Up until five minutes ago Hermione Granger's life had been firmly on track, she was exactly where she had planned to be at this point in her life. As a seventh year she was obviously Head Girl, although sharing living space with Draco Malfoy was something of a challenge, and had a wonderful, caring boyfriend. Her grades were the highest since McGonagall herself had come through Hogwarts and she was already tipped for a high place in the Ministry when she graduated. Life had been absolutely perfect, she thought bitterly as she raced down the corridor to the Head's Common Room with scalding tears coursing down her face.
'I should have known it was too good to last' she thought to herself as she skidded to a halt in front of the wide landscape painting that served as the entrance to the common room.
"Ignis." The password sounded slightly strangled as she forced it out through her tears. As the portrait swung open, she practically fell into the room as her knees buckled. Sliding down the wall Hermione landed in a crumpled and soggy heap on the floor, and pulling her knees up and hugging them to her, allowed herself to sob in earnest.
Roused from a peaceful slumber by the commotion, Draco Malfoy was not in the best of moods. He'd spent a long night in the Slytherin dormitories trying to mediate a dispute between two fourth-years who'd nearly come to blows over the not-very-lamented late Dark Lord. It had taken all his self-control, which let's face it was prodigious, not to bitch-slap the little idiot who had been trying to defend the Dark Lord. Anybody who had been in the inner circle had known how "Lord" Voldemort had gone completely insane towards the end and had turned against even his most loyal followers before destroying himself in trying to clone hundreds of himself. Draco's father had seen the way that the wind was blowing, and being a sneaky Malfoy had turned spy for the order before the war's end. Nobody really trusted them, even now, but at least they had been spared the fate of many who had remained loyal unto the bitter end.
By the time that Draco had managed to calm the two enraged students it had been the very early hours of the morning and after double potions, he had come back to bed for a few hours to try and catch up on his much needed sleep. He had been asleep for barely five minutes when Hermione had made her dramatic entrance into the Common Room. Muttering darkly under his breath, Draco stalked out into the bright light of their shared space fully prepared to thoroughly abuse the girl in his usual acerbic manner before returning to try and sleep again. He stopped short at the sight of the normally collected Head Girl slumped into a tiny ball and sobbing like her heart would break.
Concern swept across Draco's face as he made his way over to her. She may absolutely despise his guts but damn it, she was still a girl and upset girls should be appropriately comforted as was a gentleman's duty – Malfoy Rule #93.
"Granger? Granger what's wrong?" He crouched down next to her and stretched out a hand to rest on her quivering shoulder.
"I… he…" Hermione valiantly tried to speak before once again succumbing to the violence of her tears.
"Shall I do Priore Scenum?" Draco asked gently, referring to one of their latest Charms projects. It was a spell that would allow the caster to enter the memory of the last human interaction the subject had been part of. It was like a very focussed and more private version of a Pensieve as it needed the subject's permission to work.
Hermione nodded her consent, and Draco lifted his wand from where he had dropped it by her side to rest lightly against her forehead.
"Priore Scenum." He incanted precisely and clearly, and gently lowered his forehead to rest against Hermione's.
Draco recognised the location of the memory as the hall outside of Potions, and could vaguely make out his own back disappearing off in the direction of their common room. His (her) eyes swivelled to come to rest on the face of James Winterson who was Hermione's boyfriend he recalled. A transfer student from an American wizarding school, he had generated great excitement with his floppy brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Draco remembered the huge gossip rush he had created when he and Hermione had begun dating, yet despite all belief to the contrary they had been going strong for six months now. Looking at the expression on James' face, Draco had a sickening sense that he knew where this memory was going.
"Hey James, what are you doing down here? You don't have any lessons down here do you?" Hermione's cheerful voice rang out in the memory.
"No, I… I came to speak to you." His voice in contrast sounded off, guilty and hesitant. His arm stretched out and grabbed Hermione's wrist, "Come with me a minute, somewhere quieter." Draco could practically feel Hermione's confusion and worry radiating, a common side effect of the spell being emotional transfer.
