"So what is the most attractive thing? I know I'm quite fetching, but tell me, darling, what about me makes these," Draco snaked his hand up her sundress, up her leg, and grabbed ahold of the side of her knickers, "drop?"

"You're abhorrent," she said to him venomously and wiggled her way out of his arms and went towards the medicine cabinet, snagging the fever reducer and giving two drops to Alex before disappearing around the corner and down the hallway. She heard Draco follow behind her as she entered the nursery. Alex fussed at her when she put him in his crib. Her hands dove into the blankets and found his pacifier, popping it into place swiftly. He sucked earnestly while his little arms reached up for her.

"He's quite attached to you, isn't he?" Draco surmised in inquiry, jealousy evident in his tone.

"It's normal according to the parenting books. I'm his everything, and he knows it, accepts it, welcomes it, and demands it."

Draco nodded and looked around the nursery. "You have him sleep here now?"

"Only during the day. At night, he still sleeps next to me in his bassinet or in the bed," she replied and wound up the crescent moon and stars baby mobile, so it would slowly twirl and play a soft, lulling tune. Alex's sleepy, tearful gaze reached out for her, so Hermione stayed beside the crib and rubbed her finger over his face and hair until his muffled sobs seized and his eyelids closed.

"Won't he get hot in his little costume thing?" Draco asked with concern and walked over next to her and bent down to lightly poke at Alex's baby chick fur.

"The material is light and warm as a pair of pajamas," Hermione explained and smiled when Draco's hand skittered over Alex, caressing the baby's hair and face and limbs, resting momentarily on the cute but prominent bulge of his belly that rose and fell with deep slumbering breaths. She watched Draco from the corner of her eye, seeing fascination and adoration at what was beneath his fingers. He must have felt her scrutiny because he tore his gaze away from the baby and stared at her just as penetratingly and vehemently but for an entirely different reason.

Heart beating wildly in her chest, Hermione stepped away from Draco and bolted out of the nursery.

But not too fast.

She ran across the hallway and into her bedroom, just barely breaching the threshold before being scooped up like a newlywed bride and deposited on the bed gracelessly. Falling backwards onto the mattress and staying there, she watched anxiously as Draco loosened his tie and tossed it to the side before making quick work of the buttons on his shirt. Once shirtless, his shoes were kicked off and he lunged for Hermione where she simply rolled to the side and out of range and watched with a laugh as Draco came in contact with mattress.

"Witch, stop teasing," he growled at her.

"No," she responded with a mischievous grin and a shake of her head.

"Yes," he demanded and slapped his hand against the comforter for emphasis.

Hermione made an amused face at his childish behavior. "You can't make me."

But she really wanted him to try.

Expectedly, Draco pounced on her again and she wriggled beneath him to get him away (but not really). She pushed at his shoulders and managed to crawl a short distance away but was quickly attacked again. She brought up her legs in defense which only caused a dark, pleased chuckle to be evoked from Draco. He got up on his knees, her feet pressing into his bare chest and his hands rubbing her exposed patellae.

"You're in a vulnerable position, Miss Granger." He clucked his tongue and one of his hands ran up and down her calve muscle.

"So are you. I could easily push off this bed." She rested her upper body on her elbows and flexed her toes on his pectorals. "Try anything, Mr. Malfoy, and I'll break you."

Draco's fingers brushed back over her knee lightly dug his fingers into the divots and slopes of the bone. Her leg jerked back as she keened in annoyance. Swiftly as to not waste the opportunity, he lunged between the space of her legs and laid his full body weight atop of her.

"Cheater," she called him and cupped his head to comb her fingers through his hair, deliberately flattening the crunchy sounding spikes while he brushed his nose against hers. She whispered to him, afraid for either of them to hear her confession, "I…sort of missed you."

"I couldn't come any sooner," Draco said, his fingertips brushing the skin below her shoulder.

"Why?"

"Work, unfortunately."

"Right." She tossed him a dubious look and sighed in distrust, her sex-drive diminishing instantly.

"And I can't just leave on a whim often, especially if you want to keep this entire debacle a bloody secret. There are those that would notice my continuous absence, Granger. My parents for sure. They raise an eyebrow if I'm late for dinner."

"Forgive me if don't buy into your excuses. You haven't seen Alex since Christmas and wonder why he cries when you hold him. How is he ever supposed to know who you are if you're not around?"

Groaning at her, he lifted himself off of her and fell to the side, disappointed he was not receiving an immediate welcome back shag from her.

