He returned home shortly after. It was still soon enough to join Narcissa for brunch. She was sitting on the terrace, enjoying the fresh air. He slowly approached her, letting his footsteps echo through the hallway. Standing next to her, he could only see her hat. She didn't bother to look up at him.

"I have done as you asked me to and returned the baby."

"So, you have nothing to do with it anymore?" she asked suspiciously.

He didn't say anything.

"You did sign the receipt, didn't you?" She pinched the bridge of ht nose. "Someone in this family seems to have a talent for making idiotic decisions."

It was almost as if he was stabbed. Lucius wasn't dumb or idiotic.

"Solve the issue, thanks to Shacklebolt, your bastard has the same right to the inheritance as Draco."

Returning to the office, he sat down at his chair. He immediately owled his solicitor, to draw up a contract. Lucius kept himself busy with business as usual as he waited for a reply.

Lucius draped his robes over his arm before stepping out of the Leaky Cauldron. He couldn't say that he desired to spend time in muggle London, but he had business to attend. Raising an arm, he stopped a cab and read the address from a note. It was surprisingly easy to acquire Miss Granger's address, thanks to his son.

Standing in front of a high building, he wondered if he was really in the right place. The walls were written on and the area didn't look very nice. There was a lack of green space and the traffic was loud outside. This was hardly the right place to raise a child, his child, a voice in his head reminded him.

Looking at the doorbells, he found a label that read 'Granger'. The door was locked, but he discreetly cast Alohomora and entered the building. There was no elevator and Miss Granger supposedly lived on the highest level.

Climbing the sheer endless stairs, he cursed her. Why couldn't she just live in a remote area or in a Diagon Alley like most witches? That was so typical muggleborn, happy to receive the free education his generous donations enabled, but unwilling to fit in with the rest of society.

Finally, arriving upstairs, Lucius immediately spotted her flat. The wards she had up were strong and well cast. Magic like that was surely interfering with her neighbors' electronic devices.

He was cautious as he approached her door. They were hardly friendly and barely interacted with each other. Lucius couldn't be sure about how she would react when she saw him. From what he heard, the young witch had quite a temper and he wouldn't want to find himself on the wrong end of her wand.

He rand the bell, but nothing happened. Waiting in the clinical looking common stair, he pulled the contract out from his robes. Was the sum he was offering her really enough to allow the little one to grow up properly?

He stood there waiting and waiting. Every few minutes he rang the bell, but nothing happened. This was so degrading. Lucius wanted to return home, but he would be hardly welcomed there.

It was dark outside when there were finally footsteps. He smoothed his suit and rushed to the door.

"What do you want here?"

She was holding the baby in her arm and opened the door with her free hand. She placed something on a small table and carefully lowered the baby to the cradle.

Not knowing what to say, he followed her inside, closing the door behind him. "Where have you been all that time?"

"At work, not that it's any of your business." Miss Granger, brought her groceries that were lying on the table back to full size and started unpacking.

The room was smaller than his bathroom and the ceiling was skewed so that he could barely stand upright. Countless books were scattered throughout the room. She had so many of them that he was surprised the young witch even managed to fit a bed and a cradle in.

"I have something to discuss with you."

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "But I don't have anything to discuss with you."

"Really? I would think that our child would be something we should discuss."

"Our child? You mean the baby you stole from me."

"It was an accident." Moving his arm, he felt the parchment of the contract in his pocket.

This wasn't what he came for. She didn't want him, he didn't really want a baby, so where was the problem? All he had to do was hand her the contract, sign off his parental rights. He could pay her a nice sum, so she wouldn't have to work so much and everything would be fine.

"I understand that the situation is far from ideal, but I will not let you take my child from me." This wasn't what he had wanted to say.

She had tears in her eyes. Sparks were flying through her wild mane. She drew her wand and pointed it at him. "Out! Now!"

He stood up and opened the door. "We will discuss this later." Lucius looked at his chained watch. "Tomorrow, same time."

Hermione smashed the door behind him. Sobbing, she sank down to the floor. This couldn't be happening. This was her baby, the one she had wanted for such a long time, he couldn't just take that from her. But Hermione couldn't waddle in self-pity either. With loud cries someone demanded attention.

She crawled to the cradle and lifted her little one up. She pressed her against her body. No one was going to take her little girl form her. She wasn't allowing it. This was everything that she had wanted for so long, nothing was getting in between them, not even a Malfoy.

Rose didn't stop crying. Hermione showered her oversized head with kisses, pressing her closer against her chest. She rocked her baby until both of them stopped crying.

Wiping the dried tears from their cheeks with a wet cloth, she proceeded to change her little daughter. Hermione took her time, wiping her little butt to establish a ritual. As it wasn't the first time, she was slowly getting the hand of it. Thankfully, Rose wasn't too impatient with her mother. She just lied there on her back, her blue eyes watching her.

All babies had blue eyes and fair hair, didn't they? As she looked at her daughter, she wondered if she looked that way she did because Mr. Malfoy signed the paper.

As Rose was the first baby, Hermione had ever ordered, and the last one, the customer service left to be desired, she didn't really know how those things worked. Generally, magic had a way of recognizing family and members of the same family looked similar. But she didn't know the mechanism behind it and therefore didn't know if it applied to her situation.

