Saturday, 13 June 2009

It took a few tries, but Hermione was able to feed both of her children, both of whom were now lying in their cradles. While she had been feeding both children with some help from Susan, Draco was finishing up his parchment work, including both birth certificates, since it was now late Saturday morning, he was able to just work with Hermione rather than having to split his time with multiple patients like the night before. Once he was done, he stood up to take a few moments to look over Hermione's twins.

Her daughter looked almost exactly like her mother with her small nose and ears and her long torso; the fuzzy curls that topped her head were so pale that they were nearly non-existent. She had yet to open her eyes when Draco was close enough to see them, so he wasn't sure what colour they were yet, but her little brother's eyes were such a dark shade of blue that Draco was certain they would change to brown over the next few months. Hermione's son had wisps of hair as dark as his mother's covering his little head, but his long nose, high cheekbones, and long limbs were nothing like his mother.

"I bet you will take after your father, little man, whoever he may be," Draco murmured to the tiring infant on his right, brushing a finger against the soft skin of his cheek, the newborn's eyes falling closed. He turned back to the boy's sister and repeated the gentle gesture against her cheek. At the touch, her eyes slowly blinked open, revealing beautiful pale blue eyes. Draco smiled. "Ah, there they are. Your eyes will be nothing like your brother's, oh no, they will be a very pretty pale colour. We will have to fend off any possible suitors that come your way, because they will be beating a path to your door. Same with you, little man."

Hermione chuckled weakly. "Don't even think of taking either of my children, you big teddy bear."

A blush tinged Draco's cheeks, as he looked over his shoulder at his friend. "I wouldn't dream of it. I'll just make sure to come and visit as the cool Uncle Draco."

Hermione and Susan rolled their eyes at Draco's comments, but a smile graced both their faces at how much the wizard had changed since they first met him almost eighteen years ago. Before any of the three adults could say anything else, a pop echoed in the room.

Draco's wand was instantly in his hand at the sound of an intruder. A squeak caught his attention and he looked down. "Nouna? What in the name of Merlin are you doing here? Is something wrong at the manor? My parents?"

The little house-elf's eyes widened and she vehemently shook her head negatively before happily bouncing back and forth between the two cradles inspecting the tiny bundles inside. Squeaking, "Oh no, Master Draco. I's here bearing happy news! They's perfect, Master!" Draco's wand slowly lowered in confusion at seeing Nouna nod her head and a grin on her face. Turning from her inspection of the new arrivals, she bowed before speaking again, "I's here to congratulate Master Draco on the birth of the Malfoy heir and her brother."

At the elf's announcement, Susan gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth, and her eyes bouncing back and forth between Draco and Hermione. Draco's wand clattered to the floor, his fingers numb and his face pale. Hermione was shaking her head, not believing what she heard, but then she really looked at the elf. Nouna was a bundle of excited energy, bouncing on her feet, her large ears flapping against her head, elation in her eyes, and a large smile upon her lips.

"W-what…what do…? I mean, are you sure, Nouna?"

The little elf turned to Hermione, her smile growing even more. "Oh Mistress Hermione! Thank you!" She turned back to Draco. "I's must inform Master Lucius and Mistress Narcissa of this good news. I's must now!"

As she raised her hand to snap her fingers, Draco lurched forward and grabbed her hand. "No!"

Nouna squeaked and jumped from her master's quick movements. "But I's must inform them of the next heir!"

Draco shook his head. "No, Nouna. I will tell them when they return. They're on a Muggle cruise of the Faroe Islands, and because of the Statute of Secrecy, you cannot go to them." Draco paused. "I am ordering you not to disturb them. Please."

The little elf nearly wailed. "But Master, I must!"

"Nouna, please no. Let me tell them. I promise to as soon as they return."

Tears formed in Nouna's large green eyes, her voice wobbling as she tried to sway the wizard before her, "Master, my magic, I must."

Draco crouched before the elf, placing a hand upon her shoulder. "Nouna, I know what your magic is telling you to do, but for your safety, you must listen to me. I am ordering you not to inform my parents." Draco stood up. "Now, please go back to the manor. I'll call you if I need you."

Nouna stared at her master for a few moments before she glanced at Hermione. The brunette witch gave the elf a watery smile, shaking her head. 'Please don't,' she mouthed. Nouna turned back to Draco, a frown upon her features. She nodded her head once in acceptance and snapped her fingers, disappearing from the room.

Draco picked up his wand from where it landed on the floor and stood up, scratching the back of his head. He looked at Susan. "Mediwitch Bones, would you mind giving us a few moments alone?"

