A/N: I know I have no right posting a new story when I have supposedly been working on the It's Almost Dark rewrite for like... two years, but this isn't really taking up any time! "Unplanned" started as a series of drabbles, but has since grown to have a life of its own, and it demands to be written. I have no choice in the matter. Thank you so much for the support, and please read, review, and come visit me at my tumblr home if you feel so inclined! persephone-andhades dot tumblr dot com

June 2007

"For fuck's sake, Granger, didn't your mother ever teach how to properly pour a cup of tea?" Draco snapped, his grey eyes narrowing at the bushy haired girl who was sitting across from him. Hermione's response, of course, was to roll her eyes as she shoved the china, now steaming, towards the young man.

"If you don't like the way I pour, Malfoy, maybe you should go annoy someone else during tea time. You certainly wouldn't be missed."

She pulled her own cup closer to herself from across the desk, leaving it on her desk as she leaned back into her chair, crossing her legs. She didn't attempt to hide her annoyance, glaring back at him with the fury of a valkyrie.

"Yes, well," he started, pausing to press the fine, floral printed china that had once belonged to Hermione's grandmother to his lips, "This may come as some surprise to you, but yours is the only worthwhile company in this entire building."

Rolling her eyes in response, Hermione leaned forward again, reaching for her own cup and lifted it to her lips. When she blew gently on the steaming liquid in lieu of taking a sip, Draco Malfoy stared at her with wide eyes.

"What?" she snapped, frowning. "Circe's sake, Malfoy, why are you staring at me like I just sprouted a second head?"

"You don't blow on tea, Granger! Salazar, your mother really didn't teach you any manners, did she?" he said, his lips tight and thin in frustration. He reached across the desk and waved his hand over the cup, and the light cooling charm that he performed wandlessly had Hermione blinking.

"We can't rely on magic for everything, Malfoy, you seem to forget. Sometimes it's nice to not pull out my wand for every little thing - a little air does the same thing."

"I didn't pull out my wand, now did I?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The smirk that crossed his lips seemingly fueling Hermione's annoyance, he leaned back into his own chair distracting himself with fixing his far-too-expensive cufflinks.

Hermione sputtered back at him, her mind reeling with all the nasty things she wanted to blurt out, but instead she pulled her lips tight for a moment, swallowing the words. After seconds of silence, she opened her mouth again, this time her voice slightly calmer that at any point during their whole exchange.

"I just don't understand how you can expect me to be okay with naming our son Scorpius."

Draco immediately rolled his eyes, sipping on his tea once again. "It is a good, strong name. You know full well the Black tradition with star and constellation names - the lot of them may have been utterly mad, but my mother is still a Black, and I grew up knowing I would keep the tradition. What's wrong with Scorpius?"

"It's just wrong! It just doesn't sound right. What about Artemis? Godric, I could be convinced of Cepheus over Scorpius." Gone from her voice was the ire, all that remained was exasperation.

"Artemis is a goddess in mythology, Granger. It's a woman's name. And Cepheus was the worst kind of coward, the kind that is willing to sacrifice his own family to save his own skin. Kind of the opposite of my philosophy, wouldn't you say?" Draco spoke calmly, teacup still in hand.

"It might not be a bad thing to have a child completely opposite from you," Hermione muttered under her breath. Then louder, "Alphard."

First, Draco opened his mouth to speak, but then froze, thinking.

"Actually, Alphard may not be terrible. Alphard Black had some sense in him - he left half his estate to Sirius and the other half to Andromeda when he died - family was important to him. He didn't believe in disowning your own." Thoughtfully he turned his eyes back to Hermione. "Al, for short."

"That could be confusing," she sighed back, resting her chin in her hand, elbow on her desk. "Albus, after all."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't let the Potter-Spawn affect your opinion - it's Al or Scorp at this point." He tipped his cup to Hermione.

Setting the china back down on the table, he stood. As he fixed his jacket, pulling sleeves back into place and adjusting the cufflinks to show from beneath the velvet again, he threw Hermione his trademark smirk over his shoulder.

"Back to the grind, I believe they say, Granger." He paused, thoughtful, and his eyes met hers one last time. "Can't believe I might have let you talk me out of Scorpius. I was pretty set on that, you know."

After the door had clicked shut, Hermione leaned back into her chair again, running a hand over stomach.

"Well, Al, I'm glad I talked him out of that one," she said in a soft voice, chuckling even.

One thing Hermione was sure of, at this point in her life - after that one, drunken night, she had never even considered that co-parenting with Draco Malfoy was going to be easy, until today.

"Now I just have to convince him that Granger-Malfoy is more than an acceptable name for his child in this day and age."

.oOo.