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Chapter Text

"FERTILIS CREPITUS!"

Everything went dark. All consciousness faded.

The second each soul came to, what happened next was beyond what anyone thought possible.

Everything hurt, and they each saw something that could never be unseen.

********************

(Earlier that day)

"Hermione, please calm down! Everything is going to be fine this year; I know it." Harry soothed, trying to get his best friend to calm down long enough to enjoy the breakfast buffet set out beautifully by the Hogwarts house elves.

"But Harry, how could you possibly know that? It's the first day back of one of our life's most important, life-altering years! How well we do this year will directly impact what kind of future we have! How could you possibly be so calm!" Hermione admonished. She huffed and spun around on the bench to face McGonagall as she got up to address the school.

"Good morning, students, and welcome back to another year at Hogwarts! I want to welcome everyone, including our new first years, to our devoted 8th-year students who have returned to finish their education after a rather... disrupted previous year. I trust you will all have a wonderful and hopefully peaceful year this year. I only have a few things to address, so I request your attention. Firstly, Mr Filch has created his rather lengthy list of school rules this year that can be reviewed on the noticeboard outside his office for those requiring a refresher. I'll make it be known now that no misdemeanours will be tolerated this year." She looked sternly over Harry and said, "Now, your timetables will appear in front of you in a short moment, and you will be required to make your way to your first classes rather promptly afterwards. First-year, your house prefects are available for directions should you require them. Finally, I wish you all the best this year."

Not a moment later, neatly folded timetables appeared before all the students, and chatter broke out once more.

"Urgh, we have charms first." Ron groaned as he scanned his. Truth being, he was never very good at charms, and if he were allowed to drop the subject, he would have.

"Oh Ronald, starting the year with such a negative attitude will not do you any good." Hermione addressed sternly, and Harry chuckled at Ron, who mumbled something suspiciously like 'yes, mother'.

"It's odd that the subject is colour-coded purple, though." Ginny piped up for the first time since they sat down that morning. But she was right. Every other subject was colour-coded based on the house they would share the lesson with; for example, green and red stripes meant that the Gryffindors and Slytherins were sharing a lesson. But charms was block purple.

"I wonder what that means..." Harry pondered aloud as he ran his wand thoughtfully over the paper as if trying to detect signs of foolish magic or some elaborate prank.

"Well, it's no use sitting here wondering; I'm going to class to find out." Hermione said finally as she got up, swung her book bag over her shoulder, and marched out of the great hall.

"Yes, boss." Harry mumbled as the rest of the 8th-year Gryffindors quickly got out of the bench and followed suit behind her.

"Come in, come in. Settle down." Professor Flitwick squeaked as he assumed his regular position atop his desk on a stack of books at least five high. The students quickly filed into the room and sat at the desks arranged in uniform rows.

Now, the purple on the timetable made sense. Students from all four houses started sitting down. It was rather a small year group as most opted not to return, for there were many bad memories and trauma enclosed within the castle's stone walls or because they, unfortunately, were no longer present in this world, such as Lavender or Colin, may their souls rest in peace. Most notably, the 7th and 8th-year students had been paired together, as they were all learning the same content, and there were so few 7th-year students to return. Unlike the 8th years who had largely left Hogwarts before or as soon as the Death Eaters took over, the 7th years bore the brunt of their torturous methods to protect some of the younger years. There were only three 7th-year students: Ginny, Astoria, and Luna, with the rest too scared or scarred to return.

Glancing around the room, there was a rather small group of Hufflepuffs, their innocence no longer present on their faces; Luna and Padma were the only 8th-year Ravenclaws to return. Unsurprisingly, a large group of Gryffindors refused to let past events taint their future, and a handful of Slytherins were quiet and subdued compared to normal. What caught her eye, in particular, were the cold, grey eyes that belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy himself.

Hermione had been present at his trial; she knew how close he and his friends came to being thrown into Azkaban along with their older relatives. It was purely the testimony of 2/3 of the Golden Trio that ensured they remained free. Well, they were required to attend Hogwarts for their final year and have a tracker placed on their wands as part of their sentence, but that was light, in Ron's opinion. What shocked Hermione most when she looked into Malfoy's eyes, though, was the absence of loathing and hatred in his eyes, and the signature Malfoy smirk was also gone. He was blank, and Hermione couldn't get a read on him, which was probably more unsettling than anything.

"Quickly, quickly. Okay, welcome everyone to your last year of charms. This year, the ministry and I have agreed that we will be taking a more practical, relevant approach to charms and our usual curriculum." He paused as Hermione's hand shot up as it did whenever she was bursting with an answer or a refute to a professor's statement.

"One moment, Miss Granger, now, as I was saying, this practical approach will include tailored lessons for real-world problems, which is believed to be far overdue, especially in light of recent... events." The war was still a fresh wound for everyone, and the subject was often skirted around in conversation as many weren't yet ready to approach it.

"The first of such lessons will take place today. We will be starting with contraceptive charms." The effect on the class was instantaneous. Several people coughed futilely to smother laughs, whilst others turned a rather bright shade of red. Typical reaction from a group of young adults.

The next twenty minutes were filled with a rather uncomfortable lesson on the importance and origins of the charm and the effects that it can have.

"Sir, may I please go to the bathroom?" Padma Patil piped up as she bounced in her seat.

"Be quick, Miss Patil," Flitwick instructed before returning to his lesson.

"Now, the incantation for the charm is fertilis major. The wand movement is like so." He demonstrated swiftly as everyone nodded along. "Please note that this charm can ONLY be used BEFORE two partners decide to be intimate. It is useless after; there is no known contraceptive spell to perform afterwards." Hermione frowned at this; why on earth had no one thought to devise a spell for afterwards? Even muggles had something called the 'morning after pill'... "You will also be learning the reversal charm, fertilis crepatus. NOT to be confused with fertilis crepitus, which can have a rather... different effect. This is the wand movement..." He demonstrated again, this time with a rather intricate wrist flick. "Now I will put you in opposite gender pairs, and you will practice. Right, so, let's have... Malfoy and Granger, Mr Weasley and Parkinson, Potter and Miss Weasley, Longbottom and Abbott, Boot and Bones, Zabini and Lovegood, Miss Patil and Thomas, Daphne Greengrass and Nott, as well as Finnigan and Astoria Greengrass." Professor Flitwick announced. There was an immediate uproar, many demanding to be switched, with many students outraged at the idea of being paired with a Slytherin and vice versa.

"Stop with such nonsense. Now, get into your pairs in a line and practice. It would be best if you perfect both spells by the end of the lesson. We will start with the contraceptive charm; once you have done that, we will move on to the reversal charm." Flitwick dismissed, and everyone begrudgingly found their partners and lined up in the assigned order.

"Make it quick, Granger; I'd rather not be in your presence any longer than necessary." A drawling voice came into Hermione's ear, sending shivers down her spine. She meekly nodded and shifted to the front of the line, allowing enough space for them to move around.

The next five minutes were spent with each pair practising the first charm, all perfecting it after a few tries, a warm yellow glow filling the room as the spell was cast successfully. Professor Flitwick watched on, nodding and offering a few tips where necessary. "Very good! Now we will try the reversal charm." Flitwick announced, and everyone immediately sprang into action, casting with varied success. In Hermione and Draco's case, the charm only took another few tries to perfect, the warm yellow glow fading as the magic was successfully reversed, but only some were doing so well. Within five minutes, everyone had reversed the charm except Seamus and Astoria, who struggled quite a lot.

"Why won't this spell work!" Seamus yelled, growing more frustrated by the second, "Fertilis crepatus! Fertilis crepatus!"

"You're saying it wrong, you idiot!" Astoria retorted, growing equally frustrated at his futile attempts at the reversal spell.

"I AM saying it right! You are just wrong! See, fertilis crepatus!" He yelled again, but still nothing. Seamus grew so red in the face that Hermione thought he might explode.

"Seamus, cool it!" Dean tried to comfort his friend, but it didn't work. With a scream of anguish and a VERY exaggerated flick of his wand, he screamed,

"FERTILIS CREPITUS!"

"FINNIGAN, NOOOO!" Flitwick yelled in despair.

But it was too late; a dark black fog spewed out of his wand and quickly spread around the room, giving all inhabitants no choice but to inhale it. It all faded to black.

The next thing Hermione remembered was the squeak as the old wooden classroom door opened.

"Sorry, Professor, there was quite a lineup in the bath..." Padma trailed off, completely shocked at what she saw.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

Chapter Text

At that moment, everything was still.

Padma stood in the doorway, shocked into silence, with her mouth hanging open as she stared at what was happening before her.

Hermione had just come to, shaking off the last delirium and blinking rapidly to clear the blurriness from her vision. Just then, several things happened at once. The first thing she noticed was that she was lying against something warm. Then, an immense wave of exhaustion washed over her, every limb aching as if she had just completed a triathlon.

And that's when she felt it, something slipped out of a part of her body that she wasn't even usually aware of. A part that hurts so much right now. That's when she looked down, and an expression of nothing short of horror spread across her face.

She screamed, which seemed to set everyone else off too. Within seconds, many students, female and male alike, were screaming at the top of their lungs as they realised what had occurred. Hermione scrambled off the very bare chest of the person she was previously lying on and realised two things at once, not a single person in this goddamn room had clothes on, including her, and the chest that she had been lying on just seconds before belonged to none other than Draco Malfoy!

It was too much. It was all too much.

She spun around and did the only thing she could think of in this distressing moment... flee. She sprinted out of the classroom as fast as her legs would carry her. All the other girls seemed to take her lead and did the same, all sprinting toward their dormitories.

It wasn't until Hermione was safely shut inside the Gryffindor 8th-year girls' dormitory that she realised the gravity of the situation. She allowed that first tear to slip down her face, and after that, there was nothing to stop the dam walls from breaking. She slid down the dormitory wall and collapsed into wails. Sometime within the next few minutes, the rest of the inhabitants of the dormitory sprinted in, all collapsing around Hermione and creating a group hug as they all dissolved into tears.

And that's how they stayed, for about an hour, only taking comfort in each other and their shared... experience. After that, everyone ran out of tears to cry, and they sat in silence, trying to comprehend the situation. Ginny cleared her throat, and they all looked up.

"Ummm, it's going to be alright." She assured, although she didn't sound very convincing, given how much her voice shook and her red eyes.

"It hurts," Parvati mumbled.

"I know, me too," Ginny replied, gathering several nods from the group.

"But first of all, we must get dressed." She ordered, getting up slowly and going over to her trunk. They all knew that Ginny's way of coping was to take control of the situation, so they happily took orders from her; all too much of a mess to control themselves anyway.

Hermione looked down at herself and shuddered. She was glad that she couldn't remember what they had done, but she could still feel his skin's warmth and pinpoint where he had been touching her briefly between gaining consciousness and realising what had happened.

She took a deep breath and stood up, wobbling rather ungracefully over to her trunk and pulling out a set of pyjamas to change into. Clothes were the last thing on her mind when she ran out of that classroom, but it felt good now to feel less exposed.

"Look, I'm just going to rip the Band-Aid off. Who was it?" Ginny asked a note of resignation in her voice. There was no immediate response from the rest of the group, so Ginny sighed and took it upon herself to start the conversation.

"For me, it was Harry. We have been dating for a while now - don't get me wrong - I wasn't ready to do THAT with him yet, but if it had to be anyone, I was glad it was him." Ginny relayed, and the girls nodded in response.

" Dean Thomas." Parvati squeaked, and everyone nodded along. "I guess he's a Gryffindor, so that's good, right?"

"Hermione, who was it?" Ginny prompted as she realised that her favourite bookworm wouldn't speak up alone.

"Malfoy." She squeaked in the tiniest voice; it took Ginny a second to register what she said. But then it dawned on her.

"Oh my, come here." Ginny cooed as she and Parvati leapt off their respective beds and embraced Hermione.

"I'm so sorry," Parvati whispered into Hermione's hair as another teardrop rolled down Hermione's face. It was official; Hermione had the worst luck.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door, and the girls all sat up, ramrod straight and unsure what to do. The person opened the door, and they all launched their wands. Poor McGonagall was met with three wands pointed directly at her face as she walked into the dormitory.

"There will be no need for such hostility, ladies." McGonagall addressed sternly, and all three eyes widened as they realised who it was and quickly lowered their wands.

"Sorry, we thought you were someone else," Ginny mumbled, and McGonagall nodded in response. She walked over to Hermione's bed where they huddled and placed down a... tea tray? She then made all the girls a cup of tea and handed them out, speaking only when everyone was settled.

"I must express my condolences to you all; I must say when I was informed of recent... events, I was rather shocked." She took a sip of her tea before continuing. "Now, as a courtesy to you all, you will be permitted to take the day off from classes tomorrow, and the house elves have been ordered to present your meals for tonight and tomorrow to your dormitories to allow time for processing."

"Can't we just fix this and move on." Hermione interrupted rather rudely, but Minerva decided to let it slip for now, given the girl's current state of distress.

"There is nothing to fix, Miss Granger."

"My memory would be a good place to start," Hermione grumbled, and Ginny bit her lip to prevent her from laughing.

"Obliviation is out of the question, and I would urge all of you not to do anything rash. Now, a meeting will be held after breakfast two days from now to discuss what will happen next, but I urge you to decompress over the next day and take some time for yourselves. Before I forget, Madame Pomfrey instructed me to give you some pain potion to deal with any lasting... discomfort." McGonagall finished as she placed the vials on the bedside table and silently glided out of the room.

"Well, that was odd," Ginny commented after the dormitory was firmly closed again.

"She was almost caring." Parvati agreed as she downed a vial of pain potion and handed the other two to her friends.

"Well, I don't suspect that this is an event that happens all the time. I think she feels a little sorry for us." Ginny sighed.

"She is holding out on us. She knows something she isn't telling us, or she would've let me obliviate myself in a heartbeat." Hermione grumbled as she downed her potion and winced.

"Perhaps, but I don't have the willpower to care. I'm going to bed; I'm exhausted." Ginny instructed, and the girls nodded, settling under their covers and closing their eyes, willing sleep to come.

Unfortunately, nightmares would soon plague their sleep.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Harry stared up at the ceiling on his four-poster bed, wishing things could be different. Why did these kinds of things always happen to them? All they wanted was a calm, peaceful last year of Hogwarts, and they couldn't even have the first day back without a life-altering event!

And the worst part of it all was the sickening feeling that had firmly wedged itself in Harry's gut since he regained consciousness in that horrid charms classroom. How would Ginny ever forgive him? He didn't mean to do what he did, but it didn't make this feeling disappear. He had hurt her; he could see it in her eyes for the brief moment they were lying together, and he didn't know how to fix it. Late last night, after the girls had sprinted out of the classroom and left the males there, naked in a shocked haze to gather their clothes and make their way dazedly out of the classroom and back to their dorms, the boys had decompressed in the common room.

Part of Harry had wished that night that Ginny would come out of her dormitory so that he could talk to her and make sure that she was okay, but another part of him wasn't sure if he would ever be able to look at her in the eye again. He had seen things and didn't want to, but he did, and no matter how much he tried to erase the images from his mind, he couldn't, and that made him feel even dirtier than he already did. Urgh, it was all so messed up.

And Hermione, who was practically his sister. She had looked so distraught when she sprinted out of the classroom, he hadn't even seen who she got paired with but had a twisting feeling in his gut that he knew exactly who it was, and he hated it, with every fibre of his being. He could only hope she had moved away from Malfoy at the last second and not gotten caught, but even Harry knew it was a stretch.

*******************

"Hermione, wake up! It is just a dream." Ginny called to her very distressed friend, who was thrashing about in bed.

"Just a dream," Ginny repeated as Hermione shot up out of bed and was immediately on guard. When she realized she was no longer in her dream, she sighed in relief before promptly bursting into tears again.

"I can still feel him all over me! I don't remember it happening, but I can still feel where he has been. I feel so dirty, Gin!" Hermione cried as she was wrapped in a bear hug.

"Shh, it's okay. It'll take time, but you'll return to normal in no time; you'll see! You know it isn't his fault, right? You know he was under that spell as much as you were." Ginny consoled, trying to get her friend to see reason.

"I know he was, but it feels better when there is someone to blame! Why did this have to happen to us? Haven't we been through enough? We went through a war! I'm so sick of everything being out of control, and it's unfair! Why can't we ever just be normal?" Hermione cried, and Parvati joined Ginny in her attempts to settle Hermione down.

"It's okay; we will get through this, just like we have with everything else. Now, our first step is to get dressed and go to the common room, we have a whole day off, and I would rather not waste it moping around in bed." Ginny ordered, but Hermione shied away.

"I don't want to see them. I can't do it! I don't think I'll ever be able to see them again!" Hermione whined.

"Stop being silly. We'll rush past them and go to the black lake for a picnic and debrief. We don't have to stay and talk; frankly, I'm not ready to interact with them either." Ginny replied and started throwing clothes at Hermione to get dressed into. After quickly changing, they all slowly started making their way down the dormitory steps/

"I can't do this." Hermione stopped and stood frozen.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't even have to shag one of them. But how about this, I'll go first to see if anyone is down there, and then you can follow once you know the coast is clear." Hermione nodded weakly as Ginny charged ahead before calling back up the stairs and telling them that no one was there.

The three girls quickly ran through the empty common room and sprinted through the castle, hell-bent on ensuring they ran into no one before reaching their destination. As they ran down the entrance steps and onto the lawn, they spied a small group of 8th-year girls from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff huddled up under a tree.

"Hey, let's go say hi; I want to make sure they are okay too," Ginny called, and the three Gryffindors diverted their course and headed for the girls. Once they reached them, a knowing glance was shared amongst the group as they accepted the silent invitation to join them on the picnic blanket. Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Padma Patil, and Luna Lovegood gave them a weak smile as Ginny, Parvarti, and Hermione sat down.

"Umm, so, how is everyone?" Ginny asked, looking about as awkward as the rest of them.

"Umm, good, all things considering," Padma responded, looking equally uncomfortable.

Cue the awkward silence. A few moments later, Ginny spoke again.

"Who was it?" She asked with no further clarification, but it wasn't needed; everyone understood and winced at the question.

"I was with Blaise Zabini. He was rather nice about it, although I worry about the figgleflies dancing around his head when I woke up." Luna responded in her usual airy manner.

"It was Terry Boot for me," Susan spoke up with a small smile. "But we talked last night, though, and we worked it out. He was also rather good about it and took full responsibility, even after I assured him that it wasn't his fault."

"Neville Longbottom," Hannah said, and the Gryffindor girls didn't know whether to smile or cry. Neville had had the biggest crush on Hannah since 3rd year but had never had the guts to tell her. Maybe this is what he needed to open up to her, but knowing him would only make things between them even more uncomfortable and awkward, like so many others in the same situation.

"Well, as you already know, I went to the bathroom during that time and was the only one lucky enough to keep my clothes on. Other than Professor Flitwick, apparently, in a frantic moment when Seamus screamed the wrong spell, he fell off his pile of books and hit his head rather hard on the ground, so he was unconscious before the spell even took effect. Thank god, I couldn't think of anything worse than having to do it with..." Padma cut herself off as she dry heaved onto the grass beside her. "Anyway, my eyes weren't as fortunate, and I got an eye full of everyone together..." Every single girl gagged at that. "I still haven't decided whether or not to Avada myself after seeing that." That earned a few giggles throughout the group. Hermione was glad that even in such an uncomfortable conversation, this group of amazing people were still able to make light of it and have a laugh once in a while.

"So, who were you lot with?" Hannah asked, changing the topic.

"The male closest to us at the time of the casting. So for me, it was Harry, so that it could've been worse, Pav got Dean, also not too bad, but our poor poppet over here was with Malfoy." There was a collective gasp around the circle as Ginny said this rather bluntly.

"Thanks, Gin, for that flattering run down." Hermione quipped sarcastically. "But yes, I was with Ferret, and like Padma, I haven't crossed Avada'ing myself off the list yet."

"You poor thing." Sympathy was evident on everyone's faces.

"Anyway, I'd rather not dwell on it. Merlin, would you look at the time? It is almost dinner, and the house elves will drop our meals off at the dormitory; we must get going, or our food will be cold!" Hermione went on, again trying to change the subject as she wasn't ready to deal with the severity of the situation. She got up and marched purposefully off back to the castle.

"Is anyone going to tell her it is only 4:00 pm?" Padma inquired as they watched her leave.

"No, the poor thing was rather freaked out yesterday and still isn't dealing with it well. I'll go and have a chat with her now. Good luck, girls, and I guess I'll see you all tomorrow for a very uncomfortable breakfast and meeting afterwards."

Chapter Text

"Albus, surely you know what this will mean!" Minerva pleaded as the heads of all houses sat together in the headmaster's office. Sometimes, Professor McGonagall wondered if Dumbledore hadn't hit his head too hard when he fell from the astronomy tower. It had been the biggest deceit in wizarding history, although did anyone think that Dumbledore could be killed so easily? No, a simple cushioning charm and some spells of his design to make him appear dead were all that was needed for Dumbledore to fake his death, for he had to make the death eaters think that he was dead for the war to progress in the way it had. Dumbledore's plan for the war was another thing that she despised; seeing Harry and his friends think that their biggest role model was dead, seeing the Order of the Phoenix lose hope, and being the only one allowed to know that he wasn't dead was the most gruelling secret she ever had to keep. She also didn't understand why he hadn't shown up to finish the war with them in the battle of Hogwarts, instead choosing to hide out in Ireland for it all to be over and giving small hints and help about the Horcruxes sneakily to Harry and his friends. Minerva still believed it had been a rather cowardly approach, but he had been firm, and Dumbledore somehow got his way.

"As much as I disagree with Minerva, you must see reason! These children are about to have the course of their lives changed forever; we can't just sit here and do Nothing!" Severus cut in, but Dumbledore was not phased.

"The minister and I have already met and discussed this matter and devised a clear plan forward. I see no point in alerting the children to their fates before we have to. They are still only recovering from the initial shock." Albus addressed calmly.

"Recover! What is the point in letting them recover only to open the wounds ripped wide open again? There will be less than four weeks before they find out; what is the point in waiting?" Minerva retorted, growing angrier by the minute. Minerva was many things, but a liar wasn't one of them, and it tore her up to have to lie to her students.

"Exactly! They have four weeks of peace, and let them have it! After that, the year group will be changed forever, and there is Nothing that anyone will ever be able to do to stop it!" Albus also started to grow angry at how unreasonable his staff was.

"Nothing we can do! Filius, surely there is a counter curse or something we can use to intervene?" Minerva propped her very silent colleague.

" As Albus said, there is Nothing we can do! I have looked up everything and consulted with colleagues in my field; that curse is final, and there is Nothing short of death that will fix it." Flitwick responded, looking shameful. It had been his fault; he shouldn't have given that spell to his students so soon, but he hadn't expected it to turn out like this!

"But-" Minerva started but stopped, unsure what to say next. This was completely unfair, and she felt more powerless than ever.

"It is going to be hard, Minerva, but if you want to do something to help your students, the best you can do is make them comfortable until the news is delivered because they are going to need all the strength they can get afterwards," Albus instructed before dismissing the heads of houses, all of them looking downtrodden and disgruntled.

********************

"I don't want to do this! It's too soon!" Hermione whispered, fear lacing her voice as the trio of Gryffindor girls stood before the rather intimidating dining hall doors. "I don't ever want to have to look at ferret in the face ever again!" She looked on the verge of tears, and when she looked at her two friends, she paled, realising that they didn't look much better.

"We have to," Ginny assured, getting paler by the second. She took a deep breath, grabbed her two friends' hands, and together, they pushed the great doors open and hurried into the room, head down until they reached their table. Taking seats that faced the wall so they didn't have to see anyone, they quickly loaded their plates with food. None of them intended to eat anything, but it was something to do with their hands.

As it was, they had waited until the last possible second to enter the Great Hall for breakfast, so it was barely 5 minutes before the food disappeared, and Dumbledore stood at the altar.

"You are all dismissed to make your way to classes except for the 8th year, who are to remain behind as was discussed earlier." Dumbledore's voice boomed through the hall, and all the younger students quickly filed out of the room, taking the noise with them.

All left behind was a tiny group of 8th-year students who sat silently, waiting to be addressed. Hermione made the mistake of looking up, and her eyes immediately met with cool silver across the room. Draco Malfoy flinched and looked away, but Hermione felt a lump form in her throat as for a second, she had seen the raw guilt in his eyes, and he had seen the unadulterated fear in hers.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, immediately demanding attention. 

"Now, I have, of course, been informed of events that took place during charms class on your first day. There have been strategies put in place to -" he was cut off by none other than Pansy Parkinson.

"It's all Seamus's fault! He was the one that cast the spell; surely he should be punished!" She called out, and all eyes fell to Seamus Finnigan, whose cheeks flamed, and the poor boy looked like he was about to cry.

"I will only say this once, so listen carefully. It was not Finnigan's fault any more than it was your own. It was a mistake, like any other you have made before. The outcome of this mistake is unfortunate, but it was a mistake nonetheless, and therefore, he will receive no further punishment. From now on, you are to behave civilly with each other as no other outbursts like the one displayed by Miss Parkinson will be tolerated within this school. That will be all; you are dismissed." Dumbledore said as he gave one last stern look at the Slytherin table before retreating to his office.

For the rest of the day, 8th-year students were silent in all their classes; not even Hermione was willing to answer the teacher's questions. It was as if the whole year group had silently agreed to keep their heads down and not interact with anyone to save the imminent discomfort. Even during breaks, the girls and boys from each house huddled separately and talked in hushed tones, terrified to be the first to make a fool of themselves.

And that's how it continued for days.

Chapter Text

As Hermione and Ginny made their way out into the Gryffindor common room and were about to make a mad dash to the door, they were cornered by Harry and Ron. Hermione gulped and was about to reach for her wand when Harry noticed and grabbed it off of her.

"Hey, we just wanna talk to you two. It feels like we haven't in ages. So, how are you both?" Harry prompted at the two girls that most closely resembled two deer in a headlight.

"Umm, good Harry, all things considering," Ginny answered briefly, not daring to look her boyfriend or brother in the eye but instead choosing to stare at her feet.

"That's - uh - good, I guess," Harry responded, clearly very uncomfortable.

"Who'd you get, Mione?" Ron asked abruptly, and Hermione shied away from him.

"What? It can't be worse than Pug-face Parkinson?" He retorted as he received icy glares from both Ginny and Harry.

"For your information, Ronald, it was Ferret. If that is all you must say, I must get going." Hermione told him in an icy tone as she shoved past the two boys and took off out of the portrait.

"Wait, Mione! I didn't mean it like that!" Ron called as he took off behind her. 'Good luck catching her,' Ginny thought as she watched them go, but then froze when she realized she had been left with the man she had been avoiding for the past two weeks.

"Gin? Please, wait a moment!" Harry pleaded as Ginny tried to escape. She slowly turned back around to face him when she caught the distress in her boyfriend's tone.

"Thank you. Look, I'm sorry. I never meant for anything like that to happen, and I'm sorry I did that to you. I have felt awful these past few weeks, and I just wanted to know that you are alright." He pleaded as Ginny kept staring at her feet. He couldn't see the tears welling in her eyes at his words.

"How badly did I hurt you?" He whispered. He lifted her chin, forcing her to make eye contact with him. When she looked at her boyfriend, she couldn't stop the tears from trickling down her face quickly. She had been strong for her friends for weeks, playing it off like it wasn't a big deal and she wasn't hurting like the rest. But she couldn't hold it together when his boyfriend gave her that caring and sympathetic look.

"I'm so sorry," Harry whispered; her tears were the only answer he needed to his question, and he wrapped her into a hug and let her sob into his chest. He whispered comforting things in her ear, kissed her hair, and rubbed her back, hoping to make her feel better while crying some tears of his own. The sickening feeling in his stomach released a little, knowing that Ginny was finally opening back up to him and that maybe, one day, everything might be okay again.

This continued for several minutes until Ginny lifted her head off of Harry's chest and allowed him to wipe away the remainder of his tears.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I just couldn't bring myself to face you before now," Ginny whispered as she stared at Harry and gave him a watery smile.

"It's fine, Gin, don't worry about it. Are we good now?" Harry asked tentatively, and Ginny nodded, smiling a little wider this time.

"Of course, silly. However, can we keep it a little more PG right now? I don't want to do anything that will give me reminders of...that... for a while." Ginny grimaced.

"I completely agree with you there, Gin. But is... forehead kisses okay?" Harry asked nervously. Ginny nodded in response, and Harry gave her a dazzling smile, kissing her sweetly on the head.

"I guess I'll see you later. Something tells me that Hermione might need saving from Ron and his inability to form normal conversations." Ginny said, and Harry chuckled, nodding, letting go of her, and making sure she made it safely out of the portrait hole.

***************

"Mione! Please wait!" Ron called after her as Hermione speed-walked down the corridor. He caught up to her before long, damn his long legs! Hermione groaned as she turned around and was completely caught off guard when he trapped her against a wall.

"Get off of me, Ronald." Hermione reprimanded in the same icy tone.

"Was it ferret?" He asked.

"No, I just said it for fun! No, I wasn't lying!" Hermione cried, growing increasingly more frustrated with the freckled boy in front of her.

"I can't believe you would shag him!" He yelled.

"Like I had any more of a choice than you did when you did it with Parkinson!" She retorted and watched in horror as his face turned several shades darker red than normal.

"You should've done something! I can't believe you would do this to me! I loved you, and you liked me before you whored yourself to Ferret!"

"Whored myself! You have no idea how unreasonable you are right now! GET OFF OF ME!" Hermione screamed. The commotion had caught the attention of three people standing nearby.

"I'd get off her if I were you, weasel." A cold, drawling voice came behind him, and Hermine looked up and froze. Of all the people to have to see her in this situation, it was none other than the person she had no intention of ever seeing again. Malfoy and his two friends, Zabini and Nott, were standing there, all with hard looks on their faces. The distraction gave Hermione enough time to wriggle her hand free and grasp her wand, stupefying Ron within seconds.

"Uh, thanks, Malfoy." Hermione thanked him as she stared disdainfully at her friend lying on the floor, his limbs at odd angles. She may not like Malfoy, but she wasn't one to forget her manners.

"Do us all a favour, mudblood and scram. I'd rather not catch any of the diseases from you today." Hermione sneered up at him, adrenaline rushing through her veins as she responded;

"You’ve already been exposed, Malfoy. If there were side effects, you’d be foaming at the mouth by now — though with you, it’s hard to tell." She responded venomously and relished in the way his eyes immediately widened. Later, she would be mortified with how forward she had been, but for now, she was so high on adrenaline she didn't care. Instead, she grasped her wand and turned on her heel, levitating Ron rather ungracefully through the air as she marched down the corridor.

She purposely slammed Ron into one of the corridor walls as she went.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ronald, I must have lost my concentration there for a second." She apologized fakely before slamming him into the roof.

"Oh gosh, I am not myself today." She fakely apologized again whilst smiling cruelly as she ensured that Ron wouldn't test her again.

"I like her," Blaise commented as they watched her go, her idiot friend being flown into walls as she sarcastically apologised before doing it again.

"What, the mudblood? Yeah right. She is scum. Everyone knows that." Malfoy retorted quickly but turned away as he let a small smile grace his face at how sassy she was being with the Weasel. He told himself he was only enjoying seeing her do this because he hated the Weasel, and it was NOT because he liked her a little bit.

Chapter Text

On the third Saturday since the mishap, Ginny and Hermione sat together in their room, finishing their homework. Even though things had started to return to normal, short and awkward conversations were beginning to be shared amongst the year group. Most people avoided hanging out in mixed-gender groups where possible to avoid awkwardness.

As Hermione finished her Ancient Runes homework, she saw Ginny staring off into the distance, not paying the least attention to her homework.

"Ginny? Are you ok?" Hermione asked, snapping Ginny out of her reverie.

"Umm, not really..." Hermione got up and walked over to Ginny's desk, waiting for her to continue. It took her a few seconds to work up the courage to ask what she was going to.

"Haveyougottenyourperiodyetsincethespell?" Ginny asked so fast that it took Hermione a second to process. The question was like an ice bucket on Hermione's head. It had been a week since anyone had spoken about the event, most of them opting to ignore the subject studiously.

"No, but I'm not due for another two days. Why?" Hermione asked, but the colour was already draining from her face as she registered what Ginny was implying. No, it wasn't possible.

"Haven't you gotten yours yet?" Hermione asked, although she already knew the answer. Her mouth went dry when Ginny shook her head no.

"No one else has gotten theirs yet either. I asked Luna, Parvati, and Hannah about it. I'm starting to get scared." Ginny admitted sorrowfully.

"Don't be silly; people are always late for their periods. It will probably come any minute now, and everything will be fine. We can't be pregnant." Hermione dismissed it, not even allowing the thought of pregnancy to register with her brain. It wasn't possible, and she was certain of it.

"But we have all done it." Ginny reasoned, but Hermione shook her head again.

"Once! We can't even remember it!" Hermione reasoned.

"That doesn't matter; it can still happen."

"Not, it is statistically not possible. Barely anyone gets pregnant after one time." Hermione said.

"Exactly! Barely anyone. What if we are the one per cent!" Ginny cried, getting more irrational by the second.

"Please, you'll all get your periods today or tomorrow, and you will realise that you are all being silly for no reason." Hermione was dismissed once again and returned to her homework.

************

Over the next two days, whispers had started to go around the 8th year. Still, all the girls were late, including Hermione, and they were getting more worried by the day.

Even the male population had started to cotton on to what was happening, but none dared to ask their female partner if the rumours were true.

When Blaise had told Draco the rumour, he had almost spat out his orange juice and had completely lost his appetite. It couldn't be true. There was no way that the Malfoy line would get dirtied with impure blood; it was completely impossible. Instead, he passed it off but couldn't ignore the horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched the female 8th-year population get more depressed by the day.

Harry, for one, had witnessed Terry Boot get slapped across the face when he asked a usually lovely Susan whether she had gotten her period. Professor McGonagall didn't even try to intervene; instead just started the class in a somewhat hurried manner

"We are NOT talking about that." She growled and stalked off, the rest of the girls in tow.

By chance, later that afternoon, all of the 8th-year girls met in the otherwise deserted library to do their homework. Even Daphne, Astoria, Millicent, and Pansy were there. However, they sat at a nearby table and pretended to look disinterested, even though Hermione knew for a fact that they were listening to their conversation.

"Still no word from Aunt Flow." Ginny huffed as she pulled out her potion assignment.

"Aunt flow? Is that what we are calling it now?" Parvati asked, chuckling a little. A collective 'no' echoed around the group.

"Have any of you done a pregnancy detection spell yet?" Padma asked carefully; she was the only one fortunate enough not to have this burden; she would never be more grateful for her tiny bladder than she was now. Another 'no'.

"I can't bring myself to do it," Ginny confessed, and the girls nodded.

Just when Padma was about to offer to do one for them, a bright phoenix, Patronus, soared into the library.

"Your attendance is immediately required in the Great Hall." It said before flying away. The girls all quickly packed away their things and made their way down to the Great Hall, wondering what this could be about.

Chapter Text

"Girls, you must go behind the white curtain behind me and meet Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall, gentleman; you are to stay here for one moment." Professor Dumbledore instructed, and the girls all stood and walked behind the curtain, each with an expression of dread as they headed off to face inevitable doom. Hermione wasn't even sure where her stomach was anymore; it had sunk so low when she had heard Madame Pomfrey's name. They would be rather daft not to know what would happen.

Meanwhile, the boys all sat in awkward silence for several minutes, not sure what to do with themselves. A rather bright purple light lit up the room not a moment later, and Draco gasped; the horrible sinking feeling was back in his stomach with a vengeance. He could recognise that light anywhere. A few other boys also cottoned on to what was happening and were equally startled.

Although the vast majority of the boys were utterly clueless, Ron even said,

"Wow, look at that light! What are the girls up to? I hardly think this is the time to practise firework charms." What an idiot, Draco thought. Honestly, hadn't his mother ever taught him about these things? Pathetic.

"Those aren't fireworks, mate," Harry grumbled, his face turning from pale white to a peaky green. At least someone on the Gryffindor table had half a brain. Not a moment later, the first two girls emerged from behind the curtain, two Hufflepuffs, although Draco had no idea their names. They were holding hands, their faces tear-streaked. They looked just as distraught as Draco felt.

Another purple light illuminated the room, and two more girls emerged. This time, it was the Patil twins, one of them crying hysterically, and the other, who wasn't affected by the spell as far as Draco could remember, was holding her sister tight and whispering comforting words to her.

Another purple light. Next to emerge were Astoria and Daphne Greengrass. Whilst they were not crying, purebloods were taught better than to show overt emotion in public; Draco could see through their façade and tell they were equally as troubled as the rest. Draco almost felt sorry for the two Slytherin girls, as it was both the Malfoy and Greengrass matriarchs had already signed contracts for the arranged marriage of him and Astoria the following summer; whelp, Draco guessed that contract was out the window now with new additions to the family.

Draco tried to feel a little sad that he wouldn't be betrothed to the younger girl, but he couldn't, as he found her rather dull with minimal personality. Don't get him wrong, he would prefer a girl with no personality to the bucktoothed, bookworm Granger, but he was rather against others planning his life out for him, no matter how long that tradition had stood for.

The next grief-stricken girl to emerge from behind the curtain was Loony, looking even more dazed than usual. This was then followed by Pansy and Millicent, again with blank faces, which Draco knew conveyed more emotion than a sad expression ever could.

Lastly, Draco's and Harry's hearts sunk alike when the next two girls emerged from behind the curtain, not crying, but their eyes were red-rimmed like they had been just moments before. In all honesty, Draco felt a little bit like crying himself. Everything was so unfair.

"Just to clarify, for any of those that have not picked up on it already, our female populace involved in the spell mishap are pregnant, as was just confirmed by Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey just moments prior," Dumbledore confirmed, sparking unrest among the year group.

More tears fell from the girl's eyes, even from a few males, namely Ron.

"WHAT, we are pregnant!? Why is everything so unfair!" Ron cried, sobbing onto Harry's shoulder. Ron was immediately given cold glares from every other person in the room.

"Not you, you halfwit! You don't even have the hardware to be pregnant if you know what I mean." Harry hissed into Ron's ear, and he immediately burned bright red. Harry shook his head and nudged Ron off his shoulder, motioning for Ron to get himself together.

"My baby will have no brains at all!" Pansy complained after Ron's outburst, and everyone tried to hide a smile.

"Yeah, you are right, Pans; the baby wouldn't have inherited any brain cells from you either. It is utterly screwed." Blaise commented and received an icy glare from Pansy, but it was worth it. Even the troubled girls had it in them to find it funny as laughs echoed around the room, making everyone feel a little better.

"We must address a few immediate issues." Dumbledore continued, after having a bit of a giggle to himself, "Starting tomorrow, your living arrangements will be changed-" An immediate uproar cut him off.

"Please refrain from speaking until the headmaster is finished!" Professor McGonagall scolded, and everyone shrank back into their seats; they may have just received the worst news of their lives, but they weren't about to cross McGonagall; no one wanted to die today.

"As I was saying, your living arrangements will be altered to foster a healthy and safe home for the children when they are brought into this world, which in turn means that each of our partners will be assigned a private suite for the remainder of their stay at Hogwarts. It would be best if you also noted extra classes that will be added to your timetable that will be very relevant to your predicament. I won't say much more for fear of overwhelming you, so please refer to the letter and calendar in your room for more information. Lastly, please follow Professor McGonagall, who will escort you all to your new living arrangements." Dumbledore finished, smiling kindly down at his students. If he was being honest, it went better than he expected.

Everyone got up begrudgingly and trailed off behind McGonagall, each mind abuzz with thoughts and emotions. For Hermione, she was a mess. Her brain was trying to comprehend everything that she had just learned. She was pregnant, for Godric's sake! Before comprehending that life-changing revelation, she was told she would have to live with Malfoy. FOR A WHOLE YEAR! What had she done in her past life for her to get stuck with such rotten luck? Each thought and emotion swirled around in her head, reaching hurricane speed so that she barely registered where they had been going for the last 20 minutes until they reached a seemingly endless staircase.

"Sorry, Gin, I spaced out. Where are we?" Hermione whispered to her friend as they started to ascend the stairs.

"The North Tower, I think." She whispered back, and they kept climbing. Up and Up.

Eventually, the top was in sight.

"Well, this venue isn't going to be very practical when we are nine months pregnant and the size of a whale." Ginny quipped, wheezing as everyone spilled out onto the landing.

"Don't you worry, Miss Weasley, if you all wait one moment, I will show you our solution to that problem," McGonagall answered as she waited for the last stragglers to come up the stairs. "Now that you are here, welcome to the North Tower of Hogwarts!" It was rather anti-climatic for Hermione, as they all stood on a round platform, and there was a singular portrait to their left, which Hermione assumed had to be their final destination.

"Just before we go inside, the star on the floor by the window is a teleportation chute. To activate it, the traveller stands on the star and thinks hard about where they want to go within the Hogwarts walls. You may not have noticed, but there is a matching star at the base of the North Tower, just before the flight of stairs that we just climbed, that will transport you to the top. As Miss Weasley so elegantly put it, this transportation method will help anyone, particularly the females, who will become physically incapable of climbing them independently. And rest assured, this transportation will not impact the fetus." This lifted many moods quite quickly as it was apparent that they were all dreading the climb each day.

"Without further ado, I present to you Willow Lane!" She called; clearly, Willow Lane was also the password to the main door because the previously locked portrait swung open quickly.

What lay inside was incredible; as the muggles would say, each student was completely gobsmacked with what they saw.

Chapter Text

Hermione had never seen anything so extravagant. Even Malfoy had been shocked and had a boyish smile gracing his lips.

What lay before them was the prettiest gardens she had ever seen; it was like heaven! The room barely felt like a room at all. It was that exquisite! There had to be an extension charm on the room; it was that big! The ceiling had been enchanted to mirror the sky, which was a magnificent sunset, just like the one in the Great Hall. In the centre of the room was a lush grass field Hermione imagined would be perfect for picnics. Next to that was a lovely flowing stream, complete with goldfish that swam about and frolicked in the water, which ran almost the complete circumference of the room. There was a small waterfall and a crystal clear pool that would be perfect for swimming! Little tables were scattered throughout the gardens, surrounded by a hedge for a little privacy, the perfect spot to do homework or have a private chat. Among the trees and flowers was a little playground ready for the babies, with a seesaw, swing, and little stepping stones. To top it all off, little wooden footbridges over the stream appeared to lead to several corridors where their suites would be located.

"This is the coolest common room I have ever seen. You, Professor, were holding out on us with the Gryffindor common room." Seamus quipped, earning a few giggles.

"I second that! Try living in a dungeon!" Theo added, and the rest of the Slytherins nodded along.

"Settle down! Yes, the teachers all express great sympathy for your situation and have pitched in to make your living quarters as accommodating as possible. You will notice all these footbridges leading to your private living quarters. You will see a sign directing you to the correct room on each of them. Now, listen carefully as you are assigned your rooms.

Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley, Sherbet Lemon Room,
Mr Weasley and Miss Parkinson, Acid Pop Room,
Miss Lovegood and Mr Zabini, Liquorice Wand Room,
Mr Nott and Daphne Greengrass, Sugar Quill Room,
Mr Thomas and Miss Parvati Patil, Fizzing Whizzbee Room,
Miss Astoria Greengrass and Mr Finnigan, Pepper Imp Room,
Mr Longbottom, and Miss Abbott, Cauldron Cake Room,
Miss Bones, and Mr Boot, Chocolate Frog Room,
Miss Padma Patil, Fudge Fly Room,
and finally, Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger, Gumdrop Room.

Now, off you go; I will be available in the morning if you have further questions." With that, Professor McGonagall turned and left the room.

"I'll guess I'll see you later then," Harry told Hermione as he grasped Ginny's hand, and they headed off to check out their room. Hermione smiled as they walked away; they were so cute together and deserved something to be happy about. Hermione then turned to her partner and cringed. There was still no way she could even look her partner in the eye, let alone be friendly with him. Looking in his general direction was enough to bring up memories Hermione sorely wished she could forget.

Shaking off her thoughts and shoving those memories back into the furthest corner of her brain, where she hoped they would stay, Hermione walked along the footbridges, looking for the Gumdrop sign. She spied one sign that wasn't like the others; it read 'facilities', and Hermione made a mental note to check it out later. She smiled as she found her sign; judging by the nature of the names for each room, Hermione guessed that Dumbledore had been in charge of naming rooms; he had a sweet tooth and a soft spot for candy.

Walking up and over the footbridge, Hermione smiled at what was behind it. A small corridor with elegant tree-patterned wallpaper lining the walls with an intricately painted portrait at the end with a little boy and a little girl holding hands on a swing.

"Password?" They chorused, and Hermione paused. She hadn't been told a password...

"Gumdrop", A masculine voice came behind her, sending shivers down Hermione's spine. Malfoy gave Hermione a look that said 'duh' before marching ahead and climbing inside the room. It took Hermione a few seconds before she followed behind him and gasped once more as she walked into their suite.

It was the cutest little apartment she had ever seen! It was an open floor plan design: up one end, there was a living room space with a couch and two armchairs facing a fireplace. Lining each wall of the loungeroom were bookcases that spanned from floor to ceiling filled with books, many of which Hermione hadn't even seen before. The loungeroom led to the kitchen, with an island bench and four barstools. A small staircase to the right of the loungeroom led to 3 doors. Hermione peeked into the first one and found an empty room with a light grey carpet and white walls. This was the nursery they would set up for their little one. Behind the next door was a luxurious bathroom with a vanity, large mirror, shower, toilet, and spa bath with water jets. Hermione could not wait to get in that later.

That left one door, which Hermione and Draco entered simultaneously.

Silence.

"You're sleeping on the couch," Hermione finally stated as she walked further into the room. A single king-sized bed stood in the middle of the room, with bed curtains and fluffy pillows. A sliding door on the opposite end of the room led to an extravagant closet, probably the size of Hermione's entire bedroom at home. Who even needs that much space for clothes!? Lastly, and this had to be Hermione's favourite part, there was a giant window that overlooked the entire Hogwarts grounds and part of the Forbidden Forest, and pushed up against it was a lounge that would create the perfect place for Hermione to read and watch the sunrise.

"Who says you won't sleep on the couch." Malfoy retorted as he, too, observed the room.

" Says the fact that you got me pregnant, and that comes with special rights." Hermione quipped back, falling onto the bed with a sigh.

"You are just as much at fault for that as I was! If my muscles remember correctly, you were just as vigour-" Hermione cut him off by slamming her hands over her ears.

"LA LA LA!" She shouted as she drowned out the rest of what Malfoy had to say. She still felt uncomfortable in his presence, let alone wanted to hear his personal account of what happened; thank you very much!

"Merlin, would you look at the time! We need to get down for dinner." Hermione grumbled as she begrudgingly got off the most comfortable bed in the world and put her shoes back on.

As she walked out of her living quarters, she met with Harry and Ron, conversing deeply at the doorway to Willow Lane.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked as she noticed the sour look on Ron's face. She still wasn't on speaking terms with Ron after the stunt he pulled on her in that corridor, but she didn't want to miss out on talking to Harry just because of it.

"Ron was just complaining for the umpteenth time about his life problems." Harry relayed, a rather resigned look on his face.

"Acid Pops! It's a sign! It has been cursed from the start! You all know about when one of those blasted things burned a hole straight through my tongue! And now I have to live in a room called it. What is my life coming to? Oh, and Pansy has taken the liberty of kicking me out of bed and is forcing me to sleep on the couch. ME!" He whined, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Ronald, who are you, Professor Trelawny? And it would be best if you were more considerate. I kicked Malfoy out onto the couch, too. I'm the pregnant one, so I get first dibs on comfort, and there is no way I would share the bed with him, so the only other option was to kick him out. Simple. Now, I will see you both at dinner." With that, Hermione marched over to the red star on the ground of the North Tower and thought hard about going to the doors of the Great Hall. A cold, tingling sensation spread over Hermione's entire body, and as she opened her eyes, the intricately carved Great Hall doors stood in front of her. Hermione smiled at the pure genius behind the transportation system. It was a well-thought-out mechanism.

Hermione pushed open the doors and walked inside, immediately greeted by the lulling sound of indistinct chatter that filled the room as each student ate dinner and caught up with their friends. She was then startled by a crash coming from nearby. Harry and Ron hadn't been precise when they thought about where they wanted to end up with the teleportation because they were currently sprawled across the Hufflepuff table, covered head to toe in food items and condiments, and were apologizing profusely to the Hufflepuff's they nearly squashed in the process. Ron had toppled back, hit one of the many candles lighting the table, and set his robes ablaze. Hermione couldn't watch.

Instead, she sat at the Gryffindor table and joined in conversation with Ginny, forgetting what the boys had done, and started discussing everything that had happened today. Hermione still felt like she had been on an emotional roller coaster. One minute, everything was fine; the next, she was receiving the most life-altering news ever (she still hadn't even fully accepted that she was pregnant yet), then was told that she had to share her living quarters with a snake and discovered the extended the teachers had gone to with their common room and suites to ensure they were comfortable, and now she was at dinner, trying to pretend that everything was fine at that she wasn't sure if she should be upset, angry, delighted.

All she knew was that she was sooo exhausted.

Chapter Text

"Oi, Mione, get out of bed!" Ginny called, storming into her room and causing a stir.

"What could you possibly want at... 6:30 am!?" Hermione cried, sitting up in bed and stretching.

"We are going out shopping. All the other girls have agreed, even the Slytherins... I think they were super snarky about it and commented on our difference in class, but they didn't say no, so I think they're coming then. So that means that you have no choice but to come!" Ginny called, wrenching open the curtains and blinding poor Hermione in the process. She then walked over to the closet, riffling through Hermione's clothes and throwing garments at her friend once she found something suitable for their trip.

"Do I have to Gin?" Hermione grumbled as she rolled out of bed.

"Yes. You have no choice. Now get dressed; everyone else is waiting for you." Ginny instructed.

"All right, all right. Keep your hair on!" Hermione grumbled and started getting ready.

