A/N: I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays (whatever you celebrate). I hope to get the next chapter up by Christmas. Have a great week!
Disclaimer: All characters (except Caroline) belong to JKR. Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas.
*****
Chapter 38
Hermione woke up hoping the feeling of dread was unfounded. But then she remembered why she was feeling that way and rolled over and pulled the covers over her head. Caroline.
Evidently Draco was feeling the same way because he stood before the window in his robe, sipping his tea staring out at the morning. What a mess things were with Caroline. He wished he'd never talked Snape into creating a de-aging potion. He also wished that Blaise wouldn't leave. They had been best mates forever, and he couldn't imagine not seeing or talking to him every day.
He turned when he heard her stir. "You'll have to get out of bed sometime."
She groaned and rolled over facing him, the covers up to her chin. She was freezing. Draco 'entertained' her the whole night, so heat was not a problem then. But now that he was not sharing the bed with her, she missed his warmth.
"Come back to bed," she whined. Yes, Hermione Granger was whining. "I'm cold."
He set his tea down, took off his robe and crawled back into bed with her. "That's because you're not wearing pajamas, love." He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against his chest while kissing up and down her jaw.
"As I recall, someone wanted easy access and wouldn't let me put any nightclothes on last night."
"Oh, yeah," he smirked. "That someone would be me." He ran his hand up and down the side of her body, up and over her curves. "Let me warm you up," he said huskily as he sucked the sensitive spot on her neck. Heavy breathing ensued as the passion started to build.
*****
Hoping that Blaise spent the night, Caroline got out of bed and headed toward the room he usually stayed. She was disappointed when his room was empty. She noticed one of his shirts laying on one of the leather chairs. Picking it up and holding it to her nose, the spicy scent was pure Blaise. She put the shirt on over her pajamas and left the room.
She then turned and padded down the hall toward her parents suite. The door was locked. Concentrating on the door knob, she willed it to unlock until she heard a soft click. Slowly and silently she entered the room.
Noises were coming from the four-poster bed, which was closed off with heavy curtains. The very curious Caroline crept up to the bed and continued listening to the moans and groans within. She stood at the end of the bed and parted the curtain slightly and peeked in.
Hugging and light kissing was what she was used to when she saw her parents together normally. But this was entirely different. Caroline couldn't look away as she saw her father sensually ravish her mother. Her mum seemed to be really enjoying his advancements by the way she was moaning and writhing under him. The sheet was covering most of their naked bodies, so Caroline couldn't see the details of what they were doing.
Another curious thing she noticed was that her parents were breathlessly calling each other by their first names, not Granger or Malfoy. She wasn't sure what that meant, but it was strange nonetheless.
Something told her that she shouldn't interrupt, so she quietly left the room.
Hermione thought she heard something and stopped moving. She shushed Draco. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I just thought I heard something, but it was probably just my imagination."
*****
Caroline's four-year-old mind was still trying to understand what she saw in her parents' bedroom. She headed toward the ballroom where the house elves were cleaning up after the party.
She walked around thinking about the night before when she saw something laying on one of the tables. On closer inspection she discovered they were photographs someone had taken. She couldn't understand why someone would leave them behind, so she picked them up and started looking through them. There were pictures of some of the guests from the night before. She recognized some of them, like her nana, her parents, Ginny and Harry to name a few.
One picture of particular interest was one of Blaise and her dancing on the terrace. They were both smiling as they danced around and around. There was another picture of just Blaise alone winking. She imagined him winking at her. Her heart started beating faster just at the sight of him. She gathered all the pictures and took them to her room. She decided to make a scrapbook to give to her parents for Christmas. They would like that, she was sure.
Although there would be two photos she wanted to keep and not put in the book.
*****
One dilemma Caroline faced was her clothing. Her current clothes were too babyish for her tastes now. So instead of enlarging a few pieces to fit her body, she transfigured them altogether into a tight pair of low cut jeans and a silk blouse that clung to her body and left little to the imagination.
All heads at the breakfast table turned as she entered the room. Draco looked briefly at her and covered his eyes. It unnerved him to see her nipples showing through her blouse. No one had really explained to her the importance of wearing a bra.
"Granger, please do something with her clothes."
"What's wrong with my clothes? I like them. I think Blaise will like them too."
"That's the problem. He'll probably like them too much." Hermione waved her wand and changed Caroline's blouse into a baggy sweatshirt and her jeans into sweatpants.
"Yuck, these are ugly," said Caroline.
"Too bad. That's what you're going to wear until we can find you some decent clothes to wear."
"But Daddy…"
"Don't 'but Daddy' me, Caroline. You need to learn what is and isn't acceptable. And clothes that show off your'you-know-whats' are not acceptable." He couldn't believe he would be having this type of discussion with this daughter now instead of ten years down the road.
The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence. Caroline was still stewing over the way her father made such a fuss over what she was wearing. He was such a meanie.
*****
Later up in her bedroom, Caroline finished putting together the scrapbook she was making for her parents. It was a lot easier using magic. Now all she needed to do was wrap it up and put it under the tree.
