Draco was sitting in his office when his father's owl arrived. Draco had been busy contemplating the fight he had had with Hermione earlier and wishing he hadn't taken his bad mood out on her.

Draco removed the letter from his father's owl before it swooped back out of the window. Draco was surprised it had taken Lucius so long to write to him. After what Narcissa had told him on Saturday Draco had expected to receive a letter from his father earlier. Draco stared at the letter for several minutes before he ripped it open and read the short note. Lucius wanted to see him as soon as possible.

Draco got up from his desk and began making sure everything in the room was neat and tidy. Satisfied his office was fine Draco left it and locked it behind him. Draco double checked that Hermione's office was also locked before he headed for the lift. Draco was so distracted in the lift that he barely registered when it stopped on the third floor and Blaise entered.

"Do you want to come for a drink, Draco?" Blaise asked as the lift started moving again.

"I can't." Draco replied, trying not to reveal he had been startled by Blaise's shock appearance in the lift. "My father wants to see me and then I have to go and apologise to my wife."

"I didn't realise you and Lucius were speaking." Blaise said, shocked by the mention of Draco's father.

"We're not. I haven't spoken to him since the day after I told him about Hermione." Draco said with a sigh. "I think he wants to let me know he won't accept Hermione."

"I'm sorry." Blaise said.

Draco didn't have a chance to reply as the lift stopped and the two men disembarked and walked across the marble floor to the front doors. Draco set the security wards and together with Blaise he left the building.

"Good luck with Lucius." Blaise said.

"Thanks, I'm going to need it." Draco sighed, saying goodbye to his friend and apparating to the Manor.

Draco appeared in the front hallway of the Manor with a loud crack. Draco didn't bother to wait for a house elf to appear before he left the hallway. He immediately set off to his father's office, wanting to get the meeting over with quickly and return home to Hermione.

As soon as Draco knocked on his father's door Lucius shouted for him to enter. Draco entered Lucius' office to find his father sitting in one of the two chairs that were positioned in front of the fire.

"Draco, come and sit down." Lucius said. "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure." Draco replied, moving to sit in the chair next to Lucius as his father poured him a glass of firewhisky from the bottle that was sitting on the table next to his chair.

"I suppose you're wondering why I wanted to see you." Lucius said, handing Draco his drink.

"Not really. I suspect you're about to tell me that you can't accept Hermione as my wife." Draco shrugged, hoping his father couldn't tell how upset he was at the notion.

"Up until this afternoon that was exactly what I had planned on doing." Lucius admitted.

"What's changed?" Draco asked, curious as to what his father was now going to say.

"I had a visitor this afternoon who made me see things from another point of view." Lucius said, thinking about how Hermione had made him realise how important he still was to Draco.

"Who?"

"Your wife."

"Hermione came to see you." Draco said, totally shocked by Lucius' revelation.

"Yes." Lucius chuckled slightly at Draco's shocked reaction, obviously Hermione hadn't mentioned her visit to him. "I would say we talked but it was more like she talked and I listened."

"What did she say?" Draco asked, wondering if their earlier fight had prompted Hermione's visit to his father.

"Enough to make me realise I almost made a huge mistake." Lucius admitted, not liking how close he had come to disowning Draco.

Draco looked at his father, hoping he was saying what he thought he was saying. However until Lucius actually said he would accept Hermione Draco wasn't planning on getting his hopes up.

Lucius knew Draco was waiting for him to speak so he prepared himself and hoped he could make Draco see how much he loved him without having to show too much emotion.

"I'm not promising miracles and I'm sure things will be difficult at times but I will accept Hermione as your wife." Lucius said.

"Thank you." Draco said, surprised that his father had called Hermione by her first name. "You have no idea what that means to me."

"I think I do." Lucius said with a small smile. "You're very lucky to have a wife that loves you as much as Hermione does. After everything I've said and done to her she was still willing to come here and fight for you."

Draco wondered just what Hermione had said to his father, if he didn't know any better he would have said that Lucius was actually coming to like Hermione as he almost sounded affectionate when he spoke about her.

"So does this mean we're still part of the family?" Draco asked, wondering how involved in their lives Lucius planned on being.

"Most definitely. I expect to see you and your wife at dinner regularly and of course for special occasions. Hopefully after next May your mother and I can even visit your house occasionally." If Lucius was going to accept Hermione he was going to do it properly and make sure that he saw Draco on a regular basis.

Draco was shocked by Lucius' statement but didn't have a chance to respond as his father suddenly got up and headed over to his desk. Draco watched as Lucius picked up a document and returned to his seat.

"This is for you." Lucius said, handing the parchment to Draco.

Draco read the document, his eyes widening in shock as he realised what he was reading. "You're signing over half your business to me."

"Yes." Lucius nodded. "I know you've just started your own company and I know that's where your focus will be but you were always going to get half the business when you left school and I see no reason why you still shouldn't. Hopefully one day you'll take a more active role in the business but even if you never do it's still part of your inheritance."

"Thank you." Draco said, not sure what else to say to his father's unexpected gesture.

