Chapter 13

Hermione would be lying if she said she was surprised that Malfoy joined her that day to work on their project. And in all honesty, it was still stunning to her that he had showed up, and they had researched both their parts further. It was even more surprising to her that he had done any research at all. Part of her had been so sure that she would arrive and that if he had bothered showing up, she would have to point him in the right direction. But it hadn't been the case.

It was even more surprising to her that he came regularly to meet up with her afterwards. He came the second time after dinner following their next Arithmacy class. He had dropped his book bag on the floor beside her and sat down at her table and sitting opposite to her.

And upon her staring, he had looked up and given her an irritated look, "Do you mind? I'm trying to read up on this method, and it's rather irritating to have you constantly staring at me. You were the one who wanted to meet up, so stop looking so bloody shocked, Granger!"

She had blushed slightly at that, and looked down at her own work as she went back to writing up rough copy of their thesis statement, without saying another word.

It continued like that, where he would come join her in the library, and the two of them would sit in silence as they researched, talking occasionally about the odd point or the other on the topic of their assignment, whether it be which direction they wanted to go with certain points, or debating including other sections in it at all.

Until he began joining her on days when they didn't have class, and he started pulling out work that wasn't related to their assignment, but instead was for another class all together. It had changed from the two of them working solely on Arithmacy to working on their potions assignment, or their defense essays, which Snape assigned frequently.

In all honesty, she had no idea how to react to any of it. She wasn't sure why he came, or why he stayed. But he never mentioned anything to suggest that he was unhappy with their work or with her, and she didn't push him.

And if they did talk, it was always about school work, and debating assignment points. She would be lying if she said it wasn't intriguing to have someone to study with, who could argue back with her, instead of having nothing to say, as they took her word for law. Ron and Harry, as much as she loved them, were only too happy to listen to whatever she said and write it down, as it meant they often didn't have to come up with the answer themselves.

But they never seemed to talk about the elephant in the room; that Draco Malfoy was even joining her in the first place. Because despite how neither of them mentioned it, they still had their history hanging over them. They still were on theoretical opposite sides of this war, even if she wasn't certain that he had joined Voldemort just yet, he still had stood by his father's beliefs all his life. Something had changed with Draco Malfoy over the last year, and despite him not calling her a mudblood at every given instance, she couldn't be positive that he didn't still subscribe to his parents' beliefs that she was a lesser person for her blood status.

And then there was the matter of what could happen if Harry or Ron found out that she was studying with the boy they had despised their entire school life. Would they understand that she was trying to help him, or to show him that he didn't need to follow in the steps of so many before him? Would they understand that she wanted to show him that he could follow a different path? Or that she was beginning to enjoy studying with him? Would they understand any of it?

She knew the chances of them finding out were not high. They didn't study in a populated area of the library so it wasn't as if others could see and spread rumours. Nor were the chances of Harry or Ron coming to find her. Between Harry being preoccupied with Quidditch, Ginny, and his meetings with Dumbledore, and Ron being busy training as a Keeper and sticking his tongue down Lavender Brown's throat, neither of them came to the library often. So she was hardly worried that one day they might accidently show up and see her studying with him.

In all honesty, she had no idea what she was doing. She could sense the conflict in Malfoy as well, knowing fully well that the two of them meeting up was in neither of their best interest, but it didn't stop either of them from getting together. She knew her friends wouldn't understand, even if she told them about the project. Ron probably would make some callous remark about just doing the entire thing herself so she didn't have to deal with Malfoy, and Harry would wonder why it was necessary for them even to meet up to begin with.

But she was enjoying it, despite every other rational voice in her head telling her to be cautious. She was enjoying studying with Draco Malfoy.

Merlin, maybe she had gone insane.

Hermione had barely gotten into work that day when she found herself staring at the face of her husband, as he stood in her office, enraged.

"Really Hermione?" Ron asked her, slamming down the divorce papers on her desk. "Really? I thought we decided we would work on things? I thought we decided not to throw away our marriage because of some small differences? I thought we agreed to make things work so we wouldn't be breaking our family apart? How could you go behind my back and see a divorce lawyer?"

"We decided no such thing," She said calmly as she stood up to face him, "You decided it would be for the best. You ignored my thoughts on the matter that I believed we should end our marriage, as it's not working for me anymore."

