The wind blew through her long brown curls as she sat on a blanket overlooking the gardens. In the distance she watched as a young girl with similar curls, but golden locks sat on a swing, reading a book as the breeze gave her the slightest push so that she swayed back and forth. The girl was so like her father in looks but was otherwise every bit her mother's daughter. She could lose herself in a novel for hours on end, only coming back to reality when forced to do so. Hermione smiled wistfully as she stared at her oldest daughter, wishing time could stand still.
"Mummy! Mummy!" The exuberant cries of a younger girl brought her out of her trance. She smiled when she saw the tiny cherub running toward her, arms open.
"Hello my darling." Hermione laughed as her daughter fell into her lap with her arms wrapped tightly around her neck. She wrapped the tot in her arms, holding her tightly, resting her cheek against the girl's soft, chestnut brown curls. As she inhaled, she could smell the lavender baby shampoo and she sighed contentedly.
The wee girl giggled as she cuddled into her mother. "Mummy, can we have a tea party?" She asked hopefully. "It's a pretty day. Could we please ask Mipsy to bring out grandmama's set?"
Hermione ran her hand through the baby soft hair once more and nodded. "Of course, Astraea. Why don't you go ask your sister to join us? I'll have it set up on the blanket."
The girl's eyes shined bright with excitement as she ran off toward the swing. "Cass! Cass! Guess what!" She shouted toward her sister as she sprinted as fast as her tiny legs would carry her.
"Mipsy!" Hermione called into the air and within a second a small elf wearing a floral pillowcase and a pink bow on her right ear appeared.
"Mistress called for Mipsy, how can Mipsy help?" She inquired happily.
"Yes, the girls and I are going to have a tea party. Could you please bring out Narcissa's tea set along with an assortment of teas, petit fours, and some sandwiches?" Hermione politely requested.
The elf nodded. "Of course, Mistress. Mipsy will return shortly with everything Mistress and young misses needs for a proper tea party." She snapped and was gone.
Hermione turned her attention back to her girls. She could watch them forever and never be sick of it. Her blonde headed beauty, Cassiopeia, was pushing her little sister on the swing now, smiling as the younger girl cheered and pleaded with her to go higher. As Astraea sailed back and forth, she waved to her mother excitedly. "Hi Mummy! Look at me! I'm flying!"
Hermione laughed "I see that my angel! Please be careful. You don't want to fall" She cautioned as she became a bit anxious watching her daughter go higher and higher.
"Silly mummy! Angels don't fall, we soar through the air!" The sweet cherub called back before tilting her head back, closing her eyes and savoring the breeze. Her chestnut curls shined as the sun caught them and her face almost seemed to glow.
Hermione wasn't sure why, but that statement made something within her feel warm, her nerves calmed, and it almost felt as though her very soul was comforted. Before she could read anything into it, Mipsy returned. The elf laid out a teapot along with a tray of assorted teas. She placed the teacups on saucers and the milk and sugar were on a small tray with some spoons and cloth napkins. Finally, she positioned a tower of petit fours, tea sandwiches and tiny biscuits in the center. "There you are Mistress. If you be needing anything else, just call for Mipsy." Before Hermione could thank her, she was gone.
"Girls come take a seat. Our tea party is ready!" Hermione called and both girls raced toward her.
Their tea party was magnificent, filled with treats, laughter and love. Hermione couldn't remember ever feeling such a sense of pure bliss. After they had their fill and Mipsy cleared away the remnants, both girls sat beside their mother, heads on her shoulders as she ran her fingers through their hair. "Oh, my darling girls, I wish we could stay like this forever." She sighed as an unknown sense of foreboding came over her.
Astraea climbed into her mother's lap and placed her tiny hands on Hermione's cheeks. "We can mummy. Not yet, but someday."
"Yes mum, someday, we will be able to stay in this moment forever. Daddy will be here as well and so will Scorpius, Orion and Phoenix" Cassiopeia stated, showing an unexplainable wisdom beyond her years.
Everything around them seemed to blur and fade. Both girls hugged their mother tightly and Hermione clung to them, desperately hanging on as though if she held tightly enough, she could somehow take them back with her. She knew now this couldn't be real, even if she wished it were. "We love you mummy and we're always with you." Astraea kissed her mother's cheek once more and before she had time to process everything that was happening, everything around her went black.
Hermione awoke with a start, sitting straight up, tears on her cheeks, and hand pressed to her chest. "Hermione, darling, what's wrong? Are you ok?" Her husband turned on the bedside lamp and wrapped his arms around her.
Her hands shook as she held his arm and slowly a small smile graced her lips. "Draco, I saw them. I held them. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can almost smell them."
"Who did you see love?" Draco asked, unsure what his wife was trying to tell him.
Hermione smiled lovingly as she sat back to gaze into his eyes. "I saw our daughters." Tears of delight streamed down her face. "My sweet, darling girls. It was so hard never being able to put a face to their names but now I finally can."
Draco was absolutely dumbfounded by his wife's announcement. They had lost their first child, Cassiopeia, in the third month of pregnancy. Hermione had been inconsolable. It had taken over a year to pull her from her grief. When Scorpius was born, her relief at delivering a healthy child was immediate and, while he knew she was delighted to finally experience motherhood, he also knew that their son in no way replaced his sister. Orion followed Scorpius two years later and the Malfoys were able to breathe a sigh of relief. When Hermione became pregnant again ten months later, they assumed they would once again be blessed with a healthy child. Unfortunately, the fates had not been so kind and within weeks they had lost their second child, another daughter.
With the loss of Astraea, Hermione was thrown yet again into a black lake of despair. He watched her, he cared for her, and he never gave himself time to stop and think, for in doing so, he would have to acknowledge his loss as well and he just couldn't bring himself to feel that amount of anguish.
Hermione became pregnant again less than a year later. It was an anxiety ridden pregnancy and she knew this would be her last. She couldn't go through another pregnancy of constant worry and she certainly could not lose another child. The day her third son was born was the day she had the healer perform the magical equivalent of a tubal ligation. She and Draco named their tiny son Phoenix. He had risen from the ashes of their grief and brought with him joy.
Suddenly, she got a brilliant idea. "You could see them as well! Oh darling, it's wonderful, come along!"
Hermione practically sprang out of bed, threw on her robe and rushed off toward their study with Draco trailing behind, trying to figure out what she was doing. She grabbed an empty flask from the shelf, extracted the memory and handed it to her husband. Draco, finally catching on, poured the contents into his pensieve and, with only a slight hesitation, watched the scene unfold before him.
When he emerged twenty minutes later, he walked straight into her waiting arms, and she felt his tears on her neck. She rubbed his back as sobs shook his large body, the cries of a man who had lost his little girls, the cries of a man who had been strong for far too long. When he had finally released the years of anguish, she spoke softly. "We make beautiful babies my love."
Draco chuckled gruffly, "Well of course, they're Malfoys. I also happened to marry the most beautiful witch on the planet." He stared into his wife's eyes and smiled, "Thank you, my love, I finally got to see all of my girls together. It was the most beautiful sight I could have ever hoped to behold."
Hermione closed her eyes as his forehead rested on hers and a small smile graced her lips. "I finally know what they look like. I got to hold them in my arms and kiss them. Even if it was only once upon a dream."