Disclaimer: Of course, these lovely characters do not belong to me. I do borrow them for my idea.
Thank you to all of you kind followers and the reviews.
The next morning
April 2005
Draco had returned to the library and his work after Roks had confirmed that Granger had been moved to one of the bedrooms close to his mother's. He had worked for most of the night trying to suppress both the urge to go and hex Weasley and those memories she had shared with him. There were also other memories that came back to him as the night went on. There was barely 11-year-old Draco, begging his mother not to replace him with another child, once he would leave for Hogwarts and then there was a 16-year-old Draco, who finally understood his mother's answer from years ago, when he witnessed his aunts teasing of his mother, reminding her that she had just barely been able to produce this one heir.
For the rest of the night, he worried about his mother as much as he worried about Granger, leaving him frustrated and a mess, when he finally fell asleep on the same couch she had occupied. It was still quite early when the rustling of his scrolls woke him. His back ached, as he was much too tall for the small couch. He kept his eyes closed, while he attempted to stretch out his back, fully expecting his mother there, when he finally opened them.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She looked guilty. He noticed that several of his scrolls were in her hands. "I read my name…" She trailed off, a tiny bit of the prewar Hermione coming through that saw no reason to apologize.
"It's fine." He sat up, taking the time to decide how he wanted to go about this. While nothing had changed between them, her confiding in him still seemed to have torn down several well-maintained walls of theirs. "You'll probably figure it out faster than us anyway."
She glanced at him with a look of surprise.
"You know brightest witch of our age and all that…" He trailed off. Was it too early to return to semi-offensive? Could he ever return to that?
Hermione rolled her eyes at him, before turning her attention back to the paperwork she was holding.
"See our dearest Healer Watko," Who he was still mad at. "came to the conclusion that the bind wasn't lifted."
She didn't look surprised when she seated herself in one of the chairs across from the couch. Her eyes were still on his research, taking in the different spells and implications they would have.
"I figured something went wrong since you still end up in my head. That comment about Ginny was terribly rude by the way."
He shrugged as she threw him a quick glare. He much preferred this Granger over the one from last night. This he could work and fight with, last night had been terrifying.
"Anyway, as much as I hate to say it, your Weasel was probably right." It was too early; he recognized the moment the words were across his lips. She wasn't ready to hear his name or for him to make rude comments about it. He scrambled to find something to distract her, desperate to not go back to the crying Granger.
"Well, I made a list of things that have not been lifted at the last attempt, so we know exactly what still needs to be adjusted." He handed her another piece of parchment and was relieved when she seemed to focus on it, rather than Weasley.
"Not the brightest witch of our age, if I missed all of that." She leaned back rereading the list. There were quite a few points, his mind-reading, the necklace, infertility, the complexity of their relationships, the distrust of the ministry when it came to her and her standing.
"I just wanted it to be over, and well move on from the war. I just ignored all of it." He had just come out of Azkaban when the divorce had happened. She nodded at his confession, indicating that she had felt much the same. They had both done a great job in ignoring the signs.
"Narcissa and I were so sure of the spells we gave Kingsley I don't know how this happened." She replaced his list to the table, looking over the books on marriage laws and pureblood rules. When she finally looked back at him, she caught his look. "What?"
"You don't know how this happened?"
"No, I…" she trailed off when he raised a suggestive eyebrow. "Oh…" Her mind began working at full speed. Suddenly that midnight conversation with Percy came back to her attention. His wording about it not being a problem since they wouldn't consummate the marriage. She could feel her cheeks heat up and looked at her hands.
"There you go." He grimaced, before grabbing one of the books and leaning back into the couch. He was through half a page before he heard her shuffling, as she grabbed more of his notes. They both continued their reading until Roks appeared with a tray of breakfast.
"Is Mistress feeling better?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Does Mistress want more soup?" Draco almost laughed at her face, as she hurried to get the thought out of the elf's head.
"No, Roks that's alright."
The elf disappeared with a bow.
"What's with the soup?"
"It was the only thing I ate, when they put me into confinement here, right after the battle."
He didn't know that. It was not a time he liked to remember. He nodded slowly as he put his book down and grabbed one of the croissants on the breakfast tray. One of his personal favorites, merely since his mother would never let him have any as a child. They had been deemed unhealthy. He sipped on his coffee, while she seemed to contemplate if she should eat.
"They clearly prepared the tray for two, so don't be shy." He gestured towards the second cup and extra food.
