Chapter 23
Hermione was spending the night with Draco and Scorpius. The pair of them had decided to have dinner with his son, seeing how she hadn't gotten to see Scorpius in a few days. As much as she loved Jamie, she also strongly cared for the young Malfoy.
It had been nearly a week since the adoption had gone through. She was keeping it quiet from the press for now, seeing how she didn't want her son's face plastered all over the paper. The last thing any of them needed was reporters harassing the hospital or trying to sneak in and see Jamie merely to get an exclusive. Jamie had been calling her 'mom' at every turn, and every time he uttered the name, she felt her heart melt. True to her word, the next day she had brought him over fifteen of her favourite books at his age, plus three new ones. Maybe she was spoiling him a bit, but she knew how much literature meant to both of them, and if it made him happy, then why not?
Her parents had been ecstatic to know that they had a grandchild. Their relationship was still nowhere near as good as it had been before she oblivated them, but it was getting a lot better, and she knew that she had Draco to thank for that. He always went above and beyond for her, and it made her feel so special. She owed him so much, and it still amazed her to know that he did everything for her, simply so she could be happy.
She hadn't gotten around to telling any of the other Weasleys, Ginny excluded, but she had owled Molly, asking her if she wanted to have tea sometime over the week. Hermione remembered how Ginny mentioned that her mother wanted to meet with her, to meet Draco and Scorpius as well, and Hermione figured it would be a perfect time to tell her.
She wasn't quite sure how the Matron of the Weasley family would take the news; she would be extremely excited, or worried that Hermione was trying to rush into making a family for herself. The latter was false of course, but she could see why one might think that it were true. She went from being single to dating a single father, then adopting a child. It was the other reason why she didn't want to let the press in on her news.
Hermione sat down at the circular table in the dining room, with Draco on her left and Scorpius sitting in a chair beside him. She smiled at the young boy as he ate his grilled cheese, while she and Draco were currently eating a steak, and some red wine. Draco was currently trying to convince his son that he had to eat some vegetables along with his meal, and the young blonde was attempting to bargain with his father over how much he should have to eat.
"How about five?" Draco tried, as he held up five fingers.
"Two," Scorpius said, trying to give his father a cute grin.
"Four?" Draco asked, lowering his thumb.
"Two," Scorpius insisted, holding up two fingers. "See? One, two."
"Three, and that's final," Draco relented. Scorpius let out a theatrical sigh, but nodded, and Draco placed three rather large pieces of broccoli on his plate. She laughed, knowing that while Scorpius might think he won, Draco still got him to eat a large portion of vegetables, which would have equalled the five normal size ones he originally intended for his son to eat.
Draco shot her a wink when his son wasn't looking, and she shook her head, the smile on her lips never leaving her face.
The dinner was a short and simple affair, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. They had told Scorpius about Hermione becoming Jamie's mom. Since the boy was young, he didn't quite grasp the concept of adoption, but he seemed to accept it easily enough. When he asked his father if he could see Jamie again, Draco told him that he would set something up for them soon, and Hermione told him how Jamie asked to see him again as well, earning a large grin from the young boy.
When they were cleaning up after dinner, Hermione heard a voice which she hadn't quite expected.
"Hello Draco," Narcissa Malfoy said, as she entered the kitchen. She was looking a lot healthier since Draco's trial; the last time Hermione seen her. There was more light in her eyes, and her body had gained the weight back which she had lost during the time Voldemort lived in her home. "I like what you've done with the place."
"Mother?" Draco asked in confusion. "I thought you were still in Paris; you owled me just last week that you were thinking about heading to Barcelona, and then Madrid. What changed your mind?"
"You failing to tell me about your relationship with Miss Granger," Narcissa said, as she looked over at Hermione, analyzing her. There was no hatred in her eyes, nor was there any sort of positive emotion; they were simply neutral."
"With all due respect, Mother, I didn't see how it was any of your business," Draco said. "Who I choose to date is none of your concern."
"Do you mind if we sit down?" Narcissa asked. When Draco made no notions to move she sighed, "Draco, I have nothing against your relationship, alright?" He seemed hesitant, but he motioned them all towards the parlour, as he picked up his son, who was playing with a magical toy rabbit.
Hermione was nervous. She hadn't officially ever met any of her boyfriends' parents for the first time. She had already had a close relationship with Molly by the time they started dating, and there was none of the awkward 'what if they don't like me' worries.
