A/N: Hello, and I'm just going to say sorry sorry about it being a Thursday update and not Tuesday. Turns out I forgot what Tuesday was, and well March is mine and my mom's birthday month. So, the most I managed to do was feed my children and float through the day. My birthday also happens to be exactly a month before my (deceased) son's birthday and it's just all around not good for me.

Well, now you know my secret, but it's okay because it gives me the chance to warn you just how scatter brained I am these next two months. It's a lot, not going to lie. So, let's see what an update schedule might be until May… well it'll be all over the place. My other two sons' birthdays are also in April… all three boys were born within 4 days of each other and Easter is the Sunday before their birthday week… So, forgive me while I get done what I can. I'm still goaling for a two time a week update. This weekend is busy for me though, so I'm not making promises to how much is getting done.

Yikes, that's a lot of notes. So TL;DR, I'm a mess and March and April suck for me so please excuse my slower than I'd like update schedule.

So, here's the Draco POV chapter. More notes at the end.

Chapter 10: Draco

Sitting in his study, Draco was nursing his whiskey as he recovered from latest session with Hermione. Drumming his fingers on his mahogany desk, his eyes kept flickering back towards the grandfather clock that sat against the wall of his study.

The Pensive sat on his desk with the swirling memories that Hermione had given him well over a month ago, just waiting for his late night visitor to arrive before they viewed them. In the silvery light shining from the basin, he could see the shadows of his past self, mocking him for what he'd done. How foolish and how stupid he had been.

The worst part of it all, Draco didn't even have a memory of the events they were about to watch happening. He'd decided to wait to view the memories that Hermione had given him until he knew that he would have a longer break away from their mind sessions. Seeing as they were skipping their last session in December due to the holidays, Draco had decided that this would be the best time to watch them since it would be almost a full month before his next session with her.

Since dropping Scorpius off at King's Cross, Draco's entire world had been flipped upside down, rearranged, and it was all almost too much for the widowed father. He hadn't felt this lost since Astoria's death six years prior, having worked tirelessly to overcome his dependance on the Fire Whiskey that he'd used as a crutch to get him through the first few months without his wife. Slipping back into the old habits, he now again regularly sought comfort in the liquid, especially on the weekends following a mind session with Hermione.

Since the end of the war, or at least he had believed so, Draco hadn't given Hermione Granger a second thought. She'd merely been another person whose life he was vaguely aware of, knowing that she'd too worked at Gringotts during the same time he had, but he hadn't remembered anything specific about her. At least not until the last fourteen weeks where Hermione had dug into his mind and brought forth the memories of their friendship, working partnership, and relationship.

Re-learning his past with Hermione had come as a shock, something that he hadn't seen coming. Not only had he been madly in love with her, but she'd mothered his eldest children and he'd been made for forget all of it.

The fireplace in his study roared to life, and Draco lifted his head to watch as Dean Thomas stepped through, brushing the soot off his trench coat and knocking the dirt off his boots in the grate. The former Gryffindor finished straitening himself out before looking up with his dark eyes and a grimace on his face, indicating that this meeting was not going to be what Draco was hoping for.

"Malfoy." The tall espresso skinned man said stepping forward and stretching his hand out to shake Draco's.

"Thomas, shall we skip the small talk and jump right into it?" Draco said as Thomas nodded his head, pulling out a file from an inside pocket that didn't look large enough to hold that much paperwork; Extension Charms at their finest.

"Aside from Hermione Granger, I've spoken with every witch or wizard who has a mastery in Charms in all of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and some in Switzerland. Not a single one of them has any records of doing business with you, your father, nor your mother in the last fourteen years for an Obliviation. The records at Gringotts of your partnership with Hermione have been cleared from the books, and the Goblins aren't talking about what led to the both of you resigning from your jobs within hours of each other on twenty-second of September 2003." Draco couldn't stop the curse that slipped under his breath. He had known that this was going to be a long shot, but after three months, he was hopeful for at least something that might be helpful.

Holding up his hand to stop Draco's thoughts from running wild, Thomas smirked and continued. "However, a senior Curse Breaker who was in the class below the two of you overheard me and told me that he recalled the day you both quit and how it caused a massive stir in the department. From what he remembered, the both of you were very happy with your positions and the sudden loss of the two of you was a huge blow to the entire Curse Breaking division. Neither of you came into work to give your notices, just sent separate owls in saying that you were resigning." Thomas concluded flipping his notebook closed, shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

Making a call to a private investigator was one of the first things Draco did after he saw Hermione and their children that day on the platform. From the moment Hermione had told him that she believed he'd been Obliviated, Draco had a suspicion that there was something else at play, because he couldn't imagine not wanting to know his children. So, that's how he had come about contacting Dean Thomas.

