Chapter 2
Hermione sighed as she gathered up her papers, trying to at least leave her office in some sort of organized manner instead of the mess it usually was in the middle of one of her cases. Of course she would be running late; she always thought she could finish one last thing before her meetings with Harry, but one more thing always turned into a few more things, and before she knew it, she was already twenty minutes late.
She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, opting to sleep in her daughter's room after extending her bed to fit them both. She was tired of fighting the same argument with Ron, and they were beginning to fall into a rut. Sometimes it felt like they had been married for thirty years already, instead of the three years it had actually been.
She grabbed her purse and shoved her wand in it.
"By all means, take your time," Harry said, leaning against the door, grinning at her. He was holding a bag of take out, and she felt her heart swell at him.
"I'm sorry," she said sheepishly, as she placed her purse down. Harry shook his head, as he placed the food in front of her. She used her wand to move her papers to the side to create room for the both of them to eat at her desk.
He leaned in, and pulled her in for a hug, and she felt herself relaxing in the arms of her oldest friend.
"Hermione, you're in the middle of a big case; if I didn't expect you to be occupied with that then what kind of friend would I be? We all know when you're trying to come up with a prosecution that will guarantee the defendant is imprisoned for his crimes, that we should leave you be. It's not unlike how it was back in Hogwarts before exams. Warning: Mess with Hermione Granger-Weasley at your own risk," Harry joked as he pulled away from him.
She faked a hurt look, "Very funny, Mr Potter. I had not expected such hurtful statements from you."
He simply grinned as he began opening up the boxes of food, giving her the container of fish and chips from the small muggle store just outside Diagon Alley that both of them had coveted and often gone to."
"Did I mention how great a friend you are?" she said, as she smiled at her friend.
"It wouldn't hurt if you said it a few more times," he said nonchalantly.
"Prat," she laughed, shaking her head at him.
"I heard about the promotion, by the way," Harry said, looking proud of her, "Congrats on that! I mean, we all knew you were a shoe-in for the position; it would have been a crime to have given it to anyone else."
"Thanks," she said, smiling softly, "If only everyone felt that way."
"Ron?" Harry frowned, "Tell me he's still not going on about you being a stay at home mother."
"You know how he is," she said softly, looking down as she subconsciously rubbed her wrist.
"Hermione, you know he's wrong, right? Don't get me wrong, you're a brilliant mother to Rose; we all see that. But you're not meant for that life; you wouldn't be happy in that life. Everyone could always see it, even back in school. You were meant to accomplish great things; Hell I wouldn't be surprised if one day you were the Minister of Magic. If you want I can-" he started before looking down at her wrist.
Hermione took in a deep breath, as she cursed at herself for forgetting the glamour charm would have been removed upon her entry into the office to prevent intruders from getting in, and in so removing the cover she had placed upon the bruises Ron had given her. She quickly pulled her sleeve over them, trying to hide it naturally without Harry noticing.
When she looked up at him, she saw him frowning; a troubled look heavily placed on his face.
"Hermione," he said softly, "Is everything okay with you and Ron?" he asked her as he looked up at her face and away from her wrist. "You would tell me if you were having trouble right? I know you and I might be married to Weasleys, but that doesn't change that I love you. You're family to me, even without our marriages be what ties us together. You've always been like a sister to me, and I don't want you to feel like you have no one to talk to. Especially if you need to talk to someone outside your marriage about things."
"I-" she said, feeling slightly overwhelmed. It wasn't that she didn't think she could talk to Harry. But with him married to Ginny, it had often made her worry if she would be welcome to talk about her problems to them when Ron was Ginny's brother, and Ginny was Harry's wife.
"I need some time, Harry," she said softly, "I need to figure out what I'm going to do, but I promise I'll come to you after. I promise I'll talk to you, okay? Just give me a bit of time."
He smiled at her sadly, and as he vanished his empty container, he stood to leave. He made his way over to where she was sitting and kissed her softly on the forehead.
"Just know I'm always here when you're ready," he promised her as he left her office.
She exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding and when a few tears slipped down her eyes, she quickly wiped them away. Grabbing her wand, she healed the bruises quickly, like she should have just done the first time, before throwing herself back into her work.
Hermione sighed as she made her way back into the Arithmacy classroom the lecture after she had been told she was partnered with Malfoy, much to her utter dismay. She hadn't told Harry or Ron about it, not that she was currently speaking to Ron. She just didn't want them to overreact as she knew they were bound to do, and demand unnecessary things, such as her switching partners, dropping the class, using it to spy on Malfoy, or whatever other unreasonable request they came up.
