Slumber Party

The remainder of the party was a huge success. Food and drinks were plentiful and everyone was in high spirits. Draco and Hermione rejoined the party after their tryst to the giggles of Ginny and Luna. Her face blushed deeply as the two girls cornered her in the hallway away from the party.

"And where have you been young lady?" Ginny asked in a very good impression of Mrs. Weasley.

"None of your business Ginerva." Hermione replied back smiling.

"I bet I can guess." Luna said. "You were off snogging that dreamy Draco."

"I think she was off shagging him." Ginny said bluntly.

"Shhhh…" Hermione said. "Don't let anyone hear that."

"So it's true?" Ginny said. "Tell me everything. Your first time with Malfoy…was it everything you thought it would be?" she rambled.

"It wasn't my first time with him." Hermione admitted. "We…you know…before we went to Malfoy Manor the last time." Her face was flushed.

"You did? And you didn't tell me?" Ginny said smacking Hermione in the arm. Hermione smiled.

"Keep smacking me and I won't tell you anything. I don't want to talk now with so many people in the house. I have an idea though. Since we will all be sharing rooms with so many people in the house why don't the two of you bunk with me tonight and the boys can stay in Harry's room. We can put your parent's in the top bedroom since it is the biggest. Hagrid can have one of the bedrooms on the third floor. McGonagall can have the first floor bedroom. Remus and Tonks are sleeping in the last bedroom on the third floor."

"Don't you want to share with Draco?" Luna asked dreamily. Hermione smiled in the same dreamy way.

"Well…obviously I want to spend time with him, but I also need time with my friends." she blushed.

"And you will fill us in on all the juicy details?" Ginny asked.

"Anything you want." Hermione giggled before rejoining the party.

They told everyone of the sleeping arrangements they had worked out. Draco had scowled about sharing with three other guys but ultimately complied. The party ended a few hours later with everyone heading off to bed to get some well deserved rest. Ginny snuck upstairs to Hermione's room and set it up for a real girl's night in. She vanished both beds and conjured some sleeping bags and giant pillows. Hermione was bringing up some snacks from the kitchen. Luna seemed overly excited.

"I've never been invited to a slumber party." she told Hermione as she helped her carry the trays of snacks and drinks.

"Me either, unless you count Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil gossiping in their beds until 5 in the morning at Hogwarts." Hermione said in a hushed voice, Luna giggled.

Ginny was sitting on the floor waiting for the two other girls to return. She was dressed in pink pajamas and her hair was in a bun. Hermione was similarly dressed in blue pajamas and Luna had some kind of weird silver ones on with glowing stars.

"Got all the junk food for us." Hermione said announcing her entrance into the room. Luna followed and plopped onto the floor next to Ginny.

"So?" Ginny asked, one eyebrow raised.

"So?" Hermione replied coyly.

"Details woman!" Ginny said excitedly.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Do I ask you for details on your nighttime visits to Harry's room?" Hermione joked.

"Well there was this one time that I snuck into his dorm at Hogwarts…" she started.

"Gross…I was joking. I don't want to hear about my two best friends getting it on." she said holding her hand out at arms length.

"You know you do." Ginny said in reply. "Anyway, come on…out with it."

"Ugh. What do you want to know nosey?" Hermione huffed.

"How is it going with Malfoy? Must be pretty good." Ginny grinned.

"It is." Hermione blushed. "Better than you can imagine."

Ginny giggled.

"Who would have thought it?" Ginny said. Luna smiled in her enigmatic sort of way.

"Not to change the subject,' Hermione started knowing full well that was her intention. "I saw Ron talking to you tonight, what did he say?" Ginny focused her attention on Luna now.

"Well, it was all very strange…" she started. "He just sort of came up to me and acted like he had never seen me in all his life. But we talked for a bit and he asked me out on a date. A real date!" she said excitedly. "I have not been on a real date since Harry took me to Slughorn's Christmas party as friends."

"Well I am happy for you." Hermione said. "Ron is a wonderful person, and I think you two will be very happy." Luna smiled again. Ginny made a gagging noise.

"Ickle Ronnie…blah!"

Hermione broke out in a fit of the giggles eventually throwing popcorn at Ginny to make her stop the vomiting faces she was making.

"Stop Ginny…" she giggled.

