A.N. Hello all! I am just popping in to let you all know that we are drawing to a close! I have pre-written the remaining chapters - there will be a total of 43 in the main story. There will be several chapters after that serve as a sort of extended epilogue. While writing this story, I had kept a running list of plot points/character development that, although I hadn't planned, became necessary to the story IMO, and some of those could not possibly happen until after what I saw as the end of the story. With that, enjoy!
xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox
Hermione's eyes stared unseeingly at the English countryside flashing by the window. Hermione had not believed Draco. After they made their deal, they had climbed the hill back to the Grand Hall. They sat with Blaise and Theo; although Theo was hunched over with his forehead to the table's surface. Eventually, after the table and the surrounding area had cleared, Draco told her. And she had not believed him. Blaise and Theo already knew, as did Pansy and Narcissa, but despite the boys nodding in agreement, Hermione simply did not believe their story. After all, why would Voldemort do such a thing?
She didn't believe him the following weekend when he received slips from McGonagall for them to leave the Hogwarts grounds. She didn't believe him when he apparated her to the closest muggle town with a train station and sheparded her onto a train. She didn't believe him even when they stood outside the sizable, but rundown, cottage hidden in a small Highland community. Draco shrugged and told her he didn't try to understand the Dark Lord's action, he only tried to deal with the fallout.
Draco took one final look at his sort-of-girlfriend and memorized her face before it only held hatred for him before he knocked on the door. A hunched woman opened the door. Without a word, she pointed a single gnarled finger into the hut. Draco, whose face was stone, gestured for Hermione to proceed first. Hermione was impressed with how much he had committed to this ridiculous lie so she happily traipsed into the room, ignoring the disdain clearly written on the older woman's face.
Hermione passed to the other room of the flat and halted. Draco watched her survey the room. It was dirty. He paid Rowle more than enough to keep the place tidy, but the witch could not be bothered to cast so much as an air freshening charm. He certainly could not hire someone to come in and clean; that would defeat the entire purpose.
The room was dark and paint was peeling from the walls. The only furnishing in the room was a portable crib and in it was the purpose of their trip, which was looking back at the newcomers with childish jubilation. Draco met her eyes from around Hermione and the little girl squealed with delight. He had only visited her a handful of times, but he suspected he gave her more attention than Rowle had her entire life.
Hermione stared at the little girl in shock. She hadn't believed him, but those were exactly Narcissa's eyes staring back at her, exactly Bellatrix's curls bouncing with the toddler's giggles.
Delphini gripped her only toy, a plush snake Draco had brought her for her birthday last month, and hoisted herself into a standing position. Gripping the sides of the crib with chubby fists, she let out another peel of giggles and threw her toy towards Hermione. The room was small, so with a single step forward, Hermione caught the snake and was pulled from her shocked trance.
"Are you sharing your toy?" Hermione cooed. She crossed to the crib with a few more steps, "What a perfect little girl you are!" Hermione lifted the smiling baby onto her hip and handed the child back her toy. Hermione finally turned towards Draco. There was the anger he had been waiting for. She shifted to hold Delphini with one arm and loosened her wand with the other. Hermione kept her voice light so as not to scare the little girl, but the words flew from her lips all the same.
"Draco! You cannot isolate a child like this! Any child growing with that woman," Euphemia Rowle, Hermione had pieced together, "Would be doomed to repeat the past!" She rose her wand and Draco flinched, but as magic poured from its tip, Draco realized she was not assaulting him. As the room brightened and the paint un-chipped, Draco realized Hermione was cleaning, "And we won't be having that! Will we?" She smiled widely at Delphini.
Draco felt the air leave him. After their trials, his mother and he decided they had two options regarding Bellatrix's orphaned daughter. Leave her to rot with Rowle as Rodolphus had planned, or assimilate her into their family. The pair refused to abandon the girl, regardless of who her father was. Given that Narcissa's miscarriages were one of the worst kept secrets in Pureblood elite circles, Narcissa could not suddenly claim a healthy child.
The only way to protect Delphini from her heritage was for Draco to flee the country with her soon after Hogwarts and claim her as his. Delphini was small for her age, likely a symptom of Rowles poor child rearing, Draco would be able to pass her off as younger than she was. Claim she was born early in a marriage, or an illegitimate child. Anything but that she was Voldemort's daughter.
