When tragedy strikes, an unlikely person shows Hermione Granger that she has a lot more life to live. Dramione eventually.
Hermione was having a great morning. She arrived on time after shipping her children off to school. It was Rose's last week of primary school. Hermione and Ron were excited for their first born to begin at Hogwarts in the fall. Ron and her marriage was going strong. They had just celebrated their 14 year wedding anniversary a few days earlier with a quiet family dinner at the Burrow. It was the first anniversary without Arthur. He'd died from a heart attack that past Christmas.
Hermione had just settled in with a cuppa before all Hell broke loose. "Ms. Granger?" She heard Amelia, her secretary at the door.
"Come in, Amelia." But as the door opened and Hermione looked up, it wasn't Amelia that she saw. It was Theodore Nott, deputy head of the DMLE. "Auror Nott? What brings you to my neck of the woods?" She stood to greet him with a smile, but notice he was finding it hard to speak.
When he finally did, she asked him to please repeat himself. "Hermione, I'm so sorry. But at approximately 7:43am this morning, a dark wizard named Antonin Dolohov approached a group of DMLE officers and fired off several dark curses. We lost three men before Dolohov was subdued. I. am so sorry to tell you that one of the three Aurors lost, was your husband, Ronald Billius Weasley."
Her legs gave out and Theo rushed to her side. "No. Not Ron. Not my husband. My, my best friend! Theo! Tell me you're lying! Tell me it's a sick joke! My babies! Our children!" Hermione broke down into sobs, hard choking sobs. Amelia came in to take over for Theo and tried calming her boss down.
She doesn't even know when, but at some point Hermione was given a calming draught which helped her calm and become rational again. "Hermione?" The sound of her sister-in-law's broken voice stirred her from her thoughts. Ginny was kneeling down in front of Hermione's chair. "Honey, George picked up Rose and Hugo from the school. They're at the Burrow with him, Percy, Bill, Fleur, and mum. I've come to take you to them."
"Do they know? Gin, d-do they know their f-father, oh gods! He's really gone, isn't he? What am I going to do? I don't want to live in a world without him in it!" Ginny gathered Hermione in her arms tightly.
"I know Mi, I know, and I wish I could say something to lessen the pain, but I have no words. But you have to be strong for Rose and Hugo now. We have told them. Percy sat them down and explained everything. He really is the most logical and very calm. Hugo's being strong for his sister. Rose broke a bit but then wanted to know if her mum was okay. You ready?" Ginny put her hand out for Hermione to take.
"Take me to my children." And with that, they apparated.
A week later, a funeral was held in the Ministry's grand ballroom. Afterwards, they all apparated to the Wizarding Cemetery in Wizarding London. A wife buried her husband and best friend. Two children buried their father. Hermione was not surprised at the turn out. Over 300 people showed up to pay their respects to Ron, a war hero, one third of the Golden Trio. The Daily Prophet, for once, actually had a beautiful tribute done in his honour. Harry gave the eulogy and the children each wanted to say something. Rose and Hugo stood together holding hands then began:
"Our dad was a dork." Hermione tittered with laughter as did everyone else gathered at the gravesite. "He told corny jokes and was always smiling." Hugo turned to Rose and handed her the parchment they'd written their words down on.
"Our dad loved us and our mum very much. He was brave and died doing what he did best. Protecting the Wizarding World from dark wizards. He will forever be our hero as well, but first and foremost, he'll always be our dad." Rose and Hugo thanked everyone and then Luna sang a lovely song about love everlasting. It was a lovely ceremony. But Hermione was now numb.
She vaguely remembered shaking hands with numerous witches and wizards and thanking them for paying their respects. She remembered kissing her children as their Uncle George and Auntie Angelina took them back to their house for the night. Harry and Ginny made sure she'd be okay before returning to Grimmauld Place with their children. And then it was just Hermione at the gravesite. Ron's final resting place. Alone. At least, that's what she thought.
Unbeknownst to Hermione, one wizard had stayed, a widower himself just two months prior when his wife passed from a hereditary blood curse. Draco Malfoy stood in front of Astoria's tombstone, just staring at the recent widow of Ronald Weasley. He'd never seen her so broken. He knew somewhat what she was going through. He was never in love with his wife, no, but the love they shared over their only child, Scorpius, connected them. And now she was gone and he was a single father.
Just as he was about to leave, he saw her fall. On instinct, Draco rushed over. "Granger!" He was there in an instant. She'd fainted. He gathered her into his arms and moved her curls away from her face. "Granger, wake up for me. Come on now," her eyes fluttered open, "There you are. I've got you now. I've got you." Hermione's chocolate brown eyes met his cool grey ones.
"Malfoy? Am I dreaming? You look so real." She reached up and lightly touched his face. They both froze. Draco's heart felt as if it were going to beat out of his chest.
Draco cleared his throat, "You fainted. I was visiting Astoria and saw you fall. I'm sorry about Weasley. He was a good man." Hermione smiled slightly.
"Oh, what he would have paid to hear Draco Malfoy say something nice about a Weasley." They both chuckled at that.
"Let's get you up. Why they'd leave you alone like this is beyond comprehension. Here," he held out his arm, "take my arm and we can sit on the bench there." Hermione nodded then did as he instructed.
They were on better terms nowadays. Malfoy had become quite the philanthropist over the years and a huge supporter of her department at the Ministry. She wouldn't say they were friends but friendly acquaintances. "Thank you. I thought I'd be okay. Just..." she looked off to where the dirt lay still loose around Ron's grave, "After they all left, it hit me like a bludger to my heart. He's gone forever. My first love. My best friend." Hermione shuddered and Draco took her hand in his.
