AN: This is my first major attempt at writing and am trying purely because the 4 year old OC that I am introducing has been driving me crazy running around my imagination begging to be let out. Please review whether you like it or hate it and give me any tips you might have for me.

Chapter 1

"Albus Severus, Albus Severus, Albus Severus, Albus Severus, Lily Lily Luna, (clap clap), Lily Lily Luna (clap clap), James (jump) Sirius (jump jump)..." the song repeated and carried through the house. The little girl skipped around the living room, her golden brown curls bounced softly with every jump. Hermione rubbed her temples, "please Laykyn, baby, please calm down." She continued packing the last few items lying around the house. She had everything they would need for the next year. She thought. She mentally ran through the list again. Hermione reached her hand out and stopped the little girl mid-skip, "baby can you be a big helper and go get the box of stuffed animals we sorted last night from your room? The movers will be here any minute."

"Sure Momma," she shot her mother a brilliant smile and sprinted towards the stairs. She got distracted halfway across the room. "Momma, you know who has a weird name?" She didn't even wait for her mother to answer as her smile slipped to a smirk. "Uncle Harry! You know like Hairy. Was he a really hairy baby or something? If so why didn't they spell it correctly? You told me hair was H-A-I-R so you just add a Y and you get Hairy, but he always signs it H-A-R-R-Y."

Hermione chuckled to herself and shook her head slightly. "Boxes, animals. Now. We can contemplate the meaning of uncle Harry's name later." Laykyn had barely made it across the room when the fireplace burst with green flames. "Aunt Ginny!" the little girl squealed with delight as the redhead stepped out of the fireplace. Ginny was hit full force by the 4 year old as she stepped out of the fireplace. She scooped the little girl up and spun around the with her wrapped in a big hug. Laykyn giggled and squirmed out of her arms. Ginny planted a kiss on the top of the little girl's head as she set her down. "Guess what Aunt Ginny, I get to live at Hogwarts!" Laykyn's eyes sparkled as she told her aunt her news a triumphant smirk on her lips.

"I heard" Ginny glanced over at her best friend. "Professor McGonagall must really like you. She won't even let Uncle Harry back in the school, let alone our 3 rugrats."

Laykyn looked Ginny in the eyes a somber expression on her face, "I know why. It's all cause James… is too serious." a mischievous grin split across her face as she ended the sentence. Hermione just shook her head at her daughter's horrible pun. "Go get your stuff. We are leaving soon." Laykyn ran up the stairs giggling. Hermione gave Ginny a hug as they heard the bedroom door shut. Ginny let out a small laugh remembering the smirk that had lit her niece's face moments earlier. "Please don't encourage her," Hermione groaned, "you do realize that now as soon as she meets Professor McGonagall later the first thing she is gonna do is ask why Harry is not allowed in Hogwarts."

"Well I am sure McGonagall will have plenty of reasons to tell her," Ginny looked at the boxes stacked around the living room each neatly labeled. "Do you know where you will be staying yet?'

"Not exactly Professor McGonagall did say that I was head of Gryffindor house this year and that Laykyn and I would have private rooms but we would have to share a common room with one of the other heads of houses."

"I wish we could have stayed in the castle. We moved into the house in Hogsmeade that McGonagall assigned us last weekend. James loves it but Albus misses all the space we use to have living out by Mum. Harry and the kids do get to sit in the announcer's box while I referee the quidditch matches. The boys will love that."

"So I am teaching transfiguration, you have quidditch and flying, and Neville is teaching Herbology, any idea who else?"

"Lavender Brown will be taking the "noble art of divination"" Ginny said mimicking the misty voice of their former teacher. "And Luna is teaching care of magical creatures"

"I can't believe Harry turned down the defense against the dark arts post," Hermione pulled another frame off the mantelpiece. It showed Laykyn about 10 months old playing in the park with bubbles. The smile on the little girl's face was infectious. She remembered that day playing in the park with her daughter. She needed more days like that.

"You know," Ginny said pulling Hermione back to the present, "Ron has the day off today and I know he would be more than happy to help you 2 get moved in. You know get the big stuff out of the way and then you can sort the little stuff out together as it comes up."

