Chapter Four

Hermione

When Hermione Granger was twelve she couldn't imagine a world where Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley weren't a huge part of her life.

When she was fifteen she couldn't imagine a world where there was more between her and Draco Malfoy than a good punch to the jaw and blood supremacist insults.

When she was sixteen she could not imagine her family home without her parents.

When she was seventeen she could not imagine a world where Ginny Weasley wasn't a friend so close that they might as well have been sisters.

Then the war happened and everything changed. When the dust settled, the aftermath was everything she couldn't have ever imagined coming to be.

After a stressful few weeks at The Burrow, she retreated from the grieving family and went to the only place she had left. Hogwarts. She found herself alone and friendless at the summer restoration work at the school she loved, ahead of an eighth year that she desperately hoped would fill a void.

She didn't want to go straight into the Ministry, just to be given a job she didn't earn. That decision put even more strain on her relationship with her friends. But she was broken, and she couldn't bend for them anymore.

Making repairs at Hogwarts was rewarding, and in a strange way it was a sanctuary from the cruel world waiting for her.

The summer created strange friendships, especially in the case of a certain Slytherin, Theodore Nott. She'd heard about him donating properties to become orphanages for young witches and wizards who had lost their families in the war, and it had slightly shocked her at first until she realised she knew nothing of the young Lord Nott. Parvati told her about the size of the endowment that he had written to fund it, and Hermione decided that she wanted to know the Head Boy better. He was an enigma.

Hermione found herself transfixed with the mystery of the Death Eater's son, who was apparently a philanthropist. She watched him labour with his hands, and never complained even when the days were long and the work difficult. When McGonagall named Theodore Nott Head Boy, Hermione wasn't surprised. In fact, even Neville had agreed that Theodore deserved it above himself.

With her as Head Girl and Theo (apparently he loathed being called Theodore) as Head Boy, they moved in together and a whole new obsession began for Hermione. She often found herself sucking on sugar quills and staring at his hands in their common room, swearing to herself it was only because of all the bloody golden rings he wore. He once came back from a weekend in Muggle London with two golden earrings and a chest tattoo of the night sky and a crescent moon. And Hermione thought she couldn't find Theo more attractive.

Then Draco arrived, worn and thin. His months in Azkaban hadn't been good for him, and the way Theo clutched Draco to him made Hermione's heart clench at the sight of the Slytherins reunited.

Of course,Theodore Nott was gay, he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

The revelation, however, didn't change how Hermione viewed him. Not in the slightest.

More grey than porcelain, Draco looked incredibly unwell and unkempt. It was far worse than she ever could have imagined as Kingsley had sworn any prisoners would be treated humanely. She helped Theo lead him to the couch and as Draco curled into Theo's chest, his body trembling, as if still in shock and awaiting the abuse he'd been receiving all these months.

Hermione carefully cast detangling charms and brushed his white blonde hair until it shined. She looked up and met Theo's eyes and saw tears there.

"Thank you, Hermione," Theo's voice hardly above a whisper.

"Of course." Hermione smiled, "We are friends, aren't we?" Theo nodded.

"Well, friends help each other," Hermione unconsciously ran a hand over Draco's sleeping back, a gesture that wasn't lost on Theo. "Let me help you and Malfoy."

Tears running down his face, seemingly unable to make words, Theo nodded.

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"They are nothing but filthy Death Eaters," Ginny screeched at Hermione in the Head Dorm, looking towards Theo's closed door as if they would run out at any moment, wands raised and ready to attack her. The witches had a date to have tea and catch up, though it hadn't gone at all well because Hermione was "misbehaving" according to Ginny and Molly.

"Hush! They'll hear you!"

"That's the whole point, Mione, they should hear me, they should be ashamed to be here! That Nott boy is now Head Boy instead of someone decent and kind like Neville. It's a bloody travesty, giving a Death Eater the title over a war hero!"

"Ginny," Hermione hissed, "you may not care, but I live here with them so if you can't be civil then I need you to go."

Ginny huffed and grabbed her bag. "Fine! You won't see me darken this room again. I can't believe you Hermione. I thought you were loyal." Her red hair whipped over her shoulder as she stormed from the space.

Ginny slammed the door on her way out and Hermione's face fell into her hands.

I thought you all were loyal too. Guess we were all wrong.

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Abandoned by every close friend she'd ever had, Hermione insinuated herself into the lives of the two men that she now found herself living with. At first, she cooked for Malfoy, but soon he took over and they discovered he was better at it. Later she found out he'd been reading her recipe books and started cooking for her, having a natural talent for it. She was never hungry these days, but she couldn't be impolite and refuse his cooking when he was just thanking her for what she had done for him in the first place. And he was a shockingly good cook, especially for someone who had had house elves to do all his cooking for him growing up.

"Potions and recipes are basically the same thing, Granger," Malfoy smiled with a raised eyebrow, stirring a pot of something that smelled amazing, as she sat on one of the stools in the kitchenette and watched his long fingered hands work their culinary magic.

Once Malfoy had taken over all the cooking, she helped in every other way she could think of, because she was used to taking care of two boys and their abandonment had left a hole in her heart. She needed to be needed. She was aware it was probably unhealthy, but it was what it was.

