Disclaimer: Plot and OC is mine. Everything else is J.K. Rowling's.
A/N: I'd like to think I'm on a roll here. Decided to post this since this week I'll be busy and I'm aiming for 2 chapters posted a week. I'm hoping you all like it. I'd like to also note that this doesn't follow the canon timeline other than the war/ages of canon characters. I'll probably post a timeline on my Tumblr to make things more clear. Review and let me know! And per usual if there is anything you'd want to see happen with this story let me know. Also if any would like to be my Beta, let me know lol.
SoraLovesRain: Thank you again for reviewing! Yeah I had a lot of fun creating this plot since I wanted something possibly new (I haven't run across a Bellatrix Secret Child plot). Hermione will be making an appearance soon, so that's all I can say for now :X.
Millie: Thank you as well for your review! I try my best to proofread a few times before posting a chapter. I write only from my iPhone so after two or three reads my eyes tell me I've had enough. Lol, but I'm already a head a few chapters so I might post another one before another week is up :)
It had been a rather long night but a perfect course of action was now put into motion with the assistance of Kingsley and his resources. Kingsley had left around half past six in the morning while the rest of the adults followed suit, retiring to bed soon after.
Draco did not sleep at all. For the first time in over ten years he did not have Hermione by his side. It had been a long night and all he could do was dream about her being home. Which would result in him waking up and looking at the spot next to him. This only leading to disappointment that he would realize the bed was empty, this wasn't their room or house, and his nightmare she was taken away was real.
It wasn't until around 8:30 am when he heard a pair of tiny footsteps finally, followed by a knock on the door.
"Yes Aurora, come in." Draco sat up in bed and awaited for the middle of the triplets to come in. Always punctual like your mother. He silently amused himself.
Aurora silently came in and climbed on the bed to sit next to her father. "Daddy, where is Mummy? I thought you said we were coming here to find her." She said looking up at her father with her steel grey eyes she inherited from him.
"I know darling." He said brushing the back of her frizzy hair down. "But we have to find her. Daddy should've explained it better." He said leaning towards her to place a kiss on top of her head.
"I miss Mummy." The little girl cried.
Draco's heart broke and he pulled his daughter into his lap and let her cry on his chest. He knew his children missed their mother terribly as did he. There is nothing he wouldn't do for them or Hermione.
"Tell you what Aurora, how about we go downstairs and get some breakfast. Fill up that stomach of yours with your favorite?"
"Double Chocolate chip pancakes!?" The little girl squealed in delight.
"Yes. I'm sure your Aunt Ginny whipped some up." Draco assured her.
Suddenly the little girl looked apprehensive which worried Draco.
"What's wrong? I thought Double Chocolate Chip was your favorite?" Draco exclaimed.
"You said Uncle 'Arry was nice and he would help us find Mummy. But he punched you in the nose!" Aurora explained while her arms were waving wildly in the air.
"Yes well Uncle Harry and I have some unresolved feelings?" Draco shrugged. How do you explain to a three-year old that you used to bully her mother's best friend. He thought to himself.
"Then does Aunt Ginny have unsolved feelings about you that will make her punch you in the nose too?" Aurora asked her father.
Draco howled with laughter. "It's un-re-solv-ed little one." Another voice joined their laughter. Ginny stood in the doorway, "Sorry I didn't mean to ease drop, I wanted to let you know breakfast was ready and everyone else is already down there." Ginny apologized, walked closer, and leaned down so she could be eye to eye with Aurora. "Don't worry Aurora. I won't be punching your father unless he gives me a reason to." She teased slightly with a funny face and putting her fist up for good measure.
Aurora smiled at this and then jumped on the bed, "DADDY DADDY LET'S GO GET MY CHOCOLATE PANCAKES THEN!"
Draco smiled, "Now now Princess, it's rude to jump on other peoples beds. You may go ahead with your Aunt Ginny downstairs. I'm just going to freshen up and I'll meet you there." He finished by kissing her on top of the head.
Aurora happily obliged and took her Aunt's hand, "Aunt Ginny I'm sorry I was jumping on the bed. Does this mean I can't still get pancakes?" Aurora's voice drifted quietly and the sound of her and Ginny's laughter grew farther away.
Draco smiled to himself and looked at the pictures of his wife and family that he had placed on the nightstand. It was the same pictures that he kept of them when he had to go away on missions. But he never thought this would be one of them.
