Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Come on, Hermione. What can go wrong?"

Hermione looked up from her large cup of coffee and at one of her best friends. "I don't know, Mandie. I just don't think it's a good idea."

"Sorry I'm late," Ginny Potter said, sounding out breath. "What have I missed?" She put her bag beside her chair and looked at the other two girls at the table.

"Where are Ron and Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Ignore her. I'm trying to convince her to come on this double date with Aiden and his friend," Mandie told Ginny.

"Do it," Ginny exclaimed, wide-eyed.

"Guys, you know that I'm not giving up, and that I know that five years is long enough to dwell, but I'm still not ready to date."

"Why not? You've done it several times, and sometimes it's even turned into a short relationship."

"And a lot of sex."

Ginny glared at Mandie and put her hand on Hermione's back, "I love you, and only want you to be happy, but it's been five years."

"What I mean is…I spent a year and a half bitter and refusing to open my heart again. For two years after that all I looked for was love. I've spent the past two years since then just having fun." Hermione sighed. "I just don't know where I am anymore."

"Well maybe tonight will help you then," Mandie suggested.

"I know," Hermione mumbled. She would never forget that bitter divorce and how it tore her up. The only good that came of it was the many men she dated and bedded after. On the outside, she was completely over the whole thing, but on the inside she was hurt and refused to let her shield down to anyone for too long.

"I still don't get why you two split up," Mandie said. While Hermione and Ginny had been friends during Hogwarts and had been together through the dating, marriage _and_ divorce, they didn't work with or meet Mandie until the beginning of the divorce.

"Well, some pre-war memories and situations came up, we faught about everything, and it was like the old Malfoy was back and worse than ever," Hermione remembered angrily. Truth be told, that wasn't the whole story, but that was what she told her friends and herself every time it came up.

"So then try a new guy on. One that you have no history with whatsoever."

"Well what do I have to lose?"

"Hopefully not your knickers again," Ginny said, erupting in laughter from the time Hermione came home from a date she had with a guy who ended up hiding her knickers from her.

Hermione rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee.

"So are we in for tonight Draco?" Aiden asked his friend in their favorite bar.

"I don't know. You know I'm not a dater anymore," Draco replied, taking a sip of his beer and checking out the waitress as she walked to the table in the back of the bar.

"She has a boyfriend and he's a professional dueler," Aiden casually told Draco, bringing his own drink to his lips.

Draco looked away from the girl and back at his friend. He was a twenty-eight-year-old divorced bachelor. He was having fun with his life without dating. For some reason he always found the concept to be so trivial. "I don't know…"

"Well what do you have to lose?" Aiden put his drink down and looked across the table. "Look, it's taken me three months to get this girl to go out with me and this is the only good day for either of us for the next two weeks-"

"Then wait another week."

"I'm going to be in another country next week doing nothing but math. Come on, it's just one date."

Draco rolled his eyes and sighed, "fine. What time?"

Truth be told, though he was well over his divorce as well as his ex-wife, he wasn't sure if he was ready to let his guard down again or if he was willing to open up like he had with…her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

That night Hermione and Mandie apparated outside of an elegant restaurant at eight fifteen. They were running late because Ginny had left them early to prepare for her own dinner at the same restaurant with her husband an hour before their double date, leaving Mandie to pick out Hermione's outfit, not trusting the girl to do it on her own. Mandie herself was wearing a dark blue dress that had a square neck with no sleeves and hugged her curves until it loosened a little around her hips to flow to right below her ankles. Thank goodness for high heels. Her blonde hair was straight and went down to the middle of her neck. There wasn't a similar feature between herself, Ginny and Hermione on their faces and bodies other than good skin and size 7 feet.

"Reservation for four under the name Hanshaw," Mandie told a man in the entrance.

"I'm going to go check my make-up," Hermione told Mandie.

"Okay, do you want me to wait for you?"

"No, I'll find you."

Hermione went to the loo, whose door was thankfully nearby. Truth be told, she had never been on a blind date and she behaved very differently than her friends had ever seen her when she was on a regular date.

'Just one night,' she told herself in the mirror. She didn't even know why she was so worried. She had been on plenty of dates since the divorce and had gotten over Draco with many men and kickboxing classes. The only thing that she even had to think about was watching herself around her friend.

On the other side of the door, Ginny had come over to Mandie to compliment her on her dress and to comment on Hermione's when she saw something that made her heart stop.

"Oof," Mandie let out as Ginny whipped her around. "What the-"

"Hermione's ex is here!" Ginny hissed.

Though they had been friends for years, Mandie had only seen Draco in the pictures in the newspaper and magazines, which were always drawn on before she (or Hermione) ever got a good look. For all she knew, that mustache and pirate patch he had in the latest Daily Prophet could be how he really looked.

"What do you mean he's here?" Mandie asked, her face paling.

"I mean he's in the restaurant." Ginny looked over Mandie's shoulder at the seat Draco was just sitting at. There was a man with short, brown hair sitting alone at the table. If she wasn't happily married, she would have been thinking of a way to go over to the table to flirt with him. "Okay, he's gone. We'd better hope Hermione doesn't find out."

Mandie nodded and Ginny walked back to her table, hoping that Harry didn't find out that Draco was there either.

Mandie scanned the room as she was led to the table where Aiden was waiting patiently for her.

"Sorry I'm late," she said as he stood up to pull her chair out for her.

"Oh don't worry, you were worth the wait (A/N corny much?)" he replied with a smile. "My friend is in the loo fixing his hair."

"Well mine is fixing her make-up." Mandie laughed.

"He's done nothing but obsess over it since his divorce a few years ago," Aiden told her. "I'm actually glad to get him out on a real date for once."

Mandie smiled. "Same, only she obsesses over her work."

"Well if they have a kid, at least we know it will either have a hair fetish or start a salon," Aiden joked.

Hermione stepped out of the loo and looked around.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the blonde man beside her the same time he decided to ask her.

"I'm on a date," they answered simultaneously.

They stood for a second, not saying anything before they began to walk in the same direction.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked her ex-husband.

"I think we just established that a few seconds ago," Draco told his former spouse.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his immaturity and cut between a few tables to get to Mandie quicker. She sat down in the seat beside her friend and let out a small huff. She could have been mistaken, but when Mandie's date saw her, a little color faded from his face.

"Er, you must be Mandie's friend," he said, the color coming back to his cheeks.

"Hermione," she replied with a polite smile, holding out her hand.

"Well, my friend should be here shortly," he said slowly. Sure enough, not two seconds later his friend was at his side. Draco Malfoy looked at the two girls before him. The blonde one was seated beside Aiden in an elegant blue dress. Beside her sat the frizzy haired bookworm that haunted his past in…in the dress she wore to the Christmas ball where they had to go together because they were the Head Boy and Girl.

Two of the three occupants of the table stood up politely as Draco walked up to them. He saw how the sparkling blue dress still clung to Hermione's body the way it had the night he realized that he lo-love_d_ her. The spaghetti strap dress was straight across her chest, but in the back had strings tied in a cris-cross until the small of her back, which was where her hair fell to in the softest curls, It flowed straight down to right above her toes, where he could see she had on blur strappy heels. He couldn't believe she still fit into it.

"Evening _Granger_," he said, exaggerating the feigned politeness.

"Malfoy," she replied bored, crossing her leg so that she was ever so slightly angled towards her friend.

"Um, hi, I'm Mandie," her friend said, holding out her hand. "You must be-"

"I believe the term you're looking for is Hermione's ex," Draco said, filling in the pause the girl took to think of what to say. She replied by smiling weakly and quickly taking her seat.

"So how many bottles of wine do you think we'll need tonight dear?" Draco asked Hermione as he looked at the wine menu. Mandie and Aiden had gone into their own conversation, hoping to cover up the tension at the table.

"Well that depends, _hon_."

"On what, _sweetie_?"

"On whether we're drinking the wine or killing our friends with the bottles, _love_."

""Now, now, no need to be hostile.' Draco looked up at the girl. "Wouldn't want your little friends to get nervous."

The passive aggressive verbal battle raged until the waiter came over to take their orders.

"You always knew everything, why don't you tell us what we should get," Draco said.

Hermione looked up at the waiter with a smile. "We would like Greek salads to start off with. He will have that delicious special I read when I came in and I will have the, erm, Fettuccini Alfredo for the main course, and I think we'll wait until we're done to see whether we're going to have dessert or not."

Mandie and Aiden cautiously told the waiter their orders and handed him their menus.

"What's the special?" Mandie whispered to Hermione.

"Pesci diversi alla Casalinga," Hermione whispered back with a smirk. "Draco is allergic to mushrooms and almonds."

Mandie's eyes flew open and she looked at her friend. "What happens?"

