They agreed not to tell anyone until it was confirmed by healers, at the least. Granger was terrible at keeping a secret though, and he imagined Pansy would know by the end of the week. Then Weasley, who also couldn't keep a secret. Not that he minded either. Granger wasn't the only one who wanted to blurt it out.

Her appointment fell on a Wednesday, early in the morning, when he was supposed to be in a mission briefing with his partner and Robards. While the head auror knew where he was at—and probably guessed why this appointment wasn't one to miss—Potter likely hadn't pieced it together yet. Draco could hear the questions he'd ask now, and he could imagine the irritation on Potter's face when he was brushed off.

Seated on the bed, Granger fidgeted. She picked at her nails and bounced her knee, looking toward the door expectedly toward the door every thirty second. "What if it was wrong?"

"It wasn't wrong."

"I don't think you trust muggle technology, Draco. So, forgive me if I think you're just saying that to make me feel better." She crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her hands in the over sized sweater she wore, and refused to look at him.

He rolled the stool he sat on closer to her. "I may not trust muggle technology usually, but I trust you. So, if you believe those little sticks are accurate, then I do too."

Granger's eyes began to water, and she furiously wiped her face with her sleeve. "Oh, God. If I am pregnant—"

"You are."

"I'm crying at the most insignificant things." She groaned. "I don't want to spend all my time crying."

To be fair, he also didn't want that, but he wasn't foolish enough to admit it. "I'm sure that will pass."

"You hope it will."

Again, he didn't comment. Draco took her hands in his, and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. Slow, reassuring strokes until her breathing leveled out. "Look at me, Granger. You're pregnant, and that isn't going to change. A healer is going to come in here, perform the charm, and confirm it for you. Nothing else is going to happen."

"It can't be that easy. One in four witches miscarry."

He wanted to tell her it wasn't possible for them, but it would be a lie, and he had no desire to lie to her. She would have known anyway.

"I'm terrified," he began, resigned. "You're not the only one who's read the books you bring home, Granger. I know all of it too."

"You read them?" Her eyes widened. "When did you have the time?"

"Work," he shrugged. "I spend quite a bit of time in my office, love. After you go to sleep, I read them too. You're never alone in this, and I'm—I'm scared too."

Granger nodded, and held his hands close to her stomach. "Then you know that most miscarriages happen within the first trimester. Twelve weeks—God. I don't want to wait three months to tell our friends, and our family, but if we… if we lost the baby, I don't know I'd want anyone to know."

He'd known this was coming, and hindsight hadn't made it any easier since leaving the Ministry early that morning.

"Hermione, I don't think we'll have a choice in that part."

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Confirmed pregnancies are reported to the Ministry, and you know that. Those records aren't—" He raked his fingers through his hair. "They're not published with names, but it seems that they're not all that closely guarded either."

Granger stiffened, her eyes narrowing, and he wished that this wasn't one more thing the Ministry had taken from her. "You mean to say that because of who we are, it's so likely it will be leaked."

Slowly, Draco nodded. "It was something I ran down this morning. I hadn't thought of it before, but there have been a few pregnancies reported in the Prophet already, and when I checked, none of them had told anyone yet."

She pulled away from him, and buried her face in her hands. "Who was the reporter?"

"Skeeter."

"Of course it was." Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside the room, and she flicked her eyes toward the door. "We'll tell our friends, and our family, and when Rita Skeeter publishes my private life for the public, I'll deal with it."

Draco tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, grinning wildly as her face darkened. "Have I told you this morning how deeply in love with you I am?"

The corner of her mouth twitched. "Not today."

"That's a travesty if I've ever heard one."

Potter was the first one he saw when he got to the Ministry. "You know, if you're going to skip out on briefings, you could at least let me know." Potter laid into him, dragging his fingers through his hair while leading him down the corridor. "We're running point on a stake out tonight. The DMLE got intel that a shipment of illegal cache of potions is landing in Diagon Alley tonight. Pretty ugly stuff, but Robards thinks the wizard at the head of it will make an appearance."

It would be a late night then. One he didn't particularly want to spend with his partner while Granger was at home. Draco didn't say anything as they moved past a crowd of aurors, and a surprised sound slipped out of him when Potter hauled him into their shared office with his fingers knotted in his collar. "A little warning would be nice, you messy-haired—"

"You need to work on your insults."

"Oh, fuck off."

Potter stood with his arms folded over his chest, and his glasses were skewed. Typical. "Robards is a great auror, but he's not a good liar when it comes to people. So, why don't you tell me why you were really late?"

Taking his time, and inwardly laughing at the crease in his partner's brow, Draco rounded his desk. "What did Robards tell you?"

Harry's mask of irritation slipped. "He said you fell in the shower."

Draco whirled around. "He told you what? I would never—"

"You did fall in the showers here, once." Harry reminded him, unhelpfully. "I remember because I had to pick you up—"

"Stop."

"And I also remember that we both slipped, and Goldstein came to check on us—"

"For the love of God, please stop talking. I don't need the visual."

"Then tell me the real reason you missed the meeting because I know you'd never tell anyone that you fell in the shower."

He gripped the edge of his desk, and sighed. "Granger's pregnant. It was confirmed this morning by her healer."

For a second, the look on Harry's face didn't change, but then he grinned broadly. "Yeah?" He crossed the room in two steps, hugged Draco, and clapped him on the back. "You're gonna be parents."

The lead finally dropped in his stomach as the excitement began to ebb away. God, he'd never imagined being a father. "Yeah, luckily Granger's the best in everything she does because I—"

"Don't do that," Harry shook his head. "You're great too. Maybe not the best since I'm here, and I am the savior and all, but you're alright."

