Chapter Twelve
A Day Ending in Sleep
Hermione looked at Draco suspiciously. What could he have to tell her? He looked so serious, so she thought it probably wasn't good news like the kind she had for him. She turned her body towards his to mimic his movement. "Should I be nervous?" She had a nagging feeling deep down that he was going to tell her he wanted a divorce so he could marry Pansy. Although she knew that wasn't the case, the thought popped into her mind uninvited.
"No, I don't think so."
"What is it then?" Hermione was not in the mood for beating around the bush. She couldn't help but be just a little nervous even though he told her it wasn't necessary. The way things had been going lately, she was uncharacteristically nervous when it came to conversations with Draco. She loved him more than she had ever loved anything or anyone before him. She knew she couldn't lose him forever, so she willingly gave him a chance.
Draco decided to cut right to the chase as well. "Well, when I say I didn't cheat on you, I wasn't lying, Hermione."
Hermione looked like she didn't believe him. "How am I supposed to believe you? Of course you're going to say you didn't cheat on me. What kind of man wants to admit to his wife that he cheated on her?"
"I'm serious, Hermione…"
"I'm sure you are, Draco. That doesn't mean I believe you."
"Would you stop that?! Please just listen to me! You always think you're right!"
Hermione gave him the stare of death and put her wine down just so that she could cross her arms.
"Okay, I'm sorry," Draco put his wine down as well. "You're right, yelling at you was not the smartest move to make right at that moment…" he hesitated and said under his breath, "…but it's still true."
"Fine," Hermione conceded, "I guess you're right…what is it that you have to say?"
Draco wasn't exactly planning on telling her everything he knew. He was just going to tell her enough to get back into her good graces. The fact that her life was in jeopardy still hadn't changed, so he knew he couldn't tell her exactly what was going on, especially not right down to the hair Ron took from her, to be used for the Polyjuice Potion.
"Just let me start by saying that everything that's being done is for your own good. I love you, and this is all about keeping you safe. And now, that job just became three times as important, what with the twins on the way."
Hermione nodded her understanding, but her lips remained in a thin line (similar to Professor McGonagall's when she was mad, Draco thought. It must be the Gryffindor in them both).
Draco carefully continued. "There is a secret…that I can't divulge completely. I'll just say, it involves my father and his continued prejudice against Muggle-borns."
"But, Lucius is in prison…" Hermione said, more to herself than to Draco.
"I know. Listen, I can't say much more, but you're smart, and you may figure out the obvious stuff on your own. However, their plan is very detailed, and there's a lot that I can't say."
Once more, Hermione nodded. "I have some more questions."
"I'll answer whatever I can."
"Who else knows about this?"
"Most of the Order and the Aurors."
"Harry? Ginny? Ron?" Hermione felt a little betrayed by her friends.
Draco knew exactly what Hermione must have been feeling as he nodded yes to all three inquiries. He knew she was feeling betrayed by her friends, wondering how they could have let her believe that her husband was cheating on her.
"Everyone else, too? Mr. and Mrs. Weasley? Kingsley?"
"All of them, Hermione, Addison too. We've been trying to keep you safe."
Hermione felt like she wanted to cry, but she knew she couldn't. Draco sensed her unease, and was glad she didn't object when he put his arm around her shoulder. In fact, she leaned into him and rested her head on his chest.
"You can't tell me any more than that?"
"Not really, sorry." Draco reached a hand up to stroke the back of her head. "You understand, though, don't you?"
"I suppose I do. I think I've already figured out that Lucius is trying to escape from Azkaban. I've got a feeling that he's forcing you to help by blackmailing you with my life."
"See? I told you you're smart."
"Are you saying I'm right?" Hermione asked, putting her hand next to her head so it was resting right in between his muscular pecs (which she realized that she really missed touching as soon as her hand landed on his chest).
He let out the smallest of laughs. One could call it a "one-syllable laugh." "You know I can't tell you that, but you are very smart." He looked down at her, and as she looked up, he winked.
Hermione smiled, assured that she was on the right track. "I don't suppose you would tell me what would happen if I figured out the plan."
"Well, they don't have any proof that you do or don't know already. But, if you try to stop them, I'm sure that would be a dead giveaway, no pun intended."
