Hello, all! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always, comments are love. Please let me know what you think!

From Better to Worse

Draco awoke in the dark to find himself alone. A lightning bolt of panic struck through him as he realized that Hermione no longer lay next to him.

He pulled his pants back on and stood still, listening for any sound in the neighboring rooms. Through the open door, he could just barely make out a shuffling sound somewhere above him.

He made his way up the stairs to the second floor. All of the doors down the hallway were shut save for one. At the very end of the hall, one door was cracked just enough to let a sliver of moonlight spill into the dusty corridor.

Draco took the few steps to the open door and pushed it open slowly. Hermione sat on the floor sifting through piles of yellowing newspaper clippings and old pictures. She glanced up at him and the sight of her sitting on the floor in nothing but his sweater forced a smile across his lips.

"What did you find?" He asked.

She held up a clipping from The Daily Prophet with a picture of Harry and Ron standing guard over a bound Lucius Malfoy. "You kept all of these?"

He took it and slid down onto the floor across from her. "Yeah, I guess I did. I forgot these were up here."

Lucius' mouth twisted into a horrible snarl and Draco looked away.

Hermione took the picture back and read the caption. "Malfoy? Is he related to you?"

"He's my father," Draco muttered, clearing his throat.

"What happened to me, Draco?" Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight and he sucked in a deep breath of stale, musty air.

"Hermione…"

She placed her hand over his and stared at him. "Please?"

He sighed through his nose and tucked a stray strand of chestnut hair behind her ear. "After we got married, we moved to America."

She studied him as he spoke. "Why America?"

"We thought it would be safer," Draco said. He looked down at the dusty floor, his face hardening. "He found us anyway."

Hermione looked back down at the photo. "Your father?"

Draco nodded. "He killed you right in front of me." The last part of his sentence got caught in his throat and he took in a shaky breath. She grabbed both of his cheeks and gave him a warm kiss on the forehead. He kissed her palm and she moved back to her spot on the floor across from him.

She cleared her throat. "Do you have any pictures of Dominic?"

Draco's forehead furrowed for a moment scanning the boxes on the shelves above him.

"Oh, wait," he said, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. "This was a picture from his last birthday." He held it open and handed it to her.

She stared at the photo thoughtfully and smiled back at Draco, a tear slipping down her cheek. "You weren't kidding, he really does look like you."

Draco chuckled softly. "That's where the resemblance ends. He's so much like you with his incessant questions and his stubbornness. He got the best of both of us."

She flipped to the next photo and Draco saw her flinch. The photo showed a younger Draco and Hermione standing together in front of one of their houses in America, smiling at one another. "We were really happy together, weren't we?" She marveled, running her thumb over the picture.

Draco nodded, crossing his arms and staring at the ground. They sat in silence for a few moments before Hermione finally broke it.

"They're probably worried about us," she said, pulling her knees up to her chest and covering them with Draco's sweater.

"Yeah…"

He heard her inhale. "We should go back."

He looked back up at her. "You sure?"

She nodded. "It's not fair to them. And me running away doesn't make any of it go away." She looked up at him and grinned. "Besides, I have a feeling running isn't really in my nature."

"No, not really." He stood up and brushed his jeans off, offering Hermione a hand up.

They made their way back downstairs in silence. As they were changing, Hermione looked suddenly toward Draco, her brow creased in worry. "I've only made things worse, haven't I?"

Draco shook his head at her in reassurance. "Better or worse, they'll just have to get over it."

Hermione smirked at him. " 'They' being Ron and Harry?"

He nodded. "For the most part."

"You don't like them very much, do you?" She asked conversationally, handing Draco back his sweater.

He shook his head again. "But they're good to Dominic. And, as much as I may hate it, they love you, too."

She nodded at him thoughtfully. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Draco started, grabbing her arm as she walked by him toward the door. "Listen, Hermione. Don't tell anyone about this place, okay?"

"I promise," she whispered with a smile that reached all the way up into her brown eyes. If she noticed the shiver it sent down his spine, she didn't show it and they headed back out onto the streets of London toward Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

Rome, 6 years earlier

"Hermione…" Draco whispered, trailing kisses down her cheek. "Hermione, love, I've got to go."

"Mmmmm," came her reply as she blinked herself awake. "Well, hullo my handsome husband," she said, smiling up at him.

He kissed her, long and slow. He finally forced himself to breakaway. "I have to go…"

"No," Hermione exclaimed in protest, throwing her arms around his neck.

Draco sighed into her, wrapping his arms around her. "I know."

She pushed him back down onto the bed. She leaned in close, her lips just grazing his ear. Draco closed his eyes, drinking her in as her tussled brown curls fell over his face. "How can you leave," she breathed into his ear, "if I still have your shirt?"

She grinned at him and he laughed, brushing the hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ears. "I love you, you know that?"

Her eyes glimmered in the lamplight. "I do."

A tear slid down her cheek and she pushed herself away from him. "You better get going," she said with a sniffle, "Your father is expecting you."

He nodded, kissing her quickly on the lips before heading toward the door.

