Here it is. I don't think this will be the last chapter, and hopefully it won't be. I don't own lotsa stuff!

Chapter Five

"Mommy, can I go play on the playground?"

Hermione looked up from her book. "Sure honey. Just be careful."

"I will Mommy," Lily replied as she ran to the swing set, her long blonde hair trailing behind her.

"Cute kid," came a voice from behind Hermione. She turned around on the bench.

"Draco Malfoy," she said in a cold voice. "What do you want?"

"Just one simple thing. My daughter," he said, smiling evilly.

"What are you talking about? You're married to Parkinson. Doesn't she have your children?"

"Yes, she does have my twin sons. But she's been dying for a daughter, so I've come to take mine," he replied. Hermione stood up, putting her book on the bench.

"Who are you talking about?" Hermione asked, getting slightly nervous.

"Why, Lily of course," he replied, putting one hand on the back of the bench, leaning slightly.

Hermione shook her head slowly. "No. Lily's my daughter. She's Harry's daughter." What she had dreaded to hear was finally happening. She tried to stay calm, even though her insides were twisting and turning.

Malfoy smirked. "I thought you didn't remember! You got so drunk that night. But I remember it clear as a bell."

"No!" Hermione said, fighting off tears. "NO!" She's Harry's! It was Harry! I may not remember the night, but I sure do remember the morning after. It was Harry sitting on the bed, not you, Malfoy!" she retorted, just loud enough so that Lily couldn't hear.

"Ever heard of a polyjuice potion?"

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand. "It's not true." She was determined not to cry or make a scene in front of Malfoy. She couldn't let him win.

Malfoy let out a chuckle. "Have you ever wondered why she looks like me?" Hermione looked over at Lily, who was playing in the sandbox, facing away from them. Hermione laughed a little.

"I had no idea you saw yourself as a three-year-old girl," she said, raising one eyebrow and crossing her arms.

Malfoy got enraged. "That's not what I meant! How do you explain a blonde girl from a mother with brown hair and a father with black hair?"

"Well…" Hermione stammered. "My mother has blonde hair," she lied.

"No she doesn't. I saw your parents in Flourish and Blotts the summer before our second year, remember?"

"What does it matter what you say anyway? Lily is legally Harry's daughter, since it's what it says on her birth certificate."

"But birth certificates can lie, you know."

"But why?"

"Why can birth certificates lie?" Malfoy asked slowly, as if hearing Hermione's question wrong.

"No. Why did you sleep with me on Halloween?"

Malfoy smirked evilly. "You were the most vulnerable. Being a goody-two-shoe and all, you have never had alcohol. So, naturally, you got drunk the fastest. Besides, I thought it would be fun to ruin your life for you."

"So you wanted to ruin my life? Well, you failed. Having Lily was the best thing that's ever happened to me. For once I actually knew what I wanted to do with my life. So if you want Lily for whatever purpose, you're not getting her!" Hermione screamed. "I'm taking Lily home, and if you ever lay a hand on her, I'll kill you, Malfoy. Don't think I won't!"

Hermione took her book and stormed over to Lily. "Come on Lily, it's time to go home."

"Why mommy? We just got here!" Lily's cried. Hermione scooped her up.

"Because I have to go make dinner, silly. You want to eat, right?" Hermione asked jokingly.

"I guess," Lily replied, laying her head on Hermione's shoulder.

'I never really noticed how her eyes are a cloudy brown, or how blonde her hair really is. Oh God, what am I going to tell Harry?' she though as she carried Lily along the main road in Hogsmeade. Hermione came to their apartment and put Lily down. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and opened the door. Harry was there, sitting at the kitchen table.

"Daddy!" Lily shouted as she ran over to him. She flung her arms around him, and he lifted her into his lap.

"Hello, Lily. How's my favorite little girl?" he asked, smiling.

"She's fine. How is Daddy?" Lily asked, her voice small and sweet.

"Daddy's okay, but he has to talk to Mommy, okay?" Harry asked, speaking in the third-person. He looked at Hermione and she nodded.

"Lily, honey, why don't you go and play with your toys?" Hermione suggested. Lily hopped off of Harry's lap and ran into her bedroom, out of sight. "What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry was clearly worried about something. He cleared his throat. "I got a letter from Ron today."

Hermione gasped. "What did it say?"

"Here…maybe you should read it," Harry said uncomfortably. He pulled a small brown envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione. She sat down and opened it.

