Chapter 4:

Ronald Weasley walked out of the fireplace into Grimmauld place, and turned to face Hermione who was sitting at the table looking up at him with a shy smile.

"Hi." He said. His plan had gone off course already, he noted. Hermione was calmly seated rather than frantically pacing around the kitchen.

"Hi," she responded, slowly rising from her seat. "How are you doing?"

Ron could see that she was uncomfortable with this whole situation, "I'm fine. How are you?" He wanted to ease her into the conversation, make it as normal as possible. Perhaps he would be able to get his master plan back on the right track.

"I'm alright. I've been reading a lot. Umm…did you get my letter?" she asked.

Ron could tell she was starting to get nervous, anticipating an angry outburst at any second. "Yes, I read it…I'm here aren't I?" he instantly regretted his harsh tone. He wanted her to relaxed and happy, "I guess what I mean to say is, I was really hurt at the time, but I thought about it, and I'm sorry 'Mione I really shouldn't have done that, and I should have listened to you and talked about it with you else where. This week was terrible without you…I really missed you," Ron watched as Hermione's eyes welled with tears, "Hermione, I lov-"

"Ron, I think we should break-up" Hermione burst out, looking at the kitchen floor.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times. He blinked. He contemplated pinching himself. She had not just said that! Ron saw red. This was NOT part of the plan! What was she thinking? She had called him there for this! "WHAT? Are you bloody kidding me?" He smacked the chair closest to him and sent it slamming to the floor. "Why in hell would you ever think of doing that!" Too much, he thought to himself, he still had a chance here. He could woo her all over again. They did say that make-up sex was the best kind. He approached Hermione slowly, fingers lifting her chin as to look him in the eye, "Hermione, I still love you, we can work it out, I really don't want to live my life without you."

oooooooooo

Hermione's eyes softened, she was falling for him again. No, she had to stick to the plan. She needed more time; time to think and make herself better. Things weren't working between them. They were better off as friends. This was for the best. She cleared her throat, "Ron, I've been thinking about this for a while…It's just not working. I really do love you, more than you will ever know, but I just don't think I can be with you in a romantic relationship right now. It's just not working!" She lowered her eyes to the floor once more, averting his angry stare.

"Hermione, I thought you were happy, I thought you loved me, I thought you wanted to be with me forever…Where did that all go? I thought we were happy together." His eyes then also found the kitchen floor, and Hermione really saw his sadness. This tore her heart apart.

"Ron, I still want to be friends!" she said optimistically, "I can't imagine my life without you! We'll still be friends, right?" She stepped towards him, lifting her gaze. She took a step away from her.

"See Hermione, I don't really think you understand what breaking up means…Do you want to be with me or not?" his voice was steadily rising, "It doesn't work this way! You can't break my heart and then decide to be friends just like that! I'm going to need some time to get over you!" His fury had returned now as he paced around the room running his shaky hands through his orange hair. Hermione heard shuffling upstairs, but thought nothing of it. Malfoy was smart; he would stay in his room.

"Ron…" Hermione started softly, but Ron launched himself across the room, gripping her upper arms and pinning them to her small body. The rage in his expression was palpable, and slight witch was beginning to get scared.

"Weasley. Do you really think you should be doing that right now?" said a very menacing Draco Malfoy in the doorway of the kitchen. Ron immediately let go of Hermione as if he had touched a flame, a confused look on his face. Hermione changed her gaze from Ron to Draco. Draco was looming in the doorway wearing what he usually did, boxers and a jumper. His hair was not combed back like it usually was, and was falling in his face. Shit, Hermione thought to herself, she knew what was about to happen.

"I finally get it." He said slowly as he stepped back, turning to look at Hermione, "YOU'RE DUMPING ME FOR THIS BASTARD? That's rich Hermione, I never thought you were the slag type, but clearly you are…staying here with MALFOY." Malfoy advanced threateningly, but Ron continued on with blind rage, "I bet he's fucked you senseless and convinced you to dump me. Let me see your left arm, has he convinced you to take the Dark Mark too?"

Hermione stood mouth open, speechless. She couldn't believe what had just happened. "I can't believe you just said that Ron. I can't believe it." She muttered to herself sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Weasley, I think you should go." Malfoy said calmly still a few steps form the doorway.

"Oh fuck you, Malfoy…" Ron started.

"RONALD! PLEASE LEAVE! NOW!" Hermione screamed, tears streaming down her face. She had stood up out of her seat once more, and looked at Ron with the most disgusted and angry face she could muster. She wanted to walk over to him and hit him, slap him hard like she had Malfoy the night before. But she would remain calm; Ron was only looking for confrontation.

