Authors note: Disclaimer Blah blah blah I own nothing and it makes me really sad. To mate up for my last chapter this one is quite long. I hope you all enjoy it. Again, I'm starting to feel neglected here guys. I know I have some people who are really enjoying my story or at least like the premise but I would love to actually hear from you. Hell at this point I would take the harshest criticism if it meant someone was sharing their opinion. If this keeps up I just might lose interest in sharing this story with all of you.

Chapter 8

Hermione arrived home an immediately began pacing in hopes of burning off some of her excess nervous energy. So what if Blaise wanted to talk? He obviously hadn't told Draco and that was a relief. He definitely knew about Gemini, but she doubted he knew about Aries. What on earth did he want to talk about with her?! She closed her eyes and took a deep cleansing breath. It didn't matter. It couldn't matter. She would show up and explain all her reasoning for not telling Draco about Gemini and Blaise would see the reason and agree to keep his findings to himself.

"You are a strong independent woman who has raised two amazing children without a man to hold your hand and you certainly don't need one now. You are going to throw on something comfortable but practical and get this whole mess sorted out because you are Hermione Granger and you are in the right," with that self-pep talk Hermione ambled into her room and searched for something appropriate enough for a night out at a bar but still conservative enough that Blaise would know she meant business. Finally, she settled on a navy blazer over a golden tank-top and a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. After dressing she quickly apparated to the Gilded Serpent so she could get a drink to help steel her resolve before Blaise arrived.

Blaise watched the main entrance of the Gilded Serpent from a booth in the darkest corner and just as he suspected Hermione showed up a good 15 minutes before she was supposed to. Always the early bird. Blaise chuckled lightly to himself as he observed Hermione order herself a drink and quickly glance at the tables around her in search of him. Blaise wasn't sure if he was going to be able to convince Hermione to come clean to Draco herself but as the guys best mate he had to try. The minute he laid eyes on Hermione's daughter he knew that she was Draco's. That blonde hair was a dead give away and she seemed to be a very well blended mix of the two. Alright time to face the lioness.

Hermione took a long pull from her fire-whiskey and embraced the sharp burn of the alcohol sliding down her throat. She could feel her faculties returning to her as her stress level lowered slightly due to her being earlier than Blaise for once. One of their many inside jokes was on how they seemed to be in a constant battle to be the earliest to any given gathering. Blaise had almost always been able to beat her by at least 20 minutes much to Hermione's displeasure.

"You're always thinking so hard Granger. Even with a drink in your hand you can't seem to find a way to relax and enjoy it." Blaise's silky-smooth voice sent sharp streaks of fear and anxiety shot through Hermione and she barely managed to stop herself from jumping at his sudden arrival.

"Merlin, Blaise are you trying to give me a heart-attack?" Hermione snarled turning to face him and making sure that her hair hit him across the face. Blaise just shrugged and gave her a patented Slytherin smirk.

"Four to one Bookworm. You should know that I'll always be earlier then you. But enough pleasantries I have a table in the back and the proprietor of this establishment will make sure no one gets close enough to overhear our conversation. To most people we will just look like a couple on a date in a dark secluded corner," Blaise told her as he grabbed her free arm and slid her hand into his intertwining their fingers.

He briskly walked back to his earlier table practically dragging his slightly stunned partner. Upon arriving at the table Blaise released her hand so he could pull out her chair. Hermione just gazed at the chair trying to figure out if she wanted to do this. Could she really have this conversation with Blaise and trust that he wouldn't tell Draco. Her heart squeezed out a painful fear-filled beat as Hermione struggled against her raising hysteria.

"Sit down Granger because I'm not having this conversation while you tower over me. I have more fire-whiskey if that will help," Blaise kept his tone casual, but he was worried Hermione was going to call his bluff and take off without letting him tell her anything. Hermione took a deep settling breath and sat down in the offered chair. She downed her first drink and grabbed the bottle and filled her glass again waiting for Blaise to start.

"I should've known you wouldn't make things easy on me. *Sigh* So obviously your daughter is Draco's and I want to know why he doesn't know. I mean I know everything ended kind of harshly between you two but Granger he never would've abandoned his child. Also if you think he would be anything like Lucius you should have seen him with Scor. He did everything with him from nappy changes to play fighting. He even pretended to be your little friends when Scorpius went through his Hero Harry faze,"

"Wait Draco's son went through a Hero Harry faze? Oh, Draco must have hated that," Hermione let out a peal of laughter at the thought of Draco pretending to be Harry to appease his son and at the same time she could feel tears prickling in the corners of her eyes.

