Severe Punishment

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Chapter Ten: Little Moments

"What in the world were you thinking?"

Three angry young women stood in front of the sofa where three frightened young men sat. The glares on their faces were enough to petrify the other party, which helped since it meant that, after all, they had the upper hand. Their children, obviously and completely unaware of the trouble their fathers were in, continued to play on.

"Baby racing? Have you all completely lost your mind? That's just plain stupidity, let alone recklessness! You could have gotten them turned back to pumpkins! I don't know about you but I'd rather not lose points of my house!" Luna screeched, which Ron found odd since she'd always been so calm.

Ron, Draco and Harry never would have thought that they'd get into so much trouble. Yes, it had been silly to race babies but they hadn't thought that the girls would be home so soon. They figured they'd be able to pull it off without getting caught.

"Well, what have you got to say for yourselves?" Ginny asked with raised eyebrows. She couldn't wait to hear whatever excuse they all had.

"I… Well," Ron stammered, fidgeting uncomfortably. "I was…"

"You should be ashamed!" Hermione glared.

But every one soon fell into a state of shock as Draco stood up. At first they were afraid he'd hex them all with the glare he was sporting but it quickly disappeared, replaced with an apologetic smile. He couldn't seem to look at Ginny so he looked at Luna instead.

"Believe me when I say that we're not fond of what we've done," he began, "but to explain, we were clearly bored and this idiot," he gestured at Ron, "wouldn't shut up and it just sort of happened. It's no excuse, we take full responsibility but what do you expect," he shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Boys will be boys."

Ugh, has he always been this cute?! Ginny looked away from him, trying to fight the blood from rushing to her face. She didn't even know why she thought he was cute. He was mean, obnoxious, a jerk… But when he wanted to be (clearly) he was a nice enough guy.

"Well," Hermione replied quite baffled. For a few moments she just stood there, mouth opening and closing. "Uh, thank you for your h-honesty, Mal—Draco."

With mouths hanging open, Ron and Harry continued to stare at the blonde as he flashed a smile at the youngest Weasley. Still stumped by his honesty and niceness, Ron didn't have time to catch the small exchange between the two enough to make a big deal out of it. The incident seemingly forgotten, they decided it was time for dinner, which Harry found rather odd. Never had he imagined he'd be sitting at a dining table with Malfoy and Luna, sharing food with children. As odd as it was, he thought it rather nice. They certainly were much better company than the Dursley family.

He immediately noticed the way they'd paired off. Ginny sat next to Draco, unbelievably close while Leander sat in the high chair, gurgling happily. Next to them, sat Ron and Luna, which Harry thought was funny. Aric's high chair was wedged in between them, both of them trying to feed the baby at the same time.

"Cute couple, aren't they," he heard Hermione whisper from beside him. He chuckled quietly.

"I don't think Ron would be too thrilled if he heard you say that," Harry turned to her with a smile. Once again he found it difficult to breathe. He couldn't believe that he was so close to her and was still able to function. Lately it had seemed that whenever she was close by, his body, along with his mind could completely shut down.

"Yes, well, you know Ron, he makes a big fuss out of everything," Hermione giggled before feeding Lily.

Harry watched her, completely mesmerized. It didn't take long before the scene before him changed. Hermione was now much older, perhaps in her middle twenties (still beautiful as every though) and was now feeding a child that looked quite a lot like Harry except for the eyes. She turned to him slowly, smiling.

"Harry?"

Harry quickly blinked, shaking his head. "Uh, yeah?" he turned away, blushing.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked concernedly, putting a hand upon his shoulder. However, the course of action caused the young boy to jump up with a yelp. He immediately grabbed his knee, realizing that he had banged the table with it.

The loud commotion on the one side caused the others to stop their conversation, looking up in confusion. The other four watched as Hermione fussed over the now absolutely red Harry. Ron smirked.

"Look at 'em," he said loud enough for his companions to hear, "it's ridiculous. Why don't they just 'fess up already? I mean, really, it's not that difficult to say "I fancy you"."

"I fancy you, Ron," Luna grinned at him. Then she laughed. "You're right, it isn't that hard."

Ron blinked at her. "Wha?"

Luna giggled, placing a light kiss upon his already red cheek. Just like that, Ron found himself frozen.

Ginny turned to her companion and was both surprised and worried at the look upon Draco's face. His face was red, his cheeks slightly bloated. His eyes were moist with tears while weird little noises were escaping from his tightly closed lips.

"Draco?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

A snort like sound was his only reply.

"Are you alright?"

He nodded, then shook his head vigorously. Frowning, she placed a hand on his forehead. He wasn't warm, but he really did look rather odd.

"You're scaring me—"

"HAHAHAHA!" he collapsed onto the table.

His sudden outburst caused the commotion around them to stop. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Ginny all stared at him in shock. He looked like he'd just lost his mind as his body continued tremble with laughter.

