Draco Malfoy was exhausted by the time he had got home from a busy day at Malfoy and Zabini Limited, the company founded by himself and his childhood best friend Blaise Zabini. Surprisingly, the company was successful in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds dealing with investments and the sort. Usually his work consisted of making sure everything was running smoothly and meeting with heads of departments but today had been awful. A muggle company that many of Malfoy's clients had invested in had declared bankruptcy so it caused chaos at the company, chaos that Malfoy found himself dealing with as Blaise was on his honeymoon.
"Stupid Blaise and his bloody wife deciding to leave in the busiest month of the year" thought Draco as he loosened his tie while entering his study. Even though he was home he had more to sort out and he was full of resentment at his best friend and dread of what his own wife would say.
Draco Malfoy had been blissfully married for four years and he wouldn't trade it for the world. His past not being pleasant in the slightest, abused as a child, forced to become a death eater at the age of 16 and then finally at the age of 17 turning to Dumbledore and pleading for a way out. It was then he became a spy for the Order with Snape and helped lead the Order to victory to over Voldemort. It was during this time that Draco reluctantly fell in love with the girl he once hated. He found that as a member of the Order he would have to go on several missions with Potter and Weasley and in the beginning he detested it, but as time went on they bonded and grew a friendship. Hermione took notably longer to accept him but gradually she became to worry about him as well as her "boys", he became included in the group of people to receive her lectures, he became apart of the group she told to be careful.
The biggest change was when after one particular mission when they were all sent out, him and the golden boys to one place and Hermione with Lupin and Black to another location. To say he worried would be putting it mildly; he missed her terribly and thought about her every second of the mission especially when word got to them that there had been complications in her mission. He just remembered apparating to headquarters as soon as his own mission was over and calling her name; she appeared in the kitchen door with no injury at all. Draco Malfoy had never been so relieved in his life and didn't hesitate to tell her so. She thanked him with a passionate kiss.
The rest they say is history. Which is why he was anxious about her coming to find him, she had been upset about his hectic hours lately and he could find no way to make it up to her, so it was no surprise that he was hoping she wouldn't be home for a while.
"Draco?" a feminine voice shouted from somewhere nearby, Draco winced as he could hear her footsteps getting closer and then there she was standing in the doorway with disapproval written over her face.
"Hey, good day?" Draco greeted with as much charm as he could muster.
"What are you doing?" she replied while waddling towards him, her pregnant belly slowing her down, in his opinion she had never looked so beautiful as when she did when she was pregnant.
"Working, I just have a little more to do" he said and by the look in Hermione's eye he could tell she knew he was lying. He had so much more work to do than just a little.
"No! You are not working tonight, Ron and Luna are coming round with their kids tonight, and you promised you'd be available" she said quite angrily. Draco got up and went to her, rubbing her belly and kissing her cheek. "I know love but a problem came up at work and it needs to be dealt with" he argued.
"There always seems to be a problem at work lately, Evelyn barely gets to see her daddy and she has so much to tell you but you're too bloody busy to listen" she cried
"I can't help it!" Draco yelled but even as he said it he realised there was no conviction in it, he knew that he didn't have to spend all his time working but it was like before Evelyn was born three years ago, he gets nervous and questions his abilities as a father and therefore keeps himself away from everyone. It wasn't right and it certainly wasn't fair to Hermione or Evelyn.
Before Hermione even had a chance to answer or Draco to apologise, a young girl came running into the room. She had blonde ringlets and beautiful silver eyes just like her father's but her face was definitely Hermione's. She wore a sun kiss yellow dress that twirled when she ran. Draco dropped to his knees and stretched his arms open allowing the girl to run into him. "Hello daddy!" she squealed and threw her arms around Draco's neck.
"How is my little sunshine?" Draco asked her while playing with the toddler's hair. Hermione looked on with expectation in her eyes, hoping that this conversation didn't go as it had done in recent weeks.
"Sunshine is happy" Evelyn replied joyfully
"How's about you tell Daddy about your day?" Draco said to her while tickling her sides, in the corner of his eyes he saw Hermione's face light up with a smile. He looked down into his daughter's eyes only to see confusion. "But doesn't Daddy have to work?" she asked innocently with a hint of sadness.
Draco felt horrible, realising that he had indeed been neglecting his family recently, he silently vowed never to do it again, never to have a family like he had as a child with Lucius away all the time and Narcissa constantly crying or hurt.
"No Evie, Daddy doesn't have to work, he's got all the time in the world for you and Mummy" Draco told her.
"Well I went to nursery and I learnt a new nursery, do you want to hear it?" Evelyn didn't even give Draco a chance to answer and instead burst out with the nursery rhyme "Pop goes the Weasel". As she sang Draco looked at Hermione and mouthed "I love you" to her, her eyes shone as she did the same.
As Evelyn finished and asked her parents if she liked it, Draco answered with the familiar Malfoy smirk that he loved it and of course he couldn't wait to share it with her Uncle Ron.
Later that evening as they sat down for dinner and Ron told the Malfoy's about his latest Quidditch match, Draco and Evelyn couldn't help to burst into song:
"All around the mulberry bush
the monkey chased the weasel.
The
monkey thought 'twas all in fun.
Pop! Goes the weasel"
Ron Weasley's ears went bright red as his own twin boys joined in and his wife and Hermione sat back and watched enjoying the moment that Draco Malfoy finally had another humorous song to torture Ron with.
