Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my ideas. Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Twelve: The Whole Truth
August 28th, 2002 (later)
Draco sat nervously in a booth at the Leaky Cauldron. The same one that he had seen Hermione in all those weeks ago. He drummed his fingers against the wood of the table as he took a shaky sip of his Firewhiskey. He had gotten to the Leaky Cauldron early, to have a drink before Hermione got there in an attempt to calm his nerves.
It hadn't worked.
He was now almost done his second Firewhiskey, and only felt more nervous if that was possible.
Suddenly, he heard the chime of the door opening and looked up to see Hermione. She wore Muggle clothes, a pair of dark jeans and black Doc Martens (which he only knew of due to Pansy and her fashion obsession) paired with a faded blue shirt and an open brown coat. Her hair was flowing freely over her shoulders in a way that made Draco find her exceptionally beautiful. However, even from a distance, he could see the fading scratches and bruises on her face.
Damn the Weasley bastard.
She caught his eye and nodded, making her way over to him.
"Hi." she said quietly, taking a seat in the booth across from him.
He only could nod, his voice lost in his throat. He took another sip and she stared at him with expectant eyes.
"What?" he asked coldly.
Her expression suddenly changed, making her appear as the Hermione Granger he once knew. The annoying brat from Hogwarts that he had grown to love.
"You invite me to have a drink with you, and I come all the way out here and you don't even say hi." she spat coldly.
He groaned, knowing that he was already being a prick. But he couldn't help it. She had a daughter. A daughter that might be his.
"Hi." he drawled.
She shook her head. "If you wanted to have some emotion filled discussion, I am really not in the mood right now. I came here to drink and to drink only."
He raised his eyebrows at her and nodded.
. . .
And she did.
She just wanted to drink. Drink away her problems. She knew that wasn't a good attitude, especially when she was a single mother and her daughter's sole caregiver.
But Draco just made her so crazy.
She was curious about what he had wanted to discuss with her. The moment she had walked into the Leaky Cauldron and saw Draco sitting and drumming his fingers, her heart had stopped.
He still took her breath away every damn time she laid eyes on him.
What did he want to talk to her about?
What if... what if he had somehow found out about Meredith?
"I'll be right back." she said in a small voice, standing and making her way to the bar.
She ordered a Firewhiskey and slowly made her way back to the booth and Draco. Her head was swirling with the possibility of Draco finding out about Meredith. How would he have? How could he have?
If he had, he would be so mad, which wouldn't be fair whatsoever.
She had tried to contact him! More than once! It wasn't fair that he didn't answer. She wanted to ask him why. Why he hadn't bothered to answer her. She had pleaded with him in her letters after the first one had gone unanswered. She had cried for months on end.
She sat down, gulping back a large sip of Firewhiskey. For a long moment, she just stared at Draco, trying to read his expression.
"How's the pain today?" Draco asked.
It took her a minute, but she realized that he was talking about her injuries. She shrugged, taking another long sip.
"I'm still taking some potions. So... it's okay." she mumbled, looking away from him.
"Ah." he said quietly.
. . .
Just ask her, Draco! Ask her if the child is yours!
Draco was screaming at himself mentally, but could somehow not force the words to come out. Hermione was taking turns staring at him and staring down into her drink. He wanted desperately to know what she was thinking.
"Have you finally decided to speak against Weasley yet?" he decided to ask.
She flinched at the name and he immediately regretted his question. Hermione shook her head rapidly, downing the rest of her drink in a single gulp.
"Seriously? Come on, Granger. You have to." he scoffed, shaking his head at her stubbornness.
"I have to? I don't have to do anything." she scowled.
He wasn't sure whether to roll his eyes or smile at her. The feisty Granger that he used to know was still buried somewhere deep down inside her.
"You know that you should -"
"Stop it."
He furrowed his eyebrows at her and leaned closer across the table.
"What?" he asked.
"Just... stop it!"
. . .
Hermione was suddenly panicked. She had been annoyed, she had been awestruck, she had been nervous, but now... now she was panicked.
She couldn't handle just sitting here with Draco.
She couldn't.
"Stop pretending like we can just sit here and have a regular conversation about my ex-fiancé who beat me! Stop pretending like you even care for me! Just stop it!" she yelled.
Her breathing was staggered and she felt like crying. She didn't understand her own emotions. He drove her completely insane.
"Hermione, I -" he started.
"And don't Hermione me."
The pair of them were silent, looking away from one another. Hermione pressed her lips tightly against one another, trying to keep her tears and thoughts at bay.
"Look... I just wanted to talk to you about something." he said, his voice surprisingly soft.
"Well that didn't seem to matter to you when I wanted to talk to you!" she snapped.
"What? What are you talking about?" he yelled.
"The letters, Draco! All the bloody letters I sent you!"
"Again, you never sent me anything!"
"Yes, I did!"
"No, you really didn't, Hermione! I would have gotten them!"
Hermione clenched her fists together to keep from reaching across the table and slapping him straight in the face.
"I sent you a lot of letters, Draco! I tried! I had to talk to you, I needed to talk to you! I... I needed you and..." she stammered, trailing off as tears leaked down her cheeks.
"And what?" Draco whispered.
Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but froze as she heard such a familiar sound.
"Mummy?"
