The telephone’s incessant ringing was what brought Hermione out of her deep sleep that morning. She opened her eyes slowly and looked outside to see a light downpour of rain and a whole load of grey clouds that depressed the entire city. She was in her usual bed and fully clothed... she never slept fully clothed. Hermione frowned as the telephone continued to ring.
‘Pick it up!’ A voice groaned from beside her earning a little shriek from Hermione as she jumped out of bed. She stared at the figure and realised it was, obviously, Draco. He turned over and pulled the sheets over his head lazily, not bothering to open his eyes.
‘What are you...’ Hermione frowned and then finally realised the phone was still ringing. She picked it from her bedside table and pressed the phone to her ear, whispering shakily, ‘hello?’
‘Hermione? Are you... Were you sleeping?’ the very familiar voice asked her. Hermione frowned, wondering why he was calling her on her house phone. Usually they just sent letters to each other by owl. The voice continued and Hermione could hear his frown as he said, ‘it’s past noon and you’re in bed? Is everything okay?’
‘I... I’m very,’ Hermione shook her head and sat down on the bed as though to steady herself. She felt as though she might faint at the fact that Draco Malfoy was in her bed and Harry Potter, whom she had not spoken to for a couple of months, was calling her house phone. She took a deep breath and ignored Draco as he sat up, stretching and yawning. ‘I’m very tired because of Rose. She’s been keeping me up all of last night which is why I was in bed since noon.’
Draco stopped mid yawn and looked at her, raising his eyebrows at her obvious lie. He smirked and whispered, ‘lying, Granger? Sort of turns me on.’
Hermione ignored him, pulling her feet onto the bed and sitting cross legged. She put her head down so that she wasn’t seeing Draco and listened to Harry on the other line.
‘So, is this a bad time? Shall I call back?’ Harry asked, hesitating slightly at the sound of Hermione’s voice. To Harry it sounded like she had suffered a major shock.
Hermione raised her eyebrows when she heard a rustling and then a flick of what sounded like a lighter. She stared at Draco as he lit a cigarette in her bed and took a long drag, holding the smoke in his mouth. His eyes met hers and he frowned, tilting his head slightly as he let the smoke leave his mouth, away from Hermione.
‘Hermione?’ Harry asked, making sure she was still there.
‘Yes, I’m here. I just... I’m not busy, what’s wrong?’ Hermione asked, dragging her eyes away from Draco as he leaned back against her pillows and smoked.
‘Well, we have some news and we wanted you to be in front of us to tell you,’ Harry said, his tone getting lighter and Hermione smiled slightly as he said, ‘it’s really exciting, you’re going to love it. Ginny and I were thinking of coming over with James this evening... if you weren’t too busy? We’d love to see Rose.’
Hermione’s smile grew wider, ‘of course you can come over. I’ll make dinner for all of us and I’m pretty sure Rose will be excited at the prospect of wearing a dress and seeing James of course.’
‘Brilliant! See you at seven then?’ Harry asked, sounding excited.
‘See you then, Harry,’ Hermione smiled and said her final goodbye before hanging up the phone. She let out a contented sigh and then looked at Draco, her smile disappearing when she saw him flick some ash into the little plant pot on the table, ‘Draco!’
‘Did you say Harry? As in... Potter?’ Draco asked, frowning and sitting up a little. He finished off his cigarette and put it out on the wet mud of the plant pot. Hermione watched this with narrowed eyes.
‘Yes, Harry Potter,’ Hermione frowned, still looking at the cigarette lodged into the mud. Then she turned her eyes to Draco, ‘why?’
Draco frowned and looked down at the cigarette packet in his hands, turning the box over and over. Hermione watched him do this as though hypnotised, not caring that the sheets were half on the floor and that the cigarette was lodged in the mud as though it had head planted the earth there. Draco opened the packet and was about to take out a cigarette but Hermione covered his hand with hers.
‘Don’t... they kill you,’ Hermione muttered softly, looking into his eyes. She thought that Draco would obey her and close the cigarette packet but he just sighed, gently pushing her hand off of his.
‘We all die some day, Granger,’ Draco said as he took out the cigarette and held it in front of her, ‘with help or just over time.’
