A/N: I was going to throw out three updates this week. I had the chapters all written out, just needing to edit them before publishing. What happened to that plan?

I have three kids, two that are home full time with me and one who got sick and had to stay home from school. *Insert sad face* Instead of doing any editing or writing more chapters, I've been getting COVID tests done and seeing the doctor more than I wanted to this week.

Thank you, insomnia, for allowing me to not only finish writing a chapter (one that went completely not as planned, but I fucking loved it) but also letting me get this gem edited and ready to be published.

Chapter 3, Obviously it's You

It was the first day of her new job and Hermione was running late. Well, not technically late because she was an hour early, but she wanted to be in her office well before anyone else came into work to avoid anyone noticing her. With her tote full of pictures, books, awards, and other trinkets she wanted to use to decorate her new office, Hermione was excited to get herself settled into her new office space.

At MACUSA, Hermione had spent so much time in the field that her boss hadn't felt that she needed her own office space. Along with two other researchers, they had shared a cramped room that they all used to write reports and file away any of their findings. It had never been too much of an issue, because in the five years she was there, Hermione could only think of twice when all three occupants had been forced to share the space.

Her office had been very bare and showed no personality of those who spent their time there to work. The most that Hermione had ever brought in was a picture of herself and Aurora at the magical zoo in Central Park from their visit when Aurora was two.

She knew coming back to the Ministry that Hermione was going to have her own space and be able to really make it what she wanted. The prospect excited Hermione a bit more than she had thought it would. Instead of constantly floating, she was going to be grounded and while it was different, it was a good different.

In the past few days, Hermione and her parents had made it their priority to taking Aurora to all the muggle attractions in London. They had managed to keep her so busy in the time that she'd been home, she hadn't seen or even contacted any of her friends. Well, besides seeing Theo that first day at the airport.

Because of this, there was no question in Hermione's mind that Harry, as Head Auror, would be popping into her office since they were now working on the same level at the ministry.

Riding the empty lift up to the second level, Hermione let out a sigh knowing that it was only a matter of time before word got out that she was back in England, and she was going to enjoy the peace before that storm.

As soon as the lift doors opened, Hermione swiftly made her way past all the cubicles that sat at the very front of the department for all the Magical Law Enforcement Officers that were had a few of the third shift officers still milling around, waiting for it to be quitting time. Further back sat the desks and dividers that were used by the Aurors, and turning left when she reached the wall that held the offices, she was excited to see that her office was at the very end. Being stuck in the corner was the perfect place for Hermione, seeing as she would rather not have people gaping at her while she tried to work.

Her office had cream colored wall paper and a window that showed a bright sunny sky. A large oak bookcase lined the entire left wall, with a large desk sitting in the center of the room with a chair for her and two guest chairs.

Opening her tote, Hermione started flicking her wand to arrange all her books, awards, trinkets that she'd found on her travels, and pictures that she had brought with her. When the last item, a picture of Aurora settled on her desk, facing out towards the guest chairs, she heard knock at her door, quickly followed by arms wrapping around her waist, lifting her into the air.

"MIONE! Merlin, I've missed you! Bloody hell, how long have you been here? Sorry I wasn't able to get ahold of you since you've been back, been in Russia for a bit, but never mind. How are you? How was house hunting? How's my sweet Rory? Uncle Harry has to see her, can you come over for dinner?"

Turning around to face her over excited best friend, Hermione's heart soared looking into the sparkling green eyes that were peering up at her. "I'm wonderful. My parents and I found a property that has two houses that we bought together. Aurora is fantastic, doing all kinds of accidental magic. We absolutely will be coming over for dinner, couldn't keep us away if you tried. Now, if you don't mind setting me down." Hermione couldn't help the laugh that escaped her at his enthusiasm.

"Excellent! This is absolutely brilliant, you being back in England. Lunch, yes? Obviously, we'll have lunch. We can keep it in my office, otherwise we'd have to go out and I'm not keen on sharing you today. They have improved the cafeteria food. Bloody Draco, once he started working here threw such a fit when he tried grabbing something to eat, he was able to get the ministry to funnel funds into updating it. Shite, well I have an eight o'clock, but lunch in my office. Love you Mione!" With one last hug and a wave, the whirlwind that was her best friend swept out of her office before she could get another word in.

