Baby Steps.
Spending time with their friends was something Draco and Hermione tried to do on a weekend. The only difference these days was the addition of children to the mix. Shortly after Hermione had given birth to Lyra, Pansy and Theo welcomed their first child into the world. Now, all of their main group of friends had children. However, they didn't all spend every weekend together. A few weeks after Lyra's first birthday, Draco and Hermione took their kids round to Blaise and Daphne's for the afternoon. All their other friends were busy so it was just the two couples and the three children, Scorpius, Lyra and Blaise and Daphne's son, Alex.
"I hope you don't mind sitting on the floor," Daphne said as the group made their way out to the Zabinis back garden. In the middle of the lawn, Daphne had spread out a large picnic blanket for the group to sit on.
"Its fine," Hermione replied, settling Lyra onto the blanket and settling down next to her daughter.
"What happened to your table and chairs?" Draco asked.
"Do you want to explain, Blaise?" Daphne questioned, settling down as Alex and Scorpius ran off down the garden.
"It was a simple accident," Blaise said defensively.
"What did you do?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes at his best friend.
"I may have accidently set the table on fire," Blaise confessed.
"How can you accidentally set a table on fire?" Hermione questioned with a frown.
"Last week I bought some fireworks from George. I thought they might be nice to set off next month at our anniversary party," Blaise explained. "Of course, I had to try them, and one of them slipped off the table and onto one of the chairs. Next thing I knew, the table and chairs exploded and within seconds they were nothing but a pile of ash."
"I told you not to mess with the fireworks," Daphne said with a shake of her head. "George said he could set them up, but you had to get involved yourself."
"I can handle a few simple fireworks," Blaise protested.
"My burnt table says otherwise," Daphne shot back.
"Was it at least fun?" Draco asked with a smirk. Like Blaise, he wouldn't have been able to resist the lure of fireworks.
Grinning excitedly, Blaise set about regaling Draco with the story of his firework experience. With Draco and Blaise chatting happily, Hermione and Daphne focused their attention on Lyra and the boys. Alex and Scorpius were tearing round the garden, chasing the puppy Daphne was minding for her mother, while Lyra was content to play with her stuffed unicorn.
"The boys seem to love the dog," Hermione said with a smile.
"Alex loves him. I'm going to have my hands full when my parents return from holiday," Daphne said with a sigh. "He's not going to like having to say goodbye to Spot."
"Have you thought about getting Alex a pet?" Hermione asked. "Scorpius has been asking for a pet, but I think he'll get bored after a few weeks and leave me to look after it."
"That's what I'm afraid of with Alex," Daphne replied. "If I was to get him his own puppy, he'd think it was great for a few months, but then he'd get bored and I'd be stuck doing everything. So I've decided, no pets until he's older."
"You could always try giving him a younger sibling," Hermione suggested.
"Alex and Blaise are enough of a handful without adding more Zabinis to the mix," Daphne said, laughing lightly. "I don't know how you cope with two kids and Draco."
"Luckily Lyra isn't much hassle," Hermione said, smiling at her daughter. "So far she's missing the mischievous Malfoy gene."
"Just wait until she's walking. Then the fun will start," Daphne said as her mother's puppy came over to Lyra and started licking her face.
Hermione and Daphne chuckled as Lyra giggled and stroked the small puppy. After a few minutes of stroking the puppy, Lyra struggled to her feet unaided. Lyra stood for a couple of seconds, before the puppy trotted off. Hermione and Daphne fully expected Lyra to flop back down in the blanket, so they were left rather shocked when she took a few tentative steps off the blanket, before rushing off after the puppy.
"Oh my god," Hermione gasped in total shock as she watched her little girl trotting around the back garden.
Hermione's gasp drew Draco and Blaise's attention, and they watched in amazement as Lyra chased after the puppy. Despite Lyra taking her first steps, she was surprisingly agile on her feet and she made it a decent way before falling over. Hermione quickly jumped up and went to Lyra when she fell, but she was pleased to find her daughter giggling happily and clapping her hands in glee.
"That was cool, Lyra," Scorpius cried, rushing over to his little sister. "Do you want to try again?"
"Go easy on her," Hermione warned her son. "Don't push her into doing anything she's not ready for."
Scorpius nodded at his mother's warning, before gently helping his little sister to her feet. Returning to the blanket, Hermione kept an eye on Scorpius and Alex as they encouraged Lyra to continue walking. Lyra was happy to play with the boys for a while, but she soon got tired and Hermione returned her to the blanket to play with her dolls.
After her first steps there was no stopping Lyra, and within weeks she was constantly toddling around all over the place. Unfortunately for Hermione along with her ability to walk came her mischievous side, and all too soon she was dealing with two young children that had inherited all their father's Slytherin cunning.