5th July 2002

Hermione woke to an owl tapping on the bedroom window. As usual, Draco was wrapped around her like a climbing vine, his body heat nearly unbearable. She shifted and he pulled her in tighter, like his arms were Devil's Snare and she was the unsuspecting prey.

"Too early, Granger," he groaned, angling his wrist so he could see his watch. "You don't start work til eleven today. Go back to sleep. It's barely seven and I have a wand alarm set for nine."

"It's Theo's owl, Draco. I need to get it. You can go back to sleep, though," she replied, pulling at his arms to break free of his hold.

When he realized what had woken her, he allowed her to get up. She quickly put on a dressing gown and walked over to the window. Pushing his fringe out of his eyes and rubbing his face, he started to wake up, as well. Hermione was sure he wanted to know why Theo had owled this early in the morning. She gently stroked the owl's feathers, removed the scroll tied to its leg, and summoned the owl treats.

"Are you waiting for a response?" she asked the bird, and it gave a single nod. "Okay, I'll read it straight away then."

Hermione,

He rejected your offer again. I'm so sorry, but it's time for you decide what you want to do. Please let me know if you would like me to schedule a hearing or try to get a mediator involved.

Theo

Her eyes filled with tears of frustration. Ron had a full-time job at the Ministry with a good salary and could afford his own place, especially if he took her final offer. She knew she had been unfaithful and had hurt him — she didn't deny her part in any of it. But she couldn't understand why he was holding on to the house so tightly.

Draco got out of bed and walked over to her, completely naked, and took the letter from her hands. He read it over and scoffed before walking to his desk.

"I'm telling Theo we'll be there at half past ten to talk to him," he stated, not leaving room for argument.

He quickly tied his response to the owl's leg and walked back over to her, scooping her up in his arms. When he pressed her body to his, she inhaled deeply, taking in what had become her drug of choice. When his pheromones fully hit her, she sighed and wrapped her legs around him.

"Hermione, I'm trying to be kind and supportive right now, but you're starting to smell like you want—"

She cut him off with a heated snog and did the one thing that always cleared her mind for a small amount of time — she lost herself in her Alpha, letting him take care of her and make her feel good. She may have been stubborn about letting him take care of her in other aspects of her life, but she'd have to be a fool to refuse him in this way.

At exactly half past ten, Draco and Hermione headed to Theo's office. When they entered, he was sitting behind his desk furiously writing notes out on a long piece of parchment. Draco glanced over at Hermione and said, "He looks like you did in the Hogwarts library during exams."

Theo's head snapped up and they both glared at Draco. "Piss off, Malfoy," Theo growled. "I'm currently making notes for the Wizengamot. I have a hearing in about a month. You know, about the Alpha/Omega laws… the very time consuming and free project I took on so witches like Hermione don't get hurt."

Chastened, Draco said, "So tell us about the Weasel and then you can get back to your real work."

Theo relayed that Weasley was unwilling to settle for an even split of their vault contents and ten percent of all Hermione's future earnings from the apothecary. He'd sent back the same offer Hermione had refused last time — half the vault, a quarter of the house value, and twenty percent of her earnings.

"That's ridiculous, Hermione. You're not going to give him that much of your earnings for the rest of your life. What if you discover something groundbreaking and make millions of Galleons? He doesn't deserve anything from it!" Draco seethed.

Hermione covered her face with her hands. "I know, Draco, but I don't want to keep fighting, either. It's making me feel so exhausted."

"Wouldn't it be more cost effective in the long run if I just paid him what he originally wanted? Half the value of the house?" Draco asked Theo.

"Of course. As it stands now, she'd be paying him 4000 Galleons a year at a rate of twenty percent, and it will just increase every year," the solicitor replied.

Hermione huffed beside him. "But that's your money, Draco. I want to try a mediator, I think. Maybe we'll be able to talk to each other if there is someone in the room to referee the proceedings. It's usually Harry who's acted in that role for us, so I'm sure someone with experience will do just fine."

"And if that doesn't work?" Theo questioned.

"I can just sign the whole vault over to him and be done with it. That will be both his half of the funds and half of the house," she stated. "I'll just start over. I was just hoping he'd have let all of this go by now."

Draco sat beside her, nearly shaking with rage at Weasley and Hermione's stubbornness. It wouldn't be a strain for him to pay Weasley the roughly 50,000 Galleons that would be half of the house's value, and yet she refused to let him. He was growing more and more agitated with her.

"I obviously need to get to work," she continued. "Padma and I have to go over the new St. Mungo's work and figure out how many apprentices we're going to hire and how much more space we'll need. I may reach out to you for help with real estate, Theo."

Draco watched as his friend rose and hugged Hermione, telling her he'd be in touch with her when he scheduled the mediation. She leaned down and gave Draco a chaste kiss goodbye before striding out of the law office, her jeans and trainers signaling she'd likely be working in the lab all day.

"I'm not going to let her bring this to mediation. She's being absolutely pigheaded. She's going to need her money to invest in the business, especially if they're looking for a bigger location and hiring help," he growled.

Theo smirked at him. "I know, mate. I knew you were going to wait for her to leave. Do you want me to owl Weasley and get him over here?"

