Chapter 17
Hermione
Draco holding his baby sister was sweetest thing Hermione had ever seen.
The day before, Lucius had returned to the hospital and after dinner, Draco had given her a tour through the Manor. Hermione had fallen in love with the library. It was brilliant, gigantic, and full of rare treasures. It was already her new favourite place in the world. After a few hours, she had, however, forced herself to leave and join her fiancé in his rooms, which consisted of a large sitting room, a bedroom with a walk-in closet and a luxurious bathroom, a study and two extra rooms. He had promised her that one of them would soon be her study and the other one would remain empty until they were both ready to start their own family.
After the War, Narcissa and the house elves had renovated the whole place and it was beautiful, elegant and yet comfortable. Hermione was sure she would soon feel at home here. Crookshanks most certainly felt at home, walking around like he owned the place and already ordering the house elves around when he loudly demanded to be let out or in. She did feel a bit bad about that, but the elves were cooing over him and seemed to find the demanding feline hilarious.
The next day Draco’s parents and their little daughter had returned home. Narcissa looked well and greeted Hermione warmly. Now they sat together in Lucius’ and Narcissa’s sitting room and Draco was holding Cassiopeia, who had already fallen asleep in his arms. He had the most loving smile on his face as looking down at her.
“Have you heard from the Ministry yet?” Lucius asked.
Hermione huffed in frustration. “No, still nothing.”
“They’ll probably wait until the NEWTs results are out,” Narcissa said.
“Or they didn’t like it that you tried to blackmail the Minister,” Draco chimed in and Hermione rolled her eyes.
“I doubt Kingsley went crying to the Department for Law Enforcement.”
“Probably not or you’d be the next to face house arrest,” he teased.
Hermione was just trying to come up with a witty reply when there was a soft scratching noise on the other side of the door. Crooks seemed to feel left out.
Draco grinned and handed Hermione his sister and her eyes widened. “Wait, I never held a baby, I have no idea how to …” The next moment she was holding the little bundle and almost melted. Cassiopeia had not woken up, just scrunched her little face a little at the disturbance and then continued her nap.
While Draco went to the door to let Crooks in, Lucius leaned back. “Draco had the same reaction when I first made him hold her and now he can’t get enough.”
“Understandable.” Hermione smiled down at the sleeping baby.
Crooks walked in, followed by Draco, and looked at everyone critically. Hermione did notice that Lucius kept his face perfectly blank, while Narcissa smiled and leaned down to pet the cat.
“Is my cat not pretty enough for you?” Hermione asked sweetly, trying to supress a grin.
Instead of answering, Lucius turned to his wife. “Do you think she now wants an honest answer to that question?”
xxx
During the next few days, they fell into an easy routine. They all had meals together and often spent some time sitting together in the evening and sometimes both her and Draco helped with Cassie and had both become quite practiced in changing diapers. Otherwise, Lucius and Narcissa respected their privacy and it didn’t feel stifling at all to live in the same house with her future in-laws. In fact, her and Draco enjoyed said privacy and spent a lot of time in bed because while they had waited relatively long to have sex, shortly after Hermione’s first successful blowjob, they had started to explore some more and now couldn’t get enough. She had often wondered why anyone would need such a huge bed as you often saw in manor houses … now she knew.
They also met their friends, both Slytherins and Gryffindors (and Luna, who thanks to her lion hat counted as an honorary Gryffindor according to Ron). They were planning to bring them all together some time soon.
After a week, it was time for them to go to the Muggle theatre to see Les Misérables and Draco had loved it, so had Hermione, but for her, it had been just as entertaining to watch Draco trying to act natural on the way there, especially in the underground station. Andromeda had offered to drive them, but Draco had already been in one of the Ministry cars and he had been curious about public transportation, so they had flooed to Diagon Alley and taken the underground from there. He had found it all terribly fascinating and had been quite enthusiastic about her suggestion of venturing into Muggle London more often.
