A Second Look - A Dramione Story

Chapter 30

Warning: This is not my story. It is from RiverWriter on ao3.

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Hermione felt just a little bit mean as she and Draco strode into Weasley's Cannon Quidditch Corner which (as the name suggested) was Ron's Hogsmeade shop, during the second week of January. She wasn't particularly proud of how much she was enjoying the feeling of triumph that simply walking inside brought her, but she'd set that aside in the face of her anger with the man who was the proprietor and whom she had once called her best friend.

"Ghastly name," Draco had remarked, "we'll have to do something about that."

Hermione snorted and wondered if her old friend had actually thought he was being clever with his almost-but-not-quite alliteration. "I always wondered why there wasn't a licensing issue, but I never cared enough to ask," she shrugged.

'"Despite his obvious personal flaws, Weasley is one third of the Golden Trio, I'm sure the Cannons were thrilled for him to name the store in their honor. They're the worst team in the League almost thirty years running, this was almost certainly the best thing to happen to them in decades. Merlin, the man has atrocious tastes, present company aside," he drew Hermione towards him with an arm around her waist and kissed her temple as they approached the shop. "He's also taking advantage of his family name, which is horrendous in a different way, given his family's sacrifices."

"Says the CEO of Malfoy Enterprises," she snorted.

"That's different and you know it. The business has been in the family, in various iterations, for centuries. And, frankly, my family name is anything but an asset these days."

She made a small noise of acquiescence, but didn't comment.

At the sound of the bell on the door Ron quickly emerged from the back, a welcoming smile on his face- until he saw who had entered his establishment. He immediately went beet red and pointed towards the door. "Get out, you're not welcome here!"

Draco smirked at Hermione, it reminded her quite a lot of the way he'd often looked when they'd been at Hogwarts- haughty and more than a little mean- and she was slightly uncomfortable with how much she liked it now that they were on the same side. It seemed hypocritical, but it did not dissuade her from her goal. She stood silently at Draco's side and tried to appear as uninterested as possible, knowing that would irritate Ron.

Her fiance didn't miss a beat. "On the contrary, Weasley, I think we will always be welcome here from now on." Draco casually skimmed his fingertips along the handle of the newest model of Nimbus.

"Bloody hell you will not!" Ron was already practically purple.

Draco pulled them both back from Ron's aggressive approach and glanced at Hermione. "I'll let you tell him, love."

She thought that he probably couldn't have looked more self-satisfied if he tried. But she could admit that she needed this opportunity to stand up to a man who had verbally and emotionally abused her for years. So she just nodded and pulled the sheaves of parchment Draco had gifted her out of her satchel. She shoved them in Ron's direction.

He glared at her but then he began looking them over. Ron was ignorant and uninformed about many things in life because he refused to put in the effort to learn. But he wasn't actually an idiot. Thirty seconds of skimming the documents in front of him and it was obvious he knew that he was in trouble. He took a menacing step towards the couple in front of him.

"What have you done!" He roared.

Hermione stiffened her spine and prepared to respond. She had acknowledged to herself that it was important that she take part in this in order to be free of the toxic influence Ron had played in her life. "We didn't do this, Ron. You did it. Honestly, you should be thanking us, we dug you out of the hole you were in."