A/N: First things first, I'd like to thank the mods for being so lovely and extending my datelines because of RL. Honestly, thank you so much ladies. I really did want to post for this fest again.

Second, to my beta, Nicia, much love and kisses for stepping in even though she had work herself. You know you are the only one I trust with this.

Third this wasn't by far my original idea but as I said RL got a hold of me so I had to settle for something more brief. So not the original plan but I still hope you'll like it.

Last, concerning the two couples and what I choose to do, Draco Malfoy and Grant Ward always seemed very similar to me. In the way of them growing up in political influenced households and having to uphold certain facades. Both were misled as youths, both tricked into doing things they thought would give them glory or keep their loved ones safe. Of course their choices did not work out well for any of them. I'll be eternally bitter for the fact that no one of them got a chance in redemption.

P.S: To Ashes At Midnight, thank you, thank, thank you, for the amazing art work.

Just give me a reason
Just a little bit's enough
Just a second we're not broken just bent
And we can learn to love again
It's in the stars
It's been written in the scars on our hearts
We're not broken just bent
And we can learn to love again

Just Give Me A Reason ~ P!nk ft. Nate Ruess

Hermione buried her face deeper into her pillow as the knock on the window became more urgent. All she asked was for five days off; five days of no complaint notices, no official Ministry business. She craved not having to play nice with any asshole that kept implying that she either slept her way to the top or that her husband would turn to the dark side any day now. But no, judging by the owl's upset hooting the office was falling apart without her.

"Just ignore it." A deep male voice murmured from behind her, kissing her naked shoulder softly. She would very much like that but the small, neurotic part of her brain wouldn't let her. Whatever it was, she had to get it done. Probably something important too, otherwise Harry wouldn't bother her. At least she hoped it was Harry and not Pansy or Narcissa telling her that Scorpius had gotten himself into trouble.

Again.

"I can't." She sighed and wrapped the sheet tight around herself. Hermione threw the window open and Pigwidgeon zoomed into the room, hooting loudly. "Alright, alright!" She hissed going after him as he settled on her nightstand, extending his leg so Hermione could take the letter. She was surprised to see the Hogwarts crest sealing the envelope. Breaking it quickly, she scanned the letter.

"What is it?" Draco asked as he slipped into a pair of boxers.

"They found the Mirror of Erised." She frowned. It had been lost for ages, no one had seen it since Dumbledore hid it during their first year at Hogwarts.

"Where?" He moved to where she stood, looking curiously over her shoulder.

"America," she answered folding Minerva's letter. Harry was away on a mission and she couldn't trust anyone else with these news, their old professor wrote. "McGonagall wants us to go and retrieve it."

The infamous Malfoy arrogance was rubbing off on her, that much Hermione could tell. It radiated off of her in waves as she walked through the base's halls, agents moving out of her way. Then again she had been with Draco for a little over a decade now, picking up some of his habits was only logical. She wouldn't comment on the fact that she picked his most obnoxious ones though. It hadn't been easy in the beginning, it never was with these things. Not only because of the people around them but because of themselves too. She was stubborn, he was an ass, and on top of their difficult personalities they had had an ongoing feud too.

They had never got along the two of them.

Draco had been a spoiled brat at best, unaware of how much his life was bound to change within a few years or how little blood purity would mean to him by the time the war rolled around. To say that Hermione had been furious when Snape showed up with Draco at 12 Grimmauld Place would be an understatement. She bitched and moaned and hissed at people that tried to so much as say a word that would count positively on Draco's behalf but to no avail. To her, he had been a bully for five years, constantly putting her down and making her life miserable. He had no saving grace.

He wasn't too keen on her either. While he had laid off of his crude and vile comments about her or her friends he didn't favour spending time with them. Not that he was around much. The days he did spend in the Order's safe house he preferred locking himself up in one of the bedrooms. It took her a good while to get Remus to let her in on what happened but she managed it eventually. She had been dumbfounded when she learned that Draco Malfoy had defected to the Order and agreed to spy on Voldemort on Dumbledore's behalf.

She would have thought he'd be the first to follow in his father's footsteps and lead the Death Eaters. As it turns out, even she didn't know everything. After a few days of being around him during the Christmas break she found herself almost being civil. It took a lot for someone as prejudiced as him to take a risk like the one Hogwarts' Headmaster asked. Hermione didn't like the asshole but she could appreciate his balls; no matter how much she wanted to bust them.

It took a year and Sirius' death for them to finally slip into what, at the time, Hermione swore was the biggest mistake of her life. They got close over a bottle of firewhiskey. Well, not exactly close, more like they fucked each other senseless. She wanted to get over her non-existent relationship with Ron. He wanted a quick way to let off some steam and release some of the pressure the adults put on him. That's pretty much how the wildest ride of her life started.