"Yea he definitely hated it but that's the kind of father he is. He deserves to know Granger. Hell, you've already robbed him of 11 years how many more do you think you can keep her hidden? Especially now that our children are now friends and Scorpius is in your daughter's year. I know things were turbulent between us towards the end, to say the very least, but I would've been there for you. You were one of my best friends Granger and then when everything went down you just shut me out of your life entirely," Blaise fought down his anger at her previous actions.

He had tried for weeks after Draco's wedding to reach out to her and make her see that Draco hadn't had a choice in marring Astoria and that no matter what happened he didn't want to lose her as a friend. After so many countless owls sent back with unopened letters he finally admitted to himself that he had cared more about their friendship then she had. Now that he knew about her daughter it put things in a slightly, no less aggravating, different way.

"Zabini you don't get to come here and dictate my life, okay? I have been doing just fine on my own and Gemini is an amazing child through no input at all from Draco. You ask how long I think I can keep this up? As long as I can. As long as I can because he doesn't deserve to know. He doesn't need to have his life muddled by the mud-blood whore who almost cost him a decent marriage to a good pure-blood wife. I tried once to tell Draco, and do you know what he did? He left me standing in the rain and expected me to spill my soul while he couldn't even have the decency to let me in. So, no Zabini I don't owe him anything. I haven't robbed him of anything except perhaps having to pretend to care about my children," As soon as the words were out of her mouth Hermione slapped her hand across her mouth. She hadn't meant to mention that she had more than one child. Shit! Alcohol and serious conversations do not mix.

"Children? I thought you just had the one. Also, what in Merlin's saggy tits is her name I'm growing agitated at calling her your daughter or her," Blaise demanded trying to keep the fact that his head was spinning with this new information under wraps. Children…gods she must have had twins or wait had she really met someone else? Did she have a second child with another man? Was she involved with someone? Draco would act like it wouldn't affect him if she was, but Blaise knew it would ruin his friend.

"No, I'm not willing to share any more personal information with you Zabini. Look everything has been going fine for me and my daughter. I don't want to mess her life up with the hurricane that is Draco Malfoy. You know he would pretend to want her and build up her hopes and dreams only to toss her aside like yesterday's garbage and I refuse to let that happen to my daughter. Draco has his own life with his lovely wife and his son. There's nothing he could possibly want from me and there's nothing I want or need from him," Accept maybe his love the treacherous voice in the back of her mind pointed out.

Blaise was very annoyed at this point because as much as he wanted to correct her he also knew it wasn't his story to tell. It really hurt him to watch his best friend endure the consequences of his choices, mainly Astoria, but Draco was going to have to man up and tell her himself. "Look Granger there are a lot of mitigating factors that you don't understand about Draco's situation. I would love to explain it all to you sweetheart but it's not my tale to tell. And if I'm being honest neither is the parentage of you daughter. I would however like to meet her and maybe catch up for real? I have missed you bookworm and I think you might have missed me a little bit too," Blaise knew he was playing with fire here but he really had missed her, AS A FRIEND, and if keeping her secret would get that friendship back he was willing to keep it. After all those three troublemakers were well on their way to inseparable and that meant Hemione's dark secret was bound to come out soon rather than later. He could be patient, after all he was a Slytherin.

Hermione looked at Blaise critically as she tried to decide if she believed him or not. Finally, she let out a sigh of resignation that was only half faked because she had missed him greatly as well. "I suppose we could catch up on our working lives, but I am not ready to discuss my family with you yet. You have to earn that trust back Blaise and you need to keep your mouth shut about my daughter." At the use of his first name Blaise's face broke into a huge grin as he began nodding furiously.

"Of course, Hermione, would you like to catch up now or do you really have an early morning meeting?" Blaise asked with crooking one of his eyebrows at her. Hermione just clinked their glasses together and took a giant swig.

"Lets get drunk and catch up. I don't have anyone to go home to anyway." She pointed out in an overtly cheery tone. Who cared if she was late to work tomorrow? All she had to do was go over some paperwork and that could easily get sent to her via owl.

