Three days passed; Hermione refused to dwell on situations she couldn't change and rather put all her effort and thoughts into the gathering at the Malfoy Manor for Ara's 11th birthday. Draco came home from work the day before the party, on July 5th, and pulled Hermione aside.
"Don't be mad at me love," he said quietly, "but I sort of got Ara another birthday gift."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at her husband, "And what, pray tell, is this new gift?"
"That broom she was eying in Diagon Alley," he muttered, "But c'mon love, it was totally affordable!"
Hermione rolled her eyes at that, knowing full well her idea of affordable was much different than Draco's. "So on top of the Quidditch Gear you insisted on getting her, the clothes and magic make up kit I got her, and the money my parents sent for her, you think she needed a broom stick as well?"
"She's going to be a brilliant Quidditch star," Draco said, a proud smile on his face.
"She can't even play this year!" Hermione yelled, "I can't believe you Draco Malfoy! You spoil that girl way too much!"
Draco grinned, "I can't help it, if it hadn't been for her, we never would have stayed together; she was our miracle baby."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Our relationship wasn't going that badly,"
"You almost hexed me into obliviation!"
"Oh that was nothing new," Hermione grinned, "I always threaten to hex you."
"But you haven't yet," Draco pointed out cautiously.
"I still could,"
"I'd prefer that you didn't love,"
Hermione smirked, "You are so lucky I love you Draco Malfoy."
Draco looked at Hermione smirking, a smirk only a Malfoy could look good with, and brought her lips to his. "Yes, I am," he whispered against her mouth. They kissed, and Draco lightly pushed Hermione backwards onto the bed, not breaking the kiss.
A knock sounded on the door and Hermione and Draco sighed simultaneously. "Brats," Draco muttered, "Couldn't leave us alone for ten minutes could they?"
"I think you over estimate yourself, love," Hermione grinned pushing him off of her and standing to answer the door. Lyra stood there holding a stuffed dragon in her arms.
"There's an Owl for you mum," Lyra said.
"Thanks Lyra, your mother will be there in a few minutes,"
Hermione shot him a look and rolled her eyes, "No, I'll come now, no need to keep the poor creature waiting."
Draco pouted, causing Hermione to laugh as she walked away. Lyra jumped onto the bed and laid down next to her father. "What are we doing?" she asked him.
"We are doing absolutely nothing." Draco said sadly.
"Oh,"
"Did you need something lovey?" Draco asked turning to his daughter.
"Ara's playing with her wand, and Gemini is out flying," Lyra sighed, "I'm bored."
"Well what would you like to do?"
"Um," Lyra said, thinking to herself, "Maybe we could-."
"Draco," Hermione said, standing suddenly in the doorway, a grave and worried expression on her face. Draco looked at his wife, and then at his daughter.
"Lyra, why don't you go find Ara, mummy and daddy need to talk."
Lyra pouted but hurried off; Draco turned to his wife. "What is it?" he asked urgently, sensing something was wrong.
"It's Ron," she said.
"What about that git?" Draco growled, a sense of jealously shooting through him, even though he knew his wife loved him, hearing her seem concerned about her ex boyfriend made him jealous.
"He's escaped," she breathed, "he's escaped from St. Mungo's. They don't know how he did it. I just got an anonymous letter, it doesn't say who it's from, but I have the strangest suspicion it's from Ginny, I'm almost certain it's a Weasley at any rate."
"Why do you think that?" Draco asked.
"The writing," she shrugged, "it's been a while since any of them wrote to me, but I could recognize the way they wrote their W's anywhere. It was a Weasley thing. But forge that, this is serious!"
"Why?" Draco sneered, "He's a brainless git, what will he do?"
"He's crazy, Draco! From what the note said he kept mumbling something about me in his sleep, some thought about me that was stuck in his head. Like Sirius," she breathed, suddenly remembering how Harry's godfather used to mumble about Pettigrew in his sleep before escaping Azkaban. "Draco I'm afraid he's going to come after me."
"He's not going to get to you, Hermione." Draco growled possessively, "Nobody is going to touch you."
"But what about the girls?"
"We'll send them to my mother's, there's no place safer than Malfoy Manor."
"We can't just keep sending them to Narcissa's every time there's a problem."
"Well what do you propose then, Hermione?" Draco asked angrily, "I won't have my girls is danger, any of you!"
"Find him," Hermione said, "Draco you're a Wizard Bounty Hunter, so find him before the Auror's do!"
"Hermione," Draco said uncertainly, "you know I can't do that without authorization."
"Draco please," Hermione pleaded, "I can't have him harm my family, our family."
Draco sighed, bringing the now sobbing Hermione into his arms, and rubbed soothing circle onto her back. "Shh," he whispered, "it'll be alright. I'll do whatever I can, I promise you Hermione."
A/N: Well then, things are starting to get a little interesting, eh? (yes I'm Canadian, and yes we say "eh" so what! lol)
Thanks for reading everyone, and thanks for all the reviews so far! And thank you "whenarewe" for your response to me "why don't I have a lot of reviews" complaint from the last chapter! They said (and I quote...)
"Well I'll tell you a few reasons why there aren't many reviews.
1. There isn't anything to question and critique.
2. We don't want our reviews to seem redundant.
3. We're too lazy to bother sign in."
Anywho, if you DO have something to say, or a question or comment, please feel free to leave a review! And I hope for those of you who don't want their reviews to feel "redundant", well I do hope you leave one at the END of the story and tell me if you liked it and whatnot!
Have a good day/evening/night/morning (wherever you all are from!)