A/N: Hello, all! This is my first time finishing and uploading a fan-fiction. I hope you enjoy it, please review! Thank you in advance
–Mosmorde.
I dedicate this fic to Bella who persuaded me to actually get my ass in gear and finish it!
"Mummy?" came a small voice from the door. Hermione turned to see Scorpius standing in the doorway rubbing his eyes with one hand and loosely holding his phoenix toy in the other. She stood from her stiff position on the couch and crossed the room, picking up her son and cradling his head in her neck. "Where's Daddy?" He asked, lifting his head to look his mother in the eyes.
"Daddy's just stuck at work," Hermione replied, giving the little boy a small smile and a kiss on the nose. "Now let's get you tucked back into bed; you're up far too late," she said and walked out the room and up the stairs to Scorpius' room. Different toys were strewn across the floor of the room: Quidditch player figurines, mini snitches and even a tiny Quidditch pitch model that Draco had bought for him! There were a few different books sitting in a small bookshelf in the corner. All of them were Scorpius' favorites; ones he would read over and over again. It seemed he got that particular trait from his mother. The bed covers were pushed back messily from when he'd gotten out to come down to the living room so Hermione gently placed him on his back and pulled them up to his chin. "Now close your eyes and you can see Daddy in the morning," she smiled and then brushed his soft blonde hair from his eyes that were an exact replica of her own.
"Can Daddy take me on the broom tomorrow?" questioned Scorpius before his mouth went 'o' shaped as he yawned.
Hermione gave him a kiss on the forehead and said, "we'll see, little monster." She crossed the room, careful not to thread on any of the fragile toys and stopped on the threshold. "Goodnight, baby," she said, smiling at her little boy tucked into bed. She didn't get a reply, Scorpius was already sound asleep. He'd had a busy day at Harry and Ginny's house playing with the now seven year old Teddy and James, who was the same age as Scorpius.
Hermione decided to make herself a cup of tea as she waited for her husband to return from work. She knew he'd been called out on a raid today and she'd been on edge from the moment he left the house that morning. Being an Auror had its highs and lows; the terror that Draco wouldn't return home was one of the lows for Hermione.
Forty minutes had passed since Draco was expected to be home. Hermione hadn't dared to move from the sofa, sitting with her legs crossed, waiting for her husband to return home safe. She was watching a cheesy Muggle TV drama but her eyes kept straying toward the large fireplace that was connected to the Floo Network.
At twenty-past nine at night, Hermione started to get worried. It had been half an hour since the show on television had ended and she got up from the couch to make her another cup of tea. Entering the kitchen, she turned the kettle on to boil and reached up into the cupboard above the oven to grab a mug when a tapping noise made her look away. A large tawny owl was hovering at the window and Hermione ran across the kitchen to let it in. She untied the letter from the owl's leg and then opened it as the owl flew back outside. Her hand came up to her mouth as she read the contents of the letter.
Hermione,
I need you to floo Narcissa and ask her to take care of Scorpius for a while. Draco's just came into St. Mungos. The raid didn't go too well. He's stable and we're trying to help him but you should come just in case. Hurry.
-Blaise
The letter slipped from Hermione's grasp as she ran into the living room. She grabbed a handful of floo powder, throwing it into the fireplace and shouting "Malfoy Manor". Her head appeared in the familiar sitting room and she looked around frantically. Narcissa was nowhere to be seen. "Narcissa!" she started yelling. Hermione didn't stop until the woman appeared in the room, hair in a bun and wrapped around her petite figure was a silk dressing gown.
"Hermione, dear. What is it?" Her mother-in-law asked, worry outlining her features.
Hermione swallowed deeply and explained the letter to Narcissa. "—so you need to come round and look after Scorpius. I don't know how long I'll be," she said breathlessly.
Narcissa nodded, "I'll be right over. Make sure Draco is alright," she said. Hermione had to remind herself that even though she was Draco's wife and lover, Narcissa was his mother and she had just as much fear about what had happened as Hermione did.
