If OnlyPosted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/36594631.

Rating: ExplicitArchive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive WarningsCategory: F/MFandom: Harry Potter - J. K. RowlingRelationship: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley,

Gabrielle Delacour/Harry PotterCharacter: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Gabrielle

Delacour, Scorpius Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Mr Greengrass (HarryPotter), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s),Neville Longbottom, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott,Dean Thomas

Additional Tags: Based on The Parent Trap (1998), Twins, Single Parent HermioneGranger, Widowed Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts Age Kids, Obliviated DracoMalfoy, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Mystery, EngagedHermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Past Astoria Greengrass/DracoMalfoy, Past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Minor Harry Potter/GinnyWeasley, Arranged Marriage, Broken Hermione Granger, Ron WeasleyBashing, Weasley Family Bashing (Harry Potter), eventual happily everafter, Eventual Smut, Unspeakable Hermione Granger

Stats: Published: 2022-01-22 Updated: 2022-05-24 Chapters: 18/? Words:70050

If Onlyby SarahFraser

Summary

Fourteen years after Draco and Hermione break up, Draco accompanies his son, Scorpius,to Kings Cross for his first year at Hogwarts. Thirteen-year-old twins, Mila and Milo, gettheir first in person glimpse of the father that abandoned them before birth. After Milaconfronts her father for abandoning them, Draco seeks Hermione out on the platform tofind out what the hell is going on. After talking to Draco and realizing that he has norecollection of their past, Hermione scans his brain and is shocked to discover, Draco hasbeen obliviated.

Notes

Hello and Welcome to my newest Dramione!! I’m so excited for what this story developedinto and I’m still in the process of writing it and laying it all out. I do have the entire storyline mapped out though!Updates, the most I’m promising are once a week. Well, you’re getting two chapters off thebat, because, well. You’ll see why I couldn’t just give you the first chapter and then bounce

for like a week. I have three kids and this is just my hobby, so I do what I can when I can.This ended up having a bit of a parent trap vibe and I’m living for it. Warnings, RonWeasley bashing and Weasley family in general bashing will be in this story.Hermione in this story is a bit broken, but her pieces will get put back together by the end.This will be a happily ever after story. This story will also be told from two different POV.Hermione and Mila, not every chapter will hold both POV, but most will.

See the end of the work for more notes

Hermione's 24th Birthday

Chapter Summary

Hermione and Draco break up.

Pulling her scarf up to cover her ears, Hermione Granger couldn’t help the smile that spread acrossher face as she quickly crossed the street walking towards the warm and familiar home of her bestfriend, Harry Potter. It was only nine in the morning, but already Hermione could feel that thisbirthday was going to be different.

Granted, it was a Friday and her boyfriend was ‘stuck at work’, but Hermione was not going to letthat bother her. At least that’s what he’d told her that’s where he was going to be all morning, onlyshe knew that wasn’t true. They were partners at Gringotts and had been since their academy daysfour years ago. No, she knew for certain that he wasn’t actually working, but she wasn’t going toruin whatever spectacular birthday surprise he was putting together for her.

Skipping up the step to Twelve Grimmauld Place, Hermione lifted her gloved hand and rapped out‘Happy Birthday’ with a smile plastered on her face. Bouncing on the balls of her feet and pullingher coat up so that it was covering her neck and her ears better Hermione checked out the exteriorof the building in front of her. The bricks were slightly dingy and cracked, but it was familiar andwelcoming. Much more now than it had been when she was first introduced to this place almostten years ago.

The door swung open and a wild mane of red hair appeared in the doorway. “Oh great, it’s you.”Hiding her grimace while looking one of her old ex-friends in the eye, Hermione plastered on afalse smile. No Weasley was going to ruin her birthday, not this year.

“Good morning, Ginny. Is Harry in?” The brown eyes that she once thought of as warm andwelcoming rolled, giving her a cool gaze and moved out of the way, letting Hermione in from theearly autumn chill.

“POTTER! YOU HAVE COMPANY AND I’M GOING OUT!” The red head pulled her wandfrom her holster and flicked her wrist, summoning her own coat before stepping around Hermioneand slamming the front door behind her.

The action, of course, had opened the wretched portrait of Mrs. Black who began screeching herusually foul and filthy expletives. “FILTHY MUDBLOODS WALKING THROUGH MYHUSBAND’S ANCESTRAL HOME! HOW DARE YOU STAIN THE GREAT AND NOBLEHOUSE OF BLACK WITH YOUR DIRTY BLOOD!”

Rolling her eyes, Hermione flicked her wand, closing the curtains back over the portrait effectivelysilencing the awful woman. Bloody menace to society, that one had once been in life. Only thingleft of her was her foul painting that was still stuck to the wall, making sure that her charmingpersonality was never forgotten. Painting over her had been attempted on more than one occasionafter numerous drunken nights, but somehow, the ruddy paint would just be absorbed into thecanvas, leaving the beastly woman perfectly fine.

Hermione followed the smell of bacon being cooked through the halls until she found herself

perched in the kitchen looking at the back of her best friend. Raven hair sticking out in everydirection, and standing shirtless with a pair of joggers hanging low on his hips; Hermione couldn’thelp but chuckle to herself at the sight. At twenty-three, Harry had grown out of his lanky andawkward teenage phase and had begun filling out into a bulky muscular frame. Being an auror haddone Harry Potter’s body some good.

“Morning, Harry!” Hermione called as she skipped across the kitchen and planted a kiss right onhis cheek, causing him to blush as he whipped around to see her.

Waving his hand, it seemed that Harry was canceling a spell and with wide eyes he looked atHermione and then quickly over her shoulder before looking back at her.

“Blimey, Mione. What time is it? What are you doing here?” He asked still looking around withtension showing in his jaw and shoulders.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione laughed at her best friend’s clear anxious demeanor. “She’s goneHarry. Left right as I was coming in.”

Letting out a sigh as his head hang backwards, it was as if Hermione had been able to ease all hisworries with that one sentence. “Thank Godric, she was driving me bloody mental this morningwith all her screeching. She plays for the fucking Harpies; she’s not supposed to act like one.”Running his hand through his already unruly hair, Hermione couldn’t help laughing at her friend.

“You know, you could always, oh I don’t know. Break up?” Hermione suggested turning awayfrom Harry and towards the stove to begin frying eggs for the pair of them.

“Look, just because you were able to make a clean break with Ron,” Harry started when Hermionegave him a pointed look. “Okay, not a clean break, but that was two years ago and you’ve beenable to move on. You don’t remember how hard it was to leave behind the family. They’re all Ihave, you at least had Malfoy to fall back on.” Harry pointed out making Hermione roll her eyes athim again.

“No, I had you too. The Weasleys aren’t your only family, Harry. You’ll always have me; I’m notgoing anywhere. You don’t have to continue being miserable with her to have a family.” Hermionesaid reaching out and taking hold of his arm.

Harry let out a sigh, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I know, it’s just, I don’t know. Gin and Ihave been through a lot, I really thought that we could make it work.”

“Ron and I went through a lot, too. Just, we weren’t it for each other and that’s okay.” Hermionepointed out quickly.

“I know, I know. I just, I don’t know. I always thought she was the one.” Harry finished lookingher over as he pulled the toast from the toaster and began to butter it for the two of them.

“There’s no shame in giving up a broken relationship. If it’s not working, it’s not working.”Hermione told him as she pulled the eggs from the stove and divided them up.

“I know, I just, I don’t know, want to give it a bit more time, you know? See if we can fix what’sbroken or find what’s missing.” Harry finished grabbing both plates and carrying them to the table.

Hermione couldn’t help the smile that was threatening to splitting across her face. Even the talks ofthe Weasley weren’t going to bring her down today. It was too big of a day.

“You know, Harry. I’m not your only family.” Hermione started, letting her hand flutter down to

cover her still flat stomach. Harry, who was distracted by his breakfast just scoffed, not reallypaying attention still lost in his own thoughts.

“Harry.” The metal from the fork scrapping on the plate as he muttered something else under hisbreath.

“Harry…” She tried again, as Harry lifted his pumpkin juice to his lips taking a drink beforeslamming the goblet down in front of him from another thought that seemed to cross his mind.

“HARRY!” Hermione finally yelled getting him to look up from his plate at last.

“Sorry.” Harry murmured meeting Hermione’s gaze again. “What were you saying?”

Taking a deep breath, Hermione repeated herself. “I said, I’m not your only family, Harry.” Again,using her hand, Hermione let her hand flutter down the front of her shirt to land on her abdomenmeeting Harry’s look.

“Um, okay?” Harry said with his brows scrunching up in confusion, clearly missing whatHermione was saying between the line.

“Merlin’s beard, Harry Potter! I’m pregnant.” Hermione said motioning back down towards herstomach and looking him straight in the eye.

This finally got the reaction that Hermione had been looking for. Jumping from his seat Harry’seyes grew a few sizes as he looked down at her stomach now, clearly looking for any changes thathe might not have noticed before, then looking back up at her.

“You’re serious.” He said, his eyes still wild and wide.

“Yes, I suspect that I’m about seven or eight weeks along now. I’ll be having my first appointmentwith St. Mungo’s next week. Pretty sure, we uh, celebrated moving in together a bit tooenthusiastically.” Hermione chuckled at her own joke looking down at her own plate with a warmsmile growing on her face.

“I’m going to be an uncle.” She heard Harry state before she saw him rounding the table from thecorner of her eye. “I’m going to be a bloody uncle!” Harry yelled excitedly pulling Hermione fromher own chair and into his arms.

“You’re going to be an uncle!” Hermione exclaimed jumping up and down in Harry’s arms withtears flowing from her face.

The duo chattered a bit more and were discussion just how exciting it was that Hermione wasexpecting and just what that meant for their future. Finishing up breakfast, they cleaned their platesand were walking from the kitchen with smiles still being shared between the two of them when afamiliar egale owl came swooping into the hall in front of her holding out his leg.

“Hello Titus.” Hermione warmly greeted the owl taking the envelope from his beak before runningher fingers softly through the silky feathers on the top of his head.

The familiar scrawl addressed to her brought a smile to her lips as she opened the letter from herboyfriend. Scanning the parchment, Hermione’s head tilted as she re-read the parchment. Surly thiswasn’t right.

It looked like his hand writing, but these couldn’t be his words.

“Harry, I’ve got to go.” Hermione said shoving the heart wrenching letter into the beaded bag thatalways hung around her wrist. “I. Harry, I’m sorry. I’ll fire call you later.” Hermione said, nothearing anything Harry called after her as she rushed out the door and onto his front step andapparated away leaving behind a very confused raven-haired man in her wake.

Hermione wasted no time as she landed inside the flat that she was newly sharing with Draco.Boxes from the recent move still littered the space as they’d been working too much and hermorning sickness had been too strong to really focus in on unpacking and organizing the newlyshared space from being his to theirs.

“Draco?” She called into the quiet entrance looking around seeing no indication that he was home.

A shiver washed over her as wards were erected where she stood, pushing her out the front doorand into the hallway of their building. “DRACO!” Hermione screamed as the shimmer of the wardsprevented her from re-entering the home that she had so recently begun to build with the man sheloved.

“DRACO!” She yelled again as tears began to pour down her face. This time, her call wasanswered as his silhouette appeared in front of her. Even though she couldn’t see his features, sheknew it was him.

“Draco, please, what was that letter. I’m so confused and I don’t know what’s going on.” She criedout to him as his slow movements approached her, making Hermione suck in a breath trying tocalm herself. “Please, Draco, say something. I’m begging you.”

As he stepped into the light, Hermione’s breath caught as she looked up into the eyes of the manshe loved. Disgust, hatred, and rage were painted in his beautiful features as he sneered down ather. Never in the twelve years that she’d known him had she ever seen such a look cross his face.

Holding up her wand, even knowing the wards would protect whoever it was standing in her flat,Hermione tried to steady herself. “Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy.”

An unfamiliar dark chuckle rumbled through his chest as he looked over her. “Ask me anything,mudblood.”

“What did you tell me before we left Siberia?” Hermione asked knowing that only Draco wouldever know the answer.

A smirk crossed his face as he remembered that moment from nine months earlier. “2003 is goingto be our best year. Then I kissed you for the first time before our portkey, a dingy brown glovemissing its pointer finger, took us back to the Ministry.” Hermione’s jaw dropped open, but still notdropping her wand.

“Are you under the imperius? Please, Draco, let me help you.” Hermione whispered as shewatched the man she loved step through the wards and press his chest into the tip of her wand.

“Finite” Hermione whispered as the magic rushed over him, but the expression on his face neveraltering.

“It’s over, mudblood. I got what I wanted, and it’s time to take out the rubbish so I can take up mymantel without being drug down by the likes of you.” He said crossly as he slowly backed awayfrom her, the wards letting him back into their flat.

“DRACO!” She yelled once the shock dissipated as he had turned around and moving swiftly awayfrom her. There was something wrong, this wasn’t him.

Before Hermione could say another word to him, Draco rounded on her, causing Hermione tostumble backwards and cower against the wall in the hallway. “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TOME, YOU FILTH!”

“Please, I don’t understand.” Hermione begged as she looked into the eyes she loved so much,filled with so much hate.

“What don’t you understand, mudblood? I tricked the dark lord to survive that bloody war, youdon’t think my acting skills could fool you as well?” He said looking her over. When she didn’trespond, Draco continued. “Everything, since eighth year, has been an act. I knew I needed toresort the public imagine of the Malfoy name before I could live up to my responsibilities. Being ina relationship with the Golden Girl of the Golden Trio was just the extra boost I needed.

“After you openly shamed the Weasel by turning down his so very public proposal, it won’t behard to cast myself as the next line of men who’s heart you’ve stomped on to boost yourself in yourcareer.” He spat at her. Hermione blinked back the tears that were welling in her eyes. This wasn’ttrue, she couldn’t accept that any of this was the Draco she’d grown to love and lean on.

“You make it so easy, little mudblood. You disgraced the Weasley family, disgracing the Malfoyfamily now. Tsk, tsk. When my engagement to Astoria Greengrass becomes public knowledge, noone will bat an eye. They’ll look at me as if I’m just trying to move on with my life and pick of thepieces after you broke my heart.” Draco drawled, mockingly clutching his hands over his chest.

“En… engagement?” Hermione breathed out as she tried to make sense of what he was saying toher.

“What did you think I was off doing first thing this morning?” A flourish of his wand and in hishand was a betrothal contract that had clearly been signed by Lucius Malfoy, Draco, and Astoriaand Winston Greengrass.

“What the fuck is that!” Hermione asked as her hand shook pointing at the contract in his hand.

“Oh, you silly little mudblood. I’ve been in contact with Winston Greengrass for the past sixmonths going over the specifics of this contract.” Another flourish of his wand and correspondenceappeared in his hand that he tossed at her seated form through the wards.

Looking up at him, Hermione glanced down at the parchment that was scattered around her.Gathering it up quickly, Hermione began flipping through the letters. All from WinstonGreengrass, all negotiating his engagement to his youngest daughter Astoria. Hermione glanced upat Draco through her eye lashes as she scanned all the letters, see that they were all addressed toDraco.

A quick wave of her wand was able to confirm that they were not forgeries and the dating was justas Draco had said. The last six months, while he was dating her, he’d been in contact with someoneelse about marrying another witch.

“Don’t you get it, mudblood? No one wants you. The Weasleys didn’t want you” Hermioneflinched remembering the way the red headed family had treated her well before her and Ron hadended things. “Your friends didn’t want you” her breath caught, at the reminder that when she’dended things with Ron, all their friends besides Harry had stopped speaking to her. “Not even yourrevolting muggle parents don’t even want you.” A sob wrenched it way out of her chest at thereminder of her parents’ reaction after she’d reversed the obviation and how they’d told her theywould never forgive her for what she’d done.

“No, Draco. I don’t believe you. This isn’t you, there’s something wrong with you. Please! Please,tell me what happened! You wouldn’t do this to me! You, you wouldn’t abandon our baby! That’snot the man you are!” Hermione sobbed clutching at her abdomen letting the words roll off hertongue.

“A disgraced half-blood, with a repulsive mudblood mother, the Malfoy heir? Do us a both a favor,and rid the world of that abomination.” Narrowing eyes looked down at Hermione as she curled inon herself letting the hurt wave over her body. An abomination? Their, no hers, her child was notan abomination.

Pulling herself off the floor to a standing position, Hermione took one last look at the man that sheonce thought she’d loved. Turning on her heels, she sprinted down the hall and to the stairs, notwanting to wait on a lift to bring her to the ground floor.

The cool air brushed against her face as she rushed out the glass doors of the building, while hertears ran into her mouth as she gasped and openly cried out. Wiping her hands at her face,Hermione turned to take one last look at the building when she started screaming and watching inhorror as all her belonging began being thrown from the balcony above and into the street.

It would be another fourteen years until she would see Draco Malfoy again.

The scum of the earth deserves to be under my feet and not in my bed. We’re through, mudblood.

DM

Kings Cross

Chapter Summary

Hermione sees the twins off for the start of their 3rd year.

Chapter Notes

*bounces in my seat because I get to share this with you all*More notes at the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Mila, Milo, can you two please for the love of Crice, stop picking at each other and keep yourhands to yourselves. You’re thirteen, not seven, act like it.” Hermione scolded her twins with aquick glance at the two of them, still pinching each other’s sides. Looking around the platform,Hermione easily spotted Harry and his family already gathering around their own two Hogwartsbound children with their youngest hugging her mother’s leg with a visible pout on her face.

Hermione waved her hand as high as she could above the crowd, but it was clear that she wasslightly too short to be seen

“Oi! Potters!” The tall lanky teen called, turning the heads of the family that she had been trying atattract the attention of.

“Milo, people will think you have no manners.” Hermione hissed at her son at they made their wayacross the platform towards the family gathered there.

“Please mother, it’s King’s Cross, not bloody Buckingham Palace.” The boy snarked rolling hiseyes as he turned to wink at his sister and took off at a run before his mother’s hand could smackhis arm.

“LANGUAGE, MILO BENJAMIN GRANGER!” The only reply was awarded to Hermione washer son turning his head and shooting her a smirk that made him look exactly like his father whenthey were in their own third year. White-blonde hair, light grey eyes, pale skin, tall, and the leanwiry build. Even his more pointed features with his aristocratic straight nose were all his father.The only difference between Milo and his father? Where’s the former had straight hair, Milo hadinherited her wild curls that he insisted looked best when it was slightly longer and could hang inhis face.

“At least you don’t have to live with him year-round anymore.” Hermione turned to face herdaughter who hadn’t run off to join their friends. A warm smile crossed her face as she looked intothe light grey eyes of her daughter.

“You could have always asked to be in a different house than your brother, you know.” Hermioneteased the girl that aside from the eyes looked like she’d hit ctrl c, ctrl v on a keyboard. The heartshaped face, button nose, dark chocolate brown hair that didn’t have a chance to being tamed, and

her petite build. Mila Granger was just like her mother in looks and personality, well, aside fromthe girl being a bit of a quidditch enthusiast.

“You do remember that the sorting happening in alphabetical order.” Mila gave her mother anexaggerated eyeroll of her own as they finally arrived at the Potter family, where it appeared Milowas already making a nuisance of himself picking on the youngest Potter child, who was still twoyears out from attending Hogwarts herself.

“Hey Mione, uh, Ron not with you today?” Hermione was greeted by her raven-haired best friendas he stepped up to pull her into a warm hug.

“Afraid not, he somehow managed to screw up his schedule and wasn’t able to make it today. Hegot himself pulled into a trip and won’t back until Monday morning.” Hermione replied givingHarry a pointed look. While neither was going to say it aloud, they both knew that there was noway they would be getting Ronald Weasley to join them at today’s sendoff, or really any for thatmatter.

“Yeah, well. Can’t say I’m surprised at Ronald’s ‘oversight’.” Hermione said using her hands togive the air quotes. “Especially since we know a certain someone will be here today with his ownfirst year. Merlin, fourteen years really hasn’t been long enough time without seeing him, if youask me.” Hermione’s last thought was paired with an eye roll that rivaled her teenagers when shethought about her ex-boyfriend. “I honestly wonder if he’s even going to give the twins a secondglance, yea know. Milo has been on edge since I warned him last week and Mila has beenunusually quiet about the whole thing.”

It was no secrete in wizard society that her ex, the twins’ father, would be showing up today. Whilehe had done the same as she had, and kept his youngest out of the tabloids, it had still been talkedabout in all the tabloids that his son and the second son of Harry Potter would be attendingHogwarts together in the same year.

If only Rita Skeeter knew the truth.

Hermione was pulled from her thoughts when the two oldest boys of the old rivals stood in front ofher calling her name again. “Mum? Hullo? Mind if Jack and I go ahead and find a compartment.”Hermione met the silvery eyes that she’d grown to associate with her children looking confused.

“Well, if you must, take Remy with you. You and your sister need to watch out for your cousin.”Hermione reprimanded her son with a quick swat to his head when he tried rolling his eyes at her.Hm, if this child continued to grow at this rate, by Christmas she wouldn’t be able to do that unlesshe was sitting.

Jacques (Jack) Sirius, Remy Albus, and Isabelle Lily Potter were her three wonderful godchildren,and children of Harry and Gabrielle (nee Delacour) Potter. While everyone thought that Harry andGinny were going to be the pair that ended up married, the Halloween party of 2003 decided toalign fates in very a different direction.

After her rather messy breakup, and the fact that she was pregnant with twins, Hermione had optedout of joining Harry at the home of Bill and Fleur Weasley for their Halloween party. It was at saidparty, where Harry and Ginny broke up in a magnificent blow up and Harry had fallen into bedwith the freshly turned eighteen Gabrielle Delacour. It was also that same night that one Jacques(French for James) was conceived.

To no one’s surprise, a Christmas wedding at wand point followed shortly after the announcementwas made to Monsieur Delacour. Coming in screaming on the thirty of July (almost a full week

after his due date) to share a birthday with Neville, was the terror that everyone knows and loves asJacques “Jack” Potter.

Even with their rushed relationship, Harry and Gabrielle fit into a wonderful and loving marriage.Gabrielle held none of the jealousy of Harry and Hermione’s relationship, even though when they’dfirst married, Hermione was still living with Harry. It was when after Harry and Gabrielle’s firstanniversary when they announced that they were expecting again that Hermione decided it wouldbe best for her and the twins to find their own home to move into, so as to give the expandingPotter clan their own space.

As far as looks went for the Potter boys, neither of her godsons bore much resemblance to theirmother. Wild jet-black hair that stuck in every direction, it was often questioned when Gabriellewould take the boys out if they weren’t the set of twins with their birthdays being just over a yearapart. The only true distinction between the two was that Jack had his mother’s dark blue, sapphireeyes while Remy had the same bright green eyes that reminded everyone of his paternalgrandmother.

The lone Potter daughter, was sweet Isabelle Lily. She was the spitting imagine of her mother andAunt Fleur and her female cousins, Victoire and Domonique. Her silvery-blonde hair always hungstraight and neat down her back and her twinkling sapphire eyes made her one of the most beautifullittle girls. Being born on the twenty third of December, just shortly after Jack had turned three andRemy had turned two.

Hermione caught the sight of her darling goddaughter pouting next to her mother with her armscrossed over her chest and shot the tiny blonde a quick smile before turning back to scanning thecrowd. “He might be trying to time it so they aren’t standing on the platform any longer thannecessary.” Harry whispered into Hermione’s ear, clearly knowing what she was doing.

“I’m worried about the twins. They’ve obviously seen his picture in the paper and magazines, sothey will know who he is as soon as he shows up. I just don’t want seeing him in person to setthem off on a bad start of term. Merlin, what if either of them runs into him and he says somethingto them. What if he ignores them and pretends as if they don’t exist even as they stand in front ofhim? Honestly Harry, I’m not sure what scenario is worse.” Hermione complained looking aroundthe platform again, still not spying that distinct white-blonde hair that she was searching for.

“Hey, Mila, Milo, Jack, and Remy are all already on the train. Maybe they just stay put and weavoid the whole scene.” Harry ran a soothing touch up and down Hermione’s arms in an attempt tocalm her nerves, but nothing was going to work. She was just too nervus to be able to relax and livein this moment with her kids and godsons.

“Fuck, Milo. You have a twin.” Hermione heard the voice of her daughter carry from somewhereHermione couldn’t see. Meeting Harry’s eye, the two took off in the direction they’d heard Mila’svoice.

“Obviously I have a twin, dumbass.” The voice of her son carried through the crowd. Hermionequickened her steps, wishing to any deity listening that this not be happening. Without waiting forher friend to catch up to her, Hermione began pushing her way through the crowd that hadconsiderably thickened.

“Mila, wait, fuck!” Milo’s voice rang in Hermione’s ears and she had a sinking feeling of what shewas going to find once she found her children.

Of the twins, Mila’s temper ran the most like hers. Explosive and slightly impulsive. So, it wasreally of no surprise when Hermione was finally able to push her way through the crowd and

spotted, with horror, her tiny daughter looking straight into the face of Draco Malfoy; hands on herhips and tapping her foot. Looking shell shocked standing directly behind his sister, Milo waslooking into the same, but slightly older face, that he saw in the mirror every day.

“You’re a right bloody arsehole! I just want you to know, we’ve never needed you. Milo and I arejust fine without you.” Mila sneered at the man who had sired her, bringing three differentreactions from the trio that had never met. Mila’s face turned a dark shade of red as she flushedwith anger and blue sparks shooting from the ends of her curls with her furry. Milo had becomeeven paler, something Hermione hadn’t thought possible. The most curious reaction of all,however, was Malfoy. He was looking between the twins with sheer shock and horror. Almost as ifhe hadn’t been expecting to see his oldest children at Kings Cross this morning.

Even with Mila standing more than a head shorter than her brother, it had seemed that Malfoyhadn’t been able to rip his eyes away from her face. When his eyes finally were able to pull awayfrom their daughter and met his eldest son’s face, his jaw actually dropped.

Before Mila could say another word, however, Milo had already wrapped his hand around hissister’s bicep and had proceeded to all but run away from a stunned silent Malfoy. After the twinshad retreated, a smaller, straight-haired version of her son appeared next to Malfoy, seeming nonethe wiser to the confrontation that had just taken place where he now stood.

“So that must be Scorpius Malfoy.” Harry appeared over her shoulder now, having missed the briefshowdown between Mila and Malfoy.

“Yeah. You just missed it though, the twins just met their father.” Hermione said turning awayfrom watching Malfoy with his youngest son and walking away back to where Gabrielle andIsabelle were standing together waiting for the train to depart.

Following behind her, Harry sucked in a breath. “Oh fuck. Was Scorpius there when it happened?”

“No, he must have been on the train or something. Now let’s hurry so I can avoid seeing him faceto face myself.” Harry nodded in agreement, and helped Hermione move through the rest of thecrowd until they were next to his wife and daughter.

The group that now had all four Hogwarts bound children gathered around saying their finalgoodbyes to Gabrielle and Isabelle when Harry and Hermione had finally reached them. Withweary eyes, Hermione studied her children, who were being unusually quiet. Seeing that meetingtheir father had affected them, Hermione wrapped her arms around both her children and held themtight. They might not be her tiny babies any longer, but they would always be her babies.

“He’s staring at us, mum.” Mila’s whisper broke the silence. Pulling away from her children,Hermione lightly cupped first Milo’s face and then Mila.

“Are you alright?” The question was met with a shrug from Milo while Mila shook her head withtears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

“I’ll write you, mum. I don’t want to talk about it right now. I love you; we’ll see you for theholidays.” Mila’s voice only slightly cracked as a couple tears dropped from her eyes, as shelooked over Hermione’s shoulder shooting a glare towards whoever was standing directly behindher.

“Hey, look at me.” Hermione instructed her children, tapping Milo’s chin to force him fromlooking away from his shoes and Mila to end shooting the daggers. “He’s just a man, that made achoice. He choose to make a shit choice, but still a choice. I’m sorry he has hurt you, but he holds

no power over you or any of us for that matter. Focus on your studies, enjoy the visits toHogsmeade, maybe don’t join the quidditch team again, and have fun.” Her dig at quidditch wasmet with a snort from both children.

Bring them back in for one last hug, “I love you” was whispered into both their ears as she releasedthem. With a mumbled reply of ‘love you too’ from her son and a tearful ‘I’ll see you at Christmas’from her daughter, the teens ran towards the train as the warning whistles began.

It wasn’t long before the train’s final whistle blew and with a jerk, the train began to pull awayfrom the station. Hermione easily spotted her daughter leaning out a window waving towards herbefore ducking back inside and out of sight. Wanting to avoid the awkward confrontation,Hermione turned away from the engine, but was stopped by a small hand.

“Aunt Mione, we have to watch the train disappear.” The tiny voice from Isabelle stoppedHermione’s hasty departure. Hermione gave a bit of a forced smile towards her goddaughter andnodded her head. She was right, even though Draco Malfoy was on the platform, did not mean thathe was going to stop her from watch the train with her children until she could no longer see it.

Together, Hermione, Harry, Gabrielle, and Isabelle stood and watched as the scarlet steam enginegrew smaller in the distance. When nothing was left to see of the train, Hermione looked down atthe nine-year-old with a soft smile. “It’ll be your turn to go before you know it.”

“Not soon enough” she replied with a sigh, turning away from Hermione and back towards hermother.

Only able to laugh at her goddaughter, Hermione was shocked when she felt a cool hand land onher bicep. “Granger, I do believe, that we need to talk.” A silky baritone that she would neverforget washed over her ear, making her wish that she could turn and disapparate instead ofacknowledging him.

Before Hermione could even turn to address her ex standing behind her, Harry had already turn onhim and turned on his head auror voice. “Watch yourself, Malfoy and drop your hand.” Thecommand in his tone wasn’t missed by the blonde that Hermione had still yet to face andacknowledge herself.

“Potter, sorry, but this doesn’t concern you. Granger, you owe me an explanation and you know it.I’d rather not have this conversation where we could be overheard though.” Finally reaching herlimit, Hemione yanked her arm from Malfoy’s grasp and turned on him raising her finger to hisface.

“You don’t come walking into my life fourteen years after the fact and tell me that I owe anythingto you, you pompous arse. Acting as if I kept some dirty little secret from you. Fourteen years,Malfoy. Fourteen years almost to the fucking day since I last saw or spoke to you, and you thinkthat I owe you anything? No, that’s not how this works at fucking all. You threw me out of our flat.

“You went off and got you approved pureblood marriage, to an approved pureblood girl, and hadyour pureblood heir. You, Draco Malfoy, you made the decision that you didn’t want anything todo with me or my children. Honestly, Malfoy, I don’t care if we’re overheard. I don’t care if peopleknow that we had a secret torrid affair for a few months and then we moved in together withouttelling anyone that either. I also don’t give a rat’s ass if everyone finds out that you broke up withme via a bloody letter! Nor do I give a flying fuck that when I came to try and talk to you in personthat you were the most foul and loathsome cockroach as you threw all of my belongings out of ourflat.

“There’s nothing you can say to me, Malfoy. So, if you’ll excuse me, I do still have to go into worktoday.” Hermione could feel her chest heaving behind her ribs as she finished her speech toMalfoy. She’d been holding that in for so long, and finally being able to get it all out there and tellhim exactly what was on her mind had been exhilarating.

Only, the look in Malfoy’s face wasn’t shame or remorse. In fact, he didn’t even look as if heunderstood anything that she’d said. He looked confused?

“Granger, I’m not sure what you’re playing at.” The confusion in his silver eyes shifted intoflickering bits of rage as her words seemed to penetrate his defenses. “We’ve never been in anytype of a relationship, much less living together. Furthermore, I can assure you, I’m not some dead-beat father who would abandon his kids for fourteen years. If I’d known I’d sired children withyou, I wouldn’t have let you hidden them away from me all this time.”

Hold the phone. Sorry, we’re going to need to take a few steps back because what the actual fuck ishe going on about? Hermione stood looking at Malfoy with a gaping expression. Did he just accuseher of lying about a pregnancy and then hiding her children from him? No. No, sir.

Harry laid a hand on her arm trying to get her attention, but Hermione just waved him off. Thisdidn’t involve Harry, and she didn’t need him to try and save her.

“Excuse you? No, we didn’t live together for much more than a month, and no we hadn’t finishedunpacking by any means. However, we were living together when you promptly toss me out on myarse! I’m not sure where you get off, but I never hid those children that you just met from you. Justbecause I didn’t show up pounding on your front door after they were born doesn’t change the factthat you knew they were on their way. Well, I mean, technically we didn’t know there were two,but you still knew there was at least a baby, that we had made together on the way.” Hermione hadfinally reached her limit as more stragglers were waiting around the platform watching the heateddiscussion with interest as both her and Malfoy’s voices continue to rise.

Grabbing his arm and without warning, Hermione turned on the spot and disapparated them to asmall alley behind a café that wasn’t too far from her home. Dropping his arm as if the physicalcontact with him was burning her, Hermione walked away from the blonde without looking back,heading towards the park across the street.

“What the fuck, Granger?” She heard Malfoy scowl behind her as she quickly crossed the street,with her heels clicking against the pavement. She could hear his heavier steps as he easily keptpace with his long legs, following the path until they reached a gazebo that was slightly obscuredfrom view. The natural cover from the bushes and trees weren’t enough, so Hermione quicklypulled out her wand and threw up a few privacy charms around them to make sure no mugglesstumbled upon them or overheard them.

“What do you mean you don’t remember our relationship? We started seeing each other after theGringotts New Year’s Eve party. You asked me, not even asked, you begged me to move in theentire summer of 2003. A couple weeks after I finally conceded and moved my shit in, we, as intogether, found out I was pregnant. Then on my bloody birthday, you wrote me a letter, breakingthings off with me.

“Are you honestly going to stand there and deny knowing of a full nine months of a relationship,fling, what have you. When I came to talk to you, after I got your letter, I checked you over,Malfoy. I checked and made sure that it was really you. That you weren’t under the imperius curseor that someone wasn’t impersonating you with polyjuice. It was all you, all those horrid andhateful things that you knew to say to cut me the deepest because you were the only person besidesHarry that I ever let in! Only you would have known exactly what to say to twist the knife so that it

cut into my soul and leave the most damage.

“Now, you’re telling me that you don’t even remember any of that? You were engaged to Astoriabefore you’d even broken things off with me. You used me, Malfoy. You used me to boost yourown public imagine and then once it had succeeded, you tossed me as if I meant nothing to you.How do I know that you aren’t standing here just playing dumb now that you’ve seen what you’vemissed out on?”

Keeping her eyes focused on Malfoy, Hermione watched to see his reaction. Surely, heremembered. He had to remember. Their eighth year at Hogwarts together where they were headboy and girl. How they’d found an unlikely friendship when they’d both discovered the other waswanting to become curse breakers. How they’d then graduated and gone into the curse breakeracademy together and after graduation been hired at Gringotts together and become partners.

Malfoy and Harry had been the ones who went out and got her pissed the night her first go atrelationship with Ron had imploded in towards the end of 2001. When they were relocated togetherto work in Siberia for almost all of 2002, there had been a shift from their strictly platonicrelationship to something a bit more. Obviously, Hermione had dated Ron since the end of thesecond war and never before been available to explore more than just a friendship with Malfoy.She’d been around while Malfoy would welcome the hordes of witches that still threw themselvesat the young rich bachelor. She’d even been instrumental on more than one occasion in helpinghim rid himself of more witches than she cared to count.

All that changed though, when they were leaving Siberia just in time for the New Year’s Eve party.When Draco had thrown her out on her arse, it had been life altering. Now, he stands here claimingto not remember any of it.

Studying the man before her, Hermione could see that Malfoy held all the same ticks that she’dgrown to intimately know. There was a slight tension in his jaw and there was a small crease nextto his right eye. “Granger, the only thing I remember about you is that we worked together for awhile after Hogwarts and then you quit and went to work for the ministry around the same time, Ileft to take over my family business and I haven’t seen you since.”

“Malfoy, we didn’t just work together, we were partners at Gringotts. Also, before we becamelovers, we were friends. We were best fucking friends, that’s why I wasn’t even scared when wetook that muggle pregnancy test, and found out that we were expecting. I never thought you couldhurt me, and then you did. You didn’t just hurt me, you destroyed me.” Hermione held her eyecontact and watched as the confusion morphed into rage and hurt.

“Granger, I don’t remember anything like that.” Malfoy paused looking at her as if he were tryingto reach into his mind and pull the information that she was telling him. “All my memories of you,or any events in my past with you, there’s no solid memories. It’s just shadows and slight imprints,as if you were just a passing thought and not a main part of my life.” As she’d seen him do so manytimes over the course of their friendship and their relationship, Draco dropped his head into hishands then ran his hands through his hair. “What is happening to me?” He muttered into his hands.

With a gasp, Hermione pulled out her wand and started waving it over Draco’s head. Thesesymptoms were something that she was intimately and painfully familiar with. It couldn’t be, couldit? Could fate be so cruel? She’d done it to her parents to save them, but to be erased from herlover’s mind? Although, if it was true, this could potentially be the exact type of case that she’dbeen looking for to include in her research.

Malfoy watched her with uncertainty, but he allowed her to finish her assessment before she let outa sad sigh and met his eyes. “Malfoy, I’m sorry, but there’s traces of magic around your brain.

Your memories were at one point altered.” Eyebrows scrunched together showing that he didn’tfully understand or believe what she was saying, Hermione let out a breath she hadn’t known shewas holding.

“Draco, you were obliviated.”

ooo

Mila Granger had just stepped off the Hogwarts Express, that was getting ready to take off toHogwarts, to go and find her twin brother, but where did he go? Not really paying attention, Milaeasily spotted a speck of white-blonde floating through the crowd, but it seemed a bit too small tobe her brother.

“Maybe all these arseholes got taller than I’d realized over the summer.” She muttered to herself asshe pushed her way through the crowd. If it wasn’t enough that the platform was already socrowded, but her damn body was still so tiny that she looked like she might as well have been afirst year like Remy. Of course, she’d not only inherited her mother’s looks, brains, but had to gether size too.

The closer she got to the white-blonde that she’d spotted the more she realized that it wasn’t theright white-blonde head she should be looking for. His frame was too wide and filled out, his hairmuch too straight, and beside him was standing a smaller version of Milo.

The anger and the hurt that she’d been burying down ever since she’d noticed all the other kids inher primary school who had fathers. Fathers that would come to the daddy daughter dances. Thefathers who would bring flowers to present to their dancers after the ballet recitals. It had to be him.

The rage that she’d spent so much tampering down and throwing into her studies to have the bestgrades and also into becoming the best seeker, much better than he had ever been, came roaring tothe surface. She didn’t have anything to prove to anyone, logically she knew that, but she wasgoing to be better than him at everything. Her potions scores were always on par with what he’dalways achieved and it rubbed her to no end that she couldn’t seem to best that part of him. Hereyes narrowed at the smaller boy standing next to him from a distance. That’s who he’d chosen tobe a father to. He’d abandoned her and Milo to go off and have a perfect pureblood heir, someonewho he wouldn’t be ashamed of.

Oh, she’d read all about the second wizarding war in the copy of Hogwarts: A History that hermother had gifted to both her and Milo when they’d received their Hogwarts letters on theireleventh birthday. She’d read all about his part in the war and what her mother and Uncle Harryhad done to help him after the fact to stay out of Azkaban. Selfish bastard, never looked out foranyone beyond his own skin.

The fucking heir turned so that she could see him properly and her breath caught. “Mila? What areyou doing?” Milo surprised her popping up in front of her, interrupted her thoughts as she lookedaway from the bastard and looked up into her brother’s matching silver eyes.

“Fuck, Milo. You have a twin.” Clearly, he hadn’t spotted him or the heir yet, as his back wascurrently turned towards them.

“Obviously I have a twin, dumbass.” Milo replied rolling his eyes. Shooting him a smirk Mila usedher hands and turned her twin so that he was now facing the bastard and the heir. She heard the softgasp letting her know that Milo had found who she was referring to.

Sticking her head around her brother’s side, Mila saw the heir drag a trunk with an owl’s cage on

top towards the express. That left the bastard standing all by himself watching his precious heirwalking away.

This was an opportunity that she couldn’t let pass her by. She’d yelled at the pictures she’d cut outof any tabloid, but to actually get to say it where he could hear her. There was no way Mila wasgoing to pass up this chance that had just fallen into her lap.

Slipping past Milo, she rolled when she heard him call out “Mila, wait, fuck!” behind her as sheadvanced on the man she resented above all others. She dipped around another couple as sheanticipated her brother reaching out to try and grab her again. Milo might not want to confront him,but she wasn’t going to let him stop her.

He still had his back turned towards her when she cleared her throat to get his attention. Right asMilo’s hand wrapped around her elbow again, he turned to face them. Only, he looked right overher head and straight into her brother’s face. Fucking hell, there was no difference between himand Milo besides Milo’s curly hair. So, this is what her brother would look like when he was forty.

Clearing her throat to bring his attention back down to her, she saw as his eyes widened. Mila madesure that her scowl was in place as she put her hands on her hips, mimicking her mother’s posewhen she scolded anyone. At her movement, she felt Milo’s hand drop from her elbow. Milowasn’t going to stay in shock for long, so better make this short and quick. “You’re a right bloodyarsehole! I just want you to know, we’ve never needed you. Milo and I are just fine without you.”Mila took a breath to spew some more venom at him, but before she could open her mouth again,Milo’s hand was around her bicep and he was dragging her away through the crowd of people thathad turned to watch them.

Milo didn’t stop dragging her until they were far enough away that they wouldn’t be overheard.“What the fuck was that, Mila!” He hissed in her face once they were alone.

“Oh please, Milo. As if you haven’t been wanting to say more to him. Leaving us to be raised bymum and whoever she’s fucking dating at the moment.” Mila turned her chin up so that she couldlook down her nose at her brother.

“He didn’t want us, Mila! What, you just want to rub in his face what he’s missing out on! Wefucking top of our classes and quidditch stars? You want him to know that? You want him to knowthat we’re in his fucking house and that I have to live in the same fucking dorm rooms that he livedin when he was at Hogwarts? Merlin, just fucking drop it. I don’t want to see him or be aroundhim, why can’t you just leave it alone.”

Milo stormed off, leaving Mila where she was standing by herself before she cursed under herbreath and chased after him. Damn his long legs. Why did Milo have to get that blasted height andwhy couldn’t she have at least gotten a little bit of it. Mila swore that she was even smaller than hermother was at her age. What gives, shouldn’t she have at least been a smidgen bigger with how tallthe bastard was.

Mila and Milo arrived where Aunt Gabrielle, Isabelle, Remy, and Jack were together and sayingtheir own goodbyes. It wasn’t that it was awkward being around the Potter family. Truth be told,they were some of the only family that the Granger twins and their mother had. Unofficially, ofcourse.

With their father abandoning them before they were born, Mila and Milo had only had theirmother. Their grandparents lived in Australia, not wanting anything to do with their mum aftershe’d recovered their memories. For at least a month during the summer holidays, the twins wouldtravel to go and visit their grandparents without her. They certainly didn’t consider any of Ron’s

family their own, he’d made it perfectly clear to the twins when their mother had agreed to marrythe tosser that he was not going to be their father. Not that she wanted that red-headed twit to be herdad anyway.

