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We Can Work It Out	By : Gryffindorclutz Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 51307 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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September was not an ideal time to have a baby shower for people who worked in education, but Ginny had insisted that Hermione and Draco have one and here they were in the heat of the afternoon on the veranda of Malfoy Manor with thirty cooling charms in effect and Hermione was still sweating buckets in her gauzy strapless robes with over a hundred of their ‘closest friends and family’ in attendance. Ginny had started the guest list and Draco’s Aunt Andromeda had finished it. Draco’s grandfather’s sisters were in attendance and kept calling him Talbert and two of his mother’s second cousins had shown up and brought their families. Because they had been invited, Draco couldn’t escape inviting his paternal grandmother’s siblings who also dragged along their large Italian families and his great Uncle Nero had demanded to know why they weren’t married, to which Draco had spelled an engagement ring on her finger and told him that they would marry at Samhain.

Hermione wanted to reprise the scene from third year where she slapped him in front of people he respected and then turn around and slap Nero. He had met Draco only once before when he was three years old and hadn’t spoken to him since and now he, his wife, five children and twelve grandchildren were staying at the Manor and eating lots of shrimp, caviar and steak and drinking champagne, wine and bourbon like they were trying to kill their livers in one evening all on Draco’s galleons. They had also brought their Italian greyhounds that skated around the marble floors like nervous hockey pucks and one of them was not toilet trained. Hermione was an animal lover and wouldn’t have minded nearly as much if the family hadn’t acted as if it was somehow Draco’s house elves' faults that the messes appeared. As if the poor creatures were supposed to anticipate the dogs’ bladders! Hermione had given up on S.P.E.W. but she still tried to lobby for better treatment for house elves by wizards. Nero’s wife, Teresa, turned up her nose at the steaming pile of dog turd as soon as it was deposited and then looked disapprovingly at Draco and Hermione until one of them called a house elf to clean it up. What right did this odious man and his wife, or any of them for that matter, have to ask or judge anything about Draco’s life?

As much as she disliked dealing with Nero Marzetti and his family, she did find Galswintha and Hilda Prewett-Macy utterly delightful, even though it was clear they had no idea who Draco was or where they were. They were identical twins who had married twin brothers whom had died during an explosion in their apothecary. The two older women seemed genuinely interested in ‘Talbert and Adora’ and really, really hoped that the birth of their third child went well. Hermione had no idea who they were mixing them up with and neither did Andromeda, but it was nice to listen to stories about Draco’s mother as a young girl. Of course, Galswintha and Hilda thought that Draco was her brother, but they were more than tired of correcting them at this point, so they merely went along with it.

Along with Draco’s relatives, all of their staff had been invited along with most of Gryffindor from their years at Hogwarts and about half of Slytherin along with several Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs mixed in. It was nice to see Seamus and the Patil twins and Viktor and Alexei had dropped by as well since they were playing the Holyhead Harpies this week. Pansy Parkinson had obtained an invitation because she had cornered Ginny in Saad’s Restaurant and talked about how criminal it would be if she didn’t attend because she and Draco were practically family and since his immediate family was dead she was really the only family he had left. Pansy and Draco had not spoken since Hogwarts so Ginny knew it was a lie, but gave her one anyway to get her to shut up and because there would be so many people there anyways, it wouldn’t matter if one more person showed up or not. When Pansy got out of her Corvette with her very fat, very bald, very rich husband at the end of the driveway and walked up to the house through the throng of photographers, it became clear why she had asked for an invitation. Most people had apparated to the back gates or flooed into the foyer, but Pansy twisted and turned as her husband walked her to the entrance, showing off the newly spell-crafted nose that looked too pinched and the ridiculously large breasts that brought attention to her spindly legs. Her cheekbones had been enhanced and her chin had been filled out so that she no longer looked like a pug, but now she looked like very surprised ostrich. She hadn’t spoken to either the hosts or the guests of honor and they all felt very relieved.