"I don't want to talk about this. You'll just get all prissy and wound up and won't want to have sex with me."

"Like you haven't been getting any sort of companionship back in England? Poor you!"

"Are you assuming I've been with other women, Granger?"

Hermione rolled onto her side and propped her head up by the support of her elbow and rolled her eyes. "I'm not upset that you have. You still haven't told me what I am to you."

"I did, too! You're the mother of-"

"Which doesn't mean anything other than that. Doesn't make me your wife or girlfriend. You can see anyone you want. It doesn't matter to me."

"Really?" he drawled like he didn't believe her.

"Yes," she lied. "I can see anyone I want, as well. I mean, yes, I'm a little busy with Alex, but there is a man who student teaches at the university and works in the county library just down the street. He's very nice and…where are you going?"

Draco had gotten off the bed and was picking up his shirt. "It's lovely outside. What say you we have a stroll to the library."

"You're ridiculous, Malfoy. I'm speaking in jest. Don't you dare go storming over there in a jealous rage."

He dropped his shirt back on the floor with a bemused expression in place. "Granger, when you told me you…you know…back at Christmas, was that in jest, too?"

Gaping at him in outrage, Hermione sat up, balled her fists and screeched, "How dare you think I would just say that and not mean it, Malfoy." Sucking in a deep breath, she folded her arms stated calmly, "I meant it."

"Do you still?"

"You make it very difficult for me, but yes, I still do."

"So you don't fancy someone else? Not even the plonker at the library? If he's even real," Draco spat out bitterly.

"Mr. Thane is very nice and is one of the few men in this town who does not scamper in the other direction when seeing me with Alex. Regardless of his kindness and flirtations, I don't see him that way."

Draco nodded and then puffed up his chest and straightened his shoulders with a wince like he was readying himself for a blow. "I suppose this is where I tell you about-"

"You think I want to sit here and listen to you spout on about your conquests. I think not. Besides, like I said you are welcome to do whatever you like."

"But you said…" Draco tried, running an aggravated hand through his mussed hair. "You said that you…"

"You haven't said it back! And I'm still not your girlfriend! Shag anyone you like!"

"Bloody hell, woman! First, you want to do it! Then you want to tease me! You tell me you miss me. I tell you I had to work. You don't believe me and then we fight, and now you don't want to shag me! You're going to kill me one day, Granger; I just know it!"

"You bet your arse I will, Draco Malfoy, if you don't figure out what you want. You are welcome to see who ever you'd like, but it has to go both ways. You cannot become a jealous, possessive beast if I choose to bring someone into my life when you have done the same. Know this; I will not let you back into this bed if we are not an official couple!"

Draco sank to his knees at the foot of the bed like he was praying, his head lowered in agony. "Merlin, she's done it! She's cut me off! Take it back, Granger. You don't mean it."

"You know what you have to do," she said stubbornly. "What will it be?"

"If we decide to be a couple, you'll let me touch you, yes?"

Hermione snorted and refrained from rolling her eyes. Instead, she raked them over Draco's exposed skin with intrigue. "I suppose."

"And you won't bring men home with you? You'll stay faithful?"

Piercing him with a glare, she hotly replied, "If you will. If you don't, it's over. You'll still be welcome to visit Alex anytime, but not me. Is that clear?"

He nodded earnestly and leapt back up on the bed, gracelessly fumbling with his belt buckle in the process. He seemed to be unable to undo flap of leather, and Hermione was losing her patience. She made an exasperated noise and turned over on her side. If the man was going to act like an overexcited teenager, she reckoned she had time for a nap before the grand event.

"I'm getting it; I'm getting it, Granger. Don't roll over just yet. Save that for later."

"How about we just," Hermione stopped her sentence with a yawn, "sleep instead. I don't get enough because of Alex, and he's asleep, and it's perfect timing."

Through sleepy, hooded eyes, she watched as Draco's shoulders slumped in defeat, a heated expression on his face with his pants finally open.

"Should've known you would've done that once you had me in her clutches. All you woman are the same, you know? No shag, no shag, no shag until in a relationship, until marriage, until you bloody well say so. Then when you got us by the bullocks, you don't want to use them for what there for."

Smiling into her pillow, Hermione patted the space next to her with closed eyes. "Come to bed, darling."

