"How was your honeymoon?" Dr. Meyer asked.

"Very productive. Negotiations went well and I reconnected with old business partners and found new ones."

"I've got a lot of studying done," Hermione added.

Dr. Meyer leaned forward and grabbed her glass of water, she took a sip, crossing her legs. Hermione and Lucius exchange glance. "Let's move on to the more pressing issues, you thought on opposing sides of this civil war?" The psychiatrist hammered her pen against the clipboard.

"Yes."

She looked at them, hoping to get more answered, but Hermione didn't really know what to say.

"We weren't actually fighting against each other. I was on the run for most of the time and he was a prisoner in his own home with his family…" Hermione trailed off.

"What is bothering you, Mrs. Malfoy?"

She bit her lip and looked up at her husband. "Lucius has been married to someone else until a few months ago…"

"And now we are married." Lucius seemed slightly annoyed.

"But you didn't want to divorce."

"No one wants a divorce," he argued.

"Yes, people who are unhappy with their marriage want a divorce."

Dr. Meyer raised her hand, ending their discussion. "Mr. Malfoy, do you want to say something about this?"

"No, I do not."

Hermione glared at him. She was so short of texting him but the Muggle in the room hindered her so far.

"Mr. Malfoy, surely you can see how knowing about your last marriage will benefit this one. You would know what to work on, there must've been a reason why your last marriage failed."

"Narcissa and I have been married for over 20 years, we have been through two wars together and raised our son. I fail to see how this can be a failure."

Hermione closed her eyes. She tried to take a deep breath but her throat constricted. It hurt so much more than she expected to hear him talk of his ex fondly.

"What changed?" Dr. Meyer asked.

"I did."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"No."

"Stop behaving like a child," she yelled at her husband.

"You are the only child here."

Hermione jumped up, she couldn't believe the nerve of him. He grabbed her arm before she could leave the room.

"What I meant to say was that the only one behaving childishly it is you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I have told you numerous times that Narcissa is my past. Now I'm married to you."

"But you never actually explained it in a way that made me understand it."

"Maybe you're just not a smart as you think you are. Ouch!" He flinched as the wordless stinging hex hit him.

"Mr. Malfoy, I don't think blame is very productive," the psychiatrist said sternly, "I for one am very confused by this timeline. You claim to have been happily married during the war yet you expect your new wife, the one you've married three months later, not to worry about your ex or your previous marriage."

"Fine" He took a deep breath. "I was betrothed to Andromeda before I was even born. She ran away for some unexplainable reason, so I was left to marry her sister. I considered Bellatrix but with everything going on I had a bad feeling about her. I married Narcissa as soon as she graduated. She has always known her place in society and fills that role very well, nothing more nothing less."

"You have a very interesting concept of a fulfilling marriage."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the psychiatrist's comment. It eased the tension.

Dr. Meyer turned to Hermione "You have a different idea of marriage?"

"Very different."

She stared at the two of them for a minute Lucius and Hermione exchanged glances neither of them knew what to say.

"You haven't been married for long, you've both been through a war that gives you sleepless nights, and you have very different views on life and marriage. Don't you think it might be better to get your marriage annulled?"

"I don't want to end our relationship," Hermione said stubbornly. Her hand rested protectively on her flat belly.

"What on I was unhappy about my divorce made you think I desired a second one?"

Dr. Meyer pinched the bridge of her nose. "You are the most particular patients I've ever had."

"To be fair, we did come here to work on our issues," Hermione said.

"OK, now that we have something you agree on, how about you name three things you like about the other?"

"Lucius doesn't make fun of me when I study, he is hardworking and beautiful," she added blushing

"I like her hair-"

Hermione burst out laughing "My hair? Don't be ridiculous, no one ever likes my hair."

"Would you let me finish?" he snapped at her.

"Go on."

"How gracious. Hermione is independent and soft."

"Soft? I'm a fighter and a war hero!"

"Why are you always so difficult?"

"I thought you like my independence?"

Lucius inhaled sharply

"Interesting," Dr. Meyer finished taking her notes. "What do you want out of this marriage?"

"I just want us to be a happy functional family," Hermione said. " I want this to be my safe place, my home, where I get emotional support and I'm cared for."

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"That does sound reasonable."

"Do you not want to say something?".

"I am not in my 20s anymore, it takes some time to get used to this new concept of family."

