Disclaimer: I have no use for a formal lawsuit. HP c of JK.
B4 on MPES:
"She kissed you, didn't she?" Eric practically jumped a mile high and Harry laughed.
"How did you know?" he asked in amazement, and Harry shrugged.
"You've got lip gloss on your face." Eric made a face and quickly whipped the telltale smudge from his cheek.
"Oh... thanks," he mumbled.
"Eric, will you do me a favor?" Harry asked and his son looked up at him. "Don't tell your mother I'm letting you date before your twenty first birthday, alright?" Eric smirked.
"Good idea."
~*~*~*~
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Caught in the Act
"You're being silly, love."
"Since when do I care what you think of me? You know I worry too much; accept it and move on." Draco laughed, following Hermione toward their son's room, where she seemed to suspect there was a certain medical examination going on which she did not want her son partaking in.
"Yes, you see, I have. What I haven't moved past, is the fact that I know you will overreact to even the most innocent of positions, should we find them in any." Hermione stopped walking quickly, turning around to look him in the eye, chin tilted up because of his height.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco simply kissed her and Hermione sighed, shaking her head and mumbling as she turned around and continued walking. Her fiancé laughed.
"What was that?"
"I said I need taller shoes," she said a little louder, not slowing in her step or turning to look at him. A smirk crossed Draco's lips as an idea formed in his mind. He stopped dead and, using his not-so-dormant snitch- catching reflexes, spun Hermione into him, then quickly lifted her by the waist until her chin was level with his nose.
"No you don't," he countered through her thin and stifled shriek as she wrapped her legs around him, simply to keep herself steady.
"Ah! Draco, put me down," she demanded in hushed tones, and Draco frowned, turning to rest her against a nearby wall.
"Why would I want to do that?" he asked, sprinkling her with a few perfectly placed kisses. Hermione, however much she wanted to, did not give in.
"Because we have a son, who is presently just down the hall, and would be mortified beyond recognition to find his parents in such a provocative position," she explained as if he were twenty years younger and Draco's frown increased, but he let her slide down the few inches needed to again be half a foot shorter than himself. Hermione sighed and brushed herself off.
"We used to do stuff like that all the time..." Draco mused to himself with a sad and distant tone, eyes trained on the floor. "You've never stopped me before." Hermione frowned and looked up at him, bringing a hand to rest on his cheek. He again turned his eyes to her, but his frown remained placed.
"We're not teenagers anymore, Draco. We have responsibility now... and a family. Plus all those blasted Potters to worry about," she said, smiling and Draco's lips curled up slightly. "Of the times we shamelessly snogged in the halls, how many were interrupted by either Ron or Harry?" Draco laughed.
"I'd say about ninety percent. I think they were stalking you, I always suspected..." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, but that's exactly my point. Junior is my shadow when I'm feeling normal... if I get too... happy..." she began, causing Draco to smirk, but Hermione ignored it, "how long do you think it would take him to come find me?" Draco sighed and nodded.
"Junior may have been the best thing to ever happen to us... but he sure is a drag sometimes," he said, and Hermione laughed, almost surprisingly.
"But I promise, when he goes to Hogwarts, and we go back to school, all parental notions will be thrown away, and we can blatantly do whatever you want, wherever you want, no matter who threatens us with expulsion. Never stopped us before, did it?" Draco laughed and shook his head.
"That may be the truest thing I've ever heard," he agreed, but again his smile dropped slightly. "And until then?" Hermione, smirking seductively, took much too long to blink.
"Well... there IS a lock on our bedroom door," she said softly, and Draco's smirk grew to a size worthy of his teenage self. He lifted his eyebrows three times and slowly moved closer, suggestively closing the space between them. Hermione allowed him one rather simple, but still incredibly passionate kiss before she pulled away. "And speaking of bedrooms... I believe I have one to check?" He sighed and shook his head, taking a step back to free her from his hold against the wall.
"If you must..."
"I must, and you know it." Hermione took his hand in hers and again started down the hall. She opened Junior's door without knocking, not wanting to give them even a few seconds to hide if they were doing anything inappropriate. As she opened the door, however, she saw nothing but three sets of clothes on the floor. She gasped slightly, insane ideas flying through her head. "Draco..." He shook his head.
"It can't possibly be what you think, Hermione. They're only five." Hermione didn't seem to want to listen to reason, and she turned around, brushing past him and starting toward Eric's room. She stopped before arriving, however, as a sound from the room across the hall alerted her. Hermione turned again to Draco, who nodded, signaling he'd heard it too. She went immediately for the knob, but he stopped her, instead bringing his ear close to the door. Hermione followed his lead and did the same.
"Come on, Draco, just lick it!" called an innocent female voice which could only belong to Emmy Watson, and Hermione's eyes widened. Draco smirked, still entirely positive that she was overreacting in the worst possible way. He decided to take advantage of this, however.
