Anyone else tired of snow? When it gets me a day off of work, it's my best friend. When I slip on ice walking to work, I want to kick a meteorologist. It's almost summer right?
Chapter 4
Draco quickly ushered the dripping wet woman into the warmth of the living room. When she was seated, he wrapped a thick blanket around her shoulders and left to make her a cup of tea. She was crying softly when he returned minutes later.
"Want to talk about it?" he asked, broaching the subject slowly.
Hermione shook her head despondently, but told him about their argument anyway. "I didn't know where else to go," she said quietly when she was finished. She set the mug down on the coffee table and pushed the blanket off of her shoulders before standing up. "I shouldn't have bothered you. I'm not sure what I was thinking."
Draco stood up, following Hermione as she went to the front door. He placed his hand on the door, pushing it shut just as she tried to pull it open. "You thought you'd go someplace where no one was going to hassle you or berate you for leaving."
Hermione laughed mirthlessly, well aware of the irony in his statement. "Merlin knows Mrs. Weasley will be banging down the door once she hears," she murmured, turning to lean her back against the door. Her eyes fell to the floor, studying Draco's sock-clad feet. "He was never going to marry me, I always knew that. We probably would have broken up years ago if I hadn't had Rose."
Sure that she wouldn't try to leave again, Draco looped an arm around her shoulders and led her back to the living room. Her clothes were still wet and he could feel her shivering from the cold. "You can stay here as long as you need to," he told her, casting a kind smile in her direction. "There's a guest room at the top of the stairs on the right. Scorpius's room is right across from it, so silencing charms might be best. He tends to be a very, ridiculously early riser."
Hermione laughed and yawned simultaneously. "Clothes," she said suddenly. Draco looked at her curiously. "I, uh, didn't think to bring clothes with me."
Furrowing his brow, Draco merely said, "Oh." He led her up the stairs, directing her to the guest room before going to his own. He returned with a large shirt and a pair of running shorts. "This is all I have that might fit you," he said apologetically, holding out the garments for her to take.
"Thank you, Draco," she replied, truly grateful for his hospitality. "I mean, for everything, not just the clothes."
"Sleep well," he said, giving her upper arm a gentle squeeze. She watched him retreat towards his room and shut the door. She wandered into the room and with a deep sigh, sunk down onto the bed. Suddenly, a surge of adrenaline rushed through her and there was no way she could fall asleep now. Tiptoeing out of the guest room, she made her way down the hall to the door she watched Draco disappear behind just moments earlier. Tentatively, she knocked on the door.
"Hey," Draco greeted her when he opened the door. Hermione's eyes trailed down his bare chest to the flannel pajama bottoms he wore, then back up to meet his eyes. "Everything okay?" he inquired with a smirk as her cheeks turned pink.
"My mind is sort of going a million miles a minute right now. Can't sleep," she explained, a sheepish tone in her voice.
Draco snorted, but opened the door wider to permit her entrance. "When is it not?" he muttered as she walked past him. He stood by the door as she surveyed the room.
"No green," she commented, taking in the varying hues of blue and gray that made up the interior design of Draco's bedroom.
The blonde shrugged. "Got tired of it, I guess," he replied, taking a seat on his bed. "Do you want to talk about whatever it is that's keeping you up?"
"I just, I don't know what we're going to do about Rose," she stated. "Plus, I have to find a place to live. And I have no idea how I'm going to face the Weasleys or Harry now. Merlin knows they'll take Ron's side. Although, Harry and Ginny didn't seem as bothered by you as Ron does. Tomorrow I'll start looking for a flat. I have no idea how I'm going to afford one though. I'll have to get a job again, which means hiring a nanny for Rose. And then I'll need to work out some kind of custody agreement with Ron."
Draco laughed. "It's no wonder you can't sleep," he replied, chuckling again. Hermione saw no humor in the situation, however. Clearing his throat, he erased the mirthful look from his face. "If there's anything I can do..."
Hermione cut him off with a shake of her head. "You're already doing enough by giving me a place to stay for the night. Have I said thank you for that?"
"Yes, you have," he replied with a smile. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and took a seat on the corner of his bed. "So, um, there's something you should know. It's about our kids."
"What did they break?" Hermione asked, wondering how much money she would have to shell out to replace whatever her daughter had helped to destroy.
"No, nothing like that," Draco replied before telling her about Scorpius's letter to Santa and Rose's decision to share her mother with him.
Hermione laughed quietly before another thought took center stage in her mind. "Maybe I shouldn't be here," she told him, getting to her feet. "I don't want to get his hopes up."
"I'm not supposed to know," he admitted. "Santa is taking care of it. So, stay. Pretend you don't know."
"What are you going to do in three weeks when there's no new mummy under the tree for him?" she wondered, frowning at the thought of a heartbroken little boy on Christmas morning.
Draco shrugged defeatedly. "I don't know," he replied. "Wanna marry me and adopt my son? It'll make this all a hell of a lot easier."
Hermione laughed, taking his suggestion as nothing more than a joke. When Draco started to yawn and his eyes grew heavy with exhaustion, she excused herself and went back to the guest room. Sitting down on the guest bed, Hermione began to wonder how Rose would react in the morning when she discovered her mother wasn't home. It was to that thought that Hermione fell into a fitful sleep that night.