𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐺𝑅𝐸𝐸𝑁 𝑀𝐼𝑆𝑇 || 𝐷.𝑀.

thirty nine

    Three years after the war Juniper Hartley was no longer Juniper Hartley, rather now it was Juniper Malfoy. They agreed their wedding would be small, only filled with their greatest friends and close family to keep it personal and intimate among everyone.
    The day of their wedding, the sixteenth of July in 2001, was a beautiful warm day in England. The sun was shining brightly since the minute they both woke regardless of where they were waking. Juniper was at the cottage with Hermione and Ginny crammed in her bed with her, all of them spending the night together while Draco was with the most unlikely friends you'd ever think of: Harry and Ron.
    If you would've asked Draco Malfoy when he was eleven years old who his best friends would be when he was just twenty-one years old, he either would've answered that it would be Crabbe and Goyle or he wouldn't have been able to give an answer. He would've never assumed it'd be Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and he would've called anybody mad if they told him he'd be marrying a girl named Juniper Hartley. But yet, there he was with these two unlikely friends as they all got ready for a wedding, both Harry and Ron teasing the entire time as they laughed.
"Draco Malfoy is getting married before me, how is this happening?" Ron exaggerated as they all tied their ties, flooding back memories of them tying their school ties every day before classes. Part of Draco missed that so much, missing that he never got to properly leave Hogwarts after the war ended.
"You're engaged at least." Harry rolled his eyes at a very dramatic Ron.
"Easy for your to say!" Ron spoke again. "You're the one who got bloody married first here, mate." Draco laughed again at them.
"It's not our fault you just take so long to ask the right questions, Weasley." Draco patted Ron's shoulder, Harry laughing harder now that Draco joined in the teasing of Ron.
"Oh, shove off Malfoy!" Ron rolled his eyes. "It was so bloody easy for you it seems, we've all heard the story. Dancing in the kitchen and telling her you want to marry her." Draco and Harry were both laughing still.
"You forgot the part where I walked around with a ring in my pocket for nearly a month and a half." Draco mentioned. The room was filled with laughter as was the wedding, the day full of happiness and even though there was the equal wish that people lost could be with them, they managed to remember them with the laughter and happiness of that day.
    Juniper swore she would've felt different after she married Draco, but when they were home after that night, almost nothing felt different to her. They walked into their cottage, showering off the night that was their wedding, and Juniper realized that mentally they had been tied to each other for years now.
    She sat in her towel on their vanity sink in the bathroom, watching the person that was now her husband and tried to wrap her head around that she was married now.
    "I can see your mind spinning with thoughts." Draco remarked as he gave her a small smirk. Juniper gave him a small smile as she reached her hand over to grab his arm, pulling him in front of her  so he was standing in between her legs.
    "I can't wrap my mind around the fact that we're married. Like actually married." Juniper told him and he nodded his head with a chuckle. "Good luck getting away from me now, Malfoy." She giggled.
    "You can't even call me Malfoy anymore." He laughed again with a shake in his head.
    "And why's that?" She asked him, her arms went around his neck, bringing their faces closer together.
    "It's your last name now too, Junebug." He said quietly. He was entirely correct, she couldn't use his last name against him in a teasing way when she now shared it, defeating the purpose of using it. She nodded her head slightly, not saying anything else as she leaned in to connect her lips to his.

    2003, five years after the Battle of Hogwarts, life was entirely normal for them now with their jobs and their friends. Draco had barely spoken to his parents since the battle, only some communication between him and his mother occurred while his father remained nearly entirely silent, mainly because Draco was entirely filled with anger still that his childhood had been taken due to his father's loyalty to Tom Riddle.
    Juniper kept in communication with Narcissa more than Draco did. Their owl coming constantly with a new letter twice a month from Juniper's parents and Draco's mother. She had multiple times tried to get him to have a conversation with his father, to mend the wounds from his lifetime of mental abuse, but most of the time it was useless to open that conversation up. Juniper knew, however, that hopefully soon he would agree to it, agree to set aside the anger and resentment toward his father after the six years of silence since they'd run off to their cottage. That maybe the thought of having not just his mother, but his father as well in someone else's life would be worth putting aside their differences.
    It was February of 2004, cold as ever outside in England at their cottage, the snow still sticking to the Earth around them. The Ministry was laying on work in Draco's department, making him nearly constantly busy and Juniper was almost always home before him around three in the afternoon and he'd be there around five in the afternoon. It had been routine for months now, but Juniper was the first to break it by staying home for the day and Draco came home early for once.
    "I think this is the earliest I've seen you in the better half of two months." Juniper said as she came down the stairs to Draco in the kitchen living room.
    "I left early for a meeting and then after Hermione told me you were staying home today, said you didn't feel well?" Draco told her. "So, I told that brute of a boss I have to answer to that I was leaving early for once in the past two months. Wanted to make sure you were alright." Draco told her as he followed her to the kitchen. Juniper nodded her head as she leaned against the counter, tapping her fingers rapidly against them. "Are you alright? You tap when you're nervous so—" Draco began to ask but Juniper cut him off, blurting out the words she couldn't keep in anymore.
    "I'm pregnant, Draco." She said quickly, watching his eyes as he stood there extremely still, looking as if someone hit him with a stunning spell. The room was silent for a minute, that minute feeling like a lifetime until he finally opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out making Juniper laugh. "Goodness, did you forget how to speak? That won't be very helpful when you're trying to teach someone how to talk." Juniper joked with him, making him crack a smile and he began to laugh.
    "Shut up, you're really pregnant?" He finally spoke. Juniper nodded her head, trying not to laugh at his reaction, but Draco laughed more as he walked over to her, pulling her into him tightly.
    "That's why I didn't go in today, I was way too stunned to even move for a while." Juniper laughed with him. "The good news is, this kid can go to Hogwarts with Harry and Ginny's." Juniper said, making Draco pull away to look at her, his eyes wider now.
    "Wait, them too?" He asked.
    "Ginny sent an owl this morning, she's a couple months before, but they'll be the same exact year." Juniper nodded her head.
    "Ron's going to lose his shit like he did before the wedding. Potter got married first, then us, and Weasley was still engaged. Now Potter's going to have a kid first and then us and Weasley's going to have his head spinning." Draco laughed, the smile on his face was radiating. "My God, we're having a baby." He said quietly as he pressed his lips to Juniper's, happiness consuming the both of them.
    Nearly six years after the war, as their lives were feeling more normal again, they both knew that normalcy would be disrupted again, this time with something positive.