Lovelight

Angeleyes

CW // Explicit Sexual Content 18+ 

All bets had been called off as soon as she had seen them in the bookstore a few days ago. Hermione knew this, she knew not to expect anything from then on out because she never would have expected them to show up in the first place. She knew that the bets were off, that she shouldn't have expected anything, that anything was possible.

Yet, she had found herself ill-prepared at the sight of Draco Malfoy sitting next to her daughter on the piano bench in the drawing room, both of their hands hovering over the keys.

The drawing room where Maia had taken her first steps. The piano where Hermione had taught Maia how to play. The sofa on which Hermione had cried after her daughter's fifth birthday party, her heart shattering in her chest at the idea that the pair of them had to live and grow without the missing member of their trio. The window that the rain pelted against, the drops rolling down the glass as the tears streamed down her face on that sombre September day that was supposed to be nothing but joyous. The fourth, she thought it was, the fourth of September when she broke in that room, broke for the life she and her daughter could have had if only the world hadn't been so cold and uncaring.

And inside that room, with its plethora of memories, had been Draco Malfoy, apparently teaching her daughter how to properly play the piano. He had done the same with her all those‒

Stop it, Hermione. Get out of your head.

She had seen Malfoy and Maia together a few days ago, and had decided to revert to her childhood ways of referring to him by his surname once the shock had worn off and she had been able to safely make it back to her room. He was no longer Draco, the man who had once made her world turn, he was now Malfoy, the man who had married someone else and broke her heart before showing up unannounced to upturn her very happy, albeit lonely, life.

He didn't deserve for her to call him by his given name, not after everything he had put her through, not after she found him with her daughter without gaining Hermione's permission for him to be around Maia.

Unfortunately, the sight of the pair of them together set her off in more ways than just that one.

Hermione knew that her thoughts had been derailed as soon as they had arrived on the island, but she hadn't realized to what degree it had occurred until she saw the pair of them. She knew that she would inadvertently come to think about the status of her daughter's paternity, but it hit her hard when she saw them sitting there, Dra‒Malfoy doting on her as if he was filling the role Hermione knew Maia always wanted filled.

She barely saw any of their interactions, but during the few moments that she did catch, she couldn't tear her eyes away, her mind captivated by the idea of Maia belonging to a father who was positively enamoured with her, intent on giving her everything and ensuring she was in as much joy as she could have been.

A father who loved her like she was the light at the centre of the universe.

If she had stayed around, attempted to give this to her daughter, though, it wouldn't have happened. There was too much to take into account, too many complicating factors and other people that Maia wouldn't have gotten what Hermione knew she wanted now.

It just wouldn't have worked. She knew this, and yet still found herself wondering what would have happened if she hadn't left. Where would she be? What would her story have looked like?

It certainly wouldn't have looked like this, wouldn't have looked like Hermione sitting in her room preparing for her daughter's bachelorette party knowing that three of her former flings were somewhere on her property, all of whom she was not excited to see whatsoever. One who had been the culmination of years of feelings on his end, one who was a drunken mistake, and one...