Second Time Around

Draco Malfoy leaned back in his chair and surveyed the woman before him, the woman who had driven him crazy for the last six years. She was soaking wet, the thin white nightgown completely see-through. He worked at keeping his eyes on her face but faltered once or twice. Hey, he was only human. And a male one at that.

“I-I…you weren’t supposed to be here…” she stuttered, her teeth chattering.

“Really? And what were you planning on doing in my office at four in the morning without me?”

“I was going to wait for you…why are you here?”

“This is my office, Mrs. Weasley. I have the privilege of frequenting it as I see fit. Now, I think the question is, why are you here?”

Draco crossed his arms over his chest, watching the uncomfortable woman fidget.

“I need your help…”

“In?”

“In a divorce,” she said, voice strong. Her face however, showed her true emotion.

Draco was taken aback. “A divorce? For who?” Certainly not Hermione and Ron Weasley!

“For my cat!” she spat sarcastically. “For me you imbecile!”

“Now here’s something I wasn’t expecting. The famous Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, two of the Trio. Something wrong in Tinsel Town?”

“Not now, Malfoy. Will you help me or not?” She asked, her voice quivering. Taking pity on the wretched human in front of him he stood, pulling his cloak off the back of the chair as he went. He wrapped it around her as-good-as-naked body and settled her into one of the two chairs in front of his desk and seated himself behind it.

“You’ve come to the right place Mrs. Weasley.”

“Please, don’t call me that. Granger will be fine.”

“Alright. Granger. Now, what grounds are we looking at?”

She looked at him, disgusted. “I don’t believe that is any of your concern!”

“Actually, it is. See, in a wizarding marriage you have to show viable proof that your significant other has done something worthy of breaking the sanctity of a matrimonial bond. As your lawyer, I’ll need to know everything. If you’re not comfortable discussing these details with me I can refer you to several other highly acclaimed colleagues.”

“No, no. It’s fine. I came to you for a reason,” she sighed. “Infidelity.”

Draco’s fists curled. That stupid prick, how could he cheat on a woman such as Hermione Granger? Didn’t he realize that his pathetic existence could get no better than she? His blood roiled but he remained in control. He would need a lot of it for what he was about to say.

“I’m sorry, but that does not qualify as a reasonable ground.”

Her head snapped up so fast he heard it pop. “What?”

“It’s commonly known that wizards take on…mistresses…in addition to their wives. It is a practice that has been going on for thousands of years and I’m sorry to say continues to this day. As much as I sympathize with you, it’s simply not a qualifier.”

She looked shattered. “You mean I have to live with this for the rest of my life?”

“I didn’t say that. We can find ways around it. We’ll find a way, I promise. We just have to weed through some of your dirty laundry. Answer me as best you can until we can find something to work with. Now, has he ever used an Unforgivable on you?”

“What? No! No, of course not! He may be a jerk, a selfish, good-for-nothing piece of filth but he would never do something like that!”

“Alright. Has he tried to poison you?”

“Malfoy, this is Ron Weasley we are talking about.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to ask these questions. A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will do. Has he ever tried to poison you?”

“No.”

“Has he ever neglected to feed you?”

“No.”

“Has he ever locked you up?”

“No.”

“Has he ever hit you or beat you in any way?”

“No.”

“Has he sexually abused you?”

Her breath hitched. “No.”

“Granger?”

She looked up at him. “No, no it’s not…No. He has not.”

“Granger, I know we haven’t been close for the past six years but you need to talk to me. If you really want this divorce you have to be completely honest with me. What did he do to make you hesitate? I will decide if it is credible or not.”

“It’s not, trust me. If you don’t qualify cheating as a divorcing ground then this most certainly would not be.”

“You’d be surprised. Now, tell me. Whatever you say in here in held in confidence. Nothing leaves this room.”

Draco felt like tearing his hair out. What had that sick bastard done to her?

“He has not sexually abused me. Withholding does not classify as abuse.”

He grinned wolfishly, but she couldn’t see as her head was down, staring at her hands, embarrassed. “Miss Granger, I believe we can make this divorce work.”

Wide eyed, she stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“You just admitted that your husband was withholding his matrimonial duties in the bedroom, did you not?”

“Yes, I…you’ve got to be kidding me!”

“That I am not. Part B section four: The restriction of marriage duties in and out of the bedroom including but not limited to; providing of necessary resources of life, providing a legal heir, providing a satisfactory foundation of accommodation and last but not least the consummation of reproductive practices in an extent agreeable to both parties.”

Her jaw dropped. “I can divorce my husband for not having sex with me enough?”

“Yes ma’am.”

She let out a cold laugh. “Then I should have done this years ago!”

Draco had to keep from grinning. He had never thought the Weasle would amount to anything concerning the bedroom, but it seems as if his deprived wife had other ideas.

“Alright. Let’s do it. Let’s divorce my husband for not having sex with me.”

They looked at each other and laughed.


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Three hours later they were pouring over the sticky situation of paperwork when a voice called from the door.

“Mr. Malfoy?” his secretary asked.

“Yes, Gretchen, what is it?”

“You have a meeting in fifteen minute with the Halbert party.”

Glancing at his watch he cursed. “Thank you Gretchen,” she left and Draco began sifting through papers to find his file on the Halbert’s. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realized how long we’ve been at this. I have to make this meeting; it’s been put off three times already.”

“Of course! Go, go! I didn’t mean to keep you from your work,” Granger urged him towards the door.

“You didn’t. Do you have somewhere to go?”

“I-,”

“Here, take my fireplace to Weston House. Call for a house elf named Jadie, she’ll give you a room. Rest, relax. I’ll collect you when I’m done here.”

“Malfoy, I couldn’t possibly-,”

“You can and you will. The beginnings of a divorce are the hardest and I will need you to be on call at all times. We’ll get through this, Granger. I gave you a promise and I intend to keep it.”

“I-thank you. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now go on, I have shit to do.”

She nodded and walked to the fireplace, tripping on the overly large cloak. “Oh!” she said, removing it. He held up a hand to stall her and dug a fresh one out of a wardrobe by the door.

“Hang on to it. Now, go straight to bed when you get back. Maybe take a bubble bath, have some lunch. I shouldn’t be more than a few hours-,” he said, glancing at his watch.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m a big girl, you know.”

He smiled, looking at her. “Yes, I know.”

“Have a good meeting.”

He nodded at her and exited the room, leaving her to her own disposal. His nerves were shot. He’d woken up a little after three and had been in his office for no more than a quarter of an hour before that little witch had popped in looking all lost and disheveled. His hands itched to find their way around Weasley’s gangly little neck. As many times as she’d been close to tears during the paperwork was how many times he wanted to use his own Unforgivable Curse on the cur.

Shaking himself mentally he tried to focus on the Halbert account.

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Hermione stepped out of the fireplace into the extravagant living room. She knew she shouldn’t be here, should be staying in the home of a single man on the heels of leaving her husband, but she had nowhere to go. Tomorrow, she would talk to Ginny and Harry, let them know if they didn’t already. Tomorrow she would start looking for a new place. Tomorrow she would go back to work. Tomorrow she would get her life back together.

But today, she thought as her knees hit the floor, she was going to cry.

Another lesson learned in life
And I keep asking myself why?

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A/N: Hope you are enjoying it so far. A little out of the ordinary for me, I’m more into action but we’ll see. It won’t be action-less, because that would just be crazy! But things will start coming together soon and hopefully the next few chapters will answer your questions about the way things are now and why Hermione would go to Draco of all people. Hmm…mysteries.

XOXO

RynStar15