Family Planning

Chapter Thirty-Five

The twins crept downstairs quietly, careful not to make any noise. They walked silently towards the sunroom, which was their grandmother’s favourite place in the whole house. She spent her days in there, planting rare seeds that could only be found in certain parts of the world, or simply admiring the beauty of the room. Standing a few feet away from the door that lead to the clear glass room, Jake took out a set of extendable ears, that had a charm on it to hear better, from greater distances, and placed one by the door. He put the other end of the ear between his and Lea’s ears.

“... I trust your relationship with Draco is going well?” Narcissa asked in a voice that only a Malfoy Matriarch could have.

“Mother, why do you want to know about my love life?” Draco asked, annoyed.

“Draco, dear, I'm your mother.” was Narcissa’s only reply.

“Our relationship is fine.” Hermione said.

“Is Lea dating the Potter boy?” Narcissa asked.

“I believe so,” Hermione said, “They’ll be good together. I think Pansy’s already planning a wedding.”

Lea started coughing when she heard that.

“Sis, you okay?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, but what is Mum talking about, seriously, I haven’t even gone out on a date with James, and she’s already talking about a wedding!”

“Lea, you and James are ‘perfect’ together, according to the girls, I honestly won't be surprised if you two were engaged by the time you were out of school!”

Lea smacked him in his arm. “Jake! You’re supposed to say ‘I don’t get why Mum is talking about that either, I think Auntie Pansy is crazy too!’”

“Did you know that there’s a bet on you guys? Everyone in our year has money on it; a majority of the girls said Valentine’s Day, half the guys said Christmas Break, the other half said Spring Break. Everyone else was spread out through the year.” Jake said.

“Oh God, do I want to know why you know all of this?”

“Nope, but I’ll tell you something that I’ll regret; Damien and I are the ones that started the entire thing!”

Lea smacked his arm again, “Since this is about me, you have to give me some of the money,”

“It’s at 150 Galleons, you and James get ten percent of the winnings each.”

“Make it fifteen percent,”

“Thirteen percent,”

“Fifteen percent, or I’ll show everyone your baby photos,”

“Done.”

Lea smiled victoriously. “Let’s go back to listening to them.”

“... Draco, are you going to propose to Hermione?”

“Why do you want to know?” Draco replied, moodily.

“I want to start planning for more grandchildren.”

Hermione nearly choked on lemonade she was drinking. Draco rubbed her back for a few moments. “Narcissa, you’re thinking many years ahead. There aren’t going to be any more kids for a few years.”

“But there’ll be more?”

Hermione glanced at Draco. “I guess,”

Narcissa smiled, almost giddily. “Well, I should go Floo Molly now, I promised I’d keep in touch.”