"Mione?" Hermione moaned and turned over, blocking out whatever it was that was trying to disturb her precious sleep. Yet still, it kept on poking her, "Mione! Please wake up! Please wake up!"
When still she refused to stir, whoever-it-was' s voice started to crack and they started to cry, "Please Mione, I don't feel very well…" Slowly, very slowly, Hermione opened her eyes blearily and gradually forced her reluctant body into a sitting position, to see little Draco standing by her bed, pyjama clad and looking very sorry for himself, tears streaming down his pale face.
Silently, she pulled the child carefully onto her lap and kissed his forehead as he snuggled against her,
"What's wrong, baby?" She murmured, once he was settled comfortably, "Did you have another night-mare?"
"No." Draco said pitifully, "I feels funny an' weird."
"What kind of 'funny'?" Draco shrugged,
"I don't know…'s why it's funny. Not nice funny, though." He added, just to make sure that she knew for definite. Hermione pondered silently for a moment.
Today was Wednesday, so that meant it had been exactly a week since 'The Incident' which, in turn, meant…
Hermione let out a long and piteous wail of despair and proceeded to burst into tears, hugging Draco as close to her as she could.
"What's the matter Mione?" The bot asked in concern, although his voice was somewhat muffled by her arm, "Why are you sad?"
"I'm not sad, Draco." Hermione tried to reassure him by giving him a small smile despite her tears, "It's just…" She hesitated before saying, "You do kow that I love you very much, don't you?" Draco looked up at her in wonderment,
"Do you?" He breathed, "Really?"
"Uh huh."
"Oh…no one's ever said that to me before." A bubble of pity welled up in Hermione's gut, causing her eyes to sting with fresh salty droplets,
"Oh my poor baby," She whispered, "Not even your Uncle Sev'rus?" Slowly, Draco shook his head,
"No. I know he does but…he's never said it. "He looked up at her, eyes full of something the brunette couldn't quite name, but what made her heart jump with emotion, "You're the first one to say it."
"I'm sorry." She told him earnestly, "I'm sorry about your parents."
" 'S okay." Draco replied bravely, "I try not to think 'bout it much, so it doesn't hurt bad. But when you said it, it made me feel nice an' tingly."
"Good." Hermione leant down and kissed him lightly on the very tip of his nose, making the child scrunch up his face and giggle,
"Love you too, Mione." He said, smiling shyly, clearly enjoying the novelty of saying those special words for the first time to someone who loved him back.
"I know you do, Poppet." She purred, "How are you feeling now?"
"Still kinda weird." He admitted, "Feels sort of…staticy. Mione?"
"Mmm?"
"Will you read me a story 'till I'm sleepy?" She pulled a face,
"If you want me to. Which one?"
"Cinderella!"
"Sev?" Izzy sat on the edge of Snape's bed and poked him,
"Uh!" Came the indignant protest,
"Severus Snape wake up!" Eventually, the potions-master sat up morosely and glared at the Aengel,
"What?" He growled,
"It's going to happen to night."
"What's going to happen?" Snape asked stupidly, still not quite in focus yet,
"My little Dragon's going to become all grown up again." Izzy said tearfully. Suddenly, Severus was wide-awake,
"You're sure it's tonight?" He asked, dubiously. She gave him a withering look in return,
"Yes I'm sure. I can feel it. You do know that you're doing it again. Don't you/"
"Doing what?"
"Thinking I'm human." He grinned sheepishly,
"Sorry. Do you think I ought to go and see him?" Izzy shook her head,
"No. He's with Hermione at the moment. Besides, I think he'd be rather confused if suddenly every one turned up in his room for no apparent reason. Don't you agree?" Severus sighed and lay back down, flopping his head back lazily against his pillow.
Tomorrow would be interesting. It would certainly take a while to get used to not having baby-Draco (Draco turns around indignantly) Sorry, I meant, 'Little-Draco' about. But it would be interesting to see how he would react to every one knowing his secret…
"Maybe, we should ask everybody not to talk to him for the day," Izzy wondered aloud, as though she had read his mind.
"I'm sure we shall know what to do when the time comes." Severus replied sleepily.
"Mione, can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Draco asked, once they had put away the book, "Just in case some monsters come y' see."
"Of course you can." Hermione assured him, climbing down into the covers,
"I'll keep those nasty old monsters away, don't you worry." Draco giggled and crept in next to her.
"Draco?" She whispered, slipping an arm around the little boy's thin shoulders,
"Yeah?"
"Promise me you'll never forget. Promise me you'll always remember that I love you?" Draco frowned and turned his face up towards her,
"Why would I forget?" He queried curiously,
"Just promise me you'll remember every night before you go to sleep/ Please."
"Kay, Mione. I promise." She kissed him, cuddling him close,
"Thank you baby."
"I'm not a baby." Draco mumbled, yawning widely, "I'm…six…"
A/N: Sniff Well, you wanted it...it is the end of the era of Little!Draco and the begining of Teenage!Draco... The next chapter may take a while as i need to get used to not writing him as six, which'll be really weird...meh!
Hugs 'n' kisses to...
katiemalfoy19, LuciousLadyLucius, lollenk, Nikki's Evil Doppelganger, lindylulu, Dark Princesses, blueeyedchibi, -writin'-like-crazy-, Hogaboom, GoldenAngel71, Lady Bigitte, Natural-181-, secretly-in-love, Sailor Hecate, Tamika DanarDraco, Nanie San, -addicted-2-hp, lilmissgullable, Ilya of Smeg.
Love you all, (I just need a minute to compose myself) Lily xxxxxxxx