Chapter 14

She hadn't suffered through such a terrible night's sleep in years. She was irritable at work the next day and spent hours debating whether she should owl Draco or not. The more she thought about it, the more she realized how callously she'd walked away from him the previous evening. If he had behaved in a similar manner she would have been thoroughly confused and quite hurt.

The truth of her behavior had her retreating to the one place she felt completely safe, which meant that she practically frog marched Harry to lunch. He was suspicious but blessedly unquestioning… for about five minutes.

"Alright, spit it out," he said, swallowing a bite of sandwich.

"What?" She asked, trying to look innocent.

He scoffed. "Hermione, it's me, I know you better than anybody. If you wanted somebody who wouldn't notice that you're upset, or who would leave you alone about it, then you would have forced somebody else to go to lunch. I'm only here because you secretly want to talk, so spit it out." A thought seemed to suddenly occur to him and he perked up. "Did Malfoy do something I can kill him for?" He asked hopefully.

She huffed, pulled out her wand and cast a privacy charm. She didn't care that everybody in the general vicinity would think she was rude for doing so; they had saved the world, or at the very least the country, and they were regularly spied upon for their trouble. She did not want this conversation overheard.

"Draco asked me to stay with him last night and I kind of freaked out," she confessed.

Harry dropped his sandwich. "He tried to make you spend the night at Malfoy Manor?" He growled, a dark look crossing his face and he actually began to rise from the table, presumably to storm Malfoy Enterprises and murder Draco.

She reached across the table and grabbed his wrist to stop him. "No, it wasn't like that! He didn't try to force me into anything, I slept there Monday night anyway, and I was fine. He just wanted my company, he'd had a bad night."

Harry blinked at her, obviously trying to make sense of her tangent. "But that bothered you?" He asked, switching from enraged to confused, and deliberately returning to his lunch.

"No, not at all, it was nice that he wanted me around. And I wanted to stay, but I just thought that it was a bad idea, and I kind of jumped in the floo and warded my flat so that he couldn't follow."

And when she said it out loud, she realized that she sounded like a crazy person; Harry was certainly looking at her like she was.

"So let me get this straight," he said slowly. "He wanted you to stay with him, and you wanted to stay. But instead of doing what you both wanted, you ran and locked him out of your flat?"

She ran a frustrated hand through her curls. It was something she'd been doing compulsively all morning and she just knew that her hair was going to be a complete mess- rivaling its Hogwarts era bushiness- by the end of the day. "I just think that this is all happening so fast. I mean, isn't it too soon for me to be spending the night? I've already done it once and I've seen them every night this week. And you know how I went to look at that house with him?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, what I didn't tell you is that it's in St. John's Wood- the muggle world, Harry! And not just that. He wasn't only looking for my opinion as a witch, he specifically wanted my approval before he bought it, and when he got it, he did!"

"Wow," Harry intoned, his sandwich gripped in his hand, frozen between the plate and his mouth.

"And, Merlin, it's so beautiful, I love it! I made a simple joke about being willing to provide free babysitting if he would just allow me to live in the smallest guest room, and he said that when I moved in, that it would be into the master bedroom.

"Well, that's presumptuous," he grumbled, but she didn't think his heart was really in it.

"Maybe," she demurred, "but the thing is that I could see it, I could actually picture myself there with the two of them. I wanted it. But it hasn't even been two weeks and I'm just...I'm scared."

Harry just stared at her, blinking slowly. Hermione began to shred her napkin.

"Harry!" She hissed eventually, "say something!"

"I'm sorry 'Mione, this is just a lot to take in. Did you just tell me that after spending a couple of days with you that Draco Malfoy, of all people, decided to buy a house in the muggle world?" He asked incredulously.

"That's what you're concentrating on?" She growled.

"Well, yes, I think that's pretty indicative of what's going on here."

"What does that mean?" She huffed.

"You think that this thing with Malfoy is moving too fast? Well, his willingness to be in the muggle world is pretty shocking, but it doesn't surprise me at all that he's already smitten. And he's Malfoy, he's decided that he wants you, so he's gone after you full stop. That's what he does. I've heard he's a force to be reckoned with in the business world, and I know it for myself in the Wizengamot."

"Right, but Harry, this isn't a business deal or a piece of legislation."