"But you really want us?" Hermione knew she was bothering him at this point, but she had to know. They were bringing a helpless baby into this relationship. She looked at him, begging for an answer. Lucius nodded which was enough of an answer for Hermione, at least for now.

"Hermione hasn't excepted the duiker I have given her," Lucius said after some time.

What? And he called her childish. "I don't know what to do with the skin of an animal. Why is that even important?"

"It appears to be important to your husband," Dr. Meyer said.

"If he wants to go hunting it's fine with me, but he can't expect me to stand next to him cheering him on."

"You're a very strong woman, but it is important for your husband that you can acknowledge him as a man, as someone capable of providing for his family."

She was struggling to take conversations seriously. They were on the brink of a new millennium and no one needed to hunt animals that have god knows what diseases and parasites.

Hermione took a deep breath and turned to her husband. "Look, I never doubted your ability to feed and care for your family, it's your methods that worry me. As for the duiker, I do appreciate it, it's just that killing animals is such a big taboo among the kind of people I grew up with... I'm not saying that I've never killed or that it isn't hypocrisy…"

"Now you can both get used to new things. How have your nightmares been lately?"

"Nothing too bad."

"Then I see you two next time."


As soon as, she got home, Hermione retired to the library. She was emotionally drained after the lengthy conversation. On her way upstairs, she remembered the now fully tanned duiker. From all the things she had to get used to the duiker was by far the easiest. She grabbed it and placed it in her favorite corner off the library, where she liked to sit and read. Hermione let her hands run over for the skin, it wasn't the softest she had ever felt but it had an interesting texture and her husband brought it home.

Men, she laughed. Even after ten thousand years of civilization, they still bring home dead animals to impress a woman. The shocking thing was that the longer she thought about it the more she appreciated it. Compared to flowers, the duiker was indeed a very thoughtful gift. She had learned a great deal about anatomy, they had gotten a nice meal with friends out of it, and now she also had a skin to sit comfortably on and to remind her of their honeymoon in Congo.


Lucius was relieved that she left him alone for the rest of the evening. Hermione was constantly pushing him further and further. Way passed where he was ready to go. So many things were going through his mind.

Following the same path he always took, he arrived at a little structure half-hidden in the stone wall of the mountain. Lucius sat down on a round stone and rang the bell waiting for the dogs to come to the feeding place.

Like always the fattest one was already there looking at him with puppy dog eyes. Four black Shiba Ken were working on the estate. It was their main job to keep wild animals especially monkeys away from the crops. None of them was exactly tame and they had no collars or names but at least three of them came running as soon as food was offered.

He watched the three small dogs tear on the bone he had offered them.

Lucius just couldn't understand why Hermione was so worried about Narcissa. They didn't occupy the same niche, in fact, he couldn't think of a single thing he did with Hermione that he could do with Cissy or vice versa. In a perfect world, he would have them both, but he couldn't have been the wizard Hermione needed before the war and now he was no longer the wizard Narcissa wanted.

He had been publicly humiliated in the stripped of all his dignity. That didn't look good and appearances was all that was important to pureblood society.

As the dogs continued to fight for the bone, Lucius got a chance to scratch one of their heads. The dogs were so focused on the fight for the bone that they paid no attention to him.

For the last decade, he had avoided thinking about the Black sisters. Looking through his purse, he found the old photograph his mother had taken many years ago. Lucius didn't know that he still had it but then again, he never went through his purse looking for it so how could've gone lost. He had not looked at it, not since Andy left.

Cissy had been just a baby and Andy was eager to start Hogwarts. Andy had her on around him. Their thighs were pressed against each other. Lucius had been so proud to hold baby Cissy and they enjoyed every moment. Holding the baby, playing family, they prepared for their own inevitable marriage.

Bella was sitting away from them. Her legs we're on the back of the couch and her head hanging down. As if her hair wasn't enough, she made faces, proofing her independent spirit.

As much as they had feared their parents, the four of them has been close growing up, but that was more than a lifetime ago. Lucius kept staring at the photograph for a long while.

Looking at the fat dog, he noticed that he was missing something. She must have been with pups. Lucius cast a spell to verify. A couple of lights were dancing over her body. He accioed a piece of dried meat and gave it to her, she could use it.

Yes, gave him an odd sense of satisfaction on a deep instinctual level to provide meat, especially to a pregnant woman.