Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: I am SO sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I've been very sick and just not up to writing. To make it up to my readers, this is the longest chapter to date. Big thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. A huge thanks to my beta, Modges, who looked this over even though she is also sick. I also want to say a special thanks to clumsydolphin. Even though she is having a rough time, she has been an awesome cheerleader for me. Thanks to amirrorthathasbeenshattered, who lets me ramble and throw ridiculous ideas around. Now, on to the story.

Lucius stayed with his daughter for over an hour before she finally woke up. He noticed she awoke with a start, jumping up as if she was unsure of where she was. She had a slightly panicked look on her face as her eyes scanned the room. It looked like she was going for her wand when her eyes landed on him. He watched as the realization of where she was dawned over her face. The two just stared at each other for a time.

Hermione broke the ice first. "I'm sorry."

"And I already told you not to apologize. I will say, it's remarkable how incredibly alike you and your brother are. I'm not sure which one of you throws the biggest fits."

"Oh, Draco does, for sure."

Lucius chuckled slightly. He was enjoying the banter with his daughter and was quite grateful she hadn't run off as soon as she woke up. As he looked at her, really looked at her as this was the longest amount of time he's been in her presence, he really saw just how much she looked like Narcissa. She truly was a beautiful young woman, in every way. He felt a pang in his chest as he came to understand just how much he missed out on due to his Death Eater activities. His daughter. All he wanted to do was grab on to her and never let her leave again. He gave an inward sigh. All he could do was keep hoping that one day she would fully forgive him.

"I..um..I should go," Hermione said, as she made her way back to the Floo. She had almost made it to the Floo when Lucius spoke up.

"Wait!"

Hermione paused, turned around to face him and raised an eyebrow in question.

"I can't stay here, Lucius. I know it displeases you, but I still find it extremely distressing to be in the Manor. I wouldn't even be here right now if I hadn't been so incredibly livid earlier."

"I know. Please believe me when I say that I truly do understand. I asked you to wait because Narcissa will return shortly with Draco. I know she would be saddened if she missed you. Please."

Hermione hesitated, uncertainty written all over her face.

Looking closely at Lucius, she could see that he really wanted her to stay and more for himself than for Narcissa. Before she could make a decision, the Floo flashed green and her mother and Draco appeared. They both stopped short at seeing Hermione in their family home.

As soon as she laid eyes on Narcissa, Hermione was unexpectedly struck by how much she could really use a mother/daughter talk. She had never been all that close to her adopted mother, so those types of talks had been few and far between. She had always wished they had been closer and found herself desperately missing those even those few chats after her Mrs. Granger passed away. It occurred to her that she had already had more talks with Narcissa in the past few months than she had ever had with her adopted mother. She didn't, however, doubt that her parents had loved her deeply.

Without taking moment to think further, Hermione quickly grabbed Narcissa's arm and dragged her back towards the Floo.

"Mother, I need you to come with me, right now."

With that, both women entered the Floo and disappeared. Lucius and Draco exchanged a brief look.

"Did she just...?"

"She did."

"Wow. Mother is going to be ecstatic. I bet five Galleons she cries."

"Do I look like an imbecile to you? I've known your mother far longer than you. Of course she is going to cry."

"This is wonderful. Mother has been waiting for a breakthrough like this."

Lucius said nothing further, silently agreeing with his son. He could only look forward to the day Hermione would feel comfortable enough to call him Father.

Hermione and Narcissa arrived at Grimmauld Place, startling both Harry and Severus who were playing chess. Both men stood to greet the women, but as Harry approached Hermione, he noticed she had been crying.

"Hermione? What's wrong?"

"I'll explain later, Harry. I have to talk to Narcissa right now."

With that, she dragged a teary-eyed Narcissa past the confused men and up the stairs to her room. When they got there, Hermione immediately went to sit down in her beloved window seat, gesturing for Narcissa to join her. She felt her mother take a seat next to her and turned to face her. Studying Narcissa's face, all Hermione could see was pure joy, which was in complete contrast to the tears currently running down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?"

Narcissa looked at Hermione in surprise, as if she should have known the answer to that question.

"You called me 'mother' instead of by my given name, right before you Flooed me over here. I truthfully thought I was, by no means, going to hear that from you."

Hermione was a bit taken aback by what Narcissa had just told her. She hadn't been aware that she had referred to Narcissa as such. Thinking about it, she realized that she actually did think of and love Narcissa as a daughter should love her mother. Instead of responding, she threw her arms tightly around her mother. As Narcissa returned her embrace, Hermione felt a few tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to this point."

