AN! - I forgot to put an AN on chapter 1 so I'll put it here. This will probably be the only one throughout the story.

Blanket Trigger Warnings - Alcoholism, Non-con, Character Death (not main), Torture (not overly explicit), Abduction, explicit sexual content

Please heed these warnings and note that I won't be adding them onto each chapter in order to preserve the storylines - if you do have any issues with any of these trigger warnings, please do not continue reading. Also if you're under 18 please leave!

Major thank you to my beta Nina - you're amazing!

Please note that this story is FINISHED - it's 18 chapters. I will be posting every Thursday and Sunday. Thank you in advance for being here to read this and please leave a review if you are enjoying or have any guesses to what's happening! Happy reading!

Chapter 2

Hermione was busy building a shelf for her recently brewed Valentine's day potions, since the "holiday" was less than a week away and she had put it off far too long.

Ladies were really into getting potions that would make their skin smooth and hairless, soft as a baby's bottom, and contraception potions were a huge hit, regardless of the havoc they played with a witch's hormones.

The men were always looking for either Daydream Potions or something special for their wives. The more unsavoury men had learned early on that the Cure-A-Torium did not sell Love or Lust Potions and after being treated coldly by an icy Hermione, they didn't return asking for them again.

She was brewing a new batch of Pepper Up Potion and so wanted to get her stupid decorating done as quickly as possible. Her eyes kept straying to the clock; she'd rather be brewing.

Hermione was levitating the last pink bauble to hover beside her display of specialty Valentine potions when the bell at the door tinkled cheerily.

She turned to the door with a "welcome" on her lips but caught her breath when she saw Draco Malfoy standing beside the shelf of unicorn hair she had painstakingly gathered the weekend before.

He was wearing a white Oxford shirt and black slacks, with a soft looking grey cloak fastened at his collarbone. He had grown in both height and looks since their school days; his once sharper features had softened slightly, but his jaw was still well defined and his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat when he swallowed.

Merlin.

He was a sight.

But when she lifted her eyes higher she could immediately tell he was angry.

His eyes were narrowed and his lips were tensed into an almost straight line. His posture was stiff and he was glowering at a display of newt spleens like it had personally offended him.

Hermione stood slowly and raised a hand in acknowledgement, "Hi Draco," she said, her voice cheerful.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her before he stepped forward, his cloak whipping about his legs. "I need a pregnancy revealing potion," he bit out, his jaw clenched tightly.

It was Hermione's turn to raise an eyebrow. Everyone knew that Astoria Greengrass, who had been Draco's fiancee for a short while, pulled out of the betrothal after her father destroyed the marriage contract. After Lucius Malfoy had been sent to Azkaban for war crimes the Greengrass family wanted nothing to do with the falling Malfoy one.

Hermione didn't love the thought behind marriage contracts at all, but figured Draco had probably dodged a bullet with that woman, judging by the scandalous articles in the Daily Prophet about her that appeared on a semi-regular basis. She was a party girl.

"Do you have them?" Draco asked, his patience running thin while waiting for Hermione to answer him. He was stressed and tense and really just needed one fucking drink.

Five drinks.

"Of course," she answered, snapping herself out of her thoughts as her cheeks bloomed red with embarrassment. Merlin, he had just caught her staring at him like a fool. She hurried to a shelf on the opposite wall that held all sorts of pregnancy-related potions.

"Right here!" Her voice was pitched a little high all of the sudden and she needed to clear her throat a few times, feeling mortified with her behaviour. She was a professional!

"Great," Draco snarled, tone belying his words.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him again before her stupid mouth blurted out words that her brain hadn't given permission for. "You seem pretty unhappy about this."

Draco's mercury eyes narrowed even more, honing in on her. Hermione almost took a step back but stood her ground, the cool vial of potion clenched in her hand as she waited to see what he was going to do.

In a split second his attitude changed and he lifted a long fingered hand and rubbed it down his face, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh.

