Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 116 for you!
This is the second of the short eight Christmas themed chapters coming this summer. I realise the irony. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this one, purely for Magnus Maddox.
Love DW
PS Enjoy x
"Magnus Maddox, round two," Ron sarcastically announces as Hermione enters the Ministry of Magic's interview waiting room on the eighth floor.
Hermione smiles, sitting beside him, Scorpius on her lap. Draco had gotten him dressed half an hour before she left, and she was surprised to find her husband had dressed their son in one of the Christmas jumper's her grandma Emily's church knitting circle had gifted them. He had chosen the green jumper with Rudolf the reindeer on the front.
"Mum had the same idea," Ron nods at Scorpius' jumper, gesturing to the twins, asleep in their double pram. Phoebe is dressed in a green and red tartan dress with a red bow in a small tuft of her hair, and Philip is wearing a waistcoat and trousers in a matching pattern, with a red bow tie tied around the collar of a white dress shirt.
"They are adorable," Hermione coos at the seeping children. "Molly has outdone herself."
"Yeah, until you see I'm wearing a matching tartan bowtie," he sighs, opening the top bottom of his winter cloak.
"Oh, wow, all you need is Pansy wearing a tartan dress, and you've got yourself a Christmas card," Hermione jokes.
"I don't get all the tartan," Ron admits. "We're not Scottish, and it reminds me of McGonagall's tartan dressing gown. We saw that thing far too much."
Hermione laughs, "That's not a good thing; it shows how often we were out after curfew." She checks the time. "Where is Harry?" They had five minutes until their interview was due to start at three o'clock.
"Harry said Ginny would be dropping the kids off at his office at quarter-to-three; he should be here soon," Ron says.
"He's been so busy recently, since the attack last week." She sighs.
Ginny had visited her and Draco a twice during the week with Teddy and James for a cup of tea. She had complained about how little she had seen Harry. He had been working nearly sixteen hours every day, and Ginny trained eight hours every day. Often, Ginny had told them, Harry was asleep in bed by the time she had picked the kids up from the Burrow, and then gone when Ginny woke up in the morning.
"I'm not late, am I?" Harry asks, bursting through the doors, James on his hip and Teddy gripping his hand.
"No, you're fine, we've got three minutes," Hermione assures him, rechecking her watch. "I'm surprised Maddox isn't here already." She admits, handing Scorpius to Ron.
Harry slumps down into the nearest chair, beside Hermione, with James on his lap. Teddy runs over to the double pram next to Ron, eager to see his little cousins.
"Harry, sit up properly," Hermione chides him, pointing her wand at his face.
Harry's eyes widen, leaning away from her.
"No offence, Harry, but you look awful. Maddox will want pictures for the article, and you don't want him to write some snarky comment about how tired you look." She explains, casting a few make-up charms to brighten his appearance and hide the dark circles under his eyes.
"Thanks," Harry frowns, feeling conflicted. "I guess."
"How do I look?" Ron asks, smiling at his friends. "I can't be the only one looking rough. I got it worse than you two last time."
Hermione rolls her eyes as she casts a few charms on Ron too.
"What's the point in asking us to bring our children but not our spouses?" Harry questions. "He said it was a family-themed article, right?"
"Pansy wouldn't have come," Ron states, handing Scorpius back.
"I would love to see Draco interact with him," Hermione smiles.
Harry yawns noisily, drawing everyone's attention.
"It's not getting any better, is it?" Hermione states.
Harry shakes his head. "It's getting worse," He says quietly. "This is just between us;" He glances at the official behind the desk. "Kingsley doesn't want it getting out to the public." He stares at them pointedly, his frustration evident on his face. "One of them… escaped." He whispers.
"Again!" Hermione hisses, clutching Scorpius closer to her.
"Draco might be right, we might have a mole, but no one is taking it seriously. Alphard won't listen to me; neither of the heads will listen to me. I tried taking it to Kingsley, but I can't get an appointment." He sighs frustratedly.
"Something needs to be done," Ron shakes his head. "People need to know; it's not safe out there."
