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Wrong Wife

Chapter One- Friends

Golden morning light filtered through the windows. Hermione stared at herself in the mirror. Seeing Astoria's reflection made her sigh. Ten years ago, at age 28, Hermione's life had come to a dramatic end when a chimney fell on her. Yes, Hermione Granger had died, but then awakened in Astoria Greengrass Malfoy's body. She had found herself married to Draco Malfoy, her childhood nemesis, of all people!

A mischievous grin caught her lips as she surveyed the damage she'd done to Astoria's once perfect body and flawless face during the last ten years. Four children later and one more on the way... she had a lot more padding on her hips and waist. Astoria's once perfect breasts now needed support. Her eyes had laughter lines and her perfectly styled hair was increasingly unruly because Hermione forgot to brush. The lovely tan was gone. Even her face seemed rounder with the extra weight she was carrying. Astoria would have screamed in horror, but Hermione laughed. To have her dream come true... children in her life to love and a husband who treated her like a miracle straight from the gods... all while living in the body of a pureblood witch had to have been someone's idea of a good joke. So Hermione laughed.

Hermione lived her life as Astoria, but she raised her children and loved her husband as Hermione. She taught them kindness, fairness, and love, gentleness and family affection. She introduced them to the Muggle world and read them Muggle books. She made Malfoy Manor comfortable and happy, because she was a comfortable and happy person.

Draco Malfoy stepped into her dressing room and slipped his arm around his wife's thick waist, bending to nuzzle her neck.

"I never dreamt that I would have a family rivaling the Weasleys in number," he muttered somewhat bitterly. It might have sounded hostile, except that he said it with a kiss.

"Mmmm. We could stop at five, you know. I'm almost 40, but Astoria is only 37. There's still time for more."

"Five is definitely enough. No more children."

"But then you thought one was enough, remember?"

Yes, he did remember. He smiled at her and his grey eyes warmed.

It was an argument that she had won after months of debate. It turned out that the Malfoys and other purebloods actually had a logical reason for only bearing one child: in a power hungry society, it just wasn't safe to have more than one son in the family. Too many eldest sons had mysteriously died, enabling younger sons to inherit the fortune, much like the kings of Muggle England in days long past. Even cousins could be potentially dangerous. Many purebood families were embroiled with politics, backstabbing, and evil plots; the women were no better than the men. Witness Pansy Parkinson who murdered Astoria so she could marry Draco herself. Luckily, crazy Pansy Parkinson was now locked away in a sanitorium in Switzerland.

Hermione eventually won Draco over by pledging to train their many children to love each other and treat each other well. She asked Draco to tone down the role of the Malfoy family honor and prestige so that jealousy and pride wouldn't damage family relationships. She taught them to share. So far her strategy had worked, but she secretly suspected that they had been spared a child with Slytherin traits of jealousy, competition, scheming, and manipulation. It was the old nature vs. nurture argument: Did the children get along because they were trained to take care of each other or did they get along because they had compliant personalities? Hopefully, they wouldn't all end up in the Hufflepuff house at Hogwarts.

"If we have the babies close together," Hermione had suggested reasonably to Draco, "then they won't ever remember life without their siblings. There won't be as much jealousy. They'll always remember playing together and being friends." Eventually, he agreed, most likely because he enjoyed the extra time they spent together making all those babies.

Lucius and Narcissa were scandalized at the number of grandchildren that had increased their family size, but they were at the same time so grateful for an heir at all that they kept quiet. Draco's early marriage with Astoria had almost not survived Astoria's affairs and they had despaired of ever obtaining an heir. Lucius and Narcissa never suspected that Astoria Malfoy was really Hermione Granger. The clues were there: Instead of gossip fests, Astoria now supported non profit causes for magical creatures; rather than shopping, she preferred the library; and her passion for pureblood society had transformed into an alarming interest in all things Muggle. These oddities they put up with because their son was happy and their grandchildren were happy. They didn't really want to know more.

"So, I have some items on the agenda," Hermione mentioned to Draco as she ran a brush through her hair.

"Agenda? Is this a business meeting or a dinner date?"

"Date, of course, but we still need to talk about some things."

"Really? A trip into Muggle World? New books for the library? Knitting lessons for the kids?" drawled Draco with a sneer. Hermione gazed at her very handsome blond husband and chuckled at the twinkle in his gray eyes.

"No, this plan is something new. Are you ready for this? I want the Malfoys to become friends with the Potters and the Weasleys."

Draco was silent at first. Besides himself, only Harry knew that Astoria was really Hermione. They had kept in touch, but their children had never met. That was now going to change?

"Mmmm. No. Absolutely not. Malfoys do NOT befriend Potheads and Weasels."

"OK. How about Malfoy children befriending Potter and Weasley children."

"No. Absolutely not. Malfoy children do NOT befriend Pothead and Weasel children."

Hermione smirked. "OK. How about Malfoy children befriending Potter children? No Weasleys?"

Draco frowned. "Well, Potter's children are half Weasley. I don't see how we can get away from them. Weasleys are taking over the world."

"That, dear husband, is why the Malfoys are repopulating the magical world. We must increase our number. We must improve our status and influence. And by the way, I want our children to be friendly with the Potters and the Weasleys. Before they get to Hogwarts."

Scorpius, their oldest son was nine; Hermione had been preparing him for Hogwarts since he was three. Pureblood families hired tutors for their children, but Hermione did most of the tutoring herself. She did not trust many outside of the family to teach her children to read and write and cipher. Nor did she trust someone outside of herself or Draco to teach their children ethics and morality. Her children would be prepared academically. Now, she needed them to be prepared socially. They needed friends (Gryffindor friends) and the Malfoys had lived a rather isolated life the last ten years.

This was going to change, Hermione knew. So did Draco.