welcome back to ch. 30 of this little tale of mine. I can't believe how far this story has taken me. Originally I outlined it to be about 18 chapters, then expanded it to 28... oops. I am currently reworking my outline for the 4th time and will let you know soon approximately how many chapters total to expect.
Thank you as always for all the love. Comments and follows make my day.
Warning this chapter is smutty.
"Seriously Theo. What are you even doing here?" Hermione asked as she fluttered around her kitchen. The table was set, wine was chilled and Draco would be back any moment with the food she had ordered from her favorite French restaurant. Bryony, Scorpius and Teddy were all playing in the backyard.
"I need your help Granger." he whined as he plopped down at the table.
"With what exactly?" She asked as she stopped to focus on him. She had had everything set when he had just barged in her floo. This time he admitted that he had added himself to her wards last time he had been there. She made a mental note to reset them later.
"Luna." He said looking desperate.
"What about her?"
"Tell me what to do! I have no clue what's going on. Saturday she pulled me into the floo with her and snogged me senseless then pushed me back out an hour later. She's shown up at my place twice now. The first time she dragged me out of the house and apporated me to the woods somewhere and declared I was to help her look for something called a gulping plimpy. I don't even know what that's supposed to be!" He groaned and began pulling his hair, "the second time she declared that I have a nargle infestation at the Manor and I needed to plant certain plants near each door." He looked up beseechingly, "please just tell me what's going on!"
Hermione sighed, she really didn't have time for this but she knew she had to try and help her new friend. "Luna is" she paused as she searched for the right words to explain her quirky friend, "one of a kind. She's definitely unlike other witches you know. Her actions Saturday and what you've told me of since then tell me she's interested in you. If you are as well I would just go with it. If you don't just tell her so, nicely." Hermione shrugged, "she just knows things though. If you truly had a problem with her she would have never sat with you or snogged you. She certainly wouldn't have come to your house if she thought you weren't interested."
"What do you mean she knows things?" He asked, his interest peaked. Hermione was right, he was interested in the strange witch. He just didn't know what to do.
"She's never come out and said she's a seer. She knows my thoughts on the subject of divination so I doubt she ever would. Sometimes it's just things that show she is very observant. Example: at the beginning of 5th year she comes up to me and congratulates me and tells me she's happy that we finally got together. She never said Fred's name but she knew. I had never spoken to her before that moment and not even George and Angelina knew about us yet. It was actually a little unnerving at the time. But she knew." Hermione then laughed, "actually that reminds me. Last year she informed me a certain Theodore Nott would be the one to nominate me for Minister. Sounded absolutely crazy at the time. I was in the DRCMC with no intentions of ever moving and hadn't seen or heard of you since 6th year. Now I know for a fact Kings wants me to replace him in a few years and here you are. Doesn't sound so crazy now, does it?" The front door just opened and Draco came in carrying multiple bags of food.
"What doesn't sound so crazy?" He asked as he hauled all the food to the kitchen, "why do we have enough food here to feed a small army?" He paused when he saw the table set for 7, "and 2 extra settings?"
"Theo nominating me for Minister." Hermione replied as she got up and began going through the bags.
"What? That would require him to sit on the Wizengamot which he has vowed he will never do. And you still haven't answered. Who else is coming tonight?" Draco asked pouting. He didn't like not knowing what was going on and all of a sudden he felt like he had been led here under false pretenses.
"According to Luna it's going to happen one day."
"Oh. I have no idea what you two are going on about." Draco shook his head, he knew better than to say anything about Granger's odd friend. "What are you doing here Theo?" Draco asked, changing the subject. "Is he one of the ones invited to dinner?"
"No he's not. So you need to go!" Hermione responded by charming the morning's Daily Prophet still sitting on the counter into a roll and sending it to hit the Nott heir on the side of the head.
"Ouch! What's that for?" He exclaimed as the newspaper backed a few inches away but still sat poised to strike again.
"For not calling first. Now go!" She pointed to the fireplace in the other room.
"But Hermi.. ow! Ok ok I'm going, geez." The paper swatted him all the way into the other room and didn't stop until he had the floo powder in his hand.
