Thankfully, the doctor lets me go back home in a couple days. As I walk through the front door of our house, I see Tony in the living room with -

'A girl?' I whisper to Draco, who leads me to the kitchen.

'A friend,' he says. 'I told them they could study here while I went to –'

'Study?' I ask incredulously. Draco shrugs. 'Even we didn't study in the middle of summer.'

Draco grins mischievously as he puts the kettle on.

'It can't hurt, can it?' he asks innocently.

At that moment, Tony slides into the kitchen in his socks.

'Hey mum,' he says, kissing me on the cheek. 'I'm glad you're home.'

'So am I,' I reply, sneaking a glance into the living room.

'What was your maiden name?' he asks, rummaging through the cupboards, finally pulling out a bag of pretzels.

'Why?'

''Cause Kris thinks that you used to be –'

'Kris?' Draco asks, leaning against the counter.

Tony sighs.

'Yes, Kris. I'll introduce you later. She thinks you're Hermione Granger.'

'What's so great about Hermione Granger?' Draco asks, winking at me.

'She's only one of the greatest students to go through that school!' he says exasperatedly. 'And now she's pretty much disappeared off the radar! Even McGonagall won't tell us what she's doing now.'

'What do you think she's doing now?' Draco asks.

'Probably off in Africa finding a cure for cancer of something,' the girl, Kris, says, coming into the kitchen.

I can't help but laugh.

'You look just like her picture on the third corridor!' she says, and I'm shocked to know that people actually look at the pictures.

'Well, I didn't like Africa, so I decided to stay here,' I say, stirring sugar into my tea.

'You're Hermione Granger?' they both ask. These kids are crazy. No wonder I wanted to have some.

'The one and only,' I say, but as I say it I can feel the fatigue coming over me.

'Don't you have studying to do?' Draco asks, seeing my sudden weakness.

'Yeah,' Tony says blankly, looking at me like I'm a superstar.

As they leave the kitchen, Draco turns to me.

'Did you want to go lay down?'

'No,' I say, shaking my head, trying to get rid of the pain coming on.

Thankfully, the phone rings, and Draco gets up to answer it.

'Hello?' I lay my head on the kitchen table.

'Yeah, we're home now.' The pain is slowly leaving.

'No, tomorrow would be better.' I'm so hungry.

'Your place?' Even macaroni and cheese would be good right about now.

'Okay, we'll be there.' His tea is going to be cold if he doesn't get off the phone.

'All three of us,' he laughs. 'Bye.'

'Who was it?'

'Harry. We're having dinner at his place tomorrow night, okay?'

'Yeah, sounds good.'

'Are you up for it?'

I shoot him a look. He said he wouldn't treat me any different, but I guess after today's incident, that view changed.

'Of course I'm up to it'" I say indignantly.

'Sorry," he whispers. 'I just don't want you to –'

'Neither do I.'

He's silent now, and I know he won't push the issue.

'Are you sure?' Tony whispers in the living room.

Draco and I glance at each other. He might have only been ours for a couple weeks, but he's still ours, and we're his parents.

'Yeah, okay,' she whispers.

They come into the kitchen, hand-in-hand.

'Mum, Dad,' Tony begins, and I can see the dull red flush creeping up his neck, 'this is Kris.'

'Hello, Kris,' I say politely as Draco nods. Both of us are smiling, which relaxes the new couple.

'Hi,' she says quietly, blushing almost as much as Tony is.

'Er, we've been dating for a year now,' Tony explains.

'Okay,' I say, hoping that he's not going to say that he's going to marry her.

There's a very awkward silence in the kitchen now, and I can tell that Draco is finding out what is on his son's mind.

'Er, we're just going to go for ice cream,' Tony continues, and Draco smiles.

'Bring your mother back some,' he says, taking a ten pound note from his pocket.

'Vanilla,' I say as Tony nods and leads Kris out the front door.

'And the verdict is?' I ask him as the screen door closes.

'Innocent,' Draco says, and I can tell he is a little surprised.

'Got ourselves a good one, did we?'

Draco smiles. 'No thanks to you, miss toddler, girl, blah, blah –'

And I silence him by kissing him.