"And that's all that matters, isn't it?" Ron snarled at her, "That you're happy. Merlin, you're so self-centred; you always need everything to be about you, don't you? You always need to be the centre of our marriage. You keep working because it's what you want. You come home late, you neglect our daughter, you don't ensure your family is well fed. What about what the rest of us want? When do you take our feelings into consideration?"

"I've been taking your feelings into consideration since I marriage you," She said, voice shaking slightly. "I didn't want to get married young, Ron. I didn't want kids this young. I love Rose, but I wanted to wait a few more years until we had her. I come home and end up cooking for you most days unless you've already passed out from too much to drink. I clean, and I raise my daughter. I've been trying to balance our needs for so long, and I'm tired of having to compromise all the time for you. I can't do it anymore."

She paused for a moment, "I did love you, Ron. There was a time when I thought the two of us could have truly been happy together, and I would have given anything to make it work between the two of us. I would have fought for us, no matter what we faced. But I can't do it anymore. I don't have any more fight left in me for our marriage, and truth be told, I don't want to fight for us any longer. I'm done with our marriage. Now you can either sign the papers, or we can go through a long and highly publicised divorce. The choice is yours."

"You little bitc-" Ron started as he raised his hand to slap her, but she stepped back and pointed her wand at him, stunning him.

Shaking, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the Galleon from fifth year that Harry made her take to ensure that she could contact him quickly if anything happened after serving Ron the divorce papers. She closed her eyes, and sent Harry a message, as she dropped down to her knees, hugging herself tightly.

"Hermione!" she heard Harry say loudly as he rushed into her office moments later, to see Ron on the ground, and her in shock.

"Hermione?" she heard Draco say, as he crouched down beside her, rubbing her back slightly, "Are you okay?"

Harry looked at the situation hesitantly, unsure of whether to comfort Hermione, or to deal with Ron, and Draco looked up at him.

"Take Ron," Draco said, "He might listen to you if you're the one to remove him. If I do it, Merlin know he'll start something. I have Hermione."

Harry nodded at that, "I won't be long, Hermione. I promise."

Draco held her slightly, helping her stand up as he led her to the couches in her office. He sat her down on one, holding onto her.

"I never should have married him," she whispered into his chest, shaking, as he held her tighter. "I should have listened to my gut feeling that something was wrong. I never should have married him."

"But if you didn't, you wouldn't have Rose," Draco reminded her, "We can't take back our mistakes, Hermione. They haunt us every day for the rest of our lives. Living in the what could have beens, and what should have beens, is daunting. All we can do is move forward, and focus on the good that came out of the bad, instead of revelling in the pain. It hurts now, but I promise you'll get through this. You'll move past your divorce, and then your contact with Ron will be minimal. You can move forward with your life, living the way you've wanted, with a thriving career, and a daughter who loves you."

She calmed slightly, and he rubbed her back, "It's going to be okay, Hermione," He promised her.

The two of them sat in silence like that for a while, before he said, "Do you know why I came to those study sessions with you back in sixth year? Believe it or not, it had nothing to do with that assignment; I couldn't have given a rat's ass about it. I came because of you. Because it would have made your life so much easier to have just ignored me and merged our parts together. You wouldn't have had to have ever talked to me, or put up with me, and given our pasts, who would have blamed you? But you insisted on trying to get through to me. You insisted on helping me, when you had no obligation to do so. And the amount of people who cared about me enough to do that then were minimal. I didn't trust my friends not to be giving him status reports. My father was in Azkaban, and from what he sent me through letters was that he believed I had a great honour bestowed upon me, to redeem our family's name. I believed Professor Snape to be spying on me as well, and my mother was the leverage being held over me. I could hardly guilt her further with my pain. But you kept trying to help me, merlin knows why. And you had absolutely no reason to even do so. Coming to those study sessions were comforting to me, so I kept returning. And if you could fight for me then, when we were barely friends, then I'm going to fight to stand by you now. I'm going to be here for you Hermione, as your friend.

She relaxed at that, as he continued to sooth her gently. And when she was well, he stayed with her, the two of them working in her office that day, before Harry returned later to take her back home.

Narcissa looked down the table where her husband should have sat for dinner. In their many years of marriage, despite arguments, they had always eaten at the same table. It had been something of an unspoken rule between them that they would always put on the façade of a united family, despite how they felt in real life.