She shook her head sadly at him. "Healer Malfoy, now that I'm done with Hermione, I must make sure the twins are okay for the time being."

"It may have been a while, but I think I can handle the last little bit with the…my…" Draco faltered, before looking over his shoulder at the two small children sleeping silently behind him. Thankfully they had not been woken with the commotion created when Nouna arrived. "With my children," he finished.

"Are you certain, Healer Malfoy?"

At Draco's hesitation, Hermione spoke for both of them. "Susan, nothing is certain at this point, but it's okay. After the information Nouna gave us, Draco and I really do need to speak with each other alone."

"Are you sure?" Susan turned to look at her friend and the brunette smiled in response.

"Yes, I'm positive. Also, if you could send my letters to Ginny and Luna, I would appreciate that. I'll see them, but only after the two of us have finished speaking."

Susan nodded in response, before making her way to the door.

"And Susan, could you please not say anything until we've figured out what we're going to do?"

She looked over her shoulder, smiling softly at the still stunned wizard behind her. "Of course, Draco. This isn't my story to tell. I hope everything works out for both of you, and if you need anything, let me know."

The small redhead opened the door, stepped out, and quietly closed the door behind her, leaving Draco and Hermione alone with their twins.

Hermione looked at the wizard across the room from her, watching as he turned from the door to look at the twins, he ran a few additional diagnostic spells that were not run earlier on them, finishing with a monitoring charm. Even though they were both on the small side, Draco wanted to keep the twins with Hermione as long as she was awake, but after that they would be spending their time in the nursery ward with constant mediwitch supervision. Once they were at a healthier weight, then they would be discharged to go home. He had asked Hermione to page Pansy to come pick them up when she was ready to sleep, if he was not around.

Draco turned back to face Hermione. He looked just as lost as she felt, but his small smile let her know that their children were doing just fine, no matter how stubborn their son was when trying to feed earlier and no matter how tiny they were. She tried to sort through the myriad of thoughts speeding through her brain, but it was a jumble, although one seemed to stick out and the first of many questions tumbled from her lips. "Draco, how does Nouna know that the twins are yours? I thought she was an au pair elf?"

He stood there a moment, processing the best way to answer Hermione's question. "Hermione, Nouna is not just a typical au pair, she's a patronymic elf. Toran might be our head house-elf, but Nouna is much more valuable to us. Her magic is tied directly to our magic, which is why she knew of the twins' birth before we realized they were mine. Nouna is also the elf that knows when there is something wrong with a member of the family," he paused trying to think of a comparison for her. "A few of the older families that have more than one house-elf will have a patronymic elf. They protect the family and they also warn the head of house when any family member is in danger, just like the hands on Mrs Weasley's clock do."

"That's fascinating. I mean I know how the Weasley clock works, and I've overheard faint rumours of those kinds of elves, but I've never been able to learn about them since there's nothing written on the subject."

"Families that have a patronymic elf typically don't like to divulge that information since there are those that would try to use it against them," Draco explained, walking over to her bedside, he indicated to the chair beside her. "Do you mind?"

"No, not at all." Closing her eyes, she sighed and shifted in her bed, facing him, after a moment, she opened her eyes again. "If that's the case, then why was your mum so willing to let me use Nouna while I was on maternity leave?"

"You've known my mum long enough to know that she does what she pleases." Draco chuckled. "Plus my mum always wanted a daughter, and after you figured out and reversed what spell was used on my father in the war causing him to randomly collapse eight years ago, she's loved you pretty much ever since. It took them a little getting used to the idea that a Muggleborn would willingly save someone from a family that tormented said Muggleborn for years, but once they did, they've honestly never looked back. I know my father can be a little gruff with people outside the family, but he does actually like you."

"A little?" Hermione smiled, laughing, "He can be a down right arse when he wants to be, but for him it's a way for him to keep himself and his family safe, so I can understand."

Draco nodded in agreement, but quickly became lost in his own thoughts. Before she could ask him what he was thinking about there was a knock on the door. Draco stood up and made his way to the door, opening it revealed Ginny and Luna.

Ginny spoke first. "May we see Hermione now?"

Draco looked over his shoulder at the young woman behind him. "Are you up for some visitors?"

"Uh, yeah, just Ginny and Luna though."

As he turned back around, he caught the beginnings of a yawn from his patient. "Yes, you may, but please don't stay long, she's had a long day and the twins are still sleeping." Draco opened the door wider to allow the two women into the room. "Please don't upset her either," he whispered as they passed him.

They both gave him a look, but nodded their heads in reply, moving farther into the room.

