When Hermione got back to the boys' room on the fourth floor, Davy was throwing an all-out fit. As she exited the lift, she heard him screaming which caused her to quicken her pace to his room.

As she opened the door she heard Maggie, the head nurse on the floor, trying to calm him down.

"Shh, little one. Your Mum will be back in just a second, I promise."

Davy wailed again and shied away from the nurse sitting on his bed.

Hermione walked into the room and, as soon as he saw her, Davy scrambled off of the bed and into Hermione's waiting arms.

"What is wrong baby?" She asked as she held him close and stroked his hair, a gesture that she used to calm him down.

Davy sniffed as his tears began to slow, "I had a bad dream."

Hermione cooed and took Davy to his bed. She tucked him in and stretched out next to him.

"What was this bad dream about?"

"I couldn't find you."

Hermione hugged the child close to her, "What do you mean you couldn't find me? I am always just a second away when you need me. You know that."

"I tried to call for you, momma, but I couldn't find you. I was lost."

"Well I am here now sweeting. Go back to sleep. I will be right here when you wake up."

Hermione continued to smooth out Davy's soft blond hair as his eyes grew heavy. After a few minutes she noticed his breathing even out and knew he was asleep again.

She got up and went to Drew's bed where he still slept soundly, despite his brother's wailing. She smoothed back his hair and leaned over to put a soft kiss on his forehead. When her lips touched him, he sighed and rolled over on to his stomach, placing his almost healed arm above his head. It was the position he had slept in since he was old enough to roll himself over.

Hermione straightened up and turned back to grab her bag that held her work. As of a year ago, she had been appointed as the new Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. Headmistress McGonagall had been very kind to offer the position to her and set up a floo system so she did not have to reside in the castle, but instead could go home every night with her children.

As she turned towards the door, she noticed Draco standing there, watching her.

She swallowed and stared back at him. She took a slow deep breath as she braced herself for what would surely be another round of fighting.

Instead, Draco walked in and over to Drew's bed.

As he was looking down on the child he said, in a voice so low that Hermione had to lean in to hear him, "He sleeps like me. That is how I wake up every morning."

It took Hermione a second to process his words, but as she did she smiled softly. "He rolled over in his sleep when he was three months old. I walked in and he was on his stomach with his arm thrown over his head. I was terrified for a second, because according to every book I read on the subject, you should never allow an infant to sleep on their stomach. Every time I would walk in to find him like that I would have a mini heart attack until I would get to his crib and see him breathing. After about two weeks I just accepted the fact that he wanted me to leave him be and let him sleep the way he wants to." She laughed a bit at the memory.

Draco envied her and her memories of the boys that he would never have.

"You said Davy enjoys Quidditch?"

"Yes."

Draco turned to Hermione with his eyes narrowed, "I'm guessing that Potter and Weasley have taught him the basics by now?" He ended the sentence in a snarl, not able to keep his jealousy and contempt in check.

Hermione nodded again, "Partly. Harry and Ron take all the kids out to play Quidditch and the boys like to watch. They explain bits and pieces of the game, but he learned most of it from Quidditch Through the Ages. I read it to him a lot."

Draco snorted and turned his gaze on to Davy, "You don't learn Quidditch from a book, Granger. I will teach him properly. I have a pitch. Maybe I can even teach Drew to appreciate a good ride on a broomstick."

"I doubt that", Hermione said with a smirk on her face, "He is like his Mum and believes that his feet should remain on the ground."

"Maybe I should add you to my list of students, Granger. Clearly no one has taken you on a good ride."

Hermione blushed instantly at the innuendo. Draco's shoulder stiffened and face went red with embarrassment, but then he laughed.

"I didn't mean that how it sounded, but that is a good one. Kind of makes me wish I had said it on purpose."

Hermione scowled in annoyance and rolled her eyes, "Aren't you supposed to be a doctor or something?"

Draco let out one last soft chuckle at his joke and shrugged, "I'm still a guy, Granger. You should know how we are seeing as those best friends of yours have never been known as the most mature of adults."

"I expect it from them. You, I expect to be a bit more dignified. Better than the average guy."

Draco cast Hermione a sideways glace, "It gets exhausting, Granger."

"What does?"

"Not being able to act naturally, but instead having to be who I am expected to be."

Hermione nodded and looked back to the boys as they slept.

"I would like you to really consider my offer. The Manor is large enough that we would not have to feel as if we are living together. There is a large library and you would even have an entire wing to yourself and the boys. The only time I would intrude would be at bedtime when you put them down."

"Draco, I have horrible memories of your home. I am not sure that I could be there without reliving them in my dreams."

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose and attempted to hold in his temper, "I know Granger, I considered that. I would be open to remodeling it and changing it as much as possible to make it a comfortable home for you. I just really would like to get to know my children. I don't want to be some part time father that only gets to see his children on scheduled days and holidays. I want to raise them. I want to be a better father than mine. I don't want their futures crippled by horrible father-issues."

