A/N: Before I start, I want to state that this is a Dramione story. I had a reader who was a bit confused about that fact, and I just want to point out that this started out and will end up as one. I have nothing against Ron in general, but personally do not support Romione. However, if it is something you do ship, then that is great, and I'm happy for you. I do not always write anti-Ron stories. My last two before this were in favour of him, and I write him in the way that best suits my story. This one just finds itself against him, because it was how I wanted Hermione to appear. So I'm sorry if Ron is a character that you like, but this one probably will be anti-Ron for most, if not all of the story.

Anyways, mini-rant aside, here's the chapter!

Chapter 9

She froze up at the sound of his voice. Unlike last time, she couldn't run; not with Scorpius and Draco there. They had come for her, and she couldn't very well leave them here to deal with her mess.

"Hermione, Draco, are you coming?" Harry asked as he came back into the room. Upon seeing Ron standing there, Harry look startled. "Ron? I thought you were in Paris this for a game?"

"I was," Ron sneered. "Then I found out that Hermione was hooking up with a Death Eater."

Draco wrapped an arm protectively around her shoulders as he saw her tense up. She relaxed slightly as she knew he would be by her for this. She knew she was going to have to face Ron eventually. They had the same group of friends, and hoping to avoid him forever just wasn't reasonable. But she wasn't ready to face him yet. Seeing him brought back all the raw feelings of pain and abandonment.

To say she cared for him would be an understatement. She had loved Ron with all her heart, and he had thrown her aside as if it all didn't matter to him. She saw herself having a family with him, and an entire life. So to see him coming after her for attempting to be happy without him hurt.

But more importantly, it infuriated her.

"You should probably leave, Ron," Harry said quietly, knowing full well that a scene was going to erupt. "I'll see you when you return from your game."

"No, I think I'll stay until I get the answers I deserve," Ron said, as he stared straight at them.

"You don't deserve anything," Draco said for the first time. "She doesn't owe you anything; not after how you treated her. Personally, if it weren't for the fact that this was Harry's house I would have thrown you out myself." Hermione watched Draco add emphasis on Harry's name, knowing how much it would infuriate Ron.

"What, I'm gone for a little bit, and the Ferret has already managed to make his way as your friend?" Ron asked Harry in shock. "Did you forget the part that he was a Death Eater, and probably killed people?"

"Don't you dare," Hermione spoke up, knowing she couldn't keep quiet as he lashed out against Draco, who had done nothing wrong. "Don't you dare accuse him of murder. You may not have attended his trial, but I did. Yes, he has committed crimes, but never has he killed anyone. He is a good man, and I won't stand by and watch you go after him."

"How can you even defend him?" Ron asked her, as his eyes narrowed. "How can you stand to be with him after all the things he said to you in school?"

"He's grown up, for Merlin's sake! Just because you hold on to childhood grudges, doesn't mean all of us are incapable of moving on with our lives," she stated heatedly.

"I knew it," Ron said quietly, but that was when it was most dangerous. "It's true what the papers are saying, isn't it. You had an affair with him while we were still together. How else can you explain how all of you are so tight and friends now? You knew too, didn't you Harry?" he directed towards her friend. "You bleeding hypocrite. You find out I cheated on her, and you tear me to shreds with your so called moral compass, but Merlin forbid Hermione screw up for once in her damn life. But the perfect 'Golden Girl' never makes a mistake does she? People would look the other way for her, but if I were to make a mistake, then you all come after me."

Ron looked at her, "You know, that's one of the reasons I ended it. You were so bloody righteous all the time, and you never screwed up. And because of it, I felt as if I were obliged to be as perfect at you, all the time. But look; now you've gone and done it. It's only a matter of bloody time before all of England sees through your charade and realises just who you are, everything aside."

"Don't you speak to her like that," Draco said, rising to her defense. "She has never once cheated on you. She cared for you unconditionally, and you went and betrayed her. And you can mock her all you want, but she really is that perfect, and even if she did have a few flaws, then so what? She's a better person than you could ever dream of, and you know that. You didn't come here for Harry tonight. I don't know how, but you somehow found out she would be here. And I can't think of a damn reason for your unwillingness to let her move on, seeing that you made it perfectly clear that you want her-" Draco paused, as a look of comprehension dawned on his face. "-unless you don't want her to move on, because you want her to be around for you for when you're done screwing around and want to have her there for you. What, were you hoping that you could break her down by insulting her physique, hoping she would look whatever brain-dead diva attracts you, so you could get back with her?"