"So, now that he's gone do you want to explain the extra settings?" Draco asked as he stopped chuckling at his girlfriend and best mates' antics, "and why do we have Teddy again?"
"Because Andy asked and she never asks. Honestly I think she has a date. I think she asked me because she knew I wouldn't make a big deal of it."
"Interesting. So who else is coming?"
"An old friend is in town and wants to get together. Tonight was the only night he was available."
"He?" Draco raised his brow at that.
"Oh don't give me that look. It's not like that, never really was no matter what the paper said."
"What the paper said?" Then it hit him. "Are we having dinner with Krum?" He paled slightly. This wasn't good. In 4th year he was definitely very vocal about his feelings towards muggleborns, especially in front of the Drumstrang students. He remembered ridiculing Krum for bringing a muggleborn to the Yule Ball and again when she was the one that went into the Black Lake during the 2nd task.
"I don't think… " he was interrupted by the sound of the floo activating.
Hermione smiled brightly and squeezed his arm, "it will be fine, I promise. " and took off towards the floo.
Draco reluctantly followed his witch into the other room. He got there in time to see the famous seeker wrap his witch in a huge bear hug. It brought a flare of jealousy but he tried to suppress it. Another man stepped through the floo and just stood there a moment chuckling at the two. Upon seeing Draco he stepped around them and held out his hand, "those two." He shook his head, "Yordan Tenev. Pleasure to meet you." As a general rule Draco didn't get star struck, it came from being raised to believe he was better than everyone else and then realizing that name means nothing as he got older. But he was shaking hands with the captain and chaser of the Bulgarian National Team.
"Draco Malfoy" was all he could get out before the bear finally released his witch and turned to him.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Yordan gently kiss his witches cheek. Krum however was now staring at him intently, "you look familiar. '' Draco noticed that his accent was nowhere near as pronounced as it had been. Granger turned quickly back and began the reintroductions, "Victor, this is Draco Malfoy. He was at Hogwarts with me. You probably recognize him, he was in my year but Slytherin. " he shook the burly Bulgarians hand that was offered, hoping he would never recognize him.
"Fraternizing with the enemy again?" They both chuckled at that and Draco was thankful to see Yordan didn't get whatever was being referenced as well.
Granger turned to lead them to sit in the living room as she explained, "when Ron realized who my date was for the Yule Ball he threw a fit, as only Ron can, and declared I was 'fraternizing with the enemy'. Go ahead and have a seat and I'll call the kids in." He watched as the two men took a seat on the sofa and settled in, obviously they had been here before. Thankfully they didn't sit in silence for long because the children quickly came in, Bryony saw who was sitting on the sofa and launched herself at the big man, squealing. Teddy came in next and hugged Yordan but was much calmer about it. The children then switched places as Scorpius stood in the doorway watching the scene. Hermione came up behind him and brought him further into the room to introduce him to the players. While Draco hadn't taken Scorpius to a professional game Scorpius had listened to games with him on the wireless and recognized the names.
"You both play for the Bulgarian National team. Dad and I listened to your game on the wireless last week. That catch last week sounded amazing. " the young boy said breathlessly. "And you are one of the highest scoring Chasers in the playoffs this year, already scoring over 1000 points in the first 4 games alone." Scorpius looked truly impressed.
Both men chuckled good naturedly at the child's enthusiasm.
"Why thank you young man, alvays nice to meet a fan."
Dinner passed in a bit of a blur with both the players telling stories and laughing with the kids. Draco enjoyed himself but kept waiting for Krum to remember him and it was as Yordan was kissing Grangers cheek that the burly man pulled him to the side, "took a moment, almost didn't recognize you vithout the sneer." Draco stiffened, "however it's obvious you've changed or Mia wouldn't be with you. And she looks happy. Just treat her right, yes?"
"Absolutely." He shook the man's hand as he looked him in the eye.
He turned back to Granger, "Mia it's vonderful to see you. Vill you be there Saturday?"
"Not this time."
"You never watch me play anymore, you break my heart." He pouted.
"Tell you what, you make it to the Cup and I'll watch." She replied cheekily.