"Honestly, Hermione, anyone would have reacted the same way you have. Actually, most people would have turned and ran if they found out they were the long-lost daughter of the Malfoys. You are, without a doubt, one of the most caring and forgiving people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting."

Hermione pulled away with a huge smile on her face.

"Now, why don't you tell me why it was necessary to drag me here?"

Hermione flushed, slightly embarrassed by her behavior. Apparently learning that her ex-boyfriend and his boyfriend wanted to court her has caused her to lose her mind to some extent. Walking out on Theo without letting him explain, Flooing over to Malfoy Manor, dragging her mother around. None of this was exactly normal behavior for her. She wondered briefly if being a Malfoy automatically turned one into a drama queen.

"You know about Theo and Blaise, right?"

"Ah. I had a feeling that was what this was about. You know, I almost hexed Lucius when he first told me about it. If he hadn't hurried and informed me about his provision, he'd have boils all over his person."

Hermione let out a giggle at the thought of Narcissa hexing Lucius like that.

"I was at their flat, right before I came barreling into the Manor. I hadn't let Theo finish explaining, all I heard was that he wanted me as some kind of breeding stock. As soon as Blaise told me that Lucius had already agreed, I left, not wanting to hear more. The worst part about it is even as I was thinking that all they wanted from me was children, I was actually considering it! I may have been yelling on the outside but on the inside, all I could think about was finally being able to be with the man I loved. How pathetic is that?"

"People have done stranger things to be with the ones they love, Hermione. That doesn't make you pathetic."

"I don't know what to do. What should I do?"

"Well, let's start with how you feel about the situation. What are you feeling?"

Hermione had to pause with that question. She had been so caught up in anger, at Theo, at Lucius, that she hadn't stopped to think beyond that. Now that most of her anger had subsided, how did she feel? The answer came to her suddenly. Scared. She was scared. She was scared that Theo would devastate her again, that Blaise might never love her, that she wasn't cut out for marriage to one man, let alone two. She was scared of leaving Grimmauld Place, a place that even in the worst of times had been a home to her. Of leaving Harry, who had been the brother of her heart since she was eleven. It was just too much, too many sudden changes in a fairly short period of time. She was surprised at the onslaught of thoughts that just flew through her mind. She turned to Narcissa and just unloaded everything that was on her mind. By the time she was done, she was sure she had shocked her into silence. Narcissa just looked at her, a slight look of worry apparent on her face. The next thing she knew, she was caught up in hug.

"Those are all valid concerns and it's completely normal to be scared when you are contemplating such life-changing decisions. Now, I've known Theo and Blaise ever since they were babies and they are both good men. I know that Theo hurt you deeply in the past, but judging by the way he looks at you, I can tell that he still loves you very much. Of course, there is still no guarantee that you won't get hurt, but I can't see him deliberately doing anything to hurt you again. As for the marriage, even if you decided to accept their petition today, these things do take time. You can decide exactly how you want to handle it."

"I can?"

"Of course. Your father wanted you to have most of the control in this situation, quite unusual for a pureblood petition. You'll be able to decide how long the courting period is and, at the end of it, if you decide you don't want to go through with the marriage, you can call the whole thing off. Actually, you can call it off at any time."

Hermione gave that some thought. It seemed that signing the contract wouldn't bind her to anything until after they married. She didn't really have much to lose by agreeing, but had much to win if things worked out. She would get to be Theo's wife, just like she'd always wanted. She'd get Blaise as well. Even though she had had limited interaction with Blaise up until recently, she already knew that they had quite a lot in common. She had no doubt they would get along fine and, if she agreed, had hope that they could come to love each other as well. She wasn't sure she could actually marry someone she didn't love. She was, without a doubt, going to need to insist on a long courting period.

"Of course," Narcissa continued, "that is something you will have to discuss with them. You'll have to agree on a general idea on timing for children as well."

Children. Oh, Merlin, children! Children meant sex, she was going to have to have sex with both of them!

Narcissa, seeing the sudden look of horror on her daughter's face, arched an eyebrow in question.

"I'm going to have to sleep with them!"

Narcissa was clearly confused. "Yes, dear, that is a part of married life. If you are lucky, it's a wonderful and frequent part of your life. In fact, your father and I-"

"No! For Merlin's sake, please do not finish that sentence! And it's not the sex I'm concerned about. Well, it is, but more so the fact that there are two of them. How is that going to work? All of us together? Blaise and Theo, me and Blaise, me and Theo, all separate? I barely know what to do with one man, let alone two!"

"That is something you'll have to discuss with them, Hermione. I'm sure they will handle it however you would like. Although if you want my opinion, there is something to be said to having two experienced men focus all their attentions on you."

