Becoming

Draco met more creatures than he had anticipated. Fwoopers. An aquarium filled with Grindylow. A deep pit positively overwhelmed with fire crabs. A solemn augurey that eyed them from its cage. Knarls. Jarveys. Runespoors. A surprising number of poisonous ducks.

By the time they circled back to Hermione and Luna where they were now walking in the mooncalf paddock behind the house, Scorpius was excitedly jabbering with Rolf about a number of creatures Draco had scarcely even heard of (having dropped Care of Magical Creatures after his OWLs). Draco found himself watching Hermione as Luna posed her in the distance. He couldn’t tell what exactly Luna was having her do, but she was standing in the light snow that covered the paddock. Even from his vantage point, he could see she had wrapped a white shawl around her shoulders at some point, and was posing with a bundle of greenery. The light wind moving through the pasture ruffled the long line of Hermione’s dress, and as she turned to present a different angle to Luna, Draco got an eyeful of her pregnant body in profile. By all the gods, it was a beautiful sight. Draco's heart beat painfully in his throat.

“Go on, Draco,” Rolf urged. “You should get a few photos alone with her, if you want. I’ll introduce Scorp to the mooncalves and send him your way in a mo’.”

Draco hesitated, but as if the Scamanders were of a single mind, Luna’s distant figure turned toward him. Luna waved an arm wildly to get their attention, and called out.

“Oh, Draco! Come, please!”

Rolf chuckled beside him, and Draco heard him speaking to Scorp as Draco began his trek across the paddock.

When he reached them, Luna was pulling a bundle of greenery from somewhere in the depths of her spangled lavender robes. Her wellies were bright yellow and had a curious pattern of gnomes on them.

“It’s lovely to see you again, Draco,” Luna exposed said in that dreamy way of hers. “This is an exciting time for you. We should celebrate it ahead of the blessed Yuletide.” With an almost absentminded wave of her wand, which she pulled from behind her ear, Luna directed the greenery she was holding to mould itself into a wreath similar to Hermione’s, though this one seemed to be made of twisted evergreen boughs and mistletoe.

Draco allowed Luna to place the wreath upon his head, feeling mildly uncomfortable.

“You’re exactly where you should be, Draco, but I can see the Wrackspurts are still tormenting you. Hermione wants you. It's time to embrace it. I have a gurdyroot tea that will help, if you're interested.” Luna’s words were adamant, but Draco felt no less confused or out-of-place. From the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione’s lips quirk in a smile, and shake her head minutely. Luna patted him on the cheek and pushed him gently toward Hermione.

“Come on, Draco,” Hermione’s playful voice rang out. “Someday we’ll be happy we have these photos.” She held out her hand to him, and Draco took it. Hermione eyed the wreath on his head with soft amusement, reaching up to adjust it slightly on his hair.

Luna called out directions for some poses, but largely let Hermione ease Draco into taking photos by making soft jokes to draw real smiles from him, asking about Scorp, and other distracting topics. It felt awkward, at first, forcing poses and smiles in an unfamiliar setting, but Draco tried to relax into it and appreciate the beautiful woman beside him.

Hermione murmured to him at one point, “Sage is kicking me. Do you want to feel?”

Draco tried to block out Luna as he turned his body into her and nodded. Hermione guided his hand to the side of her belly, smoothing his palm out along the soft fabric of her dress. She pressed his fingers into a certain spot. After a moment, there was a thump against his hand – harder than previous kicks. A flutter of additional movement followed, and Draco felt a huge smile creep across his face.

Draco looked up to meet Hermione’s eyes, and the warmth he saw there heated him to his core. She looked utterly beautiful with her hair blowing in the breeze around them, and Draco lifted his other hand up to tug a wayward curl off her face and tuck it behind her ear. She leant into his palm momentarily, and Draco gave in to the urge to slide his hand down to her chin and tip her face up. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips, feeling Hermione smile against his mouth.

