Disclaimer: I own nothing. And I never will. ;(

A/N: Ack! I'm so sorry for the lateness! I've been really busy getting stuff ready for back-to-school: I'm a rising freshman. :/ (BTW, any advice would be appreciated)

Chapter 8: Confessions, Part 1

The next day, Draco went with Astoria to get Mr. Jameson to complete the contract, as much as Draco wished rules would've allowed Hermione to do it. After Draco paid a greedy Mr. Jameson an extra 100 galleons, Mr. Jameson promised that the contract would be finished by Thursday evening, the 18th. Draco was kind of annoying, what with all the paperwork and what not. That had been one of the reasons he allowed his father to maintain control of Malfoy Enterprises—Draco didn't mind the responsibility, and most certainly not the power, but he had no patience for tedious tasks.

As Draco apparated back, he was pleased to note the elves were close to finished packing Astoria's things. She would be moving back to one of her family's vacation homes, a luxurious villa on the shores of Sicily.

Draco walked into the master suite, which was now nearly empty, besides for the furniture. He noted her closed was empty, as were her dresser drawers. The house elves, while dim-witted, had noticed something wrong with Master and Mistress Malfoy recently, which had only escalated since the young Master's disappearance. Some supported the Master, while others favored the Mistress, though those elves were younger and less loyal to the Malfoy family. One such was Flora, a young house elf who almost worshipped Astoria.

Draco summoned her.

"Yes Master? What may Flora do for yous?"

"I'm dismissing you—" he began.

"No! Please no, Master Draco! Flora only wishes to serve!" she pleaded.

"Quiet. I wasn't done speaking." Flora looked down, slightly ashamed. "As I was saying, I'm dismissing you to work for Mistress Astoria. You no longer serve the Malfoy family, but the Greengrass family." Flora bowed and thanked Draco before apparating out of the room.

The house elves finished packing Astoria's belongings, and vanished them to the Sicilian villa in which Astoria would be staying. Draco took it as his cue to leave the bedroom. He walked downstairs to bid Astoria farewell; if nothing, he had been raised with manners. He kissed her on both cheeks and looked at Astoria, truly looked. Her visage was paler and no longer had that marble-like perfection. Her eyes were redder than usual, and her irises no longer sparkled. She even had wrinkles between her brows from worrying! Draco clasped Astoria's hands within his own and looked at her with a small smile.

"The sun will be good for you. Relax," he said.

Astoria smiled and nodded halfheartedly.

"I'll contact you if I get any news about Scorpius," he said.

"No," she shook her head vigorously. To Draco's confused look, she explained. "As much as I love you both…I…I can't bear the pain anymore. I…Just…Let him know his mummy truly does love him. Could you give him this?" She retrieved a letter from her handbag with a wistful smile on her face.

"Of course."

"Goodbye, Draco." With that, Astoria was whisked away to the Ministry, where she would take the International Portkey to Sicily.

Draco sat on the bed in his master suite. It felt…off. As though the feeling of inhabitance almost left with Astoria. He no longer wished to stay in the home and quickly contacted a real estate agent about purchasing a new apartment.

Hermione wrung her hands, frantic with worry. She had kept quiet the night before while with Draco, but she didn't know how long she could go without telling him. She rushed home after work, and told Angelo they'd be paying someone a visit…

Ginny heard the quiet pop of someone apparating into her home as she was fixing Lily's hair. "Ginny?" a voice called.

"Up here!" she shouted back.

"Owww! Mummy! You pulled my hair!" Lily glared and pouted at Ginny.

"I'm sorry, dear. You know I didn't mean it."

"Ginny?" said Hermione, popping her head into Lily's bedroom.

"Hello, 'Mione," said Ginny.

"Hi, Auntie Mione!" said Lily happily, launching herself into Hermione's arms.

"Hey sweetie," said Hermione, her smiling not quite reaching her eyes. Ginny noticed this, and said, "'Mione, you okay?"

"I—yes. I'm fine, I just need to talk to you."

"Sure. Lily, can you go play with James and Albus?"

"Okay Mummy." Hermione let Lily down and let her run off.

"Oh, by the way, Angelo is down with them, if you don't mind."

"No, of course not!" There was a pause. "It's about him, isn't it?"

"Yes." Hermione's eyes were downcast.

"…do you know who Angelo's father is?" asked Ginny.

"Yes," came out Hermione's strangled reply, as she fought back tears. "I-it's terrible! I can't just lie to him and say I don't know where his son is, bu-but I love Angelo so much!" she wailed, on the verge of a breakdown.

Ginny wrinkled her brow. "Uh…who are we talking about, exactly?"

"D-Draco Malfoy! Oh, you were right, Gin! Angelo is Scorpius!"

Ginny had no words of comfort, as she too was in shock.

"How-how do you know for certain?"

"He-he told me! He came asking for help with his d-" Hermione grasped her throat and mentally cursed herself for almost letting that one slip. Ginny looked alarmed and summoned a glass of water. Hermione shook her head and pulled out a notepad.

"Can't talk," she wrote. "Legal issues I forgot I can't speak about. Will be OK in 5 min."

Ginny nodded understandingly and passed the time by tidying up Lily's room.

"I'm sorry—he came asking for help with some legal issues." Hermione took a grateful gulp out of the previously proffered glass of water. "He then confided in me that his son was missing and proceeded to describe the case and his son's behavior and what not."

