Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 103 for you!
Just a short chapter for you all today. However, I will be uploading Chapter 104 tomorrow as it's the last day of November and NaNoWriMo.
Love DW x
P.S. Enjoy
Every morning, for the past four days, Hermione and Draco woke up to a cooked breakfast with freshly squeezed juice, all lovingly made by Blaise as thanks for letting him and Pandora stay. They'd told him it wasn't necessary; they were happy enough making some toast or eating in the Great Hall. Blaise insisted though, explaining he was already up at five o'clock with Pandora. Once she was settled, he didn't have anything better to do than cook.
It was a surprise, however, to return home from work on Thursday night to find dinner already on the kitchen table. Draco was happy to see his best friend had made spaghetti Bolognese, one of his favourites that he hadn't had the chance to prepare himself for months.
"What's the special occasion?" Draco asks once the three of them were sat at the table, enjoying the meal.
"I wanted to thank you again for allowing us to stay here," He starts.
"Blaise, we've told you that you're both welcome whenever you want," Hermione tells him. "You don't need to be cooking for us all the time, although we do appreciate it." She adds.
"Thank you; I also wanted to tell you both that we'll be moving out on Saturday." He smiles.
"You found a place?" Draco asks, knowing his friend and Benjamin hadn't had much luck the previous day.
"Kind of, Benji suggested I move in with him for a couple of months, to make sure I'm ready to commit to moving into the city before I buy my own place." He explains.
"Does he have the space?" Draco asks, not liking the idea of Blaise spending so much time with his other friend, in the Muggle world, a place he doesn't fully understand. Draco himself wouldn't be able to live comfortably in the Muggle world after experiencing it for over a year.
"Yeah, he had a roommate, but they moved out a few months ago, and he's been struggling with the rent but didn't want to offer the spare room to a complete stranger," Blaise explains further. "It's perfect, and the room is the master, so there's plenty of room for Pandora's crib." He adds.
"Shouldn't she have her own room?" Hermione asks.
"She's only three-months-old, I don't think it matters until she's at least eighteen-months-old, and by then I'll have my own space. This is just for four months or so." He answers.
"Well, you sound excited, so I'm happy for you," Hermione tells him.
"Thank you." He smiles. "If you're both not busy on Saturday, I could use your help moving. I wouldn't want you lifting anything, Hermione, so would you look after Pandora for the morning. I would normally shrink and then restore my furniture in the room, but Benji will get suspicious." He says.
"Of course, the two of us will have a lovely morning," She smiles over at the Moses basket beside them, with a sleeping Pandora resting inside.
"How does Benjamin feel about living with a baby?" Draco asks curiously.
"He's fine; before he moved in with his old roommate, he lived with his sister and brother-in-law, you remember that DJ Ollie from Harry's stag night?" He asks, but Draco shakes his head. "Well they had two children under three years when he was living with them, so he's used to it," Blaise explains.
"That's great." He mutters, eating his dinner.
That night, the three of them invite Pansy over for drinks, a butterbeer for Hermione, as they celebrate the next step in Blaise's life.
On Saturday morning, the household woke up early at seven o'clock, ready for Blaise's moving day. Hermione made the two men breakfast, while dressed in her pyjamas and dressing gown, a babbling Pandora lying in a Moses basket next to the counter, while they made a plan of how they were going to get Blaise's furniture to the flat without Benjamin noticing they didn't have any means of transport. They finally decided to arrive five minutes earlier than what they told Benjamin so they could enlarge the furniture in the foyer of the flat under the guise of the driver of a moving van having helped them.
By half-past seven, the two men were bidding Hermione and Pandora goodbye from the doorstep as they walked around to Blaise and Luna's house, the last one on Epsilon Street. Once inside, Draco noticed that it looked like no one had been living there for weeks and felt pity welling in his chest.
"Why can't you just transfigure furniture when you get to Benjamin's flat?" Draco asks, glancing around at the furniture.
"I am for certain pieces, like my bed and Pandora's crib, but I've got some family furniture that I want to take with me." He explains. "And I want to take my record player. It's one of my only Muggle objects." He adds.
