How We Fell In Love

Author's note: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing my work! I am so honored to have my work looked at! I hope I do not disappoint you! Now, without further ado…..

Chapter Two

Draco stood in the kitchen absentmindedly making breakfast for his two amazing ladies. He could not help reflecting on just how much things had changed since he married Hermione, after she went back to school for her 7th year. This home used to be the place of nightmares. House elves used to be abused, parents that loathed each other, everything was dangerous and untouchable for children. It was the epitome of a horror house.

In the year that Hermione had gone back to school, Draco had presented clothing to each of the house elves. He truly believed in what his fiancé was trying to do. In fact, the young wizard, hated himself for wanting to be like his father in the first place. A few of the house elves stayed, and were treated infinitely better. They worked together to help Draco do a massive cleaning of the house. Any dark paraphernalia he put in a huge fire out back, so that it would never fall into the wrong hands. The ambitious wizard remodeled the kitchen to make it more home-y. He gave it a country feel, with sliding wood doors and a beautiful breakfast bar. Before, it was sterile and inhospitable. How could anyone want to live like that?

For that year he went room to room and scrubbed out the memory of his old life. He gave rooms to each of the elves that decided to stay, and helped them clean and furnish them. This was no easy task. The manor had hundreds of rooms, and over the hundreds of years it has been in his family, it had been constantly expanded. To Draco, this house was his new beginning.

Hermione had just woken up, and upon finding their luxuriously silky bed empty, she put on a long sweater and headed for the kitchen. She could smell French toast and scrambled eggs from the upstairs' landing, but when she reached the kitchen the look on her husband's face was concerning her. She knew how far he had come emotionally, and that he still struggled with his old self. Draco's fatal flaw was truly himself. He worked so hard for them, but sometimes the memories caught up with him. Ironically, Hermione thought it made him more human, and even more beautiful. They all had scars from their past. In fact, she herself still had nightmares. They were plagued with images of Voldemort returning and with all of the bodies on the floor of the Great Hall that fateful night. Many mornings she would wake up, and immediately be sick.

Slipping out of her own reverie she went and gently hugged Draco from behind. He snapped to attention and smiled at her. How could so much love be in one gaze? In that moment nothing else mattered. They truly grounded each other. Their love gave them the will to go on. No words needed to be spoken. He turned to face her, putting down his pan, and he lifted her chin gently upward and placed a soft, lingering kiss upon it.

"Ew!" Rosalie came in with her book in one hand, and her other rubbing sleep out of her eye. Of course, neither of the couple had heard their daughter come down the stairs. They both laughed softly. Draco turned his attention back to the stove and quickly finished breakfast up. He filled up three plates with food and set them on the family sized kitchen table, just as the kettle whistled. He expertly poured three cups of tea and let it steep for a minute. After the water turned dark brown, he took the tea bags out and put a tiny bit of milk in each and one spoonful of sugar for Rosalie.

He brought them over and each of them took a sip in unison. "You know," Draco said in his charismatic voice, "Rosalie, your mother and I have to embarrass you early in the morning. It's written down in How To Be the Perfect Parent." He winked at Hermione, who just shook her head in amusement.

"Hm, I will consider forgiving you for lying…." She used her father's trademark smirk and said, "If you tell me another anecdote." Rosalie used her honey tone that mimicked her fathers.

Hermione could not stop the laughter from escaping her lips. Rosalie glared and Draco snickered. "You are your father's daughter. Honey," She addressed Draco and gave a bemused look, "do tell us another story." Hermione put her right leg up in her chair and hugged it while taking turns sipping tea and eating.

Rosalie smiled at Draco sweetly. "Please, papa!"

He rolled his eyes and smirked. "Did I ever tell you that your mother rejected me? I mean she actually rejected me! Me of all the people, she should have swooned at the thought of being asked out. But noo… she turned me down flat! It was ridiculous. To think, a Pureblood asking someone of her status out on a date. It was unthinkable! The epitome of social suicide. And she rejected me!" Hermione was just about to object and defend herself when Draco shook his head, "Tsk Tsk Tsk, it's not your turn. It's MY turn." Hermione scowled playfully and Rosalie giggled and murmured her encouragement to continue.

