Chapter 10
"About what?" she asked nervously, putting the plate down on the counter.

"Rose," he stated, trying his hardest to keep a stern look on his face. If she were his daughter, he wanted to be mad that Hermione had kept her from him for so long. But as tears welled in her eyes, he knew it was a bravado he could not maintain. "She's mine, isn't she?"

Hermione nodded. "I'm sorry, Draco," she whispered, choking back a sob that threatened to escape. "I'm so sorry."

He moved towards her, wanting to both throttle her and comfort her. His arms slipped around her, holding her close to his chest. "Why didn't you tell me?" he wondered, his voice soft. "You could have told me."

She pulled back just enough to look up at him. "And what would you have done?" she asked. "We couldn't be together, not then. You had a contract to fulfill."

"Yeah, and it's fulfilled," he replied. "You still should have told me, Hermione. Even if there was no way to be together, I should have known I had a daughter. I should have been here for the both of you."

Hermione shook her head. "It wouldn't have worked," she muttered.

His arms slipped free of her and he moved to the other side of the kitchen. "That day you broke things off, did you know then?" he asked.

Looking away she nodded. "You started talking about Astoria and some horrible thing she had done that day," she remembered. "It was the first thing you said to me that afternoon. And all I could think was you were stuck in one relationship because of an arranged marriage, and now you'd be stuck in another because of the baby. I thought I'd be ruining your life by telling you, so I didn't."

"Did Weasley know?"

"He did," she confirmed. "Well, not at first. Harry told him a couple of months after I called off the wedding. Despite Ginny's protests, Harry helped out quite a lot while I was pregnant."

Now he understood why she had been cut off by the Weasley family. "Why did he help? If he married the Weasley girl, shouldn't he have sided with them?" he asked.

Hermione offered a small smile. "He was mad," she said. "But he's also a really good friend. I think he was sort of glad to see me make a mistake."

"Rose isn't a mistake," Draco said through gritted teeth.

Her eyes widened. "I didn't say she was," she replied softly. "Rose is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I have you to thank for her. But having an affair...it wasn't exactly the right thing to do."

Draco sighed and leaned against the counter. "It never felt wrong being with you," he murmured. "I was happy when I was with you."

"I was too," she admitted, standing across from him. They stood in silence, both seeming to wait for the other to speak first. A door opened down the hall, and Hermione heard two sets of footsteps coming running. "This is a bad time to ask this, but are you going to try to take her away from me?"

He was poised to answer when Rose ran into the kitchen. "Mummy, is it breakfast time now?" she asked, eyeing the plate by Draco's side.

Hermione sniffed and set a smile on her lips. "Yep, take this out to Scor, and the two of you can start eating," she said. Rose took the proffered plate and bounced out of the room. "Um, I should probably put some more on. I hadn't expected you to come back so soon."

"I'll keep an eye on the kids," he replied, retrieving the maple syrup from the refrigerator. "And Hermione, I have no intention of taking her from you. It wouldn't be fair to Rose."

She watched him go, and knew she had deserved that. There were many things that weren't fair to Rose - never knowing her father, knowing her father now without knowing who he really was, being put in the middle of the battle Hermione was sure would now ensue. But Hermione deserved whatever Draco threw her way.

She turned back to the stove to start another batch of pancakes when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Gasping, she turned to find Draco standing behind her. "I thought you should know that Rose is upset," he said. "She could tell you were crying. Might want to come up with an excuse when you come to the table."

Unwilling to trust her voice, Hermione sniffled and nodded her head. There was a look of concern in his eyes, but Draco said nothing. He wiped away her tears and left once more. Minutes later, she joined the trio at the table and took the only empty seat beside Draco. Beneath the table, Draco gave her knee a gentle squeeze.

"Okay, who wants more?" he asked, smiling as he placed two pancakes on each plate that was presented to him. "Hermione?"

"What?" she asked, snapping out of the daze she had been in since her confession.

He held up a pancake he had speared on his fork. "Food?" he asked.

"Um, I'm not hungry," she mumbled. "I think I'm gonna go lie down for a bit. Do you mind keeping an eye on Rose?"

Draco nodded and all three watched her walk away. "Is Miss Mini okay, Daddy?" Scorpius asked.

"Yeah, buddy," he replied, turning his attention to Rose. Worry reflected in her blue eyes, eyes so similar to those of his mother. "Sweetie?"

"Can I go see Mummy?" she asked, tears threatening to spill.

He offered her a small smile. "I think Mummy needs some alone time right now," he replied. "Why don't you finish your breakfast? When you're done maybe the two of you can watch a movie while I clean up."

Rose nodded halfheartedly and picked at her breakfast until she was told she didn't have to eat anymore. Scorpius took her hand, and together they moved to the living room. After he set up a video for them, he magicked the dishes to wash themselves, then went to Hermione's bedroom. The lights were off, curtains drawn, and she had pulled the blankets up to her chin.

"Hermione?" he whispered, taking a seat on the side of the bed. "Can we talk?"

Her eyes slowly opened. "Where's Rose?" she asked.

"In the living room with Scor," he told her. "She's worried about you, and frankly, so am I. Burying your head in the sand isn't like you, Hermione."

"I have no idea what to do now," she confessed. "You were supposed to go back to hating me when I broke things off, and I was supposed to raise her on my own. I never thought you'd find out about her."

Draco smoothed the hair away from her face. "Do you not want me to be involved?" he asked. "Because, to be completely honest with you, I don't know that I can stay away now."

Hermione shook her head. "No, you should be here if that's what you want," she replied. "We just have to figure out how to tell her."