Vienna

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: So I'm only raising the rating because I do tend to curse, and I don't want to offend anyone. The vote was pretty much unanimous for a lemon, but I'm not 100% sure yet, so we'll just have to see when the time comes. If I haven't said it enough, I love every single one of you, and of course Anna, my wonderful beta.

Chapter 8

Hermione Granger

Ginny was pissed.

"Where in the bloody hell are they? It's been two effing hours since they owled, and everyone is getting hungry." She had been pacing around the kitchen for the past hour and a half, uttering a string of profanities as her wand flew around her head and various utensils and foods started to move on their own, obviously done waiting for Harry and Ron to come home from work.

I was sitting at the table, elbows propped up and my head resting between them. "For the love of God, Ginny, you're giving me a migraine. Could you tone it down, just a bit?"

She looked over at me and visibly softened, and lowered herself into a chair beside me. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry," she said placing a comforting hand on my shoulder, maternal instincts taking over, "what's going on with you? Is everything okay?"

I lifted my head out of my arms, laying them across the table and locking my fingers together. When I looked up, I could see Emma in the next room, playing with the doll she had gotten out of Harry and Ron, and Luna sitting across from her with James in her lap. I sighed turned back to Ginny, saying, "I'm worried about Emma, Gin. I think that girl from her school got to her somehow. She seemed fine right after and yesterday, but I think something's up, when I asked her about it today she wouldn't look at me. Instead she ran away from me, and she's never done that, she tells me everything. We've never really talked about her father before, you know?"

"Yea I do. Hermione, you've never talked to anyone about her father."

"I know," I whispered, unable to face Ginny, "but I don't know what to do." I was ashamed. Ashamed that I had hurt Emma, the only thing in my world that held me together, kept me whole and sane, and kept me going. I was her mother, I was supposed to protect her, not hurt her, and I was failing. She deserved her father, someone besides myself to spoil and love her unconditionally, but I couldn't give that to her, and it broke my heart. She was always so brave, so strong, and it was positively amazing to see that strength, that spark in her because then I knew that at least one of us had a fighting chance.

Ginny gave me my time, one of the things I had always loved about her, before speaking softly again, like I was a piece of glass that was about to shatter given the lightest little prick.

I guess I was.

"You need to talk to her about it, and don't let her run away from you again. She needs to understand how you feel. Emma may be young but she's not stupid, and this isn't healthy for her. If you won't tell us, at least give her that honor. She deserves that much." She looked saddened by this thought; I knew that it hurt her that I didn't trust them enough to tell about that summer, I was just afraid of their reactions.

Now not only was I a failure, I was a coward.

Emma was still playing with her doll, and it looked like she was trying to explain something to poor Luna, who still had James on her, and who was now attempting to scale her back. She didn't look bothered at all right now. In fact, she looked just as a normal five year old should, carefree and void of any worries. She caught my eye and beamed at me, with her toothy grin and radiant blue eyes, she was an exact replica of Draco, and I couldn't help but smile back at her.

"What do I tell her?" I asked, my eyes never leaving my precious angel. Now I was starting to sound like the child, but Ginny seemed to understand.

"You tell her that you love her, and you tell her the truth. She's a tough kid, tougher then we realize sometimes. The truth may hurt, but it never needs a defense." Ginny took my hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze, smiling brightly at me. She was always one of those people who had glowed in her pregnancy, and it followed her everywhere, making her more beautiful then she was before, even when her hair was arranged in a messy knot atop her head, and in ancient sweats and a tank top that emphasized her protruding belly.

But after a few seconds her face fell, and she looked at me and tried to smile but it came out awkward and uncomfortable. "Hermione, can I… can I, um, ask you something?"

This was odd behavior for her; nothing ever seemed to faze her. "Sure, uh, shoot." I answered cautiously.

"Do you still love him?" I had not expected that, and its weight knocked the air out of me for a few seconds before I could regain composure.

Did I still love him? Of course I bloody well still loved him, and I missed him every damn second of every damn day. Since the last moment I last saw him I had missed him, had yearned to be back in his arms, to relish in his love for me as well. Or so the love that I had thought was reciprocated.

My eyes flooded with tears, but I wouldn't let them fall. Too much time I spent was crying over him, crying for myself, for my daughter and for my fucked up situation. I couldn't wallow in my self-pity and longer, I had to be strong now.

But one lone tear escaped, and slid down my cheek freely. I didn't make any move to wipe it away.

"Yes, I always have."

