Hermione could hear the low voices of Harry and Draco coming from the hall. She eased her eyes open to see a line of light coming through the barely open door. Slowly the events of the last hours came back to her as she felt a pang of soreness in her ribs. A red ball of fluff sauntered in through the open door and hopped onto Draco's bed just as Hermione heard Harry say "We found him at the Manor, Draco." A moment of silence passed. "How'd he get in?" Draco asked slowly and Hermione heard nothing but the rustling of a cloak. She deduced Harry must have shrugged. "Wards are... were his specialty..He managed a bit of damage but nothing we can't fix. The Manor was empty aside from him." Harry stated. "My Mum's at the beach.." She heard Draco mutter. "I know.. Good thing too" Harry said quietly. "And she hasn't woken up yet?" Harry asked. More silence. Draco must have shook his head. "You look tired mate, Maybe get some sleep" Harry said and Hermione heard Draco say "No, I'm fine. I'll sleep when I know she's okay" At this Hermione felt a pang in her heart instead of her ribs. Slowly, she sat up and groaned.
Instantly the door to Draco's bedroom flew open and she flinched at the increase in light. Her head was pounding and she was sore all over. She saw Harry with his Auror face still on and Draco with a look of both panic and happiness. Draco reached her first and sat down beside her putting a hand to her cheek. She had no idea how horrid she must look but he looked as if he was in as much pain as her and she could see his eyes filling up with wetness. She leaned into his hand and looked at him. "Ow" She said quietly. His lips formed a deep frown and he wrapped his arms around her pulling her to his chest. Harry still had his game face on but Hermione could see something else in his eyes. Looking up at him from Draco's chest she asked "So they found him at the Manor?" Harry nodded "He's sleeping it off at the ministry." Hermione drew her eyebrows together "Hermione, before you say anything, I'm going to tell you that he won't get out of this, this time. You're going to tell me to let him off and I can't. Not this time. I can't let this happen again. You are too important. People can't go around beating up the Minister of Magic. The Wizengamot agree." Hermione scoffed "I wouldn't say he beat me up" She said. She felt Draco's arms tighten around her. "That's just it Hermione, He did. He did beat you up. You're not impartial enough to make this decision." Harry sighed and drew his fingers through his hair. "Neither am I. The chief Warlock will head up his trial instead of you, I've asked to be taken off his case as well. This is out of our hands. Out of mine." Harry then shared a look with Draco. "We can't go easy on him just because he's our friend." He spat. Hermione winced at the venom in his words. Harry took a deep breath. "Hermione we'll speak about this tomorrow" Harry said in his most authoritative voice. "Take the rest of today to rest" Hermione looked at Draco's bedside clock and saw it was 3 am. She nodded "We'll talk tomorrow." she said quietly. "Get some good rest, Hermione. I know you're in good hands" He gave Draco a pointed look and Draco just nodded. She found it interesting that her best friend and Boyfriend of only really a day have already acquired the ability to have silent conversations. With that her Best friend was gone and she was left with a serious and tired looking Draco.
"So" He said. She knew that meant spill.
Hermione sighed. "Ron has a problem.." She said quietly.
"He's got lots" Draco said coldly.
She sighed again. "He has a drinking problem." She saw him nod and began speaking again. Once started she couldn't seem to stop. "He turned to drinking heavily after the war. I mean.. we all did, really. We'd done so much, we had never had the time to just have fun and we had all seen so much. We would go out a lot just to blow off the steam we all had from starting our jobs. Then it turned into him drinking to keep his nightmares away. But he got better about it after a while. I think being an Auror helped with that. He was busy. But once he left the ministry it started again. Worse than ever." She sighed and felt Draco drawing circles on her back. She leaned her head more into his neck. "Then he came home very drunk one night and we had that big row. He told me he wanted a divorce because I was a worthless wife anyway and couldn't ever be the mother he wanted me to be to his children. He had grabbed me by the arm and threw me down the stairs that night. I don't really remember much but I know that once Harry found out he kicked Ron out of my house, Fixed the wards.. He wanted me to report it but I .. I just couldn't." She took a breath and looked over at Draco. His eyebrows were knitted and she could see fury in his eyes. She could feel her lower lip quivering as she looked at him and once he noticed he buried his face in her neck and held her tightly.
