Story: Starting Over

Synopsis: Hermione and Ron's marriage fails after the miscarriage of their first child. Several months later she is given the chance to try and start over. Will she take it? Can a new love mend the pain of an old one, or are their some scars that never heal.

Rating: M

Pairing: Draco/Hermione

Beta Love: ErisAceso, oblivion . baby, & RooOJoy … I love you all so much. You are my favorites ever. Thank you for your time, your love, and your eyes that catch my crazy.

Disclaimer: I am not profiting from this story. Anything you recognize belongs to the great and mighty JKR.

Trigger Warning: Late term pregnancy loss

Chapter Fourteen:

Hermione had claimed George for lunch on his birthday. She couldn't handle the Burrow. Lavender would surely be there, and Ron. She wasn't ready to see them together, and the memory of who wasn't there would haunt her, so she wrote George several weeks back and demanded that he let her steal him away for lunch. She left her office and Flooed to her building to meet him outside in Diagon Alley. He was waiting for her with a takeaway bag in hand when she arrived. His arms moved around her quickly, pulling her close squeezing just tight enough. Her breath hitched and tears burned her eyes as she clenched them shut. She hated George's birthday nearly as much as he did.

He put his free arm around her shoulder as they walked back into the building. Hermione smiled softly at Howard as she passed him. He tipped his head in her direction and looked back at the doors.

"How you been?" George asked as they waited for the lift.

"I'm good. Really good. Did you take the day off?"

"Of course." George always took the 1st off. He would hide away all day if his family would let him, but none of them would. His wife, Angelina, usually took the day with him, and they would do something to distract him. Molly would make dinner at The Burrow in the evening. They tried to keep him busy. They tried to keep him from thinking too hard about it, but Hermione knew that it never worked. George's smiles were always forced and his laughs too loud.

"How's Angelina?"

"Chasing Freddie. We took him to buy his first broom today." The smile that crossed his lips nearly seemed genuine.

Hermione led the way onto the lift, and he followed. "Aren't you suppose to receive the gifts on your birthday?" she teased.

"I don't need any gifts. I like to spoil him."

"I'd love to see him on that thing." Hermione laughed at the thought of George's three-year old zooming around on a child's broom. The boy was shaping up to do his namesake proud.

"Come round for dinner. Bring Malfoy." George waggled his eyebrows at her, and Hermione's heart skipped a beat at the suggestion until she remembered that George would have heard about her supposed affair with Malfoy just like everyone else.

"Yes. I will." She rolled her eyes as the lift doors slid open, and she led the way to her flat.

"I thought Ron's head was going to explode the day that article was in the Prophet."

"I know. He came to my office." And punched Draco in the face, because I actually did sleep with him, and I still am actually. She opened the door with her wand and led George inside. They both fell onto her sofa. Hermione pulled the table closer to them and George began to pull the food out. He had gone with Indian, and it smelled delicious.

"I wish you would come tonight," he admitted once they both had food in front of them.

"I think that would be pretty awkward don't you?" Harry had told her last week that it was to be Lavender's first Weasley gathering. It would be wrong of Hermione to show up to this party after all this time avoiding the large gatherings.

"I would rather have you there than her," he grumbled. "You will hide with me in the garden and drink. I doubt Lavender will do the same."

Hermione shook her head, smiling softly. "I will miss that." She nudged his knee with hers. "Give her a shot, okay? For me?"

"She's not you," George said quietly.

"Yeah, well, you still have me."

"Come to the next one?" George stared at her until she had no choice but to meet his gaze.

"Okay, okay. You give Lavender a real chance, and I will come to the next one. I'll even bring Malfoy," she teased, and George actually laughed. He had no idea how happy it made her to see him laugh even as her stomach twisted in knots. She and Draco could be public by the next one. George had no idea how much of a possibility it was that he could be her date.

XXX

"Mr. Malfoy is 'ere to see you." The words filled her office, coming from the small charmed globe on her desk. She stared at it, stunned. What in the world was he doing here in the Ministry at her office.

"Does he have an appointment?" she asked back, forcing her voice not to shake.

"No," the reply came. Should she let him in? At this point, it would look odd if she didn't.

"Send him in." Hermione stood, moving towards the door as it opened and then closed behind Draco. He turned to wave his wand back at the door, no doubt locking it behind him. He was dressed for work. It had been so long since Hermione had seen him in his crisp robes, that she stopped to take in the sight before her. In the past month, she had become used to t-shirts and jeans, and, in the past two weeks, also seeing him in nothing at all. He typically changed before she got to his flat or changed before he came over to hers.

"What?" he asked, watching her curiously.

