For the first time since before she remembered, Hermione dreaded returning to school. Having left the Slytherin section of the eighth year dorms in her fit of rage, Hermione banished her golden room into oblivion. Now, Hermione would have to spend her nights in the Gryffindor room. Although Lavender was no longer there, Fay was, and Hermione was loath to return to the days of sharing a room. Luckily, Fay was getting ready for tonight at Lavender's new home.
Hermione wished she could say that that was all it was: a selfish desire to have her own space. But Hermine knew better. She had loved spending the weekend playing house with Draco. She had always planned on having children. Two or three, evenly spaced, after she had established her career. But now, every time she moved her wrist, those seven little charms reminded her that her two or three children would have siblings. At the Weasleys at New Years, that had terrified her, but after her weekend of toting Addy around on her hip, she was nothing short of excited to meet her other children.
The Malfoys had the money and the real estate that raising eight children would be a breeze financially. She wouldn't have to work, even though she wanted to, but she refused to leave her children with house elves all day. Hermione let out the soft sigh as she flicked her wand at her stomach.
Not only had she cast the memory altering spell on her stomach, but she'd taken to transfiguring it to give her a bit of a bump now that the weather was warmer and her preferred chunky styles were impractical. A ticking at her window pulled her from her thoughts: blonde babies with ringlet curls. Gathering up her skirt, Hermione crossed to the window to let the familiar eagle in. As always, Draco's owl dropped its package in her hand before immediately taking off.
Hermione grinned like a loon. Just like she never thought she'd enjoy being a stay at home mother with eight children, she never thought she would love receiving gifts from her boyfriend. She lifted the top off the box to reveal the most perfect set of dangling emerald earrings and a matching pendant.
When Hermione had told Draco she would be wearing an all-black ensemble to the Victory Ball; he had scoffed that the point of this ball was to celebrate the victory, not to mourn in style. She had promised to add jewelry, but Draco, and Lucy, for that matter, laughed. Hermione had never been one to accumulate jewelry, after all. With a roll of her eyes at the memory, Hermione slid the pieces on and spelled her hair into a slick off-centered low bun. Lucy had already done her makeup, dark eyes, and soft lips.
She caught her reflection in the mirror with a small smirk. The dress might have an open back, but the front was a simple boat neck. The pendant rested a dozen centimeters above the flair of her skirt, right above the bulge of her stomach. Hermione took a deep breath and gave her stomach a caress. She knew it was fake, but after tonight, the world wouldn't.
xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox
Draco already had a splitting headache, and the Ball hadn't even started. He hadn't even left the eighth year common room. Lucy had been upset that she could not attend the ball. Draco had had to promise her a full recount of the night's events. Then Blaise, his older friend, had to be convinced to attend. Apparently, he had pledged to himself that after all the nonsense of the last two balls, he would not attend this one, but Draco needed him in the Great Hall tonight; he was escorting the Golden Girl and announcing to the world that she was having his baby. Draco, however, would never admit such weakness. Instead, Draco threatened his friend with telling Pansy, who should be arriving shortly, tonight exactly what had happened to her favorite lipgloss Fourth Year.
Being in the heroes' procession (Draco snorted every time he thought that phrase) afforded him a few moments peace between when Blaise sulked off to find Pansy and when Hermione met him in the common room. They were to meet Theo and Lovegood as well as Potter and Weasel before their entrance in, he checked his watch, ten minutes. Before Draco could fret over whether to call up to his girl, she appeared at the top of the stairs.
Draco knew the small bump she had insisted on wearing was fake, nothing more than a magic trick, but he still felt a thrill pulse through him at the sight of it. He worried about the heels she was wearing; they brought her eye level from his chest to his shoulder, but, Merlin, she looked good. The dress ended below her knees and camouflaged her manufactured bump.
"You really didn't have to get me jewelry," Hermione insisted, gliding into his outstretched arms. Instead of a response, Draco nuzzled below her ear with her nose and insisted that they begin the trek to the Great Hall.
Much to Draco's chagrin, they were met with the entirety of the Order. He had been hoping to time it so that they'd arrive after most of the group had entered, but of course, they arrived to a full crowd of heroes glaring up at them. Only Hermione's arm twined through his kept him moving forward.
They descended the grand stairs to the entrance hall filled with war heroes. Hermione confidently fluttered among her friends, pulling Draco with her. Although Hermione never once let go of him, her friends only ever gave him a cursory greeting before turning their full attention to Hermione. Some hadn't even granted him even that courtesy. He supposed he had better get used to being Mr. Hermione Granger.
The doors opened, and the war heroes streamed in. The junior members of the Order went first, followed by the older veterans. The rest filed out, leaving the Golden Trio alone with their dates. Draco knew this was going to be a long night when the Brown twit took it upon herself to entertain the group.