‘I really wish you-’ Hermione started but Draco shook his head again, looking at her.
‘Granger, I need your help,’ Draco muttered and after a second, he put the cigarette back into its packet. Hermione let him move over to sit in front of her and take her hands in his.
‘Draco...’ Hermione muttered softly, thinking about the way he had kissed her last night and how he had carried her to bed but hadn’t gone any further. He had tried to but, like a gentleman, had stopped when Hermione told him not to. They had kissed until they couldn’t breathe.
‘Don’t tell Potter I’m here?’ Draco asked, looking down at their hands for a second before looking up at her, ‘I... I’ve been running for so long and I don’t want to be caught by an Auror, especially Potter.’
‘Caught?’ Hermione asked, confused.
Draco rolled his eyes slightly and then gestured to his arm as though that would explain everything. Hermione sighed, taking his arm in her hands. She gently wound up his shirt to reveal his dark mark and traced her finger over it. She thought back to when Draco had given her a cream to make her ‘mudblood’ scar that was imbedded into her skin disappear. It had disappeared.
‘I wish I could make this disappear,’ Hermione muttered without thinking. Draco watched her trail her eyes over his dark mark and he wondered briefly if it repulsed her.
‘I ran after the war because I knew that I would... I would be put into Azkaban,’ Draco muttered and moved his hand to her chin, forcing her to look at him, ‘and I’ve been running with Eva all that time. I can’t be caught now.’
‘Draco, you’ve done nothing wrong. I can make Harry understand and you’ll only have to be trialled... then you’re a free man,’ Hermione said, taking his face in her hands instead and looking at him, ‘you can go back home and live there instead of running all the time.’
Draco sighed angrily and moved away from her, standing up. He put the cigarette packet in his pocket and rolled his sleeve down as he muttered, ‘just don’t tell him I’m here.’
Hermione stood up too and nodded, ‘I won’t.’
She had no idea how she would keep this from Harry but... she needed to help Draco. Hermione started to fix the bed as she glanced briefly at Draco when he left the room. She wondered if he would leave without saying goodbye first or even kissing her... Hermione straightened up at that thought, her face flaming red. Last night was probably a one off for him like it should be for her.
‘Granger!’ Draco’s voice called from the living room and Hermione moved towards the door.
‘Mummy!’ Rose’s voice made Hermione stop mid walk.
Rose wasn’t supposed to be here until the afternoon, Hermione thought and then frowned when she realised Harry had said it was noon. She had completely lost track of time. Hermione left the bedroom and walked down the narrow hallway to the living room. She found Draco standing there awkwardly while Rose stared at him but then Hermione’s eyes went to her mother who had probably dropped Rose off.
‘Hermione,’ Mrs Granger forced a smile to her face, dragging her eyes away from Draco and went over to her daughter, hugging her, ‘you never normally sleep until noon.’
‘I know. I was just... tired,’ Hermione finished pathetically as she hugged her mother back and looked over her shoulder to Draco. Draco smirked and held up the empty wine bottle that was on the table and gestured to the blown out candles. Hermione gave him a sharp look. All of this would be so hard to explain...
‘I’m sure you were,’ Mrs Granger said and pulled back, glancing at Draco. ‘Anyway, I must be off. Call me later, sweetheart.’
Hermione could only nod as Mrs Granger went over to Rose and kissed her forehead. She looked at Draco briefly before walking over to the door and letting herself out and as soon as she did so, Hermione leaned against the wall, letting go of the breath she had been holding.
‘Mummy?’ Rose asked, looking worriedly at Hermione as she leaned against the wall. She then looked at the empty wine bottle on the table and told Draco in a matter-of-fact tone, ‘Mummy says never to touch that. It’s a bad medicine.’
‘Do you think Mummy should take her own advice? I think she should,’ Draco smirked slightly and then bent down to offer Rose a hug.
Rose smiled at him and wrapped two chubby arms around his neck so that Draco could easily pick her up. He looked at Hermione and smiled, going over to her. ‘Give Mummy a kiss from me, Rose,’ Draco muttered to Rose.
