A/N: Hello, a few days late. Don't mind me. We had a blizzard go roaring through here that shut down life for a good two days. Ended up deciding on day two that I was going to bounce and go day drinking with my neighbor, who also happens to be my Twilight marathon friend (I'm not even ashamed that marathoning Twilight on Labor Day is how we celebrate my daughter's birthday and Bella's birthday month). Well, it was so bright out, I ended up getting lost on my five block walk, to a house that I've been walking to for SIX years. *covering my face with shame*

Important chapter ahead! Narcissa is finally meeting her granddaughter! More notes at the end.

Chapter 25, Narcissa, Meet Aurora

The remainder of their trip seemed to pass by in a whirlwind Sunday morning. Draco, Hermione and Aurora woke up with plenty of time to spare and took off to do some casual muggle sightseeing and a mid-morning snack at a café before their portkey was scheduled to depart late morning.

The trip back to London went about the same as the trip to Paris. Aurora didn't throw up upon arrival, but from the squeeze being shot through time and space was such an odd and uncomfortable feeling that it again left Aurora miserable and crying as was to be expected of a child traveling by portkey. While she clung to Hermione, letting Hermione soothe her, Draco went off to find the milkshake to finish settling her after traveling.

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Draco asked once Aurora was calmed and set snuggly in her carrier on Hermione's back and sipping on her drink.

"Oh, well, not a whole lot. Probably play outside for a bit, but nothing that's set-in stone. Why do you ask?" Hermione said as she felt Aurora shifting on her back as they approached the floo.

"I thought perhaps I could bring you to the manor for lunch, to meet my mother. Well, officially meet her. She floo called me and let me know that father was going out of the country for the week and left early this morning. I uh, well, I already sort of told my parents about Aurora before we left, and she was wanting to meet her and thought without my father around would be the perfect time." Draco hadn't been able to meet her eye since he had started asking about his mother, and Hermione was grateful as the look of shock on her face wasn't something that Draco needed to see at that moment.

Of course, Hermione already knew that Lucius was aware of Aurora. Not that she'd told Draco about her conversation with Rachel before Borgin's trial. This was also the first that she'd heard Draco speak about his parents and what they knew about Aurora, and Hermione couldn't deny that she was curious how Narcissa Malfoy had taken the news that her married son had a child with someone who was not his wife.

It was a quick decision on Hermione's part. She'd learned her lesson the hard way that keeping anything from Draco was not the way to go in whatever it was they had going on between them. Taking a deep breath, Hermione looked down at her hands before speaking, "I sort of already know that your father is aware of Aurora and that she is our child." Hermione confessed, equally hesitant to meet Draco's eye as he had been to meet her own.

"You do? How?" He asked stopping her before they reached the floo. Without her needing to say anything, she could see when he shook his head out of the corner of her eye. "Rachel, of course. Anytime father comes to the office she eavesdrops, bloody nosey witch."

Hermione nodded in confirmation to his conclusion, because he wasn't wrong. Without another word, Draco held out his hand to help Hermione step into the fireplace to take her back to her house. As soon as she'd stepped out, Hermione moved out of the way to make room for Draco who was coming through behind her.

Safely back in the comforts of her own home, Hermione plucked Aurora from the carrier on her back and shooed the girl off to get washed up after their trip and travel. Bustling into the kitchen herself, Hermione didn't even look back at Draco, concerned at how he would feel that she'd kept from him that she knew that he and Lucius had discussed Aurora.

"Hermione?" He asked as he entered the kitchen, pulling her attention away from the kettle that she'd put on.

"I should have told you that I knew about your conversation with your father. I know this is the sort of thing that has driven a wedge between us in the past, and well, I got swept up in everything the last few days and didn't even think about my talk with Rachel." Hermione said keeping her hands down in front of her, nervously twisting her fingers. "I swear to you, I'm not trying to intentionally keep anything from you anymore, Draco."

"I'm not upset with you over this, Hermione. Rachel overstepped in telling you and not letting me talk to you myself. We had Borgin's trial and then I whisked you off to Paris and we knew that I was telling Astoria about Aurora to worry about as well. I should have told you sooner that I'd already talked to my parents about Aurora, I will be having a discussion with Rachel about when she should or should not involve herself in my personal life, not that she will listen, but still, you should have heard this from me and not from her." Draco said slowly walking towards her, as if he were approaching a skittish animal.