"And what with planning the wedding!" Lavender finished her overblown story about how little Rosie was already walking. Draco did not know a lot about babies, but he was fairly certain babies did not walk in this soon. The way Ginny pinched the bridge of her nose told him he was right. "But oh! Ginny! I hope you don't mind! We're planning our wedding for early November! I've always loved winter colors, but I didn't want to cast too many warming charms. They make my hair frizzy - I'm sure you know all about that, Hermione." Draco wrapped his arm firmer around Hermione's waist, "I was sure you'd be thanking me, Hermione, Ron insisted we invite you, even if you will be a Malfoy at that point."
Hermione looked at him, a mischievous look in her eye. He nodded his head. They had been planning on telling the others of their plan - the public story of the plan - tonight. Might as well be sooner rather than later.
"That is so kind of you, Lav." Hermione laced a false cheerfulness through her voice. Ginny, who had been watching disinterestedly, perked up, ready for a show. Potter, on the other hand, looked like he was bracing himself for battle. "But, I'm afraid I really will have to check my schedule!" He almost laughed at her mocking pout, "Draco and I, well, we're leaving for a bit." She gave Draco a shy smile, "We'll be around as long as we can, but," she giggled, looking Lavender in the eyes and resting the hand that wasn't lightly grazing Draco's hip on her stomach, "I won't be able to travel much later than June." Draco felt a small smile tugging at his lips, not at his wife-to-be's pronouncement, but at the astonished look on Potter's, Weasley's and Brown's faces. Ginny, however, squealed and flew at the expectant parents, looping one arm around each of their shoulders. Draco, surprised, had to take a step back to steady the two women and himself.
Ginny pulled back, her face alight with happiness for her friend, and, apparently, for him, "I knew there was something you weren't telling me, but I never thought the rumors were true! Hermione! Do you really have to leave, though? You and Fleur could raise the babies together!" Ginny gushed, sounding a bit too much like her mother for Hermione's tastes.
"I have to." Hermione shyly tucked an escaped curl behind her ear, "I was accepted into the programme I wanted. The government and civil justice programme. In the States. We have to go in now, but we can talk about this later." She turned, not giving them the option, and pulled Draco along.
xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox
Hermione felt high. The boys (and Lavender and Ginny) knew about her pregnancy, and none of them lashed out. She glided into the Great Hall with Draco's arm held firmly in place around her waist by her smaller fingers. When the doors had opened, Ron, still with that stupid shocked expression plastered to his face, and Lavender had walked through first. Hermione and Draco had queued up to enter next when Draco had tried to slide his arm from around her. With a ferocity he often forgot she possessed, Hermione wrenched his arm back into place.
He groaned that they were pushing their luck with the Order's acceptance of him. She all but hissed back, "I'm going to be your wife and the mother of your children, they're going to have to learn to accept you."
"And if they don't?" He had looked down at her, meeting her eyes with a surprising vulnerability rarely seen in those steel eyes.
"I will make them." She extended her neck to press a kiss against his jaw, "I have been known to force change where needed."
He would have laughed, but Weasley and Brown had finally cleared out of the way, and the crowd's full attention had turned to them. Including the reporters who gleefully clicked away, snapping pictures of their beloved War Heroine cavorting with the disgraced Malfoy heir. His witch had already scandalized the wizarding world with her mere kiss to his chin, but she was not done. Before he could escort her past the threshold, Hermione turned to face him, cradled her stomach once again, and kissed him dead on the lips. Draco heard the cameras launch into overdrive when his arm wrapped firmer around her, and he returned her kiss.
"Oi!" A voice called from behind them. Potter had awoken from his stupor, "Keep it moving!" Hermione giggled, pulling away and smoothing the shoulders of Draco's dress robes.
"Miss Granger?" Draco offered her his arm with a cheeky grin.
"Not for much longer."
xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox
Draco had not realized at the last Order ball how in-demand Hermione's hand had been. If he had thought to worry that his presence on her arm would dampen requests from other partners, it would have been for naught. No sooner had they released each other to clap at the end of the opening dance than Potter was there to whisk her away.
To his surprise, however, Draco also had requests. First came Ginny, then Andromeda, followed by Mrs. Weasley, and to his chagrin, Lavender. Each congratulated him and welcomed them into their extended family. It wasn't until Ginny rescued him, that he found Hermione again.
She was twirling in wide circles with Harry, giggling like the young girl she had never had the luxury to be. Hermione finally noticed that he watched her with a sad smile. Her glee slid from her face, and their circles tightened, allowing conversation, "You're sure about this?"
