Hermione's movements were akin to that of a zombie. She carried herself around the office, more or less mimicking the movements of the undead, with her tired, bloodshot eyes and disgruntled and exhausted moans. Whenever somebody asked, she gave the usual, rehearsed lie, "I'm fine." Of course she wasn't fine, everybody else knew she wasn't fine, but they decided that they wouldn't press the matter because it was of little concern to them.

Of course, there was one person in particular who decided that they would try to intervene: Draco Malfoy.

He felt pity for the witch, who was very clearly exhausted. It almost made him want to give her a day off.

Almost.

Instead, he summoned her to his office. As he awaited her arrival, he fiddled with the miniature hourglass on his desk.

The sound of the door opening stole his attention away from the tiny object. He turned, his eyes meeting with her brown irises. He took in her tired and dejected disposition with a frown.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Draco suppressed a smirk. Of course she was never too tired to abandon her snarky tone.

"You don't look too good, Granger."

She simply rolled her eyes at him. "And?"

"How about I take you out for coffee. Would you like that?"

"That's nice of you Malfoy, but I—"

"I insist, Granger." Draco pressed.

Hermione yielded a sigh, and gave in to his offer. "Fine, if it'll make you happy…"

Draco smirked at the witch. "Trust me, this is more for you than it is for me. Come on, we'll walk. It's not too far from here."

And walk they did. The duo walked through the bustling streets of London in unison, not a word being exchanged between the two.

Finally, they made it to the quaint little coffee shop. The bell jingled as they entered, the both of them making a beeline for the first table by the door. The waitress approached them with a smile, and took their orders. Draco's was a steamy mug of black coffee and a blueberry. Hermione's was just an espresso.

"I take it that you haven't been well, Granger,." Draco said, once the waitress had left.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the platinum blonde. "Gee, I wonder what gave you that idea." Draco merely chuckled; at this stage a conversation with Granger without the usual sassy and witty quips would've felt off.

"You know, I may not have been your greatest ally in the past but trust me when I say that I'm genuinely concerned about you. I've never seen you this tired. Not even when you spent forty eight hours revising for that ancient runes exam that one time."

A part of Hermione's brain begged her not to trust the man's kind words, no matter how sincere they sounded. It nagged her, reminding her of the sour memories from Hogwarts such as the slurs and the relentless insults. She wanted to listen, and heed the warning, but the lack of sleep had jumbled up her priorities.

She ran her fingers through her messy brunette curls. "I'm not fine, Malfoy. I'm not fine at all."

"Do tell."

Hermione swallowed. She was aware that she shouldn't say anything more than that, but the prospect of pouring out the miseries of her marriage was so tempting.

"I—" No, she couldn't. How would she begin to tell Draco Malfoy, the biggest antagonist in her life, about how her husband sexually abused her last night, and the previous night before? How would she tell him how her husband antagonised and made her feel like shit without fail every day? Would he even understand?

"It's nothing, M-Malfoy."

Draco raised an eyebrow and stared at Hermione with deep, cryptic eyes that searched her soul. "Is it really nothing or do you just not want to tell me?"

Hermione bit her lip, on the verge of tears. Merlin, why was she like this?

An explosion of frustration and anger suddenly erupted within her. She stood up abruptly.

"You know, I wouldn't have accepted your offer if it meant that I would be heavily interrogated!" She practically yelled at Draco, who sat quietly.

He said, nonchalantly, "It wasn't my intention to pry, Granger. I just wanted to help you."

"Help me?!" At this point, the other patrons of the coffee store were staring at the confrontation. "How can you help me? What help would a Death Eater be to me?" With that, she began to march off, only for Draco to grab at her wrist, stopping her movements. He stood up, her wrist still held firmly in his hand. The two faced each other, Hermione's breath coming out shallow and rattled.

Then something unexpected happened.

He hugged her.

Hermione hadn't expected it at all, especially from the likes of Draco. He had his arms wrapped around her back, his large hands cupping her head so it was pressed against his chest that smelt of the rich scents of cedar and musk, a scent that made her feel protected.

And just as quickly as It happened, it was over. He pulled away, and walked off, leaving Hermione standing in the cafe in an unshakeable daze.

"Hermione, mon cheri, let me tell you the steamy hot tea, I promise you mi amor that you'll love it."

All it took to lift her gloomy mood was Pansy and her buoyant attitude. It was impossible to be sad in her presence as her bubbly disposition was a repellent to gloom.

As usual, Pansy looked great, on par with her trendy and chic penthouse. Her raven-haired bob swished as she fetched Hermione a glass of wine from her kitchen.