"Oh it's nothing serious," Hermione assured her as she fixed her napkin. "The almonds just make him break out in a small rash that goes away in a few hours and the mushrooms make him sweat profusely."

"What's the special?" Draco asked Aiden quietly, eyeing the not-so innocent girl beside him as she whispered something to Mandie.

"Some kind of fish."

"Well she must have forgotten that I enjoy fish, though it isn't my favorite food, and gotten me mixed up with someone _else_." He looked at Hermione fixing her napkin on her lap. "Well the dress _is_ old enough. I guess you should try to be careful with it," he called over to her.

"Well it's not like I like to rely on daddy to buy me something new every time my clothes hit their one month anniversary."

Aiden looked from Hermione to Draco to Mandie. "So how long have you two been working together?"

"Nearing six years," she told him, hoping that the year would go unnoticed. "We met when I was promoted at the Ministry, but decided with our friend that we could do better and started our company that we have today. How about you two?"

Aiden shifted in his seat. "Well, we met when we were both, er, trying to hook up with the same woman at a club a few years ago."

"So let me guess, he ended up sleeping with her with just a few lines after you spent the entire evening trying to connect?" Hermione said.

"Now come on, you took more than just a few lines to get into bed," Draco said in a mock comfort tone.

"Finally," Mindie exclaimed. "The wine is here. They'll have first and you can put the bottle between them."

"Actually, can I please have a dry martini?" Hermione asked. This was going to be a long night and there wasn't enough white wine in the world that would help her get through it.

"And I'll have a scotch sour," Draco told the man.

"We're fine," Aiden said when he looked at him and Mandie.

"Oh my god, Gin, do I see what I think I see?" Harry Potter asked his wife.

Ginny squirmed in her seat, hoping that it wasn't who she had seen before. "What do you mean Harry?"

"I mean do I see Hermione on a date with Malfoy?"

Ginny had to keep herself from screaming in shock as she turner around fast enough, her chair almost fell over. Sure enough, sitting beside the handsome man she saw before was Mandie with Draco Malfoy on his other side and Hermione between the two ordering what she assumed was the first drink that came to mind.

"Holy, I mean, oh my goodness," Ginny said, catching the swear before she yelled it in the middle of the restaurant.

"It's okay Gin," Harry said, not being able to look away from the couple. "I think that it would be okay to swear in a situation like this. In fact, I'm sure that a few have passed each of their lips by now."

"I just hope that they both make it through the evening in one piece."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Hermione decided that she was being rude and stopped herself from speaking to Malfoy to try to east the tension for her friend. After that, Mandie and Aiden began to get along nicely and by the time the food arrived, their chairs were inches away from each other.

"Reminds you of our first date?"

Hermione looked at Draco, who was finishing off his second drink while hers lay empty beside her plate.

"We were young then," she said, refusing to get sentimental.

"Young enough to be together for seven years."

"Six. Thank you." She picked up the glass that the waiter put in front of her. "The year of the divorce doesn't exactly count."

"Watch the drinks, Homer," Draco said, making a reference to 'The Simpsons.'

Hermione smirked at him. "I'll stick to white wine after this. Don't worry."

"You never did know when to stop." Draco loojed down at his empty glass and switched it for the new one brought with Hermione's martini.

"I'm not the one who bragged about having a high tolerance then ended up with a hangover that lasted a whole day."

"Hey, I couldn't find the spell to fix it," Draco laughed. "And it's not like you helped."

"Well you deserved it," Hermione said with a smile. "You were so drunk you tried to eat some of the paintings on the way back to the common room."

"Well they looked good," he replied defensively. They hadn't spoken like this in years.

Hermione looked away and sighed lightly. "So how drunk do you think we are now?"

"Not very. These are only our third drinks. Then again, you were never one to hold her alcohol."

"Well that explains why we're being civil."

"I think I'm going to need something stronger if we want this to last."

"As long as Mandie and Aiden end up shagging by the end of the night…" Hermione finished her martini in one sip.

"Well that is all that ever matters," Draco added, finishing his own drink. "Wine?"

"Please." He filled up half of her glass with the white wine. "More." Draco smirked and filled the glass up until it was an inch from the top. He picked up his own glass and filled it the same amount. "So why did you bring up our first date Malfoy? It was nothing like this."

"Silence was killing me."

"You neber hated silence before."

"Neber?" I think we're calling you a portkey tonight. Draco told her. He took a long sip and put his glass down. Maybe he was going to need one too. He was starting to get sweaty and itchy, not that that had ever happened while he was drunk. "So how's my house five years later?"

"Moved out the second the papers were signed. How's my baby?"

"Stripped her down and used the parts for art."

"Never knew you'd even touch her."

Draco leaned in and whispered, "anything to piss you off baby."

"Well then I'm glad I tore up all your clothes and turned them into a bed for Shep."

"Ah yes, how is that lovely dog of ours?"

"You would know if you bothered to fight for custody the way you fought to get my car." Hermione knew where this was going and finished her drink before turning back to her pasta.

"Well the less I fought, the sooner it would be over," Draco told her in a cheery tone. He took a bite of his half finished fish. "Mmm, excellent choice darling."

"Watch it dear. You're starting to sweat," Hermione said, smiling lightly into her wine.

Draco had to admit, she was right. In fact, he felt a bit of an itch along his arm.

"So what is in this dish again?" Draco asked casually, trying not to scratch.

"Oh, you know, fish, celery, carrots, parsley, mushrooms, garlic and onion, almonds, anchovies…" Hermione listed absent-mindedly, but Draco stopped listening after mushrooms and his head shot up at almonds. He knew what she was doing.

"You know I'm allergic to almonds and mushrooms," he hissed.

"Oh really?" Hermione asked, over-acting her shock.

Draco rolled his eyes as he scratched his arm. "Now I'm not feeling so guilty about 'accidentally' changing the combination to out joint account."

"I haven't touched that thing in years."

"Hermione," Hermione and Draco looked up at Mandie, "since you guys are getting along, we think we're going to head out a little early."

"Dinner is on me, guys," Aiden said, standing up. "Here's my card." Draco took the credit card out of Aiden's hand with a look of sheer horror on his face. "Get _really_ drunk if it keeps you guys _this_ calm."

With that, Mandie and Aiden left the table. All Hermione could hear was Mandie giggling as she and Aiden made their way to the door. She knew that she _definitely_ wasn't going home tonight.

"So another bottle of wine?" she heard Draco ask her.

"Make it a tequila and add a cot," Hermione replied. Draco gave her an expression, as though asking her what she was talking about. "Mandie's bunking at my house while hers is, well, being bought." She took another swig at her drink. She looked over at Draco. After eleven years since they began going out, six years of marriage, and a year of dating, she had seen him in situations he was uncomfortable in. He would put a glaze over his eyes and smirk at towards the left.

"Well I know someone who will never turn you down," Draco mumbled into his wine.

"How many time do I-" Hermione sighed. "Never mind. Your friend left us with his credit card, so why don't you go buy a whore and I can finally leave."

Hermione began to stand up, but Draco caught her with his all-knowing words. "So I guess I'll see you on the street then, considering that our little friends are shagging up your place."

Hermione looked at her empty glass. Damn. The ferret was right. "Just don't talk to me and they'll probably be done by the time I finish eating."

Draco called the waiter over. "Two of the strongest drinks your bartender can come up with please."

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. How could this night have turned into a dinner with her ex-husband? And in the same restaurant where they had their last dinner as a married couple, no less.

"Yes, I know, the memories here are just so strong," Draco said, as though reading her mind.

"So you are keeping me here with the promise of alcohol to remind me of the plitifoe excuse we called a marriage?" Hermione asked him, not even looking ahead. The question didn't mean anything to her, but at least there wasn't going to be an awkward silence. And maybe he could give her an excuse to punch him, just one more time.

"Plitifoe? Hm, I _d_on'_t_ thi_nk_ I've hear_d_ tha_t_ _one_," Draco told her. Hermione noticed that unless it was just the two of them, or if they were at a party with some of his old friends, the drunker he was, the more he over-pronounced his words to hide it, just like now.

"Malfoy, just-"

"Now just because you no longer use that name, doesn't mean that you never had it."

"Oh finish your fish." Draco took a big fork-full of his fish in annoyance, forgetting what was in it. "Oh my god. You _will_ just eat anything."

"True," Draco said with his head tilted a bit. "After all, I did eat-"

"Oh grow up. The only reason why you're still on this blind date is to be a bother," Hermione hissed.

"Well at least I'm not here because I'm still in love with my ex-husband,"

"I knew there was a reason why you sle-"

"-Pt with you? Well, I did always notice that you were a bit manly in a way."

