Chapter 14

Things had changed drastically for Hermione and Draco since that night of the Halloween ball. Rarely did they get into fights and they actually spent a lot of time together with Owen and Eleina. Of course, the little ones were ecstatic that they spent so much time with them, but even Draco and Hermione found themselves enjoying every second they had together, too. Well, not every second, but it was fine most of the time. This Family Life charade didn't seem that bad after all.

Earlier that day was the first Quidditch match of the year. Draco left early in the morning to prepare for his first match. Hermione attended the game along with Eleina and Owen. She was hesitant to bring them along at first because of the dangerous bludgers that could've gotten out of control, but Draco convinced her to bring them. He really wanted them to see their father win, even though they were probably too young to understand what was going on, he was so confident that he would. They had a small fight about the situation the night before, but Hermione was defeated. She couldn't say no.

Hermione was still a little wary when they made their way to the Quidditch pitch, but then she saw a new section in the middle of the stands that hadn't been there the previous years, next to where the professors sat, that was protected by what looked like a very thick and huge window. Most of the other students were already inside with their children including Harry and Ron. Hermione was relieved and laughed a little to herself. Of course Dumbledore would've thought of something so that the students could enjoy the match and also know that the kids were safe.

The match was Slytherin against Ravenclaw with the win going to the well-trained Slytherins thanks to team captain, Draco Malfoy, who caught the snitch. The whole Slytherin section roared with cheer when Draco held up the little golden snitch with his hand, a smirk on his face. Even Hermione couldn't help the smile that had spread across her face. She was happy for him.

After the match, both teams retreated back to their dorms to change and shower. All of the other students went into the Great Hall for lunch. Through out the entire lunch the Great Hall was filled with Quidditch chatter. This match definitely got everyone pumped up for the next match. Even little Owen and Eleina was no exception from the topic.

"Did you see Daddy? He was flying so high up in the sky! He almost toucheded the clouds!" Owen exclaimed as Hermione tried to feed him some peas.

"And did you see him go so fast? He was the most fastest than everyone else!" Eleina added to her brother's comment.

"Yes I did see that." Hermione smiled at them before she began eating lunch herself.

"Hmm, I do have say that the Slytherins really stepped it up this year," Harry said, "but, of course, they're no match for us."

Ron nodded in agreement since his mouth was full of food. He didn't want to set a bad example in front of the children, especially since Hermione was there to scold him if he did.

"We'll see about that." Pansy, who was sitting next to Hermione, said to him. She had a sly smile on her face. Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I wouldn't bet on them winning. We've got them beat." Harry concluded.

"Be careful, Potter. You wouldn't want to jinx your own team now." A voice from behind Hermione and Pansy said.

"Daddy!" Owen and Eleina both exclaimed as Draco took a seat next to them.

"Don't worry about it, Malfoy" Harry said. But Draco didn't have a chance to replay back.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy! I saws you playing!" Eleina said, tugging on Draco's robes. He smiled at the little girl and pulled her to sit on his lap.

"Really?" Draco pretended to be surprised.

"Yeah! And then I saw the big brown thingy almost hit you! And then I screamed, but then mommy said you were okay, so I was happy again! I'm glad it didn't hid you, daddy."

Draco laughed. "Me too, sweetie."

"Daddy, will you teach me how to fly on that stick thingy?" Owen said.

"Of course!" Draco said. Hermione snapped her head up to look at Draco when she heard him and give him a look that clearly said 'you better not". "Maybe when you're a little older, Owen." He corrected.

"Aw, but I want to learn right now!"

"Ask your mother."

Before Owen could even let a sound out of his mouth Hermione responded with, "No." And spoke before he could protest. "Alright you two, let's not bother your daddy anymore. He needs to eat too. And your lunches have barely been touched."

"But I'm not hungry" Owen said with a pout.

"I'm not hungry, too." Eleina said and copied her brother's pout.

Hermione sighed at them. "Well then I'm taking you two back into our room. There's no reason to be here if you aren't going to eat."