"Well, don't keep me waiting, hun. Do tell."

Pansy took a seat alongside Hermione on the black leather couch, before handing her friend the drink. Hermione took a sip, as she awaited the news she had for her.

"Hermione dear, you remember Theodore Nott, our dear classmate and as you know, my former beau?" Pansy began.

Hermione groaned. "You didn't take him back did you? Pans, he cheated on you with your cousin! That's unforgivable."

"Oh will you wait? I have more!" Hermione settled down, bracing her ears for the rest of the story that was sure to be promising.

"Well, he asked me to meet him since he was back from his business trip in Paris. Hermione I swear, I was so close to declining his offer but you know how convincing Theo is. So I finally gave in. He bought me dinner, we talked a bit, and before I know it he's on his knees—"

"No." Hermione interrupted, her tone doused in disbelief.

"With a box out, Hermione, a box. And he's saying this sappy speech that I didn't really pay attention to because I have a really shite attention span."

Hermione shot up, almost spilling her drink on herself. "I hope you didn't say yes, Pansy," she said sternly.

Pansy sighed, as she held up her hand. On her ring finger rested a thin silver band with a big round azure stone encircled by tiny diamonds that twinkled like stars as the light struck them. "You know I can't resist bling. Plus, he was so romantic and cute; you know how much of a hopeless romantic I am!"

"Oh my God, Pansy." Hermione took her friend's hand, inspecting the piece of jewelry in awe. "It is a beautiful ring… but I still think you shouldn't have said yes. You guys have always had a rocky relationship. Things are bound to get worse after you get married."

"Oh, like you and Cormac?" The raven haired female spat before she could stop herself. Hermione visibly shrank at her words.

"You didn't have to go there."

"Oh Herms, I'm sorry but I'm just getting a little tired of your pessimism. You've been singing the same song about Theo being no good for me, and I'm sick of it because I'm so in love with him. I've never loved anyone this much!" Pansy said.

Hermione bit her lip and looked down at her lap, her previously forgotten despair returning. She didn't mean to rain on Pansy's parade; she just didn't want her friend to have the same regrets that she had.

"Oh Hermione, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, I swear!" Pansy pulled the frizzy haired witch into her Chanel scented embrace. "I understand that you're looking out for me but I promise that I've got this!"

Hermione gave Pansy an empty smile. "It's fine Pansy, I know that you're strong." Unlike me.

A tapping sound suddenly rang out, alerting the two women. Pansy stood up, her glass of champagne still clutched in her hand. "That must be the mail." She walked over to the window where, sure enough, there was a barn owl perched on her window sill, magazine tied to its claws. Pansy untied the owl, and placed a few Knuts in the money sack it held in its beak. With that, the creature flew away.

"Ah, it's this week's copy of Witches Weekly. Let's see if they covered the engagement." Pansy winked at Hermione, before paging to the Celebrity section of the magazine.

"Hmm, let's see… Augusta Warbuck of the Hollyhead Harpies just had a baby! Good for her. Nothing about the engagement here, strange… But there's…" Pansy trailed off, as her mouth slowly fell open, and her face grew pale.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and gave a chuckle. "I wouldn't have imagined that your engagement not making into Witch's Weekly would've left you this gutted."

"I-It's not that Hermione. Come see this."

Hermione stood up and walked up to Pansy, now concerned about what she would find in that magazine.

She stood beside Pansy, and took the magazine from her. Her eyes scanned over the glossy pages, skipping the other Celebrity news until her gaze stopped at the middle of the page, at what was the biggest article on the page.

COULD A SECRET RELATIONSHIP BE BREWING BETWEEN THE GOLDEN TRIO'S GOLDEN GIRL AND HER FORMER NEMESIS?

I'm sure that everyone in Wizarding Britain is quite familiar with Hermione McLaggen neé Granger, one third of the Golden Trio, best friend to the Boy-Who-Lived and the 'brightest witch of her age', who is now married to famous socialite and head of the MLE Cormac McLaggen.To those who feel like they've been starved of a sighting of the beautiful brunette witch for too long, I've got good news for you because she's been sighted just yesterday in a coffee shop in Muggle London, but it's in a position that no one expected to see her in.

She's been sighted with the notorious Draco Malfoy, a former Death Eater, with whom she and her friends had a rivalry during their years at Hogwarts. It appears that the two were having coffee together, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Minutes into the date we see Hermione get up from her seat and attempt to leave, but she is stopped by Mr. Malfoy, who after that embraces her. After the embrace, young Mr Malfoy leaves the café, leaving Hermione standing there in a daze.

