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8: St. Mungo's

The Hospital Wing was very quiet since the kids had left… It had been four hours and Ron was still out, the night had fallen over the castle and most of the children were in the Great Hall having dinner along with the professors.

Hermione was sitting in bed next to her daughter, her eyes flickering from her pale cheeks to Ron, who was laying in a bed across the room, to Goyle, to the door, waiting impatiently for Harry and Draco to walk in with the right potion. But they didn't.

They had taken the kids for questioning; managing to find out that the children got a journal by owl, that it was scented and that instead of reporting it in, they decided to investigate on their own. Harry was running counter-curses on the thing to sort out what kind of things it had, to whom was it aimed for and most importantly, how to revert it.

A loud thud shook her off her gloomy thoughts, Draco rushing towards the children's beds with two flasks. He handed one over to Hermione "2 drops in each eye. 1 drop in each ear. Then 5 on her mouth"

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows but nodded and did as told. She trusted Draco's ability with potions. When Polly reached them they had already administered them to the kids "What are you doing?!"

"Antidote. It'll work. I know it will work. It has to work" Draco's words had a pleading tone that broke Hermione's heart. A loud thud came from near Ron's bed and Hermione saw how Polly ran towards her oldest patient. What the hell was going on here?

Her eyes came back to her daughter and then to Draco, who also picked on how Polly cared for Hermione's husband. He furrowed his eyebrows questioning her and she shook her head and shrugged. She'd ask later, right now she needed her daughter to react to the potion.

Ten minutes went by with no change. 20. 40. An hour. Two. The only change was that they weren't getting worse, they were steady. Ron was snoring loudly from the back of the room while Polly was checking different stats at her office. Harry had left to pick little Hugo from Arthur's home and all the professors were now at a emergency staff meeting.

Hermione had grown tired of the chair and was lying next to her daughter, propped by her elbow, counting all her little freckles. From time to time she'd raise her eyes to her friend and would see Draco staring at Goyle, holding his hand in the same position. Hermione knew he felt responsible. He wasn't.

He was just his Godfather, where were the kids' parents anyway? Draco sighed deeply and checked Gregory's pulse again. "I- I can't think of anything else Hermione, I'm clueless" She gazed at him intently "Draco, you've done everything you can. You need to let the medicine work. I know it will work because you made it. It cannot not work, you just wouldn't let it happen" she smiled when he looked at her.

"You trust me that much?"

"Yep" A small curve took over his lips when his eyes met hers. "You know what this reminds me of, right Granger?"

She nodded "Of course I do, it was the only time I saw you truly helpless" her voice was almost a whisper, remembering how fragile he looked. How she realized back in that moment all those years ago that he was just another pawn in Voldemort's game, just like Harry and her. She cleared her throat "Don't you dare pulling that off now, I couldn't deal with this if you got that look on you again Draco"

He was about to say something else, but suddenly, Goyle and Rose sighed deeply almost at once, and opened their eyes looking confused. "Mommy? What happened? What are you doing here?" Hermione hugged her so tight the little one could barely catch her breath. Soon enough Ron was on the other side of her bed, sitting on a wheelchair "Daddy, what happened to you?"

"Oh don't worry sweetheart, I'll be fine" Hermione couldn't contain her happiness and looked up to Draco, who was holding his nephew real tight. The little man on the other hand, looked quite sad gazing at them. She spoke "How are you feeling Gregory?"

Little Goyle blushed at the thought of Hermione Granger calling him sweety… He stuttered a response "I'm – okay. I'd – I'd like to eat sweets" He looked at his godfather puzzled and Ron spoke "Oh yeah, that's prolly my blood kicking in" and Draco couldn't help a small laugh. When he realized how sad Gregory looked at the sight of the Weasley family, he helped him sit on his bed and sat by his side, putting his arm around him. "I'm not sure if Scor told you but, would you like to stay with us for Christmas? I mean, we'll come to have dinner here on Christmas Eve like every year but then it'll be the Manor and London for most of it"

Gregory beamed at the invitation "You mean… Muggle London? Really?" Draco nodded happily "Of course, I'll take you to all those places you always wanted to see, let's just keep it between us, alright?" The little guy shook his head quickly and got slightly dizzy.

Hermione smiled at her friend and then looked at Draco and then at her husband and the daughter. She whispered to her daughter's ear and the little one smile "You sure it's okay?" Hermione nodded and so did Ron, figuring out what his wife had told Rose. "Greg, would you like to come to stay with us for New Year's? Lys and Lorcan will be there too for sure"

Gregory sighed, blushing, thinking of a reply he looked at his godfather "I'll check with Goyle" then Ron turned around and faced the blond man "You and your kid should come too Malfoy" Draco and Hermione shared a puzzled looked, "Ohkay? Sure, thanks Weasley" as Ron turned around again to tickle his daughter, Draco's gaze met Hermione's. She mouthed a 'Thank you' and he reciprocated 'Thank you, as always'

She smiled remembering the cold rainy night when her daughter was born.


Ron had left for the night since she was okay, and much rather sleep alone in the room after 10 hours of labor than not sleep because of his gigantic snoring. She wanted to see her little red haired girl again, she had been able to hold her for an hour or so and it didn't seem like enough.

