It was brought to my attention that in the last chapter I slipped up and used dollars instead of pounds, but it's fixed now so thanks!

One of my anon reviewers mentioned wondering how Astoria felt about the divorce situation, so I decided to put a little Astoria in this chapter, and depending on what you guys want I might include her more in the story. (:

DPOV

"Look, I came here like you asked. So what do you want?"

When I woke up that morning I'd received and owl from my father asking me to come back to Malfoy Manor because he had something he wanted to discuss with me.

"We're still waiting for one other person." he replied cooly.

Before I could ask what he meant there was the familiar pop of apparation and then Astoria stood in front of us.

Great. So this was going to be another one of father's attempts at getting me back together with Astoria. That was just bloody perfect.

She looked the same as she had two weeks ago when I'd told her I was divorcing her. She hadn't cared too much then, at least I didn't think she had and I wouldn't see why she would. She'd been getting her brains screwed out ever since she found out I wouldn't sleep with her.

Don't get me wrong, Astoria's a pretty girl, but she didn't even come close to Hermione.

Besides that, even though neither one of us was in love with the other, I still felt it would be in poor taste if I accidentally called her Hermione-and I knew that would eventually happen.

"Oh, Draco dear, I've missed you." she said, walking over and throwing her arms around my neck.

I didn't know what to do so I awkwardly patted her back with one hand until she let me go.

I turned to my father and raised an eyebrow, "What's this about?"

Astoria answered instead, "Oh Drakey, I want you to come home. I want you to stay with me."

My mind went blank, and the only thing I could come up with was, "What the fuck?"

"Draco, that is no way to talk to your wife." said my father.

"Ex-wife." I corrected.

"Technicalities," he said, waving his hand as if it was an irrelevant matter that he could just brush off. "Now, when are we getting the two of you remarried?"

"Well I'm free tomorrow or-"

"Are you two out of your fucking minds?" I asked, my anger quickly building.

"Why would you say that honey?" asked Astoria, her eyes big.

Ugh, too big. Not like Hermione's. Hermione's were perfect. Everything about Hermione was fucking perfect.

"Because I divorced you two weeks ago and you were fine. Totally unaffected by it. And now you want to act like you're hurt by my decision? Please. You were too busy screwing every available guy that I'm surprised you even remembered you had a husband."

"Draco, I-"

"No, both of you are insane if you think I'd get back with you."

Astoria's demeanor instantly changed, and she let out an annoyed sigh. "Look, our families combined wealth is massive. How could you not want that?"

"The money I get from the business is enough. I don't need any more money." I said.

"This is about that Mudblood witch isn't it?" said my father, his eyes bright with anger.

"Don't call her that." I snapped.

"Oh, touchy are we? My apologies then, this is about Hermione."

"I'm leaving. I don't have to listen to this." I said, taking my wand out to apparate back home.

"You do have to listen to this. You are my only son and you owe it to your mother and I to-"

"I don't owe you a bloody thing. And you want to bring up mother? Where is she then? Because I haven't seen her since the war ended. I don't owe either one of you anything."

"Your mother is away on vacation. Like we told you." he said, clearly getting angry.

"A five year vacation? Really? When was the last time you even heard from her?"

"That is none of your-"

"Whoa, boys, calm down." said Astoria, stepping between us. "Lucius, look, if he doesn't want to get back together with me we can't make him."

"Both of you get out of my house."

I rolled my eyes, but followed Astoria out the front door, heading to the apparation point.

"I'm sorry about that." she said after a few minutes. "I was just trying to do what Lucius asked me to do."

We stopped at the apparation point and she pulled out her wand.

"No big deal."

She sighed, "Were you ever happy with me?"

I ran a hand through my hair and looked back up at the Manor. "Not in the way that married people should be."

She nodded, "If it hadn't been for Hermione, do you think things would have been different? Could have been different?"

"I don't know, Astoria. Does it matter?"