"Kingsley argues that it's not safe anyway, what does one more Death Eater change when there's already twenty-odd more out there. We don't know who killed Miss Penn, but we have a motive." He looks at Hermione. "Draco mentioned your prophecy when he was brought in-,"
"For no legal reason." Hermione interrupts.
"I know," Harry rubs his eyes. "But this prophecy thing makes sense. She knew more than the newspaper reported on; obviously, the Death Eater's didn't want all of it getting out, but it did, and they killed the girl responsible. I'd love to interview Maddox, but his people are refusing." Harry smirks.
"Are you planning something, Harry?" Hermione asks, hopefully.
"I've been warned against it." He informs them.
Ron laughs, "That won't stop you."
Magnus Maddox chooses that moment to enter the room, dressed head to toe in orange. The way he opens the door and steps inside the room like he's walking down a catwalk confirms his entrance was a choice, and he had probably taken a moment pause outside the room, getting into character.
"Perfect, I see you've all learnt how to be on time since our last meeting." He grins, turning around with a flourish of his orange cloak as he leaves.
"I hate this already," Ron sighs, standing and stretching his long limbs.
The trio, with their children, walk the familiar corridor down to interview room C. As the previous time, Magnus Maddox is already sat in his chair, quill independently writing his preliminary thoughts in his notepad. They take their seats opposite the orange man, in front of a large and ornately decorated Christmas tree, waiting for the whole façade to begin.
"Here I am, over a year since the last time, joined by our very own Golden Trio," he smirks at Ron. "Oh, I apologise, Mr Weasley, I forgot you detest the name."
"Detest?" Ron scoffs. "You know, I don't think I've heard it much since our last interview. I'd almost forgotten about it." Ron shrugs.
"So much has happened, hasn't it, you've all become parents in these short eighteen months," he looks to the children in front of him, his nose turning up slightly until his eyes reach Teddy. "Who is that?" He frowns, the theatrical nature to his voice falling.
"Teddy, my godson." Harry grins down at the young boy, who glances up from his picture book at the mention of his name.
"He's not your son." Magnus states.
"Ginny and I treat him and love him just as much as James. We take care of him one week out of a month to give his grandmother a break. We are helping to raise him. He's my son." Harry glares at the man, having reached his breaking point already.
"But you're not Teddy's father." Magnus reiterates.
Teddy looks at Magnus curiously. "Me teddy," he introduces himself.
"Yeah, I know," Magnus says condescendingly.
"He's two years old, you don't have to speak to him like that," Harry snaps.
"Daddy Harry, me this many." Teddy holds two fingers up.
"Yes, you are," Harry beams down at his godson. "Very clever."
"Isn't allowing young Teddy to call you Daddy taking that title away from his real father. I assume he also calls Ginny his mother." Magnus questions.
"Teddy, can you tell this man about your mammy and daddy?" Harry asks, picking the boy up and placing him on his lap.
Teddy claps his hands. "Me got two daddies and mammies. Daddy Harry, Daddy, Mammy Ginny and my Mammy. Daddy and Mammy not here. Daddy and Mammy gone." He explains as best as his understanding and vocabulary will allow. "But Daddy and Mammy love Teddy lots and lots." He claps his hands again, looking at Harry for confirmation he had said the right thing.
"They do love you, more than anything else." Harry kisses his godson's dark brown hair.
"More than chocolate?" Teddy asks.
Ron laughs, "I don't know about that, Teddy, your Daddy did love chocolate." He tells the boy.
"Teddy loves chocolate." He smiles widely. "You like chocolate?" He asks the man.
"Yeah, chocolate is great." Magnus agrees dismissively.
Teddy laughs, "G'ate." He tries to repeat 'great'.
"How noble, Mr Potter, taking in the orphaned son of your own father's best friend. Did you feel obliged, being an orphan yourself?" Magnus asks, the theatricality back.
"Wow," Hermione gasps surprised Magnus was going down this route.
