Chapter 1

When Hermione woke up on the morning of February 17th, Scorpius' first birthday, it was to the feeling of small legs kicking her back. She opened her eyes and rolled over, confused. Scorpius was facing her, his face scrunched up in frustration as he attempted to escape his father's obviously tight grasp.

Hermione didn't understand why he wasn't crying if he was in distress. And then she realized that he wasn't. He just looked...annoyed. And then there was the whole subject of why he was in bed with them to begin with. She and Draco were both light sleepers, a result of the trauma they'd both endured as adolescents, so while they took turns tending to Scorpius in the middle of the night it was rare that the other was totally unaware of what was going on. But she hadn't heard anything.

"Hi, Bug," she whispered. "Happy birthday!" She reached out and tried to gently remove Scorpius from Draco but his eyes flew open, Draco held the baby tighter and he began to scream.

Hermione placed one hand on Draco's cheek, the other on Scorpius' head. "Draco let him go," she ordered. His eyes went wide and he immediately loosened his arms from the little boy, who also immediately stopped struggling but didn't move out of Draco's grasp. He obviously wasn't so opposed to being held by his father as he was by not having any choice in the matter.

He did continue to fuss but that was also almost immediately solved by Falcor, their puppy, joining them, worming his way between the two adults and snuggling up with Scorpius. Hermione just glared at her fiancé, she did not approve of the puppy being allowed on the bed.

He blinked at her blearily. "Well at least it's settled him down."

"You know that I'm not necessarily opposed to Scorpius being in our bed, Draco, if it's called for, but I don't remember hearing him be upset."

Draco licked his lips. "He wasn't."

"Okay," she said, uncertain how to respond to that.

He swallowed and his eyes took on an almost haunted quality.

All of her instincts went on alert. "Are you finally going to tell me what's been going on with you this week?" She asked him. "Because we have a bunch of people coming over for a party later and I'd rather not still be in the middle of a fight."

"Yeah, as best I can, at least." He sighed and rubbed his hands up and down his face. "I'm sorry about Valentine's Day, I ignored your wishes and then I completely overreacted to the whole situation."

Hermione glanced at the small otter figurine perched on her bedside table which Scorpius had given her for Valentine's Day. It was the only present she'd ended up receiving from a Malfoy that day, which was appropriate, given that it was Scorpius whom she'd ended up spending her evening with as opposed to his father.

Hermione was not generally opposed to the idea of celebrating the holiday. Her father had a lovely tradition of always sending her flowers along with a thoughtful note that made her cry every year. And she'd certainly been on dates to celebrate in the past, but it also wasn't a big deal to her. But this year she knew she was going to have an extremely busy week at work because the new Wizengamot session was about to begin, and she had to prepare several proposals on behalf of her department. Then there was Scorpius' birthday party to plan.

She decided she just wanted to spend the night relaxing with her two favorite men, allowing Effie to spoil them all. But, knowing Draco, he was cooking up an extravagant date. So she'd approached him and told him her wishes. They talked about it. They agreed.

At least she thought they had.

That was until she returned home on the evening of the 14th, exhausted, and anxious to cuddle Scorpius which always did wonders for her stress levels, only to find Draco waiting for her in a suit with a portkey to Paris, having already shipped Scorpius off to Harry for the night. Then he'd informed her with a smug little smile that they would be spending the night in the City of Lights and that he'd already secured her a day off from work the next day.

Which was just a step too far for her, and the point at which she lost her temper.

She called him spoiled and high handed.

He called her controlling and ungrateful.

It was not pretty, but it also wasn't the worst fight they'd ever had. She tried to calm down and asked him to please cancel their plans. And that's when he did something he'd never done before, which had turned it from a spat to the three day long standoff they were currently engaged in: he stormed out.

At first she wasn't worried, she assumed he'd just gone to cool off. So, she went to Harry's to retrieve Scorpius and settled in for a quiet night. But by the time he stumbled home drunk at 5am she wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him or kill him. Not just drunk, incoherent, almost unable to stand up. Hermione still wasn't sure how he'd gotten home, or why he'd been in such a state.

"I was scared, Draco! I didn't know where you were! You left your mobile here! You ignored my patronuses!"

"I know."

"I like to think that I'm a fairly reasonable witch. If we have a fight and you need to get away from me for awhile, that's fine, but you can't just disappear! We have a child! A child I have no legal rights to! What if something had happened to you? And what would possess you to get that drunk anyway?"

"I-"

But Hermione wasn't done. "You won't talk to me, you won't touch me. And now you've literally put Scorpius between us. Would it be so terrible if you accidentally touched me in your sleep?"

"No, no, that's not it at all! I just needed him here with me. And I'm more sorry than you know that I didn't talk to you, but I didn't know what to say to you until right now."

