A/N: Hope you like it!

"So sorry I'm late!" Ginny blurted, hurriedly shrugging her coat off as she came pushing through the doors of The Leaky Cauldron the following night. "We've been training endlessly this month. By now my broomstick may as well be attached to my body."

Hermione laughed, making room for her at the table as she sat down. "You must be exhausted."

"A bit. I could use a drink, though."

"Good because tonight I'm paying," she added, brightly. "I say we kick things off with a shot … maybe three. What do you think?"

Ginny couldn't help but chuckle. "Do you even need to ask?"

"Fair point."

Within moments they were clinking glasses and knocking them back, allowing the fiery liquid to fill their insides and disentangle their stresses as they ordered a second round and then another. It was only after Hermione had glanced down at their table to find a long line of empty shot glasses across the wooden surface, that she decided within the depths of her mind that it was time.

"So, I spoke to Harry recently …"

Choking on her drink, Ginny blinked up in surprise. "Did you?" she asked. "H-how is he?"

"I'd say he's doing well," Hermione offered. "Last I checked he was moving out of the old house and into his own flat."

"Oh. I-I'm glad to hear that."

"He, er … he also mentioned that he had heard about you and Oliver."

Ginny fell silent, her cheeks draining of colour as those words sunk in. "What did he have to say about that?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters," she insisted, sincerely. "We may not be together anymore, but … I still … well, obviously I still love him."

"I know you do," Hermione said to her, in a calm, gentle manner before she uttered the rest. "But for reasons which I'm sure you can imagine, he seems to believe otherwise."

Tilting her head down, Ginny exhaled, deeply. "He told you about the key."

"He did."

"I was wondering when he would."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he tells you everything, doesn't he?" she asked, looking up at Hermione now. "You're his best friend. The only witch that he properly trusts."

Stomach clenching at the sound of that, Hermione didn't know what to say apart from, "He loves you, Ginny. You know that, don't you?"

Ginny shrugged. "Maybe he does. But he's only ever pushed me away, hasn't he? When we were children and I had no one to talk to about the diary apart from him … when the three of you went off together during the war … when our marriage was falling apart in the years after …" Sparing a moment to swallow the lump in her throat, she went on to say the rest. "Maybe he doesn't even know it, but … some small part of him has never trusted me the way he trusts you."

"He was only trying to protect you, Gin. It was never about trust."

"I didn't need his protection," she countered, swiftly. "What I needed was my husband. The man that I had agreed to marry and to spend the rest of my life with. But he was never mine. Not quite … not entirely."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, to convince Ginny otherwise, but her efforts were swept aside. Not a word escaped her lips. She simply sat there and listened, knowing deep down that the truth was never as simple as it appeared from the outside looking in.

"Do you want to know the truth? The story behind that key?" Ginny sharply asked. "I met a man here last year. A Canadian Auror by the name of Liam. We sat here and we talked for hours the night Harry left for one of his missions. By then I was used to being alone. I was used to going to sleep and waking up to an empty bed, perhaps to a note if Harry could spare the time. Then I met Liam … just a random wizard that for some reason cared more about what I was going through than my husband did. He listened to my troubles and he encouraged me to speak to Harry, which I would have if he were there, but he wasn't. He never was. When it became clear that speaking to Harry was no longer an option, Liam gave me a key to his room and told me that his door was going to be open for me for as long as he was in London."

Taking in the information, Hermione had just one question. "What did you do with the key?"

"I kept it," Ginny uttered to her, simply. "I pocketed the stupid thing and I went out and bought a box of condoms thinking I was done with Harry, but I … I wasn't. The following night I returned to The Leaky Cauldron to see Liam, but the moment I walked through those doors and found him waiting for me at the same table as the previous night, I quickly came to my senses."

"So, you're saying you didn't … cheat?"

"Oh, I did enough. I accepted the key and I came here to see him," she repeated. "The worst of it came after. When Harry found the key and asked where it came from. I wanted to tell him … but I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud. Our whole marriage I waited for the moment when he finally trust me with everything, but all I ended up doing was giving him a reason not to."

Hermione released a deep breath, processing the truth. "You could have come to me, Ginny. I … I would have helped. Given you a shoulder to lean on at the very least."

"Where would that have left you and Harry? You're one of his best friends."