Listening to Milo finishing giving promises of sending whatever sweet boxes they found on theirnewly permitted Hogsmeade trips to Isabelle, Mila was pulled away from the girl and into hermother’s embrace getting squished up against her brother. A heavy sigh, Mila was reluctant andgave into her mother’s overly enthusiastic display of affection and gave her a hug back. As her armwrapped around her mother though, she felt a prick that someone was watching them and lookedup to meet the stormy grey’s that she had just introduced herself to.

“He’s staring at us, mum.” She whispered into her mother’s ear. Pulling away from her mother,Mila kept eye contact with him until her face was directed with her mother’s firm hand to lookinginto the chocolate brown eyes, she wished she had inherited instead of the silver.

“Are you alright?” The words were simple, but the question wasn’t. With tears blurring her vision,Mila shook her head to answer her mother. As much as she’d always imagined getting to dress himdown, the weight of actually doing it was much heavier than Mila ever anticipated.

“I’ll write you, mum. I don’t want to talk about it right now. I love you; we’ll see you for theholidays.” A few of the damn tears broke through, and she couldn’t help but throw a sneer at theman who had caused them. How dare he stand there and act like this wasn’t his doing. This was allhis fault; he was the one who had left them. He was the one who hadn’t wanted her.

“Hey, look at me.” Mila’s glare with the startled looking man was broken and she shot her eyesover to Milo who was scuffing the ground with his shoe. Nudging him in the ribs, Mila turned herfull attention to her mother again.

“He’s just a man, that made a choice. He chose to make a shit choice, but still a choice. I’m sorryhe had hurt you, but he holds no power over you or any of us as a fact. Focus on your studies, enjoythe visits to Hogsmeade, maybe don’t join the quidditch team again” yeah, okay mum, Milathought rolling her eyes, “and have fun.” Both Mila and Milo let out a snort, knowing full well thatMila would be trying out for the seeker position again and that Milo would be going for beater. Assecond years, they’d both made the team with ease and they were excited to get back to practiceagain.

Being pulled into a last hug, their mother whispered “I love you” where Milo muttered ‘love youtoo’ and Mila tried to hold in the damn tears still in her eyes and whispered ‘I’ll see you atChristmas.’

As soon as the warning whistles began to blast, Mila and Milo untangled themselves from theirmother’s firm grip and made a run for the engine. Milo had a firm grip on her arm to make surethat Mila didn’t get lost in the crowd (happens one time) and they were jumping onto the train.

Holding out her hand, Mila quickly helped Remy file in with her before Jack was there clamberingon right in front of Milo. His sparkling blue eyes, wait what, sparkling? Er, Jack’s stupid blue eyesmade her roll her own when he made some sort of stupid comment that she honestly didn’t evenhear. Apparently, she’d had the right response because he shot her a smile before he nudged Milo’sshoulder and they led the way towards the compartment they’d already claimed with theirbelongings.

Feeling the jerk of the train, however, Mila rushed to the nearest open window and leaned her bodyas far as she could. Waving wildly at her mother before feeling Milo pull her back onto the train.

“Honestly, you’d think you were a firsty the way you’re acting.” He muttered beside her as theyfollowed Jack the rest of the way to their compartment.

“Oh putain.” She heard Jack say in front of her as he slid open their door before walking in. If hewas cursing in French, then it was safe to assume whoever had decided to sit in their compartmentwasn’t a welcomed guest.

Mila pushed her way through the boys and away from Remy so that she could assess the situationwhen her eyes fell on a scrawny white-blonde first year wearing top of the line new robes. Hissilver eyes that were the exact same shade as her own and her twins were looking back at her withshock as his eyes flickered from her eyes and up to Milo. “Well, who do we have here.” Mila cooedwith a false sweet tone at the heir.

She’d never actually seen a picture of him in the paper or any magazine, but growing up followingarticles about the bastard, she knew that he existed. Just as the world knew that she, Milo, and thePotter kids existed, they had all been kept from the public eye. Well, until this year that is. Oncethey were allowed to visit Hogsmeade there was going to be no stopping the paparazzi from easilyidentifying her, Milo, and Jack since they all looked so much like their parents.

“Uh, hullo, my name is Scorpius Malfoy. It’s very nice to meet you.” Hearing the younger voicefrom the back of the older trio, Remy pushed his way through to stand in front of his brother andhis two friends.

Before Mila could make any snarky remarks, Remy interrupted her and stepped on her foot.Fucking boy, Mila was irritated that even his first-year ass was slightly taller than her as shescuffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Hullo, my name is Remy Potter. These two here areMila and Milo Granger, and this is my brother Jack Potter.” As he’d said each of their names, hehad used his hand to indicate to who he was referring to. “Blimey, you look exactly like Milo.Don’t you think so, Mila?” Remy asked looking down at her while she scowled at him.

“Must be a long-lost distant cousin or something. I don’t know, Remy.” Turning her attention backto the heir, she said, “I’m sure there are other compartments that you can go sit in, yeah? So, offyou go. Shoo, shoo.” Mila held up her hand and waved it as if she were trying to brush away aspeck of dirt out of their compartment.

“Oh, uh, well, they were actually all filled up. But, I can, yeah, I can leave.” The heir made a moveas if to leave when Remy shot daggers at Mila and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“No need, don’t listen to Mila. She’s always incredibly rude to people she doesn’t know.” Theyounger Potter shot her another look after he’d finished pushing the heir back into his seat. “You’dthink for someone who’s at the top of her year that she’d know when to stop talking. Alas, socialsituations have never been her strong suit.”

“Whatever.” Mila muttered as she threw herself into the seat across from the two first years whoseemed, to her dismay, to be hitting it off and already forming a little friendship. Sitting down nextto the window, Milo still hadn’t said a single word and had positioned himself so that he wasn’tlooking at the heir and only leaning his chin on his fist watching the world pass by them.

Jack, bless him, sat down next to her so that he was close enough that their thighs were touching.“Want me to hex them both while they’re being sorted.” He whispered into her ear, causing Mila tomake a muffled a snort behind her hand and shook her head.

“No, Victoire, Dom, or Louie might write home to their mum and then she’d tell your mum andyou’d end up with a howler, again.” Aunt Gabrielle could be a right cow when Jack pushed her

buttons the wrong way.

The year before, his cousin Louie had just started at Hogwarts in his first year and was sorted intothe same house as Jack and the Potter’s oldest cousin Victoire. As Jack told it, Mila wasn’t surebecause she hadn’t been hanging out with him in the Gryffindor common room that day, he’dslipped Louie some of the sweets from a skiving snackbox. Only problem was, he hadn’t includedthe antidote treat and Louie ended up being rushed to the infirmary.

Of course, Victoire had disconnected her lips from her boyfriend’s just long enough to see Jackdiscarding the wrapper into the fireplace. She’d written her mum and Aunt Gabrielle after tellingProfessor Longbottom what Jack had done and caused all sorts of issues.

The howler that had flown in the next day had enough colorful language in it that Mila and Milo,who both spoke fluent French, had been bent over laughing at their red-faced friend. Jack had evenbeen treated to going and spending part of his summer with Uncle Harry’s cousin Dudley workingat his muggle boxing club as a janitor for the stunt.

“As long as he isn’t sorted into Slytherin, we’ll be fine.” Mila said as she leaned her face againsther brother’s back and pulled out a deck of playing cards.

Famous last words.

Chapter End Notes

And we have a start! Mila’s sweet and sour personality is based off my own daughterpreteen daughter, who, oh boy, does she make my head swirl. Like I said before, this isa bit of a parent trap vibe (obviously not following it exactly) so there’s going to besome tension between the twins and Scorpius off the bat and for the first handful ofchapters.Next chapter you’re meeting Ron, so brace yourselves. I did mention this is a Weasleybashing story, so if you’re a Ron fan this isn’t going to be a story for you.Next Update will probably be Wednesday!!

Ron Weasley

Chapter Summary

Mila and Milo get their time tables and Hermione visits Ron at WWW to let him knowabout Malfoy.

Chapter Notes

This chapter is going to feature a POV from both Mila and Hermione! Not everychapter is going to have that, I feel like I should go ahead and let you know that now.There are a handful of moving parts in this story, and they all work together in the end.I love the speculations! Only, I’m not going to answer any questions regarding Luciusor Astoria just yet because Hermione and Mila aren’t aware of the Malfoy familydynamic aside from what they’ve seen in the Prophet or Witch Weekly. Mila, she justdoesn’t have the resources to look further into her father, and Hermione, well she hadno desire to know any more about her ex.Here's your first look at the Hermione/Ron dynamic and relationship. When I said thisstory is Ron bashing, I wasn’t exaggerating.More notes at the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Hullo? Earth to Mila?” Mila couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her brother who was currentlyattempting to get her attention waving his hand holding a piece of toast in her face.

“Eat your brekkie.” Mila snapped at her brother, earning an eye roll back at her as he made a showof stabbing a generous helping of scrambled eggs onto his fork and shoving it into his mouth.“Honestly, Milo. I know Ronald lives in our house, but surely you don’t have to eat like him.”

This earned a choked laugh from her brother, who had clearly swallowed his food right at herdelivery of the line. While Mila was pounding her brother on the back, in an attempt to help himbreath, Jack took that opportunity to stroll up to the twins.

“Morning you two. Bloody hell woman, trying to off him already? It’s not even eight in themorning!” Jack said slipping into a seat next to Mila and forcing the fourth year, Ethan Nott, downthe bench.

“Jack, surly there’s some space over at your house table and you don’t have to crowd ours.” Milasaid glancing over her shoulder to survey the Gryffindor table. The mess of red hair from all theWeasley spawns, along with a few others faces that Mila vaguely recognized from differentfunctions her mother had drug her along to. “See there, Grant Finnigan has openings on both sidesof him.”

“And get myself blown up before charms? No, I don’t think so. Speaking of, have either of yougotten your time tables? Neville just handed ours out, and I’m not looking forward to this year. Dadhad me pick up care of magical creatures and mum made me take divination. Either of you in

those?” Jack asked turning his attention back away from his house table and to his friends onceagain.

“Professor Longbottom, honestly Jack.” Mila muttered at how casually he addressed theirherbology professor.

“Mum is making us take arithmancy and ancient runes. Mila’s been in a right state since she waswanting to take care of magical creatures too, but couldn’t fit it in without giving up her only freeperiod.” Milo commented now that his coughs had subsided.

Slamming her hands on the table Mila turned her attention onto her brother who was smirking ather. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” She snapped at her brother. He was the only person whoknew of Mila’s secret obsession with dragons and dreams of becoming a dragon keeper.

It was after she first learned what her father’s name was and who he was when she’d instantlyrecognized it. That was the start of her diving into learning all she could about dragons. If shecouldn’t be with her father, Mila had decided the next best thing would be to connect with hisname’s sake. And at five years old, with stars in her eyes, Mila had fallen in love with themagnificent beasts.

Her mother had never discouraged her love of learning and caring for creatures, but knowing thather fascination with dragons had originally stemmed from Mila wanting a connection with thefather that had abandoned her, she had hidden this part of herself from everyone but Milo. Andnow apparently Jack Potter.

“Yeah? You think Parkinson will let you add it to your time table? All third years are in one class,so that’d give us another lesson together.” Jack said, obviously not paying the twins much attentionas he loaded a plate in front of himself.

“Ha, as if Professor Parkinson would do anything that would be helpful to me in anyway.” PansyParkinson, their father’s ex-girlfriend and mother’s school yard bully, was their transfigurationteacher and head of house. With Milo looking almost exactly like their father and Mila look exactlylike their mother, it hadn’t been difficult for Parkinson to put the pieces of that puzzle together.Needless to say, the Slytherin head of house was not a big fan of the twins, especially Mila.

“Well, if you have the open period, she can’t exactly stop you, now, can she?” Jack commented ashe stabbed a sausage with his fork before shoving the majority of it in his mouth. Even having hismother’s etiquette lessons down his throat since he could walk, hadn’t kept Jack from being adisgusting teenager.

Mila shoved away her plate of toast and blueberries, having lost her appetite watching the two boysshe was positioned between eating. Just as she was about to open her mouth to scold Jack on hispoor table manners, Mila snapped her jaw shut and placed a sneer that resembled the ones from herfather’s younger years at Hogwarts.

The heir and Remy were walking past their part of the table quietly talking between each other.Both boys had been sorting into Slytherin house, making sure that Mila was never going to be ableto escape the child that hadn’t been abandoned. The daily reminder put her on edge more thanwatching Ron Weasley eat.

“I didn’t realize that you could dress yourself without a house elf. Ten points to the heir.” Milaquipped at the small blonde boy, causing him to raise his head away from Remy and lock eyeswith her. Watching the same grey eyes that she shared looking back at her, made Mila’s blood boil.

“Miss. Granger, I see that you have another family member joining our fine house.” Mila couldn’thelp but grimace at the fake cheery voice that chimed behind her.

“Professor,” Milo greeted the woman, pulling her attention away from Mila. “Are you here todeliver our time tables? We were just discussing adding on care of magical creatures if we werestill able to since we did have a free period.” He smoothed over quickly as her green eyes narrowedon her brother before a soft smile formed looking at him.

“Mr. Granger, you have one free period and I’m not sure that I could approve the two of youadding another class to your already full schedule.” Suppressing an eye roll had never been moredifficult for Mila than in that moment. The scores that Mila and Milo had been pulling in since theirfirst year rivaled what their mother and father had been able to accomplish as the first and secondin their own class.

Before the twins, no other group of students that had passed through Hogwarts had ever even comeclose to reaching the scores that had been set by Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy’s academicrivalry, and their raven-haired, pug nose professor very well knew that. Mila took a deep breaththrough her nose before looking up at her transfiguration teacher.

“I could always ask for special permission from Headmistress McGonagall, she’s still very fond ofour mother and I’d hate to think how she’d respond to the idea of trying and prevent Milo andmyself from reaching our full protentional as students.” Mila commented fluttering her eye lashesin a mock innocence.

With a huff, Parkinson tapped her wand to both Mila and Milo’s time tables, taking away both theirfree periods and adding in care of magical creatures and handing the parchment to both of them.“Mr. Potter, don’t you have your own house table you should be eating at?” She snapped at theraven-haired boy, who had a mouth full of bacon and potato next her before storming off. Jackdidn’t even seem like he’d registered what had just been said or by who.

“Did you say something, Mila?” He asked causing Mila to let out a huff before pushing herself offthe bench and walking out of the great hall. Looking down at her time table for the first time, shelet out a groan as she saw her first class was Potions with Hufflepuff. Well, fucking hell. Of course,it wasn’t that Mila disliked potions. That wasn’t it at all, just the class reminded her of him just abit more than she cared to admit and it was hard to forget about him when there were so manyrevisions to the text that were credited to him or his godfather, Severus Snape.

“MILA! HEY, WAIT UP!” Mila stopped turning around to look and see who was trying to followher when she saw little Remy running to catch up with her.

“What do you want, Remy? I’m in a hurry.” Mila said as she turned and kept walking away fromand heading towards the dungeon, not in the mood to deal with Remy at the moment.

“Seriously, Mila? Class doesn’t start for twenty minutes. If you don’t stop walking, I will sendyour mother an owl and tell her how you’ve been acting towards Scorp.” That made Mila stop inher tracks as she whipped around to glare down at the younger Potter brother.

“What do you want, Potter? You want me to give the heir an apology? Well, you’re wasting yourbreath because it’s not going to happen. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do thanstand here and discuss sparing a spoiled brat’s feelings.” Mila exclaimed as she went to turn herback on him again when she was stopped by his hand reaching out and grabbing her elbow.

“Look, whatever issue you have about. Well, I’m really not sure, but I’m guessing that it’s notsomething he actually did. So why don’t you lay off, yeah?” The newly turned twelve-year-old

said looking slightly down at her.

Pushing her way past Remy, Mila couldn’t help but let her mind run wild thinking about howRemy needed to mind his own business. He didn’t actually know who the heir was to her and Milo.He didn’t know about what had happened after the bastard had found out that he was about to havehalf-blooded children. Of course, Remy wouldn’t understand and she wasn’t going to waste herbreath trying to explain it to him.

ooo

Walking down the street towards Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, Hermione could feel her heart ratepicking up a bit as she neared the store front. This was the first time she was going to be seeingRon since she’d run into Draco and she could admit that she was nervous. She was going to tell herfiancé that she’d ran into the father of her children and that he had been obliviated and that hedidn’t even recall a relationship with her or that he had sired her children.

It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to think that Ron wouldn’t be taking the news all that well.Hell, it was damn near twenty years since the Battle of Hogwarts and Ron was still holding ontothose grudges that he’d held against Malfoy and his family. The Weasley family as a wholeactually shared those same thoughts, not that she could blame them since the war and death eaterswere to blame for Fred’s death. Hermione couldn’t let this stop her from talking to Ron,communication was key in a relationship after all, and this was something they were needing tocommunicate about.

Malfoy seemed interested in a relationship with their twins now that they were thirteen, and heapparently now knew that they existed. He’d once called them an abomination that she needed toget rid of, but now they were older and their correspondence over the weekend had laid it outsimply for her. Now that he knew about them, he wanted to actually get to know them.

Never had she denied telling the twins who their father was when they’d asked. She’d shown thempictures of him that she’d gotten from Witch Weekly or the Daily Prophet. During their breakupwhen he was showering the street with her belongings, he had cast an Incendio on all the picturesthey’d ever taken together and all that remained of them was ash.

Learning from the different articles that she came across, she never looked for information aboutMalfoy or his family. She’d already been aware of Lucius’s twenty-year Azkaban sentence thatwas to end in October of 2018. When Malfoy married Astoria, she’d spent the day in bed cryingand eating a quart of ice cream while Harry and Gabrielle took care of the twins. She took the newsof them having a child a bit better than she had his marriage, but not by much. Hermione wasn’tcompletely heartless though, because when the announcement of Astoria’s death in 2011 hit thenews, Hermione lit a candle and silently mourned the loss for her children’s half-brother.

She had informed them that they had a younger half-brother who would be joining them atHogwarts starting their third year. Since Malfoy had kept him from the press just like she had hertwins, she didn’t have any details about their half-brother to tell them. Hermione had debatedtelling them about Astoria’s death, but ultimately decided that it wasn’t her place to tell them.

The details of the day that Malfoy had thrown her from their flat, she’d never disclosed to themeither. It was ugly, and vial, and it had destroyed her to her very core for years. If it hadn’t been forher expecting the twins, Hermione wasn’t sure that she would have been able to ignore the alure ofdrugs and alcohol to help numb her pain, but she’d had them as a spotlight to help her get throughthe dark days.

As it was, she’d made it out of her depression, and now she was engaged to be married to Ronald

Weasley this coming July.

Just because Draco Malfoy was now wanting to be involved in their twin’s lives didn’t have anybearing on how she was going to conduct her own personal life. Only, it was. She was going tohave to let Ron know that Malfoy would be around trying to get to know the twins, and that wasn’tsomething she was looking forward to. Plastering a smile on her face, Hermione opened up thedoor to the joke shop that her fiancé helped to manage with his brother.

“HERMIONE’S HERE!” She heard the voice of Angelina Johnson-Weasley calling out amongstthe insanity that was all the newest products on display.

It had been two years since Hermione and Ron had rekindled their relationship and had decidedthat with time and a bit of growing up that it would be better than their first go at a relationshipdirectly after the war. It didn’t seem to matter to Mrs. Weasley that it had now been sixteen yearssince Hermione had turned down Ron’s first proposal. The Weasley Matriarch still hadn’t forgivenHermione for the ‘years’ of heart break that Ron had suffered.

Hermione had her own opinion that the entire Weasley clan actually had more issue that thebiological father of her children was Draco Malfoy, and she knew that they looked down on her forit. Not that Hermione had ever requested any help from anyone to raise her children. No, after herbreakup with Malfoy, she’d contacted Kingsley and asked about becoming an unspeakable for theministry and had been there ever since.

No, Hermione Granger had never asked for help with anything regarding her children. Even afterRon had moved into her home a year ago, she’d only asked that he pay for the difference in theincrease of utilities, knowing that if she had asked for more, she would get an ear full from Mrs.Weasley about using her son. Whenever Ron wanted to take her out on a date, she’d always set forthe twins to have a sleepover with the Potters, not wanting to ask anyone else to host the two pre-teens.

No, Molly Weasley had made it very clear. She would be tolerant of Hermione and her children,but they would never be included as a part of her family. Hermione couldn’t help but be thankfulthat while her parents had never wanted to mend their relationship with her, at least they weredoting grandparents to her children and took them for a month during the twin’s summer holidaysin Australia, even though it was winter there.

Hermione’s thoughts were ended when she was spun on the spot in Ron’s arms. “Mione! Sorry Imissed you this morning. I wish you would have come with me to France to scout out the newlocation for the shop, you would have loved it. The food was great, the hotel was amazing and hada spa that I was able to use daily. Next time, you’ve got to go with me. No excuses.”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Hermione put aside just how annoyed she was with Ron anytimehe made comments like that. He knew that she’d been seeing her children off to their third year atHogwarts. That she hadn’t just blown him off, just because she didn’t want to go on a holiday withhim. However, this was the first time that she was seeing him in a week and she wasn’t going tostart it with an argument.

“It’s okay, I got the twins off to Hogwarts and I was so busy with work I just couldn’t get away.”The bit about work was a lie. She hadn’t been busy at all, there was nothing happening in theDOM that she couldn’t have stepped away from for a week. Only, Hermione knew that putting herchildren ahead of Ron would be a one-way ticket to a row in the middle of the shop and she neededto keep him calm as possible before she brought up Malfoy.

“It’s okay, we’re actually looking at a spot in Sydney that I’ll be traveling to check out in

December. Since it will be summer there, we can go together and make it a whole pre-weddingholiday for just the two of us.” Ron swooped down and planted a wet kiss on her cheek. Hermioneresisted the urge to swipe her hand across where his lips had just been, but she managed it.

“That sounds lovely, I’ll make the arrangements at work to make sure I’m free.” Again, not goingto start an argument about something that wasn’t going to be happening for three months. Hewanted to take her to Sydney Australia, you know, the same city that her estranged parents nowresided in.

“Ron, do you have a little bit of time and a place we could talk, privately? There was somethingthat I was needing to talk to you about.” Hermione said looking around and spotted Angelina andGeorge working together on inventory and another one of their employees working on deepcleaning the shop.

“Oh, yeah, sure. We can go back to my office.” Ron said with a wink, clearly having his train ofthought going towards them doing other, activities.

Silently following Ron through the store and into the back where the storage, lab, and the officeswere located; Hermione followed Ron into his own personal office. It was small, with a few filingcabinets and a desk that dominated most of the space. On the wall were framed old clippings fromthe Daily Prophet from right after the war, talking about the Golden Trio and Ron’s role indefeating Voldemort especially.

There were a few smaller articles highlighting him time as an auror and the big cases that he’d beenapart of. On his desk was a framed picture of Hermione and Ron when he’d proposed at the Battleof Hogwarts gala, and she’d happily accepted. There was no sign of the twins in his office or therole that he played in their life, but that was okay. Hermione knew that it was awkward for him tobe living with Draco Malfoy’s children, but still it hurt because they were also her children.

As she turned to face him, Ron was on top of her, pushing her back until her legs hit the edge of hisdesk. Ron’s mouth was on hers, quickly making his way towards her jaw and down her neck.Should have known she should have moved faster to keep him at bay.

“Ron, as nice as this is, there really is something I needed to talk to you about.” Ron just hummedagainst her skin and continued his path towards her collarbone.

“Ronald, I’m being serious. I need to talk to you.” Ron’s fingers began fumbling with the buttonsof her blouse and with a shake of her head, Hermione put her hands on his chest and softly pushedhim back, being firm but not aggressive in her denial.

“Ron, really. Something happened at King’s Cross and I need to talk to you about it.” Pulling back,Ron finally seemed to be thinking with the right head.

“What did Harry do?” Ron asked as he looked her over, looking rather cross as he inspected her.

“Honestly Ronald, you can’t be jealous of Harry. He’s married if you forgot.” Ron just scuffed atthis, making Hermione roll her eyes this time. Ron had never gotten over being put in Harry’sshadow, and the insecurities that had driven him to abandon Harry and Hermione on the Horcruxhunt still seemed to plague him twenty years later.

“No, it has to do with the kids. I wanted to talk to you about it so that you weren’t surprised.” Atthe mention of her children, Ron went from looking angry with her to annoyed.

“Mione, I love you and I’m glad you care so much, but you really don’t have to feel like you need

to keep me updated on what’s happening with them.” Huffing, Hermione put her hands back up tostop Ron from making his move on her again. It endlessly annoyed her that he was so dismissiveof her children, but she understood. They weren’t his, but they were hers and they were her toppriority.

“Malfoy was there, and Mila talked to him.” Hermione knew that dropping Malfoy’s name wouldmake Ron react.

“Seriously, you went there and hung out with Malfoy. What the fuck, Hermione. Why would youeven look at the bloody ferret?” Of course, Ron would twist her words, but Hermione was going toget through this conversation.

“Honestly Ronald, it wasn’t like that. His other son just started his first year, it’s not as if I’vespoken to him since we broke up. I tried telling you that I knew he’d be there, but anytime Ibrought it up you’d blow me off.” Ron’s eyeroll had Hermione putting her hands on her hips andlooking up into his face.

“You know just as well as I do that you did. Anyway, after Mila approached him, Milo of coursefollowed her, and Malfoy obviously saw the resemblance between himself and Milo. After the trainleft, he came over wanting to talk to me, and at first, I told him off for it, but then I did end uptalking to him.” Ron’s face had started turning red as Hermione continued to talk, she was going tofinish getting all this out for him before he blew up on her.

“We talked for a bit, left the station and went to a park so we wouldn’t be overheard. He had noidea about the twin’s existence. I checked his brain and it had traces of an obliviation. I’ve beenwriting with him over the weekend, and finding out what all he remembers. He doesn’t rememberbeing friends with me eighth year, just remembers finishing school and getting his NEWTS. Heremembers going through curse breaker training and working at Gringotts, but he doesn’tremember that I was his partner for all of that. And get this, we both put in our resignation on thesame day. His was part of his betrothal contract, because being a curse breaker was too dangerousof a career. I guess that’s standard for the Malfoy family that they take up the family business oncethey’re married, so it didn’t raise any red flags for him, Ron, hello, are you listening to me.”

Hermione had stopped talking because Ron was looking more irritated as she spoke. She couldn’tfigure it out though, this was important. This was about her children and their relationship withtheir father. If she could help them connect, then didn’t she owe that to her children?

“You’re telling me that you spent a weekend corresponding with Draco Fucking Malfoy. What,you just waited until I was out of the country. This is just like last time, Hermione! You let himcome between us before and you’re doing it again now!” Ron bellowed at her, causing her to backup slowly, her back hitting the door.

“No, Ron, you don’t understand. We were only trying to piece together a timeline. There’s nothinggoing on between me and Malfoy, the things he said to me, they were unforgivable. He’s justshown that he’d like to possibly have a relationship with the twins. This isn’t he and I trying torekindle anything, please, you have to believe me.” When it came to Draco Malfoy, Ron hadalways been a bit irrational and make absurd claims that always threw her for a loop.

“He wants the kids?” Ron’s features flashed a quick change while looking down at Hermione, hisirritation pausing for just a moment.

“Well, he wants to try building a relationship with them. Mila sent me a letter and let me know thather and Milo are going out for their house team again this year, so if they make it I thought itwould be a good start to invite him to a match to see them play and show them support.” Hermione

stepped away from the door, brushing the dust that had been disrupted off her clothes andstraightening them out.

“Well, if he’s wanting to meet them and what not, is he wanting to take them for holidays toothen?” Ron asked leaning back against his desk, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh, well, we haven’t exactly talked about what type of relationship he’s looking for with them,but yes, I’d assume something along those line where we might split the holidays with him. Thekids are thirteen though, so they’ll get to have a say in how comfortable they are with this wholearrangement.” Hermione wasn’t blind, she knew that Ron wanted as little to do with the kids aspossible. It still stung that he’d be so thrilled at the idea of having even less time with them.

“I’ve got to get back to work, but I just wanted to let you know what was going on. I have anovernight project I’m overseeing, so I won’t be home this evening. I just didn’t want this to waitany longer for you to know about this Malfoy situation.” Ron’s jaw clenched as the mention ofMalfoy’s name again. Hermione reached up on her toes and laid a soft kiss on prickly cheek beforepulling away again and opening his office door.

Ron didn’t say anything as Hermione stepped through the doorway, but she turned and gave himone last wave and a smile before disappearing down the hall and back into the main store.Hermione knew one thing; this was not going to be the last argument she and Ron would have overDraco Malfoy.

Chapter End Notes

Got to love sweet Remy just looking out for his friend. BUT, what do you think aboutHermione’s relationship with Ron!? So, when I first started writing this story, I wasn’tgoing to include Draco and Hermione’s breakup. I wrote chapters two and three firstand after writing her interaction with Ron, I thought it would benefit the readers to seejust how awful it was to hurt Hermione so badly.Being estranged from her parents has altered the types of relationships she allows andher awful breakup with Draco did its toll on her as well. Thus, Ron not being the bestpartner and her allowing it isn’t a stretch.Next chapter is a Hermione POV only and she’s meeting with Draco. We’ll get to findout her thoughts on him being obliviated.Expect an update no later than this coming Monday! I have another story, Child ofDawn, that I’m working on completing (it’s getting close, within the next two monthsit will be finished) and once that is finished, I’ll be able to throw more time into thisone. Updates will be at least once a week, and if I can manage, twice a week. Once Ihave a better idea on a chapter count, I’ll let you know.Alright, bye for now!

Department of Mysteries, Memory Division

Chapter Summary

Hermione asks Draco to talk to her at work.

Chapter Notes

Hello, hello!! Wow, the amount of Ron hate, not going to lie… I’m loving it. TheRon/Hermione relationship is based off of a real relationship I witnessed. Is Hermionesettling and why is she settling for this Ron? Well, obviously she’s settling. He’sfamiliar, he’s safe, and she’s tired of being alone. I think I added a tag of a brokenHermione, and well she is. She’s got to grow, can only go up from where she is now,yeah? How could she be with someone who is so dismissive of her children? Her kidsare at boarding school a majority of the year and spend part of their holidays with theirgrandparents in Australia. So, while she can have a wonderful relationship with herchildren and Ron not, it’s not a day in and day out part of something that’s beingshoved down her throat so she’s not going to constantly see the issues.Why was Draco being obliviated brought up right at chapter two!? Well, it had to be.The story isn’t sniffing that bit out. It’s about Draco and Hermione building theirrelationship AFTER the fact and the twins going on their own journey that I’m notgoing to talk about because it’s a spoiler. Methods to my madness, and you’ll seeWHY it wasn’t a long-drawn-out discovery in this coming chapter.Finally, how could Hermione accept Draco wanting to get to know her kids. Well, youcan see how much Mila is struggling. She’s willing to do whatever her children mightneed and going to follow their lead on this. Hermione not telling them that Astoriadied? Well, that’s how I would have handled that situation (kind of have). My owndaughter’s biological father bounced when she was little, and as I’ve found out moreabout his life since leaving her, I have had to make decisions about what to and not totell her.Okay, I think I addressed a few of the concerns I saw across comments. So, can weskip to the good part now. This chapter is a Hermione only POV and well, enjoy….More notes at the end

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

I am writing on behalf of the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Mysteries, and requestion a

meeting with you on the 14th of September at nine in the morning. If this time or date is not able tofit into your schedule, you may contact me by owl to cancel or change this appointment.

I look forward to meeting with you.

Hermione J. Granger, DOM, Unspeakable

It was the Thursday that Hermione and Draco were scheduled to meet, and Hermione couldn’tcontain the nervous energy that was pouring out of her. Of course, it would be Draco Malfoy whowould could possibly be the breakthrough of her research and case study. If that isn’t the universespitting right in her face, Hermione wasn’t sure what else it possibly could be.

Over the last almost two weeks of correspondence with Draco, Hermione as at least been able toavoid seeing him in person since they’d seen their children off to Hogwarts. Regardless that he hadrequested them meeting at a variety of different locations numerous times, Hermione was just notinterested in actually being around him.

Hermione had spoken with the children and let them know of their father’s interest in getting toknow them and had received a mixed response. Milo, had simply said ‘not interested’ and then hadrefused to talk about his father anymore than that. Mila, on the other hand, had written her a fifty-inch letter outlining all the reasons why he wasn’t worthy of meeting her and her brother, thatincluded bullet points and counter arguments to back up her reasoning. However, the followingday, Mila sent a second letter saying that they would think about it and get back to her at a latertime.

There was no surprise in how they reacted. Hermione had a suspicion that Mila was simplywanting to rub into Malfoy’s face just how wonder her and Milo’s lives were without him in it.While Milo would continue with the radio silence until he had to chase after his sister and bring herback to Earth and would be forced to interact with Malfoy because of it.

She had taken some time to gather up some basic information and then some pictures of the kids tosend to Malfoy so that when they finally did decide to meet him, he wouldn’t be caught off guardand would have an idea of who they each are. Even though Hermione wasn’t forgiving him forwhat he’d said during their break up, she suspected by his actions now, that if Malfoy hadn’t beenobliviated he would have eventually sought her out to meet his children. When he had written backand told her that Scorpius’s birthday was the twentieth of April after she had told him the twinswas the nineteenth of April, she’d gotten a good laugh at the thought of Mila’s reaction when shefound that out. It was always safe to say that Mila had a flare for the dramatics, just like Malfoyhad when they were in school.

Remy had already been in contact with her that Mila and Scorpius weren’t exactly getting alongvery well. Of course, Hermione was irritated finding out that bit of information, but she wasn’tsurprised. When Remy had written her to let her know that he suspected Mila had charmed all ofScorpius’s pants to turn to dust while wearing them, Hermione had quickly written Mila and toldher that she needed to behave otherwise she would be coming to the school to talk to her.

Since her letter, Hermione hadn’t heard from Remy again and assumed that either Mila had ceasedher actions (unlikely) or she had also started targeting Remy in her ‘pranks’. With Pansy Parkinsonbeing Mila’s head of house and Pansy not being Mila’s biggest fan, Hermione doubted that itwould be much longer until she was hearing from the witch and needing to go have a few wordswith her children, seeing as there was no way that Milo wouldn’t get dragged along with whateverMila was getting up to.

With the thoughts of her children still fresh on her mind, Hermione was pulled away from herworries of what they were up to when a knock came at her door. Waving her wand to permit entry,Hermione plastered on a fake smile as Draco Malfoy slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

“Malfoy, glad you could make it” Hermione greeted him, gesturing for him to step inside and takea seat in one of the overly plush chairs. “Tea?” She asked as he took the seat she’d gestured

towards.

“Uh, sure. Three sugars and a splash of milk.” He replied looking around her office.

It was a modest space, at almost fifteen years with the DOM, there was a lot of crammed into theroom. Tomes on anything and everything that had to do with memory, memory charms, memorypotions, or general memory alterations. In the corner she had a small cauldron that she used to brewexperimental potions whenever she needed with a few basic ingredients, as she didn’t keep on handa full potions supply. She had more parchment and notes shoved into cabinets and files than shehad space for, even with the extendable charms in all the drawers.

On her wall was a white board outlining some of her research and test subjects, her boss had beenamused when she came storming into the department pulling it out of her beaded handbag one daycomplaining that she needed to be able to see her thoughts in front of her.

She also had awards and certificates from all her accomplishments and pursues in her education,showing off to anyone that walked in that she really did know what she was doing. In the backcorner was a trunk that she’d enchanted with an undetectable extension charm to house a personallibrary that she could use a ladder to climb down into whenever she needed to visit it.

On her desk were two pictures. One of her and the twins that was taken the morning of their firstyear when she’d dropped them off at Kings Cross. The other was her, Harry, and their familiesposed all together smiling at Izzy’s (Isabelle’s) fifth birthday party and their Christmas celebration.It was before Ron had come back into their lives, so he was not included in that particular groupshot.

After handing the cup she’d just prepared for him across her desk, Hermione settled into her ownchair and folded her hands on top of the newest file that she was hopeful to be able to start filling.“Malfoy, I’ll get straight to the point of this meeting.” She stated meeting his eye, taking a sip ofher own tea to settle herself.

“I’d like to study you, and do experimental tests on your brain” she said with a mask ofindifference plastered on her face.

“I’m sorry?” Malfoy asked with his eyes growing as big as saucers, clearly this was not what he hadin mind when she’d invited him to meet her at work.

“I research memory charms for the ministry. I’m not sure how much you know about the subject,but I’ve spent the last almost fifteen years researching the different ways to recover obliviated oraltered memories.” Hermione started pulling out some of the smaller cases that she’d been able towork on, just in case she needed them to try and persuaded him into agreeing to this.

Seeing that Malfoy was a bit lost for words, Hermione pushed forward and continued on her pitch.

“I started with volunteers for my smaller case studies, so people who would allow an associate ofmine to say, obliviate a meaningless memory. For example, I had one subject who for a monthpicked up a coffee for a co-worker and then we obliviated that action and the instruction to do sofrom their memory.

“Now, before I began working on this research, only whoever preformed the memory charmswould be able to reverse the effect and restore the memories. We progressed to erasing, say thatcoffee order and delivery from their memory being gone for a week, to letting it be gone for amonth, six months, and ultimately a year. The longer the charm is in place, the more difficult it isfor someone who is not the original caster to recover. On the other side of the coin, the large or

more impactful the memories the more difficult it becomes to recover and restore those memories.”Malfoy took a sip of his tea and nodded that he understood what she was saying, so Hermionecontinued.

“As you can imagine, it becomes rather difficult to find persons who have been obliviated and hadthese larger more impactful moments erased from their lives. Finding volunteers for this type ofresearch has proven to be impossible, as no one is willing to have say a family member erased fromtheir minds.

“This is a two-fold problem for my research purposes, no one remembers the obliviation of such alarge event nor do they typically ever even realize that they’ve been obliviated in the first place.The other side is, it is immoral and unethical to erase say, an important person’s entire existencefrom someone’s memories and then let it stay that way for years.” The last part of her speechcausing Hermione to wince at her own words.

After a brief pause, Hermione continued on, “that’s why I’ve asked you here today. You present aunique opportunity for me, to say the least. And frankly, if you’re willing, this is not something Ican pass up, if you’re willing, that is.”

“You want to try and recovery my memories? Of you.” Malfoy said, clearly understanding whereshe was going with this.

“Yes.”

“Because you didn’t erase my memories.”

“Yes.”

“And you were obviously an important person in my life.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, just like that?” Hermione couldn’t help but gape at him. “I haven’t even gone over the risksof the experiments and what methods I’ll be using or even how long it might take.”

“You are the mother of two of my children and I don’t even remember speaking to you after thewar ended. I want those memories back, and I want to know what happened to us.” Malfoy saidlooking up at her through his thick lashes that reminded her so much of her children.

“You were a right foul git, that’s what happened!” Hermione snapped before sitting back down andleaning her head against the back of her seat trying to collect herself before she spoke again. “Iapologize, Malfoy, I shouldn’t let my own personal issues cloud this research.”

Taking another steadying breath, Hermione continued, “I’m only doing this because it will helpadvance my research, my work, and ultimately help the wizarding world as a whole. I did not inviteyou here today because I want to rekindle or reminisce with you.”

“Granger” he all but whispered her name, causing Hermione to make eye contact with him again.The mix of emotions being so close to him and seeing so much of her son looking across the deskat her was un-nerving.

“Look, I don’t know what happened to your memories. The last time I talked to you was when youwere throwing me out. You were fully aware of who I was and our history at that time. I don’t

know if you asked to be obliviated yourself to forget what you’d done with me and our life togetheror if someone did it to you against your will.” Hermione paused and took a breath, because she hadto get through this conversation with him.

“I understand that now, today, you know that we have children together and you are regretful thatyou don’t know them and haven’t been in their lives. I’m more than willing to help you establishthat relationship with them, because I believe that it would be beneficial for the two of them to getto know you and maybe bring them peace and find something they’ve been searching for.

“Now, I’ve spoken to my boss and had to get special permission for this meeting since you are aconflict of interest for me, being the father of my children and all and that the memories we arerecovering involve me. So, I will ask you again, and take out of you mind that anything besides memessing with your head will happen within these walls.

“Are you willing to partake in my case study?” Hermione asked him looking across the desk withher hands cross in front of her.

“Yes” he said without hesitation.

With a heavy sigh, Hermione looked at him without a smile. This was, after all, only going to be aworking relationship and nothing more “Okay.”

The next few hours turned into a blur of going over the contracts and binding him to his silence onthe project per the DOM regulations. The risks that he would potentially be undergoing byallowing her to dig around in his mind to unlock his memories, that she might have to preformLegilimency and that he wouldn’t be allowed to preform Occlumency to keep her search at bay.

It also included that whatever she discovered from his mind while she worked with him would bekept to herself and that she would not be able to speak about it with anyone, aside from himself,without his expressed permission. Nothing she found could be used against him in a case or takento the DMLE, so if he had any illegal activities (aside from the use of an unforgiveable or murder)she wouldn’t be allowed to turn him in for it.

It took the rest of the morning before they were done going over the paperwork. While Draco hadpaused his quill when they’d discussed the possibility of her using Legilimency on him with noOcclumency shields, he’d still signed the consent without putting up a fight.

When Hermione pulled out the form for the compensation, Malfoy simply rolled his eyes and toldher to keep her gold. “Well, someone has to receive payment for this experimentation. It’s part ofthe contract, so go on and sign it. I don’t care if you use it to buy a crate of Ogden’s to have everyother week after I get done digging through your mind, or if you have it donated to a non for profit.Take the damn gold, Malfoy.” She’d snapped at him when her irritation had reached its breakingpoint.

Malfoy had eventually given in and signed the parchment leaving the place where to have itdeposited blank, simply saying that he would have that figured out before the following weekwhen they would meet again.

“Is there a day of the week or time that works best for you?” Hermione asked now that they wereat the point of scheduling. “I obviously don’t want break your mind, so we can’t just do this in onesitting. It’ll be a slow process. We have to have your sessions spread out at least two weeks, sohaving a consistent day of the week will be the best course of action.” Hermione said as she lookedover her calendar.

Leaning back in his seat, Malfoy crossed his arms over his chest and looked her over with a smirk.“I am the CEO of a multibillion-galleon corporation. I can’t say that there is a best day of the weekfor me is, but typically Friday afternoons tend to be the calmest time of the week because everyoneis excited for the weekend and don’t schedule very many meetings.”

“Okay, Friday afternoons work for me too. That might be best, because with even my easiest cases,participants tend to have a bit of a headache for the rest of the night and sometime lingering intothe following day. This way you’ll have an entire weekend to recover, I really believe that you’llneed it.” She said tapping her wand on the following Friday and scheduling the appointments withDraco for the foreseeable future.

“If there’s ever a Friday that you can’t make it, just send me an owl by that morning so I’m notexpecting you.” Hermione finished as she sat back in her seat looking him over. “I wouldn’t wantthis to completely disrupt your social life.” She spat at him, remembering how it seemed everyissue of Witch Weekly would have a full spread of him out on a date with some witch or another.

“Granger, I don’t have a social life.” He said rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Sure, Malfoy, was there anything else you wanted to talk about? If not, I’ll see you next Friday atone. I’ll have a calming draught for you to about fifteen minutes before we begin, but if there’sanything else you do to help yourself relax like flying or running, feel free to do so before yourappointments.” Hermione said watching him for any signs of what he might be thinking.