The man was the best that money could buy, he was known for digging the most skeletons out of the most warded pure-blood closet that they were wanting to keep hidden. Any law suit or case that included a Thomas Investigation report made the society papers quiver with excitement, not knowing what new gossip was about to come out about some prominent family.

"Any new memories with clues I could use from today?" Thomas asked looking as he shuffled over towards one of the wingback chairs sitting near the fire place.

Grabbing the bottle of Fire Whiskey, Draco poured himself another generous helping before looking over at the PI with an eyebrow raised. "Our first solo mission as Curse Breakers. She saved my arse with her quick thinking and now I know how I really ended up with the burn scar that's on my thigh. If it hadn't been for her, I would have lost my damn leg." Taking a long drink Draco closed his eyes remembering waking up from their memory session and looking at Hermione's tear stricken face from the memory and now realizing just how close of a call it really had been.

"I'd down played just how much it hurt, and she felt it. The acid went all the way down to the bone, I had told her that I couldn't feel it because the nerves were scorched, but that was a lie. I had Occluded until I was just a shell, like I had when my aunt was training me to be a Death Eater. She felt it all, and fuck it all she could hardly look at me, again." Draco dropped his face in his hand rubbing his eyes. It had been a close call, and until earlier today Hermione hadn't know exactly how close it truly had been.

Nodding his head sollumly, Thomas waved his wand and summoned a crystal tumbler and the bottle of Fire Whiskey for himself. Taking a slow drink, he leaned back in his chair before letting out a sigh and meeting Draco's eye.

"Malfoy, we've got to pull in Zabini and Nott. I know you didn't want them to know what happened in case there was a chance they were somehow involved, but we're getting nowhere with this. You said yourself that they were shocked to see your son at the Quidditch game and how much he looked like you. They clearly didn't know Hermione had given birth to your children, and at this point in the investigation, I highly doubt they knew you'd been Obliviated."

It was true, Draco hadn't wanted to let his two friends know what was going on in his life on the off chance that they were somehow mixed up with whatever had happened to Draco. Without his memories though, Draco didn't know who he could or couldn't confide in. That's why, when he'd shown up for the Quidditch match back at the end of October, both his best mates had been surprised to see him at Hogwarts. That surprise quickly turned to disbelief once Milo had flown out onto the pitch with 'Granger' across his back.

Theo had stammered looking between Milo, Draco, and Hermione before he just whispered 'bloody hell.' Blaise took one look at Milo and started laughing and clapped Draco on the shoulder and said something along the line of 'well, looks like we know what she took with her when she left your arse.'

Their reactions had proven that both of his friends were well aware of his relationship with Hermione, but the real question was, why had neither of them ever spoken about it to him before that day. Or was that just another part of the Obliviation, had them come to him after they'd broken up and it was erased along with everything else?

So many questions, yet so few answers.

"They're coming over tonight, I'll discuss with them what they remember in regards to any relationship I had with Granger. If they see you though and they are somehow involved or know who is involved, then they'll know that I'm looking into this. I don't want to bring anyone else into the fold until we have a better idea of what we're dealing with. Now, do you want to see this memory Hermione gave me or not?" Draco snapped at the man next to him.

"After you." Thomas said motioning towards the pensive when Draco stood. Together they dipped their heads in and were pulled to the familiar layout of Draco's old flat where he had lived up until he married Astoria. Past Hermione was standing next to them, clutching a piece of parchment when she called out his name.

Suddenly, she was being thrown from the front entrance and out the door before anyone else appeared in front of them. Draco watched as the witch he'd just begun remembering he loved so deeply standing at the open doorway screaming his name while tears streaked down her face.

"Know where we are?" Thomas asked as he watched Hermione with wide eyes as she continued to scream his name, standing right outside the doorway.

"My old place, only that's not my stuff." Draco said indicating towards a table and vase that he didn't recognize.

"Draco, please, what was that letter. I'm so confused and I don't know what's going on." Hermione cried out, making him and Thomas turn and to Draco's horror he saw himself stalking down the entrance hall towards the witch begging him to speak to her on the outside of wards he must have set.

When he heard he accusing him of being an impersonator, Draco could tell that something was off with him as well. Even though he didn't remember his relationship with Hermione, he'd never fallen back into his school boy ways of using the word 'mudblood' or looking so damn hateful. Not since before the Dark Lord had taken up his family's home as his own personal base.

The past Hermione began questioning past Draco and the answer he gave must have been the truth, because Hermione's face dropped as she looked upon him completely heart broken.

"Do you remember Siberia?" Thomas asked pulling out his notebook as he continued watching the horrific show in front of them.