Hermione was sipping non-alcoholic punch and fanning herself and wishing that Draco would peel himself off of her because he was flooding her with extra body heat. However, she knew he was nervous because there were so many members of the D.A. in the room and most of the people here either disliked him outright or had traveled from dislike to neutral with a side of polite interest because of his closeness to Hermione. Even his relatives, (the ones who remembered who he was that is) didn’t appear to like him except for Andromeda. Hermione hadn’t wanted to have the shower here, but Ginny had insisted that it was the best place and Andromeda and Ted had offered to clean up afterward. The maternity dress she had chosen had a floral pattern on a white background and was Grecian styled. The empire waist did nothing to hide the bump she sported and her breasts were practically popping out of the confines of her dress. She felt like a bloated toad.

Apparently bloated amphibians were a natural turn on for Draco because his eyes had nearly bulged out of his head when he saw her enter the breakfast room that morning in her party dress. By-passing his sneering Uncle and cousins he had dragged her by her wrist out to the ivy covered gazebo in the garden where he sat her on the railing, bunched her long dress up around her hips and shoving her lace knickers to the side, proceeded to give her aching pussy one of the most deep, forceful, intense shags she had had in ages. If it hadn’t been that level of mind-blowing she would have murdered him because it was obvious to all of his snooty relatives what they had done. Nero’s son Brutus had leered at her unashamed until Draco had cast a non-verbal funniculus curse over his eyes. Hermione thought that Brutus would probably never look at her again in his life. That was perfectly fine with her.

Ever since running into Ron at the book store, Hermione had been extremely perplexed. She had no desire to go back to Ron, but ever since he had admitted his feelings to her, she was longing for what he had offered to provide for her for years: a loving home life and stable family. The only ill will she had ever harboured against Lavender had surfaced when the other woman had announced her pregnancy. Hermione felt like Lavender had usurped the life that was meant to be hers. Watching Ron pledge to 'love, honor and cherish' Lavender for the rest of his days had hurt her. Hearing that the two of them had purchased a house in a trendy neighborhood didn't even register to her. What did register was that it had four bedrooms and an office. They were planning on expanding their branch of the Weasley clan. However, watching Ron scuttle around a precariously pregnant wife hurt something so deep inside of her, she hadn't realized it existed. Hermione, while being sophisticated and complex in the areas of work and academia, had always had traditional wants when it came to her personal life and Ron Weasley had procured a starring role in her fantasies of this home life as early as their fourth year at Hogwarts.

Hermione's dreams had not changed much since her fourth year, except that now, instead of Ron or some faceless wizard, Draco Malfoy was the one filling all of her physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual needs. She didn't even have to fantasize, really. All she had to do was bring up memories of the past months and she was as happy as a boggart in a closet. She would have thought that with her hormones kicked into overdrive, that being around Draco twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week would have made her overly annoyed with him. If he had been any other man, his constant need to touch her, the way he followed her from room to room both at work and at home, his unwillingness to curb displays of affection, no matter their location, and the way he had taken charge of her pregnancy, he would have been killed. Oh, he still annoyed her to no end, but somehow even those instances were endearing.

The reason Hermione was so perplexed was because she didn't know if these feelings were real or if she was merely a hormonal mess. Draco had fulfilled her fantasy of a loving father for her child and an equal partner both in the bedroom and in the office. She had once thought she was in love with Ron. The fact that he had left her for someone else should have hurt much, much more if she was supposed to be in love. Instead, she had only felt sadness and brief displacement. She had not even spent an evening eating ice cream and chocolate biscuits whilst watching Love Actually. She had been involved with Ron for most of her adult life and losing him as a romantic partner didn't cause her heart to ache nearly as much as when she thought about the evening she had been called to collect a drunken Draco from the bar and the scent of another woman's sexual arousal had been all over him. At the time she had blamed her hurt feelings on the fact that she had discovered that Oliver Wood was no better a match for her than Ron, that very evening and she thus felt very much alone. However, now the thought of him with someone else caused her heart to panic. He was a needy, whiny, childish mess when it came to situations outside of work, but he was her mess.