Hermione had hardly settled at her desk when there was another knock at her door brought her eyes up from the form that she had just barley begun reading over. A young, tall and lanky boy with sandy hair stood in her doorway with a nervous look on his face. Hermione pushed down her aggravation and threw a smile on her face. No need to intimidate someone on her first day. "Hello, may I help you?"

"Er, yes, hello Ms. Granger. My name is Kenneth and I'm your assistant. I uh, just thought that I would introduce myself and uh, see if you were needing anything?" He couldn't be more than eighteen years old, but he reminded her much of Neville and that thought alone made her smile more warmly at the boy.

"It's very nice to meet you, Kenneth. I could actually use some coffee if you wouldn't mind fetching me some. No cream or sugar." With a nod, Kenneth turned and was out of her doorway without another word. Hermione turned back to the forms she was reviewing and never heard Kenneth when he entered to drop her coffee off or disturbed her when he was doing so. When she noticed the steaming cup, she gladly took a long drink, sighing to herself she decided that she would easily be able to work with Kenneth.

It took all morning, but Hermione had been able to finish reviewing her contract with the ministry and getting it all signed. As she gave the last flourish of her signature on the last page and a tap of her wand to send the forms straight to the human resources department, Hermione heard a loud knock at the door.

"I hope you're hungry, I went ahead and already got the food when I was on my way back from the courtrooms." Hermione couldn't help the smile stretching across her face as she got a second look at her best friend that day.

Standing up to following him down the hall to his office, Hermione eyed the brown sack that Harry was carrying with him. "Famished, what did you bring me?"

"Burgers, Theo is making roasted chicken for dinner, so I needed to even it out and make sure that I had a healthy serving of grease for lunch." Hermione couldn't help the laugh that escaped from her. It had been an ongoing battle since Harry and Theo had gotten engaged that Harry needed to "fuel his body with something besides junk food."

Hermione had been on Theo's shit list with being more than willing to sneak off with Harry to a muggle pub for a pint and cheese curds. When she had been living in New York, she and Harry would sneak off without Theo and go out for pizza. He always knew what they were doing, but Harry and Hermione liked to think that they really fooled him every time.

"I could only imagine Theo and Mrs. Weasley in the same kitchen together." Hermione commented as they entered Harry's office and held out her hands, excited for her lunch now that she knew what she was having.

Sitting down at his very cluttered desk, Harry's face turned crimson as he waved his wand to neatly stack the parchment into some sort of order, mumbling a "sorry" so low that Hermione questioned if he had even said it.

"Well, that would be, interesting." Harry laughed after they had organized their food on his now cleared desk, as he took a bit Harry closed his eyes letting out a moan. "Monday lunches are always the best because I don't have to eat a single vegetable."

"Hey, you liked the fried zucchini we got that one time!"

"Oh yes, as long as it's fried, best way to eat vegetables." Laughing again, the friends continued enjoying their lunch and catching up on all things that had been happening.

Harry told Hermione all about tracking the Death Eaters that had been in Russia gathering support and how he was having to send a team for surveillance. Dean Thomas and Alicia Spinnet were a couple of his best Aurors and Harry had full confidence that whatever there was to find that they would be able hunt it down.

With the Death Eaters gaining support, Kingsley had supported Harry's decision in wanting to crack down on a lot of the trafficking of illegal goods happening in Knockturn Alley. Hermione hadn't been shocked to hear that Mr. Borgin had been found with contraband, but the interesting part about what they'd gotten from their raid was he had what they believed was a ledger that was written in runes that no one had been able to decipher. Harry sheepishly let her know that he was going to trial soon and would be needing her to translate it to strengthen their case.

Hermione just waved her hand at Harry assuring him that it would be no problem for her to help on this case. And that in fact, that was what she was hired to do.

Finishing the last bites of her food, Hermione decided to broach the topic that she did not want to talk about in front of Theo and his damned Legilimency. "So, how is everyone? We never really talked about it, but still getting together with everyone? Ginny, Blaise, Draco, Pansy? Just wondering what Saturday nights might be looking like, you know, just to plan ahead."

