Disclaimer: obviously not mine. Why would it be on a fan fiction site?
QUEEN HERMIONE
Chapter oneA girl, no older than five, sat at a window seat staring out into the miserable, rainy Friday afternoon. One of her petite fingers was wrapped around a lock of her ash blonde hair while the fingers of the other hand toyed with a worn blanket.
She was staring out at the paved, winding drive of the castle with such intensity that anyone who passed would be startled by the patience of such a young child.
Glowing lights suddenly appeared at the gates and began winding their way slowly up the drive. The girl straightened up, taking one last reassuring glance at the car before jumping up and making a dash for the double mahogany doors squealing; "Daddy's home, Daddy's home!"
When she reached them, the doors opened on their own accord and she ran out into the rain, still yelling joyously for her father, oblivious of her waterlogged clothes.
The car slowed to a stop and a man with similar ash blonde hair stepped out of the back seat, pulling the collar of his cloak up around his neck.
No sooner had he straightened up then the small girl flung herself into his arms.
His picked her up wordlessly and ran towards the still open doors.
Once they were safely inside the marble entrance hall with the doors closed behind them, the man put his daughter down with a weary look on his face.
"Shia…" he began, about to tell her off for going out in the rain.
"Daddy…" she replied with the same disdainful tone. Grey eyes met grey as father and daughter stared at each other with solemn expressions.
Shia's lips began to twitch and suddenly she couldn't contain herself; she burst into a fit of giggles, falling against her father who picked her up once more, this time sitting her on his hip so he could see her face.
"Where's your mum?" he asked as he walked up the grand staircase.
Shia shrugged and pointed towards a door closest to them. It swung open automatically, like the front door.
A woman of about twenty-two was lying on her stomach on a four-poster bed, deeply indulged in a book that looked like it weighed more than a broomstick with a brick on it. She looked up when the door opened and she grinned when she saw who entered.
"Draco" she said happily "how was your trip?"
"Shia was out in the rain, Hermione" Draco said, ignoring his wife's question.
Hermione frowned.
"Shia, what did I tell you about going out alone?"
Shia pouted and narrowed her eyes.
"Shia" Hermione warned.
"Don't go outside because someone might snatch me" she recited dutifully before wiggling out of her fathers arms and racing from the room before she could receive another scolding.
"Why did you leave her downstairs by herself?" Draco asked accusingly, turning to face his wife.
"I thought she was in bed… anyway, I had other things on my mind"
"Like what?" Draco sat on the bed and pulled his wife closer.
"Firstly, how's Narcissa?"
"She's getting better"
Draco had just spent two weeks at his mothers place after she had come down with a severe flu.
"That's good" Hermione said absently, playing with the gold band on her finger.
"What's up, Herm?" Draco took the fiddling hand in his and squeezed it.
Hermione took a deep breath and looked at Draco's worried grey eyes.
"I think I'm pregnant"
Draco suddenly grinned, much the opposite reaction to when he found out that Hermione was pregnant with Shia.
"Have you taken a test yet?"
"No… I was waiting for you" Hermione smiled and pulled a box out from under her pillow. She got up and went into the bathroom that joined to their bedroom.
A few minutes later she returned holding a little white stick.
"Pink I'm pregnant, blue I'm not" she said with a smirk and Draco laughed… this was almost the exact conversation they had had almost five years ago, though now the mood was joyous and laid back instead of anxious and depressing.
She sat the stick on the bed so they could both see it.
Very slowly it changed colour.
Pink.
Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth as Draco flung his arms around her, throwing her back on the bed.
Hermione began laughing so loudly and hysterically that her personal maid, Kellie, was soon knocking on the door.
"Is everything ok, Hermione?"
Hermione struggled out of Draco's hold and staggered to the door, still grinning wildly.
Standing out in the hall was Kellie, Hermione's bodyguard, Charlie and Draco's three private assassins, Anik, Mark and Bruce.
"What's going on, Herm?" Charlie asked, taking in Hermione's deranged appearance with an amused look.
"Come in, come in" Hermione opened the door wider and ushered the five of them in.
