Authors Note: Just updated this chapter to make it a little more keeping with British traditional breakfast beverages rather than Americans. I got a Beta! And they are being ever so kind as to help point out errors, etc. so I'll be updating chapters as they're reviewed and corrected.
Standard disclaimer: As always, I own none of this, it's all JK Rowling's
Hermione woke at 6AM promptly, as she did every day. She stretched her arms to the side, as she did every day. As she stretched, her hand touched a warm body, which it did not do every day. Pulling her hand back in surprise, she rolled over on the silk sheets, also out of the ordinary, and saw two twinkling grey eyes and a sleepy grin, framed by pale blonde locks.
"Malfoy!" She eeped.
"Morning, Granger. Although, I thought we were past the use of last names."
She stammered and stuttered until Draco placed a finger lightly over her lips.
"You were exhausted, I put you to bed. I hope you don't mind. This has been going on for over a month now and I figured you wouldn't be opposed to a little sleep over. Besides, it's Saturday. You did tell me last week that you were looking forward to being slothful today, no?"
She nodded, his finger still on her lips.
"Excellent. I haven't had a lazy day in ages."
With that, he stood up and stretched and Hermione enjoyed the eyeful of lean, muscular, masculine backside. Draco glanced back to find her ogling him and winked. She blushed.
Draco grabbed a forest green robe from the chair by the window and shrugged it on. He grabbed his wand off the nightstand and waved it, making a soft golden yellow robe of silk appear. Another flick of his wand had it hovering next to Hermione.
"Wasn't sure what colors you liked, so I went with a House color. Couldn't bring myself to get you a crimson one though. Would've made us look like Christmas," he said over his shoulder as he walked out of the bedroom.
Hermione stared after him, still not saying a word, sheets clutched to her chest. Slowly, she eased out of bed and slipped on the robe. Luxurious didn't begin to describe it. It was pure decadence wrapped around her. She didn't see her clothes, so she poked around the room a bit.
"You shouldn't have spent the night," she said. "You know better than to spend the night. Anything could have happened. He could have seen it. He could have heard it. Stupid, stupid, irresponsible."
She'd often talked to herself, even in her school days, and thought nothing of it. In her flat, there was no one to hear her. However, she was at Draco's flat now, and he caught the tail end of her self admonishment.
"Could have heard what, sweetheart?"
Hermione shrieked. "Nothing!"
Malfoy looked at her, raised an eyebrow, and said, "In your own time then. I just wondered if you preferred bacon or sausage with your eggs."
"Oh, bacon. Definitely bacon. Not too crispy though, if you can manage."
"As you wish," he said with a bow, walking back to the kitchen.
This time she scolded herself silently. Giving up the search for her missing clothes, she walked into the kitchen to find a pan of bacon, each piece flipping itself, a bowl with eggs being whisked and the smell of fresh scones and Oolong tea.
"Sorry I'm not cooking them Muggle style, but I'm a bit unmotivated in the kitchen in the mornings." Draco was lounging against the counter sipping something hot from a Ministry of Magic mug. "Would you like some tea?"
"Yes," she said, making a beeline for the kettle. "Milk and sugar?"
"Sugar in the container on your right, I'll grab your cream."
They moved together, passing tea, milk, doling eggs and bacon onto plates, passing the salt and pepper back and forth. It struck Hermione that it felt as though they'd done this regularly and that she actually wanted it to become a regular part of her week.
Once they'd eaten their breakfast and charmed the dishes to be cleaned, they both poured some more tea and walked onto Draco's balcony overlooking London. Draco leaned back in the patio chair, put his feet up on the railing and crossed his ankles while Hermione tucked her feet up underneath her.
"Well, yesterday was an adventure," Draco said with a sly grin.
"Yes," Hermione agreed. "I didn't think going public would be such an adventure."
"I knew it would be interesting, but I wasn't expecting Astoria. I do apologize for that again. I did wonder though," Draco paused.
"Yes?"
"We didn't really have much time, what with having to go back to work and all. I just wondered if you had any questions. I mean, I have a child. Children can make relationships complicated. And we haven't really discussed Scorp much."
"Is that what this is? A relationship?"
