AN: An Dramione fluff... No smut, no lemons, just some fluffy stuff... with complete and utter disregard for the canon!
It was Christmas Eve. The Christmas tree was blinking brightly with a massive pile of gifts set beneath it. Per tradition the table was set splendidly. The food that was served by an army of elves smelled mouth watering and the company was loud and boisterous.
Around the table sat a handful of adults, quite a few teenagers and one young child. Two of the children had red hair; one with black hair, one with brown hair, four blond and one icy blue.
The children were chatting happily while the parents laughed at the antics the younger ones had. Everybody was laughing happily. Except for the blond teenager that sat at the far end of the table.
The blond boy was looking at his parents. They looked deeply in love. They were always touching or kissing each other. He tried to remember it to be any different but he couldn't.
Of course he remembered the fights his parents had every now and then. They would fight about the stupidest things in his opinion and sometimes they fought about him and his sisters but afterwards his mother would explain to him that it was because they both were too stubborn but they always made up and the next morning every thing would be great again.
'Then why would people claim otherwise?" He wondered. James had showed him old cuts from the Daily Prophet. The stories in there were very negative about his father, grandfather and even his mother. The stories claimed that his father and mother hated each other. Yet, they looked so happy.
He sighed as he felt the paper clippings burn a hole in his pocket. Christmas wasn't exactly the time to think about these things but he couldn't help himself. He had had turned sixteen a week ago, he was the same age as his parents were when the war started. Back then, according to one articles, they would have killed each other on the battlefield without even blinking. Right now he could hardly imagine killing somebody, let alone the girl he would end up marrying.
"Scorpius, darling, what is wrong?" his mother asked when she knelt down next to him.
"It is nothing, mother." He sighed.
He blushed a little as his mother looked at him. She could always see through his lies. Just like she always seemed to know that something was wrong.
"Why don't you come and help your mother selecting a desert wine." She said. He nodded and got up. As he walked out of the room behind his mother he couldn't help but see his father looked at them with worry in his eyes. His father would worry a lot about him. From when he could remember his father was the one who worried and fussed, not his mother. His mother loved him, he knew that but she was more of the mother who let her children find out stuff for themselves and be there to pick up the pieces.
Instead of leading him to the wine cellar his mother took him to the kitchens.
"Have a seat." She said and walked towards the fridge. Scorpius watched as his mother waved her wand and pulled out a large tub of chocolate ice-cream and conjured up two mugs of hot milk. He loved hot milk with this specific type of chocolate ice-cream.
"So, why don't you tell me what is bothering you." His mother asked as she placed the mugs on the table and sat down across him. "You have been moping around the whole holiday and as you will be off age next year I want your last Christmas as a child to be a happy one."
"I am happy, mum." He sighed and spooned a large scoop of chocolate into his milk. "It's just… James found these in the library." He said and pulled out the paper clippings.
His mother took them and read through them quickly. He watched as her wild curls fell in front of her face, they would always get out of control when she was angry. Her brown eyes flashed a little but it didn't seem that she would be angry with him or James. In fact when she looked at him, she looked sad and understanding.
"Oh darling. How long did you have these?"
"James found them during Halloween."
"And you thought that perhaps these stories meant that your father and I didn't love each other."
"I just… I just can't understand how you and dad love each other after all this." Scorpius sighed as he pointed at the papers. "I would never love somebody like Rose Weasley."
His mother laughed at his comment.
"Oh, Scorpius, if you only knew how many times I have said that about your father." His mother said and shook her head. "If I learned anything in my life it is that the line between love and hate is very thin. It is easy to fall either way. Though if you end up with Rose Weasley, your father might have a heart attack."
"So you did hate father?"
His mother sighed and nodded. She conjured up a spoon and took a bite of the ice-cream as well.
"Yes, I really did hate your father. He hated me as well. When I came to Hogwarts the old pure-blood believes were still very much in place. I was a muggle-born and he a pure-blood prince. The fact that I was a Gryffindor and Harry Potter's best friend didn't help either. We would fight regularly and your father used to be a really awful bully at school. When the war started we fought at opposite sides. Ready to kill or curse each other."
"Then how could you have fallen in love with him?" Scorpius asked confused.
"Well, it didn't happen overnight."
"Will you tell me?"
"I'm not sure if I can explain it correctly. I remember the first time we kissed really well. It was during one of our massive rows. It was in our seventh year and we were head girl and head boy."