"But how can you be sure it's Angelo?"

"He showed me a picture," Hermione said with resigned finality.

"How are you going to tell him?"

"I dunno, I supposed I was hoping Draco would help me with that…"

"Wait—No—what? I was talking about Draco himself."

Hermione froze. Her eyes downcast, she answered: "I can't keep it from him—just the thought of separation from Scorpius causes me to be hysterical—think about what it'd be like for Draco, Scorpius' father. Of course, he's going crazy!" Ginny let Hermione continue with her monologue, adding nods and "Mhmm's" when necessary. "I've got to see him first thing tomorrow!" she concluded.

"I think you should hold off telling An—Scorpius—my god I need to get used to that—until you tell Draco."

"You're right. We should go—"

"No, stay for dinner. This might be one of his last times—"

"You're right. Come on, I'll help you cook." With that, the women walked downstairs to the kitched and proceeded to cook dinner, surprising Harry when he apparated back home and proceeded to snog Ginny thoroughly, interrupted by Hermione clearing her throat loudly, as she had just been setting up the table. Harry threw the women a quizzical look, he normally knew ahead of time when Hermione was coming over.

"What, your best friend can't just come over?" teased Hermione. "I'm kidding—I just needed to talk to Ginny." Hermione looked at Hermione, who nodded, then shot Harry a look that said 'I'll tell you later.' Harry nodded and called in all 4 kids.

They sat down for a pleasant 'family' dinner, and Hermione tried to soak in the whole experience. She had grown accustomed to having dinner with An—Scorpius that she had taken all experiences with him for granted, though she never expected to be able to keep him. As they waved goodbye to the Potters, Hermione couldn't help but look fondly at her angel. She tucked him in that night, giving him a wistful kiss on the cheek.

Thursday arrived, and after dropping off Scorpius at school, Hermione apparated to the Ministry and dropped off her belongings in her office before marching to the Auror wing and going to Draco's office. He wasn't in yet, though, she was informed. Hermione nodded her understanding and vowed she would try again during lunchtime. However, he apparently hadn't showed up for work that day when she went to check again, explained only by a note scribbled to his assistant: "Busy today. Sorry 'bout it. Forward me any work." Hermione had only rolled her eyes and marched off, promising to return the next day.

Draco was across town, actually, looking for a new home. After touring many apartments, condos, and penthouses, he finally found one he liked. It was in a nice wizarding community, which he liked very much. The penthouse was large and spacious, with floor-to ceiling windows in a few rooms. There were 3 bedrooms, and 2 ½ bathrooms. The kitchen was decorated with stainless steel appliances and black granite countertops. It would've seemed cold, but the room was by a brightly-lit balcony, giving it a comfortable ambience. He immediately signed the papers, and went furniture shopping. He bought crème-colored leather couches for the living room, and a large 72" flat-screen TV for the living room, and a dark mahogany dining table with matching bar stools. The floor-to-ceiling windows were framed by floor-length white curtains with silver curlicues surrounding it. Overall, he was quite satisfied with the day's work. The master bedroom now contained a king-size platform bed on a silver-colored box frame, that faced away from the floor-to-ceiling windows. The view was truly gorgeous—from one side, he could see London, and from the other, he could see the community. He hoped Scorpius would like it. Draco had respected Astoria's wishes and had not contacted her since she left. He didn't know how Scorpius would react. He hoped that, at least, Scorpius would be happily reunited with his father. With Hermione now helping them, he was sure they would find him soon.

He returned to the Ministry at 5, hoping he would catch Hermione. He just needed to see whether she had made any progress on the case, he said to himself, though a small niggling voice in the back of his head reminded him that he thought Hermione had looked…delicious…at their meeting 2 days ago. Her assistant, Sophie, informed him that she had already left. Draco nodded and walked to Mr. Jameson's office to pick up the divorce papers. After that, he apparated to his new flat and ate dinner, before falling asleep.

Hermione tossed and turned, while Angelo slept soundly, not knowing that his safe haven would be rudely interrupted, by his own father, no doubt!

A/N: How mean of me to leave you at a cliffie again! :P Anyways, I PROMISE the next chapter will be posted in a week. I'm almost done, but I figured you guys didn't want to be let waiting any longer…. Read and Review!

Xvanniex: hahaha well I suppose I ruled out the possibility of Angelo falling off the broom…It's a great idea though! I have the story outlined already, though, so maybe I'll use it for another story?

Star-of-Hearts: My friends and I did too! What did u think of the movie? 3

Vampbooklover3000: you made me laugh with your review! I saw it when I got back :P Motivation for more writing, right?

Reagan (): Aww! Thanks so much! That's a huge compliment! :D 3

Thanks to all reviewers! Sobeyda S. Granger; ginsensu; Team Dramione; iloveflyingmotorbikes; ariah23; KraZiiePyrozHavemoreFun; Jessica (); nature love 95; Star-of-Hearts; PRINCE-ASH'S-GIRL; WhipmyHair24; (); xvanniex; tfobmv18; xodreamerskyes; Happy Little Girl; vampbooklover3000; SilverWinds; kleipoppetje; Reagan (); SuspiciousFlower; and NejiKoriKaze.

Special thanks to: KraZiiePyrozHavemoreFun; Star-of-Hearts; nature love 95; tfobmv18; and Reagan () for reviewing multiple times!