Five days after her birthday, Hermione was sitting at the kitchen island going through an old potions book from Draco's shelf, making notes on a spare piece of parchment while he cooked dinner, when a scream tore through the air.
"Ava!" Hermione gasped, jumping from her stool and rushing down the hall with Draco right behind her.
She pushed the other witch's bedroom door open and hurried to the bed, where Ava was standing with her back to them as she leaned over and gripped the duvet tightly in her fists.
"We have to go to St. Mungo's," Hermione urged, approaching Ava.
"No," the other woman snarled. "We aren't going there. Nobody can see me like this!"
"But that was the plan!" Hermione yelled right back.
The other witch screamed. "I only told you that to shut you up," she panted, leaning on the sturdy headboard.
"We have to go, Ava! How long have you been like this?!"
"Hours," Ava moaned, dropping to bent knees and gripping the sheets again as another contraction ripped through her.
"Hours?" Hermione gasped, looking at Draco with fear. "We need a mediwitch to come here then!"
"No! No one can know," Ava repeated, clearly in pain.
Hermione grazed Draco's hand as she ran back out of the room, but she had no idea where she could possibly find a Healer willing to do a house call.
Then it dawned on her. Molly Weasley had seven children that she'd birthed at home, and if anyone she knew would help while also being confidential, it was Molly.
Hermione's feet pounded down the gravel lane that lead from Draco's front door until she was free of the wards, apparating the second she was able to.
"Molly!" She called as soon as the Burrow's front door was open. She wasn't wasting time knocking. "Molly!"
"Hermione?" Molly asked as she set down her teacup. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief as she entered the kitchen, but she must have still looked frantic because Molly was looking at her in complete shock. "Are you okay, dear?"
"Please, we need help! Ava is in labour and refuses to go to St. Mungo's. Can you help us? Please?!"
Hermione realised she was shouting, but she was terrified to take too long and leave Draco there alone while Ava gave birth.
"Yes, yes of course!" Molly breathed, getting to her feet immediately and waving her wand.
All sorts of different supplies began zooming past Hermione's head, tucking themselves neatly into a wicker basket that Molly had conjured.
"Straight out," the other woman urged, hurrying with Hermione back through the door and beyond the wards.
They rushed into Draco's house, Hermione leading Molly to the bedroom where Ava was screaming again.
"How long has it been?" Molly asked the room in general as she approached the pregnant witch.
"I started feeling contractions in the middle of the night," Ava admitted, sweat dotting her brow.
"Okay dear, let's get you laying down, by the sounds of you it won't be long now."
Hermione tucked herself into Draco's side, the wizard unnaturally pale as he rested a shaking hand against her.
"Hermione, can you please get me a bowl of warm water and a couple flannels?"
"Of course!"
Hermione was back in a flash, handing Molly a flannel that was dipped in clean water. Molly wiped Ava's brow, face and neck, encouraging her to keep going.
"You can do this," Hermione said, approaching Ava's other side. The blonde witch reached out and gripped Hermione's hand tightly in her own, another scream tearing into the room.
Molly was doing something between her spread legs and informed them that the baby was almost out.
"You're almost crowning, Ava. Just a few more pushes and everything will be done."
Ava was crying as Molly encouraged her, but she did as she was told and bore down, pushing with all her might.
"There's his head," Molly exclaimed, "keep pushing, you're so close!"
Ava screamed the loudest yet and pushed again.
"Yes!" Molly said, "his head is cleared. Just the shoulders now and then you're done. You're doing great."
Hermione gripped her hand tightly, allowing Ava to take some of her strength to get past the hardest part.
She looked up at Draco, excitement in her eyes, and the look was reflected back at her, even though she knew he was also terrified.
"Take off your shirt Hermione, and come sit over here."
Draco, confused by the request, caught Hermione's hesitation and subtly waved his wand in her direction, settling a glamour spell over her.
She didn't want Molly to see her scars.
As the spell sunk into her skin she looked gratefully at Draco and did as Molly asked, removing her clothes and leaning against the side of the bed to Molly's right.
"You too, Draco," Hermione urged, holding out her hand for him.
Ava pushed again and Molly pulled the baby free, fetching her wand and doing some neat little spells to cut the cord, ensure his airway was cleared and to clean his skin tenderly.
Ava gasped as the baby was finally free, sucking in breath after breath as Scorpius started to cry.
"He's perfect," Molly said, and passed him to Hermione, who cradled the baby skin to skin against her bare chest.
Hermione started to cry as she held the tiny baby against her body, and Scorpius nuzzled closer to her. "He's perfect, Draco," she murmured, and he couldn't keep his tears at bay either.
