Two weeks after they marry, Granger's voice carries over dinner eaten on the floor of their sitting room—while arguing about magical theory—that she went to her second appointment at St Mungos. She tore off a bit of naan, having already eaten through her curry, and he has no idea why she ate it separately so often, and popped it into her mouth. She stared at the lamp to his right while chewing, seemingly deciding what to say next.

"They're fairly confident that pregnancy will be dangerous for me," her voice shook, but only barely and if he hadn't known her so well, he wouldn't have known. "A specialist sat down with me today, actually. She's of the mind that pregnancy may not be an option for me at all."

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the bowl. "Why didn't you tell me you had an appointment today? I thought it was on Thursday." Draco had made sure to remember after missing the first appointment.

Granger nodded, and tore off another piece of naan. "It was, but they fire called this morning. Since they had a cancellation, I thought I would go ahead. The anticipation has been killing me; though, I suppose the truth isn't really much better."

"Why didn't you call? I would have—"

"I did call, but Ron told me you were out with Harry."

"I could have—"

She bobbed her head, a smile beginning at the corner of her mouth. "I know, but it was your first day back from your suspension. The last thing I wanted to do was pull you back from work, even if it was only patrols. I was fine."

His voice tight, Draco spoke, "You're not fine, but even if you were, that's not my entire point."

Granger paused in her fidgeting. "Oh."

"I don't want to miss appointments. It was a mistake not being there the first time, and it's not one I intend on making again."

A smile spread across her face and she nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. My next appointment is on the fifteenth of July."

Barring a mission that sent him away overnight, Draco wouldn't miss it.

On his birthday, Granger came to the Ministry and slipped into the office he shared with Potter. "Harry said I would find you here." Carrying a plate in her hands with her bag over her shoulder, she rounded the desk and leaned against the edge. "Good God, did they save all the paperwork you missed when you were gone?"

He snorted and pushed the stack of parchment away. "I'm assuming Potter neglected to tell you that he hardly does his paperwork."

Her nose twitched.

"This isn't all of his, however. A senior Auror was terminated earlier this morning, and now they've given me his work."

Granger knew about the inner workings of the DMLE, ranks, and processes. That was the reason she smiled so broadly at him. "That's wonderful."

"Sure," he muttered. Draco slipped his fingers through her belt loops and tugged her forward to ultimately sit her on top of his desk, right where his work had been moments earlier. "They're not planning on promoting me though, Granger. Especially not before I'm even thirty. But I'll get a bump in my wages for closing these, which will be recorded in the quarterly report. It's their way of apologising for putting me on administrative leave for such a shite reason."

She looked pretty sitting on his desk.

She always looked pretty, but now when he tried to do anything, Draco knew that he'd think of her just as she was now.

Draco leaned back in his chair, wishing he could pull her into his lap for a proper snog without worrying if his partner would barge in. "Did you bring me something for my birthday?" When he'd left that morning, he found that her side of the bed had been cold for quite some time and the sound of her cursing could be heard from down the hall.

"I did and I tried them before bringing them here."

"Right, is that because the last ones could have broken my teeth?"

Her eyes narrowed. "If you don't mind yourself, I'm going to break your teeth." Granger crossed her legs and pulled the foil from the plate. "You said that chocolate was your favorite, so…"

"Fuck me, those look delicious." Draco grabbed one, and spotted her triumphant smile. "Are they as good as they look?"

"They are." She waited for him to bite into it, and she was right.

"These are the best cookies I've ever had in my life."

"Thank you. I had a good time making them, so I think I'll take some to the orphanage tomorrow as well."

Maybe he would drop by. Mainly for her, of course, but the cookies, fuck. "They're sure to love them."

Granger's fingers curved around the edge of the desk, and she leaned forward. "How's the birthday boy's day so far?"

"Better, now." He ran his palms up her calves, fingers tracing paths through the denim. "I tragically didn't get to spend a morning in bed with my wife though because when I woke up, she was gone."

She rolled her eyes. "You'll have plenty of time tonight for that." Granger turned and reached into her bag, pulling out a large parcel. "This was delivered just before I left. It looked important, so I thought I would bring it."

Locke read in the upper right corner, and Draco pushed it back into her lap. "It's for you, Granger. Open it."