The breeze kicked up a little bit more, and suddenly Hermione’s curls were in his face. They both pulled their faces away, spluttering on her hair and giving in to the laughter that comes with a broken moment. Hermione stepped in to bump her belly against him firmly, dropping her hands to his and smoothing them along her abdomen.

They both turned as they noticed Luna signalling from their side, and Draco followed her wave to see Scorp barrelling toward them. He was laughing freely, and Draco only just registered that Rolf had placed an ivy wreath upon his blonde curls before he made contact with Draco’s legs. He wrapped them in a tight hug, nearly knocking Draco off balance as Hermione laughed loudly next to him. Draco stooped to scoop Scorp up in his arms, flashing a grin at the small child.

“Look Mia, I have a crown, too!” Scorp touched his own ivy wreath before reaching out to tap a small finger to one of the holly berries adorning Hermione’s head. Their grins were contagious, and he readily allowed Scorp to pull his own evergreen and mistletoe wreath from his head and examine it thoroughly.

A beam of glittering light flashed in Draco’s periphery, and they turned to see Rolf was standing behind Luna. He was using his wand to cast large gold and purple shapes in the air, which twisted and turned to form a dragon that flew around for Scorp’s amusement and to get the boy looking in the direction of the camera. The distraction tactic worked, and Scorp gave a huge grin that Draco was sure was mirrored on his own face. At his side, Hermione leaned into him gently. He wrapped an arm around her to draw her closer as they watched the light show.

Hermione excused herself after a few more photos, whispering something to Luna as she stepped to her side. Luna nodded eagerly, and Hermione joined Rolf in casting spells for Scorpius’s amusement. The gold light that shot from their wands came to swirl around Draco and Scorp, who was still in Draco's arms, in a delicate circle that drew another excited laugh from Scorp. A moment later, a glittering, silver otter circled around them, as well, and Scorpius clapped his hands in glee as Hermione’s patronus scampered just out of reach. Draco shook his head with laughter and put the rambunctious four-year-old back into the snowy grass. Scorp took off after Hermione’s patronus, darting through the grass behind it as it tumbled through the air.

When Hermione’s patronus dissipated, Scorp came trundling back, his face ruddy from running through the chilly paddock. He shot Draco a broad grin and then made his way over to Hermione.

“Did you see the otter, Mia?”

Hermione crouched down in front of him to meet him at eye level. Draco could tell that getting up and down was becoming difficult for her as the days wore on, but it warmed his heart to see her getting down on Scorp’s level.

“I did. That’s my patronus.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a special spell that’s made of happy memories. It helps you feel better when you’re feeling sad or overwhelmed, and can also protect you if you’re in danger.”

“Will I be able to learn that?”

“I’m sure you will,” Hermione assured him. She brushed one of his wavy, blonde locks from his forehead. “I learned the spell when I was fourteen.”

“You were fourteen?” Draco broke in, surprised. He hadn’t managed a fully corporeal patronus before, though it had never surprised him given the techniques required to master it.

Hermione nodded and turned her attention back to Scorpius. “My friend Harry taught me how to do it. It takes a really powerful, happy memory to cast it. But I wasn’t able to make it fully into the otter until I was a little bit older, and sometimes it’s a little tough to do.”

“I learned how to cast one at Hogwarts, too,” Luna added. “But mine looks different.”

“What is it?”

“A hare,” Luna answered with a kindly smile.

“They can be all sorts of different animals,” Hermione added. “But they’re very pretty, aren’t they?”

“Will I learn how to do pretty magic, too? Not just cleaning magic or flying?”

“Of course!”

“Like what?”

“Well, like those pretty colours we just made, or turning things any colour you want. Or even making flowers grow from your wand.”

“You can do that, too?”

Hermione held up her wand between the two of them and pointed it upward. She told Scorp to focus on the very tip of her wand, and Draco watched the boy’s face light up with wonder as she produced a single white rose, which she encouraged Scorpius to take. They soon devolved into a series of requests, as Scorp asked her to make other kinds of flowers and plants.

“Draco, would you and Scorpius like to join us for lunch?” Rolf asked, wandering over. “Luna’s had a stew on the hob today, and there’s more than enough. Hermione’s said she’ll be staying.”

