A/N: We've reached the end of this journey, and I am thrilled to give Draco the final piece of his puzzle. Please forgive any errors.

TW: Reference to Suicidal Ideation

Being married to Hermione was incredible.

Life didn't change much. Therapy with Potter on Tuesday, his own therapy on Thursday, and Hermione chose to continue therapy on Friday as Mondays were the busiest (shittiest) days at the day school. The sex was great. They ate dinner together nearly every night. Draco ran with Bastien each morning, saw the twins on Tuesdays, and spent Wednesdays with Blaise.

Hermione was so many things.

Wife.

Spouse.

Friend.

Forever love.

Draco still ended up with Hermione's hair in his face most mornings. The papers still wrote shit about him, though he did laugh when they referred to him as "Hermione Granger's husband." It was, without a doubt, the title he claimed with the most pride.

One evening in mid-March, Draco walked out of his closet wearing silk pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt that read, "Hermione Granger Fan Club." He left his hair down and it fell far past his shoulder blades. He briefly thought about making an appointment with Gabriel, then he noticed Hermione lounging on the sofa. He walked over to her and pressed a feather-light kiss to her cheek.

"Good day?" he asked before plopping next to her.

"Great day, actually." Hermione frowned and leaned backward. She had stolen one of Draco's t-shirts to wear, as well. (The one that read, This Shirt is Riddikulus.) It was basically a nightdress and she curled into a tiny ball. "A really, really great day."

"Would you like to tell me about it?"

"I've been thinking about a sabbatical."

Draco raised an eyebrow and repeated, "A sabbatical?"

"Yes, or a honeymoon. We never really got one."

"Because we got married and two weeks later you were trying to change the world." Draco shrugged. "It happens."

"Perhaps we should take a few months to ourselves."

"A few months?"

"Seven, maybe."

"Seven? That is an oddly specific number."

"We've been married five months and working the whole time," Hermione reasoned, "seven more makes a full year."

"What is on your mind, Golden Girl?" Draco nudged her shoulder and pulled her into a tight hug. "C'mon, you can tell me."

"I'm a bit pregnant."

Draco blinked.

He blinked again.

"A bit?"

"About seven weeks, I think. Maybe more?" Hermione looked up at Draco and said, "I wanted to wait and surprise you on your birthday, but I couldn't keep it to myself. I only found out yesterday and it's been torture not telling you."

Draco let go of Hermione and pushed himself to the other end of the sofa.

"Are you joking? I swear to God, Hermione, if you're fucking joking, I—"

"Not a joke, not a prank." Hermione grinned. "We are going to have a child. You and me."

"Oh my God." Draco let his head fall into his hands for a moment and muttered, "Oh my God."

Hermione shuffled toward him and tentatively placed her hand on his back.

"Are you alright?"

"Alright?" Draco laughed and wiped tears from his eyes. "Hermione, I'm happy. I have literally never felt this way before, I am getting to do the one thing I always wanted to do, and I get to do it with you. Are you fucking joking? Oh my God. OH MY GOD!"

Hermione giggled.

"I know."

"Oh, God, Hermione I only thought you'd really taken to Blaise's croquetas lately. I had no idea, I never expected—"

"Me either. We've been trying for so long! I suspected about a week ago, but I was too terrified to get my hopes crushed. I thought I would be scared since being a mum never fit into my life plan, but I'm excited. I am not scared at all."

"Great, because I am equal parts terrified and ready to shag your bloody brains out because I'm so happy." Draco swallowed thickly and realized, "We're going to have a family."

"No." Hermione tucked some of Draco's hair behind his ear. "We already have a family, Draco Malfoy. We are simply adding to it."

"I know." Draco leaned forward to kiss Hermione and whispered against her lips, "I know."

Hermione tugged Draco closer by the collar of his shirt and snogged him. Draco hugged her close and never wanted to let go. God, it was everything. She was everything he could ever have thought to want. Hermione pulled back just far enough to say,

"You and me, Malfoy."

"More like you, me, and soon to be our number three."

"It doesn't feel much different. My tits are bigger, I think, and I can smell everything. Otherwise, I am the same. You don't think … There isn't something wrong, is there?"

"I am the last person you should ask. Bas might know, but you need to ask Ginny. She has done this a few times, now."

