A/N: Three updates in just as many days!? Say what… How did this happen?

My eldest is in quarantine until next Tuesday because the kid she sits next to in her math class has COVID. Thus, she is now my younger boys' entertainment. When we were on our way home what would happen if we had to go to full remote learning again. Answer; you'd have a bald mother because I would pull all my hair out.

More notes at the end, with an explanation: how this chapter is what started this whole story…

Chapter 11, The Veela Specialist

Theodore fucking Potter, it was so easy to be mad at him when he'd been so rude. How dare he, really. The bastard had viewed all her memories and saw, no, no, he'd fucking felt what she'd been through and why she'd made the harsh decisions she'd been forced to make. How dare he sit there and judge her, when she was simply doing what she thought was best at the time.

There was no reason to remind her, she knew that she needed to tell Draco about Aurora. That's why she currently had Monday afternoon blocked out just for Draco. Had her father also been consistently bothering her that she needed to rip off the plaster and tell Draco? Yes, every few days he'd make some sort of comment eluding to that fact.

Why weren't these men understanding why it wasn't just as simple as walking up to Draco and telling him! She written out a full speech with bullet points to explain to Draco what happened, such as he must have performed the contraceptive charm on Pansy twice in their drunken hast instead of on both women. That was at least her theory, since she did vaguely recall him muttering the charm twice, and Aurora wouldn't have come into existence if it had been cast on her.

Then she was undecided if she was going to tell him completely about Lucius and his threats. On the one hand, he'd probably understand better than most the weight of that threat. At the same time, if he did know, there was a high likely hood that he would lose his temper and confront Lucius, meaning his father would find out about Aurora.

Yes, there really was a reason she was taking a little more time to finish gathering her thoughts and writing them out. The weight of knowledge that Aurora was a veela just meant that Hermione was going to have to be even more cautious with her daughter. And she would have to assume Lucius as a threat.

In brighter news, Harry had already swung by her office to make sure that she knew she wasn't allowed to skip his birthday party this Saturday. Just because her and Theo had a massive row the night before, they were still best friends. Harry, bless him, hadn't even made a comment about Draco being Aurora's father. Because really, what right did either Harry or Theo have to tell her what she should and shouldn't do when it involves her daughter.

Alright, so maybe they were Aurora's godfathers. And maybe they had been there for her when no one else, not even her parents, had been during her pregnancy. And maybe they had stepped in as father figures for Aurora for her entire life, never making her feel like she was missing out.

Fuck, this is why she needed to get drunk with Harry and play worse case scenario. That would be a great game to play at his birthday party. Ring in the big three-o by telling each other all the horrible ways their life could implode.

Hermione had been stuck in her office long enough that morning, but still had a bit of time before she needed to go pick Aurora up from her parents'. A quick distraction, that's what was in order to attempt to settle her nerves before this appointment. So, she put together all her notes from the day before from the Manticore Tavern and slipped out her office door. She only pausing briefly to let Kenneth know that she would be totally unavailable for the rest of the day and to forward any emergencies straight to the department head, Hestia Jones.

Grabbing the first available lift, Hermione rode it over to the legal department with an ulterior motive in mind. She wasn't trying to see Draco and talk to him, no, she just wanted to make sure that he was at work and would be staying there for the rest of the day. With Astoria still in the hospital, it would make sense if he were to be there, and honestly, she needed him to be as far away from the hospital as possible. How bloody awkward would that be for her and Aurora to run into him there of all places.

Oh, hi Draco. Here visiting Astoria? Why yes, Hermione, I'm here visiting my comatose wife going through pixie dust detox. Who is this darling little girl accompanying you? Oh this, well I'm so glad you asked Draco, this is Aurora, she's your daughter. Well, we best be off now, we have an appointment to verify that she's a veela and I need to find out just how much more complicated raising her is going to be. Sounds great, see you both later!

Um, yeah. If Theo's reaction to getting the confirmation that he'd been right in Draco being Aurora's father was saying anything, Hermione could only conclude that she was dreading telling Draco even more now. Thus, needing to make sure that she had the script written out before talking to him. She'd also taken to fucking praying to whatever deity was listening that their row wouldn't end up with wands drawn. Yeah, with their temperaments… It was a real possibility as neither her nor Draco were really known for being completely level headed at all times.

