"I don't know if I can do this, Draco," Hermione said for the fifth time that evening. "Let's just stay at home tonight."
Draco eyed his wife. She was so nervous; he could tell. He pulled her into a tight hug.
"Hermione, no," Draco said. "We're going. You've been waiting for this for years."
A soft sob escaped her lips as she burrowed her head into his chest. He rubbed gentle circles on her back, trying to calm her nerves.
"I can't stand the thought of being rejected again," she said quietly.
"I know," he said. "But we're going to do this. We'll do it together."
He let her calm down for a few more minutes before pulling away. He clasped their hands together and tried to assess her emotional state before continuing.
"We can do this. And it won't just be us. Ron will be there, and Pansy, too. We'll all be watching in case anything gets out of hand. We're there to support you."
She stared at him silently, trying to absorb his confidence at how the evening would go. She took a deep breath and smoothed out the few wrinkles that had developed from their hug. Then, she stepped back to her mirror to continue getting ready. It was as if two minutes ago had never happened.
"You're disgusting," Hermione said, chuckling.
Draco looked affronted.
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know. You're just being completely out of character right now," she explained.
"How so?"
He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her belly.
"The Draco Malfoy I know is not a caring, sympathetic man," she said simply. "The Draco Malfoy I know is a self-centered, egotistical, arrogant prat."
"You know just how to stroke my ego, love," he said. "You're right, though. My behavior is disgusting. I blame it on the Muggle-born beliefs with which you have brainwashed me."
He kissed her head before releasing her.
Hermione rolled his eyes as he left the room, no doubt making sure everyone else was getting ready to leave.
"You look perfect," her reflection said to her. Hermione had long ago had a chat with the mirror, threatening it to act nicely unless it wanted its enchantments stripped.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive," it replied. "Now get out of here. They're waiting for you. Everything will work out. It will be fine."
"It will be fine," Hermione repeated.
She soon left the room in search of her husband and her children.
"Ready to go, love?" Draco asked when he saw her making her way down the stairs to the foyer.
She smiled at the sight. He stood there casually, son on his shoulders, daughter holding his hand. This was her family, and no matter if Harry and she mended their friendship tonight or not, she would still have them.
"I'm ready."
They had decided to meet on neutral ground. The Burrow. While the Weasleys had initially been hesitant about Hermione's relationship with Draco, they quickly came to their senses and realized that shutting out Hermione was absurd. While they still thought Draco could be a bit of a git at times, they had more or less accepted him into their circle.
"Hey, Hermione," Ron said as he pulled her into a bear hug. "Malfoy."
"Weasley."
"And how are my two favorite trolls?"
Hermione's daughter looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "Uncle Ron! We're not trolls. We're kids!"
Ron gave them a close look and tickled them before nodding his head in agreement.
"Looks like you're right. Not trolls after all," he said.
The children laughed at their uncle's silliness.
"Let's leave Mommy and Daddy alone for a while," he said. He then began to whisper, "Come on. I have some new toys to show you."
The two children were too busy exchanging excited looks to notice Ron's wink at Hermione. She smiled gratefully at him.
"He's in the kitchen with Mum," Ron warned before heading off with the children.
Hermione looked nervously to Draco.
"Let me know if you need anything," Ron called once the group was out the door.
"You can do this," Draco reminded her as the door to the kitchen opened. It seemed as if Ron's shout had alerted the others to her presence.
"Hermione! Draco!"
Hermione received Mrs. and Mr. Weasley's hugs, but her eyes were on Harry the entire time. He stood sheepishly in the background, watching the scene before him. He purposefully refused to meet Hermione's eyes.
"Where are the children?" Mr. Weasley asked. He had grown rather fond of the two young Malfoys. "They didn't even come to say hello?"
"Ron bribed them away already," Draco explained. "Maybe we should go find them."
Mr. Weasley caught on quickly. "Yes, that's probably a good idea. Let us know when dinner is ready."