It was in the quiet moments that she struggled, when Theo and Malfoy didn't need her. She'd find herself staring into the fire, drinking heavily and never quite making it her own room. More than once she didn't even have a hangover or sober up potion, and ended up in the bathroom sick as a Muggle drunk. One night she blearily realised that Malfoy was holding her hair back and rubbing her back as she was sick. Once she'd finally stopped, he'd poured potions down her throat and carried her to bed.

She thought she imagined his soft lips on her forehead as he tucked her in.

The next morning when she woke up, Draco Malfoy was sitting next to her.

Blinking awake, Hermione said his first name for the very first time, "Draco?"

The blond startled awake. "Fuck, Granger, you're alright. I was so bloody worried."

She tried to laugh his concern off, but the sound made her wince. Malfoy leaned forward and pushed her hair back from her face.

"It hurts?" When she nodded, he continued, "Granger, I just needed to apologise to you. For every cruel word, for standing by when my aunt tortured you, you have been so kind this year and I don't deserve it at all, but I am just so damn sorry."

"Draco," she said his name again and it still felt strange on her tongue, "I already forgave you." She gripped his arm where his dark mark hid beneath his shirt. "I think you and I might understand each other more than anyone else who fought in this war. We both came out of it marked."

Draco looked as though he was going to cry but Hermione leaned forward and hugged him briefly before throwing herself back on the pillows, "Do you have a hangover potion though? I feel like death."

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Somehow the Great Hall had become Hermione's nemesis. She would begin to shake like a leaf if she even came close to the doors. Images of blood and the dead from the Battle of Hogwarts would swim in front of her vision.

Of all people, only Theo and Malfoy noticed. Theo surprised her by meeting with McGonagall explaining the situation and getting permission for the three of them to have meals in the Heads suite. McGonagall admitted to feeling guilty that the School Governors had blocked her plan to have a mind healer on staff after the war when she spoke with Hermione later about the change.

Hermione was the caretaker in her relationship with Harry and Ron, it felt so strange to have Theo and Malfoy taking care of her at every opportunity. When they discovered they had missed her birthday, the following day was declared her "unbirthday" by Theo who adored Alice in Wonderland after borrowing it for Hermione. She woke up to a new package of sugar quills and beautiful flowers and a breakfast of all of her favourite things. They both admitted that they had to reign in their inclination to buy her far more extravagant gifts. She did find a card with a 100 galleon voucher for Flourish and Blotts in her flowers when she took them into her room. She considered giving it back, but decided why should she? They were her friends and so what if her friends had a disturbing amount of money. Also, she really did need some new books.

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After All Hallow's Eve, the owls and floo calls from Ron began. They were all the same. I love you. I miss you. Let's make this work between us.

He didn't think he'd done anything wrong. His radio silence had been deafening after she'd returned to Hogwarts, plus she had no desire to be romantically involved with Ron. When he wasn't insulting her, he was making her insane. He wanted her as a trophy wife, a stay at home mum and general broodmare. He would tolerate her interest in reading, but not her desire to work. He'd made that painfully clear in letter after letter.

He wanted to take care of her, she should never have to work another day in her life.

When Hermione tried to explain that that wasn't what she wanted in a relationship, Ron wouldn't hear her.

She wished, not for the first time, that Fred hadn't died in the final battle. Maybe they could have really made the two of them work without the war. They'd dated three times in secret at Hogwarts, fourth, fifth and sixth year, only for a couple months each time. Although that didn't stop them from falling into bed together when they were on the outs. His death had been the hardest for her to bear. The image of his body was the one that drove her from the Great Hall. And it was the memory of his face, his freckles, his large hands that made Ronald Weasley simply an impossibility for her romantically. He was a pathetic shadow of his older brother.

Unfortunately Ron wouldn't take no for an answer as the letters and messages continued.

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Draco was in the process of making tea for all of them, and Hermione was trying to get around him to get at some of the muffins he had baked earlier in the day. They were pumpkin cranberry and positively delicious. There were only two left and Hermione was going to eat them. She was a woman on a mission. The fact that she had just smoked a spliff with Theo may have played into the urgency in which she was attempting to get around Draco to the tasty treats.

"For Salazar's sake, Granger," Draco turned around and growled, "I will hand you the bloody muffins, stop trying to knock me over to get to them." Hermione was not dissuaded and continued to reach past him, her arms running along his sides, her hand ran over his hip. She felt it as goosebumps rose over his arms and she looked up into his face, biting her lip, worrying that she had gone too far for their tentative friendship.

Draco's face froze for a moment, before he whispered, "Fuck it," and claimed her lips with his. His arms gripped her arms for a moment before wrapping his large hands around her waist. He lifted her and spun her, putting her on the kitchenette counter. She was at the perfect height to wrap her legs around his waist.

His fingers laced into her hair, and he stroked her face with such reverence as he plundered her mouth with his tongue. Hermione felt like she was on fire, she hadn't had sex in far too long. Her body was desperate, she felt herself dampening her knickers, her nipples hardening as she

arched into his touch.

Draco stopped kissing her for a minute and looked down at her, one of his fingers running over the lace edging of her knickers.

"Please," he whispered, "Please let me touch you, Hermione."

