Disclaimer: Anything you recognize I do not own.
Okay, I know it has been a while and I feel really bad about it! Especially since this isn't a really long chapter to make up for it. The truth is that I haven't had time to write this story and that I've had writer's block. Tonight I've been hit with some inspiration so I decided to go ahead and post the chapter I had for you guys. However, I should warn you all that this may happen again. This is my last semester of my undergraduate career and I've been busy with my capstone (which is like a senior project) and working on Grad school applications. And thank you again for all of the reviews, alerts, etc! :)
Sunday May 27, 2007
The day of Rose's fifth birthday started with a bang…literally.
In the midst of what was another potentially embarrassing dream, Draco was rudely awakened by the loud bang of their bedroom door slamming against the wall. Both he and Hermione bolted upright and saw their children fast approaching their bed.
"It's my birthday!" Rose yelled excitedly.
"Birthday!" Scorpius echoed.
Hermione held out her arms and gathered her red headed daughter into her warm embrace. After placing a kiss on the top of her hair she chuckled and asked: "Is banging open our door any way to start your birthday?"
"Sorry." Rose said softly, burrowing her face into Hermione's breasts.
Draco didn't blame the little girl; he longed to do it himself, though with quite different intentions. Hermione had had nice breasts before she was pregnant, but now…they just looked so inviting.
"So, what does the birthday girl want for breakfast?" Draco asked with a fond smile for Rose as Scorpius snuggled into his side.
"French toast!"
"Me too!" Scorpius chimed in.
Hermione smiled, "Alright, let the two of us get up and dressed before we go downstairs. In the mean time you two go put on some cartoons."
They needed no more urging and were soon flying out of the master bedroom and down the stairs.
Draco let out a sigh, "Well, we have quite a day ahead of us."
"Ginny is coming at noon to help us out and on her way she's picking up the cake."
"Thank Merlin, I thought I was going to have to go back to that muggle grocery store on my own."
Hermione laughed, "Really, Draco, it wasn't that bad."
"Those women were fighting over that ham!"
"Okay so they were a little extreme, but that doesn't happen every time you go in the store. Trust me, that's the first time I've seen women fighting over a ham."
"What about other items of food?" Draco asked with an arched brow.
Hermione hesitated, "Okay so I've seen ladies fight over Christmas goose before."
"Ha!"
Hermione huffed, "It still doesn't happen that often, Draco."
"If I had to I would have braved the store for Rose, but I will never fight over an item of food."
"A Malfoy lower himself to that level? I think hell would freeze over first."
Xxx
The party was quite a success; Rose loved it. Not only was the cake delicious, but it was also a fair depiction of a clown fish with a smiley face. While the kids ran around playing games, shouting, and stuffing their faces with cake, the adults sat and watched with fond smiles on their faces. Most of the conversation was focused on the children, and Hermione and Draco's plans for the their unborn child.
After a few hours the party had died down; all the children had gone home leaving only Blaise left at the house. Yet again he was without Jackie, who had gone with her sister to yet another Quidditch match, this time in Portugal.
"Something is up with you." Draco stated casually as he sat down next to Blaise on the couch.
Blaise was eating yet another piece of cake; he couldn't help himself, it was delicious. However, the fact that his self control had failed to keep him from a third piece of waist thickening cake was a warning sign for Draco.
"You never eat that much cake."
"Very true; it was well worth whatever you paid for it."
Draco shook his head, "There's more than just the quality of the cake going on here. And I can't help but notice that you are without Jackie once again."
Blaise sighed, "I think she's cheating on me; I think her sister's life has rubbed off on her."
"Don't jump to conclusions; she could just be supporting her sister."
Blaise shook his head, unconvinced, "When I started to get busier at the firm it severely cut down on our 'quality' time together, if you get my drift. I fear that she's turned somewhere else for that."
"Who needs her?"
"That's what I've been telling myself. Maybe it's for the best; maybe I am supposed to live the life of a bachelor. I can be that extremely sexy uncle for your children that all their friends have a crush on."
"That's disgusting."
"Now that I think about it, it is. Anyway, rest assured I will not let this affect my work on your case; I can promise you that."
"No doubt in my mind, Blaise. I trust you."
Blaise's face slowly transformed into a devilish grin, "So, have you thought of your grand gesture for Hermione yet?"
"No, I haven't."
"Come on, Draco. You two need to get with it and actually be together when your kid comes. Just being married is not going to cut it for raising children in a loving home."
Draco was surprised at how serious Blaise was at that moment, not to mention the sound logic in his argument. Thinking back he realized that he and Hermione getting married didn't completely solve all the problems associated with this surprise pregnancy. If he and Hermione didn't actually love each other, they might as well not be married and raise the child. But Draco knew he could love her; he respected her, was attracted to her, and loved spending time with her. With a little time and a little nudge he knew he could love her, completely and totally. But what about her?
"Blaise, I know that I can love her; we just need to get on that level together. And I'm not sure she's ready or wants that level."
"Well, you never know until you try." Blaise shrugged.
Down the hall, hiding in the shadows Hermione listened, cupping her rounded belly in one of her hands, while the other was over her mouth, keeping her silent.
Xxx
Blaise left shortly after their conversation on the couch, leaving Draco to clean up the house while Hermione gave Rose and Scorpius their baths. Fortunately for Draco, cleaning was only a matter of a couple flicks of the wand, where as bathing the children was a little bit more involved, but a lot more fun.