Hermione huffed, "I don't want-"
"I don't want to fight." He said quickly. After seven, almost eight, years of friendship, Harry knew to stop her before she could get started, "I told Ron. We fought the war so there wouldn't be sides. And now I might actually mean it. Malfoy clearly likes you." Despite his reluctance, Hermione could hear the acceptance, "But are you ready? To latch yourself to him and be a mum and move thousands of kilometers away?"
Hermione recognized serious Harry. It was the same Harry that had came after her when Ron and Lavender first got together. "He's it." Giddiness flooded back onto her face, "I never thought I would be thrilled to be a teen mum and with Draco Malfoy, no less. I could never see myself following wizarding tradition: graduate, marry, reproduce, in short order. But when the mediwitch told me I was pregnant," The smile splitting her face in half was genuine. The night they retrieved Addy, she could do little more than alternate between pressing soft kisses to Draco's lips and murmuring that they had a baby with this same smile on her face. "I saw it. The house with the front porch and the lawn. A little girl with curls running around. Drace and I tucking her in at night. I saw it." Finally, Harry offered her a smile, "And as for the moving, I'd be going anyway. McGonagall and I have worked all year for this acceptance. It was my first choice. I'd be leaving with or without this baby or Draco's marriage requirement."
"I'm happy you're happy, even if it's with Malfoy." The slur had none of its usual animosity.
"What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you?"
"Months spent camping in the woods seems to ring a bell."
They both chuckled, "Now do me a favor and spin me over to Kingsley."
Draco, meanwhile, found himself sitting at a table, balancing a sleeping Teddy (who had refused to be left at home) on his knee and chatting with Mr. Weasley.
This was it, "Mr. Weasley, you knew Hermione's parents?"
Arthur nodded, "I knew Jean and Henry well." Draco looked out at Hermione as she passed from Potter to the Minister, "They would be proud of the man you've become. A long way from that brat at Flourish and Blotts six years ago." Draco nodded along, "I think they would be thrilled to welcome you into their family. Too bad they aren't here to see how happy you've made their daughter or meet their grandchild."
"Well, I'm trying to fix that." Mr. Weasley appraised the younger man skeptically, "I could use a couple of memories of Hermione, from a parent's perspective." Mr. Weasely nodded along at Draco's explanation. When Draco concluded, Mr. Weasley looked around and pressed his wand to his temple.
Hermione giggled at Kingsley's story, waiting for the laughter to die down before she broached her real topic of conversation.
"Remember how much you trusted Harry, Ron, and I when we went hunting for Horcruxes last year?" Kingsley nodded, trepidation written clearly on his face.
"Are there more?" He whispered urgently.
"No. But now I have a task potentially as important to keeping the peace," Kingsley, assuaged that there were no more magical vessels containing a dark lord, relaxed under her fingers, "I'll need documentation from MACUSA and a covert portkey." She could see the question on the tip of her tongue, "I can't tell you any more than that."
Kingsley studied her for a beat where time stood still for Hermione, "Anything you need."
She had just enough time to promise, "I'll floo you later with details," before Ginny hurried over to her with her face nearly splitting in half from her smile.
"Hermione! Fleur! She's in labor!"
xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox - xoxox - (()) - xoxox
Draco had no idea how he ended up with this gaggle of redheads in a private waiting room at St. Mungo's. He especially didn't know how he ended up there without Hermione. He guessed it had something to do with his proximity to the new grandfather. Really, he wanted to hover at the floo, certainly, Hermione would be along soon, but George had ushered him into a seat. Draco didn't mind the bloke, he had been pleasant at Christmas, but now he was chattering nervously about his joke shop. This was Hermione's specialty, not his.
When Hermione finally arrived, a full ten minutes after Draco, she gave him a brilliant smile before crossing to him. If she thought it was odd that he had beat her to the hospital, she didn't say anything. Instead, she tucked herself between Draco and George, physically manipulating Draco's arm to wrap around her, "You'd think we could have one uneventful ball."
He chuckled, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, "What about your time at Hogwarts promised 'uneventful?' After everything settles down, we can throw as many balls as you'd like."
"You're tearing down the manor, remember?" Her voice was laced with laughter, "Where could we possibly host a ball."
"You have so much to learn," He shook his head pityingly and stuck his nose in the air, "The Malfoys own several properties fit for such an occasion." She didn't answer, only laughed. "How long do you think it will be?"
Hermione pursed her lips in thought, "According to Ginny, Bill only thought to send Mrs. Weasley a Patronus after Fleur yelled out a particularly troubling threat. So at this point, it could be minutes, it could be days."
"I can only imagine the horrific threats you'll be making in a couple of months." Draco, keeping up their charade, laughed, but there was a tightness in his voice that drew Hermione's attention.
"Not getting cold feet, are you?"