"Oh 'Mione," Ginny pulled me into her, wrapping her arms around me as I rested my head on her shoulder. It was such a simple act, but it made me feel loved, cared for. It wasn't the same as one of his hugs, but it made me realize that I wasn't as alone as I thought I was, and that was a comforting idea. "If he means that much to you, why don't you try finding him? What could it hurt?"

"Ginny, he left me. What's to say that he won't want me now, won't want Emma? How do I tell her that? Her idea of her Dad is someone who is going to come riding in on his big white horse and sweep us off our feet! It would break her heart."

"I'm sorry, really, I didn't mean to ups-" she started, but I cut her off.

"No, its okay – really – I know you're just trying to help."

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Ginny's mouth curved into a sly little smirk. "You know," she started, "there are always other people." Oh no, not this again, I inwardly groaned. For a few years now, Ginny had been trying, with the help of Luna, to set me up on a few dates.

They didn't go over too well. Especially when Emma decided to put on a little fireworks show for them and 'accidentally' light fire to parts of their clothing. Somehow I didn't quite believe it was an accident.

"What if there is nobody else?"

"Then you get cats." She smiled and stared to get up as I laughed. "You okay now?"

"Yea I am," I smiled up at her reassuringly. Okay, so it was a big fat lie, but maybe if I said it enough, it would be true.

She picked up her wand and all the cooking that she had stopped in order to talk to me came whirling back to life. "Really?" she asked.

"Yea, okay-ish."

Ginny wasn't buying it, yet she kept smiling. "That's not okay."

"That's okay with an 'ish'."

"Whatever you say…" she said, laughing, just as Harry and Ron walked through the front door.

James jumped off of Luna and launched himself at Harry, while Ron went over to Luna and placed a kiss on her cheek, ruffling Emma's hair, who looked horrified that someone would mess it up. She was such a little drama queen.

"Gin, we're here. You can stop panicking now." He knew his wife all too well. Harry came into the kitchen and gave Ginny a kiss on the cheek, leaning up against the counter next to her. "Did you make any drinks?"

Oh, Harry, that was not a smart thing to ask a hormonal pregnant woman who had just waited two and a half hours for you.

She turned to him, "Well it took you long enough," she snorted out. "And who the hell do I look like to you, June Cleaver? Get your own damn drink." Harry just smiled at her and gave her another kiss on her temple before summoning a firewhisky, and I could see Ginny smile reluctantly, trying to hide it in the collar of her shirt.

The food was ready within a few minutes time, and with one last flourish of her wand, Ginny had set the entire table for us. "Dinner!" she called out to everyone, and they rushed to the table eagerly.

I was just about to sit down next to Emma, when Ginny started to get up, saying that she had forgotten the chicken on the stove, but I stopped her, saying I would go get it for her.

"So, why are you guys so late tonight," I could hear Luna asking Ron from the next room.

"Oh, mwell, mwe gmot-" Harry started to answer with his mouth full with food, making Emma and James giggle.

"Harry, please," Ginny scolded him, "chew your food first! What kind of example do you want to set for Emma and James? Honestly, you're just as bad as they are."

Emma huffed, "I always chew and swallow my food before I speak, Aunt Ginny," she said pointedly. She smirked at Harry, and at that moment she had never looked more like Draco before. How did nobody ever not notice it before, sometimes it's just so blatantly obvious.

"Of course you do honey," Ginny laughed at her, "I take that back. See Harry, even Emma has better manners then you do."

Harry made a big show of swallowing his food before speaking. "Oh, I don't doubt that, but I can't be that much worse than Ron. Have you seen him eat?"

"Hey!" Ron yelled, but it was no use, seeing as he was trying to talk through a forkful of pasta.

Luna was smiling next to Ron, one hand on his shoulder, trying in vain not to laugh at him, "Have I seen him eat? Harry, I live with him. It's absolutely ghastly, to tell the truth." The table erupted in laughter at Ron's expense. "Ronald," she added after seeing Ron's face, "it's only a joke, we still love you." She planted a wet kiss on his cheek, causing James and Harry to exchange disgusted faces.

Harry started to talk once the laughter started to calm down, "So as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…" He looked over at Ginny who stuck her tongue out at him, "oh now who's the child here? Anyway, we ran into bit of a, er, problem at work."

"What kind of problem?" Luna asked, taking a bite of her dinner. "Wait a second, where's Hermione? Hermione?" she called out to me.

In listening to their conversation, I had completely forgotten to bring the chicken back to the table. I turned around in search of the chicken. "Coming!" I called over my shoulder. It was in a large silver pan, and I picked it up on both ends and made my way over.

