Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter.

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7:00am

The Malfoy Manor was abuzz quite early that clear and sunny Saturday morning. Draco woke up to the sound of house elves Apparating and Disapparating, laughter ringing, and children - HIS children - running around at such an ungodly hour! He groaned, as he set his watch aside. Today was a big day at the Manor. Today was the day his Scorpius married Lily Potter. Yes, it was going to be a long and busy day.

He rose from bed, threw on his robe and walked to the balcony of the Master's suite in the East Wing overlooking the usually dull and lifeless garden. It's been years since the garden had been used for a party - a good fifteen years in fact. Even during the final years of his mother's life, she opted to hold parties in the Manor's ballroom instead of the garden, which she used to love and tend to. The garden, to her, was a place full of happy memories, and they all left when Hermione left the Manor.

Hermione. Draco's thoughts drifted back to his ex-wife and mother of his two children. Their marriage came as a surprise to everyone… perhaps even themselves.

*

The last time he saw her was in Hogwarts, during a near-altercation with Potter during Sixth Year. Hermione had always been the bane of his existence with her righteous ways, and know-it-all attitude. Draco loathed not only her personality, but her brilliance and her blood status, too. She was a Muggle-born - a Mudblood, and she was supposed to be lower than him; however, that didn't stop her from excelling in everything she set herself to do, including topping him in every subject and telling on him whenever the opportunity presented itself. Potter followed him to the seventh floor, while he made his way to the Room of Hidden Things to fix the Vanishing Cabinet. He nearly dueled with Potter for him to be left alone, when the Muggle-born witch jumped in to intervene. She led Harry away, threatening to report him for harassment even. Draco never did understand what made her act that way, and part of him wished it wouldn't be the last he'd seen of the feisty Gryffindor.

He saw her again in one of the raids the Death Eaters led a year later. Draco joined his family in supporting Voldemort in his quest to conquer the Wizarding world, and rose among the ranks of the Dark Lord's army. He was asked to lead smaller raids, but today he played second fiddle to his uncle in a major operation that involved taking down one of the Order's bigger operating sites. His group outnumbered hers, and they had instructions from Voldemort himself to kill all the Order Members on the spot. Draco saw the Muggle-born witch at the landing leading to the second floor, nursing a severely injured leg. When she spotted him, she immediately struggled to move away.

"Kill all the Members of the Order," Rodolphus Lestrange yelled from where he stood at the entrance of the hall, where he also took his turn torturing and hexing Order Members. "Leave no one alive!"

Draco fixed his eyes on the girl, who winced in pain, but managed to muster as much courage as her current state allowed. Slowly, he watched as her eyes met his.

"What are you waiting for, Malfoy?" she said hoarsely, unmindful of the tears that traitorously streamed down her blood-stained cheeks. "Kill me now."

He flinched. He wasn't exactly expecting the fiery Gryffindor to give up so easily.

Hermione winced again. Her injury was a lot worse than he had thought. "Do it, Malfoy!"

Sweat broke from his brows, as he found himself at a crossroad. Below him were Order Members fighting to stay alive, while before him was a classmate - one he loathed from the minute she opened her mouth - bleeding and begging to be killed. It should've been easy to finish her off, but somehow he couldn't manage to do it.

But time was running out. Soon, he knew his uncle was going to come looking for him, his second-in-command. Without giving it much thought, he threw himself on the floor beside the brunette and with shaking hands, searched his pocket for something - a vial and one of the Charmed Galleons that he tricked Marietta Edgecomb into giving him.

"Be quiet," the blond Death Eater ordered harshly before he casted a quick healing spell on her and poured Dittany over her massive wound.

"What-"

"Don't, Granger," he silenced her. "Think of where you should be… now!"

The Gryffindor, obviously shaken by what had transpired, only managed to nod blankly at him.

He pointed his wand at the coin she currently held in her hand. "Portus!"

Draco watched as Hermione was sucked into the coin and vanished completely. Quickly, he cast an Inciendo on a tapestry that had fallen to the ground. It turned into ashes just as he heard footsteps behind him.

"What of the mudblood, Draco?"

"The mudblood is dead," the young Malfoy replied coldly before facing his uncle. "Here's her wand. If we're done, I'll meet you back at the manor. I feel quite filthy having to fight with a lowly witch."

Rodolphus smirked as he handed the wand back to Draco. He saw no need to keep the witch's wand as a souvenir. "Well done, Draco. I'll see you back at the Manor."

As soon as Draco Apparated into his bedroom at the Manor, he collapsed on his bed. He played the scene in his head over and over.

'What just happened?' he asked himself, as he rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't supposed to help her. Merlin, he abhorred her very existence; yet, he couldn't find it in his heart to kill her.

Perhaps he just repaid her kindness in Sixth Year, he rationalized. With Rodolphus and the rest of the Death Eaters thinking she's been disposed of, he really didn't need to worry about her safety anymore.

Or so he thought.

*

"Dad! Daaaaaaddd!"

A girl screaming and waving frantically at him from the garden shook him out of his thoughts. He smiled. Cassiopeia Jean Granger Malfoy jumped up and down to get his attention, looking more like the five-year-old girl who used to run around the garden. Draco beamed at his daughter, who looked like him, but had her mother's eyes and temperament.

"Doesn't the garden look amazing, Dad?" she called out, as she gestured towards the garden which now looked healthier and more colorful. "Hey! Scorpius!"