"Oh my gods. I'm going to need to Obliviate myself after this conversation. I'm not even going to ask how you know that."

Narcissa's laughter rang out across the room. Hermione was fairly certain her face was bright red at this point. Thank Godric she had stopped her mother from divulging anything about her and Lucius's sex life. She had survived a lot of things without being broken, but the mere thought of hearing about that made her want to run for the hills. They were interrupted then by Harry and Severus, who had just finished their chess game.

"What's so funny? And Hermione, why is your face so red?"

"Nevermind, Harry. It's not important at all."

"Is everything ok now? I don't like seeing you crying."

Hermione, not really in the mood to recount her whole conversation with Narcissa, nodded to her so she could fill them in. It was almost comical to watch the expressions on both Harry's and Severus's faces throughout the tale. Of course, at the end, they also exploded into laughter as Narcissa communicated that part of their discussion.

"Yes, I am so glad my life is cause for such amusement for you. Haha. Harry, you don't seem all that surprised by this. I thought for sure you would be upset."

"Severus gave me a heads up earlier. I won't lie and say I'm not surprised, but all I really want is for you to be happy, Hermione. If this is what you want, then I want it for you. And you know I'll be there for you every step of the way. Just like you've always been there for me."

Hermione was choked with emotion at Harry's sweet words. Unable to express herself with words, she instead launched herself into his arms for a hug. Soon after that, Narcissa and Severus took their leave, with Severus offering to escort Narcissa back to the Manor. As Narcissa was leaving, Hermione called her mother once more, this time not missing the look of pure joy on her face. Severus had looked startled, but then shot her a big smile. After they were gone, Harry looked over at her, a smirk crossing his handsome face.

"So...can we discuss threesomes some more?"

Hermione threw a pillow at his head as he laughed hysterically.

It took a few more days for Hermione to come to a decision about Theo and Blaise. She thought that perhaps she could start the relationship on a trial basis. She was still slightly wary and felt she needed to talk to them again. Hopefully, this time they would be able to successfully converse without further unintended misunderstandings. She had even spoken to Draco about the situation. He had been less than overjoyed about the idea of his sister shacking up with two of his best friends. But in the end, he was just relieved she wouldn't be marrying Harry. She had thrown a hex his way at that statement. She had even tried getting Severus' opinion but he had practically fled from her, stating that he would not be getting involved in her love life.

Her resultant laughter had followed him out of the room.

Draco had informed her that both Blaise and Theo would be home this particular afternoon. Hermione had considered whether it would be best to owl them a letter or just Floo over unannounced.

'Good Godric, she thought, I'm becoming a little more Slytherin every day.'

Without another thought, she strode to the Floo and called out Theo's address, landing quite gracefully in her quarry's living room. Looking around, she found no trace of either Theo or Blaise. She hoped Draco hadn't been wrong about them being home. Hearing a noise that appeared to be coming from the kitchen, she walked over to see if they were there. And, oh my, were they ever!

Hermione's face instantly turned bright red as she took in the scene. Blaise had Theo pinned up against the wall and they were snogging furiously. After debating with herself about leaving or interrupting their makeout session, she carefully began inching her way out of the kitchen.

Unfortunately, her earlier grace had deserted her and her state of distraction resulted in her tripping over her own two feet and landing hard. The undignified yelp she made startled the snogging men and they broke apart, shocked to find her sitting, red-faced and wide-eyed, on Theo's pristine kitchen floor.

Embarrassed at getting caught sneaking around, Hermione quickly got to her feet and tried to explain.

"I'm sorry! I just needed to talk to you, I didn't mean to interrupt! I'll owl first next time, I promise, I'm going now!"

Hermione quickly turned tail and fled back towards the Floo. She was stopped by Theo frantically calling out to her.

"Hermione! Wait, please!"

She stopped, turning back to face Theo. His shock at seeing her seemed to have faded as now his face showed that he was worried that she was going to leave. Blaise spoke up then.

"Why don't we all go have a seat?"

They proceeded to the living room, where Blaise and Theo sat down on the couch and Hermione opted to sit across from them in a rather comfortable chair. Hermione was starting to feel slightly nervous and she knew her face was most likely still bright red. She took a deep breath and told them why she was there. The look of surprise on Theo's face when she told him she was seriously considering their offer was almost comical.

"I'm not saying yes or no, exactly. I have a few questions."

"Of course, bella. We'll answer whatever questions your brilliant mind has come up with, won't we, Theo?"

Theo said nothing, just nodding his head in agreement. Having Theo's agreement, Hermione began her onslaught of questions. She brought up all the issues that had been on her mind lately. Children, sex, love, timing. She asked question after question, not giving either man a chance to say anything. She wanted to get it all out there first, as she was worried she might forget something. When she was done, she looked expectantly at Blaise and Theo, waiting for answers. They both looked slightly overwhelmed.

