AN: Bet you never thought you'd hear from me again! :) Well I'm still here and so is this fic. In fact, I'm hoping to update quickly since I'm not starting on the third of the series. Hope you all enjoyed enough to stick around. Also make sure to check out my profile page where I will be adding facebook names for several charecters that you can add to get updates on events in their own words, ask any questions you may have directly to them and the likes. At least it may add some interesting things between updates. So thanks again to all of you that are still out there, and to those just beginning.

"Potter?" Draco said as he nodded towards the front door, "Can we talk?"

Ever since placing the charm around the house, Harry had gotten used to Draco asking for the spell to be pushed back long enough for him to smoke, but he had not once asked for him to join him. Harry rose, handing Evelynn and her bottle over to Ron so that he could continue to help Ginny and nodded his agreement. They had barely closed the door when Draco began.

"Have you ever heard of something called a vesectomy?"

Harry stopped dead in his tracks. This was certainly not the conversation he had been expecting. "Did Ginny, I mean, did she hurt you that," he stuttered over the words as he did not want to have this conversation, especially in broad daylight, with Draco Malfoy. When Draco continued to stare questioning at him, Harry realized that Draco had no idea in the slightest what he had just started. "Why do you ask?"

"Hermione asked me to find out. She seems to think that it will prove to her that I'm serious about her," Harry noticed the truth behind the words and mentally thanked Hermione for this awkward moment that was about to come. "And since I never heard of it, I assumed it was a muggle thing. So, naturally, I figured you may be my best shot." Once again, Harry thanked Hermione.

"Yeah. I've heard of it." That seemed safe enough to say. He could say that without blushing. Or grimacing.

"Well," Draco knocked the tip of his cigarette off before placing it back between his lips. "It's important," he finished, twisting the proverbial knife.

"Did she tell you why she thinks that would help, you knowing about it that is?"

Draco looked around, obviously not wanting to be overheard. "She thinks she may be pregnant again." Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. Why had they not all seen this coming? "I think that she thinks that whatever this is will help it to not happen."

Well, it's a little late for that, Harry thought before speaking. "Draco, if it's already happened than it won't make a difference. I think that she wants you to find out so that it won't happen again. And not just with her," he said finishing, he hoped, Hermione's thoughts. "I think that she's realizing that you're sort of a dangerous weapon and doesn't want to be raising seven Malfoys by the end of the year." Draco still looked completely lost. This was not going to be easy.

"A vesectomy is sort of an operation. Muggle men do it when they," or their wives, Harry thought, "don't want to have any more children." Harry had sincerly hoped that that would be all he had to say, but the confusion remained and he knew that Hermione was depending on him not leaving an ounce of it there.

"Someone trying to talk you into getting fixed, Drache?" Tom had approached from somewhere behind Draco and Harry mentally cursed. Alone, he could have at least tried to make it sound like a good thing, but Tom was sure to make this a whole lot worse.

"Get lost," Draco said, turning back to Harry with an eager look in his eye.

"No, I think I have some valuable input on this very conversation," Tom sat on the rail of the porch and pulled the pack out of Draco's back pocket, bumming one for himself.

I'm sure you do, Harry thought wanting to not care what type of information Draco was about to receive.

"So what did you tell her?" Tom asked, lighting his cigarette with the end of the one Draco was about to toss away.

"I told her I'd do whatever it took," Harry realized Draco's determination when he gave Tom such a straightforward answer. Unexpectedly and quiet suddenly, Harry wanted to help Draco out.

"Ewww," Tom said through his teeth. "Bad answer, good decision. You have to make her think it's your idea. You can't just let a woman tell you to cut it off."

"What?" Draco said seeming to put Harry's information and Toms information into a very wrong idea.

"That is not it," Harry said, annoyed that he had known that this was the very thing he was trying to avoid.

"Easy there, Potter," Tom said as if he was amused by Harry's assumtions. "I know exactly what I'm talking about here. I've had one."

"Really?" Harry thought for a moment before realizing that this made total sense. He was a confirmed bacholer, a self proclaimed player, and he had never mentioned even one scare. He had been very adament about birth control when he had talked with Harry and Draco in the kitchen. It only made sense that he would have sought out a permanent solution. "Was it done by a muggle?"

Tom shook his head vehemantly. "Are you insane? They're cavemen when it comes to that. I wouldn't let anyone, muggle, wizard, hot Russian chick," he seemed to think for a second, "OK maybe, very maybe, the hot Russian, get anywhere near me with a fucking knife." He continued to shake his head as if he had never heard anything so crazy. "You're mental."

"So there are wizards that will?" Harry was suddenly learning something. Not necessarily something that he could use, but he was happy to at least not be the teacher.

