A Year In Montreal
By Jess Fern
Chapter 11
The manor was quiet; almost too quiet, but Draco had to find his parents bedroom. His father's hair would be all over the room, in the closet on his pillow. He made his way up the stairs, and found his parents room. His mother was asleep, she most likely is grieving Lucius's death. He makes his way to the closet and is about to open the door when all of a sudden he is knocked unconscious.
"Draco? Darling is that you?" His mother says when she sees the intruder. Draco opens his eyes and sees his mother in her sleeping gown and robes. She helps him up, and he rubs his head.
"What are you doing here? It is 12:00 in the morning!" She exclaims.
"I needed to come here to get a hair of father's." He says and realizes how absurd that must sound. "Hermione wont wake up. She was poisoned by father with a sleeping potion. I need one of his hairs. That is all I need." He says and he walks over to the closet and opens the doors. He finds what was once his fathers favorite robe. He finds one of the long silver strings and folds it in a cloth. He is about to apparate away, when his mother stops him.
"Do you really need to go? I have been so lonely without your father; even if he was a rapist."
His mother says and Draco shakes his head.
"I must go, I have a month to find all the ingredients, because hermione will give birth in two." He says apologetically and turns on his heels. He finds himself in front of the english channel in london. He sighs and strips to his boxers and dives into the freezing waves. He finds a large group of the large blue eels. Now comes the tricky part; two find a male and that it is mating. Now thankfully he has sone research that he didn't think he would ever have to use. That females are more of a greenish-blue awhile the males are more purple. He finds one of green and one of purple shades very near to the other. Draco is only assuming they are mating so he goes up behind them and grabs the male around the neck. It thrashes and tries to bite him but he is able to shut its mouth. He paddles back up to the surface. He gasps as the coldness of the water actually hits him he starts shivering madly but does not release his grip on the snake. He paddles back to the shore and holds the eel to the ground and pulls at one of the loose scales. Once hes pulled it loose he finds his clothes and pulls the cloth with the hair in it and sets it onto the cloth. He grabs his clothes and apparates back to the cabin. He finds himself in the living room and potter and Weasley are staring.
"Malfoy? Where have you been?" Potter says and Draco collapses to the floor.
"Malfoy? Malfoy! Wake Up! Ginny! Come quick!" Harry and Ron yell. Ginny runs down the stairs.
"oh my. What happened?" She says and Harry and Ron explain what happened; how he appeared in the sitting room, had blue lips and was shivering immensely.
"I am thinking he found the scale in the english channel. Give me his clothes!" Ginny says and Ron hands her the pile of gray and white. She pulls the white square from his pants pocket and unfolds it. She sees the silver hair and the blue scale and jumps up and down she is so happy.
"He's almost done! He just needs the goat's milk!" She says and walks back upstairs and sets the ingredients down on the dresser in Hermione's room. She walks back downstairs and looks to Draco.
"Well, I know you are going to hate me, but we need to get him out of the wet clothes. So sorry." Ginny says and almost bursts out laughing by Harry and Ron's faces. She walks up the stairs once more and grabs some pajamas and hands them to harry. She hears them both whispering "its for a good cause. Its for a good cause." and laughs again and makes her way to the kitchen and makes herself some tea.
"I am so happy we know magic." Ron says and blocks his vision as he removes Draco's underwear. They are hovering over their heads and float over to a laundry hamper. Both men block their vision as they put all the clothing on; a white t shirt, striped pants, and of course, boxers.
"It's safe Ron." Harry says with a sigh of relief. They levitate Draco in the air and take him to Hermione's room and lay him next her. They find Ginny upstairs speaking with Mrs. Granger.
"She'll be just fine! Draco jut needs to go to america to get some goat milk. Then hermione will be awake. Though there has been a slight complication; She will have to be awake when taking the potion. It's odd, but it will prevent her from sleeping like this again." Ginny finishes and Mrs. Granger nods. "Ron, harry, I know you're here. But we made need your is only one more item, the goats milk, and Draco may be in a coma. So you need to go to america, found a brown goat, and milk it. Just 1 cup is all though. When Draco is awake, he'll help us wake hermione. Then Eleanor will be born, and we can be sure that the get settled in, most likely the wizarding world." Ginny says and looks to the boys.
"For Hermione." Harry says. Ron has a puzzled look and finally speaks.
"Who's Eleanor?" Ron says and Ginny rolls her eyes.
