Of Lies and Love
A/N Hey this is a short story I have had in my head for a while. I've had a bit of writer's block on my other two stories but will return to them soon.
Draco is lying to his wife…But he is doing it to protect her and their children.
"I don't understand?" the young boy looked from his mother to his father, "Does that mean you don't love me?" He asked, his parents exchanged worried looks,
"Of course not Scorpi" his mother reassured, "It's just…" she looked to his father for guidance
"It's just that your mother and I, we fell out of love," He said
"But that doesn't make sense" the young boy argued, "What about me and Aphrodite if you fell out of love with each other how do I know that you won't fall out of love with us," he said, it was the downside of being the child of two of the most intellectual witches and wizards of the age.
"Scorpi, I swear to you, your father and I will never fall out of love with you or your sister." His mother opened her arms for him and he looked to his father before moving to accept the hug.
"This fucking law!" Draco cursed, "They ruin our lives by forcing us together and now ruining our children's lives." He was pacing up and down the lounge,
"Draco please sit down" she tried, "We need to…" she began
"Will you shut up Hermione" he growled, Hermione glared at him,
"Don't you dare! Don't you dare turn this on me!" she yelled, "You are the one who had an affair and you are the one who is tearing our family apart," she was standing inches away from him now,
"Maybe if you had been a better wi…"SLAP her hand crashed across his face, he stared at her in shock. He could see the tears freely falling from her eyes and the way her whole shaking,
"I love you," she said, "I love you and would do anything for you and our children…I have been fighting to keep out family together since the day I found out I was pregnant with Scorpius!" she said, "And you…you are the one who betrayed us" she turned sobbing and left the lounge, Draco stood there dumbfounded his hand on his burning cheek.
Hermione came out of the bathroom after composing herself, she didn't want her children to see her in such a state, she wanted the divorce to be as painless as she could make it for them, she moved to Scorpius' bedroom door, freezing when she heard him talking,
"Dear God, Please don't let my mummy and Daddy split up, I would do anything if you could do that I would even give Aphrodite all my puddings if you could just make them stay together" Hermione welled up, she missed the days of innocents, where you could believe giving your baby sister all you pudding would save a marriage. Hermione wiped her eyes before knocking on the door,
"Yes?" Scorpius said,
"All ready for bed" Hermione smiled at her son, he was a spitting image of his father, save for his eyes, he had his mother's brown eyes,
"I don't want to sleep," he said, Hermione perched on his bed,
"Why not?" she said holding her arms open, Scorpius moved to perch next to his mother wrapped in her arms,
"If I go to sleep you or dad may be gone tomorrow" he began crying, Hermione's heart felt like it shattered into a million pieces,
"Oh Scorpi," she said holding him tighter, "your Father and I will always be here for you and your sister," Hermione said stroking his soft blond hair,
"But why don't you love each other anymore?" he asked, "What changed?" Hermione didn't know the answer;
True when the two were paired up due in the Marriage law lottery, they both hated one another. But that was seven years ago, over that time the two found that they had more in common than they ever thought, they slowly fell in love…and Scorpius birth as traumatic as it had been had made them stronger.
Hermione remembered that day; she had gone to work as normal, much to Draco's dismay. He had made his opinion crystal clear, he believed she should be in bed for her entire pregnancy.
But Hermione had loved her job in the Experimental potions department, even if her husband was her manager. She knew she wouldn't be able to continue working much longer as her belly was beginning to make it difficult to get down the narrow shelves of potions ingredients. She had been working on a new variant of wolfsbane when Tamsin Bobbin had, not for the first time started levitating ingredients out from the shelves and up over Hermione's work station.
This normally didn't cause any issues other than it is an unsafe practice, which Draco had reprimanded her on before, but as usual with Draco out for a meeting, she was falling back into her bad habits.
Hermione was too lost in the exact art that potion making needed, to notice the ingredients silently moving overhead.
Draco had entered the lab and spotting what Tamsin was doing,
"Miss Bobbin what the hell do you…" Draco had snapped, Tamsin had turned in surprise and the Erumpent Horn that was over Hermione Fell with a splash into the caldron she was working on.
Before Hermione could even process what had just happened, the cauldron exploded sending Hermione flying backwards into the wall…
The next thing she remembered was Draco holding her hand and Healers surrounding her,
"Hermione" he had whispered, "You're awake" he squeezed her hand, she remembered looking up at him and in that moment and seeing the genuine concern in his face, she supposed then was when she started falling in love with him.
The healer came into her view,
"Mrs Malfoy, are you in any pain?" the Healer asked she looked at him confused, at the time she couldn't remember what had happened, "Mrs Malfoy," he asked again,
"I…" then she felt the intense pain shoot through her stomach and she let out a scream,
"DO something" Draco demanded,
"We are going to have to induce" One of the healers had called, the rest of the event of her son's birth was a drug-fuelled blur. The one thing she remembered clearly was the loud cry he gave before he was passed to Draco swaddled in a blanket, the healers working on healing the wounds up and Down Hermione's body.
Needless to say, Tamsin Bobbin was let go from her role.
"Mummy" Hermione was pulled from memory he son looking up at her, she wanted to tell him that her feelings hadn't changed but she was not going to be one of those mothers, one who turned her children against their father.
"I wish I could answer that baby, but it's just something that happens" she sighed,
"But then you could fall in love again" he smiled, Hermione tried to smile but she wasn't so sure.
"You best get some sleep, I promise you that your father and I will not do anything while you are asleep" she placed a kiss on his head, "Come on in you get" she smiled tucking him in
"Mummy?" he asked, "I love you"
"I love you too Scorpi," she said placing a kiss on his head and turning off the light
"Mummy!" he said, Hermione smiled and reached down turning on the night light "Thank you," he said curling in bed.
Hermione stepped out of his room to find Draco standing opposite with his arms crossed across his chest,
"Turning our son against me?" He snarled,
"Fuck of Draco! If you want to be juvenile go ahead…" she said moving to her daughter's room, he grabbed her wrist,
"How dare you!" he hissed, Hermione swung around
"Tell me Draco" she whispered, "Was she worth it?" Draco dropped her wrist in shock, "Well, was she, was she worth hurting your son?" Draco stared at her, "I don't care if you don't love me anymore…I still love you and I guess that's my problem, but our son is in there thinking that when he wakes in the morning that one of us will be gone…He prayed" she whispered
"What?" Draco stared at her "Prayed…what for"
"Said he'd give Aphrodite all his deserts if he could make us stay together," she said, pulling away and entering her daughter's room.
Aphrodite was only fourteen weeks old with her mother's face shape, nose and curls, but like Scorpio, she could only be Draco's child. Hermione sat in the rocking chair beside the crib and watched over the girl.
Draco stared after his wife, his heart hammering in his chest. It was killing him to lie to her but he had to make sure she was safe…he had approached Potter a few weeks earlier when the mark on his arm had burned and that was not a good sign.