Chapter 6
Hermione held in her tears as she stood in front of Grimmauld place, the events of what had just happened racing through her mind. She couldn't lose it just yet, not with Rose with her, completely unaware of what had just happened. She owed her daughter that much.
She raised her hand and knocked slightly; she knew she probably could have just apparated inside, but she didn't want to be any more inconvenient than she already was going to be.
The door opened a few moments later, and Harry stood in front of her, confused.
"Hermione?" He asked, looking at both her and Rose, "What are you doing here? Not that I don't love you, but this was unexpected."
"Can I come in?" she asked, looking at Rose. She didn't want to talk about it in front of her daughter; not yet anyways.
"Of course," he said, ushering her inside. "James was just playing with some toys. Would you like to join him Rose?" he asked her daughter taking her from her arms to distract her, picking up on her request.
Her daughter nodded eagerly, as Harry led them to the sitting room where James and Ginny were.
"Hermione," Ginny greeted her, but upon giving Hermione a quick once over, her expression changed. "What happened?"
Harry placed Rose down on the play mat with James and raised a silencing spell over them so the children wouldn't hear what they were discussing.
"I left him," she said, and all of the tears she had been holding in came rushing out, "I couldn't pretend that everything was okay any longer. I couldn't keep coming home to his anger and his alcoholism."
Ginny and Harry exchanged a look, "What did he do now?" Ginny said, keeping her voice level.
"I came home, and the entire house smelled like alcohol," she said sniffling, as Harry wrapped an arm around her, "He had thrown a bottle of firewhisky at the ground, spilling the contents everywhere, and the glass shards were left uncleaned. Rose was so close to it, and when I saw it, I freaked out. What if she had decided to go towards her father, and gotten hurt? What would have happened if I got there a second later? So I yelled at him for it, and-"
Her voice trailed off and Ginny looked at her, prompting, "And?"
"He slapped me," she said quietly, and Harry looked furious, "It wasn't the first time he's done something like that while drunk." Harry stared at her wrist, where the bruises had been the last time he had seen her, and she nodded, "But it was the first time Rose had been in such obvious danger. I couldn't ignore it anymore, I can't let something happen to my daughter because I was afraid to leave him. It's one thing if he hurts me or demeans me; my feelings are nothing compared to Rose. I can't let her get hurt because he hates me and his life enough to drink constantly."
"That bastard," Harry said clenching his fist, "I knew he had hurt you. I wanted nothing more than to confront him after seeing your wrist, but I didn't want to make things worse for you. I wanted you to come to me Hermione, and confide in us."
"I didn't want to make things difficult," she confessed, "He's your brother," she said to Ginny, "I didn't want to put you both in awkward position."
"He might be my brother, but we all have known how wrong he was for years, drinking away his life, and demeaning your accomplishments. We've all known how wrong he was to you, and you're right, he is my brother. I hoped he could change, and that you wouldn't be in all the pain you are in now. I hoped you both would have a happy life together. Not that he would put my goddaughter in physical danger. If I had come home and seen James in that position, then Merlin knows I would have lost it. How can I blame you for protecting your daughter?"
"He hurt you," Harry said, angrily, "I don't care if he is my friend, and my brother-in-law. It doesn't justify that he's been emotionally and physically abusing you, Hermione. You're my friend, my sister. You didn't deserve that. We'll support you, no matter what you decide to do. We always will."
"I think he was cheating on me," she confessed, letting out the secret she had been holding onto for years. "I knew he couldn't have solely been in the pub every single time he was drinking late. I'm the one who does his laundry, and I see the lipstick stains all over his clothes. He's always far too drunk to properly cast the cleaning spell, and it's not hard to guess how they came to be. But I never confronted him about it; I already can tell that he'll blame it on me, stating that if I didn't work so much and was a proper wife, he wouldn't need to go looking for someone else to comfort him and provide him with what he needs."
Ginny exhaled a breath, "I'm glad you left him," she said softly, "You deserve better, Hermione. Someone who can respect your achievements, and love you unconditionally. You deserve that much; to feel that sort of love, again."
She looked at her friend sharply, and thankfully Harry did not pick up on the reference to her past relationship. She had only told Ginny about what had happened with Draco, but it had been years since then. The last thing she wanted was to bring up the past.
"You can stay here," Harry announced suddenly, "We won't let Ron see you until you're ready, Hermione. It's not going to be easy, and leaving him is going to become public, given who both of you are, but we'll stand by you and support you. I won't let him hurt you again."
