A/N: Edited 18th January 2019
When Hermione and Draco reconnected, she was a recently divorced mother of two and he was a long-time divorced father of one. Draco was in a state of depression. Astoria had proved an unwise choice, his son was miserable, and he was largely shunned by the wizarding community thanks to his and his family's participation the Battle of Hogwarts many years prior. Hermione was devasted by the failure of her marriage to Ron Weasley and was scarred from his many betrayals with other women.
They came into each other's lives as former enemies, and somehow the hard times in their lives helped them connect, and eventually lead to so much more than friendship. As they planned their wedding Hermione suggested they move away from their bad memories and find refuge somewhere far away from the people who hounded her for her brave past, and shamed Draco for his conflicted one. He agreed they needed a fresh start to their lives, away from all that as well as both of their previous marriages.
Hermione wanted to live in one of the many Non-Magical Communities for Witches and Wizards that had been created since the fall of Voldemort. They were placed across England, and they'd been implemented in effort to bridge the gap for the Muggle-born and to provide witches and wizards places to live peacefully amongst Muggles. In these communities no magic was permitted, and the Minister of Magic had had strong spells cast over the areas, spells that made magic impossible to perform. Witches and wizards were permitted to live with their wands, potions and other magical items locked away, but were entirely unable to use any whilst within the community's physical boundary's.
Draco had been a little reluctant at first, he'd only ever lived in the Malfoy mansion (which his parents had gifted him when his father originally went to Azkaban, and after his eventual release they'd moved to London) and he'd been surrounded by magic for his entire life. However, after Hermione explained about how she'd grown up without magic, and gone to normal education institutes before Hogwarts, and essentially had the best of both worlds, he found himself onboard with the idea.
Hermione herself was reluctant to live without the magic she loved so dearly, but she wanted her children to grow up grounded the way she had. Draco had grown up in the elitist wizarding world, as had Scorpius, and neither really had any idea how to live without magic, but as a family they faced the challenge together.
After their wedding they purchased a new home, it was a rambling old house in outer London, in a Non-Magic community, and it was the beginning of their life together. Despite being happy with this living arrangement, Draco had been unwilling to part with his family home and so most summers and holidays were spent at Malfoy Manor. The family travelled there together and there they stored all their magical possessions and artefacts.
As their family grew some of there the children became old enough to use magic outside of Hogwarts, and at Malfoy Manor they could do so freely, as did Hermione and Draco, and everyone revelled in the opportunity. The younger children were also able to develop their skills naturally like all witches and wizards were supposed to.
Their choice worked well, there were bumps in the road at first, and they both missed magic terribly, but eventually things straightened out and by the time they reached their most recent Christmas both Hermione and Draco were pro's at balancing living with and without magic.
Solving things without magic was difficult, and Draco had had to learn how to use all sorts of new things, like microwaves, computers, cars and the laundry room. To this day he despised traffic, he wished to merlin he could just apparate to where he needed to go on a near daily basis.
Living with magic was different, though things like the internet, the West End and Muggle restaurants made the changes much sweeter. It was a balancing act and there had been trying times.
The hardest times were the days when the children were injured or hurt, like when Ariana broke her arm or when Scorpius was beaten by bullies. Those were the moments Hermione wished to flick her wand and cast spells to heal them as easily as she would have when she was a teenager.
In dark times, she wondered if she were a terrible person for making her family suffer what Muggles had to suffer through, things that wizards could fix with a wave of a wand. But her children had always recovered, and they learnt lessons that people who'd grown up with magic never got to learn.
Hermione and Draco had also agreed not to take on fake Muggle jobs despite living amongst their non-magical neighbours. Hermione had been Head of the Department of Wizarding Law before she married Ron, and when she'd finished raising her children, she had dreams of returning to that field of work. Draco was independently wealthy; his family's fortune was more than enough to cover their family for centuries to come. When Ariana was a baby, he had however written an account of his time as a Death Eater and of the events that happened during that period of his life. The book had been published and become a bestseller in wizarding bookstores.
The book had opened the door to the wizarding community and slowly he had become somewhat accepted into the fold. Eventually, after many philanthropic endeavours with the earnings from the novel he had earned a place on the Hogwarts school board. He had accepted the position gladly, and it was a pleasure as Hermione had been a member of the board for years and it became a responsibility they enjoyed having together. Hermione loved his book, and she used it as a tool to explain their fathers complicated past to the children.
It was all these decisions and experiences, as well as countless others, that bring us to the present day, the day after Christmas.
It was far too few hours after the sun rose when Hermione reluctantly untangled herself from Draco's embrace and climbed out of her warm bed. Goose bumps rippled across her naked skin as she hurried through the early morning air to her en-suite bathroom. She turned on the shower, leaving it running so the water could heat up, and brushed her teeth while she pulled a towel from the cabinet and hung it over the bath rail.
Once the water was at her favourite temperature Hermione stepped inside the glass enclosure and relaxed under the cleansing waterfall. Steam filled the room and her throat as she hummed a tune softly and washed her thick hair with well-practiced hands. Once she was squeaky clean and she had sufficiently woken up Hermione shut off the water and stepped out of shower. She wrapped her herself in the soft over-sized towel she'd chosen and attempted to squeeze some of the water out of her wild hair and padded back into her bedroom.
She dried off her body and moisturised every inch of her skin before dressing in a pair of comfortable pants with a stretch waistband for her swollen baby belly and a woollen jumper. She ran some health increasing oils through her unruly hair and deftly pulled it back into a French braid before finishing her morning routine with a quick application of mascara and lip balm.
Once dressed she walked back to her bed where her husband was still fast asleep with his face buried in a pillow and his arms and legs sprawled across most of the bed.
Hermione sat down on the small space left beside him and ran a hand through his hair affectionately. She smiled slightly in the low light of the early hour as Draco stirred and grumbled nonsense words in his sleep. Inside her belly her unborn child seemed to share their fathers' sentiments about waking and kicked their mother uncomfortably until she rubbed her bump gently and whispered soothing words to both father and child. When her baby settled, she started drawing lazy circles on the bare skin of Draco's back with her fingers. Tenderly she caressed his smooth skin, stopping to trace over the tattoos of their children's names on his shoulder blade until slowly but surely Draco woke up.
"Mmhhmm, can't keep your hands off me huh?" Draco said groggily, his voice muffled as he turned his head to look at his wife.
"Never." She replied with a wink and drew her hand from his skin as he rolled over and sat up.
"How embarrassing, a Gryffindor obsessed with a Slytherin! What will people say." He teased as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes before stretching and yawning.
"I doubt they'd say much." Hermione responded dryly and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his forehead before she stood up. "However, our children will have a lot to say if I don't go downstairs and start on breakfast."
"Ooh, please make waffles." Draco implored Hermione, his suggestion unintentionally well timed with the arrival of their earliest waking children.
"WAFFLES!" Ariana and Jeffrey shrieked in excitement as they burst through their parent's doorway and ran straight for their bed. They were clad in the fluffy pyjamas still and their sleep-made hairstyles were quite entertaining to behold.
"Waffles it is I guess." Hermione consented, folding her arms and smirking as the ridiculously cute Ariana and Jeffrey clambered onto the bed and began jumping all over their father in excitement.
"Save me!" Draco begged through his laughter as Ariana jumped on him and attempted to tickle him under his chin. "Have mercy!"
"Good luck with that." Hermione chuckled before escaping quickly from the room before she could be entangled in the playful antics. She had far too much to do, and this way at least they would be occupied while she cleaned up from the mess the night before.
Once she was downstairs, she grabbed a rubbish bag and set about throwing away all the ribbons and gift-wrap strewn around the living room and any half-eaten food that had been left out overnight. The fire in the kitchen and the one in the living room had been packed in well by Draco the night before so she was able to fill them with kindling and get them going immediately without the hassle of lighting them from scratch. Once the fires were tended, she cleaned down the kitchen and opened all the curtains downstairs. Weak sunlight poured in, sparkling on the fresh snow outside and on the newly cleaned surfaces inside the house.
Hermione had just finished mixing up her waffle batter recipe when she heard Thomas start fussing in his cot through the kitchen baby monitor. Pleased with his immaculate timing she put the batter away in the refrigerator and headed back upstairs to get him up. By the time she had fed him, (he was at the age where she usually liked to wean her children off being breast fed but her current pregnancy had her breasts so full she welcomed the release of feeding him), and changed him enough time had passed that when she arrived back in her bedroom with Thomas in her arms her beds population had grown to include Julius and Hugo. The younger boy was reading a book amongst the chaos, and the older was patiently allowing Jeffrey to apply unicorn stickers to his forehead despite his half-hearted protests.
"Good morning everyone." She greeted them affectionately and put Thomas down on the bed where he toddled over to his father immediately and planted a slobbery kiss on his shoulder.
"Well good morning to you to young man." Draco said with mock disgust and picked Thomas up to give him a cuddle as the rest of the children chorused good mornings to their mother.
"Shall we go have breakfast?" Hermione asked the group with a mischievous wiggle of her eyebrows. "Dad's making waffles."
The immediate response to this announcement was a loud chorus of groans and protests.
"No!" Julius lamented, looking up from his book in horror. "It's been almost six weeks since the last time we had to use the fire extinguisher."
Draco was indignant as he rose from the bed, dragging half the kids with him. "The disrespect for my culinary skills is appalling." He muttered, feigning offense and glaring at his wife as she giggled helplessly in the doorway.