Did she feel this way only because she was pregnant and he was the father? Had it been a mistake to start a sexual relationship with the man who was her now her closest friend? Was she jumping to conclusions (which she had a tendency to do when it came to Draco) and after the baby was born she would go back to seeing him as her very dearest friend? Thanks to her relationship with a sexually confused Viktor, she knew that she could be friends with a man, have a sexual relationship with him and not have her emotions involved. She had been friends with Draco for years now and never thought of him as anything more. It would not do for her to broach the topic with him and potentially make things complicated, only to go back to feeling nothing other than friendship after their baby was born.

Thinking of their baby, Hermione smiled and leaned back, snuggling into her mate's lean chest. No matter what happened, she knew she had made the right decision to have a baby with him. She felt confident and secure with Draco and that was something that would never change. Even though he hadn't been there and Hermione hadn't told him about the incident with Ron, where he put himself back on the table for her, Draco had been acting as if she was going to leave at any minute or vaporize from his hands if he didn't hold onto her like a child clutching a helium balloon string at a county fair.

Inhaling the man's scent as she felt his arms wrap around her, Hermione looked up to see Blaise Zabini and a striking African witch walk towards them. The older, dark skinned woman was obviously Blaise's mother and the millions of pictures of her on magazines and other advertisements did not do her justice at all. She had to be part veela.

“Endora, how nice of you to come,” Draco said as the lady before him took his left hand in her right one and cupped his cheek with the other. Endora Otieno was the closest thing Draco had left to his mother and so he turned into a puppy (as much as Draco Malfoy could be considered such) and followed the woman to the refreshment table, where he shooed the house elf away and procured food and drink himself.

Of course I came, Draco. Who would want to miss a Malfoy party and as someone who watched you grow from a baby, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to help you celebrate the birth of your own.” The woman's perfect mahogany skin crinkled at the corners of her eyes, the only indication that she was over forty, and she nodded at Hermione mutely before extracting Draco from her.

As they spoke, Hermione watched the older witch look her over wistfully. It was the only time Draco's face showed anything but deference and esteem for the woman held herself like royalty in front of him. There was a flash of possessive anger combined with panic. Hermione smiled at him and it was the conspiratorial grin she used to use at Ministry functions when they were separated and Draco or she was stuck talking with someone who bought into the pomp and circumstance of whatever gala they were attending. The reminder of their emotional intimacy made his face visibly relax and he gave her a chastised look.

Watching their exchange, Blaise finally cleared his throat and Hermione realized she had been ignoring him. Blushing, she stroked her belly and addressed him.

“I'm sorry, Blaise. Your mother could distract from a house fire. Thank you so much for coming and how are you doing?”

Blaise smiled at her as he watched Draco glare at him and then go back to attending to his mother. “Quite all right, Granger. I'm used to it. Besides, I've been looking forward to this baby shower since receiving an invitation.”

Hermione gave him a look. “There's no need to be so sarcastic. Your presence, although enjoyable and appreciated, was not exactly expected. Draco would have understood if you had not come and something tells me your mother could find an escort in a nunnery. Why does she keep looking at me like that?” Having endured the Marzettis all weekend, she felt no patience and was tired of being visually assessed by people in her unborn child's own home.

“I'm actually not being sarcastic. I was looking forward to this evening not because I wanted to see how many Hygiene Plus containers you got, but because I wanted to see Nero Marzetti in the flesh and to see if Andromeda was actually able to convince the Prewett-Macys to step outside. Mother is staring at you because she is a sore loser and is jealous that you did not take me up on my proposition. She is not used to be rejected, even if it is vicariously. This is almost like a school reunion. I see almost all of Gryffindor, three quarters of Slytherin. Tell me, did Hufflepuff and Raveclaw make it?”