He crowded in, pulling Hermione into his lap so the baby was between them, skin to skin but held gently in Hermione's arms. Scorpius' cries quieted as he was pressed between his parents, and Draco knew their entire world had changed.
—-
Ava wasted no time leaving. Molly helped her finish with the labour, cleaned her up, and she was ready to go. She had packed her things during the first few hours of labour, but there was something that needed to be done before she could leave.
Draco approached her with paperwork that would legally strip her of any rights to Scorpius, different paperwork to transfer 100,000 galleons to Ava's Gringotts account with a codicil that she couldn't demand more at a later date, and another form that said Hermione would be able to legally adopt Scorpius by blood as her own whenever the time was right.
Once everything was signed, she left without looking back.
"I don't know how to thank you," Draco said to Molly in low tones. They stood just outside the nursery, looking at Hermione rocking the baby steadily while she fed him with a bottle.
"You can start by coming to the Burrow for dinner, last Sunday of every month."
Draco met her eyes in surprise.
"Make sure you bring Scorpius; I can't wait to watch him grow."
"Of course," Draco said, almost speechless.
"And take care of our Hermione, Draco. She deserves the world."
"She most definitely does," Draco whispered, unable to take his eyes off the two of them in the dim nursery.
"I can show myself out," Molly responded, patting him on the shoulder before retreating.
—-
"How did we get so lucky?" Hermione asked him as she gently held a sleeping Scorpius in her arms. "He's perfect."
"We will give him the world, the moon, and the stars, Hermione, I swear it. His upbringing will be absolutely nothing like mine was."
Draco gently took their son and laid him in his crib before standing back and staring inside for a moment, hoping Scorpius would continue sleeping. When he didn't wake, Draco gestured for Hermione to follow him from the nursery. She did, but not before casting a spell that would alert her and Draco if Scorpius woke up, no matter where they were in the house.
Draco was in the kitchen, pouring tea into dainty china cups when Hermione entered.
"I've charmed the nursery so we will know if Scorpius wakes up."
Draco turned to her, looking a little surprised, and then let out a heavy sigh. That was something he hadn't thought of. There were so many things he didn't think of, so many things that he knew nothing about, and he was worried.
"I'm going to be a terrible father," he said as he cast a diagnostic charm on Hermione's cup before passing it to her.
"Why would you say that?" Hermione asked, perching herself against the counter as she sipped her tea gratefully.
"I didn't even think of how I would hear him if I wasn't in the room. He could be screaming for hours and I'd never even know."
Draco was silent for a moment, Hermione watching him closely, before he sighed heavily and said, "I don't know if I can do this."
"You can, Draco, and you aren't alone. You know I'll always be here to help."
"Always?" He asked, the small part of his insecurities showing through for a moment.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed resolutely, taking a sip of her tea.
"We're going to have to take him to meet Harry, Ginny, and James soon, and we should probably owl your friends and let them know he's arrived," Hermione suggested quietly.
"In a few days," Draco said with a happy grin. "For now I want it to be just us three."
—-
Hermione had gone into the Cure-A-Torium that morning to get some simple potions brewed and change the hours on her sign; for the foreseeable future she was cutting her hours of operation back so she'd only be open from 12-6, but she was taking the next couple weeks off entirely.
"That was quick," Draco commented as she entered the nursery, trying to button up the snaps on Scorpius' onesie as the baby squirmed.
"I didn't want to be gone too long before our adventure this afternoon," she said with a smile. "My precious boy is going to meet his first friends today," she cooed at Scorpius, who was still less than a week old.
"Is that why your hair is particularly large this fine morning?" He asked with a grin as he picked up the baby and turned to her.
"Hey!" She remarked, wanting to reach out to slap his arm but refraining so she didn't disturb the baby. "But yes. I spent approximately one minute getting ready before I left for the shop."
He laughed.
Hermione held her arms out for the baby; she found that all she wanted to do was look at and interact with Scorpius at any and every moment possible.
Draco handed him over and turned around to make sure everything needed was packed into his nappy bag.
"I've been thinking about the shop," she said as Draco added a few burping cloths to the bag.
"Oh?" He questioned, turning to give her his attention.
"I think I need to hire someone to be there to sell the potions; I'd still continue sourcing and brewing, but I don't necessarily need to be there all day, every day, just to sell them."
Draco nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. He himself had been thinking about his job recently. Even though he only had to go in a couple days a week, he really hated it.
"Even just someone part time, someone to run the place in the evenings. I could go in first thing and get the place opened, make sure everything is stocked and continue my brewing, but I'd like to be home at a decent time every day."
