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Hermione heaved a huge sigh and leaned on the nearest wall as her early morning shift in the children's ward of St . Mungo's finally came to a close. As much as she loved the energy and happiness of the kids in the ward, she would always find herself bone tired after every shift. But none of it matters to her as she loved being a part of the children's lives and being one of the reasons for them to hope once again every time she treated their injuries and played with them to pass the time. There was just a certain bravery sparkling within their eyes that Hermione admires so much as they go through rounds and rounds of treatment just to be healed. At the same time, her heart still constricts painfully as she sees the numerous orphans brought about by the war that she always made a point to visit them and donate much of her galleons for their betterment. One day, she would make her dream of building an orphanage into a reality and provide a home for as many orphans as she can. She tucked a lone piece of curl behind her ear and her lips formed a small smile as she remembered how not so long ago, she would fight tooth and nail against any trainee healer who would dare even say that they were taking away from her the shift in the children's ward. But that was before she met Scorpius, and now that she has him to play with, she doesn't have to look forward to these shifts that much anymore as Scorpius was already a lot to handle all by himself and can easily occupy her time with endless toddler games and storytelling. She now gladly took a small step back from the responsibilities of treating the children and let the other healers take some shifts in there as well.
Straightening from her tired position against the wall, Hermione dusted off her light green scrubs covered with moving figures of drazzy the dragon ( a gift from Scorpius of course) and started for the healers' lounge. With every step that she took, Hermione noticed that people all around her were unabashedly staring at her as she walked by, some were even pointing and whispering. This has been going on for the better part of the morning and was frankly getting on Hermione's nerves. Yes, yes, I'm Hermione Granger the war heroine, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley's bestfriend, Witch Weekly's witch of the decade. Now please stop staring as I have a job, she thought grimly.
Hermione was no stranger to looks like these. She'd been receiving these looks ever since her very first year at Hogwarts. She had accepted a long time ago that this was one of the sacrifices she had to endure in order to be friends with Harry Potter. To her it was a small sacrifice compared to all the other things she had to give up for Harry all these years so she doesn't really see it as a huge burden. It can get annoying at times, but it was nothing she can't handle. With a quick smile to a gaping wizard near the entrance of the healers' lounge, she quickly maneuvered herself through the door in record time.
The moment Hermione entered the room, all activities in the usually busy lounge seemed to have gone to a standstill as every healer in the room stopped whatever it was they were doing to stare at her. Even Healer Digglebee - who they nicknamed as Healer Diggy for the way he seemed to dig through his food – was having a hard time shoving food into his mouth as he was also gawking at her. Hermione tried clearing her throat to defuse the awkward tension as she started to walk, but she can still feel the stares and whispers following her all the way to her usual table in the far corner of the room. She was so glad to finally just unwind and see her fellow trainee healer, Padma Patil already sitting at their usual table with her twin sister, Parvati that she all but forgot the weird looks she had been receiving all day. With a small smile at Padma, she finally took a seat across the twins as she started to relax, noting with amusement how Parvati was wiggling and bouncing all over her seat with a huge grin on her face.
"Hermione!" Parvati greeted with a giggle.
"Oh, hey Parvati! I haven't seen you in a while, you must be really busy with your apprenticeship with Madame Malkin to come and visit us."
"Yeah, yeah apprenticeship whatever." Parvati answered with a dismissive wave of her hand, her chunky bangles making a clacking noise at the gesture.
"Soooooo is it true?!"
Hermione looked at Parvati in confusion. "Is what true?"
"Are you –"
"Parvati! You promised you weren't going to pry! I shouldn't have brought you here if all you'll do is badger Hermione. I told you not to ask!" Padma interjected. "I'm really sorry about that, Hermione. You must be really having a hard time getting all the media circus under control."
"What are you talking about, Padma? What media circus?" now Hermione was really confused.
"What?! Don't tell me you haven't seen the news? It's the only thing everyone's talking about! Every magazine and newspaper has it on their cover!" Parvati cheered as she dumped a stack of glossy magazines on the table in front of Hermione.
Hermione's eyes widened as she shakily took the clipping on top of the magazines which was taken from the Daily Prophet printed out that very day.
Blaise smirked as Draco read the headline of the Daily Prophet with unsteady hands.
Hermione Granger, The New Mistress Of Malfoy Manor?
"You definitely picked one hell of a way to tell everyone that you're banging Granger."
