Chapter 24

Now that Lucius and Draco had spoken to Hermione about Crookshanks and how the Manor was really her home now, Hermione found herself feeling much more at home.

Before, she tended to spend most of her time in her room, unless she was with Lucius or Draco. She avoided being in any of the main rooms alone, because it had felt as though she wasn't really welcome. Not that the Malfoys had made her feel that way, not at all. But she'd never been in a house so large or so... cold, and it was hard not to feel like a guest.

Now that it had been made clear that Malfoy Manor was her home, she felt much better wandering around, sitting alone in the larger rooms, using the library, and exploring the grounds. She got to know her house a little better.

It made her nervous for the future, when she would have children here. They would certainly get lost; there would be no avoiding it. She wondered if there was some sort of master plan for the house, like a Marauder's Map.

Which had her wondering if that map had been so difficult to make in the first place. Lupin had been the brains behind it, from what she'd heard, and he'd called her the smartest witch of her age... so that meant that it was likely she could replicate the map, only for the Manor instead.

It wasn't that she needed to know where the men were at all times, in fact, she usually did know. But it might be a wise investment for the future.

Thinking about having children always brought a smile to her face. She knew she wasn't ready now, not by far, but she wanted to have a large family. She was sure Draco, as another only child, would agree with her, and Lucius seemed to want more children as well.

Would it matter that she might not know who the fathers were? Was it important? Hermione had the feeling the eyes would tell. Draco's were varied grey, with streaks of darker and lighter shading. Lucius' were solid grey throughout.

Now, if the children happened to have her light brown eyes, there might not be any way of knowing. Draco's face was a little narrower; Lucius a little taller and broader, Draco's lips slightly thinner, and the arches of Draco's feet were higher.

But none of those were things that would become evident for years, if at all.

It didn't matter to her, she knew. She also had the feeling Lucius wouldn't mind the uncertainty. After all, he already had his heir. But it was more than that. Lucius just seemed genuinely happy these days, in a way of which she never would have believed him capable. She'd seen him smile more in the days since she'd moved in than in her entire life, even only counting his smiles at work.

Draco might mind not knowing if his children were his own. She had nothing to back up her gut feeling, it was just an instinct. But this was all something they could contend with when it became an issue. Right now, there was nothing to do but enjoy the calm passion of her new life.

Until she got fired from work, that is.

The owl came just as she was getting dressed to go in. Draco had already left, having a meeting on his schedule.

Ms. Granger,

Tiresius Crackelhopper

Just as the owl note slipped through her numb fingers, Hermione heard the Floo activate. She went back into her room and quietly closed the door.

She had so loved that job.

"Hermione!" That was Draco. He must have been fired as well. "Where are you?"

She didn't answer. She could hear him running up the stairs. Any minute, he'd be at her door. How could she have been so stupid? She'd known all the offices were monitored, but she'd still let Draco kiss her there, and often. And she'd kissed him in his office, as well.

And Lucius. Hermione gasped. Lucius had been in her office many times, in ways that were very obviously not work-related.

But he wasn't in her department, she reminded herself; her letter clearly stated only in-office dating was prohibited. Well, at least Lucius still had his job.

Draco burst in through the door, surprising Hermione. She'd forgotten that he no longer knocked.

"You got one, too," he noted, staring at the letter at her feet.

She nodded mutely.

He crossed the floor, taking her in his arms. "I'm so sorry, love, so sorry. I never would have..."

A sob choked Hermione, cutting him off. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his chest. His robes were rough, so she pushed them off. Draco slipped out of them, holding her against his cashmere sweater instead. Her tears felt foreign.

All the work she'd been doing, all the campaigning, all the fundraising... no one knew the charities like she did. Her co-workers were going to fuck it all up, and people were going to suffer, and it was all her fault.

"Shh," Draco whispered, stroking her hair. "We'll get something else, something better. I promise. You were wasted there, anyway, Hermione. You know that."

She shook her head violently. She'd never felt more necessary than she had working there.

