Words Only a Mother Can Say
"I want daddy, I want daddy, I want daddy!" Eli lay face down, slamming his little fists powerfully onto his bedspread, in the biggest almighty paddy Hermione had ever seen her son throw in his life.
Hermione sat on her son's bedroom carpet, watching and waiting until Eli tired himself out, and then fell asleep
Ever since the Threx concert and Hermione had thrown Krum out, Eli had been rather emotional. He would yell every morning, asking for Krum. He would turn his nose up at food, and throw it across the room. He wouldn't play games; he wouldn't even look at his mother properly. It was heart breaking for Hermione to watch.
Eli had finally worn himself out. His cheeks were pink after having yelled so much. A few stray tears were still travelling down his pink face. His breathing, which had been heavy and uneven, was now slowing and becoming more even- a sign he was beginning to fall asleep.
"Oh Eli," Hermione whispered to her sleeping baby, gently stroking his wavy blonde locks. "How do I explain all this to you? How do I make this easier for you? You're still my baby, and as my baby you're still to young to understand any of this fully."
"Hermione?" Hermione turned her heads towards to the door, at the sound of a soft female voice from downstairs. Not wanting to wake Eli, she rose quietly to her feet, and lent down slightly to kiss him lightly on the forehead. He gave a sight stir, but did not wake. With a slightly concerned backward glance, Hermione silently shut Eli's bedroom door behind her, and proceeded downstairs.
Pushing open the living room door, she found it empty, even more than usual, since all the photos of Krum had been removed, leaving the walls and sides bare. "Hello?" Hermione called into the empty room.
Her response came almost immediately, "In here sweetheart, I'm in the kitchen."
"Mum?" Hermione hurriedly pushed the kitchen door open, "Mum!"
"Hello sweetheart, would you like a cup of coffee?" Stood amongst the sparkly clean kitchen sides, with two coffee mugs in her hand, stood a smiling Mrs Granger.
"Mum." Hermione strode forwards and embraced her mother. Mrs Granger smiled, placing the coffee mugs down and returned her daughters hug. "Oh Mum, I'm so glad you're here."
As the two women broke apart, Hermione took a seat at the kitchen table, "so coffee then?" Mrs Granger smiled rummaging around the cupboards, looking for coffee.
"Mum, let me do it." Hermione got to her feet; walking across to the windowsill she retrieved her wand. She pointed it at the mugs, which instantly began to steam as they became full of hot black coffee; with another flick of her wand, a milk jug and sugar bowl appeared on the table, accompanied by a plate of warm teacakes.
"I forget you can do that." Mrs Granger said as Hermione passed her a steaming mug. "So Hermione dear, how have you been?"
Hermione smiled at her mother. Nobody else could talk to her like this, not even Ginny, and Ginny was her best friend. But if truth were told, a girl's true best friend would always be her mother. A mother was someone you could tell anything to because they would have most almost certainly, at some stage been in the same situation. A mother always knew best.
Hermione valued her mother for those reasons. She remembered when she was pregnant, how scared she had been to tell her parents. She was their little girl and she had never wanted to disappoint them, and she hadn't. Mr and Mrs Granger, whilst slightly concerned about Hermione's age, had never the less been thrilled to have a grandson. They loved Eli and sent him presents every Christmas, Easter, valentines and, of course, birthday.
Her mother had always stood by her, through thick and thin, rain or shine, then, and now. "I'm okay," Hermione sighed, taking a small sip of her drink.
Mrs Granger laughed. "You're a bad liar, Hermione." She smiled warmly at her daughter, "You get that from your father- he's no good at hiding things from me either." Hermione gave a slight snort.
"I am okay- really, I am."
"But.?" Mrs Granger said encouragingly.
"No buts. Everything is fine." Hermione stared at the dark liquid in her coffee mug, "How is Dad?"
Mrs Granger threw her hand back dramatically, "oh he's fine, decided to try and put a shed up in the back yard. Now my living room is full of odd bits of useless building equipment, and the garden is piled high with wood and glass."
