Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 114 for you!
It's been a long month since the last upload. It's time for excuses.
I had to go back to Leicester, where I live during term time for university, and pack all my belongings and move out. It took longer than expected. Then when I got home again, my sister returned home from her university in time for Father's Day in the UK (I'm not sure if Father's Day is the same in other countries) and for my Mam's birthday at the end of the month. So I've been super busy catching up with my family.
I am really excited to get back to writing again after losing some motivation. The next nine chapters will be shorter than usual. They will also be heavily Christmas/holiday-themed (I can't always plan for the chapters to fall during real-time holidays), but this is Scorpius' first Christmas, their first Christmas as a family, and there is bound to be some form of drama, so stay tuned!
Love DW
PS Enjoy
A vibration beneath her head wakes Hermione up from her midday nap. Scorpius is still asleep in his Moses basket beside the couch, where she and Draco had fallen asleep after lunch. She reaches up, slapping Draco's face to wake him up.
Draco groans, shaking his head awake. "What?" he mutters.
"Your phone," she tells him, turning over to hide her face in his chest to keep the sun out of her eyes.
Draco sighs, pulling his phone out of his chest pocket to answer. "Hello?"
Hermione can hear Blaise's voice on the other end, but she can't decipher his words.
"Yes, we were napping," Draco admits, listening to Blaise's next question.
He hums in agreement. "We're going over for six o'clock."
Hermione frowns, they were going around to her parent's house for six o'clock that night for Halloween with them and the kids.
"Okay," Draco frowns. "Yeah, that makes sense."
Hermione lifts her head to stare at her husband.
"Let me ask," he sighs, lowering the phone. "He's asking if he and Cara can come trick or treating with us. Cara's never been, something about her parents forbidding it." He shrugs.
Hermione had been trying to be kinder to Blaise's new girlfriend, especially since Scorpius' party ten days ago. "I guess that will be fine. My parents have met Blaise, so I'm sure they won't mind."
"Thanks Hermione!" Blaise calls through the phone.
Hermione chuckles, "Just be at my parents' house for half-past six."
"We will, thank you, see you then. Hey, car-" The phone clicks off.
Draco throws his phone on the coffee table. "Why did you agree?" He complains.
"They've been together for two months; she's his girlfriend, we have to accept that." She mutters, burying her head back in his chest.
"Are you going back to sleep?" Draco asks, running his fingers through her hair.
She cracks an eye open to glance at Scorpius, still asleep, then nods. "He was up all night," she mutters.
"Good plan," Draco agrees, settling back down.
They arrive at her parents' house just after six o'clock. The kids have just finished their dinner and are being rushed upstairs by Hermione's mother to get changed into their costume.
"Hi, Hermione," Lauren grins, stopping in her tracks in front of their stairs. "You look so pretty, are you from the Addams family, we watched that the other day, it was so funny. I wanted to be Wednesday, but mum had already got my mermaid costume ready," she sighs.
"That would be a good idea for next year," Hermione suggests. "We're vampires, though." She corrects.
"Lauren, Craig, upstairs, come on." Their mum directs them and the two kids gallop up on all fours.
"You well, darling?" Her mother asks, pulling her into a quick one-armed hug.
"Yeah, we're all good," Hermione replies, her mum already halfway upstairs.
"We'll talk after," she calls, disappearing around the corner.
Draco unclips his son from the baby chest carrier and lays him on the baby mat already in the living room.
"How are you doing Chris?" He asks his father-in-law, sat in his armchair with both Evelyn and Vivian in his arms, feeding themselves bottles of milk.
"It's getting easier," he smiles.
"How old are they? Ten months?" he asks, and Chris nods. "We've got a while to go." He grins down at his son.
"What is he?" Chris asks, turning his head to the side with a frown as Hermione joins them with a glass of water for her and Draco.
"He's a very handsome pumpkin, aren't you Scorpius?" She coos at her son, lying on the playmat in the middle of living room, wearing a pumpkin costume with a matching winter hat that covers his ears and ties beneath his chin in a green bow.
"What are the girls?" Draco asks, copying Chris' previous expression as he tries to figure out what Evelyn's yellow outfit and Vivian's green outfit were.
"Sarah came up with a group costume," he shakes his head fondly. "You'll see when we're dressed too." He adds.
"Do you want us to take them?" Draco asks. "Scorpius is fine."
"Go on, take your pick," Chris nods.
Draco takes Vivian while Hermione picks up Evelyn, they're still finishing their bottles of milk, so they cradle the twins to their chest while Chris races upstairs to change.
