Chapter Eleven: A Party and An Envelope
"Draco!" Hermione shouted down the staircase in frustration and barely controlled panic. She was clutching the back of her pink dress desperately, unable to zip it any further up by herself. Draco peeked his head around the corner and Scarlet mimicked him with wide eyes.
"What Mommy?" Scarlet raised her arms in an innocent gesture and gave Hermione the cutest puppy-dog face she could muster up.
"Yeah, what Mommy?" Draco mimed, smiling up at his agitated significant other. Hermione lost her annoyed mood and laughed at the two of them.
"Darling, don't teach her that face…" Hermione pointed at Scarlet. Draco observed his daughter with his hands on his hips for dramatics.
"A true Malfoy, this one is," Draco decided. Scarlet squealed in delight and hugged her daddy's legs.
"Mommy, I wanna wear my gween dwess!" Scarlet pushed away from Draco suddenly and began climbing the stairs towards Hermione.
"Sweetie, don't you want to wait until it's a little closer to when your party starts?" Hermione questioned, as she pulled her daughter off the ground and into her arms. Scarlet threw her arms around Hermione's neck and giggled. The dress was a lost cause, Hermione decided.
"Nope! Daddy said I will be the Switherin pwincess today!" Scarlet announced happily.
"Switherin, huh? What about the Gryffindor princess?" Hermione tickled her soundly before setting her back onto the ground.
"Hermione, did you need something, love, or did you just miss me?" Draco raised an eyebrow at her, still smirking.
"Never mind, I'll change into something less complicated. Scarlet, why don't you help Daddy blow up balloons, okay?" Scarlet's eyes lit up at that idea and she rushed down the stairs so quickly, she lost her balance and almost began to tumble before Draco whipped out his want and levitated her in the air.
"Whoops, careful baby! You don't want to break anything on your second birthday!" Draco hovered her in the air around the room for a few seconds, listening to her shriek with happiness before he let her fall into his arms. "Let's get going before Mommy makes us do any more work!" Scarlet nodded her head vigorously in agreement.
(…)
An hour before the birthday party was scheduled to begin, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. Hermione groaned and rushed downstairs, her hair halfway fixed and her make-up partially on. When she opened the large front door, Ginny Weasley and Blaise Zabini stood on the front porch with wide grins across their faces. Ginny was the first to react and attacked Hermione with a bear hug.
"You're never going to believe what we did!" Ginny practically screamed. Hermione looked nervously from Ginny to Blaise.
"Umm, I give up?" she responded meekly. Ginny held out her left hand triumphantly to expose a large diamond ring on her ring finger.
"We eloped!" Ginny squeaked loudly, practically beaming. Hermione mildly wondered how someone so tiny could make so much noise. Hermione wasn't quite sure what to say, so she just stood there, her mouth hanging open and gaping at the large diamond ring.
"I had been trying to talk to Arthur and Molly about it for months, but they always told me they wanted Ginny to wait until she was at least twenty-five before she ever even started thinking about marriage…" Blaise scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he explained. Draco came pelting around the corner.
"You're married!" Draco asked in shock. There was an increasingly loud wail coming from around the same corner that Draco had just emerged from. Scarlet came sprinting through as quick as her little feet could take her. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were blotchy. She held out her index finger from her left hand pitifully.
"Owwww!" she cried miserably, closing her eyes and tilting her head toward the ceiling. There seemed to be a tiny cut on the pad of her finger. Suddenly she seemed to notice that there were visitors and forgot about her finger. "Awe you here for my pawty? Did you bwing pwesents?" She perked up quickly when Ginny handed her two wrapped boxes. "I'm thwee now!" She smiled proudly.
"Scarlet, honey, you're turning two…" Hermione reminded her gently, inspecting her finger carefully. "I think you're going to be okay. Do you think you'll survive?" Scarlet nodded her head solemnly. Scarlet scampered back off to play, carrying her two new presents to put on the table.
"So, anyway, when did all this happen?" Draco asked, patting Blaise on the back and glancing at Ginny's ring.
"Two days ago!" Ginny beamed some more. "We already told the family- they were kind of upset…" Ginny's face suddenly fell.
"Does Harry know?" Hermione asked quietly, knowing Ginny had been infatuated with him for a long time.
"Ron told him yesterday. He took it pretty well. Apparently he's been dating some cute blonde who works for Witch's Weekly." Blaise explained. Hermione leaned in and gave Ginny another hug.
"I'm so happy for you both! This is very exciting news!" Hermione gushed.
"We were going to announce it at Scarlet's birthday, but we figured it was rude to take away from her special day." Ginny informed them.
"Speaking of her birthday, do you want to come chat with me while I continue getting ready? Blaise can go out with Draco and Scarlet and help them…" Hermione smiled and tugged at Ginny's arm to lead her up the stairs.
