It was Scorpius’ bedtime, but the little tyke of five refused to sleep, adamant to wait for “dada” to tuck him as well. Unlike his mummy, he had not seen his father for the past two days.
His father, Draco Malfoy, was one of the high rank aurors- just next to Head Auror, Harry Potter- that got called (very) often at odd hours. Since his department relied heavily on his expertise on dark arts and being a prominent pureblood in possession of various relics and artifacts imbibed in various states of magic: dark and white alike, he was hence mainly the person in charge of the case. Now that there were rumors of a cult rising in the far West, Draco had been called (since the past two weeks) much more often to deal with unruly teenage culprits that were quite sneaky alright, much to the chagrin of the Malfoys and the department.
It was a mostly harmless rebellion for now. However, there were also rumors of some ex- death eaters using this very cult as a base for another uprising, and so this case was being pushed to be dealt with as soon as possible. And after six years of tentaive peace with muggleborns being integrated in a more welcoming manner into the society, this was the last thing that the wizarding world in Britain needed, that Draco needed. Needless to say, since his wife, Hermione- a muggle born herself, was in a potential danger, Draco was more invested with his reluctant but equally determined partner, Harry bloody Potter, and this meant less time for his family whom he missed progressively with each day on duty.
As for Hermione Granger Malfoy, she worried for Draco, and missed him as much as Scorpius. There were nights that she managed to see him if she pushed herself awake till late, only to barely function at work in the Ministry the next day. It was hard on them all. Just three more long days to go, and then Ron would take over the next shift for the case for another two weeks, she would console herself. As an afterthought, she pitied Lavender who would have to face this anxiety as well with Ron's looming shift.
Scorpius let another loud sigh, a soft whine- a clear sign of restlessness, as he squirmed in his mother’s arms, while they both watched the dark sky laden with bright stars. Hermione shifted her eyes to the child, and kissed his cheek lovingly, in an attempt to soothe.
“Scorp, time to go to bed. Looks like dada will be late today as well. Come on, we’ll read about the little Nutbrown Hare.”
His eyes brightened instantly. Pushing aside some of the strands of her hair with some difficulty and holding her ears making sure that she was truly listening, he piped up: “Guess how much I love you?”
Amused, Hermione shifted him slightly in her arms, and as they both made their way towards the bedroom, she replied smiling, “Oh, I don’t think I could guess that.”
Scorpius grinned and, uncaring of the now firmer grip on him, he settled himself securely and stretched his two short pale arms to his full capacity declaring, “This much!”
Once they reached the room, she gently placed him on the bed, and stretching her own arms, she cooed with twinkling eyes, “ But I love YOU this much”.
Scorpius placed a small hand on his chin in thought, and wondered out loud, “ hmmm, that is a lot…”
He jumped on the bed and stretched himself to his little toes asserting, “ I love you as high as I can reach..”, and as Hermione opened her mouth to reply, he rushed to add, “....and all the way to my toes”.
Laughing softly, Hermione helped him dress up. Once dressed, she tucked him in bed. She caught his right foot and tickling it, she declared,” And I love you all the way up to your little toes.”
Excited, he unrolled from the blankets. He stepped on the floor and jumped high in a series of two hops. “ I love you as high as I can hop”, cried Scorpius.
With fond exasperation and a huge beaming smile, the older witch carefully jumped in front of her young boy. And before he could make another escape to evade from sleeping, she held him in her arms, and made way for the bed softly tickling the child. Scorpius let out a shriek guffawing loudly.
Once settled snugly into the blankets- tucked back actually, Scorpius settled his pale grey eyes in adoration on his mother’s face. A few moments passed in silence. After a while, he blinked his eyes trying his best to keep them open and let out an involuntary yawn, fighting to stay awake.
Hermione felt her lips twitch, but she still kept her face neutral with a gentle smile. She continued stroking her child’s silky blond hair- identical to her husband’s, and nodded at the child encouragingly who in turn barrelled on with sheer determination and with bouts of yawns in between, he laughed, “I love you as big as our lake”.
And before Hermione could reply, a deep aristocratic voice cut in through from the doorway, “I love you deeper than the lake, across the river and over the hills.”
That’s very far, Scorpius thought. He could now barely think and with a soft smile, he whispered, “Dada” before closing his eyes.
Hermione let out a huge grin as Draco leaned in to kiss his son’s forehead, and she whispered softly, “We love you right to the moon- “ and as Draco reclined back, he stared into Hermione's warm pools of brown and shared an exhausted smile of his own with her.
He had managed to keep his promise. He arrived in time.
They then stared back at their child who snuggled deeper into the soft mattress, they continued together, “..and back”.
When they heard the first soft snores from Scorpius, they silently turned off the light, and holding hands, they made way towards their own room for a much needed sleep with heartfelt smiles of their own,
THE END