Hermione Granger sat on the kitchen counter one Sunday morning, early November. She had had a long night filled with thinking and worrying and thinking and worrying and even more thinking about everything that happened yesterday. She had a parchment and a quill in front of her and was about to write about yesterday's events to her daughter. She was chugging down her mug of coffee, obviously nervous and anxious and afraid. She had to do it, though. She had to write about this and so she did.
Dear Cassie,
How have you been, baby? I really miss you. I know it's only been around 2 months since you left for school but it seems like forever already. I am already counting down the days to the Christmas holidays.
I actually wrote for a very important reason, my love. I knew I had to write to you as soon as I could because waiting for the holidays to tell you all about it is too much for me. Something happened yesterday, Cass. Don't worry, I'm okay, I'm healthy and I'm safe. It's just something that I didn't expect would happen. I went to Diagon Alley to just take a stroll and buy a couple of things for work and the house. It was a beautiful fall day and the weather was begging me to come out. So, I did. And it was there, in Diagon Alley, right outside the new café that opened up last month was where I saw him – your father.
She was standing outside the new café and figuring out if she was already hungry enough for lunch when out of nowhere, someone apparated right next to her, if not almost on her. Naturally, she was bumped by this spinning human and was knocked over on the sidewalk. She laid on the pavement, flat on her back with her hair and scarf covering her face.
"Oh!" a voice of a man exclaimed when he noticed he crashed into someone while apparating then chuckled. "They say there's a one in a thousand chances of you actually apparating on the exact same spot where someone is standing."
Hermione was in too much shock from the crash to move. "Thanks for that tiny bit of information but I heard it was one in ten thousand." She groaned when she felt her backside ache. "Would you mind actually helping me up, though?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that." The man reached for her hand and helped her up. When she was halfway up, she used her free hand to brush her scarf and hair from her face. The man finally got to see who he knocked over. Surprised to see it was Hermione Granger, he instantly let go and she was sent crashing again on her already aching backside.
"Hey!" She squealed. "What in Merlin's name was that for?"
"Her—Hermione?" The man looked at her, incredulous.
Hermione was rubbing her backside and groaning. "Yes, that's my name." She winced in pain and rubbed her back again. Finally, she turned to look at the man who knocked her down twice and gasped. "M—Ma—Malfoy!"
He smiled. "It's Draco. Funny, when you corrected my little fun fact earlier, a thought occurred to me that only Hermione Granger was the type to correct people's random facts."
She shot up, completely forgetting she was in pain and grabbed her purse and its contents and made to run.
I freaked out, Cass. I know it's quite strange. You know I'm never one to back down on a challenge but seeing him in the flesh was just too nerve-wracking for me. I was about to run away when he called after me and grabbed hold of my wrist. I merely stared at him and he asked if we could grab a bite to eat since it was already lunch time. I think I nodded or mumbled a yes and next thing I knew we were sitting on a booth in the café.
The waiter got their orders and they were silent for a long while. He was just looking at her with a smile on his face and she was looking anywhere else but at him. She feigned interest in the scene outside, in the salt shaker, in the pepper shaker, in the napkin holder, even in the old man in the next table. He was watching her – no, staring at her. He looked at her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, her mouth, her fingers, her hair, everything he could see. To him, he was just as beautiful as ever if not, even more.
Their orders came and they started to eat.
She decided to break the silence. "How have you been, Draco?"
He looked up from his sandwich and smiled at her mention of his name. "I've been good. Work's good. Health's good. You?"
"I'm good, too. Work's good. Health's good. Family's good." She smiled at the thought of Cassie.
"Married with kids?" He asked, even if he already knew the answer.
She shook her head, "Not married, with kid." She decided to change the subject far away from Cassie. "How's your family? Astoria and son okay?"
He nodded. "Astoria's still Astoria. Nothing has changed. Scorpius, my son, he's very well. He's in Hogwarts now, first year and in Slytherin. No surprises there!"