Muttering, "It's your birthday," under her breath, she pressed her nail under the wax seal and pulled the parchment out. "Mr. Malfoy," she read. "It's our pleasure to know that you have considered us as an option in your journey to becoming parents. Our program is based on daily potions combined with standard appointments to monitor for complications.

"In regards to your question, our services have been approved by the British Board of Health and reviewed by St Mungos'. I have also reached out to the British Ministry to ensure this treatment is allowed with the current law that has taken effect recently, and am pleased to report that it is. If you should like to speak with me in person, I am available Monday through Friday. When you and your wife have made a decision to move forward, you may enclose a cheque, or send the money from your Gringotts vault…" Granger trailed off, her eyes watering and she stared at him.

Not for the first time, he wondered if he had overstepped.

She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. "I thought that we planned to take this slow?"

He nodded. "We were—we are. Granger, I just want you to know that you have options, no matter what your healer tells you. This process can take years as well, and even if you're not with me someday, I want you to have it all. Everything you want."

Granger hiccuped. She slid off the desk and into his lap while wrapping her arms around his neck. "I don't mean to cry, I just—"

Smoothing a hand down her back, Draco turned his face into her hair. "It's alright, Hermione."

The door cracked open and Potter put one foot through the doorway before noticing the scene. "Uh—"

"Get out." Draco barked and slammed the door shut with a twist of his wrist.

True to his thoughts, Draco did stop by the orphanage, and it was partially due to the cookies that had been promised to him if he came to read stories near bedtime for the younger group of children. Granger had promised other things as well though, which he suspected she had done only because she wanted to, and not because she believed she needed to.

Lingering in the entryway, he peered up at the vaulted ceiling and the light shining through facets of crystal, and stood in place, his hands slid easily into his pockets.

It never failed to set his stomach on edge each time he was moments from seeing her.

There were giggles just around the corner, followed by a quiet shush, and she was in front of him. Granger always smiled when she saw him. Sometimes, it was only a slight twitch of her lips, or a subtle curve to her mouth, and he was never sure if she realized she was smiling. "You're early." Stretching up on her toes, Granger pressed a barely there kiss to his cheek.

"I decided to leave Potter with the paperwork today." He said smoothly.

"No, you didn't." She took him by the hand and led him down a short corridor before stepping to the side into a large bedroom. "You know," Granger drawled, a wide smile blowing across her face that he was certain he'd never seen before. "You can't hear a bedtime story if you're not in bed."

Eight children—he'd done a quick head count—scrambled onto their beds and dashed under the blankets.

"They like to be tucked in," Hermione whispered, running the tip of her finger along his pulse inside his wrist. "Would you take the right side while I take the left?"

He nodded, but he had not a single idea how to tuck a child into bed. Still eager to impress her at any chance he got, Draco watched her discreetly and followed her lead.

"'Mione does it better."

"'Mione kisses me on the forehead."

"Miss 'Mione," a polite curly headed girl spoke, "checks under the bed."

He blinked. She checks under the bed…?

"For monsters, Draco." Granger giggled.

The replies went like that, each of them quick to point out that while they might like him—or, he hoped they did—Granger did a better job when it came to bedtime, and he wasn't surprised in the least. As he finished, he went to her, and she nodded to a chair at the head of the room.

"Pick a book."

"Do they have a favorite?" He muttered under his breath, angling his body toward hers. "If they do, they'll be sure to tell me."

She laughed, and it was his favorite sound. "Green spine."

As Draco sunk into the chair, he flipped to the title page and began reading a fairytale that his own mother had read to him as a child, and he didn't notice when Granger vanished through the doorway until every child was fast asleep.

After carefully closing the door not to wake any children, Draco crept through the manor while moonlight streamed through the windows. He wasn't sure where Hermione had gone, but as he ventured farther from the room and deeper into the winding corridors of the large estate, he recognized humming.

He heard it all the time—while she cooked, while she organized parchment on a desk in the once guest room that was now her office, and when they walked, hand in hand—so he followed it. Draco found her standing with her back to him, swaying in front of a bay window. At first, he couldn't tell what it was she held in her arms, but it was a baby nestled in her arms, her hair tumbling over her shoulder.

The giggle that followed didn't belong to his wife, but the infant who reached up to grab her hair.