Today, towards the end of their second week after school, Draco, Blaise, Greg and Theo had gone to see a Quidditch game, so Hermione chose to spend the entire day in the library. In the early afternoon, she was sitting on one of the tables next to a window, studying a book about the history of charms. She just looked up briefly when Lucius entered and vanished somewhere between the shelves to look for a book himself.
Only a few minutes after, she startled when there was crack of thunder and lightning lighting up the sky only a second later. Oh, great, it had been raining all day and now a thunderstorm, surely the Quidditch game wasn’t as enjoyable as Draco and his friends had hoped. Then she sat up straight.
A thunderstorm! Finally!
She took her wand, which was lying next to the book on her table, and looked over to Lucius, who just walked out from behind the shelves, holding an open book, reading while he walked.
“Don’t interrupt now – I’ve been waiting for this for weeks!”
He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow, but she ignored him and just took a step away from her table, took a deep breath, while thunder cracked again, followed by lightning. She took the small box McNair had given her from her pocket – she had carried it around with her every time the weather had been anything less than perfect, just in case. She opened it and took out the small crystal vial, with just a mouthful of red potion.
Another deep breath and she reminded herself of McGonagall’s stern instructions. “If you really want to do this, and my advice is that you are absolutely sure, you must banish all fear before you proceed with your first transformation. Fear and hesitation may lead to you being stuck in some half-human form and nobody can reverse that.”
So instead of giving into her nervousness, she imagined herself in some undefined animal form running after Draco as a wolf on the manor grounds and while the storm outside peaked, she pointed her wand to where her heart was beating fast now and clearly recited the incantation she had spoken twice a day ever since she had removed the Mandrake leave from her mouth. “Animato Animo Animato Animagus.” Then she placed her wand on the table, stepped back once more and drank the potion. There was a brief but strong, all-consuming burning pain, a second heartbeat stronger than ever before, and then she blacked out for a second. Next thing she knew she was sitting on the ground, the vial rolling away and under a shelf. She looked down on herself she saw reddish, thin and furry legs. She got up – she was on four legs now – and tried to get a better look at herself.
She wasn’t a small animal, probably around Draco’s size when he was a wolf, maybe a bit smaller, but she couldn’t quite figure out what she was. A thin body on long legs, reddish fur with black markings. Sharp teeth and a long snout. Everything felt so very different. It would take her a while to truly get used to that.
“A maned wolf.”
She turned around to see Lucius still standing where she had last seen him. She had completely forgotten about him. He had closed his book, his full attention on her now. He looked impressed. “Did you do that to better spend time with Draco on full moon?”
She nodded as he sat down on the chair she’d occupied before, looking thoughtful. “That was quite a risk and quite an effort.”
Finally, Hermione understood how Draco felt when he said he couldn’t quite control the wolfish body language, which just came automatically. Her tail was wagging, she was indeed proud of herself. Also, she was extremely happy with the outcome. She didn’t quite remember what a maned wolf looked like exactly, but it was a big canine, so it was perfect!
Lucius gave her a small smile. “There are very few people who would go to such a length for their partner. I’m glad he found you.”
She stilled. Of course she had known that Lucius didn’t oppose to their engagement, but that was something she had not expected.
He got up, all softness gone. “Would you like to see yourself before you turn back?”
She gave an enthusiastic bark and he smirked. “Come on then.”
She followed him out of the library and into the rooms he shared with Narcissa.
“Don’t get startled, darling, this is just Hermione.” Narcissa, who was trying to calm down a crying Cassiopeia – apparently the baby wasn’t as happy about the thunderstorm as Hermione had been – looked up. Like her husband, this woman was a picture of self-control, but Hermione did see the surprise in her face, even if it was subtle. “You’re an Animagus?”
“It is her first transformation,” Lucius explained while he continued walking towards what Hermione knew had to be the bedroom; the rooms were organised in the same way that Draco’s were.
