Work Text:
"Daddy, what are you doing?"
Draco, who was sitting on the living room floor comparing two screws, raised his eyes at the sound and turned his head so that he looked directly into the silver eyes of his seven-year-old daughter, Aileen Malfoy. He saw them staring at him confused, eyebrows raised in the way her mother very often used to do. Aileen crunched a white weasel stuffed toy in her lap (a gift from Weasley. What a prick.) and her brown, wild curls framed her confused face. Draco grinned at her and said, "I'm assembling a drawer."
"Without magic?" Aileen said in amazement, and padded over to her father, weasel in hand. She sat down on the floor beside Draco and peered curiously at the pieces spread out in front of them, which were somehow supposed to form a drawer. Draco nodded to her and said, "Yep, without magic."
"Why?"
"Well, you see, me and your mum had a bit of an argument yesterday about me not being able to do anything tricky without a wand. So, we then made a bet to see if I could assemble this drawer without ever once touching the wand. And as you can see, so far it's gone very well."
"Uh-huh," said Aileen, furrowing her brows in a way that left no doubt who her mother was. She looked at the pieces in front of them for a moment before finally asking, "Where did mummy find that drawer?"
"She bought it at some muggle store called IKEA. Apparently it's a store where muggles buy furniture."
"Oh," said Aileen, watching Draco screw the two pieces together. Then she looked at the instruction sheet in front of her and said, "It doesn't look like the instructions."
"It doesn't?" Draco said, puzzled, and picked up the instruction sheet. He stared at it intently and Aileen peered over his shoulder. "Daddy..." she began, but Draco waved his hand for Aileen to be quiet.
"Shh, peanut, I'm trying to concentrate," he hissed, alternating between looking at the instructions and the half-assembled drawer. His eyebrows furrowed even more as he looked at them and he muttered "I don't understand what's wrong."
"Daddy, the instruction book is upside down," Aileen interjected and Draco blinked. He looked first at Aileen, who was staring back with the same silver eyes he had, then back at the instructions, and finally at the still half-assembled drawer. Then he blinked again and finally groaned, realising that Aileen was right, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"
"Daddy said a bad word," Aileen said, but sounded more amused than shocked. (Draco was sure Aileen would become Slytherin when she went to Hogwarts). "Mum doesn't like it when you say them around me."
"Well, Mum can't be upset about something she doesn't know," Draco said to that, winking at Aileen like a conspirator. Aileen giggled, but Draco then sighed heavily and looked dejectedly at the drawer in front of him. "I guess I really am helpless without a wand."
"Don't worry, Daddy, I still love you," said Aileen happily, wrapping her tiny arms around Draco. Draco gave her a small smile and lifted his daughter into his arms. "Thank you, peanut, I love you too. But it won't help to get this drawer together and I'm not ready to admit I didn't know how to do it. You see, the Malfoys are a proud bunch."
"Yeah," said Aileen, looking thoughtful. She clutched her weasel plushie tightly in her lap and Draco could almost swear it was grinning smugly at him. Bloody Weasley. Then Aileen suddenly seemed to come up with a solution, as she exclaimed, "Hey, I know. I could help you! Mummy didn't say you couldn't get help from elsewhere or from others, right?"
"No," Draco said slowly and then his familiar Malfoy grin spread across his face. "And as I said, she can't be upset about something she doesn't know."
"Yep!" Aileen said cheerfully, pulling the drawer manual closer to her. She turned it right side up and then, turning to look at her father, asked, "Malfoy & Malfoy Company ready to start construction?"
"Yes, ma'am," Draco said with a grin and Aileen grinned back. "Well, let's get to work then!" she said and grabbed a screwdriver from the ground. "Mum's going to have a drawer like she's never seen before, indeed."
****
About two hours later, they finally had a drawer ready. A shaky, slightly wonky and uneven drawer, but a drawer, nonetheless. It stood in the middle of the living room like some special attraction and Draco and Aileen looked at it with their heads tilted.
"Well, at least it'll stay up," said Aileen, screwdriver and weasel both in her hands. Draco hummed and said, "Aileen, the Malfoys are not a modest lot. We do everything with our heads held high and with pride. Well, for the most part anyway, I'm not proud of what happened during the War. However, mum should be proud..." His sentence was interrupted, however, for then from the hallway came the sound of someone coming in and asking in a familiar voice: "Mum should be proud of what?"
