From Venice with Love

The evening was very uneventful as far as Draco was concerned. Ginny showed up and that let him move away from the bed and into chairs farther away. He was not allowed to leave the room as someone might recognise him, so Mrs. Weasley brought him food for dinner. Mad-eye Moody came to take a look around and glared at Draco like he thought he would bolt out the door any second, which is just what he felt like doing.

Things settled down around eleven and everyone drifted off to sleep, Draco and Hermione included. Suddenly, much later, Draco awoke from his sleep suddenly as a few mediwitches and a Healer fluttered around Hermione. “Wha-“

“It’s time,” Mrs. Weasley said, cutting him off.

“Time?” Draco sat up straight in the chair he’d been sleeping in.

“For the baby,” Mrs. Weasley said patiently. Draco looked around her to where a partition had been set up. He saw 2 mediwiches and Ginny standing beside Hermione, hiding her from view. “Would you like to get closer?’ Mrs. Weasley asked.

“No, it looks like you’ve got it,” Draco stammered. “I’ll wait here,”

Mrs. Weasley smiled at him and went back over to where Hermione was. Every once in a while, Draco could see Hermione’s hair past Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, but little else.

“Draco?” Hermione’s voice came to him. “Where’s Draco?”

“I’m over here,” he called. “Just…staying out of the way.”

“I don’t believe him!” Hermione fumed to Mrs. Weasley. “He’s too scared to come over.”

“Be gentle with him, Hermione. He’s new to this.”

“So am I!” Hermione fumed, her head glistening with sweat.

“Okay, ma’am, we need you to push now,” the mediwitch said. “Keep pushing until I get to 10. One-“

Hermione pushed, looking at Ginny, who was smiling encouragingly. Behind her, Hermione got a glimpse of Draco hiding in one of the armchairs. “Coward,” she hissed.

Ginny laughed. ”Ten! Wait a moment. Okay, again. One-“

The counting seemed to go on forever. Hermione couldn’t feel any pain, but she was now very tired. ”Draco, get over here!” she snapped.

Draco sighed and slowly made his way over to the bed. He carefully avoided looking down at the end of the bed and instead focused on Hermione’s hair. He patted her head quickly. “You’re doing good,” he said.

Hermione turned at the sound of his voice. “Good, is that all you can say? I-“

“Hermione, I can see the head!” Ginny cut in excitedly.

Draco felt nauseus and concentrated on the floor below him.

“One more time! One!”

Hermione forgot about Draco and pushed as hard as she could. “Stop!” the mediwitch ordered. There was a moment of silence and then she heard a loud cry.

The mediwitch held up the tiny being. “It’s a boy!” she called out.

Hearing this, Draco looked up without thinking. There was his son, purple hands and feet, funny, cone shaped head, covered in some sort of gel and screaming. He didn’t remember anything after that.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Next thing Draco knew he was seated back in the same chair he had slept in earlier. He sat up slowly and looked around. There was no activity in the room now. He saw Ginny sleeping in the chair next to him and looked towards Hermione’s bed. She was looking at him, no expression on her face. He stood up and walked towards the bed. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “Did I-“

“Faint? No, not really,” Hermione said. “You sort of turned a funny colour and one of the mediwitches led you to the chair and gave you a calming draught. She said it happens to loads of husbands,” Hermione told him.

“Where is it?”

“The baby? They took him off to check some things. Mrs. Weasley is with him, they’ll be right back.”

“I really am sorry,” he said, tentatively touching her hand. “Is he okay?’

She nodded, softening a little. “All babies look funny at first, you’d have known that if you’d read the book I gave you.” She eyed him reproachfully. “He’ll look better when he comes back.”

As if on cue, Mrs. Weasley appeared holding a small bundle. “Here he is,” she said, smiling. “Feeling better?” she asked Draco, who blushed. She handed the bundle to Hermione, who sighed happily. Draco leaned over to look at the baby. It looked like a baby now. Hermione took off his little hat to reveal fine pale blonde hair underneath. “His eyes?” she asked Mrs. Weasley.

“They’re grey,” Mrs. Weasley confirmed.

Draco looked at her funny. “Did you think they wouldn’t be?”

“Well, I thought maybe, since I’m a Muggle, that it might change things,” Hermione explained. “Genetically, I mean.”