Hermione pulled her head out of the fireplace and stood up, wiping the soot from her top. Her palms were sweating and her legs were shaking. What if the healers were unable to help Draco? What if he was lying there, screaming in pain at this very minute and Hermione was, as always, doing too much thinking. Grabbing her wand from the coffee table, Hermione quickly double-checked that the wards would allow Narcissa in (which they would) and prepared herself for what was to come.
The waiting room of St. Mungos was bustling with activity. There were medi-witches running around, healers talking to other healers and some very ill looking people sitting on the plastic chairs lining the walls. Hermione rushed up to the reception desk but was stuck in a line with four or five people in front of her. She tapped her foot impatiently, thinking over and over about the state Draco could be in.
"Hermione!" She heard her name called by a familiar voice and she spun around to see Blaise standing by the waiting room doors leading onto the wards. He was dressed in his healer robes and the badge that said 'Head-Healer Zabini' glinting in the light. Hermione rushed away from the line at the reception desk and enveloped Blaise into a hug. It was comforting, having someone there to hold her seeing as though Draco could not.
The friendship that had developed between Blaise and Hermione had come as a complete shock to both parties. When Draco and Hermione had first made their relationship known eight years ago, the latter and Blaise hadn't really hit it off. Neither liked the other and that didn't suit Draco at all. After sitting down and having a chat, the two sorted out their differences and became accepting of one another, figuring out that they were both too important to Draco for him to choose. Now, Hermione wouldn't know what to do if she didn't have Blaise. He'd become as much of a best-friend as Harry, Ron and Draco were.
"Shh, it's okay," soothed Blaise as he hugged Hermione tightly when she began to sniffle. "He was in a lot of pain before but we've given him a lot of potions and cast several strong spells," Blaise explained. "He's been put in an induced sleep so his body can use the time to recover as best it can. We don't know how long he'll be unconscious for, but please just remember it's helping him," he continued and gave Hermione a small, sympathetic smile. Hermione couldn't help but admire how the carefree and outgoing Blaise could change into such a professional figure when serious work arose. "We're assuming he can still hear things and feel things so we can let you in to see him. We just need you to fill in a few forms of paper work, you know, routine stuff."
Hermione nodded weakly, her eyes slightly unfocused and glazed over with unshed tears. She couldn't bear to wait any longer to see the man she loved. "Please, just – just give me the forms. I want to see Draco," she said and Blaise nodded, leading her over to the reception desk again.
"He's strong, Hermione. Just remember that. He's fighting for you and Scorpius too," Blaise said in an affectionate voice.
Hermione was led down what felt like a million plain white halls by one of the medi-witches who was on Draco's case. The smaller woman was talking to Hermione, explaining to her what happened on the raid and what to expect when they entered the room but Hermione wasn't listening. She was just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, determined to get to her husband as quickly as she could.
The medi-witch took a hold of Hermione's forearm and pulled her to a stop. "His room is here, dear," the kind woman said and then gave the younger woman a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Hermione drew in a shaky breath and faced the closed door. 'Room 331,' the sign above the door read. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and pushed open the door slowly so it wouldn't make a noise – not that it mattered if it did anyway.
The first thing that captured Hermione's attention was all the things connected to Draco's body. St Mungos sure had adopted more of the Muggle lifestyle than Hermione had previously thought. There was an IV drip in his hand and then something connected in the crease of his elbow. Moving her eyes up to his face, Hermione's breath hitched. He had a large bruise around his eye, a swollen and cut lip, and a faint scar that ran from his temple to his chin. He had no hospital robe on and the bed covers were just pulled up over his hips. His chest was covered in light purple and blue bruises and small cuts and scrapes. Even his neck was scarred.
Hermione crossed the room and got to his bed in a few strides. Tears were falling silently down her cheeks and she gently picked up Draco's hand in both of hers. She rubbed his palm with her index fingers and leant down to place a kiss on his forehead. "Oh, Draco… Look what you've done to yourself," she said shakily and gave a weak laugh. "I always knew being an Auror would be dangerous! What did I tell you? 'Always be careful'," she scolded lightly, "but look where that's gotten you…" she muttered.