Draco punched him in the shoulder. "You've clearly mastered the ability to insult me while reassuring me."

"Oh, that?" Harry shrugged. "Learned from the biggest arsehole I know."

The mission couldn't even really be called one, considering how easy it had been. From where they sat on the edge of the roof overhead, Draco handed over the spelled binoculars. "He's stumbling over his feet."

"Yeah," Harry clicked his tongue. "Looks like he's been using his own supply."

The wizard below them tripped over a split in the pavement, and his wand flew out of his hand. "It's almost too easy." Draco sighed. "Shall me put him out of his misery and bring him in?" At Harry's nod, he dropped off the roof, landing quietly behind their suspect.

He tried to run, but he tripped anyway.

Granger was awake when he slid into the bedroom, and his bag slipped from his hand. "I thought you would be asleep still," Draco kicked off his boots, and undid the buttons of his cuffs. "Don't tell me you were waiting up for me."

She rolled her eyes, and lifted the book in her lap for him to see. Surprisingly, it wasn't one of her many parenting books. "I picked up a book after I left the orphanage tonight. I meant to only read a few chapters, but…"

"You're nearly done." He snorted. Draco climbed into bed with her, and dropped a kiss to her shoulder. "Well, don't let me bother you. I'll be sleeping, pretending I don't exist."

Granger laughed, and pinched his shoulder. "Stop it. You're back earlier than I expected though. What happened?"

Draco shrugged, and watched her lay beside him—her book forgotten—and she propped her head up in her hand. "He decided to take some of the potions he sold. It didn't go so well for him."

She hummed under her breath, and shuffled closer to him. "That makes for an uneventful night." Granger squeezed her eyes shut as he slid his hand up her inner thigh. "Harry mentioned something today, and when I asked about it more, he told me to ask you."

Letting his head fall to the pillow, he peered up at her. "Go on then. What is it?"

"You fell in the shower at work once." She said with a straight face.

He was going to kill Potter. Weasley would be a fine replacement partner.

"You never told me about that."

"I wonder why," he rolled his eyes. "I pulled my hamstring, and Potter had to pick me up. Well, showers tend to be slippery, so we both fell. Then Goldstein came to check on the noise—which was me crying out because your boy-wonder elbowed my cock."

She burst into laughter. In fact, Granger laughed until her eyes were watering. "Oh—my God."

"Yes, yes, laugh it up, sweetheart. Anyway, Goldstein walked in and found us rather close together, and we nearly never lived it down. I considered erasing his memory, but Potter reminded me that I was still on probation while in training."

She was still giggling. "How did you pull your hamstring?"

"Well, if you ask Anthony Goldstein, it's because I fucked Harry Potter too rigorously." Unable to help it, he laughed too. "It happened in training, and this was right after Potter informed me that we had been selected to be partners."

"I see."

"It was also after he punched me in the face for breaking your heart." It was as he said it, that he realized he had never told her about that. "I suppose you want me to tell you about that now too. The day we became partners, he shattered my nose and told me it was years overdue."

Her eyes were wide, and her lips had parted. "He never told me about that."

"I can't imagine why he would have, Granger."

"I just- I remember when your nose was broken, and I had no idea Harry had done it. I even asked him, and he said it had been someone you arrested."

Draco arched a brow. "You asked him? Were you worried about me?"

Her lips flattened. "I was always worried about you. Did Ron attack you too?"

"No," Draco said slowly. "But I thought he was going to when he learned I showed up at your flat in the middle of the night."

She smiled. "He asked me if I wanted you to leave me alone, you know. Ron wanted to know if you were bothering me, and I told him I didn't know. I also told him he should let me make my own decisions."

"And how did that go?"

The curve that came to her mouth was vicious. "Ron made sure to remind me that if I was unhappy, he does have a brother that works on a dragon reserve."

Merlin.

Granger invited his parents over for dinner, and she'd planned to tell them over dinner, after plying his mother with wine. She'd been rocking back on her heels all day, nearly gnawing a hole in her bottom lip in the process while she was at it, and Draco dropped his hand to her shoulders. "You need to relax. They'll be thrilled."

"I know that." Still, she chewed her bottom lip. "I'm not worried they'll be unhappy, but don't you think it's still a little awkward telling them?"

"I'm fairly certain my parents are aware of how babies are made, Granger. And I don't think they'll be thinking of that when you tell them they're going to be grandparents."

She lowered her hand to her stomach. Granger had taken to doing that recently. "In any case, I'm still nervous."

In hindsight, he probably ought to have known that her nerves would cause something to go off the rails. What other luck did they have?

His parents arrived right on time, as expected. Lucius pecked Hermione on the cheek. Narcissa wrapped Draco in a tight hug before moving to Hermione, and complimenting the dress she wore. For a moment, it'd been just as planned, and then it wasn't.

Lucius presented a bottle of wine to Hermione. "Your favorite," Lucius smirked, and pressed it into Hermione's hands.

"I can't take this," Hermione's fingers had turned white from tightening on the bottle.

"Nonsense," Lucius hung his outer robes on the hook beside the fireplace. "I didn't pay for it, if that's what has you concerned. It came straight from our wine cellar."

Draco saw what was happening before it occurred, and he tried to hide his smile. Not that it worked very well.

Hermione audibly cleared her throat. "No, I mean to say I can't drink this."

His mother's eyes snapped to attention, while his father merely continued to look confused.

"I'm pregnant." The admission was so quiet that Draco could have imagined it. "We found out this week that we're—" Granger shrieked when Lucius wrapped in a tight hug, and lifted her right off her feet. "You're going to be such a great grandpa." Hermione murmured, and squeezed Lucius. "And you," she grinned while reaching for Narcissa. "You're going to be brilliant."