Daphne and Elliot's apartment was small and quaint and seemed quite perfect for the two of them. The first thing Emma smelt when walking inside was the hot food and another smell she couldn't quite place; it was one of those individual smells each home had, and this one made Emma feel comfortable and relaxed. It was almost like magic.
Daphne had insisted on giving Emma and Draco a tour of her place, and showed them the bedroom and how she had decorated it along with its ensuite. The second bedroom was set up for Elliot's music studio, as he had explained that he wrote songs and recorded them himself, hoping to be recognised by the right people someday. Draco had looked at all the technology as though it was the inside of a spaceship and as though he had no idea how he'd gotten there.
After giving up trying to explain to Draco the use of the technology and how it worked, Daphne and Elliot led Emma and Draco back towards the dining room which overlooked the kitchen, where Elliot and Daphne took turns cooking.
Emma looked above the fireplace mantel, where photographs sat, and all along the walls decorated with canvases and giant frames of Daphne and Elliot together. They had a giant canvas hanging on the wall above the fireplace of them at their wedding, and photos all around of them having travelled and out having fun, and their first night with their cat, Hank.
"Hank?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "How do you look at a kitten and name it Hank?"
"Same way one looks at a newborn and names it Draco I suppose," Daphne retorted, coming over to Emma and staring up at the photographs with her. Daphne pointed at one in the centre of the fireplace mantel. "This was when we went to Japan, and this was us on our hike by Mount Fuji. And this was when we first adopted Hank. Oh, and this was us in New York. America truly has the best pizza. Since adapting to life with Muggles, I've had a lot of pizza. And beer."
Emma was truly amazed at all the adventures Daphne had gone on, and seeing photos of just Daphne and Elliot, she couldn't help but wonder the one thing consistently crossing her mind, but she would not ask it.
"You've gone to so many places," was all Emma said, gazing at all the photos. "If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you afford all of this, especially with that big wedding?"
"Mother and Father may not approve much of my marrying a Muggle, but that doesn't mean they didn't leave me quite the fortune. Despite all my travels, I'm being smart with my money by living in this small apartment and living off leftovers most days of the week. Elliot doesn't do too bad either, some of his songs have sold."
Emma nodded. "And Elliot knows that you're...?"
"A witch? Yes. He wasn't even freaked out like I thought he'd be, no, he was excited -- first thing he asked me to do was make a pie and cheesecake appear out of thin air!"
"Wouldn't that be something?" Emma laughed, as Elliot carried a dish and placed it in the centre of the table.
After a few minutes, there were multiple dishes with multiple different kinds of foods. Daphne assured Emma that these were not leftovers, but that she and Elliot had done some last minute shopping because they weren't sure what Emma and Draco liked these days.
"And what drinks will we be having?" Daphne asked, looking between Emma and Draco. "I've got vodka, whiskey, wine, rum-- merlin, you name it, you got it."
"Er-- I'll take anything pre-mixed I suppose," Emma shrugged, looking at Draco.
"What she said," he nodded.
"All right," said Daphne, "but, Emma, before you leave, you have to take a bacardi shot with me."
Emma didn't get the chance to respond; Daphne had walked away to grab knives and forks. Elliot gestured for Emma and Draco to take a seat. Now was the part Emma wasn't looking forward to-- small talk. She knew she wouldn't be so great at that at the moment.
"Er-- did you want to go and wake Mia up? To eat with us?" said Daphne as she tucked herself in across from Emma.
Emma shook her head. "She had a snack before we came. I've brought some food for her in my bag she'll have when she's up."
Emma bit her lip, hoping Daphne wouldn't put her on the spot and ask for every detail as to why Draco was here instead of Colton. Sighing, Emma reached out and grabbed a scoop of carbonara and a small side of salad, to make herself feel better and like she was actually doing something good for her body.
"Sooo," Daphne said, whistling as she placed her chosen foods on her dish. "Tell me, where is this baby daddy of yours?"
Emma took in a deep breath and said, "Probably a motel or something. I'm kinda certain it's over between us."
"What? Really? Didn't you just get engaged?" questions flew out of Daphne's mouth so fast Emma could barely keep up. Daphne's food suddenly wasn't interesting to her anymore. "But you guys have a kid together, how is that going to work? And your house, you guys own that, don't you? What's your living situation, did you kick him out? Will you sell--"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Elliot said loudly, eyebrows raised. Daphne chuckled and muttered out an apology.