"I was named his godfather, but I would have taken responsibility for him anyway. I know what it's like to grow up without parents, without love, with nothing but a feeling of missing something I don't remember ever having. I could not put little Teddy through that. I don't want him to know such loss of love like I did." Harry speaks. "It's a rare thing, especially since the war, to live without experiencing loss." Harry continues, a small smile on his face as he invents a sudden realisation. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Magnus, I didn't think, you must still be grieving." Harry apologises and might have taken it a step too far by placing his hand on his chest.
"Grieving?" Magnus questions, frowning.
"Tabitha Penn, your assistant. She was murdered by the new Death Eater movement last weekend at the Christmas Lights Switch on in Diagon Alley." Harry spells it out for him.
Magnus' face stiffens. He clears his throat, sitting taller in his chair. "Oh, yes, Tabitha, poor child. She was the best assistant I have ever had. She truly is a loss. She had only just recently shown me some of her own work; I was her mentor as well as her boss. In maybe ten years, she could have overshadowed me, I'm sure." He nods, voice full of emotion.
"I didn't see you at the Christmas Lights event, weren't you interested in an article for the night. The Weird Sisters were there, and the Minister." Harry points out.
"That's why Tabitha was there, that fateful night. After she had shown me her work, she had begged me for an opportunity to prove herself to the Chief Editor at the Daily Prophet, so I allowed her to take my place. I have felt guilty ever since." He admits, producing an orange handkerchief to swipe at an invisible tear.
"Oh no, man sad." Teddy tries to wiggle off Harry's lap to hug the man better.
"It's okay, Teddy, he's just pretending." Ron glares at Magnus.
Magnus pockets his handkerchief, frowning at Ron. "I have every right to express my feelings and emotions at the death of my assistant."
"Of course, you do, if you actually had feelings and emotions." Ron scoffs.
"Where was Tabitha from?" Hermione asks.
"She was American."
"America's a big place, Mr Maddox." She shakes her head. "My husband had a five-minute conversation with her three months ago and knows more about her that you do." She accuses him.
"I'm glad you brought up your husband, Ms Granger. Wasn't he arrested on suspicion of murder for her death?" He asks, turning on her now.
"No, he wasn't," Hermione states simply.
"Draco Malfoy was brought in to the Auror department so we could take his statement after he identified Tabitha Penn's body. He provided us with vital information that allowed us to track down her parents, in New Hampshire, and begin a case against whichever Death Eater killed." Harry defends Draco.
"You have two Death Eater's in custody, don't you; it's been a week, why hasn't the person responsible for Tabitha's death been arrested. Surely the Aurors have had practice in interrogating Death Eaters." Magnus questions.
"Three Death Eater's were arrested on the night in question," Harry points out.
"I have ears everywhere, Mr Potter. I know your department allowed another Death Eater to escape. What is that now, three altogether over the past ten months?"
"Wasn't this interview supposed to be about our families and Christmas, or whatever?" Ron asks, breaking the tension. "Isn't that why we brought our children? Hey, Magnus," He calls the man's attention. "How come our partners weren't invited?"
Magnus laughs. "No one cares about your other halves outside of Quidditch," he points at Harry. "And rumours of his Death Eater involvements." He points at Hermione.
"My husband is not a Death Eater, and his involvement during the war was pardoned due to him testifying against his own father. Draco regrets his involvement deeply and last year took it upon himself to testify at the trials of numerous other Death Eaters. Do you really think they would want him back in their league after he turned his back on them?" Hermione laughs at the thought.
"Probably not," Magnus agrees. "Since his pairing to you, he has rather mellowed out." He says in disgust.
"Thank you," Hermione takes it as a compliment.
"Although, you've also led him down a different path of treachery, a much lighter one that the darkness of the Death Eater's, but tainted none the less. We were rather impressed by your little protest at the War Anniversary dinner back in May, and then again in June, when you led a mass walkout at the Anniversary of the Marriage Decree dinner." Magnus grins at her.
"First of all, we didn't lead a mass walkout, we left, and other people agreed with our stance and followed. We didn't even know about it until afterwards. Secondly, I like to think we have both influenced each other to stand up for what we believe in, and finally, thank you; we were proud of our War Anniversary statement." She smirks back at him, in true Malfoy style.
