Sunday afternoon, after a lazy morning sleeping in and with her head still full of images from the previous night, Hermione found herself walking down the gardens of Malfoy Manor. It was a place she never thought she would ever visit again, yet here she was, after accepting the cordial invitation from Narcissa to join her for tea.

Iris and Eleanor were springing ahead on the gravel part, inspecting every new corner and every exotic flower currently in bloom. Hermione was glad that Ernestine had agreed to come along for support as well.

Hearing Ernestine repeatedly exclaim in surprise at the grandeur of the Manor proved to be a good distraction for Hermione. She had spent the entire morning feeling surprisingly embarrassed about the previous night, especially when her daughters kept asking for details during breakfast.

"Ernestine!" Iris called from one of the corners, pointing at one of the white peacocks strutting across the grass. "Have you ever seen one of those?"

"Ils ont des paons blancs?" Ernestine uttered in astonishment, completely unaware that she had switched to her native French.

"Other people keep cats or dogs— they have peacocks," Hermione replied in amusement as Ernestine left to have a closer look at the animal. They were beautiful creatures, but they also reminded her of her former father's-in-law self-importance and arrogance.

She took a deep breath to keep the urge to run back home at bay. Despite reconnecting with Draco the night before, she still hadn't gotten over the fact that his father had done everything he could to drive them apart— including threatening her with his social and political connections should she refuse to agree to his terms.

Just because he didn't consider her good enough for his son.

"Hey, there you are..."

Draco came down the gravel path to pick them up and pulled Hermione from the hold of her memories. She shook her head to clear her mind and greeted him with a soft smile. "Hello."

Seeing the girls and Ernestine adoring one of the white peacocks a few feet away, he reached for her hand to twine their fingers. "Don't worry, okay? Mother promised he's out until late. We have a whole afternoon to enjoy..."

She nodded, taking a deep breath to loosen the small knot in her chest; the touch of his hand also helped to calm her nerves. "It's just weird to be back here."

"I'm sure Mother would understand if you don't feel comfortable enough here... But she would still love to meet with you." With an encouraging smile and a brief squeeze of her hand, he started down the path. His smile widened when she nodded and let him guide her to the spot they had chosen for the tea. "You look beautiful in that summer dress... Cream suits you."

"I bought it for the annual summer fest the French Minister hosted in June," she replied, trying to ignore her blushing cheeks. A lot of people had complimented her on the dress at the summer fest, but hearing compliments from Draco? It made her feel cherished to the point that she felt giddy.

"I'm still impressed that you work for the French Ministry," he said with an appreciative whistle. "Doing all the good things you always wanted to do..."

She nodded, looking around to avoid his gaze and hide her still blushing cheeks. "Yes, I'm glad they are considering me for the position of Head of the Department for International Cooperation. It all just depends on when LaCroix finally retires."

"Really, I'm impressed." He stopped when the top part of a tent came into view. "Before we go inside... Are you really okay with it? I don't want you to sit through something that might upset you just for me, or–"

"I'm fine, Draco," she replied softly, touched by his concern. "Your mother was the one who sent me the letter about Iris and Eleanor switching, after all... And it would be rude to leave now."

He placed a kiss on her forehead. "I meant what I said yesterday–"

In a bold move, Hermione pulled him down with her free hand for an ardent kiss. She needed a reminder of the sweet feel of his lips against hers, a reminder of why she actually agreed to come today: the opportunity to see him again, and the opportunity to do exactly this.

The night before hadn't been enough, in the end...

Her heart skipped a beat when Draco responded in kind, letting go of her hand to instead frame her head, his fingers digging into her hair while he roamed her mouth; his tongue dancing with hers to both their delights.

"Damn," he said with a pant as he finally pulled away, a smitten look in his eyes as he let them wander over her face, lingering on her lips. "We better join my mother now, or I'll just give in to the temptation to whisk you away to another hidden corner of the gardens..."

"Maybe we should, yes." With a teasing smirk, she reached for his hand once more before turning towards the tent. Her heart was jumping in joy and he gazed at her in adoration as they reached the tent.

..

