The Request by redhead414

Chapter 22

Nobody was getting any sleep in the Malfoy house as the shrill screams from Scorpius' bedroom echoed throughout the halls. It had been like this for two weeks. Hermione called them 'falling dreams' and had said that she'd read about them in a book and they were common with children at this age. Draco refrained from saying he didn't give a good goddamn where she read it and whether or not it was common. He was exhausted. Scorpius' screams would always wake up Claire, who would then get upset because it always took a few minutes to calm her brother down, and then Draco and Hermione found themselves with two children that wouldn't go back to sleep.

Neither of them wanted to start a habit of the children sleeping in the bed with them. Hermione remembered when James was little and how Ginny would want to put him in bed with her and Harry and every time she mentioned it, Molly Weasley would look at her daughter and say if you open that box it will never shut. Children belong in their beds. You children were never in our room. Draco didn't even know what the inside of his parents' bedroom looked like. If he had a night terror, Dobby came in and tended to him so that his father wouldn't wake. Hermione, on the other hand, used to sneak into her parents room when she was a little girl, though most of the time it was because she woke up too early and her parents had no desire to wake before the sun came up. So she would snuggle up between the two of them and curl up next to her father, who would kiss her forehead and hug her tight.

While Claire had come into their room a few times early in the morning, it became a different story when early in the morning was actually half past midnight or a quarter past two, as it was the moment Draco finally left Claire's room as he was certain she would stay asleep. Thankful for not having to work in the morning, he walked the short distance from Claire's room to Scorpius' where he found his son sprawled out against Hermione's chest as she held him at an angle as they were slouched down in the plush rocking chair near his crib. Scorpius was going to need a toddler bed soon, but Draco wanted to get past this issue before he put him in something that allowed him to escape whenever his son got the whim to do so.

Despite his eyelids feeling like dead weights, he couldn't help but watch Hermione in moments like this. With Anya it was a moment in the park when she was four. He brought her along to the park for a play date with James. He sat on the bench with Ginny and Hermione, barely listening to whatever nonsense they were babbling about as he kept his focus on his daughter, jumping around the playground and following James' every move. When she jumped from a platform that was a tad bit too high and skinned her knee, she didn't run over to him, but to Hermione as big fat tears rolled down her high cheekbones. He brushed her tears away as Hermione pulled a small bottle of dittany from her purse, plopping a few drops onto the offended knee. She then pulled out a bright pink plaster and placed it over the faint remnants of her fall. Hermione kissed the plaster, then cupped Anya's small face with her hands and kissed her forehead.

"It's all better, sweetheart," Hermione said softly as her thumbs brushed away the last of Anya's tears.

Anya sniffled. "How come James didn't fall when he jumped?"

"Probably because it's a bit more solid than you are," Hermione said with a smile. "You're a bit more dainty than he is."

Claire wasn't more than eight months old when Draco found Hermione walking around her office, Claire pressed against her chest as she cradled her with one arm while Anya sat at her desk with a stack of blank parchment and some crayons. He was quite concerned as to why his children where commandeering her office - and her - but she spoke before he could even ask.

"Astoria came by," Hermione spoke quietly as her rocking steps were lulling Claire to sleep. "She said an emergency came up and that she needed to give you the children."

"An emergency? What sort of emergency?"

Hermione shrugged. "She didn't say. She looked like she was in quite the hurry though."