The Marriage Decree

Chapter 101: Long-Term Fixes

"Here we go again," Draco mutters, standing in front of the bathroom mirror in their Hogwarts room, trying to tie his hair back.

"I know," Hermione hums from where she is sat at their vanity table, trying to braid her hair.

After his sixth attempt fails, and the front half of his hair is still framing his face, he defeatedly walks into their bedroom to ask his wife for help.

"I can barely do my own hair, Draco." She says, her face a picture of concentration as she stares at herself in the mirror.

"Why don't you use a spell?" He asks, knowing she knows how to, having seen her use it many times before.

"Why don't you?" She returns the question.

"I don't know how." He admits.

Hermione lets out a groan as her fingers drop the braid and it unravels halfway. "That's the third time." She snaps at herself.

"Just use the spell." He urges her.

"I need to know how to do it without magic." She says, starting again.

"Why is it so important?" He questions her.

"I want to be able to braid our child's hair, in case they wear it long. You can't send children to school with long hair down. It gets in everything, and they'll get headlice within a week." She says.

Draco smiles, walking over to her and taking her hands away from her hair. "Pansy always says it's easier to braid other people's hair than your own." He tells her.

"You want me to braid your hair?" She asks.

"I want it out of my face." He tells her. "I have no idea how it got this long." He pulls on one of the shorter front pieces that reach his chin.

"You like it," She reminds him.

"And you like it." He adds with a smirk.

"I do, I love it." She stands up. "Sit down then."

Smiling in victory, he sits down on the stool in front of the vanity table, that Hermione had just vacated. Hermione goes slowly, carefully selecting each piece of hair for the braid. She manages to include the top half in the braid, then brushes the bottom half to meet the rest in a ponytail, but at least the front strands are out of the way.

He glances at himself in the mirror, from different angles and decides it looks good enough for their first-anniversary dinner at the ministry.

"Thank you," He presses a quick kiss to her lips. "Now please use a spell on your own, or we're going to be late." He tells her.

"The dinner doesn't start until half-past six." Hermione points out.

"And you think after what we pulled at the War Dinner; they're just going to let us sit straight down without ensuring we have nothing planned for tonight." He rhetorically asks.

"Good point. We should leave soon." She says, looking at her watch. "It's six o'clock."

Draco collects their summer cloaks from their cloak pegs while Hermione spells her hair into a braided bun.

"It looks lovely." He assures her, passing over her cloak. "You also look lovely." He smiles down at her bump, which she had stopped hiding under charmed clothes, now that everyone was aware of their pregnancy, thanks to the Daily Prophet.

"Thank you, and so do you." She returns his loving smile. "You really do look good in black, even if I'm personally a fan of that red shirt." She adds.