"Dinner!" Mrs. Weasley said frantically. "I almost forgot. Hermione, we'll catch up in a little while. I need to get back to Ginny in the kitchen."
She headed back to the door, making sure to prop it open so that she could keep an ear out for trouble.
Hermione realized that this was it. It was just the two of them, and unless Harry was going to be a total tosser, he would have to greet her soon.
"Hermione," Harry said quietly, staying far on his side of the room.
"Hi, Harry," she replied, taking the initiative to move a little closer to her childhood friend.
"I'm glad you came," Harry said. "I'm sure the kids will be happy to see you. James was very excited that Aunt Hermione would be at his party."
Although Hermione and Harry were not on speaking terms, Hermione had still gotten to know his children through her family's somewhat frequent visits to the Burrow. They saw each other on a semi-regular basis and Mrs. Weasley had long ago convinced the children to call her and her husband Aunt Hermione and Uncle Draco. Draco protested the title, but in secret appreciated being welcomed into the family so readily.
"I'm happy to be here for James," Hermione said awkwardly.
The truth was that it was James' sixth birthday and this was the first party she had been invited to. Or rather, she had been invited to his first birthday party as well, but the invitation had been revoked when Harry had found out about her and Draco's relationship.
They stood in uncomfortable silence for several moments before they were distracted by a new arrival.
"Mummy, mummy! Come see what Uncle Ron has upstairs!" the little boy said excitedly, attaching himself to Hermione's leg.
Hermione smiled at her son.
"Mummy's a little busy right now. Did you show Daddy?"
He nodded, but was distracted by the presence of Harry.
"Is that Uncle Harry?" The boy asked.
Hermione nodded. "Would you like to meet him, sweetie?"
He shrugged, but approached Harry anyway.
"And who is this good looking little man?" Harry asked.
He eyed the little tot. Comparing him in size to his own children, he determined the boy could be no more than three-years-old. That sounded right to him. After he realized his mistakes, he had tried to catch up on all the letters she had sent him over the years, but it was all a blur at the moment.
"Leonardo!" the little boy said excitedly. "Just like the ninja turtle!"
Harry Potter bent down and shook his tiny hand.
"Nice to meet you, Leonardo."
"Is that cake?"
The two adults couldn't even get an answer in before the little boy had taken off. Harry smiled sadly at the child. He supposed it wasn't such a bad thing that Hermione had reproduced with the ferret. Although the boy had many of his father's traits, Hermione's genes had softened his facial features, and miraculously, the little boy had a mop of messy brown curls. He secretly hoped that it disgusted Malfoy.
"Granger, please make him stop that," Draco said as he approached the twosome.
"He calls you Granger?" Harry whispered quietly to Hermione. For a minute, Hermione's hopes soared as she realized that this was the Harry that she missed.
"Occasionally. Bad habits die hard, I suppose," Hermione says. "It's not like he's going to call me Malfoy, though."
She looked over to her husband.
"And to answer your request, no. I think it's cute," she said.
"I hardly find it adorable that our son thinks he's named after a talking turtle," Draco said. "Honestly, Potter, it's not even his name. We named him Leo, after the constellation. It was this one here who went and put the silly notion in his head that she would have preferred the name Leonardo."
"Of course you did, Malfoy. I would expect nothing less than for you to uphold Black family traditions."
"Well, I am the only one left."
"That's not even true!" Harry said, anger surfacing in his voice as he looked on at Andromeda and Teddy in the kitchen. "In fact, from where I am standing, I can see two other Black family members."
Draco rolled his eyes, peering into the kitchen. "That line of the family was disowned quite some time ago."
"Draco, please?" Hermione said pleadingly.
The man muttered something under his breath before grouchily walking off into the kitchen to stop his son from licking the icing from James' cake.
"So," Hermione said nervously.
"So."
Hermione was having difficulties standing there, and Harry could tell. He imagined it was as awkward for her as it was for him.
"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," she said at last. "I think I'm just going to find Draco and the kids. Why don't you go help Molly and Ginny?"
"Hermione," Harry said desperately.
