I apologize for the EXTREMELY long wait. This chapter is not my best. A few tips. 1. Don't bite off more than you can chew as far as responsibilities go. 2. Avoid a house fire at all cost. 3. If you write DO NOT tick off your muse, especially if she is only 4. Anyway please give me some ideas and tips. Really needing some feed back. Please leave me a review, like it, hate it; continue, stop. Let me know. Thanks.
When the Ravenclaw prefect had shown up at Hermione's classroom she had simply been informed that there was a discipline problem and she needed to go see McGonagall after her classes for the day were over.
2 hours later she dismissed the 4th year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins and proceeded up to the headmistress's office. She didn't know what she would find when she got there bit she expected maybe a couple of first years that continually wandered out of bounds or maybe some 6th or 7th years fighting with the Slytherins. She muttered the password and began to ascend the steps to the office.
She schooled her features to convey her displeasure that any Gryffindor would end up causing this much trouble. She knock and heard the immediate "come in."
She stepped inside ready to take on whatever problem there was. "You needed to see me Headmistress?" McGonagall nodded. Hermione looked around the room for the first time and noticed a fuming Ginny Potter standing to one side of the desk. She met her best friend's eyes questioningly. Ginny simply nodded at the two high backed chairs in front of McGonagall's desk. Hermione walked around so she could see who was sitting in the chairs. First or second years; had to be since she couldn't see them. But why was Ginny there?
When she finally rounded the chairs she saw Laykyn sitting in one chair staring down at her hands in her lap refusing to look up for even a second. In the other chair sat James who kept adjusting his position in the chair and looking everywhere except at the three women in the room. Hermione could see the beginnings of a black eye on the top edge of James' cheek.
McGonagall looked from the two women to the two children, 'I believe you all can handle this without me. Good Luck."
Ginny and Hermione gave the Headmistress a questioning look. "I was speaking to the children." She looked between Hermione's scowl and Ginny's eyes flickering in frustration. If either from the younger generation hope to survive they would need all the luck they could get. McGonagall walk out of her office and left the children to their parents. As the door swung closed she heard Mrs. Potter speak, "James Sirius, you wait til your father gets home."
James and Laykyn explained the fight the best they could and in the end punishments were dealt. For James there was a sound whipping coming and he would have to explain the whole thing to Harry. Laykyn received corporal punishment as well as being sent to bed without dessert, and no pizza parlor. Laykyn took everything without complaint but as the last piece of her punishment came her eyes began to burn with tears and she worked hard to keep them from spilling out. This didn't go unnoticed by her cousin.
The next morning Laykyn and James sat at the teacher's table beside their mothers at breakfast. James looked at his little cousin as Laykyn pushed her food around her plate. He leaned closer to her "I'm sorry," he whispered low enough that the adults couldn't hear.
Laykyn jerk her head to the side looking at the eldest Potter. "What?" She looked genuinely confused.
"Sorry for getting you in trouble… and for what I said." James looked back down at his plate trying to figure out how to word his next question. "What..what was special about the pizza place?"
"Why do you care?" Laykyn replied shooting him a hard glare trying to judge his sincerity.
"We're family... why wouldn't I," he shrugged.
"You never have before."
James took a sip of his juice before answering, "you cried. It must be important," he looked back up at her, "you never cry."
Laykyn sighed debating how best to answer, "Mr. Draco." He gave her a quizzical look. She ran a hand through her hair frustrated and trying not to catch the attention of the adults on either side of them. "I was gonna meet Mr. Draco at the pizza place and convince him to come back."
James nodded slowly, "we will figure out. There has to be a way." James' brow furrowed in concentration. "Let's see it's 8 o'clock now we head to grandma Weasley's at about 9:00. Uncle Ron is setting up a family quidditch game so...that will take a couple hours. After lunch we will come up with something. Maybe…"
"I can't come to Grandma Weasley's," Laykyn cut him off. "We have to go see Mr. Edward." Her nose scrunched up in disgust as she said his name.
Both children let out a long sigh. James refused to give up. He looked up meeting Laykyn's eyes his expression hardened with determination. "We will get him back tomorrow. A foolproof plan. We will get Mr. Draco back."
Laykyn nodded. Maybe James wasn't so bad.
Hermione came over to the table where all the teachers kids were sat and walked down the row to where Laykyn was. "Come on time to get ready to go."