Draco showered, put some fresh clothes on and headed downstairs. His eyes bulged out of his head when he saw the kitchen. There was food literally everywhere. Ginny had surely outdone herself. It was insane, you could of fed Hogwarts with the amount of food she cooked. It also smelled wonderful, which made him miss Hermione and her cooking as well.
Harry walked over to Draco with a cup of coffee which shook Draco from his thoughts, "Yeah my wife tends to overdo the food sometimes. Especially when we have company. But that's what happens when you're a Weasley." Draco gratefully took the cup of coffee and drank from it, he needed it for the sleepless night he had before.
All of the children suddenly looked up at him once they realized that he was there. "DADDDDDDY!" The room imploded with the sound of the children overrunning Draco with love.
Aurora was tugging on Draco's pants, "Daddy look! Just like you said Aunt Ginny made my favorites!" He smiled down at the sight of the smeared chocolate around her face.
"Father, I've had them eating breakfast they're almost done." Scorpius explained proudly. Draco knelt down and hugged his son, "Good man. Your mother is so proud of you." Ensuring to not talk about Hermione in past tense because she would be found.
"DADDY THERE'S COUSINS!" Little Alexander screamed and pointed at the Potter Children at the table. Draco knew he would be excited about that. Draco looked over and smiled at the children eating and waved to them with Alexander who was now flinging his arms in the air as if he was at a concert.
Minnie just pulled her father down for a peck on the cheek and then skipped back to the table to finish her breakfast which he could see was piled with blueberry waffles drowned in syrup. He watched as she animatedly talked to what he assumed was Lily Potter.
Artemis stood patiently for her father's attention. Draco knelt down and then poked her in the stomach. "Have you been stuffing your stomach too?" Artemis shook her head excitedly and hugged her father. Draco knew he could never get tired of this.
After all the kids ran back to the table to eat, the Potter children came up and introduced themselves which Draco found amusing.
"James Sirius Potter." The eldest boy stuck his hand out. Draco couldn't help but feel eleven years old again when he had tried to befriend Harry. Draco held his hand out and shook the young man's hand. "It's nice to finally meet you Uncle Draco. Though Dad said you are the last person he expected to be one of my Uncle's."
Draco laughed and looked over to Harry who shrugged sheepishly. "Pleasure to meet you James. You have quite the grip there. I assume you play Quidditch?"
James beamed at this acknowledgement "YES! How did you know?"
"I'm not sure if your father told you this. But him and I were both seekers for our respective Quidditch teams."
James eyes grew wide at this, "You were? What house were you in?"
Draco was astonished that Potter didn't tell them anything negatively about him. But he should be thankful for that. "I was the Slytherin Seeker."
"You were in Slytherin?" Albus Potter's interest suddenly perked who had been standing next to James and was waiting her turn for his introduction.
"Yes I was. I even had a nickname your father used specifically for me 'The Slytherin Prince'." Draco suddenly heard Harry's laughter next to him. Harry corrected him "More like 'The Ferret Prince.' Which earned a laugh from Ginny as well.
Harry strode over to better explain his young son's curiosity, "Al' here is worried about being sorted into Slytherin even though he has some time away to worry about that. Even then I assured him that being in Slytherin is nothing to be ashamed of and that you should always be proud of where you are sorted." Harry explained.
Draco understood and knelt down in front of Albus, "You know who your named after?"
Albus shook his head, "I am named after Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. Father told me two of the greatest headmasters that Hogwarts ever had and Snape was the bravest man he ever knew."
"Rightfully so. Severus Snape was my Godfather. He was not only the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but he was also the Head of Slytherin house. He was a good man, a brave man, but also a man who loved with all his heart his whole entire life. Do you think that that describes you Albus?"
Albus shook his head and smiled.
"Good then you have nothing to worry about." Draco assured him and Albus Potter seemed relieved at this notion for now.
"And who is this pretty little girl here?" Draco then shown his attention to Lily Potter.
Lily looked down shyly and back up at her father which he nodded for her that it was alright. Suddenly her face peaked up. "Lily Luna Potter. I love Minnie can she stay here everyday!"
Both men laughed and Lily took that as a yes and reclaimed her seat next to Minnie and continued to talk. Draco sat at the breakfast bar with Harry and Ginny.
