17th November 2005
Orto Di Venezia, Italy.
A scream rippled through the night-time silence, reverberating around the walls of the Villa. Hermione opened her eyes and grabbed her wand from the nightstand, lighting the room. She gently nudged Draco who had put his head under one of the pillows.
"What?" came his muffled reply.
Hermione smiled. "I think you will find it's time" she chuckled, lifting the pillow off his head.
"So? Go tell Ron then" he scowled, not happy about the prospect of having to get up.
"I would think he already knows" she laughed as Draco put the pillow back over his head "Come and give your friends some moral support" she said, taking the pillow and chucking it to the foot of the bed.
"Friend. Singular. Weasley is YOUR friend" he told her, turning and scowling at the clock "Fuck sake Hermione, it's quarter past four! Neither of them are my friends at this time of night!" he gruffed. Hermione stood with her hands on her hips. He knew this wasn't an argument he was going to win. He glared at her anyway.
"Fine" he said finally, resigning himself to the fact that in their relationship, she wore the trousers, not him.
.
"I swear to fucking Salazaar, if you come near me again, I will hex your fucking balls off!" Pansy's shrill cry could be heard down the hall. Hermione opened the door and poked her head in.
"Want some help?" she asked her.
"Yes" Pansy ground out, clutching her swollen stomach as she braced herself through another contraction. "Get Draco and tell him to do something with Ronald" she said once the pain started to decrease.
Draco stepped in a grin on his face.
"Don't get any ideas" Hermione told him, giving him a look that told him she meant business.
"Spoilt sport" he whispered, pressing a kiss on her temple before leaving the bedroom with a shell shocked Ron behind him.
Hermione went into the ensuite bathroom and dampened a flannel before helping Pansy to find a comfortable position. After several tries, she found leaning over the back of the couch the most beneficial. Hermione wiped Pansy's brow as a grin formed on the labouring woman's face.
"Who would have thought eh?" she said, smiling at the woman with whom she had a tentative friendship.
"I know" said Hermione as she allowed Pansy to clutch her hand through the next contraction.
"I'm scared" she whispered once the pain ebbed away.
Hermione frowned at her. "Why?"
"I don't know if I am cut out for this" she whispered.
Hermione knew what she meant. "You will be fine" she told her "just look how far you have come. Look how far we have all come" she continued emphatically. "Besides, Ron comes from a big family so you will always have support" she finished.
"They are in England" Pansy mumbled, gritting her teeth as the next contraction took hold.
"Well you have a family here too now" Hermione told her, meaning it.
Pansy smiled.
"What do you want?" she spat, in no mood for interruptions.
"I just wanted to check you were ok. Do you need anything?" Ron asked, looking unsure of himself.
"I will be fine once I have finished birthing your child, Weasley" she cried, another contraction building. She screamed through the pain as Hermione whispered words of encouragement and comfort. Ron grimaced, not liking the image before him one bit. He hated seeing his fiancée in pain. He turned to leave.
"Wait! Where the fuck are you going?" she cried.
He paused, holding the door open.
"I thought you wanted me to go" he said, staring at her bewildered.
"You asked me if I needed anything!" She cried. She paused, a frown forming on her face.
"Get me your mother" she mumbled. Hermione stopped wiping her forehead, looking at her confused.
"What?" asked Ron, looking at her in disbelief.
"I SAID GET ME YOUR MOTHER!" she yelled, rolling onto her side and drawing her leg up.
He looked at Hermione, who just shrugged her shoulders.
"Why?"
"Because I need a mother, and I don't have one, so get me yours" she said, closing her eyes, holding back tears.
"There's a girl" Molly soothed, wiping her sweat covered brow "won't be long now dear"
"Seriously" George chuckled "I have honestly never seen anyone eat so much when their partner is in labour!" watching Ron wolf down another chicken drumstick.
"I eat when I am stressed" Ron told him, shrugging his shoulder.
"You must be stressed all the time" snorted Draco, pouring himself another Firewhiskey.
A scream punctuated the late evening sky. The men sat on the terrace looking up to the window above where the scream had originated from. Each of them had concern written across their face. No one said a word. Suddenly a baby's cry was heard and Ron dropped his fork, rushing to his bedroom.
The men all looked at each other and smiled, each raising their glass.
"Another Weasley" Arthur toasted as they all clinked their glasses.
"Pansy's asking for you" said Hermione, appearing at the doorway to the terrace. Everyone turned round. She looked at Draco and smiled. He stood and followed his witch up to where Pansy was in bed, holding her son proudly. Ron had his arm draped round her shoulder.
Looking up as the couple entered the room she smiled.
"If it's alright with the two of you, we would like to introduce you to your Godson, Cosimo Giovanni Weasley" she smiled.
17th November 2007
Orto Di Venezia, Italy
"Can you all raise your glasses please, I'd first of all like to wish our Godson Cosimo a Happy 2nd Birthday. We love you." Hermione smiled at the auburn haired infant. "And secondly!" She continued, turning to Draco beaming at him "Congratuations to my husband, 100 cases solved! I am so proud of you." She leant in and kissed Draco soundly. "Cosimo and Draco" She cried.
"Cosimo and Draco" Their 3 dinning companions chorused.
"Yea, I definitely didn't think you would make it to 100 cases"
"Shut up Zabini!"
.
Fin
A/N: When I first wrote Welcome to Venice" it was supposed to be a short drabble based on a joke. I then got this idea to write M for Murder it again was only going to be a little career based ficlet. But it soon grew into something more when I had the idea to link it in to Afternoon Tea at Malfoy Manor. At this point I thought it might end up being a short 10 chapter fic or so, but then one afternoon I thought what if I tied it into Welcome to Venice. I ran the idea by my fabulous girls who admin Dramione FanFiction Forum on Facebook and they thought it was a good idea and to run with it. So I did. I then had to work out a believable way to hold off them getting together until they get to Venice. Thats when I wrote R for Ronald, to explain the reasons behind Hermione's behaviour. I wanted to work through a Hermione struggling with PTSD and the contrast between the two men in her life and how they deal with the aftereffects of her trauma. Because the reality is no one would go through the experiences that Hermione did during the war unscathed. Thats when this started to take on a life of its own. I had the vague notion that the main story would be about them getting together, rather than the mystery itself but the more I wrote, the more I got hooked on the mystery plot and thats when I wrote D for Draco, partly to lay some foundations for Draco's character, and partly to lay foundations for the climax (no pun intended) of the story. I didnt have a fixed idea who the killer was until that point. I also knew how the final showdown would go but I went back and forth over who would be the one to cast the Avada, even speculating on what circumstances would have to occur for Hermione to be the one to cast it- would her love for Draco be enough? Possibly, but possibly not. As I started to write the final chapters, I decided instead of sticking to my plan to take them back to London, to keep them in Venice and as I wrote, it became obvious who would cast the Avada. Blaise has a fraternal bond with Draco and I believe his character wouldn't think twice about casting it if he witnessed someone he cared about getting hurt. I knew I wanted to write an epilogue and by the time I came to write it, I felt it was obvious it should focus on Pansy.
As it stands, I don't plan to write a multi-chapter sequel, but who knows. I have really enjoyed writing this series and I think it would be fun to keep this little universe I have created going in some way. Thanks again to my fabulous friends Torigingerfox and xxDustNight88. I know they both say this is good because of my ideas and the research I did to make sure it was something realistic, but without them to bounce ideas around and say hey, so this is what im thinking, or do you think this would work, it might...no it probably would! have turned out not even half as good as they tell me it is. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this, and especially if you took the time to review- I read them all! :)