Dear Harry and Hermione,

Hey! It's Ron! How are you? How's Lily doing? She must be three now, right? What does she look like? Please write back. I'm sorry about what I did. I let my feelings get the better of me. You have to understand. I'm very sorry if I did anything to hurt you.

Ron

P.S. No hard feelings?

Hermione threw the letter onto the table. "I can't believe that he would actually dare write us! After what he did!" she exploded.

"Whoa, Hermione! Calm down. It's not that big of a deal. I just thought you might want to know," Harry replied, trying to keep Hermione's voice down.

"You're right. Okay. I'm good. I'm cool," Hermione said, taking a couple of deep breaths. She calmly put the letter back into the envelope. She sighed deeply. "I should get dinner started."

Harry went into Lily's room while Hermione looked in the pantry to see what they had for food. 'Let's see,' she thought, rummaging through the various boxes and bags. She found a couple boxes of macaroni and cheese. 'Perfect.'

She put a pot of water on the stove, deciding that traditional cooking tasted better than magical cooking. She set the table and latched Lily's booster seat onto one of them, making sure that the buckles were secure.

While the water was heating, she walked over to Lily's doorway, where Harry was tickling Lily. Both Harry and Lily were smiling and giggling. Neither noticed her there, and she was glad for it. Hermione watched Harry as he played with Lily. 'He's so happy. How can I ever tell him?' Hermione thought silently as tears once again were at the brim of spilling.

She ran in to check on the water, and poured the pasta in. She opened the refrigerator to pour out a sippie cup full of milk for Lily. She also poured two glasses of butterbeer, for Harry and herself.

"Harry, Lily, dinner!" Hermione shouted, draining out the pasta. She put in back into the pot and added the cheese, some milk, and some butter.

Harry lifted Lily into her booster seat and buckled her in. He took his seat at the square table across from Lily, because Hermione insisted on sitting next to Lily every night, which was fine with Harry, because he would rather watch Hermione try to help Lily eat food anyway. He loved the way that even though she was so young, being only twenty, she still had all of the right instincts when it came to parenting.

Harry thought that maybe, just maybe, he had fallen in love with Hermione. She was always so sweet, and smart, and even though she made some mistakes, she still was confident that everything would work out right. He didn't even care that she was pretty, even though he thought that she was gorgeous, with her ringlets of hair that bounced around when she was happy, or were pulled back into a loose pony when she was stressed. He loved her eyes, and the fact that you could always tell exactly how she was feeling just by looking into them. But most of all, he loved her smile, and how it seemed to brighten up the darkest of times, no matter what.

Hermione served the macaroni and cheese, and Lily squealed with delight. "Yummy! I love macanoni and cheese!"

"It's macaroni, Lily," Harry said as Hermione put the pot back onto the stove. She sat down and they began to eat.

"Well, I don't care how you say it. It's yummy," Lily said about five minutes later. All three of them started to laugh. Hermione's laugh didn't last as long as Harry or Lily's, but neither of them seemed to notice.

That bad thought kept on creeping into her head. 'Lily's my daughter,' Malfoy's voice said. She kept on thinking about how she was going to tell Harry. He would be heartbroken, she just knew it. He loved Lily so much.

'Maybe I shouldn't tell him at all,' Hermione thought.

'But he'll probably suspect something,' that annoying voice in her head said.

"Hermione, is everything okay?" Harry asked. She looked up at him and was pulled out of her trance.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, everything's fine," Hermione answered, poking her food with her fork. She didn't feel like eating that night. She averted his gaze and sighed. Absentmindedly tucking some hair behind her ear, she replied, "Everything's fine. Really."

"Okay," Harry replied slowly, not really believing her. He continued to eat, but kept glancing at Hermione, knowing that something just wasn't right.

Once dinner was finished, Lily wanted to play with her toy broomstick.

"Daddy, will you take me to the playground? I wanna fly!" she exclaimed. She didn't mean actually fly. She had received a simple broomstick that floated about two feet off of the ground, for Christmas, and it had been her favorite toy for a long time.

"No, Lily. You've already been to the playground today," Hermione answered for Harry before he got a chance to speak. Harry gave Hermione a quizzical look. Lily looked sad, but skipped to her room rather than protest her mother's decision.

"Hermione, so what if she's already been to the park today?"

"Well, I just don't want her going there for a couple of days," was Hermione's reply, as she waved her wand, and the dishes started to wash themselves over the sink.

"Is there something that you want to tell me, Hermione?" Harry asked, taking a seat on their couch. Hermione followed him, and sat on the opposite side.

"No. I already told you, there's nothing wrong," Hermione answered coldly. She kept fidgeting, and Harry knew something was wrong.

