Hermione was running through the maze again, following a string as it twisted and turned down the path, though she no longer needed it. She had traveled this maze so many times she knew it by heart. The sky above was almost as gray as the stone walls around her, and rain pelted her face as she ran. Finally she came to the end, a huge wooden door stood before her and try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from reaching out her hand to grasp the silver knob. The door swung open at her touch and Hermione stepped into to the large room. Windows showed an impossible sight of lush green lawns stretching out into an evening light, instead of the giant maze that should have been. Against the farthest wall stood a beautifully gilded crib, Hermione's feet carried her toward it, though she fought it as best she could.

Reaching it, she looked down, as she always did, to the little bundle of blankets that held a small baby. Its soft brown curls were a silky version of her own, and when it opened its eyes to look at her, she saw they were a silver-gray. The baby cooed and Hermione Granger was ripped from her sleep.

Hermione found herself, as always, in the bed she shared with her husband, Ron Weasley. He snored peacefully beside her as she tried to control her ragged breathing and racing thoughts. She thought to wake him, wanting comfort from the dream that plagued her nearly every night, but he had long since grown tired of hearing about it and usually reacted with annoyance or anger. For six years it had haunted her, and no amount of counseling or potions could truly stop it. She dreaded sleeping, and the baby at the center of the maze.

Looking at the clock, Hermione decided it was far too early to stay awake. She had meetings later that morning and it would be unproffesional if she started dozing off in front of potential investors to Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, the company she and Ron, as well as George ran. Sighing dejectedly, she turned over and allowed the maze to pull her back in.

.o0o.

"Aria, sweetheart, where are you?" called the little girl's daddy. They were playing their favorite game, Find Ariadne, and she had chosen to hide at the bottom of the garden behind Grandmother's peony bushes. Aria giggled softly as she heard her daddy's footsteps growing closer, and wiggled deeper into the foliage.

Draco heard his daughter's laughter and saw the bushes rustling. He grinned at his daughter's favorite hiding place and called, "are you behind the primroses?" Draco rustled the flowers he mentioned and was rewarded with another fit of giggles. "What about the irises?" he asked as he made a show of pushing the flowers aside.

"I'm here, Daddy, I'm here!" Ariadne exclaimed while a small hand shot up from between the bushes. Her head popped up next, a beaming smile on her face and her gray eyes shining with delight. Draco ran over to the little girl and swooped her up into his arms, raining kisses on her face and silky brown curls. "You found me, Daddy!" she yelled happily.

"I'll always find my little princess," was his response, "what do you want to play next?"

"Wendy house, wendy house!" Ariadne cried as she dragged her father across the lawn to the little cottage her mother had asked Draco for when the little girl was born. Other than her looks and name, it was the only thing Ariadne had from her mother. As the sight of the child sized house came into view, Draco felt the wave of sadness wash over him, as it always did when he was reminded of the woman he had, and still, loved.