DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters related to Harry Potter. Any characters that you do not recognize are from my own head. And as for the plot well that is probably not mine either it has probably be done thousands of times before.
SUMMARY: Set ten years after Hogwart's, Draco has been raising his daughter on his own, and never known who her Mother was, what happens when Draco finally learns the truth. Will it be Happily Ever After for the family or will the truth be to hard for him to handle.
PLAYING HAPPY FAMILIES
Chapter Seven
The next morning Hermione prepared to return to Hogwart's, Lily would be staying with her grandparents for another week before returning to Hogwart's herself. Draco entered Hermione's room,
"Good morning, my love" he said, kissing her on the temple, Hermione smiled,
"Good morning, to you" she replied, "I think that's the last of it" she said, closing her trunk,
"Hermione, there is something we need to discuss" Draco said, seriously,
"Sure, what is it?" she asked, sitting on the bed,
"There is a ball coming up, well it's my birthday you see" Draco suddenly found himself very nervous,
"I know it's your birthday, so you are having a ball for your birthday?" she asked, Draco nodded,
"I was just, I was hoping that maybe, only if you want to, do you want to come with me, I mean you don't have to but I just thought it would be nice if you did" he said, Hermione smiled,
"Are asking me out, Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione joked,
"Well I understand if you don't want too, I just thought that since we are together it might be nice" he mumbled, his cheeks went pink,
"I would love to help you celebrate your birthday" Hermione said, she stood and wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and kissed him softly on the lips, "You are after all, the father of my daughter and my future husband"
"You want to marry me?" he asked,
"Of course I do, Draco" she said, "For ten years I kicked myself because the biggest mistake of my life was the day I left you, if I hadn't been so scared that your family wouldn't accept me then we would never have broken up"
"We would have been married years ago" Draco said, he pressed his lips against hers,
"Draco, when we eventually get married, I am going to leave Hogwart's" Hermione whispered,
"What?" Draco asked, he pulled away from her, "Leave your job?"
"Yes, I want to be a full time Mum, stay at home and have dinner ready for you when you get home, I want to be like your Mum who was there through everything, I already missed the first eleven years of Lily's life" she said,
"Lily will be at Hogwart's most of the time wouldn't the best place be at Hogwart's as her teacher?" Draco asked, Hermione contemplated this,
"I have already thought about that, when the news gets out that Lily is only a half-blood, she will be teased, not to mention that the Malfoy name will be ruined, I know how proud you are to be a Malfoy, I refuse to drag your name through the mud" Hermione said,
"It's just a name, I don't care about blood status as long as I am with you, Hermione!" Draco replied,
"I don't see how this can work" she whispered, "Your family is well respected, you are pure and I am just a stupid Mudblood who fell in love" she dropped to her knees, Draco knelt beside her, stroking her hair,
"Why do you care what anyone else thinks? I love you Hermione, you saved me from Voldemort, you forgave me, and you became my friend even though no one would speak to you." Draco said, he pulled her into a hug, "As long as we are together we do not need anyone else, just you, me and Lily, one big happy family" he rubbed her back, "It all be ok, if you want to leave your job then you can, I will not stop you, my company earns enough so that we can live comfortably, but please do it for you, not because of what some silly eleven year old might say" Hermione stopped crying,
"You really want to do this? You really want to marry me?" she asked,
"I have never loved any girl as much as I love you, I will marry you" he replied, Hermione sat up, she gave a watery smile,
"I love you too" Draco gave her a kiss, "We will get through this, together, now let's go for lunch, we have barely spent any time together these past couple of days" he stood and offered his hand to Hermione
"Just let me freshen up" she replied, she left the room and Draco walked downstairs, his mother and father were sitting in the kitchen, his father was pacing and his mother looked as though she was crying,
"Draco, we need to have a word, tonight once Miss Granger has gone back to Hogwart's would you please come to my study there is something that you must know" Lucius said,
"Sure, Father" Draco replied, Hermione came down a few minutes later, they left the manor and apparated to Hogsmeade, the spent the day walking through the village, having a butter beer in the Three Broomsticks. At six o'clock after they had eaten some dinner, Hermione decided to return to the castle,
"I'll miss you" she whispered, Draco kissed her softly,
"Not as much as I will miss you" he said, Hermione walked back up to the castle, Draco watched until she had disappeared and then he apparated back to Malfoy Manor.
Draco entered his father's study; he sat in the chair directly across form his father,
"You wanted to see me?" he asked, Lucius nodded, he picked up a quill and dipped it into a pot of ink, he tapped it with his wand and then cleared his throat,
"I, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy a resident of 1226 Country Lane, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, being of sound and disposing mind and memory and over the age of eighteen (18) years or lawfully married or having been lawfully married and not being actuated by any duress, menace, fraud, mistake, or undue influence, do make, publish, and declare this to be my last Will, hereby expressly revoking all Wills and Codicils previously made by me" Lucius paused, Draco eyes widened,
"What is going on father?" he asked, Lucius tapped the quill again and it stopped writing,
"I am making out my will, I am leaving everything including the manor and all the money in our Gringott's vault to you" he replied,
"But why?" Draco pressed,
"Son, I am dying, I saw a medi-wizard this morning, it seems that I have a muggle disease called cancer" Lucius stated, "It is incurable even with modern day magic, according to Gerald, you remember him don't you?" Draco nodded, Gerald Higgins had been the Malfoy medi-wizard since Draco was born,
"There must be something, haven't the muggles found a cure?" he asked,
"The muggles cannot cure it either, he suggested chemotherapy, but it only alleviates the pain, survival rate is very low, I have a little less than six months to live" Lucius whispered, Draco felt hot tears prick his eyes,
"What kind of cancer is this?" he asked, he wanted all the information so he could ask Hermione about it,
"Liver, apparently it is very rare to contract this type of cancer in the western world but then it is fitting that I die of a rare disease" Lucius said, he only half smiled at his own joke. "Now Draco, I know this must be hard for you, so I want you to go to Hogwart's and I want you to be with Hermione" he said, "It is only at the end of a man's life that he can look back and know exactly where he made his mistakes, my mistake was that I did not allow you to love who you wanted, it seems that blood is no indication of a persons ability nor does it make them any less of a person, even I, a Malfoy can contract a muggle disease" he said, with that he stood and left the room, leaving Draco to think about what he had been told.
Draco stood and apparated to Hogsmeade, he ran all the way up to the castle, upon entering he saw the there were a few students wandering around the halls on their way back from dinner, Draco walked to the Great Hall, he saw Hermione sitting at the staff table.
"Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked, then she noticed the tears streaming down his cheeks, "What happened, it's not Lily is it?" he shook his head, "Come" she stood and took him to her chambers,
"Liver Cancer, some muggle disease, six months to live" Draco choked out, Hermione looked confused,
"Who has cancer?" she asked,
"Father" he whispered, Hermione bit her lip,
"Oh Draco, I am so sorry" she said holding him close to her,
"Tell me everything you know" he said, Hermione stroked his hair,
"All I know is that it is incurable, unless he has a liver transplant, but then if he has been given six months to live it is highly likely he is not eligible for a transplant" she said, "When did he find all this out?" she asked,
"He told me just now, he must have found out early today before we left for Hogsmeade" he said, Hermione stroked his hair,
"It'll be alright, we'll figure something out, everything will be ok as long as we are together" she whispered, Draco continued to cry well into the night, Hermione just sat with him and stroked his hair, eventually he drifted into a restless sleep.
So there is Chapter Seven, not quite the way I thought this story would go but it did, I love it when I sit at the computer and type and this is the end product of a whole day just typing. Hope you all enjoy it