"I'm sorry, Draco," she said, sniffing loudly. A white handkerchief was pressed into her hand, and she viciously swiped her tears away.

"It's okay, love. I didn't really like it there, you know. Too much bureaucracy."

"But we didn't even get a warning, " she whimpered.

Draco pulled her away slightly. "What would a warning have done? They'd have told us to stop seeing one another!"

It was true. They would have done exactly that, and then Draco and Hermione would have been forced to either break up, or resign. Resignation from the Ministry meant being blacklisted, and not just from there. Harry had told her about a woman who'd quit the Auror corps without notice, and now she couldn't even get a job as a nanny.

But now that she thought about it, a warning was protocol.... They shouldn't have been fired.

"Draco, we were wrongfully dismissed! They have to take us back! They were supposed to give us a warning! We'll just have to find the person who signed the dismissals and explain we never got our warnings!"

"I signed the papers," Lucius said, stepping into the room.

"What?" she gasped, looking from him to Draco, who didn't seem surprised.

"I'm so sorry, pet. I didn't have a choice. If you'd gotten the warning, you'd have been given an ultimatum. I didn't want that to happen."

Hermione stepped away from Draco, closing in on Lucius. "Why? Did you think I would choose my job over Draco? Over you?"

"No!" Lucius protested vehemently. "The opposite. I knew you'd choose Draco, and then you would have had to resign. A forced resignation isn't the same as being fired. Your reputation would have been ruined. The Ministry would have made public the reason behind your leaving. No one would hire either of you for fear of the Ministry's wrath. The Board wanted to give you both warnings, but I stepped in. I said you should be fired. They took me at my word and let you both go."

"When did you know?" Draco asked.

"Only this morning, first thing. I had to sign the papers before I could start my own work. Trying to delay did not work."

"Father... how did you convince them to let you? It would have benefitted them more to force the ultimatum, for surely they'd never have thought we'd choose one another. They would have thought it was simply a dalliance."

"Draco...."

"What did you say?" Draco demanded, taking Hermione in his arms. Hermione was watching Lucius intently. She didn't know what Draco was getting at, but now she knew Lucius was hiding something.

"I said... I said that if they didn't fire Hermione... then I would quit."

"And they can't afford to lose you, now, can they?" Draco shook his head. "But that isn't all, is it, Father? That wouldn't be enough to convince them."

Lucius turned away. "Draco, I did what I had to for the sake of both of your reputations."

"Mudblood?"

Hermione gasped, pulling away from Draco. But he wasn't looking at her.

"And worse," Lucius said in a confirming voice. He wouldn't look at either of them.

Hermione suddenly felt sick. Lucius had... called her those things to the Board of Directors to get his way.

"Once we were told who was involved, it was expected of me," Lucius spat.

"Not by me," Draco said cuttingly. Lucius winced.

"But Lucius... they said they were going to go over the monitoring charms to dock my pay for time wasted. They'll see you! They'll see us!" Hermione's voice was bordering on hysterical. Lucius' actions, while hated, had been done with the best intentions. But he'd dug his own grave.

Lucius paled. Draco laughed mirthlessly. "The man who thinks of everything missed such an important point? Father, you know they go over the monitors when they fire people, especially people as high-profile as Hermione."

"Oh, Lucius," Hermione whispered. She hated to think of the things he must have said about her, but it had been an act, an attempt to save her and Draco from being blackballed. The more important thing was that Lucius had said those things and then demanded that Hermione be fired. It would look very suspicious, once the board saw them together, kissing and such, in her office.

"You know what they'll do," Draco said, almost casually, but Hermione knew him well enough to hear the beginnings of panic in his voice.

"What?" she asked quietly, almost not wanting to know the answer.

Draco looked pointedly at Lucius, who cleared his throat and met her eyes for the first time.

"They're going to release it to the press. They may not be able to ruin you and Draco because technically they fired you, but they can ruin you in other ways. They'll release the magical feed of you and Draco, and of you and I. It's the only way they'll be able to explain firing two such high-profile employees, and it will put me in my place as well. They will not take kindly to my deception. This punishes all of us."

