Author Notes: FINAL PART – This part take place during the current timeline of AMB, it begins after Hermione returns home with her wedding ring from Draco. And then it shifts into two flashbacks of previous events. Italics represents all events happening in the present.

Disclaimer: See Part One

Summary: Hermione recalls returning Malfoy Manor and her final meeting with Draco.

Part Three

Hermione sat down alone in her parents' living room. She couldn't sleep. Settling down in the armchair before the fireplace she pulled out the ring that Draco had given her many years before. Knees up, her hands propped on top she stared at the diamond gleaming from the firelight.

"How could this have happened? I was only supposed to be gone a week." She whispered. She loved her children despite who their father was. It made no sense to her how … why she would ever leave her children. Even now nearly three years later she didn't understand how it could have been happened …

Hermione had just arrived back at the Malfoy Manor via the Floo network from her parents' home. Being dusty and dirty from the floo powder and chimney dust was not the look however, she wanted when she was finally reunited with her children. As she stood under the warm spray of the water she thought about how good it would be to see her children. She wondered how much they'd grown since she'd been gone. If they would remember her as vividly as she did them. Before she got buried under thoughts of missing her children she turned off the water and wrapped herself in a warm towel. Swiping the mirror dry with a wave of her hand she unclipped her hair and stared at the thick mane of waves that tumbled to her shoulders. Sighing she combed her hair until it was managble and placed it into a ponytail out of her face before returning to her room.

She reentered the room intending to go to her closet and pull out some jeans when a lamp suddenly came on with a pop revealing Draco sitting back in the darkness. The only bit of light was reflected in his fair hair which was layered on his shoulders gleaming in darkness.

"Merlin, Draco, you scared me." Hermione said clutching the towel to her chest. She relaxed a little when she realized that it was just him and went about getting her clothes. Going behind the Chinese shade she quickly pulled on her undergarments, dropping the towel to the floor. Then she pulled on her jeans and shirt. "Draco, what are you doing here?" She came from behind the shade.

"I didn't know a husband needed permission to visit his wife's bedchamber."

"He does if they don't share a bed." She answered watching wearily as he rose smoothly from his chair to the armoire still encased in the shadows. He was strangely quiet.

He looked down at her things. "So, how are your parents? I trust your visit went well?"

"Yes, it was wonderful. Although, I honestly didn't expect to be gone as long—,"

"Where did you go? I tried to contact you several times after you left and never received any response from neither my letters nor calls."

Frowning, Hermione walked around her room. "My parents took me to America, the United States for a-a vacation of sorts. I guess they thought I needed some time away from the Wizarding World. They wouldn't let me bring anything, not my wand or even parchment. I'm sorry I couldn't contact you. I—did anything happen?"

Draco turned at her question. His eyes grew distant, inward a strange smile if it could be called that. He crossed his arms. "I guess that depends really." He stared at her with eyes the color of liquid steel.

Pulling herself back from being lost in his eyes she asked, "On what?"

"Well, on whether, you consider the twins needing mediwitch important or not."

"What? What happened? Are the okay?"

"Ear infections and they're fine now."

"That's a relief. But, if you don't mind I'd like to see for myself." She said intending to head to the nursery. As she twisted the knob of the door, Draco's hand came up and slammed the door shut. "What do you think you're doing?"

"They aren't here. A friend is watching them for me."

She turned around annoyed that her children weren't home. "A friend? Just who is this friend?"

"Pansy Parkinson."

"How dare you let that woman near my children? She's more interested in getting you into bed than she is taking care of children. Unless of course you're already warming her bed."

"I don't think you want to go there Hermione. Unlike, you I was faithful to my marriage vows as false as they maybe." His eyes drilled through her with their silver gleam. "Yes, I know all about you and Potter."

Shaking her head, she tried to form the words to tell him what had happened. "It's not what you think. We aren't—Harry and I haven't,"

He interrupted her. "I don't bloody well care what you and that stupid git have or haven't done. You are the mother of my children, the children you claim to love yet abandon to go gallivanting off with Scarhead Potter. Five months. Five bloody months Hermione you were gone and never even bothered to check in just once to see about their welfare. Not once." Draco said in a quietly angry voice surprising himself at how civilly he was handling this.

"I didn't abandon them, Draco. I promise you I didn't. I was only to be gone a week no more. It was never my intent to abandon them."

"It's a shame then, isn't it Hermione that your actions speak louder than your words. You never wanted to be married to me nor did you expect to have my children. But, you did both and now you must deal with the consequences."

"What does that mean? Draco, what are you talking about?" Hermione asked scared by the quiet tone of his voice. From the brief period of time they'd had been married she'd seen him various stages of anger even while they had been plotting to destroy Voldemort. He was at his most dangerous when he outwardly appeared to be unaffected. And throughout the turbulent times at war she'd seen him strike down the enemies with a deadly blow all the while seemingly unaffected. Unconsciously she pressed herself back against the door.

"I've decided that it is time to end this sham of a marriage. I'm having it annulled. The children, are mine, they will remain my custody." He stepped away from her and moved to the closet where the doors opened and out rolled two suitcases to his feet. "It's ironic that you selected today of all days to return. As of today, Hermione Malfoy no longer exists. I've taken the liberties of having your belongings packed. You can leave when you're ready." He moved to leave going out the door.

