A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews! We won't be able to update on Thursday as we usually do, the next update will be the weekend, we think. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

When she stepped out of the fireplace wearily later that day, she was pleased to see that Ralph was not waiting. After setting her things down, she tiptoed to his room and found him lying on his bed, talking to Draco.

"Remember when I rided- rode- your broom?"

"Er, not really," Draco replied guiltily.

"No? Daddy! I sat in front of you! We went up in the sky, and the wind sounded like wooosh!"

"Oh yes, that was fun. We should do it again."

"Yeah! Now?" Hermione stifled a laugh.

"Not right now, Ralph," Draco answered, also chuckling. "I'm tired. Maybe this weekend."

"How long til the weekend? When can I get my own broom? Will Mummy let me fly it? She's scared of flying," Ralph said, suddenly serious. "Did she get hurt before?"

Draco groaned. "So many questions, Ralph. I'm too tired to think."

Hermione decided to save him and make her presence known. She tapped lightly on the door and opened it. "Hello, boys."

"Mummy!" Ralph kneeled on the bed and bounced a little. "Guess what I did today?"

"You made another beautiful drawing?" Hermione suggested.

"No, I made a book of drawings," he said proudly. "It has a story, but it's not finished."

"Hey, that's excellent," Hermione beamed, giving him a big hug. His first book! She turned to Draco. "And what did you do today?"

He was lying face down on the bed, so his voice came out muffled. "I struggled to stay awake."

Hermione sighed. "Same here. But we're so tired we have to be able to sleep tonight."

Draco propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her. "I'm considering taking a potion," he said seriously. "If only they weren't so risky."

She nodded. Sleep potions affected everyone differently- some people needed only a sip, while others an entire goblet full. Overdosing could lead to comas, while the opposite could build up tolerance. Also, after taking them for a while, one tended to get dependent on them. "Don't worry, we'll probably be asleep before our heads hit the pillows."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Somehow, I don't think so."

Later that night, Hermione found out that Draco was right. And to their frustration, it was the same the next night, and the next, and she began to wonder if it was a side effect of the memory-loss potion. Both she and Draco tried taking a sleeping draught one evening to try and regulate their sleeping patterns, but to no avail. They were exhausted and cranky, and although they tried not to take their tempers out on Ralph- preferring to yell at each other the moment he was asleep- neither of them, particularly Draco, could completely succeed. Hermione realized just how badly they were doing when she got home early from work one afternoon, and found Jeeves hard at work, persuading Ralph to drop his toys and take a bath.

"Your mummy will be home soon," the elf was saying, although Hermione had a feeling that he guessed she was listening outside the door to Ralph's bedroom, "and you know she wants you to be clean when she gets home." Ralph ignored him and continued to play. "Please Master Ralph, you don't want her to get angry."

"I don't care," Ralph said petulantly, "she's always angry now." Hermione bit her lip, feeling guilt overcome her.

"Let's not give her another reason," Jeeves said sensibly.

"I'm still playing."

"You may continue playing after your bath." After another few moments of being ignored, Jeeves began talking again, with more authority in his voice. "Master Ralph, I will count to ten and if you do not put your toys down and go to the bathroom then I will call your mummy."

There was a small crash, as if Ralph had flung his toys to the ground. "I don't want to! You're a- a- a cold, arrogant git! You're a selfish, heartless, bossy know-it-all bit-"

Hermione pushed open the door hurriedly, and Ralph stopped in mid-rant. She didn't know whether to feel angry with him for using such language, especially against Jeeves, or terribly guilty that she and Draco had inadvertently taught him such language, through their frequent fights. "What's going on here?" she asked, still trying to decide how to act. "Why are you yelling at Jeeves?"

Ralph was silent and pouted at the floor. Jeeves also kept his gaze trained somewhere near Hermione's feet. He seemed reluctant to get Ralph into trouble. "Master Ralph was just getting ready for his bath."