"For you Mia I will." He pledged with his hand over his heart, "I assume the extra tickets are for you then?" Krum said, turning back to Draco. Startled Granger answered for him, "yes though he didn't know it yet. I was going to tell him he had to earn them." The witch then had the nerve to wink at him as the others outright laughed at her. "I hate to ask but can we get just one more?" She looked at Draco to explain, "I planned for you, Scorpius and Zabini but I forgot all about Theo."
"Don't let him know you forgot him. You think he's bad now? He thinks you forgot him and he'll be here everyday annoying you, just to make sure you never forget him."
"Of course Hermione, I'll add another to your list. If we can swing it we'll see you Sunday at the Burrow. " Yordan said as he placed a hand on Krum's lower back and followed him into the floo.
"So just how am I supposed to earn these tickets?" Draco asked as they walked into Hermione's room and shut the door. This was the second attempt to get to bed, the first was interrupted by quiet squeals that they discovered to be a pillow fight. It had taken a little bribery then threats of separation but all three kids were finally asleep in Bryony's room. Draco threw up a one way silencing charm that made it so that they could hear any outside noise but no one could hear them. He stalked towards his witch with a gleam in his eye that promised a good time was to be had tonight. Hermione bit her lower lip as she watched him walk towards her.
"I'll leave that up to you." Hermione said as she watched him approach slowly. She was standing by her bed waiting to see what he was going to do. They had only been together 5 months but by know he already knew how to drive her wild. He stalked up to her, gave her a rather chaste kiss and laughed at her frustration. After another chaste kiss he gently pushed her back onto the bed. He quickly leaned over her to begin kissing her for real this time. His mouth was all over her, going between kissing her lips and sucking on that spot on her throat that he knew drove her wild. Meanwhile his hands moved with the same determination but less force. He snaked his hand up her shirt and began by gently massaging her breasts through the thin fabric of her bra. He knew her so well, he knew when she started to get frustrated because he was holding back. As she growled in frustration he relented and pulled her up to get her shirt and bra off. As soon as her now pebbled nipples broke free he moved to suck roughly on one while his hand toyed with the other. After he decided it had received enough attention he switched sides. Again he waited until she gave a growl of frustration before he finally moved down and vanished her jeans and knickers. He slowly began moving down her body kissing and nipping at her soft skin as he went. Once he got to her folds he stopped and began kissing her thighs.
"You're doing this on purpose!" She growled yet again.
Smirking up at her, "and?" Was all he said, now not even touching her at all. Hermione's patience finally ran out, she reached down, placed her hand on the back of his head and pushed it down to exactly where she wanted it, "get to it already."
Smirking again, this time against her now drenched folds he murmured "as you wish." He finally relented and began gently lapping at her folds. While still not rushing he worked his way to what he knew to be her sweet spot and applied just the right pressure causing her to climax, seeing stars. As she was still coming down he gently pushed one finger and then a second into her tight core and turned them just right to hit that spot inside and had her coming again just a minute later. He loved hearing her moaning his name. Draco was content to lay between her thighs all night but Hermione had other plans.
The sounds she was making were driving him nuts but he wouldn't be detoured, she would get her pleasure first. "Draco, please. I need you." Was all it took to change his mind. Hearing the desire and desperation in her voice he relented and began crawling his way back up her body, kissing and nipping at her the entire way. He vanished his clothes then he lined himself up with her. All thoughts of slow and sweet went out the window. He slammed himself into her entirely groaning at her tightness. He set a brutal pace but quickly realized if he kept it up he would come entirely too soon so he slowed just a bit causing Hermione to groan in frustration yet again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to use her legs to force him faster and harder. When that failed she used all of her rather considerable strength and rolled them so that she was now straddling him. She didn't even pause but set a rather fast pace riding Draco's cock. Not to allow himself to come first Draco reached down to her clit and began rubbing small circles that had her coming a third time. This time he felt her clench down on his cock and couldn't stop himself, groaning her name as he spilled his seed deep within her. She laid herself down on his chest, spent. After a while she moved so she was half on her side half draped over him and cast a cleaning charm and then spelled the blankets to cover them.
