Disclaimer: If I were J.K.R. Hermione and Ron never would have gotten together. 'Nuf said?

- Silent Incision


Deception

I know that this is wrong. I know that I should call it off while I still can. I need to call things off between us, tonight.

She ran a hand through her damp hair, muttering a quick spell, leaving her normally unmanageable mane sleek, slightly curly, and dry. She walked over to her wardrobe, selecting a gorgeous black dress that complimented her curves perfectly, and then grabbed a pair of strappy heels. Another spell was used instead of struggling with an eyeliner pencil, and then she grabbed a black purse and left the flat silently, locking the door behind her before aparating in front of Le Chien Noir, a fancy restaurant that caters only to the rich or famous.

"Bonjour madame. Do you have a reservation?" the maître d' asked her politely.
(Hello Ma'am)

"Oui, under Malfoy. For two." She smiled, toying with a strand of her hair. She was nervous, that much was clear. She followed the maître d' to a secluded table in the corner, waiting anxiously for Draco's arrival. Two menus were delivered to the table just as she spotted his blonde head heading toward her.

"Hermione" he greeted her warmly, his deep voice sending tingles down her spine as always. "You look beautiful." Draco ordered wine for the two of them and the two were silent as they looked over the menus and ordered when the waiter arrived.

"I got you something." She smiled at him, surprised by the unexpected gift as he handed her a long, silver case.

"You didn't need to get me anything, you know." She murmured, opening the case to reveal a gorgeous silver necklace with a small diamond drop hanging from the end. "Wow, Draco. This is beautiful, I love it. Thank you."
He walked over to stand behind her as he took the necklace from her grasp. She lifted her hair off of her shoulders so that he could easily fasten the clasp before letting go of the necklace. Draco brushed his fingers lightly down Hermione's cheek, kissing her lightly on the lips before sitting back down.

"Voilà le Striploin Grillé, et pour vous, madame, le Poulet Doux, bon appétit." The waiter poured them both wine, before bowing and leaving them alone.
(Here is the Grilled Striploin, and for you, ma'am, the Balsamic Chicken, enjoy your meal.)

"Draco?" She asked, her forehead wrinkling in worry.

He sighed, knowing what she was going to say. "I know, Hermione. I know that he" he gestured vaguely toward her left hand "would kill us both if he found out. Just enjoy your meal, please. We'll talk about heavy things later tonight, I promise." He smiled sadly at the beautiful woman seated across the table from him, carefully cutting his steak into small pieces. "Do you like the wine?"

She took a sip of the wine. "It's delicious. But then again, you picked it out. You've practically been raised to know what wine is good with what meal, haven't you?" she teased him, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. "It's perfect. Tonight, I mean. The wine too. It's…thank you, Draco."

They ate their meal, talking about anything that came into their minds, flirting and kissing occasionally.

Once they had finished and paid, Draco stood and pulled out Hermione's chair for her, taking her arm as he lead the two off out of the restaurant.

"Draco, I should probably…" she trailed off, leaning up to kiss him, enjoying the tang of wine she could taste on his lips.

"Just tonight. Come back with me tonight. You know that he won't be home. He'll never know." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling Hermione into him. "You know you want to." he whispered into her ear.

"Fine, but you promised that we wouldtalk about this, Draco. This won't be like the last time you said that, and then proceeded to…distract me for the rest of the evening. We need to talk about this and you know it." He sighed, nodding his head before aparating them back to his Manor.

As soon as they steadied themselves, his mouth was on her neck and shoulders; planting small kisses and bites wherever he could reach. "I love you, you know that?"

She merely moaned slightly in response before pulling away. "Talk, Draco. We need to do that. Distractions can come after, alright?" he made a face at her but lead the brunette to his living room anyway.

Nineteen years after graduating Hogwarts, after the war had ended, she found herself married to one Ronald Weasley. And she also found herself with two slightly unwanted attachments. Hermione loved Rose and Hugo with all of her heart, but the fact was she didn't want kids at this point of her life. Not with Ron, in any case. The only thing saving her from having at least three more was a little bit of wandless magic on her part, a quick contraceptive spell that Ron would hopefully never find out about.

Draco himself was married at one point, with a little boy, Scorpius, the same age as Hermione's own Rose. But his ex wife, Marie, had left him one day, taking Scorpius with her, and the only time he had heard from her since was when she delivered the divorce papers.

He was upset at the loss of his son, but the only reason that he and Marie had married in the first place was because of the arranged marriage that their parents had arranged before either of them was even born. Months after she was officially divorced from him, Draco found himself noticing one of his co-workers more often than was strictly professional, and had quickly struck up a friendship with one Hermione Wealsey.

He had let go of his old prejudices when he had realised, back in the seventh year, just how warped the opinions of Lord Voldemort and his followers really was. It took Hermione a little while to believe that he was telling the truth about this, even after he had fought on their side during the war, and joined the Ministry as an Auror soon after graduation, using his rather intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Death Eaters to help round up those still remaining free, but after a couple days of convincing, Draco managed to make her see that his opinions were real, not just some sham.

