The next morning, Hermione paused in her doorway after waving the lights in her office on. Instead of one bouquet of flowers, there were two. Only the second one was entirely red roses, and she knew Ron would never get her those.
She set her bag down and reached for the card that was placed against the vase of the roses, smiling at the familiar black envelope as she opened it up and read the note.
Hermione,
I figured you needed some flowers that you actually would want on your desk. Hope these put a smile on your face this morning!
I hope you don't mind but I've also already planned out our dinner for Wednesday. You're going to love it, I promise! I will be picking you up at 6:30, wear something similar to the dress you wore last night.
Draco
"Of course you have dinner planned already," She laughed quietly as she set the note down and leaned over to smell the roses.
After straightening up and pulling her coat off, she spied the Prophet on the corner of her desk and groaned slightly as she read the headline.
May 27th, 2003
Married Hermione Granger Spotted with Bachelor Draco Malfoy!
Underneath the headline was a picture of her and Draco walking down the sidewalk closely together, smiling at each other. She relaxed when she realized that it wasn't obvious they were holding hands, and even smiled down at the picture.
"So you are seeing him."
She jumped and turned to see Ron standing in her doorway, a blank expression on his face. Glaring at him, she set the paper down and looked away from him as she went around to her desk.
After a few more moments of silence, he asked, "Are the roses from him too?"
"I don't believe that's any of your business," She answered simply.
"It is my business, considering we're still married," He said with an edge in his voice.
"I've already filed the divorce paperwork, Ron," Hermione said, grabbing a few books off her shelf before returning to her desk.
"I'm not signing them."
She looked up at him quickly. "What?"
"You heard me," He said slowly, taking a few steps towards her with his hands in his pockets. "I am not signing the divorce paperwork. I want to work this out."
"Well I don't." She glared at him and said quietly, "Please don't make this difficult, Ron. You've hurt me enough already."
"Then why won't you let me make it up to you?" He gave her a pleading look, tilting his head slightly.
Looking down at her desk, she sighed and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I really don't have time for this right now, Ron."
"You never have time for this," He said exasperatedly. "Why are you throwing away five years of a happy relationship?"
"I'm not the one who shagged another person!" She exclaimed.
"It was a mistake!" He exclaimed in return.
"Yes, a very large mistake!" She ran her hands through her hair in frustration and glared at him again. "I don't think you understand just how much you hurt me, Ron. You wrongly jumped to conclusions after reading notes you were not supposed to read, and you reacted very poorly to say the least. If this is how you are going to react to similar situations in the future, then I want absolutely no part of it. I don't want to put myself through that again."
"But I'm not going to do it again!" He moved quickly to walk around her desk and stopped in front of her, not noticing that she backed away slightly. "Hermione, I'm not going to make the same mistake twice!"
"You realize that you've reacted the same way every single time you feel someone slights you?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "You react spitefully. You did it all the time in school."
"I can change that," He pleaded. "Please, Hermione!"
He gently grabbed her upper arms and stared down at her with the saddest expression she had ever seen on his face. It reminded her of when they were hunting horcruxes and he had returned after disappearing for a few weeks, asking for forgiveness from her and Harry for leaving. And now he had the same look in his eyes, and part of her considered actually going through with it.
"I'm sorry, Ron," She shook her head finally. "I've made my decision."
The look in his eyes became more desperate as he gripped her arms tighter. "Don't leave me! I promise I will make things better!"
"Let go of me," She said quietly, trying to pull herself out of his grip.
He only held on tighter which caused her to start to panic. But a sudden jet of blue light hit Ron and he flew to the side, hitting the back wall of Hermione's office. She looked over to see Harry standing in the doorway with his wand pointed at Ron and a hard look on his face.
"Are you alright?" He asked as he looked over at her.
She nodded as Ron stood up and glared at Harry. "What the hell was that for?"
"She told you to let go," Harry answered simply. "I thought I told you to not come up here."
"She's still my wife," Ron said angrily. "I'm trying to make things right. Unlike you and my sister."
Harry's expression darkened. "She and I had a mutual split, and we're both better off. Maybe you should consider that instead of constantly bothering Hermione, who clearly no longer wants to be your wife. I don't blame her either after what you did."
"This is none of your business, Harry," Ron growled.
"Hermione's still my best friend, so I would say it is my business." Harry then looked over at Hermione and said, "Why don't you work from home for the day? I have a feeling that you will feel safer there."
"As if I would hurt her!" Ron exclaimed.
"You were just grabbing her arms and refusing to let her go!"
"I was just trying to talk to her!"
Harry scoffed and glared at the other Auror. "I don't want to see you come up here again. You need to give her space and leave her alone."
"You can't tell me what to do," Ron said angrily.
"Okay, I've had enough of this!"
Hermione's sudden exclamation made them both jump and look at her, but she was glaring at Ron. "I want you out of my office immediately. I am done with this, I am not going to talk anything over with you while I'm supposed to be working."
"But-"
"No! Get out!" She pointed towards the door as Harry stepped inside, opening the doorway.
Ron sighed angrily and stormed out of the office, glaring at Harry as he passed by. Harry simply returned his glare and shut the door behind the red head, watching to make sure Ron got on the lift before turning back to Hermione.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked worriedly.
She nodded and took a deep breath. "I don't know what to do at this point."
"What do you mean?"
She gestured for him to sit down in one of the chairs in front of her desk as she sat down in her own chair, putting her head in her hands.
"He said he wasn't going to sign the paperwork," She said quietly after a few moments of silence. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"He may come around," Harry offered reassuringly.
She scoffed slightly and raised an eyebrow, to which Harry smiled slightly as he said, "I know, I know; there's a chance it might happen, though."