*Memory*
"You utterly complete fucked up bastard!" Hermione yelled at him. "Why the fuck did you think it was a good thing to have a alcohol party in our dorms?"
"shhhh… Granger. My head." Draco groaned.
"Your head! Your head! What about my work? All my essays ruined by your stupidity!" Hermione screamed.
"Granger!" Draco shouted back. "Life isn't about homework, you stupid, stuck-up prude."
"I needed those scores, you idiot! Unlike you, I can't buy my way into an apprenticeship! Fucking bastard!"
Draco did have the decency to look a little ashamed at this. He was standing in a pile of parchment, all ripped to shreds and covered in fire-whiskey. Last night, he and Theo had decided to drink away the dark memories and got a little crazy. When he woke up by the screaming of his Gryffindor dorm-mate he knew he had gone too far. Not that he would ever admit it.
Hermione was breathing heavily with anger. She saw red, blood red. A weeks worth of essays, application letters and notes were destroyed. She wasn't even sure how Draco had gotten passed her wards she had set around her desk but it didn't matter. He had gone and obliterated her wards and stolen all her essays. Not only stolen them but they were all ripped to pieces, covered in alcohol or burned.
She was shaking and her wand ready to curse him into the next week.
"Easy, Granger." Draco said as he recognized the danger. She was ready to curse and he might not survive when she exploded. "No need to kill me over a few essays."
"A few essays!" She roared and shot a stinging curse at him. "A few essays! That was a week of work! I worked hours on them! They were my application essays as well!"
Totally forgetting to shoot more curses after her first one missed she stepped forward and rammed her fist towards him. She aimed to hurt him as much as she could but before she hit him, he grabbed her hand and stopped her.
He pulled her arm up and in the short struggle that followed he pulled her close to him and grabbed her other hand. Suddenly they were standing toe to toe, looking at each other with hate and uncontrolled passion.
Then suddenly they kissed, his lips on hers. His breathe brushing her skin.
*end memory*
"Just like that?" Scorpius asked his mother. "You were so angry about father destroying your essays and you just let him kiss you."
"When you say it like that it sounds so wrong." His mother chuckled. "When that happened I had already started to change my opinion about your father. The war had changed us all and I started to see how badly it had affected him. I had started to feel different things for your father then just hatred. It were just these idiotic things your father would do that got my blood boiling. It still happens sometimes."
"So after that you and father got together?" Scorpius asked.
"No, actually after that kiss we went back to ignoring each other." His mother said. "Though some things did change. The insults stopped and the constant bullying stopped as well. Your father actually felt really guilty about destroying my acceptance essays and took it up on himself to write the three masters I had applied too for an apprenticeship. He explained to them what had happened and that I wasn't too blame."
"That was nice of him."
"Yes, it was but he only told me after we got married."
"So when did you fall in love?" Scorpius asked.
"Three months after the kiss happened." His mother told him. "After that kiss we didn't speak to each other for three months. Not one word. It was a Hogsmeade weekend that changed everything."
"Come on, Hermione, let's get our shopping done and go back. This rain is soaking me to the bone." Ginny said.
"Harry and Ron are meeting us at the Broomsticks for lunch." Hermione protested.
"By the time we get there they are either drunk or well on their way to getting drunk." Ginny muttered. "I have no desire to see them pissed."
"Harry promised me not too." Hermione told her and quickly entered the bookshop.
They spend about an hour in there in the hope the rain with stop but when they realized it wouldn't dry up any time soon they ran to the next shop.
"Did you notice the ferret is following us?" Ginny asked when they entered Honeydukes shortly before lunchtime.
"No, since when?"
"Since the dress shop." Ginny muttered. "I wonder what he is up too."
"Not sure. I haven't said a word to him since Christmas." Hermione stated.
They went about their candy shopping and left the store twenty minutes later. They planned on running to the Broomsticks but when they heard somebody scream in the distance. Both girls didn't hesitate for one second and made their way towards the remains of the shack.
When they arrived they saw two hooded figures shooting curses at a third year Gryffindor. The third year looked in a bad shape and had been their victim for quite a while now. Blood was poring onto the fresh spring grass.
"Stop that!" Hermione yelled and shot a stunner towards one of the hooded figures. As soon as they were noticed two more enemies appeared. The stunner hit one of them but the others lost interest in the third year and started to bare down on Hermione and Ginny.
