Chapter 6

"I said I am going Draco Malfoy and that is final." Hermione was pulling a brush through her hair so viciously he knew it had to be incredibly painful. He gently took it away from her and finished brushing her hair in silence.

It had been one week since Draco had found out Hermione was pregnant and in her opinion he had been annoyingly… close. His latest tangent was about her work at the lab.

In Draco's opinion, his wife had become an unreasonable harridan determined to make his final days on the earth filled with unease and dread.

"You are working with unstable potion ingredients that could… I don't know" he said running his hands frustrated through his hair "blow up or worse." She was not sure what his definition of worse was, being blown up in a lab accident seemed pretty extreme to here. Not that this was going to happen, there weren't any explosives involved and she had to talent for making harmless items combust violently.

"Merlin, Draco, I am NOT Seamus Finnegan. I am perfectly capable of working in my own laboratory without blowing myself up." she responded teasingly.

He did not so much as crack a smile, that was not the most optimistic sign she had seen, she could usually tease him into calming down. He was clearly in no mood to be calm about this. In fact it appeared he was just getting started.

"In addition" he continued in a tone that suggested she had just said the stupidest thing he had heard that morning "you have been exhausted lately. It is not good for you or Carina." Hermione had bowed to his wish to continue naming children after stars and constellations as long as she got veto power.

She gently touched her slightly rounded belly "Draco, I am not going to do anything to injure the baby."

"Or yourself" he reminded her sternly.

"Or myself. If Grey agrees it will cause no harm will you agree to stop your ridiculous campaign to keep me from my work?"

She knew she had gone too far when his jaw tightened. "It is now ridiculous to want my wife and child to be safe?!"

Getting up she wrapped her arms around his middle and laid her head on his chest. "No, of course not. I am sorry, that was thoughtless and cruel of me to say that."

He pulled her tighter against him and stroked her hair, but did not quite trust himself to speak just yet.

"What if we make a compromise?" Hermione asked soothingly.

"What sort of compromise did you have in mind?" Draco was suspicious of his little Gryffindor wife's "compromises". If she had been a Slytherin she would have … no scratch that, he thought, she would have used cunning and deceit to get her way and he would have smiled through it. It was much better for her to be the sort of in your face fighter she was. He smiled over her head. He certainly never had to wonder what she was thinking.

"I will hire a potion master to handle all of the actual work. I will touch nothing unstable" except you, you unreasonable arse, she thought to herself "I will work half days when Grey thinks it appropriate and I will stop working when he says to."

"Without argument? No trying to "compromise" yourself in to a … I don't know, work at home situation?" He knew her so well.

She laughed up at him and slapped his arm."Have I become so predictable?"

"Merlin's arse Hermione, when you didn't like how my treatment was going you moved yourself in to my damned rooms! Not that I am complaining about how that turned out." He slid his hands down to give her bum a gentle squeeze.

"That may not have been about work, maybe I was just trying to get into your robes." She said with a cheeky grin.

"A witch trying to get in to my robes typically does not spend half a day color coordinating my schedule and debating how much time I should be allowed to take a shower since it conflicted with your need for me to have precisely fifteen minutes of quiet contemplation during that time." He raised an eyebrow at her fondly remembering when she first entered his life again.

Laughing she gave up "Fine, fine, when Grey says no more work I stop working. Entirely."

Mollified for the moment he asked "Who did you have in mind for the position of potion master?"

"I had not given it any thought until now, I suppose Seamus is out?" she grinned up at him.

Giving her a warning squeeze he said "I have someone in mind, she is brilliant. I know you two did not get along in school but…"

"We are past all of that who did you have in mind?" she took the seat Draco pulled out for her and sighed contentedly as he pulled her feet up on to a foot stool.

"Pansy Parkinson." He waited for her reaction. Asking his pregnant wife to work with an ex-girlfriend was probably the bravest, least Slytherin thing he had ever done.

"Oh… ummm…" Hermione could not voice her objection without revealing Pansy had been a patient. It was not technically a conflict of interest but it did muddy the waters. And she had already risked her license and professional integrity when she began a relationship with Draco…

"Pansy is the best potion master I know. There is no one I trust more to help with your curse or the Greengrass problem." He still refused to acknowledge any of this would help Astoria. Only his son and future heirs.

"Oh, I don't doubt her abilities, I always knew that she was far brighter than she let on it is only…." What on earth could she use as an objection?

"I understand this may feel awkward given past relationships, but those should have no bearing on what we are accomplishing here." He hoped he could convince her to see reason.

"How did you know about our past relationship? Did she tell you about…" she could not finish the sentence without compromising doctor/patient confidentiality, but she was surprised. Pansy had not been to visit since they got married and was not at the wedding, so Hermione had assumed that she and Draco were no longer close. Was Pansy avoiding Draco because of her?

Draco, for his part , had completely misinterpreted her statement "You had a".. he coughed "relationship with… Pansy?"

"Wait… what?" Hermione asked confused "what were you talking about?"

"MY past relationship with Pansy." He clarified.

Hermione put her head in her hands "Oh. That was in school… I had not really thought about that."

"OK, your turn, what relationship?" he had seriously misjudged Granger and her wild ways he decided.

"I... think you need to discuss that with Pansy…" she said, at a loss for words "but if she is willing I see no reason not to hire her on."

"I will owl her" he began walking towards the owlery.

"NOW?" she was amused, she should have known he would not let this go. His blush finally clued her in on exactly what he had thought the nature of their relationship to be.

"Yes, now." If his wife wasn't going to give him details, Pansy sure as hell was. Who would have that Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson…

He gave himself a good shake and wrote a quick note to Pansy sending it off at once.

Once he finished owling Pansy he had tea sent for and joined his wife to wait.

In less than half an hour Pansy was stepping through their floo. To Draco's surprise she ignored his out stretched arms and immediately went to Hermione.

"Healer Doctor Granger!" she exclaimed "It has been so long. I am so sorry I missed the wedding." She pulled Hermione out at arm's length "I was on vacation broadening my horizons. Just like the Healer doctor ordered."

Hermione laughed, it was Pansy who had first started calling her Healer Doctor Granger and the title had stuck.

"Pansy, I am glad to see you looking so well. But please, it is just Hermione now." Hermione offered her guest a seat and poured tea.

Pansy sat down and the two women spent a few minutes talking about Pansy's vacation and completely ignoring Draco.

"So, I guess I am just a part of the furniture now?" asked Draco partly in amusement partly in annoyance. It was clear when Pansy walked in what the nature of their relationship had been.

"Yes, but a very pretty part" quipped Pansy "now hush; I want to know why my Healer Doctor has summoned me."