2010

No doubt I looked like a walking circus as I walked through the giant atrium of the Ministry of Magic that morning. Trying to balance 3 children, all under the age of 5, was a feat on its own. But trying to weave through the crowds of hundreds as they headed to their office, carrying briefcases and large boxes in their arms that blocked their views of small children made my day seen nearly impossible.

Tracey would have an emergency meeting on my busiest day! I thought as I adjusted her 2-year old that was resting against my hip. I tried to herd my children with my briefcase and words when they veered off course with every step. Truly, this was more exhausting than anything I'd ever done before.

"Mummy, can we go to the ice cream parlor on the way home today?" Lora piped up in her high pitched yet gentle voice. I chuckled and shook my head slowly.

"Elly, it is 9 in the morning; how on earth can you be thinking of ice cream and sugar this early?" I teased her, gently guiding her out of the way of a tall, brown-haired wizard who was rushing past us.

"I want some too, Mummy!" Damien replied instantly. I gave him a knowing smile; he was always eager to keep up with his big sister.

"Well, we'll see how well you two behave with the childminders today, alright?" I offered them half-heartedly. It was really going to depend on how tired I was by the end of the day.

Thankfully, the Ministry had decided to use some of its excess office space from those departments that became obsolete after the War was over and make a day-care. As far as I was concerned, it was the smartest thing they'd done in years! Not only was I glad to see that Theodore and I were not the only one procreating (evidently, after a War, there is always a population boom), but it was a great chance to let the kids get to know other children before they even got to Hogwarts. Theodore wasn't too fond of the idea at first, but when my work schedule became too hectic to handle Damien and Elora, and Tracey found that she too didn't have the time to watch them, we all gracefully gave in. I loved spending time with my children, but some days I just wanted them to go away for a few hours, and give me a moment's peace! This was my chance, and I could get some work done, making my time spent at home that much more enjoyable.

Elora had grown so quickly that I literally could close my eyes and see her as a newborn again. She was my first child, and needless to say, Theodore and I did everything in our power to raise her the best way we possibly could. I made sure to think of how I was raised, and consciously did the opposite. And when we moved to Wales, I made sure that she was given her own room and all the attention she needed, despite carrying my troublesome and exhausting son.

No doctor was able to figure out why, but Damien literally wore me right out throughout the entire time I was pregnant with him. Theodore was concerned that perhaps he was ill, or that he was going to have some sort of behaviour problem, but all the people we saw told me that 'carrying a son is like carrying a rowdy stadium of Quidditch fans; you'll never get a moment's peace'.

Thankfully, after he was born, we never had a problem with him; he was so quiet and so calm that we thought that maybe he was too passive. But once he learned to walk, and started to play with his sister, his true personality shone through as a cunning but impressionable boy, who wanted nothing more but the acceptance of his peers. He had his father's wit and my longing for the approval of others.

Then, of course, there was my other addition to the family.

Theodore and I decided to stick with just two after I had our Damien, but we couldn't stop Tracey from adding her own input to the situation... literally. After having seen me through two pregnancies, and helping me raise Elora, she decided that she wanted to try it out for herself. So, while on a business trip to America, she found herself a wizard, who 'donated' his part of the equation... To this day, I have no idea if the man is even aware that he fathered Tracey's daughter. But, either way, Kiera Davies (or Kiki for short) was practically a third child to me just as my children were practically Tracey's, and I couldn't help but relish at the thought of repaying my best friend by helping her out with her daughter.

And now I'm stuck herding all these kids through an impossible busy hallway of hundreds... I chuckled to myself as I adjusted Kiki on my hip again, who was chewing on her long, blonde pigtails. For being only 3 years old, she was the most determined thing I'd ever seen! I would take the hair out of her mouth, and she would pop it right back in!

"Mummy, Elly took my ball again!" Damien whined from a couple feet in front of me. Sure enough, I could see the head of red curls dodging around the people ahead of us, running right for the fountain. Damien looked up with wide eyes, pleading with me to do something. I looked at his big, honey brown eyes and felt my heart melt; he was the spitting image of Theodore, complete with the hair, eyes, and facial expressions.

