Hello Y'all! SO sorry that it took so long to get this up! But i jsut finished my junior year at University so I will be updating much more now. I will have a new chapter up every two weeks, I promise! Hope everyone is still with me! And so y'all know what happened last time, Draco and Hermione got married and moved in together. And when we left, Hugo had just come into their bedroom after having a nightmare. Review please.
Hermione was shocked at Hugo's words. She looked across the room to Draco who wore a look on his face like a man who had just seen a ghost (for the first time). She was silent for a split second before she spoke, "Hugo, Draco and I were just-," she paused trying to think of a reason she and Draco were in separate beds. Before she could finish though, Draco completed her statement.
"We were just about to move the beds back together. The house elves were playing a trick on us." He gave a quick glance to Hermione before he grabbed his wand. He silently stepped out of the bed and pointed his wand at the mattress. He muttered the counter-charm to attach the bed again and then crawled back under the blankets. Hermione glanced over at her new husband before she lifted up the blanket on her side. Hugo ignored her offer to sleep on the edge next to her and climbed up the center from the bottom of the bed. He situated himself in between the two of them before laying down.
Hugo's smile could be seen in the candle light as he reached his hand out to tug Draco closer. "Mummy and my Daddy used to cuddle me. You can too since your my daddy now as well." As Draco hesitated for a brief moment, Hugo grabbed his hand and pulled his arm over Hermione's waist and then cuddled his head into Draco's chest. Draco looked over to Hermione who simply shrugged her shoulders and then placed a hand on Hugo's head to rub his hair back out of his eyes. The child had already gone back to sleep.
Draco and Hermione were silent as they stared at each other over Hugo's sleeping form. The same thought was going through their minds. They were never going to be able to sleep apart again. Hermione, ever the realist, shrugged her shoulders as if to say "what can be done" before kissing the young boy's head and closing her eyes for sleep.
The next morning found Hermione and Draco cuddled together and Hugo at an angle near the foot of the bed. As a house elf entered the room with a loud crack, the three occupants of the room jolted awake. Hermione and Draco split from each other as if they had been shot with a curse. Hermione blushed, but didn't say anything as she "accio-ed" her dress robe to herself. She pulled it on as she stepped to the foot of the bed to pick up Hugo's still sleepy frame. She slightly blushed as she turned around to face Draco. "You can have the shower first. I'm going to go get the children ready." She quickly exited the bedroom without allowing him to speak .
Hermione carried Hugo down the hall to the playroom before going to wake Rose. Rose was happy to see her Mum but wondered aloud if Draco was still present in the house. Hermione laughed at her daughter and explained again that Draco was a member of their family now and he would be there every day when she woke up. After a brief hug between the two, Hermione took Rose into the playroom with Hugo. She collected a set of clothes for each child and instructed them to get dressed before joining her in the kitchen for breakfast.
She silently walked back down the corridor to the master bed chamber. She was still embarrassed over the night before and did not really wish to see Draco, but she needed a shower and to prepare herself for work. She braced herself as she came to the large oak doors. She pushed the handle and opened the doors. Draco was standing at the opening to his closet without any clothing covering his body. His back looked strong and was smooth; Hermione could help but stare at it. She was having trouble deciding if she should clear her throat or just back out of the room. Before she could make a decision, Draco turned around to face her. Hermione blushed immediately upon seeing the rest of his naked body. His muscles were strong, lean, and toned from his training as an Auror, and his skin was flawless with a spattering of light blond hair covering his chest. And his forearms were strong looking, as if they could easily lift her up, and she could just barely make out the Dark Mark on his left arm. He looked up when he heard a soft draw of breath and looked straight into her shocked eyes.
Draco looked startled for a split second before that cocky smirk appeared on his lips. "Well Granger, you like what you see? I thought you were taking care of the children or was that just a story so you could sneak in and find me like this?" Draco said the words with a sound of pure triumph and did not bother to cover himself the entire time he spoke.
At Draco's words, Hermione's mind sprang into action. "Well Malfoy, you're not the first man I've seen naked. And you certainly aren't anything special." Hermione started to make her way from the doorway where she had been standing for the past few minutes to the bathroom, attempting to look as if she wasn't the one who had just walked in on him. "Now if you don't mind moving your scrawny ass and little family jewels, I'll be taking my turn in the bathroom." She did not turn around to see his reaction to her statement. If she had, she would have seen Draco's flabbergasted face.
Hermione shut the bathroom door quickly. She braced herself against it for a second to catch a breath. The witch silently congratulated herself on a show well performed because boy had she been lying. He had been a sight to behold. Auror training had done him well because the skinny boy he had been at Hogwarts was no longer present. She had loved his six pack and the "V" that was engraved in muscles pointing to his "package". And oh did he have a manhood. She had felt the full extent of his erection when she had woken up that morning. He was well endowed, and not just in Gringotts. As she started to undress herself for her shower, it was all she could think about. She let her mind wonder about how good sexual intercourse would be with him. Her mind drifted for a brief amount of time before she came to he senses and realized who she was fanaticizing about. "Snap out of it, Hermione," she said to herself. "He is Malfoy and you will not think of him like that again." With that chastisement from herself, she stepped out of the shower and dressed for the day before heading down to breakfast.
