June 29th, 2012
Hermione Malfoy could hear her Beagles barking as she unlocked the main door to Malfoy Townhouse, as well as smell the distinct odor of burning pot roast. I hope Draco isn't attempting to cook again. she thought.
As she pushed the door forward, she was greeted by the excited barks of Carrie and Minnie, now about twelve years old and fat, but still as hyper as ever. When Hermione closed the door, she turned around to see four other bodies running towards her, and was suddenly enveloped in a mass of hugs and greetings.
"Hello Trina, hello Berry, hello Rion, hello Cory." She kissed each of their heads as she spoke their names, before asking, "Where's Daddy? Not in the kitchen, I suppose?"
Four solemn pairs of eyes peered up towards her. "Daddy's trying to cook again." six year-old Scorpius replied quietly.
"He's attempting to, actually." eleven year-old Austrina amended.
"The elves aren't happy, either." ten year-old Berenice added.
"It smells bad." said seven year-old Hyperion.
Hermione sighed. "Alright, kids. Go get washed up for dinner and let Mummy change from her work clothes. I'll meet you and Daddy at the table soon, okay?"
The children nodded and dashed off, the dogs scampering behind them. Hermione traveled the corridor to her study, dropped her briefcase and papers, and then went into her and Draco's room. It was Friday night, and she was dead tired. She and Draco had worked their schedules so that one of them would be home with the kids everyday while the other worked. Since Draco didn't really have to go the shop everyday and could work in his laboratory in the Townhouse, he stayed at home and developed dental potions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while Hermione was working at her position as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for ten hours a day.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, the situation was reversed. Hermione stayed in her study at home and worked from there while Draco went to check on his Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley branches of business, as well as had engagements with representatives from other companies wishing to supply ingredients for use. On the weekends, both of them didn't work, and would spend all of Saturday and Sunday at Malfoy Manor with Lucius and Narcissa.
As Hermione stepped out of her fancy business suit and slipped on a comfortable T-shirt and shorts, she noticed some cat hair on the ground, bringing tears to her eyes. Crookshanks had died about a month ago, and the elves must have missed this spot when they were cleaning the floors. Although Hermione had already grieved for a considerable amount of time, just seeing reminders of her old friend made her heart break once more. It also brought upon her the fact the one day, the dogs would die, too, and Hermione just knew she wouldn't be able to bear it again. Stop this. she snapped at herself. We're leaving for the Villa tomorrow, and I won't have to work again until September. I need to brighten up for the kids and Draco.
With that, she grit her teeth and strode over to the door, walking out without a backward glance.
The burning smell was gone now, to her relief, and as Hermione entered the dining room, she saw that the rest of her family had already sat down to a sumptuous meal and were patiently waiting for her.
"You look beat, Mione." Draco remarked, as she sat down in her chair across from him, at the other end of the table. On his left side sat Austrina, with Berenice next to her, sitting on Hermione's right side. On Draco's right side was Hyperion, with Scorpius next to him, sitting on Hermione's left side.
"I feel beat." she admitted, as both parents started loading food onto their plates, signaling to the children that they could start helping themselves, too. She noticed the pristine boat of pot roast. "I thought you were burning food again. How did you manage to salvage that into something edible?"
"It was the house-elves." Draco chuckled, pouring Hyperion some pumpkin juice. "They came in the nick of time, even though I told them I wanted to try it on my own and forced them out of the kitchen. I think I've been banned permanently now. They'll probably petition you to sign it in writing later tonight." he joked.
The kids giggled, and Hermione smiled as well. "Next time, wait for me, Drake. In fact, we can cook together tomorrow night at the Villa! Let's not give the house-elves high blood pressure anymore, alright?"