He had resented this girl because between her and the Malfoy ancestors, he'd be married and a father within a year of graduating Hogwarts. He had resented this girl because her father was the reason he had had no childhood. He resented this girl because doing his duty to her directly conflicted with his duty to the ancestors; what woman would want to marry right out of Hogwarts, flee the country, and secretly adopt the Dark Lord's child?
His resentment melted as he watched Hermione Granger transfigure the dirt packed floor into a soft, clean rug and bounce Delphini Black. Hermione smiled at the baby, asking the girl if she preferred yellow or purple or any other color. Draco felt a grin tug at his own lips.
Had he done it? Had he, Draco Malfoy, managed to defy the fates? To survive the war and to win Hermione Granger without the burden of Delphini derailing his success? He thought he had. Independently, each of those feats was nothing short of a coup, but together, they were a miracle. Looking at Hermione, his one time enemy, holding his cousin-turned-daughter, he realized no one would question Delphini's status. If Hermione Granger said this little girl was their daughter, no one would question their story. She was Hermione Granger for Merlin's sake. Similarly, Hermione's physical traits were the missing piece for the puzzle that was Delphini's traits. Delphini looked like a Black, but without another explanation for her curls, she looked too much like a Black, too much like her mother. Hermione would keep a smile on the little girl's face and undermine any similarity to Bellatrix. Merlin. He wish he knew how he pulled it off. Hermione fucking Granger. He'd let her pick the locale of their hide away. He could see her enjoying the beach, after all, she could swim. He chuckled at the memory.
"Wait," Hermione had painted the walls a fresh coat of seafoam green. Her face looked confused as she looked back at Delphini. Draco froze, "Why am I bothering with this?" He had spoken too soon. "Del, you're coming home with us! That's right, home!" Delphini, Del, let out a giggle. "Draco, are you ready to go?"
He had told her his plan on their trip to Rowle's home. Only a month from the end of term and very busy with his various side projects, Draco had planned to pick up Delphini this weekend before he challenged Hermione.
He was going to pick up Del this weekend. His mother had been released for the infirmary and had returned home. Draco was to meet her there with Del. She would care for Del for his singular month of freedom and then Draco would steal away with his child. Hermione, on a purely hypothetical basis, had complimented his plan when he had told her on their train ride.
"Draco," Hermione called again, he blinked stupidly at her, "Are you ready to go?" He nodded and led her to the floo, "Wait! What about her things?" If a thirteen-month-old could roll her eyes, Del did. Draco did not need to translate, Hermione got the message and followed Draco through the floo.
When they reached the other side, Hermione gasped. Draco turned to her, searching for a splinch, but Hermione swatted his hands away. She boosted Del higher on her hip and turned in a circle.
"This- I remember this place from your memories." She whispered, as if speaking too loudly would shatter the room, "I thought we were going to the Manor?" She turned her furrowed brow to him.
"My mother's house. Her mother gifted it to her just before her wedding." Draco had a small, secretive smile. Hermione did not have to hear the words to understand that Druela Rosier did not have a high opinion of Lucius and had wanted her daughter to have an escape route. "She's planning on living here while I'm away with Del."
"Where is here?"
"South of England. On the coast, about halfway between the Manor and London." Hermione nodded, and turned to look out the window. Her eyes widened when she saw they were directly on the coast. Draco could not contain himself any longer, "You are taking this remarkably well."
Hermione shrugged carefully to avoid jostling Del, "I told you, Draco, you're it for me. I told you I agreed with your plan on the train. We're doing this." She squared her shoulders, "We're going to take our NEWTS and graduate and then we'll leave."
"You know you can't tell anyone about her, not even Potter. Everyone has to think she's ours." He gestured between them.
Hermione nodded, "There was a rumor that our Easter trip was for me to address an unwanted pregnancy." Draco looked at her sharply, "Ginny and Luna told me. I was too shocked to deny it, we can capitalize on that and give us a few months head start. I know a charm that will mask my stomach, similar to a confundus, so people who think about it won't remember. I could probably get away with the first trimester, we can say she was born in Aug-"
Draco cut her off with a searing kiss. Hermione lifted her free hand to touch his cheek. Del did the same, indelicately slapping Draco in the face. "Hey!" Draco laughed at the girl, pulling away from Hermione and stealing Del away, "They do say children are terrible coc-"
"Draco!" Hermione cut him off, making Del giggle as she slapped her palms against Draco's chest, "I do have one request." Draco was willing to promise her anything, she already had his first born, after all, "Delphini. The name." Draco had always disliked his dead aunt's choice.
