A/N: This chapter takes place at the end of March and middle of April in 2007.


Ginny was nearly six months pregnant at the end of March. No one really knew who set up lunch, it was one of those parties that just happened. Blaise said the words "on the house" and everyone met up for girls' lunch on Saturday.

"We decided on a name," Ginny said. "Well, I let Harry choose again."

There was a chorus of disbelieving groans.

"I would have thought after Al you had learned better," Hermione said.

"Salazar?" Pansy guessed. "Or Rita, if it's a girl. That's it, Rita Dolores Potter."

"Lily Luna, actually," Ginny said, answered by a collective "aaw."

"You have a big family," Katie observed, "do you like it?"

Ginny shrugged.

"I wish Harry was home more. He'll never admit it, but he hates the Auror Office. Is it selfish if I want someone else to protect the world now? Hasn't he done enough?"

Yes. Harry should get some time to rest.

"You should tell him that," Angelina insisted. "Three kids is a lot to handle on your own."

"I can hardly handle one," Hermione quipped. She took a small bite of her omelette, not particularly hungry. She felt everyone's gaze and looked up. "What?"

"Don't you want … I mean, Scorpius isn't really … " Angelina trailed off. Katie took an alternate approach.

"Does Draco want more kids?"

Hermione's face pinched.

"We haven't talked about it. We, um, we're taking things one day at a time. Anything more than that is too much."

"I say we leave Hermione to it," Pansy said. "She doesn't need the rest of us prying into their love life."

Minutes went by without further mention of Draco and Hermione nodded to Pansy in gratitude. There was some semblance of normalcy as Ginny ordered another entrée and Alicia mentioned she was trying to lose all the weight she had gained with baby Rose. Ginny shot Hermione a knowing look and said,

"You know, naming the child Rose was actually Hermione's idea."

"Oh," Alicia said. "Ron never mentioned—"

"It's fine, Alicia," Hermione sighed. "I don't have claim over a name, I don't have claim over any part of Ron. Your baby is healthy and you're happy and that is what matters." Hermione glanced at Romilda who had hardly said a word the entire meal. "Are you alright?"

Romilda shook her head.

"I," she anxiously cleared her throat, "I've been seeing someone. It was just shagging. We met up every-other week for a bit. Then it became every week, then we started going out as friends before shagging, and now he wants to be my boyfriend. I've never had anyone want to date me before."

"That scares you," Katie said.

Romilda nodded.

"Why?" Ginny asked. "Is he someone we know?"

"Perhaps," Romilda replied before downing her drink in one go.

"You should know that it's completely fine to keep things private. Just because Pans here likes to shout all about our life to the entire bloody world—"

"I tried to take out an ad in the Prophet when she agreed to go out with me the second time," Pansy teased. "I was quite happy to see we only received one invitation to the Alumni Gala. Felt more official that way, you know?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Hermione Granger?" Hermione asked Romilda with a huge smile. "Draco laughed at that."

"I thought he might," she replied.

"Draco Granger—doesn't have the right ring to it, does it?" Hermione asked, her nose scrunched in displeasure.

"Hermione Malfoy on the other hand …" Pansy insinuated without finishing the thought.

"Oh, she would never," Alicia insisted. "We all know she's only with him because of Scorpius."

Hermione blinked. Blinked again.

"Sorry, what?"

"Oh come off it, Hermione, we've been friends for years. You never had any attraction to Malfoy in school, you hated him, and now you're suddenly taken with him?" Alicia asked.

"Yes," Hermione huffed, "yes, I am quite taken with him, in fact. And I am tired of having to defend my boyfriend to all of you!" Hermione angrily stood up and tried to bite back the vitriol crawling its way up from her heart and out of her mouth.

"Not one of you judged Katie for dating Pansy! No one judged you, Alicia, for hooking up with your best friend's ex-fiancé! No one looked down at Ginny for marrying Harry, her boyfriend she met at age ten! Dean can marry Blaise on a goddamn whim but Merlin forbid that I fall in love with Draco! So when Romi sits here and doesn't want to tell all of you about the man she's dating, maybe it's because we can hardly see you all the way up there on your self-anointed pedestals."

Hermione turned to walk away and crashed into a hostess. Hermione steadied the young woman by the shoulders and apologized. The hostess smiled and held up a berry-scented drink which had miraculously not spilled during the stumble. There was a note next to it on the platter.

"Compliments of the woman at the bar."

Hermione glanced over to see a vaguely familiar woman with short blonde curls waving at her from the bar. She was very pretty and Hermione had seen that woman before. But where? She picked up the note which read:

STRIKE 2

When Hermione looked up the woman was gone. She crumpled the note in her fist.

