𝐸𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐺𝑅𝐸𝐸𝑁 𝑀𝐼𝑆𝑇 || 𝐷.𝑀.

forty

{a.n. - letting you know the ending isn't the exact same as the real one. changing it up a bit! also above pic literally melts my heart bc tom felton w his nephew is the cutest. he's too pure for this world.}

    Juniper Malfoy rose from her bed in her white Tudor cottage house when she heard alarm next to her ringing lightly. Groaning, she put on slippers and a white buttoned shirt that her husbands, only buttoning one of the buttons on it so it covered her just enough. She walked down the stairs of her house that was warm and quiet on a December morning and she could see snow falling lightly outside from the window, the sky was covered in grey clouds signaling that today would be a nice day to sit inside by the fireplace. As she looked into the family room of the white Tudor cottage, she could hear the crackling of the already made fire and on the couch was familiar white-blonde hair belonging to her husband who laid shirtless on the couch, partially asleep with a blanket covering him and the small one month old baby laying on top of him, his hands pressed gently against the baby as they both slept. Juniper giggled lightly at the sight, coming over and putting her hand softly through Draco Malfoy's white-blonde hair, seeing him open his light blue eyes to look up at her.
    "How long have you been down here?" Juniper asked quietly, not wanting to wake the baby that was sound asleep on Draco, but she let her fingers lightly brush the dark hair on the baby's head.
    "Since six, little one started crying so we got up, got changed, had a bottle, started a fire, and then went back to sleep." Draco chuckled as he looked down at the baby, then looking back up at Juniper. "Come here, it's very nice lying here with the fire and snow." Draco said as he moved the blanket so Juniper could join. She carefully got on the couch, laying into the back of the couch as far as she could as couches didn't provide a lot of space, especially with a baby, but they made it work. Juniper put the blanket back over them, her head rested against Draco's shoulder with his arm around her and her hand lightly rubbed the baby's soft skin.
    "You're quite right, this is very nice." Juniper said as she took a deep breath in, watching the baby give a small yawn from being woken up. "I never thought I could be so mesmerized by someone so little." She giggled. Draco chuckled in agreement, she wasn't able to see him nod, but was sure he did.
    "Every time she moves I feel like I'm melting from how in love I am with her." Draco said with the chuckle lingering in his voice as the baby girl stretched her arm up a bit as if she was trying to get closer to her dad whom she was already laying on. Yes, Juniper and Draco Malfoy had a daughter on the twelfth of November, making Juniper wildly excited that her daughter was a Scorpio like her. The month from their daughter's birth felt like quite a long one with figuring out how to raise a baby, but slowly as the month progressed they started to get a routine down and it wasn't unusual for Juniper to find Draco lying somewhere in the cottage with their daughter laying right there with him on his chest. From the moment she was born he knew he was complete. Completely full of emotion: happiness, excitement, and above all else, love.
    They both knew from her second day of life that their daughter would be what you consider a 'daddy's girl', half the time refusing to sleep nor eat by the end of the second week unless Draco was holding her, which made it very frustrating sometimes. Neither were surprised by this though, as Draco was entirely in love with his daughter and in fact, was the one who was convinced it was a girl when Juniper was pregnant, as she couldn't be sure if it was a girl nor a boy. Even when it came to naming their baby and Juniper had found Draco asleep in the study, tired from doing paperwork for the minister, a list of baby names was scribbled down on parchment and they were all girls. There was one name in particular that was circled, just one, and from the moment Juniper saw it she knew that if they did have a girl, that would be her name. When their daughter was born and they indeed knew that she was a girl, the name was set.
    The name came to Draco while he and Juniper were outside lying in the meadow to look at the stars on a warm summer night. He now knew many of the constellations and where they resided in the night sky because Juniper had showed him time and time again since their sixth year at Hogwarts, and that's when it hit him. Their daughter would be named after the constellation they both agreed was most beautiful the night they began dating. Their conversation about that constellation on the astronomy tower that night during sixth year was brief, but both of them always pointed it out whenever they'd lay outside to watch the night sky. He wrote it immediately, circling it a few times to show that he absolutely knew it should be their daughter's name if they indeed had a daughter. And so when their daughter was born, she was named Lyra Blair Malfoy for the harp-like constellation that Juniper showed him the night they began dating on the astronomy tower during sixth year and Blair for the best friend Juniper had lost but now regained with her own baby.