"What is it James? What's wrong?"
"This is really awkward so I'm just going to come out and say it okay? For the past month me and Hannah Abbot have been having a… thing, I know it's awful and I really am so SO sorry, but I think I love her, and I just…" He trailed off into silence.
"Wanted to break up with me?" Hermione's voice came out huskily and quietly, a shadow of it's former self. James nodded, eyes firmly fixed on the floor.
"I umm, well I hope you two will be very happy together and I wish you all the best." Her voice broke slightly at the end of the last word, and Draco could practically hear her heart crumbling as she turned away and began to shakily walk down the corridor away from her now ex-boyfriend. He called out her name pleadingly, but Hermione just called out "Goodbye James,"
She began to pick up speed and as soon as she was around the corner and out of sight she broke into a full-blown sprint. The tears coursed silently down her cheeks until she stumbled into the common room and allowed herself to sob openly.
Draco found himself once again crouching down by a still sobbing Head Girl next to the entrance hole.
"Oh Granger," he sighed, and extended his arms as she fell forward into them, desperate for comfort from someone, anyone.
With one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, Draco lowered himself to the floor and rearranged her so that she was sat in between his spread legs, her head on his shoulder, both of her legs across his left thigh. Hermione's face was buried in the side of his neck, and he could feel her tears coursing down his neck and being absorbed by the collar of his white vest that he had worn to sleep in.
"Hey, it's okay Granger, he's not worth it, you're ten times better than him, and one hundred times better than Hannah Abbot and he's a fool if he can't see that." The comforting words came easily to Draco, having used them countless times for Pansy who always fell in love with inappropriate men. His hand moved in a practiced manner across her head, twining his fingers in her hair and massaging the base of her head. Hermione's hands reflexively clutched at the front of his vest, gathering handfuls of material and releasing them only to gather them up once more.
"You're so classy, not getting mad or shouting or even letting him see you cry. You are the standard to which other girls should hold themselves; he's a fool for letting you go." Draco was getting far too close to the almost painful truth now, so he decided to stop talking and concentrate on the physical comforting instead, beginning to gently stroke his hand up and down her spine. Once he reached her shoulders, Draco stopped to gently rub small circles with the palm of his hand in an age-old comforting motion.
"Shh, come on, it's okay" he whispered in her ear as he felt the sobbing begin to subside, the motion no longer wracking her frame as she began to exhaust herself.
Draco knew the next stage would be for her to fall asleep against him, so he gently reached for his wand and almost silently summoned a cushioned back rest from across the room for him to lean against while she slept. Feeling the cadence of her breath slip gently into the slow, deep rhythm of sleep, Draco sighed and leant back against the cushion, gently clutching the exhausted girl to his chest. Listening to the peaceful and calming sound of her breathing, Draco felt his own breathing begin to slow as he fell asleep. His final thought before succumbing was that it had been a very exhausting twenty-four hours.
It was some time later when Draco woke up, the night sky showing clearly through the sky-light from his position on the floor. Looking to his right, Draco saw Hermione's head nestled against his chest, her arm thrown across him and the fingers of her right hand entwined with those of his left. Their legs were tangled so much that he could barely tell whose were whose in the gloom of the common room. Trying not to stir too much so that he wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl, Draco attempted to see the grandfather clock that stood directly behind him on the other side of the room. As he twisted slightly, he felt her begin to stir slightly, her face turning more into his chest and her fingers tightening on his. Giving up the venture as impossible, Draco settled back down onto the floor and tried to think of a plan to escape before she woke up.
Draco's right hand remained tangled in Hermione's hair as his arm was snaked around her, holding her small fragile body tightly against his. He decided that the first move would be to extricate this hand, which would then give him a tool in moving the rest of him. Gently he raised first one finger, then in swift succession the rest, so that his fingers were away from the warm skin of her scalp. Draco then slid his fingers free from the surprisingly silky, heavy mass that entangled them, until his hand was merely gently resting against her head. Slowly, so slowly, he began to slide his arm from underneath her; so slowly that it seemed that sunrise would come before he would be able to get his arm free. This gentle pace seemed to work however, as he was able to slide his arm away with almost no movement from her at all.
