Why are you hanging on

So tight

To the rope that I'm hanging from

Off this island?

This was an escape plan (this was an escape plan)

Carefully timed it so that we'd go

And dive into the waves below

Their flat was cold and dark when she got home. She scowled, realising that empty bottles of butterbeer littered the coffee table. It looked like Ron had guests earlier, probably George and Seamus. But of course none of them had bothered to clean up after themselves. She picked up the bottles and put them in the recycle bin. Perhaps a cup of tea would do her some good, but it felt like too much work.

She sat on the bed in silence. She missed Crooks, who had disappeared when the wards had been destroyed at the Burrow during the war and the house had been heavily burned. She missed Ron, who was never home anymore. She missed Harry, who worked so much that she barely saw him except for the occasional cafeteria lunch when he wasn't out on a mission. She missed being part of a trio.

These days she just spent so much time alone.

Hermione didn't know how she had let everything get so miserable and small in her life. Maybe she had just given up.

She turned off the light and went to bed. It took her a long time to fall asleep. She stared at the ceiling and it seemed like the ceiling stared back. By the time she fell asleep Ron still hadn't returned home. Ignoring the ache in her chest didn't help.

Who tends the orchards?

Who fixes up the gables?

Emotional torture

From the head of your high table

Who fetches the water

From the rocky mountain spring?

And walk back down again

To feel your words and their sharp sting?

And I'm getting fucking tired

Hermione was so fucking tired. She'd come home from another long day at the office to find their flat empty - again. Ron was supposed to be here making dinner; it was Tuesday - the day he got off at the shop early. It was their standing at-home date night: dinner and a movie. It was her week to pick the film, she'd even chosen something she thought he'd enjoy: an American heist movie, rather than what she really wanted to watch, a Danish horror film about vampires that one of her Muggleborn co-workers had recommended.

Dropping her beaded bag on the table, she went to the drawer where she kept all the takeaway menus. She flipped through them all and dropped them on the counter with a sigh. Nothing looked good.

What she wanted was to try the new Thai restaurant that had opened up in Diagon Alley. She'd been craving Thai all week since one of the clerks raved about the restaurant.

So she decided to change her clothes and go. She considered sending Ron a Patronus to meet her there, but she felt so angry with him that she decided to just go out to eat without him. If he returned home and discovered that she wasn't there he would probably send her a Patronus, unless he was too drunk to cast one. She couldn't stop herself from thinking that it seemed likelier than him being at work late.

She apparated to the Alley and walked past Flourish and Blotts, refusing to look through the window at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to see if Ron was still at work. She wasn't sure which would be worse, if he was still there or if he wasn't. She really didn't want to deal with the mess of her relationship at the moment, she just wanted to eat a delicious meal not made by her own hands.

The hostess sat her at a table for two and looked confused when Hermione repeated that she was a party of one. Feeling embarrassed, Hermione buried her nose in the menu, perhaps she should have just ordered takeout and gone home to eat in the lonely flat.

Gods, she felt pathetic.

"Having dinner alone, Hermione?" Theo Nott asked from the side of her table, looking down at her with a kind smile. His dark curls slightly hung in his face like normal, although he wasn't wearing his glasses like he did during their work day.

Looking up at her co-worker in the Department of Mysteries, Hermione sighed, "Yes."

"Why don't you join us?" Theo gestured at his table where Draco Malfoy gave a small wave from where he was looking over at them.

"Is it a date night with your boyfriend? I don't want to intrude." Hermione knew that Theo and Draco had been dating since Hogwarts, but they hadn't come out until they both had inherited their titles. Theo had announced that the very first day they worked together when one of the other trainee Unspeakables accused Theo of being overly flirtatious with her.

After working together for six years now, Hermione found Theo's admitted infatuation with Malfoy adorable (it was almost enough to make you believe in true love) but she'd never socialised with the former Slytherin Prince. He'd apologised after his trial and Hermione had accepted it as he looked so tormented by everything that had happened, but that had been years ago now. She didn't really know who Draco Malfoy was nowadays, but she knew and liked Theo.

"Nothing so fancy. Neither of us wanted to cook and Draco hates trying to carry Thai takeout. He claims that even with magic, he always ends up spilling something. So here we are." Theo shrugged. "And here you are eating alone. Being a gentleman such as myself, I can't bear to see you sitting over here alone."

" That's laying on a bit thick, Theo, but okay, I'll join you." She took his offered hand and let him lead her to the table where Malfoy was sitting. Theo even pulled the chair out for her. She didn't recall the last time that Ron had done such a simple thing for her.

"Granger," Malfoy smiled in greeting. "Thanks for joining us," he said as though she was doing them a favour.

Hermione was surprised to find him polite and charming. A far cry from how he'd been in school. She wondered if being gay and closeted had contributed to his nastiness back then. He and Theo had to have been living in fear. She couldn't imagine that their fathers would have been supportive.

They chatted about a variety of topics and Malfoy surprised her by being knowledgeable about several of her passion projects like Centaur Sovereignty and the unethical nature of the Werewolf Registry.

"I think about Teddy whenever this particular topic comes up," Malfoy stated, sipping his cocktail. Did Malfoy have a relationship with Teddy and Andromeda? How had it never been mentioned to her?

"What?" Hermione choked on her drink in surprise and flushed with embarrassment when Theo patted her on the back.

"My cousin's son, Teddy? You've met him correct?" At Hermione's nod, Malfoy continued. "I'm sure you remember his father, Lupin; he struggled to stay employed all his life and had he lived, that struggle would have continued. There's been no change with regards to anti-werewolf discrimination. It isn't even a crime to murder them, even when they aren't transformed."

Hermione couldn't help but be shocked as she found herself agreeing with Draco Sodding Malfoy of all people about werewolf rights, even the Weasleys thought her opinions went too far. And here was Malfoy pointing out all the ways that werewolves and their families were mistreated by the Ministry. He even had a few points that she hadn't considered before including the supply costs of Hogwarts for werewolf families, which had never occurred to her as an issue.

"Granger, they are being economically discriminated against. To require them to spend galleons they don't have on materials they don't need is criminal. There is no reason that Hogwarts shouldn't have spare cauldrons and textbooks. Professors shouldn't be allowed to do what Lockhart did. It's just plain iniquitous! Not just for werewolf families, but any financially under-privileged one."

"To be fair, Lockhart did in fact turn out to be a criminal," Hermione pointed out.

Malfoy laughed, "He did, didn't he?"

...

Hermione missed the smile that Theo wore as he watched his partner and his favourite co-worker passionately discuss an issue that he knew that they both felt strongly about. He'd known they would get along well if they would just talk to one another. Coming out for dinner tonight had been synchronicity. He was sure that Draco would still have some of that passion that Hermione had brought out of him left over for later in the bedroom.

He couldn't wait.