A/N: Told you the next chapter would be up quickly. It was both easy and hard to write, but I feel very satisfied with it and I hope you all do too.
Disclaimer: As always, if you recognize it, it's not mine. The only thing that's mine is the plot.
Ron stood fuming in front of the fireplace, a look of utter horror and disbelief on his face.
Before Hermione could open her mouth and attempt an explanation, Ron had drawn his wand and pointed it Malfoy. Quicker than Hermione had ever seen him move, Malfoy snatched her wand – which had been sitting between them on the couch – and leapt to his feet, pointing her wand at Ron.
"Stop!" Hermione shrieked, leaping to her feet. She'd been dreading this situation since George's birthday when Ron had threatened bodily harm if he ever came across Malfoy. She'd hoped it wouldn't happen for a while, and she'd also hoped Ron had just been saying that as way to get the last word in after caving to her argument. But judging by his body language and seething expression, Hermione's hope wasn't going to manifest. "Both of you, stop!"
"Hermione, what the hell is he doing here?" Ron demanded.
"Same reason I'm here every day," Malfoy sneered before Hermione could answer. "I have an open invitation."
"You-"
"Ron, stop!" Hermione cut him off, stepping in front of Malfoy. "It's not a big deal, honestly."
"Not a big deal?" Ron echoed, glaring at Malfoy.
"Ron, you knew about the situation! You said you were okay with it, that you trusted me, remember?"
"I knew you'd been spending time with him, but I didn't realize 'spending time' was another way of saying 'sleeping with,'" Ron growled, ignoring the rest of her statement and glaring around her at Malfoy.
Hermione felt the blood rush to her face. "That's not what's happening and you know it! You're making something out of nothing!"
"It didn't look like nothing!" Ron raged, his ears red.
"Ron, calm down! You're completely overreacting," Hermione said with an attempt at patience. "Merlin, we just fell asleep watching television!"
"Yeah, we were pretty worn out from our long day together," Malfoy said smugly.
Hermione glared at him over her shoulder. "Don't," she hissed, but he gave no indication that he heard her.
"Spent the whole day about the city - got a meal together and everything," Malfoy continued. "We even started purchasing new things for the apartment took a lot out of us."
Ron blanched, though his ears remained red.
Hermione briefly turned around to glare at Malfoy. "Don't provoke him!"
"He started it," Malfoy seethed, not looking at her.
"What are you two, twelve?" Hermione demanded, glaring at each of them in turn. "You could at least try and act like mature adults about this!
Ron glared back at her. "Well what did you expect, Hermione? I come here to find you two taking a cozy nap on the couch together-"
"Ron," Hermione pleaded. "Honestly, we just fell asleep because we were watching an incredibly boring program. It was a one time thing."
"Well that's not strictly true, is it?" Malfoy cut in. "There was that other time I slept over."
Ron's wand arm twitched. "Is that true?"
"Yes, but there were circumstances involved!" Hermione said desperately, wanting to punch Malfoy even as she defended him. "He couldn't stay at his place, he needed somewhere to stay!"
"What, no friends to stay with?" Ron snarled. "Not surprising, really."
Hermione heard Malfoy snarl behind her. "Ron, you said you were okay with this," she said as patiently as she could.
"Yeah, well, I changed my mind," Ron fumed. "I'm not okay with it."
Hermione's heart sank. "Why?"
"Come on, Hermione! He obviously hasn't changed one bit!" he shouted at her, gesturing towards Malfoy. "What in the world would make you think he'd actually changed?"
"Ron, you said you trusted me!"
"Maybe my trust was misplaced," Ron replied darkly.
Hermione felt as if he'd slapped her. Ron wasn't even looking at her – he was still glaring at Malfoy, hatred etched in his face along with a sort of territorial jealousy. Hermione felt the anger welling up at the sight of his hostile expression – anger at Ron for overreacting, anger that Malfoy had egged him on, anger that she was having yet another argument with one of her oldest friends But mostly she was angry that Ron had said he didn't trust her – after everything they'd been through, he didn't trust her.
"Don't act like you know me, Weasley," Malfoy snapped angrily.
"It's a pity Hermione was too nice to turn you away," Ron continued. "I always thought she was too nice for her own good sometimes."
"I could have said the same thing, seeing as she still puts up with you," Malfoy said through gritted teeth.
Hermione instinctively turned around and stepped in front Malfoy, sensing from the tone of his voice that his frustration was about to boil over into a physical confrontation. She gently put her hand on his outstretched arm, trying to catch his eye. "Malfoy, stop."
"Watch your hand, Hermione, you might catch something," Ron said maliciously.
"Don't," Hermione said quietly as Malfoy flushed with rage, trying to push his arm down while fighting her own urge to grab her wand and cast a silencing charm on Ron. Malfoy looked down at her at the pressure, giving her a look that clearly said Please, let me hex him. Hermione shook her head just barely, and much to her relief he finally lowered his arm with a frustrated sigh of resignation.
"Is 'heartless murderer' contagious? I can't remember," Ron sneered, and Hermione's hope that he would take Malfoy's backing off as cue for him to calm down vanished.
The color drained out of Malfoy's face, and he looked over her shoulder at Ron with so much hate in his expression that the hair on her the back of her neck stood up.