"Don't you dare stop, Draco Malfoy," Hermione responded, taking his fingers in hers and sliding them under the lace to the wetness beneath.

"Fuck," he moaned sliding two fingers inside of her. Hermione saw stars, those hands that she'd been fantasising about for months were now deep inside her, touching those places that it had been years since they'd been caressed by a man and not her own searching fingers.

Draco ripped off her knickers and thrust into her wet core. He pounded into her until she thought she might shatter from the force, he was thick and hard and she needed this release, needed him. He reached between them and circled her clit with just the right pressure, while his other hand pinching lightly at her nipple. As she came and her vision blurred, she saw Theo smirking at her from behind Draco's shoulder. Oh thank Merlin, he isn't angry with us, was her last thought before everything faded to black.

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It had been seven days since that amazing interlude in the kitchenette had ended Hermione's dry spell, but since then she had been in a state of rotating between guilt, desire and desperation. She was so tense that she couldn't sleep again. She'd heard moans earlier and had touched and stroked herself. She had cum, but it was a pale ghost compared to what Draco had made her feel.

Since then he had barely looked at her, it was making her lose her mind. Finally crawling out of bed and wrapping herself in her black robe, she opened her door quietly and emerged into the darked Head common room. The fire had long since been reduced to coals. Her hand was on the knob into the room where she knew Theo and Draco were asleep together and she told herself it was now or never.

The door opened. It was unlocked.

Draco was laying on his side on the bit of bed farther away from the door, the blankets low on his hip. Theo was flat on his back. Scars she had never seen before shone white across his chest in the pale moonlight. She ran her hands over his sleeping flesh. He was naked like Draco was. The air smelled like sex already.

She hoped she hadn't misread all Theo's hot looks, smirks and innuendos this last week. Otherwise this was going to prove to be horribly embarrassing.

She stroked his thighs coming upward and was rewarded with his cock twitching. Theo was even bigger than Draco. Hermione let her fingertips run all over him, coming close but not touching his cock. He moaned low in his sleep and Draco didn't stir. He was hard and ready for her, so Hermione climbed up onto the bed, straddling Theo's waist. She took his length into her hand and ran his head back and forth against the wet centre of her. Remarkably he thickened even more and Hermione wondered if she would even be able to take him to the hilt.

Raising herself up, Hermione rubbed him against her entrance and moaned herself. She ran his head over her clit in slow circles. Then she couldn't take the anticipation any more and guided him inside her and pushed herself down his thick length in slow degrees. She had to stop and lean forward bracing herself on Theo's scarred muscular chest. She felt so full.

His eyes flickered open and his hands flew to her hips. "Well," he drawled, "Good evening Hermione, um, this is a pleasant surprise." He surged his hips upward and filled her. Hermione arched her back and let out a low moan that she thought would have awakened Draco, but the blond still didn't move.

Theo held her in place, filling her again and again, reaching between them and stroking her clit until she came on him, and then he didn't stop. He gripped her hips, teased her breasts, pulled her down for kisses and kept fucking her at a torturous pace.

"I just came, little lioness, before I went to sleep, so I can keep at this a long time for you." Theo whispered huskily.

After four orgasms, Hermione was dripping sweat and her wetness was assuredly drenching the sheets beneath them. Theo had begun to snap his hips harder and faster and Hermione thought he might be finally about to finish. Her body felt as though she was going to melt, she didn't know where Theo stopped and she started anymore.

Falling forward onto Theo's chest as he grunted and thrust, Hermione saw Draco had woken up and was stroking himself as he watched them. Draco was biting his lip as he began to spill into his hand and Hermione felt Theo fill her with an animalistic moan. Theo rolled her over between him and Draco and cast a wandless Scourgify over the three of them. He Accio'd his wand and cast a contraceptive charm over Hermione's abdomen. The warmth of the charm was the last thing she remembered before the warmth of the two men surrounding her allowed her to drift off to sleep.

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Just before winter holidays, Hermione received an invite to Burrow, but after going back and forth she chose not to go because of the six owls the week before from Ron - each one was more desperate than the last. And her parents were still missing in Australia and no one from their Ministry could find them, she didn't want to deal with Molly's patronising comfort, Ginny's snide comments about Draco and Theo and Ron's bloody obsession with her.

Instead Hermione spent the holiday break on her knees. Narcissa sent Theo a ridiculous fur rug that Theo assured her was an antique he'd been coveting for years. She wasn't sure what type of bear it was, only it was huge. It might even have been an extinct magical creature. Hermione tried not to think about it, because it was soft on her knees as Theo sunk himself deep inside of her and Draco wrapped her long curls through his fingers as he fucked her throat causing tears to run down her cheeks. Theo's fingers on her hips and Draco's on her face and in her hair were the only things keeping her aloft, as soon as they let go she was going to melt into a puddle right here on this priceless rug.

The boys didn't allow that though, Theo shuddered within her and then Draco pulled her up to kiss her, and then slid himself inside her dripping body.

"Sweet Circe Hermione you feel so good, your pussy all swollen and dripping. Such a good girl."