Hermione's left arm now undid almost all of his good work however, as she sighed gently in her sleep and with her now freed left arm gently grabbed his shoulder. Snuggling her head more securely against his chest and shifting slightly so that she butted up against his chin, she slipped once again back into peaceful slumber. 'Bugger' Draco cursed silently to himself, girl was like a bloody Devil's Snare, although a slightly more appealing version he admitted as she rubbed her head against him like a cat. By Merlin he admired her, she had held herself together through sheer grit and determination until she got to their room where she could break apart in private. She hadn't got mad, she had treated the boy with far more dignity and kindness than he deserved. Draco remembered seeing Hermione once, in the battle with Voldemort; by this time both he and his parents were actively fighting against the man they had once revered. She had been alerted by something, probably one of her boys, Draco thought, through their strange and incomprehensible link. She had been whirling around to fire a curse at a Death Eater, and as her hair spun out in a circle around her Draco had realised she was beautiful. Even with dirt on her face, and blood smeared across her left temple from a head wound she'd got earlier on, she was beautiful. All fluid motion and fire she had taken down the man… Nott, Draco thought, and then had paused and taken stock of her surroundings. When her eyes had fallen on Draco, in full Order regalia, looking at her she had smiled at him before turning away to Harry and Ron.
He had lost sight of her after that; she went off in one direction while his attention was caught by a man in black trying to kill him. By the time he'd disposed of him, Hermione had disappeared and he hadn't seen her again during that battle. The next time he'd seen her she was slowly and painfully coming towards the bedraggled group of survivors with a glow on her face that haunted Draco's dreams even now. They had defeated him. The bane of the wizarding world was gone and they had done it. They had never spoken of that day, never told how they managed to do it, but Draco was sure that Hermione had been right at the front of the whole mess. Something that worried him in a way he didn't quite understand. Hermione had been injured that day, but she had fully healed in a way that Draco hadn't. He was still scarred by that day and he thought that he probably always would be. He had lost his mother, true, but he had also lost something infinitely more rare and precious, something that could never be regained. His heart.
Hermione came awake slowly, as Draco watched in fascinated horror. First she stretched out her entire body, rubbing gently up against him in a most distracting way. Then her eyes slowly fluttered open and blinked a few times as she took in her surroundings. As her face slowly swivelled up on a path to look into his, Draco contemplated feigning sleep, but then it was too late.
"Hello." She whispered. Draco almost laughed at the complete inanity of the comment.
"Hello." He whispered back.
"Thank you." Hermione didn't raise her voice above the whisper, somehow feeling that it would break the moment.
"You're perfectly welcome." For his own reasons, Draco also continued the whispering. "You had a hard day."
"Yes."
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry Granger."
"Thanks Draco." Her use of his first name had not gone unnoticed by the steely eyed boy underneath her.
"As I said before, you're very welcome Gra… Hermione. I was… impressed by the way that you handled yourself. It was very Slytherin of you." Smiling a little at the backhanded compliment, Hermione replied,
"Well anyway, I guess I should be getting up. You'll probably get an entire body case of pins and needles."
"Okay then." Draco carefully straightened the fingers of his left hand from where they had been clutching hers, and pulled them away. Her arm, once freed, slid back across his body to her side. She lifted her right knee from where it had been lying across his legs and he lifted HIS right knee from where it had been pinning her left leg to the ground.
Once disentangled the two slowly sat up, then pushed themselves to a standing position, grimacing at the pain as blood rushed back into long numbed areas. Hermione slumped against him as her leg gave out from the tingling pain, and he instinctively grabbed her to him stopping her from hitting the floor.
"Thanks."