Looking up at her, Harry gave her a wide smile shaking his head enthusiastically. "Of course, everyone, well besides Draco, but yeah. Pansy will occasionally bring a new flavor of the week, but no one steady. I swear that woman was groomed by her mother to be a wife and as soon as Pansy was on her own, she wanted to show her mom she's more than that and went in the opposite direction. Ron will sometimes come, but I mean, obviously if you don't want to see him, we don't have to invite him. I wouldn't want to make things awkward for you."

"I'm not surprised, Pansy's relationship with her mother was always complicated and she never seemed like the type who would want to settle down. Harry, Ron and I, we are long past our break up and, at least on my side, there are no more hard feelings. You don't have to make special arrangements just because of me." Ron Weasley hadn't been a sore spot in Hermione's world for a long time.

After Hermione had found out she was pregnant with Aurora, she knew that she was going to have to put the past with him behind her, because having a child with someone else (even if that someone else didn't know about said child) would make a future between her and Ron impossible.

Hermione and Ron had written some and once when she had come back home for a visit, the two of them had gotten together to make amends and give long overdue apologizes. It had been tense, it had been incredibly awkward, but it had been necessary. After Ron had found out about Aurora, he'd been cold and distant, but she knew that he had been in a few long-term relationships and no longer pinned for Hermione.

"But, um, I am curious, uh, why no Draco?" She really hoped that Harry would think that this was a casual conversation and not her wanting to know more about Draco's personal life.

"Well, after he got engaged to Astoria he stopped coming around. Theo said it was some pureblood rot about having to spend time with her, I'm not sure though. Honestly, when Theo starts talking about any pureblood rubbish, I can't pay attention. Honestly Mione, Binns is easier to stay awake for. I mean, Theo and Draco get together like once every few months, but he never comes on Saturdays."

"So, no Draco?"

"Um, yeah, that's what I just said. So, Saturday, I think Ginny and Blaise are supposed to be hosting this time. Eight o'clock, think your parents will watch Rory so you can join us?" Harry asked as he glanced down at his watch, brow scrunching in frustration as he saw the time.

"Oh, yeah, well she goes to bed at seven, as long as they don't have any plans then it should be no problem."

"Excellent! Well, I've got to go sit in another court hearing, so I better be going. Come round at six? See you then!" Hermione followed Harry's lead as he stood up from his chair and rounded his desk towards the exit. Giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, Harry was off towards the lifts.

Shaking her head, the entire way back to her office, Hermione's mind quickly wandered to making lists and sorting through all the things that she was going to have to work on this afternoon and in the rest of the upcoming week. Starting a new job was always difficult and not the smoothest while trying to find where you fit in the mix of an already established team, but Hermione was determined that this week wasn't going to be a waste.

Settling herself at her desk, Hermione hardly looked down at the work that she had yet to start digging into when another knock came at her door. Assuming it was just Harry again Hermione didn't bother looking up when she said "come in, have a seat."

Still focused on what she was reading, it was a few moments before Hermione realized that she hadn't heard someone enter or say any sort of greeting to her. Once she had finished reading the paragraph she was on, Hermione paused with her quill to looked up and see the one person she was not expecting to run into anytime soon.

Wearing charcoal grey dress robes, his pale skin stood out even more than usual, but his eyes looked like silver pools. He had just a bit of scruff on his face that hadn't been there the last time Hermione had seen him at Harry and Theo's wedding. His hair was slightly longer and styled so that it was swept to the side instead of falling in his face like it always had five years ago. She would have thought it impossible, but it seemed that he had also put on more muscle as he looked broader, taking up the majority of her doorway.

Merlion, did he look mouthwatering.

"Uh, Granger, hi."

"Draco." Hermione was so busy watching the man in front of her that she had to remind herself to breath when she started feeling light headed. "Hi, Draco. What can I do for you?" She quickly asked once she had snapped herself out of her daze, trying to ignore the fact that neither of them knew what to say to the other and the tension was so thick she could have cut it with a knife.