"Hermione, we're ready!" Lauren calls from the stairs five minutes later.
Sarah had expressed a desire during the summer holidays to take as many pictures of their new family as possible to document all their happy memories. This usually entailed standing in the same position for five minutes while Hermione's mum set the timer on her camera numerous times.
Chris re-enters the living room wearing a large white bin bag and a white beanie hat. He throws his arms wide as he spins expectantly.
"I don't have any idea," Draco admits.
Chris sighs, taking Vivian out of his arms, muttering about how obvious it is. Draco collects his son from the floor, following his wife out to the stairs, where Sarah wanted to take the family pictures. In the hallway, Sarah is directing Lauren, Craig and Sophie into the correct positions on the stairs, determined by their height, while Chris begins fiddling around with the camera, trying to figure out how to turn on the flash.
"Chris, love, leave it alone; it was on the right setting," Sarah sighs. "Go sit four steps up from the kids with Vivian." She orders him, and he does as he's told.
"Where do you want us?" Draco asks, trying to decipher her black binbag and black beanie hat costume.
"Second step up from the kids. You on the right, Hermione on the left with Scorpius, then face your right once you've sat down." She says without glancing up from the camera settings. "And pass Evelyn to Chris, I'll have her once I'm in place." She adds.
Hermione climbs past Lauren, Craig and Sophie to her position with her son. Lauren was using Christmas tinsel wrapped around her arms as seaweed and an ankle-length green skirt as her mermaid tail. Their mum had made her wear a thick white jumper underneath her bikini top to keep her warm. Craig had wanted to go as a pirate after his current favourite game, pop-up pirate. Sophie, unsurprising, was dressed in a pair of jeans and thick jumper with her cloak and a stick she was pretending was a wand, after both Hermione and Draco had refused to allow her to borrow theirs for the night.
Hermione's mum finally places the camera on the tripod, carefully running the button cable up the stairs to her position beside her husband. Once she had Evelyn stood on her lap, she calls for them all to smile at the camera. She must have pressed the button ten times before telling them to pull a funny face and taking ten more pictures.
At precisely half-past six, and Draco assumes that was Cara's doing, the doorbell rings announcing their arrival.
"Blaise!" Sophie shouts excitedly throwing the front door open, hugging the man. "What are you dressed as?" She asks, staring at him inquisitively.
"I'm a werewolf," He announces, then roars, causing the kids to giggle excitedly.
"A little insensitive?" Draco asks, taking Scorpius from Hermione to attach him into the carrier he would be wearing for the trick-or-treating.
"Not where we're going." Blaise shrugs, knowing they wouldn't be venturing into the wizarding world tonight.
"Still, Remus Lupin is a war hero," he mutters disapprovingly.
"I'm obviously not dressed as a real werewolf; it's a cartoon muggle one from Scooby-Doo. Benji was watching it with Pandora." Blaise hisses back.
"Are they real?" Sophie asks, breaking their conversation.
"Definitely," He winks at Sophie. "One of the best professors we ever had was a werewolf."
"Blaise," Cara chides her boyfriend for teasing the young girl.
"You look lovely, Cara." Hermione smiles, trying to be polite to Blaise's new girlfriend and distract her from the topic. "Are you Cinderella?" She asks.
"Yes, this was my bridesmaid's dress from my sister's summer wedding. When else am I going to wear it again?" She explains, and Hermione nods. "Are you a vampire?" Cara asks.
Hermione grins, showing off her teeth as an answer.
"Oh, they are impressive, they look real." Cara compliments her, leaning forward for a closer look.
"Thank you."
"Are vampires real?" Sophie asks, turning to Hermione.
"Yes, I've never met one, though," Hermione tells her cousin, not wanting to lie but using a joking tone for Cara's benefit.
"You wouldn't want to." Blaise jokes.
"You shouldn't tease the poor child." Cara shakes her head disapprovingly and kneeling down to Sophie's level. "Werewolves and vampires are supernatural beings. They don't actually exist." She tells her who rolls her eyes, skipping off to talk to Lauren and Craig, who are arguing over who's going to get the most sweets and chocolate.
"Let her have her imagination," Blaise tells Cara, kissing her cheek. "I'm going to find my godson." He says, passing Pandora to Cara, who starts gently slapping the woman's face to an unknown beat.
"She always does this," Cara smiles, turning the toddler around so she can't reach. "How is Scorpius doing?" She asks.