"It's hard for me still, knowing Astoria is gone. That it's just me and Scorpius. I can't imagine how it is for you, being as you were actually in love with your spouse." Hermione looked at him in shock. "Arranged marriage, Granger. Betrothed at seventeen, married at nineteen. Child a few years later to complete the whole 'give us an heir' portion of our marriage contract. Not a fairytale love story like you and the Weasel." Hermione narrowed her eyes, "Sorry, old habits and all that." She saw him smirk and decided not to hex him just yet.
They sat there just talking. Most of the time it was just Draco listening to her grief, but it helped calm her eventually. After about an hour or so, they got up from the bench and started walking to the apparition site outside the gates to the Wizarding Cemetery. "Thank you, Malfoy. For being here, ya know?" He nodded at her then waited for her to Disapperate before leaving himself.
"She's here!" Hermione heard Molly yell to everyone. Hugo and Rose came racing over and gave her a tight hug.
"We were worried when you didn't come back. Grandma Molly called everyone back here. Uncle Harry was going to send out a search party!" Rose's eyes were shining with tears. Hermione quickly kissed her daughter on the forehead.
"I am fine, sweetheart. A friend talked to me for a bit is all. Made me feel loads better, I swear." Harry caught her eye and she mouthed 'I'll tell you later.' to him. He nodded then brought her a plate of food. Later that night, in the garden at George and Angelina's, Hermione relayed her time with Malfoy at the cemetery.
"I forgot his wife passed away. Blood curse, right?" Hermione nodded. "He turned out alright in the end. Helped that he got away from his father for a bit I guess. I heard about his donation to your department last month. 2,000 Galleons for your Thestral Reserve? Not too shabby." Harry knocked his shoulder into hers.
"Mmm, yes. He's been a great supporter of the department. Surprisingly so since the whole Buckbeak debacle of '93. Malfoy is definitely much different, but he's grown and a father and..." she trailed off, a wistful look in her eyes. Harry took her hand. "He's like me. Alone. Oh, Harry!" Hermione broke down again, "My Ronald is truly gone. How am I going to go on without him?" She'd asked this question to everyone with no real answer.
Two weeks later, Hermione returned to work. She had taken the extra time off to be with her children. Molly and Ginny went through all of Ron's belongings for her. She tried but anytime she touched something that was his, she'd remember a story that went along with it and start to cry.
That's when George stepped in and offered up Angelina and his vacation cottage in Bath. Hermione, Rose, and Hugo spent a week there while their home was taken over by the rest of the Weasley clan.
It was a nice, quiet place on the shoreline. They'd go for walks along the stoney coast and collect sea glass and skipping stones. A couple days after arriving, Rose had disappeared for a while by herself. Hugo and Hermione went searching for her and saw her standing with a boy with silvery blonde hair about her height. Hermione's heart stopped for a moment then she noticed a man with the same coloured hair sitting in a beach chair about 8 meters further down the shore.
"Hugo, you go ahead. I'll be right over there." She said pointing towards the man. As she walked closer, the man looked up and smiled at her. Her stomach flipped at the sight. Never in her 29 years of knowing the man did he ever smile like that at her. "Malfoy, fancy meeting you here. On holiday?"
Draco saw Hermione walking towards him. She was a vision in a lemon yellow sundress, the wind blowing her hair around that peaked out of her sunhat. He couldn't help but smile. She was beautiful. "Actually, since Scorpio's lessons are over until he starts Hogwarts in the fall, we stay at our summer home just over there." He pointed behind him to a gorgeous house. "He ran into Rose about an hour ago. They've been talking ever since."
Hermione turned to watch her children with Malfoy's son and smiled. Scorpius was showing Hugo something in his hands, most likely a rock or shell. "Your son is like stepping back in time. Minus the slicked back hair of course." She giggled and it was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.
"Yes, well. He is my child. Almost an exact replica of me except he has his mother's eyes. He's doing wonderfully with everything. I keep our lines of communication open. If he wants to talk about his mother, we talk. If he wants to talk about the latest article in Quidditch Monthly, we talk about that. How are you and your children doing, Granger? It's been almost a month, right?" Draco watched her take a deep breath and sigh.
"We're here for the week while the Weasley's clean out the house of most of Ron's things. I tried. I just couldn't do it, Malfoy. Does that make me weak?" She looked into his eyes, her big doe eyes.
"Not at all, Granger. It makes you human." She couldn't help herself. She launched herself into his arms and he held her while she cried.
She decided she could trust him. She could talk to him. He knew what she was going through, so she asked him the same question she had asked everyone for the past three and a half weeks. "How am I going to go on without him?" He kissed the top of her head before responding.
"You just do, Granger. You go back to work and do your job, go back home and raise your children, and you learn to laugh again." He wanted to add that she could learn to love again, yearned to tell he would be her strength, but instead he hugged her close before releasing her and watching her walk back to collect her children.
Hermione sat at her desk going through her back logged paperwork. Luckily, Amelia went through most of her mail and got rid of all of the condolences sent to her office, so it was only work-related owls left to go through. A knock on her door had her raise her head. "These just came for you, Hermione." In her hands was a beautiful vase of fresh wildflowers. "There is a note. Would you like me to read it for you?"
Hermione stood up and shook her head, "No, thank you. I can read it myself, Miss Nosey." She chuckled at Amelia's affronted look. "Oh, they are just gorgeous." Amelia handed them over and closed Hermione's door at her insistence. Placing the flowers on her desk, she opened the small note attached. For the first time in a month, Hermione truly smiled.
Granger,
I heard through the grapevine that you were returning to work today. Here if you need to talk, vent or just yell at someone. I'm used to that already. Have a fantastic week back!
Your friend,
DM
Friend. He really was, wasn't he?
A/N: I know! Another Dramione, but I just cannot help myself! Still working on Go For It! as well. Hope you enjoy this one!