Despite working next door to each other, Hermione didn't run into Draco for four days. She wondered if he was avoiding her and was worried that maybe dinner at his place didn't go as well as she thought it did.

Perhaps she stepped over the line with Lyra somehow or said something inappropriate.

She went over all the conversations she'd had with both Draco and Lyra but couldn't find anything that stuck out. She knew she could have reached out too—popped by to say hello, but she wasn't quite comfortable, assuming that he was upset with her and didn't want to make it awkward.

At least she was busy. Most days, she worked open to close at the bookstore, getting accustomed to her new role. If she tried to keep an eye out for the blond wizard from the windows, she never seemed to spot him.

On Thursday, she went into work early to grab coffee and a croissant from the bakery, and, if she was honest with herself, she still hoped to spot Draco, if only to ask him how Lyra was seeing as couldn't get the charming little girl out of her mind. She was surprised however, when she literally ran into him coming out of the coffee shop just as she was headed in.

"Oh!" she said after nearly making him spill his coffee. "Sorry, I didn't mean to run into you. Well, actually, I was hoping to run into you, but not in the literal sense, just that I was looking for you, and…and I'm rambling," she said, catching the amusement in his eyes.

"It's alright, Granger." He held up his to-go cup. "The lid is still intact, so no harm done."

"Good. That's… good," she said, suddenly feeling awkward.

He lifted a brow in her direction as he took a sip of his coffee. "You said you were looking for me? Any particular reason why?"

"Yes. Well, no. Not really. I just hadn't seen you around since I had dinner at your place and I was worried if perhaps I did something to make you upset, or I overstepped with Lyra, or…"

Draco frowned then tugged her to the side so they weren't standing directly in front of the coffee shop's door. "You did nothing of the sort. I've just been busy, is all. I wasn't going out of my way to avoid you."

Hermione let out a small sigh of relief then smiled at him. "Okay. Good. I'm glad to hear that."

Draco motioned to the one of the small tables that was set up outside. "Why don't you get your coffee and maybe we can talk?"

Hermione nodded. "I'd like that, thanks. I'll be just a moment."

She ordered a coffee for herself then decided to buy two croissants as well, and offered him one when she returned.

"Thank you." He bit into the flakey pastry-bread. "They make the best scones and muffins here, too. If you haven't already, you should try their cranberry orange scones."

"I'll be sure to try them," she said, taking a bite of her own croissant. "I'm actually glad I ran into you, because I wanted to make due with my promise to Lyra and invite you both over to my place this weekend. If you're not busy, that is."

"Aside from the Farmers Market Saturday afternoon, we're free. Unless Lyra invited Emma over for a playdate without asking….again."

Hermione smiled. "I assume that happens often?"

Draco sighed and shook his head. "Too often. Thankfully, Emma's a sweet girl, so it's not really an issue. I feel bad for her parents when Lyra decides she's going to their house though."

Hermione let out a laugh and swatted his arm playfully, "Stop it. Lyra's precious."

"No argument there." He smiled before he took a sip of his coffee. "I'd been debating bringing this up, but I'd be remiss if I didn't at least warn you about something Lyra told me."

Hermione raised a brow. "Oh? What's that?"

"She told me she thinks you're her mother. Don't worry," he added quickly, "I've told her that that's not possible, but… she can be insistent and I don't want it to be a surprise if she brings it up."

Hermione looked at him curiously. "Doesn't she know that her mother died during the battle?"

Draco frowned. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, I heard about what happened to Daphne Greengrass…" Her voice trailed off as Draco's frown deepened.

"Daphne wasn't Lyra's mother."

"Oh." She hadn't known this. She, Harry, and Ron had been elsewhere, and in the grand scheme of things that had happened that day, she'd never questioned the popular narrative.

"I can understand why you'd think that though," he added. "Considering those who were in the Great Hall saw her hand me a baby."

"If you don't mind me prying, who is her mother, if not Daphne?"

