Chapter 8:

"Sweetheart, why don't you go back to your room and I'll call you when we can go, okay? I just need to answer the door." Hermione said as she finished putting on her daughter's trench coat. She and her daughter were on their way out to dinner with Harvey and Donna and Mike and Rachel when she felt her wards shift.

While it was true that Hermione had left her wand and her magical life behind, she was still quite adept at wandless magic and it was easier to hide it's traces when you're hiding half way across the world. She knew who was in her doorstep the moment he breached her property. The question is, how did he find her? What did he want?

Sighing, she realized there was only one way to find out.


It took a while for her to open the door after he buzzed her doorbell. But as she took a deep breath, she also gathered her Gryffindor courage and opened the door.

When she did, it was as if the breath she took in never even happened. After almost six years of not seeing him, he was now in front of her.

After a moment, she heard Draco clear his throat before saying "Hi."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Hermione said "Hi" in return.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I've been looking for you." Draco said. "I.. I've been looking for you for almost a year now."

"Why?" Hermione asked, her heart now beating faster over time. She didn't know how he would take the news of her having his child but the very reason she went away in the first place was because of his parents and his past.

She knew that what they had back in school was more of a physical relationship than an actual one. That was the deal, no feelings, no attachments. She'd known back then that he was engaged to be married, but it didn't stop them from seeking physical release and then in the latter part of that "relationship" just general comfort and companionship. As their "relationship's" time soon ran out, she realized she had already fallen for him and that she was also pregnant with his child. She also knew that he couldn't fight for them to be together because his family needed him more and that his parents, especially his father would have never accepted her and her unborn child.

She knew what could happen if she'd told Draco and if his father knew of her pregnancy. Her child would be labelled a bastard among the wizarding society, and her reputation would have been tainted for having a child out of wedlock especially to a man already promised to someone else. That is if her child would be allowed to live. Draco had given her a book on pureblood families and as well as his family's history to read so that she had more of an insight into the wizarding world's upper class pureblood society, but it also contained his family's deepest darkest secrets.

She'd been utterly disgusted at the lengths that his father's family had gone to to keep their line "pure". Abortion, infanticide and even cursing the non-pureblood mother or father to be barren had been written down as ways to keep the Malfoy line pure. Her disgust turned to fear when she realized that all these could happen to her and her unborn child. It didn't matter that she was the brightest witch of her generation, she knew then that she couldn't risk her unborn child's life just so she could tell Draco of his impending fatherhood. She knew he'd try to do right by her and their child, she knew he'd try to break his engagement, but she also knew that she couldn't risk the life growing within her and further ruin her and Draco's life in the process.

"You know why." Draco said as he unknowingly snapped Hermione out of her thoughts.

Hermione sighed, he probably won't go away now even if she asked him to. "Come in." she said as she moved to the side to let him in.

Draco entered and watched as Hermione closed the door.

"Nice place." he said. As he looked around. It was clean, cozy but minimal and elegant at the same time.

"Thanks." Hermione said as she led him to the living room.

"Do you want something to drink?" she asked. Now feeling unsure of how to talk to him. It had been years after all, and the only talking they did was usually an argument before ripping their clothes out of their bodies and light conversation as they dressed up after.

"No thanks." Draco said.

Hermione nodded and faced him, "Why did you come here, Draco?"


"Your hair is the same colour as mine." said the little girl who was now staring at him. Hermione had brought Jasmine down to meet him after they had finished talking.

He didn't know what to say to that. He actually didn't know how to handle kids. He knew how to handle babies and maybe even toddlers. Those were easy, you just hold them, clean them, feed them and play with them. They don't converse with you due to their limited vocabulary of broken words and babbles.

His daughter though, she was different. She was four, almost five. She could speak in sentences, understand conversations and ask questions with answers that were often, difficult, if not uncomfortable, to answer. On top of that, she was his and Hermione's daughter. She's brilliant, and from the brief stories Hermione's told him about their daughter, she is a genius. A mix of both her parents, if not physically then emotionally and intellectually.

He had missed 5 years of his daughter's life. He'd missed her first cry, her first smile, her first tooth, her first time to crawl, to sit on her own, to stand, toddle and then her first steps.

It hurt and angered him to realize how much he had missed out on, all because his father still tried to control how he ought to live his life. And for that he would never forgive his father. But deep down, he also felt anger at himself, for not knowing, for not seeking out Hermione, for not being man enough to be honest about how he felt about her all those years ago.

He suddenly felt something on top of his head and realized that his daughter had moved forward and touched his hair.

"I've never seen someone's hair like mine." she added as she placed her hand back to her side and stared at Draco who remained seated in the sofa Hermione had told him to wait in while she brought their daughter down to meet him.

"Is that why you're my daddy?" she suddenly asked, causing both grown ups in the room to look at her, "because we have the same hair? That's why you're here, isn't it? Because you're my daddy?" she added.

Draco couldn't help the emotions that kept flooding within him. Having finally met his daughter for the first time and have her call him daddy. He smiled, "yes, I'm your daddy."


"And then, Warren changed his hair colour in front of Mellie and she ran away!" Jasmine said as she told a story about something that had happened in her school that day to Draco and Hermione as she finished her last slice of pizza which was cut into smaller squares.

Draco listened delightedly at the tales his daughter told him, stories that he knew he would always welcome and enjoy listening to.

"Alright" Hermione said as she sat down finished placing the slices of cake in front of Draco and Jasmine. "As promised, Chocolate chip cookie ice cream." she said.

"Thank you mummy." Jasmine said as Draco gave her a small smile as his thanks.

As the three ate their dessert quietly, Hermione and Draco were both thinking of what they were now going to do. How were they going to parent a child?

"Mummy." Jasmine said as she stared at Hermione.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Hermione said as she looked at her daughter.

"Will daddy be staying with us now?" Jasmine asked.

And for the first time that night, their daughter asked them questions they themselves hadn't thought to discuss.