text stringlengths 0 57.5k |
|---|
"Not at the Burrow," Hermione said, "Not when it's family." |
Draco wondered how much they were still considered family. How much would they be welcomed in the Weasley household, even with Rose in tow? |
"You're sure?" Draco asked again, "I don't want you or Rose upset." |
Draco let it go. They dropped their clothes into a pile on the floor in the bathroom. Draco tried and failed, to stay focused on getting ready to leave. Hermione wasn't making it easy for him. She pulled his shirt over her head and let it drop onto the pile. |
Hermione caught his hungry look in the mirror. "We don't have time," she admonished. |
"I could make it quick," Draco said, half joking half pleading. |
"I'm a little sore," Hermione responded. |
Contrite, Draco said, "I'm sorry. I'll put some salve on you after your shower." |
Hermione rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly. "You're wonderful." |
Preening, Draco followed her into the shower saying as they went, "I know." |
Hermione laughed at him and started washing. Draco tried to focus on his own tasks, but his hands kept drifting. Hermione just laughed every time he wandered over to "help." |
Hermione and Draco made it to the school just in time to pick up Rose from school. The Floo network became flooded during pick up and drop off times. Apparition, while an easier mode of travel, was more dangerous for pregnant women and therefore inadvisable. |
Hermione saw Ginny waiting to pick up Albus, and they went over to greet her. Draco was surprised and relieved when Ginny greeted them with her usual enthusiasm. Ginny had always supported Hermione's split with Weasley, but Draco worried that the trial might have caused a rift between the two friends. |
Draco noticed a slight baby bump emerging beneath Ginny's Holyhead Harpies tee. He couldn't wait to see Hermione's bump when it came along. |
The three were gaining some attention from the milling parents. The curious spectators no doubt expected Ginny to throw a fit at the sight of the people that were responsible for putting her brother in prison. Draco was sure the article this morning didn't help. Draco was suddenly curious about what was in the rest of the paper. He'd never gotten around to finish reading it. |
"We were planning on heading to the Burrow after we picked Rose up from school," Hermione announced to Ginny after hugs were given. |
Ginny looked thoughtful at Hermione's announcement. She nodded and finally said to them, "It seems great minds think alike. The boys are bringing their kids over, and we were going to head over there after I picked up Albus. George thought it might be good to distract mum with the grandkids." |
Draco liked the idea. Hopefully, the Weasley matriarch would be too distracted by all the grandchildren to focus any residual ire on Hermione or himself. As much as Draco felt for Molly Weasley's feelings, he wasn't willing to let the woman blame the two of them for her son's actions. |
"How's she holding up?" Hermione asked with concern. |
Ginny took a deep breath. "Not good," Ginny started, "She heard what Ron said right before he walked into the courtroom and then the rant he went on after his sentencing." Ginny shuddered visibly. "I think it killed any hope she'd been holding onto that he was innocent. It's almost as bad as losing Fred was." |
Hermione bit her lip and looked unsure, "Do you think we should go over there?" |
"Yes," Ginny answered, "Mum needs to know that you don't mean to keep the girls from her. We're all still family." |
Children came flooding out the main part of the school and into the atrium where teachers handed their charges off to parents. Ginny moved off to where Albus" teacher stood with her young charges. Draco and Hermione walked a little further down the atrium. |
They found the familiar face of Miss Crow, Rose's teacher. The short woman with black, wavy hair and wide brown eyes barely looked old enough to be out of Hogwarts, let alone teaching twenty five-year-olds. Miss Crow was a lovely girl though, and Rose liked her. |
Miss Crow released Rose when she saw Draco's tall frame and distinctive blond hair. Rose came bounding towards them with a finger painting in one hand and pigtails swinging. |
"Mummy, Daddy, look what I drawed," Rose said excitedly, waving her picture around in front of her. |
"Drew," Hermione corrected automatically. "Let's see your artwork," Hermione added enthusiastically, crouching down so that Rose could show Hermione the picture she painted. |
Draco looked over Hermione's shoulder at Rose's artwork. It was a brightly colored finger painting of their family with each figure labeled with a name underneath. A stick figure version of Rose stood in the center with a cloud of red for hair and what Draco guessed was a tiara perched atop her smiling head. Minerva stood on one side of Rose and Scorpius on the other; both had similar clouds of almost invisible white hair. Draco was featured in the picture with a stick arm around Hermione, who had a very large cloud of brown hair around her head. On the other side of Minerva were four red-headed stick figures varying in sizes. Lavender and either Weasley also made an appearance on the other side of the four red-headed children. |
"That's a lovely picture, Rose," Hermione said. "I bet Grandma Molly would love to see it." |
