Between the Malfoy Brothers - Dramione

Chapter 14

Hermione rushed down the stairs first thing in the morning, desperate to get her house guests breakfast before her mother was bothered by them. It was no light thing to turn up for the holidays with two unannounced teenaged boys in tow. She had known that from the start and had promised her mother they'd be no trouble. But it was a hard promise to keep, especially now that the Malfoy brothers were a musky mass of arms and legs and day-old hair cream in her mother's front room.

Sliding in on her sock feet, Hermione found her mother already up and dressed, leaning over the back of the sofa, watching the boys sleeping on the floor.

"Mum, stop that," Hermione said in the sternest whisper she could.

"What?"

"Don't ogle them in their sleep. It's dead creepy."

Ann scoffed. "There's no ogling about it. These pretty babies -- I'm observing them for research purposes. Come have a look."

Hermione meant to keep protesting but the words died in her throat when she got close enough to see the sleeping boys. They were sprawled awkwardly around each other, their breaths noisy and rough, their hair spectacularly mussed, and still they were simply too beautiful. If they could be merged into a single person, the pair of them might make the perfect boy.

"Take a breath, darling," Ann laughed gently, reading it all in Hermione's face. "Cozy, aren't they?"

They were sleeping awfully close together, Draco lying on his side with his cheek pressed to Ronald's ribcage, Ronald's arm outstretched, running over the top of Draco's head. They weren't exactly intertwined or cuddling, but there was no space at all between them. Draco stirred, turning onto his other side.

Asleep, without their waking personalities animating their faces, they looked more harmless, and much more alike than usual.

Ann saw this as well. "Alright here's the research. Draco's parents adopted Ronald, you say?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. His biological parents are the Weasleys. You know that's why Harry and I are invited to the Burrow so often. Ronald is one of them, in his way."

Ann hummed. "Both Molly and Arthur Weasley are his parents? And the man we saw brawling with Arthur in that bookshop all those years ago is Ronald's adopted father?"

Hermione nodded again. "Yes, that's Lucius Malfoy, Draco's dad. Now he's Ronald's dad too."

Ann folded her arms. "You don't say. Well, if that's their story, I suppose we'll have to stick to it. Remarkable though, the resemblance, isn't it? Don't let their hair colours fool you. Oh, but if they insist it's a coincidence it is possible those Malfoys trained Ronald to set his facial expressions like theirs until he got stuck that way."

She turned and left the lounge, Hermione following. "Mum, that's not something people can do."

"Isn't it? How about those old married couples who start to look alike?" she said, grinning and raising an awful racket as she pulled a frying pan from the cabinet.

"They are rather like an old married couple," Hermione said. "You're cooking for them? You never cook before 6:00 pm."

Ann smirked. "No. Your father says he will. I'm just making enough noise to wake them up for it."

Sure enough, the boys were stirring in their sleeping bags. Draco had fallen asleep first so he woke first, throwing Ronald's arm back at him.

Ronald startled and woke up calling, "Harry!"

"No such luck. It's only me," Draco said. "Merry Christmas Eve, by the way."

Ronald was blinking, remembering where he was. "Christmas Eve," he said, sitting up. "I wonder what Mum and Dad are doing today. Or rather, what country they're in today."