"Seriously Hermione, you need to stop saying thanks for every tiny thing that I do for you." Draco stated, not harshly but in an almost amused tone.
"But I want you to know that I appreciate everything you've done, I mean I didn't expect you to." Draco raised an eyebrow at this maligning of his honour.
"Would you have done the same for me?" He asked, knowing full well that the answer would be in the affirmative.
Hermione looked steadily at Draco's face, imagining his long, lean Seekers frame curled into an agonized ball, his aristocratic face streaked with tears. Her eyes raised to meet his, stormy skies meeting rain slashed earth.
"Of course I would." The seriousness of her answer should have provoked amusement, if not a biting retort from the boy in front of her, yet he seemed shaken by the truth in her eyes. The moment stretched seeming endless with the two of them locking gazes, communicating without words.
Their silence was abruptly shattered by a loud pounding on the door and two male voices raised in worry and alarm.
"HERMIONE! OPEN THE DOOR HERMIONE! IT'S US!" As if she didn't know it would be them.
Hermione whirled away toward the door, the boy standing in front of her seemingly forgotten in the face of her REAL friends he thought bitterly.
'Once again, not needed, not wanted. Only good while there's nobody better around.' He slunk off to his rooms swiftly, and therefore didn't notice when Hermione turned to look for him after she had opened the entrance to their common room. Seeing him missing, she dismissed it for the moment and then turned to greet her friends.
"Hey guys, I guess you heard huh?" She smiled in a heartbreaking way, and her boys instantly swung into action. Noticing her red-rimmed eyes and the tear stains on her cheeks, they moved into position. Ron moved around to stand behind her as Harry moved forward and as one they swept her up into a safe protected centre in between them as they hugged her with a gentle force she knew well. Hermione loved it when they hugged her like this, the three of them in a union that nobody else could ever infiltrate or even understand. Even Ginny and Luna knew better than to try and interfere when the three of them were in one of their 'together' moments. While Ginny was closer than Ron's girlfriend Luna, she had once said to Hermione something that had made Hermione sure that she was the one for Harry. She understood:
"The three of you are something special. You're like one soul that has been split into three pieces by accident; you got the smart bit, Harry got the brave bit, and Ron got the intuitive, planning bit. Together you're one person, I mean I've seen you lot together, finishing each other's sentences and pre-empting the other's requests. Like the other day at breakfast, you passed Ron the jam, he passed Harry the toast and Harry put the sugar in your tea. The three of you think nothing of it, but to the rest of us, it's like a ballet we can't understand. Me and Luna may hold the boy's hearts but you have their souls and it's no good for us to even try and replace you."
As the three of them stood tightly clasped together, Hermione knew that Ginny was right; she could feel the comforting glow they gave off when they were together and it warmed her soul. Instinctively the two knew when she was ready to talk and released her, each taking one of her hands prolonging the physical contact.
"We heard what happened…" Harry began
"That fucking bastard!" Ron finished, as always the most outspoken of the three. Hermione had given up trying to prevent his swearing when they had turned seventeen, figuring as an adult he had the right to say whatever he wanted to.
"Look guys, I mean if this happened then it wasn't going to work out, and he's better off with someone he can actually be happy with, rather than…" Hermione trailed off, her eyes welling up again.
"I don't care; I agree with Ron, he's a bastard and if ever we catch him in a dark corner one day…" Harry trailed off, with an all too familiar gleam in his eye that had frightened more wizards and witches than Hermione liked to think about.
"Look guys, I know that you like to be protective of me, but really it's okay. Although I would say that a certain amount of intimidating glaring in the halls might be acceptable." Hermione grinned evilly, well aware that since they all defeated Voldemort (ably assisted by his growing insanity of course) the two boys were actively feared and respected. A glare from the pair of them was not an insignificant threat, especially when you knew what they could back it up with.
"I must say Mione; you're taking this very well." Ron said, looking at her in a strange, questioning way.