Theo cleared his throat. "I'm not sure in what order you want us to answer those, but I have something I'd like to say first. I'm sorry that our last meeting went so badly. I want you to know that I meant it when I said that I still loved you. I'm looking for a real marriage with you, not some cold relationship only meant for bearing children."

"I do believe you, Theo. I didn't at first, I admit. However, when I talked to Lucius after I finished yelling at him, he convinced me that it was true."

At her admission, Blaise started laughing. "You yelled at Lord Malfoy? Merlin, what I would give to have been able to watch that!"

Theo laughed along with him and Hermione shot them both a sincere smile. Theo continued on.

"As for the rest of your questions, obviously Blaise and I would like one child each. Any more after that is absolutely up to you. Blaise and I have talked about this and while we would both prefer to have two each, we understand that going through four pregnancies might not be something you want to do. If that is the case, we are perfectly fine with one."

"I've given the amount of children I would like to have a lot of thought. I'm agreeable to four, however, that's going to be my absolute maximum. What about the timing for children? I really feel as though we are all too young to have children right now and I'd like to enjoy being married for a little bit before adding children to the mix."

"Well, let's start with the duration of the courting period. Normally, it would be fairly short, about two months. However, we are aware that is most likely unacceptable. I'd like to propose a six month courting period, while having children within a four year time frame."

"Six months?! I'd really like more time than that. I'm still not over everything that happened between us, Theo. And I would like to be in love with both of you when we marry. I'm not sure six months is enough time to accomplish all of that. I have concerns, Theo. While I do love you, I haven't fully forgiven you for breaking my heart. I'm worried that Blaise might not ever love me the way he does you. I'd say I need at least a year."

Theo opened his mouth to address her concerns, but Blaise held up a hand to quiet him. He wanted to say something.

"While I can't exactly promise that we will fall in love as I am no Seer, I honestly don't think it will be a problem on my part. I've heard so much about you from Theo that I feel as though I've known you forever. I highly doubt we will have problems in that area, bella. How about a compromise? Nine months."

Hermione mulled that idea through her mind. Nine months? Was that enough time? Thinking back, she remembered something that Lucius had conveyed to her. He had told her that 'The contract would become null and void if you either decided against it right away or changed your mind later on'. If, at the end of the nine months, she changed her mind, Lucius could void the contract. Her eyes darted from Blaise to Theo, whose face showed how much he wanted her to accept.

"Wasn't there something else you wanted to ask us about? I thought I heard you mention sex in your little spiel," Blaise said with a smirk on his face.

"Um, right. I was just curious as to how that was going to work? All three of us together? Or just in couples?"

Hermione was sure her face was, once again, bright red. Blaise's smirk grew wider, if that was even possible. Blaise started to answer her question, but Theo cut him off.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with is how we will handle it. It's not something you need to decide on right now."

She nodded. That was something she could work with. She liked that they would leave that up to her. It certainly made her feel better about the whole situation.

"Was there anything else you need to know before making your decision?"

The question had come from Theo but her eyes were fixed on Blaise. She narrowed them slightly as a thought came to her. She already knew that she was compatible with Theo in that way, but she had no idea about Blaise. She was going to have to sleep with him, might as well make sure they had some kind of chemistry. She rose to her feet, both men copying her.

"Yes, actually, there is one more thing."

She walked up to Blaise, whose smirk dropped slightly as she approached him. She tilted her head, as if she was studying him. Then, taking him completely off guard, she grabbed the front of his shirt, yanked him down to her level, and planted her lips on his. She felt him stiffen in surprise at her boldness, but he quickly relaxed and returned her kiss. She felt his tongue gently trace along her lips and let out a small moan at the feeling. Gods, he tasted like chocolate. He took that opportunity to deepen the kiss, letting his tongue caress hers. She felt his hand trail slowly down her side to end at her waist. He pulled her closer to him and she could feel the telltale sign that he was enjoying himself. The sound of a moan that hadn't come from herself or Blaise made it past the haze that had settled on her brain. She pushed back against Blaise's chest, separating herself from him, and glanced at Theo. He was looking at them both with pure lust in his eyes. Looking back at Blaise, she noticed he had the same look in his eyes. Taking a further step back, she finally came to a decision.

"Yes. I'm willing to give this a try."

A/N2: And there we have it. The beginnings of the trio. I hope you all enjoyed. Quick note, I'm having some formatting problems on here so if I missed a space somewhere, I'm sorry. Please review!