"I don't like that there," Hermione said as Draco hovered the change table around. "I think by the door would be best. Then when the baby has a blowout it's all immediately available."
"A what?" Draco asked, turning to her slowly in horror.
"Poop everywhere, Draco. Everywhere."
He looked appalled for a moment but composed himself and hovered the table where she had suggested. Hermione knew a little bit about babies because of James, but she was no expert from experience either, so instead she showed up at his house with baby books galore, determined that they learn all they could.
Draco let the table down where Hermione indicated and they both breathed a sigh of relief. The nursery was almost, finally, completed, but Hermione kept feeling like they didn't have enough of something and then more things would appear that needed to be put away.
Draco dropped into a glider chair that sat beside the crib, Hermione taking a seat in the one opposite.
"Do you think we have everything we need, now?" He asked, looking around the completely transformed room. Hermione had even painstakingly created a magical constellation on the ceiling when Draco told her of the baby names he'd decided on.
Scorpius for a boy, Lyra for a girl.
The constellation was gorgeous and shimmered in pale pinks, greens and purples, the stars blinking realistically. Hermione declared she'd make it more personal when they found out the sex and include the area of the sky their namesake star was in.
It was one of the most thoughtful things anyone had ever done for him.
"I want to be as involved with the baby as I can be," she declared when he told her how lovely he thought the ceiling was.
Draco met her eyes and could see she meant it. She was here with him.
His wand vibrated, signalling that dinner was ready, so the two left the nursery how it was and headed to the kitchen. Hermione knocked on Ava's door on her way by, as an indication dinner was ready, but she didn't say anything.
Draco pulled down three plates and began placing measured amounts of food onto each while Hermione got water for them. Ava appeared, the regular scowl on her face as she took her seat. It was becoming a routine.
Except for meals, Ava generally stayed in her room, especially as she advanced in her pregnancy. They didn't speak much, but tonight Hermione changed that as she turned to the blonde witch.
"I was wondering if Draco and I would be able to find out the sex of the baby?" She asked boldly, Draco almost dropping a plate of food in surprise. "I know that you don't care, but it's a big deal to us."
Hermione met Ava's eyes fiercely, daring the other witch to say no.
She stuttered for a moment, caught off guard. "I suppose that's fine," she finally said. "But I don't care to know, so keep it between yourselves."
Hermione stifled a happy squeal, sitting up straighter. "I learned the spell just in case you said yes!" She was trying to hide her excitement in case the other witch changed her mind.
Of course she did, Draco thought fondly, but he was delighted they were finally going to know. He knew Ava wouldn't have said yes if he had been the one to ask, so he stayed quiet.
He passed out the plates as silence reigned again, but his and Hermione's happiness couldn't be shattered tonight. They ate quickly, Hermione charming the dishes to clean themselves in her excitement.
Ava was scowling again as she sat on the couch, preparing for Hermione to do the spell.
"Silencing spells," she ground out, closing her eyes and turning her head away.
Hermione acquiesced before turning to him with a huge smile.
"Are you ready?" she asked him, reaching for his hand.
"Yes," he whispered. He was nervous. He had always imagined a boy, but now that the situation was at hand he found that he didn't care what the gender was. He watched as Hermione's wand circled Ava's belly gracefully before a soft blue glow permeated the air around them.
"A boy," he whispered as Hermione squeezed his hand and tittered with excitement.
"A boy, Draco," she exclaimed, pressing her body against him as she pulled him into a hug.
"I can't believe it," he gripped her to him before he held her shoulders and kissed her happily.
He lifted her up and spun her, making her laugh aloud in delight. They kissed again and he set her down, cancelling the spells on Ava, who immediately pushed to her feet and left the room.
Hermione was radiant in her happiness, and Draco thanked the stars that he had someone so amazing to share this with.
"Only a couple months to go, Draco," she reminded, as she was apt to do as the due date got closer.
"Then our little baby boy will be here with us," he agreed happily as Hermione's heart stuttered in her chest.
—-
Hermione awoke feeling absolutely miserable. Her head was pounding before she even had her eyes opened and once she cracked her lids open nausea overtook her.
"Oh no," she moaned, kicking the blankets off as she tried to hurry from the bed.
Draco groaned from beside her reaching out, but she smacked his hand away as she stood, dizziness gripping her once she was upright.
