Innocent | d. malfoy

- epilogue part two -

(Six Years Later...)

Aria opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the morning sunlight that streamed through the opening in their bedroom curtains and flooded into their room. Even though it had stormed almost the entire night, the sky had made up for it by granting earth's inhabitants with a lovely day.

The familiar feeling of comfort washed over her as she shifted beneath the bedsheets. She felt the arm that was lazily tossed across her waist tighten their grip on her hip as if Draco was begging her not to get up.

Her back was pressed firmly against Draco's chest as their legs remained jumbled together beneath their bedcovers, almost exactly as how they'd fallen asleep the night before.

Unbeknownst to Draco, in Aria's arms laid a sleeping child who'd crawled into their bed in the middle of the night, scared of the thundering storm outside of her window.

Draco was never fond of Emilia sleeping in their bed— especially now that she was four years old, but Aria's motherly heart allowed their daughter to sleep with them almost every night that she came into their room.

Aria's hands moved to brush the hair away from the girl's face. It was no wonder that she looked nothing like them. Her frizzy locks were much darker than her mother's, with no hints at all of Draco's blonde hair. Her skin was also more of an olive tone, several shades tanner than either of her parents' light and fair complexions— simply because she wasn't their biological daughter at all.

Draco was rather confused the first time that Aria brought up the idea of adoption, and he struggled to comprehend why they would do something like that when they were perfectly capable of having a child on their own.

It made much more sense to him when Aria explained why she would rather do that. As someone who'd grown up in a foster care system, she wanted to help a child who might've been going through something similar to her childhood experiences— except that the girl they'd adopted wasn't magical.

Aria had no idea how Draco would react when she brought up the topic, and if anything she thought that he would turn the idea down the moment he found out that the child would most likely be muggle-born.

Her assumption was wrong. Draco didn't care about the child's blood status, as he'd repeatedly told his wife and assured her that this was what he wanted if it was what she wanted it. As far as either of them was concerned, it didn't matter if the child was biologically theirs or not... the most important thing to them was that they raised her as their own.

And that was what they did. Draco and Aria loved their daughter from the day that they adopted her as a baby, enjoying each moment in her life that they got to witness.

The little girl gave a groggy yawn, stretching her limbs out beside her as she shifted out of her mother's hold.

"When did she come in here?" Draco's deep and hoarse voice broke the silence, groaning slightly as he adjusted to the welcoming morning sunlight as well. He'd just woken up, realizing that Emilia must've crept in overnight.

"Around two... she fell right to sleep."

Draco sighed and his grip around her waist grew tighter, holding Aria closer to his body so that there was no chance of her leaving this soon in the morning.

Aria's calm façade faded and was replaced with confusion as the thought dawned on her. "What time was it that we were supposed to meet the others for brunch?"

"Eleven— I think..." He grumbled his response as he covered his eyes with the back of his arm, trying to block out the light.

"Oh god— Draco, we slept too long—" Aria pushed his arm off of her, tossing the covers off of both of their bodies as she quickly sat up. The clock across the room read 10:27, leaving the small family with barely thirty minutes before they were expected at the cafe to meet their friends.