By the time Draco and Hermione slipped into bed together, they were both pretty tired from the events of the day, but not so tired that they immediately went to sleep. Draco lay staring at the ceiling as Hermione consulted her bound journal. When she finally set it aside on the table Draco expected the light to go off, but instead he felt Hermione turn on her side to face him.
With the feeling that Hermione had something to say, Draco rolled over on his side to face her. He wasn't entirely sure what he expected her to say, but what she did surprised the hell out of him.
"I could love you Draco."
His face must have shown his extreme confusion slash shock because Hermione was quick to continue on.
"I heard you and Blaise talking earlier on the couch."
"Oh."
"He's right. We need to quit wasting time walking around like one day we're just going to wake up, look at each other and be deeply in love. We need to actually put more effort into it."
"How do we go about doing that?"
"That's the question." Hermione sighed. "But how else do people fall in love? They spend time together, go on dates."
"We do spend time together; we live together."
"I think what we need are more dates; more time for the two of us to just talk about things other than the children." Hermione stated.
"Agreed, tomorrow you and I have a lunch date."
Hermione smiled, "Sounds good to me."
Hermione suddenly grew red, "And well…these pregnancy hormones are quite a nuisance sometimes…and I well…I don't want to be huge as a whale when we have sex again."
Draco tried to hide his excitement, but he felt like a kid in a candy store, "Are you saying we can have sex now?"
"Well, maybe not right now, but after a few dates." Hermione chuckled.
Draco nodded his agreement; another part of him didn't quite agree with even having to wait another night, but he ignored that rude part of him. Now wasn't the time to complain; it was only a matter of a week or two and he would get to do more than just cuddle Hermione at night.
Xxx
Monday May 28, 2007
Both Harold and Blaise were missing that morning in the office. This time Draco didn't have to wonder where they gone. It was obvious they had gone to Greece; especially when Blaise had left a note on his door that simply said:
Gyros; you understand, mate.
He did understand and he really didn't care what Harold and Blaise did as long as they got this mess dealt with. Besides, he had lunch plans with Hermione. Lunch plans to surpass any of their previous lunch engagements. He had decided it best to take their date to a muggle location and had decided to apparate them to the Wiltshire countryside where one his favorite family owned local restaurants was.
He had found the place years ago when he had left the Manor in an angry huff at the age of fourteen. He forgot what he was even mad about; something with his father about Hermione beating him for first in their year no doubt. In the end he had gotten hungry and found himself outside the charming little place that housed the family above stairs.
Consequently, when he and Hermione walked into the place he was immediately greeted with the familiar smile of old Mrs. Henry.
"Draco dear! So good to see you!" She smiled as she approached the two of them with two menus in hand. "And who might this be?"
"This is my wife, Hermione."
"Your wife! And if my eyes aren't mistaken me it would seem you have a little one on the way! My stars, it seems like only yesterday you came in here as a little teenager and now you're having another baby! Lovely to meet you Hermione; the two of you make quite a handsome couple."
Draco and Hermione exchanged smiles and followed Mrs. Henry to a table for two in a secluded part of the restaurant. Mrs. Henry, it seemed, was as perceptive as ever.
"Now before I leave you two to each other's company and that of my granddaughter's, who will be your waitress, might I ask what you two are expecting?"
"Of course." Hermione smiled. "We're having a girl, Madeline, in September."
"How lovely! I always wanted a girl of my own, but the Lord blessed me with four sons instead. Thankfully, he saw it fit to give me many granddaughters to make up for it. Dessert of your choice is on the house today, so you two enjoy yourselves."
And with that Mrs. Henry walked away to tend to some other customers.
"How did you come to find this place as a teenager, Draco?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I stormed out of the manor one day after an argument with my father and stumbled upon this place. Mrs. Henry immediately took me under her wing and fed me so much food I thought I would burst. After that, every chance I got I snuck out of the manor and came here. They have the best carrot cake, which is what we should get for that free dessert she mentioned."
"What was the fight about?"
"The fight?" Draco asked in confusion, having been distracted at the prospect of carrot cake, "Oh yeah. I think it was over you actually. I had come home for the summer and yet again my Father was upset that you had bested me as top of the class."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You deserved to be top of our class, but I suppose those fights with my Father added to my antagonistic nature towards you."
"Understandable."
"I always thought you were brilliant though, even when I called you foul names." Draco admitted quietly. "However, it wasn't until sixth year that I really thought about what I was doing to you and it really affected me; especially with all the other stuff going on. It was a hard year."
Hermione nodded her agreement, "It's all water under the bridge now. I've forgiven you and now all that happened between us then is nothing but a footnote in the rest of our lives together."
At that moment Mrs. Henry's granddaughter walked up to take their orders, breaking off the conversation they had been having. Lunch was delicious as usual and Hermione absolutely loved the carrot cake. The two of them returned to the office hand in hand, laughing at the memory of the look on Draco's face when two giant pieces of carrot cake had arrived at their table.
Their laughter immediately died out when they heard shouting coming from the vicinity of Harold's office. After sending each other a worried look, they quickly moved in that direction and were surprised at what they saw. Fully expecting to see Astoria, they were not prepared for what was actually in that room.
"Hello Draco, hello Hermione, I'm here to help." Pansy Parkinson grinned as she took in the sight of the married couple holding hands, both with stunned looks on their faces as they looked at her.