Looking over her shoulder, Hermione saw a chair against the wall. She reluctantly let go of Draco's hand to go get the chair and bring it to his bedside. She wouldn't be leaving him until he was healed. No-one could make her. If the healers asked her to move, she'd stand her ground and maybe even call in Harry – because no-one could refuse The Chosen One of his wishes. She gave a small smile at the thought.
"Scorpius wanted you to take him out on your broom tomorrow," Hermione said, deciding it would be better if she kept talking. "He was so excited before dinner; he wanted to tell you all about what he did with Ginny and Harry's kids." Her throat started to tighten as she remembered Scorpius sitting with her at dinner explaining everything he'd done that day – in extremedetail. "I dropped him off at around eleven o'clock. As soon as we stepped through the door he'd ran away to go find Teddy and James, the little tyke," she told Draco as she took his hand once again. "He told me that Harry taught him how to play chess and Scorpius had won every game he played. Ah, Harry's so kind, letting him win like that," she smiled and then brought Draco's hands to her lips.
"Please get better Draco. Please. For me."
Having spent two sleepless nights in the uncomfortable chair by Draco's bedside, Hermione wasn't in the best of moods. She was horribly frustrated at apparently nothing (something that always happened when she'd had little to no sleep). She was angry at Draco for getting injured, but she was also scared for him, but happy he was alive. She was a bundle of mixed emotions.
She missed Scorpius. She wasn't used to not seeing his bright little face in the morning. Blaise had come into Draco's room not twenty minutes ago telling Hermione that she could leave if she needed to. He'd said that Draco was in good hands and the chances of him waking up while she was gone were about as close to the chances of seeing Lucius Malfoy frolic down Diagon Alley in a dress – nil; always trying to make a joke, that one.
So after a lot of persuasion on Blaise's part, mainly a lot of guilt trips saying that Scorpius was probably missing his mother, Hermione gave Draco a chaste kiss on the lips before giving Blaise a quick hug and then walked back to the floo-connected fireplace in the waiting room of the hospital. She was standing in her living room in the next two minutes.
She wasn't surprised to find Narcissa sitting on one of the armchairs with a cup of tea and reading The Daily Prophet whilst keeping a watchful eye on Scorpius who was seated on the ground coloring in a Muggle coloring book with his new set of crayons he'd received from Blaise and Luna for his fifth birthday the previous month. When Narcissa saw Hermione floo in, she placed her cup of tea on the coffee table in front of her and folded the newspaper before standing up.
"H-how is he?" the older witch asked with wide eyes. Scorpius looked up from his coloring and ran over to Hermione, hugging her around the waist, his head rested on her stomach.
Hermione hugged her son back and gave him a kiss before answering Narcissa. "He's been put into an induced sleep so his body can recover. He was fairly scratched and beaten but I had Blaise get a medi-witch to remove all of the visible damage so Scorp could come see him," she explained.
Scorpius looked up at Hermione and tugged on the bottom of her top. "Isn't Daddy coming home?" he asked and Hermione bent down to pick him up.
"Daddy's just in a special place where all the special and great wizards go when they've been a bit too great at work," said Hermione, trying to keep it simple for her son to understand.
"Can I go see him?" he asked and started to twirl Hermione's hair in his little fingers.
She shook her head. "Not yet, little monster. How about we let Cissy go see Daddy and then you can go see him? How about we do that?" She suggested. Scorpius pouted and took his fingers from Hermione's hair. "Don't look like that!" she scolded. "Cissy needs to see your father just as much as you do."
Narcissa rolled her eyes at the pair and then gave Hermione a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon, my dears," she said.
"Room 331, Narcissa!" Hermione called out to her as she stepped into the flames of the fireplace and called out the address of St Mungos. When the flames had ebbed down, Hermione placed Scorpius back on the ground. "Now what have you been colouring, little man?" she asked and clapped her hands together. Scorpius must have forgotten to be angry at his mum as he showed her the pages of colouring he'd done – his favorite being the Hippogriff picture which he'd colored a bright purple.