Hermione turned her head, looking in the direction of the fireplace where many witches and wizards Flooed into the Leaky Cauldron. Meredith fell directly in her line of vision wearing the same pajamas that she had been in when Hermione had put her into bed just before leaving, a tired looking Harry following a step behind her. Meredith had obvious tear stains down her face and Hermione became instantly worried. She stood up, walking over to her daughter and crouching down in front of her.
All of her worries and anger towards Draco evaporated for the meantime and her motherly instinct took over.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong? What are you doing here?" Hermione whispered, brushing a tear from her daughter's cheek.
"I m-m-missed you! I heards Auntie Ginny talking with Uncle Harry about the bad man that attacked you. They saids it was Uncle Ron, Mummy." Meredith explained through her tears.
Hermione bit her lip and held back a groan. She looked up, shaking her head at Harry. He looked exhausted and guilty.
"Mummy, is that true?" Meredith whimpered. "Dids Uncle Ron really do this?"
Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
"Victoire has Uncle Bill as a Daddy and Uncle Ron was supposed to be my new Daddy! I wants a Daddy! Why don't I have a Daddy? Why dids Uncle Ron become a bad man? He was supposeds to be my new Daddy! I wants a new Daddy!" Meredith wailed.
Hermione knew that she couldn't lie to her daughter, but she also didn't want her to know the truth. She scooped Meredith up in her arms and she quickly nuzzled herself into her shoulder. Meredith had asked about her absentee father a few times in the last year, and Hermione had just said that he wasn't around yet. She didn't know how much longer she could make excuses. Harry approached them and she shook her head.
"Why did this happen?" Hermione whispered.
"We thought she was sleeping, and Ginny got... well, she was upset because it's her brother, and... Meredith heard and demanded to come see you. She threw a fit, and... I didn't know how to say no." Harry explained quietly.
Hermione shook her head, stroking her daughter's silky blonde hair.
Blonde hair.
Draco.
Hermione spun around, her eyes instantly locking with Draco's own widened, alarmed ones.
"Hermione, I thought you were with..." Harry started, trailing off.
She watched as Harry's eyes fluttered between Meredith and Draco. A look of shock and understanding passed over him and Hermione silently wished for him to not say anything.
He gasped and Hermione shook her head quickly, all the while continually petting Meredith's hair, trying to stop her continual tears.
"Harry, Harry, please, don't... don't say anything. Not here. Not now." Hermione whispered.
Meredith looked and acted a lot like her father. She had his hair, his smirk, his scowl, his likes, his charms...
When comparing the two, especially in close proximity, it was obvious of their relation.
"Hermione." said Draco's strangled voice from behind her.
. . .
Draco couldn't believe it.
He had a daughter.
It was unmistakable. The moment he had laid eyes on the little girl running towards Hermione, he knew. There was no way that this girl wasn't his.
He had a daughter.
He was a father.
"Sweetheart... can you go back to Uncle Harry's with Uncle Harry please? I promise I will tell you everything when I get home. The whole truth. Okay?" he heard Hermione whisper to the little girl in her arms.
"But, Mummy..."
"You can stay up until I get back, okay? I just have to have a little conversation with someone and then I'll hurry right back to you, my love."
"Who, Mummy?"
Hermione gave out an audible sigh, and Draco wanted to look away. Except, he couldn't.
"Just... an old friend."
"Is th-this friend nice to you, Mummy? Will they hurt you, too?" the little girl whispered.
"No, sweetheart. They won't hurt me. I'm not going to be hurt like that again, okay?" Hermione consoled.
"Come on. Let's go back to Auntie Ginny and we can eat some ice cream, okay?" Potter said, reaching his arms out for the little girl.
Draco observed as Hermione kissed the girl on the head and passed her into Potter's arms. Hermione and Potter exchanged a few looks that he couldn't read. His heart beat quickly as Potter kissed Hermione on the cheek before turning back to the Floo with the girl in his arms.
Hermione slowly walked back to him. He didn't know what to say. He prayed that she would start off, because he wasn't sure if he could even force out a syllable.
"Draco, that was my daughter." she started as she reached him.
Surprising him, instead of sitting down across from him, she sat down beside him. Draco forced himself to look up into her tear-filled eyes.
"I know." he whispered, his voice sounding like it came from another person. "Blaise told me you had a daughter."
"And did Blaise tell you anything else?"
"Just that she was born a month early, eight months after the War ended."
He watched her skin pale to a colour that could have been paler than his own. This was it. This was the moment where the truth came out.
"Wh-what's her name?" he whispered.
"Her name is Meredith. Meredith Lily. Lily after Harry's mother, because he was there for me a lot during my pregnancy." she explained, softly.
Meredith.
Meredith.
Meredith.
Suddenly, Draco decided that there was no better name out there for that little girl.
"What's her last name?" he breathed, his voice barely making a sound.
Hermione was quiet and he grabbed one of her hands, squeezing it tightly.
"Hermione, what is her last name?" he repeated, this time a little louder.
"She goes by Meredith Granger. That's what she calls herself. That's what everybody calls her. That's what everyone thinks her name is. But..."
"But..." he said, not bothering to give her anymore time to collect her thoughts.
He needed her to say it. He needed to hear it.
"But I know the truth. I know the name on her birth certificate. The father space is blank. They put the name I told them to put. The last name I wanted her to have."
"Hermione..." he whispered.
"Her name is Meredith. Meredith Lily Malfoy. She's yours, Draco. She's yours."
Author's Review: thanks again for all the reviews! please keep them coming, they mean everything to me!