For almost six months they snuck around, hiding their escapades from anyone and everyone. Stolen kisses, quick shags in broom closets, dirty notes; it was a good distraction. It didn't last long though. She could still remember very well the night Draco raised his wand against Dumbledore. The night Harry came barreling inside the common room screaming himself hoarse. Much to her dismay she felt her heart tighten when Harry recalled what happened. No one knew about them and she made a point of keeping it that way for the entire duration of the war. It was nothing personal, they made it clear many times. Just some good ol' shagging between enemies.

Even when they were captured and taken to Malfoy Manor she didn't let her guard down for a moment. She bled and screamed on the marble floor but she did not gave Draco the satisfaction of looking at him at all. After their escape it was a constant battle with time to find the Horcuxes and destroy them as soon as possible. When your life is on the line you don't really have time to mope for the guy you might have been a little in love with. Besides as far as Hermione was concerned, Draco Malfoy was dead to her. He died the day he raised his wand and tried to kill Dumbledore.

Voldemort's defeat and Harry's retelling of what really happened shattered the perfect explanation Hermione had worked up. The perfect explanation she spent night after night trying to make as logical as possible because it was the only way to write him off and ignore her feelings at the same time. Believing that Dumbledore set up his own death was quite ridiculous to her but Harry would never lie to her. Apparently their old Headmaster had put together an elaborate plan that required Draco pretending to spy on Dumbledore for Voldemort but in reality doing the opposite. Something about the Elder Wand and its rightful master, Hermione wasn't sure anymore. She tried to argue that the memories Harry had could have been tampered with but there was no doubt about it. Not when they were so crystal clear.

It took months for her to even be able to talk to Draco, though, much less stay in the same room. But he was persistent if anything. She even went on to date Ron for a few weeks only to realise that her high school crush on him was gone. The war had changed her a lot, shaped her to the person she was today. A strong willed woman, ready to face anything life threw her way. So evidently she and Ron would never work and if she hadn't broke it off so soon Hermione was sure they would have ruined their friendship. They had gone through so many things together to throw them away for a shag.

"Lady Malfoy." A short, balding man that reminded her a lot of Slughorn greeted them in a small meeting room. Hermione was surprised he even knew how to address her. Draco lingered behind her, he preferred it when she did the talking. "It's a pleasure meeting you." The man extended his hand and Hermione shook it briefly. The man turned to Draco but a look from her husband sent the message across. He didn't come with her for pleasantries.

"Likewise," Hermione said, removing her leather gloves. Honestly, such a Malfoy move to do. Sometimes those little things made Hermione wanting to burst into fits of giggles. "You have something that's mine." She cut straight to the chase. They had to be back as soon as possible. Now that their vacation was ruined she couldn't wait to get back to the little terror she called a son.

"Well, I wouldn't say-"

"Let me make something very clear, Mr Coulson," she cut him off. "I'm not here to negotiate. You have something you shouldn't. I won't ask how it fell in your hands, or what you did with it so far. I will however demand for you to return it to their rightful owners."

"Understandable but-"

"Mister Coulson," Draco drawled, sounding bored. "We will take the Mirror and there's no way for you to keep it."

"Very well." Coulson nodded giving up. "If you could follow me please."

Sometimes she really hated Muggle run agencies. They took hours to do something Hermione could have done in mere minutes. What had her on edge was the fact that she wanted to get the Mirror out of here as soon as possible. She had heard the stories, what it could do to desperate people. How it could drive them mad by showing them the thing they desired most but couldn't have. Hermione was glad all she could see in it was Draco and Scorpius waving back at her through the glass. She was glad she didn't waste her life doing what the rest of the world expected her to do. Marrying Ron, having a bunch of children, that kind of happy fairytale ending the wizardry world wanted after Voldemort's defeat.

"What do you see?" A quiet female voice whispered from behind her and she jumped a little. Her eyes fell away from the Mirror and she turned to face the woman. She couldn't be older than twenty six, long dark hair, olive skin and a pair of beautiful brown eyes to match the rest of her. Hermione also noticed the shadows in her gaze, shadows she could have only because she saw what a terrible place the world could be.

Ah… Another tortured soul, she thought to herself.

"My husband and my son," Hermione answered and watched as the young woman's face fell. "What do you see?" She asked locking her arms behind her back, rocking on the balls of her feet.

"A... house," the woman said slowly. "A happy family. Someone I thought I loved once upon a time." Hermione smiled sadly, all too familiar with what the other woman was feeling. She had a similar dream once upon a time. Her reality turned out to be ten times better, though.

"Interesting," Hermione hummed. "What stops you from getting that house and having that family?" She already knew what the woman would say but what the hell? She might as well have a little fun.

"He... he betrayed me and our entire team. He's evi-" At the sharp look Hermione threw her the woman stopped talking all together.

