A/N: Eight years! Eight years since I've written this story and all the ideas are still stewing inside my little head. Over the last couple of years I have had a trickle of reviews asking me to continue this story and I've decided that both you and I deserve to finish this. My writing style has changed since I wrote the original story as a teenager so hopefully you enjoy this just as much.

Draco rubbed a hand over his face while loosening the tie at his neck. The last guests had just left his mother's wake and after ordering his staff to tidy up he had retreated to his office. He made his way to the liquor cabinet opening the decanter of scotch and pouring a significant amount over ice. Draco walked behind his desk and slumped into the deep leather chair, listening to the ice clink against glass. The burn down his throat helped ease the pain in his head and, if his was honest, numb the ache in his heart. The day had been long and while the guests had been pleasant, sharing fond stories of his mother, he felt that he had no one to share the intimate stories with. How his mother's hair smelt or how it tickled his ear when she kissed him goodbye, or how when she truly laughed she would sometimes snort. Narcissa may have seemed cold to many people but she was the only mother Malfoy knew. She had a warmth that was just for him. Sighing, Draco took another long sip of his scotch and stared into oblivion.

What felt like only moments later the fireplace burned green and Blaise Zabini stepped out onto the deep red, plush carpet.

"You know that fireplace is for my use only right?" Draco said, watching his friend make his way over to the whiskey.

"That's what you said last time," Blaise flopped down into the chair opposite Draco, the large desk between them. "I'm sorry about your Mum and not being here today. Sometimes work doesn't allow me much free time. I'm sure you have heard, my boss is a tyrant."

Draco tried to laugh but he only got as far as a slim grin. Blaise was CEO at Malfoy Publishing, they produced fiction books for both the muggle and wizarding worlds. They had recently taken over an independent publishing company and Blaise had been flat out assessing staff and management.

"I need a drinking buddy right now, more than another mourner."

"Was it tough?" Blaise eyes flashed with sympathy and Draco had to stop himself from wincing. He threw back the last of his scotch and got up to refill his glass. Draco stood at the cabinet, staring at the trophy case behind it.

"I think the grief is messing with my head," Draco said, turning back to Blaise with a half glass and leaning on the cabinet.

"It messes with everyone's head mate."

"I saw Hermione today," Draco took a sip, watching over his glass as Blaise's reaction turned from surprise to concern.

"Drake," Blaise paused and like a slow creeping fog, tension filled the room. "You know she's dead. I thought you had dealt with this? Or is today just bringing back bad memories?"

Draco hadn't told many people about what happened between him and Hermione. Things started and ended so quickly that it didn't seem relevant to tell anyone. After she vanished, Harry and Ron had run off to save the world and no one blinked an eye. But it wasn't as easy for Draco so he did the true Malfoy thing and pushed any feelings he had left deep, deep, down inside of him.

It was on the one year anniversary of her death that Blaise found him heavily intoxicated in their new office building, blubbering about how she loved books. The rest of the story flowed from there, they hadn't talked about it since.

"I swear it was her, she was standing under a tree today at the funeral."

"But she disappeared before your eyes mate. Into a flower right?"

"Yeah a rose," Draco took another large sip and moved to sit behind the desk again, "It's been five years, there isn't a reason for her just to appear now. If anyone could pull off what she did, it would have been Hermione."

"Well that's true but it just seems so strange. If you need peace of mind though, why not get Derek to look into it?" Blaise stood, placing his empty glass onto the desk, before walking back over to the fireplace. "Don't be a stranger yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah." Draco replied, waving his hand dismissively. In a flash of green Blaise was gone again.

Draco swivelled his chair around to look out the floor to ceiling windows, the moon dimly illuminating the giant expanse of lawn. While the Malfoy mansion was impressive, Draco didn't need three wings and 25 empty dusty rooms. It was only him now.

The black dress laid on the bed waiting to be slipped back into Hermione's closet. It felt like a stain on her pristine white duvet cover. Hermione couldn't even glance at it. She had immediately pulled it off when she had gotten home from the funeral, as if it was constricting her lungs, choking the air out of her. Yet even when it was off, she had slumped to the floor gulping in wracking breaths.

What had she done? Five years she had been gone, completely disappeared and in one moment of weakness she had ruined everything. The pounding of her heart told her he had seen her. Draco Malfoy had seen her. He would come looking for her and Hermione wanted to pretend that was what she was anxious about. She knew it was the opposite. Before she even had a moment to comprehend that thought, Hermione heard the front door open and Isla's feet scampering up the staircase.

Hermione quickly snatched up the dress and placed it in the wardrobe, before it was crumpled by Isla's exuberant behaviour. Isla rushed into the room and Hermione smiled at her daughter and tried to ignore the twang in her heart as she realised Isla looked more like her father than she wanted to admit.

