Chapter 19
Hermione was always an early riser. Around six, Hermione awoke to new surroundings she sat up trying to take it all in. It was so much like home, she stood up and stretched and looked out the window. Just like always, the sun had already started to rise. The beautiful pink and orange of the sun was set against the colors of the morning sky. Hermione moved over to the dresser and next to it set her bag. She dug through it to find her robe. She then proceeded to the door, she opened and looked around. Just then did she realize that she had no idea where the kitchen was. Walking down the hall, she found stairs and followed them down when she reached the bottom the hall led in two different directions. Hermione hearing a noise to the right decided to follow that route. Along the hall were a few doors and soon Hermione found the door she wanted, the door where the noise was coming from. Inside, stood Draco.
Hermione watched as he walked around the kitchen. She was memorized, he was wearing a pair of stripped pajama pants and was completely shirtless. She could tell that he kept up with his work-out
that he always seemed to talk about at Hogwarts. His hair was hanging loosely around his face.
"Are you going to say something or just stare at me and my glorious body all day?" It did not take long for him to notice her. He knew that she was there he heard her open up the door. He watched as her eyes widened and a rosy color rose to her cheeks. She gaped at him, closed her mouth then tried to make sounds. Why her voice failed her then she did not know. But she hated it for leaving. He was walking toward her and she started to move backwards. Again, her body was not letting her make decisions she had no idea why she was moving away from him. "Hermione, coffee?" She smiled and stopped finally a logical movement.
"Yes, I would love some." Ah, there it was her voice was real. He smiled at her and watched as she walked over to the island and took a seat. He brought her a cup and added a spoon of sugar and a little milk. "Thanks."
"Hermione." He watched as she took a sip of her coffee and raised her eyebrow as if asking, what. "What time is dinner tonight?" She set her coffee down.
"Six, if you do not want to go you do not have to." He furrowed his brow in confusion.
"You do not want me to go?" Hermione frowned.
"I want you to go, I just do not want you thinking you have to go. I do not want you to be uncomfortable. All the Weasley's will be there. And you are not exactly on friendly terms with them. And Harry, you never got along with him. I just do not want to put you in a situation that would make you feel out of place." She bit her lip, ruffled her hair and then lifted her coffee to her lips again.
"Hermione, I may have never gotten along with Potter ten years ago, but I do now. We work together, I see him almost everyday. We learned to get along. And everything with the Weasley's is different. I do not hate them. Hermione, I want to go." She smiled, he loved the way she smiled it lit up her face. Soon he found himself leaning in as did Hermione. When there lips met they let everything go. The years of longing, years of expectations, and a surprising amount of hurt. As soon as it started it quit, Hermione pulled away and he watched as the emotions played out across her face as if telling some unwritten story. He could see the hurt, the regret, the lust, but most of all the love.
While he watched her, she watched him. He was always stoic, never let his emotions seep through to
the surface. But there in his eyes she saw, love. It did not fade nor did he try to hide the fact that he was unsuccessful in covering his emotions. They sat there for what seemed for hours until they heard a cough behind them.
"Draco, I have been calling you for the past ten minutes why did you not answer your door? This girl here ended up answering it. By the way who is she and who is that?" Blaise said. Hermione just smiled as his eyes slowly widened. "Well, that was certainly unexpected. Nice to see you, Granger it has been awhile."
"Mom! Mom! Where the jesus are you?"
"In here honey." Hermione yelled. "Katie could you open the door?" Katie nodded and Blaise just stared at her as if she had grown an extra head.
"You have a kid." Haily walked through the door and smiled.
"Yes she does. And who may you be?" Blaise chuckled and looked at Draco for conformation that the little girl was his. He nodded. Blaise stuck his hand out.
"Blaise Zabini. And you are?" She looked at his hand for a bit then grasped it.
"Haily Malfoy, sir." Hermione, Draco and Katie's eyes widened at this. Haily then noticed her parents startled faces. "Look, if we are going to live here. And I am going to have a father, I would like my name changed. Preferably sooner rather than later. That of course is if it is okay with all of you." Hermione just smiled and looked over at Draco.
