Chapter 3: Vine of Secrets

I pause for just a second before jumping into action.

"Harry, grab me some scissors, tin foil, cloths pin, and towels." The demand has barely left me when Harry is gone and out of the room, racing through the house. My first priority is the blue baby. I gently lift him, cradling his small frame on the palm of my left hand and face his back towards me. With my right hand I begin to pat his back, trying not to break any bones. The most beautiful sound reaches my ears as he starts crying, and pink floods through his body. Broken sobs rack through my body as relief consumes me. I cradle the small crying infant close to my body as I examine his mother. A finger under her nose reviles that Ginny still breathing, but when I cast a spell to view her blood pressure it is dangerously low. Ginny is going to bleed out soon.

Harry returns and I cut the umbilical, clip it, and then wrap the baby in the tin foil and towels. I hand the baby to Harry and instruct him to floo to the hospital, and then I grab Ginny and follow. We exit in to the reception area, and healers are there already, taking Ginny from me. Harry and his son are nowhere to be found, which means they're in good hands. I let out a sigh of relief and then head up to M-Draco's room to apologize and get Ignis.

"Draco?" I ask, stepping into his room.

There's no response, and the lights are off. I flick them on and gasp at the sight in front of me; Draco is asleep, propped up on pillows, with Ignis dozing softly on his chest, cradled in his arms. It's just so perfect, and unexpected, I wanted Ignis all to myself because I wanted her to have the best possible childhood, unlike mine. I wanted her not to have a father because sometimes they aren't what you need. I wanted her to have the opposite childhood of mind, but she does. Her mother loves her, her father actually looked for her, and now that he found her he is not going to let go. Maybe I won't regret letting Draco into our lives, maybe he will make them sudden change of light must have woken Draco, because his eyes open and he's smiling up at me sleepily. He adjusts our daughter in his arms and gestures to the spot next to him.

"Is everything okay?" He asks, furrowing his brow.

"Ginny went into labor at their house, and when the contractions are less than five minutes apart it is not safe to floo.

So I had to help." He nods and then flashes a grin at me.

"It's not very fair, I only got Ignis for half an hour, and they put me on sleep potions anyway. I think you'll both have to stay for a little bit." The smirk that graces his face reminds me so much of how he was at school; I realize now that it's weird how different he is now.

Tired of standing, I decide to sit next to him, and he winks at me.

"Couldn't resist my charm any longer? I don't blame you." I cannot tell if he is joking or not, but after a few seconds he smirks and laughs at my pink cheeks.

Draco and I sit there and talk for the next three hours, idle chit chat about favorite books, memories from school, funny work stories. Draco owns his own wand making company, because after the two greatest wand makers in Europe were killed, and within a few months of each other too, little want to be businesses popped up everywhere, selling fake wands, or hexed ones, some even sold simple pieces of wood. Draco had affectionately dubbed these the 'W's' as everyone called them weenie wanders.

"I actually had the head auror come in the other day," Draco was telling me, "She reminds me a lot of that one chick, my cousin with the funny name and hair."

"Tonks?" I offered.

"That's the one." He drawled, a quick grin flitting across his pale face, "Anyway, the girl comes in and tells me she wants a lime green one, not an altogether odd request, seems to be the fashion now. So, I tell her she has to pick from the color changing wands on the left and I will bewitch it to change to the desired shade, so she spends hours in my back room, tries out every single one, and then informs me that none are as good as her custom made one from her Hogwarts years and that she thought she should stay with that one. I almost jinxed her on the spot, but my therap- I mean, she, err-"

"Did you just say you have a therapist?" The strangeness of the situation and the irony were not lost on me, and I wondered if we saw the same one.

"I do, because of all the fun things I went through in the war." His hold on Ignis tightened slightly and he softly stroked her hair again, much as you would a soft kitten who sat upon your lap. "My therapist, Molly, actually wanted me to make nice with you, because she said I was so traumatized by what Aunt Bella did… she'd be pleased to know that I've made progress."

"I'm sure she will; doesn't she get back from France next week?" His look of surprise makes my heart beat faster as I prepare to tell him something that I have never told anyone.

"I've been seeing her once a week since our second year, excluding of course what would have been our seventh year. How about you?" I glossed over, prolonging the evitable.

"Since the day I went off at my trial and slapped my father across the face. They said if I went to her for a year I could get off free, but I've never felt the need to stop. I feel like I'm in love with what the women can do." I knew exactly what he was talking about. Little Molly, a five foot two blond haired woman, was like an angel sent to us to help.

I loved her myself, and would probably not be alive if not for her work.

"So, what kinds of things has she told you to do?" I asked him, he thought for a moment before continuing.

"When I want to hurt someone, when I'm so upset at something I am seeing red, she told me to think of when my father would beat me when I was little, or how the one time my mother ever hugged me my father beat her unconscious. So I would remember that violence has consequences. What 'bout you?" It's such a personal story that he's told me, and I can tell by the hitch in his voice that it's not something he has done lightly.

He must really want this to work with us being civil for Ignis.

"Do you want the short story?" I ask, giving him one last out. He looks at me incredulously and I breathe in sharply before I start.

"When I was ten, my father told me I had to start paying rent. He took me to his friend's house, screamed at me to get out of the car, and the man paid me twelve pounds an hour to do whatever he asked. When I turned eleven, and got my letter, my father screamed at me for hours, and he beat me so much that I was not allowed to go to 'work' for two weeks. I left in the middle of the night to go to Hogwarts, my mum helping me sneak out. I went through my first year, and when I came back for summer we continued on like I had never left. When I left for my second year, I had been feeling ill for a few days, but passed it off as the fact that Molly Weasely had actually been feeding me. Remember when I was petrified? I was awoken and taken aside, and Madame Pomfrey told me that I had miscarried a few weeks into my hospital stay. I never knew I was pregnant. She told me it could have been anything from my age, the potion fumes in class, being petrified, or the stress of school. She forced me to go to therapy from then on. Molly Matthews has helped me so much, she came to me in the middle of the night the night before I found you in the club, took my wand from me, and stopped me from killing myself." I'm crying now, and Draco just looks dumfounded. He shifts Ignis once again to one arm and with the other pulls me onto his lap. I can't stop sobbing now, I had never told anyone, never even hinted at it. Molly had already known when we started, and she never pressured me to actually say the words. Now that it's out though, I feel lighter; I take my daughter from Draco and cuddle her tightly. She will live twice the life a normal child would, because she was not truly my first child.

"Hermione, I never knew. All those years I treated you so badly… I'm so sorry." I hid my face in his chest and we sat like that, cuddled tightly for the rest of the night, and I fell asleep in his arms.

A/N: Okay, first off, I found out I'm supposed to put a disclaimer. Didn't think I'd have to because this is a fanfiction site, but okay!

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or events. I just make them do things ;)

Okay, I also have those story ideas! There is now a poll on my profile, I will have the story up soon depending on what you guys choose. Also, I will not update again (probably) until after the 5th. Why? Because that is when the Pottermore house cup is awarded! My name on there is MoonstoneSeeker 12770 and I am a Ravenclaw, add me :)

Alright, back to the story. I have an idea where it's going, but not how long it will be, if people stop reviewing I'll probably shorten it because I need motivation :P haha. Thank you to ma Beta, who is amazing 3

Please, review! I got a ton of story alerts last chapter, but hardly any reviews :( I love them, I don't care if it's just a smiley face, it makes my day! Okay, I THINK that's all, probably not though haha.

Lots of Love,

~Mandy