Scorpius jumped on the bed between his parents and when Hermione opened her eyes she saw his grinning face with a confused Draco behind him. She'd have laughed if she wasn't half asleep.
"Scorpius..." she muttered closing her eyes tightly.
"You're still here! That's good news right?!" He rolled on his stomach and kicked his feet on the bed "I fell asleep. Did you know that there's a ghost here?" He nodded looking at his bewildered parents "his name is Franz and he said he was the duke of something and he died here in 1617. How cool." Scorpius looked over at Draco "was he related to you?" He gasped slightly "if he's related to you then he's related to me! I'd have a ghost for a relative!" He squealed with excitement.
She lazily turned her head toward Draco and he shrugged slightly "I'd have to check the tapestry—"
He gasped "we have a tapestry!"
"Scorpius it's six in the morning. What in the world are you doing up at this hour?" Hermione grumbled scooting closer to the middle of the bed, hoping to squeeze Scorpius back into his own bed.
She felt him shrug "I don't know. I'm hungry I guess."
Hermione sighed and pulled the covers back "what do you want to eat?"
"Crepes!"
Hermione busted out laughing joined by Draco "don't ask your father to make them. He thinks he's a master crepe chef but I promise he isn't."
Scorpius looked between his parents in confusion "but you can make crepes, right Mum?"
Hermione nodded "of course."
.xx.
Hermione stared at her plate and back up at the boys who sat across the table from her. The sunlight poured in behind them illuminating their white-blond hair and shining gently on the amused expressions in their faces.
"I don't know what's so amusing." She muttered before she picked up the menu sitting just to the left of the plate she had stared at moments before "plenty of people can have a fluke at crepes even if they've made them plenty of times before."
"Sure." She looked over her menu at Draco who lifted his menu off the table "it's just a good thing we know where this cafe is." He yawned before setting the menu down "and that they know how to make crepes"
Hermione made a face over at the elder blond and looked back down at her menu. When the waitress came over they all ordered.
"I was thinking mum," Scorpius looked over at her and she raised an eyebrow "that I can have my birthday party at dad's house."
Hermione frowned slightly "but I thought you wanted to have it at the aquarium? The invitations have already been made—"
Scorpius frowned "the aquarium is cool, I guess. But how cool would it be to have it at dads! There's a ghost and everything!"
Draco shook his head "I think the aquarium sounds even better than a ghost. You'll get to learn a lot and as an added bonus you'll learn about giant squids."
Hermione looked over to Scorpius' confused face and put a hand over her mouth to stop the giggles.
"Why should I care about a giant squid?"
"Because there's a giant squid living in the lake at Hogwarts. When you get sorted into Slytherin—"
"—Gryffindor—"
"—you'll get to see the squid all the time. The common room is under the lake and the squid likes to float past lazily. Sometimes he'll ink the windows. Boredom or fun we're not quite sure." He grinned at Hermione as his crepes got laid out in front of him.
Scorpius cut into his food and shoved a fork full into his mouth "ibetiminsqufythern"
Draco looked at him and shook his head "we don't talk with our mouth full" he leaned down "at least not in public"
"Draco! No! We don't talk with our mouth full at all!" Hermione scolded both of them before taking a small bite of her strawberry filled crepe.
Scorpius made a show of swallowing the food in his mouth "I said I bet I'll be in Slytherin!"
Hermione furrowed her brows "but there's always Gryffindor!"
Scorpius nodded "Uncle Harry was there with you so that'd be fun but I bet you don't get a giant squid! Hey dad—" Scorpius turned to look at him ultimately squeezing Hermione's heart at the same time. She was very grateful that the two of them took to each other so quickly and she had been honestly surprised when Draco accepted to move in with her. She jumped out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of clapping
"Yeah! I'd love to go to your birthday party!" Draco grinned and high fived his son.
"Great! You'll get to meet Uncle Harry again! Maybe you'll get along better!" Scorpius grinned before taking a bite of his crepes while Draco seemed to turn a shade of green causing Hermione to laugh until she clutched her sides.
.xx.
February 16, 2011
Hermione stood in the back of the large room while the children fished for crabs in the forefront. If she could, she'd join the children because where she was standing she wanted to shrink away. The tension was so thick she could have cut it with a knife if she had one.
"So Malfoy..." Ron cleared his throat and looked at the tall blond off to her left "...did you like Azkaban?"
"Oh Ronald really." Hermione turned to look at him.
"I'll have you know, Weasel that I never stepped foot inside that Dementor infested shit hole." He looked around Hermione "but I'm sure your father would have after the first—"
Hermione elbowed him in the ribs and looked between them "were here for the children! Look at them." She pointed toward the kids, who laughter filled the air unaware of the tension behind them "if you want to spoil Scorpius' birthday then go right ahead and argue!" She looked at them "Instead of standing back here like a bunch of ninny's we can go do what Harry and Ginny are doing and help them!" She turned away and marched toward her son. She wrapped a arm around his shoulder and he looked up at her and grinned showing her one of the crabs he caught.
"Malfoy" Harry's voice caught her attention as Draco's arm snaked his way around her waist.
"Draco, how lovely it is to see you!" Hermione looked over at Ginny and smiled at her best friend who gave her a quick wink.
"Potter." He nodded curtly "Ginny"
She looked at Harry who cleared his throat "it's been a while since I've seen you at the ministry, do they not need you often?"
Draco shrugged and dug his fingers into her hip slightly "seeing as I'm not in England at the moment I doubt they'd want to use me as often as they'd like to."
