Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world

This isn't exactly an AU but I appreciate that this is far removed from the normal world of Harry and Co.

The familiar melody emanating from her wand slowly drew Hermione Granger out of her deep sleep as she scrabbled around under her pillow trying to locate the source of the noise while with her eyes closed.

When she finally grabbed hold of the wand she tiredly whispered "finite incantatem" and pulled the duvet over her head and relaxed for a few moments. She did not like mornings.

Then, with a growl she threw the duvet off her and sat up, staring bleary eyed towards the window where pre-dawn light was seeping through the gap in the curtains.

It was 7 O'clock and she knew if she didn't get moving soon then she would be late for work at 9. Stifling a yawn she padded towards the adjoining bathroom and turned on the shower. No matter how tired she felt in the morning a hot shower would also wake her up.

Ten minutes later she emerged all clean and felt much better. She quickly dried herself and threw on a robe while magically drying her hair so that it would be a little less bushy and a little bit curlier.

When she was all done Hermione left her bedroom and went quickly down to the other end of the corridor where there were two doors. She knocked on the first door twice then opened it slightly and peeked her head round.

"Ron? It's time to get up. It's twenty past seven."

All she heard in reply was a groaning and she saw his body under the duvet shift slightly. She walked over to his curtains and threw them open then turned on his radio before leaving.

She knocked on the other door and did the same thing as before. "It's twenty past seven Harry, time to get moving," she said quietly. Harry stirred and sat up, squinting at her as he didn't have his glasses on.

"Ok," he yawned, "do you need a hand?"

"No I'm ok thanks but you could set the things up for breakfast. It's Tuesday so it's cereal today."

Harry nodded sleepily.

"Yeah sure, no problem."

She closed his door before hurrying back down the corridor towards her room but instead of going in there she quietly went in to the room opposite it.

It was still very dark in this room thanks to some black-out blinds that kept out most of the sun even in the middle of the day. But she knew the layout of the room off by heart as the three of them had decorated it together. Along one of the walls there was a huge painting of a castle and on the other walls there were horses, rabbits, lambs and other animals that were enchanted to move just like the paintings at Hogwarts. To go with the castle they had also painted a couple of Princesses and Princes, a Knight and a Jester but they would've gone back inside the castle at night time. There was a big chest of drawers, and a huge toy box in the corner. But, most importantly, there were three beds, each containing a sleeping child.

Hermione walked across to the window and slowly pulled the blind up, filling the room with light. The animals along the walls rose from their sleeping positions and began to gallop or hop around.

She bent down to the nearest little bed and looked at her beautiful daughter who had scrunched up her face due to the sudden brightness. Hermione reached out her hand and stroked the little girl's forehead.

"Seren sweetie, it's time to get up." The little girl stuck out her lower lip and opened her eyes.

"No fair," she whispered, "I always get woken first."

Hermione smiled.

"That's because you're closest to the window!" she said quietly back.

Seren just "humph"ed and rolled over so that Hermione was met with her back. Getting up she moved over to the next bed.

"Elysia, time to rise and shine!" She lent over and gave her other daughter a kiss on the forehead. Elysia smiled sleepily back at her.

"Morning Mummy!" She yawned and stretched her arms before sitting up and watching Hermione wander over to the last bed.

As she knelt down Hermione was met with two brown eyes staring back at her.

"Oh, Cato, you're already awake! Did you sleep ok little man?"

Cato nodded.

"Good. Well it's time for you three to be up and dressed so come on. Up you get!" She reached under his warm cover and pulled him into her arms.

Straightening up she walked over towards the chest of drawers as Cato lay his head on her shoulder.

"Right then! Let's decide what you're going to wear today. It's supposed to be pretty cold today so we'll have to make sure you'll be nice and warm."

While supporting Cato with one arm, she pulled open a drawer and searched around in it before pulling out three t-shirts, a pair of trousers, two skirts and three jumpers. Then she opened another drawer and pulled out the necessary underwear before placing the small boy on the floor.

"Ok, form up!"

At once the two girls sprang from their beds and joined Cato by the chest of drawers and the three of them got into a straight line, one next to the other. Hermione helped each child to get dressed then stood back to look at them.

They were only three years old but it already felt to her that they were growing up too fast. Elysia was the smallest of the three but thanks to her mother's bushy brown hair you couldn't really tell. She also had Hermione's chocolate brown eyes- as did all three of them. On the other hand, apart from the eyes, Seren was very much her father's daughter. She resembled him an awful lot and Hermione hoped to Merlin that no one would ever make the connection. Cato's hair was dark and very curly and he often reminded her of a cherub.

They were absolutely beautiful and she would not have believed it possible that she could love her children as much as she did.

"You look great," she beamed at them, "group hug!"

Hermione crouched down as she was engulfed in little arms. She gave them a quick squeeze then stood up and reached for a brush.

"What do you think today girls; pony tails to go with clip-clop and sugar lump?"

The two horses near them neighed and the girls nodded giggling.

When the triplets were all ready Hermione led them out of the bedroom, Cato running up to her with his arms outstretched. Balancing the little boy on her hip, she closed the door behind her and took the girls along the corridor and into the dining room where Harry had laid out the breakfast things.

"Good morning Harry!" cried the little girls as they saw him tucking in to some muesli while perusing the paper.

"Morning guys," he said putting down his spoon, "did you have a good nights sleep?" He got up and kissed each child on the forehead before helping the girls into their places while Hermione got Cato into his.

"Yep!" the girls chorused. Harry looked at Cato.

"What about you Cato?"

The boy just smiled and nodded before looking down at his empty bowl. Harry looked concernedly at Hermione who just shrugged her shoulders dejectedly.

Cato had never spoken a single word to anyone.

