Chapter 15
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 the haunting cry of a child was heard followed by
"Mommy!"
Hermione instantly snapped her head towards the castle where the voice came from. Her eyes were wide with fear. She could sense that something was wrong and she had to get to her kids, immediately. Draco, although he looked calmer than Hermione, was also startled and quickly got up. He pulled Hermione up with him and they both ran towards the castle searching all over for Owen and Eleina. Hermione spun around looking everywhere. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes as her fear grew bigger.
"Eleina!"
Hermione's head shot up when she heard Draco yell their little girl's name. She saw him run around the corner of the castle and sprinted to catch up with him. When she turned the corner her heart sank. There in front of her was Draco holding Eleina in his hands as Owen stood next to him with his eyes puffy and red from crying. As she stepped closer she saw the line of blood trickling down her daughter's forehead.
The tears rushed out as Hermione knelt down besides Draco. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't even speak. No sound came out of her voice as she just stared at the little girl.
"Owen, what happened?" Draco asked the little boy who was still crying.
"We…we were playing and we saw mommy cha..chasing you an..and I decided to chase Eleina and she ran aways an…and she slippeded and fe…fell." At this point the boy was trembling as he sobbed. He ran to Hermione and she hugged him tight. Draco got up with Eleina still in his arms.
"We have to get her to the Hospital Wing." He said and started walking away without waiting for Hermione.
She stared at his back as he walked into the castle and slowly got up herself, holding Owen, who was still crying silently. She hadn't spoken a word since she saw her little girl. The tears kept coming, but she made no move to wipe them away. As she walked along the corridor towards the Hospital Wing, she thought of how such a wonderful day had turned out so horrible. This experience had taught her two things: that time is a precious thing because in an instant something could change and that from now on she needed to keep a better eye on her kids.
The little boy had fallen asleep in her arms with his thumb in his mouth and tears stained his small face. Hermione was about to enter the Hospital Wing when Draco stepped out and blocked her path. She looked up at him with confused and tearful eyes. Draco lifted his hand and lightly brushed away the tears that sat on her cheeks. He couldn't help himself as he bent down and laid a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Madam Pomfrey is taking care of her. She doesn't want us in there right now, but she said that Eleina will be okay. She hit her head on a rock..."Hermione winced as he said that, "She got a small cut and it knocked her out since she was so small, but nothing serious. Madam Pomfrey said she'll be all better soon."
Hermione sighed in relief. She took a few steps back until she hit the wall and slid down in a slight crouch. Draco walked over and bent down in front of her. He held her chin in his hand and lifted her head so that she was looking at him.
"She's going to be fine, Hermione." Draco assured her.
"I…I know, but I just can't believe this happened. This wouldn't have happened if we were paying attention!"
"I agree with you on that, but there's nothing we can do to change what happened. We just have to learn from our mistakes."
"Yeah, and this mistake nearly killed our child." Hermione mumbled.
Draco sighed.
"We're just going to have to make sure nothing like this ever happens again." He said to her.
"Nothing like this better happen again."
Just then the little boy in her arms stirred and opened his eyes. He saw Draco and Hermione staring down at him and quickly got up in a standing position. He looked down to his feet, too afraid to look at his mommy and daddy.
"Owen…" Hermione began, but was cut off by the frantic little boy.
"Mommy, I'm so sowwy! I didn't want to hurt Eleina! I was only playing! I…"
"Woah, slow down, sweet heart."
"I'm sowwy!" Owen cried and the tears started again.
Hermione opened her arms and the little boy ran into her them, burying his head in her neck. Hermione could feel the hot tears on her neck and she patted Owen's head to soothe his cries.
"It's alright, darling. Eleina is going to be all better. I know it was an accident. Don't cry, baby." Hermione comforted him and rubbed his back, but Owen wouldn't stop crying.
Hermione looked over at Draco, who was watching them from the side, with a look in her eyes that said 'Help'. Draco sighed and lightly pulled on Owen's arm so that he was facing him. Owen was sniffing and wiping his eyes with his tiny hands, but didn't look up at Draco.
"Owen, look at me." Draco said.
Owen slowly lifted his head and looked at Draco straight in the eye, although tears still clung to his eyes. Draco smiled a little and wiped them away.
"Listen, son, everyone makes a mistake sometimes, even mommy and daddy. You didn't mean for Eleina to get hurt, mommy and daddy know that, okay?" Draco said, Owen nodded. "Now Eleina is going to be fine, but we will not be going outside to play in the snow anymore."
