A/N: Hi everyone, thank you again to everyone that's been keeping up with the story, I know It's been a little while since I've updated but I'm trying to get back on track with my writing both here and personal projects! I've seen plenty of comments and so I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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The sharp sound of glass breaking sent Hermione rushing from her bedroom out into her small living room. At first, nothing seemed broken. The windows remained intact and the small glass vases and paperweights that dotted the space still stood in their usual homes. The wooden floor creaked and Hermione stepped forward, fighting the urge to call out. Crookshanks stepped out from the kitchen, licking a paw and looking up from her with his usual indifference.

She closed her eyes and chuckled, she was being ridiculous. There was no reason for her to be so on edge; Ron was away and Draco hadn't tried to see her since that day. Everything was fine and she was finally getting the space to think things through. She knew better and yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

The very air seemed to prickle at her bare arms and the tightness in her chest had returned; the one she hadn't felt since before the war ended. When her lamp flickered, it was as though a light switch had flicked on and her body burst into motion; adrenaline flooded her and she ran for her room, needing her wand and her emergency bag.

Some habits never really die.

When she returned to her living room, wand pointed, and her hands clammy she found only her fire grate open. She hadn't even heard the floo roar to life; and she had been so careful to keep herself protected in this place. No, maybe Crookshanks bumped it accidentally; after all, the large cat had again disappeared wherever he went. Loosing a shaky breath, she peered around, kicking lightly at the furniture as if she expected someone to materialize out of nowhere.

It wasn't exactly impossible, she thought, trying to force her mind to behave rationally. Though she knew it was entirely unlikely that anyone had apparated into her flat; she had always had it warded and after everything with Ron, she had been sure to double down.

The grate was bothering her, it had been closed, and she hadn't heard Crookshanks's collar jingle as he passed it. No, someone was here. Someone had to be here, they had managed to floo in despite her grate being closed and hadn't even bothered to hide it.

"Granger?" The voice called and Hermione nearly crumpled in relief.

"Malfoy… you really need to stop sneaking into my flat and scaring the life out of me."

He exhaled hard when he came from the kitchen and saw her. He looked tense and disheveled and she couldn't remember the last time she had seen him so worked up.

"What's wrong?"

"We need to go."

Hermione blinked, "Go where? What are you talking about?"

"Ron's in town," the words slipped out in a fast breath and she almost missed them. "We got into an argument at the Leaky Cauldron and er… he's on his way here."

Nodding, she made a small noise and she walked over to the couch, reaching her hand out to guide her to its surface. She didn't entirely understand what he said; she knew she heard the words but the idea of Ron coming back here, getting into a fight with Draco, it wasn't settling into her mind.

"What hap—" her question was cut off by a sharp bang on her door, so loud it set her pendant light rocking dangerously.

Still gripping her wand and emergency bag, she leapt off the couch and moved closer to the door, and Draco.

Again and again the banging came, followed by Harry's shouts and Ron's wild words. Draco had moved, slight and subtle, to stand closest to the door, keeping her firmly behind him.

"The door isn't going to hold forever, Hermione. I know you've warded this place like mad but… he'll get through eventually."

"Harry's there… he won't let him get in."

"Hermione, I don't… I don't know how much he'll be able to do." His words landed like tiny knives in her heart and as she listened to the ongoing fight outside her door she knew he was right. "Come with me."

She stared at him and his outstretched hand, even though he never broke eye contact with the door she knew she had his full attention; all she had to do was say yes.

"Draco…"

"Say yes Hermione, we can leave, go anywhere as long as you'd like. If you just want me to help you leave here tonight and that's all that's ok. If you want my company for any length of time, I will take whatever you offer."

For a moment everything else faded away. For a moment she could picture it, then, they were somewhere cool; with his jacket around her shoulders. His hand was warm in hers as they wandered through narrow streets, shoes clicking on the rain slicked cobblestone. He looked down at her and there was fondness, happiness and something older and warmer in his face; it suited him. Everything was soaked in a golden light and she knew it was coming from her, from a door within herself that had finally been opened.

An ear splitting bang sent her pendant light clambering to the ground, glass shattered on the white carpet. Just like that, the spell was broken and Draco's hands were on her waist. They were pushing, pushing, backing her away from the door.