"Oh, my gods," Hermione whispered. "Everyone's going to think I'm a whore... cheating on you both... they won't understand!"

Lucius strode quickly toward her, but Draco stopped him with a hand. She heard them whispering, but she was too busy thinking about how to fix this.

"Hermione, the things I said... they made me ill. I haven't thought anything like that since before our relationship began, I promise you. I was only trying to..."

"I know," she said. She opened her arms to both of them, needing their strength, as hers seemed to be faltering. Lucius enveloped her wholly, and Draco stepped behind her and held her. Now she felt safe. Now she felt strong.

"I know you both say it doesn't matter what the public thinks, but this is worse. People will never believe that you both knew. I'll be the slag, and you'll both be cuckolds."

Lucius and Draco offered no reassurance but that of their arms, and Hermione was glad. Empty platitudes would only have hurt her more at this point.

"There is something we can do," Draco said slowly. She felt Lucius nodding, and she looked up to catch the end of a silent conversation going on over her shoulder.

"We can go public...now. Today," Lucius said.

Both men pulled away, Draco coming around so she could see them both. Their faces were set with certainty, and she knew they would go along with whatever choice she made.

Only, there didn't really seem to be a choice. They were going to have to come out sooner or later, and if they didn't do it today, their reputations would be on the line. Revealing their triad would cause ripples, certainly, but coming out after the public already believed her to be cheating with both men would just seem like damage control.

"I want to do it," she said firmly. Lucius nodded, his eyes revealing his approval of her decision.

"Are you absolutely certain?" Draco asked, taking her hand.

"It's the only way to stop all this. We won't get our jobs back, but at least the truth will be known."

"All right, then. Father, what do we do?"

"I'll write a few owls," Lucius responded, turning to leave. "Be ready by seven this evening. I want this in the morning paper. The Ministry won't have had time to go through all the feeds by then. Hermione, is there anyone you want to be here for the press release?"

Hermione didn't have to think long. "Harry and Ron," she said promptly. "I'll owl them myself."

"Good. Having Aurors there will increase security, and having Potter will increase credibility. Good thinking."

Hermione didn't bother telling him she didn't want her friends there for practical purposes, but for support. She simply nodded and went to write her letter.

"Draco? Anyone you think should be there?"

"No one I wouldn't mind finding out about it in the paper," Draco declined. "But what about... Mother?"

Hermione paused in her letter, but tried to look as though she hadn't.

"Draco... even if we send her an owl now, it won't get there before the paper is out. You know the Prophet is international. She'll be reading about it while our owl is still in the air. That's if she's even in the same place. You haven't gotten a letter from her in..."

"I know," Draco said. "I'll write her anyway. That way, we can at least explain that time was of the essence."

Lucius nodded, leaving the room.

"Parchment?" Hermione offered, handing him some, as well as a quill.

They wrote silently and tied the missives to the same owl at Hermione's insistence. The owl was told to see Harry first before being released into the sky.

"Are you okay with this?" Draco asked, brushing his fingers over her bottom lip.

"I think so," she answered honestly. "It's come faster than I'd anticipated, but I don't really mind. In a way, I'm glad. I'm not happy I've lost my job, but after today, I won't have to think about hiding the truth anymore. Everyone will know, and sure, some will hate us, but most won't even care after a while."

Draco and Hermione sat on the loveseat in Lucius' study while he furiously jotted owl after owl. The poor creatures were flying in and out of the window in a steady stream, with Draco flinching whenever they flew about the room. He harboured a resentment for owls, after having been attacked by one, thanks to his disrupted magic. She tried not to laugh, but upon catching Lucius' eye after Draco threw up his hands and cried that the damn things were trying to drive him mad, she couldn't help a giggle. Lucius looked relieved to see her smile, and even Draco settled down a little, leaning back and pulling her on top of him.

"Think we have time?" he asked in a low voice, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"No," Lucius answered for her, glowering at Draco as another owl dropped a response onto his overloaded desk.