Now that her head wasn't spinning from lack of oxygen, Hermione remembered the picture of Aurora sitting on her desk. Reaching towards a stack of papers near the frame, Hermione knocked it over so that the frame was now face down and no longer showing off a little girl who look strikingly similar to the man still standing in her doorway. Holding her breath, Hermione was hopeful that he hadn't notice the movement, but Draco's observation skills had always been better than the average person's.

"I uh, I didn't realize you were back in England." Clearly coming out of his own shock, Draco moved into the office, not taking his eyes off her to even take notice of her desk.

"I haven't been back long. Today is actually my first day at work, so just trying to get everything set up and what I need to get working on."

"Well, I'm glad you're back. It's been a long time, you were in Canada, right?" He asked and she noticed that his eyebrow twitched just slightly. Nervous, maybe a bit agitated, Hermione wasn't positive, because this wasn't the Draco that she knew so well. This wasn't the same Draco that had been her friend that would sit up and drink wine with her and debate every topic they could think of until the sun rise told them they had stayed up much too late.

No, this Draco was different.

"The States actually, though I did travel to Canada a bit. It was really nice, MACUSA had me traveling all over the Americas, mostly in South America, but I did spend a fair amount of time in Canada too." Hermione had her hands folded in front of her waiting for Draco to continue, but when he showed no signs of saying anything else, she decided to fill the silence, because if there was one thing Hermione struggled with, it was the art of letting an awkward silence be.

"It was absolutely fascinating; we got to travel and go into different temples and see so many sights. I got to meet so many people and there were scholars everywhere who were more than willing to share their research and findings. Oh, and there was one library in Chili that we visited and the tomes were ancient. If it wasn't for magic they wouldn't have survived, but the magic preserved them so well. Still were delicate, but the history was all there.

"Canada was a whole other mess. There was a burial ground that their government had hidden, and that was a very long month, but luckily it was close enough to Staten Island that I was able to go home at the end of the day. I swear, Beth said I was the best roommate ever since I was almost never there and paid half the bills."

Hermione noted that there was a bit of tension in his shoulders, but Draco just let her keep talking and rambling about Beth, her boss, her coworkers. He didn't try to stop her, just interjected questions and comments where appropriate when Hermione started in on comparing MACUSA and the Ministry and the differences in the policies and laws that each government follow plus their similarities. Hermione hadn't been able to really talk to anyone about what she had gone through in the last five years. Harry, bless his heart had tried to pay attention, but she knew when he had reached his limit. Draco, on the other hand, was perfectly content to just let her keep telling him about – well everything.

Hermione remembered why having her innocent crush on Draco had happened. Once she'd gotten to know this new him and humble him, she realized just how easy it was to be around him. Though, since she was with Ron she had to temper down any of those unwanted feelings for Draco.

She also had thought that he wasn't interested in anything other than friendship with her. That was at least until Harry and Theo's wedding Watching Ron had hurt her so deeply that night, Hermione had thrown all the caution to the wind and let her body go with the flow with Draco and Pansy.

When Hermione had found out she was pregnant with Aurora three months after the wedding in the begging of November, she knew that she needed to tell Draco about the baby. Yeah, yeah, between the stress of the break up with Ron, moving to a new country, and a new job it was easy enough to brush off all her pregnancy symptoms and weight gain as stress. Her mother had not been very pleased to find out that it took until Hermione was well into her second trimester to figure it out. Two weeks after she'd found out, MACUSA closed for the week of American Thanksgiving, giving Hermione some time off to travel to England and tell Draco.

At that point with her being seventeen weeks along, Hermione knew that it was going to mess up everything between them, but she couldn't hold this secret from him. Or at least that's what she had thought.

Hermione hadn't actually told anyone about her pregnancy at that time, feeling that it would be best to break the news in person to Draco and the rest of her friends (not her parents though, at that time they were still on shaky ground and not seeing each other regularly).

She'd heard from Theo that Lucius had made a contract with the Greengrass family for Draco and Astoria to get married and that they'd gotten engaged at the end of August. The whole timing of her pregnancy announcement was going muck up Draco's whole life, but she wouldn't have wanted someone to hide her child from her.