"Shall we start then?" Draco takes his wand out. "What's first?" He asks.
"Upstairs, my chest of drawers and two bedside cabinets. Luna's taken all her belongs already so we won't need to worry about removing her clothes." Blaise says sadly, walking up the stairs.
"Where will she live when she returns?" He asks.
"Probably with Xenophilius." He shrugs, entering his bedroom. "We need the wardrobe too. I'll just keep everything inside." He adds. "Reducio." He points his wand at the wardrobe, watching as it shrinks down to the size of Lauren's dollhouse furniture.
Draco copies, shrinking the bedside tables down to a similar size, placing them inside a coin pouch Blaise was using to transport his furniture.
"This shouldn't take too long." Draco comments.
"Benji is expecting us at nine o'clock. I thought we could go for a cup of tea at Cara's before we go around." He suggests, rubbing at the back of his hand absentmindedly and Draco notices his wedding band has disappeared. He assumes the divorce has been finalised over the past couple of days.
"Sure, it's been a while." He agrees, wanting to make this day as easy as possible for his friend. It can't be easy moving out of his marital house, after his divorce and his ex-wife abandonment, into a Muggle city he doesn't know very well.
"She was actually asking about you last time I went with Benji." He smiles, amusedly. "Why don't you like her again?" He asks, shrinking his chest of drawers down.
"I don't not like her; she's just has a certain personality that I don't like being around for too long," Draco explains politely. "She spends most of the time flirting with you or fussing over Pandora and inviting herself to join us at our table. It's difficult to have a conversation when she's sat right next to us, and we have to hide a large part of who we are from her." He further adds.
"She's just friendly," Blaise brushes off the accusation. "You know she's Catholic. She said it was part of her faith to treat others how she wants to be treated and to be kind and caring to her neighbours. She said neighbours means her fellow people, not necessarily her actual neighbours." He explains.
"I know the bible doesn't look too kindly upon us." Draco points out as he stands at the bathroom door, waiting for his friend to collect his toiletry items.
"What do you know about the bible?" Blaise laughs.
"It was part of the reading Lucius set to prove how much Muggle's hated us and why we should hate them in return." He shrugs.
"Oh, what does the bible say about us?" He asks curiously. "Cara never mentioned wizards when she was telling me about it."
"I should hope not, it wouldn't be a coincidence if she did," Draco tells him. "We do evil in the eyes of God and should be stoned to death; our blood is on our own hands, and we shall never inherit his kingdom." Draco mentions. "Although, Deuteronomy suggests we sacrifice our children in fires." He adds.
Blaise laughs, "Where did that come from?" He asks as they walk downstairs.
"Apparently there are Muggle myths of a wizard throwing his child into a volcano three thousand years ago." He explains.
"And our myths?" Blaise asks.
"His child was a bitten by a werewolf."
Blaise scoffs. "It's interesting how Muggles interpret things they don't understand." He mentions, shrinking down his record player. "Can you collect Pandora's toys?" He asks his friend.
Draco wanders around the living room, picking up various toys that Blaise had bought for his daughter, shrinking them down and adding them to the pouch of furniture.
"Are we done?" Draco asks.
Blaise takes a final glance around his living room, wandering into the kitchen to double-check. "Yeah, that's everything." He says when he returns.
"Are you handing the keys back into the Ministry?" He asks as his friend locks the front door.
"Yeah, I'll do that tomorrow. I just want to move into Benji's and settle in." Blaise admits as they walk the short distance to the gate.
"Understandably," Draco agrees. "To Cara's then." He asks, offering his hand to his friend.
"Yeah, she opens at eight o'clock, and it shouldn't be too busy." Blaise takes his hand.
"Great," Draco sighs, disapparating them to the side street beside the café.
"You're going to be nice," Blaise tells him, leading the way to the quaint little café.
"Of course," Draco mutters, following after him.
The bell above the café door rings as they enter and Cara peers her head from around the back room, smiling when she sees Blaise.
"Blaise, hi!" She grins, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "You brought Draco back." She adds, giving him a quick hug, which he returns with a simple pat on her back.