She stumbled, trying to make it to the bathroom, and Draco sat up quickly, watching her in dazed confusion as she all but ran to the ensuite.
"Granger?" He asked, but she waved him away as she hurried to the toilet before vomiting harshly.
Tears coursed down her cheeks with the violent heaves she was experiencing and she coughed before she felt cool hands on the back of her sweaty neck, lifting her hair.
"You're burning up," Draco whispered as she heaved again.
Hermione breathed deeply, trying to stave off any more puking as the toilet's cleansing spell went to work.
"Are you done?" Draco asked, rubbing her back gently.
"I think so," she moaned, feeling miserable.
He helped her to her feet and she leaned on the countertop in front of the sink, turning on the taps and splashing water on her face.
"Can you please get my bag?" She whispered, and kept her eyes closed as she felt his hands leave her.
He returned quickly with her beaded bag and she summoned her toothbrush and toothpaste, giving her mouth a quick once over.
The toothpaste made her want to puke again, but she forced it down as she spit into the sink.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked gently, carefully guiding her back to bed.
"I'm sick," she said miserably, letting him tuck her into the huge bed.
He chuckled. "I see that."
"I can't be sick," she moaned. "I need to be at the apothecary all morning and tonight is James' second birthday party."
"I'll take care of it," Draco assured, getting her settled in. "Let me get you some water."
She was asleep before he returned with a cool glass.
—-
Draco went to the Cure-A-Torium first, checking over the cauldrons on the bench in the back before going to the front quickly and seeing what needed to be restocked. He might not love potion making, but he knew a thing or two about it, and with Hermione as sick as she'd been that morning he had a feeling she'd be out for a few days.
He worked quickly and efficiently, bottling and labelling the potions that had cooled overnight before ensuring the shelves were full and ready for her to return.
Once that job was completed he wrote out a sign with curling, loopy letters informing the general public the apothecary would be closed for the next few days.
"Draco Malfoy?" A deep voice said from behind him as he was fixing the sign to the front of the wooden door.
He turned around in surprise, people didn't generally acknowledge him when he was out and about, and he had noticed the last few months that it was much nicer to just be ignored than to be sneered at.
"Flint," he responded with a nod as he used a sticking charm on the sign before turning and giving his old house mate his attention.
"Isn't this the Granger girl's store?"
"Yes," he replied, not giving any additional details.
Flint looked awkward for a moment before he nodded.
"Where have you been?" he asked after a short silence. "It's been years since I've seen you."
"I've been around," Draco said warily. He was uncomfortable, and though Marcus Flint had been in his school house, they hadn't ever been friends. "You?"
"Same. My wife works at the Menagerie down the street, I was bringing her lunch."
"I see," Draco said with a nod. He didn't know what Flint's affiliation was anymore. "Who did you end up marrying?"
"Constance Yaxley."
Well, Draco could assume then that they were still very much prejudiced. He didn't like to assume, he and his friends had turned around their way of thinking after all, but both the Yaxleys and Flints were generally horrid.
"Congratulations," he said kindly, but he could tell Flint wanted some sort of explanation about his own life. One Draco wasn't going to give him. "Well, I should get going."
Flint was looking at him shrewdly, seeming to put the pieces together.
"Are you married?" He asked, not willing to let Draco leave without some sort of explanation as to why he was standing outside of Hermione Granger's apothecary and putting up a business sign.
"Not yet," Draco replied, feeling awkward. "I really do need to get going though."
Flint nodded, a calculating look in his eye that made Draco nervous.
"See you around," Marcus said, and Draco ignored the implied threat as he made his way down the alley, going to pick up the preordered birthday presents for James Potter.
—
Draco had decided that he should bake something to take to his first Sunday dinner at the Potter residence. It was mid July and the blackberries on his property were abundant, so Draco slaved over a blackberry pie, making sure everything about it was perfect.
He might have been trying to show off a bit, he'd admit it.
The pie was perfectly golden, decorated on top with leftover bits of pastry that Draco had painstakingly shaped into perfect looking leaves.
They stepped out of the Floo to a crowd of people, and Hermione gasped at his side as Draco almost dropped the pie plate.
"Congratulations!" The small crowd yelled, and it took Draco less than a second to realise that it was a baby shower.
There was a banner on the opposite wall that stated "it's a boy" in blue block letters, and there was a large table full of miscellaneous foods opposite a smaller table of wrapped gifts.