"Dad, seriously. You can't cook, unless Mums cooking those waffles, I'm starting a hunger strike." Scorpius joined the hubbub from the hallway, peering around Hermione to give his dad a look. He was dishevelled and extremely sleepy, but his candour was enough to make both his parents laugh and Draco happily accepted defeat, it wasn't as if he had any desire to cook breakfast in the first place
"Never fear, the waffle maker is here." Hermione assured her children and she herded them out of her bedroom and towards the stairs. Usually the younger children would fight one another for the opportunity to help their mother make exciting food like waffles or pancakes. They'd generally cover themselves and half of the kitchen in batter in the process, however all of them were far too busy playing with their new Christmas toys to even suggest getting involved.
Draco, Scorpius, and Hugo seated themselves on the bar stools at the kitchen counter and chatted with Hermione while she set up her toppings and set up the gridle to make their breakfast. Draco made a pot of coffee and he and Scorpius both sipped it as they perused that mornings paper's crossword. Hugo was scrolling idly on his phone, and beyond them Julius and the younger children sat at the table, his book still in his hands and toys in his siblings'.
Hermione was pouring the first batch of waffles into the hot gridle when their only absent child arrived in the kitchen. Rose pranced in, eyes glued to her cell phone as she sat down on the last stool at the counter. Her face was caked in makeup and she was wearing a pair of ridiculously tight overalls and a bodysuit-thing that Hermione neither understood nor approved of. Her get up was in stark contrast to the pyjama clad family around her, and even to Hermione who was dressed. Draco stared at Rose for several seconds before turning to his wife and raising an eyebrow at her over his newspaper. Hermione shook her head Draco, attempting to quash any ill situation arising. She was determined to just have a peaceful day.
"Good morning Rose darling, did you sleep well?" She asked, offering her daughter a smile.
"Would have been better if I was at Dad's." Rose replied snippily without looking up from her phone.
Hermione bit her lip and she swallowed back a curt remark about Ronald Weasleys parenting skills before taking a moment to inhale a deep breath. Instead of responding to her daughters jibes she piled her first batch of waffles onto a plate and handed them over the counter to Hugo.
"Can you put this on the table for the little children please?" She asked her son, relieved when he diligently did as he was asked. It was a relief to her that not all her children disrespected her at every turn.
Hermione turned her attention back to Rose, specifically avoiding looking at her husband as she could already feel his irritation across the counter. She noticed Rose's familiar scowl, it was the one she always wore when people didn't respond emotionally to her manipulations. She ignored it because she genuinely wanted to be able to connect with her oldest daughter with the ease they used to have.
"Rose darling, do you have any plans today?" Hermione tried, talking as she began chopping some fresh fruit to accompany the next batch of waffles sizzling on the gridle.
"Oh my god what is with the inquisition?" Rose demanded. She finally looked up from her phone so she could swing her legs up and rest her feet on the barstool Hugo was about to return to.
"Stand fatty." She sneered cruelly before returning her attention to her phone.
"Don't be such a bitch to your brother." Draco interjected loudly, looking entirely vexed as he put down his newspaper and crossed his arms. He usually preferred to give Hermione the chance to deal with Rose as she saw fit, but he was beyond sick of her cruel and disrespectful behaviour.
"Mum! Draco just called me a bitch!" Rose squealed, fake tears gathering in her eyes as she switched gears and implored her mother for sympathy.
Hermione picked up her spatula and waved it at her family with a glare that was somewhat reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. "Draco, don't swear at the children, Rose, apologize to your brother, that is no way to speak to him."
Rose just rolled her eyes in response, her tears immediately drying, and continued to text on her phone and boldly disobey her mothers' instructions.
Draco glowered at Rose for several long seconds as she ignored her mother and showed no remorse for her nastiness. He chewed the inside of his cheek pensively before, with his eyes flashing thunderously, he reached across Scorpius and snatched Rose's phone off of her.
"Oi!" Rose shouted in surprised anger. "That's mine! Give it back asshole!"
"Shut up and go and apologize to your brother like your mother said." Draco ordered stonily and tucked her phone into his pyjama pocket. He picked his newspaper back up and shook it out before unfolding it. Over the top of the pages he could see Rose's face turning a bright shade of pink and her eyes narrowing into incensed green slits.
"I hate you!" Rose burst out as she stood up and pushed her stools over. It clattered to the floor loudly as she continued with her tantrum. "You're so stupid, stealing my stuff like you stole my life, why don't you just do us all a favour and fuck off?"
"Rose! Go to your room at once!" Hermione interjected, seizing control of the situation before it could get any uglier.
"Fine, take his side!" Rose practically screamed before she burst into tears and stormed out of the room. They could hear her as she shouted insults at her parents all the way up the stairs before the slam of her bedroom door cut out the sounds of her tantrum.
Everyone sat in silence for a moment, the tension unbearably thick, until Hermione noticed her waffles were ready. She quickly took them off the gridle and added them and the fruit she'd been cutting to a platter.
She looked around at everyone's sad and angry faces and heaved an inward sigh before putting on her cheeriest smile and holding up her handiwork for her family to see.
"Alright everyone, let's have some breakfast."