“What if it doesn’t work? Is there a set amount of time that we’ll keep trying?” Malfoy askedwatching her again.

“We have an eighteen-month contract, however if at anytime you decide that it’s too much or toointense you can always back out. There’s nothing legally forcing you to continue working with me,just that you have to keep your silence on the project. It’s intense, Malfoy, I’m not exaggerating ortrying to scare you. I just want you to be prepared for what you’re signing up for.” She said givinghim a pointed look.

“I get it, Granger. You’re going to be ripping my mind apart” he replied.

“And it might have been your decision at one point to lock your mind, so if we are able to recoverit and we find out that you wanted this obliviation you can’t come after me for doing this.” Shepointed out tapping the forms that she’d used Geminio on for him to have his own copies.

“Granger, I really doubt that I would have asked for someone to obliviate me and erase theknowledge of our relationship and our children’s existence from my mind.” He said, in an attemptto restart the conversation about them again.

“If that’s all, I’ll see you next Friday, Malfoy.” Hermione said standing up and pushing her chair inas she rounded her desk to show him out. “I trust you can find your way to the lifts.” Knowing thatshe was being rude, but not exactly caring in that moment.

Without another word, Malfoy let out a heavy sigh and stood up, holding out his hand. Rolling hereyes, Hermione put her much smaller in his with the intention to shake his hand, instead Malfoy lethis lips brush over her knuckles.

“See you Friday” he said as she strolled out of her office and down the hall.

Hermione watched him until he was out of sight and then leaned back against her closed officedoor. Why couldn’t it have been anyone besides Malfoy that she stumbled upon to use for this

damn case study.

Chapter End Notes

Did that clear a few things up? I hope so. If not, ask away and I’ll make sure to answerthem best I can.The schedule that Hermione and Draco are going to have their appointments is comingstraight from when my mom had to do chemo in 2019. This story came to me after Ihad my last sleepover with my mom.Next chapter will be a Mila only POV. Quidditch try outs, what could possibly gowrong? Look for it Wednesday!

Quidditch Tryouts

Chapter Summary

Mila and Milo have Quidditch tryouts.

Chapter Notes

Hello lovie people! Hope your February has started out well. If not, well here’s a newchapter to make it better. Let’s see, I’m going to be snowed into the house for a fewdays. Got off quarantine just in time for a snow storm. Yay!Actually, it won’t be too bad. We have no place to go, and my husband has today andtomorrow off. The best I’ve got is wandering over to my neighbor’s house so we canpartake in some day drinking. So, I’ll put another warning, since some people seemedto have missed it. This story has major Ron Weasley bashing. If you don’t like RonWeasley being bashed or made out to be a piece of shit, then really truly this story isn’tfor you. You won’t like it. He’s not going to get better. He’s gaslighting, dismissive,overly inflated ego, just everything that I don’t like. The relationship is based off arelationship I’ve witness, because yes, bad decisions can be made and you can end upwith someone who isn’t the best fit for you and your children. Shit happens that’s that.Oh, was Hermione single from when she broke up with Draco until she got backtogether with Ron? No way. She would have dated around.More of my ramblings at the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It was the last Saturday of September and that meant only one thing. Quidditch tryouts were uponthem. The entirety of weekend was blocked out for each house team to have their tryouts to makeup their teams for the year. Slytherin was up first for Saturday morning, while Hufflepuff was inthe afternoon and the following day Ravenclaw and ending with Gryffindor.

As soon as it was early enough to head up to breakfast, Mila had darted from her room leaving herroommates asleep on their fourposters, not even bothering to wait for her friends to wake up. Noneof them would be trying out, but they’d all told her that they would be attending the tryouts towatch their sixth year quidditch captain and team keeper, Arild Rowle, fly around with his broomthighs.

The older boy was fit by all measures of the word. Honestly, Mila wouldn’t have been shocked ifyou looked it up in the dictionary and found his picture as a description. Long dirty blonde hair andthe five o’clock shadow that he always seemed to have, not to mention the man was massive. Fromthe time he was a fourth year when Mila had first come to Hogwarts, he’d been the biggest student,towering over everyone, and over the last few years he’d only gotten taller and filled out more.Even though it was Saturday morning and usually most student slept in, Mila was anticipating apretty big turnout just to watch the tryouts.

The previous year had been Rowle’s first year as the captain and he had made massive upsets

when almost all the players on the team had been replaced by a younger roster. The Slytherinquidditch team had become a laughing stock over the years after the war. Under Rowle’sleadership, however, they’d managed to come in second place for the quidditch cup, being onlythirty points shy of beating out Hufflepuff, who won it all.

Mila taking the spot as the seeker had caused a bit of an uproar, being only a second year aftertaking the position from then sixth year, Clayton Warrington. Even now standing out on the pitchwaiting for the tryouts to begin, Mila couldn’t stop her eyes from wander over to were the two nowseventh years, Warrington and a pudgy boy she didn’t know, stood eyeing her. Warrington and hisidiot friend were going for seeker and a chaser position.

“Think you can make sure no Bludgers hit me?” Mila whispered to Milo when she noticed thatWarrington had walked over to talk to the massive sixth year boy who was going for the beaterposition against Milo.

“Well, yeah, I suppose I can do that. Why? Think Warrington is going to pay that troll to go afteryou?” Milo said looking over his shoulder and seeing the same interaction that Mila had justnoticed.

“I think it would be stupid to assume that’s not what they’re talking about.” Mila whispered to herbrother, then with a louder voice she continued, “it’s a shame Warrington couldn’t have just stayedin the dungeon and avoided the humiliation for his final year. It must be embarrassing being bestedby a girl almost five years younger than him and a half-blood at that.”

It was clear that Warrington had heard her because his head snapped in her direction and if lookscould kill, Mila would have dropped on the spot. Before he could retaliate though, Rowle stood infront of the crowd and brought his hand to his mouth to let out a piercing whistle. “LISTEN UP!”He bellowed to bring everyone’s attention from their conversations straight to him.

Once it had calmed down and all eyes were going forward, Rowle continued, “Now, I know lastyear there were some complaints on the roster changes. That being said, I hope it was motivationfor everyone to try harder this year in tryouts, and hopefully have put in the work to get better thispast summer. Don’t just expect being an upper classman or that your family name will land you aspot on the team any longer, you have to earn your right to be on the pitch.

“Beaters, your tryouts will go along with the chaser and seeker tryouts. I want to see how well youcan do aiming for them and also protecting them. Chasers, we use the Thimblerig Shuffle andHawkshead Attacking Formation, I want to see how well all of you are able to do these tacticsalready, if you can’t, that’s alright. You can learn tactics, but I want to see what you’re capable of.Seekers, I’ll be releasing a snitch. I want to see how you search for it and ultimately catch it.

“If I call to dive and you are in the air, you will dive. If I call for you to roll, you’ll roll. If I call foryou to do anything, you will do it. You are supposed to prove to me that you are the best, if youdon’t believe you’re the best, then you’re in the wrong place.

“Before we break off into your positions, and I waste my time even watching the lot of you,everyone up in the air. I want to see your flying skills. Broom Drifting first, now go.” Rowle calledshooting up into the sky with twenty or so other brooms flying up after him.

Mila and Milo stayed close together during this part of the tryouts, knowing that if Warrington gotan opening that he would take a cheap shot at her. Luckily, however, even though they were justflying and showing their flying skills, Mila couldn’t help the smirk when she used a quick SlothGrip Roll to avoid Warrington and his goon of a friend trying to bump into her and knocking heroff her broom.

“Nice flying, Granger.” Rowle said as he swung past her “Warrington, Craggy, watching yourflying, yeah? You’re wizards, not human Bludgers. Act like it or get off my pitch!” He finishedyelling before flying off away from them. Mila snuffled a laugh at the verbal lashing that wasbeing directed at Warrington and when she rolled back upright on her room, she turned to look overher shoulder and wiggled her fingers at the pair with what she hoped was a look of innocence onher face.

Mila skirted back over where Milo was hovering in the air waiting out more instruction fromRowle when they spotted in the stands Remy and the heir watching the tryouts.

“What do you think they’re doing here?” Mila whispered to her brother as Rowle announced thatthe Chaser hopefuls needed to stay airborne so he could run them through a few drills beforebringing the Beaters in.

“Watching, just like every other bloody person in the school. I get the other house captains beinghere, but bloody hell this is insanity.” Milo whispered in her ear as they made their way towardsthe ground, huddling together.

“You don’t think they’d do something to fuck up us getting on the team, do you?” Mila askedclutching her Nimbus closer to her chest, now wondering if she should be worried it was tamperedwith or not. “I mean, I’ve had my broom in my dorm, so there’s no way they could have gotten toit, but Remy is a bit too creative.”

“Who knows, mum said that Malfoy was going to write Scorpius and told him that we’re his.Maybe he already has and he just wants to see what we’re like while you can’t fling a hex his way.”Mila turned so she could shoot her twin a glare and all Milo did in response was shrug. “You do,don’t try to deny it. Shit, I’m up. Wish me luck.”

Yelling out a ‘good luck’ Mila watched as Milo took off into the air along with the remainingBeater hopefuls, including Ethan Nott, leaving her alone on the ground with Warrington and afifth-year girl, whose name she didn’t know. Mila was by far the smallest of the three, but she’dwatched the girl flying and felt confident that she wasn’t really trying to make the team, justwanted an excuse to stand closer to Rowle. Her flying skills weren’t terrible, but they were muchmore casual than one would use to play Quidditch, making Warrington her only real competition.

Mila’s focus was split between watching her brother use a Bludger Backbeat, using a backhandedswing, sending the ball behind him, to take out a Chaser who had the Quaffle with perfectprecision, and seeing what the hell Warrington was up to. Rowle kept swapping out Chasers andpairing them in different groups, but also doing the same with the Beaters.

Mila was shocked when she saw Milo getting partnered up with Nott, she’d never seen Nott ride ona broomstick, much less play Quidditch before. Hell, she couldn’t even remember if he’d evenbothered coming to any of the games the year before, but now here he was working perfectly insync with Milo. The two of them were impressive, knocking Bludgers out of the air and havingthem change direction with ease.

Nott was a perfect match with Milo, and it was easy to see why Rowle had put them together. Atone point Milo hit a Bludger right at Nott, who was laying in wait and was able to knock theQuaffle right out from the Chaser’s grasp.

Mila had gotten so engrossed in watching her brother, that she didn’t notice when Warrington hadmoved over to where she was standing until he bumped into her. With that move, he’d knocked herseeker gloves out of her pocket and to the ground right into a bit of mud.

“Watch it, you big oaf.” She hissed at him, before bending over to pick up her gloves. That was amistake, however, and she realized too late when he knocked her over face first into the turf.

“Good luck, Granger.” Warrington said standing over her as Mila rolled so she could look up athim. Stepping on her hand, Mila let out a sharp cry as his crushed into her right hand.

“Fuck you, Warrington, I hope someone cursed your damn broomstick so it’ll get lodged so far upyour arse you can’t sit.” Mila scowled at him while she cradled her hand against her body withtears streaming down her eyes from the pain. Of course, before she could do anything else, Rowleappeared in front of the three seekers to let them know he was releasing the snitch.

“Track it, don’t just hope to come across it. Use your skills, show me your tactics. Granger, I knowyou could almost do a Wronski Feint last year, now is the time to show off and see if you’ve stillgot it or if you spent your summer being lazy and not training.”

Mila shot a glare at Warrington, knowing that with her hand probably broken that she wouldn’t beable to do any fancy flying, much less a Wronski Feint. Gripping her broom with her left hand andstill cradling the right to her chest, Mila shot up into the air in search of the snitch.

Below her, the Chasers had taken to the turf with the Beaters. Mila was circling the pitch lookingin different areas searching for any glitter of gold when Rowle called out “SPIRAL DIVE!”

Gripping her broom Mila pointed the handle towards the ground and took off at high speeds. Sheshot like a rocket towards the ground, the whisps of her hair flying backwards until she was closeenough to the ground that she had to pull up. Even with her now worthless hand, Mila couldn’t helpbut smirk at Warrington, who had pulled up well before Mila had.

Directing her broom, Mila took back off into the air to continue her search of the snitch. She didkeep an eye out for Warrington, not trusting that he wouldn’t possibly try and knock her off herbroom while they were a hundred or so feet up in the air.

“BEATERS!” Rowle called and Mila couldn’t help but let out a sigh knowing what was coming.The Bludgers were released and one was already heading straight for her. Pulling her broom up,Mila was able to easily twirl and let the ball go barreling past her.

“Nice one, Mila!” Nott shouted as he raced past her, going after the ball that had just missed her.

“What the fuck happened to your hand?” Mila heard Milo call from behind her.

“I’ll tell you later, I’ve got a snitch to find!” Mila yelled back over the wind whipping around them.She could see Milo’s eyes narrow at her, before he was off chasing after a Bludger, probably tosend it after Warrington.

That’s how it went for the next hour or so. Bludgers would be sent in her direction and Mila wouldeither miss them or Milo or Nott would intercept before they could hit her. Rowle continued to callout when he’d want them to dive or accelerate, not letting them just stay focused on the task offinding the golden ball.

One well placed hit from Milo sent a Bludger straight into Warrington’s arm and an audibleCRACK echoed through the stands. Stoned faced, Milo watched Warrington grab his arm andletting out a yell of pain.

While he was distracted cursing up a storm, Mila noticed against the dark green of the turf belowthem the gold speck that she knew was the snitch. Pointing her broom straight at it, Mila took offwith a whoosh speeding right past a still swearing Warrington.

“FUCKING MUDBLOOD’S BASTARDS” she could hear Warrington call behind her, but Milawasn’t going to look back and see if he was following her or not. She’d spotted the snitch and shecould end this tryout right now.

The tell sound of a Bludger heading her way sent Mila into a spiral spin to hopefully avoid itmaking contact with her. Her attempts were unsuccessful though, just skimming her right shoulder,Mila screamed out as she felt the bones shatter, but her spiral kept her on track for the snitch.

Using her thighs to hold onto her broom, Mila let go of the handle with her left and hand andreached out. The cool feel of the metal met her fingertips and Mila’s hand clamped down aroundthe small fluttering ball. Unfortunately for her, she was going too fast to be able to pull up and stopbefore a harsh crash-landing right into the ground happened, causing her to summersault a fewtimes away from her broom.

Chest heaving, Mila couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face holding the snitch up whileshe laughed. Fucking Warrington had landed not too far from her and was in the process ofscreaming at Rowle, arguing that if Milo hadn’t been playing as the beater and only trying toprotect his sister and not everyone, he never would have missed the snitch.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, are you okay?” Looking up, Mila could see two sets of Quidditch boots runningacross the field towards her.

“Never better.” She replied as two sets of hands came to her shoulders to help her sit up, but insteadcaused her to cry out in pain. “Bludger nicked my shoulder, pretty sure the bones are shattered.”She said looking up at her brother who was holding up his hands and running them through hishair. On her other side, Mila finally looked over and was surprised to see Nott on her other side.

Before she could say anything to him though, Warrington was towering behind Nott looking downat her with murder in his face. “Fucking bastard child of a mudblood and a disgraced death eater.”He said spitting on the ground. “Both of you, a disgrace on either side of your families. No wonderyou haven’t got any besides that mudblood mother for family.”

“MR. WARRINGTON!” Mila heard McGonagall’s voice booming over the pitch, stopping theseventh year in the middle of his rant.

“Come on.” Nott whispered into Mila’s ear, helping her stand and walk over to where everyoneelse had gathered to listen to Rowle speak. Mila couldn’t help but hold her right elbow, keeping theentire arm close to her body, with her adrenaline wearing off, the pain in her arm was starting toovertake her.

“As eventful as these tryouts were, I have a good grasp on everyone’s skills and how they willpreform under the pressures of a game. Roster will be posted in the common by end of dayTuesday. Granger, get yourself to the infirmary, Granger, see to her getting there in one piece.Everyone else, shower up, enjoy your lunch. If you want, come later this afternoon to watchHufflepuff’s tryouts. They won the cup last year, should be a good show. Dismissed.” He called ashe pulled the leather from his hair letting it hang loose around his shoulders.

Mila couldn’t help but laugh at the literal sounds of all the females on the pitch and in the standsswooning over Rowle. The bloody Viking menace had the nerve to smirk and fucking wink at themall before strolling towards the locker rooms.

“Come on, lets get you to Pomfrey. You can tell me what happened to your fucking hand on theway there.” Milo said, carefully taking Mila’s left elbow and directing her towards the castle.

Rolling her eyes, Mila turned and walked towards the exit with her brother. As they walked, Milaquietly told Milo what Warrington had done to her before the seeker tryouts, making him let out alittle growl. “He mentioned Malfoy, suppose it would be too much to hope that no one would putthe pieces together now that Scorpius is here, huh?” Milo mumbled as they walked.

“The heir, of course. Going to make our lives more difficult, because why wouldn’t he.” Milamuttered, causing Milo to hold up his hand and stopping her.

“You’ve got to stop with the bullshit, Mila. I overheard him talking with Remy in the commonroom. His mum died when he was really young and it’s just been him and his dad ever since. He’snot some spoiled rich kid who’s had an easy fucking life like you’ve been making it sound. Hisfather is a pardoned fucking death eater, his grandfather is an imprisoned death eater, you aren’tthe only person who’s been giving him hell this year just because of who he’s related to.” Milosnipped at her before turning on his heels and storming away from her up towards the castle.

“What the fuck, Milo? You’re on his side now?” Mila called after him trying to keep up with hislong legs, but with her arm messed up she couldn’t run.

Turning back to facing her, Milo threw his hands up in the air. “No, I’m not taking his fuckingside! You’re my fucking twin, not him. But I am telling you to back the fuck off him. He’s a kid,Mila! He’s had nothing to do with anything and you’ve been nothing short of horrid towards him.Do I want to get to know his father? No, not really. He fucked up our mother to the point shesettled for that fucking weasel when he came crawling back to her making empty promises ofgiving her happiness and supporting her in whatever she wants to do. Am I going to blame his sonfor his actions though? No, I’m fucking not. If you don’t stop with the shit you and Jack have beenpulling on him and Remy, then the two of you are no better than that fuck Warrington.”

“I’m not breaking his fucking hand, Milo!” Mila yelled at his retreating back.

Not bothering to turn around and face her, Milo called over his shoulder, “No, but you’re breakinghis heart and spirit. Can’t fix those with a bit of Skele-Gro.”

Chapter End Notes

Well, well, well. We get a bit of an insight of how life at Hogwarts has been for Milaand Milo. So, I made Mila a seeker because she’d want to prove she’s better thanDraco. That’s just part of her personality. Decided to make Milo a beater to show hisprotective side over his sister.Alright, so Rowle is going to be Thorfinn Rowle’s son. I didn’t specify it, but he is. Inmy head, I picture Thorfinn as Chris Hemsworth, so I’m picturing the same for hisson. Ethan Nott is Theo Nott’s son (I don’t remember if I said that before) and myTheo is always Henry Cavill, so you can do with that as you wish to picture Ethan. Idon’t think I’ve given a description of him yet, so make of him what you wish.Milo put his sister in her place, clearly while she’s lashing out, he’s not approving ofthis course of action.Next chapter is Hermione and Draco’s second appointment in unlocking his memories,and a Hermione only POV. Expect an update no later than Wednesday. Might besooner though.

The First Memory

Chapter Summary

Hermione unlocks Draco's first memory and is a bit overwhelmed by what she finds.

Chapter Notes

Okay, so I had shower thoughts last night. And then I came up with this and it hurts.So, I’m sorry (not really)I was thinking, if you’re uncovering memories, it’ll be different than just viewingthem in a pensive. Right? So, while you’re in a pensive memory, you’re just going tosee the motions, you’re not really going to feel how the person experienced it.For example, if anyone of you were to watch a video of say me holding my baby in theNICU for the first time after he was born, it would stir some emotions in you. Only,you didn’t live that specific experience and you could only guess how I felt in thatmoment.However, when I think back on the first time I got to hold my baby after beingseparated from him for sixteen hours after birth I remember the weight of him (11pounds btw) being placed in my arms. I remember my heart clenching and the tearsoverpowering me because the last time I’d seen him directly after birth he’d been blueand unresponsive. So I felt the fear and the over powering joy of seeing him healthyand how much it hurt to see his little squishy face on oxygen. Because that’s mymemory, that’s my experience and not just something I’m viewing in a movie.So, my thought is, recovering a memory will be as if YOU are the person living thatmoment. You’ll have the smells that are associated with it, the actually feeling of saythat heavy baby in your arms, the over powering emotions that person felt. So, basically… memories will be Draco POV and Hermione is about to have to relivetheir relationship and actually feel Draco falling in love with her. And now I hurt.Thank you shower thoughts; you really know how to kick someone when they’redown.More notes at the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Tap, tap, tap Hermione heard as she smacked her quill against the top of her desk knowing that shewas getting ink splatters all over the place, but not caring enough to stop. It was almost time forMalfoy’s second memory appointment, and she was admittedly nervous for it.

The first appointment had gone about as well as she’d expected. No matter what she’d done, shehadn’t been able to find where the obliviated memories were hidden. Potions, Legilimency, andother charms had no effect on where it was locked away, but she wasn’t deterred. She’d found themagical link that Malfoy’s mind had created that indicated where she should start looking, andnow that she knew that, today was bound to go smoother. Hermione knew from experience that itcould take a few sessions and if on her first go at Malfoy’s mind she’d been able to unlockanything at all she would have been shocked.

This was the second session though. There was more promise that it might work to not only findwhere his memories were hidden, but to also potentially break through whatever locks were inplace to keep them from him. Only, now that Hermione had a moment, she was dreading what shemight uncover. How would she handle seeing their breakup from his point of view? What if shehad to watch him corresponding with fucking Winston Greengrass about his betrothal contract toAstoria while they were together? There was so much potential for her to have to relive her heartbreak, and that’s what was making her anxious.

It didn’t matter though. This was a personal case, but her job couldn’t afford for it to be. She wouldjust have to let go of that and keep in mind that anything she found was in the past. This was aresearch project. Malfoy was nothing more than just another mind that she needed to get into andfind how to unlock it.

Taking a deep breath to help steady herself, Hermione pushed away from her desk and stoodstretching her stiff limb, just as her assistant, Janet, peaked her head into Hermione’s office. “Ms.Granger, Mr. Malfoy is in procedure room two all prepped and ready for you.” Hermione noddedher head in acknowledgment that she’d heard the elderly woman and flipped open the filecontaining all of Malfoy’s information.

After their first session, she noted that he’d reported that he’d had a headache that had persistedthrough Sunday morning, but was easily managed with a mild pain potion. Not surprising. He alsoreported that he’d had to wear his reading glasses for the week following, that was a side effect thatshe’d never seen before, but then again Malfoy had the worse vision of anyone she’d ever workedwith in the past and she was trying to peel back away years of layers and not just months.

Today, all his vitals were normal and at his base line, no concerns there. Brain activity seemed tobe calm, so the calming draught that had been administered when he’d first arrived must havealready taken effect. No more stalling, there was nothing left for her to review. It was time forHermione to face him and get started.

Walking out the door of her office and down the corridor that held the procedure rooms, one thatheld her ex was willingly laying and waiting for her to dive into his mind. The sterile hospitallooking hall she found herself standing in, made Hermione take a breath before she stepped inside.High emotions would do no good for her right now, and she couldn’t afford to fail.

Opening the door, a privacy curtain was in place separating the view of the movement that sheheard happening on the other side, so she took one second more, putting her Occlumency shields inplace, and stepped around. Laying on a table wearing only a white t-shirt and a pair of black slackswith his eyes closed, was Draco Malfoy. Hermione couldn’t stop her eyes as they traveled over hisbulging bicep that had a tattoo she hadn’t noticed during the last session.

Shaking her head, Hermione knew that she needed to stay focused. Now was not the time to let herthoughts wander, not that there would ever be a time for her thoughts to explore the expanse ofMalfoy’s wide chest or his shoulders. Bustling around him, and bringing Hermione back into theprocedure room, were the two healers that the memory division employed to help monitor brainactivity and her subjects’ overall vitals while she worked.

“Healers Jilli and Brandon, good afternoon” Hermione said addressing the stunning blonde and herpartner, a rather large man who had much more nimble fingers than his size would ever suggestpossible.

"Unspeakable Granger, we almost have the subject ready. Calming draught has already beenadministered as well as a mild sleeping draught. After leaving him awake last week, the scansshowed that even with the calming draught he struggled to relaxing his mind and we believe that

might have contributed to the side effects that he experienced. We’d like to see that his vision isn’timpacted or made worse over the course of the trial.” Jilli explained walking over to whereHermione stood watching the ongoing diagnostics hovering above Malfoy’s head, showing hisbrain activity.

There was a complete glowing picture of his brain hovering above him as he rested. She could seea small pulsing in the hippocampus, showing that Malfoy was asleep and currently inside a dream.This was good news for Hermione, as she’d noticed that some of the more difficult subjects woulddream the locked memories and give her easier access.

“Good idea, Healer Jilli. If he is ready, I think we can begin.” Hermione said stepping away fromthe scan that Jilli was monitoring and to sitting on the opposite side next to Malfoy’s head and nextto Brandon.

Brandon’s job was to track the rest of Malfoy’s vitals, and ensure that the rest of his body didn’t gointo shock while she worked. Together, they made an excellent team, as they’d been workingtogether for the better part of ten years.

Pulling out her wand, Hermione began to wave it over Malfoy’s head, and she could see the slightflutter of his eyelids. Closing her eyes to block out any of Malfoy’s physical responses to what shewas doing, Hermione gave over control of herself and instead, letting her magic lead the way intoMalfoy’s mind with her astral form.

A cobble stone path and an iron gate, the same ones that lead to the Malfoy Manor, appeared infront of her as her magic directed where she needed to. Taking a tentative step forward, Hermionelooked down to make sure that she wouldn’t fall through the stones, only to be reassured by thesolid ground beneath her foot. Letting all her weight fall onto her leg, a puff of fog erupted behindher, erasing the path behind her. Knowing there was no other way to go, Hermione continued tostep forwards into the depths of Malfoy’s mind.

The iron gates opened wide to her touch, allowing her unrestricted access to continue on her path,where she could see the white stone walls that made up the exterior of the manor that she’d onlyactually stepped foot inside once. This wasn’t how she remembered the manor looking though. Itwas much brighter, and cleaner. No shrubbery lined the path that she moved up, only the samedense fog on either side of her, forcing her forwards, towards the manor towering in the distance.

As she walked, no sounds were made as she crunched through the cobble stone path. However, thefurther she walked, the more she found littered in Malfoy’s mind. Little whisps of memoriesfluttered past her as she moved further down the path and closer to the imposing manor. Malfoy asa child riding on a broomstick and falling off. Malfoy with his mother, sneaking cookies from a jaras he smiled up at her and she gently pressed her lips to his forehead. Malfoy and his youngest sonstanding facing a tombstone each clutching a bouquet of flowers with their head bent.

These clouded imagines along with whatever different feelings and emotions he had at the times ofthe real events continued to pass through Hermione, making her clutch her chest as she felt thepain, delight, and grief that was associated with each of these moment in his life, until she reachedthe front door of the manor and a burst of colors that she recognized from their first session eruptedfrom the cracks of the door, each color representing different catalogs of memories that Malfoy hadin his mind. Concentrating on the magenta strand of magic that she’d discovered during their lastsession to indicate the location of his obliviated memories, Hermione was bewildered when itdidn’t lead her inside and instead away from the main entrance.

Not letting her doubts dictate her direction, Hermione let out a slow breath and put all her trust inthe magic and followed the whisp of magenta that veered off to the left of the house. The magenta

danced along in front of her, leading her to a small footpath that before she’d stepped toward it, hadbeen obstructed by the dense fog that surrounded her. The dirt path, that was only just wide enoughto allow one person to follow, wound its way around the manor and towards the back gardenMalfoy had described to her once, but she’d never seen in person.

Even if this was just a recreation of the real thing, Hermione blow away by the beauty that washeld here and paused to take in the sight. The magenta didn’t seem to want to wait on herobservations though, because before she’d had her fill of the view, she was surrounded by the lightand pulled forward to continue walking. As she went, she found a maze with towering bushes thatreminded her so much of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament from their fourth year,knowing that this wasn’t an actual part of the Malfoy Manor garden, but a trap his mind had placedto keep anyone from finding what she was searching for.

However, whoever had erected this had underestimated Hermione’s abilities to shift through aperson’s mind, and she knew that as long as the magenta light was with her, that she wouldn’t getlost. Steading herself with a deep breath, Hermione took another step forward and was instantlylost in the darkness of the maze as the bright fog disappeared from view completely. With only thesmall glow of magenta to guide her, Hermione knew that she didn’t have a choice, but to keepgoing forward.

On and on, she went, taking twists and turns, not knowing what she might find, but putting all hertrust in her magic to guide her to what she was searching for and to get her there safely. Hermionewasn’t sure how long she followed the maze, it could have been mere minutes or hours, as shewalked she was completely unaware of the passage of time. It wasn’t until she was looking up at agreat white mausoleum with no door, built in the same stone that the manor had been in that sheknew she’d found what she was looking for.

At the base of the solid structure, glowed the magenta light that Hermione had followed and trustedto guide her to Malfoy’s memories of her and their shared past that had been sealed away from hisconscious mind. Taking a deep breath, Hermione stepped forward and held up her hands to feel thepulse of the magic that was set to keep out anyone other than the caster of the spell. She didn’twant to break his mind, so anything she was going to do would have to be done gently and withgreat care and ease. Since this structure held no doors, windows, or even cracks for her to gainentrance through, Hermione knew that she would have to carefully construct her own.

Closing her eyes, Hermione sat cross legged on the top step at the front of the mausoleum, facingwhere there normally would have been a door, and began to mutter spells and incantations toweaken the walls. Sweat pouring down her brow, the fatigue setting in from the exertion ofexpelling so much magic into creating her own entrance, Hermione was on the verge of calling thesession. She now knew where she was hidden in his mind, and the next time she entered, it wouldtake even less energy to find this place. No need to rush the process.

However, just as Hermione opened her eyes and began to stand, brushing the nonexistent dirt fromher white robes, the ground beneath her feet gave a small jolt. Eyes jerking up towards themausoleum, a gasp slipped from her lips as the magenta glow began to shoot up one of the columnsin front of her. It wasn’t much, but it was an entrance. Cautiously reaching out to touch the glow,Hermione felt the rush as she was yanked into the rift with a scream as the memory pulled her in,she dropped into the body of Draco Malfoy to live that moment that she’d found.

Walking down the snowy path towards Hogsmeade, the wind was cold and bitter. Freshly fallensnow layered the ground thickly and each step made him eternally grateful that he had his thickdragon hide boots on to keep his feet warm and dry.

Ahead of him, Draco could see the mass of brown curls and her olive skin as she turned her face tothe side was in a stark contrast to the snow all around them. The obnoxious red hat she wore, withthe gold pompom on the top, and her black oversized muggle coat were about all he could makeout through the blizzard. Granger turned her head again, looking up towards the Weasley girl,laughing at something the red-head had just said.

Finnigan and Thomas raced by, knocking Draco back into his own thoughts as a piercing cold hitthe back of his neck. ‘Death Eater scum’ Finnigan hissed at him as Thomas laughed along with hisfriend and shaking his head, continuing on their way towards where Granger and Weasley werewalking.

Shoving his hands deep in his pockets, Draco sighed, wondering why he’d even bothered makingthe trip to the village that day. It’s not as if any of his friends were joining him, they’d all opted tostay at the castle and hide away in their common room to avoid anyone.

He knew he wasn’t allowed in the three broomstick and he highly doubted that any of the othershops were going to be too keen on letting him either. Would have been easier if he’d just done amail in order.

However, it was the last trip to the village before Christmas and he was going to get his mother agift. She deserved better than a mail in order from some catalog that Pansy had lying around. Afterthe year they’d had, he wanted nothing more than to find something special for her to show herthat everything they had been through was worth it, because in the end they were alive and theywere together.

As he neared the village, Draco felt his ankles snap together as a Tripping Jinx hit him and causedhim to fall face first into the snow. Letting out a heavy sigh, Draco pushed up onto his glovedhands, again thanking Merlin that he’d invested in such fine gloves and cloak that for the most parthad kept him dry and warm, even after getting knocked into a snow drift that covered his entirebody.

‘Are you alright, Malfoy?’ He heard the voice, but seeing as he was still on his hands and knees inthe snow, Draco found it hard to believe that it was really happening outside of his own head.

Normally he would have been embarrassed, and snapped at her, but instead Draco bit his tongueand let out a deep sigh. However, looking up, there she was. Chocolate brown eyes, so dark thatthey were almost black peering down at him with her hand held out, waiting to help him up.

‘Yeah, just fine. Must have tripped on something.’ Draco muttered under his breath, ignoring herhand and pushing himself back up so he could brush the snow off himself.

‘Seamus shouldn’t have done, it’s completely childish and uncalled for. Honestly, you’d think aftereverything everyone has been through the past few years that we could end these petty littledisagreements and look past our differences.’ She said standing there in her muggle jeans thathugged her hips and showed off the curves she’d just recently re-acquired after being starved halfto death on the run from the Dark Lord.

‘Think nothing of it, Granger.’ Draco said side stepping her and moving around and away fromher. Just because they were partners in potions, charms, and arithmancy did not mean that theysuddenly were friends.

The crunch of the snow behind him was a clear indication that she was following behind him andtrying to catch up. Her shorter legs made it easy for Draco to get ahead of her with his normalstrides, but he was not about to run away from her like a bloody coward. If she could keep up with

him, then he would let her walk next to him without telling her to get lost.

‘So, you finishing your Christmas shopping then? I don’t think I’ve seen you come down to thevillage for any of the other trips so far this year.’ Granger asked once she’d caught up to him, a bitout of breath. How she still managed to talk after running through the snow to catch him and thentrying to keep up at his pace was beyond him.

‘Obviously’ He replied, doing his best Snape impression.

‘For your mother then? I saw that she’s relocated to France, can’t say I blame her though. Is thatwhere you’re going to spend your holiday?’ She asked looking up at him with those giant doe eyesof hers. The smell of lavender, lilac, and vanilla wafting off her, threatening to overload his senses.

‘What do you want, Granger?’ Draco finally asked once he’d gotten his train of thought back. Itwasn’t that he didn’t enjoy talking to her in class. No, he knew she was smart, everyone knew that,but she was also witty and kind and so bloody forgiving after he’d given her his written apologythat his Probation Auror had required him to write. Her personality was too much for someonelike him, and he had to accept that she was his partner in a few classes due to being forced into itby the bullshit inter house unity Hogwarts was enforcing this year.

‘Oh, well, I thought we were friends. I mean, I saw that none of the other eighth year Slytherinswere coming with you, and thought maybe you didn’t want to be alone. If I was wrong, I couldalways just, you know, go.’ Draco looked down and saw her playing with her hands, pulling at thematerial of the brown gloves covering her fingers in a nervous gesture. He suppressed a laugh ashe watched her, she’d never fit in with the snakes, every emotion she felt he could read in thoseeyes or by her body language alone.

‘Do whatever you like, Granger. I’m just finishing my shopping and going back to the school.’ Hesaid, leaving the option of what happened next up to her. Truly it didn’t matter to him, she wasperfectly capable of doing whatever she wanted. She always had.

‘Well, I still have my shopping to do for Harry and Ron. Maybe you could help me, I’m utterrubbish at knowing what to get in that Quidditch shop. Or perhaps I could get something to helpwith the Auror training, that might be more practical since I’m really not sure how much timethey’ll be spending playing Quidditch these days.’ She continued her musing on what to or not toget Potter and Weasley, as if Draco had any investment in it what the Chosen One or the Weaselwere given as gifts by Granger.

Tuning out her words, instead Draco just watched her. She spoke with her hands a lot in class, butit appeared that it wasn’t just how she talked when she asked questions or explained things. No, itseemed that this animated speech was just how Granger expressed herself. Full of passion, even ifit was something as ridiculous as possibly buying wand holsters for her friends.

‘And after we check out Zonko’s we can head to the Three Broomstick for lunch, unless you werewanting to head back to the castle to eat instead. I completely understand if you’d rather do that. Ijust thought it would be a waste of such a long walk to not grab a bite to eat before walking back.’Draco stopped walking to look down at the little witch. Had she always been so much smaller thanhim? Even Pansy, who was the smallest Slytherin girl in their year, at least had a few inches onGranger.

‘I’m not welcome there. Wouldn’t you have a better time if you met your friends for lunch instead?’Draco commented, completely ignoring anything else that she’d said before she’d mentionedgetting lunch, with him.

‘Oh, well, that makes sense. No problem, we can eat at the Hog’s Head. I spent the summer withAberforth getting the pub cleaned up and ready for re-opening. I even talked him into having morethan fire whiskey on his menu, so we can always get lunch there.’ She said, completely skippingover his last statement.

‘What about your other friends, Granger? Won’t they be wondering why you’re having lunch witha Death Eater instead of meeting up with them?’ He asked again. He wasn’t just going to let herignore his question and move on because she spoke at such a rapid pace, he questioned how muchoxygen she was truly taking in.

‘Oh, well. I sort of was uninvited. I might have hexed Seamus after I saw what he did to you.Though, boils on his face will be the least of his problems when he goes to try and sit.’ Grangersaid with a bit of a smirk.

‘You hexed your friend, because he tripped me in the snow?’ Draco asked looking down at her witha brow raised.

‘Well, yeah. We’re friends’ she said giving him a smile that made his heart swell to the point, thathe knew he would do anything just to keep seeing her smile up at him like that.

Without any warning, Hermione found herself being thrown from Malfoy’s mind as she gasped forair. The smell of her old perfume she’d used during her Hogwarts years; the feeling of rejection,hurt, and adoration she’d felt when she’d been talking to Malfoy; even the chill in the air from theScotland winter, it had all felt so real. It had felt as if she were Draco Malfoy, not as if she werewatching the memory from a pensive.

Stumbling backwards, Hermione knocked over her chair as she gasped for air, the tears hardlycontained as she looked up at the man who’s mind she’d just inhabited for a short period.Drenched in sweat, t-shirt hugging to his chest, Malfoy looked as if he’d just run a marathon, eventhough his body hadn’t moved in well over an hour.

“We were friends. You, you picked me to be your partner in every shared class we had togetherwhen you didn’t have to.” He whispered looking down at her sprawled on the ground.

Healers Jilli and Brandon were rushing around Draco, casting diagnostic spells to check his vitalsand his brain activity while also sparing her a few glances, silently letting her know that they’d bechecking on her next.

“That was when you first started falling in love with me.” Hermione said fumbling with her breathsas the tears she was fighting stung her eyes. “You’d told me that was when it had started for you,but that was so much more intense than I ever thought possible. You, you’d told me that it startedas a simmer, that’s not a fucking simmer, Malfoy! That ended in a inferno!”

As Malfoy tried to stand from the table, Healer Brandon put his hands on his shoulder and shookhis head at Malfoy. “Sorry sir, can’t let you get up just yet. You’re a fall risk for the first hour afterany memory tampering. You’ll have to stay put until we say otherwise.”

Hermione jumped to her feet and began to head towards the exit when Malfoy called out to her andstopped her.

“Hermione, please. Talk to me.” He pleaded behind her, making her shoulders tense at the sound ofhis voice.

“Talk to you, you want me to bloody talk to you, Malfoy?” She hissed turning around facing him

with the hot tears streaming down her face. “I’m going to have to not only re-live our entirerelationship, knowing that it will end, and remember how it felt falling in love with you on my end,but I’m also going to have to experience the very strong and very real feelings of you falling in andthen out of love with me.

“You left me broken” she yelled, forgetting the two Healers standing in the room with them. “Youleft me so bloody broken that I’ve only managed a string of failed relationships for the last fourteenyears! You set the bar that made me believe that I was special and I was worthy of that can’t eat,can’t sleep, reach for the stars type of love!

“Then you took it all away, Malfoy! You destroyed me and left me in pieces in your wake. Andnow, I’m engaged to bloody Ron Weasley, who cares about me. And I just had to bloody feel howmuch his feelings for me after two years pale in comparison to when you first started falling forme.

“So, excuse me, Malfoy, but my assistant will be in to debrief you for this session. If you don’twant to continue after today, I’ll understand. Otherwise, I’ll see you in two weeks. Good day.”Hermione said turning and running from the room, knowing that the way she’d acted and spokento Malfoy was completely unprofessional and that she would most likely be reprimanded for herbehavior towards a subject.

This is all for the case study. All for the research to further the Wizarding World’s understandingof memory charms. In the end, it would all be worth it.

Maybe, if she kept repeating those words, her heart would believe them and not hurt her too muchby the end of this.

Chapter End Notes

I want to say I’m sorry, but I’m not and I’m not goin-g to lie to you. I hope youenjoyed the first memory. More will be coming out as their sessions continue. Smutwill be in the memories, since I swore to myself this would NOT be an infidelity pieceand I can’t help myself, I love smut. Next chapter is a Hermione and Mila POV! First Quidditch match of the year,Slytherin vs Gryffindor! Who will win? Jack or the twins? Does Ron come to thegame to support the twins? Speaking of Hogwarts houses… What house do you think I belong to? Literally myentire life and no matter what quiz I take, I always get sorted into the same house. We’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t we! Next update… No later than the 16th. BTW, I have a Patreon now. No link, not sure how to do that. You can search for me,same name, same picture, so I shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Slytherin vs Gryffindor

Chapter Summary

First Quidditch match of the season.

Chapter Notes

Another update before I said it would be out… WHAT? Yeah, yeah. It’s the bigresponse to the story that’s got me sitting up at night working on this instead of doingany of my other down time activities. Not going to lie, the Ron has me kicking my feet while I scream “YESSSS” becauseeven though you just saw a glimpse of him, it makes me know that I did it right. Well,RON IS BACK! And now you get to see how the twins interact with him. This is a Mila and Hermione POV chapter, enjoy. PS: my favorite side character isJack. He’s just too much. More notes at the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Fucking eat something, or I’m telling Rowle.” Milo whispered into Mila’s ear as she pushedaround the scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast that Ethan had put on a plate for her.

“I’m not hungry, you wanker. Now let me be.” Mila snapped at her brother looking up at him,before looking back down at the food that she was not going to be able to eat.

“You know, you aren’t the only one that he’s coming to watch play today. Lighten up, Mila, you’llbe fine.” Milo whispered still, pushing her plate towards her again.

It was the first Quidditch match of the season, and Slytherin was playing against Gryffindor. Hermother had written her earlier in the week that Malfoy intended to join her, Uncle Harry, and AuntGabrielle to come and watch the opening match. To say she was nervous about Malfoy coming andwatching her play his old position for his old house team was an understatement. It wasn’t that shedoubted her skills or her ability to be able to push aside outside distractions and be able to find thesnitch, but it didn’t make her any less nervous knowing that after the game she was going to haveto face him and she’d prefer for it to be with a smug look on her face instead of disappointment thatshe failed to catch the snitch and they lost because of it.

“Morning my snakey friends. Oi, Mila, looking a bit peaky aren’t you. Know you don’t stand achance at catching the snitch against Dom?” Jack said sliding into the seat that was already takennext to her and shoving Nott down another space earning a scowl from the fourth year. “Good onyou, hey Nott, pass the bacon, would you?”

