I do not own anything HP-related.
This one-shot has no spoilers. Please enjoy.
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Twinkle For Me
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"Mummy, where is daddy? Why did he leave us?"
The inevitable question, Hermione thought to herself, as her heart strummed aggressively in her chest. She turned away from her four-year-old daughter's inquiring silver orbs. Hermione looked down between the wood planks of the balcony, able to see the elderly couple below. The man put his arm around his wife and pulled her close to his chest. Hermione's heart clenched.
He was gone and they would never be able to share that.
"Mummy, are you okay?" asked the golden-haired girl.
Hermione snapped back from her trance. "Yes."
She plowed through her mind, thinking of the best way to approach the topic. Death.
"Where is he? Why do you always cry when we look at the picture of us? Are you sad, mummy?"
Hermione gripped the cold arm of her chair. She held back the stinging tears as she said slowly, not wanting her voice to crack, "No Elle, mummy's fine."
---
It was two and a half years since he died, no, was killed. Murdered. Slaughtered. Butchered.
It had taken months before Hermione put herself back together, for the sake of her daughter and nothing else. Elle Juno Malfoy. The most precious thing to Hermione. The girl had her father's beautiful blond tresses, aristocratic nose, pointed features, and pale skin. She inherited Hermione's sprinkle of freckles, petite frame, and vast interest for books. Hermione returned to her job as an Auror after the ordeal, but quit after realizing that the job had too many painful memories. He had worked alongside her. Side-by-side. Day and night.
They became partners for life. Until...
Then, she couldn't handle it. The smartest girl to graduate Hogwarts fell apart. But, she didn't let it show on the outside. She smiled, laughed, attended events, worked-- but on the inside, she was a wreck. She cried in her room, didn't get out of bed on weekends, didn't eat proper meals. But she realized that she had to 'live', for her daughter's sake. Elle Malfoy. After leaving her job (it wasn't like she was lacking money), she became a stay-at-home mom, taking care of Elle-- teaching her. The girl was a miniature version of Hermione in intelligence, but a mini Draco in appearance. The perfect combination.
And... Draco had loved the young girl. He had taken care of Elle every night after she was born-- spoiling her, cradling her in his strong arms, feeding her, tickling her. He carried her everywhere they went, vowing never to put her in the 'muggle contraption' known as a carriage. He said, "Elle is safest in her father's arms."
Life had been perfect, until...
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Hermione wrapped her arms around her knees to keep herself warm as she began.
"Elle, you know that your father, Draco, is in the sky." That was true—a constellation, but that wasn't what she was going for. Hermione took a deep breath. This was going to be hard.
"You see, when someone is no longer of this world, he—um, or she becomes a star. People who have done something good on Earth transform into stars."
"What did daddy do?" Elle asked her mother, her eyes bright with pride and anticipation.
"Elle, your daddy saved you and me."
"How?"
"This, um, bad man tried to harm us, and your dad, blocked his spell, but he was hit instead."
"Daddy was hit with some words? I'm not very good with spelling, but it doesn't seem that scary. Daddy is so strong. how did that happen?"
Hermione smiled wistfully at that comment. Elle was so adorable. Like her father, when he wanted to be.
"When is he coming back from the sky? Can I go there to visit him, mummy?"
"NO. I mean, you don't want to go there until it's the right time, and, daddy won't come to visit us. He can't. The sky is his home now."
Elle's eyes grew wide. Her lips quivered.
Hermione chastised herself. The proud lioness herself was going to lose it. She hadn't cried in a week and now… now…
"Elle, that doesn't mean he can't communicate with us."
Elle looked up at Hermione enthusiastically. "We can talk to daddy?"
Hermione was the ever-pragmatist, but this delicate situation called for something different; a sprinkle of magic, if you will.
"Not talk, but…when a star twinkles, it means that he says he loves you. It's star talk. Why don't we sit back and watch the sky and wait for him to give us a 'wave'?"
Elle nodded eagerly. She straightened her back in the lounge chair and looked at the sky. Hermione signed, hoping that the navy sky scattered with stars would bless them with a twinkle.
