"Draco? What are you doing here?" Lucius' smile was genuine as he reached out to hug his son.

"Hi, Dad!" replied Draco enthusiastically, despite his previous formality. Draco embraced his father with a smile, before moving on to hug his "Uncle Sev". Then, he stopped directly in front of Hermione.

"Granger."

"Malfoy," she replied, cordially. Her face held a confused look when he smiled broadly.

"Dad said that I have to play nice with you, so you can call me Draco," he replied rakishly.

"I thought this visit was unexpected?" she thought she was calling out father and son, as Draco had just admitted to prior instruction.

"Dad has been owling me and when I finally found out who his letters were talking about in his last missive, I knew I had to drop by for a visit. The more unexpected, the better."

"You've always been cheeky," his father replied.

"But, your favorite son!" he smiled and his father easily returned it.

"Come on, then, we'll have tea. And biscuits! Right, Sev? Guests mean biscuits."

"Biscuits!" Draco appeared to be just as enthusiastic as his father about sweets.

"Like father, like son," Severus rolled his eyes at the pair. "Com on, Hermione, let's go and let them catch up. We can brew potions!"

The two Malfoys sat at the table in the kitchen, each with a cup of tea and a heaping plate of chocolate biscuits. Draco had helped Lucius locate Severus' stash, much to Lucius' delight.

"So, are you dating her?" Draco asked bluntly while munching on his third biscuit.

"Subtlety never was your strong point, was it?" he mock glared at his son.

"You are just avoiding the question, old man," Draco smirked. He really enjoyed the exchange; it was similar to the times before the Dark Lord's rise. After he rose to power for the second time, the spells upon his father had strengthened to the point of him having no personality. When Draco was younger, he remembered a loving father, especially if Narcissa was far away as she was the anchor for his character binding. His mother, he though, really was a frigid bitch.

"Fine. Kinda."

"Kinda? How…?"

"Well, we talked about it but only really kissed, but no actual date, yet. So, kinda."

"Well, what's your plan?" he was one his sixth biscuit.

"Dunno," Lucius was getting nervous, Draco could tell because he had only eaten four biscuits.

"Well, we haven't really discussed it, Hermione is recovering. She only just woke up yesterday."

"So, you're going to let her think that the Malfoy family is unprepared, bumbling, and not particularly interested?"

"She will not think that! You are just trying to scare me into action," Lucius frowned, and put down his biscuit.

"So you have no plan for wooing? Are you a Slytherin or not?" Draco egged, reaching for another sweet.

"Why do you even care? I would have thought you would be resistant to this relationship, especially with Hermione," Lucius was avoiding the attack, trying to expose Draco's motivations.

"Why shouldn't I be interested in my father's happiness?" he rebutted.

"It's not that your interest disturbs me, it's how quickly you've accepted it."

"You aren't the first person to enter into a triad relationship, you know."

"So, whom are you currently involved with?"

"Luna," he responded.

"Why did you avoid the question? She's nice," Lucius reasoned.

"Yes, well, she likes to include other people into our little tryst sometimes, so I can't judge."

"Wait. Is this why Potter answered your Floo half naked? Is he having a rather sordid affair on his pregnant wife?"

"No, she was there too…"

"Are you kidding me?" Lucius choked on his own tea.

"Nope, pregnancy hormones have done quite a number on the youngest Weasley. Let me tell you, pregnant women are fun!"

"Thank you, Draco. I'm so glad that you have completely altered the pristine view that I had for my only son."

"First, my image is not pristine by any means. Also, I may not be your only son if you get your arse moving with Hermione!"

"I don't suppose I can still ground you, can I?"

"You can try, but I don't think you'll be very successful."

"Cheeky."

"I prefer the term, awesome," Draco struck a pose.

"How did you survive your adolescence without being beaten up?"

"Paid henchmen, who acted quite nicely as body guards."

"Ah. Good thing I arranged that one, then, eh?" Lucius smirked.

"I'm forever in your debt," was the dramatic reply, complete with a head nod and flourishing hand gesture.

"Glad you said that, because I have a favor to ask," Lucius' grin widened.

Meanwhile, Severus and Hermione were having a grand time in the lab. Hermione was happy to be exercising her intellectual talents again and Severus was happy that someone was as enthusiastic as he was about his craft.

The only real sounds were from the chopping of the knife and the occasional instruction or question. Both occupants were quite happy with the arrangement, finding it rather peaceful and pleasant. It wasn't too long before they had done all the preparatory work that they could have done for the day.

