Granger's Café

Pairing: Draco/Harry.

Disclaimer: Hermione decides that the drama in the wizarding world is growing too much. She decides to open up a café in the muggle world, so as to enjoy simplicity during the day. Little does she know that one of the applicants for a job there, will cause a whole new circle of drama for her. And how exactly will her little café benefit Harry and Draco's lives, and how will it banish the drama from both worlds they live in? You know what they say, about Granger's café; her food is like magic, that's what they say, because it keeps all your problems and troubles at bay.

Chapter one: Platform nine and 3/4's

Hermione Jean Granger-Weasley looked on as she watched her daughter speed away on the Hogwarts express, her face gleaming brightly with the anticipation of finally beginning to study magic. Beside her she felt Ron try to hold back his tears, and felt a wave of warmth ripple through her. Little Hugo gnawed his bottom lip at the prospect of spending his first year away from his older sister. Hermione reached down and gave her husbands hand a squeeze before smiling up at him, her other hand rubbing comforting circles into Hugo's knuckles. Beside the happy couple were Harry and Ginny Potter along with their daughter Lily. They were seeing off their two sons James and Albus. Their third child, Lily was shaking with tears in her eyes, as she watched her two older bothers and protectors' speed away into the distance. Hermione felt a pang of guilt as she looked at the two adults; Ginny with her glossy red hair swept up in an expensive hairstyle, dressed in expensive, chic clothes and far too much make-up on her once fine, innocent features. Harry on the other hand looked like a recovering alcoholic, which of course, he was. The reason he had taken to the bottle was because, little over a year ago, Hermione could not bear the secrecy any longer and informed Harry that his wife was a gold-digging whore and was currently having an affair with two other men. She had also told him how every other weekend, Ginny would sneak down to Gringotts and rob Harry's vault of a few hundred galleons, which was why Harry was sometimes unable to retrieve money for himself either because he could not find the key, or because he could not make more than three withdrawals in one week. Hermione often wondered why he had never questioned the goblins about these facts, but she decided it was because he was fading off into his own little world that he had most likely just shrugged it off. Suffice to say, Harry had not taken it well and had taken up drinking. However he refused to let his little Lily down, he would take her on weekends out into muggle London, away from her irresponsible mother who barely said two words to her in a day.

Ron caught the direction in which Hermione was looking and gave her hand a tighter squeeze before leaning down to her ear and whispering, "I cannot believe we all thought that Harry and Ginny deserved each other" Over the years Ron had noticed the early signs of Ginny's teenage obsession returning to the surface of her behaviour. It disgusted him.

Hermione nodded "I know. I feel a little guilty about even thinking the idea"

Ron nodded and licked his lips. "Has Harry stopped drinking?"

"Yes. He's been one hundred percent sober for about a month now. He's still a long way off but it's a start"

"That's good. As long as Lily has one descent parent I couldn't care less if a train came and dragged Ginny off by her hair all the way up to Scotland" Hermione snorted dryly, but made no other reply as other parents on the station were beginning to return to the muggle world through the barrier. Ginny grabbed the hem of Harry's coat sleeve and proceeded to drag him across the platform as soon as the clock read 10:50am. He stumbled behind her into the crowd, unwillingly letting go of little Lily's hand.

Once the pair had caught up with Ron and Hermione on the other side, Harry snatched himself away from Ginny's grip screaming, "WHERE'S LILY?" his frantic, dull green eyes looked manic as he searched through the crowd for a sweep of auburn hair.

"Our daughter?" Ginny asked nonchalantly, before shrugging and pulling out a compact mirror to check her make-up, "how am I supposed to know? You were meant to be looking after her"

Harry was seething a venomous rage that caused his magic to hiss and spit and crackled in the air around them. Rom tightened his hold on Hermione's hand whereas Ginny did not seem to pay her husband's fury any attention. This only served to make him angrier. "She's only a baby!"

"She's old enough to walk therefore old enough to take care of herself!" Ginny snapped before returning to puckering her orange-red lips at her reflection.

"Why you-"

"Potter!" Harry spun around to see a well-dressed Draco Malfoy carrying a frightened looking Lily astride his hip. Lily looked right at home astride Malfoy's hips. Harry's attention roamed from his daughter and up the smooth marble pillar of Malfoy's throat. He had grown into a well-built man, though still thin, had toned a little and his sleek hair was combed smoothly until it hung in fluffy tresses down to his chin. Though he appeared rich and arrogant there was an underlining of tenderness that Harry had not seen whilst in school. Perhaps he had been too caught up in their petty rivalry to notice it. "I believe this little one is yours?" Harry could only nod numbly as he watched the tall, blonde man settle his daughter on the ground and pat her head, his thin pale fingers combing back the auburn tresses with such tenderness, Harry could barely believe that the blonde was capable of such affection. "There you are little Miss. Potter, all safe and sound"

Harry took hold of Lily's hand before looking up at Draco, "I am very grateful, Malfoy" he smiled to show the honesty in his statement. He felt his cheeks heat up as he locked eyes with the taller man.

Draco inclined his head with a small smile of his own, "you're welcome, Potter" Malfoy outstretched his hand and suddenly they were eleven-years-old again, only this time Harry did not refuse the smooth pale hand that was offered towards him. "You are very lucky, Potter, to have a daughter as enchanting as this" Malfoy smiled charmingly at Harry who felt his chest bubble with something akin to excitement.

"I- Thank you, Malfoy, you son looks just like you, from what I saw. Like a little angel"

The words had left Harry's mouth before he had realised what he was saying. He caught a little twinkle in Malfoy's silvery eyes, before the spell between them was broken.

