Chapter 16

Harry entered the Leaky Cauldron and sat down at the bar. "Firewhiskey," he ordered.

"It's 8:30 in the morning," Tom, the barkeep, told him.

Shaking his head, Harry placed his order once more. This time, Tom obliged and set a glass down before him. Harry drained it in one shot and ordered another. He was on his third drink when he heard someone call his name. Turning, he spotted Draco Malfoy pushing a stroller. It had been years since they had last seen one another, the morning after the final battle to be precise. Harry groaned and turned back to the bar.

"You don't look well," Draco stated as he sat down beside his old school nemesis.

"What do you care?" Harry asked. "And whose kid is that?"

Draco shrugged. "Who said I care?" he replied. "And she's mine."

Harry nodded. "Hermione's her nanny," he realized. "Ron talked about that for weeks. I guess you haven't pawned her off on Hermione yet then."

"I've never had any intention of doing such a thing," Draco stated. "Although, I think if Hermione had it her way, she would take Lilah from me. I'm sure Hermione never thought she'd see the day when she could say that she loves a Malfoy."

Despite Harry's chuckle, he found the joke unamusing. "What's going on between the two of you?" he inquired.

"We're friends," Draco replied convincingly as he ordered a coffee.

"That's it?"

Draco turned to face him with a look of disbelief on his proud, pointed face. "She's with Weasley," he reminded his former foe.

Harry snorted as he finished his drink. "Never stopped her before," he mumbled.

The coffee arrived, but Draco ignored it and the barkeep. His calm demeanor transformed to one of anger. "What are you implying, Potter?"

"I'm not implying anything, Malfoy," Harry replied. "I'm stating that I wouldn't put it past her to cheat on Ron."

Dropping a Knut on the bar, Draco vacated his stool. "You're something else, aren't you, Potter," he said. "Hermione's one of the best people I know. Probably the best. I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but if you were smart, you'd forgive her. We've all done things we aren't proud of. Hell, I know I've done things that I'm not proud of. Whatever Hermione's done, she doesn't deserve your judgement."

He left without looking back and knew where he needed to go. If his suspicions were correct, Hermione had finally told Potter about the baby, and it seemed that it hadn't gone well. Passing over to the muggle side, Draco set off for Hermione's flat a few streets over. She and Pansy seemed to be in good spirits when he arrived, but there was something in Hermione's eyes that told him that things weren't okay. Leaving Lilah with Pansy, Hermione led him to her bedroom and charmed it so they wouldn't be overheard.

"I ran into Potter at the Leaky," he told her. "He seemed...mad."

Taking a seat on the bed, Hermione nodded. "I had a feeling that his reaction was just for show, she replied. "He said he understood. But it's Harry. When does he ever understand?"

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

Hermione nodded and smiled as he took her hand. "You seem a bit worked up though."

"It's just what he said, the way he talked about you," Draco replied. "You don't deserve that."

She shrugged. "I guess, technically, it's true," she pointed out. "Ron and I were, in some way, together after the war when Harry and I were sleeping together. We weren't together exclusively, but Harry knew how we felt about each other. Now, there's you. I know it was only one kiss, but I am with Ron. So, maybe Harry isn't too far off point."

"Do you think that maybe you don't really want to be with Ron then?" he wondered.

"I know I don't," Hermione replied, glancing down at their joined hands. "He deserves someone better. Someone who wants to be with him. Someone who won't sleep with his best friend and keep it from him."

Drawing their hands up, he placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand. "You deserve to be with someone who cares about you too," he murmured.

Hermione watched as he kissed her hand once more. "Do you care about me?" she wondered, swallowing thickly as nerves suddenly overwhelmed all other senses.

Draco nodded. "I do," he admitted. "Probably more than I should. You are my employee, after all. I believe muggles would call it sexual harassment."

"I think that only applies if the other person doesn't reciprocate the feeling," she told him. "I have no intentions of pressing charges against you, Mr. Malfoy."

He grinned as he leaned towards her. "Good to know, Ms. Granger," he murmured before their lips touched. It was over just as quickly as their first kiss had been.

A blush colored Hermione's cheeks as she leaned away. "I think maybe I should be single the next time we do that," she suggested.

Nodding, he let go of her hand. "There's, um, something else that needs to be done before we do that again," Draco declared, taking a deep breath. "There's something I need to tell you about Lilah's mother. Her real mother. It's just...I think you should know before you make any decisions."

Hermione nodded, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. "Is it bad?" she asked, fearing that the baby's mother had returned.

Getting to his feet, his back to her, Draco stood by the dresser to examine the framed photos that lined the top. "I, um, I lied to you when I told you about her," he explained, picking up a picture of Hermione with her parents. "I told you that she was some random American I met in Paris. The truth is I was having an affair with Daphne Greengrass."

He turned slightly, catching sight of Hermione from the corner of his eye. She sat calmly, stoically, as she waited for him to continue. And continue he did.

"We were always better friends than I was with her sister," he said. "When our parents came to an agreement regarding marriage, I thought it would be Daphne. All three of us were unhappy about the arrangement. Astoria knew that there had been something between Daphne and me, and I promised to end it before we married."

"Did you?" Hermione asked, her voice soft as though she felt bad for interrupting.

He turned around and leaned back against the dresser. "I did," he replied, "but it didn't last long. Daphne moved to France after the wedding, and rarely ever came home. It was a couple of years before Lilah was born that we saw each other again. It felt right being with her. For the first time since I got married, I was happy."

"Why did Lilah change things then?" she wondered. "Why not be with Daphne?"

Draco shrugged. "She never wanted kids," was his simple answer. "Like I told you before, she broke things off with me when she found out she was pregnant. She wrote that letter saying she never wanted to see me again, and then Astoria left too."

Rising, Hermione stepped toward him. "Can I trust you, Draco?" she asked.

He touched her cheek as he sighed. "I want you to," he replied.