Eleven Years Later
September 1, 2010
Hermione, Harry, and Ron were all walking down the King's Cross platform with their children by their sides. It was crazy to think how long ago it had been since the first time they boarded the train that took them to Hogwarts. "Where's Ginny?" She asked Harry.
Harry laughed. "Oh you know her, practice ran late but she'll be here."
Ron spoke next. "Don't worry, 'Mione." He laughed. "Gin' wouldn't dare miss her own son and niece leaving us for Hogwarts."
Hermione smiled. "Very true."
It was a surreal feeling to be there. Ron and his wife Susan were standing with their daughter Rose. She was only eight which meant she has at least two more years until she went off to Hogwarts. Harry was standing with James and Albus. It was James' first year as well and Albus was just a year behind. In the next three years, all of their children would be away at school.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Everyone turned to see Ginny running through the crowd with her coat halfway on and her purse swinging from side to side. She huffed to a stop. "Sorry, Pra-"
"Practice ran late." Everyone said at the same time, even then children.
Ginny rolled her eyes and bent down to kiss her children on the top of their heads. She then turned to Harry and gave him a peck on the cheek.
Ron's face twisted and Harry smiled. "It's lovely to see you too, Wife."
Ginny smiled. "Did I miss anything?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, but we only have about 10 minutes left." Ginny gave her a sympathetic smile. "Don't start that, Gin'. I've made it through the entire day without crying so far."
"Okay, okay, fine. I have my own little angel to say goodbye to anyways." Ginny bent down and gave James a big hug.
"Stopp, Mum. You're being weird." James tried to pull out of her arms but he wasn't strong enough.
Everyone laughed and Hermione looked down at her daughter who looked anxious. She bent down and pushed her hair behind her ears. "It's okay, sweetie. I remember my first day too and it was scary but I just know you are going to have so much fun and you will have James there with you as well."
Her daughter smiled at her and wrapped her arms around her neck. "I'll miss you, Mummy."
"I'll miss you too, love." She spoke into her daughter's neck. "I'll write you every single day."
"Well, maybe not every day." Her daughter laughed.
Hermione laughed with her as they pulled apart. A flash of white out of the corner of her eye made her head turn. For a moment she thought she was seeing things but when her eyes adjusted, she gasped at what she saw.
"Who is that, Mum?
Hermione watched the scene of her daughter's father saying goodbye to his son fifteen feet away from her. The moment the boy walked away he turned and caught her eyes. His face fell into pure shock as he looked at her and then at their daughter.
"Mum?" Her daughter spoke with confusion.
"Uhm- I-" She paused and took a deep breath. "An old friend from school." She turned to her daughter and then to Ginny. "Can you take her for a moment?"
Ginny furrowed her eyebrows before noticing what Hermione had just moments before. "I got her."
'Thank you.' Hermione mouthed to Ginny before standing up and preparing herself for a conversation she hadn't thought about in years. She walked up to the man she saw every day in her daughter's face. His eyes were still on their daughter until she stopped a few feet in front of him. "Malfoy."
"Is-" He looked back to their daughter. "Is that-"
Hermione nodded.
Draco let out a sigh. "She has your hair."
Hermione smiled and looked back at her daughter. "She has your eyes." She looked back to Draco.
Draco ran his hand over his mouth. "I have a daughter?"
Hermione saw something she had never seen in years, a true Draco Malfoy smile. "Yes."
Draco shook his head in disbelief. "How old is she?"
"Ten," Hermione said. "She'll be eleven in October." She watched as Draco processed the information. "Her name is Cassie. It's short for Cassiopeia."
Something flashed in Draco's eyes as his eyes flicked to hers. "Like the constellation."
Hermione nodded with a smile. "I have always respected your decision, Malfoy, but I know your family's tradition with names. I wanted her to have something that connected her to her Father. I mean, no matter what, she is still a Malfoy."
Draco's eyes glistened. "Can I- Can I meet her?"
Hermione let out a deep breath and nodded. "I told you years ago that I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to see her one day. That never changed for me." She watched as Draco smiled. "Maybe after we can get a cup of coffee and talk."
Draco nodded. "I'd like that."
Hermione smiled and nodded her head toward her daughter. "Are you ready then?"
Draco sighed. "I just hope I don't screw this up."
Hermione laughed. "You won't." They walked side by side over to Ginny and their daughter but stopped a few feet away. "Stay here. I'll bring you to her." Hermione walked to Ginny and took Cassie's hand, giving Ginny a smile.
Hermione and Cassie walked over to Draco, hand in hand. "Cassie," She said, bending down to her daughter's height. "This is a friend of mine from school I would like you to meet."