"What is going on, Draco? Because now that I think about it, you were acting oddly even before Valentine's Day."

Draco looked down at Scorpius who had somehow managed to fall asleep clasping the puppy, despite the obvious tension between the adults, and cupped his head gently. Draco took a deep breath. "Sometimes I can't even believe he exists, I can't trust my good fortune and that he won't just up and disappear one day. A year ago today he was...I mean I'm so thankful for him. But Astoria wouldn't even let me in the room when she was in labor. I didn't even know if he'd lived. I think," he swallowed over and over, "this is a terrible thing to say about a woman who had just given birth, who had just given me a child."

"No, tell me." Hermione encouraged, she had no idea how this all fit together, but she knew Draco well enough to know that he needed her patience right now.

"I think she had them keep the information from me for as long as possible, just to keep me in suspense and make me suffer."

"Draco," she gasped, "why?"

He shrugged. "For asking for a divorce. Perhaps to give me time to think about how much a living heir was worth to me. I don't know. But I know that between the time of birth on his birth certificate and when I was informed was more than ninety minutes. He had been cleaned and Astoria was in a separate recovery suite before I was allowed to see him. I grilled the healers so I discovered that she at least held him briefly just after he was born, but that was all. Even after we returned home with him… I realize I'd already discussed my desire for a divorce but I didn't understand how much she resented that. I see now that Scorpius was like a trigger for her. She resented him so much. I don't understand it. I don't understand how anybody could look at him and not love him."

Hermione glanced down at the little boy who was half covered in puppy and had shifted in his sleep to grasp her pajama top. She didn't understand either. But she was beginning to see that while the approach of this date had been exciting for her, and also made her a little melancholy given the time she'd missed with Scorpius, that it had affected Draco on a much deeper level.

"If we have a baby you'll be in the room, okay?" She assured him.

He blinked, obviously taken aback by her pronouncement. "What?"

"I want you there. And if they have to make you leave for some terrible reason then I'll make sure they're told to keep you updated at every turn. You should never have to just...wonder about the fate of your child."

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Hermione, please, don't talk like that."

"I'm not being morbid," she interrupted him immediately. "I have every intention of being around for a very long time. But it would be irresponsible of us to not consider worst case scenarios. This is standard in the muggle world. It's called the power of attorney. If something should ever happen to me, I'd want you to know, especially during the birth of our child, but in general I trust you to make decisions on my behalf if I can't. It's probably something else we should discuss before we get married."

"I want you to adopt Scorpius," he blurted.

Her eyes flew open. "What?!" This conversation was taking all kinds of unexpected turns.

"You're his mother," he responded, but the insecurity in his eyes irked her.

"Yes," she agreed, and it was all she could do not to snatch the baby up and flee the room at the mere inference that anything could be different. The way her magic flared in her fury had Scorpius clutching at her pajamas even tighter and burrowing his face against her breasts.

"I've talked to your parents a little. And from what they say the idea of adoption in the muggle world is lovely- if sometimes a little unconventional. But here, unless you're family it's obscene."

Hermione was not a fool, she knew what he meant. Blood was so important in this society, it was insulting to ask a person to raise another's child; beyond presumptuous. "And that doesn't bother you, for Scorpius?"

"To have a mother who chose and loved him no matter what, no? That seems a gift beyond measure. I simply don't wish to burden you further."

"With your child?"

"Well when you put it that way…"

"Talk about a gift beyond measure. I'm so honored, Draco," she curled her body around Scorpius and Falcor in a way which she hoped would do best to keep from disturbing them. They each let out squeaks in their sleep that were so similar that it made both adults laugh. "My answer is, of course, yes."

"Thank you," he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did you think I would say no?"

"I think you have every reason to."

She glared at him and briefly brushed her hand against Scorpius' head. "Shut your mouth," she hissed at Draco.

It came out much harsher than she'd intended, but he absolutely beamed at her. "Good."

"Good?"

"That you're so insistent that he's yours."

Hermione took a deep breath. "I'm trying to resist the urge to punch you in the face. It's like you're trying to set a record for how many hours in a row you can try my patience."

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"Draco, please stop baiting me. What you just asked of me…"

"Most witches would consider it an insult. Most witches wouldn't want the responsibility of a child that wasn't theirs if something was to happen to me."

"I'd like to think you know me better than that."

"I do, but this is how I was raised. I can't just stop thinking like this automatically. And you've given me more than I could possibly ask for already."

"So have you," she said quietly, taking a deep breath. "What about the Greengrasses, what will this mean for them?"

"They have no right to him, but they might if the entire Malfoy line expired. He's the heir to not one, but two noble houses. Her parents have left it alone for the moment because they don't want to draw attention to Astoria's...insufficiency as a wife, but in that situation they might try to gain custody and I never want that to happen," he squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm sorry, I wanted this to be a good day."