Looking up, Hermione met his gaze for the first time since he'd begun asking about Hermione and Aurora meeting his mother. "I know what happened last night, and we, Draco, I don't want us falling back into that place of miscommunication and I know I've hurt you by not telling you everything. I just, I like you Draco, more than I honestly should."

The shock in Draco's face was clear. He hadn't expected the conversation to take this turn, but Hermione wasn't going to hold back. Not anymore, she was tired of keeping things from him and trying to protect him from things that he had a right to know about.

"I don't just want to be a co-parent with you, and I know that after everything I've done by keeping Aurora from you and not telling you about your father's threats, it's asking a lot. But, it's the truth, Draco. I really like you, and I know you aren't even divorced yet, so maybe this is a bit forward of me, but I hope you can find some room for me in your life, and not just as Aurora's mother." Hermione said looking back up into his eyes, sucking in a breath when she saw the intensity of his silver eyes shining at her.

"Granger, you're –" Hermione didn't to find out what he was going to say, because just at that moment, Aurora came bursting into the kitchen.

"I'm ready! Mummy, where are we going?" Aurora asked skipping up to Draco and holding her arms up for him to lift her.

"I think, we might go visit your father's mum. What do you think, sweetheart, would you like to meet your other grandmother?" Hermione asked Aurora, who had wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and was playing with the hairs at the back of his head.

Aurora turned her silver eyes onto Draco, with a bit of a surprised expression, "You have a mum?" She asked him, making both adults laugh at her.

"Yes, I have a mum. She told me yesterday that she would very much like to meet you when I spoke to her." Draco said once he'd composed himself a bit.

"Alright, can we bring Missy to meet her too?" Aurora asked fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"No, I don't think we'll bring Missy, but she is expecting me for lunch so we will need to be going so that I'm not late. I never like to leave a lady waiting" Draco said after he finished laughing again. Hermione couldn't help but enjoy the view of getting to watch the battle of the wits between father and daughter. Hogwarts better watch out when Aurora Jean Malfoy arrived. They were certainly going to have their hands full with her.

Hermione flicked her wand and sent all their bags from their trip upstairs to unpack and they were ready to go. "Lead the way" she said with a flourish of her hand directing them back towards her sitting room and fireplace. She couldn't help the anticipation of what was to come from the conversation that Aurora's interruption had put on pause. It seemed that both her and Draco were on a similar page, and that was something that Hermione could work with.

Draco handed Aurora back to Hermione and let them know that he was going to go first to inform his mother that they would be joining their lunch and to follow behind him in a few minutes. Right as he was stepping into the fireplace, Hermione couldn't help but feel a bit of fear at the thought of returning to the Malfoy Manor. She hadn't even thought about going back there when she'd agreed to joining Draco and his mother for lunch, but now that he'd left and she was standing there clutching Aurora as if she were a life line, she couldn't stop the nerves that were coursing through her body.

"It'll be okay, mummy. I've got you." Aurora whispered into Hermione's hair, letting her fingers wrap around one of her curls.

All the nerves that were coursing through Hermione seemed to evaporate as she looked down into her daughter's eyes. This wasn't the same family that had tried to hand her, Harry, and Ron over to Voldemort when she was eighteen. This family now included the little girl wrapped in her arms and the man that she was falling very hard for. This wasn't just the house that she'd been tortured in, this was the house that her daughter's father had grown up in and had helped shaped him into the man he was today.

There was more good than there was bad, and Hermione knew that it was her job to look for the good instead of letting the bad dictate her life. Looking into her daughter's face, Hermione decided right then and there that she would do whatever it took to give her daughter everything she'd missed out on her first four years of life. Even if that meant setting aside her fears and stepping forward into that fireplace to meet Draco and Narcissa Malfoy for lunch.

"Alright baby, let's go meet your grandmother." Hermione whispered back to her before stepping into the fireplace and letting the emerald flames whisk her away.

Stepping out, Hermione looked up just in time to see Draco strolling back into the room with a wide smile on his face.

"My darling girl, oh how I've missed you!" He said to Aurora crouching down as she ran towards him, throwing herself into his open and waiting arms.