The curses and spells that were exchanged in a short battle were anything but light. Hermione swore that she saw crucio's and killing curses fly passed her. She was hit by one or two less dangerous curses before she and Ginny managed to take out the other three. Thanks to her strong shield both curses just brushed her but still hit something.
After the short battle her side was hurting and her head pounding.
"Hermione? Are you all right?" Ginny asked.
"I'm fine." She muttered before summoning the wands of the enemy and banished their hoods. In front of her lay three Slytherin students and one well known Death eater.
"Rastaban." Hermione hissed. "What is he doing here? Last I heard he was on the continent, hiding from French aurors."
"And Pansy, Goyle and Pucey." Ginny muttered.
"The aurors need to be contacted." Hermione muttered and casted some ropes around them.
Ginny nodded and conjured up a patronus to contact Kingsley and one to contact McGonagall. Before she could send out a third one to Harry and Ron, Hermione swayed next to her and crumpled to the floor.
"Fuck!" Ginny yelped. "Hermione!"
Hermione was shaking with seizures and already vomiting up foam.
"Dammit!" Somebody else yelled. Ginny looked up and saw Draco Malfoy running towards them. She aimed her wand at him to stun him as well but Draco wasn't carrying a wand. Instead he ran towards them and quickly knelt down next to Hermione.
"Granger?" He asked.
"Malfoy." She whispered through the coughing and convulsing.
"Where were you hit?"
"Side." She said before slipping out of conscience.
Draco cursed and ripped away her shirt.
"Malfoy, what are you doing?" Ginny growled.
"Trying to save your best friend." Draco snapped. "I overheard Goyle and Pansy talking about a curse they wanted to try out on her."
Draco focused his attention on the wound in Hermione's side. He pulled his wand quickly and started to chant softly. The wound in her side was a sickly purple colour with bright green edges. It looked poisoned to Ginny.
"And you know this curse?" Ginny asked sceptically.
Draco nodded and continued chanting. To Ginny's utter horror something green and thick started to come out of the wound.
"Take her head and make sure that she doesn't choke on her vomit." Draco ordered. Ginny did as she was told and ensured that Hermione could breath while Draco continued to chant. This continued for a few minutes.
"Mister Malfoy! What are you doing? Miss Weasley what happened here?" McGonagall nearly screamed as she appeared on site.
"Those four were torturing a third year, professor." Ginny quickly explained. She pointed to the young boy that was slowly recovering from his ordeal. "Hermione and I managed to stun them all but Hermione was hit by a curse."
"Mister Malfoy?"
Draco finished up the chanting and before answering McGonagall he quickly casted a bandage around the wound.
"I overheard Goyle and Pansy talking about trying out a curse on Granger." Draco said. "I know of this curse through personal experience and I wasn't about to let them kill her. Which she would have been within an hour because the poison would have spread too far. I followed Granger and Weasely in the hope to warn them but I was too late."
"And Miss Granger is safe now?"
"No, not yet." Draco turned back to Hermione. To Ginny he looked worried. "We need to get her inside and give her blood replenishing potions and fever controlling potions. The poison had spread quite a bit already and has done some damage before I could counter the curse. She will be needed a lot of care for the next few hours." Draco said quickly and conjured up a stretcher underneath Hermione.
"Okay, let's go." He said and without waiting for permission he took the stretcher with Hermione on it back to the castle.
"Draco." Hermione whispered as he walked besides her. "Thank you."
"Your welcome, Hermione but safe your energy. I'll be there when you wake up."
*memory end*
"So father saved your life?"
"Yes, that he did. I stayed in the hospital wing for a whole week after that. The poison had already done a lot damage. Your father stayed with me as much as he could. He even ensured that madam Pomfrey could get some very expensive potion ingredients."
"But why did he save you? It sounds to me like you two were barely acknowledging each other."
"Because I was already in love with your mother." A new voice said.
Scorpius turned around and saw his father standing in the doorway. His father has a soft smile on his face. His blonde hair was styled in wild fashion but never as unruly as uncle Harry's hair. Scorpius only now noticed that his father was wearing a home suit instead of his normal robes.
"You did?" Scorpius asked sceptically.
"Yes, I had already feelings for her. It was when she broke my nose with a perfect right hook in our third year when I started to fall for her but after the kiss we shared shortly before Christmas I realized how thin the line between hate and love really was."
