"I think you were whining more than she was," Narcissa said.

I was sitting with Narcissa in the sun room of Malfoy manor. Mira was fine, running around the room playing as usual.

"I can't help but be concerned," I said.

"Over-protective is what I'd call you," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"You cannot sit there and tell me that you weren't the slightest bit overprotective of Draco. He is your first born and only child," I said.

"If you coddle her, she's going to be fragile and spoiled," Narcissa said.

". . . You do realize that Draco is incredibly spoiled, right?" I asked.

"And you aren't?" she asked.

I nodded. "Touché."

"Draco fell down, he ate dirt and bugs and I remember several horrifying moments when he'd reach his hand in his diaper and. . ." Narcissa couldn't even finish her sentence because she was disgusted. "And then he was about 14 months he started going through his naked phase."

"Draco had a naked phase?" I asked.

"He never liked to wear clothes or diapers. He'd always make such a mess," Narcissa said.

I laughed. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Sounds like he was a handful."

"Indeed," she said.

Mira walked over to Narcissa and immediately started trying to climb on top of her.

"Mira, that is your Grandma. She is a person not a tree. You cannot climb her," I said.

Mira, of course, knowing only the concept of "no" and things that sounded like approval, completely ignored me.

"Obviously, she takes after me," I said as Narcissa picked up her from the ground.

"I can see that," she said. "Zero respect for authority."

"Indeed," I said.

Mira was tugging at Narcissa's hair like she always did whenever she encountered a large amount of it on someone's head.

"You're going to do okay," Narcissa said detaching her granddaughter from her hair. "I don't expect you'll traumatize your daughter too much. Just do better with her than I did with Draco."

"You did perfectly fine with Draco," I said.

"I never taught him how to be brave," she said. "He learned that from you."

I shook my head. "I think he learned that from Mira, actually. But, I know he got some of it from you. Not many people would lie to Voldemort, especially for people they don't like."

"My son loves you. I suppose that's reason enough," she said.

The two of us sat in silence for a few minutes, unsure of how to continue this conversation considering it was the first time we had ever actually talked, not to mention it was going so well.

"How are your wedding plans going?" she asked.

I sighed. "They are not going as a matter of fact."

Draco and I were getting married, finally, at the end of June after he'd graduated. That was the extent of our planning.

"I don't know how to plan a wedding I think is my main problem," I said.

"You're a smart girl, you'll manage somehow," she said.

"Any advice?" I asked.

"Start now. June comes quickly," she said.

888

"Bit early for you to start seriously worrying about your wedding plans isn't it?" Ron asked.

"I think so, but my soon to be Mother-in-Law says otherwise," I said. "Besides, it's not as if it's going to be a small affair."

"Oh right, you do know a lot of people don't you?" Ron asked.

"I think it's more to do with the Malfoy's keeping up appearances Post-Voldemort and not so much that they know a lot of people," Harry said.

"Correct. Saturday morning before Mira's party did you know she's have some reporter from The Prophet come down to photograph Draco and me so she can have a wedding announcement printed up in the paper?" I asked.

"And everyone knows you love reporters," Harry said.

"Do you think the Dursley's would come if I invited them. I could sit them with Lucius and Narcissa," I said.

"I wonder which of them would try to kill the other first," Harry said.

I laughed.

"I have a question," Ron said. "Who's going to give you away?"

"Um. . . Sirius or Remus. I haven't decided," I said.

"Whoa—you're actually going to pick one of them?" Harry asked.

"Obviously. Who else?" I asked.

"Mister Weasley? Snape? Kinglsey," Harry said.

"Why not those two?" I asked. "They're both like my dads."

"Because, the other will take it personally if you don't pick them," Harry said. "They're both in constant competition to be your favorite."

"No they're not," I said.

"It's so sad, Mira, that your mummy is so self-absorbed that she doesn't even notice how hard people try to get her attention," Ron said to Mira was sleeping in her basinet. "What's this bump on her head all about?"

"Oh! That's why I went to talk to Narcissa today. Mira tried to run and ended up face planting," I said.

Ron laughed.

"Don't laugh at my child," I said.

"She's been walking since she was nine months. You'd think she could run without killing herself," Ron said.

"She can't help it. She's got these tiny little legs," I said.

"So do you and you manage fine," Ron said.

"I'm going to kill you," I said.

"No you won't—you love me," Ron said.

888

The next day, I went to go visit Emily. I hadn't seen her in a few weeks and she was due at the end of the month. She claimed she needed more exposure to children to prepare for motherhood, and I needed to know how to plan a wedding.

"Does it get annoying living above all of that noise?" I asked. She and Fred were moving shortly after their baby was born, but for the mean time they still lived above the shop in Diagon Alley.