Hermione found the corridor that held all the ministry prosecutors' offices and clutched the reports she'd put together for Rachel even closer to her chest and took a deep breath. If he was at work, and she assumed he was, then that meant that Draco wouldn't be at the hospital today. Thus, if Draco was at the ministry, that meant that taking Aurora to the hospital have minimal risks of Draco finding out about her before she got to talk to him Monday.

Five days, that's how long she had to make it before this mess imploded in her face. She could make it five more days.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHO THE SUPPLIER IS!?" A familiar baritone erupted into the corridor, well that answered the mystery of 'where is Draco Malfoy this morning.' "ARE YOU AN INVESTIGATOR OR AN IMBICILE?! I ALREADY FOUND THE NAME OF THE FUCKING DEALER; HOW HARD COULD IT BE FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT THE BLOODY SUPPLIER!"

Hermione could feel a tingle of magic in the air, at some point, someone had tried to cast a silencing spell that had broken. Peaking in the window of his office, she could see Draco was pacing around, running his fingers through his hair. He would only stop occasionally to glare at the wizard in the room with him. She recognized the man as the same one Draco had been talking to on Monday right before he'd taken Astoria and Daphne to St. Mungo's.

Not surprising that he was so angry, really. His wife had to be getting her drugs from somewhere, and the best way to stop it would be to shut down the whole operation. After her very brief pause, before she could get caught, Hermione continued a few more doors down until she found the office she was using as an excuse to visit. Rachel was currently bent over her desk with a quill in hand scratching out something on a piece of parchment, not even looking up when Hermione knocked.

"Janet, if you could set me a meeting with whoever is representing Russel Brown I think we could come up with a plea deal to avoid going in front of the entire Wizengamot. There's just too much evidence to let him off with nothing in exchange for his testimony, but I think we could do just a bit of house arrest with a few years probation. That is, if he'll agree to get on the stand against Pucey." Hermione cleared her throat, thinking to herself that Rachel probably shouldn't be saying any of this before confirming who she thought she was talking to really was who she was speaking with.

Looking up from her parchment at the sound, Rachel dropped her quill and then her head into her hands. "Shit, hey Hermione. Sorry, I thought you were my assistant. It's been crazy here the last few days. Drake is on the rampage ready to throw anyone who had ever even looked at fucking pixie dust for a lengthy stay in Azkaban, and making life my eternally difficult for it. Anyway, come in, sit, how can I help you?"

Rachel rang her fingers through her long hair that clearly hadn't been styled or washed in the last few days. It hung loose around her shoulders and slightly falling in her face. The bags under her eyes were very telling of the lack of sleep she'd been getting recently. Hermione knew that she had been picking up some of Draco's work to help him while he sorted things out with Astoria, but Hermione had to question just how much work Rachel had picked up?

"I know you have your Smith case coming up, I thought you might like the list of all his clients that I was able to gather from the Manticore Tavern. The idiot hadn't come up with a way to clear the orders, so there's no way he can worm his way out of this one. The rune he used had his magical signature directly linked to it, so there's no way for him to deny his involvement. Paring this with his bank statement, it's a slam dunk case." While Hermione finished explaining what was in the report, Rachel had grabbed the notes and was quickly reading them over, a smile lighting up her face the more she read.

"Hermione, I could kiss you. With this, we might be able to skip the trial all together and get him to agree to a plea. Fuck yes, you're amazing! Has anyone told you that? I'd say let's grab lunch to celebrate, but" Rachel pointedly looked over her cluttered desk "I'm kind of swamped. Saturday night? Want to grab a drink?"

"Oh, uh, I've actually got plans for Saturday." Hermione quickly explained. "It's Harry's birthday party, and we're having a party for him at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade." Hermione winced remembering that she would be facing Theo at that event.

"Oh, well, maybe some other time." Maybe it was the tired looked washing back over Rachel that caused it, but Hermione couldn't seem to stop herself with what came out of her mouth.

"If you want, you're welcome to join us? It's an open invitation to pretty much everyone who works for the DMLE plus a few others. You spend enough time with us all, I'm sure Harry would love you to come with us." It was as if Hermione had gifted Rachel the shiny present that she'd been waiting her entire life for.