"Oh no!" The two women began to laugh. "I wish you'd let me come and help. Just one flick of my wand and it would be done," Hermione said pleadingly.
"No, Hermione dear." Mrs Granger shook her head, and took a small gulp of coffee. "You know your father likes the satisfaction of doing things by hand, and you have enough on your plate without coming round and doing magical DIY, regardless of how quick it is."
"Mum."
"When does the divorce become final?" Mrs Granger interrupted her daughter. Hermione looked away. "Now come on dear, after what Victor did to you I don't blame you for divorcing him. And its not as if Eli will be without a father, is it?"
"Eli wont except Draco- he's always asking for Victor." Hermione looked up at her mother, desperately fighting back the tears that were beginning to swell in her eyes. "Mum, I don't know what to do- I can't stand seeing my little baby boy like this anymore."
Placing her mug and the table, Mrs Granger rose to her feet, making her way around the edge of the table, and sat in the chair next to her daughter. Taking Hermione's hand in her own, she smiled, "Hermione dear, you are one of the smartest girls I know, but sweetheart, you are going about this particular problem all wrong."
Still fighting against her threatening tears, Hermione gave a sniff and shook her head. "I don't know what you mean."
Mrs Granger lifted her spare hand to her daughter's cheek and stroked it lovingly, then twiddled a strand of Hermione's curly mousy brown hair around her finger. "When you were at Hogwarts and you were helping Ron and Harry study for tests, how did hey learn best?"
"When I gave them the answers," she sniffed, her voice slightly tight and stuffy.
"No dear," Mrs Granger laughed, pulling her daughter into a loving hug, "That was a quick fix on their behalf. But you helped them learn best when you took your time with them, and explained things gradually. You see, with the boys it was easier for them to learn things over a longer period of time and figure parts of the puzzle out for themselves, instead of having the whole answer thrust upon them straight away. You can't learn things fully that way."
Hermione gazed up at her mother. "What does any of that have to do with Eli?" she asked, wiping away the tears that had finally escaped from her eyes. Mrs Granger gently stroked Hermione's hair, before pushing her softly into a sitting position.
"You can't force Draco on Eli, it won't work that way. You have to give him time- have to let him become friends with Draco first. You can't just expect him to forget Victor and replace him with Draco in an instant. Things don't work like that. Draco may be Eli's true father, but remember that Victor is the only father he has ever known. To him Victor is Dad and Draco is just a band boy that now sleeps in Daddy's place."
Gazing in to her mother's brilliantly smart face, resisting a frown, Hermione smiled, and wrapped her arms around the older woman's neck. "Thank you, mum! I don't know what I'd do without you."
The two women sat in silence for a few moments, simply hugging one another, when a loud cracking nose sounded from behind them. Leaving her mothers warm embrace, and wiping her face, she smiled at the handsome blonde figure that had just apparated into her kitchen, carrying a muggle shopping bag. "Hello, Draco dear."
Draco blushed furiously. "Oh! . Hello Mrs Granger." Hermione giggled childishly, as she stood up to relieve Draco from the small burden of the 'Wilkinson' carrier bag.
"Oh, yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you." Hermione grinned kissing Draco on the cheek after a quick rummage through the bag.
Draco raised an eyebrow to her. "Why you couldn't have gone to Honeydukes, I still can't understand."
"Honeydukes don't sell 'Cadbury's Galaxy', do they?" She smirked, pulling the wrapper off a golden covered bar. Draco smiled and kissed Hermione on the forehead.
"You and your muggle sweets." Hermione stuck out her tongue childishly, before taking a piece of brown smooth chocolate, and politely offering it to her mother.
Mrs Granger shook her head, and rose to her feet. "No thank you, dear. I best get back to your father, and hopefully the house is still intact."
Hermione too rose to her feet. "Aww Mum- can't you stay?" she moaned.
Mrs Granger shook her head, as Draco stepped forwards. "I wish I'd known you were coming, Mrs Granger- we could have arranged something."
