Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
As usual Platform Nine and Three Quarters was bustling with students and parents as the Malfoys arrived with their children. This year was Lyra's first year at Hogwarts, and Hermione was slightly subdued at the thought of sending both her children off to school. It had been hard enough to say goodbye to Scorpius, but now her little girl was leaving as well.
"Don't look so morose," Draco chided his wife. "They'll be back before we know it."
"I guess so," Hermione sighed. "But December seems so far away."
"The time will fly," Draco reassured his wife, wrapping his arm around her waist and giving her a deep kiss.
"Stop that," Scorpius hissed, scowling at his parents. "It's embarrassing."
"What's embarrassing?" Hermione asked with a grin as Draco made a show of dropping his hand to her backside and giving her bum a squeeze.
"I'm so pleased to be going back to school," Scorpius muttered.
"You should be pleased your parents are happy," Draco told his son.
"Happy is one thing, randy is another matter altogether," Scorpius retorted.
Draco and Hermione chuckled as Scorpius spotted Alex across the platform and raced off to talk to his best friend. Lyra meanwhile was looking nervously around the platform.
"Are you ready, princess?" Draco asked.
"I guess so," Lyra replied quietly. Normally she was pretty confident, but it was scary leaving home to attend boarding school.
"It'll be fine," Hermione reassured her daughter. "You'll have Scorp to look out for you, and Faith is also starting school this year."
"Scorpius told me to stay away from him and Alex," Lyra said. "He doesn't want a little sister cramping his style."
"What style, he's thirteen?" Hermione asked with a snort. "It's not as if he's bothered about girls yet."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Draco said with a laugh. "At thirteen I was starting to notice girls. In fact I had my first kiss in third year."
"I don't want to hear about your exploits back in Hogwarts," Hermione told her husband, shooting him an unimpressed glare before turning to her daughter. "Don't worry Lyra, I'm sure Scorpius didn't mean it."
"I'm not bothered," Lyra answered with an unconcerned shrug. "I don't need a big brother cramping my style."
Chuckling at their independent daughter, Draco and Hermione helped her get her trunk onto the train. Lyra was carrying her pet carrier that contained her grey half Kneazle, Rufus, and she refused to be parted from the animal.
"Make sure you write and let us know how you're settling in," Hermione said to her daughter as she gave her a hug.
"I will," Lyra promised as she hugged both her mother and father. "I'll let you know what house I'm sorted into."
"I can tell you that now, you're a Slytherin through and through," Draco said with an affectionate laugh.
"Do you think so?" Lyra asked happily. Apart from her mother her entire family were Slytherins, and even though she felt bad that no-one would be taking after Hermione and being sorted into Gryffindor, she wanted to be a Slytherin.
"Absolutely," Hermione said, agreeing with her husband. "You, my darling, are most definitely your father's daughter. You were born to be a Slytherin."
"And you don't mind?" Lyra checked. "Would you not rather I was a Gryffindor."
"I've known for a long time that I wouldn't get any children in Gryffindor," Hermione said. "You and Scorpius are both too much like your father and grandfather."
"You can have your Slytherin moments," Draco said to his wife. "I think you would have been a great Slytherin."
"Yeah, if I wasn't a muggleborn," Hermione retorted.
"It was Slytherin's loss," Draco said, dropping a kiss to the top of Hermione's head.
"Are you two still at it?" Scorpius cried as he approached his family with the Zabinis and Notts in tow.
"What's going on?" Pansy asked as Faith rushed over to Lyra and the two girls began gossiping about their upcoming adventures at Hogwarts.
"Scorpius thinks we're embarrassing," Draco answered.
"I don't think it I know it," Scorpius muttered. "Come on Alex, let's grab a compartment before the little newbies try and steal them all."
Saying their goodbyes, Scorpius and Alex hurried onto the train. Lyra and Faith took longer to say goodbye to their parents, before they also headed onto the train to grab seats. As they waited for the train to depart, they were joined by the Potters and the Weasleys, who were seeing their children off. Now they were down to two children yet to start Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny's youngest, Lily, and Theo and Pansy's second daughter, Angelica.
"And they're off for another year," Blaise remarked with a grin as the train began to pull out of the station. "Now I can walk around the house naked again."
"Remind me not to pop by unannounced," Pansy drawled. "Seeing you naked is not my idea of fun."
"You should try it, you might like it," Blaise said, winking at his friend's wife.
"You're forgetting I've already seen you naked, Blaise," Pansy replied. "And it does nothing for me."
"That doesn't count," Blaise protested. "I was cold, you didn't get the full effect."
"When did you see Blaise naked?" Ginny asked Pansy. In all the years they'd been friends with the Slytherins, she didn't know that Pansy had once seen Blaise naked.
"Back in school," Pansy answered. "It was sixth year I think. He was with a girl in the quidditch stadium and Snape almost caught them. Blaise and the girl managed to hide, but Blaise didn't manage to grab his clothes. He had to sneak back to the dungeons naked, and I bumped into him on the way. It was so funny."
"It wasn't funny for me," Blaise grumbled. "I nearly got frostbite on my balls."
"It serves you right for shagging girls in the cold," Daphne sniffed at her husband.
"I learnt my lesson," Blaise argued. "We stayed indoors next time."
Laughing at their friend's colourful teenage behaviour, the couples said their goodbyes and headed home. Returning back to a quite house, Hermione was once again hit by the realisation that both her children were gone. Luckily, Draco was able to take her mind of things and the pair spent the day making the most of having the house to themselves.