"Elora, give your brother back his toy." I sighed in frustration as I caught up with her as she bounced the small ball on the fountains stone ledge. Elora made a face at Damien but handed it back to him without much of a fight.

"Bubbles!" Kiki squeaked in my ear. I sighed and sat down on the edge of the fountain, letting her reach down and splash in the water. Tracey had told me she was going to meet me here before we had to drop off the kids, but from the looks of it, she was going to be late... again. This was beginning to turn into a regular occurrence; Tracey and Theodore running off for early meetings, and me being left to care for 3 children on my own.

Not that I mind... I thought with a small smile as I pulled Kiki's pigtail out of her mouth (again).

They make my day go by much faster.

"Damien, stop it! You're doing it wrong." I could hear Elora sneering at her brother. I smirked a little, but didn't interfere; I could only imagine what Damien would fire back.

"Who made you the boss!" Damien challenged before he yanked the ball out of Elora's reach. I sighed in preparation for the screams that were to come.

Just when I was expecting her to cry to me about something, I heard her laugh about something, then I saw the red curls running out of my sight."Elora!" I called in annoyance.

I tried to figure out what to do now; I couldn't leave Kiki, but Damien would be alright alone for a moment. I stood up and prepared to run after her (carrying Kiki at the same time), but lucky for me, Lilith came bounding back through the crowd, another small boy in tow.

"Honestly, why do you run off like that!" I sighed as I sat back down on the ledge and continued to wait. "Who's your friend, Elly?" I asked as she started to show the blonde boy the ball that her brother had grudgingly handed over.

"Well, this is interesting." A smooth but low voice chimed from off to my right. I didn't even need to think to know who it was. As I stared at the children playing by the edge of the fountain, a cold wave of realization flooded over me as I took a closer look at the blonde boy; it was Scorpius. Which could only mean one thing...

"Fancy seeing you here, Draco," I muttered spitefully, turning my head slowly and shooting him a death glare. Much to my disappointment, he looked as good as ever (no surprise).

"I was thinking the same thing." He said smartly, now standing in front of me "I see you've now met Scorpius. Of course, you did have the opportunity when he was born-"

"You must think I'm an idiot if you thought I was going to walk into that snake-pit!" I scoffed.

"You know very well that I sent that letter, not your family." He corrected me patronizingly. Some people never changed...

"Once again, you must think I'm a fool," I grumbled. "Besides, I had better things to do with my time."

"Like?" Draco chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know... work? Sleep? Read? Or even do nothing frankly; everything that presented itself was an improvement in forcing myself to endure an afternoon with my family." I replied smartly, shooting him a dark glare.

"Mummy! I lost my hair ribbon in the water!" Elora called lightly. I didn't move at first. I prayed that perhaps Draco had thought she was talking to someone else. But, evidently my face gave it all away, and he chuckled with a wide smirk as he looked at me. Apparently now he also noticed the little blonde girl sitting on the ledge beside me.

"Mummy?" he asked with slight disbelief. I glared at him but did not reply. "Isn't that interesting. How old are they?"

"Piss off!" I hissed angrily at him "It would be wise for you to forget that I have children!" I threatened. He stared at me strangely, then smirked again.

"You think that I would report back all my findings to your family, don't you?"

"Wouldn't you? Aren't you still my sister's lap dog?" I replied bitterly. Draco made a small clicking sound with his tongue like he was chastising me.

"Still as bitter as ever, I see." he chuckled

"Mummy, my ribbon!" Elora pouted, annoyed that I didn't respond to her call the first time; sometimes, despite how hard I tried, she really reminded me of my sister...

"Reach in and get it, Elora!" I snapped sharply. Despite the fact that I almost expected her to burst into tears, she looked at Draco for a moment, then miraculously turned away in silence, reaching her hands into the water.