    Following that first month after their daughter's birth, Draco finally decided to have a proper conversation with his parents, specifically his father. There were constant letters right after her birth after he wrote to them to tell them of the new grandchild his parents now had and after a month realized that his daughter was a second chance for Lucius to redeem himself. That Lucius could redeem himself by giving the proper childhood she so deserved to her that Draco never got, and so he wrote to his parents, offering for them to come over on that cold December day when the clouds were grey and the snow fell. Draco laid on the couch with his wife and daughter, his two girls, for about another hour until their daughter cried from hunger.
    "I'll take her, you go shower and then we'll switch. Your parents will be here in a little under two hours." Juniper reminded Draco, who was quite nervous about this as he hadn't seen his father since the wedding and it was nearly a year since he saw his mother. But Draco nodded, getting up and reluctantly handing over the tiny little girl that he didn't want to leave to Juniper so he could get ready.
    Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy arrived at noon exactly, ringing the doorbell as the snow fell lightly still outside and both Juniper and Draco slowly walked to the front door, their baby in the bassinet in the family room sleeping again.
    "Are you ready?" Juniper whispered to him, giving his hand a bit of a squeeze and Draco nodded his head, giving her a smile. She leaned up and placed a light kiss on his lips and then opened the door to a very eager Narcissa, whom had been dying to meet this baby since they got the letter about her. Their greetings were short, Draco and his father both hugged, the first time Juniper had ever seen it happen and Narcissa simply just nodded her head with a smile as the reunion between them went smoothly. Juniper led them to their sunroom that had no sun in it from the grey snow covered clouds outside, but the lighting was bright and made for a good place to catch up with the family they hadn't seen much of. Draco didn't sit down with the rest, instead he walked to the family room and picked up his small baby and brought her to meet her grandparents for the first time.
    "Perfect timing, she just woke up so she shouldn't be fussy." Draco chuckled as he brought the tiny girl to his mother who stood up nearly immediately as she saw him walk in the room with her.
    "Oh my goodness, is she perfect." Narcissa remarked as Draco gave the baby to her. She sat back down next to Lucius, both of them staring down at their grandchild silently until Lucius spoke.
    "She has Draco's eyes, exact same as his when he was a baby." Lucius remarked with a slight chuckle.
    "How'd you come up with the name?" Narcissa asked as she looked at the both of them.
    "Lyra for the constellation, kind of took on the Black family tradition of naming children after constellations." Draco explained to them.
    "The middle name Blair for the girl I was best friends with since my first year at Hogwarts. She died in the battle, but now she can have a place in her life." Juniper included the explanation for Lyra's middle name.
    "I think it's wonderful." Narcissa said. Draco's parents stayed for over eight hours with them at the cottage, leaving just before nine that night. Juniper and Narcissa walked the grounds around the cottage near the evergreen trees with Lyra bundled in warm clothes and blankets while Lucius and Draco were inside talking to mend their relationship. Juniper was thrilled to be able to show her daughter the evergreen trees, to fill her senses with their light scent so early on in her life and hoped she loved them just as much Juniper did.
    Draco and Lucius did indeed mend their relationship, both of them agreeing it was time to move forward regardless of how much Draco felt cheated from his childhood. He knew it was more important to set aside the differences for Lyra's sake, so she would be able to grow up with all four of her grandparents loving her tremendously to give her the proper childhood she deserved.

    It was now the first of September of 2015, seventeen years after the Battle of Hogwarts and eleven years after Juniper and Draco Malfoy's first child was born, meaning they were sending her to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
    Lyra excitedly ran through Platform 9 3/4, insisting she do it by herself even though Draco so badly wanted to go through with her, but she insisted she go alone. So, Draco and Juniper followed her through, allowing her to bravely run toward a brick wall by herself. The sight of the Hogwarts Express for the first time in eighteen years excited Juniper and Draco greatly that they were sending their daughter to school there now, making them miss it greatly. Both of them could tell that Lyra was now nervous upon seeing the train and as they met up with Hermione, Ron, Harry, Ginny, and all of their children, Lyra felt a bit less timid knowing she'd be with her greatest friends there.