Hermione blushed crimson at his words as Rose kissed her cheek and then went back to clinging onto Draco. Rose looked up at him and muttered, ‘Mummy looks like a princess...’
‘She sure does,’ Draco chuckled as Hermione rolled her eyes, trying to calm down her blush. Draco looked at her, ‘I’ll give Rose some food if you want to take a shower or whatever?’
Hermione felt her stomach tug a little at how much Draco cared for Rose as though she was his own daughter. He was willing to feed her so that Hermione could freshen up. Hermione smiled at him.
‘There’s some spaghetti in the fridge, she loves that,’ Hermione said, looking at Rose, ‘I’ll be back soon, don’t annoy Draco too much, okay?’
‘I’m sure she won’t,’ Draco smiled at Rose, tickling her slightly so that she giggled.
‘Thank you, Draco,’ Hermione said and smiled before walking down the hall way and disappearing into her room again. Draco watched her go and then looked at Rose who was playing with a strand of his hair, tugging it a little.
‘I’m hungry, Dway-co,’ Rose said, pouting slightly.
Draco chuckled, ‘food is on the way.’
Draco carried Rose to the kitchen, looking at his guitar which lay abandoned from last night. He smiled slightly as he let Rose down and she scrabbled onto a chair, watching him with huge eyes.
‘Alright, let’s see,’ Draco muttered to himself as he went through the process of heating up some spaghetti on a plate for Rose and getting some water. A few minutes later, she was digging into her food.
‘Fank you,’ Rose grinned through a mouthful of spaghetti and Draco chuckled.
‘Careful now, don’t drop any or your Mum will kill me,’ Draco joked as he wiped up some spaghetti from the table.
A few minutes later, Hermione entered the kitchen to see Draco washing the dishes while Rose told him all about what she had done yesterday at her Grandparents house. Draco was perfect at acting surprised, happy, shocked, and every other emotion required when Rose told him the story of what happened with her teddies and their imaginary dinner party. Hermione smiled and walked over to them, drying the dishes Draco had watched.
‘How are you so great with kids?’ Hermione asked him, ‘it doesn’t seem to be part of your persona that you like everyone to see.’
Draco ignored her as he dried his hands and then let Rose off of the counter so that she could go into the living room. He watched her go and heard the TV come on before looking at Hermione.
‘You really don’t get it, do you?’ Draco asked her, leaning against the counter as he watched her shirt ride up a little when she reached up to stow the plate and glass away.
Hermione turned back to him and then blushed but said confidently, ‘my eyes are up here, Draco.’ Draco rolled his eyes but lifted them up as Hermione crossed her arms over her chest, ‘and what exactly do I not get, may I ask?’
‘The fact that I take care of Rose like that because she’s a great kid, obviously, and because she’s your kid,’ Draco said, walking over to her. Hermione took a step back so that her back hit the counter and Draco smirked, leaning down to kiss her lips before muttering, ‘I’ll see you around, Granger.’
Hermione wished he would press his lips to hers again but he only pushed her shirt up slightly and pinched her waist before leaving the kitchen. She felt her blush creep up from somewhere down below to shade in her face as she heard Draco say his goodbye to Rose and then he left a few minutes later, whistling as he did so.
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‘Harry! It’s been so long!’ Hermione grinned at him as she opened the door to reveal a very smartly dressed Harry with Ginny by his side and a four year James Potter by her side.
‘Too long, I reckon,’ Harry said as he hugged Hermione tight and then smiled at Rose who was hiding behind Hermione’s leg, ‘hello, Rose.’
‘Hello,’ Rose said shyly, her eyes flitting to James and then Harry and then to Hermione, ‘Mummy... who is he?’
‘That’s James, sweetie. Why don’t you show him all of your drawings?’ Hermione asked with a smile as Ginny nudged James forwards slightly.
Hermione watched as Rose edged forwards a little and said hello to James. They went off after a few seconds and a few nudges from their parents then Hermione smiled at Ginny, hugging her tight.
‘You look really pretty,’ Ginny said when Hermione pulled back, ‘it doesn’t look like you’ve had a child at all.’