"Interesting name... Elora, is it?"

"Oh, and you're one to talk!" I laughed sarcastically. "You named your son Scorpius! You must hate children to torture your own son with a name like that!" I sneered.

"It's tradition in my family, you know that." He remarked smartly. "I'm sure when you were imagining your fantasy life with me, you came up with a similar name."

I shot the darkest glare I could, but it came out as a blank stare. Of course, he would fire back with something like that! He had no other weapon against me except using my former love for him against me!

"Glad to see you haven't changed a bit."

"And you have?" Draco chuckled, putting his hands in his pockets and looking around casually. "I don't believe for a moment that you've changed your ways, Daphne." He smirked, then looked back into my eyes. "But tell me; who have you found as my replacement?" I stared back at him but refused to speak. I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes in defiance against him. "Do you know his name?" he added snidely.

"Fuck off! Not all women are whores like my sister!" I hissed sharply, forgetting that my children were around me again.

"No, but both the Greengrass girls come from the same blood, don't they?" he said in a smooth, sultry voice that didn't quite make sense to me. I ignored the crooked smile that he was flashing at me.

"I am not a Greengrass. You know that as well as I do." I growled through gritted teeth.

"Then whose name did you take?" he pressed, his eyes alight with the game that he clearly thought he was playing. I knew that there wasn't much point in trying to deny it, but I refused to give in to him like I always did. "What's the matter? Is your marriage not as satisfying a prospect now that you're in one?" he teased me.

"Oh, on the contrary Draco, I am very satisfied," I replied matter-of-factly. "With both my marriage and my sex life. More than I'm sure you can say, right?" I had heard rumours of Draco's infidelity to my sister... then again, I was sure she was just as guilty, if not worse; neither of them was the most faithful of partners.

"Oh, now I have to know who it is!" He laughed. "I want to know whose name you're screaming now instead of mine..." He said quietly with a smile so sly that I wanted to slap it off his face.

With almost perfect timing, my son came over and tapped me on the arm lightly. "Mummy, can I have a knut to throw in the fountain?" he asked quietly, looking at the stranger that stood before me with a suspicious eye.

"Of course you can, darling," I said gently as I sat Kiki in my lap and opened my briefcase with my wand, levitating a small coin into Damien's hands. I knew that Draco was watching, and I smirked to myself as I snapped my bag closed and looked up at his analytical stare. "I'm sure if you think hard, you'll figure out who their father is," I remarked smartly. He stared harder but didn't seem to get it. "Damien, come here," I called my son over gently. He stood beside me obediently. I took his face gently into mine, pretending to turn his head to check the back of his ears, but in reality, I was turning my son's face so that Draco would get a closer look.

It apparently hit Draco like a ton of bricks. The change in expression was amazing! As soon as my sons honey brown eyes caught Draco's, his jaw dropped.

"You've got to be kidding!" he scoffed in disbelief. "Nott? You married Nott!?" he said, shaking his head slowly as he looked at my son and my daughter, then chuckled quietly. "My my, Theodore finally got some courage after all." I now looked at him with a confused expression "I knew he was in love with you for years, Daphne. Everyone knew, except you naturally."

"Is this the part where you tell me I was too tied up in loving you?" I rolled my eyes.

"Are you telling me that Nott is good in bed!?" he read between the lines at last.

"Very," I replied with a smirk of satisfaction; I could tell that was getting under his skin.

"I can't believe you think Theodore's a good lover..." he chuckled in disbelief, shaking his head again.

"Why, have you had sex with him?" I quipped smartly.

"No, I'm afraid that sleeping with gay men is your forte, is it not?" Draco sneered back. I knew exactly what he meant by that. But, in my defense, none of us ever expected Blaise to be anything but straight... until he brought home his new Spanish boyfriend, Lorne...

"Let this be a warning to you, Malfoy," I started slowly. "Theodore will not take kindly in you knowing about the existence of his children. You will be struck down in a second if he knew you were here." I warned him. "So imagine what he will do if he finds out that my family has been tipped off by you."

