Draco was amazing; he managed to slowly persuade some lower members of staff in the right departments who were in turn subtly hinting to their bosses that Draco and Hermione's propositions were actually excellent ideas. Draco was confident they would crack any day now.
The pair were getting along much better now; though there was still the occasional argument which usually resulted in Hermione chasing Malfoy out of her office and locking the door (much to Lucy's amusement), generally they worked well together.
In the second week of September Draco had walked into Hermione's office first thing in the morning, coffees in hand for her and Lucy, and dropped five galleons and a piece of parchment on to her desk; it was a letter from Jane.
Hi Draco and Hermione, I'm just writing to tell you my first week at Hogwarts has been AMAZING! I can't believe how much you didn't tell me about it! I've just finished my last lesson of the week which was taught by a REAL ghost, though he was a bit boring. I like my subjects so far, I think astronomy is my favourite, it's weird having a lesson outside in the middle of the night! I'm still trying to find my way around the castle, I was late a lot this week but the teachers were nice. Thankfully, a prefect showed me the way to Herbology and I got there in time to see a boy in my class nearly eaten by a plant...a plant! I told the Care of Magical creatures teacher, Professor Hagrid, that you two had shown me around Diagon Alley and he sent me to the Hospital Wing, he told the nurse that I was hallucinating and he knew for sure because you two would never be friends. I think he's a bit mad. Anyway, I'm about to go down for dinner now. I'll write again soon. Jane. P.S. I'm a Hufflepuff!
"Hah!" Hermione exclaimed. "I told you she would be a Hufflepuff! Wonder what I could spend my five galleons on?"
Draco stuck his tongue out in an extremely childish gesture, shocking Hermione, before leaving the office without a word.
The rest of the month flew over in a haze of work, wedding planning with Juliette (they had found her a dress after weeks of shopping in both Muggle and magical shops) and more memories with Draco.
Since the last one with the making of the Polyjuice, their trips had been fairly pleasant. They had seen Hermione's tenth birthday party, re-lived the Yule Ball (this one had involved a lot of teasing on Draco's part about Ron and Hermione fancying each other) and sat through a very awkward conversation between Draco and his father about Hermione out-performing him in every test at school.
The memories were less frequent now, occurring approximately once every fortnight. Hermione took this as a good sign that they would soon be stopping and explained her theory to Malfoy that this was presumably because they could be in the same room as each other now without wanting to kill one another.
September passed into October and before Hermione knew it there was only one week to go before Halloween. After a day of shopping around for centrepieces with Juliette, the two apparated to Grimmauld place where they were having dinner with Harry, Ginny and Ron. Ginny now only had seven weeks to go before her due date and looked as though someone had shoved a beach ball up her top.
On arrival, it seemed Hermione and Juliette had interrupted a rather heated discussion between Harry and Ginny, who were standing at opposite ends of the kitchen facing each other. Ginny looked angry and Harry looked exasperated.
"...only seven weeks until the baby comes," Harry was saying.
"Yes, I know, thank you very much. I'm the one that's been carrying this baby for the last thirty-three weeks, trust me I'm counting down the days. That's besides the point though, I feel absolutely fine. We are doing this Harry," Ginny responded stubbornly.
Juliette cleared her throat and the couple looked up, realising they were no longer alone.
"Excellent," Harry exclaimed, "you two can back me up. My wife, in all her wisdom, wants to throw a Halloween party here, when she will have only six weeks before our baby is due. Can you two please tell her that it isn't a good idea?"
Hermione opened her mouth to tell her friend not to involve them in domestic disagreements but was interrupted.
"Don't get those two involved," Ginny said angrily, pointing her wand in Harry's direction, "this is between me and you. And this is me telling you that this is happening. I will be absolutely fine. I'll keep it just close friends and family, nothing huge. Besides, Mum will be there and she'll probably make me sit down and take over the whole thing anyway."
Her expression softened a little, "please Harry. This is the last chance we'll have to have a party and to relax, for Merlin knows how long."
"Fine," Harry conceded. "I was never going to win anyway was I?"