Froze in shock by Draco's revelation she jumped into action grabbing his arm. "You can't do this, Draco. They're my children too."

"Correction, they were your children before you abandoned them. Now, they are mine. You are not worthy enough to be their mother in my eyes you are dead." He pulled her hand off his arm and looked down at her with no emotion in his eyes. "Get of my home; you are no longer welcome here. I'm warning you, stay away from my children." With that he left her in the room.

For several months, following her impromptu annulment she tried everything she could think of to gain access to her children from Draco but nothing she did seemed to work. He rebuffed her efforts at every try. Until finally one day she stopped trying. She even avoided looking at Witch Weekly so she wouldn't have to see pictures of them without her. She recalled the last time she'd seen him …

They had agreed to meet at the hotel bar in London. She suspected it was because he wanted to ensure she wouldn't be able to see the children. They were going to turn one year old the next day and he wanted this cleared up before then or so he said the last time they talked. So here she was strolling into the hotel bar to meet her ex-husband and the father of her children. She spotted him sitting in the darkest corner of the bar dressed as per usual in all black. His hair was longer then it had been the last time she had seen it, it reached just below his shoulders and was currently framed around his face.

Clutching the strap of her purse she walked over to the table and took the seat opposite him. Her hands settled in her lap.

"I hear that congratulations are in order."

"What?" Instead of answering Draco merely waved a hand his left hand in the air. "Oh. Yes, Harry and I are engaged." She silently waited for a reaction from him but there was none.

"I heard about it. But, that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm sure you asked me here for a reason," Draco prompted not wanting this meeting to go on any longer than was necessary.

"You're quite right. My impending marriage to Harry and our current situation has made me realize some things about myself that I'm not quite proud of. And I feel the need to clear the air so to speak before I get married."

"I don't think there's anything between us that needs to be clarified. I married you to keep Voldemort from killing you. We had sex and you got pregnant and had the twins, left me and started an affair with Potter. We got marriage annulled and now you're engaged. It seems pretty simple if you ask me."

Hermione frowned. "You make it sound so cold and calculating."

"Well I see no reason to romanticize or overanalyze our prior relationship. And it's not like I have the time what with Elana and Ariel running around. So bearing that in mind would you get to the bloody point Hermione."

"I-I wanted to tell you that I never meant to hurt you or the children. I was overwhelmed honestly. All my life, I've been Hermione Granger, a know-it-all, best at everything I've ever tried. And then suddenly I was someone's mother. I thought after I had them that everything would come to me naturally. That I would automatically be a good mother but … I wasn't. I couldn't even get the twins to feed from me at first."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Spare me your tales of the trials of motherhood. I was there remember. The trouble feeding only lasted an hour. After that they had no trouble getting the nourishment they needed from you."

"I know. But, still … the point is that I just don't have that mothering gene that other women seem to have. The children could tell that's why they never reacted to me the same way they did to you. I would struggle for hours to get them to sleep and then you would come in and all you have to do is hold them in your arms and they calm down instantly."

Draco wanted to tell her that the children calmed easier when he held them because they could feel the vibration of his voice and it reminded them of the womb, but he didn't. "Hermione, it takes time to get those responses. Didn't you think I was scared as well? I'm an only child and the only children I've ever known are the twins. But, I took the time to learn what they needed and you could have learned too if you hadn't run away like you did."

"I suppose you're right. But, I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not meant to be the mothering type. Maybe, I never was meant. Before all this happened I never intended to have children."

"And now?" He prompted.

"And now I realize that I'm not cut out to be a mother. It's not something I can do well at all. So in a way I guess I'm glad that the children are with you because I know they will have a full-time parent who loves them."

"What happens when you and Harry decide to have children then?" Draco asked not believing that this was the same woman who for months tried everything short of announcing to the world that she was the twins' mother to see her children.

"Oh it's not just with our children. I mean children in general, I don't want any and Harry understands that it's just not going to happen. It's nothing personal Draco, truly it isn't. Which brings me to the reason I've asked you to meet with me, I wanted to request that you never tell the children of me. Ever."

Draco drained the wine he'd been drinking. "Let me get this straight you want nothing to do with children? Absolutely nothing, no contact ever?"

"I-I just want to have a clear chance with Harry with no baggage or secrets weighing me down with this marriage. No baggage, no children, no you." She pronounced slowly and smiled.

Draco stared at her in amazement. He couldn't believe this was the same woman he'd spent years with fighting against Voldemort. The same woman who had his children. But, then he realized that she was also the same woman who walked out on his when the children had been barely a month old. Placing his glass back on the table he stood up. "Whatever you want Hermione. No problem, No baggage, no children, no me." He turned and walked away from the table his long swirling around him she called him back.

"Wait take these, they're birthday gifts for the twins. Think of it as a farewell parting gift." She took two small boxes out of her purse and handed to Draco.

He took the boxes without word and left the Muggle bar. …

Rocking back in the chair she thought back to that last meeting with Draco she didn't know what happened. She didn't know how she could have said all those things to him. To tell Draco that she didn't want their children. It just didn't make sense. Sure, she remembered being there saying the things she did to him but it was like someone else had control of her body as though she were watching everything happen from someone else's eyes. But, that couldn't have happened? Could it, could someone have taken control of her body without her knowledge. And if someone did what would they have to gain from it?

Alright, that's it just tell me what you think good or bad, feedback is greatly appreciated!