Meanwhile down the hall, the four boys were crammed into a room meant for two. Four twin beds were lined up unceremoniously along each wall leaving only a narrow walkway for them to get to their beds. Draco was unhappy about spending the night away from Hermione. And he could tell that Harry was none too thrilled about not having Ginny in with him either. Ron was sitting on the bed lost in a daydream.

"What's on your mind mate?" Harry finally asked him breaking his concentration.

"Oh, just thinking of how weird it was that the girl in that mirror was Luna. She looked great didn't she?" he asked hoping for reassurance of his choice from the other males in the room.

"Yeah, she did." Harry said. Neville nodded as well. Ron looked at Draco but got no response.

Harry noticed.

"What's on your mind?" he asked Draco.

"Lots of things, mostly the trip to Godric's hollow. But also Hermione and my mum." he said honestly.

"The trip will go off without a hitch. I know it will." Harry said.

"I hope so." Neville finally said quietly.

"With everyone going we should have plenty of protection. If only Dumbledore were here with us." Ron said tactlessly. Draco looked away quickly.

"Sorry mate." Ron apologized. "I didn't mean to bring up…"

"It's fine. His death was my fault whether I said the curse or not. I know everyone thinks it anyway." Draco muttered.

"I don't think it." Harry said. "I was there. You had a choice and you didn't kill him. You could not have overpowered Snape and the rest of the Death Eaters without dying yourself. And if you had died we would not be this far in our quest. So don't worry about it anymore."

"It's hard not to." he said his voice trailing off at the end.

"I just hope everyone comes through this safely." Ron said. "I asked Luna out on a date." His ears turned very red.

"Me too. I think I am going to ask Ginny to marry me." he said looking at Ron waiting for his customary blow up.

"Marry? My sister? I think she's a bit young." Ron grinned.

"Well it's just an idea, keep it quiet okay?" Harry reminded them.

"I would love to get married and have a family." Neville said quietly.

"Me too." Draco said without thinking. The other three looked at him oddly. "What?" he asked.

"You? Married? You are not serious." Ron said. "To Hermione?"

"Well, I'm not that far ahead yet, but yeah. I love her…and that is saying something."

"I'm glad." Harry replied. "Hermione needs someone in her life. I have a feeling I kind of kept her from finding someone by always dragging her here or there. Sending her off to South America and such."

"Sending her there saved my life. Regretting it?" Draco joked.

"No." Harry said quickly.

"Let's just get some sleep." Ron said pulling the covers over his feet.

"I wonder what the girls are talking about." Harry mused aloud.

"Knowing Hermione probably tactics for Godric's Hollow." Ron said. Draco gave a hearty laugh.

"You two are really slow when it comes to Hermione. She is not all books all the time." Draco told them.

Ron and Harry looked at him oddly. Neville looked up but said nothing.

"They are probably down there gabbing about us." Draco told them. "They are girls after all."

"No way. Not Hermione and certainly not Ginny. She wouldn't tell anyone our private business." Harry said nervously.

"Don't be so sure." Draco said smiling mischievously.

"I have some extendable ears from Fred and George. Let's go down and listen in." Ron said excitedly. Draco laughed but didn't want Ron and Harry to hear anything private about him and Hermione.

"On one condition. If you hear anything it stays between us, agreed?

"Good idea." Harry replied, relishing not having Ron hear about him and his baby sister.

"Let's go. Neville, you coming?"

"No, no one is going to talk about me." he muttered. "You guys go ahead."

The three boys tiptoed down the hall and stepped lightly to avoid the creaking floorboards. They heard large amounts of giggling coming from the girl's room. Ron threw the extendable ears and they hit the door with no trouble.

"And then…" they heard Ginny's voice, "Harry starts rubbing me and it tickled but I tried to keep a straight face so as not to ruin the mood, but it didn't last for long. I started laughing…"

The other two girls erupted in giggles. Ron glared at Harry who was not looking straight at him.

"And then Harry got really mad for about a minute…" Ginny laughed. "Does that ever happen to you Hermione?"

"Uh…well Draco kind of did something…it felt good but it tickled at the same time. He put his mouth…"

Draco pulled the ears away from the door quickly only to find Harry and Ron both glowering at him.

"Look we agreed…" he said swallowing hard. "Look what your sister was saying about Harry!' he pointed.

Ron returned his gaze to Harry.

