Drafting a letter to his mother that would accompany the wedding invitation for the pair, Draco was nearly shaking while writing it and his ink kept splattering all over the page. At this point, it might be better for him to have Hermione write it or to use a Quick-Quotes quill because his mother would surely scold him for sending her such a messy letter.
So far he had,
Mother,
After talking with my fiancée and a lot of thinking, I have decided to allow you to attend our wedding. Please understand that this decision was not taken lightly, and it took me quite a while to decide.
Also, know that I reserve the right to remove you from our lives at any point in the future. If you put one toe out of line, I will be sure to all but Obliviate you from my mind and life.
I am allowing you to be a part of our lives. We can take that right away very quickly. Tread carefully.
We will see you soon.
Draco.
Once finishing the letter, he folds it and sticks it in an envelope, alongside their wedding invitation.
Once sealing the letter, he gives it to Hermes to send before it got too late in the evening.
Sighing, he fell backward onto the bed, resting his arm over his eyes to avoid the light.
He didn't regret his decision; it was just terrifying thinking about letting his mother back into their lives. His fiancée may have wanted him to let her back into their lives, but it still scared him—more than he cared to admit. Draco wasn't necessarily content with his decision, but he was trying to make his way there. It's a scary thing to let someone so destructive back into your life.
After lying down for nearly half an hour, Hermione walked in to see Draco looking like he had an existential crisis.
"How'd it go?" She asks carefully, moving to sit next to him on the bed
Moving his arm to look at her, Draco sighs before telling her that he was a bit freaked out over sending the letter.
"Do you want to talk about it? I know how you are. You keep everything bottled up, and then you nearly explode. Talk to me about it. How do you feel about this? How do you feel about the wedding? What about school? I feel like we haven't talked about things in a while, and I want you to rant to me. Let it all out, babe." Hermione says, brushing Draco's platinum hair with her fingers
Closing his eyes and relaxing, Draco began letting out everything he was holding in. He was so used to not having anyone to talk to that he forgot he could tell Hermione anything.
He told her everything he felt while writing that letter to his mother, things he hadn't realized he was feeling even in the moment.
Fear, because he was terrified this would backfire on both him and his future wife.
Anxiety, because what if this turned out to be one of the worst decisions he's ever made.
Anger, because he shouldn't have to make this decision in the first place.
Sadness, because this was such a sad situation.
All these wrapped up into one made him so stressed about the next few months of their lives together.
He hated that they were put into this situation. He hated that his mother - though she said she was placed under the Imperius curse - did that to them. He hated that they were all being forced into marriages. He hated that he never had a good, normal year at Hogwarts. Draco hated a lot of things, and they were about to boil over.
Thank Merlin for his fiancée.
"I just hate that we were never able to have a normal year at Hogwarts. I hate that we were forced into marriages, that my family is so broken, that I have this mark on my arm, that we still have exams to take, and most of all, I hate how I sometimes forget I have you to talk to and I build all this fear up, and I almost explode. But then, I love you, and I love that you always know just what to say or what to do. With all the anger, fear, anxiety, stress, hate, and sadness I hold...It's all brushed under the rug when you're around. You make it easier." He says, opening his eyes to look at her
"Make what easier?" She asks, curious
"Living."
\\~//
Going to bed that night was easier for the pair.
Draco felt relaxed and content after talking to Hermione about everything. She always knew how to make him feel better. Hermione was just glad he was able to relax and let it all out.
Falling into deep nights of sleep at nearly the same time, the couple had near-identical dreams.
The couple dreamt of their wedding that would occur in less than a month, followed by a small glimpse into what their future might look like as a family.
The one difference they each held was the size of their family.
Hermione, thinking of Draco's wishes as she was falling asleep, dreamt of only one child.
A boy with striking blond hair that equaled his father's occupied her dreams. He had the attitude and sass of both of his parents put together and was constantly being mischievous. There was no doubt he was a clever little wizard, though.
Hermione and Draco often argued about which house he would be put in once he turned eleven. Hermione was sure he would be in Ravenclaw while Draco was optimistic that he would be placed into Slytherin, just like his father. Though they often argued about it, they didn't care what house he would be in - as long as it wasn't Hufflepuff.
In Draco's dream, the pair had four children. Two boys and two girls. One was older, seeming to be near Hogwarts age, while the other three were quite a bit younger, maybe seven, five, and three? Draco couldn't tell. Three of the four had Draco's platinum blond hair, while the youngest had Hermione's warm, brown hair without the curls. It was pin straight.
However unruly Dracos thought having four kids would be, he was wrong.
They were all perfect little angels. Always doing what their parents asked them to without arguing, cleaning up messes when they made them, and they were perfect.
Draco almost wished they were a bit more unruly; he knew it was no fun growing up in a strict household where everything had to be perfect.