Hermione couldn't help but tremble at the heat that the words created inside of her. She was undone as Draco kissed her, his tongue pillaging her mouth. Theo came up behind her and kissed the nape of her neck slowly but with intention to leave marks on her olive skin. The man loved to mark his territory. They were holding her between them. Hermione was impaled on Draco's shaft and Theo played with her breasts from behind. Her head fell back and Theo used the opportunity to nip her bottom lip and capture her lips with his.

Hermione thought she might die from pleasure.

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Valentines Day 1999

Hermione was not thrilled chaperoning third and fourth years in Hogsmeade on Valentines Day. She'd already caught six couples snogging in public view and hissed at them to either stop it or be more discreet. She knew then that Draco and Theo had changed her. She couldn't imagine the Hermione from before the war urging young people to not get caught so she wouldn't be bothered. Maybe that stupid hat had been right and she should have gone to Slytherin in the first place. How different would her life have been then?

It was impossible to imagine. She had to deal with the here and now. And the here and now involved Eloise Midgen with her tongue down a fifth year Hufflepuff's throat.

"Will the two of you please take it somewhere more private than a public street!" Hermione cried with her hands on her hips. Theo was desperately attempting to choke down his laughter behind her and failing miserably. When the offenders had trotted off at a pace to get away from the annoyed Head Girl, Hermione swung around and glared, "And you! What's so funny?"

Theo walked past her and whispered in her ear as he moved, "You are so uptight, you'd think all the times you came last night would have loosened you up a little."

Hermione turned bright red, but didn't say a word. She didn't think there was anything that she could say that wouldn't put their business out in the open for all of Hogsmeade and by extension all of the Wizarding World to know.

"Mione! There you are, I need to speak with you. Privately." Ron said, glaring at Theo. Hermione was so sick of his desperate bid to have her, she wondered how much he would glare if he knew that Theo and Draco were who she had chosen. He'd probably do something worse than glare.

"Ron, I really can't. I'm supervising the younger students with Theo." Hermione wished that Ron would just get the hint already that she wasn't interested. Why was he here in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day! She hadn't given him any sense that she would be available to spend time with him.

"Theo, is it?" Ron snarled, "I'm surprised at McGonagall giving such a high honour to a Death Eater."

"Ron, stop, Theo's my friend, just like you are. My friend." She emphasised in annoyance, her arms crossed, her foot tapping in annoyance. They were in public for Merlin's sake, what was wrong with him? Did he want to be on the front page of the daily prophet tomorrow?

"But I made reservations for us at Madam Puddifoot's! Ginny said you didn't have a date for Valentine's Day and I thought you and I…"

"Ron, you and I are only friends!" Hermione yelled, forgetting that this was public. "I don't know how to get that through your head!"

"I don't want to be your bloody friend!" Ron screamed at her drawing the attention of the crowded street. "Come on Hermione, you know no one else is going to want a swot like you for a wife! Why can't you just accept the inevitable."

"Well, if we aren't friends then we can't be anything more. And if no one wants me for a wife because I am too smart then that's fine by me," Hermione summoned her inner Draco Malfoy and sneered down at him, wishing that she was brave enough to just yell out that she had two men that wanted her and they were both richer and more handsome than he could ever hope to be. She turned toward Theo, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away from the altercation. She needed to get away. She had to get away. Theo was like a stone and wouldn't move. Dear Godric, he wasn't planning to duel Ron was he?

"What's so bloody funny, Nott? Kill some kittens today?" Maybe she wanted to duel Ron, what a worthless piece of troll dung he was! How fucking dare he, Theo was twice the man Ron would ever be.

Theo rolled his eyes. "Weasley, take a bloody hint. She's not interested. What's it been? 5 owls, 3 floo calls and now an in-person visit? Go find some of those war hero groupies and leave Granger alone." Theo was obviously occluding to keep his expression blank, but Hermione watched his fist clench and unclench and she could tell that his other hand was itching to reach for his wand. Hermione wished she was better at legilimency so that she could yell at Theo silently. She just wanted to get away from all the people who were still staring at two thirds of the Golden Trio having a public falling out.

"What's it to you Nott? You shagging her?" Ron's face went redder than his hair and Hermione had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at him that it was none of his business who she was shagging.

"Hardly." Hermione felt her blood cool in her veins at Theo's cold dismissal of the possibility of the two of them sleeping together. Was he just being discreet or was he ashamed of her?

"Not gonna soil yourself with a Mudblood," Ron snorted. "I'm sure the filthy little slag has already thrown herself at you." Hermione stiffened next to Theo, her jaw clenched as the onlookers gasped in shock. She could not believe he had just called her both a Mudblood and a slag. And he assuredly still thought she would be lucky to have him.

Hermione had to fight down the urge to Avada him in the street, they had been friends once.

"We aren't friends Weasley, so kindly fuck off," Theo snarled.

Theo pulled Hermione into the alley behind the Hogs Head and she burst into tears. Theo let her cry into his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close. Hermione could hear his anger still reflected in the harsh beat of his heart against her.

And when she finally spoke, her words surprised her.

She whispered, brokenly, "You said you weren't shagging me."

Theo bracketed her cheeks with his hands. "My love, if I was going to announce our relationship to the world I would do it my way. Not because the Weasel was trying to goad me and then use the declaration as an excuse to call you a Death Eater whore."