Hermione was about to reply, but their drinks came and she drank half of it in one breath. Draco, on the other hand, sipped his slowly, watching his ex-wife's head explode in anger. There was no woman in the world he would rather not be with than her.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Hermione moaned as the sun his her face. It was too early for this much sun. She rolled into the comforters on her soft bed and felt something beside her. It was probably Shep, though she remembered him having a bit more hair on his body than this.

She sat up in the bed slowly and looked around with her eyes almost completely closed. "How much did I have to drink last night?" she asked herself before collapsing back into the pillows. She slid her hand under Shep's belly to find his sweet spot between his ears. Now where was his head? She moved her hand down.

'Where is your head? Where is your head?' Her eyes shot open. 'That's not your head.'

"AAAAHH!" she shrieked, looking over at who was beside her.

Still asleep and oblivious to the world was the notorious Draco Malfoy. He stirred a bit and mumbled something in his sleep.

Hermione looked around the room for her dress and wand. And probably her panties! She looked down to find that she was stark naked! How could that have happened?

Without making too much noise, she slid off the bed and slipped on her blue dress. Now to find her wand.

"Think, Hermione, think," she whispered to herself. Under the bed! She sunk to her knees and reached under the large mattress, pulling out her wand, still in the strap she had around her leg to keep it in.

Without a second glance, she woke up the sleeping blonde with the 'crack', announcing her departure.

"You _slept_ together?" Mandie squealed in disbelief.

Ginny was frozen where she was with her mouth open while Mandie's eyes were wide with excitement.

"But by sleep, you mean just in the same bed, right? No sexual intercourse, right?" Ron asked weakly, knowing the answer before e even asked.

Hermione buried her head in her hands. Even though she had performed a hangover spell, she still had a slight headache and her hair was a wreck.

"Well at least we know that you can't get pregnant," Harry added. "He performed that spell in fifth year, right?"

Hermione nodded her head, not even wanting to think about how the spell was reversible.

With all eight eyes on her, Hermione moaned and let her head fall onto the table.

"This isn't possible," she mumbled. "I hate him. I despise him. I _loathe_ him. No amount of anything alcoholic could ever make me do something this stupid."

"Well you two _were_ a little drunk last night," Mandie told her. "And, come on, you could have done much worse."

"Like _what_?" Harry, Ron and Ginny asked at the same time.

"Well she could have shagged, er, oh what are you looking at me for?" Mandie threw up her hands. "At least she got laid."

"What about you and Aiden?" Ginny asked.

"Right in the middle of, well, the foreplay," Harry, Ron and Ginny gave her 'whoo's' of support with applause. Mandie always had the exciting stories. "Oh shut up. Now in the middle of it, his phone began to ring. And by phone, I mean muggle cell phone because his ex-girlfriend stalker made him get one and he never changed his number."

"Eesh," was heard around the table, along with "yipes" and a word from Harry that no one could make out.

"Well anyway, she called him _five_ times." Mandie held up five fingers and moved her hand around the table for everyone to see. "By the time I got him to turn off his phone, we ended up having some weird cross between humping and, well, that episode of sex and the city when Carrie had sex with Berger for the first time," she told her friends with a scrunched expression.

"Well at least you didn't fuck your ex."

"You _what_?" Aiden looked at his friend as though he had just come out of the closet.

"Oh shut up, why don't you?" Draco said, shaking his head in his hands. "I don't know what happened. We were drunk!"

"I know. I saw," Aiden said with a chuckle. (A/N I did not name him Aiden because I love Sex and the City. It just worked out that way and I love it. :-P) "I don't think I've ever seen you drink that much in our entire friendship."

Draco sighed. "Did we even use a condom?"

"Well don't you place that spell over yourself before a date?"

"This was a blind date that I was forced into." Draco looked up at Aiden. "I knew there wasn't a chance in hell I was getting laid."

"Knew?"

"Thought! Happy? I didn't think I would get laid and I _definitely_ didn't _think_ I would ever see Hermione again." Draco threw his hands into his head. "Wait," he lifted his head. "We were so wasted that I probably just shagged some girl that looked like her. Or I could have even imagined it! There were no traces of another person when I woke up!"

"That's the spirit," Aiden said, patting Draco on the arm. "Plus even if something _did_ happen, well, you do have that spell on you, right?" Draco winced at the memory. "Don't tell me you took it off."

"Well when we got married, I thought that a baby would help,"

"You're and idiot and I pity you." Aiden looked at his watch. "I have to go in a few minutes, but let me just call you an idiot one more time before asking you why you didn't put that charm back on yourself when the two of you split?"

Draco shook his head. "Most of the ladies I lay either have that spell over themselves or I just do a one-night thing. The permanent charm is as annoying to think about as a vasectomy."

Aiden stared at his friend for a minute before saying anything. "Okay, so I'm leaving because I have work and thinking about shooting blanks leaves us at an awkward conversation."

Draco bid Aiden farewell as he got up and left him alone in their favorite bar. There was nothing to worry about. He probably just imagined the whole thing. With one last sip of his beet, he got up and left to meet with his new private investigator. The minister himself recommended her. Apparently it was a small business that covered private investigation, legal help and had a branch that few people knew what it was for.

Putting a tip on the table, Draco stood up and apparated to the lobby of a nice looking building in muggle London. Why did it seem like everything was there nowadays?

"Mister M?" a young receptionist asked him. She had a French accent and pale skin with flowing, blonde hair. Why did she look so familiar?

"Yes, Miss…"

"Declaur," she told him. "And Miss Clarke will be with you in a moment."

Draco nodded and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs. There was a magazine on the table in front of him from the week before. There was a picture of Hermione with the head of St. Mungo's. He rolled his eyes. Of course there was a picture of her. What piece of rag was this? The Quibble. Of course.

"She's amazing, no?"

Draco looked up at Miss Declaur. "Pardon?"

"'Ermione Granger. She eez amazing."

"Erm, right," Draco said. "Miss Declaur. Could you point me towards the loo?"

"First door on ze left."

"Thank you." Draco stood up and made his way to the loo to fix his hair, or do something more important than that wretched woman.

"Good morning 'Ermione," Gabrielle said looking up.

"Good morning Gabrielle," Hermione replied with a half smile. She still could not get her conversation with her friends out of her head. "Have Mandie or Ginny come back from lunch yet? I left them early at the coffee shop to grab that book I told you about."

"Merci," Gabrielle said, taking the book from Hermione. "And no, sorry, but Mandie's new client eez 'ere."

Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes at her friend. "Of course." She sighed. "Give me the files and send him in and when Mandie gets here tell her that she owes me lunch again."

Gabrielle handed Hermione the files and smiled at her most responsible boss. Hermione took them with a thank-you and walked briskly into her office.

Draco walked back into the lobby. It was more like an elegant waiting room now that he took it in again. Miss Declaur was at her table, reading a book. She saw him coming and looked up at him.

"Miss Clarke is being 'eld up, but 'er partner eez in 'er office if you would like to speak with 'er."

"Thank you," Draco said to the young woman, picking up his briefcase. "Does she cover the same area?"

"No, but she covers for Miss Clarke once in a while for ze meetings. She eez really ze one who runs ze show, like Miss Clarke and Mrs. Potter say." She giggled.

Draco didn't take in the names Miss Declaur said, but thought of what he should do. 'I guess if she covers for Clarke it wouldn't be too bad,' he thought. "Okay. But I would also like to re-schedule my meeting to meet with Miss Clarke before I sign anything."

"Okay. Please take a seat."

Draco sat down in the nearest seat, confused. The next thing he knew, he was in a powder blue room in front of a mahogany desk. He looked at the woman across from him. Her face was being blocked by his file, but he could see the crisp, red, button-up shirt hugged her torso without a blazer, which he noticed was on the back of her chair. She had on a black, pleated skirt that rose a few inches above her knee when she crossed her legs that ended with her small feet in black, heeled shoes that covered her toes. Her hair was mostly hidden by the file, but he saw it flow straight down behind her back with auburn and hazel highlights.

Draco cleared his throat, announcing his arrival after a minute of waiting.

"I am aware that you are here but you must wait until I have finished this and mocked your mistrust."

Her voice was smooth, but slightly harsh and he placed it in an instant. "_Granger_?"

Hermione put down the file. "Hello Malfoy. Now let's get to business. It says here that you want to find out about an employee who you suspect is a spy, is that correct?"

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Draco near exploded.

"I am one of the co-founders of this lovely organization and am covering for Mandie. You met her last night." Hermione professionally explained. "Now if you cooperate and stick to the subject, we can get through this meeting before one of my real clients gets here for our three o'clock meeting."

Draco folded his arms. She was behaving so calm, maybe nothing happened last night. "Okay."

"Good. Now let's get to business."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Hello Gabrielle," Mandie said as she and Ginny walked in from their long lunch.

The beautiful blonde looked up from her book. "Good afternoon ladies. Mandie, your one-thirty meeting eez in with 'ermione."