Maybe it wasn't exactly what he wanted.
Upon realizing this, his thoughts jolted him awake.
Hermione was still sound asleep, her head lying on his chest. Draco was breathing heavily upon realizing he didn't want such a perfect, pristine life.
Maybe a different future wouldn't be too bad.
Draco laid there, stewing over the idea that his future might not be exactly what he thought it would be or that he wanted it to be. By the time he had figured he ought to try and get a bit more rest, the sun had begun to rise, which meant it was near six in the morning, and he would have to be up soon anyway. Rather than just getting up and getting ready for the day, Draco closed his eyes and waited for Hermione to wake up and pull him out of bed with her when she woke up.
Soon, it had reached seven in the morning, and Hermione was pulling Draco out of bed, and he regretfully got out of the warm, soft cushion and followed her to brush their teeth in the bathroom. It took everything in him to not fall asleep standing up.
"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked while tying her hair up in a quick bun, so it was easier for her to wash her face
"I didn't get very much rest. Woke up from a dream and couldn't fall back asleep." He explains, tiredly rubbing his eyes.
"Come on. We'll head to breakfast and get you something to wake up. You can go right back to bed after classes. I'm not gonna let you skip since we have our N.E.W.T.S coming up soon." Hermione says, pulling him back into their room to get dressed and ready for breakfast and their full day of classes.
Hermione got dressed rather quickly and took a seat on their bed, next to her cat, who usually just ran about the castle.
"Wow, you really do seem exhausted. Did you have a nightmare?" She asks, brushing her fingers through Ophelia's fur
"Not necessarily. It wasn't about the war if that's what you're asking. I'll tell you about it later. Come on, let's head down for breakfast." He sighed, walking to the door and waiting for her before exiting.
They walked down to the Great Hall in silence, hand in hand.
Draco was trudging along while Hermione had a bit of a pep in her step. Of course, she was worried about Draco not getting enough sleep, but she had a lovely dream last night; she was content knowing that her future Mother-in-law would be attending their wedding, then there were the upcoming exams that she was totally prepared for. She wasn't too worried about it because...well, she knows her way around her classes.
Rather than sitting at the Gryffindor table like usual, she opted to sit with Draco at the Slytherin table to make sure he stayed awake and got enough breakfast for the day before lunch. If she didn't make sure he got enough to eat, no one would. Sure, Blaise and Pansy paid attention, but they wouldn't make sure he got enough to eat like she would.
As soon as the pair sat down - rather far from everyone - Hermione automatically reached for the coffee and poured herself and Draco a cup; she didn't like her coffee strong so she dumped a bit of sugar and a good amount of cream in hers while giving Draco a cup of black coffee with two spoonfuls of sugar.
How he drank it like that, she'll never know.
They ate together in a comfortable silence, as Draco wasn't really in the mood to talk this morning, being as exhausted as he was.
Soon, the bell rang, signaling the start of their morning classes that lasted until 11
Their first two classes they were lucky enough to have together and be seated next to each other, so Hermione was able to keep Draco awake.
Finally, it was time for lunch, which meant their day was nearly over. After lunch, the pair only had two more classes, and then they were free to spend the rest of their days however they liked.
Opting to sit with Draco once again for lunch, they sat near Pansy, who was talking to Theodore Nott, someone that Hermione had very little interaction with.
They ate once again in silence, just wanting the day to be over so Draco could get some rest and so Hermione could figure out what his dream must have been to keep him up all night.
\\~//
By the time they were finished with their classes, Draco had fallen asleep in two of the four classes he had, despite Hermione doing everything in her power to keep him awake. Eventually, she just let him sleep and made sure neither of their professors caught on to Draco's little nap.
It took everything for Draco to get back to their room without falling asleep on Hermione, but once they were in, he was immediately sprawled out on the bed, already drifting to sleep.
Smiling, Hermione carefully takes his shoes and tie off so he can be a bit more comfortable and covers him with the blanket he failed to crawl under before being knocked out.
Sitting at her desk, Hermione picks up one of her textbooks and begins her homework for the day, listening to the soft snores coming from Draco.
After finishing all of her schoolwork for the day, it's nearing four o'clock, and she decides to crawl into bed next to Draco, not for a nap, just to lie next to him in hopes that he has more welcoming dreams than he had last night. She thought about using Legilimens to check on his subconscious but felt that might be a bit far and instead just decided to watch him sleep for another hour before waking him up for dinner at five. Hermione knew it would be better to go earlier so he would get his school work done before turning in for the night in hopes of a full night's rest.
By the time she realizes it's five, Draco had somehow managed to get his arm around Hermione, and no matter how cute it may have been, Hermione was uncomfortable and hungry.
So in one fell swoop, Hermione had got out from under him and woke him up in the same few seconds.