"You're right." Hermione nodded to herself, a bit frazzled. "You are right."

"Hey." Draco placed his hands on Hermione's cheeks and looked into her eyes. "I am here with you whatever happens. Whatever happens."

"Okay." Hermione nodded. "Right, well, obviously things are fine, now. We are all fine. All of us. Completely fine."

"Are you?" asked Draco. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm overreacting a bit. I truly thought this would never happen."

"You take the impossible and turn it into reality. That is all you ever do, Hermione Granger. Now, who are we telling and when?"

.oOo.

Six days later, Draco sat in the chair across from Penelope and waited for her to sit. The moment her arse touched the chair he blurted out,

"Hermione's pregnant!"

Her eyes went wide and she smiled.

"Congratulations!"

Draco rested his head on the desk and sighed.

"God, I've been dying to let that out. We aren't telling anyone yet, because apparently you don't tell people until you're twelve weeks in. Which means I have another bloody month to go!"

"How are you feeling about this development?"

Draco thought on it for a moment. There were so many emotions inside of him, it took a full minute for him to answer.

"Is it okay to be this happy?"

Penelope frowned and wondered, "Why would you think it isn't?"

"Because I did terrible things, yet I've gotten everything I ever wanted. I have a family, a wife that I love more than anything, and I'm going to be a dad, Penelope!"

"You deserve every bit of this happiness, Draco."

"I am working on believing as much."

"May I ask you an uncomfortable question?"

"Of course."

"Are you ready for what this might require of you?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, what if your child is a Squib?"

"I would thank the fucking heavens!" Draco half-shouted. "Merlin's arse, talk about a best-case scenario. I get an adorable daughter who doesn't have to live in a world where she is constantly reminded her mother is a war hero and the most powerful witch of the millennium while her father is a war criminal? I would be delighted."

Penelope let out an abrupt laugh, like she'd been trying to keep it in but failed.

"Hermione is having a girl, then?"

"No, she believes the baby is a boy."

"No offense, but I will place my Galleons on her intuition."

"Truthfully?" admitted Draco. "I would, too."

.oOo.

Mid-May, Draco was at Scarlett's ballet studio. He and Peter stood off to the side while Sebastien pulled Naevia's hair into a bun. (Agonizingly slowly. He was new to it, but Naevia really didn't seem to mind as long as she could talk to Seb.) Peter nodded to the pair of them and said,

"Thanks for teaching him to do this."

"My skills are limited to what I learned from Blaise. You should find someone who can teach him more."

"I am taking Naevia to Lagos to see her grandmother next month. Do you think Theo would allow me to take Sebastien as well?"

"Tracey will be up for it, but Theo may take some convincing."

"I wouldn't suggest it, except I think that little boy's going to marry my daughter someday. If I'm right, I'd like for Naevia to introduce him to her grandmother while she can."

"That is sweet of you." Draco patted him on the back. "Scarlett will feel left out."

"Hell, I'll take Theo and Tracey, too. We can make it a family trip."

"I like that. It will be less awkward."

"Would you and Hermione like to come as well?"

"Can't."

"You can't?"

"No. Hermione's pregnant and the Healers say we need to limit trav—"

"No bloody way!" Peter laughed and pulled Draco into a hug. "Congratulations! God, that's great news." He stepped away and shook his head. "You and Hermione both deserve this."

"Thanks, mate. Thanks for saying that."

"Gabrielle will be so excited for both of you."

Draco smiled and asked, "How's that going?"

"Perfect. She has fit right into my life and Naevia adores her. They have little conversations in French which they think I can't understand. I've been studying up on it, so I get bits and pieces. They are so adorable together, mate. I miss Maimouna and the more days that pass, the more of her I see in Naevia. But you knew when you introduced me to Gabrielle at Christmas, didn't you?"

"What?" Draco asked, feigning innocence. "Did I know you were perfect for each other and would fall in love faster than either of you expected?"

"We are in love, you know?" Peter laughed. "She has never pressured me to go faster. She cares just as much about me healing as she cares about helping Naevia remember Maimouna. Naevia taught Gabrielle her favourite recipes, so they make one each time she spends the night."

"Oh?" Draco asked. "Gabby is spending the night?"