"So, I won't do anything." She sat up a little straighter, but Draco's arm remained around her shoulders. She lifted her right hand and put it on his left cheek. "I trust you…and Harry, and Ron."
"No one will let anything happen to you, Mione. We're close to figuring out a plan…we're very close."
Hermione nodded. "I won't even try to help. Normally I would, but needless to say, we have to worry about the babies now."
"I knew you'd see reason. I love you, Hermione." He put one hand in her hair. He couldn't describe the feeling of having her back in his arms again. Without her in his arms, especially when he was mad, it was like he was peanut butter and jelly with out the peanut butter. He was the Oreo without the cream. He was a baseball without the seam…he couldn't be held together. He was like a present without the pretty wrapping paper.
Hermione moved closer to him, looking him directly in the eyes, so that their noses were almost touching, and she could feel his warm breath on her lips that missed his touch. "I love you, too." She made the final movement all in one, putting her left hand behind his neck and coming in to kiss his lips.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I wasn't sure how we were going to solve it, but we're getting closer now."
Hermione simply nodded and brought her mouth to his again.
Draco was the happiest he had felt in a long time, since before he saw Pansy in Hogsmeade that day. He continued kissing Hermione, and when she finally allowed him to part her lips, he was in heaven.
Hermione was feeling a little apprehensive about kissing Draco again. She had that nagging feeling that she was only human to feel, that she was forgiving him too soon. At the same time, she knew deep down that it was the right decision to make. She was thinking all this while keeping her lips closed as he kissed her. But, when she let herself believe that she could trust him was when she granted him deeper access to her mouth.
They stopped kissing and Hermione once again rested her head on Draco's chest.
"This feels so right, Hermione. This house has been so empty without you."
Hermione didn't respond. Draco looked down and saw that she was sleeping. "Poor thing," he whispered to himself. He wondered if she was exhausted from her pregnancy, or if he just bored her to sleep. He truly hoped it was the former.
He really didn't want to wake her, so he was about to stand up to carry her to bed. Suddenly the thought crossed his mind that maybe she didn't want to stay, no matter how well things had been going that night.
After debating with himself, he settled on the idea of waking her. Trying to do it as gently as possible, he kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back softly. She stirred and looked up at him.
"Did I fall asleep?" she asked quietly.
"You did, but that's all right." He smiled softly at her. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to stay here."
Hermione nodded and kissed him softly. "I want to."
"I was hoping you'd say that." Draco stroked her arm up and down.
She looked up at him again and asked, "Er, Draco, do you think we could go…together…to Ron's tomorrow and collect my things?"
This time, Draco didn't smirk, and he didn't even grin softly. He smiled from ear to ear. "I think you know the answer to that." Again, he kissed her: not as roughly as before, but with enough passion to prove how happy he was that she asked.
"Do you think I'll find out eventually what's exactly going on?"
"Definitely. Once we're sure that there's no one who can hurt you, we'll tell you everything down to the Lacewing Flies and Boomslang Skin." He winked at her to let her know he was dropping a hint. He didn't want to tell her completely, just enough to prove that he could be trusted. It appeared to have worked.
When Hermione saw him wink, she knew that this big secret must involve Polyjuice Potion in some way. That hint, however, didn't give away any information of real value. "Hmm, well, ready for bed?" she asked.
"You bet. I think we've both had a long day…in a very good way," Draco answered. "Come on." He stood up and reached for her hand, which she took gracefully in hers. Draco looked at her face in the dying firelight and noticed the way she was glowing. He decided that it was true what they said, that women really do glow when they're expecting. Her cheeks seemed fuller and had a slightly rosier color to them, and she just emitted this shine that the average woman just didn't have. He may have been biased, but that didn't make the fact that she looked beautiful any less true. Even her hair seemed to shine more than usual.
The newly reunited couple walked hand in hand up the main staircase from the foyer and took a left on the landing, down the hall to their bedroom. Draco respectfully used that moment to go to the bathroom so she could change into her pajamas.
When Draco came back, merely to give her a kiss goodnight, she was already under the sheets and thick down comforter that they had bought together in early December. He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. "Goodnight, beautiful," he whispered, almost inaudibly to someone who was awake. Therefore, the asleep Hermione before him didn't hear a word. Draco kissed the side of her head near her temple.