"Draco."

He nodded, knowing what she meant even as the words failed her. Harry's voice was the first she heard.

"Ron mate, you need to go."

Ron had stormed into the room and when he saw them there, Draco with his one hand behind his back, holding her safely, his other aimed at the door; his face twisted. Something colder than anger and hate marred his features and in the moment she didn't even recognize him. This was who had destroyed her flat, not the boy she had loved and known and shared summers and winters with. No he was nowhere to be found.

"Right," Ron snarled, his wand arm dropping to his side.

Harry burst into the room and took in the sight before him; his eyes darted from Draco to Hermione and his mouth opened and closed until a confused half smile formed and dropped. "Ron you need to leave, seriously you can't be here."

"Piss off Harry, I have every right to be here. She's my girlfriend."

Shock must have flitted across her face because Ron's snarl twisted into something similar to a smirk.

"I mean she was, suppose that was before she started…consorting the death eaters. Tell me do they pass you around at parties like the other muggle borns or are you specifically his pet."

Silence burned through the room like a Fiendfyre, roping its way around and sucking all the oxygen out until there were only husks remaining.

"Ron, how dare you," Hermione breathed, feeling her dash flush and the tears threatening to spill.

"You need to leave," Draco bit, his hand clasped so tightly around his wand Hermione could make out the white covering his knuckles. His other hand, the one that had been resting around her waist tightened too, his fingers digging into the black fabric of her shirt.

"I don't take orders from you Malfoy," he jerked his head to Hermione, "that's her job."

Harry gripped the front of his friend's jacket, trying to jostle him back and out of the room but Ron fought back, shoving Harry's hands off of him.

"Knock it off Harry." He whirled on Harry and shoved him hard into the wall. "Do you support this? You're supposed to be my friend and here you are giving them your blessing. Guess I should've known better after I left you two that night in the woods." A cold laugh and Harry's face crumpled.

"Ron I've told you a dozen times, you left us that night and nothing ever happened. Hermione is my sister; you know that."

Hermione had had enough, none of this was supposed to happen. Never had she thought that he still harbored that jealousy from the woods. She hasn't seen what the horcrux had shown Ron that night, but she had heard. She wondered now if it had been festering in his mind for years, rotting through the good until he thought so lowly of her that he expected this from her. The thought made her ill.

Her hand slipped over Draco's and his eyes slid to hers, she gave him the smallest of nods. He let go and she stepped around him.

"Ron, I'm not… consorting with anyone. It's absolutely disgusting that you would show up here behaving like this. I'm a grown woman and… and I'm sorry that I hurt you, truly I am. But this, coming here, destroying my flat, all of it is barbaric and I'm insisting you leave now."

"He destroyed your flat?" Harry asked, somewhat more hollow than she had heard in years.

"I came to see her and she wasn't here, figured she was off with whomever would let her in. I was mad, what do you expect me to do?" he shrugged like he was reporting the news.

"I expect you to be a grown up. You're going to meet someone one day that will make you forget about me and I won't be mad or hurt, I will be happy for you Ron. I didn't say no to your proposal because I found someone else, I said no because you do things like this."

The tears had come now and she sniffled through her ragged breaths. She felt like she was sixteen again, watching him snog Lavender Brown in the common room. Both Harry and Draco shifted to watch her, though no one seemed to know what to do next.

There were so many things she wanted to say, so many times he had embarrassed her and made her feel weak but she couldn't force her tongue to break the seal. Every little jab that had been thrown and every little cut that had etched the surface of their relationship began to bleed once more. It was clear to her now why she had said no, why the part of her that had gotten her through every awful thing that had happened in her life had answered that single question for her.

"Ron, Harry is my friend and he's been my friend as long as he's been yours. The love I have for him is the same love I would have for a brother. Do you really believe that I would not only cheat on you, but that I would do it with our closest friend?" A bitter laugh slipped through her lips and she bit down to regain her composure. "And Draco…" she put the thoughts of him from the last few days in a locked box in her mind. "We're partners, there's nothing else there. Do you really think that anything romantic would ever happen between us? We work on cases all day long at separate desks and then go our separate ways. Every time I've tried to tell you about our work or insist you give him a chance, you've shut me down. There are a lot of reasons I said no but sleeping with either of them is not one."

