Chapter Text
“Aunt Mione, Uncle Draco! Finally!”
“Gods he shouts like he didn't see us just last night,” Draco muttered.
Hermione stifled her smile as her eyes scanned the platform. Alice and Frank grinned, waving at them. A tiny Neville stood in front of them, with an owl this time. Still called Trevor, but at least safely locked in its cage. His siblings, Charlotte and Edwin, ran rings around an exasperated-looking Augusta.
Narcissa stood slightly further down with Fabian Prewett of all people. Her son, Altair, looked exactly as she remembered first year Draco, hair gel and all. The only jarring differences were his smile when he spotted them and the three redheads badgering him for information as Narcissa unsuccessfully tried to rein them in.
“Your mother appears to be ready to hide the others in Altair's trunk,” Hermione muttered.
Draco snorted. “Serves her right. Children with a Prewett, honestly!”
“You adore Fabian, don't lie. And let's not pretend that those redheads aren’t your favourites. Mira spends more time in our house than hers!”
“She's calmer than Pollux and Cepheus.”
“Not by much,” she muttered.
The Weasleys were there on time for once. Molly was giving her yearly lecture that the twins were very obviously tuning out. She distinctly heard the promise of a toilet seat as a souvenir for Ginny. It would appear some things remained the same regardless of the timeline.
Unlike her first time, several people called out greetings–children of friends who knew them well and friends who had all fallen under the spell of celebrating peace with long-lasting results.
“Come on, let's go!” Lyra urged, tugging on Draco's hand. “Theo and Harry are down there and they're going to go before we see them!”
Draco snorted. “Hardly, little star. Rigel’s still here, isn't he? The train won't leave without him.”
“I can't wait until it's my turn,” Carina huffed. “Why did Ry have to be first?”
“It's not like we planned it, star girl.” Draco shrugged, tugging on one of her curls. “And you don't need to wait as long as Leo.”
“I have ages,” the tiny blond boy muttered. “Lyra goes next year and you and Keela go in two years. I have to wait for another three after that. It's not fair.”
“You get Mama and Daddy to yourself through Leo,” Aquila voiced with a sympathetic smile for her brother. “Think of all the fun things you’ll get to do. And Aunt Lily and Uncle James will be sad because Thomas will go next year and then Violet will go the two years after that, so they’ll need to steal you to do fun things with. And Uncle Sirius has already promised that he's going to start teaching you how to be a marauder. And Mama said that Uncle Severus is going to be… what was it… utterly ridiculous,” Hermione stifled her giggle, “when Dorothy and Iris go in a few years. Aunt Cassie agrees, so you’ll need to distract him. And Uncle Reggie will need lots of practice now that Aunt Marlene’s having a baby. You can help him learn before it’s here!”
“She's going to be a Hufflepuff, isn't she?” Draco groaned, dodging Hermione's hand where she went to hit him as Leo smiled slightly, placated by his elder sister's words.
“You took forever!” Hermione grinned down at Harry, feeling something akin to peace as she realised that this was one of those moments they'd done it all for.
“I’m so sorry. Sacha didn't want to go into her cage.” The tawny owl eyed her balefully, confirming her words.
“Papa, can't I just take him and see?” Draco snorted as Theo tried unsuccessfully to convince Sirius that he could smuggle Maurice in with him, privately sure that the only reason that the man was saying no to his only child was because he couldn't stand the thought of both Theo and Maurice not being in the house.
“Not a chance, pup. Minnie would let Filch string me up by my ankles in the dungeons and you wouldn't want that, would you?”
Theo paused as if considering it before he sighed. “No, Papa.”
“Right answer, pup.”
Remus laughed, wrapping an arm around Theo. “Daad!” he whined. “I'm too big for cuddles!”
“Nonsense,” Hermione responded briskly. “You're never too big for cuddles.”
Theo yelped as she descended on him, squeezing him tight and peppering kisses over his face.
“She's not going to do that to me is she?” Rigel asked, horrified as he watched his mother torture his cousin. “Dad? Dad?” Draco snorted at the frantic tone of his eldest child.
“Of course I am, Love,” Hermione grinned, catching her son around the waist and squeezing him. “You behave,” she murmured into his hair. “And… listen to your professors and oh… don't get into too much trouble.”
He grinned up at her, his face softening when he noticed her tears. “Don't cry, Mama,” he murmured, wincing as she almost sobbed at the sound of the term he'd long since outgrown. “There’ll be no trolls, at least.”
“Oh!” Hermione pulled him back to her.
“Let him go, Princess. It’ll be Christmas before you know it,” Draco interjected softly, extracting his eldest and ushering him towards his great grandparents to say his goodbyes.
“Aunt Mione?”
Hermione looked down into the familiar green eyes of her nephew. “Yes, Love?”
