Here is another chapter. I hope ya'll like it. Drop me a line to say if you do or not.
Draco woke to the sound of the knocker on the door.
"Who the hell is here at this time of night?" He heard Hermione snarl.
"I don't know, love. I'll find out." He soothed her, kissing her forehead before rolling out of bed to stumble to the door. "What the hell do you…"
"Draco!"
"Severus." Draco answered the shocked man at the door. "Come in." he added when they stared at each other.
"Thank you." The dark man in front of him offered, even though a sneer was already forming on his mouth. He'd only ever been here once and the last time Hermione had taken one look at him and walked out of the house, not to be seen until after Severus left.
"Please, have a seat. I'll be right back; I have to tell Hermione you're here."
He turned and went back into the bedroom to see Hermione glaring at the door.
"Severus is here." He said with a wary glance behind him, thinking Severus followed him by the look in his wife's eyes.
"I know, I heard." She replied through clenched teeth.
"I take it we won't be expecting you in the living room, then?" Draco asked her with a small smile, hoping to put her at ease.
"No, I'll be in. it would be rude for me not to greet him." She answered before she rolled out of bed and straightened her clothes before she walked out into the living room, followed by Draco, whose fingers were crossed in his pockets.
"Ah, Dra…hello, Hermione." Severus said as they entered the room.
"Hello, Severus." She answered with a nod towards him. She took a seat on the couch, across from Severus who sat on a chair.
"How are you doing?" he asked while giving a nod of his own towards her rounded stomach.
"Fine." She answered with a false smile. "Why are you here?" she asked bluntly when all Severus did was nod.
"I… I was going to ask Draco if he would take the position of Potion's Master. He's the only one I would trust in the position."
"I've talked about it with Hermione and we don't think it would be a good idea." Draco answered before Hermione could open her mouth. She gave him a look that told him she wasn't happy with him but he merely shrugged and focused on Severus once more.
"Yes, that's what McGonagall had said before I left." Severus answered with a sigh.
"She's talking to you again?" Hermione asked with a raised eye-brow.
"She told you about that?" Severus asked disbelief in his voice. When he received a nod he winced, looking slightly ashamed of himself.
"How did you get her to cry?" Draco asked, always the one to get straight to what everyone else wanted to know.
"Draco!" Hermione scolded, but at the same time eyed Severus expectantly.
"Might as well." The former professor said darkly before sitting forward in the chair and gesturing for Draco to sit down so he could start the tale. "McGonagall and I…"
"You don't call her Minerva?" Hermione asked, interrupting the story but not caring.
"No, I don't call her Minerva." He snapped at her. "Do you want to hear the bloody story or not?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Of course I do." Hermione answered before crossing her arms and leaning back into the couch, a pout on her face for being reprimanded by a past professor.
"Then sit there and be quiet. Honestly, if Longbottom wasn't absent I'd swear we were back in my class room." Severus said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now as I was saying, McGonagall and I had had a disagreement on how I taught the…children." Severus said the last word in disgust. "She said I was being too harsh with them, that I wasn't taking into consideration, their age and year. I told her that she'd have been better off following in my footsteps seeing that most of the children that came out of her classroom weren't capable of transform a cup into a saucer. She ranted that I was one to talk when I couldn't keep the children under control when making a potion, you see, I'd had a Longbottom offspring, or so it would seem, in class and he put Biller Sweat in a Sleepless potion. The cauldron exploded and once…child… was sent to the hospital wing. I'd told the boy that he was to never grace the doorway's of my class room again and that he should really look into apprenticing with Filch because obviously, his skills in the magical community were severally lacking. McGonagall cornered me and let it be known that I'd brought the dund…child," He corrected himself when Hermione put a protective hand over her stomach, "to tears."
"Well it couldn't have surprised you." Hermione mumbled as she rolled her eyes.
"What was that, Miss Granger?" Severus asked.
"It's Mrs. Malfoy now, Severus." Draco said quickly when he saw Hermione's mouth open.
"How did you make Minerva cry?" she asked in an even tone.
"I just told you." Severus answered with narrowed eyes.
"No you didn't. You just told us a story to make us think you did. It takes more than that to make Minerva cry." Hermione said with a smug smile.
"fine." He said sounding like a five year old that was sentenced to timeout. "I don't even see why I'm telling you."
"Because you came here." Hermione shot back with a glare.