"Harry!" Hermione squealed from his side as his throat burned with emotion when he saw Pansy and Blaise grinning at him from separate sides of the room, Theodore already approaching.
Pansy had been talking to Molly Weasley, of all people, but she still gave him a happy little smile as he looked around, gobsmacked.
Hermione gently took the pie from his hands and he shared a quick hug with Theo, absolutely shocked to see him there.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, his voice rough.
"Potter contacted us last week and arranged an international portkey for us so that we could attend."
Draco couldn't believe it as he looked around. Blaise seemed to be carrying on a pleasant conversation with Neville Longbottom, Neville's head tipping back with a joyous laugh.
It was surreal. It warmed his heart.
Ron was holding a young boy with red hair and a freckled face while laughing at something Arthur Weasley was saying.
Hermione was grinning at Ginny, her eyes shining with happiness, while Lavender stood a little to the side of them having what appeared to be a tense conversation with Hermione's friend, Hannah.
Hermione had clearly been just as surprised as he was, and her friends gained another point in his mind.
But then his eyes caught on a too familiar witch standing directly beside him, replacing Theo who had wandered over to the food table, and he bit back a sound he was not going to admit would have been a scream while he jumped in fright.
"I'm sorry," she said, looking pained for a moment. Her voice was different, and as Draco got a better look he realised that her hair wasn't as wildly curly as he remembered; her lips were fuller, and her eyes were much friendlier. "Everyone has that reaction at first. I'm Andromeda, your aunt."
Draco was speechless. Her resemblance to his aunt Bellatrix was uncanny.
"Hi," he said, feeling numb for a moment.
"I'm sure it's a surprise to see me, but once I heard that you were dating our dear Hermione, I insisted on making your acquaintance."
Andromeda may have been burned off the family tree before Draco was even born, but he could tell that she still carried her pureblood lessons, much as he did.
She stood straight and enunciated her words with a posher accent than most.
"It's nice to meet you," Draco responded sincerely. "I'm sorry it's taken so long."
Andromeda smiled at him kindly. "It wasn't your doing, dear, I should have made more of an effort to meet you."
It was awkward, and to be entirely honest Draco had forgotten his aunt Andromeda existed at all, but he wasn't upset to realise he actually did have some decent family left.
"I found this little rascal trying to cut into the pie," Hermione said cheerfully as she approached them, a young boy with turquoise hair on her hip, who she deposited in front of Andromeda.
"Teddy, we must wait until it's time to eat," Andromeda reprimanded immediately, but the boy smiled back at her slyly.
"But nana, I'm starving. I need to eat something before I die!"
Hermione snorted a laugh and squatted down beside the child, whispering something that had his eyes lighting up before he ran off.
"I may have informed him that I heard his Uncle George brought a whole slew of fireworks, so he should be sufficiently distracted for a few minutes."
Andromeda smiled softly and turned back to Draco. "That is my grandson, Theodore. We call him Teddy, after his grandfather Ted."
"He's cute," Draco offered, still feeling awkward.
"We should do tea soon, the four of us," Hermione offered as an ice breaker. Pansy was making her way toward them, dressed fancier than anyone in the room, which really wasn't that much of a surprise. It was probably supposed to be attention-grabbing, to save Draco from the uncomfortable family reunion he was experiencing.
"I'd like that," he said with a smile.
Andromeda quirked her lips slightly before nodding and making her way after her grandson.
"She's really delightful, once you get past the fact that she looks exactly like Bellatrix."
"I literally almost screamed," Draco admitted with a small smile before Pansy was in front of him, pulling him into a tight hug.
"Hopefully it's fine if we stay with you for a few days? Potter didn't schedule our travel date back yet."
"Yes, that should be fine," Draco agreed as they broke apart. Blaise clapped him on the back in greeting with a large smile and Theo was making his way back over to them with a tartlet in one hand as he chewed another.
"I can't believe you guys are here," he said.
"There was no way we were going to miss your baby shower, Draco."
His eyes found Hermione again, who was now hugging a smaller version of Potter while he smiled up at her with rosy cheeks. There weren't a ton of people in attendance, but Draco was grateful all the same.
Hermione came back to his side after a few minutes of chatting, looking nervous that his friends were there, but she smiled at them all the same.
"Granger," Theo greeted, followed by a hello from both Pansy and Blaise.
"Thank you guys so much for making the trip," she said, resting into Draco's side as he wrapped an arm around her. "I know Draco has been missing you."
