Summary: Ron's anger is getting the best of him and Hermione's sick of it. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to understand that they've broken up, so she agrees to have Draco act as her temporary (fake) boyfriend until Ron finally accepts it.

TW: the relationship between Ron and Hermione here is abusive.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Hermione growled to herself, flexing her fists at her sides. She had been stupid to think inviting Ron to her flat would end any other way than with her right where she was now, pounding on Harry's front door and yelling to be let in before she started crying again.

It had been a big fight and it had not ended well. She'd expected it in one way or another, but it had gotten dark fast and things had been said by both of them that she was sure they'd regret in an hour.

"Harry! Goddammit!" she yelled, her voice cracking. She stopped hitting his door and dropped her forehead to press against it. "Harry, please," she murmured quietly.

She sniffled and wiped her nose with her—Ron's—sweater sleeve. Taking a deep breath, she pulled away from the door and prepared to leave. Harry had told her to stop by after her talk with Ron, but if he wasn't answering, then he'd probably forgotten.

"Hermione?"

The door was pulled open and Harry stood in front of her with messy hair and syrup sticking to the corner of his mouth. Relieved at the sight of her best friend, Hermione jumped forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She had no hope at stopping her tears as she buried her face in Harry's chest and clung to him.

"Merlin, Hermione, are you okay?" he asked. He shut the door behind her then stepped back so he could look at her better. "He didn't hurt you, did he? I thought you were just going to talk."

In the kitchen, Hermione could hear water running but didn't care. She doubted she could care about much other than the look on Ron's face when he'd thrown a photo frame at her.

"We were—We did," she said, breathing shakily. "He got angry. It's not—I tried to ask him if it was true, but he got defensive and started accusing me of being the one who was cheating."

"You should have let me come," Harry said, frowning down at her. "He wouldn't have gotten so mad."

Hermione sniffled and shook her head. They both knew it wasn't true, but it was still nice of Harry to offer. Unfortunately, not even he could keep Ron from getting angry sometimes and this had been one of those inevitable situations.

"Did you break up with him?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded, paused, and then shook her head. Harry frowned in confusion and Hermione let out a frustrated groan.

"I don't know," she said, running a hand through her hair. She hoped Harry didn't see the piece of glass that fell from the knotted mess, but the way he frowned made her think that he had. "I tried, Harry. I said the words, but then he started yelling again."

"He threw something at you," Harry said. Hermione nodded. "Are you sure you aren't hurt?"

"Nothing hit me," she answered. "He threw a photo frame at my head, but it shattered above me."

"Merlin, Hermione," Harry muttered, pulling her in for another hug. "Maybe Gin and I should talk to him. She's on an international tour with the Harpies right now, but when she gets back—"

"That would—That's probably a good idea, actually," she admitted. Ron wouldn't take the news from her very well, but she'd managed to break up with him and that's all that mattered. If Ginny and Harry could reinforce the idea in his head, that would be even better.

"I'll tell her when she gets home," Harry promised, stepping away from her. "In the meantime, Malfoy made pancakes and—"

"Malfoy's here?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself. Harry raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "Oh, come off it, Harry. I didn't know you two were that friendly."

"Well, we are," Harry said, then frowned and followed it up with, "Apparently. The git just shows up on Saturdays now and sticks around."

"Draco?" Hermione called, ignoring Harry's pitiful rant.

She wiped her face of her tears and stepped into the kitchen, looking for her partner. Just like she'd expected, he was at the kitchen sink washing the dishes. He spun around as soon as he heard her though, a grin on his face.

"Hey, Granger," he said. He charmed the dishes to clean themselves and dried his hands. "I thought I heard Potter talking to someone."

"I know you heard the door, Draco," she said, giving him a small smile. Draco's smile dropped and he pursed his lips.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She shrugged and nodded, but he seemed to find that an acceptable answer for the time being. "I made orange juice for you. It's in the fridge."

"For me?" Hermione asked curiously. Draco nodded as she turned to open the fridge. Just like he'd said, a pitcher of fresh orange juice sat front and center and she grinned.

"Potter said you'd be coming over later," he told her, explaining the orange juice. "I didn't think it'd be so soon though."

"Yeah, well, Ron blew his top in the first five minutes," Hermione mumbled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco and Harry share a look. "I'm honestly fine, both of you," she said, looking up at them.

"You had glass in your hair, 'Mione," Harry said. Hermione scowled at him as Draco looked at her with wide eyes.

