First Time for Everything

First Time For Everything (2/5)

     Hermione sighed as she walked up to her and Draco’s room. It had taken some getting used to, living in Malfoy Manor. The place was huge, sometimes she still got lost. Though Hermione had at first thought the Manor entirely too big for their small family, she had to admit the size of their home had its uses.

     A faint blush crept up her cheeks as she freshened up, thinking of what had transpired in the library moments ago. The distance from there to the children’s room was definitely on her ‘list of uses’. The ballroom as well, it was absolutely beautiful and was perfect for parties.

     The Malfoys held an annual Christmas party for their friends on Christmas night
Tomorrow Night.

     Hermione loved their Christmas parties. Seeing all of their friends (Slytherin and Gryffindor alike) together reminded her of her youth. Of Hogwarts. Harry would be there of course, with Luna and their four-year old daughter Audrey. The two began dating the summer after the Trio had graduated from Hogwarts. Luna had come to stay at the Burrow with Ginny while Harry was there, and they fell helplessly in love.

     They married only a month after Luna had graduated the next year. Hermione remembered that wedding vividly. She had gone into labor with Dominick at the reception and her baby boy was born early the next morning.

     “Mum?” speak of the devil.

     Hermione snapped to attention at the sudden voice, and put a hand to her heart.

     “You scared mummy darling.”

     “Sorry Mum, but Dad said to come and get you.” Dominick said, and then as an afterthought added, “He said you were probably daydreaming.”

     Hermione arched an eyebrow. “Did he?”

     Dominick nodded then held a hand out to his mother. She took it and the two headed downstairs. She gave Draco a playful slap on the arm and took hold of the portkey with the rest of her family.

     “3….2…1” Draco counted and they disappeared.

~

     The Malfoys appeared in the alleyway next to the Granger residence. After straightening out the children’s clothes and hair, they walked up the driveway and into the house. They were met inside the door by Hermione’s mother, Elizabeth.

     “Grandma!” Dominick yelled, jumping into her arms.

     “Hello my darling, how are you?” She asked, kissing his small face in between each word.

     “Christmas is tomorrow, Gran and I’ve been very good.” He told her seriously.

     Draco and Hermione gave incredulous looks at each other but Elizabeth smiled.

     “I know you have dear, I’m sure Santa will be spending a lot of time unloading gifts at your house.”

     Dominick grinned and looked to the corner of the room where a large Christmas tree was standing. His gaze locked onto the brightly colored packages below and he licked his lips.

     “D’you reckon he dropped off a few for me here?”

     Elizabeth laughed and set him back on his feet.

     “You know, I think he may have. Go on and look for your name.”

     Dominick cheered and ran for the pile of gifts.

     “Prezzie!” Mya squealed from her father’s arms.

     Elizabeth turned to her granddaughter and held out her hands, which Mya quickly jumped into. “You want presents, my dear Mya?”

     “Yes! Prezzie for me, right Gamma?”

     “Of course Angel.” She turned to Hermione and Draco, “Go on into the family room dears, everyone’s in there. Jossie’s been waiting for you Hermione.”

     Draco watched Hermione’s face light up and he grinned as she began pulling him toward the family room.

     “When she said Jossie, does she mean Jocelyn?” he asked, the grin fading as he realized that this was probably the truth.

     Hermione nodded and smiled, still pulling him along. “Yes, she finally gets to meet you! Oh, she’s going to be so excited.”

     Draco grew nervous. Jocelyn was Hermione’s favorite cousin; she talked about her all the time. The two got together quite a bit, for lunch or shopping. Draco had never met her, always making excuses to postpone that particular meeting. The reason?

     Because he was scared shitless of her.

     She and Hermione were very close and he knew Jocelyn’s opinion of things mattered a lot to his wife. What if Jocelyn didn’t like him? What if she decided that Hermione could do much, much better than him and talked her into a divorce? That’s what scared him. Hermione leaving.

     ‘She loves you, she wouldn’t leave.’ Said a voice in his head.

     “DRACO!” someone screamed.

     Before he could even turn toward the voice, a body slammed into him at full force, arms wrapping around him in a tight hug. He looked down only to see the top of a brown head of hair. He looked to his wife and saw her laughing behind her hand. The body pulled away from him and he got a look at his attacker. He recognized her instantly from Hermione’s Muggle photo album.

     “Jocelyn. It’s good to finally meet you.” He said in a formal voice.

     “Gosh Hermione, he’s even sexier than in the photos.” She whispered, though it didn’t look like she cared that Draco could hear her.

     “Watch it Jossie.” Hermione said, smiling.

     Jocelyn took each of their arms and pulled them into the kitchen. Draco felt his tension slip from his muscles with every step.

     “Have a seat, I’m bartending tonight.” She motioned to the various alcohol bottles and ice on the counter.

     Draco and Hermione sat on the barstool chairs on the opposite side and watched while Jocelyn mixed their drinks. She handed them each a glass and took one for herself.

     “Here’s to a lively party. Hopefully, the drab members of the family will leave very early.”

     They took a drink and Jocelyn turned to look at Draco.

     “So.” She said, “You think you’re good enough for my cousin?”

     “No,” he said truthfully, “I don’t actually. I’m very lucky that she loves me anyway.”

     Jocelyn clasped her hands together, “Aw that’s so sweet. Now why can’t Will be sweet like that?”

     “Oh, Will is your husband right?” Draco asked.

     “God no! We’ve been seeing each other for quite a few years, that’s true, but neither one of us wants to be married anytime soon.”