"And it's not because I'm a filthy mudblood," she whimpered as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Never call yourself that again," Theo growled, his sapphire eyes glittering dangerously. He inched up her dress with one hand, the other on her throat as he tore her knickers from her body and then lowered his trousers just enough to free his cock and slam it into her.

The wall behind her bit into her skin, as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her nails bit into his shoulders, and he growled as he nipped into her shoulders. His teeth on her skin made Hermione clench around him, the pain adding a hint to her pleasure that drove her over the edge as she kissed him roughly. Theo bit her lip and drove himself inside her. His roughness was the balm that she needed to keep herself from crying more. He made her feel things that she had never felt before. He was the one that could turn her tears and tragedy into pleasure. Draco made her feel loved and protected, but she knew Theo would light the world on fire for her while Draco held her in a firm embrace.

She came again when he stroked her clit between them as he pounded into her, moments from coming himself as his hips pounded into her with urgency. He moaned as did she when he filled her. His cock unloaded inside of her as her body shook around him.

He kissed her slowly and deeply. Hermione looked into his sapphire eyes as he stared into hers.

"Hermione, I need you to never doubt me. I love you. I love you as much as I love Draco and only death could take me from you," Theo whispered with love and adoration making his voice raspy as his soft cock slid from her body.

"I'll never doubt you Theo," Hermione whispered back, "I know. I know. I know." She kissed him again and again, on the lips, the tip of his nose, on his cheeks, his forehead.

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Hermione knew that her eyes had to be red from crying as she had done it the entire way up from Hogsmeade. They had abandoned the underclassmen to their own devices as she and Theo trudged back up the hill to the castle.

As they entered the Head suite, Draco was immediately there, his hands on her cheeks.

"Granger … Hermione, are you alright?" Draco whispered, his thumbs wiping at the tears that ran over her cheeks. He got the far away look on his face that meant that Theo was talking to him mind to mind. Hermione leaned forward and captured his mouth with hers. The look of rage on his face was making her nervous and she needed to soothe him. The possibility that Ron could still be in Hogsmeade had Hermione nervous for Draco. Going into the village to avenge her would violate his probation, she needed to make sure he didn't do that.

Draco slid his hands into her hair and looked down at her face. His lips softly kissed away the remains of her tears as his thumbs caressed her jawline.

"I fucking love you, Granger, you are mine and Theo's and I love you. We love you." He claimed her mouth like he hadn't just made love to her this morning in the early hours of dawn. He was like a man starving. And Hermione gave as good as she got, her legs were wrapped around his waist in seconds. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. He slid two fingers inside of her and found she was already wet and velvety.

"Did Theo already try to cheer you up with his cock, my love?" Draco murmured into her ear as he sucked on the sensitive skin there. She nodded and moaned and arched her body trying to get closer.

She wanted him to mark her, to own her, to make her his. She wanted to be his and Theo's forever. She never wanted to be separated from them.

Draco laid her out on the bed running his tongue over her skin as he slid her jumper over her head. Theo watched from the doorway where he leaned casually but for the lust in his eyes.

Draco sucked and bit his way down her body leaving purplish marks as he went. The flat of his tongue lingered, tasting Theo's cum dripping out of her. When he had her writhing and wild, her breath coming in pants, begging for him, Draco filled and stretched her. She was so wet that he could feel her dripping down his balls.

"Eyes on me Granger," Draco grasped her chin and forced her to look up. She was lost in pleasure and looked into his eyes. She tried to put all her emotions into her eyes, everything she was too scared to say outloud. "You are mine."

Yes, fuck yes, Hermione thought, make me yours. Fuck me. Fill me. Put your heir in me. We'll be together forever then. She knew her Pureblood lords would never leave their heirs if she could manage to get pregnant, if Draco would just put his seed right where it counted, if the curse from Dolohov hadn't rendered her infertile.

Draco came inside her and then kept fucking her, pushing his seed as far inside her as he could all while whispering, "Mine, mine, mine" in time to his thrusts. Hermione felt her body shiver with another overwhelming orgasm and everything went black as she lost consciousness. It was all too much.

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Not long after the disaster of Hogsmeade, Hermione was unsurprised to receive a howler from Molly Weasley officially making her persona non grata at the Burrow.

"Hermione Granger! I can not believe that you made such a scene in Hogsmeade when Ronald tried to spend Valentine's Day with you! I am absolutely horrified. Your poor mother would be as well. After all our family has done for you! Don't expect to be invited to the Burrow going forward, if you are too good for Ronald then I assume you are too good for the rest of us! What an utter disappointment you have turned out to be!"

Ginny was acting as though Hermione did not exist and it was frustrating, but not unexpected. Everything in the Weasley family was contingent on people doing as Molly wished. Nothing was unconditional in that family. Hermione considered sending a note to George letting him know what had really happened with Ron, but she didn't want to put him at odds with his family. She knew that he had to have known about her and Fred, the twins didn't have secrets from one another. He would take her side for Fred's sake and it would alienate him from his remaining family. Hermione couldn't do that to him, so she let her connection to George and by extension to Fred go as she turned the Howler to ash and banished it from her life.