"Sorry, I've been busy at work, and my wife is pregnant." He tells her his excuses.
"Of course, Blaise told me you were expecting. You never mentioned it when you brought her a few months ago. She's the girl with the dark curls, right?" She asks.
"Yes, that's my wife." He nods.
"Well, congratulations, you should bring her back. I love babies." Cara tells him. "Where's my little friend at?" She turns to Blaise.
"Draco's wife, Hermione, is looking after her this morning. It's moving day." He smiles.
"Of course, you did mention the other day with Benjamin. Do you want some breakfast? Take a seat." She ushers them into their usual table near the window.
"We've already eaten breakfast," Draco tells her.
"But we'd love some tea, perhaps a slice of that walnut cake if you have any left?" Blaise asks.
"I do, would you like a slice, Draco?" She asks.
"Sure, I'll try the cake." He smiles, politely.
"Great." She leaves them to fulfil their order.
"Thanks for helping me today, Draco. I'm not sure how Pandora and I would manage without you and Hermione." Blaise says seriously.
"What did I tell you? We're here for you both. You don't need to keep thanking us." Draco tells him.
Cara returns with three slices of cake on plates, placing them down on their table cheerfully before returning to make the teas.
Draco sighs, "I see she's joining us again." He mutters. "What does Benjamin think of Cara?" He asks.
"He thinks she's nice." Blaise shrugs.
"He doesn't like her." Draco grins.
"She doesn't agree with certain aspects of his life, but she remains polite with him, and he does with her." He whispers vaguely, and Draco doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, but Cara is walking towards them with a tray of three cups of teas, so he drops the discussion.
"How have you been, Cara?" Draco asks, making conversation.
"I've been great, thank you. I was promoted from Barn Owl to Snowy Owl within my Girlguiding unit." She tells him with a smile, tucking her bobbed hair behind her ear.
Draco doesn't know what a girl guide is, but he knows about owls. "I have a snowy owl, she's called Athena." He comments.
Cara turns to look confusedly at Blaise for clarification
"He has an actual owl," Blaise says, a mouth full of walnut cake.
"That's interesting, why did you choose an owl as a pet. Isn't a little cruel to keep her caged all the time?" She asks.
"She isn't caged all the time," Draco says dryly. "She splits her time between our home, our workplace, and my wife's cousin's house. She loves looking after Athena." He defends himself. "Now she's grown, she's only ever caged on a night and during travel."
"Owls are nocturnal." She states.
"Typically, in the wild, yes." Draco agrees. "But ours tend to pick up any sleep schedule." He explains. "This cake is lovely." He adds, in an attempt to move the conversation on, taking his first bite.
"Thank you," Her smile falters, looking a little taken aback. "How are you doing, Blaise?" She asks, sounding sympathetic.
"I'm doing better now I'm getting on my feet." He admits.
"I've hope Luna finds the guidance she needs to return to you and Pandora," Cara says, taking Blaise's forkless hand in hers and patting it gently.
"Thank you, but I don't think there's much hope, our divorce has been finalised." He states sadly, wiggling his bare ring finger at her.
"Oh, that's such a shame," She sounds a little distance. "Luna doesn't have faith, does she?" Cara asks.
"Not in any religion, but she has her own specific beliefs and faith." Blaise looks at Draco, hoping his answer is vague enough.
"She has faith in the Earth and believes in the creatures and people inhabiting the Earth," Draco adds, although he feels he might have gone a little too far.
Cara smiles. "We have similar beliefs then, the only difference being the creator."
"I suppose that's right." Draco nods, going back to his cake.
"Blaise told me it was your birthday the other day," Cara says, turning to a new topic of conversation.
"Yes, I celebrated my twentieth birthday last Tuesday." He smiles.
"Oh, you look older. I thought you were about twenty-five." She frowns. "Are you twenty too?" She asks, facing Blaise.
"Nineteen, my birthday isn't until July 28th," Blaise admits.
"You're both very mature for your age." Cara states. "Is that because you went to boarding school?" She asks
"Perhaps," Draco grins, thinking it might have more to do with the stress of the war. "We lived away from our parents from the age of eleven."
