Harry stares at the child, his emerald eyes flicker from Hermione to Draco, and once more he stares at the child. The child smiles gleefully at him, the adoration and admiration shines in her familiar stormy grey eyes as she smiles at him. When he walked into the room she had fondly cried out 'Uncle Harry' and had proceeded to tell him that her parents are acting a bit strange.
"So Hermione, ah, you found Reo after Reo 'fell' from the sky and didn't want to leave her all alone. Draco was sent from the auror department to investigate where Reo came from. But you find out Reo is actually your daughter that you have no recollection of" his ears go red, and a slight blush paints his cheeks when he adds, "no recollection of… conceiving her."
Draco immediately flies up from his seating position on the floor and points at the child, "She is not mine Potter, I would never be with Granger, and we have never slept together or snogged. Truly we have never; in fact I barely walk across Granger's path."
"You mean you haven't crossed Hermione's path" Harry corrects his auror partner; he runs his hands through his shaggy brown hair and sighs. His eyes connect with the child's, her stormy grey eyes lack the love he saw before instead he saw fear, uncertainty and sorrow. Her eyes trail to Draco and Hermione shyly before she desperately peers into his own.
"Reo is not on any system, magic or muggle, so we assume she is from the future. We will investigate this matter, how she ended up here and how to get her back, meanwhile she will go into foster care since neither of you have expressed any interest in temporarily caring for her" Harry says, he walks towards the child and sits on the chair besides her bed.
"Reo while we work this out we need you to stay with people that aren't your mummy and daddy. How old are you, Reo?" Harry whispers to the child, his comforting smile and the warmth in his emerald eyes coax Reo into speaking.
"I'm four and six months old. Can I stay with you Uncle Harry? I'm sure Aunty Luna won't mind, I will let her tell me about nargles. I promise. I don't want to be with strangers, I'm scared" Reo whispers back, she crawls across the bed and snuggles into Harry's arms. Hermione notices the tears cascading down her Reo's cheeks and her maternal instincts kick in.
"No she has to stay with one of us. She can stay with m-""For merlin's saggy beard's sake no, if she is in fact my child she is not staying with a pack of weasels in a burrow" Draco interrupts and he glares disdainfully at Hermione.
"Well thank you for volunteering to look after her during this process Malfoy, Reo you will stay with M-Draco for the time being" Harry whispers soothingly to Reo, cuddling her softly before picking her up. He walks towards Draco and hands Reo over. Reo snuggles into her dad's chest and let's his heart beat soothe her.
"What" Draco splutters, he looks down at the child as if filth is clinging to his person and he looks desperately at Harry, "I can't take this home, what would my parents say? Let the bookworm wearing a bush on her head take her to her parents. What can I say to them, my parents? This is my child that I apparently had with muggle-born, know-it-all, Gryffindor, and 1/3 of the Gryffindork golden trio Hermione Granger."
"My parents are still in Australia, they are muggles so I highly doubt you want her with them Mal-ferret" Hermione growls angrily at him, she crosses her arms and stares determinedly at Harry.
"He can't care for that c-""that child has a name Granger and it is Reo. Actually I can c-""oh now you care about h-""don't twist my words Granger, you can't c-""I can care f-""With the weasel then, how will you explain t-""Don't bring Ron into this f-""why not? He has to be in it since you live with him and if you look after her she will be around h-""Ron would make a great-""well guess what Granger the child is mine not h-"
"Daddy, can you stop fighting with mummy now, please" Reo whispers softly. His stormy grey eyes flooding with rage focus on her in his arms and immediately they drain of their rage when he sees that her identical stormy grey eyes are filling with tears.
"Reo will stay with me" Draco firmly says, Hermione goes to argue but Harry grasps her shoulder.
"Fine" Hermione bites out.
"Before you two leave... What do you feed them?" Draco asks, he looks down at Reo who is now slumbering in his arms.
Hermione's mouth drops and she splutters, "Normal food we would eat Malfoy, can you really look after this child?"
Draco scowls and haughtily replies, "Of course I can, she is four and I didn't know if she still drinks milk. Is it toilet trained?"
"Her name is Reo I recall you telling me, not it Malfoy and she must be. I surely would have toilet trained her" Hermione replies, she walks quickly towards the bed and grabs a blanket for the child. She tries to wrap the blanket around the child but Draco shifts away.
"What are you doing Granger? She is warm, you don't want her getting a fever or for her to suffocate under that thing. It is petty anyways, I will get her a proper robe" Draco comments, Hermione frowns and attempts to put a blanket around the child.
"Stop moving Malfoy she might get c-""she is warm G-""no she isn't, look Goosebumps-""what is blimmin' Goosebumps? Are you mad G-"
Harry sighs and takes a seat on the chair beside the bed again. His emerald eyes dart from Draco to Hermione once more and then to the poor child in the midst of it. However suddenly his attention is grabbed by what the child had said before. "Can I stay with you Uncle Harry? I'm sure Aunty Luna won't mind, I will let her tell me about nargles."
"Hello mother, father, this is Reo my illegitimate child" Draco says plainly, he exits the Floo and easily manoeuvres out of the flickering crimson flames. His stormy grey eyes capture his mother's sole attention and both never blink.
Narcissa looks from the child to Draco and finds the walls spinning around her. She promptly faints earning a soft worried gasp from Draco. Lucius however casts a sharp look at the child, surveying every single feature and his stormy grey eyes meet his son's.
"I was unaware of the fact you conceived an illegitimate child from an assumed affair Draco. What happened to the mother?" Lucius asks, his eyebrow rises slightly and he brings his cup of tea to his lips. His calm demeanour frightens Draco to his core but he seats himself on the sofa holding a slumbering Reo in his arms.