Narcissa immediately rose to her feet when she noticed them, a welcoming smile on her lips. "My dear! I'm so glad you agreed to come today... After everything that happened, I wouldn't have blamed you for declining the invitation."

"Well, the girls wanted to come, and I couldn't really say no." For a moment Hermione felt completely underdressed next to Narcissa, looking utterly graceful in a black linen jumpsuit, but then she shoved the feeling to the side and put on her friendliest smile.

"Where are they?" Narcissa asked, beckoning Hermione and Draco to take a seat on the lounge furniture, brought here just for the tea. "Adorable girls, both of them..."

"They are showing Ernestine around, I think," Hermione replied, eyeing the lovingly draped finger food on the table. "She is my maid."

"Good." Narcissa nodded before she levitated the teapot with a discreet swish of her wand to fill the cups in front of them. "I heard Paris has a great wizarding community..."

Unsure, Hermione shared a quick glance with Draco before she nodded reluctantly. "It's a great community, yes. Iris is friends with a lot of the other children in our neighbourhood... Though I don't know how many of them figured out the switch."

"They look identical," Draco said, leaning forward to add sugar to his tea. "I thought I saw double for a second yesterday when they opened the door."

"I caught them when Iris was using one of those instant message parchments to communicate with her sister," Narcissa said, reaching for the small milk jug. "She wasn't fast enough to hide it, and I was able to read a few sentences. She was scared I'd be mad at her, but how could I be mad at such a clever and charming girl?"

"I was just shocked," Hermione with a smile, nodding when Draco held up a sugar cube over her cup. "I mean, I thought I'd never see her again, and then she just sits there in my kitchen eating ice cream, joking around with Ernestine— and in perfect French!"

"And I thought I saw a ghost at the Quidditch game..." He leaned towards Hermione with a small smirk. "And my dear mother here helped the girls orchestrate our meeting there, would you believe that?"

"You just needed a little push." Narcissa hid her smile behind her cup, sipping her tea. "And it worked..."

Pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, Hermione shared another look with Draco, breaking out in a small giggle when she remembered the end of the previous night and their kiss just moments before.

"So, have you found a solution for the girls yet?" Narcissa then asked, her widening smile the only indication that she had noticed Hermione's giggle. She put her cup back on the table, reaching for a finger sandwich. "And what about you two?"

Hermione almost let her cup slip from her grasp and only barely avoided a burn on her fingers as she steadied it to put it back down. A sigh escaped her as she leaned back for additional support. "I... Honestly, I don't know. I do hope you don't take this the wrong way, and I brought it up with Draco yesterday as well, but your family treated me quite terribly. I moved on, but it's not something I can just forget either."

Narcissa's expression wavered for the briefest of moments, a flicker of shame running over her face before she collected herself. "I know. Back then, I simply didn't know how to stop my husband, and I'm sorry for that. That's why I tried to teach Eleanor what I thought you'd teach her if you had the chance. And she always had questions about you— why you left or where you were now... Things I couldn't answer."

Still leaning back, Hermione saw Draco lowering his head, his lips pressed into a faint, pained smile. With a small pang in her heart, she reached for his forearm in a comforting gesture. "Thank you for not making me the bad person."

"You never were," he whispered as he covered her hand on his forearm, his fingers leaving soothing patterns on her skin.

"Thanks." Hermione leaned forward, resting her chin on his shoulder. "But let's talk about something else now..."

"I'd love to hear more about Paris," Narcissa offered. "Their fashion is far superior to anything England has to offer."

..

A couple of hours and many finger sandwiches later, Iris and Eleanor entertained the adults with their flying talents and tricks they had learned at Quidditch camp. All three women on the ground gasped in shock more than once at their sheer audacity.

Despite the outrageously daring behaviour of her daughters, for Hermione, this was a precious moment; for the first time in years— since she had left with baby Iris— it felt like they were a family, spending a wonderful Sunday afternoon together.

"I think, given the circumstances, we both did a good job raising them," Draco whispered into her ear in a moment when everyone else was distracted, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "And I'm honestly glad they switched on us."