"Uh, yeah. As long as there's no McLaggen, right?" Rachel replied with a chuckle.

"Absolutely not, party starts at ten. If Zacharias still refuses a plea after that," Hermione motioned towards the evidence that Rachel was still holding, "just let me know and I'm more than happy to testify."

"Of course, well thanks Hermione. I'll buy you a drink Saturday as a thanks for all this. Well, duty calls. Or not…" Hermione and Rachel could hear the approaching footfalls towards the open door with two male voices bickering back and forth.

Hermione didn't even attempt to hide her surprise when Draco stuck his head into Rachel's office. His eyes lingered on Hermione for only a moment, where he raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner, before turning to Rachel.

"Brooks, when you get a minute, we need to talk to you about the Pucey case." Draco said looking at Rachel before his eyes shot back to Hermione again. "Sorry I missed you yesterday, I got a bit, er, caught up. I got your notes on the Borgin case, could we set something for tomorrow to go over it? Trial is set to start next Tuesday, so I'd like to look it over before the weekend. Maybe even get a chance to meet with them about a plea involving him giving up some more information."

Hermione nodded her head in response, but it was the way Rachel was looking between the two of them that propelled Hermione into a verbal response. "Uh, yeah, yeah." the second 'yeah' coming out in a higher than normal pitch, making her cough. "That sounds good, I'll set something for the afternoon then. Rachel, always a pleasure. Draco, I'll, well I'll see you tomorrow."

Hermione didn't wait for a response before she practically jumped out of her seat and pushed her way past Draco and the unknown wizard into the corridor. She'd hardly cleared the next office before she heard Draco say "I swear, America makes witches bloody mad" followed by a loud smacking sound.

ooo

Aurora had taken to stepping up to stand on the scale and then stepping off it before taking off running towards the measuring stick and stepping back against it to check her height. This had been the action on repeat for since they'd been called back from the waiting room.

Hermione had picked Aurora up from her mother, who had been in the middle of baking Harry some birthday brownies (Aurora claimed to be Harry's favorite) when she'd gotten home from the ministry and rushed them to the hospital just in time for the appointment.

The previous night, Roger had asked what exactly the appointment at the hospital was for, and Hermione finally let them know that there was good reason to believe that Aurora was a veela. As predicted, her parents had no idea what a veela was nor what that meant for their darling granddaughter. Hermione had already pulled a few books from the Grimmauld library for her own research and left them out for her parents to read through.

Looking back at the book in her lap, titled The Veela Biology, Hermione noted that it held some of the most basic information about veelas. All the information in the book was wildly known, and nothing but the very basics on veelas. Such information as, veelas having their own type of magic that didn't require a wand and how they are able to transform into harpy like creatures when angry or threatened. There was no account on if the transformations are painful like a werewolf transformation, or even if it's difficult to phase back into human form. There was only a bloody footnote on that they have hypnotic abilities, with absolutely no details on how any of that works. The worst part, there wasn't even a mention of veela children, as if they weren't veela until they could transform.

The best thing this book had done was providing a list of follow up questions that Hermione could address with the healer. She hoped that she could get a majority of the answers from the specialist, but had a contingency plan. Whatever this specialist was unable to answer, Hermione would be writing Fleur's grandmother since she was a veela herself.

Hermione had just finished jotting down another question about the hypnotic abilities, when a knock at the door pulled her mind back into the room. The door cracked open and in walked one of the most breath-taking women Hermione had ever seen in her life. Hermione couldn't place exactly where the enchantment was coming from, but she felt completely drawn to the woman. Being able to slightly keep her head, Hermione turned away from the healer and looked toward Aurora who had also stopped what she was doing to observe the newcomer.

"Ah, hello, you must be Ms. Granger, my name is Healer Ella and this precious doll will be Aurora, I presume." Even her voice was enchanting, Hermione guessed if she could touch the sound it would feel like silk. Not being able to form a response, Hermione just slowly nodded her head instead.

Aurora climbed down from where she had been standing on the scale again, and looked the healer up and down with a puzzled look on her face. Slowly, the small girl grabbed her dragon off a seat, and creeped towards the mysterious healer, who hadn't made any moves to try and get closer to either Hermione nor Aurora. It was clear that this woman was going to let Aurora set the pace of this meeting.