"What was that for?" Draco asks, annoyed at the disturbance she had created.
"It's five o'clock. Time for dinner. Plus, I was uncomfortable, and you made my arm fall asleep." Hermione explains as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Thanks for waking me up. Did you get into bed with me?" He asks, smirking
"You're incredible. You just woke up, and you're already making snide comments. It really is impressive." She laughs, walking to the door
Quickly following her, Draco fixes his wrinkled clothes so it doesn't look like he's been sleeping for hours, he started fiddling with his hair, but it was to no avail. It was a hot mess.
Noticing his struggle, Hermione turns around and reaches up to fix his hair.
"You know, I quite like your hair messy. Haven't I told you that before? Leave it like that." She says, fixing it for him and then grabbing his hand
The rest of the walk was silent until they reached the Great Hall. Rather than sitting at the Slytherin table once again, Hermione pulled him over to the Gryffindor table to sit with her friends for once.
Harry, Ron, and Ginny were already occupying their spots at the table as usual. Ron liked to get to dinner as soon as it was served. Realizing that Hermione and Draco were coming to sit down, the three made room for the pair.
"Well. Look what Hermione dragged in. Interesting to see you sitting at our table." Ron says, mouth full of potatoes
"Honestly, Ron, if you're going to speak, speak when you don't have food in your mouth." Hermione says annoyed
The five joke around for the majority of dinner, Ron mainly taking friendly digs at Draco. They had all really evolved to enjoy Draco's presence. He was a fun bloke when he wasn't trying to ruin your life.
After dinner, they all walked back to the common room together, joining Pansy as she was on her way back as well. The six of them hung around the common room for a bit before Hermione and Draco decided to retire so Draco would be able to do his school work and so that Hermione could read the latest book she had picked up.
Soon it was nearing eight. Draco had finished his work, and Hermione had gotten bored of her book.
"Honestly, I don't really want to head for bed yet...do you wanna join everyone back in the common room?" Draco asked softly, trying not to let on that he really did enjoy their company
"I would like that." She smiled
\\~//
"Wait, wait, wait...you mean...you guys...in the Room of Requirement?" Hermione asks shocked
"Yeah. It was at the end of fifth year. It was more like...I don't want to deal with my problems, so you're going to distract me." Draco explains, laughing at the thought that he had actually slept with Pansy during fifth year.
"Come on. I was obsessed with him. I figured it was obvious that it happened at some point." Pansy laughed
The entire group laughed at Hermione's rosy cheeks and how shocked she had been by this revelation.
"It's not that I'm totally shocked about...that. I'm shocked that Pansy didn't tell anyone." Hermione begins laughing.
She knew Draco wasn't a virgin...I mean, look at him. There was no way.
"Wait, Ron! I need to know...did you and Lavender?" Pansy asks curiously
"Yeah..." He says sheepishly, turning as red as his hair
"Where? I just need to make sure we never do it in the same place." She giggles
Sighing, Ron tells her through his hands that it was in his dorm when everyone was at dinner one night.
"You did it in our dorm? Please tell me it was on your own bed!" Harry asked incredulously
"It, uh...was not." He laughs, getting up and running away from Harry as he chased him around the common room
Laughing, Draco turned to see Hermione smiling and laughing at the scene unfolding in front of her.
She was glowing, her cheeks held remnants of the blush from a few moments earlier, and she just looked so happy sitting here with all of her friends and fiancé.
Reaching over, he put his hand on top of hers and smiled at the thought that had just entered his head.
He was really, really happy.
\\~//
After that night in the common room, it was nearing eleven, and Hermione and Draco were getting ready for bed. Draco had finally decided it was time to tell Hermione about his dream from the previous night.
"So last night I dreamt about our future...We had four kids...but it wasn't crazy at all. They were acting just like I did in my childhood. I didn't like how uptight everything seemed to be. I woke myself up from how much I disliked the perfect-ness of it all. I sat there for hours thinking about it...I was thinking that I really liked the idea of having kids with you. I thought that if you wanted to have more than one...I would be fine with that." Draco said awkwardly, not meeting Hermione's eyes.
"That's so funny because I had nearly the same dream...only there was only one kid in my dream. And he was an insane little boy. How about instead of planning everything out, we just let what happens, happen?" Hermione asks, smiling at the thought that he was looking forward to so much of their future together
"Perfect."
Crawling into bed for the night, Hermione couldn't help but smile at the thought that he loved the idea of their future children and that he was going to make her wish come true.
\\~//
Wow, lol, 3150 words.
Nice.
I tried to fit a lot in this chapter, but I'm afraid it comes off as too much, so let me know what you think. I'm also writing this after coming off an exhausting few weeks.
Also sorry for posting this at 11:30 at night
Hope you enjoyed!
Shelby xx