He loosened his tie and let himself fall into the black leather armchair. Accioing a glass of Firewhiskey, he closed his eyes. This didn't go according to plan. Lucius emptied his glass in one gulp and pulled the pre-written contract out of his robes.

His fingers wandered over the parchment, taking the texture in. He couldn't explain it but he didn't want to part ways with the little one. He had accepted the child, now it was his duty to raise it in the best possible way.

True, he hadn't done the best job with Draco, but that didn't mean he should just cast the little one out. He hadn't given Draco up and he had been a far more difficult baby.

Crunching the parchment in his fist, Lucius formed it into a ball and incinerated the contract. He wasn't going to late the chit of a girl take his child from him.

Walking down the aisle with the books in her arm, she suddendly stopped. Hermione had once again forgotten where she wanted to put them. She placed them on the table and sat down. With her foot, she was rocking Rose, back and forth.

"Hermione? What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Calming my daughter down."

"She looks pretty sleeping to me. What's going on?"

Turning around she glared at him. "You're lovely father-in-law wants to take my child from me!"

"You know, Hermione, there are laws preventing that from happening. He can't take Rose from you." Harry stared at her for a moment. "You know that you can't take Rose from him either."

"Out!"

"Hermione, be reasonable."

"I am, reasonable! I never wanted him in my life! I can raise my child alone just like I wanted."

Harry sighed. "You can't shut everyone out. And see the advantages. You have someone to watch her when you're at work or just need a moment for yourself. I know you can do everything by yourself, but you don't have to."

"Have you taken care of the issue at hand?" Narcissa asked. She looked stern and unapproachable.

"I want to raise my child." He looked at the amber liquid swirling in his glass, not daring to look at his wife.

"Then you should go there," Narcissa said surprisingly friendly, "And don't you dare come back until you've taken care of the situation."

Lucius had wanted to fix things with his wife, but his little mishap made their relationship even worse. He didn't put up a fight and disapparated.

Standing in front of her warded door, he wondered why he had to end up at the doorstep of the only witch who wasn't connected to the floo-network. Did she not have a fireplace? He waited and waited in front of her door. This was so humiliating. Eventually, and he rang the bell.

She had her wand drawn as she opened the door. Miss Granger looked far from pleased to see him, but she didn't actually curse him. He counted that as a success.

"May I?" He took the little baby out of her arms.

He let his finger run over the soft and plump baby cheeks. Miss Granger glared at him the entire time. "I'm not going to hurt our little one or you for that matter."

She puffed. "Rose."

"Excuse me?"

"My daughter's name, it's Rose."

"Rose. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Lucius rocked her in his arms. The little one looked at him with her big blue eyes. It was weird, but even after decades, holding a baby, his child in his arms still felt natural to him.

His heart was pounding a little faster. This was his daughter. He wanted to go out and spoil her with all the riches of the world. Nothing would be out of reach for the newest Malfoy. Feeling bolder, he placed a kiss on her oversized head.

She cleared her throat.

Lucius had almost forgotten, that his little daughter came with a witch attached. Not just any witch. Hermione Granger, the muggleborn savior of the wizarding world who refused to live in a proper wizarding area.

"How does this work?" She had her hands in her waist.

"Raising a child is not that complicated we feed her and bathe her-"

As if Rose wanted to tell him something, she started crying.

Hermione started panicking. She ran through the tiny kitchen collecting a bottle and formula, then she realized that Rose might want a toy or a plushy and started to search for those, while the little one was crying louder and louder.

"I think she needs to be changed," Lucius said, sniffing on her.

"Diapers are at the changing table," she said pointing at the corner.

"Are you not familiar with the spells, I could provide a House Elf…"

"Somethings, like raising your children, can't be outsourced. It is important for a baby to have skin to skin contact with the parents."

"I am certain that there are more pleasant ways to bond."

She looked at him daringly. "I thought you wanted to be involved in the parenting."

"You are testing me," he stated. Looking at Rose, he started to undress her.

"I always start with the right leg-"

He took a deep breath and obeyed. From all the witches and wizards in the country, it needed to her baby that ended up in his arms. After some analysis, he managed to undo the tape.

Rose watched him the entire time as he wiped her clean and put the cream onto her little butt and founded a fresh diaper around her.

"Don't stick it onto her skin."

Finished with his task. He handed her their daughter. "Do I now qualify?"

She grunted. "You still haven't told me how you think this is going to work?"

"50:50, One day you and every other day I take care of Rose."

"I still don't like this, and I don't like you." Miss Granger pressed the baby closer against her.

There was tapping against the window. They exchanged a glance. She stood up and opened the window, but the big eagle owl refused to enter the small flat. It merely dumped a suitcase and a letter.

"It's for you," she said, handing him the letter.

It wasn't like he was surprised. After all, he knew Brutus his owl all too well, but he had a bad feeling about this particular letter.

"And?"

"Tell me, Miss Granger, are you always that noisy?"

She pouted. "You're in my flat."

"And you will have to put with me for a little longer, Narcissa has thrown me out, of my own house."