Why the hell are you following me?!

Before Hermione could allow her thoughts to travel any further, Alicia stood up from her chair and started to apologize. Hermione rolled her eyes and tossed the note onto the table.

"Please, Alicia, spare me your pity. Every time Draco takes me to see his friends, he looks even more at home. He is happy with them, he is so happy to have people who care about him even a fraction of how much he cares for them. And they all like that we're together. Then I come out with all of you and every time it's just dancing around the subject of Ronald and insulting Draco. I sit here and look forward to going back home to my son and my boyfriend. That's exactly what I intend to do."

So she left.

.oOo.

Hermione ran a hand along the seam of the dress hanging in her closet. Her fingers trembled.

"Why are you nervous?" Draco asked, perched on the side of Hermione's bed. She turned and asked,

"Why aren't you? You've never gone to the gala."

"A party where I get to see my friends and hold your hand the entire time? Oh, the torture, Hermione. How ever shall I survive?"

"This is different," Hermione insisted. "My friends will be there and I just feel so alone when I think about everyone else and their families."

"Alone?" Draco asked, offended.

"Because they still judge me," Hermione replied. "Even Ginny, I know she secretly wishes I had made it work with her brother. If it is not me leaving Ron, it's choosing you. I don't regret either of those things, but I wish it wasn't so hard. I am nervous that if we don't look happy enough or in love enough it will never go away. Is there always going to be doubt?"

Draco stood up and quickly kissed Hermione on the cheek.

"Never from me," he replied before heading back to his room.

Hermione slid the dress off the hanger and again threaded the material between her fingers. Pansy had done a remarkable job, worth every Knut and more. The halter top was a sheer black, the bust covered by embroidered flowers with a jam-coloured skirt that fell to the floor. Hermione asked for sexy and Pansy delivered, but if she was honest with herself it wasn't to impress her former classmates, it was to impress Draco.

Once she had her dress on and her hair up, Narcissa knocked on the door. Hermione shouted for her to enter and waved the door to the nursery shut.

"Scorpius is with your parents and I brought the piece you asked for." Narcissa produced a small velvet box. "I must confess my surprise at your selection. It lacks a certain …"

"Subtlety?" Hermione guessed.

"Precisely," Lady Malfoy agreed.

"I chose it because I want everyone to know where my heart is without having to tell them." Hermione snapped her fingers and huffed, "Alicia said everyone knows I am only with Draco because of Scorp, but that's not true! I don't love him because he's Scorp's father. I love him because my success does not intimidate him and when I am afraid of failure he is always there to push me forward. He is everything I could want in a boyfriend, a father for Scorp, a friend, a shag, a hus—"

Hermione cut herself off but Narcissa's face telegraphed that she knew exactly what Hermione had intended to say.

"If I had raised my son in accordance with the new ways perhaps the two of you would have had a better beginning. We would have gotten to this point sooner, avoided so much pain for the both of you. I can only affect the future now, no use in relitigating the past and it is a miracle you arrived here at all. After Lucius made that fatal mistake with Draco, forcing him out of the manor and tearing my family apart, I never thought I would see my son smile at me again."

"He does love you," Hermione insisted. "Draco still keeps some of his emotions inside, though, and I am rubbish at deciphering them."

Narcissa, with teasing eyes, took Hermione's face in her hands.

"You are not the only one to have asked for a specific piece of jewelry, Hermione. Your hearts are in the same place."

And then she left.

That certainly didn't make Hermione's hands tremble any less. She opened the box and her breath stuttered a moment. It was a beautiful piece, a hundred years old according to Narcissa. Hermione gathered herself enough to wrap the silver dragon around and through her left ear. She exhaled slowly as the door to Scorp's nursery opened again. Draco wore a slim black suit with a pocket square the same colour as Hermione's skirt.

"Are you nervous I will not live up to the expectations of your friends?" he asked. "Or are you afraid you won't be able to paint an accurate portrait of what we are?"

Hermione groaned.

"I hate when you do that."

"Do what?" Draco asked.

"Read my mind," Hermione replied. "No looking in my teacups—you might find a Grim!"

"It is not Divination Hermione, you are just predictable." Draco held up his hand to silence the retort Hermione had already partially formed. "Your friends are never going to like me, you know it, you hate it, and you want to prove them wrong because if you don't then it makes you a failure. Yes?"

"Oh, fuck off," Hermione groaned again. Her stomach was in knots so she stood and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Draco shook his head.