Hermione was stunned when Draco posed the question. She looked at Ron, waiting for him to deny it, but he never did. Instead, his face grew a few shades darker red.

"Ron, you should leave now," Harry said quietly. "I'll talk to you another time, however I can't look at you right now."

"No," Hermione said. "I need to say a few things to you first." She saw him look at her, with a bit of hope in his face. She had been silent against Ron for years, in hope of making their relationship work, but now she felt no obligation towards him. "I don't love you anymore, Ron. For so long I wondered how I would be able to move on from you, but only recently have I realised that I already had. You held me back, in so many ways. You hated the fact that I had a career, as your own mother didn't work. And you never let me be as intelligent as I really was. Because of you, I held myself back because I didn't want to hurt you. I let you talk about Quidditch 24/7 even though sometimes I wanted to discuss relevant topics, like politics, or even debate ethics. You never did anything for me, without me having to force you to. And I'm not one of those girls who you need to reassure of their beauty; however you just went and tore down whatever confidence I might have had. And no, I didn't cheat on you. But thinking back upon it, I don't know why I stayed with you as long as I did, because I got nothing out of that relationship. So go back to whatever model you're with this week, because it's over between us, and we will never, ever, have an intimate relationship again. Maybe one day we can be friends, but at the minute, I want nothing to do with you."

Draco squeezed her shoulders, as Ron stared at her open mouthed. That was the most she had ever said to him in complaint. For too long had she let him walk all over her, and she wouldn't put up with it anymore. She deserved better. And maybe she and Draco would never become more than just friends, but for now she knew she was ready to be happy, truly happy. And even if she remained single for many more years to come, she was finally at a place with herself where she could be.

"What's taking you lot so long?" Ginny's voice came from the hall as she walked in, carrying Scorpius in her arms.

Ron looked at the child and looked stunned as Scorpius got down from Ginny's hold and ran to Draco, clapping the entire way.

Draco picked up his son and held him closely to his body, all while keeping Hermione close to him. "Mione!" the boy squealed upon seeing her.

"What's this?" Ron asked with a sneer. "You're some great big happy family now? Really, Hermione? It hasn't even been a few months, and now you're already playing house with Malfoy's bastard son? What's the matter, Malfoy? Did your wife not even want to stay with you or your child, so you had to find a substitute?"

"You're out of line, Ron!" Harry said, surprising her. "Don't you dare talk about a child like that; especially since he's too young to have warranted your prejudice."

"Oh don't side with him, Harry. We both know I'm right. Why else would his wife have left him?"

"Shut up, Weasley," Draco growled. "You don't know a damn thing about my life, so stop pretending to have so much insight into it. Astoria and I have an agreement, but it's none of your bloody business. No one wants you here right now, so why don't you just take the hint? Clearly you're imposing, but maybe you're just too thick to see it. Merlin, I knew you were stupid, but you just are exceeding all expectations today, aren't you? Just do us all a favour and leave. If Hermione ever wants to speak to you again, then it is completely up to her, but after the display you put on today, I wouldn't count on it happening any time soon, if not ever."

"Fine," Ron scoffed. "I see you are all bound together. So much for not taking sides, Harry. And Ginny, it's nice to know you're choosing a whore over your family. Wait until I tell Mom about that. She would be ashamed that you would choose a scarlet woman like Hermione."

"Oh grow up, Ron," Ginny said in exasperation. "Clearly Hermione is happy without you, and you're throwing a temper tantrum because you aren't getting your way. She's a better person than you could ever dream of being, but I wouldn't expect you to understand that. She's a mature adult, and if she wants to be with Draco, then you should respect her. It's her life, and when you broke up with her, you lost the opportunity to have a say in how she lives it. You've made your bed, so lay in it, and accept the consequences of your decision. She didn't choose him to get back at you, because she knows how much you hate him. He's good for her, and maybe if you could drag your head out of your arse, you would see that too. And you're my brother, and I will always love you, but I cannot take your side on this matter, because you're in the wrong. So don't you go dragging Mom in this, because you now as well as I do that she would support me. So leave here now, before I get Harry to arrest you for trespassing. You've overstayed your welcome, and hopefully you will reflect and take from this night."

"Whatever," Ron said as he walked to the floo. "I have other places I need to be anyways, and I refuse to stay here with you lot any longer."