*************************

With the girls gone for the day, all the guys assembled in their new common room, playing wizarding chess and exploding snap. In all honesty, Harry was happy for a bit of fresh air. Don't get him wrong, he loved Ginny and adored having her around, but the news of a baby had impacted the guys too, and it was nice to slow down for a little while and relax with some mates, let everything sink in a little more.

Ron is playing chess with Harry while groaning about his sore neck.

"The couch is the least comfortable place in the world. I still don't understand why all the guys had to be kicked out. Why can't she sleep on the couch sometimes too?" He complained.

"Ron, we've been over this." Harry sighed, trying not to get mad at his best mate. He loved Ron like a brother, but that didn't mean that his complaining didn't get annoying.

"I'm happy to sleep on the couch. I would do anything if it meant that Hannah could be comfortable, and at the moment, I can't do much else, so I'm happy to do this small thing for her. Although she seemed to enjoy the breakfast I brought her in bed the other day, it turns out she drinks tea the same way I do! Cream and all!" Neville piped up, and Harry smiled. It was so nice seeing Neville like this. He had changed so much, become a man even. He was among the most deserving people of the Gryffindor maroon and gold that Harry had ever seen.

Ron was about to retort when Blaise jumped in, surprising them all. Before that, he and the other Slytherin boys were sitting on the edge, not involved in the games, but still there all the same.

"I do that too. It's breakfast and the morning edition of the Quibbler for my girl, but it has helped break the ice a little. She isn't as spooked around me anymore." Blaise said, and Harry's smile grew. He loved Luna like a sister and was beginning to like Blaise more. He was nowhere near as stand-offish as some of his friends and seemed to like having a good time. Somewhere underneath the Slytherin green and silver, there was a good heart, and Harry truly admired that about him.

"Well, you two, gee, thanks for upping the game. Now the rest of the girls will start demanding that too!" Seamus joked, and the rest of the boys laughed. It was truly nice to hang with all of them, even the Slytherins.

Everyone was happy, or at least not trying to start a fight anyway.

**************

Well, the shopping trip was a success. Hermione was now the proud owner of a new set of robes, another set of self-inking quills, and three more books. They had only caught glimpses of the Slytherin girls as they darted out of different boutiques, and whilst they didn't even associate with the rest of the girls, Hermione was pleased that they even made an effort to come.

Sighing, Hermione stepped out of the shower and popped her hair into a loose braid, ready for bed.

*Scratch* *scratch* *hoot*
"Granger! OI GRANGER!" Malfoy yelled from the loungeroom, and Hermione groaned, begrudgingly walking out of her room and throwing on a robe over her pyjamas haphazardly.

"What could you want at this ungodly hour?" Hermione groaned as she walked into the loungeroom, glaring daggers at her housemate.

"What could I want! It's not me; it's the bloody owl, which I can only assume would be for you. There is no way that anything that shabby would be the property of a Malfoy." Draco sneered down at her, thrusting the passed-out owl, Errol, toward her. The poor thing looked to be on the brink of death.

"Weasley family, I presume, considering everything they own is broken or cheap." Malfoy continued his taunting as she untied the letter around the owl's leg.

"At least they have a family, rather than your pathetic, cold-hearted associates that you call parents!" Hermione snapped back and opened the letter.

"Don't you insult the Malfoy name! What does it even say?" Malfoy asked, snatching the letter clean out of Hermione's hands.

"Hey, don't you-" She was cut off as Malfoy began to read.

"Hermione dearest, gross, anyway, Ginny wrote to me yesterday and informed me of the news; I am so sorry, my dear. And to that Malfoy boy, too, I'm so sorry. Please, Hermione, if you need anything, I'm just an owl away. I have a lot of experience in this area, as I'm sure you know, so don't hesitate to reach out. Please know that I consider you family and that even though yours aren't around anymore, don't hesitate to come to me if you need anything as you would your mother. Arthur and George send their love, and George says that if that scoundrel Malfoy does anything, he will... No, George, I'm not writing that! Anyway, lots of love, my dear Molly." Malfoy finished with a puzzled look on his face.

"What, Granger, did your parents finally see sense and abandon your swotty self? Or did they off themselves because they couldn't live with their disappointment of a daughter?" He questioned snarkily, and Hermione had to grit her teeth and will tears not to gather in her eyes. She was NOT about to cry in front of someone like him!

"How dare you! For your information, I obliviated and sent them abroad for their safety, to protect them from MONSTERS like you!" Hermione screamed, spinning around and marching back up to her room, slamming the door behind her. She then cast every locking and silencing charm she knew before sliding down the wall and bursting into tears. Not only had Molly painfully reminded her that she no longer had a mother of her own to take care of her (Hermione understood Molly's good intentions, but it still hurt), but Draco had the nerve to tease her! On top of the most emotional events of her life that were occurring right before her eyes! What was going on around here?

Apparently, the 'let's test just how far we can push Hermione before she breaks show' was finally reaching its most intense scene, and she was done. She was finished. There was nothing more in her tank of energy or willpower to get through this. Completely through. Spent. Empty. No more. Nothing. Nada. Zero.

Completely broken.

Meanwhile, Malfoy remained in the loungeroom, shocked into silence. The previously clutched letter in his hand fluttered to the floor as he remained frozen on the spot. She obliviated her parents. Sent them abroad? That would mean that she had to... had to make them forget that she even existed, that magic even existed.

There was this weird twisting, swirling feeling in his stomach that wasn't familiar to him. Was this what guilt felt like? He had run around all his life, doing whatever he pleased, with little to no consequence (not that he even usually cared about the consequences anyway). Never before had he felt... guilty about something. Angry? Yes. Upset? Definitely. But never true guilt.

He may not know much about guilt, but he had this weird urge to try to improve things. No, what was he thinking? There was no way that he would ever apolo...apol.... apolo.... admit fault for something. Especially not to a mudblood low-life like Granger. Urgh, what was this apartment doing to him? He was going soft! This was not happening! No way.

No, he had to get away. He needed to take a breather. Honestly, on what planet would a Malfoy admit fault? That was far below him! No, he had to leave before he was affected by the mudblood any further.

With that, he sped out of the apartment toward the Great Hall. He desperately needed to hang out with people with the same status and influence as he did. Good grief.

Chapter Text

"Mione? Oi Hermione?" Ginny called out to her friend as she waved her hand in front of Hermione's face.

"Sorry, Gin, what were you saying?" Hermione blinked, coming out of her reverie. Ginny huffed in response.

"I have been telling you for the last 10 minutes about what was on the calendar this morning!" Ginny cried, and Hermione grimaced.

"What about the calendar?" Hermione asked, and Ginny face-palmed.

"Have you not heard a single word I have said? I was talking about all the random events on our calendar this morning! Didn't you notice?" Ginny asked and wasn't sure if she should be angry at her friend for blatantly ignoring her or concerned that her brilliant and switched-on friend had missed something so obvious.

"I must have missed it. I'm sorry, I'm just exhausted." Hermione vaguely mentioned before wandering off altogether, leaving a perplexed Ginny to stand in the corridor. What on earth was going on? Hermione was never like this! She was never so blasé about everything, and she also didn't walk away in the middle of a conversation with her best friend.

But what worried Ginny the most was that this was the 5th day this week that Hermione had been acting like this and the 5th day this week that she had used the excuse that she was 'tired' and walked off. This wasn't normal. Ginny understood that all the girls were a little rough around the edges these past few weeks; the news had sent them all for a six, and the whole 'growing a human in your stomach thing' was draining the girl's energy levels more than usual, but this was insane! Something was VERY wrong with her.

*************************

"Well, if it isn't everyone's least favourite buck-toothed bookworm." Malfoy snidely called from the lounge as Hermione walked into their apartment, feeling more drained than ever. She didn't even register his quip, too consumed in her little world to notice.

"What, no witty comeback?" Malfoy questioned, getting up from the couch and blocking her path to the bedroom, finally getting her attention.

"Move," Hermione muttered weakly, having no intentions of starting a fight with the person she hated most. Actually, no, she was beyond hate. Beyond the point that she even acknowledged his existence anymore. In her eyes, he was dead.

"No. Not until you fight back, you coward! Or is it true that you've finally submitted to the true role of a woman in society? To be submissive and treat us men like the kings that we are." Malfoy yelled, his words intentionally trying to strike a nerve with her.

"Fight back!" He screamed, moving closer to her and trying to be intimidating. The only thing Hermione registered was the almost desperate tone in his voice, not his words or demeanour. She almost felt sorry for him. Did he really not know how to treat a woman other than to fight and get a rise out of her? Well, isn't that downright depressing?

Hermione sighed; that very thought was enough to drain the very little remaining energy that she had. She was not going to fight or struggle.

She was too damn tired.

Instead, she turned on her heel and walked right back out of the apartment, heading toward Ginny and Harry's suite. She didn't care if she had to sleep on their couch; she didn't want to be in her apartment. She didn't have the will anymore.

That's how it continued for days. Her days hazed together, she was a shell of her former self, yet she couldn't bring herself to care anymore. Instead, she walked to the dining room for meals on autopilot, not engaging with anyone or anything, and then wandered off to her lessons, where she would sit in silence and not register anything that any teacher said.

Day in, day out.

On the third day of Hermione sleeping on the lounge in Ginny and Harry's apartment (they ended up sleeping in the same bed, so it meant the couch was free for Hermione to sleep on), Harry tried to confront her, all of her friends were worried about her. Yet, every time they tried to converse with her, they got nothing. She was like a walking corpse. When Harry confronted her in their living room, he got no response. She didn't hear him as she walked out of the library and was off to Godric knows where.

Harry sighed as he stood in his living room, staring at the spot Hermione had just vacated. He was out of ideas. He had tried everything, talking, telling jokes, even trying to scare her didn't get any reaction.

"Nothing?" Ginny asked as she emerged from their bedroom and saw her boyfriend alone in the living room with no Hermione insight.

"Nope, just like every other day, Gin. I'm really worried. I think it might be time to alert Dumbledore; this is getting out of control!" Harry sighed and wrapped his girlfriend into an embrace.

"Give her until tomorrow. If she is still like this by tomorrow, we will let everyone know and get her some help." Ginny whispered into Harry's shoulder.

"Sounds like a plan, Gin." Harry kissed her forehead and gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry, but I have a meeting with McGonagall about organizing Quidditch drafting this morning so I won't be at breakfast" Ginny nodded in response and gave him one last squeeze before retreating to her room to get dressed.

**************************

Ginny was about to leave the apartment for breakfast when a bright blue flash caught her eye. Ginny groaned; she knew what that flash meant.

Hermione may not have noticed this a few days ago, but Ginny had. All week the calendar that had been mentioned by Dumbledore in that damned meeting when they all found out about the extent of their predicament had been filling with the most random of events. 'Sunrise yoga class' was the first thing that popped up on the calendar each Saturday for the rest of the year, and other events were also popping up for the rest of the week.

So far, on top of yoga classes, there were scheduled Friday night 2-hour dates, and potions on a Wednesday had been replaced with 'relationship class'; Ginny had no idea what that meant, birthing classes on Thursday afternoon, although Ginny thought it was a bit early for that, but anyway, her due date precisely eight months from now, and the newest edition...

NO! She flung the calendar across the room and gaped in shock.

IT COULDN'T BE! NO, THERE WAS A MISTAKE! But it was her next thought that made her blood run ice cold.

"Hermione!"

Ginny sprinted out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Back on the floor of the Lemon drop suite was the calendar, sitting dishevelled on the floor after it had collided with the wall, sitting proudly open with the newest date written in, exactly three weeks from the current date.

Written in purple ink was one word.

WEDDING.

Chapter Text

Hermione sighed, finally pushing the portrait of the two children open and walking into her apartment. She had waited until the last possible second to get her books for the day when everyone should well and truly be at breakfast to prevent having any run-ins with the person she wished to never lay eyes on again.

But luck was not on Hermione's side as she entered the room and came face to face with Malfoy himself. She would've just ignored his presence and continued to her bedroom, but she was caught off guard by how unusually pale Malfoy was. He was as white as a ghost.

Hermione thanked her quick reflexes as she caught the calendar that Malfoy flung at her, only just catching it before it hit her square in the face. She sent a fleeting glare his way before she looked down at the calendar in front of her. She vaguely remembered Ginny mentioning something about this earlier in the week, but she couldn't even remember what her friend had said about it. She opened it to September and gaped in shock.

The previously blank calendar that Hermione had studied when they first moved into the apartment was now filled with entries. Now there were yoga, relationship classes, birthing classes, and date nights. How odd.

"Flip to the next month," Malfoy instructed weakly and Hermione frowned, flipping the page suspiciously as she caught his face which was almost impossibly pale and he looked about ready to throw up.

Hermione froze, her vision darkening around the edges. No, it couldn't be! This wasn't possible! This wasn't happening! Tears gathered in her eyes and she did nothing to stop them from falling down her face and dripping onto the calendar.

Hermione looked up at Draco and Draco was shattered at how broken she looked at that moment. Hermione's fists balled and she threw the calendar to the floor, crushing the pages in the process. She then kicked the offending item across the room and marched toward the portrait.

"Where are you going?" Draco called after, getting up from his seat on the island bench in the kitchen and following her out the door. A few seconds later, Weaslette came running down the hallway to meet them, looking equally as distraught as Hermione did.

But Hermione paid her no mind and proceeded down the hall at a breakneck pace, leaving Ginny and Draco to follow after her. Hermione marched through the common room, where they met Parvarti and Luna, who was also crying. Hermione marched out the door onto the tower landing and the ever-growing group of people followed hot on her heels.

Within a minute the group was marching up the stairs to Dumbledore's office. Hermione had miraculously guessed Dumbledore's password first try, and Draco could've sworn that he saw the stone gargoyle shy away from her in fear as she marched by.

They rushed up the staircase, and Hermione didn't even need to utter a spell for the doors at the top to fly open, with a resounding crack as they hit the wall. Draco wasn't even sure that Hermione even intentionally used her magic to open the doors, her rage causing her magic to lash out on its own. Draco made a mental note to be wary of Hermione when she was angry, she was downright dangerous!

"Ahh, Miss Granger." Dumbledore greeted calmly as they all strode into the room, a mix of rage and sadness on each of their faces. Draco glanced around the room and released that they weren't alone, not even close. There was a very red-faced McGonagall, Snape, who was looking distraught in his way complete with a menacing sneer, Flitwick who looked ready to pass out, Draco didn't think he had ever seen a glare so fierce on Professor Sprout's face, the-boy-who-will-not-die looking positively unhinged with rage, the weasel, so red he could explode, and every single portrait of past Hogwarts headmasters was currently in their paintings, wide awake, shaking their heads in utter disbelief.

"Don't you Mis Granger me!" Hermione shouted, if looks could kill, Dumbledore would be dead and buried. "You can take that calendar and shove it up you're-" Luckily, Ginny had the sense to cover her friend's mouth quickly to prevent her from finishing her sentence.

"Now Miss Granger, please calm down, it is nothing to worry about-" Dumbledore started but was immediately cut off.

"NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!" Was chorused by every single person in the room, even the portraits.

"Yes, nothing to worry about. The minister and I have met and the decision has already been finalized. Surely you are all aware of the wizarding law around this predicament." Dumbledore continued, and Hermione's stomach sank impossibly further. She'd read about this, but she thought that it must've been a mistake for how barbaric it was. The law said that no magical child was to be born out of wedlock, or they would live a cursed life. Sometimes it appeared as plain rotten luck, for others, evil to the core. Hermione wasn't even sure that she truly believed this, it sounded more like a wives' tale than anything substantiated, although she knew of several shotgun wizarding marriages that had happened as a result. Dumbledore also seemed to buy into it, "Besides, this will ensure the most stable and secure home life for your offspring, especially to care for the children after your stay at Hogwarts is complete. These children will not go away you know, and the minister and I believe that this is the best course of action on all accounts." Dumbledore stated calmly, but all it did was further enrage every occupant of the room.

"Stable! I'll kill her!"

"You can't force us into this!"

"Marriage is final, I don't even like him!"

"I'm not even finished school yet, I'm not ready to settle down!"

"I absolutely WILL NOT soil the Malfoy lines any further!"

"That is ridiculous, Albus. You must reconsider!"

"I did NOT come back to school this year to have my entire life planned out for me!"

"What's next, the Ministry and you will control my toilet schedule too!"

"You are out of your mind!"

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore yelled over the shouting and everyone paused momentarily, sending deadly glares at him instead.

"As I said, the decision is FINAL. Contracts have been made, signed, and distributed. You can do nothing to avoid this unless you are willing to give up your wand and memories of the wizarding world altogether!" The effect was instantaneous.

"You ARSEHOLE!" This time Ginny wasn't quick enough to slap her hand over Hermione's mouth before she let that language loose. "Not only are you trying to force us to marry people we don't even LIKE because of some baby that was made as a result of an ACCIDENT at YOUR school, but you have the hide to say that if we don't, you reserve the right to wipe our memories and snap our wands!? HOW DARE YOU!" With that Hermione launched forward, towards Dumbledore, fists raised and ready to strike. At the last second, Draco was able to wrap his arms around her and restrain her, preventing her from physically assaulting their headmaster. Hermione tried to fight against him, arms and legs flailing, but Draco was stronger and before long, she gave up and dissolved into tears in Draco's arms.

"You're vile." Were Hermione's last words to Dumbledore as she whipped around and sprinted out of the room, tears staining her cheeks.

"Granger?" Malfoy called after her, but she was long gone, there was no way that she was staying in that room any longer.

Malfoy turned back to the rest of the mismatched group standing in Dumbledore's office, all of which had been stunned into silence. Even Dumbledore looked a little remorseful, but in Draco's opinion, he should've looked downright ashamed of himself. He had never seen someone as annoyingly smart and almost naively nice person as Hermione lose control like that before, and it was entirely DUmbledore's fault. Why Draco could kill him right now? Is this what feeling protective of someone feels like?

Pushing that thought aside, Draco was about to open his mouth and give Dumbledore a piece of his mind, when he caught the Weaslette's eye. She was giving him the 'please don't make this worse' look. So, deciding for once that the Weaslette may be right, he bit his tongue, spinning around and marching out of the room in search of his... fiance... Merlin that sounded weird...

Chapter Text

"Granger, wait!" Malfoy called after her retreating figure as he ran down the halls of Hogwarts. Gosh, she is a fast runner, Malfoy thought as he followed her, trying to keep up as best he could. He never would've thought that Granger of all people had some athletic ability. Down the corridors they went, winding around the school until they came to an all too familiar flight of stairs.

Hermione dashed up the stairs, trying to put as much distance between her and him as she could, but Draco sighed, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. He wasn't too worried about where she was going and he wasn't going to hurry after her.

That staircase only lead to one place, so there was nowhere else that she could go once she got to the top. He should know, he spent months studying it before he did the thing that he will always regret the most, letting the death eaters into the castle.

Draco slowly made his way up the stairs, giving Hermione a chance to calm down and trying to mentally prepare himself for seeing the whole tower again, he had tried to avoid it as much as possible as of late due to the horrid memories that it brought up, but he pushed that aside, focusing his entire mind onto getting to Hermione and working this out. Preferably, without a fight this time, he didn't think that he had the energy right now.

"Granger?" He whispered as he reached the top, more as a way of letting her know that he was there, rather than an inquiry into her whereabouts. He sighed, spying her perched on the window sill, staring out into the sky. He quietly made his way over to join her, sitting next to her, but far enough away as to respect her personal space.

They sat like that for several minutes, just staring out into the distance, the silence only punctured by sniffs from Hermione as she silently cried.

Draco broke the silence eventually, pulling a metal flask out of his robes and taking a sip, before holding it out to her as a silent offering.

"I'm not allowed to drink alcohol" Hermione whispered, gesturing vaguely toward her stomach and staring off once again.

"Relax, it's just butterbeer. I wouldn't offer you something that could harm our baby." He quietly told her, offering it once again. This time she gladly took it, giving him a small smile and taking a swig.

"Our baby..." Hermione whispered as if testing the sounds on her tongue.

"Well that's what it is, isn't it? Unless, good grief, you had an affair and were actually pregnant already!? Why it'd make the headlines of every paper in the wizarding world!" Malfoy joked weakly, but it still earned a small smile from Hermione. She then sighed, leaning over and resting her head on the crook of his shoulder.

"It's most definitely yours," Hermione whispered, still watching two birds that were flying carelessly over the Black Lake.

"I know, I saw the-" Malfoy cut himself off, and felt Hermione stiffen and lift her head off of his shoulder, resorting to sitting ramrod straight beside him. 'Great, you've made her uncomfortable' Draco berated himself, only just refraining from groaning out loud.

"I'm sorry." He muttered and Hermione nodded, relaxing slowly. Another few minutes of silence.

"A war heroine. That's what they call me." Hermione started, and Draco listened intently, "Except, I don't feel like a hero. I feel nothing at all."

"Trauma does that to people," Malfoy responded, choosing his words carefully and trying really hard not to offend her again.

"It's not normal." Hermione argued, suddenly more tears were slipping down her cheeks and she was rapidly dissolving into tears again.

"Yes it is. What happened to us over the past few years wasn't, sure, but how it impacts you is normal and that's okay." Draco responded slowly, hoping, for once in his life, that he could make someone feel a little better rather than worse.

"Yeah right. How would you know." Hermione retorted quickly and Draco sighed heavily, mentally restraining himself and trying his hardest not to get offended and slip into the old Draco, the one he was so good at being.

"Well firstly, I acknowledge that this has been a trying day for all of us and that you are worked up, so I'm going to let it slide about how inconsiderate you are being of others right now. You and I aren't that different you know... we both had some really troubling pasts, trauma caused by the same man, just in different ways." He finished, smiling at her softly.

"I guess, trying to take him down from the inside was the most terrifying thing I have ever done," Hermione responded, looking up and meeting his eyes.

"Oh yeah? Trying living with the guy!" Malfoy retorted playfully, giving her knee a little nudge with his own. She chuckled in response, wiping the last of the tears off her cheeks.

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" She asked quietly, looking down as if scared that she was about to be hurt again.

"Living with a depressed, broken Granger all the time is depressing. And when you did the impromptu move out, it was downright lonely. I want the old swotty, witty, and fierce Granger back. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get it." He finished in a whisper, looking up at her hesitantly as if preparing himself for another punch like the one that broke his nose in 3rd year.

"Hey! That was your fault that I moved out, don't blame me!" Hermione retorted, but there was a smile on her face either way.

"I know. I'm really sorry." Draco said, with a remorseful expression on his face. Hermione nodded.

"Friends?" Hermione asked, holding out her hand for Draco to shake.

"Don't push it." Draco joked but took her tiny hand in his own all the same.

Instead of dropping her hand after he shook it, he instead stood up and used the hand that was holding hers to pull Hermione up into a standing position.

"As much as this has been fun, I do believe that we have a birthing class to attend in five minutes and I know what you are like about missing classes." He instructed turning around and leading the way.

"Do we have to?" Hermione whined but followed after Draco anyway.

"Yeah, now come on. We survived a war. A baby is going to be no sweat."

If only they knew.

Chapter Text

"And now proceed into downward dog." The yoga instructed calmly as she demonstrated on the mat at the front.

"What!?" Was the resounding reaction from all her students as they looked at her incredulously. There was currently a tangled mess of legs and arms everywhere you looked on the tranquil grass of Willow Lane or the '8th-year common room' as it was now known.

This had been another of he-who-shall-not-be-named pathetic ideas. For those playing along at home, this is the new name that the 8th year students had collectively nicknamed Dumbledore, the wounds created by his latest hair-brained idea, the-you-know-what, that was all too fast approaching on them. 2 weeks from now if Hermione remembered correctly.

Never mind that Hermione's most pressing challenge was working out how she was going to fold herself in half to get out of her current position, with one leg in the air and her arms were losing sensation far too quickly given they were currently holding her entire body weight, and move into the new position.

The worst part you ask? She was all too aware of just how close her rear was to Malfoy's face. One wrong move and Draco would never speak to her again, not to mention the prized Malfoy face would never look the same again. A broken nose would be the least of his concerns.

Draco seemed to notice Hermione's predicament because he was watching on with fearful eyes as he tried to get out of his position and get as far away from her as possible. It had been the bloody yoga instructor's idea to be positioned SO close to your partner for the session, but it was hardly practical.

"Nice and gently now..." The yoga instructor continued and Hermione fixed her glare on her from her awkward position on the ground. Damn her and her flexibility and feel-good attitude. It was FAR too early in the morning for such things, Hermione hadn't even had her second cup of tea this morning if you could even call 5:30 morning yet. In Hermione's book, anyone who decided that 5:30 am was a brilliant time for a yoga session needs to be shot.

Just as Hermione had struggled out of that position and eased into downward dog, she was hit with a sudden, massive wave of nausea. Could it get any worse?

Apparently, it could. Not only was it nausea, but the urge to vomit followed quickly afterward and Hermione narrowly missed knocking Draco over as she got up and rushed to the nearest trashcan and emptied the contents of her stomach into it.

Great. Now, not only had she not yet had her second tea, but she now had just chucked up the entirety of her first. Fantastic.

She was only snapped out of her reverie when Ginny placed her hand on the small of her back and led her off in the direction of Hermione and Draco's apartment.

"I didn't realize that morning sickness had started for you yet..." Ginny started as she sat Hermione down on the bed and helped to get her comfortable.

"I didn't know either... that was the first time I've felt nauseous. What about you?" Hermione groaned as she turned her head a little too quickly to look at Ginny and was hit with another wave of nausea.

"Nothing yet, I think you are the first to get any symptoms. But, it's normal, we expected it soon." Ginny soothed, grabbing a glass of water from her bedside table and filling it up.

"I know, I just- I don't know, until now, the idea of being pregnant was kinda surreal, but now... it's very real. It's changing the way that my body functions. I guess I wasn't ready for that yet."

"It's crazy, and I'm sure, any minute now, the rest of the girls and I will be feeling the same way that you are. But we are going to be okay, because, like it or not, we are all in this together, along with our very insufferable male counterparts." Ginny reasoned, and Hermione nodded. She'd already read all there was to know about magical pregnancies. She'd been relieved when she'd discovered they were significantly shorter than muggle ones, only about 6 months long, with symptoms significantly speeding up in the final trimester as the baby developed their own magical core, which worked with the mothers for fast growth. Basically, it meant that around Christmas according to their timeline, they were going to go from developing pregnancy at normal muggle rate to the size of a whale in very little time, ready to pop the child out by late February.

"Who's insufferable?" Came a voice from the door as Malfoy swaggered into the room.

"You." Hermione deadpanned as he came to a stop at the foot of the bed.

"Wow, no that is no way to talk about me in front of the baby. He might hear you say such bad things about his daddy." Malfoy admonished, with a cheeky smirk on his lips.

"Who says that it is a boy, I think that it is for sure a girl," Hermione argued, forgetting that Ginny was even in the room.

"The first child of every Malfoy is always a male. That has occurred for the last thousand years, Granger, it's a boy." Malfoy retorted, flicking his non-existent hair over his shoulder for dramatic effect.

"Well I'm the mother, and I am saying that it is a girl!" Hermione argued back. Ginny stood in the middle, growing increasingly uncomfortable as she looked between her two friends, who were arguing, but with smiles on both their faces.

"Look, I'm gonna leave before this gets any weirder. I'm still not sure if I'm okay with this whole let's be friends thing, so bye!" Ginny called, exiting the room as quickly as she could. Don't get her wrong, she was happy that her best friend was becoming friends with the very person that she would be marrying in a few short weeks, but it was still giving her whiplash considering how vile and hateful they were toward each other less than a week ago!

"Boy!" Malfoy yelled, growing more childish by the second.

"It's a g-" Hermione suddenly stopped, clamping a hand firmly over her mouth and leaping out of the bed with speed Draco didn't believe to be possible.

"Granger?" Malfoy called after her, following her toward the bathroom, but she slammed the door in his face in her panic.

"Hermione?" Draco tried again but was soon interrupted by horrible retching sounds. Malfoy felt a sharp pang in his chest, and he immediately felt like he should be doing something...

5 minutes later, he returned to the bathroom door, knocking once more.

"Hermione, can I come in?" He called softly from the other side of the door. He heard the flushing of the toilet and took that as his cue to enter.

He stepped into the bathroom, spying Hermione still sitting sprawled on the floor next to the toilet, looking very pale in the face, with her hair a mess and her eyes red-rimmed.

"What is that?" Hermione sniffed, "It smells dreadful."

"This is Ginger tea. I read that it can help with morning sickness..." He offered her the cup that was in his hands and sat down on the bathroom floor next to her.

"Did you just make this for me?" Hermione asked slowly, taking a sip. Draco went a little pink in the ears as he realized the extent of his generosity. In truth, he had quickly researched and made something that could help Granger in a time of need, and the fact that it was instinct to do so was genuinely scary to Draco. He had never felt like this toward someone before, not even his mother.

"Well, you are correct. I feel a little better already." Hermione marveled, taking another sip of the yellow liquid.

"Do you feel up to getting off of the bathroom floor?" Draco asked tentatively, standing up and offering a hand for Hermione to take.

"Let me just-" Hermione turned around and retched into the toilet again, and Draco grabbed her long curly hair immediately, as it was coming dangerously close to getting in the way.

"Sorry." Hermione apologized once she was done, wiping her face on a cloth and flushing the toilet once more.

"Don't worry about it," Draco said as he placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her back to the bedroom and into the bed.

"I'll let the professors know that you won't be well enough to attend class today," He said softly, giving Hermione a quick peck on the forehead and grabbing his bag, exiting the room quickly.

Hermione sighed, slumping into the bed that Draco had just tucked her into and rubbing her forehead. She didn't even think that he had been consciously aware of kissing her on the forehead, but he did it, and Hermione was even more surprised to realize that it didn't revolt her.

In fact, it made her heart flutter...

Chapter Text

The echo of vomit splashing against the toilet basin filled the air. 6 am! 6 am on a Thursday! This was the last thing Hermione wanted to do at this ungodly hour. And yet here she was, knelt on the bathroom floor, sick to her stomach and hurling her guts up. Draco knelt beside her diligently, rubbing her back and holding her unruly bed hair out of the firing line. If Hermione hadn't been so miserable, she would've shown her gratitude to him, for he had consistently done this now for the past week, ever since that first horrible day of morning sickness during morning yoga.

But she was miserable, utterly miserable. Hermione still had this niggling feeling that something wasn't right though. She was still the only expecting mother to reach the morning sickness stage of pregnancy yet and it didn't sit right with her (pun intended). Surely some of the other mothers should be getting it by now. As far as Hermione had seen, and she definitely had seen, they all conceived in that same dreadful charms lesson, so why, a week later hadn't any of the others had symptoms?

After another 5 minutes of vomiting and another ten of dry-heaving, Hermione finally sat back and slumped against the cool tiles of the bathroom wall. As was becoming routine between the two, Draco reached up to the sink and grabbed a cool cloth to clean Hermione's sweaty forehead, and then reached beside him and picked up the ginger tea that he had pre-prepared for her because Draco knew the second Hermione awoke, this whole routine would start again. Draco was getting rather competent at making the tea though, and he was even more proud of the fact that it seemed to help her.

He then eased her off the floor slowly and helped her over to the couch, and placed a throw blanket over her. Draco was about to say something to fill the silence when there was a big 'POP' and a letter appeared out of thin air. Draco cautiously reached for it and opened it, shocked when a voice started talking.

"Emergency boys meeting in the common room. Be there in two minutes." Came Harry's voice, causing both Hermione and Draco to raise their eyebrows in shock.

"What on earth?" Draco cried as the letter promptly burst into flames, ash showering onto the floor. "Do you know anything about this?" He asked, turning to Hermione expectantly.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." She shrugged, which somehow unsettled Draco even more. Since when were Potter and him on speaking terms? Confused, but also a little intrigued, Draco used his wand to vanish the ash from the carpet and grabbed his robe, putting it on and making his way out of the portrait and toward the common room gardens. What he didn't notice was Hermione getting up after him and following silently out the door, intent on spying on them. There was no way that she was going to be left in the dark about this.

"You got one too," Draco asked Blaise and Theo as they all met at a table together. Standing close by looking equally confused were three of the Gryffindor boys, Weasel, Finnigan, Thomas, and a Hufflepuff Draco recognized but couldn't name. Neville was yet to make an appearance along with the golden boy that ordered the meeting.

As if on cue, Harry and Neville walked over the footbridge and made their way over to the group. But the thing that caught everyone's eye first was the very evident red outline of a hand on Neville's cheek.

"What happened to your face, Neville?" Ron asked as they all gathered around the table.

"You would think that if they were going to have a secret meeting, they would remember to use a silencing charm!" Ginny whispered close to Hermione's ear and Hermione had to clamp her hand to her mouth to prevent her from screaming and giving away their location.

"Gin, don't sneak up on me like that!" Hermione whisper-shouted, as she looked over and realized that the entirety of the female eighth-year population had all gathered around to listen in to the boys 'private' meeting. Even the 4 Slytherin girls were there, although they were trying their hardest to look disinterested, even though Hermione knew they were the first to lap up a good gossip session.

"Have they started yet?" Parvarti asked as she leaned closer into the bush they were crouching behind. Hermione shook her hand and they went silent as they listened hard.

"Hannah got her first bout of morning sickness this morning." Neville vaguely explained. Hermione looked at Hannah from their hiding place and immediately noticed all the telling signs that she must have missed earlier. Peaky parlour, red-rimmed eyes, and a general aura of tiredness.

"Eh, makes sense. If I was forced to have something that made me throw up on the daily, I'd want to slap someone too." Neville shrugged and all the boys looked at him curiously. Draco wasn't used to the clumsy, at times dumb, boy he used to know. Now stood before him a man, that spoke sense, and it seemed that Malfoy wasn't the only one still getting used to this new maturity.

"Yeah, just consider yourself lucky it wasn't a hex. Gin had it too this morning and I got one of her famous Bat-bogey hexes for my troubles." Harry mumbled, still rubbing his tingling face. Hermione looked over shocked at Ginny, who was smiling triumphantly, but as Hermione studied her, was also harboring the same symptoms as Hannah and looked equally as exhausted.

As much as it is a horrible thing to say, Hermione was relieved that some of the other girls had started getting morning sickness because it meant that there wasn't anything wrong with her pregnancy. After all, the other girls were getting it too.

"This might help. It's a ginger tea recipe." Malfoy offered a piece of paper from his bag to Neville and Harry. He didn't realize what he was doing until they all looked at him funny.

"What? It helped Granger." Malfoy retorted and the two boys accepted the recipe.

There was silent awes from the girls hidden behind the hedge and Hermione blushed, looking away.

"Um, thanks Malfoy," Harry cleared his throat and moved on, "Well that settles things, for now, I just wanted to know if you all had any ideas of what to do for them, but I think we have it covered for now. See you in class in ten minutes." Harry said, getting up and the boys followed.

The girl's eyes widened, realizing that they were about to be caught spying and so they all silently rushed as fast as they could back to their rooms before they could be noticed. Hermione quickly shut the portrait and threw herself on the couch, grabbing the blanket and throwing it over herself in an attempt to look like she had been there the entire time.

"Spying, are we Granger?" A cold voice whispered in her ear and she leaped three feet in the air, squealing.

"Don't scare me like that, Malfoy!" Hermione yelled, throwing a shoe at him. Meanwhile, Draco was hysterically laughing from his crouched position on the floor, delighted.

"Turns out that the Gryffindor princess is a Slytherin at heart." Malfoy gasped, collapsing into another round of laughs.

"How did you get back here so quickly!?" Hermione yelled, her hand still firmly on her chest as she tried to calm her racing heartbeat.

"A wizard never tells his secrets," Malfoy smirked, grabbing his bag and a green apple, making his way out of the apartment, glancing back at Hermione one last time, taking a bite of his apple, and giving her one of his most mischievous looks.

Chapter Text

"Right troops! Here is the plan, and listen carefully! We have ONE day to make this happen, and there are a million things to do. You will be divided into 2 teams, females and males. Females, you are with me. Males, you are with Neville, who will also follow a tight schedule. We will meet at 1 o'clock at the three broomsticks for lunch, don't be even a minute late or you may find yourself missing a ball or two," The boys gulped at this. As it was, the mother of the group, Ginny, was taking charge and assembling everyone.

Although no one appreciated the very loud alarms that went off outside their bedroom windows at 5 am, everyone was secretly grateful that someone was taking charge and forcing them to do the thing that they had been putting off for two weeks now. Arranging a wedding.

"Girls! By lunch, you need dresses, shoes, veils, flowers, and color schemes ready to go. Boys! By lunch, you need suits, shoes, rings, and a honeymoon planned. After lunch, you will be divided into pairs with your fiance to arrange food, priests, and a venue. We will then proceed back to Hogwarts where you will assemble a guest list and will have invitations sent by the strike of midnight!" Ginny glared at them all to demonstrate just how serious she was in her threats should deadlines not be met. Everyone gulped. No one was willing to cross Ginny in a normal situation, let alone when she was pregnant and hormonal.

"Right, troops! Roll out!" Ginny yelled, turning and making her way into Hogsmeade. No one needed to be told twice, and they all scrambled to follow her.

The girls made their way into the closest dress boutique and beelined for the wedding section. Well, almost everyone made a beeline for the wedding section. Pansy had other ideas. Instead, she decided to make a beeline for the funeral dresses, declaring the first one that she found to be her wedding dress for the occasion.

"Parkinson, as much as I understand how revolting it must be to be marrying my brother, I simply cannot let you wear a funeral dress! My mum would have a heart attack!" Ginny scolded, taking the dress off of her and putting it back on the rack.

"Fine!" Pansy huffed, stalking off to the bridal section.

5 minutes later, each soon-to-be bride had a shop assistant flanking them as they stood in the changing cubicles, with Padma as the moderator, considering she was the only one not to be wed in a few short days. Each dress that a girl tried on, Gryffindor and Slytherin alike, Padma would approve or deny and make suggestions to the shop assistants.

"Pansy, I swear to god, if you try on another black dress, I will transfigure it into a clown outfit!" Padma yelled as Pansy modeled her 5th black dress of the day.

"Luna, gosh that is beautiful!" The Padma exclaimed as she came out in a frilly white dress that would look revolting on anyone else, but on her, it looked magical. Luna smiled and disappeared into the change room to take it off and purchase it.

"Ginny, maybe go for something in a mermaid cut, I think it would suit better," Padma suggested and Ginny nodded.

"Daphne, that looks gorgeous," Luna exclaimed as she sat down on the bench next to Padma, a bag in hand with her gown inside. Daphne blushed at the compliment and nodded, disappearing to make her purchase and joining the two girls sitting on the bench.

"Astoria, less bling. You want to sparkle, not blind your poor groom." Daphne told her younger sister as she emerged in a dress most closely resembling a disco ball.

"Hermione, maybe try something more fitted in the bust," Daphne suggested and Hermione nodded.

"Parvarti, love it!" Padma complimented as she came out and did a spin in a shorter, knee-length lacy ensemble. She nodded and paid for the gown, joining the three others on the bench.

"Pansy, it's a wedding, not a disco, get rid of the fluorescent yellow." Daphne quipped and Pansy sighed, retreating again.

"Woah, mumma got curves!" Daphne joked as Ginny came out in a mermaid-cut gown that fit her beautifully. The rest of the girls also gave a thumbs up. All the girls were pleasantly surprised that Daphne had come out of her shell around them like this, who knew that she was so nice and helpful? Ginny joined them at the bench and joined in with the critiquing.

"Geez Astoria! Save that for the honeymoon! I can practically see everything! You don't really want the professors and whoever else to see your bits at the wedding, do you?" Daphne scolded, Astoria huffed and marched back into the changeroom, discarding the tiny one piece that would be classified as lingerie more than it would a dress.

"Hannah, perfection!" Luna complimented as Hannah emerged in a mid-length dress that had feathers adorning the bust.

"Pansy, that looks nice!" Ginny complimented as she emerged this time in a floor-length straight gown that was the palest of pinks and fit her figure perfectly.

"Susan, could I suggest perhaps something with a train?" Daphne suggested and the others nodded along.

"Hermione, that's better, but...." Daphne stood up and walked over to her "May I?" Daphne asked before reaching out and pulling on the dress a little bit to reveal her curves. She motioned to the assistant "Would it be possible to find something that is fitted to here and then flows, accentuates the waist with a bit of a lift?" Daphne demonstrated as Hermione stood, there not knowing what to think of this girl who until now hadn't even uttered a word to Hermione, let alone now she was helping her find the perfect dress.

The assistant returned and ushered Hermione into the changeroom again, more dresses in hand.

Susan was the next to emerge, a white dress with a high cut up the side and a long train. There were cheers and nods all around, so Susan purchased it and joined the judging panel.

"Hermione, perhaps something with diamonds along the front?" Pansy suggested, again another surprise to the others. Since when were these girls so helpful?

"Astoria, nice!" Luna complimented as Astoria emerged for the final time in a shorter, thigh-length dress that was intricately woven with subtle sequins adorning the front.

"Hermione? What's taking so long?" Ginny called as they all sat waiting for ages waiting for Hermione to emerge.

The door of the changeroom creaked open slowly and Hermione stepped out. Everyone's jaws hit the floor.

Hermione looked like a princess! She was wearing a floor-length gown, that was sleeveless with a sweetheart neckline that showed the perfect amount of skin, a diamond encrusted bodice fitted until her waist, where it flared off into a ball gown shape, with tulle adorning the skirt. It had a medium-length train and she looked nothing short of stunning.

"Wow, Hermione! Where were you hiding that figure!" Pansy catcalled and others giggled. Hermione was a bright shade of red by the time she took the dress off and paid for it.

"Right, is everyone ready? We still have shoes, color schemes, flowers, and veils to get before we have to meet for lunch in an hour!" Ginny instructed and took off again.

All the girls groaned.

Chapter Text

"Right guys, let's get this done!" Neville called as they watched the retreating backs of the girls.

"Oh please, they'll be at it for hours, we'll only need five minutes! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm keen to check out the latest broom and quidditch supplies!" Ron called and all the others nodded eagerly.

"But-" Neville tried, but they had all already taken off, giving no choice for Neville other than to follow behind them, muttering curses as he went. This was not a good start to their 'tight' schedule, that Ginny had spent hours drilling into him before the others met them this morning. Neville winced as he recalled one of the SEVERAL punishments that Ginny had outlined in great detail would occur to the male eighth-year population should they not have everything ready in time. Boy, this was going to be a long day.

An hour later, the boys were still in the quidditch store, ogling at the latest supplies. As most of the boys had not had much contact with normal civilization in the past year due to war (Harry and Ron spent a year in hiding, for Godric's sake) everything had changed and the boys were excitedly chatting about each new 'game-changing' advancement as they browsed the store.

"Come on! We have to get going!" Neville pleaded, watching the time and getting more stressed by the second.

"Urgh, fine! Keep your hair on." Ron finally conceded, sick of Neville's whining. The other boys followed suit and started making their way out of the store. It wasn't until they were about to leave and enter the main road that they spotted the girls all coming out of the boutique, chatting with bags in hand.

"Shit! Don't let them see us!" Blaise whispered shouted and they all retreated as fast as they possibly could back into the store, hiding behind racks and holding their breaths as they heard the girls go past. Once their voices died down, the boys let out a breath and stood up, exiting the shop in a flash and heading for the closest robe maker. That was too close. Even if it wasn't lunchtime yet, the girls would still have all their balls if they found out that they had been fooling around in a quidditch shop instead of doing their job and helping to organize the wedding.

"We've got 9 boys here in need of a black wedding suit." Neville greeted the shopkeeper and she nodded, positioning them all on podiums so that she could measure them up.

The next half an hour passed by rather uneventfully, measurements took a long time after all.

"Gosh, I'm so glad that I'm a male." Ron sighed as he stood there as the robe maker did all the work for him. "I can just imagine the girls right now, trying to choose between a hundred colors and styles. All we have to do is stand here and look handsome for a little bit and we're done."

"SOME of us look handsome Weasely, and it's certainly not you." Malfoy quipped and some of the other boys snickered.

"So where are you lot planning to take your girls?" Neville asked as the chuckles died down.

"India." Dean answered simply, "Parvarti told me last night that she had already organized everything."

"Probably somewhere remote, just the two of us, you know," Ron said and the Slytherin boys looked at him like he had two heads.

"If you don't take Pansy to Paris, Weasley, she will have your head." Malfoy told him as the rest of the Slytherin boys nodded "She has been telling us ever since the first year when she realized that she was likely to be in an arranged marriage with one of us, that we HAD to take her to Paris or-." Draco couldn't finish and all the rest of the Slytherin boys shuddered as they recalled her words.

Ron paled. If she had made the Slytherins act like that, he wouldn't make it back alive!

"Probably New York for us," Harry started, "You know, show Ginny what a real muggle city looks like." Terry Boot and Seamus both nodded along, expressing similar plans to take their wives to American cities.

"What about you Draco?"

"I don't know, I think a library somewhere would make her the happiest." Draco shrugged, in truth, he had considered this a lot, but he honestly couldn't get a read on her and the kind of holiday she might enjoy.

"Oh hell no, she won't like that at all," Ron commented and Malfoy arched an eyebrow.

"Where do you suggest then, Weasel?"

"Tropical beach." Answered EVERY single one of the Gryffindor boys in unison. This little tidbit of information was something Draco had missed entirely.

"Haven't you noticed? Every romance book that Hermione has EVER read occurs on a beach." Harry answered simply and the rest nodded along.

"Yeah Malfoy, if you want any hope of getting into her pants, you will take her to a beach." Seamus prompted and Malfoy glared at him for thinking such vile things about his fiancé.

"Yeah, I bet Granger would look smokin' in a bikini," Blaise commented and Malfoy spun around to glare at him instead.

"Thoughts off my woman!" He retorted, crossing his arms over his chest assertively.

"Tie color, gentlemen?" The lady asked as a few colored ties floated in the air around them. They all opted for black, as they would look crisp.

"Well then, you are all done." The lady announced and the boys smiled as Neville looked at the time triumphantly. They had done it, even with an hour-long detour.

"Good job everyone." Neville congratulated them as they paid for their suits, shoes, and ties and walked out of the shop, entering the Three Broomsticks instead and finding a table. All the boys sat down and sighed.

"See, we are completely done and we still have 30 minutes to spare!" Ron exclaimed, sinking into his seat with a look of accomplishment.

"I feel like we are missing something..." Neville started but was at a loss as to what they had possibly forgotten.

"Nah, we have everything! Ginny said this morning 'boys, by lunch you need to have suits, shoes, a honeymoon planned, and rings." Nott answered matter-of-factly.

There was a beat of silence.

"WE FORGOT THE RINGS!" They all yelled in unison, their eyes comically wide. To any onlookers, they would've looked insane.

"Ginny is going to kill me!" Harry yelled, launching out of his seat and grabbing his things.

"You're worried about Ginny!? Pansy will have my head!" Ron moaned, also springing up and getting his things.

"Pansy's no problem, imagine Hermione! She knows WAY too many spells that can inflict harm!" Malfoy yelled, scrambling to get his things.

"Yeah, you're a dead man, mate," Blaise called as they all made a frantic rush back out of the diner and into the nearest jeweler.

************************************

After the quickest and most efficient ring-choosing session the jeweler had ever seen, the boys were rushing back into the diner, red-faced and sweaty. They all scrambled into their seats, letting out a breath they didn't realize they were holding, as they arrived with less than a minute to spare.

"Everyone look normal!" Harry cried as he fanned his face and tried to get comfortable.

"Yes, and everyone, promise to never speak of this incident again!" Neville called, as all the boys tried and failed to look normal.

"Speak of what incident?" Ginny asked as all the girls arrived.

"Nothing!" All the boys shouted in unison, receiving curious looks from the arriving female entourage. But the girls decided to let it go, settling themselves into the booth that the boys had picked just seconds before.

"Well, I can report that us girls have been very successful and it looks like you lot have too," Parvarti commented as they all spied the bags at the boy's feet.

"Imagine if they forgot something." Ginny joked and the girls all laughed, too distracted to notice all of the boys going pale and gulping.

Chapter Text

19 very tired students all sat at the Three Broomsticks for lunch at exactly 1 o'clock as requested by a bride-to-be on a war path. Well, was on a war path. Now, both Hermione and Ginny were currently chucking their lunch up in the restaurant toilets with a worried Harry and Malfoy lingering outside the door, unable to go in because it was a public restroom. This fact was something that Draco and Harry had learned the hard way,

Not thinking at the time when the two girls had sprung up and made a mad dash for the toilet, the two men had followed behind quickly. It wasn't until they reached the bathroom and went to enter that they were flung back, and thrown against a wall as they were magically repelled. Clearly, Madame Rosmerta had put male repelling charms on the female bathrooms, because they couldn't enter, and every time they tried, they were flung back. So that left the two boys lingering outside, not sure what to do, but also not wanting to leave their fiancés alone either.

It took 20 minutes before the girls re-emerged from the bathroom, and it only took one look at Hermione for Draco to see through the mask that she had put up. Even though Hermione had used several cleansing charms, taken a pepper-up potion, and redone her makeup and hair, Draco could still tell that Hermione felt awful and the remnants of her energy were fading fast.

"Whoever dubbed the term 'morning sickness' deserves to be shot. All-day sickness is more like it." Hermione grumbled as the four slowly made their way back to the rest of the group, as Draco rubbed her back sympathetically.

"I agree." Ginny groaned, relaxing into Harry's side as they walked.

"Right troops. You need to locate your fiance and arrange venues, food, and an officiator. See you all at the Hogsmeade sign at 4 pm." She ordered weakly, but everyone still followed her instructions. Truth be told, Ginny was still rather peaky and was still more nauseous than she would like to admit.

"Come on, Hermione, let's get this done quickly, and then we can go home," Draco murmured into Hermione's ear and she nodded gratefully. Hermione also didn't want to shop for a second longer than she had to, as it was, just dress shopping was enough to tire the poor girl out, let alone everything else they had done today as well as all the stuff they still had to do.

"Ok, let's make this easy. What's your favorite flavor of cake?" Draco asked as they made their way toward the bakery to arrange their food.

"Mmm, strawberry," Hermione answered, raising an eyebrow at him as if silently asking him the same question.