Draco rubbed circles gently on her back for a few moments and she was almost asleep when he asked, "So about those tickets?"
Head still on his chest he could feel her smile, "that earned you one, you have till Saturday to earn the other 3."
Saturday morning had Scorpius up at the crack of dawn because he was just too excited, he had never been to a professional quidditch game. Draco was just as excited. He hadn't been to a game since before the war. As much as he was looking forward to it for himself he was even more excited to see everything through Scorpius' eyes. Scorpius wanted to rush right to the pitch but Draco made him slow down and eat a good breakfast knowing that being a National game it could last a very long time. They were just finishing up breakfast when Theo came through the floo.
"Good morning Malfoy's! Beautiful day for a game isn't it?"
Once they were ready to go they walked to the floo and Draco called out, "National Stadium private boxes"
Granger had told him that the tickets had granted them access to the private floo and entrance. However she forgot to tell him whose name the tickets were under. They stepped out of the floo into a small room where a pock marked wizard with bright orange hair was standing behind a small podium, behind him was a wall with food vendors on one side, merchandise vendor on the other and a door leading to the boxes beyond. The three men stepped out of the floo and to the side where Draco dusted the ash and soot off of them both before stepping to the podium. The young wizard recognized Draco immediately and dropped his smile into a snear. "This area is for reservations only. You need to go back out the way you came." He jabbed his finger towards the floo.
Draco of old would have bristled at the tone alone but he didn't want to cause a scene in front of his son. "It's a good thing that we have reservations then." But then it dawned on Draco he didn't know who the reservations were under. "She didn't tell whose name they were under. I know they are from Vicktor Krum." The sneer didn't change, Draco looked at Theo, "maybe under Potter or Weasley's name?"
"Harry Potter or Ron Weasley?"
At that the wizard scoffed, "you can't just throw out names and hope you get lucky, as if either of them would associate with the likes of you."
Draco was beginning to lose what little patience he had. Thankfully at that moment the door to the back opened and Draco was never so happy to see the familiar head of red hair followed closely by her scarheaded husband.
"There you guys are! I was starting to get worried that you got lost. Come on back, everyone else is here." Weaslette exclaimed. Upon seeing the couple the wizard's countenance changed completely. He knew who they were and probably hero worshipped them by the look on his face.
Draco grimaced, "we would have been on time but Granger never told me whose name the seats were under."
"Hers. Even though she doesn't come, it seems to make it easier. Maxo, why didn't you let them in? We told you we were expecting 3 more, it should have been obvious they were with us." Ginny chastised the young wizard. Maxo quickly changed his attitude, gesturing for them to come in but Draco could still see the distrust in his eyes.
Ginny must have seen it too because she walked between Draco and Theo, grabbed each of their arms, "the fun is this way guys." And dragged them towards the door.
Harry said nothing to the attendant but shot him a glare. Then he reached down and grabbed Scorpius under his arms and lifted the small boy to his broad shoulders asking him if he was excited and who his favorite player was.
Ginny led them to box 3 and opened the door. Inside was a sea of white, green and red banners and jerseys. They might have been in England but these English witches and wizards were rooting for Bulgaria. Draco had purposely dressed himself and Scorpious in neutral colors so as to not offend either side but even if he hadn't gotten the tickets from Krum he would have cheered for Bulgaria.
Bryony and Teddy both came running up to where Harry put Scorpius down and immediately began giving him a tour of the box. They had obviously been here before. Draco and Theo joined in on the conversation about England's chances of winning (slim to nil) Bulgaria was top-seated and the favorite to win the Cup while England was 10th in the league. Soon the game began and Draco was lost to the thrill of it. In the beginning he made Scorpius sit next to him so he could explain everything but Bryony sitting on his other side beat him to it. Soon they moved off to the side together and Draco just enjoyed his first game in years.
