Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: I am surprised on how many of you thought Draco was cheating with Astoria last chapter. Hmm...
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I love hearing your thoughts and ideas! Also, please remember I'm no professional. I'm doing this for fun and because I love the Dramione ship. If you want to see something, the best thing you could possibly do is write it yourself! That being said, if you do, send me a link! I'd love to read it!

Chapter 9

DRACO
-Past-

Granger's flat was exactly as he expected it. Small and unassuming and filled with far too many books. There was something about it, however, that seemed to resonate inside of him. Reminded him of a time when things had been simpler.

Hermione smiled as she sighed dramatically and slipped off her shoes. "What a waste of a perfectly good evening."

Draco hummed in acceptance as he stepped forward a little to peruse the books on her shelf.

"Henry is a good kid. A bit daft sometimes, but he's not always like that." She said as she slipped in to her kitchen and grabbed two glasses and a bottle from the cupboard.

Draco bit back the retort as he watched her walk, a little unsteadily, towards her couch and sit down. "Hermione, I should-"

"I won't hear it." She said firmly, popping the cork on the bottle and pouring two drinks. "I invited you out for drinks and I intend to make good on that promise."

He sighed before he finally nodded and moved to sit beside her on the edge of her couch.

"Oh come on." She huffed, reaching out to push his shoulder. "Relax, you're not going to get my mudblood germs."

She chuckled at her own joke and Draco sighed as he stood up.

"Draco-" she stopped mid argument as he slipped his robes off to reveal the plain black button up beneath as he made himself comfortable on the couch and took the drink she had poured.

"Look, Hermione." He started, smirking as the heat rose to her cheeks presumably at the rare use of her first name. "I know I was an arse. Honestly, I still am. I'm not… good. I don't pretend to be. But I wish you would let the past stay in the past. I don't use that word anymore, and well, honestly I wish you wouldn't either."

He watched as her mouth gaped open as she stared at him before she finally nodded and quickly picked up her own glass, draining it in one long swallow.

"I'm sorry." She hiccupped once she had finished. "I guess I just..."

"No. Please, don't apologize." He said firmly. "I didn't mean…"

"No, you're right. You're absolutely right. I guess I didn't realize that it would bother you because-"

"Because I used it so much before?" He asked with a raised brow.

"No-"

"We all did things we aren't proud of, some of us more than others…"

"Draco." She said firmly, reaching out to grasp his arm. "I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't even think of it. How about- how about we start over?"

He smirked. "From when?"

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger…" She laughed, reaching her hand out to him.

He smiled as he slid his hand in to hers and brought her knuckles up to his lips. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Granger."

And as he watched the blush spread across her cheeks once more, he made a mental note to send Henry a nice thank you card later in the week.

HERMIONE
-Present-

Hermione rubbed her hands together, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet as she stood outside the entrance to the Chudley Cannons quidditch pitch, trying to stay inconspicuous. In the fifteen minutes since she had arrived she had been approached no less than ten times and after offending at least half of those people by not remembering who they were, she had finally given in and bought a cap from one of the vendors nearby, pulling it as far as she possibly could over her head without obstructing her view of the other spectators arriving to the match.

She had realized, after she had turned down Malfoy's offer of arriving together, that it had been a mistake to come alone when so much had changed and she didn't remember any of it. Her stubbornness, however, had kept her from owling Malfoy to tell him of her change of heart, and after shrugging off Harry she had thought she could handle it.

Warring with herself, she considered apparating back to Grimmauld Place and explaining to Malfoy later. She didn't get a chance to follow through however as someone caught her arm and she gasped, twisting around as she yanked her arm out of their grasp only to come face to face with Malfoy.

"Hey. You alright?" He asked softly. "I was calling your name but…"

"Yeah." She said quickly, smiling at the little boy nestled in his arms. "Sorry, I'm just…"

"Don't apologize." He said firmly. "Not to me."

She bit her lip, nodding before she finally turned her gaze to Leo. "Are you excited?"

"Yes mummy!" The little boy cried, flinging himself in to her arms exuberantly, his cheeks already red from the frosty air. "Daddy said we can get sweeties!"

"Did he?" Hermione asked with a smile as Draco groaned beside her.

"He remembers everything." He said lowly.

"Well, obviously he gets that from you." Hermione said, the words leaving her mouth as soon as they had popped in to her head and for a moment, she worried about his reaction.

She needn't have though as Malfoy let out a laugh, tipping his head back slightly and she watched in rapt fascination. She was sure that his laughter was something she heard often enough, but standing next to him with their son in her arms, she realized it was the first real laugh she could remember. One that wasn't heavy with the burden of their current predicament.

"Why, Ms. Granger, I believe you just made a joke." He finally drawled, his voice sounding so much like the boy she had known before that for a moment she stiffened and she forced herself to let out the breath she had been holding as they walked towards the ticket gate.

"Mummy isn't Ms. Gwanger." Leo said, wrinkling up his nose as he stared at his father. "She's a Malfoy like me and you and Ly-wa. Wight Mummy?"

She met his wide eyed gaze with a smile. "Absolutely."

And this time, she was sure she had never seen Malfoy smile so big.

Leo ended up falling asleep halfway through the match and Hermione didn't even flinch as she slid her arms out of her coat and laid it on top of him as he stretched out across the bench. Malfoy had disappeared to find the sweeties he had promised the boy and she sat with Leo's head in her lap, running her hand through his silky, brown hair and laughing at how perfect of a mix he was between his two parents. Between her and Malfoy.

"I can take him." Malfoy's voice was low in her ear and she jumped slightly as he handed her a hot chocolate and she shook her head.