"Nope, it's chocolate for me. I think my mother still has photos from the day I snuck into the kitchens and ate the entirety of the chocolate cake batter that was supposed to be for dessert for an event my father was hosting. Father was so angry, that he tortured the house elves for hours. But mother thought the whole thing was rather hilarious though." Draco told her with a wistful expression on his face. It wasn't very often that Draco was like this, but Hermione was pleased that he was willing to open up to her so easily.

"Strawberry and chocolate... What if we did a two-tiered cake? That way we can have both flavors, one on the top, one on the bottom." Hermione suggested.

"Only if chocolate is on top." Malfoy teased and Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.

*************************************

"It all feels so rushed." Hermione sighed, collapsing next to Draco on their couch as they arrived home from shopping ALL day.

"I know." Draco sighed, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around Hermione to warm her up.

"You know, when I was little, I had such an extravagant wedding in mind." Draco raised an eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue.

"I don't know how to explain it. Ever since I was young, I used to watch movies and read books, and then I would create the perfect world for myself. The perfect wedding. It would be on a beach, somewhere warm. There would be crystal clear, blue water on the shoreline and there would be bridesmaids in blue to accentuate the scenery. There would be an archway of flowers, white ribbon, and blue roses everywhere, with the flower girl dropping little blue petals as she walked. I would have little white shells in my hair, with a matching necklace and earrings. There would be a large white gazebo up on a grassy hill overlooking the shoreline, where the reception would be held, complete with a wooden dance floor and fairy lights. You know, when I was five, I had my heart set on the notion that the groom and I would ride away in a unicorn-led chariot into the sunset, whisked away to our honeymoon." Hermione sighed and smiled blissfully. Draco watched on, in awe at the women in front of him.

"As I grew older and crushes came and went, the groom's face would shift in and out of view. But the rest would stay the same. Every time. But now, a man 4 times my age has set my wedding date for me, I am currently accidentally knocked up by a man that up until a few weeks ago, I hated with every fiber of my being. My parents won't even be there, no father to walk me down the aisle and I'll be married at a school, which isn't desirable for any student." It's not that Hermione was ungrateful for all the work that her loved ones around her had done to make a wedding happen at ALL, she just wished that for once in her life, something would go her way, that she might be able to control what should be the happiest day of her life.

Draco stayed silent for a long while, just thinking everything over. It wasn't until the clock struck eleven that they snapped out of their reverie, realizing that they only had an hour to send out the invitations and compose a guest list.

"Damn, alright, um, you write a list of names of people you want there and I'll write mine and then we'll put it together. Is that alright?" Hermione suggested and Draco nodded, conjuring 2 pieces of paper and 2 quills, handing one of each to Hermione and they started furiously writing.

After about 30 minutes, they were both done and they laid their lists out on the table, looking over them.

Draco's list:
- Narcissa Malfoy
- Blaise Zabini (Groomsmen)
- Theodore Nott (Groomsmen)
- Severus Snape
- Pansy Parkinson
- Daphne Greengrass
- Astoria Greengrass
- Bobbin

Hermione's list:
- Molly Weasley
- Arthur Weasley
- Ginny Weasley (Bridesmaid)
- Luna Lovegood (Bridesmaid)
- George Weasley
- Bill Weasley
- Charlie Weasley
- Percy Weasley
- Ronald Weasley
- Parvarti Patil
- Padma Patil
- Harry Potter
- Seamus Finnigan
- Terry Boot
- Dean Thomas
- Hannah Abbott
- Susan Bones
- Neville Longbottom

"Who's Bobbin?" Hermione asked Draco as she scanned his list.

"Bobbin is the house elf that practically raised me because my parents were too high-classed to have to raise a child. To them, raising me was a chore. So instead, they assigned Bobbin to me. She taught me almost everything that I know. When I was seven, my father tortured her so badly over something so minor that it took me two weeks to nurse her back to health. As soon as she was strong enough, I secretly freed her, my parents still don't know I did it. I gave her my favorite jumper. She cried so much, I thought that I'd hurt her or something, but she was just so grateful. And yet, even freed, she never left me. She stayed on at the manor to nurture and protect me, and still does to this day." Draco whispered and Hermione smiled.

So it was Bobbin that she had to thank for the fact that Draco, even under the thick layers of stone and ice, still had a big heart.

Chapter Text

The dreaded weak of weddings has finally arrived. Hermione had cursed Dumbledore ever since for putting them all in the same week. She was so tired, having to go to two weddings every day now for two days.

Neville's and Hannah's had been first, they had opted for a beautiful, but a small affair with just their parents and a few friends, Neville had cried when he found out that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had pulled a few strings to make sure that Neville's parents and their carers from St Mungos would be able to come for it, even if they didn't know that they were witnessing the marriage of their only son. It had been heartfelt and beautiful, Hermione's cheeks hurt from so much smiling. She couldn't think of someone who deserved happiness more than Neville did.

Next had been Luna and Blaise's wedding. Surprising to Hermione and many others in attendance, it was evident that Blaise was besotted with Luna, unlike speculations originally concerning the unlikely pair. It had been another fantastic wedding, even if Blaise did get completely and utterly smashed, and Draco had to drag his sorry ass up the hill and back to the common room.

This morning, they had witnessed the wedding of Theo and Daphne Greengrass. A rather subdued wedding on both parts, strictly formal and held in the great hall. A few wizards attended that Hermione didn't recognize, but they flooed away the second that vows were said and rings were exchanged.

And finally, tonight, it was Ron and Pansy's wedding. Geez, Hermione wished that she could have a drink after that one. Ron was drunk before the wedding even started, Harry had to give him three sober-up potions so that he could even form full sentences well enough to say his vows. Pansy hadn't been much better, whilst she was sober, she had transfigured her dress to black three times on the way to the wedding alone, and Hermione or one of the other bridesmaids had to keep transfiguring it back to pale pink. Once she finally gave up, she instead cried ugly tears and said that she was attending the funeral of all her hopes and dreams.

After the vows were exchanged, (everyone let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding when it happened) Ron had leaned forward sloppily to kiss Pansy, when she dodged him, slapping him across the cheek for good measure, before Ron overbalanced and fell, narrowly missing Dumbledore who was officiating the ceremony. After more ugly tears from both Pansy and Molly, tears for completely different reasons, of course, most of the Weasley clan were partying hard, all completely smashed except Ginny, who just sat there shaking her head at all of her brother's antics.

All in all, it was the wedding that Hermione was most glad to be leaving, with Draco by her side, also opting to get out of there before Pansy tried yet again tonight, to slip a love potion into his drink so that she wouldn't have to marry Ron, and could instead steal Draco.

"Well that was eventful," Draco sighed as he helped undo the zipper of Hermione's green dress that she had opted to wear for the occasion.

"Tell me about it. I lost count of the number of times Pansy reminded us that she wasn't attending a wedding, she was attending a funeral." Hermione huffed, reaching over and removing her makeup. Draco chuckled.

"That's Pansy for you. Nothing can be done without a massive drama. But do you think that was bad? Weasley had about 10 shots of firewhiskey under his belt before the ceremony began, Potter had to give him an ice bath to sober him up enough to be even remotely presentable." Draco reminded her and she smiled. Yeah, that sounded like Ron.

"Well, 4 down, 5 to go. I just can't wait for it to all be over." Hermione sighed, pulling her hair down.

"Gosh, I didn't realize that you couldn't wait to be the next Mrs. Malfoy." Draco joked, taking off his suit jacket and loosening his tie. Hermione smacked his arm.

"Trust me, I don't want to be married to you either, I still haven't taken killing you off the table yet, but I just don't think that I can handle the stress of weddings much longer." Hermione groaned, shooing him out of the bathroom so that she could take her dress off and get changed into something more comfortable.

"If you say so." Draco sing-songed.

"Oh sod off Malfoy. And don't forget to take your ego with you, it's crowding the room!" Hermione retorted and Draco scoffed.

"As if I would forget it." He replied as he could almost see Hermione rolling her eyes as he walked away from the bathroom.

**********************************

Draco slipped off up to the owlery, checking his back every few seconds to make sure that he wasn't being followed.

Once he crept up to the owlery, he grabbed a note out of his robe and read it over once more.

'I NEED YOUR HELP.'

That was all it said. He called Abraxas over to him and tied the note to the elegant hawk's foot.

"You know where this needs to go." He ordered the hawk, and it nodded, taking off into the night.

Draco watched as it soared into the night, smirking evilly.

This was going to be so good.

Chapter Text

"You know, on my wedding day, I didn't picture it to start with a 10-minute vomiting session." Hermione groaned as she got up off of the bathroom floor as Ginny passed her a cloth for her face.

"I know, but we are going to make the most of it, okay?" Ginny prompted, although it sounded more like she was convincing herself of that fact more than she was Hermione.

"Oh well, at least the guy that you are marrying in less than two hours is your boyfriend." Hermione encouraged, helping Ginny sit down, and started fussing with her hair.

"It's not all bad for you though Hermione, you two are friends," Ginny responded, putting hairspray in her hair.

"Barely friends. We are more like two people who have called a truce because being enemies is exhausting." Hermione reasoned. But Ginny arched an eyebrow.

"Is that so. You two are rather handsy for a pair of friends." Ginny joked and Hermione scowled. 

"He just feels bad because of the situation that he has helped to put me in." Hermione retorted.

"Oh really. Since when has any girl made THE Draco Malfoy feel bad about something?" Ginny quizzed and Hermione, paused, thinking it over and realizing simultaneously that her friend was right. No one ever had.

"That's what I thought. You two bring out the best in each other. You help him discover the heart that is buried deep down in his blacked soul and he keeps you balanced, as much as you don't like it, he challenges you with a similar intellect and the same stubbornness, and that is fun for you. You two are made for each other more than you know." Ginny grinned triumphantly when her best friend was left lost for words.

"But-" Hermione started, but didn't continue.

"See! Made for each other." Ginny teased and Hermione frowned, before helping Ginny into her dress.

"Ah, there is my beautiful daughter!" Molly exclaimed as she made her way into the room, with a handkerchief in her hand. She had already been crying this morning, and the tears continued to flow as she saw her beautiful daughter all dressed up and ready to get married. It was all coming too soon for Molly, two of her children married off in the same week! Though it felt more like four children as both Harry and Hermione were also in the same predicament, and they were as good as children to Molly anyway.

"Mum, don't ruin the makeup!" Ginny complained as her mother squished her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Come on, Gin, it's time," Hermione whispered as Molly finally released her daughter. Ginny took a deep breath and nodded. If only the rest of the wedding could have gone quite as smoothly as it had been getting everyone ready.

Harry was a nervous wreck the entire time.

"Harry, cool it. She is my sister and she has the BIGGEST crush on you, she'd marry you wearing rags in the middle of a blizzard. They'll be here in minutes, get yourself together mate!" Ron sternly told Harry as they waited at the altar for the big moment.

As if on cue, the bridesmaids turned up and everyone quickly made it to their seats, all turning to the aisle as the music played. Hermione lead the charge, in turquoise as Ginny had stipulated, and made her way to her spot at the front. Luna was next, and then anticipation heightened as they waited for the show stopper moment. Ginny appeared with Arthur on her arm. Harry took one look at how beautiful Ginny looked and promptly fainted.

"Harry!?" Ron yelled, catching him before he hit the ground. Hermione rushed forward and crouched down, but the sudden movement caused another wave of nausea, and Draco realized just in time to pick her up bridal style and whisk her away, only narrowly saving her from throwing up right there on the altar.

It took everyone 20 minutes to get the wedding back on track, 10 of which were spent just getting Harry to wake up, who had passed out cold. But all was well in the end, Hermione was back, another coat of makeup added to her complexion, and a smile plastered on her face as if to almost assure herself that everything was fine, Harry was standing with a mixture of Ginny and Ron holding him up as he swayed groggily. The poor thing had stressed himself to the point of a full-body shutdown.

But the rings were eventually exchanged, punctuated by a sweet kiss between Ginny and Harry, which had the crowd in tears. Hermione could've sworn that she even saw Professor Snape shed a tear. As if that wasn't enough drama for the day, 2hrs later, Hermione was back in her room, getting ready for the alleged 'happiest day of her life. Hermione almost felt bad to steal the spotlight from her two best friends and their wedding so quickly, but this was the deadline that he-who-shall-not-be-named (Dumbledore), had set and they didn't have any choice but to comply or lose their magic.

"Mione, you look beautiful," The new Mrs. Potter and Daphne cooed as she turned in the mirror to look at herself better. She barely recognized the woman in the mirror, she looked so different!

"Draco, calm down, we don't need a Harry 2.0 today, thanks anyway." Blaise teased as he punched his friend in the shoulder after realizing how jittery he was. 

"Hey!" Harry piped up from the corner where he and a few others had been quietly observing the rest of the wedding party. 

"Blaise's right, unlike Harry's mates, we will leave your sorry, passed out ass up there. You are Hermione's problem now, not ours!" Nott continued to tease. 

"Noted," Draco said as he straightened his tie for the umpteenth time in an hour. 

"Alright, you guys head off, it's about time I go and kidnap Mione," Harry instructed, grabbing his suit jacket and slipping out of the room. 

***********************

"You look beautiful Hermione!" Harry gushed as he walked into the room and kissed her forehead. 

"Thanks, Harry." Hermione timidly responded. 

"I'm sorry Mione," Harry said, putting her in a full-body bind before Hermione had a chance to react. 

"Is everything ready to go?" Ginny asked, using her magic to levitate a frozen Hermione out of the room. 

"Of course it is. You know it will be perfect with her in charge." Harry replied, smirking. 

Chapter Text

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Rang out across the land the second that Harry took the body bind off of her. Not only had the bride-to-be been KIDNAPPED, but she had no idea what was going on and she had been BETRAYED by one of her best friends!

"IF YOU DON'T ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW I WILL-" Hermione stopped as she spun around and gaped at what was before her.

It was like she was in a fairy tale. Her fairy tale.

There in front of her was her perfect wedding. Exactly like the one that she had described to Draco two nights ago. Right down to the white sand of the beach, the beaming afternoon sun above, and the picturesque green fields that extended beyond the beach. The very sight nearly brought her to tears.

Standing to greet her were all the guests outlined on the guest sheet, with her bridesmaids at the altar in blue along with Draco's groomsmen and a beaming Draco, who was surprised at how well his plan had gone. It was amazing what one letter to his mother asking for help could do. He knew that she was bored these days with neither him nor his father at home anymore to keep her entertained, but this was the next level. She had immediately written back asking a million questions that he had answered dutifully, detailing everything that he could remember Hermione telling him the night before. Right down to the unicorns that Hagrid had helped organize, with assistance from his wife, Madame Maxine.

Hermione smiled as charmed flower petals fell over the sand, perfectly marking the aisle. Harry pulled out his wand and performed an intricate spell on Hermione that Draco had SPECIFICALLY told him to do to change her earrings and necklace to little white shells. Hermione reached up and smiled as she felt her new earrings, before staring at her fiancé at the end of the aisle in disbelief. He had really done it. Matching her stare, Draco's smile got impossibly wider.

Harry looped his arm in hers, to escort her down the aisle considering her father was... unavailable at this time, and gave her a nudge to snap her out of her shock.

By the time Hermione reached the end of the aisle and made her way up the steps of the altar, she still couldn't decide if she wanted to kiss Draco or slap him.

Underneath the archway of blue roses, they exchanged vows, and rings were placed on their fingers. Draco had chosen a beautiful emerald green ring for her, and Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that the ring was a family heirloom, due to its exquisite grandeur.

"You may now kiss the bride," Kingsley's voice boomed, as he completed his role as their officiator. Hermione's eyes widened. She and Draco hadn't spoken about what they would do when they got to this bit of the ceremony. They'd never kissed before, at least that they could both remember, so what were they supposed to do? Draco picked up on what she was thinking, but shrugged, leaning forward and making the decision for her. Their lips met and Hermione felt sparks fly throughout her body. Smiling into the kiss, she wrapped her arms around Draco's neck as he continued the kiss, smirking against her lips all the while.

By the time Hermione pulled back, she was seeing stars. That had to be the best kiss of her life. Damn, Draco was a good kisser! What Hermione didn't know was that Draco was thinking very similar thoughts about her.

The audience cheered and they made their way, hand-in-hand down the sand as the rest of the bridal party followed shortly behind.

Narcissa and Molly were in equal hysterics as they watched their children walk down the aisle together and the two matriarchs hugged each other as they cried, both understanding exactly how the other felt.

Hermione and Draco lead the charge up to the reception gazebo, just as Hermione had imagined, complete with fairy lights. The party then hit full swing, with all of the wedding guests chanting for Hermione and Draco to take the dance floor.

Finally, Hermione gave in and allowed Draco to lead her to the center of the wooden floor. The song "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran began to play and Draco held Hermione close.

"I don't know how to dance," Hermione whispered into Draco's shoulder as he held out his arms and she followed, unsure.

"It's fine, Mione. It's easy, just follow what I do." Draco whispered back as he started swaying with her, subtly showing her how to do a quick 5-step waltz. Hermione picked it up fairly quickly and luckily, Draco's toes didn't get stepped on either which is always a bonus.

"Draco?" Hermione whispered once more, once she was confident that she didn't need to concentrate too hard to work out the steps.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For all of this. This is everything I could've wanted for a wedding and more." Hermione whispered and Draco smiled. It was rare to see Draco smile. Truly smile. But when he did, it lit up the room and made Hermione feel fuzzy inside.

"It's my pleasure. Weddings don't happen very often, so we may as well make the best event possible out of a terrible situation." Draco replied, sending her for a twirl. Hermione smiled up at him and glanced over as the bridesmaids and groomsmen joined the couple on the floor, followed by the rest of the wedding guests as a quicker song began to play and it turned into a full-on disco.

The rest of the afternoon, the guests partied, all having a blast. This was by far the most enjoyable wedding so far.

"Hermione, I'd like you to meet my mother. She was the one that pulled all of this together at the last minute." Draco introduced her to his mother shortly afterward, who was flanked by an elf who Hermione assumed was Bobbin.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione smiled at the older witch.

"Oh my dear, call me Narcissa. Mrs. Malfoy is your title now." Narcissa replied.

"I guess you are right about that, Narcissa. And you must be the famous Bobbin." Hermione greeted, crouching down slowly and extending her hand to the house-elf.

"It is nice to meet you, Miss." The house-elf replied, a little shocked that she was being spoken to directly, but shaking Hermione's hand all the same.

"You can call me Hermione. May I just say, that dress looks particularly radiant on you." Hermione complimented and the little elf blushed fiercely, a red tint spreading to her elongated ears.

"Thank you, Miss Narcissa helped me pick it out." The elf explained and Hermione smiled up at Narcissa.

"I didn't think you'd realized that I freed her." Draco questioned his mother and she just smiled, knowingly.

"Dear, I knew from the day you did it. I just pretended I didn't so Lucius didn't realize and lose his top." Narcissa explained before excusing herself to talk to Molly, in 4 hours, the two older women had stricken quite the friendship.

Draco shook his head as his mother turned to walk away.

The newly wedded couple were then distracted by a sudden bright show of George's latest fireworks, and everyone turned to watch as the fireworks lit up the dim sky as the last of the sun fell beneath the horizon.

"How come Hermione and Malfoy got fireworks. This is favoritism!" Ron whined as the show finished with a grand finale and George laughed.

"Oh please, my dear brother, even if there were fireworks at your wedding, you would have been too drunk to remember them." Everyone laughed at that as Ron blushed deep red. He had copped quite the ear full over that from both his mother and new wife, Pansy after that ordeal.

Speaking of which, all the newly wedded husbands went light on the alcohol tonight, as their brides were forbidden to have any with their pregnancy and didn't feel like having to deal with pregnancy symptoms as well as a drunk husband. But that isn't to say that the rest of the guests didn't take full advantage of the free booze, within minutes both Dumbledore and surprisingly, Snape were rolling on the grass laughing their heads off and swearing at the cows grazing in a nearby paddock.

"I think it's time." Harry called over the party and everyone stopped. All of the newlyweds grabbed their things and went around hugging each other tightly. Once everyone was ready to go, Draco whistled and everyone ooh'd and ahh'd as unicorns towing 9 different carriages gracefully descended toward the party, landing swiftly on the grass opposite.

Hermione stared at Draco open-mouthed as he smirked.

"You are something else, Draco Malfoy." Hermione told him in awe. He had truly pulled it off. Her perfect wedding.

"Ditto, Mrs. Malfoy." Draco replied, grabbing Hermione's hand and pulling her toward the first carriage.

Each couple got into one of the carriages and the unicorns took off, all in different directions as they all headed to their separate planned honeymoons. Thankfully, Dumbledore was generous enough to allow a week-long honeymoon, if they went along with the marriage plan without too much of a fuss.

"We're going to be empty-nesters, Cissa." Molly moaned as they waved furiously as they watched the children launch into the sky.

"What are we going to do with ourselves, Molly." Narcissa sighed, looping one arm around Molly's and leading her back to the party as the children disappeared into the night.

******************************

Hermione waved to the guests as their carriage took off into the sky, her smile wide. Once they could no longer make out the crowd, Hermione turned to Draco.

"So, where are you taking us, Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione asked, in a teasing tone.

"Surprise, Mrs. Malfoy," Malfoy replied, smirking.

"Aww, I don't like surprises." Hermione sighed, childishly, whilst grinning at Draco.

"You'll love it, I promise," Draco said as he settled down beside her and kissed her forehead.

Chapter Text

3 days into their 'honeymoon' Hermione was sitting on the beach, sunbaking in the sun, with Draco only a few feet away who was also sun... actually no. He was sitting under an umbrella, with his sunglasses on and a long sleeve shirt to cover up.

When Hermione had inquired into his odd sunbaking attire, he swiftly reminded her that he wouldn't sunbake, he would sunroast. His almost ghost-like white skin certainly wasn't designed for the beach, or the sun, for that matter.

But the sun for Hermione was lavish. Draco had taken Hermione to one of the private islands that his family had purchased in the pacific, where it was vastly warmer than England where the climate was rapidly descending into winter conditions. As much as Hermione thought the snow was pretty, she was a summer girl any day.

"Mrs. Malfoy? It is time for your massage package." An assistant came and told her. Of course, the Malfoy's never did anything in halves, and so they couldn't just purchase an island, it also had to have a five-story mansion, much like a multi-million dollar muggle home, but it had been altered to suit a wizard, so whilst there was still televisions, there was also sparring rooms and rooms that could be described as similar to the Room of Requirement. There were also full-time assistants, masseuses, chefs, boat crew, and everything else you could dream of.

Not that Hermione was complaining as she sighed in contentment as the masseuse started her heavenly pregnancy massage. She had never felt so relaxed in her life, she felt like she could melt through the floor altogether.

"Draco, you have got to learn these techniques, Hermione sighed again as the masseuse worked on a muscle Hermione didn't even know was tense until they started on it.

Draco, who was also receiving a massage on the other side of a white privacy curtain, as per Hermione's request, as much as they were friends, Hermione was still acutely aware of the last time that she had seen him as naked as the day he was born, and those images were still firmly burned into her mind, refusing to budge, no matter how hard Hermione tried. So the idea of seeing Draco getting a massage and the idea of him seeing her in a similar position was enough to not sit well with Hermione, so the curtain was conjured.

"We'll see." Draco chuckled

********************************

"What do you mean you don't know how to work a television!?" It had never really occurred to Hermione just how little the witches and wizards knew about the muggle world. Things that Hermione would do on instinct, but to them, were a completely new and different concept altogether.

Draco shrugged awkwardly as he handed the controls to Hermione to work.

"The wizarding world is missing out on so much." Hermione chided, "Imagine if wizards used mobile phones instead of owls, do you know how much faster they are, not to mention reliable."

"A mobile what?" Draco questioned as he watched in awe as Hermione switched on the cinema-sized big screen.

"Didn't you pay any attention in muggle studies?" Hermione questioned and Draco laughed.

"What do you think I did, especially with the upbringing that I had." Draco questioned, a 'duh' expression on his face. Hermione conceded defeat, picking the movie that was Draco's request for tonight, an oldie, but a goodie, grown-ups.

"Just a minute," Hermione said as she got up and went to the mini bar at the back of the inbuilt theatre that was present in the mansion.

"Where are you going?" Draco called after her.

"To get an essential that is required for every movie. It is practicing law in the muggle world." Hermione prompted, but Draco only looked at her blankly.

"Popcorn!" Hermione exclaimed as she sat back on the leather lounge. Draco poked it, curious about this new and strange food.

"Have you never had popcorn! Come on! You HAVE to try some!" Hermione pleaded, grabbing a piece and plopping it into Draco's mouth before he could protest. Draco chewed it slowly before nodding.

"Not bad." Hermione smiled in triumph and settled the bowl of popcorn between them before pressing play on the movie.

*****************************

As the credits rolled on the movie, Draco had made up his mind. He was GOING to install a tellebee or whatever it was called in the manor... as soon as he figured out what e-lect-ri-city is. Draco smiled as the theatre lights came back on and he realized that the ice cream, that Hermione had gotten halfway through the movie had, in fact, made it onto Hermione's nose.

"Hermione let me just-" He reached forward and wiped it off, and Hermione giggled, realizing what she'd done.

It was at that moment when the light hit Hermione's hair and she laughed with a true childish glee that Draco thought that she looked radiant. So much so, that Draco leaned over and planted his lips on Hermione's. He just couldn't help himself when she looked so beautiful, who wouldn't want to kiss their beautiful wife?

Hermione froze at first, caught completely off guard, but soon melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him as his hands got lost in her beautiful, chocolate curls.

When two souls are meant to connect:
Location, timing, and circumstances are all irrelevant.
They suddenly become a magnet for one another, and despite their efforts to fight it,
The universe somehow manipulates all in favor.
And in that moment, when they finally give in,
A new love is born.

They just don't know it yet.

Chapter Text

"I don't want to leave!" Hermione whispered as they stood together on the shoreline of the beach, allowing the waves to lap over their toes as they watched the sunrise. Today was the dreaded day, the day Dumbledore stipulated they were to return. Return from one of the best and most relaxing weeks of their life.

"I promise, when we graduate from Hogwarts, I will bring you back here. You and little Malfoy Jr." Malfoy sighed, watching a pair of dolphins frolic in the waves on the horizon.

"You better. And also," Hermione looked at Draco seriously, "We are not naming our baby Malfoy Jr." Draco burst out laughing.

"I had to try!" He continued to laugh.

"Come on, we better get out of here. Classes start in an hour." Hermione urged and Draco nodded, taking one last look at the ocean, one last breath of fresh, salt air, and then held his hand out to Hermione which she took, and with a crack, they apparated away.

The second their feet landed on the cold wet ground of Hogwarts, they shivered. Yep, it was going to be a cold European winter. Teeth chattering as they slowly made their way across Hogwarts grounds and to the castle, Hermione spoke up,

"What do you think our chances of convincing Dumbledore to create a beautiful tropical beach here are like?" Hermione asked wistfully.

"Fairly low. Although I think I'll pass, could you imagine looking out of the castle windows and seeing a shriveled Dumbledore in his budgie smugglers?" Draco said, gagging all the while. Hermione giggled at his antics.

"Or a pruny McGonagall in her bikini?" Hermione prompted and Draco turned positively green.

"Why would you put those images in my mind!?" He cried, rubbing his head, "I think I need bleach to burn those images from my brain!" He moaned as they reached the front steps of the castle.

"What images from your brain?" Blaise asked as he and Luna met them at the grand entrance, clearly just having returned from their honeymoon.

"You don't even want to know," Draco complained, giving Hermione a mock glare.

"So how was the honeymoon?" Blaise asked Draco as they watched as Luna and Hermione left them in the corridor, off to who knows where.

"Divine. Yours?" Draco answered, a small smile on his face.

"Perfect. Turns out that Luna is even more adventurous than I am if you know what I mean." Blaise winked and Draco reverted to his prior shade of green.

"Dude! I do not want to know!" Draco groaned.

"What? You can't seriously tell me that you didn't get any action with Hermione when you were away!?" Blaise questioned and Draco blushed, "I knew it!" Blaise exclaimed.

"No! NO! We did not do anything like that. It was just one kiss!" Draco blurted, but then clamped his hand over his mouth realizing that he had just admitted that to his friend.

"Spill."

************************************

"Mione, Luna!" Ginny called as the two made it into the common room gardens where the rest of the girls were congregating.

"So?" Ginny asked them as the two girls sat on the bench where they were all sitting, eager to hear each other stories.

"So, what?" Hermione asked, she had an inkling where this conversation was going to go, but would rather not assume because if her assumptions were right, this was not going to be a comfortable line of questioning.

"Don't play dumb with me. How was the honeymoon?" Ginny clarified in a 'duh' tone. All the other girls leaned in, eager to hear other stories.

"Blaise is so dreamy! we were at a secluded meadow for the week in the cutest of cabins. and just yesterday he and I did it in the-" Luna started, but was cut off by Pansy.

"Woah Luna, I don't wanna hear THOSE kinds of stories about a guy that I have been friends with since birth!" Pansy exclaimed, clamping her hands over her ears to emphasize her point.

"Oh, loosen up Pans, you seriously can't say that you and Ron didn't get a little frisky?" Daphne quipped and Pansy went BRIGHT red.

"EWWWW!" Ginny said, clamping her hands over her ears. No way did she wanna hear about her brother and a girl that until a week ago, she hated with every fiber of her being.

"What Daph, I suppose you would have some interesting, intimate stories of your own, care to share with the group?" Pansy retaliated and Daphne went white, realizing that she had walked right into that trap.

"Mione?" Daphne asked, trying to get the attention off her. It worked superbly as all of them turned their complete attention onto her instead. Hermione groaned in response.

"It was fine, the beach was incredible, the massages were so relaxing-" All the girls giggled at this and Hermione groaned again, realizing how her friends must have taken that.

"Get your heads out of the gutter girls!" Hermione scolded, yet turning a bright shade of red nonetheless, "it was from a masseuse and there was a curtain up between us!" Hermione tried to cover, but the girls were too far gone as they all started whistling.

"I give up!" Hermione groaned, getting up and stalking off toward her apartment to get ready for the day.

Hermione sunk onto the couch and sighed, happy to be away from the gossiping girls. Her holiday had been fantastic, but she didn't feel like giving the rest of the girls in 8th year a play-by-play of everything that happened, thanks anyway.

Hermione was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't realize as someone snuck up behind her, and leaned down close to her ear.

"I didn't realize that you enjoyed the massages so much." A cold voice whispered and Hermione shot 3 feet into the air.

"DRACO! You have got to stop doing that to me! Such severe scares can induce labor, you know! Do you want me to lose the baby!?" Hermione shrieked and Malfoy winced. He hadn't thought of that. He would have to be more careful as she progressed through her pregnancy.

Hermione huffed, putting on her school robes and grabbing her school bag.

"I don't appreciate you spying on me. Oh, and for your information," Hermione said as she paused after she opened the door, "The massages were heavenly." She said, winking and walking out of the apartment, closing the portrait behind her like nothing had happened, leaving a blushing and stammering Malfoy in the living room.

Chapter Text

"Oi, Gin?" Hermione called from the bathroom to Ginny who was sitting on her bed that morning, having a good old chat before class.

"Yeah, Mione?" Ginny answered, getting up and standing at the bathroom door, watching as Hermione stood in front of the mirror in just her black lacy bra and underwear, staring intently at her reflection and prodding her stomach.

"Do you reckon I'm showing yet?" Hermione asked, looking at herself in different ankles with a frown.

"I'm not sure, Mione. Maybe?" Ginny said, looking at Hermione's almost flat stomach. There was a small bump that wasn't there before.

"Oi, Draco!?" Hermione called to her husband, gosh that was still weird to say.

"Yeah?" Draco responded, strolling into the room and arching his eyebrow as he saw both of the girls standing together in the bathroom. His eyes widened further when he spied his wife and realized that she was practically standing naked in front of the mirror.

"Shit, Mione, sorry!" Draco cried, clamping his hands over his eyes to respect her privacy. Hermione giggled at his antics.

"It's okay, Draco. I wouldn't have called you in here if I didn't want you to see me in my undergarments, besides it's nothing you haven't seen before." Hermione said, still wincing slightly as the memory that Hermione still wished she could blast from her brain came back to her, "Now, tell me, do you think that I'm showing?" Hermione asked matter-of-factly and Draco relaxed, dropping his hands away from his eyes slowly and staring at her stomach.

"Why, I think you might be," Draco said softly, his eyes widening a little as he looked on in awe of the small bump on Hermione's stomach.

Hermione groaned, grabbing her light pink robe off the hook and wrapping it tightly around her body.

"It's not fair! Ginny's not showing yet, and none of the other girls are either! Why do I have to get every symptom first!?" She grouched, barging past Ginny and Draco to head back to her bedroom. Draco and Ginny shared a look as they watched Hermione storm away, and moodily collect her school things.

*****************************************

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Draco asked as he hit her hand away from the cauldron, narrowly saving her from adding the wrong ingredient into the potion.

"Of course I am. Why do you ask?" Hermione snapped back.

"Well, you just tried to add frog spawn before the squid tears, which you know will make the potion explode." Draco pointed out and Hermione huffed in response, "And, you are currently cutting the rubble root rather than powdering as the method requires."

Hermione looked down at the chopping board and realized that he was correct, she was currently cutting it up. Truth be told, Hermione was on edge. Not only was her nausea particularly bad today, but she had also found out that she was starting to show before any of the others and before the books that she had read suggested as well.

When she had gotten morning sickness far earlier than all the other girls, she had been so worried that there was something wrong with her pregnancy, but those worries had faded when all the other girls started to show similar symptoms a week later. But those feelings were back with a vengeance when her pregnancy was yet again different from all the others and different than what even literature suggested.

Was something wrong? Why was she so different from the others? Why her?

These thoughts just kept swirling around in her head at breakneck speed, making her head spin and her vision blur. As if things could get any worse, she had a sudden bout of nausea, which very quickly turned into the urge to throw up her breakfast.

Hermione's eyes widened, she clamped her hand to her mouth and looked frantically around the potions classroom for a bin or anything that she could use. Finding nothing and the bile rising to her mouth, Hermione freaked.

Left no other choice, Hermione leaned forward and threw up into the cauldron holding the batch of the draught of peace that she and Draco had been working on.

BANG!

"HERMIONE! No! Please, stay awake for me!" Draco pleaded. As much as Hermione wanted to follow his words, her vision was swirling dangerously, before fading to black altogether. She couldn't stay awake any longer. She wasn't strong enough to fight her body from slipping into unconsciousness.

Her body crumpled to the floor and she drifted off, allowing the pull of unconsciousness to drag her into the darkness.

Chapter Text

It'd been a week.

A week since Hermione had the accident.

A week since she had been rushed to the hospital wing.

A week since she been awake.

A week since Draco had last left the hospital wing, choosing instead to be glued to her side.

A week since Madame Pomfrey had last tried to kick the poor boy out of the hospital wing, for Draco had told her in not-so-nice words that he was staying put and there was nothing that she could say or do that would change that.

Madame Pomfrey still wasn't sure when Hermione was going to wake, no one had ever vomited into a cauldron of the unfinished draught of peace potion before, and so they were just taking each day as it came.

Hermione had quite the plethora of injuries, several severe burns, a cracked skull from where she hit her head on the ground when she fell, and a bunch of unknown injuries from ingesting unfinished potions with unknown ingredients put in it.

Either way, Draco knew how strong she was and knew that she would be fine, if for no other reason than he didn't know what he would do without her.

This leads to now, where Draco was sitting in an uncomfortable plastic hospital chair with his head on the edge of Hermione's hospital bed, holding her hand tightly between his own.

"Hermione, I-" Draco whispered, choking on his words as he struggled to get out what he wanted to say, "I'm sorry. For everything. For hurting you all those years, for calling you names. And I know that this is selfish, but I-" Draco sniffed, as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"I need you. I need you to come back to me. I need someone to keep me on my toes, boss me around and let me know when I have stepped out of line. No matter how much you drive me crazy, I need you to come back to me. I need you and Draco Jnr. to come back to me." Draco finished, sniffing again and placing a soft kiss on the hand that he was holding.

"We are not naming it Draco Jnr." Came a weak voice.

Draco's head snapped up and he stared with wide eyes as Hermione's honey gold eyes opened and she gave him the tiniest of smiles.

"Hermione!" Draco exclaimed.

"Miss Granger, welcome to the land of the living." Madame Pomfrey greeted with a kind smile as she came over to investigate what the commotion was. Once she was happy that Hermione was awake and alert, she set about readying tests and checking on Hermione's vitals.

"Is the baby okay?" Hermione asked worriedly, as she reached down and placed her hand over her stomach, realizing that there was a definite bump in her stomach, far more so than the last time she checked which was...

"Draco? What day is it?" Hermione asked, concerned at how much her belly had grown in a short amount of time.

"Thursday. You have been out for a week." Hermione nodded at that, but still frowned at just how much larger she had gotten in that time.

"How about we check on it, shall we?" Madame Pomfrey said, motioning for Draco to move so that she could get access to Hermione's stomach. She pulled back Hermione's gown and Draco's eyes widened. Her belly had significantly grown in the week since she had stood in the bathroom with Ginny and him. Not huge, by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely there, an unmistakable swell in her usually flat stomach.

Several flashes erupted from Hermione's stomach as Madame Pomfrey muttered an array of spells, nodding when they were all successful.

"Your baby is perfectly unharmed. Would you too like to hear the fetus's heartbeat?" Madame Pomfrey asked and Hermione vigorously nodded her head. Madame Pomfrey waved her wand around intricately, and before long the thump of a heartbeat filled the air.

Hermione's first emotion was relief, to hear that her baby was alive and well, and when she looked at Draco, she could tell that he felt much the same, his expression a mix between wonder and excitement.

But then Hermione frowned, something wasn't right. It didn't sound right. It was far too fast, even for a baby.

Madame Pomfrey cottoned onto it too, frowning as she waved her wand and performed several more spells, but they all came up clear.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked the matron urgently, her hand flying to her stomach protectively.

"I'm not sure, but I do have a hunch." Madame Pomfrey... smiled? "Let me do one other spell." She continued, waving her wand around once again.

A bright light burst through the air, temporarily blinding the three people in the room as they shielded their eyes. Once the light dimmed a little, Hermione looked out from behind her hand and gasped.

It all made sense.

Chapter Text

Floating in mid-air was none other, than two bright balls of yellow light.

There was only one thing that it could mean.

"TWINS!?" Draco yelled, before promptly passing out.

Hermione clamped her hand to her mouth as she watched the two balls of light float above her stomach. Everything made sense. The morning sickness before everyone else, showing before anyone else, her stomach growing faster than normal.

She was harboring twins!

Hermione let a few tears stream down her cheeks as she watched the balls of light, unable to take her eyes off them.

"Madame Pomfrey, is everything okay? We heard someone yell!?" Ginny yelled, running into the room, but freezing when she saw the two yellow balls of light floating above Hermione's stomach.

"NO WAY!" Ginny yelled, launching herself at her best friend.

"And here I thought that twins were just a Weasley thing!" She congratulated her best friend.

"You would not believe the crazy dream that I just had," Draco groaned, standing up and rubbing his eyes. "I dreamt that you had twi-" He stopped short when he spotted the balls of light at Hermione's stomach.

He fainted again.

Ginny and Hermione giggled at him, as Madame Pomfrey sighed, levitating him into a bed beside Hermione's.

"Oh Mione, what are you going to do with THREE overdramatic Malfoy's to take care of?" Ginny joked, watching Draco's sleeping form as he lay on the bed with a hand to his forehead.

"I don't know, Ginny." Hermione laughed along with her friend. Twins! How insane is that? Hermione still wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry.

************************************

News of the most recent development in Hermione's pregnancy spread like wildfire throughout Hogwarts and beyond. She already had three letters from Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall had already come in to congratulate her and when Harry had come in and found out, like Hermione, he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the fact that Hermione was going to bring not one, but TWO new Malfoy's into the world.

When Draco woke up the second time, he was overjoyed, jumping out of bed and kissing her on the forehead. Hermione could've sworn that she saw a tear of joy slip down his face even though he point-blank denied such claims.

The most surprising part of her afternoon, though, was when Narcissa Malfoy came tumbling through the floo. How she had found out about the news so quickly is anyone's guess, but she had and had already managed to buy that many matching baby things for the twins, Hermione was drowning in them by the time Narcissa had flooed away 20 minutes later. To the point that Draco had to pick Hermione up off the bed to prevent her from suffocating on a particularly large stuffed bear.

Once Hermione was finally discharged after a long afternoon filled with well-wishers, she wanted nothing more than to collapse into her bed and sleep for 24 hours straight. And that is pretty much what she did, giving Draco an earful when he informed her the next afternoon that she had slept through the entire school day, and that he hadn't woken her because 'she clearly needed it'.

Yeah, that didn't go down well.

Chapter Text

"Oh my gosh, Draco! Look!" Hermione shouted as she sat on the lounge that was positioned next to the window of their apartment in the north tower. Draco walked into the room and smiled as he saw Hermione by the window, watching as snowflakes floated through the sky.

Looking down onto the Hogwarts grounds below, Draco's smile widened when he saw that they had gotten their first snow of the year. The grounds were dusted white and looked positively beautiful as the fresh snow reflected the early morning light.

"It's beautiful," Hermione whispered, pressing her hand across the glass. Draco nodded as he let his chin come to rest on the crook of Hermione's neck. A smile spread across her face as Hermione turned to look at Draco with a mischievous expression.

"I want to go and see it." She announced but Draco frowned.

"Is that a good idea, in your condition?" Draco asked, and Hermione fixed him with a glare.

"In my condition, what is that supposed to mean!?" She retorted, growing more furious by the second. Draco's eyes widened, acutely aware that Hermione was dangerous at the best of times, let alone when she was pregnant and hormonal.

Ever since Draco had found out that Hermione was expecting twins, he was twice as protective of her than ever. As much as Hermione thought that it was cute how much her well-being mattered to him, she didn't appreciate him trying to control her. She was pregnant, not dying. And she certainly wasn't FRAGILE. She'd fought a war, she certainly wasn't going to let him stop her from going out and enjoying the first snowfall of the year, pregnant or not.

"I'll get my coat." Draco relented, one look at her was enough to tell him that he wasn't going to win this fight.

***************************

As they walked out into the common room of Willow Lane, Hermione and Draco were shocked to find the rest of the 8th year there as well, rugging up. Well, the husbands were forcing their stubborn wives to rug up. Draco smiled as he saw Theo trying desperately to convince Daphne to put on another scarf so that she wouldn't catch a cold, and her indignantly telling him where he should shove said scarf.

As it was, it had taken 10 minutes for Draco to convince Hermione to wear an extra jumper, and it looked like it had taken Harry even longer than it had Draco, for how worn out he looked and the scowl that was on Ginny's face.

Finally, when they were all ready to go, the group took off toward the landing, teleporting outside the Hogwarts doors.

The girls squealed with childish glee as they grabbed handfuls of snow and threw them up into the air, before running off, albeit a little awkwardly as a few of them had started to show.

15 minutes later of standing in the cold, talking to Blaise and Theo, Draco still hadn't seen the girls return. It was like they disappeared into thin air.

It was then that something hard and REALLY cold hit the back of Draco's head, judging by the yells from other male voices, Draco assumed the other boys had been hit too. Spinning around, Draco smiled when he realized what the girls had been doing for the past while. Standing there in their coats and beanies, was the 10 girls, arms laden with snowballs, as they pelted the boys with them.

Well, they'd started a war, as the boys all leaned down and created their own snowballs, hurling them back at the girls.

Within a few minutes, there wasn't a single person that wasn't covered head-to-toe with snow. And just when it looked like the boys were winning as they gained territory as the girls started to retreat, Hermione grabbed her wand and picked up bits of snow, magically hurling them at the balls, each one hitting dead on target.

"You're using magic! Not far!" Harry yelled as he got nailed by a particularly large one right in the nose.

Well, two could play this game, and so Draco pulled out his wand, sending showers of snow right back at them.

After a while, as each side gave just as good as they got, a truce was called, and everyone collapsed to the ground, laughing harder than they had in years. Since before the war, really. Draco fell right next to Hermione in the snow, just as Hermione threw a little bit of snow on his face.

"You play dirty, Granger," Draco said huskily, rolling onto her, pinning her beneath him, and tickling her sides. Her squeals filled the air, as she tried with all her might to push him away. It wasn't until her knee came dangerously close to colliding with the Malfoy jewels, Draco froze momentarily, which was enough time for Hermione to overpower him, gaining the upper hand and flipping them over, so that she was straddling him.

"It's Mrs, Malfoy now." Hermione leaned down, whispering in his ear. Draco blushed furiously as Hermione rolled off him, laughing as she walked away.

**********************************

Dumbledore watched the year group from his window and smiled. Whether the children realized it or not, they were all falling for each other, hard. It was about time Dumbledore intervened, even if it was for his own sake so that he didn't have to continue to watch, frustrated, as his students battled with their feelings and pretended that nothing was happening between them.

Sure, they were all technically married, but it was about time they become couples for REAL.

He scratched his chin as his wizened mind came up with all manner of ways to bring the children closer together.

Ah, perfect. He thought, smirking as the perfect idea came to him.

Chapter Text

The large whitish phoenix soared above Hermione where she was sitting, perched on her bed. Huffing, annoyed at the disturbance from her good book, Hermione paled when she realized what it was.

A Patronus from Dumbledore.

Yikes.

"Did it come to you too?" Draco asked as he met Hermione in the living room, who was looking equally as grim as he. Hermione nodded, letting out a big breath.

"The last time he sent us one of these and told us to report to the Great Hall, I found out that I was pregnant. I don't even want to think of what it could be this time." Hermione grumbled as the pair made their way out of their apartment and into Willow Lane.

"You guys too?" Ginny called as she and Harry emerged from their apartment, looking just as downtrodden. The pair both nodded, and a silent understanding passed between the group. No one knew what this was about, and frankly, they'd all rather not know.

Closing her eyes as her feet hit the hard ground of the marble outside the Great Hall, Hermione groaned. Partly because their current method of getting around the school magically always gave her a nasty bout of nausea, but mostly because she'd rather be anywhere else in the world right now. Hell, she'd take tea with Umbridge over a meeting like this. THAT was saying something.

Harry being the one to work up enough courage to open the door to the Great Hall, Hermione's heart only sank lower when she saw the rest of the 8th-year already there sitting down, each looking more nervous than the previous as the group of four passed by. All taking a seat at the end of the Ravenclaw table, at this point no one even paid the slightest bit of attention to where they were sitting, their minds completely elsewhere.

"Ah, good to see you all here!" Dumbledore's voice boomed around the hall, and Draco had to physically bite his tongue to stop him from retorting with some rather colorful words about what they all thought about HIS presence.

Smiling, and completely oblivious to his students' discomfort, Dumbledore continued.

"Now, I know that you are all eager to know why I have called you all here." Again, more rolled eyes from 8th-year that Dumbledore remained oblivious to, "Firstly, Madame Pomfrey would like me to remind you that your doctor's check-ups will start next week, so refer to your calendar for more information regarding times. Gentlemen, please know that you are REQUIRED to attend with your wives. But, other than that, the main reason that you are here is so that I can give you some information about an initiative that I'm starting that you will all be involved in." No one could hold the groans back anymore.

Dumbledore just smiled, continuing. As much as Hermione didn't want to know what Dumbledore had planned for them, she also had a little part of her that wanted to know what had gotten Dumbledore so giddy.

"You will have noticed, a little over a month ago, that there were dates that had started appearing on your calendars. It is about time that some of these are being acted on. So, beginning this Friday, you will be EXPECTED to go on a date with your partner." Dumbledore announced and Hermione gaped. In all honesty, she had forgotten about that damned calendar, too wrapped up in pregnancy symptoms and weddings to remember. Hermione paled when she remembered what else was on that calendar. As if reading her mind, Dumbledore went on;

"Other events in your calendar, such as the birthing class will also begin next week, so be prepared for those. But back to the most pressing issue, you will be granted permission that night to leave Hogwarts grounds at 5 o'clock. For the first date, I have taken it upon myself to plan the first date for each pair, you will be provided a portkey on the day which will whisk you away to your location for the night and will reactivate at 9 o'clock exactly to bring you back here. Please be aware that you are expected to go on a date each week, and after the first date, it is up to you to plan where you two would like to go." There was an immediate uprise of chatter among the group as everyone either was excited or complained about this new prospect.

Hermione was in two minds about this situation, and when she glanced at Draco, it seemed that he was similar. Hermione was NOT a fan of having her love life interfered with, nor was she okay with having ANOTHER thing that should be up to her to initiate, be planned, and forced upon her. That said, Hermione had seen some of the tension between the couples. Merely three months ago, she had no intentions of even speaking to half of the 8th-year population, Draco included, ever again if she could help it, and now, she was currently married to him and expecting his child.

If someone had told Hermione all those months ago when she was on the train off to Hogwarts for her final time, that this is how her year would turn out, she would've laughed in their face before promptly checking them into the psych ward at St Mungo's. And yet, here she was.

Hermione also wasn't naïve enough to not acknowledge that almost every other eighth-year student was in the same situation. It was weird for them all, hell, she called a man who she was just barely friends with, her husband only a few weeks ago. It was like they skipped about a hundred stages overnight with their relationship, completely missing the dating stage altogether and she knew that most couples were the same.

So the idea of going on scheduled dates with Draco didn't altogether repulse her, and the expression on many other faces in the room, including Draco's, seemed to be reflecting similar feelings about this new situation.

"That's all. Ensure you meet Professor McGonagall here tomorrow morning just after breakfast to receive your portkeys." Dumbledore dismissed, and they all got up, chatting to each other as they left the room.

Dumbledore smirked at the retreating backs of his students. This was going to be fantastic!

Pulling a piece of parchment out of his robes and glancing at the list again, his smile grew wider as he marveled at his handy work.

Each couple was neatly scribbled in next to their date destination that Dumbledore thought best suited for each pair based on their interests and collective chemistry. Looking down the list, his gaze settled on one particular pair.