"Er... we haven't really discussed any of that, our breakup was pretty recent. Very recent, actually," Emma explained, twisting her carbonara around her fork. Emma exchanged a look with Draco. "And I thought I'd bring Draco along instead."
"As friends, right?" Daphne arched a mischievous eyebrow as she took a sip of her champagne. Elliot shot her a look and shook his head.
Draco coughed out a chuckle. "I think so? Haven't seen each other in, what, 6-- 7 years? I'd say we're classed as no more than something like acquaintances, wouldn't you, Emma?"
The words he chose to use kind of hurt, but Emma knew it was a good coverup and necessary, and when she looked into his eyes, she could see he hated having said it.
"Something like that," Emma replied with a nod.
"So weird," Daphne chuckled softly, taking a bite of her food. "It's just-- thinking about how close you two were at Hogwarts and seeing how things are now, it's kind of sad, you know? Just because everything's so different and we've all grown up and changed."
"Can't put off the inevitable," Elliot said as he cut into his steak. "Scary, but someday we're all just going to be dust in the earth."
Daphne stopped chewing and narrowed her eyes slightly. "That got dark real quick. Okay, topic change. Draco, I hear Astoria has been trying to get into contact with you."
Draco squirmed in his seat, looking uncomfortable. He had failed at trying to hide it, and squirmed even more when he noticed the three other adults staring his way. He met eyes with Emma the longest and shook his head, before looking back at Daphne.
"We spent time together, once, and it was all friendly. I know she's been trying to talk to me, but I'm just not interested," Draco shrugged. "No offence."
"None taken," Daphne replied. Emma reached over and slowly took a sip of her drink, trying, for even just a few seconds, to ignore the tension. "I know how it was with her during school, how her crush on you had shaped her, it was a lot. I can imagine that to her it just feels like more than a crush, though that's all it is. Silly little crush."
"Right," Draco said, clearing his throat. "Er-- anyway... you working, Daphne?"
"Of course," she replied, "alongside Elliot."
"And Elliot...writes songs and sells them?" Draco said slowly.
"Yeah," replied Elliot with a sharp nod and a small smile. "It's nice and quite simple-- most my songs are about Daphne anyway. Been writing them about her since we first met."
Daphne flushed and turned away sheepishly, taking a sip of her champagne.
"Being a songwriter only saddens me in a way that I haven't been noticed by anyone who can really get me up there with the rest of the big crowd, big money makers," Elliot went on. "I sometimes sing in pubs or at events hoping to get noticed. Only thing I've gotten so far are compliments and coins, which I'm not complaining about. Every little bit goes a long way."
After dinner and dessert, Elliot took Draco away to further show him how his technology in his studio works, and Daphne and Emma went outside on the balcony to sit and talk, and they mostly just reminisced about their days at school.
Daphne suddenly pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit a single one. She looked at Emma to see if there was any judgement on her face, and when Daphne couldn't see one, she puffed away.
"I hope you aren't thinking too poorly of me," said Daphne. "I'm just...stressed. I never usually smoke."
"I'm not thinking poorly of you," Emma assured her. She held out her hand, "I could even use one."
Daphne smiled and handed a cigarette to Emma, who lit it and took a drag, exhaling slowly.
"My, my, I never thought I'd see the day goody-two-shoes Emma Baranov smokes a cigarette," Daphne teased with a small smirk on her face. "Is it about Colton?"
Emma didn't have any room to worry about or stress about Colton, but she nodded at Daphne anyway. She wasn't going to make the same mistake she did years ago with Sabrina Lestrange. Now, Emma would keep her secrets to herself. Especially if it involved the safety of her daughter.
"What about you?" asked Emma, taking another drag. "What's got you so stressed out?"
"Life," Daphne responded with a frown. "I love my marriage. I love Elliot. But...he's been asking about things, about our future."
"You mean financially?"
Daphne chuckled humorlessly with a distant look in her eyes. "I guess you could say that."
Emma frowned. "He's not, like... materialistic is he?"
"No," Daphne laughed, gesturing to her apartment. "Look around. Nicest thing I own is my cat. He's been talking about starting a family someday."
"Oh," Emma said, raising her eyebrows. "I truly think the answer would be more simple if men bore children."
