A/N no excuse for lateness. I just fell into other fandoms and couldn't focus on this at all. But im hoping to update fairly regularly because its summer and i don't have anything to do all day long except waste time on tumblr. So i think anyone who is still reading this story deserves a high-five, you're the best!

Hermione sat at the edge of her bed staring at her reflection in the mirror. She was not exactly pleased at her appearance. Her stomach still had a bit of a pouch from pregnancy that no amount of sit-ups could flatten. Her thighs jiggled slightly when she walked from lack of exercise lately and her skin was almost too pale. She was a nervous disaster for her 'date' with Draco tonight. She was trying so hard to be pretty for him, but as usual, she was self-conscious and insecure. She was wearing a modest black dress and low black heels. She couldn't decide if she wanted her hair up or down so she tied it up in a loose knot with a few tendrils hanging around her face. She was wearing a bit of makeup for the first time in years, just to bring out her features. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly six. She got up to get Annabelle ready to go to Alice's.

When her daughter's baby bag was packed and waiting at the front door, she called to Draco.

"Are you ready? We told Alice we'd drop her off at six!" She shouted up the stairs to him.

"I'm coming!" He called back, hurrying down the stairs. What Hermione didn't know was that Draco was freaking out just as much as she was. He really wanted this to be perfect.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, when he looked at her. His gaze made her blush.

"You look beautiful," He said softly.

"Thanks, you too," She said nervously. At his wry grin she blushed darker and stammered, "I meant handsome."

He tried not to laugh as he took the baby bag from her and held the door open. She pushed the stroller out into the evening and they headed down the path to town.

The walk to Alice's flat was mostly spent in excited silence. Both Hermione and Draco snuck glances at the other but blushed and turned away if they were caught. There was a sense of electricity in the air, like right before a storm. As if in just a moment, everything was going to light up with energy.

Alice was waiting at the door of the shop when they arrived. Hermione handed Belle off and Draco brought the bag inside and left it on the counter.

"Now what time are you going to pick her up?" Alice asked with a sly grin on her face. "Tomorrow morning?"

"No!" Draco and Hermione exclaimed loudly at the same time. They were nowhere close to be being ready for that yet.

"Um, probably around ten," Hermione said weakly.

Alice looked a little confused but nodded and they walked down the street to a fancy restaurant where Draco had made reservations. They had wine with their meal and for once they didn't bicker the entire time.

Hermione felt a bit shy, a bit out of place. She was used to pub food, or home cooking or camping rations, not fine dining. This was what Draco knew and grew up with though so even though she was out of her element she did her best to fit in with the high class patrons.

Draco could tell from looking at her face that she was uncomfortable. He could've kicked himself. He should've picked somewhere brighter, warmer; somewhere easier to talk in but he was hoping to impress her. She caught him frowning and smiled reassuringly at him.

After dinner, they walked along the main street holding hands.

"Sorry about that," He said. "I shouldn't have picked that restaurant."

"It's fine, I liked it." She squeezed his hand and smiled warmly at him. "I'm happy just being with you."

He physically fought back the stupid, lovesick grin those words gave him and just nodded gruffly back at her. She saw though his tough-guy act and smirked, linking their arms together.

"Do you want to see a movie?" He asked. He had read several teen muggle novels in the past week, trying to research what people actually did on dates.

Hermione pauses before answering. She'd rather talk to Draco then have to be quiet and sit in a dark theatre for two hours.

"Do you want to take a walk?" She asks instead.

They walk along the cliffs and eventually sit down with their feet hanging over the edge. Hermione likes it. She likes the sight of her bare, pale feet (her heels were kicked off a few steps away) against the pitch black of the rolling ocean. And she likes the heavy feeling of danger in her stomach, enough to be exciting, but not enough to hurt anyone.

"Can I tell you something?" She asked shyly, looking up at him underneath long eyelashes coquettishly, making Draco's breath hitch.

"Sure," He whispered.

"This is my first date." She grinned, laughing at herself.

"How?" He asked, confused that she's had a boyfriend and a child but had never been on a date.

"Well, Ron and I got together during a war, so there was no time for like going out for dinner or something. And I went to the Yule Ball in fourth year with Viktor Krum but is a dance a date? And I didn't even like him romantically. So this has been my first date." She smiled shyly at him and he smiled back.