(…)
The party was going extremely well, and almost everyone Hermione had sent invitations to showed up. Scarlet was running around happily with all her friends and sharing her toys. Narcissa Malfoy even made a brief appearance to deliver Scarlet's present, but left shortly after due to the 'loud, obnoxious half-bloods and mudbloods'. While everyone was chatting and enjoying the warmth inside Draco and Hermione's home, no one noticed a singular woman with her small child enter the house. The little boy could not have been any older than three or four, and he made his way quietly to the table where Scarlet's mountain of unwrapped presents lay to set down a small piece of paper. The boy hurried away from the table, looking embarrassed and soon joined Scarlet and her friends in play.
Meria was trying her best to not be caught by Draco or Hermione. She made her way stealthily across the large living room and to the bottom of the staircase before anyone even spoke to her. Meria quickly made up a lie about knowing Hermione from school and proceeded to walk up the stairs to Draco and Hermione's bedroom. Once she was safely inside the room, she set down a plain black envelope on the dresser. Hearing someone announce it was time to open presents downstairs, Meria chose not to dawdle upstairs any longer and snuck back down to blend in with the large crowd.
Scarlet had opened all her presents and thought she was done until Hermione noticed a small piece of paper folded in half on the edge of the table.
"Here, darling, it looks like a card fell out somewhere along the way…" Hermione handed her daughter the card. Scarlet opened it quickly and had a blank look on her face for a few seconds. Suddenly, she threw the card in the air and ran over to Tyler, who was blushing a bright shade of red. Scarlet threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek quickly.
"Thank you, Tyleh!" Scarlet spoke, still smiling brightly. Confused, Hermione picked up the card and saw a hand drawn picture of a little girl with bright blue eyes and blonde pigtails. He had drawn a picture of Scarlet for her birthday without Meria knowing. Hermione held back the tears that began to form, and handed the card over to Draco who smiled softly.
"Wait-" Draco said suddenly to Hermione. "How the hell did Tyler get here?" Hermione looked bewildered.
"Oh my God… Meria got in?" Hermione whispered, looking slightly alarmed. Before either one of them could do anything, Meria swooped in, picking Tyler up and hurrying towards the door. And then she was gone. Hermione and Draco looked at one another suspiciously. No one else at the party had noticed anything odd, not knowing the history behind Meria.
"We'll deal with that later… no harm appears to have been done for now…" Draco put his finger gingerly over Hermione's lips, as she was about to say something rude and loud.
(…)
After the party was completely over and Scarlet was in bed, Hermione and Draco plopped down on their large bed together in a state of extreme exhaustion.
"Whew… I can't believe we have to do that every year…" Hermione moaned, rubbing her temples. Draco began to massage circles on her back to help relax her.
"You know… it's been bothering me this whole day about Ginny and Blaise," Draco started to speak.
"What's bothering you about it?" Hermione questioned, kissing him in response to the quick massage.
"Well, it's just, we haven't even talking about marriage since before Scarlet was born…" Draco spoke quietly, looking at his hands. He heard Hermione fidget.
"You're right. I don't want you to think that I don't want to marry you, Draco. I didn't- not right before Scarlet was born because it would have been almost a sympathy marriage. But now, I don't know… I feel differently." Hermione moved closer to him and sat in his lap. Draco smirked at her.
"So you would say yes if I asked you to marry me right now?"
"I didn't say that! I guess you will just have to ask me to find out…" Hermione said playfully. "Besides, you don't even have a ring or anything!" Draco stood up suddenly, almost causing Hermione to plummet to the floor. He walked briskly over to his side of the bed and opened the nightstand. Hermione gasped as she saw him pull out a small black velvet box.
"I didn't know you-" Hermione started.
"Hermione, I have been with you through some of the happiest days of my life, as well as some of the hardest. Despite everything, you have remained the one constant thing in my life, which means more to me than anything in the world- except maybe our daughter." Draco smirked at that last comment. Hermione's eyes welled up with tears. "I love you so much I can't show you any other way than to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me, love?" Draco was on one knee at this point and had opened the box to reveal a sparkling heart-shaped diamond that was close to three carats. It was simple in shape, but beautiful all the same. Hermione fell onto her knees and through her arms around his neck, sobbing with joy.
"I can't believe it!" she cried, kissing his neck and skin wherever she could. "I love you so much, Draco! I wouldn't want to be with anyone but you!" Draco smirked.
"That's a yes, then?" he asked happily, taking the ring out of the box.
"That's a hell yes…" Hermione laughed, her eyes still streaming with tears. Draco picked up her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. He kissed her finger, then her cheek, then her lips. Before either one of them registered what had happened in between, they were both naked and on the bed.