“Do you mind? We do have a match today, and that currently makes you the enemy.” Nott snappedat Jack who just shrugged as he began loading up the plate that had just appeared in front of himwith a full English breakfast.

“I swear on Merlin himself; I’m going to knock you off your broom today, Potter.” Nott sneered at

Jack, only making the raven-haired boy let out a laugh and a muffled ‘good luck with that’ beforedigging into his breakfast and saying nothing else.

“I can’t imagine that Weasley is too keen on you sitting with us, and not your team.” Mila saidrolling her eyes and looking over her shoulder across the great hall where she could see RoxanneWeasley glaring at the back of Jack’s head.

The Gryffindor team, as it turned out, was mostly made up of Weasley cousins and Wood brothers.Roxanne, daughter of George, was a seventh year and the team captain for the second year in arow. She played as a Chaser, just like her mum (Angelina Johnson) had when she was in school.Roxanne’s younger brother, Fred (fifth year), and Jack were the other two Chasers for the team.Dominique Weasley, Jack’s older cousin, was a sixth year and the team’s seeker. The Woodbrothers, Chase (seventh year), Trevor (sixth year), and Nolan (fifth year) made up the rest of theteam, with the former being the Keeper and the others being the two Beaters.

Aside from Jack, who was by far the youngest on the team, this was a well-established group whohad been playing together for years. They’d even grown up playing together because of them allpretty much being related. The Wood brothers’ father was good friends with the Weasleys, so eventhey had been playing with the cousins since they were young. The only reason Gryffindor haddone so poorly the season before was because a nasty case of Dragon Pox had swept through theboys dorms and put them out of commission for a month, making their not nearly as strong secondstring play in a few game and put them too far behind in the points.

Letting her head fall back, Mila could feel the tension in her shoulders from the stress of the game.She was not going to fuck this up. She’d trained all summer, she’d practiced until she was soexhausted that she had to crawl down the stairs to her dorm, and she knew she had a good broom.She was going to catch the snitch and she was going to win the game. And she was going to shoveit in Malfoy’s face.

“Team!” Arild Rowle said walking up behind Mila and clasping his hands on her shoulders andgiving her a hard shake. The Viking Wizard’s grip felt so good on her tense muscles that Milawanted to let out a sigh, but the shaking was making her feel slightly seasick. “Opening matchtoday against our rival house! They’ve got a good team this year. Experienced and it seems likeWeasley thinks she’s going out on top for her last year. Let’s put that dream out of her head today,shall we?” He asked looking at the entire Slytherin team, as the team’s Chasers (Matteo ‘Matt’Zabini, Patrick ‘Ricky’ Higgs, and Grace King) were seated across from Milo, Mila, and Notteating their breakfast.

“The youngest Wood brother is a monster with that bat, wicked accurate with his swing. Granger,Nott, the two of you will have to be on top of your game to make sure not a single Bludger finds itsmark on green. Especially make sure that he doesn’t knock girl Granger out and we’ll be set.” Hecontinued still rubbing Mila’s shoulder’s relaxing her even more until her eyes were beginning toslide closed.

“What do you think of their Chasers?” Jack asked in between bites.

“They’re wicked fast, but we already knew the Weasley siblings were good. Potter’s got great aim,but I should be able to handle what they throw at me.” Rowle finished leaning over Mila’sshoulder and snagging a piece of bacon from her plate. “I’ll be down at the pitch warming up ifyou’re looking for me. Everyone is to join no less than an hour before the match is set to begin.”He finished before bounding off with a bit of a skip in his step.

“I don’t think he even noticed you were sitting here.” Zabini said looking at Jack taking a sip fromhis goblet.

“Probably not, he’s very enthusiastic, isn’t he? Better than Roxy, she’s a right bloody nightmare.”Jack commented grimacing as if he knew that Roxanne was still glaring holes into the back of hishead. “Your mum’s coming today, yeah?” Jack asked looking around Mila and over at Milo.

“Yeah, said she’s bringing Malfoy with her too. I sent her my jersey from last year to wear since Ihad to get a new one this year. Should be a good show, especially when I send you to the infirmaryto spend the night, Potter.” Milo responded wiggling his eyebrows at his best friend.

“We’ll see Granger, we’ll see.”

ooo

There was still plenty of time before the match was set to start, but their mothers had asked Mila,Milo, Jack, and Remy to all meet them at Hagrid’s before the game was to begin so they could seethem all before someone had sore feelings over loosing. That wasn’t going to be the Slytherins,Jack would be the only one pouting today.

The twins and Jack had gathered at the entrance to all walk down together when Mila spottedRemy and Scorpius walking up from the dungeon. “Not a bloody word.” Milo whispered intoMila’s ear making her roll her eyes at her brother.

“I haven’t so much as looked his direction in almost a month. Give me a break.” It was true, afterthe tryouts, Mila had decided it would be easier to not have Milo mad at her and instead oftormenting Scorpius she’d just ignore him instead. If she just pretended like he didn’t exist, then hecouldn’t annoy her.

“Brother, twins, I see you are all ready to go find our parental figures.” Remy called once he’dcaught sight of the trio getting ready to go find their parents. “Shall we get going? Little awkward,yeah? Seeing as you’re seeing your father and he’s Scorp’s father too. Man, completely mental thatyou’re all siblings.”

“What did you say, Remy?” Mila asked with her mouth dropped open. “Malfoy’s with mum?” Shegasped looking up at Milo with wide eyes, who also was looking a bit shell shocked.

“I mean, I think. He told Scorp that he was coming to watch the match today. Why wouldn’t he bewith your mum?” Remy said as he continued to walk past them with Scorpius hot on his heels notsaying anything and keeping his eyes on the ground in front of him, and onto the path headingtowards Hagrid’s hut.

Turning on her heels and stalking off after the two Slytherin first years. If Malfoy was there, Milawas going to have a few words with her mother. This was not what they’d discussed, and as muchas she loved her mother, she was not about to let her bring in the ultimate distraction before such abig match.

She could hear her Uncle Harry’s voice when Hagrid opened the door for Remy and Scorpius, ashe let them inside. Mila marched right up the steps and raised her hand and knocked, ignoring thecalls from her brother and Jack behind her. When Hagrid opened the door, Mila had hardly saidanything when she spotted behind him a mess of bright red hair.

This was so much worse than Malfoy.

“Mila! Yer here, come in, come in. Yer brother comin? Well, get in, get in will you. No need tostand outside. Come have some tea.” Hagrid said ushering Mila into the hut.

“Hi, mum. Uncle Harry, Aunt Gabrielle.” Mila said smiling at each adult present before turning

toward the red headed thorn in her side. “Ron.” She said with a flat voice and a sneer.

“My darling girl! You’re here! Oh, baby, you’re going to do so wonderful today! I’ve even gotyour brother’s jersey on, see!” Hermione said moving towards Mila holding her arms out for a hug.After, she turned around and lifted her hair to show off the large ‘2’ and the name ‘Granger’printed across her shoulders.

“Mum, have you been drinking?” Mila asked stepping away from her mother with her nosewrinkled, smelling the elfish wine on her breath.

“Only a little bit, my baby is here!” Hermione said pushing Mila out of the way so she could gocoo at her youngest child. Even if he was only the youngest by about an hour.

The half hour the twins and Jack spent with the adults in their life went by rather quickly. Hermother enjoyed another two glasses of elfish wine, happily provided by Hagrid, with Uncle Harryand Aunt Gabrielle also indulging. Izzy was sitting off to the side pretending to eat a rock cakewith Remy and Scorpius, who said that they would sit with her for the match, wearing a veryGryffindor outfit of a crimson cloak with gold stitching. At one point, Mila slipped her Slytherinscarf around the girl to make sure that her house was also represented, regardless that she wasJack’s sister, she was still her sort of cousin.

Mila did everything to avoid Ron, who hadn’t said even one word since her arrival. To say she wasshocked to see him today would have been an understatement. Not once had Ron Weasley come toHogwarts last year to see a single match. Not one being played by her or even by any of his niecesand nephew. His appearance was completely out of character for him, and Mila couldn’t help butwonder what would prompt him to show his face when she thought she had until at least Christmasbreak before she would have to see his ugly mug again.

“Mum, we have to get going or Rowle will have our heads.” Milo said to his mother as she pulledhim into yet another hug.

“My babies are growing up so fast.” Hermione said cupping his face with her hands before yankinghim into another hug. “Good luck, we’ll be cheering for you.” She whispered loudly enough foreveryone to hear what she’d said.

“Well, I’ll be cheering for you, but I hope your team loses.” Uncle Harry said sending Mila andMilo a wink before clasping Jack on his back.

“Good luck with this lot, Remy.” Jack called as the three Quidditch players exited the hut beforeany of them could get called back for another round of sloppy hugs from one of their parents.

“So, why do you think they’re all getting pissed, and why the fuck is Weasley here?” Jack asked assoon as they were far enough away, he wasn’t fearful of being overheard by his mother.

“No clue, now come on. Captain Weasley will hex you without thinking twice about it.” Milo said,pushing his friend forward and grabbing onto his sister’s hand and tugging her along behind him.“Rowle will think we’re fraternizing with the enemy if he sees up walking onto the pitch with thisfucker.”

ooo

“You’re pissed.” Ron whispered into Hermione’s ear as he helped her climb the stairs of the standsto where outside spectators were permitted to watch. Wrapped in Milo’s scarf and wearing hisjersey from the prior year, Hermione looked like a true Slytherin, completely abandoning her

Gryffindor roots to make sure that her kids knew that she was their number one fan.

“So are you, Ronald. I wasn’t expecting you to come with me today, you could have always stayedhome.” Hermione responded looking over her shoulder to glare down at Ron who was walking upbehind her.

“There’s no bloody way I’m about to let you and Malfoy get all cozied up together to watch thesprogs play Quidditch together. Plus, I do have a few nieces and a nephew playing on the otherteam that I can come to support if I so choose to.” He shot back as he took the flask from his sidepocket and took another sip of brandy that he’d refilled while they were visiting Hagrid.

It wasn’t her fault that Malfoy had decided to join her for today’s match, regardless of how excitedhe’d seemed when he’d written her and asked about possibly joining her today to watch the twinsplay in their first game. After their last memory session, Hermione had been relieved that therehadn’t been anything too heavy unlocked. Just one of them studying and prepping for their cursebreaker training and the copious amounts of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate they’d consumed duringthat time. So, the thought of seeing him today wasn’t completely devastating, and she’d happilysent him one of the spare spectators passes that Pansy Parkinson had sent her when the kids hadmade the team.

Since she’d first told Ron about her run in with Malfoy at King’s Cross Station, he’d becomecompletely unbearable. Where he used to make her laugh when they would share a meal, or howhe would comment on how he liked the way she looked first thing in the mornings and just theother small things that made up a relationship, he’d become very intrusive and grating on hernerves. He was opening all her mail from Malfoy and Harry and reading it before letting her seewhat they had to say, with the weak excuse saying that he didn’t know it was for her. Whenevershe would respond to Malfoy about whatever it had to do with their children, Ron would throw a fitand usually ended up leaving the house over it saying he didn’t understand why she had tocommunicate with Malfoy and why the kids couldn’t just talk to him instead of her.

Luckily, due to the nature of her position within the DOM, she wasn’t free to talk about anythingshe was working on outside of her office or the procedure room. She was in all ways bound bymagic not to speak on any of it, therefore all her letters between her and Malfoy hadn’t includedanything about what they were up to every other Friday since mid-September. If Ron knew thatshe was spending so much time not only pretty much alone with Malfoy, but also digging throughhis memories and trying to recover their lost relationship, he would go completely mental. Well,more so than he already was.

“Malfoy probably isn’t even going to sit with me, Theo Nott’s son is also on the team for the firsttime this year, and I’m sure he’ll be here to support him. Malfoy will probably sit with Nott whilethey recount their old Hogwarts glory days.” Hermione replied with an eye roll.

“Whatever, I just want to make sure that he’s not trying to get too friendly with you, Mione.” Ronsaid, putting his hands on her hips and trying to help keep her steady, when he himself wasn’t evenstanding completely upright himself.

That did end up becoming a problem when Ron tripped over an uneven step and sent Hermionetwisting on the stairs and falling over the banister. It was as if everything happened in slow motion,she’d just made contact with the railing and knew that she was going to drop at least a flight ofstairs and probably get hurt. Closing her eyes, to prepare herself for the impact, Hermione lifted abrow as she waited for the pain to come.

Instead of pain, cold wood, and splinters going into her skin, Hermione opened her eyes to findherself staring right into the molten silver that belonged to one Draco Malfoy. She could feel his

hands wrapped under her legs and around her shoulders, holding her bridal style, firmly against hischest.

“Careful, Granger. Someone could get hurt.” He whispered just loud enough for Hermione to hearhim.

Before she could respond, however, Ron appeared in front of Malfoy, yanking Hermione from hisgrasp, making her tumble to her feet, and luckily not falling down the stairs again. “Get your filthyhands off her, Death Eater scum.” Ron said, going as far as to spit on Malfoy’s dragon hide boots.“Come on, Mione. We have seats with George and Angelina.” He said pulling her away fromMalfoy and back up the stairs where they’d been walking.

“Get your hands off me, Ron.” Hermione snipped once they were a short distance away fromMalfoy, not wanting him to overhear her telling Ron off. “He just fucking kept me from gettinghurt and you spit on his shoes? What is wrong with you? If you’re only here to have some sort ofpissing contest with Malfoy and Harry all day, then you can do it far away from me.” Hermionesaid storming off and past Ron, ignoring his protests behind her as she put some distance betweenthe two of them.

Pushing her way through the crowd, Hermione was quick to find were Harry and Gabrielle wereseated in front of Bill and Fleur Weasley, the four parents chattering about, excited to watch theirchildren’s game. When Harry looked away from his conversation with Bill, his face started off in awide grin and slowly etched into a scowl.

“What did he do?” Harry whispered once Hermione was settled into her seat next to him.

“He stumbled on a loose board and knocked me over the banister if you want to know. Oh, Harrysit down. Honestly, you know it was a complete accident. Ronald would never get physical withme.” Hermione said grabbing her best friend’s arm and yanking him back down into his seat afterhe’d started to stand, being too much dramatic. “No, it was what happened after that has me miffedwith him.” She continued once Harry was seated and had his full attention back on her.

“Malfoy caught me, and Ronald acted like a complete barbarian. He might as well have beat hischest to claim dominance over me. Completely embarrassing display. Now hush, my children areabout to whip those smug looks off all your faces. Just you wait, Mila wrote me and told me thatEthan Nott is the other beater, and he and Milo play together as if they’d grown up doing this.”Hermione said the taunts loud enough so that the other three parents could clearly hear her.

“Yes, well Trevor and Nolan Wood have actually grown up playing as beaters together. And Chasehaving Oliver Wood as a father being a professional Quidditch Keeper. You snakes don’t stand achance.” Bill chided behind her, making Hermione turn around and playfully stick her tongue outat him.

Even further up behind where Bill was seated, Hermione could see where Malfoy, Theo Nott, andBlaise Zabini had all taken seats together. She must have been looking longer than she’d intended,because the trio noticed Hermione’s stare. Lifting her hand and gave a quick wave ofacknowledgement to the former Slytherins before turning back around so she was facing the pitchsearching for her children.

Milo was the easiest to spot with his platinum blonde hair warming up in the air with Ethan Nott,hitting a Bludger back and forth to each other. Scanning the rest of the pitch, she soon spottedGeorge and Angelina’s two kids hovering on their broom sticks with Jack passing a Quafflebetween them. Mila, however, was no where to be found on the pitch. Hermione’s eyes keptscanning, but no matter where she looked, the number ‘7’ Slytherin jersey with the bushy brown

curls was most certainly not warming up for the match about to start.

Madam Hooch stepped out onto the field and called over Roxy Weasley and Arild Rowle to comeout and shake hands and go over the rules of the game and whatever else it was that the captainsdiscussed beforehand. That’s when Mila came running out of the Slytherin locker room with herhair wild and in her face, instead of its normal braid when she played, and she shot up into the air.Milo instantly flew over to her, and it looked like the two might be having a small row, but Miloshook his head and simply left her to get back into his starting position.

After shaking hands, the two team captains flew off into their own respective positions beforeMadam Hooch called out that she was expecting a clean game. Then, throwing the Quaffle into theair, the game began.

Jack intercepted the ball before Zabini’s son was able to make his move and took off like a rockettowards the Slytherin hoops. “See if Rowle can stop him, I doubt it.” Harry whispered intoHermione’s ear with a smirk on his face. All of the sudden a Bludger was coming straight for Jack,causing him to quickly pass the ball off to Fred, while he did a quick roll on his broom to avoidgetting hit.

“I don’t think Rowle will have to worry too much with Milo’s aim.” Hermione yelled back atHarry while she jumped up cheering for her son.

Harry gave a playful glare at her before the two parents began cheering on their sons. The matchwas intense and for every goal Jack scored, Hermione couldn’t help but cheer for her godson, samefor Harry when Milo would make a rather impressive hit of the Bludger or when he’d protect oneof the Slytherin Chasers.

Hermione kept glancing at Mila, who had at the very least charmed her hair so it sat at the base ofher neck, but still kept flowing into her face. Neither of the two seekers seemed to be having anyluck in spotting the snitch, while the Chasers on both teams continued to rack up points, even withthe Keepers making incredible saves.

Around the two-hour mark, the score was up to 140-170, with Gryffindor in the lead. Jack alonehad scored 100 of those points and had given an assist for just about every other point scored. Miloand Nott had been ruthless towards the Weasley siblings, with Milo even breaking Fred’s dominatearm, making it hard for him to play. At the sound of his arm breaking, Hermione had felt herstomach turn over, making her slightly regret allowing Harry to teach such a barbaric game to herchildren.

“I think Dom’s spotted the snitch.” Bill yelled behind them, jumping up and cheering for hisdaughter. Hermione’s eyes instantly found the blonde streaking through the sky towards theSlytherin cheering section.

Mila was closer however, and had also spotted the snitch and was racing across the sky. She had agood ten second lead on the older girl, and with Mila’s much smaller stature, she was able toflatten herself so close against the broom that she shot like a rocket straight in the direction of herhouse’s cheering section.

The crack of the Bludger making contact with her shin guard echoed through the stands, as a well-aimed Bludger, sent by the youngest Wood brother, hit Mila on her leg, causing her broom to gointo a spiral twist. Gasping, Hermione stood up, eyes glued to her daughter as she struggled to gaincontrol of her broom.

However, as soon as Mila righted her broom, she pointed the handle straight at the ground and

went into a dive with Dom hot on her heels. Neck in neck, both girls had their arms stretched out infront of them, with Dom’s longer stature giving her a slight advantage. Another goal was scored byGryffindor, bringing their lead up another ten points right as Mila bumped Dom off course andgrabbed the snitch out from under her nose, securing Slytherin’s victory.

Slytherin won the game 290 to 180. Hermione jumped up screaming shaking her green and silverpompoms, turning around and beaming up at Malfoy who was also standing and clapping for theirdaughter.

Turning back around, Hermione saw Mila getting scooped up into a hug by Rowle and beingthrown into the air by the massive sixth year before he planted a kiss squarely on her mouth beforeturning and also kissing the only other female Slytherin player. Laughing at the display, Hermionechanced a quick glance back up at Malfoy, who had stopped cheering and now looked completelymiffed instead, making her laugh even harder.

ooo

Running into the infirmary with Harry and Ron hot on her heels, Hermione couldn’t get to herdaughter fast enough. Laying in bed, with her leg in a cast and propped up, Mila had a grin acrossher face as she reached forward to steal the chocolate frog her brother had just opened.

“Mila Emmeline, give your brother back his candy.” Hermione said letting out the breath she’dbeen holding since she’d heard that Mila had to be taken to the infirmary on a stretcher followingthe game due to a leg injury. If the kids were joking around and picking on each other, thenHermione knew whatever had happened couldn’t be that bad.

“Mum! Uncle Harry!” Mila said with a smile that dropped when she saw who was also withHermione. “Ron.” She said with a flat tone, making Hermione turn slightly to see Ronald, who wasstanding behind her with his hands in his pockets rolling his eyes.

“You were spectacular, but of course you were. You had me as your coach all summer.” Harry saidwalking up and winking at Mila, leaving Hermione and Ron slightly behind him and away fromthe twins.

“Why don’t you go find George and Angelina, I’m sure they’re getting ready to bring Fred in hereto fix his arm up.” Hermione whispered to Ron as she put her hand up on his chest.

“Mione, I’m sorry about earlier. I was being a jealous git. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”Ron whispered back to Hermione, not wanting to be overheard by Harry or the twins.

“No, you shouldn’t have. But it’s alright. I’ll talk to Malfoy and let him know that you’re sorry.”Hermione told him, brushing her hands over his jacket, smoothing out some wrinkles that hadformed on his cloak during the game. “We can talk more about it at home, alright.”

“Mione, I just don’t want you going near him without me there. You understand why, don’t you?”Ron said a bit too loud, when they were interrupted by Mila sneezing.

Turning around to give her daughter a once over, she saw her pull out a tissue and dab at her nose.“Sorry, mum. Ginger allergy. Hey, before I forget.” Hermione’s concerned expression fell beforeputting her hands on her hips waiting for whatever Mila was about to say. “Could you give this toMalfoy, tell him I’m soooooooo glad he came today.” Mila said just as she finished fishing thesnitch from today’s match out of her pocket, tossing it to her mother.

Without another word to her or anyone else in the room, Ron turned on his heels and stalked out of

the infirmary letting the heavy doors slam shut behind him. Turning on her daughter, gripping thesnitch in her hand, Hermione looked Mila over. “Do you really have to antagonize him?” Sheasked, knowing Mila was much like her father in that aspect. “Just because you think somethingdoesn’t mean you have to say it aloud.”

“He’s a wanker, mum. Come on, you could do so much better. Hell, Zabini’s father is single again,why don’t you let him take you out? Even he would be better than Ronald Weasley.” Mila saidcrossing her arms and rolling her eyes as she said the red-head’s name.

“Did you ever think it’s this attitude right here that puts the two of you at such odds. Look at Milo,he doesn’t have to go out of his way to insult Ron every time they pass each other and they getalong just fine.” Hermione said gesturing towards her son, who was looking up at the ceiling andhis face-tinged pink.

“Get along just fine? He doesn’t even acknowledge that we exist and you call that getting on justfine? He’s a prick and you know it, mum.” Mila muttered, silver eyes looking down at her hands inher lap.

Hermione stole a glance up at her son, who was still studying the ceiling and then another one overto Harry who only shrugged when she looked at her best friend. “She’s not wrong, Hermione.” Hewhispered.

“Yes, well, I’m glad you’re alright, do either of you need anything else right now?” Hermioneasked looked between the three most important people in her life. “No, okay, I’m going to findMadam Pomfrey and get update. I’ll be back.” She said leaning in and giving each of her children ahug before pulling away and walking off, passing George, Angelina, and their son walking in.Giving the trio a small nod and an apology for her son breaking Fred’s arm, Hermione excusedherself to stand out in the corridor away from prying eyes.

Leaning against the wall, Hermione leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Over the past almosttwo months things between her and Ron had been getting even more tense than they’d alreadybeen. She’d thought they might be able to work through whatever this was, but if going by herchildren’s reactions, it seemed that Hermione had a bit of thinking to do before July came and shetook a walk down that aisle.

Chapter End Notes

Well, well, well. Hermione is questioning her relationship with Ron. Mila makes melaugh, but Jack is too much.So, was it lazy of me to just make all the Weasley cousins on the Quidditch team?Yeah, but in the books all the siblings played so it seemed acceptable to me. TheWood brothers, I actually got the inspiration to have three brothers close in age alljocks from a family I’m close with. Only, they didn’t all play the same sport. Okay, Next chapter will be on or before Wednesday. And, it’s not going to be safe forwork. Hermione POV, we’re getting another memory. Here is your official SMUTwarning. See you then!Oh yeah, I have a patreon and trying to figure out twitter. Go ahead and find me there.BYE!

Valentine's Day 2003

Chapter Summary

This is you NOT SAFE FOR WORK, SMUT ALERT chapter warning.

Chapter Notes

Is it Wednesday? Well, no, it’s not. Did I try to get this out yesterday? I did, swear Idid. Ended up with my morning commitments going well into the afternoon and then alittle sir did not want to give up mommy for his nap. Nap trapped, don’t move asleeping demon. So, he wakes up from his nap and then I had to run to the store forbell pepper.At the store, ended up there FOREVER because we’re getting yet another snow stormand just, sigh.I will warn, these delays might keep popping up as I’m going to be a tad bit busy theupcoming months. I’ve got my mom’s memorial that I’m going to be putting thingstogether for end of March and then I have a literal week of birthdays for my boys inApril (19, 20 & 23) in addition to Easter (and I treat that as a second Christmas) **Didyou catch the birthdays for the Malfoy children**ANYWAY, here’s that smutty saucy chapter you were promised.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It was Hermione and Draco’s fourth memory session and the first one since the Quidditch matchthat they’d both attended. After leaving Hogwarts and getting home, Hermione had sent the Snitchfrom Mila to Malfoy since she never saw him again after the match. Even though Hermione hadthe suspicion that her daughter had only gifted it to him to spite Ron, she still wanted to make surethat she followed through with her daughter’s wishes.

“Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy is sedated.” Hermione’s assistant, Janet, said sticking her head inHermione’s office door with a soft smile on her face.

“Thank you, Janet. I’m just about ready. Will you let Jilli and Brandon know I’ll be there shortly.”Hermione said returning the smile to the elderly woman who just nodded her head before backingout of the doorway.

Hermione picked up the quill that she’d set aside and continued to mark down the differences thatshe’d found in the scan of Malfoy’s brain from their base line scan before she’d begun recoveringmemories to their latest scans that had been done when he first arrived today.

There seemed to be a few blank spaces of activity that she hadn’t originally noticed at the start ofthis project. But now that Hermione had unlocked two memories, she’d begun to notice that therewas a faint glow in one hemisphere that hadn’t been there to start. Hermione knew for a fact thatwhat Malfoy had locked away was taking up a large portion of his mind, she’d seen it. She’dslipped inside it, twice.

Finishing measuring the size of the glow and the brightness, so that she could compare directlyafter their session today, Hermione grabbed her notes and loaded them into the file and stood upfrom her desk, ready to go find the blonde.

Following the same path that she was intimately accustomed to; Hermione couldn’t help butwonder what today would bring. Would it be another simple memory? Perhaps them getting fishand chips every Tuesday during their Curse Breaker training days, or another eighth-year memorywhen they’d began to form their friendship. Whatever it was, Hermione knew that she would haveto keep her emotions that were attached to this project in check because she needed to get the dataof right after to be able to compare to two week later.

After the first memory was retrieved, Hermione had a long lecture from her boss, Brennan Doyle.Being thoroughly chastised for her unprofessionalism in the face of one of the departments largestdonators and the subject of a project that would help advance their knowledge of Obliviates byleaps and bounds, Hermione conceded that she’d be able to do her job without letting any pettysquabbles interfere with the work.

Just like with the last two sessions, when Hermione entered the procedure room Jilli and Brandonhad everything set up and Malfoy was peacefully sleeping on the table waiting for her to start. Thediagnostic scans hovered above his head and his body, to ensure that he was mentally andphysically ready to begin.

“Everything’s looking good, boss. Normal brain activity, he just complained the last memory lefthim a bit fatigued over the weekend, but nothing major. We’re ready to proceed whenever youare.” Jilli announced when she noticed Hermione, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Brandon didn’thave any further comments besides all his physical vitals were fine.

Hermione informed the pair of Healers that they would need get printed scan of Malfoy’s brainactivity today to compare it to those that they had gathered before Hermione attempted to unlock amemory. Both Healer agreed to that course of action, and went about setting up to be able to gatherthe imagines directly after Hermione exited, so there would be no waiting.

Then it was time, and without any hesitation, Hermione sat down and pulled out her wand. TappingMalfoy’s temple, Hermione let out a breath and was drug into Malfoy’s subconscious.

She was dropped right at the front of the mausoleum, that now held multiple cracks running up twoof the different columns in front. Hermione was more curious about the main structure though. Themagenta glow was emitting around the base, while it mausoleum still stood sturdy and a starkwhite.

Curiosity got the best of her, because she needed to know what was behind those strong walls, andHermione wasn’t one for waiting for things to happen. Pressing her hands flush against the coolstone, Hermione began chanting the same spells she’d used before to access Malfoy’s memories ina firm voice. Quickly, however, Hermione realized that focusing her magic this way was drainingher much faster than it did when she didn’t have physical contact with the structure, and she couldfeel the fatigue taking over her body and mind.

Sweat was already pooling on her brow, and as Hermione decided that it would be better if shereleased contact and began to attempt to extract her hand from the wall. Only, her attempts to pullaway were futile. Hermione’s eyes snapped opened to look at her hands and realized quickly that itwas as if she were fused with the walls. Well, shit.

There was no seem separating her hands and the wall, it was as if Malfoy’s mind recognized that aversion of Hermione was being housed behind this barrier and it wasn’t willing to release her by

any means. After giving up in her struggle, Hermione changed up her chant just slightly, instead ofrequesting the imagines that were locked, she demanded the information of herself to be released.

There was something coming from this building that was coaxing her in, telling her that this wasn’tjust for Malfoy, that whatever was hidden behind this barricade also rightfully hers. As if whateverMalfoy’s mind was hiding from him belonged to her and was something that he needed her to see,to feel. Taking a deep breath, Hermione pushed against the strong wall and began to feel it giveway to her efforts.

Once she demanded entrance and applied to right pressure, Hermione took a breath, and as shereleased it. It felt like a wave crashed into her body and pulled her out into the tide that wasMalfoy’s latest memory and dropping into his body once again.

Clutching the bouquet of flowers, Draco couldn’t help but smile as he looked around the entranceto Grimmauld Place. Draco made sure that he was quiet when he shut the front door behind him,as to not wake his Great-Aunt Walburga.

Hermione had told him that Potter and Weaslette were out of town for the Weaslette’s Quidditchmatch, giving him and Hermione the entire house to themselves. Draco, for one, was not going towaste this opportunity to woo his witch and show her just how special she was to him.

Kicking his trainers off, Draco made his way towards the stairway to head towards Hermione’sbedroom. He’d stayed the night at Grimmauld more that he cared to admit over the years sincethey had graduated from Hogwarts. Throughout their two years of Curse Breaker training,Hermione and Draco would often sit with Potter and on the rare occasion Weasley in the sittingroom and talk over a glass of Fire Whiskey comparing the Auror training and Curse Breakertraining. Eventually, they moved past their training talk and he had formed a sort of friendshipwith The-Boy-Who-Lived-Twice. Weasley, on the other hand, he still couldn’t tolerate and it hadonly gotten worse since Hermione broke up with him.

Not that Draco and Hermione had seen very much of the weasel since she’d dumped him. They’dbeen in Siberia for the entire year following that disastrous fall out, and he’d only shown up onceafter they’d returned with his sister for an unexpected visit with Potter. Needless to say, wands hadbeen drawn and strong words were exchanged between the two men and between girl weasel andHermione. Since then, things had been tense anytime Potter’s girlfriend and Hermione were in thesame room, so Draco and Hermione spent the majority of their time together at his flat.

Sneaking up the stairs, Draco could hear the soft sounds of the shower running, making Dracosmirk as he crept into Hermione’s room. He was wanting to surprise her, and what a pleasantsurprise he’d stumbled upon for himself.

Draco silently slipped out of his clothes until all he was left in where his pants and entered thesteam filled room. The bathroom was small and only had a single stand-up shower that was justbig enough for two people, while he could use more room, that was enough for his purposes at thistime.

Through the curtain, Draco could see the outline of Hermione’s body. She was fit and firm, he’dalready known that, even before they’d started dating. With their work, they had to stay in shape,so regular workouts were a must. However, even with her lean muscles, Draco had discovered thatshe was still soft in all the right places. Her heavy breasts that fit perfectly in his hands, and theheart shape of her arse was his every fantasy.

Ripping the curtain back, Draco was rewarded by his girlfriend’s shriek of surprise. Only makinghim laugh out loud. ‘Damn you, Draco Malfoy!’ She scolded holding her hand to her pounding

heart while she glared at him, only making him laugh even harder.

‘You look like a drowned kitten.’ Draco laughed looking over her with her long hair dripping wet,making it fall all the way to her waist with the weight from the water. ‘A sexy drowning kitten’Draco continued giving her a little wink making her roll her eyes, but he could see still a smilecreeping onto her face.

‘You’re so stupid. What are you doing here anyway? Did we have plans for tonight? Isn’t itFriday, shouldn’t you be at poker night?’ She said as she tipped her head back, continuing to rinseher hair.

‘Do you know what day it is though? Or did you forget, Granger?’ Draco purred slipping hisboxer briefs down his toned thighs as he continued to watch her massage her scalp.

‘Honestly, Draco. It’s Friday, I just said that.’ She said turning into the stream of the water andwashing her face. Draco stepped into the shower behind her, without touching her as his handsghosted his skin.

‘It’s Valentine’s Day, you silly witch.’ Draco said as she turned around and looked into his eyesgiving him a puzzled look, before raking her eyes down his naked body, giving a slight gulp.

‘Valentine’s Day?’ Hermione muttered looking him over again ‘Draco, we’ve only been dating alittle over a month. You didn’t have to do anything for me for it.’ She finished looking him in hiseyes.

‘Well, how about I do something for the both of us then’ Draco said nuzzling into her neck, layinghis lips on every bit of her collarbone.

His lips laid a trail to her sternum as he licked and kissed her bronze skin. Finding her alreadypebbled nipples with his long cool fingers, he pinched and tugged on them before letting his mouthclamp down on the soft breast tissue forcing a throaty moan from his lover.

Using his tongue, Draco gave each nipple the attention that they deserved. Hermione’s fingerswere scraping against scalp and pulling on his hair. ‘Draco’ she groaned as he started his decentsouth towards her navel.

Licking and nipping his way south, when he came to the soft hair, Draco skipped right past it tothe inside of her knees, causing Hermione to whine again. ‘Don’t tease, Draco’ she chided him,and Draco responded with a nip at her inner thigh before soothing the area with a gentle kiss.

‘Patience, love’ Draco murmured against the opposite thigh as he licked and sucked, leavingmarks showing his path towards her center. Draco let his fingers slide up her slit and felt her slickas he spread it up towards her clit. Smirking, Draco knew she was all ready for him, but he wasn’tgoing to give her everything she was wanting. Yet.

Tipping his head up, Draco plunged his tongue into her channel, as his finger swept over her littlebud. ‘DRACO!’ Hermione called out, gripping onto his hair so hard that it was almost painful.‘Fuck, don’t stop!’ she called as her hips began rocking against his face in time with each thrust ofhis tongue.

Draco switched his tongue and his fingers so that he was now thrusting into her tight heat andsucking down hard on her clit. The quakes in her body told Draco that she was close. So close, andthat she just needed that little nudge over the edge. Licking over her bud and that was all it took forHermione to clamp down on his fingers as she gushed out dripping down his hand and onto his

arm.

Panting on shaking legs, Hermione’s entire body slid down the shower wall until she was cradledin Draco’s arms, while sitting on his lap, as he whispered sweet words into her damp hair. ‘I loveyou, Granger. I love you so fucking much, of course I’d want to celebrate Valentine’s Day with theonly witch I want to spend the rest of my life with.’

Looking up, Draco had to take a deep breath as he looked into those chocolate eyes that held hiswhole world. ‘I love you too.’

Eyes snapping open, Hermione found herself lying flat on her back. The feel of the steam on hisskin, the taste of herself on his tongue, the smell of her release, and the swell of his chest whenshe’d uttered those words to him for the first time. Hermione was in total sensory overload, and itfelt like she was in over her head.

Tears pooled in her eyes as she stood and sniffled down the emotions that were threatening to burstfrom her chest. Malfoy was stirring on the bed in front of her as Jilli quickly waved her wand overhis head to gather the information they’d discussed beforehand.

“What’s happening?” Hermione asked stepping up next to Jilli and looking at the scans herself.She could already see the difference in the glow. It was brighter, that much she was certain of, butHermione had a feeling that the radius might have grown again.

“He’s in pain, but none of it is physical. What was the memory?” Jilli asked looking over atHermione quickly before turning her attention back to Malfoy.

“It was the first time we said that we loved each other out loud. I also made contact with thestructure housing his memories. How long was I in his mind?” Hermione asked as Jilli began torevive Malfoy enough so that she could administer a Pain Potion.

“Fifteen minutes and forty-nine seconds. Mr. Malfoy had an, uh, physical reaction to the memoryas well, this is a first, so I’m just taking a guess that it was more than just saying ‘I love you’ toeach other.” Brandon teased looking over at Hermione sending her a wink, making Hermione’seyes go a bit wide and heat flush up her neck.

As she was getting ready to scold Brandon, a cough from the exam table stole her attention andmade her look over towards the man that they were discussing. Eyes fluttering open, Hermionecouldn’t help but blush again, remembering the memory and just how truly beautiful Malfoy hasalways been.

“Hermione?” Her name being whispered turned all the focus directly onto the man in front of her.

“Malfoy, I’m here. Could you tell me how you’re feeling? I pushed a bit harder this time, are youin any discomfort after the Pain Potion?” Hermione asked standing next the table that Malfoy waslaid on, resisting the urge to take hold of his hand and comfort him.

“My chest aches, what, was that the first time? Is that what you just said?” Malfoy asked her, as heopened his eyes and peered into her own.

Hermione let out a breath as she looked at him. It would be best to just get this over with, “yes, thatwas the first time we ever verbalized that we were in love. So, would you say that it feels likeheartache after a break up that you’re feeling?” Hermione asked pulling out her clipboard andbegan jotting down notes, reminding herself that she wasn’t going to let her personal attachment tothis project get in her way. No need for another lecture if she could avoid it.

“Hermione, please. Talk to me, we were that happy, where did it go wrong?” Malfoy asked,ignoring her question.

“Malfoy,” Hermione stated looking down at the man, “I don’t have the time or energy to try andrecount what went wrong with our relationship. Now, if you could answer the question.” Hermionesaid meeting those grey eyes, trying to not lose herself in them.

“Tell me first and then I’ll answer every question you have for me.” Malfoy insisted, andHermione could feel her composure slipping away. This latest memory was a month before Malfoyand the Greengrass patriarch had started their negotiations for a marriage contract that wouldultimately destroy her heart.

It wouldn’t do anyone any good to dwell on their past when they knew what the future held forthem.

“It’s irrelevant to what I’m asking of you, now if you don’t have an answer, please say that insteadof this.” Hermione said, gripping her quill a bit too tightly.

“Damn you, Granger, this isn’t irrelevant what I’m asking you and you know it.” Malfoy said witha low growl in his voice as he sat up. “You know just as well as I do that our breakup haseverything to do with why these memories are locked away and I want to know what went wrongbetween us. Maybe if I knew, it would help up recover them easier."

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You want to know, huh?” Hermione asked,knowing that her temper was slipping. “Do you have a Pensive at home, Malfoy?”

Hermione couldn’t help the strange laugh that erupted from her. “What a stupid question, you’reMalfoy, of course you have a Pensive.” She said shaking her head. Pulling out a vial, and puttingher wand to her temple, Hermione extracted a long silver strand.

“Here, Malfoy. Make popcorn. Should entertain you for a while.” Hemione said though thick tearsthat had started fall, against her best efforts. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. Have a wonderful day, theMinistry thanks you for your continued volunteer participation in this project.” Hermione croakedout the last sentence as she turned on her heels to walk towards the exit.

Chapter End Notes

Answers are COMING!!! Or at least the start to some answers as to the mystery ofwhat made Draco break Hermione’s heart.Next chapter will have Mila and Hermione POV. Hogsmeade visit, the damn press,and more Ron (hey, we’ve got to have someone to not like, right?)Still no idea on my chapter count for this story. It’ll be moving a bit faster withupdates starting in a couple weeks though. I’m looking forward to being able to throwmyself more into this and crank out more updates. Next update will be Wednesday(hopefully)Until next time, love and kisses!!!!!!!!

Hogsmeade

Chapter Summary

Draco, Hermione, and the twins meet for lunch in Hogsmeade.

Chapter Notes

Hi there! So, my other story (Child of Dawn) is finishing up this week. You knowwhat that means for this story? It means that I’m going to have more time to be able topour into this! I have a few other shorter stories that I’m also going to work on, but thisis going to be my main story now. How many more chapters in this bad boy? No idea. I have the outline, so hopefully inthe upcoming weeks I’ll have a better idea of how much longer this story will be. Youcan look forward to anywhere from 2-3 updates a week and I’ll let you know whenI’m going to start publishing the other (much shorter) stories that I’m going to workon.Anyway, here is a chapter I’m sure all the Ron haters are going to enjoy!!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“What do you mean you’re going to Hogsmeade with me, Ronald?” Hermione was furious as shesoothed back her curls so that they hung back away from her face, but were still wild and lookedalive. “You don’t even like going to the Hogsmeade location on a Hogwarts weekend and youactively try to avoid it, so don’t give me the excuse that you want to see the students because weboth know that it’s a lie.”

Coming out of her bathroom adjusting the fitted navy knit jumper and dark wash jeans that clung toher curves. Hermione went into her closet and found the grey ankle boots with a bit of a heel to addan inch to her height. Waving her wand over her face, a thin layer of makeup set, and she wasready to go meet up with her children for lunch.

“You said that you’re meeting with Malfoy for lunch. Is it so bad that your fiancé would rather younot go around meeting up with other blokes for meals without him?” Ron said standing up straightafter adjusting his newest Weasley jumper and fixing his hair. “I just don’t get why you have to bethere if he’s wanting to have lunch with the kids.”

“I’m sorry, but you have no say in how I approach this situation with my children. Mila asked meto be there with her and Milo for their first sit down with Malfoy, since they’ve never actually met.Apparently after he got the game snitch from her, he wrote and asked if she’d be willing to meethim for lunch and the kids decided to accept.

“They’re nervous and rightfully so, actually, I don’t know why I’m explaining myself to you. Youweren’t invited to join us at lunch, Ron. So, you do not show up in the middle of it and start actinglike a fool. I’m not going to stand for this behavior, Ronald. These kids are trying to build arelationship with their father and you are not going to stand in the way or try to shut me out if they

want me involved.” Hermione said glairing up at the red-head.

“Pretty defensive there about this innocent lunch with Malfoy, Mione.” Ron leered at her, makingHermione’s jaw drop before she could glare at him again.

“See here, Ronald Weasley, my children are my priority, not whatever pissing contest you’re tryingto have with Malfoy that he’s not even engaging with you in. So, before you go and start trying toget all up in arms about it, take a step back think about how you’re acting. If you don’t, I will. Thisis your warning. This ends now where you are trying to make me chose between you and mychildren, because I promise you, if you push this even once more, you will not like the answer.”Hermione finished before spinning on her heels and storming out of their shared bedroom.

“You’re just going to walk away from me and this conversation?” Ron yelled down the hallway asHermione continued walking towards the exit of her home.

“I’m going to meet my kids and their father for lunch. You enjoy your day working a Hogwartsweekend.” Hermione replied waving her hand over her head before snapping the front door shutand Apparating away on her doorstep to the Apparition point in Hogsmeade.

It had been three weeks since the Quidditch match and Hermione hadn’t stopped questioning herrelationship with Ron since. The way he was acting towards her trying to help bridge thatrelationship between her children and Malfoy, and the way that it felt like he was trying to push herchildren out of her life and into Malfoy being their only parent. There had always been other redflags that Hermione had ignorantly ignored, trying to focus on the positives in their lives, but thepainful truth was too much to look away from anymore.

Had Ron ever really accepted that she had a relationship with Malfoy that had resulted in children?No, that had always been a rocky subject, but things had never been hostile. Had he always beensupportive, again no. The more Hermione thought over her relationship with Ron, she wasstruggling to come up with anything that was good in their relationship. He tolerated her children(at best) and her kids didn’t like him.

The pain of the rejection from her parents never wanting her to be a part of their lives again hadalways weighed so heavy on her. Even though Emmeline and Benjamin Granger had opened theirarms and their hearts for their grandchildren, they never extended that back to Hermione. She knewthat she’d been desperate to build a family again after those blows, and while Harry filled part of it,he had his own family. So, after a number of crash and burn relationships with countless otherwizards over the years, when Ron Weasley had come back to her, she’d gotten her stary eyes andhopes for being apart of that big loving family, again.

Two years later though, she was with a lot of regrets. Why had she ever gone back to him to beginwith? Really, he was a safe choice. They already had a long history and not all of it was bad. Theirbreakup hadn’t exactly been good, but besides that what had really been wrong with their firstrelationship? It was boring and he didn’t push her to be more, even tried holding her back in hercareer and education. Oh, the fight that had led up to her wanting to purse her Charms Mastery inconjunction with her Curse Breaker training had been bad. He’d endlessly complained that shewasn’t giving enough of her time for him, and maybe she hadn’t.

Things with Ron the second time around seemed to be following a similar patter, but with differentpieces. Hermione couldn’t stop the groan with the growing realization that she was going to have toput this wedding and her relationship with Ron on pause before it got any further. They were set tohave a Sunday dinner at The Burrow the following day, and Hermione resolved with herself thatshe would wait until after they returned home from that before suggesting Ron moving out of herhouse and back into the flat above WWW in Diagon Alley. This wasn’t going to be a breakup, but

just a little separation time, make sure that they both were committed to each other and thisrelationship. Not just two people trying to make something work because they had history together.

Making her way down the street until she was inside the Three Broomstick, Hermione let a smiletug at her lips when she saw Seamus standing behind the bar and waving at her. “Oi, Mione! Longtime no see! Saw a girl in here last Hogwarts weekend that looks like you, didn’t know you had akid.” He said smiling at her, “Grant told me that Potter’s got a kid in his house, bit of a shock henever mentioned yours though.”

Walking up to the bar, Hermione sat down knowing that she was still a bit early in meeting Malfoyand the kids. “Hi Seamus, yeah. My kids never mentioned anything about, Grant you say? Though,Jack, Harry’s son, came home last Christmas holiday with a missing eyebrow saying that it was all‘Finnigan’s fault’, so I’m guessing that Grant has an affliction for pyrotechnics just like his father.”Hermione said winking at him as Seamus threw his head back laughing.

“Too true, too true. So, married to Ron then? He’s stopped in here a handful of times and he’snever mentioned anything about any kids, just said that the two of you gave things another go.”Seamus said as he turned and served another patron before coming back to her.

“Oh, my children aren’t Ron’s, actually.” Hermione said as the door chimed and Seamus looked upto greet whoever had just walked in, but his face dropped at whoever it was, making Hermione turnaround.

Standing in the doorway, looking completely uncomfortable in his black cashmere sweater andtailored trousers, was Malfoy. His hair was styled perfectly, not a strand out of place, his face wasslightly pink from the harsh Scotland wind, and when his eyes finally landed on her, he brightenedup a bit holding up a hand in a greeting and walked towards her.

“What do you need, Malfoy.” Seamus snapped once Malfoy had reached them, making Hermioneturn in her seat to glare at him. “Something to go?” He finished, clearly not keen on letting Malfoystay in the pub.

“Just a Butterbeer, thanks.” Malfoy said to Seamus before turning to Hermione “want grab a tablewhile we wait for the kids?” He asked as Seamus’s face blanched at his words.

“Yeah, alright. We could go ahead and order, both kids always get the same thing.” She said toMalfoy before turning back to Seamus, who still had his mouth slightly open as he looked betweenthem. “I’m going to need two burgers and chips, one with cheese, ketchup and lettuce only. Theother with no cheese but all the fixings. Then we’ll also take a turkey club, no tomato, with chipsas well. Oh, and three more Butterbeers. Then whatever Malfoy is having. Put it all on one tab,thanks Seamus.” Hermione finished the order before slipping from her seat at the bar and finishingan empty corner table, putting some much needed distance between herself and her old house mate.

The pub was quickly filling up with students and other patrons as the lunch hour came, withHermione keeping her eyes trained on the door waiting and watching for her children. When theyfinally walked in, it was Milo who she spotted first, his head slightly bent forward furiouslywhispering something into the green hat with the silver pompom on the top of a head that sheknew belonged to Mila.

Standing up, Hermione waved her hand attempting to get her children’s attention when Seamusappeared in front of her dropping four plates of food before turning and walking away without aword. It was at that point that Malfoy joined her and began to apologize that he’d been stopped bya business associate when Milo’s eyes finally landed on her.

“Stop talking, the kids are here. Ready to finally, officially that is, meet your children?” She asked,sneaking a glance at the man.

“Mum!” Mila yelled as she jumped into her mother’s arms and Hermione couldn’t stop the smilethat spread across her face at her daughter’s affections. “No Weasley today? Shame.” Her daughterdeadpanned making Hermione shoot her a look telling her to stop. While Mila had a lot to say,Milo was standing slightly behind his sister, hands shoved in his pockets, he hadn’t looked up orspoken since they’d walked to the table.

“Kids,” Hermione started making them both look at her before letting their gaze travel over towhere Malfoy was standing. “I’d like to formally introduce you to Draco Malfoy. Draco, Mila andMilo Granger.” She said gesturing towards the children as they each shook a hand with Malfoy, thestiffness in the father and son almost making her laugh. “Now, who’s hungry? Let’s tuck in.”Hermione said sitting down in the booth before Malfoy and on the opposite side Mila and Miloalso sat.

“How’s school, you’ve both been so vague in all your letters.” Hermione prompted her kids tryingto make this as easy of a lunch as possible. Mila, being the much more outgoing of the twins, wentinto a long-winded discussion about everything that had been happening in classes. She talked somuch about herself and Milo, that as usual, her brother didn’t even have to speak for himself forHermione to know exactly what was happening in both her children’s lives at school.

Malfoy ate quietly, throwing in a question or comment where appropriate and even when Milawould narrow her eyes before responding to him, it didn’t deter him from speaking with hisdaughter. Milo’s eyes hardly lifted from his food, even as he sat ramrod straight in his chair.Hermione made a few attempts to pull her son into the conversation and was only rewarded with aone or two word answer at most.

While Hermione had lost herself in watching Milo, it seemed that Mila and Malfoy had managed toget into a heated debate concerning something to do with Quidditch when a pair of lips madecontact with Hermione’s cheek. “Hello, beautiful. I’ve been waiting for you to join me at the shop.Aren’t you about done?” Ron whispered into her ear, making Hermione jerk away from him andstand up.

“What are you doing here, Ronald.” Hermione hissed at him as Mila and Milo’s eyes both trainedon their mother and her fiancé.

“I just told you, I’ve been waiting on you. Surly you’re not needed over here anymore. It looks likelunch is over and it’s been close to two hours.” He said motioning back towards the empty platesand mugs of Butterbeer that were scattered across the table. “Come on, say your goodbyes andspend some time with me.” He pleaded with her as Hermione tugged her elbow out of his reach.

“I warned you, Ronald. Do not make me choose between you or my children.” Hermionewhispered low enough that the curious crowd that had started watching them wouldn’t be able tohear her. “You came here, after I told you not to and interrupted a nice afternoon with my children.I’m not going to stand for this, and I’ve let you get away with it too many times before.” Hermionesaid keeping her voice even, refusing to let it crack.

“Mione, what are you talking about. You’ve spent the whole lunch time with them and then some,now stop being so stubborn and come on.” Ron said reaching out for Hermione’s arm again andwhen she pulled back, irritation flared in his eyes as he glared at her children before settling backon her. “You’ve had your time with them, now let’s go.” He snapped at her.

“This isn’t how or when I wanted to do this, but this isn’t working for me Ron. I’m sorry, but you

have to go.” Hermione said stepping backwards, putting herself between her children and Ron. “Ithought we could make this work, maybe even taking some time apart would help, but” Hermionepinched the ring on her left ring finger and slid it off before handing it out to Ron, “we’re through.I need you out of my house by this evening when I return.” When he refused to take the ring fromher, Hermione turned to facing the table and set it down.

“Come on kids, Ceridwen’s just got a new thing of Cauldrons in and I think they might havesomething I could use for work. We can stop by Scrivenshaft’s and get you some new supplies forschool as well. Malfoy, lovely lunch, thank you for joining us.” Hermione said nodding her head asshe threw enough gold on the table to pay their tab and leaving a tip before grabbing her children’sshoulders and pulling them from their seats and out the door, leaving Ron with his mouth hangingopen watching her walk away from him.

ooo

To say that Mila was in shock was an understatement. It took a lot to render the girl speechless, butwatching her mother publicly break her engagement certainly did it. Everyone at the pub had beenwatching them as her mother had verbally put Ron Weasley in his place and when the git hadrefused to take the ring back, as if he didn’t that would stop her mother from ending things withhim, Mila couldn’t help but look over at where Malfoy was sitting.

There had been something about him that she couldn’t put her finger on. The way his eyes kepttracking her mother and how he watched her. It was slightly unnerving. It reminded her so much ofthe way that Uncle Harry would watch Aunt Gabrielle, but as far as she knew, her mother andMalfoy hadn’t been spending any time together. Her mom would tell her, wouldn’t she?

It was hard to not be even more irritated with the ginger weasel about interrupting their lunch. Asmuch as she hated to admit, Mila had been enjoying the verbal sparring with Malfoy. He wasintelligent and even though she was a kid, he didn’t speak to her like she was one. He had listenedto what she had to say and even seemed to consider the suggestions, theories, and other thingsshe’d said to him.

While she’d always known that potions was the subject he excelled at and she’d always tried herbest at being better at it than he had been, she had to admit that she’d learned a lot just from theirsimple lunch. It made her wonder, what more could she learn from him if she were to spend evenmore time with him. Maybe in a potions lab?

“Mum?” Mila asked looking over the self-stirring silver cauldron, considering it as a Christmas giftfor Milo, she heard her mother’s hum in response to her. “Do you maybe think that Malfoy mightwant to see us again?” Mila finished scuffing her shoe against the floor. “It’s just that he had someinteresting ideas on other uses of Hemlock and you know, just, I’d hate to pass up a chance atbesting Milo at potions this year and it seems that Malfoy has a better grasp at it than you’d let on.”She finished before looking up at her mother who had turned around to look at her with a smallsmirk crossing her lips.

“Malfoy is a brilliant Potioneer, actually when we were in Curse Breaking training and I wasgetting my mastery in Charms, he had talked about getting his mastery in Potions. I know that hewas meeting with masters when we ended things, so he might actually have a Mastery, I’ve justnever asked.

“But to answer your question, yes. I think he would most certainly enjoy getting to meet with theboth of you again.” Hermione said smiling down from the ladder that she’d climbed to look at ahigher shelf.

“Yeah, well, you know. Anything to put me ahead of Milo. It’s embarrassing really at how muchbetter he is at potions.” Mila tutted, straightening out her scarf before walking away from hermother and towards the register to pay for the cauldron she’d been looking at and to have itdelivered at home so Milo wouldn’t see it.

The Grangers finished their shopping together, and before the twins knew it, their mother givingthem each a hug telling them that she’d see them at King’s Cross to pick them up for theirChristmas holiday before Apparating away. Mila couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt settled ina way that she hadn’t thought she would when she’d first received that letter from Malfoy askingthat she and Milo join him for lunch during their November Hogsmeade weekend.

When Mila had tossed the snitch to her mother and instructed her to give it to Malfoy, it really hadonly been to make Weasley mad. She hated the git, and knew that anything that mentioned herfather always infuriated him.

Only, as mush as she loathed to admit it, she’d enjoyed her lunch with Malfoy. He hadn’t tried topush Milo out of his comfort zone and she’d been expecting someone who was boasting about hiswealth or the business he ran. She was expecting the boy that Weasley had brought up every timehe and her mother had a row about Malfoy being the father of her children. Or perhaps a DeathEater who looked down on his half-blood children, as if they were less than his pure-blooded sonand heir.

He hadn’t been any of that. Everything that Mila had expected him to be, he just wasn’t. And themore she thought about the way he kept sneaking glances at her mother, the more she wanted toknow about why her parents had split up. She’d never been given details about their split beyond,‘it wasn’t meant to be.’ She knew that he’d married Scorpius’s mother not long after, but she didn’tknow anything about that relationship and if it had been an arranged marriage like some of herpure-blood house mates’ parents had or not.

There was, it seemed, a lot more to this than she’d ever thought.

“I think we’re missing something important here, Milo. He was too, pleasant to be someone whowanted nothing to do with us all these years. Malfoy seems genuinely interested in us and not at allbothered by who our mother is.” Mila said scuffing the ground with the toe of her boot as theywalked the path from the village towards the castle.

“And how, exactly, do you propose we find what’s missing?” Milo replied after a few moments ofsilence.

“I don’t know, but even you must admit that it’s odd how interested he is in us now and how hedoesn’t act like a prat towards mum. Regardless of what Weasley always said about how he actedwhen they were children, he doesn’t seem like someone who cares about our mother’s bloodstatus.” Mila said, chancing a glance over at her brother who was looking up into the sky.

“I want to know why he got married so quickly after breaking things off with mum. There’s got tobe more to it than he had some secret fiancée on the side that mum didn’t know about.” Milafinished, still watching her brother as they passed through the gates.

“And what, you’re just going to write Malfoy and ask him about his dead wife?” Milo said finallylooking over at her, raising an eyebrow in question.

“No, you tosser, you’re going to ask Scorpius.” Mila said smirking at her brother making him stopin his tracks.

“No.” Milo said once he’d regained his composure and began walking at a faster pace with thoselong legs.

Mila took off running after him, trying to keep up, but it was slightly pointless because Milo madesure that he kept increasing the distance between them. “Come on Milo!” She yelled out after him,“surely he knows something about his parents’ marriage!” That stopped Milo and he turned back tohis sister with his ‘angry look’ in his eyes.

“I’m not about to go and ask an eleven-year-old boy to recount what he knows of his parents’marriage when his mother is dead. Get to know Malfoy better and then ask him.” Milo said beforeturning on his heels and stalking back towards the castle.

Not wanting to chase her brother anymore, Mila came to the decision, she would get to knowMalfoy better and figure this out. Starting with extending an invitation for him and his son to jointhem for Christmas Eve dinner.

Chapter End Notes

There we go! The moment everyone’s been waiting for, RON IS GONE! Is he reallythough? Well, at least he and Hermione are no longer in a relationship!Mila is meddling, poor Milo is just along for the ride with his sister, and what can youexpect next week to contain?I’ll tell you what the next chapter is… It was asked for and I think it deserves achapter (even though it wasn’t a planned one) but we’re getting a Draco POV chapter.How has he handled his life being turned upside down!?Well, you’ll get to find out… next Tuesday!

Draco

Chapter Summary

Draco watches Hermione's memory

Chapter Notes

Hello, and I’m just going to say sorry sorry about it being a Thursday update and notTuesday. Turns out I forgot what Tuesday was, and well March is mine and my mom’sbirthday month. So, the most I managed to do was feed my children and float throughthe day. My birthday also happens to be exactly a month before my (deceased) son’sbirthday and it’s just all around not good for me.Well, now you know my secret, but it’s okay because it gives me the chance to warnyou just how scatter brained I am these next two months. It’s a lot, not going to lie. So,let’s see what an update schedule might be until May… well it’ll be all over the place.My other two sons’ birthdays are also in April… all three boys were born within 4days of each other and Easter is the Sunday before their birthday week… So, forgiveme while I get done what I can. I’m still goaling for a two time a week update. Thisweekend is busy for me though, so I’m not making promises to how much is gettingdone.Yikes, that’s a lot of notes. So TL;DR, I’m a mess and March and April suck for me soplease excuse my slower than I’d like update schedule.So, here’s the Draco POV chapter. More notes at the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sitting in his study, Draco was nursing his whiskey as he recovered from latest session withHermione. Drumming his fingers on his mahogany desk, his eyes kept flickering back towards thegrandfather clock that sat against the wall of his study.

The Pensive sat on his desk with the swirling memories that Hermione had given him well over amonth ago, just waiting for his late night visitor to arrive before they viewed them. In the silverylight shining from the basin, he could see the shadows of his past self, mocking him for what he’ddone. How foolish and how stupid he had been.

The worst part of it all, Draco didn’t even have a memory of the events they were about to watchhappening. He’d decided to wait to view the memories that Hermione had given him until he knewthat he would have a longer break away from their mind sessions. Seeing as they were skippingtheir last session in December due to the holidays, Draco had decided that this would be the besttime to watch them since it would be almost a full month before his next session with her.

Since dropping Scorpius off at King’s Cross, Draco’s entire world had been flipped upside down,rearranged, and it was all almost too much for the widowed father. He hadn’t felt this lost sinceAstoria’s death six years prior, having worked tirelessly to overcome his dependance on the FireWhiskey that he’d used as a crutch to get him through the first few months without his wife.

Slipping back into the old habits, he now again regularly sought comfort in the liquid, especiallyon the weekends following a mind session with Hermione.

Since the end of the war, or at least he had believed so, Draco hadn’t given Hermione Granger asecond thought. She’d merely been another person whose life he was vaguely aware of, knowingthat she’d too worked at Gringotts during the same time he had, but he hadn’t rememberedanything specific about her. At least not until the last fourteen weeks where Hermione had dug intohis mind and brought forth the memories of their friendship, working partnership, and relationship.

Re-learning his past with Hermione had come as a shock, something that he hadn’t seen coming.Not only had he been madly in love with her, but she’d mothered his eldest children and he’d beenmade for forget all of it.

The fireplace in his study roared to life, and Draco lifted his head to watch as Dean Thomasstepped through, brushing the soot off his trench coat and knocking the dirt off his boots in thegrate. The former Gryffindor finished straitening himself out before looking up with his dark eyesand a grimace on his face, indicating that this meeting was not going to be what Draco was hopingfor.

“Malfoy.” The tall espresso skinned man said stepping forward and stretching his hand out to shakeDraco’s.

“Thomas, shall we skip the small talk and jump right into it?” Draco said as Thomas nodded hishead, pulling out a file from an inside pocket that didn’t look large enough to hold that muchpaperwork; Extension Charms at their finest.

“Aside from Hermione Granger, I’ve spoken with every witch or wizard who has a mastery inCharms in all of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and some in Switzerland. Not a single one of themhas any records of doing business with you, your father, nor your mother in the last fourteen yearsfor an Obliviation. The records at Gringotts of your partnership with Hermione have been clearedfrom the books, and the Goblins aren’t talking about what led to the both of you resigning fromyour jobs within hours of each other on twenty-second of September 2003.” Draco couldn’t stopthe curse that slipped under his breath. He had known that this was going to be a long shot, butafter three months, he was hopeful for at least something that might be helpful.

Holding up his hand to stop Draco’s thoughts from running wild, Thomas smirked and continued.“However, a senior Curse Breaker who was in the class below the two of you overheard me andtold me that he recalled the day you both quit and how it caused a massive stir in the department.From what he remembered, the both of you were very happy with your positions and the suddenloss of the two of you was a huge blow to the entire Curse Breaking division. Neither of you cameinto work to give your notices, just sent separate owls in saying that you were resigning.” Thomasconcluded flipping his notebook closed, shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

Making a call to a private investigator was one of the first things Draco did after he saw Hermioneand their children that day on the platform. From the moment Hermione had told him that shebelieved he’d been Obliviated, Draco had a suspicion that there was something else at play,because he couldn’t imagine not wanting to know his children. So, that’s how he had come aboutcontacting Dean Thomas.

The man was the best that money could buy, he was known for digging the most skeletons out ofthe most warded pure-blood closet that they were wanting to keep hidden. Any law suit or case thatincluded a Thomas Investigation report made the society papers quiver with excitement, notknowing what new gossip was about to come out about some prominent family.

“Any new memories with clues I could use from today?” Thomas asked looking as he shuffledover towards one of the wingback chairs sitting near the fire place.

Grabbing the bottle of Fire Whiskey, Draco poured himself another generous helping beforelooking over at the PI with an eyebrow raised. “Our first solo mission as Curse Breakers. She savedmy arse with her quick thinking and now I know how I really ended up with the burn scar that’s onmy thigh. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have lost my damn leg.” Taking a long drink Dracoclosed his eyes remembering waking up from their memory session and looking at Hermione’s tearstricken face from the memory and now realizing just how close of a call it really had been.

“I’d down played just how much it hurt, and she felt it. The acid went all the way down to thebone, I had told her that I couldn’t feel it because the nerves were scorched, but that was a lie. I hadOccluded until I was just a shell, like I had when my aunt was training me to be a Death Eater. Shefelt it all, and fuck it all she could hardly look at me, again.” Draco dropped his face in his handrubbing his eyes. It had been a close call, and until earlier today Hermione hadn’t know exactlyhow close it truly had been.

Nodding his head sollumly, Thomas waved his wand and summoned a crystal tumbler and thebottle of Fire Whiskey for himself. Taking a slow drink, he leaned back in his chair before lettingout a sigh and meeting Draco’s eye.

“Malfoy, we’ve got to pull in Zabini and Nott. I know you didn’t want them to know whathappened in case there was a chance they were somehow involved, but we’re getting nowhere withthis. You said yourself that they were shocked to see your son at the Quidditch game and howmuch he looked like you. They clearly didn’t know Hermione had given birth to your children, andat this point in the investigation, I highly doubt they knew you’d been Obliviated.”

It was true, Draco hadn’t wanted to let his two friends know what was going on in his life on theoff chance that they were somehow mixed up with whatever had happened to Draco. Without hismemories though, Draco didn’t know who he could or couldn’t confide in. That’s why, when he’dshown up for the Quidditch match back at the end of October, both his best mates had beensurprised to see him at Hogwarts. That surprise quickly turned to disbelief once Milo had flown outonto the pitch with ‘Granger’ across his back.

Theo had stammered looking between Milo, Draco, and Hermione before he just whispered‘bloody hell.’ Blaise took one look at Milo and started laughing and clapped Draco on the shoulderand said something along the line of ‘well, looks like we know what she took with her when sheleft your arse.’

Their reactions had proven that both of his friends were well aware of his relationship withHermione, but the real question was, why had neither of them ever spoken about it to him beforethat day. Or was that just another part of the Obliviation, had them come to him after they’d brokenup and it was erased along with everything else?

So many questions, yet so few answers.

“They’re coming over tonight, I’ll discuss with them what they remember in regards to anyrelationship I had with Granger. If they see you though and they are somehow involved or knowwho is involved, then they’ll know that I’m looking into this. I don’t want to bring anyone else intothe fold until we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Now, do you want to see thismemory Hermione gave me or not?” Draco snapped at the man next to him.

“After you.” Thomas said motioning towards the pensive when Draco stood. Together they dippedtheir heads in and were pulled to the familiar layout of Draco’s old flat where he had lived up until

he married Astoria. Past Hermione was standing next to them, clutching a piece of parchmentwhen she called out his name.

Suddenly, she was being thrown from the front entrance and out the door before anyone elseappeared in front of them. Draco watched as the witch he’d just begun remembering he loved sodeeply standing at the open doorway screaming his name while tears streaked down her face.

“Know where we are?” Thomas asked as he watched Hermione with wide eyes as she continued toscream his name, standing right outside the doorway.

“My old place, only that’s not my stuff.” Draco said indicating towards a table and vase that hedidn’t recognize.

“Draco, please, what was that letter. I’m so confused and I don’t know what’s going on.”Hermione cried out, making him and Thomas turn and to Draco’s horror he saw himself stalkingdown the entrance hall towards the witch begging him to speak to her on the outside of wards hemust have set.

When he heard he accusing him of being an impersonator, Draco could tell that something was offwith him as well. Even though he didn’t remember his relationship with Hermione, he’d neverfallen back into his school boy ways of using the word ‘mudblood’ or looking so damn hateful.Not since before the Dark Lord had taken up his family’s home as his own personal base.

The past Hermione began questioning past Draco and the answer he gave must have been the truth,because Hermione’s face dropped as she looked upon him completely heart broken.

“Do you remember Siberia?” Thomas asked pulling out his notebook as he continued watching thehorrific show in front of them.

“I remember being on an assignment there, but nothing really standing out as very significant. Idon’t remember Hermione being there at all though, instead it’s a string of different nameless facesthat I was working with, but apparently it was all actually Hermione.” Draco replied as Thomasnodded his head and made another note.

His past self had stepped through the wards and was standing in front of Hermione letting her pressher wand into his chest. She was begging him in such a low whisper that he almost didn’t hear herasking if he was Cursed.

After Hermione unsuccessfully tried to release him from an Imperious Curse, Draco’s stomachdropped as he heard himself say, “it’s over, mudblood. I got what I wanted, and it’s time to take outthe rubbish so I can take up my mantel without being drug down by the likes of you.” His past self,crossed back into the flat, Draco turned back to watch Hermione’s face fall as the tears fell freelydown her face as she called out his name again. It seemed that Hermione wasn’t backing downwithout a fight, and it made him sick to know the outcome of this interaction. She would lose thisfight, and she would go on to give birth to his children alone while Draco moved on with his lifeand entered an arranged marriage with Astoria.

When his past self roared at her, calling her filth, Draco couldn’t stop the wince as he watchedHermione stumble backwards and fall into the wall. Thomas whispered ‘damn’, but didn’totherwise respond to what they were watching. Both men were in complete silence and shock atthe events playing out in front of them, the entire interaction was sickening to watch.

“What don’t you understand, mudblood? I tricked the dark lord to survive that bloody war, youdon’t think my acting skills could fool you as well? Everything, since eighth year, has been an act.

I knew I needed to resort the public imagine of the Malfoy name before I could live up to myresponsibilities. Being in a relationship with the Golden Girl of the Golden Trio was just the extraboost I needed.

“After you openly shamed the Weasel by turning down his so very public proposal, it won’t behard to cast myself as the next line of men who’s heart you’ve stomped on to boost yourself in yourcareer.

“You make it so easy, little mudblood. You disgraced the Weasley family, disgracing the Malfoyfamily now. Tsk, tsk. When my engagement to Astoria Greengrass becomes public knowledge, noone will bat an eye. They’ll look at me as if I’m just trying to move on with my life and pick of thepieces after you broke my heart.” Past Draco drawled, mocking her as he clutched his chest abovehis heart.

“Can you pause this?” Thomas asked as he wrote down more notes. Draco held his hand up to stopthe memory and looked over at the PI who was looking at past Draco with disgust. “Something’snot right. This little speech, you said that memory from when you were Christmas shopping eighthyear you could feel yourself falling in love with her, correct?” Thomas asked looking between pastDraco and past Hermione.

“That’s right, she was infuriating and she cursed Finnigan after the two of you knocked me into thesnow.” Draco said remembering that first memory that Hermione had recovered.

“Right, sorry about that,” Thomas said rubbing the back of his neck. “Anyway, what you’re sayingin this memory isn’t true then. You’ve recovered enough memories that you would know if youhad been faking a friendship and relationship with Hermione, and that hasn’t been the case.”

“Right, the only thing that’s happened is I’m remembering how much I bloody loved her and how Ididn’t want to be without her.” Draco said looking over at past Draco with disgust.

“Well, let’s finish this. Wait, do we know what day this is?” Thomas said looking around for anyindication of the date.

“No, but I have a feeling I know what day it might be.” Draco said as he felt nauseous,remembering that he’d gotten engaged to Astoria mid-September.

Another wave of his hand and the memory resumed, just as horrific as Draco thought it would be.Hermione was in shock and not believing him that he was engaged to Astoria and then he conjuredthe bloody contract to wave it in her face. When he pulled out six months of correspondence fromhis old father-in-law, Draco felt his stomach twist.

“Do you still have those?” Thomas whispered eyeing the letters as Hermione confirmed that theywere not forged.

“They would be filed away with the contract as proof of the negotiations. My solicitor would haveall that.” Draco whispered as his heart stopped hearing the venom spewing from his past mouth.

“Don’t you get it, mudblood? No one wants you. The Weasleys didn’t want you. Your friendsdidn’t want you. Not even your revolting muggle parents don’t even want you.” Draco wanted tostrangle himself as he heard a sob come up Hermione’s throat.

“No, Draco. I don’t believe you. This isn’t you, there’s something wrong with you. Please! Please,tell me what happened! You wouldn’t do this to me! You, you wouldn’t abandon our baby! That’snot the man you are!” Draco turned his head and watched as Hermione clutched her hands over her

abdomen, she hadn’t been lying, but deep down he knew she’d told him she was pregnant with thetwins. He’d known about their children, and he had sent her away like she was a common whore.

“A disgraced half-blood, with a repulsive mudblood mother, the Malfoy heir? Do us a both a favor,and rid the world of that abomination.” Draco’s mouth dropped at the words he heard himself spewat her before looking over at past Hermione. She pulled herself off the floor with more grace anddignity than he would have thought she could possess in that moment and without saying anotherword to him, ran from the spot.

When he and Thomas didn’t move to follow her, they were thrown from the Pensive and back intohis study in front of his desk. Draco looked down at the stone basin in front of him with horror. Henow understood why Hermione had reacted so strongly when they’d begun his memory retrieval.Why every memory they had uncovered and made his past feelings for her grow stronger made herpain come even further to the surface.

“I don’t think what we saw there is the whole story.” Thomas said interrupting Draco’s thoughts,making him meet his eye before he continued. “You being obliviated after the fact makes mesuspect that there are parties who were wanting you to end things with Hermione.” Thomas stalledin his thoughts as he walked over and refilled their both their tumblers.

They were silent, as both men stood thinking over what they had just witnessed and heard fromthat memory. When they had finished off another drink and both refilled, Thomas finally spokeagain. “I’d like copies of those letters from the Greengrass father and the marriage contract. Fromwhat we know about what you’ve found of your feelings towards Hermione, I just can’t see youending things that way.” Thomas finished by tipping the rest of his Fire Whiskey down his throat.

“Hermione said that I could have hired someone to Obliviate me myself and that it wasn’t justdone to me. What if that’s what happened? How could I have treated her so horribly and now she’sletting me have a relationship with her and our children again, after all these years.” Dracomurmured with his fingers threaded in his hair, hanging his head. He didn’t deserve herforgiveness. He deserved to be Hexed and she hadn’t even done that.

“Look, Malfoy,” Thomas said with a sigh, setting his empty glass on a coaster. “You’re paying meto do a job to figure out what happened and why you were Obliviated. I’m telling you, from whatyou’ve remembered and from what we saw in that memory, there’s something else that’s goingon.” Thomas finished standing and putting a comforting hand on Draco’s shoulder.

“Let me do my job, because at the end of all this will be answers that both you and Hermionedeserve to have. Maybe you did have someone Obliviate you, maybe something changed in you sixmonths before the two of you broke up, maybe not. Regardless, I’ll find the answers. I have a fewGerman Charms Masters that I’m meeting with next week before the Holidays. Talk with Nott andZabini, let me know what they have to say about you and Hermione, owl me anything you findout.” With that, Thomas stepped back into the fireplace and threw down a handful of Floo Powderdisappearing.

Draco stood up and walked over to the window that overlooked his mother’s garden sipping on hisdrink. How had his life gotten so screwed up? Four months ago, all he was worried about was hisfather’s upcoming release from Azkaban and his mother coming home from France for the NewYear’s Eve party she had decided to host this year.

Scorpius was doing as well as could be expected from an eleven-year-old who had lost his mother.Even though Astoria’s parents were estranged from them since her death, he still had a greatrelationship with his aunt. Daphne had kept close to them and always put forth an effort to spendtime with her nephew and keeping him in her life.

Ever since the first of September, when he’d found out that he had not one, but two children whowere already teenagers from a relationship that he didn’t even remember with a woman he had nomemories of loving, his life had been a mess. Now he was reliving falling in love with her, and hecouldn’t help but recognize that his feelings for Hermione made what he’d had with Astoria pale incomparison. It wasn’t fair to his deceased wife, because they had grown to love and respect eachother before she died, but it turned out that he’d been passionately in love with Hermione from thetime he was eighteen up until at least Valentine’s Day 2003.

Taking another sip from his tumbler, Draco’s thoughts were interrupted by the roar of the floo.Turning, he saw Theodore Nott stepping from the fireplace with a questioning look at the Pensivestill sitting on his desk.

“Taking a walk down memory lane, Drake?” His old friend asked.

“Something like that,” Draco said waving his wand and putting the Pensive in a cabinet behind hisdesk. “Let’s wait for Blaise and then we can talk about it.”

Chapter End Notes

SO, this was going to be one chapter and then it turned into being WAY too much forone chapter and it was messy. I was not a fan of how it felt trying to get everythingwith Dean and then Theo and Blaise in just one chapter. No thanks, I’ll split it intotwo chapters.So, next chapter will be another Draco POV. You’re welcome. After that, the kids willbe on their Christmas holiday and let’s just say… You’re really going to enjoy the nexttwo chapters. I love Theo and Blaise, love writing them. Love reading about them.Alright, so fun personal story, have I said anything about how I met my husband? Poorman. So shy, really truly. I decide that I’m going to introduce myself and that he’sgoing to take me out. We were working together and he didn’t realize that I worked atthe store, so when I walked up to him, he treated me like I was a customer and Ilooked at him like he was nuts and walked away without saying anything to him. Thenext time we talked to each other involved me yelling at the poor man and scoldinghim for not responding to my message that I sent him on Facebook.I didn’t think it was going to be a serious relationship, and since I already had adaughter, I didn’t tell him about her. Instead, I told him that I had a roommate (onebeing my daughter). He found out she was actually my child when he came over afterwe went on a date. When he asked me if I had a child (she looks exactly like me asidefrom her having brown eyes and my eyes are green), I said well yeah I told you abouther. He said, you told me you had a roommate. I said, well she is. Just, I gave birth toher and have to pay for all her shit.He adopted her in January 2016 when she was 6.Alright, next update will be next week. Love you all.

Theo and Blaise

Chapter Summary

Draco, Theo, and Blaise talk about Draco's relationship with Hermione.

Chapter Notes

This chapter took so long to finish just because turns out everyone in my house needsmy attention, all the time. I did manage to make plans for my birthday and get ahaircut. Plus the weather here has been so nice one day and then awful the next, sowe’ve been out in the backyard trying to clean it up. It’s really a nightmare.Oh, thinking, and this is just a thought, since I’m getting more confidence in mywriting that I might like a beta reader or two. Right now, I send my unpolishedchapters to my friends, but I think I’d like to expand to a couple beta readers. For real,send me a message if you’re interested.Oh, speaking of my friends. One asked for a Viktor/Hermione story and that’s beingworked on. It’s going to be a short one, but I’m enjoying it thus far. I really don’t mindHermione being paired off with others, only… Draco can’t be in the story if that’s thecase or a VERY minimal role. So, when I get around to publishing that (because it’sabout a third of the way finished right now), if you’d like to see that it’ll be up laterthis month.Paranoid Draco, sigh. Poor soul. Will this be the last of Draco POV I write for thisstory? Eh, probably not. Now that I’ve introduced it, I’ll use it sparingly. Only, I’llhave to figure out where to stick it in and so that it flows with the story and isn’t out ofplace.What are you going to learn? Well, you get to find out who Theo’s wife is! More notesat the end.Oh, BTW. Not taking down any tags, they're all up for a reason and if you don't readthe tags before reading the story, then don't blame me.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Theo stood watching Draco with a raised eyebrow. “Alright, well what memory? You’ve beenacting abnormal for months.” Theo’s sapphire blue eyes squinted looking him over. “Is thisbecause of Granger and finding out about the twins?”

“Let’s just wait for Blaise so as I don’t have to repeat myself.” Draco said coolly looking his friendover before settling himself back into his chair.

Taking his lead, Theo went to make himself a drink before finding his own seat. The tension in thesilence between them was thicker than it had ever been between the two friends. There had alwaysbeen an underlying understanding between them, even before they realized that they needed eachother. Both men were from old money, old pure-blood families, and had fathers who had leanedtowards abuse in their childhood punishments.

They had shared everything growing up, because they both related so much to each other. Evenmore now that Draco knew about his relationship with Hermione. That might be what made him soirate with Theo, because there would be no way that someone so important to him wouldn’t haveknown about his relationship with Hermione, and then for it to never have been brought up ormentioned again, even if Theo wasn’t responsible for his memory loss, Draco was still upset withthe man.

It felt like hours, but it was probably only twenty minutes tops, when Blaise stepped out of thehearth, his usual loud and obnoxious greeting was cut short by the atmosphere in the room. “Arewe fighting?” The Italian man asked, “because if we are, then I can just go call Giana. She alwayslikes to tell me what a stupid arse I am and I know what to expect with a fight with her.”

Draco couldn’t stop the eye roll at his friend, Blaise always did have a flare for the dramatics.“Shut up and sit down.” Draco instructed, gesturing towards the empty chair. “We’re not fighting,but I do have a few questions for the two of you.”

This comment caused the other two men exchanged a quick look, before Blaise shrugged hisshoulders and grabbed himself a tumbler and brought the entire bottle of Ogden’s with him to hisown chair. A quick ‘this seems like the rest of this bottle and then some will be needed’ was all theexplanation given when Theo sent him a judgmental look before settling back into his own chair,feigning a nonchalant position.

“Alright mate, go on then. Tell us what this is all about.” Theo said before taking a mouthful ofliquid from his own glass. “You want to talk about Granger now that you know she’s had your kidsand you want to know why we didn’t tell you about seeing your son, since he looks exactly likeyou. Does that about cover it?”

Leaning back in his own chair before summoning a pack of cigarettes and an ash tray, Draco lit onewith a snap of his fingers. Taking a deep drag and looking at his friends, Draco let the smokeslowly release from his lungs before answering. “Yeah, let’s start there.” Taking another inhale, hesquinted at the pair as the smoke coming from his nose slightly burned his eyes. “The boy is a yearyounger and in the same house as both your sons. You would have both seen him at the platform,and then I’m sure your kids have mentioned him at some point to you.”

Taking a pull straight from the bottle, Blaise set it on his leg as he leaned forward, letting hisforearms rest on his thighs. Giving a barking laugh, Blaise shook his head before looking Draco inthe eye. A deep breath seemed to calm him, then he paused thoughtfully before speaking at last.

“You think Matteo talks about anyone besides kids in his own year or ones that he’s either friendswith or fighting? This is the first year either of our sons were on the Quidditch team, so it’s not as ifwe were ever at Hogwarts to get a look at the student body to search for your son, who we had noidea even existed until we went to support the sprogs.” Taking another drink from the bottle, Blaisecontinued, “As for seeing him at King’s Cross, well I’m not sure if you’ve met the she daemon thatI reproduced with, but anything involving Giana means that I’m usually wrapped up dealing withher being egocentric. I swear to Merlin, anytime we’re within shouting distance of each other, she’sdemanding more money. So, at the platform, for me at least, it’s see the boy off, and becauseGiana insists on joining us to drop Matteo off every bloody time, I have to move as quickly aspossible. I’ve never picked him from the station because that’s the start of her time with the boyand the less time near her the better for me.”

“You’ve honestly never noticed anything besides Giana when you’re dropping your kid off to go toHogwarts.” Draco asked, thinking back on what little he knew about Blaise’s ex-girlfriend. It hadbeen Blaise’s twenty-second birthday party the night he’s met Giana and conceived his son. Draco

hadn’t been around for her pregnancy, as the two had stayed in Italy to be near her family duringher pregnancy. They were well broken up and moved onto other people by the time Blaise’stwenty-third birthday rolled around, and she had been a right pain ever since.

“Hell no, the woman is a right cow. The only reason I got to enjoy the Quidditch match is becauseMatt neglected in telling his mother that he made the team. Thank Salazar for small favors.” Blaisefinished his statement by taking another swig from the bottle. Draco couldn’t help the smallchuckle, even though things with Giana hadn’t worked out, Blaise had always been a good father tohis son. The two had a close relationship, despite all the efforts of Giana to keep them apart.

Turning his attention from his Italian friend over to the curly haired man that was rolling his glassbetween his hands. “Alright, well Blaise has family drama to explain away his lack of attention todetails. Tell me, Theodore, how is it that you and your wife managed to not notice a child wholooks exactly like me with Hermione Granger,” Draco said.

Hesitating briefly, Theo finally looked up at Draco, his mouth curving downwards as he spoke.“Penelope and I, we never approached Granger when we saw her at the station. She was alwaysthere with Potter and his clan, I saw all the kids there, obviously, but I just assumed her son wasPotter’s. You’ve seen his wife, yeah? I never got a good look, just saw the hair and it’s the samecolor as Potter’s part Veela wife’s and his youngest daughter’s.

“You know, we’ve never bothered with paying attention to the famous birth announcements, andjust figured that they’d had a set of fraternal twins when we first saw them a few years ago. I mean,Granger obviously did, but I after you broke things off with her, I just assumed that her daughterwas from a rebound fling with Krum or someone else.”

There was a break in the conversation as Draco digested Theo’s explanation. Truth be told, he alsohadn’t paid any attention to The Daily Prophet and their celebrity birth announcements. He alsohad to admit that while he’d noticed Hermione and the Potters at King’s Cross, he had also at firstmade the same assumption that Theo had about Milo. His hair was the same shade of white thatPotter’s daughter and wife had, though he also hadn’t been really looking at them as at the time hehad no idea that Hermione Granger was an important piece of his past.

After the lull and the three friends sipped on their respective drinks, lost in their own thoughtswhen Theo continued speaking. “When we met up for drinks for her birthday that year, you told usthat things were over between the two of you and that you never wanted to hear the name‘Hermione Granger’ again. Well, I mean, you used more colourful language than that, but Pennyand I weren’t going to bring up your ex when you went as far as to quit your job to separateyourself from her after breaking up.” Sitting back, Theo ran his hands in his hair in a show offrustration.

“Ethan came home going on about a Granger girl a year younger than him, but I didn’t think youwould want to know that she had moved on so fast and had a kid with someone else. It never evencrossed my mind to think that you were the girl’s father. I mean, Granger has a mean streak, andfrom what Ethan’s told me so does that daughter of hers. He never mentioned a boy, so I justfigured she only had the one kid.” Theo was now looking up at him with a blank expression. Itmade sense, really it did, but clearly Theo and his wife had been friends with him and Hermione.

Pulling another cigarette from his case, Draco lit it and took a deep inhale trying to settle the nervesthat had come from Theo’s explanation. His friends, at least it seemed, were not aware that he hadbeen obliviated. They were only trying to respect his wishes, even if he didn’t believe that thosewere truly what he wanted.

“Did she really not tell you she was pregnant?” Blaise asked, breaking the silence at last, taking a

drag from a cigarette of his own.

