Courting Miss Granger-Epilogue Part 1
By Marmalade Fever
Draco hustled to find the floo powder. They needed to leave, and soon. Darn it! Where was it? "When was the last time you saw it?" he called from his perch next to the large cabinet beside the fireplace.
"I told you! It's in the porcelain cookie jar that your mother gave you for Christmas last year. It's in by the kitchen fireplace." Hermione's head appeared from the doorway to the next room. "I meant to refill the snuff box next trip to Diagon Alley."
"Well, I'm glad you have a head. I think I left mine in the shower," Draco said, not bothering to try and make sense. "Come on, we've got to go!" He hurried her along to the kitchen where he offered her the flowery cookie jar.
"Hogwarts!" Hermione cried, ducking into the fireplace. Draco followed a moment later. Hermione helped him to his feet as he landed behind her in one of the visitors' fireplaces on the first floor.
"Thank you," he said, as he stood up and brushed himself off.
"Isn't it great to be back?" Hermione asked as she gazed around her. They hadn't come back since their wedding day, over two years before.
"Of course!" Draco replied, grinning at her as he took her hand and led her toward the Great Hall, where the sound of voices was already echoing. He squeezed his wife's hand. She had so been looking forward to this, and the anticipation had been mounting in her for weeks. "Just promise me you'll be careful, all right? First sign of trouble, you tell me."
"Stop being such a worry-wart. We've got a full month and a half, haven't we?" Hermione asked, patting her stomach good-naturedly.
"Yes, but Healer Andowin said..."
"Just forget about Healer Andowin. The odds are greatly in our favor, Draco."
"Whatever you say, Dear." Draco paused and held the door open for her. She stepped inside.
"Hermione!" someone shrieked, as Draco was just stepping through the door.
"It's good to see you, too, Parv," Hermione said, greeting her old roommate.
"And Great Scott! You managed to drag Malfoy along with you!"
"What, did you think I'd miss all the fun?" Draco asked, joining them. Parvati was dressed in turquoise robes and had her hair back with a couple of decorative sticks.
"I still can't believe you two are together. ...And look at you!" Parvati made a cooing sound as she bent over to inspect Hermione's bulging stomach. "Boy or girl?"
"We aren't telling anyone," Draco said, as he watched the twenty-seven-year-old make odd faces at his wife's abdomen. She looked up.
"Whyever not?"
"It'll make a good conversation piece at the next reunion," Hermione said, stifling her laughter with her hand.
"Oh, come on! Seriously. Boy or girl?" Parvati asked, looking dejected.
"We still aren't telling!"
"What's going on over here?" Parvati backed away so that Ron and Eliza Weasley could join the group.
"They won't tell me the gender!" Parvati said, pouting and giving the Malfoys a sideways look.
"But you said it was a-" Ron began, before Hermione stepped on his foot. "Ouch! What was that for?" he asked, hopping up and down.
"You nearly blabbed!" Hermione said, crossing her arms.
"Well, what's the point keeping it a secret, anyway?"
"The point is, Weasley, that we prefer to keep things private. It'll come out when it comes out," Draco said, smirking.
"You two are so weird together," Parvati commented, looking them over skeptically before she spotted someone else over by the punch bowl. "Oh! I've wanted to talk to Mandy for ages! Excuse me."
"So, what's the real reason you aren't saying?" Ron asked, eying them.
"Well," Hermione said, looking left and right, "there actually isn't a reason. We're just sick and tired of everyone asking."
Ron snorted. "Hey, look! There's Ginny and Dean!" He waved them over.
"Actually, I think I'm going to go say hi to Crabbe and Goyle. See you in a bit?" Draco asked, pecking Hermione's cheek.
"Go ahead, we'll meet up," she replied as Draco turned to leave. He headed toward his old "friends" who were standing like trolls beside the refreshment table.
"I dunno, Vince, I prefer the orange colored ones," Goyle said, popping a small tart into his mouth.
"But those are pumpkin. The green is better."
"Green's good, but how about the red ones?"
"Red tastes like strawberry. Too cheerful."
"So why do you like the green?"
"Dunno. They remind me of something."
"I know what you mean. What's that flavor?"
"Green... Green... What's green?"
"Grass?"
"Yes, I s'pose that grass is green, but..."
"Yeah. Grass is too much like clover."
"When'd you eat clover?"
"I saw my daughter's pet puffskein eating some once."
"Don't those eat...?"
"Naw. This one's a vegetarian."
"I dunno, do boogies count as meat?"
"Er, hello guys," Draco said, finally managing to enter their conversation, wishing he could've stopped it a second earlier. "And I think you're trying to remember lime."
"Malfoy!" Crabbe and Goyle said simultaneously, looking down at him from their great height. They both straightened themselves and turned subservient. "What can we get you?" asked Crabbe.
"Tart?" asked Goyle, looking somewhat frightened.
"Er, that's okay, guys," Draco said, feeling out of place all of a sudden.
"You... sure?" asked Crabbe, giving Goyle a nervous look. "There's tons more food, if you want some."