She smiled gratefully at her friend, and Ginny stood up just then, "Let's get you both some proper dinner, shall we?"
And Hermione stood up, taking an unsuspecting Rose in her arms, as she let out the breath she had been holding in for what felt like years. Things would finally be okay, even if it's hard at first.
She wasn't sure why she even cared; what did it matter to her if Draco Malfoy didn't show up class? They were barely even classmates, let alone acquaintances. If he chose to rot his life away, what did it matter to her?
Hell, if he stopped coming to class all together, then she probably could use it as an excuse to do their group project by herself. So if anything, it was better for her.
So why did she care so damn much that he wasn't here? Why did she care, when she could have been doing so many other things with her life?
But it seemed to be eating away at her, the signs, him changing from the extroverted bully, Harry's accusations, the way he seemed to look as if there were a billion other things on his mind.
What if Harry was right? Maybe he wasn't a Death Eater, per say, but what if something bigger was happening? Could she really look the other way and pretend everything was fine? She had no obligation to help him, not when he had made her life miserable for the last few years. He had taunted her, teased her, cursed her, and made her doubt her place in the wizarding world. Did she really care about what happened to him?
Maybe it was the Gryffindor in her that felt the need to save everyone, or the part of her that couldn't turn away if someone was in danger. But she knew she couldn't sit back and do nothing if something actually was wrong. Didn't she owe it to herself to at least try, even if it meant she would regret it later? It was better to try and to fail, then not to try at all.
So when class ended, she found herself thinking back to Malfoy, and wondering just what could be going on with the boy. Maybe it was the nosy part of her, but when she saw him leave dinner early to make his way to the bathroom Myrtle haunted, she couldn't help but follow him. What was Draco Malfoy doing in the Girl's lavatory?
She watched from the background, as he began to shake, loosening his tie, and covered his face with his hands, looking utterly broken and defeated.
It was a side to him she had never seen before, and it was a side of him she never expected to see; a human side. He didn't look like the boy who had bullied her, but a boy who seemed broken down. And she wasn't sure if that was more shocking to her, or it was the fact that she wanted to approach him and see if he was okay.
And so she took a deep breath and stepped forward "Malfoy?" she called out, unsure of herself.
He stood up straight, startled by the noise, and the once worried look, replaced now by a composed neutral one.
"What are you doing here, Granger?" he hissed as he approached her, pushing her against the wall, wand to her throat.
"I could ask you the same question, Malfoy," she retorted, "You are the one in the girls' bathroom after all. Why are you here?"
"It's none of your blood business," he snapped, as his eyes stayed concentrated on hers. She held her composure, not letting him see just how nervous she was.
"I know something's happened," she said bravely, "You're not the same person you once were. You don't harass younger years or wear your blood status as a cloak of pride anymore. You're in the girl's lavatory, looking nervous out of your mind, and seem to be in some sort of crisis. I just want to help."
"Why?" he asked, and she felt her heart stutter at the question, "Like you said, I've never been pleasant to you, or others. Why would you want to help me?"
"Because you don't need to face whatever this is alone. I'm not blind, Malfoy, whatever it is has something to do with Voldemort. Why else would you have changed so drastically? You could have just pretended your father was wrongfully arrested and roamed around the school as you usually do. It wouldn't have changed anything. Unless there was more going on. You're just a boy, you don't need to face this alone."
He barked out a laugh, but kept her held against the wall, "And accept help from you? A mudblood who has nothing better to do than play hero? Or Dumbledore, who's so clueless that he never has the first idea of what truly is happening in his school? Right, like I need help from either of you. Go back to your friends, Granger, and pretend this never happened."
"And if I don't?" she asked, defiantly, "If I refuse to leave you alone, and keep trying to help you?"
His eyes flickered with an expression she didn't quite comprehend, but it vanished as quickly as it came. He released her, and she staggered back slightly.
"If you don't then I'll make sure you regret it, Granger," he turned his back on her, "I'm no hero like your friend Potter. You don't know what will happen to you if you get in my way. So I'm going to warn you just this once, leave this bathroom and never mention what you saw ever again. Because I can assure you that if you do, you'll regret it, more than you could ever imagine."
She wanted to protest, and insist that she wasn't afraid of him, but the truth was, that she was terrified. Not that he would hurt her, but of what he could say. What it would mean.
So she turned around, pausing for only a moment before leaving the loo and Draco Malfoy behind.