She smiled at the touch of his lips, leaning into him when he put his arm around her waist. "Me too, given how everything has turned out so far."

His next kiss moved closer to her jaw but was still as tentative as the first one. "Would you say yes to a dinner at my place?"

"I'd have to bring Iris and Eleanor because I promised Ernestine she'd get the evening off." She couldn't help but chuckle at his barely veiled disappointment. "Not what you had in mind, hm?"

"You got me..." He leaned his forehead against her temple and let out a deep breath. "I'm glad to have you back, but then I remember that you will go back to Paris soon and I just want to spend as much time as I can with you while you're here."

"There's no hurry yet," she replied, patting his cheek gently. "I'm here for more than a few days. And Paris isn't so far away either, you know?"

"Still too far..." He finally sat up again, although he left his arm wrapped around her waist.

Hermione managed to sneak her arm around his back, as she watched Narcissa and Ernestine discuss whatever the girls were showing now. "I'm sure they would love to spend some time with their father as well..."

"The village on the other side of the hills has a beautiful Summer Fair—I could take them there... Just give me a day to organise a few days off at work."

"Sounds like a plan." Hermione leaned her chin on his shoulder, smiling happily, only to be interrupted by another gasp as Iris showed another flying trick. She was glad that the brooms couldn't yet get as high as adult brooms, but she couldn't quite shake the anxious feeling whenever the girls flew any higher than a few feet above the ground.

"You really haven't changed," Draco whispered, nudging her gently. "Remember? You berated me often enough for my risky flying during the Quidditch games at Hogwarts."

"You were a show-off–"

"Hey, I tried to impress the girl I liked with my talents."

"I was," Hermione said with a quick smirk, "but I was scared too. You could have broken your neck at least a dozen times."

"I didn't..." He pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her temple. "And the girls won't either."

Hermione's attention was drawn away from Draco when a house-elf showed up, as discreetly as it could. "Draco? What's going on?"

"Hm?" He followed her gaze, as he had been distracted momentarily by one of the peacocks strutting past their tent. "Just Tibby. She probably wants to know whether we all plan to stay for dinner or something..."

However, Narcissa reacted with a shocked gasp to whatever Tibby was telling her. Seconds later, she rose to her feet with a determined expression on her face. "Draco? Could you please come with me?"

Within a single heartbeat, the relaxed atmosphere of the afternoon had vanished, and Hermione could only watch from a distance as Draco and his mother animatedly discussed some serious matter.

"Maman?"

"Mum? What's going on? Why is Dad arguing with Grandma?" Eleanor asked as she came back to the tent, the broom on her shoulder and her sister close behind.

"I don't know, sweetheart. But it's probably nothing to worry about..." Trying to cover her own doubts with a smile, she motioned for the girls to sit down next to her. "It's been a great afternoon, hasn't it?"

"Ils retournent," Ernestine said, getting up with pressed lips.

"Draco? What's going on? Has something happened?" Hermione was now completely nervous, standing up as Draco approached. The girls were still sitting on the sofa, watching her with worried expressions.

However, he only shook his head and turned to Ernestine. "Could you please get the girls back home? I don't want them to see this..."

"Dad!"

He sighed. "I'll explain later, okay? Just go with Ernestine for now."

"Cissa! I'm allowed to see my granddaughter!"

Hermione froze when she heard that voice, her mind flooding with all the bad memories connected to it. "You promised he wouldn't come back until late..."

"I know," Draco responded and reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. "He really wasn't supposed to be ba–"

"Iris! NO!"Hermione cried out when her daughter ran off towards the loudly arguing voices of her grandparents, only to have Eleanor follow her. "What the hell are you doing?"

She ran after them, intent to catch them before they would reach Lucius; she barely noticed that Draco and Ernestine were straight behind her. "Your father told you to go with Ernestine!"

It only took them seconds to reach Narcissa, shaking her head in shock at her granddaughters, not wanting to leave her husband out of sight for a single moment.

"Cissa! What is going on here?"

"Grandfather, why are you fighting with Grandma?" Eleanor asked, rather out of breath, when she and Iris reached their grandparents. "We were just visiting..."