"Well, I did have the whole afternoon to sob unrestrainedly about it, and to be perfectly honest I've been expecting our break-up for a while. The only thing that really shocked and upset me was the whole Hannah Abbot thing; I mean I thought that we were friends." And it was true, that was the fact that hurt Hermione the most; that a girl she had counted as a friend had been running around behind her back with her boyfriend.
"We're so sorry that we weren't here earlier, but we went straight to Quidditch from a double with Trelawney. You should have called us." Harry said, referring to the rings that they all wore. They were chunky silver rings for the boys and a more slender silver band for Hermione that they each wore around their thumbs. Hermione had found a spell in sixth year, just before the war broke out that had allowed them to create an almost physical link between themselves. Inside each of the rings was a drop of a mixture of each of their blood, and this imbued the ring with certain properties not dissimilar to the Dark Mark. When one of them was in danger, the ring glowed red and became almost hot enough to burn; when one of them needed the other two, a quick press of the ring in a very particular spot and a whispered word caused the ring to go pale blue, like a reflection of the sky in the band, and go very cold.
"It was okay, I mean I wasn't on my own." She said, before realising what this statement would cause.
"Who was with you?" The boys asked as one.
"Draco Malfoy was with me. And before you start, he was perfectly lovely and was very kind to me, and I would think that you would therefore show due respect and appreciation and not begin one of your speeches about the 'blonde ferret' Ron Weasley because I know what you're like." She glared at the end of this speech, and Ron, who had indeed been planning a 'blonde ferret' tirade, opened and closed his mouth a few times and sank back against the cushions of the sofa.
"Well. That's a turn-up for the books isn't it? Well. Umm. Well." Harry sputtered along, clearly lost for words, and Hermione was suddenly filled with an intense rush of love for them both. She stood up and they followed her, knowing it was time for another hug.
She squeezed them both with almost frightening intensity, as they squeezed her back almost as hard.
"I love you guys, you know that right?"
"Of course we do, and we love you too." Harry replied, as always more comfortable with expressed emotions than Ron, who simply nodded against the top of Hermione's head.
"Now, you two had better go before your girlfriends wonder where you've got to."
"We can always stay Mione; you know it's always you first." Ron said, causing tears to well in Hermione's eyes again.
"I know. I'll call you if I need you again; you know the secret passageway into here."
The two boys made their way out of the doorway, each pausing to drop a kiss onto Hermione's head before leaving with shouts of: "We'll see you at breakfast," and "We'll glare so hard he'll keel over into his porridge, I swear!" echoing after them.
Hermione turned back into what she thought would be the empty common room only to see the pale figure of Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway to his room.
"Merlin, how long have you been standing there, you scared the hell out of me!"
"A while." He replied, voice unreadable as always.
"A while? How long is a while? I mean, the entire time Harry and Ron were here or what? Were you listening in?" Hermione wasn't angry, just curious. Their conversation had hardly contained incriminating information or anything.
"The whole conversation, you were so wrapped up in each other that you didn't notice me. What did you mean you can call each other?" He sounded strange to Hermione, not like his normal voice of ice. She held up her left hand and wriggled her thumb, drawing attention to the thumb ring she wore.
"Through the rings, we can call to each other if we need help and it does it automatically if we're in danger." He nodded.
"Sensible idea. The three of you are always bloody in danger, one or the other. So why didn't you use it?" Genuine curiosity now.
"I didn't need to. I had you."
"But I'm not like them, I mean we're enemies! The three of you are so… so…" Draco paused trying to find words to describe it. "You're like one person in three bodies."
Hermione's jaw dropped in amazed astonishment. Taking it for confusion, Draco went on, trying to explain.
"We all aspire, I mean us at Hogwarts, to have a friendship like the three of you have. You're linked in some way, like the three of you were separated at birth and instinctively know that you're meant to be together. No wait, that sounds stupid, I mean obviously you're not separated at birth. I mean… oh, who the hell knows what I mean." He stopped in frustration.