She shook her head, smiling at Draco's pout.

Hermione cheered to see Hedwig fly in the open window, bypassing the desk to come straight to Hermione. Draco jerked and stiffened beside her, but she ignored him, untying the response and directing Hedwig toward the basket of owl treats. Hedwig was dallying, which meant Harry wanted an answer back.

Hermione,

Harry

"Harry will be here," she announced, folding the missive and pocketing it. She wrote a quick affirmation and gave it to Hedwig, who took off. "He's bringing Auror friends." She'd think about Ron later.

"Not Weasley?" Lucius asked distractedly, signing something with a flourish.

"He thinks we've got her under Imperius," Draco said, having read along with her.

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's not very original," he drawled, winking at Hermione.

Hermione felt a little queasy at the reference to Lucius and many other Death Eaters making that claim after the first fall of Voldemort. She grimaced, but noticed that Lucius had paled. He started to shake his head, but Hermione smiled weakly. It didn't matter.

After allowing the Malfoys to dress her in a smart, cream-coloured pencil skirt and emerald silk blouse, she waited for Harry. Draco and Lucius would take twice as long to get ready.

When Harry arrived, she hugged him. Quickly explaining what had forced her hand, she took Harry around the grounds. He sent his friends around to secure key areas and to guard the perimeter, with instructions to one exceptionally large man to stay close and watch only Hermione, which the man appeared to take very seriously.

She showed Harry where everyone would arrive, and where the announcement would take place. A small platform and podium had been set up already, stunning Hermione with Lucius' efficacy.

"And you're sure? " he confirmed, searching her face.

"Yes, Harry. Completely. This is what I want." They both knew she was talking about more than the press release.

"Okay. Go inside. I'll come get you all when everyone is here and settled."

Hermione kissed him on the cheek and went back in.

She soon began to hear crack after crack of Apparition, signalling the arrival of the reporters, friends, associates, and anyone else Lucius had deigned to invite.

Lucius came down first, wearing dark grey robes with emerald lining, deliberately matching Hermione's top. His public smile was in place already. She wrinkled her nose at him, and immediately his smile turned genuine.

"It's going to be fine, Hermione," he promised, kissing her softly.

"Yes, I think so," she agreed.

Draco came running down the stairs wearing light grey robes not unlike Lucius', but he slowed to a more reserved stride when he saw Lucius and Hermione standing by the entrance. He came up to them both and pulled Hermione into a full-body hug.

"I'm glad we're doing this," he confessed into her hair.

She kissed him in response, not quite able to answer in kind. Harry opened the front door, nodded to Lucius and Draco, and smiled at Hermione. "Show time." He quickly left.

"Should we go?" Draco wasn't letting her break the embrace.

"I love you," Draco said, his face hidden in her neck. Hermione's eyes widened in shock, and she tried to pull back to see his face, but he held tight. Lucius' face was surprised and almost sad, though he was smiling softly.

Draco finally straightened, looking her in the eye. "I do. I love you."

Time stretched between all of them. Hermione wanted to say it, she really did. But something about the timing felt so wrong.

Lucius saved her. "You have your mother's dramatic timing," he said, that strange smile turning back into his public smile. "We have to go."

Draco nodded, looking at Hermione. He looked uncertain, but not sorry. A wide grin broke out on his face, and he strode to the door.

Hermione quickly followed, feeling dazed. Lucius brought up the rear, his steadying presence calming her.

Draco and Hermione ascended the platform first. Lucius held back, talking to Harry. They surveyed the crowd. Hermione didn't recognize many people at all. She had no idea what they all were doing here. She did wave to Luna Lovegood, a representative of the Quibbler, Hermione assumed. She also saw Rita Skeeter, who just wouldn't retire, no matter how many readers abhorred her, Hermione vehemently included.

Lucius came to stand between Hermione and Draco, stepping up to the podium. As per his instructions and her desires, he was going to do most of the talking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming on such short notice. We have some news to share, good news, we like to think."

Skeeter immediately interrupted. "An engagement? Oh, how nice!" she crowed, quill flying of its own accord.