"Why are we so cheerful this afternoon?" Hermione grabbed Isla's hand leading her out of the room.

"Me and Aunt Audrey…" Isla's voice was tinged with a mild French accent and Hermione always loved hearing her speak.

"Aunt Audrey and I," Hermione corrected.

"Aunt Audrey and I made cupcakes and she let me pick the colour of the icing."

"Let me guess. Was it blue?" Hermione asked steering them down the stairs.

"No Mum,"

"Green then?"

"No Mum," Hermione could see Isla trying hard not to stomp her feet down the staircase in frustration. Her daughter sometimes had a temper.

"Yellow?"

"Mum. It was pink!" Isla exclaimed and Hermione tried not to laugh.

"Pink. Of course, how could I be so silly?" Hermione pushed open the swinging door into her small kitchen and her Aunt was placing the kettle onto the stove. Sometimes Hermione thought she was a mind reader. On the table sat a small plate of pink cupcakes.

"I decorated this one Mum. Just for you," Isla said beaming, point to the cupcake with lopsided frosting and an overload of sprinkles.

"Looks beautiful poppet. I'll eat it now with my tea. Why don't you practice your letters from your book? We need to take it back to the library tomorrow."

Isla nodded her head and was quickly out of the room. Isla was smart for her age and she was already beginning to understand letters, they had gone to pick out a few picture books at the library last week. Hermione plonked herself down at her small round kitchen table and pulled the mishap cupcake towards her. Audrey silently placed a tea cup in front of her and took the opposite chair.

"Should I ask how many of these she has had or just live in ignorance?"

"Ignorance is probably best in this situation," Hermione managed a thin smile and picked at the cupcake. Audrey placed her hand softly over Hermione's and pulled it towards her. "Did it not go well?"

"I wouldn't say so. Draco saw me." Hermione replied and Audrey rubbed her thumb slowly over the back of Hermione's hand.

Audrey was her dad's sister and a Muggle just like him. Hermione was the first witch in their family and Audrey had only found out after she appeared on their front door step five years ago, in tears and sopping wet. Audrey had been there when Hermione sat crying on the tiled bathroom floor with a positive pregnancy test sitting on the counter. She had held Hermione's hand as she pushed and grunted her little angel into the world and helped her pack her suitcase when three months later she moved to France. In the year that they lived together, they had become as close as mother and daughter. Hermione felt the same way about Sam. They helped mend a part of her she had lost when her parents had died.

"And what happened? Did you speak to him?" Hermione scoffed.

"What was I meant to say? Oh hey, I actually tricked you into thinking I was dead when we were teenagers and by the way you have a 4 year old child."

"Well that's a start I guess."

Hermione pulled her hand away, picking up her tea and failing to ignore her Aunt's stare.

"He probably thinks he was seeing things," Hermione mumbled. Audrey looked away, sadness flickering in her eyes.

"You can't keep running from this. If not for you, what about Isla? What about Draco? Don't they deserve a chance to know each other?" Hermione gathered up their empty tea cups and walked into the kitchen.

"I'll think about it," she said, placing the tea cups in the sink. "I need a job first, my savings won't keep this roof over our head for much longer."

Draco wanted to pretend the kink in his neck wasn't from the fact he had slept in his office chair or that his head wasn't pounding from the half empty decanter of scotch sitting on his desk. He especially didn't want to think about how his cock throbbed from dreaming about Hermione. That wasn't new though he dreamed about her often.

He stretched back his arms, twisting sideways to relieve some of his aches. Just as Draco was about to stand his office phone rang, he glanced at the clock, half past eight it read. He decided a shower was more important right now. The call rang out and immediately Draco's phone started buzzing in his pocket. He begrudgingly pulled it out and answered.

"Hello?" Draco croaked into the phone.

"Sir, I have the information you were after." Draco recognised the rough Welsh accent immediately, it was Derek his P.I.

"What information?" Draco moved out of the office and began making his way upstairs to his room.

"The extremely urgent information regarding Hermione Granger," Derek replied. Draco paused in the hallway, placing a hand on his pounding head. He couldn't have been that drunk.

"Did I call you about this last night?"

"Yes sir, at three am. You were persistent that I start immediately and call you when I had any information."

Draco made his way into his bedroom and collapsed backwards on to the mattress. He closed his eyes, dreading what he was going to say next.

"And what did you find?"

"I couldn't find any records of a Hermione Granger in the U.K since you saw her last, five years ago," Draco felt a weight in his chest release, he had been seeing things yesterday. "I did however find records of a Jean Granger living in France for the last four years, who matches your description."

Draco could barely breathe and the room had begun to spin. It had to be her, Jean was her middle name and Granger was hardly common. In France, she had been in France this whole time. Draco heard Derek still waffling through the phone.

"Sorry Derek, I missed that."