"Do you mean that we're like one soul split into three bodies?" Hermione asked quietly.
"YES! That's it. You finish each others sentences, you all stand up as one; hug as one; eat as one; bloody chew as one; battle as one. It's like you're dancing to a rhythm nobody else can hear." There was an almost deafening silence as Draco finished speaking.
"Do we really chew together?" Hermione asked with an amused tone to her voice. "You look that closely?"
"Yes you do, you do everything in complete synchronicity. It's almost scary sometimes. I saw you fighting in the War, and I think that's why we won you know. The three of you were like a machine, Ron would duck and you would spin and fire over him without even knowing that someone was there, yet there always was. It was like you could see through each others eyes."
"You understand."
"What!"
"You understand. Almost nobody has ever understood exactly what it is we have. Luna understands I think, and Ginny definitely understands. The Weasley's try to understand but they don't, not really. Nobody in Gryffindor is even close. James didn't understand, and it hurt that he didn't. He resented the time I spent with them."
"But you need them; they're a part of you." Draco whispered.
"Yes. That's why I knew it wouldn't work out. I need somebody who understands."
Neither of them had really understood what this conversation would mean until those words echoed out into the air. Irretrievable and world-altering words. Words like those which caused wars and ended them, words like those which had sparked relationships between soul mates.
"I understand." Said Draco quietly but forcefully into the silence, knowing full well what he could be doing.
"Yes you do." Hermione replied, also knowing.
Not quite sure how they got there, they were in front of each other, each breathing quicker than normal. Draco was so uncertain, so unsure of what he was doing. Why was he doing this? It was like some power from outside of his body was pushing and pulling him closer to her. It was like gravity, imperceptible but clearly there. Where had this suddenly come from? It was like nothing on earth, he understood nothing, and it really didn't matter any more.
Draco lowered his face to Hermione's and rested his forehead against hers.
"We're not enemies." Hermione whispered.
"No, we're not." Draco agreed before he tilted his face down and caught her lips with his own.
The kiss was gentle and nothing like how Hermione would have imagined Draco Malfoy to kiss, if she had in fact ever taken the time to imagine. He seemed almost shy he was so hesitant; brushing her lips as softly as the breeze on the perfect summer's day, substantial enough to be felt but light enough to cause tingles. Her hand came up to cup the back of his head at the vulnerable curve between neck and skull. Her fingers played with the short strands of hair that she found there, letting them slip-slide between her fingers in a way that made them itch to clasp him tightly. His hands were demurely placed on either side of her waist, where the waistband of her skirt was moulded to the curve of her body. It was low enough to suggest lover not friend, yet was high enough to be respectful. That was the word that summed up the kiss. Respectful.
Yet for all that, there was still passion, it was felt in the way his tongue gently licked across her bottom lip, in the way it delved into her mouth, the way that his fingers clutched at her so tightly they made dents in her soft flesh. It was Hermione who took the initiative however, as somehow he had known it would be.
Grasping the back of his neck firmly, Hermione pulled his head closer to her and pushed her lips more firmly against his, thrusting her tongue into his mouth, challenging him. She slid her free hand down his spine and cheekily grabbed at his perfect, pert bum. Yelping in surprise, Draco caught the bug and willingly succumbed. If his eyes had been open, they would have been flashing fire the way they did during a fight, but they were tightly shut; his eyelashes fluttering against the curve of his cheek. He took the kiss and made it his own, sucking at her mouth, exploring it fully and claiming it as his own. His hands slid from the respectful waist position to her arse, lifting her up against his body and crushing her to him.
Panting they broke apart, yet still remained close to each other, as if unwilling to break the connection.
"So Hermione, should I sit with you tomorrow and help with the glaring? If those two combined don't make him faint into his porridge, I'm sure the three of us would manage admirably."
Hermione laughed at the thought of Draco, Ron and Harry all glaring daggers at poor James; he would indeed faint into his breakfast.