"You had sex with Hermione?" Harry said loudly attempting to get Ron's attention back to Draco.. Ron looked back at Draco.

"SHHHH…" Draco whispered. "look, let's just listen."

The three boys threw the flesh colored string back at the door and waited.

"It was wonderful." Hermione finished.

"That's sweet." Luna said.

"Yeah, I never thought Malfoy could be so nice. I'm happy for you 'Mione." Ginny told her.

"Thanks, I wish I could look at the future. But right now all I can do is take it one day at a time." Hermione said sadly.

"Yeah, me too." Ginny said.

"I would like to live long enough to have a first date…" Luna said dreamily. "I think I could grow to like Ron a lot."

Out in the hall the boys felt very guilty for listening in so they packed up the extendable ears and walked quietly back to their room.

"So Luna is a…you know." Ron whispered to Harry when they got in their room.

"I suppose." Harry said lying on this back with his arms behind his head.

"One day left…let's get some sleep." Draco said tucking himself into bed missing Hermione's body next to him terribly.

Meanwhile Hermione, Ginny and Luna were drifting off to sleep on the sleeping bags and giant pillows. The room was deafly quiet, only the sounds of the wind blowing through the window offset the silence. Hermione's mind was racing with thoughts of Draco and the future she could envision between them. As her tired brain fell into a peaceful sleep she began to dream…

A pale blue house with a white picket fence came into focus. The house had a rather large porch with two wooden rocking chairs blowing in the summer breeze on it. Two blonde children, one boy and one girl were playing with a large rubber ball on the front lawn. She saw herself come out of the front door with another blonde baby girl on her hip. She called for the children to come in and wash up for dinner

"Brennan, Emily, come in and wash your hands. Dinner will be ready in a moment and your father will be home in less than a minute." she called to them. They dropped the ball and ran top speed up the front steps and into the house.

"Slow down." she said to them as they flew past. She turned to the baby. "Roslyn, what am I going to do with your brother and sister?" she asked softly. The baby giggled and cooed. She walked back into the house and put the baby in a playpen. Hermione walked into the kitchen and with a wave of her wand finished dinner. Pot roast, potatoes and green beans. She set the table and heard a large pop from the living room.

"Daddy's home!" she heard Brennan yell before the sound of two sets of feet came running down the steps.

"Daddy, daddy!" her children shouted at their father. He scooped them up into his arms and showered them with affection. Affection he missed out on as a child from his own father. Hermione walked up to him and kissed him on his pale cheek.

"Hello love." she said. "Hard day at the office?" He smiled at her.

"Yes," Draco said, "brutal." He sat down at the table. The two children followed suit.

Hermione put the baby into a highchair next to her and set the food on the table.

"Daddy," Brennan started. "when will I be old enough to go to Hogwarts?"

"Oh, I think it will be at least five years son." he said messing up his son's hair.

"You have to be eleven." Emily said with the infamous Malfoy smirk. "That means I can go in three years."

"Why does Emily get to go first?" Brennan whined.

"Because she is older." Hermione told him. "Now start eating your dinner or no quidditch practice afterwards."

Brennan began to eat despite his sister teasing him about going to school first.

When dinner was finished Hermione cleaned it up and Draco took the kids outside to play quidditch in the yard. She put the baby to sleep after a quick bath and was reading on the couch when her other two kids came running in.

"Go upstairs and get ready for bed, we'll be up to tuck you in in a minute." Draco said before making his way over to the couch where his wife was sitting.

"Hey." he said the corners of his mouth upturned in a smile. "Alone at last." He leaned in and kissed her softly momentarily taking her attention away from the book.

"Hey back." she said responding to his kiss hungrily.

"Once the kids are asleep how about opening that wine we brought back from Italy?" he suggested huskily in her ear.

"I was saving that for when Ginny and Harry stopped over but if you want to ruin our dinner party next week, be my guest." she grinned. Draco scowled.

"We had better go check on them and get them into bed. You know how they like to dawdle." Hermione said sleepily.

"Okay, let's tuck them in and get to bed ourselves." he grinned. Hermione rolled her eyes and got up off of the couch. They walked up the stairs hand in hand before she heard a scream.

Hermione woke up with a start sweating from head to toe. Ginny looked up sleepily.

"'Mione what's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just a dream." she said her heart still racing. But Hermione couldn't go back to sleep. She couldn't get the sound of that scream out of her mind.