"Are you thinking of anyone in particular?" He asked as he zipped up the diaper bag.
"No," Hermione responded with a miserable little sigh. "I think I'll just put a sign in the window and go from there."
"If that's what you want, I fully support you."
Hermione brightened and gave him a happy grin. "I think it'll be excellent to have more time to experiment and source, anyway, and honestly the worst part of my job is helping customers."
Draco couldn't help the little laugh at that, he knew that as much as she enjoyed having her own shop, the bane of her existence was the slew of annoying, ignorant customers.
"I wonder if I should owl Headmistress McGonigall and see if she knows of anyone with potions aptitude. They'd have to at least understand how ingredients affect each other and all that."
"What would it hurt?" He asked, as he shouldered the bag and raised an eyebrow in question. It was a great idea. Plus, Hermione did love to experiment, and doing this would give her extra time.
"I'll owl her later," she decided, giving him a little grin as she adjusted Scorpius in her arms.
"You ready to go, then?" He asked as he looked at her and Scorpius with happy eyes.
Hermione nodded and carried the baby expertly, she approached the Floo, casting spells around him so he wouldn't be affected by soot or dizziness.
"Hello?" Hermione called, stepping carefully from the fireplace at Grimmauld Place with Scorpius in her arms. Draco emerged behind her, striding forward and dropping the diaper bag onto the bench beside the table.
"Hermione?" They heard a woman's voice call from upstairs, muffled through the floorboards. They then heard a pitter patter of feet run across the ceiling and start to descend the staircase.
"Auntie Haminy!" A tiny voice squealed before little James came around the corner of the staircase.
His feet stuttered to a halt as he saw Hermione with Draco behind her and a baby in her arms.
"Mummy! Auntie Haminy has a baby!" He screamed up the stairs. "When did you buy a baby, auntie?"
Hermione giggled at the small boy as they listened to Ginny's frantic footsteps thundering down the staircase.
"Don't you remember that party we had in the kitchen, James? That was to welcome the new baby."
"Oh," James answered, looking confused before he shrugged it off and asked for a snack. The party had been over two months before so she wasn't really surprised he didn't overtly remember. Draco chuckled and took him to the pantry to pull out a small box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, which James thanked him for.
Ginny appeared around the corner in a comedic fashion, it seemed that in her haste to get downstairs her pants caught onto a loose nail at the bottom of the staircase, spilling her into the doorway. She looked up to, presumably, make a joke about herself, but her face broke into a huge smile when she saw the tiny baby clutched comfortably in Hermione's arms.
"Oh, Merlin," Ginny breathed, taking careful steps into the room and peering at Scorpius, who was fast asleep. A small smile grew on her face and she lifted James so he could get a better view.
"My mum told me what happened, we've been dying to meet him but didn't want to bother you guys."
"Your mother is a saint and will forever be treated as one," Hermione responded with a smile. "We just wanted to wait a few days before we took him out anywhere, he's just.. so small."
"What's his name?" James asked, looking at the little blond baby with something akin to awe.
"Scorpius," Hermione supplied, and Ginny moved even closer so that James could reach out an uncertain finger and poke Scorpius softly on the foot.
"He's little," James pointed out.
"Yes," Ginny agreed. She put James back down and smiled at Draco, who smiled happily back. "Congratulations," Ginny breathed. "I forgot how small they are when they're new."
"Right?" Hermione responded. "He's tiny, I can't even believe it. It's hard to remember James when he was this small."
"It's scary, a little bit," Draco admitted quietly. "My hands are so big that it feels like I could easily mess up and hurt him."
"You would never," Ginny scoffed. "Babies are resilient anyway."
"Euch!" James cried suddenly, spitting out a bean.
"James!" Ginny reprimanded, "We don't spit food onto the table."
"It wasn't good!" he cried.
Hermione had to stifle a laugh as she glanced at Draco, who she caught looking at the toddler fondly.
"Oh! Here comes Daddy," Ginny said to James as the fireplace lit up behind Draco, who moved away from it swiftly to avoid being bowled over.
Harry emerged, his mouth was open as though to call out, but he stopped in his tracks at the sight of Hermione holding a tiny baby bundled in blankets.
"Daddy!" James squealed, frightening Scorpius, who started awake and began to scream in Hermione's arms as he nuzzled her chest, like he usually did. Draco immediately took the bag from the bench and rummaged through it, passing out a bottle that Hermione took automatically.
She felt it for a moment and turned to Draco with an eyebrow raised. He took the bottle back and used his wand to heat it, checking the temperature on the underside of his wrist before handing it back with a sarcastic eyebrow raised back at her. No words were exchanged between the two and Ginny watched on in interest, happy to see how well Draco and Hermione were handling the newborn.
