A/N: I do a writing goal around this time each year and the first several days I was dragging. I sent a friend some pairings and asked for her opinion on one and she emphatically sent back Dramione. I promise, it is Dramione, but I've always felt like the movies didn't do Ron justice and that they weren't actually a bad pairing, so this is what came of it! Also, I'm bad at chapter divisions, whoops.

2 years later:

Hermione wiped at her eyes. It was September 1st. She had just sent Rose, beginning her third year, and Hugo, just starting his Hogwarts journey off on the train and she came straight to the cemetery. Two years. It had been two years since Ron had left them. Had left her. Harry later told her that Ron's wand had been found inches from his hand in the mangled driver's side metal. It appeared that he had gotten it out just in time to put a cushioning charm around Hugo, given that Hugo should have suffered similar injuries to Hermione, yet had showed no signs. As irrational as it was, there were nights when she missed him so much and she just got so angry at him for leaving them. Hugo could have dealt with a few scrapes if it meant having his father around. He could have put the cushioning charm around himself and he would still be with them. But it only made her love him more that his last act had been that of a loving father, protecting his child.

She sniffled again. It had been about an hour that she'd been here. She had brought flowers and a picnic lunch as she told her husband of all the things their children had gotten into in the last few weeks. She had brought them both here over the summer holidays, but of course more information that she wanted to share with him had come up since then. And she needed to share her woes of sending her baby off to Hogwarts with someone. Harry and Ginny had offered to come with her. They sent Lily off for her first year today as well. But this was her day. This was only the second anniversary of his death, but she still felt like this day belonged to them only.

Standing and packing up the leftovers with her wand, she noticed movement off to her left and hastily stowed the wand back inside her jacket. Damn. The last thing she needed right now was to have done magic in front of a muggle.

"Ought to be more careful, Granger, you never know who will be coming to these parts to pay their respects." Draco Malfoy sauntered over to her. He had always called her by her maiden name. It seemed to hold less animosity now.

"Draco," she nodded and resumed magically cleaning up her space. "What are you doing here?" She looked over the man she had known since her school days. The man who had tormented her for years. He was usually in ministry robes, so seeing him in a muggle suit was a bit of a shock. She had to admit that the way the buttons on the front forced the lapels and shoulders to fit him made for a nice sight. It was an impeccably cut suit that showed him at his best. They were both nearing 40, but Draco had not let himself go.

His hands were deep in the pockets of his expensive-looking jacket. "Astoria always made it very clear that she didn't want to be buried in the Malfoy crypts. She was constantly working to tear me away from the influence of my family and the less-than-honorable ways that the Malfoy name has been associated with." He chuckled at a memory. "She's right over there." He nodded with his head to a spot some fifty meters away, to a grave of light pink granite. The flowers surrounding the grave were immaculate.

Hermione nodded, remember vaguely that she had read about Astoria's passing a few months after Ron's. She had to admit that she had been so far down in her own well of grief that she barely registered it. If she hadn't had Hugo at home to take care of, she wasn't sure how she would have made it, honestly. "Draco, I'm sorry. It's a rough day for all of us, sending our last reminders of them off to Hogwarts. How is Scorpius?"

"Really, Granger? It's been nearly two years. You've never asked after him before. We've worked together on countless projects in that time. Why pretend that you care now?" His face was a mask of questioning disgust.

Taken aback, Hermione realized that he probably was right. She knew that Scorpius and Al were friends, but she probably hadn't directly talked to Draco about it. It was really only within the last year that she even started to feel like herself again and she knew that her personal relationships, with friends and colleagues had suffered in that time. But she should have reached out to him. She should have been a better coworker than that, even if that's all they were. "I'm sorry, Malfoy, y-"

He cut her off quickly, "And it's Malfoy again now? You've always taken the high road and called me by my first name at work." He turned around and cut back across the field of grass and graves, "I'll see you around, Granger," he stopped and spun on the spot to give her a mocking bow, "sorry, Weasley." And spun back to continue on his march.

Shutting the door behind her, Hermione slid down the length of it. She quickly locked it and cast a muffliato spell around herself. She began to sob. She had held it together at the gravesite, but she knew that she would break down as soon as she was at home.

Home.

Alone.