"Now Rosalie, this might come as a shock to you…" He drawled, "But, I was not always this amazing. I know, it's a huge shock! Unfortunately, I used to be an arrogant prick." Draco drew a breath and continued. "In all seriousness, I was belligerent and cruel towards everyone. In my first few years of school, I was so confused. I was always taught that everyone was inferior to me and that only pure bloods deserved to practice magic, but your mother changed me." Draco briefly glanced at his beautiful bride and their adorable baby girl, before continuing. "The more I saw her passion for knowledge, the more I fell for her. I tried to hide it by belittling her and her friends, but I felt more and more ashamed. I really tried liking other women, I mean I really tried, but how could I? It wasn't until 5th year when Hermione and I were Prefects that I began to see reason and realize how wrong I had been."

The two ladies nodded their encouragement to continue. Hermione took his hand in hers for support and rubbed it gently. She knew this was incredibly hard for him. It took her forever for him to open up to her. To show his pride and joy daughter vulnerability must be agonizing.

Rosalie took his other hand and whispered sweetly, "It's okay daddy, I won't think any less of you!" Her eyes were so sincere, he drew a deep breath and launched into the memory.

The summer before Draco's 5th year he had gotten his Prefect letter along with instructions to arrive one week in advance for training. The letter did not name any of his colleagues, which left him guessing. He was extremely proud, this was a chance to make the school a little better. He knew he would have to pretend to be a jerk around his friends, all the while working tirelessly in the evenings to uphold the rules. Draco was struck in awe by Dumbledore's choice in him. This man who has seen him ruthless, snobbish, and completely self-centered chose him to fulfil a commitment to the school. He vowed not to let Dumbledore down.

Hogwarts vacant grounds had an eerie feel. Staring at the towering castle, and soaring pillars the young Prefect could almost imagine being a founder when the looming structure was just built. Draco closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He reveled in the moment and moved towards the massive double entrance. He opened the door and carried his luggage through. The wizard was slightly annoyed he had to use floo powder to teleport into Honey Dukes, as a last minute request. The message said to leave his trunk on the stairs and it would be taken care of, so he did so and made his way across the castle to the moving stair cases.

Draco liked the Dungeons. Dungeons don't have moving stairs. Moving stairs suck. He barely tolerated them getting to class. Now he was going to have to use them every day, even on the weekends! It was a cruel torture. After fifteen minutes of painfully waiting for each staircase to move and align with the proper platform, he made it to the 5th floor. He rolled his eyes as he stepped off the platform. He walked along the corridor and marveled at the sights. The dungeons did not have a view like this! The whole corridor wrapped around the quad. As he traversed he noted the staircase that led up to the hospital tower. There were several classrooms, including a music classroom. The piano was absolutely gorgeous. It was a baby grand. He could not resist himself. His fingers ran over the familiar ivory keys. After he played a classical wizarding piece he got up satisfied. Finally, he found the painting of a knight in shining armor. Draco gave him the password and pushed open the door.

The Prefects common room was incredibly spacious, yet extraordinarily comfortable. The room itself was circular, with two sets of stair cases in the back. One veered off to the right, one to the left. To the left side of the room there were 21 desks with lamps and chairs for each of them. Eight Prefects for 5th-7th year. On the right hand side of the room there was the massive fire place that crackled blue, gold, red, and green flames for each of the houses. In front of it was a black comfy sofa with matching wing chairs beside it. A giant bookcase caught his eye as he walked further into the room. It was unique, because it was built into the wall, and curved naturally. It was filled with books on Hogwarts and various subjects.