"Never. Not with you, Granger."
"You won't be able to call me that much longer." Hermione hummed.
Draco looked down at her to consider. "Nah. You'll always be Granger to me."
A door clanged open, and a hush fell over the crowd. From their seats, they could not see him, but they could hear the pride in Bill's voice as he rattled off the baby's statistics. "Her name is Victoire Charlotte!"
The group took turns cramming into the tiny hospital room. Hermione remained content under Draco's arm as the first group, the new grandparents and godparents, Gabrielle and Charlie. Mrs. Weasley was ecstatic, not only because of her first granddaughter but also because the birth had solidified Charlie's decision to move back to England after the war. Good, Hermione thought, Maybe now they won't notice her departure.
Next, the rest of the siblings joined, leaving only Harry, Draco, and Hermione in the waiting room. With a long-suffer sigh, Draco stood, "I'm going to find some food. Want anything?" Harry and Hermione both shook their heads, and the blonde left.
Harry fell into Draco's seat, "How far along are you?" Harry asked, his voice soft, but his eyes glinted. The same glint he had had when he was chasing Draco down in Sixth year.
"The healer said I was four months along."
"You're smaller than Fluer was." Hermione knew the skepticism would come; she had just hoped she'd be across an ocean when it did.
"Am I? I was still underweight from last year." She shrugged, "And some women carry differently."
"That's it?" Harry leaned forward, resting his weight on his elbows braced against his knees, "Because you're the last person I expected to have an unplanned pregnancy. You plan everything."
"Do you really want the details of why I forgot my potion and the charm for a full twenty-four hours after?"
"No." Harry shuddered, "But you do know you don't have to do anything? At least not alone."
"Yes, Harry, I know I'll always have you," She leaned her head against his shoulder, "But now I have Draco too."
He kissed the top of her head, "I don't know if he can ever deserve you, 'Mione."
"Probably not," She chuckled, "But I love him anyway."
They were interrupted by the return of the Weasley clan. Hermione cocked her head: nothing short of an act of God would have torn Molly away from her granddaughter. It was Arthur who explained, "The mediwitch took her to the nursery. Fleur needed her rest."
"Mum," Ginny pulled Harry to his feet, "We're going to head to Grimmauld Place. Breakfast tomorrow at nine?" The plans were made. Hermione had taken so long to arrive because she, and only she, it appeared, had the foresight to plan a return trip to Hogwarts. She and Ginny had hurried to McGonagall to arrange for a floo connection tomorrow at noon from the Burrow.
The party split up. Harry and Ginny were the first to leave. George and Ron left together, off to their significant others. Percy promised to escort the Delacours back to Shell Cottage, where they had been staying for the past few weeks in anticipation of the baby's arrival. Charlie waited for his parents, grumbling about how he had to find his own place.
"Hermione dear, would you like to spend the night?" Molly chirped happily.
"No, thank you, Mrs. Weasley," She looked around the room, "Draco and I will probably go stay with his mother."
"Oh, well, alright, dear," nothing could ruin Mrs. Weasley's high, "We will leave the floo open for a bit, just in case."
Hermione gave her thanks and her goodbye hugs and then went off to find Draco. She asked a mediwitch if she had seen a tall, blonde, probably brooding and immediately received directions.
She found him standing in front of the glass wall of the nursery. Hermione smiled softly at him as she approached. "This doesn't look like something to eat."
Draco inclined his head towards her but kept his eyes fixed straight ahead. Hermione walked up beside him and looped her arm through his. "She was so little when she was born." He spoke softly, just to her, "We were worried - well, when we weren't worried about what her existence meant, we worried about whether she would survive. Her parents weren't exactly nurturing or attentive, especially before she was born." Hermione nodded along. "Then they died and then her features developed," Dark hair and blue eyes, "It was my responsibility, but it wasn't something I could do alone -"
"You aren't alone anymore." Hermione pressed a kiss to his bicep, nuzzling her nose into the muscle.
"And she isn't either," Draco gestured forward with his nose. Hermione saw her then, a shock of blonde hair amongst the sea of brown and black. Victoire Charlotte Weasley. "Our daughter will have a cousin who isn't a total dunce!"
"Cousin?"
Draco sighed, "I've accepted that they will be in our lives for years to come. So I'm glad Addy will have a cousin whose parentage leads me to believe she won't be a total moron."
"Don't be mean to Rose." Hermione admonished, but Draco knew her heart wasn't in it. "But speaking of the Weasleys, breakfast there at nine?" Draco nodded, "Can we go see our baby now?" Draco chuckled, finally turning to face Hermione.
He wrapped his arms around her, kissed her forehead, and then rested the bridge of his nose against her forehead. "Nothing would make me happier, Granger."