Narcissa took a seat at a fancy Victorian chair, while Hermione and Draco sat on the matching couch, Scorpius placed in between them.
"Draco, I know that you and Astoria were a mistake. The agreement was arranged while you were a child, and by time you grew up, you were no longer the type of person who would have been suited to such an arrangement. You and Astoria had been affected by the war, and I knew that you were different. If there were any way out of it at the time, I would have helped you. Now, I do not care that you are dating a muggleborn, nor does who she is worry me. I would worry if she were trying to take your money, but she hardly seems like the type. But what I must wonder about is how you accept a single man with a child," Narcissa said addressing her. "I know many women wouldn't be too pleased by the fact that their significant other has a child which isn't hers."
"With all due respect, Mrs Malfoy, I am not most woman," Hermione said politely. "I love your son, and I love Scorpius. Blood does not matter to me. Yes, I want my own children someday with Draco, but I would never love Scorpius any less."
"You say that now-" Narcissa said.
"And it will never change," Hermione cut in. "I have a son of my own; an orphan of war who I adopted. If Draco and I get to a stage where we are married, I know he will treat my son as his own, just like I would treat Scorpius as the same. Scorpius is a wonderful young boy, and I already love him. I don't need a blood relationship to tell me that I have to."
Narcissa seemed pleased, "I'm glad. I love my son, and I know that I haven't always been the best mother to him, but I do always have his best interests at heart. I know that the lady I once was wouldn't have tolerated this relationship. I would have insisted that Draco remain married to Astoria as it is improper to get a divorce. But the war changed me, like it did everyone else. I spent years worrying about my son, hoping he would survive. I don't want my son to be miserable, which is exactly what would happen if he was with Astoria. I don't care if you're a muggleborn, and not a pureblood, nor that you have no high class nobility in you. You, Miss Granger, make my son happy, and you make Scorpius happy. And that is all I could ever want."
"Mother," Draco said, his voice filled in shock. "Thank you."
Hermione nodded, "Your approval means a lot to me, just as I know it does to your son."
Narcissa smiled, "Now; it's been a while since I've seen my grandson, do you mind if I hold him for a bit?"
Draco lifted up Scorpius, and placed him on his mother's lap. Hermione watched as she interacted with her grandson, listening intently as Scorpius relayed how Draco just made him eat yucky vegetables. Draco placed his arm around her, and she nestled into his chest. She was glad that Narcissa didn't mind their relationship, but Draco didn't say anything more about it.
It was a few hours later when Narcissa left and Scorpius was all tucked into his bed. Draco and Hermione were sitting together, drinking some butterbeer together.
"I didn't really expect it," Draco said breaking the silence between them. "My mother coming to me and saying she approved. I honestly have barely seen her since I got divorced, and I was half surprised that she didn't come and force me to stay with her. Only my mother was at the wedding, seeing how my father's still in Azkaban; she only just got out. We had been waiting for Astoria to finish school, as per the agreement of the contract, and once she was finished at Hogwarts, we got married. It was nothing big or fancy, seeing how neither of us wanted it, nor could be bothered to try and arrange a huge even. My mother told me there was no way out, and that she and her lawyers looked into it; marriage was inevitable. She left and headed straight to Paris, wanting to get away from England and the people here. I saw her a few times a year, and she would write scarcely. I think she just couldn't deal with what happened during the war, and her stint in Azkaban didn't help. Scorpius knows her enough to know who she is to him, but he barely knows her that well."
Hermione placed her hand on his shoulder, to comfort him. She could see that there was a slight look of pain in his eyes as he talked about his mother, and their lack of a relationship anymore.
"It wouldn't have mattered to me if she told me that I couldn't be with you anymore," Draco told her, as he looked at her. "Both her and my father might be my parents, but they have long lost the right to tell me what to do. And if they had threatened me with being disinherited, I would have let him. I make enough as a Healer to comfortably raise my son, and any future family I might have. Hell, I still don't know if my father would try to do it."
"You can talk to me about them," Hermione said softly. "I know how hard it is for you to open up about your past, but I would never judge you. It means a lot to me that you would fight for us, and for our relationship, and I love you so much more knowing how important I am to you. I want to be here for you, just as you've been for me, and I want you to know that I support you, no matter how rich or poor you are. Money means nothing to me, as long as I have you in my life. I have no idea how it happened, but I need you so much, and I don't think I could bear to be without you."