Draco looked to Hermione for an approval. She nodded at him, letting him know that he said the right thing, and he gave her a short nod back before looking back to Owen.
"Got that?"
"Ye...yes, daddy." The boy replied. Draco pulled him into a hug just as the door behind them opened and out stepped Madam Pomfrey with little Eleina in her arms, awake and refreshed. A smile appeared on her tiny face once she saw Draco and Hermione.
Hermione leaped from her sitting position so fast that she almost lost balanced, but she didn't care. She never felt so relieved in her life and had the biggest smile on her face. The smile was so big that it hurt, but it never left her face and it grew even bigger (if that's even possible) once she held Eleina in her arms. She laid a big kiss on Eleina's chubby left cheek as the little girl placed her small hands on Hermione's face.
"Hi, mommy!" Eleina chirped and Hermione felt her heart swell. The little girl sounded so alive that it seemed as if she didn't even hit her head a few minutes ago. She was the cheerful girl that Hermione loved so much.
"Hi, baby girl." Hermione smiled and hugged her tight.
Eleina looked over Hermione's shoulder and spotted Draco holding a still crying Owen. She smiled at Draco and slightly pulled away from Hermione so she could talk to her dad.
"Hi, daddy! Why is O-en crying?"
"He's sad because you fell and hit your head. He thinks it's all his fault and that he hurt you really badly." Draco said, walking closer to her and Hermione.
"No, you didn't, O-en." Eleina said to her brother, "Look! I'm fine, see?"
Eleina then hits herself in the forehead with her hand two times. It happened so fast that Hermione gasped and blinked a couple of times. Draco just stared at his daughter. Owen, that silly boy, laughed. He actually laughed at the action, like it's the funnies thing he had ever seen, which causes Eleina to laugh too and starts whacking herself in the head again. After the third time, Hermione finally comes to her senses and took hold of Eleina's hand so that she couldn't keep hitting herself and cause serious damage.
"Eleina, do not do that to yourself." Hermione said in stern voice.
"But it's funny!"
"No, it is not funny, now I don't want you to hit yourself or your brother or anyone else for that matter. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mommy."
"And that goes for you too, Owen."
Owen nodded, but the giggles were still in him and she could tell that Eleina was about to burst into her own giggles. Hermione sighed and shook her head at her kids.
"My, my, Granger, the responsible parent finally comes out." Draco said to her as they walked back to their room.
"What do you mean it finally comes out? I'm always a responsible parent!"
"Well you weren't one a few minutes ago when Eleina hit her head."
Hermione stopped suddenly and gaped at him. She couldn't believe he just said something like that to her. If she hadn't been holding Eleina in her arms, she probably would've smacked the living crap out of him. And then she was reminded of what she told Owen and Eleina about hitting and decided it was a good idea that she did have Eleina in her arms. She wouldn't want to set a bad example and be a hypocrite. But still, she couldn't believe he said that!
"Are you kidding me?! It was as much your fault as it was mine! I didn't see you being the responsible parent."
"Calm down, Granger. I was only messing with you." Draco chuckled and started walking away.
"The nerve of that guy…" Hermione mumbled before following behind with an evil glare.
"Hermione! I heard what happened. How's Eleina?" Harry asked the next morning at breakfast.
"She's perfectly fine. Thanks for your concern, Harry." Hermione smiled at him before taking a bite of her toast.
"What happened?" Ron asked, mouth full of food. Hermione scrunched her nose in disgust.
"Don't speak with your mouth full of food, Ronald." Hermione said in a motherly tone. Ron just rolled his eyes. "Eleina hit her head yesterday when she was playing in the snow."
"Why weren't you watching your kids, Hermione?"
"Hey, why is everyone pointing the blame on me? Malfoy wasn't there either. We were looking away for a few minutes. We stayed close and didn't think anything drastic would've happened."
Hermione told them, leaving out the part where she and Draco were having their little snow ball fight. Oh, she definitely left out the part where they were about to kiss.
"Speaking of which, where's Draco?" Pansy, who had been sitting next to Harry the whole time listening, asked.
"He went to go drop off Eleina and Owen at the children center. He should be here soon."
Just as Hermione finished the sentence, Draco entered the Great Hall and sat down next to her. They both shared a smile before Hermione resumed eating and Draco poured himself a glass of juice. A few moments later, the Great Hall was silenced by the clinking of a glass coming from the front of the room followed by
"Could I have all your attention, please?" From Dumbledore.
Every student stopped eating and looked over to their headmaster.