The power couple. The one that even he himself, with all of his knowledge and wisdom, never would have even considered. But something about those two just seemed to work. He could tell that even though both tried VERY hard to fight it, they were falling for each other, HARD. All they needed was a little push. And he had the perfect spot for them. The icing on the cake if you will. Albus couldn't wait for tomorrow!

Chapter Text

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy," McGonagall called. Draco and Hermione stood up hesitantly, slowly making their way over to her. She reluctantly handed out the portkeys that Dumbledore had issued for the students to take them to their date destination later that night.

Ever since the start of this whole fiasco, Professor McGonagall had been firmly against forcing things onto the students. In her opinion, what would happen would happen in its own time. There was no need to push or rush the students into anything. But alas, Dumbledore had other plans, which she considered to be rather rash, and yet, here she was, providing the resources to the students so that Dumbledore could interfere with another component of the students' lives - their love lives.

Draco picked up the portkey, a pair of 3D glasses as it happened to be, and turned them over in his hand slowly, a confused expression on his face. It took all of Hermione's strength not to laugh at his blatant confusion as he held the red-blue glasses. Honestly, the magical community was missing out on so much!

Walking back to their tables, they watched as other students were presented with their portkeys. For Harry and Ginny, a ferry ticket. For Neville and Hannah, a picnic blanket. For Blaise and Luna, a pair of binoculars. For Parvarti and Dean, a whisk. For Ron and Pansy, a nail polish bottle. For Daphne and Theo, a pair of tap shoes. For Seamus and Astoria, a pair of hiking shoes. And finally, for Terry Boot and Susan, a microphone.

All holding their items with confused expressions, they were all shooed out of the Great Hall to their first classes for the day.

"See you at our apartment at 4:00 pm Mione, we'll leave at five." Malfoy waved her goodbye, heading off in the opposite direction to his first class, as Hermione made her way to Muggle Studies.

*****************

"Oi Hermione! Hurry up! We have to get going!" Draco yelled from the other side of the bathroom door. Hermione had been holed up in the bathroom for 45 minutes. What could be taking her so long?

Finally emerging, Draco gaped at the vision before him.

Hermione, having no idea where they were going, so she had no idea of what to wear, had opted for a nice pair of blue high-waisted, skinny jeans, and a formal white blouse. Her hair was left loose, with curls rolling down her back as she pulled the top into a half-up style. Natural makeup and a pink lip completed the look.

"You look stunning." Draco complimented her, smiling genuinely. Hermione's heart warmed at this, she had personally been proud of her work, but to have it affirmed by someone whose opinion she'd grown to secretly care about over the past month or so was also touching.

"And you look rather handsome." Hermione returned the compliment. Truth be told, he looked rather dashing in a crisp pair of black slacks and a white button-up long-sleeve shirt that he had purposely left the top buttons undone to make the outfit look more casual. Hermione also secretly adored the way that he had been styling his hair of late, gone was the slicked-back look, now he left it slightly longer, always looking sexily mused as it fell in waves over his forehead.

Smiling wider, he offered his arm to Hermione and lead her through the apartment, the pair of 3D glasses that were their portkey for the night was tucked safely in his back pocket.

Speed walking through the castle to get to the designated portkey point in time, they made it with only 2 minutes to spare before the portkey was to activate. Gathering around was the rest of their year group, all with auras a mix of nervousness and anticipation. Hermione, being no exception to that rule, gave Draco's arm a little squeeze as he reached for the pair of 3D glasses.

Glancing around, Hermione smiled at the way that different people had taken to this date. Some, namely the Slytherin girls, had dressed up to the max, with inches of thick foundation on their faces and tight-fitting, expensive dresses on their bodies, complete with 4-inch heels. Others, namely the Gryffindors, had opted for a different approach, going for a completely casual look. Speaking of which, Pansy was already at it at Ron for wearing flip-flops to their date.

"Honestly, could you have worn ANYTHING less formal!" Pansy continued to rant, but you could tell that everyone was tuning her out, instead choosing to focus all of their energy on not laughing at the unlikely pair, Pansy who was dressed to the nines, standing beside Ron, in his daggy track pants, and a stained Weasley jumper and flip-flops. In the middle of winter!

How this man was still alive was anyone's guess.

The only pair still missing was Hannah and Neville.

As if on cue, the two came sprinting out onto the lawn outside of the castle and Hannah's clothes looked... skewed? Her makeup was also smeared?

Brushing that thought aside, Hermione turned to Draco as their portkey lit up, signaling that they were about to be transported.

Grasping hold of one arm of the glasses, and using the other arm to grab a hold of Draco, they were off.

Merely seconds later they were rather ungracefully dumped onto a hard surface.

"Portkey is certainly not my favorite way to travel." Draco groaned as he stood up, dusting himself off and helping Hermione to do the same. Hermione nodded as Draco pulled her to her feet.

Looking around, Hermione gasped.

"What is this place?"

Chapter Text

The most quaint little outpost stood before them, tucked into the trees of a warm forest. Draco looked around, dazzled by what he saw. Little fairy lights provided the softest of glows over the landscape, making it feel more homely than ever like a tight little hug was wrapped around you at all times from the light alone. 

Then there were seats of every kind that looked more inviting than ever to poor Draco, exhausted from today's classes. A low-lying air mattress was positioned at the perfect angle to view the screen. Draco may not know much about muggle things, but he did recognize the screen as the thing that played the movies that he like so much. Glancing around he also spotted a hammock in the corner and some lounges, not that Draco thought they'd use them considering the exquisite range of seating options that they had been provided with. 

The only thing that could make this landscape even more perfect than it currently was, was his ravishing wife to share it with. Scanning his surroundings, it took Draco a second to even locate her, standing off to the edge, with her back to him, muttering. 

Walking toward her, he felt a pang in his chest when he realized what she was doing. 

Muffilato 

Protego Totalum

Salvio Hexia 

Repello Muggletum

Cave Inimicum

Protego Maxima 

Fianto Duri...

Draco placed his hand on his wife's shoulder, breaking her concentration on her spell work. Whispering in her ear he said; 

"Hermione, we're okay. We aren't at war anymore. You're safe. We're safe. Everything is fine. Come and sit down." Guiding her toward the little wooden platform once more, he felt Hermione visibly relax into his arm that was wrapped protectively around her. 

"Sorry, the force of habit, I guess," Hermione mumbled, sighing as she took a seat on the air mattress, her eyes widening a little when she overbalanced, not expecting the mattress to move with her. Draco chuckled as he held out his hand to right her once more, as she blushed furiously. 

"Don't laugh. I didn't realize what this thing was made of until now." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, in mock annoyance. 

"You can't deny that it is heavenly though." Draco sighed as he sank onto the mattress next to her. 

After a few minutes of leisurely lounging around, it was Draco's turn to blush when his stomach rumbled rather unceremoniously. 

"There's food over here," Hermione reassured him, pulling out a picnic basket full of treats from the shelf beside her. The neatly wrapped packages smelt divine. Within minutes, an assortment of slices of bread, plates of pasta, crackers, all manner of fruits, sauces, dips, cheeses, salads, cakes, slices, cream, and of course, bottles of butterbeer were spread out on the picnic mat that was spread out on the wooden floor, complete with arguably too many cushions, rugs, and pillows. 

"So what movie are we gonna watch?" Draco asked, taking a swig of his drink. 

"Well, there are hundreds of choices on this shelf, let's narrow it down. Disney or WarnerBros?" Hermione asked him and Draco smiled at his wife's methodical approach to everything, always logically sorting things into categories.

"What's a Disney?" Draco asked blankly and Hermione gasped. 

"OH GODRIC! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE MISSED OUT ON THIS. Nope, decision made. I am going to spend the night introducing you to the Disney princesses." Hermione decided finally, and Draco just nodded, having no idea what was going on, but having the sense not to argue with his strong-willed spitfire.

Placing the Cinderella disk into the player, the movie was projected up onto the white sheet as the blue Disney screen lit up the night. 

**********

"I still don't understand your obsession with these movies." Draco sighed as the credits rolled on the second movie of the night. Hermione gasped. 

"They were every muggle girl's childhood! What's not to love?" Hermione retorted. 

"I don't know about that. But, you know what I do know?" Draco prompted and Hermione raised her eyebrow. 

"That you are ridiculously hot when you get passionate about something." Draco mused and Hermione smiled. Before either of them knew what was happening, they were leaning toward each other, eyes closed, as their lips pressed together, moving in delicious sync. 

From there it only got more heated, so much so, that they didn't even hear the little pop as the 3D glasses disappeared into the night. 

*******************

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall stood out on the Hogwarts grounds, wind whistling around them. In Dumbledore's hand sat a little gold pocket watch, as it ticked by. 

The little watch hands hit 11, and a series of pops echoed around the grounds. One by one, objects materialized from thin air. 

A pair of 3D glasses, a ferry ticket, a picnic blanket, a pair of binoculars, a whisk, a nail polish bottle, a pair of tap shoes, a pair of hiking shoes, and a microphone. Most notably, Dumbledore and McGonagall were still the only soles standing there in the darkness of the night. 

"That'll be 10 galleons." Dumbledore cheerily jeered as McGonagall sighed, reaching into her robes. 

Not a single student had returned with their portkey, so much to McGonagall's displeasure, she had lost the bet. 

Chapter Text

The sweet sound of birdsong swept with the breeze throughout the forest, rousing the two souls that lay entwined in each other.

First to wake was Hermione, the first thing that registered was the scent of earthy, masculine remnants of cologne and the warmth of a muscular arm enveloping her and holding her firmly against the warmth she felt on her back.

Draco opened his eyes and was immediately greeted with a mass of chocolate brown curls that seemed to span forever. He ran his hand up and down the waist of the beautiful girl in front of him smiling as he remembered the events of last night.

"Good morning, beautiful," Draco whispered into Hermione's ear, making her smile grow even wider as she recalled the night that had just passed.

"Good morning, handsome," Hermione whispered back, turning around, albeit a little awkwardly with her stomach, in his arms. Giving her a chaste kiss, Draco reached over and started gathering their clothes that were strewn throughout their campsite.

Within minutes, they were in each other's arms again, Draco's wand held high as he apparated them back to the outskirts of Hogwarts.

******************

"Ah, Mrs. and Mr. Malfoy, welcome back to Hogwarts." Dumbledore greeted cheerily, whilst changing the wards enough to allow them to pass through onto the grounds.

"You will be pleased to know that you two are the first to return." He informed them and Hermione arched her eyebrow.

"What do you mean that we are the first to return? We missed our portkey... you don't mean to tell me that every other couple also missed theirs, do you?" She asked, but Dumbledore simply nodded in response.

Hermione promptly burst into laughter, and Draco smiled at her antics as he guided her up the hill toward the castle. It took until they had reached the common room of Willow Lane before Hermione's giggles subsided, taking a seat on one of the many daybeds that were present in their woodland-themed common room.

Surprisingly, Pansy and Ron were the next to arrive, and Hermione never thought she'd see the day when Ron looked... pretty? Draco had to clamp his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud.

Nails glittering, skin glowing so much so that it was reflective, hair styled perfectly, every strand of hair precisely placed, clothes smart and wrinkle-free, and was that... makeup?

Before Draco could come to a conclusion, Harry and Ginny entered. Far less graciously than Hermione and Draco had, Ginny and Harry took one look at Ron and nearly wet themselves laughing.

They were still rolling around on the floor incoherent when the next couple arrived; Astoria and Seamus.

"It's all your fault!" In contrast to Ron's new stylish makeover, the pair looked like they had gone 10 rounds with a tiger. In fact, judging by the rips in their clothes and leaves in their hair, maybe they had.

"What happened to you two?" Ron asked as he gave them a once over.

"WELL, we got sent into a DEATHTRAP. And to top it off SEAMUS went and got us LOST in the JUNGLE! I am SCARRED!" Astoria dramatically recounted, but all eyes turned to Seamus as he huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah right. It was a grassland. A well-mown grassland. Not a jungle you twit." He deadpanned and everyone was faced with the task yet again, of having to conceal their laughs. Some were better than others at it, but it was Ron's poorly executed fake coughing fit that resulted in him fearing for his life with the glare that was sent his way from Astoria.

Next to enter was Neville and Hannah, hand-in-hand. Hermione's heart still warmed when she saw them together, so happily. She still couldn't think of two people that deserved happiness in each other than those two.

Blaise and Luna practically floated into the room, talking animatedly to each other about... snugglewigs? Draco never thought he'd see the day his best friend Blaise bought into Luna's theories, yet it happened anyway. Although he supposed that Blaise thought the same way when Hermione and he were now able to be in a room together without argument. I guess marriage does that to people.

Susan and Terry entered, also sharing looks similar to Neville and Hannah's. Dean and Parvarti walked in laughing at each other as Dean wiped... cake batter... off of Parvarti's cheek. What happened there is anyone's guess.

Finally, Theo and Daphne entered, both looking exhausted as Daphne tried to stifle her yawn behind her hand.

"Ooh, did someone keep you up all night long Daph?" Draco cat called as they entered, and the pair turned BRIGHT red in response.

"Draco, I can see the bags under your eyes from here." Theo retorted, and all eyes now focused on Hermione and Draco, who had turned equally as red.

"AHHH! FINALLY!" Pansy squealed and everyone burst into laughter.

Chapter Text

Hermione glanced around for the tenth time that lesson, labelling all of her exit points and doing another set of calculations to see if she could try and make it to one of them without getting caught.

But it was useless. She would just have to sit here and endure it. Judging by her watch, they still had 40 minutes left. 40 minutes more than she would like to have left to be present in this room with her.

HER. Yes, the person that Hermione had also done calculations about to see if she could stupefy her silently and they could all leave. On one hand, if it was silent and wandless, no one would be able to tell who it was, but it was useless. She knew for a fact that she was one of the most competent with silent, wandless spells, and the teachers would know immediately who did. Another dead end.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco squirm again beside her and she snapped out of her reverie, squirming herself when on the board were some rather detailed diagrams of tearing during labor that was not there a few minutes ago. Lovely.

When Hermione had first seen birthing class added to their calendar, she had been subtly pleased that Dumbledore had chosen something rational for the students. Learning was important, Hermione knew that more than anyone, so the idea of learning what would happen during pregnancy and beyond, Hermione believed that it had great value. That was until she sat down in this class with HER.

Professor Trelawny. Someone was pulling Hermione's leg. Not only had Trelawny gone through every gruesome part of pregnancy ever, but she had started the class by predicting the outcome of everyone's pregnancy and offspring. Apparently, Hermione's pregnancy was a hoax, all of the extensive tests she had had recently were completely wrong, she was only expecting one child, who would grow to be the reincarnation of Voldemort. As you can see, that immediately got every single student offside. Whilst Voldemort's name wasn't taboo anymore, mentions of him bought up things that all the students wished they could forget, so they didn't take too kindly to the professor's words.

Not to mention, in the professor's next breath, she had given a detailed description to Susan about how exactly she would have a miscarriage, right down to the bluish-grey color of its skin when it was whisked away to the heavens. And then she had informed Hannah that her child would be murdered by 'the jealous one' who wanted nothing more than a child for herself. Who she was referring to was anyone's guess.

Susan had run out of the room, refusing to return, and Hannah was now bundled up in Neville's arms. Not crying, but distressed all the same.

So yeah, basically every student in that classroom was scheming silently about the best way to 'accidentally' kill the dotty professor. So far, Draco's plan was the most creative of all, involving a rather slow process of tearing her apart, bit by bit, and feeding her to fluffy, although Neville wasn't far behind as he rubbed his distraught wife's back in his lap, a long list of dark spells that would be enough for even Voldemort himself to blush if he heard them uttered.

"And now, we will move on to preparing the mother for the duration of her pregnancy." At this, everyone looked up, puzzled. What on earth did that mean?

Within seconds, they were surrounded by large, round exercise balls, that looked very similar to muggle ones. Of course, they must be a muggle, because the majority of the class looked at them like they were some offending object. Ron walked over to one, pressed done on it, and was surprised when he found that it was springy. Then he turned around and jumped backward to sit on top of it.

Hermione saw it all happen in slow motion, Ron made contact with the ball, but he had thrown himself too far onto it. As a ball would, it rolled and bounced him off backward, resulting in him landing hard on his head, his legs dangling in the air.

Hermione's hand flew to her mouth, in a poor attempt to stop herself from laughing. Within seconds the entire room was in stitches, as Ron got up from the floor, dazed and blushing, before taking a wobbly bow.

Hermione was still smiling when they were all given directions about what to do. She was pleased that even in a situation that couldn't get much worse than the one they were all in, they still found a way to make light of the situation. Something that Hermione was immensely grateful for.

Following instructions with a strange object that Draco had now decided was hostile, he placed his arms sturdily underneath Hermione's arms as he helped lower her down safely onto the ball. This action earned a huff from Hermione, as she had used an exercise ball many times before, and knew she wouldn't get hurt because she wouldn't jump onto it as Ron did, but Draco was having none of it.

Regardless of what Hermione thought, Draco had started to notice how awkward she was getting. Little things, that he wasn't even sure that she noticed that she was doing it, but her actions were becoming slower and a little less coordinated, so Draco wasn't going to take the chance, with the safety of his two babies hanging in the balance.

Standing behind Hermione ready to catch her if the ball rolled out from underneath her, Professor Trelawney guided the class through a few exercises that would help ease pregnancy discomfort.

The next 30 minutes went fairly smoothly, those students that hadn't seen an exercise ball before were becoming more confident on one and no one was uncomfortable like they had been for the first half. That was until, just as they were about to be dismissed, Professor Trelawny set the female's homework... the Keagle kind.

Ernie didn't pick up on the fact that the very mention of the word had the girls squirming, and had made the dire mistake of asking what it was.

Put it this way, none of the boys would ever be the same again...

Chapter Text

"Boys!" Draco shouted.

"Girls!" Hermione retorted, equally as loudly.

They had been going round in circles for the past 10 minutes as they made their way slowly to the hospital wing, as per Madame Pomfrey's request. Based on the comments of other students that had already had their appointments, today was the day that they would be finding out about the baby's gender.

So far, Neville and Hannah, Blaise and Luna, Seamus and Astoria (Seamus had been very pleased with this as Astoria said that she would rather hex his balls right off than have to put up with a rambunctious little boy running around all the time) and Susan and Terry were all expecting girls, Ginny and Harry, Ron and Pansy, Theo and Daphne, as well as Dean and Parvarti were all expecting boys.

So that brings us to Hermione and Draco, who were slowly making their way up the final set of stairs to the hospital wing. The distance between the library and the hospital wing wasn't that far, but between Hermione's walk growing increasingly more waddle-like and Draco fussing over her with every set of stairs they climbed, it was taking rather a large amount of time. Lucky they had finished up early in the library or they would be running late.

Both parents were still adamant about their stance on their predictions. Since the start, Hermione had this feeling, mother's intuition if you will, that she was having a girl, and yet Draco had tried hard to convince her ever since that the 'Malfoy blood' meant that the first child of every generation was always male, which would, of course, also apply to the fetus's in Hermione's belly.

Hence, the re-occurring argument that had taken place for the past few weeks. Luckily their appointment was fast approaching because Ginny and the rest of their friends didn't know how much more of their arguing and then lovey-dovey make-up between the two of them they could handle.

As if on cue, the magically charmed doors of the hospital wing swung open as they approached, and Madame Pomfrey walked across the room to greet them.

Once settled in the designated 'mothers bed' as it had been coined and reserved due to the frequent check-ups and general visits to the nurse the expecting mothers had had as of late, and something that they knew would only increase as time passed and they drew closer to their due date.

After 5 minutes or so of general check-ups, Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat;

"I assume you both want to know the gender of your children?" She asked, almost tiredly, as she had repeated this same process countless times today on all of the other expecting mothers currently residing in Hogwarts.

"Yes!" Hermione called, taking a deep breath as the mediwitch lifted her shirt to reveal Hermione's sizable baby bump.

Draco sighed, every time he saw her bump, it grew significantly and shocked him a little at just how fast things were progressing.

"Boys," Draco whispered one last time as Madame Pomfrey raised her wand.

"Girls," Hermione whispered back just as defiantly, giving his hand that she was holding a little squeeze, and closing her eyes shut tightly as she heard the mediwitch murmur the spell.

A few seconds later, Hermione opened her eyes and blinked a few times to clear her vision. She gasped at what she saw in front of her.

A large, and very bright ball of purple light.

"I was right." Both Hermione and Draco whispered together, unable to tear their eyes away from the floating ball of light in front of them.

"Congratulations, Mr & Mrs. Malfoy, you are expecting a boy and a girl." Madame Pomfrey declared, looking up at the two students in front of her and smiling, before walking away.

In all of Madame Pomfrey's years of working at Hogwarts, she had never seen a more unlikely pair, nor one so in love. As much as she hated the situation that all of the students had been unsuspectingly plunged into, there was a little part of her that was glad that in light of it all, those two had found each other.

Based on the looks they gave each other alone, the mediwitch could tell that their two babies would be the most loved children in all the land.

Chapter Text

This morning, Hermione took a chance that she usually tries to never take, a glance at the charmed magical calendar that in her opinion, stood menacingly in the corner of every Willow lane suite, just waiting to unleash its wrath on the poor unsuspecting families that reside there.

Shocked she was, however, when for the first time in forever, what appeared in front of her on the calendar didn't fill her entirely with dread, but also a little glimmer of relief.

'20 weeks' it read. To Hermione, these past 4 and a half months had felt like a lifetime, hell it may as well have been for the amount of drama that had been her life recently.

"Do I even want to know?" Draco sighed as he entered the room and spotted Hermione staring at the calendar with a faraway look in her eyes.

"Um, maybe, I don't know. I'm halfway." Hermione sighed, as Draco frowned in confusion.

"Halfway...?" He asked slowly, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

"I'm 20 weeks pregnant today." Hermione clarified, turning to him with a half smile, half grimace on her face. Draco internally mirrored her feelings. Part of him was relieved to be halfway into what had been a whirlwind pregnancy, but another was also a little scared for the future if he had to admit it. Walking back into Hogwarts this year, he in no way felt ready to be a father, and he wasn't sure that even 4 and 1/2 months later, he was any more ready.

Hermione sighed audibly, breaking Draco out of his reverie, and reminding him of why he was there in the first place.

"Here's your tea Hermione." He said, handing her the ginger tea. Although she hadn't thrown up in about a week, the tea still helped ease any residual nausea she had. She nodded her thanks, turning again to resume her reason for being in the lounge room in the first place.

Thumbing through the books on the bookshelf, she began her morning routine, selecting her newest book to read whilst she ate. Settling an old classic, she strolled over to the couch, stopping short suddenly, her tea slipping out of her hands and falling to the floor, spilling hot tea over her legs and the carpet.

At the crash and following hiss from Hermione, Draco came rushing back into the room. Whipping out his wand, he vanished the tea from the floor and her leg, applying a quick healing charm.

"Merlin Hermione! What's wrong?" Draco exclaimed, taking in her spooked expression.

"I- I think the babies just kicked me!" She exclaimed, her hand flying straight to her stomach as she groaned. Draco stilled, staring at her in shock. Hermione, realizing that Draco remained frozen hovering above her, gave a small smile, grabbing Malfoy's hand and guiding it to the spot on her stomach the babies had taken to assaulting.

Draco's eyes widened even more impossibly as he felt beneath his palm the flutter of little feet kicking outward.

"That's amazing." Draco breathed, Hermione nodded back, a similar look of awe in her eyes. Truthfully, she had felt little movements for the last week or so, although she had chalked it up to eating something that didn't agree with her, and to be fair, not a lot had been agreeing with her stomach as of late with the morning sickness. Now she knew why and it made her smile grow.

As the little kicks subsided, Draco cleared his throat and stood up, reaching a hand out to Hermione and helping her up as well.

"You're banned from handling tea if you're not sitting down first," Draco instructed as he picked up the now empty cup from the ground. Hermione pouted but began gathering her school supplies anyway.

*********************

Wandering to class, Hermione recounted her eventful morning to Ginny, who was listening in with interest, for in a few days, she expected to be having similar experiences.

"Harry will flip!" Ginny commented as they strolled down the halls.

"Draco did. I mean sort of... in his own little way." Hermione recalled, and Ginny smiled, glad that they were getting along alright.

"How are you two anyway?" Ginny prodded, hoping to gauge how her best friend was getting on in this rollercoaster of a situation.

"Umm, good I guess. We haven't spoken about what happened on that date. Or anything since. I've been busy keeping on top of schoolwork, and he's been heavily involved with Quidditch trails. I mean, he makes me tea every morning for when I wake up which is lovely, but that's about the limit of our interactions." Hermione recalled. Honestly, she'd been so wrapped up in her world since that date, she hadn't taken the time to just hang out with him. Not because she didn't want to... she just hadn't and neither had he.

"Are you seriously telling me that you haven't so much as kissed him since?" Ginny inquired incredulously.

"No..." Hermione trailed off. Ginny groaned.

"You two need to sort your relationship out. One minute you can cut the tension with a knife and the next you two are back to ignoring each other's existence. You are driving me crazy!" Ginny cried.

"Ok ok, I will chat to him tonight!" Hermione replied, trying to settle her friend before they entered Transfiguration.

Chapter Text

"Draco?" Hermione called as she re-entered their suite that afternoon, her conversation with Ginny still fresh in her mind. In truth, the idea of being married to Draco was becoming less and less frightening, and she was beginning to be more open to being something more with him. She had planned to go on a walk with him this afternoon and have a chat about it because she was almost certain that he was on a similar wavelength to her on this matter, if that date night was anything to go by.

Finding him sitting on one of the bar stools she smiled, walking into the kitchen and leaning on the counter across from him.

"So I was thinking... do you feel up for a walk?" Hermione asked, reaching and grabbing a red apple out of the fruit bowl by her arm.

"Why would I go on a walk with you?" Draco replied sourly. Hermione frowned at his sudden hostility, they'd been fine this morning... she wasn't aware anything had changed.

"Umm because I thought it would be nice... and there was something that I wanted to talk to you about..." Hermione slowly replied, still unsure what was going on.

"Oh yeah, there was something I wanted to talk about with you too actually." Draco spat, "But it is nothing that we need to go on a sappy 'walk' for. All I need to say is that I've had enough of your recent clinginess. It's exhausting and disgusting."

"Excuse me! My clinginess!? Remind me again who the one is who been doting on me, that I certainly didn't ask him to!" Hermione retorted back, growing increasingly frustrated with Malfoy.

"Why, you little mudblood swine! How dare you speak to me that way!"

"Speak to you that way? You started it!" Hermione snapped

"Well, I'm certainly going to end it. End it all. Being around your filthy self is revolting, witnessing you dirtying to the Malfoy line with your spawn-" Hermione whipped out her wand and cast a strong silencing charm.

"How DARE you speak about our children like that!" Hermione screamed back, shrieking when Malfoy hurled back a silencing charm of his own. Seeing red, Hermione sent sparks flying in his direction, which he deflected, scorching part of the bookcase behind him. He retaliated with his own curses that were also deflected, flying around the kitchen and breaking crockery and shelves as they went.

This continued until Hermione cast an intricate body bind charm, slamming Draco right in the chest. Taking a breath, she reversed the silencing charm that he put on her and walked over to him.

"I can't believe that I was beginning to trust you Malfoy. Care for you maybe. But you are JUST like the rest of them. You should relieve the world of your presence and rot in Azkaban with your vile father." Kicking him in the crouch for good measure, she performed one last spell to float him out of the living room and toward her bedroom, not being able to handle seeing him for even a second longer.

Huffing, she marched out of their suite.

She was taking that walk with or without him.

She needed time to cool off.

Chapter Text

Hermione returned later that night after a looooong walk around the castle. After she left Willow Lane, her walk had been for the most part uneventful. Thankfully, she'd only run into a few students, which one glare had them rushing the other way and McGonagall not far from Dumbledore's office. For a second Hermione thought the Deputy Headmistress was going to reprimand her for wandering the corridors with no purpose, but it seemed the older woman thought better of it when she took one look at Hermione and opted to remain silent. Granted, Hermione hadn't passed any mirrors on her walk, but she didn't need one to know that she probably didn't look like the most put-together and calm person right now.

Hermione sighed, glancing around at the mess they made. She didn't remember whose spell or when the couch managed to be ripped in half, or when the coffee table and all the papers on it ended up on the kitchen bench, but she wasn't really surprised. Having now calmed down, Hermione was willing to acknowledge that they both said and did some things they weren't proud of, but she'd be damned if she didn't think that he deserved it after the way he talked about her and her baby!

Still, there was no reason for the kitchen or sitting room to pay the price for their anger, so bit by bit she restored the areas. Restoring the couch proved difficult, she never was the most competent at furniture repair, but honestly, the challenge was welcome to keep her mind off of their fight for a moment. Finishing up, Hermione cast the final spell to return all of the papers to their places on the tables, sending sheets flying this way and that throughout the room. One glint in particular though caught her eye. Plucking the letter out of the air, Hermione frowned.

It read
'To Draco Lucius Malfoy - the Sitting Room, Gumdrop Room, Willow Lane, Hogwarts'. The thing that caught her attention though was the deep purple wax seal that was hanging off one of the frayed corners of the letter. She knew that seal anywhere, the ministry of magic. What would the ministry want with Draco?

Curiosity got the better of her, what was it to harm anyway, she reassured herself. Besides, the letter was already opened, so it wasn't like she was ruining anything. No one would even know she had read it.

Pulling out the parchment, Hermione stilled as she read it, color draining from her face.

'We regret to inform you that your father, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy passed away in prison on December 13th at 2:37 pm. Many condolences, Department of Criminal Law.'

It made sense, it all made sense. But the feeling of accomplishment at solving the puzzle was quickly replaced with immense guilt. Her mind wandered to their argument, and she vividly remembered telling Draco exactly what she thought of his father.

She had been so cruel, and he was grieving.

Shit.

Hermione gathered herself up and walked straight up the stairs and up to her door, where she also remembered locking Malfoy earlier. She took a breath before knocking.

"Go away, Hermione." Came a resigned voice from within. Instead of leaving, she opened the door and glanced around the room. It was a mess, there was stuff everywhere. Cushions were thrown around and feathers were strewn throughout, there were shards of glass on the floor although she didn't remember there being any glass, to begin with, and all of the bedclothes were strewn around the room.

Her eyes settled on Draco, who was now standing up and gripping his wand defensively, hair dishevelled and eyes red-rimmed.

"I said go away. I really don't need your shit right now." She launched herself toward him, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso.

"What are y-" Draco started, completely caught off guard.

"I know." That was all she said. Draco slowly got over his shock and wrapped his arms around her, promptly bursting back into tears. All fight left him and he just sobbed into her shirt for what felt like an eternity.

"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered into his shoulder before they separated a little and sat down on the unmade bed. Draco stared at the wall ahead whilst Hermione tried to process what just happened.

"I'm really sorry about your father, Draco."

"The world is a better place without him." Draco huffed out, getting up and walking over to the window sill, watching down at the grounds below, mostly for something to do.

"It doesn't mean you can't miss him," Hermione replied, walking up behind him and giving him a side hug, rubbing large circles into his back.

"I'm sorry about your shirt," Draco mumbled, changing the subject, instead referring to the now-soaked sleeve of Hermione's top.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry if I broke a few ribs." She joked, nudging him lightly in the side.

"It's fine. I've never really been hugged before, but it was... nice." He said, locking eyes with her for the first time that night. The vulnerability and sadness in them were palpable. But what caught Hermione the most was the tiny flecks of hopefulness and light buried deep within his grey irises.

"You've never been... what?"

"Please Hermione, do you really think that people who willingly welcomed the dark lord into their home without a moment's hesitation would be a hugger?"

"I guess not," Hermione mumbled, as her entire being filled with utmost sympathy for the man in beside her. As she even thought back to the times they had shared, they never really had hugged. Touched, yes. Kissed. Slept together, yes. But never truly hugged with the intention of just giving the other comfort. She could barely even comprehend what it would be like to never be hugged before. What kind of parents never hugged their child, without a legitimate reason of course, but as far as she was concerned, the Malfoys didn't have a good reason not to. What about when their child had a nightmare? Or fell over? Or took their first steps or had another fantastic achievement?

Hermione vowed to herself that she would make up for some of those hugs that Draco was so unfairly robbed of as a child.

"Merlin, would you look at the time! We should be getting to bed or we'll never make class in the morning." Draco said, blatantly changing the subject, and swiftly repainting his mask of indifference back on his face.

"I guess so," Hermione replied, turning away from the window, and quickly performing a silent cleaning spell that returned her trashed room back to its former spotless state.

"Impressive," Draco commented, studying her handiwork.

"When you live with Harry and Ron for the last 7 years, needless to say, I picked up a few things."

"Fair point."

"Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning." Draco sighed, making his way toward the door. It was at that moment that her conversation with Ginny came back to her.

"Draco wait," Hermione called, and he stopped at the doorway turning back around to face her slowly.

"You- you could... and you don't have to if you don't want to..."

"Get to the point Granger." Malfoy teased.

"You don't have to sleep on the couch if you don't want to." Hermione rushed out, turning her head to look out the window again just so she didn't have to look at Draco as she said it.

"Well, then where do you suggest I sleep, Hermione?" Draco teased, understanding her intentions but not willing to miss such a golden opportunity to get her all hot and flustered.

"Youcouldmaybesleephereinmybedwithme?" Hermione rushed out. Malfoys smirk grew ever more cat-like.

"I'm sorry could you repeat that? I didn't quite catch what you just said." Malfoy continued to tease. Hermione grew increasingly red under Malfoy's scrutiny.

"Hurry up and get over here before I change my mind." Hermione huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at the floor, attempting not to look as humiliated as she felt. Malfoy chuckled, sauntering over to her, leaning down, and whispering into her ear.

"I thought you'd never ask." He whispered huskily, sending sparks down Hermione's spine.

Giving him a firm shove, Hermione giggled as Draco overbalanced and fell over, landing unceremoniously on the other side of the bed as he moved to miss toppling onto her and her precious cargo.

"You play dirty Mrs. Malfoy." He retorted, but smiling as he grabbed the blankets and pulled them over them both.

"You know you like it," Hermione whispered back, and it was Draco's turn to blush as Hermione laughed manically, glad to get some revenge for his previous stunt.

As the giggles died down, Hermione moved closer, pressing up against Draco's chest as his arms moved to envelop her body.

"And one other thing Draco," Hermione whispered as the lights magically turned off, "next time something's wrong, rather than bottling it up and taking it out on others, I'm a pretty good listener."

"I will" Draco murmured back, burying his face in her soft hurls and kissing the crown of her head lightly.

Chapter Text

"You know, that is the first time in a long time that I haven't had a nightmare or even a less-than-pleasant thought." Draco yawned "It was nice". He continued. Hermione smiled widely, giving him a light kiss on the nose. It was nice, this new level of comfort they had found in each other, Godric knows they both needed it.

"Me too." Hermione agreed, her eyes suddenly widening as she practically leaped out of bed, a small feat if Draco had anything to say about it, and rushed toward the door.

"Did I say something?" Draco called out concerned as he watched his wife hurry out of the room.

"Nope!" Hermione shouted back, "Your children have decided that bouncing on my bladder is a wonderful pastime!" Hermione continued as she rushed into the bathroom, Draco chuckling as he slowly made his way out of bed as well.

"So they're our children when they are doing something amazing, but mine when they are misbehaving?" Draco teased, moving around the kitchen to make tea as Hermione re-emerged from the bathroom.

"Precisely." Hermione deadpanned, a cheeky smile playing on her face.

**************************

"Come on Gin, it's time to wake up," Harry whispered, kissing Ginny's nose. Ginny groaned, rolling over away from him. If there was one thing that Harry had learned, it was that Ginny was NOT a morning person. Hermione wasn't either when they were on the run, it made him start to think that no girl was a morning person.

Giving her another shake, Ginny gave in.

"What do you want Mr. Potter?" Ginny sulked, a fake pout on her lips.

"You know we have to get up, we have potions first up." Harry reminded her. Wrong call. At that, Ginny DEFINITELY didn't want to get up.

"Alright, you leave me no choice!" Harry declared, pouncing on his wife and tickling her sides.

Ginny squealed in delight, doing all she could to push him off.

"HARRY!" Ginny wheezed, and it wasn't until she pulled out her famous Molly Weasley glare that he finally stopped. Growing up without a mother, Harry had quickly come to respect and be a little terrified of Molly and her glares, and Ginny, having grown up in a household of brothers, also quickly learned THE glare.

"Fine, fine. You win." Harry ceded defeat, and Ginny grinned evilly. She loved the effect that her expressions had on annoying boys.

"But you are right, we should get up." Ginny finished, throwing the blankets off of herself dramatically, Harry giving a small squeak as said sheets suffocated him as they landed.

"Yes, Mrs. Potter," Harry called as he untangled himself, Ginny throwing a cheeky look over her shoulder at him.

Walking out of their suite, they watched as Hermione and Draco dashed through the common room hand in hand.

Harry glanced at his wife suspiciously, though she was smiling with pride.

"When did THAT happen?" Harry inquired and Ginny smiled. "You had something to do with it, didn't you?" Harry continued, noticing his wife's expression.

"Maybe, maybe not. I like to think I gave her a shove in the right direction." Ginny cryptically replied, making Harry frown more as the other couple disappeared onto the landing.

"Must have been a pretty big shove," Harry commented.

"I dunno, she did that bit on her own," Ginny answered mysteriously, making her way toward the entrance. Harry stood still for a second processing. It was official, he would NEVER understand women.

"Are you coming?" Ginny called, already most of the way to the door.

"Yeah," Harry replied, moving to follow his wife. He may not understand, but he was glad that even when didn't, his wife was there to back him up to help his best friend.

Chapter Text

"DRACO!" Hermione yelled from the bathroom, causing Draco to frown, put down his Charms homework and make his way in the direction of her voice. Making his way into the bathroom, he had to cough to cover up his smirk.

Hermione was standing in the middle of the bathroom in a lacy pink bra and jeans. Well sort of, as with her belly now, Draco knew there was no way that she was going to get the zipper on her jeans to go up anywhere.

"My, my. Haven't you grown," Draco quipped but immediately regretted it when his words only further contributed to the stormy look on her face.

"This is all your fault, these were my favourite pair of jeans!" Hermione cried, futilely trying once more to zip them up. Draco tsked.

"For memory, you were a willing participant."

"LA LA LA LA" Hermione yelled, covering her ears and turning bright red. Draco chuckled at her response and stepped toward her, placing a comforting hand on the small of her back.

"I'm sorry, I know it's not funny. How about this, it's nearly Christmas and I know for a fact that neither you nor I have been shopping yet, so how about we go Christmas shopping and whilst we are there, we grab you a new pair of jeans?"

***************************

"I still can't believe you convinced me to wear a pair of sweatpants into Hogsmeade. Do you know how much of a dag I look right now?" Hermione sighed as she trudged through the snow, wrapped in both her own and Draco's woolly jackets and 4 scarves to boot.

"A cute one," Draco joked nudging her shoulder softly, as Hermione pouted up at him.

"Hey, you could've followed my first suggestion and transfigured the jeans larger." He shrugged, and Hermione scoffed,

"And then you would've listened to my response which was that I already had transfigured them multiple times, and the fabric of jeans will only stretch so far before it snaps, magical or non-magical. Not to mention magical sewing isn't my forte." Hermione argued back.

"I know, I just like messing with you." Draco quipped, earning him a shove that almost sent him off balance.

"Come on Mrs. Malfoy, let's get you a new pair so you can stop being grumpy at me," Draco said as he grabbed her cold hand and guided her into the clothing emporium.

Whilst Hermione was in the changeroom, Draco spotted what had to be the best gift ever for them. Sneaking away, he swiftly made the purchase and shrunk down the package before Hermione emerged in her new fashionable pair of jeans. A little big around her legs, but Draco wasn't about to say anything about it, and in her defense, they weren't exactly in a maternity store, and she doing the best she could.

****************************

"Urgh my feet hurt," Hermione complained as Draco pulled her into a jewelry store.

"I know, I know, we're nearly done, I just need to get something for Mother and Pansy and then we can go home. How about this, last shop, and then I give you a foot rub when we get back?" Hermione gained a new spring in her step as she grinned enthusiastically in response.

Their shopping trip on the whole had been very successful. He had grabbed presents from the Quidditch store for Theo and Blaise, makeup for Daphne and Astoria at Hermione's direction, and now some necklaces and matching rings for his mother and Pansy. Hermione had had similar success as well, grabbing some quidditch supplies for Ron, Harry, Seamus, Neville, and Dean, an antique contraption for Luna, beauty products for the Patil twins and Hannah, as well as a cooking book for Molly, and a muggle watch for Arthur. She had also secretly grabbed and present for Draco, and he had, for her.

"This better be a good foot rub Mr," Hermione grumbled as they finally made their way to the bottom of the Willow Lane stairs, where they didn't hesitate to use the teleportation function to get to the top without effort. Draco chuckled, suddenly very glad that he had picked up a pregnancy book from the library recently that explained exactly how to give a foot rub to a pregnant person, he had even practiced some of the techniques on a pillow.

And Hermione couldn't be more grateful, as she cutely struggled to contain her moans as Draco worked on her feet perfectly. She had no idea how much her feet were aching and ailing her until now. In fact, she resolved that she would be asking for these foot rubs a LOT more often from now on.

Chapter Text

"So tell me, ladies, how's everything going?" Ginny pried as the boys and girls had separated into different train carriages on the Hogwarts Express as they departed Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday.

Clearly the resounding 'good' wasn't the kind of news Ginny was looking for, so she gave them all a devilish smirk.

"I'm glad, but you all know that's not what I meant. How is IT going?" Ginny asked again, and each girl turned a little pink as they caught what Ginny was implying. Luna luckily came to their rescue.

"Blaise is hot as fuck and makes me feel good so what more can I ask for?" Luna bluntly informed, and all the girls gapped at her unnaturally candid remarks.

"Well thanks for that Luna, how about you Hannah?" Ginny continued,

"Dreamy. Seeing Neville really come out of his shell has been so lovely, I think we have really found love in the most peculiar of situations. Not to mention, my pregnancy hasn't been THAT bad, morning sickness has definitely passed, though I think I might finally be starting to show the smallest bump!" Hannah exclaimed excitedly, as Hermione groaned. Most of her other friends had only just started to show, lucky cows. And of course, she meant that in the nicest way.

"Enjoy it whilst you can ladies." Hermione explained as she earned a few curious glances at her sour response, "Draco has already had to take me shopping for bigger pants, and I know it's only going to get worse as baggy sweatpants and shirts will only get me so far."

"Draco did, did he?" Ginny cheekily enquired.

"Yes... I SUPPOSE I could say that he is slowly becoming more bearable with each passing day. Though the thought of bringing two more Malfoy children into this world is still a little concerning." Hermione joked.

"Hermione, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but please raise those two better than Malfoy was, I don't think our children need to deal with the prat Draco was when he was young." Ginny quipped and everyone, including the Slytherin girls, nodded along in agreeance.

"Yeah, although from the snippets I have learned about his upbringing, I don't think it will be very hard to give these guys a better upbringing than Draco had," Hermione answered, a little sadly as she thought back to small things he had dropped into conversation over the last couple of months. At that moment, Hermione resolved to herself that it would not take her children until they were in 8th grade before they got their first proper hug.

"I couldn't agree more. Stone cold was the general familial vibe in all Slytherin homes." Pansy agreed, and the other girls nodded in agreeance, "I don't think any of us plan to replicate that." Pansy continued a little sadly, again more nods.

"In other news, who is still making their man sleep on the couch?" Ginny asked, trying to lift the mood a little.

She was met with a deafening silence.

Then they all burst out laughing.

**************************

"Gosh, I wonder what the girls are finding so funny?" Ron enquired as a burst of laughter could be heard from the carriage in front of them.

"They're probably laughing at how small you are." Draco's lightning response caught Ron off guard.

"Oh yeah, well it's not like you're a Greek god down there either." Ron threw back.

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Hermione that." Draco quipped as the rest of the boys in the carriage failed to control their laughter any longer.

"And if you must know," Draco continued "I believe it was your wife that called me Priapus." He finished with his trademark smirk, enjoying how red the Weasley had become.

"Come off it you two." Theo weakly intervened, however, he too was enjoying the theatrics.

*************************

"How was your ride?" Hermione asked Draco as each couple parted ways at the platform.

"Made fun of Ron's micro appendage, rather productive I would say," Draco responded, earning an arched eyebrow from his wife.

"Well, Ron implied I, like him was tiny, and I believe I responded with something along the lines of having to ask you about that," Draco explained and Hermione turned a deep shade of red.

"So what are our plans for Christmas Eve, Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione enquired, changing the subject smoothly.

"I've got us a hotel for the night before we do Christmas celebrations with everyone tomorrow. I can confirm I booked a room with a rather delicious bed." Draco told her, apparating them both away.

Hermione can confirm.

Not small.

Not at all.

Chapter Text

"Happy Christmas, Hermione," Draco whispered as they awoke the next morning in each other's arms, placing a kiss on her temple.

"Happy Christmas, Draco," Hermione whispered back as she turned in his arms and kissed him properly.

"As much as I would love to stay here all day and continue this, I don't think the Weasleys or my mother will approve of us skipping Christmas," Draco said as he gave her one last peck, rolling out of bed and getting ready.

"You look radiant," Draco said as he admired his wife 10 minutes later, sporting an emerald, flowy casual dress with nude makeup and a lavish half-up hairstyle that Draco simply adored.

"Ditto," Hermione whispered as she reached up to kiss Draco. He was wearing a pair of stonewashed ripped jeans and a v-neck shirt that hugged his muscles perfectly.

"I have something for you," Draco said as he broke the kiss and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small black box with yellow ribbon.

Slipping off the ribbon and opening the box, Hermione gasped. Laying before her was the most intricately detailed, emerald necklace.

"It's the twin of your wedding ring. They're Malfoy family magical heirlooms that have protected Malfoy women for generations. It amplifies your best traits, which in your case will make you even more strong, brave and more beautiful than you already are. Not that you needed any help," Draco explained and Hermione grinned up at him.

"It's beautiful, Draco," Hermione said as she passed the package to him and he helped her put it on. Turning back around, Hermione reached over and grabbed another box from her bedside stand.

"I got something for you too," Hermione said as she passed Draco the package.

Opening it, Draco spied the leatherback book and frowned in puzzlement.

"Open it," Hermione told him, biting her lip in anticipation. In truth, she'd mulled over what to get him for quite a while, after all, what did you get the man that already had everything? But one afternoon, she'd figured it out, and with a little help, she hoped that her present would not disappoint.

Draco gasped as he opened the book, and several moments of silence stretched on as he flipped through the pages in shock.

"H-how did you-" Draco looked up at Hermione in shock as tears began slipping down his face in quick succession.

"I had tea with your mother, and she told me that one of her biggest regrets was that she didn't have any photos of your childhood. So with a pensive a little magical help, I was able to capture memories from your mother, Bobbin and me and put them all together in that photo book for you. I- I know you didn't have the best childhood, but I thought that this might be a reminder of all the happy times and that you are surrounded by people who care for you." Hermione finished and Draco launched himself into her arms in glee.

Hermione sighed in relief into his shoulder, glad that he was happy. She'd been concerned that he might think she overstepped, after all, she'd delved into the personal memories of those he loved most, but she was glad that it wasn't the case.

To be honest, it had taken her quite a while to gather everything. Draco wasn't kidding when he said he'd had a less than enjoyable childhood, she'd seen through his mother's eyes how cold the Manor was, and how many times Bobbin had cared for him after his father had beaten him, some of his moments with the death eaters from Narcissa's and Bobbin's perspective.

But amongst it all, she'd also found some happy moments. Draco's first smile, his birthdays, the time his father chased his toddler self around the Manor as he tested out his first broom, the time he'd told her about when he ate all the chocolate cake batter, the day he got his Hogwarts letter, the time he freed Bobbin, and then more recent moments, them sitting at the top of the astronomy tower when they'd shared butterbeer and declared a truce, his first hug, their first date, their first 'proper' kiss at their wedding, watching movies on their honeymoon, snowball fights on the Hogwarts grounds and the day they found out about the twins.

"You are incredible," Draco whispered into Hermione's hair as he squeezed her even tighter.

"I'm glad you like it," Hermione said as she lifted her head from his neck and grinned at him, wiping his tears of happiness away.

"How on earth are we going to top this next year?" Hermione giggled, releasing her husband momentarily to grab the last of her things, preparing to apparate to the Weasleys.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out," Draco replied, giving her one last kiss before Hermione apparated them away as the Christmas celebrations started in full swing.

Chapter Text

Christmas at the Weasleys was always an eventful affair. There was never a dull moment, and this Christmas was no exception.

Within seconds of them arriving, Molly had pulled both Hermione and Draco into bone-crushing hugs, to Draco's surprise and invited them in.

"Good Godric, Hermione!" George cried as he got up from the couch to greet them, "You smuggling a beachball under your dress?" He jokingly asked as he pulled her into a hug. To be fair, just like Hermione had read and not quite believed, her stomach was suddenly growing at a rapid pace, as her babies magical cores sped the pregnancy progress up exponentially. Two weeks ago, she wouldn't have believed that she would now be sporting a sizable bump, not the size of a beachball like George likened it, but an unmistakable pregnancy bump all the same.

"Oh yes, and from my experience with the twins, by B-day, you will be the size of a house and more than ready to get those bouncing terrors outta you," Molly laughed as she lead them into the loungeroom where the others were already assembled. Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hannah and Neville as well as the rest of the Weasley clan and their partners all smiled as they entered, making similar comments about her fast-growing belly.

As Ginny stood up to hug her friend, Hermione gasped, realising that her best friend was now sporting a similar baby bump that had not been there a mere few days ago.

"Magical pregnancies are wild, huh?" Ginny said as she noticed Hermione's shock, inviting them over to get settled.

"You can say that again," Hermione said as she slightly awkwardly lowered herself onto a couch that George had kindly vacated for her, Draco perching on the arm of it beside her.

"Well, now that we are all here, I think there are some presents that are begging to be opened," Molly instructed, making her way over to the tree to grab the gifts and pass them out. It was clear that all of the couples had already given their gifts to each other, but there were still plentiful gifts from Molly and those for each other.

