A/N: Wrote this ages and ages ago, decided I wanted a complete rewrite but changed my mind. Final chapter, enjoy.
PS: You get to find out where Halen's name came from. :)
Three years later…
"Shouldn't you be in bed? Resting?"
"Halen, tell your father to stop coddling me."
Draco shook his head. "You can barely waddle down the hallway and you want to come downstairs to make yourself some weird concoction?"
Hermione shot daggers at him. Halen was grinning. "Dad, I really think you'd better knock it off."
"Halen, remind your father that if he doesn't leave me alone, he's going to find himself missing a few appendages," said Hermione sourly.
"I'll be in the living room," said Halen, still grinning. "I'm not allowed to use magic here yet, not even to protect my father."
He left, and Draco crossed the kitchen to reach Hermione. She was munching a sandwich, determinedly ignoring him. He wrapped an arm around her, and took it as a good sign that she didn't throw it off. She had been amazingly grumpy for the past few months, and the larger she got the grumpier she got. Sometimes, she broke into tears for no reason at all while at others, she broke something into the traditional million pieces. On occasion, the 'something' was extended into trashing an entire room. Draco had set aside a room mainly filled with assorted rubber ducks for her when she was in one of those moods.
"Relax, love," he said soothingly. "I'm just worried about you and the baby, that's all."
She grunted.
Draco slid his hand down to rest on her huge belly. "It's kicking again," he marvelled.
"Hah! Like I wouldn't know," she groused. "You'd better appreciate what I'm going through, mister."
He kissed her on her cheek. "Of course I do."
Hermione sighed. "I just feel so fat and helpless – I'd forgotten how pregnancy was like. And look at this!" She held out her arm and poked it. "It jiggles."
"How terrible," said Draco, appropriately outraged. "I'll curse the abomination off, then, shall I?"
"Don't you dare!"
He laughed. "I love you, Hermione. Jiggly parts and all."
Hermione sighed again. "I know." She leant back against him and he nuzzled her neck. "I think we need to talk to Halen," she murmured.
"Halen? Why, what's the matter?"
"I don't know, just that… well, he's been an only child for so long, he might feel insecure about suddenly having another child in the family. Ginny suggested we have a heart-to-heart with him."
"I see," said Draco slowly. "I hadn't thought of it. Sibling rivalry and all that."
"Wouldn't have thought you knew anything about sibling rivalry, seeing as you're an only child," remarked Hermione.
"You're a fine one to talk."
She gifted him with the obligatory evil eye.
Later, they both walked out to the living room – empty of any living creature. Hermione heaved a sigh. "He's playing Quidditch outside again, isn't he?"
"Practising," Draco corrected. "You can't play Quidditch by yourself. I thought even you would know that."
Dignity demanded that she ignore his last comment. "Why does he keep practising Quidditch all the time? Oh, I'd forgotten Lily was coming over," she said as she caught a glimpse through a window of a flash of red hair zooming through the air. "She's here, he ought to do something that she enjoys."
"She enjoys flying, doesn't she?"
"But it seems like that's all he does, especially when she's around."
"Uh huh."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. Draco closed it gently with his forefinger. "She's going to be quite a looker, you know," he said casually.
"I never thought of that… they're so young, for goodness' sake…"
"It's a male thing, showing off in front of girls," Draco said seriously. "You wouldn't understand."
Hermione shook her head a bit helplessly. "Call him in, won't you? We might as well talk now. Tell Lily to hang around outside for a bit."
Halen came in a few minutes later, cheeks pink with exertion. "Something wrong?"
"Sit down, sweetie," Hermione said.
Halen sat down on the sofa from across his parents, looking wary. "Did I do something?"
"No, not at all," answered his father.
"You know that we love you, don't you?" said Hermione.
"Uh-huh," said Halen, one eyebrow raised.
"And there's no need for you to feel that we'll love you less after the baby's born," continued Draco.
Halen glanced between them and laughed.
"What's so funny?" Draco asked.
"You are," answered Halen. "I'm fine with the baby, Dad. Really. You don't have to worry that I'll, I don't know, smother it or something."
"You sure?" asked Hermione, looking sceptical. "I don't want you repressing your feelings. It's not healthy. It's perfectly okay to feel jealous over the baby, you know."
Halen adopted a mournful look. "Actually, now that you mention it…"
"Yes?" said Hermione encouragingly.
"I might be feeling a little depressed, now that I won't be getting as much attention."
For some reason, there was something gleaming in Halen's eye that made Draco uneasy.
"Oh, sweetie, like we said, there's absolutely no need for you to feel threatened – "
"And," said Halen, interrupting his mother, now unable to hide a grin, "I might need something to help me feel better."
"And that something would be?" Draco asked suspiciously.
"I heard that there's a new Nimbus out last month," said Halen casually. "I think it would help me feel a lot better."
Draco groaned.
"It might be expensive, but that would really show that you love me enough to spend that much Galleons on me, don't you think?"
"You smart, cheeky little…"
"Sly and manipulative, I was thinking," said Hermione.
They both turned to each other and said simultaneously, "He's your son."
Halen laughed and laughed.
Sometime after midnight, Hermione's screams had stopped. Ron, Harry and Halen were waiting in the corridor outside the room with bated breath. A baby's wail split the air and they relaxed.
A few minutes later, Draco came out, looking paler than usual. Halen ran towards him. "Dad! How's Mum? How's the baby? Is it a girl or a boy?"
"Fine, fine, girl," said Draco a trifle shakily.
"You're the one that's not fine, I see," said Harry, grinning. "I know exactly what you need." He pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky and conjured up three glasses. "Congratulations, by the way."
"Listen, Dad, can I go in now?" asked Halen impatiently. "Can I?"