Hermione inhaled uncomfortably causing Draco to release the grip on her hip "but he's moving to England soon so I'm sure he has a ministry position lined up." Hermione started at the tank of crabs, the awkwardness of it all was killing her.
"Is that so?" Harry seemed genuinely interested and she looked over to see him push his glasses up his nose slightly, his green eyes locked on to grey ones "well I'll look forward to working with you more closely than we had in the past." He grinned "lawyers are on the same floor as the aurors which is lucky for us really." She watched as Harry shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly.
Draco shrugged "I've yet to be contacted but I'm sure upon my return they're going to contact me. I heard Yaxley is looking for a good defense lawyer." He shrugged "I'm sure I'll be contacted about it but unfortunately interpersonal connection or something of the sort will prohibit me from taking on the case." He looked at his son who was now holding up a crab to "I'll think of something to say by then."
Harry grinned and nodded "well if being a lawyer is ever too boring you can always pop on over to the Auror department and have a try."
"I'll keep that in mind, Potter."
"You can call me harry." He looked over at Hermione who grinned and wrapped her own arm around Draco's waist "it's nice to see 'Mione so happy again." He smiled at her and she wanted to reach out and hug him.
"I'll keep that in mind." He looked down at Hermione before looking back at Harry "she said she thought you knew about us, in school?"
"Harry is about as observant as a door mat, so the fact he picked up on it at all is a miracle in itself." She laughed slightly.
"Hey—" he shot her a offended look before putting a hand to his chest "—I did how ever see you two snagging behind the statue of the one eyed witch. Ron refused to believe it."
"Still do" He grumbled before turning his attention back to Rose.
"He'll come around." Hermione looked at the back of Ron's head "they're my brothers, they're going to give you a bit of a time."
"Too right we will." Harry said raising his water bottle in a salute.
"As long as you don't invite me over for tea parties—"
"—oh we won't. But Lily might!" Ginny laughed slightly "she's a sucker for them and having a new uncle around to sucker into her Pigmypuff only tea parties will be a delight."
"They really are fantastic." Hermione squeezed him a bit closer to her before letting him go to check out the crabs in the tank.
After fishing for crabs they moved on to a delicious lunch, after a delightful treasure hunt before they got to feed the fish. After feeding the fish they were all shuffled into a room with a delightful view of the Eiffel Tower to enjoy Scorpius' pirate themed birthday cake and what Hermione thought was a ridiculous amount of bonbons and presents. After the party dispersed and Hermione said goodbye to her best friends she toured the aquarium with her son and her boyfriend. They took in the mermaid show and Scorpius had to spend as much time in the shark exhibit as he possibly could.
.xx.
"I can't believe he fell asleep on the train" Hermione looked behind her at Draco who was awkwardly carrying their son, his long legs dangling limply and his cheek pressed against his shoulder "he's never done that."
Draco only grunted in reply as Hermione opened the door to her flat letting Draco enter first. Wordlessly she flicked her wand and transfigured Scorpius' clothes into pajamas and Draco mouthed a silent thank you before disappearing into Scorpius' room.
She busied herself with putting the kettle on and slipping out of her trainers. Another successful birthday in the books, all of Scorpius' friends had a blast and the meeting between Harry and Draco had been a success. She had to work on Ronald though, but when didn't she?
"I think he's going to be napping a while." Draco shut the bedroom door behind him and walked over to where Hermione stood, staring at the kettle "which I don't blame him." He yawned before wrapping his arms around her from behind, kissing her neck.
"A nap doesn't sound too awful." She muttered before turning her head to kiss him "thank you." She smiled and kissed him again.
"I don't know what I did but if it leads to this I'll do it more often."
Hermione laughed and leaned into him "for behaving. I think after a couple of dinner parties you'll become best mates."
Draco opened his mouth to respond but Hermione tore out of it as the mail flap opened and a letter fell gently to the floor.
Scorpius Malfoy
The second room on the right
Paris, France.
Hermione picked up the letter and looked at Draco, tears brimming her eyes. "He didn't get this, this morning." She swallowed "I was terrified that it wouldn't come..." the tears that brimmed her eyes spilled over "...and here it is! I—I'm—"
Draco hugged her tightly and she grabbed onto his soft blue shirt crying into it softly "mental." He finished for her causing her to laugh.
"I'm happy! Exuberant! I knew he'd get it but I was just being irrational." She sniffled and looked up at the man in front of her "I'm losing my baby!" She wailed before shoving her face back into his chest.
His hands gently rubbed her back and she thanked him in-between hiccups "you're not losing him." He wiped at her eyes "he's just continuing on our legacy."
"He can't be both number one and number two at the same time." She joked lamely causing Draco to laugh loudly before pulling her into a tighter hug.
"We'll go to Diagon alley when we get back to England." She nodded as he pulled away, holding her at arm's length "now let's all take a nap, we have big news when he wakes up."
Authors Note: I *finally* got internet at home, so I'm able to post more often but because it's such a awful laptop I don't get to do much on it and sometimes I forget to edit the chapters to thank everyone who reviewed, so i'm thanking you all now. I'm so very thankful for you and I'm very thankful that you all have stayed with this story, no matter what :) It's going to get downright cold here in the midwest so i hope that wherever you are that you stay toasty warm! i'm going to see panic! at the disco and I'm so excited that I thought i'd give you all a chapter this week (even though I originally said that I wasn't, it was because I forgot I was getting internet, ha). I hope that you all enjoyed and I know we aren't that much further till the end. 3