Draco pushed inside her carefully, groaning with pleasure. Before he had a chance to start thrusting into her, Hermione arched her back upwards and pushed Draco deeper inside. They both gasped with the sudden bliss and began rocking with steady rhythm. Draco leaned down and slid his tongue over her right nipple, causing Hermione to let out a tiny yelp. In response to his action, Hermione flexed her inner muscles, causing Draco to let out a loud growl of pleasure from the sudden tightness. Hermione felt herself reaching her peak quickly, which made Draco pump faster and faster to give her the most intense sensation he could. Right when Draco didn't think he could possibly hold off any longer, Hermione orgasmed, causing Draco to follow suit. They lay next to one another, panting heavily and covered in a thin film of sweat. Hermione rolled over to face Draco. His hair was fluffed out and looked like he had just driven down the road in a convertible.
"Let's do that more often…" she gasped.
"Don't have to ask me twice!" Draco hopped back on top of her for round two.
(…)
The next day, Ginny owled Hermione and Draco to see if they would be able to help move her belongings to Blaise's house. Hermione arranged for Mrs. Granger to come over and watch Scarlet for a few hours so she and Draco would be free to help their friends.
"Thanks so much for coming!" Ginny greeted Hermione and Draco right after they apparated over.
"Grab your wand and I'll show you where the car is…." Blaise motioned for Hermione and Draco.
"Blaise, let them say hello at least before you start making them do manual labor…"Ginny lectured. Blaise sighed.
"How's it going, then?" Blaise asked, looking bored. Hermione beamed and held out her hand.
"We got engaged!" she cried. Ginny screamed and threw the box she was holding behind her. There was a loud shattering noise as it collided with a wall, causing Blaise to flinch and look nervous. Ginny didn't appear to care and embraced Hermione tightly.
"That is incredible news! We're going to be happy little married couple friends!" Ginny gushed happily. Blaise had wandered off to the box Ginny had chucked practically across the room.
"Honey, where is the family china?" Blaise called frantically. Ginny ignored him.
"So, tell me everything! How did he do it? Was it because of Blaise and me?" Ginny was absolutely giddy. Hermione was a light shade of pink as she proceeded to tell Ginny everything that happened right up until she and Draco shagged for hours. Meanwhile, Blaise and Draco had opened the box to find out that Ginny had in fact hurled priceless heirlooms into a wall. Blaise made an odd noise, something in between a helpless cry and a roar.
"What is the matter with you?" Ginny suddenly turned her attention to Blaise, who looked crushed.
"You smashed my grandmother's plates into a million pieces, that's what's wrong with me!" Blaise cried, throwing his hands in the air.
"Hey, I think we can fix this. Look- Reparo!" Draco pointed his wand at the pile of shattered china on the floor. The plates went back together, but in all the wrong places. They now looked like an arts and crafts project gone terribly wrong.
The rest of the day did not go as smoothly as everyone would have liked it to. Many items were smashed, dropped, or tossed too carelessly into the car. Blaise looked like he was going to have a heart attack by the end of everything.
"I don't know why he's so uptight, most of this stuff is mine anyway…" Ginny mumbled to Hermione when Blaise wasn't paying attention.
"Why did you have his grandmother's china?" Hermione asked curiously. Ginny shrugged.
"Who knows. All our stuff kind of blended together over the past few months. We've practically been living together since August…"
"Well, thanks for helping us with everything today…" Blaise finally spoke, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Ginny wrapped her arms around his torso.
"I'm sorry I smashed your plates. I got very excited…" Ginny apologized to him. Blaise smiled down at her.
"It's okay… I didn't really like them that much anyway."
"Where they worth a lot?" Ginny questioned. Blaise paled slightly.
"Nah…" he kissed her forehead. "Just a little more than you… but hey… you win some you lose some…" Blaise gave a good impression of a Draco-like smirk. Ginny punched his arm.
"We're going to head home- see you guys later!" Hermione waved at them as she and Draco apparated back home.
A/N: Hey everyone! I thought I would answer some questions in this chapter that I got from a couple reviews. So- no, Draco and Hermione aren't married yet (but they will be soon!) Also, I'm sorry I left such a gap after Scarlet was born, but I didn't have anything planned for while she was growing up, so I didn't want to waste time. Kids are really fun while they are toddlers, so I wanted to jump ahead so she could be a bigger part of the story. I hope everyone is still enjoying the story! For next chapter you will find out what is in the black envelope that Meria left- and why she left it! Also- Meria only wanted Draco back because he became famous playing Quidditch. She tried to trick him into giving her money by lying and saying that Tyler was his son… that's why she was upset after he found out everything- her plans were ruined! I hope all this answers some of your questions and please review- I love your feedback!
P.S. My engagement ring is heart-shaped diamond- that's where I got the idea! Mine isn't quite as big as Hermione's though. Three carats worth of diamonds is worth more than my car. LOL!