"Gee... why does that sound familiar?" he asked, looking as if he were trying to remember something that happened a long time ago, and Hermione made a low growl deep in her throat as she turned the knob and threw open the bathroom door. A collective gasp was heard from all occupants of the room, and they turned to her with wide eyes.
"Mrs. Malfoy!" Emmy said, placing a hand to her chest. "You scared us." Jr., Emmy, and Jimmy were all in the room, dressed in their pajamas. Emmy sat on the closed toilet with her knees to her chest and a toothbrush in her mouth and Jr. stood beside her with a large glob of white shaving cream in his hand, an inch from touching his tongue... he quickly hid it behind his back. Had Hermione not seen this, she still would have known what they were doing, as Jimmy sat on the edge of the bathtub with a full and creamy beard, mustache, and eyebrow makeover. Draco immediately turned away from the scene, attempting to hold in his laughter.
"What are you three doing?" Hermione asked, a little suspicion managing it's way into her speech.
"Erm... nothing, Mum... just getting ready for bed. Yeah... that's it. We wanted to go outside as soon as we could," Jr. tried to hurriedly explain, and his friends backed him up, nodding. Hermione, however, lifted an eyebrow.
"That's it, hm?" They nodded. "And what happened to you, Jimmy, dear?" Jimmy's eyes widened as he remembered what he'd allowed his friends to do to him.
"Erm..."
"Mum," Jr. said to get her attention and Hermione turned her eyes to him. He held a hand to cover the side his mouth as he mouthed the word 'Emmy' and pointed to her, then made a swishing motion with his hand, suggesting magic. Emmy's mouth dropped, although her toothbrush stayed inside, and she reached across the sink to slap him upside his head.
"I did not!" she exclaimed, then turned to Hermione, who was the only of the adults witnessing who was not still stifling hysterics. Although, she blatantly ignored the man she'd vowed to marry. "I'll tell you what REALLY happened, Mrs. Malfoy," Emmy said, glaring at Jr. as she emphasized her words.
"Tattler..." he mumbled, crossing his arms, but she stuck out her tongue.
"I wouldn't have if you didn't try to blame it on me you... git," she said, eyes still narrowed when she looked at him. She pulled the toothbrush from her mouth and reached to the floor, producing the can of telltale shaving cream that had been concealed in the empty trashcan. Hermione took it from her without a word, then turned to lift an eyebrow at Jr.
"And how did you get this in the first place, Draco?" she asked softly and Jr. sighed, glad that at the very least she wasn't angry.
"It's Eric's," he said and his mother looked confused, so he continued. "Every morning since school started Eric always puts that stuff all over his face, and then scrapes it off with this," he said, turning and opening the cabinet below the sink, pulling out a bright blue, bladeless razor. "I dunno why... whenever I ask him about it he gets all snobby and says I'm too little to understand," Jr. finished, holding out the razor to his mother, who took it and inspected for anything sharp. It was harmless.
"Do you know where Eric got these, Draco?" He nodded.
"From Uncle Harry. You won't tell Eric we were playing with it, will you? He'd get mad..." Hermione seemed to think this over, but decided that it was understandable that they'd be curious.
"Not this time... but from now on don't play with things that don't belong to you unless you have permission, alright?" The three culprits nodded grimly. "And exactly what were you planning to do with this just as I walked in, oh son of mine?" Jr. blushed and kept his eyes on the floor.
"Emmy dared him to eat some," Jimmy spoke up, and both others glared at him.
"Jimmy!" they scolded in unison, only to then glare at each other.
"Oops..." Hermione couldn't help but laugh, turning back to look at Draco, who waved a hand impassively, signaling he was in no shape for speech as he held his other hand over his mouth.
"Alright," Hermione said, holding the two items back toward her son, who took them with a curious look about him. She waited a moment before issuing instructions. "I want you to return those to where you found them, clean up this mess, and brush your teeth, then all of you come downstairs and we'll see what we can do about going outside. Agreed?" Jimmy and Emmy nodded obediently, but Jr. looked horrified.
"But Mum, I already brushed my teeth, when Jimmy did! When Emmy was changing her clothes!" Again, the other two nodded.
"We did, Mrs. Malfoy," Jimmy agreed and Hermione smirked.
"Well do it again; you have to be in some way punished, don't you? Emmy, I'm counting on you to make sure he does." Emmy nodded, but Jr. looked about ready to scream.
"But MUM! Dad, do I have to?" Hermione turned to her side, looking to her baby's father, who was just barely getting over his hysteria.
"Do as your mother says, Junior," he instructed a little difficultly, and Hermione smirked in satisfaction as she turned back to her son.
"But!"
"No buts. And in the future, be reminded that playing me against your father, or visa versa, won't work, alright? I'll see you downstairs," Hermione said and left the room, taking Draco's hand and pulling him along behind her. From just down the hall, Jr.'s frustrated growls were barely heard, and both parents shared a bit of a laugh.