"THAT'S WHAT THEY DECIDED TO NAME THE BABY." Ginny and harry scream at Ron, who becomes bright red.
"Alright, for hermione and eleanor. America huh? Can I bring lavender?" Ron asks and ginny nods.
"Well, get packing! We want hermione awake as soon as possible." Ginny says and goes to find lavender.
"Lavender! We need your help. There is one more thing we need." Ginny says and finds lavender on the balcony. She explains everything and Lavender is so excited by the end of Ginny's speech.
"Ooh Yay! I've always wanted to go to America! This is going to be so much fun!" Lavender says enthusiastically.
"It is strictly work Lav. You aren't going to tour!" Ginny says and goes to the master bedroom. Draco and hermione have somehow started cuddling. Ginny was perplexed.
"Must not be a coma then. Just sleep, I suppose." She says to herself. She walks out of the room to go and take a nap of her own.
"Welcome to America!" Harry says as they find themselves in front of a large hotel named The Holiday Inn. They check in and find there room. When they open the door they find a large room with two queen sized beds. They sit down and start discussing the nearest farms and zoos.
" We are in new jersey, so we need to go to the midwest, I've heard they have more farms there. So we can apparate to, Iowa? Or texas?" Ron says and harry nods. They grab the glass to hold the milk.
"Well lets go! Iowa first!" Lavender says and they join arms and apparate to a small farm town in iowa.
"Okay, let's go to city hall and ask for the nearest goat farm is." Ron says and they walk down the avenue towards a big brick building.
"Lou's Farm, 2022 Delaware Road NE, big blue barn, you can't miss it." The secretary says to the trio. They thank her and exit the building and enter a nearby alleyway and apparate to Lou's Farm.
The group is spread about the farm, harry in the barn, lavender next to the mailbox, and Ron in the corn field. Lavender makes her way to the big white house that is next to the barn and knocks on the door. She very quickly remembers her american accent, and smiles when a young woman opens the door.
"May I help you?" The 30 something year old asks and lavender nods.
"Yes, I need a cup of goat milk." She says in her best american accent. The woman is puzzled at first, then she looks a bit suspicious.
"Why would you need just 1 cup?" She asks with her eyebrow raised. Lavender gulps and is about to answer when Ron comes up behind her.
"Oh we don't need just one, silly Lavender! We are making a cake and the ingredient calls for goats milk, but the grocery stores were all out, could you believe it. So we fond the nearest farm, which was yours." He says with a smile. The lady nods and puts her hand out.
"Well, I'm sorry. We have a couple goats here but not many. I'm Mary by the way." She says and Ron and Lavender shake without hesitation.
"I'm Robert, and this is my wife Lucy. I call her lavender because she absolutely adores it." Ron says and sighs when harry is casually looking at the barn.
"This is my, uh, friend, John. He's the one getting the cake. He ordered it special, didn't you Johnny?" Ron states and Harry nods vigorously.
"Well, thats odd. Where's your car?" Mary asks and Ron answers immediately.
"We don't like cars, not very good for the environment and all. We road bicycles. Parked em in the corn field, we-we thought they'd be safe in there." Ron lies and mary nods nervously. She opens the barn and leads us to the back. There are 5 goats; a white with black spots, a black one, a black one with brown flecks, and 2 brown ones.
"Which one would you like the milk from? Betsy, olive, George, Mandy or Mindy?" She asks and Harry points to one of the brown ones.
"Ah, Mandy. She makes the best milk." Mary says and kneels down with a bucket underneath the brown goat named Mandy. She starts milking Mandy, who seems oblivious to her utters being squeezed. It takes about 20 minutes for the a whole quart of Goats milk, but it will be worth it.
"So where were you originally from? New York? You have a new york accent." Mary asks while milking.
"Me and Rob are but Ha-John over there is from south dakota." Lavender says to the farmer.
"Huh. Well, let me get this packaged for you and all. I will be expecting some money. She says and the 3 bite there lips nervously.
"Thank you how much, about $5?" Harry says as he reaches for his empty back pocket.
"Yes I think that will suffice." Mary says as she walks to her house. When the door slams closed the group turn to each other.
"What are you talking about harry? You don't have any money!" Lavender says and Harry shakes his head.