Scorpius watched fascinated as his father took his mother in his arms and kissed the top of her head. It was such a perfect picture. When he watched them like this he couldn't imagine the two of them hating each other.
His father took the clippings from the table and looked at them. After a while he looked up at Scorpius and smiled.
"James got you these?"
"How did you know?"
"James told me. After you two left he told us what was going on. When it took a while for you to return I went to check if your mother wasn't telling you any bad stuff about me." His father joked.
"It's still so hard to believe that you could love somebody after such a history." Scorpius said.
"Many didn't believe us, either. When the news got out that your mother accepted my marriage proposal many of our friends turned their backs to us. Some actually accused me of casting an imperious on her or using a love potion."
"Really?"
"Yes, really." His mother nodded. "It caused a lot of arguments and we both lost a lot of friends and even family after that."
"Like grandma and grandpa?" Scorpius asked.
"Yes, your grandparents couldn't accept that I would be marrying a muggleborn witch." His father told him.
"Is that why we never see them?"
"No, not really. Once you were born they showed interest in you." His mother said. "It was just not the right interest."
*memory*
There was a knock on the front door. Both Hermione and Draco looked at each other.
"You are not expecting anyone, are you?" Hermione asked.
"No, you?"
"No." Hermione said and looked down at the week old boy sleeping in her arms. Scorpius had so far been the perfect infant. He slept, ate and slept again. Sometimes he was awake and would make all these cute sounds.
"Master, Mistress, Lady and Lord Malfoy are here." A house-elf announced.
Both shot up and looked confused.
"What?" Hermione hissed. "What are they doing here?"
"I don't know. Maybe they come to see Scorpius." Draco muttered before nodding to the elf.
The situation was very uncomfortable for the young mother. She moved Scorpius to her left arm so that her right hand was free to summon her wand and cast in an instance. The charmed bracelet Scorpius had been given by Harry would ensure that he would be safe from any curses but she wasn't.
Draco got up to greet his estranged parents. They hadn't spoken to each other since Draco had told him he would marry Hermione but he had sent them Christmas cards and a notice of the birth of Scorpius.
"Ah, Draco." Lucius said as he walked in. Hermione felt her shackles rise immediately by the way the old man walked in as if he owned the house. "Congratulations on the birth of your first heir. Even if it's tainted it is an important child."
Hermione hissed and Draco took a step back towards her.
"Father." Draco nodded to the old man. "Mother."
"Hello Draco." His mother said while her eyes locked on the baby. "Is that him?"
"Yes. Of course." Draco muttered.
A silence fell around them and Hermione started to feel more and more nervous. Her hormones hadn't settled so she was jumpy and quickly irritated at any given time but now she was downright scared and angry.
"Hello." Hermione said and nodded to her inlaws. She almost growled as Lucius sneered and Narcissa completely ignored her.
"Why are you here, father?" Draco asked. He knew how his wife was feeling and wanted to keep this meeting to a bare minimum.
"Can we not come to visit our son and his first born son?" His father asked.
"In any given situation it would be perfectly normal but I haven't seen you in five years. It has been five years since you told me never to show my face again and now you are here. As you say visiting to see our baby, yet you completely ignore its mother, my beloved wife." Draco said calmly.
"Dear Draco, you cannot think we would have ignored the birth of your son." Narcissa said. "We have come to see if you need our help raising it. There is a lovely nursery at the manor. Your father and I can help you raise your child according to our standards."
"I can raise my child myself, thanks." Hermione stated.
"You have no idea about the standards a young prince should be raised too. The taint you caused on him is enough damage already." Lucius hissed.
Hermione got up and stood next to Draco.
"Darling would you hold Scorpius for a second. I'm going to show our guest out."
"We will not be leaving." Lucius said.
"I will not be insulted in my own house!" Hermione snapped. She whipped her wand out and pointed it towards the wizard. "You will leave now and not return until you can accept that I will be raising my child how I want it too be raised! Any ideas on blood purity, dark magic and being a heir of a long line of utterly spoiled brats are the last things that will be on his mind. NOW OUT!"
"Now listen here you mudblood. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. As the head of the Malfoy family I have every right to claim the child and raise it according to Malfoy standards." Lucius sneered.
"Then perhaps it is best that I murder you now and have Draco be a proper head of the family." Hermione hissed. "If you do not leave in two seconds you will see that I am very capable of killing."