"Tomorrow at the Villa." Draco agreed. The children's faces lit up immediately. The Malfoys always spent all of July in southern France, Lucius and Narcissa as well. The children loved it, for they were able to play all day everyday on the beach and eat all the delicious local French food. After a month, they would come back to London for a week, unpack and pack, and then visit a foreign country for a week, again with Lucius and Narcissa. That was the annual Malfoy vacation plan, and it never failed to create beautiful and distinguishing memories for each member of the family.
"I can't wait to get on the airplane tomorrow!" Berenice burst out, spraying bits of mashed potatoes on Scorpius, who sat across from her. He didn't mind, though, licking the bits off his face, and then continuing to eat his own food. Austrina gave her sister a disapproving look, while Hyperion snickered.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Berry." Hermione reprimanded her daughter. "And Rion, don't be rude to your sister. You'll be lucky if she doesn't laugh at you for getting sick on the plane ride tomorrow."
That immediately shut Hyperion up, and he scowled as he stabbed his carrot with his fork. Draco chuckled, and leaned over to ruffle his son's hair. "It's alright, Rion. Daddy's not one for planes either, so Berry's going to have to laugh at both of us. And we have first-class seats, so you'll be very comfortable, too."
It was true. Since Scorpius and Hyperion were both allergic to Floo powder, and were far too young to be Side-Apparated, getting violently sick each time, whenever the Malfoys had to travel somewhere, they would have to go by broomstick or use Muggle transportation. In fact, Draco and Hermione owned a Mercedes GL450 that they would use to drive two hours to Wiltshire every Friday night, and then another two hours back to London on Sunday evening. Draco enjoyed driving immensely, having gotten his license after Berenice was born. However, when it came to flying, it was a whole different story. Hyperion and Draco hated planes, no matter how long they had to sit in them. Scorpius would only get fussy if he had to sit in the plane past the two hours it took to get to Marseilles, such as when they went to a country that was located outside of Eurpoe. Hermione and the girls were fine with it every time, saying there was no difference between planes and broomsticks.
Hermione liked it especially that her children were able to mingle with Muggles and learn about the world she had grown up in this way. Sometimes, when they were in Wiltshire, Draco and Hermione would even take them to the local Muggle park and let them play with Muggle children, after warning them, of course, not to display any signs of the their very potent magical power. Each of the Malfoy children, were in face, highly powerful witches and wizards, as well as child-prodigies in the Muggle sense.
For example, right after Draco's reassurance to Hyperion, Austrina changed the topic by saying, "Mummy, Professor Hampton was teaching me how to draw sinusoidal graphs today, but I don't quite understand how the period and frequency works. The amplitude and displacement I understand, but not the others." Yes, eleven year-old Austrina was learning trigonometry, and ten year-old Berenice was not far behind, already learning about ionic compounds from Professor Hampton, who tutored the children Mondays through Fridays for an hour on mathematics, and then another hour on sciences.
"I'll explain to you on the plane ride tomorrow, dear." Hermione replied, sipping her Butterbeer. "How are you doing in classes, Berry?"
"I'm fine. I really like the new piano piece Professor Simpson gave to me to work on. It's by Beethoven." the younger Malfoy daughter replied. In addition to a tutor for mathematics and science, the Malfoy children had a tutor for music and arts, each an hour-long class, and with the girls learning piano and dance, and the boys learning violin and martial arts, as well as a tutor for the hour-long classes of English and history, and two more tutors for French and Quidditch.
So in all, the Malfoy children attended tutoring sessions for eight hours Mondays through Fridays, starting at the age of six, with an hour-long break in the middle of French class for lunch with either parent that was home that day.
All the tutors were the best wizards and witches in their fields and encouraged the brilliant children to reach their potentials. Draco and Hermione were extremely proud of their children, knowing that their outstanding performance in these non-Magical academics, (perhaps with the exception of Quidditch), would be reflected in their studies at Hogwarts, which Austrina was extremely excited to start, having heard all about it first from Teddy and Gabe, who had just finished their second year, and her best friend Vicky, who had just finished her first year and had visited Malfoy Townhouse on Tuesday evening.
