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Azkaban

May - June 5th, 1999

Narcissa had asked her shortly before her exams, if she would be willing to accompany her to visit her husband and son, once she was done with exams. The ministry had finally approved her request, as she had followed every rule for the past months. Hermione had been torn. She was still desperately trying to heal her relationship with Ron and her visits at Malfoy Manor had caused enough fights as it was.

Her mother-in-law had said she understood, but Hermione had caught her distraught expression. After her last exams, she had gone out with Ron, Ginny, and Harry. Since there would be some big ceremony on their first kiss anniversary, this quiet night was supposed to be their celebration. She even had permission to stay in Hogsmeade overnight, which was rare, but as it was her technically her eight-year and exams were done, McGonagall had agreed.

Ron had probably had too much to drink. At least that's what she told herself. They had talked about taking the next step and had surely tried before. Sex was incredibly complicated when one of you lived in Hogwarts and the other shared his time between his childhood bedroom and his best friend's house. Not to mention if one was married by some strong pureblood bond and the other used that to pick a fight whenever you got close to anything romantic. But she hoped that having the whole night, without any restrictions of having to be back in Hogwarts, this would actually be it. They had started kissing and she was working harder than she should have on getting ready for him. Pushing all thoughts of her marriage as far to the back as she possibly could, was not the hardest part. It was his continued fight picking that kept coming to mind, reminding her that he might not be the right fit if he couldn't handle it.

It was her necklace that set him off this time. It had been dumb of her to wear it, but when she had tried going without and she had felt like she was more vulnerable on those days. Ron had fingered it with his hand. For the first time taking in the dragon engraved on it.

"Who did you say gave this to you?"

"My mother." Her voice caught in her throat, making him look up at her.

"What was the occasion?"

"A trip, I believe." She proceeded to kiss him again, having her fingers tuck at his shirt. He let her take it off, before proceeding to take off her sweater and her shirt right after. They had made it to the bed and were resting on there, him trailing kisses down her neck, along with her breast, and finally around her belly button. She was finally relaxing into his caressing, digging her hands into his hair, when she felt him pause.

"What happened to your scar?" He was once again sitting next to her, pulling her arm up. The mudblood writing was almost faded away.

Hermione sighed in deep frustration. They wouldn't take the next step tonight. She knew that now, but she wasn't ready to give up. She leaned forward, tracing kisses up his arm, back to his neck.

"Narcissa made a lotion for me. She knew which ingredients would act as a counter course to the blades magic." She kissed him on the lips now, but he wasn't kissing her back. She sighed inwardly, preparing for his opinion on the whole Malfoy thing.

"You sure it isn't poising you?" He gave her arm another look.

"Yes." Her voice was firm.

"Well Harry mentioned that she wants you to join her in Azkaban." She closed her eyes. Of course, he had. Ron had made sure to let him know that he wanted to know these things. "She does understand that you are divorcing her son as soon as we have figured out how?"

Hermione nodded. The same day Narcissa had handed her the potion to heal the scar, she had also shown her extensive notes on her research of breaking the bind between Draco and her. She had studied every book in her library multiple times. Hermione had then brought her Hogwarts books and findings to reference with Narcissa's work. She had been surprised, but at how Lady Malfoy seemed to excel in this work and especially determined to give Hermione the choice she had been denied before.

After eyeing the Hogwarts books, Narcissa had admitted that she would like it if Draco and Hermione found an interest in each other. She also admitted to liking Hermione as her daughter-in-law over any of those society witches, they would have chosen for Draco. It appeared that most of them hadn't had much more of a focus on their education than becoming a lady. However, when Hermione looked back from the fireplace before flooing back to Hogwarts, she saw her studying the books already – trying to find a way to get them divorced.

"Why do you have to go to Azkaban then?"

"She doesn't have anyone to take her."

"Well that would be their fault."

At this point Hermione had stood up and grabbed her shirt off the floor. They had already discussed this before and her opinion hadn't changed. Clearly, neither had Rons.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going back to Hogwarts."

"But it's our anniversary."