"Nonsense, Draco dear," Mrs Granger shook her head, smiling at the blonde man. "You just take care of your family." Turning to her daughter, Mrs Granger beamed, "you remember what I told you and I promise you, everything will be fine."
"Mum."
"Oh Hermione don't, or I shall begin to cry." She smiled, wiping a stray tear from Hermione's pink cheeks, "you two take care of yourselves, and look after my grandson- everything will be fine, and you have my word on that."
After several more hugs and cheek kisses, Mrs Granger insisted on seeing herself out, leaving Hermione and Draco alone in the kitchen. "I like your Mum," Draco said, throwing the Wilkinson bag in the bin. "We should have your parents round more often."
Hermione nodded. "Yeah," she said, dreamily, eating yet more of the smooth muggle chocolate.
She was thinking about what her mother had said about forcing Draco on Eli. Her mother was right, as always, that wasn't the way to go about things; this had to be done slowly and carefully. "Hermione?" Draco asked, kneeling before Hermione and staring curiously at her. "Hermione, are you ok?"
Smiling happily, Hermione nodded. "I think I know, wait no, I know how to sort out things with Eli!"
"How?" Draco asked curiously, placing a hand on her knees. Still grinning Hermione placed her hands atop Draco's before leaning in and kissing him lightly on the nose. "Want to go for a picnic?" she winked.
A/N ok then yes a rather short random chapter to put in, but I thought it best to have a certain amount of problems with Eli. Problems which I promise to continue you with in the next chapter.
For this chapter however I would like to add a big thank you to my mother. Who in this chapter gave me a lot of insight on how mothers truly think, when dealing with the problem child. I apologise for the Wilkinson references, but my mum works there, so it was my small way of saying thank you, plus she was sat on the sofa opposite me helping me write this chapter so...*shrugs*
Ok and as per usual the massive thank you to my reviewers whom without I would cease to continue this fan fiction. And of course thank you to Ferret for being my beta reader ((p.s your shed is ruddy cold))
Ok well keep reviewing, love to you all Blessed be
BlackSuzyBird xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I want daddy, I want daddy, I want daddy!" Eli lay face down, slamming his little fists powerfully onto his bedspread, in the biggest almighty paddy Hermione had ever seen her son throw in his life.
Hermione sat on her son's bedroom carpet, watching and waiting until Eli tired himself out, and then fell asleep
Ever since the Threx concert and Hermione had thrown Krum out, Eli had been rather emotional. He would yell every morning, asking for Krum. He would turn his nose up at food, and throw it across the room. He wouldn't play games; he wouldn't even look at his mother properly. It was heart breaking for Hermione to watch.
Eli had finally worn himself out. His cheeks were pink after having yelled so much. A few stray tears were still travelling down his pink face. His breathing, which had been heavy and uneven, was now slowing and becoming more even- a sign he was beginning to fall asleep.
"Oh Eli," Hermione whispered to her sleeping baby, gently stroking his wavy blonde locks. "How do I explain all this to you? How do I make this easier for you? You're still my baby, and as my baby you're still to young to understand any of this fully."
"Hermione?" Hermione turned her heads towards to the door, at the sound of a soft female voice from downstairs. Not wanting to wake Eli, she rose quietly to her feet, and lent down slightly to kiss him lightly on the forehead. He gave a sight stir, but did not wake. With a slightly concerned backward glance, Hermione silently shut Eli's bedroom door behind her, and proceeded downstairs.
Pushing open the living room door, she found it empty, even more than usual, since all the photos of Krum had been removed, leaving the walls and sides bare. "Hello?" Hermione called into the empty room.
Her response came almost immediately, "In here sweetheart, I'm in the kitchen."
"Mum?" Hermione hurriedly pushed the kitchen door open, "Mum!"
"Hello sweetheart, would you like a cup of coffee?" Stood amongst the sparkly clean kitchen sides, with two coffee mugs in her hand, stood a smiling Mrs Granger.
"Mum." Hermione strode forwards and embraced her mother. Mrs Granger smiled, placing the coffee mugs down and returned her daughters hug. "Oh Mum, I'm so glad you're here."