"Okay, then after that we'll let it go. If we hadn't broken up, I'd never have found you, the you who understands, right?"
"True, too true. I've always been jealous you know, I think that's why I teased you so much, because I was jealous."
"We knew Draco, we were just waiting for you to realise."
"We… Strange but it fits."
"We are a we, me, Harry and Ron. Are we a we Draco?"
"I think we are Hermione. We definitely are if it means I get to kiss you some more."
Hermione's laugh filtered out into the empty corridor outside the Heads common room. The boys in the Gryffindor were suddenly alerted by a warmth circling their thumbs and a pink glow coming from the ring; Hermione noticed at the same time. Smiling, she wondered if the boys knew what this meant, like she did; each of the three had found their mates now. She had been hoping for this reaction from James, but it seemed that Draco would be the one. Draco noticed the ring, but being naturally intuitive understood what it meant and simply raised her hand and kissed the ring on her thumb.
The following morning, the entire Great Hall was buzzing with the news of James and Hermione's break-up and the circumstances that had led up to it. Everyone was waiting for the Head Girl and her boys to turn up; as the door swung open every head swivelled to follow the unusual quartet wending their way through the hall. The three they had expected, but Draco Malfoy was unexpected and strange. The four sat down on the Slytherin bench, as James had sensibly sat facing away from the Gryffindor table. Hermione sat down gracefully, with Harry and Ron at either side while Draco stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Harry and Ron waited, as they knew she would have to signal to Draco before they began. Stifling a smile, Hermione raised a hand a gently touched Draco's resting on her left shoulder. He kissed the top of her head, then as one, as if he had been part of their group from the beginning, Draco, Harry and Ron lifted their eyes to spear the unfortunate James with an array of steely-eyed gazes which had been this full of malice and hate only when felling the Dark Lord.
Giving the boy his due he did withstand the attack longer than was expected (An indication of the strength of the glare was that an unfortunate Hufflepuff first year who had looked up at the wrong moment had been rendered instantly unconscious and remained so for a full three hours. Of course Hermione had demanded that the three write a profuse apology to the boy, which did slightly restore his shattered nerve.). It took James a full five seconds before he fell to the power of the stare and slipped into a blissfully unconscious state. As people informed him once he had been returned to his original state:
YOU DON'T MESS WITH HERMIONE AND HER BOYS!
Epilogue:
As expected Hermione graduated with top honours, followed closely by Draco, and they both accepted jobs at the Ministry.
All three couples got married three years later in a massive joint ceremony. To which Draco insisted that James be invited, saying that it was all due to him being a cheating bastard that they got together anyway. Not surprisingly, James declined the invitation and in fact made sure he was out of the country on that particular day.
They had children; Harry's Sirius, Ron's Merlyn and Hermione's Narcissa all born on the same day. When placed in a cradle together, the three infants had squirmed and wriggled till Narcissa was in the middle and the boys flanked her. They had reached out and clasped each others hands and had been content. Draco had cursed at that moment, "Now we'll have no bloody peace! The three of them… can you even imagine what kinds of messes they'll get in to?"
He had reached down and plucked Narcissa out of the cradle and she had gone willingly into the arms of her adoring father who cooed over her. Yet over his shoulder Hermione could have sworn that she saw an amused glint in the baby's eye. It was no good, she thought to herself, as if our children wouldn't!
Hermione looked at the room in front of her, Ron, Harry, Draco, Ginny, Luna, Narcissa, Sirius and Merlyn. She felt so happy at that moment she could hardly breathe. She felt a wave of gratitude to James Winterson rush over her; if he hadn't been such a cheating lying bastard, she'd never have found Draco and wouldn't have this. She smiled at her husband and he walked over to her standing so close she could feel him breathe. Narcissa was cradled between them as she reached up and kissed her husband, therefore missing the small magical sparks that flitted between the three infants.
"At least they won't have to wait till Hogwarts." Harry remarked stoically, before breaking out into laughter.
Life was perfect.