At some point her mother must have remembered her other children existed and were worth her attention, because Hermione choose that evening to present the twins to the rest of the family.
Nicholas and Amara. More siblings to steal the attention she so desperately desired.
Rose wasn't impressed by the babies. She thought her sisters distinctive features were hideous, and her brothers unseeing eyes equally as unappealing. She had no time for them. While her brothers and sister cooed over them, she slipped away, oblivious to the reproachful look her stepfather shot her as she left.
Once back in her room she locked the door and stripped out of her clothes until she was left in only a singlet and underwear.
She stood in front of her full length mirror and pinched the taught skin across her abdomen in disgust. Where anyone else would see a horrifying amount of bones protruding under her pale skin, Rose saw fat. Her cheekbones were sharper and her skin looked almost grey, she looked years older. Her usually bright eyes looked dull, and her flaming hair was lank and broke easily.
Most horrifying was that along her back, stomach and arm, her usually fine hairs had grown long and wispy. At first she had been tweezing them out, but now she just hide them along with her body behind baggy clothes. It was frustrating for her to feel so ugly. But there no way she could feel pretty until she was looking at her reflection in Draco Malfoys loving silver eyes.
Hot tears slipped out from under her eyelids as she looked at the pictures taped to the top of her mirror.
Photos of Pansy Parkinson, Astoria Greengrass, and her mother, Hermione Granger, all taken when they were around Roses age, were plastered across her vision.
She had to be prettier than them. She had to be thinner. These women, except thus far her fat mother, hadn't been able to keep Draco's attention long. And she was going to be with him forever. Until they died in each other's arms. And so she had to be better than them. Better than all of them.
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Hermione went to bed with mixed emotions that night. On the one hand, she was pleased to have named their twins, they felt like part of the family now, and to have introduced them to the rest of her brood.
Their love and adoration had been a wave of peace for her. But a number of things had immediately concerned her. With a clearer head, she had noticed some troubling things about her kids.
Hugo had several partially healed bruises, and was almost completely silent. This meant he was still being bullied, which made Hermione's stomach curl with anger, and magic electrify her fingertips as she imagined people hurting her son.
And, she had been shocked to her core when she saw her oldest daughter. Rose looked like she'd aged years, in months. She was unbearably thin as well. She looked dull, and she hadn't started any kind of trouble since she'd been home. She'd just been hiding in her room.
It was a very real worry, that her daughter was anorexic. But how was she supposed to help, when just looking at Rose could earn you a tantrum the size of England?
Not to mention she worried about how much was on Scorpius's shoulders right now.
And she just felt so tired. There was so much she needed to do, wanted to do, but the twins were her main occupation, as they were in constant need of attention. That's the things about babies.
Amara, especially, was difficult to comfort, as she seemed to dislike both being touched, and being put down. The only reason she was currently asleep was because she had exhausted herself into slumber.
So, despite her best efforts Hermione barely got to see her older children that day and when she finally collapsed into bed, she was alone.
Her husband was still running around the house, corralling the children, and dealing with all the things she ought to be doing. But despite her guilt, her eye lids felt like lead and they were essentially closing against her will as she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.
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Two days later Draco was standing at Kings Cross Station, bidding his older children farewell, their return to Hogwarts imminent. Julius was geared up with headphones, his iPod and scary looking book, and distractedly said goodbye to his father before boarding the train.
Draco hugged Hugo fiercely, and reminded him not to suffer any bullying in silence. Hugo shrugged him off though, less approachable than usual, and muttered his goodbye.
To his surprise Rose came up to him, her lank hair pulled up into a ponytail that only enhanced the newfound sharpness in her face. Somewhat impulsively she grabbed his arms and planted a brief kiss on his cheek.
"Good bye." She whispered and darted away, boarding before Draco could properly react. He stared after her on confusion, his hand going to his cheek as he wondered what on earth this new step in their relationship meant.
Last time she had actually spoken to him, she had been screaming about how much she hated him.
"That was weird." Scorpius hiked his backpack over his shoulder and gave his father a pointed look.
"Weird is just the beginning of it." Draco muttered before shaking it off and offering his oldest son a smile. "Say hi to Teddy for your mother and me." He said and pulled the boy into a hug.
"I will." Scorpius hugged his dad back before saying goodbye and getting on the train.
Half his kids successfully on the train, Draco left platform 9 and 3 Quarters, and went to pick up the rest from his parents' house.
Draco yawned as he buckled Thomas into his car seat, and pulled a blanket over his drowsing son. It was only evening but he felt like it was midnight. He tuned out as he hustled the talkative Ariana into the middle seat, and then buckled Jeffrey into his booster seat. The latter child had about 18 soft toys to pile in after him, because he took them everywhere, and he cried until Draco located the correct green dragon (of three almost-exactly-the-same green dragons) and gave it to him to hold.
He closed the door after them and turned to him mother who was waiting beside him, her arms full of home cooked food.
Narcissa had grown quite maternal since the war. It was hard not to when you had a brood of adorable grandchildren.
Draco accepted the food gratefully and stashed it in the trunk of the car, stifling another yawn as Narcissa looked at him with concern.
"Look after yourself, won't you son?" She ordered softly as she pulled him into a hug.
Draco held the hug as long as he thought he could get away with. It was so comforting to have her reassuring arms around him. But he could hear his children getting restless in the car so he broke it off and offered her a tired smile.
"I'll try. Thanks for everything."
Once he'd settled the children again he climbed behind the wheel and pulled out of his parent's driveway.
"I'm hungry." Ariana piped up, almost as soon as they had left.
"We'll have dinner soon." Draco assured her glancing at her face in the rear view mirror as he stopped at a red light.
