Changes in Scenery

2008-10-31T01:23:03Z

Changes in Scenery

Autumn

Grinning, I put my head into the crook of Hermione’s shoulder playfully. I could feel her body vibrating, and could hear the soft hums of the song that was on the radio. She was always so pretty when she sang, but she wouldn’t do it often. I could tell she didn’t want to look down at me, but who could resist this?

Eventually she gave me a sideways glance.

I grin.

We held our gaze, not wanting to be the first to back down. I cracked her, of course. Monie started laughing like there was no tomorrow and pushed my head away.

Yeah, I knew I could do it.

“Daddddyyyyyyyyy.”

I looked down at the little creature attached to my leg. “Derrick!” I said while I picked up my four year old son, swinging him around the room. Against his mother’s wishes, I threw him up in the air almost letting him hit the ground before I caught him again.

Earning me a whack upside the head from the wifey dearest.

Casually, I look over at her, while Derrick climbs himself onto my back. If glares could kill, Monie definitely wouldn’t need her wand. But thankfully, she doesn’t, and killing people are illegal, or I’d be a goner.

We were going to have a creative discussion (or fight, whichever term you prefer) about this later. I’m sure. We almost always do.

But not today. Today, we were going to have a picnic, like we used to when Der was a baby. We’d sit under our favorite oak tree in the backyard as we’d spread out our blanket. We’d laugh as the golden leaves hit Derrick in the face and he would sneeze. It would be a perfect picnic. That is until I’d breathe in the scent of the tree, and go into full detail on how if we just chop it down it would make a lovely broom.

Then Hermione would whack me and tell me to stop being ridiculous.

Walking past me with our picnic basket, the last picnic we could probably have before it got to cold, she leaned into my ear once she got close enough, “Draco, you throw him one more time and I’ll die your hair brown.”

I chuckled and followed her out the door. Derrick, to my delightful surprise, stuck out his tongue at his mommy’s back, making a ‘mmmn!’ sound.

“I saw that young man. You better put that back in your mouth if you don’t want to end up with brown hair also.”

The tongue was promptly shoved back in his mouth, as his hands gripped his blond locks tightly. As they say, like father like son.

Winter

Malfoys do not like the snow. They never have, but then Hermione and Derrick had to just ruin that wonderful tradition. They’re our there, right now, playing in that ice cold, white tundra.

My wifey and son had went out without me. They had left me here on this kitchen stool glaring at them through the window because they didn’t care about how I felt about the snow. It’s gross, and wet, and we Malfoys tend to get lost in the snow since we camouflage so well.

I can’t believe them. While I’m in this nice, warm, comforting house all by myself, they choose to be in that arctic abyss probably making snow men and angels, having snow ball fights m sledding, jumping over the puddles… all without me. It all sounds quite revolting if you ask me.

Frowning, I sat in that chair for an hour starting out the window pane. The supposedly beautiful snow flakes had no designs to speak of, and the house was slowly getting cold since the heater had shut off for its 30 minute cycle.

My son’s nanny house elf waddled into the room, obviously not expecting me to be there. “Oh! Sorry, sir! Nanny Grace didn’t mean to interrupt, sir, I promise sir!” She reassured me.

I sighed and rubbed the front of my head with my right hand, “I know, Nanny Grace.”

Then there was silence. The house elf had quietly gone around the kitchen doing whatever she had to do, but out of the corner of my eye I saw her watching me. Great, that’s exactly what I need, a house elf feeling sorry for me.

Ten minutes later, I feel my coat being placed in my lap. I look around and I see the back part of Nanny Grace’s dress float out the door. That sneaky little elf… I’m going to have to have a talk with her.

But first, I’m going to take her advice.

Slipping the coat over my shoulders, I shoved the door open and went outside. The crunching sound the frozen rain beneath my feet sounded weird to my ears.

I found them in the front, though, and I was right; they were making snow men.

“Hello, honey.” She greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, “I knew you would come out eventually.”

“Look, Daddy! Look, look! Mommy and I made snowmens! One for the daddy, one for the mommy, and one for the boy! Just like us.”

“That’s great, Derrick! I’m so proud of you.” I smiled, “Now let’s go inside.”

Spring

Bottomless stacks of paper to sort through and a dozen or so floo appointments that I needed to make were not quite what I had planned for the day. This was just too stressful.

Pulling my fingers through my hair, I rubbed my face a little to make sure I stayed awake. These things had to be done even if I didn’t want to do it, especially if I didn’t want to do it.

The dark green walls were only somewhat welcoming, in this otherwise dull room. Because of lack of anything else to distract me from my boring paperwork, I looked out the window. My main source of light in between these four walls brought more than just the sunshine in the manor. The sounds of spring floated up from the garden: the rustling of trees and the sway of the grass as a warm breeze blows by. The flowers were in full bloom, and without a doubt the pollen was building up. Hermione and Derrick were probably out there also.

I groaned, now I really didn’t want to be here. Looking back to my piles, I pulled off the top packet. Time to get back to work.

I lasted another hour until I caved. I flung open the back door and ran outside. I frantically looked for my family, but, oddly, I couldn’t find them anywhere. They weren’t at the Quidditch pitch, the garden, or by the pool.

Finally admitting defeat, I walked inside slowly, preparing myself to walk back up to my gloomy office. I trudged my way up the stairs, I heard a distinct humming sound.

“Let’s go outside! Let’s play Quidditch or something exciting like that!” I exclaimed, running into the kitchen, swinging my brunette wife around in circles.

“Draco,” Hermione laughed, “Derrick’s allergic to pollen!”

I looked over to where my sniffling son who sat at the kitchen table drawing his latest masterpiece with his magically colorful crayons.

“Oh.”

Summer

When the sun heats up and the days are hot and filled with yellow sunshine, there’s so much to do, and weekend at the lake, in the great outdoors, with all of our closest friends and their children had Hermione’s name written all over it. And so be it, there we were, all of us in our swimsuits splashing and playing, jumping off the dock.

There was Harry, lightly dunking his infant daughter Audrey in and out of the shallow lake water. As little Audrey giggled with glee, her mother, Pansy, who was watching from a beach chair, was getting a little anxious as Audrey’s twin brothers started pushing little Jem Zambini off the high dock. Blaise, on the other hand, thought it was mildly hilarious, especially when Jem’s older brother Zachery pushed the twins into the water headfirst. Blaise had received a whack from his wife, Ginny, for thinking such a thing. Ron was there, too, still as single as ever, though on this outing he did have the courage to ask Lavender to come keep him company. Currently, they are sharing an ice tea, and fighting over exactly which came first, the chicken, or the egg. Personally, I’m thinking there’s going to be a wedding invitation in the mail any time now. Finally, there was Luna and Neville, the awkward, yet final, section to our mass group of friends. Their daughters, Adriana and Angelica, were just as queer as their parents but possessed certain quality that appealed to the other children of the group. Then, there were the Malfoys: Hermione, Derrick, and myself, well, and also the nameless one. As of right now, I want her name to be Grace, but Hermione is certain it’s going to be a boy. Derrick is playing with the Zambini boys, quietly plotting the revenge of the Potter boys. From Slytherin descent comes great things. Looking up from her iced tea, my wife looks up at me and smiles at me.

Then I realize something. This is home.

brittanyylynn

Changes in Scenery