"I've got a better scenario." Draco replied, un-phased by my threat "What do you think he'll do if he finds out what you promised me the day of my wedding?"

My face flushed; I could feel it. I had somehow managed to keep that little secret to myself, despite Theodore figuring out that I had been in love with Draco for years. This could, and knowing Draco, would, destroy my life. If he wanted, he could easily plant the seeds of doubt and distrust, allowing them to grow with the lies he would feed them with. I knew that Draco was more than capable of convincing Theodore that I was still in love with him and that I was more than willing to leave him for my first love.

Are you sure you wouldn't? The evil, instinctual love in the back of my mind called. I locked my jaw to prevent myself from answering aloud to that question.

"That bargain is nothing," I growled through my teeth.

"Well, technically yes. I mean, part of the deal was that I would have to tire of my sister." He said with a coy smile. "But I'm sure I could persuade you to change that small detail, couldn't I?" he smirked.

"Think what you want, Malfoy; I am not like my sister." I snarled.

"Are you so sure? Because I'm not." He added calmly. "Being married to her for this long, I've noticed some similarities between the two of you." He paused and looked at me with a wicked smile. "Would you like to hear them?" he replied with eyes like the devil.

"No, I would not like to hear them!" I replied with a raised voice that no doubt attracted attention to us.

"HEY!"

I heard a loud, booming voice from across the atrium that made people form a pathway from the elevators to where I sat. From across the hall, I saw Theodore, storming towards us with steam almost literally coming out of his ears. Tracey was running right behind him, trying to grab onto his arm in an attempt to stop him.

"Oh, hello Nott," Draco replied smartly. "I was just having a small conversation with your wife." He called to him as he drew closer with every step, teasing him with his manner.

"You get away from my family!" Theodore shouted. It was rare to ever see Theodore angry, but I had never seen him THIS angry before."

"Theodore, calm down!" Tracey panted as she grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back a foot just as he was within reach of strangling Draco. Theodore, although he didn't fight Tracey's grip off, pulled out his wand. Draco did the same at that exact moment.

"Going a little mental, are we Nott? Don't tell me dealing with prisoners all day has driven your senses awry." Draco sneered.

"I see that you're still as arrogant as ever," Theodore spat. "How dare you speak to her after all you did!"

"Correction." Draco replied calmly "She was perfectly willing the whole time."

Theodore looked at him with a look I had never seen. I was worried that perhaps he had truely gone mad. He tried to leap forward, but I jumped up from the fountain and stepped between them.

"Tracey, take the children, please. All of them." I barked at her, enraged at the actions of my husband and Draco. If they were about to try and kill each other right here in the atrium, I didn't want my children to witness it. Tracey instantly picked up her daughter and ushered all the children, including Scorpius, in the direction of the daycare centre.

"Daphne, you can't tell me that you don't want me to fight him," Theodore growled, looking over my shoulder at his enemy still.

"No, she wants you to try and fight so you can prove to herself that she made the wrong choice when you lose to me," Draco replied smartly, trying to get a rile out of Theodore.

It worked.

Before I could even process what swear word Theodore had shouted at him, I was suddenly trying to hold back my surprisingly strong husband from committing murder. I reached up and grabbed his wand, trying with all my might to point it at the ground and not at Draco. They were shouting at each other, and I thought for a moment that Theodore was going to escape from my grasp, but a few wizards that had been watching stepped in and helped retrain the two of them.

"STOP!" I shouted as they still struggled to get free. I yanked the wand out of my husband's hand and motioned for someone to take away Draco's. The short and solidly built wizard handed it to me. "Let's get this straight, once and for all!" I started, but of course, was interrupted.

"Oh, this should be interesting; Daphne trying to tell the truth!" Draco laughed, taunting me and Theodore.

"You bastard, how dare you even speak to her after what you've done to her!" Theodore snarled.