"Er... this is SO unfair," Jr. mumbled as he picked up his toothbrush and again applied the sparkly children's toothpaste.
"Oh, come on, Draco... it's not that bad," Emmy said, rolling her eyes. Jr. glared at her as he poked his toothbrush back into his mouth and commenced scrubbing.
"Easy for you to say, you don't have to do it TWICE in ten minutes!" Emmy, who was just running her brush under the faucet, fully planning on being finished, glared at her friend as he had her and seized the tube of toothpaste from his grasp. To prove he was no better than she, Emmy applied a liberal amount of paste to her brush and, like the blonde before her, again began brushing. It soon became a rush to finish first as each kindergartener furiously scrubbed their already clean teeth even cleaner. Jimmy, who had no intention of getting in on it, watched the heated exchange of gazes with a slightly frightened expression. His best friends' fights were never good.
As they raced against plaque, Emmy stood from her toilet-top perch and was now eye-level with her competitor. Almost as if it were planned, both pawns turned and spit in the sink simultaneously. Jr. thought that meant they were finished, but Emmy took it a step farther by turning on the faucet and rinsing her brush, then slamming it down.
"I win." Jr. looked from her, to the pasty brush in his hand, to the clean one below Emmy's.
"We weren't racing."
"Oh yes we were and you know it!" she countered, and Jr. looked again to his toothbrush, not wanting to admit loss to a girl. He sighed.
"Alright... we were," he finally agreed, slowly turning the tap back on and rinsing his brush. While Emmy donned a smirk of satisfaction, Jr. wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and slammed his toothbrush down, then looked up at her. "But *I* win," he said, wearing a smirk credible to his father. Emmy, whose face was still smeared with white paste, frowned. Then, she tied her eyebrows together and screamed in frustration.
"You are such a git! I have the mind to tell your mother you refused her punishment," she screamed, storming out of the room and back to Jr.'s, planning to replace her toothbrush in her bag and retrieve a sweatshirt and hair tie.
"You wouldn't dare!" Jr. called, dropping his brush in the cup designated for their placement, and chasing after Emmy. Jimmy followed, not wanting to be left behind. Back in the bedroom, Emmy and Jr. verbally fought each other, both trying to justify their causes. Emmy was still sore that Jr. had blamed the shaving cream incident on her, but Jr. complained that she shouldn't have tattled, nonetheless.
"Do you guys EVER stop fighting?" Jimmy interrupted, quite loudly, and they both turned to him, surprised. Silence ensued for a good ten seconds, before both Emmy and Jr. burst out laughing. "What?" Jimmy asked, reaching to scratch his head, only to catch a bit of the ever-present shaving cream mask on his face. Almost immediately, he too started laughing.
~*~*~*~
Hermione smiled to herself as she walked down the hall with Draco, who, she noticed, kept looking at her. She let him for a while, but it soon got a bit on her nerves and she turned to him.
"What?"
"You thought they were..." Hermione shook her head, blushing at the floor. "Don't deny it, you did too!"
"Well they were eating shaving cream, is that any better?" Draco laughed.
"They weren't ALL eating shaving cream... just ours," he corrected and Hermione smiled.
"Comforting..."
"And your punishment was that he had to brush his teeth? Merlin, are you the mother from hell or what?"
"I didn't see you disagreeing," Hermione countered fiercely, although she still kept a smile on her face.
"I was too busy trying to breathe." She felt herself involuntarily laugh at that... and in remembrance. It really was quite a funny thing to walk in on.
~*~
"Okay! Mummy, can we go outside now? PLEASE?" Jr. asked as they burst into the kitchen, carrying a wide assortment of blankets and pillows. Hermione and Draco were waiting for them at the table, sipping tea and speaking softly. They looked up when the children arrived, then shared a look.
"I don't know, baby," Hermione said, turning back to her son. "It's supposed to rain tonight; are you sure you want to?" Jr. nodded extravagantly.
"We know, Mum. We're not scared, right guys?" Emmy and Jimmy nodded their approval, shifting to get a better hold on their blankets.
"Well..." Hermione said, taking her eyes off Jr.'s pouty lip and turning to Draco, only to see an identical expression. She made a sound of slight disgust. "Alright, alright. But if you get scared, you can always come back inside, alright?" The trio nodded. "Did you brush your teeth?" Jr. nodded and Hermione raised an eyebrow at Emmy. She looked a bit scared as her blonde friend turned to her, giving a warning look, and she nodded.
"He did, Mrs. Malfoy." Jr. donned a smug expression as he turned back to his mother.
"Alright then. If you need anything, I'm right inside. Make sure you zip the door closed. Jr. nodded.
"Thanks, Mum. Come on," he said and turned down the bathroom hallway, toward the gardens. Emmy and Jimmy followed, still struggling under their mountain of blankets. Draco smiled at his girlfriend as their son dashed out of view.