It was something that Hermione continuously worried about but, according to her research there was nothing that she could do about it. Apparently Cato would start talking when he wanted to. The muggle doctor she had taken him to had said that Cato had the capability to speak but just didn't want to. Fred and George had often tried to trick him into saying something or force him to saying he wasn't going to get any food but Hermione had been absolutely livid when she found out and they didn't try again. She was sure that Cato would start when he was ready but she couldn't help but hope that it would be soon.

Ron appeared in the dining room ten minutes later with coffee in hand and immediately started wolfing down a huge bowl of cereal.

"Ron, really! I wish you wouldn't eat like that. You're setting a bad example for the children!"

Ron swallowed his huge mouthful. "Sorry Hermione, but I'm absolutely starving!"

"Well you can pick something up from your mum's, she's sure to have something there you can snack on."

"Fine!"

He started eating deliberately small amounts, chewed them thoroughly and swallowed them exaggeratedly.

The girls giggled, while Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

She checked her watch. They had about five minutes before they were due at the Burrow. She hurried her children up before sending them off to go and get what they wanted to play with for the day.

Seren quickly came back and held something out to her mother.

"No Seren you can't take a DVD to Nana Molly's you know she doesn't have a TV! Put it back and go find something else."

The little girl sighed and wandered back towards the living room while Harry chuckled into his tea. He admired the way that Hermione wanted to give the kids a partly muggle childhood too. What neither of them expected though was how much Ron enjoyed the television too. He especially loved muggle soaps just to see how they lived their normal every day lives though Harry had explained to him that normal lives were absolutely nothing like on TV!

Once the breakfast things were tidied away and the kids were all ready to go they went into the living room to stand in front of the fire place. Cato immediately went and stood by his mother but Hermione sighed.

"Not today Cato, you know we take it in turns. You went with me yesterday, you're with Ron today."

The little boy looked up at his mother with his big brown eyes then turned and walked over to Ron who scooped him up and hugged him close while tickling him.

"You didn't think you were going to get away from me did you!"

Cato laughed happily and Hermione smiled at the pair of them while bending down to pick up Elysia. She lit the fire with her wand and grabbed some floo powder before throwing it on the fire, which turned a bright emerald green.

"See you in a minute guys!" She called out to them as Seren waved goodbye.

Elysia buried her face into her mother's robe as she stepped into the fire and shouted "The Burrow!"

Mrs Weasley was waiting for them and smothered the three children with kisses before pecking the three adults on the cheek.

"Is there any food Mum?" Ron asked hopefully while Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Honestly Ron! You ask me that every single morning and I'm beginning to suspect that I will never get any grandchildren out of you if you always think of your stomach!"

Harry and Hermione laughed loudly and the tip of Ron's ears started to turn red.

"Don't worry Molly, you'll always have three surrogates," smiled Hermione as she stroked Seren's ponytail and Ron sulked off to scavenge some food.

"Oh of course Hermione dear; it gives me so much joy to look after them. What have you three brought with you to do today?" She asked the kids.

Elysia showed 'Nana Molly' the picture books she had brought, Seren had a baby doll and Cato had a paint set.

"Goodness me we're going to have lots of fun aren't we!"

Hermione was unbelievably grateful that Molly was able to look after the children and didn't know what she'd do without her since her parents had died during the war. Molly had a lot of free time now that her children had all moved out-what with no washing of clothes to do and minimal house work. The triplets absolutely loved the magical mystery that was the Burrow- even if they couldn't watch TV while they were there!

"Ok, well it's time for us to leave now." Hermione crouched down by her three children and hugged each of them in turn before straightening up. "Bye guys, I love you!"

"Bye Mummy!"

"Love you too Mummy!"

Cato just waved.

The three wizards disapperated out of the Burrow to land in the Ministry of Magic's Atrium. Ron and Harry worked as Aurors while Hermione worked in the Department of Magical Cooperation. Ron had gotten into Auror training even though he did not have the academic qualifications due to the fact that he 'aided in destruction of the most evil wizard of their generation'. Hermione had been offered a position there too but being pregnant at the time she turned it down. She would not feel comfortable with living a dangerous lifestyle if she had someone else to be responsible for. But thanks to her qualifications and reputation she had been inundated with job offers and had taken her pick.

She bid Harry and Ron goodbye and made her way to her office- the International Magical Office of Law. Her life was very much a routine but thanks to her children each day was different and very enjoyable. It had been extremely difficult in the first few months of the children's lives because they needed so much attention and were completely dependant on her but she had had a great network of support from the Weasley's and Harry.

She also knew that very soon the children were going to be asking awkward questions, questions Hermione did not want to answer. Questions about their father.

She was slightly surprised that they hadn't really brought it up before. Maybe it was because they did not see many other children or, most likely, it was due to the presence of Harry and Ron. When the triplets saw another child with their father they assumed that their relationship was the same as the one they had with the two men.

The paternity of the triplets was a very sore topic with Hermione and one that no one ever spoke about with her. No one else knew who the father of her children was except for Ginny, Hermione's closest female friend. There was no way that she could have told anyone else. They wouldn't have understood.

Hermione hadn't told them who the father of her children was, because their father was Draco Malfoy.

I realise that no too much happened in this chapter but it was just to set the scene for everything else. I hope you enjoyed it enough to come check back in a week or so when I should hopefully have the next chapter up. I'm coming towards the end of my exams now, (only two left Wahoo!) so after this week I should have plenty more time to write.

I do not intend for this to be a very long story, but then again I thought that this chapter would be really short so who knows! I also have a habit of not finishing the stories that I start but I actually know where this one is going and as I said I don't think the story is going to be long so keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Lil Drop of Magic

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