He placed a kiss on her lips, "I need you too.
Ginny Potter sat with her husband at the dinner table. Yes, it was slightly late for a dinner, but she couldn't help it! She was eight and a half months pregnant, and if she were hungry, then she damn sure would eat when she wanted to.
Harry hadn't been eating anything at the moment; still full from the dinner Ginny had made for him a few hours back, but he wasn't complaining as he sat beside her. She knew that he worried that she was alone all day, and because of that, he tried to spend as much time with her as possible. Yes, it was rather boring to be home all alone, especially seeing how her career consisted of playing professional Quidditch. She had taken a maternity leave, and she knew her spot would be there for her when she got back, but she did miss the thrill of the sport.
But at the same time, she didn't mind it all too much. It gave her time to learn a few new cooking spells, and read books on baby upbringing, including subjects such as personal care, nutrition, education. She was never as avid a reader as Hermione, but she had to admit that it felt good to learn all the things which would help her future son or daughter develop properly. It did scare her as well, but she knew that she would have lots of help from Harry, and from her parents. Her mother was so excited about it, and while her child wasn't her mother's first grandchild, Molly was ecstatic nonetheless.
Ginny looked down into her bowl of ice cream, which was chocolate frog flavoured. Normally, she might have been slightly hesitant to eat so much junk food, especially given her profession, but at the moment, she didn't quite care. She was listening to her husband tell her all about how a wizard was attempting to sell illegal love potions in Diagon Alley, under the guise of self-improvement potions to a whole bunch of witches, so they would all fall in love with him. Apparently, he hadn't exactly anticipated what the consequences of having a few dozen women flocking at him, and in doing so, wanting to destroy the other woman who also wanted him. He told her how it had taken several Aurors to break the chaos up.
She listened to his story, laughing at she heard it, but all of a sudden she felt a bit of discomfort in between her legs. She looked down, and saw a puddle gathered there.
"Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked her worriedly, as he noticed the change in her demeanour. "Is everything alright? Has something happened?"
Ginny looked at her husband carefully, trying not to freak him out, "Harry, my water broke; the baby's coming."
Terence Higgs sat in his armchair as he took a swing of his Firewhisky bottle. He was sitting in front of the fire, in his own personal chambers, watching the flames flicker. He wasn't sure how long it would be now, but it was coming; his end was already fast approaching.
He had made the connection almost instantaneously when he found out that Marcus and Adrian were murdered. Whoever it was, was going after specific Death Eaters. Fredrick's death cemented in what he already knew. It was his circle they were going after; picking off person by person, brutally slaughtering them in their own house. He knew it was only a matter of time before they came after him.
But then he had started receiving the letters, and he knew that he would be the next on the list. They were always short little things like 'I know what you did', 'You'll pay for what happened that night', and even one that said, 'Don't try to get help; I'll know if you did, and I'll make it all the more painful'. All the notes always burned up into tiny pieces and vanished shortly after he opened them.
He considered going to the Aurors and getting help from them. But what proof did he have that someone was going to hurt him? And then it would become a public matter, and whoever it was would come for him sooner, to silence him. Besides, he didn't really trust them all too much. About half of them would think he deserved what he was getting, and he wasn't all too sure that he would be able to get any help from them either.
Terence had thought about contacting the other remaining members of the circle; there were three others, an exact number seven, just as the Dark Lord like it to be. He could warn them, tell them to run far from this place, but he knew he was being watched; he could always feel a set of eyes upon him when he went into public, yet he could never find out who it was.
He knew now that his time was coming, and while he hadn't done it before, he knew he had to try and warn them now. He quickly got out some parchment, and scribbled a quick note, before he sent it off. He hoped that it would reach his target, and wouldn't be intercepted on the way. This way, at least he may be able to prevent three deaths.
"Trying to warn the others?" he heard a familiar voice ask. His eyes widened, and he turned in shock, not believing who it was, standing there in front of him. They had their wand raised, and pointed right at him.
"You?" Terence asked. He didn't get a verbal reply; instead he felt a charge surge through his body as he fell to the ground in pain, screaming out loud. But no one would hear his cries. He just hoped that his note would get to them in time.