With you in my Arms

91. Couple time

Harry and Hermione were sitting together in the drawing room and Harry was contemplating the fact that he had been sitting here quite often with Ginny during the last summer. They had normally started out in the kitchen with dinner and then had talked for ages in this room before deciding it was time for a bit of couple time...

He blushed as he remembered what they had done to each other. Though there was although pride within him that it was him Ginny wanted when somebody as dark and daring as Blaise Zabini was on offer.

He took a deep breath. It was time that he forgot about the other man. It was time to concentrate on wooing his witch with all he had. She should know every day of her life that he was worth her love. He looked down at the infant sleeping in his arms. The tiny being was radiated calm and he felt a slight bang as he remembered all of them thinking Ginny being pregnant, too. If she really had been carrying his child, it wouldn't have been that long until he would have been holding his own son or daughter like he was now holding Hermione's.

"Harry?" a quiet voice drifted into his thoughts.

He looked up. Hermione smiled at him.

"Hm?"

"Do you think Kreacher could find out where Draco is? It's getting late and I'm getting worried."

"Sure. Kreacher!"

There was the small -pop- and Kreacher bowed before them.

"Go and find out where Draco Malfoy is and when you find him, bring him here."

"Yes, Master." he bowed again and vanished.

They had only waited for a couple of minutes when Kreacher re-appeared with a rather bewildered looking Draco Malfoy in tow.

"Thank you, Kreacher." Hermione said with a smile as she went to greet her husband, who looked around and slow realised where he was.

He was hugged tightly by his wife and buried his face into her hair as she asked, "Everything okay? Why did you have to talk to your mother? What's happening?"

He inhaled the soft vanilla scent of her hair and sighed.

"I had to know, if there was anything in our library that Father was trying to get to. She told me about something that happened in the past." he sighed, feeling exhausted for no apparent reason, "I knew about it, but the implications for the situation right now I didn't know."

"What happened in the past?" Hermione asked.

"One of my ancestors had been getting so deep into the dark arts that he considered a danger to the public, but as nobody dared cross him for fear of what he might do to them... It was his wife that finally solved the problem..." he traced her jaw with his fingers, "... with a rather sharp knife while he was sleeping."

She gasped. "She murdered her own husband?"

"Trust me, it was the best for all concerned." a sad smile was barely concealed as he carried on, "I trust my mother would have reached the point soon as well after all my father has put us through."

He tightened his hold on her. She could feel him shiver. It was clear he wasn't proud of his heritage.

"It doesn't matter, Draco." Hermione whispered so that only the man holding her could hear.

"They are part of me, Lea. What, if our son..."

"Shht." Her fingers silenced him, "Our son will know what it means to be love and supported. He will not feel the need to resort to the Dark Arts to reach his goals. He will have friends and a true family to look out for him."

"I hope so, dearest Lea, I hope so."

Harry felt a bit outnumbered somehow. This was his home, but somehow he would have preferred to be somewhere else right now.

He cleared his throat carefully, "How is that relevant for our current situation though?"

Draco took a deep breath, feathered a kiss into the hair of his witch and then explained.

"There is a room leading off from the library that has been sealed for more than just decades. In it are books, spell books, the kind you don't want to mess with or unleash onto an unsuspecting public, if you can at all help it. They belonged to my ancestor. He died in that room. If my father had managed to reach it..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence. All present knew what might have happened. The war they had just survived would seem like a walk in the park in comparison to what might have been happened in that case.

Draco felt the mental touch of his son. He turned and found him held securely by his ex-enemy. It was a more than just strange sight. Here was the wizard with black hair, green eyes and lightning scar holding a child with white blond hair and grey eyes. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Putting in a bit of practise there, Potter?" he grinned while absorbing the astonished expression on Harry's face.

"Draco!" Hermione could be heard, her tone half scolding, half laughing.

"Just saying."

The by now happily wriggling baby was hastily passed to its father. Who kissed the tiny forehead and the smile on his face as he looked at his son made Harry question all the things he had believed he knew about Draco Malfoy until now. The man before him was nothing but a devoted father and husband. Nothing was left of the sneering bully from the past. Seeing his long-term friend completing the picture of a happy family as she stepped next to her husband he knew that no matter what, these two what weather any storm. He could only hope his own marriage to be as strong one day.