I'm sure you're all happy to see that chapter four is finally here. I know I am. Please read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter characters or the magical world in which they live. Nor do I make a profit from this.

Quick side note: I want to apologize for being ridiculously late in updating this story. I have been so stressed out lately with having to find a way to pay for college, finding time to spend time with my son and do homework, and maintaining my job, that this story has been put on the back-burner. I wish I could spend more time with it, it seems that it helps keep me calm, but unfortunately life takes precedence over hobbies. Luckily I did finally get around to finishing this chapter though.

So without further ado... Lax in Memory.

Chapter Four

Morning came too soon and Hermione's morning rituals (showering, dressing, morning sickness, etc.) went by too quickly. Before she knew it, Malfoy was asking her if she was ready to go. She had had to fight the urge to glare at him because it wasn't as if she had a choice in the matter.

After Apparating with a heart full of dread, she was now standing twenty yards away from Malfoy Manor.

She looked at the building with apprehension. The last time she remembered being here she had been horribly tortured. She had really believed when she'd left that time that she'd never have to set foot in this place again. Yet here she was.

Hermione shook her head. She really needed to look at this objectively. If she didn't, she drive herself insane.

If she had to say one good thing about the manor, then she'd say that it certainly looked much better during the day than it had at night. From behind the gate, the white, stone walls almost looked inviting.

"Well, are you coming?" Malfoy asked from a few feet in front of her.

The panic she had been keeping at bay erupted inside of her. "I don't think I can do this, Malfoy." she said as she took a few steps back. "I can't meet your parents."

Malfoy rolled his yes. "Of course you can. It's all in your head." he told her firmly. "And besides, you won't be meeting them. You already have."

Hermione put her face in her hands. "That doesn't matter!" she said with a slight pout. "It feels like I'm meeting them. I don't know how I can just go in there after everything and… It's too soon, Malfoy. And to top it all off, they hate me."

"They do not hate you." he told her, but then paused before saying, "…If you're talking about… that night… I mean, I can understand if you might think it's too soon, but Hermione, you have to realize that it's been over three years." Hermione knew he was referring to the night that she had been reliving, the night she had been tortured in his parent's drawing room. He then walked over to her and pried her hands off her face and then kept one of them in his grip. "Mother redecorated and remodeled the whole manor after the war. You won't even be able to recognize the place."

Hermione felt tears form behind her eyes. Okay, so she wouldn't be able to recognize it and maybe that would help with her horrid memories of the it, but that still didn't protect her from Lucius and Narcissa's cold views about her. "They hate me, Malfoy. They hate me."

Malfoy squeezed her hand gently. "No they don't." he said softly. "My mother adores you. She thinks your wit and the way you can manipulate me to do anything you want with a simple look is the most entertaining thing she's ever come across. As for my father, well, it took some time. At first he was reserved around you, but that only presented you with a challenge. So, after a couple months of patronizing and clever comments, he finally opened up. He's very fond of you now, if you can believe it."

A slow smile appeared on her face. "Really?" she asked and Malfoy nodded. She bit her lip in contemplation. "Well, I suppose I'm being silly. I mean, logically you're right. I've already met them. …Gosh, I am being silly." She let out the breath she had been holding. "Was I this much of a mess the first time?"

They started walking toward the manor as Malfoy answered, "Actually you were worse." Hermione gave him an incredulous look. "Honest. However, that was mostly because the situation was different since I was just as nervous. These are my parents after all."

Hermione smiled, but it faltered when she noticed they were approaching the gate, but not slowing down whatsoever. She tried to stop, but Malfoy kept on walking. "Malfoy, I know you're wanting to get there, but you're going to have to open the gate first."

Malfoy smirked over at her. "You'll enjoy this." he said and then pulled her right through the bars. They had both moved through the wrought-iron gate as if they were smoke. She looked from it and then back to Malfoy with wide, excited eyes.

"Was that an Ingressus spell?" Hermione asked. She'd read all about them of course, but it was her first time actually experiencing one.

Malfoy nodded. "The gate only permits select individuals to pass through them. You were added as one of those individuals as soon as we were engaged." He tugged on her hand again when Hermione started staring at the gate in fascination. "Come on, Hermione. You can examine it another time."

Once they were in front of the massive front doors, Malfoy gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. It was only then that Hermione realized that she had been holding his hand the entire journey across the yard. She was surprised that it felt natural and easy.

Her thought process was broken when the door opened to reveal a House-elf. "Young Master and Mistress. Welcome." it said humbly. "Jabby's Master and Mistress are in the parlor, Sir."

"Thank you, Jabby." Malfoy said and then he lead Hermione through the large entrance hall then to a room with a double-door entrance. Hermione took a breath to steady her nerves and then Malfoy opened the door.

"Oh Draco, Hermione, Lucius and I were wondering when you'd both show up." Narcissa greeted as Malfoy walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. She patted her son's own cheek in return and then walked over to Hermione. To Hermione's shock, Narcissa encased her in an embrace. "Hermione, it's so wonderful to see that you've recovered from your ordeal."

"Narcissa, can't you see that the poor girl's petrified?" Lucius said from the armchair he was sitting in. "I thought you said you read Draco's letter. It's obvious that her recovery is still in process."

Narcissa released Hermione and looked over at her husband. "I assure you, Lucius, that I did read Draco's letter and I am well aware of Hermione's state. I just thought we should welcome her here with open arms. I thought it would be good for her to know that we accept her."