‘Well, I have tried to work it off,’ Hermione chuckled slightly and led them in, closing the door behind them. She looked at Ginny as they walked towards the kitchen with Harry in tow, ‘you look good too.... you’re face is shining.’
Harry beamed at her and kissed Ginny’s cheek, ‘do you want to tell her or shall I?’
‘Well, you’ve been bursting to tell everyone all day so go ahead,’ Ginny rolled her eyes and rested his hand on Harry’s back, leaning into him slightly. She smiled at Hermione who looked at the two of them with a small smile on her face.
‘Ginny’s... we’ve been trying for some time now after James and,’ Harry glanced at Ginny and then grinned at Hermione, ‘Ginny’s pregnant again!’
‘That’s great!’ Hermione said and she hoped the enthusiasm she was trying to show wasn’t fake. She went over to Ginny and gave her a huge hug, asking questions that she had heard when she told everyone she was pregnant with Rose.
Hermione and Ginny kept the baby conversation flowing as they moved over to eat dinner, calling James and Rose from the other room. Hermione tried to seem happy throughout the dinner but she felt odd. She felt as though Ginny had everything that Hermione wanted; a loving husband, a child, another on its way. Hermione had Rose who she would not give up for anything and who she was completely happy with but...
She wanted more. She wanted to be the one waking up next to the guy she loved, properly loved. If that was Michael then... she wanted him. Her mind went to Draco and how she had woken up next to him this morning. Hermione blushed profoundly and ate her dessert.
‘How’s work?’ Hermione asked Harry, wondering if he was still going after ex-death eaters, ‘found any more death eaters?’
Harry sighed softly as he rested his back on the chair after having ate and praised the food. Ginny took his hand and squeezed it as Harry said, ‘we’re still looking. It’s been years since we found one. They’re good at hiding, you know.’
‘Why don’t you just let them go? They’re not hurting anybody now, are they?’ Hermione asked. She looked away, pretending to watch James and Rose draw, when Harry frowned at her as though she had claimed she was on the dark side.
‘Hermione, most of the death eaters we haven’t found are the most dangerous. For example, do you really want Malfoy loose on the streets after the war?’ Harry asked, raising his voice a little, ‘he’s the main cause of all of this. If he hadn’t fixed that bloody vanishing cabinet, Dumbledore would still be here and there would no war!’
‘Why are you judging them for something that happened years ago, Harry?’ Hermione turned her eyes to him and frowned, ‘people change. You should realise that.’
‘I know they change. You’re a prime example,’ Harry retorted, ‘we haven’t heard from you in months and I had to be the first to phone! And now you’re going on about how we should just let the people who killed Dumbledore, Moody, Fred, Tonks and Lupin go free as though it doesn’t matter anymore!’
‘It does matter. Of course it matters!’ Hermione glared at him, feeling a familiar anger dawn in her, ‘how dare you think they don’t matter to me! I nearly bled out on that floor and do you think I would have forgotten that?!’
‘And Draco Malfoy was right there watching you, if I remember correctly,’ Ginny said quietly, squeezing Harry’s hand, ‘and you want the likes of him go free?’
‘No... I just think that the way you’re putting them on trial and then banishing them to Azkaban is wrong. It’s not a fair trial, Harry,’ Hermione said and then sipped her water, watching as Harry stood up.
‘I came here to tell you of my unborn child, Hermione, and that’s all. I don’t want to argue about death eaters,’ Harry said and then looked at Ginny, ‘it’s getting late, we should go.’
‘Harry-’ Hermione muttered, standing up too.
‘James, come on,’ Harry said as he took Ginny’s hand and then walked over to James who smiled and said goodbye to Rose.
Hermione followed them out to the living room and watched as Harry got ready to apparate.
‘I’ll see you later, Hermione,’ Harry muttered as he closed his eyes and they were whisked away with a crack and a billow of smoke.
Hermione stared at the spot for a while, feeling herself get depressed just like the clouds were doing to the city outside. She had unknowingly stood up for Draco as though he was the only thing in her life that she really believed in. Hermione shook her head, she needed to see Draco Malfoy again.
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A/N - Yes, it took me long to upload but... no cliffhangers this time so yay!