The Road Home
Hermione and Draco woke up the next morning in each other's arms. Sitting up and stretching she spotted the ring on her finger. Grinning she gazed down at it and ran her finger over it. It was truly beautiful and obviously expensive. Hermione felt a happy tear come to her eye. She knew he had spent a lot of money on it. Luckily he had inherited everything from his parents.
Her train of thought was broken when she heard Caleb wake up and start crying for his mommy. Hermione threw back the blankets on Draco and went over to the babies crib. Reaching down she picked up her three month old son. He was small and fragile and Hermione couldn't help but love him.
"Good Morning sweetie." She told him affectionately. "I have great news. Your going to be a Malfoy soon."
The baby had quieted down as if he were listening intently. "Your gonna have Draco as a daddy. He proposed to me last night. I hope you'll like him when you get older. But I'm sure you will. I love him more than the world so you probably will too. He already loves you very much." Hermione sat down in a rocking chair. "I thought he would resent you because of who your real daddy is but he doesn't. He so sweet sometimes. You might not understand this but it is nice to tell someone."
Draco lay in his and Hermione's bed listening to her talk to the baby. His heart had never felt more whole. Hermione wanted him to be the father of her baby and she had once again declared her love for him. Today they would be going back home and on to the suite he now owned in the Leaky Cauldron. In a week or so they would be moving into the beach-side manor. They would be getting married in about a year. Then once the baby was old enough for them to leave him with someone else they would be going on their honeymoon.
He had already planned it all out. They would be going to the Cayman Islands and stay in a suite. Draco didn't have the precise details planned out but he would figure them all out soon. Today, however they would be telling everybody that they were engaged. The only thing that made him mad at the moment was the Weasel. He kept staring at Hermione like he owned her. It angered him and he knew there was no other way to prove she was his than by announcing their engagement. Deciding not to lay around anymore Draco slipped out of bed quietly and walked up behind Hermione. Kissing the back of her neck he expected her to jump but she didn't.
Instead she said. "Good morning, hun."
Draco grinned, a bit upset she hadn't been scared. "Morning." He looked down at her breast feeding the baby. "I'll just give him a kiss later."
"You do that." She told him.
"I will." He said going over to his dresser and looking through it for some clothes.
Hermione sat in the chair and watched him until Caleb was done. Setting the little boy back in his crib she walked over to her fiancé. Wrapping her arms around him she felt Draco turn around to face her.
"Good now I can give you a proper good morning." He said smirking and crashing his lips down on hers.
Hermione kissed back and ran her hands through his hair. "What a great way to wake up, properly."
Draco nodded in agreement. "I could wake up like that every morning."
Hermione grinned and pulled away. "I gotta go get a shower. I'll see you in a bit."
Draco frowned but nodded and went over to the baby while Hermione went to take s however. Bending over he kissed the little boy on his forehead. Hermione watched from the bathroom door before going into the bathroom and stripping down. Jumping into the shower she was putting shampoo in her hair when she left two hands on her waist.
Hermione squeaked, loudly. "What are you doing in here?" She snapped, furiously.
"Taking a shower with my most perfect fiancé." Draco told her helping her put shampoo through her hair.
"I'm naked." She said bluntly, moving her arms and hands to cover her body.
"That's normally how people shower." Draco said, running his hands down her arms and pulling them down. "Your too beautiful to cover yourself."
"You haven't seen me yet." Hermione told him, letting her arms fall limply to her side.
"I don't have to see you to know your beautiful." He retorted, making aline of kisses over her shoulders and down her back.
Hermione shivered under the feel of his kisses. Draco put his hands on her upper arms, ready to turn her around and asked. "You don't mind, do you?"
Hermione thought about that for a moment before shaking her head and turning around to face him. Draco smiled and kissed her lips before letting his eyes wander down her body. She squirmed under his gaze and he laughed, affectionately.
"I knew what I was talking about when I said you were beautiful." He took her chin in his hand for a kiss and pressed his body against hers.