Once he had left, Draco turned to her, "Are you okay? I know that couldn't have been easy for you."

She nodded, feeling slightly numb, "I'm good. I'm actually relieved I got to say some of those things to him. I've held in my feelings for so long that when I began to tell him, everything just poured out. But it was good, because for once I got to tell him how I felt. He needed to know that what he did wasn't okay. But at the same time, he needed to see that I could be okay without him. I'm not some toy that he can drop when he's bored and expect to be where he left me when he wants me back."

"I'm sorry I didn't correct him when he thought we were dating," Draco said sincerely. Hermione felt her heart sink as she remembered the truth to their relationship, over the one that she had momentarily believed to be true. "I just didn't want him to have that satisfaction of knowing you were still alone. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I just didn't want him to come up with the notion that he's won whatever race he seems to believe he's in."

She smiled at him, "It's okay," she said as she gave him a peck on the cheek. "It was rather sweet of you to stand up for me. He should never have brought Scorpius into this though! That was completely out of line."

Draco handed Scorpius to Hermione, as the boy began reaching for her, "If he ever says anything like that again, I might not be able to hold back my restraint."

"I won't try to stop you," Harry said. "Ron was just so out of line. I'm not even sure how he found out that we were having dinner tonight. I suppose someone could have told him, but we were talking about it in your office after all, and those walls are pretty sound-proof. I'll have to get some people to look into that. I'll send an owl later tonight to get it done. Who knows what other information could be leaking out."

"We should eat now," Ginny said, as she ushered them all to the table. She waved her wand to quickly reheat the food. "Ron's already wasted enough of our evening, but I'll be damned if he ruins the entire night."

Draco laughed as he seated Scorpius to his left, and sat beside Hermione. Harry and Ginny were on the other side of the table. Ginny may not be a housewife, but she had certainly inherited Mrs. Weasley's ability to cook a wonderful, and enormous, meal. She helped herself to a serving of chicken, and some potatoes. Scorpius seemed a bit unsure of the food, but Ginny placed a plate of chicken fingers and some fries in front of him.

"You didn't have to do that," Draco said, however the gratefulness was imminent on his face.

"Nonsense!" Ginny said as she waved her hand. "I'm expecting, and I know that children don't always like the same food that adults like."

"Thank you," he said softly.

Scorpius watched the exchanged and immediately repeated, "Hank you!"

"No problem," Ginny said to Draco, before turning to Scorpius, "If you want more food, let me know, okay, Honey? Just make sure you leave some room for dessert!"

"More eye cream?" Scorpius asked, his eyes widening.

"No, this is something different, but I promise it'll be just as good, okay?" Harry said, reassuring the boy. "Ginny makes yummy sweets."

Scorpius happily ate his food, while Harry turned to look at Draco. "You know, I had an entire speech planned out. I was going to say that you better treat Hermione well, because she guards her heart close to her, and if you were somehow using this friendship as a way to hurt her, I would arrest you for something or another. But today I saw that you actually care about her. I don't pretend to understand your friendship, but if it makes her happy that's good enough for me."

Draco gave him a genuine smile, but smirked a few seconds later, "Careful, Potter. With words like that, one might think that the two of us are friends."

"Oh Merlin," Harry said, as he laughed, "Wouldn't that be a sight to see?"

Ginny elbowed her husband, "So Malfoy, or should I call you Draco now?"

"Whichever's fine by me," Draco said with a shrug.

"When are you going to ask out Hermione?" Ginny said, as she scrutinized him. "It's obvious that the two of you care for each other."

Draco sputtered, "I-uh-we're friends."

"Yes, Ginny," Hermione said pointedly, with a slight glare. "We're friends."

"Whatever," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes.

The rest of the night was spent with the four talking, and getting to know each other better. Hermione smiled as she realised how well Draco fit in with her friends. It made it easier knowing that they accepted him, so she wouldn't be put in a position where she would have to choose between one or the other. She may not have known Draco for a long time, but she knew that she cared about him, a lot. She wasn't quite sure when the last time she'd ever felt like this about someone. It scared her slightly, but she knew herself well enough to realise what she felt. She liked Draco, in a way that was dangerous to any friendship. Hermione didn't know what to do about these feelings, especially since Draco had stated explicitly that the two of them were just friends.

She pushed the thoughts out of her mind, as she took a sip of wine and enjoyed the present company. There would be plenty of time to worry about that in the future.