A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, and for favoriting and adding our fic to your story alerts. :) It all makes us so happy! As we've probably mentioned before, we've never written anything this long, and it's a big boost to know you all like it. So thank you all so much!

This chapter is a bit shorter than the last, but we rather like it. :)

PS: Does anyone want to try drawing Lucius in a penguin outfit? hehe.

Chapter 6

Healer Schlemm, Wizarding Britain's most prominent healer of mental afflictions, was absolutely no help. None of his spells or potions worked, and Draco and Hermione left feeling very disgruntled and irritable. Hermione managed, with great self-control, not to snap at Ralph while he chattered nonstop at dinner. He was attempting to sing some nursery rhymes that Mrs. Weasley had taught the children, although he mixed up half the words, which only added to his parents' irritation. After they put him to bed, both she and Draco went to their own rooms without speaking, frustrated with their situation.

Despite how tired she felt, sleep once again eluded Hermione. She was agitated, and tried all of the relaxation techniques she had learned at Hogwarts, to prevent stress. None of them worked. Or rather, they worked, but sleep still wouldn't come. It was almost two in the morning when she threw off the covers and decided to look for the kitchen. She hadn't eaten much for dinner, and although hunger didn't usually prevent her from sleeping, she was so desperate she'd try anything.

It was only when she was outside her bedroom that she realized she didn't know where to find the kitchen. She paused outside Draco's room, tempted to ask him, but all was quiet inside, and no light shone through the crack under the door. He was probably sleeping, the lucky git.

Hermione decided to just walk around until she found her destination. In all likelihood, her subconscious- that deep part of her that still remembered- would lead her to the right place.

She walked until she found a room that appeared to be lit. If it wasn't the kitchen, then perhaps whoever was inside could direct her to it.

A quick knock on the door, and she opened it. She did a double take when she saw Malfoy sitting at the table. "Malfoy!"

He turned to look blearily at her. "Granger. Come in."

"I thought you were sleeping," she confessed, walking inside and taking a look at her surroundings. "Is this the kitchen? I would have thought it would be bigger."

Draco gave a short laugh. "I couldn't sleep. And this is our kitchen. The elves use a bigger one in the basement, directly under the dining room."

"Like the one in Hogwarts, beneath the Great Hall."

"I never went to the Hogwarts kitchen," Draco told her. "So what brings you here?"

"Couldn't sleep either," she replied. "I was thinking of making some hot chocolate. What about you?"

"I came for a cup of coffee."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "You've got to be joking."

Again, he laughed. "Yes, I am. I just had some biscuits."

Hermione gave him a small smile. He was attempting to be funny, which was a little cute. "Do you want some then? Hot chocolate, I mean." He nodded, and she Summoned the ingredients and materials she'd need.

"Do you ever wonder how we fell in love?" Draco asked suddenly, causing Hermione to jump.

"What?"

"When you went inside after lunch earlier, the rest of the Weasleys told me." He was staring hard at the table, not wanting to make eye contact with her.

Hermione didn't say anything for a while. Did she want to know? Yes, but would she like the story? Once she finished preparing the drinks, she carried the mugs to the table and sat down next to Draco. "All right, tell me."

"It was through work," he said, stirring his chocolate. "I filed something for my company to your department at the Ministry, and it just so happened that you were assigned my case."

"So you asked me out?"

Draco snorted. "No. Well, not right away." He was silent for a while. "According to them, it was a secret for a long while. They knew that you and I would meet for work, but they didn't know that we had progressed from business dinners to…dinners."

"Oh." Hermione stirred her drink absently. "I wonder how you asked me out, and why I accepted."

"Apparently I had to ask several times before you agreed."

"Oh." She couldn't think of a suitable reply. So he had fallen first. Would it be the same the second time around?

Minutes passed without them speaking. It wasn't long before they finished their hot chocolate drinks, and Draco leaned back in his chair. "Granger, did you put anything in this? I'm sleepy all of a sudden."

Hermione shook her head, although she was starting to feel drowsy as well. "No, it's just plain old hot chocolate." She got no reply, and when she looked at Draco, he appeared to be asleep.

Hermione groaned and slumped forward onto the table, pillowing her head on her arms. "Great." She had to clear up the mugs, wake Draco, then go to bed. She closed her eyes. Just for a minute, she promised herself.

She started awake when a house elf patted her arm. A quick glance at the clock told her it was just past six; she and Draco had slept for almost four hours.

"Good morning, Madam Hermione," the elf said timidly. "You and Master Draco should go back to bed. You can sleep again until seven."

It took a moment for the elf's words to penetrate her sleep-fogged brain. When they did, Hermione stood up, pushing the chair back. "Thank you, Wooster," she said, grinning ruefully. "I think we'll do that." She rubbed her neck with one hand and shook Draco with the other. "Wake up, Malfoy."

He lifted his head up from the table and looked around. "What?"

"We fell asleep," Hermione explained. "Wooster just woke me up. We ought to go back to our beds and sleep until we have to get ready for work."