"Now look what you've done," Hermione said, gesturing lazily at Draco. "You've worried the boy."

"Granger, if he's throwing glass at you, there's good reason to be worried," Draco said. Hermione sighed and poured herself a glass of orange juice. When she turned back around, Draco was still looking very worried.

"We broke up," she told him. Draco raised an eyebrow and she amended her statement. "I broke up with him. I think. Harry said he'd figure it out for me, but I think we're officially over."

Her nose tickled and she sniffled again, wiping her face before she could cry. The last year with Ron had been rough and it was certainly time they broke things off, but it was still hard to come to terms with the fact that their relationship was over. They'd been dating for four years, for Merlin's sake. It was hard to let that go.

"Potter?" Draco asked, turning to look at him.

Harry gave a helpless shrug.

"We're trying," he said. "Ron's got a bit of a temper and sometimes it's hard to have a decent conversation with him, but Ginny and I will take care of it."

"If you don't, I certainly will," Draco warned. Hermione's eyes shot wide open and she shook her head fiercely.

"Absolutely not, Draco Malfoy," she said, glaring at him. "You'll only make it worse."

"I will if Potter can't," Draco said, crossing his arms. "You're not the only one who suffers when Weasel-Bee comes banging on your office door."

"If you didn't antagonize him so much, he wouldn't be such a prick in return," Hermione said. Draco rolled his eyes, but Hermione could tell he was not dissuaded. "Let Harry and Ginny cover it, Draco. If you get involved, it will only get messier. He already thinks we're dating behind his back."

Draco choked and Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. He coughed and when he finally caught his breath again, he looked at Hermione for an explanation.

"What?" she asked defensively. "It's not like he doesn't have a reason. You bring me coffee every morning and we've been partners for a year and a half."

"That is absolutely no reason for him to think you're cheating on him," Draco argued. Hermione groaned and returned to drinking her orange juice. "He's the one who was caught."

"Malfoy," Harry snapped, drawing Draco's attention away as Hermione looked down at her cup.

Draco glanced from Harry to Hermione and pursed his lips. He certainly hadn't meant to upset Hermione more, but the Weasel had been a point of irritation for him since about as far back as he could remember. The fact that the git had cheated on Hermione only made him worse.

"I'm sorry, Granger," he muttered. She took a long sip of her orange juice. "I—Blaise and Pansy are waiting for me, so I should go."

"No, Draco, it's okay," Hermione said, looking up abruptly. "It shouldn't bother me so much anyway. It's been two weeks after all."

"No, I'm sorry," he said. He took the two short steps over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I do have to head out. I'll see you at the office though, yeah?"

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. He squeezed her shoulder and ducked out of the kitchen, taking Harry along with him for a few moments. At the sound of the Floo, Hermione sighed and downed the rest of her orange juice before Harry returned to the kitchen.

"Are you sure you're okay, Hermione?" he asked. Hermione hesitated, but nodded nonetheless.

"Yeah," she replied. "Maybe not completely, but I'm okay." After a pause, she grimaced and asked, "However, would it be alright if I spent the night here? I'm not sure if he'll be out of my flat by then and I don't really—"

"Of course," Harry agreed immediately. "It's quiet without Ginny here anyway. Feel free to take the guest room and stay as long as you want. I will warn you though, Malfoy spent the night last night so you might want to clean the sheets. Merlin knows where he's been."

Hermione smiled. For how often Harry complained about Draco taking over his life, the two definitely got on well. Granted, it had been a disastrous first three months when Draco had joined the auror team, but eventually they'd started to get on and after Draco and Hermione had been partnered together, Harry had had to like him if only because Draco was now partially responsible for keeping her alive on the field.

"I'll make sure to do that," she told him.

Harry grinned and set about finishing the dishes Draco had left while Hermione poured herself another glass of orange juice. They spent the day doing their own things, but Hermione was never far out of sight and Harry was always just a shout away. It was an unfortunately common habit among them by now even if they never mentioned it, but when the fireplace roared to life and a familiar redhead stepped through, Hermione was glad Harry was nearby.

"Hermione, I'm sorry," Ron said, hurrying out of the Floo and over to where she was seated. She closed her book sharply and he frowned.

"Ron, I was serious," she told him. From the kitchen, she heard Harry ask who was at the Floo.

"Come on, Hermione," Ron groaned, taking her book out of her hands. He attempted to grab her hand, but she pulled away. "It was one time! It won't happen again, I swear."

"You said that months ago," Hermione reminded him, sliding around him and getting up from the couch. "I meant what I said, Ron. We're done."