The class wasn't large, and the majority could care less that she had been partnered with the bane of her existence, even if it was tearing her apart.
She had suffered through years of Voldemort, dark spells, Umbridge, being petrified, going after a known criminal and a werewolf, and Merlin knows so many other endeavours. And she had survived all of that. So she could put up with being paired with a prat who hated her, and probably wished she was dead, right?
She sighed as she threw herself into the lecture the professor was giving, hoping by some chance she wouldn't force them to work on the project today. It wasn't that she didn't want to do it, she had already found a topic that she wanted to research. But she wanted to avoid working with Malfoy; just until she had come up with some sort of plan or the other on how she would handle the situation with him, and how they could both get through this assignment without killing each other.
Death by Arithmancy; she knew that some of the numbers had strong magical properties, but it wasn't the numbers alone that could kill someone. It was bigger than that. So death by learning the subject itself was a longshot.
Yet here she was, wondering just how long she had before it eventually consumed her.
Of course, nothing could ever go her way, as when class had less than ten minutes left, Professor Vector decided to give them some time to work on their projects, much to her dismay.
And of course Malfoy would make no inclinations of coming to sit by her, so once again, it was left to her to go join the bane of her existence.
"I had a few ideas on what we could do," she said, after a few moments of silence next to the blonde, who once again did not acknowledge her. "Personally, I'm partial to applying the old Chaldean Method to current Arithmacy, and seeing just how well it carries over. Granted, it's a far lesser known method, so it could make research hard, but I'm sure if we knew where to look we could find the right sources on the material."
When he made no indication of responding, she hesitated, before calling out, "Malfoy?"
"I heard you, Granger," he said, looking directly at her with cold eyes, and she almost wished he hadn't. "Look, I'm busy, you're busy, so how about we just do both of our parts alone, and then merge them together with a spell after. That way I don't have to see you, and you don't have to see me."
And with that, he stood, exiting the classroom once again before it was over, leaving her huffing. If that was how he wanted to work on it, it was fine by her. It wasn't as if she wanted to spend any more time hanging out with him than necessary.
To say Draco was a little worried would be an understatement. He wasn't sure what had happened earlier, but it was clear that something had affected Harry during his visit with Hermione. All he knew was that when Harry left, he was smiling and happy, but when he returned, he seemed upset, and even a little crushed. It wasn't his place to pry, and that was what he told himself when he had asked and Harry shook his head, saying he couldn't talk about it; didn't want to talk about it.
He knew Granger and Harry often had fought when they were at school, or rather Harry had taken the Weasley's side over hers, and left her hurt. But since they had graduated, Harry and Hermione had rarely fought, so it was strange to see him acting as such. He definitely didn't want to ask if Potter had sided with Weasley over Granger over some marital issue, because that definitely would be prying, and wasn't his place to ask about.
So when he gathered the case files to drop off at Granger's, Harry looked up at him.
"Are you going to see Hermione?" Harry asked, in a gruff voice.
Draco nodded to his partner, wondering just what the bloody hell was going on.
"See if she's okay, will you? Don't mention anything. But see if she's doing okay. I need to know if she's okay," Harry said, frowning.
So that definitely ruled out that he took Weasley's side over hers; back in school he was rarely as concerned when he had sided with one friend over the other.
He grabbed his stuff from the desk, and walked over to the floo network, appearing at the prosecution offices a few seconds later.
"I'm here to see Hermione Granger-Weasley?" he asked the new female receptionist, Myra. He hadn't met her many times before, and from the way her eyes lit up when she looked up at him, she certainly remembered him.
"She's free now, Mr Malfoy!" the girl said, grinning brightly at him, "But of course if you'd rather stay out here and wait until she calls you in, I'd be perfectly happy keeping you company until then."
He almost laughed aloud at her flirting attempt, but decided against it; there were still so many people out for his blood, he didn't need to add another one to that list.
"That's okay, Myra; I'll go see if she's free now," he said, quickly walking over to Granger's office to avoid anymore flirting attempts."
He knocked on the door, before opening it, to reveal Hermione with her head between her hands, looking upset.
"Is now a bad time?" he asked her, softly. He had rarely seen her so upset, and it always hurt to see her looking any less than happy.
