With you in my Arms

66. "He's not hurting you too much, is he?"

"Why the bloody hell have you sent me there? I've been sitting around for nearly two hours listening to them twittering while I could have been with somebody I actually want to be with!"

The door had burst open without any warning in form of a knock and a rather agitated auror in the person of James Mulligan was now standing in front of the desk of the Head of the Auror Office.

"Today is really not the time for practical jokes. I know you never really approved of me... of her, but that doesn't give you the right to send me away with some phoney excuse just so I have to sit about for no good reason."

Harry Potter, who had just been called to his boss for a chat sat glued to his chair also in front of his head of department. Neither of the two older men seemed to take any notice of him as Henri Shaw was now getting to his feet.

"What are you talking about? I didn't send you to Germany so that you couldn't canoodle with... her! I got an owl from the Head of the Auror Office of the German Ministry of Magic asking for somebody to identify a guy claiming to be British." he took a deep breath, "I couldn't care less whom you spent your time with and if you..."

Should he try to just slip out off the office and come back later, Harry was wondering. Then again, it might be better to pretend he didn't exist until this argument was over. The situation reminded him of the Dursleys giving that prestigious diner for uncle Vernon's boss where he had to pretend not to exist as well. It had been the evening he had met Dobby for the first time. Dobby... It was still somewhat painful to remember the house elf that had saved him, Ron and all the others from Malfoy Manor only to be killed for it.

The heated argument had calmed down to a loud debate now.

"... had already been released. Without any identification of me or anybody else. He's just been sent on his way."

"So where is he now?"

"I have no idea. How am I supposed to know?"

"I would have thought he might want to see his mother..."

"Henri! He's not a little boy any more. He's a married man. He'll want to see his wife before wanting to see his mother."

"Same thing."

"How would he know where his wife is though? Protective custody, remember?"

It actually had slipped Henri Shaw's mind for a moment. The situation his friend had got himself into with the re-kindling of his teenage love might just prove too compromising in the future, but he was right. How would the young Malfoy have learnt where exactly his young wife was?

"Where is Narcissa?"

"At my place."

"And where is Hermione supposed to be?"

"She's there as well."

"Where would Draco look for her though?"

"I'd say their place in Edinburgh."

"Okay. Get yourself a cuppa and then we'll discuss the situation in a somewhat more civilised manner."

James Mulligan left without another word.

"Now, Potter, in your opinion where would your female friend be right now?"

Harry stared at his boss. He hadn't forgotten about him sitting in his office then after all.

"What do you mean?" he asked carefully.

"I have received an owl that your dear friend has made a runner. It seems she took the absence of her assigned auror and the inattention of her mother-in-law to leave the flat. She's flooed somewhere, but alas Narcissa doesn't know where."

Harry paled. It could be potentially dangerous for her to just... make a disappearing act yet again. What was it with Hermione being so irrational these days? He frowned. It only had started after she had got together with Malfoy. The frown deepened. She had been pregnant since the night of their Graduation. Did pregnancy make girls irrational? Emotional he could understand, he'd already experienced that with her, but he had also already seen some rather erratic behaviour on her part in the months following June.

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"Draco!" his name tore from her lips as her heart leapt with utter joy.

His strong arms encircled her tenderly. He tried his best to be gentle, but she pressed herself against him as hard as she could. She wanted to feel him with every square inch of her body. She needed to feel him, know that he was really here.

"Hermione, careful. The baby..."

Her eyes swam with tears as she reached for his lips. He was back! He was really back! She still couldn't quite believe it, but the strong hands lying on her back made it just that bit more real.

"I thought, you'd left me. I woke up and you weren't there. Nobody knew what had happened. I was worried sick and the German aurors couldn't really help and just sent me home and your mother was worried and the Head of the Auror Office..." she was rambling, but he just let her. His own relief of having her back in his arms was greater than anything he had ever experienced. The knowledge of possibly having lost her for ever had made him consider the most drastic of actions. He couldn't have been going on without her, not any more. His life was beyond bearable, if she wasn't sharing it.

"I love you, I love you, I love you..." she muttered over and over while kissing his jaw, his neck, his cheeks.

His mouth covered hers, shutting her up for a while. Her soft, pliable lips were smoothing all of his worries away. The quite hefty kick he felt from their son made him smile. It let Hermione wince.

"He's not hurting you too much, is he?" he whispered.

"No, it reminds me of him being alive, of you." she smiled.

"When he kicks you, it reminds you of me?" there was a rather bewildered look in his eyes.

"It means that you did come and spend that night with me. We are together, married and there is a small human being growing within me whose father you are."

"Oh, Hermione..." a tear was slowly making its way over his cheek.

Following the overwhelming urge he buried his face against her neck.