As soon as Hermione landed at the designated international portkey landing spot in the Ministry, Hermione had thanked whatever deity that she was visiting home during the colder months so that she could wear a large coat to conceal her growing belly. She'd hardly walked into the Ministry atrium when she ran into Draco and Lucius Malfoy who were exiting the lift next to her.

Those stormy grey eyes felt her watching him, and Draco's face transformed from the serious mask that he had adopted while in public after the war to the warm and welcoming look that her friend always wore around her. Hermione couldn't help returning the grin to him. Lucius had quickly caught onto the pass between the two friends and had quickly escorted his son from her before Hermione could invite him for dinner.

Hermione had hardly made it out of the Ministry and onto the cobble street when she was pulled out of the view of the public and into an alley. Standing before her was a vicious Lucius Malfoy. His message had been made crystal clear. She was to stay away from Draco, she was not to interfere in his personal life, and if Lucius ever found out, he had the money and the political power to destroy her.

Knowing that it was not an empty threat and that Lucius could make good on any threat, Hermione conceded to him without a fight. She wasn't just looking out for herself anymore, oh if she had been she would have fought him tooth and nail, never letting up. However, knowing that she had the little wonder fluttering around in her womb to concern herself with, Hermione had simply agreed with Lucius and walked away.

She was fairly sure that Lucius didn't know about her pregnancy at the time he threatened her, but Hermione wasn't going to take chances that her child's paternal grandfather would keep his promises and destroy her and Aurora's lives.

She'd stayed with Harry and Theo the rest of that week and announced to them that she was expecting a child. She had thrown up her Occlumency walls to ensure that Theo didn't see any answers when the pair asked her who her child's father was. She'd simply shrugged and said she and her muggle roommate had gone out drinking the weekend following their wedding and she had a one-night stand with a muggle and she didn't think it important to get his name at the time.

Remembering Lucius's threat from almost five years prior, Hermione ceased her retelling of her life in New York City and cleared her throat. "Sorry, I still get a bit excited and overshare. Was there something you were needing, Draco? You came to my office and acted surprised to see me, so I'm assuming that you need me in a professional capacity."

"Oh, yes, I'm the prosecutor who's working the Borgin case. I was wanting to see if you could decipher the ledger and I also wanted to let you know that I'll be needing to call you to the stands as an expert witness once this case comes to trial. I don't know if Potter had talked to you at all about this case, but honestly Borgin is small peanuts here and we're trying to cut a deal with him so we can get his suppliers and up their chain of command.

"I was told that we were getting a new runes expert, and since Borgin's ledger is in runes then I'm expecting them to come into play some more through this whole circus that will be the next year as the MLE catches and brings cases to me to take to trial. So, I wanted to reach out early and establish a good working relationship with whoever was going to be my runes expert. I just wasn't expecting it to be you." Draco's eyes never wavered from her face as he spoke. He was sincere in his words in his want of having a good working relationship with her, but Hermione could read between his unspoken words. That was all it could be. They couldn't fall back into their old friendship, that ship had sailed when he'd gotten engaged and she had never bothered reaching out to him while abroad.

"Er well, of course. I'll connect with Harry so that I'm working directly on this case going forward to make it go more smoothly on your end. If you're needing anything just let me know." Hermione clasped her hands in front of her holding steady, reminding herself that the choices she had made were for the best.

Without another word, Draco gave her a nod and stood from her guest chair that he had been occupying for at leas the last hour, judging by her cold tea. His eyes flashed towards the face down picture frame on her desk, but made no comment before he had turned and walked out of her office.

Stupid, stupid, stupid girl.

Hermione knew that she was going to have to be more careful with her pictures that she kept in her office of Aurora. Removing them completely was out of the question, Harry would notice when he never saw anymore pictures of her and would question why she was hiding his pride and joy. Having them stay out in the open when Draco Malfoy could come walking into her office at any given moment was also not an option. She couldn't risk him seeing a picture of Aurora, their resemblance was much too similar, and Hermione had no idea if Draco remembered that night with her or not. Without that knowledge, Hermione couldn't risk him seeing his daughter. If he remembered, the pieces would fall much too easily into place.

No, Hermione was going to have to be much more careful and guarded going forward. Slumping back into her chair, Hermione wondered how she was going to get out of this mess intact.