Courting Miss Granger-Epilogue, Part 2

By Marmalade Fever

"Most unexpected career," Dumbledore continued, not noticing the panicked expression on Draco's face, "Neville Longbottom..."

"Now?" Draco asked, face getting paler.

"It'll take a few hours, but yes!" Hermione replied, clasping her hands around her stomach and starting to waddle through the crowd.

"Where are you going?" Draco asked, stopping her with a hand on her arm.

"Back to the fireplace. Duh!" Hermione answered, turning to waddle a little further.

"You can't floo in your condition! It's dangerous! You heard the stories from Healer Andowin!" Draco was truly panicking now.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Hermione asked, looking livid.

Draco held his head in his hands before moving them into a time-out position. "STOP!" he yelled.

"Worst breath--" Dumbledore began, before turning to Draco. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy? Is there a problem?" he asked, ever coolly.

"Hermione's in labor!" All heads swiveled in their direction. "Is Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing?"

Dumbledore removed his glasses from his nose and polished them. "I'm afraid she is not. Poppy is currently in Bora Bora with her sister. However... Is there anyone here qualified to deliver a baby?" The crowd was motionless. Rather ashamedly, one hand went up. It was the hand of... Professor Snape.

"Ah!" Hermione cried, then cried again as she was hit by a contraction. Eyes squeezed shut, she made a gesture of defeat. Snape didn't look too thrilled about it either.

"What about Healer Andowin?" Draco asked, looking jumpy.

"I'll find her!" Ron offered, looking equally frightened at the prospect of Hermione's baby being delivered by Snape.

"Godspeed, Ron!" Harry shouted, as Ron ran for the fireplaces.

"Come along... Mrs. Malfoy," Snape said, looking very disturbed. He led Hermione and Draco to the empty hospital wing. (Classes had been let out the week before for summer.) "I know a very good potion for just such an emergency. We'll have it out of you, momentarily.The potion should also help with any complications due to premature birth." Hermione whimpered. Draco tried to comfort her by patting her hand. He helped her into one of the beds in the hospital wing. "And furthermore, allow me to offer my sincerest disappointment. I would have thought that the two of you would have known better than to go out in this... condition." Draco and Hermione both scowled.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Anything I can get?" Draco asked, looking warily between his wife and the greasy potions master.

"Do you have any sort of... bag... or something... at home?" Snaped asked warily.

"Yes, I'll go get it!" Draco said, heading to the door.

"Get the books!" Hermione screamed after him.

"Send someone in here to gather my ingredients!" Snape yelled as Draco exited the room. Snape slowly turned back to Hermione, and they frowned at one another. Hermione began to weep, openly.

Draco ran along the corridor to the Great Hall. "Somebody needs to get Snape's things! I'm going to go home and get some other things! Move it!" he cried, tearing through the crowd as if the ground were on fire. He skidded to a halt in front of the large guest fireplace and threw a handful of floo powder into the flames. "Malfoy Manor number two!"

Draco came hurtling out of his kitchen fireplace and didn't stop to orient himself. He stumbled out the door and into the hallway and sprinted to the coat closet. He threw the door open and madly began pushing past the coats to the corner where he had left their baby emergency bag. He ran it back to the kitchen, stowed it on the counter, and ran upstairs to the library. "Books, books! Which books!" Draco mumbled incoherently as he gazed wildly around the room. There was his small collection of books that he had gotten published recently, including his mildly famous, Rich Pratt No-longer, an Autobiography of Draco Malfoy, and, Ode to a Bewitching Witch, a Collection of Poetry, by Draco Malfoy. That wasn't what he was looking for, though. Books... Books... Which books did she mean? He mentally kicked himself as he remembered the pregnancy books he and Hermione had been working on memorizing for the last seven months. He ran back to their master bedroom and retrieved the large stack of tomes from their nightstands and carried them precariously down the stairs. He ran into the kitchen and literally threw them into the fireplace. He cursed, then hastily threw some floo powder in and grabbed his bag. "Hogwarts!"

The books were... a little singed. Not so bad. At least the bag was all right. He had just stepped out of the fireplace when Weasley appeared just behind him... alone.

"Where's Healer Andowin?" Draco asked, shaking the Weasel by the shoulders.