Molly passed out the first gift to everyone, a similar lumpy package for each of them, even Draco, Hannah and the elder Weasley partners as well as Molly's children and 'adopted children' - Hermione, Harry and Neville.

"10 Galleons says I know what this is," George joked, and there was a ruckus of ripping as they all opened their presents to reveal the trademark Weasley sweaters.

Most of the children received a Moron coloured one, Hannah got purple, Hermione and Draco got emerald, each with their initials emblazoned on the front.

After expressing their gratitude, they moved on to presents for each other.

Some of the most notable presents included personalised Weasley's Wizard Wheezes wares including a jumping ferret for Draco, mini Fred and George figurines for Hermione wearing shirts that said, good luck telling them apart as an allusion to her own twins, an eye mask and ear muffs for Molly so that she wouldn't have to watch the chaos, a toy gun for Aurthur, and the list went on. Along with the Weasley sweaters, Molly had also gifted everyone a copy of 'the brutally honest guide on how to survive children', even George who had paled when he opened the cover to find the first chapter 'the truth of labour' with painfully detailed descriptions and images of tearing and pooping during labour.

"I think I've lost my appetite," He wheezed, shutting the book and looking positively green as the rest of the bunch laughed at him.

"Really, you don't even want to try my signature trifle?" Molly called, immediately causing George to perk right back up, the book laying forgotten beside him, "That's what I thought. Speaking of, who's hungry?" Molly asked and everyone immediately migrated to the table for lunch, the most delicious spread laid out before them.

2 hours later, Hermione and Draco practically rolled out of the Weasley house, toward the apparation point.

"I don't think I'll ever be hungry again," Draco moaned as they slowly went, Hermione, laughing at him.

"Well, the Weasleys may not have had the most money, but they always made sure that everyone was fed. Over the years, Harry and I have perfected the art of Molly-refusal, to spare our stomachs from exploding." Hermione informed him.

"Now you tell me!" Draco whined, although the smile on his face proved he was only joking, and actually found the whole thing rather endearing.

"Well, I can't reveal all my secrets," Hermione told him, as he held his wand and her tightly to begin their apparation.

****************************

Hermione's feet landed on the cobblestone, and she looked up, as Malfoy Manor loomed before them. Hermione couldn't help herself from shivering at the sight, her mind immediately flashing back to the last time she was here, getting tortured on their drawing room floor. Malfoy looked down at her in concern, and his eyes widened as he realised his mistake.

"Oh my- I'm so sorry, I didn't think. We can go!" Malfoy rushed out as he realised the magnitude of feelings that seeing this house would present for his wife. Hermione shook her head, placing a calming hand on his chest.

"No, it's ok. The war is over. I was caught off guard, that's all. But it's fine. I know that nothing's going to hurt me, that it is only Narcissa and the house elves left, and I know that you will be there with me, to keep me safe." Hermione said, reaching up to give him an assuring kiss on the cheek.

"If you're sure..." Draco said and Hermione nodded once more, "Ok then, let's go see my mother. If it makes you feel any better, she's been very busy redecorating since the death eaters and father went to prison. From the inside, the place is barely recognisable," Draco said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders in comfort as he led them up the path to his manor.

"Draco! Hermione!" Narcissa greeted as she threw open the front doors for them. Hermione smiled, hugging the matriarch in greeting and looked around the entrance in appreciation. Draco was right, the manor was nothing like the dark and gloomy house she remembered. Whilst still maintaining its opulence, it was now more modern and light, with marble floors, white walls, ornate gold furniture and flowers splashed around the place.

"I love what you've done with the place, Narcissa," Hermione complimented, as the elder Malfoy led them through the halls to a small sitting room where the elves had already prepared their tea.

"Thank you, my dear," Narcissa smiled, gesturing for them to take a seat, "I figured the place was in desperate need of a refresher, and to get rid of the memories and stench of dark magic from our previous 'guests'" She explained and Hermione nodded. She hadn't really considered the impact that it would also have on Narcissa, Hermione was sure she also didn't have a jolly time in the Manor during the war, and she was pleased that she was working to reclaim the Manor for herself again.

"Renovations have been coming along well I would say, the halls are now restored, and I've moved onto the main rooms, the drawing room for instance," Draco placed a comforting hand on Hermione's knee as he felt her stiffen beside him, "I've completely gutted, and I'm going to make it into an indoor garden and sunroom so that it will be completely unrecognisable." Narcissa continued, and Hermione nodded along, relaxing once more. Narcissa's words were comforting her more than she knew, helping to assure her that she would never have to see that place the same way again and that Narcissa and she were on the same wavelength about not wanting spaces that bought back those memories for them all.

"Then I'll move on to the wings, in fact, I'd love your input for the west wing, that is where Draco's room is, I'd love to transform it into a space for you and the twins to enjoy, that is if you want it," Narcissa broached and the couple nodded in response. Hermione and Draco were yet to have a conversation about what they would do after they graduated, but it was nice to know that they had options, either way.

"Oh yes, and then I'll move onto the outside, black is so last century, I'm thinking white like the inside with some wooden elements as I see in all the luxury papers. And I think I'll need an army of gardeners to tackle the gardens, restore them to their former glory, " Narcissa gushed and Hermione smiled along, "I'm sorry, where are my manners, talking at you about the renovations," Narcissa admonished as she poured them all tea.

"Oh no, it's no problem Narcissa. I'm glad that the troubling past of Malfoy Manor will be erased and restored to its former glory. It really is a beautiful estate, and I'm glad that you have plans to make the most of that." Hermione assured the elder woman, smiling as she accepted her tea.

"Well, in that case, Draco, why don't you give our guest a little tour, and I'll head down and see how the house elves are getting on with dinner," Narcissa said, and Draco nodded, offering Hermione his hand as he led them away.

********************

"And this is my room," Draco said as he led Hermione into his room. It was relatively plain, a large room with a king-sized bed with emerald covers, a quaint sitting area and a walk-in robe the size of Hermione's whole bedroom. There was also a bathroom off to the left that had a bath, or more likely a pool that could rivel the one in the prefect's bathroom, with ornate details to match. Perhaps Hermione's favourite parts was the wall of books that made up the furthest wall, with a reading nook to match.

"Very nice," Hermione said, but was cut off by the sound of an owl scratching at the window.

Draco frowned, opening the window to let the owl in and untied the letter from its ankle.

"Um, Blaise says he's having trouble with the wards on his manor," Draco explained, showing her the note.

"Yeah, I've read about those," Hermione said.

"Yep, every ancient wizarding estate has intricate wards developed over generations, each heir adding spells of their own design to fortify the house. My father taught me about the ones placed on here so that I could take over them one day, but Blaise mustn't be having the same luck with his. Look, I'm going to apparate over and see if I can help out, would you be ok here for an hour or so?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, of course, besides, you left me with a wall of ancient books," Hermione joked, grabbing one of the shelf at random to demonstrate her point.

"Ok, I'll be back as soon as I can, call Bobbin if you need anything, and there is floo powder on the mantle of the fireplace in the bathroom if you desperately need to go anywhere," Draco said, trying his best to assure his wife and himself that she would be ok and would have exit strategies if anything was to happen.

"It's ok, Draco. I'll be fine." Hermione assured him, giving him a little shove toward the door. Giving her one last kiss, Draco turned and made his way out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Hermione sighed, walking over to the bookshelf and poured over her options of entertainment for the next little while.

A particularly old blue spine stood out to her, 'A history of the Malfoy's'. Seemed prudent, Hermione thought, she may as well know what she was dealing with. Hermione reached over to pull the book off the shelf, gasping when instead of slipping off the shelf, it caught, and with a click the bookcase became a door,

Chapter Text

Hermione's curiosity got the better of her, and she stepped inside the doorway that had been exposed to her, jaw-dropping at what she saw. 

It all made sense. 

Looking around the room, Hermione saw why Draco's room had been so plain. It was a cover, simply a place to sleep. 

No, it was in this room that he really lived.

It wasn't an overly large room by Malfoy standards, probably a similar size to her bedroom, walls adorned with Slytherin flags and regalia, clippings of newspaper haphazardly stuck to walls, featuring a few pictures of himself, at school or catching the snitch, and tabloid photos of his family at high-class parties. In one corner was a desk, groaning under the weight of books and scrolls, mostly muggle classics, Hermione noted to her surprise. Other personal items were spread throughout the room, his firebolt leaning against one of the walls, a chest filled with keepsakes - who knew Malfoy was the sentimental type? And finally, and perhaps Hermione's favourite part was the reading corner on the opposite end of the room, consisting of a fluffy rug, squashy armchair, cushions and throw blankets, with a little side table.

Hermione glanced around the room once more, and upon deciding that she was still very much alone, she decided to investigate the reading nook more, sinking onto the armchair with a sigh. Then, she spotted a leatherbound book sitting on the side table. Considering she hadn't been able to choose the book she wanted from the bookshelf in Malfoy's original room, Hermione decided to pick this one up, opening it up. 

Her eyes widened as she quickly realised that it was a journal. His journal. 

She was going to put it back, she swears. She wasn't going to read the entries scribbled in ink. But just as she did, her eyes caught her name written at the bottom of the page. 

Now she had to know. 

December 24th, 1991

Well, hello I guess. I bought this the other week at Flourish and Blotts, and well, I don't have anyone to talk to in this place, so I guess you will be it from now on. School's been good, I've assumed my rightful place as the Prince of Slytherin. Of course, I have made quick work of gathering my followers, of course, my goons Crabbe and Goyle are still around, more effort than they are worth if you ask me. Of course, I am also excelling in my studies, potions an easy favourite with Snape, although I did receive several lashings from father after that bookworm mudblood Hermione Granger got higher marks than me overall. How is it even possible to get 110% in an exam? Favouritism if you ask me, Gryffindor's princess. Although, she won't last five minutes once the dark lord resumes his power. I overheard Father talking with Aunt Bella just the other week and she said they soon anticipated his return. About time I say, I'll be sure to recommend Granger as the first of many mudbloods he slaughters.

Hermione frowned as she studied the next date, it was 3 years later. 

December 28th, 1994

Gosh it has been a minute, I never thought I'd write in this thing again, but I guess it's getting lonelier. As expected, the Dark Lord has returned once more. The mood has changed at dinner parties, Death Eaters whisper excitedly as they compare their kill lists. I can't wait until I get the opportunity to be one of them. Shouldn't be long if Aunt Bella has anything to say about it, she is already scheduling lessons for me to start tomorrow, to make sure that I am the most powerful and dutiful servant the Dark Lord has ever seen. Father is thrilled, although I think my mother is less so, of course, she would never outwardly say so, but I can see the dark rings under her makeup. I don't understand why though, although Father has always said she is weak, she probably can't stomach our Lord's return. The next time I write, I'll be given the honour of the mark, I'm sure. 

Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or cry at how indoctrinated Draco had been in his early years, although from what little he had written, Hermione could still discern the unfortunate undertones of his words. As she scanned the next entry, there was a distinct change. 

August 23rd, 1996

War is coming. I heard Aunt Bella earlier talking about Voldemort moving in with us, as punishment she says for father's misdeeds with Voldemort's diary. She is thrilled about the opportunity to support him so intimately. I'm not so sure. As promised, Voldemort marked me just last week. I can't believe it when I see it on my forearm, horrible process, but I'd do it ten times over if that is what he needs from me. Aunt Bella has been training me rigorously, Occlemency whilst being Crucioed each day, I'm not sure I'll ever remove the tremor in my hands that has caused, as well as dark magic practice, such fun to see those who wronged the Dark Lord suffer. Just yesterday I perfected the Avada curse. Hopefully, the Dark Lord will give the opportunity to test it on a human soon, frogs are becoming rather dull practice. Word has it we are not the only ones preparing for war, Potter and his little buddies have also been practising, and that buffoon Dumbledore seems to have the right idea for once to fear the Dark Lord's capabilities. No matter, they will be dealt with soon enough.

From there, there was another gap in the dates and another significant change in Draco's writings, and Hermione squirmed as she realised that the dates were all clustered around what should've been their 7th year. 

October 1st, 1997 

Pushing that buffoon was just the start. The Dark Lord has moved in with his blasted snake, this place is the only place that is safe anymore. He has his mother caged in the drawing room, torturing her daily. Father tried his hand at convincing the Dark Lord to get her out, but it only earned him 2 hours of torture for his troubles. Since then, I've been climbing his ranks as Aunt Bella had instructed, now I go out with them to battles, my kill counts growing steadily higher every day. Something is coming. The Dark Lord has a test for me, I can feel it. If I fail, he will finish off my mother, I know it. I can't believe that there was a time when I wanted this. Not that I would ever admit to anyone that I don't, I guess being a natural Occulmens is good for something. After we decimated a muggle school, and now with what is happening to Mother, I lost a little faith in our ability to do good. Of course, I would never kill any of those children, although I did have to stun a few of them so that the other sickos didn't grow suspicious. I just want her out of that cage, she is all I have left. Apparently, Potter is on the run with the Weasel and Granger, never thought I'd see the day when I wished with all my being that they succeed, I don't know how much more my mother can take in that cage.

Then, the handwriting changed a little, shaky, which Hermione immediately recognised as Cruciatus tremours and the pages were slightly warped in several places, highlighting where his tears had fallen. 

October 5th, 1997

He finally let Mother out, although, with the state he left her in, sometimes I think she'd be better off dead. Aunt Bella was the one to come up with the idea, although she gave me the credit, to place a trace on the Dark Lord's name, We've captured hundreds of resistance fighters and order members as a result. So simple, and lethally effective. The Dark Lord released Mother promptly after, as a reward for our devotion, I try not to think too hard of the lives that have been lost as a result, prisoners fed to Nagini for the most part. The Dark Lord's demands are only increasing upon me, leaving me with very little spare time which I spend at Mother's bedside, massaging out the tremours in her hands and keeping her constantly dosed with potions. The second Mother was released, Father disappeared abroad, volunteering for all of the Dark Lord's assignments, even the ones no one else would touch. The Death Eaters say that it is because he is trying to win back the Dark Lord's affection, I say it's because he can't handle being in the house when Mother  is so fragile as a result of his failings. Mother barely eats, and cries until she passes out really, although I try my best to get her to eat, every meal laced with calming potions if only she would eat any of it. I've only seen her make one appearance at a Death Eater meeting as commanded by the Dark Lord, although she made me drug her so heavily with sedatives, I think a person under the Imperius curse would have more control over themselves. I have tried so hard to convince her to go into hiding, run away, but she refuses to go without me, and I know that now I'm marked, there is no way that I can run where the Dark Lord will not find me, we'd both suffer a fate worse than death for our troubles. Again, I can't believe I wrote this: please hurry Potter.

Hermione felt tears slide down her face as she read Draco's desperate accounts, never before had she realised precisely what it would've been like for him or the lengths that Voldemort would go to ensure he maintained control of his Death Eaters. Hermione then had to fight to not be physically sick as she read his next entry.

October 25th, 1997

The Dark Lord is getting more desperate, that much is clear. We've barely heard anything about the 'Golden Trio' for months, and everyone is growing suspicious, which has only made his actions more reckless. Today, I was allocated to a team he'd put together to go and find Granger's parents. I never thought I'd be thankful for the day Hermione Granger's smarts outplayed us, but believe me, when I say that had we found so much of a trace of them, the fate of the Creevy parents would pale in comparison, the Death Eater's would've found every way to torture and defile them, abuse them both in every way possible, tear limb from limb, only to heal them and do it again, for weeks and weeks, however long it would've taken to get the information they needed. I don't know where Granger has hidden them, but for the love of Salazar, I hope they stay there. Although not finding them didn't stop the Death Eaters from expressing their distaste, by the time they were finished, her home was burned to the ground, along with every other house in the street, although as far as I could tell, I don't think that anyone was in the houses at the time. Honestly, for their sake, the Order better make a move soon, or the Dark Lord will only get more desperate, and I don't think that the next home or loved ones we attack will be so lucky. 

November 18th, 1997

The order still hasn't made a move, nothing but radio silence. Every day more and more prisoners are caught, tortured and then fed to Nagini, surely the order must have noticed. Our last victim, Looney Lovegood, I thought having captured such a close friend might prompt Potter actually to do something to start ending this war, but nothing, and so the girl is wasting away in our dungeons, she will soon meet the same fate as everyone else we've caught. In fact, after the events at the Lovegood home, I'm starting to doubt how 'light' the Trio are after all, they knew that we'd taken Luna and they still only had questions for the elder Lovegood, about some of the darker elements of magic or at least that was what I discovered within Xenophilius' memories. Of course, whilst I was recovering from the torture of that failing, I spent my time reading about the Deathly Hallows, and it's beginning to make more sense as to why the Trio are in hiding. The Dark Lord is clearly in possession of the Elder wand, although he seems to be having some trouble with it, or at least that's what I overheard when he was torturing Ollivander over the matter. I also know that Potter must have the Invisibility Cloak, which explains why he was able to get away with the stuff they used to do in Hogwarts, and how they've remained untraced thus far whilst on the run. You know, I should tell the Dark Lord that that is what Potter and his friends were inquiring about at the Lovegoods and that he has one of the three Hallows, but for some reason, the elder Lovegood seems to have forgotten entirely that he had that conversation and so couldn't inform he Dark Lord about it, gosh I wonder how that happened... 

Hermione paused as she digested this information. It had always been a curiosity of hers as to how Voldemort had been so blindsided when they used the Deathly Hallows against him, she'd assumed that Voldemort as an accomplished Legimens would've pulled all of those memories from Xenphilius about their conversation and questions, but if Draco had been quietly pulling strings, obliviating... then it made far more sense as to why they'd lasted as long as they did. She'd known it hadn't entirely been on luck, no, turns out they had a secret supporter. How this information didn't come out in the Trials was beyond her, but she was beginning to harbour a silent appreciation for the man she suddenly realised she knew so little about.

Hermione frowned as she scanned the next entry, the handwriting so shaky and messy, that she had a job to make out some of the words.

March 12th, 1998

And just when I think I can't despise Potter more, he never fails to surprise me. He and his goons got caught a few days ago, a well-executed stinging hex on Potter the only thing that allowed me to save their life as long as I did. Likely Granger's work if you ask me, she appears to be the only one that harbours any form of wit among the three. Not that it mattered all that much, her selfless actions were rewarded with a two-hour torturing session with my dear aunt. You know it's funny, I've seen hundreds of prisoners tortured at this point, and whilst I'd never go as far as to say I enjoy it, no one else has had an effect on me like that, not since mother. She was just lying there, Crucioed, whilst my aunt cut those awful words into her skin, with a poisoned blade, a blade designed to inflict lasting injury, I doubt it will ever get it to fully heal. But through it all, she just kept staring at me, I don't know if it was consciously or not, but it was like she was begging me to save her, and I couldn't, there was nothing I could do that wouldn't get us both killed. Days later, I still hear her screams. And to hear the other death eaters during, leering and detailing exactly how they would defile her the second that my aunt was finished, it made me want to vomit when they looked to me as if they expected me to join in like some uncivilised horndog. I almost felt... guilty. That's new. Of course, I would never admit that to anyone, although I almost did give the Weasel a piece of my mind when he had the hide to complain when Potter ordered him to pick up Hermione before they apparated, even though the poor girl couldn't stand on her own, shame really, that I had to let Potter disarm me for authenticity or I would've sent Weasel on his way with a few warts in the nether regions. 

Of course, there are no winners and losers in war, only those unlucky enough to survive, and let me tell you, when the Dark Lord was through with us, we would all have welcomed death with open arms. It took me two days to regain full movement of my body after it ceased after hours of torture, legimency and Crucio. Another two for Bobbin to work out the kinks in my hands enough for me to hold a pen, not that it is going very well clearly. I only had just enough time to lock Mother away before he arrived, if the same presents he gave the rest of us were to be extended to her, I doubt she would've survived the first hour. 

The end is coming, we all know it, I just hope it comes before he kills us all first.

Hermione gasped as she finished that, she knew that Malfoy had looked green that day, his face being the only thing that grounded her through Bellatrix's torture, but it had never occurred to her how awful it must have been for him, and the dire consequences that their escape must've had for him and his family.

May 2nd, 1998

It's happening tonight, we have been summoned, it appears that Harry and his goons have made it into Hogwarts and are trying to stage a final front and that the death eaters are all rallying for our standoff. I must be quick, there is so little time and so much to say, there was a time when I wanted this, a time when I was so naive, that I let blood status control my thoughts, my power and my ambitions. Not anymore, I have nothing left to prove, nothing left to give, this is our reckoning, and for the love of Salazar, please let Potter win. 

May 5th , 1998

For the first time in my life, I'm glad the 'Boy Who Will Not Die' didn't die. It all happened so quickly, that no one even noticed when my curses started randomly flying and accidentally took out only fellow death eaters in my wake. Good thing too, for resistance fighters, there weren't many that were willing to use much more than an expelliarmus on their opponents, doesn't exactly do much good when the other is intent on hurling Avada's at you. In fact, I only saw a handful of times when I actually saw some dark curses fly in Death Eater's directions, mostly from Granger, curses I know she found in books she should've never had access to, books that if Potter and Weasel found out, they would likely have a heart attack. Not that it mattered, in the end, Nagini was slain, and the Dark Lord followed shortly after. 

I know this is the end for me, Aurors are trying to break through the Malfoy estate wards right now, and when they do, I'll be waiting. I've tortured, I've killed, I deserve any punishment I receive. Honestly, Azkaban sounds like a safe haven compared to here, I'll take dementors over Voldy any day, and the stench of dark magic that lingers over this place, in all the furniture and ripping into the very ley lines of the estate? No, thank you. 

Father tried to run, convince us all to disappear, but I refuse to spend my life on the run, I have done wrong, and I'm willing to accept any punishments for doing so, and Mother being as weak as she is, I doubt she'd survive the constant apparition. They can do whatever they want to Father and me, but I pray they leave my mother alone, she has been punished enough by the Dark Lord, there is nothing more the Aurors can do, no punishment she hasn't already given herself forever letting herself and me get involved in any of this. 

June 18th , 1998

After a month of trials, it has been ruled that I will get off with a year in Hogwarts. Overly light if you ask me. Didn't help that I was marked, or my actions in giving myself over to the Dark Lord at the Final Battle, but Granger and Potter fought wholeheartedly for me, mercy I did not deserve. They were kind to Mother too, six months of house arrest for her troubles, Father didn't receive the same mercy, I guess that happens when he still tried to spout his blood purity crap in court, well after the Dark Lord had perished, as if that was what the War was really about. I felt conflicted as we saw him taken away in chains, he is my father in name, but never in spirit, and I struggle to feel anything at all toward him. 

Either way, I will be off to Hogwarts in a short while, get through the year and then who knows, I think I'll disappear, take the mother and live our lives out on an island perhaps...

Hermione couldn't help but chuckle as she read that, as much as she appreciated the heavy undertones of his writings, she simply couldn't imagine Narcissa in a swimsuit, spending the rest of her life getting wrinkly on the beach. Hermione as curious as she read on, she'd now read Draco's perspective on the war, but there were still two more entries...

September 29th, 1998 

And just when I thought the universe couldn't get any more fucked up, it literally did. With Granger. In charms. Of course, right after we all came to, there was quite the panic, girls screaming and leaving the room, boys screaming and stumbling around for their clothes within the fray. The look of horror on her face just before everything spun out of control, I will never forget. Nor will I forget the blood. 

Most of the seventh-year population have been studiously ignoring the issue for weeks, no eye contact, I haven't even spoken to Pansy, and I would consider her one of my closest friends. But not me, the night after it happened, I summoned Bobbin, and she bought me all the books in the Manor about the subject, I know what the curse was for, a curse for forced pregnancy... with a 100% success rate. Of course, learning that only resulted in my losing the contents of my lunch in the toilet. Our favourite bookworm doesn't appear to have done the same research though, the girls are still eerily calm about the whole ordeal - well, calm considering they are all likely carrying the foetus' of those they were closest to.

This is all just one big mindfuck. The whole universe sending the middle finger to all of the 8th year. I'm not a religious man, but to whoever has listened to my prayers, please listen once more, please don't let Granger be pregnant, no child deserves to have a monster like me as their father.

October 29th, 1998 

Of all the prayers to be ignored. Father is dead. Hermione and I fought. I tore her room apart. Any second now, she will come back and surely be ready for round two. She doesn't deserve this. I don't deserve her. I don't deserve our child. I am a monster, I've done things that will forever eat at my very soul, just read the other entries. 

And yet I have all of those things. And I don't know what to do. Writing it down, its always helped me process. My darkest thoughts and feelings, on paper, and then I would forget them so that the Dark Lord would never find it within my mind whenever he chose to look. But I have no clarity anymore. 

I am not my father. I will never be my father. I work every day to not be my father. When Hermione compared him to me, that stung. More than I'd like to admit. I will write this on paper, my pledge, just like so many entries before it. 

I will protect my children. I will not hurt my children. I will be there for my children until the day they don't want me. My children will be loved. 

I just...

I don't know how.

A tear dripped onto the page, smearing the last word on the page, and Hermione reached up and felt her wet cheek, realising that she had started crying. Draco was notorious for not expressing his feelings, hiding everything he held most dear so that no one would ever find it. To see every forbidden thought, every plee, every detail of his mind laid so bare for her... 

It was... heartbreaking. 

Hermione hadn't known. She didn't know about how his father indoctrinated him, how early the torture had started, how much torture there was, how treacherous his actions had been, how his mother had been treated, how he had been treated. And then there were the more recent messages that only continued to rip her heart into shreds. His self-deprecating thoughts. His fears of the pregnancy, his fears of his impending fatherhood.

It physically hurt. 

Hermione wasn't sure how long she'd stayed there, frozen, processing, hand on her heart as tears continued to roll down her face.

"Hermione!?" Draco called, marching into the secret room frantically as he searched for her, but he quickly froze when he spied his wife sitting in his secret hideaway, on his favourite chair, with... his book. 

They stayed like that for several seconds. Just staring at one other. Draco saw the tears on her face and saw that she was on the last page of his book, she'd clearly read it all. 

"H-Hermione... I..." He started, but that only seemed to further add to her distress. Draco sighed, head dropping, an overwhelming sense of grief overcoming him. She'd read it all. She'd never look at him the same way again. 

"I get it, now you know how much of a monster I am if you want to-" His words seemed to snap Hermione out of her reverie, her eyes widening, as she launched out of the chair with surprising speed given her ever-growing stomach, as she dashed toward him. 

Draco closed his eyes as she rapidly approached, bracing himself for the incoming assault he was likely to get now she knew all that he had done. 

Which is why he squeaked when he felt her arms wrap tightly around his neck, and he stumbled back, only just managing to keep them both upright as his wife launched into his arms, burying her head into his neck with such ferocity. He felt her tears quickly soak into his shirt, and he sighed once more, wrapping his arms tightly around her in return. 

"Hermione, I am so sorry," Draco whispered into her hair, feeling his own tears sting his eyes. 

"Draco, no!" Hermione snapped, whipping her head off his shoulder to look at him squarely, doing her best to look menacing, given her own teary eyes and melon-like stomach.

"You are not a monster! Don't you say that. I- I..." Hermione paused as she gathered her thoughts, and Draco marvelled at the sudden fire that burned in her eyes with such determination and self-assurance. 

"I love you,"

Chapter Text

"Wait," Draco said, suddenly ramrod straight against his wife, "You... you love me?" He asked tentatively as if bracing himself for Hermione to quickly retract her words or cover them up with an excuse. Hermione of course, recognised this immediately, and so, whilst staring directly into Draco's eyes said,

"Yes, Draco Lucius Malfoy a.k.a. ferret, a.k.a biggest pain in my arse, a.k.a. baby daddy, yes I love you!" Hermione confirmed, and Draco felt the gleeful smile that spread across his face as Hermione joked with him, "I love you so much, for a little longer than I'd probably like to admit." Hermione finished.

Draco couldn't restrain himself any longer, as his head dropped, and lips connected with hers. Hermione stayed frozen for a second, caught off guard, as even now, she was still getting used to the feeling of being on this level with her previous arch-nemesis. But she quickly recovered, kissing him back with the same fervour.

Breathless, Draco looked down at her once more,

"I love you too, Hermione," Draco whispered, and Hermione smiled brightly up at him, reaching up to steal his lips once more. Minutes later, they finally resurfaced for air, as Draco wrapped his arms back around her shoulders, and Hermione rested her head on his shoulder.

"I gotta ask," Draco started, a cheeky glint in his eyes, "You said for longer than you'd like to admit, how long?" He inquired jokingly, earning a smirk from his wife.

"Not forever, Godric, You were right awful when you were younger, but... I don't know, something started when you and your mates helped me deal with Ron that day, but I think the first time I consciously realised it was when we shared that butterbeer together on the ledge of the Astronomy Tower," Hermione admitted, her cheeks warming a little as she thought back to those experiences.

"Good to know. You know for me, it had to be when you threw up in that trashcan during yoga class. Truly one of your finest moments," Draco joked, and Hermione shoved him playfully.

"Hey! It is not my fault that your children gave me morning sickness and that unsettlingly happy yoga instructor made me do exercise before sunrise!" Hermione defended, giving him another punch on the arm for good measure. Chuckling wholeheartedly, Draco threw his hands up in surrender.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Draco cried, sobering slightly, "Honestly, for me it was pretty similar, I know for a fact that you can cast a perfect, unwavering levitation spell, despite your performance with Weasley, but I think watching you ready to curse Dumbledore into oblivion in his office that day did it for me. My fierce lioness," Draco whispered, planting yet another soft kiss on her lips. A few moments later, Hermione became once again aware of her surroundings. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to end up in here," Hermione whispered, and Draco could see the sincerity in her eyes, swirled with a hint of guilt, but he shook his head in dismissal,

"I should've known that my little bookworm would accidentally manage to find the only book on my shelf that had a 'notice-me-not' spell on it," Draco joked, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze, as Hermione giggled a little at his backhanded compliment.

"Well, I dunno, I didn't mean to, I swear. Anyway, this place is amazing Draco," Hermione told him, looking around once more in appreciation. Draco hummed in reply.

"Yeah, the manor was always quite cold, pretty big and lonely for a small only child with parents who were rarely around. When I was about seven, Bobbin helped me to set this up, it made everything feel a little smaller, cozier, and it made for a wonderful place to escape to ever since." Draco said as he glanced around with her, "Other than Bobbin, and now you, no one knows that this place exists, not even the ley lines of the house, which was particularly helpful when they got damaged during the war with all the dark magic, this room had a natural warmth to it that Dark Magic couldn't touch." Draco explained and Hermione nodded along, she knew that Dark Magic in excess started to affect not only the castor but the spaces around them, in such concentrations as Voldemort had been famous for, she was not at all surprised that even the complicated magical ley lines of ancient manors such as this couldn't withstand the stress. 

"Anyway, on that cheery note, Blaise's wards are cooperating once more," Draco changed the subject promptly, upon realising that Hermione now knew more about him than anyone else, and he still needed time to process that fact before they talked about his past any further. For Hermione, for the first time since they'd been in the room together, she'd noticed his appearance. 

Draco was looking positively dishevelled. His silky smooth hair was matted and knotty, his usually perfectly crisp clothes wrinkled and torn, dirt was smeared over his paper-white complexion and he was coated in a thin layer of dust mixed with sweat.

"Good grief Draco, you look like you've gone ten rounds with a tiger! Are you hurt?" Hermione rushed out as she raked her eyes over him, and looked up quickly when he took a second longer than normal to reply. 

"Lemme see!" Hermione insisted, pushing his chest to get him to fall back onto the squashy armchair she'd been in not long ago. Draco sunk down with an umph, giving a little squeak when Hermione banished his ripped shirt entirely.

"Hey! I liked that shirt!" Draco whined playfully, a smile tugging at his lips as he watched his wife fuss over him, "See? Just a scratch," Draco confirmed, and Hermione nodded slowly as she cast a diagnostic charm for good measure. Other than a few superficial scratches and a few light bruises, the spell confirmed that he was in fact, unharmed. 

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you just wanted to get my shirt off," Draco joked, teasing her as he lay spread before her, his toned chest, creamy smooth skin and muscled arms distracting her momentarily.

"Mmm, maybe," Hermione purred, leaning down until she was perched on his lap, lips a mere inch from his, "But I guess we'll never know," Hermione stated, sitting up suddenly and climbing off Draco's lap, turning and walking away, before throwing over her shoulder, "Your mother must be wondering where we got to." Draco groaned, flexing his muscles to redirect blood flow.

"You are such a tease," He grumbled, getting up and following his wife out of the room, stopping with her as she watched the door flip back until it was entirely undetectable, marvelling at the handiwork. It was a rudimentary mechanism, almost muggle, which is why it is so ingenious and so undetectable. 

"You know you love it," Hermione joked, linking her arm in his as Draco led them out of his chambers after finding a new shirt to change into. 

"I do," Draco said, looking lovingly down at her, as Hermione giggled, nudging his side as they walked, and hoping that her blushing wasn't obvious.

It was, but it only made Draco adore her even more.

Chapter Text

"Gosh, it is so nice to be back with all you girls again, I forgot how... much it can be sometimes to live in a house with all brothers," Ginny groaned dramatically, leaning back for emphasis, and narrowly avoiding toppling right over as her big bump messed with her centre of gravity.

It was now New Year's Eve and the girls had had enough. They hadn't seen each other much over the Christmas period, but in the span of a week, every single expecting mother was now sporting a noticeable baby bump, in the muggle world, Hermione would say most of the girls looked to be around what would be expected at 28-30 weeks, whilst herself, having been carrying twins, looked closer to 35 weeks along.

Tonight Harry and the boys had suggested that everyone meet up tonight for a New Year's Eve get-together at Grimmald Place, and the girls had promptly all decided that the limit of magical clothes expansion and adjustments had promptly passed for all of them, and they were all in dire need of some maternity clothes.

Hermione, having been growing large for the last few weeks had accrued a few items, like the jeans that she and Draco had bought, but that was the extent of it, and Pansy had made it blatantly clear that she was not permitted to attend their function tonight in Draco's shirts and sweatpants as they were the only things that fit her at the moment.

So, all of the girls had arranged a shopping trip within muggle London, as, surprisingly in Astoria's words, "she would not be caught dead in a pregnancy robe, have you seen those things, they make Trelawney's sense of fashion look flattering in comparison!"

So after a quick stop at Gringotts to exchange some money from their respective vaults, they were on their way. Well, Hermione wanted to get money from her own vault, but Draco had sent her with strict instructions and a key for his, threatening her saying that he would know if she didn't touch his vault and he'd just get more money put back in her account if she didn't. Hermione was almost sure that there was nothing in it, but hey, after she showed the Goblin the key to his vault, and been led down to extract the money, Hermione suddenly no longer felt bad she had never seen so much gold in her life. Not to mention how gobsmacked she was the Goblin asked upon her arrival, which vault she wanted to open, informing her that they had five more vaults just as full if she wished to see them.

Pockets filled with well over two thousand pounds each, all the girls were set and ready to enter the closest muggle pregnancy parlour. Hermione didn't even realise that was a thing until she stepped foot inside one, but she was pleasantly surprised with what she saw.

The shop spanned as far back as the eye could see, rack after rack of clothes for every occasion.

"Excuse me," Pansy asked an attendant sweetly, "I made a booking for the ten of us for a consult?" She asked and the attendant smiled at the group of expectant mothers.

"Yes of course, follow me, we have some people ready and waiting for you," The attendant replied, leading them through to the back of the shop.

"Surprise!" The boys called as they reached the change rooms and the girls remained there shocked. Every single husband was there, looking terribly out of place in the women's clothing store, all smiling cheekily.

"What are you all doing here?" Ginny exclaimed, speaking on behalf of the girls.

"Well, we figured you all might want some help, you know, to carry everything and such," Harry tried to explain and the girls nodded. Hermione never liked to be the one to ask for help, shocker I know, she was an independent woman, and in any other situation, she was capable of doing everything for herself. But she would be lying if she said she felt like carrying a whole wardrobe worth of clothes around a store with a watermelon strapped to her stomach, and she'd be lying if she said that Draco didn't have a stellar fashion sense.

Smiling Draco sauntered over to his wife.

"Shall we get started?" Draco asked, placing a hand on the small of his wife's back and leading her back to the front of the store to get started.

Hermione had never seen such an organised store in her life, everything sorted by garment and occasion, meaning that one lap around the store could get her everything she would need for the foreseeable future. Starting with pants, Hermione made quick work of picking out a few stretchy pairs of jeans with a stretchy waistband, leggings, sweats, and long loose skirts whilst Draco stayed silent, a step behind her, quickly assuming his role as her personal clothes rack.

Before long, Hermione had managed to accrue quite the pile, of shirts and dresses of every style, shape and colour, the pile now obscuring Draco's vision. As an attendant noticed, they quickly rushed over, taking her selections from Draco and placing them in an awaiting changeroom for her.

As they continued, Hermione also restacked Draco's arms with jumpers, jackets and coats, shoes and socks, the attendant once more grabbing her items and placing them on an awaiting rack in the change rooms.

As they made their way toward the final racks, Hermione blushed as she quickly grabbed some underwear, nursing bras and pyjamas off the shelves without much thought, she hoped that whatever she grabbed ended up being her size, although she did not want to spend any longer than necessary in that section with Draco looking over her shoulder, even if they had slept together since.

Once done, the whole crew met up in the changerooms, the boys collapsing into chairs whilst their wives each found their respective changing rooms.

And thus, the fashion show began.

***************

"Ronald Weasley! It is all your fault that my boobs are too big for my clothes!!" Pansy shrieked through the curtain as she tried and failed to get yet another button-up top to stay closed at the front without the buttons popping over. You'd think maternity clothes would be a little more accommodating in the bust as well, but Pansy was dismayed that her choices didn't seem to stick to that trend.

"Really? I kind of like it." Ron retorted, realising a second too late what he'd just said.

The curtain was wrenched open and Pansy stood there, red-faced with pure fury in her eyes.

There was an immediate groan when all the boys were met with her exposed chest as they hurried to look away.

"Pans, I mean this in the nicest way, but do you reckon you can put a shirt on, other than Weasel, none of us want to see that." Blaise groaned, his palms firmly planted into his eye sockets. Pansy didn't even hear him.

"You do not get an opinion on my body!" Pansy growled at Ron, who was quickly shrinking back into his seat in fear.

"Too right Pans, Shut your face, Ronald!" Ginny called over the cubicle, "And I completely agree, Harry I need you to get me at least two sizes bigger in this bra please," Ginny called once more, throwing the bra over the cubicle for Harry to take.

"Yep, Neville, can you do the same?" Hannah called, throwing her own over.

"Oh me too," The rest yelled, and before any of the husbands knew it, they were all standing outside each cubicle, with the 'offending' bras in their hands.

"Um..." Seamus stuttered, holding up and inspecting the lacy garment he'd been thrown, "What's a C?" He asked and the girls all laughed, quickly yelling out the exact size they needed. For Hermione, she would usually be mortified that she had just shared her bra size with her husband and the rest of the 8th-year male population, but she couldn't bring herself to care, in a few short months they'd all be breastfeeding, so it wasn't like they all weren't going to see them soon enough whether she liked it or not.

Soon enough, Draco threw Hermione over a few new bras in the correct size, and Hermione laughed as she saw his selection. In true Malfoy fashion, he'd gotten one of every shape and pattern, all in emerald green.

"Hey, it suits you!" Draco whispered through the curtain upon hearing her chuckle, low enough so that only Hermione could hear.

After the underwear debacle, the crew was back on track, girls emerging every other second with an outfit that was quickly yayed or nayed by their spouses and each other. Hermione almost felt bad as she spied the quickly growing pile of potential purchases she had gathered, although she decided to pass it off, Professor McGonagall had informed them that they would not be required to wear the uniform for the next few months during pregnancy and recovery as it was simply impractical to force the expecting mothers into short shirts and button-up blouses, something designed to be an olive branch from Dumbledore, Hermione assumed, but either way, she was more than willing to forgo the uniform with her rapidly expanding stomach.  

Pansy, being the fashionista that she is was the first to finish her shopping, clothes promptly paid for as she joined the other boys to wait for the rest of them to finish. The rest were slightly less fortunate. Whilst all the clothes in the store were beautiful, it was really hard for many of them to find things that fit and suited them, Hermione, quickly discovered that cuts and styles that used to look stylish on her were now less so, and were still navigating that as she shopped, much like the rest of the girls. 

"Salazar Astoria, maybe a little more fabric around the bust, you don't want to scar the first years!" Pansy barked as Astoria emerged in something that barely kept her modesty intact. 

"And Hermione, the opposite applies for you, maybe a little less sweatshirt and a little more form-fitting. You are expecting twins, you need to stop dressing as though you are still trying to hide your baby bump!" Pansy ordered. Hermione looked down at herself, and her latest choice. She had thought that it was quite acceptable, and for some unknown reason, tears randomly started welling up in her eyes. 

Draco, who'd been silently watching on as his wife modelled her choice saw her expression, and quickly stood up, swiftly grabbing Hermione by the shoulders and walking her backward back into the changeroom, pulling the curtain shut promptly behind him. 

"What's wrong?" He whispered, looking his wife up and down for any signs of injury. 

"Nothing looks good on me anymore!" Hermione sobbed, her head falling into Draco's chest as he reached up to cradle her as best he could around her stomach, "I look like a whale!" She moaned. 

"Don't be silly, you look amazing!" Draco hushed her, "A perfect mother-to-be, sure your clothes won't fit the way they used to, but you are having twins! They are never going to fit whilst you are carrying our beautiful children." Draco reasoned and Hermione nodded along, her head still firmly planted in the centre of his chest. 

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me, I think it's the hormones. Urgh, sorry, it's just my back hurts, my feet hurt, and just want to go home, but I can't because I can't find anything I like!" Hermione continued, lifting her head and wiping away the last of her tears whilst Draco watched on amusedly. 

"How about this," Draco suggested once he'd regained his composure, "I'll go and pick some things out for you, and we'll see how we go with those, okay?" He whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead as she nodded in agreement. 

If Hermione had've known how good Draco would be at picking out clothes that suited her perfectly, Hermione would've never tried to shop for herself. 

True to his word, Draco even made it as painless as possible, opting to sit with her in the changeroom to help her do up the zippers of her clothes and maneuver into particularly complicated pieces, giving her advice and his new selections along the way. The rest of the crew stayed decidedly quite about this sudden shift in Draco's demeanor, although it was likely because they were seeing the comforting influence he had on Hermione, and they would be lying if they said that his choices weren't stunning. 

"Alright, whose ready for a party!?" Theo yelled once they'd all successfully made it out of the store, arms ladden with shopping bags with entirely new wardrobes for all the girls. The expectant mothers groaned. 

"Nap first," Hermione yawned out, her head falling to rest on Draco's shoulder, her eyes willingly falling shut. All of the girls nodded along.

"Of course," Draco whispered, pressing a kiss into her hair, gathering her in his arms as they apparated away.

The poor thing had only stayed awake long enough to hold on to apparate, but Draco had carried her the rest of the way, of which she was now sleeping soundly wrapped in his arms. Depositing her on his bed, her tucked her in, brushing aside her unruly curls and planting a soft kiss on her forehead. 

"Sleep tight, my princess,"

Chapter Text

"It's strange right?" Hermione mumbled, her head pressed against the window of the Hogwarts Express, "To be travelling to Hogwarts for the last time?"

"Yeah, it is," Draco responded almost wistfully as he watched his wife from where she was perched on his lap, his hands moving up to support her and their children.

There were hums of agreement all around the cabin, the entirety of 8th-year squeezed into one carriage, only possible by the wives sitting on their partner's laps as they sat crammed next to each other. If they were being honest with themselves, they would say that this decision couldn't have been less comfortable. Still, co-existing in the same space and classes for so long, they developed an attachment to one another, and after a week largely apart, they were all keen to catch up with one another.

Draco leant back in his chair, smiling as one of his children kicked against his palm from where it was spread around Hermione's stomach.

"Draco, love, I think you are a bad influence, every time you do that, they bounce around in there like lunatics," Hermione whispered, shifting a little when one well-aimed kick landed on what she assumed was a kidney. Draco said nothing but started rubbing his hand on her belly comfortingly to calm them. It took a few seconds for them both to realise the pointed silence that had suddenly fallen over the carriage.

"What?" Hermione asked, looking up.

"Love!?" Ron repeated incredulously. Hermione cringed as she realised what she'd done in front of everyone, she was never going to hear the end of the questions from Ginny. So bracing herself, Hermione tried to play it off.

"What, it's not like you all haven't said the same thing." Hermione retorted. The silence was deafening. Hermione smirked.

"Well, there you go, no big deal," Hermione said finally, although her mind was running with a million questions, had everyone already passed that point? She knew they were all growing close with their respective partners, it was hard not to, but had they all really hit that level? From her understanding, before Christmas, everyone was cordial, but really!? Brushing those thoughts to the side, Hermione changed the subject;

"So, now we have that out the way, what did we all get up to for Christmas?"

"Well, seemingly, after my parents went to Azkaban, the house seemed to turn on itself, so poor Luna and I spent most of the week sorting everything out. Gave us the right fright when Bogarts and protective spells went flying when we opened the front door," Blaise explained and Draco nodded along, having witnessed the disarray the house had been in. They'd only just managed to convince the house in the nick of time that Blaise was the rightful master through the blood wards before one of the three got greviously injured.

"Wow, well lucky for us the Weasely household was relatively safe, save Fred and George's latest experimentations for their shop," Ginny explained, "Oh and mum lost her mind when Bill told her that Fleur was also expecting. Took 3 calming draughts and a whole bottle of Firewhiskey - George's idea, to get her coherent enough to express her congratulations," Ginny recounted with a smile, and Hermione chuckled as she spied Harry who looked positively scarred from the experience.

"Wow, that's amazing news," Hannah smiled, "well, we went to visit Neville's parents and spent most of our time with my parents, oh and we think my little brother has a crush on Neville, I've never seen someone so idealised," Hannah chuckled as Neville went pink in the ears.

"I dunno, you guys never got to see Ginny swooning over Harry when she was like- nine," Ron joked as Ginny whacked him hard on the arm, not getting the message, Ron continued, "She couldn't even talk to him until the fourth year, and even then she couldn't be in the same room as him without blushing," He regaled as peels of laughter echoed around the room.

"It was not that bad!" Ginny retorted, but when even Harry wouldn't back her up, "Urgh, whatever," Ginny conceded.

"You should consider yourself lucky, Neville. Astoria's parents still haven't taken killing me off the table yet, they showed me a step-by-step plan of how they were going to do it, starting with castration!" Seamus complained as Astoria rolled her eyes, "I don't blame them," She sniffed, although, to everyone else, it was clear that they were slowly developing a connection with each other.

"I can confirm," Theo agreed as he recalled the conversation that had occurred over Christmas dinner, paling a little. Whilst her parents were slightly more accommodating of him and his heritage, neither was pleased to have sent their daughters off to Hogwarts as mandated and have them returned freshly knocked up with husbands in tow. But the elder Greengrass' were smart, they'd evaded Azkaban for one even though it was common knowledge that they were morally flexible, but Theo knew somewhere deep down they understood their predicament and were willing to support them all and their newborn grandchildren.

"I bet Hermione got the same treatment with her status," Ron growled, and Hermione frowned, immediately taken off guard by Ron's snide comments. Draco's arm tightened around Hermione's waist protectively, fully ready to jump in and defend his wife if necessary, although he knew better than to jump in over the top of his own fiery lioness. 

"Oh no, Narcissa is incredible! Draco and I spent a lot of our time with her helping in the manor renovations, the facade of the building is really coming into the modern era, honestly, the place is unrecognisable." Hermione answered, her tone sickly sweet. Harry smiled encouragingly as Hermione relayed their experience, and he quickly began inquiring about the renovations as they all started chipping in about the house. 

So distracted, that none of them realised the snarl that had stretched across Ron's face...

Chapter Text

"Hermione!" Draco called, walking up the stairs toward the bathroom where he knew Hermione was getting ready for her classes, "Hey, have you seen my-" He asked, turning the door handle and walking into the bathroom. He didn't bother knocking because it wasn't like it was anything he hadn't seen before, but what greeted him stopped him in his tracks.

"O-oh," Draco stuttered, suddenly lost for words as Hermione turned toward him. Seemingly just registering, Hermione screamed, eyes widening as she froze in place.

She was wearing her new stretchy jeans and her green lacy bra, Draco's favourite, about to put on her shirt when Draco had walked in. Whilst she was a sight to behold, that was not what had rendered Draco speechless. What was, was the smattering of red and purple lines that crossed over her torso.

Scars.

So many scars.

Thin, silvery purple lines ran like scratches across her hips, stomach and abdomen, growing even more clustered over her shoulders and arms, scattered throughout were some thicker, angry red scars that Draco immediately knew to be magical, littering across her chest and stomach. Across her neck, there were a few hickeys that Draco recognised to be his own, but they paled in comparison to the jagged purple scars that stretched from her jugular to her jaw. Scanning down her forearms, Draco immediately landed on the word MUDBLOOD that his dear aunt had etched into her forearm. As he predicted a year ago in his journal, it was still angry red, if Draco didn't know better, he'd assume she only sustained the wound a few weeks ago.

But what caught his attention most was the most prominent of the scars, a blow that started in the direct centre of her chest like a crater and spanned outward, lines running in every direction like a spider web, stretching across the tops of her breasts, across toward her arm pits and right down toward her belly button, stretching right over her growing belly.

"Hermione... I-" Draco started, but his voice trailed off once more, a single tear slipping down his cheek. This seemed to wake Hermione from her trance as she quickly turned away from him, arms protectively shielding the front of her body from him. That only seemed to make it worse as Draco's stomach coiled as he studied her back, no less scarred than her front.

Draco was at a loss at how to react, there were a thousand things he wanted to say, but when he went to express himself, he simply couldn't come up with anything at all, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

Finally giving up, he moved toward her slowly, as if he were approaching a wild animal, eventually wrapping his arms around her from behind, hands coming to rest in the valley between her breasts and her protruding stomach as his head dropped to her shoulder. They just stayed there, Hermione with her back pressed up against him, seeking his warmth.

