especially if there was any hope of salvaging the rubble that was her marriage.

The meeting went off without a hitch, leaving Hermione in a much better mood than she started the day with. She even decided to walk over to the deli across the street to grab some lunch and a coffee. Normally she was the type to not be able to eat when she was upset so she mentally patted herself on the back for at least doing that simple thing. She had completely forgotten the strangely vague appointment the minister had over lunch and sat at her desk eating her sandwich and drinking her black coffee. She had just finished eating when she heard a knock on her office door.

"Come in." She answered sitting up properly in her desk chair. Kingsley walked in smiling.

"Hello Hermione, I hope we didn't interrupt you. I just wanted to introduce…well re-introduce as the two of you did know eachother once upon a time…" It was as if Kingsley had just remembered something unpleasant and wasn't sure how to continue his sentence.

"Um, Kingsley? Are you planning on actually telling me who this mystery person is or should I commence twenty questions?" She said jokingly. Thankfully with all their history with the order, she and Kingsley were not just colleagues but friends and she could tease him in moments like this.

"Right, sorry, so we had to hire someone to consult on some Ministry business, overseas co-operation and the like, and well…" Just then someone appeared from behind Kingsley and strode up to Hermione with his hand out to shake. Hermione stood frozen. Blonde hair, grey piercing eyes, skin that was barely darker than a sheet of paper. She definitely knew this person and now completely understood Kingsley's earlier hesitation.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione practically spat as she stiffly shook his hand.

"Come on Granger, you can't be THAT upset to see me after all these years." His voice had lost some of it's youthful arrogance and condescension.

"I never said I was upset Mr. Malfoy, I am just surprised that someone as important as Minister Shacklebolt could possibly have use for someone like you." She knew it was unprofessional, she knew she shouldn't have said it, but at this moment in time she could not have cared less.

"Someone like me? Frankly Miss Granger I don't think you know anything about me. Or are we exclusively going based on the prat I was at Hogwarts? People do change you know." Despite her insult he seemed calm, collected but still oddly polite.

"First of all Mr. Malfoy it is not Miss Granger, but Mrs. Weasley," She put particular emphasis on the Mrs. "And secondly you were more than just a prat and I have yet to see a serpent change its ways." Hermione felt his eyes linger on the left side of her face and silently prayed that her concealment charm hadn't worn off. She had forgotten to reapply it when she returned from the Deli and they only last so long. His eyes lingered too long to have not seen anything and she saw something flash in his eyes but as quickly as it was there, it was gone.

"I will prove to you Mrs. Weasley that it can and has been done. You'll have plenty of time to see that since we will be working in close proximity now that I am consulting with Minister Shacklebolt. I must be going now however. As always, a pleasure speaking with you…" He paused and winked as he turned to walk away "Hermione." And then he was gone. All that was left of him was (and Hermione hated to admit it) a faint but very pleasant cologne smell and she had to admit she was thankful at least that he hadn't said anything about the bruise.

"Well…that was marginally more pleasant than I predicted that going." Kingsley said sitting across from Hermione at her desk.

"Yes, well…Kingsley you could have WARNED me! Draco Malfoy? Of all people to hire it had to be Draco Malfoy?!" She exclaimed while silently praying that Kinglsey wouldn't notice what Malfoy clearly had, the Minister wasn't always the most observant of men so there was a chance she might be able to get away without him seeing it and recast the charm as soon as he left her office.

"You're right, I should have. I'm s-." And he stopped, his face morphing into a look she had never seen on his face, a contorted blend of anger and concern. "What the hell happened to your face?!"… He noticed. And he knew full well what had happened but he was waiting to hear it from her.

"Nothing. I tripped and fell last night. It was dark and I went to get a glass of water and tripped on the edge of a rug, that's all. It looks worse than it is." She lied. His facial expression didn't change and she knew he could tell that she wasn't being honest with him, but he didn't press the issue.

"Okay, well use Lumos next time." That was all he said before leaving her office mumbling something about important things to attend to. Hermione felt awful. She had just lied to someone she had never in her life thought about lying to especially about something like this. Was she becoming one of those women? A woman that lies about her abusive husband and keeps believing he will change? She reminded herself it was only once, in the heat of the moment and that that did not an abusive husband make, and ignored the voice in her head telling her she was being naïve again. She went back to her work and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.