Ron understood and winced slightly at her scathing glare. He just walked into the fireplace and left with out a word. For the second Sunday in a row, Hermione collapsed on the kitchen floor, sobbing, all because of Ronald Weasley.

oooooooooo

Draco watched as Granger sank to the ground, sobbing noisily. "I'm sorry" he muttered, "I shouldn't have walked in like that."

"You think?" she said loudly, looking up at him with an angry gaze. This was the most dishevelled he had ever seen her; more out of control than at the war. She was helpless, just crying on the dusty floor of the old Grimmauld Place.

"Do you want anything?" He tried to ask nicely.

"Firewhisky. Two glasses." She mumbled into her hands. As he fetched the liquor, she lifted herself into her seat at the kitchen table, beckoning him to sit across from her. He handed her the bottle and she uncorked it, taking a swig then pouring both herself and the blonde sitting across from her a rather large serving. He was kind of unsure if Granger should really be consuming alcohol at this moment. She was upset and quite thin…it would all go straight to her head. And since when did Granger drink? Miss goody-goody Gryffindor did not seem like one to throw back whisky with the boys. Maybe the war had changed her?

He then looked at her face, she was not terribly bad looking. Her cheeks were red and tear stained, but Hermione Granger had certainly aged well. Yet, her eyes were not filled with spunk and happiness as they once were, these eyes were sad and defeated.

She set the bottle back on the table and knocked back the entirety of her glass. She didn't even wince, he thought to himself, maybe Granger did have more to her than he had thought. When she moved to pour herself another, Draco interjected, "Are you sure you should be doing that, Granger?" She finished pouring herself a second glass, and looked at him with a blank gaze.

"Malfoy, I need to get drunk," she said quietly as she knocked the second one back. She reached for the bottle once more, "Catch up, Malfoy. Let's go." The young man obliged her, tipping back the contents of his glass and wincing as the alcohol burned the back of his throat. He outstretched his hand for a second glass; it was going to be a long night.

oooooooooo

All Ron could see was the anger in her eyes. She was so angry. Why had he said those things to her? Why had he called her a slag? Why had he accused her of being with Malfoy? He knew right well that Hermione would never touch him. But then why had Malfoy intervened? Why was he even there? Maybe she was! Maybe she had slept with him! SLAG!

Ronald's mind raced and he saw red and he threw himself out of his fireplace. He grabbed the nearest thing he could find – a chair – and threw it across the room. He couldn't even speak. He was furious. She had dumped him. She had gone and done it. He proposed to her. He had bought a fucking RING! He loved her. And what did she do? She played house with Malfoy. Draco bloody Malfoy. She hated him in Hogwarts. She should still hate him. He tried to contain himself by sitting at the kitchen table. By then his worried mother had ran into the kitchen to find him seething. She just stood in the corner, waiting.

"She ended it. She bloody ended it, Mum." And for the first time, Ron was hit with sadness, not anger. He was genuinely sad the Hermione had dumped him. He didn't care if it was for Malfoy, for Neville, or even for a Muggle. He loved her so much! He let his head drop into his hands and felt his mother wrap herself around him in embrace.

"She'll come 'round Ron. Don't be silly." She cooed as she rubbed his back gently.

Ron knew better. He had passed the line. The anger in her eyes. Hermione wasn't coming back to him. But he could get her to right? He could make her jealous. She would get angry with him, and in a fit of rage confess to him that she loved him. This could happen. He could be with Hermione again! His heart soared and he gave his mother a small kiss, and ran up to his room. He got out a quill and parchment and started to write.

oooooooooo

Hermione sighed and giggled to herself. She was quite drunk. A smile crept onto her face as she looked at the handsome blonde sitting across from her. She decided that if he hadn't been such a foul git to her during school, she would have actually had a huge crush on him. "Malfoy, are you drunk yet?" she slurred, watching him finish the contents of his glass. They'd been drinking for almost an hour, and Hermione had been drunk for the majority of that time. She giggled again as he pour himself another generous glass, and filled her glass with a smaller serving.

She watched as Malfoy leaned back in his chair, took a sip of his whisky, and spoke, "Granger, we've been drinking whisky for an hour, I am drunk, but more importantly you are very drunk. I'm surprised you haven't hit the floor yet."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me Malfoy," she said with a sultry tone. Hermione had never really drunk alcohol before the war. She had sipped on a glass of champagne at Bill and Fleur's wedding, but had reminded herself to be constantly vigilant and not let herself get out of control. After the war ended, she wanted to become a normal adult woman. She enjoyed going out with her friends, especially with Ginny when they had a girl's night. She sipped her whisky as she watched Malfoy finish another glass, probably his sixth or seventh, and lean forward resting his chin in his hands. His cheeks were rosy and he had a stupid grin on his face. She had never seen him like this. She realized that they had never really had an encounter like this ever, nor would she have ever dreamed of it.