"I doubt it will." She shook her head and leaned back in her chair as she looked up at the ceiling. "I knew he was going to make it difficult but I didn't think it would be that difficult."
"You know how Ron is." She heard him shift in his chair and reach to grab something off of her desk. "So...you and Malfoy?"
She tilted her head back down to look at him and smiled slightly. "Somewhat. We're not dating; we're just..."
"Going on dates?" Harry offered with a small smile.
"Yeah, that stage."
"I'm assuming the roses are from him and not Ron," Harry said observantly as he looked over at the flowers. "And that the other flowers are from Ron."
"Oh, yes; thank you for reminding me about those."
She reached around the roses to grab Ron's bouquet of the day out of the vase, standing up to walk over to her window and tossing the flowers out of it. Harry laughed from behind her and she turned around to see him grabbing the now empty vase as he stood up.
"I'll go ahead and take care of this for you," He said as he gestured with the vase. "The roses look much nicer by themselves."
"I agree." She smiled at the roses before giving Harry a worried look. "You aren't upset?"
"About what?"
"Draco and I?"
Harry shrugged as he said, "I've had to deal with him a few times over the past few years. He may still be arrogant but he's not who he was before. If you're giving him a chance, I suppose I can too."
She smiled at Harry. "He's changed quite a bit."
"I hope for his sake he has," Harry said with a grin. "Let me know if he gives you any trouble. I believe I owe him a few jinxes from our school years."
She laughed at that and he took a few steps towards her door before turning around and giving her a more serious look. "If Ron tries to come up here again let me know immediately, okay?"
"I will," She nodded.
"I'm going to try to get your divorce paperwork pushed through and we'll get him to sign it," He went on. "Try not to worry too much about that."
"I can't make any promises," She said with a sigh. "Thank you, Harry."
He nodded before leaving her office and shutting the door behind him, and Hermione took a deep breath before gathering her thoughts.
The owl tapping on his window made him jump, but as soon as he recognized Hermione's handwriting he excitedly ripped open the letter.
Draco,
The roses are absolutely beautiful! Thank you so much for them, they certainly made my morning better than normal.
I should've known you'd have the dinner planned out already. I'm very excited for it though; hopefully you'll let me help plan one in the future. Can't wait to see you again!
Hermione
Draco smiled at the letter as he leaned back in his chair and read it over again. He didn't notice Blaise standing in his doorway though until the other wizard coughed, and Draco let out a surprised yelp.
"I would've thought you'd have a better sense of hearing than most wizards," Blaise laughed as he leaned against the doorframe.
Glaring at him, Draco said, "My hearing is impeccable, and even better when I'm in my other form."
"Clearly, since I was able to sneak up on you."
"What do you want, Blaise?"
Blaise shrugged and asked, "Have you seen the Prophet?"
Draco furrowed his brow. "Why?"
"Oh, no reason. How was dinner?"
Putting his forehead in his hand, Draco sighed heavily. "I forgot to stop by the Prophet's office..."
"She looked very nice, I have to say," Blaise grinned. His grin only grew larger when Draco let out a low growl and pointed at him.
"You have your witch already," He said.
Blaise put up his hands defensively. "I never said I wanted Hermione; I simply said she looked nice."
"Nice is insulting for how she looked," Draco muttered. Then he nodded towards Blaise. "Where's the paper?"
"I have it in my office; want me to cut the picture out of it and frame it nicely for you?"
Draco glared at him again, causing him to laugh as he left the doorway and returned moments later with the Prophet in hand. He tossed it onto Draco's desk and went to lean against the wall as Draco grabbed the paper and looked it over, smiling slightly when he looked at the large picture of him and Hermione.
"Really though: how are things going between you two?" Blaise asked curiously, nodding towards the paper in Draco's hands.
"They're going great," Draco answered quietly, still looking at the photo. "We're having dinner again tomorrow evening."
"Well well! Looks like the bachelor life is over for you!" Blaise said jokingly.
He waited for a sharp retort from Draco and was shocked when Draco simply smiled and said, "Maybe it is."
"Wait..." Blaise pushed himself off the wall and shut the door behind him, casting a silencing charm on the room. "Are you actually considering the possibility of being with her?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Draco set the paper down finally and looked at Blaise. "You were pushing for me to try and have a relationship with her."
"I'm not saying I'm unhappy, mate; I'm just trying to figure out how far you're wanting to go with this because I've never seen you act like this with anyone else."
Draco shrugged. "I'm going to leave that up to her. I'm not trying to get my hopes up or anything but being with her makes me feel like I can at least try to have a normal life. And you said it yourself: she knows what to expect with my condition. I don't think I can find that with anyone else."
Looking back down at his desk, Draco went on with a sigh. "Plus she's about to start the divorce process. I don't want to jump into a relationship too quickly when she's going to be dealing with that. So right now, things are just casual but that doesn't mean I'm not hopeful for the future."
Blaise's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Before he could say anything though, there was another owl tapping on the window, and Draco groaned as he recognized his father's owl.
"Great," He muttered after getting up from his chair and walking to the window. "I wonder what father has to say."
"We'll talk more later," Blaise said as he opened the door. "I'm sure that's important."
Draco nodded and returned his attention to the envelope in his hands, staring down at it as he sat back down. After a few moments of debating whether or not to open it, he sighed and tossed the letter to the corner of his desk; he definitely didn't want to deal with that right now.
A/N: Thank you all for being so patient with me on this one, a lot of changes have been happening at work and I haven't had much time for writing unfortunately but I should be able to start updating regularly again soon! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, love you all! <3