We slept late New Year's Day and I for one was very thankful we didn't have to return to the school until the following day. It was nice to take a final day of peace together to slowly gather our things which had spread surprisingly far in the large manor. I said my farewells to the library and promised to visit often.

When we did finally return to the castle, McGonagall was very kind and all too happy to give her congratulations. We discussed with her the timeline we had talked about for the wedding and asked if it would be possible to accommodate a different living arrangement, after we were married of course to set a good example for the students.

She was all too happy to oblige and it turns out there were several rooms built into the castle for married teachers, they just had never been used. We would be able to have our pick and make it our own. It was a better conversation than we could have hoped for and we left her office smiling widely.

The students would all be chattering about our relationship for sure, and Draco and I had some major discussions on how to deal with that. Ultimately, we decided it was best to keep as much of our personal life private as possible. The decision was made that if asked we would confirm our engagement and that we are very happy together and leave it at that.

It worked quite well too. When the students asked and didn't get more of a response, they quickly stopped asking.

It seemed the second part of the school year passed by in a blur. By the time May had approached and was nearly gone, many of the wizarding world had come to accept our silence on our relationship and the Prophet had kept their nose out of it. Occasionally we would receive a piece of hate mail. A howler accusing Draco of putting me under the imperious or all sorts of other things, but there was enough love in our hearts and trust for each other that we didn't let it get to us.

McGonagall had reluctantly granted us one weekend a month off school grounds, mumbling something under her breath about the things she has to deal with when having a young staff. Apparently, the older professors were quite happy to live in their own little world within the castle walls.

We used this time away to host a monthly social at the manor in France. Blaise, Ginny, Harry, Luna, Neville and Hannah had yet to miss one. Blaise initially griped about being out numbered, but after Luna walked in, he quickly changed his tune. Who would have thought those two would hit it off so well?

Today, we were getting ready for such an evening. It was decided that before we apparated to our other home, as we had decided we would keep that as our personal residence, we needed to stop at Honeydukes for some cauldron cakes and truffles. We also needed to place an order for a few treats for the wedding as well which, as the Prophet had reported, would be happening in just three weeks' time.

It was quite an ordinary day as we strolled down the cobble stone streets, but as we would learn, looks can be deceiving. As we were discussing what we wanted to provide for dinner, I was all for introducing them to muggle pizza, we were caught off guard, stunned and quickly apparated away.

When we landed, we were quickly restrained before our attacker revealed themselves. Ronald Weasley stood laughing at us in our vulnerable state.

"The Slytherin Prince and the famed member of the Golden Trio, the Brightest Witch of our Age herself and I was still able to get the upper hand." Ron let out a maniacal laugh and I quickly began to realize something had snapped in him.

"Ron, what is this? You have no right to hold us here."

He got inches from my face and ran a finger down the front of my body. Draco tried to maintain his composure, he had years of practice after all, but deep in my core I could feel the hatred and anger pouring from him in waves.

"I have every right my dear, Hermione. You see, you have always been mine. Even when I took others, you still belonged to me. You had no right to sully yourself with that filth over there. I need to teach you what happens when you disrespect me and I'm going to start with torturing and killing the evil ferret himself. It will be a nice show for you to watch, I promise."

I didn't know where this new ability to sense Draco's emotions were coming from, but our eyes locked and I could tell he felt mine too. It was so intense I could nearly read his thoughts and I completely agreed. Draco survived Voldemort living in his house and I survived being tortured by his mad aunt on his drawing room floor. We had enough smarts and determination between us to get out of here relatively unscathed.

"Ron, darling, you're absolutely right. I've been awful. Why don't you let me out of these binds and I will help you take care of the problem?" I said it as sickenly sweet as I could.

It seemed as though he was considering my proposal for a moment, before cackles shook his shoulders. "You always were a clever witch! You think I would allow you out now? You'd probably try to take my wand or something and I just can't have that." He slapped me hard enough to split my cheek open. "Now don't play games with me! I need to concentrate!" Pure rage filled his tone and his glassy gaze.

It broke my heart to see how my once friend had changed so drastically. He was but a shell of the man I knew.

Before I could think what to do next Draco was talking. I could tell he was trying to take the attention off me so I could think what to do next, but it was quite distracting because his interruption only caused Ron to act again, this time landing repeated blows to Draco before finally using the Crucio curse on him.

The look of pain on Draco's face, for he had enough practice to make no sound, was enough for me to act. The anger welled up inside me and allowed me to pull from my magical core. I managed to break free from the shackles and I lunged for my wand which he had left on the table near the door of the small room.

Ron didn't have nearly the reflexes that I had and I was able to throw up a Protego before his curse could reach me. Simultaneously, still having a connection to my core, I reached my hand toward Draco and he too was released. Not yet having his wand, but taking advantage of the adrenaline and anger coursing through him, he threw himself at Ron, knocking him to the floor.

The two were moving so quickly as they each tried to get the other hand that it was hard to aim. I did a quick Expelliarmus and was able to disarm Ron at least so they were on even ground, but still, I wanted him detained as quickly as possible. Finally, Draco managed to get on top of Ron and punched him so hard he was knocked unconscious.

Not wanting to take any chances, I cast a full body bind curse as well as tied his limbs. Just as I was finishing, the door burst open and a team of Aurors lead by none other than Harry Potter himself came bursting in.

"Hold fire!" Harry shouted as he ran to assess the situation. "Merlin 'Mione, I knew he was becoming more unstable, but I had no idea. Are you two alright?"

He directed his question towards Draco as well and I turned to give him a full appraisal. He was bruised and bloody and was definitely going to need a trip to St. Mungos.

"We're a little sore and a lot confused, but physically we'll recover."

He nodded. "Jenkins! Take the suspect into custody immediately. He managed to slip through our surveillance once. Take him straight to Azkaban this time to await trial."

His voice was strong, but I could see the pain on his voice how hurt he was that it had come to this. "Harry, what's going on?" I was still so confused.

He let out a heave sigh. "Quite a bit actually. Would the two of you mind coming to the Ministry and asking some questions? I'll need to gather some pictures as evidence as well before you get treated."

My hand rose to my cheek. I suspected something may have fractured, but nodded. Harry helped Draco to his feet and he flinched. Yup, it was highly likely he had at least one broken rib.

The shack we were in didn't have a floo and the only option for ravel was apparition which would be incredibly painful for Draco. Harry handed him a pain potion which he drank gratefully before we both grabbed on to his arm and allowed us to be swept away to his office.