"Ok, someone please tell me what you're both talking about because the mental image I'm getting is not good." Draco started another cigarette, obviously catching on that this was an uncomforatble conversation.

"What they do, Drache, is just a little re-wiring. Make it so that you're shooting blanks. And thank God cause for how often this gun goes off," Harry rolled his eyes as Tom attempted to show off and only succedding in looking like an idiot.

"So, everything still works, you just can't get pregnant?" Draco said, thinking over everything he had been told.

"Yup. Anytime, anywhere, Put. No spells, no protection, no mood killing crying kid with a loaded diaper. Besides the ones you already have."

Draco thought for a minute longer, a very serious expression on his face.

"You wondering why no one ever told you about this before?" Tom elbowed him in the ribs and had to grab at the rail when Draco attempted to shove him off of it.

"Sort of," Draco admitted looking at Harry as he continued to think. "I know that she's known about this. So why now? Why, if there was another way, did she get pregnant in the first place with Basil, and then," he stopped as he realized that only two of the three people on this porch knew about the suspect in Hermione's belly, "why didn't she ask for something more permanent before now."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, hoping that the conversation was coming to an end.

"Maybe," Tom started and Harry once again had the feeling that this wasn't going to be good, "she wanted to have at least one, and now she's worried that you'll be bringing home another Simon soon." He winked at Draco assuming, Harry was sure, that there was definatly a reason for Hermione's concern.

"So she doesn't trust me. That's the entire reason?" Draco asked turning away from Harry and facing Tom. Not a good sign. Harry had to say something to fix the damage.

"It's not the entire reason," Harry started, once again hoping he was speaking correctly for Hermione, "it may be a part of it, but if that was the reason, than she would have asked you about it long before now. When you first starting going to meetings and such. I think she's just scared right now," Harry hoped that Draco saw the reasoning in Harry's eyes. "She has a very good reason that doesn't involve trust to want to have a guarentee for the future."

When Hermione found Draco, just before dinner, he was sitting on the bed, two very contemplating fingers directed into his temples. She had known that she would find him just this way, if she had found him at all.

"So," Hermione said as she closed the door tightly behind her.

"Well," he said after a few seconds of continued thought. "I have a few questions, as you probably assumed I would." He looked up at her and flashed that smile, the one that made her melt.

"Of course. What did you want to know?"

"Well, I've talked to Potter and Tom about this," Hermione raised her eyebrows at his choice of confidants. "I know, but I thought Potter would know and Tom sort of walked in on it. Luckily, as he was able to talk about it without imploding." Hermione made a mental note to apologize to Harry for setting him up. "They sort of cleared it up for me, but I just have some more questions before I make my final decision."

"Anything."

"Why now?" It had not been the question she had expected, in fact, she had been racking her brain with all of the medical programs she had seen to give him the most appropriate answer.

"Excuse me?"

"Why now? I mean, you must have known about this for a long time. Why did you not say anything until now? Why did we have an accident?"

"Please don't talk about him like that," Hermione interupted.

Draco stopped, obviously worried that he had offended her. "I didn't mean it that way, Hermione. I just meant that we hadn't really been talking about it. I didn't even know that you wanted to be a mum when we forgot that one night."

"That's when I realized how many bullets we had actually dodged. At first, I thought it was just rotten timing, but the more I think about it I realized how actually unlikely it was."

"So is that when you started to distrust the spells? Cause frankly, they were working beautifully until then. Over two years and not even a scare, at least that you told me about." He was right, there hadn't been a single scare, but she still felt as if she was about to tell him that there had been.

"It wasn't that I don't trust them to not get me pregnant. Obviously, it was more than enough to keep your boys at bay. I wanted to use a condom for other reasons," she had to look away at this point, but realized that it was stupid of her to feel ashamed for wanting to protect herself. "I was worried about what you might have brought home. I didn't know any spells for that sort of protection, Draco. I wasn't about to ask you if you knew how to protect against STD's and prove to you that I don't trust that woman."

Draco closed his eyes. She had hurt him, offended him, she thought. Hopefully, it was about the trust issue and not the other woman. "So you're that sure that I've cheated on you? Why are you still around then?"

"Draco, I love you. I don't know why I do. You're everything that's wrong for me. Everything that I never wanted my partner to be, but I still love you. But I have to love myself sometimes too. I can't suffer even more because I can't stop loving you."

"So, what is this all about then? If you have everything you need to not get pregnant and to not get, whatever else you think it is you'll catch from me?"