"I could get you a firewhiskey!" Goyle offered, hopping as he came up with the idea.
"No, really, I don't need anything," Draco said, wondering if they could manage to relax.
"Oh, okay," Crabbe said, looking thoroughly confused.
"So, how's..." Draco's mind suddenly blanked as he tried to remember their wives' names, "Hildegarde and... Millie?"
"Millie? Who's Millie?" Goyle asked, scratching his nose.
"Millicent? Your wife?" Draco asked, not sure whether he either had the wrong name or Goyle was having one of his episodes.
"My wife's name is Angora, like a rabbit," Goyle said, scratching his nose a bit more.
"Oh! Right." There was silence. "So neither of you married Millie Bulstrode?"
"I thought she died."
"In Amsterdam."
"Cauldron explosion."
"Lots of blood and guts!"
"I heard her skin..."
"That's, that's good, Crabbe, Goyle. I guess it slipped my mind. So, er, how's Hildegarde and Angora?"
"Fine," they answered in unison.
"And the kids?"
"Fine," they said, again. There was more silence. "How's...?"
"Hermione's good. She's over with her friends."
"Granger?" Crabbe wrinkled his nose. "What happened to the girl with the weird name?"
"Well," Draco looked around, trying to spot Antoine, "there she is! She's with Neville."
"Longbottom? Since when do you call him by his name?"
"Since..." Draco began but couldn't bring himself to carry on the conversation. He'd forgotten how many head-aches he'd suffered from talking to these two. "Er, never mind. I'll explain later. I'm just going to go talk with some other people. See you." Draco steered himself in the other direction. His brain hurt terribly already.
"Then I said, that's two weeks of detention to you, Mr. Flint, for the cheek! It felt so good, you wouldn't believe..." Neville paused in his story as he saw Draco Malfoy walking over.
"Hey there," Draco said, greeting them. Antoine smiled and gave him a pat on the back.
"Hi, Draco! I think Hermione's been looking for you. Harry wanted to say hi," she said, smiling. She and Neville had gotten engaged only a few months previously.
"Well, I'd better go then. See you," he said, excusing himself.
"Wasn't that Malfoy?" asked Lisa Smith, frowning.
"Yep, that was Malfoy alright."
Draco found Hermione talking animatedly to Harry, Penelope, and Lavender. Lavender blushed deeply as he stepped into their circle. "Hey," he said, giving Hermione a peck on the cheek. "You wanted to talk to me?"
"Oh, that was me," Harry said, raising his hand. "But please, don't kiss me."
"Potter, never say something like that again," Draco said, frowning.
"Fine, you can kiss me!"
Draco rolled his eyes. "Was there anything of importance you wanted to discuss?"
"Importance? Not really. I just wanted to see how you were treating my best friend, is all."
"Like a queen, I assure you."
"Very well, you are dismissed," he said.
Draco rolled his eyes again. He still couldn't quite manage to like Potter. He made too many stupid jokes.
"So," Lavender interjected, "you're having a baby?"
"That's right," Hermione said, smiling.
"Boy or girl?" Lavender asked.
"Not this again," Draco muttered under his breath. "We aren't saying."
"Why not?" Lavender asked, looking cross.
"But isn't it--?" Harry began, before Hermione stepped on his foot.
Draco sighed. Perhaps it was time to just make an announcement so that everyone could stop asking. "We're tired of telling; you'll know when you know."
"Wait! Give me a second." Lavender closed her eyes. "It's a... girl," she said, in a hushed voice.
"You will name her Lavender," Seamus Finnegan added, using the same hushed voice. He had sneaked up behind them as Lavender had gone into her "trance." Lavender opened her eyes and stepped on his foot... hard.
"Well, was I right?" she asked.
"We aren't telling, Lav. It's as simple as that," Hermione said, shaking her head in frustration. Harry snickered.
"Ooh! I bet I'm right!" Lavender said, reveling in her glory.
"Attention, attention!" All eyes turned to the front where MacGonagall was standing on a chair. "Welcome to your ten year reunion! Congratulations to all of you. I'm sure that you are all in good health. Professor Dumbledore would like to speak now." She stepped aside and Dumbledore took her place.
"Welcome, everyone! Let me ensure you all that you were by far the best class to have graduated from Hogwarts ten years ago." There was a murmur of confusion. "But enough of that! We are here to celebrate and reunite you all. We will be holding a raffle in a moment, but first I would like to make a few announcements. Your votes have come in, that is, those of you who filled in our questionnaire," he looked pointedly at a few individuals, "and the results are as follows. Most successful: Zacharias Smith!" There was scattered applause. "Best improved hairstyle: Harry Potter." Harry looked confused but managed a smile. "Largest family: Hannah and Ernie Macmillan. Most likely to not show up: Theodore Nott, who, coincidentally, isn't here! Most surprising coupling: Draco and Hermione Malfoy." The few people who had managed to not hear the news looked over at Draco and Hermione in awe, but they were too distracted to notice.
"Draco," Hermione said, slowly, "it's time!"
