Unexpected Pets.
Hermione let out a contented sigh as she stepped inside the front door of her house and dropped her weekend bag onto the floor. Hermione had spent the weekend with her parents, helping her father cope with her mother who had broken her leg and was stuck in bed. As much as Hermione loved her parents the weekend had been exhausting. Even her two children weren't as much of a handful as her parents had been.
Wondering where Draco and the children were, Hermione slipped off her jacket and shoes and made her way to the front room. Finding the front room empty, albeit it a bit messy, Hermione carried on through to the kitchen. The kitchen was also empty, but Hermione took a few minutes to pour herself a glass of water. As Hermione filled the glass her eyes drifted to the back garden and her mouth dropped open in shock. Her normally immaculate lawn had a giant hole in it.
"Draco!" Hermione yelled, still shell-shocked by the sight of the hole in the back garden.
Hermione immediately heard feet on the stairs, and she turned round in time to catch Scorpius as her son launched himself at her.
"Mummy, you're back," Scorpius declared happily.
"I'm back." Hermione smiled as she picked her son up in her arms. "Did you miss me?"
Scorpius nodded happily as he snuggled into Hermione. Hermione then turned to her husband who had entered the kitchen carrying their one year old daughter, Lyra.
"We've missed you too," Draco said, stepping forward and giving Hermione a peck on the cheek.
Hermione smiled at Lyra and gave her a kiss, before refocusing on her husband. "Would you care to explain why there's a hole in the back garden?"
"It's for Jack and Jill," Scorpius answered. "We're building a pond."
"A pond?" Hermione frowned. "Why are we building a pond, and who are Jack and Jill?"
"Jack and Jill are upstairs in the bath," Scorpius said. "Come and see Mummy, they're cute and fluffy."
"Draco, what is going on?" Hermione asked her husband as Scorpius wriggled down from her arms, took hold of her hand and started to pull her towards the stairs.
"I can explain, I promise," Draco vowed as he followed his wife and son up the stairs.
An excited Scorpius dragged Hermione into the bathroom, before letting go of her hand and racing to stand beside the bathtub. As her son bent over the side of the tub and started chatting away, Hermione stepped forward to find out what exactly was in the bath. What she found was a bath half full of water and two tiny yellow ducklings swimming around.
"They're ducks," She stated with wide eyes. "Why do we have ducks in the bath?"
"We got them from the farm," Scorpius told his mother as he stroked one of the tiny ducklings.
"What farm?" Hermione asked her husband.
"Yesterday Blaise and I took the kids to a petting farm that's near to where Blaise and Daphne lives," Draco explained. "Scorpius and Lyra both loved it, as did Alex."
"That sounds like a good day out, but why do we have ducklings in the bath?" Hermione pressed. "Surely the farm didn't just let you walk away with the animals."
"Actually they often sell some of the baby animals, especially ducklings and chicks," Draco answered.
"But why did you buy two ducklings?" Hermione questioned, still not sure why exactly Draco had bought the birds.
"Blaise bought Alex a piglet, and Scorpius wanted one as well. I knew you would go mad if you returned home to find a piglet running around the house so I compromised and got the ducklings," Draco explained. "I've started work on the pond and it'll be finished in a few days. The ducks can then live outside and we can get a duck flap fitted so they can come indoors when it's cold."
"A duck flap?" Hermione repeated in bewilderment.
"Just think yourself lucky we don't have a piglet," Draco chuckled.
"I bet Daphne loved that," Hermione laughed, admitting that it could be worse than having ducklings in the bath.
"She wasn't thrilled," Draco confessed. "In fact when we left she was insisting Blaise return the piglet."
"And what did Blaise have to say about that?" Hermione questioned, watching Scorpius as he splashed around in the water playing with the ducklings.
"He reckoned he wasn't returning it. According to him when it's fully grown, it's going to provide breakfast for a month."
"That's awful, he can't do that," Hermione gasped.
"Of course he won't," Draco laughed. "He was just as excited about getting the piglet as Alex."
"Daddy, can we get Jack and Jill out of the water now?" Scorpius asked, interrupting his parent's conversation.
"I guess so," Draco said to his son. "According to the farmer until we get the pond built putting them in the bath for a few hours here and there will be fine."
"And what happens when they're not in the bath?" Hermione asked, taking Lyra off Draco as her husband went to get the ducklings out of the bath.
"They just run around the place." Draco shrugged in response to his wife's question. "We've set up a bed for them in Scorpius's room and I've cast charms on them so anytime they do any business it cleans itself."
Still not sure of how it would work having ducklings running around the place, Hermione watched as Draco took each duckling from the bath and dried them off with a towel before placing them on the floor. The ducklings immediately ran over to Scorpius, who sat down on the floor to play with them.
"Don't sit on the bathroom floor," Draco told his son. "Come downstairs and play."
Scorpius instantly jumped up and taking hold of Draco's hand he trotted out of the bathroom and headed towards the stairs. Hermione followed with Lyra, watching in amazement as the ducklings followed Scorpius down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs Draco let go of Scorpius's hand and he went running into the front room with the ducklings hot on his heels.
"That is rather cute," Hermione admitted as she watched Scorpius running around the front room with the ducklings. "They seem to love Scorpius."
"They do." Draco nodded. "They follow him everywhere."
"Let's just hope they'll stay on their pond when it's built," Hermione said as she settled down on the sofa and placed Lyra in her nearby playpen.
"Does that mean we're keeping them?" Draco checked as he sat down next to his wife.
"I can hardly tell you to take them back, can I?" Hermione snorted. "Scorpius would be heartbroken, he clearly loves the ducklings."
"He does." Draco smiled fondly as he watched his son playing with the ducklings.
"Although I'm not sure I'll be leaving you alone for the weekend again," Hermione said as Draco wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Who knows what I'll return home to next time."
"Well I have been thinking of taking Scorpius to the dragon sanctuary," Draco grinned wickedly.
"No dragons," Hermione insisted, causing Draco to laugh at the horror etched onto her face at the thought of coming home to a baby dragon in the house.
Coming home to find two ducklings in residence and her garden half dug up was bad enough, but Hermione had no desire to come home to find a baby dragon flying around the place. Her life was hectic enough dealing with Draco and the kids, let alone adding a dragon to the mix.