Draco took a sip of his coffee before he answered. "I don't know. Daphne died before she could tell me who her mother was."

Hermione frowned. "I don't mean to be insensitive, but, how do you not know who she is?"

His eyes never left hers as he took another sip of his drink. "I just don't. I have theories as to why that is, but it's not a discussion to have in public."

Nodding in understanding, Hermione reached over and placed her hand on top of his. "I'm sorry, Draco."

Draco's eyes shifted briefly to her hand but didn't move his from under hers. "Thank you, but there's nothing to be sorry for. Lyra knows that I don't know who her mother is. I'm thankful that she's young enough to not ask too many questions about it right now because I'm not sure what I would tell her."

Hermione nodded and moved her hands to wrap them around her cup, warming them up. She bit her lip as she contemplated on asking the question that was on the forefront of her mind, but was unsure if she should.

She looked up to see Draco watching her, and, as if sensing her curiosity, shrugged once more. "So…. Saturday? My place, around six?"

The corner of Draco's mouth twitched up slightly. "Six works. Lyra will be ecstatic."

Hermione beamed at him. "I can't wait." A quick glance at her watch had her jolting in surprise.

"Oh! I've got to run." She reached into her bag and pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper and wrote her information quickly on it. "Here's my address and phone number, in case you need to get a hold of me for some reason."

Draco took the paper and after a quick glance, placed it in the pocket of his jacket. "Thanks."

Hermione felt better, lighter even, after talking with Draco. She couldn't pinpoint why she needed to see him and confirm that everything was okay, only that she needed to.

As Hermione pinned on her name tag, one of the other employees, Rachel, came up next to her and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Sooooo…what's going on between you and Mr. Sexy-Pants?"

Hermione rounded the counter to make sure the register was ready for the day. "Who?"

"Don't play dumb," Rachel teased, leaning on her elbows. "I saw you having coffee with that hot British dude that works next door."

Hermione laughed. "Oh that. Well, his name is Draco, as you probably know, not Mr. Sexy-Pants; and we were just having a conversation."

"Well, I still find it rather serendipitous how the only two British people in our town happen to have coffee with each other as if they've known each other for years."

"Well, we do, actually. We went to school together."

Rachel's eyes widened. "No shit? That's even more serendipitous!"

"I think the word you're looking for is coincidental." Hermione turned on the "OPEN" sign in the window. "And yes, we discussed how strange it was that we both moved here last weekend."

"You guys went on a date?!"

"No, no. Nothing like that. I had dinner at his place with him and his daughter. She's actually the one who invited me over. She wanted to know about what it's like living… in London, and what her dad was like back then."

Rachel picked up a box of new books that needed to be shelved, and turned back. "Still. Very serendipitous."

Hermione rolled her eyes at the young lady before shoo-ing her off as the first customer of the day walked in.

After an entire week of working long hours, Hermione tucked herself into bed early Friday night. She was just about to turn off the bedside lamp when her phone pinged with an incoming text.

Apologies for the late message, but Lyra is insisting I ask if we should bring dessert tomorrow.

Hermione smiled and was in the middle of responding when another message came through.

This is Draco, by the way.

Shaking her head, she deleted what she was typing and started over.

Thanks for clarifying, I was confused about another Lyra who was also coming over tomorrow. Haha.
If you want to bring a dessert that's fine. I was planning on baking chocolate chip cookies, but I can do that another time.

Less than a minute passed before a response came through.

Cheeky.
Bake the cookies.
We'll bring something to go along with them.

Well now you have me curious...
What goes along with chocolate chip cookies besides milk?

I guess you'll have to wait to find out.

Now who's being cheeky?

Hermione rested her head on her pillow with her cell phone in her hand, waiting for his response. She was nearly asleep when it pinged ten minutes later.

Sorry, I was putting Lyra to bed, which was difficult because she's excited about tomorrow.

It's alright. I am also heading to bed. It's been a long week.

