Draco paced back and forth in front of the fire. Any moment Hermione would come waltzing through and then he would know how the evening went. They were due back at exactly 8, which was 13 minutes ago. He wasn't sure if he should be worried or hopeful but was leaning more toward being worried.
He'd had a great time with his son, flying over the countryside before joining his mother for a quiet dinner. It hadn't been that quiet in the manor in ages and he could see Scorpius was missing his pseudo-siblings just as much as he himself was missing the people that had quickly become a family to him. He spent dinner time flickering between wondering what was going on with Hermione and planning a big day out for not just both of them, but the friends they had picked up along the way. Never did he imagine he would be planning on spending the day with his schoolyard nemesis, but that just showed how much his life had changed since the war.
As he turned to pace across the room once more, the fire flashed green. A sleepy looking Hugo stepped into the room, his hand wrapped tightly within his older sister's one.
"Mum will be through soon." She mumbled, clearly tired.
He walked over and just caught the younger child before he hit the floor. Swiftly he headed toward the bedrooms, Rose by his side. It didn't take him long to get the boy settled in his bed, but Rose was a different story. She was clearly tired, and didn't want to go to bed but after a few minutes of glaring at Draco, her eyelids began to droop and he just smiled as he tucked her in. Heading downstairs again, he was just getting back to the fireplace when Hermione stepped though.
She didn't say anything and her face was set in a stony resolve. Without saying a word he guided her to the sofa where he wrapped his arms around her. Leaning into the comfort she whispered to him everything that had happened. She didn't look at him the whole time, and her voice came out almost mechanically but he could see she was trying to hold it together.
"They said they would think about it. As if there was something more..." She mumbled, displeased with the way that the evening had gone. She was however happy to know she had at least an ally in Fleur who had been disgusted and shocked at Ron's actions.
He wasn't entirely sure what to say to her, so he just held her. After a few minutes of silence she snapped out of her dazed state and leaped off the chair without a backward glance. A little confused, Draco let her go and gave her a few minutes to herself.
Resolving to let the others know how the evening went, he headed to his office intending to send a letter while letting Hermione be alone for a while. Without thinking he walked straight through the door not noticing the wards around the room were already down. Sitting down at his desk, he composed a quick letter and whistled to his owl. As he opened the window for the bird, he felt he wasn't alone. Brandishing his wand, he looked around the room in the semi darkness. He hadn't turned on the lights, only the lamp on his desk and he finally realised the light coming through a partially obscured doorway. Heading over to the door that he knew lead to his private library, he wasn't surprised at all to see the bookworm curled in one of the chairs with a pile of books beside her.
Leaving her to the book, he finished up the last bit of work he had to do before heading back in to check on her. Walking over, he noticed she had yet to turn a page in the whole time he had been in the room. In fact, he couldn't recall seeing her move. Smiling softly, he gently tugged away the book in her hands and stacked with the others before picking up the tired woman in his arms. She didn't awaken as he carried her to her room and placed her on her bed, transfiguring her clothes into silk pyjamas. He brushed her hair away from her face as he pulled her blankets around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, hoping for her sake that everything would work out.
Two days had passed since Hermione had been to the family dinner, and she had yet to hear from the elder Weasleys. She had spent quite a bit of time during the first day buried in the library frantically researching everything and anything there was on marriage and divorces. She hadn't had much luck with figuring out a way out, but she still had a sliver of hope.
On the second day, Draco had warded his office and library with the strongest spells he knew so she couldn't get in. He had plans for a big day out to take her mind off of things and treat the kids and he wasn't letting her lock herself in his library. Again. Instead, he layered the wards as best he could using spells he hoped she hadn't heard of. In the end, it didn't matter as he was up before her and was nursing a cup of coffee before she entered the kitchen.
It was early still, and as far as she was aware the kids weren't up yet. She wasn't surprised to find that Draco was up and dressed, she just poured herself a drink and joined him. They sat in silence for a while before their peace was broken by the clomping of three children heading downstairs.
"When will everyone be here?" Scorpius asked as he sat at the table.
"Soon enough." Draco replied, serving the kids breakfast. He glanced over at Hermione and smirked at her confused expression. He had worked everything out so that only three other people knew of the day's plans; Harry, Narcissa and Daphne's husband Giles. To everyone else, it was a surprise. The kids knew they were going somewhere and their parent was to make sure everyone was dressed appropriately.
An owl fluttered at the window, drawing everyone's attention. Draco was the first to make a move. He removed the letter swiftly, avoiding the bird's attempt to bite him as he slid the letter to Hermione. She opened it slowly, dreading it.
"They want me to go see them tomorrow. Wish I could see them today and get this whole thing sorted out." She sighed softly, dreading the verdict but distracted herself as she fed the owl a treat and wrote out a quick reply, giving it to the bird that promptly flew away.
