Unknown Love

Chapter 11 Intruder

Hermione was extremely upset when the week passed and there was no word from Draco. Jess tried to help keep her mind off of it, and they did have fun touring the city but the entire place made her think of Draco and with every hour that he didn't contact her she couldn't wait to go home.

When they did get home she put all the effort she had given to finding out about Draco into her family and friends, as well as the reunion. Last year she hadn't helped much in the planning of it, but this year would be different. She met up with Ginny, Hannah Longbottom and Susan Bones (who was engaged to Ernie MacMillan) twice a week to be sure that everything would be set. As much as she absolutely adored DJ she also liked the few hours in solely adult company; being a single mother was hard.

The week before the reunion she had over some friends, including the Creevy family and the Longbottom family, which included Neville, Hannah, their son Ben (who was the same age as Little Ron) and their daughter Alice (who was a few months older than DJ).

Ben and Little Ron were running around the house playing aurors and "bad guys" (while they knew something of Death Eaters and such, they were only seven years old and were just told that they were bad people) with Mags hot on their keels trying to join in no matter how many times they told her in earnest that the game was for "big kids" and not "babies" like her. While they had been scolded by their mothers the first time they said it, their parents weren't in every room the three tore through.

The adults and actual babies were sitting in the living room talking about current events and catching up, that Hermione was the only one who seemed to notice the head of Draco Malfoy in her fire. She blinked her eyes and he was no longer there. Her skin had gone deathly pale and her jaw had dropped as she stared into the fire.

"HERMIONE!!!!"

Her head swiveled to look at her friends. "Yes?" she asked.

"I've been calling you for like three minutes. Is something wrong?" Ginny asked, concern laced in her voice.

"No. Yes." She shook her head to free her thoughts. "I don't know. I thought I saw DJ's father in the fire." She didn't say Jared because the face had definately been that of Draco Malfoy. She didn't say Draco because Ginny was the only one in the room who knew about DJ's true parentage. She thought that the others may have thought something of it, but then dismissed the truth because after all, Draco had been dead for over a decade.

At what she said, Ginny's face paled as well. "Are you sure?"

"I thought so, but maybe not." After that everyone went back to their conversations, but Hermione couldn't take her mind off of what she thought she saw. Was he trying to get in touch with her? If, so, what did he want? And even more important, did she want to see him? She wasn't sure about any of it.

After they had a nice barbeque outside and the children had worn themselves out her guests all went home, though Ginny specifically told her to stop by should she need to talk and try to figure things out.

When it didn't look as though DJ had any intention of going to sleep any time soon she picked him back out of his crib and to the living room where she spent the rest of the night singing and reading to him, as well as playing little games with his toes and fingers. Eventually the two of them fell asleep on the couch, with him tucked between her and the backrest.

What they hadn't noticed was that throughout the rest of the night, Draco had been checking up on them every half hour or so. When they had fallen asleep he stepped through the floo and sat on a nearby chair, just watching them. He wanted nothing more than to pull back her hair and kiss her soft lips but if he had done that he couldn't guarantee that he would be able to have more children. Instead he opted to drink in every detail that could be seen in his child. Their child.

He had purchased a nice, small house (only five bedrooms) not more than a kilometer and a half away from hers after resigning from the American Ministry. He had enough money that he didn't really need to work, and he would be able to find a suitable job when he wanted. In the meantime he had been trying to decide how to go about getting Hermione back in his life. In his need for a plan he didn't even consider to go the straightforward route and actually contact her and tell her how he felt.

In the end he had decided that he would be going to this years reunion. Hopefully when she saw him she would cause less of a scene than if than if they weren't surrounded by her friends and people she considered family. He knew that his presence alone would be the cause of a bit of an uproar, what with them all believing him dead and all, but he had to make this work.

Then today when he had moved into his home he just couldn't stay away any longer. He had to see tham, but instead he had seen her getting along fine without him and surrounded by people who would never be his friends. He kept checking up on her, though, waiting for them to leave. When they did he soon started to see her interacting with their son and saw how much of a good mother she was.

His heart seemed to pull him towards them, but he stayed in his own home until he saw that they had fallen asleep on the couch. He knew that he shouldn't go, and when he had made it into her living room he was surprised that she hadn't had intruder alarms on her floo. She started to move in her sleep, and was mumbling something under her breath as well. He decided that he should go in case she woke up. As he passed her on the way to the fireplace, she moaned out one word from her dream. "Draco."



a/n just so you know, despite the fact that the chapters for this one are generally few and far between, i will bu updating it on www.grangerenchanted.com a day or so before here, so keep checking there!