Lucius gave her a skeptical look and Malfoy smiled slightly before saying, "Thank you, Mother, but she's just nervous. I'm sure she'll warm up once you get her talking. You know how she is." Lucius barked out a laugh. "Just because she's lost some of her memories doesn't mean she's still not herself."

Hermione observed the three Malfoys before her and she didn't know quite how to feel. Sure, she was nervous and rather uncomfortable, but in all fairness neither Narcissa nor Lucius had given her a hateful look. And of course the embrace Narcissa had given her was unexpected. "Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I'd like to thank you for inviting us over and for worrying about me." she said formally when she finally got her bearings about her. She didn't know exactly how to act around them, so she opted for politeness.

Both Narcissa and Lucius stared after her polite speech in silence before Narcissa said, "Of course we were worried about you, Hermione. You're family after all, and please call us Narcissa and Lucius. We're past formalities."

Lucius chuckled to himself. "Cissa, Darling, why don't you let Hermione sit down." he suggested. "I'm sure she's overwhelmed and we are, after all, her enemies once again." A blush colored Hermione's cheeks and Narcissa seemed a little put off.

"N-no." Hermione stuttered. "You certainly aren't my enemies. I'm just uncomfortable." Hermione's eyes widen as she realized how that must have sounded. "Oh! But please don't take that in a bad way. What I meant was that I just don't remember our relationships, in which case I don't know how to act around you both." Talk about putting ones foot in ones mouth.

Malfoy had an amused grin on his face. "Hermione, don't get your knickers in an uproar." he said.

"Draco!" his mother chastened him as she took a seat in the other arm chair in the room.

Malfoy gave his mother an apologetic look and then walked over to Hermione before leading her to the couch. "Now, please, take a deep breath and relax." he told her and Hermione glared at him, but he just patted her hand in reply with his grin still in place.

Oddly enough, Hermione wanted him to hold her hand again. For security purposes only, of course. It was just so unnerving to be sitting in a room full of people who used to hate her and everything she stood for.

Narcissa cleared her throat. "Well, I suppose we should eat now. The food's been ready since you arrived." With a clap of her hands, a table appeared in the middle of the room. It was large enough to accommodate all four of them.

A second later several House-elves entered the room (Hermione recognized one of them to be Jabby) carrying serving trays. The placed the food on the table and instantly the smell of breakfast food upset Hermione's stomach.

Hermione felt her face turn a tinge of green and was about to get up, but Malfoy's words stopped her. "Jabby, please remove all breakfast foods from the table." The elf quickly did as he was told as Malfoy turned to his mother. "I'm sorry, Mother, but Hermione's morning sickness is sensitive and breakfast foods happen to be one of the many things that sets it off. So, I hope you don't mind just sticking to the lunch menu today."

"Of course I don't mind, Draco." Narcissa replied and then looked over at Hermione with concern. "Please forgive me, Hermione. Had I have known, I would have made sure that no such foods had made it to the table."

When the table was finally clear of all breakfast foods, Hermione was finally able to answer. "It's not a big deal. You didn't know."

Lucius then cleared his throat, catching the table's occupants attention. "So, Hermione, tell me more about your amnesia." he said as he buttered his toast. "It's very fascinating to me how the brain can forget certain memories, but then still retain others."

Hermione hesitated before answering. "Well, er, my healer said that the type of amnesia I have is retrograde." she stated, feeling a little intimidated with talking to Lucius directly. "It means that my memory loss is worst for the events that occurred before my head injury and events from a long time ago are more likely to be safe, which they are.

"For example, I still remember my childhood, my Hogwarts years and the war, but my memories after that and leading up to when I woke up after the incident aren't intact." When she finished informing Lucius about her condition, she noted that talking about it in a scientific way was easier for her than talking about it when she let her feelings get involved.

Lucius picked up his fork and began spearing some of the smoked ham on his plate. "Simply fascinating, and is there no chance for you to regain them?" he asked.

Hermione sat up straighter. "There's absolutely a chance." she informed him. "I've already remembered little tidbits. They're confusing and don't shed much light on my past, but it does prove that it is possible for me to regain some memories of my former life." She noted that it was very easy to fall into her know-it-all habits, almost like it was a defense mechanism.

"Oh, Hermione, it's so good to hear that you're remembering things." Narcissa rejoiced from her side of the table.

Hermione's eyes widened. She hadn't realized that she had walked herself right into a conversation that involved discussing her memories. Malfoy had been right yesterday when he'd said that she wasn't ready to talk about them and even if she was, Narcissa and Lucius were not the people that she was going to indulge the information with first.

"Er, yes. There's only be a few though." she said vaguely. She chanced a look back over at Lucius to find that he was smirking at her and she also noted that Malfoy was smirking too. Hermione narrowed her eyes in thought. It was clear that Lucius could sense how uncomfortable she was about talking about her memories, but she wondered if he knew that it would have this outcome. Had he just manipulated the conversation? If he had, then he was more Slytherin than she had given him credit for.

Malfoy cleared his throat, but Hermione noticed that traces of his smirk remained. The cad! He must have known where his father was going with his questions. "Mother, I think we've heard the basics of her condition and that she's making progress. Let's not push for more." he said, saving Hermione from anymore questions on the subject.

