Astoria woke up and the first thing she saw was his soft platinum blond hair and inhaled his musky scent. She smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair. This had been her ritual for six months now. Draco would at times turn up at her place and stay the night. She smiled at the memories of the night before, running her fingers along the scratch marks on his back. He stirred, his arms instinctively tightening around her body as he kissed her neck and chest.
"Good morning." He whispered in her ear, nibbling it, his weight pinning her to the bed.
"The morning indeed is good." She replied with a mischievous cheeky smile.
He laughed, before rolling off her. "Sex is never off your mind is it?" He asked laughing still.
"Nope. Never. I am not a lady, I am a shameless vixen."
"I can vouch for that."
"Hey!" Astoria protested, swatting his shoulder.
He stopped laughing and mock glared at her, "You did not just do that!"
"What did I do?" She asked innocently, "This?" and swatted him again on his shoulder.
"This is on, Greengrass!" Draco said, "Here, deflect this." He said swatting her shoulder. "And this." He said swatting her shoulder again.
Soon there was a full on swat- war. Astoria was pinned to Draco's side, which meant she could only use one hand while Draco could use both of his hands.
"This is unfair!" She said giggling madly, "I can't use both my hands."
"Well, you should have thought about that, before picking up a fight with the big guy."
Astoria snorted, trying to stem her laughter and Draco playfully swatted her some more but Astoria wriggled as she laughed and Draco accidentally hit her breast. It didn't hurt at all but Draco did not know that, he immediately pulled Astoria to him and kissed her breast.
"Oh no! I am so sorry!" Draco said pressing feather light kisses on her breast. "Does it hurt?" he asked in between the kisses.
"Yes." Astoria said with a pout.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Here" She said pointing to her breast, Draco dutifully kissed the spot.
"And here." She said pointing to her chest, Draco kissed the spot. Her fingers kept pointing to different spots on her skin, her neck, her chin, the corner of her mouth. She could feel Draco's grin against her lips.
"You are such a minx." He whispered against her lips, "No, correction. You are my minx." He said before pressing his lips to hers in a searing kiss.
Draco and Astoria would gladly have let Rome burn to Nero's music, but her alarm clock went off and they groaned.
"I hate that thing." He said, glaring at the offensive device.
"Yes. Yes. I know. It stops you from having your way with me." Astoria said with a laugh, as she sat up in bed.
Draco rolled over to her, his hand gripping her waist, as he kissed her lower back. "Don't go." He muttered.
"Draco." She said almost pleadingly. He didn't say anything, just kissed his way up her spine.
"Tell them you are sick." He muttered seductively, tracing a pattern on her lower back with his finger.
She leaned into him, settling her head on his shoulder, as his hands wound around her waist and he kissed her shoulder.
"Okay." She whispered, Merlin knew she was entitled to take a day off. In the 2 years since she had joined St. Mungo's, almost immediately after her graduation from Healer academy, she had rarely taken a personal day off.
They sat in silence; Draco kissed her shoulder and neck while she ran her fingers in his hair. As he sucked on a particularly sensitive spot, she moaned, her hands tightening on his arms.
"But Draco." She said, in between laboured breaths. "Teddy is visiting you, today."
Draco flicked his wrist in the air, as if dismissing the subject and continued kissing her neck. He kissed her hair a couple of times before settling back in the bed with Astoria in his arms.
"We could do something together." He said thoughtfully, "The three of us could go to muggle London. The zoo or the park or something."
Astoria nodded, "Yes. I would like that. But before that, I need some beauty sleep and you need to go home and change and spend some time with Teddy alone. I will see you after lunch. Okay?"
Draco pouted and Astoria laughed, giving him a quick kiss. After many more kisses and laughs, Draco left Astoria on her bed and made his way home.
"Uncle Drake!" Teddy exclaimed jumping into Draco's arms and laughed as Draco threw him in the air.
"How is my favourite little person?"
"I am five years old, Uncle Draco. I am a big boy now." Teddy said rolling his eyes.
"Oh! Is that so? Well, then I guess big boys don't like chocolate chip muffins or a big bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate. I will just have to return it."
"No! Okay, maybe I am not that big." Teddy said quickly with an innocent smile.
"Well do you want to eat those now or do you want to go flying first?"
Teddy bit his lip as he thought hard about what he wanted. Draco watched him, thoroughly entertained. Merlin knew, Teddy was the most engaging child he had ever met, not to mention that Teddy was the only child he had ever met.
"I want to go flying first."
"Okay, champ. Let's go fly. You can fly on my broom today."
"Can we go fly over the forest?"
"Sure, thing."
Teddy whooped as they climbed higher in the air. He leant back and snuggled on Draco's chest and let his hands go, laughing all the while. They flew over the forest and Teddy chattered on about his summer and how excited he was about going to a new school.
"So, Aunt Andromeda is set? You will go to that muggle school?"
"Yeah."