"It feels more like a fight." She glanced at him before she pulled the light sweater back on and headed for the door. Besides, really it was only the anniversary of something awkward. January should be the month they celebrated.

"He is in Azkaban and still destroys everything."

Hermione closed her eyes at the angry huff and took a deep breath. She wanted to tell Ron that it was his uncalled for jealousy that destroyed the night, but that would only make things worse. While she had come to the conclusion it was better to stay far away from Malfoy before her visit to Hogsmeade, she found herself changing her mind as she climbed the hills to Hogwarts.

While part of it was her anger for Ron, she concluded that she was doing for Narcissa what she wished everyone else would do for her. Giving her the benefit of a doubt. If only a few of her former friends had actually tried to listen to her story she wouldn't be feeling as much as an outcast. So she sent the owl, before she could find another reason to back out.

The anniversary of the battle celebration felt terrible. There were memories of the fallen everywhere, next to them sobbing family members. There were encouraging speeches and someone even remembered her part in it all, honoring her as Hermione Granger. She had almost thrown up during the applause, remembering all the taunting over the past year. Her rebellious part wanted to go up there and correct her last name, just to see if they dared to stop applauding.

At least Ron seemed to have gotten over himself. While they weren't nearly as close as they were before their last fight, he at least attempted at the boyfriend thing with a loose arm around her for most of the day. She would move into Harry's house for now but had asked for her own room. He claimed it was fine and that she had too much stuff for his bedroom anyway. He even bid his tongue, when she informed him of his plans to accompany Narcissa. She wondered if Harry had told him to back off. It was a possibility. Harry had been very careful to trust her, since their fight about visiting the Manor.

When the day came to floo to the Manor though, she felt sick to her stomach. She hadn't been to Azkaban, she had only met the terrible guards and that was more than she could handle. She ended up throwing up in the bathroom right before she left, causing Narcissa to look at her with concern when she arrived.

"I will talk to Draco first and then head to the higher security level to talk with Lucius. You can either wait or use the time and talk to Draco as well."

Hermione nodded.

"He will be released in November, so you should probably talk through which of the options for undoing the bind you would like to try, while we don't have an absolute counter."

She nodded again, before letting Narcissa whisk them away to the nearest apparation point to the prison. When she stepped into the building it seemed to pull every positive thought from her mind. She understood now, how her mother-in-law had not wanted to go alone. She waited in a waiting area, where an actual wizard with his Patronus swirling around him was on guard. It was after an hour that Narcissa emerged.

Her face seemed wet and Hermione wanted to hug her, but then she saw how the older witch straightened her shoulders and raised her chin. She would hug her later when nobody was watching. The guard let her go through to Lucius' area and then looked at her expectantly.

"Are you going to see your husband or do we send him back?"

Her breath stopped briefly. Other than Narcissa it was rare now that anyone spoke of her husband. Well, there might have been people at Hogwarts, but she had learned to not hear them when her head was held high. A small smile played on her lips, then she stood and walked towards the door. She could feel the magic shift for her, granting her entrance.

The room was not as prison-like as she expected. Like the waiting room, it was decent. A table, and chairs on each side. He looked up when the wards closed behind her. There was surprise in his eyes, but he was quick to hide it.

"Fancy seeing you, darling."

She ignored the sneer and sat in a chair across from him. Her hands nervously twitching in her lap.

"Don't worry she told me to play nice if you decided to come in."

Now he sounded bored and Hermione nodded softly. Of course, Narcissa had given him a piece of her mind. They were silent and she began to wonder if it had been a mistake to come.

"Thanks, for taking care of her." She looked up. His voice had been quiet and it didn't have the usual taunt to it. She wondered if he had used up all his friendliness for those words.

"She takes more care of me." She paused. He was likely to make some rude comment if she opened up too much, so how friendly should she get with him? It wasn't like he was an open book. But then again, she might have to deal with him as her husband, if things didn't change.

"She put me back together when I completely lost it over some idiots at Hogwarts calling me names."

He nodded and she saw recognition cross his features.

"You knew?"