Hearing muttered curses and the bed shift, she felt Draco lay next to her and snuggled close to him so her arms were wrapped around his torso and her head rested beneath his clavicle. Fingertips brushed over her forehead, nose, jawline, and lips. Playfully, she snagged a finger and sucked it into her mouth, wrapping her tongue around it. Hearing a groan, she opened one eye to peer at him while he took his finger out of mouth and replaced it with his tongue. Wetly kissing in passion accompanied with Draco's wandering hands, Hermione squirmed and shifted, one leg swinging over his waist and sitting herself into a straddling position atop of him. Their lips pulled apart, and Hermione placed hers on his collar bone and then chest, her swollen and sensitive mouth coming in contact with a raised line of skin. Experimentally, she lapped at the groove before looking to see what it actually was and asked herself how she hadn't noticed before.

"A gift from Potter years ago. Perhaps he told you about it," Draco said with disdain evident in his voice. Hermione brought a finger to the pinkish scar wet from her saliva and traced it. "He did, but it was all over the school about what happened to you. I hadn't noticed the scars before."

"I keep them hidden with a Concealment Charm most days."

"But your clothes cover them. Isn't it redundant to Charm them?" Hermione asked hypocritically, the skin on her forearm suddenly becoming unbearably itchy.

"I don't feel like seeing them most days," Draco said and encircled her wrist that was resting on his chest with his hand and guiding hers to rest on another gnarly reminder of the war. This one slanted over the downward sloped crevice of his ribcage. Wiggling downwards a bit, Hermione took away her hand and bent over to prick her tongue at the bottom of the scar and drag it up on the angle. His ribcage stuttered beneath her, and she heard his breath become shallow and fast. She peered up at him and saw him staring up at the ceiling like he was searching for salvation.

Placing a kiss on some of the scar, she sat up adjacently and pulled at the zipper on the side of her dress and shot her arms up into the air, wiggling her fingers and making an ahem sound to get Draco's attention.

"You may undress me."

Hermione roused awake, sucking in a deep breath and yawning and blinking her eyes open. She was lying on her stomach with her head facing Alex's bassinet with the comforter wrapped around some of her waist and legs. Whispering could be heard from the other side of the bed, so she turned her head and was greeted with the sight of Draco propped up by pillows with Alex, in nothing but a diaper, draped across his chest and a pacifier snug in place. The baby's head rested on his daddy's chest with heavy-lidded eyes and whimpering breaths while said Daddy stroked his bare back soothingly with a fingertips, muttering softly to him.

Hermione licked her lips at the womb-clenching scene in her tired state before coming to a defogged state of mind and rasped, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Hours," Draco said and then pressed a kiss to Alex's head, smiling dopey into the tiny curls.

"I can't believe I didn't hear him wake up. I always hear him."

"You were right when you said you were tired, but he didn't cry long. I fetched him."

"You took his costume off." Hermione sat up and scooted closer to the boys while tugging the comforter around her body to preserve some modesty.

"It was soaked with sweat and piss. I cleaned him up good and right, though. Those Muggle hypoallergenic moisturizing baby wipes are brilliant. I should invent a spell where it can do the same thing."

"You cleaned him up?" Hermione asked in surprise and beamed at Draco happily, scooting closer to him resting her head on his shoulder. "That was so nice and so…uncharacteristic of you."

"Well, I didn't fancy the idea. I admit, Granger, I had thought about running away and waking you up to do it, but…well…he's mine, too, you know?"

"Mmmm…I don't know, Draco," Hermione sighed in faux dubiety and turned her head to look at him. "Alex just doesn't look a whole lot like you. I've been thinking that maybe-"

Draco cut her off with a kiss, and she laughed into his mouth and returned the smooch. He pulled away but not too far. His lips were still teasing hers when he asked, "Are you going to take him to the fair? Is it too late?"

Hermione turned her head and looked at her alarm clock on her bedside table. "If I hurry, but Alex still looks feverish." The pink in his cheeks was still noticeable and contrasted deeply with the pale chest beneath him. "I really don't think it would be a good idea to go."

"But he'd win the contest," Draco reminded smugly and picked the boy up and lifting him up for a few seconds before bringing him back down for a kiss.

"I'd only win diapers, Draco."

"True, but Scorpius would win the title. Don't you want him to have that?"

"Of course I do. Especially since…" Hermione stopped mid-rant and shook her head. "Never mind."

"What?" Draco urged. "Tell me."

"Well...I'm not a terribly liked person among some of the well-to-do ladies in Salem."

"Jealous of you, I'm sure. Bet you make their usually stuffy husbands shift and cross their legs every time you walk by."

"Oh you!" She swatted his arm and glared at his smirking face.