"I'm proud of you, love. I thought you'd at the very least make them wear heavy jackets." Hermione tensed.
"Do you think I should bring them some?" Draco rolled his eyes and groaned, but Hermione giggled. "I was kidding, Draco... kidding." He smiled and placed a kiss on her cheek.
"So... have you figured it out yet?" he murmured against her skin and Hermione smiled at the sensation, then turned to him with a grin.
"I believe I have."
"And?" he asked, fully expecting her to be completely wrong.
"Emmy's a witch," Hermione said confidently, and felt Draco smirk into her neck.
"I always knew you were too smart for my own good," he said and she laughed. "How did you know?"
"Well, while you were laughing yourself into cardiac arrest, I asked what happened to Jimmy, although I already knew... Junior tried to tell me Emmy hexed him," she explained and Draco made a tiny moan of disappointment. "I would have punished him, but that's why they were fighting, so I figured it was punishment enough." At this, he smiled again.
"Do they remind you of someone?" She smiled.
"A lot of people. The three of them together remind me of Harry, Ron, and myself... Jr. and Emmy remind me of us..."
"And sometimes Jimmy reminds me of Crabbe and Goyle..." Draco added, and Hermione pushed him.
"What an awful thing to say!" He chuckled.
"What? They were my friends," Draco defended, but Hermione shuddered.
"Yeah, but... ugh... now every time I see him I'm going to think about those..." she shook her head. "Thanks a lot." He grinned and kissed her.
"No problem."
~*~*~*~
Another crash of thunder caused Emmy to jump a mile high in her sleeping bag. She curled up, shivering, in both fear and cold, and squeezed her eyes shut. The lightning and thunder were only seconds apart now, and for some reason... that scared her more. At the next crash and flash, she peeped in fear, then lifted herself on her hands.
"Draco?" she called softly, but there was no answer. This didn't ease her in the slightest. "Draco, are you awake?" she called again, a little louder, and heard movement to her left.
"I am now..." said a voice which, however grumpy and annoyed, relieved her a bit. She stayed quiet then, and Jr. too lifted himself up. "Whadyawan?" he asked, this time a little softer, his grogginess fading.
"N-Nothing, I just..." Emmy started, but she was cut off by another crack of thunder. She jumped again, complete with a startled squeal.
"Emmy..." Jr. whispered, aware that Jimmy was still asleep, lying crosswise below their feet. "Are you scared of thunder storms?"
"No!" she cried, much too quickly to be taken seriously. Jr. smirked in the dark.
"Yes you are."
"I am not! What do you know?" He laughed.
"Then why'd you wake me up?" Emmy didn't respond. "Thought so. It's okay, Emmy... do ya wanna go inside? I'll come with you; we can wake Jimmy up," he suggested, but she shook her head, although he could barely see.
"No... no, we don't have to go inside... but, can I... erm..." Emmy sighed. "Oh, never mind," she said, allowing herself to fall back into her pillow, but Jr. didn't let it go so easily.
"What? What'll make you feel better?" he asked, sounding concerned, and Emmy paused a moment before she unzipped her sleeping bag and crawled toward him, blindly in the darkness. She managed to make her way, and Jr. sat up. "What?" he asked again, and Emmy leaned forward, just able to make out his features in the dim light, to whisper in his ear. When she finished, Jr. grinned, although she couldn't see, and nodded. Emmy moved back a few feet and in seconds the sound of a zipper was heard. Emmy smiled and climbed into the sleeping bag beside her best friend, zipping it up without a word and turning on her side to face him. Jr. did the same, settling back in. "Better now?" Emmy nodded.
"Thanks, Draco." He sighed and smirked in the darkness.
"Yeah, yeah... just try not to touch me too much," Jr. said and Emmy giggled.
"I'll try," she promised, followed by a few moments of silence. Jr. closed his eyes, thinking that was the end of the talking for tonight, but Emmy surprised him. Just when he was least expecting it, she pitched forward to kiss his cheek. Although, in the darkness, her aim was a little off and she planted a chaste kiss quite firmly on his lips. Noticing this, she pulled back; blushing furiously, although Jr. was too busy worrying about his own pigmented cheeks to notice. "Goodnight, Draco," Emmy said, expertly hiding her embarrassment, and snuggling in, doing her best not to touch him, although they both knew he wouldn't really mind. Jr. took a moment to regain himself before he answered.
"G-Goodnight," he returned, then waited a moment. When he was sure she was pretty close to sleep, or at least out enough not to notice movement, Jr. lifted a hand to savagely wipe the kiss off his lips, face contorted in disgust. "If I hadn't already done it twice, I'd go brush my teeth again," he mumbled almost silently to himself, and, although Emmy smiled, she said nothing to notify that she'd heard.
A/N: Not much to say. Just note that this fic will be 20chapters long. No more... no less. Cheers!