He looked so sad and stressed that Hermione had to fight the urge to reach for him and offer some comfort.

"Merlin, I just hope she's wrong; I am nowhere near ready for this."

Hermione bit her lip as she made her way back around Draco and behind the counter, and Draco rummaged in his pocket for a moment before withdrawing a small handful of sickles and setting them on the countertop with another sigh.

"Do you… want to talk about it?" Hermione asked aloud, surprising herself.

Both his eyebrows rose in shock, his stormy grey eyes widening slightly.

"I… can't at the moment. I really need to get this potion back to her."

He seemed regretful, but Hermione nodded in understanding and passed the vial of potion over, watching as he plucked it from her palm with his long, elegant fingers.

"Maybe soon then," she said, oddly interested in this Draco Malfoy.

"Keep your fingers crossed for me, Granger," He replied after nodding quickly.

Draco walked from the shop quickly and Apparated away from just outside the door, disappearing into thin air.

/

Hermione had not expected to see Draco enter her store only two days after he had bought the pregnancy revealing potion, but there he was. His hands were jammed into his pockets tightly and his eyebrows were furrowed. His shoulders were hunched up toward his ears and he looked absolutely despondent.

Hermione watched him pick his way through the shop until he was standing in front of her, he was biting his lips and looked as stressed as she had ever seen him. Hermione knew what he was going to say before he did.

"Well, she's pregnant," he stated, and Hermione took a moment to wonder if he didn't have anyone else to talk to. Surely if he did he wouldn't have come back to tell her about major life events. That thought made her feel very sad for him, and she vowed to herself that if he was going to be friendly, she wouldn't turn him away.

"And we are unhappy about this, right?" She asked, just to be clear. She couldn't imagine being pregnant and being unhappy about it, but she didn't really know anything about Draco.

"Extremely unhappy, yes," he said with an emphatic nod.

Hermione gestured for him to follow her into her brewing area, through a narrow door beside the counter.

He looked gobsmacked for a moment but followed her through anyway, albeit he was obviously nervous.

"You can take a seat," she offered, gesturing to a well used stool that was sitting to the side of a large metal work table. Draco perched on it gently and crossed his arms as Hermione went to one of four large cauldrons and peered inside.

"I'm trying to invent a new hair potion," she explained as she wafted the scented steam toward herself carefully. "Sleekeazy's has a complete monopoly on the market at the moment, but it's just so expensive. I think I can make something cheaper, but not only that, better. Did you know I had to use an entire bottle in my hair for the Yule Ball in our fourth year? It's insane! It's too expensive to be using in such large amounts."

She didn't seem to be able to stop talking, Merlin, what was wrong with her?

Draco was silent behind her as she rambled on and on. She reached for a nicely brushed clump of Asian Dragon hair, pulled off a singular strand before looking at Draco again.

"I'm going to invent it so that one bottle would last me at least a month, if I wanted to use it regularly. And the process? It has got to be an easy application because Sleekeazy's is an absolute nightmare to apply."

Draco was watching her with a small smile on his lips that he tried to control the second she turned and looked at him.

He forgot that Hermione Granger screamed passion in every single thing that she did.

Hermione stopped talking, finally able to get her brain to engage, and turned back toward her potion with flaming cheeks. She knew that she was blushing hard and had to fight the urge to fan her face. Apparently she just turned into a complete basket case whenever Draco was around.

She gently dropped the single Asian Dragon Hair into her potion and watched as it bubbled angrily for a moment before changing shade. She breathed out as she inspected the blue-hued brew in front of her.

"The colour is as expected now, so that's excellent."

"You just invent your own potions?" Draco asked from beside her, causing her to jump almost violently.

"Merlin," she breathed. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," he responded distractedly as he bent forward to peer inside her cauldron.