Draco thought back. "I don't think I've ever been on a real date before either. I mean, during the war I... was intimate with women," Draco said, trying not to be crude much to the amusement of Hermione, "but never dated them. And at Hogwarts there was only Pansy. Who I really only snogged a bit."

He realized with a frown his dating history was not good. While Hermione had only ever been with Ron, he had had dozens of one night stands, but never a relationship to show for it.

"Well," Hermione said softly, twining her fingers through his, "I'm glad we got to spend our first date together."

He leaned over and kissed her gently. He could feel her smile into the kiss. She deepened it, much to his surprise, and leaned into him. He ran his hands up her thighs, playing with the hemline of her dress. She gasped, her hands tangled in his hair, and he gently laid her back. This was the furthest they've gone, and he was getting pretty worked up. They were on the edge of a massive cliff but he could feel his blood pounding and heart racing with want. He was just reaching under her dress, when he felt a block of ice drop into his heart.

He pushed away from her to see his emotions displayed on her face. Suddenly, it seemed like it had dropped twenty degrees. It was now nearly pitch black, like all the stars and the moon were gone and the waves had fallen silent. He blindly reached for her hand and was only slightly comforted.

He was scared, more scared than he had been in a long time. He suddenly remembered the day his mother died. How his father laughed and how Draco had run away like a frightened child. He remembered how the light left her eyes and that the last word she ever said was a terrified scream of his name.

"You killed her," he heard a voice inside his head say. "She did everything to save you, and you let her die."

He looked over to Hermione, who was curled into a ball with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands pressed against her ears.

"Hermione doesn't love you," the voice continued, "You're her second choice. If Ron were alive, do you think she would ever look twice at you? You're a Death Eater, a murderer. She can do so much better. She will leave you. You're not good enough for her. She will grow tired of you. She will soon hate you."

"Stop it," Draco mumbled. He could barely think for all the voices in his head.

"And her daughter," the voice hissed, "Annabelle. She will never see you as her father. Your comrades killed her real father. She will never trust you. When she finds out the truth, she too will hate you. You are worthless, Draco Malfoy. No one could ever love someone like you. You are better off dead. You should be dead, instead of your mother."

Draco realized belatedly that the voice whispering all his faults and insecurities inside his mind sounded like his father when he was a child and made a mistake. His father always would shout at him all the things Draco was ashamed or frightened of. This awareness made him furious. His father was dead; he could no longer torture Draco with cruel words.

He reached for his wand and stood up to see the sky swarming with Dementors. It made sense, Dementors brought out your worst thoughts and memories and Lucius hurting Draco through his fears was a terrible memory. He saw Hermione still curled up on the ground and clutched his wand tighter. He was about to use the Patronus Charm when he noticed that they weren't stopping. It was a huge group of them, but they were moving quickly over the land and through the sky, not even noticing where they were going. And soon enough, they were gone.

The stars and moon were shining again, the waves were crashing against the cliff and the air was heating up. Hermione was still crying on the ground, though she was sitting up. Draco only then felt the tears running down his own cheeks.

"Hermione," Draco asked worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"Ron," She sobbed and Draco felt his heart sink. "I watched him die again. Again and again and again. And then it was you who died and then Belle and then Harry. I watched you all die. I watched the Death Eaters kill you all and there was nothing I could do to save you."

She was clinging to Draco and crying openly. "It's fine, you're safe," Draco murmured into the curve between her throat and her shoulder, "I'm safe, Belle's safe and Harry's safe. We're all fine."

"I was Dementors, wasn't it?" She asked, when she calmed down. "What happened to them?"

"I don't know," Draco said honestly, "There was a huge pack of them, just moving over the buildings but not stopping and then they just kept going."

"It must have been just a scout group then," Hermione said knowledgably; "They were probably just covering the country, but weren't looking for someone."

"Lucky for us," Draco murmured. He was a little nervous that the Death Eater's knew where they were but, he reminded himself for the millionth time, they didn't even know that he and Hermione were in a safe house, much less where that safe house was. And they didn't even know that Hermione was pregnant. Thinking of that made him want to check on Belle immediately. Hermione seemed to be thinking the same thing because she said, "Do you want to get Annabelle now?"

He nodded and they headed towards the bookshop. All along the street were people recovering from the Dementor passing. Some people were crying, some were shaking, some were getting up from the ground. Alice opened the door as soon as Draco knocked. She was very pale and trembling slightly but seemed alright. Inside the flat, the sound of a baby crying could be heard.

