13 January, Thursday, 0900 GMT
Hermione stretched as she looked around the familiar room. She didn't see Draco anywhere. 'Had last night been just her imagination? No, couldn't have been. She was in her childhood bedroom; he had brought her here,' she thought. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed as she looked at the red digital numbers on the clock change to 9:00.
She saw the documents on the nightstand where they had left them. She also saw the canister of medication, a tissue with a pill on it, and a glass of water. She smiled to herself as she popped the pill and took a swig.
She picked up the familiar picture frame. She ran her forefinger over the family photograph before she stood up. She headed to her bedroom's full bath to freshen up.
o-o-o
She looked at herself in the mirror after washing her face. She blew out a breath. 'It's a new day,' she thought, smiling to herself. She ran her brush through her hair and placed it into a ponytail to get it off her face. She looked at herself again before she walked out of the room.
She looked at the unmade bed. She smiled to herself, wishing she had her wand to straighten it easily. She spent some time making it; replacing the quilt on top of the queen sized mattress.
She walked into the hall, taking a deep breath. The smell of brewed coffee wafted through her nostrils; maybe he was in the kitchen. She gulped. She couldn't go there yet; the memory of the incident still weighing on her mind.
She looked at the living room, recognizing some of her furniture that was stowed away in self-storage. Harry must have helped Draco clear the self-storage pod she had rented. She smiled to herself as she walked to her parents' old room.
She hesitated before pushing open the door. She walked to her parents' dresser, looking at all of the old photographs in picture frames. She gulped as she picked up the photo of herself at ten, standing in front of her parents in front of their new home. She took a seat on the bed finally feeling the scope of what had happened the past twelve hours.
o-o-o
Draco had peeked into the bedroom that was empty but righted. He looked around the living room before walking towards the next bedroom. He stopped in his tracks when he heard her, talking, in her parents' room. He leaned against the doorframes between her parents' room and the spare bedroom, listening.
"I've got some news to tell you, Mum, Dad," she said, running a finger over the old photo. "It's not as if you guys don't already know from up there.
"You remember Draco Malfoy," she began, "the blonde haired wizard. We danced at the Graduation Ball as Head Boy and Head Girl."
She took a deep breath. "I know what you're thinking," she looked down. "We fought like cats and dogs growing up.
"It's different now. He's older, a little bit more mature, less condescending," he heard her say softly. He smiled to himself as he heard her continue, "He's teaching at Hogwarts, if you can believe that. He's great with the kids."
He heard her pause. He shut his eyes trying to listen as she spoke softly.
"We have a daughter," she said, stifling a sob.
Draco looked upward, suddenly feeling ill-mannered that he was listening to something so personal. He excused himself, entering the spare bedroom where he made his way to the tall bay window.
o-o-o
"She looks just like me," she said as she held up the picture frame unnecessarily, "Wavy, unmanageable brown hair. She has his eyes.
"He's going to take good care of her," she said as a tear fell onto the frame. She shook herself out of her funk standing up. She replaced the frame back onto the dresser.
She took in a breath as she walked out of the room. She looked at the spare bedroom, the door ajar. She canted an eyebrow as she pushed the door open. She gasped as she entered. Draco turned to see her. He gave her a warm smile.
"Hi," he said softly as he stood up from his seat in the bay window.
"It looks amazing Draco," she said as she walked toward him. They met at the dark cherry colored baby crib near the center of the room.
"Harry, Ginny and I fixed up the room," he said as he ran his fingers over the top of the crib. "You should have seen us the past couple of days shopping in the Muggle department, hardware and grocery stores.
"Ginny left us in the baby section of that large department store in London. What all the other customers must have thought about two of us blokes looking at diapers and cribs," he said. "Harry and I were relieved when Ginny came around the corner. I actually talked Harry into kissing her to show them differently."
"You're such a prat, Draco," she smiled as they both laughed.
Draco caressed her cheek. "You're going to have to tell Harry and Ginny about your cancer, Hermione," he said.
"Between you and Madame Pomfrey, I would've figured the truth would have come out by now," she gulped.
"Madame Pomfrey's got this thing about doctor-patient confidentiality," Draco rolled his eyes as Hermione laughed. "I promised you, remember.
"Harry and Ginny promised you, too, to keep Drew from me," Draco continued, smirking a little. "You can trust them."
