The Spider-Drawing

Draco was confused to find Hermione in the wine-cellar. It was still early in the afternoon and she would be the last person who would approve of a glass or two of wine at this hour. Especially not when her children are around. She handed him his baby-brother and crawled behind behind a barrel with a jar in her hand.

"Is this a muggle-thing?" the blonde wizard asked his former classmate.

"Rose has drawn a spider," she replied.

Draco had no idea what the bushy-haired witch was talking about. Maybe it was the air. It could be full of alcohol vapor and it has been a while since she last had a drink.

"You´re not making sense."

"Like I said," she started slightly annoyed, "Rose has drawn a spider. But it was all wrong. And now I think I'm a terrible mother because the elves keep the house too clean and my little one has no idea what a spider looks like..."

Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes. Draco wanted to run.

"Sorry, I just had a baby I might be still a little emotional," she explained.

"You know your abilities as a mother are not judged by the number of legs a three-year-old draws on a spider," the blonde said looking at the drawing Hermione had handed him.

"It´s not just the fact that she forgot a pair of legs. Look where the are located!"

"On the body," Draco said.

To him, a circle with six lines attached was undoubtedly a spider or a sun. The young witch was hardly back on her knees crawling behind shelves filled with wine bottles. There must be a spider in here somewhere. Looking at her the young wizard wondered how he managed to put up with her.

"I´m sorry for you. Your mother is insane," he told Richard.

"I´ve heard that," a voice from behind the shelves said.

"By Merlin, your ass is huge, gorgeous."

Hermione stood up her hair was wild and electrocuted. She stared at him.

"For god´s sake, Draco! I´m your stepmother. No matter how gay you are, I will not have you comment on my butt or call me gorgeous, love."

"OK, chill!"

"I will not chill! Start behaving like a grown-up!"

"Or what? Will you send me to bed early or spank my ass?"

"You wish. I might tell Harry not to spank you," Hermione replied.

They glared at each other. Draco gave in first.

"Fine, I won´t be calling you things, mommy. And I won´t comment on your backside no matter how big it is."

"How generous of you."

it felt like forever but Hermione finally managed to catch a little spider. She carried the creature to the sitting room Rose still occupied drawing. She cast a quick Momento and accioed a magnifying glass. Picking up a pencil and paper she explained the anatomy of Aranea in detail.

Drawing two circles she told her daughter that all of the eight legs are situated on the smaller Cephlotorax and not the abdomen. Also, spiders have a pair of pedipalps, in scorpions, they´ve become enlarged and are for grasping. In addition to that spiders have also fangs called chelicera. Their up to eight eyes have a single lens but most species have six of them.

Draco had a hard time following her description. He was sure that Rose didn´t understand a single word her mother said. At least he hoped that.

When Lucius returned home from a business meeting he lifted a drawing from the table. He looked proudly at it.

"Look what rose drew!" he said to his wife.

"I´ve drawn that," Hermione said taking it out of his hand.

"Oh."

twenty minutes later Rose finished her work of art. Draco compered it to Hermione´s spider-drawing. Now that the girl knew how they looked like it was hard to know who has drawn which.

"Now it´s official. You draw like a three-year-old," the blonde git announced amused.

"It will look great in my office," Lucius said looking at his girl´s work.

"I think, you meant my office. I´ve been enduring your son all day," Hermione countered.

"What in Merlin´s name did he do this time?"

"Your lovely son told me I had a fat butt."

"And you didn´t hex him?"

"He was holding Richard," his younger wife explained.

Lucius cupped her butt cheeks with his large strong hands. They fitted perfectly. He kissed her neck and whispered something into her ear. The young witch blushed.

"Did you just offer sexual favors for our daughter's artworks?"

"I did," he admitted shamelessly.

"Fine, you can have it."

Playfully chewing on her ear he pressed her against his body. Hermione bit her lip in anticipation when suddenly Richard started crying. She let out an annoyed growl.

"I take care of him," the older wizard said kissing her cheek. "it´s time to introduce him to the family trade."

"I won´t let you off that easily. I´ll hold you to it," Hermione said.

"I was rather hoping you would," he replied smiling.

Shushing his baby he went to his office. He framed both Rose´s and Hermione´s drawing. The similarity was striking. Luckily his daughter was a clumsy three-year-old so there was still hope for her. The former death eater fed his baby-boy a bottle over his accounting. Richard looked at his father with his big brown eyes feeding on every word the former death eater said.