A/N - This chapter is the same day as the first, only it's from Hermione's point of view.

Hermione Granger awoke to the feeling of her husband peppering the back of her neck and shoulders with light kisses. She knew the second he became aware she was awake as she felt his lips turn up into a smirk while they were pressed against her shoulder blade. Carefully manoeuvring her pregnant body, she turned around, so she was facing her husband.

"Morning," she greeted.

"Morning," her husband, Draco Malfoy, replied.

"I think we should spend the day in bed," Hermione suggested.

"As tempting as that sounds, I'm still nowhere near sorted at work, and you've got a house to buy," Draco replied. With their return to England, Draco was currently in the middle of relocating his business headquarters to London and he was snowed under with work.

"Are you sure you just not repulsed by how fat I am?" Hermione questioned with a fake pout. She wasn't quite six months pregnant, but she was carrying twins and she was already fairly large.

"I would never be repulsed by you," Draco replied seriously. "And certainly not when you're carrying our two little miracles."

The twins Hermione were carrying were very much miracles for the Malfoys, and realistically it was the only chance of the couple would ever have of becoming parents. Over the previous six and a half years, Hermione had suffered from three miscarriages, each one more devastating than the one before. After the third miscarriage the healers had informed Hermione that the chances of her ever getting pregnant again were slim, and even if it did happen, there wasn't a good chance of her carrying the baby to full term. It had been devastating news, but the couple had been forced to accept that being parents just wasn't something that was going to happen for them.

The news had also broken the hearts of Draco's parents, but never one to give up, Lucius had set out to find an answer. In the end he'd found a private healer with a remarkable reputation in the fertility field. Hermione had initially been wary about a consultation with the healer, as she knew she wouldn't have been able to deal with a fourth tragic loss, but she'd agreed to one meeting and she was so thrilled she had. The healer had been honest with the couple and said there were no guarantees, but he'd been confident his techniques would result in a viable pregnancy for Hermione. And he was right to be confident as the couple had only needed one round of treatment before Hermione fell pregnant with twins.

Ending up pregnant with twins was a result of the magical aid in the pregnancy, and there was a higher chance that one, or possibly even both babies, would be born without magic, but neither Hermione or Draco cared about that. They would love their children, with or without magic. It was a miracle they were even going to have children, so neither of them were going to be concerned over whether the twins had magic. All they wanted was two healthy, happy children, and they even had a date for that to happen as it was too dangerous for Hermione to reach the end of her pregnancy and go into labour naturally. Instead labour would be induced and monitored closely and in a little over two months, Draco and Hermione would become parents.

"If you're tired, father could handle the auction himself," Draco remarked as the couple tore themselves away from each other and he helped his wife out of bed.

"I can handle the auction," Hermione protested. "I don't even need Lucius to come with me. I'm a big girl. I can buy a house on my own."

"Under normal circumstances you could do this alone," Draco agreed. He knew his wife was more than capable of anything she set her mind to and she was by no means the sort of witch that needed her hand holding. "But you know the golden rule, you're never alone."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but she didn't argue with the golden rule. Because she'd had so many miscarriages no-one wanted to take any risks with her current pregnancy, including Hermione herself. The entire family always had their healers contact details with them, and Hermione was very rarely left alone in case anything happened to her and she was unable to get help. It was a rather stifling way to live, and Hermione was looking forward to getting things back to normal, but it was a small price to pay to ensure that she had a safe pregnancy and she didn't lose the children she was carrying. Besides, she knew Draco and his parents were only so protective because they loved her, and she loved them for caring so much about her.

By the time Hermione was dressed, Draco was ready to leave for work. Since the couple were currently staying at Malfoy Manor, he escorted her down to the dining room, where he said a quick goodbye to his parents, grabbed some toast and headed off for another long day trying to move his business headquarters.

"He is working too hard," Narcissa commented as her son swept out of the room and left for work.

"He just wants everything sorted before the twins arrive," Hermione said.

"And he's only going to get busier once they've bought their house," Lucius remarked.

"I still don't see why you needed to buy a house," Narcissa muttered with a slight frown. "I liked your original plan to build somewhere."