Ginny shook her head before turning her attentions to the two women still standing in the doorway
"Hello you two. Any luck with the centrepieces? I'm so sorry I couldn't make it but my ankles look like they've been dipped in swelling solution and my back is killing. I would have just slowed you down," she said.
"Don't worry Gin," Juliette replied as she and Hermione joined Harry who was now sitting at the table, "it was an unsuccessful trip. I just can't decide whether or not to go with flowers. I asked your brother but he was as useful as leprechaun gold."
"That's nice, I love you too," Ron said as he entered the kitchen. "I'm rubbish at this stuff Jules, you know that. That's why you've got Hermione and Ginny."
He grinned at her and she smiled back fondly. As he reached the table she gave him a quick kiss before he joined the others sitting at the table.
Conversation soon turned to the Halloween party Harry had been so reluctant to have. By the time Hermione left the group to return home, Ginny had decided on costumes for her and Harry, decorations, invitations and the food she would be serving.
***
The following Saturday was the night of the Halloween party. Hermione was standing in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom; checking her costume over one last time. She had decided to go as a vampire; all in black with a high-collared cloak that swept the floor, pale make-up on her face and she had charmed her teeth to make two of them elongated and pointy. Copious amounts of potion had been used on her wild hair so that it was now almost perfectly straight and tied back into a tight ponytail. Happy with her work, Hermione headed into the living room and flooed to Grimmauld Place.
The party was being held in the large drawing room which had been decorated spectacularly. Cobwebs hung in each corner and crevice in the room, pumpkins were carved and their candles flickered inside giving the room an eerie glow. Orange and black streamers hung from the ceiling and the long table bearing the food was covered in a black table cloth. Hermione could already see all of the Weasley's standing around chatting and laughing, she also recognised a couple of Harry and Ginny's friends from work. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and, true to Ginny's predictions, Molly had taken over the job of hosting, leaving Ginny to relax. Hermione smiled as she watched her sitting with Harry and Ron, rubbing her hand in small circles over her large stomach, she still couldn't believe that in just a few weeks Harry would be a father.
"Nice costume, I thought you would have come as a cat," a voice interrupted Hermione's thoughts.
She looked away from Ginny to see Draco standing in front of her, his trademark smirk upon his face. She wasn't aware he would be there but all the same wasn't surprised by h
"Ha-ha, very funny. You're never going to let that go are you?"
"Never," he replied simply.
Hermione noticed his appearance for the first time. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a fitted pale blue shirt.
"Where's your costume?"
"This is my costume. I've come as me, pretty scary don't you think?"
"No, I don't. It's a Halloween fancy dress party, you should be wearing a costume!" Hermione scolded.
She took out her wand and pointed it at him.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked skeptically.
"Fixing it," she said simply and began to wave her wand, murmuring incarnations.
As she did, the fabric of Draco's clothes began to tear.
"Are you mad woman?!" Draco yelled. "These are expensive clothes!"
"Don't worry, I'll fix them later," she said, now pointing the wand at his face which turned a sickly shade of green, dark bags appearing under his eyes.
"There, you're a zombie," Hermione said, proud of her work.
"I'm a what?"
"A zombie. It's a Muggle thing, like an inferi," she said.
He appraised his clothes once more and shrugged, content with Hermione's promise to change them back later.
The party was a great success, Hermione enjoyed chatting with some of the Weasley siblings she hadn't seen in several weeks. She was thrilled that Bill and Fleur brought four year old Victoire and baby Dominique with them, though it meant they had to leave early. Andromeda also visited briefly with Teddy who, as usual, spent most of his time being entertained by Harry. Hermione loved watching him with his Godson, it was tragic that Teddy would never meet his parents but Harry doted on him and Teddy adored him for it.
The only person who didn't seem to be enjoying themselves was, surprisingly, Ginny. Though the party had been her idea, she didn't get very involved in it. Several times Hermione asked her if she was alright but Ginny always replied that she was fine.
Midnight passed and most of the guests had started to leave, eventually only Hermione, Ron, Juliette and Draco remained with Harry and Ginny. The men were standing in one corner of the room, discussing everything from quidditch to Ron's impending nuptials.