"Well, our work is done for the day and Lucius hasn't bothered us yet, so he's still distracted by Draco. Would you like to play a game?" he asked, gesturing to the chess set on the shelf to his left among some rather grotesque ingredients.

"I'll try my hand at a game, but I'm not very good. Ron was always the more tactical of the group." Severus stared hard at her face, acknowledging the sorrow and grief that registered there. She was silent for a moment, before shaking herself fro the pool of emotions in which she had fallen.

"Are you alright? Do you still want to play?" again he watched her face and the changing of emotion that occurred there.

"I'm fine, or at least, I will be—pull down the set. I call white."

"Of course, can you imagine me with anything but black? I'm a gentleman—ladies always go first!" he smirked, pulling down the set as it arranged it and they started the game.

"Why do you have a chess set in here?"

"Well, sometimes when I have some time to kill I'll play against myself." It was a quick game as Hermione was defeated quite easily.

"You were right—you aren't very good," he half-smiled. "Would you like to try again?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a deck of cards?"

"I can get one. Why do you ask?"

"Have you ever played poker?"

"Poker?"

"It's a card game. Here let me teach you." Hermione went through the rules and general play rather quickly. She dealt and they played their first round, Hermione was smiled, assured of her victory.

"So, now, you lay your hand," she said after he only asked for one card.

"Okay, is this good?" at his smirk, she knew she had been had, only to be proven by his hand being laid. A full house.

"I thought you said you have never played poker before!" She only had a high pair.

"Did I say that?" Hermione knew that despite the change in how he treated her, he was still a Slytherin and very cunning.

"You sneak!"

"My dear, you just assumed that I had not known how to play, but you never actually asked."

"Fine then, you deal the next hand, and we're wagering," Hermione decided.

"And what shall we wager?"

"I don't know. Money?"

"How about services? Like cleaning cauldrons or making a meal?" Severus suggested. "Or we could just play strip poker?"

"Strip poker?" a voice came from the doorway. Hermione and Severus turned to see an eager Lucius and a smirking Draco. "I want to play!" Lucius finished. Draco looked quite sick.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, nothing his expression.

"Tell me, how would you like to know of your father, godfather, and former classmate playing strip poker?"

"Oh," was her only verbal response, although she did blush quite brilliantly. Lucius and Severus, however, laughed at the expense of the younger generation. Both Hermione and Draco left the room with Lucius grinning as he pulled out a deck cards and some poker chips. Hermione decided to entertain Draco instead, after that bout of embarrassment. They arrived at the study in silence. Hermione took a seat on the dark leather couch, while Draco stood by the library books, glancing at the titles.

"So, you, my father, and Severus?" Draco started, glancing back at her after he had pulled down a green bound book, but he didn't open it.

"Yes, er… It just, sorta, happened," Hermione was blushing, never had she ever imagined being interrogated by the son of a lover who was once her own classmate.

"It just, sorta, happened?" he prodded.

"Well, yes," she couldn't answer his question.

"Alright," he nodded slowly. "D you love them?"

"Love them? Yes. In love with them? No. Could I fall in love with them? I have no doubt," Hermione worked out her answer verbally.

"Good. Good," Draco responded, nodding his head to back up his approval. He then turned to his book, opening it, and sitting down on the other side of the couch. "I'm never calling you 'mum'." She smiled, knowing things would be all right—for the most part.

Later that night, the master bedroom bed was comfortably full. Hermione was in the middle this time, enjoying having her warmer hands interlaced with Severus' cooler ones and basking in Lucius playing with her hair, that he had somehow, managed to get to curl. She had no clue what the potion was that he gave her, but it worked miracles.

"Hermione, you know we didn't mean to push you today?" Lucius interrupted their rather docile evening.

"What do you mean?" she honestly had no clue what Lucius was getting at with this line of questioning.

"Strip poker. We were just joking, you know that, right?" Lucius sounded worried.

"Oh, of course I knew that! It was just embarrassing to discuss it with your son, your godson, and my former classmate," she smiled at him, instantly relieving his tension, before she leaned forward to give him a kiss. His hand automatically supporting her neck and his hips pivoted to allow him to slip his leg in between her own legs which spread apart to let him do that. The sweet kiss turned hot and it wasn't too much longer until Severus cleared his throat.

"Mind if I have a go?" he smirked and they explored each other for a little bit, but never straying farther than kissing before finally, going off into a contented slumber.

A/N: Sorry this was so late. I got heaped with a whole lot of work and had a bunch of papers to write. It's been a busy spring for me so far, but I'm hoping to get a little more regular in updating from now on! Thanks for staying with me for so long! Harry's up next!