“What?” Draco asked, baffled.

“She thought that the pure-blood characteristics might not be as strong as she’s not one,” Mrs. Weasley told him.

“Oh,” he said, feeling foolish.

“Do you have a name yet?” Mrs. Weasley asked as Professors Dumbledore and Snape walked in.

“Not yet. We haven’t discussed it much. Hello Professors,” Hermione said.

Dumbledore smiled at her, “Congratulations,” he said. Snape was scowling as usual.

Hermione heard Mrs. Weasley whisper, “It’s a boy, Albus,” and the three of them walked away to confer as she and Draco watched.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Dumbledore beckoned Draco over.

“Hang on,” Draco told her and walked over to the group. She watched them all converse for a moment before Mrs. Weasley came back, smiling a little too big. “Professor Dumbledore has the portkey, dear, we’ll be leaving in a moment.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, looking worriedly at the three men talking softly.

“Nothing, dear. We’ll talk more at Headquarters, we really need to go. Can you stand?” She took the baby from Hermione and Hermione got shakily to her feet. “Good, good,” Mrs. Weasley chattered as she held out a large plastic jug. “Are you ready?”

“What about Draco?” she asked.

“He’ll be along shortly. We really have to go.” She shook the jug at Hermione, who reluctantly took it. She felt the familiar tug and soon found herself standing in front of Grimmauld Place. She followed Mrs. Weasley inside and noticed immediately how much better the place looked. The horrible portrait was gone, and things looked brighter, almost cheerful. “I’ve been working on it for a few months,” Mrs. Weasley said. “Harry said it was fine. I knew you’d be here for awhile.”

“Oh, thank you!” Hermione hugged her, careful not to hurt the baby. She followed the older woman upstairs to a room that contained a large bed with a bassinet beside it and a changing station. There was a large store of nappies and baby clothes there as well.

“We’ll get more clothes, blue ones,” Mrs. Weasley said.

“Thank you so much!” Hermione said.

“I just put it together, your husband bought it all,” Mrs. Weasley told her. Hermione got into bed and Mrs. Weasley put the sleeping baby in the bassinet. “I’ll bring you some soup,” she said. “You need your strength back.” She left Hermione in the room.

Hermione laid there for a moment, fidgeting, then got up to go look at the baby. He looked so small and perfect to her, she watched him sleep in awe. She felt a love so fierce for this little creature, she knew she’d do anything to protect him.

“You should be in bed,” Draco said from the door way.

“I know, I just wanted to look at him again,” she smiled. Draco walked over and stood beside her.

“He looks like me,” he said simply.

“I know,” She took one last look and went to lay in bed. Draco sat down beside her. “What was all that about, at the hospital?”

“Oh,” Draco looked uncomfortable. “Someone alerted my father that you had gone into labour. He was downstairs looking for you.”

Hermione shuddered. “Did you see him?”

“No, but it’s important that no one know that we had a boy.”

“Why?”

“He’ll be the Malfoy Heir. Father may have let a daughter live, but a son,” he shook his head. “He’ll be furious. To know everything he has will be passed to a half-blood? He’ll do anything not to let that happen.”

Hermione looked over at the sleeping baby. “I would kill him, you know,” she said quietly. “I know he’s your father but if he came near my baby, I would kill him.”

Draco didn’t reply, but he pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. “Did you think of a name?”

“I’ve got a book,” Hermione said, leaning over to pull it out of her bag.

“Of course you do,” Draco grinned at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him and opened it. “I thought maybe an Italian name since we fell in love in Italy.”

“But he was conceived in Scotland,” Draco argued. “I have family names, you know.”

“Like what?”

“Well, Abraxas was my grandfather’s name.”

Hermione tried not to make a face. “That’s a good idea, but I think it would upset your father further.”

Draco seemed to agree, so she flipped through her book. “How about Colin?”

“No! Like that crazy little Creevy boy? His name needs to be…signifigant.”

Hermione kept going through her book. “How about Dante? It’s Italian. There’s a Muggle author that I like with that name. It sounds a bit like Draco as well.”

“Dante? That’s fine, but his middle name will be Abraxas.” Draco told her.

“Fine. His name is Dante Abraxas Malfoy,” Hermione sighed. “That’s a big name.”

“He’ll fill it,” Draco said, as they both looked over at their sleeping son.