Clutching her dragon to her chest, Aurora took another step in the direction of healer Ella when she suddenly stopped and looked towards her mother. "Mummy, this lady is like me." Turning to look back at the healer, Aurora studied her for just a moment more, before nodding her head as if everything made perfect sense and jumped into Hermione's lap.

It was as if a light switch had been flipped on the room and Hermione no longer felt like the haze blocking her from speaking. Glancing back at the healer, Hermione still felt at ease with the woman, but she no longer drawn into her presence. Aurora seemed was no longer being affected ither, as she had taken to quietly singing to her dragon.

"Healer Ella, if you don't mind, could I ask you a rather, personal question?" Hermione already suspected that she knew the answer, but she wanted the confirmation anyway. A soft smile with a nod was the only response given, but it was all the encouragement that Hermione needed. "Are you a veela?"

With the same at ease look on her face the healer nodded her head in answer. "I am, and I can assure you there is no doubt that Aurora is also a veela. That feeling that you had, leaving you speechless when I first entered, was part of my hypnotic abilities. It's a defense mechanism veelas can use, I use it when I first meet a potential client to ensure my safety. I can sense from young Aurora that she's a young sister. However, I don't feel anything from you, so it's only safe to assume that the girl gets her abilities from her father." Ella stopped speaking and looked around the room, as if maybe she'd missed someone when she'd first entered. "Will he not be joining us today? I only ask, because it's unusual for a veela child to not have both of their parents for our intake meeting."

"That relationship is complicated, however, I'm assuming there will be more appointments with you in the future. I'm sure he will surely want to be involved with her care going forward." Hermione attempted to explain without saying anything that might alert Aurora to her unease.

With a slight hum, Healer Ella jotted down a few notes on her chart and then dove into asking her own questions about Aurora. Hermione dutifully had already written out a lot of things that had been a bit out of the norm for a magical child and handed the parchment to Ella, getting an eyebrow raised and a 'you came prepared.'

She'd also asked on a lot of the traits that veela seem to poses and had marked those that Aurora was already demonstrating at her young age. Hermione had more notes written out involving this that she also handed to Ella, earning her a laugh from the healer.

Ella had a few questions that Hermione hadn't had thought to pre answer that Hermione rattled away as well as much detail as possible. When the topic of Aurora's genetics was brought up, Hermione explained her family history and simply said that she had no knowledge of the paternal history. Ella was kind enough to just say that they could come back to that at Aurora's next appointment.

When Hermione had mentioned that there was little to no information on veelas besides the very basics, Ella explained that it was because veelas were very private with what information was released to the public. That's why she was one of the very few veela healers, since no regular witch would have been able to get the information needed to be able to earn qualifications to treat veelas.

When Aurora was pulled into the conversation and the physical exam, Aurora had been skeptical of getting too close to the woman that felt too much like her. It was clear that Aurora was unsettled being near an adult veela, so Hermione couldn't help but ask why Aurora would feel this way. Ella suspected that it was because Aurora hadn't grown up with her parent that held the gene, therefore being close to another full veela was unsettling to her.

Hermione had explained that Aurora had been near family friends who were one fourth and one eighth veela with no issues. In fact, it had seemed that Aurora had been drawn into them and they her. Ella hypothesized that a full veela might be unsettling because the magical energy matching almost exactly isn't something that Aurora would be used to, while someone who is just part veela would be similar enough that it would only feel soothing.

Hermione furiously took notes as Ella did a few more physical examinations on Aurora and tested the extent of abilities she already had and how strong they were. Hermione couldn't stop the gasp when Aurora conjured with no effort a bright blue fire ball in the palm of her hands and handed it to a wide-eyed Ella as if it was a regular ball.

"It would be best if I saw her once every three months until she's seven, I want to track her magical core and her growth to ensure that she's not gathering too much power too quickly as she is on the smaller side for her age. I'd like to monitor how her body handles the growth of magic within her as she ages." Ella stated after she had completed all her observations with Aurora.

"Mummy, I'm hungry and thirsty. Can I get a cold drink?" Aurora, who had been wonderful through the entire appointment, was now pulling on Hermione's arm.

"Just a moment, Aurora please. Mummy just has to finish talking with Healer Ella and then we can go get a snack." Hermione promised the little girl, whose eyes had started to fill with tears.