"And you, Rion?" Hermione continued, although her son was still irritated with her. After a warning glance from his father, though, he begrudgingly replied, "I shot ten goals in a row in Quidditch."
"That's wonderful!" Hermione said, playing it up so that Hyperion would stop sulking, and indeed he did. "You'll be on the team as a first-year at Hogwarts, I'm sure."
"I know I will." Berenice said smugly. "I'm getter than Ri-"
"My turn!" Scorpius said, banging his spoon on the table, unwittingly stopping an argument from breaking out between his siblings, as well as earning annoyed looks from his parents. "I broke a string on my violin today!"
An awkward silence ensued until Draco cleared his throat, and said lightly, "Wow, Cory, you must've played that violin string so well that it popped."
"I know." Scorpius said happily, before resuming the stuffing of his mashed potatoes.
"Where are the suitcases?" Hermione asked. "We're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning, so we should have them put near the front door. We'll drive to the airport, get on the plane, and meet Grandma and Grandpa at the Villa for lunch. Oh, and I do need to find the tickets. I can't believe I already lost-"
"I gave them to the house elves." Draco reassured his wife. "I had a feeling you would forget that you put them away in your bottom desk drawer."
"Thanks, honey." Hermione beamed at her husband. "I know I can always count- HYPERION DRACO MALFOY. WE DO NOT FLICK PEAS AT OUR SISTERS!"
August 8th, 2012
"Mummy, my legs are spaghetti." Scorpius complained, plopping himself down on the grassy rocks. "Can we eat lunch now?"
"No, we have to reach the pyramid first." Draco replied, looking at his map again as the rest of the family stopped, panting from climbing Tepozteco Hill, in Tepoztlan, Mexico. "Come on, sport. We had breakfast only two hours ago, and it's not even close to noon yet."
"But I'm tired." Hyperion whined. "Can we at least take a break, Daddy?"
"What a wimp." Berenice quietly remarked, taking a drink from her water bottle.
"Berry, be nice." Austrina gently chided.
"I have some snacks, if that makes things better." Hermione announced. Immediately, five pairs of hands were outstretched towards her, and she rolled her eyes as she tossed Pumpkin Pasties to each person. Although she was glad Draco had taken the time to research and plan the hike to this famous pyramid, Hermione couldn't help but wish she were still in the air-conditioned hotel in Mexico City with Lucius and Narcissa, who had claimed weakness from old age and had "looking after the dogs" as their excuse.
Spending July in France was nice, but Hermione enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Mexico, too. Although it was hotter than Hell, she was glad that her children had traveled to so many different countries, tried so many new things, and learned so much knowledge of the world at such a young age. She was, very happy, too, that she was able to watch with her husband as they grew up.
"Is everyone energized and ready to go now?" Draco called, tucking the map away into his backpack. "Come on, kids, this stuff builds character! That's good for you!"
Hermione stifled a laugh. If only the old Draco from her younger years could hear him now, both before and after eighth year. He would probably have a heart attack. she thought amusedly.
"Then why does it hurt so much?" Berenice grumbled, picking up her hiking stick again, while Hyperion made faces at her from behind.
"Yes, Daddy. This building character stuff seems like far more trouble than it's worth." Austrina conceded.
"What if we die from it? Character doesn't do much when you're dead." Hyperion muttered, kicking at a large rock, frustrated.
"Let's go to the library later and see if you can die from too much character." Scorpius suggested innocently. "I miss the library, Mummy. When can we go there again? It's fun!"
Draco roared with laughter upon hearing his son's words. "My darling boy, at some point, I'm sure, when your mother was around your age, she said those exact same words."
"And is that a bad thing, dear?" Hermione asked sweetly, glaring at her husband.
Draco pretended to think about it for a moment. "Hmm. I don't actually know, dear wife. It depends on whether you have more Pumpkin Pasties for me or not, I guess."