The Good Life

Chapter 10

"Castor ... Lucius ... Malfoy. The next time you pull your sister's hair, your broomstick will be confiscated for the rest of the week," Hermione informed her four year old son, who was flying around the bench his mother and Auntie Alex and Alex's six month old daughter Mackenzie were sitting at in a wizarding park in the middle of Berlin on his toy broom. He and his brother Cygnus were having a competition to see who could go around the bench longer without getting dizzy and every time they had passed the front where their last third, Cassiopeia, Cassi for short, was sitting on the ground playing with her dolls, he would pull at her long dark hair.

When no answer came, Hermione turned on her most authoritative voice. "Castor ...."

"I won't, Mummy," he responded from somewhere behind her.

"I still can't believe that Esme had triplets, it's just so uncommon in the wizarding world," Alex commented for like the hundredth time over the years. When a smirk quickly passed her mentor and friends face, though, she became suspicious. "Hermione, is there something you're keeping from me?"

Hermione then looked over to Alex with a wide grin. "Alex, didn't you ever wonder how not only did she get pregnant with triplets, but with how quickly she got pregnant?"

"Well, yeah, a time or two. I just figured that Draco had really strong swimmers is all."

At that, Hermione snorted, shaking her head. "No, since the day she moved in, I had the house elves douse her with a fertility potion with every meal, and it turned out that so did Cissy, so Esme was getting double dosed. I was jealous and didn't want to share Draco any more than necessary, and Cissy was just so tired of Lucius' rambling on the need for an heir that we each thought we'd speed up the process a bit," she confessed to someone outside the family for the first time.

"Are you serious?" Alex asked, slightly shocked. She wasn't shocked that either woman had done it, though. Just that she never knew. "Why haven't you told me before?"

"I don't know. Really, it’s a secret between me and Cissy, even Draco doesn't know, but obviously I can trust you." Alex smiled at that. It was a true statement, but Hermione Malfoy didn't trust easily.

"Mummy, Castor pulled my hair again!" Cassi screeched out as there was an "oof!" from the side of the bench where Castor had been flying when his broom disappeared from under him, dropping him the two feet onto the ground.

"Castor can't fly-y, Castor can't fly-y," chanted Cygnus, who was hovering on the other side of the bench.

"Cygnus, stop teasing or your broom will disappear as well," Hermione told the blond boy with wavy hair and grey eyes.

"Yes, Mummy," he responded, admonished.

Castor looked as though he was going to cry from the fall, which hurt his bum, his dark eyes brimming with tears, but he knew that his mummy would be mad if he did since it was his own fault. She and Draco weren't as strict with their children as Lucius had been, but they would not tolerate some things, and acting sorry for oneself was one of those things.

"Why don't you two go play on the playground," Hermione suggested, and the two boys were off like rockets to get to the slide that was enchanted to be a longer slide down than it looked. Cassi looked up and grinned at her mum for a moment before going back to her dolls, happy for her brothers to leave her alone.

"So, how is Esme?" Alex asked.

"Oh, she's fine. She'll be visiting next week with the newest boyfriend. It must be serious though because he's the first one she's brought to meet the kids. Speaking of people I haven't seen in a while, how's your dad doing?"

Alex sighed and rolled her eyes. "All right, from what I can tell. I barely ever talk to him anymore, the stepmother's making sure to take up as much of his time as possible."

"Remind me again why he married her?"

"He just has really bad taste in women. They reel him in and he's just too blind to see what bitches they are. I just hope he wakens to the real Judy soon; it’s so hard to be in the same room with her and not hex her. She's so much like my mother it’s disgusting. In fact, if my mum had been a witch, I think she would have been Judy."

"I'm sorry," Hermione told her friend, knowing that Brian had barely even seen his granddaughter, his wife taking up all of his time. She also knew that the comment about Brian having bad taste in women was not pointed to her, as Alex was still blissfully unaware of the one night that Brian had been introduced into the sex life of the Malfoys. Moreover, it was highly accurate.

This time when she heard shouts, Hermione looked up to see her two boys fighting over who would be going on the spinning slide first. She looked over to Alex, a look of annoyance passing through her features. "Well, it looks like we'll be going home now so those two can spend some time in their rooms. See you next week at the Marsailles Conference?"

"I'll be there," the woman verified before the women kissed each other’s cheeks good-bye and Hermione kissed the top of the sleeping baby's head.

"Okay, Cassi, we've got to get your brothers and go home now," she told the girl who was already getting up and putting her dolls into her unicorn backpack. As they made their way to the two boys, who were still fighting, Hermione raised her voice, "Cygnus Selestino and Castor Lucius, we are going home right now, where you will stay in your rooms until Daddy gets home."

Both boys turned to their mother, their faces horror-stricken. "But, Mummy! We're sorry! We won't fight anymore. Tristan can go on the slide first," Castor tried to bargain.

"Nope. Sorry. Home and to your rooms. Now grab a hold," she responded, holding out a chopstick she had had through her hair that was their portkey back to the manor.

~~~

Later that night, Hermione and Draco were curled up together on a couch in their room, sipping red wine and sharing their day. Over the years as The Minister's influence had spread, both had been promoted to international positions rather than domestic ones, but both also made sure to spend as much time together as a family as humanly possible.

"So, how's the conference looking?" Draco asked, setting his on the table next to the couch.

"Good, it looks like Germany's going to succumb to The Minister's will. Alex said that their Minster wanted to give in, but wanted to seem strong for his people. But his people see that rule under our government runs much smoother than theirs, so they want an alliance."

"They don't actually think it's an alliance, do they?" he asked with disbelief. They had already taken over France, Spain and Portugal. It should have been obvious by now that once a leader gave in to Britain's Minister that it was in fact a takeover, and definitely not an alliance.

"I don't know. It doesn't really matter though, does it, so long as they come over?"

"So I guess that means I'll be seeing you less for a while," he murmured in her ear, sucking the lobe into his mouth.

'Yeah, I'll have to set up their MMLO' s (Muggle and Mudblood Liaison Office) ... it shouldn't take much more than a month or two though, I've practically gotten it down to a science by now," she responded, her breath quickening.

"Then we should start making up for the missed time now," he said, his voice husky as his hands slowly found their way under her shirt and across her stomach. "Gods, witch, you drive me crazy. I can't believe how lucky I was to get to keep you," he told her, bringing his lips to the skin he had bared as he pulled up her shirt.

"I love you, too," she responded sarcastically, though she was smiling through small gasps as his lips touched all the places that drove her insane.

"Yeah, that too," he responded cheekily, only to have her lightly smack him upside the head. He pulled away and held onto her face, looking her in the eyes. "Hermione Malfoy, you are the love of my life and will be until my dying day."

"Oh, Draco," she whimpered. "I love you, too," she repeated, only this time, all of the emotion she felt was conveyed through the words just before their lips found each other.


*** Alrighty. so this is the end of the story. thanks to buffyxo for betaing and to everyone whos read all three of the stories, and especially to those who reviewed. Kayy Enn, thanks! And while this story may be finished, there will be more dark!Hermione fics to come from me because I really do enjoy writing them, lol.