"Wait, Draco, what about your shirt?"

He turned back toward her and smiled the smile he only ever let her see…the one that said he was truly and completely happy. "It looks better on you," he replied, disapparating with a resonating pop.

Present

The door to Number 12 Grimmauld Place appeared before them just as the dawn light peaked over the tattered eves of the house. As Draco reached to open the door, Hermione stopped him.

"Wait," she said, "I have to do something first."

She pulled him toward her, planting a warm, soft kiss on his left cheek and pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you."

Draco opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the door swinging open to reveal a red faced Ron glowering back at him. Ron grabbed two handfuls of Draco's shirt, dragging him into the foyer where he slammed him against the faded paneling with a defiant thwack.

"What are you on, Malfoy? Kidnapping her like this?" Ron spat, his face barely a couple of inches from Draco's.

"Weasley," Draco hissed through clenched teeth, "get off me."

Ron loosened his grip just long enough to slam Draco against the wall again. "You could have both been captured. Or worse, killed! You were supposed to…"

"Supposed to what, Weasley?" Draco asked, wrapping his hands around Ron's wrists. "I don't take orders from you. My only concern is what Hermione wants."

"I asked him to take me…" Hermione began somewhere behind them. Harry interrupted her, stomping across the room, wielding his wand at Draco.

"And like it or not, Draco Malfoy," Harry started, poking his wand into Draco's neck, "This is still Phoenix headquarters. We don't solve things by running away."

Ron sneered at Draco. "But that's what you're best at, isn't it, Malfoy?"

Draco felt a surge of hot rage course through him as he tightened his grip on Ron's wrists and shoved him. Ron tumbled backward and Harry took a step back in surprise. "And what," Draco asked, sucking in a breath, "is that supposed to mean?"

Ron stood rigid, glaring back at Draco. "You're a bloody coward, Malfoy! All you've done your whole life is run."

"Ron…" Harry warned.

"I did what was best for my family, which is more than you've ever done, Weasel," Draco spat, clenching his fists to keep from hitting him. "And I didn't marry your bloody order, I married Hermione. The only loyalties I have to have are to her and to my son."

"And a brilliant job you've done at that so far," Ron spat.

Draco felt his whole body tense. But before he could grab Ron, Hermione stepped between them, shouting, "Enough!"

She gave them both a shove, forcing them to step apart from one another.

"First of all, stop talking about me like I'm not standing right here watching you all make right gits of yourselves," she chided, pausing to glance between them. "And second of all, just because I don't remember anything about my life, doesn't mean I have lost the ability to speak for myself."

Her eyes sparkled with frustration as she stared hard at each of them.

"Hermione, we didn't mean…" Harry started. Hermione held up a hand to silence him.

"You and you," she said, pointing from Harry to Ron, "I want to speak with you alone."

"And you," she said, turning toward Draco, "I'll come and find you when I'm done."

Draco let out an incensed sigh through his nose and replied, "Fine." Glowering once more at Ron, he pushed past the gathering crowd to go back to his room.

He raged through his suitcase, abusing shirts and trousers alike as he tried to find a suitable change of clothes. He tore off his shirt and tugged violently at his jeans, stubbing his toe on the bed in the process.

He shouted a curse just as a soft, familiar knock came at the door.

"I know what you're here to say and I'll tell you now, you should save your breath," Draco called through the door, pulling on a clean pair of pants.

Ginny came through the door anyway, her eyebrows raised at him. "And has that ever stopped me before?"

"I can't stay here, Ginny. I don't belong here anymore." Draco sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Well, where do you belong? Because, as far back as I can recall, it's always been with Hermione. And she's here, Draco. For better or worse, this is the only safe place for her right now." Ginny stared at him expectantly, crossing her arms.

Draco rubbed the spot on his neck where Harry's wand jabbed him. "You don't think I know that? Dammit, Ginny…"

She threw her arms up at him. "What, Draco? I'd like to think that you and I have become friends after all of these years, and as your friend, I'm telling you to get over all this woe-is-me rubbish."

Draco stared at her.

"You can do this," she said, her eyes hold onto his like a vice grip, "You have to."

She stood there staring at him, hands on her hips. Draco stared back for a few minutes. His face softened and he offered her a half-hearted smile. "Do you ever get tired of being my cheerleader?"

She smirked at him. "Well, somebody has to."

The light-hearted air that settled over the room lasted only moments before Lupin interrupted. "Draco, you must come with me, quickly."

Over the years, Remus Lupin had come to be one of the few men Draco held any sort of respect for. And he knew him well enough to know that the worried furrow and urgency in his voice did not bode well.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked as the three of them moved with all haste down the hall toward the study.

"Jane is here," he replied, opening the study door to reveal Mrs. Weasley sitting next to a distraught, sobbing Jane Granger.

"Oh, Draco!" She cried, leaping up out of her seat toward him. "He's gone. She's taken him."

Draco stared wide-eyed at her. "Where is Dominic, Jane?"

She looked up at him, her face quivering and salty wet. "She's taken him. Your mother has Dominic."