As the two women broke apart, Hermione took a seat at the kitchen table, "so coffee then?" Mrs Granger smiled rummaging around the cupboards, looking for coffee.
"Mum, let me do it." Hermione got to her feet; walking across to the windowsill she retrieved her wand. She pointed it at the mugs, which instantly began to steam as they became full of hot black coffee; with another flick of her wand, a milk jug and sugar bowl appeared on the table, accompanied by a plate of warm teacakes.
"I forget you can do that." Mrs Granger said as Hermione passed her a steaming mug. "So Hermione dear, how have you been?"
Hermione smiled at her mother. Nobody else could talk to her like this, not even Ginny, and Ginny was her best friend. But if truth were told, a girl's true best friend would always be her mother. A mother was someone you could tell anything to because they would have most almost certainly, at some stage been in the same situation. A mother always knew best.
Hermione valued her mother for those reasons. She remembered when she was pregnant, how scared she had been to tell her parents. She was their little girl and she had never wanted to disappoint them, and she hadn't. Mr and Mrs Granger, whilst slightly concerned about Hermione's age, had never the less been thrilled to have a grandson. They loved Eli and sent him presents every Christmas, Easter, valentines and, of course, birthday.
Her mother had always stood by her, through thick and thin, rain or shine, then, and now. "I'm okay," Hermione sighed, taking a small sip of her drink.
Mrs Granger laughed. "You're a bad liar, Hermione." She smiled warmly at her daughter, "You get that from your father- he's no good at hiding things from me either." Hermione gave a slight snort.
"I am okay- really, I am."
"But.?" Mrs Granger said encouragingly.
"No buts. Everything is fine." Hermione stared at the dark liquid in her coffee mug, "How is Dad?"
Mrs Granger threw her hand back dramatically, "oh he's fine, decided to try and put a shed up in the back yard. Now my living room is full of odd bits of useless building equipment, and the garden is piled high with wood and glass."
"Oh no!" The two women began to laugh. "I wish you'd let me come and help. Just one flick of my wand and it would be done," Hermione said pleadingly.
"No, Hermione dear." Mrs Granger shook her head, and took a small gulp of coffee. "You know your father likes the satisfaction of doing things by hand, and you have enough on your plate without coming round and doing magical DIY, regardless of how quick it is."
"Mum."
"When does the divorce become final?" Mrs Granger interrupted her daughter. Hermione looked away. "Now come on dear, after what Victor did to you I don't blame you for divorcing him. And its not as if Eli will be without a father, is it?"
"Eli wont except Draco- he's always asking for Victor." Hermione looked up at her mother, desperately fighting back the tears that were beginning to swell in her eyes. "Mum, I don't know what to do- I can't stand seeing my little baby boy like this anymore."
Placing her mug and the table, Mrs Granger rose to her feet, making her way around the edge of the table, and sat in the chair next to her daughter. Taking Hermione's hand in her own, she smiled, "Hermione dear, you are one of the smartest girls I know, but sweetheart, you are going about this particular problem all wrong."
Still fighting against her threatening tears, Hermione gave a sniff and shook her head. "I don't know what you mean."
Mrs Granger lifted her spare hand to her daughter's cheek and stroked it lovingly, then twiddled a strand of Hermione's curly mousy brown hair around her finger. "When you were at Hogwarts and you were helping Ron and Harry study for tests, how did hey learn best?"
"When I gave them the answers," she sniffed, her voice slightly tight and stuffy.
"No dear," Mrs Granger laughed, pulling her daughter into a loving hug, "That was a quick fix on their behalf. But you helped them learn best when you took your time with them, and explained things gradually. You see, with the boys it was easier for them to learn things over a longer period of time and figure parts of the puzzle out for themselves, instead of having the whole answer thrust upon them straight away. You can't learn things fully that way."
Hermione gazed up at her mother. "What does any of that have to do with Eli?" she asked, wiping away the tears that had finally escaped from her eyes. Mrs Granger gently stroked Hermione's hair, before pushing her softly into a sitting position.
