Chapter Seven: The Package
Hermione
After the hype of Darris's birthday, everything returned to normal. Darris began coming to work with Draco and I or going over to Molly's house. He always took Dracula, the owl, with him. Draco and I looked at it as his living safety blanket.
"Darris, today you have to leave Dracula here, remember, only Ministry owls are allowed at work. You may take something else to keep you entertained, but the owl must stay here," I told my son as we got ready to leave. Darris nodded and went up to his room to collect his stuff to take with him. He came back down with the owl in hand. I sighed and tried explaining again when my own owl landed on the window sill with a letter. As I read the update from Ginny, Draco reasoned with his unmanageable child. Darris went back up stairs and came back with a toy broomstick. I guessed that a bribe was involved to get him to put the owl back.
"I told you he was your son."
"Only you didn't have to bribe me to get me to fall in love with you," Draco mumbled back to me, a wide smirk on his face. Darris was staring at us a confused look on his face. When Draco brought up the ice cream again he suddenly lost interest in what we were talking about. Once we got to the Ministry and got settled Darris went and played quietly near our desks. During a break Draco and I quizzed him on his wizarding knowledge.
"Who was the last Headmaster of Hogwarts?"
"Albus Dumbledore was, for almost fifty years," Darris replied. Draco nodded and continued on with the questions. I listened as he breezed through them with hardly any pause between each question.
"Wow, you guys are so great with him. But why doesn't he call Draco dad?" Lily asked me as Draco tried to pull a trick question on him. The boy didn't even trip up. I took Lily's arm and led her to the lobby to talk. I didn't want Darris to overhear us.
"I think it's time you heard that rainy day story," I began. "Six years ago, Draco and I started our last year at Hogwarts as Head Boy and Head Girl. This meant that we had to share a dorm. While we were Heads we realized that the hate we had always shared was really just love. I got pregnant and after school was out I had Darris. Draco, as you already know, faked his death but it wasn't just to join our side of the war. He did it to protect me and his son. Only by then Ron had come back into my life, and Ron could protect Darris and I, more so than Draco could, and Draco agreed that it was the best thing for us. So Darris never really got to know his father, until now."
"Do you still love Ron?" Lily asked after I had explained it all to her. I shook my head no, and walked back to my desk, trying hard not to brood about what she had said. After work we went home, and Draco stopped me in the doorway.
"Is everything alright Hermione?"
"It's nothing, don't worry about it," I replied walking to the kitchen to pour my self a drink. Draco kept a weary eye on me as I opened the bottle, completely forgetting the glass, and imbibing as much of the whiskey as I could. I set the bottle down and glanced at a long package sitting on the counter next to me.
"Draco, what is this?" I asked as he came and collected the bottle from me.
"Darris found it this morning. It's addressed to you," He said shrugging. I unwrapped the parcel, forgetting all about the stolen whiskey. I pulled open the box to see that is was my old school uniform.
"Oh my god where did this come from? I thought my parents still had my uniform……" Draco began examining the box carefully; using all the spells we both knew to try to get it to reveal itself.
"This seems oddly familiar…"
"Remember when you told Harry to trust his instincts?"
"Yes,"
"Well, I'm trusting mine," Draco exclaimed snatching up the box and the uniform and throwing them into the fire. Just to make sure it burned completely he got a vial of basilisk venom and threw it on top of the fire, causing it to turn a bright purple. I watched as it turned to its normal color, fear slowly making its way through me.
"We need to be more careful about what we let into this house from now on."