Hermione nodded. "I'll tell them soon," she said squeezing his hand.
She looked around the room again. The old twin bed was still there, pushed up against the wall. A changing table and her old dresser from the apartment were there. She walked to the dresser, running her hand over the top of it. She opened up the top drawer. She saw small little infant onesies up through toddler jumpers.
"We went a bit crazy grabbing clothes. I didn't know what she would look good in," he shrugged. "Harry kinda rolled his eyes when he saw all the Slytherin green in the cart. So I let him put in some maroon and gold outfits as well."
She was speechless for a moment, her eyes starting to water. She looked up at him.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked, concerned, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
She nodded. "I can't believe you did all this?"
"That's a good thing right?" he asked, gulping.
She nodded. She ran a hand over his chest, grazing the familiar chain.
"I think she'll look great in anything," she said. "You're a great father, Draco. She's in good hands."
"Hermione," he said, knowing to what she was eluding.
"Listen, Draco," she gulped. "If Toby says what I think he's going to say today, I just want to be ready."
Draco placed his hands over hers. He looked at her.
"You know you could still get back with Roxanne," she smiled weakly. "You two've been tethered since I can remember. She would make a good mother, right? I'm sure your parents would approve."
"That's an awful thought, Hermione," he looked at her exasperatingly. "There's only one woman, okay make that two, that are in my scope right now."
Hermione pulled in closer to his chest, resting her cheek there. She felt him exhale and inhale.
"I'll talk to Headmistress McGonagall and see if she'll allow me out of my contract," he said.
"No," Hermione said shaking her head as she looked into his face. "I can't let you do that, Draco."
"Hermione," he began.
"Those kids look up to you, Draco," she said.
"What about you and Drew?" he said, looking into her eyes. She gulped. "I'll continue to teach if you can promise you'll hang on."
She bit her lip. He implored her with a look. He kissed her forehead. She nodded. "I'll try, Draco."
He just smiled at her. "Well, I don't know about you. But I'm famished. All they served was hors d'oeuvres last night."
They both laughed. Hermione looked around the room. "I think Drew's gonna like this room."
Draco smiled at her. He nodded towards the door. Hermione took a hold of his hand as they walked out.
o-o-o
13 January, Thursday, 0910 GMT
Draco had led Hermione into the kitchen. She wavered at the doorway. Draco gently squeezed her hand.
"Harry and I repaired the walls using Reparo," he said pointing to the kitchen. "Then we went to the hardware store and got all of these appliances. I don't even know what half of them do."
"It's beautiful, Draco," Hermione said as she allowed him to lead her into the kitchen. "Mum would've loved the upgrade."
"Eggs and breakfast meats?" Draco asked, pulling the items from the well-stocked refrigerator. Hermione smiled nodding.
o-o-o
13 January, Thursday, 1005 GMT
After breakfast, Draco waited in the living room in front of what Hermione and Harry referred to as the boob tube. He watched moving pictures cross the screen.
"Should I call a cab?" Hermione asked as she stood behind the couch. "I asked them to disconnect the fireplace to the floo network after the incident."
Draco nodded at her. That was something he would have to work on. She was dressed casually, as usual, in her light pink polo shirt, jeans, and trainers. He smiled as he stood up.
"You could side-along apparate us," she suggested.
"Uh, here," he said, handing her a key ring. She looked up at him. "Harry helped me pick it out."
She looked at the ignition key with the Chevrolet brand emblazoned on the handle. She raised an eyebrow as he nodded for her to follow him out to the open-air garage on the side of the house.
She gulped as she saw the charcoal grey, Chevrolet Traverse, an American made sport utility vehicle. She used the keyless entry remote to unlock the doors. He opened the driver's side door for her.
"Shall we?" he said as she sat in the driver's seat. He walked around to the passenger's side.
She placed the key in the ignition. She was so glad she had kept her driver's license up-to-date. She smiled at him and then suddenly she caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye; a child safety seat.
"You've thought of everything," she said looking at him. He smiled back shrugging. They both laughed. She pulled out of the driveway.
o-o-o
13 January, Thursday, 1210 GMT
Draco held her hand as they waited in the waiting room of Hermione's oncologist's office. Hermione had given four vials of blood nearly an hour and a half ago. Usually such a long wait would have offended many a patient.
