Three Wizards and a Baby

XI

December 2005

"Can you say bye bye?" Hermione smiled, kissing Lyra's cheek as Draco and Blaise were headed to the floo, both leaving for their respective jobs. With a squeal and a wave, Lyra waved at the two men as they chuckled at her yelling NO at them with a smile on her face. Draco headed over with a smile on his face, bending down to where Hermione was helping her stand. Lyra giggled, her curls bouncing as she swayed.

"Goodbye little love," Draco chuckled, kissing her cheeks.

"Dada," Lyra smiled, squealing again and shuffling, trying to walk to him.

"She's going to be walking any day now," he beamed at Hermione before averting his eyes back to the little girl in front of him.

"Oh I know," Hermione chuckled, smiling softly at him.

"Try not to kill Nott today Granger," Blaise smirked, coming over and kissing the top of Lyra's head as Draco stood back up.

"I make no promises," she shrugged her shoulders, rolling her eyes as both Blaise and Draco chuckled at her. After waving her goodbyes, Hermione scooped Lyra up and walked back towards the library. With Lyra's first birthday approaching in a mere few days, tensions had been running high in the household. Hermione and Theo had been at odds over a birthday celebration in honor of the little girl herself. Theo wanted to throw a huge party while Hermione wanted something simple and quiet. Each side was failing to understand the other's point. This had led to many discussions, arguments, and almost a full on war. Pansy had of course taken Theo's side, favoring spoiling her god-daughter. Blaise, while neutral for the most part, clearly sided with Pansy because he knew better than to get on the witch's bad side. Draco had surprisingly taken Hermione's side, but that was because he understood where she was coming from. It had reached a boiling point the night before and Hermione had exploded after Lyra was down for the night.

"She's going to be a year old Theo," Hermione snapped at him, closing her book. "She's not even going to remember any of this."

"It doesn't matter! It's what she deserves!" Theo yelled back at her. "I'm raising her too you know, you can't take this away from me!"

"This isn't about you! Why can't you understand that I just want it to be us and close family and friends! She doesn't need a big production!"

"Oh because you don't want everyone talking about how you hid away pregnant for a year around her? Now who is making it about themselves?"

"Theo.." Draco warned him.

"No! Sometimes you make shit decisions Hermione! And this is one of them." Theo retorted, pointing at her. "Just like when you DECIDED to get pregnant and ignore all of us for a year. So no, this is us saving you from another shit decision. You can invite whoever the fuck you want!"

"I CAN'T INVITE THE PEOPLE I WANT! THEY DON'T REMEMBER ME!"

After the fight, Hermione had left the room and handed it over to Pansy and Theo to do whatever they wanted. The idea of having a birthday party for her daughter without her parents hurt more than she could put into words. Everytime that Lyra hit a milestone or said a new word, the first thing Hermione wanted to do was call her mother and tell her but she couldn't. She knew that Theo was just doing something special for his favorite person but Hermione was having trouble getting through the pain. Everyone would be there, but her parents would not.

Holding Lyra closer to her body, Hermione walked past the drawing room where she could hear Theo and Pansy discussing how they wanted to set up for the party. She kept quiet as they passed, hoping that they wouldn't see her but she should have known that was an impossible feat. "Hermione hey! Come and see this. Pansy is brilliant. It's going to be epic."