Hermione rolled her eyes. Nero Marzetti was the Donald Trump of Italy in that he was wealthy, ubiquitous and an utter and complete toad. Lucius Malfoy had come by his charm from no stranger. Even though his voice sounded cavalier, Hermione could detect a slight sense of urgency about Blaise. He was seeking information about someone there. Was Uncle Nero a business opponent? She knew that the Zabini family was wealthy and powerful in both Italy and Britain, but was it possible that Blaise needed something from them? Hermione would gladly confund Nero in a board meeting if for no other reason than the fact that he mistreated the dogs his wife insisted they travel with.

“Hm, Nero is certainly a spectacle, but I'm sure that if you needed a ticket to the backstage part of his little carnivale Draco would be more than willing to arrange it for you..” Blaise flashed her a pleased half-smile, but it wasn't one of his smug grins or arrogant flashes of teeth. There wasn't even that trace of ambitious hunger that was usually there when Blaise wanted something. She had no idea what the look on his face was, but she knew it wasn't normal and that Nero Marzetti was not his problem.

“Blaise, what's wrong? Who are you looking for and for what reason?” Hermione could guess all night and never get information out of him. She really shouldn't care, but she did have an insatiable curiosity. Had the man's callous treatment of others finally caught up to him?

“Is Lovegood here?” Blaise asked in a tight voice and completely blank expression. Hermione's stomach dropped as much as it could with another human being practically sitting on it.

“Not yet,” she said trying to remain calm. “Why? Did you not finish your textbook?” Blaise was very predictable in that he attempted to sleep with every female he came across and then as soon as he did, he tossed them aside, going so far as to ignore them in future social settings. She would not be able to stay calm if Blaise insulted Luna in front of her. Her only comfort was the knowledge that even if Blaise had wounded her emotionally, Luna was the kind of person to make a scene and she would not be sad for long.

“No, we finished it. She was very thorough and my editors are quite happy with it. I suppose she's been very busy these past few weeks? School just started, right? She should have her hands full.” He looked both hopeful and embarassed. Hermione felt like she was in the Twilight Zone.

“Actually, she got everything ready last month for courses. We're fortunate because that means we can focus on things other than syllabus statements. She took a small vacation to Belgium a few weeks ago and she told me she was taking this week off to get the nargles out of her garden. Do you need more information from her? She's a big enough girl that she can handle being rejected, Blaise. Don't worry, she won't cling to you like a kudzu vine.”

“You mean she's been off work this whole week? She hasn't done anything other than brew some paltry potion and burn sage and lavender in her garden?” Blaise looked almost angry and Hermione realized that she had misjudged the situation. Blaise was not afraid of meeting with her, he apparently wanted to do so, desperately.

“Well, Rolf has been in and I'm sure they probably did some research project together. If you need to talk to her, just floo her and I'm sure she'll come to your office. She's come over to help sort through first year documentation. Luna can become side-tracked, which I'm sure you understand.”

“Rolf? Who is Rolf and why are they 'researching' together?” Blaise demanded.

Gulping, Hermione looked to Draco who was watching her curiously before answering. “Rolf Scamander. He's Newt's son and when Luna was living in Italy, they had a relationship. Their romantic relationship ended, but they still do research on magical animals together. Newt was actually pushing for them to get married because he wanted Luna in the family so badly. She wasn't ready for any such thing, though and so she came home. Rolf is very congenial, though. Most of the animals for Hogwarts 'Care of Magical Creatures' class are provided by Rolf and Newt with Hagrid taking care of them. He really is a lovely person. He and Luna would be perfect for each other if they both felt the way his father wanted them to. They're both free spirits with very big hearts and very academically inclined.”

“Free spirits? Isn't that the word girls use to call other people sluts without actually doing it?”

“No,” Hermione said, annoyed. “Free spirited means that they both don't necessarily follow society's conventions in ALL ways. If it meant being a slag, then I could call you one.”

“Is he ugly?” Hermione was no longer certain she was speaking to Blaise Zabini.