"I remember being on an assignment there, but nothing really standing out as very significant. I don't remember Hermione being there at all though, instead it's a string of different nameless faces that I was working with, but apparently it was all actually Hermione." Draco replied as Thomas nodded his head and made another note.

His past self had stepped through the wards and was standing in front of Hermione letting her press her wand into his chest. She was begging him in such a low whisper that he almost didn't hear her asking if he was Cursed.

After Hermione unsuccessfully tried to release him from an Imperious Curse, Draco's stomach dropped as he heard himself say, "it's over, mudblood. I got what I wanted, and it's time to take out the rubbish so I can take up my mantel without being drug down by the likes of you." His past self, crossed back into the flat, Draco turned back to watch Hermione's face fall as the tears fell freely down her face as she called out his name again. It seemed that Hermione wasn't backing down without a fight, and it made him sick to know the outcome of this interaction. She would lose this fight, and she would go on to give birth to his children alone while Draco moved on with his life and entered an arranged marriage with Astoria.

When his past self roared at her, calling her filth, Draco couldn't stop the wince as he watched Hermione stumble backwards and fall into the wall. Thomas whispered 'damn', but didn't otherwise respond to what they were watching. Both men were in complete silence and shock at the events playing out in front of them, the entire interaction was sickening to watch.

"What don't you understand, mudblood? I tricked the dark lord to survive that bloody war, you don't think my acting skills could fool you as well? Everything, since eighth year, has been an act. I knew I needed to resort the public imagine of the Malfoy name before I could live up to my responsibilities. Being in a relationship with the Golden Girl of the Golden Trio was just the extra boost I needed.

"After you openly shamed the Weasel by turning down his so very public proposal, it won't be hard to cast myself as the next line of men who's heart you've stomped on to boost yourself in your career.

"You make it so easy, little mudblood. You disgraced the Weasley family, disgracing the Malfoy family now. Tsk, tsk. When my engagement to Astoria Greengrass becomes public knowledge, no one will bat an eye. They'll look at me as if I'm just trying to move on with my life and pick of the pieces after you broke my heart." Past Draco drawled, mocking her as he clutched his chest above his heart.

"Can you pause this?" Thomas asked as he wrote down more notes. Draco held his hand up to stop the memory and looked over at the PI who was looking at past Draco with disgust. "Something's not right. This little speech, you said that memory from when you were Christmas shopping eighth year you could feel yourself falling in love with her, correct?" Thomas asked looking between past Draco and past Hermione.

"That's right, she was infuriating and she cursed Finnigan after the two of you knocked me into the snow." Draco said remembering that first memory that Hermione had recovered.

"Right, sorry about that," Thomas said rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, what you're saying in this memory isn't true then. You've recovered enough memories that you would know if you had been faking a friendship and relationship with Hermione, and that hasn't been the case."

"Right, the only thing that's happened is I'm remembering how much I bloody loved her and how I didn't want to be without her." Draco said looking over at past Draco with disgust.

"Well, let's finish this. Wait, do we know what day this is?" Thomas said looking around for any indication of the date.

"No, but I have a feeling I know what day it might be." Draco said as he felt nauseous, remembering that he'd gotten engaged to Astoria mid-September.

Another wave of his hand and the memory resumed, just as horrific as Draco thought it would be. Hermione was in shock and not believing him that he was engaged to Astoria and then he conjured the bloody contract to wave it in her face. When he pulled out six months of correspondence from his old father-in-law, Draco felt his stomach twist.

"Do you still have those?" Thomas whispered eyeing the letters as Hermione confirmed that they were not forged.

"They would be filed away with the contract as proof of the negotiations. My solicitor would have all that." Draco whispered as his heart stopped hearing the venom spewing from his past mouth.

"Don't you get it, mudblood? No one wants you. The Weasleys didn't want you. Your friends didn't want you. Not even your revolting muggle parents don't even want you." Draco wanted to strangle himself as he heard a sob come up Hermione's throat.

"No, Draco. I don't believe you. This isn't you, there's something wrong with you. Please! Please, tell me what happened! You wouldn't do this to me! You, you wouldn't abandon our baby! That's not the man you are!" Draco turned his head and watched as Hermione clutched her hands over her abdomen, she hadn't been lying, but deep down he knew she'd told him she was pregnant with the twins. He'd known about their children, and he had sent her away like she was a common whore.

"A disgraced half-blood, with a repulsive mudblood mother, the Malfoy heir? Do us a both a favor, and rid the world of that abomination." Draco's mouth dropped at the words he heard himself spew at her before looking over at past Hermione. She pulled herself off the floor with more grace and dignity than he would have thought she could possess in that moment and without saying another word to him, ran from the spot.