Narcissa sighed. "Oh all right. There's a much better subject I'd rather discuss anyway." she said as she looked over at Hermione with a smile that was growing by the second. "As you know, Draco is my only son and now that he's having his own little darling, I want to know all about it."

Malfoy slightly chocked on his sparkling water, signaling that the topic was unexpected. Hermione, too, was caught off guard. "Mother, I don't think that's a much better topic." Malfoy said as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

Narcissa seemed slightly upset, but instead of pushing the issue, she weakly pouted. Hermione felt somewhat bad. She didn't think it fair that Narcissa be denied information about her grandchild. After all, she had already somewhat discussed this with her parents and even the Weasleys knew. With a silent sigh, Hermione said, "Actually I don't mind discussing it. I mean, everyone else knows just about everything and I don't think it's fair if we discriminated against you."

Narcissa's eyes lit up and Malfoy gave a tiny smile. "Wonderful!" she exclaimed, before asking the question that was on the tip of her tongue. "Now what I simply must know is if you know the sex of the baby yet."

Hermione found her enthusiasm contagious. "Yes," she replied before giving her a blithe smile. "It's a girl."

A very small sound of excitement escaped Narcissa's lips. "A girl!" she cried out in excitement. "Did you hear that, Lucius? We're going to have a granddaughter!"

Lucius nodded. "So it seems." he replied with a smile. "It may not be the next Malfoy heir, but I suppose there is always next time." Hermione blanched at the thought of 'next time'. She could barely handle this time let alone hinting at what was to come in the future. Malfoy sent his father an unimpressed look.

"What about names?" Narcissa went on saying. "Have you thought of any?"

Quickly recovering from the last statement, Hermione answered, "Er, no. I haven't given this whole situation much thought I'm afraid."

Narcissa gave her a small smile of understanding. "Well, when you do get around to giving it thought, don't let Draco pressure you into naming her anything you don't agree with." she said and Hermione responded with a confused expression. "I'm sure you've noticed the Black's tradition with naming their children after constellations. I'm afraid my son is a stickler when it comes to tradition, so when naming her, make sure you agree with the name as well."

"Mother," Malfoy started in an annoyed tone. "I would never force her to name our child something we both didn't agree on. Please give me some credit."

"Of course, Darling." Narcissa said formally and her tone made Hermione wonder if she was being truthful or not. "Please forgive me." Malfoy rolled his eyes in irritation, seeming to expect this kind of behavior from his mother.

The rest of brunch went by with relative ease. Narcissa spent most of it saying how excited she was about becoming a grandmother and Lucius would every once in awhile state some fact about business. Finally a group of House-elves came and cleared the table and replaced the food with a bottle of brandy for the men.

Narcissa took this opportunity to say, "Let's take a walk around the grounds, Hermione." This request startled her for a moment and Hermione wasn't sure if being alone with her mother-in-law so soon after re-meeting her was such a good idea. However, the idea of sitting in here watching the men drink wouldn't be that much more enlightening.

Malfoy protested the idea. "Do you have to drag her all over the grounds today, Mother?"

Quirking an eyebrow, she responded, "First off, Draco, I never drag people. Secondly, why shouldn't I be allowed to spend some quality time with my daughter-in-law?"

Malfoy looked like he was going to protest again, but Lucius interrupted. "Let the women have their walk, Draco." Lucius stated as he poured himself a drink. Malfoy still looked unsure about the whole idea. "If you're worried about your mother overwhelming your wife, then you can relax. You know as well as I do that Hermione can handle herself."

Malfoy seemed annoyed by this statement. "I know she can, but why should she have to? This situation is completely avoidable."

Narcissa looked insulted and was about to retort, but Hermione intercepted. "I'm actually fine with taking a little walk." she supplied, although she did feel a little nervous about the task. Malfoy cast her a look and then studied her face as if trying to determine whether or not she was telling the truth. She sent a small smile his way. "Plus, I'd rather like to tour the grounds."

"There you have it, Draco." Narcissa told him as she linked her arm with Hermione's. "And besides, you wouldn't deny your wife the pleasure of seeing where she was married, would you?"

This bit of news caught Hermione's attention. "This is where we were married?" she asked, now feeling a little bit more eager to see the place.

Malfoy nodded reluctantly. "…I suppose if you really wanted to see the grounds, I won't stop you," he said, unwillingly giving in. "but don't push yourself, Hermione. If nothing triggers your memories, don't overexert yourself." Hermione nodded grudgingly as she kept herself from commenting on how much he sounded like Harry and Ron at the moment.

"I knew I raised you to be a gentleman." Narcissa said with pride. She smiled softly before announcing, "We'll be back shortly." She then led Hermione out of the room. They walked down a long hallway before arriving at a set of handsome, French doors that led outside.

Once Hermione stepped into the afternoon sunlight, she felt a tingle of excitement. However, this feeling of excitement wasn't regular. It was as if her body were remembering that once upon a time she had stepped out of these doors feeling extreme excitement. And thus, this invoked Hermione to feel present giddiness as well.

The whole experience was strange and she was so overcome by it that she barely noticed that her and Narcissa were already moving across the lawn. She quickly cleared her thoughts and tried to push down her giddiness. "So, was I really married here?" she asked, feeling slightly disappointed at the enthusiasm that leaked into her voice.

"Of course, it is after all a tradition for the Malfoy heir to wed at Malfoy manor. It's been done for centuries." Narcissa informed her and then patted Hermione on the arm. "If there's one thing that you need to reacquaint yourself with, Hermione, it's that the house of Malfoy is a very traditional one. As was the Black's.

"However, as fond of tradition as Draco is, he's broken a lot of them as well." she added thoughtfully. "For example, he married you, even with your Muggle-born status." Hermione tensed at this revelation, but Narcissa quickly patted her arm again. "Oh, believe me, Darling, I've long overcome my prejudice concerning bloodlines. As has Lucius, but that has more to do with his fondness for you, I'm afraid."

Hermione relaxed slightly then. "If seems almost surreal the way we all ate brunch together," she stated. "but I suppose everything has felt that way so far."

Narcissa was quiet for a moment before answering, "It is funny how people change, isn't it? And I suppose for you, it would seem as if we've all changed in the span of a day. When in reality, it's been years. We've all had to look inside ourselves and decide what really is important and it's not been easy for everyone. Especially for my son." She paused in a thoughtful silence. "I know you don't remember, but Draco and Lucius were pardoned for their dealings with the Dark Lord. Their abandonment of the him kept them from any legal ramifications, but our family was still left in shambles. We had to reevaluate a lot of things and learn to adjust to post-war life.

"Adjusting for Draco was harder than it was for Lucius and it wasn't because he didn't want to change. It was because the wizarding world, in all of its irony, became prejudiced against the very people they defeated for being prejudice." Narcissa cast her a bitter smile. "A social stigma can be a terrible thing to overcome. It was nothing short of a miracle that he got the job at the Ministry and I'm so proud of him from working from the very bottom to where he is now."

"I can see the change." Hermione inputted almost in an awed voice. "I mean, he looks like the boy I went to school with, but every time he says something or looks at me a certain way, I'm stunned with the realization that he's completely different. He's matured, he's grown up and it's shockingly surprising."

A small delicate laugh. "Yes, yes. My Draco has certainly evolved into a promising young man." she said with a proud smile and then it changed into a rueful one when she looked over at Hermione. "And how I wish I could take credit for it, but I'm afraid the credit belongs to you."

Blanching, Hermione asked, "What?"

Her smile widening, Narcissa replied, "While it's true that he underwent the making of the foundation for his change of character in the year and a half after the war, it didn't really start to show until after he started dating you." Hermione blushed at the praise. "I wish you could remember all the progress he's made, all the evolving he's done. You've made my son a better person and for that I'll always be grateful. Not to mention you're bestowing me with grandchildren as well."

"Narcissa, please, you're making me blush with all this praise." Hermione pleaded, looking away as she tried to hide the evidence on her face. Narcissa just smiled, but didn't say anything further on the topic. Hermione then decided that in order to distract herself, she'd look at the scenery, which was the main reason for the walk in the first place.

The grounds of Malfoy Manor were just as exquisite looking as the rest of the place, which didn't surprise Hermione. Hedges were trimmed to look like magical creatures, roses blushes had been planted to make intricate designs, but what caught Hermione's attention the most was the white, garden arbor that was a few meters away from their path.

Seeing the arbor triggered another one of Hermione's memories. A transparent Malfoy was standing next to the arbor and the memory Hermione was just being given away by her father. She was wearing the wedding gown that Hermione had seen in the picture the pervious morning.

"Hello, my beautiful bride." the transparent Malfoy whispered lovingly as he took the memory Hermione's hand. "Are you ready to become the next Mrs. Malfoy?"

Memory Hermione bit her lip as she tried to fight back her excitement. "Oh yes, my handsome groom." she whispered in the same tone as she squeezed his hand in return. "Never been more ready in my life."

"Hermione?" Narcissa asked, concerned and successfully snapping Hermione out of her memory.

Hermione slightly shook her head and then said, "That's it, isn't it? The place where we said our vows."

Blinking in surprise, Narcissa answered, "Yes. Is it familiar to you?" She was clearly excited about the prospect of Hermione remembering something. However, Hermione didn't want to go into detail about the memory.

"I definitely feel as if I've seen it before." she said vaguely. "This place's atmosphere also makes me feel as if I was once very happy here." Which Hermione had to say was the last feeling she'd have thought to associate with Malfoy Manor, but she was nonetheless glad she did.

"You were very happy here on you're wedding day." Narcissa replied, then added thoughtfully. "That's not to say that you aren't happy whenever you visit, but the happiness one feelings on their wedding day cannot be compared to normal everyday happiness."

Hermione nodded. "I can see the logic behind that."

Narcissa then went on to describe every little detail of her wedding. The color scheme that was used, the exact number of guests, how many bridesmaids she had, and even down to the wedding dress designer's name."It was such a beautiful service and I can't believe Draco hasn't shown you the wedding album yet." Narcissa said after they had made their way back to the door they had existed at the beginning of their walk.

"I'm sure he'll get around to doing it soon." Hermione supplied. "It has been a busy couple of days. …Plus I think he's trying not to overwhelm me."

Narcissa nodded. "Yes," she said as they went inside. "It is something to see how much my son dotes on you. He never used to be one to show his emotions, but you've brought that side out of him. It's fascinating, if nothing else."

As soon as they entered the parlor, Malfoy was out of his seat and walking toward them. "I do hope you didn't wear her out, Mother." he said took Hermione's hand from his mother's arm.