"But why? There are magical schools for children these days. Doesn't Potter know about it?"
"He does. But Gran says, Mum and Granddad went to a muggle school, I should go too. She says, since Granddad was a muggle, I should know about the muggle world too."
"Your home is in a muggle neighbourhood, Teddy. You have a TV and those games with you. You even like that stupid sport where these nutters run around after just one ball, and what about that other sport? With a bat and a ball and everyone tries to stop the ball, crazy sports these muggles come up with."
Teddy laughed. He knew Draco criticised Football and Cricket in front of everyone, but secretly he enjoyed these sports.
"Yeah. But I would like to go to the muggle school too."
"But then you won't know anyone before you go to Hogwarts. You will have to make new friends at Hogwarts."
Teddy shrugged. "I would like that too. I like making new friends."
"Uncle Draco, how come I never see you at work?" Teddy asked suddenly.
Draco laughed. "Because I own a company, kid. I can take an off whenever I want to."
"So what do you do when you own a company?"
"Well, you meet a lot of people and try to sell a lot of products and when they buy those products you make money."
"So, what's a product?"
"Well, they could be anything, if someone else is making them for you and putting it up in a store it becomes a product like your clothes are products, or this broomstick is a product-"
"Or the boom-things at Uncle George's shop are products?"
"Yes. By the way, boom-things?"
"Yeah. Err… don't tell Gran or Mum. Uncle George says they will kill him, but he makes a lot of new things and mostly they go boom."
"And he lets you stay in that room?"
"Err… Not always, sometimes Uncle Ron, asks me to help him at the counter and on other times I help Uncle George, he asks me to add things and I do and then things go boom."
"How do they go boom?"
"Well, once he asked me to add a little bit of crushed wings, I added a handful and everything went boom. It was fun! We ended up with electric blue hair for two days, well he ended up with blue hair, I changed my look." Teddy said brightly. Draco shook his head in disbelief. He would soon pay a visit to George Weasley, and ensure Teddy's safety. They continued talking about everything under the sky.
Teddy and Draco entered the back garden after a morning of flying to find Andromeda and Narcissa in a deep conversation over something.
"Hello!" Teddy said, running to his Great Aunt Cissy and hugging her without even washing his muddy hands off. He gave her quick kisses on both her cheeks before standing still enough to let her survey him.
"Teddy!" Andromeda said sharply, "Why haven't you washed your hands young man?"
"Sorry, Gran." Teddy said before moving to wash his hands apologising to Narcissa for soiling her clothes but Narcissa stopped him.
"Nonsense. Come here Ted. Scourgify. See your hands are clean now." She said giving a quick kiss to Teddy. "I am sorry Andy, but you know I will spoil him rotten."
"I guess I can't argue with that."
"So what do you ladies plan to do for the rest of the day?" Draco asked, picking up a muffin from the plate near him.
"Draco Malfoy!" Narcissa exclaimed, "You go wash your hands first, they are filthy."
"Relax, mum. Here. Scourgify. Happy?"
"Not quite. You are setting a bad example in front of Teddy."
"But Aunt Cissy, you just cleaned my hands like that." Teddy pointed out, looking up from his plate.
Andromeda laughed, "That's why I need to school him. He is too cheeky for his own good."
Narcissa mock glared at Teddy, before pulling his cheek, "You are also too charming. It will pay off."
Lunch was a pleasant affair that day. Post lunch Narcissa and Andromeda chose to go shopping while Draco took Teddy to the park near Astoria's home, promising to bring Teddy home for dinner.
Astoria was waiting for Draco and Teddy outside her apartment building. She gave a quick hug and kiss to Teddy before kissing Draco.
"Eww! Gross!" Teddy complained as the adults kissed.
"Give it a few years and you won't find it gross at all kid." Draco told Teddy.
"Draco!" Astoria exclaimed, swatting his arm.
"What? It's a fact!"
"It's okay Tori. Dad says, someday all I would want to do would be to kiss a girl and he really doesn't to know me at that time." Teddy said with a shrug.
Draco burst out laughing. "When that time comes kid, even I would not want to talk to you, till you are over that period."
"Draco!" Astoria exclaimed. "Don't worry Teddy. I will talk to you and I will make sure, your dad and Uncle listen to you too. I will ask your mum to help me too."
Teddy laughed. "Dad won't do anything to upset mum. She is scary when she is angry. Uncle Ron says dad is whipped. But why would he say that, mum never whips anyone?"
"Oh no. She doesn't Teddy. It's just a weird way to say that your dad loves your mum." Astoria said smoothly, her experience as a healer paying off.
"Oh! So, Uncle Draco are you whipped too?"
"Teddy! You shouldn't say that to people." Astoria reprimanded him as Draco tried hard to suppress his grin. They had reached the park and Teddy ran to the swing set as Astoria and Draco followed.