“Thank you for the offer, Rolf. You’ve been more than generous with your hospitality.”

Rolf waved a dismissive hand. “Seb’s told us a bit about Scorpius, you know. They get on well at school. Hermione’s quite special to us, as I'm sure you can imagine, so we’d like to get to know you both.”

Draco nodded and agreed to lunch. He watched with a smile as Hermione conjured a sprig of mistletoe from her wand and explained what it was to Scorpius. She tapped him on the nose with it, and he laughed. The ground at their feet was littered with all the different flowers Hermione had managed to create for him

Lunch was pleasant. Scorpius and Luna got along famously, and Hermione seemed so at ease at their house. By the time they had finished Luna’s hearty vegetable stew, Hermione had both Scorpius and a couple of Kneazle kittens sitting on her diminishing lap. Scorp was utterly enamoured with the small creatures, and even Draco could see the appeal of the fluffy beasts. The one his son was most taken with was a calico patterned female that looked like it might never grow into its own ears. Scorpius had giggled heartily to himself when Luna had told him the names of all of the kittens – Mumble, Stumble, Bumble, and Grumble.

“When they’re old enough, Hermione, you’re more than welcome to a pair,” Rolf commented.

“Oh, I shouldn’t,” she demurred. “The timing isn’t great. Sage is due in just a couple of months, and I might be moving soon.” Hermione chewed on her lip, clearly at war with herself.

"If you change your mind, let us know," Luna offered. She patted Hermione on the arm and Hermione offered her a brilliant smile.

"I think you should do it, Mia," Scorpius interrupted.

"Why's that?"

"They're really cute."

"Yes, they are," Hermione agreed with a wink in Draco's direction. "But it's also a lot of work to raise kittens. They need a lot of time to play and cuddle, and you have to feed them and clean up after them when they go to the toilet."

Scorpius hummed with consideration. "I could come play with them."

"And I'm sure they'd love that, Scorp. But raising a baby also takes a lot of time and work, and it wouldn't be fair to the kittens if we don't have as much time to care for them as we'd need."

Scorp nodded wistfully. The Kneazle kitten clambered over onto his lap, and Draco couldn’t help but smile as he held the small creature close to his chest.

It wasn’t too much longer when Hermione had to say her goodbyes – she had several meetings in her office that afternoon and Draco understood she had another late evening ahead of her. Draco took that as his cue that he and Scorpius should also be heading out, though it was only after Rolf and Luna extracted a promise from him to bring Scorp over one day soon for a play date with Seb. The three of them walked to the Floo together.

“Thank you for coming today, Scorp. Did you have fun?”

Scorpius nodded excitedly and grinned up at Hermione. “I want to see Penelope again soon.”

“I’m sure you can do that. And now you can talk to Seb about her at school tomorrow,” Hermione added. She then turned her attention to Draco. “Luna said she will have the photos to me tomorrow – shall I pop them by in the evening?”

“Sure. What time?”

“Not sure, unfortunately. I’ve got dinner with Ginny tomorrow, though, so it will probably be later.”

“That’s fine. Just come through the Floo whenever.”

“Will you tell me the story about the dragon tomorrow, Mia?” Scorpius interrupted.

Hermione smiled down at him and brushed the curls from his forehead. “If I’m there before you go to bed, I promise I’ll tell you the story about the dragon,” she vowed. “But I’m spending some time with one of my friends tomorrow evening, and I don’t know what time I’ll be done. If I miss you, though, I’ll tell you this weekend, okay?” Hermione looked up at Draco for confirmation. He nodded at her that it was fine. "Promise," she added as she turned her attention back to Scorpius.

“Okay. I’ll see you later, Mia.” Scorpius hugged her around the knees and tugged on Draco’s hand to pull him toward the hearth. Draco shook his head good-naturedly and rolled his eyes in Hermione's direction as Scorp pulled him into the fireplace.

"See you tomorrow, Granger."

She smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling. Draco had one last view of her standing there in her luscious green dress before he called out their destination.