"How was that?" She asks.
"It was great," Draco tells her. "We had our own responsibilities and got to do what we wanted, within the rules of the school," Blaise's laugh interrupts him. "And outside the rules of the school," Draco adds, smiling. "And it was freeing not being told what to do by our parents." He adds.
"School felt more like home than my home did," Blaise admits. "Draco and I shared a room in our dormitories so it felt like an extended sleepover." He tells Cara. "Going home for Christmas and Summer was likey going on holiday for a few weeks. Before the Marriage- Before I got married, I didn't have a clue what I was going to do once I graduated since school had been my home for eight years." Blaise says, looking at Draco, who nods in understanding. "As a parent, I'm going to be terrified when I have to send Pandora, " He states.
"You're already thinking about sending her to boarding school?" Cara frowns.
"It's... tradition. Generations of our families have been to different boarding schools around the world, if not the one we went to." He tries to explain.
"I work at our boarding school; I'm a chemistry professor," Draco says, remembering the Muggle alternative to potions that Hermione had told him about months ago. "I'll make sure little Pandora doesn't get into too much trouble."
"Have you forgotten how easy it was to get around the professors when we were at school?" Blaise asks.
"I know, I try not to think about how much curfew is probably being broken right under my nose." He shakes his head. "If I catch them, I take house points away, but you've got to let them have a little fun and get away with the less important rule-breaking."
"Does Hermione agree?" Blaise grins.
Draco laughs. "You know she doesn't, which is completely hypocritical when she broke far more rules than we ever did. You know she set fire to Severus' cloak in our first year?" He tells Blaise.
"She didn't," Blaise gasps. "Wait, in the Quidditch match when Harry caught the snitch with his mouth?" He jumps up and down in his seat, excitedly.
"Yes, that's the one. I was so jealous of that moment." He sighs.
"Every Slytherin was jealous of that moment because we knew we had met our match."
"You think Krum's ever done something like that," Draco asks.
"Probably not." Blaise shakes his head, settling back in his chair. "You know, in every world cup final match, he's caught the snitch, but they've lost." He shakes his head.
"Really?" Draco tries to think back.
"Yeah, 1994 and 1998. I know he's only played two, but that's still one-hundred per cent of his world cup appearances." Blaise shrugs. "Merlin, I just remembered, Hermione went to the Yule Ball with him, didn't she?" He laughs.
"Yes, she did."
"Are you jealous?" Blaise teases.
"No, I would never have asked her. She wasn't even in the realm of possible dates." He denies a little too much.
"Okay, Draco," Blaise smirks.
The door to Cara's café opens, ringing the bell as a couple with their child in a pushchair enters.
"I've lost track of our conversation," Cara admits, standing up. "I'll leave you boys to talk about sports or whatever Quidditch is." She leaves their table, taking her cup of tea with her as she walks over to greet the small family.
"We should be more careful," Blaise says, finishing off his walnut cake.
"I forgot she was there," Draco admits. "She was quiet." He adds, checking his watch. "It's ten to nine, do you want to head out now?" He asks.
"Yes, I'll go pay and say bye to Cara," Blaise tells him.
Draco waits outside the café for Blaise to return. When he does, they walk back down the side street, which always seems to be empty, and Blaise apparates them to the alleyway behind Benjamin's flat.
"Benji gave me the key to open the door to the building. We can quickly engorgio everything in the foyer then I'll go up and get Benji." Blaise explains as they walk around to the front of the building.
"How many flats are in here?" Draco asks, looking up at the eight levels of windows on the building.
"There's sixty, I think," Blaise answers, using his key to unlock the building.
Inside the foyer are sixty letter boxes between a lift and staircase, and a door leading to the ground floor flats. Draco also notices a video camera pointing at the foyer space. Hermione had explained what it was when he'd spotted one a few months ago in a supermarket.
"Blaise, there's a camera watching us," Draco tells his friend who was pulling the coin pouch filled with his tiny furniture out of his pocket.