Ron took over for Harry, "It's not so much of a problem then a royal pain in our asses." At everyone's evident confusion, he went to clarify. "It's just, they couldn't have picked a worse person to partner us with. He held us up with paperwork for at least an extra hour; good for nothing son-of-a-bitch was too lazy to do any of it himself."

"Uncle Ron!" Emma yelled at him, appalled, "You said 'bitch', that's a bad word! Now you have to put a dollar into the swear jar."

"Who was it?" I asked, coming into the room with the food.

"Draco Malfoy, apparently he's back."

I didn't even notice that I had dropped the food until I heard a loud clatter of silver collide with the floor, and felt the hot chicken all over myself. I stood, completely frozen, mouth agape. They couldn't possibly be serious, could they? It was all some sick dream, surely I would wake up now and everything would be fine. Wouldn't it? What did I do to deserve this, why my did life have to be so goddamn complicated, it was like living in an effing soap opera. Who knows, maybe now I would find a long lost twin, Harry would learn that Snape was his real father, and Ron's family would win the lottery and learn that Fred was still alive somewhere. What a twisted little soap opera, I think buying that muggle TV was a mistake.

It took me a few moments for the denial to pass over, but then it hit me.

Draco was really back.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Would I ever catch a goddamn break around here?

My vision was starting to waver, and I could just barely distinguish everyone at the table until I started to sway on my feet. And then suddenly the floor caught up with me and everything went black.

……………………

"Do you think she's okay now?" I heard someone whisper from above me.

I think I was on the couch now, or a bed. I wasn't too sure.

Someone's hand, soft and warm, came to rest on my pounding forehead, it felt like someone was prying my head apart with a pair of rusty pliers, and wiped a strand of loose hair out of my face. "Does she look okay, Harry? What the hell was that anyway?"

"Aunt Ginny," A soprano voice from somewhere by my feet rang, "that was a bad word, you have to put a dollar in the swear jar too. And don't think I didn't forget, Uncle Ron."

"Of course honey…" I guess it was Ginny, answered distractedly. "Do you think she hit her head? Should we take her to St. Mungo's?"

Another soft voice started to talk, Luna from the sound of it, "I don't think she hit it that hard, but she'll have a pretty nasty head ache when she wakes up." Oh, she was telling me, all right.

"What's wrong with mummy, Uncle Harry?"

"We don't know, Emma." I felt something small, it was definitely Emma, crawl up my legs, snuggle into my side and bury her head into the base of my neck.

I didn't want to scare her like this, but my eyes just didn't want to open. The pain in my head had settled between them, but increased tenfold. I was going to need a very strong headache potion. Forcing my eyes to open, I blinked rapidly at the sudden light from the room, "Ow, what the-"

"Shh, try not to move, you hit your head." No shit. "Do you remember anything?" Of course I remember fainting, it's not every day that the long lost father of your child just happens to reaper. He had to have some kind of ulterior motive, maybe he knew. No, if he had known, he would have come back by now, to see his daughter. Or at least it would be nice to think that.

"No," I lied, "what happened?"

Ginny sat down on the bed next to me, and placed her hand on my leg, rubbing comforting circles on it, "You just froze and fell. It was the oddest thing, we were just talking."

"Actually, she looked like she'd been lobotomized," said Ron to Harry, thinking Ginny wouldn't hear him. Unfortunately for him, Luna did and gave him a smack on the arm.

"It's okay Luna, it's probably true."

"What's lo-bot-mimized mean, Mummy?" Emma asked.

I went to speak, but Ron spoke faster, "It means to have part of your brain removed."

"Mummy had her brain cut out!" Emma yelled in fright and clung on to my neck tighter. Luna hid her face in her hands, trying to laugh at Ron's stupidity, and Harry winced from behind Ron. Ginny just sighed and shook her head in shame.

"Ronald! No honey," I turned toward Emma, "I have all of my brain, it's just a stupid expression that Uncle Ron used. It wasn't very funny, was it?" Emma shook her head and crawled up onto my lap. I was able to sit up and wrap my arms around her tiny body. She was so warm, so innocent, devoid of any corruption that taints the minds of those exposed to the real horrors of the world; I didn't know what I would have done without her holding me together. "Hey Gin, you don't happen to have a headache potion handy, do you?"

"I think I might. Hold on, I'll just go get it." She got up and made her way over to the adjoining bathroom. Ron said something about checking on James and grabbed Luna's hand as they too left the room. Harry just stood there, an odd look on his face as he watched me stroke Emma's platinum blond hair. He stood there awkwardly, and it looked like he wanted to say something to me, but every time he came close, he would decide against it.