"Goodness, Mandie," Ginny laughed. "By the end of the month you're going to owe Hermione an entire year's worth of lunches."

"Thank you for that reminder Ginny," Mandie said, rolling her eyes, before turning to Gabrielle. "Did Mr. M. want to reschedule?"

"Yes. 'e went in at one-forty-five, so zey should be done quite soon." Gabielle turned to Ginny. "And Ginny, your mozer called. She wants to know eef we would like to have brunch with my seester and Bill at your aunt's house."

Ginny groaned and rolled her eyes. "Auntie Muriel?"

Mandie looked from one upset girl to the other. "Wait, what's wrong with Aunt Muriel?"

"She eez rude to Fluer, bossy to ze twins, judgmental to Bill, and eez just not a nice woman," Gabrielle said. "I only go for support for Fluer and Ginny, but she 'ates me because I am not blood related. Eef it was up to 'er, I would not even come, but Molly insists zat I am part of ze family."

Mandie whistled at the explanation. "Remind me not to marry into the family. What about Harry, though? Does she like him?"

"The thinks that he is a goody-goody boy who needs to learn to mind his own business and stop getting into trouble," Ginny said flatly.

"And zat 'e needs to get a 'aircut."

"And on that note I will dig around my bag for my planner so I can be ready when the mysterious Mr. M comes out of Hermione's office." Mandy opened her bag and began pulling out stuff like make-up, two wallets, a bag of peanuts, three unused condoms and a sunglass lens before finding her little blue organizer.

"Soon she'll be singing 'Supercalafragelisticexpialidocious' if we don't watch out," Ginny joked.

Just then, the door to Hermione's office opened and the mysterious Mr. M walked into the lobby.

"Potter, Mandie," he nodded to the two stunned women before turning to Gabrielle. "Has Ms. Clarke come in yet?"

"She eez right be'ind you," Gabrielle told him, confused about the hostility filling the room.

Draco turned around and looked at Mandie. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans that ended with enough space to show off her blue pumps. She had on a black shirt under her blue jacket(/blazer). Her hair was up in a neat bun and her face was full of shock. He held out his hand in a business-like manner and looked her square in the eye. "Ms. Clarke, pleasure. Sorry to have missed you earlier, but I was hoping to reschedule if you weren't busy."

Mandie blinked a few times before taking Draco's hand to shake. "N-no. Not at all. I was just taking out my planner." She looked back to Ginny to signal to block the mess on Gabrielle's desk. "I am actually free right now. I cleared most of my afternoon for our meeting, if you would-"

"Sorry," Draco interrupted, "but I have a previous engagement, but I have a flexible schedule if you would care to meet at my office any time within the next week-"

Mandie took her hand from Draco's and threw open her organizer. The only way to make this whole situation worse would be to add Hermione, not even thinking about Harry and Ron, who, from what she heard, were friends with Draco before the bitter divorce. " I have Thursday at ten free if you would like to meet."

"Perfect. Just make sure that no one knows who you are."

"If a brunette named Leslie Grey comes knocking at your door, don't turn her down."

"Good then."

"Great."

"I should be going."

"Take care."

Draco walked briskly out of the building and apparated as soon as he was at a safe location.

"You know 'im?" Gabrielle asked as soon as the door was closed.

"That was Hermione's ex-husband," Ginny explained, looking at Mandie.

The three girls jumped up (in Gabrielle's case) and rushed into Hermione's office, where they saw her with a glass of scotch on her desk.

"I can't drink the scotch," she said in a depressed monotone.

"Who cares about the scotch when Draco Malfoy was just in your office?" Mandie urged, pushing the subject.

Hermione sat up and fixed her hair. "Well because someone was late for a meeting I had to cover, only to find out that my ex-husband wants you to check out not only someone at his company, but someone who he is lying about."

At this, Gabrielle, Mandie and Ginny were so interested, they locked the door and took seats all around Hermione.

"What do you mean by 'lying'?" Ginny asked.

"I mean that I met this guy at our anniversary dinner a few years ago," Hermione told them. "They were really friendly and the guy didn't even need a job! He's a buyer for this big department store in France. Draco said that he was a lower-level man in the company, though. Mandie, you need to check out Draco as well. He might be up to something. This guy is nice. He's a good friend of Viktor's."

"You still talk to Viktor?" Mandie asked.

"Of course," Hermione said. "We're friends. Plus he was really there for me during my separation."

"Well make sure that Draco doesn't find out, or else he may think that there's something going on between the two of you."

"Gin, we were never even together for real, at least not since we were kids" Hermione said. She sighed and looked back down at her glass of scotch.

"Well if you're going to keep staring at it then why don't you just drink it?" Mandie asked. "This way you can be more relaxed when we pump you for more information."

"The spell that I gave him, it wasn't real, "Hermione mumbled.

"_What_?"

"The fertility spell or whatever, it's reversible." Hermione looked back up at her friends. "We didn't want it to be permanent because we did want to have kids someday. For a while, for a while I thought that getting pregnant would bring us closer when we were starting to grow apart. I placed a spell on him during the first year so that I would only get pregnant if the time was right, but the spell was on both of us."

"'ermione, are you _pregnant_?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean that you ended up in Hermione's office today?" Aiden asked Draco from his mobile phone.

"I mean that it turns out that I was supposed to see _Mandie_, of all people, but she was running late, so I ended up meeting with her partner who, of course, was Hermione." Draco slammed his head on his desk. This was not a good day.

Draco was sitting in his office at his desk trying to figure out what he was going to do about his ex-wife entering his life he had worked so hard to keep her out of. He looked at his left ring finger. It looked so free finally. Before it used to feel naked and vulnerable. Why did this have to happen to him?

"Well maybe this is all supposed to mean something," Aiden suggested.

Draco lifted his head from his arms on his desk and looked at his phone. Aiden was on speaker.

"You say that about everything you can't explain, dude," Draco mumbled. "Why does everything have to mean something?"

"Listen, Draco, I have to be in a meeting in two minutes, but here's my advice," Draco nodded, even though he knew that Aiden couldn't see it. "Just deal with Mandie. It's not like you're going to be seeing much of Hermione from what I've heard about their little…business, so just suck it up and forget about her. I mean," here it was, "just because you two ended up on a double date together then in the same office after a night of-"

"Don't you have a meeting to get to?" And with that Draco ended the call to sigh into his arms.

He lifted his head, told his secretary to tell anyone who called that he was out, and headed over to the pub around the corner for a quick drink.

Draco woke up the next morning with all of his worries as far away as he could push them. The lovely redhead in his arms stirred and he got up to go take a shower. A minute or two into his shampooing he saw the leggy woman walk in with her clothes on.

"Just wanted to say that I'm leaving," she said. "I'll see you around sometime."

Draco nodded at her and watched her tight skirt as it clung to her body as it walked out of the room and soon the house. A one-night stand was exactly what he needed.

As the water splashed on his face, he re-lived his meeting the previous day. Why did it have to be Hermione?

"I loved her," he said to no one. "Loved. I don't anymore."

A week later, across town, Hermione, Mandie, and Ginny were at the Potter's house. It had taken Hermione a few days to feel comfortable and brave enough to find out whether she was pregnant or not. The girls sent Ron and Harry out with Luna and Gabrielle and were using every pregnancy test they could think of, muggle and magical. It was too soon for many of the tests, but Hermione was confident when many of them ended up negative, but not all. One of them, a generic muggle test, was positive, but because it was five negatives before they decided that it was faulty, Hermione, Mandie and Ginny called the boys and met everyone for drinks.

Mandie and Ginny dressed Hermione in a special 'I'm Not Pregnant' outfit. The outfit consisted of a pair of skinny jeans, a black cami, heels, and whatever they could throw in as far as jewelry went. The girls their on their own outfits and headed out the door.

They all ended up at a nightclub one of Ginny's clients owned.

"I'll get the drinks," Hermione yelled to her friends over the music.

She headed over to the bar and stood between two girls a year or two younger than her, but who can tell these days, and a couple of men in a group celebrating something.

"The guy you met here last night?" The shorter of the two girls besides Hermione asked her friend.

"Yeah," the other one said. "We went back to his place. It was brilliant."

Hermione smiled, remembering the last time she…remembered talking about her nights out.

"Wait, the blonde one?" The first friend asked.

"Yeah, Draco something."

Hermione felt a jump in her stomach and her world crashed around her.

KNOCKKNOCK

"Draco, I'm pregnant."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Draco was frozen in the doorway. Hermione realized that he could be a while and stepped into the house and poured herself a glass of scotch in the parlor before realizing that she couldn't drink it and turned it into ginger ale and sat on the couch, waiting for the father of her fetus.

She heard the door close after her first sip and watched Draco stalk into the parlor.