He scoffed. "Oh no, it's not something as easily controlled as either of those things."

"What are you talking about?"

Harry pursed his lips for a moment, regarding her evenly before he began to speak. "The war affected all of us differently. You've always been a little bit of a control freak, and the war took away all sense of control from you, and so when it was over you grabbed onto every semblance of it that you could find. It's made you a stalwart friend, an excellent caretaker for anybody who might need it, and almost scarily good at your job, but it's also made it pretty much impossible for you to fall in love.

Hermione felt her hackles rising. "What is that supposed to mean?" She hissed.

Harry, who was well accustomed to her temper merely raised one eyebrow. "It means that it's called 'falling' for a reason. It means that it's a risk. And you abhor risks, you avoid them at all costs."

"I don't," she protested weakly.

"You do. And that's okay, for yourself, but as the father of two sons, if it's not a risk you're willing to take, you should walk away now."

That caught her up short.

"That's not what I want," she gasped.

"Are they worth it?" He continued to insist.

"What?"

"Malfoy and...Scorpius. Are they worth the risk? Because I know you Hermione, there's two of them, a lot of women would hold themselves back, but it just means that you'll love them twice as hard."

"Of course, they're worth the risk," she answered automatically, "that baby Harry, how could I offer him anything less?"

His smile was pleased, but she couldn't help but think that it also looked a little resigned. "That's what I needed to know," he said quietly.

"I'm going to screw this up," she groaned, "I already have," she ran her hands through her hair yet again.

"Well, keeping in mind that I just got divorced and am absolutely not a relationship expert-"

"You're a 'me' expert," she interrupted.

He rolled his eyes but didn't contradict her. "My advice is to not overthink this because I know you have a tendency to do that. It seems pretty simple to me: if you aren't interested then tell him to back off. But that's not what I'm hearing from you. So, if you enjoy spending time with Malfoy, then spend time with Malfoy, don't torture yourself over it. I understand that you're scared, but there's no way to do this without risk. For what it's worth, I think he'll do everything he can to keep from screwing this up."

She looked at him with wide eyes. "When did you get to be so wise? And when did you start trusting Draco?"

He shrugged. "I'd like to think I learn from my own mistakes. And Malfoy makes you happier than I've ever seen you. Andromeda thinks we can trust him with you, and I'm choosing to trust her."

She should have known he'd done some checking up with Draco's aunt. She sighed but he interrupted before she could say anything.

"Plus, if he does mess up then I get to kill him, so it's a win-win," he explained, that funny little smile back on his face.

She decided to ignore that comment as she was used to being surrounded by overprotective men and it would bring more trouble than it would prevent to argue with him. .

"Thank you Harry, you've given me a lot to think about," she said, as she finally, really started eating her lunch instead of pushing it around her plate.

Unfortunately, her conversation with Harry, while helpful, did not assuage her conscience over the way she'd treated Draco. She knew she needed to talk to him. She wished he had a mobile as it was less confronting than a floo. The next best thing would be to send a patronus, but she had no guarantee that he would be by himself when it arrived. But either would have been the easy way out and he deserved better.

By the time she left work she felt thoroughly disgusted with herself, and knew she had to go and find Draco. But she was being cowardly, putting off their confrontation, but she couldn't seem to help herself, which left her wondering about Harry's assertion that she needed to be in control. If she was honest with herself that was an entirely consistent explanation for her behavior since- at least- the age of eleven. Needing to think it through, she took the long way home from work and boarded the tube instead of apparating, before walking the rest of the way as she tried to sort out her thoughts.

When she finally reached her flat she was emotionally exhausted, but didn't feel any closer to an answer for her inner turmoil. She would get in touch with Draco, she just still didn't have any idea what she would say to him. She distractedly opened her front door but stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of two unmistakable heads of blond hair. Scorpius squealed with delight when he saw her, reaching his arms in her direction, and suddenly nothing else mattered.

She wanted to walk over and take him into her arms, and yet she felt like she had relinquished any right to take such liberties with Draco's child. It was as if they were back to square one. They were seated on her sofa, Scorpius in Draco's lap, a copy of 'Alice in Wonderland' which Draco must have pulled from her shelves was in his hands. She found herself wondering what he thought of it.

"How did you get in here?" She asked stupidly- given all the things she could have said.