"Okay, when you go in to get the milk, right now, ask to use the bathroom, then apparate back to the holiday inn and find the spare cash we stowed in the luggage. when she is waiting for you to return to from the restroom we'll casually chat with her. Go!" Harry says and lavender runs to the house.
"Oh! May I come in the boys told me to give you the money." Lavender exclaims.
"Alright. But why don't the boys com in too. Robert! John! You can come in." She says and they make there way to the farmhouse. They stand in the kitchen awkwardly for a moment and Lavender gets a funny face.
"Uhm, may I use your bathroom?" Lavender asks and mary nods. Lavender dashes in and apparates to the hotel. She rummages in the bags but cant find the cash anywhere.
"Merlin where is it! Accio money!" She says and the bag flies at grabs it before it hits her gut and kisses it and apparates back. She arrives in the bathroom but loses her balance and the door is pushed open when she falls.
"I'm fine! Really I am!" She says and adjusts her skirt. She opens the bag and takes out a five us dollar bill and hands it to her.
'Thank you for the milk. We must be heading off!" Lavender says and grabs Ron's hand and walks out the door. They all walk silently to the corn field. They clasp hands and apparate back to NYC.
"Well, that was easy!" Lavender says and they pack there things quickly and check out of the cheap hotel. They find an abandoned shop and apparate back to the cabin in the woods.
"GINNY WE GOT IT! WE GOT THE MILK!" Harry, Ron, and Lavender yell at the top of there tromp up the stares to Hermione's room and find Draco awake and Ginny chatting with him.
"WE GOT THE GOATS MILK!" They say again loudly once more.
"Say it a little louder next time, thank you." Draco says sarcastically. He stands up and up and takes the glass jar from the eased group and sets it on the dresser.
"Now we need Hermione awake. Any ideas?" He says to the room.
"Last time she woke up to the smell of her mother's cookies. Maybe we could make pancakes? Or sing one of her childhood songs to her?" Ginny says and everyone nods in agreement.
"Good idea. Ginny, why don't you make the potion and we can ask Mrs. Granger to make something and sing." Draco says to Ginny and the group. They walk to The spare room and see Mrs. Granger sitting on the sofa.
"You want me to sing a song to hermione?" She says and the group nod. "I may have been eavesdropping, but I have several songs in mind." She says and the wizards sit down to listen.
When I saw her, picking a daisy,
I saw her, as I was from a time, not so long ago,
When she napped, she napped like a cat, oh so lazy.
It's so awful to watch your lovely children to grow,
Because you know,
That they become distant from you.
They grow old and have babies just like yourself,
But when you hear the children laugh,
It makes you smile, remembering that time not so long ago.
She finishes, but frowns slowly, knowing it didn't work. She turns her attention to the window and everyone knows she is done, and that they should exit quietly. They walk away, to the sitting, to the kitchen, but Draco is the only one who goes to hermione. He sits on the bed and looks at her and feels a tear slip down his cheek, but doesn't realize the tear dropped onto hermione's face. He closes his eyes when he sees how vacant an expression she has. He doesn't notice her eyes flutter open, looking up at his melancholy expression. She silently reaches her hand up to stroke his face, but falters when she finds her enormous baby bump. Is it supposed to be this big? She rubs it slowly and feels the fetus kick her hand she jumps at that. She rubs her belly again and feels lots of movement in her. She cant help but laugh as the sensation tickles somewhat. She covers her mouth when she does but its too late, and Draco's eyes snap open. He looks into her dark brown eyes and smiles so wide. He leans down and hugs her so tight.
"Alright Draco, Baby is a bit uncomfortable." she says but he doesn't let go.
"Oh god, I haven't spoken to you in so long. I love you so much. I am so sorry. I love you." He says and kisses her over and over again until hermione keeps kissing him and kissing him too.
"I love you, Draco. Please never let me leave you again." She says and she attempts to sit up but fails, ad Draco picks her up. "Draco, you will throw out your back! I am enormous now!" She protests and gives up when Draco starts carrying her downstairs. Chaos breaks out when they all see hermione awake and happy. Hugging and crying starts too, but people are forced to stop when Hermione's mother runs down the stairs. Draco puts hermione down, but she has to get her footing because she hasn't supported this much weight ever. She embraces her mother and holds on tightly.
"Never do that again! You hear! I'll have to punish you if you do!" her mother says and finally lets go. Everyone just stares at Hermione for a while, then hermione interjects.
"I am starved! Can someone make me pizza?"