Christmas Supper

It was finally Christmas day, and the triplets were up before anyone else. The sun hadn't even risen, but they were just too excited. Normally in years past, when they had been up before their parents, they waited in the boy's room, but for some reason, this year, they were in waiting in Ara's room. 

"I think we should just wake them up," Hyperion offered after about an hour of talking. 

"Mother never gets to sleep in; let her." Scorpius countered. 

They both looked at Ara for a decision. "I am going to have to agree with Scorp on this on Hyperion. She really is looking tired lately."

"I just want to see father's face when he opens mine and Scorp's gift we got him."

"What did the two of you get him?" The boys hadn't told Ara anything about the present, which was unlike them. Normally they were not good at keep secrets from one another. 

"You'll find out soon enough." Scorp nodded in agreement with Hyperion. 

"Fine." 

It was almost 8 a.m. at this point, and the three of them thought it would be alright to go into the kitchen and see if there was anything they could start making for breakfast. It would be a nice change to be able to make their parents breakfast. 

"Well, here are some eggs. I am sure we can do that." Scorp was careful not to drop them on the floor and carefully handed them to Ara, who took out the pan to cook them in. 

"Of course we can. I have done it loads of times with father," Ara told her brother's other things to get out of the fridge and the cupboards. Soon they had breakfast going and were chatting away about what to do next. Mostly it was Ara giving instructions to her brothers. They worked well together, and when the three of them turned around to put everything on the table, they were surprised both their parents and their grandmother were standing in the doorway with wide grins on their faces.

"This is a nice surprise." Draco hugged his three children before grabbing some plates so they could all eat. 

"Yes, and it smells wonderful," Hermione kissed her children. 

"Yes, I agree; I cannot wait to eat everything," Cissy sat down at the head of the table and looked at all of the food that was on it. Eggs and toast. French toast and sausage. There was cut up fruit and orange juice. 

They ate in silence; the children had a knack for cooking; it seemed because everything was delicious. 

"Happy Christmas," Ara smiled at her family. It was already a good day, and she was happy with everything that had happened so far.

"Happy Christmas, dear," Draco kissed the top of his daughter's head as he collected everyone's dish and waved his wand to have them start on the cleaning. They went out into the living room after and started opening gifts. Ara noticed the package under the tree. She instantly knew it was a broom. How could it be anything else with that shape? Had her brothers really gotten their father a broom?

"Dad, open ours next!" The boys picked it up with a smile on both of their faces. Last year their father had bought both of the boys a broom, and they had played all day before going over to the Burrow. Draco unwrapped the packaging and was surprised and delighted to find the newest edition of a broom. It had just been released. How and when had his boys done this?

"Boys," Draco didn't know what to say. He hadn't played in so long; the feeling felt foreign to him. 

"We thought we could all play together now!" Hyperion looked as if he was going to jump out of his seat with excitement. 

"That would be a lot of fun, thank you." Draco hugged both of his boys, and Hermione snapped a picture of the three of them together. It was so funny looking at them now. Scorpius was always a perfect image of his father, and Hyperion had always had curly hair as Hermione had, but it had lightened up over the years, and it was like two carbon copies of Draco stood right beside him. 

"Daddy, open mine next," Ara had had her father's gift for some time. She had become friends with Slughorn, quickly excelling in his class early on, and early in the year, he had given her something. It had belonged to Snape, and he thought that her father would like it had it and that Snape would want him to. She had even visited the Headmistress's office to find his portrait so that she could speak to him. He seemed cold at first, but after hearing stories of her father during his childhood, the two had started to form a bond. His portrait was often empty because he wandered around in other paintings keeping a close eye on the young Malfoy girl. 

"A potions book," Draco was surprised by the gift, but Ara soon explained who it had belonged to, and how she had spent some time with her parent's old professor, and how the stories he told her were her favorite that she had heard thus far. 

Hermione wiped the tears off her husband's face. After all, Snape was his godfather and had made an unbreakable vow with his mother to protect him during the war. He never even got to really thank him. 

"You know this means a lot baby," He pulled his daughter in for a hug, and then the kids continued to open gifts and listen to stories their parents would tell of Christmas' in the past. 

"So mother, we got all got you something together," Scorp was holding a small box. Inside there was a small ring with two emeralds with a small ruby in the center. It was beautiful, and Hermione teared up when she opened the box. Her favorite part of the entire ring was a little lion and snake that wrapped themselves around the stones, encasing them in what looked like a hug. 

"It is the three of us, and you and father protecting us on the outside. Do you like it?" Ara hoped she would. The ring was her idea, and the three had pitched in money to be able to afford it, and Grandmother had given them the perfect place to go. 

The whole afternoon was wonderful, and soon they were all getting ready to go to the burrow to have dinner with the Weasleys. It had become a family tradition, and Cissy had even started going. The whole Burrow was going to be crowded with people, but no one seemed to mind. Everybody was always warm and welcoming, and it was just the perfect place for Hermione and Draco to tell everyone the good news that they were holding so close to their hearts. 