Hermione, hesitantly, put her arms around him and let him hold her there. It was wonderful feeling his hot skin against hers and the water pouring down on them. Much to her surprise she felt something pressing against her hip. Looking up she saw Draco looking away with his face beet red.
Hermione stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry. I'm flattered, really I am. Beside, Draco, your going to be my husband."
Draco turned to her and gave her a small smile. Hermione took out some more shampoo and began cleaning his hair. Draco grinned, lopsidedly and bent his head for her to have easier access to his head and for him to have a better view of her. Once they had washed each other and rinsed off they both stepped out. Grabbing a towel Hermione dried off and hurried into the bedroom to check on Caleb. According to the clock they had been in the shower for half an hour and now only had two hours to have everything packed up and ready to go.
Draco came out and kissed her cheek before grabbing some clothes and pulling them on. Caleb woke up and started crying again. Hermione set her brush down and went over to the crib. She loved her baby boy dearly but he cried a lot . Picking him up she comforted him until the crying stopped. Taking out the carrier she set Caleb inside it and pulled her hair up into a messy bun. She and Amy would be doing their hair more elegantly later. Draco was carefully brushing his hair and parting it perfectly.
Hermione laughed and walked up to him. "Your so vain." She giggled harder at his abashed look. "Your hair looks so much better like this." She said ruffling it.
"Hey I worked hard to make it look like that." Draco cried reaching up to his head to fix the hair Hermione had just messed up.
Hermione sighed and shook her head. "I'll be spending the next two hours with Amy and all you can think of is your hair."
Draco stopped messing with his hair and scowled at her. "Your gonna spend all that time with her. For what? We're just going home."
"But it will be the last time we leave Hogwarts! The last time we see most of our friends and classmates! Doesn't that seem to be an important occasion to you?" Hermione asked pushing herself on the dresser with an incredulous look.
"Not really. I hate half of the people in the school and more than likely they all hate me back." Draco shrugged telling her the truth.
Hermione frowned and sighed. Kissing his cheek she picked up the baby and pushed the carrier into his hands.
"You can watch the baby while me and Amy get ready." She ordered him.
"Alright but don't spend all afternoon with Amy. I want some time with my fiancé." Draco told her with a smirk. He loved calling her his fiancé.
"Draco." Hermione giggled. "We'll have plenty of time to spend together once we're out school and we're spending the rest of the day together."
Hermione kissed him again and flounced out of the room and down the steps. In the common room Amy and Blaise were snogging on the couch. They jumped apart when she made her presence known with a small 'ahem'. Hermione grinned at them and sat down next to Amy. Blaise looked at her down his nose and his yes grew wide.
"Nice ring." He said snidely.
Amy looked confused for a moment but then saw the ring on her finger. "Oh my god! He proposed didn't he, Hermione! Oh Hermione this is wonderful! Your gonna get married!" Amy jumped up and down shrieking.
"Shh!" Hermione shushed her. "Draco and I want to announce it together today on the train."
"Oh I can't wait!" Amy squealed grabbing Blaise around the neck and hugging him a little too tightly.
Hermione laughed at the two. "Amy I think you need to let go before you strangle Blaise."
"Huh... oh yeah... whatever." Amy said absentmindedly letting go. "We have to I start making plans right away! There is so much to do! The food, the clothes, the guests, the place..." She trailed off deep in thought.
Blaise raised his eyebrows at Hermione over Amy's head and she nodded in agreement. Amy finally stopped talking and took Hermione's hand.
"We'll be getting ready." She said dramatically heading to the Head Boy bedroom before turning around. "Don't hurt yourself while we're gone, ok."
Blaise glared and was about to retort but Hermione and Amy had already disappeared up the steps. The next two hours were spent with the two girls trying on different outfits, make-up and redoing their hair many times. Once they were done however they were both more than assured they looked positively perfect.