As in all the common rooms, the left set of stairs belonged to the men and the right stairs led to the women's dorms. The new Prefect followed the stair case to a large corridor. Each of them had their own room. It also housed the other eight Prefects that would not arrive until the new term began. Draco found his name on the hall at the end of the passage. He pulled the key he had received in his letter, and slipped it into the lock with a satisfying click. He pushed the door open and was stunned to see how accommodating his room was. To the left there was a small, smokeless fireplace that crackled green light and emitted a good amount of heat. In the back left corner was a large desk with a chair and it had a built in book case for his books! In the right hand corner there was a queen sized bed with black sheets and a silver and green embalm of Slytherin's crest on it. The view out the window was quite impressive. On the right hand wall was a huge wardrobe where his clothing had already been unpacked. Awesome! The only other object was the black leather sofa that was calling his name. He had gotten here extremely early and he deserved a nap. Without further ado he leapt on the couch and fell asleep.

The day stretched on and the sound of muffled voices permeated his sleep. Draco stretched and got up. He tussled his long, platinum blonde hair and walked down stairs. Since it was casual, he was in black jeans and loose black tee-shirt. He looked around at the fairly familiar faces. First he saw the Hufflepuff Prefects Hannah Abbott and Ernie Macmillan. They annoyed the shit out of him. Ernie, although pure blood, was more snobbish than him. If that sounds impossible, listen to him. Hannah Abbott, who always wore her hair in pig tails, droned on insistently about her Chocolate Frogs collection. Hannah and Ernie never shut up about them. In fact, he had the misery of being behind them in one of their classes. Draco contemplated moving to the front of the class. The FRONT of the class! The horror was real.

Next his gaze traveled to, what had to be the Ravenclaw Prefects. Padma Patil, who was a beautiful Indian with an identical twin, was unsurprisingly named for this honor. She was quite the conversationalist and very easy to get along with. Terry Boot, was an unremarkable man. He kept to himself and studied most of the time. He was not unkind, though. Draco thought the choices were overall complementary to the school. Students who sought to mediate, not encourage bad behavior… except for himself and maybe his other house mate. Who was the other Slytherin Prefect? He looked around and noticed Pansy Parkinson. Draco wanted to cry. He thought he was getting rid of the pug-faced brat that was obsessed with him. He took her to one school dance, and apparently that meant they were official. Ugh.

That only left the Gryffindors. The mop of bright red hair was a stark contrast to the rest of the room. Ronald Weasley. Now he was in what the muggles call Hell. Sitting on the couch beside him was Hermione. Her beautiful brown hair was not as bushy as it had once been and she looked gorgeous in her faded jeans and pink sweater. He tore his gaze from her and took his seat amongst the rest of them. It seems no one had noticed him before, but just as Pansy was about to dote on him and right as Ron was thinking of an insult to stab him with… the Head Boy and Head Girl strode into the common room.

All of the 5th years faced the warm fire as Percy Weasley and Audrey Hobbs stood in front of them. Percy addressed the throng, including his brother, in an arrogant, self-righteous tone. It was grating almost instantly to Draco, but he kept his eye rolls to himself. For once.

"Now, as Prefects your job will be to manage the halls and the student body. You may minimally give out points and take them away, however, you must fill out a report every time in doing so. Also, you must fill out an incident report for any accidents. Believe me, you will see many of them. A weekly report must be submitted to either myself or Ms. Hobbs. Everything you need is at your desks. Any questions before we proceed?" No one, including Hermione, had any questions. She secretly gave Ron a questioning look as to why he himself had been chosen. "Ms. Hobbs, will you continue?" He graciously let her speak to everyone's vast relief.

