Utter Confusion
"So which one is this again?" asked Draco, now more confused than ever.
"That is Ophelia," replied Artemis, as she laid the other baby down in her crib before moving over to the other crib where her husband stood. "Ophelia's eyes are like yours, a light gray color while Hero's are like mine, blue."
"Right," muttered Draco, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see the difference his wife had indicated. The twins were now three months old and he couldn't, for the life of him, tell them apart, though his wife didn't seem to have any trouble with it. "Can't we just write their names on their foreheads for a while?"
"No, I don't think so," laughed Artemis, just as her son came barreling into the nursery. Ever since they had brought the girls home Luce had been obsessed with them. It took him several days to figure out that there were actually two of them and they weren't just playing a joke on him. Before Lucius had a chance to bump into the crib and wake his sister, Draco grabbed him and picked the boy up resting him on his hip.
"Hey there big guy," Draco said, kissing his son on the forehead and smoothing his feathery soft hair.
"Can I hold them?" asked Luce, making grabbing motions with his tiny hands to indicate that he wanted to hold one of his sisters again.
"Not now bud your sisters are sleeping," whispered Draco, heading for the door. He knew it would only take telling his son no, once, before he broke into a tantrum. Like clockwork, Luce's wails echoed down the halls just as he neared the stairs. Luckily, Draco was far enough away that the boys screams didn't wake his sleeping sisters. After settling his son down Draco returned to nursery.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to tell them apart," he declared, playfully sitting on his wife's knee as she lounged in the rocking chair.
"Draco get up!" she laughed, gently slapping his arm. "And yes you will be able to tell them apart, it'll just take some time that's all."
"Even Severus can tell them apart, I'm the only one who can't tell one daughter from the other," he whined, standing up and crossing the room so that he could peer into both cribs. "Merlin, they are beautiful aren't they?"
"Yes, they are pretty fantastic," she agreed, joining her husband over by the cribs.
"So that's three," Draco said, taking a seat on the ottoman in front of the rocking chair. "Are we done having babies?"
"What?" she asked, surprised by the sudden change of topic. "I don't think so, why? Don't you want anymore?"
"Of course, but I thought you might of had it. After all, I don't actually have to do much of anything."
"No, I'm good. The twins birth was much easier on me than Lucius' was," she declared.
"Good," Draco said happily, glad that he didn't have to abandon his desires for more children. "Can you believe that we've just turned twenty four and we've already got three children and been married for seven years?'
"Wow, seven years already? Time flies," just as Artemis said this Lucius' shouts could be heard even though the toddler was downstairs with Dobby. "Any regrets?"
"Not one... couldn't be happier," he replied, a bright smile on his face. Artemis didn't doubt for one second that her husband meant every word he said and she couldn't help but agree.
"Oh, Draco, um Harry and Ron are bringing their son's over for a visit next week," she muttered, half hoping he didn't hear her.
"What? No they're not!" he shouted. Much to their dismay Draco's shouting woke both Ophelia and Hero.
"Yes, they are," she said, rushing over and picking up Ophelia while Draco did the same with Hero. "This is the first time any of my friends have had children of their own and it would be really nice to have someone to talk to about motherhood."
"Fine," he grumbled, as he bounced his tiny infant daughter in his arms hoping to quiet her high pitched screams.
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The day had arrived. Today Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were bringing their sorry excuses for wives and spawn to his house. To say that Draco was unhappy about this would be like saying it hurt your eyes to look at sun. But what Artemis wanted Draco made sure to provide her, so he was stuck entertaining four people he hated and their children, all day. What's worse was Artemis actually expected him to be nice. Draco Malfoy, nice to the Golden Trio... can you imagine? Just then the doorbell rang alerting Draco to the fact that his 'guests' had arrived.
"Gee, nice to see you too," grumbled Harry, noting the pained look on their hosts face as he opened the large front doors of Malfoy Estates.
"Shut up Potter," he moped, his bottom lip literally sticking out.
"Hey!" exclaimed Artemis, rushing past her husband as she pushed a double stroller. "It's about time you got here."
"You look amazing," grumbled Hermione, annoyed at how quickly their hostess had rebounded from her second pregnancy, with twins no less. It was nearly impossible for Hermione to lose her baby weight when she had Mrs. Weasley shoving five meals down her throat everyday.
"Thanks," Artemis replied.
"Oh," gushed Harry, kneeling down so that he was eye level with the twin girls. "I've got to admit Malfoy, you and Artemis pop out some gorgeous babies."
"What are their names?" asked Ron, kneeling down next to Harry and making funny faces at the girls who smiled up at him gayly.
"This one here is Ophelia Rose, she's the one with eyes like her Daddy and this one is Cadence Hero but we just call her Hero," Artemis said, introducing her two newest additions to her school friends.
"They're beautiful," Ginny declared. "Can I hold one of them?"
"Yes, of course. And who are these strapping young gents?' asked Artemis, gesturing towards the two strollers setting next to her guests.
"This is James," declared Harry, lifting a small well bundled baby out of the stroller so that Artemis and Draco could see his son.
"Oh Potter, poor thing looks just like you," Draco said, pulling a face. Harry and Draco stared at one another, disdain clearly evident. All the other adults could do was laugh.