Two and a half hours later the game ended with Krum catching the snitch making the score a rather embarrassing 1050 to 220. Yordan scored 65 times himself, securing his position as top scorer in the league. After the team took their victory lap around the stadium Krum, Yordan and one of the Beaters named Vasil Ivanov came to their box. Inanov held out his hand and pulled Bryony onto his broom in front of him, Yordan did the same with Teddy and Krum looked at Draco for permission, "can he go for a lap?" Draco looked down at his son who at some point had been given a jersey and raised an eyebrow at him, "well go on then." Ron was closest to the edge so he lifted the small boy up in front of Krum. Behind him Draco saw a flash go off and he groaned as he realized a photographer had come into the box. Before he could act he heard a booming voice from behind call out "traitors! All of you!" Draco turned to see the Minister of Magic himself, Kingsley Shaklebolt. Draco was relieved to see the man smiling as he continued, "as a proud English wizard I'm appalled by the lack of nationalism shown in this room. Seriously, you guys couldn't even pretend to support our team?"
Bold as day Ginny marched up to the Minister and hugged the man, "we'll support them when we've got a decent team." Shaklebolt laughed his deep booming laugh as he hugged her back, "well I'm told the top two picks for Chaser for this year's team turned down the position due to pregnancy. I'm hoping next time that won't be an issue?" Angelina stepped forward at that point and answered for her, "Absolutely. Next time it will be England all the way."
"Good to hear. Now did you get the jerseys I sent over?"
"Of course Kings but I think they must have misread your order. No problem though I charmed them to the correct colors and positions." Ginny winked up at the man as he chuckled again.
"Hey, you can't blame a man for trying. There's too many lions here as it is. I figured you could use a little green in your lives." Shaklebolt began making his way around the room shaking hands and finally seemed to notice the new faces in the room, "aw, finally I'm not the lone snake I see." Was all he said as he shook Theo and Blaise's hands. When he got to Draco he leaned in a bit and added in an undertone, "I know you usually kill stories about your family in the Prophet but I would let that picture run." Draco just nodded as he shook the older man's hand.
Later that afternoon Draco left Scorpius with Tippy and took his mother to Diagon Alley. Like himself she usually avoided the Alley because there were still those who held her marriage to Lucius against her. However, thinking about what the Minister said Draco realized that the public might be a bit more accepting of his relationship with Hermione if they saw him as the man he is rather than the boy they remembered. So when his mother mentioned needing help redecorating Grimmauld Place he offered to accompany her to Madam Defoe's design studio to commission her to redo the entire house. Rather than flooing directly into the studio he took them in through the Leaky Cauldron. He waved at Longbottom's wife as they walked by and pointedly ignored the curious glace his mother gave him at the exchange. Madam Defoe seemed hesitant to work with them but like most people she quickly reconsidered when Draco pointed out that she would get great publicity saying she designed the Ancient and Noble House of Black. Also Draco offered to pay double her normal rate if she could get it done by the new year in two weeks.
After all of that was settled Draco offered to take Narcissa to dinner. Draco led her across the street to a small restaurant that had been a favorite before the war. Like all the shops on the Alley it had shut down during the war but was back open now and you couldn't tell it had ever been closed. Since it was rather early Draco assumed it would be easy to get a table. A thought that was confirmed when he opened the door and saw over half the tables empty. They walked up to the front door and Draco was happily surprised to see Nicholas, the same maitre d from years ago.
"Good afternoon, Nicholas"
Upon seeing the mother and son duo walking into his restaurant the elderly maitre d stiffened and his smile changed to a grimace.
"Afternoon." He said stiffly. When it became apparent he wasn't going to say anything else Draco pushed, "two for dinner please."
Without even looking down, "we are booked completely."
"Booked?" The place was half empty, Draco felt his mother stiffen next to him. He had hoped that it wouldn't be like this still after all these years but wasn't truly surprised. "I see," Without letting it show how much it bothered him he turned to guide his mother out, "I'm sorry that's the way it is then."
Draco led his mother out the door and down the Alley, trying not to let his anger get the best of him. As awful as it was he was thankful this happened now rather than later. He had been thinking about Ginny's words from the Burrow earlier in the week. He had been planning on taking Granger somewhere in the Alley and the restaurant they had just left had been his first choice. He couldn't imagine being turned away with her.