She heard Narcissa’s steps and Cassie’s crying following them. The bedroom was similar to the one she shared with Draco with its huge bed and antique furniture; but while the colour scheme of Draco’s bedroom was mostly green (he had offered to change it, but Hermione actually liked it), this one was held in light tones: beige, white, the wood in natural warm brown tones. It was nice and certainly Narcissa’s doing.
He gestured towards a full-length mirror in a corner next to the closet and Hermione walked over to have a look.
The maned wolf was a bit of a strange animal, with its long legs, thin body, the mane, the pointy face and the large ears, but Hermione liked it as she turned this way and that in front of the mirror. She couldn’t wait for the next full moon!
Tail wagging, she turned around. Cassie was now in her father’s arms and had somewhat calmed down. Narcissa was smiling. “That’s quite an unusual animal, dear. Really striking.”
Hermione focused hard on her human form and after a few failed attempts, she turned back and beamed at them both. “I can’t believe I finally did it! It’s been almost two months since I started.”
“And you did all that next while studying for your NEWTs?”
She shrugged. “Well, to be fair, all I did was having the Mandrake leave in my mouth for a month and then saying the incantation twice a day, Professor McNair was kind enough to brew the potion. I would have liked to try it myself, but it’s quite time consuming and I did have to study for the NEWTs.”
Lucius nodded while walking to his daughter’s crip. Hermione only just noticed it now. It was beautiful, light blue decorated with stars forming the Cassiopeia constellation, the stars were sparkling discretely. With a gentleness she hadn’t thought him capable of only months ago, Lucius put his daughter down. “I’m sure you would have done just fine, considering your potions marks.”
Narissa smirked. “Your potions marks were excellent, too, dear.”
He smiled wryly. “Yes, and my father paid Slughorn a quite extraordinary amount of money for that.”
Hermione stared and Lucius chuckled.
“Does that shock you? While my marks were as good as Draco’s and yours in all other subjects, I never quite managed to brew a decent potion. Father couldn’t stand it that his heir was less than excellent in anything, so he paid Slughorn for good marks.”
She had never met him and never would, but Hermione instantly disliked Abraxas Malfoy. “But nobody can be perfect in everything. I’m horrible at flying. If flying lessons would have been compulsory after the basics, I probably would be dead by now.”
Lucius chuckled. “I heard you’re quite good when it comes to flying dragons. At least the goblins are still bemoaning that fact.”
“Very funny.”
Draco
The first full moon at home.
He told himself there was no need to be nervous, his parents knew everything and had seen pictures, they had never shown any sign of rejection and to be fair, he was looking forward to no longer spending that night locked up in a room.
Still, when he came downstairs, where he knew his parents and Hermione were still sitting at a table outside, where he had left them discussing Hermione’s upcoming interview at the Ministry, to transform in private, he did feel a little self-conscious when he rejoined them as a wolf, closely followed by Crookshanks.
His mother, however, immediately smiled brightly at him and even his father wore a small smile, both were relaxed.
“You’re even more beautiful than on the pictures.” Narcissa bent forward to stroke through his fur and Draco, too, relaxed. One thing was weird, though. Hermione was no longer sitting on the table. He looked around and spotted Crooks, sniffing another wolfish form, sitting by the hedges. The wolf … no, it was a maned wolf … gently nudged the cat.
Draco stiffened before slowly approaching and sniffing the strange creature as well. Beneath the wild smell of the animal, he caught his fiancées familiar smell and then he saw the smug look on her face. This was indeed Hermione and she was an Animagus! Since when?
Lucius explained it for him. “She completed the first transformation during the thunderstorm two days ago.”
She had done this for him. It wasn’t only difficult magic, but the first transformation was also risky. And she had still done it, not even because it was needed, but just because they could have a good time together during full moon, to be closer to him. Did she have any idea how much he loved her? He hoped she did.
He rubbed his head against hers, both of their tails wagging, and then she jumped at him and started running. Draco felt his mouth open to the closest to a grin he was capable of in his form and went off after her. Judging by the noises he made, Crooks was following them as best he could.
“Stay out of the rose garden – all three of you!” His mother called after them, but she was laughing.