Thankfully, Ginny came back into the room a few minutes later. "Here you go, 'Mione. It should take a few minutes to kick in, but you'll be as good as new once it works. I think I'll just head back to the kitchen and clean up."

"Yea, I think I'll go too…" Said Harry after a brief pause in time. But he sounded distracted, like there was something else on his mind. With one last glance back at Emma and then me, he left for the kitchen. Did he know, is that what he was thinking about? Was he the only one to realize the similarities between Draco and Emma, did he realize that I fainted once Draco's name was said? Harry was smarter than people gave him credit for, as opposed to Ron who was hopeless sometimes. If he did know, I didn't think I would be able to keep it from him much longer, especially if he was working with Draco every day.

"What do you say we get out of here, baby? We can get some ice cream at home."

I knew Emma loved it here, but truth was, I just wanted to go home already. "Can we watch Cinderella too?" Emma asked.

"Sure baby, anything you want." I gave her a kiss on the back of her head before she leapt off my lap and grabbed my hand.

She dragged me into the living room where Ron was sitting with Luna and James, who had seemed to calm down a bit. He was sitting in her lap as she read him a book. Emma gave them each a kiss on the cheek before pulling me into the kitchen to say goodbye to Harry and Ginny.

As we entered the kitchen, Harry and Ginny seemed to be having some kind of argument. They were huddled in a corner, Ginny's arms waving around her head as they spoke in rushed, heated whispers. "Ginny come on, just consider it," Harry tried to plead with her.

"No, it's utterly preposterous. There's entirely no way that- Oh, Hermione. How are you feeling?" Harry's head snapped in my direction as Ginny alerted him to my presence and they immediately dropped their conversation. They were probably talking about me, but whatever it was it couldn't have been good, seeing as Ginny looked pretty upset.

"We were just – uh - we're going to go now. See you tomorrow?"

"Oh, yea, sure," she said before she snapped out of her little daze, coming over and giving us a hug goodbye, though Harry refused to even look at me.

He definitely knew.

He knew and he was going to hate me.

Whoever said that the truth would set you free was seriously disturbed.

We flooed home, Emma on my hip, and after a period of some struggling I had Emma bathed, brushed, dressed in her nightgown, and set up on the living room couch surrounded by pillows and blankets. I had no doubt in my mind that Emma would grow up with vast magical skills, but I wanted to raise her in both worlds, the world in which I grew up in and the world I had come to love. So, I stuck her movie into the player and dimmed the lights.

"Mummy?" she said from under a pile of blankets.

"Yea honey?"

"We forgot the ice cream."

I laughed at her, and paused the movie. "We did, didn't we? I guess we'll have to just fix that. Come on, I'll race you." She launched off the couch and made a beeline for the kitchen. I lifted her up onto the counter and opened the freezer door. "Okay then, we have… chocolate or vanilla." I held the two cartons of ice cream in front of her.

With a look of utter concentration on her face, she appraised the two flavors. Unable to choose just one, she stuck her greedy fingers out and grabbed both. "Chocolate and vanilla it is, then. Now we get the whipped cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and of course…"

"Chocolate chips!" Emma finished for me. I grabbed two bowls from the cabinet behind Emma, and two spoons. "Mummy, open up." In her hand was the can of whipped cream. I opened my mouth and tilted my head back so she could spray some into my mouth, but instead she missed, and I ended up with whipped cream all over my face and parts of my shirt. "Oops." She didn't seem very sorry, seeing as she was shaking with laugher.

I had to admit, it was unbelievably adorable.

"Oops?" I said, tickling her all over until she erupted in little shrieks of laughter, "Oops? Oh, now you're asking for it" I stopped tickling her and picked up the can of whipped cream, spraying some on the tip of her nose. "Oops, I guess I missed," I said, feigning innocence. She jumped off the counter to get out of the way of the whipped cream, and ran back into the living room with her bowl of ice cream. With a wad of paper towels and my own bowl, I followed her to the couch. Crouching down in front of her I wiped the whipped cream off my face and her's as she tried to squirm out of my way.

I turned the movie back on as Emma shoveled her food down her throat, I was afraid she was going to choke on it. She came up to my side and burrowed herself into me, her little head resting on my side, my own arm draped around her. She got so engrossed in these movies, and I believe that it was where she developed her fantasy of her Father being some kind prince charming that would just come and whisk her away to his magical kingdom.