"You can't force Draco on Eli, it won't work that way. You have to give him time- have to let him become friends with Draco first. You can't just expect him to forget Victor and replace him with Draco in an instant. Things don't work like that. Draco may be Eli's true father, but remember that Victor is the only father he has ever known. To him Victor is Dad and Draco is just a band boy that now sleeps in Daddy's place."
Gazing in to her mother's brilliantly smart face, resisting a frown, Hermione smiled, and wrapped her arms around the older woman's neck. "Thank you, mum! I don't know what I'd do without you."
The two women sat in silence for a few moments, simply hugging one another, when a loud cracking nose sounded from behind them. Leaving her mothers warm embrace, and wiping her face, she smiled at the handsome blonde figure that had just apparated into her kitchen, carrying a muggle shopping bag. "Hello, Draco dear."
Draco blushed furiously. "Oh! . Hello Mrs Granger." Hermione giggled childishly, as she stood up to relieve Draco from the small burden of the 'Wilkinson' carrier bag.
"Oh, yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you." Hermione grinned kissing Draco on the cheek after a quick rummage through the bag.
Draco raised an eyebrow to her. "Why you couldn't have gone to Honeydukes, I still can't understand."
"Honeydukes don't sell 'Cadbury's Galaxy', do they?" She smirked, pulling the wrapper off a golden covered bar. Draco smiled and kissed Hermione on the forehead.
"You and your muggle sweets." Hermione stuck out her tongue childishly, before taking a piece of brown smooth chocolate, and politely offering it to her mother.
Mrs Granger shook her head, and rose to her feet. "No thank you, dear. I best get back to your father, and hopefully the house is still intact."
Hermione too rose to her feet. "Aww Mum- can't you stay?" she moaned.
Mrs Granger shook her head, as Draco stepped forwards. "I wish I'd known you were coming, Mrs Granger- we could have arranged something."
"Nonsense, Draco dear," Mrs Granger shook her head, smiling at the blonde man. "You just take care of your family." Turning to her daughter, Mrs Granger beamed, "you remember what I told you and I promise you, everything will be fine."
"Mum."
"Oh Hermione don't, or I shall begin to cry." She smiled, wiping a stray tear from Hermione's pink cheeks, "you two take care of yourselves, and look after my grandson- everything will be fine, and you have my word on that."
After several more hugs and cheek kisses, Mrs Granger insisted on seeing herself out, leaving Hermione and Draco alone in the kitchen. "I like your Mum," Draco said, throwing the Wilkinson bag in the bin. "We should have your parents round more often."
Hermione nodded. "Yeah," she said, dreamily, eating yet more of the smooth muggle chocolate.
She was thinking about what her mother had said about forcing Draco on Eli. Her mother was right, as always, that wasn't the way to go about things; this had to be done slowly and carefully. "Hermione?" Draco asked, kneeling before Hermione and staring curiously at her. "Hermione, are you ok?"
Smiling happily, Hermione nodded. "I think I know, wait no, I know how to sort out things with Eli!"
"How?" Draco asked curiously, placing a hand on her knees. Still grinning Hermione placed her hands atop Draco's before leaning in and kissing him lightly on the nose. "Want to go for a picnic?" she winked.
A/N ok then yes a rather short random chapter to put in, but I thought it best to have a certain amount of problems with Eli. Problems which I promise to continue you with in the next chapter.
For this chapter however I would like to add a big thank you to my mother. Who in this chapter gave me a lot of insight on how mothers truly think, when dealing with the problem child. I apologise for the Wilkinson references, but my mum works there, so it was my small way of saying thank you, plus she was sat on the sofa opposite me helping me write this chapter so...*shrugs*
Ok and as per usual the massive thank you to my reviewers whom without I would cease to continue this fan fiction. And of course thank you to Ferret for being my beta reader ((p.s your shed is ruddy cold))
Ok well keep reviewing, love to you all Blessed be
BlackSuzyBird xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx