A/N – Welcome to my new story – Return to Love. It has 14 chapters in all and updates will be the usual Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I hope you enjoy the story.

After spending her Saturday morning doing housework, Hermione Malfoy headed upstairs to get ready for her afternoon shopping trip with her friend, Ginny Potter. The two witches had arranged to go shopping weeks ago and had arranged it so their husbands were available to look after the kids so they could have a hassle free afternoon. Hermione and her husband, Draco Malfoy, were the parents of a two, almost three year old boy named Scorpius and Hermione was four months pregnant with their second child. Ginny and her husband, Harry Potter, had two children, four year old James and nine month old Lily.

Hermione was looking forward to the afternoon with Ginny so she could get a bit of peace and quiet. Scorpius was just a month short of his third birthday and he was quite a handful when he wanted to be. Since having Scorpius, Hermione had only worked part time as a Potions Researcher at the Ministry of Magic, so she spent the majority of her time with the toddler and was looking forward to a bit of a break.

Another reason Hermione was looking forward to going out for the afternoon was that it would give her some space from Draco. The couple had always had a fiery relationship and arguments weren't uncommon in their life, but just at the minute things seemed extra tense between them. Hermione knew her pregnancy was affecting her hormones, making her extra sensitive and more prone to snapping at Draco, but the arguments still seemed a more frequent occurrence these last few months.

Draco's work was the main source of discontentment between the couple at the minute. Draco worked alongside his father at the family company, and while Hermione had always known her husband had a strong work ethic, in recent weeks it seemed he was putting work before her and Scorpius. Several times lately he'd been late home from work and had been working on weekends, not to mention all the extra business trips he was taking. Most of the time Hermione was convinced that he could delegate half of what he was doing himself, leaving him more time to spend with his family, but Draco was insistent that he needed to be the one doing the work.

As if Draco's work schedule wasn't enough of a problem, they were also arguing about his father, Lucius. Lucius had never hidden the fact he disliked the fact that his son had married a muggleborn. The war had changed the Malfoy family's views on blood status, and while Lucius no longer held as much prejudice against muggleborns, he still thought the Malfoy family should remain pure. However, Draco had refused to succumb to the pressure his father put on him and he'd married Hermione regardless of his father's disapproval.

Despite the marriage and the fact Draco and Hermione been together for years, Lucius still wasn't giving up on making sure his son ended up with a pureblood witch. Before Hermione and Draco had gotten together, Lucius had it lined up that his son would marry Astoria Greengrass, the pureblood daughter of a friend on his. Every opportunity he had Lucius dropped Astoria into the conversation and he always made sure the beautiful witch was present at parties and functions.

The previous week Hermione and Draco had attended a dinner for the charity Draco had set up after the war. Draco's parents were also present at the dinner and Lucius had managed to ensure Astoria got an invite. Despite the fact he was a married man, Astoria was more than happy to flirt outrageously with Draco. Draco never once responded to Astoria's flirtations, but in Hermione's opinion he didn't stop them either. When Hermione had confronted her husband about Astoria, Draco had made it clear that he wasn't interested in the younger witch and Astoria knew that, all she was doing was harmlessly flirting. Hermione still thought her actions were over the top and that Draco should put an end to them, but he refused to cause trouble because Hermione was jealous.

The whole incident with Astoria had turned into a full scale row once they couple had returned home and several days later the atmosphere between them was still tense. Hermione knew that they would settle their differences and work things out, but until then an afternoon away from Draco was just what she needed.

Just as Hermione was thinking how much she was looking forward to her afternoon with Ginny, the bedroom door opened and Draco entered the room carrying Scorpius. Hermione smiled at the sight of her husband and son, who was a miniature version of his father. No matter how much she and Draco argued, she was still madly in love with him and just seeing him brought a smile to her face.

"I'm sorry Hermione, there's been a change of plan," Draco announced, placing Scorpius on their king size bed before he headed over to the wardrobe.

"What sort of change?" Hermione demanded as her husband pulled out a work shirt and a pair of dark trousers from the wardrobe.

"I have to go into work," Draco replied as he began to get changed. "Father just flooed, asking if I could take a meeting he had organised."

"And why couldn't he take the meeting?" Hermione asked.

"Something came up," Draco shrugged. "I didn't delve into details."

"Why not? You're busy Draco, you can't go off to work," Hermione told her husband.

"This is important, Hermione." Draco sighed wearily, getting sick of having the same conversation with his wife. "And it's not as if you're doing anything special. You're only going shopping. It won't kill you to take Scorpius with you."

"This isn't fair, Draco," Hermione hissed at her husband. "Ginny and I have had this planned for weeks. You're supposed to be minding Scorpius, while Harry has James and Lily. Harry won't have let Ginny down like this."

"I'm sorry I'm not the perfect husband like Saint bloody Potter," Draco snarled. Most of the time he actually quite liked Hermione's friends, but he didn't like being compared to Harry in a less than favourable light.

"That's not what I meant," Hermione said with a sigh. "I'm just pointing out how you're not only letting me down, but you're also letting Ginny and Harry down. Because of you, we'll have to change plans now."

"For Merlin's sake Hermione, it's only a bloody shopping trip," Draco snapped. "You can rearrange it for another day."

"And you could rearrange your meeting for a day where you're not supposed to be looking after your son," Hermione shot back. "Or better yet, you could tell your father where to stuff it and not go running when he calls."