"How many elves are there?" He glanced over at her, preparing for her S.P.E.W. talk.
"Not judging, for now." She paused when she took a bite of fruit. "You just said that I owned many elves and I really only have seen Roks."
"He was assigned to you. He had been working with my grandmother and supports Bits in his work with my mother, but the house seemed to deem it time to assign him to the new Mrs. Malfoy."
"The house?" She looked irritated. He hoped it was at the house not him.
"It's all connected, magically. The elves, the family, the property. Not much one can do about it." She probably could, since the house might be relieved to not have to deal with the blood issue that was clearly constituted in its magic.
"So, since the bind was not lifted, I'm still connected to this place?" Her voice was contemplative, as she studied his notes.
"Probably." He hadn't really thought about the house so far, but now a new thought crossed his mind. He groaned, as he reached for his list of implications and scribbled house behind several points. He tossed the list to the table, before getting up to roam the library for a few books he knew existed about house magic.
"What does that have to do with Lucia and Ashley?", she had glanced at his new notes.
"Hang on." She leaned back in her chair. Why had she worked so hard to not acknowledge all these signs? It would have been so much easier on everyone to simply lift the rest of the bind. Maybe she would have a redheaded child by now if she had just gone and talked to the Malfoys when her tiny suspicions had come up. Her thoughts were interrupted when Roks popped back up next to her.
"Mistress has a visitor. He is very angry; the other elves were trying to stop him…"
"Hermione?" That was fast, but then again, the library was not too far from the entrance hall. The door opened with a loud bang and before she could do much about it, a wild-looking Ron entered and strode across the room to find her. Roks looked miserable. "Roks is sorry."
"It's okay." She stood, but the elf still looked wary. He probably sensed that she wasn't okay. She wasn't ready to face the feelings she had buried in this newfound research.
"What is this?" Ron had reached the sitting area, eyes on the mess of books and papers and breakfast for two. "We fight and you go here to write a research paper and dine with the Malfoys?"
"It's Malfoys research if you must know."
He didn't hold back his angry growl.
"Just come home and we can talk about this stupid break idea."
"If it's stupid then there is no point to talk about it, is there now?"
"Hermione, please. I came to his house to come and get you." He really did look miserable, as his eyes wandered about the room as if he expected Bellatrix or Voldemort himself to show up. "I can still hear your screams, you know?"
She closed her eyes. That must have been another feature of the house accepting her because for her the memories rarely surfaced while she was here.
"Please, Mione. Come home, we can talk about things."
"We can talk here." She opened her eyes, giving him her most stubborn look. This was her ground, something that belonged to her, rather than that stupid flat with his name on the rental agreement.
"Actually, you probably should talk in your flat." She hadn't notice Malfoy reappear from the shelves until now. She opened her mouth to protest.
"Hear me out, the house will sabotage any of your efforts, so if you want to fix things, you actually need to go home."
"What kind of bull is this?" Ron's eyes flashed in anger.
"The kind of bull that cost me two fiancées, so be a dear and take your wife home and do yourself a favor and listen to her long enough to tell you a thing or two."
"You have no right to…" Ron's voice had a rather high-pitched ring to it.
"I actually do, but that is not the point." He put his best arrogant smirk on before he turned to Roks. "Be so kind and take Mr. Weasley to the fireplace."
Roks nodded before he grabbed an even angrier Ron and disappeared.
"Just talk to him. The way I see it, we can fix this, so you should probably come clean with him."
"I'm not ready for this."
"I don't think the house will allow for you ever to be ready." He looked rather uncomfortable. "You gave me this idea. Things with Lucia really went south once she moved in and only when we were here." He was glad when he caught a glimpse of understanding in her eyes. "But that will be too extensive to research in the short time Roks will be able to keep your husband by the fireplace."
She gave him a glare. She hated being forced into doing things like that. Always had hated it and over the last few years, she had been forced into way too many things.
"Listen," he swallowed: "if Lucia or even Ashley had kept something like this from me, I would have felt terrible. I'm an arse, but there are things your wife shouldn't experience on her own. That's why you are married, or at least my mother kept telling me that. Just go with him, tell him what happened and listen to what he has to say. You should probably also come clean about what we know so far about the bind. At the end of it all, it will either be worth it or not." He shrugged before he turned back to the shelves.
"Draco…" she made a couple of steps. "Thank you." He nodded but didn't turn. "You are not an arse, you just like people to believe that."