Lucius Malfoy
Lucius and Narcissa were watching as they raced through the garden, jumped over small hedges in pursue of each other, jumping each other playfully when they caught up.
His peacocks obviously didn’t find it amusing that two huge canines were running through their territory and none of them was to be seen. They were probably hiding away in their stalls.
After a while, the cat came walking back and inelegantly lay down under the table, beneath Lucius’ feet of all places. He had played along for a while, but by now he looked positively exhausted.
Lucius rolled his eyes, but since his wife was still watching their son and future daughter-in-law, nobody would know, if he accidently dropped a piece of cheese, a leftover from the dinner they had had outside earlier. The cat gobbled it down and looked at him, loudly demanding more. Ungrateful beast.
Narcissa looked down at the cat. “What is it Crooks? Did he step on you? Lucius, please be more careful,” she added in an accusatory tone of voice before continuing to watching Draco and Hermione. Lucius glared at the cat. The bloody thing had the nerve to look smug.
xxx
When they went back inside, Hermione returned to her human form, a wide grin on her face. “That was far more fun than trying to keep up on two legs.”
Draco playfully jumped up at her and she laughed.
It was good to see him so happy, in whichever physical form.
Draco stilled and looked towards the stairs, letting out a low noise. The next moment they heard Cassiopeia’s crying. When they left her upstairs to sleep, either Lucius or Narcissa placed a charm which transmitted the noises though the Manor and the grounds, so if she woke up and started crying, they would hear, wherever they were at the moment.
Lucius knew that most parents of their standing had either house elves looking after their children or even nurses, but neither of them had ever had any kind of relationship with their own parents and had, even before Narcissa’s first pregnancy, agreed to raise their children themselves as much as possible. The house elves had sometimes babysat Draco when both he and Narcissa had had some sort of business away from the Manor which didn’t allow them to take a baby or toddler, but largely, they had raised their son themselves and the kind of relationship they’d had with Draco all his life had been worth it. They would handle Cassiopeia’s upbringing the same way. With one small difference. In addition to the house elves, both Draco and Hermione would surely be happy to watch her now and then, too.
“I have to leave it to her, she has a very regular feeding schedule.” Smiling, his wife turned to the stairs, followed by an enthusiastic wolf.
Minutes later, Lucius and Hermione stood in the doorframe, watching as Narcissa lifted the little girl out of the crib and sitting down in an armchair to feed her. Draco gently nudged her with his nose and she gurgled happily, looking at him with curious interest and clumsily touching his snout with her tiny hand.
“We’ll have to be careful when she gets older. Children are far too talkative for their own good and terrible at keeping secrets.”
Narcissa smiled knowingly at him as their daughter started drinking. “We just won’t tell her that this is her brother until we can be sure she understands that the importance of keeping it secret.”
“What did Draco blurt out that he shouldn’t have?”
Lucius snorted. That girl was far too observant. “Nothing much, really. I was in Diagon Alley with him. He must have been around three. We met Lord Parkinson and at some point, he started talking about the importance of men being in charge at home. I never thought much of that, if you haven’t noticed.” Hermione grinned. “Anyway, Draco looked terribly confused and before he could blurt out how that could be when his mother told me what to do all the time, I excused myself and tried to navigate him away. He looked at me very seriously and declared loudly, for everyone to hear, that yes, we have to get home, or his mother would scold me for being late for dinner.”
Both Hermione and Narcissa laughed, Draco at least had the decency to look sheepish.
Hermione
“I can’t believe you did that.”
Draco smiled down at her, propped up on one elbow. They were still in bed, with Draco having slept through the transformation once more. It was amazing how much easier it was with the potion working so well. He looked perfectly normal, as if his body hadn’t just gone through some profound changes twice within a few hours.
Hermione gently pulled him down to her and kissed him. “You really need to stop underestimating me.”
“It looks like I do.” His voice softened. “I love you.”
Another kiss, lingering and sweet. “I love you, too.”
~tbc~