"Right," Draco nodded, standing up and surreptitiously Vanishing the small puddle of drool that had accumulated on the table. He rolled his head and stretched. "Ouch."

"My neck is stiff," Hermione said as they left the kitchen. "I can't believe we slept like that for four hours!"

"We're tired," he said, stifling a yawn. "I didn't sleep well the night before."

"Neither did I." Hermione sighed as she reached her bedroom. "See you at breakfast."

"Good night," Draco smiled at her, before going to his room. Hermione stared at his back for a moment before opening her door and slipping inside, her heart fluttering. She chastised herself before climbing into bed.

"Not attractive at all," she told herself, falling back against the pillows. "Not the least bit handsome."

She sighed and stared up at the ceiling, feeling foolish. Deciding it was impossible to argue with oneself, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

All too soon Hermione was being shaken awake by the same elf. "Madame, it is seven-quarter," he explained hesitantly. "You don't want to rush getting ready for work."

Hermione groaned and rolled over, resisting the urge to yell at Wooster to leave her alone. Instead, she forced herself to sit up and even thank him. "Have you woken Malfoy yet?"

"No, Madame. I will do so now." With a little bow, he left her, and Hermione collapsed back onto the bed. Her work wasn't set to start until half eight, she had plenty of time to get ready.

And then she remembered Ralph. Unfortunately, she had to keep reminding herself about him. He would need some attention before she and Draco left- she felt bad that she didn't see Ralph enough during weekdays, only before and after work.

Although she was dreadfully sleepy, Hermione somehow managed to make herself presentable for the office. She headed for the dining room, and found Draco already there, looking supremely irritated. It didn't take long to discover the cause.

"Good morning, Mummy!" Ralph's voice was high-pitched with excitement, and sounded altogether too cheerful.

"Good morning," she replied, leaning in as he gave her a kiss. "You're chipper today."

"I told Daddy my dream. It was about a dog- it was huge! I rided on it's back-"

"Rode," Draco snapped. "I already told you."

Ralph stopped speaking and looked at his father. "Sorry, Daddy. I forgot."

"It's all right." Draco turned his attention back to his breakfast, and all three of them stayed quiet. Ralph pushed away his plate, but Jeeves managed to convince him to eat cereal instead. Only a few minutes passed before Draco stood.

"Right, I'm off. See you all later."

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "It's still early."

He only shrugged and waved goodbye. Ralph watched him go and turned to Hermione. "Mummy, is he mad at me?"

Hermione sighed and poured herself some coffee. "No, he's just cranky because he's sleepy."

"Oh." Ralph crunched loudly on his cereal and swung his legs underneath him.

"I'm glad to see you don't seem to be sleepy at all," Hermione said.

"Nope! I had a dream about a huge dog…" Ralph chattered throughout the rest of Hermione's breakfast, and only stopped when she saw that she had only ten minutes left to get ready. Giving him a hurried goodbye kiss, she sped to her room to brush her teeth and gather her things. Once she had everything, she Flooed to work.

It was a relief to get to the Ministry, where she didn't have to worry about Ralph or Draco. Even though there were little reminders of them- pictures of her son and husband waved at her from her desk and the walls- she didn't have to deal with the noise that came with them.

Both Harry and Ron called her to see how she was doing. It was sweet of them, but Hermione wished they had something more positive to tell her, like that George had finished the antidote. She knew it was unreasonable to expect it so soon, but she was tired of holding it all together.

At half past six, Hermione packed up her things and slowly made her way to the Floo points. She was already an hour later than usual, but she wasn't in any particular rush to get home.

"Malfoy Manor," she said with a reluctant sigh, allowing herself to be brought home.

The first thing she saw when she arrived was Ralph, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. "Mummy!" he scrambled to his feet and ran to hug her legs. "You're late. I thought you wouldn't come home."

Hermione bit back a groan and dropped her bag, bending down to pick Ralph up. She noticed the tear tracks on his cheeks. "Were you crying?" she asked gently, pushing his hair away from his face.

"I thought you wouldn't come home," he said again, fresh tears spilling down his cheeks.

"I had lots of extra work," Hermione said. It was a white lie; she had only worked overtime because she wanted a break from home, and not because she really had to.

"Does Daddy have extra work too?"

"He's not yet home?"

"No. I thought you both left me." Ralph sniffled. "You didn't say."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said guiltily. She wasn't being a very good mother. "I guess I forgot to call." She kissed his forehead and tried to smile. "Ralph, you know Daddy and I would never leave you, right?"

He wiped his nose and nodded. "But I thought you did."

"We might come home late sometimes, but I promise, Ralph, we'll always come home. All right?"

"All right." He wrapped his tiny arms around her neck and hugged her.

"Daddy and I love you very much." We just can't remember you, she thought bitterly, annoyed at George. She wondered if he had any idea just how much he had messed their lives up.

"I love you too, Mummy."

She held him tightly, then set him down. "So what did you do today?"