"She's... She's in Bora Bora! Apparently, she's Madame Pomfrey's sister!"

Draco felt like crying with frustration. "Wonderful, just wonderful! Come on, help me carry this stuff."

"Fine. Say, what happened to these books?" Weasley asked, turning one over and patting down a small, burning portion.

"Nothing!" Draco hastily took the book away from him and headed to the hospital wing. He slid into the room and tried to catch his breath.

"One last push... there." Draco's eyes widened and he dropped the things. He slid over to where Snape had drawn the curtain around Hermione's bed and stuck his head in. There was Snape, with his back to him, and there was Hermione, a bit... bloody, and there was... an umbilical cord? He pushed himself so he could see what Snape was holding, just in time to see the Professor holding something very small upside down and slapping it. Instantly there were cries. He was a father... He was a father! Yahooza! He was a dad!

"There you are," Snape said, turning to face him. "It appears you have... a son." With trembling hands, Draco used his wand to sever the umbilical cord.

"How... how did you deliver it so quickly?" he asked, astounded.

"I am an expert potions master, Mr. Malfoy, and never forget it." A glimmer of a smirk alighted on the man's mouth. "Now take him; my job is finished!" He handed the minute infant to Draco and left, swearing to use a very good cleaning charm on his hands.

"I'm a father..." Draco muttered, eyes still wide.

"Let me see!" Hermione cried, now fully covered up with a sheet. Draco turned to her and set the babe into her arms.

"Scourgify," he muttered, gently cleaning his son off as his wife held him sweetly.

"He's beautiful..." she uttered, looking into the tiny, closed eyes.

"Yes... he is," Draco agreed, kneeling on the floor. The baby, though very wrinkly still, had a pointed chin, pale skin, and small tufts of curly, dark blond hair.

"I love him. I love him with all my heart."

"I do, too. And just think, we only have twenty-five years to convince him that girls don't have cooties." They were silent for a moment, then there was a knock at the door. Harry, Ron, Penelope, Eliza, Dumbledore, and McGonagall entered.

Hermione, hesitantly, looked up. "This," she said, in a hushed voice, "is Evander Gwydion Malfoy. Evander means 'the good man' and Gwydion means 'bright one.'" They all looked in adoration at the tiny child who would be loved so much.

...Eleven Years Later...

Evander stood at the entryway to Hogwarts, peeking out across the open lawn. There she was, with her glorious black hair swung haphazardly over her shoulder. His brown eyes watched her with keen adoration. He took a deep breath and headed toward her.

"H-Hi, Lily!" he said nervously, smiling at her as she turned around.

"Oh, hey, Ev! What's up?" she asked, her green eyes sparkling

"Oh, not much. The, the sky, I guess." He looked up, as if for inspiration. She tried to hide a smirk and looked up as well. "Nice clouds," Evander muttered, instantly regretting it.

"Yeah... they're cumulus." Lily smiled at him. Evander smiled back, but then he frowned. There was something funny, way up in the clouds. It was growing larger, and larger.

"WATCH OUT!" he yelled, pushing Lily to the ground. She screamed as a large ball of light and electricity came hurtling toward them...

"Wh-where am I?" Evander asked, opening his eyes and staring around. He recognized the place. He was, most definitely, in Malfoy Manor, his grandparents' home. But it was darker, somehow. There wasn't any light coming through the windows. He scrambled to his feet as he heard footsteps echoing through the hall and he hid behind a suit of armor. He peeped out as he saw a man approaching with long blond hair in a pony-tail. "Dad?" Evander asked, leaving his hiding place.

The man whipped around, and Evander found a wand under his nose. "WHO ARE YOU? Where did you come from?" he asked. His face was set in a grimace.

"Dad, it's me!" but even as he said it, he knew that something wasn't right. Although this man looked like the Draco Malfoy he knew, he was not. Something wasn't right. Something was definitely not right.

Dun dun dun...

End Notes:

And that, my dears, is the end of Courting Miss Granger. Sold (the completed sequel that goes in a very, very different direction) is already posted, and you will either be more confused or slightly less confused than I am sure you are at this moment. If you aren't confused... um, then I'll be confused for you.

Thank you for joining me for the ride. This was my first DMHG. Reviews, as always, very much appreciated.