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April 1999

Pregnancy reveal

Hermione was exhausted from vomiting. She couldn't keep anything down, not even tea. Her sides hurt and she was shaking from dehydration. She probably needed to go to Madam Pomfrey, but she had a sneaking suspicion why she was ill. She summoned her wand to herself and cast the pregnancy detection charm that Parvati and Lavender had taught her. Her throat tightened when she thought of Parvati's twin, Padma, dead eyes, ravaged by Greyback. Hermione's hands shook and wasn't sure if it was the glowing golden orb over her stomach or the memory of Padma that she had so far successfully repressed.

She sat there in a huddle next to the toilet, her arms wrapped around her knees. The little golden orb had faded away, but Hermione knew that that didn't mean that she was any less pregnant. She didn't know what she was going to do. The idea of sealing the boys to her with a baby seemed like a brilliant idea all the times she had failed to cast a contraceptive charm properly. She felt so guilty. She'd been so short-sighted. What if they didn't want her?

She wasn't a Pureblood. Would they cast her and her baby away?

Gods, for being the brightest witch of her age, she really was completely bloody mental.

Her mother would have been horrified. Hermione Granger, unwed mother. Rita Bloody Skeeter was going to have a field day when this got out. And it would, there was no way that she could keep this a secret.

Hermione tried to stand up and the motion brought the nausea rushing back to her. She fell over the toilet bowl again. This time all that came up was awful yellow bile. Her body felt wrung out.

What was she going to do? She was only nineteen. She didn't have parents. She didn't have much money except the cash award that had come along with her Order of Merlin.

What was she going to do?

Hermione tried to stand up again and this time managed to make it out of the loo and into the common room in the Head Suite. She laid on the couch. She felt awful. She just wanted to not be nauseous anymore. Why did the tiny life inside of her have to make her so very sick like this?

That was how Theo found her when he returned from his Advanced Divination class. He brought water to her lips that were dry and cracked, his bronze hand stroking her face gently.

"Hermione, we need to get you to the hospital wing," Theo whispered to her, "You are obviously really ill. Come on, my love, I'll carry you."

Hermione shook her head violently, "No-no." The nausea rose in her again and she began to cry with the frustration of it.

"Hermione, please don't be difficult. You are sick, let me take care of you." Theo's insistent voice broke through the haze of Hermione's misery.

"You can take care of me Theo," Hermione pulled herself up, "But I'm not going to Madam Pomfrey."

"Be reasonable love," Theo begged.

"I am being reasonable," Hermione stated, "You just don't understand." She put her hand to her head. She really felt terrible.

"Then explain it to me, Hermione," Theo sank to his knees, his voice desperate, "Please let me take you to the hospital wing. Please." Hermione felt her body trying to evict the water from her stomach and she shuddered as she tried to suppress the urge to vomit.

Hermione could hear the panic in Theo's voice, but she squeezed her eyes shut, and could feel the tear tracks running down her face.

Finally losing her patience, Hermione screamed, ""ENOUGH! For the last time Theo, I do not need to go to Madam Pomfrey."

"Hermione, you spent all morning vomiting and you can barely keep water down now. Please." Theo pleaded.

"There's nothing she can do for me unless I want everyone to bloody know." She scoffed at him.

"Know what, Granger?" Draco asked. Hermione looked up and saw Draco standing at the door. She gestured for him to close it and come in.

She laughed scornfully, and felt the tears begin to flow down her cheeks in earnest. "That I've gone and gotten myself up the duff while still at Hogwarts. And I'm sure to be a single mum and be ostracised from the wizarding world because you two aren't going to want to claim my baby as either of your heirs." Hermione was nearly sobbing now.

She was a fool. They'd never want her forever. All of this had an expiration date, why hadn't she seen it in the first place.

Draco dropped to his knees next to her and she looked into his face. She hadn't even realised that he had walked across the room to her. His quicksilver eyes were the most vulnerable she had ever seen them. He reached for her and she let him pull her close.

"Hermione, I don't care if it's my baby or Theo's that you are carrying. I want to marry you both. I want the three of us to have a family together." She pulled him tightly, her arms going around his shoulders and sobbed harder into his neck.

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Italy was wonderful. It was warm and tropical. And Hermione wished her parents could have been at the wedding, but at the same time she imagined how displeased they would have been with her pregnancy, two grooms and that one of them was Draco Malfoy, who they only knew as her former bully. Maybe this was better.

Pansy was remarkably supportive, even giving Hermione a dress to wear for the occasion that she had designed. It made Hermione feel like a fairy tale princess. And when she emerged into the gardens of the Zabini's villa and saw her two grooms waiting for her, with Signora Zabini, Pansy and Blaise as their witnesses she couldn't imagine anything different, because she couldn't see beyond grey and blue eyes and warm hands holding hers.

"I bind myself blood and soul to these two men, my husbands, Draco Lucius Malfoy and Theodore Tiberius Nott, for all time. Let neither death nor time rip us asunder."

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Becoming best friends with Pansy was the shock of Hermione's life, far more shocking than ending up with two Slytherin husbands. After she married the boys, Pansy was constantly writing to Hermione. She found out that she too was pregnant just after the wedding. And when both young women discovered that they were having girls, Pansy decided that their daughters would be the best of friends which meant that she and Hermione had to be the best of friends too.