"You didn't readjust your wards since the last time you let us through, quite careless of you," he drawled.

Of course he was right, once she'd exited the flat that morning the wards had automatically returned to their base level and the last time she'd adjusted that had been to let the two of them through. She was usually rather meticulous with her home's protection, but she'd been preoccupied when she left for work, and while she'd certainly been avoiding him, she'd never seen Draco as a threat.

"I would ask why you are here, but I'm just glad that you are," she allowed herself to admit with a sigh.

She continued to hover in her own front doorway. Scorpius was actually fighting his father trying to get to her.

"Are you going to just stand over there?" He asked dryly.

"No, of course not," she made her way over to them and held her arms out for Scorpius, "may I?"

"I think he's made his opinion on the matter perfectly clear," he said, eying the little boy who appeared desperate to get to her, "though I'm not sure how I feel about my son liking you more than he likes me," he observed petulantly, even as he passed him to her.

"Of course he doesn't, he just hasn't seen me all day and we had fun last night," she happily took him into her arms and, shooting a mischievous glance at Draco, rubbed the tip of her nose against his tiny one.

Unlike his father, Scorpius apparently thought that this was the greatest thing that had ever happened, because he laughed uproariously and then he sloppily attempted to return the gesture, bumping their foreheads together in the process.

"Well at least one Malfoy man can appreciate an Eskimo kiss. You never disappoint me sweet boy," she cooed.

Draco snorted indelicately. She had noticed that was one of his signature moves, not when he was actually annoyed, but when he was uncomfortable. She looked at him inquisitively, sensing that he had something to say, there must have been a reason they were in her flat.

"It occurred to me after you left last night that I've never done this before, and I might be going about it the wrong way," he admitted.

He picked some imaginary lint off of his robes and avoided her eyes.

"Done what?" She asked, sitting beside him but carefully keeping some space between them, her own shame at her behavior somewhat displaced in the face of his obvious discomfort.

Scorpius scrambled off of her lap and she summoned the basket full of toys she kept tucked away in the corner for when her godsons came over for him to explore.

"Started a relationship." He looked at her as though the answer was obvious. "The few witches before Astoria were nothing serious, mainly schoolboy dalliances or post-war distractions," he waved a hand dismissively, "and Astoria was all carefully arranged outings, well-timed gifts; we were rarely even alone during our courtship. There weren't even anything but a few kisses until we were married."

She had no idea where he was going with this, which was worrisome. "I'm not sure what you're saying, Draco," she said as she nervously wrung her hands.

"Astoria is my only point of reference and I can acknowledge that our relationship wasn't a good one. I misread that situation, and now I'm afraid I might be misreading this one."

"Why do you think that?" She asked, voice rough with emotion and suddenly feeling very scared that she might have ruined this before it really got started. "And do you mean with Astoria, or with us?"

"Both."

She tried- but knew she wasn't entirely successful hiding her flinch.

"With Astoria I just assumed we'd end up like my parents."

"I- what?" No, she was lost.

He visibly gathered himself before he began to speak again. "I know how they look, in public, even just in front of me most of the time. Cold and unfeeling, polite but detached from each other. I've told you before that they love each other, that their marriage was by choice and I suppose I just thought that Astoria and I would, I don't know, find our way into the same kind of thing. That we would grow to love each other. I'm not stupid, I knew we weren't there at the time we got married but things were…pleasant enough."

"And you didn't ever fall in love?" She knew the answer to that question, she'd heard him speak about his ex-wife often enough, but she was morbidly curious as to why he'd ever thought that he could love her from his descriptions they seemed utterly incompatible. When is came down to it she just she needed to hear the answer to this question.

"Not at all," he shrugged, like it meant nothing, and she felt her heart wilt a little more at thoughts of his former marriage- she supposed she would have felt jealous if he had, at some point, been madly in love with Astoria, but she truly believed that it was more painful to hear that they had been largely indifferent to each other. What a lonely existence. "It was foolish of me to think that we would. There was just nothing there to foster into love. But I didn't see that until later, I just sleep walked through a courtship and into a marriage. I don't want to make an assumption like that again."

"So, you're worried that there's nothing between us?" She was taken aback. "Or at least not enough to see us eventually fall in love?" She questioned.