"He's great, we're going for our first vaccines Friday." Hermione beams, happy to talk more about her son. "I'm hoping he doesn't cry too much. I hate watching him cry." She says. "Draco and I were going to dress as clowns for tonight, he has this weird obsession with them ever since we saw a convention during our summer holiday to Devon. Anyway, we practised out makeup last night, and Scorpius took one look at us and burst into tear. He would not stop crying until we took the makeup off. I then cried with him for ten minutes, I felt awful. Draco found it hilarious." Hermione rolls her eyes in disbelief. "It was a good thing we had these outfits from last year's Halloween party at the school; otherwise, we would have been at a loss." She explains.
"Poor Scorpius," Cara gasps. "You've probably traumatised him for life." She smiles jokingly.
Hermione opens her mouth to retaliate, but remembering she had told Draco to be kind, for Blaise's sake, she closes her mouth, smiles, then walks off in search for her husband and son.
She finds them in the kitchen with Blaise, having a heated discussion.
"Benji approved," Blaise hissed.
"I'm sorry, that was just my initial thought," Draco apologises.
"Everything okay?" Hermione asks, closing the door behind her.
"Yes, it's nothing." Blaise stares pointedly at Draco.
"I promised not to tell anyone, and I won't," Draco tells him.
"Not even Hermione, I'm sorry." Blaise apologises to her, his eyes looking sincere.
"Fine," Draco sighs.
"Thank you," Blaise pats Draco's shoulder before leaving the kitchen.
"Don't ask." Draco shakes his head, walking over to Hermione and pressing a kiss to her forehead before joining everyone in the living room
"Hey, Mr Granger, what are you supposed to be?" Blaise asks.
Sarah starts to chuckle. "We're difference herbs and spices." She announces.
Draco laughs once, suddenly seeing it. "Salt?" he points at Chris, who nods. "Pepper?" he asks Sarah who just laughs in amusement. "What about the twins?" He asks.
"Turmeric and Oregano, after the colours we assigned them," Sarah explains.
"That's adorable," Cara claps with a laugh.
"Thanks," Sarah smiles.
"Right, are we ready to leave?" Chris asks, standing up.
They all leave the house together, Hermione holding Craig's hand in one hand and Draco's in the other. Each one of her parents has one of the twins strapped to their chest in a carrier, similar to Draco with Scorpius and Blaise with Pandora. Lauren, having taken to Princess Cara, was holding her hand and dragging the woman ahead so they could start trick-or-treating as soon as possible. Sophie walked beside Blaise, asking him more questions about supernatural beings in the wizarding world.
They walk to the adjoining street with the plan to walk around the block, ending back at the Granger's house, which should take them nearly two hours, with the length of each street taken into mind.
The first house they knock on the door of down the first street is surprised to find thirteen of them at his front door. He expresses relief to see only four of them have baskets for treats. He takes a piece of chocolate out of his bowl, placing one in each basket.
"One for the pirate; one for the mermaid; one for… what are you dear." The man asks Sophie.
"I'm a witch," She grins proudly, holding her stick-wand up for emphasis.
"Oh yes, I see, don't witches have pointy hats and broomsticks?" He asks, placing a piece of chocolate in her basket.
"No, they look just like everyone else." She tells him. "Thank you." She adds.
The man laughs. "You're welcome. And one for Cinderella, you're a bit old, aren't you?"
"It's my first Halloween," Cara states, holding her basket out for the small chocolate bar in his hand.
"Right," The man looks at the rest of the group. "You all look lovely, have a great night." He wishes them, closing the door as they move on to the next house.
Of the fifty houses down the first street, only twenty open their doors for them when they knock. On one occasion, they see the hallway light turn off after they knock, in an attempt on the resident's part to pretend to not be in.
"Why's no one answering?" Lauren huffs after the nobody answers the fifth door in a row.
"Perhaps they're out trick-or-treating too." Her dad tries to suggest.
"We haven't seen anyone else." She points out.e
"It's not really that big of a holiday here," Hermione explains. "It's bigger in America," she adds.
"I'll have to ask my mum what Halloween was like when I see her for Christmas," Sophie states.
"We should be thankful for the treats we already have," Cara mentions. "And that we're having fun." She adds.
"Exactly, look on the bright side." Blaise smiles at his girlfriend.
"I'd rather have more sweeties." Lauren shrugs.
"We've only done one street and have three more to go, you're going to get more," Draco assures her as they turn the corner onto the next street.
"Wow, look," Craig points at a house, a couple of doors down, that had Halloween decorations all over the front of their house, and a pile of carved pumpkins either side of their front door.
"Be patient," Their mum tells him as Craig tries to pull out of her grasps to run to that house. "We'll start with this one and work our way down."
Each of the six houses before the decorated one opened their doors and handed out an assortment of sweets or chocolates. With the area of London that Hermione's parents lived in being very middle class, the majority of the house owners were older couples who have worked hard to afford their house, like her parents. However, when they came to the decorated house, the 'Monster Mash' could be heard playing loudly from inside along with the tell-tale sounds of a party.
Sophie knocks on the front door loudly before anyone can voice whether they should skip this house, not wanting to interrupt the celebrations or be greeted by drunk party-goers. However, they needn't have worried.
A group of, what looks like, university-aged people open the door and cheer. While alcohol can be smelt coming from the house, they happily hand out handfuls of chocolates and sweets to each bag, calling for more party-goers to come and see them.
"Babies!" Two girls cheer, stepping out of the house in their bare feet to get a better look at the four babies in their carriers.
"Oi, midwives, get inside, you'll freeze your toes off." One of the boys calls them.
"Is that your medical opinion, Dr Jenkins?" One of the girls asks as they return to the house.
Hermione notices that the group are all dressed up as a profession, the majority in medical outfits. She wonders if they were students from the local university, dressing up as their degree, but doesn't bother asking when they start handing out more treats before they leave.
"I got ten packets of sweets." Lauren grins as they walk away from the part house.
"Me too," Craig says.
They continue along their route, filling their baskets full of sweets and chocolate until they arrive back at the Granger's house. Once inside, Hermione's parent's place the now sleeping twins in their cribs upstairs while Draco sits on the couch, a sleeping Scorpius cradled in his arms, with Blaise and Pandora. Cara joins the three children on the living room rug, counting their individual piles of treats. Hermione went into the kitchen, putting a jug of milk in the microwave for the mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows they had been promised when they got home.
When her parents returned, they helped her find nine mugs for everyone.
"That went better than I expected," Her dad commented, piling scoops of hot chocolate powder in each mug.
"Our first Halloween in twelve years." Her mum adds. "Where's Scorpy?" She asks, wanting a cuddle with her grandson.
"Mum!" Hermione groans at the shortened version of her son's name she had affectionately given him. "I've told you-"
"I know, I know," She brushes Hermione off as she wanders off towards the living room. "I found him," She calls.
Hermione chuckles as she fills the first three mugs up with hot milk.
"She only calls him it to get a rise out of you," Her dad assures her. "She thinks it's her right as a grandmother, but she tells anyone who will listen at the surgery about her little grandson Scorpius. We have pictures of him at reception and in each of our practice rooms." He tells her.
Hermione smiles, filling the jug up with more milk and placing it in the microwave to heat up for the second batch.
"How is parenthood treating you both?" Her dad asks as Draco walks in to help serve the drinks.
"I could not work as well as adjust to fatherhood, I'm so tired," Draco admits, yawning for emphasis. "Thanks to our paternity decrees, I don't have to go back to work for ten months." He sighs, taking the first two mugs of hot chocolate through to the living room.
Her dad laughs, "What about you?" He asks.
"I'm tired, obviously, he not even eight weeks old yet, he sleeps whenever he wants, usually during the day, so I should sleep when he does, but he's just so cute when he's sleeping, we just sit beside his crib, staring at him." She tells him. "Scorpius is the most exciting thing to happen in my life, I don't want to miss anything." She admits.
"I remember that feeling." Her dad nods. "You'll get over it when you haven't slept for three straight days and can't remember the last time you showered." He says, half-joking.
"I haven't showered since I left St. Mungo's," She chuckles. "The advantages of having a spell for that." She adds as Draco returns.
"That's cheating," Her dad laughs.
"Well, last week, after I'd charmed myself clean, Scorpius smiled for the first time. I would have missed that had I gone in the shower." Hermione explains as Draco takes two more cups through, returning for the next two while Hermione heats up the last of the milk for the final three mugs.
"Are you sure it's a smile, and not wind?" Her dad asks, looking up as his wife enters the kitchen, carrying a now awake Scorpius in her arms.
"It's a smile," Hermione confirms. "He stares at our faces when we talk to him, and he smiles when he recognises us." She explains, smiling when Scorpius struggles to turn his head far enough to see his mum when he recognises her voice.