Her words came out colder than she intended and she saw Draco flinch; She could only hope they didn't burn Draco as much as they had her. They were a necessary evil. Hermione certainly couldn't tell him that while they were friends, she had run to him the night she said no, or that she had stayed at his place, or allowed him to almost take her away before he broke in. None of that would resolve the situation, so she forced the thoughts from her mind.

Ron scoffed but the redness began to lessen from his cheeks though the cold glare remained unmelted. His eyes flicked from hers to Dracos and cruel satisfaction sparkled in his eyes. He shouldered past Harry and before anyone could stop him, Ron was across the room and shoving his wand at Draco's throat.

The flurry of chaos caused Hermione to gasp and raise her own wand and Harry to run over, dodging Crookshanks as he bolted through the room and into her bedroom. Harry tugged at the back of Ron's jacket but he didn't budge. Draco only stared at him, their eyes level and raised an eyebrow.

Hermione's hands balled into fists that pulled Draco's shirt taut as she tried to pull him backwards away from the wand and the growling redhead.

"I told you she would never want someone like you," he spit the words out like lethal venom and bared his teeth in an animal grin.

Draco's words came back to her then. They had already gotten into it at the Leaky Cauldron tonight. What had they been fighting about? Her? Clearly it had been her, she was so shocked by everything that had happened she completely forgot. Had this been the reason behind him coming here? What had Draco said to him to set him off like this?

"You're a filthy death eater and no amount of groveling and pleading will ever change that. You think you deserve to even be near her? Let alone in her bed? I would kill you right now if it was just us; I've been waiting a long time for that."

Harry had recomposed himself and now stood at Ron's back, wand raised and issuing commands. Ron ignored everyone, still intently watching Draco.

"Ron… i'm going to immobilize you if you don't back away… now."

He closed his eyes and took a small step back, wand dropping from Draco's throat. Before Harry could continue to order Ron to back up, he stepped forward again, fist tight and punched Draco in the face. He barked a rough laugh as Draco stumbled backwards, one hand reaching for his bleeding nose and took a few steps back, allowing Harry to disarm him.

Draco hissed out a breath and brought his hand down from his nose, blood covering his palm and dripping onto her carpet. Hermione could see the vein pulsing madly just below his pale skin as he breathed. Hate and fire burned in his eyes as he sneered at Ron across the room. She placed her hand on his back and he turned his head slightly and dipped his head stiffly.

"Are you ok?" she breathed. Allowing her hands to move up to his shoulders, she looked him over.

His nose was broken, and she hoped when they left he would let her set it for him. Despite it though, he still looked handsome, even with the blood smeared and dripping down his face.

"Fine."

The coldness in his tone had her recoiling. Her words had cut deeper than she intended, she guessed.

He brushed past her and strode to where Ron was being restrained by Harry and his work friends; clearly they had all come together, though she hadn't seen them until now. Ron had barely turned to face him, eyes glittering when Draco raised his fist and swung it wide, the blow landed near his eye and his head rocked to the side. Harry shouted for him to back up and his friends stepped forward to bar him from reaching Ron again. Daco raised his hands and walked back towards her.

She shook her head but went to get ice and a damp rag from the kitchen when Harry called her over.

"Mione, I'm so sorry about this, all of it."

Hermione pulled Harry into a hug, "Oh Harry, it isn't your fault. I didn't expect him to come here tonight. If Draco hadn't come and warned me… I don't want to think about what might have happened."

"Is there something going on between you two? He was quite defensive of you at the bar and then he raced here to warn you, I genuinely didn't know Malfoy had it in him."

They both looked over her shoulder to where he was pinching his nose and inspecting the blood, his eye had already started to bruise a bit and she shook her head. "I don't know, it's complicated but I never cheated on Ron."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck and adjusted his glasses, "I know."

"What am I going to do about him?"

"I'm going to get a team to come and search your place, check for traces of his magic and when they find it, he'll be at the very least suspended from work and facing charges. I can't promise they'll do much but I'll try for you."

Hermione nodded and gave him one last hug before he walked back to the door and escorted Ron out of the flat.