"I'm only pointing out that your arse is divine and those swollen knockers of yours probably make them sweat," he rumbled into her ear before licking the outer shell of it. She shivered at the contact and whipped her head back and forth.

"No. That's not it. Some of the women are fine looking. They don't like me because…because I'm not married. They think me a sinner or something, I suppose."

"Hmmm," Draco noised while nodding gently. "I don't agree with the reasons for those women not liking you, but I believe I haven't much space to defend myself. I, too, did not like you at one point for ridiculous reasons. However, they have point, Granger. It is considered a sin by many when a child is born illegitimately, so what say you that we swing by the fair, win Scorpius his rightful place as the most fetching moppet in town, and then we find ourselves a church." He nudged her arm with his elbow and waggled his eyebrows. "Be back in time for dinner where we can eat our nourishment off of each other, and then make plans for the honeymoon. I'm thinking Rome."

Hermione let out a soft laugh and took Alex from him, loving the feel of his soft baby chub in her hands. Plucking his pacifier from his mouth, she hurriedly situated him at her breast before he would think to cry. He latched on greedily with audible grunts and slurps.

"Still sounds like a pig, I hear," chuckled Draco.

"I think he sounds cute. It means he's hungry," she cooed down at her baby and took his fist and peppered kisses on his tiny fingers while keeping eye contact with him. The parenting books and nursing books had said it was important to keep the baby's focus on her face for as long as possible. "Were you hungry, baby? Did your father not feed you?"

"I can't feed him. I don't have the goods, obviously," Draco objected with a snort, and Hermione reluctantly tore her gaze away from Alex.

"I have told you Alex can take bottles of formula. The powder is in the pantry. I also have frozen breast milk in the freezer which he prefers over the formula."

"I don't know how to prepare all that," Draco sputtered indigently and waved his hands about to emphasize his point and then stilled and threw her a confused look. "Wait…you have breast milk in the freezer?"

"I pump. Don't change the subject. You can wash a baby and change a diaper, but you can't feed one?"

"What do you mean you pump? What is pump? It sounds…"

Taking Draco's hesitancy as a hint for her to teach him something, Hermione explained, "I use a breast pump. It's a Muggle invention and a spectacular one at that. For instance if Alex has a nap and my breasts decide to leak, instead of stuffing my bra full of absorbent pads, I can hook up the pump, fill it, and save the milk for later."

Draco nodded slowly like he was letting the information sink in fully. His mouth then twisted into an unsure grin. "Can I watch you pump?"

Scoffing and rolling her eyes, Hermione said, "It's probably the least sexiest thing you ever seen."

"It can't be that disturbing," Draco said, more to himself than to her.

"I'm not saying it will give you nightmares. You may not look at my breasts the same way again, though."

"And Merlin, we cannot have that." He caressed her shoulder pinned his eyes where his son feasted.

"Pervert," Hermione muttered at him. "When I'm done here, I'm going to show you how make a bottle for Alex, understood?"

"But what about the fair," he whined. "I want Scorpius to win."

"He's ill. He'd be miserable, Draco."

"What if we went for as long as the contest and no more? Hmmm? Just long enough to win."

"I don't know. What if Alex vomits all over the judges?"

Draco nagged her until she relented and slipped back into her sundress and went into the nursery to clean up Alex's costume. When she returned to the bedroom, Draco was dressed in only his trousers and was gliding around on the floor with the baby in his arms. Smiling at the image with light bubbles of adoration in her belly, she playfully asked, "You're quite fond of him, aren't you?"

"Mmm, he's quite likeable, yes." Draco stopped his dancing and lifted Alex up into the air and contorted his features into something silly and brought him back down for sloppy kisses on the cheek. Hermione didn't miss the delighted grin on her son's face and was undoubtedly sure his father was getting lucky again tonight.

A/N: Phew! Goodness and gracious, my we last couple of weeks have been busy. Never let a sister who is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs get married. Nevertheless, I'm happy for her. The guy she married is a good one.

Anyway, thank you to my readers, reviewers, followers, and those who have favorited.

Thank you to: grnfield, Anjali Katari, NazChick, Regin, Vanessa85, Angelus Draco, Woemcat, and Jordana Babe for the reviews. I loved reading them.

To Anjali Katari: I've never heard of the movie, but I would like to know the title so I can check it out. It sounds really good.

Hope the chapter was enjoyable and would love to hear feedback on it. I'm sorry for any mistakes. I'll probably go back when I have a minute and check for any mistakes I missed.

Thank you so much! R&R, please!