"Honestly, Draco, do you really think that we would have stayed out there a minute longer than Hermione wanted?" Narcissa asked and Malfoy replied with a bored look. "We had a wonderful time and she learned a lot about the wedding you've neglected to tell her about."

Hermione felt him squeeze her hand and she squeezed it back on impulse. It was strange because it didn't feel strange or unnatural that she did. "Well, it's not like I haven't wanted to. I just don't want to push everything that she's supposed to remember onto her." Malfoy snapped back at his mother.

"And I'm not saying that you should." Narcissa replied. "What I am saying, is that your wedding should have been your starting point."

Hermione could practically feel Malfoy hum with irritation. She assumed that this was a normal mother/son squabble, but she felt caught in the crossfire, especially since she was stuck holding Malfoy's hand.

Malfoy was about to retort, but Lucius intervened. "Narcissa, Draco, this really is immature behavior." he said from his seat. "I had thought that the both of you would want to keep Hermione's first impression of us positive, but if you continue down the road you're going, I'm afraid you can say goodbye to that."

After a brief moment of silence, Malfoy let out a sigh and conceded. "Father's right, Mother." Malfoy said. "And if it'll make you feel better, as soon as Hermione feels she's ready to look at the wedding album, we'll go through it."

Narcissa nodded appreciatively. "That's all I can ask for, I suppose."

Malfoy nodded and then let go of Hermione's hand. She looked up at him questionably. "I'm sorry if you felt pulled into the middle of that." he said to her.

Hermione shrugged with a small smile on her face. "It wasn't that bad of a row." she replied. "I'm just glad that you came to an agreement. One that I'm sure you'll make sure happens."

His gaze softened. "Only when you're ready, Hermione." he said softly. "I won't force you to look at pictures in hopes that you'll remember things. You have to want to look at them."

Hermione had to blink back tears. Throughout the whole day, he had been showing her that he cared about her wellbeing, whether that be mentally or physically, and she felt touched by his concern. "I promise I'll be ready soon." she replied, hoping that she was telling him the truth.

He smiled down at her and then looked up at his parents, who were also sporting knowing smiles of their own. "Well, Mother, Father, brunch was lovely, but I believe it's time we headed home." he informed them.

"Oh, well, then please, take the Floo." Narcissa insisted. "There's no need for you to walk all the way back to the Apparation point." Hermione and Malfoy made their way over to the fireplace in the corner of the room. Narcissa kissed her son on the cheek and embraced Hermione. "We hope to see you both again soon."

Lucius bowed his head in farewell and then took his wife by the hand. "If you should need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask, Hermione." he said.

Hermione nodded. "I had a wonderful time and I'll be sure to stay in touch." she said and then grabbed a handful of Floo powder and said her destination.

Upon arriving in her own living room, Hermione felt a weight lift off her shoulders. It felt so good to know that she had made a good impression with Narcissa and Lucius and to know that they actually all got along. The day had turned out much better than Hermione anticipated.

The roar from the fireplace informed her that Malfoy had arrived back as well. She turned to him with a smile. She really wanted to hear his take on the visit. "So, how do you think it went?""

His smile was wide. "You did brilliantly." he assured her as he began to lead her out of the room. "I told you that they already adored you and that didn't change a bit. If possible, they adore you even more for how you're handling your situation." He continued to lead her until they reached the family room. Hermione looked up at him expectantly. "I thought you might want to unwind with a little television."

"Oh," she responded in slight surprise. "That actually sounds lovely." They walked over to the couch and Hermione, upon sitting down, liked the fact that it felt just as inviting as it looked.

After turning the television on, Malfoy flipped trough the channels until finally decided on a program he found acceptable. Hermione instantly recognized the show as one of the sitcoms she had watched up until the war. She was pleasantly surprised that it was still running after three and a half years. She watched for a few minutes, feeling happy that she still recognized the characters, but she was completely lost on the plot and was finding it hard to follow.

Malfoy chose that moment to clear his throat. She didn't hesitate to look over at him. "So you never said, what did you think of my parents?" he asked almost hesitantly.

She couldn't help but laugh a little at his uncertainty. "I found them completely charming." she answered and smiled when she saw his shoulders sag with relief. "Surprising as it was, I enjoyed listening to your father's views on business. He seems like he knows what he's talking about, and I also enjoyed talking with your mother. I know you were hesitant on letting me tour the grounds with her, but she really was quite easy to be around."

Malfoy seemed somewhat content then. "Good, I'm glad you like them." he said and then he paused for a moment. "…I know you think that I didn't want you to see the grounds because I thought my mother would overwhelm you and while that's part of the reason, it's not entirely truthful."

"What do you mean?"

He let out a sigh. "I mean, the threat of my overwhelming mother was only part of the reason I didn't want you to see the grounds." he explained. "You see, it was the first time since your accident that I've felt you were out of reach."

Hermione blinked in confusion. "Out of reach?"

"Yes, you were out of my sight and not even in the same building as me." Malfoy informed her, his expression just a tad bit guilty. "I didn't even know it would be that hard to let you go with her, but it shocked me with how strong the urge to keep you safe overcame me.

"Seeing you in that hospital bed after your explosion left me feeling so guilty." he said softly. "I'm your husband, yet you still wound up getting hurt. Seriously hurt. If anything fatal had happened to you, Hermione, I don't know what I would have done."