"Does the Golden Trio enjoy making everything harder than it needs to be?" Magnus sighs overdramatically. "It's December, Christmas time in much of the world. How will each of you be spending this holiday, the first with your children?"
"Well, this is James' second Christmas; he's fifteen months old," Harry points out. "Mine and Ron's Christmas will most likely be the same. On Christmas Eve night, we'll arrive at the Burrow and spend the night, ready to spend the day with the whole family. Well, with most of our family." He looks at Ron.
"Yes, my brother Charlie won't be able to make it for Christmas, but he's coming for New Years instead. Also, my eldest brother Bill is spending Christmas in France with his parents-in-law." Ron explains.
"And Hermione won't be there," Harry adds.
"Thanks for the final thought, Harry," she jokes. "Draco and I spend Christmas Eve with his mother, and we enjoy Christmas Day with my family. Then we all come together for Boxing Day at the Burrow." She says.
"Do you find it difficult, splitting your time between our world and the Muggle world?" Magnus asks, curiously.
"Our family in both our world and the Muggle world have their own lives, as do we, so it can be difficult trying to make time to spend with everyone, especially during holidays, but we try our best. Now we have Scorpius, and it's his first Christmas, we want to make it special." She hugs her son, who has been cradled calmly in her arms for the whole interview, content just to be close to his mother.
"We'll be spending Christmas eve afternoon with my wife's family," Ron adds.
"The Parkinsons?" Magnus states.
"Yes, you didn't mention my wife earlier. I'll have you know the students of Hogwarts love her as the new History of Magic Professor. She is one of their favourite professors." He announces proudly.
"Well, our biggest demographic isn't Hogwarts students, and outside of the school, she's nobody." Magnus shrugs harshly. "Although it is a surprise to hear you speak so fondly of her when last time you spoke of getting your marriage over and done with."
"Is there a question?" Ron asks.
"What changed?" Magnus asks.
"I stopped seeing Pansy as the spiteful girl from Slytherin that used to bully my friends and me and started seeing her as the soon-to-be mother of my children. When she told me she was expecting, it hit me that she was my future. Whether our marriage lasts or not, she gave me my children, and I will always love her and be thankful to her for that." Ron explains, rocking the double pram back and forth to calm himself and his twins.
"A father of twins, it seems to run in the family," Magus announces. "First, your mother's brothers, then your older brothers, and now you. How well have you adjusted?" He asks.
"It's difficult with Pansy perusing such a demanding career, but I work part-time with my brother, and my mother is absolutely in love with all her grandchildren and doesn't mind taking care of them for a few hours a day when I'm at work. It gets easier as they get older, now they're sleeping through the night with one bottle feed, we can sleep, and everything else feels easier." Ron explains.
"Ms Granger, I assume you're still up many times during the night, with Scorpius being only three months old," Magnus says.
"Since you don't seem to know much about children, I'm going to assume I look that terrible." She jokes. "We sleep when we can, even if that involves a couple of naps during the day."
"All our readers will no doubt remember the prophecy that was announced alongside the birth of young Scorpius, how did that feel?" He asks.
"How did it feel knowing that the new Death Eaters were targeting my son and family?" She asks rhetorically.
"Yes."
"It felt great, just what I needed when I thought my life was just beginning." She sarcastically answers.
"You said these Death Eaters are targeting your son, yet I wrote that article and all the prophecy announced was the birth of Scorpius and a part about a meeting of clocks." Magnus reminds her.
"You would know then that you missed two lines out of the prophecy you published. You missed the part where my son unites the world, so we don't have to live in fear," she states accusatively. "Or something along those lines." She shrugs. "It's difficult adjusting to my new role as a mother when I'm constantly thinking about whether or not my family is safe to go shopping down Diagon Alley. After what happened last Saturday, I now know I am not safe anywhere." She explains. Of course, she wasn't going to mention the Death Eater who followed her to the Lake Districts and who's thigh she cut.
