After Sunday lunch with her parents and daughter, Hermione immediately began getting Scarlett ready to meet Draco. She doubted her boyfriend would care what her daughter was wearing, but Hermione wanted everything to be perfect. She didn't want Scarlett meeting Draco wearing grubby clothes.

"Hermione dear, you have to relax," Jean urged her daughter as Hermione fussed over getting Scarlett changed. "It's not the queen coming for the afternoon."

"I know, but I just want everything to be perfect," Hermione admitted. "This afternoon is important to me."

"I know it is," Jean said, smiling at her daughter. "But I really don't think Draco will care what dress Scarlett is wearing. He's coming to meet her, not judge a fashion show."

"It's stupid, isn't it?" Hermione chuckled, turning to her mother.

"Not stupid, you're just nervous," Jean replied.

"I am," Hermione confirmed. "Things went pretty well with Draco's parents yesterday, so I just want things to go as well today."

"I'm sure they will," Jean reassured her daughter. "Now bring Scarlett into the front room and relax until Draco gets here."

Picking her daughter up, Hermione followed her mother down to the front room. A selection of Scarlett's toys were scattered around the room, and Hermione placed her daughter on her play mat. Immediately, Scarlett turned away from her mother and began chattering on to her toys. Hermione watched her daughter for a minute, before she settled down to wait for her boyfriend to arrive.

As they waited for Draco to arrive, Hermione's parents took another opportunity to check with their daughter that she was sure about Draco. Richard and Jean were actually pleased their daughter had moved on and found someone, and they approved of Hermione taking things slowly. However, she was their only daughter and Scarlett was their granddaughter and they wanted to make sure neither of them were going to get hurt.

"I promise you, Draco won't hurt us," Hermione vowed. "I really like him and I have to see where this goes."

"And we'll support you the entire way," Richard promised his daughter with a smile.

"Thank you, Daddy," Hermione replied, giving her father a hug just as the doorbell rang.

At the sound of the doorbell, Hermione jumped to her feet. Taking a few calming breaths, she hurried out of the front room and towards the door. Pulling open the door she found her boyfriend standing on the doorstep looking nearly as nervous as she felt.

"Hey," She greeted with a smile.

"Hey," Draco returned.

"Come in," Hermione said, stepping back and letting her boyfriend into the house. When Draco stepped into the house, Hermione realised her boyfriend was carrying a small purple gift bag. "A present?" She teased, eyeing the bag.

"Yes, but not for you," Draco replied. "I've already won you over, this is for the littlest Granger. I need to charm her so she'll let her Mummy keep seeing me."

"I'm not sure a one year old understands bribery," Hermione chuckled.

"But she understands presents," Draco retorted. "It'll help me dazzle her."

"Whatever you say," Hermione replied with a smile. "Come on then, let's go and meet the family."

Taking hold of Draco's hand, Hermione led him into the front room. The first thing she did was introduce him to her parents, both of whom greeted him pleasantly before they headed into the kitchen to make some tea. Hermione then picked up Scarlett and brought her over to where Draco was standing.

"Scarlett this is Draco. Are you going to say, hello?" Hermione said to her daughter. Scarlett looked at Draco through her thick eyelashes, before ducking her head and nuzzling into Hermione's neck. "Sorry, she's bit shy with strangers."

"It's okay," Draco replied as he reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a small red dragon soft toy. "Hello Scarlett," He said to the one year old who was shyly peering at him through Hermione's hair. "This is for you."

Draco held the toy out for Scarlett, and ever so slowly the little girl reached out and grabbed the dragon in her hand. As Scarlett took the dragon off Draco, Hermione noticed her daughter's name was stitched onto the sole of the dragon's paw. Clearly Draco hadn't just picked up some random toy before visiting, he'd taken the time to find a present especially for Scarlett.

"Say thank you," Hermione urged her daughter.

"Tanks," Scarlett whispered softly, clutching onto the toy dragon.

As she thanked Draco, Scarlett gave him a small smile and his heart melted. When she was smiling she was the most adorable little girl he'd ever seen. How anyone could walk away from her was a mystery, and he decided there and then that not only was Harry a bastard for leaving his daughter, but he was a major fool as well. He was missing out on seeing a gorgeous little girl grow up, just because he didn't have the balls to take responsibility for his mistakes.

"The dragon is lovely," Hermione remarked as she put Scarlett back down on the floor, and her daughter instantly started introducing her new dragon to her other soft toys, including the large unicorn Draco had won at the fair. "Where did you get it?"

"A little toy maker just outside of Paris," Draco replied. "I chose a dragon because of my name, I then asked for it be died red and then I had Scarlett's name added to the paw."

"It's a lovely gift," Hermione said softly. It meant a lot to her that Draco had put such a lot of thought into buying a gift for her daughter, it certainly showed he was serious about them giving things a proper try.

"Hopefully the first of many," Draco said as he and Hermione settled down on the sofa beside Scarlett.

Hermione didn't have a chance to reply and tell Draco she hoped he was right, before her parents came back into the room carrying a tray of tea and biscuits. Settling down opposite the couple, Richard and Jean poured the tea before they started asking Draco various questions about himself. To his credit Draco didn't complain about the attention the Grangers were showing him, he just answered their questions. He reassured them that he was nothing like the boy Hermione had first met when they'd started Hogwarts, and more importantly he convinced them that he cared about Hermione and he wanted a future with her and Scarlett.

The Grangers spent a couple of hours getting to know Draco, before they headed home leaving Hermione and Draco to spend some quality time with Scarlett. After her parents had left, Hermione tidied up some of her daughter's toys as Scarlett had fallen asleep playing with them. While Hermione tidied up, Draco picked Scarlett up and settled her on the sofa, with her new dragon still clutched in her hand.

