Freedom
She woke with the light of the sun coming in through her windows pleasantly. She breathed deeply, then pulled the covers back and swung her legs around to he side of the bed.
She went into Hugo's room and saw that he was still asleep. His little mouth hung open peacefully, and she couldn't help but feel the swelling in her chest when she looked at him.
She shut the door as quietly as she could and walked to the kitchen. Taking out a bowl and pouring some cereal, she settled down at the table to eat her breakfast quietly. Her right arm reached for the slip of paper on the table, and sliding it to herself she read the messy handwriting, "Harry and I are on a case about a dark wizard down in Italy. We might be gone a couple days. Don't worry about me. Love you, Ron".
She sighed. It wasn't that uncommon for him to leave for days at a time, and sadly not uncommon for him to let her know beforehand. He'd long since stopped waking her to say goodbye in the morning.
She finished her cereal and rinsed the dishes in the sink. It was seven-thirty by the time she was finished, and she knew it was time to start getting dressed.
She stripped off her pajamas, laying them neatly in her hamper, and stepped in for a nice, warm shower. When she got out, she stood dripping with a towel wrapped around herself in the walk-in closet that she shared with Ron.
She moved the towel so that it was wrapped around her head and began dressing. She decided against the usual stockings and went for a more comfortable flowing skirt that reached just above her knees. For absolutely no reason at all, she felt daring and slipped on a silky maroon blouse that had a scandalously low neckline for a married woman. She definitely would never have admitted that she chose her clothing for a particular reason, although she couldn't deny even to herself that she was in dreadful need of some attention.
She applied a drying spell to her hair and left it to flow smoothly around her shoulders, then went back to Hugo's room to wake him.
"Mummy, you're so pretty," he told her as he took her hand to Side-Along Apparate to his babysitter's house. Hermione smiled appreciatively and suppressed the hope that someone else would think so too.
He saw already sitting in her office for ten minutes by the time she got there. The shock on her face when she walked in the door was priceless, and he couldn't help but snigger childishly at his little prank.
"Malfoy," she said in a high-pitched, obviously stunned tone. "Uh, what are you doing here so early?"
He smirked at her. It was as if she was trying to be nice. "Have you forgotten that I want a divorce from my dreadful wife? Or did you just think that I didn't want it badly enough to be early?"
Surprisingly, she chuckled a little and sat down. As she flipped her hair around to her back, he noticed her lightly freckled neck and the overly exposed chest below it. He felt his heart rate quicken, and promised himself that it was only because he hadn't been with a woman in a very, very long time.
"I have the papers," she said as she bent over and reached into her drawer to pull them out.
He looked at them and felt a weight lift off his chest. He might actually go through with this, and then at that thought, he might actually be free.
"I'll sign them," he said eagerly.
"Don't get too excited, she has to sign them too," Hermione told him.
He caught himself immediately. Had he just referred to her as Hermione, even if it was only in his head?
He shook it off, telling himself that it was only because he lacked another name for her, seeing as Weasley was already taken and Granger was no longer applicable.
"Of course," he nodded. He felt exhilarated for the first time since he could remember. Seeing those documents, those legalized sheets of freedom, gave him more hope than he knew possible. He actually smiled at her, a real smile.
She smiled back awkwardly, as if she were very confused at why they were exchanging smiles at all.
Then he thought of something.
"Am I going to get to keep my son?" he asked, frowning.
"It will be a matter left up to the Wizengamot," she said. He felt his face twist in fear and realized that it was the reason for her to continue. "But I think you will," she assured. "As long as you have proof about your wife's… activities…"
She began blushing at that moment, and he could help but watch as she color spread from her cheeks to her neck and her chest. He wasn't sure why she was blushing, but he hoped that she would continue.
He checked his thoughts immediately. It was absolutely preposterous for him to be thinking of her in a way that suggested anything other than dislike… although, she was helping him.
And she had saved his life, or rather, her best friend had, that terrible night at Hogwarts so long ago.
But then, he had saved hers, too. When the Snatchers had come to his home asking for the identities of the three of them, and he had pretended not to be sure.
Of course, it really hadn't made that much of a difference, because they'd tortured her anyways, and would have killed her if she didn't get away.
But he'd tried to spare them some time, even if it was only by stalling at the beginning.
His stomach churned with the memories of those times. He was young, yes, but was that an excuse? He'd done terrible things, and he knew it. The think he didn't know was why.
And he didn't know why he was staring at Hermione Granger – or Weasley, rather, but for some reason that wouldn't register in his mind – in a rapturously intent way, and even more so, why she was staring back.
"Sign these," he said as he thrust the papers and a quill into his practically unconscious wife's hands. He knew she would have no arguments – she was too sedated at the moment to disagree at all. "I'm going, Pansy, do you understand me? I'm leaving now, and I'm not going to come back. These are the divorce papers."
She scribbled her name messily in the seven different places marked with a green X, and then dropped the quill back into his hands with a self-satisfied look on her face.
He thanked her with an almost sad smile and told her goodbye, and with that he left her. He left the prison that he'd been living in for the past eighteen years and walked into the cool fresh autumn air feeling better than he'd ever felt before.
He apparated to Diagon Alley with all of his belongings and got a room at The Leaky Cauldron, where he sprawled out on the bed, practically delirious with the elation that had overcome him.
Then he did something very absurd indeed.