Draco shot her an incredulous look. "Are you honestly asking me that? We've barely gone more than twenty-four hours without seeing each other since this all started, you've spent the night, I made you breakfast, we went public for Merlin's sake."
"Yes, yes, I know. But we hadn't really put a label to it before. Are we seeing each other? Dating? Or is this more?"
"More. Definitely more. I told you, Hermione. This isn't dinner and a shag for me. I'm in this, and I bloody well hope you are, too."
She blushed. "Oh."
"Yes, Sweetheart. Oh. Now you know where I stand. Where do you stand on this? Am I just an adventure on the dark side, or do you want this? Do you want me?"
"Of course I want you. I just… I hadn't thought much beyond each tomorrow."
"And now?"
"And now… yes." She said, smiling at him dazzlingly. "Yes, I want more. I want you, us."
"Excellent. Now that we have that out of the way, I ask again about Scorpius. Do you have any questions?"
"Well, ah, I…"
"Don't dance around it, sweetheart. You're Hermione Granger. I went to school with you for six years. I know the answer. What are your questions?"
"I guess my first is whether or not your mother knows who Scorpius's father is?"
"I am." He said, vehemently. "I am the only dad Scorp has ever had. But in terms of who sired him? No. Mum doesn't know, nor will she. My father was a manipulative bastard who did whatever, and whoever, he damn well pleased. However, he was always extraordinarily protective of my mother. He may have been a philandering shit, but he was discreet and never brought shame upon her. It would only hurt her to tell her now."
Hermione mulled that over. She could understand why he felt that way. Personally, she'd want to know, but what would it accomplish other than hurting the Lady Malfoy? Nothing, she agreed.
"Any other questions?"
"How will Scorpius feel about you dating?"
Draco surprised her with a bark of laughter, more genuine than the polite, deep laughter he usually mustered in work situations. "He'll be over the moon. The last year has been nothing but, 'Dad, why haven't you gotten back into the game yet?' and 'If you don't find someone now, you'll be too old to date!'"
Hermione chuckled. "So, no hard feelings about the divorce then?"
"No," Draco said. "As I said yesterday, Astoria and I were civil in front of Scorp and tried to be the best parents we could, but he's a bright kid. Scary bright, really. He knew that our marriage wasn't the loving union that marriage is supposed to be. Maybe not when he was young, but certainly after the divorce and after seeing his mum date everyone from Goyle to Flint to Bletchley to Bole. Honestly, it's just been a parade of every Slytherin male she could convince to pay for dinner. It's how she tries to get back at me for getting custody of Scorpius."
"You have custody?"
"Yes. I wasn't going to let that venomous snake of a woman raise my boy. She'd turn him into everything I was and everything I've worked to overcome. On occasion, it still pays to be a Malfoy. We may have tarnished the name with our Dark Marks, but our Gringotts account still holds sway over government lackeys. Besides, my father wanted to keep an eye on Scorpius and mum wanted her grandson close. She knew Astoria for the serpent she was and didn't want Tori holding Scorpius hostage for increase in alimony, or for anything else. Astoria only cemented the decision when she went after every pure-blood male within a 5 year age gap on either side of her. That also means that Scorpius will be with me for the holidays and the summers. In other words, come December, it won't just be me. It'll be both of us. You and I have plenty of time to build our relationship until then, but come Christmas we'll have to decide if we're ready to have you involved in Scorp's life as well."
Hermione sat back. It was a big topic for what was supposed to be a lazy Saturday morning, but this is what they needed. The opportunity to talk about more than just history and logic and office gossip. They needed to talk about the relationship. They needed to talk about the future. She hadn't realized they would talk about it today, but at the same time she was almost relieved. Planning was what she did. Over-planning was what she did. Talking about things like kids and the future was a big step, but helping plan out the future made her feel better.
"Okay then," she said finally. "We'll focus on us until December. Then we can see if we're ready to get Scorpius involved."
Draco fidgeted before talking again. He took a deep breath, intertwined his fingers and looked her straight in the eye.
"I have to ask, Hermione. I know you and Weasel fell apart before the wedding, but you had years and years after that. Why didn't you ever date someone else? Did you want marriage? Kids? Do you want that now?"