She blinked a few times and then shrugged, "I suppose not. Good luck with Hermione, Draco. She'd be crazy not to take you back."

I just nodded and watched her apparate away.

That was probably the longest conversation I'd ever had with her, and she was giving me advice about Hermione. Something seemed off though, but maybe I was just reading too much into the situation.

~OoOoOoOoOoOoO~

"Dude, if Hermione catches you here she's going to blow her top."

I had decided to go visit Blaise on his lunch break, hoping that I'd be able to talk to Kyle about getting me a job here.

"Yeah, yeah, just point me in the direction of his office."

"Good luck mate." he said as I knocked on Kyle's door.

I rolled my eyes, "Like I need it."

I pushed open the door and Kyle motioned for me to take a seat.

"What can I do for you?"

"I was actually wondering if there was an opening here." I said.

"Oh, well we do have a few openings. I can set up an interview for you a few days from now if you're interested and we can see what skills and qualifications you have." he said, pulling a card out of the holder on his desk and handing it to me.

"That'd be great, thanks."

I stood up and left his office, heading back downstairs to say goodbye to Blaise.

"Hey, Blaise I'm leav-" I hadn't expected Hermione to be in there, but there she was, sitting on his desk with a file folder in her hands.

She looked great. Really great. She had on a pencil skirt that rose up when she shifted on the desk, a red blouse with the top two buttons undone, a pair of black heels, and her curly hair was piled on top of her head in a bun.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I told you he was thinking about looking for a job here." said Blaise quietly.

Hermione just nodded and hopped off the desk. "Blaise, when you're done here you can come down to the conference room. Kyle says he's announcing changes or something."

"Alright, I'll just be a second."

She grabbed the rest of her folders and said, "Bye Draco." as she walked out the door.

"Damn! I can feel the tension rolling off the two of you in waves." said Blaise, picking up his jacket.

"Yeah, well Kyle said he's setting up an interview for me in a couple days."

"Hope you get the job mate." he said, clapping me on the shoulder before following after Hermione.

I didn't know how Hermione felt about me anymore. We had really spoken since last week at the park, and I'd only seen Rose at Ginny's house while Hermione was at work.

On the up side, Rose and I seemed to be getting closer, so it wasn't all bad. I just wanted for Hermione to be able to forgive me more than anything.

But I understood that that took time. Only thing was, how was she going to forgive me if she wouldn't talk to me?

HPOV

"Ginny what the hell am I going to do if he starts working at Buxom and Brant?"

When I went home to pick up Rose I was completely freaking out. I'd asked Harry to take the children outside because I was sure that I would start yelling.

"Mione, you're going to have to face him eventually."

"I don't want to, Ginny! I'm scared that if I do he's going to talk me right back into being with him and I don't want to get hurt again!"

She stood up and pulled me into a hug. "Mione, I don't know Draco well, but I do know that he was an arse back in Hogwarts and he seems to have changed."

"He's a good actor Ginny. He fooled me all those years ago back in school, why wouldn't he be able to do that again?"

She pulled back enough to look at me, and she said, "Look, I don't know if he was acting back in school, but I do know that he's not acting now. He really cares about you."

"So you're saying I should just forgive him? Just like that?" I asked, shocked that she was taking his side.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." she said, pulling me onto the couch, "But what I am saying is that maybe you should give him a chance to prove that he's changed."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "This guy broke my heart. How am I just supposed to forget that and let him back in?"

"Because things are different now. You two have a child together, he stood up to his dad, Astoria's not in the picture, he's apologizing to you-a lot has changed Mione." she said, her eyes holding mine.

I didn't know what to think. My best friend, who had hated Draco adamantly since day one, was now telling me to give him a chance.

What the hell was happening with the world?

"Maybe I'll give him a call later...or something." I said, still thinking over her words in my head.

She smiled, "Good, now I expect to see you at the Burrow tomorrow."

I laughed, "You know I wouldn't miss it."

I stood up and went to get Rose, but before I was outside Ginny called to me.