B4 on MPES:
"She kissed you, didn't she?" Eric practically jumped a mile high and Harry laughed.
"How did you know?" he asked in amazement, and Harry shrugged.
"You've got lip gloss on your face." Eric made a face and quickly whipped the telltale smudge from his cheek.
"Oh... thanks," he mumbled.
"Eric, will you do me a favor?" Harry asked and his son looked up at him. "Don't tell your mother I'm letting you date before your twenty first birthday, alright?" Eric smirked.
"Good idea."
~*~*~*~
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Caught in the Act
"You're being silly, love."
"Since when do I care what you think of me? You know I worry too much; accept it and move on." Draco laughed, following Hermione toward their son's room, where she seemed to suspect there was a certain medical examination going on which she did not want her son partaking in.
"Yes, you see, I have. What I haven't moved past, is the fact that I know you will overreact to even the most innocent of positions, should we find them in any." Hermione stopped walking quickly, turning around to look him in the eye, chin tilted up because of his height.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco simply kissed her and Hermione sighed, shaking her head and mumbling as she turned around and continued walking. Her fiancé laughed.
"What was that?"
"I said I need taller shoes," she said a little louder, not slowing in her step or turning to look at him. A smirk crossed Draco's lips as an idea formed in his mind. He stopped dead and, using his not-so-dormant snitch- catching reflexes, spun Hermione into him, then quickly lifted her by the waist until her chin was level with his nose.
"No you don't," he countered through her thin and stifled shriek as she wrapped her legs around him, simply to keep herself steady.
"Ah! Draco, put me down," she demanded in hushed tones, and Draco frowned, turning to rest her against a nearby wall.
"Why would I want to do that?" he asked, sprinkling her with a few perfectly placed kisses. Hermione, however much she wanted to, did not give in.
"Because we have a son, who is presently just down the hall, and would be mortified beyond recognition to find his parents in such a provocative position," she explained as if he were twenty years younger and Draco's frown increased, but he let her slide down the few inches needed to again be half a foot shorter than himself. Hermione sighed and brushed herself off.
"We used to do stuff like that all the time..." Draco mused to himself with a sad and distant tone, eyes trained on the floor. "You've never stopped me before." Hermione frowned and looked up at him, bringing a hand to rest on his cheek. He again turned his eyes to her, but his frown remained placed.
"We're not teenagers anymore, Draco. We have responsibility now... and a family. Plus all those blasted Potters to worry about," she said, smiling and Draco's lips curled up slightly. "Of the times we shamelessly snogged in the halls, how many were interrupted by either Ron or Harry?" Draco laughed.
"I'd say about ninety percent. I think they were stalking you, I always suspected..." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, but that's exactly my point. Junior is my shadow when I'm feeling normal... if I get too... happy..." she began, causing Draco to smirk, but Hermione ignored it, "how long do you think it would take him to come find me?" Draco sighed and nodded.
"Junior may have been the best thing to ever happen to us... but he sure is a drag sometimes," he said, and Hermione laughed, almost surprisingly.
"But I promise, when he goes to Hogwarts, and we go back to school, all parental notions will be thrown away, and we can blatantly do whatever you want, wherever you want, no matter who threatens us with expulsion. Never stopped us before, did it?" Draco laughed and shook his head.
"That may be the truest thing I've ever heard," he agreed, but again his smile dropped slightly. "And until then?" Hermione, smirking seductively, took much too long to blink.
"Well... there IS a lock on our bedroom door," she said softly, and Draco's smirk grew to a size worthy of his teenage self. He lifted his eyebrows three times and slowly moved closer, suggestively closing the space between them. Hermione allowed him one rather simple, but still incredibly passionate kiss before she pulled away. "And speaking of bedrooms... I believe I have one to check?" He sighed and shook his head, taking a step back to free her from his hold against the wall.
"If you must..."
"I must, and you know it." Hermione took his hand in hers and again started down the hall. She opened Junior's door without knocking, not wanting to give them even a few seconds to hide if they were doing anything inappropriate. As she opened the door, however, she saw nothing but three sets of clothes on the floor. She gasped slightly, insane ideas flying through her head. "Draco..." He shook his head.
"It can't possibly be what you think, Hermione. They're only five." Hermione didn't seem to want to listen to reason, and she turned around, brushing past him and starting toward Eric's room. She stopped before arriving, however, as a sound from the room across the hall alerted her. Hermione turned again to Draco, who nodded, signaling he'd heard it too. She went immediately for the knob, but he stopped her, instead bringing his ear close to the door. Hermione followed his lead and did the same.
"Come on, Draco, just lick it!" called an innocent female voice which could only belong to Emmy Watson, and Hermione's eyes widened. Draco smirked, still entirely positive that she was overreacting in the worst possible way. He decided to take advantage of this, however.