"Well wait until you see Ron's baby," defended Harry.
"Yeah, well..." muttered Ron, desperately trying to come up with a snappy retort but not being able to. Though it took some effort Ron lifted his son from the confines of his stroller. "Travis is a healthy boy."
"That is the biggest baby I have ever seen," Draco admitted, unable to take his eyes off of the undeniably large infant. "He's huge."
"I think he's darling," Artemis interjected, trying not to laugh as everyone stared at the oversized child.
"He may be darling but Draco's right, he's huge," laughed Hermione, taking her son from her husbands out stretched arms.
"He'll make a great beater!" Ron exclaimed, hoping to defend his sons girth.
"That is if there's a broom powerful enough to get him off the ground," laughed Draco.
"Draco!" admonished Artemis, slapping her husband on the arm. Just then Little Lucius came walking into the room. The nearly three year old was quite advanced for his age and was already saying a great deal more than his parents wished he would.
"Potter," spat Luce, nastily, sounding almost exactly like Severus Snape did when he would say Harry's name. The adults present couldn't help but jerk their heads around so that they could see the little boy.
"Hello, Lucius," said Harry, a look of absolute shock on his face. Draco struggled to contain his laughter over his son's obvious disdain for Harry.
"We are not on a first name basis, remember that," declared Luce, before turning and striding out of the foyer in pursuit of his playroom.
"He spends a lot of time with Severus," explained Artemis, hoping it would make her son's reaction to Harry make more sense.
"You may want to cut back on the quality Snape time, he's turning into him," declared Ron, looking just as shocked as his best friend.
"Can't," mumbled Draco, "they're really attached to each other. I'm afraid they'd both hex the hell out of me if I did."
"He's not old enough to have wand," stated Hermione, unable to understand Draco's trepidation.
"Like that'll stop him. He's a Malfoy, if he wants something he'll find a way to get it no matter the lengths he has to go to. He's stolen his mother's wand, my wand, my father's wand, and Severus just gives him his," explained Draco. "I'm hoping to get him into Quidditch sometime soon, hopefully that'll distract him some."
"Luce doesn't like Quidditch," defended Artemis.
"What!" exclaimed all three males in the room, unable to fathom a young wizard not liking Quidditch.
"He likes Potions," she declared, as if it was no big deal.
"He's three, he'll like what I tell him to like." Artemis rolled her eyes at her husbands statement knowing full well that it simply wasn't the case.
"Let's take him outside and explain it to him, he'll like it once he understands it," offered Harry, as he and Ron placed their sons back into their strollers before allowing Draco to lead them towards Lucius' playroom.
"That should be interesting," Ginny said, as she followed Artemis into the sunroom so that they could enjoy so quiet time away from their husbands.
"Yeah, Luce is not going to like this." laughed Artemis.
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"So are you are Draco going to have anymore children?" asked Ginny, as she relaxed one of the settees in the sunroom.
"Yes, we actually just spoke about it a week or so ago. I think we'll wait until the girls are older but we'll definitely have another baby," Artemis replied, lying Ophelia back down in her bassinet.
"What kind of father is Draco anyway," asked Hermione, finally gathering the nerve to finally ask the question that had been nagging her for years. "No offense but he didn't exactly have the best example."
"Draco's a really great father. It kind of surprised me. When Luce was born I had a really hard time. I was a terrible mother," explained Artemis, recalling the first few months of her son's life of which she had already spoken to both girls about. "I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for him. He grew up so much in those few months. He's really great with Luce and the girls. He adores his daughters. Granted he's not the most observant man in the world but he loves his family and I couldn't imagine anyone else I would ever want to have children with. Though I do think he's afraid of Luce when the boy gets into one of his moods but I can't really blame him, he is an awful lot like Severus."
"Why are they so attached?" asked Ginny, unable to fathom why Draco's Godfather was more attached to Luce than to his Godson.
"I don't know but there are days when all Luce will talk about is Uncle Severus. It's actually kind of cute. Sometimes if they haven't seen each other for a few days, Severus will just pop by the house and make up so completely transparent excuse for why he's come over, and then they'll spend hours together," the young mother revealed.
"Maybe Snape wants children of his own," Ginny interjected, picking up her crying son and trying to hush him.
"I don't know, he's made it pretty clear that he doesn't like children. I've reminded him that Luce is in fact a child but he just tells me that Luce is special," laughed Artemis. Suddenly someone came barreling into the sunroom.
"Well hello there babies," muttered Blaise, as he rushed over to the bassinets that Ophelia and Hero occupied. After picking Hero up Blaise turned to the stunned women.
"Draco... I need Draco," he said seriously.
"He's out on the pitch," Artemis said, still not having recovered from the shock of his arrival. "Something wrong, Blaise?"
"I knocked up Pansy Parkinson and my father is going to make me marry her," he blurted out, a look of absolute terror on his face.
"You what!" exclaimed Artemis, unable to hold back her laughter.
"Shut up Artemis," Blaise muttered, before storming out of the sunroom and heading for Draco's Quidditch pitch.
"That is going to be one annoying baby," laughed Ginny, as she watched Artemis and Hermione run after Blaise to retrieve Hero from the distraught young man's arms.
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