"I told her to get the sick out of her ass and stop playing favorites to the Gryffindor's"
"You told her that?" Draco asked with a smile.
"In more words, but yes." He answered with a smirk.
"I can't believe you! Both of you! She's had a lot of stress to deal with since Albus stepped down as Headmaster. She wasn't prepared and has been doing the best she can due to the circumstances." Hermione exploded at them both. "That would be like someone telling you to wash your hair and actually get a life." Hermione glared at Severus.
"I wash my hair daily!" He protested at once.
"Running water through it doesn't count! Get some shampoo and conditioner." Hermione said with a smirk that rivaled Severus'.
"I wash my hair daily with shampoo and conditioner you know-it-all wench." Severus hissed at her.
"Know-it-all wench?" Hermione yelled at him. "I'll show you know-it-all wench."
Draco dived for Hermione's wand as soon as she took it out of the pocket of her robe. He glared at Severus, who was staring back at him with an expression that could only be surprise. He noticed that Severus was flexing his wand hand, as if he longed to get his wand but knew better. Thank God for small favors.
"Severus, I think it's time we bring this meeting to an end. Please write before you decide to stop back again." Draco panted after Hermione struggled, almost winning, with him for her wand.
"Yes, I think that would be best for everyone." Hermione agreed, with eyes that were in the shape of slits.
"I think I shall do that." Severus said as he watched Draco hold Hermione back with an arm. "Good luck with your pregnancy, Hermione. Draco." He said as a good-bye.
Hermione followed him with her eyes as he left and then started hitting Draco's hand away when the door closed behind the former black bat of the dungeons. Draco snatched his arm away from her but soon returned it, only placing it behind her shoulders.
"Are you okay?" he asked when her breath had come to an even pace.
"Yes." She answered after a pause. "He shouldn't have gotten to me but he's gotten even worse since we were there." She explained, leaning into Draco.
"Yeah, I can see how he made McGonagall cry." Draco said, fully agreeing with her.
"I'm going to go lay back down. That's wiped me out."
Draco agreed with her, helped her up and led the way to the bedroom.
"You lay down; I'm going to get the surprise I was telling you about. You seem to need it now more than ever." He explained before he took off up stairs, to the unused bedrooms.
He entered the guest bedroom and went to the closet, thankful that Hermione let the house elves take care of the upstairs rooms. She'd have found it in an instant. He picked up the brown paper bag and went down to the bedroom to find Hermione sitting up against the headboard.
"Waiting for something?" he asked with a smile.
"What did you get me?" she asked with a contented smile.
"I'm not telling you, open it and find out." He said, handing her the bag and then sitting on the side of the bed to watch her reaction.
"Oh, Draco." She gasped when she opened the bag and looked in.
Draco smiled and nodded at her to keep looking. She took out the night gown that Draco had had specially made for her. It would grow with her through the pregnancy. He heard her gasp again and looked up to see her looking at him with tears in her eyes. The 'Thank you' she said could barely be heard through her sobs. He stood up from the end of the bed and walked the short distance to hug her and kiss her forehead.
"I guess I've been thinking about decorating too." He said with a watery smile of his own. It wasn't that he would cry easily, but to see her so happy was enough to bring tears to anyone's eyes. He watched as she upended the bag and looked at the contents. On the bed sat a crib, playpen and a changing table, each small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. "All we have to do is spell them back to their original size and we have part of a nursery." He explained unnecessarily.
"Oh, Draco." She sighed again, tears now falling down her face.
"I love you, Hermione."
"I love you too. I thought you said we should wait?" Hermione asked, confused.
"I know, but what I say and what I think are two different things." He answered, taking the crib and setting in front of the bed. He muttered a spell and watched as it grew back to the original size. "Do you like it?" he asked, looking up at her for approval.
"I love it, Draco. How did you know what I wanted?"
"I've seen the magazine that you keep on your side table. You had it marked." Draco explained, shrugging.
Hermione smiled at him and he smiled back. Glad that she was pleased, Draco re-shrunk the crib and set it back on the bed.
"Let's start tomorrow. You have the week end off and we can do how ever much or how ever little you want."
"I've trained you well, Draco." Hermione said with a giggle. She winked at him and then picked the changing table to examine it.
"Yes, Hermione, that you do." Draco agreed in a whisper while he watched his wife oh and ah over her gifts. "That you do."