Finishing his drink, Draco held out his hand and wordlessly summoned a new bottle of whiskeybefore answering. He slowly poured himself a new drink that he felt he needed to get through therest of this conversation. Feeling pretty drunk at this point, Draco didn’t even notice the burn of thewhiskey as he took a long pull from the tumbler. Looking between his friends, Draco let out a sighand took out his wand. “I’m going to need a Wizard’s Oath from you both that nothing we talkabout leaves this room.”

“An oath? Surely you must be joking?” Blaise said setting his glass and bottle onto the table nextto his chair, but pulling his wand out all the same.

“Not even my wife?” Theo asked, mimicking Blaise’s actions.

“Not even Penelope. I don’t know who’s involved, but it’s at the point that I need to tell you both.”Draco explained as they touched the tips of their wands together, a blinding light flashed sealingthe oath, and it was time to show part of his hand to them. “I was obliviated sometime after I endedmy relationship with Granger. I’ve since begun recovering my memories, but prior to that, I nevergave Hermione Granger a second though. I remembered her, but it was more as if she were apassing person in my life and not someone who was of any importance to me.” He explained asmuch as he could, without mentioning that it was Hermione who he was working with to recoverhis memories.

Blaise let out a whistle while Theo’s face blanched. “I don’t know if I hired someone to Obliviateme or if someone did it against my will. Granger gave me her memory of our breakup, and shemost certainly had told me that we were expecting a baby, but she wasn’t far enough along that shewas showing, so we might not have gotten around to telling anyone about the pregnancy beforethen.

“I just need to know what the two of you remember about mine and Granger’s relationship,because I can’t believe how fucked up my life has gotten from all this.” Draco finished, tipping hisglass against his lips, taking another swallow.

“Mate, I don’t really know much about you and Granger, to be honest. With Matteo living withGiana and being so young, I was mostly living in Italy to be near him when you two were dating. Isaw you a few times at functions, but I had my own fucked up life that I wasn’t around to knowanything about any of this. I knew the two of you were friends and partners at work, but I didn’tspend any significant time with her.” Blaise said sitting back, resting his ankle on his knee. “Theoand Penny had just gotten married. I mean, I saw you two at the wedding and that was about themost I know.”

“Granger was my date to your wedding?” Draco said turning on Theo who had just taken anotherswallow of his whiskey.

“No, not your date. Weasley was her date and you went stag. Uh, but the two of you spent most thenight together though.” At this, Draco thought back to what he remembered about the night ofTheo’s wedding. It had been a summer wedding, on the summer solstice, in 2000 or 2001, he justknew that there hadn’t been a Quidditch World Cup that year. He remembered standing up at thealter with Theo while his bride, Penelope Clearwater had walked down the aisle with her father, butnone of her wedding party stuck out in his mind. He most certainly didn’t remember Hermioneeven being at the wedding.

Now that Draco was thinking about the Nott wedding, he vaguely remembered how Theo’s fatherhad tried to sabotage the union due to Penelope being a muggle-born. Thanatos Nott had made it

abundantly clear that if he were ever able to get out of Azkaban that he would personally see to itthat the Nott name came to an end with his blood-traitor son and any half-blooded children hismarriage produced.

To say that Thanatos was not a reformed Death Eater was an understatement. The blood purist hadbeen stripped of his rights to being head of the family after he was handed down a twenty-yearAzkaban sentence, just as Lucius had been given. Only, when Theo and Penelope’s engagementannouncement had come out, Thanatos had commissioned to have his daughter-in-law to bepoisoned, another ten years had been tacked onto his sentencing.

With the man’s advanced age, already depleting health, and the living conditions in Azkaban, thechances of him living to see the light of day again were slim to none.

“Granger is actually the one who introduced me to Penny. She tagged along with us for yourbirthday night out the year we graduated from Hogwarts. Penny was there with some of her friends,and well she saw Granger and I guess being Petrified with someone brings you together in an oddway. Granger saw something between us and made the introductions. I asked her out on a date laterthat night, she said yes, and six months later we were engaged and the following summer we weremarried.

“Penny and Granger weren’t close friends, but they were friendly enough that we did a lot ofdouble dating and couple things together. After you and Granger broke things off, well, Penny andher just never talked again and since you told us not to bring her up, we just didn’t. I know Pennytried reaching out to her for a few months after, but Granger never responded.

“You were engaged to Astoria, so it felt wrong to bring up your ex, even if we’d wanted to ask youmore questions about what happened. I’m sorry, Draco. I wish I could tell you more, but you keptyour relationship with Granger private and then we had Ethan during that time, so we were alsonavigating becoming parents.”

Theo sat back, thoughtfully before adding, “you told me once that Winston Greengrass wrote youasking about making a betrothal contract, but that you turned him down since you were courtingsomeone. I just assumed that something had changed when you showed up already pissed ravingabout Granger and how you were already engaged to Astoria.” Theo finished, setting his tumblerback off to the side where it disappeared and stood up to put a hand on Draco’s shoulder.

“Look mate, I’m going to head out because it seems like you have a lot on your mind and needsome time to sort through all this. If you think of anymore questions, just let me know.” Theo saidstepping away from Draco and towards the fireplace.

“Yeah, think I’m going to go too.” Blaise said, also standing up and stretching his arms above hishead. “There’s a new club I was wanting to check out before the kid comes home for the holiday.The Christmas holiday is mine this year, and I need to burry myself in as many women before I’mforced to endure Giana.” Blaise slapped Draco’s shoulder as well and followed behind Theo,disappearing as well.

As soon as the sounds from their departure had ended, in a fit of frustration, Draco stood upthrowing the crystal at the wall, causing it to shatter. Glass flew into the plush rug, to be hiddenthere until a house elf came later this evening to clean his study. The discarded Fire Whiskey hadtipped over, filling the room with the cinnamon scent from the liquid. Stumbling, and trippingslightly over his own feet, Draco reached out a hand to steady himself against the doors leading outto his balcony.

The warmth from the alcohol allowed him to step out into the December chill, looking out into the

night sky. The more answers he found; the more questions came up. He would have to write aletter to Thomas and let him know what Theo and Blaise had known, which was basically nothing,but that they most likely weren’t involved in what had happened to him.

An unknown amount of time passed while Draco chain smoked his way through almost a full packof cigarettes on his balcony, when off in the distance an owl’s silhouette was making its waytowards him. Looking over his shoulder, Draco couldn’t stop the frown from spreading across hisface at he noted the late hour. At almost midnight, there were very few people who would besending him a letter now instead of just waiting until morning to contact him.

The bird, who he now recognized as Hermione’s personal owl, easily landed on the railing, when itheld out its leg. “Well, what is your mistress wanting now?” Draco asked the owl who replied witha small hoot before taking off towards the Manor’s owlery.

Opening the envelope, Draco had to squint, as the smoke from the cigarette in his mouth billowedup into his eyes. After reading the letter, however, Draco’s jaw dropped open. The sight ofmovement in the moonlight was the burning end of the cigarette as it fell and disappeared to thegrounds below him. Reading it again, Draco turned on his heels in frustration and stormed awaywithout bothering to vanish the filled ashtray.

Malfoy,

I apologize for the notice, but I was needing to rescind the invitation that Mila had extended you tojoining us for Christmas Eve dinner. I apologize for the late hour, but I wanted to ensure that I didnot forget to send this before you attempted to come to our home.

Hermione J. Granger

Chapter End Notes

Heyyyyyy, so now we know that Blaise has stuck himself with a money grabbingbitch. Poor sweet Blaise. Theo is married to Penelope Clearwater! SO, when I waslooking into her, there wasn’t an answer for sure if she was a muggle-born or a half-blood. I decided for this story, that it’ll work out better for me if she was a muggle-born.And HERMIONE! Why are you uninviting Draco and Scorpius for Christmas Evedinner!?!? Oh, there’s a reason that we’re going to find out in the next chapter? Okay,sounds good. What do you think would have caused her to rescind the invitation? Letme know those theories!!!If you’re wondering, we are doing MASSIVE time jumps, but that will be endingbecause a LOT will be happening over the Christmas Holiday. Like a lot, a lot. Goingto be very focused on the twins and Scorpius (because in case you were wondering,he’s going to start showing off his personality a bit more coming up!!!!!) Yay! Siblinglove!!!That’s all I have for now. There will be another update next week at some point.Hopefully more than one, but I won’t make a promise I can’t keep.

Slytherins vs Hermione

Chapter Summary

Mila doesn't let Hermione cancel her Christmas Eve plans so easily.

Chapter Notes

A/N: Guess what story has two betas now? This story! Shout out KittenKaboom andJane_Davidson for being amazing! Did I just learn how to use google doc? Yes, I did. Am I THRILLED at this newknowledge? Again, YES. So, ENJOY. Forewarning, the Christmas holiday will be*mostly* told from Mila’s POV. Next update? Probably later this week or next week. Just depends on my muse and mykids (looking at the tiny one). More notes at the end……

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Not much bothered Mila Granger. Well, that wasn’t true, there was a lot that bothered her. Herfucking head of house’s mouth breathing because her nose job had gone wrong, the way JackPotter would slip his dirty socks in her school bag as a joke, Milo when he had to ‘be the voice ofreason’, and much more.

None of those annoyances compared to when her mother waited until the last second to write toher, on the Friday night before they were set to leave for their Christmas holiday, telling her thatthey might want to stay at school instead of coming home. Why would the great Hermione Grangerdo something like this? Easy, because she hated breaking bad news and she hoped that if shedropped it at the last second, her kids would be mad enough that they would try and avoid her.Thus, getting the result that she was wanted.

Why, you ask, would their mother not want to see her precious children for the Christmas Holiday?The answer, Ron the fucking Weasel King. That’s strange, Mila, you say; because you were sittingnext to your mother a month ago when she dumped Ron’s ass in front of fucking everyone at thethree broomsticks. What could Ron possibly have to do with her mother heavily suggesting no onecome home for the holiday?

“Doxies. The mother fucker released a case of fucking doxies in the house.” Mila half shouted ather brother, slamming her hands on the table that was separating them in the common room. “Andhe did that last week, and she’s just now telling us about it!” The look on Milo’s face suggestedthat Mila’s hair was possibly sparking blue like their mother’s often would when she wasaggravated. Just another trait that mother and daughter shared.

“She said she hoped that it would only be a two-week job for the exterminators, and that we’d onlyhave to stay with her at the motel for a week. Then, we’d be free to go back home with her to finishup the holiday.” Milo explained, still holding the crumpled message from their mother in his hand.“The exterminators weren’t able to get them all out last week, and they aren’t working this coming

week because of the holiday, unless mum pays them overtime. So, she’s looking at being able topossibly go back home around the second week of January.” Milo finished, tossing the letter backto his sister, who caught it with her outstretched hand, still scowling.

“Pregnant doxies that laid eggs. Sweet Morgana’s sagging tits, I knew the weasel was vindictive,but this is low even for him.” Mila muttered, reading over the letter from their mother. Sitting upstraight and looking back across the table in horror as a thought occurred to her, “Just a moment,Malfoy was supposed to be coming for Christmas Eve. Fuck!” Mila said, tossing the letter to theside and running her fingers through her hair. “Well that just mucks up that, can’t exactly invite hisposh arse to visit us at some run-down motel, now can we.”

“I highly doubt she’s staying in a run-down motel.” Milo started to say, when Mila shot him aknowing look. A pink blush crept up his neck, knowing that he'd likely misspoken.

If there was one thing that Hermione Granger had become along with single motherhood, it wasnotoriously cheap. Raising the two of them on her own, their mother had learned to penny pinchwhere she could. Meaning, all their robes and books came from second-hand shops, but theyreceived the best potions kits and cauldrons as well as all the books they could possibly need. If itwasn’t going to negatively affect their schooling, the twins weren’t about to be afforded the newestof anything. Their Quidditch equipment and brooms were all gifts from their Uncle Harry, as whenhe’d seen what their mum had tried purchasing after they’d both made the house team the yearbefore, he’d shouted at her that his niece and nephew were not going to be stiffed on the Quidditchfront.

“Okay, well, I don’t know why she didn’t ask Uncle Harry if we could stay with them instead ofwasting money on a ruddy motel room anyway. It’s not as if Grimmauld Place doesn’t haveenough space for us to squeeze in for two weeks.” Milo grumbled, catching the attention of theyounger Potter boy as he and Scorpius were passing by.

“Mum and Dad are in France for the holiday this year.” Said Remy, inserting himself into theirconversation, “they already left to go stay with grand-mere and grand-pere, like, two weeks ago.Going to be there for a full month, some weird Veela thing with great grand-mere that Izzy has tobe a part of, I don’t really know. Me, Jack, Dom, and Louie have to stay here because there’s noway to communicate with them and Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill are with them as well. Why? What'shappening? What do you need to stay at my house for anyway?” Remy asked, looking between thetwins while Scorpius stood off to the side with his hands shoved in his pockets looking down at theground, trying to not draw attention to himself.

“Ron released an infestation of pregnant doxies into the house and now it’s uninhabitable until theexterminators can clean it out.” Mila explained leaning back and rolling her shoulders, trying torelease the tension that had built up from sitting in one spot for so long. “Mum’s staying in someshoddy motel and told us we should stay at school.” Looking at Scorpius, she continued, “you andMalfoy were supposed to come to ours for Christmas Eve, but it seems that’s out.”

At being directly addressed by his older half-sister, Scorpius finally pulled his eyes up from thefloor with a wide-eyed look, as if he were surprised by the act of being addressed directly by Milawithout any bite in it. When he didn’t say anything, Mila decided to continue, “Knowing ourmother, she probably just canceled the plans on him without telling him what happened, so that itwouldn’t give him any ideas to just change the venue to your house. Of course, she waited until thenight before to write to us, probably trying to clear them out herself, thinking she could get someheadway and if it didn’t work, she’d upset us enough to make us want to stay here instead of goinghome. Bloody irritating woman, I swear.” Mila muttered that last part low enough so that only Milowould be able to hear her, nodding his head in a silent agreement.

The thing that happened next shocked Mila so much that she damn near fell out of her chair. “Um,we have lots of empty rooms at the manor.” Scorpius said in a voice so low that Mila had to lean into hear him properly. “I’m sure dad wouldn’t care if you guys stayed the holiday with us.” Hefinished looking back down at his shoes.

Glancing over at her twin, Mila could feel the smile spreading while Milo slowly shook his head.“No, no, Mila. No.” Mila’s smile only got larger as she leaned back in her chair, lacing her fingersbehind her head as the full smirk settled on her face. “Mum is going to kill you and then I’m goingto be an only child. You do realize this, don’t you?”

“Nonsense,” Mila said, waving her brother’s concerns away, “besides we have him now, don’twe?” Motioning towards Scorpius, still standing there, with her head before turning her attentionback to her twin. “So, even without me, you won’t be an only child.” She finished, sitting backagain with a smug look.

“You really are the worst sister, aren’t you?” Milo said, throwing his hands over his face, as heslumped back into his own chair.

ooo

The ride back on the Hogwarts Express was long enough that the twins knew their return owl totheir mother they’d sent first thing that morning, would have arrived in time for her to know thatthey weren’t going to be staying at Hogwarts. That they would, in fact, be coming home to spendthe holiday with her. Well, with her, Malfoy, and Scorpius at Malfoy Manor, she just didn’t knowthat last part yet.

Before she’d written to her mother, Scorpius had confirmed that his father would be picking him upfrom the train station and not his assistant. Had his assistant been picking Scorpius up, Mila wouldhave had to come up with another plan, but the stars were aligning for her.

Not willing to be turned down, Mila decided against writing and asking Malfoy and thought thatbombarding him on the platform would put him and her mother both in positions where theywouldn’t be able to say no. As they wouldn’t want to cause a scene in front of a platform full ofpeople. Then again, her mother was always a wild card with her temper, and Mila really didn’tknow what to expect from Malfoy.

“And what happens when she says no to staying with the Malfoys? I really don’t think you thoughtthis through.” Milo grumbled for the hundredth time.

“That’s why we aren’t going to ask her first, plus she’s been sleeping on a motel mattress for aweek, she’s going to jump at a chance of getting into a real bed.” Mila replied, letting her eyes rollover to their compartment companion.

With the Potter brothers staying at Hogwarts, the twins and Scorpius were without their respectivebest mates. Realistically, Mila could have sat with the other third year Slytherin girls, but they’drecently decided that Milo was ‘hot’ and she was tired of sending hexes at her supposed friends forpining after her brother.

Realizing that if she was going to be spending a two-week holiday at the manor, Mila decided itmight be time to finally get to know her younger half-brother a little better. For all the snidecomments that she had thrown at him earlier in the year, Scorpius had never said anything back toher, or tried defending himself against what she was saying. It had always been Remy who hadstood between them and shouted at her, even going so far as calling her a cow once.

“Anyway, Scorpius, what do you do for fun? Flying? I bet the manor grounds are great for flying.”Mila said, directing her attention away from her twin and towards her other brother.

Clearly, this new attention surprised Scorpius as he lifted his head from the book he was reading,quickly looking at Milo who only shrugged before going back to his chess board that he wascharmed so that he could play by himself.

“Um, well, I don’t exactly like flying, or really heights for that matter.” He answered after a longpause, making sure that no one else was going to answer for him.

“You don’t like flying? Okay, well do you at least like to watch Quidditch?” Mila asked, beingalarmingly reminded of her mother as she looked at her half-brother in horror.

“Not exactly, but dad owns the Tutshill Tornados, so we go to a lot of their home games when heisn’t busy with Malfoy Incorporated.” Scorpius said as Mila’s jaw dropped open. This bit ofinformation also pulled Milo from his chess game, so that both twins were now invading theyounger boy’s personal space.

“Your dad owns the Tornados!” Mila shrieked while Milo pulled out the game schedule that healways carried with him.

“They have a home game for New Year’s Eve, Mila, do you realize what this means! Mum wouldnever have taken us, but maybe Malfoy will!” Milo said, for the first time showing some interest inspending time with Malfoy.

“Um, I mean, if you ask, I’m sure he’ll take us. He doesn’t usually work the week betweenChristmas and New Year’s, unless something really important happens.” Scorpius commented,looking slightly alarmed at his half-siblings’ enthusiasm.

“Do you think mum got us the new jersey? Too bad Aunt Gabby isn’t here, she could have braidedthe ribbon into my hair, but whatever, I’m sure I can get mum to charm it so that it’s blue for thegame. Milo, we could dye your hair too, then we could be twins! Merlin, a real in personQuidditch match in the bloody owner’s box!” Mila squealed, falling backwards, kicking her feet inthe air in her excitement.

“Sorry about that, so, Scorpius, if you don’t like Quidditch that much, what do you do for fun?”Mila heard as Milo asked Scorpius the question, bringing Mila back to the conversation that she’dbeen having before she’d gotten distracted by the idea of getting to see the Tornados play inperson.

“I read” the younger boy answered with a pink blush taking over his pale skin as he lookedbetween the twins. When he seemed like he wasn’t going to elaborate anymore, Mila waved herhand to prompt him to continue. “Well, you see the manor has an extensive library. So, uh, that’swhat I’ve always done. Before, er, that is with mum, she couldn’t spend a lot of time outside, so wewould read through all the old texts and journals from the ancestors. She always said to make surewe don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, we need to understand it. So, when I’m home I read a lotof those, because I know that she didn’t want me to believe in the pure-blood supremacy thatcaused the two wizarding wars.” The blush on his face had only deepened in colour at the mentionof his mother and the war that their parents had been heavily involved in and on opposite sides noless.

Reaching out to touch his hand, Mila didn’t want him to feel awkward about talking about hismother in front of them. “I’m sorry about your mum, Scorpius.” Mila murmured, looking him overwhile Scorpius looked towards the ground. While Mila knew what it was like to grow up without a

parent, she didn’t know what it was like to have a parent, that she’d grown up with, to die and haveno hope of seeing them again. Remembering how lost she felt all those years without having afather, made Mila’s heart go out to her half-brother, because while she was gaining a relationshipwith her other parent, there was no bringing Scorpius’ mother back for him.

“Thanks” Scorpius muttered back, still keeping his eyes low. When he didn’t say anything else,Milo looked up from his game and cleared his throat, realizing the tension that had settled betweenhis siblings.

“Do you know how to play chess, Scorpius? This charm is shit and always too easy to beat.” Theolder brother asked, gesturing to the game in front of him. “Mum always complains that Wizard’schess is barbaric, so we aren’t allowed to play at home unless we’re using a muggle board. Milarefuses to play because she always loses.” He explained as he reset the game, nodding towards theseat across from him.

With a small smile brushing his lips, Scorpius moved from his seat so that he was in front of Milo.The rest of the train ride passed as the brothers played against each other, their sister cheering themon, trying to give instructions or tips that neither used.

ooo

Stepping off the train and pulling their trunks behind them, the siblings were met by the sight oftheir mother standing at the opposite end of the platform from Malfoy, which boded well for theplans of convincing their mother to allow them to stay at Malfoy Manor for the holiday.

Following Scorpius, the older siblings kept close to him, pretending that they hadn’t seen theirmother yet, even when Milo grumbled into his sister’s ear that this was a horrible plan. He onlyreceived a slight shrug, because this was the best Mila had come up with on such short notice.

When they got close enough, Malfoy’s eyebrows raised in surprise at seeing all three of hischildren together and walking towards him. “Scorpius, Mila, Milo.” their father greeted hischildren as the older children’s mother stood away from them huffing in irritation waving her armstrying to get their attention. When neither twin responded to her efforts and didn’t go to join her,she began crossing the platform to gather her kids so that they could leave.

“Hey Malfoy,” Mila quickly said, watching as her mother was already on the move towards them.She was going to have to move fast to make sure that her plan worked. “Sorry about not being ableto spend Christmas Eve together. You know how bad doxies can be, it really sucks that we’regoing to be stuck in a blasted motel for the entire holiday.” She rushed out quickly as her motherstormed closer towards her children, her face slightly flushed in irritation that they would ignoreher. “Really, we are disappointed about the turn of events, we were looking forward to pickingyour brain about potions some more.”

“You’re staying at a motel for the holidays?” Malfoy questioned looking between the twins, Milonodded his head confirming what his sister had just said. “When did this happen?” He askedlooking back to his daughter, who was more than forthcoming with any information.

“Last Friday, mum of course called the exterminators, but they weren’t able to clear out the damndoxies in time and now they’re on holiday so it won’t be done until after we’ve already gone backto school.” Mila finished just in time for Hermione to reach the kids.

Looking over at her mother, Malfoy raised a brow and without greeting her properly just said,“Doxies?” Causing her mother’s face to turn red with embarrassment.

“I have it under control, Malfoy. I apologize for my children bothering you, now come on kids.Let’s go grab lunch before we head back to the room.” Hermione quickly rushed out as she tried toround her kids up and usher them towards the gate into muggle London.

“Granger, you’re not staying in a bloody motel room with two teenagers for two weeks. We havemore than enough space for you all to have your own rooms.” Malfoy said, rolling his eyes as histhree children looked at each other standing behind him, sharing his signature smirk behind theirhands, not wanting Hermione to see.

“We aren’t staying at your bloody manor, Malfoy. I’ve already rented the room for the night andthat’s where we’ll be staying.” Hermione said, putting her hands on her hips and stomping her footin frustration, only making the children snicker in amusement at their mother cursing.

“Could you please be reasonable for a moment?” Malfoy said as Mila moved to make sure that hewas standing between her and her mother. Hermione’s wild hair had already started to let off bluesparks. Sensing the incoming danger, Milo grabbed Scorpius by the hand and started walkingtowards the Floo network asking if they would be able to get in without Malfoy. When Scorpiussaid anyone with Malfoy blood was able to get through the wards, the two brothers stepped into thefireplace and disappeared right as Hermione’s temper exploded.

“I’M NOT STAYING AT YOUR BLOODY MANOR, MALFOY! AS IF I’D SLEEP UNDERTHE SAME ROOF AS YOU! I’LL STAY IN THAT BLASTED MOTEL ROOM UNTIL THOSEFUCKING DOXIES THAT WERE RELEASED INTO MY HOUSE ARE ALL TAKEN CAREOF!” She shouted at him, standing on her tiptoes, still hardly coming up to his chin; while Milawas still safely huddled behind Malfoy, thoroughly enjoying the show of her mother’s rage.

“YOU BLOODY STUBBORN WITCH!” Mila looked up in shock that Malfoy was now shoutingback at her mother. Well, this was an unexpected, and rather entertaining, turn of events. “I’LLMAKE SURE THAT THOSE DAMN DOXIES ARE TAKEN CARE OF, UNTIL THEN,YOU’LL BE STAYING AT MY BLOODY HOUSE SO THAT YOU AREN’T SPENDINGCHRISTMAS IN A MUSTY OLD MOTEL ROOM!”

Mila couldn’t help but snicker at the sparks coming from her mother’s hair as she shot out astinging hex that hit Malfoy right in his arm, clearly putting him in a right mood, only making Miladouble over with her laughter. “THAT’S IT.” He yelled as he scooped her mother up and flung herover his shoulder and stormed off towards the fireplaces that her brothers had just recentlydisappeared through.

Watching her mother pounding on Malfoy’s backside was one of the funniest things Mila had everwitnessed, gathering up her trunk and her mother’s tote that she’d dropped when Malfoy haddecided to man handle her, Mila skipped behind her parents grinning like the fool she was. Thatwas easier than she’d thought it would be.

It was when she’d smirked that Hermione lifted her head to look at her daughter, and realizationcrossed her face at what had just transpired. “I birthed you and raised you,” her mother said,narrowing her eyes at Mila, who was still beaming triumphantly at her mother. “And you still turnout just like him,” she finished going back to hitting Malfoy in the back, only to make Mila laugheven harder.

Looking over his shoulder, Malfoy looked at his daughter and couldn’t stop his own chuckle as herealized that he’d also just played into her hand. “You little snake.”

With a smirk and a shrug, Mila motioned towards her green and silver scarf and simply said“Slytherin.” With another barking laugh, and still holding her mother, Malfoy threw a handful of

powder down as he called out ‘Malfoy Manor’ before disappearing in a flash of green.

Following his actions, Mila decided this might just be the most entertaining Christmas Holidayshe’s ever had.

Chapter End Notes

Fucking Ron! So, Hermione will be spending parts of the Christmas holidayattempting to get the doxies out of her house. Why is Hermione staying in a motel andnot at the Leaky? She doesn’t want Ron to know that he ‘ruined’ her Christmas. Mila had my chuckling so much through this entire chapter. She had a plan and shewas NOT about to let Ron Weasley ruin her plans. Finally getting some sibling loveand my heart grew three sizes. Learned a little bit about how Astoria was raisingScorpius. HMMM The plot THICKENS! What’s to come now that the kids have freerange of the manor? I wonder if Mila will mind herself and not go digging into places she shouldn’t be?Absolutely not. Next update, maybe next week, maybe this week. You have one to belooking forward to though!

Happy Christmas

Chapter Summary

Christmas at Malfoy Manor

Chapter Notes

Another beta chapter!! Whoop, whoop. I'm excited.

This chapter was BLAST writing. I realize that some people were not very happy withDraco's actions in the last chapter. However, we are dealing with a damaged personwho had lost his wife, found out he's lost his memories and that resulted in him losingthe love of his life AND the first 13 years with two of his children. Also, if I didn't getthis across in the Draco POV chapters, he's struggling with alcohol use. Not excusing his behavior, but it wouldn't make sense for him to stay cool calm andcollected. Just wouldn't be justice to the character to not allow him to have moments ofweakness. Alright, split POV. Mila and Hermione coming at you!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

After leaving the train station, Mila stepped into the grandest receiving room she'd ever seen. Theroom could house the entirety of the downstairs of her mother's home. That wasn't really what hadcaught her attention though.

Her parents stood near a doorway, yelling at each other. Malfoy called her mother too stubborn forher own good, and her mother replied that his male ego needed to be knocked down a few notchesbefore storming away from him.

Both Mila and her father had been stunned watching Hermione storm out of the room, as if shewere intimately familiar with the layout.

He'd excused himself after that, letting her know that if she needed anything to just call Pip,Scorpius's personal elf. Pip would be able to help either her or Milo with anything they needed.

Mila didn't see her mother again until Christmas Eve dinner. She and Malfoy both apologized toeach other for their behavior at the platform, and the rest of the meal had been pleasant.

Christmas morning was everything Mila had hoped it would be. Malfoy had promised them to seethe Tornados Game on New Year’s Eve. The twins' jumped-up dancing in their excitement, whileHermione and Scorpius just smiled politely and nodded.

Their mother had given them clothes, books, new Quidditch gear, and potions supply kits.Hermione gave Scorpius some muggle history books about the second world war. Scorpius eagerlyhugged Hermione in his excitement. Apparently, Malfoy and their mother talked a lot more thanMila was aware. She would never have guessed the books would make Scorpius so happy.

As they were finishing their late Christmas lunch when a chime sounded, alerting that someonehad just come through the Floo. "Are you expecting company?" Hermione asked, looking towardsMalfoy, whose mouth was set in a line.

"Maybe Daphne, she comes around sometimes to check in on us. For the holidays, she typicallywaits until Boxing Day to come by," he said, pushing away from the table and walking towards thereceiving room.

The house elves at the manor had been given the whole day off for the holiday. So, there wasn'tone available to welcome guests.

"If it is Aunt Daphne, I need to go say hello to her. Please excuse me," Scorpius said. He stood andexited the room as well. Leaving the twins alone with their mother for the first time since beforeleaving the school.

Hermione took this opportunity to give her children her full attention. "Mila. Milo," she said,addressing them each, causing Mila to clench her teeth and her stomach twisted in nervousness.Expecting to be scolded for manipulating the situation, she was surprised when Hermione said, "Iowe you both an apology."

Mila’s jaw dropped open; she did not see this coming. Milo, being a good brother, reached overand used his hand to shut her mouth. "Right," Mila muttered, under her breath, "um, for whatexactly?" She asked, looking at her mum with curiosity.

"I should have been upfront with the both of you about the Doxies situation. I shouldn't havewaited to inform you about where I was staying. I also shouldn't have tried to stop you being ableto spend Christmas with your father, just because the plans had to change." She said, letting hereyes slide between the two teens. "For all of that, I am sorry."

Rubbing her hand over her eye. She met her mother's eye before whispering, "I'm sorry formanipulating the situation at King's Cross. I was scared that you were going to say no if I askedyou about staying here. I, uh, didn't know about what happened to you here during the war, and Ishouldn't have tricked Malfoy into bringing you here."

Malfoy had told her about the unspeakable things that had been done to her mother after beingcaptured by his aunt. He'd also told her that it was a large part of the reason he'd had the manorremodeled.

Before anymore was said, the trio were interrupted by Scorpius slipping into the room. When he'dopened the door, shouting could be heard and was cut off as soon as the oak clicked shut."Scorpius, are you alright?" Their mother asked, approaching the small boy who looked startled.

"Grandmother is here" was all he said. Walking across the room, he went to sit near his siblings.

Scorpius had hardly sat down before both French doors were flung open. A blonde woman wearingimmaculate forest green dress robes stood before them. A look of horror and disgust crossed herface as soon she noticed their mother standing in the room.

"You? What are you doing here?" The woman sneered, her pale blue eyes narrowing.

It was clear that whoever this was, she and Hermione were not on friendly terms. Mila tuggedScorpius so that he was positioned behind her as soon as the blue sparks began coming off hermum's chestnut curls. "Narcissa, always a pleasure. I thought you were exiled to France, shame tosee I was misinformed."

"Why you filthy mudblood…" the woman started to say before she was cut off by Malfoy comingup behind her.

"Mother, I'll have to ask you to not use such language in front of my children." He said, stepping upand wrapping an arm around Hermione’s waist.

To the siblings' surprise, Hermione didn't instantly move away. Instead, she seemed to lean into histouch, as if he were keeping her grounded in this showdown.

"Children?" The woman, who was apparently her grandmother, said. She leaned around the couplestanding at the head of the table. She finally noticed Mila and Milo; both were standing in front ofScorpius. Her face lit up at the sight of two more grandchildren, but when she turned back towardstheir mother her scowl was reset.

"You didn't tell me you had more children, Draco," she said, scolding her son as Scorpius tuggedon the back of the twins' shirts.

"We can use the elf entrance and slip out of here." The younger boy whispered as he slowly pulledthem backwards towards a wall.

Neither Mila or Milo argued with the clearly scared boy and followed his lead. He pressed his handagainst a little otter carved in the wood, and then there was a slight shimmer of magic. Steppinginto the wall, he disappeared just like at the barrier of platform 9 ¾. The twins easily followed thesame steps as Scorpius had done and hid away in a small corridor.

From this side, the children still had a perfectly clear view of the room, and no sounds wereobstructed. "Can they hear or see us?" Mila whispered; Scorpius shook his head.

"No, this is here so that the elves can watch dinner parties without being seen or heard. Then theycan refill drinks without anyone having to ask. It's not a common thing to have, but Dad added it inthe remodel to help the elves. If you follow this path, you'll end up in the kitchen. Grandmotherdoesn't know of its existence, and I think Dad forgot about it too," Scorpius explained, still keepinghis voice low even though it wasn't necessary.

"If he doesn't know about it, then how did you find out it was here?" Milo asked in an equally lowvoice, still watching the adults arguing.

"Pip showed me. The first time she took me from the room, Grandmother had come after mom…Well, she wasn't happy Dad wouldn't let her move back into the manor." He finished speaking justin time to watch Hermione throw her hands in the air and announce that she was going to thelibrary.

None of the children were willing to miss whatever it was the adults were about to say as they allstayed put and stopped talking. "I cannot believe you neglected to inform me that you and themudblood were having babies! Twins, Draco, you've already kept Scorpius from me and now Ifind out you've had two other children hidden away!"

"I was obliviated, mother. I had no idea of their existence. Not until the start of the school yearwhen I was dropping Scorpius off at the train station." Malfoy’s fist clenched, turning his knuckleseven paler than they already were. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"He asked, looking down his nose at his mother.

"Don't be ridiculous, Draco." She said, waving her hands like she was brushing away the very idea.Though, the hard facade had started to crack now that Hermione was no longer in the room with

them. "I want to have a relationship with my grandchildren, please Draco. I've missed so muchbeing away, and I just want to know them."

"I've told you, when you can give up your ridiculous blood purity mindset, you'll be allowed to bearound Scorpius. Astoria and I agreed that we weren't going to allow those ideas to destroy his lifethe way it had mine. I have no say in Mila and Milo, but the way you were just treating Hermione,I highly doubt she'll let you come around them. Even if she were to have a lapse in judgment andsay you could, I'd still enforce the same boundaries I have set with Scorpius."

"Draco, I've told you; I can't just turn my back on how I was raised." Narcissa said with a heavysigh, as if Malfoy was being the absurd one.

"Can't or won't?" Malfoy snapped, "I told you the only way we could both live under the same roofagain was if you denounced that bigotry. Instead, you chose to move to another country while mywife suffered from that blood curse. You left me to raise a five-year-old on my own, all becauseyou wanted to stay a bigot!"

At their father's words, Mila reached out to take Scorpius's hand. From what she'd heard from herhalf-brother, he struggled greatly with the death of his mother.

"What do you know of my Obliviation? Mother, I know you know something." Malfoy said, after apause, when his mother didn't respond to what he'd just said.

"I don't know what you're talking about , Draco. I already said that I don't know anything about it."Narcissa said with a cool air that made Mila shiver. Regardless of her calm demeanor, Mila felt thatsomething was off.

Apparently, Malfoy thought the same thing, because he only narrowed his eyes. "You have lostyour touch, mother. I can tell you're lying" he said. "What do you know?"

Narcissa let out a heavy sigh. When Malfoy looked down his nose at her with his arms crossed, shefinally answered. "It wasn't my idea. If I had known about the children, I would have tried to stopit. These are questions for your father. You had an undesirable match and you had a duty to thefamily." She explained before turning towards the door and walking away from where Malfoystood.

Pausing at the entrance, in a low voice she spoke without looking back at her son. "I am sorry, ifI'd known about the twins, I might have been able to do more." Without another word or backwardsglance, she disappeared out the door.

As the click sounded, Malfoy swiped his hand across the dining table. The leftover food, plates,and glasses scattered across the room with a crash as it all hit the floor. His face flushed with rage,Malfoy tipped his head back and yelled into the open room.

"Dad…" Scorpius whispered, just before he began trying to step back into the room. Milo reacheda hand to stop him with a shake of his head. Turning back, the siblings watched as their father lettears freely fall.

ooo

Curled up like a kitten, Hermione was settled in the same armchair that she’d personally draggedinto the manor when she and Malfoy had finished the remodel. She had personally put together thismuggle section in the library, while overseeing the rest of the room. This section includedeverything from her personal favorites to educational texts.

It wasn't a large selection by any means, but it was a start. Since their remodel days, Hermione hadcraved being able to continue expanding the collection, but fate had other ideas.

Seeing Narcissa tonight had been a shock. The woman, while she'd been willing to save Harry forMalfoy, was still the same pureblood cow she'd always been. She couldn't count the number oftimes they had fought with each other.

The first time had been at their Hogwarts graduation. Malfoy had told her about being acceptedinto the Curse Breaker program and she'd turned and walked away after laughing at him. The sighthad made Hermione’s blood boil and she was more than happy to step in and tell the woman off.

After that, there had been no love lost between the two women. Narcissa had sent a Howler afterDraco told her that he and Hermione were dating. A cursed envelope was delivered to Hermioneshortly after Malfoy had replied that he was not going to be ending things with Hermione. It wasnever confirmed, but Hermione knew it had come from Narcissa.

Before storming out of the dining room, Hermione had ensured the children had managed to slipaway first. It was a small comfort to know that they wouldn't bear witness to the unfortunatewoman that was their grandmother. Their unpleasant nature and blood purist beliefs that Malfoy'sparents held onto, even after the war, had been why they agreed to not tell Malfoy's parents abouther pregnancy.

After the twins had been born, Hermione just never saw a reason to send a birth announcement tothe ignorant grandparents. Keeping them in the dark had been the easiest parenting decision shewould ever face. Now that Narcissa knew about the twins however, it was only a matter of timebefore she began hounding Hermione to see them.

Regardless of all her faults and shortcomings as a person, Narcissa always had been a dotingmother. Based on her reaction to finding out about having two more grandchildren, it seemed shewas the same as a grandmother. Mudbloods were scum, but Malfoy blood triumphed over all ofthat.

Settling back into her book, Hermione wanted to wait until she had properly calmed down beforespeaking with her children about the afternoon's events. It would not go well for anyone if she wentin with these high emotions to answer their questions. And knowing her children, Mila would havea lot to say about Narcissa Malfoy.

Someone cleared their throat and brought Hermione from the thoughts she'd lost herself in. A sadsmile hung on her lips as she looked up to Malfoy standing in front of her. "Hey" she whispered inacknowledgement. "Wine?" She asked, holding up the bottle she'd secured from the cellar beforeheading to the library.

"Please," he said, plopping down into the seat next to hers. "I apologize for my mother. Her visitwas unexpected, as she usually doesn't come see us for the holidays." Malfoy explained, taking amouthful of the dry red she'd poured for him.

"No apology necessary," she replied, waving him off. "Narcissa has always been a right hag, evenin our more civil encounters."

An eyebrow raised in her direction as Malfoy took in another drink. "Why do you call my motherNarcissa? " He asked after pausing to pull out a cigarette and lighting it.

Glaring at him for choosing to smoke. Hermione rolled her eyes when his only answer wasshrugging and taking another drag.

"Of all the names I've called her over the years, that's the one she hates the most." Hermione said,smiling at the memory. Narcissa had walked into Gringotts, looking for Draco to take him to lunchfor the fifth time in so many days. All these lunches, however, had also included Draco meeting'appropriate' women.

On that particular day, Narcissa had walked in demanding for Draco to stop his meal withHermione and come with her. Hermione, who had grown more and more protective of Draco overtheir years of friendship, decided enough was enough. She'd slammed her teacup down and in herbest impression of Umbridge, she'd said 'why don't you join us for lunch instead, Narcissa?'

The outrage that Hermione would address her so informally had cemented Hermione forever usingthe woman's first name. Never could any insult come as close to the amusement of turningNarcissa Malfoy's face that shade of red.

When Malfoy gave her a questioning look, Hermione just waved him off with a laugh. "You'll justhave to wait to see that memory. The story does not do it justice."

Realizing that was the most he would be getting from her, Malfoy stretched out his long legs infront of him. The pants he was wearing were cut perfectly lean muscular thighs showing throughthe fabric. He was still as fit as he was during their curse breaker days, while Hermione was not.

The realization that she was ogling Malfoy hit her hard. Hermione tipped her glass to her mouth inan attempt to hide the flush that had crept up her neck. Maybe he would just think it was thealcohol?

They sat in a comfortable silence for a time, each enjoying their wine. Both went for a second glasswithout hesitation. A small fireplace, not meant for travel, was cracking next to them, keepingthem in a comfortable warmth.

After a while though, Malfoy turned to face her and get her attention again. "My mother admittedthat I was obliviated against my will." Malfoy whispered, so that his voice just carried over thesound of the logs popping and snapping in the fire.

Hermione's head snapped up, jaw gaping at this information. "Does she know who performed thecharm?" She asked, watching as Malfoy's throat bobbed as he took another long drink.

"No, she said I need to speak to my father. She did ask for a chance to get to know the twinsthough." Malfoy finished his drink and set the glass to the side. It disappeared almost as soon as ittouched the surface of the table. "I should have known he'd be involved somehow. Not even beingin Azkaban could stop him from fucking up my life."

Not knowing what to say, Hermione just sat silently with him. She knew what it felt like to be outof control in life and just needing an anchor to steady yourself. At one point, Malfoy had been theanchor she’d needed.

"I'm guessing this part of the library was your contribution?" Malfoy finally asked after a longsilence.

"The entire library was my contribution to your remodel. When you decided the entire manorneeded a fresh start, you gave me free rein here." Hermione said, gesturing to their surroundings.

"Your mother was not pleased, first to be shipped off to France while we broke some of the darkercurses and rid the foundation of the Dark Magic. Then she was appalled that you hired Theo andPenny for the remodeling and interior designing. The icing on the cake really was when you told

her I was solely responsible for the library."

"I remember clearing the curses and Dark Magic with someone; and that I hired Theo and Penny. Ishould have figured it was you who helped break this place of Dark Magic."

"You were my best friend, Draco." Hermione whispered, looking into the small hearth. "I'm sorrythat was taken from you. If only it hadn't happened, who knows how life could have gone."

Standing up and walking over to where she sat, Malfoy leaned over, letting his lips settle on thecrown of her head. The soft kiss was left in her hair, and his face lingered there just for anothermoment.

"I think I'm going to retire for the evening after checking on Scorpius. Goodnight, Hermione." Thewords were whispered, but Hermione’s tingling body felt like they'd been screamed.

Watching him walk away, silent tears slid down her cheeks. Yes, if only life hadn't taken him fromher, things could have been much different.

Chapter End Notes

Oh, that hurts. Narcissa doesn't like Hermione, but she loves grandkids. Narcissadropped a lot of truth, or at least started leading us to where we need to be looking foranswers!

More sibling love. Dramione moments. Only way to go now is up! Right? Yeah, we'regetting there lol.

Next up is Mila only POV, what could three kids POSSIBLY get into at MalfoyManor while the parents are out?