Upon arriving downstairs, Hermione knew something was not right. She entered the kitchen, noticed the children eating at the table and Draco was propped up on the counter sipping tea with a smirk on his lips. Nothing seemed weird, until she noticed at what Draco was smirking. There, sitting on the opposite counter, where four Howlers and five rather normal looking letters. Hermione froze at the kitchen door, not wanting to open them. Yet, she knew if she didn't they would explode and the children would be able to hear all that was written. Oh, but those harsh words were not some that she wanted to hear.
Draco chuckled under his breath and then spoke. "Children, please take your breakfast into the sitting room." Rose and Hugo grabbed their pancakes and left the room. Hermione heard a snicker leave Draco's mouth as she approached the Howlers.
The first one was from Ronald. It opened up as her fingers touched the flap and the redhead's angry voice burst into the room.
"HERMIONE JEAN WEASLEY! I CAN NOT believe you married that PRAT! What were you thinking? I don't want that PUREBLOOD SUPRIMIAST anywhere near my children! You will be hearing from my lawyer immediately about moving our court date to a sooner date! You are FILTH for being with him and a SLUT for letting him touch you!"
Hermione choked back a sob. She had expected worse from him actually. This was nothing compared to how bad it could have been. Astoria must have been in the room, or else that Howler would have been at its full potential. Speaking of Astoria, the next Howler Hermione touched was actually from her.
"DRACO MALFOY! How dare you marry? You were supposed to be mourning my leaving you, not getting married to the next WHORE who passed you! And what the FUCK! Those will be my children so back the FUCK OFF!"
The Howler destroyed itself and Hermione looked up at Draco's face. Draco had a look on his face that screamed contempt. How dare she just assume that he would be sad about their breakup? He was the one that was mourned over, not the other way around. His hoity attitude made him even more willing to help Hermione. "Lord, I HATE THAT WOMAN!" was all he uttered as Hermione laughed at his awkward moment as she grabbed the next Howler.
"HERMIONE WEALSEY," Mrs. Weasley's voice screeched. "What do you think you are doing marring that Death Eater? You vile woman! You just want to keep my son away from his children. You are a poor excuse for a woman and my son deserves better for the mother of his children. He will win. You and that Death Eater can go to HELL!"
Hermione immediately started to tear up. How could the woman she had called her mother say such vicious things about her? "Ron must have poisoned her mind," she thought to herself. She took one long, depth breath before reaching across to the last Howler, purposely not making eye contact with Draco. She did not want to see his reaction to being referred to as a Death Eater. She braced herself as her hand made contact with the red envelope.
As the Howler opened, an all too familiar voice boomed through the room. Unlike the other three writers, this voice addressed both Hermione and Draco. "Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I demand to see the two of you in my office as soon as you arrive at the Ministry. Hermione, I can't believe you would go off and marry without telling me, your best friend! And on a professional level, you both should have informed me, your boss, that you were marrying someone from within our department! We will discuss this at legth shortly."
Harry, thankfully, did not seem too upset over the whole ordeal, but he was bot in a good mood by any stretch of the imagination. This was evident by the use of a Howler, which Harry hated to use in normal circumstances. Draco could not really understand their superiors anger, but he had no choice but to appear in the man's office later; his career depended on it.
Hermione still stood at the counter, trying to get her emotions in order. It was going to be an interesting day, but it was a necessary one. Draco had moved himself to the kitchen table, still smirking at Hermione's discomfort- acting as if he had not just gotten chewed at as well. He was doing her a favor and the only bad news he had heard was from Astoria ( he was not worried about Potter really). From what he could tell, his marriage to Granger had only pissed off the redheaded clan and in turn made them more persistent at keeping the children to themselves. He was not about to let that happen.
As if to bring the two human occupants out of their thoughts, an owl voted startling both Hermione and Draco. Looking around the room for a second, they both realized the relatively normal looking messages sitting on the counter top untouched. Hermione sifted through the letters looking for her name. She found three notes written to her two addressed to Draco. She handed her partner his letters and waited patiently for him to begin reading them when he didn't begin after one minute, she cleared her throat to indicate that she wanted to hear what had been written to him. "Draco, we should read our letters out loud. Anything that is written on those could be used either for or against us when the court case comes so we should share everything."