Draco watched his daughter chase after twenty-two year old Scorpius Draco Granger Malfoy, who purposely charmed the sprinkler to hit his baby sister. The two blond siblings laughed and took turns charming the sprinkler just like they had done as kids. He sighed at the bittersweet memory of watching his two children playing while their Nana Cissy and Papa Lucius watched them from the patio while having their afternoon tea. His wife would usually stand beside him at the balcony, watching their children with him until she'd decided they had enough playtime for the day. The bushy-haired brunette would then leave for the garden and call on their children.

"Scorp! Cassie!"

Draco sighed. "Yes, just like that," he said to himself as he watched the garden in anticipation. A few seconds later, he caught sight of the woman he once called his wife making her way towards their two grown children. She wore a crisp white shirt tucked in a pair of camel capri pants. Her usually messy brown hair was tied back in a sleek ponytail. The blond business mogul smirked, Hermione was always a smart dresser.

"Honestly, kids," she said conjuring two towels and helping both her children to dry up. "You would think you'd start acting like adults by now, especially you, Scorp."

"Ah, but Mum, we haven't done this in a while," Scorpius whined.

"And if you keep this up, you'll be sneezing your way to the altar this afternoon," Hermione said, while Cassie giggled. She then turned to her daughter, who also had a towel draped over her shoulders. "That includes you, Cassiopeia Jean."

"Live a little, Mum," Scorpius chimed in, teasing his usually firm mother.

Hermione sighed, and held her son's face with both her hands. "Oh Scorp," she said planting a kiss on her son's forehead. "Are you really getting married today? You still act like a kid to me."

"Oh, but we'll always be your little kids," Cassie said, giving her brother a wink.

"Cassie's right, Mum," the tall blond former Slytherin Quidditch Team Captain and Head Boy said, as he inched closer to their mom.

Draco watched his two children in awe. Having grown up mostly in the Manor, Scorpius and Cassie rarely showed this side of their personalities except when their mother was around. He noticed something dubious about the two children. He smirked, these two Slytherins were up to something, and he just had to find out what. No sooner than he'd noticed, he heard Hermione scream.

"Scorpius Draco and Cassiopeia Jean!"

The two doubled up in laughter, as they held onto their mother tightly. "But Mum," Cassie said, "We just wanted to show you how much we love you."

Draco laughed. Seeing the three adults all wet in the garden was a sight to behold. Who better to put one up on the brightest witch of her age than her two offsprings themselves.

"Oh, good morning, Draco," Hermione greeted, while she casted a drying spell on herself. If she had a choice, she'd rather do things the Muggle way; however, things were a lot different now and she didn't really want her ex-husband to see her looking like a drowned puppy. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Dad's been there even before you scolded us," Cassie said, casually as her mom cast a drying spell on her first before doing the same with Scorpius.

"I see," the forty-two year old Ministry official nodded at her daughter. "Well, why don't you join us for breakfast then?"

Both Scorpius and Cassie looked at him, their eyes pleading. Draco took a sharp intake of breath. Since their divorce, he and Hermione could barely spend an hour without criminal intent crossing their minds. Scorpius approached him several times over the past two months asking him to make an effort to be cordial with Hermione. Cassie did the same, and made him promise over dinner last night, to bite his tongue.

Draco nodded at his children to assure them that he meant to keep his word. His gaze moved to their mother, who was also looking at him curiously.

"I'll get dressed and join you at the formal dining," he responded. Just as the forty-one-year-old President and CEO of Malfoy Enterprises started to make his way back inside his room, he heard Hermione call something out. He turned around and raised his eyebrows sheepishly.

"I said we're having breakfast at the patio," his ex-wife called out again, breaking into the first smile he'd seen on her in over decade. Draco blinked a few more times, nodded back dumbly at Hermione before he made his way back to his room.

Draco took a shower, dressed and made his way to have breakfast with his children and their mother. He heard the two ladies laughing at something Scorpius had said, and he suddenly felt his heart beat faster. Suddenly, all sorts of thoughts crossed his mind - what if he says something that would upset his ex-wife, or what if she says something that would upset him?

"What's the matter, Son? Lost your touch?"

The dashing blond nearly jumped in surprise. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he failed to notice his mother's portrait staring at him curiously. The elegant Narcissa Malfoy snickered, and he rolled his eyes in dismay. This was just what he needed - his mother's portrait teasing him.

"Good morning, Mother."

The elegant Narcissa Malfoy's portrait smiled at him. "Such a beautiful day, isn't it Draco?"

"Mother, please don't," he said.

The beautiful blonde smiled at him, her eyes twinkling. "Why Draco, I don't know what you mean," she replied, feigning innocence. "I was just a little concerned because you seem a little… jumpy today. Is it because of… hmmm… a certain Muggle-born?"

Draco groaned silently. Trust his mother to pressure him even more with her excitement. He knew that she was deeply saddened when Hermione left the Manor, but kept whatever opinions she had to herself until her death. Her portrait however, was a different story.

"Mother, now is not the time-"

"Take a chance, my son. What have you got to lose?"

He was about to respond when he heard the patio door open. In came his ever charming daughter, her eyes twinkling, just like her grandmother's had a few minutes ago.

"Dad! There you are! Hurry up and join us!"

Draco sighed. Yes, this was going to be a long day indeed.