Hermione was filling Juliette in on their school days with Draco, expressing her disbelief that the three were now on speaking terms. A laugh from Juliette was interrupted by a loud gasp from Ginny. Hermione turned around to see Her standing in the doorway, a pool of water at her feet.
"Ginny! Is that...?" Juliette asked.
Ginny nodded.
"Harry!" Hermione called. "I think you might want to come over here..."
Harry crossed the room, his eyes widening as he took in the scene before him.
"Is that...?"
"Yes," Ginny said, panting, "I think my waters have broken."
Panic followed this statement. Ron began shouting at Harry to take Ginny to St. Mungos, Juliette insisted that he calm down and Ginny yelled at everyone to be quiet.
"We don't need to go yet though do we?" Harry asked. "The healer we spoke to last week said that we shouldn't go until you're having contractions, even if your waters break. Right?"
He looked at Ginny, waiting for her to confirm.
"You remembered that? I thought you weren't listening?"
"Of course I was! That's my baby too you know," he said, almost offended.
"Sorry," Ginny apologised. "You're right, she did say that. It's just-"
She stopped and gasped again, bending over slightly and rubbing her stomach like she had been earlier. Hermione realised immediately what was happening.
"Merlin's pants! You've been having contractions all night haven't you?"
Harry looked wildly between Hermione and his wife. He watched as Ginny, still massaging her stomach and now gritting her teeth, nodded her head.
"And you didn't think to tell me? I knew this party wasn't a good idea! It's sent you into early labour!" Harry scolded.
"Harry," Hermione said, "priorities?"
"Right, sorry. Er-you wait here. I'll get the hospital bag then we'll floo to the hospital."
He walked to the door, preparing to squeeze past Ginny.
"Harry?" Hermione said again. "We can use magic remember. Accio hospital bag!"
A few seconds later a large black bag came zooming over Ginny and Harry's heads and landed on the floor in front of Hermione. Harry picked it up before he and Ginny, now temporarily free from the pain of the contractions, stepped into the fireplace and disappeared in a flurry of goodbyes and green flames.
"We best go to Mum's," Ron said to the group, "tell them what's happening."
"Keep me updated please Ron, I'll stay here and clean up so the house is tidy for them coming home," Hermione told him as he and Juliette stepped into the fireplace.
Ron nodded and the pair disappeared. It was only then that Hermione remembered Draco was still there. At her words, he had began to start clearing up; a stack of plates in his hand.
"Draco!" she exclaimed. "I forgot you were still here. Leave those, I'll sort them. You can head home."
"It's fine, honestly. I don't mind helping you. It'll get done quicker."
Draco was right; it hadn't taken them long to get the drawing room back to it's original state. Once finished, Hermione poured them both a glass of wine and they sat on the sofa to drink them. Tiredness set in as Hermione finished her wine, she set the glass down and lay her head on the back of the sofa, trying to find the energy to get up and return home.
Hours later, a sudden noise made Hermione jump. She and Draco had both fallen asleep on the sofa, she was mortified when she realised her head was resting on his shoulder, his was leaning against hers. She jumped up, waking Draco in the process, and looked around to locate the source of the noise. It was Ron.
"There you are! I've been to your flat looking for you. Wait, why are you still here?"
"I fell asleep. Anyway, that's not important. What's happening?" she asked him impatiently.
"She's had the baby! A boy; James Sirius Potter. Harry just popped in to tell us. They're all fine and we can visit in the morning." Ron was grinning from ear to ear.
"A boy? Your first nephew Ron! Harry's a dad, can you believe it?" Hermione sank back into the sofa, tears of happiness forming in her eyes for her friends.
"Mental isn't it?" Ron replied. "Anyway, I best get back. Mum's inconsolable, no surprise there. See you in the morning?"
"Absolutely. I'll meet you at The Burrow and we can apparate together," she crossed the room and hugged him. "Congratulations Uncle Ron!"
Still grinning, Ron stepped back into the fireplace and quickly disappeared.
So thoughts on this chapter? I know there wasn't a great deal of Draco/Hermione action or memories but I don't want the chapters to be repetitive so this was a little break :) Leave a review and let me know what you think so far!