That night, Hermione slept in her old bed in her house that she shared with Ron. Probably for the last time. Ron had asked her, using words, if she would like to have sex and for the first time, she was excited for it. The pent-up frustration from her interaction with George, the flirting with Malfoy, it all culminated in her desire to feel something with Ron. Of course, because it had been a week since their last romp, it was a quick affair and before she knew it, it was over and done with. Not that she had really expected much. Even so, she supposed she had enjoyed herself. At the very least, it scratched the itch that had begun to stir inside of her.
She stopped by the Burrow with Ron early the following morning and they discussed, with Arthur and Molly, their idea to move in and Hermione's job offer. Molly was thrilled and Arthur just wanted what was best for everyone involved.
George patted Ron on the back, congratulating him for getting his woman back. Hermione just turned red, having successfully avoided George since their kiss.
"You can have the guest wing" Molly said.
"The new one?" Ron asked, excitedly.
"Well, yes. You're a family, you don't need to be sharing a bathroom with your brother. The guest wing on the second floor will suit much more than your tiny old room or Ginny's room" Molly said.
"Thank you, Molly, and Arthur. For this, and for agreeing to look after Rose. For having us stay here this last week. I don't know where I'd be without you all, so thank you" she said.
"Don't forget about me, I've been here too. I helped. Look at that highchair I made" George piped in.
"Yeah mate, thanks heaps" Ron said as Hermione looked at her shoes.
"Heavens, look at the time, all of you, shoo, go to work" Molly said when they had all said what needed to be said.
Hermione realised now that she was going to accept Kingsley's job offer. She was going to learn this new and exciting role and try her hardest to, not only do it justice, but make it her own, give it her own flair and make it better than anyone thought possible. She was a woman on a mission now and nothing could stop her.
The final day of her involvement with the DRCMC and Draco Malfoy went by quicker than she thought possible. She met briefly with Kingsley to accept the position in the DMLE and he advised her would owl her a list of readings to complete along with a schedule for her first two weeks. She was happy to say that he knew her well enough to give her the things she would need to ease her nerves about starting.
She and Ron had also been invited to a celebratory ball to welcome the hoard of new faces to the Ministry during their recent hiring binge, and she was confident that it would be fantastic, just like the balls she remembered going to when she first began at the ministry. She was certain that it was a way to ply people with alcohol and loosen them up a bit, but now that Hermione was seeing life in a new light, who was she to refuse? She was eager to start living her life again. She loved Rose with everything that she had but she was still just a young witch, eager to live her life whilst still being a mother. With Ron back in the picture, agreeing to change for the best and them living at the Burrow, she now had the chance to live, be a mum and work.
She hadn't spoken to Malfoy much that day, not that he ever came out of his office. She was glad that he was working hard, dividing the team up into the sectors a and assigning work based on classification and skill requirement.
She had finally finished her summaries and handovers after a late lunch and, recalling Malfoy's offer of a drink, she entered his office at around 3pm to discuss their plans.
"So, its my last day" she said.
"So it seems" he replied.
"Are we still on for drinks tonight?" she asked.
"I was thinking just this afternoon. I have to be somewhere tonight, as did you I believe" he said, disappointing Hermione a little. With all that had transpired, her meeting up with Ron last night, accepting the job, agreeing to move to the Burrow, she forgot to discuss with Malfoy what the plans were. She arranged to go out for the night, having told Ron that she was going with the team.
"Right, you're right. I did say that I was meeting Ron, didn't I?" she asked.
"Not eager to meet the Weasel now?" he asked.
"I saw Ron last night. We sorted out what we needed to" she said.
"That's a step in the right direction I guess" he said flatly.
"So, two drinks it is. Then you can tend to your business. I'll just find someone else to occupy my time afterwards. I'm sure Ginny will be accommodating" she said, a little disappointed, but at the same time, relieved. Perhaps she ought to have her two drinks and go home to her fiancé. That would be the smart thing to do, but for some reason, the idea of being out late into the night with Malfoy made her excited. Or was it the fact that she had deceived Ron that was making her feel like a giggly school girl? She didn't know, but something told her Malfoy was feeling similarly eager.
"I don't know what your expectations are Granger, but I simply offered to have two drinks with you as a means to thank you for your training these last two weeks" he said. "I… If you thought this was…" he sighed, running his hands through his hair. "You said two drinks. You said you had to meet Weasley afterwards, so I made other plans" he finished.
Hermione simply looked at his strained face and part of her knew, could detect, the faintest spark of something in his eyes. It was akin to the hatred she used to see all the time in their Hogwarts days, only now it was different. She smiled to him, the friendliest smile she could muster and nodded.
"Of course. I did say that. Ron and I talked last night and everything is fine. He's fine with me coming out. I didn't assume that this was anything other than two colleagues having a celebratory drink" she said. "Relax, Malfoy" she said with a smile.
AN - Thanks for sticking with this beautiful little fic. I'm written 78,713 words and still have a way to go. This chapter is around half way through what i've written and still loads more so stay invested, i promise it will be all worth it.
KiaMinaya - Thank you for your honest review. It is definitely difficult to write Hermione as a weak character, but what you need to understand is, she didn't get there overnight. When someone manipulates you, degrades you, uses you, the way Ron has done here, you don't know how weak you are till there is hardly a way out. If you want to see Hermione strong, stay with us. It will happen.