“Where are you?” she frowned, so he continued. “Uncle Draco is here… only he's called Altair now I suppose. I was wondering… where are you?”
Hermione froze, having not considered it, wondering not for the first time if they had made the right decision to tell the children the truth when everyone else thought Draco was some distant family cousin of Lucius’. “I don't know,” she murmured finally. “I… there might not be me, this time.”
“Oh,” Harry said softly. “That's… that's quite sad.”
She smiled slightly. “Perhaps,” she agreed before an all too familiar face registered out the corner of her eye.
“Princess?”
“Oh,” she said softly as her parents… the Grangers, ushered a tiny girl with more hair than she remembered having onto the platform.
“Is that you Aunt Mione?”
“I think perhaps it is,” she murmured.
“Let's go say hello!” James demanded, catching the conversation.
“Wait! Jamie…” Draco grinned as he watched Hermione dart after her brother.
“You look a little confused,” James greeted the couple.
“Yes,” Marie Granger agreed. “I… well we’re… not quite like our daughter.”
“Muggles, Mum,” the girl corrected quietly.
“Yes. Muggles.”
James nodded, holding out his hand. “James Potter. My sister Hermione Malfoy. Our eldests are going this year too, if you’d like to join us. We can… explain how things work if you'd like.”
“Would you?” Marie asked with an edge of desperation. “It's all a little surreal. My husband, David… well, it's taken a bit to convince him. I'm sure he half expected a concussion instead of walking through a wall, didn't you?”
David Granger flushed. “Well it is a bit unbelievable,” he muttered.
“My parents thought the same.” Hermione smiled around the lump in her throat. “They were muggles too.”
“And my wife’s,” James agreed. “She's the stunning redhead over there. Still can't quite believe she married me if I'm honest.”
“Neither can the rest of us,” Hermione agreed wryly, making Marie laugh.
“Oh! I didn't introduce our daughter, Viola.”
“From Twelfth Night,” Hermione murmured.
“Oh! Are you a fan?” Marie asked excitedly.
“I was named after Hermione in The Winter's Tale.”
“Oh, that's lovely! It was on our list but it just didn’t fit when she was born.”
“If you come with us, we’ll introduce you to the rest of them. They're… well there's rather a lot of them, to be honest, but don't let that put you off. They’ll look out for you.”
Viola Granger looked more than a little apprehensive as they followed James towards the growing group of people.
“Right, Theo Lupin-Black, Rigel Malfoy, Harry Potter, Altair Malfoy, Ron Weasely, and Neville Longbottom. They're all going with you this year. The other two redheads winding up my own rather lovely redhead are Fred and George. Don't listen to a word they say. Oi! You lot! This is Viola Granger!”
Rigel visibly startled at the name as Dorea shoved him forward to introduce himself.
“I hadn't realised that you were almost entirely made up of hair even as a child, Little Puff,” Severus teased.
“Hush! Where is your wife? You're far less rude when she's around.”
Severus snorted. “Dorcas is attempting to persuade Dorothy that remaining with us for another few years is for the best. She was trying to climb into the luggage carriage.”
Hermione laughed. “Of course she was.”
“I blame you. No child of mine would be so impulsive without your influence.”
“Don't be absurd, Severus. Cassie was a Gryffindor too. It's hardly my fault that you married her and then made me godmother. In fact, I think that subconsciously you wanted it. It is, after all, the superior house.”
He glowered at her before his eyes landed on his youngest where she was dancing around Gideon and Fabian with Cepheus and Edwin, giggling hysterically at whatever game they’d made up. “Thank Merlin for Iris. That one is destined for my house.”
“Want to bet?”
“What? No! What do you know!”
“Nothing, nothing! Only… Iris will go with Edwin and we both know how fond of each other they are. And Edwin is likely to follow in his sibling's footsteps, especially since Cepheus has already declared that he wants to be exactly like his dad. So perhaps…”
“No!” He looked utterly horrified. “Absolutely not!” At that, he swept off to rescue his youngest from the clutches of the youngest Longbottom and Prewett.
Hermione grinned. Her work here was apparently done. He really did make it too easy.
“That was mean, Princess,” Draco laughed.
“Well, he was far too smug. Let's face it, Iris probably will be in Slytherin, but it's fun to let him think otherwise for a while.”
He wrapped an arm around her as the warning whistle blew and the children began saying a flurry of last-minute goodbyes. After hugging them all hard, despite their protests, she watched as the train slowly took off.
“Alright there, Princess?”
She smiled. “Yes… I think I am.”
Draco smiled. “It was worth it, wasn't it?”
Slowly, she nodded her head as she watched Frank and Alice, Lily and James, Gideon and Fabian wave at the train. “Yes. Yes, it was.”