The World and Her Stars

Chapter Sixty-Nine

ROSE POV

The first night with him, Draco and I hardly slept, still running high off of the adrenaline rush.

Leo slept like a dream, though.

Draco and I both laid in my hospital bed, facing inward on our sides, Leo in the middle, sleeping away without a care in the world.

We both just watched him, examining him like he was some undiscovered creature that needed studying.

"I know a lot of parents say this, but I'm being dead serious when I say, I think he might be perfect." Draco whispered in a completely serious tone.

I nodded immediately.

No bias at all here.

"You think that he recognizes our voices?" I whispered, gently grazing a fingertip over the baby's soft cheek.

"Well, I hope so. I've had plenty of conversations with him already over the past ten months." Draco smiled, still looking down at our sleeping baby.

I chuckled quietly.

Draco flicked his eyes up to me quickly with that same handsome smile, before doing a double take, his eyes looking to my wrist.

"Huh..." Draco raised his eyebrows in what seemed like pleasant surprise.

"What?" I asked, following his gaze.

"Your initials. On your hospital band." Draco nodded his head in the direction of my arm.

"R.A.M." I read off, "What about it?"

"Your patronus, Rose." Draco filled in.

I don't know how it took me this long to realize the correlation between the two. All those years ago, when I had cast that silly little charm and a glowing ram ran around me in circles, I had no clue what the hell it had to do with me.

For years it had been a thought in the back of my mind.

What the hell does a ram have to do with me?

A patronus was supposed to be of some significance to the individual, and I thought that mine was somehow broke. I thought that surely a snake or some kind of jungle cat would make more sense than a bloody ram.

But now it was crystal clear.

It appears there has been significance, and it has been right in front of me the entire time.

"Christ," I sniffed, wiping more tears from my face, "I'm going to dehydrate myself like this."

"Why don't you try and sleep for a bit before the healers come back in, hm?" Draco suggested, taking notice of the yawn that sprung on me.

"Are you sure?" I stated, looking down at Leo as he wriggled around in his sleep.

"I've got him." Draco leaned over carefully and kissed my forehead, "You sleep."

I sighed and nodded, taking notice of the heavy bags under my eyes that I'm sure looked atrocious, but Draco still looked at me like this season's finest diamond.

Draco picked Leo up carefully to cradle him and scooted around a bit so that I could tuck myself into his side.

As soon as I shut my eyes, I was out like a candle on a windy day.