"Probably," Daphne cackled, tossing her cigarette into an ashtray. "It's just not something I want, and I don't think I ever will. See, what Elliot doesn't know is there's this bloodcurse that floats around in my bloodline. I don't want to have children and then someday it emerges in me and I die and leave them behind. It would be too hard. Or even-- one of them getting the curse. And every time Elliot brings it up I get this weird vision that he and I will have these children, and then the children and I all end up dying from the curse, and he ends up all alone."
Emma was surprised to hear about this bloodcurse, but she was sure that Daphne was overthinking the whole thing. She opened her mouth to speak, but Daphne went on:
"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a child with Elliot, but my fears will never, ever let me."
Emma never got the chance to assure Daphne of anything, for the glass door behind the two women slid open and a head popped out. Elliot grinned at them.
"Hey, Emma, you up for that bacardi shot? Come on, Daph," he said, too happily, as though he and Draco had slipped in a few drinks while Emma and Daphne sat outside.
Emma and Daphne exchanged a look before heading inside, where Elliot had lined up four shot glasses filled with bacardi. Draco was standing there staring at his glass, rubbing his hands together. Emma and Daphne slowly went around to stand in front of a glass, and on Elliot's count, all four of them lifted their glass and consumed the contents.
Daphne drank hers like it was water, no reaction on her face whatsoever. Elliot winced and banged on his chest twice. Draco squinted and poked his tongue out a few times, complaining about how strong it was. Emma was dying on the inside but she did her best to maintain a calm reaction.
"Again," Draco said, slamming his shot glass down onto the table. Elliot cheered and poured more bacardi into Draco's glass, and Emma smiled at him as Elliot and Daphne encouraged him to drink it.
Three shots later, it seemed to get easier to Draco, and eventually Daphne and Elliot got bored of watching Draco drink bacardi and instead wanted Emma to consume a glass of straight bacardi.
"I'm not doing that!" she exclaimed, but Daphne grinned and began to pour a glass of it anyway. She slid it towards Emma. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Come on, I'll do it with you, cheers!" Daphne said, holding out her own glass of bacardi for Emma to clink her glass against. Emma did so, and watched Daphne drink the bacardi as though it was nothing.
"I'm not drinking anything else after this," Emma said, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to drink the bacardi in big gulps as to make it go down faster. Everyone cheered, and as she placed her glass down onto the table, her hand flew to her mouth because the taste was so unbearable that she almost gagged.
There was a soft whine from Daphne and Elliot's bedroom, and a quiet 'mamamamama' repeatedly as though it was one long word.
"And the fun is over," Daphne pouted, looking at Emma.
Emma left the group and went to see Mia, who was sitting up in the centre of the queen bed, softly crying. Emma turned the light on and went and sat on the bed, allowing Mia to crawl up to her and sit in her lap. Mia hated waking up in new places without Emma being there for her to see, and Emma instantly felt bad by this. She was meant to wake Mia up herself not long from now, but the cheers of Daphne, Elliot and Draco would have been what woke Mia up before she was meant to.
"It's okay," Emma repeated softly, rubbing Mia's back until she settled, and then she left the room with Mia attached to her hip.
"Hi, sweet girl," Daphne cooed, moving Mia's golden locks from her eyes. "Did we wake you? Sorry about that. How old is she, Emma?"
"She'll be one on the 23rd of February," Emma replied, looking at Mia. "Feels strange to me that she'll be one so soon."
"Can she crawl, walk...?"
"Course she can crawl. She's walked a few steps but I think she's just lazy and chooses to crawl because it's quicker for her at the moment," Emma chuckled. Mia hid her face in Emma's neck and yawned. Emma looked at Draco. "Should we get going?"
Draco was so drunk he could barely hold eye contact with Emma, and he threw her a sloppy grin. Emma forced a smile at him and took his grin as a yes.
"I'll help you out there, mate," Elliot said, grabbing onto Draco and guiding him to the door. "Say 'bye, Daphne'."
"Bye, Daphne," Draco slurred without looking over his shoulder.
When Draco and Elliot reached the door, Elliot looked back at Emma.
"I'll meet you two at the car. And, Elliot, make sure Draco gets into contact with Atticus if he isn't there."
Elliot nodded and opened the door, helping Draco out of it. Before Draco disappeared out of view, there was a faint, "bye, Emma!"
Emma adjusted Mia on her hip and held her bag tightly in her other hand.