"I'm going to head home to get some sleep, I'll be back this afternoon to check on you. Let me know if you need anything before then," Draco said.

Hermione nodded.

"Oh and Ginny, I will see you for your appointment on Monday." The redheaded witch, smiled blissfully, rubbing a hand over the small swell of her abdomen. Draco chuckled quietly, nodding his head at the three ladies, closing the door silently.

Later that night, found Draco sitting in Hermione's room again, continuing their discussion from earlier.

"I don't remember much of that night at Adrian and Ginny's Samhain wedding." He looked at her, frustration etched into his features. "Ever since that night, I've tried playing back what happened in my head, but almost as soon as the vows are done, my mind goes blank until the next morning, when I woke up in bed, naked, alone, and my head buried underneath my pillow." Draco stood up and walked to the window on the other side of her bed. Looking out over the London skyline, he continued, "I know the drinks were flowing quite freely that night, but I didn't realise that I'd had enough to black out."

Hermione looked over her shoulder at the man standing behind her. "Draco, at the moment we have more important things to worry about, it doesn't make sense to stress over what happened in the past. Remember, I don't recall much more than you. When I found out I was pregnant, I told you that I remember our speeches and a couple flashes of dancing with you and others, but that's it. I vaguely recollect waking up just as the sun was rising, and upon realising that I was naked in bed with an unknown man, I grabbed my clothes and left for the bathroom."

Draco chuckled. "After which, you bolted from the room."

She rolled her eyes, all of her friends gave her a hard time for not taking the couple of seconds she would've needed to look to the bed and see who was there. "Yes, yes, we all know I left the man to wake up alone."

"Not just any man, apparently it was me." He looked over his own shoulder and winked at her, softening his words. "I'm not upset with you for leaving at all, I'm upset with myself for drinking enough to not remember what happened."

"Draco, stop beating yourself up over not remembering, I don't either. What's happened has happened and there is nothing we can do about it. There are more important things to worry about, such as having two little ones to take care of once I can take them home, not that I have a good home to take them to at the moment."

Draco made his way back to his seat. "We'll figure it out. You know you'll be more than welcome to stay with—"

Hermione cut him off. "Please don't say your parents. I know them personally now and that they've done some major renovations to the manor, but I just can't see myself living there."

He started to ask if she was sure, but swallowed his words at the distressed look on her face. "Okay, no staying at Malfoy Manor. Honestly, I cannot blame you for not wanting to move in there." The war may have ended over ten years earlier, but many of the veterans of the war, on both sides, still dealt with some problems, and Hermione had yet to return to the place of her torture during the war. "Your flat is out and so is the manor, but what about staying with me at my flat? It has more than enough space with three bedrooms and two loos."

"Oh Draco, I couldn't impose on you like that. I said the same thing to the Weasleys when they offered up the use of the Burrow to me. I've considered taking up either Adrian and Ginny or Harry and Luna on their offers, but even then I feel like the three of us will be intruding upon their lives, especially since Adrian and Ginny will be having their own little one in a couple months. Harry and Luna have their own children to worry about, too. My parents have even offered up the option of me moving back home with them. It's just I've always been so independent all my life and I don't like having to rely on other people."

"Bluebell, you know that living with me or anyone else would not mean that you have to give up your independence." Draco placed his hand upon hers that was resting on top of the bedclothes. "There is no way that you living with me would be an imposition on me at all. I did get you into this mess after all. And before you question me, I'm not offering because I'm the father, I'm offering because I want to." A light blush spread across Draco's cheeks that Hermione almost missed because it was so faint. "I was considering offering up the use of my flat to you even before our most recent news, I just felt that it might be a little strange for you since we had no connection other than I am your Healer."

"Even if I took you up on your offer, it would be a little odd for a while, getting used to everyone's sleep schedule, especially Elysia and Marcus'." Draco frowned when Hermione mentioned their son's name. She laughed in response. "Are you still hung up on me choosing Marcus over the other options we discussed? If you remember correctly, you vetoed pretty much all of my choices."

"You know my opinions of the name, we've had that discussion before, so yes, I don't care for your choice in our son's name. Honestly, I would go with Dominic or Leander, both of which I wasn't a fan of, before going with that name."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You vetoed Dominic because it was 'too plebeian' as you so sweetly told me and Leander means 'lion man' so that was obviously out. I was surprised you even let me finish explaining that one before you vetoed it."