The Pensieve

Chapter Summary

The kids are left home alone.

Chapter Notes

I managed to get this chapter done this week!! Yay me! Last week was busy and Ididn't get ANY writing done. It was my birthday (looking at you margaritas) and thenI had a friend in town for a few days.

So, you are going to get this chapter. I loved it. About to see a side of Milo andScorpius we have yet to see!!

Alright, more notes at the end...

See the end of the chapter for more notes

"Do not touch anything that you haven't been given express permission to do so.” Mila at least hadthe decency to flush as her mother eyed her saying this. “Don't go into any rooms besides thelibrary, your own chambers, the kitchen, or the pool room. I swear to Merlin, no flying, there is noone here to supervise you and if you get hurt no one can heal you. Don’t go in the restricted sectionin the library. I personally drew the age line at the front, I'll know if you cross it.” For this, she atleast looked at all three children instead of just Mila. “Listen to your brother, Milo, he’s in charge."Hermione finished again letting her gaze fall over all three kids.

Hermione, the twins and Scorpius were standing in the foyer getting ready to part ways for the day.Hermione was skeptical about leaving the children unsupervised, even though Malfoy had assuredher that they would be fine with Pip. Mila had to agree with Malfoy on this one. They were allperfectly mature and didn’t require someone watching over them every moment to keep them outof trouble.

"Why is Milo in charge! I'm the oldest!" Mila protested, mostly out of principle.

"By twenty minutes," Milo muttered next to her.

"I'll try to not be gone long,” Hermione said, ignoring the twins. “Malfoy set up this appointmentwith an exterminator thinking he wouldn't have to work, and they couldn't reschedule." Hermioneexplained for the hundredth time since Malfoy's assistant had shown up with some crisis.

The plan had been that the odd family would spend the day together. Scorpius had spent the daybefore with his Aunt Daphne for Boxing Day, and it had allowed for Malfoy to have someone onone time with the twins. Well, one on two.

The trio had spent the entire day practicing Quidditch in the indoor pitch that was at MalfoyManor. With Hermione having the appointment to clear out the Doxies today, Malfoy hadpromised all three kids that they'd spend their day in his potion's lab.

Mila wanted to absorb as much information as possible from the potions master to finally best Miloin class. Milo, on the other hand, had found a potion that their professor had said was toodangerous for a third year to try. Milo had tried it out anyway and ended up in the infirmary fortwo days after inhaling poisonous fumes. For whatever reason, Malfoy had agreed to help Milobrew the potion and find out where he’d gone wrong with his first attempt.

It appeared that Scorpius also possessed the natural potions talent and wanted to test his skillsagainst his father's. Malfoy had detailed journals from his youth, laying out his private brewing thatScorpius had been comparing himself against since he was eight. Mila, who did not inherit thisparticular gene, had sworn to herself that she was going to work twice as hard to best all of them.She was nothing, if not ambitious.

All those plans went up in the air when some stern looking woman walked through the Flooannouncing that she needed Malfoy right then. A whispered conversation in the next roomcommenced, before Malfoy came back and told them of the change of plans. An apology andpromise that the following day he would work with them in his lab and then he was gone.

"We're thirteen, Scorp is eleven, and Pip is here to make sure we don’t curse ourselves or play withany dark artifacts. We'll be fine for the day hanging out, probably just laying out next to the indoorpool. It has diving boards and a water slide," Mila said, rolling her eyes at her mother.

"Are you sure? I can try and reschedule…" Hermione began before Mila cut her off.

"And leave those Doxies in the house that much longer? No, I don't think so. Who knows howmuch stuff we'll already have to replace? Go, we'll be fine. Promise," Mila told her with a brightsmile. Milo had the sense to lift the corner of his mouth into a tight smile and Scorpius had beenabsorbed in his book and didn’t look up.

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll be back by dinner, Malfoy said he wasn’t sure how long he would be out. I

love you," Hermione told them, kissing each child on the top of their heads. One last backwardsglance and another ‘behave’ then Hermione was gone in a flash of green.

"Alright," Mila announced, turning towards her brothers. "Where should we explore first?"

"I thought you wanted to go swimming?" Scorpius asked looking up from his book. Milo hadalready dropped his head into his hands muttering 'why me?'

"What, no. I hate swimming. I like laying out to tan, but I can't tan next to an indoor pool." Milowas now looking up towards the ceiling whispering a prayer. "You can stop being so dramatic,Milo. You are just as curious as I am to explore."

"We can't get into the potions lab…Dad would be really mad if he found out we went in there."Scorpius said, a worried look in his eyes.

Mila stepped forward and patted her hand to his cheek. "Silly little brother, I don't want to die. Ionly want to get better at potions to beat Milo here. That’s what he would want to do,” Miloshrugged his shoulders in agreement with her statement. “No, I think maybe we could findsomeplace more interesting and less dangerous." Standing back up, Mila rubbed her hand againsther chin. A snap of her fingers and she had the boys' attention again.

"Let's look at his study!" Turning towards the stairs, Mila already knew exactly where it waslocated. She'd been by to visit Malfoy a few times since the start of their holiday. She'd memorizedthe charms that she'd seen him use to ward his office and knew exactly what she needed to do tobreak in.

The brothers followed, having a whispered conversation behind their sister. Neither could denythat they were also curious about what their father kept in his office, but not enough to go snoopingthrough his things. Scorpius had always stayed away because his father had impressed on him theimportance of respecting people's personal space. Milo simply didn't want to know what washidden in that study. The less he knew, the better in his opinion. Alas, Mila was the leader and aslong as it wasn’t life or death the boys were resigned to follow whatever she decided to do.

Soon they were outside the study and Mila pulled out her wand and began taking down the flimsywards, shaking her head at the lack of security in place. She smirked, getting to spend time in amagical household was great for being able to use magic outside of school. If she didn't haveMalfoy blood in her, it wouldn't have mattered because they wouldn't have been able to enterwithout being invited in. As it was, because the three children were Malfoys, they easily passedthrough the final ward. It didn’t matter how many times she’d entered his private study; the grand

dark furniture was always an impressive sight. The large portrait of a stoic Malfoy and Scorpiushanging over the fireplace, with both dressed in all black, always made her chuckle. The first timeshe’d joined Malfoy in here he’d said that he intended to commission an updated family portrait toinclude herself and Milo with him and Scorpius. Mila had made a joke that she’d make sure tohave her funeral robes ready for it.

“Alright, Mila. Now that we’re here, what do you want to look at? His finances – how manybusinesses he owns, what type of charities he donates to every year? Seriously, this is probably oneof your dumbest ideas,” Milo was grumbling as he opened a liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottleof firewhisky. Taking the top off he sniffed it before pouring himself a small drink in one of thecrystal tumblers sitting out on a tray.

“No, I want to see what the fuck he has in here about our mothers or his marriage.” Mila said, asshe pricked her finger and dropped a few drops of blood onto a drawer in his desk. Once it opened,she began flipping through the documents that seemed to just be about inheritance. Boring.

When the silence continued, Mila looked up and saw that Milo and Scorpius were staring at herwith their mouths slightly open. “Milo, put the cigarette back and shut your mouth. We’re notstealing from him; we’re just looking for information.”

“You want to find my parents' marriage contract? But, why?” Scorpius asked as MilodisregardedMila’s instructions and lit the cigarette and inhaled before coughing heavily.

“Something feels off about this whole situation. Don’t you think it’s weird that he would have toldher off and ended a relationship with her and gotten married not too long after? Mum told us thatMalfoy knew she was pregnant with us, and then abandoned us until we were thirteen. Now look athim, he wants to be a father to us with no questions. Hell, the man never even asked for a paternitytest for either of us, just accepted that we were his.” Mila said, looking at Scorpius, she gave him asmall smile. “Nothing against your mum, but I have to know. You see the two of them with eachother, there’s still chemistry there. I want to know what happened.”

Turning her back on her brothers, Mila began searching again. Scoprius moved over to study thebookshelf and Milo continued to rummage through the liquor cabinet, sniffing and testing as hewent. He even tried one of the cigars he found, coughing so hard that Mila put a silencing spell onhim.

Moving to the cabinet behind Malfoy’s desk, Mila let out a low whistle. “Jack pot,” the teenwhispered looking at the pensieve in front of her. She could see in it a loop of her younger motherlooking around an entrance. “I think I found something,” she called out over her shoulder beforeturning back to the silvery wisps in front of her. Documents had been shoved onto the shelves, as ifthey weren’t normally stored there.

Picking them up, Mila was pleased to see that she was right in finding something good. A marriagecontract dated on her mother’s birthday with Malfoy’s and a few other signatures. A bundle ofletters addressed to Malofy, making negotiations for a contract with Winston Greengrass, allseeming to just be repeating the same things.

“What do you think the memory is?" Milo asked, coming up behind her looking into the pensieve."Do you know who Winston Greengrass is? Look at all this correspondence he sent."

"What about my grandfather?" Scorpius asked, walking up to his siblings. He took the letters fromMilo and started flipping through them before turning even paler than his usual shade as he readthem.

Neither Mila nor Milo had any idea what the purpose of those letters were, but it appeared Scorpiusknew. "Where are the responses from my dad? They would have been kept with these."

"That and a marriage contract are the only things here, I mean besides the pensieve." Mila toldhim.

There was a bit of a pause while Scorpius finished reading the letters his grandfather had sentMalfoy before the youngest sibling spoke up again. "I want to see that memory, if you don’t mind."He said, looking up to the twins. "I agree with Mila, this is…wrong." Holding up the letters thathe’d been reading to show his siblings. "I’ve read about pureblood marriage contracts and thenegotiations and laws involved. Dad's replies should be here too, since he's been head of housesince 1998. All these are referencing what the Greengrass family wanted to be entitled to upon mymother's untimely…anyway, in the face that a Lord Malfoy would perish without an heir andleaving behind his wife, they'd have his written word of negotiations to come back to as referenceto prove the contract wasn’t a fake. That’s why they would have been required to be kept with thecontract."

The twins exchanged a look before Mila shrugged. The kid was not kidding when he said this iswhat he'd studied with his mother. "Alright, so Malfoy just what? Never responded to any of it.What if they just got lost or misplaced?" Mila asked.

"Unless Dad gave the lawyer permission to get rid of them, which is highly unlikely, then it'spossible he never responded. Any contract negotiations couldn't be lost, they'd be charmedotherwise. Seriously, there's special parchment you use and everything." Scorpius explained, hischeeks turning a bit pink. "Anyway, are you both ready? I’d like to get this done before Dad oryour mum gets back and catches us." He asked, stepping forward and gripping the stone basin.

"Uh, yeah, let's do this." Mila said, grabbing Milo by the arm and dragging him forwards."Together?" She asked her half-brother. Scorpius paused for only a moment before nodding, andthen the three of them dipped their heads and were transported into the memory.

“Draco?” Mila heard her mother’s voice call out into the dark entrance filled to the brim withboxes. “DRACO!” she screamed as she was thrown from the entrance and blocked out of the frontdoor with the shimmer of wards keeping her from re-entering the space the children now stood.“DRACO!” Mila felt herself getting sick as she watched her mother’s tear-stricken face, standing inthe doorway she looked an absolute mess.

Strong arms wrapped around her as Milo moved between her and a dark chuckle, she hadn’t firstheard coming down the hall that was cast in shadows. Mila reached out and pulled Scorpius closerto her as they watched their father emerging from the darkness. Even with this being a memory andthey knew he couldn’t see them, much less harm them, his presence was ominous. “Draco, please,what was that letter? I’m so confused, and I don’t know what’s going on.” Hermione cried outfrom the hall. “Please, Draco, say something. I’m begging you.”

“It’s their breakup. She gave him the memory of their breakup,” Mila muttered to no one inparticular, squeezing Scorpius for comfort. As their father stepped into the light, Mila gasped at thelook on her father’s face. The sheer memory of him sent the teen cowering even further into herbrother’s side, while pulling her younger brother with her.

“Who are you and what have you done with Draco Malfoy?” Hermione called out from thehallway.

“She doesn’t believe it’s him…” Mila said, continuing to comment while both boys stayed shockedinto silence from watching the events unfolding in front of them.

Chuckling, Malfoy couldn’t take his eyes off their mother. “Ask me anything, mudblood,” at theuse of the word, Scoprius gasped and covered his mouth.

“What did you tell me before we left Siberia?”

“2003 is going to be our best year. Then I kissed you for the first time before our portkey, a dingybrown glove missing its pointer finger, took us back to the Ministry.” Mila turned to watch hermother’s face. Her jaw dropped open, indicating that this was clearly the correct answer and more.

“Are you under the imperius? Please, Draco, let me help you.” At this, Malfoy stepped forwardthrough the wards until the tip of Hermione’s wand was pressed firmly into his chest.

“I don’t think we need to watch anymore of this,” Milo whispered as their mother cast a Finite ,still not changing anything about Malfoy.

At the second use of the word mudblood , Milo took the elbows of both his siblings and pulledthem from the pensieve. Just as they were falling away from the scene, Mila could hear Malfoyshouting “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME, YOU FILTH!”

The trio landed back in front of the cabinet that the pensieve was being stored in. Scorpius stoodnext to Mila, his body trembling after watching his father acting like a monster. Mila wrapped herarms around the younger boy, trying her best to soothe him, but the experience had left her rattledas well. “Well, now we know why mum didn’t go out of her way to bring us together.” Milamuttered, still running her fingers through the fine hairs on the top of Scorpius’ head.

“Merlin, and I tricked her into coming here and spending the holiday with him.” Mila couldn’t helpbut feel disgusted with herself and Malfoy. He’d been awful to her mother. He’d called her namesand tore her down. Hermione had gone through the steps to verify his identity, and it had been him.It was a wonder why she would even want to do anything nice for him now, even after all theseyears had passed.

Mila had really and truly been a fool into believing that she might be able to have a relationshipwith Malfoy. An even bigger one for thinking that her parents could possibly get back together.

“You don’t use your eyes, do you?” The snap of Milo’s voice at her pulled Mila from her innerturmoil. She looked up at her twin with her eyes narrowed and he only rolled his in response.

“What are you talking about?” Mila hissed at her brother, as Scorpius' body was slowly beginningto relax in her arms. “You saw him, he was a monster. He degraded her and called her that name. Ifyou hadn’t pulled us out early, I’m sure that it would have only gotten worse.”

"Of course, it would have gotten worse, Mila. He was clearly drugged!" Milo stated, as if she werean idiot. "Did you not notice the golden tinge to his jaw line?" He asked, looking between his twosiblings, who both shook their heads. No, they hadn't noticed that detail.

"Honestly, you are both supposed to be bright. Clearly our mother neglected to notice it as well,seeing as she was a blubbering mess. Hopefully Malfoy would have seen the signs, as he's apotions master and all," Milo said. He rolled his eyes as he walked over and plucked the marriagecontract up.

"If this was signed the same day he was drugged, it'll be void and the Greengrass family willlose…damn. They must have known about…well anyway. They added in a clause that the Malfoyfamily would pay a sizable amount if an heir was produced as a result of the union." Milo finishedreading, not looking up at Scorpius.

"Do you know what he was drugged with, Milo?" Mila asked, trying to take the attention off thefact that Scorpius' mother had shit parents who sold her off like livestock.

"Uh, oh. Yeah, I just recognized the symptom from my advanced potions book…I just can't recallwhat potion it is exactly." Milo said, looking down and shuffling his feet now.

"Well, go get the book so we can look it up," Mila prompted her brother. Only, from the way hewas behaving she had an idea what his next response would be.

"Well, you see, the thing is…" Milo started.

"You stole it from the restricted section and got it confiscated, didn't you?" Mila asked, putting herhands on her hips and tapping her foot in annoyance.

"Um, not exactly. I nicked the book from that Knockturn bookstore you and Jack took me to lastsummer. Professor Parkinson confiscated it after I brewed an anti-memory potion. Sort of spilled abit and a first year forgot who he was and thought he was a chicken for an afternoon. Luckily thekid didn't drink any and only inhaled the fumes." Milo, for being the responsible twin, was not veryresponsible when it came to curbing his curiosity with potions.

"You turned a first year into a chicken?" Scorpius asked, looking in awe of his brother.

"No, I accidentally made him think he was a chicken. To be fair, I wasn't trying to test it on anyone.I had a diagnostic charm to check the brain activity on the mice to see if they forgot they’d eaten.The chicken bit was unexpected."

"And people think I'm the terrifying twin…" Mila muttered, shaking her head at her brother."Alright, so we can't use your book. What now?"

"I bet Dad has a copy in the library. He has a whole potions section, and there's always therestricted section too." Scorpius chimed in.

"You think he'd, have it?" Milo asked, perking up at the prospect of getting his hands on that bookagain.

"If he doesn't, we could always order it. Dad doesn't pay attention to any receipts that come in,”Scorpius said. The twins gave each other a look before turning their attention back to their youngerbrother. “I don’t typically order things, but occasionally I can’t find a reference book and I have toorder it in. I made a questionable request on the family account this last summer and he nevermentioned anything about it.”

“Sure…” Mila said, trying to hide her smirk from her brothers, clearly neither was as innocent asthey liked others to believe. How, Slytherin. “How can we look in the restricted section withoutMum finding out? She said she personally drew the age line, and they work. She has one aroundher liquor cabinet.” She explained, nodding her head towards where Milo had been going throughMalfoy’s.

“Oh, Pip can get anything we’re looking for. Just we can’t use the ledger otherwise Dad and yourmum will know that we were looking in there.” Scorpius said, looking over at Milo who wasleaning against the large desk. “Just tell Pip the name of the book and we can send her to grab it.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m not sure what the title was. It was an old book, and the cover was missing,” Milosaid, scratching the back of his head.

“Could you be any less helpful?” Mila asked, moving away from the desk herself and walking outof their father’s study. “Come on you two,” she called. “We’ve got work to do.”

Chapter End Notes

Sigh, the relationship between Hermione and Scorpius is building! Also, we've finallyseen that Milo isn't so innocent and perfect. His curiosity with his potions seems to gethim into a bit of trouble.

I love the sibling bonding. SO what can we expect coming up!? More answers. Mila

POV again, Dramione moments are coming, we're so close...

The Marriage Requests

Chapter Summary

Draco POV memory recovery

Chapter Notes

Hello Hello Hello!!!!Alright, let me just start off, I had a whole other chapter outlined and I started it andthrew it away. I hated it. Was not the vibe for the story that I needed at this point, feltvery beginning of the story and I wasn't going to give you garbage that I hated.

Instead, you now get this. Draco POV and I enjoyed it so much more. Dramione, isn'tthat what we're all here for anyway?

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“Good morning, Janet. Have a good holiday?”

“Lovely, as they all are. My children brought all the grandkids over, my granddaughter just had herlittle girl in September. Oh, that precious baby is great granny's little joy. But enough about me,how was yours, Mr. Malfoy?”

“That does sound like a wonderful holiday. Mine, well, it was the best holiday I’ve had in years,actually. I got to spend it with all my children for the first time ever.” Draco replied to Hermione’selderly secretary, sending her his signature smirk that always made her blush.

“I didn’t realize you had children. How old are they?” She asked, setting her quill to the side andclasping her hands in front of herself, giving him her full attention.

“I have thirteen-year-old boy/girl twins and an eleven-year-old son." Draco proudly told her,pulling out a picture of all three that he'd taken at the Tornados game.

"Oh my, look how precious they are. They look remarkably like Ms. Granger’s own set of twins."The elderly woman said, adjusting her glasses and leaning in closer. "What are their names?"

"Mila, Milo, and Scorpius," Draco replied with a smirk right as Granger came around the cornerwith a coffee in hand.

"Morning Malfoy, Janet. Jilli should be out shortly to grab you and prep you for today's session."She said, addressing Draco. "Lovely holiday, Janet?" Granger asked, as Janet looked back and forthbetween Granger and Draco.

A smile of recognition crossed the secretary’s face. “Very lovely, Mr. Malfoy was just telling meabout your holiday Ms. Granger.” Draco couldn’t help but chuckle at the look of surprise thatcrossed Hermione’s face.

“Oh, well, I told you how I had that slight problem with the doxies. Mr. Malfoy was kind enoughto invite myself and the children to stay at his home while they were on holiday.” Granger quicklyanswered, the flush rising on her face. Draco found this endearing and made the smirk on his facespread even wider.

“And I didn’t realize that the two of you had children together, that’s just so wonderful. Mr.Malfoy, did you know that Ms. Granger isn’t currently seeing anyone? What about you? Married,girlfriend?” Granger’s face continued to turn a deeper shade of red the more her secretary spoke,but before she could answer, Draco replied.

“Widowed actually. I haven’t had any interest in dating until the last few weeks,” Draco said,winking at Granger, who was now stuttering and shuffling her paperwork in her hands.

“Yes, well. Janet, I’ll be in my office. Malfoy, go get ready for our appointment and stop botheringeveryone,” Granger said, turning quickly and disappearing into her office, the door slammingbehind her.

The quiet that followed Granger’s departure only lasted long enough for Janet to cast a quicksilencing spell towards Granger's office door. Once that was done, she turned towards Draco with amischievous smile dancing on her lips. “I’ve worked for Ms. Granger for twelve years, Mr.Malfoy,” the elderly woman said, turning her body so she was facing him. “I’ve watched a plethoraof men try to catch her eye. I’ve seen her date men who were threatened by her intelligence anddrive. I’ve watched others who she stayed with much too long just because she was too nice to endthings.” The smile continued to play at the corners of Janet’s mouth as she paused for a moment tolook him in the eye, “twelve years Mr. Malfoy. In twelve years, I’ve never seen anyone make herblush the way she does when she’s near you. Treat her and your children right.”

Standing, she patted his arm and gestured for him to follow her. “Jilli and Brandon just sent amessage, you may go back to your usual exam room. Have a good day, Mr. Malfoy.” Janet walkedhim to the doorway, waving her wand to admit him access before turning and going back to herdesk without another word.

Draco couldn’t help the smug look on his face as he entered the exam room. Both Jilli andBrandon looked up at him and greeted him. He returned the gesture before Brandon had him laydown on the exam table. The two healers finished preparing him for the day’s procedure with alltheir diagnostic spells to monitor him.

“Having a good day, Mr. Malfoy?” Jilli asked, walking over and handing him the normalconcoction they used to put him to sleep.

“A very good day, thank you for asking.” After drinking his potion, Jilli instructed Draco to startcounting backwards from one hundred. He only made it to ninety-five before he was asleep.

Sitting at his desk in his home office, Draco was busy sifting through all the mail that came in todeal with his family’s estate. With his father in prison until 2018 and his mother off in Franceavoiding the dismal reputation that was now associated with the Malfoy family name, everythinghad fallen onto Draco’s shoulders to take care of.

In the almost five years since the war ended, it had been a struggle to keep up with everything.Luckily, he did have staff that took care of the majority of the workload. However, there were still afew things that Draco personally was responsible for. The endless stream of marriage contractsbeing one of them.

He had a pre-written response that he sent back to all of those hopeful pureblood fathers. Theoriginal missive sat untouched, and he would use a Gemino for however many times he needed iton a weekly basis. Dear, blank , while I appreciate your interest in making an arrangementbetween myself and blank , I’m afraid that I’m currently not looking for a marriage at this time. Ifthat is to change, I will contact you. Thank you for your time, Draco Malfoy.

He was never going to contact anyone. There was no reason to, he didn’t have any interest inmarrying some faceless pureblood princess that was pushed onto him by her parents. No, thatnonsense was stopping with Draco. The pureblood Malfoy line was coming to an end with him,well that was if she would have him.

Merlin help him, but it had only been two and a half months since their first kiss. Two and a halfmonths since she finally agreed to being his and he wasn’t going to screw this up or scare her off.Granted, he had already professed his love for her, but she'd reciprocated her own feelings of lovetowards him. No, there was no question who the next Lady Malfoy would be, all in good time.

He pulled open his drawer and smiled at the little black velvet box sitting there. Popping it open,the ring, made from rose gold, with an oval cut sapphire surrounded by a diamond accent, wasjust waiting for the timing to be right before he could ask her to be his. He'd already been floatingpossible proposal ideas, but none seemed right. As much as he wanted to drop to one knee everytime he laid eyes on her, he knew it wasn't time.

After they’d gotten back from Siberia, he’d gone into the family vaults and found the gems.Hermione had told him that sapphire was her favorite stone because it was her birth stone, sothat’s the one he’d picked out. He’d spoken with the Goblins and commissioned for the ring to bemade, since he didn’t want to give her one of his family heirlooms. No, Hermione deserve morethan one of the Black or Malfoy family rings. She deserved something new, something that wasonly hers, the start of their own legacy.

She was going to be the next Mrs. Malfoy, in his heart, Draco knew this to be true. Since theireighth year he’d slowly fallen more in love with her with every passing moment. When almosteveryone else from his past life had abandoned him, Hermione had come in and been the breath offresh air that he didn’t know he needed until he had her.

Theo and Blaise, while they were his best mates, had gone on their own paths in life. They hadtheir own careers and families to think about, not to mention rebuilding their own reputations.

Hermione had stood beside him while they did their curse breaker training. Even while obtaining acharms mastery, she'd made him a priority. She was his partner back at Hogwarts, during cursebreaker training, as curse breakers, and now she was his partner in life.

All he had to do was wait for the right moment to ask her to be his wife. And when she said yes, hewould never let her go.

One marriage request caught Draco’s eye as he was finishing making the copies of his genericresponse. Winston and Anitta Greengrass. Draco couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of him ashe ripped open the letter. Winston was desperate to marry off his youngest daughter, Astoria.

Draco had been friendly with her older sister, Daphne, who had also been a Slytherin in his year.He knew that Lucius and Winston had been working on a contract between himself and Daphnewhen they were younger, but they'd never been able to come to an agreement they were bothsatisfied with.

The tides had turned for the Greengrass family when Daphne had been disowned. Following the

war, Daphne had rebelled against her family and refused to redo her seventh year. Instead, she sather N.E.W.Ts at the Ministry and scored decent marks.

The real shock had been when she had her scores transferred so she could attend a muggleuniversity. There, she met a man in her law program, whom she’d ultimately gone off and married.The last Draco had heard, she was a big shot muggle prosecutor alongside her husband.

All this gossip had come from Theo and his wife, Penelope. Theo had told Draco that right beforehe had met Penny, Winston had reached out to him, as well, concerning a marriage contractbetween himself and Astoria. Hell, Theo had said even Goyle had been offered the youngerdaughter. Theo hadn't been interested in marriage and had declined, but Goyle turned down therequest due to ongoing health issues with the young witch.

Using his engraved letter opener, Draco sliced the expensive envelope open. Quickly scanning thecontents of the message, he was shocked and slightly mortified by what he found.

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

It has come to my attention that as head of the Malfoy family, you have neglected your duty thusfar in securing a suitable wife. I would like to rectify this oversight and offer you the chance to wedmy daughter, Astoria.

I realize that in recent years there have come into question where my family's loyalties lay, and Iwould like to assure you that they are to the wizarding world. As a fellow sacred twenty-eightfamily, we do have the lineage that you would seek out in a wife, as well as a sizable dowry. Weensure Astoria’s purity and virtue during her monthly healer exams and are willing to have ourfamily healer sign an affidavit as proof.

I understand the importance of your rebuilding of the Malfoy Dynasty, and I can assure you thatyou would have the support of the Greengrass family. While we support the ideals of blood purity,we kept ourselves distanced from The Dark Lord as we did not agree with his chosen methods.

Astoria did complete her education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the top tenof her graduating class. She has been trained in etiquette and how to manage an estate. Astoriaalso speaks French, German, and Italian, as was required by her governess. Under her mother, shehas been learning how to organize charity events and present as a perfect hostess.

We keep Astoria on a strict diet and exercise regime to ensure that her figure would be up to yourliking. If you require specific measurements, I will gladly obtain those for you.

I look forward to doing business with you.

Winston Greengrass

Setting the letter aside, Draco was stunned. This was by far one of the most forward anddisgusting letters Draco had ever received. Monthly invasive checks to see if his twenty-one-year-old daughter was still a virgin. The offer of sending her measurements, just everything in heresounded so wrong. It wasn't just a marriage request, but it felt as if they were trying to sell theirdaughter to him.

Grabbing a quill, Draco tossed aside his pre-written messages and penned out his response to theGreengrass family head. Maybe it was rash, but here wasn't just some faceless pureblood girl. Thiswas a family he'd known; he'd grown up with. He may not have been friends with them, but he’dstill interacted with them. Maybe Hermione’s feminist ways were starting to sink in a bit, but thiswas too much.

Mr. Greengrass,

I have received your missive and felt that I should respond to you beyond my usual dismissals tomarriage requests. I felt that it was necessary I should say more to you in particular, seeing as ourfamilies have history.

I will not be marrying your daughter, as you’ve suggested, I am not neglecting my duty to myfamily name. I have chosen a wife for myself and am looking forward to the many happy andfulfilling years that I will have with her standing by my side.

The war over blood supremacy has been fought twice and won at last. There are no more loyaltiesbeyond being loyal to humans, wizarding or muggle alike. We all live, breathe, and die in the sameways. The Sacred Twenty-Eight is not something that I wish to continue to associate with theMalfoy name, as I rebuild my reputation into something more, something for my future children tobe proud of. I want my family name to command respect for what we have to offer to the world, notstrike fear into those who may stand against me in my ideals.

As Daphne found her way out from under your thumb, I can only hope the same for Astoria. I willnot partake in an arranged marriage, and I would hope that you will not force such a fate uponyour daughter.

The world has changed, Mr. Greengrass, and I implore that you change along with it.

Regards,

Draco Lucius Malfoy

Draco stepped away from his desk and without hesitation, called over his personal owl. “Gwen,can you deliver this directly to Winston Greengrass?" He said, scratching the feathers on the top ofher head. "Don’t let anyone else take it, and maybe nip his fingers a bit while you’re there.” Witha hoot, Gwen was out the window and soring away in the sky.

The sound of heels clicking against his hardwood floors could be heard, as she approached. Hesmiled when warm soft hands wrapped around his waist. The smell of jasmine from her shampoowas overwhelming as Draco tipped his head over his shoulder. Nuzzling his face in her wild curls,Draco pressed his lips to her temple. He let out a sigh, knowing that while he couldn't change thefate of Astoria Greengrass, he hoped his message would be heard.

“Did you get everything done that you hoped to?” Hermione asked, dipping her body under hisarm so that she was snuggled up into his side and able to look up at him.

“I hope I got more than that done. How was lunch with Potter and Weaslette?” Draco asked,looking down into the beautiful chocolate orbs that were her eyes.

“Harry was fine, he just solved that case he’s been working on,” Hermione told him, going up on

her toes to give him a kiss.

“Oh, was it the son that broke into the business for the insurance claim, just like I said it wasweeks ago?” Draco asked as Hermione pulled back laughing and shaking her head.

“It was the son and daughter actually. Just because you figured it out without evidence doesn’tmean Harry can arrest someone without it.” Hermione said, using the tip of her finger and tappingthe tip of his nose with it.

“And Weaslette? Or did she bail at the last second, again?” Draco asked, watching Hermione’sface drop slightly.

“She really believes that there’s something going on between Harry and me. I broke things off withRon well over a year ago, and it still feels like she is holding it against me. We weren’t a goodfit, and it wasn’t going to work. I didn’t leave him for you, Ron and I just don’t belong together.”Hermione explained, still looking crestfallen. She’d lost so much in her life, and even though herand the Weasel hadn’t been a match romantically, she still valued the friendship they'd shared aschildren. Not only his, but his entire bloody family’s friendship.

Wrapping his arms around her, Draco pulled Hermione into his chest so he could tilt her head up.He brushed his lips against hers as he whispered, “I love you, Hermione Granger.” His minddrifted back to the little black velvet box sitting in his desk drawer. Not today, but soon, he wouldask this incredible witch to be his.

“I love you too, Draco Malfoy.”

The darkness took over as the memory faded away. His whole self shifted back to the present, andslowly Draco could start to feel the cool table he was laying on in the procedure room. He couldfeel the sweat beading on his forehead and taste the salt from the tears he’d shed reliving thatmoment. He was going to propose to her. He’d declined all those offers and had never told her howmany marriage requests he got, because he didn’t want her to be upset by it. He was going to makeher his, and that chance had been stolen from him. Maybe if only he hadn’t waited, had taken aleap, he would have had her. But then he wouldn't have Scorpius…

“Draco,” he could hear Hermione's hoarse whisper from next to him. “Draco, I can see your vitals,I know you’re awake.” Gulping down the nerves that had formed, Draco turned his head, lookinginto the eyes of the woman he loved with everything he was.

She was older. More wrinkles from tears and laughter, some grey hairs in the mess of brown curls,and her face was a bit rounder than it had been almost fifteen years ago. Merlin help him, she wasstill the most breathtaking creature he’d ever laid eyes on. “Hey, Granger,” he murmured at her. Athroat cleared in the background and a ‘we’ll just, yeah…’ was heard, but he didn’t know whatHealer had said it, not that it mattered. The only thing or person who mattered to him was thewoman sitting next to him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, her beautiful face pulled into a look of confusion and pain.

“I didn’t want you to worry, I had a system and I never had someone pursue further than a secondinquiry.” It was true, from what he remembered, only a handful had tried writing to him a secondtime. Trying to get a better timeline of when he might be available, but he’d just ignored them, andthey went away. “I knew that I was going to marry you, and I didn’t want you to question mycommitment or your worth to our relationship.”

“You didn’t want me to worry? Draco, what? It’s in the past now, but Gods, Draco. Look at this

mess we're in now. Narcissa said we needed to ask your father, your father-in-law sent thatrepulsive letter about his daughter, your wife.” Hermione dropped her head into her hands andDraco could see the tears pouring down her face.

Shifting himself off the table so that he was sitting up, Draco reached out and wrapped his armsaround her. Running his fingers in her hair, he said nothing, just used the feel and smell of her tokeep him grounded. The smell of jasmine was coming off her, just as it had in his memory, makinghis heart break just a little more.

“I hated Astoria. For…for years, I’ve hated her. I’ve hated you. Her family treated her like she wastheir property to sell. You had a ring and then you were made to forget me, and I've hated you allthese years for breaking my heart.” Hermione didn’t hold back her thoughts, letting them all pourout. She clung to his shirt, balling the cotton into her fists as her body shook with the force of hersobs.

Not knowing what to say that could ease the pain she was in, Draco held onto her tight. He’d lovedAstoria, as a friend. Their marriage hadn’t been a sham, it had been real. It may have beenarranged, but they had respected each other. He had never been in love with Astoria, but he’d beenproud that she was his wife. She was beautiful, brave, strong, and intelligent. She was a brilliantmother who saw the errors of the way they were raised and had been stern with Draco thatScorpius was to never fall down that same path.

“I hated a dead woman, a dying woman. Every article that came out about you and your family, Iread it. I didn’t want to, but I did. How could I never find that? Find what you had tossed me asidefor. I was a single mother who was struggling, trying to make my way in a new career, just todistance myself from you." She said, the tears still falling.

"All that time, you wanted me…you wanted all of me…” Hermione’s voice shook, and all Dracocould do was try and pull her as tight against his chest as he could.

He knew, there was no question, he’d been so deeply in love with Hermione there was no possibleway that he’d just fallen out of love. It was all coming back, how he’d picked that ring, and whathe’d said to the Goblin who had made it. Astoria’s ring had been one of the old Black heirlooms,one from a great grandmother. He hadn’t spent more than fifteen minutes in the family vaultbefore he found it and said it was good enough. He hadn't put any effort into it, just accepted whatwas there.

Hermione’s ring had taken two months before he deemed it perfect for his witch. His entire being,his entire soul, his entire heart had belonged to her. His parents, for all their faults, had a lovingrelationship, even though it had been arranged. When he’d married Astoria, he’d just assumed thatone day they would find their way into that type of marriage. He'd hoped that one day his heartcould belong to her, but even as he stood by her while she died, he never was in love with her. Itwasn’t meant to be though, because he already belonged to someone else, even if his mind didn’tknow it, his heart did.

“I’m so sorry, Draco.” Hermione pulled back away from him, looking up into his eyes, the tearswere still caught in her lashes. “I’m so sorry that I ever doubted you, please forgive me.”

He could feel his face softening under her gaze as he shushed her. “You have nothing to be sorryfor, silly witch.” He said, using the pad of his thumb to wipe away the tears that still dampened herface. “I should have told you about the marriage requests, I shouldn’t have kept any secrets fromyou.”

Shaking her head, Hermione reached up and wrapped her arms around the base of his neck. “You

don’t have to share everything with me, Draco Malfoy. But, for future reference, if some crazyman is trying to sell you his daughter, maybe clue me in.”

Nodding his head in agreement, because this woman had some sort of spell on him that made allthose etiquette classes he’d taken as a child go out the window. “Though, I don't think that will be aproblem. You see, I haven’t even kissed a woman since 2011, nor have I had any marriagecontracts thrown my way since I sent howlers back to the first round of people who did after Ibecame a widow.”

Laughing, Hermione nodded her head, “sounds good.” Reaching up, she caressed his cheek withthose perfect hands of hers. Draco leaned into her touch, the feel of her warm soft petite handsbrought something alive in him that until recently, he didn’t know he still possessed.

“Hermione,” he whispered. Her movements stilled as she looked up at him with large questioningeyes. “I’d really like to kiss…” the request wasn’t even finished before her whole body was throwninto his. His fingers were tangled into her curls and her nails were scraping against his scalp.

A cough caused them to pull apart and looking over his shoulder stood Janet with a large grin onher face. “Ms. Granger, your next appointment arrived fifteen minutes ago, and I said that I wouldcheck to see if you would be done soon. Would you like me to reschedule them?”

Hermione jumped back out of Draco’s arms and began straightening her lab coat that had gottenwrinkled during their embrace. Clearing her throat and pulling her hair into a bun on the top of herhead, Hermione shook her head. “No, I’ll be right out. Thank you, Janet.”

The elderly woman gave them each one last smirk before turning and leaving them alone again.“I’ll, uh, yeah. I’ll send you an owl or something…yeah.” Hermione said, waving her wand overherself casting a cooling charm. Leaning in, she gave him a soft chaste on his lips before steppingaway.

“See you soon, Hermione.”

“Yeah, see you soon, Draco.”

Chapter End Notes

THE FIRST KISS!!!!!!!!

But, Screw Winston Greengrass. His entire letter made my skin crawl, fucking creep.

Next chapter (I didn't throw this out and it's really what's to come I swear!) The kidsget more answers, the adults are coming to Hogwarts to talk to the fifth years forcareer day. Mila and Hermione POV chapter and the more answers we get the closerto the end we get.

Do I have a final chapter count yet? No, funny idea though. I do think there's like10ish more chapters after this? Idk, I have the story mapped out, but if I hatesomething I'm very likely to throw it out if it doesn't fit the way I want it to.ANYWAY, love you all. Until next week!!

A Wayward Heir

Chapter Summary

Scorpius finds a book that explains what happens to their father.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

It had been a little over three weeks since the Malfoy siblings had stumbled (so to speak) upontheir father’s pensieve and the memory of their parents' breakup. In that time, the three children hadworked in their potions lab with Malfoy and studied every potions book that they could read fromthe Malfoy library.

Milo had even been so bold to ask Malfoy what potions would have the symptoms of the goldentinge around someone’s jaw. Malfoy didn’t seem to be suspicious by the question, and that madeMila believe that perhaps he really hadn’t noticed it upon his viewing. Even questioned if he’dviewed the memory yet. The answer had proven to be underwhelming as there were ‘a large varietyof potions that can cause such a reaction. Typically, in any mind-altering potion, things that peopleuse for recreational use. Not that you kids need to worry about something like that because you’llnever use recreational potions…right?’

Yeah, his answer had only kept them at square two, where they had already been standing withinthis entire mess. It was with this information when things took a turn for the unexpected, oneThursday morning

Mila was pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice while Professor Parkinson glared at her. “Doyou think she still has a thing for Malfoy? Why else would she be so obsessed with us? I wonder,do you think she’s as weird with Scorpius?” Mila asked, leaning into her twin who only shruggedat his response to her questions. Mila couldn’t help but roll her eyes at how unwilling her twin waswhen it came to gossip. Perhaps she should take this quarry up with her roommates instead, butthat would require talking to them about Milo… No, no, she’d have to keep this little line ofquestioning to herself.

“It’s career day for the fifth years, Mum was invited to come and speak on the benefits of getting acharms mastery. Uncle Harry is supposed to be here too for auror recruitment, and Malfoy iscoming to talk about getting a potions mastery and a second presentation about what it’s like to runa business. I think Ethan’s parents are supposed to come as well to talk about the joys ofarchitecture and interior design.” Milo said, taking a sip from the coffee that he’d just pouredbefore making a face and swapping back to pumpkin juice.

“How could you possibly know all this?” Mila snapped, taking the goblet out of Milo’s hand andforcing him to look at her.

“Mum wrote to us; I gave you the letter when I was done with it…” He answered, taking his gobletback just as Jack slid into the seat next to them, taking a piece of bacon from Milo’s plate.

“So, you think that Parkinson is peeved that mum is going to be here and that Malfoy is going to behere at the same time?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest, trying to redirect Milo back

towards her original point of questioning. Not taking the bait, Milo instead pulled his breakfast outof Jack’s reach and shot his best mate a glare pointing out the spread in front of them that was notspoken for.

“Say, Milo,” Jack said, pulling Ethan Nott’s plate over towards himself, grabbing a chocolate sconefrom it, receiving an ‘oi, get your own, Potter!’ “Think if Parks still has a thing for your dad, shemight shag you instead? Put a little hair on that pasty chest of yours?” Wiggling his eyebrows atthe boy in question before turning his head to watch their head of house in her shorter dress robes.“I think you might have a shot, old chap. Lucky you, I’d like to Slytherin between those thighs ifyou know what I mean.” Jack said, giving an exaggerated wink.

“You’re disgusting. What time are they supposed to get here?” Mila asked, addressing both boys.

“In time for the first class, they’re clearing out the great hall and it’s going to be a full assembly forall the houses. Longbottom canceled Herbology for the day so that he could be there, Parks is stillholding morning classes. Professor Acker asked us if we were going to go and see Mum’spresentation, I guess it’s during our free period so technically we could attend.” Milo replied,completely ignoring Jack, and looking only at his sister.

“Yeah, I suppose we can do that,” Mila told her brother before looking at Jack. “Are you going tomeet up with your dad? The famous Harry Potter, might have to make sure he has the timeavailable.” She said, teasing her friend.

“Absolutely not meeting up with him, that’s more Remy’s style. I wouldn’t mind seeing your mumthough, especially if she’s wearing one of those pencil skirts…” Mila shot a stinging hex at themessy haired boy before pushing herself away from the bench.

“It’s too early to deal with you, I’m going to go to class,” she said to the boys who were nowsquabbling over the fact that Jack was not allowed to hit on their mother.

“See you in a bit,” Milo replied as he held Jack in a headlock.

“Yeah…see you…Mila…” Jack choked out best he could with his limited air supply.

Walking straight out of the Great Hall and towards the D.A.D.A. classroom, Mila adjusted thestrap on her school bag and cast a quick feather light charm. She really needed to make a trip by thelibrary to return a few of these books, but she hadn’t been able to find the time yet. Just as she wasturning down a corridor towards the stairs that led up to the classroom, Mila was pulled from herthoughts when she heard a now familiar voice calling after her.