Draco frowned as he looked over at the desk where his partner sat at; it wasn't like Harry to skip a day of work, regardless of the circumstances. In the years they had worked together, he had taken off one sick day, and that had been because Mrs. Potter had floo called in for him and had threatened Harry saying she would hex him if he as much as considered going in to work in his condition. So for him to stay home with only "personal reasons" listed as an explanation was an annonmaly.
And he couldn't help but wonder if everything was okay; especially given the fact that there were rumours around the office that Hermione hadn't been in that morning when her husband came in demanding to see her.
So what was going on with the two former Gryffindors?
Maybe it was none of his business, but Harry was his partner, and well, Hermione was Hermione. She was another story all together, someone who would always hold a special place in her heart.
But before he could ponder upon it any further, there was a knock at the door, revealing none other than Charlie Weasley at the other side of it.
"Malfoy?" Weasley frowned, "Is Harry not here today?"
Draco shrugged, "He took a day off for personal reasons."
Charlie looked confused at that, but didn't press the matter, "I need to talk to him about something, but I'll file the report with you. I heard from Kingsley you're looking into magical creatures being harmed with dark magic."
"We are," Draco said slowly, "Did something happen at the dragon reserve?"
"Unfortunately," Charlie said grimly, taking a seat in front of him, "Someone's been breaking in to our reserves."
He immediately took out a sheet of parchment to take down notes of the crime and Charlie began to speak.
"It started out small," Charlie said, "A missing scale, then a claw, then parts of the dragons' wings. But recently we found one of our dragons slain, drained of blood, descaled, declawed. Every valuable part of the dragon had been taken, and left nothing but the carcass behind."
"Merlin," Draco breathed slightly. "Do you have any suspects?"
He shook his head, "It obviously needs to be someone skilled enough with dragons to get close enough not to be roasted alive. But I couldn't believe it is anyone on the reserve who could have done it. Everyone there was so broken up about it. I know Romania hardly falls under your jurisdiction for investigation, but if it has anything to do with your current case, I thought you should know."
Draco nodded solemnly. If the two were related, then it was no longer a case of a few slayings, but mass murder on the magical creatures. So whatever they were planning couldn't be good.
Astoria watched as a drunken Ron Weasley sat at the barstool at the same place he did every night. But something was different today, he wasn't drinking excessively and celebrating; he wasn't hitting on every woman in sight, nor was he being loud and boisterous. So what had changed?
She knew Ron Weasley was notorious for sleeping with any woman who looked his way, so that wouldn't be the problem; but would he be as willing to open up and reveal the things Astoria needed to know?
She sauntered over sexily, as she sat down beside the ginger man.
"Hello," she purred, as she stroked his arm slightly.
"M'not in the mood," Weasley grumbled as he took another gulp of his drink.
"Shame," she pouted, "I saw you from the other side of the bar and thought you looked devilishly handsome. I would have hexed myself if I didn't come over to talk to you."
"Really?" he murmured looking up at her carefully, "She didn't think so. She thought I was a screw up who couldn't do anything right. Probably why she left."
Astoria pieced together his drunk grumblings, as her eyes widened in shock. Hermione Granger had left Ron Weasley. If it were just from a curious gossiping point of view, she would have been intrigued, ready to get more to she could sell it to the highest bidder. But unfortunately for her, a now single Granger meant she was more than free to pursue Draco.
"What happened?" she asked, leaning in so he had a good view of her cleavage. Maybe Ron Weasley could be more useful that a quick revenge shag. No, she could use the opportunity to get into his pants, and get him to tell her exactly what she needed to know to bring down Hermione Granger once and for all, so she knows her place.
The more Ron decided to tell her, the more ammunition she had to spin the story around. It would no longer be about Hermione Granger, brave war heroine who left her drunk abusive husband to protect her daughter. No, it would be about Hermione Granger, workaholic, and uncompassionate; cheater and homewrecker.
All she needed now was to keep Ron Weasley wrapped around her little finger as she milked him dry of all the information she needed to destroy Hermione Granger once and for all, leaving Astoria free to pursue Draco and become the future Lady Malfoy as the plan had always been for her. Even if Draco got slightly lost along the way, she had no doubt that she would be able to convince him to come around and see her side of things.
And as Ron seemed to be slightly more interested in feeling her up, and less so in sobbing over his ex-wife, she had no doubt that things were going according to plan. She let him continue for a bit, before seductively leaning over and asking him if he perhaps wanted to take things to a more private location.
When he eagerly nodded, she led the way, smiling brightly knowing she would come out on top.