"You're so silly, daddy. You just saw me." Aurora giggled into his shoulder as she turned around and held a hand out to Hermione. "Come on, mummy. Grandma is waiting for us; I can feel her."

At that Hermione and Draco looked at each other, obviously neither of them knew what Aurora was talking about. Walking forward towards Draco and Aurora, Hermione reached out to take Aurora's hand when the girl straightened her spine a bit more and began to wiggle in her father's arms.

Not wanting to drop her, Draco set the squirming child on the ground and no sooner had her feet touched the marble floor, Aurora took off at a run out of the room. The parents both paused for only a moment to look at each other, before they both took off running after her, but even only being a few seconds behind her, they'd already lost her to the maze of the manor.

"You don't think she could get too lost in here, do you?" Hermione asked in a panic looking over at Draco.

"I grew up here my entire life and still managed to get lost on a few occasions before I was ten. Shit, I don't even hear her, Tipsy!" He called out and a small pop brought an elderly house elf in a navy suit standing before them.

"Master Draco calls Tipsy" the elf said with a croak in his voice as he bent over.

"My daughter just took off and I can't seem to find her, do you know where she might be?" He asked kneeling down so that he was eye level with the elf.

"Why yes sir, the young miss just entered the sun room where Mistress is awaiting you both to join her for lunch." Tipsy answered looking between Draco and Hermione who were both shocked to hear that Aurora wasn't missing or lost in the massive manor.

"Tipsy, hi, hello, if you don't mind me asking, are you certain that Aurora is with Mrs. Malfoy and that she's not lost wandering around the manor? She's never been here before and it's not that I'm questioning you or your magic, but I just find it hard to believe that she could have found Mrs. Malfoy on her own so quickly." Hermione said twisting her hands, even with the elf's assurance, she very much doubted that Aurora wasn't off lost wandering the manor.

"Oh no Miss. Granger, the young Mistress is with the Mistress of the Manor in the sun room, just as Tipsy said. Anything else Tipsy can be of service for? If not, Tipsy must be getting back to the kitchens." Tipsy said looking between Hermione and Draco, and when neither said anything, he nodded his head and with a quick bow was gone with a soft pop.

Draco instantly turned and headed down a hallway with Hermione hot on his heels. "Draco, where are you going? We need to be looking for Aurora." Hermione called after him as he turned left down another corridor.

"I'm heading to the sun room, if Tipsy says Aurora is there with my mother, then I don't doubt that she is. I am, however, curious how a child who has never been here would be able to find her way around. It's not exactly a straight shot." Draco said as Hermione hurried after him with his long strides.

Hermione didn't say another word as she continued to follow the twists and turns and up two different stair cases until they reached a set of glass French doors that were bright with sunlight. Hermione's heart was in her throat as she looked through the glass and saw in front of her a swirl of long white blonde curls moving around.

Pushing her way past Draco, Hermione threw open the doors and ran over to where Aurora was dancing and gathered the girl in her arms. Hermione didn't even try to stall the tears that were now streaming down her face as she held her daughter tight to her chest.

"Aurora Jean, you scared mummy, I didn't know where you were. You could have gotten lost or hurt and we wouldn't have known how to find you." Hermione was whispering into Aurora's ear while her body shook from the nerves that had taken over her.

"I wasn't lost, mummy. I could feel Nana Cissy, I just followed the magic." Aurora said pulling out of Hermione's arms and smiling up at her.

At the reminder of Narcissa Malfoy being in the room, Hermione looked up to find the most regal looking woman she'd ever laid eyes on. Draco had her same high cheek bones and full lips, but instead of the grey eyes that Draco had, Narcissa had the palest shade of blue she'd ever seen. She was wearing dress robes that perfectly matched her eyes, and her pale blonde hair was pulled up in a French twist. Large pearl studs were in her ears matching a string of pearls that laid along her collar bone. Hermione glanced down and winced slightly as she compared her well worn olive green romper with airy long sleeves and the same worn gladiator sandals that she'd worn when they'd left for Paris on Friday.

If she was going to be spending more time in the company of the Malfoy family, Hermione was going to have to invest a bit into her wardrobe.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy. It's very nice to see you again." Hermione said meeting the woman's gaze, noting a small lift at the corners of her mouth as she looked down from her seat at Hermione and Aurora.

