Chapter 1:

Walking through the hall to the kitchen, Hermione heard the noises of the television and decided to check the occupant of her living room. A smile crept onto her face as she saw the little girl, curled up in a ball with her pink teddy bear in her arms, sleeping soundly on the sofa. Careful,—as to not wake up the child, she lifted her up and slowly walked the child to her room. The little girl, already in her sleeping dress, stirred but did not awaken as Hermione tucked her in and kissed her forehead. Hermione made her way out of the room but left the door open just a crack. She then went to her own room to get ready for bed.

After she washed her face, she looked at herself in the mirror. She studied herself and thought that if she was someone else looking at herself, she never would have guessed that the woman she was looking at already had a beautiful four-,— soon to be five—,-year-old daughter.

Five, she thought. Tomorrow would bethe birthday of her baby girl Sophie. Five, the number of years she has lived in France. Five, the number of years before her whole life came apart and a new one was created. Five years ago she thought she lost everything but had been proven wrong. She thought back to five years before.

She was barely unconscious, barely aware of her surroundings and what the doctors and nurses were telling her. The only thing that she knew was that she was in pain. She saw her friend clutching her hand saying something; she saw her friend's lips moving but couldn't make out what she was saying. Then she was inside an operating room. They gave her something for the pain but the contractions were just that painful that she cursed the nurses for not giving her a higher dosage. Next she was being told that it was time.

Her doctor was commanding her, while her friend held her hand, encouraging her and supporting her.

"Push!" her doctor said, and she followed with a loud scream. This went on for what felt like hours before she heard the crying of a baby. Her baby. She was feeling faint but she was fighting unconsciousness so she could finally see her daughter.

"She's beautiful," her friend said while holding the new born. "She has your eyes!" Her friend handed Hermione her child. Hermione thought she had never seen anything as beautiful as the child that she was holding in her arms. The baby girl had wisps of light brown hair on her little head and had beautiful, bright brown eyes on her pale face.

At that moment Hermione felt like the happiest woman alive. The child in her arms was still crying when Hermione said to her "Shush darling. It's alright. Mummy's here. Everything will be ok. Stop crying."

As if sensing her mother's loving presence the new-born child stopped crying and looked at her mother's face. Hermione had a weak but warm smile and said to her baby "Hello my angel. I am your mummy."

The child scrunched up her face and gave a big yawn then closed her eyes.

The doctor came up next to her and said, "Let us take her so we can give her a full check, alright? You need to take your rest as well Hermione."

The new mother looked at her child lovingly, not wanting to be separated so soon. Her doctor saw Hermione's hesitation and added, "We will take very good care of her, I promise. You can see her as soon as she is checked and ready."

She reluctantly handed the doctor her baby with extreme care as if the child was made of fragile glass that would break immediately. As soon as the doctor stepped away from Hermione's bedside a hospital personnel came forward asking, "Have you decided in her name, madam?", and to that Hermione gave a small nod and said, "Yes, her name is Sophie Granger"

Hermione blinked the water in her eyes away and smiled at herself in the mirror. She dressed in a loose shirt and her pajamas before she went to her dresser to comb her untamable curls. Sophie would never have to face this situation in her whole life because unlike her mother, who had unruly, frizzy, brown hair, she had softer, more cooperative red curls that she could comb through easily with only her hands.

After minutes of torturous combing she got up and tucked herself in bed. She had always had the habit of going through the things she was supposed to do the next day. Tomorrow would be a full day. She would have to wake up early to prepare for the party. First, she would have to prepare the food. Her long time friend, Emily, would be coming over to help her prepare them all. Emily was a bakeshop owner and a great baker. She would be in charge of baking the cake. Then Hermione would have to take Sophie to her school. When she got back she would have to set up all the decorations and put up tables and chairs in the backyard for the party. It would take her all morning and early afternoon to prepare everything. Then she would have to pick up Sophie at two o' -clock from school to get her ready for her party. At three o'clock guests would arrive and the party would start and end at five o'clock. Then, clean up until seven and then a dinner of pizza at eight. Hermione sighed. Tomorrow would be an exhausting day.

She remembered the smile on Sophie's face when she had given her the invitations to give to her classmates and teachers. She had a grin from ear to ear and had showered her mum with kisses and hugs and thank you's.

'Yes, it'll be exhausting but she is worth every bit of it.'

Then she made a quick once–over on all the people that would be there tomorrow. All Sophie's classmates would be there, as well as their parents and her teacher, Ms. Summer. At least the adults would be there to help her with all those kids. There would also be some neighbors, a few of her own work friends and—, she turned and groaned into her pillow. Draco Malfoy would be there.

'Why him of all people?' she thought. Then she reminded herself of the one thing he did that made him almost welcome to Sophie's birthday party. 'Because he saved her', she thought, 'he saved Sophie'

Hermione and Sophie always visited Emily's bakery after Sophie's school day. And as usual the two mothers would talk for a really long time. During which Sophie would always ask her mum if she could go and visit the toy shop next door and she would always say, "Ok, but be careful and don't talk to strangers," to which Sophie would reply with a roll of her eyes and—, "Yes mum, I know 'stranger danger' ."

