I am away at the moment on holiday in a pretty remote place and have VERY limited internet and was very surprised that I managed to post this (even though it took almost 10 minutes to load the page!)

Hermione stood to leave, sure Lucius would want to speak to Draco alone, that it was not her place to be there, but with a quick catch of her eyes he managed to assure her that that was not the case.

Lucius paused for a fraction of a moment, a blink that was ever so slightly too long, composing himself for what he wanted to say, planning the right way to say it, before smiling slightly at what was likely a defeat by his ever growing morality. Hermione was glad she could see these things in his actions, it felt like a privilege to know this man well enough to do so.

"Draco, there are many things I wish to tell you, so many things that I wish I had said, but at this moment there is one in particular that I feel you should know."

Draco looked apprehensive but approached none the less, a swathe of emotions flittering across his face that he was far less adept at hiding than his father was. But then again, maybe he did not want to hide them.

He sat down opposite them in the window sill, looking at his father with suspicion and at Hermione with an innocent questioning in his eyes that made her want to reach out and take his hand.

"Well then, say what you have to say." Draco said bluntly, reverting back to his stubborn proud self that he had been only a few years back, Hermione sure it was a defence mechanism of sorts.

Lucius began with a sigh, whether for Draco's attitude or what he was about to say Hermione couldn't tell. "As you are well aware, I was not sent to Azkaban because I gave evidence on many of the other members of Voldemort's forces. In my head I felt awful for doing so, yet again I was taking the cowards way out, betraying my old comrades, turning my back on the so called principles I let myself believe I held, avoiding the punishment I more than deserved for what I did to all those people, what I did to you and Narcissa. In my mind there was nowhere I would rather be than Azkaban, to try and redeem myself, to give you some sort of closure. But I was once again what I have always been, a coward, with every fibre of my being screaming that I couldn't go back there…"

"Don't you dare say that!" Shouted Draco as he stood, his body shaking. "Of course I didn't want you to go to Azkaban, and neither did mother! What you did to us all those years hurt, but don't you think I understand that there was no way out? Don't you think it broke my heart to see what Azkaban did to you? My great father brought down to an empty shell of who he used to be."

He took several breaths to calm himself, his shoulders heaving. Lucius sat in shock, so much confusion and pain on his face that Hermione had to hold herself back from going to him.

"Part of me wanted to see you punished, the childish, selfish part inside of me that should have died along with Voldemort, but I knew that would be wrong, that it would hurt us all over again. And then you did what you did, you became Ezra and you saved us all."

"I did nothing to save you." Lucius interrupted sternly. "Never did I do anything good for our family."

"You did more than you know." Draco protested vehemently. "Mother and I shared the same beliefs as you did, we did not just follow you, we walked with you, and we wanted to leave just as much as you did when it all went wrong."

He paused, contemplating whether to say next what he clearly wanted to, conceding with a sigh.

"Do you know that Blaise told me something? As everybody knows, mother and I did not have a trial. Both we and the public were told it was because she helped to save Harry Potter's life in the Battle of Hogwarts and that I was manipulated and led astray. Everyone accepted that, many begrudgingly, but regardless they did. And Blaise told me that they shouldn't have."

"Those excuses do not erase any of our other crimes or actions, for Merlin's sake, I was the reason that the death eaters managed to break into Hogwarts and kill Dumbledore! Blaise told me that he really had no idea why we weren't trialled, and supposed that Harry or someone must have put in a word for us or something, told me how lucky I was."

"But I knew, not even Harry Potter who had ended the war could manipulate the system like that. And I wondered, for so long, why. Why had we been spared? Who could do something like that?"

Tears were building in Draco's eyes and he let them fall without protest.

"And then I remembered a man, a man I used to look up to, who could do anything because he was so cunning and powerful, a man who despite what I used to believe, loved me and my mother more than I think I could ever understand."

"I didn't know how at first, but I just knew that it was you who had saved us father. Without a trial we were accepted back into society, I was allowed back to school to live a normal life, mother was given the chance to start over, we were given back our freedom because of you."

He stood up tall, composing himself again.

"So don't you dare say that you wanted to go back to Azkaban for us. Don't you dare."

Lucius too was crying now, his face almost like stone but the tears fell down like rain.

"Son." He said with a cracked voice, standing to look into his boy's eyes. "Draco, I have missed you."

Draco wrapped his arms around his father and broke down, Lucius too struggling to maintain control over himself as he held his son. They stayed that way until Draco managed to calm down, pulling away from his father and wiping the tears from his eyes with a smile.

Hermione felt as though she shouldn't be there, that this was a moment she should not be part of, but when Draco turned to her, just like Lucius had, he managed to reassure her that it was okay without saying a word.

The two Malfoy's sat back down, both looking as if a huge weight had been taken off of their shoulders.

