A/N: Thank you to everybody who added me to their alerts and for all the lovely reviews. Keep it up it makes me update quicker. Now onto the story.

"Here it is," Malfoy looked at Hermione as she set Rose down slightly pushing her towards her new bedroom. "You can decorate it anyway you want, as long as your mother agrees."

"Can we paint it purple?" Rose asked both of them excitedly. It surprised Hermione how something as miniscule as a new room tended to cheer a kid up, in that moment she was glad for the sudden change of environment, being overcrowded by the Weasley family wouldn't of helped the healing process for Rose, Hugo and herself, if she could overcome it, he had been one of her best friends after all, the marriage came later.

"Of course sweetie," replied Hermione as she thanked Malfoy silently for not taking control of the situation and letting her have an input in the decorating process, " but now it is way past your bedtime so lets get you to bed missy." Rose quickly settled into her new bed instantly. "Mum, can Crookshanks sleep with me tonight?" She put on a puppy dog faced look, knowing fairly well that Hermione rarely let Crookshanks sleep with her or Hugo.

Hermione's pet cat was finally reaching the final days of its long-lived life. It seemed like it was just yesterday when she had bought her old half kneazle cat at Magical Menagarie in Diagon Ally, she couldn't help but remember how he'd lunged himself at Ron trying to attack Scabbers or better yet Peter Pettrigrew; nobody would question Crookshanks again after the Pettigrew incident. If it weren't for Crookshanks, Sirius Black would of probably died at an earlier time. Maybe if Crookshanks took a liking to Malfoy she would know whether his intentions were sincere and in no way malevolent. As if sensing Hermione's thoughts Crookshanks appeared silently beside her.

"Ah, there he is, I was beginning to wonder when he'd escape his cage. Be careful with him Rose you know he's been a bit fragile lately." Crookshanks gave a disapproving hiss the moment the word fragile escaped Hermione's lips; Sirius was right about him after all, he was one of the most intelligent creatures of its kind. Crookshanks nestled himself up beside Rose as she drifted off to sleep in their supposed new home. Slowly making her way out of the room Hermione closed the door as gently as possible, not wanting to wake Rose up, before looking back at Malfoy.

"That's some ugly cat you have there, Granger," said Malfoy spitefully.

"I reckon he is ten times better looking than you ever were as an albino ferret haired creature during fourth year!" Malfoy glared at her angrily, what Barty Crouch Jr. had done to him during his fourth year had seriously left his ego bruised for most of that year. He could most certainly recall the overwhelming amount of snickers around the Slytherin common room every time he entered or exited the room, and not to mention the constant badgering on Pansy Parkinson's behalf.

"Whatever Granger, your room is the last one in the hall, my bedroom is right next door in case anything happens you know where to look. Painting...such a mundane way to handle things, we could just charm it a different color." With that said Malfoy marched to his room leaving behind an echoing slam land a fuming Hermione.

Upon entering her new bedroom the sick sense of complete loneliness settled its way in. Her kids were safe and sound in the room next door, nothing else should of mattered, but her bottled up feelings betrayed her. She had prevented herself from crying since she'd heard about Ron's death, only crying in front of Harry and her kids felt right, and even then it wasn't an intense desperate cry over her loss. Nevertheless in this lonely room with bare walls lacking memories the impending tears she had held back cascaded down her face at last.

She had grown used to her constant bickering with Ron; that bickering just wasn't possible anymore. She shut the door to her new room and fell to the floor consumed in the darkness; the only light visible was from the moon, just barely illuminating the room as the window was so small. As the moments slowly ticked by she began to sob hysterically, something she never did. Everyone viewed her as the brave war heroine, fearless, compassionate, and the brightest witch of her age but beneath her usually hard exterior lay a fragile person, scared of truly letting others see how truly vulnerable she could be. Only a select few knew who she really was. Little did she know that a particular blond male next door could hear her sobs of heartache.