Harry came out of the kitchen as Ron's frown turned into a glare.

"Ron, get out," he demanded, frowning at his friend. "She broke up with you."

"You're in on this now, huh?" Ron asked accusingly. Hermione stepped around the sofa while he was looking at Harry. "What? Did you convince her to run off with Malfoy too?"

"There's nothing going on with Malfoy, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. She'd only said so a dozen times in the past month alone, but Ron insisted on catching her in a lie. "We're partners, Ron. I never cheated on you. That was all you, and we're done."

"We've been together for four years," Ron reminded her sharply. "You're really ready to throw all that away because of a kiss?"

"It wasn't just a kiss, Ron," Hermione argued. She'd talked to the girl herself and knew as much. "You've been going behind my back for months and accusing me of cheating. I don't want to break up with you, but we can't keep going like this. We're done."

"Hermione—"

"You heard her, Ron," Harry said, stepping forward when Ron tried to approach Hermione again. "She's done."

"You stay out of this, Potter," Ron snapped. Harry frowned and Ron turned to glare at Hermione. "We're not done. You'll come back in a month, begging for me again because you can't do better."

"Ron!" both Hermione and Harry shouted. Ron looked unapologetic.

"It's true," he said bluntly. Hermione felt tears prickling her eyes but Ron didn't seem to care. "You of all people can't throw out that much history, Hermione. You'll be back."

"Get out, Ron," Harry demanded again, sending the Floo powder to his chest. Ron grunted at the hit and glared at them both. "Take the week off work to cool off, too."

"Fuck off," he snarled. Harry frowned but before he could tell Ron to get out again, he tossed a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace and disappeared.

* * * * *

Hermione walked into her office on Monday to find a bouquet of flowers sitting on her desk. She frowned and after reading the short card, she dumped them in the trash. It wasn't surprising Ron had taken the break up poorly, but she had hoped he'd at least leave her alone afterward. Clearly not if the way he sent another bouquet to her office on Tuesday was anything to go by.

"What'd the flowers ever do to you?" Draco asked from the doorway. Hermione jumped and instead of just dropping the bouquet into the trash bin, she knocked over her coffee. "Oh shit! Sorry!" Draco apologised quickly, lunging forward to help clean up the mess her coffee made.

A quick scourgify took care of the stain on her carpet and the one of her skirt, but she sighed at the loss of her daily coffee.

"Sorry, Granger," Draco said again, dropping the empty cup in the trash bin. "I'll get you another."

"Don't worry about it," she said, dropping into her office chair. "I'll just con Harry into buying me one from the Ministry deli. Merlin knows he's down there too often anyway."

Draco chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Were the flowers from Weasel?" he asked, glancing at her trash again. Hermione grunted. "Didn't think he cared that much."

"He showed up at Harry's place on Sunday and his winning argument was that I couldn't do better," she said, looking up at him. Draco frowned and she shrugged. "It's okay. I didn't take that much offence to it."

"He's a bastard and a liar," Draco informed her. Hermione let a small smile cross her face and he returned it. "I didn't just come in here to ask about your crazy ex-boyfriend though, believe it or not. We're getting called onto a new case, potentially linked to that one from May."

It was then that Hermione noticed he was in full uniform, cloak and all. Clearly he'd had more warning about the case than she was getting if he'd already had time to change.

"The Gringotts one?" she asked, sitting up straighter. Draco nodded.

"Yeah. It's a field assignment in Leeds," he informed, glancing over her outfit. "I'd suggest you change, but I happen to know for a fact you still haven't gotten your uniforms dry cleaned."

Hermione rolled her eyes and summoned her uniform cloak from where it hung.

"I'll manage," she replied, standing up so she could fasten the cloak around her shoulders. As they stepped out of her office, she asked,  "Care to debrief me on our way out?"

"You know I would," Draco said with a smirk. She scowled at him and sent her elbow into his ribs, but Draco just laughed. "A young witch, mid twenties, was found murdered in a muggle park with wards so powerful all the muggles were suddenly inspired to move countries."

"Any witnesses?" Hermione asked. Draco shook his head and ducked into the lift, holding the grate open for her. "Any leads at all?"

"Nope, not so much as a cat saw what happened, but I imagine that's partially why they're sending their dream team," Draco said. He winked at her and if Hermione hadn't been so focused on reminding him they were not, in fact, the auror's dream team, she would have told him he still winked incorrectly. "You believe what you will," he said carelessly, holding out his arm when they reached the apparation point in the Ministry. "I happen to know Shacklebolt would kill to have us work all the time."