"That's no reason for you to be shouting, Ralph." She frowned at him, and his lower lip jutted out even more. "Jeeves, why don't you take a break or do your other chores, I'll make sure Ralph takes his bath."

"NO!" Ralph yelled suddenly. "I want Jeeves!"

Hermione was a little hurt, but reasoned that even she would prefer a house elf's company to an angry mother's. "You should have thought of that before you started calling him names." Ralph remained silent, so she got his pyjamas and led him to the bathroom, where he proceeded to sulk as he took his bath.

"Do you think I should be mad at you?"

Ralph sniffled slightly and didn't reply.

Hermione sighed and helped him scrub his hair. "I don't know either. But I'm not, honest."

"You're not?" he asked in a small, disbelieving voice.

"No. I'm too tired to be angry. But I am disappointed that you were yelling at Jeeves. He's been really good to you, hasn't he?"

"Yeah."

"So you should be good to him too. Most of the time you are, and that's great. Even if he's a house elf, you have to respect him, and all other house elves. In fact, I'd say everyone deserves respect. Do you know what I mean?"

"What's respect?"

"It means you have to treat him like he's important. You have to treat him the way you want him to treat you, too. You listen to him when he tells you to do something, and you don't shout at him. No one likes to be shouted at. Now do you understand?"

"I think so."

"You don't see Daddy or I yelling at him, right?"

"But he doesn't tell you to stop playing and take a bath," Ralph pointed out.

"Well, I'm not three years old," Hermione said in return, picking up the soap. "Another thing- do you even know the meaning of what you were saying, or did you hear me and Daddy say it?"

"I heard you."

"I'm really sorry about that. Daddy and I shouldn't have been fighting, and we shouldn't have said those things to each other. It's not nice to say things to hurt other people's feelings, and that's what those words would do. I've already said sorry to Daddy, and you should say sorry to Jeeves. And I would like it if you didn't say those words again."

"Did Daddy say sorry to you too?"

"Yes, he did." Hermione didn't add that their apologies had been in the form of "good luck sleeping tonight" and "thanks, you too". Mentioning this would detract from the learning point of the whole story. "So will you tell Jeeves you're sorry?"

"I will." Ralph's good cheer seemed to have been restored, and he let Hermione wash his face and rinse him off. When he was dried and dressed, she left him to play with his toys while she took her bath, thinking that if she couldn't summon the energy to be mad at Ralph, then maybe sleep would at last come easy that night. Alas, it wasn't to be.

When Ginny contacted her at work a few days later to check on her, Hermione was already at the end of her patience.

"Any news from that genius brother of yours?" she growled, glaring at Ginny for disturbing her.

"Not yet, but he's working on it. I've never seen him work this hard before." Ginny ignored Hermione's look and continued talking. "So how are you and Draco?"

"All right, I suppose," Hermione said tersely. "Considering the circumstances."

"Oh come on, Hermione, don't be mad at me. I'm just trying to help."

Hermione sighed. "Right. Sorry. I just haven't been sleeping well lately. Not since the incident, anyway."

"That was over two weeks ago," Ginny frowned. "Why not? Does Draco snore?"

"I don't know. We don't… share a room."

"Maybe you should. Try sleeping together," Ginny said thoughtfully. "Maybe your body remembers what your mind doesn't. I have trouble sleeping sometimes when Harry's away, you know."

Hermione grimaced, remembering when she had woken up to find Draco- naked- beside her. Although, she hadn't been any more dressed than him so she had no right to complain. "I'll think about it," she promised. "I can't remember the last time I got a good night's sleep."

"It's worth a try," Ginny insisted. "Ask Draco what he thinks. Has he been sleeping well?"

"Not very well," Hermione admitted, fiddling with her quill. "We don't really talk that much. Except for when we argue. Ralph does most of the talking," she said with a smile. "Sometimes he talks so fast I have no idea what he's saying."

"But he's really intelligent," Ginny said, "he just gets carried away sometimes. He speaks better than James, who's almost a year older, and much better than Lily."