"Mummy!" Aileen cried then, and ran straight into her mother's arms. She captured her in a tight hug and said with a laugh, "Hey, peanut! Did you have fun with Daddy?"
"Yeah!" Aileen said, smiling broadly, and Hermione smiled back. Then she straightened her back and walked over to Draco with Aileen in her arms. "Hey honey, I hope she didn't completely tire you out," she said to him and gave him a kiss. Draco, however, just smirked in a way that made Hermione's heart skip a beat, and wrapped his arms around both of his ladies. "Not at all, love, we had a very nice time. How was work?"
"The same, Smith still hasn't found that lost memo and Avery is still complaining about how he didn't get that raise. But you know how that can be. You sure you don't want to go back to work soon?"
"Nah, I'm enjoying being a housewife," Draco said, leaning closer to Hermione. He pressed a kiss to her lips and Hermione returned it, or at least she would have if a slightly irritated voice outside of them hadn't decided to voice her opinion on the matter just then, "Eww, gross. I'm still here, if you don’t remember."
"Oops, sorry peanut," Hermione said and Aileen glared at both of her parents. But then she decided to forget about it and instead landed off Hermione's lap. "Look, Mummy, what Daddy and I did today," she said instead, taking her mother's hand. She started to pull her towards the living room and Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"I hope it's nothing I need to worry about," she said, looking at Draco. He raised his own eyebrows at her in response and said in an innocent voice, "And what was that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing, I just haven't quite forgotten the time you and Aileen decided to decorate the whole living room with green sequins and silver glitter. It took forever to get them off, even with magic, and I swear that glitter is still on the ceiling."
"Come on, it was just one time," Draco said, sighing dramatically. "Besides, you have to admit, the silver, sparkly ceiling was nice." He smirked mischievously at Hermione and she finally sighed and rolled her eyes at her husband. "Slytherins," she muttered softly, but Draco saw her mouth twist into a small smile despite everything.
"So, what did you have to show me?" she then said, looking at Aileen and Draco in turn. Aileen smiled broadly in response and said, "This! Look mummy, isn't it beautiful!" She pulled Hermione into the living room and presented the drawer in the middle of the living room, spreading her arms wide in its direction.
Hermione stared at the drawer for a long moment before finally turning to look at Draco and asking, "Draco, did you put that together yourself?" Draco nodded in response and said: "Yep, all by myself and without a wand. I told you I can do things without magic." He looked at Hermione as she stared at him and then finally said, "So, I guess I won the bet, huh?"
"Oh, you did," Hermione said, but she smiled broadly. "Come here." She stepped back over to Draco and wrapped her arms around him. "And I think I know the perfect prize for you..."
"Mmm, and what would that be?" Draco asked, whispering it in Hermione's ear and wrapping his arms around her waist. Hermione, however, raised her eyebrows in a teasing manner and whispered back, "You'll have to find out for yourself, Mr. muggle."
"How could you, if I didn't know better I might think you were Slytherin," Draco said back with a smirk and then pressed his lips against Hermione's. Hermione returned the kiss and for a moment it was just the two of them, until a disgusted voice seemed to come from somewhere far away, saying, "You two really are gross. If I've been traumatised by this, I expect you to pay for my therapy."
"See, Slytherin indeed," Draco said with a grin at that and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up," she said, but Draco knew she didn't really mean it. He was about to say something witty then, but then there was a crack from the living room that made them all turn around quickly to see what had caused the disturbance. Draco had all sorts of terrifying images running through his mind, from Death Eaters to dragons, but he was relieved to find that there was nothing of the sort.
There were no Death Eaters or dragons in the living room, just a single drawer, again lying in pieces on the floor. It had fallen apart in its own time and now they were all staring at it. For a moment there was complete silence, until Hermione finally opened her mouth and said, "Well, I guess you'll have to wait a little longer for your prize. Because it looks to me like the bet was a draw." And having said that, she flicked her wand at the drawer and in one flick the drawer had repaired itself and now stood even more intact in the middle of the living room.
And having done so, she strode into the kitchen, grinning to herself, saying, "I just remembered there's ice cream in the freezer. Does anyone want to..."
"Me!" Aileen shouted before Hermione could finish her sentence and rushed into the kitchen after her mother. Draco instead remained in the living room, standing and staring at the drawer Hermione had refurbished. Finally, he pulled his eyes away from it and said, "Actually, I would like to have an ice cream, too." And having said that, he followed his wife and daughter into the kitchen, leaving the drawer in the living room to its own worth.