Hermione looked on to the boys, knowing that accepting Draco's offer would allow for them to always have the best. For that matter, it would also give her the best. But when she envisioned Malfoy Manor she could not stop her body's automatic response of panic.

She shook her head, both to clear it of the upsetting images and also in response to Draco, "No. No, I can't live there. I can't believe you expected me to say yes to this. There is no way."

"Granger, come on. With some new furnishings and new paint you will never even know you are in the same house."

Hermione turned to Draco and the look in her eyes made him cower just slightly.

"You may have been able to get the sounds of tortured victims out of your head but I haven't. Even to this day I can hear how my screams bounced off of the walls of your parent's parlor. I can smell your aunt so close to my face as she threatened me. I can feel the cold of the tile that I was pressed against. You can cover that tile up with a warm carpet, but I will always remember. You can put a new coat of paint on those walls but they will still tell the same stories, Draco. I cannot—will not—live in that house. We will need to come up with some other solution to this problem we have found ourselves in, because I will not consent to my children moving in to that house; where their mother was tortured and so many lives were lost."

Draco ran his hands through his hair, "What would you suggest then, Granger? Me move in with you?"

Hermione snorted and glanced at the boys to make sure they had not woken, "Of course not. Our house isn't big enough for another to move in unless you planned to sleep on a couch and have no privacy. Also I don't want you in our house. I spent the last three years making that a home and I don't want you part of it."

Draco marched up to Hermione and lowered his voice so she had to almost strain to hear him, "Guess what Granger? I am part of it, whether you like it or not. I will start looking into other solutions, but until then you will not keep my children from me."

"I didn't plan on it, Malfoy. You are more than welcome to come and spend as much time with the boys as you would like."

Draco narrowed his eyes, weary of Hermione's easy agreement. "I would like to come see them every day after you go home for the evening."

"Of course." Hermione pulled out a piece of paper and scribble quickly with a pen, "This is my address. The floo works so whenever you would like to come over feel free. The boys go to daycare while I am at work, but we are always home by 4:30. Their bed time is at 8."

Draco took the paper from Hermione and turned to walk out of the room without another word to her.

Hermione let out the breath she had been unconsciously holding and sat down in the closest chair. She looked over at the boys as they slept soundly, and watched them into the very early hours of the morning. Keeping her children from Draco had been the most illogical and stupid thing she had ever done, but as in school, she was willing to do the extra work to fix her mistake.

After Drew was released early that morning, Hermione flooed them all home, got everyone ready for the day, and dropped the boys off at daycare. She then grabbed a quick breakfast and flooed to Hogwarts.

When she landed in her office, she was startled by the person who was sitting at her desk.

Blaise sat there with his feet propped up on her desk, reading one of the many papers littered there.

"Man that Hopkins kid really isn't the brightest bulb, huh?"

Hermione shook her head and swatted Blaise's feet from her desk, "No he isn't. What are you doing here? Don't you have a house of students to be taking care of?"

Blaise stretched his arms above his head and leaned back in Hermione's chair, in no hurry to remove himself.

"I got a very interesting call late last night Granger. Any guess of who it might have been from."

Hermione rolled her eyes and started to set up for her first class of the week. Advanced Transfiguration with sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins.

"I have no idea Zabini, care to enlighten me?"

"It was one of my very best mates. Mr. Draco Malfoy. You do remember him from school, don't you?"

"Obviously you have some opinion about this situation Blaise, so why don't you say it and go back to your dungeons. I have classes to get ready for and I have had a very busy weekend."

Blaise rose from the chair and walked around the desk, closer to Hermione.

"No opinion, just thought it was an interesting development, is all. Good day Granger." He tipped an imaginary hat to her and sauntered out of the door.

Hermione made it through the rest of the day, focusing on her job. The odd encounter with Blaise put to the back of her mind. As soon as she dismissed her last class of the day and talked to a few random students that stopped by her office, she flooed back to the daycare to pick up the boys.

She stepped out of the grate and started to make her way to the classroom her boys would be in. Before she got out of the entrance hall however, she was stopped by one of the boys' teachers, Miss Sara.

She smiled brightly, but there was a strange look in her eye when she said, "Hi Hermione. Good day at work?"

Hermione nodded. "It was. No major accidents, although one of my students did give a classmate a tail."

Sara seemed to force a laugh, "Let me guess, third years? Umm…Hermione, there is something I need to talk to you about."

Hermione's head instantly swam with 100 different scenarios, all of which either had the boys hurt or being bad, "Did something happen with the boys today?"

"No ma'am. However, there is something…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Susan Bones, the director the daycare came walking in to the entrance room. She stopped short when she saw Hermione.

"Miss Granger. What are you doing here today? Did one of the boys forget something?"

"What? No, I came to get the boys."

Susan walked further in to the room, "I am guessing that you were not aware…"

Hermione felt her face heat up as anger shot through her, "Aware. Of. What?"