Draco only stared at the moving picture of Hermione and him printed on the front page of the paper. He watched as the photo unconditionally replayed the scene of him giving Hermione a heated kiss as Scorpius was lying on Hermione's lap asleep. He can clearly make out Hermione's little smiles in between his kisses and of course his shock of silver hair was unmistakable even from a not so clear photo.
"This… Who…. What…" Draco stuttered as Blaise's smirk started to fade upon the realization that Draco had nothing to do with the release of the photos.
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you haven't seen these pictures. They're all over the goddamn place, Draco. You must've seen today's Daily Prophet at the very least."
But Draco hadn't read any newspaper yet due to his busy workday and he was pretty sure that Hermione didn't know about the articles either. He had no doubt in his mind that Hermione would be the first one to tell him if there was any issue at all concerning their relationship. Now he was just hoping that Scorpius was safe and very far away from any reporter that can harass him. He hurriedly took hold of his wand and sent Hermione their signature green sparks as he made his way to the fireplace in his office and stuck his head through the green floo flames.
The first thing Draco saw was some unfortunate bloke getting coffee near the fireplace in the Healers' Lounge. The wizard almost poured his coffee all over himself as Draco barked at him to go and get Hermione immediately. In a few seconds, Hermione's rattled face came into his view.
"Draco! Have you seen the articles? The pictures? Scorpius could be in trouble! Can you just imagine what the reporters would be willing to do just to get to him? This was a bad idea, Draco! We shouldn't have – " Hermione spouted, the worry in her eyes evident, her hair which was usually in a perfect bun was falling limply all over her face.
"This was not a bad idea, Hermione! We are not a bad idea! You are the best thing that ever happened to me and Scorpius and don't you ever tell me otherwise." Draco interjected. "You pinky promised me and my son that you would never leave us. And I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm really hoping that that stupid pinky promise will hold true till the end. We will get through this, Hermione. And I am not losing you in the process I swear to Merlin."
Hermione's worried expression softened a bit as Draco's words started to get to her. With a shaky laugh, Hermione brushed off another curl off her eyes and gave Draco a small smile.
"Well, I can't really break a pinky promise now can I?"
Draco gave out a huge sigh and felt his heart beat back to a slower rhythm upon seeing Hermione's smile.
"I'll be there in a few seconds, love. We're gonna face this together."
Hermione's smile widened at Draco's words. With a final nod from Hermione, Draco ended the fire call and straightened to his full height. He was in such a hurry that he barely noticed that Blaise was actually talking to him.
"Draco, man are you even listening to me? I asked you how you're gonna get Scorpius away from those good for nothin' reporters. I mean, you can't really go to Granger and fetch Scorpius at the same time."
Draco stopped in his tracks as he actually considered what Blaise was asking.
"I'll figure out a way." He muttered briskly.
Blaise chuckled at his short reply. "You know you don't have to do everything alone all the damn time. That's why I'm your best bud! I'm here to help." Blaise replied with a smirk.
Draco raised his eyebrow at Blaise and waited for him to continue in what he was suggesting.
"I'll go get the little man, you know, keep him company and play with him and you can whisk your new lady of manor away from all the buzzards I'm pretty sure are camped out of St . Mungo's."
Draco lifted a folder off his desk and smacked Blaise's head with it with a smirk.
"He's not some damsel in distress, you asshole. I'm pretty sure she's very capable of handling this situation by herself. I just wanna be there with her when shit hits the fan to let her know that this us we got going on is the sure thing."
"Oh I'm sure she's very good at handling things." Blaise replied wiggling his eyebrows at Draco.
Draco smacked him again with the folder and gave out a laugh.
"Just go get my son and keep him safe. And for the record, she is very good at handling things." Draco replied with a smirk.
Blaise's laugh echoed through the walls as he made his way to the apparition point. Almost as if taking with him all the lightheartedness of the situation as Draco's mood sobered once again as Blaise was finally out of sight.
He really doesn't give a flying hippogriff's ass in whatever everyone thinks about him as long as he had Hermione and Scorpius with him. He's ready to take on anyone and everyone if that was what it would take to get back the peace in their lives. Because that was what you do when you love someone, you protect them. And if there's anything that's unquestionable at that very moment, it was his love for Hermione and his son. He once failed to protect the people he loved and he was not going to fail again this time. His love for Hermione was greater than what he ever felt for Astoria or even for his parents and this time he was not letting anything scare him and get in his way.
Oh no! What do you think will happen?
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Love lots, TheMalfoys