“Mila! Hey, Mila! Wait up!” Turning, Mila stood in the corridor waiting for her youngest brotherto catch up to her.

“What’s up, Scorp?” She asked, as he grabbed her elbow and pulled her into an abandonedclassroom just off to the side. “Okay, apparently, we need privacy…” she muttered while Scorpiuswent about shutting and locking the door.

“I found it, well Pip found it, but I remembered it and knew it was at the manor.” The younger boysaid, pulling a book out of his school bag and handing it to her.

“ Runnings of a Pureblood Estate, ” Mila read the cover of the book aloud before meetingScorpius’s eyes with her brow raised. “What the fuck is this shit, Scorp? You can’t be serious inthinking that this is something I’d want to read. I’m a half-blood and my mother is the most famousmuggle born in all of Europe.” Mila said, trying to hand the book back to the younger boy when he

shook his head and held up his hands, refusing to take it back.

“Just open it to the page I have marked,” Scorpius said, rolling his eyes at his sister and tuggingnervously at his necktie.

The book easily fell open to the page that Scorpius was wanting her to see, and it made her jawdrop. “A wayward heir?” Mila said, looking back up from the book when Scorpius nodded hishead that she had found the right page.

There may be an occasion when we find ourselves with an heir that doesn’t understand theimportance of blood purity. When this happens, it is a threat to the integrity of our bloodlines. Inthese instances, we must curve the desires of our heirs and/or heiresses to avoid embarrassment toour bloodlines. It has been discovered that the use of an Odium Potion can curb these impulses.This can only be used if there is a person of fancy and is useless against an heir who does not havea corrupt desire, as a hair will be needed to add to the potion to ensure the loathing is directed atthe intended party.

“Scorpius, what the fuck is this?” Mila asked, as her heart started to race at what this couldpossibly mean.

“It means, I think Dad was drugged with a hate potion. Here, I found, well Pip popped over toKnockturn Alley and grabbed it, but anyway, here,” Scorpius said, shoving another book titledPotions Most Rare into her hand and the pages fell open.

Odium Potion:

Also known as a hate potion, is one of the most powerful of its kind. This potion will alter whoeveringests it to show extreme hostility and ill will towards anyone they come across, regardless ofone's true feelings towards those they interact with. The opposite of Amortentia, this potion is notto be used without caution. This potion has resulted in wars and ending of alliances. The effects ofthis potion wear off after forty-eight hours, physical side-effects include extreme perspiration and agolden glow around the jawline.

“This is it…” Mila whispered, re-reading the short passage again before looking up at Scorpius.“This is fucking it. But who the fuck drugged him?” She asked, watching her brother’s silver eyesthat were almost identical to her own grow a bit darker and a pink flush creeping up his neck.

“It sounds like something that someone obsessed with power would come up with. You saw thatfucking contract and the correspondence between Winston Greengrass and my father, or rather thenon-replying by Father. I would bet my entire vault on it that Greengrass is involved,” the eleven-year-old said.

“Scorpius…” Mila started, knowing that Scorpius already struggled with his mother’s side of hisfamily before all this.

“No, Mila. You don’t understand what a bastard that man really is. My mother, she…She wasnever given a chance to live, and he is the reason why. My Aunt Daphne blames herself for howmy mother was treated, because she married a muggle and works in the muggle world. It’s not fair,the way he treated her, it’s not fucking fair!” Scorpius bent his head and hid his face into the crookof his elbow as the tears began to flow. Mila stood by silently watching the younger boy, feelingher heart ache for him.

“She should be here; she should have been allowed to be happy and she should have had a fuckinglife. Instead, Dad got drugged with this potion and then was forced into a marriage with a womanwho was dying. ” Mila looked around the closed classroom and considered their relationship.They’d crossed lines, a lot of them over the two weeks that she was at the Malfoy Manor for theholiday. Mila hesitated for a moment as she reached out to her youngest brother, before shegrabbed his arm and pulled him into an embrace.

They stood there for a time and Mila just kept her arms wrapped around her brother running herfingers through his fine white hair, just like her mother would do when Mila was upset. Scorpiusgrabbed onto her school robes and buried his face into Mila’s shoulder, and she moved her handsso that they were wrapped around his body.

“She’s dead and they don’t even care.” She heard Scorpius say, his voice muffled by the fabric ofher uniform. The large tower bell rang, signaling the changing of the hour and Mila knew that Miloand Jack would be looking for her in class, but she pushed those thoughts aside as she continued tohold her younger brother. Right now, he needed her more.

They stayed in the classroom until Scorpius' breathing had evened out and he’d pulled away fromher. He’d wiped his hands at his face, his eyes puffy and red from shedding tears that he’dprobably been holding onto for a long time. Mila took his calming state as a good sign that hemight be able to move about again. "Right, you missed breakfast, let's go down to the kitchen."She told her younger brother, grabbing him by the arm and tugging him into the corridor.

"You know how to get into the kitchens?" Scorpius asked, following closely behind his sister asthey moved towards the dungeons.

"Obviously, now hush. We don't have Jack's map, so we don't know who all is hanging around."Mila whispered, dragging him along with her. They stayed in a comfortable silence, pausing atevery corner to check and make sure the coast was clear. They’d almost made it all the way to theentrance when they heard someone coming towards them.

Grabbing Scorpius and pulling him into an alcove, Mila peaked her head out just enough so that shecould see Mrs. Kelly, the caretaker. She was using her wand to dust the picture frames and torchesthat lined the corridors.

"Think she'll rat us out?" Scorpius asked, also looking into the hall and seeing the caretaker.

"For sure, and there's no way Parks is missing out on giving me a horrible detention, especiallywith mum in the building. The cow would probably have a whole conference about it just to makesure to embarrass both of us to the max.." Mila told her brother, just as two other voices could beheard coming, making the sibling press even further into their hiding spot.

"Excuse me, are the two of you lost?" The shrill voice of Mrs. Kelly could be heard, making Milacringe.

"Oh, hello! You must be Mrs. Kelly." Said a familiar feminine voice.

"Oh no…" Mila groaned.

"How could you possibly know that?" A voice replied, but this time male and not one that Milawould have expected exploring the halls with the woman.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Scorpius whispered, his voice sounding panicked, giving himaway. He’d have to get better at masking his emotions…

"Your children attend this school, and you don’t know who the school caretaker is. HonestlyDraco, they send informational packets to the parents at the start of every year with a list of theentire staff. Including pictures. " Her mother scolded, Mila imagined, with her hands on her hips.

"Of course, I read the packet; I just didn’t recognize this stunning witch in person." Their fatherreplied, the smirk on his face could be heard in his voice. “Photographs do not do you justice,madam.” Mila peaked her head out just enough to see as Malfoy’s lips brushed over the very wartyknuckles of Mrs. Kelly.

“How much do you want to bet he didn’t even open the welcome packet?” Mila whispered to herbrother, who had to cover his mouth to stop the laugh from bubbling out of him.

"Oh, you must be here to speak with the fifth years, you must be Mr. Malfoy." Mrs. Kelly said, notsounding like a banshee any longer, instead sounding like a blushing fourteen-year-old. "I’m sorry,I don’t know who you are…” Mila now had to cover her mouth to stop the laugh.

“Hermione Granger, my children have been going to Hogwarts for three years now and I’ve givenyou a Christmas basket every year, the last one just a few weeks ago…” Her mother replied, notsounding very impressed with the caretaker.

“Are you, hm, you must have shrunk since I last saw you.” Both Mila and Scorpius had to claptheir hands over the other’s mouth to muffle their chuckles. “Well, anyway, right this way. Theywant you to meet with the heads before giving your presentations…" the clicking of their shoescould be heard as they disappeared around a corner.

"Did she call him Draco?" Mila asked, as the pair slipped from their hiding spots, resuming theirtrek to the kitchens.

"Yeah, she was still calling him Malfoy at the platform." Scorpius said, shoving his hands in hispockets and looking down at his shoes. His fine white hair fell into his eyes as he kept his gazefixed on the ground. They'd just reached the painting of the bowl of fruit when he finally spokeagain. "Do you think we ought to tell them? You know, about the books and the potion?"

"Oh, I don't know. Probably, but if we do, they're going to know we went snooping in Malfoy'sstudy. I'm not exactly prepared for the wrath of my mother when that comes to light." Mila said,reaching forward to tickle the pear.

"Shouldn't they know though? I mean, yeah they sound like they're on friendly terms now, but thisaffects their lives the most and I feel like if we know something we should tell them." Scorpiussaid, just as the painting swung open and let them inside.

There was a rush towards the two students as house elves came forward to serve them. A quickorder by Scorpius and the children were set up with enough food to feed five adult men instead ofjust one eleven-year-old boy.

Once he had a plate filled with toast, scrambled eggs, and fried potatoes, he asked, "what do youthink will happen if we tell them?" He dug into his meal as he sat and waited for his sister's

response.

"I'm not sure. Mum will go mental, that's for sure. How do you think Malfoy will take it?" Milaasked, playing with the mug of tea the elves had provided her. Scorpius was silent for a whilepondering his answer, slowly chewing his food.

Taking a sip of pumpkin juice, he cleared his throat before answering. "If it's Winston who druggedhim, he's going to go completely mad. They got a massive settlement after mum…" He paused,taking another drink, "anyway they got loads of galleons and a few properties out of the deal. Ioverheard Aunt Daph saying that he invested it all into his company because it was going underafter the war. What they got out of the marriage started bringing it out of the hole, and then thesettlement saved it from a second almost bankruptcy. Dad will be entitled to demand every centback and Winston will have to give it to him."

"So, should we find out if it actually was Winston who drugged him? Narcissa made it sound likeLucius would know something…" Mila said trailing off in her thoughts.

"You think Lucius will tell us something?" Scorpius asked, an eyebrow raised making him lookeven more like Milo than usual. "I've never exchanged letters with him, and now months before hisrelease you want to contact him and ask if he knows who drugged our dad, his son?"

"What's the worst that can happen? Who knows, maybe almost twenty years in Azkaban hasreformed him. Maybe he'll reply kindly and say that yeah, he totally knows who went after Malfoyand if it was Winston, your dad can, oh, I don't know. Take over his company or whatever else hefeels like doing."

“You’ve read reports about Lucius Malfoy…Right?” Scorpius asked, stopping mid bite to look atMila as if she’d grown a second head.

“Not exactly, no.” That was the truth too. While Mila had read every scrap of news pertaining toDraco Malfoy, the same couldn’t be said about how far her investigations on his parents went.She’d ignored her paternal grandparents for the most part; she knew that Narcissa Malfoy onlycame back to England for major charity events every few years, and that was only because she’dattended those with Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy, she knew even less about aside from the spread thathad come out that his twenty-year Azkaban sentence was almost up. There had been a full list offormer Death Eaters that were to be released, including Rowle’s father.

“Lucius Malfoy will not have reformed. In fact, he might come out more dangerous than whenthey chucked him in there.” Scorpius said, stabbing a potato with his fork before setting it down onhis plate. With a heavy sigh, he looked up at Mila then reached down into his school bag andpulled out Runnings of a Pureblood Estate . “This was his copy, traditionally a father would passthis onto his heir in the final stages of their preparation of taking over being head of the house. Sowell after any marriages and grandchildren had already been produced. Only, Lucius didn’t havethat option because he was thrown in Azkaban and Father became head by default at eighteen.”

Scorpius opened the book and began flipping through pages until he came to one section inparticular and slid it towards her. ‘Rearing of the Next Scion’ was the title of the passage and Milalooked up at Scorpius before diving into the passage. In the margins were handwritten notes thatincluded a detailed account of how exactly Lucius Malfoy ‘reared’ his son.

Has learned that he is to be seen, not heard. Silencing charms to teach him to hold his tonguewhile using the rod. Blood quills. Imperius to sit unmoving for a full day. Physically, well bred.Mentally, weak. A week in the dungeon for letting a mudblood best him.

The list of horrors just went on from there. "He did those things to his own heir, his own son," herbrother said. "You think he'll care about any grandkids, especially half-bloods and a son of aradical with a blood curse that would have been passed on…"

"Now that you put it that way." Mila closed the book in front of her and slid it back to Scorpius,who put it back in his bag. "So, what should we do then? What about either of yourgrandmothers?"

"Er, well. I've never actually spoken to my grandmother Anita, and you heard what grandmotherCissa said to Father. I highly doubt if she wouldn't speak openly to him that she’d be moreforthcoming with us."

"That's true," Mila said, gathering her things so that they could make it to their next class. "We'lljust have to think of something. Now, come on, we can't miss two classes with our parents here. IfMum finds out, she'll have our heads."

She stood up from the bench, holding her hand out to her younger brother. “Come on, they’ll beexpecting us to join them for lunch and you know my mother will ask you about whatever classesyou’re taking and what you’re reading. Best to not try and lie to her, let her keep thinking thatyou’re this sweet innocent kid she can talk obscure books with.” Mila said, winking at her brotherwho could only look at her with an open mouth before he started laughing.

“Yeah, alright. I have Transfiguration next anyway, and Professor Parkinson wouldn’t be veryhappy if her star pupil were missing.” Standing up next to her, slinging his own bag over hisshoulder, Scoprius turned and began walking out of the kitchen.

“Wait…What do you mean star pupil? I swear to Salazar, if she’s favoring you and Milo becauseyou look like our dad, I’m putting in an official complaint!” Mila yelled, chasing after the laughingboy.

Chapter End Notes

Hi! Happy Friday everyone! Alright well, now we know what happened to Draco tomake him breakup with Hermione! Now the question is who drugged him and how didthey get Hermione's hair to put in the potion! I was going to include career day, but I hated how it was looking with the rest of thischapter and had to pitch it. So, IF you would like to see Hermione and Draco at CareerDay, please let me know.Alright, there WILL NOT be an update next week. This weekend is Easter, thenTuesday is my son's birthday. Wednesday is my youngest son's birthday. AND (Iswear it's true) Saturday is my oldest son's birthday AND a triple birthday party.Before anyone is sitting and take too much time to figure out what was nine monthsago, I'll just tell you. My anniversary. Yup. 3/4 of my children's birthdays are withinfour days of each other. A little tid bit about me, my oldest son died when he was 8 months old, so not only amI going crazy with just having so many birthdays in a week, but I'm also dealing with alot of grief. He should have been turning 7, and it really fucking sucks.SO ANYWAY! No update at all next week, but there will be one the following week.Um, I am posting my last chapter of my Vikmione short story 'Closer' on Monday the18th and you can find that on my page. It's a Ron Bash, no Draco, Friend Pansy, no

Harry Potter. Okay, so other notes from me. Love you all, see you in a few weeks!

Another Second Chance

Chapter Summary

Hermione and Harry have lunch together, discussing Harry's concerns

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

"I just got a letter from Scorpius, our kids wanted to meet with us tomorrow?" Draco asked, notlooking totally convinced, his head in the green flames of her office floo. Hermione heard the manand looked over her shoulder smiling at him.

"Hey there, stranger.” She said, walking over to her own fireplace and settling in to talk to Draco.

“Oh, right. Hey, Granger.” Draco said, shooting her a smile that melted her heart. “Did you hearme though?” He asked, the panicked look coming back over his face.

“Yes, I heard you, Mila sent me a letter as well last night. I was going to call you later after I wasdone working. She said there was something they wanted to tell us and asked to get Scorpiuspermission to leave the school for it too." Hermione was explaining while adjusting her knees onthe plush mat she kept in front of her fireplace to help keep her comfortable when she was on acall. She’d been in the middle of writing up a progress report when Draco’s call had interruptedher, but frankly his disruptions since their last memory recovery session were becoming a dailyoccurrence and Hermione didn’t mind a bit.

"I can let Pansy know I'll be taking him for the day,” he said, “but they just saw us at career day.What do you think could be so important that they'd want to see us again so soon?" Draco's eyeswent wide as a thought crossed his mind. "Do you think they know about us? Do you think wewere too obvious at lunch with them? We didn't even sit next to each other!" Draco’s panic wasmaking Hermione roll her eyes in his direction.

Honestly, the blonde was too much some days. Since Draco's memory session just a few days priorwhen they'd kissed, the pair had been working on starting to evolve their relationship from workingtogether and being co-parents to seeing if there was still a flame for a romantic relationshipbetween them. So far, things have been progressing nicely and although Hermione was still hurtover their breakup, she now knew that Draco had been in love with her and had wanted to marryher. She didn’t know what had caused him to break up with her, maybe he’d been threatened ormaybe someone had threatened their family, but she knew that he’d truly loved her.

Besides, during career day when they’d snuck down to the empty potions lab and snogged untilHermione didn’t know her own name, they’d been fairly tame with the intimate part of theirblossoming relationship. Hermione had to admit that kissing Draco while he was working at acauldron had been one of her more persistent fantasies, and when the blonde had dragged her downto the dungeons she didn’t even pretend to protest.

They’d agreed that they would keep their blossoming romance to themselves for now. No need toinvolve the children in the beginning stages, and if things worked out, well then, they worked out.Hermione had to admit, to herself at least, that she was still struggling being able to fully openherself up to trusting Draco again. Regardless of what his reasoning for ending things with her hadbeen, he should have come to her and talked it over with her. They had been partners in everyaspect of their lives; he should have been able to trust her enough to know that she would havehelped him figure out a solution to whatever problem there had been.

Sighing, Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco’s worry, "I can assure you, if Mila believed anythingwas happening between the two of us, she'd have sent a howler." Hermione told him, makingDraco's brow raise.

"Somehow, I'm not entirely surprised Mila sends howlers." A noise in the background took Draco'sattention as he turned his face and was speaking to someone Hermione couldn't see. "Hey Granger,I've got to cut this short, but yeah I'll go to Hogsmeade tomorrow. I'll have to go up to the school toget Scorpius, but then I can meet you at the Three Broomsticks in one of the private rooms?" heasked. Hermione agreed before Draco apologized for cutting their conversation short anddisappeared from the hearth.

Sitting back on her heels, Hermione could hear Janet clearing her throat from the doorway,bringing the unspeakable back from where her mind had been wandering with her thoughts ofDraco. “Ms. Granger, you have ‘lunch with Harry’ written in your appointment book and he justsent a memo that you better not try to skip again, so I suggest you get a move on before he getsspecial permission to come down here and drag you from this office…again.” The elderly womantold her with a knowing smile on her face.

“Thank you, Janet, I’ll be right along. I just have a few more things that I need to finish up here.That call was unexpected.”

“You were supposed to meet with Mr. Potter twenty minutes ago, I suggest you head on up nowand come back to your work after you’re fed.” Janet told her before turning away and walking backto her desk. Hermione could see the elderly woman collecting her tote before she stood up andlooked at Hermione watching her and let out a huffing breath. “Well, come on. You’re not going tomake an old woman walk by herself now, are you?”

With that, Hermione snapped back to her thoughts and grabbed her own belongings and joinedJanet in the lift. She had a department meeting this afternoon, so she had to go to lunch now or skipit all together. Hermione knew that she hadn’t gotten to catch up with Harry enough recently aboutthe ongoings of her life.

There was a special lift that took DoM employees straight to the atrium, really helping keep themystery in the department. Hermione was stepping off with Janet, where she found Harry arguingwith the security guard at the DoM lift. "I'm Harry bloody Potter, if I have to get clearance to dragHermione Granger out of her bloody office then that's a waste of resources."

"I'm sorry sir, but unless you have an appointment with Unspeakable Granger, then I just can't letyou pass." The man, who was clearly annoyed with Harry at this point, was saying.

"Sorry, Bernard, please ignore The Chosen One,” Hermione said, walking up and resting her handon the security wizard's shoulder.

"Always do Unspeakable Granger. You have a nice lunch." The man said, tipping his hat towardsher before standing up straight and looking ahead.

Taking Harry by the hand, Hermione directed him towards the exit and onto the street. Whiletypically they didn't have a problem with eating the ministry food, Hermione was hoping for a littlebit more privacy with her best friend. As soon as they'd reached the little muggle Cafe where they'doccasionally get lunch, Hermione took off to their normal seat and settled in while Harry went toplace their order. While waiting, Hermione kept looking around remembering that this was wherethey would come for every lunch break after she’d first started working at the Ministry with him.Over the years, this place had become a place of comfort and security that she craved when she feltlike her life was drifting out of control.

Just like Harry always was. No matter what life had thrown at them, they’d stayed close, evenraising their children together.

When her raven haired friend came back to her, he was adjusting his glasses on his nose andcarrying two cups of tea with him. A smile told her that even though they hadn’t really gotten tospend much time together the last few months, that was nothing to lessen their bond. “I’ve missedyou,” he said, setting her cup down in front of her and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“It’s been too long, you never told me, how was the Veela convention or whatever it was that you

had to do with Izzy.” Hermione said, accepting the drink and taking a sip, finding it perfect asalways.

“Oh, it was interesting. Gabrielle and Fleur did something with their grandmother and Izzy had todo some stuff.” Harry said, waving his hand around as he gave a very vague explanation.

“You have no idea what happened, do you?” Hermione asked, trying to hide her laugh behind acough.

“Absolutely not a clue.” Harry confirmed, the sheepish grin spreading across his face. “So howabout you, how was your holiday? I saw you and Malfoy getting on at Hogwarts, so you had yourdinner or whatever with him then?” Harry asked before taking a sip of his own tea.

“Oh, I never told you. We had to actually spend the entire holiday at the manor.” Hermione said,causing Harry to choke on the drink that he’d just taken. “Ron, being the vindictive little prick thathe is, released doxies into the house and it took an eternity to clear them since some of them wereexpecting.” Harry continued to choke on his tea and began pounding his chest trying to clear hisairway.

“I’m sorry, that was a lot of information in one sentence. Could you clarify a few things reallyquick?” Harry asked just as a waiter brought their club sandwiches over. They smiled and thankedthe man and waited until he was gone again before Harry turned his attention back towards her.

“Ron released pregnant doxies into your house.” He asked, lifting his sandwich and taking a bite.

“Yes, just before the holiday. Mila, extended an invitation to Draco for Christmas Eve dinner, asyou know.” Harry raised his eyebrows at the use of ‘Draco’ instead of ‘Malfoy’, but Hermionecontinued without a pause. “Well, Ronald came over and he was gathering the rest of hisbelongings when he released a case of Doxies into the house. I had to clear everything out andwrote to the children to let them know that they needed to stay at Hogwarts. Of course, they didn’t,and Mila got us invited to stay at the manor for the holiday instead.” Hermione finished, lifting herown sandwich and taking a bite. After her mouth was cleared, she continued. “It was nice beingback there. I hadn’t gotten to see much of it after I helped Draco with the plans for the remodel andTheo and Penny did an amazing job.”

Nodding his head, Harry didn't interject anymore, giving Hermione the opportunity to finishrelaying all the information. "Oh, Narcissa is still a right cow. She popped in on Christmas, believeit or not, and insulted me in front of the children." Harry chuckled and shook his head. Even thoughhe had testified for Narcissa and kept her from joining her husband in Azkaban, Narcissa had only

ever shown slightly less hostility towards Harry than she did Hermione.

"She's always a treat, reminds me so much of her aunt sometimes." He joked, and Hermione had tochuckle along. The portrait of Walburga always did slightly remind Hermione of her children'spaternal grandmother. "Anything else you have to report before I try to finish my lunch? I'd rathernot be taken out by a turkey club after surviving Voldemort and his fan club all these years."

Hermione realized that it was now or never to tell Harry. Her and Draco had decided to not tell thechildren yet, but they hadn't said anything about keeping their budding romance a secret from theirfriends. "Draco and I are giving things another go." Hermione said, after clearing her throat andsitting up straighter.

To his credit, Harry didn't immediately start lashing out. Instead, he sat with his mouth gaping likehe was a fish out of water. Rubbing his fingers on his temple and closing his eyes, he let out aheavy sigh. "I'm sorry, but you're doing what with Draco ?" He asked, making Hermione feel a bitstiffer in her seat.

Due to the nature of her work, Hermione wasn't permitted to give out details about it to anyone.The only loophole being if it were for an investigation, therefore, she'd yet to tell Harry that shewas working with Draco. "Yes, there are a few things-" Hermione started to say before she was cutoff by Harry holding up his hand stopping her.

"You can't be serious right now! Hermione, for the love of Merlin," Harry exclaimed, tossing hisnapkin onto his plate and half eaten sandwich. "He threw you out while you were pregnant with hischildren and then got engaged right afterwards."

"Harry, you don't understand…" Hermione began again, but Harry cut her off.

"You remember Oliver, and how the second go around at a relationship with him had a lawsuitagainst you for ruining his Quidditch career? Because you 'emotionally damaged' him and he had ashit season." Hermione nodded, but when she opened her mouth to speak, Harry started again.

"And Zacharias Smith actually landed you in St. Mungo's after you ended things with him after yougave him a second chance." Harry said, pointing his finger at her. The reminder of her physicallyabusive relationship with Zacharias making her shutter a bit.

"Now this mess with Ron, and you just told me that he infected your house with bloody Doxies to

get back at you. Why can't you just leave the past in the past and move on, Hermione. You keepletting these men back into your life after you already know what they're capable of."

Hermione looked down at her sandwich that was mostly still whole, fiddling with her napkin."Look at how Malfoy left you last time," Harry continued, "and now you want to let him haveanother go. Seriously, Hermione, I'm not saying this to be mean or because I want you to be singleforever, but as your brother, please don't do this again." Harry reached his hands out, coveringhers.

Looking up, she met his gaze, tears brimming in her eyes. "Please Hermione, just let the past go.You can co-parent with Malfoy, but that doesn't mean you need to be with him." He pleaded, hisgreen eyes shimmering with his own unshed tears.

"I love him, Harry. I always have." Hermione whispered, sheepishly looking back down, flippingher palms up so she could hold his hands. "It's different, Harry. He was going to propose all thoseyears ago and something happened with Winston Greengrass. I know he's not going to hurt meagain, Harry. You just have to trust me." She pleaded with her dearest friend.

Harry let out a sigh and dipped his head and it sounded like he was saying a prayer under his breathbefore he looked back up at her. “I’m not supporting this relationship, Hermione.” He said, makingHermione’s heart fall before he let out another breath and continued. “But I’m going to supportyou, because you never left me behind, even when I didn’t listen to you.” Hermione couldn’t stopthe smile that began to spread over her face as Harry shook his head at her.

“Godric help him if he hurts you again. I’ll come up with the most absurd charges and tie his entirecompany up so that it’ll take him years to overcome all the legal troubles that go along with it.”Harry warned, and Hermione knew that it wasn’t an empty threat. Case in point, Zacharias Smith’slaw office going under after he’d hurt Hermione. “Now, why don’t you tell me more about yoursuspicions with Greengrass.”

Hermione shot Harry a smile and then went on to give him the edited version of WinstonGreengrass and how he’d been trying to sell Astoria off to be married. Harry sat and listened,nodding at all the right places and seemed utterly appalled as Hermione described how Greengrasshad essentially been Astoria’s owner until Draco had married her.

After their lunch, Harry agreed that this was disgusting behavior and asked what Hermione wantedto do with this information. “I think I want to open a criminal investigation against him, Harry.”Hermione whispered, looking up at her friend who’s eyebrows raised into his hairline.

“That’s heavy Hermione, and you know without evidence or because it would just be putting a loton the twins and Scorpius by going this route. It’s you and Malfoy, it’s going to be very public andit’s going to be messy.” Harry warned her, and Hermione could only nod.

“I understand, Harry, but this is something that I believe needs to be investigated.” Meeting his eyeagain, Harry seemed to understand what Hermione was saying now.

“It involves your work.” Hermione nodded, “and you think that Winston messed with Malfoy’smemories. You know I don’t know what you do, but if this involves the DoM, then I can onlyimagine how complicated this case is going to be.” Again, Hermione nodded her head, “Malfoy’sgoing to have to be cooperative.” Hermione actually chuckled at this, trying to picture Harry andDraco working together without getting on each other’s nerves.

“I understand Harry, but we have to do this. Like I said, there was more to our breakup and not onlyfor our closure, but for the safety of our children, we need the answers.” Hermione told him.Hanging his head, Harry let out one last sigh, before looking at his watch and cursing.

“I’ve got a meeting this afternoon, and I want you and Malfoy to discuss this case over theweekend. See me on Monday and we can move forward from there.” Harry said, standing up andoffering a hand to Hermione to help her up.

As they made their way back towards the Ministry, neither spoke as they were lost in their ownthoughts. The cards were now being laid out and sooner rather than later Hermione would have allthe answers, one way or another.

Chapter End Notes

Oh hey, sorry about that extra break in updates. Life has a way of well. Anyway.

This story is close to wrapping up though, we're on the way to the final climax andeverything being out there... What will happen?! A little calm before the storm if youwill. I asked for mother's day to have the entire day to myself instead of getting like afew stolen moments to write. If that happens (big IF) then I'll be able to get this storypretty much done. Looking at an end of June, early July ending date.

I have a couple new stories if you want to check those out, Closer is newly completedand a Vikmione story, no smut, past abusive relationship, kidnapping, Hermione inNYC. The Pedicure is a Pansmione one shot comedy based on a real-life experiencethat was too funny. Finally, I've just posted up the first 2 chapters of Athena ofStarlight, going to be a novel length Dreomione, accidental pregnancy, Hermione onthe run, Draco and Theo looking for her...

ANYWAY, Next update will be this coming FRIDAY, the kids are meeting withHermione and Draco to tell them what they've found out... Tell me your predictions!Reviews/Comments are always appreciated!!

Odium Potion

Chapter Summary

The children reveal their findings to their parents, and things don't go exactly as they'dplanned.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Chapter 18: Odium Potion

Legs bouncing, Mila looked over and shot her twin a quick smile before she stood up and beganpacing the private room that she’d reserved. Walking over to the window, she looked down on thesnow-covered village where she could see her classmates running around going from shop to shop.

“If you just sit down…” Milo started to say, before Mila whipped around landing a glare on him.

“Sit down? You think we’re going to be sitting here just telling our parents that someone druggedour father and split up the family is going to go smoothly. And you think I should just sit down!”Mila all but shrieked at her brother, making him roll his eyes at her dramatics.

“Look, Scorpius said that Draco would pick him up around noon and it’s quarter till. That meansthat they still have to walk from the castle and down to the village. Mum isn’t here yet and while Itruly appreciate your talents for the theater, I’d much rather not listen to you acting like telling ourparents that we broke into Draco’s home office and used his pensieve is the end of the world.”

“You two did, what?” The chair that Milo had been leaning back in on two legs fell completelybackwards, toppling him to the ground at the sound of their mother’s voice from the doorway. “I’msorry, I must have misheard you, Milo Benjamin, but did you just say that you broke into yourfather’s home office?”

The door snapped shut and with a wave of her wand, the twins felt the silencing charm settle overthe room, essentially cutting them off from any help that they would desperately be needing.

“You don’t understand, mum.” Mila said, rushing forwards to where her brother was sitting on the

floor. “We were just trying to help, honest. It wasn’t like we were trying to find anythingincriminating on him or something, we just wanted to find out why he left you, left us.”

Hermione ran her hand over her eyes with a heavy sigh before looking back down at her children,sparks flying off the ends of her hair. “Any why, pray tell, do you think he would store somethingabout our relationship in his home office?”

“Well, he did, he had the memory of your breakup and well…” Mila started to say, but her mothercut her off.

“You watched our breakup!? Mila Emmeline, of all the stupid and inconsiderate things you couldhave watched! That is a private moment between me and Draco, something that we, as the adultsand as the couple in that moment, have to work through. That had nothing to do with you!” Hermother scolded, her face was red, but Mila could feel her own face heating in furry at her mother’sdismissal.

“Nothing to do with me! You mean to tell me that why our father abandoned us had nothing to dowith me!” Mila said, standing so that she was hovering over her brother now and facing her mother.“Have you even watched that memory recently, mother?” Mila asked, stalking closer to the witchthat looked so much like her. “You say it has nothing to do with me, but it has everything to dowith me and our family!”

“Watched it? I don’t have to watch it, Mila! I lived the bloody moment, and let me tell you, I’m notexactly thrilled that my children went behind my back to witness the single worst event of my life!You lost your father; well, I lost my entire world at that moment!”

“Well, if you hadn’t been such a coward, you would have been able to see what actually happenedinstead of letting your emotions take over! If you would have sucked it up, you would have seenthat my dad was drugged and taken from me!” Mila shouted, just as the door opened, revealingDraco and Scorpius.

Milo stood from the ground, where he had remained after falling, and put a hand on Mila’sshoulder. In the doorway, they could see Scorpius clutching his school bag that they knew held thetwo books, Runnings of a Pureblood Estate and Potions Most Rare. This had not been the plan atall in how the children had discussed breaking the news of the Odium Potion being used on theirfather.

In fact, they’d had an entire conversation laid out and what part each child would play in theexplanation. They were going to start off with Mila’s suspicions that there was foul play in their

parents’ breakup, following up with Scorpius showing them the books and if it came down to itMilo explaining his observations in the pensieve. Obviously the pensieve was their last resortbecause they were still Slytherins, and they weren’t willing to throw themselves to the wolves toprove a point.

“Does someone want to start explaining what is going on here?” Draco asked, his voice strangelycalm for what he’d just walked in on. “Mila, why were you raising your voice towards your motherand claiming that I was drugged?”

Cringing, Mila looked over at Scorpius, who luckily was already digging into his bag and pullingout the books. Glancing back towards her father, Mila felt the weight of his silver stare as his eyesstayed on her. In the short amount of time she’d known him, she’d never had him look at her withsuch intensity, as if with just a look he could pull every answer he wanted from her.

“We broke into your office and used your pensieve. There was a memory of your breakup withmum, and we watched part of it. You had a golden tinge around your jaw, and you were sweating,clear indicators that you were under the influence during the interaction. It called into questionwhether or not you’d severed your relationship with our mother of your own free will or not.” Milosaid, stepping forwards and putting Mila behind him. Always the protector.

“I found these in our library, Father.” Scorpius whispered in such a low voice that had the room notbeen filled with a tense silence, he would not have been heard. “Pip helped me obtain them, and Iapologize for using her to circumnavigate the wards on the restricted books.”

“You were drugged, sir. With an Odium Potion.” Mila finished, peeking her head around Milo’sshoulder. She wasn’t sure if Draco had heard her or not, because he didn’t respond, too absorbedinto the texts that he’d taken from Scorpius.

Letting her self-preservation skills kick in, Mila pointedly avoided making any eye contact with hermother. It wasn’t that she was scared of the woman, per say, however, she had no intentions ofgetting into another row with her so soon. Mila watched as her mum walked over and placed a handin a comforting gesture on Draco’s forearm. He lowered the book so that she could also read thepages that Scorpius had marked and had previously shown to his sister.

The silence in the room was tense, and the three children watched as realization washed over theirmother’s features while their father’s face remained impassive. Mila reached out a hand to each ofher brothers as they watched their parents flip through each book individually.

“It all adds up…” Their mother whispered, tears brimming in her eyes as she flipped through the

potions book again. “Draco, who would have done this to you?” She asked, looking up at the manstanding next to her.

“If you’ll excuse me, Granger, would you be able to escort Scorpius back to the castle?” Dracoasked as he turned to leave, obviously not waiting for an answer. “Thank you, children. I’ll be intouch, Granger.” He said, nodding his head as he stepped out the door.

“DRACO!” Hermione shouted, turning to look at her children for a moment before turning andchasing after the man who had just swept out of the room. “DRACO MALFOY!” They could hearher heavy footfalls, running down the stairs, probably trying to catch up to their father before heleft the village.

The three kids stood together looking at the doorway where their parents had just left through.There wasn’t anything else to be done, so Mila sat down in a chair and kicked her feet up on thetable, pulling her previously discarded butterbeer towards her. “Well,” she said looking atmatching silver eyes, “that could have gone better.”

“Couldn’t have gone much worse…” Scorpius said, sitting down, letting his head drop in hishands. He ignored the mug that Mila had pushed towards him after casting a cooling charm on theliquid inside.

“They believed us, Scorp, and that’s what’s important. Did you see how Draco reacted?” Milo said,letting a hand rest on his younger brother’s back, “he doesn’t want us to see any weakness, and Ican’t imagine that he can hold it in much longer.”

“Where do you think he’s going?” Mila asked, taking another sip from her drink and looking at hertwin who had just ordered lunch for all of them.

“Azkaban, where else?”

ooo

“Draco, wait damn it! Don’t run off on me and leave me to deal with this by myself!” Hermionewas yelling after the blonde as she chased him down the main street of Hogsmeade towards theApparition Point.

“I have to get to Azkaban, Granger. I have to go speak with Lucius and find out what he knowsabout this.” Draco replied over his shoulder, not turning around to look at her as he continued hispace down the street.

Running so that she was ahead of him, Hermione stopped, the slush of the melted snow splashingup on the legs of their trousers. Both hands on his chest, Hermione was finally able to get theblonde to stop walking. She looked up into his molten eyes that were shimmering with rage, whilehe’d been able to contain all his emotions while they were in front of their children, she could feelthe heat from his magic pulsing off his body and through his black peacoat.

“You have to take Scorpius back to the school; I’m not his guardian and I’m not allowed to havehim outside the castle alone.” She said, trying to reason with him and stop him from going toconfront his father while he was so emotionally charged.

“You can,” Draco said, surprising her with his answer.

“What, no I can’t. Just because I’m the mother of your other two children doesn’t mean that I haveany rights towards Scorpius.” She said, quirking an eyebrow in his direction.

“You do, I filled out the permission form naming you as an emergency contact for him andgranting you permission to contact the school in my stead. Including being able to retrieve andreturn him to Hogwarts as you would the twins. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to be on myway.”

“Draco, you cannot go and confront your father about this,” Hermione said, stepping in front ofhim again when he tried to go around her. “You have to think logically. You don’t have anyevidence against him, and if you go in there now, he’ll be able to prepare a defense against thiswhen we bring up charges against him for it.”

“He’s in prison, Hermione! He shouldn’t have been able to drug me at all!” Draco sneered, his lipcurling as he again tried to step around her only to be stopped again.

“No, he shouldn’t have, but clearly, he did. Don’t you remember, Theo’s father got slapped with anattempted murder charge while incarcerated. Drugging someone shouldn’t be that difficult.”Hermione said, watching as the tension in Draco’s shoulders started to give way. Taking herchances again, Hermione stepped back into Draco’s personal space, putting her hands up on hischest and forcing him to make eye contact with her. “We are going to figure this out, and we’regoing to fix this, together.”

Going up on her toes, Hermione reached forwards and let her lips brush against the dark blondestubble that had begun growing in on his jaw. “You don’t have to do anything alone again,” shewhispered against his skin as she moved her lips towards his, lingering there not wanting to makesuch a public move if he wasn’t comfortable.

She didn’t have to wait long, because Draco crashed his mouth against hers, wrapping his armsaround her waist and pulling her body into his. Hermione’s hands snaked up from his chest and intothe hair at the base of his neck, threading her fingers in the silky strands. Draco nipped her bottomlip, causing a moan, leaving her mouth opened so that Draco could slide his tongue inside.

His hands began to wander down, until he was gripping her arse, and as if it were muscle memory,Hermione jumped from the ground, wrapping her legs around his waist. Hermione let her tonguebattle with his as they fought for dominance within their kiss when suddenly a loud whistle brokethe couple out of the trance they had found themselves in.

“Looking good, Ms. Granger!” Hermione heard the voice of her children’s teammate MatteoZabini call. Hermione struggled to get out of Draco’s hold, but he only gripped her closer to hisbody as he shot a look towards the children. A laugh rang out from the boy that was nearlyidentical to the ones she remembered coming from Blaise when they’d been in school.

“I’d really hate to hex the son of one of my best mates…” Draco was murmuring into her ear as hishands squeezed her arse again.

“Put me down, you neanderthal,” Hermione scolded, slapping her hand against his chest. “You’reacting like an animal in the middle of the street in front of school children.”

“I’m acting like an animal? You’re the one who kissed me!” Draco exclaimed, giving her bum onelast squeeze before setting her back on her feet. “And for the record, I’m not opposed to continuingwhat you started someplace, more privately” Draco said, whispering the last part in her ear, makingHermione shutter in anticipation of the possibilities.

“Oi, don’t stop on account of me!” The Zabini boy yelled out again before a string of curse wordsleft his mouth. Hermione tucked her wand back in her arm holster just as Draco noticed letting outa laugh.

"Stinging jinx?" He asked, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they made their way backtowards the Three Broomsticks.

"Of course, always worked wonders on his father anytime he opened his mouth in school."Hermione said, smiling up at her wizard.

"Very true, the kid for sure got his mouth from his father. Alright, let's go feed the kids, getScorpius back to Hogwarts, then you and I are going on a date tonight to finish what you started inthe middle of the street."

Hermione nudged Draco with her shoulder as they neared the front door, "you, okay?" She asked,looking up into his eyes.

"No, but you're right," she raised an eyebrow and he let out a huff in irritation. "We do need to playthis close to the chest. We know Lucius is involved, and we can't give him any advantage."

"We'll figure this out, together." Hermione promised, squeezing Draco’s hand as they walked upthe stairs to rejoin their children. Regardless of whatever else happened, she was not letting Dracogo ever again.

Chapter End Notes

Hello everyone!!! Welcome, welcome, and I hope you enjoyed this update. As you'venoticed my update schedule is a bit all over the place. Not going as I planned, but thatis how life goes, right?

Well, ANYWAY, I've decided for my peace of mind that I'm tossing an updateschedule out the window (so to speak) and will be posting updates as they come to meinstead of trying to keep up with a schedule. I apologize if that upsets anyone, but it iswhat it is. This is work NOT abandoned or even on a hiatus, but with me writing what is comingto me instead of forcing anything, that means there will be more stories and contentcoming from me...just not this one in particular.

I do have another Dramione and a new Dreomione that I'll be throwing up this week.First two chapters of those are done, just going through the beta stages. The Dramioneis called 'The Great and Noble House of Nott', a pureblood Hermione story where sheis the twin sister of Theo Nott. Going to be sad, going to be dark. The Dreomione iscalled 'Grief Group' and as you can gather from the title alone, it will be a sad fic aswell, AND it is based a lot on my personal experience as a mother who has lost achild. SO, yeah, once those are done with the betas, they'll be up. So, could be thisweek or next...

ALSO, just finishing up THREE pieces (one I co-wrote) that are for fests and won't be

released for a hot minute (one is being revealed in June the other two are slotted forSeptember). Let's see, oh, I have a very fluffy Theomione that I've outlined and is ashort, will probably be 8-10 chapters (or more) that I'll start throwing up once I'vegotten the first two chapters written. So, there are goodies!

News for 'If Only', fear not, I have the next three chapters outlined and plotted...I justhave to write them and I want them to be GOOD, so they'll be coming out in the nearfuture (just no dates being promised)

Alright, love you all and the support I've been getting for this fic! I am close tofinishing it, we have the big climax coming, the next chapter is SMUT and Dramionefan service, so you have that to look forward to.

See you all soon!

End Notes

I’m a monster, I already know. But hey, there had to be a GOOD reason why Hermionewould stay away from Draco. And now you understand why I couldn’t drop chapter oneand leave it there. No one would want to sit with THAT for a week.Okay, go ahead and click to the next chapter. You’re going to get to meet their kids and seea glimpse of what has happened to Harry Potter’s life in the last fourteen years too….

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!