"Your rather good with them Draco. You sure you don't want to add them to your lot while me and Harry here had a nice get away?" Ginny teased Draco.
"8? Sure me and Hermione were talking about expanding anyways." Draco shot back which earned a choke and cough from both Potters. Harry scanned his face to see if he was serious. Draco's face remained unfazed.
"Bloody Hell." Ginny laughed aloud.
"So Malfoy how did you get so good with kids?" Harry tried changing the subject.
"You make me out to be some soulless being Potter." Draco said.
"You were." Harry shot back.
"Well your best friend must've seen something in me. She married me after all." Draco said sadly.
"Yes well, that's why we're going to do no matter what to save her." Potter said sadly.
"Ginny I also wanted to thank you for this wonderful breakfast. When you asked me what the kids like to eat, I didn't expect any of this. You didn't have to do all of this." Draco thanked her sincerely.
"I don't want to hear any of it Draco. Hermione is our family. If she married you, you must of not of been such a big arrogant prat after all. And you guys gave me more nieces and nephews!" Ginny said beaming looking at all of the children eating together.
"No matter what, thank you Ginny. You too Potter." Draco added.
"You boys really should call each other by their first names." Ginny added thoughtfully.
"We'll see if Malfoy has really grown out of his old ways and then maybe." Harry added.
"Well in the meantime until that happens. Draco tell us about the children." Ginny said looking over to the breakfast nook.
This added a sincere smile on Draco's face. All three adults looked over to their children and Draco spoke, "Our oldest is Scorpius Aiden. He's seven, I believe he's a month older than James? He's obviously my spitting image but he has Hermione's chocolate brown eyes. Surprisingly his personality is 50% Hermione's and 50% mine. You'll see as you get to know him."
Scorpius sat at the table animatedly talking to James and Albus, discussing Quidditch strategies no doubt as Quidditch figured zoomed about the table.
"Our next one is Melina Minerva. She's five, we had her right before Hermione retired. We call her "Minnie" affectionately, she was named after Professor McGonagall. She's a Daddy's girl as you saw last night. As you can see she has my white blonde hair but with Hermione's curls. She also has her button nose, but my pointy chin.
Minnie was also animatedly watching the Quidditch figures zooming around the table. She was batting her eyes at Albus which Draco wasn't sure how he felt but the Potters found amusing.
"Our next three were the biggest shock we ever had. Triplets. Artemis, Aurora, and Alexander." Both Ginny and Harry had wide eyes as they looked over the triplets. Draco continued very amused by the looks.
"Artemis Narcissa is the oldest by 5 minutes. She's her namesake through and through. She's the leader of the triplets, but acts and holds herself as the spitting image of her grandmother."
Artemis sat at the table piling more cut fruit on her plate. She had straight white blonde hair and grey eyes. How she sat straight, wiped the corners of her mouth, and smoothed the napkin on her lap was far beyond her age of three. She really was the namesake of Narcissa.
"Next was Aurora." Draco taking in Ginny's as he spoke the next words, "Ginerva. Aurora Ginerva was the next one, older than Alexander by two minutes. As you can see she is Hermione's spitting image other than my eyes. She's the most like her mother in her punctuality. She also is the one who showed accidental Magic the youngest at a week old."
Ginny was silently wiping away tears. "You named one after me?"
"Yes Red, Hermione insisted." Draco said amused at the witches reaction.
"Last but certainly not least is little Alexander Draco. Obviously my look-alike other than his brown hair. He's the most like me in every way including my personality."
Alexander sat at the table with his head held high and sitting up extremely straight with a smug look on his face like a young Draco Malfoy.
"It's so weird to think Hermione kept away for so long." Harry added sadly.
"Hermione didn't want to Potter. It was"
"The job. I know I know." Harry finished for him.
Just then the fire in the kitchen roared startling everyone. Kingsley's face appeared in the fire. "We're ready for you." And disappeared.
"I guess it's time." Draco said with a renewed strength and an awakened vigor. He looked at his children and could only think of their mother and how he would give his life to bring her home.
A/N: A long chapter, but I wanted a chance for everyone to get to know the kids. Also calm before the storm thing you know? Before all the action and adventure starts. Review! Let me know what you think and what you'd like to see. Also if you want to see how I imagine the kids in this universe check out my Tumblr adastra5 for the corresponding blog post.