Hermione was silent for a long moment. He felt guilty about her getting in the explosion? "Malfoy, you know that you feeling guilty about what happened is completely illogical." she informed him. "I mean, there's no way you could have known that I would have even been in an explosion."

"I know," he told her seriously. "but that doesn't mean I still don't feel like I failed as your husband. And if I can fail at that, how will I be able to succeed at being a father?" He reached out and touched her stomach gently. His palm was flat against her and he caressed her lovingly.

The confession and gesture left her speechless. How was she to comfort a man about something like this when she had only just began to acknowledge him as her husband?

"Would you mind…" he started, but trailed off obviously losing his nerve.

"What?" she pressed. "Would I mind what?"

Seeming to mull over his request until finally he gave in. "Would you mind, if I could listen to her again?" he asked carefully.

Hermione covered his hand on her stomach. "No, I don't mind at all." It was the least she could do for him after all he'd done today.

Malfoy carefully maneuvered them so that she was lying flat on her back and he was kneeling the ground next to her. He then tentatively lifted up her shirt so that only her belly was exposed. Lastly he placed his ear against her once again. He closed his eyes in relaxed contentment and Hermione instinctively lifted her hands up to his hair.

She slowly began shifting her fingers through the fine, blonde strands. They were so soft that she couldn't help but repeat the process over and over. She had always been curious about his hair during their school years, wondering if it was as soft as it looked. She smiled to herself, satisfied that she'd solved the mystery.

They stayed in this position much longer than they had the night before. It was peaceful. Hermione running her hands through his hair, Malfoy almost half asleep against her and the TV setting the scene with some comforting background noise. It made her feel very tranquil and she assumed it did the same for Malfoy.

In an attempt to readjust, Malfoy's hand grazed her stomach softly causing Hermione to jerk laughingly. Malfoy looked up with wide eyes. "Sorry!" Hermione said as she went back to her previous position. "I'm a little bit ticklish."

A smirk grew upon Malfoy face. "A little bit ticklish? Don't you me extremely?" he teased. "You forget that we've been together for almost two years. I know all of your weaknesses. One being that you're very ticklish." He then proceeded to prove it to her.

Loud bursts of Hermione's laughter filled the room as Malfoy mercilessly tickled her. She tried squirming, pushing, kicking, anything to get away, but he was a lot stronger than she gave him credit for. "Please! Please!" Hermione begged between fits of giggles. "Cant. Breathe!"

He fractionally let up, but didn't stop. "Come on, Hermione, admit how ticklish you are. Admit I know your weakness." he said with a smile.

By this point tears were running down her cheeks. "Fine! You're right! I'm. Ticklish!" she yelled and with that he finally stopped. The next few minutes were filled with Hermione's heavy breathing as she tried to regain her breath. She finally found the energy to look up at him. She found that he was staring at her adoringly and she felt her cheeks slightly flush. Luckily though, she could blame it on the tickle-torture.

She pushed herself into a sitting position and after righting her shirt, she brushed back some of her hair. The excursion had wore her out. "Has anyone every told you that you don't fight fair, Malfoy?" she asked when her bearings returned.

Malfoy barked out a laugh. "Why yes, people have told me that." he replied easily. "And by people I mean mostly you." Hermione shook her head playfully and then rested her head against the couch and then she felt Malfoy reach out and stroke her stomach again, as if apologizing for his teasing behavior.

Despite her good mood, she couldn't help but wonder when Malfoy had become the way he was now. Had it happened before or after they had gotten together? And if it had happened after, what had drawn her to him in the first place? She wanted to know that answers, but was she ready to know them?

She looked over at him to find him still smiling with his hand still on her stomach. She then came to the conclusion that if he could look at her with a friendly face, treat her like a person with feelings, then maybe the story of how they got together was worth listening to.

"Malfoy?" she asked furrowed his brow in question, waiting for her to continue. She bit her lip, debating whether or not she should continue and if she did go ahead and ask, then how would she ask? Clearing her throat, she said slowly, "I just want to say that you've been really supportive about everything, more so than I ever would have thought. And I know I don't remember what our relationship was like, but it obviously was sincere."

"It was, Hermione." he said softy. "It is."

Hermione tried to smile, but her nerves were hard to overcome. "It's all a big mystery to me. I still have trouble understanding how we could have possibly got together, even though I've had about three days to adjust to it." she tried to explain. "I guess where I'm going with this is that I want to understand how we got to where we are. …I want to hear the story."

Malfoy didn't reply at first. Just stared at her as if contemplating her request. "Are you sure you're ready to hear it?" he asked finally. "You've already learned a lot about your past and you're handling it brilliantly. I just don't want to push you too far, too fast."

Hermione nodded. "I understand and it's because of you're reasoning that I want to know. You've been so understanding and concerned about me and for that I want to know why. Why are you so concerned? Why are we together? …I need these answers."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "All right. I'll tell you, but I must warn you that it doesn't start out the way normal relationships should." Hermione hesitantly nodded. Malfoy took a deep breath before launching into his story. "The place where we met up was at the annual Ministry Christmas ball about two years ago. Before that I hadn't seen you since the Battle of Hogwarts.

"Now, when it comes to the Ministry ball, you and I agree that it's just an excuse for the press to spread gossip and we both believe that our time could be better spent doing something else." he stated and then let out a somewhat annoyed sigh. "Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a choice in going. The ball is mandatory for all Ministry employees and with me being a newbie at the time I probably would have been fired if I hadn't shown up."