"We only slept with each other last week," he said, almost to himself. "How can you know? Did we even do anything?"

Hermione looked out the window. "Because that spell I gave you wasn't what I said it was," she half-whispered.

Draco looked around the room and slowly found the seat across from her. "I took that spell off when I though it would help our marriage."

The two sat in silence in the room. Neither knew what to do.

"You don't have to do anything," Hermione finally said, standing up. "I just wanted to tell you that if my breasts and feet start to swell that it's your fault."

"Good."

"Good-bye."

Hermione walked out of the house leaving Draco sitting alone on the couch.

Once outside Hermione apparated back to the club where Ron, Harry, Ginny and Mandie were waiting on the sidewalk for their friend who was supposed to be getting their drinks.

"You knew, didn't you?" Hermione asked Ginny and Mandie.

The two girls looked down. Harry, with his arms around Ginny, asked, "knew what?"

Mandie turned around and took Ron and Harry's hands, not looking at either of them. "Maybe we should go back to Hermione's place."

The gang apparated into random rooms back on Meadow Lane. Harry and Ron went to the living room. Mandie was in the kitchen. Ginny ended up in the bedroom and Hermione went to the front hallway where she removed her shoes and earrings and put her hair over her shoulder.

"Marco!" Mandie called, levitating an assorted variety of food onto the table in front of Harry and Ron where Ginny was now on the arm of Harry's chair.

"Polo," Ron said.

Mandie plopped down beside Ron on the couch, leaning into his shoulder and closing her eyes, but leapt to the other side to let Hermione between them.

Hermione moved the food aside and sat on the table and put her hands between her knees. "I'm pregnant."

Harry's hand froze on Ginny's knee and Ron choked on the chip he's snuck when Mandie's back was turned.

"_What_?"

"I am with the child of my ex-husband," Hermione said as calmly as possible. "The result of a bitter divorce and excessive amount of alcohol and a _horrible_ spell. I am keeping, er, her, or him, and Draco knows but is not doing anything and please I am already regretting it enough but it was a horrible spell and too much alcohol and, ugh," she buried her face in her hands and shook her head, "how could this have happened?"

"It's alright Hermione," Ron said, putting his arm around her.

"You two knew?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Well-"

"How did you know?"

"We've known each other for years," Mandie said.

"And Hermione would never turn down a scotch," Ginny added with a laugh. "Remember when Draco first began to dista-oops."

"No. No. It's okay Gin," Hermione said, looking up and running her fingers through her hair. "I know that was supposed to be an instinct joke. But now no more pitying Hermione. I just want to let the guys know and ask," her voice began to crack and tears filled her eyes, "will you have a sleepover?"

Everyone looked at each other and went over to hug Hermione.

"What do you mean 'he can't see me right now?' I have an appointment!" Mandie Clarke demanded at the receptionist's desk in the front of Draco Malfoy's office building.

"I'm sorry, but he has no meetings today," the leggy woman behind the desk said, "especially with glamour blondes who wear last year's suits."

Mandie rolled her eyes. She was getting nowhere. "I happen to be his e-wife's divorce attorney."

The receptionist bolted upright and pushed a button. "Mr. Malfoy, there is a Miss Grey here to see you. She say-yes. Okay. And will you. Alright." She looked up at Mandie. "Top floor."

Mandie thanked the receptionist and stepped into the elevator. Right before the doors closed she called out, "and I'm a natural dirty blonde."

She smoothed out her straight skirt and fixed her blazer. It had been a week since Hermione's pregnancy scare and a week since she even acknowledged that it had even happened. The doors opened and she stepped into the most elegant lobby she had ever seen in her years of being a private investigator.

"Mr. Malfoy is in the room all the way down the corridor ma'am," another long legged woman, like the receptionist downstairs, said from a few yards away at her own desk.

Mandie walked down the hall and stopped at the last door.

"You know, I think I liked you better with your natural hair color, but I won't tell Aiden," Draco Malfoy said as the doors swing open at his hand. "Please come in."

"She's _pregnant_?"

Draco was on the phone with Aiden in his office. "What am I going to do? Wait a second, downstairs is beeping me. Mandie is supposed to come over for a meeting. Let me see if it's her."

"Mr. Malfoy, there is a Miss Grey here to see you. She say-"

"Does she have blonde hair?"

"Yes."

"Send her up."

"Okay."

"Thank you."

And will you-"

"No lunch or calls. Thank you."

"Alright."

Draco pushed the button to go back to his call with Aiden. "Mandie's on her way up. Are we meeting for drinks tonight?"

"Unfortunately no," Aiden said happily. "As soon as you're done with Mandie she's off to meet me for dinner."

"Well be safe. Bye."

Draco hung up the phone and opened the door to Mandie. He looked her up and down and let her in.

"You know, I think I liked you better with your natural hair color, but I won't tell Aiden," Draco Malfoy said as the doors swing open at his hand. "Please come in."

Mandie took a seat across from the large desk in the back of the office.

"I would prefer to discuss this away from the windows," Draco said, taking a seat on the side of the room where there were two chairs and a small table. Draco had a small stack of papers and two glasses of wine. "I also would prefer it if I didn't treat my best mate's, er-"

"Unestablished friend"

"Like any other common associate."

Mandie sat down and took a sip of wine. "So what do you have for me?"

"This man is an old associate of mine and dear friend," Draco began. "I think he is cheating on his wife, my aunt."

"Hermione didn't say-"

"I never wanted to tell her. I never told her."

"What happened with you and Hermione?"

"You're friends with her." Draco did not want to have to deal with this, especially not now.

"I didn't meet her until after." Mandie put down her glass. "This is unprofessional. Sorry. Now what exactly do you want me to do? Just the cheating?"

Draco looked around the room hesitantly. "Do your partners-"

"If you deal with me then, unless you say otherwise, "I'm the only one who deals with you," Mandie said.

"Then you can wait until I see that you can get me the information," Draco replied.

The remainder meeting went smoothly. Draco told Mandie that the man, in fact, was exactly what Hermione said he was, but nothing more than background information. The meeting also went quickly, as Draco refused to give Mandie more information than he was willing to give up.

"Okay, so I will check in with you as soon as-"

"How is Hermione?"

Mandie looked up from her papers in a half-rise from her seat. "She's fine," she said, slowly sinking back into her seat. "How are you taking it?"

"My ex-wife is pregnant and our meeting is over," Draco said, standing up. He walked to the windows and looked out at the view. "I will call you for another appointment next week."

Mandie knew that the conversation was over and made sure that she looked exactly as she did when she entered the office.

"Vat do you mean you are pregnant?"

Hermione played with the salad on her plate and looked up at her old friend. Over the years Viktor Krum had developed an old, mature look about him that was still nurturing with a young aura that left Hermione feeling safe to talk to.

"I am pregnant," Hermione repeated slowly.

Viktor took her hand in his. "Who is he?"

Hermione looked from her friend's eyes to her lap. "That's kind of the reason why I asked you to meet me here." She took in a deep breath. "It's, well, I went on a blind date last week and there was this spell and-"

"Hermione."

"Draco's."

Viktor had to muster up all of his strength not to cry out loud. He balled his hand into a fist, but didn't pound the table and instead looked away from Hermione. "_Vat_?"

Tears filled Hermione's eyes once more. "Draco and I got set up by mistake for a blind date and there was alcohol and the next thing I knew I was waking up naked in bed with him." She began to cry softly. "Please don't hate me."

"Oh Hermione," Viktor put his hand on her shoulder, "I could never hate you."

"Viktor Krum! Oh wow." Hermione and Viktor looked up at a young, blonde woman. "Can I have your autograph?"

"I am vith a friend, but-"

"Oh, well my friend over there," the girl pointed over her shoulder at a slouching man reading the menu on the other side of the restaurant, "he knows you. He said that you guys are old friends from school."

Hermione looked up at the girl, assuming that it was just a first date trying to impress her, but Viktor, who never wanted to be rude, said, "Vell vy not bring him over. I alvays love to see an old classmates."

The girl looked at him excitedly and rushed over to bring the man over and Viktor pulled over two chairs.

"Hello Viktor," a young man said a moment later.

Viktor looked up and his smile nearly turned into a frowning look of disgust and pure hatred. "Malfoy."

Hermione's head whipped up and she looked at the father of her unborn child…on a date. "Malfoy," she half-gasped.

Draco looked down at her with emotionless eyes and said, "Hermione."

"Ve Vere just discussing you, Malfoy," Viktor said. "Take a seat."

The girl looked ecstatic and plopped into the seat beside Viktor.

Draco, on the other hand, looked hesitantly from one former friend to the other and said, "I would love to, but Chelsea and I must be getting back to our meal."

"I insist," Viktor said sternly.

