Hermione wasn't sure how long she could stay in the office before going out to face Ron. She hoped that Theo could calm him down enough to drop this all for now. She knew she would see the Malfoys when she returned to England, but she had hoped she could keep contact as minimal as possible. Hermione sat at the desk and turned the ring on her finger around and around before taking it off to look at the scar that ran all the way around her finger. She tried not to ever look at it, it was a reminder of a time she never thought she could be happier and also a reminder of a time she never thought she would recover from the pain. She had seen a number of healers, but none could remove the scar. It seemed as though it stemmed from the use of dark blood magic and they were baffled by its presence. She was brought back from her thoughts by the shouting coming from the front of the store. She slipped the ring back on her finger as she headed towards the voices, one of which she would recognize for the rest of her life.

'I have asked you to tell me where she is Weasley, please do not make me force the information out of you!'

'And I have told you, there is no way in hell I will let you anywhere near Hermione ever again!'

'Ronald!' Hermione was behind her two friends when she shouted his name. 'It is fine, we are in a public place, why don't you and Theo go get the rest of the new stock from the back while I assist Mr Malfoy here.'

Draco took in Hermione's appearance as she spoke to her friend and her husband. He noticed the ring on Theo's hand as he was arguing with the two men, before Hermione came out from the back. He looked at her finger now and saw that the ring she wore was almost identical. What the hell? He thought to himself. He then took in her slightly rounded belly and a wave of jealousy he could not contain hit him.

'I see Astoria was not lying to me, for once.' He sneered at Hermione. 'Did you wait a courteous amount of time before hopping into bed with Theo, or did you go to him right after I left your flat?'

Hermione looked pained by his expression and words, but she steeled herself as she began to speak to him.

'I don't think that is any of your business Mr Malfoy.' She looked him directly in those mercury eyes she had grown to love so deeply. His obvious disdain for her was present in their depths.

'Did you ever love me?' His question was barely audible. She could see the look in his eyes changing to that of hurt, for the briefest of moments, before the anger returned.

Hermione wanted to go to him, hug and kiss him, tell him everything was ok. She wasn't sure she would ever love another man with the depth that she loved him. She wanted to tell him everything, but she knew that it wouldn't change things, and it was better that he hated her, maybe that would make him stay away. She wasn't sure if her resolve could be kept if she spent too much time with him, she also wasn't sure if her heart could take seeing him with Astoria. She placed a protective hand over her belly, a motion that was not lost on Draco.

'I am not even going to honour that with a response, I'm sure your wife would not want you speaking to other women this way.'

'I don't want to speak about her, this is about us, and Nott apparently.'

'There is no us, Draco. There was no us as of 6 months ago.'

'You just left! No word, no explanation, just disappeared. It was only Potter's pity that even let out that you were in Italy!'

'Draco, you were marrying another woman, what would you have me do? I was in a lot of pain, I needed to find comfort.'

'I see you found that in Nott! Not too long after everything that happened either by the looks of you.' Draco spat the words at Hermione.

'I don't have to listen to your verbal lashings Draco, if you have nothing more productive to say to me, just leave!'

'I can't believe I ever loved you.' With that he turned and left the store.

Hermione flopped down on the settee near the fireplace feeling more defeated than she did 6 months ago. She rubbed her belly absently and looked down at it, 'Oh peanut, was this really the best idea, coming back here, back to all of this? No good can come from this complicated situation.'