Hermione licked her lips. "You could have taken him from Astoria, if she was the one who wanted him but you didn't, except for his value as your heir. Couldn't you, if you were that kind of man."

"You know this answer to that question, Hermione."

"Yes, and it's terrible, on so many levels."

"Yes." Draco agreed with a shudder .

"You're afraid."

"Yes, for him always. I think it comes with the territory."

She nodded. "Get me the parchment work or whatever is required as soon as possible. But then we're going to change this world so that nobody can take children from the parents that actually want them."

"Thank you, sweetness. But we can't finalize it until we're legally bound."

"Then we'll tell our mothers to get a move on with their, frankly ridiculous plans, or we go on without them."

He chuckled. "You can be the one to tell them that."

They gazed at each other over the little bodies wedged between them.

"Now are you going to tell me what happened on Valentine's Day?" She asked. "Because I can see now why you've been feeling emotional...vulnerable lately, your reaction still feels disproportionate to the fight that we had."

He carefully reached over and placed a hand on her hip. "Most of the time I still think that I should be dead."

"Draco!" She protested.

He shook his head. "I certainly don't want to be but it's what I deserve. I certainly don't deserve the life that I have now."

"Draco- don't!"

"It's just true, Hermione. Don't you think it's people like Fred Weasley who should still be here building their own families instead of me?"

Hermione felt her hackles rise. "I think that's an impossible question, but I wouldn't trade you for anybody. And Scorpius wouldn't be here if you weren't, which is unacceptable to me. Does that make me terrible?" She challenged him.

"No," he sighed. "I'm just trying to articulate how I've been feeling lately."

"Go ahead."

"I think that feeling is what led me to stay in a marriage that made me miserable for so long. I don't know that I was punishing myself, but I accepted it, nonetheless. But I wanted to set a better example for Scorpius."

She just hummed in agreement, he'd said as much before.

"And then you came along," he stroked her hip with his thumb. "I mean you literally appeared in front of me, screaming my name but looking at me with far more compassion than I ever could have imagined, with all your attitude and wild beauty, and you took to my kid like it was the most natural thing in the world. And I wanted you, sweetness, almost right away, I coveted you and I set out to win you."

Hermione felt her mouth twist into a wry smile. "You did?"

He let out a bitter little laugh. "Of course I did. That's exactly how selfish I am."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't think I've gotten anything out of this?" She gestured between them. "You are my life, I thought you understood that."

"I did. I do," he quickly corrected himself. "But you just do this thing where you give, and you give, and give, and you don't expect anything in return."

"Well I think you're making me out to be much more selfless than I actually am."

He shrugged but didn't comment on that particular statement. "My father always does something over the top for my mother for Valentine's Day."

Hermione just sighed as things began to click into place. The elder Malfoys had actually been in Venice for the entire week as Lucius' gift to Narcissa. That was the kind of example that Draco had grown up with. She had known that, but now she was wondering if, perhaps, it hadn't had a deeper impact than she'd previously considered.

"You show me everyday that you adore me, Draco, I don't need grand gestures," she responded, as gently as possible.

"I know, I know, but I wanted to make one."

"I wanted you to listen to me," she countered. "I thought you had."

"I understand that too, now, and how it could have felt like I wasn't giving you a great surprise, which is what I told myself, but that I lied to you and went behind your back. Also, you're not my mother."

She snorted. "No, I certainly am not."

He smiled in return. "I just meant that you're not the kind of woman to say one thing when you mean another. I love my mother, but she's all about mind games."

"I like how we talk about things. I like how we come to agreements together."

"Me too, but I know you're not unaware that it isn't my natural instinct to do so."

"Yes, which is why I'm also sorry. I was too harsh with you the other night."

"Maybe," he shrugged, "but it was completely irresponsible and thoughtless of me to leave the way I did. And especially to ignore you."

He'd snuck his hand under her shirt and was stroking the skin of her waist in a way that felt like it was setting her on fire. "You're forgiven. I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too. I think my whole company is gossiping about how we must have had a fight, given my mood."

"Lovely."

"Can I make it up to you?"

She bit her lip as he trailed his hand from her waist to the swell of one breast.

"You better have something pretty impressive to offer me."

"You know I do." He glanced at the boy and puppy between them. "Shower?"

She resisted the urge to rub her thighs together, stubbornly unwilling to let him see her squirm.. "Race you."

Author's Note: THEY'RE BAAAAACK! Welcome to the sequel to 'A Second Look.' I've missed this little universe and I really hope you enjoy this new portion of their story. Thanks to Weestarmeggie for her beta work, and her support. And thank you all for coming back, and just for reading, I'm so grateful!