At 5:30 that evening, Hermione decided to leave work for the day and head home. She had called Ron an hour before to let him know that she was coming home and was surprised to find that he sounded sober. Maybe, she thought as she arrived at their flat, he really was serious and things can actually get better. She took a deep breath and opened the door to the flat. She was shocked to hear soft music playing, and instead of the smell of alcohol, she smelled something delicious cooking. She noticed the lights had been dimmed and the dining room table had candles lit. She kicked off her shoes and went in search of Ron and found him in the kitchen wearing an apron working hard on what appeared to be her favourite dinner. Roast beef with homemade Yorkshire pudding. She wrapped her arms around his back.

"Hello gorgeous." He said turning around in her arms.

"Hello back." She said smiling cautiously. She watched his eyes search her face and she knew exactly what he was looking for.

"Concealment charm?" He asked quietly his face turning solemn.

"Yeah." She cast her eyes down at the floor until she felt a hand gently tip her chin up. Her honey brown eyes met his deep blue and for a moment she was sure she saw the old Ron.

"Hermione I really am sorry. I should never have done that to you. No woman ever deserves that. I promise I will never do anything like that to you again." He kissed her lips and pressed her body against his. It felt like the first year they were married again. Hermione knew of course that it wasn't and everything had changed, but for now he was here and sober and this was the first time in many months that they had come close to anything resembling intimacy and so she decided to ride the wave as long as she could. "Come on, dinner is ready." He said smiling and leading her to the dining room. He pulled out her chair and pushed it back in when she was seated, he served the food on their good wedding china, and when they were done he cleared the table and did the dishes. While he was busy, Hermione slinked off into their bedroom, cast a contraceptive charm, and slipped on lingerie she hadn't even touched in over a year. If Ron was going to make an effort, she would too and she climbed up into their king size bed and waited, right in the middle of it.

"Hermione? Where'd you g-" Ron stopped mid-question as he found his wife waiting for him in their bed. She smiled shyly at him.

"I thought I would do something for you since you went to all this trouble for me."

"I wanted to show you I was serious."

"And I wanted to show you I believe you." She said watching him as his eyes roamed her body hungrily. Ron climbed into the bed and began softly kissing Hermione's neck. She let her eyes close and her mind drift. She once again thought of their first night together, all fumbling hands and inexperience but happier than she had ever felt. She felt her skin getting goosebumps as Ron's familiar hands caressed the skin of her inner thighs, his lips on her neck, her chest, his tongue trailing circles around her nipples through the lacy fabric of her negligée. She arched her back pressing herself into him a soft moan falling from her lips. She had forgotten how well they had gotten to know each other this way. It had been so long since Ron was sober enough to have anything other than sloppy, obligatory on Hermione's part, drunken sex and she was determined to soak up every second of it. She cleared her mind of anything but the two of them as Ron slowly entered her first with one finger, then two, curling and pumping in and out while her nails scratched his back, pulled his hair, and she moaned with pleasure. Just before she reached the edge he entered her and she wrapped her legs around him pulling him in deeper as she exploded around him. Hermione swore she stars as her orgasm washed over her in waves while Ron kept going, until he finally finished, collapsing gently on top of her. They slept as they landed that night. A tangled mess of limbs, and when Hermione awoke to go to work the next day, she found herself smiling like a kid on Christmas. The mood shattered slightly when she looked in the mirror and found the giant hand shaped bruise, but she cast her concealment charm, and went about getting dressed, determined to continue in her good mood.

Hermione walked into her office smiling and cheery and almost didn't notice a blonde haired someone sitting on the edge of her desk.

"You're chipper this morning." Draco Malfoy said smirking. Hermione jumped a little at the sound of his voice.

"What are you doing in my office?" She asked with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"Well, I got here early for my meeting with Kinglsey and thought I would see if you wanted a coffee or something?"

"Why, so you can poison it and rid the world of one more trumped up mudblood?" She saw him flinch at her words which she found surprising but it didn't make her regret her decision to say them. After everything he had put her through in the past, and everything that happened at his manor…she wouldn't think about that last part, but he definitely didn't deserve her kindness, let alone any kind of polite conversation.

"Is that really what you think of me Hermione?" He sounded hurt, his voice was quiet and not the arrogant Draco she knew.

"It's how I knew you for years Draco. You hated me remember? You became a death eater. You believed muggle-borns were a scourge and a waste of magic, or am I wrong?"