Bravely, he decided he had two more people to say goodnight to. He lifted back the covers very slowly. Before he bent down, he looked up at Hermione to see if she was still sleeping. He decided she was, and proceeded. He bent down and kissed her stomach. "Goodnight to you both as well," he whispered again.
When Hermione felt Draco bend down, she thought it might be safe to open her eyes. She heard him whisper goodnight to the twins and closed her eyes again thinking that was the sweetest thing she had ever heard.
Draco stood up and looked down at Hermione again. She was still fast asleep (or so he thought). He walked back toward the door, and just when he put his hand on the doorknob, he heard Hermione say quietly, "Stay." So, he did.
He walked to the other side of the bed and sat down. She rolled over to face in his direction and he said, "Are you sure?"
Hermione nodded and said, "Just to sleep, you know."
Draco laughed lightly, "I know." He stood up to remove his shoes, socks, slacks, and button-up shirt. When only his boxers remained, he pulled back the covers and climbed underneath. Hermione snuggled up to him and he put both arms around her as she nuzzled her face between his neck and shoulder. "I love you, Princess."
"I love you." Hermione closed her eyes and relaxed against her husband. "I'm so happy to be home."
"I'm so glad to have taken you back from Weaselbee."
Hermione laughed against his chest. "I'm sure you are." With that one last light-hearted joke, they were both enough at ease to drift off to sleep rather quickly.
"So?" Harry asked Ginny as he sat at the kitchen table while Ginny made a pot of tea.
"So what?"
"How did Hermione's appointment go?"
"Oh, well she's pregnant all right!" Ginny said. She was going to milk out this information as long as possible. She was smiling to herself as she filled the pot with water.
"Great! So…did she say anything in particular?" Harry eyed Ginny warily.
Ginny turned around as she continued to point the wand at the pot of water, heating it. "About what?"
"Is she telling Malfoy?"
"You shouldn't call him that anymore unless it's to his face. How am I supposed to know if you're talking about Draco or Hermione. You seem to let yourself forget, Harry, that Hermione's a Malfoy."
"Yeah, yeah," Harry rolled his eyes playfully.
"Anyway, she should be there right now."
Harry looked very interested in this information. "Really?" he asked emphatically.
"Oh, yeah," Ginny replied, turning to face the water again.
"Voluntarily?" The last time Harry saw Hermione, she was still incredibly angry with her husband.
"Voluntarily," Ginny confirmed. She was still turned away from Harry, so now he couldn't see the smile growing on her face. "She felt twice," Ginny accented the last word, "as compelled to tell him about being pregnant after the information she received today."
"Gin, come on. What's going on?"
Ginny turned back around with the cup of tea she had just poured for Harry and set it in front of him, sitting at the spot next to him. Harry could now see the huge grin on her face.
"She's having twins!" Ginny burst out.
"Twins?! What?? How??" Harry nearly shouted as he slammed down his cup, spilling the tea a little.
Ginny laughed. "Sheesh, Harry, I'll bet even Draco reacted more calmly and he's the father!"
"Sorry," Harry smiled. "But I don't get it. There are no other twins in her family. Are there?"
"I don't think so, but Healer Jenkins said that when two wizards who are one another's only true love conceive a child, they're more likely to end up with twins."
"That doesn't make sense…we're not having twins…are we?"
Ginny took Harry's hand, which was resting next to his cup on the table. "Just because we're not having twins doesn't mean we're not each other's only true love, Harry. We can't have twins every time I get pregnant. Maybe next time!" she winked at him.
"Yeah, next time," Harry smiled.
"Who knows? Maybe Hermione will have just one next time if they have another baby."
"Could be," Harry said.
Ginny noticed the far-off look on her husband's face. "What's wrong, Harry?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking about the Malfoys," he laughed. "That still sounds weird, especially saying that I was thinking about them in a way that doesn't involve strangling the male one."
"The male one?" Ginny raised an eyebrow at Harry.
"I dunno, Gin!" Harry laughed. "I still can't call him 'Draco'." Harry feigned a shiver. "It's too formal."