After freshening up and making Scorpius his lunch, Hermione was about to collapse. She was so tired. Narcissa had returned as Hermione was cleaning away the lunch dishes.
"Hermione, you have to rest," her mother-in-law said and Hermione shook her head.
"No. I'm going back to Draco. I'll sleep there," Hermione replied knowing full-well she wouldn't close her eyes as long as Draco was unconscious. What if he woke up in pain or scared and he was alone because she'd shut her eyes for two seconds? It would be horrible for him.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up from the dirty dish water to see Narcissa's kind face smiling at her. "On you go. I'll finish this and I'll bring Scorpius round in, say, half-an-hour?" she suggested.
Hermione nodded and took her hands out of the sink, washing them under the tap for a second before drying them on her jeans. "See you soon." And she departed for the floo once again.
A soft knock at the door made Hermione lift her head and rub her weary eyes. She turned in her chair and saw Narcissa with Scorpius clutching her hand tightly. He had his phoenix toy in his other hand. Narcissa gave Hermione a weak smile and entered the room. Scorpius let go of his grandmother's hand and ran up to his mother and clambered up onto her lap. "Hello, baby," Hermione said and nuzzled her nose into Scorpius' neck, giving him a small kiss.
"Why isn't Daddy awake?" He asked, looking at Hermione with wide eyes and a small frown.
Hermione wrapped her arms tighter around her son's body, pulling him close. "Daddy is just having a bit of a rest," she said. "He'll be awake soon." She knew she shouldn't be saying things like that. Not after what Blaise said to her.
"He's in a bad way. We're doing the best we can to help but his body isn't taking the new potions too well. Just…stay strong."
"Mummy, why are you crying?" asked Scorpius as he lifted his little fingers to wipe away the tears that had fallen from the corner of Hermione's eyes.
Hermione looked up at the feel of a hand on her shoulder; Narcissa gave her a watery smile. "Your Mummy is just happy to see you," she said. Hermione nodded thanks to the woman who had become more of a mother to her more than ever since she'd married Draco. The two of them hadn't managed to find Hermione's parents in Australia and Narcissa had filled the hole that was left from their loss and she was forever grateful for that.
"You don't cry when you see me other times," Scorpius said and nuzzled closer into Hermione.
"I'm just especially happy to see you today," Hermione said, forcing a grin onto her face. It did make her happy though, seeing her son smiling and healthy.
That seemed to be good enough for the boy and he jumped down from Hermione's lap and ran up to Narcissa. "Me and Cissy made something for Daddy," he said and opened his hands toward Narcissa. The older witch withdrew something from her pocket and gave it to Scorpius who then ran up to Hermione to give it to her. It was a piece of parchment – "I drew us, Mummy!" Explained Scorpius. "There's you…" He said and pointed toward a circle with two legs and two arms and very long, curly brown hair. "There's Daddy…" He pointed toward another circle, exactly the same as the 'Hermione-circle' except it had a head of yellow hair. "And there's me and Crooks!" He finished and pointed to a smaller circle that looked like a mini version of the Draco drawing and then a squiggle of orange that must have been Crookshanks.
Tears formed in Hermione's eyes again – happy tears this time. "Oh Scorpius, it's beautiful," She said and kissed his head. "Go pop it up on the table," she said and gave the parchment back to him so he could put it on the pull-across table at the end of the hospital bed.
Scorpius climbed back up onto Hermione's lap and looked at Draco whose eyes were still closed and his lips parted slightly. "Why's he sleeping?" Scorpius asked.
"He just needs to rest, Scorpius," Hermione said. The two were seated very close to Draco's bed and Scorpius reached out and placed his small hand on Draco's much larger one. With his other hand, Scorpius reached back and found his phoenix toy.
"Daddy can have Fawkes to keep him company. Fawkes always helps me sleep better so maybe he can help Daddy too," Scorpius explained as he put the toy up on Draco's chest. Hermione smiled at her son's caring and she heard a sniffle behind her from Narcissa.
"That's very kind of you Scorpius," Hermione said.
"I just want him to wake up so he can take me on the broom," replied Scorpius very seriously.