I didn't want her to keep disillusioning herself into thinking this, but I didn't have the heart to contradict what little happy part of her father she had.

The movie ended and the lights came back on to illuminate the room. Emma made an attempt to escape to her own room, but I stopped her before she could even get halfway off the couch, "Hey there Missy Emma. What do you say we have a little talk before you go to sleep?"

She paused, and hesitated a few seconds before sitting back down next to me. She was always the most curious child, especially when she was younger, though I'm not quite sure if that's a bad thing yet. "Sure mummy, what's going on?"

"Well, I think," I started, pulling her onto my lap, "that it's time we have a little talk about your Daddy." She turned her head away from me, refusing to meet my eyes." I know that it's hard for you, growing up with only one parent. You can see all the other boys and girls at school that have both a mum and dad, like James does, but you should also know that there are other types of families in the world. And just because your daddy isn't here doesn't mean that I don't love you any less, or that you're any different from anybody else. Do you hear me?" she nodded her head. "And plus, you not only have me, you have your Auntie Ginny and Uncle Harry, and your Auntie Luna and Uncle Ron. Emma baby, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and you are so loved, I promise to do everything in my power to make sure of that."

Her tiny small arms came to wrap around my neck and she uttered four simple words that made my heart swell, "I love you mummy."

"I love you too honey. Do you have any questions?"

"Just one. Why did Daddy leave?" At the same time that my heart had swelled, it had burst into a million tiny fragments at the pure innocence of Emma's question. It was such a simple question, yet its weight was suffocating for the second time that night. How did I answer her that when I didn't even know myself?

I had to be as honest with her as I could. "I don't know, baby," I whispered, "that is the one thing I just don't know, and I'm sorry. But, I do know one thing, and that was that I loved your daddy so much, more then you could know. And whatever reason he had to have had for not being here must have been extremely important because we did love each other. I tried to find him, to tell him about you, but I never could. It was like he had disappeared."

"I wish I could have known him," she said so quietly that I almost couldn't hear her.

If my heart hadn't been broken enough before, it certainly was now. She had sounded so broken and dejected there, that I was beginning to doubt if our little talk was such a good idea. "Oh, Emma, I wish you could have too. You know what, I have something for you, but I want you to get in bed first while I get it. Can you do that for me?"

She got off my lap, and with a blanket trailing behind her, she made her way down the hall and into her room while I went into mine. I stood in front of my closet for a few seconds before digging through some of the old boxes that were buried within it. I pushed out of the way some of Emma's old baby boxes, old school books and some summer clothes before finding what I was looking for. I pulled out a small shoe box and wiped some of the dust off with my hand until deciding to use a spell to remove the layers multiple of dust it had accumulated after so many years.

With it tucked safely under my arm, I brought it back to Emma's room, who was now sitting in her bed, surrounded by a sea of stuffed animals. I sat down next to her and placed the box on my lap. "I think," I said opening up the box and taking out its contents, "that you deserve to have this now."

I passed the polished mahogany box into Emma's hands, eyes wide in wonder, "What is it?"

"That is a music box. It was given to me by your daddy a long, long time ago. Go ahead, open it up."

She lifted the lid to the box and its beautiful melody drifted out and spread across the room, resonating against the walls. "I can really have this?" I nodded my head and she flung herself on top of me, knocking me over with the ferocity of her hug. I had to detach myself at some point; she did have school tomorrow, and laid her down on her bed, planting kisses all over her face as she giggled in her musical bell-like laugh.

I picked the music box up from her bed and put it on her dresser on my way out of the room. I paused for a moment, running my fingers over the smooth, dark wood, and the elegant gold engraving on its surface, 'I was dead before I met you, I was born the day you loved me, and my love for you will keep me alive, forever'.

I chocked back a sob before opening its top and letting its melody lull Emma to sleep and fill my heart with bittersweet memories that were too painful for me to bear right now. "Good night angel," I called to Emma over my shoulder.

But she was already asleep.

AN: So far, this has been my longest chapter, but not really my favorite. You tell me what you think. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up by, I have a huge important test on Friday and Tuesday that I'm not nearly ready for, so wish me luck. Next chapter will be in Draco's POV and really important. I had a little run in with my ex the other day, and I just realized that he looks exactly like Tom Felton. So now every time I go to write for Draco, I'm getting interchanging pictures of my head of the both of them. It's driving me mad… Anyways, I'll stop here before I really start to ramble. Don't forget all signed reviews get a sneak peak (That's a hint, people).

Next Chapter: Draco POV