"Profound words, Ms Granger, are any of us truly safe with the rise of these new Death Eaters? Unfortunately, Tabitha Penn, my own assistant and future journalist, learnt that the hard way last Saturday on the first of December. What a truly tragic way for our community to begin the holiday season? This article will be dedicated the Tabitha Penn, with all our condolences to her family." Magnus speaks solemnly.
He pauses for a moment for his quill to finish scribbling his notes then snatches it out of the air, along with the notebook and stuffing them both into his pocket.
"I know for some reason Minister Shacklebolt wanted the three of you to have three interviews with me, but honestly, my readers are tired of hearing about the Golden Trio. You are old news, and it's time you moved on from this celebrity status you three are so clearly clinging onto in the hopes of remaining relevant. The world has already moved on, it's time to join them, so this will be our last interview. I'll have my new assistant, Alice- or Annie- or- I'll have her inform Minister Shacklebolt that the Daily Prophet is going in a new direction with our celebrity column." Magnus explains, standing up. "I've got a camera we need to take a group shot and some individual shots, and then you're free to leave." He adds, removing the camera and stand from his orange leather bag behind his chair and setting it up, facing the Christmas Tree.
Since both Teddy and James are awake and presentable for their picture to be taken, Harry goes first. He's still dressed in his Auror robes, which Magnus claims will add some interest to the photographs. He picks up James, dressed in tan corduroy trousers and a Christmas jumper, and balances him on his hip. He makes a single attempt to comb his son's curly mop out of his face with his fingers before giving up and turning his attention to Teddy. The older boy is raising his arms to be carried like James, so Harry bends down, wrapping his free arm around his godson's waist and lifts him onto his other hip.
"Ddy," James holds his hand out for his friend.
"Hi James," Teddy takes his hand and shakes it.
Harry laughs in amusement, glancing up just as the camera flashes.
"That is fine, Mr Potter," Magnus mentions fiddling around with the settings.
Harry looks like he's about to complain that he wasn't ready, before remembering he doesn't care what he looks like in the Daily Prophet, his children looked cute, and that's all that matters, at least to Ginny and Molly, who are more likely to frame the article. He puts Teddy back down on the floor and sits James down beside him. The two boys start giggling as they crawl around, chasing each other.
"Do you want me to take Phoebe while you wake Philip?" Harry asks Ron, opening his arms for his goddaughter.
"Go on, try fixing her box, Pansy, and Mum will kill me if it's a mess in the picture." Ron hands over his daughter before turning to his son, who was scrunching his face up as he woke up.
"Scorpius and I will go next then," Hermione stands in front of the camera.
Scorpius hair has grown considerably since he was born, but the curls kept it looking quite short. Still, she uses a wandless spell to keep it out of his face as she cards her fingers through, turning to the side to show to the camera her son, in his Christmas jumper, cradled in her arms. The flash goes off as she turns, still watching her son.
"I wasn't facing the camera," she tells Magnus.
"I got a motherly shot of you looking down at your son," he says, going back to the settings of the camera. "Mr Weasley, whenever you're ready," he adds without looking up.
"Yeah, I've got two ten-month olds here, and there's only one of me," he complains.
Ron has Philip in his left arm, balanced against his chest as he struggles to escape his father's grip. Hermione walks over to Magnus, standing behind the camera, and calls her godson's name.
"Philip," she repeats, and the boy stops in his struggles as he tries to find whoever was calling his names.
Harry quickly places Phoebe in Ron's right arm and jumps out of the camera frame.
"Philip, look, there's Phoebe," Hermione tells him.
Both Phoebe and Philip look towards Hermione at the camera, inquisitively.
"Ron smile," Hermione reminds him.
Ron forces his face into a bright smile and Magnus uses this as his cue to take the picture. As soon as the flash goes off, the twins are distracted again and are back to planning their escape from their dad.
Harry picks James back up, taking Teddy's hand. "We need to take another picture, with Hermione and Ron," Harry explains to his sons.
Hermione joins Ron back in front of the Christmas tree, holding Scorpius up against her chest, facing the camera. She casts a glance at Ron and Harry, either side of her, with their two children, checking they're ready.