     “Did you bring him, Jossie?”

     Jocelyn nodded, “Ya, Uncle Abner has him cornered, talking about when he was living in America as a hippie.”

     “Excuse me,” Draco cut in, “What’s a hippie?”

     Jocelyn looked at him strangely for a moment, then snapped her fingers.

     “Wizard. Right. I forgot, hippies are…well, I suppose it’s rather hard to explain. You could go ask Uncle Abner but I advise you against that. He’ll talk your ear off all night.”

     “Oh Jossie, go get Will so Draco can meet him?”

     Jossie nodded, downed the rest of her drink and walked out of the room.

     “So what do you think?” Hermione asked.

     “She’s nice.”

     Hermione smirked, “Nice?”

     “Yes. For a five minute conversation, I think ‘nice’ sums it up pretty well.”

     The kitchen door opened again and Jocelyn came in with a brown haired man about the same height as Draco.

     “Will, this is Draco, Hermione’s husband.” Jocelyn said, motioning to him.

     Will’s eyes widened with recognition, “Right. Hermione’s talked a lot about you. Said one day you’d explain your sport to me. It sounded so fascinating when she talked about it.”

     Draco turned to Hermione, “You talked about Quidditch?”

     She wagged her eyebrows at him and Draco turned back to Will.

     “Alright,” he said, then hesitated, “Well, it’s better if you can see it first.”

     He patted his pockets before pulling a tiny bag from one of them. He placed it on the counter and brought out his wand. Will looked at it in amazement and jumped back when Draco said a spell and enlarged the bag. Draco dug around and when he found what he was looking for, he pulled it out and handed it to Will.

     “Omnioculars,” He said smugly, “Put them up to your eyes and you’ll see some Quidditch.”

     He sat down in a chair as the other man put the Omnioculars to his face.

     “Cripes!” Will said, awed, “This is bloody amazing!”

     Hermione turned to her cousin; “I suppose we’ve lost them for a few hours. Wizard or Muggle, to men, sports are sports, right?”

     Jocelyn shrugged, eyeing the Omnioculars, “Looks like, but I’d like a look in those binoculars myself!”

     She bent down and pulling at the Omnioculars, trying to get them away from Will. He held on with a death grip, kicking at her to get her to back up.

     “Will, let me see!”

     “In a minute, Jossie – sweet Lord! That was a fantastic move! You say you play this game, Draco?”

     “No, I used to. In school.”

     Will finally handed Jocelyn the Omniocluars and turned to Draco. “Do you think I could learn to play?” he asked seriously.

     Draco snorted before he could stop himself, “Merlin No! Muggles can’t fly on broomsticks!”

     Will looked hurt for a moment before realizing that the statement was true. “Well, do you think maybe I could watch you fly one day?” He asked.

     Draco turned to Hermione, who merely grinned at him and shrugged.

     “Uh, ya. We’ll come get you one day and you can come to the Manor.”

     Will looked positively gleeful and Jocelyn tore her eyes away from the Quidditch game.

     “Really? We get to come to your house, Hermione? I guess there really is a first time for everything, I never thought I’d get to go there.” She paused, “Wait. Don’t you live, you know, hours away from here? How will we get there?”

     “Portkey,” Hermione answered, “It’s a transporter.”

     “Like Star Trek?” Asked Will excitedly.

     Hermione laughed. Jocelyn and Will always became extremely giddy whenever Hermione brought up any kind of magic. She loved the look they got on their faces. She looked gratefully at Draco. She couldn’t believe he had just invited them over. She was sure they would be the first Muggles to ever set foot in Malfoy Manor.

     Hermione walked over to him and he put his arms around her. Draco kissed her cheek tenderly then whispered in her ear.

     “What’s Star Trek?”

     She giggled and pulled away from him. “It’s a Muggle television show,” she said before turning to Will, “It’s not like Star Trek, Will. It’s sort of like being sucked through a warp hole.”

     Jocelyn looked weary, “Sounds terribly uncomfortable.”

     Hermione shrugged, not wanting to lie to her cousin, “You’ll get kind of queasy the first time but after that, it’s sort of like riding a roller coaster…minus the restraints. The children love it.”

     Jocelyn looked both doubtful and excited, “I’m going to trust you on this Hermione, if I die, I’m haunting you. Just so you know.”

     “Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine.” Draco reassured her.

     Jocelyn nodded to him and took Hermione’s hand, “Come on, I haven’t seen those kids of yours in a month!”


     Hermione followed her into the hall, glancing over her shoulder at Draco who smiled at her and began talking to Will once more about Quidditch.

     “Hermione,” Jocelyn gushed once they were out of earshot, “he’s absolutely dishy!”

     Hermione hugged her cousin to her side; “I’d have to agree with you there.”

     “Auntie Jos!” Mya yelled and hurtled down the hallway, launching herself into Jocelyn’s arms.

     “Hello peanut, how are you?”

     “Good! Gamma gave me these. See?” She held up her arm, displaying the twenty-some colored plastic bracelets.

     “Wow,” Jocelyn breathed, “How beautiful they are.”

     “Ya! And brother got a moten cold car!”

     The older girls laughed.

     “A remote control car?” Hermione asked.

     “Ya-it drives.” Mya said simply.

     ”Let’s go see it.” Jocelyn suggested.

     Mya slid down her leg to the floor. Grabbing their hands, she led them to where her brother was playing with his new toy.


     A few hours later, after promising to come and collect Jocelyn and Will sometime in the next week, the Malfoy’s took their leave.