Draco bent down on one knee in complete shock. He wasn't sure what to do so he put his hand out toward her. "It's nice to meet you, Cassie."
Cassie was hesitant and looked to her mum for help. Hermione nodded to her to show that it was okay. She reached her hand out into his hand and shook it. "What's your name?"
He smiled. "Draco Malfoy."
Cassie smiled back at him. "Hey! Your name is a constellation like mine!."
Draco laughed. He seemed to almost have a sparkle in his eye. "Why yes, it is."
As Hermione watched Draco and their daughter meeting for the first time she felt a warm feeling in her chest. She didn't realize it until now, but she had been waiting for this moment for 11 years. It was a wonderful sight to see.
The train's horn blew three times signaling that it would be leaving the station in two minutes. Hermione looked at her daughter and Draco. "It's time to go, sweetie." She gave her daughter a big smile, trying to hide her sadness.
Cassie pouted her lip and hugged Hermione around the neck. "I love you, Mum."
Hermione hugged her tighter. "I love you too, Cassie."
Cassie pulled away from her mum and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it'll be okay to write those letters every day." She and Hermione laughed before she turned to Draco. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Malfoy."
Hermione watched as the two smiled at each other before Draco spoke. "I hope to see you again, Cassie."
Hermione's heart clenched knowing what those words meant. She looked up at Draco as he met her eyes with a smile on his face. The contact was broken when Cassie hugged her one last time.
Hermione and Draco turned and watched as she ran to jump on the train right behind James. She looked at the windows and waited for her daughter's face to appear and the moment she spotted her she had a huge smile on her face. Cassie and James were hanging out of the window waving their hands at their parents.
A single tear fell down her face and she quickly wiped it away before anyone could see. In the window next to James and Cassie was Draco's son. That was when it set in that Cassie had a brother. Another tear slipped from her eyes as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to her left to see Ginny standing there with her own tears in her eyes. The two of them embraced each other as the train left the station and they waved goodbye to their children.
~
Hermione sat across from Draco in the muggle coffee shop she had been to many times before. The waitress had just sat down her coffee and Draco's tea. It was hard to know where to start when you hadn't seen someone in eleven years, let alone that someone being the father of her child.
He had changed a lot since school. His hair was slightly longer, a few pieces falling onto his forehead. She could see the aging in his face, though it wasn't very noticeable. She was pretty sure he had grown a few inches as well. His shoulders were most definitely broader and, from what she could tell, his arms were much more muscular than before.
"When was she born?"
Hermione was pulled from her thoughts. "October 18th, 1999." She wrapped her hand around her mug.
Draco let out a small laugh, looking down at his tea. "I always wondered."
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and leaned slightly forward onto the table. "What do you mean?"
Draco looked up from his cup and met her eyes. "Every year I wondered which day that passed had been her birthday."
She took a sip of her coffee. "How come you didn't know that she was a girl? We've been in the papers more times than I can count."
"I wanted to look, but I couldn't. After me and Astoria-" He broke off, clearing his throat.
"You don't have to talk about it." Hermione leaned back into her seat.
Draco shook his head. "It's fine, we didn't have the best marriage but she was the mother of my son." He paused. "Astoria and I got married early because she became pregnant with Scorpius. My mother didn't want another Malfoy scandal so we got married the August after we got out of school."
"When is his birthday?" Hermione asked.
The corner of Draco's mouth lifted. "April 15th, 2000. We weren't trying but somehow after the first time, it happened."
Hermione laughed into her cup. "Maybe it's you then."
Draco's mouth dropped open slightly in disbelief. "Nice one, Granger." He shook his head and continued. "Astoria didn't want to stay in England after everything so we moved to France."
Hermione nodded. "I know."
Draco looked at her with confusion. "What do you mean?"
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't not going to keep tabs on the father of my child."
He leaned forward onto the table. "So, what do you know?"
"Not much." Hermione looked down at her cup. "I know that you both moved to France and that you had a son named Scorpius but I didn't realize he was as old as Cassie. I also heard about Astoria." She said the last part softly.
Draco traced his finger along the rim of his cup. "She died when Scorpius was three. He barely remembers her now." He paused, sighing. "After she passed I thought about moving back to England, even my mother told me I should, but something stopped me." He took a deep breath as something flashed across his eyes.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
Draco huffed. "I thought about her every day." He looked up at her. "Well, at the time I didn't know it was a her, but I would look at Scorpius for hours and wonder if your child looked anything like him. I wanted to check the papers but I couldn't because I knew the moment I did I would move back to England."