Hermione and Draco on the other hand didn't mind it at all. They had walked back into the waiting room ten minutes ago. After Dr. Whitney did his initial check and the lab technician took her samples, Hermione had asked the receptionist to page her once the results came back from the laboratory and when the doctor would be ready to address her.
Draco followed her out of the cancer specialist's office and into the lift. They headed one floor up to the maternity ward. The pair spent the good part of an hour visiting their daughter, taking turns holding the small little child. Coincidentally, Dr. Nina Murayama, Drew's new pediatrician, dropped by just as they returned her to the nurse who was about to give Drew her bottle.
"Dr. Murayama," Hermione presented Draco to her, "This is Draco Malfoy, Drew's father."
"Ah, nice to meet you, Son," the older Asian doctor shook hands with the platinum blonde.
"Drew is progressing," Dr. Murayama began. "She's a little on the smaller side, but she's a fighter."
"She takes after her mother," Draco said, giving Hermione's shoulder a squeeze.
"Yes she does," the pediatrician said. "We're looking at a release date of the first of February. She still needs to put on another quarter of a kilo before I'd release her.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Malfoy," Dr. Murayama shook Draco's hands.
"Likewise," Draco said, nodding at her before she left the nursery. "She seems like a nice lady."
"Yeah, she is," Hermione nodded just as they heard the page over the hospital's public address system. "We'd better head downstairs."
o-o-o
13 January, Thursday, 1215 GMT
"Hermione, shall we head to my office?" Dr. Tobias Whitney met Hermione in the waiting room. "Your friend can come along, too."
Hermione looked at Draco and shrugged. They followed the oncologist down the hall, past the examination rooms towards his office. Hermione had been in the consulting office many times before. It was a nice one, fairly large unlike her supervisor's one downstairs.
Draco and Hermione were surprised to see the head of the hospital standing by the oncologist's desk. Dr. Whitney pointed to the couch in his office as he shut the door behind them. The pair sat side-by-side as Hermione canted an eyebrow at her boss.
"Well, sorry for the wait," Dr. Whitney said as he leaned against the front of his desk, mirroring his old colleague. "We just had to make sure of some things."
Hermione gulped. She looked at her supervisor for any tell whether the news would be good or bad.
"We ran the tests several times, Hermione," Dr. Whitney said.
Tears started to roll down Hermione's cheeks, fearing the worst. Draco squeezed her hand for reassurance.
"I brought Dr. Masterson down to confirm the results as well," the oncologist continued as he sat on the coffee table in front of the concerned patient. The older man looked directly into Hermione's eyes. He shrugged his shoulders. "Cell growth has decreased."
Hermione whimpered, growing weak. Draco had to hold her up. He looked at the oncologist. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Dr. Whitney took some time to find the right words, "Hermione's prognosis has improved."
Draco looked at Hermione, still not understanding. The pair looked up at the two doctors.
"It means that Hermione here will have beaten the odds once again, Draco," Dr. Masterson said as she kneeled in front of Hermione, placing a hand on her knee. She looked at her subordinate. "You're going to make it past the end of the month."
Hermione hugged the older woman. They held the embrace for a good minute or two before Dr. Masterson took a seat on the edge of the coffee table.
Dr. Tobias Whitney smiled at the young woman. He took a seat next to his patient. He put his arm around her shoulder. "Now, it might be another six months to a year, that's a low estimate of course," he said. "We'll still schedule you for monthly check-ups, just to make sure that the cancer is contained. But I think it's safe to say that someone up there must be looking out for you."
Hermione laughed. Dr. Whitney nodded at the platinum blonde as he stood up. Draco hugged the brunette.
"We'll continue with the treatment, then," Dr. Whitney said. "Make sure you take those pills."
"Yes, Sir," Hermione said as she and Draco stood up, slightly wobbly.
"I'll walk you two out," Dr. Masterson said as she shook hands with the oncologist.
o-o-o
13 January, Thursday, 1245 GMT
They had exited the vehicle after pulling up into the driveway of the recently purchased home. Hermione put her hand in his as they walked up the walkway towards the doorstep of the home. Draco unlocked the door and they entered.
"Do you think Harry and Ginny would mind us stopping in for lunch right now?" she asked him as he locked the door behind them.
He smiled as he pulled his wand out of his pocket. He canted an eyebrow as he held out his hand to her. She nodded. They apparated.
14