"Trust me," Hermione spoke, voice ice cold. "You haven't seen evil. You have seen cruel ambition and power hungry people. But not true, down to the core evil." Silence fell between them and the other woman shifted a little. Maybe because she was thinking of her own problems, maybe because she understood the weight of Hermione's words. They'd never know.

"Care for a cup of coffee?" The other woman said and Hermione looked at her surprised. It took her all of three seconds to answer.

"Sure." She nodded smiling again. "Though I'd rather have a cup of tea."

"That can be arranged." The other woman smiled back.

"I haven't slept since they brought it here." The woman, Skye was her name, confessed as they sat in a small kitchenette. "I made the mistake of looking into it and it has been driving me mad since then." she murmured quietly. "What could have been. What I could have had."

"I still don't understand why you can't have it, though." Hermione poured herself some more tea. They had been here for the past two hours as Draco placed security and safety spells on the Mirror in order for them to take it back home. Coulson was with him, and Hermione was sure her husband was a step away from hexing the older guy. He had something very annoying and entitled about him that rubbed both of them the wrong way.

With both of them gone Skye, that was her name, and Hermione had enough time to talk and exchange several work stories. Up until to the point the talk turned to their love life and Hermione learned that Skye's love life was as fucked up as hers. Well, as fucked up as it used to be, anyway. Skye had met the guy when she first joined Shield and while it looked like they were going somewhere the situation got lost after a while. A big fall out within their organisation and his loyalty to his mentor forced him to defect and mess everything up in the process.

Hermione wasn't a stranger to wrong choices. Both she and Draco had made several of them throughout their lives. Maybe if it hadn't been for Severus and his relationship with the Malfoy family Draco would have served Voldemort. Maybe they'd never get to be together. Maybe she'd gone on to marry Ron and he some pureblood brat and be miserable for the rest of their lives. If it wasn't for the influence Severus had on Draco maybe her husband would have doomed himself the same way Skye's lover/boyfriend or what ever he was did. Hermione was all too familiar with what a mad man could do and from the sound of it the guy's mentor was close to it.

"Because he's a killer," Skye spat and pulled Hermione out of her thoughts.

"So are you," Hermione reminded her, and held up a hand when Skye tried to say something. "No matter how much you want to deny it you're not the same person you were when you first met him. And he turned out to have a much darker past than the one you'd like. That's life. I've been with my husband for years but our relationship didn't come easy. We fought, we betrayed, we tried ripping each other apart but at the end of the day we were 'it' for each other. No one handed us our happiness, we worked for it."

"But how did you know you wanted to fight for him?" Skye asked her thoughtfully, eyes dropping to the floor.

"My entire life all I wanted was a happy family, like the one I had as a child." Hermione took another sip of her tea and wished she had something stronger. "So naturally I fell for the guy I thought would give me that until.."

"Until?" Skye pressed.

"Until I saw his mother and the life she had, the life I would have eventually and realised that wasn't my kind of thing. I didn't want a bunch of children after all. I wanted passion, and fire, someone to challenge me at every turn. Keep me on my toes. I wanted to travel the world and meet different cultures, and at the same time stay inside and curl up with a good book." Hermione admitted. "Ron made me feel good, he might even have loved me a little but he didn't made me feel complete. Not the way Draco, my husband, always did." She smiled sadly. A small part of her was a little sad she and Ron didn't work out but she wouldn't change her life for anything.

"I know the feeling." Skye nodded solemnly.

"So what I'm trying to say is," Hermione finally stood up, "Tragedy is everywhere but not everyone can see it. We're just the few unlucky people that did, and because of that we have to fight harder to keep the things we love. Don't let whatever happened cloud your judgement. Sit down, have a talk, see if you get anywhere. And most of all, don't let other people tell you how to live your life. If I had listened to those people myself I would have been married when I was fresh out of school and probably had a dozen kids I wasn't ready for." She threw her cloak over her shoulders and turned around ready to go find that husband of hers before he did anything stupid. God knows, he'd done it before. "Oh, and Skye, the Mirror never lies about your deepest desire. You know what you want and you can have it. So create your own destiny, don't live the one others have chosen for you."

And then she was gone.

"Ready?" She asked just as Draco sealed the huge box that contained the Mirror.

"Yes," he nodded giving her a smile she knew he reserved only for her. Hermione smiled back and leaned over to plant a chaste kiss on his lips.

"I love you," she murmured and he raised a questioning eyebrow. "Just putting it out there." She shrugged and moved back, wand at hand.

"I think it's time for us to go home." Draco gave her a heated look and with one flick of her wand the box was gone.

"You read my mind," she teased as he pulled her in his arms and they were gone the next moment too, the crack of their apparition echoing around the walls.

Hermione really wished Skye would follow her advice and go find her guy. They weren't broken yet, just a little bent. Like she and Draco used to be.