"Oh, Annabelle," Hermione whispered and pushed passed Alice to get to her daughter. As soon as her mother picked her up, the little girl's cries stopped. She whimpered for a few more minutes though and was restless and irritable.

"I-I don't know what happened," Alice said, for once stuttering and unsure, "She couldn't sleep so I was rocking her by the window with the window open, hoping that the cool sea breeze would relax her, when all of a sudden it got very dark and very cold." She frowned at the memory and winced, "I started remembering the night of my husband's death. And how I couldn't save him. And... how lonely I've been..." Alice's trembling started getting worse until Draco touched her hand gently. "And then," Alice said, getting back to her usual stern self, "It was almost like Annabelle could see something outside because she started crying and thrashing to get away from the window. It almost looked like... her eyes were following something moving outside. But there was no one there."

Hermione and Draco exchanged a quick, fearful glance. Annabelle could see the Dementors. This was her first sign of having magical powers.

"I don't think so, Alice," Hermione said gently, "Belle is just a baby and how could she see something that wasn't there?"

Alice nodded but still seemed confused.

"Why don't you take a hot bath and go to bed early," Hermione suggested, "Things will be better in the morning."

They heard the lock click and the deadbolt slam when Alice shut the door behind them. They hurried home as fast as they could and Draco checked the Fidelius Charm and redid all the defensive spells. Hermione tucked Annabelle into bed, trying to keep as calm as possible. When her daughter was asleep and Draco was back in the house, Hermione cornered him in the kitchen.

"We've made a mistake," She said, "We've been parading around town and becoming friendly with people. We've been risking our daughter's life," Draco was extremely surprised, but pleased, to hear Hermione refer to Belle as 'their' daughter but now was not the moment to comment on it, "We never should've taken her outside the Fidelius Charm. We ourselves should only have left it for emergencies. We've been careless."

"But like you said, the Dementors were just scouts, just meant to scare the muggles," Draco protested, "They weren't looking for anything, they didn't even stop once. The Dark Lord – I mean, You-Know-Who, has probably released them and is letting them wander through the UK as they please."

"Maybe, but we can't take that chance," Hermione argued, "From now on, we need to limit our time outside the border of the spell. And we can no longer use magic."

"What?" Draco cried incredulously, "Why would you want us to stop using magic?"

"Because we are not keeping with our disguises!" She exclaimed back, "We're slipping up! We need to fully fall into the roles of Hattie and Dan Mason! It's the only way to keep Belle safe! I'm going to write to Harry and tell him not to contact us until the war ends – his visits may have been drawing unwanted attention to us."

Draco knew he would have no hope of arguing with her when she was like this. "Fine," He relented, "But we're not staying in this house like hermits until the war ends. We can go out like normal, if we're careful."

She sighed and nodded and he made to leave the kitchen, "But Draco," She called after him and turned around, "Do not tell Annabelle anything about magic until the war is over. I don't want her getting too curious or involved. Promise me."

"I promise," Draco said seriously.

Hermione slumped against the counter in relief. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. He kissed her on the forehead and murmured to her, "Come on, let's go hide the magic toys."

Hermione and Draco brought out the trunk that Hermione had used to carry her things here, a year and a half ago and proceeded to fill it with all their things from the wizarding world. All her spells books and magical history books and his Quidditch magazines were the first to go. They had to sneak into Belle's room without waking her and steal away her stuffed Hippogriff and other magical toys. The one Draco was the most upset over was the toy broom.

"Really?" He asked, "This too? Can't we just leave this out?"

"No, they all have to go," Hermione said, looking sad but determined.

When Hermione had to put in the only picture of her and Ron, she started tearing up. The picture was magical, it moved. How would she ever be able to explain it to Annabelle? She gently placed it in then looked away. The last things to go in the trunk were their wands. Even though Hermione hadn't been able to use hers in ages, it still felt unbearably painful to lock it away. Even Draco was subdued. With their wands locked away, it felt as if they were missing a limb. Draco lifted the trunk into the crawlspace above Hermione's bureau and locked the door behind it. Hermione hid the key under her mattress and when everything was locked away and done with, they just looked at each other wearily.

"Well," Hermione said, "Let our new lives begin."

A/N well i hope you all enjoyed this! The next chapter should be up within the week i hope! Please please review?