Hermione got up slowly, reaching for her IV line holder and starter walking slowly down the darken corridor towards the nursery section. Her heart was pounding at the idea of seeing little Rosie sleeping soundly next to all the other babies. When she turned around the corner, she stood on dry, her heart skipping a bit.

She still wasn't entirely okay with seeing Draco Malfoy around the office, much less in the middle of the night in a night like this… But he was standing right in front of the nursery window, directly on the way. Actually, he was right where she wanted to be, so she may as well be civil and get it over with.

She walked slowly trying to gather composure towards the Nursery window. As she got closer and closer Hermione started noticing the grim look upon him. He wasn't sad or scared as she had seen him before no; he was the representation of lost hope. She sighed and couldn't help come near him "Are you alright Malfoy?"

He was startled by her quiet voice, not realizing she had been coming his way through the corridor. He cleared his throat and dried tears from his face while pretending they weren't there. "Yes, thanks for asking Granger"

"It's Granger-Weasley now"

"Granger Weasley then" He sighed, not having his usual contemptuous tone. His eyes hadn't moved from the back of the nursery, where the NICU bed was placed. Realizing what was probably bothering him; she couldn't help take her hand to her mouth to quiet her voice and then brushed his arm. "But your wife wasn't due for another three months, was she?"

He didn't shake her off but for once looked from the NICU to her "How do you-"

"We go to the same OBGYN – Healer. What happened? – I'm sorry that was- rude. Is there anything…" He sighed and she decided to quiet down, clearing her throat and holding her IV with both of her hands. She looked for her daughter through the tiny little babies but Draco pointed at the little one for her "She's very beautiful, congratulations"

Hermione smiled and sighed, her daughter was a perfect little pink thing. Her eyes wondered from her to the NICU bed "Is yours a girl too? Your wife said you wanted a g"- but he stopped her once more "He's a boy. Apparently he's blonde like me, but they wouldn't let me"- he took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from crying in front of Granger of all people.

"She was shopping for baby clothes and… some maniac recognized her and" he paused again "Attacked her, told her she was a disgrace for the magical community and that she shouldn't bring another Malfoy into the world" He swallowed "She tried to defend herself, she was quite good at school but "

"We'll put him behind bars. I'll talk to Harry, this kind of hate is complete-"

"Thanks but, the damage is done Granger" she looked up at him again; he looked like an abandoned wet puppy… She couldn't let it go like that. It wasn't in her nature "Is she okay now? Have they stabilized her?"

He nodded but tears were filling his eyes "She won't be able to have any more children. There was some hemorrhage or something" She nodded understandingly and couldn't help take her hand to her own womb. "And what about him?"

"He's having problems to breathe on his own, his lungs aren't fully developed or what not. We just have to hope for the best" he couldn't help hitting the wall in a fit of rage following by loud sobbing "She didn't deserve this. Neither of them did. It's my fault and there's nothing I can do. They hadn't even let me hold him once. I don't even know how he looks like"

She came closer to him, "You need to be strong for your wife now Malfoy, and you can always adopt, there're hundred of children being abandoned every day" his reddened eyes looked at her and something clicked inside. He was that scared little boy again, on the wrong side of war. "Come with me, c'mon" She grabbed him by his arm and practically pushed him inside the nursery.

When they reached the nursery an old lady in a pink cloak came to them "Mrs. Weasley dear you should be resting!" Hermione's face changed to a wicked grin for a second and then back to her usual self. She held Draco's arm and he was beyond confused "I know Mirna, but I wanted to see little Rosie one last time before going to sleep and then I found out my good friend Astoria was here… poor thing" Mirna agreed shaking her head and then realized it was Draco Malfoy the one next to Hermione "Oh Mr. Malfoy, I'm very sorry about what happened to your family" He nodded and offered a quiet thanks.

"Can you believe that they hadn't let him see the little boy yet? He's been by Astoria's side until she fell asleep and now he's been there, staring but no one would let him in. I wonder"- she lowered her voice and came nearer the nurse "just a little peak, he hasn't even seen him once yet, isn't that awful?"

The old nurse took her hand to her mouth and nodded affected "Oh dear, of course, please come this way" Draco furrowed his eyebrows looking down at Hermione and whispered to her "You're wicked" she smiled at him and let go of his arm the moment they reached the little NICU cradle. The old lady casted a big balloon around the boy's head and took him carefully outside his cradle. He was so small… She placed it slowly in Draco's confused arms and Hermione couldn't help a small tear to drop from her eyes. Watching a father see his child for the first time was a beautiful thing, and she had been lucky enough to see that twice this day.

"What's his name?" Draco dreamily looked at her "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy"

"That's a strong name" Mirna had walked right next to her carrying little Rosie, who looked twice his size. She carried her in her arms, close to Malfoy and Scorpius "Thanks Granger"

She looked up to her former enemy and smiled "No problem Malfoy" giving one last look to her daughter while Mirna took her away she added "Who knows? Maybe this is a sign; maybe they'll right all of our wrongs"

Draco chuckled, his eyes still on his little boy "That's an awful lot of pressure to put on a child, don't you think?" He sighed and added, "Hopefully they'll get along better than us"

She smiled "I'll teach her my right hook just in case. Good night Malfoy" grabbing her IV she started walking away, "Thanks Granger". She didn't look back right away but stood for a while in the corridor watching the little boy grab his father index finger with his.