"Not this again," Draco muttered as he picked up a tie. Lucius had been an issue between him and Hermione since they'd gotten together, but in these last few weeks his wife and father seemed to have upped their animosity levels towards one another and he was stuck in the middle.

"The truth hurts, does it?" Hermione questioned. "Because these days Lucius calls and you go running. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he planned this entire thing to cause trouble. He knew I was busy today and that you were looking after Scorpius."

"From where I'm standing it's not Father who's causing trouble, it's you," Draco said to his wife. "I'll be a couple of hours, it's not the end of the world."

"Please yourself," Hermione snapped, walking over to the bed and picking Scorpius up in her arms. "Go to work, see if I care."

Without glancing in Draco's direction, Hermione stormed out of the bedroom and headed downstairs. In the front room, she settled Scorpius down on the plush carpet and got him a pile of his toys out for him to play with. While the two year old immediately began making a mess and playing with his toys, Hermione sat on the sofa watching her son.

Less than five minutes after Hermione had arrived in the front room, she heard Draco's footsteps on the stairs. When her husband poked his head around the door to the front room, Hermione studiously ignored him. Shaking his head, Draco turned away and minutes later Hermione heard the floo network sound from the floo room across the hall.

"Git," Hermione muttered to herself as her husband left the house.

After taking a couple of calming breaths, Hermione got up and grabbed some parchment from a nearby drawer. Scribbling a note to Ginny to cancel their afternoon, she then quickly ran across the hallway to the room where their owl lived. Attaching the note to its leg, she released the owl before heading back to Scorpius.

"It looks like it's just you and me, Scorp," Hermione sighed, picking her son up for a hug.

Scorpius remained in her arms for a few minutes, before he started to wriggle and call to be put down so he could play. Letting Scorpius get back to his toys, Hermione sat down on the sofa. Hermione had only been sitting there for a few minutes when she heard the floo network sound from across the hall. Hermione wasn't sure if it was Draco returning for something so she didn't bother to get up. Besides, the floo was set up so only family and close friends could enter the house without first having to gain permission so she wasn't bothered about a stranger wandering around the house.

"Hermione," Ginny's voice called from the floo room, revealing to Hermione that it hadn't been her husband returning.

"In here, Gin," Hermione called back to her friend.

Seconds later Ginny entered the front room with a friendly smile. After giving Scorpius a quick kiss and a hug, Ginny settled herself next to Hermione.

"I'm sorry about this afternoon," Hermione said.

"Don't worry about it," Ginny replied with a smile. "I've cancelled on you loads because Harry was called into work at short notice."

"That's different Gin," Hermione pointed out. "Harry's an Auror, if he's called into work he can't refuse to go. Draco's the boss, he could have arranged for someone else to take the blasted meeting."

"Hermione, it's not important. We can go shopping another time," Ginny soothingly told her friend. For some reason Hermione had been pretty highly strung during her second pregnancy and everyone had noticed it only took the smallest thing to set her off.

"I guess we can," Hermione conceded. "I'm just annoyed that Draco has once again put Lucius above us."

"You know he thinks the world of you and Scorpius," Ginny argued. Like all of Hermione's friends she'd been sceptical when she'd started dating Draco, but the blond wizard had long ago proved that Hermione meant the world to him and he would do anything for her. "And you think the world of him."

"Not right now, I don't," Hermione muttered. "Right now I could happily strangle him."

"But you love him anyway," Ginny chuckled.

"I do," Hermione admitted with a small smile.

"Aunt Gin," Scorpius cried, interrupting the conversation by patting Ginny on the leg and holding out a book to her. "Story time."

"Okay little man, hop on," Ginny said, lifting Scorpius onto her knee and seeing what book he'd brought with him.

"Do you want a coffee?" Hermione asked Ginny.

Ginny nodded and smiled at Hermione, before she turned her attention to her godson. Opening Scorpius's book about dragons, Ginny began to read to the two year old while Hermione went off and made coffee and juice for Scorpius.

Ginny stayed for nearly an hour reading to Scorpius and chatting to Hermione. When Scorpius began to fall asleep in Ginny's arms, Hermione gently picked up her son so she could tuck him up in his own bed.

"I'll be off," Ginny whispered as the two witches made their way out of the front room. "See you later, Hermione."

"Bye Gin." Hermione smiled at her friend as the two went their separate ways.

Hermione was halfway up the stairs with Scorpius when she heard the floo network sound as Ginny headed home. As they reached the top of the stairs, Hermione failed to spot the small quidditch figure that fell from Scorpius's pocket and landed on the top step. Heading into Scorpius's room, Hermione settled her son down on his bed and cast several charms that would alert her when he woke up and would prevent him from leaving his room. The last thing she wanted was for the toddler to wake up and leave his bedroom and accidentally fall down the stairs or something.

Quietly, Hermione left Scorpius bedroom and headed back towards the stairs so she could go and curl up in front of the fire with a book. The second Hermione's foot touched the top stair it connected painfully with the quidditch figure that was lying there and the unexpected toy caused her to cry out in pain lose and her balance. Before Hermione had a chance to react and try to save herself using magic, she was tumbling head over heels down the stairs. As she fell her thoughts flitted between the safety of her unborn baby and Scorpius sleeping upstairs and what would happen if he woke up and no-one went to see to him.

With a loud crash, Hermione reached the bottom of the stairs. The final impact knocked Hermione out cold and as she lay unmoving at the foot of the stairs, upstairs Scorpius woke up and started crying, having been disturbed by the noise of his mother tumbling down the stairs.