"May, I just start off saying congratulations! You guys have been chosen for this amazing honor. What Percy was trying to say is, we represent the entire school. We must maintain our grades as well as unite the houses. As you know, trouble is not far away." She cleared her throat as uncomfortable glances were exchanged around the room. Everyone remembers the Triwizard Tournament incident with Cedric, Harry, and the return of You-Know-Who. "Anyway," she continued in her sweet voice, "Percy and I decided to try something new this year." She clapped her hands excitedly, much to the annoyance of the Head Boy. "We are assigning teams to patrol the halls. Before, it was just your house mate, but now it is someone from a different house! We hope this will encourage a better relationship for the entire student body!" She was annoyingly perky, but Draco heaved an inward sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was to be followed by Pansy. He looked at her and she was scowling in disapproval, which almost made him laugh. Audrey tapped her wand on the small coffee table, that Draco didn't even realize was there, and four clip boards appeared with an agenda on each. "Now as we call your names, please step forward and grab your clip board. It will have the floors you are assigned too. Oh and don't worry, all of the dungeons, main floor, and grounds are assigned to the older Prefects. We start you off easy!" She added as an afterthought.

The newest honorees were shocked by the news, but scarcely had time to think before Audrey picked up where she left off. "So, without further ado... the teams will be Ernie and Padma, Ron and Hannah, Terry and Pansy, and Draco and Hermione." Before anyone could protest, and most of them wanted to, Percy unceremoniously handed each of the guys a clip board.

"Seeing as there is time before our mandatory dinner, where we will get a speech about leadership from Professor Dumbledore… might I suggest you make your rounds? Find every nook and cranny, because the students will. Now off you go." Percy interjected, while all but shoving them out the door.

All of the groups started heading out to their respective floors, including the scowling Ron. After a very awkward pause, Hermione and Draco looked at the clip board together. They had the 6th and 7th floors. Judging by the number of floors, only one group was not assigned two floors each. Hermione deduced that it was probably the First floor, because it was the largest and had most of the classrooms on it. Draco lowered the clip board and for a moment both of them stared apprehensively at one another. Hermione could not deny that her companion had grown more attractive and there was something different about him. His jaw was not set in a cruel sneer and he was not trying to insult her… there was almost softness in his eyes. She must be imagining things. He gave her a smirk, because he recognized that look. "You know, if you take a picture it will last longer." He was the first to break the silence, and of course it was with sarcasm.

The young witch was caught off guard by his change in demeanor, she stuck out her tongue and grabbed the clip board. Hermione marched for the stairs not bothering to see if a certain devil was following. When she arrived at the first platform waiting for the stair cases to change she spun around quickly and deliberately, "Alright, I do not want this any more than you do, Malfoy, but it looks like we are stuck with each other indefinitely." She heaved an exasperated sigh. "Try not to mess this up, this means a lot to me." She pleaded with him.

"Look," He couldn't bring himself to say Granger and he experimentally tried, "Hermione…" Her name came out soft and it felt so foreign but it held the emotions he had been fighting back for a long time, "This means a lot to me too. Things are getting worse, and this is my one true home. I will not let you or Dumbledore down." It was painful to put this much passion into his speech, but Hermione was taken aback. "Look, I cannot even hope to apologize for everything I have done, but I know I am not my father. I have seen what darkness does to people… Fear used as a weapon of torture…. It's sick!" Draco shook his head and quickly changed the subject. "Look, our chariot awaits." He pointed at the docked stairs. The turmoil he felt was sickening, he could not even look at his partner who was equally confused. His confession made Hermione highly suspicious. Her and her friends had dealt with a lot of strange things over the years. His sudden willingness to change, was not fooling her. Needless to say her guard was completely up.

Oddly, the seventh floor was accessible by a stair case on the sixth floor, so they could patrol them both pretty easily. They headed down the sixth floor corridor and then found the stair case that led to the seventh floor. The couple walked in complete silence. Hermione, dying to say something found that she was speechless; and Draco, did not want to press her nerves. When they reached the landing of the upper most floor Hermione broke the silence. "Look, I am confused what you are playing at. We should split up and search this level, we can cover more ground that way. Obviously, not when the students arrive, but for now, I just need to think. You must be under some powerful spell, or perhaps magical shrooms… anyway as much as I would prefer this new you it wouldn't be proper." She stated firmly.