Draco smirked. "You're talking to a former Slytherin here, it's in my nature to say no to naming someone after a lion." He paused for a moment thinking back to their name conversation from a month previous, the last of many name conversations Hermione had with friends over the course of her pregnancy. She had asked Draco to help her narrow down her options. They were able to quickly narrow girl names to either Elysia Thalassa or Melina Thalassa, but when it came to names for her son, she just couldn't decide. "What about Xavier, or even Evander, they're both good names."

Hermione yawned, thinking over Draco's suggestion. "I don't know, Draco. I really do like Marcus for a boy's name."

He nodded his head, starting to hate himself for the words coming out of his mouth. "I know you do, I just really don't like the man associated with the name. But if it really means that much to you, I'll do my best to move past what he did during the war, it will just take me quite a bit of time."

Hermione squeezed Draco's hand. "I appreciate you saying that and I will definitely think again about our son's name. I just really like it, but at the same time, it's not fair to you." She paused, looking over at the image showing their son awake and making faces, thinking for a few moments. "Luna did mention that while she likes the name Marcus, our son doesn't really look like one and looking at him, I can see what she means."

The blond wizard raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what does he look like?"

"He kind of looks like a Marcus still, but he looks quite a bit like an Xavier and I do love that name, too."

"Do you now?"

Hermione nodded, looking back at Draco. "Yes, I do. Do you think you could give me a little time to think about it?"

"Of course," Draco nodded, "and thank you for reconsidering," he muttered, before the pair fell silent for a few moments. In the silence, he looked over his shoulder at the image on the wall showing their children sleeping in the nursery ward in the new Genesis wing. Because they were born early at 32 weeks and both were on the small side, they were moved to the ward for round-the-clock monitoring. Before Draco had returned to Hermione's room, he made sure that the two mediwitches that he trusted most were tending to his children. After he explained the situation to Pansy, of course. Draco's ears were still ringing long after he entered Hermione's room from Pansy's somewhat excited reaction to Draco being the father of Hermione's children. And his arse stung a bit too.

"How are we going to get through this? I haven't had time to prepare, and while I have a vague idea what to do, after the delivery, I deal with the mum aspect of this whole process. I don't know how to care for my own children."

"Draco, calm down. Everything will be figured out in time. What about speaking with your parents, they did raise you after all."

"I will once they return from the Faroe Islands, but I feel like I need to speak with someone now."

"What about Arthur and Molly? I know it'll be a little awkward, but I explained the situation to them earlier, so they already know that the twins are yours and they really do like you, you've delivered enough of their grandbabies after all. Even Percy and Audrey's little Seth."

Draco hung his head. "Hardest delivery of my life. I still feel horrible about not being able to save him."

"Everyone understands and no one blames you, especially when right after Audrey's delivery, you spent how many hours trying to save Oliver and Padma's little girl?"

"It took me almost three hours, but it was worth it to see their smiling faces after having to witness the devastation on Audrey and Percy's faces."

"I know how hard it is to lose a patient, it never gets any easier, but then you have those miracles and it makes it all worth it. I think that's why Oliver and Padma named their daughter Karishma meaning miracle in Hindi. They even honoured your hard work by giving her the middle name, Aabha, which means one who shines or ray of light in Sanskrit. You do know that's what it means, don't you?"

Draco nodded, a grin lighting up his features. "I learned what it meant when Padma's parents found out what their daughter and son-in-law named her and what I had done to save her life. They even invite me to their Ganesha Chaturthi festival every year where they honour Ganesha, the god of prosperity and good fortune since she was born on the day it was celebrated.* I actually just saw them the other day and she has grown so much. It's hard to believe that almost two years ago she barely survived."

"But she did, and that's all that matters." Hermione started to return his smile, but instead she broke out into a large yawn.

Draco stood up from the chair he had been sitting in. "You've had a long day and we can talk more later, for now get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

She nodded her head before shifting on the bed to lie down. "Thank you, Silver."

He shook his head, smiling, it wasn't very often that Hermione used the nickname he had been given years ago during their training time together, but she did every once in a while, especially when she was tired. Draco made his way to the door to her room. "You're welcome, Bluebell." Looking over his shoulder one last time, he saw that her eyes were already closed and her breathing was quickly starting to even out. He chuckled quietly at the sight before opening and closing the door quietly behind him.

*Ganesha (Vinayaka) Chaturthi is a festival that in the Hindu religion in India celebrates the birth or rebirth of Ganesha, who is the son of Shiva and Parvati. He this thought to be the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and he is traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. In 2007, the date of the Ganesha Chaturthi was 15 Sep. This year the holiday falls on 29 Aug. The date of the festival changes every year due to being celebrated on the four day of the waxing moon period in the month of Bhaadrapada (which corresponds with the months of August and September in the Gregorian calendar).