The Marriage Decree

Chapter 154: What's Hogwarts?

With a thousand and one things to do before their guests arrive, Hermione sets her wand to vibrate at six o'clock in the morning. However, when six o'clock comes, Hermione sleeps deeply beneath her duvet, and Draco has to lean over to turn it off. Now fully awake, Draco contemplates snuggling down with his wife and drifting back off, but he knows that would cause further stress later. Instead, he throws the duvet off his head and wiggles down until he's face to face with Hermione.

"Hermione, it's time to wake up," he whispers.

Scrunching up her nose, she says, "Not yet."

"You'll hate yourself if we don't get up now. There's so much to do," Draco reminds her.

Groaning, she throws the duvet off her head and sighs, "I know."

"If we're lucky, we might have a few hours to get sorted before Scorpius wakes up," Draco mentions.

"Good point." Hermione sits up and stretches her back before climbing out of bed and heading into the bathroom.

Draco gets dressed and heads downstairs to make them tea before the day begins. When Hermione joins him, they sit together on the couch, taking a quiet moment to actually wake up.

They split their tasks by room, starting with the living room. Since it's already overrun with Scorpius' toys, they might as well keep it as the children's space. Bringing all the toys into the centre of the room, they push the two couches back against the wall. Then, with a quick few waves of their wands, the room has orange, black and green streamers hanging from the ceiling, windows and door frame. Across the walls are stringy spiderwebs and spooky decals. Hopefully, the children will be entertained.

Next, they move onto the dining room, which will be the focal point for the adults. Since they only use the room when guests are over for dinner, it's tidy enough for them to decorate. They give it the same look as the living room with streams and wall decals but add a few table decorations, like pumpkins, cauldrons and crystal balls. Indeed, their wizarding and muggle guests will enjoy the decor.

Around nine o'clock, they hear Scorpius shouting for his parents. Now that their son has a bed, having outgrown his cot, they have put a baby gate on his bedroom door so he can't wander the house while they sleep. To keep him entertained, they'd bought their son a little desk with paper and coloured pencils so he wouldn't scream for them. Scorpius was usually good about keeping himself busy, but he must have heard them and wondered what they were doing without him.

"I'll get him while you finish up here," Draco says, heading upstairs.

As soon as he reaches the top of the stairs, he can see Scorpius' face pressed against the bars of his baby gate, trying to look down the corridor.

"Hey, what's all this racket about?" Draco asks, making his way down.

"Pay?" Scorpius asks.

"Can't you play in your room?" He asks.

"Pida gone," Scorpius worriedly admits, showing his empty hands.

"Where's the spider gone?"

Scorpius shrugs.

"You took him to bed with you, so he must be in your room somewhere," Draco comments, letting himself into his son's room. "Have you checked your bed?" He asks, lifting his son's duvet up to no avail. Together, they look under the bed, beneath his desk, behind the chest of drawers and on his bookshelf, but they can't find the spider figurine.

"That's quite the mystery." Draco frowns. "Let's look for him again after breakfast. This is going to need some brain power."

"Okay." Scorpius raises his arms, wanting to be carried, and Draco obliges, lifting his son into his arms for a big hug and kiss on the cheek.