"What did you have in mind, Granger?" She opened her mouth to insist that she hadn't planned anything, but Draco knew better. She would never have proposed changing Del's name without having an alternative, "What would you like to name our daughter?"
A chill went up her spine. Our daughter. "I was thinking," Hermione blushed and jingled her bracelet, "We're having eight kids and, I know your family uses celestial names," she hesitated, "But growing up I never thought about that and I think people would find it -"
"Hermione," Draco pulled her back into his free side, "Don't worry about what people will think." He kissed her forehead, "We can name her whatever you want, we can name the others whatever you want, as long as it's not Harriet, or something ridiculous like that."
She was quiet when she next spoke. He might have taken the name first, but she had been the one to suggest it years ago. "Adelaide Rose? We could still call her Del, but it's not too related to the Blacks and I know that was a concern and-"
Draco tightened his grip on her and pressed a light kiss on her forehead, "Welcome home, Adelaide Rose."
The evening progressed easily in their little bubble. Hermione had quickly stolen Del back from Draco and had refused to relinquish her for the rest of the night. Draco had offered to take the baby during dinner, but Hermione clung tighter. Narcissa had cooed over Hermione's name choice and, thankfully, had not mentioned the departure from the Black naming convention.
After dinner, a roast for the adults and cereal and fruit for the baby, Draco had finally won a single battle: shooing Hermione away from trying to balance Del on her hip and help with dishes. Instead, he convinced her to finish the work she had started at Rowle's house and create a nursery from upstairs.
Draco might have accepted last year that what was left of his childhood was over come graduation, but he had not been excited for such a prospect. So even though he had made plans to take custody of Del, he had not so much as selected a room to be her nursery in her month stay here. This procrastination paid off; Hermione Granger loved a project.
"Hermione is taking all of this in stride." Narcissa spoke with a wave of her wand, setting the dishes to work scrubbing themselves. Draco nodded along, "I cannot help but notice she does not have a ring on her finger." Draco gave his mother an ugly look. "She knows about Adelaide, Draco," He felt a small thrill go through him at her easy acceptance of Hermione's choice, "There is no turning back for you."
"I just need more time, Mum." Draco sighed, "I'm working on something that I need to finish before I give her a ring."
Narcissa turned on him with anger sharpening her features, "Draco Malfoy, if you let that woman slip away I will disown you." Although he knew the threat was pointless, it still sent a chill down his spine.
With an appeasing word, Draco fled the room. Hermione was not difficult to find; she had left the door to her chosen room open. He walked quietly to stand in the doorframe. Hermione had redid what she had started in Rowle's house with seafoam green walls and a plush white carpet. She had conjured simple white furniture and airy white curtains. The walls were decorated with four cartoon animals: a snake, a lion, a badger, and a raven. Draco would never admit it, but his witch's stubborn inclusion of all four houses made him smile. The little bundle was the last living heir of Slytherin, if anyone was predestined to a house, it was her, but Hermione would be damned if she didn't put up a fight.
Draco found his girls curled up in a rocking chair by the large, windowed doors (Draco was certain Hermione had already spelled them shut). Hermione had changed Del into a set of pajamas with snitches on them and had her seated in her lap, unconsciously rocking the pair.
"I have a present for you, Addy." Addy. Draco held in the snort; Hermione was set on a complete renaming. It was fine with him, the more of her biological parents they could erase the better, "This," Hermione dangled a small necklace from her fingers in front of the baby, "is for you. Your daddy found the materials," Daddy. Draco couldn't hear the rest of her sentence. Daddy. He was a father. And not the kind of father his had been. He was a daddy.
Draco didn't remember entering the room and crossing to the foot stool that accompanied the rocking chair. For the first time that night, Hermione did not slap away his hands when he reached for their daughter. After he settled her on his lap, he looked at the necklace looped around her neck. A little snake charm with a light green stone where the eye would be. "Did Mommy give that to you?" She babbled happily back and clutch at his hand, gripping the necklace. He could feel his and Hermione's magic radiating from the charm. He knew exactly where the necklace had come from, "The bracelet recognized her as our daughter."
Hermione nodded, "I had to charm the stone for August, but the chain twined itself together like my bracelet did." Hermione leaned forward to twirl one of Del's curls, the curls that were simultaneously so like her biological mother's and Hermione's, "She's really our daughter." Draco nodded, watching the baby's eyelids grow heavy and hearing her babbles slow. He stood and settled her into the crib. Closer, he could see that the white paint was worn on the front panel.