"Theodore, calm down! It's not like he paraded me around and humiliated me. I was willing, at the time." I added that last point with a sharp glare in Draco's direction. He smirked at my words.

"He did humiliate you, Daphne," Theodore growled between his pants as he struggled to get free of the other wizards who were restraining him.

"Theodore, what are you talking about?" I asked, shaking my head in frustration.

"Are you really sure you want to do this, Nott?" Draco said in a low, threatening voice that caught me off guard. He no longer looked amused, nor did he look like he was in control of the situation.

"Oh yes!" Theodore snapped back. "Anything to rid her of the delusion she has of what you're like." He added before he looked at me. "I didn't tell you because I never thought it would come up, but I knew about you and Draco long before you told me." He panted.

"What!?" I barked sharply in disbelief. "You knew!"

"No, not exactly." He said as he took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "You see, Draco used to come back every night and tell us all about his conquests with his 'lady in waiting', as he referred to her." He explained. "I didn't know it was you, but after you told me about what you used to feel for him, I instantly knew and it all made sense." He stared at me with eyes that were not only full of shame for not telling me but pity. "The whole boys' dorm knew about it, Daphne. Every single detail he could think of."I turned on my heel and looked at Draco, who had a smug smirk on his face.

So not only did he toy with my mind all these years, but he wasn't even keeping me a secret!? And he referred to me as his 'lady in WAITING!' I thought manically. He never intended to make something real out of us! He just wanted to keep me on a string until he found someone better that was willing to put out for him!

"Is that true?" I demanded.

"Are you telling me that you don't believe your husband?" Draco teased, smirking at me with eyes that told me that he wasn't ashamed.

Without thinking, I took the 6 steps forward that separated us and slapped him hard in the face. There was a unison noise of sympathy pain from the crowd, but no one called out to stop me. I'm sure they all understood that when you find out you were made a fool for 5 years of your life, and that half of your class knew about it as well, it was only natural to feel some hostility. Draco's jaw hung open for a moment, then he turned his face back at me with the darkest glare I had ever seen from him.

"You really did play me all that time, didn't you?" I said slowly, beginning to understand everything. "I was nothing to you, was I?" I shook my head slowly.

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing..." he started with that pretentious tone. I slapped him across the face again, and this time, some people in the crowd her chuckling.

"You and my sister deserve each other," I hissed sharply. Then, as he turned his eyes back to me again, looking just as angry as before, I snapped his wand in half before his eyes and threw it into the fountain. Then, turning on my heel again, I walked briskly back over to Theodore, took his arm firmly in mine, and dragged him over to the elevator. Although I wasn't paying attention, I swore I thought I could hear applause... or maybe that was the ringing in my ears that was warning me that I may faint with nerves soon.

I threw myself and Theodore into the elevator, shoving the operator aside and hitting the floor I wanted, then slammed the door closed. As the elevator moved up at high speed to the floor where my office was, I felt my bravado wearing off, and the understanding of what had happened started to flood into my brain. By the time the elevator stopped 30 seconds later, I was nearly having a panic attack.

Now it was Theodore who took me by the arm and led me out of the elevator and guided me towards my office. By the time we were in the door, I was already in full hysterics. Without thinking, I collapsed to the floor and just stared at my window straight ahead, which faced out into the atrium.

"Daphne, I didn't tell you because I knew you would be upset..." Theodore soothed quietly, his hand on my shoulder as he stood behind me as a knelt on the floor and stared out the window.

"I know Theodore..." I sighed quietly. "It's just... it's hard to admit that I made a mistake..." I took in a sharp breath as I tried to control my emotions; I did not want to cry over this. "And it's hard to forget my instincts." I paused for a moment, looking down at the briefcase and wand that I had clutched in my right hand. My knuckles were so tight that I could see the blood running under the white skin. "But believe me, Theodore; never again will he have the same sway over me..." I growled in an almost reassuring way to both of us. To Theodore, the battle had at last been won.

To me, the battle was lost. I could no longer run from the truth anymore. Draco never loved me. I was a fool.