"I'm one of your best friends as well," she reminded her, gently. "Although I don't agree with the decisions you made surrounding that key, I'm still here for you as a friend. And I always will be. You know what."

Quickly wiping her eyes, Ginny glanced down at the table. "Are you going to tell him?"

"Would you like me to?"

"He should hear it from me."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

She sucked in, shakily. "What if I can't?"

"I believe in you more than that," Hermione stated, with the utmost sincerity. "You walked away before anything happened. Make sure he knows that. For his sake if not your own."

Later That Night

Draco stretched his lips around a yawn, going through the last of the paperwork as he sat alone in his office. By then everyone else had gone home for the night. He was the only person within the walls of Malfoy Apothecary, at least he thought.

There was a creak beyond the door, as though someone were walking towards it, along the dimly lit corridor on the top floor of the building.

Swiftly setting down his work, Draco grabbed the wand from his back pocket and stood, locking his eyes onto the doorknob as it slowly turned from the other side. Only in the quiet after, as the door swung open to reveal Granger, did he lower his wand.

"Merlin's sake, Granger. I thought you were someone else," he exhaled, lifting an eyebrow at her as she came stumbling forward. "Are you … are you drunk?"

Losing her footing a moment, she plopped down on the floor and snorted with laughter. "That's a yes if I've ever seen one," she managed to say, smiling up at him as he quickly helped her up and to his desk chair. "You have nice eyes."

"Only you would be able to get through the security measures in a drunken state," he frowned. "I told you to contact me on your Two-Way Mirror after work. Don't you remember?"

"I thought you told me to meet you here."

"After you let me know you're on your way," he struggled to say, using every bit of strength that he had to set her down on the chair. "For a witch your size, you're quite heavy."

"I can't decide if that was kind or cruel of you to say."

"I'll decide for you. Both. Now wait here. I'm going to make sure the doors and the windows are secure."

She quickly stood as if to follow, but her efforts were thwarted as she lost her footing again. This time he caught her before she could fall, steadying her with just one arm around her waist as she blinked up at him in the dimness of his office.

For a moment she said nothing, the silence between them growing thicker the longer she looked at him like that, as if he were a book that she had been waiting years to read. "Why did you have to be such a bully in school?"

"Why did you have to be such an easy target?" he joked, realizing afterward that she was serious. "Sorry."

"It's a bit late to apologize."

"I know. I just … maybe we should talk about this in the morning."

"We could have been friends if you hadn't been such an annoying little ferret," she furthered, the warmth in her eyes grappling at his insides, unexpectedly. "I would have liked that."

Glancing down at her as though to ask where this was coming from, he suddenly remembered. "I should help you back to the penthouse. You've had too much to drink."

"I'm the Auror. I should be the one helping you."

"That's okay. I can take care of things for one night," he uttered, trying to set her back down only to grasp the armrests as he rapidly lost his own footing, just inches away from her now.

She breathed in, her chest rising within her top as she looked up at him. "You're doing that thing with your eyes again."

"What thing?" he asked, losing all train of thought.

"The thing where you look at my lips like you want to kiss me."

Chest clenching at the sound of that, he released the armrests and quickly leaned away from the chair, his movements coming to a swift and abrupt halt as she leaned forward just as fast. Suddenly she was an inch off of the chair, clinging to his arms to keep from falling again, and he was hovering there motionlessly, eyes shut and lips already open for her as she leaned in to kiss him.

Softly at first, almost anxiously as though she didn't quite know what she was doing. Only as she grabbed onto his robes, pressing her body flush against his, did he give in for just one second. Just long enough that he could weave his fingers through her curls and meet her tongue in the narrow gap between their lips, grazing the tip of it so gently, she couldn't help but moan.

Then and only then did he come to his senses.

"Wh-what's wrong?" she asked, struggling to catch her breath as he swiftly backed away, all the way until he hit the wall. "Was it … did you not … am I just awful it?"

"Of course not," he uttered, without meaning to. Scrunching his eyes closed, he tried to think of something to say. Some way to explain without making it worse. "We shouldn't."

"Because I'm drunk or because you don't want to?"

"Both," he lied, glancing away after. "There's water at the table over there. Have a glass. I'll just … I've got to secure the building and then we'll leave."

Parting her lips to say something, her words were cut short as he ducked out of the office without another moment.

A/N: Thoughts?