"It's alright." She protested, smiling down at the sleeping boy.

"He adores you." Malfoy said as the crowd cheered again and though Hermione wished she knew why, she would lying if she said she had been paying even the slightest bit of attention to the game.

"He's a good boy." She nodded.

"He is." Malfoy agreed, but his eyes were tight as he turned back to the game as the crowd around them erupted again.

"Malfoy-" She started but she stopped, her voice leaving her and instead she took a drink of her chocolate and inspected the cup as though it held all the secrets to her missing memories.

"You can ask you know…" His voice was low and she turned to meet his earnest gaze. "The healers don't want to push you, but… sometimes I think you need to be pushed."

She smirked then and nodded. "I just… how do we… how do we not hex each other?"

Malfoy smiled then and sipped his own drink and for a moment, Hermione wasn't sure he would respond, and when he did, his answer surprised her. "We argue. All the time. Sometimes I think you pick fights just for the sake of arguing. Like our day isn't complete until we've argued at least once." He laughed. "But, we always make up. We always…find a way back to each other."

"So I've heard." She laughed before it quickly turned in to a shiver and she took a quick drink of her chocolate as she tried to hide the chill that ran through her.

She turned her attention back to the game before her, watching as the brooms zipped across the sky, creating a dizzying effect against the clouds and she wondered just how it was that the boys loved the sport so much when just the sight of it made her feel ill.

"Hermione?" She jumped at the sound of Draco so close to her ear and she turned to see him looking at her worriedly.

"Sorry, what?"

His lips quirked up at the corners as he reached over and placed his jacket around her shoulders gently before turning his attention back to the game. She smiled to herself as she continued to stroke Leo's hair and let the scent of Draco surround her.

DRACO
-Past-

He hated parties.

He especially hated these parties; parties where the partygoers gave him a wide berth and made snide comments behind his back. Parties he would much rather forgo but both his families name and their shaky social standing made sure that he was the first to arrive to such events and the last to leave.

Ministry soirees were at the top of this list.

"Draco" His mother said, her grip tightening slightly on his arm and he stopped midstride, knowing she needed a minute.

He waited patiently as she breathed in deeply through her nose and out through her mouth, until the vice grip on his arm loosened and her shoulders straightened back out. He knew she was utilizing the techniques the healer had suggested, things to help ward off the memories that threatened both of them daily. Finally, she nodded and they started forward again just as his eyes caught sight of the familiar bushy brown mane. It had been nearly a fort night since he had spent the night with Granger in her apartment, talking until the wee hours of the morning and she had finally fallen asleep on her sofa. He had left a note in his absence and had returned home to wait for an owl that never came.

"I didn't know Granger would be here." His mother said genially and he fought to keep the blush from his cheeks as he realized he had been staring.

"Nor did I." He finally said, hoping it would appease the nosey witch on his arm.

She was quiet for some time after that, before she finally pulled him to a stop. "Astoria, how lovely to see you dear."

Draco bit back the groan as his mother addressed the witch who seemed to appear out of nowhere. If Pansy hadn't been bad enough back in school, Astoria Greengrass was at least ten times worse.

"Draco" She nearly purred as she stepped forward at Narcissa's address. "It's so wonderful to see you. I was just telling Daphne how I hoped you would be here."

"Wonderful." He ground out, ignoring the look his mother was shooting him as he turned to look distractedly around the room, not even bothering to hide his boredom.

Astoria babbled on, his mother interjecting occasionally as he continued to ignore the two women until finally, his mother's nails dug in to his arm and he finally turned his attention back to the two ladies beside him.

"Yes Mother, sorry, what was that?"

"I said, why don't you take Tori out for a dance?"

"Oh, I don't…" He started to argue but quickly thought best as his mother met his gaze, her eyebrow raised before he finally sighed and held his arm out to the girl who took it a little too gleefully for his taste.

"Such a shame, don't you think?" Astoria asked as they moved on to the floor together.

"What is that?" He asked, trying to keep his voice light and even as she pushed herself in to him, wrapping his arms around her.

She lowered her voice, keeping her eyes locked on his as they moved to the waltz playing around them. "The fact that your father's interests are so unstable. I can't imagine what it must be like not knowing if you'll be able to care for your mother."

"What are you on about?" He hissed, his attention focused solely on the girl in his arms now.

"My father of course. You know, he managed to stay out of either side in the war. Kept his name clean, I'm sure you can see how that worked in his favor now. He was just telling me how sorry he was that he was going to have to pull his backing out of several of your father's ventures, now that he's been sentenced and is serving time."

Draco continued on with the dance, moving in careful time as he bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. Astoria continued to smile as she held on to him, too tightly. He knew she was baiting him, he also knew how easy it would be to turn her down. His eyes drifted to his mother as she stood off to the side and partly in the shadows, her face paler than was normal, and he knew she had him. He pulled her slowly in to him, leaning down so that his lips brushed her ear slightly.

"What do you want?" He asked, drudging up some of the Malfoy charm he had worked so hard in his formative years to perfect.

Astoria giggled and he felt her hand slide down his side as she turned her head to catch his eye. "Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

He opened his mouth, poised to demand that she name her price right then and there when he felt a hand on his arm and his feet stopped moving as he came face to face with Hermione Granger.

"Mind if I cut in?" She asked, a smile on her lips, and for a moment he considered scoffing and turning away, but as Astoria stepped away and she caught his hand in hers, he knew there was no way he could say no. Not to her.

He was so fucked.

A/N: I loved all of the reviews last chapter! Next chapter is ready to go!