Dear readers, I don't know how you choose to interpret this, but to our private eyes it appeared as though some kind of lover's spat occured. Could we be jumping ahead of ourselves or is there really something brewing between Draco and Hermione? And when should we be notifying Mr McLaggen?

Article by Rita Skeeter.

Hermione felt herself growing hot with not only ire, but shame and embarrassment. "That bitch." She growled. Wordlessly, she tossed the magazine to the ground, and stormed off towards the floo, completely tuning out Pansy's voice.

As she walked away, a bit of her anger began to simmer away, to make room for fear.

Cormac. Assuming that he already read the article, she would be coming home to a very angry man.

She wasn't looking forward to that.

When Hermione got back home, the house was dead quiet, the stillness in the air making the hairs on Hermione's neck stand up straight. With lithe, subtle movements, she maneuvered herself up the stairs to her bedroom, where she got the fright of her life when she opened the door and found Cormac sitting on the edge of the bed, his intertwined hands resting on his crossed legs.

"C-Cormac." She breathed, her chest growing tight with dread.

"My love." He said, with a hollow smile and deep dark eyes. Hermione gulped. "I'm surprised that you weren't home earlier. You're never this late from work. Is there perhaps something that preoccupied you?"

Hermione remained fixated to that spot next to the door, her mouth refusing to formulate any words. Cormac stood up, the muscles on his well-defined and toned arms flexing, a vein throbbing on his thick neck. He began to walk up to her.

Hermione made no attempt to move. Like a deer caught in headlights, she was rendered immobile.

Once he was close enough to her that she could smell him, Hermione miraculously found her voice, although it was quite frail and flimsy. "I-I was w-with Pansy."

"Hmm." He simply hummed, as he took her chin in his hand, his thumb and index finger pressing harshly into her flesh. He began to place kisses on her jawline, his other hand resting on her waist.

"C-Cormac."

"Hmm?"

"I-I don't w-want to do this right now."

"Is that so?" He released her chin, and backed away a bit. "It is perhaps because you've been doing this with someone else?"

"What?" That's when all hell broke loose.

Cormac burst like a stick of dynamite. "Don't fucking play dumb with me! I know you've been cheating on me!"

Hermione's breath shortened. "B-But I wasn't—" She was suddenly hit in the face by the magazine that was flung across the room by Cormac . It fell smack to the floor by her feet, the page where the article was located opened for her to see. It felt like the bold headline was yelling at her, the large letters laughing at her and mocking her idiocy.

"Oh so I can't fucking read, huh?! It's as clear as day. It's right there. And with Malfoy, no less. The fucking scum of the Earth! What is that fucking worm giving you that you aren't getting from me? Is it that he's richer, you gold digging bitch?!" He yelled.

"Cormac I didn't fucking cheat. I've never cheated on you, even though you make me so fucking unhappy!" Hermione replied, her frustration bubbling up to the surface.

"Oh so you're unhappy with me? Funny, you weren't so unhappy when I bought you all those clothes. What about that trip to Milan? You didn't seem so unhappy then!"

"That's because I've been trying to put up with you, when in reality I can't fucking stand you!" Hermione's words must have struck a nerve because in the next minute, he had raised his hand, and gave her a smack that sent her flying into the wall. Hermione balled her fist, her blood boiling with rage."You don't fucking raise your voice at me." She heard Cormac mutter.

"Did you just fucking hit me?" Hermione asked through gritted teeth. Her cheek throbbed terribly.

"You were getting on my fucking nerves." Cormac said, although he looked a bit regretful.

"Cormac, you fucking hit me! YOU FUCKING HIT ME!" She yelled.

This was the first time in their relationship that something of this sort occured in their relationship. Sure, he was generally abhorrent, but he had never resorted to hitting her.

Well, it was bound to happen, what with how toxic the relationship was.

Still gripped by the shock of what had occured, Hermione flung the door open and stormed out of the bedroom, Cormac following after her. "Where the fuck do you think you're going? We're not done with this?" He yelled out as he trotted down the stairs right behind Hermione. At the bottom of the stairs, Hermione suddenly turned, eyes wild with ire. "No, Cormac, we're definitely done! I'm not going to stick around with somebody who hits me, who undermines me and who hurts me! I've had enough!"

With that she stormed off, ripping the front door opening and stepping out, and once she was past the threshold of the door, she disapparated, leaving Cormac wondering where she went.