Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Epilogue

6 years later

I fumbled with my keys, trying to grasp hold of the right one to unlock the heavy wooden door. Though it was quicker with magic, my muggle method gave me a sense of normalcy, something to connect me with my past. 

I drew a long breath and pushed it open, tired from the long day's work as I kicked off my white shoes lazily in the corner.

As usual, my shift ran late and I made sure all my movements were quiet enough as to not disturb the others. I crept along the living room, heading towards the back of the house. 

I could feel the cool night's wind rush along the corridor. I sighed. It was far too cold for it to be open, and the fire would have to be tended to all night. He should have remembered to close it. A twinge of annoyance crept up in me. It sometimes felt like my work never ended, like I had to balance a hundred things at once. 

But I breathed in the crisp air, and let out a slow breath, tying to let the weariness of my work escape me. 

While it would have been great to say that after the war life returned back to what it had once been, it would be a lie. Some suffered physical wounds inflicted by dark and incurable magic that had led to the point of no recovery. Some had scars that didn't show on the outside, but affected them badly just the same. 

The future of my studies seemed clear upon realizing where my help was needed, and in no time I was doing all I could in St Mungo's. It was exhausting, both mentally and physically, but worth every minute. 

I entered the farthest room in the back, pushing open the door, and felt the corners of my cheeks rise, almost against my will, as my gaze landed on the sight of the two figures in front of me.

Draco lifted a finger to his lips, a smile dancing on his own cheeks as he held our sleeping daughter in his arms. 

"I didn't want to put her down," he shrugged, pushing himself gently back and forth on the rocking chair while she had her head nuzzled in his chest.

I felt my shoulders relax and my brow uncrinkle. I hadn't even noticed that I was physically carrying stress with me, but it melted away as I looked at the two of them. 

I walked over to the window and closed the shutters before tuning around to lean against them, arms folded across my chest, but with a full smile across my face now. 

"She belongs in her own room," I chided. 

"Yea yea," he dismissed me with a wrinkle of his nose. "She cries when I leave her alone," he said, giving her soothing little bounces in his arm. 

I pushed myself off the window-sill and walked over, arms outstretched to hold her. He gently shuffled her into my grasp and she nuzzled into my chest, her curly blonde hair falling over her closed eyes. She let out a small moan and I shushed her, bouncing her gently the way her father had. 

"See?" he said, gesturing to her small cry and folding his arms across his own chest. 

"Oh shut up," I said quietly, moving slowly out of our bedroom to put her in her own room. 

I lowered her into her crib and put a little blanket over her while Draco made disapproving clicking noises in the background. 

"Well, if leaving her bothers you so much, maybe you should be a full-time stay-at-home-dad," I suggested, a smirk forming on my lips. 

"You know I wouldn't mind it," he said, and I caught him heaving a sigh at the reminder of his real job as I turned around to look at him. He managed to find work at the Ministry, but it wasn't always easy working through the legal mess of war crimes.