Another month passed in the blink of an eye and before Hermione knew it they were on the Hogwarts Express, heading for Kings Cross for the Christmas holidays.
Hermione had enchanted their carriage so that it was gently snowing and Luna had given everyone crowns made of tinsel to wear. Draco had refused to put it on, with a lot of complaints from Blaise who had made his own crown Slytherin green, until Ginny transfigured it into a brooch for him to pin to his tie. She'd rolled her eyes when she did it, muttering something about his whining, but had turned her tinsel crown into earrings so that her head wouldn't itch.
When they arrived at Kings Cross they all said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, but Hermione clung to Draco's hand as they stepped off the train.
'You're crushing my fingers.' Draco commented as they walked along the platform.
'I'm nervous.' Hermione whispered.
'Don't be. I wouldn't bring you home for Christmas if I thought it was a bad idea.' He said, kissing the back of her hand as she continued to hold his in a death grip. She loosened her hold slightly, but still clung on, giving it a squeeze when she saw his mother in the crowds.
'Mother.' Draco said when they stopped in front of Narcissa. He held on to Hermione's hand as he kissed his mother's cheek in greeting.
'Draco, darling.' Narcissa said as she pulled back to look at him. 'I've missed you.'
'I've missed you too, mother.' He said with a small smile.
'Hermione,' Narcissa said as she turned to face her. 'It's so lovely to see you, I'm so glad you accepted our invitation for Christmas.'
'Thank you so much for inviting me.' Hermione replied, trying not to jump in surprise when Narcissa pulled her in for a small hug.
'Draco practically begged, and I can never say no to him.' Narcissa said with a smile. 'Besides, I've been wanting to meet you properly for years.'
Draco took this moment to clear his throat and suggest that they get to the Portkey.
The three of them walked in relative silence, Narcissa on Draco's left and Hermione on his right, until they found the Portkey and travelled to Andromeda's. Hermione would never be able to wrap her head around instant travel with the use of Floos and Apparition let alone the use of Portkeys, which were a lot more uncomfortable and nauseating, to get to across the country in seconds. She took a few steadying breaths to hide her urge to throw up before taking Draco's outstretched hand.
Hermione had only been to Andromeda's once before, having met her the other times when she had travelled to the Burrow, but she was still struck by how breathtaking her house was. It was nothing extravagant, or over the top, it wasn't even huge. It had the same 'homely' quality that The Burrow possessed; a cottage in the middle of expansive fields with ivy growing up the walls.
'I've been waiting so long to see you to again.' Andromeda said to both Draco and Hermione as they approached. She pulled them both in for a bone crushing hug and Hermione suppressed a giggle when she saw how awkward Draco looked at the interaction.
'Hello, Aunt Dromeda.' He said as he pulled away.
'Thank you for inviting me for Christmas. I've been meaning to write to you.' Hermione said, earning her a warm smile from the older witch.
'Not to worry, I hear Draco's been keeping you busy.' Andromeda said, shooting Hermione a wink. Hermione blushed and Draco cleared his throat, stepping around the women to go into the house.
'Dromeda, we promised not to bring it up in front of them.' Narcissa hissed to her sister, pulling Hermione into the house by linking arms with her.
'It's not like they don't know they're dating.' Andromeda muttered in reply.
'We're taking things really slow.' Hermione said, still blushing.
'That's because my darling son-.' Narcissa began, but she was interrupted by the shouts and squeals of a small child coming from the other room.
The three women walked into the living room to find Teddy desperately grabbing at Draco out of pure excitement to see him. Hermione smiled, her heart warming at the sight of Draco bending down to scoop Teddy into his arms and the little boy wrapping his arms around Draco's neck as if his life depended on it.
Draco turned to see the three women watching him and scowled, removing the rarest of huge smiles from his face. He noticed that they all had the same look on their face without even realising.
'Women.' He muttered, turning his attention back to Teddy who was resting his head on Draco's shoulder.
Draco shifted Teddy's weight so that he could hold him with one arm and moved to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea for everyone. The women had entered into a discussion after he scowled at them and he didn't want to listen to them any longer after he heard the word 'grandchildren'.
Hermione excused herself from the conversation when Narcissa and Andromeda began talking about grandchildren and what it would be like to have more children running around the home. She knew Draco had made himself scarce at the topic also, and found him in the kitchen making tea the Muggle way. He still had Teddy in his arms and was talking softly to him as he waited for the kettle to boil.
'If you act like a softie this whole time, your mother is never going to stop talking about grandchildren.' Hermione remarked from the doorway.
Draco turned to face her and Teddy lifted his head at the new voice. As soon as he saw Hermione, he stretched out his little arms and squirmed away from Draco to try and get into her arms.
'I don't want you getting any ideas.' Draco grumbled as he handed Teddy over. As soon as Teddy was in Hermione's arms, his hair turned the same shade as hers and tightened into thick, unruly curls.
'How cute are you.' She cooed and ruffled his new hair, which make Teddy giggle.
'I thought you preferred the blonde hair.' Draco said, looking directly at Teddy with a disappointed look on his face.
In an instant Teddy's eyes turned the same shade of grey as Draco's. Hermione was startled at how much he looked like her and Draco now that he had taken on her hair and his eyes, and tried her hardest not to wonder if that's how their children would look.
A small cough from the doorway of the kitchen pulled Hermione and Draco's attention away from Teddy. Narcissa and Andromeda were smiling at the both of them, but when they noticed Teddy's new look, Narcissa almost burst into tears.