The shop would always amaze Sophie, no matter how many times she had seen it before. It was a magical toy shop of course, and all of the display would turn on when passed by. She knew her mum was a witch that could do lots and lots of magic and that was one of the reasons she loved this store. She would admire the teddy bears waving at her, the planes flying high above her head and the train that would stop at the station with the small conductor yelling, "ALL ABOARD!" She loved it all.

The owner of the shop, Mr. Belaire, was arranging the new toys for display when he heard the bell on the door ring. There was a warm smile on his face when he recognized who entered his shop and gave the person a cheery, "Welcome back Sophie!" in his thick French accent.

The child ran up to him replied, "Hello Mr. Belaire! What can I help you with today?"

The shop owner merely laughed at her enthusiasm to help him with his toy store but did not complain because he enjoyed her company very much.

After some time the clock chimed and out came the dancing partners signaling that another hour has passed. It was five o' -clock and time for Sophie to say good-bye and to go back to the bakery, as was her usual routine. Only this time, she didn't go straight to the bakeshop because something on the street caught her curious little eyes.

There, walking on wobbly legs in the middle of the street was a small puppy with golden fur. It looked so helpless and so lonely that the little girl couldn't help but feel compelled to help him, as it was in her nature much like her mother.

With much caution, she approached the street and looked both ways, remembering the words of her mum, and slowly approached the small pup. She knelt down on the ground and looked at the small dog curiously. She scooped the small dog up and rested him on her lap. The pup snuggled in to her and she immediately fell in love with it. She petted the dog before scooping it once more. She then decided that she would give this lonely dog a home and take good care of it. With her mind made up, she stood to leave with the dog nestled safely in her arms.

Suddenly she heard a loud noise–, that she recognized as belonging to a car. As she looked up she saw two bright lights headed directly at her at a frighteningly fast pace. The next thing she saw, or rather felt, was arms hugging her and a hand at the base of her neck and another around her small waist. She couldn't see anything but felt that she and the person hugging her collided with the pavement and rolled on the side walk before stopping rather abruptly.

She heard tires screeching, people yelling and the loud heartbeat of the person holding on to her. They had landed with Sophie being, thankfully, on top of the person. She would have been squeezed between the pavement and her savior if she wasn't. The arms that were once holding her fell limply to his sides. She pushed up and saw with wide eyes the man that had saved her. Her hero.

He had pale skin, almost as white as snow, like the girl in the story her mum read to her. He also had pale blond hair that reflected against the light that made it look like it was shining, like a halo on an angel!

He had his eyes closed and he didn't move and that frightened her. 'He's dead!' the scared little girl thought. She got off of him, knelt by his side and started shaking his arm accompanied by shouts of "Mister! Mister wake up!"

By the time her savior came to, a crowd had already formed a circle around them. The man scrunched up his face and grunted. He slowly opened up his eyes and squinted at the light that assaulted them. He tried to protect his eyes with his arm but felt something tugging at it. He looked at his right arm and saw two small hands grasping the material of his coat. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eye with his left hand, seeing as the other one was occupied.

Slowly his eyes adjusted to the light and he looked at the small child that didn't seem to want to let go. For the first time Sophie looked at the eyes of her savior. It was the first time she ever saw anything like them. They were beautiful grey eyes that seemed to flow like melted silver. She decided right then and there that it was her new favorite color.

For a long while the two just sat there looking at each other and then Sophie's brown eyes filled with tears and she launched herself at him. She wrapped her small arms around his neck and buried her head in the crook of his neck. She sobbed uncontrollably. She was feeling so happy and afraid and grateful and a lot of things all at the same time that all she could do was cry.

Suddenly there was movement in the crowd as someone was trying to push past them. Finally the crowd revealed a very teary-eyed and haggard-looking Hermione Granger. She looked like she was on the brink of hysterics. Cautiously she knelt down behind the little girl. "Sophie? Sophie? Baby? Are you ok, darling?" She placed a gentle hand on the little girl's back, soothing it to make her stop crying.

As soon as Sophie heard Hermione's voice she turned around and looked at her mum for a moment before she launched herself at her, holding on to her tightly. Hermione in return held on to her as if hanging on for dear life. For a while they just sat there holding on to each other; Hermione whispering soothing words to her still sobbing daughter.

When Sophie's tears finally subsided, Hermione pulled away and placed her hands on either side of her daughter's face to examine her. "What happened, Sophie?" she asked.

Sophie dried up the rest of her tears with the back of her hand before she explained everything to her mum in a shaky voice. After the explanation, Sophie pointed a finger towards the man still seated beside them and said, "He saved me, Mum."

Her mum and her hero looked at each other for a really long time. Then her mother asked, "Malfoy, is that you?"

The blond haired man answered, "Yes, Granger. It's me."

Her mum closed her eyes and when she opened them, she had a smile on her face and she said, "Thank you."