"Their father picked them up this afternoon, after nap."

Hermione's hand went right back to her wand as she walked towards the fireplace in the main entrance. She grabbed a handful of powder and threw it in the fire. She stepped in and yelled "Malfoy Manor" and she was swept away from the anxious faces of the daycare workers.

She landed in an unfamiliar room, and for a second she was sure that it was the wrong house. This room was warm, decorated in reds, gold's and browns. If it wasn't for the large Malfoy crest above the fireplace, she would be sure that this was a house of a Gryffindor.

She stomped through the room and out into the main foyer of the house. She looked around and had no idea where to start her search for the boys. As she started up the stairs a small female house elf appeared in front of her, startling her and stopping her in her tracks.

"Can Milley help miss?"

Hermione glanced at the house elf, noting the clothes it wore and the happy expression on its face, and wondered if she had made it to the correct grate.

"I was looking for the Master of the house. Is he home?"

Milley nodded and pointed down the hallway to the left of the grand staircase, "Yes, Miss. He is in his study. Must I go get him for Miss?"

Hermione shook her head and started to make her way in the direction Milley pointed out. "No thank you, Milley. I will go get him myself."

Milley nodded and watched as Hermione angrily marched down the dark hallway.

Hermione stalked down the hallway, but stopped short when she saw all the beautiful art that adorned the walls around her. Instead of strictly pictures of ancestors, the walls had works of art from many different genres and eras. There were pieces that she was sure were meant to be in museums and she wondered how they had ended up in the possession of the Malfoy family.

She slowly walked, taking in as much of the art as she could. It wasn't until there was a loud BANG! followed by peals of laughter, that she was pulled from her trance like state.

Ahead and to the left was a door that was slightly ajar and through the crack warm light spilled into the darker hallway. Hermione slowly made her way to that door and peeked her head inside, hoping to not disturb the occupants.

She was instantly relieved to see both Davy and Drew sitting on a big throw rug in front of a large fireplace. Draco was laying down, with his head propped up on his left hand, and his back to the door. In front of the three was a miniature replica of the Quidditch World Cup stadium, and buzzing around inside were 14 little Quidditch players. The boys would squeal and cheer every time the players would buzz by their heads or either of the teams would make a goal.

Hermione found herself leaning against the door frame watching as Draco would explain the game to both of the fascinated boys.

After a minute or so, Drew happened to look up and around and spotted her. As soon as he did, his eyes lit up and he was up and running at full speed towards her.

"Momma!"

When Davy noticed what had gotten his brother so excited he was soon joining him.

Draco took out his wand and made the little stadium and its players disappear before standing to his full height.

Hermione gave both boys hugs and kisses, and then knelt down to their level to ask about their day.

Drew wrinkled his nose, "We had nasty green beans at lunch today."

Davy nodded and made an identical face of disgust, "Yeah. It was gross, momma."

Hermione chuckled, "I am so sorry boys. That must have been horrible."

Drew nodded, and his face instantly split into a large grin, "I got to play with my orange shovel today and no one tried to take it from me. I was a good boy today Mummy."

Hermione smiled and pulled both boys in for a hug. She then stood up and for the first time faced Draco, who was now leaning against his desk, watching the little family moment.

One look into her eyes and he knew she was pissed. She seemed to take a few deep breaths before she asked him, in a very controlled, steady voice, "Why don't we have Mr. Malfoy show us where you two can play for a little while. I need to have a grown-up talk with him."

The boys both turned towards Draco with excited looks on their face. He smiled and called for Milley.

She appeared with a loud 'pop!' which made both boys clap and giggle.

"What can I do for Master?"

"Milley, will you please take the boys to the playroom and stay with them while Miss Granger and I talk?"

Milley opened her mouth to answer, but Hermione interrupted her, "What? You want to send my three year old children out into a strange house with no one but a House Elf to watch them. You are out of your mind, Draco Malfoy."

"Milley is trained to take care of children, Hermione, it is part of her job. She took care of me when I was a child and I was never hurt under her supervision. I trust her completely with our children." He turned towards Millie, "Go ahead and take them."

Millie bowed to Draco and turned to the boys, who were looking at her with wild excitement in their eyes, as if she were a new toy for them to play with.

"Young Masters, follow Millie please."

The boys did as they were told and eagerly followed the House elf out the door.

Hermione wanted to watch them, but the door was magically shut in her face before she had a change to stick her head out.

She whirled around, drawing her wand and pointed it at Draco's face.

He instantly raised his hands in surrender and put his wand on the desk. "I know you are furious, but could we maybe do this without wands?"

Hermione slowly lowered her wand. She walked slowly towards Draco and placed hers next to his on the desk.

She then turned towards Draco, lifted her hand, and slapped him right in the face.

I am sorry it has taken so long. Been busy with school and life and wasn't all that inspired to write.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Let me know what you think! Thank you so much for reading!

Nikki