"Gee... why does that sound familiar?" he asked, looking as if he were trying to remember something that happened a long time ago, and Hermione made a low growl deep in her throat as she turned the knob and threw open the bathroom door. A collective gasp was heard from all occupants of the room, and they turned to her with wide eyes.
"Mrs. Malfoy!" Emmy said, placing a hand to her chest. "You scared us." Jr., Emmy, and Jimmy were all in the room, dressed in their pajamas. Emmy sat on the closed toilet with her knees to her chest and a toothbrush in her mouth and Jr. stood beside her with a large glob of white shaving cream in his hand, an inch from touching his tongue... he quickly hid it behind his back. Had Hermione not seen this, she still would have known what they were doing, as Jimmy sat on the edge of the bathtub with a full and creamy beard, mustache, and eyebrow makeover. Draco immediately turned away from the scene, attempting to hold in his laughter.
"What are you three doing?" Hermione asked, a little suspicion managing it's way into her speech.
"Erm... nothing, Mum... just getting ready for bed. Yeah... that's it. We wanted to go outside as soon as we could," Jr. tried to hurriedly explain, and his friends backed him up, nodding. Hermione, however, lifted an eyebrow.
"That's it, hm?" They nodded. "And what happened to you, Jimmy, dear?" Jimmy's eyes widened as he remembered what he'd allowed his friends to do to him.
"Erm..."
"Mum," Jr. said to get her attention and Hermione turned her eyes to him. He held a hand to cover the side his mouth as he mouthed the word 'Emmy' and pointed to her, then made a swishing motion with his hand, suggesting magic. Emmy's mouth dropped, although her toothbrush stayed inside, and she reached across the sink to slap him upside his head.
"I did not!" she exclaimed, then turned to Hermione, who was the only of the adults witnessing who was not still stifling hysterics. Although, she blatantly ignored the man she'd vowed to marry. "I'll tell you what REALLY happened, Mrs. Malfoy," Emmy said, glaring at Jr. as she emphasized her words.
"Tattler..." he mumbled, crossing his arms, but she stuck out her tongue.
"I wouldn't have if you didn't try to blame it on me you... git," she said, eyes still narrowed when she looked at him. She pulled the toothbrush from her mouth and reached to the floor, producing the can of telltale shaving cream that had been concealed in the empty trashcan. Hermione took it from her without a word, then turned to lift an eyebrow at Jr.
"And how did you get this in the first place, Draco?" she asked softly and Jr. sighed, glad that at the very least she wasn't angry.
"It's Eric's," he said and his mother looked confused, so he continued. "Every morning since school started Eric always puts that stuff all over his face, and then scrapes it off with this," he said, turning and opening the cabinet below the sink, pulling out a bright blue, bladeless razor. "I dunno why... whenever I ask him about it he gets all snobby and says I'm too little to understand," Jr. finished, holding out the razor to his mother, who took it and inspected for anything sharp. It was harmless.
"Do you know where Eric got these, Draco?" He nodded.
"From Uncle Harry. You won't tell Eric we were playing with it, will you? He'd get mad..." Hermione seemed to think this over, but decided that it was understandable that they'd be curious.
"Not this time... but from now on don't play with things that don't belong to you unless you have permission, alright?" The three culprits nodded grimly. "And exactly what were you planning to do with this just as I walked in, oh son of mine?" Jr. blushed and kept his eyes on the floor.
"Emmy dared him to eat some," Jimmy spoke up, and both others glared at him.
"Jimmy!" they scolded in unison, only to then glare at each other.
"Oops..." Hermione couldn't help but laugh, turning back to look at Draco, who waved a hand impassively, signaling he was in no shape for speech as he held his other hand over his mouth.
"Alright," Hermione said, holding the two items back toward her son, who took them with a curious look about him. She waited a moment before issuing instructions. "I want you to return those to where you found them, clean up this mess, and brush your teeth, then all of you come downstairs and we'll see what we can do about going outside. Agreed?" Jimmy and Emmy nodded obediently, but Jr. looked horrified.
"But Mum, I already brushed my teeth, when Jimmy did! When Emmy was changing her clothes!" Again, the other two nodded.
"We did, Mrs. Malfoy," Jimmy agreed and Hermione smirked.
"Well do it again; you have to be in some way punished, don't you? Emmy, I'm counting on you to make sure he does." Emmy nodded, but Jr. looked about ready to scream.
"But MUM! Dad, do I have to?" Hermione turned to her side, looking to her baby's father, who was just barely getting over his hysteria.
"Do as your mother says, Junior," he instructed a little difficultly, and Hermione smirked in satisfaction as she turned back to her son.
"But!"
"No buts. And in the future, be reminded that playing me against your father, or visa versa, won't work, alright? I'll see you downstairs," Hermione said and left the room, taking Draco's hand and pulling him along behind her. From just down the hall, Jr.'s frustrated growls were barely heard, and both parents shared a bit of a laugh.