"Miss. Granger, I'm glad you were able to join us for lunch. I must say, I was surprised when Draco came home on Thursday and announced that he had a child that he'd like me to meet. I never pictured such a rambunctious little girl. Very much like Draco was at this age, I'm not sure if you can imagine, but Draco always enjoyed being the center of attention." Narcissa answered, causing a shade of pink to rise up Draco's neck and face at his mother openly talking about his childhood.

"Mother." Draco said with a slight sound of annoyance in his voice as he walked over to where his mother was sitting and pressed his lips to her cheek.

"Draco, darling. It's so wonderful to see you. You told me that she was a veela, but she's an absolute marvel. Her abilities, I can feel the magic pouring off her. She's going to be such a powerful witch; I can already tell." Narcissa said looking down at Aurora with complete awe in her eyes, making Hermione smile. She took anything positive from Narcissa as a high compliment, it seemed that she didn't freely give out such high praise.

"So, you're the one who passed the veela gene onto Draco and Aurora?" Hermione asked, really looking at the woman for the first time. She could see how she closely resembled Fleur and her daughters, the particle veela magic mixed in her blood was apparent, now that Hermione knew what she was looking for. From the pale blonde hair to the blue eyes, and her unattested beauty, it was without a question that Narcissa Malfoy was part veela.

"Across the entirety of the Black family line there are a wide variety of dormmate abilities. For example, my niece, Nymphadora Tonks, was a Metamorphmagus. That's a rare magical ability that is known for only a few to possess. I now do wonder if there is some sort of correlation with having a child with a muggle-born that helps these gifts manifest. It is curious if any future children the two of you have will yield a similar result." Narcissa said with a straight face, making Hermione glad that she still had her face partly hidden behind Aurora's curls.

Draco, however, was not as lucky to be hiding behind anything and had taken that moment to decide to take a sip of his tea. Choking and coughing on the liquid, Narcissa looked over at her son with a raised eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by him.

"Now, come along you two. Ladies don't eat lunch on the floor. Tipsy!" She called with a clap of her hands and the same elf that had directed Hermione and Draco to where Aurora was waiting popped into the sun room.

"Yes, Mistress?" Tipsy asked giving Narcissa a low bow.

"We're ready for lunch to be served. Thank you, Tipsy." Narcissa said nodding her head slightly towards the elf, even making that small gesture looking elegant.

Hermione helped Aurora stand from the floor, the motion bringing Draco from his seat to pull out the chairs for both Aurora and Hermione. Aurora insisted that she was going to sit next to her grandmother, while Hermione sat across from Narcissa and between Draco and Aurora at the round glass table.

Lunch was served, and it seemed that Tipsy had taken into account the picky eating habits of a four-year-old when he'd prepared lunch. All of Aurora's favorites were spread out in front of her, making the little girl gleeful as she chattered next to Narcissa, hardly taking a breath between eating and talking. It seemed to Hermione that Aurora was prepared to take this single lunch to make up for the four years that Narcissa had missed in her life.

Hermione and Draco had both kept quiet, after Narcissa's suggestion about future children between the two of them, it seemed that it had shocked the pair into a bit of a silence. Not as if it were a question of if, but when.

Once the lunch plates had been cleared and they were all set up with a dessert, Hermione seemed to finally have found her wits again. Taking a sip of her lemonade, Hermione cleared her throat as she put together her thoughts.

"Mrs. Malfoy" Hermione started.

"Narcissa, please."

Pausing, Hermione shot the older woman a warm smile. "Narcissa, I'm afraid that it wasn't until recently that I realized of Aurora being a veela. I was wondering, well, she's obviously never been to your home before today and yet she was able to find you with ease. I was curious, if perhaps you knew how she was able to do that? She made a comment when she first met Draco that made it seem almost as though she just knew he was her father before she was told who he was. Do you have any insight?" Hermione asked setting her hands on the table in front of her, holding tightly onto her glass.

Narcissa took a moment leaning back considering her answer before she opened her mouth. It seemed that Narcissa, much like Draco, carefully thought through every word before she spoke, making the most impact with every syllable that passed their lips.

"How much do you know of veela, Miss. Granger?" Narcissa finally asked.