After a while, Draco could feel Hermione's tears sliding down her chest dripping onto where his arms were wrapped around her, and he knew that Hermione could feel his own tears on her shoulder, as they stayed there, a silent understanding passing between them. He knew how vulnerable she felt in this moment, and there was nothing he wanted more than to be there for her, in whatever ways she needed him.

An insurmountable time passed before Draco finally found his voice, pressing a kiss to her shoulder before whispering,

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Was all he said, and Hermione gasped turning in his arms to face him. Her mascara was running down her face as her swollen eyes looked up at him, and Draco could see the insecurity that lay there. Reaching up, Draco used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away the dripping makeup, cradling her face as he did so, his eyes staying trained on her face, not willing to break her trust and look any further downward at the scars without her permission.

"You first," She whispered brokenly, and Draco gave her an equally broken smile in return. Keeping one arm firmly wrapped around her, he reached for his wand that lay abandoned on the counter, Draco couldn't even remember placing it there through his shock.

"Aparecium" Draco whispered as he countered his own glamour charms and banished his shirt. Slowly but surely they dissolved revealing a myriad of scars not unlike Hermione's. Fine lines scattered his porcelain skin, red, purple, and silver, others, far more interesting, scars of blue, green and grey in misshapen patterns.

Hermione ran her fingers over his mottled chest, inspecting them carefully. 

"You knew about them, didn't you?" Draco asked softly, allowing her to trace his body. Hermione looked up at him and nodded, shrugging.

"I always suspected as much, your upbringing was heavily scrutinised at the trials, not to mention you fought a war. The first time I saw you shirtless, completely scar-free I was surprised, thought I had it wrong and you'd miraculously managed to remain physically unharmed through it all, but the next day when I came downstairs, I heard you whispering glamour spells, which pretty much confirmed it. Not that I was in a position to judge or say anything given I too, relied heavily on the spell." Hermione explained and Draco nodded along. 

"What's this one from?" Hermione asked, pointing to a small, thin silver scar shaped into an XYZ on his collarbone. 

"I was seven, walked into Father's office when he was drunk, and ended up on the receiving end of a glass bottle," Draco explained simply and Hermione nodded sadly, leaning forward and placing a kiss over the scar. 

"What about this one?" Hermione asked, her hand tracing a thick green scar on his shoulder, several similar ones littered his abdomen and back, Hermione presumed from the same incident. 

"I'll tell you after you tell me what this one is from," Draco countered, reaching up and tracing a thin line that ran the circumference of Hermione's bicep.

"That was the beginning of an amputation charm. Before the snatchers brought us to your manor, they tried to torture us for information, until they realised who I was and they quickly decided that they would rather live than continue their torture plans," Hermione explained equally as simply, an unspoken tact they had used to broach painful memories without getting overly emotional about each and everyone and the grim story attached to it. Draco nodded in remorse and kissed the scar lightly.

"The green ones are a gift from Potter in the sixth-year bathrooms. Years later I asked Severus why the Sectumsempera had to leave green scars, but he was less than helpful in his explanation of 'I liked the colour green'," Draco chuckled spitefully. Hermione's eyes widened as she recalled the memory, it hadn't even crossed her mind that the spell would leave scars, although of course it would've, it was dark magic after all. Hermione nodded, kissing the scars. 

"What about these ones?" Draco asked carefully, pointing to the thin scars that grew clustered toward the edges of her body, her arms, and torso. Hermione shrugged.

"Lots of things. Being on the run for over a year wasn't exactly comfortable, and after Voldemort took control of the potions and medical supplies, we did not have a drop of Murtlap or Essence of Dittany to spare, so any non-life threatening injuries I healed with spells as best I could, but it meant many of them left marks. They are mostly grazes from curses, both in battle and in training, some are from when I nearly got splinched when we were escaping Nagini, and others from miscellaneous things, I have one particularly nasty one from where I slipped and almost cut my finger off with a knife when I was cooking dinner for us and others from branches and such when I was foraging or on the lookout." Hermione listed as Draco started kissing each and every single one. 

"You foraged?" Draco asked,

"Yep, aside from Snape, I was the only other person with potion skills, I'm sure you recall the dreadful streak Gryffindors usually have in Potions. Without supplies, I made do," Hermione shrugged and this time it was Draco's eyes that widened at the information. The Order really didn't thank Hermione enough for the crucial efforts she made during the war, honestly, Draco wasn't even sure if they would've won without her.

"You're incredible, you know that?" Draco whispered, continuing to trail kisses across her body.

"This one?" Hermione asked, pointing out a set of clustered rings on top of his heart.

"That was from a third year at the Battle of Hogwarts. If only his casting skills were as good as his aim, I'd be in real trouble," Draco weakly joked as Hermione placed sensual kisses on the spot. 

"What about this one?" Draco asked, pointing to a red outline of a heart on her collarbone.

"That's actually not a scar, when I was little, my mum had this blackboard that she would use to write shopping lists, reminders, and special dates on, and in the corner, she drew a heart. The contents of the board changed, but the heart was always there. I took a photo of it the day I wiped their memories and had it tattooed the next day so that a little part of them would always be with me. I actually didn't want that one to be covered by my glamours, but to cover all the scars, I had to use strong, full-body glamours like you do and so it got covered up along with the rest. I can't get anymore whilst I'm pregnant, but after, I think I'll get some more tattoos to cover up some of the scars more permanently, make them my own you know?" Hermione explained and Draco's eyebrows raised in surprise, that was a great idea, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that. 

"This one?" Hermione continued, pointing to a grey scar that ran along his neck.

"Courtesy of the Dark Lord, after you escaped. Most of my scars are magical, they heal, but always leave a mark." Draco explained as Hermione kissed it once more, "Although, the fact you managed to get this one to heal at all is an achievement," Draco continued their new-forming routine, catching Hermione's wrist to expose her MUDBLOOD scar as he kissed each letter.

"I packed it with Dittany and researched some pretty complicated Egyptian spells to counter the poison that she used to keep the wound from healing. Eventually, it stopped bleeding, although it reopens every so often and I have to pack it again. I've isolated most of the injury though so it doesn't bother me most of the time, pain-wise." Hermione replied. 

"This one still looks painful though," Hermione stated, turning their wrists over and exposing Draco's fading Dark Mark instead. 

"Actually not really. It burned for a few days after he died, but it has been dormant ever since, slowly fading. I've spent several months researching how to remove it, but the anticoagulant component of the magic makes it pretty much impossible to remove and live to tell the tale. It's fading slowly as my body absorbs the magic, but the magic used is so potent, that it still won't be gone in my lifetime or the next. Maybe one day, I'll take your lead and get it covered too," Draco responded.

"Ok, Hermione, what happened here," Draco asked, finally addressing the metaphorical elephant in the room as he gestured to Hermione's biggest scar that spanned like shattered glass over her chest. They'd started very carefully with each other, picking out scars that seemed small or non-lethal, and gauging each other's reactions along the way, but he'd sensed that they'd both grown more comfortable with the situation and that Hermione was feeling more confident in exposing herself to Draco in this way, so he decided to broach the question, wrapping his arms around her protectively once more as he patiently waited for her response.

"Dolohov." Hermione sighed, leaning into his comforting embrace, and allowing her eyes to fall closed as she poured her darkest memories to him, "It happened in a skirmish about two months before the battle of Hogwarts. A slow-moving necrosis curse. Luckily Madame Pomfrey cut it out of my chest before it reached my most vital organs, but most of my ribcage, muscle and skin in the area had to be regrown and it left the nastiest of scars. I took much pleasure in cursing Dolohov right back with the same curse, only altered to be much faster acting, at the Battle of Hogwarts. There wasn't anything left of him by the time it had finished its course." Hermione smirked as she retold her revenge.

"And here I was thinking that your side were the good guys. Turns out the Lioness is a snake at heart," Draco joked, kissing the crown of Hermione's head. Running his hands over the tendrils, Draco dropped his head onto her forehead lovingly and declared, "A vine,"

"What?" Hermione asked, glancing into his eyes, confused. 

"You could get a vine, with flowers if you wanted to make this scar your own," Draco clarified, and a genuine smile stretched onto Hermione's face as she caught on. 

"That's a wonderful idea," Hermione replied, leaning in to give him a kiss, full on the lips. Looking around finally, they broke free from the bubble of vulnerability, protection and love they'd created in that moment, Hermione glanced at her watch.

"Oh, we are running so late!" Hermione squeaked, but Draco hushed her, pressing another kiss to her lips, coming up with the perfect way to banish the last of the careful charge between them. 

"I have a much better idea of what we should do with the rest of our day," Draco declared, running his hands over Hermione's arms. 

"Oh?" Hermione inquired curiously. 

"Yeah," Draco replied, his hands slipping down her back and coming to rest on her shapely behind. 

"Oh." Hermione responded catching on, "Bed?" She suggested and Draco nodded, grabbing her hand.

Chapter Text

Draco sat with his flask in the stands of the Quidditch Pitch, unwinding in the solace after training. The soft wind caressed his cheeks as he stared at the bright blue sky, birds swirling overhead, a dim hum echoing across the field comfortingly from inside the Hogwarts castle.

He thought back to the whirlwind that had been his return to school. Babies or not, each student was still required to complete their NEWTs, a stress wildly overshadowed by the plethora of life-altering events that had suddenly been thrust upon them. However, no matter how much pity the professors took upon them, they were still students, and their workload was treated as such. Not a lesson Draco attended where there hadn't been at least two feet of homework that had been assigned for the following class, and Draco quickly fell back into the monotonous study regime: wake up, breakfast, study, classes, more study in the library, lunch, afternoon classes, another 2 hours in the library, Quidditch practice, dinner, another few hours in their apartment, bed.

Hermione often accompanied Draco in his study sessions across the school, and he quickly learned that they worked well together, mostly in companionable silence, with a few quick questions to each other here and there to clarify one of the many new concepts they had been introduced to in each of their classes. Draco was also surprised at how naturally their study schedules and habits aligned, and it became increasingly obvious why they were ranked first and second in all their classes.

Whilst Hermione and Draco worked on, others had taken a rather... different approach to their studies. Harry and Ron for example were perfectly content to do the bare minimum to pass, hyper-aware that whilst Hermione and Mrs. Weasley had practically forced the pair to return to finish their education, they had both been offered spots in the Auror's training program the moment they were finished due to their exemplary war efforts, and so neither were interested in competing or persuing any other career paths.

Blaise, Theo and the Slytherin girls also took a more laid-back approach, being on the wrong side of the war had meant that their parents were all either dead or in Azkaban and as such, they had inherited the family fortunes, and knew that they would never have to work again if they so wished. Draco doubted that many of them would, there were family empires to build and maintain, jobs they all, including himself, had been groomed since birth to uphold. He didn't exactly blame them for their laidback approach either, he knew that whilst it wasn't exactly talked about, there was a lot of trauma and grief they all had to process, and being back at Hogwarts wasn't exactly making it easier.

As much as Draco hated the circumstances of the situation they were in, he honestly wasn't sure that had they all not been forced to marry, they all would've made it through the year. Draco knew for a fact that in the silence between the Final Battle and starting Hogwarts, they had all turned to some pretty unhealthy coping strategies. His own was to bottle everything up behind his occulmency walls, praying that all of his trauma stayed buried deep within his brain to be forgotten, whilst others without such abilities turned to more... unsavoury ways of forgetting. Blaise and Theo drank away their sorrows, the Greengrass girls turned to hookups to cover their pain and Pansy tried to maintain appearances, but they all knew of her secret reliance on dreamless sleep and pain potions in the dead of the night.

And Draco knew that they were not alone in their struggles, like Draco, Hermione had a gift for Occulmency which he knew she heavily relied on throughout the war so that she remained strong for the Order. He'd also heard passing comments about Harry's time in Muggle Fight Clubs, Ron's obsessive habits, Neville's smoking and Ginny's OCD. 

But through all of that, if nothing else, being forced to take on a spouse, to have someone that drove you crazy to no end and pressed all of your buttons just as much as you did theirs, they had unknowingly saved each other from some very dark places. Like it or not, they had grown to depend on their partners, and love them, as they worked together to create more positive habits for themselves and their quickly expanding families. Draco for one, knew he would be nothing if not for Hermione. 

Although, without her and her hormones, he might be slightly less batty. 

"Isn't 3 pm a little early to be drinking Malfoy?" A voice piped up behind him as the person sat on the bench next to Draco. Draco was immediately on guard as he spied his interrupting companion. 

"Potter, why don't you shut-" Draco began, but Harry quickly held his arms up in surrender.

"Hey, no judgment here," Harry stated matter-of-factly as he drew his own flask out of his bag, taking a swig. 

"Trouble in paradise, Potter?" Draco asked, slightly disconcerted by Harry's sudden interest in conversing with him. Whilst they had been cordial with each other, if for nothing else than to keep the peace, they had never shared more than a few words to each other, and never outside the group setting that they often frequented with the rest of 8th year. 

"You could say that," Harry agreed, turning away from Draco to stare out into the stands, taking a steadying breath before continuing, "Her hormones are driving me crazy! One minute Ginny is crying all over me, saying that she is so grateful to have me and the next, my very existence offends her." Harry groaned, leaning forward as he took another sip out of his flask. Draco smirked, oh he knew about that all too well. 

"I'll drink to that Potter," Draco said, holding his flask up in mock 'cheers' as he took another sip from his own strong concoction. 

"Same for you then?" Harry asked as he swallowed another mouthful, gesturing at Draco's flask.

"It's worse, everything is worse. Twins means double everything. Double the morning sickness, double the hormones, double the tears and double the pain for her." Draco admitted with a sigh. Of course, Draco didn't mean to complain, and Harry knew that because of course the ladies ended up with the far worse end of the deal, having to actually physically go through all of the motions, but the fact still stood that Draco was with her every step of the way, and it was taxing on him too. 

"Who would actually choose to get pregnant?" Harry asked rhetorically, and Draco was surprised to find that he was chuckling along with his school nemesis at the irony of it all. 

"It has been quite the nightmare. Only a month left. Although, if I have another shoe thrown at my head because it is my fault that Hermione is getting stretch marks, I'm going to lose it," Draco laughed, trying to make light of the situation. 

"Be thankful that Mione doesn't have chasers aim. I got this shiner just yesterday, a face cream bottle was thrown because it is my fault that she has breakouts. Didn't miss either." Harry grumbled as he lifted his fringe to expose a rather large egg on his forehead from where it made an impact. Draco laughed, lifting his own fringe to show a week-old bruise in a similar spot.

"Nah we deserve it. To think that in 4 short weeks, we are going to be fathers. That's crazy right?" Harry continued and Draco nodded along, eyes widening as it truly dawned on him how little time he had left as just a normal 18-year-old before he assumed the role of father to his twins. 

"Gosh, when you put it like that..." Draco trailed off, still getting over his shock. 

"We'll be great fathers," Harry said finally, punching Draco's arm cheekily, "although I do not envy you and two twins who will be the perfect mix of Mione's brains and your cunningness. They will be unstoppable." Harry commented with a smile.

"Yeah, they will be a challenge, that is for sure. Although I'm sure in partnership with your feisty little one, they'll be a little group not to mess with." Draco answered and Harry smiled genuinely at Draco as he mentioned their children growing up together. Who would've thought that he would be sitting here, sharing a whisky with his childhood bully, speculating about their children's lives.

They fell into comfortable silence as they stared out into the quidditch pitch, finishing their drinks. 

"See you round, Potter," Draco said finally, getting up and nodding to Harry kindly. 

"See you round, Malfoy." 

Chapter Text

"I thought I might find you here," She said, startling the man with her back to her as he perched on the ledge in the dark.

"Don't creep up on people like that!" He growled, crossing his arms as he continued to stare steadfastly into the distance.

"So snappy. Trouble in paradise?" The woman slyly asked, hopping up onto the ledge beside him.

"You could say that," He grumbled, glancing over at her briefly. She smiled wickedly into the darkness, like a cat that got the cream.

"Oh?" She inquired playfully, trying to seem genuinely curious whilst she practically saw her scheme practically eventuating in front of her. 

"I don't know what's worse, dealing with a pregnant wife, or watching the pregnant woman I love fall hard for someone else." He whispered, and the woman placed her hand a top his own, thankful that the darkness concealed her ever-growing smirk. 

"Oh, tell me about it. I'm so sorry that you are going through that, I totally can relate to you in my situation." The woman purred, the man now like putty in her hands.

"Tell you what, there may be something that can help us both if you are interested?" 

"Oh?" He echoed.

"Yes," She said, leaning in and whispering into his ear.

"I'm in" 

Chapter Text

"Good morning, and welcome back to relationship class; I trust you have all had a restful break," Professor McGonagall greeted as all of the students filed into the classroom, albeit a little apprehensively. It wasn't that Draco was against a relationship class; it was just that these new classes hadn't had a great track record so far.

As if reading his thoughts, McGonagall continued.

"It has come to my attention that whilst some couples are adjusting to married life nicely, some are taking a little bit more time," Draco had to cough to hide his smirk, which quickly earned a disapproving nudge from Hermione, who was also biting the inside of her cheek to prevent a smile.

Whilst every couple had made SOME progress since the disaster, it was no secret that many of the couples hadn't found the happy relationship bubble that Draco and Hermione had. In fact, it was blatantly clear to everyone involved which couples McGonagall was referring to.

Draco did a quick stocktake of the room.

No surprise, Harry and Ginny had taken to this whole experience fantastically; for them, it was just the next step in their relationship. Notably, a step they had initially planned to take a LOT later on, but nevertheless. In fact, Draco was convinced that his retinas were still burned from one of the many times he had spotted them sucking each other's faces off in the Common Room.

Then there was Ron and Pansy. If Harry and Ginny were peanut butter and jelly, then Ron and Pansy were water and oil. Whilst they had recently found some maturity and were trying to make it work, they were still very starkly opposed to each other. Draco knew firsthand how much of a spitfire Pansy could be, but Ron wasn't even trying to accommodate or befriend her in the slightest.

Draco moved on to the next dumpster-fire couple, Astoria and Seamus Finnegan. While there were rare passionate moments between the two, Draco still couldn't recall when they weren't arguing. Astoria still firmly blamed Seamus for the mess they were all in, and to put it nicely, Seamus did not gel with Astoria's preening and blatant vanity. Draco definitely dodged a bullet with that arranged marriage.

It wasn't all bad; Blaise and Luna seemed to make it work, which still shocked Draco. Blaise was the coolest Slytherin in Hogwarts, after himself, of course, and yet he had found love with the craziest loser that ever roomed the castle's halls.

Of course, there were the more reserved couples. Neville and Hannah seemed to have found their happy place, as did Daphne and Theo. Both couples seemed to be content with their accidental matches, to the surprise of no one.

On face value, Draco would've also placed Dean and Parvarti in that group along with Susan Bones and Terry Boot. But he'd heard some interesting stories from Hermione about Dean's... reliance on certain potions; as Dean was a Muggleborn on the run during the war, Draco wasn't overly surprised that his experience carried some baggage.

And he'd also heard about the blue between Susan and Terry. Their apartment was not that close to Hermione and Draco's at all, yet Draco had still heard the echoes of their screams as they fought. Susan hadn't talked to Terry in a week, and it didn't seem like the type of argument that could be worked out easily.

So... yeah, Draco decided that it was pretty fair for McGonagall to address the health of everyone's relationships.

"Today, we are going to do a bonding exercise with your partners; Professor Dumbledore believes that it will help a great deal in getting on the same page as your partner. Please follow me through to the next room, and we will get started." The Professor stated, and Draco inwardly groaned. If McGonagall thought she could fix all of the problems in everyone's relationships with a corny 10-question exercise or trust falls, she was dead wrong.

But his interest was piqued when they entered a room with roughly a dozen pensieves separated by canvas petitions.

"Okay, today you will be performing basic Legimency on your partner to really see their experiences and find out how your better half ticks. But of course, we know that you may have some personal memories. So, you are allowed to place your three most important, secret or private memories into the pensieves for safekeeping before the start of this exercise." Each couple nodded, choosing a pensieve and concentrating on which memories they wanted to keep protected.

Some students immediately knew which memories they didn't want their partner to see, depositing them into the swirling wells. Some struggled to pick three specific memories they didn't want their partner to see.

But most of their group had so many memories they wanted to protect that they struggled to decide on only three. Draco was definitely in that category; it wasn't that he was hiding from Hermione per se, but they had all actively fought a war that came with some memories that Draco himself wished to forget.

After five or so minutes, the last of the memories were dropped into each couple's wells, and they turned and awaited further instruction.

Draco hadn't thought much of it, but when McGonagall grimaced before continuing, he knew something was wrong.

"Professor Dumbledore," she emphasised, her tone turning grave, "stipulated that the next part of the activity continue as follows. I have now placed silencing charms on each couple's booth so that only you and your partner can hear each other." Hermione clutched Draco's arm, and she, too, suddenly had a bad feeling about the direction of the activity.

"We want you to get to know each other, especially the parts you may want to hide. Rather than performing Legimency on your partner, you will each take turns looking into the pensieves with the memories you all deposited. The pensieves have been charmed so that you will not only see your partner's most private experiences but also be able to feel how they felt during them." There was an immediate uproar from each couple, which McGonagall couldn't hear, but she was well and truly wise enough to get the gist of what her students were saying regardless. After all, she had knowingly tricked them all.

"I'm sorry, but Dumbledore insists this is what is best for all of you. As Mr Finnegan just so kindly tested for you all, a spell has also been placed so that you cannot leave your own booth until after all memories have been experienced. Take as little or as long as you like; I will be right outside." With that, Professor McGonagall turned on her heel and swept out of the room, no longer being able to watch what she was putting her students through. Whilst she vehemently disagreed with all of Dumbledore's meddling in her young student's relationships, she prayed that whilst she had no say in the activity, they would come out the other side as stronger couples.

However, things were getting a lot more real back inside the room. After both physically and magically testing the barriers several times, every student realized that they were trapped until they completed the activity. Their only saving grace was the petitions, which meant they couldn't see anyone else outside their private little rooms with their partner, nor each couple's growing panic levels.

"This cannot be happening!" Hermione all but yelled, and Draco nodded along sympathetically. "It's not that I want to keep things a secret from you, Draco. The things in there, some things are... personal..." Hermione trailed off, her stricken emotions evident on her face.

"I completely agree. But I want you to know that I will still love you no matter what." Draco said, lifting her chin as Hermione tearily looked up at him.

"I will still love you too," Hermione echoed, kissing his cheek, which had become wet with tears, without Draco even noticing.

"I'm sorry for what you're about to see," Draco murmured as they held hands and conjured up his secrets.

One by one, the couples slowly gave in and took the plunge into the most private memories of their spouse.

Chapter Text

"You did not just make me watch a sex scene between you and Lavender, Ronald!" Pansy screeched as she emerged from Ron's last memory in the pensieve. Not only did she not want to witness what she would describe as two walruses trying to get it on, but she also had to feel how Ron felt at that moment. Ew.

"Well, that's exactly why I didn't want you to see it!" Ron retorted just as quickly.

"Oh, and just so you know, Lavender was faking it," Pansy continued bluntly, rubbing salt into the wound. Ron paled. It wasn't that he didn't agree, having now witnessed what it is like with a woman, but he also didn't want to speak ill of the dead.

"You mean to tell me that you just witnessed two of my most traumatic childhood war experiences, and all you want to complain about is that embarrassing memory?" Ron sniffed, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Well, of all the memories, that's the one that will haunt me at night the most!" Pansy complained, but she sobered a little when she saw that her quips had moved past the point of joking, "Why was one of the memories just you walking away from Hermione and Harry?" Pansy asked. Ron shuddered. He had only taken the part of the memory that he wished to forget the most, which he supposed resulted in Pansy seeing it rather out of context. Noticing that Ron wasn't hurrying to reply, Pansy continued to pry.

"I felt your sadness and guilt. Was that when you three were on the run?" Ron sighed; he may as well be honest.

"I am a Gryffindor. I am from a family of them. I am proud to wear the maroon and gold daily, a symbol of strength, bravery and courage. That day, I showed none of those traits. Things got hard, really hard, you must understand. We were low, I was low, and there was no sign of hope for the future. Not to mention, I was wearing a piece of Voldemort's soul in a locket around my neck. Bit of a downer, believe me. One day, I snapped when I saw Hermione and Harry getting close. I was hurt, feeling left out... and a little heartbroken," Ron sighed, and Pansy nodded; she had known of the little love affair between him and Hermione before the war. Ron continued;

"And so, I packed my things and ran away from it, from them. I went home- like a coward. That day, I didn't display any of the values and morals I was raised to have. I don't know; I guess that wasn't a part of me I ever wanted you to see." Ron finished, closing his eyes ashamedly. Pansy placed a hand on his arm, squeezing so that he looked up at her.

"I don't think less of you. You are strong; hell, you fought a war in your childhood. Believe me, only the strong and the stupidly lucky made it through to the other side. But hey, we all have moments of weakness, and that's when we need the most support. I should know, my entire family were cowards when push came to shove, and I would've given anything to have people to fall back on. Don't do yourself the harm by hiding that, okay?" Pansy finished, and Ron nodded. He was shocked at how quickly someone he had pegged as having an ice heart had warmly healed a part of his.

"But I am also glad," Pansy continued, and Ron looked back at her suddenly, confused, "because maybe you won't judge me so much for the memories of mine you are about to see." Pansy tried to joke with a smirk, but it came out more as a grimace. Ron nodded slowly, moving back over to the pensieve.

Ron would never grow accustomed to the cold, dizzying rush of the pensieve as he fell into Pansy's memories. Looking around, Ron tried to gain his bearings. He was in a cellar, and a small child, barely six, was cowering in the corner. He only realised it was Pansy when a much older man repeatedly called her name.

Ron was startled as the door burst open, and a man he recognized as Pansy's father from the trials strode into the room, dragging her across it by her hair. Ron closed his eyes. He could feel how Pansy felt and knew that Pansy wouldn't want him to see it, too.

The scene changed again; she was a little older, probably in her third year at Hogwarts. She was standing in the girl's bathroom, tears streaming down her face. 'You are brave, you are strong, get it together, he can't hurt you know that you are back here,' he heard her whisper as she recast the glamours onto her face.

The scene changed for the last time. Ron immediately could feel that this was during the war. He'd always wondered what it was like for their side of the war between the battles. Doting on Voldemort, no doubt. He knew that Pansy wasn't marked, nor did she play much of an active role in the killings and misdemeanours of the death eaters, which was the reason that she wasn't locked up with the rest of her family. Part of him assumed Pansy stayed far away, tucked up in her manor, sipping wine and occasionally preaching the Dark Lord's ideologies. But he was wrong.

There were men, so many men. Pansy and around ten other girls her age that Ron didn't recognise. Their only job was to serve the men. Whatever they needed. Did Draco, Blaise or Theo know!?

Ron launched out of the pensieve, breathing heavily. Pansy had already turned away from him, her arms wrapped around herself protectively. Ron took a second to regather himself. It made sense why she came across so cold-hearted. No one would think to look beneath her thick armour if they were never close enough to realise that anything was under it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ron asked, and Pansy bit her lip, nodding. They both sat beneath the pensieve, and Pansy rested her head on Ron's shoulder.

----------------

"Come on! How is one of your most secret memories that you walked around with sauce on your robe for an hour before anyone told you!" Seamus exclaimed, rolling his eyes as Astoria bristled at him.

"You have no idea how mortifying that was! I am perfect, and that moment made me want to die on the spot!" Astoria retorted, stomping her foot, "Don't you care that I wanted to disappear at that moment!?"

"You were a part of a war; how is the most scary thing to you that people realise you aren't perfect?" Seamus asked incredulously.

"I wasn't that involved in the war," Astoria indignantly replied, reciting the verdict of her trial earlier in the year.

"That's not what I asked!" Seamus exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at his 'wife'.

"Perfection is the price of belonging!" Astoria rushed out a little too automatically, in Seamus' opinion.

"Who told you that?" Seamus decided to pry. Her constant preening was getting on his nerves, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to use this opportunity to find out exactly why she was so incessant about it.

"Everyone knows that," Brushed off easily, but Seamus wasn't convinced.

"Damn, I guess my grandmother forgot to mention it," He snidely remarked, and Astoria froze a little, realising that she'd been caught.

"Well - I..." She stammered, and Seamus arched an eyebrow. 

"I don't know, is just what us girls get taught!" Astoria continued, "Our mother always tells us the measure of your worth is dictated by the number of people who find you worthy. It's basic mathematics. And I'll be damned if I'm not the most worthy in any room," Astoria crossed her arms, still trying to play the unaffected role. 

"Isn't it more important that the people most important to you find you worthy rather than everyone? It's kind of superficial if everyone likes you on the surface level; what about those who know what's underneath?" Seamus pried. 

"There is no one like that, so I don't see the point," Astoria shrugged, but Seamus frowned at what she was implying. 

"That's not true; you have your unborn child who should think the world of you, your parents who should be proud of who you've become, your closest friends who love to call the messiest parts of you their favourite and now... you have me, too." Seamus finished with a smile, nudging her on the shoulder gently. Astoria tried to stifle the joyful smile that threatened to spread over her face. "Those people, they are worth a thousand of the strangers who find you attractive in a room, you have to remember that."

"I'll try." Astoria conceded, a light blush warming her cheeks. 

------------------

"Well, now it makes sense how you always get along with older men," Pavarti tried to joke as she emerged from Dean's memories. Parvarti was shocked at the extent to which his experiences during the war had tainted him and the consequent actions he now engaged with. 

"Well, it wasn't as if the trees were a much better company," Dean retorted, reflecting on the several months he had spent on the run with many muggle-born misfits he had quickly learned to call his family. Parvarti smiled, deciding how best to approach what she had just witnessed. She was shocked at the deep sense of pain that she had felt in his memories. As the snatchers picked off his new-found family one by one, it was like he was attending a funeral every other week for months on end. No wonder he tries to numb the pain. 

Noticing that Parvarti was conflicted on what to say next, Dean returned to the cold emotionless self that Parvarti had grown used to in their marriage. 

"Don't bother. There is nothing that you can say to me that will make it better." He coldly informed her. 

"I'm not going to," Parvarti soothed. "I know there is nothing that I can do to change the past or protect you. So, I'm just going to hold you as someone should've during the war, and tomorrow, when we both have clear heads, we will go to a mind healer together, and they will help us." She decided, bringing Dean down to the floor and pulling him to her chest tightly.

"It won't work," Dean argued as he dug his head further into her chest, but Parvarti noted that the usual cold stubbornness in his voice was gone. And the fact that he didn't refuse blatantly filled her with hope. Maybe with some help, she could return the boy she'd grown up with for the past seven years at Hogwarts and the warm and attentive father their child would need when they entered the world. 

Chapter Text

It was eerie as Hermione and Draco entered Willow Lane that evening. It reminded Hermione of the lull after the Great Battle of Hogwarts. The quiet sniffles for those lost, the relieved sigh that a war had been fought and won, and yet a little trepidation for the amount of work still to restore peace and order to a war-torn society.

Hermione considered it not overly different to today's events, even at a micro-level like in this situation.

It was dark out; she noted as she glanced up at the starry night sky of the charmed common-room ceiling; one of the only quips they had made to each other since reemerging from the pensieves was their lack of foresight when choosing such long memories. Even that statement skirted around the weight of the revelations, their minds such a muddled mess that neither felt ready to acknowledge.

It was on autopilot that Draco muttered their password and held the portrait open for her, a hand on her back to support her uncoordinated effort to clamber over the ledge into their living room. It mustn't be too bad if he was still civil with her...

She flopped onto her bed numbly, staring at the roof of their bedroom, glad that at least their bed still felt normal. Except... she glanced down, her eyes furrowing when she spied that Draco hadn't hopped into bed with her, instead standing in the middle of the bedroom like a deer caught in the headlights.

Hermione sighed.

"Draco," She muttered and paused when he immediately flinched, her eyes softening, "Tonight, I'm exhausted and drained in every possible way. Nothing we say to each other tonight will be constructive. As much as I usually like not to fall asleep with tension, let's take the night to get our heads straightened out, and we'll have a proper chat when we're well-rested in the morning. Now, please join me. I may not be ready to talk, but I would really like a hug... and I think you need one too." Hermione gently remarked, surprising herself at how collected she'd remained. She knew it had relaxed Draco, too; she could see the tension deflate from him like a balloon.

"I- I think I'd like that," Draco brokenly responded, quickly shedding his tie and top buttons before falling beside her and pulling the covers over them. Hermione smiled as Draco wrapped her into an embrace, hugging her tightly as his breathing started to even out.

What a nightmare.

*******************

The next morning, Hermione was feeling much better about the whole situation. Yes, she and Draco had some things to sort through, but she was now confident that they could do it and be stronger because of it.

Draco had a similar mindset, although he awoke much earlier than she had, taking solace in sitting by the fireplace and thinking through how their conversation would go in his head. Usually, that would stress a person out, but Draco found that thinking before he spoke usually had a much better outcome, given how fiery his temperament can be.

Hermione smiled as she spied a cup of tea by her bedside, charmed hot and waiting for her. Grabbing it, she dressed and prepared for the day, walking out to the living room for their chat.

While her resolve had been relatively calm all morning, she definitely noticed a twinge of nervousness when entering the loungeroom and spying her partner. Like entering a battleground, which she supposed for their living room, wasn't too far off given their past encounters here.

Draco must've been on a similar wavelength, as he blurted out.

"I think we should go on a picnic," Hermione blinked in confusion, prompting Draco to continue, "you know, somewhere warm, somewhere private and away from Hogwarts. We have the day off today, so we can process things without any distractions. That way, if you want to run away, you've at least got somewhere to run," Draco half-heartedly quipped, trying to lighten the situation.

Hermione scoffed but smiled lovingly.

"I'd love to, and don't worry, with this belly in tow, I'm not going to make it very far," Hermione soothed, and Draco smiled and reached behind the lounge to pass her a swimsuit and sundress he'd picked out.

"Cute, but what if I'd said no? Would I have ever seen my favourite maternity sundress again, or would they have stayed behind there forever?" Hermione laughed, waddling back up the stairs to change.

***************

One bumpy portkey ride later, they were standing on a beautiful tropical beach with white sand, crystal blue water, and a perfect grassy spot in the middle framed by rocks and shady palm trees. It reminded her of their honeymoon island, how she hoped he'd take her back there someday.

"It's beautiful, Draco," Hermione sighed, spinning in a circle to fully appreciate the view as he set out the most enormous blanket and cushions she'd ever seen. She'd have been more surprised if she didn't already know that Draco hated sand and would do almost anything to avoid it, including a five-meter-across blanket.

"Oooh, and you came prepared," Hermione quipped as he started pulling out an assortment of her favourite foods and drinks, a beach umbrella, floppy hats, sunblock, and loungers. Draco looked around at the spread and blushed.

"Well, I guess I spent the morning worrying, and it kind of manifested," He chuckled awkwardly.

"You have nothing to worry about," Hermione softened, sitting down and propping herself on a beanbag to get comfortable. She guessed that was as good a start to their conversation as any.

"I guess I should start by apologising. I never intended for you to see those memories, at least not like that," Draco said, looking down at the blanket. Hermione nodded slowly,

"I want to tell you that you don't need to apologise for that, but I'd make me a hypocrite because I want to apologise to you too. It wasn't that I necessarily wanted to hide parts of myself from you; I trust you; I just would've never chosen to tell you like that or all at once. It was a lot, and I'm sorry for that too." Hermione conceded, and Draco nodded appreciatively, "but that's all out there now and I feel like I should... explain... or I don't know," Hermione trailed off.

"I think that's a good place for us to start," Draco agreed, and Hermione nodded, taking a deep breath and looking out to the ocean.

"That first memory... I didn't want you to see that because I... don't feel that way anymore," Hermione winced as she recalled the hour-long rant to Harry and Ron when they were on the run about every grievance she had ever had with Malfoy. Harry had started it by making some half-hearted joke about what Malfoy would be like in a different universe, and she'd taken the bait wholeheartedly. From what she could remember, it started with noting his cowardice and name-calling, a healthy amount of hurtful words toward his family and ended with some rather hurtful quips about his worthiness to breathe air in this world. It was mortifying to stand there with him as he watched the whole thing, his expression emotionless, which Hermione worried about so much more than visible sadness or hate. It didn't mean he didn't care; it meant he was actively occluding his feelings from her.

"I want you to know that a lot of what I said wasn't anger toward you; it was more about the war and toward the dark side in general. At that point, we had been on the run for months, and I was stretched to the limit. Stressed and exhausted, it wasn't long before Ron ran away, and tensions were brewing between us as well. I wasn't my best self, and that day, every frustration and anger at the war and Voldemort got directed at you, more because you were the topic of conversation more than anything else. I know this isn't an excuse, but it is an explanation. More than anything, I want you to know that I don't feel that way anymore, and knowing what you were actually doing and feeling during the war, I wish I could take it all back. Which is what I thought I did by 'protecting' that memory; I promise it wasn't some ploy to hide how much I hate you or any of that... and I'm willing to spend the rest of my life trying to prove that to you." Hermione finished as a tear slipped down her cheek. Great, one memory in and she is already crying.

"I will say, some of those insults were creative, and some hurt, but I do believe you. If I wasn't trying to have pure thoughts in fear of a legimency session from Voldemort, I'm sure I would've said similar things about you, the Order, and probably even Voldemort himself. And I could feel how you were feeling at that moment. Whilst there is no doubt that you meant everything you said, I could feel the pain, the sadness and the anger that wasn't really for me, and I forgive you." He said, and Hermione visibly relaxed; Draco couldn't resist but pull her into his arms. Her touch grounded him, and even though it was her who'd caused him pain in that moment, he knew that she felt ten times worse about it than he did right now.

"Urgh and that was only memory one," Hermione wetly sighed into his shoulder, and Draco smiled.

"Alright, my turn, you don't get all the guilt, don't worry." He started, watching the rolling waves and rubbing circles into her back as he began.

"My first one is pretty simple, the day you punched me in the face, you actually broke it," He felt Hermione proudly smile into his chest, "and that one, yeah I deserved that, so I don't want you to feel guilty about having to watch it get reset or anything like that. My actions were fully inexcusable, and I know that now." He chuckled, and Hermione laughed.

"Don't worry. Even after seeing you have it reset, I still don't feel even an ounce of pity for the boy you were back then," Draco nodded, conceding that it was a fair establishment.

"The second one, well, I struggled to pick it, honestly. You already know about a lot of the abuse when I was younger from my father, the events of the war behind closed doors from my diary and the bits and pieces that I'd already told you, so when you're told to pick exactly three, it was tricky. But that day, when Bellatrix did that to you, I knew she'd finally snapped. There isn't anything that you didn't already know from that memory, but I didn't want you to find it in my mind and have to relive it. Are you comfortable if we talk about it now? If not, that's fine..." He started, but Hermione rested a comforting hand above his heart, waterily nodding that it was okay for him to continue.

"Okay... well, my aunt was always crazy. I never knew a time when she wasn't. I guess that's a side effect of purebred breeding. But there was, somewhere deep down, not empathy, she wasn't capable, but a sense of ego I guess... pride maybe. It's hard to explain. Like, her methods were beyond cruel, and her demeanour was foul, but everything she did, whilst selfish, was to serve a higher purpose. She tortured me, in the process of training me to be the best soldier to Voldemort... she slayed others to be the best weapon for Voldemort. Even when she was little, she could always be pushing my mother to be more perfect, the perfect purebred wife. She was so proud of being perfect, even if that perfect is very different and morbid to our own. But that day, there wasn't anything but an animal there. She was always cruel, but during the war, her style was far more blunt: torture for information with a Crucio, sure, but then Avada and move to her next victim. But that day... she physically mutilated you for no purpose other than to inflict injury," As he spoke, he had subconsciously started caressing her scar, but Hermione listened on, almost intrigued at his psychiatric dissection, trying to remove herself from the scenario altogether.

"After that, there was no getting through to her, and that's when I knew that she was coming to the end of her life. Voldemort was mad, but some like her, a cut-snake, are a liability. They stop being helpful because they are so bloodthirsty they forget about the mission, Voldemort, or war. If it weren't Molly, it would have been Voldemort himself; that day in our Ballroom, in my eyes, was the day she died to me. And the world is better for it," He finished and squeezed Hermione tight again, looking down at her, worried that he had reopened year-old wounds for her.

"Seeing that memory... wasn't great, I'll admit. I always tried to pretend that you hadn't been there that day; no one ever wants that to happen, but if it does, it is certainly not in front of people you know. But it did, and I've spent much time healing from that. Yesterday, the second I saw those marble floors, I looked at you. I could feel everything you felt: fear, guilt, all the ways you plotted to save me, everything you just described, and I'm choosing to hold on to that. Like it or not, you ground me, and I'm forever thankful for that." Hermione replied and kissed his collarbone lightly.

"I'm glad you feel that way, 'cause I feel the same," Draco echoed, "and I'm even more curious to know the amazing battle tale of you bringing down Dolohov's lab. The Dark Lord was furious when that happened. Obviously, we knew it was the Order, but we never confirmed who the brilliant mind was behind it; lord knows it wasn't the usual brainy bunch." Draco laughed, squeezing her arm appreciatively at his backhanded compliment. 

"Yeah, that was me, honestly; once we fled your house with your help, we returned to the ranks of the Order. Things weren't looking real good for us at that point. Voldemort was catching more and more members by the day whilst simultaneously creating some truly terrifying allies abroad. We found out about the lab from an escaped prisoner. Madame Pomfrey and I took about a month nursing her back to health before she could even string a sentence together enough to give us a name and a place. I saw the poor thing not long ago at Saint Mungo's; she wasn't doing much better. Trying to untangle the mess in her mind and soul was more than a task, especially when whatever was tested on her didn't even have a name yet, let alone a cure or counter-curse." Hermione regaled, and Draco nodded, trying to recall all he knew about the site to help fill in some blanks for her. 

"I remember Voldemort delightedly obliging Dolohov's request to build the place early in the war. Whilst the Order always tried to hold themselves to a 'higher' standard, Voldemort was not above getting in the mud and playing dirty to win, and that's one of the reasons it took you so long to defeat us. I visited there once while moving up the ranks as a general in his army. Horrible place. Dolohov knew that if he could create the most awful curses and creations, the Order wouldn't even have time to realise the curse, let alone counter it to save victims. But, you know better than I do that spells and curses take years to perfect... and that they need test subjects. The few I saw were vegetative Hermione. Beyond all sense and recognition, tortured corpses really. And the screams. God, I still have nightmares. You're lucky it was destroyed when it was, any longer, and any number of those curses would've defeated the Order and then probably the rest of the world if Voldemort had any input. What I really wanna know, though, is why you thought you needed to hide that from me?" Draco prompted, looking down at her as she cringed.

"I know, I know, it sounds silly even coming out of my own mouth now. I don't know; I've already told you my views didn't align with the orders regarding using dark curses. No matter what Harry said, you can't stop an Avada with an Expelliarmus. And we were being slain by the thousand," Hermione replied, and Draco nodded in recognition, "But knowing that was my belief and seeing that in action are two very different things. I know you wouldn't judge; at the time, those curses to you were child's play. But I spent so long being told and believing this pretence that I was inherently good or above war and conflict, and I don't know why exactly, but I thought that was a side of me I wasn't ready for you to see yet," Draco nodded, but still was a little reserved. She knew about all his dark sides; why wasn't she comfortable showing him hers? But he was going to let her finish. 

"After a month of meticulous planning, we headed in. I had a bomb. I made a bomb, Draco. The infiltration wasn't hard; those death eater masks are a good way to hide anyone's identity. We almost would've made it out without a sound either, those bombs had a timer of 10 minutes before they blew everything to hell, they wouldn't have even known we were there until too late. But Ron saw a cousin of his. Like you said, tortured beyond recognition. Everyone knew there was no saving him, but Ron was bullheaded like that, and he never let anything go. And he just snapped. He disarmed 10 workers around him, but one of them set off the alarm. After that, it was an all-out battle. We lost 40 men and women that night, and dozens more were injured. I coped an extravagant coloured patchwork to my chest, but the cat's already out of the bag about that one," Hermione sadistically chuckled as she looked up to gauge Draco's reaction but saw that it was a mix of sympathy and awe.

"It all happened so quickly... once I saw curses in colours I'd never seen before, I knew we had to start fighting more seriously. I Avada'd five people that night, crucio'd three and sent curses that would make even Voldemort blush. It felt terrible at the time but also... exhilarating. That's the part that I am the least proud of. It is not in my nature to take pleasure in another's pain, and yet that night, it finally felt like I was making a difference, that we weren't disarming a head, only for it to grow back like the order were. And of course then the bomb went off. It gave us time to grab our injured and dead and get the hell out of there. But I remember looking back at the fireball. I blew up over 100 innocent people. Sure, many of them were beyond saving, but some weren't. Our escapee is a testament to that. It was the only way, and yet I will forever feel guilty. That's what I didn't want you to see." Hermione finished, closing her eyes as she waited for Draco's response. 

"I wish you didn't have to do that, but I understand and don't blame you that it did. But what I want to ask the most is how I can make you feel comfortable enough to feel safe sharing parts of you like that with me. In the past, whilst it isn't easy, you've made me comfortable enough to share my dark side; what can I do to make that for you?" Draco asked, and Hermione blinked, taken aback by his questioning. How unfazed he was at her dark side and more concerned about why she chose to hide it.

"Uh... you are already doing it, Draco. I don't trust easily, but you are worming your way into my life in ways I never thought possible, and eventually, you'll see all my layers. A testament to that is that we are even having this conversation today. But I don't know; I've never had anyone who listens before. I'm that person for everyone else, so I'm adjusting. But don't worry, you are doing everything right, and I'm working every day on that, I promise," Hermione smiled, and Draco nodded, kissing her forehead gently.

"Alright, last one," Draco cringed. He had very pointedly left his last memory til the end. He wasn't sure that he ever truly wanted to face it. 

"Yeah..." He trailed off. Hermione recalled the memory of Draco standing in front of the mirror in the head boys' suite before they all moved into Willow Lane. Before they had it, all confirmed they were pregnant from their impromptu 'pairing' session in charms. He had just finished being sick, Hermione could tell. He was staring at his reflection in the mirror, sobbing. She felt years of trauma, abuse, sadness and anger bubbling within him as he cried. Hermione had always suspected Draco had been among the first clues that the charm was irreversible and had one outcome: children. His peaky parlour the week before and during the pregnancy tests confirmed that. He had kept repeating to himself like a mantra... I am not him... I will not be him... I can't do this...

"Do you still feel that way?" Hermione prompted as she realised Draco would not be the first to bring up what had always been a touchy subject for him surrounding his father.

"Scared that I will turn out to be my father? Every day." Draco responded, a faraway look in his eyes as he stared out into the ocean. 

"You aren't him, Draco. You have a heart and empathy like no one else, no, no, I mean it," Hermione firmly responded as he started to wince away from her, "You've given that to me. Sure, it took a little while for us to get there, but we had a lot of bad blood to work through first. But I feel loved every single day by you. In your special way, I would never want anything else in a partner. You will be a great dad; you already have been on shopping trips, morning sickness and hormones. You've loved me through it all, and I know that you will also find a way to love our two little devils." Hermione purred, and Draco nodded slowly, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

"And hey, I'm also going to be there by your side. We'll work it out together. Sure, we won't be perfect, no one can be, but we will try together and above all, our children will be unconditionally loved. And, if you stubble, I'll be there to help guide you back, just as you will for me. You can do this, Draco, and in less than a month, you will have proof." Hermione said, sitting up in his arms to look at him fully, brushing the tear that slipped down his face. 

"You promise?" He asked brokenly. 

"I promise," Hermione replied, wrapping her arms around him tightly. They stayed like that for several minutes, relishing in each other's warmth and the sounds of the seaside behind them. 

"Wow, that was a lot," Draco said finally, lifting his head off her shoulder and giving her a chaste kiss. 

"Yeah, but I'm glad we did it," Hermione smiled, kissing him more firmly. 

"Agreed," Draco said, "and now, I can't wait even more to jump into the ocean with my delicious wife," 

"I thought you'd never ask." 

Chapter Text

"3 weeks til our due dates, ladies!" Ginny declared as all the girls were lazing around their usual tree. It was nice, once in a while, to get away from their loving husbands and chat, to talk about all things babies, gossip, and boys whilst they weren't there to listen in and judge. No doubt, Ginny knew the boys had probably snuck off to Hogsmeade to have a stiff drink and discuss very similar matters. It's all about balance.

Today was no different.

"God, it feels like only yesterday we were sitting next to this tree and reliving what was, at the time, some of the worst days of our lives." Luna cooed, and they all nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, accidental class orgy, not our finest moments." Pansy quipped, and they all shuddered, trying not to recall the unpleasant memories from that day.

"Yikes, how I wish to forget." Ginny groaned, clearing her throat and trying to swiftly move on from that topic, "So... how is nursery planning going?"

There were a collective wide eyes as they stared blankly at each other.

"I mean, I have some vague ideas about what I think would be cute. Does that count?" Hannah piped up.

"In hindsight, probably not the best planning on any account, given that due date or not, these babies are now safe and poised to arrive whenever they are ready, including very soon. God, how the time flies." Hermione said, rubbing a hand over her stomach and mentally trying to will her babies to stay right where they were until she was ready, or at least more organised

"You know, there is this thing that I've heard muggles do, a baby rain? They like giving each other gifts and helping them get prepared to have a baby..." Pansy offered, and those with muggle heritage nodded whilst the others listened on, intrigued.

"A baby shower, yes," Hannah corrected, smiling, "they seem like the most fun. I went to an aunt's one once, and all of her friends came with gifts for both mum and bub, and they had cake and played gimmicky games like poo or Nutella nappies and that sort of thing." She explained, and the girls buzzed with ideas.

"I don't know if I endorse the tacky games, but that sounds like it could be a lot of fun!" Ginny agreed, and there were nods around the group, "Given that we have kind of left it to the last hour, is everyone free tomorrow at noon?" She asked.

"Wow, okay, I'm in," Daphne agreed.

"As long as it isn't too fancy or over the top, sure!" Hannah said and counted to ensure the rest of the expectant mothers were in on it.