    "Dad..." Lyra's soft voice that reminded Draco so much of Juniper's spoke up quietly, prompting him to turn and look to her, kneeling on one knee to be more at her height.
    "What is it, darling? Nervous?" Draco asked her as he brushed his fingers through the mix of dark brown and blonde hair on his daughter. Her hair had turned out to be just like Narcissa's, the half and half. Draco watched her green eyes that were the exact color of his wife's eyes and gave her a smile. "You're nervous about the Sorting Ceremony, aren't you?" He asked her as he grabbed her hands.
    "You and mum were both in Slytherin, the whole family has been, what if I'm not?" She asked him quietly.
    "It's a house, darling. It truly doesn't matter to us what house you're placed in. No house is better than the rest and whichever you're in, that house will have gained the brightest witch of their age. And I know that's a fact because I'm your dad, I know everything." Draco said giving her a bit of a laugh to try and cheer her up. He watched as a smile came across his daughter's face and she rolled her eyes just like Juniper would do to him.
    "You don't know everything dad, mum always says that." Lyra told him, but Draco just laughed as he nodded, wrapping his arms tightly around his daughter that he so badly didn't want to leave yet.
    "You have nothing to worry about, love. The Sorting Hat will know exactly where to place you, but if being in Slytherin means that much to you, it will take your consideration into account." Draco reassured her.
    "I love you, dad." Lyra spoke in his ear before feeling another pair of arms around him. Lyra's brother, Elio Draco Malfoy who was just about to turn seven hated seeing his older sister and closest friend leave. {a.u. - Elio after Helio the sun god.}
    "Before you know it we'll be sending you off to Hogwarts as well." Draco told his son with a chuckle as he stood back up. They put Lyra on the train, both Draco and Juniper trying desperately not to cry as they watched the Hogwarts Express depart for the first time with their daughter inside, waving her hand out the window with Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione's children.
    At Hogwarts, Professor Minerva McGonagall was incredibly curious to see which house Lyra Malfoy would be placed into, but wasn't surprised at all when the Sorting Hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" before it even touched her head. She knew that the bravery and courage Lyra's parents showed during the Battle of Hogwarts was existing inside their daughter and was thrilled to see a Malfoy be placed in Gryffindor for the first time. Juniper and Draco were incredibly pleased and slightly nervous knowing that the three children they, the Potter's, and Weasley's just send to Hogwarts were all in Gryffindor house together, the three children were sure to make trouble and they eagerly awaited letters from Headmistress Minerva McGonagall to tell them of said trouble.
    In another few years, Elio Draco Malfoy, was now eleven and sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where they knew for years exactly what house he'd be placed in. They watched their son, who looked remarkably like Draco with the icey white-blonde hair and light blue eyes, grow to be a loyal, trustworthy, clever, and kindhearted young boy. They weren't surprised at all when an owl arrived at the white Tudor cottage on the second of September, the day following the Sorting Ceremony congratulating them on their son's placement in Hufflepuff, the first Malfoy to ever be in that house.
    Draco and Juniper Malfoy now looked back on their lives many years after the Battle of Hogwarts and found a new normalcy with their family of four and their four close friends living not too far from them. With the cottage empty of children during school years, they were able to work at the Ministry of Magic together peacefully and to come home quietly to reminisce on their time at Hogwarts, examining their sixth year together and hoped that their own two children, Lyra Blair and Elio Draco, would be as lucky as they were to find love of their own on the Astronomy Tower or the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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{a.u. - thank you for reaching the end of this book. when i tell you that i cried while writing the ending to this ... i'm going to miss writing this so much and i wish i could go back to when i first started it just to fall in love with the characters again. go to the next page for a little thank you and an about me if you'd like, but you don't have to! thank you for reading!}