"Yes."

"How are you feeling about that?"

"Just …" Peter sniffled. "Really grateful. I mean, you've changed my fucking life. You introduced me to a woman I believe I will marry, eventually. Well off in the future, of course. Healing takes time. But now I look at my daughter, sitting over there with her best friend. I think about Scarlett, my daughter's close friend, who is probably trying to cajole one of the older ballerinas into letting her try on their pointe shoes. Naevia and Sebastien have a unique bond, a lifelong one, I think. They are destined to be in each other's lives; I can see it. Look at how happy she makes him and look at how that little boy pushes Naevia to believe in herself. I don't have to do shit, Draco. Sebastien has enough motivational wisdom to get my daughter through the next ten years."

"Seb likes her so much. I know he is not old enough to recognize it yet, but Seb is like his dad. Theo figured out he liked Tracey when he was fourteen. He proposed when he was nineteen and they were married when he was twenty. Theo knew exactly who he was meant to spend his life with; no sense in looking elsewhere. I always admired that."

"I fear for when Sebastien goes off to Hogwarts. I don't want them to lose this connection."

"We will give them every opportunity. If they let go, then they let go. Looking at the two of them right now, though, I used to do this for Blaise and we are still best mates twenty years on."

"I didn't have much of a family before you." Peter shrugged. "Now you've given me all of this. A whole family for me and my daughter."

Draco nodded.

"Look what you've given Sebastien. Look at what you've given Scarlett. You helped me propose to my wife, for Merlin's sake! You earned your place in this family, Peter."

"And that is why I know you are ready to be a father. You welcome people into your family, Draco. This isn't any different."

"Hmm." Draco hummed softly to himself. "Fuck it, I suppose you're right."

.oOo.

Blaise had set aside a small, private room for their family at Assiete Verde. Draco hadn't told him why they needed it, only that it was important. It was late May when Pansy, Gabriel, Romilda, Blaise, Dean, Theo, Tracey, Bastien, and Padma all gathered together around the table. After the meal, Draco stood up and addressed his friends.

"I know you are wondering why I've brought you here tonight."

Romilda chimed in, "As long as you're picking up the check, I don't care all that much. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a reservation at this place?"

Blaise huffed.

"You can ask me any time and I'll get you a table. I literally own the place."

"Now that you mention it, Gabe and I would like to have a nice anniversary dinner …"

Blaise shrugged and insisted, "Done."

"Right," Draco asked, "anyone else needing to make plans?"

"Don't suppose anyone owns a hotel in France?" asked Bastien. "Padma and I are thinking of a trip for our second anniversary."

"You might want to rethink that," replied Draco. "Hermione is having our baby in late October and I'd hate for you to miss it."

There was a moment when everyone processed what he'd said, then everyone gasped at exactly the same moment. It was a chorus of,

"Oh my God!"

"Congratulations!"

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"How is Hermione?"

"Are you fucking serious?!"

Draco laughed.

"Right, thank you. Much to my shame, we are continuing the Malfoy tradition of firstborn sons." He rolled his eyes. "Here I was, fucking up all our traditions so well until now. Hermione is happy and glowing and impossibly horny. And, yes, I am serious. I am going to be a father. I wanted you all to hear it from me together, because without each of you I wouldn't be here. Literally, I would be dead in the fucking crypt if you hadn't spent all that time keeping me alive.

"So." Draco raised his glass. "Here's to the lot of you, the best family I could ever hope for my son to have."

.oOo.

Draco sat down in his father's study the next day and blurted out the news.

"Hermione's pregnant, she is having a boy, and I am thrilled about it."

Lucius didn't seem at all surprised. He smiled softly and admitted,

"Narcissa figured it out a few weeks ago. Your mother is rather excited."

"And you?" asked Draco.

"I know you will be a good father, my son. I have no concern for you in that regard. As for whether the Granger girl will be a good mother, she has never failed at anything and I doubt this is something she cannot learn given the proper time. You are doing the one thing I always expected of you."

"But I am not doing it for you."

"No, and that is why I am happy for you."

Draco asked, "You aren't upset that my child will be a Half-Blood?"

"You are alive and I get a grandson. What is there for me to complain about?"

"Will you love him?"