"She recently lost her job as an English editor for fiction novels at a French publishing house. I also found travel records indicating that Jean Granger has travelled back to England within the last month. She didn't travel alone though Mr Malfoy…"

"Wait, just give me a sec to process this Derek," Draco interrupted. His heart was hammering. Did he want to hear that she had come back with a new man? Some French bronzed god? Did he really want to know? He decided he did. "Who did she travel with?"

"She travelled with a child, Sir." Derek paused and Draco sat up sharply from the bed, causing his stomach to lurch. He struggled to ignore the sensation.

"A child? How old?"

"The passport indicates she is four."

"Hermione has a daughter?"

"Yes it would appear so. Her name is Isla." Derek said. Draco stood up and began pacing the room. This couldn't possibly true, Hermione was dead. Not alive with a child. A child, a living breathing child. Could it be…No. He wasn't even going to go there.

"Do you have an address? Or contact details?"

"Yes, I can email them through now." Derek replied, promptly hanging up. That's why Draco liked him, he never messed around, always to the point.

Draco's phone dinged, indicating a new email but he didn't open it. He needed a plan but first coffee and a shower.

Hermione's heels tapped on the cobbled street as she weaved her way through the office workers returning to their high rises after lunch. It had been a month since the funeral and she wanted to pretend that no word from Draco was good. She had been filling out job applications non-stop, which Hermione convinced herself was enough of a distraction. That morning her recruitment agent had called asking if she was available for the interview that afternoon for a Senior Editor's position. Hermione had dropped Isla off with her aunt and uncle and made her way into the city.

She glanced down at the address scribbled on the paper in her hand, looking left and right before crossing the road to a sleek silver office building. Hermione made her way up the elevator stopping on the 15th floor, as she exited the lift she was greeted by a young brunette sitting behind a large reception desk, 'Gem Publishing' plastered on the front. Hermione could see a large office floor with workers buzzing about and a few large private offices at the back.

"Good afternoon, I have an appointment with Jenny."

"Sure, I'll call her up now." The girl replied in a sing song voice.

Minutes later a tall thin blonde walked into the foyer. She wore a sharp grey skirt and white blouse, small rectangular glasses hung around her neck. She smiled at Hermione and her teeth were pristine white.

"Hermione?" she asked. Hermione had decided that after so long she could return to her own name, she lived within the Muggle world now and no one knew who Hermione Granger was there. She stood and followed Jenny into a beautiful corner office that looked out onto the street below, her named was frosted onto the glass with her title underneath 'Editor in Chief'. Jenny gestured to a chair before walking around the other side of the desk.

"I probably should tell you that is interview is just a formality…" Jenny began, shuffling papers on her desk

"Sorry?" Hermione questioned, sitting a little straighter in the chair.

"I've already been told to hire you without conducting an interview. I only need to ask if you want the position."

"Well yes of course but where did this come from?"

"I got a call this morning from my boss, saying not see any other applicants, that you were the pick," Jenny said leaning back in her chair. "You are quite young to have so much experience under your belt already."

"I was lucky enough to speak multiple languages so at the time I was the right fit for the publishing house. My daughter was only a baby when we moved to France and they offered flexible working hours that allowed me to work from home a lot. If I take the position here, when my daughter starts school in September I would like to work around her as much as possible."

"That should be fine, we can definitely look into that. You may be expected to attend networking events at night though and official book launches that may be on the weekends. Would that be acceptable?" Jenny asked. Hermione sat there shocked, she had thought she might have to fight for this job especially with Isla's school hours.

"Definitely. Will I get to meet your boss? I would like to thank them." Hermione said. Jenny laughed and moved to the filing cabinet behind her, pulling out papers before returning to the desk.

"I wouldn't hold my breath. We were recently taken over by a larger company. I have never seen the owner, actually the only time I have ever spoken to him was this morning about you. The new CEO keeps a different office downtown so it's me running the show at the moment."

Hermione nodded and let Jenny run her through her new position and contract. The salary was generous and the company also offered six weeks leave annually rather than four. She however wouldn't be paid overtime for events or launches. Hermione signed the bottom of the paper with a flourish, a weight lifting off her shoulders.

"We would also like you to start tomorrow if possible? With new ownership we have lost a lot of staff and I need all hands on deck at the moment."

"I think that would be possible" Hermione said as she stood up from the chair to shake Jenny's hand.

"Great. I'll see you tomorrow, oh and congratulations Ms Granger I look forward to working with you. "

As Hermione made her way to the lift again her phone rang and before she could even speak a high French tinged voice trilled through the phone.

"Mummy, did you get the job?"

"Why hello. Yes I got the job Isla," She heard a squeal and then a thud as Isla dropped the phone screaming for Aunt Audrey. Hermione's smile turned into a beam as the elevator doors closed.

