A year and a half ago

London

Hermione was working back in London again. She had managed to clear Hagrid of the smuggling charges even though Reinhart had never returned. She expected that perhaps Romulus had warned his brother what was going on and the man fled. She could not fault him though. She would protect her own family by whatever means were necessary. She had remained in Heidelberg for nearly a week awaiting the man. Draco had been kind enough to act as her tour guide and her companion. A fact for which she was still immensely grateful. He had taught her enough German to get by, even though she was sure her accent was dreadful.

He had told her of his own family, his wife Kellandra and their son Scorpius who was the same age as her own daughter Rose. Kellandra had remained behind at Malfoy manner and Scorpius had continued to attend Hogwarts during Draco's very brief stint as a teacher at Durmstrang. It had not taken long however for Draco to realize that he was not cut out for teaching. He had served his term and was tending to some family business in Germany before heading home.

As odd as it seemed to the both of them, there was no tension between the two of them. Many of his opinions and feelings had changed after Harry saved his life. He did not like to feel beholden to the man, and felt guilt over the treatment he had dished out to him when they were boys. He had always intended to make amends with him, but as the years went by, the words became harder to find until they slipped away entirely. Settling for a comfortable silence, the two men would exchange very small talk or a nod to one another as they passed in the street, but never anything beyond that.

What was even more surprising to Hermione was that Draco took the time to apologize to her for the way that he had treated her as well. Hermione was uncomfortable and for once at a total lost for words, so she just offered up a brief smile, told him that it was water under the bridge and she had not suffered any sort of permanent psychological scarring over it. Once these talks had been finished, they settled into quite a companionable experience and a friendship, however unlikely, had been born.

Now that his business in Germany had been completed and he returned to London, they ran into one another far more often than they had previously. Hermione's work with the department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures was intense and on more than one occasion she took the opportunity to speak out against the enslavement of house elves, and her efforts went quite far in this realm. Draco was one of the few people left who would still take the opportunity to mock her for her belief that house elves deserved and desired to be liberated. While Hermione thought he was an ass and subscribing to archaic beliefs, she did enjoy the debates. Ron tended to simply agree with most of what she was saying when she climbed on her soapbox simply because he either wasn't listening, or because he had learned long ago that he could never out debate his wife and it was unwise to try.

Draco and Hermione had arranged to lunch together on Fridays where they could enjoy their debates as Draco complained that his wife disliked discussing anything even remotely relevant to the world other than fashions and bloodlines, and it was enjoyable to him to have intelligent conversation, even if that conversation happened to be with Hermione Weasley, and even if it happened to take place in Muggle Restaurants where they would not likely be seen by people who might misconstrue things. Dining anywhere near Diagon Alley or even in Hogsmeade was a wretched idea since Hermione wasn't keen on running into Ron during these lunch dates. It wasn't that she was doing anything wrong, but these lunches, they were something that was hers and hers alone. She didn't want to share that with other people, and was even more disinclined to listen to what people would say about her developing friendship with Malfoy.

Truth was she wasn't keen on running into Ronald more than she had to outside of home lately. It seemed as if they began arguing the moment she walked in the door, and she wasn't even sure where it had begun. She knew that he was having a bit of trouble at work with the Joke Shop, but she had no idea what it was. He flat refused to discuss it. Instead he chose to take his anger and frustration out on her when she tried to help him with a simple spell. He had waved his wand a little too hard, again, and sent pasta flying all over the kitchen. When Hermione pointed it out to him attempting to be helpful, he had turned red, yelled something that sounded remarkably like an insult, and stormed out of the house leaving Hermione to clean up the mess by herself.

"I don't know what happened," she confessed to Draco as the sat in the booth of the small Italian restaurant. "One minute everything was okay, and the next there were tomatoes on the ceiling. He didn't even come home until this morning." Ron had previously asked her not to discuss their problems with Harry and Ginny because then he felt as if he were being ganged up on. While she had not intended on discussing her problems with Draco, it was hard to notice that her eyes were swollen from crying all night. Again. Ron's anger seemed to be becoming a reoccurring event. One that she was growing increasingly tired of.

"How many times do I have to point out that you could easily curse him until he sees the light?" Draco said, looking entirely irritated. "I've never kept my opinions of Weasley a secret. Even in school he was a reckless inconsiderate little snot. Of course I had different reasons for my dislike at the time, but the more I see you in this condition, the more I'm convinced it's a trait he never grew out of. I'm not saying I've ever been perfect, because we both know what a bloody little coward I turned out to be, but it is not right for him to be treating you this way."

Hermione kept staring at the table, trying hard to convince herself that Draco was right, and that Ron's problems were his own, and had nothing to do with her. But while she was growing increasingly angry with Ron for his outbursts and continued ill treatment, she was also growing increasingly concerned that the problem with Ron was her.

"Honestly Draco. I think maybe if I didn't try to help him so much, he wouldn't' get so angry. I know he easily feels intimidated, but I thought we had gotten past that by now. Every time I am asked to speak about house elves, or when I got a commendation at work, he seems to get just a little angrier. I think perhaps if I stop telling him my good news he'll feel a little better about himself and things will get better…" Now this quite obviously angered Draco as he slammed his fist on the table, his ice blue eyes smoldering before he looked away obviously looking for the words to express what he wanted to say.

"Damn it Hermione! You do not have to be anything other than what you are. If Weasel-bee is intimidated by your success, that's his own problem. He either needs to man up and treat you the way you deserve to be treated, or get out of the way so you can find someone who will!" Hermione stared at him, shock written all over her face. "Oh to hell with it," he said finally, pulling Hermione's face to his and crushing her lips with his. Hermione was shocked, her eyes wide open as she stared at Draco, unsure what to do. But it was nice to be kissed. It seemed like forever since Ron had last kiss her, and despite her best intentions, she closed her eyes and relaxed against Draco, parting her lips slightly and returning his kiss.