When Hermione and Draco had first moved back to England, just prior to undergoing their fertility treatment, their original plan had been to buy some land and build the house of their dreams. In fact, they were so sure of the plan that finding land and designing their dream house had been their priority, which was why Draco was only now getting around to moving his business headquarters to Britain. But then Hermione had spotted the perfect house just a few miles away from the manor, and she'd set her heart on it. It was as though someone had known exactly what her dream house would look like and had built it especially for her and Draco. Now all she had to do was make sure they walked away with it at the auction.

"We haven't bought the house yet," Hermione said cautiously. "We might not get it."

"Of course, you will," Lucius reassured her with confidence. "You're a Malfoy, and Malfoys always get what we want."

"It's still going to be so sad to see you leave," Narcissa sighed. "I was looking forward to having the children here."

"I'm sure they'll spend loads of time here," Hermione assured her mother-in-law. "Draco's already planning on you having the twins at least once a week, so we can have some time on our own."

"Time on your own is very important," Lucius agreed with a nod. "There's nothing like a bawling child to spoil the moment. Draco was a master of it. I can't tell you how many times he's interrupted us having some quality alone time. I swear, that's why he doesn't have siblings. He never allowed us to have sex."

"We had plenty of sex," Narcissa argued.

"What do you mean, had?" Lucius questioned with a frown. "We still have sex. Only last night we made use of the power jets in the new jacuzzi."

"And that is too much information," Hermione remarked with a slight grimace.

She loved Lucius and Narcissa and had in fact being blown away by how different they were in private, but they did tend to over-share. Lucius especially wasn't shy about talking about their sex life, which unless he was lying was still hot and heavy.

"Good luck with the house," Narcissa said with a chuckle as her daughter-in-law got to her feet, eager to be off.

"It's already theirs," Lucius said confidently.

Hermione didn't quite feel Lucius's confidence as they headed off to the auction. However, she was determined that if someone else did buy the house they were going to have to pay well over the odds for it. Money wasn't really an issue for the Malfoys, and Draco had already told her to spend whatever she needed to secure their dream home.

"Shall we have a look around before the auction?" Lucius asked. "We've got time and there's a couple of other items that have caught my eye."

Those items were a stunning emerald necklace, which Lucius bought for Narcissa's upcoming birthday, and a small cottage in the Lake District.

"What's the cottage for?" Hermione asked as they headed for the main auction room, where the house would be up for grabs. "I don't really see you as the cottage sort, Lucius."

"I'm not," Lucius confessed. "The place is nice, but it's nowhere near big enough for me."

"Then why did you buy it?" Hermione questioned.

"I happen to have a lovely daughter-in-law whose just about to give me the most wonderful gift of grandchildren. And I just so happen to know her favourite place in the country is the Lake District," Lucius replied with a slight smirk. "I was thinking I would give it to her as a present."

"Lucius, you are amazing," Hermione gushed, giving her father-in-law a peck on the cheek and a hug. "I love you."

"The feelings mutual," Lucius replied softly.

Hermione smiled at the fact Lucius didn't say the words 'I love you'. She'd learnt over the years that like Draco his feelings ran deep, but it was very rare he expressed them with words. He showed his love in dozens of different ways, and there wasn't a day that went by that Hermione didn't know how much she was loved as part of the Malfoy family.

Entering the auction room, the pair took a seat towards the back of the room and while the first couple of properties were up for grabs, Hermione examined the crowds. Among the first people she spotted were Dean and Seamus, and although they hadn't seen each other for years when Dean spotted her he flashed her a warm smile. Smiling back, Hermione vowed to try and catch the pair after the auction to say hello, but then her attention was well and truly captured by the sight of Harry and Ginny sitting near the front of the room.

"What is it?" Lucius asked, noting the way Hermione had tensed up.

"Harry," Hermione said, nodding to where her old friend was sitting with his wife.