"Yes, I invent my own potions. I mean… I'm trying to anyway. I've been studying for the last two and a half years, starting with easier things. Have you heard of Anxiety Ease? It's to help with the more minor symptoms of anxiety that have manifested in a lot of peers over the years, since the war. That's one of mine.

"I'm going to tackle this hair potion next, mostly for selfish reasons, and then I'm going to move on to things that are for children. I have a few ideas in mind for that, anyway."

"You're amazing."

His scent wafted over Hermione from head to toe, a spicy, woodsy scent floated around her and settled into her senses. He smelled familiar, and like home, she couldn't help but think. His words had her blushing with happiness, but she wasn't quite sure how to respond to the casual way he dropped his compliment.

"It stinks," Draco said, wrinkling his nose slightly before he backed away and went back to his stool.

"That is definitely something I'm going to have to work on." Hermione replied with a small laugh as she settled the lid over the bubbling cauldron. "No one is going to rub that in their hair. It needs to simmer for 14 hours now."

"So you just leave it here overnight?"

"Yes, I'll be back before it's ready, but I also have plenty of wards on the workbench that will notify my wand immediately if the temperature changes too drastically or the cauldron boils over."

"Smart," Draco said, and then seemed to remember who he was talking to.

"What else have you been working on?" He asked, genuinely curious. He glanced around at the other cauldrons on the workbench, each with a small fire beneath.

"Nothing groundbreaking, just restocking a few things. That one is pepper-up potion, and that one is just a headache tonic."

Draco nodded in understanding, still looking around her work room.

"So, what is she going to do?" Hermione asked conversationally as she settled onto a stool herself, across the table from him.

Draco immediately knew what she was referring to and dropped the subject of her potion inventions for a different time, if there ever was another time he'd be talking to her like this.

"She's going to hide it and stick around until she gives birth, then she's leaving."

Hermione blinked.

"Leaving?"

"She wants nothing to do with me, Granger." Draco replied. "It was just a stupid drunken one night thing - and a mistake at that. It's not like she was in it for anything more than that."

"So she is going to have a child… and then leave?"

"That's what she said. She seemed to really mean it too. She already made it clear that she doesn't want it."

Hermione wasn't sure what to say to that. She herself didn't understand it, but she also wasn't about to openly judge a woman she knew nothing about.

"She wants to hide at my house her entire pregnancy. She's already quit her job so no one will know that she's expecting."

"Wow. She's determined to keep it a secret."

"I can't blame her," Draco said, this time meeting Hermione's eyes. "I really can't. I'm not even surprised, really. I was more shocked to wake up with her in my bed than anything else."

"Was this on New Years?" she asked, remembering how hungover Draco had been.

"It was. You remember how sick I was, yeah? I have little recollection of the night before."

"Oof," Hermione grimaced. "It's bad if you can't remember it."

Draco let out a breath again, looking miserable. "I'm sure I'll make a terrible father, but…" Draco's cheeks tinged a slight red and he took a fortifying breath, seeming to steel himself before he said the next words aloud. He was intrigued by Hermione and felt that sharing this part of himself would pave a road to friendship, at least.

"I've always wanted to be one, you know? I know absolutely nothing about it but I've also always wanted to experience the sort of unconditional love that comes with the territory. When I was younger and thought I was in my glory days I would daydream about having a large family; being an only child was rough, even though I'm glad now that I never had a sibling who would have experienced the same things I did. I just wish it hadn't happened like this - a meaningless one night stand."

Hermione's heart squeezed at that. She didn't know a whole lot about Draco's childhood, but she knew enough about Lucius Malfoy to imagine how absolutely awful it had been. They'd have to talk about that in the future.

"Well, I highly doubt that you're going to be terrible," Hermione said. "I think the fact alone that you want to be a good father already makes a world of difference in the outcome." She had clearly caught him off guard with her statement.

"I had an awful example," he admitted, looking at his hands.

"Well, then at least you know what not to do," Hermione replied with a small smile. Draco contemplated that for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Don't act like Lucius; got it."