Draco thought for a moment, but slowly sat down in the chair beside Hermione and began to fiddle with his glass. Hermione began to play with her napkin in her lap, refusing to look to her left.

"So, Viktor, how have you been?" Draco asked, dying to break the silence.

"Quite vell, and yourself?"

"Draco's company just made front page of the Daily Prophet," Chelsea excitedly told them. She turned to Hermione. "You were in the Quibbler last week, right?"

Hermione quietly nodded her head. "I assisted in repairing the rift between the minister and the muggle Prime Minister."

"Wow," Chelsea said. "Friends with the ministers, dating the 2007, 2008, and 2010 world Quidditch MVP, you must be-"

"Viktor and I aren't dating," Hermione interrupted. "We're just old friends catching up."

"Well then you must have quite the interesting love life. Are you married?"

"Divorced." Hermione lifted her wine glass, filled with non-alcoholic wine, and took a long sip. "Where is that waiter with our lunches?"

"Oh my." Chelsea placed her hand on her heart. "I am so sorry. He must have been a real arse to have lost you. You seem like such a nice girl."

Viktor eyed Draco over his glass.

"I'm sorry if I seem so nosey. I'm a columnist for the Daily Prophet," Chelsea told Hermione, taking a business card out of her purse and handed it to Hermione. "I would love to do an interview with you. I'm sure that girls everywhere would love to hear your story. Sort of like our own 'Sex and the City.' It would really make a great issue."

Hermione stared at the girl. "Do you even know who my ex is? No offence, but you look like you're not even old enough to remember us filling the tabloids for what felt like forever."

"Mood svings," Viktor half-chuckled under his breath as Chelsea, who did look like she was only just out of school, got flustered up.

"W-well, it doesn't quite matter who-"

"I'm sorry, I have to go." Hermione stood up and headed to the door.

"Please excuse her," Viktor said. "I must-"

"Let me," Draco interrupted, standing up from his seat. "Excuse me."

Draco walked quickly out of the restaurant, bringing Hermione's forgotten purse. He caught up with her at the corner. He grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him. "What were you doing with him?" he demanded.

"If you are going to start demanding information that is no-"

"Hermione."

"Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy?" a man cried out. "Smile for the Daily Prophet!"

Hermione and Draco shielded their eyes from the camera flashes and apparated back to Hermione's place. She took a seat on the couch and rubbed her eyes. Draco walked into her kitchen and turned on her stove to boil a kettle of water without looking at her. When he came back with the hot tea, he looked down at her and placed two cups on the table.

"So you're pregnant."

Hermione sighed and took a sip of her tea. "You don't need to help or anything."

"What were you doing having lunch with him?"

"Draco, I am not going to discuss this anymore. Why can't you just believe that?"

"Are you positive you're pregnant?"

"Yes."

"And it's mine?" Draco had begun to pace around in front of her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's been a dry few weeks." She slouched back in the couch and crossed her arms. Draco groaned into the air. "Please leave."

Draco looked back one time before apparating out of her flat. "My mother wants to see you tomorrow for lunch."

Hermione fiddled with the napkin in her lap, trying hard to think of what to say when her former mother-in-law. She was considering just getting up and leaving when she heard someone call out her name in a happy tone.

"Hermione! Darling! How are you?"

Hermione stood up to greet the woman she once called 'mother' with a kiss on each cheek.

"Come, let's sit. Where is the waiter?"

Hermione didn't know what to say. She'd expected Narcissa to be disappointed and distant. Instead she was wearing a pastel pink robe with her hair flowing around her shoulders like it did in her school pictures.

"Er-"

"Oh don't worry. It's not your fault. Waiter!" Narcissa threw her hand in the air and almost instantly a young man was at their side with a bottle of the restaurant's best wine. "Leave it when you're done."

"Oh, no thank you," Hermione said as the man turned to her. "May I please have a Sunshine Splash?"

The waiter nodded his head and walked back to the kitchen.

Narcissa looked at Hermione. "I see you did your research."

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked politely.

"Your drink," Narcissa said as she took a sip of her wine. "You obviously researched drinks without any alcohol so that you wouldn't be left out when you go out with the gang."

"Well, I usually have to plan a lot of gatherings, so I like to make sure that there are non-alcoholic drinks other than water and juice," Hermione replied, a little nervous about where the conversation was gong. "So how have you been?"

"Oh I have been so giddy ever since Draco told me the news! I'm going to be a nanna!" Narcissa leaned in. "You know, I always liked you Hermione."

Hermione stared at the older woman. "Excuse me?"

"Yes. You were so bright and beautiful. Draco could have done _much_ worse."

"Yes, I remember how you always brought up the name Pansy Parkinson."

"Oh Pansy Parkinson is nothing but an annoying little tart." She took a long sip of her drink.

"Well, with the baby, I told Draco that he doesn't need to do anything, I only wanted him to know," Hermione tried to explain.

"And I respect that decision greatly, but are you so sure? I know that being a single mom is going to be difficult, but are you sure-"

"Yes ma'am. Don't worry, though." Hermione thanked the waiter as he put her drink in front of her, wishing she could down a bottle of vodka. "Besides, I have I strong support system from my friends and-"

"Well that is why I'm here darling. I want you two back together. A child should have two parents; not just a group of aunts and uncles."

Hermione knew this was going to be a _long_ afternoon.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"So what did ze in-law want?" Gabrielle asked as Hermione as she stepped into the office in a daze.

"Me to marry her son," Hermione said.

"_What_?" Ginny exclaimed.

Hermione sunk in a chair and looked up at her friends. "Where's M-"

"She's on a case," Ginny interrupted. "Now please tell me what exactly Mrs. Malfoy said?"

Hermione sighed. "A child needs a mother and a father, not just a big support group or something like that. I just can't believe this. She used to hate me, right? I didn't imagine that."

Ginny whistled. "Nope. She hated us all. What do you think changed?"

"Well eezn't eet obvious?" Gabrielle said, practically glowing. "She haz changed. She doesn't want what happened wiz her and her husband to happen with ze two of you. She knows zat eet ees true love."

Hermione burst out in tears. "I can't believe this is happening!"

Ginny knelt beside her and held her hands. "Don't worry Hermione. We're in this together. Gabrielle, wash your mouth out with soap, the muggle way, and cancel all of my appointments for the rest of the day."

"No, Ginny, you don't have to do that," Hermione said with a sniffle. "I'll be fine. I have an appointment with a few healers I met at school and we're going to see what's going on."

"Okay, but I want Harry and Ron to go with you."

"That's okay," the girls turned around, "the father will be going with her."

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

"I hate you more."

"You're a bad kisser."

"You never complained before today, and we were together for six years."

"We dated three years before we married."

Hermione sat uncomfortably beside Draco as they took the underground to a small office in the middle of London.

"Why again are we traveling this way?"

"Because I want to play it safe."

Hermione crossed her arm and leg and looked out the window. They were one stop away.

Draco turned and looked at Hermione. "Are you actually wearing _that_ to your appointment?"

Hermione looked at him. "I seem to recall you being the one who wore mismatching socks to court when the divorce became legal."

"Anything to piss you off baby."

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "You said that last time."

"You remember everything I said?" Draco replied with a smirk. "So please, remind me, how did I get you in bed again?"

"More booze in my body than at the entire graduation party."

"Oh my! Linette!" the couple heard from across the train car. "That's Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy!"

The girls raced over to Hermione and Draco.

"We read about you in the Daily Prophet!" Linette squealed.

"I'm, like, sorry," Hermione said in a valley-girl accent. "you guys must, like, have us mistaken, haha!"

"Oh," the first girl said, embarrassed. "Sorry."

The girls walked away and Hermione looked up at Draco, who was trying to hold back laughter.

"Thank your little friend for me," Hermione huffed, standing up to walk out the door as it opened up at their stop.

"What little friend?" Draco asked, trailing a few feet behind her.

Hermione whipped her whole body around and looked Draco in the eye. "Your little teenage friend who wrote about us in her little column. What did it say? What did you tell her? How did you even get my consent?"

She turned around and continued up the escalator.

"Wait a minute," Draco called up as he followed her, "you said, and I quote, wait, okay, so you never consented, but she wasn't the one who wrote it! It was that creep who took the picture! Besides, you were a little busy on your date to consent!"

Hermione turned around. She was seething. "It was _not_ a date!" She turned back around and stormed down the sidewalk and crossed the street.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, trying to keep up with her. "Hermione!"

An hour later Hermione was sitting beside Draco in the taxi on their way back to his house.

"I still can't believe you behaved that way," she mumbled.

"What about you?" Draco almost squealed. "You went in there all calm and professional. You didn't even take your shoes off. It was like you were still in the office."

"That's because I have something called professionalism. Maybe if you had some-"

"Don't start with that now Hermione. You don't want to get into a battle you should know you can't win." He looked out the window and said to the driver, "it's the third house on the next block," and pulled out his wallet.