"You have quite the grip." She whispered. "Ow, don't pull my hair!"

Somehow, Draco managed not to laugh as his chest swelled.

Granger returned to humming, and then she sang until the laughter stopped and she carefully laid the baby in a bassinet. "Mippy!" Her voice was soft in comparison to the crack that signalled the house elf's arrival. "You'll take care of Henry tonight?"

Mippy's ears flapped and she bounced on the balls of her feet. "Mippy will watch him all night."

"Thank you, Mippy." As she finally turned, and noticed him, Draco gave a small wave. "How was bedtime?"

"I think I've learned how to speak in several different voices now." He slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him. "I transferred the money from my vault this morning."

She froze mid-step, and nearly tripped when he didn't pause. "You—that's a lot of money." Granger chewed her lips and dragged her fingers through her hair. "I know that you're going to tell me that money is no object for a Malfoy, but I saw the amount. It's so incredibly sweet that you want to do this for me, but it's—"

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "It's done. I have a choice as to what I do with what's in my vaults, Granger and if I want to spend all of it, down to the last knut, on you then that's what I'll do."

Frowning, she shook her head. "What if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll move on to the next option. You can't possibly believe I've only come across one, have you? I'm offended."

It didn't earn a smile. "No, I didn't think that, but this must be the best option and if the best option doesn't work then what hope is there?"

All he imagined was her holding a blond haired baby in her arms, singing while tickling his sides, and he promised quietly that he would do anything to make it happen for her.

He told her that they would manage, and that they would find a way and she whispered that she had never known him to be so stubborn when it came to hope.

Restless beside him, Granger couldn't sleep fully and had kicked him in the shin no less than three times in as many minutes and had hurried Crooks off the bed too.

Draco wouldn't complain about that.

Moments later, she flung an arm out though and nailed him in the nose, oddly reminiscent of a memory, and water sprung to his eyes. "Fuck!" A one syllable curse was dragged over several seconds and she certainly stirred, but she didn't wake.

He moved to the couch the second time she hit him.

Something wedged uncomfortably in his hip and Draco realized as he began to wake, that it was actually his wand and it was dangerously close to snapping. How embarrassing would it have been to report to the DMLE with a pathetic piece of wood broken in two? As quickly as he realized it, his wand was gone and there was a light tap against the glass table beside the armrest.

"Why are you sleeping on the sofa?" The cushion dipped and he opened his eyes to see Granger, a furrow to her brow, and she didn't look pleased at all. "Draco?"

"You punched me," Draco threw one arm over his eyes, and reached blindly for his wand. "Would you mind terribly closing the drapes?"

She laughed at him, but indulged him. "What do you mean I punched you?"

"I mean that you rolled over in your sleep and hit me not once, but twice. You kicked me too."

A heavy sigh filled the space between them and he peeked out from under his arm. "I thought you decided to sleep here because you might have realized I was having a nightmare."

Why hadn't he considered that? At the least, he could have woken her to ask if she was alright, but he'd been so bloody tired after a double patrol shift that he hadn't thought of anything at all. "I hadn't realized."

"That's comforting." Her hand rested on his upper thigh, warmth bleeding through the heavy fabric of his auror uniform. "I'm sorry I hit you. Actually, I think I can see a welt from my knuckles."

It wouldn't surprise him in the least. "Do you have nightmares often?"

"Worried you might wake up to me hitting you again?" Granger made it easy to brush off as a joke, but he did the opposite.

Sitting up, the sheet bunching around his waist, he shook his head. "No, I'm worried as to whether you're dealing with this more than you should be."

Where there had been a smile, there was nothing and his stomach twisted. "I usually don't, but I've noticed during times of stress that they have a tendency to crop up." She crossed her right leg under her left and stared at the ceiling. "There's also the matter that I've been remembering Bellatrix quite often recently."

Anger thrummed in his veins. The day the three of them had been brought to Malfoy Manor was a day he'd worked tirelessly to leave behind. He'd watched in horror while she bent, and screamed and did not break.

Even now, he wasn't sure how this witch could sit opposite him so easily. The image of her writhing against a linoleum floor while red trickled from her arm and her eyes locked on his came vividly, squashing his lungs in one strike.

"Why?"