Daphne smiled genuinely. "I'll send another owl sometime. I'd love for the two of us to have a girls day out. Mia's welcome to join, too, of course."
Emma returned the smile. "That sounds nice," she said, walking with Daphne towards the door. "I also wanted to ask you something."
"Sure, what?"
"I know you said you don't want any children of your own because of your bloodcurse," Emma started, and Daphne frowned, nodding. "I wondered, then, if you'd like to be Mia's godmother? I know it's a bit late to ask but--"
"Merlin's beard, really?!" Daphne squealed happily. She wrapped her arms around Emma, with Mia stuck in the middle. "Of course, I'd love that! Oh, my-- you've just made my night again!"
"Again?" Emma chuckled as Daphne pulled away.
"Well, you actually showing up made my night the first time. Nobody ever really shows up when I invite them," Daphne shrugged with a small smile. "But... I'm so flattered, really. Hear that, Mia? I'm going to be your godmother, if that's okay with you of course."
The drive home involved Atticus humming in agreement with whatever Draco was slurring about, as everything he was saying made zero sense. Draco even ended up having a conversation with Mia, who responded with her own gibberish or random words and giggles.
Emma thanked Atticus when they arrived back at Draco's house. When Emma got Mia out of the carseat, Draco was still trying to push himself up out of the car at the other side.
"Need help?"
"No, I got it," Draco replied, and with one final grunt, he managed to pull himself up to where he was finally standing. He mumbled a thank you to Atticus, and then stumbled over towards Emma and Mia. He put a hand on Emma's back. "Come on..."
"Please be careful on those stairs," Emma said to him as they walked. "I won't be able to save you if you go tumbling."
Draco didn't say anything, only stared at her and smiled. Emma pursed her lips at him and looked away, walking beside him slowly on the stairs. Emma held her wand in her hand in case Draco decided he'd take a fall, but he managed to successfully make it up the stairs in one piece.
"I'm going to put Mia to bed, will you be alright?"
Draco sat in a chair at the dining room table. "Yeah. Just need a minute, bit dizzy."
"Just wait here then, I'll come back," Emma told him.
Draco said something Emma couldn't make out, and quickly walked into her assigned bedroom. She put Mia down on the bed and dug into her bag for Mia's food, but when she turned back, Mia was already halfway asleep.
"You not hungry, baby?" Emma asked, holding out her food, but Mia was more interested in sleeping.
Sighing, Emma put the food aside and put Mia right to sleep in her cot and headed back towards the dining table where Draco was. Emma stopped in her tracks for a moment upon seeing Draco passed out at the table, face down. She continued making her way to him and shook him gently.
"Draco?" she said, shaking him again. He murmured something, which prompted Emma to shake him once more. "Come on, I'll help you."
Draco lifted his head and looked at Emma, holding eye contact with her for a moment, causing her to swallow harshly. Doing this made her realise she desperately needed some water after all that bacardi.
He took her hand and she helped pull him up out of the seat.
"Sorry, Freckles," he mumbled, it was so quiet Emma almost missed it.
She chuckled. "You don't need to be."
As they slowly stumbled their way towards Draco's bedroom, he said, "I just don't want you thinking I'm like him."
Emma frowned as she guided Draco towards his bed, where he sat down quickly, reaching a hand up to his head.
"You're nothing like him," Emma replied, sitting beside Draco. He looked at her, unconvinced. "You're still here, he isn't. And just because he's terrible with his drinks, doesn't mean you can't let yourself go for one night. You looked happy and you had fun and you deserve to."
Draco nodded and pushed himself back against his pillows.
Emma smiled at him and began to stand. "I'll get you some water then I'll be off."
She started to walk away towards the door when he spoke again.
"I still love you, Freckles," he murmured, and Emma paused at the door. "I meant what I said years ago. I always will."
It took Emma a moment to keep a hold of herself, and she turned around to look at him. "Ah... hello, bacardi, nice to meet you," she joked.
"No," Draco shook his head. "Everyday after-- I regretted that we drifted apart, and I thought about you every single day. Of those blue eyes and those freckles. It's not the bacardi talking. I mean it's the bacardi giving me the courage to say it, but I mean it."
Emma was completely put on the spot, and she stuttered, feeling a flutter in her stomach at his words and the way he was looking at her. She felt so stupid at this.
Draco smiled at her. "I'll take that water now."
Emma gave him a soft smile in return.