"Ha, like dirt like you can even gather the power to do that." Narcissa said as she stepped in front of her husband.
"Okay that's enough!" Draco roared. "You two leave and never show your face again here. I will not have either of you insulting my wife like that. Hermione is the most powerful and knowledgeable witch in this country. I will not hold her back if she decided to curse either of you."
A silence fell around them and Scorpius began to stir. The shouting match had woken up the child. Hermione felt a little torn between Scorpius and the enemy right in front off her. When Scorpius started to cry her hormones spiked.
"Now out!" She screamed, her wand already glowing with a curse that she didn't even knew the name of.
Luckily Lucius and Narcissa noticed the danger immediately and left quickly. Muggle-born or not, Hermione Granger was indeed a formidable opponent.
*memory*
"We bought this house immediately afterwards and moved in here a week later." His mother told him. "I worked for two days to design the wards in a way that they could never return here."
"We both wished it to be different. We really wanted you and your sisters to grow up with grandparents."
"But we have Grandpa Cygnus and Grandma Helen."
"Yes, you do. It was a blessing to have the Greengrasses by our side." Hermione said. "Your father and I lost so many of our family and friends that each and every one of them are a blessing."
"But you have still many friends." Scorpius said. "You dad and uncle Harry are the best of friends. Just like uncle Theo."
"Both your mother and I use to have a lot of friends. Due to our choices we lost most of them. Theo and I have been friends since we were old enough to play. Daphne has always been a good friend as well. However Harry was your mother's best friend and I hated him more then I hated your mother."
"Really? How did you become friends?"
His father laughed at that and shook his head.
"Your mother told me that if I wanted to marry her, Harry would come with the deal. I accepted his presence, as he made your mother happy but he wasn't my friend." His father told him. "It was a slow progress with a lot of arguments but over time we grew to accept each other for who we were and even enjoyed long discussions about magic and its uses. Harry became one of my best friends the day you were born."
"What happened?" Scorpius asked.
*memory*
"Susan, do you have some chocolate?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, in the cupboard above the sink." Susan answered from her rocking chair. She was nursing her firstborn baby. While she and Hermione had been talking about how to raise their children.
With a groan Hermione got up and stumbled across the kitchen.
"Urgh, you'd think I couldn't get any bigger." She sighed as she reached for the box with chocolate.
"You aren't that big. I was much bigger the days before James was born." Susan chuckled.
"I'd be happy if this little bundle of back pain is born. I think I have enough of this pregnancy." Hermione complained.
"You are doing brilliantly. Just a week more." Susan said encouraging.
"Let's hope he doesn't decide to come any earlier. Draco won't be home until Friday and with this weather even the Floo-system isn't save. I'm sure Kingsley will shut it down tonight just to prevent accidents."
Susan nodded and attended to the small baby with a tuff of black hair and light blue eyes.
"I never thought any child of you and Harry would have blue eyes." Hermione commented as she watched her friend with her godson.
"Neither did I but my aunt and Harry's cousin both had blue eyes so it must have been locked in our genes somewhere." Susan said. "Where is Draco this week?"
"Not sure, he went to get some rare ingredients somewhere in the north of Finland. Theo went with him but both weren't sure where exactly the dealer would be. I just hope they come back soon and in one piece." Hermione sighed.
"They will be fine. Draco and Theo are both more then capable to fend for themselves."
"I know." Hermione sighed. "I'm just worried. It's a dangerous area."
"I'd be more worried about the baby being born without being able to reach him." Susan commented.
"I'm worried about that as well. We had a major argument about it the day he left. I told him to take a baby beeper, a muggle contact device, but he refused. He said that there wouldn't be any electricity to charge it with. Never gave me the chance to explain that it works on batteries." Hermione sighed.
The sound from the front door opening alerted both women that Harry came home.
"Susan?" He called.
"In the kitchen!"
"Oh, hey Moine. How are you doing?"
"Chocolate and good company. I'm managing." Hermione said and gave Harry a kiss on his cheek. Hermione looked away from the happy couple as they greeted each other intimately.
"How was work?" Susan asked when Harry sat down.
"Okay. I had a row with Ron again but besides that it was good." Harry sighed and summoned a glass and a bottle of fire-whiskey.
"That bad?" Susan asked.