Draco Malfoy wasn't known for being an emotional man, he was mostly known for his hard demeanor and arrogance but since the war had ended things had changed drastically. His first changes began when his father was incarcerated in Azkaban, then things had really started to change when Voldemort had assigned him to kill Professor Dumbledore. His family's safety was thrust upon his shoulders that year; in the end he still hadn't had the courage to murder Dumbledore. It was also the moment he had realized how wrong Voldemorts ways were, killing people due to the blood that ran through their veins was just wrong. Muggle-borns were just a as capable as pure-blooded wizards, Hermione for example always seemed to excel in every subject despite his attempts at getting better marks than her. By the time the war had reached Hogwarts his alliance with the death eaters was barely existent, it was also the first time he took Harry Potters side, it was also the first time he had defended Hermione Granger. When Crabbe had aimed and shot the killing curse at her he had set his mind in protecting her, though it seemed as though he were protecting Harry Potter it was she he was defending. Now years later it seemed as though he was being forced to protect her, oh how wrong they were. With all those thoughts in mind he drifted off to sleep, the violent sobbing in the background had yet to cease, but he would do nothing about.

The next morning she awoke in the same exact spot as the night before, her body ached both physically and emotionally she only hoped nobody would notice her blotchy face. Finally taking in her surroundings she came to the realization that her bedroom also had a bathroom, along with a couch in the corner of the room. Deciding to shower before her day began she walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet. As she took in her appearance at the vanity mirror she realized how pale and tired she'd become, her face was blotchy, pale, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked like she had lost weight, come to think of it, she couldn't recall the last time she had eaten a proper meal. As she stepped into the shower the hot water soothed her aching body; she would never sleep on that damn floor ever again.

Making her way towards the kitchen she noticed that the trunks she'd left in the living room were empty except for one, her old Hogwarts trunk.

"I took the liberty of emptying your trunks and putting everything away, except your trunk of course, I didn't want you hexing me so early in the morning."

"Thank you," Malfoy raised an eyebrow looking at her wonderingly, was she actually saying thank you. "Seriously, thank you, I don't think I would have had the energy to unpack anything after the week I've had." With an exasperated sigh she took a seat on the nearby couch. Green and red décor, how ironic, she thought bemusedly.

Taking a hesitant seat next to her Malfoy began to speak, "Listen Granger, we need to talk..." Hermione looked his way and saw his uncomfortableness, he was fidgeting with his hands and looking down at his, what had happened to the guy who couldn't keep his mouth shut and spoke without a hint of remorse. "Spit it out Malfoy." she said.

"My son, well you see, he's going to have a hard time adjusting to our living situation." He could only imagine what was going through her head, his guess was that she though his son was a spoiled brat, there was no doubt that his son was spoiled but he was not a brat in any sense.

"I'm sure he'll be just fine Malfoy, he's just a boy he'll learn to adjust in time," she hoped.

"He has a condition. Its called selective mutism." Hermione stared at him in bewilderment, she knew that kids with selective mutism rarely spoke, it wasn't a learning deficiency by all means they just chose to keep quiet in social situations.

"Does he at least speak with you when no one is around." Malfoy looked at her in astonishment, she knew what his sons condition was, then again it shouldn't of surprised him at all she was Hermione Granger after all.

"Occasionally but he chooses to speak to no one else, so please don't hold it against him when you meet him later this morning."

"I wouldn't dare. I suffered from it as well when I went to school in the muggle world." Nobody knew about her childhood condition but her parents and herself. When she had received her letter to Hogwarts she had made a vow to herself, to no reciprocate back to her old ways of immense shyness and not speaking unless spoken to.

"Hmm, never would have guessed."

She stood up and made her way towards the kitchen looking through the kitchen cabinets she noticed it was well stocked as well as the refrigerator. She suddenly felt a presence behind her, turning around quickly she bumped into Malfoy.

"Would you mind if I brought in a house elf to help us out." He hadn't noticed that he had grabbed onto her elbow when she had bumped into him until she uncomfortably removed his hand. "Sorry." he said honestly.

"I don't like having house elves help especially if they aren't being paid." she said.

"But they will be, I already pay my house elf and seeing as we'll be feeding three kids I think we'll need all the extra help we can get." She eyed him curiously debating his proposal in her head a countless number of times. After a few brief moments she had made up her mind.

"Fine, but on one condition Malfoy," she said as she pointed her finger towards his chest.

"We will not become reliant on the house elf. I expect you and myself included to cook meals on the weekends, therefore allowing the house elf to have a few days off. Understood."

"Understood." he said.

"Good. Now what does your son like for breakfast so I can get started."

A/N: Next chapter she meets Scorpius, and he meets Hugo. I have to say I literally spent 15 minutes wondering if wizards used refrigerators, stupid I know. Also, this story is rated M, it will eventually reach that point just not now. Please review I'd really appreciate it. Also feel free to follow me on Tumblr, the link is on my profile along with a url containing a picture of what I think the flat looks like (somewhat).