No kids, nothing to distract her from the undeniable fact that it was just her. She put her head down on her knees and let the tears flow. Not only for her husband, though the grief felt raw again, but also for the state of her life and how very lonely she felt. Shaking her hair out of her eyes as she raised her head, she scolded herself. She wasn't alone. Harry and Ginny had been the most supportive and helpful with her. The entire Weasley family had been. And her parents, they had been the best, even if they didn't always understand the things that just happened to happen when they were watching Hugo.

She picked herself up and smoothed down the skirt of her dress, pulling her jumper more snuggly around herself as she walked to the kitchen.

As she opened a cupboard to see what she wanted to do for dinner, she heard a pop behind her. Twirling around, wand drawn, she was greeted by the smiling faces of Harry and Ginny, each carrying a ceramic dish. She tried to pull up a smile for her two closest friends, but Ginny's face let her know that it was failing spectacularly.

"Harry, will you take this and start re-heating the food to get it ready for supper?" Ginny shoved her dish into his arms so suddenly that both nearly went crashing to the floor and rushed to Hermione's side, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"What? Gin, we put heating charms on them, they don't need to be re-heated?" Harry's eyes widened in confusion and his mouth was parted as if ready to ask more questions.

The look Ginny fixed him with silence him. "Then do something else with them while I go talk to Hermione. Honestly, men!"

She led a chuckling Hermione out to the sitting room. "Hermione, you've been crying."

Sadly smiling, Hermione answered the floor more than Ginny, "I was at the cemetery earlier today, you knew that, I told you I was going." Ginny nodded. "Well, as if it's not a hard enough day, I ran into Draco Malfoy there."

Taking Hermione's hand, Ginny nodded. "That makes sense. The day we lost Ron, well, he and Astoria were at St. Mungo's that day and it was the day that they were told she only had weeks, if that. I was interviewing Marcus Flint as a quidditch coach a couple of days later, you know, burying myself in work, and he told me."

"Oh how awful." Hermione got a lot of sympathy for her situation, and she was grateful, but sometimes she just wanted to be left alone. With Ron, it was so sudden. They had been lightly bickering, as they did, one moment and she was awake in the hospital with him gone the next. She couldn't begin to imagine knowing that the end was coming, that there was nothing to be done, and to decide how to spend your remaining time. But they had gotten to say goodbye. She didn't know which was worse.

"But I'm guessing just seeing Malfoy there wasn't what set you off." Ginny prompted gently.

"No, I asked after Scorpius and he pointed out that I haven't been the most caring coworker with checking in on those around me recently." She paused. "It just got me thinking about how I've handled the whole situation."

Ginny put her arm back around her sister-in-law. "Hermione, you're mourning your husband, a man who was one of your best friends since you were 11. You're not studying for NEWTS. There is no right way to deal with it. If he hadn't been working on his own grief at the same time, he wouldn't have snapped like that." She pulled them both back so that they were slumped against the back of the couch.

After several moments of silence, Ginny elbowed Hermione lightly in the ribs, "Still, Draco is not unattractive…" She trailed off.

Shooting up and turning to face Ginny, Hermione was aghast. "Ginny!"

"What? I'm married, not blind! He helps with Flint's quidditch work outs and strategy. He had to find something other than work to keep busy after Scorp went off to Hogwarts. And because he and Al are such good friends, we've had dinner with him a number of times. Let me tell you, those arms that are usually hidden beneath ministry robes or those suits he likes, mm mm mmm." She finished laughingly.

"Ginny, this is so not appropriate!" But she found herself smiling in spite of herself, thinking back to how she had admired the fit of his suit earlier.

"Hermione, listen to me." The two witches locked eyes. "You are a witch who is bloody brilliant, who has put her heart and soul into her kids and her job, but you are still young enough to catch a man's eye and you deserve to be happy. I loved my brother and I know you did too. But he would want you to be happy."

"Ginny.." Hermione trailed off, her voice sounding close to a whine.

"Look, I'm not saying it has to be Malfoy, I'm just saying that it's been two years and we need to get you out of this house. Now that Hugo is at Hogwarts, you have no excuse. You cannot closet yourself away.

Standing from her sofa, Hermione turned and offered her hand to Ginny to pull her up. "This seems awfully rehearsed, did you and Harry plan this?"

Feigning outrage, Ginny put a hand to her mouth, "Why, Hermione Weasley! We are just two of your closest friends bringing over a dinner on the night that we all sent all of our kids off to Hogwarts." She linked their arms and led them back to Harry waiting in the kitchen. "I had planned to have this conversation with you tomorrow."