"I didn't know you lived on this side of town," Hermione said, trying to make civil conversation. The healer said that the child will be able to sense tension from the womb. She had actually apparated the last time she was there and had no idea where she'd ended up. The truth, though, was that she only lived a few blocks east, but she would never let Draco know that. She specifically moved as far away from their house as possible.

"Well, considering the fact that you spent the night there just a few nights ago, I thought you'd know how to get here and back to your house like the back of your hand." The taxi stopped in front of an average-sized house. She was surprised at how modern it was able to look with such a cozy, suburban feel. "Thank you." Draco paid the driver and stepped out of the taxi. He closed it before Hermione could begin to get out of her seat, so she slid out the other door, not that she was going to let him be chivalrous. She followed him into the house, thanking the driver.

"Could you have been any more of an arse?" Hermione hissed as Draco closed the door behind her.

"How was I rude?" Draco demanded, storming off into the kitchen to get drinks. "The parlor is to your left."

Hermione stormed into the parlor and flopped onto the couch. The room was tidy, considering that he was a bachelor, with similar furniture that they had all those years ago. Back then, though, they lived in a big house with more rooms than they would have needed whether they'd had this child before or after their separation. They were more than comfortable and had plenty of space. Their house was usually designated as the party house when they had affairs or just Sunday brunch or Thursday drinks.

Draco walked back into the room with two glasses of Iced Tea. He sat on the coffee table in front of Hermione and handed her a glass.

"It isn't poisoned, is it?" Hermione asked sarcastically with a sly grin.

"Why don't you drink it and find out."

Hermione rolled her eyes and took a sip. "Draco," she said as she put the glass down, "why did you come to my appointment?"

Draco sighed and looked at her. "I am the father of your child and-"

"And your mother made you come?" Draco looked away, assuring Hermione that she was correct. "What else has she come to you about?"

"For us to be remarried, raise the child together and live happily ever after," he said. "Apparently ours is a love that is true and can survive anything."

Hermione almost snorted at what he said. "Are you serious?" When Draco nodded, she burst out laughing. "Well one thing's for sure. If there is _one_ thing that we can agree on, it's that your mother has gone insane."

"Those who live in glass houses…"

Hermione sent him a glare that used to scare him into taking out the trash, the muggle way, but now he stared straight at her ear rather than eyes and wasn't affected.

"I know you're staring at my ear smartass."

Draco stood up and took a seat in the chair by her. "Why are we even discussing any of this?"

"It's a fun way to pass the time?" Hermione suggested with a grin. "Draco," she said, getting serious, "we need to talk. If you insist on having _any_ part in this kid's life we have to talk."

Draco leaned back and crossed his arms. "What about?"

Hermione stood up and began to pace around the room. "First off, trust. I want you to mind your own business and trust anything I do and say."

Draco smirked at her. "That's two things."

"Fine. First, I want you to trust me. Second, I want you to only poke your nose into what I allow you to."

"My rules. First, we will agree on the life that you will be living while you are pregnant and you will begin by sitting and calming down," Draco said. He stood up and gently led her back to the couch.

"It's my life-"

"No. It's your life and the baby's life and therefore my life as well. Where are you going?"

Hermione had walked out of the room. Draco followed her to the kitchen to find her searching through his drawers until she pulled out a pad and paper.

"Make some coffee Malfoy. Obviously we're going to be here for a while," she said, sitting down.

Draco put his hand to his head. "Hermione, we have nine months to discuss this."

"I want to begin discussing ideas. We both have busy schedules and by the end of my second trimester, I won't even be in the country for a few weeks," Hermione said in a business-like manner. "I want to get as much over with as soon as possible so there are no questions or arguments later on."

"Why are you going out of the country?" Draco asked.

"Business."

"Where is Hermione?" Harry asked Mandie.

"Do I look like her keeper?"

"She went to her doctor's appointment," Ginny told her husband with a kiss on the lips. "Hi honey. How was work?"

"Not in front of the brother," Rom joked. He slapped the two apart. And pulled up a chair for Mandie from the next table. "So where _is_ Preggers? The appointment should have been over with by now."

"Are you keeping tabs on her or something?" Mandie asked.

"Are you menstruating or something?" Ron replied.

Mandie fidgeted in her seat and blushed. "A little," she mumbled. "I want chocolate milk."

Everyone laughed at her and Ron asked the waitress at the next table for a glass of chocolate milk.

"So where is she?" Harry asked the girls once more.

They looked at each other then away from the boys.

"Ginny."

"Don't," Mandie whispered.

"Ginny, where is she?"

"I sleep with him," Ginny told Mandie.

"Well I sleep with Hermione," Mandie hissed back.

Ron and Harry's eyes opened wide and they looked at each other with smiles, The girls knew what they were thinking. "Okay okay, wash your brains out. She did not mean it like that," Ginny said.

Harry took Ginny's hand and brought her onto his lap. He looked into her eyes and smiled. "Ginny…"

Ginny turned to Mandie with puppy eyes then back at Harry. "She's with Malfoy," she blurted out.

Harry and Ron jumped up, causing Ginny to fall onto the floor.

Just then, Hermione came running into the café out of breath. "Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. Ginny, why are you on the floor?"

"Hermione, you were with _Malfoy_?" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione looked at Mandie and Ginnny. "You guys told them?"

"It was Ginny!"

"What were you doing there for so long?" Ron asked as calmly as he could muster.

Hermione gave the waitress her order and turned back to her friends. "We were setting out guidelines for the rest of my pregnancy and what will happen after."

"What did you decide?"

"He will accompany me to my check ups and we will not let his mother force us into marriage," Hermione said. "By the way, she wants to throw a dinner party and invite all of our friends and family," she rushed.

"_What_?"

"Oh, and it's two days from now. Like Sunday. Well, I have to go find a dress. Bye." With that, she jumped up and practically ran out of the café.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Oh Hermione, isn't this dress darling?" Narcissa squealed from across the store. She had convinced Hermione to go shopping for a dress for the party.

"I don't know, what do you think girls?" Hermione asked. She had dragged Mandie, Ginny, knowing that she would need as much help as possible with Narcissa. And to annoy her.

"Er, I'm not sure what to say about it," Ginny said.

"It's…different." Mandie looked at the dress again. "It's a bit, um, much."

"According to my maternity magazines," Narcissa replied, "this happens to be at the height of maternity-wear fashion."

Hermione walked over to Narcissa and put her and on her shoulder. "Narcissa, I'm a month pregnant."

Narcissa sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. I know the story. You were set up on a date, the next day freaked out, took six tests a week later, but ignored the single positive for a week until you told Draco. Now here we are, another week later and you have yet to gain a pound. Darling, the party is to tell the _world_ about the good news!"

Hermione took the dress, along with the other three Narcissa had pulled out that the sales assistant were holding.

"I'll be right back," she said as she walked to the changing area.

Hermione pulled off her sweater and skirt and held up the dress to the mirror. It was nothing like Hermione would ever expect to come from Narcissa, the elegantly subtle dresser. The color was a bright purple with…oh she just couldn't look at it anymore.

She stepped out from behind the curtain and handed the dresses to a woman sent back there to make alterations.

"Thank you, but I won't be purchasing any of these," she said politely.

"And that is why you must always remember your make-up spells, ah Hermione," Narcissa said, turning around. "How were the dresses? Which one did you pick?"

Hermione took in a deep breath and said, "Narcissa, thank you for the help, but these dresses just aren't my sty-oh my goodness."

"So how vas shopping vith Narcissistic Narcissa?" Viktor asked the girls a few hours later at Hermione's favorite restaurant.

"Her usual self," Hermione said with a sigh.

Harry and Ron insisted on taking the girls out to dinner as soon as they were free from Narcissa's clutches. They had, of course, been invited to lunch, but insisted on giving the girls their space.

"She tried to lecture us about appearances," Mandie complained. "She actually thinks that I'm a glamour blonde!"

Hermione looked at Mandie. Tall, leggy, thin, any modelizer's dream. She had beautiful blonde hair that was kissed with every color the sun had to offer and left a little extra to touch her skin. When they first met, Hermione had been assigned to show Mandie around the office and automatically categorized her with one to sleep around to get to the top, but her looks proved to be an advantage and a good cover. The two became friends within a few weeks. Mandie was the wild girlfriend Hermione felt like she missed out on in school. She had Ginny, but it wasn't the same.

"Forget about her," Ron said. He put his arm around Mandie. "We know your hair is real. You tell us every time someone questions it."

Everyone laughed at Mandie until Ginny looked uu and squealed.

"Oh Mandie," she sang. She nodded her head towards the door.

The entire table turned around and saw Aiden step into the restaurant.