Draco just laughed. "Oh no, Hermione is going to write an incident report on me. I better go now. Those things are deadly." He winked at her. "Alright, we can split up. Also, I am not under the influence of anything."

The brightest witch of her age pursed her lips, she absolutely hated being wrong. "Fine. Let's check the Gryffindor entrance and then the study lounge across the way." Hermione had recovered herself enough to attend to her usual bossy ways. Draco just smirked and followed her.

That week went by rather quickly. The new Prefects heard speeches from the faculty, Percy and Aubrey exchanged anecdotes on what they had seen, and they practiced their rounds. Draco and Hermione had fallen into a tight routine. They stuck to small talk such as the rude paintings, art in general, and literature. Surprisingly, Draco had read quite a few of Hermione's favorites. Hermione hated to admit that she enjoyed her lively debates with him, and found herself getting more confused. It was weird that her former enemy was trying to get close to her. What had gotten into him? The worst part was not even Ron and Harry could keep up a book discussion, let alone debate about specific aspects of it. This annoyed her greatly! Up to this point, if she wanted an intellectual conversation she would have to seek out a Ravenclaw. This made Hermione wonder what the hat saw in her. She clearly valued knowledge, and sometimes she did not feel as brave as she let on.

On the first night of the students being back, Hermione found it had been awkward seeing Harry again. He couldn't mask his hurt fast enough about not being asked. Harry was invited to Dumbledore's office after dinner. The rest of them had rounds. Hermione was actually looking forward to spending more time with the Slytherin Prefect.

Apparently a few students had snuck in some 100% proof Fire Whiskey and were exploring how much it would take for them to become completely smashed in the huge study hall on the seventh floor. Hermione and Draco happened to come upon them. It was a mix of third and fourth years from various houses. Mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, but there was one Ravenclaw. Draco spoke first, "Look," He tapped his Prefect's badge, "We could rat you out… or you could all go back to your dorms and we never saw a single thing. I will give you lot three seconds to decide." Hermione was stunned by his leniency, but she closed her eyes along with Draco and counted to three. Everyone except for one very drunk Hufflepuff, had cleared out. When Draco opened his eyes the man's wand was pointed at Hermione. Hermione looked too stunned to speak.

Time stopped for just a minute. Then just as the assailant was about to curse Hermione, Draco ran over to him and shoved him backwards, which moved his arm in an upward arc. This made his spell ricochet and hit the ceiling. Just as Draco was moving to help Hermione, he noticed a loose chunk of wood spiraling downward towards his partner. Hermione barely had time to react as Draco pulled her on top of him and saved her life. She let out a slight scream as he pulled her down, but once her body fell on top of his it was as if the world faded away for a second. He was incredibly muscular. Her blush was so red. After a minute or two of looking into each other's eyes. The Hufflepuff attempted to stand. He was a few feet away from them. Hermione cleared her throat and got up. What had she been thinking? This was Draco Malfoy. The man who had called her Mudblood more times than she could count. She was disgusted with herself for thinking these thoughts.

The now furious Hermione rounded on the student. "Ten points from Hufflepuff and you have detention for a week. Report to Filch tomorrow at 7 p.m. he needs help searching the Forbidden Forest. Something about the centaurs needing to be reigned in." Hermione tapped the bottle of Fire Whiskey on the table and it disappeared.

Draco and Hermione helped the Hufflepuff student up and got him to the stairs. Then they were suddenly alone. Hermione looked down ashamed. She hated that he saved her life. Now she felt indebted to him. She did not want to say anything to this once horrid creature, but she felt she needed to at least say thank you. Here was her chance. She took a deep breath and just as Draco was about to step back to the sixth floor, she caught his arm and quickly said, "I…." She cleared her throat. "I just want to say…" Wow, she never thought she would ever say these words to this man. "Thank you. You know, for saving my life." She looked at him nervously.