"Ready," Magnus calls, just before the flash.
Hermione's head whips to the camera with a forced smile, hoping the camera has captured her. She wanted at least one of the pictures to have her facing the camera. Ron starts wrestling Philip and Phoebe into their pram, giving them each a bottle of milk.
Magnus packs away his camera and stand back into his bag before announcing his departure.
"You didn't exactly give me much to work with, since you spent most of our time harassing me over the death of my own assistant, but I'll make it work." He states, before leaving.
Ron groans loudly as soon as the door swings shut. "That man has gotten more insufferable."
"I guess I wasn't as discreet as I thought. I'm going to have to pass on that the Daily Prophet has got people reporting Ministry secrets to them." Harry sighs. "I was supposed to finish work after this interview; now I'm going to have to come back after dropping the kids off at Molly's." He explains as the three of them walk towards the door.
"Take them with you," Hermione suggests. "It'll give you an excuse to leave as soon as you've passed on the message, instead of staying to do whatever it is you do for sixteen hours a day." She points out, holding the door open for her friends, with their two children.
"Ginny's been talking to you." He states, guiltily.
"She came around the other day. She's worried about you." Hermione tells him.
"She hasn't mentioned anything," Harry shrugs. "Teddy, push the button for the lift." He instructs the boy, who excitedly does as he's told.
"Of course, she hasn't." Ron rolls his eyes. "That's just adding to your stress and making her worry even more." He explains. "It's like yesterday when Pansy spent all night marking essays, then Phoebe crawled into the coffee table and started crying, so I cast an imperturbable on the living room, so I'm not adding to her stress." He explains.
Hermione and Harry stare at him.
"Your child crawled into the coffee table?" Harry asks.
"How fast was she going?" Hermione jokes.
"I don't know, pretty fast. She bumped her head." Ron shrugs.
"Are you sure you didn't cast imperturbable, so Pansy didn't find out you weren't watching your child?" Harry teases.
"Whatever, I avoided extra stress on both our parts." He says, getting into the lift.
"On your part, because Pansy would have shouted at you for at least an hour," Hermione warns him, pressing the button for the Floo floor.
"I know," he stares at her pointedly. "Was that a complete waste of all of our time?" He changes the topic, turning to Harry.
"He claimed not to know about those two extra lines to the prophecy, and he knew about the… the escaped Death Eater, although not just this one, the two others' too." Harry answers.
"What about the other two that were arrested last weekend?" Ron asks.
"No one recognises them, and they refer to themselves by their codenames," he rolls his eyes. "Scrutor and Initio."
"That's Latin," Hermione frowns as she thinks.
"Scrutor means questioner, and Initio means initiator. Scrutor is better in interrogations, so we're making an assumption that is her role within the DE. Initio is not very good at hiding her emotions, most of which are smirks and laughter, but she only speaks to tell us her name is Initio." Harry explains.
"This is creepy," Ron states. "Why do they need weird codenames?"
"Draco mentioned that- last time- Voldemort wanted everyone to know each other, so if there were any deception everyone would know who had betrayed them and they wouldn't be safe. The only wore their masks to hide from the world." Hermione explains.
"I remember the Quidditch World Cup," Ron nods, and Harry pulls a face as the three of them step out of the lift with their children.
"I think this time, either the new Dark Lord doesn't want his Death Eaters to know who he is," Hermione suggests, stepping to the side with her friends. "Or he knows how much riskier and dangerous it is for a person to be a Death Eater and he doesn't want them to be able to blackmail each other outside of their group," Hermione suggests, having thought intensively about this with Draco over the last week.
"It could be both," Ron agrees, shrugging. "It makes sense; we all know how much Lucius Malfoy liked to bribe, blackmail and manipulate people."
Harry laughs, looking at Hermione. "He has a point."
She shakes her head, "Yes, he was very much like that, but I'm helping him."
"I can save him!" Ron cries in a high-pitched voice.
Harry laughs, "Excuse me, what?"