After Theo fainted and Draco hyperventilated during Lyra's birth, Pansy was the one who was there to hold her hand in the muggle maternity hospital in London that they had chosen, because none of them had any faith in St. Mungo's being able to keep a lid on the birth of Hermione Granger's previously unknown child. The scandal would have drawn Rita Skeeter out like flies to a carcass. None of them wanted their happiness ruined by publicity.

And after the baby was born, Pansy stayed for six weeks to help, even though her due date was near at hand. Pansy's pregnancy hadn't been marred with any morning sickness or difficulties. Occasionally her feet were sore, but otherwise it was easy going, so she was able to help Hermione with the baby.

This is how it happened that Pansy was the one who was there when the news came that Hermione's parents had died in a car crash during the war, which explained why the Ministry hadn't been able to find them. Hermione wanted to curl up in a ball and die. This was all her fault.

"Mia," Pansy said, "You have to keep yourself together. For this tiny person right here." Lyra blinked up at Hermione with those grey eyes so like Draco's. "She doesn't realise she lost her grandparents, but she will realise if you pull back from her. She needs you. The dead don't need us anymore." Pansy rubbed her back, and held Hermione close.

"How did you get so wise, Pans?" Hermione blinked back tears.

"I buried my entire family after the war. No one survived but me. We have to move forward, we can't keep looking back. At least that's what my mind healer tells me. I can give you her number if you like? She's very good and very discreet."

"I think I'd like that." Hermione nodded.

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Draco couldn't go out into the Wizarding World after Lyra's birth without being spat on or attacked, after an incident in Diagon Alley almost resulted in Draco's death if not for Theo's quick intervention, the little family decided to keep themselves almost entirely confined to the Muggle world or private residences like the Zabini villa or Narcissa's new chateau in France.

Draco spent an exorbitant amount of money on emergency portkeys, having the house added to the floo network discreetly and a number of other things that Hermione's desire for constant vigilance approved of. She loved the way that Draco's mind could conjure a thousand worst case scenarios and then would come up with solutions to each and everyone. He had Lyra declared his heir in all the Malfoy legal documents which were luckily only kept by the head of the family. Not even Gringotts needed to be informed until it was necessary to set up Lyra's dower vault. An idea that made Hermione literally feel sick to her stomach no matter how many times Draco and Theo tried to explain the purpose of it to her.

Two years after Lyra came Scorpius. Hermione heard through Neville that Harry and Ginny had had a son and their second was due right around Scorpius' due date. Hermione hadn't spoken to either of them since their wedding, she still didn't know why she had gone. She'd thought it was an overture towards reconciliation she supposed, but it was more of a public relations move. It had also helped her move forward though. A clean break with Harry, she had her family and he had his. She saw him watching her at the Ministry now and again and he'd sometimes awkwardly say hello, always when she was with Theo which made her husband both protective and nervous.

Luna also worked as Unspeakable with Theo and Hermione. After going back and forth about it, they finally let her and Neville into their little secret. It was nice adding another private residence as a place they could take the children and be themselves. It was exhausting trying to hide that she was married, that she had children, that she loved both her husbands, that they loved each other.

She knew that Draco's business contacts thought that he and Theo were a gay couple, but everyone was too scared of Draco to say anything aloud. She imagined that someday everything could be out in the open, the war was farther and farther in the past after all.

After another little Malfoy was running around the house, Theo decided that he wanted a biological child as well. Despite both of the men feeling like fathers to the children, Pureblood blood magic was a bit more finicky about who it recognized and there were properties, assets and blood wards that could only be dealt with by someone in the bloodline. That was the excuse Theo gave her for wanting to ensure his paternity this pregnancy, but Hermione suspected he wanted the knowledge that she was carrying his babies. Draco had gotten insanely possessive during each pregnancy, not excluding Theo, but wanting to protect Hermione from every little thing in the world. Theo just wanted his chance.

Of course like everything else, the former Head Boy had to be a bloody overachiever and when they went to their Muggle prenatal appointment they discovered that they were having twins. They couldn't decide on names for the second twin for the life of them, and Hermione finally said, "Once she is born we will see what she looks like and then choose."

Upon her birth, Hermione declared the littlest twin Thea and raised her eyebrow at her husband daring him to countermand her. Instead Theo looked ready to burst into tears, "Are you sure, love?"

"I'm positive. Now hand me Emilia and you take Thea." Theo nodded and took the little baby from Hermione, cuddling her against his shirtless chest as the midwife had suggested skin to skin contact for the first couple hours of their lives.

After the twins, Hermione declared that her baby making days were done. She'd miss the hot possessive pregnancy sex, but they were all getting older and no more. Fate however had other plans, Hermione started putting on a bit of weight and her stomach felt a bit out of sorts so she went to the doctor and was told she was already five months along with her fourth pregnancy. Hermione was shocked, this was the kind of thing that happened on the telly, not to real people. Her doctor assured her that it happened to real people all the time. Casseopeia's birth was just as easy as her pregnancy had been, in fact they barely made it to the hospital.