"Well, given that we have hardly 24 hours to prepare, I'll sadly have to skip on the string quartet, but I think we could arrange a little something," Pansy replied with her usual Slytherin sass.

"It's settled. The second the boys return this afternoon, we'll go shopping!" Ginny clapped, and everyone groaned, recalling her military-like organisation of their wedding arrangements.

***************

It took the boys two hours to return to Willow Lane, by which the girls had long since returned to their common room to play games in the green charmed grass idly.

"What took you so long- woah, what are those?" Pansy grouched but stopped short as she spied each of their husband's arms laden with bags upon bags.

"It's a secret!" Seamus shouted abashed as they all realised they had been caught red-handed while trying to sneak in unnoticed.

"Why do you have baby bottles, Ronald?" Luna dreamily asked, suddenly appearing next to him and scaring him enough to drop the contents of said bag onto the floor.

"I would much like to know that, Ronald!" Pansy called, standing up and crossing her arms over her chest in confusion. Neville sheepishly laughed.

"Uh... I don't know how many of you know what a baby shower is, but my gran used to organise them and it reminded me that the babies are so close, andwehaven'tevenorgranised-"

"Woah, Neville, it's okay!" Ginny called as the poor boy looked as though he was about to pass out.

"We thought it would be a nice surprise for you all if we threw one, but I guess the rabbits out of the hat on that one," Harry nervously filled in, and the girls cooed at them all.

"Wow, it looks like you all thought of everything," Astoria quipped as she pulled out some baby-shaped balloons from Seamus' bag, "how did you all manage to plan it all?"

"It was Draco mostly," Hermione looked up at him in surprise, to which he scrated the back of his neck nervously, Seamus continued, "once we decided on the idea, he just kind of gave us jobs and before we knew it, here we are."

"We'll that is mighty thoughtful of you all," Hermione added, looking directly at her husband lovingly as she said it.

"Well, funnily enough, us girls were about to leave and organise the same thing. But this takes a lot of that pressure off, so thank you all! All that is left is for us girls to get presents for each other, and then we're ready to go!" Ginny said.

"Us boys have already grabbed some," Harry added, to which all of the girls looked at each other knowingly, "but if you want also to grab your own, the more, the merrier," He added quickly as he saw his wife deflate at the idea that she would miss out on some retail therapy that afternoon.

"Then it's settled. We'll see you boys later!" Ginny brightened and left, the girls in tow.

**********************

"Ronald! I swear to god if you pop another balloon!!!" Pansy screeched as the fifth balloon that morning burst in his hands from overinflation.

"How about you help me hang the fairy lights?" Neville suggested as he teetered on a ladder in the common room of Willow Lane. With the last three weeks of the girl's pregnancy coming to an end, it was the common goal of every husband to avoid an emotional outburst from their pregnant spouses at all costs.

"Where do you want the cake?" Dean called as he brought out an enormous white, blue and pink cake from his apartment, his apron covered in more icing than the cake itself.

" Over by the roses, please!" Draco responded, ticking the next item off his clipboard. Draco shivered as he felt a familiar voice next to his ear:

"God, you are so sexy when you are all party planners like this," Hermione whispered into his ear, and Draco coughed to cover up his surprised moan.

"Funny," He sarcastically responded, pulling a bit of streamer from his wife's hair.

"Yeah, maybe I went a little over the top with the streamers," Hermione blushed, and Draco laughed as he glanced up at the ceiling, or at least where he assumed the ceiling was, for it was completely blocked from his view by House coloured streamers.

"Never," He chucked, handing her some napkins that needed to be placed by the cake.

"And I think we're done!" He called out to everyone who was finishing off their final jobs. In just a few hours, this party had shaped up into something spectacular.

"See you all in an hour!" Ginny called, whisking Harry away to get dressed.

By the time Draco made it back into their apartment, he stopped short at his goddess wife standing in the middle of their bedroom, in nothing but her knickers.

Draco would've profusely apologised and left the room had it not been for the cheeky smile that his wife wore.

"I meant what I said earlier," She purred, and Draco swallowed.

"You play dirty Mrs Malfoy,"

"Do I?" She questioned in fake innocence.

"You know the party starts in one hour." He weakly argued, already taking off his shirt in surrender.

"Plenty of time."

***********************

"What in the world?" Ginny frowned as she pulled back the wrapping paper to reveal a piped contraption.

"It's a breast pump," Hannah supplied helpfully. The girls unwrapped her gift to them, all matching contraptions that they seemed to understand, but none of their partners did.

"A breast what?" Ron asked, grabbing the contraption of his sister and holding it up to the light as if expecting it to reveal some secret.

"A breast pump," Hannah laughed, and others joined her as they watched their husbands cluelessly inspect the item, Seamus even trying to stick it to his face.

"You use it like this," Hannah demonstrated over her top, and the silence was deafening, only broken by the pop sound of silicone releasing from Seamus' face.

"Haha, whoops" He chuckled as everyone was in stitches at his expense.

"Aww, this is so cute, Padma!" Daphne cooed as they all opened up a soft baby blanket that was charmed to keep the baby calm and stay warm in winter and cool in summer.

"Wow, it's so soft, thanks!" Ginny agreed, nuzzling the blanket to her face.

So far, there had been a myriad of typical gifts the girls had purchased for each other. Baby bottles, bassinettes, wraps, mobiles, bedding, bath toys, bibs and bouncers. But next up were the ones they were most interested in, the presents that the boys had purchased for them.

First was a rather crudely wrapped present Hermione immediately recognised as Ron's. She could thank years of Weasely Christmases for that recognition.

The first thing Hermione spied was the label of a magically baby-proofing kit. She was immediately touched by how thoughtful he had been in his gift; she was expecting a miny quidditch set or a Chudley Cannons regalia, but this was so useful.

"Thanks, Ron! This is lovely," Hermione appreciatively smiled, and others nodded in agreement as they read the packaging, surprising themselves at the length they would have to be careful around their children. The kit came with magical locks, spell-repelling cushions, and a charm that hides dangerous magical items from little hands.

But Hermione wasn't relieved for long; the next gift came from Theo and Blaise. Mini brooms for them all, like the one she had seen Harry ride as a toddler, and matching mini house-coloured quidditch robes. It only took a glance at Draco's eyes to tell that their children would be born on a broomstick; he looked like an excited child as he stared at their matching mini brooms.

"What? Someone had to get them broomsticks, someone has to be the irresponsible uncles to all your children!" Blaise defended.

"What about your own!" Luna whined but was smiling either way.

The next gift was from Draco, magical storybooks that read itself aloud in a soothing voice, perfect for bedtime. An adorable present that earned him a quick peck from his wife in thanks.

"God, I can't wait until you are a parent," Ginny groaned in Seamus' direction.

"What!?" He exclaimed, and she just responded by holding up his present for the group to see. At face value, it was an adorable miniature wand, but then Ginny waved it, and it started making horrendous sparkling sounds and singing a song not dissimilar to the ones that the Sorting Hat sings here at Hogwarts.

"Yeah, that won't get annoying at all," Astoria rolled her eyes.

However, Dean got things back on track with a baby carrier cloak protected from the weather and spells. It was practical and, honestly, not something anyone else had even considered.

Terry got them all a baby naming hat that wasn't all that different to the Sorting Hat, which spat out random names whenever you put it on the parent's head. It's a little tacky but still fun.

Neville got them to muggle baby monitors that appeared basic but were charmed to alert the parents of their children's movements and sing them songs and bedtime stories. All that was left to do with his present was to explain to the non-muggle-borns what a recording was.

Finally, Harry finished things strong with a Baby's First Potion Kit. This earned a couple of questioning glances from the group.

"What? Maybe if you start them young, they will turn out to be better at potions than I ever was," He chuckled at his own expense, which earned some giggles from the group as they recalled many of his potions mishaps over the years.

"Eh, if our kid turns out to be anything like me, it will accidentally manage to blow something up, even though all of these are recipes for harmless slimes," Neville groaned

"God, I love you, but here's hoping they take a little more after me academically," Hannah groaned.

"Who wants cake?" Dean called, changing the subject and keeping the party moving right along. All in all, it was a raging success, and now all that was left to do was make the nurseries that their babies would be staying in for the remainder of the student's time at Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

"What about a baby pink?" Hermione asked as they paced the small room, their wands drawn and pondering out loud. Their magical apartment had shifted since the babies were getting closer to being born, now with a door leading off their bedroom that connected to a lovely little nursery that was currently empty bar the gifts they received at the baby shower that were neatly stacked in one corner. 

"Yeah, no, no son of mine will be raised in a pink nursery, not to mention do you have any idea how much pink clashes with the Malfoy white palour?" Draco retorted as Hermione rounded on him, snorting.

"Maybe our son will love pink, and our daughter won't!" Hermione retorted.

"Either way, no pink." Draco dismissed, and Hermione sighed.

"What about baby blue?" Hermione asked, waving her wand and turning the walls a soothing blue. Maybe it was the floor-to-ceiling window with a view of the mountains or the light grey-coloured flooring, but it made the room look like a surgery, definitely not homey. They both scrunched their noses up at the result.

"Green?" Draco asked, but Hermione immediately shook her head.

"If our children end up in Slytherin, I will learn to be okay with that, but I'm not ready to face that potential just yet," Hermione responded, and Draco laughed.

"Fine, but you're not allowed red either," Draco countered, and Hermione smiled innocently, waving her wand and changing the walls to red and gold stripes to tease him.

"We are very quickly running out of colours, Mrs Malfoy," Draco purred, pointedly transfiguring the walls back to grey as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She immediately relaxed into him, her head falling onto his chest.

"What about yellow?" Hermione suggested, turning the walls a charming sunshine yellow. Seemingly pleased with herself, she looked up at her husband and scowled when he shook his head laughing.

"It's cute but also very gaudy. Malfoy's don't do gaudy."

"Well, I give up then," Hermione huffed, "We've run out of options; we can't do red or orange, yellow is too gaudy, blue is sterile, I won't have green, we agreed no pink or purple, black is too dark for a nursery and grey and white are boring!" They stayed in silence for several minutes, pondering.

"Well... we could maybe, I dunno, it's probably too hard..." Draco started, and Hermione looked up, waiting patiently for him to continue, "We could do a space theme, dark blue with stars and galaxies on the roof and planets and clouds on the wall? But it's probably too hard; I'm sure it's unbelievably difficult to charm the roof to reflect the night sky like the Great Hall or our Common Room, and I don't know any spells that can create starscapes like that. It's probably too hard; I shouldn't have said anything..." Hermione stared up in awe at him.

Truthfully, a space-themed room was something Draco had always wanted when he was younger, but his parents would've never allowed such a childish idea. Instead, he'd sneak out after being put to bed to lie on the grass and stare up at the stars, eventually falling asleep, where Bobbin would find him several hours later, and she'd carry him back to bed.

Draco's insecurities washed away when Hermione spun around in his arms, arms wrapping around his neck as she kissed him.

"I think it's a wonderful idea, and I know exactly how we can pull it off," Hermione soothed, and then giggled as she said, "You're gonna hate it, though,"

Draco only realised what she meant when they returned to the nursery 20 minutes later, dressed in his oldest clothes as Hermione requested, paintbrush in hand with galleons of paint on the floor.

"We should consider ourselves lucky that with a little magic, we don't have to sand and prime the walls and then put on at least three coats before we get started on the actual artwork," Hermione explained as she waved her wand and turned the walls and ceiling a dark blue. Draco nodded along, pretending he understood a single word she said. "Now I can't levitate whilst pregnant," Hermione continued, "So you get to paint the stars on the roof, just like this," Hermione took her own paintbrush and demonstrated some simple star shapes on one of the walls to her left. Draco memorised her movements before casting a weak levitation spell on himself and getting to work on the ceiling. Turns out it is a lot harder to paint upside down than he thought it was!

"Not bad, Hermione," Draco complimented as he turned himself right-side up again and admired the galaxy she'd spent the last hour on.

"I could say the same to you," Hermione replied, craning her neck to look at the starscape that adorned the roof. Draco reached over and put a dot of paint on her nose while she wasn't watching. 

"You little-!" She gasped, immediately spinning around and putting a slash of bright purple paint across his t-shirt. She may as well have declared war because, after that, paint was thrown in every direction, which somehow made the starscape look even more awesome rather than messy. 

Falling into a heap of laughter on the floor, they stared at the ceiling, smiling wide and wiping paint off their face. 

"You know what it's missing?" Hermione said, and Draco turned to face her, waiting for her to continue. 

"It needs some constellations. You know, like the ones that your family are named after. Let's continue your tradition with our twins," She continued, and Draco's smile widened. Naming Black family children after constellations was a tradition as old as their magical line, and Draco honestly wasn't sure if Hermione wanted to continue that tradition. He wouldn't blame her if she said no; there was hardly anyone on his family tree he'd be willing to name his child after, so he'd never brought it up. And yet she had, and he couldn't help but feel his heart swell with pride. 

"I didn't think you'd ever want that. Are you sure?" Draco asked, giving her an opportunity for an out if she was just saying it to please him. 

"No, I mean it. It will probably take a bit to find names that we both like and don't represent... less than amazing people, but I think we can do it." Hermione smiled and took her time to kiss a part of his cheek that wasn't covered in wet paint. 

"So, no Bellatrix's in our child's future?" Draco asked, earning him a playful slap across the stomach for his troubles, "In all seriousness, I've always loved Cassiopeia or Cassie for short," Draco suggested, and Hermione's smile widened. 

"Cassie Malfoy... I like the sound of that," Hermione tested, and Draco nodded, "But then, can we have Leo for the boy's name?" She suggested, and Draco nodded enthusiastically. 

"Cassie and Leo Malfoy. I like that a lot! What about their middle names?" Draco asked,d and Hermione shrugged, biting her lip. 

"We could maybe do a tribute to important people in our lives, or maybe after a flower like your mother?" Hermione thought out loud, and Draco tilted his head to the sky, considering. 

"Let's keep thinking about it; we don't have to make all the decisions today," He soothed, getting up and grabbing some more white paint, "In the meantime, I'm going to get to work painting Cassie's and Leo's constellations on the roof. 

"Sounds excellent, Draco. I worry that we are doing a lot of work for a nursery they will spend only a few months in before our time at Hogwarts finishes." Hermione sighed, getting to work on one of her planets. 

"We are magical, remember my love? We can pick up this artwork right up off the walls and plaster them into wherever we move to after Hogwarts," He reminded her, and Hermione nodded once more. 

Gosh, after Hogwarts.

It was so easy to forget that there was life outside the castle walls. They would be released into the real world in a few short months with their infants in tow. It would be so easy for Hermione to get caught up in worrying about their future, but she kept reminding herself to get through the end of their pregnancy; they had the rest of their lives to make those rather big decisions.

Chapter Text

Another week, another blasted lesson with Trelawny. Honestly, Hermione couldn't think of anyone less qualified to be giving out parenting and life advice than her. There was barely a lesson where she didn't leave someone crying, hurt or terrified. 

This lesson was no different. 

She had been in a dark mood all morning, seemingly enjoying their discomfort. First, just as they walked into the room, she looked at Hannah and shied away from her like she was on fire or something. Then, she sat them all down and detailed the bleak realities of the complications of childbirth whilst she unnervingly played with red slime, as if the teenagers weren't terrified enough.

Then, now, she was in everyone's faces reading some dark omens to them as Jupiter was in the fixed position or something; Hermione never cared for that kind of thing. 

For Neville, nose to nose, she told him, 'it's time'. Then for Theo, she said 'the world will soon find the fake'. She'd been eye to eye with Draco when she told him, 'Beware the friend who envies the mother; her touch may fracture the cradle'. Great.

Hermione hadn't even been blessed with a dark omen; she just got an 'oh dear' for her troubles. Honestly, this was ludicrous, and she was two seconds off marching into McGonagall's office and telling her that when they all heard a groan from the back of the classroom. 

"Hannah, are you okay!?" Neville immediately asked his wife as she leaned forward, grabbing her stomach with a pained expression. 

"Yeah, I'm okay," Hannah blushed as she realised that the whole class was now looking at her, mainly because they wanted to use anything as a distraction from Trelawny. "Seriously, I'm fine. I've just had a belly ache all morning, but I think I just ate something bad at breakf—ahh!" She groaned again, and the class became more concerned. 

"I think you should pop up and see Madame Pompfrey Hannah, just to make sure that everything is okay with the baby," Ginny suggested, giving Hermione a side-eye as she said it. 

"Yeah, okay. May I be excused, Professor?" She asked, and Trelawny sighed, waving her off and muttering that she hadn't gotten to her omen yet. Just as Hannah and Neville reached the door handle, a distinct splash of water hit the floor. Uh oh, Hermione thought. 

That's not a bellyache. 

"Oh my god," Hannah gasped as another wave of pain passed through her stomach, "I think I'm having the baby!". It was like smacking a hornet's nest. There was an instant flurry of movement in the classroom all at once. Susan rushed forward to grab her friend's other empty hand and help Neville keep her upright while Blaise transfigured a curtain into a gurney for Hannah to lie on. Ginny had the good sense to banish the water from the floor before anyone could slip in their panic. Poor Neville looked like he was going to faint. 

Hermione helped the trio safely transfer Hannah onto the gurney while Draco and Theo took over the levitation charm. Then they were off. Ginny and Blaise were at the front, clearing the path. Hannah was on the gurney with Neville and Susan by her sides. Theo and Draco trailed close behind, wands drawn. The rest of the class followed suit in moral support, leaving Trelawney alone. "Children," she muttered.

*****************

As soon as they arrived in the hospital wing, Madame Pompfrey quickly got Hannah settled and ushered them out, except for Neville. They had all stood around nervously for forty-five minutes, waiting for news. Probably for the best, Madame Pompfrey tended to Hannah in a soundproof, blocked-off room to not scare any other expectant parents. Still, they also had no way of knowing whether the baby had been born yet or if they would be waiting several more hours. 

As if reading their minds, Neville emerged from the room, looking pale and sweaty. All heads turned to him in anticipation. 

"Our baby girl has been born!" He announced tiredly yet excited. A collective cheer was around the room, "Little August Jane Longbottom is 6.5 pounds and healthy!" He informed, and there was another cheer and hugs all around. 

"That was quick! Ginny laughed as she gave him a huge congratulatory hug. 

"Yeah, she'd been in labour all morning and didn't realise it. Then Madame Pompfrey said sometimes children are unpredictable, and little August apparently couldn't wait to say hello to the world." He gushed, and Hermione smiled, proud of one of her closest friends. He would make the best dad, she could already tell.

"August is such a pretty name, how did you pick it?" Susan asked, definitely not because she needed inspiration for her own child, definitely not...

"August Jane is a homage to the most important women in our lives: Augusta, my gran and Jane, Hannah's mother. We are both proud of it." Neville briefly explained, and there were nods all around. Noted, many thought. With that, Neville excused himself to be with his recovering wife and child, promising they could see them the following day when they felt up to it. 

"Isn't that lovely!," Hermione sighed as Draco and her walked hand in hand to the library, where they could wait for their next class with Blaise and Luna. 

"Yeah, crazy. Honesty, it hadn't really occurred to me that, of course, the babies could arrive early. No offence, but I want our children to know they can stay right where they are for now. Thank you!" Draco laughed, reaching over and resting his hand on her belly as they walked. 

"Agreed," Hermione sighed, placing her hand on Draco's. 

**********

In the library, Draco and Blaise were idly wandering the restricted section, waiting for the time to pass whilst their wives discussed baby things at the table, which, no offence, but it was all the boys had heard about for the last few weeks from their spouses, and they needed a small break from it. 

"Man, in a few weeks or less, like our homeboy Neville, we're going to be fathers, man! Who thought it was a good idea to let us young jocks loose with kids, dude! I'm still terrified that I will accidentally drop it or just forget it and leave it somewhere." Blaise worried, and Draco sighed, grateful that someone else was on a wavelength similar to his. 

"Mate, I totally understand. I mean, twins!? Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to handle it, you know? What if I fail them? Then there's two fucked up children in the world." Draco sighed, and Blaise patted him lightly on the back.

"Yeah, twins are rough, but I know the brightest brains of our age can work it out. If not, you know, maybe take turns sending one to live with your mother for a bit." Blaise joked, and Draco paled before laughing.

**************

He picked up a piece of blank parchment that appeared on his lap in the middle of transfiguration class. He quickly snatched it off his desk before he got caught, hiding it under the table while he inspected it. 

Suddenly, words appeared in neat cursive. 

I heard the first baby was delivered today. It's time to talk about what comes next in our little arrangement.

Chapter Text

"Come on! I swear we were not that tacky when we were in fourth year!" Ginny exclaimed as yet another flock of charmed love-heart birds flew past her, nearly knocking her pregnant self right over. 

"It's like McGonagall skipping right over the 'just because you can transfigure something doesn't mean you should' lesson and just let them run wild!" Padma agreed, helping steady her friend back on her feet. 

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. She seems to be doing everything she can to piss off or slightly inconvenience Dumbledore, not that he seems to care though outwardly," Hermione pondered, almost giggling at the somewhat rebellious side she had seen lately of their usually stoic and painfully strict teacher.

"Ah well, you can't have a good Valentine's Day without a little cringe. Speaking of which, what are your men got planned for tonight?" Padma continued. 

"Well, I'm taking Harry out to dinner tonight, probably one of our last date nights before the baby comes, to be honest." Ginny replied, rubbing her stomach absentmindedly, "Be thankful you're not having a baby, Padma; it really saps the fun out of all our future plans, and it's rather awkward to do anything fun right now, either," Ginny continued. Hermione turned red as she recalled similar experiences. Padma smiled sweetly, 

"I think children are a blessing. Hermione, what has Draco got organised for you?"

"I'm actually not sure," Hermione frowned, "he hasn't mentioned anything, not that I blame him; in all honesty, I forgot that Valentine's Day was even a thing this morning, so I haven't planned anything either." She sighed. It was all silly, and she'd never had a partner to celebrate with, so it was a holiday she usually steadfastly ignored more than anything.

"Well, boys can be so shallow. I'll see you guys later; there are some books I need to collect from the library," Padma continued, trailing off and leaving Hermione with a pit in her stomach that she couldn't describe.

************

"Draco? Are you here?" Hermione asked as she entered the apartment, frowning when it was empty. She was sure that his classes didn't start until the afternoon today, and they usually had lunch together before then. Assuming he must've left early, she wandered up to her bedroom, a little forlorn but determined that she would change and then have a productive afternoon of study regardless of what any of the boys were doing in her life. 

She opened the bedroom door and was immediately surprised when she spied her usually neutral-coloured bedsheets with bright red rose petals. 

"Draco?" She called out and giggled as he emerged from the bathroom in a red suit adorned with pink love hearts. 

"Will you be my Valentine?" He dramatically asked as he dropped onto one knee and held out a red rose for her to take. 

"I'm sorry, I already have a date," Hermione jokingly quipped, genuinely smiling when his face fell a little, "he is far less tacky. Get up and come kiss me, you adorable idiot." She chuckled, to which he immediately obliged. 

"Thank god, because the red does not match my skin tone," Draco smirked into her lips, transfiguring his suit back to his usual black.

************

"Draco? Have you seen my favourite perfume?" Hermione called, rummaging around their shared closet. She did need to clean up in here; she could never find anything, especially not when hers and Draco's belongings were all thrown together haphazardly. 

"Try the sock draw!" Draco yelled from behind the bathroom door where he was changing.

Hermione smiled, opening the sock draw; what was it doing there? As she grabbed the bottle, her hand brushed past a piece of parchment. Picking up the folded paper, Hermione sighed. 

"Draco, you need to clean up this-" Hermione paused as she opened the parchment to inspect it, the opening line of Draco's handwriting catching her eye. 

I can’t do this. I thought I could, but the idea of raising both—keeping both—it’s too much. I'll ruin them. Maybe it would've been easier with one...

What on earth!?

The letter trailed off and wasn't dated or signed, but Hermione could swear it was his handwriting.

"What did you say, love?" Draco asked as he came out of the bathroom, towel-drying his face.

Hermione immediately shoved the parchment into her pocket and resumed putting on her perfume. 

"Nothing." She lied. Usually, she would feel guilty, but she was still reeling from what she had just read. Did he mean that?

"Are you ready?" He asked, and Hermione curtly nodded, turning and walking out the door, leaving him entirely behind. Draco frowned but shrugged, walking after her. Sometimes, being on the rollercoaster of her pregnancy hormones was dizzying. 

***********

"What did you order again?" Draco asked, clearing his throat and trying to clear some of the tension that seemed to have fallen on them. Usually, the conversation between them flowed easily, but tonight, she had barely uttered a word other than those to the server. 

"Uh- the steak." She whispered, again seemingly engrossed in anything else in the room other than him. 

"Ah, the steak... I almost ordered that, too..." He tried, but she didn't even dignify him with a response. Dinner continued like that, with them eating in relative silence after his many attempts at conversation fell flat, with her either nodding or not responding. Strange behaviour for his bubbly wife, with whom he usually struggled to get a word in. As dessert arrived, he even tried to intentionally rile her up with a snide quip about the latest movements in Elfish rights, an area that he knew Hermione would lecture him about for hours. 

Nothing. 

After another gruelling 10 minutes, Draco sighed, settling the check, leading them both outside and apparating them away. 

Hermione's vision immediately started to swim. 

"Draco! She yelled, "You know I haven't been reacting well to apparation lately!" 

"Well, I had to do something! You have barely said a word all night! I need you to let me in; what's going on?" 

"We're not having this conversation. Apparate me back to Hogwarts, or I will do it myself." Hermione coldly stated. She was still processing the information she had read and needed to sort through some genuine feelings of betrayal before she was willing to be vulnerable with him again.

"Hermione, I know you're angry, but you would never hurt our children like that," Draco replied; it was a long-known fact that apparation was not great for any pregnant witch, let alone when she had to exert the energy and concentrate on doing it herself. That combined with the force of apparation, Hermione would no doubt induce the labour on the spot if she attempted it. As it was, Draco wasn't a fan that he had to do it to her, but she had left him no other choice. 

"You're right, but you would", Hermione finished under her breath. 

"What was that?" Draco asked, more prompting her to continue rather than for clarification of what she had said.

Hermione didn't respond. 

"No, if you have a problem, you need to speak up. This isn't healthy; what did you say I would do?" Draco asked a lot more forcefully this time. 

"I don't know, Draco, hurt our children, separate our twins!" Hermione finally blurted, honestly surprised at the relief she felt in airing the grievances swirling in her head.

"I- what did you just say?" Draco whispered, genuine hurt morphing across his face.

"Don't act like you don't know! You wrote it!" Hermione reported not acknowledging his pain; she knew he was a good actor. 

"What did I write?" 

"The letter!" Hermione cried over his playing dumb.

"What letter? You mean my diary, where I wrote that I worried I would make a good dad? Hermione- you're the one who assured me it would all be okay... what do you mean?" Draco frowned, tears gathering in his eyes. 

"Not your diary, this!" Hermione shoved the parchment into his hands, and Draco poured over the note.

"Hermione, I-" Draco started, inspecting the note carefully, "I don't remember writing this..." 

"Oh, don't play dumb with me. It was in our sock draw!" Hermione scoffed. 

"No, I'm serious... I mean, it's my handwriting... but I... I don't remember-" Draco pondered, scraping through his memories trying to place writing the note, but he drew a blank. 

"Hermione, I know this has hurt you, but you must believe me. I don't remember writing this note. If I did, it would have to have been ages ago! The stuff in here, yeah, I was scared when we found out that we were having twins, another life that I could potentially ruin, but- but we've worked through that since then. As a team, I'm sure that we can raise two beautiful children into strong witches and wizards, just like you. You have to believe me; I don't mean this... at least, I don't believe this anymore. Oh, Hermione, I'm so sorry." Draco stumbled, and Hermione frowned. Draco seemed genuinely hurt by the letter, almost as much as she was, even though he was the author of the note. 

Draco stood shaking, his face so forlorn that it was almost as if he was waiting for Hermione to say that it was all over and that he would never meet his children. Hermione couldn't help it anymore. 

"Oh, Draco," Hermione sighed, pulling him into a firm hug, which he gratefully accepted, all the tension releasing from him.

"I do believe that you don't think this anymore," Hermione sighed, noting that the parchment did not look new at all, "but you have to promise me right now that if you ever feel like those things that you wrote in that letter, you have to tell me straight away. I can't help you if I don't know how you are feeling, and I'll be damned if I'm raising two newborns on my own because it gets too much for you. You have to promise," Hermione urged sternly. 

"I promise!" Draco almost pleaded with her as he held on to her tighter, making one of the twins kick against him in her stomach. 

"Good, because next time, I will not be so forgiving," Hermione stated, and Draco nodded solemnly, leading them toward the apparation point.

After that, they got the night back on track. It was very satisfying, especially when they burned the note together in their living room as a final sign of moving on.

Chapter Text

"HMMPH... Urgh... Hold on, yep, okay I'm down," Hermione groaned in relief as she used the tree to lower herself onto the picnic mat where all her female friends were gathering, all laying out an assortment of their favourite weird and wonderful cravings. 

"Okay, I am officially feeling pretty done. I can't sleep, I can't move, and I feel like an actual rugby team is practicing inside of me." She sighed and her friends nodded in agreement. One week until their official due dates, Hermione was honestly surprised that she had held out this long. Aren't twins meant to come early!? Like she was glad that they weren't scarily early, but now that the nursery was set up and her friends had started to give birth, she was more than ready for her two trouble-makers to get the hell out of her, they are well and truly overcooked in her opinion. There is a reason that twins usually don't make it to full term, and Hermione has decided that it's because the mother physically runs out of room to house the growing children, regardless of how much she'd like to.

"Girl yeah. I'm starting to get really envious of Hannah and Susan, eek! Here they are!" Ginny cried out in joy as the only two of the group already given birth strolled towards them, new-born babies in matching prams.

From the ground, the girls immediately started swooning over the babies, Hannah's being a week old and Susan's only two days old. 

"They are just so little!" Padma squealed and her pregnant sister immediately nodded in agreement, brushing the side of Susan's child's face gently.

"Little Penelope is just so soft!" Parvarti quietly squealed as not to wake the infant. It was late Tuesday evening when they received the news that Susan had successfully given birth to her beautiful baby girl, a little over a week early but perfectly healthy. They hadn't had the opportunity to meet Penelope yet, as Susan had asked that she and Terry be given a little time to bond with their child before everyone else bombarded them, which Hermione totally understood. Now, with Terry off to an exam he couldn't afford to miss, Susan figured it was time to introduce her baby to the world, and what better way to do it than at the girls' favourite meeting tree, and with a picnic to boot. 

"Yes she is so cute, although a little less cute when she screams at you at 2 am for a feed." Susan giggled, slowly joining everyone on the mat. 

"Girl, you have to tell us everything!" Daphne asked as she rubbed a hand on her stomach. Hearing from mothers who had the same experience they had and had just given birth was high on everyone's priority list. Who better to hear from about what it's actually like? Not to mention that they were all freaking out about their impending labour. Susan smiled, deciding what to tell them to placate the mothers without scaring them too much. 

"Well, I've never been more embarrassed in my life to start with. I was feeling a little under the weather on Tuesday afternoon, so I tried to take a nice relaxing bath. And just as I'm stepping out on the floor, I felt funny and bam, my water broke right in front of the bathtub. I immediately panicked and called in Terry, and then I had to try and work out if it was part of the bath or the baby. And Terry, I love him, but he's also not the best in stressful situations, so before I know it Madame Pomfrey is standing in front of me in all my naked glory also inspecting everything. Mortifying. Anyway, Penelope decided she wanted to make a pretty quick exit so within an hour she was born. It was rather stressful more than painful, but I would do it all again to meet her, and I know that you all will as well." Susan tried to smooth over at the end. 

"Wow," Ginny breathed, "Two babies born usually quickly for first-time mothers. I hope mine gets the same message to enter the world swiftly!" She chuckled and the other girls nodded along. Hermione grimaced, she had seen the statistics and knew that it wasn't probable that any of the girls could hope for that, let alone all of them.  

"Honestly, I'm just relieved that I didn't slip and fall. That would've been my worst fear, breaking my water and my leg!" Susan finished, and the girls smiled at her, gushing as her sleeping baby slowly passed around the group. 

"And Hannah, how's the first week of settling in?" Ginny asked, taking a giant bite of her pickle dipped in chilli powder and melted chocolate.

"The first two days were like this weird fever dream, but that all ended on the third day and I don't think I've slept a wink since. Well, technically I got 27 minutes yesterday, in which time, Neville let our daughter poop so much that it somehow got in her hair!" Hannah replied solemnly. She was too tired to keep up the happy pretense for the expectant mothers. 

Padma gagged, "Okay ew".

"Also," Hannah continued, "No one warns you about the hiccups. Why does she hiccup so much? I thought she was cursed it was happening so often, I floo called Madame Pomfrey at 3 in the morning which she did not appreciate. Turns out.. it's just a thing that babies do. Anyways, it's going great," Hannah chuckled. 

"At least she's adorable," Parvarti offered, peeking into her pram, "Oh she's smiling in her sleep! That's precious."

"Yeah," Hannah said, dreamy for a moment, "Until you realise that she only does that when she's about to fart so loud it shakes the walls."

Silence. Then uncontrollable cackling. 

"Well," Ginny wheezed, "in a few years, we will want to do it all again," 

"I dunno about that," Hannah groaned, "although I'd just happily settle for a nappy that doesn't somehow leak upwards at the moment." 

"At least it sounds like Neville's trying to be supportive. I'm worried my maternity bra will be more supportive than Ronald." Pansy groaned, earning cheeky giggles from the group. 

"Well, those things are pretty supportive," Hannah giggled, "I'm rather happy with the extra cups that August has blessed me with," 

"I feel like I should jump in and defend my brother, but I'm honestly not sure I would be able to." Ginny sighed. Ron had been absent lately. He looked like he turned a leaf after the pensive debacle, but in the weeks since he had reverted to his only care out of obligation mentality. 

"And I wish I could say that his little friend made up for it, but even then he's claiming I'm too frisky lately." Pansy sighed and Ginny cringed at that detail. 

"Well, just know that we are all here for you," Hannah soothed and then arched an eyebrow at Hermione who had pointedly stayed out of the conversation about her previous tryst, "Oh Hermione, don't pretend like you haven't had a serious case of the friskies in your third trimester, with twins I'm sure that its twice as bad." Hermione choked. 

"Well, I'm going to let you ponder that question for yourself, Hannah, although I can't say that I can sympathise with you there, Pansy, my husband is well equipped in that area." Hermione chuckled, trying her hardest not to blush as she recalled one of the many cases of the friskies she had had lately. It wasn't that Draco wasn't enjoying it too, but he was becoming a little more cautious around her in fear that she would jump him at any unsuspecting moment, which she had, quite a few times.

"Oh yeah," Pansy nodded, "I can agree with you there, Hermione," as she recalled her own experiences, albeit in a much different scenario than they are now. 

"Anyways, moving on from that," Hermione coughed awkwardly, tipping some canned beans into her ginger tea which none of her friends batted an eyelid at, "My twins have made sure that I have experienced every emotional and physical symptom of pregnancy there is in full force and I'm trying to give them the memo that it's time to get out."

"My mother always said that she walked stairs whilst eating a whole can of sliced pineapple with me," Ginny offered helpfully and Hermione nodded. Many of these tricks were wivestales, yet she was getting uncomfortable enough that she was still willing to try all of them. 

"I'll add that to the list," Hermione sighed, rubbing her belly.

"Twins is still so crazy though Hermione," Susan said, "you think that pregnancy brain is terrible, try tired mumma brain. I feel like if I had twins I would constantly forget who's who and probably lose one of them entirely. 

"Do you think the twins will have their personalities right away?" Hannah asked, hoping that might be a strategy that Hermione could use in that situation. 

"Oh definitely," Padma piped up helpfully, "Twins are fascinating. I've read studies that show how magical twins can be completely different, and sometimes it's better to separate them early to prevent competition with their additional extraordinary powers," She said, and Hermione frowned.

"It all sounds like many decisions I can't make right now, you know? I think it's one of those things that you have to make up and deal with on the fly, you can't plan for motherhood," Hermione answered evenly, although it was one of her more prominent fears as an expectant mother that she wouldn't know what to do when they were born. 

"I can second that," Hannah agreed, 

"So true. Society expects mothers to be perfect - balancing work, family, health and looking flawless. But I dunno, I'm sure Hermione will be the supermum who manages it all!" She encouraged and Hermione grimaced into a smile.  

"I dunno about that," Hermione smiled bashfully. 

"And you've got Draco by your side as well. I was talking to him the other day, he sounds like whilst he's overwhelmed with the prospect of twins, he seems keen to care for the baby all the same!" Padma gushed, and Hermione nodded along. 

"Although I'd be careful, Hermione," Pansy warned, "He's going to be the dad who acts like he's got it all under control until the baby spits up on him, and then he'll suddenly be looking for a rescue team," She giggled.  

"I get similar vibes from Blaise," Luna contributed, "But I think that he is going to be the best dad; he is just so caring and kind," she continued as she helped herself with some dehydrated asparagus and jam.

"So true, although don't be fooled too much. He is like a well-dressed disaster sometimes - useless in a crisis, but at least he'll panic fashionably," Pansy said and Luna smiled, having gotten similar vibes from him, she already hadn't planned to count on him for much more than a hand to hold during her birth. 

"Yeah but at least he's responsible. With Seamus, he's got the dad enthusiasm down, but watching him try to be accountable is like watching a puppy try to do taxes," Astoria piped up, and the Gryffindor girls giggled in agreement. 

Parvarti grinned, "Well Dean is going to be the dad that tries to be the 'cool parent' but ends up accidentally teaching our kid how to swear in three languages,"

"Well, Theo already insists that he has the magic touch with our baby - until it cries and I'm sure he'll be desperately trying to remember if he's supposed to bounce or rock," Daphne added, 

"Can't win them all. Promise we'll have each other's backs though yeah?" Ginny coralled and the group all nodded furiously. "Good, cheers to that," Ginny grinned, holding her pickle in the air.

Chapter Text

The classroom buzzed with the low murmur of half-distracted students and the occasional creak of pregnant bodies settling into unsupportive chairs.

Professor McGonagall tapped her wand lightly against the blackboard. “Today’s PRC class will focus on the future—specifically, your future after Hogwarts. Jobs. Housing. Balance.”

Hermione sat forward, quill poised, glowing slightly from her usual Hermione energy. This was a good topic for the class! What it actually should've been about in the first place! It was no secret that not only were the babies fast approaching, so was the end of their time at Hogwarts. As lovely as their little bubble had been at Willow Tree Lane, all students knew that in a very few short months, they would be released into the real world, this time with a dependent in tow. 

As prepared as Hermione and Draco were, even they hadn't spoken about what came next for them, and that thought suddenly created a pit in Hermione's massive belly. To make matters worse, McGonagall wanted their plans journalled in their books and submitted to her at the end of the lesson for review, and in Hermione's rush to get out of the house this morning, she had left her book in her apartment. She wished that the added protective wards on Willow Lane permitted accio curses, but luck was not in her favour.

Hermione begrudgingly raised her hand.

"Professor, I have completely forgotten my book in my room. Do you mind if I go and fetch it?" Hermione asked, and her face matched her teacher's less-than-thrilled expression. 

"Babe, it's okay-" Draco started, half out of his chair when Padma piped up. 

"Hey, don't stress, you two. You need to be here for this class. I don't have to be if I don't want to; I'll get it, and that way, you both have some more time to plan!" Padma offered, and Draco and Hermione smiled at her gratefully. Now that the subject had been brought up, they were itching to get the other's opinion. 

"That sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Padma." McGonagall commended, and the pair quickly muttered their password to Padma before turning to each other. Suddenly the room went silent, obviously Professor McGonagall had created one of her famous silencio charms that allowed each pair to talk with privacy. 

The silence was deafening, and Draco cleared his throat. 

"So, um, before we start, I want to tell you I want to be a 24/7 parent. I think I've made my intentions clear before that I'm not in this halfway, and that extends to not just seeing them every second weekend." Hermione immediately deflated in relief. 

"Thank god. Twins are a lot. And I didn't want to do that on my own!" 

"Wait... you thought you would have to do any of this alone?" Draco asked, hurt evident in his voice. 

"No, Draco, you haven't given me any reason to doubt you. I just... It's a lot, you know? Like, committing to children here in the routine of Hogwarts is one thing, but outside? None of this has gone the way we wanted, and I didn't want to trap you into anything." Hermione admitted, and Draco immediately wrapped his arms around her. 

"Hey, this was just as much my fault as yours, okay? You're not alone in this. We are going to work it out together." He soothed, and Hermione nodded, releasing the last breath she had been holding. Draco had been a great husband and caring dad to be, but that didn't mean that there wasn't an opportunity, when Hogwarts was over for him to walk away from it all if he wanted, like he would've had they not been in this whole mess, not that he would, but the option was still there. 

"So... what do you want to do after school?" Hermione asked, lifting her head off of his chest. 

"I've always just assumed that I would take over running the family estates and business. The Malfoys have old money, yes, but it is the responsibility of every first child to make sure that the Malfoys continue to have money for the next generations." Draco shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

"But is that what you want?" Hermione asked. It wasn't that she didn't think that it was a noble endeavour, but she wanted to know if that was what Draco wanted or if it was just what his parents wanted from him. 

"Honestly? Yeah. I have not considered anything else, but I like that role. My father spent a great deal of time training me when I was a kid, and I actually really loved the idea of managing business, dealing with international trade, relations, and estates. As a bonus, it makes my schedule much more flexible to spend time with you and our kids. Other than the occasional business trip, which you all are more than welcome to come on, it means I will also have time for life." Draco answered, and Hermione could tell that he was speaking the truth. 

"What about you, Madame Minister of Magic, what've you planned in that beautiful head of yours?" Draco asked, and Hermione smiled bashfully. 

"Yeah... I guess before all of this, I wanted to work in the Ministry, advocate for the rights of magical beasts, that kind of thing, and yeah, maybe work my way into the politics side of it a little when I was older. But now... I think my priorities have changed." Hermione said, but the smile that she gave Draco didn't quite land. 

"How so?" Draco prompted, wanting her to open up and be utterly transparent with him. It was the only way to ensure there was no resentment in the future. 

"Well... having a baby is a lot, having two is even more... They'd be 3 months old when I'm expected to enter the workforce... and I'm not sure I'll be ready to return to work yet. I'm not even entirely sure that magical law allows it." Hermione said, and Draco nodded. 

"I think in the Ministry, it is recommended that women take 6 months to a year of maternity leave, but that is only so that there is a parent around to bond with the child. I would be there; we'd make it work!" he assured her.

"But I don't just want to make it work! I want to be there with you all. I haven't been a mother before or even been a wife for very long. I don't want to fit in work around that, not yet anyway!" Hermione responded, not angry at him per se, but more angry at the situation. 

"Okay, it's your life, Hermione. And as much as you might hate the Malfoy name, the money that comes with it means that we are fortunate enough not to have to commit to work straight out of Hogwarts fully. But I need you to promise me something, Hermione," Draco looked down directly into her eyes, "don't put your ambitions on hold forever. We've agreed to spend some time settling in,  but once we do, there will always be a reason to put others before yourself, especially with our children, but I need you to think about what you want too okay? Who else is going to take over from Kingsley when he retires?" Draco joked, and Hermione giggled, relaxing into him. 

"Deal." 

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just in each other's arms, relishing in the silence of what was actually quite a busy classroom, in their own little bubbles. 

"Where are we gonna live?" Hermione asked, the last question that had been rattling around her mind. 

"Traditionally? The manor." Draco grimaced. "But I know you would never live there, and frankly, I don't want to either." Draco continued, and Hermione nodded, having guessed as much already, "It's going to need much more than a fresh coat of paint for me to want to raise a family there. I also think Australia is a little too far away for Mother not practically to live with us to see her grandbabies." Draco continued, and Hermione tensed a little. The fact that her parents were still there was something that she tried not to think about too hard every day because it filled her with an immense sense of loss every time she did. 

"My parents... still don't know who I am, and there is no telling if they ever will... I... don't think that it is wise to uproot ourselves from here completely and our support system when there is no guarantee that there would be anything left to salvage halfway around the globe," Hermione admitted, and Draco nodded. 

"Okay, I just wanted to check. Well, we could look at the Malfoy estates. Most of them are empty. Many of them need some serious elbow grease to return them to their former glory, but that's not entirely out of the question. Or, we could build something completely new." He suggested, but Hermione groaned. 

"I am days off from giving birth, and a little birdie told me that things get harder after the birth rather than easier, particularly with double the trouble. In the two months we have until graduation, I don't want to add building a house to our list of to-dos." Hermione answered, and Draco nodded. 

"Well, how do you feel about renovating one of the estates? There are some in Scotland and more in London; you have your pick. I think I have some old magazines in my trunk, but only a few of them." Draco suggested, and Hermione nodded. 

"That would be lovely! Let's look tonight and maybe see a few this weekend before the twins debut." Hermione agreed, smiling at him broadly. "Look at us, making grown-up decisions." She giggled, and Draco raised an eyebrow.

"What, do I not give the persona of a grown-up?" Draco sniffed before chuckling. 

"Maybe, but your boyish smile is giving it away," Hermione responded, swinging her hips as best she could as she stood up directly in front of him. 

"Wow, okay, pack it up, McGonagall, we have some urgent business to attend to!" Draco signalled, noticing a few other couples were also leaving. 

"You're in for it now, Mrs Malfoy!" Draco whispered in her ear, making her squeal as he picked her up bridal style and whisked her back to their apartment.

Chapter Text

One of the pregnancy symptoms that Hermione had always taken with a grain of salt was nesting. Seriously, she wasn't a bird! Which was why she was particularly appalled when Draco pointed out her sudden tendencies, and Hermione had no choice but to accept that, along with a long list of pregnancy symptoms she had suffered through, nesting was now one of them.

And just like everything else in her life, Hermione had exceeded expectations. Not only had she and Draco chosen the house that would become their home, but Hermione had made short work of ensuring that the home part of it was coming along as quickly as possible.

Even though a few short hours each day was all that she could muster, she was officially on maternity leave from school, and the boredom was driving her mad. So she had thrown her whole self into preparing a home for their children, and Draco had been more than happy to oblige.

They'd picked out a beautiful estate a mere 20 kilometres from Malfoy Manor. It was in what Hermione liked to call the 'golden zone' where Narcissa was more than free to join them for visits whenever, but it was close enough to the matriarch's home that she wouldn't stay over for the night, unlike if they had chosen a house in Scotland. Hermione loved the older woman but was more than aware that she needed her own space, including from Narcissa's constant, well-meaning intentions.

Even though Malfoy Manor was the jewel of the Malfoy estates, Wimbledown Manor was no cottage, with three floors of grandeur spread across over 200 acres of garden and farmland. It was everything they could possibly need for a family home and more. However, saying it was in the state it once was is an understatement. From the photos Draco had shown her from the family archives, the home was the brightest of the lot, with white brick facades, light grey roof and pastel blue accents surrounded by beautiful gardens. Thankfully, they had the good sense to visit the house before they had the twins, because the house echoed every one of the 200 years it had been left unoccupied. Even the House Elves had been relocated to different estates. 

But, it had 'good bones' as Draco called it, and so far they had made significant progress on the place. 

Draco worked on the outside, trimming back the rainforest that once was a garden and refreshing the exterior. Hermione worked from room to room, cleaning and changing as much as possible, with some styling advice from Narcissa along the way. The bottom floor held all the public entertaining areas, with everything from a giant ballroom to more intimate dining areas, offices and an extensive library. It had taken more than a bit of restraint not to investigate the library more than change out the drapes, dust the shelves and replace the carpet. Hermione couldn't wait to create a beautiful sitting room with the comfiest lounge. 

The second floor was much more intimate, with family spaces Hermione wistfully imagined their children growing up in. Once the grand staircase was repaired, Hermione started working on the space, changing the secondary ballroom at the top of the stairs into a beautiful family space with open planning, featuring a sitting room, a loungeroom, a sunroom across the northside with floor-to-ceiling windows, a children's play space, a dining room and a kitchen. Hermione had also discovered a kitchen in the basement along with various servants' quarters, but she had been taught by her parents how to cook, as would her children. From the open space, three wings headed off the eastern, western and southern walls. 

These would be transformed into a guest wing to the south, a parents' wing to the east, and a children's wing to the west when the twins were old enough to want their own space. Both the children's wing and their own had staircases at the end, leading up to third-floor turrets with vast living quarters.

But transforming those wings was another mission that Hermione was terrified of starting. She knew that she wouldn't feel ready to move in until every single room had a refresh, or it would feel like they weren't living in their own home, and yet Hermione had no idea what to plan for each wing as it wasn't something that she would need for a while. 

Thank god for Narcissa.

"Darling, let's start on the guest wing first. It will be the easiest." Narcissa instructed, sensing Hermione's overwhelm. 

"I'm thinking we stick with the grey for the walls, get rid of this gaudy yellow and give each room a hint of colour. I'm thinking mulberry, but let me know what you would like." To prove her point, Narcissa noted that she was transfiguring the curtains in the first room. Hermione nodded along. This wing had twelve guest rooms, each along a single corridor on one side, all with wall-to-ceiling windows facing out to the hedge maze to the east.

"I agree, but perhaps we could use a slightly different colour in each room, so that there is something for whoever is staying with us," Hermione suggested, drafting out potential colours on each door. 

"How considerate. Of course." Narcissa agreed, as they decided on Mulberry, pale blue, pale pink, burnt orange, dark grey, emerald, woodland green, sunshine yellow, maroon, navy, magenta and gold. Each room would have its personality to match. Getting started, with Narcissa to take half, the girls had finished the guest wing before noon, just in time for Draco to come wandering in, looking like he had done ten rounds with a poison Ivy. Although with the state of the gardens, perhaps he had. 

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been working hard," Hermione said, easing herself onto one of their new couches in the family common area. 

"Yeah, I'm starting to realise why most people hire landscape wizards for much of this. I think I still will have to, considering I have barely made a dent in the amount of gardening needed," Draco sighed, plopping down next to his wife, who chuckled as she picked a branch out of his hair. It was endearing to see Draco willing to roll up his sleeves and put in some elbow grease to make their home as amazing as possible for their future. Hermione supposed that it made him feel useful in an otherwise useless situation, which was pregnancy for the male variety.

