A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, there would be a lot of changes )
Charlie cleared his throat and consulted his parchment again.
"You will be taking care of…"
"Yes?" Malfoy asked impatiently.
"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione spat, still watching Charlie.
Charlie was tracing the names on the parchment with his forefinger.
"You will be taking care of Blaise Zabani," Charlie said, walking along the row of toddlers and taking a small boy by the hand, pulling him a few steps forwards.
The little boy had black wavy hair and huge brown eyes that looked too big for his face, but made him extraordinarily cute. Hermione smiled and bent down to the boy's eye-level.
"Are… Are you my mummy?" he asked, blinking at her.
"Yes, I suppose I am," Hermione said, beaming at Blaise.
"And, are you my daddy?" Blaise looked past Hermione to Malfoy.
Malfoy was standing with his arms crossed, looking out of a window across the other side of the room.
"Malfoy, he's talking to you," Hermione hissed.
Malfoy looked round and wrinkled his nose up at Blaise.
"Are you my daddy?" Blaise asked again, looking slightly concerned now.
"Yeah," Malfoy replied bluntly.
"Your "home" is behind the portrait of four hippogriffs playing poker," Charlie said, as Hermione straightened up and took hold of Blaise's hand.
"Okay," Hermione said. "Is there a password?"
"'Together'," Charlie replied, so only Hermione and Malfoy could hear him.
Hermione grinned at Charlie and scooped Blaise up, balancing him on her hip, before making her way to the door. Malfoy reluctantly followed and they found the portrait of the four hippogriffs playing poker. One of the hippogriffs looked up and Hermione told him the password. They climbed through the portrait hole and into an open-plan flat.
"Wow," Hermione said, putting Blaise down on the floor.
"What?" Malfoy asked, smirking, "It's not that amazing."
"To me it is. Hey, look, there's something on the table," Hermione said, pointing to an envelope on the dining table.
She picked the envelope up and tore the top open. Taking out the letter, two gold rings fell out onto the table.
"What are those?" Blaise said, poking his nose over the table-top and standing on tip-toes to look.
"Wedding rings, by the look of it," Malfoy said, picking them up.
"Dear Parents," Hermione said, reading the letter. "Welcome to your new home for the next three months. Enclosed in this letter you will find two wedding rings. You will be expected to wear them for the course of the Parents of the Future course.
Your child already has a memory of you being his or her parents, and there are pictures around your "house" that are bewitched to show you on holidays and doing family activities. Your child will expect you to behave like the pictures and like his or her memories.
See you in a month and a half,
Professor C Weasley"
"I have to actually pretend I like you?" Malfoy asked.
"I'm not all that keen on the idea myself, Malfoy," Hermione snapped.
"Well, you'd better have this, Granger," Malfoy said, tossing her the smaller of the two rings.
"Why do you call each other different names?" Blaise asked, looking up at them.
"Well, you see, mummy and daddy had a bit of a falling out," Hermione said, looking at Blaise.
"No!" Blaise cried, beginning to sob.
"But its better now," Hermione said, kneeling down in front of him.
"Promise?" Blaise said tearfully.
"Promise," Hermione replied, smiling.
"Hug and make up, then," Blaise said, sniffing.
Hermione looked up at Malfoy. He sighed and bent down next to Hermione, putting his arm around her. It was only brief but Blaise seemed happy. He ran off to his room and began playing. Hermione stood up and pushed the ring onto her third finger, but it resisted.
"It won't go on," she said, furrowing her eyebrows and trying again.
"Mine won't either," Malfoy said, attempting to don his own.
"Maybe," Hermione said, looking up and biting her lip.
"What?" Malfoy demanded of her.
"We have to do each others," Hermione said, looking back down at her ring, "like a proper couple."
"Oh come here, then. The sooner I get this damned thing on, the better," Malfoy said, grabbing the ring off of Hermione.
She took his and grabbed his hand. His hands were warm, to her surprise, and as she threaded the ring onto his finger, she felt tingly and light-headed. He took her hand and put the ring on her finger. When Hermione looked up again, she was blushing furiously.
"What?" Malfoy asked, smirking again.
"Nothing," Hermione replied, looking away quickly.
"I suppose we have to call each other by our names now," Malfoy said, watching Hermione tidy the torn envelope away and investigate the kitchen.
"I suppose so," Hermione replied.
Malfoy followed her into the kitchen, where she was searching the fridge and cupboards. He leant against the work surface and folded his arms.
"Have we got any beer?" he asked, watching her look in the fridge.
"Only Butterbeer," Hermione replied, not looking at him.
"Damn, no Firewhisky?" Malfoy asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Nope," Hermione replied, moving onto a cupboard.
"Well, I can always go to the school kitchens and get some," Malfoy said, shrugging.
Hermione span round and shot daggers at him.
"You're not getting drunk in front of Blaise," she said, her voice dangerously low. "I don't care what you do when you're out or when he's not around, but you are not setting a bad example."
"You're starting to sound like a proper wife, there, Hermione," Malfoy said, smirking.
"Thank you," Hermione said, returning to her cupboard.
"I'm going to look in the bedrooms," Malfoy announced and he ambled out of the kitchen.
There were three bedrooms. One deep red, which he assumed was Hermione's, one light blue, which he guessed was Blaise's and one a deep green, which he claimed as his own. He wandered into the green room, and evaluated the bed. It was big, with a lot of pillows and cushions. It looked sufficient. Then he went to look at the wardrobe. It was very deep, with plenty of space for his clothes. Then there was the desk. There were a couple of framed pictures on the desk. Malfoy picked one up to investigate. It was him and Hermione. They were obviously at a party of some sort, as he had his best suit on and she was dressed in an elegant silver dress. Her hair was tied in a knot on the top of her head, with tendrils trailing down her neck and onto her face. They were standing very close together. He even had his arm round her. They were smiling. Malfoy's pulse quickened slightly as his gaze lingered on their smiles. He felt longing for something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Daddy!" A loud shout broke his train of thought.
"Yes?" Malfoy asked, setting the picture back down as Blaise came running into the room.
"Mummy's shut her bedroom door. She won't let me in, and it sounds like she's sad!" Blaise said, looking worried.
Even a Malfoy couldn't be sarcastic to a little boy who was so adorable. He took Blaise's hand and led him to Hermione's door.
"Hermione?" he called in a rather commanding voice, knocking on the door. "Blaise said you sounded upset."
"I'm fine!" she replied, but she sounded choked up.
Malfoy forced the door open and found Hermione sitting on her bed with a picture in her hand. Her other hand was clamped against her mouth and tears were silently pouring down her cheeks. Malfoy let Blaise's hand go and the little boy bounded over to the bed, leaping on and attempting to strangle Hermione.
"Blaise, get off of mummy," Malfoy said, his eyes not leaving her.
Now he knew what he was longing for. It was Hermione.