"What, Harry?" she asked. She sounded tired. "Don't look at me like I'm the bad guy here. I'm not the one who decided our friendship was not worth it. I'm not the one who abandoned my friend because she fell in love with who you consider to be the wrong guy. I'm not the one who ignored all the lengthy notes that I sent you throughout the years. I'm not the one who is standing here, pretending that it isn't strange that I have a three-year-old son and you, my best friend, are just meeting him for the first time."
"Hermione, stop," Harry said.
"No, Harry!" she said as tears formed in her eyes. "All those years ago, I hid the fact that I was dating Malfoy from you and Ron for this very reason. I knew you wouldn't accept it! And you know what breaks my heart?"
Harry followed Hermione's gaze into the kitchen and winced. She was looking sadly at a very pregnant Pansy who was carrying a small freckled child toward Draco and Leo.
"How could you, Harry? How could you?" The tears finally began spilling from her eyes. "When Draco told me about Ron and Pansy, I was overjoyed. Sure, I was glad that they were happy, but mostly, I was just happy that I would get one of my friends back. I thought Ron and I would come even closer because of this, and we did. I thought we could be miserable together over how you abandoned us due to our relationship choices."
Hermione felt this issue needed to be addressed.
"Imagine my surprise when I found out that you were still on friendly terms with Ron," Hermione continued. "Imagine my even greater surprise when Pansy explained that she was hesitant to ask me, her by then best friend, to be a bridesmaid because she knew that you would be there standing beside Ron."
"Hermione, I don't know what to say," Harry said. "I know I was wrong."
"Of course you were!" Hermione shouted.
It seemed as though someone had placed an Imperturbable Charm on the room because it appeared as though no one in the kitchen noticed their raised voices. Hermione was grateful for this, as well as the occasional glances she noticed coming from Draco, Pansy, and Mrs. Weasley to check on them.
"I want to make this right, but I have no idea how to," Harry admitted. "There's nothing I can do to fix this. I can't go back and change things. I can't suddenly accept Malfoy."
"You can forgive me, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "You can forgive me for falling in love with him. The only thing I regret about this all is that I lost you because of it. If I had to go back, I would do it all over again. I love him. Please stop holding that against me."
"I'm trying," he said. "That's all I can do right now."
"I suppose that's all I can ask for right now," she said. "Just know that I want you back. I miss you. You're my brother."
She looked sadly up at Harry as the tears began falling down her cheeks.
"Hermione," Harry said, pulling her into a hug. "It'll be all right. Everything will work out. It will be fine."
Hermione laughed in his arms.
He peered down at her questioningly.
"My mirror told me the same thing."
The two stayed like that for quite some time before Mrs. Weasley came in to announce that everyone needed to come to the kitchen for dinner. Draco kissed her cheek as he joined her and nodded to Potter before taking her to the kitchen to find their seats.
Dinner was a happy occasion. The food was delicious and everyone joined in a round of Happy Birthday after the meal was over. James was happy that his whole family could be there to celebrate his birthday, but no one was as happy as Hermione.
"Come to bed, love," Draco said once they were at home and the kids were tucked in.
"In a second, Draco," she said. "I just need a minute. I can't get my head wrapped around how well tonight went."
Draco smiled at his wife, happy that this struggle was coming to an end.
"Should I be jealous that you won't come to bed with me because you're thinking of Potter?" he teased.
Hermione laughed.
"Oh, definitely," she said, chuckling to herself. "My mind keeps wandering to all the dirty things I want to do to Harry."
"Come to bed, love," he said again, reaching over and grabbing her by the waist. "It's disgusting that you would even joke about that."
"I know," she said. "It made me a little sick. He's my brother. You started it, though."
"You're right, as always," he said. "It's my fault as per usual."
"I'm glad that you agree," she said, kissing him soundly on the lips. "This whole thing was entirely your fault."
"Entirely," he said, responding to her lips.
"Let's go to bed, Draco," she said, pulling him with her towards the bed.
"Now that's a fabulous idea."