Hermione giggled.

/

Draco was sitting on his couch staring into his fire. He clenched his empty hand, longing for the feeling of a glass that he could sip from, but as soon as he learned of Ava's pregnancy he'd known he needed to stop.

He needed a distraction.

If he continued just sitting here with Ava he would go insane. She only came out of her room at meals, but whenever she did she treated him like he was lower than dirt. He was fairly certain she had told him that she hated him at least six different ways throughout the day.

He couldn't take much more of it without losing his temper, and he had been working hard on controlling his moods with Ava; his baby was potentially at risk and he wouldn't give her a reason to do something drastic.

During the previous week his elves had noticed the decline in his mood. Even Kit, who only came by once to charm the snow from the pathways. Gus, the chef, had been around more than his customary one-day-a-week in an attempt to cheer him up with food, but it didn't seem to help.

Nothing changed until Po, dressed to the nines in a formal tuxedo, offered to teach Draco the fine art of crochet. At first, a speechless Draco had snorted in disbelief, personally offended at the suggestion he do something so… common. But he let the thought marinate a few days; his trembling hands and the urge to have something occupying them nudged him in the direction his little elf wanted.

So far he'd managed to tangle yarn into one giant knot, lose three crochet hooks, and give himself a nasty friction burn between his fingers, but Po had looked so excited Draco didn't feel he could just give it up as a bad job.

But his mind wasn't on his first disastrous attempts at crochet, led by his elf.

No. His mind, like it had been doing recently, strayed to Granger. She had invited him into the back of the store the last time he was brave enough to visit her, so she obviously didn't mind him being around, right?

Wishful thinking, my boy.

The sting of her impending rejection frightened him; she was one of the only people - well, who he wasn't already friends with - to treat him decently in years, and he didn't want to fuck it up. She was just so kind that she would probably treat anyone the way she had been treating him, but there was that small what if - what if she didn't mind him being around?

It had been almost a week since he had seen her, anyway, so it wasn't like he was in her face constantly.

"Fuck it," he muttered, making a decision.

He donned his cloak quickly and ran a hand through his hair, smoothing down the always perfect strands in anxiety as he made his way down the gravel lane leading to his door.

He appeared in Diagon Alley at the designated incoming apparition zone and made his way down the cobblestones quickly. He kept his gaze down, stressed about making eye contact with someone who hated him.

Wimp.

He just didn't want to deal with it tonight, not after he had spent the better part of the day being treated like shite by Ava.

Draco knew that people were giving him a wide berth as he walked, but he made it to Granger's store without any major confrontations and went inside.

Granger popped out from the back of the shop almost seconds after the cheery little bell dinged.

Her smile appeared just a touch warmer when she saw him, and he felt a wave of confidence.

She actually seemed happy to see him.

"Hi," he said, a small smile playing around his own lips.

"I'm just getting ready to close up for the evening," she said, sounding apologetic.

Draco faltered, his confidence plummeting.

She's making up excuses to get you to leave, Draco. You should have just stayed at home and had a drink instead of having to be embarrassed all over again by just assuming. You're such an idiot.

"But you're welcome to pop over for dinner."

She pulled her wand from the knot on top of her head and waved it at the sign in the window, switching it to say "closed", as well as pulling the blinds and locking the door. Her dark hair tumbled down when she whipped her wand out, falling in loose curls to her waist.

He swallowed, confused, his eyes trapped on her hair for a moment. Surely he had heard her wrong but he didn't want to interrupt while she began to set wards around the shop.

A lot of wards.

"You want to hang out with me?" he asked as soon as she finished, genuinely shocked.

Hermione hesitated and Draco wanted to slap himself. He was making things awkward, as usual.

"Sure, I mean, if you want to," she responded slowly.

"Yes, yes of course I want to."