Soon they were back in the Leaky and he was about to grab the floo powder when Hannah called to him. "Hey Draco!" He turned slowly back towards the bar, "Mrs Malfoy" the petite witch came bustling from behind the bar, "Neville was just telling me the other day he wanted to owl you." She turned towards his mother, "Harry mentioned that you were moving to the old Black home. Neville wanted to let you know if you needed any help moving everything from the Manor greenhouses to your new home he would be happy to help when he's back on Easter hols."
Draco looked at his mother and could tell she had no idea who Neville was or why he would offer to help, so he quickly interjected, "Hannah is married to Neville Longbottom, Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts."
"Of course. Thank you, I will keep that in mind." Narcissa said stiffly.
"Seriously he gets bored out of his mind during the hols while I'm here. He would love to help. So what were you two up to today?" Again Draco saw his mother stiffen. He knew Hannah was just being polite trying to make small talk but Narcissa had gotten used to people not being polite to her.
"As you can imagine Grimmauld Place is rather antiquated. So we went to see Madam Defoe. She is going to renovate and redesign the place, making it more of a home."
"Oh that's wonderful." She exclaimed, "I've never been but Neville went once and said it's so dark and dreary, I was hoping you would take it and bring it back to life." A patron called her back to the bar but before she left she added, "I know it's early but if you haven't plans for dinner Cook just pulled out a huge Shepards pie. I still can't get Molly to part with her recipe but it's pretty close." Hannah called over her shoulder.
"Well Mother, how does Shepards pie sound?" Narcissa didn't say anything but allowed him to steer her towards a table towards the back of the room. As they sat they heard a ruckus start near the bar but couldn't hear what was the cause. After his mother was seated Draco sat as well then looked to the bar where Hannah had her wand pulled on a patron. He couldn't hear what was said but when the short bald man pointed to where he was sitting it became clear what his complaint was. Draco was happy his mother was faced away from the bar so she wouldn't see and hopefully she wouldn't hear anything either. He watched as the wizard sat back down and quieted when faced with Hannah's wand.
"Draco." His mother said his name, gently calling his attention back to her.
"Yes Mother?"
"What is going on?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Draco asked to avoid answering right away. He knew what she was asking and wasn't sure he was ready to explain just yet. Narcissa just raised an eyebrow and waited for him to answer. She was much quieter and less dramatic since the war. Years under the Imperius curse had made it so Draco didn't really know his mother as he thought he had.
"It was pointed out to me that it's not fair to Granger that we only go out in muggle London." He paused but at the look his mother gave him he quickly added, "Not by her, of course. She is perfectly comfortable there since it's where she grew up. However at some point our relationship is going to come to light and when it does my reputation could negatively affect her. I don't want that to happen. So I am hopeful that by reintroducing myself to Wizarding society it might not be made to be such a big deal. Granger won't care either way. She has been slandered in the media so often that to her it's just another day. But I don't want our relationship to negatively affect her family and friends. Especially not Bryony or Scorpius."
"It is serious then?"
Draco didn't even try to mask his incredulous look, "of course it is. Do you think for even a moment I would have introduced her to Scorpius if it wasn't?"
"So the trip to the Malfoy family vaults last week was for?" Narcissa left the question open. She watched her son's face register his surprise that she knew of his hour long jaunt into the depths of Gringotts. The goblin in charge of all their vaults, Gordock, had personally informed her of his visit and what had been removed from the family vault.
Mercifully Hannah chose that moment to interrupt them. Draco had never been so relieved to see a Hufflepuff.
"I'm so glad you decided to stay. What will you have tonight?"
Draco took his time ordering a Firewhiskey for himself, Elfin wine for his mother and Shepards pie for them both.
"You should have seen Scorpius' face as he went flying around the pitch with Krum. He was just so happy and carefree. As much as I enjoyed the game, seeing him flying around was my favorite part. Afterwards the entire team signed his jersey. I swear I'm going to have to charm it off him now."
"I'm glad you both enjoyed yourselves. You deserve it." They spoke a bit more about the game and the upcoming renovation on Grimmauld Place while waiting for their food. Once Hannah placed their food in front of them and walked away Narcissa struck again, "So no comment about the vault?"