"Go ahead. Don't yell or anything, your mother's worn out," said Draco.
"Yeah, I know," called Halen over his shoulder, already at the door. As the door swung shut behind him, another lusty wail drifted through the air.
"Good, strong lungs," commented Ron, wincing slightly.
"Yeah. Just like Hermione," said Draco, taking a gulp. "Merlin, I never actually realised how awful giving birth is." He looked down at his hand. Hermione's fingermarks were all over it, and it was obvious that there would be some bruises there soon.
"No kidding," Ron said sympathetically. "You should have heard Lavender. She was threatening to hex certain parts off me, parts that I'd really prefer to remain attached. Thankfully, she got over that by the time we had Hugo."
"Yeah, well…" Draco blew out a breath. "I just never realised how bloody giving birth is."
Harry made some sort of indistinct sympathetic noise.
"How awful it is," continued Draco. "How painful it is."
"Don't worry. Hermione will enlighten you soon enough, if Lavender's anything to go by."
Draco stared at the amber liquid in his glass, swirling it absentmindedly. "And she had to go through all of that by herself," he said, almost to himself. "She did go through it by herself."
Both Harry and Ron knew that he was not talking about the events of the past day.
"She had Elvira with her, remember," Harry said lightly.
"Yeah," said Draco moodily.
Harry clapped him on the shoulder. "It's over already, no point stressing about it. Let the past remain in the past."
"Be extra nice to her to make up for it," suggested Ron.
"You take care of your wife, Weasley, and I'll take care of mine," Draco said, but without heat.
"That's the spirit," said Ron. "Are we allowed in now?"
Draco shook his head slightly, clearing his thoughts. "Yeah, I suppose." A slow smile spread across his face. "Come and see my daughter."
The other two followed him into the room to see Ginny taking a well-wrapped bundle from Halen. "There you go, sweetie," she said, smiling at the baby. "You're going to your mum now."
Hermione was pale and sweaty, but she smiled as the baby was placed carefully into her arms. "Who's my darling?" she murmured. "Who's my gorgeous little girl?"
The baby had a head of dark hair. As everyone automatically bent towards her, she opened her eyes – grey eyes – and stared at them solemnly. Then she opened her mouth wide. Everyone instinctively tensed, but she only yawned and closed her eyes again.
"Isn't she sweet?" said Draco proudly.
"I think she looks like you, Hermione, even if she has Draco's eyes," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Bit early to tell, though."
"She's tiny," said Halen, wrinkling his nose. "Like tiny. She's smaller than Crookshanks, even. How long before I can teach her how to play Quidditch?"
The adults laughed.
"What are you going to name her?" asked Ginny.
"We hadn't exactly decided on a name yet," said Hermione. "If she had been a boy, Draco would have pushed for her to be named Scorpius."
"And I told Dad that that was just plain weird," interjected Halen.
"It's traditional," Draco said defensively.
"But like I said, we hadn't decided on a girl's name yet," continued Hermione.
"You mean we hadn't agreed on a girl's name yet," Draco corrected.
"Yeah, whatever," said Hermione. "I want a lovely, perfect name for a lovely, perfect girl."
"How about Daisy?" suggested Ron.
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"Hey, we have Rose, Lily, even Narcissa, come to that," said Ron. "And Harry's aunt is named Petunia, isn't that right, Harry?"
"Yeah, but…"
"I," said Hermione, "am raising a family, Ronald. Not planting a garden."
"Just a suggestion," said Ron, shrugging.
After some time, the others left, leaving Draco, Hermione and Halen alone with the new addition to their family.
"Really, what are we going to name the baby?" asked Halen, as Draco gingerly deposited the baby into Hermione's arms.
"I still can't decide," said Hermione. "But we have a week, I think, before we have to give her a name."
"If we still can't agree on one by then, I'm naming her Dramione," said Draco warningly.
"Don't you dare!" gasped Hermione, actually placing a protective arm over the peacefully sleeping little baby girl. "How can you even think of inflicting such a horrendous name on our innocent little girl?"
"Halen, what do you think?" demanded Draco. "Are you going to let your mum name your sister Elizabeth Angelica Hermione Alecia Gloria something or the other?"
Halen laughed.
"I said one of those names, Draco, not the whole lot," Hermione said crossly. "And I certainly didn't suggest Hermione."
"Well, are you?"
"No way. Sorry, Mum, I'm with Dad on this one. And Dramione is as bad as Scorpius."
"Then what are we going to name her?" asked Hermione in exasperation.
"Something Norwegian," suggested Draco, the corners of his mouth twitching.
Hermione would have thrown a pillow at him, but she was still exhausted. "Draco Malfoy, you know perfectly well why I gave Halen a Norwegian name. I told you I wanted to name him after you, but I didn't want others to know that. It took me ages to find the name, I'll have you know."
"We know, Mum," said Halen patiently. "You've only told us like thirty-five times already."
"Any other suggestions – sensible suggestions?" asked Hermione pointedly.
There was a silence. Then, "How about Melody?"
Draco and Hermione glanced at Halen, then turned to each other. "Melody," repeated Draco slowly.
"Melody," said Hermione thoughtfully. "My beautiful Melody."
The sun was just beginning to rise. The first rays of the dawn shone in through the window and cast a rosy glow on the pale mother cradling her newborn daughter, and the man and boy grouped around them.
"Melody," said Draco again.
"Your big brother named you, Melody," cooed Hermione. "Isn't he clever?"
"Good one, son," said Draco, ruffling Halen's hair. "Pure genius."
Halen fairly glowed with delight.
"Does this mean you'll buy me the new Nimbus?" he asked.
The end.
edit 11/04/15: to the anon who asked what her second name is, I haven't the faintest idea :)