"Guess what?" she said with a glance at Draco, still sitting on the bed grinning.
"We give up" Anik, a native man with long black hair said with a deep cool voice.
"Spill it, Princess" Mark, a blonde, fun loving Australian spoke.
Bruce, the third and oldest assassin stayed quiet, rubbing his stubbly grey chin thoughtfully.
"I'm pregnant!" Hermione squealed before putting her hand over her mouth once more, as if she'd just told a secret she shouldn't have.
Five jaws dropped, then the same five lips simultaneously curled into smiles before congratulations poured out.
It was only a child's demanding screams down the hall that put a halt to the celebrations.
"We'll get her," Draco said, taking his wife's hand. They dashed from the room, still giggling like school kids.
Shia's room was two doors down and on the right so her parents didn't have to be too far away to hear the crash and tinkle of breaking glass and Shia's desperate squeal.
Draco went crashing through the door, wand at the ready.
Hermione was less then a pace behind and it was she who fired a spell at the man silhouetted at the window. The spell hit the glass, reducing it to a pile of shards on the ground.
The man didn't even spare them a glance before dropping out the window and vanishing from sight.
Hermione ran to the window and looked down onto the gardens but there was no one in sight.
"Charlie!" she screeched. The massive figure of Charlie appeared in the doorway only a second later.
"Search the grounds, we have an intruder"
Charlie didn't need telling twice; he left as quickly as he had come.
"Hermione, she's bleeding" Draco said, igniting a lamp beside Shia's bed.
Heart hammering, Hermione fell to her knee's beside her child and stared at the cut on her arm.
Draco put his hand out to touch it and Shia let out a sob. Hermione took her little hand and held it tightly.
"It's ok, sweetie, daddy's just checking for glass. Hold onto me tight, ok?"
Shia nodded and Draco put his wand to the cut.
"Accio Glass"
A tiny shard of glass, no bigger than a fly, came out of the cut. It may have been small but it was enough to make Shia scream then fall against her mother sobbing violently.
"Episkey" Draco whispered, healing the cut while his daughter was pre-occupied with her pain.
Kellie appeared at the door looking grave.
"There's more than one," she said quietly. "Charlie wants the castle evacuated"
Draco and Hermione looked at each other wearily before standing up, Shia still crying in Hermione's arms.
"We'll go to my parents place" Hermione said as Draco packed a small bag of clothes for Shia.
"You'll have to go by floo," Kellie informed them. "Charlie put up the anti-apparition guard… he doesn't want them leaving in a hurry"
"Ok... are you coming?" Hermione switched Shia to her other hip.
"I'll be there soon" Kellie held out a little golden sachet for Draco to take. "Go through the fire in the study, it's already lit for you"
"Thank you, Kellie, be careful" Hermione said as she passed the maid in the doorway.
The walk to the study was uneasy and silent. Draco led the way with his wand out while Hermione carried Shia who was falling asleep in her arms.
After Draco had muttered the address of Hermione's parent's Orkney island castle home the three of them went whizzing off into the safety of green flames.
Draco fell out of the fire first, scattering ash over the new Persian rug in the parlour. Seconds later Hermione and Shia toppled out and fell over him. He turned deftly and caught them both before they could damage themselves in the fall.
"Always the hero" Hermione said, handing Shia to him and peering at the dark parlour.
"Anything for my girls" Draco replied, following his wife across the room and out the door, into the circular Main room where all her parents' parties and gatherings were held, and up the grand staircase towards the Room Hermione had stayed in when she had still lived at home.
King Alfred Granger met them halfway along the hallway looking ruffled in his royal blue dressing robes.
"Sorry, dad" Hermione whispered. "We didn't want to wake you… we had intruders so we thought it best to stay here the night"
"That's fine" Alfred, who'd had his own share of intruders, replied. "As long as your ok- that's the main thing- your room should be just as you left it"
"Thanks, dad"
Alfred turned and pattered back down the hall while Hermione and Draco turned into their room.