Hermione didn't respond. She had a feeling that Ginny wasn't talking about just moving boxes. She laid the picture in the box and grabbed the next. This one showed Hermione in her wedding dress dancing in the arms of a young american navy pilot. The both looked blissfully happy. Hermione's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she laid it in the box, the woman in the picture had know idea that just two years from that day her whole life would be torn to pieces. "No Ginny. That's not going to happen. Ron and I would never have worked out. Please don't try setting us up. I had my chance. I found love...it's gone now. At least I got Laykyn."

"Hermione… your life isn't over," Ginny laid a hand on her shoulder. "You get a second chance…"

"Mommy! Let's go! I am all ready for Hogwarts." Laykyn came running down the stairs with a set of black robes and a stack of books in her arms. Ginny stifled a laugh. "She really is your daughter."

"Somehow," Hermione smiled, "I highly doubt Hogwarts is ready for you."

Draco Malfoy had led a quiet life after the war. He had been forced to live the first 3 years after the war as a muggle. He didn't have to spend anytime in Azkaban, thanks to Potter and his pals and for that he was truly thankful. After a few weeks it surprised him to discover that he didn't really mind the muggle life. In fact there were somethings he really enjoyed about the biggest thing being that in the muggle world Draco Malfoy was just another face in the crowd. The three years that he had had to live as a muggle had been peaceful. No one stared at him not in fear or in awe. No one hated him at sight simply because of his family and the stupid things he had done. No one accused him of hurting them or their family. No one blamed him for all the bad things in the world. He had been provided with an appartment for the first month and a few job interviews after that he had to figure out how to make everything work on his own. Using an electric stove for the first time was an adventure. He knew that he had messed up on his interviews. It was only his 2nd day in the muggle world. After half an hour of guess work he had the stove on and had thrown a frozen pizza in. He sat on the couch and almost instantly fell asleep. There was a pounding on his front door and he woke up to room full of smoke. His first instinct was to reach for his wand only to realize it wasn't there. The pounding wouldn't stop so he threw the door open. He was slightly taken aback when he saw a small older woman on the other side of the door. "Are you trying to burn the whole building down?" she asked with a smirk on her face. She forced her way past Draco and into the kitchen. she turned off the stove and grabbed the fire extinguisher. In matter of seconds she had everything under control and Draco just watched in amazement. "Now", she said looking at the young man, "when you put the pizza in did you take it out of the cardboard box?" He looked at her. She smiled taking his silence as a "no'. "Open up your windows so the room can air out and come on over next door. You are gonna eat with me tonight. I have a grandson about your age and he doesn't know the first thing bout cookin either." She gave Draco a soft smile. "Go on. If you ain't over in 10 minutes I will come back for you make sure you didn't pass out from the fumes or something." She bustled out of his apartment and straight across the hall into her own, "10 minutes"

Draco shook his head slightly in confusion at the old lady. He flipped the locks on his windows and cracked them open before changing into a fresh t-shirt and walking across the hall. He knocked. "Come on in, honey" the older woman called through the door. Draco walked into the apartment taking in all the photos on the walls. All kinds of pictures, kids playing in the snow, family dinners, birthday parties. The pictures didn't move. Draco smiled at one picture of a little boy probably 3 or 4 with cake all over his face and the biggest smile. "That's my grandson Mathew, the one that can't cook" the woman placed a hand on Draco's shoulder, "I am Ms. Esther, and you are?"

"Draco" he said turning around. "And thank you Ms. Esther for your hospitality."