Merlin, he was behaving like an uncultured teenager, but he couldn't seem to keep it together when he was in Granger's vicinity. She left him feeling very flustered.

She gestured at him to follow her, leading her through the shop and to the Floo system she had set up at the far end of the brewing room to take them to her house.

"I don't really have anything at my place but we could order some take away?"

"I'm not entirely sure what that means," He admitted, a small blush rising on his high cheekbones.

Hermione laughed and held out a bag of Floo Powder. "Do you like pizza?"

"Pizza?" Draco questioned, approaching her carefully as he reached into the bag. He felt like an idiot; he realised everything she was talking about was muggle – maybe something mathematical? – but why was Granger bringing it up now? He didn't mind though. He was willing to learn and try new things, especially if that meant he could spend more time with Granger.

"Oh, Draco," Hermione said with a giggle. His stomach trembled a little at his name falling from her lips so casually, and he let out a breath. "You don't even know what you've been missing." She said her address and he stepped into the Floo, spinning away from her roughly.

He caught flashes of different hearths as he spun rapidly, even getting a glimpse of a family sitting together in front of their fireplace before he finally started slowing and stumbled out onto red bricks.

The room he was standing in was completely bare and impersonal, with only a small couch and tiny coffee table sitting adjacent to the fireplace. The couch was lumpy, threadbare and looked well used, and the coffee table looked like it had been around longer than his father.

She sent you somewhere else. She didn't actually want to have dinner with you or trust you in her home, so she sent you to a different Floo address. Of course she doesn't want you around. And where the buggering hell did she send you, anyway?

Draco was fairly certain he was about to have a panic attack. His heartbeat had already picked up and was slamming against his ribs harshly, but then Granger came out of the fireplace behind him, almost running into his back because he hadn't moved.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"I hate Flooing," he said quickly as an excuse. He was fine with Flooing and had done it as his main form of travel since childhood, but he certainly wasn't going to tell her that he almost had a heart attack because he thought she'd spurned him and sent him somewhere dangerous.

"I'm sorry," she responded immediately. "Next time I'll apparate you in, it just hadn't even occurred to me, really."

Draco looked around in confusion again. There were no photos, wizarding or muggle, anywhere throughout the small living area, and how the hell hadn't she acquired something other than that tiny couch and table?

Granger passed him and threw her ever-present ugly beaded bag onto the couch, a large crash echoing from it that had his eyebrows raising in question.

"Damn" she whispered, as she met Draco's questioning look.

The apples of her cheeks reddened as she bit her lip before finally admitting she had an undetectable extension charm on her bag.

"You can't tell anyone, though!" she demanded as Draco blinked at her.

"Granger," he replied, fighting a smile. "That's illegal!"

"Oh shush," she said with a laugh. She gestured for him to follow her into an equally bare kitchen, with just a few glasses, plates, and bowls set on an open shelf beside the sink.

She opened a drawer near the fridge and pulled out some papers, sifting through them until she found the one she was looking for. Draco was confused about the rectangle she pulled off the wall. It had a coiled springy cord of some sort sticking off the bottom and a bunch of glowing numbers on the front.

She started pressing the buttons on the front before she held the strange thing to her face; one half at her ear and the other at her chin.

"Yes, hello. I'd like to order a medium unlimited and a large pepperoni, please."

"A what?" Draco asked, confused. She waved her hand at him frantically and continued speaking aloud, but apparently not to him, before she finally hung up the phone and smiled.

"I'm sorry, it didn't occur to me that you wouldn't know what a telephone is. I was placing an order with a pizza place down the street and now they will deliver it to my house."

"They just bring it here?" Draco asked, fascinated.

"Yes, and then I pay for it and they leave. It's easy and I'm not much of a cook, myself. I work late most days and it's honestly just easier for me to order food in or go to a restaurant when I need to eat."

Draco nodded, tucking away the information that she couldn't cook for a later date, hoping they'd be friends for long enough that he could impress her a little bit.