"You look marvelous, but I have been thinking about our agreement to take things as they come. I know it may not be what you want, but I love you so much I want to plan for a future together. Scorp's birthday is little more than a month away, yet—" He stopped speaking and closed the distance between them. He gently patted Hermione's cheek and turned her head to the side. "Did you ask my mother for this?"

Hermione swallowed hard and nodded. When she eventually spoke she was so anxious that her voice cracked.

"To hell with discretion."

She was shocked when Draco kissed her. It was rough and instinctive, as though the rational part of his brain disappeared when he saw the dragon wrapped around Hermione's ear. She pushed him back and waited for Draco to blink himself back to full consciousness.

"We have no time; your mother is waiting."

"She can go without us," Draco insisted, wrapping his fingers around her waist. "As lovely as this dress is, I would prefer to see it on the floor."

"Oh no, you look far too dashing to stay in," Hermione teased. She ran her thumb across his bottom lip and said, "You are fortunate my lipstick didn't transfer."

Though perhaps it would have been better if it had. Hermione could stake her claim over Draco in another way to make it clear she had the boyfriend she wanted. And, if Narcissa was to be believed, perhaps sometime in the future, the fiancé she wanted. The husband, the family, the life she desired.

All eyes were on the pair of them as they walked into the ballroom. The gala was well underway as Hermione and Draco's nametags were some of the few remaining on the check-in table.

"Hermione!" Ginny shouted from behind. "I would hug you but my stomach is the size of four Bludgers right now."

"Hi, Ginny," Hermione smiled. "Sorry I haven't seen you since—"

"Lunch," Ginny finished.

"I don't understand why we have to wear these," Draco huffed. He brandished the nametag distastefully before pinning it on one of his lapels. "Is there anyone here who does not know who we are?"

"Very true, Malfoy, no one could mistake the glow of your hair for a normal wizard," Harry chimed in.

"Think you're funny, Potter?" Draco asked. He looked at Ginny's stomach and asked, "How are things going with little Gilderoy Salazar?"

"Lily Luna," Ginny corrected.

"Ah, my mistake, that is a lovely name," he conceded. Draco waved his hand and said, "Here, I've fixed your nametag for you."

Ginny read Harry's nametag aloud.

"Undesirable No. 1?"

Draco pointed to his nametag which read, "Desirable No. 1." Hermione and Ginny laughed before Harry changed it back. Ginny pulled Hermione to the side and said,

"I am sorry about lunch. I didn't realize just how much everyone hates Malfoy. I think he's great for you and I thought everyone else would begin to see it."

"Thank you," Hermione said. "I wish Alicia would see it. I really thought we could be friends again, but I'm beginning to believe that's impossible."

"When has anything been impossible for you?" Ginny asked. Then Hermione spotted Romilda … with Lee Jordan's arm around her shoulders.

"I knew it!" she shouted before making her way over to them, leaving Ginny smiling in her wake. She gave Romilda a long hug and said, "You look fantastic. So does your date."

"Thanks, Granger. I didn't know whether we would make it since someone took so long doing their hair," LJ teased.

Romilda rolled her eyes and quipped, "Some of us take effort to look this good."

LJ nodded to Hermione's ear cuff and said, "I see you've gone full Malfoy."

"That was the intent."

And the rest of the party was just mingling. People talking to her or talking to Draco, rarely speaking to both of them since their social circles hardly coincided. Tracey apologized for her comments at Fortescue's while Theo heckled Draco for having been "claimed" so openly by Hermione. Katie apologized for lunch, though Hermione insisted she had done nothing wrong. Angelina came over to apologize as well, and even gave Draco a hug for the trouble. Alicia, however, steered clear.

Draco had his hand on Hermione's lower back most of the night, to stay close without being cumbersome. Sometime near ten one of the photographers asked to take their picture.

Draco stood on Hermione's right side and just as the shutter clicked, leaned down to press a chaste kiss to her cheek. He whispered,

"I get to claim you, too."

"Hermione Granger!" That voice thundered over the chatter. Kingsley Shacklebolt had more grey in his beard than Hermione remembered. She gave him a hug and he nodded to Draco. "Lord Malfoy, how are you this evening?"

"Well, Minister," Draco replied.

"Good. Is he fine company, Miss Granger?"

"The best," Hermione said with a smile. She took hold of Draco's hand and said, "Our son is great as well. With my parents this evening, since Lady Malfoy elected to attend the party as well."

"Ah, yes," Kingsley said with a bemused expression. "Impossible to miss on a good day, Narcissa keeps asking me questions about when I plan to retire. Though, with this Revivalists mess, the image of a house on a beach keeps getting sharper in my mind. At any rate, I am off to speak with some of the Wizengamot. I think Honeycutt has gotten into the liquor …"

He departed and Hermione whispered, "Is your mother part of the seven-point plan to get me elected Minister?"

Draco laughed.

"No, that is all you." He paused. "Well, mostly you, with a few well-placed bottles of Butterbeer and Galleons to smooth the way." Before Hermione could lecture him on the immorality of bribes Draco spotted Bastien at the far end of the party. He grazed his lips across Hermione's knuckles and said, "I'll be back in five minutes." Shortly after he departed she ran into the last person she wished to see.

"'Mione!" Ron said.

The worst part of it all was that Hermione's heart still did a little leap. He had the same nervous smile as when they were together, the one Hermione had fallen in love with eleven years earlier. He looked very handsome with his hair done and dark blue dress robes, the very picture of what might have been.

"Ron," she nodded curtly.

"I would ask if Malfoy made you wear that," he nodded to the dragon around Hermione's ear, "but I don't think he could ever make you do anything."

"You're not wrong," Hermione smiled. "I have some time if there is something you'd like to say."

"There is, actually," Ron said shuffling his feet for a moment. He took a deep breath and said, "You are one of my best friends. It'll always be you and Harry because of everything we went through together … Our scars run deeper than everyone else's. I love Alicia and I am very, very happy, but there is no way for her to understand what we went through."

He paused for a moment. Hermione wasn't sure whether she was supposed to reply or hug him or simply wait it out. She nodded for him to continue.

"After Christmas I thought about what you said. Alicia feels bloody terrible about lunch last month—"

"As she should," Hermione interjected.

"And I thought what she said was out of line, as well," Ron agreed. "Because I have seen you at your lowest point, Hermione, and not even Bellatrix Lestrange could break you. You are brave and the only reason you left me is because we wanted different things. I see that, and I know that you would never in a million fucking years settle for Draco Malfoy, so he must be something special. I look back at school now, look back at everything Malfoy went through, everything Harry told me about what he's done since then. What he was really doing in America …" Ron trailed off for a moment and shook his head in disbelief. "I think maybe Malfoy's scars run deeper than most. I hate him and I will never not hate him."

"I appreciate your rousing endorsement, Ronald," Hermione deadpanned.

"No! No, I mean, aw fuck," he ran a hand over his face. "I just mean that even though I don't like him I think I understand how he could work for you. How … I dunno, 'mione. Bloody hell, my point is that I'm okay with you dating him. Not that you need my permission," he was quick to say, "but I'll be a bit less hostile. I miss you, I miss being able to be with the three of us—you, me, and Harry. I need that in my life."

Hermione pulled him into a hug. He was so tall her eyes were barely at his shoulder, but she held him tightly.

"That is the nicest thing you could ever say to me."

"Does that mean you forgive me?" he asked.

"Yes, Ronald, I forgive you," Hermione said. She stepped back and smiled. "And I love Draco. Merlin's arse, it feels so good to say that out loud, you know? He just feels right and everything right now is so good between us that—"

A bright orange flame appeared at the doorway and out stepped a tall woman with red hair that fell to her shoulders. Her bangs were chopped straight in the front just below her eyebrows and Hermione could never mistake that silhouette. Hermione slapped Ron's shoulder and said,

"That's Ivyna Mountcastle!"

Ron asked, "Why the hell would the President of MACUSA be here?"

Hermione's stomach fell to the floor as President Mountcastle made her way toward the back of the room. Everyone's heads turned toward her so Hermione finally answered,

"Because something has gone wrong."

Hermione followed the open path through the crowd and watched as President Mountcastle stopped right where Hermione knew she would: in front of Draco.

"Ivyna!" he greeted her with a hug and an entirely-too-familiar touch on the cheek.

Only Draco Malfoy would shag both the President of MACUSA and the fugitive he was helping her capture.

Once President Mountcastle started talking, however, Draco's face fell into his worried expression. The one Hermione saw when he was debating whether to destroy the Time-Turner, the fear tinted with disbelief, self-doubt, and shame. Everyone was watching the two of them, including Hermione who felt like this was a conversation she wasn't meant to intrude upon. So she gave them about twenty seconds before making her entrance.

"President Mountcastle?" Hermione said, offering her hand. "I'm—"

"Hermione Granger!" she shouted in reply. She had a very thick American accent Hermione couldn't quite place. She pulled Hermione into a quick hug and said, "I am so delighted to finally meet you since we will be working closely together one day! In the meantime, I am so proud Draco has finally found a girlfriend to make sure he knows how much love he deserves." When she pulled back Draco added,

"Ivyna, here, is a Seer. Tell Hermione what you just told me."

President Mountcastle glared at Draco and he nearly wilted in the face of it. Hermione liked her immediately.

"We had been tracking all the Revivalists' whereabouts at MACUSA, but four months ago we lost track of Jason Graves and Queenie Picquery."

"Yes, I know." Hermione nodded.

"Well, this afternoon I Saw them in London."

Oh, God, no.

Hermione started connecting pieces of the puzzle in her mind. She cursed herself for not seeing it before.

"May I see a picture of this Queenie person?" Hermione asked. Ivyna conjured up an old newspaper and pointed to a still photo. Right there on the page were the same brown eyes and blonde curls she had seen at the café with her parents and again at lunch with her friends.

"I've seen her," Hermione said. If possible, Draco paled even more. "Back in February, and again three weeks ago. She said, 'Strike one' and 'Strike two.' What does that mean?"

"Why didn't you tell me about this?!" Draco hissed. "If you saw—"

"I thought it was just someone … Someone … I have been a bit distracted the past few months!" Hermione insisted.

"I didn't See anything about baseball, Draco," President Mountcastle said. She Vanished the paper and said, "It must be a threat. I don't know why I would See them today, but—"

Before she could even finish the sentence, Draco had his hand on Hermione's arm and next thing she knew they stood outside her parents' door. He didn't bother knocking, just shouted, "Alohamora!" before barging into the Grangers' house.

"MR. GRANGER?! MRS. GRANGER?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Hermione was beyond relieved to see her father make his way downstairs.

"What the hell have you done?" he asked. "Breaking into my home at this time of night?!"

Hermione went to hug him but Draco pushed her back. He drew his wand and pointed it at Mr. Granger's heart.

"Name me the star at the heart of the Scorpius constellation."

"Antares!" Mr. Granger said, holding his hands in the air. "What the hell, Draco? What is going on?"

"I need to see your wife and my son," Draco replied. Mr. Granger went to fetch them so Hermione asked,

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I told you, Jace is a Metamorphmagus."

Oh.

Mrs. Granger came downstairs with Scorpius in her arms and Draco asked, "What is Blaise's second name?"

"Alessio," she answered. "What is going on?"

"I need to take my son back to the manor," Draco said. "I will be back tomorrow to put protective wards around the house. Tonight, please, stay at a hotel. There are people out there after me, and by proxy Hermione. I don't know if they are aware of Scorpius, but you need to stay away from places they know you will be."

"Understood," Mrs. Granger nodded. Her husband stood there, staring at his slippers. He sighed.

"Is Narcissa in danger?"

"No," Draco insisted. "But you are should you remain here tonight."

.oOo.

Hermione expected Draco to explode once they put Scorpius back in his crib. He followed Hermione into her room and gingerly shut the door behind them.

"I am sorry," Hermione said. "I should have known sooner."

Draco kicked the side of Hermione's bed and doubled over in rage. He shouted out a string of curse words with vulgarity that would have made Ron blush.

"It is not your fault," he finally said. Draco stood up and pushed his hair back. "This is between me and Jace. They know I stole the Time-Turner; it is the only reason for them to be here. I have put you in danger again! And have done the same to my son."

"No, Draco. This isn't your doing."

"Then what is it?" he snapped.

"Darkness," Hermione replied. She ran her fingers over his left forearm and repeated, "It's Darkness in people. I don't blame you for this, the blame is on them, on the people who would take you from me."

"I love my son, Hermione. Scorpius is amazing—my blood, my family." He made like he was going to touch Hermione but pulled back. His chest fell up and down rapidly as he said, "But God and Merlin himself would have cause to tremble if they so much as threatened you. The second Jace points his wand at you, he is a dead man."

Hermione felt like she was going to be sick. Not only was Scorpius in danger, but so was Draco, and he was reckless. Faced with the possibility of losing him … Hermione couldn't even fathom it.

I don't ever want him to leave me. I can't even picture my life without him by my side anymore. Not having Draco to come home to? If Draco doesn't get to see Scorp grow up, it will break me into a thousand tiny, irreparable pieces.

Hermione's hands shook again as she pulled Draco down into a kiss. It was sloppy and hard. Their teeth clacked together and she tasted blood from Draco's lip. Hermione cupped Draco overtop his trousers and he pulled back as his mouth formed a perfect O. He tugged Hermione close again and lightly bit down on the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

"I cannot be gentle tonight, Hermione," he cautioned.

"I am scared," she admitted. "I don't need gentle, I need a distraction."