"We can go today, if you want." Haily grinned than ran over and hugged Draco. "Suffocating, here."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. So what is for breakfast I am starving here?"
Everyone ate their breakfast then went and got ready for the day. Blaise said his good-byes and soon left. Hermione and Draco decided to go change Haily's last name and asked if she would like to go but turned that option down and stayed with Katie. Hermione and Draco soon arrived at the ministry and Hermione was slightly nervous.
After that morning, she decided that she would need some time to herself to figure out her thoughts. Which were completely evolved around Draco and the kiss they had shared. Draco was no better he could not help but think that he was in the wrong. She had not said anything to him since and hardly spook at breakfast. Maybe she regretted it, was all he could think. Now that they were going to be alone for awhile he figured he could talk to her figure out what she was thinking.
It did not take long for there request to be filled. Haily was now an official Malfoy and would be until the day she was married and even then she was still a Malfoy. All together it took about an hour for everything to be complete.
"Hermione, would you like to go to Diagon Alley?" When she looked at him, he could see the confusion and decided to elaborate. "I just thought that I have ten birthdays, Christmas', and any other holiday that deserves something. I want to get her something useful and that she can take to Hogwarts."
"Draco, Haily understands you do not need to get her anything. And from now on you will be there for her birthdays and her Christmas'."
"I want her to be happy, I want her to feel at home. I want to spoil her so she knows that I love her and that I will always be here for her. I want her to be able to have a happy childhood, a happy one with me." Hermione just smiled as he said this. He wanted her to have the childhood he did not. She could easily see this.
"I know Draco, I want that for her to. But really I think that you are the best thing she has ever gotten. She was five when she first asked about her father. I did not know what to say when she asked why you were not there. I just told her that she would understand when she was older. Then it became a habit everyday she would ask then finally on her sixth birthday, I explained that I had left you. After that she would ask questions about you non-stop. Like what you favorite food was or if you liked math." Draco cut her off before she could go on.
"Hermione why are you telling me this?" She looked at him and then continued walking when they were at the apparation point and she said she would meet him by Gringott's. When he arrived she was sitting on the stoop and looked near tears. "Hermione?" He sat next to her and grabbed her hand and held it in his.
"I always tried to tell myself it was for the best. Everytime she asked anything. At night I would tell her bedtime stories of things that happened at Hogwarts. It hurt too. I kept saying that it was best forgotten. That I could never go back, that I did not want to. But then I would have been lying. Then seeing her say that her name was Haily Malfoy. It reminded me that I had taken her from you. That she had to grow up without a father because I was being stupid."
Draco did not say anything just watched as she talked. He knew that this is what he was supposed to do. She felt that she needed to talk and let her she would make a point soon.
"The only reason you have not been able to spend days with Haily was because I took her away. I do not know how you can forgive me so easily. If I was in your position I would have been pissed. But you, you have been so amazing. You were calm and did not let it bother you. You have invited us into your home with open arms you are going to a dinner tonight with people you do not even like. Why, why have you been so great?" He took a deep breath.
"Look at me Hermione. When you left I searched for the longest time. I was still searching when you came back. When you told me I had a daughter I was angry that you did not tell me to even hint at it. But I thought about it and realized that I have today and tomorrow to make it up to her. I did not think of what I had missed."
"Still, why did you forgive?"
"Hermione, I can not explain what I felt when I saw you again but I knew that even if I told myself I did not love you and that really I could not. I did and still do. You meant everything, you are the reason I changed sides and my reason for living. My life would not have been the same if you were not in it. I can not be mad at you because you gave me a chance when I did not deserve one. You gave me life, you showed me how to love."
"You, you still love me after all this time?"
"Hermione, I never stopped."
A/N: Sorry for the long wait. My computer is a piss of crap. I want to thank those who reviewed on my last chapter and I hope you all enjoy this one. I have a couple of questions to ask.
1.I have been thinking about making Harry and Katie a couple but I am not quite sure. So my first question would be, Whether or not to put them together?
2.Also, I was thinking of making a sequel when this is finished. Most likely about Haily and her life at Hogwarts. I am just asking if anybody would be interested in this?
Please leave a review with your answers it would be very helpful. Thank you! Jessica