But lately, she could feel him pulling away from her once more. He wasn't the same man after the war. Neither Lucius nor Draco were. While her son played politics well, striving in the public light as he made a good, honest, name for himself, her husband all but pulled away. He drank too much, and went out for hours at a time, without any indication of what he was doing. She didn't suspect infidelity; their marriage bonds wouldn't allow for it. She knew he was up to something however, and she had no idea of what.

Her family hadn't been a family in ages. How could she blame her son for wanting to move forward with his life and leave behind the home and family which had nearly taken his life? His own father had thrown Draco to the Death Eaters to try and save face. He had watched innocent lives be taken and tortured. He had witnessed horrors she gladly would have shielded him from if she could have.

She just wanted her son to be happy. It was why she was pushing for marriage for him, because she knew he needed to move forward. She had pushed him to date, hoping he could move forward from the past. And with certain events happening in the wizarding world, she knew it was only really a matter of time before he pursued his true feelings once more. She might have failed Draco in many ways, but she still was his mother. She recognized the emotions on his face when Harry Potter and his friends had been taken to the Manor. She recognized the pain on his face as he watched the muggleborn girl get tortured. She had put two and two together when suddenly their former house elf arrived and helped the group escape. She knew how her son felt.

She had failed Draco in so many ways, but she would not fail him like this. When Lucius pushed him towards marriage, she would stand by her son's choices, no matter where his heart lie. He deserved at least that much. Blood purity and Voldemort's beliefs had nearly torn her family apart. The madman did not care if her son lived or died. If her husband lived or died. It was the reason that she had lost one sister, and the other had lost her mind. It was the reason both her cousins died, and that she was the sole remaining official Black.

And she would not stand by it any longer.

She stood from the table, where she had eaten her meal alone, and went to the floo. It was time to make amends. It was time to do what she should have done years ago. She needed to go see her older sister, and hopefully it wouldn't be too late for forgiveness.

Andromeda watched as her grandson played with the Quidditch figurines that his godfather had given him for his fifth birthday, with a pang of sadness as she often felt on days like this.

She hadn't had a large family before the war; she had her husband and her daughter, and eventually her son-in-law, but they were family nonetheless. They had laughed with her and cared for her. They loved her, and she couldn't help but miss them most days. They were missing Teddy grow up, and his milestones. They missed his hair change colour whenever he got excited by something new, and they missed him barely learn to walk before he started to run, bumping into everything.

And she wasn't alone, not really. She had the Weasleys and Harry and his family, who made sure Teddy never felt the true sadness of a small family, but it didn't stop her from wishing her daughter and husband were still here today.

She had lost everything because of blood purity and the war. She had lost her family when she had chosen Ted, but it had been okay because she was happy and loved. But she wasn't sure she would ever recover from losing her family now.

The floo sounded suddenly, and she frowned, as she stood to see who had arrived. She wasn't expecting Harry to drop by or any other guests, so she held her wand slightly as she walked toward the fireplace.

Out of all the people she expected to see standing there, Narcissa Malfoy was not one of them.

"Hello Andromeda," she said, trying to stand as regally as she once was. But Andromeda didn't miss the wavering in her voice, as she looked down.

"What are you doing here, Cissa?" Andromeda said tiredly, pocketing her wands. "I didn't expect to ever see you standing in my home."

"I-" Narcissa said softly, before starting to shake, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Andy, for everything." Her eyes filled with tears, and the woman before her began to sob, leaving Andromeda shocked. Any concern over her sister's sincerity was thrown out the window at her display of emotion. Narcissa had always been a well-schooled woman in regards to her emotions. And the pain on her face was very real.

She had long ago known when she left the Blacks behind that it meant never talking to her younger sisters again. They both were very clear that they followed the family tradition, and she couldn't blame them for not wanting to throw away their families as well. Bellatrix was, well, inflicted by the Black family insanity. And Narcissa loved their parents, and she loved Lucius.

She felt her heart break as she watched her younger sister's demeanour break, pulling her into her arms.

"Let's get you some tea, shall we?" Andromeda said in a soothing voice, as she led her younger sister to the room where Teddy was playing.

Perhaps she wasn't as alone as she thought.