Granger climbed into his lap, ignoring the surprise that must have spread across his face, and pulled the blankets over both of them. "You've got that look on your face. I'd know it anywhere, and before you start off on a tangent that this is somehow your fault, let me remind you that the world doesn't revolve around you, Draco Malfoy." She brushed his sides, smirking when he flinched, and pinned him with a look that dared him to argue. "I don't think of the war. Like you, I also attended therapy. Actually, it's because if there is any reason I'm unable to have children, it will be her fault."

Oh.

"It'll be like she's won this time."

He pulled her down, and wrapped his arms tight around her waist, resting his chin against her shoulder. "I wish I could promise—"

Combing through his messy hair, she laughed a weak laugh that only made his heart clench. "I think I would be more upset if you were telling me that just because it's what I want to hear."

"I would do anything,"

Her breath brushed past the shell of his ear. "I know you would."

The first appointment was scheduled for a Friday morning, and Draco had no trouble slipping away for two hours to meet Granger in the lobby of St Mungos. He found her pacing the side of the room, the strap of her bag crossing her chest.

"Oh, thank Merlin you're here." She didn't move to hug him, and from her jittering, he thought she might have had too much coffee to drink. Coincidentally, it was the next thing out of her mouth. "I drank a pot of coffee."

Draco coughed. "I had the last cup."

"Yes, but you left early this morning. How were the trainees, by the way? So, after you left, I brewed another because I knew if I ever got back to sleep, I wouldn't want to get out of bed." Granger wrapped her arms around her middle. "I got quite a bit done this morning, really. Lucius needed help at the orphanage, and I went to a few shops for—"

If she didn't take a moment to breath, she'd be short of breath. He feared that she might even faint and while Hermione Granger was not a woman who needed to be policed, he hoped she would let it slide this time. He whispered her surname, and angled his body toward her while blocking her from a nosy older witch who sat just behind him. "Take a breath. It's the first appointment. It will be fine."

"You aren't supposed to tell me—"

"It may be a rough start, but we're going to manage." Draco sat with her, and squeezed her hand occasionally when her knee jumped up and down.

It was funny, he thought, how the reality of things never quite set in until certain events.

He was seated next to his wife in the uncomfortable seats of St Mungos, and he knew that she was, indeed, his wife but had never completely realized it until a healer called out, "Hermione Malfoy," and she smiled at him.

Hermione fucking Malfoy.

While Granger and Healer Minely discussed what to expect while starting potions, Draco remained quiet. As a matter of fact, he had every intention of staying that way unless spoken to since none of this required his input.

And he wasn't going to offer it either, unless asked.

"It's also important to note that these potions have been extremely successful when it comes to increasing your levels of fertility, and chance of pregnancy." The healer crossed one leg over the other, and tied her hair up while fanning herself with a clipboard. "For the first week, you will take one potion daily with a full glass of water. It would be best to err on the side of caution of eating breakfast. Most patients experience heavy nausea as well so I suggest eating a light meal."

Granger reached across the space between them to link their fingers together and Healer Minely's eyes dropped down before she smiled widely.

"After this first week, your body will adjust and we will begin upping the dosage. If you notice any worrying shifts in your health, please send an owl immediately. If it worries you, I would rather you pop in for an emergency scan than stay home. Do you have any questions I can answer."

Without missing a second, Granger had one and he had a silly thought of her raising her hand. "You mentioned I may notice other side effects. What should I expect?"

"Increased appetite, certainly. There is also a chance of weight gain due to the ingredients used to preserve potency. Sudden shifts in mood have been experienced in twenty-six-percent of patients, but eighty-nine-percent had reported a dramatic increase in sex drive."

Granger blinked. "Oh, I'm not sure it could be any—" She swallowed, visibly regretting her words. "I'm not sure that will happen."

He stomped down the urge to laugh, and waited for the healer to leave the room before looking at her. "Granger—"

Her fingers were in his face in an instant. "Don't you dare."

"All I want to point out is that you've basically just told our nice healer that we shag a lot already. You're not worried about an increase in your sex drive." He snickered while avoiding the slap that narrowly missed his thigh.

Next time she wouldn't miss.

Granger rolled her eyes. "If that's a side effect for me, we'll never leave the bloody bed."

Sighing wistfully, he breathed, "I never thought I would say this, but I miss suspension."