"Er... this is SO unfair," Jr. mumbled as he picked up his toothbrush and again applied the sparkly children's toothpaste.
"Oh, come on, Draco... it's not that bad," Emmy said, rolling her eyes. Jr. glared at her as he poked his toothbrush back into his mouth and commenced scrubbing.
"Easy for you to say, you don't have to do it TWICE in ten minutes!" Emmy, who was just running her brush under the faucet, fully planning on being finished, glared at her friend as he had her and seized the tube of toothpaste from his grasp. To prove he was no better than she, Emmy applied a liberal amount of paste to her brush and, like the blonde before her, again began brushing. It soon became a rush to finish first as each kindergartener furiously scrubbed their already clean teeth even cleaner. Jimmy, who had no intention of getting in on it, watched the heated exchange of gazes with a slightly frightened expression. His best friends' fights were never good.
As they raced against plaque, Emmy stood from her toilet-top perch and was now eye-level with her competitor. Almost as if it were planned, both pawns turned and spit in the sink simultaneously. Jr. thought that meant they were finished, but Emmy took it a step farther by turning on the faucet and rinsing her brush, then slamming it down.
"I win." Jr. looked from her, to the pasty brush in his hand, to the clean one below Emmy's.
"We weren't racing."
"Oh yes we were and you know it!" she countered, and Jr. looked again to his toothbrush, not wanting to admit loss to a girl. He sighed.
"Alright... we were," he finally agreed, slowly turning the tap back on and rinsing his brush. While Emmy donned a smirk of satisfaction, Jr. wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and slammed his toothbrush down, then looked up at her. "But *I* win," he said, wearing a smirk credible to his father. Emmy, whose face was still smeared with white paste, frowned. Then, she tied her eyebrows together and screamed in frustration.
"You are such a git! I have the mind to tell your mother you refused her punishment," she screamed, storming out of the room and back to Jr.'s, planning to replace her toothbrush in her bag and retrieve a sweatshirt and hair tie.
"You wouldn't dare!" Jr. called, dropping his brush in the cup designated for their placement, and chasing after Emmy. Jimmy followed, not wanting to be left behind. Back in the bedroom, Emmy and Jr. verbally fought each other, both trying to justify their causes. Emmy was still sore that Jr. had blamed the shaving cream incident on her, but Jr. complained that she shouldn't have tattled, nonetheless.
"Do you guys EVER stop fighting?" Jimmy interrupted, quite loudly, and they both turned to him, surprised. Silence ensued for a good ten seconds, before both Emmy and Jr. burst out laughing. "What?" Jimmy asked, reaching to scratch his head, only to catch a bit of the ever-present shaving cream mask on his face. Almost immediately, he too started laughing.
~*~*~*~
Hermione smiled to herself as she walked down the hall with Draco, who, she noticed, kept looking at her. She let him for a while, but it soon got a bit on her nerves and she turned to him.
"What?"
"You thought they were..." Hermione shook her head, blushing at the floor. "Don't deny it, you did too!"
"Well they were eating shaving cream, is that any better?" Draco laughed.
"They weren't ALL eating shaving cream... just ours," he corrected and Hermione smiled.
"Comforting..."
"And your punishment was that he had to brush his teeth? Merlin, are you the mother from hell or what?"
"I didn't see you disagreeing," Hermione countered fiercely, although she still kept a smile on her face.
"I was too busy trying to breathe." She felt herself involuntarily laugh at that... and in remembrance. It really was quite a funny thing to walk in on.
~*~
"Okay! Mummy, can we go outside now? PLEASE?" Jr. asked as they burst into the kitchen, carrying a wide assortment of blankets and pillows. Hermione and Draco were waiting for them at the table, sipping tea and speaking softly. They looked up when the children arrived, then shared a look.
"I don't know, baby," Hermione said, turning back to her son. "It's supposed to rain tonight; are you sure you want to?" Jr. nodded extravagantly.
"We know, Mum. We're not scared, right guys?" Emmy and Jimmy nodded their approval, shifting to get a better hold on their blankets.
"Well..." Hermione said, taking her eyes off Jr.'s pouty lip and turning to Draco, only to see an identical expression. She made a sound of slight disgust. "Alright, alright. But if you get scared, you can always come back inside, alright?" The trio nodded. "Did you brush your teeth?" Jr. nodded and Hermione raised an eyebrow at Emmy. She looked a bit scared as her blonde friend turned to her, giving a warning look, and she nodded.
"He did, Mrs. Malfoy." Jr. donned a smug expression as he turned back to his mother.
"Alright then. If you need anything, I'm right inside. Make sure you zip the door closed. Jr. nodded.
"Thanks, Mum. Come on," he said and turned down the bathroom hallway, toward the gardens. Emmy and Jimmy followed, still struggling under their mountain of blankets. Draco smiled at his girlfriend as their son dashed out of view.