Twinkle for me, Draco.
Nothing happened that night, or for the next month. But Elle never gave up. The little trooper.
In October, they went out at nine for their new tradition, with a bowl of warm kettle popcorn and two tall glasses of orange juice.
They wrapped themselves in various quilts and waited. The mother and daughter told stories to pass the time. Hermione was just as eager as Elle to see a star twinkle.
She had thought about using magic to make a star twinkle, but that would be against all wizard laws.
She had left the wizarding world. She could not stand the people whispering behind her back on the streets, that she was the penniless mudblood widow of the extraordinary, handsome pureblood, that she had poisoned him with dark magic into marrying her, that it was just a façade-- some pureblood game that the Slytherins had concocted.
How could they say that?! She had lost someone she loved more than herself. He had given himself up for his family. She had grew to love all his quirks, harmless taunts…everything. He had showed her that he loved her, that he was not a game, a whim, an impulse, but true feelings for Hermione.
They had gotten married and had Elle.
They had been married for only six years, when…
The unthinkable happened. Voldemort wanted payback for Draco leaving his "destiny" of becoming a Death Eater. He wanted to kill Elle. A product of Draco and a muggleborn.
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Hermione said to Elle, "I'm going to get you another blanket, okay?" releasing a pocket of warm air into the crisp autumn night.
"Okay."
Hermione went into her bedroom and opened the walk-in closet. She fumbled in a trunk for a blanket. Her finger brushed against a small circular box. She pulled it out and exhaled loudly. Her wedding ring.
She remembered when Draco proposed.
"Hermione Jane Granger, will you marry me?"
Hermione was speechless. Her legs wobbled. Her cheeks turned a rosy red. She only nodded. She loved him, but never in a million years did she think that he would marry her, because of his upbringing. He had surprised her, again.
She looked away from his smiling face at the open box he held. A beautifully ring laid inside-- a large diamond stone in the center, flanked by two green emeralds on a white-gold band.
"This must have cost a fortune," Hermione said in a barely audible tone.
"Anything for you, my love," Draco said, with a teasing smile. Hermione broke out in a wide grin and smacked him with her hand. "You know you don't need to buy my love, Malfoy."
Draco feigned hurt. "You don't like it?"
"NO. I love it, I absolutely love it, but I mean—"she said quickly, but she stopped as her mind contemplated.
"What?"
She changed the mood. "It has Slytherin green emeralds for goodness sake. This isn't one of those possessive, dominate-the-female, alpha male ideas, is it?"
"Of course not, Hermione. How could you think so lowly of me?"
Hermione quirked an eyebrow. "You have definitely possessed my heart, Draco, but definitely not my mind."
"That's what I love you for. I would never do that," he said honestly.
"Good."
Hermione embraced Draco and smothered his face with kisses. "I love you."
"I love you too, Miss Granger."
"Ugh, don't call me that. It reminds me of Snape."
Draco giggled husky into the crook of her neck, before he took her hand and replaced the simple engagement ring with the beautiful circular band.
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Hermione put the ring on her left hand and watched it twinkle. Maybe this would make a star sparkle. Once again, Miss Pragmatic was relying on the 'forces above' to make this hope come true.
Twinkle for me, Draco.
Hermione returned to the small balcony. Elle grinned at Hermione. "Mummy, that star is twinkling. Daddy's waving to us from the sky!" Hermione looked to where her daughter's index finger was pointing to, and indeed a star was twinkling. Quite brightly too. Elle waved back to the star eagerly, her face flushed with bliss. "Daddy, I miss you very much, but mommy says you are happy in your new home. I am happy for you. Please visit me again."
Hermione smiled reminiscently, remembering Draco's twinkling features.
"Thank you Draco," she whispered as he tugged Elle close to her, and planting a big kiss on her daughter's temple.
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A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this story. I absolutely adore HermionexDraco stories, and decided to write a little spin-off myself. I hope it wasn't too horrible. It is my first time dabbling in HP fan fiction.
Have a great rest of the summer, everyone.