"Just take us to the site, Dream Boy," Hermione teased. She took his arm and with a cheerful grin, he apparated them both out of the Ministry.

* * * * *

Ron wasn't easily put off, unfortunately. He sent flowers to her office every day that week and by Thursday, Hermione resorted to burning them. Every time Draco walked in with her daily coffee, he scowled at the flowers but didn't ask about them. He didn't need to in order to know they were coming from Ron.

"Are you sure you want to leave Weasel in the hands of Potter and Weaselette?" he asked on Friday, glancing at the rude card that had accompanied the bouquet. He frowned at it and made it disappear before Hermione had a chance to read it. "Did you read that?" he asked.

"No, you destroyed it," she said, shaking her head. Draco nodded.

"Good," he said, taking a long sip out of her coffee cup before handing it over to her. "Has he been sending notes each time?" Hermione nodded and his frown deepened. "What do they say?"

"Oh, probably something similar to that one," Hermione said flippantly, sitting down at her desk. "Just how I can't do better and it's time I see reason."

"Stop reading them, alright?" he said, looking at her with a bit of concern.

"Why? Was that one different?" she asked. If Ron had changed his approach, she wanted to at least be aware of it.

"Yes," Draco said tightly. He refused to tell her what it said even when she asked and gave her a look that made her drop the subject. "You do know you could do so much better than him, right? He's not even remotely good enough for you."

"I don't know, Draco," Hermione sighed, holding her coffee under her nose and taking in a deep breath. "It's been so long now that everyone just assumes we're together. I doubt I could ever find anyone that wouldn't immediately think of me as Ron's girlfriend."

"I don't," Draco said. Hermione blinked at him and Draco stared back, not having planned on saying that. "That is, I don't think of you as Ron's girlfriend, so maybe there are others out there like me."

Hermione snorted.

"I thank Merlin every day that there's not," she said with a grin. Draco smirked and she took a long sip of her coffee. "All I need is one person—Just one!—who would date me long enough that everyone stops thinking of me as Ron Weasley's, you know? It doesn't even have to be someone decent. Just anyone."

"Anyone, you say?" Draco asked. Hermione hesitated, trying to gauge where Draco was going with this and narrowing her eyes.

"I don't like that look," she said warily.

"I think I look rather dashing," Draco said, looking down at the robes he had worn to work the day. "As it is, I think I have a way of helping you out of your particularly tricky situation."

"I'm not letting you hex Ron," Hermione said. Draco waved his hand, having expected such an answer anyway.

"You need someone to date and I like pissing off Weasel," he told her matter-of-factly. "When you think about it, it's just perfect." Hermione frowned, not quite sure what he was getting at. He rolled his eyes and sat down across from her. "Granger, date me."

Hermione almost spilled her coffee.

"That's not exactly how you ask a girl out," she said, carefully setting her cup on her desk and checking her blouse to make sure she hadn't spilled anything on her.

"Come off it, Granger," Draco chuckled. "It would just be temporary and it wouldn't even be a real date. You can stop being known as Weasel's girl and I get to see him piss himself."

"I don't know, Draco," Hermione said warily. After all, Ron had been accusing her of cheating on him with Draco for a while now. It didn't seem like the best idea.

"We'll make up some story about how when Weasel cheated on you, we went out drinking and somehow ended up in bed together," Draco said. Hermione stared at him, surprised he seemed so relaxed about such an idea. Years ago, he couldn't go a week without making fun of her hair or her teeth and now he was offering to fake date her. "If anyone asks, we get Potter to vouch for us."

"Harry's a terrible liar," Hermione told him. Draco shrugged.

"Get Weaselette in on it then," he said. He folded his hands in front of him and looked at her. "Weasel's a scumbag and you don't deserve to be associated with him like this. I can help change that and as soon as you're free of him, we'll stage a dramatic break up and you'll be free to date whoever you want."

Hermione looked at him for several long seconds, trying to think about what could go wrong. Of course, there were many things that came to mind, but she wasn't as put off by them as she reckoned she should be. Draco was a good friend and he was offering to help her get out of a bad relationship. She'd be a fool not to accept.

"On one condition," she decided. "You can't use this as an excuse to hex or jinx Ron, understood?"

Draco rolled his eyes but agreed.

"I'm sure I can find some other reason other than simply because I'm your new fake boyfriend," he grumbled, smirking at her over the top of his coffee cup.