One day she was sitting in her lounge reading a book and Draco was looking over some contracts with Cassie in the sling across his chest. On the other side of the massive oak desk, Theo was teaching Emilia and Thea, age 5, some basic charms. Scorpius, 8, was playing with Quidditch figurines on the rug. Lyra, ten, sat next to her listening to her headphones and reading some muggle book on computer programming advancements that Hermione couldn't have understood if she paired it with a dictionary. She couldn't believe that this was her life, but it was beyond wonderful. Even if it was a secret from the entire Wizarding World. She'd rather it be a secret than her family ever be in danger. She still had nightmares that Theo hadn't been there that day in Diagon Alley, then where would they be now. No Draco, No Scorp, No Cassie. Perhaps even the twins wouldn't be. She felt herself getting maudlin and looked up, Draco caught her eye and winked at her. Theo blew her a kiss.

After all these years it was amazing that they both still knew what she needed.

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Working part time was perfect. She went in just enough to be intellectually stimulated and then got to go home and spend time with her family.

Walking home Hermione felt like someone was following her, but looked back and did not see anyone.

Hermione began to ruminate on how amazingly gifted Lyra is. She has been going to a private muggle school for the gifted in London. Hermione always thought she was smart, but Lyra was a literal genius. If her daughter wasn't so bloody manipulative, Hermione would think she was a shoe-in for Ravenclaw. She was like a female version of Draco only twice as clever and had been raised as this bizarre mix of Pureblood Princess and Muggleborn. You could take Lord Nott and Lord Malfoy out of the Manor, but you could not take a thousand years of Pureblood etiquette out of their blood. Lyra was just as likely to illegally download her new favourite album as she was to quote a Pureblood pedigree to the tenth generation or explain the eleven ways you could accidentally become engaged to your social equal. Hermione herself wasn't particularly clear on the eighth and up.

Hermione appreciated how unique Lyra was. She was no flower desperate for friendship like Hermione had been. Lyra was beautiful and clever and confident and if she wasn't always kind then she wouldn't be eaten alive in the Slytherin dungeons. Draco and Theo wanted to send their daughter to Beauxbatons, but Hermione was sure that was not what Lyra wanted.

Before Hermione knew it she was in front of the glossy green door of the massive townhouse that Draco had bought for them when they were fresh out of Hogwarts themselves.

Hermione knew that she had tripped the wards when four fifths of her brood came pouring out of the door and covering her with love and affection. Scorpius started complaining about something Lyra had done to him earlier, Hermione kissed him on top of the head and ruffled his hair. He looked so much like Draco when he was a boy it was uncanny. She had really just been a vessel for the Malfoy genes when it came to Draco's three children.

Next there were dark curly haired twin girls who looked like the splitting image of Hermione as a girl. Then Cassie was up in Hermione's arms being cuddled and held. Cassie still smelled fresh in that new person way that Hermione couldn't get enough of. Five children was enough she whispered to her hormones.

"Scorpius, Thea, Emilia, go in the house and wash up for dinner. Let your mother breathe for Salazar's sake." Draco leaned in to give Hermione a kiss and she nipped at his lips and wondered if she was crazy to want to try for one more with him. He was just so bloody delicious.

And then he used her moment of distraction with his soft lips and warm tongue to steal Cassie out of her grasp, twirling away, that skilled tongue sticking out in a childlike taunt that made her want to giggle.

Instead, she hissed under her breath "sneaky Slytherin!" Hermione smiled affectionately before yelling in mock outrage, "Draco, give me back my baby right this minute!"

She laughed as she entered the house and could hear Draco's stereo playing Muggle music in the kitchen. He preferred seventies and eighties music. Hermione never minded, it made her feel like her parents were still around after all.

She stopped for a moment to admire him dancing around the kitchen to a Pink Floyd song with Cassie on his hip. The littlest Malfoy hadn't shown any sign of magic yet, so the men were starting to get a little worried. This was the downside of the kids not having a paediatric healer at St Mungo's. If Cassie had been born there they probably would already know if Cassie was a squib or not. Hermione just always worried because her magic hadn't gone haywire during Cassie's pregnancy, but even if she was a squib it wasn't like they didn't have firm muggle world roots now. Draco had a whole Muggle division of Malfoy Industries now that he'd followed Lyra's advice and expanded into similar industries. It was so strange to think that her eleven year old daughter was smart enough to have relevant business opinions that were helpful to her father. Draco was always so patient when she explained her idea and why she thought it would work. They'd been advised by the counsellor at her special gifted day school to encourage her mind. They did their best. Neither she nor her husbands were slow witted, but Lyra… Hermione worried about her daughter's endless search for knowledge when it came to her topics of interest. She tended to hyperfocus to the exclusion of all else. Hermione was relying on Pansy's daughter, Paige, to keep Lyra multitasking. Hermione remembered the time she had missed a whole class because she was thinking about Draco. Lyra was much more like her than people perceived at first glance.

And as he spun around and saw who had just come through the wards, he froze. Hermione, whose back was to the door, took that moment to snatch Casseopeia away from him.

"Fuck," he exhaled, his eyes meeting Theo's sheepish face then following the length of his wand to where it poked into Potter's throat.

"Draco, language!" Hermione said in shock.

"Potter is here," Draco stated, his voice sounding far away to his own ears.

Spinning around, Hermione gasped, clutching Cassie to her chest, "Fuck!"