"No mummy, I'm hungry now." Aurora stated, clutching her dragon a bit tighter and stomping her foot on the ground. "My tummy is hungry and I need a cold drink."

Before Hermione could respond, Ella quickly cut in, "we are on the fifth floor. There's a small tearoom right on the other side of the wall where there are a few snacks and drinks set out for children visiting the hospital. We can finish our discussion while she pops out there, do you think you could do that Aurora?" Ella turned from Hermione to address Aurora directly, making the girl smile and nod her head proudly.

"I'll come right back, promise." She said puffing her little chest out as if that would prove she was capable.

"Oh, alright, just there and back Aurora. Healer Ella and I will be right here. If you get lost just stay put and we'll come find you, alright?" Hermione asked her daughter. There were a handful more questions that she wanted to get through, and she knew that their appointment time was coming to a close. Without Aurora in the room, Hermione would be able to get through them easier. Aurora could handle going to grab a snack and a drink, right?

"Alright!" Aurora exclaimed and skipped out the door, dragging her dragon behind her as she went.

Hermione turned back to the healer getting back to her list of questions, confident that nothing could happen with Aurora going only a few feet away.

ooo

Aurora Jean

Skipping down the hall, Aurora noticed that she had dropped her dear friend, Dragon. "I'm so sorry Dragon, let me help you, we're going to get muffins and a cold drink, okay?" The tiny girl with the sweet voice said to her most valued possession.

Aurora didn't know why, but her dragon made her feel safe and she needed to keep him safe too. Whenever she was scared, if she held tightly onto her dragon then she wouldn't feel so scared anymore. He was her protector and she wanted to do anything that would make him happy because she loved him so much.

Aurora easily reached the snacks that strange woman had told her about. Only, they didn't have any muffins or a cold drink. Gran's house always had little packs with muffins and small bottles with water, why would this place not have her snack? They had boxes with straws and crackers. Yuck, no, no. That wasn't going to fill her tummy at all. Aurora was going to need to go looking for the muffins and cold drink that she really wanted.

Turning away from the disappointment, Aurora walked a bit further where she found a large space with long rows of chairs and a single man sitting alone in one of the chairs reading a newspaper. Aurora knew that it was a newspaper because her Papa read from one every morning and always showed Aurora all the pictures. Papa was so smart and knew everything and he always helped her with getting muffins and a cold drink, even if he was reading his newspaper.

This man didn't look like her Papa, but he felt familiar, even though Aurora was sure she didn't recognize this man. His hair, hm. Aurora pulled at a strand of her loose hair and looked at it. Oh, they matched. If he read a newspaper like Papa and had hair that matched Aurora's, then he would help her find her muffins and a cold drink.

Holding her dragon closer to her chest, Aurora took a deep breath and marched up to the man in the chair. "Hello, can you get me muffins and a cold drink, please?" The man looked up from the newspaper in his hands and looked, hm, Aurora thought, not happy. Oh yes, that's it! That's the look Gran gives Papa when he licks his fingers instead of washing them. The I'm not happy with you, Papa. Strange, this was the first time anyone had ever looked at Aurora this way.

Oh, his eyes are the same color as Aurora's too. Any other thoughts were brushed away at the realization of how much this strange man looked like her. "We match, see." Aurora climbed into the chair next to the silly man, who still hadn't said anything, and pulled her hair to hold it next to his to show him. His mouth was open, just like mummy's mouth does when she's thinking.

Aurora decided that this man was indeed, very silly. The way he felt to her was very much like Papa, Gran, and her mummy. They could be friends, if they all felt the same then they could be best friends. "Your eyes match me too. See?" Aurora opened her eyes as wide as they could go to make sure that he saw they were the same color and leaned closer towards the man's face to make sure he could see her eyes really good.

"Do you not talk? Louie didn't talk either." Aurora said to the strange, but silly man. Maybe he's shy too. Dragon always helps Aurora to be able to feel safe to talk to anybody, that's why she always had dragon with her.

"Do you want to meet my dragon? Here, he can help you talk if you're scared. Mummy always says that it's okay to be scared, because doing things even when we're scared makes us brave." Aurora held her dragon towards the man so that he could feel safe too and able to talk to her.

