Timeless

Epilogue

Present time: September 2017

Hermione Granger-Malfoy

"What Fritzgerald is trying to say is-"

"No," Blaise interrupted Hermione. "First off, it's Fitz-gerald. You need to tell Draco to stop calling him Fritzgerald, because he'd got all of us doing it now and we can't have a slip-up like that during the debate."

"Right, oops. Fitz-gerald, Fitz-gerald, Fitz-gerald. Got it."

"Next, call him Mister Fitzgerald, it's more respectful."

"He's not respectful to me," Hermione bit back.

"I know, but you need to take the high road. That's your brand and your supporters love that about you. And finally, you can't say things like 'what he's trying to say,' it's too condescending."

Hermione sighed and sat back down in her desk chair. "I hate this."

"I know," Blaise said. "And I also know that nobody watches the deputy Minister for Magic debates, but this will be good practice for when you run for the big position in a few years."

Just then, someone knocked on her door and Hermione looked at the clock on her desk and swore. "Is that really the time?" she cried, pointing toward the clock. "You were supposed to tell me when it was half-past, I'm going to be late for Scorpius!"

"I'm not a bloody clock," Blaise grumbled. "You should have set a wand timer."

Hermione already had her outer robes on and was opening the door. Theo was on the other side. "Are you ready? We're going to be late."

"I know. Come on!" Hermione ran to the lift and felt Blaise and Theo following behind her. They didn't have to run because they had long legs, and they also didn't have heels to contend with. Sometimes, she wished being the deputy Minister for Magic didn't require her to pay such close attention to her appearance.

She loved the work itself, helping Kingsley make influential decisions about new laws and run all the departments at the Ministry as efficiently and effectively as possible, but being so close to the figurehead of the British Wizarding World was a part of the job she could do without. Unfortunately, it was a requirement, so she had to dress the part and attend more social events than she'd care to so that during the day, she could do the work she really liked.

Hermione turned to Theo when they were in the lift. "Have you made a decision yet?"

"No," he groaned, "and stop pestering me about it."

"I know you're nervous about being a father, but you'll be great at it. And if Blaise can do it, so can you."

"I'm right here," Blaise sneered.

"I know. I can see you," she retorted.

"Do you and Bennett have some sort of deal that you'll bother me at least three times a day about this until I give in?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe I just want to see what a surly little Nott toddler would look like. With the outfits Bennett and Daphne would put on him and that cute pout," she pinched Theo's cheek and he scowled as he pushed her off him.

Theo's mother had ramped up her pursuit of a Pureblood Nott heir in the past year. She'd found an impressive line-up of Pureblood witches who would be willing to be a surrogate mother for Theo's child, for the right price, of course.

Theo had told her to sod off, but Bennett had been on board. He pointed out that he'd always wanted a kid and this solution would solve the problem of the Nott estate not having a clear heir after Theo. But Theo wouldn't budge and he'd admitted to Draco that it was because he thought he'd be an awful father. Hermione knew it was just a matter of time before they convinced him otherwise.