Lucius carried on as if she hadn't spoken. "As you may know, triad relationships are very rare in the wizarding world, but very, very powerful." As he spoke, whispers broke out. Skeeter interjected again, but Lucius smoothly raised his voice and continued. "We three...my son, Draco Malfoy, the lovely Ms. Hermione Granger, and myself...are lucky enough to have been chosen by our magic to have such a relationship."

Hermione knew that telling the public their magic had chosen alleviated some of the responsibility from them, making them look like victims of happenstance.

"Now, we would like to confirm that our relationship is completely consensual on everyone's behalf. We are very happy and would very much like to live our lives with the decency afforded any deserving person."

Someone from the back of the small crowd pushed his way to the front, causing a disturbance and making other people cry out. Harry was immediately in the fray, hauling out the small form. The man protested at being manhandled until he saw it was Harry Potter doing the handling. He immediately stilled, smiling beatifically at the saviour. Harry rolled his eyes, making Hermione smile. The fuss had taken eyes off her, and for that, she was grateful.

Everyone seemed to have noticed Harry for the first time, and silence reigned.

However, one person was not distracted. "Miss Granger!" came the oily voice of Rita Skeeter, never one to have learned a valuable lesson. "However do you keep two such handsome and... virile men satisfied?"

Hermione shook her head. A voice in the crowd called out for Skeeter to be decent, and Lucius snapped, "We will not answer such improper questions, Ms. Skeeter. Please, contain yourself and prove to your public that you can be objective and considerate."

A flash of gold teeth in an unpleasant smile told Hermione that Skeeter wasn't quite through, and she would have been right, but Harry had allowed the smaller man back into the crowd and was now pulling Skeeter out.

Hermione heard Lucius answering other more general questions ("How did you know?" "What are your plans for the future?" "How will you use your new power?" There was one question about the nature of Lucius and Draco's involvement with one another, which Draco deftly confirmed as being strictly father and son, and Luna asked if they believed a triad relationship could help stave off Marmenhammer infestations, at which Lucius stared blankly), but Hermione watched Harry verbally berate Skeeter. Looking wholly unapologetic, the vile woman spun on a heel, walked briskly to the designated Apparition point, turned to give Hermione a smile that promised nasty things, and disappeared.

Lucius ended the session when the questions became suggestive in nature and no one appeared to have any further questions that weren't about sex.

Draco winked lasciviously at the crowd, immediately setting off an array of flashbulbs, and Hermione was thrilled that she hadn't had to speak once. Lucius had handled them flawlessly.

Lucius held his hand out for Hermione to take, assisting her off the foot-high platform. A voice called her name, and she automatically turned. It was the small man who'd caused the fuss.

"Miss Granger, you seem like such a nice girl," he began, and Draco stepped protectively close to her. "Why couldn't you settle down with a nice boy? Why, if it's power you like, there isn't any so powerful as Harry Potter...and everyone knows you used to date!"

The crowd, which had been turning away, angled back to hear her response. A quick look to Harry showed he was blushing furiously but willing to step in should she need it.

"Harry and I have never dated, Mr...?" she began. She would have done the same even if she'd known his name. Lucius had told her a dismissive attitude toward the press was the best way to appear aloof.

"Triptenhoof," the small man said, nodding kindly. "Franklin Triptenhoof."

"Mr. Triptenhoof," she said in a low voice. Speaking quietly forced people to listen, and if you did it right, they wouldn't interrupt. That was Draco. "Harry is in a happy relationship with Ginevra Weasley, as you well know, or should, considering your occupation. Now, as to your other... accusation..." she paused, taking in the furious scribbling of the other reporters, and the pride practically rolling off Draco and Lucius. "...It is also quite unfounded. I am not in this relationship for the power. Draco, Lucius, and I are very happy together. I would still be here if my power suffered instead of flourished. This is something I want very much."

The three walked back toward the Manor, Draco's hand squeezing hers, and Lucius' hand on the small of her back, reassuring her.

This is something I want very much.