"No," Draco answered. "I'm too pissed off right now. I'd probably fucking Avada him on the spot. I have to come up with a plan before I talk to him."

With a nod, Theo said, "Did you see who he was photographed with in the Prophet?"

"I've seen all of the blondes. It's like he's taking out a parade of Lavender Browns."

"So you saw Tracey?" Theo confirmed.

Draco stood to pace, unable to sit still. "And Lovegood and that Hufflepuff broad. I can never remember her name."

Of course I'm keeping track. He's trying to use all of these women to hurt Hermione. I need to be ready if she's upset. I need to take care of her.

Theo started laying out a strategy to mess with Weasley's head, bringing up sex with Hermione, mentioning the blondes and Lavender Brown. He was also planning to quip about Weasley moving on to Astoria next since she also fit his general preference. Blonde and beautiful.

"Draw up two sets of paperwork, Theo," Draco requested. "One with a settlement amount of 60,000 Galleons, and one with 50,000 Galleons. I'm going to try to get him to take 50,000, but I'm willing to go up to 60,000 if he's truly being an arsehole."

"And this is in addition to half the gold in their vault?" Theo asked.

Draco nodded affirmatively. "That should give him between 90,000 and 100,000 Galleons total, right?"

"Yes," Theo responded. "Roughly, unless Hermione is still putting her apothecary revenue into the shared vault. I know Weasley has opened his own account because his Ministry checks haven't been getting deposited for a few weeks now."

"I think she set up her own, as well. I'll make sure."

Theo told Draco he'd owl him the paperwork later that day, so Draco headed back to the Manor, prepared to send his own owl to Hermione's ex-husband. He was done letting the wanker hold the bloody house over her head and mess with her emotions.

Ron was sitting in his empty house, unsure of what to do with himself. It was a Friday, and he'd taken the day off from work. Looking around the space, he no longer felt at home. If he was completely honest with himself, it hadn't felt like home since the Victory Ball. Hermione had been what made this house feel like home to him, and he'd lost her after that point.

After growing up in the Burrow, being alone was the most foreign thing he'd ever felt. He'd gone straight from the Burrow to Hogwarts to being on the run with Harry and Hermione to living between Grimmauld and the Burrow again. After that, he was living in this very house with Hermione. It had been quiet with just the two of them, but he always imagined they'd have a few kids and things would liven up. He had been waiting for her to say she was ready to start a family.

He knew holding the house hostage was wrong. He had been at war with himself; he could easily afford to rent a flat somewhere and shouldn't be dragging this out just for some stupid kind of payback. Hermione and Malfoy were basically soul bonded before the war had escalated. Ron knew that none of this was his ex-wife's fault, but he just couldn't get over the fact that it was Malfoy . He would've been jealous of anyone, but imagining the ferret fucking her over and over again just made his stomach churn.

Drowning his pain with firewhisky and casual sex wasn't working. He had another date at six that night, but he wasn't really interested in finding someone new. The girls were just helping him pass the time and they made him forget for just a little while. Ron knew he'd made a real mess, but he didn't think he could take it back now.

As if it had been summoned, an owl tapped on the glass. Ron recognized the owl; it was the huge beast of a bird that Malfoy had used during school. How the owl had survived through the war, he had no idea. Hermione had taken Solstice with her, so he figured the letter wasn't from her. When he untied the scroll, the owl watched him carefully, poised to strike at any time.

Weasley-

Meet me at the Hog's Head on Monday at 12:30. We need to discuss the terms of your divorce settlement. I won't allow you to keep upsetting Hermione. I'm willing to pay you out, so come with an idea of what you're looking for.

She doesn't know I'm meeting you. I'd like to keep it that way since she's asked me to stay out of it. However, I'm not just going to sit back and let you bully her into giving up everything she's worked so hard for or the house she bought with her inheritance. If you truly loved her, you wouldn't want to hurt her this way.

Draco Malfoy

Ron read the note over twice, loathing himself more and more. Malfoy was right — he was hurting Hermione by dragging this out. It had been over a month now, and they were in a stalemate. He was in the wrong.

Malfoy had behaved in exactly the way he had predicted, proving he knew something about his childhood nemesis. Ron was hoping Hermione's relief at having her house back would outweigh whatever anger she felt towards him after the fact. He idly wondered if she would live there with Malfoy, if the new couple would sit down to breakfast every morning and dinner every night at the very table he was currently sitting at.

With a sigh, he summoned parchment and a quill to respond; Malfoy's owl wasn't flying away, so Ron assumed he wanted an immediate response. He wrote that he'd see him on Monday and sent the owl off. Once it was gone, he thought about how much gold he should ask for. What would Malfoy being willing to part with to keep Hermione happy? He knew he wanted at least 40,000 Galleons; that would give him what he really wanted. He'd start at 100,000 and see what he ended up with.

Author's Note: Sorry, sorry! I didn't realize this chapter was so short until I just read it over! The next one is pretty short, too. I'll post it tomorrow, and that will leave me with only six more chapters pre-written. Hopefully the pressure will get my muse back in gear.

Don't hate Draco for deciding to take over. It's long overdue - our Alpha is getting restless and sick of seeing his Omega hurting over something he can easily fix. And we all know he's got more money than sense sometimes. *wink*