"Hermione, don't you think that I know when something's wrong with you? We've been living together for three years! I know everything about you," Harry said, taking his tone down when he said the last sentence.

"Do you love Lily?" Hermione asked, ignoring his last statement.

Harry was taken aback by her out of the blue question. "Of course I love Lily. Why wouldn't I love her?"

"I was just wondering."

"Hermione, please just tell me what's troubling you. If anything is wrong with Lily, you know you can tell me."

"Nothing's wrong with Lily," Hermione said, now speaking in a quiet, very un-Hermione like tone.

"Then what's wrong? Are you sick or something?"

"No, Harry. I'm not sick. I…I…I just need to be alone for a while," she replied, getting up and walking to their bedroom. She shut the door, leaving a very concerned and confused Harry behind.

Hermione lay down on her side of their bed and began to cry. She buried her head into her soft pillow, sniffing and coughing. It wasn't long before Harry knocked on the door.

"Leave me alone." Hermione whispered, still lying on her side.

"Can't I come in? I put Lily to bed." came the reply from the other side of the door.

"Sure, Harry." Hermione sighed, not moving an inch.

Harry opened the door and closed it behind him. He came and sat down on the left side of the bed, which was his side. He sat in the middle, with his legs crossed, facing Hermione. Hermione remained lying down.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, aside from Hermione's occasional sniffing. Harry was the one to break the silence.

"Hermione," he said, moving closer to her. "Please. Whatever it is, you know that you can tell me."

"Harry, I can't," she replied, rolling over so she wouldn't have to look at him.

Harry sighed. "Look. I know for a fact that until you tell someone, all you are going to do is cry and mope. I know you, Hermione."

Hermione rolled back to the middle of the bed and sat up, so that she and Harry were face to face. "No Harry. You don't know me at all," she said, sighing. She took a couple of deep breaths and pushed the damp hair out of her face.

"Hermione," Harry replied. "Tell me. The worse thing you can do is bottle it all up inside. I want to know what's troubling you. Trust me- if you tell someone, it'll make things better."

"That's just it, Harry. It'll make things worse. Between us. All three of us," Hermione said, sniffling.

"Tell me," Harry said, remember how moody Hermione was the last time she kept a secret.

"Ok. Here it goes," Hermione said. She sighed deeply. "Well, when Lily and I were at the park this afternoon, someone was there, someone I didn't expect…it was Malfoy," she paused, searching for a reaction in Harry's face. Not seeing a drastic expression, she continued.

"He came up to me and…and he… he…," Hermione stuttered, unable to say anymore. A large lump had formed in her throat. She began to cry again. Harry leaned for her and enveloped her. He ran his fingers through her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"What did he do, Hermione?" Harry asked calmly.

"He told me that…that…he…he…wanted…his…daughter," Hermione whispered into Harry's shoulder. Harry's heart instantly fell.

"And…" Harry trailed off, leaving Hermione to finish the thought.

Hermione took in a breath. "Harry…Malfoy claims that Lily is his daughter."

There was a very tense, silent moment before Harry opened his mouth.

"Hermione, please tell me you're joking." Hermione didn't have to answer him, because when he looked at her, she dropped her head and began to shake.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Hermione said quietly. She pushed away from Harry so they were both kneeling, facing each other. Harry raised his eyebrow at her.

"I was drunk, REMEMBER?" she shouted. Harry jumped slightly and looked around.

"Shhh, Hermione. I don't think you want to wake up Lily."

"Why do you care about Lily? She's not even yours!" Hermione shouted.

'Oh God,' Harry thought. 'Another mood swing.'

"Hermione, you need to calm down. I care about Lily because she is my daughter. Maybe not biologically, but I've had that experience. I always thought of Ron's parents as my parents. They took care of me when I needed it, never turned me away, and loved me. That's what defines a parent."

Hermione leaned forward and gave Harry a hug. "I'm sorry. For everything."

"It's ok. Even if Lily was mine, I don't think I'd treat her any different."

"But you just found out. How could you know?"

"Hermione, I don't remember that Halloween night at all. I woke up in a closet. I think it was on the sixth floor- and no-where near the common room. Please explain how we slept together and I ended up in a closet about a half an hour away."

Hermione started to cry again. "M…M…Malfoy said that…that…that he used a…a p…polyjuice potion."

"That ahole. I can't believe him."

Hermione forced a small laugh, and shook her head in disbelief. "What are we going to tell Lily? She thinks that you're her father. What am I supposed to tell her? That her father is actually our worst enemy?"