"Oh and Mione?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be afraid to bring a guest." she said with a wink, disappearing into the kitchen before I could reply.

Although I don't think I would have come up with anything even if she had stuck around.

~OoOoOoOoOoOoO~

"Mummy, why are you never around when Draco comes to see me at Auntie Ginny's?"

I was currently tucking Rose into bed, and was a little taken aback by her question.

"Well I'm at work when he comes over." I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Well why can't he come over here then?"

"Rosie, it's your bed time. Just sleep, and mummy will figure something out, okay?" I said, standing up.

She nodded and I closed her door behind me and walked into the kitchen.

I was attempting to reach for the box of cereal that Ron had put on the top shelf, when another hand reached over my head and pulled it down.

I jumped and spun around, ready to kick some serious arse, when I saw Draco standing in front of me, an apologetic smile on his face.

"Sorry. I floo'd over, but I heard you putting Rose to bed so I thought I'd wait in the living room."

I nodded my head slowly and took the cereal box from him, pouring myself a bowl of cereal and then glancing over my shoulder with a sigh.

"Do you want some?"

He smiled softly and nodded. I grabbed another bowl and poured him some cereal, handing it to him before picking up my bowl and walking into the living room.

"So why are you here?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"I wanted to talk..." he said slowly.

"About?"

"Us,"

I felt my heart clench at the way he said us, like he really wanted there to be an us. But I just didn't know what I wanted, what I could handle...point blank it was starting to seem like maybe I was the coward.

"What about...us?" I asked, staring into my cereal bowl as if it held all of life's answers.

"I just-Hermione,"

He took the cereal bowl out of my hands and set it down, along with his, on the coffee table.

"I just...I want to know what you need me to do."

I just stared at him. What did I need him to do? Leave me alone? Probably. But it's not what I wanted.

"Draco, I don't know. I don't know how I feel about you, I don't know how I'm supposed to act around you. One minute I want to strangle you and the next I want to kiss you. I just don't know."

There. I'd said it. He could do what he wanted from there.

Oh Merlin. Now he was just staring at me. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I should have just-

My thoughts were cut short when he leaned forward and lightly touched his lips to mine. It was like a spark had gone off and every touch, every kiss, every moment we'd ever shared came flooding back to my memory. I felt, for lack of a better word, peaceful, for the first time in a while.

He leaned back against the couch and was watching me.

I knew he was waiting for a reaction, but I was literally frozen.

Had I wanted that to happen? Should I be mad? I should definitely say something though. I know I should. So why am I not talking?

Oh Merlin.

"I guess it's a good sign that you're not hexing me or yelling expletives at me." he said, cracking that smile I hadn't seen in over five years.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and looked at him. I knew that somehow this moment was big. This was a defining moment in our...relationship? If you could call it that.

Yet all I could think to say was, "Yeah...I guess so."

He smirked, picked up the bowls, and walked into the kitchen. A few minutes later I heard the dishwasher open and close and then he was walking back into the living room.

I still hadn't moved, and still wasn't quite sure what I should say.

"If you don't want me to do that again I won't." he said, sitting down on the couch again. "But I don't regret it."

Before I could stop myself I smiled, but quickly looked away from him to try and hide it.

He slid forward and grabbed my chin, tilting my face towards his, "I would love it if you'd stop hiding from me Hermione." he said quietly.

"Hiding from you is all I've been doing for the past five years."

"Then don't you think it's time to stop?" he asked, his silver gaze holding mine.

Instead of trying to come up with words I did the one thing I knew he'd understand.

I leaned forward, and kissed him.

I hope that I'm doing the right thing. I want Rose to have a family that's an actual family. I want her to be able to spend time with Draco when I'm there and when I'm not there. I want her to see that her parents are happy together. I want her to be able to have what I had with my parents before the war.

I'm still nervous that things are going to go really, really wrong...but for now...maybe it wouldn't be so bad to just see where things go.

I just hope I won't regret it later.