"I… yes, possibly. I mean, I know there is on my end, and I was fairly sure that I had made my intentions clear and that my hopes were reciprocated, but if that's true then I can't figure for the life of me what scared you off last night," he practically shouted in obvious frustration.

"How could you possibly think that?" She blurted incredulously, before she could censor herself.

But, really, she didn't think she'd ever heard anything so absurd. She appreciated that he'd just gotten out of a bad relationship. Or, perhaps it would be better described as an empty relationship, and that created certain issues. But the evidence was obvious: she couldn't stay away from him, they couldn't keep their hands to themselves. Here she had been so afraid of how fast she was falling and he was worried that she might not be able to fall for him at all!

"Because you ran out on me last night like nothing in the world could be as horrible as spending the night with me!" He snapped, "and I wasn't asking for sex, I understand that you may not be comfortable enough yet. That's why I agreed to take things slowly, especially given this ridiculous business of you thinking that you're unattractive. But we slept together earlier this week so I don't understand why you would suddenly have a problem sharing a bed unless you think it was a mistake and simply aren't as invested in this as I am."

She could only stare at him for a few moments, she couldn't dismiss his logic and that was a humbling realization.

"Oh Merlin," she moaned, "we've completely gotten our wires crossed."

He looked at her inquisitively, probably as much over the muggle expression as the sentiment.

"When we talked about taking things slowly you just thought I was talking about physically? You were giving me time to get comfortable with you?" She asked.

He nodded and she shook her head.

"I meant with all of it. Getting to know each other slowly so that we make sure that this is what we want, so that we aren't as hurt if this doesn't work out. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to leave last night? I feel like I want to be around you all the time, but I know that's a bad idea. And I don't need to get slowly comfortable with you. I'd take you to bed right now and I have no doubt it would be good, I've never had chemistry like this with anybody else. I just want to make sure we don't get lost in that, that we really like each other and this," she gestured between them, "isn't just physical attraction."

He looked at her thoughtfully. "I understand the thing about wanting to make sure this isn't all about sex, though I personally don't need any convincing. But I understand it's important to lay a strong foundation for the entire relationship and not rely on the chemistry. The first part makes no sense to me though. You think it will hurt less if we figure out in two years that we aren't compatible rather than in two months? Why would I want to get to know you slowly, why would I deny myself the pleasure of your company? It seems to me that you're just denying yourself on principle. Though I don't know what that principle is."

"Relationships just aren't supposed to move this quickly. It hasn't even been two weeks, people don't fall this fast!"

"Says who?" He demanded. "Don't we make the rules? This is our relationship."

"Well yes but…"

"But?"

"Aren't you scared!"

He closed the distance between them and took her hands. "Of course I am, but I know that I want you, so I'm giving it all that I have, because I'd rather do that and find out in two months that it's not going to work, than hold back and find out in two years, or ten. Especially because I have to consider Scorpius. I can't afford to dilly with him. Investing years of my time is one thing, but it would be irresponsible of me to invest years of his life as well."

That drew her up short. And she sat back to think. She found herself amused, annoyed, and more than a little enamored by the man in front of her. "Congratulations," she finally said wryly.

"For what?" He asked patiently as he gently massaged the back of her hands with his thumbs.

"You've out-couraged a Gryffindor." She sat back, exhaling in shame at her realization. "I'm procrastinating getting hurt. I'm trying to put off getting my heart broken, and I'm doing you the disservice of assuming you're going to break it in the first place, and for that I'm sorry. That thing you said about giving this your all, I've never done that before, I've always held part of myself back and I think that's why this scares me so badly. I've never wanted to give all of myself to somebody, but I do to you, to the two of you. But I still have this defense mechanism in my brain telling me not to. My thoughts and my feelings are doing battle and now I know why Harry warned me not to overthink things."

She realized now that if she over thought this and continued to hold back, if she did it for years like she had in the past, that she would push him away. Perhaps if it was just him he would wait for her indefinitely- though that would be unfair to ask of him- but he had to protect his son.

"Potter?" He asked, interrupting her epiphany.

She chuckled. "You have a surprising ally in that boy. He did some reconnaissance on you using Andromeda as a source and he's decided to trust you. Though there's definitely a part of him hoping you'll do something stupid so that he has an excuse to come after you."