"You grabbed your necklace twice that day. I don't think you noticed the first time." His eyes were on the spot of her shirt hiding the pendant. "It takes a lot of energy do to the mind-stuff when you are surrounded by dementors, so it took me a while to pull it together enough to have a full conversation if necessary. Mother beat me to it, by a few minutes." He leaned back in his chair. Giving her a moment to wonder, why he cared enough to spend the energy that must have required. "I checked your memories when you were asleep. It's easier when it's dreamlike."

She remembered dreaming of the mocking that night, and grimaced. He was lucky that she had also dreamed of Narcissa comforting her. She concluded now he must have been just terribly bored and used her as entertainment.

There was another silence. It was him again that finally spoke. His voice indicated that the sentiments were gone and they were back to business.

"Mother said there are a few options to try and proceed with a divorce, but nothing yet to undo everything."

"Was she sincere?" Draco stared at her quizzically for a few moments.

"Why do you ask?"

Hermione closed her eyes.

"As disturbing as that may sound to you, she seems to like me and my friends have voiced concern that she is trying to keep us from divorcing."

"Weasley being the friends?" Although his voice had his old mocking edge to it, he received a soft nod. "Well, what do you think?"

Hermione looked back at him, accidentally catching his eyes – a swirl of grey that seemed to have lost a lot of his edge in the past months.

"I think she is trying really hard, and what she found is what there is."

"Go with your intuition then, instead of the Weasels grumpiness."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Well she was saying that there are a couple of options that would get us out of most of our obligation. With them gone, it should be possible to ignore those that are left. Also, there are legal documents we can draft which would also cancel some of the terms."

She nodded slowly. Narcissa had told her the same thing.

"From what I understood, if we combine a few of those options to an actual spell, we could get out of this and obviously I think we should take the chances. It requires a powerful wizard though." He paused. "A war hero like you should be able to convince Shaklebolt to perform it once I'm out. The power of his office should help with it all."

She stared at him quietly. To be exact she was staring at the air and he just happened to be a colored spot in it.

"Granger, what are you staring at?"

"Hmm?" He had lost her at war hero. The ridicule of the last year coming to mind more than anything. She really wasn't one. Not in the sight of anyone besides maybe her closest friends and whoever had written that talk at the memorial.

He cocked his eyebrow at her as she wasn't responding before he repeated his question.

"I'm sure Harry can convince Kingsley." It was more thought to herself, but she then realized that she had said it out loud.

Draco remained silent, now studying her. When he seemed done he lowered his eyes to the spot where he suspected her necklace.

"They really shamed you for being a Malfoy, didn't they?" She was surprised by his soft tone. Apparently, he still had some kindness left after the thank you.

"Maybe that should be your argument. Getting rid of Draco Malfoy for good, it's not like you deserved this life sentence and I got mine." He rolled his eyes as he said the words.

"I don't think it makes a difference. Between being a mudblood and supposedly switching sides during the war, I don't think anything will change with my last name."

Malfoy took in her words and contemplated them. They fell back into silence and Hermione finally got up and made her way to the door. She fled and they both recognized it.

"So we will try the spells your mother found and hope it rids us of the bind."

He nodded and noticed how she had straightened her spine and shoulders and lifted her chin just a bit. His mother's doing he assumed, having heard those words a lot during his childhood. A smile actually creeping to his lips but disappearing just as fast as she turned, doorknob in hand.

"You know, right after it happened, I thought it was a punishment to you and your family. Ruining your perfect bloodline, by either forcing you to have a half-blood hair or just not have any at all." She stared at another spot now. "But now I think he also meant to punish us. He planted this seed to destroy the bonds we valued most. Harry only says he trusts me, Ron is hysterically jealous of a prisoner and I'm an outcast. Oh, and of course Ron makes Harry's life miserable because he dared to take me to see your mother."

"Well once the divorce is through, you can use that brain of yours to fix it all." She tried to not be upset when she saw his smirk and realized he was back to his mean side. A part of her had hoped for a little more at her revelation, but who was she to assume being married changed anything about his attitude towards her. She opened the door without another word and was relieved to find Narcissa already waiting for her.