"Oh, now honestly, what's gotten into him," Hermione huffed, her hand still on Harry's arm.

"I haven't got a clue," Ginny replied, her frown deepening.

"Well, now that's rather odd," Luna shrugged. She giggled as she realized that Ron still hadn't moved from his spot.

"Ah," Draco sat up, clutching his stomach. "You lot are rather funny. Pathetic in a sense, but funny."

"Funny," it was now Hermione's turn to frown. "Funny, how?"

Draco straightened up, taking a deep breath. "Ah, well, if I told you, it wouldn't be so fun anymore." He yawned, suddenly feeling rather tired. "Well, thanks for dinner, but I'm turning in."

"But it's only eight," Ron finally spoke, his voice squeaky.

"That laughing must've taken a lot out of me. Anyway, goodnight." Draco leaned down as he planted a kiss upon Leander's head. Then without thinking, he ruffled Ginny's hair. Giving her a quick, shy smile, he walked off for the boys quarters.

"Well, what's going on with you two," Ron turned to his sister, who's face matched her hair color.

"I don't know, what you're talking about," Ginny replied, clearing her throat, hoping her voice didn't betray her.

"Don't give me that," Harry raised an eyebrow, finally sitting down. "We saw you at the pumpkin patch, laughing and such."

"So what? Two people can't laugh together while baby-sitting?" Ginny glared. Not wanting to start anything, Harry backed off, hands in the air.

"Alright, alright, shutting up now," he replied and went back to eating.

Though they had a good time eating, there was still the matter of dishes that had to be done. Unfortunately for Harry, the others had quickly ditched, claiming the last one to finish would be the one to wash dishes. Why did he have to eat so damn slow anyway? Fortunately, Hermione was kind enough to help him out. Unfortunately, she was standing close to him. Too close.

"You do realize," Hermione said as she dried the dishes, "that you could have just used your wand and made them clean themselves?"

Harry chuckled. "Well, yeah, I could have, but I'm so used to doing it the old fashioned way. Besides, if I did that, I wouldn't be able to have this time alone with you."

Hermione blushed. "Oh, Harry, you sure know how to win a girl's heart," she teased.

"Of course, nothing wins a girl's heart like making her wash dishes with him," he chuckled, his arms deep in suds. Smirking to himself, he flicked bubbles at her. She let out a yelp, nudging him in return.

"You know," Ginny said as she sat herself down on the sofa with her brother. "For a smart girl, Hermione sure is dense."

Ron chuckled as he watched his two best friends. He wasn't going to lie, it was odd and scary to see them getting along so well. It wasn't because he liked one of them more than he wanted to, it was jus the fear that the two of them getting together meant leaving him behind. After all, relationships always changed the best of friends, no matter how long they'd all been friends for.

"Harry isn't any smarter," Ron replied with a smile. "It's rather sickeningly sweet to watch this."

"You think they know we're here?"

"Most likely not." He yawned. "I'm going to bed."

And Ginny followed leaving the other two to clean up their mess, taking longer than necessary.

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"WAHH!"

While the rest of the crew slept on, only two out of the six awoke at the same time. Though in separate bedrooms, Ginny and Draco sat upright in their beds, both immediately recognizing the cry of their "child". Both still half asleep, they trudged out of their rooms, not noticing the other was they walked over to the babies bedroom. It wasn't until they reached the room when they realized that they weren't alone.

"You can go back to bed, I'll take it from here," Draco sleepily told her as he picked up Leander, rocking him in his arms.

Ginny yawned. "You always take care of him, it's my turn."

"No, really, it's okay, you can go back to bed, you look tired."

Ginny smiled. "Since when do you care about my well being."

"I thought we already established that earlier that though I don't want to, I do." He joked.

And just like that, she fell upon him, her head falling upon his shoulder. Draco stiffened, realizing what had happened. As weirded out as he was, he found himself not really caring so much. All he cared about was that she was so close to him and that he could smell her sweet smelling hair. Without thinking, he leaned his head against hers, Leander still in his arms.

Feeling the weight against her head, Ginny opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself.

This is… oddly nice. Ginny smiled.

She snuggled closer to him, following him as he led them out to the living room. He sat her down on the sofa, following right after. As soon as he sat, she flopped her head against his shoulder once more. Though she was probably going to get into a lot of trouble in the morning, she didn't care. She had her excuse ready anyway. She was too tired, she didn't know what she was doing. She smirked to herself.

Yes, that'll work just fine.

And as she drifted off to slumber, she couldn't help but notice him snuggling closer to her, their "child" in between them.

Author's Note:

AWWW!! Ahaha, okay, so it's short, but at LEAST I got out another chapter before my week break from school is almost up. I'm on a ROLL. Thank you very much to those who've reviewed, it was your reviews that motivated me to update again so, KEEP EM COMING!!

Lots Of Love XD

Have a nice day & Thank you