"Since you know I was there you know what I took from it. It is now with a curse breaker. I do not have a plan in place yet but when I do I will let you know."
"Let me know? I take it you don't want my opinion?"
"You made your opinion known when I first told you I was seeing Granger. I doubt it has changed." Draco had been trying to avoid this conversation but he knew his mother wouldn't let it go. Looking at her he sighed and cast muffliato around the table to keep their conversation private.
"In most regards it has not changed." Narcissa stated blandly, "however I never voiced my main concern. How she would treat Scorpius, especially knowing she has her own child." Draco began to see red, Granger had never been anything less than perfect with Scorpius. Before he could interrupt his mother continued on. "Seeing her at dinner showed that while very unorthodox she is a good mother. That display was rather distasteful but her daughter is obviously loved and generally well mannered. Tuesday she demonstrated that she will treat Scorpius the same while still respecting Astoria's memory. In that regard my opinion has changed." Draco relaxed slightly but he knew she wasn't done, "I still don't approve of her status as a divorcee and I wish she would stay at home with the children. You work hard, you deserve a witch who will be waiting for you at home, who will run the house for you."
"That will never happen. She will always work and I would never ask her to stay home. I am not concerned with her working, if fact I can't imagine her ever not working. She isn't the type to sit idle and her passion for what she does is one of the many reasons I love her. For many years I had to fight for a cause I didn't believe in. She fights for her causes with everything she has. Yet she still makes time for those who are important to her. The dedication she shows to her work is nothing compared to the dedication she shows her family and friends."
Later that night Draco was laying in bed thinking about the events of the day and missing a certain brilliant witch and her wild hair. They had been careful and limited their time together before the children had been introduced but now they spent most afternoons and evenings together. Today was the first time in over a month that they didn't see each other at all. Granger had had no desire to see the game so she excused herself and spent the morning Christmas shopping with Lovegood then the evening catching up around her house. They had known the plan was to spend the night apart but Draco was really regretting that decision. After the discussion with his mother Draco was hoping Bill would get back to him soon.
The oldest Weasley had been surprised to see Draco when he walked into his office at Gringotts. When Draco pulled the box out of his robe and opened it, understanding flashed across his face instantly. While Draco's relationship with the Weasley family in general was tenuous at best Draco had come to have a great respect for Bill. Once Potter had left Nott Manor that night Granger had owled Bill right away and asked for his help clearing Grimmauld Place of all curses. He had met them there the next day and spent all day clearing it room by room. Once he realized how huge an undertaking it would be, Bill had taken 3 personal days from work so he could give the old house his full attention. Bill had made certain that not only was it safe for Narcissa but also for Bryony and Hermione should they visit. And so it was because of this the only person Draco would trust with something so important was Bill Weasley.
Draco tossed and turned and finally looked at the clock, 12:45. After about 10 more minutes of frustration he got up and knocked gently on Tippy's door, let her know he was leaving and walked towards the floo. He picked up the powder and was about to drop it in the fireplace when it flared to life and out stepped the witch he had been thinking about.
"Ohhh," she cried out softly as she bumped into his chest. Granger was already in her pj's, just like himself. She was wearing a pair of pink and green plaid sleep shorts and a white tank top, her hair up in a messy bun. Upon seeing him she blushed prettily, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like that." She said as she brushed the soot of herself.
"What are you doing here?"
The blush tinted a shade deeper but she still looked in his eyes,"I couldn't sleep. Did you know it's been over a month since we went a full day and night without seeing each other?" She paused as she looked at Draco, noting the floo powder still in his hand, "wait, what are you doing?"
Draco dropped the powder back into the pot and grinned back at the small witch, "I couldn't sleep either so I was coming to see you."
She grabbed his hand and began leading him back to his room. "They do say great minds think alike."
They crawled into bed together both laying on their side and Draco reached for Hermione pulling her back flush against his chest. Snuggling into one another they fell asleep almost instantly. The last thought Draco had before sleep took him was that he never wanted to spend a night away from this witch ever again.