"We don't have to tell her, you know," Harry said, deciding that it would be better to let out his anger later.

"And let her go through her whole life not knowing who her real father is? Malfoy's bound to tell his own kids, anyway. Then when she goes to Hogwarts, she'll find out the hard way," Hermione said, standing up and pacing around, wringing her hands.

"How exactly do you intend to tell her? She won't understand," Harry noted, and Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. Sighing deeply, she turned to him.

"Aren't you the least bit upset about this? You seem to be showing no emotion whatsoever."

"I don't need to. You're showing enough emotion for the two of us."

Hermione scoffed. "Harry, don't you understand? She's not your daughter! How can you not be mad, or upset, or…something."

Harry shrugged. "I am plenty upset. I just choose not to show it for fear of making you more upset," he said calmly.

"That's very considerate of you, but now isn't the time to be worrying about me. We have to think of Lily. Okay. I can do this," Hermione trailed off, now speaking more to herself than to Harry. She started pacing again.

"I can always just, leave. Then maybe when she's older, she won't remember me, and then no problem. You just tell her that her daddy left, and then when Malfoy's kids go to school with her, she'll find out," Harry suggested, shrugging.

"Harry, that is an awful plan," Hermione said bluntly. She lay back down on the bed, sighing.

"Better than what you've got so far, I'm sure," Harry joked. He lay down beside her, and sighed also.

"I'll think of something," Hermione replied, slightly peeved at Harry.

"I'm sure you will. You always think of something," Harry said, trying to make Hermione ease up a bit.

"Thanks, but I don't know if I'll come up with something today," Hermione said sadly.

They heard a cry come from outside of the room.

"Lily probably had a bad dream- I'll get her," Hermione said, glad to have a reason to leave the awkward conversation. She closed the door behind her and went into Lily's room,

"Mommy! Mommy!" Lily was crying.

"What is it, honey?" Hermione asked, on the edge of Lily's bed.

"I'm scared," Lily said, sucking her thumb.

"What happened? Did you have a bad dream?" Hermione asked, pulling Lily's hand away from her mouth.

Lily shook her head and pointed out the doorway. Hermione looked into the living room, but saw nothing.

"No-body's there, honey," Hermione coaxed. She gently ran her fingers through Lily's hair. "Go back to sleep."

"Okay, Mommy," Lily replied, pulling her covers to her chin and squeezing her favorite stuffed animal- a teddy bear that changed colors whenever you squeezed it.

"I love you," Hermione said, closing the door almost all the way.

"I love you too, Mommy."

Hermione went into the living room, looking for someone or something that had scared Lily. She looked under the couch and saw nothing. She looked behind the side table and saw nothing. Then she looked out the window and saw a group of teenagers fighting. Hermione sighed and went back into the bedroom.

"What was wrong?" Harry asked. He was lying down, his head nestled into the soft pillow.

"She heard a bunch of kids outside. Probably kids from the school," Hermione replied, lying down next to Harry. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Harry mumbled into the pillow.

"No, but you're definitely not leaving. I don't know what I would do without you," Hermione said, looking over at him.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry mumbled. After a few minutes, Hermione could hear Harry breathing very heavily. This slightly pissed her off.

'How could he fall asleep at a time like this? He just found out that the girl that he thought has been his daughter for three years is actually our worst enemies?'

Hermione went over to her bureau and took pajamas out of the top drawer. She went into the adjacent bathroom and changed, brushed her teeth, and put her hair into a low pony. Her pajamas consisted of a knee-length white thick-strapped negligee. She looked in the mirror and sighed. Just as she was leaving the bathroom, she heard a crash out in the living room. She dropped her clothes and slowly opened the bedroom door. It was dark in the living room, but Hermione could tell that something wasn't right. She looked back over to Harry. The crash hadn't stirred him.

Hermione shook her head and crept into the living room, going slow so she wouldn't knock into anything. Instinctively, Hermione went to Lily's room, heart pounding fast. Once she got to the doorway, she started hyperventilating.

"LILY!" she screamed, turning on the light. Lily was gone, and her bedroom window was smashed, the glass littering the room. Hermione ran over to the window, glass piercing her foot. She looked out the broken window and began to cry. She knelt down and put her arms on the sill. She buried her head into them. The glass pressed into her knees, arms, and legs. She began to shake uncontrollably and kept repeating "Lily…Lily…Lily." Her name got softer and softer as the lump in Hermione's throat grew bigger.

A.N. Comment! More to Come!