Draco was still stressed from finding out his father was being released so he hadn't made any comments during the meeting with McGonagall except to apologize for his son's actions. Astoria had raised a huge stink about why Scorpius was even there of course as he hadn't directly done anything besides sitting by an undesirable, her words. But now they were back at Malfoy Manor and Draco was trying to figure out where they went from here.

"Good evening Draco," Lucius's cold voice sent a shard of ice right into Draco's magical core. He whipped around searching for his father who was seated in his favorite armchair sipping a glass of red wine. "I like how you've kept the Manor the same way it was when I left. Now where is your mother I need to speak with her about how we left things after I was incarcerated."

"I am not telling you anything about her. She left you remember?! You refused to help yourself or us by stating you stood by everything you had done. Your side lost the war remember! if you really loved us you would have turned in every death-eater you knew. I am the head of this house now and I want you out. NOW!" Draco raged furious beyond words that his father. It had been close to 11 years since he and his mother had washed their hands of Lucius. That was because Lucius had joined back up with a group of remaining death-eaters and tried to take over the ministry again. This led to him getting sent back to Azkaban where, if you asked Draco, he still belonged.

"Are you finished with your little temper tantrum? If not I can wait for you to storm off to your room as you so often did as a child. I would however prefer to have an adult conversation with you about how we can rectify that inconvenience. I am your father and, as I am not dead, I am still the head of this house," Lucius stated carefully placing his drink down on his marble coaster. His son was playing a very dangerous game if he thought that Lucius was going to stop before he got everything he wanted. He had gotten rid of that mud-blood easily enough and it would be pertinent for Draco to remember that.

"Father I will not now nor ever give you any say over my or any of my family's lives again. I have my own son to look after now and I refuse to give you any leverage over him. I would like you to leave my home. I'm sure one of you friends will be willing to house you while you get back on your feet. I hope you enjoy this down time because I don't know anyone who's looking for a dried-up death-eater with delusions of grandeur. I'll keep an ear out for you though," Draco sneered pulling his wand and pointing it at his father.

Lucius sneered back at his son getting fed up with his petty antics, so he attempted another avenue. "Draco put that away before you hurt yourself. Astoria surely you have no issue with me staying. I mean Draco has really run down this great family's name. Consorting with mud-bloods and blood traitors. I almost had a heart-attack when I heard that he was expanding into the muggle markets with Malfoy Inc. It may have been profitable, but it sends the wrong message for an upstanding pure-blood family such as our own to be associated with such hokum," Lucius stated meeting his daughter in law's gaze with a menacing glint in his eyes.

Astoria instantly went stiff as a board and her breathing increased under Lucius's steady gaze. "Well I-I-I we don't want to be rude Lucius but uh this is Draco's house now and if-if he says you need to leave then that's just what has to happen," She stammered trying and failing miserably to appear poised and determined. Ah, so she still hadn't told him her little secret then. Good that meant he still controlled at least one variable in this household. Yes, she had definitely been the right wife for Draco. Pretty enough for society and yet so easily controlled when one had something over her.

Draco was eyeing his wife suspiciously because he had never seen her so flustered. While she was normally quite pale she now was closer to sheet white then alabaster and had a frantic edge to her demeanor. It was almost as if she were afraid of his father. Draco tightened his grip on his wand and went into a fighting stance. His father was an amazing duelist, however Draco had been training since Lucius was sent to Azkaban, so he was confident in his ability to take him down.

"Leave now or I will stun and tie you up before call the Auroras and have you arrested for trespassing. I won't ask again." Lucius noted the determined gleam in his son's eyes and knew he was serious. With a sigh of indignation Lucius rose to his full height and nodded.

"I'll leave for now but remember what I always told you Draco. A Malfoy always gets what he wants." With those words and a sharp crack Lucius was gone. Draco nearly collapsed with relief and he turned to Astoria.

"Thank you for standing by me." Astoria barely glanced at him, let alone recognized his words, as she quickly left the room and headed to her bedroom. Draco just brushed off her peculiar behavior and poured himself a stiff drink. Tomorrow he would worry about his father because tonight he knew his thoughts would be filled with Hermione and why her daughter, at least that's who he assumed had been with her, felt so familiar to him.

Author's questions: So prank ideas for the kids? What's Astoria's secret? What's Lucius's big play and how did he break up Draco and Hermione in the first place? Should I try and fit everything in one book or should I do a series? I would love to hear your thoughts! R&R Lots of Love Jatzogirl