"I read it in a magazine; something about smart women thinking they can fix challenging men." He explains, but Harry and Hermione just stare at him. "Don't look at me like that, Angelina left it at The Burrow, and I had nothing better to do. It got me thinking, did Pansy fix me? I know I was difficult at the beginning of our marriage." Ron asks, quite seriously.
Hermione bites the inside of her mouth, glancing at Harry, and as their eyes make contact, they burst out laughing.
"Ron, mate, you are too much, but you're fine. Pansy left you to your own devices until you sorted yourself out. You 'fixed' yourself if you want to think about it like that." Harry assures him.
"Alright, thanks, man," Ron grins, giving them both an awkward one-armed hug around their children. "I gotta get going." He bids them goodbye, leaving for a fireplace.
Harry shakes his head with a smile as he watches his friend walk away. "I never thought our lives would continue to be this weird after the War." He comments. "First the Marriage Decree, then the resurface of Death Eaters, interviews with weird journalists, and now Ron is psychoanalysing himself."
"Psychoanalysing, that's a big word," Hermione teases him.
Harry pushes his glasses up his nose, "I know things." He says.
Hermione hums in amused agreement, hugging her best friend, "I need to get home for Scorpius' nap."
"And your nap." He winks.
"Yes, I'm going to nap too." She rolls her eyes. "You should get more sleep too. You're working yourself into an early grave." She warns him.
"Yeah, yeah, get going." He laughs and waves her off.
When Hermione steps out of the fireplace, Draco jumps up from the couch, taking Scorpius from her arms.
"How was it?" He asks, kissing his son's head.
"You would have loved it," she leans up for her own kiss from her husband. "We all had a go at giving Magnus Maddox a piece of our minds. I doubt any of it will end up in the article, though." She sighs, hugging him tightly.
"I'll look forward to reading it." He tells her, wrapping his Scorpius free arm around her. "I've been waiting for you to get back." He admits.
Hermione leans back staring up into his face suggestively. "Oh, really, what were you thinking?" She asks.
Draco makes a point of looking at his watch. "Well, we're fifteen minutes overdue for our late afternoon nap."
She pushes him away, laughing. "Come on then; I could use an hour nap before we start dinner."
Hermione takes him by the hand, pulling him upstairs to their room. Draco places Scorpius in the Moses basket on Hermione's side of the bed before joining his wife on top of their duvet. Draco can feel Hermione's body get heavier in his arms as she falls asleep, watching their son drift off himself, sucking on his own fists.
You should follow me on Instagram (delilah . wise) to find out when the next chapter will be uploaded.
On Instagram, I held a vote on how people would feel about me rewriting the earlier chapters of The Marriage Decree. I recently reread them and I was embarrassed by how cringy and bad my writing was in 2016. I could definitely see the improvement I have made in the past four years and feel these earlier chapters don't represent the story as a whole very well. For anyone who puts their creative work out for the public, you will know that you want as many people to see it as possible because hopefully, you're proud of what you've created. I can see that many people don't read much past the first five chapters, and I am not proud of my earlier work. In the vote, the main feelings were that people were happy for me to do this rewrite if it would make me happier (thank you so much for being so kind). Therefore, I will commence with the rewrite, although I will be focusing at the moment with new chapters, at least until the end of the nine short Christmas themed chapters.
For those of you who don't have Instagram, my main issues were my bad characterisation, spelling and grammar, and descriptions. It took me a while to understand the different characters and this is something I would like to fix. Also, there are characters, scenes and minor plot points that are irrelevant to the overall plot and storyline that I want to remove altogether. This won't change anything form the current chapters, so if you don't want to reread the rewritten chapter, you don't need to because the upcoming chapters will still make sense.
I like to think of Forced Together (if you can remember all the way back to the first iteration of TMD in 2013-2015) as the failed premise, and The Marriage Decree (as it stands now) as the first draft. I've received feedback over the years, and I have been self-critical, and now I am ready to start the second draft.
Thank you to everyone that took part in the vote.
Thank you so much for reading.
Please FOLLOW, FAVOURITE and REVIEW. It will be much appreciated.