When he and Thomas didn't move to follow her, they were thrown from the Pensive and back into his study in front of his desk. Draco looked down at the stone basin in front of him with horror. He now understood why Hermione had reacted so strongly when they'd begun his memory retrieval. Why every memory they had uncovered and made his past feelings for her grow stronger made her pain come even further to the surface.

"I don't think what we saw there is the whole story." Thomas said interrupting Draco's thoughts, making him meet his eye before he continued. "You being obliviated after the fact makes me suspect that there are parties who were wanting you to end things with Hermione." Thomas stalled in his thoughts as he walked over and refilled their both their tumblers.

They were silent, as both men stood thinking over what they had just witnessed and heard from that memory. When they had finished off another drink and both refilled, Thomas finally spoke again. "I'd like copies of those letters from the Greengrass father and the marriage contract. From what we know about what you've found of your feelings towards Hermione, I just can't see you ending things that way." Thomas finished by tipping the rest of his Fire Whiskey down his throat.

"Hermione said that I could have hired someone to Obliviate me myself and that it wasn't just done to me. What if that's what happened? How could I have treated her so horribly and now she's letting me have a relationship with her and our children again, after all these years." Draco murmured with his fingers threaded in his hair, hanging his head. He didn't deserve her forgiveness. He deserved to be Hexed and she hadn't even done that.

"Look, Malfoy," Thomas said with a sigh, setting his empty glass on a coaster. "You're paying me to do a job to figure out what happened and why you were Obliviated. I'm telling you, from what you've remembered and from what we saw in that memory, there's something else that's going on." Thomas finished standing and putting a comforting hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Let me do my job, because at the end of all this will be answers that both you and Hermione deserve to have. Maybe you did have someone Obliviate you, maybe something changed in you six months before the two of you broke up, maybe not. Regardless, I'll find the answers. I have a few German Charms Masters that I'm meeting with next week before the Holidays. Talk with Nott and Zabini, let me know what they have to say about you and Hermione, owl me anything you find out." With that, Thomas stepped back into the fireplace and threw down a handful of Floo Powder disappearing.

Draco stood up and walked over to the window that overlooked his mother's garden sipping on his drink. How had his life gotten so screwed up? Four months ago, all he was worried about was his father's upcoming release from Azkaban and his mother coming home from France for the New Year's Eve party she had decided to host this year.

Scorpius was doing as well as could be expected from an eleven-year-old who had lost his mother. Even though Astoria's parents were estranged from them since her death, he still had a great relationship with his aunt. Daphne had kept close to them and always put forth an effort to spend time with her nephew and keeping him in her life.

Ever since the first of September, when he'd found out that he had not one, but two children who were already teenagers from a relationship that he didn't even remember with a woman he had no memories of loving, his life had been a mess. Now he was reliving falling in love with her, and he couldn't help but recognize that his feelings for Hermione made what he'd had with Astoria pale in comparison. It wasn't fair to his deceased wife, because they had grown to love and respect each other before she died, but it turned out that he'd been passionately in love with Hermione from the time he was eighteen up until at least Valentine's Day 2003.

Taking another sip from his tumbler, Draco's thoughts were interrupted by the roar of the floo. Turning, he saw Theodore Nott stepping from the fireplace with a questioning look at the Pensive still sitting on his desk.

"Taking a walk down memory lane, Drake?" His old friend asked.

"Something like that," Draco said waving his wand and putting the Pensive in a cabinet behind his desk. "Let's wait for Blaise and then we can talk about it."

A/N: SO, this was going to be one chapter and then it turned into being WAY too much for one chapter and it was messy. I was not a fan of how it felt trying to get everything with Dean and then Theo and Blaise in just one chapter. No thanks, I'll split it into two chapters.

So, next chapter will be another Draco POV. You're welcome. After that, the kids will be on their Christmas holiday and let's just say… You're really going to enjoy the next two chapters. I love Theo and Blaise, love writing them. Love reading about them.

Alright, so fun personal story, have I said anything about how I met my husband? Poor man. So shy, really truly. I decide that I'm going to introduce myself and that he's going to take me out. We were working together and he didn't realize that I worked at the store, so when I walked up to him, he treated me like I was a customer and I looked at him like he was nuts and walked away without saying anything to him. The next time we talked to each other involved me yelling at the poor man and scolding him for not responding to my message that I sent him on Facebook.

I didn't think it was going to be a serious relationship, and since I already had a daughter, I didn't tell him about her. Instead, I told him that I had a roommate (one being my daughter). He found out she was actually my child when he came over after we went on a date. When he asked me if I had a child (she looks exactly like me aside from her having brown eyes and my eyes are green), I said well yeah I told you about her. He said, you told me you had a roommate. I said, well she is. Just, I gave birth to her and have to pay for all her shit.

He adopted her in January 2016 when she was 6.

Alright, next update will be next week. Love you all.