Very sorry for the late update. Thanks for reviewing. Enjoy Chapter 17.
"Hermione," was all that Draco could choke out. He was shaking so badly he couldn't even hide it anymore.
She didn't respond but instead George spoke up, "What are you doing here Malfoy?"
He saw her flinch at just his name. "I um I was just here to pick up a present."
George stood tall, "I think it best if you leave."
Hermione never once broke eye contact until she heard a high pitched voice.
"Draco?" Astoria joined her husband. "There you are. This place is so packed."
Hermione handed Draco to George because she was afraid she was about to pass out.
Astoria noticed Draco was staring ahead and she followed his gaze. "Oh well what do we have here?" She said in a snobby tone as she looked at George, Hermione, and her son. "So because Ron died you had to go and have his brother's baby?" She laughed.
George wrinkled up his brow. "No you dimwit. This is Ron's baby." George bounced the giggling baby. "This is Mr. Draco Ronald Weasley."
Hermione gulped. Astoria laughed. Draco rubbed his jaw. George cooed at his nephew.
Astoria scoffed, "You've got to be kidding me?"
"Let's go Astoria." Draco tried to head for the door so Astoria couldn't say anything else, but he was stopped.
Harry only glared at Malfoy. He was enraged that he was here and that he was with someone. Before anyone knew it, Harry pummeled Draco right in the face.
Both Astoria and Hermione gasped.
Draco rubbed his jaw and had the nerve to say something. "Just let me explain." He turned to Hermione.
"Leave. Now." Harry demanded.
"Come on baby. Let's go. I don't want to be anywhere near this filth." She shot a particular glance towards Hermione and they left.
"Let's go home Hermione." Harry said angrily.
She nodded and took Draco from George. They headed left out of the store whereas Draco and Astoria headed right. At the moment Hermione looked back at her former lover, so did he.
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"Can you believe that little mudblood? Naming her baby after you? It's utterly ridiculous." Astoria complained once they got home. "I mean who does she think she is?"
Astoria continued but Draco remained silent. He sat at the kitchen table old feelings quickly rushing back to him. He knew that he would always love her but he didn't expect his feelings for Astoria to subside at the sight of Hermione. He didn't expect all this regret to come flooding back to him.
"Are you even listening to me?" Astoria put her hands on her hips and turned towards Draco.
He shook his head. "No."
She sat down. "Please Draco, no." She was worried because she knew what he was thinking. She knew he wanted to go back to her.
"I have to go." He stood and took out his wand.
Astoria was now crying. "Please Draco I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so mean. Please don't go."
He kissed her forehead and then with a loud pop he was gone.
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"Shhhhh." Hermione had been rocking Draco since they got home and he finally fell asleep. She had just laid him down in his crib when there was a loud pop and a young man appeared in the room. Draco instantly started wailing again. Hermione looked over to the man clearly startled, "Bloody hell. Thank you. It took me an hour to get him to sleep." Sarcasm gleaming in her voice.
"I'm sorry." Draco started over to Hermione who was reaching into the crib.
Hermione started re-rocking Draco who was still crying. "For what? Barging in randomly and waking up my 16 month old son who still won't sleep through the night or just leaving me two years ago without even saying goodbye?"
His heart was racing so fast and her words had made him feel worthless. "Both."
She scoffed. Young Draco abruptly stopped crying so she set him back down in his crib. "Draco you should go back home."
"Please just let me explain."
"You don't have to explain." She crossed her arms feeling frustrated, mad, and upset.
"I do. I shouldn't have left you. When I saw you today, I just wanted to take you in my arms and tell you how much I love you."
"No. No. You don't get to say those things to me. You have no right to tell me you love me. You're married Draco. Married. You made your decision a long time ago."
"But I do still love you. I never stopped loving you. I regret leaving. I regret not being in our son's life."
She was utterly dumbfounded by his comment and pissed off quite frankly. "He is not your son. He never was your son and he never will be. That is Ron's son. How dare you even say that? I hate you."
"Then why did you name him after me? Huh? Please explain that to me, Hermione." He was clearly hurt by what she had said.
Her arms were crossed as she shrugged her shoulders and she was crying now. It took her awhile to say something but when she finally did he felt relieved, "Because I love you."
Within one step they were in each other's arms. She was bawling hysterically now as he stroked her hair. He took her head in his hands and kissed her but she immediately pulled away shaking her head.
"What's wrong?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "What's wrong? There's many things wrong Draco. For one you're married. Two, you left! For two years! You just left and never even contacted me. Ya never even came back for your stuff which by the way is still in the drawers you left them. So here," she stomped over to the dresser. Draco was still in his crib and wailing again at their screams. "Take them. I don't want them anymore. I used to sleep in one of your shirts every night. I would wear your sweats around the house." She threw the clothes at him one by one as she yelled furiously. "I lost you once I think I can do it again."
"I want to be with you and Draco. I was just scared."