"Well, since I saved your life…" he said confidently and stepped closer to her. "I would like one tiny thing." Hermione looked flustered, thinking the absolute worst, but Draco cut off her thoughts. "Please, go on one date with me." He looked at her pleadingly. He did not offer any other explanation. Just a simple request for dinner.

Hermione was shocked to say the least, but she stepped closer so that they were almost touching and pulled out her wand. She shoved him against the wall. "Who are you? I know you are under the Polyjuice Potion! I have seen the effects first hand." Draco was caught off guard by her anger. Although, he didn't mind being against the wall.

Now probably wasn't the best time to joke with her, but he couldn't help it. "Hermione, not like this! I'm not ready" He burst out laughing. To this he was rewarded with a slap in the face. It was well worth it.

She growled, "When I punched you in the face… so deservingly… what year was that and what did I call you?"

Her glare was a bit unnerving, but he answered honestly. "It was third year, right before Buckbeat was about to die… look I am really sorry about that. I felt so bad. The look on your face as… you know… it changed me. For the better, I mean. Look, I have not been able to get it out of my mind since. I can't stand that I hurt you like that."

Hermione was taken aback by his confession, she knew it was him now, but it still didn't seem like him, "Answer the last part."

He sighed and looked into her eyes, "You had every right to call me a 'Fowl, loathsome, evil little cockroach.' If you allow me to take you out, you can see that I have changed." His persistence was throwing her off.

"No." She said, and she was surprised by the hope draining out of his eyes. He wanted her to see so badly. He nodded and walked back to the corridor. They had a job to do. He used his incredibly long legs to keep three steps ahead of her. After they cleared the sixth floor they silently returned. Hermione almost felt bad, until she remembered all the rude things he has called her over the years. He was so infuriating! Hermione stalked off to their common room annoyed.

Unfortunately, their desks were right beside each other. They filled out the report in their own words, omitting their own incident, and turned it into the designated slot. The couple did this in deadly silence. Anyone who observed them would just chalk it up to the couple having to work together. Hermione knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was going to be a very long year. She chanced a glance at Draco when he was writing his report. She had never seen him so downcast. How pathetic, had he really never been rejected?

Draco rewrote that stupid report fifteen times. What was wrong with him? She was below his status anyway. This is why his father told him to stick with women of pedigree. They know their duty. He absolutely hated feeling this way. He had been rejected! This never happened. Ever. He submitted the last one and bundled up the rest of the parchment and threw it in the fire on the way to his dorm. He was angry and wallowing in self-pity. He saw Pansy walk in, and for a minute considered her as a companion… but that would make him exactly what Hermione had called him. He hated himself so much at that instance and practically ran up the stairs and slammed it behind him and threw open the window. He sucked in ragged breaths of cool air and calmed his nerves. This woman was going to be the death of him. Draco thought he was going crazy, because he started laughing, at a time like this! This was going to be the biggest challenge of his life. He shook his head and pulled a book from the shelf. The best way to win her affection was going to be through her biggest weakness and her biggest passion. Books. He collapsed on the couch and started reading.

"And that is how your mother rejected me. She, uh, put a love spell on me I think. That's the only reason why I was so hurt, of course. I mean, after all she was a book worm and I was a Pureblood jerk." He said in his cocky British accent, only to be punched in the arm by Hermione. They all laughed. "Now, my lovely ladies…. if I am not mistaken, and I rarely am, today is our walk in the park." He winked at Hermione and held her hand gratefully. "Alright, Rosalie. I bet you I can get up the stairs faster." Rosalie darted off immediately. "That's not fair! You cheated." He called after her. He kissed Hermione's hand and apparated to the landing of the stairs.

"That's not fair, papa!" He just laughed and picked her up.

"Sorry! I never defined the rules. You went too quickly." He shook his head in mock regret, and was rewarded with his daughter sticking her tongue out at him. "You are just like your amazing mum." He said nodding to Hermione down in the kitchen.