"What's your name? My name is Aurora Jean." Aurora had thought that maybe her dragon wasn't close enough to the man, so she crawled from the chair she was had been standing in and crawled into the man's lap between his arms so that her face was now close to his chest.

"Our skin matches, see!" Aurora's skin didn't even match with mummy, Gran, or Papa's, but that was okay. Her skin did match with this man's skin, and that was so exciting. Looking up into his face, Aurora gave him a big smile to make him happy. He looked like he needed to be happy.

"I like you; your shirt is soft." Aurora had been surprised at how soft the black robes he was wear were. "Mummy doesn't like wearing robes, but I like yours, they make you look like a wizard." The man still hadn't said anything, but that was okay. It was funny watching his eyes that matched hers blink slowly.

Aurora felt the familiar pull of her mother's magic, like a guide reminding her that she needed to go back and be with her. Reaching up with her small fingers Aurora touched the man's head and muttered "I like your forehead. Bye, bye."

Climbing down from his lap and onto the ground, Aurora clutched her dragon tightly to herself and waved goodbye to the man still watching her and ran off following her mother's magical pull until she was back in the room with the woman that felt like her and her mummy.

ooo

Lucius Malfoy

That girl, what did she say her name was? Aurora? The Roman goddess of dawn, a fitting name for a Malfoy. That child, with an American accent, looked exactly as Draco had when he was a small boy only with long curly hair. Lucius had very little doubt, he'd just met a daughter that his son had sired. She looked what, like she was about three, maybe four years old? Gritting his teeth, Lucius looked around the waiting area and realized that she had long since left.

Standing up, Lucius knew that he needed to find this child, Draco's child. That foolish and stupid boy, what had he done! Lucius had been positive that after the betrothal contract between him and Astoria had been signed that Draco had been smart enough to not give into lesser urges, but clearly, he'd been wrong.

Storming towards the gift shop, Lucius quickly searched for the little girl, Aurora. Where could such a small girl get off to? She was so small; she couldn't have gotten very far. Racking his brain, Lucius tried to think if he could think of any Americas that Draco had been friendly towards in the last few years.

There was that one woman, that he worked with at the ministry. She was American, could he have been so foolish with her? Possibly, Draco would sully himself with a mudblood, Lucius had no doubt.

That idiot boy, he went and fathered a child. Though, it was clear that Draco didn't know about her. If he did know, Draco wouldn't have hesitated legitimizing her and she would have shown up on the tapestry by now.

After searching for close to a half hour, Lucius concluded that he wouldn't be locating the child again today. Giving up, for now, Lucius strolled into the lifts and headed to the third floor where his brainless daughter-in-law was being kept. He was here to check on Astoria's progress, after all, as he'd only just been informed that she had overdosed on pixie dust, again. In the course of one afternoon, he had discovered his daughter-in-law was in a coma, he had a completely irresponsible fool for a son, and a granddaughter.

Entering the room, Astoria's healers were able to give him an update that was desolate. The drugs in her system weren't going to kill her, today, but with her continued abuse of the drugs along with her blood curse, there were going to be, complications. Complications that the healer was paid handsomely and the threat of being cursed to not reveal to his son yet.

Lucius swept away from the healer and to the private floo, where he went straight to his study and grabbed a bottle of Ogden's finest. Pouring the two-finger drink, Lucius took a deep pull from the glass as he thought over all the things he'd learned from his afternoon outing.

A/N: Okay, so now Lucius knows about Aurora, but not who her mother is, AND Hermione doesn't know he knows!

The Aurora POV is where this entire story was born from! Part of why I was so excited to get it into your hands. It came to me in a dream, and as soon as I woke up I quickly wrote it down because I KNEW that it could make a great story. Only there are a few differences in what the story has become versus my dream.

The dream was Draco standing at a vending machine in a hallway when a little boy that looked like him, only with curls came walking up to get a snack and then ran away without saying anything.

That was it. Then I spend an entire trip walking around my local zoo making a zillion possibly story lines. Some included Hermione owning a ranch, Draco and Astoria being married and close friends, Hermione living in Australia and Draco going on a vacation and running into them, ect.

However, I'm dramatic as fuck, and thus took my simple dream and turned it into this.

Next chapter is plot, sprinkled with fluff, with a touch of smut. Will be posted either tomorrow or Friday.