She nodded. "That's wonderful to hear, Draco." She wanted to hit herself in the head for mentioning Astoria. She wanted to hit herself in the head more because she felt a tiny bit of hurt at him mentioning her.
"How's Cassie?"
Her head shot up. "How? How did you know her name?" Her voice was high-pitched and weird.
He merely chuckled, "My son writes about her all the time. They're friends, right? Has she never mentioned Scorpius to you?"
She calmed down considerably at his answer. Safe, she thought. "Yes, she does. They're very good friends. She always talks about what a nice boy your son is. She's quite fond of him."
He smiles as if deep in thought. She had a puzzled look in his face at his knowing smile. She ached to know what was going on in that handsome head of his. As if reading her thoughts he said, "Nice to know that my son and our daughter get along very well."
Her eyes widened and he looked at her again with a knowing smile. Her mind started to spin. Did he know? How did he know? How long has he known? Was it just a slip? Did he mean to say 'your' but said 'our'? But he wasn't taking it back. Maybe she heard wrong? Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her.
"I'm, I'm so—sorry, did—did you say OUR d—daughter?" she stammered.
He reached over to her side of the table, put his hand of top of hers and said two words that she would never forget. "Yes. Ours."
"H-h-how?" she was close to tears now and was shaking.
He squeezed her hand tighter. "Cassie. She sent me your red notebook."
He knew about you, Cassie. And he said you were the one who told him and that you gave him my red notebook. I ran away. I left half of my food on the table and bolted. I was out of the café and almost in the apparition point when he caught me. He grabbed hold of my arm just as I apparated away to the house. I collapsed on our couch and started to cry. I didn't even notice he was there until I felt a hand on my head, stroking my hair and calming me down. I got angry, Cass. At you, at him and most especially, at myself.
"How dare you?" She said, livid. "How dare you just spring this on me without any warning? How dare you call her OURS? How dare you… Did you plan all this when you asked me to eat? Did you follow me and plan to just blurt it out and not care at all about how I would feel about this? How dare you!"
Draco stood up and towered over her. "Me? How dare me? You're asking that? How dare YOU! How dare you not tell me about our daughter? How dare you not tell her about me! How dare you keep her from me! I have every right to be angry at you, to sue you even! She's half mine! She came from me too! I have every right to get to know her! She has every right to be furious at you! You! You have NO right whatsoever to be angry at me! I NEVER knew! I NEVER KNEW ABOUT OUR DAUGHTER!"
They were silent, both seething in anger. He was looking at her with angry eyes and she was looking down feeling both hurt and anger. Her face spoke of years of pain. Seeing the expression on her face, he calmed. He knew he wasn't supposed to be angry. He knew that he wasn't supposed to lose control. He was just as scared as she was.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to yell." He walked towards her and tilted her face up so that she could look at him. "It just hurts me, Hermione, that you never told me we had a daughter."
She swallowed as she stared at his beautiful grey eyes. Cassie's eyes. "Draco, would you have even wanted her?"
"Yes. Yes, Hermione. I would have wanted her. And I still want her."
She sobbed and he held her. She hated that she still felt amazing things at his touch. She hated that she fit so perfectly in his arms. She hated that she loved the way he soothed her and rubbed circles on her back. "H-how could you be s-so c-calm about a-all th-this?" She asked in between sobs.
"I've known for a while now. Cassie sent me the notebook the day before she left for Hogwarts. I can't say I was never angry because the first few weeks, I was furious at you. I wanted to find you and yell at you. But then I read the notebook again. Again and again and again. I read it every night. I read about you telling me all those stories about her. I read about your own struggles and everything that you put up with. I read about your reasons and I thought it all over. I realized that you were in so much pain, that you were going through so much yet you still managed to think about what was best for me.