'Merlin, he looks like he could be yours.' Andromeda gasped. Hermione shifted uncomfortably, shooting a glance at Draco to see him studying Teddy with a neutral look on his face. That was when Teddy sneezed and his hair changed back to the pure white that matched Draco's, but still retained the unruly curls from before.
'Much better.' Draco said with a smirk as he used his wand to take the tea into the living room. Narcissa and Andromeda followed him, Hermione behind them whispering to Teddy that she preferred his hair before he sneezed.
'Granger, I hope you're not trying to convince him to change his hair back.' Draco said as he took a seat on one of the sofas and motioned for her to sit beside him.
'Not at all.' She replied quickly, taking a seat, but her blush gave her away. Draco smirked and gave her a knowing look.
Though it was now quite late in the day, the four adults talked for a couple of hours as they caught up with each other. In the beginning, the conversation was directed towards Hermione as the two other women asked her how she was doing as well as the occasional question about her childhood and life before Hogwarts, but as the night drew on Draco could tell she was becoming tired and drew the conversation away from her so that she could relax.
Teddy had already curled up on Hermione and fallen asleep, his head resting in the crook of her neck, and at some point she had fallen asleep too. When Draco noticed that she was asleep beside him, he drew her down so that her head was in his lap and Teddy was lying across her body.
'Draco,' his mother said, pulling his attention away from the two sleeping on him, 'I know you don't want to hear me say this, but the three of you do look quite the picture.'
'Mother, I know you're desperate for grandchildren,' Draco drawled, 'but I don't think I'm cut out for the father life.'
'Don't be silly,' Narcissa scoffed. 'You love Teddy.'
'Of course I do, but that's because I can give him back when he shits or screams.'
'Language!' Narcissa scolded. 'If you were looking at you right now, you'd think differently.'
Draco was about to shout a sarcastic comment back, but he looked down at Hermione and Teddy. He had never been one for affection, or attachment, or even the prospect of starting a family for anything other than continuing the Malfoy line. But that was when it was something to be proud of, before his father had make every mistake he could and dragged their name through the mud, leaving Draco and his mother to pick up the pieces.
When he looked now, imagining for only a second the prospect of starting a family for other reasons, his chest expanded the smallest amount. He had experienced the same feeling when Teddy had taken on his grey eyes and Hermione's messy brown curls, but had brushed it off then.
As he gazed down at the sleeping pair, he noticed that one of his hands was absentmindedly stroking curls away from Hermione's face while the other was resting on Teddy's back, feeling for the gentle rise and fall of his breaths.
His gaze drifted back up to his mother, who had a soft smile on her face, and it dawned on him; his body language screamed protective father. Suddenly, the ideas that his mother was trying to put into his head didn't seem so far fetched.
Not that she would ever find that out.
'Don't be ridiculous.' He finally muttered.
'If you say so darling.' His mother said as she stood from her chair. 'I'm going to bed. Make sure you don't leave them on that uncomfortable sofa all night.'
Draco scoffed but said goodnight to her all the same.
Andromeda rose too. 'I'm also going upstairs, would you like me to take Teddy?'
'No it's okay, Dromeda. I'll wake Hermione and she can take him.' Draco replied, looking back at the sleeping girl on his lap.
'You'll wake her and then take him yourself.' Andromeda said with a pointed look.
'Okay, okay, chivalry isn't dead.' He muttered as she walked away.
'Granger.' He said quietly, brushing Hermione's cheek with his finger. 'Granger, you need to wake up.'
'Five more minutes.' She mumbled in her sleep.
'Hermione.' He whispered. 'We need to get Teddy to bed.'
'It's your turn with the baby, Draco.' She mumbled again, still not awake. Draco's breath caught in his throat at the comment before a wide smirk spread across his face. Was Hermione dreaming about having his children?! He was definitely going to bring this up to tease her with when she was fully awake.
'Come on, Hermione.' Draco said, giving her a light shake as he pulled Teddy into his arms. Teddy was a dead weight against him, asleep for the night, so he had no worries about waking him. Hermione seemed to be aware of the missing warmth and her eyes blinked open.
'Merlin, when did I fall asleep?' She asked, looking around to find that Narcissa and Andromeda had gone to bed.
'A while ago.' Draco admitted. 'It's time to go to bed.'
'Where's Teddy?' Hermione mumbled, clutching her chest as though she was missing something.
'He's here.' Draco said with a small chuckle, turning his body so that Hermione could see the sleeping baby on Draco's side.
'Let's go to bed.' She said with a nod, still disorientated from being woken in the middle of a dream.
'I'll show you where it is and then I'll go put him down.' Draco said, kissing her as she stood from the sofa. Hermione nodded and followed, bleary eyed, as Draco pulled her up the stairs to the top floor. She would have to ask him if the house was charmed as it didn't look like it had more than one floor from the outside, but she was too tired to string a sentence together at the moment.
Draco opened a door at the end of the corridor, revealing a bedroom, before he went to the other door on this floor to put Teddy in his cot. Hermione stubbled to the bed, stripped to her underwear without bothering to find her pyjamas in her luggage, and collapsed under the covers. Sleep overtook her immediately, her dreams picking up where they left off, so she didn't notice Draco come back into the room and get into the bed with her.
'Goodnight, Hermione.' Draco whispered, pressing a kiss to her temple.