Teddy was sporting Platinum blonde hair and grey eyes today. Draco, Astoria and Teddy played on the swings, on the slide, they even played tag. Tired and sweaty, Draco and Astoria slumped on a bench as Teddy continued to play. The two watched him play in silence, their hands locked together.
"That's a very fine young boy you have got there." An old lady sitting next to them said, as she watched Teddy chase a squirrel around.
"Thank you ma'am." Draco said.
"You are doing quite well as parents, despite being so young. I always tell my daughter, that the sooner she had kids the better. I had her when I was 19. She is 25 and not interested in settling down at all, says she wants a career as a lawyer first."
"I am sure she considers a good career as settling down too. She will get married and have children as soon she feels ready for them." Astoria answered. "Career is a very important thing in a woman's life too."
"Do you work, dear?"
"As a matter of fact, I do. I am a doctor."
"Oh that's all very well. But you, young man, you allow her to work? Don't you do anything respectable?" She asked Draco.
"He has a business empire to handle." Astoria replied politely, but Draco could sense her irritation.
"So, your husband does earn enough. Then why do you work? Don't you want to stay at home and raise that lovely boy of yours?"
Draco held Astoria's hand before replying, "I take care of our household, since the business is mine, I can work from home. She worked really hard to become a doctor; it would be quite unfair to force her to stay at home."
"You are lucky you have such a supportive husband. You should be grateful to him."
"Oh! I do express my gratitude in more than one way and he loves them all." Astoria said sweetly, running a hand over Draco's arm, the old woman jumped up from the bench, scandalised and trotted off, muttering darkly about how these modern day women with too much freedom were destroying the fabric of polite society.
"You really didn't have to do that." Draco muttered in Astoria's ear.
"Oh please! She deserved it. The way she was going on and on about how I shouldn't have a career, made my blood boil. What was her problem anyway?"
"She just thinks differently." Draco explained with a shrug, Astoria made a face. "Hey, its okay." Draco said nudging her shoulder. "Whatever she says doesn't affect us at all. Women in wizarding families have careers of their own."
"Not all women do. Look at Daphne, her mother-in-law allowed her to work because she had to create designs from home. Our mother impressed upon us since the start that we have to be good house-wives over and above everything else."
"We were supposed to know how to cook gourmet food, for special occasions. Daph still knows how to cook. I-"
"-would burn the sauce pan if someone asked you to boil some water?"
Astoria swatted his arm. "I survive on take- out. I don't like cooking food."
"That's okay." Draco said with a shrug, "We have house- elves and I am an excellent cook. Mum and I used to cook together. That was the only time I got to spend with her, away from all rules of polite society."
Astoria smiled sadly. "But your mother is a house-wife too. What if she expects a daughter-in-law who knows how to cook; someone who would leave her job to raise a family?"
"Nonsense. My mum expects nothing of the sort. When we get married, she would only want you to be true to yourself. No one would force you to leave anything you love. I love you Tori, I would never hurt you by asking you to choose between the things you love."
Astoria stared at Draco, stunned into silence. "What?" He asked, confused at her silence.
"You-you said-; Did you just say you love me and you think we will get married?"
"I-I-guess so." Draco said his mouth dry. "I mean, only if you want to marry me. No pressure."
"I think I would like that." Draco breathed a sigh of relief before his head snapped up.
"So, are you saying you would like to marry me?"
"Yeah. Someday I would like to marry you. Sooner rather than later."
"Okay, wait a minute. HEY! TEDDY!"
Teddy came running, "Yeah?"
"Remember the talk we had this afternoon?"
Teddy looked at him confused. "About the hippogriffs?"
"No, about you know, Tori and I?"
"Oh! Yeah that. I said I would do it."
"Yeah, well you need to do it now."
"Now? Right now?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Teddy said with a shrug.
"Tori, can we go for a walk?"
"Yeah. Sure." Astoria said looking confusedly at Draco and Teddy.
Teddy held Astoria's hand and led her a few steps away, before stopping and beckoning her forward.
"Please marry my Uncle Draco. He really loves you. And he wants to marry you. Will you please marry, my Uncle Draco?"
Astoria turned to see Draco on his knees with a box in his hands. "YES!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, before running into Draco's arms. The ring was a Malfoy family heirloom and fit snugly on her finger, and right there in that moment, under a dusky sky, with a whooping and cheering Teddy Lupin, and Draco in his casual jeans and shirt and she in her ripped jeans and T-shirt, Astoria Greengrass was the happiest witch on Earth. She thought she needed a special proposal and the perfect dress and moment, but as she walked back, hand in hand with Draco Malfoy and a sleepy Teddy in his arms, she realized that she has had perfect moments, ever since she met Draco Malfoy.
AN: To be really honest, I was thinking of something else but then, I just got them engaged. Deal with it. I am dealing with it too.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Do read and review. If you are new here and you like the story don't forget to favorite/follow. I update every week.
Happy Reading
Much love
The fishes