"When I heard about Scorpius and Cassie being friends, I was thrilled. I wanted them to get along. I think I felt doubly proud that both my children were in Slytherin too, no offense. I mean, I would have loved them wherever they were placed. But it pleased me because it meant that there are some parts of me in Cassie. I just wish you told me, Hermione. We could have found a way to work on this together. She needs a father, too, and Harry and Ron and whoever else will never fill that void. She needs me."
Hermione continued to sob. "Y-you would h-have worked it o-out? You w-would? W-why?"
He was still stroking her hair. "Hermione, she's our daughter. Yours and mine. Our child. We both know I never married Astoria for love."
I'm not going to punish you for sending him my notebook, Cass. Even if I knew it was missing even months ago. But I will not allow you to go out for leisure flying for a month for invading my privacy, you know how awfully wrong that was and I still am your mother. I'm not mad at you for doing what you did. Your father helped me see why. And you deserved to know, love. You deserved to know about him and he deserved to know about you.
We talked about you for hours. He told stories about Scorpius as well. I'm glad he's your friend, I'm sure he'll keep you safe while you're there. He seems to be very much like your father. We talked until it was almost dinner. I'll let you in on a little secret, Cass. It hurt. Sending him away after hours of just us so that he could come home to his wife still hurt. Does that make mum so pathetic? 11 years and I still have feelings for him?
I'm sure this is all a big shock to you. After years of evading any conversation about him, I go outright and just tell you so much in one letter. I guess I realized now that you deserve to hear all the stories. I realized that you need to get to know him. And you will, eventually. He so badly wants to get to know you too, to actually see you in the flesh and not just in photos. But I told him that this is something that he couldn't keep from Scorpius. You two have grown to become best friends and he deserves to know the truth, as well. Your father and I have agreed to not have you two meet first until Scorpius knows and until it is okay with Scorpius. I hope you understand. This is a very tangled web we are weaving.
Cassie, my love, I'm so, so sorry. I hope you can forgive mummy for everything I've put you through. Your life hasn't been easy – even if I tried so hard to make it easy for you. I hope you'll forgive me, baby, for everything I've put you through. I promise to do my best to make it all right, to give you what you deserve. Someday baby, everything will be right again, I promise.
I love you forever.
Your mum
Scorpius Malfoy was late for breakfast. He overslept, finishing his History of Magic essay until late last night. He was almost in the Great Hall when he caught sight of a blonde-head with long, wavy hair dash out and run down the corridor.
"Cassie!" He called out to the retreating figure. Cassie turned to face his friend with a tear-stricken face. It took him less than 5 seconds to reach her and hug her. "What the heck happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay. Just a letter from mum." She sniffed.
He pulled her outside and they walked to a secluded and quiet area of the grounds. They sat under a tree by the lake. "Is everything okay with her?"
She only nodded. "She bumped into my father the other day. It was just an emotional letter, I guess. She finally told me something about him after years of ignoring all my questions. It was overwhelming to have been told so much. He knows about me, Scorpius. He knows about me and he wants to get to know me."
"Cassie! That's wonderful, then!"
"Not so much. It's more complicated than you think. I'm only hoping for the best."
"I'm sure everything will work out." He reassured her.
"I hope it will." She sighed. "Scorpius?"
"Hmm?" He looked at her to find her looking into his blue eyes. Her eyes really reminded him so much of someone, he just couldn't place where exactly he had seen those eyes.
"Promise me that whatever happens, we'll always be friends?"
"Cassie, you should know you're making me worry. You're not in grave danger, right?"
She shook her head.
"Good. And yes, no matter what, we'll be friends. You're actually the first real friend I've ever had. We've grown so close in a span of two months and it's extremely comfortable being with you. It seems as if you're my long lost sister." He chuckled.
She chuckled too and mumbled as she lent her head on his shoulder. "Oh, if you only knew.
A/N: And where do things go next? I wonder too. I'm just writing this as I go along so bear with me.
I do not own Harry Potter. But I do wish I owned a time turner.