Even though she had used magic when she was smaller, once in the ballet studio and again in the flower shop, the magic she had now was a lot stronger. She could perform simple magic spells with little effort.
Her sweatshirt and pants were getting hot, so she took them off and put on Blaise's shirt. She shoved her iPod in its dock and cranked the music up loud. She immediately started to dance around the room, her hips swaying to the beat.
Boom boom boom
Boom boom boom
Yo
I got that hit that beat the block
You can get that bass overload
I got that rock and roll
That future flow
That digital spit
Next level visual shit
I got that boom boom boom
How the beat bang boom boom boom
The bass of the 'boom boom boom' shook the room. Draco and Hermione heard the music from the other side of the manor and rushed to her room. They were surprised when they saw that she was only wearing a large men's shirt and her knickers.
I like that boom boom pow
Them chicks is jackin my style
They try to copy my swagger
I'm on that next shit now
I'm so 3008
You so 2000 and late
I got that boom boom boom
That future boom boom boom
Let me get it now
Boom boom boom
Gotta get that boom boom boom
Draco shouted at her but could not be heard in the slightest because of the volume of the music. He pointed his wand to his neck and shouted, the wand amplifying his voice.
"Caroline! Shut that fucking noise off now!"
She turned off the music. "Gee, Daddy, you don't have to yell."
He looked over at Hermione. "Having a teenager sucks. I'm flooing Snape to see if we can give her that de-aging potion now." And with that he left the room.
*****
Much to Snape's hesitation, he arrived with the de-aging potion in his bag. He gave one more attempt to try to convince Draco that he should wait a couple more days. But Draco wouldn't have it. Caroline must be turned back, and turned back now.
Draco, Hermione, Narcissa and Snape met in Caroline's room to give her the potion. She was in bed with her arms folded across her chest.
"I've decided not to take the potion," she said with determination on her face.
"You don't have a choice, Caroline," said Draco.
"I want Blaise."
"Blaise isn't here at the moment."
"I'm not taking anything until I see Blaise."
Draco had a hard time getting a hold of his best friend. He tried flooing him and sending him an owl. Finally after the second owl, Blaise responded making up some lame excuse as to why he was too busy to come to the manor. At this point Draco was desperate and pleaded with him to come. Reluctantly, Blaise arrived an hour later.
Upon entering her room, Caroline jumped off her bed and tackled him. He landed flat on his back with Caroline on top of him.
Her hormones taking over, she desperately tried to kiss him. He tried to push her off of him, but she was a woman possessed. Finally Draco stormed into the room and grabbed Caroline by her waist and lifted her off of him, her arms and legs flailing about.
Draco threw her on her bed and put a binding spell on her to keep her there. She thrashed about trying to get free, screaming obscenities at everyone. For a moment, Draco honestly thought her head would spin around, and she should spew some nasty green liquid. He really needed to quit watching Muggle horror movies.
"Look at her. She's out of control. We can't wait; we need to do something now."
Snape took a vial out of his bag. "This is just a calming potion. It should help settle her down a bit." Draco held her head still while Snape poured the potion in her mouth. She began to calm down immediately. Draco let the bindings go since she was not a threat anymore.
"I've made the de-aging potion so that it will take effect slower than the other one," explained Snape. "I've also added a memory potion, so she won't remember any of this."
"That's a good idea," said Hermione. "I really don't think it would be healthy to remember this experience."
"You mean, I'll forget about being a grown up and all?" asked Caroline.
"That's the plan," said Draco.
"I'd like to talk to Blaise alone, please," she said. She saw everyone's hesitation. "I'll behave, I promise."
Everyone except Blaise and Caroline left in the room. "I don't want to go back to being a little girl," said Caroline sadly. "I don't want to forget about you. I want to stay with you."
He chuckled. "I'm afraid things don't work like that, Darlin'. You need to grow up naturally, make friends your own age, and go to school." He brushed the white-blond hair away from her face tenderly.
"Oh, you dropped this last night," he said as he pulled the sapphire barrette out of his pocket and held it out to her.
She shook her head and wouldn't take it. "I want you to keep it." Large tears started to spill down her cheeks. She reached under her pillow. "Here I want you to have this too. I don't want you to forget about me – the grown-up me."
She withdrew the picture of her and Blaise dancing from under her pillow and handed it to him. A huge wave of sadness washed over him. He reached over, pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.
"I don't think you'll ever have to worry about me forgetting about you," he said.
The others came back into the room. Snape handed the potion to Blaise. He held it out to Caroline.
"Please don't make me drink that. I don't want to leave you." Tears were freely flowing down her face as she sobbed.
A thick lump formed in his throat. "Please? For me?" He tried to hand her the vial again.
Slowly she reached for the vial, her hand shaking. She put it to her lips and drank the whole thing in one gulp.
"Please stay with me?" she asked as she slowly began to fall asleep.
Snape and Narcissa left the room while Blaise, Draco and Hermione stayed. Hermione crawled into the bed and fell asleep holding her daughter. Blaise sat in a chair nearby, his feet propped up on the bed. His head leaned back heavily as he drifted off to sleep. Draco lay down on the sofa, closed his eyes and fell asleep as well.