Hermione laughed a real laugh for the first time in the past couple of days.
Hermione was in the middle of a very intense game of 'I Spy' with Scorpius. He was seated next to Draco's feet on the bed and was bouncing up and down with excitement.
"Your turn! Your turn!" he said with a toothy grin.
Hermione pretended to look around the room with great thought. "I Spywith my little eye, something beginning with…L!" She said, her eyes on the tall standing lamp in the corner of the room.
"Daddy!" Scorpius said with a shout and Hermione turned her eyes to her son.
"Scorp, 'Daddy' doesn't start wit—'" she started to say but stopped when she saw what Scorpius was suddenly so interested in. Draco was slowly opening his eyes, blinking heavily. He gave a groan as he tried to move his hand up to cover his mouth as he yawned.
Hermione stood from her chair and rushed over to Draco's side and took his hand in hers quickly. "Draco? Draco tell me what's wrong? Oh, Merlin, I'm so happy you're awake, Draco, I really am!" She said breathlessly and bent down to kiss his forehead.
Draco found as much strength as he could muster and squeezed Hermione's hand. "I'm… I'm bloody sore everywhere, that's what's wrong," he groaned but gave a reassuring smile. Hermione stood up straight and returned Draco's smile, lifting her fingers to brush away his silky fringe from his eyes.
"Daddy?" asked Scorpius who was still sitting on the end of the bed. His brown eyes were wide and his lips were set in a serious line.
"What is it, Scorp?" Draco responded looking across to his pride and joy.
"Can I give you a hug?" The boy asked and Draco chuckled and nodded. Scorpius' face lit up and he made his way up the bed on his hands and knees and snuggled up into Draco's side, wrapping his small arm around Draco's waist. "Will you be taking me out on the broom?" He asked, looking up at his father.
Draco chuckled again, "not for a while. I'm a bit tired." Scorpius pouted but smiled again as an idea popped into his mind.
"Then I can take youout on the broom!" he said excitedly.
"Definitely not!" Draco and Hermione both said at the same time and laughed together.
"Well, I think it's time for you to get the hell out of my hospital!" Smiled Blaise as he snapped Draco's patient folder shut.
Draco rolled his eyes and shifted on the bed. "Thank Merlin. I'm starting to think I've actually lost my arse it's that numb," he joked.
Blaise laughed. "I'll leave you to get out of bed and get dressed. Hermione's left your clothes over there," he said, pointing to the corner of the room where a bag was laid on a chair. "Remember she'll be back with Scorp in about… five minutes, so be ready," he said after checking his watch. With a parting smile, Blaise left the room and closed the door behind him.
Groaning as he got out of the uncomfortable hospital bed, Draco stood on trembling legs and had to turn back around and brace himself on the mattress. "Shit…" He muttered under his breath and tried to stand up straight.
'Toughen up, Draco,' he thought. 'Hermione and Scorpius can't see you like this.'
He mustered up some strength and managed to put one foot in front of the other and reached the bag at the other side of the room. He mentally clapped for himself.
It took him five minutes to get out of his hospital gown and then get into his boxers and trousers. He was pulling his shirt over his head when there was a knock at the door and Hermione entered with Scorpius holding her hand.
Hermione's face turned serious. "Why are you getting dressed? Aren't you meant to be in bed?" She snapped and Scorpius let go of her hand so he could run over to Draco.
"Blaise said I can go home," Draco smiled and ruffled his son's hair as he wrapped his arms around his legs.
"Oh! Well, that's great news, Draco! Well, I'll have to tell your mother! Oh! What a wonderful surprise!" Hermione gushed and walked over to her two boys. She stood on her tip-toes and gave Draco a kiss on the lips. It was short but sweet and Scorpius scowled up at his parents.
"Yucky!" the little boy said and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh, shush, you," Hermione grinned and gave Draco one last chaste kiss before taking his and Scorpius' hands. "Come on, my boys. Let's go home."
A/N: Not too sure about the ending, but there you have it :) Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing!
P.S. A big, massive thank you to the lovely Sonia for beta-ing for me. Love you girl xx