Before anyone else could say anything, Hermione reached the group, immediately putting herself in front of her daughters in a protective move. "Hello. I was told you'd have the decency to be out of the house until late."

"This is still my house. My Manor. And I demand that you take your daughter immediately and leave the grounds."

"They are both my daughters. I gave birth to both of them, and you can no longer take this away from me–"

"You have no place in this family!"

Before Hermione could respond, Draco stepped in, grabbing her wand hand in a bold move and motioning the girls to go over to Ernestine; he glared at them when they shook their heads, adamant about staying where they were. "I'm here now."

Hermione took a deep breath, momentarily relieved about the hold of his hand and finding strength in it. "I'm their goddamn mother. I have every right to be in their lives and in this family!"

"She is right, Lucius," Narcissa added with a dangerous glare before she made a step towards Hermione's side. "It wasn't fair."

"You tore us apart, just because..." Hermione swallowed as her throat choked up. "Just because you think I'm not good enough."

"Dad, why is Mum shouting now?"

"And why did Grandpa say that she should leave?"

"Doesn't he love us both?"

Wiping stubborn tears off her cheeks, Hermione shook her head. She didn't dare to turn around or she would lose it completely; it was bad enough that they had to witness it.

"You want to leave?" Draco whispered, squeezing her hand in an attempt to comfort her; he smiled faintly when she shook her head again.

"Mes filles," Ernestine said behind Hermione, addressing the girls in the softest voice possible. "I think we should leave them alone for a moment. They have a lot to discuss..."

"Non!" Iris protested firmly, stepping forward. "I want to know why he doesn't like both of us, or why he hates Maman... Ma mère is a good person! She is always there when I need help, she listens, she never shouts at people—or at least not at me, and she lets me play Quidditch because I'm good at it, even though the mamans of my friends say that a girl shouldn't play such a game."

"Yes, Mum is cool!" Eleanor added, joining her sister to stand in front of their parents. "She told me that she never stopped thinking about me. That she missed me..."

"Iris, Eleanor, it's okay," Hermione said in a whisper because her voice didn't allow for anything more. She brushed her hand over the heads of her daughters.

"You heard them!" Draco's words came out in a growl of barely suppressed anger. "Don't think I won't fight back this time. I'm not letting you drive her away again. If you can love my daughters, then you can at least be decent enough to accept that their mother belongs in their lives. And mine."

Lucius sighed, his cold stare still fixed on Hermione, who met it with her chin held up, bolstered by the support around her.

"Draco, please. Don't be a fool. Someone of her... background will never fully fit in."

"Just say the word," Draco retorted. "Tell Eleanor and Iris what you really think of their mother, and what you hence think about them as well."

"It's okay." Hermione tried to pull him back.

"No, it's not." He shook his head.

"She doesn't fit into our family, for heaven's sake, Draco! She's not–"

"She fits into mine!"

"She is beneath you. She was back then when you managed to impregnate her, and she still is now. A Muggleborn can never be part of this family, not as long as I live. We don't mingle with them, and we don't marry them. We have a reputation to uphold–"

"LUCIUS! Stop it! I've heard enough..." Furious, Narcissa interrupted her husband; Hermione had never seen the elder witch glare at someone with such anger as she did now. "Times have changed, and you know that."

But Hermione had heard enough to know that nothing had changed at all, even after a decade out of the country. Trembling with anger, she let go of Draco's hand. He tried to catch it again in a futile attempt. "Let me go. It was a mistake to come here."

"I'm really sorry, okay?" Draco replied in a desperate whisper, his lips turning into a faint, sad smile as she nodded. Hermione still refused to let him take her hand for comfort, while his parents kept arguing harshly.

"Girls, we're leaving!" Finally giving in to the urge to flee the situation, Hermione grabbed the hands of her daughters and turned around, ignoring their protests, starting towards the warded ground borders to Apparate out.

"Dad!" Eleanor cried out, trying to wiggle out of Hermione's tight grip.

"Go with your mother," Draco replied, staying behind and not attempting to stop them. "This is between your grandpa and me."