"He'll be reading soon, I'm sure of it. Maybe I can get him to read my reports to me," Hermione laughed.

"You and Draco will fight over that next." Ginny leaned over to give Hermione a hug, before preparing to leave. "You try sleeping in your old room, all right? The one you shared with Draco. You need your sleep."

"I'll talk to Draco about it," Hermione promised again, waving as Ginny Flooed away. Once her friend was gone, Hermione returned her attention to the documents in front of her, unable to make sense of them. She yawned widely, deciding that there was no need to talk to Draco about sharing a bed. Tonight was the night, she promised herself. Tonight she would sleep well.

Later that night found Hermione yawning in bed, awake. Sleepy, utterly knackered, but awake. The whole situation was so frustrating that she almost cried. Out of desperation and sheer exhaustion, she decided to give Ginny's suggestion a go. Grabbing her pillow and blanket, she quietly crossed the hall to Draco's room. She knocked on the door and opened it.

Draco sat up and took in the sight of her standing there, holding some beddings. He understood immediately. With a sigh, he moved over to one side of the enormous bed, giving her enough space.

"Thanks," Hermione muttered, a little embarrassed. "It was Ginny's suggestion."

"At this point I don't care," Draco replied, "as long as it works."

To their surprise and relief, it worked like a charm.

When Hermione woke up the next morning, the first thing she realized was that she was in Draco's bed, and she had slept well. She didn't even remember wishing him good night. The second thing she realized was that there was a warm body pressed up against hers.

She gasped, and felt herself blush. This was not supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to actually touch. Hermione moved away as unobtrusively as possible, trying not to wake him.

A quiet voice said, "Mummy?"

"Ralph?" Confused, Hermione turned around and saw, much to her relief, that Draco was on the other side of the bed, where he was supposed to be, and that their son had crawled into bed in between them.

"You awake now?"

Hermione chuckled. "Yes, I am," she said, giving Ralph a hug. "How long have you been trying to wake us up?"

"I didn't try," Ralph said, wriggling to get more comfortable in her embrace. "I was real quiet. Did I wake you up?"

"No, you didn't," she assured him. "You were really quiet. Quieter than a house elf."

He beamed. "I woke up and couldn't sleep," he explained further, "so I came here."

"I'm glad you did. There's nothing I like better than waking up and finding you beside me." She smiled at him. "What time is it?"

Ralph shrugged. "Early."

Hermione laughed and sat up, looking at the clock. "It's half past six. You're right, still early." She looked at Draco, who was still fast asleep, and then back at Ralph, whose eyes were starting to close again. "Go back to sleep," she whispered, lying back down.

He nodded, snuggling beside her again. Hermione put an arm around him and closed her eyes as well, wondering if she'd fall asleep again.

She did sleep, and only woke up when Draco's alarm clock rang. She hastily slid out of bed and turned it off, hoping it wouldn't disturb Ralph.

Draco stirred and stretched lazily. His arm bumped against Ralph and he turned to look, frowning in confusion. "What's Ralph doing here?" he asked, seeing Hermione standing by the door.

"He said he woke up and couldn't sleep again," Hermione shrugged. "I think it's best if we don't wake him yet, let him sleep."

"All right," he nodded. "Did you sleep well?"

A little surprised by his concern, she smiled. "Yeah, I did. You?"

"Very well," he said, yawning and getting off the bed. "I guess you'd better move your things back here."

"Everything?" At his surprised look, Hermione stammered on, "I-I mean, I could just… sleep here and do everything else there…" she trailed off, blushing. "I mean, as long as you're sure."

"If it makes you uncomfortable, we can do it your way," Draco said, going to the closet to choose his clothes. "I was just thinking that it might be better to go back to normal… Like you said."

Hermione looked at Ralph, and realized how lucky it was that they had decided to share a room last night. If he hadn't found them together, there was no telling what conclusions he would have drawn.

"All right," she agreed at last. "I'll move my things."