[A/N: Thanks for keeping up with this story! With this chapter, RoHG is the longest fanfic I've written. I can't believe how many of you there are and I'm so grateful for all your favourites, follows and reviews. To the reviewer who asked about the list of things I made in CH12... they were meant to be a bit confusing, but I'll explain it a little more here hopefully. Including that chapter, there has been/will be one of those that takes place in each chapter. One truth has already been accepted (that Draco was truly sorry/that Hermione was punishing him), and one relationship has ended (Hermione and Digby). In CH14, CH15 & CH16, one person is lost, a kiss is bestowed and three men confess their feelings. I hope that cleared it up a bit. I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner. Here's the next chapter!]

Chapter 14:

It Sort Of Just Happened

A ringing phone startled Hermione from her thoughts. She was early for her lunch plans with Ginny, and sat in a muggle park near the restaurant her friend had chosen.

"I, er, got a bit lost on the way, so I won't be able to make it," Ginny apologised, after saying hello. "You have a nice lunch, though! Go on without me."

"But, Gin, you were the one who chose the restaurant, how could you get lo-"

The phone cut off quickly, leaving Hermione to wonder what in Merlin's name was going on.

The Vipertooth, a small but popular restaurant, was busy when Draco arrived.

He gave his name to the waiter by the door and was led to a small table by the window, where he positioned himself facing away from both the street and the door. It might have been years since he was spoken of with notoriety, but Draco Malfoy's face and hair were too easily recognised for a quiet lunch with Harry Potter, who had somehow escaped his celebrity in recent years.

Potter was late, which was common, but he usually owled ahead of time. Draco turned his gaze from the menu, as he had already decided on a steak and chips, to the occupants of other tables.

After noting the presence of three people from Hogwarts, whose names he really couldn't remember, and a woman he was sure his mother was close friends with, his eyes fell on a dark-haired woman sitting two tables away, eyes fastened on a book.

It was with considerable shock, to not only himself but the other patrons and the woman herself, that Draco called out "Hermione!", raising a hand in greeting. Less than a minute later, he was seated at her table, and the book (Dracula) was placed securely inside Hermione's handbag.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, glancing around at the curious onlookers. It was so easy for them both to forget that no one knew how close they had gotten years ago. No wonder their sitting together was a shock to everyone.

He smiled, "Having lunch with Potter, what about you?"

Hermione frowned, "Ginny and I made plans...but she cancelled..."

It took only a few seconds before realisation flashed in both of their eyes.

"They planned this, didn't they?" Hermione concluded, already sure.

"How do you think it's going?"

The Potters sat on a park bench across from the restaurant, not bothering to hide their blatant spying from passers-by.

Harry was a semi-unwilling participant in the plot, but he did have to admit that the couple inside looked like they were enjoying each other's company. Both Hermione and Draco were his close friends, and the parents of his godson Alec. Despite everything that had happened, his conversation with Hermione earlier in the week had convinced him that she had feelings for Draco. Maybe Ginny's plan was a good idea...

Draco was more fun that Hermione remembered.

After lunch, the pair had somehow ended up on the floor in a muggle toy shop, testing out little toy cars for Alec and the Potter children.

"What was your life like in Australia?" Draco asked, absentmindedly rolling a car with one hand.

Hermione looked up from the packaging that she was reading.

"I suppose the best word for it would be normal. For the first time in a long time, I finally felt normal. I still used magic and Alec has almost always known that it existed, but our lives were simple and carefree, as normal as anyone could hope for," she smiled, and Draco noted that it reached her eyes.

She enjoyed her time there, he realised, even if she was still hurting.

"I worked in the State Library, one of the largest in the country, and lived with my parents, who have their own practice there. Alec went to kindergarten and would have started school this year there. He's bright so he was able to jump right in here, even missing the first few months. We were happy..." Hermione gasped, and quickly amended her statement, "I mean, we're happy here too, but-I was describing-you know what I mean."

He laughed and grinned at her, and it was all Hermione could do not to forget that the last five and a bit years had happened. They weren't still together and they'd been through so much, but talking and laughing was so easy together. It was natural.

They were both startled, Draco more so, when Hermione's bag began emitting a siren.

Seconds later, Hermione had answered her mobile, but Draco was still looking at her bag in wonder.

"What?! You lost him? Where are you? What happened?"

Hermione stumbled to her feet, grabbed her bag and ran out of the shop.

Draco followed immediately, asking her what was wrong as soon as she hung up the phone.

"Ron took Alec to a Quidditch match and got distracted and lost him in the crowd. Alec's gone!"

Ron Weasley was in a panic long before he called Hermione and by the time she arrived, he was convulsing in fear and frustration.

Instead of yelling at him like she wanted to, Hermione hugged him immediately, knowing that he was already feeling awful.

Draco was not feeling so magnanimous.

"What happened?"

Ron grimaced.

"I was standing right next to him, holding his hand, and then the crowd grew and it sort of just happened and then... he was gone."

"Where have you looked so far?" Hermione asked. The game was still going on, so there were few people milling around.

"The seats. The stairs where I lost him. I called you almost right away, I thought you'd rather know and help," Ron trailed off.

Hermione soon organised the locations each person would search and they would meet in fifteen minutes back where they started.

Draco patted her on the shoulder before he went to search. She was holding up remarkably, much better than him, and he was concerned... but all Draco really wanted was to find his son and make sure he was never lost again. He'd heard of muggles putting leashes on their children. Initially he'd thought the practice barbaric, but now... if it meant Alec wouldn't be lost...

He went first to the ticket desk, asking if they had seen a little boy of Alec's description. A worker offered to ask his friend who had just gone on break, also suggesting that Draco look in the bathrooms, as a lot of children ended up getting lost in the search for bathrooms.

Five minutes later, passing by again, the worker informed him that his friend hadn't seen Alec, but that he hoped he'd find him soon.

It was almost time to meet Hermione and Ron when Draco stopped in front of a door. It was poorly signposted, just a small arrow with a picture, but it was surely a men's bathroom.

As he pushed open the door, holding his breath in the hope that his hunch would be accurate, Draco heard a sob and moved quickly into the room.

Alec sat in the corner, knees curled to his chest, crying.

Draco let out a sigh and his son looked up, a relieved smile on both of their lips.

"Daddy!" Alec catapulted toward his father, jumping and wrapping his arms around his neck.

"Thank Merlin, Alec," Draco murmured, hugging his son tightly. "Let's go find your mother."

Hermione didn't let go of Alec until they were well inside her house.

He made his way up to his room, slightly traumatised but no worse for wear. Alec had promised to be more careful next time and after such a scare, Draco knew his son would take more care in the future. Draco was still considering the leash. He was, in fact, about to bring it up with Hermione when she sank into the sofa and muffled a scream with a pillow.

Draco rushed over but Hermione looked much more relaxed than she had as they apparated home and made their way inside. She seemed almost normal. She was still so scared though, he could tell. Alec had been fine and they found him relatively quickly but it was a shock for all of them and Hermione was still recovering. She was his mother. She had been his mother for five years. Draco was barely used to being a father and he had felt like the ground had been ripped out from under him at the thought of Alec being lost.

Instinctually, he reached out and pulled Hermione into his arms. It was an embrace their bodies both remembered well and they settled comfortably together, forgetting the time that had passed. Five and a half years ago they'd sat in a similar position as Draco told Hermione of his impending engagement to Astoria.

So many things were different.

So many things had happened.

But there they were, sitting in the same position, with completely different feelings to the past, both secretly in love with each other.