"I'm guessing that wasn't exactly what you wanted to talk to me about?" Said Draco with a slight chuckle, Hermione relieved to see him laugh.

"No, it wasn't." Smiled Lucius. "But it was something I have wanted to talk with you about for so long. I felt like I had lost you forever Draco, I felt like I had died and was following you around like some awful spectre, casting a shadow over your life when all I wanted was for you to live in happiness. But I hope that now we can both start moving forward, together."

"Yes, I'm sure we can."

Draco was practically beaming with happiness, Hermione knowing that all Draco wanted, ever since he was a boy, was to be with his father and make him proud, even if in his youth he hadn't quite found the right way to go about it yet.

Then he turned to Hermione. "In fact, one of the people who's helped me to move forward is you Hermione. On that first day back at Hogwarts, no one would even look at me unless it was to glare, no one would talk to me, and I felt so alone that I wasn't sure that I would be able to do it. Then, in that first potions lesson I got paired up with you and my heart dropped, because of all the people I had hurt at Hogwarts, you were the one I had hurt the most, the one who had the most reason to hate me, and I was so scared that my own guilt would overrun me."

He looked down in shame and screwed his eyes up, shaking his head a little.

"But you smiled at me, you were kind and you did not judge me. You were the first person to accept me after the war ended and you have no idea how grateful I am, how much your friendship meant to me, how much it still means to me."

Hermione's heart swelled at his words, reaching out and taking Draco's hands in her own. "And your friendship means just as much to me. You gave me faith that people could change, that the two halves of the Wizarding World could be put back together, you helped me to let go of all the hatred and bitterness I felt after the war, and you were there for me when no one else was."

Draco squeezed her hands back with a smile. "Sometimes I wonder if Severus knew exactly what he was doing pairing us up that day." He laughed.

"I'm sure he did." Said Hermione with fondness. Who knew that the people who had caused her so much pain in her youth could bring her so much happiness today. Funny how people change.

Lucius spoke up again, a new confidence in his voice. "I hope then Draco that you will understand what it is that I have to tell you, what I wanted you to know before anyone else may find out."

Draco nodded encouragingly, folding his arms ready to listen intently.

"When I was locked in this house for all those years I felt stuck in more than one way. I could not move forward, I could not get past what I had done and I could not work out who I was or what I believed. It was not until I was allowed out under the guise of Ezra that I managed to take the first step forward. And that step was meeting Hermione."

Draco did not look as confused as Hermione had feared or anticipated he might, in fact, he looked as though he already knew what his father was talking about.

"She pushed me to realise my true beliefs, to not fear them, she helped me feel so many things that I had not felt in a very long time, she allowed me to feel free."

Lucius turned to her, his silver eyes shining. "And I couldn't stop myself from loving her, so much that the fear of losing her is crippling."

"That is what I wanted to tell you Draco, that I love Hermione, as unexpectedly or confusing as it may be."

"And I wanted to say that I love your father too Draco, more than I can explain."

Hermione was nervous of Draco's reaction, she didn't want him to feel that she had betrayed him as a friend or that she had become close to his father before he had had the chance to reconcile with him, but it turned out her fears were unnecessary.

"I'm insulted." He said with false offence, putting on his best grumpy Draco face, unable to keep a small smile from his lips. "Did you doubt that I had not yet worked this out? Believe it or not buy I possess eyes, and have seen the two of you all over the Ministry and out and about. I would really have to question my own intelligence had I not worked out so quickly how the two of you felt about each other." He smirked. "Not to mention that the portraits in the Manor really do like to gossip."

All Hermione could do was start giggling like an idiot, and Lucius sat there looking decidedly amusing with a mix of pride, disbelief and confusion on his face.

"So you already know?" Lucius questioned, just to make sure.

"Was that not clear?" Laughed Draco, clearly enjoying his fathers rare lacking of the upper hand. "And just in case you were wondering, I am very happy for you both. Of course, I am happy for me too because it means if I can't talk one of you into something, I'll hopefully be able to persuade the other, and I'll probably get to see both of you more often and potentially at the same time which is far more convenient for me."

"Always looking at everything so economically." Hermione joked. "No wonder Gringotts are trying to recruit you!"

"Hey, there's only one grumpy goblin I work for and he's sitting right there Hermione! How could you suggest that in front of him?" Draco mocked.

"Call him a grumpy goblin again and you might need to find another job." Said Lucius sounding just like exactly as he had been described, all of them laughing at his goblin impression.

Managing to compose herself, Hermione remembered the very important task she had planned for today. "Right then, now we've worked all this out, how would you like to join us in a little detective work in Tuscany Draco?"

Hope you enjoyed it and I'll try to reply to any reviews as soon as I get back.

Reckon there are two more chapters left and then this will be done!