Even though it had been Hermione who had left the country, it felt as though it had been Harry who had ended their friendship. Hermione hadn't meant to move when she'd gone on holiday, but after meeting Draco by chance a romance had developed. By rights it should have just been a holiday fling, but after almost three weeks of being together, Hermione had been well and truly in love and when Draco had asked her to stay, she'd decided to act impulsively and take a chance on love. Of course, she'd let Harry know of her decision to stay, and she'd even invited him to visit her, so she could explain about her new romance in person. However, he declined her offer, claiming that he and Ginny would visit as soon as they could, but it never happened. To be fair, Hermione knew she could have reached out to Harry a bit more, or even visited him the one time she'd returned home to sort her things, but she'd sent numerous invitations to her friend and he'd never once taken her up on one. Hermione took it to mean he wasn't interested in keeping their friendship alive and slowly all contact had stopped between the pair.

Before Hermione could fall into total melancholy at her lost friendship, the house she wanted came up for auction and Lucius snapped her back into focus. Following Lucius's advice, she remained quiet in the early stages as she got a look at her competition. Unfortunately, Harry was part of that competition and Hermione could tell he was serious when he kept upping the bids to get rid of the rest of the bidders.

"It's time to bid," Lucius advised her as more and more people dropped out of the process.

"But I'd be bidding against Harry," Hermione muttered, not quite able to bring herself to raise her panel and place a bid against her old friend.

"Sod Potter," Lucius hissed. "This is the house of your dreams, Hermione. If you lose this, you're stuck at the manor for months, maybe even years. I thought you wanted your own place before the twins arrived."

"I do," Hermione confirmed.

"Then for Merlin's sake place a bloody bid before you lose the house," Lucius ordered as the auctioneer began his final countdown on Harry's current bid. "Do it, Hermione," he urged as his daughter-in-law continued to hesitate. "Do it, or I will, and I won't sell it back to you."

Knowing full well her father-in-law was serious and would buy the house just to stop Harry getting his hands on it, Hermione raised her panel in the air and upped the bid to half a million galleons. The price was a huge leap and gasps of shock could be heard around the room as almost everyone turned to stare at the new bidder.

"That's my girl," Lucius whispered in her ear. "A Malfoy always gets what they want."

Hermione smiled slightly and shook her head at Lucius, but her heart was in her mouth as the auctioneer started the countdown on her bid. For a moment, Hermione expected Harry to counteract her bid, but she could see he was just gazing at her in surprise as the auctioneer slammed down the gavel and the house went to her.

"I did it," Hermione cried in glee when she realised the house of her dreams was now a reality.

"Yes, you did," Lucius replied as he threw a smirk in Harry's direction before embracing Hermione and congratulating her on getting the house of her dreams. "Let's go and sort the paperwork," he said as he helped his daughter-in-law to her feet.

"I can't believe the house is ours," Hermione said as Lucius guided her out of the room, keeping a close eye on her in case she got overexcited.

By the time the paperwork was done the Potters had gone, although Hermione didn't know whether to be disappointed or pleased. Part of her felt as though she should have spoken to Harry, but another part of her thought that maybe it was best to leave the past behind her. However, she did manage to grab a quick word with Dean and Seamus, who were in high spirits after they themselves had bought the property they wanted for their business expansion.

"Come and visit us some time," Dean said. "We'd love to see you."

"You're inviting a pregnant woman to a bar?" Hermione laughed.

"We serve non-alcoholic drinks as well," Seamus chuckled. "And food. Come and have dinner one time with your husband."

"We will," Hermione vowed. "Thanks."

"Congrats on the baby, and tell Malfoy we said congratulations," Dean said. "Who would have thought you would wind up a Malfoy?"

"Certainly not me," Hermione replied with a laugh. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I should hope not," Lucius remarked, from where he was standing just a little way back from Hermione and her friends. "Now come on, we should get you home. You've had enough excitement for the day."

"Yes Dad," Hermione muttered with a good-natured roll of her eyes.

Leaving a chuckling Dean and Seamus behind, Hermione headed home with Lucius. Now she'd bought the house it was time to think about decorating it. She would have to move quickly if she wanted to be settled before the twins arrived. But Hermione knew she had a solid helper in Lucius, and she knew her father-in-law would do virtually anything she wanted to help her, and Draco settle in their new home before they welcomed the newest members of the family into the world.