"I made a picture!" He picked up the piece of paper he had dropped when he ran to her. He had so obviously been waiting to show it to her that Hermione's feeling of guilt increased. Merlin, she was the worst mother in the world! "It's you and me and Daddy eating together. And you and Daddy are smiling. Daddy's not cranky anymore."

Hermione praised the drawing as only a mother could. She resolved to talk to Draco- they would have to try harder at their relationship, since Ralph could sense that there was something wrong.

At seven, they received an owl from Draco saying that he would be late, and not to wait for him. Ralph looked unhappy and barely said a word during dinner, although Hermione tried to draw him out. When it became apparent that Draco wouldn't return before Ralph's bedtime, he gave Hermione the drawing he had made.

"Show Daddy when he gets home," he said.

Hermione nodded, kissing his cheek. "I will. Good night." She tucked the covers around him and read Peter Pan again until Ralph fell asleep.

Half an hour later, Draco finally arrived home. Hermione was waiting for him, and jumped up from her seat as soon as he arrived.

"You missed dinner," she said angrily.

"I was busy."

"Ralph was waiting for you."

"That doesn't change how busy I was," Draco said, although he looked uncomfortable. Hermione glared at him.

"You can't hide from it, Malfoy. Face it, we're stuck in this relationship, and you've got to help me pretend that everything's fine. You can't hide in your work! You need to be here, like you always were. For Ralph's sake."

"You know, Granger, I'm not ready for a child. I'm not ready to put his needs before mine, to always think of him first," Draco said, brushing past her and walking towards his room. "Ralph is cute and sweet, but right now, he doesn't feel like my son."

"But he is your son. And I'm your wife! You can't just walk-"

"And if I could make things how they were before, I would. But since I can't, you deal with it your way, and I'll deal with it mine."

Hermione grit her teeth. "You can't run away from this and expect me to fix it, Malfoy."

"What do you expect me to do?" Draco yelled, turning to face her. "I can't do anything about this!"

"I can't either, but-"

"Then don't tell me what to do!" He glared at her for a moment, then turned away.

Hermione remained silent and followed him, mentally counting to twenty. Once she felt she had sufficiently calmed herself enough to talk rationally, she tried again. "Malfoy, I'll admit I wanted to run away from it too. In fact, I was an hour late coming home. Ralph was worried sick about us. We can't spoil him and be perfect, doting parents one day, and get tired of him the next. He's not a toy. And even if you don't remember him, Malfoy, you must feel something for him. Pride, and maybe even affection."

"I know! I know, okay? But knowing how I should and shouldn't treat him doesn't change the way I feel. Yes, he's an amazing child, but I can't spend hours and hours with him without getting tired of him. I can't even listen to him talk sometimes without getting irritated." He opened the door to his bedroom and stepped back to let her enter before shutting it again.

"I suppose that's natural, but we mustn't be selfish. We may be suffering from this- this problem, but we shouldn't let it affect the way he should be treated. I know it's hard," Hermione said fiercely when Draco opened his mouth to argue, "but we can't wallow in self-pity. We may not remember it, but we're his parents, and we have a responsibility to him."

"I just wanted a break from everything. "

Hermione sighed, remembering how she had felt earlier that day. "Me too. Sometimes I feel like I can deal with it, other times I'm completely overwhelmed." Now that they weren't yelling at each other, she felt incredibly tired. She didn't want to argue with him; unwilling though they both might be, they were in this together. "I'm sure we'll both need to take breaks sometime. We should just probably arrange it so they don't happen at the same time. Narcissa told me that you sometimes choose to work from home, to spend more time with Ralph. But if you'd like to take a break and go to the office more often, I'm sure it's fine. One of us just has to come home in time for him not to worry."

Draco exhaled slowly and nodded. "You're right."

"I've considered taking a leave from work," she admitted, "but I think it would be best if we kept things as… normal as possible. Maybe something will trigger our memories." She didn't add that she was reluctant to give up something that would most likely become her refuge.

"Normal," Draco repeated, laughing hollowly. "I just don't think I can do this."

"You have done it." Hermione brought her hand up to her forehead. "I almost forgot! Ralph made this-" she fumbled in her pocket for the drawing "-and wanted me to show you."

Draco looked at it for a long while, and eventually put it in the bedside drawer. He turned to Hermione, and she was surprised by the look in his eyes. "You know what I saw when I got to the office? There's a whole wall there of drawings that Ralph's made. I think I've probably framed every drawing of his. For some reason, when I saw them, I felt so guilty, like I'm just an impostor.

But you're right," he repeated. "I'm not, not really. And even if I feel like it, I can't let it get in the way."

Hermione gave him a reassuring smile and moved forward to give him a pat on the arm. "Goodnight, Draco."

"Goodnight. I hope we sleep better tonight."

"I think we will. I'm really sleepy."

"Me too."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Hermione."

But no matter how sleepy Hermione was, she couldn't sleep for hours. Draco didn't say much the next morning, but from the look in his eyes and his general grouchiness, she could tell it was the same for him.