Ginny threw back her head and laughed. "That's ridiculous, Harry!"
"Is it? Think about it for a minute. Just say the name Draco aloud."
"Draco…" Ginny tested. "I guess it is kind of a fancy name, but why can't you say it?"
"I guess back in school I never called him that, and it just seems wrong to call him anything other than Malfoy."
Ginny stared at Harry for a second the way someone stares when they're studying something very intently, as if trying to figure out its meaning.
"What?" Harry asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I'm just trying to figure you out, Potter. Besides, Draco still calls you 'Potter' all the time, and he calls Ron 'Weasley.' It must be a guy thing. That's the only explanation I can think of that makes any sense.
"It must be!" Harry conceded. "I'm going to tell you a well-guarded secret." He wiggled his forefinger for her to move closer.
"Why do I have to move closer?" Ginny asked. "There's no one else here to hear the secret."
Harry rolled his eyes. "For effect, Gin!"
"Oh, right, sorry!" Ginny said sarcastically. She obliged and leaned closer.
"You see, men have this secret language. It's sort of, er, macho. We think that if we call each other by our last names, we're not vulnerable to feel any emotion when speaking to the other."
Ginny stared at Harry before nearly rolling off of her seat in laughter. "You've…gasp…got….gasp…to…be…kidding!" Ginny said, half laughing, half stuttering out the sentence.
"Nope, not kidding!" Harry sat back in the chair, satisfied that with that answer, she would leave him alone.
He was wrong. "So, because you call me Ginny, that opens you up to being hurt by me? Same with Hermione and Ron?"
Harry nodded.
"Well, what do you think Malfoy's going to do? Call you fat…which would only hurt if you allowed yourself to call him Draco?"
"I dunno!" Harry said defensively. "He could!"
"I really doubt that, Harry. And I'll bet he's afraid that if he calls you 'Harry' that you'll turn around and tell him…I dunno…that he's just like his father : a comment that would scar him for life."
"Exactly!"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I quit!" she laughed. She picked up both empty teacups and put them in the sink.
Without a word to Harry, she walked into the living room and pointed her wand at the fireplace where a roaring fire suddenly appeared. She unfolded a blanket from the back of the couch and indicated that Harry sit down next to her.
Harry had been watching her from the doorway with amusement. He liked when he was able to confuse her, for she wasn't easily perturbed.
At her indication, Harry walked over to the couch and sat next to her, and she curled up next to him, drawing his arm around her shoulders. Harry covered them both with the blanket. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes. Even though he couldn't see her face, he knew she did the same. It was one of those weird "soul mate" things. They could feel the other's feelings and finish their sentences. It was a universal trait for Muggles and wizards alike.
"What're you thinking Firecracker?" Harry asked his beloved red-head.
"Just random thoughts about the future," she answered. "What about you, Scarhead?" she joked.
"Hey now, that name is reserved for my very best friend, Draco Malfoy. Please don't take away his special name for me!" Harry said in a jokingly serious voice.
"You joke about that all you want, Boy Who Lived Twice, but you know there's a little truth in the best friend part."
"Eh, probably a little."
"Harry, please. Aside from Hermione and Ron…"
"…and you…" Harry added.
"…and me, he really is probably one of your best friends. You were his best man, Harry."
"He did that for Hermione."
"Who are you kidding? You saved his life twice in the same night, and he really has come around to the good side. I really think he actually uses you as a 'goodness' role model if you will. You once told me about something Sirius said to you, how there's good and bad in everyone, some more bad than good, which meant Voldemort (who was all bad I guess) and Death Eaters."
"I remember. That was our last real conversation before he died."
"Well, Draco was one of those who has just as much good as bad, if not more good than bad. His father just brought out the worst in him, and he didn't have any choice but to follow."
"I know. I'm not saying I still think he's bad or anything, it's just I don't know if I would call him a best friend," Harry defended himself.
"Did I mention his mum saved your arse?"
"Fine, Gin, he's a very, very good friend. Can we leave it at that?"
"Sure." Ginny smiled to herself knowing she triumphed yet again. "I always win," she said ever so quietly.
"You tell yourself that, Gin. I'll win one day." With that, they both drifted off to sleep on the couch.