Walking down the steps and through the tapestry they found Blaise and Draco talking together with Caleb in between them. Blaise saw them first and stopped talking, gaping at the two. Draco turned around his seat and gaped at them too before licking his lips.
Amy smirked smugly at the boys. "Nice to see you like our outfits."
"Loving it, babe." Blaise matched her smirk and beckoned her over to him.
Hermione grinned and went over to sit on Draco's lap. Caleb reached his tiny hands up to Hermione as she sat down. "What is it baby?" She asked picking him out of the carrier. "Did daddy not give you enough attention?"
Draco gave her a doubtful smirk and kissed her on the lips before kissing Caleb on his forehead. "I gave him lots of attention." He told her with an undaunted look.
"I'm sure." She muttered not paying much attention as she shifted the baby in her arms and leaned heavily on Draco.
Draco's arm found their way around her and held her tightly. "Careful you'll mess up my hair."
Draco smirked looking proud of himself. "Now who's the vain one?"
Hermione sat with Caleb and a bottle at the end of the Gryffindor table. Breakfast had just ended and everybody was going around to say their good-byes. Draco had gone off with Blaise to talk to some Slytherins and Amy was off to some unknown place. Hermione wasn't very lonely as many girls kept coming up and asking to hold Caleb. She had let them hold him for a while but had been nervous the whole time. Now however Caleb was in her arms and eating, again.
Draco noticed her sitting alone and hurried over. "Hey." He greeted sitting down with her and kissing her lips.
Hermione smiled, affectionately. "Hi. Aren't you supposed to be saying good-bye to people?"
"Aren't you?" He retorted.
"I'm busy with the baby." She mumbled looking down.
Draco tsked and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it. We should go find a carriage anyway. All of Caleb's stuff is being moved into the manor as we speak."
Hermione nodded and stood up to follow him out. Draco took her hand and together they left. Many other people were leaving as well and they got into a carriage with Amy, Blaise, Harry, Ron, and Ginny. They were remotely silent until they emptied out onto the Hogsmeade platform.
"I can't believe we're really leaving." Harry said sadly as he looked back at the castle they had known for so long as home.
"It'll be weird not coming back in the fall." Hermione agreed with him.
The others nodded in agreement as they were hurried onto the train. They went to the end of the train and found an empty compartment. Hermione had just finished putting the baby to sleep when the train began moving and Luna and Neville came into the room. It was now quite tightly packed as everybody searched for a spot.
"Hello Hermione." Luna greeted in a dream-like voice. "Draco, Blaise, Amy."
"Hi Luna." Hermione said kindly with a small smile.
"So what are your plans now that you left Hogwarts?"
This sort of conversation kept on until Ginny saw the ring on Hermione's finger. "Oh my god, Hermione is that an engagement ring!" She shrieked pointing at it.
Everybody began asking questions and beaming at her. Everybody that is except for Ron. He seemed to still be registering the fact that she was engaged to his worst enemy while the girls discussed when the wedding would be. Draco couldn't help but smirk over Hermione's head at him, triumphantly.
The day wore on and finally the train slowed down. Hermione was letting the tears fall as she packed up the baby and got ready to leave. Draco wrapped his arms around her.
"It'll be ok, Hermione." He comforted her rubbing her back slowly.
Hermione nodded and they walked off the train together. Hermione's tears didn't stop but seemed to actually increase. She gave the others hugs as they headed off to their families and their own lives. Draco's arm was still around her tightly.
"I'm gonna miss this platform, too." She whispered looking around at all the people she had practically grew up with.
"I know." He said, solemnly.
"I think I'm ready to go though." Hermione said letting a few last tears fall.
Hermione and Draco held each others hands and took a deep breath before walking through the magical archway with Caleb in her arms. They were ready to begin their lives as fiances, parents, and lovers.
IMPORTANT! There WILL be a sequel. I will be posting it very soon and it will be called One Piece of Parchment! The first five chapters are written and I'm working on the sixth.