"Do you want another drink?" Lucius asked, getting uncomfortable with all the emotions that were evident in the room.

"No. I should be getting back to Hermione." Draco said, standing up.

"Of course." Lucius said, also rising from his seat. "Will you thank Hermione for me. Tell her I appreciated her coming to see me."

"I will." Draco said, wondering once again what exactly Hermione had said to his father.

Draco said a final goodbye to his father before he left the office and headed into the front parlour to floo home. Draco wondered if he should speak to his mother before leaving but decided against it. He was eager to see Hermione and knew his mother would be in contact as soon as his father told her about the decision he had made.

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Hermione was curled up on the sofa watching the television with a glass of wine when the floo network sounded and Draco arrived in the room. Hermione was surprised by the method of Draco's arrival, she had assumed he would have come home from work and there was no floo network set up in their offices yet. Obviously her husband had been somewhere else between leaving work and coming home.

Draco brushed himself down as he wondered how to approach Hermione. His wife had glanced up briefly as he arrived home but soon returned her attention back towards her television programme. Obviously Hermione was still upset with him, not that Draco could blame her. Draco knew that he had been in a rotten mood all week and Hermione had been on the receiving end of his bad mood several times, cumulating in the fight earlier when she had finally snapped back at him.

Draco removed his jacket and threw it over a chair before he sat down next to Hermione on the sofa. "I'm sorry, Hermione."

Hermione turned her attention away from the television and faced Draco. She noticed that for the first time in a week he didn't look to be in a bad mood.

"I know I've been in a bad mood all week but I shouldn't have taken it out on you." Draco said, wondering if Hermione was close to forgiving him.

"I'm sorry too. I knew you were upset, I shouldn't have snapped this afternoon." Hermione said, smiling softly at Draco.

"I deserved it, I've been really awful this past week. I'm amazed you haven't lost it long before now." Draco said, feeling bad about the way he had behaved for the past week.

"Let's just forget about it." Hermione said, wanting to forget all about the argument.

"Okay." Draco smiled, leaning over and gently brushing his lips against Hermione's. "Do you fancy going out to dinner?" He asked as he pulled back.

"Sure. Although I've already forgiven you, you don't need to do this."

"I was thinking it would actually be my way of thanking you." Draco said.

"What are you thanking me for?" Hermione asked.

"Going to talk to my father."

Hermione was surprised that Draco knew of her visit so quickly. "How do you know I did that?"

"Before I came home I was at the Manor. Father asked to see me." Draco explained.

"What did he say?" Hermione asked, hoping she hadn't made things worse between Draco and Lucius.

Draco smiled and told Hermione everything that had happened with his father and the decisions he had made.

"So he's accepting our marriage?" Hermione was still quite shocked that Lucius had chosen to accept their marriage only hours after she had spoken with him.

"Yes. What exactly did you say to him?" Draco asked.

"First of all I explained how much he meant to you and how you didn't want to lose him. Then I may have resorted to emotional blackmail regarding our future children." Hermione said, explaining to Draco what she had said regarding children.

Draco laughed at Hermione's explanation. "That was very Slytherin of you, no wonder you impressed father."

"I impressed him?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "He didn't actually say as much but it was obvious when he spoke about you. Between displaying your cunning Slytherin side and your brave Gryffindor side you showed him that you worthy of being a Malfoy."

"I'm honoured." Hermione said, sarcastically.

"You should be. Father accepting us is a big deal and I'm not sure he ever would have done so if you hadn't gone and spoken to him." Draco said. "He also wanted me to thank you for visiting him and to tell you he appreciated it."

"I'm just pleased I didn't make things worse." Hermione said, admitting the fear she had had since leaving Malfoy Manor a few hours ago.

"I'm not sure it would have been possible to make things worse." Draco said, knowing that without Hermione visiting his father things would have turned out very different.

"Luckily for me." Hermione muttered. She couldn't help but wonder if Draco would have been so understanding about her visiting Lucius if her visit had produced a different reaction from his father.

"I'm the one who's lucky." Draco said. "I'm really lucky to have an amazing wife who loves me enough to visit my father. I'm really grateful for what you've done for me, Hermione."

"It was nothing." Hermione said coyly. "I just want you to be happy and I know how much Lucius means to you."

"It isn't nothing to me, thank you." Draco said, giving Hermione a kiss.

Hermione deepened the kiss and pulled Draco closer to her. "How about you thank me properly." She whispered, her hands wandering under Draco's shirt.

"I thought we were going out to dinner." Draco said.

"We can go later." Hermione replied, pushing Draco back against the sofa and straddling his lap.

Draco reached up and tangled his hand in Hermione's hair, pulling her closer and joining their lips together. As they kissed Draco totally forgot about dinner as he concentrated on undressing his wife.

Nearly an hour after Draco returned home the couple finally made it upstairs to begin getting ready to go out. However it took them another hour before they finally managed to keep their hands off each other long enough to get dressed and leave the house.


A/N - Over the weekend I finished writing this story and there is four more chapters to go. I would like to thank everyone for the support of this story and I hope you all enjoy the final few chapters.