Gem Publishing was a dream and in the two months that Hermione had worked there she had finally started to find her feet. Jenny had been incredible boss, an easy work relationship had established between the two women. Tonight was Hermione's first book launch, it was to promote the latest book of one of their most popular authors. Jenny had said that would give Hermione an opportunity to network with other people in their industry. The only problem was that she had nothing to wear.

Hermione stood in front of her closet staring at the dismal collection of dresses she owned. She eyes drifted up to the shelf above her clothes rack, where hidden behind boxes of nick knacks, sat a small oak box containing her wand. It would be easy really, to quickly transform one of her dresses into something new. Her fingers twitched, she clenched and unclenched her hand to stop the feeling from spreading. She didn't live in that world anymore. Sighing Hermione pulled out a deep purple wrap dress, it was conservative with its knee length hemline and high neckline but it was flattering. She quickly threw on some black high heels, grabbed her black jacket of the back of door and made her way downstairs. She freshened up her lip gloss and ran fingers through her hair to loosen the waves that fell down her back. In the reflection she could spy Sam, Audrey, and Isla cosied up on the couch together watching a Disney movie.

"I hope this movie is the last one before you go to bed missy moo." Isla swivelled her head and nodded.

"Shhh Mum, the prince is about to kiss the princess." Hermione raised her hands in mock defence, whispering 'sorry'. She walked over to Isla, quickly leaning over the couch to kiss her forehead.

"I'm off, be good you three." Sam and Audrey smiled and patter her hand.

Jenny had sent a car for Hermione and it whizzed her through the city before stopping at a fancy hotel. The launch party was to be hosted on the roof, where there was a large function area next to the hotel pool. Hermione wanted to pretend she wasn't nervous, this book was the first she had edited in her new job and she had been honoured to give the responsibility of such a big client. As she rode the elevator to the roof she closed her eyes and steeled herself. She could do this, she could charm and make menial small talk with these people. Networking was huge in publishing and she knew that she really need to set up her game to keep herself an asset to the company. There would be lots of book agents and new authors here tonight so she wanted to make a good first impression.

The elevator dinged as the doors slipped open and Hermione stepped out onto the roof. The place was buzzing with people, waiters walked around carrying food and champagne, while a DJ played some little pop music in the background. There was a huge poster of the book's cover lit up near the back of function area and Hermione recognised the author standing in front buffering questions. Luke was a young brilliant sci-fi author and Hermione had loved working on his book. She spotted Jenny and strolled over to her, whisking a glass of champagne on her way. She sipped it delicately enjoying the bubbles on her tongue.

"Hermione!" Jenny called, waving her over. Luke had made his way over to Jenny was politely standing by her side when Hermione reached them.

"Congratulations Luke," Hermione said extending a hand to him, "This must be such an exciting event for you."

"You would think that having two books before this I would be less overwhelmed," He said with a self-deprecating laugh. "But truly I couldn't have done this without my amazing editor."

"Oh please I barely had to do anything," Hermione said blushing.

"Hermione is one of our best," Jenny replied, Hermione smiled at her knowing that Jenny's praise was rare and hard fought for.

"I would love if you could met some of my author friends, would you mind if I steal her Jen?" Luke placed a hand on Hermione's back as Jenny nodded.

The next few hours was a blur of meeting people and listening to funny anecdotal speeches from Luke and his agent. Hermione was chatting with a publicist when she heard Jenny calling her name. She excused herself and turned towards the voice.

"Hermione, I'm so glad I found you," Jenny said grabbing her arm, "I want to introduce you to our CEO Blaise Zabini and in a very rare honour owner of Malfoy Industries, Draco Malfoy."

Hermione's eyes bulged. She stared at Blaise, he hadn't changed much in the last five years, still ridiculously tall with a mischievous glint in his eyes. His grey suit complimented his dark skin and dark eyes even the gold Rolex on his wrist suited him. She didn't want to look away from Blaise because that meant looking at Draco and that meant something she wasn't ready for. Her eyes or brain or whoever betrayed her, they flitted over to him and she nearly gasped. He stood stoically in front of her, his eyes slowing assessing her. He was still gorgeous and she felt her heart hammer in her chest. He was dressed immaculately in black, his platinum blond hair slicked back in the sexiest of ways. He had filled out in the last couple of years, losing some of his boyish slenderness. She finally reached his stormy grey eyes and she couldn't decipher the emotion she saw there. Angry? Hurt? Lust? But one thing she knew for sure was that he wasn't surprised to see her. His mouth was in a harsh line as he spoke.

"Miss Granger and I are acquainted."

Hermione heard Blaise scoff and Jenny's mumblings of confusion before everything went black.

So it begins. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions. How do you want to see this story play out? Do you even want to read it anymore? Thanks QuickLE