"She looks so like you," Draco said softly, running his hand through Scarlett's soft dark brown hair. Apart from the fact Scarlett's hair was several shades darker than Hermione's, she was the spitting image of her mother.

"Is it awful, if I say I think that's a good thing?" Hermione asked.

"Given the circumstances, I don't think that's awful at all," Draco reassured his girlfriend. "I think it's better she looks like you, than like him. I suppose this way it's easier to forget about what a loser her father is."

"It is," Hermione agreed with a nod of her head. "But I'm constantly aware that one day I'm going to have to tell her the truth. I'm going to have to tell her that her father didn't want to know her. One day she's going to know just how unwanted she was."

"Only by him," Draco corrected. "She will grow up knowing how much you wanted and love her. Your parents clearly dote on her as well. I think Scarlett will know she's got people who love her. She doesn't need him in her life."

Of course it remained unsaid that Scarlett would possibly have Draco in her life as she grew up, but it was what they were both thinking. They both wanted their relationship to work, and so far they hadn't hit any major problems. Scarlett was probably too young to cause any real problems for the pair, and it was likely she would get used to Draco the more time he spent with Hermione.

With Scarlett sleeping soundly on the sofa, Hermione cracked open a bottle of wine and she and Draco settled down to spend the rest of the afternoon together. Hermione educated Draco in the delights of television, and the pair watched a film as Scarlett slept.

"That was different," Draco remarked as the film finished.

"Good different, or bad different?" Hermione asked.

"Good, I enjoyed it," Draco replied. "It's a rather relaxing way to spend a few hours."

"It is if you only do it occasionally," Hermione replied. "I don't watch too much television, so when I do I always enjoy it."

Knowing Scarlett would be waking up soon, Hermione decided against a second film. Instead she flicked around the channels, before settling on a comedy series to leave on in the background as she and Draco chatted away. However, the first episode of the comedy had barely finished before Scarlett woke up, needing changing and screaming for her tea.

"Sorry," Hermione said, wrinkling her nose at the smell had daughter had produced. "This is her decidedly un-cute side. I need to change and feed her."

"Don't let me stop you," Draco replied. "Unless I'm in your way and I can leave."

"Don't leave," Hermione said. "I was hoping you would stay for dinner once I've got Scarlett down for the night."

"Dinner sounds great," Draco said. "And don't worry about me. You just make sure Scarlett is okay. I can occupy myself for a while."

Suspecting Draco was going to have a nose around the front room, Hermione took her screaming daughter out of the front room. Over half an hour later, Scarlett had been changed, fed, bathed, and was back to her normal happy self as Hermione returned to the front room with her.

"All sorted?" Draco asked from the sofa as he tore his eyes away from the television in the corner of the room.

"Yes, just a story and then she's ready to settle down for the night," Hermione answered. "Or at least she's ready to go to bed, it doesn't mean she's going to sleep all night."

"Sleeping all night is overrated," Draco replied, giving Hermione a flirty look before turning his attention to Scarlett and tweaking her nose, causing her to giggle uproariously.

"You know what, I think your bribery worked," Hermione chuckled as Draco continued to make Scarlett giggle happily. "She's a fan."

"She's a witch with good taste, just like her mother," Draco replied with a cocky grin. "How about I read Scarlett her bedtime story?"

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.

"I'm sure," Draco replied with a nod as he held his hands out for the baby.

Hermione was unsure how Scarlett would react to being in Draco's arms, but she handed her daughter over anyway. Initially Scarlett was a little bit hesitant, but Draco grabbed her new dragon soft toy and he soon had her giggling happily in his arms.

"Do you want a book?" Hermione asked.

"I'm good," Draco answered. "I'm going to tell Scarlett all about her dragon, and where she comes from."

Curious as to what her boyfriend was going to do, Hermione took a seat and watched Draco interact with her daughter. He was a natural with her, and Hermione could tell that Scarlett was quite content in his arms as he waved the toy dragon around and made up a story about the dragon, complete with funny voices that amused Scarlett. By the end of the story, Scarlett was starting to doze off and she was once again clutching her new toy.

"Yep, she's a fan," Draco announced in a proud voice as he cradled a sleeping Scarlett.

"She's not the only one," Hermione said, smiling at her boyfriend as she plucked her daughter from his arms. "After that display, I think I'm falling for you even more."

"Because I can tell a good story?" Draco questioned with a mischievous smile.

"No, because you are great with my daughter," Hermione replied softly. "You showed her so much care and affection, it really means a lot to me. Thank you."

"It's easy, she's a gorgeous child, Hermione," Draco said. "I've really enjoyed meeting her."

"And you would do it again?" Hermione asked.

"In a heartbeat," Draco replied.

Hermione smiled at Draco, and giving him a quick peck she headed off upstairs with Scarlett. Settling her daughter down in her crib, she made sure she was sleeping soundly before she activated the baby monitor and returned to her boyfriend.

"Thank you," Hermione repeated, crossing straight to where Draco was sitting and planting a searing kiss on his lips.

"What was that for?" Draco asked as he pulled Hermione down onto his lap.

"Everything," Hermione replied, snuggling into Draco and breathing in his familiar aftershave. "I'm so lucky to have found you."

"I'm the lucky one to have found you," Draco replied quietly. "I'm very lucky that you've allowed me into your life, and into Scarlett's life. And I promise I will do anything I can to make sure you are both happy."

"I'm already happy," Hermione confessed. "Just being here with you, is what makes me happy."

"Good, because being with you makes me happy as well," Draco replied.

Leaning up, he connected their lips once again, and as the couple made out on the sofa, dinner was temporarily forgotten. Right now they were revelling in the fact the weekend had gone well and they could now start looking to the future. A future they were positive they were going to spend together.