"Aren't you going to wake mother, father? My arms are full as you can see" Draco responds coolly, Lucius studies his son before looking down at his wife.
"Cissa, my dear, please get up. Your dramatic flair has frightened Draco immensely" Lucius remarks, after a tense few minutes of silence both Malfoy men watch as Narcissa clambers up onto her feet and staggers onto the sofa Lucius is seated.
"Sorry my dear Draco, I had a horrific vision that you had an illegitimate child in your arms" Narcissa speaks, she grasps her head and her eyelids slide to glance at Draco. Her sapphire eyes immediately go wide and she wordlessly gapes. Draco quickly explains.
"This is preposterous, completely outlandish and most definitely untrue. Astoria Greengrass, we have planned this Draco, you were to marry her. You were to conceive an heir with her not, not Granger. This is complete and utter nonsense. The child, the child must be hidden, kept secret. We can't have the Greengrass family founding out. Her dowry Draco, her dowry could purchase us a retirement home in Southern France. She has a dowry, she is from an old pureblood family, she is refined, and she is well established. Lucius we must act immediately" Narcissa exclaims, her eyes disdainfully narrow at the sight of the child curled up in her son's arms. Her breaths become short and fast, she quickly fans herself to try and recover. Her plans began to collapse and shatter in front of her very eyes because of the child.
"Miss Granger is refined, more established, and richer from her own work. She is also a world famous war hero. Her blood status also serves us well. Our family has sunk because of our involvement in the last wizard war. Draco marrying Miss Granger will remove most damage we have received. Our son marrying a muggle-born is more ethical in gaining prestige than having him marry a pureblood. I dislike the idea of our family blood status being tainted but if we are to return to our previous high status it must be done" Lucius remarks, he places his cup down on the coffee table and ignoring his spluttering wife he moves towards the waking child.
Reo's eyelids peel open to reveal to her eyes the situation they are in. They meet identical stormy grey eyes that hold more experience and age. Slowly she rises from her slumbering position; she yawns and stretches sleepily on her dad before her eyes notice the change of scenery. That is when the panic set and began to mould into fear.
"Hello Reo. Allow let me introduce myself, I am Lucius Abraxas Malfoy" Lucius says coolly while seating himself next to his tense son and the little girl snuggled up on his son's lap.
"Silly Poppa, I know it is you" Reo giggles happily and she smiles joyously at a surprised Lucius, her fear disappeared immediately after she had studied the individual. In one quick movement she managed to place herself on his lap with her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.
"Poppa I have been so scared, daddy and mummy are acting very strange, but now you're here and you will make things better, you always do" she whispers softly into the crook of his neck, she pulls away to give him a watery grin that warmed his old, battered and now traitorous heart.
"What is your full name, Reo? I have more faith in my son's choice of names then that short one you bear" Lucius asks gently, his lips quirk when her face twists in an annoyed expression.
"No mummy named me a silly name, my preferred name is Reo Malfoy" Reo replies, she fondly starts playing with Lucius hair meanwhile all three Malfoy's share a curious look.
"Why do you like the name Reo?" Draco asks curiously, he gently tugs her away from his father, a little unsure of what the man might do to the child, his apparent child.
"Poppa nicknamed me Reo when I dressed as a lion for Halloween; I liked the name so I adopted it. Mum didn't agree at the time but her opinion didn't matter, I mean her and dad named my older brother Perseus. Scorpius is an okay name, Alexander is also okay because Alexander the Great conquered Persia, Regulus is after daddy's uncle who died saving a house elf, so it is okay and Elijah was named after mummy's daddy so it is okay. Perseus and I got the dud names" Reo replies, she glares grumpily at Draco and crosses her arms over her chest.
"You have to name me Reo, okay daddy. Not any other silly name" Reo instructs.
Draco's eyebrow rises and he responds, "Your mother must have picked them then, Perseus is absolutely ridiculous and the fact that mum's sister Andromeda is still alive and kicking I guess by that time makes it awkward."
Reo nods in agreement and whispers to him in his ear, "What makes it worse is grumpy, bossy uncle Percy loves to say he is actually named after him. Perseus hates that, we can't even nick name him Percy or else he will get very grumpy."
Narcissa eyes the girl as if she had inhaled the scent of dung but nonetheless remarks, "Constellation names uphold Black family traditions at least some traditions were followed."
"Sparky" Narcissa calls, an elf appears in a blink of an eyes and bows to Narcissa.
"Sparky take Miss Reo to the kitchen and make her a decent meal" Narcissa orders, Reo looks at her Nana in confusion before allowing the house elf to lift her out of her dad's arms. Within a pop both are gone from the room and immediately Narcissa remarks coldly.
"We have to get that child out of here, Draco. You cannot disgrace years of pureblood family traditions. I love you, and I love your father way too much to let this family crumble because of a cute toddler" Narcissa hisses fiercely, her sapphire eyes hunt for any objection in the stormy grey eyes of her son. She sees a flare and before he can ignite it she quickly strikes, "We have sacrificed so much for you; I can only hope you can do the same for us. Take the child to the Weasley family; let them deal with the problem."
His fire immediately is distinguished by guilt and mutely nods.
Lucius watches in the corner of his eyes but says nothing; he instead grasps his tea and brings it to his lips. Narcissa hunts for any more objection but finds none, now satisfied she gets comfortable on the couch.
"Astoria will be around at noon, the child must be gone by then."
Outside the room door hides Reo, tears roll down her cheeks and she falls to the floor in defeat. Sparky nervously watches the young misses and says softly, "Sparky brought you here misses and now we must go to the kitchen like mistress asked."
"Take me to the burrow Sparky; take me to mummy, please."
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