"Yeah, yeah, don't fall in love with me, darling." With that, he was out of sight, and while she'd rather go and argue over this last sentence with him, she turned to the door. Ron met her halfway to the entrance hall, clearly struggling against the elf's magic.
"Roks is sorry, Mistress. He is too strong to keep away from the door."
"It's fine. Thank you Roks."
She ignored Ron, as she walked to the fireplace and stepped in before he caught up with her. When he arrived at their home, she was already seated on the couch.
"Why is that elf calling you mistress?"
She sighed: "Have a seat." And then she began to talk. One by one she took the bottled-up feelings and poured them over Ron. The rejection at the ministry, her discovering the name on the flat contract, her parents not remembering her, their wedding, the pressure from Ginny's pregnancies, her healers and doctors' appointments, and the miscarriage.
That's when she took a break. Her eyes had been on her hands the whole time, she was too scared to lose her determination if she looked at him. Once she saw his puppy eyes, she would probably keep it all in after all.
"Mione…" She finally looked up when he leaned forward to take her hands in his. "I wouldn't have asked to keep trying, had I known about the miscarriage."
"I didn't want you to be disappointed, I know you want this baby so much more than me and then it was gone. I just trying to be the wife you wanted, and it just keeps going wrong." She hadn't cried while talking, but now the tears came. One of his hands came up to wipe them away, but he soon gave up as there were too many.
"We have both been doing this all wrong, haven't we?"
Malfoy's words about the house and his ex-fiancées came back to her mind. She hadn't been able to think clearly after Ron showed up, but now the puzzle pieces seemed to snap into place. She let out a long breath.
"You were right."
"Excuse me?" He looked at her quizzically. If they had been in a less serious conversation she was sure that would have earned her a joke.
"The bind isn't lifted, well some of it, but it wasn't done properly. We had the wrong spells."
"You had the wrong spells?" Although he had always claimed this was the case, he sounded like he didn't believe her. It did sound a bit ridiculous coming from her. She took another deep breath. If she told him the reason for the spells not working, they would likely have their next fight. She glanced back at her hands to steal herself.
"Keep in mind that we weren't together at the time of the divorce." When she looked up, she saw his eyes narrow. He already seemed to form his suspicions. "I was very much single, and it was just a night and we didn't talk for years after that unless his mother was present."
The color of his face slowly turned closer to the color of his hair.
"I didn't realize that it would make the spell work wrong and I clearly wasn't thinking at all when it happened. It was just so easy, and the bind always made everything else so hard and I was tired of trying to make things work and this just work, so I…" She trailed off, waiting for him to speak again.
"That's why you weren't in pain."
"What?" That was not what she had expected him to say.
"Lavender, she was in this horrible pain when we did it for the first time." He actually blushed like a schoolboy. "I tried really hard to make it easier for you, but I guess …" He stopped himself, but she knew that he was going to add that Malfoy had taken that from him too.
She, on the other hand, had to take a moment to blink the thought of Lavender and him away. She probably deserved that after her own confessions. That whole chapter still stung whenever it came up, but maybe it was what she needed to feel right now. After all, Malfoy must cause a similar sting to Ron every time the bind came up.
"Malfoy figured the bind thing out a few months ago. They have been doing research and from what I read, they are close to breaking the bind for good."
Ronald nodded as he took in this information. He was awfully quiet for someone who usually liked to talk. She tried to study him, but it didn't seem liked she could break through his walls. When had that happened?
"You know we tried to get you cleared. Harry and I both, my family, even Kingsley did." She blinked at the sudden change of topic.
"Well, I suppose they always need someone to leave out to make society work."
"It's not fair." No, it wasn't. None of it. She glanced in his blue eyes when he looked back up. He looked as tired as she felt. It had been an emotional day for both of them. Ron finally suggested ordering some food in and so they wound up with cartons of food around them, as they ate silently.
"Don't get mad, but I have to ask."
She glanced over at him, concern showing on her features. This conversation had been exhausting as it was, she didn't want to start a fight now. Still, she forced herself to nod.
"That elf at the Manor, it obviously considers you part of the family."
"I suppose yes he does." He nodded and she was surprised to see fear spread on his face.
"Well, does that mean…" He swallowed, glanced at her, and filled his mouth with food before he could ask his question. Finally, he swallowed again. "Are we even married?"
She choked on her food. That was one question that she hadn't thought about. Until this very moment, she had still been very much married to Ron. She hadn't considered that still being in the bind she might have not been able to legally marry again.
"I don't know." They sat in complete silence after that.