"It's probably a chronic illness as well – once a killer always a killer. Hermione thinks that as well, I'm sure of it."
"Malfoy," she whispered, putting a hand up to his chest as he took a step forward with a hurt in his eyes that she hadn't seen in weeks. Hermione almost felt like a fraud for restraining him when at this point such an incredible fury at Ron and his behaviour had risen up inside her that she wanted to hit him herself.
"Let go of me, Granger," Malfoy growled, trying to push her to the side as Ron snickered nastily from behind her.
"No!" she cried, keeping a firm hold on him. "Draco, please," she pleaded in a whisper.
It was as if hearing her call him by his first name was so weird that it diverted his attention, and he looked down into her imploring eyes with an indiscernible look on his face; Hermione couldn't tell if it was respect or annoyance at her interference. After staring at her for another moment, his eyes moved back up to look over her shoulder.
"Get out," Malfoy snapped.
"Last time I checked, Malfoy, this was Hermione's place and not yours-"
"Get out," Hermione said, just loud enough for Ron to hear her. She hadn't turned around to say it – she was still staring up at Malfoy, whose face was set in a fragile façade of self-control.
"What?" Ron replied, and Hermione could hear the mixture of shock and betrayal in his voice. "Hermione-"
"You heard me," she said softly yet firmly, still not turning around. "Get out, Ron."
"Hermione, what are you doing?" he asked incredulously.
She finally turned around to face him. "I'm sorry, Ron, but you need to leave. You told me you trusted me before, but you've admitted that you don't. And if you can't trust me then you need to go, now."
He stared at her with the same incredulous expression for another moment before it turned stony. "Fine. I get it," he snapped, stepping back towards the fireplace. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something else, but he snapped it shut without saying a word before stepping into the grate and disappearing.
Hermione stared at the fireplace, still shocked at Ron's behavior. She was also spitting mad about it, furious that the mere sight of Malfoy on her couch had apparently disintegrated the rational part of Ron's brain.
She slowly turned back around to Malfoy, who looked as if he were barely holding it together. His hands were shaking at his side and he was clearly trying to keep face expressionless. He wasn't doing a very good job of it though – his eyes were wet and his face was twitching with anger.
Hermione took a step toward him, unsure of what to say.
Malfoy took a step back, his gaze moving from the fireplace to her.
"That's not what you think of me, is it?" he asked shakily, his eyes boring into hers.
"What?"
"'Once a killer always a killer?' Is that what you think of me?"
"No – of course not!" Hermione exclaimed, taking another step towards him. "Why would you think that?"
"Weasley said you-"
"Ron was wrong," Hermione said firmly, stepping up to him and holding his gaze. "I've never thought that about you."
He didn't reply, just stared at her with a kind of desperate hope in his eyes.
"I know that isn't you and I've never even considered it. Ron only said those things to try and get reaction and I doubt he even believed most of what he said himself. But what he said about me thinking that about you – it was a complete lie. I've never thought that since I've known you, even when you were horrible to me at school. I thought you were incredibly mean and misguided, but I never thought you were a merciless killer. When you showed up at my bookstore a complete wreck I didn't think it. I've spent the past two months with you, and I know without a doubt that I was right to never think that, because I know you now, and I know you're the exact opposite of a hopeless murderer – you're a good man, and that's something I think with all my heart," she continued, meeting his eyes with what she hoped was assurance. "I swear it, Draco."
He looked down at her for another moment, and Hermione was on the brink of turning away when he suddenly closed the small distance between them and engulfed her in a hug so desperate it was almost painful. He didn't say anything, just buried his face in her hair, his breathing somewhat ragged as if he was trying not to cry.
Hermione stood rigidly at first, in too much shock to do anything other than stand as still as board, her eyes wide and unbelieving. After a few moments of processing the situation, Hermione slowly wrapped her arms around him, unsurprised that the action only caused him to hold her tighter.
In the last month, Hermione had gotten used to a stable Malfoy, one who only had the rare mood swing and had seemed generally…not necessarily cheerful, but something close to it. He had been more himself recently, though without the nastiness of his old self. Now it seemed as if Ron's words had nearly torn apart all the progress he'd made, and the thought brought tears to Hermione's eyes.
Hermione had meant every word that she'd said to Malfoy, too. She'd spent enough time with him over the past couple of months to be sure of everything she'd said, but for a split second she had thought Malfoy might not believe her, that he'd call her a liar and storm out of her flat in a rage. The Malfoy who had first come to her that fateful day in her bookstore would have done, and Hermione considered the fact that he hadn't a confirmation of everything she'd just told him.
She could feel hot tears against her neck, and she'd realized Malfoy had lost his fight against tears. Hermione clung to him, unable to keep the emotions she'd been holding in throughout the argument in any longer, letting her own tears now spill over as she buried her face in Malfoy's neck.
A/N: Phew! This chapter is, as they say, the 'turning point' of this particular fic. It was just thismuch shorter than the consistent length, but I wanted to keep it all one scene and I didn't want to add in anything unnecessary for the sake of chapter length.
And before anyone asks, no, I don't hate Ron. But we all know he's got a hot temper...just as we know he tends to stick his foot in his mouth. This is not a Ron-bashing fic, I promise. I swear it, guys, I swear it!