Mandie waved for him to come over.

"So that's why our table is bigger than usual," Hermione teased.

"Hello," Aiden said nervously, taking a seat beside Mandie. They kissed each other hello, accompanied in the background by sound affects.

"Sorry," Mandie whispered. "The babysitter couldn't make it tonight."

Aiden chuckled. "Don't worry dear, we can just distract them with some shiny toys."

Hermione watched the two. It reminded her a little of when she and Draco were married.

"I hope you all don't mind, but I asked a friend to stop by," Aiden said when he finally tore himself away from Mandie.

"Actually," a familiar voice said from behind them, "I made sure I was here. How else could I find out what my mother said while she was shopping today?"

The air tensed up around the table and a waitress pulled over a chair for Draco. Unfortunately, it made the order of seats Draco, Aiden Mandie, Ron, Ginny Harry,, Viktor, and Hermione, right between Viktor and Draco.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked quietly as Draco took a seat.

"Er, hi, I'm Aiden," Aiden introduced himself, feeling the change in atmosphere he obviously caused.

Everyone introduced themselves politely, trying not to let anything spoil their evening or upset Hermione.

"I'm here to enjoy an evening with those I once called friends," Draco replied under his breath.

"Draco!" Harry called, finally getting his attention.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was asking you how things were going," Harry repeated.

"Fine, and yourself?"

Harry smiled and put his arm around Ginny. "I can't complain."

Draco chuckled at the happy couple. He never had any problems with either of them. At least not while he was married to Hermione. If he didn't love his single life, he might miss being married to Hermione.

There was a momentary silence around the table until the waitress came to take everyone's orders.

Dinner went as smoothly as one would expect. Draco spent most of his time trying to talk to Mandie, who was distracted by Aiden, and tried to catch up with Harry. The two were best friends for several years of his marriage and were parts of one another's weddings. No one was very responsive to his false attempts and were relieved when the check came. Draco paid, of course, and everyone practically raced out of the restaurant to get back home.

Hermione said good-night to her friends, she was driving and Mandie was going out with Aiden for a walk, and began to walk to her car. When she unlocked the door, a shadow reached around her to open the door. She grabbed the wrist and flipped over the person.

"Hermione!" She stopped what she was doing and looked at the person under her.

"Draco?" she yelled. "What the hell are you doing under me?" She stood up and pulled him to his feet.

"I was getting the door for you before I was thrown to the ground," he sneered as he brushed some dirt his clothes. "What? Did you think I was going to attack you or something?"

"I didn't know it was you, so how was I supposed to know that you weren't?"

"I want to talk to you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed. "So _now_ you want to talk to me? You didn't want to talk during therapy. You didn't want to talk at home. You didn't even want to talk when I would trick you into having dinner with your own wife who only wanted to know what was going on in her husband's head! What's so special about now?"

Draco gave her a cold look. "I want you to control your emotions. Stress is bad for the baby."

"What do you want?"

"Like I said, I want to talk."

Hermione locked her car and began to walk across the street to a small park. Draco followed her and sat on a bench by a tall tree.

"We ended things on a pretty bad note," he finally said after a deep breath.

"I know." Hermione looked down at her hands. "I don't want our child to know that we hate each other. It will only be hard on her. Or him."

"Plus, with us as parents, he, or she, will also have to deal with attention from the media from time to time," Draco added. "Remember how hard it was just to have our wedding?"

Hermione laughed. "I was blind that whole day from all the lights flashing on my way from the house to the ceremony." She looked at him. "We were so happy back then." She held on to her feelings for Draco for all these years, but she was so hurt and didn't know how to feel, so she hid her confusion with hatred and disgust.

'I never cheated on you,' she thought, but was too afraid to say.

"Hello! Welcome! Come in!"

Hermione, Ron and Mandie looked at one another. They had come together in Hermione's car to Narcissa's house where the party was being held.

"Give your coats to the house elves," Narcissa told the friends. "Harry and Ginny are already inside at the bar."

Hermione, Mandie and Ron took off their coats and walked inside the house where they easily spotted their friends.

"Thank goodness you three are here," Ginny said instantly. "Almost everyone here either used to be a death eater or works for the ministry or keeps coming over to make small talk with Harry! Hermione, you look amazing for a pregnant woman!"

"It's only been a month Gin," Hermione said with a blush, but she knew how amazing she looked in her dress. She had only gained about three kilograms (6 or 7 pounds), but that was to be expected. Her dress was a simple baby doll style. It was pink and satin with spaghetti straps that fell along her ankles. Her hair was in big waves that barely showed off her freshwater pearl earrings (pink) that matched her dress.

"Well you still look amazing," Viktor said, walking up to the group of friends. Everyone said hello to their friend. "You know, I don't think I vas too velcomed here."

Hermione didn't say anything. She never told Viktor why she and Draco split up. The tabloids weren't too quiet, but he never believed it. She just laughed and took a look around the room. The Weasleys were all there, along with members of the Order, old schoolmates. Even Gabrielle was looking radiant with her boyfriend across the room. It was as though every magical person Hermione knew, publicly, was there. According to Narcissa, there was going to be another party for the muggles.

"Hermione my dear!" Cornelius Fudge called out with a smile. He walked over and gave her a hug. "Congratulations! I couldn't be happier for you. Where is your husband?"

"W-what?" Hermione asked.

"Well, you _are_ carrying your ex-husband's child, I assumed that the two of you were back together. You were always such a perfect couple."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Minister, but it was just a-"

"Hermione," Narcissa interrupted, "may I see you for a moment?"

Hermione excused herself and walked off with Narcissa, who led her to the study. She looked around the room. This was the first room she and Draco made love in in this house. They were there for afternoon tea with the Parkinsons and escaped to "show Hermione the grounds." That was the first time he said, "I love you."

Narcissa looked down at Hermione. She was at least a head taller and very thin, so her height was exaggerated. "Hermione, I understand that you want to be hip and modern by having this child out of wedlock, but it isn't the way that the Malfoys do things. I would appreciate it if you and Draco would present the illusion of a happy marriage. We will tell the press that the two of you have been speaking for the past few months and decided to give things another chance. You renewed your vows six weeks ago in Italy or wherever you choose, and have been trying to keep it quiet until everything was in order, but the baby blew the secret open and you decided to share your love with the rest of the world because it is stronger than ever."

Hermione stared up at Narcissa. "Are you for real?" she blurted out.

"Mum, you wanted to see me?" Draco asked from the other side of the door.

"Perfect timing," Narcissa said. She walked over and opened the door to let Draco in. "Hermione dear, you tell Draco the plan and I'll go get Rita Skeeter. Oh, and here's the new ring because you are starting everything fresh with nothing from your past." She left the room and closed the door.

The two adults could feel the tension in the room. Draco had only had the same memory as Hermione as he walked down the hall.

"So," he said, "what's this plan?"

"We've been secretly married for the past six weeks," Hermione mumbled. She found it hard to look at Draco, so she walked along the bookshelf.

Draco sighed and fell onto the couch. "What did we do?"

"We had a bad night."

"My mother."

"I know."

"I can't believe she's making us do this."

Hermione looked at him. "You're going to go along with it?"

"We have to, don't we?" He said.

"We can just tell everyone the truth, you know," Hermione replied.

Draco shook his head. "My mother would die."

"Like that would be so horrible," Hermione mumbled under her breath.

"I heard that." He looked at Hermione. "If we go along with the lie, it would mean that we would have to pretend to like one another, live together, and just cause complication."

"And we'd get caught because you shagged some teenager a few weeks ago."

"How do yo-forget it. If we don't go along with the lie, my mother would look like a fool. This is social murder in her eyes. And there would be question of the father. You were called a slut when we split up, imagine how much abuse you'd have to take now that you're pregnant."

"I think I hate you more now than the day I slapped you."

"Which time love?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but then it hit her. "We're going to say that we're working on a project together for, I don't know, something big. We were working late one night and getting along-"

"Here's the thing though, we hate each other!" Draco almost yelled out. "Why would we be working on something together?"

Hermione snapped her fingers. "Mandie and Aiden. We tell people we were accidentally set up on the blind date and had a pleasant evening. We slipped into memories for one moment and kissed, which brought back all the feelings we used to have for one another. Skip to when I found out I was pregnant. We decided that we knew it would not be the best time to rekindle our romance, especially with our history, but have decided to raise the child as anyone in our situation would and are working out the details. We're not getting back together. You proposed to be a gentleman, but I turned you down. That's not too far from the truth. Hopefully your mother hasn't told her story yet. This means we only have to be civil in public, not married."

Draco looked up at Hermione. She always knew how to handle a situation. "I like it, plus it would explain your date being here."

"NOTHING HAPPENED!"

"Smile for the Daily Prophet!"


End file.

Harry Potter, Romance