"Yeah. I went to visit George to see about his complaint of a regular shoplifter. George thinks that somebody sabotaged his wards and asked if somebody could come down and check it out. It was Ron's day to work." Harry sighed sadly.
"Oh, Harry, don't let him get you down." Hermione said. "He is a prick and a spoiled brat. His mother still gives into every little whim."
"At least George and Arthur are reasonable." Susan commented.
"Yes, but that only rallies up Ron more. He went on and on about how I was turning dark by hanging out with Slytherin's and that Draco bewitched us all. Lavender came in later but she just supports him in his madness. It's the same story he has been sprouting since Hermione and Draco started dating."
"One would think we have grown out of all those prejudges." Hermione sighed. "We aren't in school any more."
"Yes, at least the press won't listen to him anymore. They have finally figured out that the sun doesn't shine out of Ron 'the war hero's' arse." Harry said and knocked a shot of fire-whiskey without flinching. "Anyway, I was told by Kingsley that the Floo system will be shut down from six. Because of the snow and storm it's unsafe. Too much wind in the system they say. Advise is not to apparate either and only use portkeys in case of emergencies at the height of the storm. Brooms are already a total no go. I've tried."
"It seems that I'm stuck here for the night then." Hermione sighed.
"We don't mind." Susan said.
After nice and long dinner they settled in the living room for an evening of watching old movies. Susan had been taken with the muggle device and loved the cosy evenings watching movies. As Hermione loved to watch movies as well she didn't mind either. Draco would come to the cinema every now and then but muggle television and movies in the house was something he wasn't really comfortable with. Harry was so wrapped around the red-head's fingers that he would never think of complaining.
It was around eleven when Hermione felt a pain shoot through her back. She hissed a little but settled down quickly. She had been experiencing stabbing back pains since that morning but had brushed it away as aching muscles. When the same pain returned twice as heavy ten minutes later she grew worried.
After the movie finished Hermione got up. I'm going to take a bath, my back…" Suddenly she let out a short strangled cry.
"Hermione?" Susan asked immediately.
Hermione took a few short breaths and looked down.
"Fuck." Harry hissed.
"Oh no!" Hermione moaned.
"Easy there, Hermione. Your water just broke. I guess your baby isn't planning on waiting another week." Susan said and immediately got up to help Hermione.
"It can't come now!" Hermione wailed. "Draco is away and the storm, how will I get to St. Mungo's?"
"Shhhh… calm down, Hermione. It will be fine." Harry tried to calm her. "Why don't you go and take your bath while I think of something."
"Come on, Hermione." Susan said and pulled her up the stairs. It was slow progress with Hermione still panicking and in pain.
Half an hour later it became clear that the baby wouldn't wait any longer. Instead of the normal long first labour, Hermione's body seemed content with a quick process.
"It is at least a forty minute drive to London on a clear day." Harry said. "It will take at least three times as long in this weather. The roads are totally covered with snow and cleaning with take a while."
"She doesn't have that long. The contractions are only a few minutes apart." Susan whispered. "I think within the next two hours she will be ready to push."
"Can you deliver the baby?" Harry asked.
"I think so. It's not my specialty and I only know the basics but I'll manage." Susan whispered. "As a Paediatric Healer they don't teach you much about the stuff before the baby grows out of infancy."
"But you can do it safely?"
"Yes." Susan decided.
"Good. I'm going out and hunt down Draco. There is no use of fussing over a way to get Hermione to London and I have an idea of where he is. Hermione will be much happier when he is here." Harry told her. "I'm going to ask Madam Kensington to come and help you and watch James."
"Thanks but be careful. Apparating in this storm is dangerous."
"I will take a portkey to the ministry and then use the emergency floo to the ministry in Finland. I should be back in two hours."
"If you want Draco to be there when the child is born, you need to be quicker."
Harry nodded and turned to the room where Hermione was puffing away another contraction.
"Why is this happening so quickly?" Hermione moaned. "It's not supposed to happen so quickly. All the books say so."
"Moine, you know by now that books gather to the general not to the individual. Every pregnancy and birth is different. Your healer told you a dozen times." Harry said and brushed some hair out of her face.
"What am I going to do?" Hermione groaned as another contraction hit her.
"We can't get you to St. Mungo's, apparition and portkey are too dangerous and the floo is shut down. By car it will take at least an hour and a half in this weather and Susan doesn't think the baby will wait that long. Giving birth in the freezing cold in a car is not an option either." Harry calmly explained as he held her hand. "Susan is going to deliver the baby here."