"Scorpius, can you show Grandpa Chris your smile?" Draco asks, stepping forward into his son's line of sight.
Upon recognising Draco's face, Scorpius' face beams as he waves his chubby arms around, wanting to be held by his father.
"Sorry, Sarah." Draco apologises, holding his hands out for his son, who leans out of his grandma's arms, towards his dad.
"That's good development." Hermione's dad says. "Is he sucking on his hands yet?" He asks.
"Yes, he is." Hermione stares at him, impressed.
"He's just showing off his knowledge from those classes the social workers made us take before we could foster Evelyn and Vivian." Her mum shakes her head.
"I got ninety-two per cent in that class." He announces proudly. "What did you get again, Sarah?" He smirks.
"Eighty-seven," She rolls her eyes, taking over the role of the hot chocolate maker as Hermione is now distracted by her son.
Once all the hot chocolates have been made, everyone congregates in the living room, where Sophie has put on a VHS of Casper. Draco, still carrying their son, returns to his space on the couch beside Blaise, while Hermione sits on the carpet, between her husband's legs. Cara, following her lead, leans back against Blaise's legs, scooping marshmallows out of her hot chocolate with one of her chocolate bars. The three kids sit in the middle of the living room, sporadically eating some chocolate of taking a sip from their mug.
Twenty minutes into the film, Hermione drifts off to sleep, her head resting against Draco knee. She wakes up nearly ninety minutes later, to Draco gently shaking her awake.
"We told David we would drop Sophie off by nine o'clock." He tells her.
Hermione looks at the TV to find the film had finished and was now on the nine o'clock news channel. She stretches her arms and back as she stands up, glancing around the room.
"Where is everyone?" She asks curiously.
"Your parents are putting Craig and Lauren to bed, and Blaise had to leave. Luna came back from the Amazon on Monday, but Blaise wanted to have today with Pandora so she's pushing her next trip back a couple of days so she can spend a week with her daughter." Draco sighs.
"What was Blaise talking about earlier?" She asks, taking the growling Scorpius from Draco and kissing his chubby little cheeks.
"Hermione, I promised!" He groans.
"Sorry," She smiles. "Is it to do with Luna, though?" She asks.
"No," He answers simply, standing up. "Where's the car seat?" He asks.
"Should be behind dad's chair." She answers, walking into the hallway to collect the four of their coats, passing Sophie hers, and wrestling Scorpius' waving arms into his winter jacket.
She straps Scorpius into his car seat, something Draco doesn't trust himself to do since he doesn't trust cars, but wanting his son to be as safe as possible while inside one, he leaves it up to Hermione.
When her parents return downstairs, they hug each other goodbye, promising to visit soon for more grandson and grandparent time. Hermione straps Scorpius into the back seat while Draco climbs into the middle seat, to keep an eye on their son, and Sophie climbs into the front passenger seat, into her booster chair.
The drive to David's house is slow and uneventful. Draco makes sure she drives a minimum of five miles below the speed limit, to ensure the safety of Scorpius, which she complies with if it puts his mind at rest. It usually leads to honking and overtaking from other drivers, but the roads were unusually quiet on Halloween night.
Once they've dropped Sophie off at home, twenty minutes late, and regretfully declined David's off of a cup of tea, expressing the need to get Scorpius home, they drive into central London, towards Charing Cross Road, where they park their car in a nearby car park. From there, they walk to the Leaky Cauldron, where they spend ten minutes receiving compliments and congratulations, mainly from strangers, on the birth of their son, before they floo to back to their house.
At home, they both put Scorpius to bed in his crib, standing for nearly twenty minutes, talking to their son as he slowly drifts off, and then staring as he sleeps for a further half an hour.
"Come on, we need some sleep too," Draco takes Hermione's hand, pulling her away from the crib, closing the nursery's door behind them as they head into their own bedroom.
Hermione waves her hand over her body, changing into her pyjamas with a yawn before falling onto their bed, her eyes already closed. Draco laughs, following in her footsteps in collapsing into their bed.
"Teeth," He mutters, waving his hand over his own mouth to charm them clean.
Hermione groans, doing the same, despite hating the aftertaste of magically cleaning her teeth.
"Good night?" Draco asks her, pulling the covers from beneath her body and throwing them over her body.
"Good night." She mumbles, shuffling closer to the warmth of his body.
He smiles to himself, pulling her closer, into an embrace.
"I love you." He kisses the back of her head.
"Love you too." She sighs contently before drifting off into sleep, with Draco following not long after.
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