"They're going to stay a few days," Draco informed her, watching her face. She nodded with a smile, so happy for him to have his friends back, even if only for a short while.
She had to be the kindest person he had ever met.
"I can't believe Harry and Ginny did this," she said in a low voice to him as everyone made their way to a table that was groaning under the weight of food, shining with happiness as she glanced around the room.
He held her hand as they approached the food and chose a few things for themselves and placed them on small blue plates.
Harry approached with a plate of his own, but James was with him and kept taking the sweets.
"Hi," the little boy said with a small wave at Draco. He looked exactly like his father except he didn't wear glasses and maybe had a little bit more of Ginny's mouth, which, if she didn't have it pulled back into a sarcastic sneer, was really quite dainty. He had chubby cheeks and stocky legs and, though Draco would never admit it aloud, the kid was quite cute. "I'm James."
"Nice to meet you, James. My name is Draco."
"He doesn't know tons of words yet," Harry reminded. "Well, you know his second birthday was recently, but I swear every day he learns more and more."
Draco nodded and noted that the boy continued to watch him, but he put it out of his mind.
"I'm so sorry I had to miss his birthday party," Hermione said for the thousandth time. "I had a horrible flu."
Ginny approached and rolled her eyes. "We know, and it's fine; he won't remember anyway."
"Hermione said you and Ginny were looking for a new house?" Draco asked Harry politely.
"Yeah, this place isn't going to cut it for much longer."
"Well, if you're interested, a few of the homes on land near my place are for sale," he said casually, and Hermione looked at him with wide eyes before swinging her head to look at Potter.
"Are you serious?" Hermione asked, the excitement in her voice hard to miss.
Draco just smiled.
—
That night Hermione and Draco flooed back to his house, Pansy, Blaise, and Theo following behind them, all laden down with thoughtful gifts that they quickly stacked onto the nearest coffee table.
"This is a really nice place," Theo said, looking around curiously.
"You've never been before?" Hermione asked in surprise. She knew they didn't see each other often, but she hadn't considered that his friends had never been to his house before.
"No, Draco has always come to us in France," Pansy responded, suddenly looking a little guilty that she hadn't put in much effort when it came to seeing one of her best friends.
"Why don't you give them a tour, Draco? I can start getting some tea ready."
Hermione made her way through the house into the kitchen, ready to have a quiet moment alone after the surprise party they'd attended. She summoned a dented old kettle from her bag and filled it with water from the tap before turning to place it on the burner of the stove top. Draco usually heated water with his wand, but Hermione wanted to take a few extra minutes to let him have his friends alone.
She could hear their happy voices moving about the house and distinctly heard Blaise's excitement about the pool, but they were all trying to speak at once. It had been a few months since Draco had visited France, so she wasn't surprised they all had so much to say.
Her thoughts turned to the surprise baby shower they had attended, burning with happiness as Draco smiled, laughed, and chatted with her friends. He deserved all the good things, and she'd make sure he got them.
She was facing the stove when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her; she tensed for a moment until she recognized his scent. Draco dropped a kiss to her head as she settled back into him easily.
"I was thinking," he said after a few moments of silence, "that you don't unpack your bag here and stay."
Hermione's breath caught and she turned her head to look up at him.
"Are you asking me to move in?" She asked, nervously.
"Yes, but for some reason I feel like you won't enjoy the permanency of that, so you literally don't have to unpack your bag. You can stay – I just love it when you're here with me, but if you don't want to…"
"No!" Hermione cut him off, turning her entire body. "I want to!"
"Really?" He asked, actually surprised.
"Would you be offended if it took me some time to unpack? Maybe do it slowly?"
"Of course not," he smiled at her. He understood that her unwillingness to do so was based on trauma and didn't want to rush her.
They grinned at each other happily.
They'd have plenty of time to work through things. Their whole lives, he dared to hope.
"What in Salazar's name is that?" Draco asked suddenly, and Hermione laughed merrily. She knew immediately he was referring to her kettle, and she did have to admit, it was old and well-used.
"I'm making tea the muggle way - it tastes better," she replied and snagged it off the burner just as it began to whistle.
"That is entirely too ugly for this kitchen," Draco said snootily, making sure to fall all the way into his posh accent.
Hermione laughed aloud, but when she woke the next morning and went into the kitchen there was a brand new kettle sitting on the countertop.