"Of course hon, anytime." She began to move through the apartment towards the kitchen. "This way; the plates are in the first cabinet to the left of the sink and silverware is in that drawer." She pointed to one of the drawers as she passed. "Why don't you set the table." He watched the little woman bustle around the kitchen. She pulled out several pots and pans and bags and boxes of ingredients. He opened the cabinet and pulled out two plates and took them to the table, then he grabbed 2 sets of silverware. Ms. Esther made lemon pepper chicken for dinner. She told him stories all about how she had moved to Europe from America when she was in her twenty's. She had moved to study art and while in England met a young up-and-coming author. They had fallen in love, gotten married, had 3 kids and now 10 grandkids, her husband had passed away recently but she was doing ok. That was the beginning of a friendship that would help both Draco and Ms. Esther adjust to their new lives. Over the last 10 years Draco had also become good friends with her grandson, Matthew and briefly dated one of her granddaughters, Emily. Ms. Esther had been slightly upset that the relationship didn't work out but she still treated Draco as family. When Draco received the invitation to come back and teach at Hogwarts he had been very reluctant. His life was so different now. He worked in a men's clothing store and was attending a muggle university earning a science degree in biology. He had dinner with Ms. Esther at least once a week and she had managed to turn him into a decent chef. His free time was spent with Matt or some of his other friends, playing video games or rugby, working out or doing some light repairs and/or carpentry projects. He hadn't practiced magic in years he could barely remember the last time he had even picked up his wand. He received the occasional owl from his mother but that was all the contact he had with the magical world. He was sitting his living room with Matt drinking beer and playing the latest version of GTA trying to figure out how to broach the subject. "So I got an interesting letter the other day."

"Yeah what was that," Matt said never looking up.

"It was a letter from a former teacher. She said that the school board wanted me and a couple of my schoolmates to help teach some special class this year."

"Dude that could be fun. What class you gonna help with?"

Draco swallowed, "uh, kind like a self defense class."

"Dude since when did you learn how to fight?"

"In school," Draco lied.

Matt chuckled, "so when you gonna start."

"I don't know if I am."

"Why the heck not? I would love to go back and wreak more havoc on my alma mater"

"This is my life now. I left that part of me behind. This is my home now. I don't want to move and there is no one from that life that I want to see. I wasn't a good person before and no one would accept me there."

"Well I will bring Gramma to come visit, and we can still hang out on the weekends and text and stuff."

"Can't get cell service at the school and it would be really hard for you and Ms. Esther to visit me. I could come visit at Christmas and Easter but that would be about it."

"Gramma is not gonna like that. What about your job and university?"

"I would have to quit, for now at least."

"What is the upside to taking this job? Ha!" Matt rammed Draco's car off a bridge and the screen flashed "Game over. The Man wins." He looked at Draco "two outta three?"

Draco sat his controler on the floor. "I need to tell you the whole story but you aren't gonna believe me."

"Try me"

"My name is Draco Lucius Malfoy and I am a wizard"

"Bull" Matt scoffed.

Draco rolled his eyes then he whispered "Accio wand." The wand zoomed from the drawer in his bedroom to his hand. He pointed it at his friend, "petrificus totalus." Matt's whole body went rigid and he fell over on the floor. Draco mutter the countercurse and Matt sat up gaping at his friend. "As I said my name is Draco Lucius Malfoy and I am a wizard." Matt listened intently as Draco told him the entire story from his father and his first meeting of Harry Potter in madam Malkin's to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. All the ways he tormented Potter and his pals, his struggle to fix the vanishing cabinet, what happened with Snape and Dumbledore on the astronomy tower, all the things he had witnessed and done as a Death Eater. His aunt torturing Granger, and his mother lying to Voldemort giving Harry the chance to defeat him once and for all. About his trial and Granger and Potter standing up for him getting him a lesser sentence and how he hadn't returned to that world since. Matt swallowed hard trying to absorb everything his friend had said. Draco watched him nervously. "So you seriously got punched by a girl when you were like 13."

Draco's express changed to disbelief, "that's what you got out of all that."

Matt laughed,"I could have told you how big a jerk you were and that you were on the wrong side and that you family sounds straight up evil, but what good would that have done."

"You don't hate me or think I'm insane or anything."

"It seems a little over the top but i believe you. So that's where you're going, to Hogwarts to teach. And you are afraid that everyone will see you as a Death Eater still?" Draco didn't say anything just looked at Matt. "You have to go," he said "when you get there yes everyone might hate you, they might try to discredit you or break your wand or burn you at the stake or whatever your kind use as punishment but then again this McGonagall character seems to think you deserve a second chance. They might surprise you. Never know if you don't try." Draco nodded slightly "I will write McGonagall back in the morning, tell her I will take the job."