Walking up the Granger's driveway, Draco smiled happily. It had only been six days since he had last seen Hermione, but it felt like an eternity. Draco figured that part of the reason he was missing Hermione more than he usually would was the fact he knew he wouldn't see her again for months after today. The fact that she was pregnant and he knew he wouldn't be there for her the way he wanted to be, was something else that made their impending separation even harder to bare.
Brushing aside the depressing thoughts of leaving Hermione, Draco knocked on the Granger's front door. The door was opened by Hermione's mother and Draco was relieved when the older woman smiled warmly at him and ushered him into the house.
"Go on through, Hermione's in the front room." Jean said, hanging Draco's jacket up in the hallway. "Richard and I will join you in a minute."
Draco smiled at Hermione's mother and followed her instructions to head into the front room. Hermione was lying on the sofa when Draco entered the room and the second she saw her boyfriend she put down the book she was reading and sat up.
"Hi." She smiled as Draco sat down beside her. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you, too." Draco replied, giving his girlfriend a hug. "Did you like your Christmas present?" He asked as they separated.
Hermione nodded and smiled as her hand automatically fell to the silver necklace hanging around her neck. The necklace was a glass heart with a red H and a green D carved inside the heart. Hermione knew the gift must have cost her boyfriend a small fortune, but it was the nicest gift she had ever received.
"I love it." Hermione smiled, giving Draco a long kiss. "And I love you."
I love you too." Draco replied as Hermione threw a cushion on his knee and settled back down, her head resting on his lap.
"Did you have any trouble getting away?" Hermione asked.
"No, it was easy to just say I was going out for a while." Draco replied.
"I'm just pleased you're here." Hermione said. "I'm going to miss you so much when you return to school."
"The feeling's mutual, I would much rather be staying here with you." Draco said.
"It's only a few months, then we'll be together again." Hermione said, trying to remain positive and not dwell on their imminent separation.
"I guess so. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end when we're together all the time." Draco replied, following Hermione's lead and seeing the positive in the situation.
"It will." Hermione smiled. "The three of us will be the perfect little family."
"Speaking of which, how are you?" Draco asked. "How did your visit to the doctor go?"
"Fine. She said everything looked good and she booked me in at the hospital for just after the New Year. At the hospital they'll be able to give me a date for when the baby's due."
Draco sighed as he ran one hand through Hermione's hair while the other one rested on her still flat stomach. "I'm sorry, I'm not going to be here for you. I'm going to miss so much when I should be at your side."
"You'll be here when it matters. When I have the baby and afterwards, that's when I'm really going to need you." Hermione replied, smiling reassuringly up at Draco.
"And I promise, I'll always be there for you and the baby." Draco vowed.
"That's reassuring to hear." Richard announced as he and Jean entered the room. "That tells me we've made the right decision in deciding to help you get away."
"Really?" Hermione beamed, sitting up. "You're really going to help us leave at the end of the year?"
"Yes." Jean nodded as the two adults settled down on the sofa opposite the young couple. "It was fairly obvious from our discussion last week that you're both determined to leave. We don't want to lose our daughter and grandchild and we don't want the three of you facing danger if you stay."
"Thank you so much." Draco gratefully told the parents of his girlfriend. "It means so much that you're helping us."
"We're helping you, but we're also doing it on our conditions." Richard cautioned before the two teenagers got carried away.
"What conditions are these?" Hermione asked, hoping her parents weren't going to complicate matters.
"First of all your mother and I will accompany you to Australia." Richard began. "We'll travel the muggle way, we'll help find you somewhere to live and we'll stay with you until after the baby is born."
"I have no problem with that." Hermione said. "In fact I rather like that idea."
"So do I." Draco agreed. "I'm pleased Hermione won't be out there on her own."
"Good." Richard nodded. "The next thing to discuss is how Draco is going to get to Australia."
"We explained that, dad. He's going to apparate." Hermione said, reminding her father of the previous week's conversation.
"But didn't you say apparating long distances took its toll, especially on inexperienced wizards, and the journey would have to be made in stages." Jean said. "And it would probably take about a week to travel from Hogwarts to Australia."
"Yes, we did." Hermione replied, still not getting what the problem was. It might take Draco longer to get to her than she would like, but the important thing was that he did get to her.
While Hermione failed to grasp her parents point Draco had immediately spotted the problem with their original plan. At the time of making the plan the couple were planning on travelling together, so the extra-long journey wasn't a problem. However with the change in situations it wasn't really ideal to be traveling for so long.
"If I apparate I might miss the birth of the baby." Draco told Hermione. "I'd never thought of that before."
"Obviously until Hermione has her first scan we can't be sure of the date the baby is due, but it's not something we can risk." Richard said. "If we can we need to arrange it so that Draco is there for the birth."
"What do you suggest?" Hermione asked. "Draco can't travel the muggle way as he doesn't have a passport."