Draco turned and smiled at the group of his old classmates before turning sharply on his heel and walking back to a small group of blonde people consisting of his father, mother, and whom Harry could only assume, was his wife. A surge of jealousy swept through him, one that he had not felt when he had learnt Ginny had cheated on him with two other men. This feeling confused him but he pushed it aside as he picked Lily up and cuddled her close, burying his nose within her dark, auburn hair.

Ginny, however, screamed and roughly grabbed Lily, thrust her on the floor, before extracting a muggle baby-wipe and brutally scrubbing at her hands and face. "Ginny what the hell do you think you are doing?" Ron ordered in a horrified tone as Ginny scrubbed Lily's skin so hard is glistening raw and pink.

"Getting rid of the filth that just touched my child!" she snapped back, continuing to scrub her daughters' face raw. Lily began to cry and attempted to push her mother away.

"Ginny! Enough! You're hurting her!" Harry shouted, ignoring the odd looks he received from several muggles, before pulling his daughter up against his chest, and sneering down at Ginny, who glared right back up at him.

"She's my daughter and I'll treat her as I want"

"Ginny" Hermione stepped forward, using a calm, motherly tone in an attempt to lessen Ginny's awful temper. "You were rubbing Lily a little too roughly. Besides, Malfoy does not have 'filth' on him as you put it. In fact he was immaculately clean from what I saw"

"The most harmful of germs are the invisible ones" Ginny sneered aggressively.

Ron sighed and pulled little Hugo up onto his shoulders, "come on. Let's just go to mums before she starts complaining that she never gets to see her grandchildren anymore"

As the Weasley's and the Potter's walked out of Kings cross station Draco was smacked hard across the face by his wife. The abrupt, painful action shocked him out of the tender stupor he had previously been in upon holding Potter's daughter. "How dare you touch those blood-traitors!" she spat, her ice blue eyes burning lividly.

Draco held his stinging cheek, "Astoria he lost his daughter in a crowd, wouldn't you want the same done for us if we lost Scorpius?"

"If a high pureblood family returned him, then yes, I would," she stated snobbishly, her nose climbing higher into the tepid air.

Draco sighed in defeat as his parents looked down on him coldly. He cast his eyes to the floor. There was no use in arguing with any them. After the Dark Lord had been defeated both his parents had been sentenced to Azkaban, however they gave away the names of many other followers, some the Ministry had never in thought about, and so had been released little over two months prior. He had thought it would be nice to have his parents back, to see their grandchild for the first time in several years. He had concocted a little daydream of what it might be like, to have his parents back the way they used to be before all this dark lord nonsense. When they have been a family. Sadly, Azkaban had changed them terribly. They were no longer the parents that had buried love beneath their cold exteriors. That hidden love had died in Azkaban. Now they were nothing but cold, cruel people, who treated him like a naughty child and beat him, with the help of his wife. The only person who showed his affection was his son and vice versa. It was becoming increasingly harder to do as his wife and parents were adamant on moulding his one and only son into 'The Perfect Pureblood', unlike his father.

Upon returning to the manor, Draco felt a cold wave of fear penetrate his mind. In a way, Scorpius had been his own type of security blanket, for as long as he was even in the same room as him, Draco would not be harmed. Now Scorpius was gone to Hogwarts. Draco was left feeling naked and vulnerable as he walked up the stone steps to the dark hallway of the manor, in the wake of his wife and parents. His eyes looked up as he passed under the huge marble doorway. He shivered as he heard the large oak doors creak and groan dismally on their rusted hinges before banging shut behind him. He looked around the large foyer as he felt the large doors behind him close in on him like a tomb-lid. He was trapped. A heavy ache in his chest began to throb and he knew it was only a matter of time before his family's torture upon him began. He composed himself and was about to take himself up to bed when a leaden hand fell upon his shoulder. He stopped and stiffened like a statue, suddenly feeling as though he was paralysed. He felt as though he was shrinking under the frosty gazes trained on the back of his head. He looked up into the stony eyes of his father. "No, Draco, you know where you belong"

Draco felt himself freeze inside. He wanted to go to bed and curl up into himself. He decided that, since he was being put into the Malfoy dungeons, he might as well defy his father that little ounce. "But father it will be cold down there"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Lucius let out a harsh laugh that made a shiver run up Draco's spine. "I didn't mean to make it sound like an option" Lucius pulled open the small, gnarled door that led down to the dungeon below the manor.

Upon opening the door, Draco could see a steep, concrete staircase that led down into nothingness. His voice latched in his throat. He swallowed thickly. "GET DOWN THERE!" Lucius snarled.

When Draco yet again refused, the snarl that was rattling through Lucius' teeth drew level with his ear. He cringed as a balled fist dove into the small of his back, effectively throwing his body forward. Within seconds Draco felt the concrete steps cut into his fragile figure as he tumbled through the darkness. He felt the wind being ripped out of his lungs. As soon as his broken body smacked into frigid floor beneath him he let out a strangled cry of both pain and relief. It was nice to stop tumbling blindly over the jagged steps, but the impact of the pain that thundered into his muscles was enough for him to let out a stomach-churning scream that echoed up the staircase.

From the top of the staircase Narcissa Malfoy heard something deep down within the shell of her heart. It was like a faint echo, telling her to help her only child. It made her cringe as the screams rattled the windows in their panes. She cast a glance at Lucius' head as he retreated into the parlour, closely followed by Astoria. Narcissa cast a quick glance at the staircase before following into the parlour.

For a while he would be safe down there. Only for a while.