“Well, er, he's not my type, but no. He isn't ugly. He's actually standing on the veranda talking to Charlie Weasley if you want to decide for yourself.”

Blaise's head snapped up and took in the overly tall white man with dread locks. He had sideburns, but no beard and even though his hairstyle often made people think of filth, he was obviously very clean. He had a bohemian flair and if his blond hair had been red, he could have passed for Charlie's twin. He had handsome, defined features and large, wet blue eyes that were set off by the eyebrow piercing he had.

“Oh really,” Blaise said. “Well, it sounds like they'd be a perfect match for each other. Yes, they're just like you and Draco. They work well together and I'm sure they play together very well. I bet that the four of you can double date quite nicely.” Blaise flicked imaginary lint off his dress robes and shifted his body weight. He was very angry about something, but Hermione couldn't believe what the information was telling her.

“Blaise,” she said in a low voice, “Draco and I are not friends with Rolf beyond a professional stance. Luna is a very dear friend, but she is my dear friend, not Draco's. Besides, even if she was, she has no wish to be with Rolf. She told me that she can't see him romantically anymore because she can't think of him sexually. I have no idea why that should be your business, but it seems to matter to you. If you need to talk to her about something, and it is clear that you do, then tell her point blank that you need to speak with her. Luna does not play coquettish games and she does not respond to beating around the bush.”

Looking off at nothing in particular, Blaise mulled his thoughts over in his head. Finally, he seemed to decide upon something and excused himself to go find his mother, leaving Hermione alone with the puzzle of his behavior. She mingled about with the other guests a few moments before looking for Draco. It was hot, she was tired and for some reason, she just wanted him. Looking up, she felt relief flood through her when she saw him. Apparently their baby was also relieved because when she saw him, it began kicking happily. He wove his way through the crowd towards her, purposefully, his face hard.

Presuming it had something to do with one of his relatives, she ignored it and put his hand on her belly so that he could feel the joyful little flutters and taps through her dress. His face immediately softened.

“See? Daddy came back, little one,” Hermione cooed at her belly. She then leaned forwards and kissed Draco's chin, which was the only part of him she could reach when he stood like that. “We missed you. Gods, I thought I was going to go a bit nutters talking to Blaise. He said some very weird things.”

“Oh did he?” Hermione then noticed that he was looking at her very strangely. She hadn't seen him this angry since the night he apparated into her flat to tell her to tell Blaise to piss off.

“Yes, but it was nothing inappropriate,” she said, trying to reassure him.

“Well, I've just been talking to Oliver Wood. He also said some strange things.” Draco's face was flushed and if it weren't for the fact that she knew him so well, she would think he was livid. He was angry, but he was also trying very hard not to break down. She knew that Oliver had been upset that she hadn't been interested in a relationship, but she wondered if he was so vindictive that he would try to ruin the one she was in.

“What did he say?” she asked, nervously holding her swollen belly and stepping back from him. He grabbed her elbows and forced her to stay close.

“He told me that the last time he went shopping for a book, he happened to see you, but you didn't see him.” Draco's eyes were searching her own as if begging her to tell him something wasn't true.

“Well, the part about me not seeing him is certainly true. The last time I went, I bought a book on knitting patterns and a book about centaurs for the baby. Why would that make you angry?”

“He also said that while he was there, you ran into Weasley and his baby.” Suddenly her stomach dropped. She had done nothing inappropriate, she had no reason to be ashamed. She nodded that this was true. This made Draco's eyes water. Why did she feel as if everything was about to change?

Closing his eyes, Draco took a deep breath. “And what did that selfish, ginger bastard say to you?”

A/N- I could offer reasons and excuses, but they seem irrelevant. This chapter is dedicated to Brittany. She got me writing again and she is the only person in my 'real' life who knows I write and that reads my stuff. Thank you, Britt for being such a good friend.

Cheers!

G.C.
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We Can Work It Out