"Are we going to see Grandma Molly? Albus was talking about seeing Grandma at lunch," Rose asked excitedly. |
Hermione stood and took Rose's hand in hers. "Yes, we're going to go see if we can cheer Grandma up." |
"Grandma is sad," Rose asked with concern and sadness, her precious features drooping and a frown on her face. |
"Yes," Draco answered, "Grandma Molly is sad because of what happened yesterday. Do you remember us talking about that?" |
Rose shook her head solemnly, "Other Daddy is gone for hurting you." |
"That's right," Hermione said. |
They started walking to the fireplaces set at the end of the atrium and joined the queue behind other parents choosing to Floo rather than apparate. |
Rose looked up at Draco, "Daddy shouldn't have hurt you, Daddy. That's bad." |
"It is bad, but that doesn't mean that people like Grandma or Grandpa won't be sad. They're going to miss him, and it's alright if you miss him too," Hermione said. |
Rose was quiet as they shuffled their way to the fireplace. It was difficult to gauge what to tell Rose and how much of what was going on. Hermione always leaned toward honesty when talking with the children, even if it was a watered-down version of the truth. Rose had a different experience than Minerva over Weasley's attack. Minerva rejected Weasley, however for Rose, she seemed to have two fathers that she accepted fully. Rose knew that Weasley had hurt Draco and knew that he was in prison because of it. To a five-year-old, it was just the way things were. Prison was probably like "time out" in her mind. |
It was their turn for the fireplace, and they all stepped inside. Rose giggled as the green flames tickled her. Hermione said their destination and they were gone. |
Draco kept an arm around Hermione's waist as they stepped out of the fireplace at the Burrow and into the familiar sitting room with its comfortable but well-worn sofas and chairs. Hermione looked a little green after the rapid movement from moving through the Floo network. |
Ginny was nowhere to be found when they stepped out of the fireplace. The room was strangely empty though sounds could be heard throughout the house of children shrieking and laughing. |
The door leading to the kitchen swung open while Hermione was getting her stomach under control. |
Lavender Brown walked into the sitting room in faded blue jeans with rips at the knees and a bright pink turtleneck. She was calling over her shoulder as she stepped into the room, "I thought I heard," Lavender turned to find them standing there, "the Floo chime," she finished. Lavender stepped fully into the room and let the door swing closed. "Hi guys!" she said enthusiastically. |
"Hi, Miss Lavender," Rose greeted and thrust her painting at Lavender, "Look what I drew," Rose said saying the word "drew" slowly and with thought. |
Lavender took the proffered picture from Rose and exclaimed over it, "What a lovely picture!" Lavender crouched down to Rose's level, "Do you know who's going enjoy seeing this?" |
"Grandma and Grandpa," Rose answered happily, then her face fell, "Mum says they might be sad because Daddy is gone." |
"I bet they're going to be super happy to see you though," Lavender said, "They're in the kitchen if you want to go show them your picture." |
Rose looked over her shoulder at Hermione and Draco for permission. "Go on," Hermione urged, and Rose was through the door without further prompting. |
Hermione greeted Lavender with a smile. "How're things going with Charlie?" she asked, grinning widely. |
"Entertaining," Lavender said cryptically, "I don't think he knows a single thing about raising children." |
The door swung open, and the topic of their gossiping walked into the room. Charlie Weasley walked into the room in a too tight black tee shirt and faded and ripped black jeans. His long, red hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. |
Grasped in one hand were the ankles of manically giggling, half-naked, upside-down toddler. "Hey, Lavender," Charlie said, as he walked into the room. Charlie then realized that Lavender wasn't alone in the room. He walked over to them and still holding the toddler upside-down by his ankles, Charlie rested the boy's head gently on the coffee table. "Hey, guys," he said with a grin. |
Lavender interrupted their greetings. She rounded on Charlie with an aggravated expression. "Why is my child upside-down and naked?" she demanded with her hands on her hips. |
Charlie grinned rakishly at her, impervious to her aggravation. "Well, Danny boy here," and here Charlie wiggled the still giggling toddler's legs, "had a bit of an accident." |
Draco noted that "Danny, boy" was starting to turn a bit red and while still giggling, if with less conviction than he'd started out with. |
"I think you should turn him right side up before he pukes," Draco interjected. |
"He's fine," Charlie scoffed. |
"Did you remind him to go to the bathroom like I told you?" Lavender asked impatiently. |
"You're supposed to remind them that they have to go to the loo?" Charlie asked incredulously. |
"I told you that," Lavender said, "Put a fresh pair of drawers on him." |
"And where are those?" Charlie asked, looking around the room for the appearance of a pair of children's underwear. |
Daniel by this point was almost puce and had stopped giggling. |