"I'm proud of you, love. I thought you'd at the very least make them wear heavy jackets." Hermione tensed.
"Do you think I should bring them some?" Draco rolled his eyes and groaned, but Hermione giggled. "I was kidding, Draco... kidding." He smiled and placed a kiss on her cheek.
"So... have you figured it out yet?" he murmured against her skin and Hermione smiled at the sensation, then turned to him with a grin.
"I believe I have."
"And?" he asked, fully expecting her to be completely wrong.
"Emmy's a witch," Hermione said confidently, and felt Draco smirk into her neck.
"I always knew you were too smart for my own good," he said and she laughed. "How did you know?"
"Well, while you were laughing yourself into cardiac arrest, I asked what happened to Jimmy, although I already knew... Junior tried to tell me Emmy hexed him," she explained and Draco made a tiny moan of disappointment. "I would have punished him, but that's why they were fighting, so I figured it was punishment enough." At this, he smiled again.
"Do they remind you of someone?" She smiled.
"A lot of people. The three of them together remind me of Harry, Ron, and myself... Jr. and Emmy remind me of us..."
"And sometimes Jimmy reminds me of Crabbe and Goyle..." Draco added, and Hermione pushed him.
"What an awful thing to say!" He chuckled.
"What? They were my friends," Draco defended, but Hermione shuddered.
"Yeah, but... ugh... now every time I see him I'm going to think about those..." she shook her head. "Thanks a lot." He grinned and kissed her.
"No problem."
~*~*~*~
Another crash of thunder caused Emmy to jump a mile high in her sleeping bag. She curled up, shivering, in both fear and cold, and squeezed her eyes shut. The lightning and thunder were only seconds apart now, and for some reason... that scared her more. At the next crash and flash, she peeped in fear, then lifted herself on her hands.
"Draco?" she called softly, but there was no answer. This didn't ease her in the slightest. "Draco, are you awake?" she called again, a little louder, and heard movement to her left.
"I am now..." said a voice which, however grumpy and annoyed, relieved her a bit. She stayed quiet then, and Jr. too lifted himself up. "Whadyawan?" he asked, this time a little softer, his grogginess fading.
"N-Nothing, I just..." Emmy started, but she was cut off by another crack of thunder. She jumped again, complete with a startled squeal.
"Emmy..." Jr. whispered, aware that Jimmy was still asleep, lying crosswise below their feet. "Are you scared of thunder storms?"
"No!" she cried, much too quickly to be taken seriously. Jr. smirked in the dark.
"Yes you are."
"I am not! What do you know?" He laughed.
"Then why'd you wake me up?" Emmy didn't respond. "Thought so. It's okay, Emmy... do ya wanna go inside? I'll come with you; we can wake Jimmy up," he suggested, but she shook her head, although he could barely see.
"No... no, we don't have to go inside... but, can I... erm..." Emmy sighed. "Oh, never mind," she said, allowing herself to fall back into her pillow, but Jr. didn't let it go so easily.
"What? What'll make you feel better?" he asked, sounding concerned, and Emmy paused a moment before she unzipped her sleeping bag and crawled toward him, blindly in the darkness. She managed to make her way, and Jr. sat up. "What?" he asked again, and Emmy leaned forward, just able to make out his features in the dim light, to whisper in his ear. When she finished, Jr. grinned, although she couldn't see, and nodded. Emmy moved back a few feet and in seconds the sound of a zipper was heard. Emmy smiled and climbed into the sleeping bag beside her best friend, zipping it up without a word and turning on her side to face him. Jr. did the same, settling back in. "Better now?" Emmy nodded.
"Thanks, Draco." He sighed and smirked in the darkness.
"Yeah, yeah... just try not to touch me too much," Jr. said and Emmy giggled.
"I'll try," she promised, followed by a few moments of silence. Jr. closed his eyes, thinking that was the end of the talking for tonight, but Emmy surprised him. Just when he was least expecting it, she pitched forward to kiss his cheek. Although, in the darkness, her aim was a little off and she planted a chaste kiss quite firmly on his lips. Noticing this, she pulled back; blushing furiously, although Jr. was too busy worrying about his own pigmented cheeks to notice. "Goodnight, Draco," Emmy said, expertly hiding her embarrassment, and snuggling in, doing her best not to touch him, although they both knew he wouldn't really mind. Jr. took a moment to regain himself before he answered.
"G-Goodnight," he returned, then waited a moment. When he was sure she was pretty close to sleep, or at least out enough not to notice movement, Jr. lifted a hand to savagely wipe the kiss off his lips, face contorted in disgust. "If I hadn't already done it twice, I'd go brush my teeth again," he mumbled almost silently to himself, and, although Emmy smiled, she said nothing to notify that she'd heard.
A/N: Not much to say. Just note that this fic will be 20chapters long. No more... no less. Cheers!