"Draco, I've always known, from the moment that I saw you, the real you, in sixth year, that I would want to one day have your children. I've never wanted to be a mum, ask Ron. I," she actually began blushing as she delved into her past, "I made him consider it as well before I married him. I was that possitive that I did not want to have children. And thank God that it's turned out right for him as well, or I would feel horrible about it." She played with the bed cover to avoid the smirk on his face. "But something about you changed me, and I guess I hoped that I could change you as well. There's always been that option, there's even one for myself, but I never brought it up because I still didn't think that our family was complete. The reason that I'm asking now is because we're now going to have three children, Draco," she waited for him to cringe at the word, but he didn't. Maybe it hadn't hit home for him yet, it certainly hadn't for her. "I just don't think that I can handle any more surprises. Mine or other wise."

"I don't know what it's going to take to prove to you that I'm not sleeping with her," Draco stated matter of factly under his breath.

"I'm not worried about her, Draco. There is no one in this world that I see as less of a mother. There are options out there to terminate a pregnancy, and before you even ask I will not consider it," she said forcefully, "but I know that she would."

"Hermione," Draco took her hands in his, his strong worn fingers rubbing the back of her soft ones, "I have never been more scared in my entire life than when you told me that you were pregnant. The first time," he clarified. "Nothing compared to the fear that there would be something depending on me. But," he looked over at the empty crib at the side of the room. "nothing has ever compared to the pride that I felt, seeing his face for the first time in your arms, and I knew then that I wanted to change. There was not going to be a part of me left that wanted to run from the incredible thing that you and I had created together. And it was a long fight," he said, scaring her with his honesty. "I don't think that I've completely won yet, either. But I can tell you that nothing, nothing compared to the fear that I felt today when I thought that I was going to loose you. Sure I'm scared about this," he said motioning her stomache, "but it's doesn't even register when I think of not being able to come home to you."

He looked at the floor, continuing to stroke her hands as he seemed to gather his thoughts. "Sybella means nothing to me, less than nothing. In fact, the other day, I actually told her that I was done. I didn't want to fight anymore because I had seen that look of concern on your face again. But she wouldn't let me go," Draco said, finally looking her in the face. "She needed one more thing from me, a simple task really, and then I can get out. I believe, I have to believe, that she'll let me go. You can file for divorce from Ron, severing our link with this house and we can get one of our own. I'll petition in as a Malfoy, instead of a Black and we can just start our lives over again."

Hermione was shaking her head before he had even finished. "This is my family, Draco. I can't just leave them. Ginny needs me right now, and I need them." She sat looking at him for a minute, hopeing that he read the message between the lines, that she didn't want to be alone with the kids.

"Are you scared?" she asked, knowing that even if he was he wouldn't admit it.

"No. In fact, Tom told me how simple it is and I'd do it right now if it wasn't for the fact that there is no one in this house that I'd trust to not castrate me in the process." He looked at her, the fear she was looking for completely lacking. "Does that change anything?"

"Change anything?"

"Make it less of a gesture if it's so simple. If I'm not afraid, not going to be hurt or hindered by it. Does it make it mean less?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. Draco I'm not out to scare or hurt you. I just thought that it would be nice to have that one concern eased. I'm happy that there's another way. I'd be happy to find someone for you, someone that you trust, whatever will make it easier." She smiled so that he could see the truth there. "And, I know that I'm asking a lot today, but can you promise me one last thing?"

He nodded, smiling. He obviously cared about her. He was serious about making her happy. She found herself smiling as well.

"Let's talk more. Just about anything. I just want to know how your days been. Share the day with you. Tell you what's going on with the boys. I'd also like to see you spend more nights here. I understand what you're trying to do, sort of. I appriciate what I think you're trying to do for us. But I do have to admit that it scares me. That I won't see you again everytime you leave. And when it takes you several days to come back, I can't help but think that you're gone. Can you do that for me?" To her great surprise, Draco hugged her. It had been a long time since he had just held her, cuddled her into him like he was going to protect her from anything that came their way. He placed his cheek against her head and she felt his hand clasp onto the curls down her back. He did care. He was trying. And for now, she had to believe that his arms around her wasn't a lie.

Harry sat in the kitchen, his head in his hands. It was a lucky thing that he had put Evelyn down, placed her in her chair just moments ago as his head began to split in two. He had forgotten how badly his scar could hurt. How much he wanted to die when it felt like this. He saw the face of the man that had been haunting his dreams for months now and as the green light of the spell hit him, he felt his knees hit the top of the table right before his back and head slammed into the tile of the kitchen floor. He was sure that he heard Ginny scream, saw her kneel over top of him, and hoped that she heard the warning in his words.

"Ginny, he's back!"

Chapter 26 Teaser

"Was that Ginny?"

She didn't even answer him. She knew it was Ginny as well as he knew it was Ginny. They had both heard that exact scream before. Hermione's stomach dropped as she walkedgingerly down the stairs, afraid of what she was about to find in the kitchen.