"And what don't I know about you, Miss Know-It-All?" he smiled back at her and Hermione felt her stomach drop. He was really gorgeous when he smiled. She thought hard trying to remember the last time she saw him smile like that. He had never smiled like that when he was around her or her friends at Hogwarts; it had always been his famous smirk. She took another sip and prepared her answer.

"Well" she started, eyeing him flirtatiously, "I've never really been happy with Ron, it's been like dating my brother." Malfoy smirked, she took another sip, "And he's terrible in bed, I mean absolutely terrible…and I thought Krum had been bad!" She laughed out loud as Malfoy's jaw dropped.

"Granger, too much information" he sipped his drink and chuckled, "I have to say though, however repulsive Weasley is, I am rather impressed with the fact that you have been with Viktor Krum." He tipped the contents of his glass into his mouth and set his glass on the table, Hermione took this as a cue to continue.

"I've been wanting to break up with him for weeks now, I just didn't have the nerve to do it." She stared at the table, sadness creeping back into her eyes.

"Granger, there's no reason to be sad. You did everything right, he just reacted in a really terrible and fucked up way. I read your letter to him, I heard your conversation, you did everything right!" Hermione winced as she finished the contents of her glass.

"I knew it." She said, looking up at him.

"Knew what?" he said nervously.

"I knew you read my letter. I knew that there was a reason that you acted all funny that one night you carried me up the stairs."

"I figured you would realize sooner or later. Nothing much gets past the brightest witch of our age." Hermione blushed at that. That was a term that she heard mostly Harry say, not someone who she hated during school.

"So tell me what does get past me. What don't I know about you, Malfoy?" Hermione leaned forward, anticipating his answer. Her drunken self was very intrigued by the young, drunk, and handsome man sitting across from her.

"Well, for starters, I thought you looked beautiful at the Yule Ball fourth year." He stopped, stunned at what he had just said, but decided to continued, "I got so upset with myself, that I snogged with Pansy that night." He laughed, "God, Pansy was horrid." Hermione blushed as he spoke, but laughed with him. She liked this new, truthful Malfoy. He seemed to understand this and continued on, "I watched you duelling during the war at Hogwarts, you were brilliant! I always envied your skill, Granger." She blushed again, looking down to avoid his affectionate gaze. Why was he talking to her like this, this was so weird and foreign. "And I think today was the first day where I have ever seen you so sad and helpless in my 10 years knowing you…even after the war." Hermione looked up at him now. He was observant. He had noticed her. He seemed to care.

"I saw you carry your mother's dead body after the War." She blurted out. "I saw how sad you were. I was so bewildered because I had never seen any emotion come out of you before. I kind of wanted to hug you…" Her voice drifted off as she looked at his face. His thoughts were elsewhere, probably remembering the pain and sorrow the War had caused him. She raised herself from her seat and walked towards him. She stood before him and put a small hand on his shoulder, "And I watched as your father put his hand on your shoulder, like I'm doing now, as if to steady you. I'd never really seen anything like it. Even in my mourning Fred and Tonks and Remus and the others, I just couldn't look away." He looked at her now and stood up, awkwardly towering above her. She tried to step towards him, to close the gap between them with an embrace, but instead she stumbled sideways, "Fuck."

"Granger…you're drunk. You should really get to bed." He extended his arm to steady her, starting to walk towards the stairwell. Hermione stumbled again. This time, she found both of his strong arms picking her up into the familiar hold that she had felt only a week before. He looked up at his face, which was looking forward; he was concentrating. She leaned her heavy head against his chest as he approached he bedroom door. He stepped in and gently placed her on her bed. She fumbled with her pants buttons, swearing quietly. Malfoy's steady hands undid the buttons and slid her jeans down her bare legs and onto the floor. She blushed slightly as she realized that Draco Malfoy had just helped her undress and was seeing her in her knickers.

He stood at the end of the bed, as she tucked herself underneath the blankets. She looked up at him. "Why's this happening again? You always end up carrying me to bed."

Draco chuckled, "I'm not entirely sure…Goodnight, Granger." He turned and headed towards the door, quietly slinking out.

"'Night" she answered as she heard the soft click of her door. She let her heavy eyes close, and drifted off to sleep.

A/N: So what did you guys think? Do you support Hermione's decision? What about everything going on with Malfoy? Reviews make the world go round :)