"Not to mention I wouldn't have a clue as to how to survive in the muggle world." Draco added. "It took me long enough to work out how to find your village the first time I came to visit."
"I admit that is a problem." Richard conceded. "If Draco had a passport I was thinking I could return from Australia before school ended and we could fly back together. Also that way he doesn't have to worry about where to find us."
"What if I was to charm an ordinary piece of paper into a passport?" Hermione asked, an idea forming in her head. "I'm pretty sure my glamour charms would be strong enough to fool muggles."
"Or what about an old passport." Richard suggested. "I got mine renewed last year and I still have my old one. That way all you need to do is charm certain bits, we can even use our passports to make sure it's perfect."
"Yes, I could try that." Hermione nodded enthusiastically.
"Do you think it would work?" Draco asked his girlfriend. "We're talking complicated charms here."
"I know, but I've got months to practice." Hermione replied. "It's worth a shot."
"But I'm going back to school in a few days, how will I know if it's worked?" Draco asked.
"That brings us to another point." Jean said. "We were going to ask if you could come to see us over the Easter break. We'll be getting ready to head to Australia then and it'll be your only chance to see Hermione before we go."
"Not to mention she'll have scan pictures and by then we should know the sex of the baby." Richard added.
"I'm not finding out the sex of the baby without Draco." Hermione argued. "It's something we should find out together."
"If Draco can come and visit we could maybe have the hospital write down the sex of the baby and put it in an envelope and you can discover it together." Jean suggested.
"I'll definitely come over the Easter break. I can just say I'm going out for a few hours." Draco said, pleased at the thought of seeing Hermione before the summer. "Although Hermione can also keep me updated with baby news when she writes to me."
"I don't think so." Hermione snorted. "The letters I write will be brief and contain no details about anything."
"Why?" Draco asked, looking horrified at the lack of communication.
"I don't trust certain Slytherins." Hermione replied. "If anyone was to find our letters we could end up in big trouble and all our plans will be worthless."
"I'm not stupid Hermione, I'm hardly going to be waving them around the common room. I'll keep every letter locked away safely."
"I'm still not taking that chance." Hermione insisted. "I wouldn't put it past that nosy cow Parkinson to go snooping around your things if she thought you were receiving letters from someone important. I'm sorry Draco, but I'm not risking getting discovered like that."
"I guess you're right." Draco sighed in disappointment. Letters from Hermione were the only thing he thought would make the next few months bearable, now it looked as though he wouldn't even have them.
"I will still write, but I just can't give any real details." Hermione told her boyfriend, feeling bad that he looked so forlorn at the thought of not hearing from her.
"You might not be able to give details, but you could answer questions." Jean said, a solution to the couple's problems becoming evident to her. "If Draco writes first he could include a series of questions and in your reply you could answer them."
"That would work." Hermione beamed. "Of course the questions would have to be very specific."
"I can do specific." Draco said with a smile. "Thank you Mrs Granger, that's a brilliant idea."
"Anything to help." Jean smiled at the young couple. "These next few months are going to be tough on the pair of you, so you're going to need all the comfort you can get."
"We appreciate your help." Hermione told her mother. "And we appreciate everything you're doing for us."
"You're our daughter, Hermione. We wouldn't dream of abandoning you." Richard said. "We just want you to be happy and we feel that together you two will be very happy and our grandchild will be very lucky to have parents like you."
Hermione hugged both her parents as she got tearful over their words and actions. She'd always known her parents were brilliant, but this just proved how much they loved her and the lengths they would go to just so she could be happy.
"We'll leave you two alone for a while." Richard said as Hermione settled back down next to Draco. "Draco, we'll see you in the Easter break."
"I'll let you know what day I'll be coming." Draco said as he thanked Hermione's parents again for their support.
Once Hermione's parents had left Hermione lay back down on her boyfriend's knee and the couple quietly chatted about their baby. Unfortunately before they knew it Draco was announcing it was time he went home. Neither of them wanted to push their luck with Draco staying any longer so Hermione reluctantly got up and walked Draco to the door.
"I want you to promise me you'll behave once you go back to school." Hermione said as Draco pulled on his jacket. "There's bound to be a pile more rumours about me when I don't return, but I don't want you to react. Just ignore it and before you know it you'll be leaving and we'll never have to deal with those people again."
"I'll try." Draco said, pulling Hermione into his arms.
"I'll miss you." Hermione told her boyfriend.
"I'll miss you too." Draco replied, giving Hermione a quick kiss. "I'll write to you next week and I'll see you in the Easter holidays."
After sharing a lingering kiss Draco reluctantly left Hermione's arms and the Granger's house. Hermione stood on the doorstep, watching Draco as he left. When he got to the corner he turned round and waved to Hermione before disappearing from view. Sadly Hermione returned indoors and shut the front door against the cold, she would now be counting down the weeks until she saw Draco again.