In The Garden Of Dragons

by XxMoonlitShadowxX

Hermione knew she surprised everyone when she graduated with a diploma in Herbology but she didn't care. She was happy. When she goes to work for the Ministry's Department of Herbology she is made project manager on rebuilding the gardens at the one home that she wished to never see again. The Malfoy Manor. She comes to find that sometimes love blooms in the most unlikely places.

10. Chapter 10

In The Garden of Dragons chapter 10

A/N: Hey all you lovely readers of mine! I've got some great news about this story. I've finally made some major progress in writing out a complete outline for the first book in this series. So I now know what is going to happen from here on out. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and support and I can't wait till you get to read what happens next. Love you all so much-MoonlitShadow

First there was darkness. It was a nice feeling, this complete darkness. But then it was rudely interrupted by a sound. Not just any sound but the sound of something snoring rather loudly next to wherever Hermione lay amongst the darkness. Letting out a groan, she noticed that the snoring was getting louder and then as she finally came to completely, she blinked her eyes open slowly and noticed that first, it wasn't dark at all. Second, she was not in her bed in her apartment. The latter of the two freaked her out much more so she opted to deal with that problem first. She blinked her eyes a few more times and allowed her brown orbs to adjust to the early morning light in Ginny's room. Wait. Ginny's room? She was in the Burrow she realized. And she indeed was in Ginny's room. As if needing extra confirmation of this fact, she turned on her side and noticed that Ginny was indeed the one who was sleeping next to her snoring as loud as a freight train. Either that or a dying dementor. Did dementor's die? And what the hell did that sound like anyways? Hermione shook her head to rid herself of her ridiculous early morning ponderings and smiled when she saw that Ginny's bright green eyes were slowly blinking open and adjusting so they focused solely on her. "Oi! Whatcha doin up so early, Mione? It's got to only be bloody six in the morning." Ginny groaned making Hermione smile at her friend's sleepy state. "Well excuse me for waking you, Ms. Ginerva. I just was bloody wondering how I was at Draco's last night and then ended up falling asleep and now I'm here at the Burrow." Hermione drawled making Ginny blink at her for a few moments before her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, right. I forgot. You don't know about all that. Well, Draco flooed Harry and Ron and told them that he was worried about your mental state last night and that he didn't want you to go back to your apartment alone so he asked that they come pick you up and bring you here so you'd have more company. Said something about you two getting into an argument or something last night." Ginny mumbled quietly as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Hermione's expression turned sour and she scrunched up her nose in distaste. So Draco thought it was necessary for her to be babysat by her friends since she couldn't bloody make it home in one piece? Rolling her eyes, she noticed that Ginny was waiting patiently for her to elaborate more. Hermione huffed in annoyance and plopped back against the pillows before turning to face Ginny fully. "I confessed to Ron that I'm in love with Draco. Ron told me to go tell Draco how I felt. So I did and I ended up getting bloody rejected." She said as her voice started to break at the mention of Draco's odd rejection. Ginny nodded in understanding, but her eyes held secrets that Hermione didn't know about. Little did the know it all witch know was that Ginny knew everything about why Hermione was at the Burrow and exactly what the plan was to keep her from losing Draco altogether. She was thankful though that Hermione had turned to face the ceiling so she wouldn't catch the glimmer of knowledge that crept into her green eyes. So Ginny nodded and patted Hermione's head empathetically making Hermione giggle at the red head's silly antics. "Stop patting me, Ginny. I'm not a dog." She playfully growled making Ginny snicker and pat her harder. "Woof goes Granger. Woof woof." She joked making Hermione turn red with embarrassment. "Honestly, Ginerva. You'd think you were a bloody toddler with your manners." Hermione drawled making Ginny stop patting her for a moment and quirk an eyebrow in her direction in a silent challenge. "Oh really? So I'm a toddler, huh? And what does that make you the old maid?" She teased knowing that it would only rile Hermione up further. Which it definitely did because Hermione took her pillow out from under her and proceeded to whack her younger friend over the head with it making the two start an all out pillow fighting war.

The craziness didn't last long though because moments later the door to Ginny's room burst open and Molly and Fleur barged in with Teddy Lupin and Fleur's toddler daughter Victoria racing in behind them. Teddy took a flying leap and ended up on top of Ginny making her let out a screech as the now pink haired boy smacked her repeatedly. Victoria was still too young and too small to reach the bed so Fleur gently helped her up next to Hermione who was tickled pink by the little girl's insistence to lay down beside her. "Good morning, girls! How did you sleep? Hermione dear, I hope Ginny didn't keep you up too late. We've got a busy day ahead of us." Molly said as she and Fleur took a seat on the bed beside them. "Get em off me!" Ginny cried as two year old Teddy squealed in delight at her cries of outrage. Fleur giggled and shook her head exchanging a knowing look with Molly that neither girl seemed to notice. "Well it's good to see you all are getting along so well seeing as how you and Hermione will be watching Teddy and Victoria for Fleur and I while we go on a special shopping trip. We have an appointment that we must keep in Diagon Alley." Molly stated calmly making both girls look up at them in shock. "We're gonna be bloody stuck her babysitting?!" Ginny practically yelled making Molly give her a stern look. "Oh yes, you both will be very busy with taking care of these two for the rest of the day. We cannot miss this appointment no matter what." Hermione propped herself up on one arm and looked over at Molly and Fleur with a questioning look while Victoria played gently with her fingers. "What type of appointment is it, Molly?" She asked as Molly and Fleur exchanged a look before Fleur burst out with the answer. "Bill and I are expecting again! I am eight weeks pregnant!" She drawled in her clearest French English accent. It had been years since the war and her English had improved greatly after she had married Bill and had moved into the spare bedroom at the Burrow. "Oh Merlin, that's wonderful!" Hermione screeched as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around the now very emotional girl. "Great. That's just great. Another bloody baby crawling around my house." Ginny grumbled making Molly give a smack to her leg. "No one but you two know yet so we thought we would have a surprise baby shower for Fleur and Bill and let the boys know then. We're going to the bakery in Diagon Alley so we can pick out a cake for the grand event." Molly said excitedly as Fleur nodded in agreement. "That'll be great. Of course we'll watch the kids." Hermione said as Ginny reluctantly nodded her consent. "Fine. We'll watch the little buggers…" she muttered making Molly roll her eyes in exasperation. "This will give you both good practice for when you get married and have children of your own one day." Molly said as she exchanged a look with both Ginny and Fleur. "Never too early to start learning." Ginny mumbled under her breath as she shot a look over at an oblivious Hermione. "Great then it's settled. We'll head over to Diagon Alley now and leave you all to have a good, fun day. If you have any trouble please don't hesitate to send a patronus to either Fleur or myself." Molly said kindly before she gently pulled Fleur from the room and disappeared downstairs. Moments later the sound of them leaving by floo was heard and Ginny sighed heavily while Hermione smiled down at the two little ones. "This is going to be fun." Hermione said as Teddy and Victoria curled up next to her. Ginny rolled her eyes and nudged her shoulder. "Yeah, for one of us at least." She said making Hermione chuckle. Unbeknownst to Hermione, things were already getting underway to put into motion a plan that would make or break her relationship with one particular Malfoy who swore that he'd never let her leave his side again.