"Well, with the help of a little transfiguration, the guest rooms are complete darling," Narcissa informed Draco, conjuring some tea for them all. Thank god for magic. It had turned a project that would've taken years in the Muggle world into less than a few days to complete, as most things required simple spells or transfiguration to correct. Even dusting only needed a quick dust removal charm. 

"That's good to hear. And I can tell how drained you are," Draco chuckled, looking across to his wife, who was practically falling asleep into her tea. It was against his better judgement to have her completing such demanding tasks whilst being so heavily pregnant. Still, she had insisted, even refusing elvish help because she wanted to personally ensure that everything was perfect. Thank god she had been at least willing to let his mother help; he was worried she would positively exhaust herself otherwise to the point of sickness. 

Bidding his thanks to his mother, he helped Hermione get up off the sofa, and flooing with her back to the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore had been more than helpful with allowing 8th year students to come and go as they pleased, so close to the end of their pregnancies and impending parenthood. And often several times a day, the elder students would floo in and out for supplies, support, or much like the Malfoys' case, to start working on a solution for after Hogwarts. Their conversations had been more than enlightening the other day for the students, and now everyone was making swift plans for the magnitude of decisions and steps that would need to be taken after Hogwarts. 

That very afternoon, Draco had rushed to the owlery to send letters to his mother, the elves, contractors and Malfoy advisors to seek help in making everything happen in time, and he'd passed more than a few students on the way doing the same thing.

Harry had looked positively pale as they ran up to the steps of the owlery together. Draco had heard about Grimauld Place through his mother and Aunt Bella, and how much work would be needed to make it liveable for a newborn child. Some other students had taken the route of reaching out to friends and family to stay with until they were on their feet enough to move out, others applying for apartments in both magical and Muggle London, they'd heard as much from Padma, whom they'd run into at the top of the Owlery. Most of the Slytherins had paled when they realised that they would need to find a livable estate for their children. Of course, they were all spoiled for choice, but the keyword was livable. Pureblood families often lived up to every bit of their reputation regarding their houses, with many properties having complicated magical ley lines, curses, general dark creatures and artifacts, and all manner of wards on their houses.

Even in the relatively uninhabited one that Hermione and he had chosen, it had still taken Draco more than three days to break through all of the wards and charms on the place, even as a direct line descendant, including more than a few that prevented both Muggleborns and children from entering, not that he told Hermione so. Aside from battling rose bushes and tantacular, Draco had spent most of his time reworking the very magical essence of the house to respond entirely to himself and Hermione, and their children once they were born. That included adding a whole new set of wards, charms, protection protocols, and blood rituals. 

He had heard very similar things from Theo and Blaise, and he'd visited both of them on more than a few occasions over the past few weeks to work on wards at their estates, with some having to be abandoned entirely. But no matter, it was all worth it to have a home that truly felt like theirs. 

"What's wrong, Hermione?" Draco asked as he lay his pregnant wife down on their King bed, helping to arrange her pillows. He had expected her to be exhausted, but the constant worrying of her lip and frown lines that never left her forehead were all subtle signs Draco had learned to read meant that something else was troubling her. 

"I don't know, it's nothing," Hermione tried to brush off, but Draco wasn't having it, taking a seat on the bed next to her and allowing her to shuffle over into his open arms. 

"I just- I want everything to be perfect and ready for the twins' arrival. I can't imagine trying to do renovations whilst they are sitting at my feet, so I need to get it all done... but I feel like I'm not doing it right," Hermione confessed, and Draco frowned as he tried to see where his wife was coming from. 

"How so?" 

"Well, like their wing, I want to make sure that it is everything that they are going to need, but I won't know that until they are born or maybe not even then, but I don't want to leave it unfinished because then I'll be constantly worried that some dark magic or hole in the floor boards is going to get them hurt, but then I-" Hermione cut herself off. Draco could hear how her breaths were increasing as she became more and more stressed. 

"Hey, look at me. We aren't going to be perfect at this. I understand that you want every room to be thoroughly cleaned and ready to go, but that doesn't mean that every room has to be decorated. The twins could arrive... literally at every minute now, and I know that you want the house to be ready, but there is no way that we will make it perfect by then. But we can make it safe. Tomorrow, we'll clean their wing together so that we know it is safe, give the walls some paint, fix the floors, and seal it off for now. I don't imagine that the children will leave our wing for a while yet, and when they do, we will evaluate what rooms they need and how we can use the space. For now, we are going to do one step at a time," Draco soothed, smiling when he realised that his words were slowly staving off his wife's rising panic. 

"After we do that, we will focus on our wing. The children will need a functioning nursery, and we need a bed. That's it for now. If we have time to do more than that, fantastic, but that is all that we need right now, okay?" Hermione nodded. 

And so the next day, they did just that. Every room in the house was now free of dark objects, dust, cracks and holes, the children's wing had been sealed off, and they had started furnishing a nursery similar to their current one at Hogwarts. They had also transformed the room next to the nursery, an office, into a small bedroom for themselves. Eventually, they would transform their third-floor 'top wing' into giant living quarters, but this was all they needed for now. 

And that was how they were going to do things in such an unfamiliar and stressful situation. 

Take things one step at a time. 

Chapter Text

It starts with a squelch.

Hermione stops mid-sentence in the Great Hall, freezes, looks down, and then blinks at the rapidly expanding puddle beneath her.

“Did I just—?”
“Oh my Merlin,” Theo screeches, standing up so fast his chair topples. “She’s doing the thing! The water thing!”

“It’s called labour, not the thing!” Hermione huffs, gripping the table.

Ron faints.

Not dramatically, not even interestingly. He just flops sideways into Seamus’s lap like a forgotten coat.

“Not the first time someone’s gone limp on me mid-meal, but I have questions.” Seamus huffed, trying to rouse the sleeping wizard in his lap. 

“Hospital wing!” Harry yells, standing on a bench like he’s announcing the apocalypse. “Everyone stay calm—” By now, they had gotten the attention of almost every other student in the great hall, who were all staring fearfully at Hermione as though babies were about to start flying out of her.

Dean sprints off in the wrong direction.

Draco remains surprisingly composed, standing and helping Hermione up with a quiet, “We talked about breathing, remember? Four counts in, four counts—”

Hermione snarls, “Don’t you dare count at me.”

"I'm going to fetch some calming draughts from the potions store," Padma offered helpfully, and Slughorn nodded his permission at her, handing her the key.

"I'm pretty sure Madame Pomfrey had some," Hannah recalled, but Padma wanted to grab some just in case. At this point, it would be the rest of 8th year who needed the draught more than the labouring woman herself.

As Hermione is waddled-dragged-shuffled through the halls with Draco at her side, the group falls into a kind of chaotic parade behind her.

“I’m only here for the screaming. I find it comforting.” Pansy offered to McGonagall, who had more than a few questions for the hoard of 8th years rushing through the corridors at Breakfast time.

“I brought snacks... for the rest of us. She can’t eat, right?” Theo asked to no one in particular.

Neville holds up a flower. “I brought this for good luck!”

Hermione snarls again as another contraction ripped through her. “I SWEAR TO MERLIN IF THAT'S A DAISY I WILL HEX YOU,” Neville paled, hiding the flower from sight as he suddenly remembered the morning sickness that Hermione had gotten from the flower, to the point that they had to rid the common room of them. Neville now remembered why the flower reminded him of Hermione. Oops. Meanwhile, Harry was still trying to revive Ron with faint slaps.

“Buddy, she hasn’t even screamed yet.”

“I saw the puddle. I saw it. I’m traumatised.” Ron mumbled, falling back into slumber again. Harry rolled his eyes and levitated him out of the Great Hall and up to the Hospital Wing where the rest of their friends would soon be gathering. Thank god Ron had a fiercely independent wife because Ron would be useless in his own child's birth.

*********************

Hermione made it to the hospital wing just in time for a massive contraction to nearly shatter the windows of the Hospital Wing with accidental magic, a rather grand entrance. Draco was trying hard not to look like he was about to vomit as Madame Pomfrey attempted to figure out what was happening.

"Everyone out!" She ordered, conjuring up the 'birthing screen' as it had been known around a bed for Hermione, complete with all of the silencing charms to match. Draco helped her up onto the bed, which Hermione quickly realised she didn't want to be on, and so shifted back onto the exercise ball in the corner.

She'd been feeling a little average all morning, but had assumed that the cramping was another bout of Braxton Hicks, which she had been experiencing for the past week. But her water bursting confirmed the real deal.

Madame Pomfrey was surprisingly calm through the whole situation, as if she had birthed a hundred babies before this one, perhaps, maybe she had.

"Dear, I would get settled, it looks like these babies are going to take their time," Pomfrey informed them as she finished up the diagnostic charms that she had cast around the pregnant witch. Hermione groaned. She knew that their classmates had been awfully lucky to have their births so quickly; it was about time one of them was in for the long haul, like a lot of first-time mothers are.

**************
Meanwhile, in the makeshift waiting room that had been set up outside the hospital wing, the others were also dealing with the real trial: waiting. With all of 8th year being placed on temporary 'parents leave', two weeks before their official due date, other than the two parents already with children, no one else really had anything better to be doing.

Pansy had long since pulled out a quill and started a betting pool on names and how long the birth would take.

Ron had been pacing so violently that he had worn a groove in the carpet. It was almost as if he were waiting for his own baby. “She’s been in there for three hours! What if something’s wrong? What if the baby’s sideways? What if she yells at Draco so hard he never recovers?”

Neville winces. “Honestly, that’s been happening since the third year.”

Padma returns from the potions store, arms laden with bottles of a variety of colours.

"I didn't know what she'd need." She admitted bashfully, bustling inside to give them to Madame Pomfrey.

“Was she in pain?” Ginny asked softly as Padma returned a while later, tucking something into her pocket as she did so.

“Uh, yeah, Ginny. She’s birthing twins,” Padma deadpans, more in trauma than a dig at her friend. “It’s not exactly a massage appointment in there.”

Ginny smiles tightly. “Right. Of course.”

Blaise watches on with narrowed eyes.

And it really wasn't a massage appointment. It had been hours.

The room is dim and quiet. Madam Pomfrey is cool as ever. Draco sits beside Hermione, brushing damp curls from her temple.

“How long is this going to take?” he whispers.

Hermione looks him dead in the eye. “How fast can you recite the entire Hogwarts charter backwards?”

He blinks. “...Never?”

“Exactly. Settle in, Malfo-ahhhh,"

*************

“Okay,” Luna says. “Let’s go through our birthing fantasy names again to pass the time.”

“I’m not playing this,” Ginny mutters.

“Middle name,” Luna insists, holding up her hand like she’s in court. “If you had to choose between Albus, Gilderoy, or Dobby to give the child a middle name.”

Seamus nearly falls off his chair. “Mate, I’d pick Dobby just for the chaos.”

Dean grins. “At least Dobby wouldn’t give you the middle name ‘Severus’ like Harry will. Poor kid’s going to come out with a lightning bolt birthmark and trauma in his blood.” Harry chuckled, launching a cushion at his friend's head.

Theo joins in from the sofa. “I just want to know when we’ll be allowed to hold it. And if it looks more like Hermione or Draco. Or if it just comes out scowling.”

Ron puts his head in his hands. “Can we please stop talking about Hermione’s cervix?”

“No one was,” Daphne says, blinking. “But now we’re all picturing it, thanks.”

****************

It’s been twelve hours.

Hermione’s exhausted. Draco has gone pale, from stress and also from being death-gripped by the hand of a woman who passed all twelve OWLS. At this point, he was pretty sure his hand was broken.

“I love you,” she gasps, voice hoarse. “But if you suggest another breathing exercise, I will choke you with that eucalyptus oil.”

Madam Pomfrey hums to herself. “Just one more push”

Hermione sobs. Draco kisses her hand. Usually, that phrase would be comforting, but it was the twentieth time that the mediwitch had said it, and now it felt like the labour was never-ending.

And then, at last—

The cry.

Not loud. Not thunderous. But enough to make Draco choke on a breath and Hermione burst into tears. A healthy baby boy. 

"Told you, Malfoy's firstborn will always be a male," Draco quipped before he could stop himself. 

"You can go and fuck yourse- AHHHHH!" Hermione screamed, getting no reprieve.

A moment later, a second cry echoes — higher-pitched, sharper.

Twin cries, twin hearts.

Hermione collapses back, exhausted and radiant. Draco is now openly crying, his forehead against hers. Madame Pomfrey swaddles the babies—one boy, one girl—and lays them carefully into their arms.

“Hi,” Draco whispers to them. “We’ve been waiting a long time.”

Hermione smiles, bleary-eyed. “They have your nose.”

“And your eyes," Draco cooed as the baby boy opened his eyes to peer up at his adoring father.

Hermione, half-asleep, gazes at the bundles in her arms.

One stretches, impossibly small fingers curling. The other hiccups.

Draco strokes their tiny heads and murmurs, “So... still going with the names we agreed on?”

Hermione sighs. “Unless you want to renegotiate everything from the epidural onward, yes.”

They smile, twinning tears on both their cheeks.

Outside, the waiting room explodes with cheer as Madame Pomfrey informs them of the news.

Leo and Cassie Malfoy will take on the world.

Chapter Text

"What are we supposed to do now!?" Hermione asked as they waddled back into the door of their apartment in Willow Lane. Luckily, Hermione only had to stay one night in the hospital, and they had been released early this morning to make the very slow journey across the other side of campus, both because of Hermione's residual pain, and students and teachers stopping them every few meters to coo at the newborn babies. Draco feigned impatience, but Hermione knew how proud of his children he was, and was more than happy to show them off in the dual sling they had purchased a few days prior.

But now they were... home... and no one discharged them from the hospital wing with a manual of what to do next. The children weren't crying, so both Draco and Hermione stood there, completely at a loss. It was such a strange feeling; they had been preparing for these babies for months, had purchased everything they could possibly need, renovated a home for them, and read every pregnancy book under the sun, but nothing tells you what to do once they are born. Hermione felt crazily underprepared. How are you supposed to parent? Apparently, you're just supposed to figure that out.

"Um... well. They aren't crying. And they aren't asleep... they aren't old enough to play with toys. So... I guess we cuddle them?" Draco asked rather eagerly, dropping their belongings onto the counter and heading toward the couch to unbuckle the children from his sling.

"Do they need a cuddle, or do you need the cuddle?" Hermione giggled as she followed him over, perching herself on the couch with about as much grace as she had when she was fully pregnant. No one tells you that things don't just... magically go back to normal. Everything hurt, and everything was still quite uncomfortable and uncoordinated.

"Maybe a bit of both," Draco bashfully admitted as he handed baby Leo to her as he took his shirt off and clutched baby Cassie to his chest, "They don't seem to be phased by their rather dramatic entrance into the world, but I know have what I'm calling Uterus PTSD." Draco joked, resting his head on top of Hermione's as they sat together on the couch.

"You didn't even do the pushing," Hermione glared up at him, pouting in a manner that Draco knew to be playful.

"No, but I watched. That image is seared into my soul. And for the record, you are a terrifyingly powerful creature, Granger."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Hermione sighed, leaning further into him as best she could with a newborn in her arms.

"You should," Draco hummed, as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax. They were safe. His beautiful family was happy and healthy, and it was more than he could've ever asked for.

"Are they breathing?" Hermione said abruptly, 10 minutes later.

"Mine is, is yours?" Draco sighed, keeping his eyes closed.

"Yes... yes. He's fine," Hermione settled.

"We're going to be okay, Hermione. Brightest students of Hogwarts, there isn't anything we can't do," Draco comforted her, and whilst his wife didn't respond, he could tell that she was relaxing back against him.

**************

"Oh... um," Hermione mumbled as she awoke again an hour later. Draco also woke, peering over at his wife and spying her predicament. Speaking of uncomfortable, Hermione felt like she was about to burst; she was leaking through her shirt and by the feeling in her stretchy pants, that wasn't the only place either.

"You go change," Draco soothed, taking the still sleeping Leo from her chest and one-handedly pushing his wife up and off the couch.

Hermione waddled into the bathroom, realising it was even worse than she thought. Stripping off and quickly burning her old clothes beyond saving, Hermione ducked for a shower, having no idea what to do. Whoever said that childbirth was glamourous was a fucking liar in her opinion.

And that's where Draco found her 10 minutes later. He'd put both twins down in their nursery and wandered into the bathroom to see if his wife was alright. She sat huddled in the corner of the shower, just staring vacantly ahead.

"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" Draco asked, quickly shutting the water off and kneeling to her.

"I don't... everything hurts, I feel like my uterus is still going to fall out of me at any moment... and I just..." Hermione burst into tears, and the overwhelming feeling finally got to her.

"Come here, sweetheart," Draco softly whispered, gathering his soaking wet angel into his arms.

"I'm sorry! I just feel really gross, and I don't know how to do any of this. Susan and Hannah did it so easily, and I feel like I'm failing already, and we've only had them for a day! I just, how am I supposed to protect them, and be the best mum, and I-" She cut off as she continued to cry into Draco's shoulder.

"You aren't failing. Hey, we've talked about this, and we can only take things one step at a time. Right now, they are peacefully asleep in their cot, so let's focus on you. How can I make you feel less gross?" Draco asked solemnly, kissing her on the forehead for good measure.

"Well, my hair is really greasy, but you don't have to... I can't..." She stammered, and Draco nodded, reaching for her shampoo bottle from the sink, lathering it into her hair, and rinsing it with a warm stream of water. Hermione couldn't help but feel loved as her husband washed her hair for her, as she was physically and emotionally exhausted beyond belief.

After Draco was finished, he dried her off as best he could on the shower floor before lifting her up to the edge of the bathtub to finish the job. He conjured the glorious post-partum nappy that Hermione had mortifyingly been introduced to without a second's hesitation, helping her into it and casting a few cooling and healing charms to help with her recovery.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione whispered as Draco helped her step into super stretchy maternity pyjamas, clipping up the back of her nursing bra and everything.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I've never seen you be stronger than you have been the last few days, and you deserve a moment to be cared for, too." Draco kissed her as he said it to further confirm his point.

"I'm sorry if what you just saw contributes to your Uterus PTSD," Hermione wetly joked, trying to cover up her residual humiliation.

"Nah, if I were traumatised by that love, I wouldn't have survived fifth year with Crabbe's digestive habits," Draco joked, helping her up and guiding her towards their bed. Hermione gave a half-sob, half-snort.

"I'm serious," he added, unmaking their bed for them, "It’s not undignified. It’s human. You grew two actual humans, pushed them out of your body, and still have the energy to shame yourself over being a bit leaky.”

“I just wanted to feel... like me again,” she whispered.

He kissed the top of her head. “You will. But right now, you're ‘you, plus two.’ So if you want to cry, cry. If you want to rage at your uterus, I’ll help you draft a strongly worded letter. If you want to lie on the bed in nothing but that majestic nappy and eat three slices of cake, I’ll make the cake myself.”

Hermione let out a surprised giggle. “You don’t know how to bake.”

“I don’t. But Kreacher does. And I’m not above bribery.”

She sighed. “Thank you.”

He helped her lie down gently before climbing in beside her. They both stared at the enchanted baby monitor, where two small sleeping bodies occasionally wiggled, swaddled like overachieving burritos.

Hermione sniffed again. “Do you think they know I have no clue what I’m doing?”

“No,” Draco said, already pulling the blanket over them. “But I think they’re onto me.”

“Why?”

“Because one of them shat on me three times in an hour, and the other tried to pee in my eye. That’s either revenge, or a coordinated rebellion.”

Hermione broke into uncontrollable laughter, tears rolling down her cheeks again — but this time for a different reason.

“I love you,” she said, hoarsely.

“I know,” he replied, smug and smugger still when she hit him with a pillow. “But say it again. It heals my nappy-traumatised soul.”

Hermione curled into him, warmth slowly replacing the weight of exhaustion. Her body hurt, her brain was fried, and her dignity was somewhere under a scorched maternity shirt in the laundry bin — but somehow, for the first time in days, she didn’t feel like she was drowning.

And she knew, whatever tomorrow brought — rage mustard, hormonal meltdowns, or spontaneous baby acrobatics — they’d figure it out.

Together.

"I love you too,"

Chapter Text

5 days later, there had been an unexpected lull on the baby front. The girls were getting more pregnant by the day and were willing to do anything to let their children know that it was time to get the hell out. There were near-constant streams of women trailing up and down the stairs of the North Tower in the hopes that a bit of physical activity would help; others tried some questionable yoga, and Blaise and Luna took a very... active approach to get the baby out. Constantly. At all hours of the day... and night. 

The girls lived off pineapple juice, olive oil, and any other horrendous remedy passed down as wifely tales through the generations. Tensions were at a breaking point, with most of their partners choosing to duck for cover wherever possible. The three parents who had given birth were not really in a better mental state either, all being kept busy with their crying, burping, pooping children, and so all round, every single 8th year was living off no sleep and anxiety. 

Which is why when Pansy's water broke in front of everyone in the Common Room, she wept for joy and received a round of applause from the expectant mothers. But saying that she was out of the woods was an understatement. 

The birthing suite looked like a battlefield. Pansy was on all fours, growling like a dog with each contraction, her hair a mess and her mascara smudged entirely down her face. Again, a long process, more than 15 hours of BS in Pansy's opinion. Ron was already shirtless because he read somewhere that 'skin to skin was good for bonding' and had completely forgotten that it was meant for the baby. He'd also seemed to have forgotten how fierce his wife was for a second, as she promptly reminded him.

"If you say 'chaser formation' ONE more time, I SWEAR the next thing coming out of me will be your teeth!" As she screamed, she hurled a bedpan at him. Luckily, she had been gripped by the next contraction, and so her aim was significantly off, getting closer to hitting Madame Pomfrey than her husband. Surprisingly, though, he hadn't fainted like he had with Hermione, so he was more supportive than anyone thought he would be through the whole process, even if it were a little misguided. 

If Pansy hadn't have been in so much pain, she might've even thought to thank him for it. 

"Almost done," Ron tried to offer comfort as Madame Pomfrey informed her that it was time to push.

"I'm not a Weasley casserole, Ronald. Stop telling me 'I'm almost done'. Now get over here and give me your hand!" She demanded, and Ron diligently did so. Ten minutes later, there was finally silence. 

Pansy was now reclining like a glamorous corpse on the bed, while Ron lay next to her with their little bundle in his arms. Little Hugo Lucien Weasley was perfectly awake and quiet, with a shock of Weasley orange hair but many of Pansy's more refined features. 

"I think Hugo is judging me," Ron joked as his baby boy continued to peer up at him with squinted eyes, not sure what to think of his father. 

"He is." Pansy deadpanned, before giving him a light shove and their little bundle a kiss on the forehead.

**************

Meanwhile, Ginny and Harry had wandered in to come and meet their nephew, as Madame Pomfrey finished some tests on Pansy in the corner, immediately cooing over the next Weasley child. Molly would undoubtedly be bustling soon as well, as soon as Ron had five minutes to send off the letter. 

Madame Pomfrey finished up and asked the group if she needed anything else before she left, right as Ginny gave a little grimace as she rocked baby Hugo from side to side in her arms. 

"Are you okay dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked, looking concerningly across at the witch. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little gas this morning, nothing unusual." Ginny sighed, almost wishing that it could've been labour pains. 

"Do you mind if I do a quick diagnostic just to make sure it's nothing more serious?" The MediWitch asked, more to clear her own conscience than anything else. 

"Urgh, if you have to, but it really is just gas, pregnancy constipation is no joke," Ginny reluctantly agreed, turning her attention back to her nephew, not even remotely interested in what was definitely just gas. 

"Um, Ginerva, you are 10cm dilated. You need to get into bed!" The MediWitch cried, almost not believing the results of the diagnostic. 

"What, no, I'm not, your spell is wrong." Ginny brushed off, god, Madame Pomfrey was going batty with age. But when the older woman wouldn't leave, Ginny huffed, handing the baby back to her brother and clambering up into the adjacent bed to Pansy, and Harry rushed to her side, not having a clue of what was happening. A curtain was quickly conjured as Madame Pomfrey opted to manually check on the pregnancy, still not sure her testing was correct. 

"Yep, I feel a head," Madame Pompfrey announced to the pair, and Harry immediately went white. 

"A... head!?" Like that he'd collapsed on the floor, out stone cold. And with Madame Pomfrey furiously getting ready for a promptly exiting baby, he stayed for the 10 minutes it took his wife to give birth to their child. 

"Is that a personal best?" Ginny asked the frazzled MediWitch as Madame Pomfrey handed over beautifully swaddled James Sirius Potter and settled him in her arms. 

"I think I blacked out. What did I miss?" Harry asked, groggily standing up from the floor, his eyes widening as he spied his wife holding a little bundle of joy, unmistakably his child. 

"Ah, the whole thing. But that's okay. In maybe... five years, you can help catch the next one." Ginny chuckled as Harry looked like he would faint again, feeling a mixture of shock and guilt. 

"Hey, no hard feelings. Weasleys make babies easily and give birth easily. Should've known this one would make a swift entrance, luckily we were already here, it wuold've been super embarrassing to give birth in the Great Hall or the library," Ginny prattled on, trying to make light of the fact that 20 minutes ago, they didn't have a baby and now.... now they did. 

Poor Mrs Weasley couldn't believe it either. In a matter of a day, she now had two healthy grandchildren, and it had taken four calming potions before she was lucid enough to hold either of them. 

******************

"You're joking," Hermione cried as she found out her friend had given birth so quickly and so pain-free, as she visited that afternoon, "What, did you sneeze the baby out!?" She cried, and Draco cringed beside her, his arms full of their own sleeping children. 

"Essentially, yeah," Ginny answered simply, handing her baby over for Hermione to hold. 

"Godric, I want to punch you in your perfect face right now! Lucky little James is just too cute!" She cooed down at the baby, rocking him back and forth in a rhythm she had perfected in the past two days. 

"She gave birth WHERE!" Madame Pomfrey's screech echoed through the hospital wing, and Draco and Hermione peered out the privacy curtain to check. Luna was standing in the hospital wing with Blaise and... a baby in her arms. 

"In the Herbology Greenhouse, surrounded by the fanged geraniums and floating crystals. It really was quite magical," Luna sighed in her usual floaty voice, "And Blaise was amazing, helped to catch the baby and everything," She finished, as though it had been some dreamlike experience. 

Madame Pompfrey just rubbed her brow in utter disbelief as McGonagall continued to stare at the pair harshly. But what was done had been done, and so Madame Pomfrey ushered them over to a bed to perform the necessary checks. 

Hermione and Draco just stared at each other before bursting out laughing, breathlessly informing Ginny and Harry of the news of beautiful Mycelia Harmonia Zabini's entrance into the world. 

***************

Two days later, two days after their due dates, Theo and Daphne were the next anxious parents to be ushered into the birthing suite, although Theo was more bordering on a complete nervous breakdown. He was meticulously timing contractions, and reading from their laminated birth plan as Daphne heaved next to him. 

"Okay, next. You said that you wanted positive affirmations. Um. Your uterus is a temple. Your baby is a star. You are the portal to life." Theo tried, pacing the room as Daphne leaned against the bedframe in pain. 

"The portal to what, Theo?" He paled, immediately moving on to the following item on the checklist. 

"Are you seriously researching what do contractions feel like!?" Daphne asked in disbelief as her panicking husband had gone quiet for a long time, books strewn at the end of the bed. 

"Why don't you come over here and find out!" Daphne cried, grabbing his wand and snapping it in two as another contraction ripped through her. 

"Um... what about a tea, or I have scented candles!?" Theo cried, rummaging through the overly large birth bag to find some way to be useful. 

Daphne kicked him out at 7cm dilated. 

"He can return when he's drugged with some serious calming potions," Daphne deadpanned to Madame Pomfrey, "give him the whole closet." 

When it was over, Theo walked back in with a flower crown and an apologetic smile. 

"You tried," Daphne conceded, allowing him to gather her in his arms and pepper her with apologetic kisses. 

"Come meet Orion Xavier Nott," Daphne cooed. 

"Orion Xavier?" Ron snorted as he wandered in a while later, having been dragged along by Pansy to meet the child, "What was Starblazer Doomfire already taken?" 

"I'll have you know," Theo said smoothly, rocking the baby with a smirk, "that he came out glaring at me like he already knew I was going to ruin his life. The name fits." Theo chuckled. 

"He was glaring at you because you were holding him upside down." 

***************

Dean and Parvarti were next a day later, and whilst Dean didn't quite rival Theo for his panic, he wasn't exactly calm either. 

Instead, he resorted to nervously stress drawing a mural of Parvarti mid-contraction, 'for the baby book'. 

As Parvarti was getting near to the end of her labour, Dean decided that writing 'resilient goddess' in bright red bubble letters on the ceiling was the most helpful thing that he could do. Unfortunately, mid-spell, Astoria and Seamus popped their heads into the room, trying to figure out where Madame Pomfrey was because she was late for their check-up, when Dean was shocked entirely out of his chair. The charm backfired, sending a cloud of thick red glitter through the air. Astoria screamed. As did Parvarti, but for a different reason. 

Their baby was born at the crescendo of the 'calming jazz music' Dean had put on earlier and the ceiling now permanently read 'HOT MUM ALERT'. 

But before anyone could really figure out what had just happened, Astoria groaned as her water broke, right there in the room. 

"I don't know whether to hex you or thank you Dean," Astoria hissed as she hobbled over to the bed beside Parvarti, and Madame Pomfrey conjured another curtain before going back to tending to Parvarti and their newborn baby boy, Kiran Elijah Thomas. 

***********

Seamus tried to hold her hand. She bit him.

“You’re doing amazing, love—OW—Okay, boundaries respected!”

Astoria, peak glamour and hair still in perfect waves, huffed through her next contraction before asking authoritatively, “Do they have someone who does lashes post-birth or…?”

Madame Pomfrey watched on in disbelief. 

Seamus tried to calm the mood by saying something touching, but it came out wrong.

“Can’t wait to meet the little sprog that’s been kickin’ ya like a drunken leprechaun!”

He got banned from the room for ten minutes.

By the time the baby arrived, Seamus was crying harder than Astoria and was telling everyone who would listen,

“We made that! She’s magic! And I don’t mean like… wizard magic. I mean Astoria magic. You know?”

“He’s lucky he’s cute,” Astoria says, letting him hold their baby, Celestine Brigid Finnegan, very carefully.

Chapter Text

“Holy Godric. Still doesn't feel real, does it?” Ginny sighed, adjusting her squirmy little son in her arms, his wrinkled fist grasping at her shirt like he’d been through war. Which, technically, he had.

The girls were curled up in a rare pocket of quiet in the Gryffindor Common Room, each cradling their own newborn, red-faced, sleep-hissing, still-learning-how-to-be-outside little humans. It had been over a week since the births. A week of very little sleep, an ungodly amount of crying (some of it from the babies), and more bodily fluids than anyone cared to recount.

They were still in the soft shell-shocked phase of parenting. The ‘we survived labour, but now what’ part of the journey.

“Doesn’t feel real,” Hermione agreed softly, staring down at Cassie, who was currently making tiny goldfish mouth movements in her sleep like she was dreaming about lunch. “I keep thinking someone’s going to come take them back. Or tell us we were just cursed and hallucinated the whole thing.”

“Yeah, well, the stitches in my uterus are very real,” Pansy muttered, shifting carefully as her baby whimpered and kicked out like he was conducting a rebellion in his sleep.

“And the milk leaking through my shirt is also extremely real,” added Hannah, dabbing at a spreading patch with an already-soaked muslin cloth. “Why does no one tell you that you’ll randomly start lactating just from hearing another baby cry?”

“Or smelling toast,” Ginny mumbled. “Weirdest thing.”

They all nodded solemnly. Toast trauma was real.

The Common Room had been converted into a kind of sanctuary lately — not officially, but out of survival. The dads were upstairs grabbing naps while the mums congregated around the fireplace like war veterans with heating pads. Every conversation sounded the same: half heartfelt, half delirious.

“I tried to put a nappy on Leo upside down last night,” Hermione confessed. “Didn’t realise until he started peeing on his own face.” There was a resounding groan of affirmation from the group, all justifying that as a perfectly reasonable thing to do. "Although Draco was worse, he threatened to donate Cassie to charity after she pooped all over him. As in, all over him." Hermione giggled, gaining a few incredulous looks from some of the girls. 

"Donate to charity!?" Susan repeated, baffled. 

"Well... I would've said sell, but he kinda has all the money one could need," Hermione sighed, utterly oblivious to the incredulous looks thrown her way.

"Wow... that's wild, Hermione. I'm not sure that I like the severely sleep-deprived version of you, that's all kinds of messed up." Ginny chuckled, still surprised that such a thing had come out of her friend's mouth. 

"I dunno, I reckon I would take at least one for free," Padma sighed, booping Cassie on the nose, "They are just too cute!"

"Don't wish teen pregnancy on yourself, Padma," Pansy deadpanned, "My vagina would give anything to have ducked off to the bathroom that day and never been put through the horrors that it has recently witnessed. I don't think I'm ever letting Ronald near it again," She darkly continued, as Hermione and Ginny cringed at the undertones aimed at someone they knew far too personally.

Cassie, swaddled tightly against her chest, made a sleepy hiccup and let out a tiny mewl.

“You're bonding," Ginny smiled. "I cried because mine sneezed. That’s where I’m at.”

“I cried because mine didn’t sneeze,” said Susan from the couch. “She looked like she was going to and then didn’t and I just… sobbed.”

“Yep. Sounds about right,” Padma said, eyes glassy from exhaustion. “I tried to write a journal entry this morning and accidentally wrote ‘help’ 37 times.”

There was a long pause.

Then a door creaked open at the top of the stairs.

And out shuffled Ron — shirtless, barefoot, bleary-eyed, and holding a bundled baby with one arm and a burp cloth on his head like a hat.

“Is it still today?” he asked.

"Technically," Ginny said.

“I walked into a door,” he added. “Don’t ask.”

Draco followed shortly after, in full pyjama regalia, carrying Leo like he was a cursed scroll he wasn’t sure how to handle.

“Your son,” he said to Hermione, “has decided sleep is a lie invented by the weak. He’s been awake for four hours and stared at me like he was judging my soul.”

“Sounds like you two are bonding,” Pansy smirked.

Draco looked insulted. “He farted on me and then smiled. Smiled. That’s premeditated.”

Behind him came Neville, still in slippers, gently bouncing a baby who looked like a loaf of bread wrapped in a tea towel.

“She hasn’t burped yet,” he announced.

There was a collective, sharp inhale.

“Mate,” Ron said, alarmed. “How long’s it been?”

“Forty-two minutes.”

“Oh no.”

As if summoned by the tension, the baby suddenly gave a noise like a squeeze toy being strangled, followed by a wet, seismic belch.

“Right,” Neville nodded, blinking milk specks off his glasses. “We’re good.”

They all sat down, slowly, carefully, like old people made of glass. A gentle symphony of baby grunts, hiccups, and the occasional sleepy fart filled the room. Cassie shifted against Hermione’s chest and squeaked softly.

“I know it’s hard,” Padma murmured. “But they’re kind of… magic, aren’t they?”

Pansy looked at her son’s squished little face, all red and blotchy and alien and hers. “Yeah. In a horrible, squishy sort of way.”

Hermione smiled faintly. “I’d fight a basilisk for a nap, though.”

“Same,” Ginny agreed.

“Same,” came five tired voices in harmony.

And somewhere upstairs, a baby began to cry.

Everyone froze.

Draco closed his eyes. “Please let that not be mine.”

Chapter Text

It is said that as a parent, you should dedicate 99% of your life to your children. And the other 1%? That is for you.

Tonight was that 1%.

It had been a month since the babies were born—thirty wild, beautiful, sleep-deprived, crying-and-cuddling-filled days. A month where their entire existence had narrowed to warm bottles, crumpled nappies, lullabies half-whispered at 2 a.m., and that relentless but intoxicating scent of baby skin. They had become parents overnight, and in doing so, everything else had blurred to the edges.

Classes were to resume tomorrow, and the babies would spend their days in Hogwarts’ newly built crèche—a godsend, really—giving the young parents time to focus on their final month of study. As a gentle transition, Dumbledore had arranged one last night of freedom—one night to breathe. A soft, candlelit pause before the rhythm of magical academia began again.

Hermione hadn’t realised how hard it would be to let go, even for a few hours. Handing over her babies—her babies—to the trained carers in Willow Lane had felt like peeling off a layer of skin. But everyone else looked the same: red-eyed, unsure, holding each other’s hands a little too tight. There was comfort in the shared grief and relief.

Now, standing beside Draco on the Apparation Point, she clutched the warm, old-fashioned hotel key that had served as their Portkey. It buzzed faintly in her palm with the same magic they’d first encountered months ago, when they were still just a very odd, very unlikely couple about to become something else entirely.

Destination: Unknown.

*****************************
They landed with a soft thud.

Hermione blinked twice, adjusting to the warmth, the scent of lavender and something spiced — cinnamon, maybe — wafting through the air. It took her a moment to realise they weren’t outside anymore.

They were in a suite. Not a hotel room, a suite. Wide windows draped in sheer fabric spilled soft light over a king-sized bed dressed in pale cream linens. A fire crackled in the hearth. Two glasses and a bottle of something expensive sat on a tray by the sofa. There were even enchanted stars glowing on the ceiling.

Hermione turned slowly. Draco was still holding her hand, brows slightly raised.

“Well,” he said, voice low. “They’ve outdone themselves.”

She let out a breath that was half laugh, half sigh. “It’s beautiful.”

“And suspiciously well-prepared.”

He guided her further in, shrugging off his coat, and she followed suit, standing awkwardly for a moment before perching on the edge of the sofa. Her body still ached in places she hadn’t known could ache. There was a gentle hollowness in her arms — like she could still feel Cassie’s warmth nestled there.

“You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?” he said softly, standing awkwardly in the centre of the room.

She nodded.

“I miss them,” she admitted, voice tight. “Even though they were screaming when we left.”

Draco gave a low chuckle. “Leo spit up down my back not ten minutes before we handed him over. It’s like he knew I needed one last parting gift.”

Hermione smiled weakly. “Do you think we’re allowed to just… call and check?”

“I think if we do, McGonagall will personally escort us into detention.”

She snorted. “Probably.”

There was a pause — a gentle silence that neither rushed to fill.

Hermione got up, moved to the edge of the bed, and laughed softly, not from joy exactly, but from the sheer unfamiliarity of everything. “I don’t even remember how to be a person,” she said, toeing off her shoes.

Draco sat beside her, his hand brushing hers. “Same. I think I forgot how to speak in full sentences around day… five.”

She glanced at him. His hair was messy. His eyes looked tired, but soft, like he was seeing her for the first time in a while—not the Hermione with spit-up on her jumper and hair in a lopsided bun, but her, the girl who he'd split a butterbeer with in the North Tower, had snowball fights with and the person who'd shown him the joy of popcorn.

She leaned into him. “Hi.”

Draco looked at her, then broke into the faintest smile. “Hi.”

And then—tentatively, reverently—he wrapped his arms around her.

It was the first proper hug in weeks. Not a tired back-pat over a crib. Not a quick squeeze while passing in the corridor. But a real hug. The kind that said, I missed you. The kind that pressed their hearts together in a way no words could.

Hermione let herself melt into it. She didn’t try to straighten her hair or apologise for the dark circles under her eyes. There was no pretending anymore. Draco had seen her at her best and her absolute worst—sobbing over nappies, arguing over feeding schedules, laughing deliriously at 3 a.m. when both twins refused to sleep. And here he was. Still her Draco.

“I thought I was going to lose it today,” she murmured into his chest.

“I did lose it,” he said. “You just didn’t see me cry in the loo.”

Hermione let out a muffled snort against his shirt, and Draco laughed, and then they both just stayed there, tangled together in a bundle of warmth and vulnerability, on the edge of something tender.

Draco reached out and tucked a loose curl behind Hermione’s ear, fingers lingering.

“You’re still you, you know,” he said quietly.

She looked up, eyes shining in the firelight. “And you’re still you.”

It wasn’t about getting back what they had, but building something new from the chaos. Something quieter. Deeper. Something that looked a little like the way Draco now kept a dummy tucked into every pocket “just in case,” or how Hermione whispered to the babies in French when she rocked them to sleep.

They didn’t need to say it.

They were in love.

Messy, sleep-deprived, inexplicably strong love.

Chapter Text

The morning crept in slowly, spilling sunlight across the soft linens like a secret. Hermione stirred beneath the weight of Draco’s arm, which had fallen across her waist sometime in the night. The hotel suite was drenched in warm, golden light, and for the first time in what felt like forever, silence wasn’t a red flag—it was peaceful.

Hermione blinked awake slowly, letting her eyes wander across the unfamiliar but luxurious room. The sheets were buttery soft, and the pillows cradled her with an indulgence that almost made her teary. She couldn’t remember the last time she woke up in a bed that wasn’t surrounded by nappies, spare muslins, and bottles. Her limbs ached less this morning. Her hair was wild, but her soul was still.

And Draco was still asleep.

That was a rarity these days—he usually woke at the first sniffle, the first flutter from the bassinets. But here he was, chest rising and falling with the slow rhythm of dreams, blonde hair falling messily across his forehead. Hermione turned toward him, propping herself on one elbow to look at his face properly.

His hand reached up blindly, and when it found her, his fingers curled lazily around her wrist.

“Are you watching me sleep, Granger?” he mumbled, voice husky.

“Maybe.”

“That’s unsettling.”

“You snore,” she whispered with a sly smile.

“Lies.” He opened one eye, then two, and gave her a crooked grin that she hadn't seen in weeks—wry and boyish. He reached up and tucked a wild curl behind her ear, wrapping his arms around her more securely. Her body was still sore. Still healing. But she felt safe.

“You look tired,” Draco whispered into her hair.

“I am tired.”

“But you’re also radiant.”

She snorted. “Don’t lie.”

“I’m not. You’ve got that whole battle-hardened-warrior-princess thing going.”

“Battle-hardened,” she echoed, smiling. “That’s exactly what I was going for when I hadn’t brushed my hair in three days.” She joked as she leaned down and kissed him deeply.

They lay there like that for a moment, just breathing each other in. No crying, no clock ticking toward a feeding, no spit-up or bottles to sterilise. Just… them.

Then, as if some unspoken agreement had passed between them, they moved together. Draco tugged the blanket up over their heads like a little tent and whispered, “Quick, we’re hiding from responsibility.”

Hermione giggled, her eyes wide and sparkling. “Do you think if we stay under here, no one will find us?”

“I’m willing to take that risk.”

She laughed again—a real, deep laugh that shook her shoulders. “God, I missed laughing.”

Draco kissed her temple. “Let’s stay here. We’ll become blanket creatures. It’s us now—Granger and Malfoy, the mythical Snugglebeasts of Room 216.”

She nearly snorted. “You’re an idiot.”

“An idiot who loves you,” he said, voice suddenly softer. More real.

Hermione’s heart melted. “I love you too.”

They stayed under the blanket for another ten minutes, exchanging lazy kisses and whispered nonsense about who would win in a duel—Pansy Parkinson or a particularly cranky baby. Eventually, the promise of a breakfast tray lured them out. Hermione wrapped herself in a fluffy robe and padded barefoot to the door, where someone had left a silver dish with French toast, fresh strawberries, and two lattes.

Draco took one look at the food and said solemnly, “I might cry.”

“You cried when we ran out of nappies last week.”

“It was a traumatic day.”

They sat on the little couch, cross-legged, sharing the food and making dramatic proclamations about syrup ratios and who deserved the last strawberry (Hermione won). There was a quiet intimacy in the way he refilled her coffee without asking. In the way she instinctively handed him the crusts of her toast, knowing he liked the crunch.

When it was time to get dressed and head back, there was no rush. Hermione stood at the bathroom mirror, brushing her hair while Draco slowly did up his shirt behind her. Their eyes met in the glass.

“You’re not ready, are you?” he asked.

Hermione paused. “No. But I miss them.”

He reached out and squeezed her hand gently. “Let’s go get our chaos back.”

-------------------------------------

The moment they landed back at Willow Lane, they knew something was wrong.

There were Ministry robes everywhere—flashes of blue and bronze, officers speaking in hushed but urgent voices. Hermione’s gut clenched.

She looked at Draco, but he was already sprinting.

Gathering the shreds of pure adrenaline coursing through her, Hermione took off after him.

Inside the common nursery, chaos reigned. Cribs were turned over. The charm-protection runes glowed violently on the walls. McGonagall stood pale and tight-lipped near the fireplace, while Neville tried to calm a sobbing Daphne Greengrass. One of the baby twins was being held by a healer, wailing inconsolably.

“What's happened?” Draco bellowed, his voice hoarse, breaking over the last syllable.

McGonagall turned, her face ashen.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “Leo’s gone. We don’t know where he is.”

Hermione didn’t scream. She couldn’t. Her entire body just… stopped. Like someone had cast Petrificus Totalus from the inside out. She reached for Draco’s arm and found his hand trembling.

“No, he's not… we said goodbye... left him with the matrons... he isn't...” she said faintly, eyes flicking wildly between cribs. “He was in the blue blanket. He was fine.”

“We’re investigating,” McGonagall said quickly. “There was no sign of forced entry. No alarms triggered. But he’s gone.”

Gone.

The word echoed through Hermione’s mind like a curse.

And then, without knowing how or why, she began to move.

“I need to see the surveillance spells,” she said. “Get me the monitoring crystals. NOW.”

She felt Draco’s fingers wrap around hers, grounding her. His face was pale, his eyes wide, but he nodded.

“We’ll find him.”

Chapter Text

The air in Willow Lane tasted wrong.

Hermione could feel it the moment she stepped out into the hall — the pulse of ward magic, frantic and uneven, the kind of energy that came from too many detection spells layered over one another. The world felt stretched thin.

Aurors moved through the corridors in pairs, wands lit, muttering incantations that flickered against the wallpaper. The soft, ordinary hum of the nursery — lullabies, tiny snores, the smell of milk — had been replaced by urgency. Fear.

Hermione caught sight of a small toy bear lying on the floor of their now overturned apartment — Leo’s. She crouched automatically, fingers brushing the worn fabric, and her throat closed.

Draco stood in the doorway, silent. His white shirt was half-unbuttoned, his hair a wreck, his eyes ringed with sleeplessness that hadn’t yet set in. He looked like a man suspended between disbelief and self-destruction.

“Nothing?” she whispered.

He shook his head once. “They’ve searched the grounds twice. No trace of magical residue. Whoever took him either knew how to mask their signature—”

“Or didn’t use magic,” Hermione finished grimly.

McGonagall appeared beside them, robes flaring as she moved. “We’ve closed off all exit points and Floo networks. Everyone who’s been inside Willow Lane in the past twenty-four hours is being questioned.”

Hermione’s voice trembled. “Who was on duty?”

“The usual staff,” McGonagall said. “Two matrons, three house-elves. One Healer on rotation. All couples have been confirmed to have been on their dates, all of whom left well before Leo went missing."

Hermione’s brows knitted. “Well, he didn't just disappear!” Hermione huffed, exasperated. The way McGonagall was talking, it sounded as though she thought it impossible for the child to be missing. And yet he was. And Hermione was feeling more distraught by the second.

An Auror approached then — young, nervous, clutching a parchment filled with notes. “We’ve finished sweeping the private rooms, ma’am,” he told McGonagall. “We… found something in Mr Malfoy’s belongings.”

Hermione’s stomach turned cold.

“What sort of something?” Draco demanded.

The Auror hesitated. “A potion vial, sir. Unlabelled. Half-empty. It was tucked inside a travel bag.”

Draco’s jaw locked. “That’s impossible. I don’t—”

The Auror held up the small glass vial with tongs, the liquid inside a faint green shimmer.

“Don’t what?” another voice asked — sharp, officious. It was one of the senior investigators, a broad-shouldered wizard with a tone that could slice. “Don’t brew potions? Or don’t keep them in your belongings?”

Draco took a step forward, fury simmering just under his skin. “I haven’t brewed a damn thing in months.”

Hermione’s instinct kicked in — the scholar, the rational mind. She reached for the vial, but the Auror stepped back. “We’ll have this tested.”

“Let me test it,” she said quickly. “I’ll know what it is faster than anyone in your lab.”

The senior wizard’s eyes narrowed. “You’re personally involved, Mrs Granger. That’s a conflict of interest.”

“She’s the Hermione Granger,” Draco snapped. “She literally wrote the—”

“I know who she is,” the man said curtly. “And that doesn’t exempt her from procedure.”

For a second, it looked like Draco might hit him. His wand hand twitched. Hermione placed her palm on his chest — not to calm him, but to anchor him.

She looked up at the investigator, eyes blazing. “You think he’d hurt his own child?”

“I think,” the man said evenly, “that people do unthinkable things when they’re desperate.”

The words landed like a slap.

Draco laughed — but it wasn’t amused. It was the kind of laugh that cracked on the way out. “You think I did this?”

The Auror didn’t answer.

Hermione stepped between them. “Listen to me carefully,” she said, her voice shaking but deadly sure. “If you waste another minute chasing ghosts, you will lose our son. So you can either keep playing detective or start doing your job.”

A tense silence followed. Then McGonagall — ever the steady one — cleared her throat. “That will do. Auror Greaves, continue your analysis. Miss Granger, perhaps you might assist from a neutral lab once the report is filed.”

The men dispersed reluctantly.

When they were gone, Draco sat heavily on the arm of a chair, hands pressed over his face. Hermione sank to her knees in front of him.

“They’re wrong,” she said softly. “I know they’re wrong.”

He didn’t answer. His breathing was uneven, ragged.

“You believe me?” he asked finally, voice cracking like dry paper.

Hermione met his eyes. “Always.”

Outside the nursery door, unseen, a faint blue ward flickered. Someone had placed it there hours ago — a subtle, elegant masking charm. Their charm work was nothing if not precise.

And far away, in a quiet cottage shrouded by concealment spells, she rocked a sleeping infant and whispered, almost tenderly, “You shouldn’t have been born into that chaos, little one. Now, you’re mine.”