Lucius frowned.

"Will I love him?"

"Yes."

"Of course I will love him. I do not know how much of a presence I should be in his life, given everything that has happened. I will be as present as you want me to be, Draco. This will be your son. You and Hermione make the choices and I will respect them, just as I would have wanted anyone to respect the choices I made for you. Wrong as they might have been."

"Wrong as they were."

"Right. You should tell your mother. She will be thrilled."

.oOo.

Scorpius Draco Malfoy was born on October 28th, 2010. He developed blond curls as the weeks went on and had Hermione's wide brown eyes. Draco liked that because Hermione always saw the world as it could be. Perhaps Scorpius would have that instinct as well.

Just before Christmas, Draco looked down at his son sleeping in a bassinette. Hermione hugged him from behind and asked,

"What are you thinking?"

"Our son's a bloody porker."

Hermione laughed.

"He is healthy, Draco."

"He's fat."

"He is the cutest baby your family has ever seen."

"Of course he is adorable. Fat babies are cute babies."

"He always sleeps through the night, he eats well, and he rarely cries. I think we lucked out, Malfoy."

"We did it right, Granger."

"Yes, we did. You and me."

"And number three."

Hermione pulled away but held onto Draco's hand.

"Come to bed with me."

Draco gently kissed the back of her hand and said, "I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay."

As Hermione left for the bedroom, Draco ran the pad of one finger along the fattiest part of Scorp's arm. He smiled softly and whispered,

"You are amazing, but I can't let your mum know I think so. She will take credit for all your best parts. Granted, most of your best qualities are probably hers, but you are so much different from what I thought you would be. In my predictions, you were a girl. I thought you would be loud and rambunctious. You have blond hair but you got Hermione's curls, and I am so sorry for that. There isn't a single anti-frizz potion that works in less than an hour."

Draco gently tickled the sole of Scorp's foot, but it did not wake him.

"I am happy you came when you did. I was in a bad place for awhile and wasn't ready for you. You deserve all the smiles and happiness that life can provide, and I couldn't give it to you back then. How can you make your child happy if you aren't happy? Given enough time, I built a family for you; a good one. You've got the best godfathers you could dream of, and once you can eat solid food I am certain Blaise will spoil you. A few years ago, I had no idea what I wanted. But you, Scorp? You are everything I want. A bit of me, and a hell of a lot of your mum. Just pray that you have my skills on the Quidditch pitch."

Draco laughed a bit at his own joke.

"You are perfect, Scorpius. You really are. To me, to the rest of our family … And I promise that I will always love you. I will always take care of you to the best of my ability and if you say that something hurts, I will believe you. I think that is what distanced me from everyone who fought for the Dark Lord. I said I was in pain and the only responses were, 'Learn to accept it,' or 'Everyone else has it so much worse.' That last one might have been true, but my parents had the power to stop what was happening to me and they didn't. I won't let that happen to you, Scorp. I just won't. As your father, I will listen to you and I will love you. Can't guarantee much more than that."

Draco thought about how close he was to not having this moment. To not be alive for this? Merlin's arse, he was a father. There was a bit of anxiety, but it was mostly How do I make sure I don't drop him? And hardly any of the, Am I going to be a good dad? Scorpius had all the support he needed while Draco and Hermione also had the help they required. Draco thought he would be terrified, but Scorpius was so bloody calm all the time that Draco stopped finding reasons to worry.

There were some tough moments. Occasionally they couldn't figure out why Scorpius was crying. It happened so rarely that it always felt bigger than it was. When Lucius held Scorpius for the first time, Draco had a brief moment of resentment toward his father. Where was that love when I needed it most? But it subsided. Everything with Scorpius took such little time, almost as if he was trying to be the best child he could be. Draco laughed to himself and thought, Overachiever. Just like your mother.

Draco sighed, knowing the house-elves would be in to dress Scorpius for the evening. He bent low to kiss Scorp gently on the forehead.

"So you know," he said, "everything I ever went through was worthwhile because it gave me you. Maybe I had to go through those moments to get to this one, but there is nowhere I would rather be than standing right here as your father. Love you."

Then he followed Hermione to bed. Wherever the morning led, Draco would wake up with Hermione in his arms and his son no more than half a room away.