Hermione repositioned Scorpius in her arms before shoving the nipple of the bottle into his mouth, quieting his cries.
Hermione started to move around aimlessly, holding the small baby to her chest as she walked. There was a practised little bounce with every step she took. Draco watched on affectionately.
Harry stepped forward to get a better look at the baby. "He's so tiny," he remarked. "Look at his little tufts of blond hair! Oh, he's so adorable!"
"Oh no," Ginny groaned, pointing an accusing finger at Draco. "If he ends up with baby fever it is all your fault!"
Draco laughed outright and dodged the questing finger trying to find purchase on his chest. "It's Scorpius' fault! Not mine!"
"You would blame the baby," Harry commented as his cheeks flamed red.
Hermione couldn't help but to laugh. Scorpius blinked lazily as his belly filled.
"He is cute, though," Harry said with a sigh after Hermione calmed down, which had her giggling again.
"You're in for it now, Gin," she warned. Harry wanted a large family since he had been deprived of his own growing up.
"Thanks a lot, Malfoy!"
"Yeah Scorpius!" Draco chimed in, and this time everyone laughed, including little James. Harry went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of beer, holding one out to Draco casually.
Draco peered at the bottle of beer nervously for a moment before pursing his lips and declining with a polite, "No thank you."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed momentarily before he placed the bottle of beer back into his refrigerator with a slight shrug.
"Let's have some juice instead," Hermione suggested, and Harry sighed before putting his own bottle of beer back as well. He knew Hermione hated alcohol after everything she had gone through and now that he actually thought about it, he had never seen Draco drink any booze either.
Harry pulled a pitcher of pumpkin juice from the fridge.
Hermione's lip curled.
"Water, actually."
"You can have water," he snarked. "I am having pumpkin juice. Ginny? Draco?"
"Water," they both responded, and Harry sighed aloud.
Scorpius finished his bottle quietly and Hermione carefully propped him against her chest, his head resting on the front of her shoulder as she rubbed his back.
"Oh my goodness, I have a stinky baby," Hermione crooned suddenly, wrinkling her nose.
"I'll get it," Draco offered. He draped a burping cloth over one shoulder before lifting the diaper bag onto the other. Hermione gently transferred Scorpius to his arms.
Ginny led him away, chatting happily as they ascended the staircase, James following behind to make sure Draco changed the nappy properly.
"I love you guys for being so accepting of everything," Hermione all but whispered when she was alone with Harry.
"We're your best friends, Hermione, and will stand by you and your decisions as long as we know you're truly happy. Well, unless they're actually crazy, like that one time you wanted to try and tame trolls so they could get jobs and live in specialised apartments. That was utterly insane."
"Shut up, Harry!"
"I'm just saying."
"I was drugged after breaking my arm falling from a ladder and down the stairs, helping you, by the way, to try and remove severed elf heads from the wall!"
"Oh right," Harry said with a laugh. "Sometimes it's hard to keep your insane ideas straight."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and reached out to slap him on the arm before turning her attention back to the staircase, where Ginny was just walking through the door.
"I guess I'll get dinner started. Are you staying?" she asked Hermione.
"I don't think so, Gin. Sorry. We wanted you to meet Scorpius but I think we still need some time at home to get into the swing of things."
"Understood," Ginny responded. "It's a huge change and takes a lot to get a routine down."
Ginny moved to the kitchen and started removing things to make for dinner as Hermione settled onto the bench with Harry to wait for Draco.
"Do I get to see the baby again soon?" James asked as he looked up at Hermione with furrowed brows.
"Of course you do, Jamie. We just want a few more days alone with him, that's all."
"We're going to be out in your neck of the woods next week," Harry informed her as he set James up with some colouring while Ginny cooked. "We have a few places lined up to look at."
"You do?!" Hermione gasped, excitement coursing through her. She couldn't think of anything better than their children growing up close enough to play outside with each other.
"Yes, we've seen photos and let's just say every one of them is a contender. There's land for James to grow into, and any other children we end up having; plus one of my favourite witches just so happens to live close by."
"You better not be messing with me, Harry James Potter," Hermione replied, feeling giddy. They had lived so far apart for so long.
"I swear, I'm not!"
Draco, carrying Scorpius back into the kitchen, heard Harry inform Hermione of their plans next week and knew that he was destined to be surrounded by Gryffindors forever.
"Owl me the details as soon as you're finished!" Hermione demanded of her best friend, who agreed easily.
"You ready?" She asked Draco, ruffling James' hair as she got to her feet.
"Whenever you are," he replied with a smile.