"I just want to make a quick announcement involving all the sixth year students taking the Family Life class. I would like to have a brief meeting with all of you this morning after breakfast. Please meet me in the usual classroom. Thank you and enjoy the rest of breakfast." Dumbledore said and sat back down.
"I wonder what Dumbledore wants to talk to us about." Hermione said, receiving shrugs from all around her and shrugged herself.
After breakfast, all the Family Life students made their way to their classroom, still wondering what Dumbledore had in store for them. They each took a seat next to their respective partners. Hermione and Draco sat near the front of the classroom along with Ron, Millicent, Pansy, and Harry. Dumbledore arrived shortly and all the students became silent.
"Thank you all for coming to this important meeting. I will try to make this as short as possible and you all will be excused for being late to your classes, but I do have a couple of things I would like to say." Dumbledore started, with a twinkle in his eyes. "First of all, I would like to congratulate you all for making it this far into our newest class. I know it's been very hard for some of you, especially those who have more than one child." Dumbledore eyed Ron and Millicent, specifically, with a light grin. Ron smiled weakly.
"Now, while I am on the topic, this class is nearing its end. There is just a little more than a month left and then that's it. No longer will you have to deal with being a parent."
Surprisingly, there were some "aw's" coming from the students. Dumbledore chuckled lightly.
"I knew some of you would feel that way, and it's partly my fault. I should've informed you to not get too attached to the little ones, but of course it's inevitable. It's just the way it is and I'm sorry to say that once this class is over, they will be gone. Again, I am sorry to say that."
Hermione felt the tears forming in her eyes and she could tell that she wasn't the only one by the sound of the sniffles around the classroom. Draco placed his hand on top of hers and lightly squeezed it. She turned to see him giving her a small smile.
"Professor?" Dean Thomas raised his hand.
"Yes, Mr. Thomas."
"Will we be able to have our kids around during the holidays?"
"That all depends, Mr. Thomas. If any of you are going home for the holidays, then the answer is no. I cannot allow them to be away from the school. That would cause too much chaos and confusion to those who don't know about this class. However, if you do decide to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, then the answer is yes, of course."
Mumbles were heard around the classroom as each pair started to talk about their plans for the holidays. From the sound of it, most of them wanted to stay at school.
"One last thing before I let you off," Dumbledore began, and the classroom became quite again, "One of the questions that I have been asked many times from various students is about the pace at which their children have been growing. Some of you might have noticed, and some of you might have not, that your child(s) have grown tremendously since you first had them. That is because I placed a charm on them and they are special in the fact that they grow at a much faster pace than a normal child. I did this so that you'll be able to have experience with a different range of ages among the children."
Hermione raised her eyes. She hadn't even noticed the change in Owen or Eleina, but now that she thought about it they did seem to have reached a much older age in the past weeks, something a normal child definitely would not be able to do. They were no longer one year olds and they definitely don't act like one year olds anymore, that's for sure. She looked over to at Draco and could tell that he was also surprised at this.
"Did you notice their change?" Hermione whispered to him.
"No, did you?"
Hermione shook her head.
"Maybe it's because we're always with them, so we don't notice it." Draco suggested.
"Maybe." Hermione replied before they turned their attention back to Dumbledore.
"Are there anymore questions?" Dumbledore asked. No one raised their hands. "Very well, then. If you do come upon any questions, you know where to find me. Now, off you go." Dumbledore gave them one last smile as the students got up to go back to their classes that they already missed half an hour of.
Hermione and Draco walked out together and stopped in front of the doors, each having to go the opposite direction.
"So, are you going to be staying for the holidays?" Draco asked.
"Yes, I want to be with Eleina and Owen as much as possible before they have to leave us." Hermione said. Draco nodded. "Are you staying? I mean, it's fine if you don't want to. I understand if you want to spend time with your family. I can handle the two of them by myself. It's.."
"Hermione, shut up. I'm staying."
"Hey, don't tell me to shut up."
"Fine, fine. There's no use in saying it anyways. Not like you would do it."
"Draco Malfoy, I'm this close to hexing you right now."
"Let's see you do it."
"You're lucky I care about being here, or else I would."
They both stared at each other, daring for the other to say another word, but instead a smile grew on both their faces.
"I don't have time to deal with you, Draco. I have classes to attend and you do too. You don't want to be late anymore than you already are." Hermione said turning around and walking off in the opposite direction.
"Who says I'm going to my classes today?" Draco yelled at her.
"You better!" Hermione yelled back without even looking back at him.
Draco chuckled and walked off towards his own class.