"In the bag that I told you to bring," Lavender said, thoroughly aggravated now. |
"I think I left that on the kitchen table back home," Charlie said. |
Lavender huffed in irritation, "Then I suggest you go get it. And it's my home, not yours." |
Charlie winked at her and grinned, "Whatever you say, luv." He handed Draco the ankles of the silent toddler with a "Cheers mate," and apparated out of the house. |
Draco lifted the toddler up off the table and at Daniel's whimper, "One second, buddy," he reassured the toddler, before turning and setting Daniel down slowly on the sofa. "Just lay there for a moment," Draco admonished when the child tried to get up and run from the room, "or you're going to puke up your lunch." |
Draco turned to Lavender and said snobbily, "If he pukes on my shoes, I'm holding you responsible." |
"They'll clean," Lavender said dismissively, looking down dispassionately at his pristine black trainers. |
Lavender crouched down beside her son and smoothed back the hair on his head. Daniel was returning to a normal shade of healthy pink and looking ready to bound out of the room, sans underpants. |
"See what I mean," Lavender fumed, "Doesn't know a single bloody thing about raising children and he insists on helping." |
"I'm not that bad," Charlie said defensively as he walked back into the room with a brightly colored tote bag covered in cartoonish images of witches and wizards playing Quidditch slung over his shoulder. The big man that practically oozed a love of danger looked utterly ridiculous carrying a children's go-bag. |
Hermione drew Lavender away for a whispered conversation. Hermione sent him a wide-eyed look, gesturing at Charlie and Daniel with her chin. Draco heaved a sigh and turned to Charlie, still holding the tote bag and looking a little putout. |
"You'll get the hang of it," Draco said reassuringly, "Why don't we get some pants on the little man before he starts running around the house with his winky hanging out." |
Charlie sat heavily on the coffee table facing the sofa and set the bag at his feet. "I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this," Charlie said quietly. |
Draco sat on the sofa by Daniel's feet and tickled the soles of the boy's feet and received a giggle. "I think all fathers feel that way at first. Takes a bit of getting used to," Draco said. |
"I'm not their father," Charlie said, sitting Daniel up in front of him. |
Charlie opened up the bag at his feet and pulled out a pair blue boy's underpants that were clearly too big for the toddler. Charlie made to help Daniel put them on. |
"Not those," Draco said, stopping Charlie who looked at him quizzically, "They're too big, probably Arthur's," Draco answered the unspoken question. |
Charlie fished around in the bag again and found another pair of underpants in the same identical color. |
"You have to check the tags," Draco said gesturing to the tag at the back of the underwear, "That way you can tell the different sizes apart." |
Charlie nodded in thanks and tried to help the impatient toddler put his drawers on. |
"I do," Daniel said in protest, stiffening his legs and refusing to help Charlie. |
"Come on, Danny boy, let's get you dressed," Charlie said impatiently. |
Daniel screwed up his face and looked like he was getting ready to scream. |
"None of that," Draco said sharply, in his best "dad" voice. |
The toddler looked temporarily surprised at being talked to that way by a virtual stranger. Daniel stared up at Draco with wide eyes. |
"Only big boys can dress themselves," Draco addressed the toddler seriously, "Are you a big boy?" |
Daniel nodded solemnly at Draco and Draco said, "That's what I thought." Draco leaned forward like he was imparting a secret, "Big boys try to remember to use the loo. Can you try to remember?" |
Daniel nodded again. |
Charlie started to hand the underwear to Daniel crumpled up in his hand. |
"Hold them so that he knows which way to put them on," Draco whispered. |
Charlie obediently held out the underpants facing the front towards himself. Daniel struggled to slip his legs into the holes. Charlie held the boy's elbow to steady Daniel as he pulled up his underwear. Daniel stood looking proud of himself upon successfully pulling on his own clothes and looked expectantly at Draco and Charlie. |
Charlie, not needing any prompting, cheered, "Good job, Danny boy!" |
Daniel beamed endearingly at Charlie. He successfully put on his trousers that Charlie correctly fished out of the bag. Charlie picked Daniel up under his armpits and set him back down on the sofa. Charlie found a clean pair of socks in the bag. He pulled out two pairs, checked the toes on each for the size, and handed Daniel the correct pair. The socks proved too difficult for the toddler to put on and he gave them back to Charlie with a pout. |
"Good try, Danny boy," Charlie said. Charlie rolled down a sock and slid it onto Daniel's foot. |
"I try," Daniel said, reaching for the other sock. |
Charlie handed the sock to Daniel. Draco watched as Charlie's big, scarred hands helped Daniel's little ones roll up the sock, stick his little foot in, and pull it on. Charlie held up his hand for a "high-five." Daniel smacked his hand enthusiastically. |
"Good job, buddy," Charlie said, "Go get your shoes from Grandma." |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.