Draco glared up her from under his bangs before he began reading aloud in his soothing, masculine voice. "My dearest son, when you asked for my family's engagement ring, I was not aware you would be in need of its services so soon. I must say though that I am very pleased. Mrs. Malfoy seems like a lovely woman and, if memory serves correctly, she will be an excellent match for you. And she has children! How wonderful! I have eagerly been awaiting for you to give me grandchildren, and now I can finally be a grandmother. As for the wedding. That simple ceremony will not do. You shall have a large wedding at the Manor in a few months' time. Best of Wishes. Love, Mother."
When he finished reading, Draco glanced up to llok at Hermione. She had a small smile on her lips. She looked slightly pretty to Draco with the light shining on her from the window behind her. She did not look like the teenager from school or the woman who had been his partner for three years. She became a whole new person in this light to Draco- she was a mother, a wife, and a woman who was strong and determined to keep her children. She was a beauty who he was more than happy to be helping. Of course, as these thoughts went through his mind, he scowled at her. He would never say any of that to her, let alone mention it aloud. He glared, as if letting her know not to comment, and then opened his next letter.
In Blaise Zabini's neat scroll was written, "Draco, I send my congratulations on snagging that gorgeous Gryffindor. I knew you always had a thing for her. Wish you would have given me a heads up though. Pansy was going off the deep end until I persuaded her otherwise, if you know what I mean. Well, I hope we can get together soon and discuss the many wonderful details I am sure you have. Write or floo- Blaise."
Draco's cheeks were tinted red by the time he finished reading Blaise's note. He glanced up and noticed Hermione had a subtle blush on her cheeks as well. He refused to say anything, for both of his letters had unfortunately been rather embarrassing, probably more so than his Howlers. He just hoped Granger's notes were more embarrassing than his. With a curt knod in her direction to indicated it now being her time to read, he leaned against the counter waiting for her humiliation to begin.
Hermione sighed, cleared her throat, straightened up, then opened her lips to being reading. Her first letter was from Mrs. Malfoy, which made her smile and her new husband groan. This would not be embarrassing for her, but for him. "Mrs. Malfoy, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the most prestigious and wealthy family in all of Wizarding England. I am most excited to have you and your lovely children join our family. I am very eager to meet you and discuss the large, elegant wedding we will be having here, on the estate grounds. I would also be delighted to meet my new grandchildren. How about the four of you visit the Manor this Saturday? I will not take no for an answer. Love to see you then, Lady Malfoy." Hermione paused for a breath before she said, " Your mother sounds lovely. I do want to meet her. However, could we possibly choose a different location? The Manor contains some haunting memories that I am not quite ready to revisit again." She gave Draco a pleading look before taking a deep breath. She did not give him a chance to answer because she was nervous of what he would say in reply. She truly did not want to discuss that day with him, at least right not right now. She opened her next letter quickly and began reading to avoid the topic.
"Dear Hermione, it is splendid that you have found someone to love you. I am sure he will be more than able to keep the nargles away. And the children will adore him! Seamus and I are very excited for you. You must come to dinner soon. The children need to see each other. Hoping no snorkacks invade your home- Luna and Seamus." Hermione let out a sigh of relief. Of all the stressful and embarrassing letters, count on Luna to make her feel at ease again. She was still extremely stressed though. Her best friend and boss wanted to meet her and her husband in just thirty minutes. Who knew what he was going to demand of her? What would she say? Would he side with Ron? Well she had no time to deliberate over the answers; and she certainly did not have time to look over her last letter. She glanced at it, noticed the handwriting, and sat it on the counter. "This last note will have to wait, Draco. We need to take the Children to their day care. And we need to get to the Ministry early to meet Harry. I'm worried about what could happen. I'm scared to go out there." Hermione looked a little nervous, scared, worried, sad, and above all afraid.
Draco noticed the looks on her face and considered being nice to her for a quick second. But of course, no one else was near them, so he decided against it. "Oh, what is wrong, Granger? Afraid the big, bad Potty will fire us? Take Weasel's side? Not be your friend? Grow some tits Granger and pull yourself together. He will not do anything. He is too much of a pansy and terrified of you. Plus, Ex-Death Eater husband- slash- partner. We are golden. Now let us take our leave before we are late for St. Potter." He had his signature smirk on his face as he walked out of the kitchen. Hermione could hear him calling for Hugo and Rose from the other room. Hermione was letting her glare falter slightly as she thought about what he had said. He had a point. Why should she be anxious? It was Harry. He loved her like a sister. Nothing could go wrong. She moved away from the counter and headed to find her family so they could head out for their day.
Once the two Aurors arrived at their office, Hermione dropped her purse down at her desk as well as her traveling cloak. Draco took off his personally designed traveling cloak before giving her a look that made Hermione blush. He whispered in her ear as he took her hand, "Well Mrs. Malfoy, let the performance begin." And as they headed towards the Lead Auror's office, Hermione let her mind wonder walking in on him that morning, wondering if his body would give her as many chills as his whisper just had.