"What?" Hermione asked. "Can she do that?"
"Yes, Susan is a fully trained Healer. While she isn't specialized in births and infants, she can do it. You'll have to trust her because this is the best solution. All others are too dangerous for you and the child."
Hermione sighed and nodded.
"I'm going to try and get Draco here." Harry told her.
"But it is dangerous to go outside." Hermione said.
"I'm going to take my emergency portkey to the ministry and then break another rule by using the emergency floo to Finland. Kingsley can shout at me tomorrow but I'm sure he wouldn't mind all that much."
"Dray is in northern Finland, somewhere in the middle of nowhere." Hermione said sadly. "I'd love to have him here but I'm not sure if you can find him. He didn't take the beeper."
"I have an idea how to find him in time." Harry said. "Stay strong and listen to Susan."
Hermione nodded and Harry left.
It took Harry about an hour to get to the location where the ministry's old tracker said Draco would be. The tracker had been used for Draco's probation and as the head of the auror squad Harry had access to it.
It was snowing heavily in Finland, though the wind was a lot less then back home. In the distance he saw a small cabin with lights on behind the window.
Harry pulled his cloak around him and walked towards the cabin. He left the magic tingle as he walked through the wards. They weren't anything dangerous, just a ward to alert the inhabitants to his presence.
Before he could reach the door, it slammed open and two figures came out holding their wand battle ready.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Harry pulled back his hood.
"Potter! What in Merlin's name are you doing here?" Draco demanded.
"Getting you back to England!" Harry called back and hurried into the cabin. "Hermione went in labour about an hour and half ago. The storm is so bad that we couldn't take her to St. Mungo's without risking the baby or her life. Susan is delivering. You need to come."
"Fuck. Moine is going to kill me." Draco muttered and waved his wand around to summon his cloak. "Theo could you ensure everything is done here?"
"Of course, go!"
After another long travel back to England Harry and Draco raced into the cottage where the Potters lived. Upstairs they heard a baby crying. Draco glanced at Harry and ran up the stairs. When he reached the guestroom he opened the door and fell utterly in love with his wife and newborn son.
"So, uncle Harry risked his life to get you, dad?"
"Yes, I will be forever grateful to him for doing that. After that Harry and I got along a lot better."
"So you really do love each other?" Scorpius asked again.
"Yes, just as much as we love you and your two sisters." His mother said. "Don't let our history tell you anything else."
Scorpius nodded and took the clippings. He threw them into the fire and got up.
"We should go back to our guests. James will think you are in trouble and your aunt Daphne still wants to take some pictures of you for her next article." Draco said and pushed Scorpius to the door.
The young Malfoy ran towards the dining room and his parents followed him at a more decent pace.
When Draco and Hermione arrived in the dining room they saw Scorpius, sitting next to the fireplace with young Remy on his lap. Remy had blue hair just like his father but pale blue eyes of his mother. James and Albus were sitting next to him. James had his arms around, Amelia, Daphne's eldest daughter. They were listening to Scorpius telling them something.
Their own two daughters, Cassi and Delphina sat at the other side with Lily and Corvus. Corvus, the youngest son of Daphne and Theo was playing with some toys while Cassi held a book in her hand. Cassi looked most like her mother, with wild brown hair and a love for books.
Lily and Delphina were flipping through the pages of Teen Witch Weekly. They loved fashion, make-up and jewellery. Neither Draco nor Hermione knew where Delphina got it from but they blamed Lily and Susan's love for girly stuff.
The adults were still at the table. Though Daphne was taking pictures of the kids through a muggle digital camera Harry and Susan had given her. Hermione and Draco pitched in and provided Daphne with a laptop and printer so she could frame them.
Teddy and Theo seemed to be discussing something in detail. Both Draco and Hermione could guess it was something about Quidditch. Both men loved Quidditch almost as much as their wives.
Harry was talking with Victoire while Susan was serving some wine. They looked like they were having a good laugh about something.
It was a perfect picture of a family that was not of blood but of love and friendship.
"I think we did good." Hermione sighed as she watched the room.
"Yes, all the battles, fights and tears were totally worth it." Draco whispered and kissed her softly.
"It certainly was." Hermione nodded and kissed him back. "I love you Draco."
"I love you too, my little Mia."