Disclaimer: If you recognize it from a J.K. Rowling book- it isn't mine. I've borrowed it.
"Max! That was MY pancake!" eight-year-old Sam yelled, throwing a spoon at her brother. She aimed about 30 centimetres wide and the spoon hit the wall.
"Sam, don't throw things at your brother." Draco said, handing her another spoon.
"But he took my pancake." Sam whined, shovelling down a bowl of cereal.
"That doesn't mean you need to throw metal objects at his head." Draco reasoned. Sam slid down in her chair and started sulking.
"Smile, darling. We're going to go see Aden today, remember?" Hermione said brightly.
"Will she get to come home, Ma?" Max asked. He was nearly eleven now, and looked exactly like his father had at that age, only with a less pointy face.
"We don't know yet, honey. The operation was very hard on her, so they may want to keep her there longer." She replied.
The year was 2016, and the family were living in Britain again. They had spent six years living in alternately Brazil and France. Then, two years ago, Aden had been born. She was a tiny girl who had Draco's blonde hair and deep blue eyes that came from nowhere. Her disposition was sweet and quiet- but she had a life-threatening heart condition. She was pale all the time, and was never as loud or adventurous as other children her age. She had to be pumped full of medicine every day, and needed to go for weekly check-ups at the hospital. This was one of the reasons they'd moved back to England, the other being that Max would be starting school soon enough anyway. He was expecting his Hogwarts letter any day now.
Now aged 22 months, Aden had been operated on. The surgeons had repaired her heart valves, which were one of their main concerns, and Aden was due to be allowed home within the next fortnight, though she was still ill.
"Max darling, can you pass me the cornflakes please?" Hermione asked, taking her mind off the fact that Aden was still gravely ill and focusing on seeing her again. Max did as she asked.
"Thank you." She smiled at the boy. Max went back to his pancake, smiling only briefly in return.
"Something wrong?" Draco asked Max, noticing this.
"Nope." Max replied. "Just tired."
"Alright. Go get dressed kids, we have to go." Hermione said, deciding she didn't want cornflakes after all. Sam flounced up the stairs, Max following her at a slower pace.
"What do you think's wrong with him?" Hermione asked, moving from her chair and going to sit on Draco's lap.
"I don't know." Draco replied, kissing her cheek lightly. "I guess he's fine if he won't tell us what it is."
"You're right." Hermione sighed. He held her on his lap for a while until Sam and Max came back down.
The family made their way to the hospital in mostly silence, except for Sam's rambling comments on everything and anything. The workers at the front desk were used to them coming, and greeted them with smiles as always.
Aden was in intensive care, sleeping, a bunch of tubes and wires coming in and out of her. Most of her torso was bandaged too.
"She should wake up in about ten minutes." One of the nurses informed them. "She'll still be groggy from the anaesthetic, but she'll hear you fine. But please don't touch her. Her immune system is very weak right now."
"Thank you." Draco said. The nurse left the room. Sam made herself comfortable on a chair with a magazine, and Max walked around the room idly touching things. Hermione drew a seat right up to Aden's bedside and sat as close as she possibly could, near to tears.
She hated seeing her baby like this- in pain, weak and fragile. Ever since Aden had been born she'd been in and out of hospitals, never home for more than a couple of months before another operation or hospital stay.
When Hermione had gotten pregnant again, they'd all been so happy. Draco and herself especially. Finally, a baby that was biologically both of theirs, not just emotionally. But then Aden had been born prematurely and her heart didn't work properly. She would need to spend half her life relying on machines and medicine, more operations. Eventually, the doctors told them, Aden would be fine. That's all Hermione and Draco wanted.
When at home and vaguely well, Aden was just the worlds most beautiful and content child. She could sit for hours on someone's lap, playing with them, and never seemed to get bored. She didn't throw fits like other children- mostly because she was too weak to, most of the time, but also because she was so good-natured. Like a tiny angel. Max adored playing with her, and Sam was always pointing out things in shops to buy for the little girl.