"We can't. We have plans for today." Rose chirped receiving a nod from Draco.
"So what's going on?" Hermione looked around the room, waiting.
Her question went unanswered as everyone ate with minimal chatter about menial things. Hermione sat confused only eating a few bites here and there as she tried to work out what it was that Draco was hiding from her. She didn't have much of an appetite anymore but she ate anyway. The three eager, happy faces of the children put a small smile on her face but she couldn't shake the feeling she was missing something.
From the other room, the fire flashed. As soon as the kids heard the noise they dashed out of the room, leaving a confused Hermione and an amused Draco in their wake. To Hermione's surprise she looked up from her cup to see her youngest dragging a smiling Harry behind him. She barely had time to open her mouth before Ginny, Narcissa and Daphne entered the room, kids darting all around them. Ginny sat on the chair next to Hermione, looking every bit as confused as she did. The elder males and Narcissa stood conspiring in the kitchen. At a word from Harry the children gathered around him, listening intently.
"What's going on?" Ginny whispered, breaking Hermione out of her thoughts.
Hermione shrugged as Daphne hesitantly joined them, her youngest in her arms.
"I think there is a conspiracy going on here." She muttered quietly.
"Are we the only ones who don't know what is going on?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know. I couldn't imagine the kids knowing, they would have told us. At least one of them would have slipped up and said something if they knew." Hermione nodded in agreement with Daphne.
"Yet they know more than us, they knew something was going on this morning."
"All I know was Giles was put this on my bed for me to wear. I mean, I like it," Daphne swept her hand down the soft white and green summer dress, "It just isn't something I would normally wear. I don't recall owning it before today."
Ginny laughed in agreement, "Same here." Her dress was pale blue, contrasting with her shining red hair.
They looked at Hermione, who unlike the others wasn't in a dress. As she looked around, for the first time that morning she noticed all the kids wore shorts or dresses, all looking dressed for summer. Draco caught her looking and gave her a smirk. A rush of warmth came over her and she looked down to find her jeans and top had been replaced by a white and yellow dress in a similar style to the other girls.
She mouthed across the room, "what's going on?" but he only gave her a sly grin back as he sorted the kids into two groups. She glared at him as Harry and Giles walked over, taking their youngest daughters from their wives with a smirk. Narcissa grabbed Ginny's hand and Draco grabbed both Hermione and Daphne. They found themselves dragged over to where the children stood in two circles. Draco pulled an ordinary looking castle shaped beach bucket out of his pocket, unshrinking it as he went. The kids automatically put their hand on it, knowing what was going on. Daphne followed suit a few seconds behind the kids, and with a nudge from Draco, Hermione put her hand on it too.
The salty smell in the air was the first thing that caught Hermione's attention. As she opened her eyes, the bright sunlight hit her directly. Draco's arm came up around her waist, stopping her from falling. His head blocked the sunlight, the light surrounding his head like a halo. For a brief moment he looked so angelic Hermione couldn't help it. She laughed.
Draco stood confused, watching as Hermione struggled to stop laughing.
"Not quite the reaction I was expecting." He pouted for a moment.
Hermione paused, looking around. The children squealed as they ran around on the sand, running toward and then away from the waves. A short distance away a huge house backed up onto the sand. She couldn't help but notice how vacant the small beach was; there was no one around outside their group.
Narcissa had set up umbrella's and chairs along a stretch of sand and was making sure all the kids had been thoroughly covered in sun block when Daphne waltzed over to where Draco and Hermione stood, the latter still in shock.
"What a wonderful surprise, thanks, Draco." Daphne kissed his cheek before joining Narcissa in the shade.
"Best idea ever!" James shouted.
Rose tugged at Draco's arm until he bent to her level. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, uttering "Thank you," before darting away with Scorpius at her side.
"Well, what do you think?" Draco dared to ask Hermione, who had finally snapped out of her thoughts.
"Great idea." She smiled.
He tapped his cheek, "Don't I get..."
She laughed, but leaned into him to kiss his cheek. He turned at the last second, catching her lips with his. When she pulled away after a short while, he gave a cheeky smirk which turned serious quickly.
"This is to show you that no matter what happens tomorrow, no matter what they decide to do, there is always something to make you happy and a huge group of people to support you, no matter what."
She glanced around; her son and his two cousins were playing in the waves under the care watch of the eldest Malfoy; her daughter sat with Scorpius and Daphne's daughter, Sienna, building a sandcastle; Ginny was chatting to Daphne and Harry and Giles came out of the house, the youngest two children in their arms. Laughter often ran through the air and for a while at least, Hermione felt like everything was fine. She leaned in and kissed Draco once more feeling completely carefree for the first time in a long while.