It was a Wednesday when they met again. Draco had brought his own pad of paper, swiped off his father's desk. There was the familiar thrum of magic pulsing through it comforting him.
He sat down on the bench where they had first met, swinging his legs. He didn't have to wait long for her to arrive. She was there exactly a minute and a half after she said she would be.
"Hermione!" he called from the bench.
"Draco!" She ran forward and there was just enough time for him to jump down to the ground before she tackled him in a fierce hug.
"You're late," he teased.
"Am not. We got here right at three. It was just a bit of a walk across the station. You see all the people?"
They sat down, pads of paper out. Hermione sketched, sneaking peeks at Draco. Draco was doing is best to draw a train, but he lacked both practice and Hermione's natural skill. It looked much like anyone would expect a child's drawing of a train to look like.
"Can I see?" Draco asked after a while.
Hermione took a deep breath before turning her sketch pad around. She wasn't quite used to showing off her work, especially when it wasn't done. She had done a sketch of Draco, and it was almost too lifelike.
"This is amazing," he breathed. He almost swore he could see the picture wink at him. "Do your pictures normally move?"
Hermione blushed. "Only when they're almost perfect," she replied.
Draco looked at the sketch some more. "I think I'm going to need your signature. It'll be worth a fortune when you're the next famous artist."
"Show me yours first," Hermione insisted.
Draco turned the page of the pad, embarrassed by his clumsy attempt at drawing a train. He scrawled his name messily, but strangely elegant, on the page.
"Interesting name. Draco Lucius Malfoy," Hermione said. "Your parents certainly have an affinity for the unusual."
"It's a constellation. Most of my mother's family were named after stars or constellations."
"I still think it's unusual," Hermione said.
Draco smiled. He couldn't argue with her on that. It was a fairly unusual name, even considering his family's tendency to be ostentatious.
"Come on. I wrote mine. Now it's your turn."
Hermione took the pad of paper and wrote her name under Draco's. Hermione Jean Granger. It was exceedingly pretty, if a tad less elegant than Draco's.
She pulled her pen away from the page, and a light nearly blinded her. It enveloped both her and Draco. And after a moment, it settled into a warmth and then faded almost completely. She supposed the blindness would do the same after a few moments.
"Hermione," Mrs. Granger rushed forward, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Hermione said. "Mum. I'm fine."
"Draco," Mr. Malfoy drawled in the most menacing way possible, "did you take a notebook from my study?"
"Maybe," Draco said in a small voice.
"Who's this?" Mrs. Granger asked, seeing him for the first time.
"Mum, this is Draco," Hermione introduced him. "Draco, this is my mum."
Mrs. Granger was clearly shocked. She had assumed, incorrectly, that Draco was imaginary. She couldn't see him the first time Hermione had mentioned him, and had jumped to conclusions.
"I might be able to shed some light on the subject," Mr. Malfoy interjected.
"Thank you Mr…" Mrs. Granger trailed off. She didn't know his name.
"Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy."
"You're named after your father," Hermione hissed at Draco.
"Lots of people are," he whispered back.
"Well Lucius, you can call me Helena," Mrs. Granger said. "Now what was that light?"
The two adults sat down at a table where they could easily watch the children who had returned to the bench. Draco and Hermione seemed to get along just fine. There was some good-natured shoving, and a little bit of teasing, but those were the most contentious acts between them.
"You aren't exactly normal," Helena mused.
"Not for your world," Lucius agreed. "And to be frank, we're not exactly normal in our world either."
"You're going to have to explain that too," Helena said. "But, for now, let's start with the light."
Lucius sighed internally. The afternoon was not going the way he had planned at all. But he launched into the simplest explanation he could manage of the wizarding world and magic. He explained their position, and social customs.
"So, your notebook has 'betrothed' our children," Helena clarified. "They're five, and engaged."
"Irreversibly so," Lucius muttered.
"What am I supposed to do?" Helena asked.
Lucius frowned. He was unaccustomed to dealing with muggles at the best of times. Trying to explain betrothal customs, pureblood betrothal customs, was proving to be somewhat difficult. Helena Granger just didn't have the background to understand.
He needed to explain that this wasn't how things normally worked. This was ancient magic. But that was probably a conversation best saved for his wife and a time where this woman was less upset.
"For now, I think that setting up a weekly playdate for them will suffice," he suggested. "We can alternate who gets to host. But they should get used to spending time together."
Helena nodded. "Do you want next week then? Although, I have no idea where you live, or how to get there."
"Don't worry about that yet," Lucius told her. "I'll take care of the details for next week. I shall mail them to you over the weekend."
Helena nearly sagged with relief. She had no clue how to handle any of this surprise. And if the Malfoys wanted to take the next week, it would give her more time to think up something that might interest Draco. What did wizard children even like to do?
"Are you going to want me to come along? Or my husband?" she asked.
Lucius studied the woman in front of him. She was nervous, and understandably so. He couldn't fault her for being protective of her daughter. He was in a similar position himself.
"It would certainly be educational for both of you. I can assure you that my wife will be most excited to meet you."
They sat in awkward silence for a few moments, thoughts flitting through each of their heads. With everything that had happened that day, they were going to need quite a bit of time to process. It wasn't even suppertime and it felt as if the day had been exceedingly long.
"I think I should take Hermione home," Helena said after a moment. "She might not have realized it, but her whole life has changed. I'd like to keep what I can as normal as possible."
They stood.
"I couldn't agree more," Lucius told her.
A/N: So there seems to be a fair amount of support for this idea. Thank you. I'm really enjoying this story. Hope this chapter lives up to everyone's expectations.