"What, where?" Blaise turns around, spotting it. "Is it going to take a picture of us?"
"Hermione explained it as a video, it's similar to our picture in that it can record movement, but it can record for hours, or days." He explains. "We'll have to cast a shield so it can't see." He suggests, beckoning Blaise to follow him outside, where he casts the shield spell over the whole foyer, including the staircase, so when Blaise brings Benjamin down to help, he can see the furniture. "Hopefully this will work, or Arthur Weasley will be having strong words with me if a Muggle watches the camera." He laughs.
It takes them a couple of minutes to engorgio everything to full size, although they decide against enlarging the wardrobe since it would be too large and heavy for the three of them to carry. Draco waits by the furniture while Blaise climbs two floors of stairs to the second floor, where Benjamin resides in flat twenty-three.
Five minutes later, Blaise and Benjamin are laughing as they walk down the stairs to join Draco. Benjamin looks like he's just gotten up, dressed in a very casual pair of shorts and a creased t-shirt.
"Draco, nice to see you again," The man holds his hand out for Draco to shake.
"You too," Draco shakes his hand. "It's kind of you to offer your home to Blaise and Pandora." He nods.
"Thanks, it'll be nice to have a flatmate again." He glances around at the furniture. "Is this all you have? Don't you have a bed?" He asks.
"Yes, I have a bed," Blaise laughs. "It's coming later." He shrugs, picking up his box of records.
Draco picks up the assortment of Pandora's toys, following behind Blaise and Benjamin, who is carrying the record player.
Benjamin's flat looks bigger on the inside than he assumed it would from looking up at the windows outside. The front door leads straight into an open plan living, dining and kitchen area, although a half wall divides the kitchen from the rest of the space. Against the far wall, beside the window, was a large television, and opposite, sectioning the area off from the dining table, was a corner couch. Along the wall to the right were three doors, which he assumed lead to the two bedrooms and a bathroom.
"You have a lovely flat," Draco comments politely.
"Thank you, it was my flatmates first, and I moved in with him about three years ago. When he left, I didn't want to move out, so I took on the contract in my name. It's a great place, close to my work and university." He explains.
"You're at university? I thought you'd been and done that." Draco questions him, knowing Blaise had told him how Benjamin had a degree in language and culture as it was where he studied French and Italian. Then he'd picked up Latin and British Sign Language as an extra on top of his course.
"I'm doing my masters in translation and culture. I started last September and have a year to go." He explains. "I'm actually studying German as a part of it. Blaise told me you're fluent."
"My father taught me a few languages from a young age, but I don't get much practice in speaking any of them as much as he assumed I would." He admits, placing his armful of toys down at the side of what is now Blaise's bedroom.
It takes the three of them thirty minutes to carry all the furniture up the two flights of stairs to Benjamin and Blaise's flat. At ten o'clock, Benjamin leaves, stating he has an essay in the following Friday that he needs to finish, so he's going to the university library and will be back around five.
Draco stays to help Blaise set up his bedroom, transfiguring a basket he found into a crib for Pandora, positioning it at the end of the four-poster bed Blaise had transfigured from a spoon. Blaise then spent an hour changing the colour of the walls to every colour he could think of, trying to find the perfect one, before settling for duck egg blue. They were finished by half-past eleven, and so disapparated back to the Estate.
Back inside his house, Draco found Hermione and Pandora playing on their rug in the living room, their coffee table having been moved to the side. The three of them, Blaise carrying Pandora in his baby carrier, flooed to the Ministry, exiting out of the Muggle entrance. It took them nearly ninety minutes to travel back to the flat, although twenty minutes of that was spent trying to orientate themselves on a map, find where the flat was and figure out which bus would take them there.
Draco and Hermione stayed long enough to ensure Blaise and Pandora were settled in their new home. Blaise told them he would put his daughter down for a nap and give their shared space a tidy before beginning on some lunch since he hadn't eaten since Cara's slice of cake almost seven hours ago.
They hugged each other goodbye and then the married couple left, deciding to find somewhere for lunch in the city and spend a few hours by themselves exploring Muggle London.
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