"What about me?" Hermione asked when he took a small pause. "I was working for St. Mungo's, right? Why was I there then?"

"Yes, you had been working there for over a year and you had been Top Researcher for half of it." Malfoy assured her. "However, Potter and Weasley were going to be there and St. Mungo's happened to be that year's sponsor. So, you went to support not only your friends, but your work.

"However, just because you attended doesn't mean you were happy about it." Malfoy said with a smile, seemingly remembering something from that that. "You had begun to hit a break through in your research and suffice to say that the only place you wanted to be that night was at home doing more research."

Hermione nodded. This sounded very much like her.

Malfoy continued, "…I wasn't happy about being there either. I was still being labeled as a Death Eater and not very many people wanted to talk to me and when they did, they made very little effort." He paused. "…I drank a lot that night. I had wandered out to the balcony to get away, to try and pretend I was anywhere but there.

"It was there that you stumbled across me and when I say stumble I really mean it." he said teasingly. "I still remember what you were wearing that night. It was a one shoulder teal dress that fit your curves perfectly. I thought you looked stunning. Although, I didn't admit it to myself at the time. You were holding a glass of champagne and it was clear that it wasn't your first or second glass. You spotted me and froze. If we both hadn't had so much alcohol in our systems, I dare say it would have been an awkward moment, but you quickly recovered and marched right on over to the railing to stand beside me."

"I was drunk?" Hermione asked incredulously. She'd only ever had Butterbeer, an occasional glass of wine and one shot of Firewhiskey to toast Alastor Moody's death. She'd never been drunk before and she could scarcely picture it now.

Malfoy smirked. "Well, maybe you weren't quite pissed yet, but you were definitely on your way." he relented. "Anyway, you walked over and we began talking about things of little or no importance and we drank. A lot. We kept calling for more drinks and that is when you became pissed.

"I don't even know who initiated the first kiss, but suddenly we were in each others arms, grasping at each other." Hermione's face heated up at this confession. "We quickly Apparated to your flat, where clothes were quickly shed. …I'm guessing you can deduce what happened next?"

She nodded quickly, her face still tinged red. She swallowed before asking, "Was I a virgin?"

Malfoy shook his head. "No, …Weasley had the honor of claiming that." he said through slightly clinched teeth.

Hermione felt relieved that her first time hadn't been done in a drunken state of lust and that it might have been meaningful. Of course, she had always pictured that her first time would be with Ron, but it was still unnerving that she couldn't remember it. She had had two lovers, but she was in the mindset of a virgin. How disconcerting.

"The next morning I awoke in your bed alone." Malfoy suddenly continued. "I had thought maybe it was your way of avoiding an awkward situation and since I was suffering from a horrible hangover I wasn't the least bit offended.

"After grabbing my wand and casting a quick anti-hangover spell, I noticed that I could smell food being cooked." he said with a small laugh. "I was curious, so I quickly pulled on my clothes from the night before and, admittedly, I let my stomach do the leading. I rounded the corner and found you frying eggs in a nightgown."

Hermione smiled. She really had developed some quirks in the last few years. …Sleeping with random men (not that Malfoy was a stranger, but sleeping with him had definitely been random), cooking in her nightwear when she knew she was alone with a man in the house…

"I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when you looked over at me with a smile and then invited me to sit and have breakfast with you." he said with a very wide grin on his face. "Typically I was the kind of guy who didn't stick around for the morning after. In fact, I always tried to leave as soon as the main event was over, but… those eggs smelled really good.

"And so I stayed. We talked about the most random things. I think we even ending up discussing how long cats live at one point. They were meaningless topics. However, we made a great effort not to bring up at the night before." Malfoy explained. "About an hour later, I got up to leave. You walked me to the door, shook my hand and said goodbye. I left thinking that was the end of it." A smile stretched across his face. "…Obviously I was wrong, though."

"Obviously." she replied almost shyly.

Malfoy's smiled faltered just a tad. "It wasn't hard not to think about you. You were hardly my first one-night stand and for that I won't even attempt to make you think that our fling was a cliché I-can't-get-you-off-of-my-mind type of thing," he informed her and Hermione didn't know if she should feel insulted by his less than tactful account or not. "but that didn't mean that I never thought about you. There would be certain things that reminded me of you, for example, when I would see someone with wild curly hair.

"These little reminders would invoke very strong feelings about you. The feelings they inspired ranged from curiosity to lust. They were very brief, but I think they worked like a slow poison because two weeks later it got to the point where I wanted to see you again." he said as he looked at her thoughtfully.

Hermione slightly squirmed under his gaze and took to twirling a lock of her hair to distract herself.

He just continued to smile and then shook his head laughingly. "I worked on writing you a letter for days. I didn't know what I could say to convince you to want to meet with me again." he said looking a little bit embarrassed by how vulnerable he admitted himself to be. "However, my fears were unnecessary because you must have felt the same way. I received an owl from you one night as I was working on your letter. You asked if I would like to join you for lunch at your flat the next day and since I wasn't going to let the opportunity slip by, I accepted."

"I asked you back to my flat?" Hermione asked in shock. Her bold future self really did know no limits.

Malfoy chuckled. "Oh yes." he replied. "I went over and we ate another one of your home cooked meals while again talking about random things. Except this time, I wanted answers when we were through.