"Did you transfigure all this?" Draco asked turning away from the sleeping toddler to face his fiance-to-be.
Hermione bit her lip, but he kept his eyes trained on her. He knew she was a gifted witch. It was not impossible to transfigure a grain of sand into a full nursery set. But the guilty look on her face told him that had not been her method as he had thought. "After you told me about Addy," Draco's lips quirked into a small smile, "I got permission to travel during my free period, the one when you have divination." Hermione's eyes had a far away film glossed over them, "My parents kept all my baby furniture and some clothing, and toys."
Draco crossed to sit back on the footstool. He leaned forward, rocking towards her and slotting one knee between hers, "And the pajamas?"
Hermione blushed prettily, "I also stopped by Diagon Alley." He reached for her hands to unknot her fingers.
Cradling her hands in his own, Draco spoke softly, "I thought you didn't believe me?"
"I do like to be prepared for every contingency." A shy smirk quirked at the corners of Hermone's lips. Draco had to stifle a boisterous laugh, causing the smirk to slip from Hermione's features only to be replaced by a scowl, "If you wake her up, so help me, Dr-" He silenced her with his lips on hers. Just as she was beginning to kiss him back, Draco pulled away.
"I think it's time for the grand tour, don't you?" Hermione nodded vigorously.
Hermione had not spent much time poking around the large house to find the would-be nursery. She had climbed the stairs and opened the first door and there it was. The room was empty, but Hermione saw great promise. Through the large windows, the water was visible and as was a large pool that Hermione hoped was heated by magic. The room had an odd rectangular outcropping with a sloped roof. As soon as Hemione saw that feature, an image of her and Draco building a large, built-in desk for their daughter flew across her mind's eye. Her decision was easy.
Hermione didn't want to call it a mansion; she wasn't the type of girl whose family-to-be owned mansions. Nor did she want to call it a manor because that only served to remind her of the Wiltshire property that had only ever held danger for her. But the house was large. Draco opened the door to no less than eleven other bedrooms on the first floor. Only two of the bedrooms were occupied: the master bedroom by Narcissa and the second largest by Draco and Hermione for the night. The master bedroom was in the corner of the house, with a large, circular alcove with a spiral staircase leading up. At Hermione's confused expression, Draco answered with a simple "It's a Victorian."
The ground floor had an open plan, with a large kitchen and even larger living room. Off the kitchen was both a large breakfast nook and a larger dining room through a set of double doors. Draco pointed out the office they had arrived in before pulling her out onto the porch.
The siding was a soft blue with white trimmings, doors and windows. The pourched wrapped around the house to a large carport. Two sleek cars sat waiting. "You can drive?"
Draco nodded, "Lucius hated muggles, but, in his later years, he prefered the comfort of German engineering over a broomstick any day."
They lapsed into silence, listening to the water lapping at the shore behind the house and looking out at the well-manicured, but dark, grounds. "Your mother has a very nice home." Hermione let out on a wistful sigh. The house was very her. Open and airy, with reading nooks galore. She could see herself preparing lunches in the kitchen, sandwiches without the crusts, and following Draco room to room checking that their children were actually asleep and not just attempting to wait out their parents before recommencing their mischief.
"I actually meant to talk to you about that." Draco turned to lean against the railing before wrapping his arm around Hermione's front to pull her to him. Hermione happily twined her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest. She made a content hum, encouraging him to continue, "With all those charms, we're going to need more space than my German property." She felt a knot begin to form in her stomach, "So I thought I would give that to my mother."
Hermione nodded resolutely, "And after we come back we'll move into the Manor."
"The Manor?" Draco leaned back, looking between her eyes, "You want to live in the Manor?" Hermione opened her mouth, but no sound came out, "Hermione, if we're going to spend our lives together, you have to figure out how to snog me and put me in my place within the same week." She gave him a dirty look, so what if she had a tendency to alternate between being his romantic interest and giving him the silent treatment?
"I don't want to live in the Manor." Hermione stated firmly.
"Good," Draco kissed her forehead, "Because I just signed the papers to have it torn down." Hermione's eyes bulged without a word. Malfoy Manor had stood for centuries and he was simply tearing it down.
She had so many questions, but all she could manage was, "So where will we live?"
Draco looked around, his brow furrowed in concentration, "Here?" The way Hermione's face lit up was enough of an answer for him, "After all, you already set up the nursery."