"Hermione, please. Not nearly as much as I should, unfortunately. As I said before, I wasn't aware of Aurora being a veela, not until I introduced her to Fleur Weasley and she felt the veela in Aurora." Hermione answered, quickly glancing at her daughter next to her, who was busy feeding leftover apple slices to her dragon.

"Yes, well there is very little recorded about veela. Most of what we do know come from personal journals that are usually only passed down from family to family. Veela as a whole tend to be a very private species." Narcissa said, also look at Aurora and giving the girl another adoring smile.

"A veela had the ability to feel a pull of magic for their family, if you will. The same occurrence, but more intense is said to happen once a veela fully manifests in their abilities, they will feel the pull for their mate to help them find each other. Now, there is some debate on if that pull can go both ways between a veela and its mate, but it's always much more pronounced for the veela themselves. The evidence being documentation of mates abilities to find their veela, but as far as grandparents and parents, there is little recorded evidence of that same occurrence ever happening." Narcissa finished now looking at Hermione with a stern mask back on her face.

Hermione could feel her eyebrows shoot into her hair line at this information. It really did explain a few things. As many times as Aurora had wandered off at the store, park, or wherever they found themselves out at, she'd never been lost. Hermione would always freak out, not being able to find her daughter, but then Aurora would just appear out of nowhere, not concerned in the slightest.

"Would she be able to feel my parents since they're muggles? You say a magical pull, but I'm curious if that would extend to my parents through her magic or mine." Hermione mused, not really asking anyone.

"I can feel Gran and Papa, and daddy, and mummy, Nana Cissy, and the man at the hospital." Aurora answered kicking her legs as she shoved another apple slice into her dragon's mouth.

The three adults at the table all stopped talking and looked down at the little girl. Draco quickly stood from the table excusing himself for a moment while Hermione and Narcissa shared a look, silently telling each other that they had a good idea who the man Aurora was talking about.

"Love," Hermione said looking at Aurora, "what do you mean the man at the hospital?" She finished meeting her daughter's gaze.

"The man with same hair as me. When I went to get a snack after we saw Healer Ella." Aurora answered easily looking back to her food and picking at the brownie in front of her.

"Was this the man with the same hair as you?" Draco asked reappearing behind them holding a picture of Lucius sneering at them.

"Oh yes, that's him. He was so funny. He was like Louie and didn't talk to me, but he felt like Papa does." Aurora answered before looking at Narcissa and asking, "Nana, can I go dance with my dragon in your flowers?" With a nod of her grandmother's approval, Aurora disappeared into the indoor garden and out of the earshot of the adults.

"So, he's known about her for weeks." Draco said looking over at Hermione and back to his mother.

"That must be what he had Tiberius looking into when you weren't in the office. Aurora has an American accent after being raised there, and he was very interested in Rachel and we found him looking around in her office that day as well." Hermione said with wide eyes looking into her hands, remembering that was the day that the threatening message had been delivered to her office.

"It seems, that we will have to look a little closer at this business meetings now. It is curious, what all does he know about her. And it's also concerning, what more he would be willing to do." Narcissa finished with her chin raised and looking out into her indoor garden where Aurora was now jumping and twirling about.

A shiver worked its way down her back. Lucius had been willing to sell his son, the one that he'd raised from birth, to be a death eater for Voldemort. What would he be willing to do to a half-blood granddaughter that he didn't know? Hermione dreaded that she might be finding out that answer all too soon.

A/N: Ohh shit, it's all coming together and the climax of the story is on the horizon. Alright here is my warnings, next chapter is the last bit of fluff and relationship building. After that, buckle down because something is coming (I'll include the trigger at the end of next chapter, don't worry).

Reminder, this is a happily ever after story, but things are going to happen before we get there.

Alright, next update (I swear I'm not lying this time because it's almost done) will be Friday NIGHT. I've got plans for Friday during the day, and I highly doubt it'll be ready by Thursday. However, if it is, I will post it early.

If you haven't checked out my story 'If Only', please do! I'm polishing up my next chapter on that will be posted on Wednesday and omg, I cried and hurt myself writing this next chapter for that story.

FINALLY, I now have a now. Same name, same picture. Should be easy to find. If not, well it is what it is.