Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from Harry Potter or its characters.
A/N. Based on a prompt from Harry Potter FanFiction Group on Facebook. Thanks for the idea Ms. C. J.
Draco Malfoy had been waiting for this day. The day his father passed away. It only took ten years, the bastard. He loved his father, he really did. It wasn't like he knew his father well, but he had still respected him, maybe not anymore. He took care of him in his younger years. His father had spent those ten years in Azkaban though because of his affiliation with the Dark Lord and housing him, and that's what he couldn't forget. How his father damaged him.
He and his mother had changed every aspect of their lives. No longer following the pureblood beliefs. Narcissa reconnected with her sister Andromeda, helping her take care of Teddy now that his mother had passed away at the hand of their sister Bellatrix.
Draco found love, in the strangest of places. He was on trial after the war and Hermione Granger had stepped up to defend him as an eye witness, along with Harry Potter. Together the duo of the Golden Trio had all accounts wiped from both him and his mother. They were free. Draco felt a great debt to be paid to them and started working for Hermione after she came to work at the ministry. She had quickly promoted him as his knowledge was not that of a secretary, but someone that could challenge her and make her think. His pureblood beliefs growing up also helped her to see different aspects of opinions thus giving her the upper hand when trying to pass laws for freedom of creatures. She was well on her way to becoming Minister of Magic, and no matter how far she was promoted, including into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she'd make sure there was a position for him working with her.
Working together had definitely brought them closer as friends. When her relationship with Ron had fallen apart he was there for her. It was only almost three years ago they had admitted their feelings to each other and started to date. That quickly turned to love. Last year she moved into the Manor after he and his mother had rebuilt it. Their three year anniversary was just a week away and he was planning on proposing.
Right now though, he had to get through the funeral of his father. Showing up to the Malfoy family grave, there were few people that had attended. Including him, his mother, and Hermione, there were his school friends. Blaise Zabini, his wife, Daphne Greengrass, and his mother and current husband. Draco was unsure which number husband this was, Greg Goyle and his wife Astoria Greengrass, the Greengrass parents, and Pansy Parkinson. It was a small funeral with no tears shed.
In the following days, Hermione helped Draco and Narcissa with the legalities of the will. As some of the pureblood laws were fading out, there were many new pureblood laws in place. Hermione read the will to both Draco and Narcissa. They expected everything in it. All estates and money transfer to the first magical male heir. The mother of said heir is allowed to live on one of the properties until she passes away. They just had to go to the bank and transfer all the funds from Lucius' account to Draco's.
Walking into Gringotts, Hermione holding the Last Will and Testament and a Death Certificate for Lucius Malfoy, they walked up to the goblin at the end of the entrance hall and stated their business. After the review of documents, the goblin, Hermione, Draco and Narcissa climbed into the train car to the Malfoy vaults to transfer funds.
The goblin opened Lucius' vault with no problem, but as he tried to use his magic, the money didn't move. Confused, the goblin tried again. There were quizzical looks shared between the four as the goblin tried one more time.
"It seems, either the documents were forged, Lucius isn't dead, or Draco isn't the first magical heir, in accordance with the new law." The goblin stated as a matter of fact closing the vault and climbing back into the train car. Shock took over Draco and Hermione, but Narcissa paled.
"You don't think someone forged the documents before father went into Azkaban do you mum?" Draco asked hoping they didn't just bury their father alive.
"No, no of course not my dear boy. We'll figure this out. Let us go. We'll figure this out. Yes. Oh dear." Narcissa replied taking Draco's hand as she climbed into the train car.
Draco looked back at Hermione with a look of dread. He hoped more than anything in the world they didn't just bury his father alive. The Auror was sure he was dead right? Of course he did, it was Harry Potter who had checked and delivered the news. He was definitely dead. That means the documents were forged or...he had to stop thinking, there was no way he had a sibling. His parents would have told him. Any of the purebloods would have known. The only child born into the Malfoy family for centuries was only one male.
Hermione took the documents to her office while Draco took the floo home with his mother. After ten minutes, he was back at Hermione's office. She was currently examining the documents with a magnifying glass. Looking back and forth between the will and other documents she was able to secure in the ten minutes Draco had been gone. Everything was matching though.
"Draco, could you please find more documents from your father? Maybe one's that were from after Voldemort disappeared the first time." Hermione asked while she continued looking for differences.
"You… you think it was the Dark Lord?" Draco replied in a whisper.
"My dear, I am not sure, but I won't rule anything out. The will was first produced when Voldemort was on the rise, these documents were produced during his second rise. I'd like to compare with those that are not during the time of Voldemort. And for Merlin's sake, call him Voldemort or Tom Riddle. The 'Dark Lord is a habit' excuse only worked for a couple years. It's not longer habit."
Nodding, he left to go scrounge up documents from the basement of the ministry. Once they had decided to rebuild the Manor they brought all documents from Lucius' old study to the Ministry just in case they needed to find information that would help on a case. A case like this.
Flipping through years of paperwork, it took him most of the afternoon to sort through the years and find signatures from 1982-1991. He grabbed a large stack and brought them back to Hermione, who was still scouring the documents while rubbing her temples. She took the papers from him and continued on her work. Draco knew when she was methodically working and instead decided to get them dinner. He knew it would be a long night.
As midnight was approaching Draco put his own magnifying glass down and rubbed his eyes into his hair. This was useless, if someone forged the documents they did a damn good job. They couldn't find one hair of a difference. One slip of a pen. Lucius' signatures were consistent on every single paper.