"Can we go outside and play?" Owen asked.

"Please? Mommy, please?" Eleina pleaded.

Hermione laughed. How could she say no to that?

"Oh, alright, but only for an hour and then we need to get back so I can finish my assignments." Hermione gave in.

The two smiled happily and stuck out their hands for Hermione to pick them up and set them on the ground. They were beginning to walk towards the doors when Owen turned around and saw that Draco was still sitting at the table eating and talking with Pansy.

"Daddy! Aren't you coming?" Owen said and rushed over to Draco's side.

"I'm still eating, son, but I'll be out there soon." Draco promised. He bent over to kiss the boy in the forehead.

"Okay, we'll wait for you!" Owen said while backing away towards Hermione, who was waiting for him at the end of the table.

"Bye daddy!" Eleina said from Hermione's arms. Draco smiled and waved to her, then turned back around to eat his lunch.

A little while later most of the students had left the Great Hall and went off to do whatever they did during the weekends. Draco and Pansy were among the few who were still in inside. They had finished their lunch and decided to talk a little more before Draco went outside to see Owen and Eleina.

"How's it going with Granger?" Pansy asked.

"Not bad. We're actually trying to get along now. It's working, though. We don't bicker as much, but we can't totally prevent that from happening."

"That's good. I'm glad."

"Why are you glad?"

"Because that's what you want isn't it? Besides, I don't have to listen to you mope around anymore. Thank Merlin for that." She said. Draco glared at her, which she returned it with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. She got up then. "Don't look at me like that, Draco. I need to go see Potter and Isabelle now."

Draco stood up with her. They walked out of the Great Hall together and then parted ways.

It had begun to snow the next following week, covering the entire school with a blank white sheet of snowflakes. It was the second to last week of November and as each day passed Hermione thought of how she was getting closer and closer to losing her kids. It broke her heart to know that after January she wouldn't be able to see them anymore, to hold them, and just to be with them. Every time she thought about it she would want to cry, but always held it back so that Owen and Eleina wouldn't see her crying and ask her why she was upset.

Not only was her relationship with her kids going to end in two months, but her relationship with Draco as well. It had been weeks since they made that proposal to work things out between them at the Halloween ball, but things haven't even changed yet. They acted as friends and nothing more. The feelings were there, oh they were definitely there, but the lack of interaction between them was the only thing in the way. They spoke to each other, but that's all they ever did. Hermione decided to just forget about that for now. The most important thing to her at this point was spending time with Owen and Eleina. Only time will tell where her and Draco's relationship will end up.

As more snow kept falling each day, Owen and Eleina would keep asking Hermione if they could go outside to play, but each time Hermione would say no. She didn't want them going outside until it stopped snowing incase it started to snow really hard. So every evening while Hermione and Draco worked on their assignments, Owen and Eleina would sit by the window, with their little hands pressed against the glass, and watch the snow fall.

Finally, on a clear Sunday afternoon, while Owen and Eleina were in their room playing with Draco, Hermione decided to surprise them with the news that they would be going outside. Draco already knew of the plan and waited for Hermione to tell them. She got their coats ready for the cold and walked into the room with a huge smile on her face. She knew that this would make them so happy.

"Mommy, come play with us." Eleina said from where she sat next to Draco. She was holding a doll that sang songs to her.

"Look what I got from daddy" Owen held up a small snitch that flew around in tiny circles and could be easily caught.

"Oh, those are some fun toys you've got there," Hermione said as she approached them. "But you know what I think would be more fun?"

"What?!" They both asked at the same time, excited to hear what new toy they would be getting next.

"I think it would be more fun to play in the snow!" Hermione said happily. They screamed in excitement and ran to Hermione, both of them grabbed her by the legs. Draco smiled at them and Hermione laughed.

"Really, mommy?! We can?" Eleina asked. Hermione bent down so she could speak to them from their level.