"You... I just …" she blushed, and Draco laughed. He closed the gap between them and leaned down to kiss her. The kiss was full of passion and longing. He pushed his hands past her robes to grab her hips tightly and bring them closer to him. Hermione moaned softly into his mouth and he nibbled the soft skin of her bottom lip for a moment before he pulled away.

"Guess what?" He looked at her like Harry and Ron had looked at their Christmas presents when they had been just boys. It was entirely unlike him.

"What?" His giddy behaviour had her on edge, nervous and excited at the same time.

"It's official. I'm all yours." Draco kissed her again, sliding one hand out of her robes to get lost in her hair as she let her body fall against him. She tried to figure out what he was saying, but with his fingers at her waist and his lips on hers, it was hard to think about much of anything. Suddenly she realised what he meant, and she pushed him back.

"Your divorce!" she said loudly, and then bit her lip and looked over at the door.

"I silenced your office," he assured her. "I know I shouldn't have come, but I wanted to tell …"

Hermione let out a squealing noise that embarrassed her, threw her arms around his neck, and pulled Draco down to kiss her again, matching his excitement with her own. Divorced. No longer married. All hers. She hadn't realised until this moment in her office, with him holding her and nothing between them any longer, how much she had hated that he was still technically married to Pansy. She knew they were done. She knew Pansy was living with someone else, and Draco had no desire to be with her anymore, but it had been there in the background. She had been sleeping with a man still technically married to another woman, but now he was hers. Draco Malfoy was hers.

She clung to him tightly as he pushed her back against her desk, and his fingers dug harder into her. "I wish it was time to go home," she whispered as his lips found the sensitive skin beneath her ear, and his teeth grazed, followed by his lips.

"Leave early," he asked, but she knew that he wasn't serious. She would never leave work early to … well … for that.

"I can't, and tonight I have ..."

"Dinner at the Potter's." His head fell against her shoulder as he presumably remembered her plans.

"I can cancel," she said softly, and he groaned.

"No. Go to dinner. I know you want to see the boys."

He was right, of course. She could see Harry and Ginny another night, but she had promised James that she would read his bedtime story. Draco had been working in her bedroom out of sight when she had been talking to him through the Floo the night before. "Can I come over after?"

"You better." He ghosted his lips over hers.

XXX

Hermione closed the book of Beedle the Bard stories and kissed James softly on his forehead. Her nephew had requested The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, and Hermione had read it nearly four times before he had finally fallen asleep. It was one of his favourite stories, and she was glad. It had taken her nearly a year to track down a copy of the Bard's tales with the original version. She rolled out of his bed and set the book back in the pile on his nightstand. She moved towards the door and then turned to look at him one last time. She watched him sleeping for several long minutes as she stood there. He was so like Harry already that it took her breath away, but James had a carefree way about him that her best friend had never had. Hermione hoped that it never went away.

"He's asleep?"

Hermione turned away from the room to face Harry and smiled softly. "Yes, finally."

"He's been telling us all day he was going to make you read him Hopping Pot at least twenty-seven times."

"Twenty-seven?" she asked, chuckling softly.

"That's what he said. I just got Al down, too. Come on. Let's go interrupt the one moment of peace Gin has had all day." He led the way down the hall and then down the steps as Hermione followed. They found Ginny in the living room laying on the sofa.

"Are they asleep?" She sat up as they entered, moving to make room for Harry to take the spot next to her. Hermione crossed to the loveseat and put her feet up on the cushion.

"Yes." Harry leaned over to kiss her temple, and Ginny sighed into him as his arm wrapped around her back. Her head fell onto his shoulder and she seemed to relax into him. Hermione wished that Draco was here. She wished that Harry and Ginny knew that they were dating and that they were all able to get through a meal together. It felt like a fantasy, but she couldn't help but hope that one day it might be a reality.

She and Draco had taken to spending the night at each other's flats more often than not. Some nights they spent working next to each other, spread out in the living room or the kitchen table. Others they would read in bed, their shoulders touching or her legs over his. They had been taking turns cooking for each other, and Hermione had learned that he could put his well stocked kitchen to good use. Hermione had convinced him to watch a movie with her just once, and he had begrudgingly admitted that it was clever, but they had needed to pause it so many times to discuss what was happening that she wasn't in a hurry to do it again. Hermione knew that she was falling for him. She was falling hard and fast, and despite every bit of her self-preservation telling her to stop, go back, retreat, she carried on and kept falling for him. He was an entirely different person now than she ever could have imagined him becoming, and it was as if he was waking her from a long sleep. She had felt things in past two weeks that she had been sure she would never be capable of again.