Hermione conjured a cot for Shia to sleep on while Draco readied the burgundy coloured bed for the couple to sleep in, though they didn't sleep straight away; instead they talked.
"Do you think it could have been death eaters?" Hermione asked. Draco shrugged.
"I wouldn't be surprised… Potter and the dark lord are finding strains in the battle… I could only guess that the Voldemort is searching for other ways to go about it… like getting Potter's friends…"
"I know… they haven't attacked for a long time though… at least no major attacks since our wedding… I don't think Harry's even seen Voldemort since then" Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Though it's not like I'd know, I haven't seen Harry for over two years…"
"Don't worry… he'll come back soon… anyway, we have more important things to talk about"
Hermione was about to ask what could possibly be more important than Harry winning the war when Draco put his hand under the blanket and pressed it to her stomach.
Hermione smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the company of her husband whom she hadn't seen for weeks on end.
Hot light woke Hermione in the morning and she flung her pillow over her head.
"Blasted Sun!" She said loudly, mentally slapping herself for not closing the blinds the night before. Draco groaned beside her and rolled over so the sun was able to peek at Hermione under the side of the pillow. "Why is it so bright?" she was practically howling. Hermione Malfoy was absolutely not a morning person.
Draco sniggered and lifted the corner of the pillow so he could see her.
"At least it's not raining anymore"
"Mummy, Daddy, Mummy, Daddy, Mummy, Daddy!" Shia came running into the room and jumped on the bed, as she did every morning.
Her straight blonde hair, an inheritance from her father, was braided back out of her face.
The only person Hermione knew who could braid that well was Kellie, which meant the rest of the household had arrived safely.
"Good morning beautiful!" Hermione said, forgetting her sun worries and hugging her daughter.
"Poppy Says Brekkie is ready" Shia informed them, referring to her Grandfather as Poppy. Hermione laughed. She loved the way her daughter had picked up the term 'Brekkie' from Mark, the Australian assassin.
"We'll be down in a minute, love," Draco said, shooing the little girl from the room so he and Hermione could dress in private.
Hermione managed to get into her Bra and underwear before Draco, wearing only boxers, snuck up behind her and slipped his arms around her, caressing her stomach gently.
"How far along?" he whispered, tickling her ear with his breath.
"About two months" she replied, wiggling out of his grip and pulling on a set of black robes with gold lining. Draco pulled on a similar pair and led Hermione out of the room.
The assassins, Charlie, Kellie and Shia were waiting for them in the dining room.
Ever since moving into their own private castle at the base of the Cheviot Hills and maintaining a small house hold, the group always dined together, instead of staff in a private room, like in most royal households.
This morning the chef had cooked a greasy breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and pumpkin juice.
The group had almost finished eating when Alfred came in looking weary.
"Clarisse is sick," he informed them, politely waving away the half eaten sausage that Shia had offered.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, wiping her daughters chin.
"She has a flu… I'm sure it's nothing to worry about… I've just called the doctor so he should be here soon"
"Well if you need anything…"
"I'll call you first" Alfred smiled reassuringly and left the room.
"Well I guess it's time for us to go home," Draco stated with a sideways glance at Charlie who nodded curtly.
"Give us five minutes to do one last check before you follow but I'm pretty sure they're all long gone"
Hermione, Draco and their Daughter appeared with a pop in the centre of the entrance hall in their castle.
Shia immediately declared that she wanted to play with her toys and disappeared up the stairs to her room. Draco turned to Hermione and grinned. The smile vanished almost immediately, though, when he noticed the look of pain and fear flit across her face.
You
tell me baby, that you can feel me,
I sent a message out into the
dark
When I kiss you, that's the real me,
I've gotta find
my way to your heart
OK, now before you tell me I'm going to fast with the pregnancy thing let me tell you that it is not, I repeat, NOT a major part of the story so please don't give me crap in the reviews about it… ok, thanks….
On a lighter note… I'M BACK! This is the sequel to Princess Granger that you have all been dying to read so Read on! Let me just warn you that this story is a good deal darker than the last with fighting, action and excessive flirting with darkness… THANK YOU!