She looked away and crossed her arms again. Her voice was calm again. "It wasn't that you left Draco. I would have let you leave you know that. I would have understood. It was a messed up situation. You know I would have let you go. It's just," she paused holding back more tears, "you never even said goodbye. That's what I don't understand. If you loved me so much you would have at least done that."
"I knew that if I came back I would have never left you." He took a step forward but she took one back.
"And what would have been so terrible about that? We could have been a family."
"I wasn't ready to have a kid, Hermione. Especially one that wasn't mine."
"Yeah well neither was I but I sucked it up. Ya know why? Because I loved my child and want the best for him so if growing up fast is the price I pay then so be it. And if you really loved me you would have felt the same way."
He stood in silence not knowing what to say. She shook her head, her son still crying in the background. She saw Draco look towards the crib and before she knew it he had her son who was now as quiet as ever, in his arms. She didn't protest though, she only stood and watched. He was perfect with him and within a minute he had him asleep and back in his crib.
She didn't react the way he would have liked though. Instead she turned her head away from him and looked down, "You um need go. Astoria's probably worried out of her mind about you."
He took a step back and before she knew it he was gone.
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When he arrived back home, Astoria wasn't waiting for him in the kitchen like he thought she would be. He made his way up to their bedroom and found her lying on her side in bed. He walked over to her side and kneeled in front of her. He could tell she had been crying because her eyes were red and swollen and she wouldn't look him in the eye. He rubbed her hair softly and she closed her eyes. She knew what was happening and she felt betrayed.
She opened her eyes but still didn't look at him. He swallowed hard and kissed her forehead. Though he knew there was only one person he truly loved, Astoria was still his wife and he had planned to spend the rest of his life with her so obviously he felt strongly about her.
For the first time since he left earlier, she looked him in the eye. "Was there ever a point where you even loved me?
"Oh Astoria. Of course I love you. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't."
"Then how can you possibly do this to me?" She was whispering afraid of crying.
"I love you so much. You were there for me when no one else was but she's always going to be the person I'm in love with and I think you knew that when you married me."
She nodded her head. "I did. I just didn't want to believe it."
"I'm sorry Astoria I really am. I never wanted this. I never wanted to hurt you."
"What makes you think she's even gonna take you back?"
"I don't know that."
"So you're really willing to throw everything we have away to possibly have nothing in the end? Because trust me this is it. I'm not coming back."
He nodded solemnly. "I know." He kissed her for what would be the last time.
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"I'm surprised you weren't up there when he apparated into my bedroom." Hermione sat in the kitchen with Harry and Ginny.
Harry coughed, "I was about to but someone stopped me." He threw a glance at his wife.
"They needed to talk things out."
"They need to never see each other again. He's a right fowl git and I wish we never would have run into him." Harry was still highly protective of Hermione especially after Draco left.
Ginny rolled her eyes, "I'm shocked it hasn't happened sooner."
Hermione had a glazed look in her eyes like she was remembering something.
It was a rainy day and Hermione had had Draco ten months ago. She was in Diagon Alley picking up a few things when she saw him. Her heart stopped at the sight of him. She started following him. She wanted to run up to him and just talk to him but she didn't. He finally went into a store and when she looked at the name of it she almost started crying. It was a ring shop and as she looked through the window he was clearly looking at large engagement rings. She stood in the window for a moment and then apparated away.
Harry took a deep breath, "So now what?"
"Yeah I mean what are you guys planning on doing?" Ginny wondered.
Hermione shrugged and looked down at her hands which were in her lap. "He's married so I don't think I should ever see him again."
"And if he wasn't married?" Ginny inquired. Harry also looked curious.
"You both know I'll always love him." She answered the question indirectly.
They both laughed and continued to nod. They remembered what she was like after he left.
When she realized he wasn't ever coming back, not even for his stuff, she began wearing everything he left behind. She would never actually talk about him but she never stopped thinking about him. Harry and Ginny went to every doctor's appointment with her but they could tell that she didn't like being there without someone special. Whether it was Ron or Draco she wanted there they couldn't tell. Eventually when the reality of having a baby actually sank in, she cleaned herself up and did everything she could for that baby.
"What if they get a divorce?" Ginny was too curious.
"I don't know."
"It would prove a lot that's for sure." Ginny declared.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, confused.
"Well if he's willing to leave his wife for her that's obviously saying something."
Hermione sighed clearly worn out from the day's events, "It's gonna take some time."
Harry instantly laughed and the two girls gave him a dumbfounded look. "Hermione no offense but except for you and Ron actually admitting your feelings for each other which by the way took seven years, you always tend to rush into things. I mean you slept with Ron in no time and then it was like mere hours after his death that you moved onto Draco."
"I guess I just learned my lesson the first time with Ron. By the time we got together it ended."
"So now you're willing to take your time again this go around?"
She threw her face into her hands. "I don't know. At this point in time, he's married."
Ginny laughed on the inside knowing that it didn't matter whether Draco was married or not.
Thanks for reading.