The only thing she hated about the situation was that no one knew about it. She wanted to tell Harry and Ginny. Right now. She wanted to shout it at them and let her mouth blab all of her secrets until there was nothing left to tell. Draco was divorced and he was finally hers, but she couldn't do it. Draco had told her at the beginning of all of this how important his job was to him, and she couldn't imagine a way that they could come out to the world right now without creating a backlash. It wouldn't matter what they said or what the truth was. People would assume they had lied and the Prophet had been right all along. She didn't want that to happen. She didn't want to be the reason he was stressed at work or, worse, lost his job. She cared about Draco too much to take the risk that someone might let something slip too soon.

But, that wasn't all of it. She wanted to tell Harry and Ginny. She was sure that they wouldn't react great in the beginning, but they would trust her in the end. It was the not great bit before the acceptance that she wasn't looking forward to. Ginny had gone a little nutty in the protective department when Hermione had just spent one night with him. What would she think of them dating? And, Harry. Harry loved her. She knew that he did, but she hadn't forgotten the relieved look on his face when she had told him that she wasn't planning to see Draco again. He didn't want them together. They would come around, but it would be hard.

So, she was sitting here dreaming about a scene that may never occur. Ron had always belonged in this part of her life. He had fit perfectly here on this loveseat, his arms around her as they chatted with his sister and their best friend. She didn't want Ron to be here, but she did want Draco to fit into this picture. She wanted to have him know her godsons and read Hopping Pot and hold her while she laughed at Harry's terrible jokes.

"Thank, Merlin," Ginny sighed. "I'm exhausted."

"I don't know why," Hermione teased.

"Oh, and how many times did you read Hopping Pot tonight?" Ginny glared over at her. "He nod off during the first go round? Perfectly calm about it?"

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Four times and we had to stop to hop the first two."

"You got off easy," Harry insisted.

"I would gladly read it to him twenty-seven times if that is what it took." They all chuckled at that.

"Speaking of exhausting things …" Ginny began, eyeing her as if she was going to say something Hermione very much didn't want to hear. "I was hoping you would want to go shopping with me next weekend for the Anniversary."

Hermione let her head fall back against the back of the sofa and groaned for a moment before looking back at Ginny. "Can't I just mail order something?" she asked.

Ginny shook her head. "Look, I never get to dress up and be fancy anymore. I need this. You are my best friend. You have to come."

"Ugh. Okay, but I am NOT going to be shopping around all day!" Hermione pointed her finger at Ginny as a wide smile spread across her friend's face.

"Okay, Okay. We will be quick about it! I'm so excited!"

"I'm with you," Harry told Hermione, shaking his head. "I don't even want to go to this thing."

"It's basically for you!" Ginny retorted.

"All the more reason not to go." Harry laughed as Ginny swatted him gently.

"I just … some days I can't believe it's really been ten years." She could still remember the way the terror felt. The way the blood and sweat had smelled. The way her heart had clenched when she thought Harry was dead.

"Most days I can't believe it," Harry agreed.

"At least we will all be there together," Hermione told him.

"Lavender will be there," Ginny said softly.

"Oh, yeah," Hermione frowned for a moment. "I suppose that makes sense."

"I think … they are going to have to tell people soon," Ginny continued.

"Yeah, well, they can only hide it for so long." Hermione stared at the floor for a few moments. "He seemed happy when I talked to him," she told them.

"I think he is," Harry agreed.

"Good. I want him to be happy." And she did. Lavender wasn't who she would have picked, but she was someone that Hermione had developed respect for. She was someone that she could see making Ron happy.

"He wants you to be happy, too."

"I know he does. I am, really," she assured them as they watched her with careful, evaluating eyes.

"Has Malfoy been bothering you at all? I … uh …" Harry fumbled, brushing a hand through his already messy hair. "I saw him a few times lately. We are reworking the budget for the department."

"No. He isn't bothering me," Hermione told him truthfully, with a twinge of guilt.

"Good."

A/N: Sooooooo …. We need to have a chat about some things. Those things are how amazing you all are. Over 200 reviews .. Nearly 500 followers … I'm speechless … gobsmacked and loving the crap out of every one of you. It's like you all know when I'm needing you and my phone gives me a ding, or really a "Hodor" because that is my email alert ((( WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT GOT ON SUNDAYS?))), and then your super kind and beautiful words are there letting me know that you are reading and enjoying this and it's the best feeling in the world.

Secondly … Two members of my beta team are working on a Dramione of their own. It is fantastic so far. If you wanted to give it a read their username for writing together is PhoenixTwins and their story is Out of the Flames.

Thirdly … There is no thirdly. You are still just amazing.

XOXO

Meg