"Huh," Draco responded thoughtfully, obviously taken aback, "well that's surprising, but good I suppose. Where do we go from here?"

"I stop overthinking us," she said simply, "we seem to want the same things, it's just a matter of me trusting my feelings."

"Can you do that?" He asked, recapturing her hands and rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles.

"I hope so," she looked at him impishly, "your mouth is a very effective tool at turning my brain to mush, keeping me from thinking at all."

"My mouth, huh?" He smirked.

"Yep, especially when it's on my body."

"Is that so?" He asked, leaning in, and then he proceeded to thoroughly prevent her from thinking.

They spent the next hour kissing and cuddling on the couch, refraining from getting too hot and heavy due to Scorpius' presence, even though he was oblivious.

"We should get the two of you home, he needs to eat and get to bed," she eventually said.

"You'll come?" He asked pointedly.

"Yeah," she breathed, a little bowled over by his easy forgiveness, "I'm already spoiled by Effie's meals."

"If you tell her that she may burst with pride," he smirked.

"I'll be sure to mention it then."

She followed her boys- her boys- through the floo into their sitting room and Effie was almost immediately serving the dinner she'd had waiting. And she did nearly burst into happy, prideful tears when Hermione praised the roasted chicken and potatoes. Afterwards, Hermione and Draco worked like a seasoned team to get Scorpius bathed and into bed.

Draco was keen to return to the snogging session they'd abandoned in her flat. He succeeded for a few minutes, that mouth of his really did have the ability to reduce her to a writhing, moaning, thoughtless creature of pleasure. But she eventually fought through the fog of her desire for his body to address her need to talk to him.

"Draco I have something that I want to tell you," she said in a voice that was aiming for authoritative but was actually quite breathless.

"Later," he insisted, while gently sucking on her neck- the snake knew what that did to her.

She pulled on his hair but he actually seemed to enjoy that so she found a spot on the back of his upper arm, right above his elbow and gave it a twisting pinch. He leapt away from her and almost all the way off of the sofa. She bit her lip to keep from laughing: men were so predictable.

Harry was more afraid of her thumb and pointer fingers than he had been of Voldemort. Not that she'd ever used the trick on him in a situation like this one, of course, but it was a marvelous tool for getting his attention when he was deeply immersed in a quidditch magazine.

"Bloody hell, Granger, that hurt!" Draco cried, shooting her an accusatory look as he carefully examined his arm.

"Don't be such a baby," she chided, "you're not injured and I wanted your attention."

"You had my attention," he retorted.

"I wanted your attention for a discussion," she said pointedly.

He sighed and moved to take her back into his arms, but then visibly hesitated. She chuckled to herself and moved with deliberation, taking the offended appendage in her hand and kissing the spot she'd pinched, and then she placed his arm around herself and tilted her head up to place another kiss on his jawline.

"I apologize for resorting to drastic measures to get your attention, am I forgiven?"

He pouted dramatically. "I'll let you make it up to me later," he leered.

She squirmed and wondered, yet again, at what this man was capable of doing to her, and with just a word or a look.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" He finally asked, conceding that they would not be returning to their previous activities until she'd said her piece.

She took the hand that wasn't clutching her against his body and played with his fingers anxiously.

"First of all, I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night, for leaving so abruptly and then literally shutting you out."

He let out a long breath and met her eyes. "Accepted, but please don't do it again. At least tell me what's going on if you need to get away."

She didn't look away from him as she nodded. "I'll do my best," she didn't want to make a promise that she couldn't keep, but her life was complicated.

"What does that mean?" He wondered.

"My parents are muggles, Draco. I- their safety comes first and- no offense- but you're a pureblood- the time it would take me to explain what I was doing might be the time I need to go protect them."

He raked a hand through his hair. "Okay, that's more than fair," he conceded.

She took another deep breath. "But, I just wanted to make sure that you knew, despite my own behavior, that you've been really wonderful. I don't want you to think that my actions are any reflection on how you've been treating me. What you said earlier about having never started a relationship before- well I just think you're doing a really good job and I wanted to thank you," she explained haltingly, her own experience in such matters also very limited.

He was silent for a long time. "Thank you," he finally said, and the sincerity resonated between them.

"I was talking to Scorpius last night after you left. I told him that you're a good man and that we're both lucky to have you. And I just, I think it's important that you know that."