Hermione saw the sincerity in his eyes. "Then why move back now?"
Draco smiled slightly. "France never felt like home, even though Scorpius grew up there it was almost like he felt that way too. Astoria wanted him to go to Beauxbatons but it didn't feel right. So, two months ago, he and I moved into the Manor, at least until we can find a place of our own."
Hermione nodded in understanding until she realized something. "Why did you refer to Cassie as my daughter?"
Draco looked up at her. "What?"
Hermione sighed. "You said my daughter, but she's yours too."
Draco shook his head. "It's one of the reasons I didn't come back after Astoria died. I didn't want to come into Cassie's life and screw everything up. It had been years since she was born and I didn't want to cause such a disturbance for her. I haven't earned the title of being her father."
"Yet," Hermione said, finishing his sentence. "You may think that you've already lost your chance but I promise you that you haven't."
"Maybe not," He paused. "But it's been eleven years, I don't want to flip her world upside down."
Hermione took a deep breath and leaned forward onto the table, looking into Draco's eyes. "Let me tell you something, Malfoy. Our daughter has asked about you every day since she's learned how to talk. She would love to know who her father is."
Draco sat still for a moment, searching her eyes as though he was waiting for the punchline. "Okay, but," He paused. "I would like to get to know her more before we tell her."
The warm feeling in her chest from before returned. "Okay then," She paused and let out a small laugh. "We also have to find a way to tell Scorpius and Cassie that they're siblings."
Draco groaned. "Why didn't I realize that till now." He ran his hands over his face as Hermione laughed into her cup of coffee.
~
After stopping for her favorite bottle of wine, Hermione Flooed into Grimmauld place to see Ginny. The moment she stepped through the Floo, she saw Ginny and Harry sitting down in their drawing-room.
Ginny looked from Hermione to her husband. "Harry, time to leave."
"Come on!" Harry groaned and threw his hands in the air like a child. "You always kick me out when you two have girl talk!"
Ginny looked at Harry with a knowing eye. "Boys, sex, menstruation, cramps-"
"La La La La La!!" Harry covered his ears with his hands. "Okay, okay, fine, I'm leaving!" He yelled as he stomped out of the room.
Ginny laughed as Hermione took the seat Harry was once sitting in. She conjured two wine glasses and poured them each a drink. Once they both had their drink in hand, Ginny spoke. "If it's bad enough for wine then I'm guessing by the end of the night we'll need Fire Whiskey."
Hermione stared at Ginny before taking a sip of wine. "So, Malfoy and I talked."
Ginny let out a small laugh. "Yeah? And what did the blonde ferret have to say?"
Hermione gave Ginny her best motherly 'Don't talk like that' look. It did its job because Ginny soon looked down at her glass. "He wants to get to know her."
Ginny's eyes went wide. "WHAT?!" She tried to process the information. "So after eleven years, he has decided he wants to get to know his daughter? Where was he when you were on the edge of death while giving birth to her?! Where was he when she caught dragon pox?! Where was he when she cried for hours on hours and drove all of us insane from lack of sleep?!"
Hermione downed her entire glass and re-filled it by the time Ginny was done ranting. "I've already told you-"
"Yes, I know." Ginny rolled her eyes. "You told him he could meet her whenever he liked and you would be okay with it. But, 'Mione-"
Hermione shook her head at Ginny. "He and I were young. All of those years ago, I gave him that option knowing what it could mean. I'm not going to keep him from his child."
Ginny groaned, finishing her glass. "Fine, but you know what this means right?"
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"
Ginny reached for the bottle of wine to refill her glass. "Since the ferret is back in the picture, we're going to have to tell Ron and Harry."
Hermione groaned, leaning her head back to stare at the ceiling. "I think that's going to be worse than telling Cassie."
She laughed. "I say we do it tomorrow to get it out of the way."
Hermione looked at Ginny with wide eyes. "You have to be joking. Tomorrow?! Malfoy doesn't even want Cassie to know yet and you expect me to tell the boys?"
Ginny smiled and nodded. "I'll be there with you. We have our weekly dinner tomorrow night anyways. I'm sure they'd like to know why you introduced the Ferret to Cassie this morning."
Hermione slapped her hand over her eyes mentally scolding herself. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, 'Mione, but Harry has been asking me every question you can think of since we left the platform."
Hermione downed her third glass. "Well, that's just fantastic."
~
That night while laying in bed Hermione got a letter from her daughter which was short and sweet.
Dear Mum,
I got into Gryffindor!
Love,
Cassie
Hermione fell asleep with a drunken smile on her face.