Marriage, Muggle Life, and Babies

Chapter 59: Adventures in Babysitting Part 1

By jessebelle

Dislaimer: Don't sue me, it isn't mine. The honor belongs to JK Rowling.

THIS IS NOT THE FULL CHAPTER!!!

See Author's Note at bottom for details.

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Draco awoke Sunday morning with a feeling that something was missing. Reaching out an arm he discovered the other side of the bed empty and the sheets cool. Opening his eyes he confirmed he was alone in bed and Hermione was gone. A quick look at the clock revealed it was early and listening to the sounds of the house revealed the girls were still asleep and his girlfriend was in the bathroom. Smiling at having solved the mystery he rolled over and prepared to go back to sleep. His eyes shot open again after hearing the sound of the shower starting. 'What on Earth?'

By now he was awake and his curiosity was peaked again. With a regrettable look at the clock, he forced himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. Knocking, he opened the door a crack in order to make himself heard, however before he could inquire about the early morning wakeup call, Hermione's voice sounded from the shower.

"Oh good, you're up. I was afraid you'd sleep through the morning. The girls still need to be woken up, dressed, and fed. By that time Ron and Harry should be coming over so I suggest something simple to feed all the kids. I'm not sure what time we'll be back, so for dinner you might want to order out. You know where the phone book is, right?"

Obviously he'd missed something.

"Hold on, where are you going?" He heard the shower stop and Hermione step out. He could just imagine the rolling of her eyes…among other things.

"Honestly Draco, we discussed this last night. The girls and I are going to the spa today, remember? You and boys get to deal with the kids, see how you all fare."

Ahh, there it was. He remembered that….then he realized exactly what he was remembering and what it meant.

"What!? I though you were kidding!" The door opened and she appeared, her hair dripping wet and clutching the towel to her body. She was a vision… except for the glare on her face.

"That's exactly why we're going! You…men don't take us seriously. We stay at here at home, taking care of the children while you guys get to go out and work-"

"It's not as if we actually get to go somewhere; we work at home. And it's homework, nothing exciting!"

"See! That's exactly what I'm talking about; you're not listening. Yes, I know you don't actually leave the house, but you're still doing something, still learning something! Meanwhile my days revolve around nap time, Dora, and whatever kink Dumbledore throws it with their altered memories! I'm a Bloody Housewife!" Her voice cracked at the end and it was then he realized she was crying. Merlin, this was really upsetting her. Deciding that it was one of those 'women things' where the problem wasn't really the problem, he did his best to comfort her by gathering her in his arms and letting her cry it out. Finally after a few 'it'll be all rights' she finally calmed down enough to speak again.

"I know this is just a school project, and no matter how much we care for them the girls aren't actually real; but Draco, if this is how our future is, with me staying home with the kids day after day, I can't do it! I'm not Mrs. Weasley! I never spent my days playing house and envisioning my prince charming taking care of me. I read. I studied. I made plans! I'm grateful for finding you, because I do love you, and I like bits of this made up future for us. And yes, I love the girls and maybe someday they will be real and I'll be grateful for this time to practice, but I plan on having a career, working for the ministry, maybe being a professor at Hogwarts or a Healer at St. Mungos. I don't know yet, but I do know I will not be sitting home on my arse all day or running around after the kids. I'm the bloody brightest witch of our age, that's got to count for something!" Whoa, he had no idea how long she'd been holding that in, but he could understand where she was coming from. Even though he was only doing essays, he knew how much schoolwork meant to Hermione. The fact that she was stuck staying with the girls all day wasn't fair.

"You're right; I'm a bloody insensitive prick. And I agree with you not being a housewife. Your intelligence is one of the reasons I fell in love with you and you wouldn't be happy letting your talent go to waste, so I won't have it; you're getting a job. I don't care whether you want to be minister of magic or a muggle actress, I'll support you in whatever you want to do." Hermione let out a choked laugh and looked up at Draco with hope in her eyes and tears on her face.

"I don't think that last one is an option, but really?"Draco sighed with a smile as he wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

"Really, I'm sorry you felt this way. I wish you would have told me. That's what this project is about, working together in a relationship. We're partners and we need to help each other if we want to get that A. I have a feeling that we're being graded on more then just those homework assignments. And about them, if you want to help out, maybe look over the essays and edit them or help me research, then feel free. I know it's 'against the rules' because it's my 'job', but that would make caring for the kids your 'job' and I help you out with that so I don't see why we'd be doing anything wrong." Hermione let out a strangled laugh and threw her arms around his neck, more tears falling from her eyes. Seeing his alarm she pulled away to face him and grinned.

"Happy tears; don't worry." Then she hugged him close again. "Thank you." Draco hugged her back, just as tight.

"No need to thank me, you being in my arms in nothing but a towel is plenty thanks enough." He'd decided a little humor was needed to lighten the situation, and after all, he wasn't lying either. He felt her freeze in his arms then slowly pull away. He also felt the smack on his arm and had to chuckle.

Hermione carefully stood up. She'd forgotten just what she had been wearing, or more appropriately, hadn't been wearing. She and Draco, while having gotten close, hadn't crossed that line yet and had no plans to do so. Both understood the need to wait and that while they were pretending to be married and dealing with everything that went along with it, they were just pretending. That's not to say they hadn't had a little fun, but there was a time and a place for that and on their bedroom floor after she'd just broken down was not one of them.

"Draco." Her voice warned. He held up his hands in surrender as he stood.

"Okay, too far." He still grinned at her as he backed up into the bathroom. "I'm going to go get dressed before I wake up the girls. Will you still be here when I'm done?" Hermione shook her head.

"With as long as you take in the shower, probably not. I'm allowed to go with the girls then?" Draco rolled his eyes.

"As if I could stop you. Besides, I know how much you need to get out of the house now. Go, have fun; leave me a list of what needs to be done. I'm sure between me, tweedle dee, and tweedle dum we can take care of the kids. And when you get home tonight you can go over my charms essay." Hermione beamed as she stepped forward and kissed his cheek.

"That sounds perfect." He nodded with a smile on his face.

"Good. Now go, get dressed or you're going to be late. We'll be fine. I'm thinking we'll just take 'em outside and let them play."

"Have fun then." Draco grinned.

"We will."

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Author's Note: So yeah, I'm alive. I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been, well lets just say life is messy. Anyway, I won't give excuses, but I will say it's ironic that now my life has gotten even more complicated adding two jobs on top of college, I suddenly have time to write. So, I figured that rather then make you wait until I can get the rest of this chapter typed up, I'd give you something to tide you over so you can see where we're heading. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get the rest up by the end of next week. Obviously there's no Housepoints or Trivia for this little chapter intro, but I'll be including it for the next. Hope you enjoy and I thank each and every one of you who have stayed with me and I hope you can hang on a little bit longer. I WILL FINISH THIS STORY!!!! I won't make promises on when, but definitely as soon as I can. Toodles, jessebelle