Should we reschedule? If you're tired I understand.

Don't be silly. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. It'll be fun.

To answer your earlier question, I'm never cheeky.
An arse, yes. But not cheeky.

Hermione giggle-snorted.

No argument there.
Tell Lyra goodnight for me.

I will do no such thing.
She's nearly asleep and me relaying the message will amp her up.
I will tell her in the morning.

Spoil-sport.
Goodnight, Draco.

G'night, Granger.

"Hi Miss Hermione!" Lyra waved enthusiastically as she got out of the car.

Hermione smiled from her spot on the front porch, where she sat reading a book, waiting for her guests to arrive.

"Hello, Lyra!"

"Guess what?!" Lyra ran up the walkway and onto the porch.

Hermione laughed. "What?" She smiled at Draco in greeting before turning her attention to Lyra again.

"It's almost Halloween! And Daddy said tomorrow I can pick out my costume!"

"That sounds like fun!" Hermione responded with equal enthusiasm. "What do you want to be?"

"I'm not sure yet," she said with a frown. "Emma said she's going as the pink Power Ranger and her brother is going to be Spiderman. I was thinking of going as Ariel or Belle, but Olivia is going as Belle and Caylee is going as Ariel and I don't want to match with them because we get to wear our costumes to school and I want to choose something that no one else will be."

"I see," said Hermione. "Well, I bet you'll find something that's perfect and unique. Just. Like. You," she said, tapping Lyra's nose at each word.

Lyra giggled. "Are you going to dress up too?"

"Maybe," Hermione said as she stood up. "But like you, I don't know what I want to be."

"You could be a bookworm," Draco suggested.

Hermione looked over at him and rolled her eyes even though a smile formed on her lips. "Ha. Ha. Very funny, Malfoy."

Draco shrugged. "I like to think so."

Hermione shook her head and held out a hand for Lyra. "Come on, I think the cookies should be cooled. You can help me taste-test them." She then looked at Draco and pointed. "But not you."

"Hey—!"

"You can wait until after dinner."

As she led a giggling Lyra inside, Draco followed behind them, trying to plead his case for a fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie.

Hermione ignored him and instead poked at the princess backpack that Lyra was wearing. "What's in here?"

"Oh, Daddy said I may get bored here because you won't have toys or kids stuff. So I brought some things."

While Hermione used a spatula to loosen the cookies, Lyra pulled out a variety of objects from within her backpack.

"I have a few books, crayons, paper, a couple of dolls, and the Beauty and the Beast movie. It's my favorite princess movie because Belle only has a daddy, just like me," she informed.

"That's one of my favorite movies too," Hermione said as she put the cookies on the cooling rack.

"Can we watch it later?" Lyra asked with a hopeful smile.

"Perhaps, though that's up to your dad and how long he plans for you two to stay after dinner."

Lyra looked at Draco and clasped her hands together. "Pleeeeeease?"

"I don't know…" He rested his chin in his hand as if he were thinking. "I might need something to help me make my decision," he suggested, motioning his head at the cookies.

Hermione laughed as Lyra grabbed a warm cookie from the rack and handed it to her dad. She even kissed his cheek for added effect.

Draco bit into the cookie. "Alright, I suppose we can stay and watch a movie after dinner."

"Yay!" cheered Lyra as she took one for herself.

"You're sneaky, tricking your daughter into getting you a cookie after you've been banned from them," Hermione said, leaning on the counter and taking a bite of her own.

Draco shrugged as he popped the rest of his in his mouth, then pointed to himself. "Slytherin."

Hermione scoffed, then took a small spoonful of leftover batter that was still in the bowl and flicked it at Draco, which landed directly on his cheek.

At his surprised expression, she smiled cheekily and pointed at herself. "Gryffindor."

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and love for this fic! I'm so glad you are all enjoying it and I love reading all the theories and questions that I promise will be answered before the story is through. Have a great week! xoxoHufflepuffMommy