Their friendship had grown slowly, and then one afternoon a surprised Draco had opened his door to find a crying Hermione waiting for him. She confessed that her marriage to Ron was not the brightest thing for her to do, because while she had always loved him, she simply wasn't in love with him, and never could be. She told him that it was just one of those things that she did because it was expected of her, and she thought that she could grow to be in love with him, and that things would work out.

They confessed secrets to each other that night that they would not have dared share with anyone else. Hermione told Draco of how she didn't want kids with someone that she was not in love with, and Draco told her in turn of the numerous affairs that both he and Marie had, how they were only together to appease their parents and public eye. He told her how much happier he was without her in his life, free to be with who he wished. She felt that she couldn't end things with Ron, not just because of the children, but because she couldn't bear to do that to any of them, the Wealseys, Harry, certainly not Ron himself. She told him how trapped she felt.

Draco helped her be free, for those hours that they spent together.

That was the night that their friendship changed altogether into something different, something more. That was the night that they had first shared real secrets, the first time that they had shared a bed.

In the year that had passed since, they taught each other about love and loving, about deceit, secrets, lies. Hermione rarely spent the night with Draco, having to return home to her husband and children, but the two of them always treasured those nights that they did have together.

"We need to stop this, Draco." Her voice was soft, she wouldn't meet his eyes. "You know it as well as I do. I can't keep doing this to Ron. Ginny has begun to suspect something isn't quite right, she keeps asking me if everything is okay between Ron and I." Her voice broke as a few tears slipped down her cheeks. "You know I love you, but this needs to end tonight."

He stood from the sofa, pacing in front of her before stopping. "No."

"Wha – Draco…this isn't…"

"Do you love him? Enough to actually want to be with him? Forget everything else right now. If you could choose, would you be with him?" he dropped to his knees in front of her, his steely eyes locked with her warm chocolate ones, his hands grasping hers tightly.

"No. If I could choose, I wouldn't be married to him."

"Would you be with me, if you could be? Ignoring everything else?"

"Yes." Her voice was broken, barely above a whisper.

"Then don't do this, don't call us off. If you love me, and not him, divorce him for Merlin's sake! You can do it, you know that you can. You've got it in you, you know. I want to be with you, and not in secret, either."

She shook her head, pulling her hands from his and crossing to the other side of the room. "I can't do that and you know it. Don't ask me to, please Draco. I love you, and I wish that I could be with you, but unfortunately, real life doesn't come with 'forget everything else'. Everything else will always be there, and there's nothing you or I can do to change that! If we couldmake everything else go away, then yes, I'd do it! But we can't. We can't do that and you know it. So don't ask me to leave him for you. The Weasleys took me in. They're my family; they accepted me when no one else except for Harry did. So don't ask me to throw that away." She wiped her tears away with an angry fist, her back to him as she looked out a window overlooking the lake in his backyard. "I love you, Draco, but everything else won't just disappear because of that."

He came behind her and turned her around gently, wiping away the last of her tears with his thumb. "Let's leave, then. Go off to America, or anywhere! We may not be able to escape things here, but we can if we leave. You know that you want to do this, and I understand that you're afraid, but –"

"Afraid?" she demanded, her voice shrill in annoyance. "You think that that's it? You're asking me to give up everything for you, Draco. My job, my friends, family, children, my whole life. Everything. I can't just do that on a whim. Draco. This needs to end. You need to move on, and I need to go back to my husband, stop cheating on him and be a good wife."

Hermione stormed off toward the door, pausing to unclasp her necklace and let it fall on the table. "You can keep that. It's over, and it'll save me from trying to explain to Ron how I could afford that." While the Wealsey family was a lot better off now, they still didn't have the money to splurge on diamond necklaces, plus Ron would know immediately that Hermione wouldn't have bought that, she would have saved the money instead. "Goodbye, Draco."

"He doesn't deserve you, Hermione, and you know it! We both know that he sneaks around with Lavender Brown. Hermione!" Draco's voice was flat, resigned. He knew that there was nothing he could do to make her turn around at this point. All he could do is hope that she would regret this come morning and things would go back to they way they were between them.

She didn't even flinch at his words, merely turned on the spot and disaperated, landing at the doorway to the flat she shared with Ron and her children.

She let herself in, glad that Ron had taken the kids with him to visit the Burrow. She had insisted that they go without her, saying she had a lot of paperwork to catch up on, but asked him to give the family her love. In reality, she just wanted to be with Draco one last time.

She flicked on a light and gasped in shock, seeing none other than Ginny Potter seated on her sofa. "Ginny! What on Earth are you doing here? You scared me half to death!"

"You're looking rather nice for a night of paperwork." Ginny's eyes were cold, her tone sharp as she stood. "I came to talk to you about Harry's birthday party next week, but you weren't home, so I decided to wait to see what you were up to. Cheating on my brother, are you?"

"Ginny, I wasn't –"

"I'm not stupid, Hermione. I knew that something was going on with you, but I had no proof, until now. Now you'd better explain this to me, and fast. I thought that we were friends? I thought that you loved him? What the hell has been going on here?"