"She'll be fine, darling." Draco said, coming to stand next to her. "Look, she's waking up now."
As Draco had pointed out, Aden was indeed waking up. Her eyelashes were fluttering and she was making little whimpering noises like a kicked kitten.
"Aden? Baby, can you hear me?" Draco asked softly. Aden's eyes were hazy and unfocused. "Aden?"
"Daddy?" Aden mumbled a few seconds later when she realised who was talking to her.
"That's right, I'm here. Momma too." Draco said, kneeling down so that she could see them both.
"Momma." Aden said peacefully. Max and Sam came rushing over to the bed, and Hermione felt tears coming to her eyes at an alarming rate. She mumbled some excuse and fled the room, sinking onto an empty bench in the almost-deserted corridor two floors down and crying her eyes out.
"Ma, don't cry." Max said when he found her ten minutes later, sitting down next to her on the bench.
"I'm not crying." Hermione said stupidly, brushing away the tears.
"Yes you are... Aden /will/ get better. Everyone says."
"I know. I just don't like to see her in so much pain."
"Ma, she's tiny. She won't even remember this when she's older." Max reasoned.
"That doesn't make it any easier, honey." Hermione choked. "If you have children, you'll see what I mean. It's the worst thing in the world to see them hurting."
Nodding slowly, Max stayed pretty much still as his mother hugged him and cried some more, tears falling onto his blonde hair. Eventually Hermione was done with the crying. She took a tissue from the table next to the bench and cleaned up her face before going back into the room with Max. Sam was reading to Aden from a book of fairytales Draco had found the other day.
"And the house was built out of Muggle sweets- gingerbread for the walls, and mint sticks for the gutters and windowsills. The path and roof were made from chocolate..." Sam read, pausing every now and again. Draco was on the other side of Aden's bed, watching. When he saw Hermione and Max come back in, he stood up and enveloped Hermione in a hug.
"Are you alright?" He asked her. Max took his father's seat and picked up a magazine on something useless.
"Fine now." She replied, slipping her arms around his waist.
"Good." He said, kissing her lightly. "The doctor came in... he says she's doing well. But we're only allowed five more minutes."
"Five?" Hermione asked, eyes watering again. Draco nodded and she let go of him, moving towards Aden's bed. She spent the last five minutes just looking at her sick child while Sam read.
A nurse came in to usher them out, but Hermione lingered.
"Can I kiss her?" She asked, on the brink of tears yet again.
"Mrs. Malfoy, her immune system-"
"Please?"
"She could get an infection, Mrs. Malfoy, and in her state that would be fatal-"
"Ma'am, I appreciate that you're trying to do your job, but this has been torture for my wife and I. All she wants to do is kiss her baby. Please overlook the rules for just this once?" Draco cut in, always the smooth talker. Hermione gave the nurse a desperate, pleading look. The nurse sighed and nodded.
"Of course you can." She said.
"Thank you, ma'am." Draco said to her as Hermione went to Aden's bedside and kissed the little girl's forehead as softly as she could.
"Bye bye Aden. We'll be back very soon." She said, voice quavering.
"Bye Momma." Aden replied sleepily. Draco thanked the nurse again and gently led Hermione from the room and out to the car where Sam and Max were waiting. They rode home in silence. When they reached the house, Hermione locked herself in their bedroom for the rest of the long day and cried for her child.
Alright.
I bet you all HATE me for not updating in so long. But I had exams, which sucked, then I was diagnosed with depression (whoo) and then it was summer and I was away. I've also been using up most of my writing time on this new slash RPG site,
Its awesome.
Anyways, yes, I am an angst monkey and I have skipped forward about six years in the story. Bite me. I have so many ideas for what can happen now though. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed and will hopefully continue to do so. I love you all! Watch out for new chapters coming soon.
-pineappleeskimo