"Did Harry send you?" she asked warily as she looked up to see him standing there.
"I have the case files for the Delaney investigation," Draco said softly as he made his way into her office and into one of her chairs. She tried to put on a smile, and even he could tell it was forced.
As an Auror, his office often worked closely with the Prosecution office after each case had been solved to ensure that the criminals were always properly locked up with the punishments they deserved. Even if they missing the smallest of details, it could be the difference of whether or not the criminal walked or not, so they always had to be very throughout.
And as a result, he had often seen Hermione over the last few years. Especially since him and Potter had been partnered up, it had brought them into close proximity for the first time since they were in school together.
Despite being proved innocent, it had been a while before Potter had fully trusted him, despite partners needing to have a decent trust in their fellow Auror. But once he did, he had always made Draco feel as if he were part of the family; inviting him to dinner with him, his wife, and Granger and Weasley.
So suffice to say that him and Granger had become something of friends themselves over the past few years, despite not being as close.
"Are you okay?" he asked her softly, and when she didn't meet his eyes, he had his answer.
"Did Harry tell you?" she asked, a bit upset.
"He didn't say anything, if that's what you're worried about," Draco quickly reassured her. "You seem rather upset, and I'm worried about you."
"Why?" she asked, taking in a deep breath, before looking up at his with her dark brown eyes.
"Because I care about you?" he told her softly, "Because you're my friend. Because of who you are and who I am."
He wasn't sure if it was just wistful thinking, but she looked a bit disappointed when he mentioned the word 'friend', and he didn't blame her.
"You know you can always talk to me, right Hermione?" he asked her softly, needing to be sure she understood that. "Regardless of our pasts, and who we used to be, we're friends, and I care about you. If something is wrong, you don't have to suffer through it alone. You have people all around you who love you and care about you."
"Thanks Malfoy," she said, giving him a slight smile, and he squeezed her hand lightly, before gathering up his things and standing up.
"If you have any concerns or questions about the case files, contact me, and I'll come to help out every way I can," he said, giving her a look.
She nodded softly, and he walked out to the floo, a little unsettled at seeing her look hurt and upset.
Hermione sighed to herself, rubbing her cleared up wrist as she gathered up all her things. It had been a long day, and despite not seeing her husband since the night before, she was hardly keen on seeing him again tonight.
She was so tired of all of it, all the fighting and the arguing, the sleeping in her daughter's bed to avoid him, the feeling that she was always wrong, despite knowing otherwise. She was tired of him making her feel small and insignificant, and of trying to tell her, demand her, how to live her own life.
And one day away from it all didn't give her all the answers she needed.
It was complicated; it wasn't just about Ron, but their family.
Her own parents were still in Australia, wanting nothing to do with magic or with her, so the Weasleys were all she and her daughter had. To leave Ron would deprive her daughter of all her cousins, aunts and uncles, and her only grandparents. And while her marriage was unhappy, didn't her daughter deserve to grow up feeling loved, surrounded by people who cared about her? It would no doubt put a strain on her relationship with the family if she decided she didn't want to stay married anymore.
And while she loved Harry, and had no doubt he would take her side, he didn't want to make his life difficult. Why should he and Ginny suffer because she was unhappy?
She sighed to herself as she headed over to the floo, appearing at her home a few moments later, unsure of what to expect.
Somehow, she felt she shouldn't have been surprised to see her husband passed out on the couch, with a bottle of firewhisky still in his hand and several more on the table beside him.
Rose was walking around, playing with some of her toys, and looked up excited to see her mother home.
"Mama!" Rose cried out, and Hermione picked up her daughter.
"Hi, Rose," she kissed her on the cheek, "How was your day? Did you eat dinner at Grandma's?"
Rose nodded as she wrapped her arms around Hermione's neck, and Hermione took her daughter to her room. It was getting late, and she should have been fast asleep by now. She placed Rose on her still enlarged bed, and lay down beside her gently.
"You know Mummy loves you, right Rose?" Hermione murmured softly, as she held her daughter close.
"Mmhm," Rose giggled, "And I love Mummy too."
Hermione smiled at that as she stroked her daughter's hair, and the toddler fell asleep within a few moments.
She wished it would be as simple for her, where instead her mind was clouded with thoughts and uncertainty. She had no idea what she was going to do, but for tonight she settled for sleep. She would talk to Harry soon, when she was more certain if she wanted to stay in her marriage or leave it, and hopefully he would understand either way.