"I'm used to it now. It's only going to be an issue after the baby gets here, although Fred and George have decided they're going to put a temporary stop to playing music and allowing their louder products to be opened in the store," Emily said. "And I got the shock of the century when Fred told me he was taking a leave of absence from work."

"Really? Who's going to help run the store while he's with you?" I asked.

"Kaitlin," Emily said. "She knows the store like the back of her hand already. They're training her now on how the business side of the store works, which is good, because I certainly won't be able to help them like I was before."

"Well, I'm glad it's all working out," I said.

"And how are things on your end?" Emily asked. "I see clumsiness runs in the Black family apparently."

Mira was sleeping in her stroller, a band-aid on the bump on her head.

"Ah yes, I'm sure I'll be hearing about that tomorrow when Draco gets home for her birthday," I said.

"And you're adjusting to normal life well then?" she asked.

I nodded. "Pretty well, although when she hit her head I did nearly have a heart attack, but apparently she's impervious to head trauma so. . . Good for her." Emily laughed. "My main stressor at the moment is this wedding I'm supposed to be planning."

"Oh, right. Nine more months and you'll be Mrs. Draco Malfoy won't you?" she asked. I nodded. "I'm assuming it's not going well."

"Nope," I said. "We have a vague idea of when and that's it. No location, a large mental guest list that needs to be slimmed down considerably—we know who will be in the bridal party and that is it."

"So Draco's picked his groomsmen then?" she asked.

"Blaise will obviously be his best man. Then there's Harry, Ron, Crabbe and Goyle."

Emily laughed again. "I keep forgetting he's been friends with those two forever."

"I know. A week ago he left and told me he was going to hang out with him. It almost didn't compute," I said.

"Your fiancé is weird," Emily said.

"I know," I said.

"Oi! Weasley, open the damn door!"

I looked over to the door. "Parvati?"

"Hannah?" she asked. "Don't just sit there and be nostalgic, come open the door."

I got up and walked to the door and pulled it open. Parvati had an armful of WWW stock in her arms and walked inside.

"How you ever convinced me to work here, Emily, I will never know," Parvati said.

"It's not so bad," she replied.

"Whatever—your husband and your brother-in-law have me doing bitch work," Parvati said. She walked over and hugged me. "Do you have a better job for me?"

"Afraid not. I work for the Ministry and Hogwarts doing bitch work myself," I said.

"Then what good are you?" she asked. "How's that going anyway?"

"Don't start until next week. Working with Neville and Marius Drake," I said.

"Ewe—the boy so skeevy, even Pansy wouldn't date him," Emily said.

"I imagine Draco isn't thrilled about that," Parvati said.

"Not at all, but I'm sure he'll survive," I said.

"I dunno, Malfoy can get awfully jealous as we've learned," Parvati said. "Remember when he punched Seamus in the face fifth year? And when he punched Cormac in the face sixth year?"

"Yeah, but he knows I love him and I wouldn't touch Marius with a 10 foot pole," I said.

"Right, he should be more worried about Neville," Parvati said.

"Nope. I wouldn't go near Neville either. His girlfriend could definitely kick my ass," I said.

"Right—Brenna is definitely a little bit bonkers," Emily said.

"Remember when she kicked Natalia's ass? That was great. You should've seen it, Hannah," Parvati said. "Ginny really enjoyed it after the way she was lusting after Harry last year."

"Do you have any idea what Pansy's up to now?" Emily asked.

I shook my head. "Theodore Nott came around a while ago and said he'd spoken to her but I don't like Nott so I mostly tuned the conversation out."

"What about Kassia and our other Slytherin friends?" Parvati asked.

"Kassia is living back with Snape trying to fix that whole relationship up. She's still with Blaise who is working for The Prophet now as an intern, and I believe Kristen lives in Austria now," I said.

"Austria? Really?" Emily asked. "Why? What's in Austria?"

"No clue," I said. "I wrote to her. I'm waiting to see what she says."

"Draco's friends are so weird," Parvati said. "I'm glad we're normal."

"You keep living in that fantasy world," I said.

"So what exactly are you doing at a one-year-old's birthday party?" Emily asked.

"Cake, ice cream, and me taking a thousand pictures I think," I said. "I'm actually really excited. Draco's all like 'she's not going to remember it', but I am. I mean, I missed her first Christmas and all that. I feel like I have to document everything now and see her do everything."

"Every time I see her she's always sleeping—and what happened to her face?" Parvati asked.

"There's nothing wrong with her face. She fell down and hit her head. She's perfectly fine," I said.

"Did she get concussed? You always get concussions when you hit your head," Parvati said.

"I have been concussed exactly twice," I said.

"That's two more times than I've been concussed," Parvati said. "I think there's something wrong with you."

"There's nothing wrong with you," Emily said.

"No, there is. She is definitely easily concussed," Parvati said. "And now it's rubbing off on Mira."

[Chapter title Credit to Bette Midler for the song You've Got to Have Friends]