"Can we please have chicken nuggets daddy?" She followed up from the backseat, putting on her most convincing smile as she caught his eye in the mirror.
Draco thought about waiting for his mother food to reheat, and then doing dishes and then washing all the kids, and then putting them all to bed. Fuck it. Cut out some of the jobs.
"Let's go get chicken nuggets Ari." He agreed, putting the car in gear and pulling forward.
His decision was met with a chorus of cheers, and extended too much excited chortling and gurgling until they reached their local takeout.
Draco set all the kids up to eat on the way home, even taking a longer route than usual, and enjoyed some chicken nuggets of his own. And fries. And soft drink. And some of Thomas's fries.
Once the kids had downed their nuggets, chips, and juice, Draco drove them home and hustled them all, and the food from his other inside. He put the latter items in the refrigerator and ran a bath upstairs for the children. He plunked the lot of them in it, and scrubbed them all as quickly as they'd allow. He left the older two to play in the bubbles as he dried and dressed little Thomas. Thankfully the toddler was tired out and went down to sleep easily.
Then he went and got the other two out, wrapping each one in a fluffy white towel and sending them to their bedrooms under strict orders to put on their pjs.
Draco let out the bathwater and mopped up the excess water from their playful splashing with a towel, and gathered that and all of their clothes and headed downstairs to the laundry. Yawning yet again, he loaded everything into the washing machine, and stripped his own clothes, down to nothing, and put them in the washer as well. He added the detergent and turned on the washer with a simultaneous yawn and stretch.
He grabbed himself a clean pair of pyjama pants from the dryer, stopping to sniff his armpit, checking to see if he could get away with going to bed without showering, and decided he could. He pulled the pants on, and went to lock the front door, and turned all the lights off downstairs.
With a groan he climbed the stairs again and went to check on Ariana and Jeffrey. He found them both in the younger boy's room. Ariana had put on her favourite pyjamas, a pair that were camouflage patterned, and was holding her favourite stuffed animal, a purple tyrannosaurus-rex she'd named Gladys, and she helped her brother into his pink and white unicorn onesie.
"You guys ready for bed?" He asked hopefully, but Jeffrey shook his head stubbornly.
"Want to sleep with mummy." He said, matter of fact, as he toddled over and held onto Draco's leg.
"Ooh me too, pleeeeeease." Ariana chimed in, who was old enough to do as she was told, but was hoping to use her younger brother as leverage to get to sleep with their parents tonight.
Draco, too tired to argue, just sighed and picked Jeffrey up, the child warm against his bare side as he nodded his head.
"You guys can sleep with us, but only if you don't make a peep. We can't wake up your little brother and sister okay?" Draco instructed as he flicked off the bedroom light and Ariana followed him down the hallway.
"Promise." Both children replied in unison, both too pleased to disagree.
Draco accepted this and opened his bedroom door. Hermione's bedside lamp was on, a low setting, so a dim light was cast across the room. Hermione herself was in bed, lying on her back, Amara fast asleep on her naked chest, nestled between her breasts, and Nicholas asleep against her side, her arm wrapped around him protectively. Both babies were wearing matching soft mint onesies and looked beyond adorable.
Hermione had been dozing lightly, but opened her eyes as Ariana climbed onto the bed. Hermione gave her soft smile and mouthed a hello. She looked up at Draco, who shrugged an apology before following Ariana into the bed.
At his wife's quiet request Draco eased Nicholas from his position beside her, and returned the warm bundle to his own bassinet. The baby gurgled quietly but remained asleep, and Draco finally got into bed. They did have a very large bed, and both parents were quite used to having children join them in it, and they fit quite comfortably as they all snuggled down under the covers.
Draco looked as his wife over the heads of two of his children, reaching a hand over them, to hold hers, and gave her a soft smile.
Hermione squeezed his hand gently and held it to her, resting it just above her bandages.
"I love you." She mouthed silently at him, which he returned, followed by an air blown kiss.
Hermione smiled and closed her eyes, content with family beside her, her baby atop her, and her love's hand warm against her belly as she drifted to sleep.
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The Malfoy/Granger/Weasley children arrived late at Hogwarts. They were ushered by their head of houses to their dorms and all, bar one immediately went to their beds.
Scorpius waited until he was confident the tutors would be back in their beds, and snuck out of his bunk. Dressed warmly, in a hoodie, coat, and beanie, he crept along the corridors, and slipped out one of the side doors frequented by the cleaning staff. He ran down Hogwarts sprawling grounds until he reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. There, after a quick search he found the hidden path, and followed it quickly, his breath coming out in huge clouds of white in front of him, the air cold against his face.
Snow crunched under his feet as he reach the tree. It was marked, quite succinctly by his own initials, along with those of his lover, inside a badly chiselled heart.
Scorpius climbed the tree quickly, swearing at the effort, eventually reaching the tree house hidden amongst its leafy branches with relief. He pushed open the trapdoor and climbed inside the little room built into the tree.
His heart swelled with relief, love and excitement as he saw Teddy's tall figure curled up in a pile of blankets on the mattress, his wand sitting loose in his hand, the end lit up to light the cabin. His shock of blue hair looked ethereal in the white light, and his angular, beautiful features were captivating, despite the light snores escaping him as he slept.
Overcome with emotional exhaustion Scorpius dropped to his knees and crawled under the blankets beside his boyfriend. The taller boy stirred as Scorpius settled in beside him, pressing close to his body warmth.
"Hey baby." Teddy murmured, still half asleep as a he felt Scorpius's familiar form against him. He wrapped an arm around his boyfriend and nuzzled his face into his chest. "I missed you."