"I cannot wait to have Mrs. Wealsey's cooking again. Hyperion and Ara know that Hogwart's has delicious food, but no one is as talented as Mrs. Weasley." Scorpius was now going on about this topic for what seemed like the 100th time today. He loved it at the Burrow and always had. Draco and Hermione thought it had a lot to do with the fact he and James had always been great friends. 

"Hello, everyone!" Mr. Wealsey got up from the chair he was occupying to hug everyone. Ara stuck close to her father as he went around the room saying hi to everyone. The boys, however, were gone soon after they arrived. Hugo, James, Albus, Freddy, and Teddy were already outside playing in the snow. 

"Hi Ara, you could come over here and sit with us if you wanted?" It was Victorie talking. She was older than Ara and was the spitting image of her mother. The other girls surrounded her. Ara wasn't sure what they were talking about, but since Mary wasn't going to be coming, she figured it was a good idea. She joined Victorie, Margret, Milly, Lily, and Molly, who was the youngest. She was only seven and the only child of Percy Weasley. Ara never really saw her except when they were here for Christmas eve supper and knew nothing of the young girl. 

"So Vic, do you think that Teddy is going to finally ask you on a date to Hogsmeade when you guys all go back to school?" Lily looked at her cousin intently, waiting for an answer. Ara was curious about what the older girl was going to say. She didn't know the first thing about dating but figured she was far too young for that anyway. 

"Well, I hope so," Victorie said in a dreamy voice, which reminded Ara of how Luna always addressed things. She had never seen any other women she knew talk like this, though. Ara had always been fascinated by Luna and everything she talked about and was generally interested when Lysander talked to her about the same topics. 

"Dinner time, girls. Molly dear, do your grandmother a favor and fetch the boys," Molly Weasley was finishing setting the table for everyone as she talked, and everyone got up from what they were doing and made their way to their seats. 

"Maybe this is a bad time Draco, we haven't even told the children. What if they completely freak out?" Hermione and Draco were the last ones to get up and take their seats. They had been going back and forth on telling everyone something, and the closer it got, the more unsure they were. 

"I am sure they are going to be happy about it, why wouldn't they. Plus, their grandmother is here. None of them are going to make a scene." Draco smiled at Hermione, hoping to tell her everything would be alright as they sat down. Supper was amazing, and Scorpius seemed to tell Molly every few minutes how great it was. 

"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Wealsey smiled at Scorp and put some more dessert on his plate. He smiled at her and stuffed his mouth with more cake. 

"Well, we would like to tell you all something. Big news, actually. We thought now would be a perfect time." Draco had stood up along with Hermione. No one could really quite guess what it was going to be. She was already the Minister of Magic after all, and Draco ran one of the world's largest wizarding companies. 

"Well, it came as quite a shock, but we are expecting," Hermione waited as everyone processed the information they were just given. Ara's face lit up immediately before she turned to her brother's who looked completely confused. 

"You idiots, Mother is going to have a baby!" She was out of her seat in a second and over to where her parents were sitting. "I'm excited, Mother!"

"I am glad dear, we are too," Hermione hugged her daughter and was relieved that she was happy about all of this. 

"Another baby!" Cissy was crying in her seat, and Mrs. Wealsey was hugging her in delight. Ginny was beaming across the table at her friends, and everyone else was starting to offer up congratulations. 

"Can you believe this?" Scorpius just looked at his brother in shock. 

"Not at all." Hyperion was even more shocked than his brother. 

"Boys, aren't you happy for your mother?" They looked up, and it was Harry standing, giving them both a weird look. 

"Yes, of course, we are just shocked is all." Hyperion suddenly had a smile on his face. A baby brother or sister. How wonderful would that be? 

"Maybe you'll have triplets again, Mom!" Scorpius was now jumping out of his seat. "Think of all the possibilities. Just one short of a full quidditch team." 

"I don't think you're mother is going to have triplets again, Scorp."

"Oh, think how wonderful it would be, father," Ara was now fully on board with the idea. Not that they got to decide, but it was alright to dear. 

"Yeah, dad, you could fly on your new broom, and then we could have a Malfoy vs. Weasley came eventually." Hyperion laughed at the thought. 

"It would be pretty incredible if you did 'Mione. Two sets of triplets. What a life that would be." Ginny was laughing in her seat along Hyperion. 

"I am just hoping for it to be healthy, and that is all." Hermione was not thrilled with the idea of having triplets. She remembered how hard the labor was last time around. 

"Minister Malfoy having triplets, I can see the headlines." Draco pulled his wife into a hug as he chuckled to himself. He knew that if they did have triplets, that would be a crazy story to tell, a crazy life they would have. 

The day was perfect in everyone's opinion, and this bit of news just made it even more incredible.