"No. You're not wrong, but I was. I was just repeating whatever drivel I heard at home. I was an arrogant, pompous prick and as for being a death eater, I never actually wanted to be. I wanted to please my family by joining up and to regain some of the favour with Voldemort that my father had lost. It wasn't until…you know what I don't really need to explain all of this to you. If you hate me that much I doubt I can really change your mind to begin with. Who would have thought Hermione Granger, Weasley, whatever you go by now would be so closed minded to the idea that people can change." He started to leave and Hermione thought about the blind faith she was putting in her husband despite him having hit her, and his drunken behaviour prior. Maybe she was being too hard on Malfoy. It had been over a decade after all.

"Malfoy….Draco….wait." She said touching his arm gently to stop him from leaving her office. "I'm sorry. You're right. People can change. You don't have to explain to me why you did, but if you ever want to, I would be willing to listen."

"Thank you. Maybe one day I will take you up on that. For now, a peace offering. What do you take in your coffee?" He said with a half-smile.

"Just black. Thanks Draco."

Draco returned ten minutes later with three coffees in hand. One for himself, one for Hermione and obviously one for Kingsley. He handed Hermione hers, smiled and walked away to meet the minister. Hermione settled herself behind her desk and began sifting through her work for the day and pushed the weirdness of nice Draco Malfoy out of her head so she could focus. She worked quickly so she could once again leave on time to get home for dinner. Her stomach had butterflies, she was hoping she would once again walk in to a happy and sober Ron. She really wanted to believe him when he said he wanted to change, and the only way she could do that was to give him the continued benefit of the doubt that he was telling the truth. She pushed away her anxiety and walked purposefully to her car and drove home.

Hermione walked in the door to her flat and took note. Still no alcohol bottles, smell of food cooking, and the house still clean. She took off her shoes and hung up her purse before walking into the kitchen. There was Ron once again in his apron, cooking. She slipped her arms around him from behind and felt him jump a little before relaxing in her arms.

"I didn't think I was that quiet coming in." She said with a small giggle. "I hope I didn't scare you."

"A little." He said smiling. "How was your day?"

"Oh the usual. Paperwork piles a foot high. There was an odd development though, Draco Malfoy is apparently Mr. Nice Guy now." She saw Ron's back tense and hoped she hadn't set him off. She knew how vehemently he hated "The Ferret" as Harry and Ron always called him.

"When did you see Ferret boy?" Ron asked through clenched teeth.

"Kingsley hired him to consult on something, I'm not overly sure what. He was waiting in my office this morning to see if I wanted a coffee. He's trying to prove to the world that he's changed I guess." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's not really a big deal Ron. Maybe he has changed, people do do that from time to time you know." She knew the last part might have been a little pointed but if Ron noticed, he didn't say anything.

"I don't like the idea of a Malfoy buying my wife coffee…" Ron said, clearly unimpressed with the situation.

"It's just a coffee from a colleague Ron, it's not a big deal. Anyway, new topic. How was your day? I see you've been busy cooking what appears to be a yummy seafood linguine."

Ron smiled. "Yeah I went shopping and bought all the stuff for it. I uh…also called around for some support groups both wizarding and muggle…to deal with ya know…the drinking." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't want to lose you Hermione."

She hugged him and burrowed her face in his neck. "I'm here Ron and I'm not going anywhere. I'm proud of you."

"I love you Hermione." He said kissing her forehead.

"I love you too Ron. I'm going to go get changed for dinner."

Hermione went through her drawers trying to find something cute to wear and settled on an old muggle band t-shirt and her favourite pair of dark denim skinny jeans. She knew they made her backside look perfect and that Ron would appreciate the view. She couldn't believe that she could go from contemplating leaving him, to his complete 180 degree turn around in a matter of a day or two. She was still skeptical, but she was also in love with Ron and wanted it to work. When she walked back into the dining room Ron was just setting their plates down. His jaw dropped to the floor when he looked over his wife.

"Can we just skip dinner and go right to the dessert?" He winked.

"I would say yes, but you worked so hard and frankly I am starving. It'll be worth the wait." She said winking back.

After dinner Ron carried Hermione to their bedroom where once again they made love, this time a little more passionately. Hermione even had to mend her shirt afterwards with a sewing spell. She still couldn't believe this was real, she had had so many miserable years with Ron's drinking that it was hard for her logical brain to believe her life could get this much better this fast. She laid awake long after Ron was snoring thinking about it. She couldn't help but feel anxious that this wouldn't last. The odds weren't in her favour, but as long as things were good, she would ride the wave and see where it took her.