Laykyn drug herself from her seat at a painstakingly slow pace and waved goodbye to her cousin.
As they neared thier empty common room Hermione looked down at Laykyn with a smile. "We have one stop to make before we meet Mr. Edward." Laykyn had been staring at the floor and her shuffling feet the entire trip. She gave a slow nod. "I have to go into muggle London for a few minutes this morning and I thought that maybe you would like to play at the park before we meet Mr. Edward at his store."
Laykyn's whole demeanor changed. You could feel the excitement radiating off of her. "Really?!"
Hermione nodded and Laykyn gave a leap and began practically dragging her mother the last few steps to the common room. Hermione gave the password and Laykyn sprinted to her room to get ready for the day.
Draco plugged a pair of earbuds into the iPod Matt had bought him for Christmas the year before and began to flip through the songs. He selected a playlist of classical covers of rock songs. Classic rock, punk, heavy metal all of it redone with cellos, violins, pianos, etc. He secured the earbud in his right ear as he apparated to his favorite park. Landing in an alleyway nearby Draco checked that the coast was clear before slipping in the second ear bud and jogging to the park.
As he neared the first walking path he pulled out the iPod again to skip to the current track. The theme from Mission Impossible all done with classical instruments. He had loved the first movie when Matt introduced it to him. Then Matt had made him endure a movie marathon of Mission Impossible. There are only so many times you can watch Tom Cruise save the world and keep your sanity. Skipping to the next song he took a deep breath and kicked his jog up a notch to a run.
Hermione found a comfortable spot on a bench by the playground where she could keep an eye on Laykyn and opened her book. It had taken a long time for her to be comfortable taking her eyes off her daughter for more than a second; the first whole year of her life Hermione barely read anything more than child development and parenting books and those she only read when she was sure Laykyn was deep asleep.
She heard Laykyn's bubble of laughter float across the playground. It was music to her ears. Laykyn was running, playing what Hermione could only figured to be some mix between hide and go seek and red rover. She watched for a few more seconds. Laykyn darted quickly in between an older red headed girl and a little boy with blonde curls that bounced in every direction as he ran. The diversion worked as the girl changed direction to take off after Laykyn. The boy turned to follow the girls. He couldn't have been more than 2 or 3. Laykyn lead the other girl in a dizzying path running full speed, it took less than a minute for the other girl to grow tired and vere off to find an easier target. As she did Laykyn turned back to find the blonde haired little boy. The two made thier way to a sandbox and began to construct an empire that was limited only by the constraints of thier imaginations.
Thoughts raced through Draco's mind as he ran. If he stayed here in muggle London. He would have a family with Ms. Esther and Matt. He could get a simple job, go to one of those muggle university things, earn a degree, start a career, meet a nice muggle girl, get married have some kids, grow old and live happily ever after.
If he went back to the wizarding world. He would have to go back to finish the year at Hogwarts which would mean facing McGonagall, and the other teachers. It would also mean facing Granger again which had been hard enough the first time and he would have to live the rest of the year with Granger and Laykyn. But after this first year things could get better. He would always have to deal with the stares and hatred for his association with He-who-must-not-be-named. That would never go away nor would the guilt for all the things that happened during the war. He blamed himself for every death during the war. If he went back he might could make a difference in someone's life; keep some poor wretch from making the same mistakes he did. He would probably stay single; not many women would find the whole former Death Eater thing attractive or good for thier social standings.
So, he thought slowing a bit to catch his breath, on the one hand family and the possibility of a job and a good life, on the other a lifetime of pain and misery with the unlikely potential to make up for some of his past wrongs but more likely ending up alone til the day he died. Seemed like a pretty cut and dry decision. Draco stop at a water fountain beside the jogging path. He took a short drink and pulled the earbuds from his ear looking to the sky. He needed a sign.
Giggles from the playground brought his thoughts back to the present. There were kids all over the park. A handful of preteen boys were kicking a football around under a small grove of trees. The jungle gym was covered in kids racing to reach the highest rung. Kids pumped thier legs hard on the swings pushing them trying to make the swing go over the top bar; despite the fact that as any adult knows it is impossible. The sandbox made his gaze freeze form a moment. A massive sand castle was being built by two children one a small boy with curly blonde locks looking like a lion's mane. The other was a little girl with familiar brown hair with frizzy, curls pulled in a tight ponytail. The girl had her back to him so he couldn't be sure that it was or wasn't Laykyn definitely until he looked to one of the benches on the outskirts of the playground. There she was sitting under the shade of a tree, watching the two children and (surprise, surprise) reading. There was no mistaking Hermione Granger. She looked up from her book towards the two children. He couldn't hear what Laykyn asked but saw Hermione smile and nod and the 2 ran off toward the merry-go-round. Well I was looking for a sign, Draco thought. Maybe just coincidence but he crossed the grass to the bench where Hermione sat. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other before finally getting up the nerve to walk the last 20 steps and call her name. "Granger?"
Hermione spun on the bench confusion written on her features until she caught sight of the tall blonde. "Malfoy!? What are you doing here?"
"It's one of my favorite places to go for a jog. It's like 7 blocks from my old apartment," Draco slid his hands in his pocket and scuffed the ground with the toe of his shoe.
Hermione looked up at him before sliding over a little more and jestering to the empty seat. Even with her scooted all the way to one side there was little more than two inches of space between them. He had a fleeting thought about how bad he must smell and he scooted as far to the other end of the bench as possible to avoid getting any sweat on her. An awkward silence grew between them. Neither knowing exactly what to say. Hermione finally broke the silence "where did you go?" She looked into his face but Draco refused to meet her eyes.
He rocked on the bench for a moment, "I...I just needed... to get away for a little bit."
Silence reigned again. Hermione followed his gaze as he watched Laykyn and the little boy spin on the merry-go-round. "She's okay you know? It was just more magic released than her body was prepared for. But she's okay, bounced back like it was nothing," she looked down at her hands fidgeting with the dust jacket of her book. Silence….
She looked back up at him; he was looking at his shoes again. "She misses you," Draco jerked his head up at the sudden noise. Hermione nodded in Laykyn's direction. "She misses you. Asks about you all the time. "Momma where is Mr. Draco", "Momma when is he coming back," "Momma, Mr. Draco is my best friend." It's kinda driving me insane. I think i have heard your name more in the last two weeks than i have in the rest of my life combined; including all the times I had to listen to Harry talk about how evil you were in school."
He gave a low chuckle, "Potter talked about me that much huh? I always knew he was obsessed with me."
Hermione laughed too a soft smile gracing her lips. Draco like the look. Simple beauty and she probably had no idea. They watched the two children in silence. The boy leaned closer asking Laykyn a question. In answer she gestured towards where her mother sat without even looking up. The little boy turned a waved to Hermione and Draco; they returned the wave and he went back to playing with Laykyn.
Draco jumped at the sound of a women's voice behind them, "your kids are adorable." Draco turned to see a young woman in spandex pushing a stroller. She had stopped her forward momentum but continued to jog in place. "You are both very lucky. I hope my kids are as well behaved. You must be amazing parents."
Hermione smiled at the woman said thank you and made some polite conversation about how cute her baby was. The two carried on thier conversation for a few minutes the woman jogging in place and Draco trying very hard to ignore the fact that she couldn't possibly be wearing a sports bra. When she finally continued her jog he let out a huge sigh of relief. Hermione looked at him puzzled but at the red tint of his cheeks and with a little deductive reasoning she had a pretty good idea what. "See something you like, Malfoy," he could hear the smirk in her words and just shook his head trying to ignore it. She gave a short laugh and turned back to her book.
They sat in silence for a few more seconds before Draco broke it with a question, "why didn't you correct her?"
"What" she marked her spot and shut the book looking at him genuinely confused.
"That woman…" he nodded with his head in the direction the woman had gone.
"The one that you were trying not to stare at her…"
"Yeah, yeah," he cut her off. "She insinuated that Laykyn and the boy were...our," he guestered between himself and her, "children, and you didn't correct her."
Hermione shrugged looking to the two children. "Chances are we won't ever see her again. Besides it was a natural assumption looking at the two of them and the two of us. Chances are with our genes if we had a boy he would look similar. For Laykyn to have more of my features is not odd and if you stretch your imagination a bit you could possibly see you both have similar features in your noses and around your cheeks and jawline…"
She trailed off as if she had said something inappropriate or maybe just said to much. It was Draco's turn to smile as her cheeks turned red. "You know if you didn't know different," she finished meekly. She looked away and cleared her throat. "Are you coming back?" Hermione quickly changed the subject praying that her blush wasn't as pronounced as it felt.
He looked at the ground between his feet again. "I don't know. It would probably be better all the way around if I just disappeared again."
Hermione looked over at the young man beside her until he met her eyes. "My daughter isn't the only one that looks up to you. You can make a big difference and do a lot of good if you just try. McGonagall wouldn't have offered you the job if she didn't believe you were the right man for the job. You don't have to be the villain in the story. You aren't the bad guy. You just have to make yourself believe that." At some point in her speech Hermione had reached over and slipped her hand in his; he hadn't even noticed until she pulled it back and his hand felt more empty than he would have ever thought possible. She stood tucking her book in her purse and began walking toward Laykyn. When she was only about 3 meters away she turned back towards him and said only three words "The Brothers Grimm". Before he could ask what she meant she was halfway across the playground toward Laykyn. The little girl grabbed her mother's hand a began to skip off talking nonstop.
Draco sat thinking for how long he had no idea debating what to do and replaying Granger's words in his head. When he finally stood to head back to Ms. Esther's the playground was nearly empty.
Draco's phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a text from Matt. "Pizza? Gramma's buying."
Draco looked at the screen formulating his response in his head. If he wanted to go back to Hogwarts he needed to go now. He looked back at his phone as it vibrated again. "Drac, dude come on."
Laykyn and Hermione found a small alleyway and apparated Diagon Alley to meet Edward. They were to meet at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes at 2. As soon as they entered the store and the door shut behind them Laykyn squirmed out of her mother's grip and ran looking through every aisle in the shop calling as loud as she could, "Uncle Georgie."
It didn't take three calls before Hermione heard the reply just as excited as the little girls, "Thena."
Hermione rounded the corner just in time to see Laykyn jump into George's open arms. He hugged the little girl tightly and spun around causing her to squeal with glee. "How is my favorite product tester?" he set the brunette back on the floor. She beamed up at her "uncle" and began to tell him all the adventures she had had so far in Hogwarts sacred halls. Hermione followed the pair toward the office and development labs. As they neared the office she heard someone call her name and turned to see Ron. "Hermione, can I talk to you for a moment? It's not about... what it was last time."
Hermione followed him into the office and took the chair he offered. He was tense, nervous she could tell by the way he carried himself. All the muscles in his neck and shoulders pulled tight looking as if he couldn't possibly move without popping one while his hands moved incessantly as he paced in front of the desk. Hermione started to break the silence and stopped herself a dozen times before Ron finally stopped his pacing and turned to face her leaning against the desk. He locked eyes with her. "How...how did you know you were ready?"
What kind of question was that? Her confusion must of shown on her face as he quickly tried to clarify. "To be a mom. How did you know you were ready to be a mom? Did you plan it or did it just happen? How did you know you weren't going to screw the kid up?" The questions seemed to tumble out of his mouth without a sign of stopping so she held up her hands hoping to at least slowing him down. "Ron...Ron! Take a deep breath." He did and she continued. "Take a deep breath. Why is all this so important? Why now?"
Ron closed his eyes taking deep breaths trying to steady himself. "I'm going to have a baby."
Hermione looked at him as if he had grown a second head.
He smacked himself in the forehead and drug his hands down his face in exasperation. "That's not what I meant. Hold on." He took a few more deep breaths. "You know the girl I have been seeing…"
Hermione shook her head.
A deep breath again. "So there's this girl I have been seeing for the last 7 or 8 months, Veronica. It started off as just a fling and before I knew it I really started to like her. I asked her out on like an actual date...It went fantastic. She became my girlfriend and next thing I know she is pregnant! I can't be a father, Mione! I don't know the first thing about this!" His voice rose in pitch and hysterics with each sentence.
Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand pulling him to sit in the chair beside her. His hands dug into his hair. Her hand slid to his back and she began to rub soothing circles. She gave him a minute to collect himself before she spoke. "I still don't know that I am ready to be a parent. Laykyn is 4 years old and I don't know if I ever do anything right. The first time she ran fever I had know idea what to do. She was too young to just give her over the counter medicine and I had just finished reading about how using magic on a child when they are too young can cause serious health problems later in life. I didn't want to take her to the emergency room because there was a bad case of flu going around and I didn't want her to catch it. She was burning up and wheezing when she breathed. I panicked and then my mother-in-law called. Just to check up on us. Jakob had only died 4 months before and she kept a close eye on us for him. I was hysterical. Crying. She could barely understand me but when she got the jist of it she told me to calm down and that she would be right over. 10 minutes later she was at my door with a bag full of stuff. A humidifier and these nose drops and this thing that sucked the gunk out of her nose. We took turns with her overnight and took her to the pediatrician the next morning and she was fine. That wasn't the last time I didn't know what to do with Laykyn but I learned something important that day. I had people I could depend on that would help me. You do too. Your mum… I don't think there is anything, especially to do with babies, that she doesn't know how to fix. Being a parent is outright terrifying sometimes and I thought especially after Jakob died that there was no way I could handle it. But it's worth it. The first time they smile at you or when you hear them laugh while they play. The pride you feel when they call you Momma, well in your case Daddy I guess. There is nothing better." Hermione eyes softened as she talked about her daughter and a sweet smile graced her lips. "No one is ever ready Ron, but for what it's worth I think you will be a great father."
"Thanks Mione."
"If you ever need anything I'm here. When is the baby due?"
"In about three and a half months."
Hermione's eyes widened with surprise she wasn't expecting it to be that soon. "Three and a half months," her mouth hung open in shock. "Does your mother know yet?"
Ron stared at the floor, his feet shuffling nervously,and his ears turning a bright shade of pink.
"Are you kidding me?" Hermione sounded appalled. When Ron met her gaze it was pure disbelief; he opened his mouth to begin to explain and she melted into a fit of laughter. Ron just stared as she continued laughing her sides hurting and tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "Your…" she gasped between laughs, "your mum is going to kill you." It took a moment or two but Ron too began to laugh. Almost instantly the years of tension and regret seemed to melt away and Ron and Hermione could be just that again; Ron and Hermione, best friends. No history other than that.
The two talked and reminisce only stopping when Hermione became concerned having not seen the older redhead or Laykyn's brown curls bouncing down the aisles of the store in the past ten left the office and headed down to the front counter. George stood behind the till ringing up the most recent customer's products as Laykyn standing on a chair beside George placed the items carefully in a bag. He sat two metallic containers on the countertop. "Make sure to place these in separate bags."
"Of course, Mr. Weasley," Laykyn picked the two tins up of the counter and began to clumsily juggle them as George had taught her before placing them in thier bags. The woman at the counter smiled at the small girl's attempt and applauded when Laykyn took her bow after. The woman gathered her bags as the two in unison thanked her for choose Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Laykyn came running around the counter a bright orange WWW shirt on and arms full of new products. Hermione knelt down to accept the items from her daughter. "What did George give you this time?" She shot a look at the redhead that clearly stated if there were anything dangerous he would pay for it.
"He didn't give me anything." She stated proudly hopping up and down, curls bouncing. "I worked and earned every bit of it."
"She makes more in 10 minutes than I do in 4 hours," Ron mumbled under his breath.
But George heard him anyway, "learn how to juggle, mate, and you might get a raise. 'Thena," she looked over her shoulder to him, "you think you can teach him?"
Laykyn Athena stood and looked Ron over as if sizing him up. "Possibly…" she hesitated, "but you did say he was pretty hopeless."
Ron's jaw dropped slightly and he punched his brother in the shoulder, hard. George just laughed.
Hermione returned her attention to the products Laykyn had "earned." She saw several the Weasley joke sweets and immediately felt bad for Ginny as James would probably be the one that ate most of them. Eventually the boy would learn not to eat anything Laykyn gave him. Trick wands were a standard as always. Then there was a small round container that looked like a miniature beach ball. The label across it read "Vacation in a Ball" and under that were the instructions "Think, Throw, Relax. Your perfect vacation getaway is in the palm of your hand." Hermione looked up at George and he smiled, "took a long time to get that one right. Very tricky combination of charms." She added it back to the pile. The last item looked to be an old muggle reel to reel projector. She looked the object over for instructions or even just the name of the product. Laykyn's grin reached nearly from ear to ear as she told her mother, "he made that one just for me."
"I am calling it simply a story projector. I know how much you both enjoy storytime so I thought why not make it a little more magical. Try it out tonight and let me know what you think. Just flip this switch," he pointed to a small switch located between the reels, "when they start to spin just start telling your story." Hermione shot him a sceptical look but promised to give it a try.
The Granger women conversed with George and Ron a few more minutes until it was time to get ready for thier date with Mr. Edward.