"I asked you why you invited me over and you replied because I interested you and that the conversation we had had the morning after, as weird as it might have been, was one you'd found yourself thinking about often." he explained. "Of course, this only brought up more questions I needed to know the answers to, so I asked you if you saw our luncheon happening again in the near future and your reply astounded me."

Hermione sat up straighter. She was a little cautious as she asked, "What did I say?"

Smiling, Malfoy answered, "You said that you were hoping that we'd being doing more than just having a lunch."

A bright blush inflamed Hermione's face. Merlin, did she ever sound like a tart! And she went ahead and voiced her opinion.

A loud laughed escaped Malfoy's lips. "That's exactly what you said after your comment and your face was that exact shade of red last time too."

"Well, I mean, really." Hermione stumbled over her words due to her embarrassment. "I've never been the confident type when it came to the opposite sex and to hear about some of the things I've said and done… it's just flabbergasting."

Chuckling again, Malfoy nodded. "I suppose it is and I guess I should assuage some of your worries since you're so concerned over it." Hermione looked at him questionably. "After you said what you did, you quickly went on to say that what you meant didn't just mean sex. You wanted to see where you and I could go. So, you suggested that we continued having meals together and then maybe it could escalade into something more."

This made Hermione feel a little bit better, but this Hermione he spoke of was still too bold for her to recognize.

"So, that's what we did." Malfoy continued. "We continued to have lunch or dinner together. Either at your flat or mine and not even two weeks later we were having our first official, public date at Calisto. From there we dated for about five months before I proposed to you and then we got married six months after that. We purposely scheduled our wedding for the fifteenth of December so we'd have our honeymoon as an excuse to miss last year's Christmas ball."

Hermione smiled, but quickly went on to voice her concerns. "We only dated for five months before you proposed? Isn't that a little bit fast?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Maybe, but we're compatible in bed, we're compatible academically. …You are my equal in every way, so it's not too hard to see why I fell in love with you. I fail to see how the amount of time together as anything to do with that."

She was in awe by his words. Who knew that Draco Malfoy could be so deep? She looked down to fiddle with her fingers as she tried to process all of this new information. She remembered being told they dated a year before they were married, but she hadn't quite realized that that included engagement time as well.

As she continued to fiddle with her fingers, Malfoy suddenly stood up. "Oh!" he said as he quickly strode out of the room, leaving Hermione to stare after him. He had went in the direction of the study, if she remembered correctly.

A minute later, he came walking back over to her. Upon sitting next her, he revealed a ring in his hand. "This is your engagement ring. I swiped it from the sack of your belongings when you where in the hospital. I figured it would have been too overwhelming for you, but now… I thought you might want it back."

Hermione slowly took the ring from his hand and examined it. It was beautifully elegant with a centered oval shaped emerald, which was surrounded with tiny diamonds. The shank was also encased with diamonds. She was so entranced by the beauty that it didn't even register to her that Malfoy was trying to take it back.

As he gently removed the ring from her hand, he asked, "May I?"

She quickly realized that he was asking to put the ring on her himself. She studied him for a moment before she hesitantly nodded.

As he got down on one knee and gently took her left hand in his, she was suddenly thrown into another one of her memories. The transparent Malfoy and her weren't in their living room any more, but rather they were outside, under the stars.

Transparent Malfoy was kneeling with the engagement ring in his hand. "Granger, I can easily say that these past few months have been the best of my life and I know the reason for that is you." he whispered and her memory self looked to be having trouble breathing. "And I know you might think that this is all happening really fast, but I know that I love you and I want to prove it to you everyday from here on out, so Hermione, will you marry me?"

"Hermione," Present Malfoy's voice dissipated the memory and she looked at her hand to find that he had already slid the ring in place. She looked up at him found him staring intently at her. She wanted to ask what he was thinking, but before she could she noticed that he was leaning toward her. Her eyes widened. She didn't know if she was ready for this kind of step and was about to turn away when a loud meow stopped her.

Malfoy blinked and then looked over to the family room entrance. "Well, well, look who finally decided to come home." he drawled as he got up from his position on the floor and sat back down on the couch.

Crookshanks trotted over to them and hopped up onto Hermione's lap.

A huge smile lit up her face. Oh, how she overjoyed to see her old pet! "Crookshanks!" she said as she enthusiastically scratched behind his ear. "Oh, Pet, where have you been?"

"This guy hasn't been home in the last week," he informed her as he sank lower into the comfortable seat. "but that's really not that unusual. Ever since I started sharing your bed he's been gone more. I assume he doesn't like to share, although I can't say I'm too keen on it either."

Hermione continued to scratch her cat's head for a couple of minutes before looking over at Malfoy. He had been so helpful today and she really would like to become better acquainted with him. It was evident that they were compatible and she was carrying his child… "Thank you everything today,… Draco." she said with a small smile.

Draco blinked, but soon returned her smile and took her free hand in his. "No need to thank me, Love. I'm happy to help."

TBC: Please leave a review. Your encouragement and input really does help me.

Quick side note: I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I sorta have mixed feelings about it. However, I suppose all that matters it that you all enjoyed it.

Another quick side note: I've made a fan page for my Fanfiction on Facebook. If you have an account you should go check it out. I've got visual aids for this story and you'll be able to know how my future chapter progression is going. The link is on my profile page.

Love - SnuggleLove54