Sighing. "Draco I think we should call it a night. We'll come back tomorrow and work some more before our dinner reservation."
Nodding he remembered tomorrow was their anniversary. He had an entire day planned. "My love, I think it's safe to say after we've gone through hundreds of signatures that the document isn't forged." Draco sighed not wanting to think what that meant as the third and final option.
Walking over, Hermione sat on Draco's lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and closed his eyes. Putting her lips to his forehead, she tried to comfort him. She had already come up with the conclusion it wasn't forged after the first ten minutes, but confirmed once she saw the first paper from the time Voldemort was no longer in power.
"What are you thinking?" Hermione whispered bringing his eyes to look into hers.
"I think I've been lied to for twenty eight years. Part of me is wondering if maybe I do have a sibling out there. Part of me is wondering why I wouldn't have known? Part of me wonders why my parents gave the child up." Draco replied closing his eyes. He was struggling with his want to know. What would happen to his inheritance if he didn't find his sibling? What would happen when they found it? Would they willingly sign it over to the rightful heir?
"Draco. We will figure this out together. Maybe we should speak to your mother tomorrow. Let's go home."
The next morning Narcissa wasn't home. They decided to start their search at St. Mungos. Asking for records of any babies born a year prior to him to when his parents had first married seven years prior. They had six years worth of baby records they would need to go through to try to find any baby that could potentially be related to him. St. Mungo's would have the records ready Monday morning.
Draco could now go forth with his plans to make Hermione his betrothed. They went to a sandwich and ice cream parlor near her parents house he knew she liked for an early lunch. They stopped into the dental office to pay her parents a visit before they left. Leaving to go see a muggle film they had wanted to see. Hermione introduced him to muggle films many years ago. It was like a wizard photo but lasted a couple of hours. He found it intriguing, especially because they had moving films, but no moving photos. They walked around at some of the local shops. She had gone into a local thrift shop and bought some toys for her nephews. She then bought a couple of maternity pants she knew Ginny would like. Ginny was approaching her third trimester with what she was hoping to be a girl.
Draco checked his watch around five and started directing them to the new restaurant Blaise owned in Diagon Alley. When they arrived Hermione went to the bathroom to powder her nose. Blaise walked Draco to their table.
"Tonight's the night, huh mate?" Blaise asked wiggling his eyebrows.
"Yeah, she's going to go nuts when she sees where I'm bringing her after this." Draco said smirking back. Standing up as he saw Hermione approaching and turning his smirk into a genuine smile. Pulling out her seat before he sat back down.
"Always the gentleman." Hermione said as she smiled while he poured a glass of wine for each of them.
They had a lovely meal. Hermione picked chicken marsala, while Draco had prime rib. Everything was perfect. Well almost perfect. Hermione knew he was under stress because of his inheritance, but she was almost certain he was planning to propose today. She tried hiding her disappointment as he said he wanted to go check out one more place about pureblood wills before they called it a night. He apparated them to the British Library. The biggest library in all of Europe, only second to the Library of Congress in the United States.
They walked in and he had gone quickly to one area, disappearing around a book case. She started walking slowly around the edge, feeling the bindings of the books, trying to mask her disappointment. They had been dating for three years. They lived together. They were almost thirty. He had no heir at the moment and she wanted at least two children. Sighing, she came to the area he had disappeared behind. When she peeked around the bookcase he was gone.
"Draco?" She whispered. "Draco?" She called out a little higher than a whisper. "Draco!" She called in a normal voice.
A voice behind her startled her, "It's not polite to yell in a library."
"Well if you - " She gasped as she turned around. There was Draco on one knee in the center of the room, with an open box and a glimmer coming from the center.
"Well are you going to come over here?" Draco asked still on one knee with his hand extended out for her.
Walking over to him, grabbing she hand she let out a whimper.
"Hermione Granger, I know we're not the most likely pair to have ever happened, but I can't see my life without you. You've been my rock. With everything going on recently, you're there. In the last ten years you've shown me the world. You've shown me love. I want to spend every day of my life spending it next to you. Encouraging you to achieve your goals, have the children you want, and be there when you come home. I love you and only you, Hermione Granger. Will you do me the honour of spending the rest of your life with me?"
Tears streamed down Hermione's face. Her voice caught in her throat as she nodded her head yes. Pulling the ring from the box he slipped it over Hermione's finger, stood up, grabbing her and spinning her around while he kissed her passionately.
"What do you say future Mrs. Malfoy, should we go home and celebrate?"
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Apparating home in a lip lock, they pulled apart when they had heard an "ahem" Turning they saw Narcissa sitting in the dim lighting with a cup of tea.
"She said yes then?" Narcissa said standing and walking over to Hermione with her hand out. "Let me see the ring on your finger my dear."
Hermione showed her the ring, but Narcissa noticed something else entirely. Her eyes widened before forcing a face of endearment. "It's perfect. As if it always belonged on your hand." She smiled. "I'm sure the two of you have had a long day. I'm going to retreat myself. Have a good night my loves."
When alone in her room Narcissa let out of breath she hadn't realized she was holding. This wasn't possible she thought. There's absolutely no way. She had to be sure. Tomorrow she'd tell her son she was going to take a personal trip, to clear her head after the death of her husband. First thing Monday morning she'd find her lawyers and start the search for her daughter. To confirm the identity of her daughter. To confirm it wasn't as she feared. She hadn't expected this to become a problem with the way her late husband had worded the will. The ring though, it should have changed when Hermione put it on. Could her future daughter in law really be her estranged daughter?