"I treated you horribly," he said, his voice husky.

She reared back in surprised. "What? When we were kids?" She questioned, his comment seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Yes!" He practically shouted. "Sweet Salazar, Hermione, I was a Death Eater! And you sit here and call me a good man?"

The disbelief in his voice made her soul ache.

"We've been through this," she said as patiently as possible, she wasn't angry at him, but if she ever got her hands on Lucius Malfoy she might strangle him to death. "You've apologized. And yes, you were a horrid child; hateful, and bigoted, and angry. That makes the man that you are now all the more impressive to me. It would have been so easy for you to remain that way, to just wallow in your bitterness, but you didn't and I'm only sorry I didn't get to know you sooner. And you have this beautiful child who you've been gracious enough to share with me and who you're doing everything in your power to give a wonderful childhood, and so yes, we're both very lucky to have you and I'm honored you've let me into your lives."

She could actually feel the emotions rolling off of him. He laid his chin on top of her head and rubbed gently and then again said very simply and sincerely:

"Thank you," then there was a pause, "will you stay with me tonight?"

She was aware that he was using their emotional conversation to manipulate her, but she didn't really care, she wanted to stay and it was wonderful to feel wanted. She only had one hesitation.

"Can we sleep in one of the guest rooms?" She requested.

She felt him freeze and then pull away so that he could look at her face.

"Why?" he asked cluelessly.

She cringed at her insecurity. "I'm sorry. It truly doesn't bother me that you're divorced, but it just feels a little bit wrong to sleep in the same bed, in the same room where you once slept with your wife."

She knew it was kind of pathetic, but she still didn't expect his booming laughter in response and was wounded by it. She tried to move away from him but he held her firmly.

"Oh Sweetness," he murmured fondly into her temple, "I'm not laughing at you. I just- I'm sure she did at some point- but I can't remember a time when my ex-wife ever even stepped foot in my bedroom. We certainly never slept or did anything else in my bed. You would be the first woman who ever spent any time in it."

She frowned. "How is that possible? You have a son in the other room whose very existence suggests otherwise."

"I'm not saying we never had sex, but when I told you that she preferred not to share a bed, I meant that literally. Our first night together, on our honeymoon, I wanted to stay with her but I was so disturbed by her aloofness, possibly even disgust at having consummated our marriage that I didn't. After that she made it very clear that she preferred to sleep alone. We had a schedule, I would go to her and we would...do our duty in attempting to produce an heir, and then I would leave. It all became very routine."

Horror swept through her at the very idea, not just for Draco, but also for Astoria.

"Lay back and think of England," she murmured to herself.

"What was that?" He questioned.

"Just advice brides were given during the Victorian era when women weren't expected to enjoy sex. They were to just lay back and think of England while their husbands did what they did. In other words: do your duty."

"That sounds about right," he agreed with a heavy sigh.

Part of her wanted to question him further, but most of her didn't want to learn any more, so she remained silent and just held him tight. At least she'd been reassured that she wasn't slipping into another woman's marriage bed.

"I did get some good news today," he informed her after a long period of silence during which they just sat holding each other.

"Oh, what was that?" She wondered almost absently, she'd become transfixed by twisting his signet ring around and around his finger.

"We should be in the new house by next weekend."

She reared back in surprise. "Really? So fast?"

He smirked. "Well the owners had already moved out and money really does talk. I probably could have swung this weekend except that converting such a large amount into muggle currency took some finagling so as not to garner unwanted attention on either end."

"Oh," she said dumbly.

"I was hoping you would help me choose some furniture out of the attics here so that we have something to live with while we're looking for things that truly fit in the space."

She did not miss his repeated use of the term 'we,' she didn't think he simply meant himself and Scorpius.

"Well sure," she said, still surprised by how much he apparently desired her involvement.

"Okay, I was thinking we could go back over to the house this weekend to decide what we need, and then we can go through the attics next week."

"Sounds good."

She didn't realize she was falling asleep against him until he spoke again.

"Granger, what in Merlin's name happened to your hair today?"

Author's note: Thank y'all for continuing to support this story, it's so fun to write and I just love that you seem to be enjoying it! And thank you Weestarmeggie for beta reading and talking me through my doubts, especially with this long chapter!