"Yes, sweetie, we'll be going outside today, but only for a little while. It's really cold outside and I don't need the two of you to be walking around with runny noses."

"Yay! Let's go right now!" She began to tug on Hermione's arm.

"Not yet, we need to get you two dressed." Hermione walked over to where she left their coats, boots, scarves, and hats. She was well prepared for this snow trip.

"But we're already dressed."

"That's not enough to keep you warm, now the faster we get you dressed, the faster we can go outside."

Hermione began to put the extra clothing on Eleina while Draco dressed Owen. They were finished in ten minutes and both kids were eager to leave their room. Hermione and Draco changed into their warmer clothes as well before walking outside. Students were already outside enjoying the cool weather and playing in the snow. Hermione stopped them before going outside.

"Now, listen to mommy, I know the snow will be fun to play in, but the rules are still the same. Stay close to mommy and daddy. Do not run off with someone else. If you don't behave then we're going right back inside. Understand?"

The two quickly nodded their head as they watched the students outside. Hermione sighed and stood up. She knew that they probably didn't hear her. She would just have to keep a close eye on them.

"They'll be fine. You worry too much." Draco told her as they walked outside. Hermione didn't respond. He was right; she was worrying too much about it.

Once outside Owen and Eleina dropped their hands from their parents' and ran towards the left side of the school where they saw Ron and Millicent were off to the distance. Hermione and Draco approached them while keeping an eye on the two. They were picking up the snow and throwing it on the ground while laughing. They were so happy and having so much fun just from the snow. It was really a great sight to see. From where they stood they could hear Ron calling to one of his kids.

"Alex! Don't put that in….your mouth." Ron tried to say while he grabbed his other son's hand, but it was too late. The little boy already stuck a handful of snow in his mouth and started chomping away. Ron ran to him and tried to make him spit it back out. "The snow is dirty. It's not something to eat."

Alex just nodded, as he rubbed his tongue with his glove covered hands. Hermione laughed at the scene that happened in front of them.

"Oh, Ron." Hermione said as she laughed. "It must be so hard for him."

When Draco didn't respond, she turned around to see where he was off to, but quickly regretted it. Right when she turned her head, a snowball flew directly at her face. She stood, frozen, in disbelief that that happened. She wiped the snowball away from her face and saw Draco, a distance away, laughing. She was angry at first, but then she saw that Owen and Eleina were laughing too and she softened.

"Oh, you think that's funny don't you?" Hermione yelled to him as she slowly bent down to make her own snowball. "Well, let's see if you find this funny."

Hermione threw the snowball as hard as she could towards Draco, but he moved too quickly and dodged the snowball easily.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Granger!" Draco yelled as he ran off.

"Hey! Get back here, Malfoy!"

Hermione ran after him, snowball in hand. She lost him for a second and then found him peeking at her from behind a tree and then quickly hide behind it again. A smile formed on her face and she slowly approached the tree. Just as she was about to jump behind the tree a snowball hit her in the back of her head. She turned around suddenly to see Draco rolling on the ground laughing. She was really angry now and stomped over to him.

"I'm going to get you for that, Malfoy!"

"Let's see you try!" Draco had gotten up by the time Hermione was a few steps away from him. Again, he ran off to the opposite direction towards the trees.

"Stop running, you coward!"

Hermione ran after him and just as she was about to run past the first tree Draco jumped out and grabbed her sending them both to the ground, but Draco pulled her over him so that he landed on the ground instead of her. They were both laughing, but slowly stopped when they realized that they were extremely close, with Hermione lying on top of Draco.

Their position should've been awkward and they should've quickly got up, but it wasn't and they didn't. They stayed like that as they looked into each other's eyes. Hermione's heart began to pound and her stomach felt like it was doing flips. Draco's mind was chaos as he tried to figure out what to do. He wanted to kiss her. He was going to kiss her and Hermione could see that in his eyes. The good thing was, she wanted him to kiss her too. They slowly leaned in when suddenly a haunting cry of a child was heard followed by

"Mommy!"