Author's Note: WOW! Thank you all so much for your amazing support for Moon Shines Red. I am truly sorry it's taken so long to get this next story up and running. To everyone who favorited the story, me as an author, and followed to be notified when this story came out, it really means the world to me. If there is anything I learned from MSR though it's to not rush things and let them come naturally. So without further ado…here is Taking Chances.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Feeling the breeze caress his face while he relaxed on the deck of his boat felt incredible. It was the same feeling he got while flying, the carefree way he flew in and out of the clouds, sailing was a lot like that. He had been on the coast for a few weeks now searching for Hermione, Blaise and the child. He had been traveling all over Italy for a little over a year since he had received the picture of Blaise and the news that the investigator had found them. He and Harry had been in agreement that they were probably on the move again so he hadn't gone straight to the place where they had been found. After a while that proved to not be working so finally he had decided to go to the very place they had been spotted.

Ravello was a small city on the Amalfi Coast and the more time Draco spent there the more he understood what would draw Hermione to the beautiful place. It seemed perfect for her. He made his way back to the dock and grabbed lunch from a little café. This had been his routine for the past few days, spend the mornings on his boat then head into the town for lunch and to resume his search. He had used glamour to disguise his appearance knowing that if Hermione caught wind that a man with pale blonde hair was looking for her, a shade of hair not common to Italy, she would run. That is if they were even still here.

He sat down on a bench in a park and began eating his lunch. He watched as the kids played in the little playground and he found himself searching for a child that looked anything like Blaise or Hermione. It had been almost six years since they had left. He couldn't even believe it had been that long since he last saw her face. When he had first set out on this search after receiving the news he had been so angry, so upset with her, and even more so with Blaise. He had had more than enough time to cool off since then, but there was still the sting of the very painful betrayal there every time he thought of them running off together.

He thought about how much pain he had put Hermione through all those years ago, how betrayed she must have felt. Sometimes he felt like he didn't really have a right to be hunting them down. But then his spoiled pureblood side would take over and whisper in his ear of how it wasn't fair for them to get to live their lives in secrecy when he was living his out in the open for all of the Wizarding Community to see; that side of him vowed to bring them home and make them face everyone and face the consequences of what they had done.

"Hermione!" Blaise yelled across the house.

"In the kitchen!" She yelled back. He walked in to find her busying herself over the stove with what appeared to be homemade pasta sauce.

"I don't understand why you don't just use your wand." He drawled, sitting down in a chair at the table. Hermione smiled at him.

"Because doing it this way is relaxing and it gives me something to do. How did your date go last night?" She asked as she slowly stirred the red sauce in the pot. Blaise grinned.

"It went fantastic! Carmella really is amazing, Italian witches are where it's at Hermione I'm telling you." Hermione turned towards him and gave a small laugh.

"I don't think Italian witches are my type. I have my hands full with my very own little witch and she is proving to be quite the handful. By the way are you still able to pick her up from school and take her to her ballet lessons?"

"Of course I can Hermione. Just like I always do every Wednesday since you enrolled her. Besides she has her auditions coming up for their recital and she likes to practice in the park after school before her lessons. She's going to get the part I just know it. As for her being a handful it comes from her Father, although her Mother was a handful when she was younger as well, as I recall." Blaise smirked at her. He watched as her eyes glazed over at the mention of his Niece's Father.

It had been over a year since the investigator had snapped his picture. They had been sure that Draco would have come running right away but instead it had been eerily quite. Hermione had been walking on eggshells for months after it had happened but she was slowly letting her guard down as her daughter grew older and demanded more attention from them.

"The sauce Hermione." Blaise said quietly. She snapped out of it and went back to stirring it before lowering the heat and placing the lid on the large pot. She turned and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"You know I appreciate you so much." She said, looking at him sadly. He smiled at her and stood, walking over to her and placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I know you do. Now, I'm off to the market before I pick up the little ballerina. We will see you later."

"It's impolite to stare." A little voice shook Draco out of his thoughts. He was still sitting on the bench in the park. He shook his head and realized he must have been daydreaming and zoned out. There was a little girl standing in front of him, brown eyes and dark hair with little freckles on her nose, who looked to be about 8 or 9. She waved her hands in front of him again. He smirked at her.

"Didn't your parents teach you to not talk to strangers?" He asked her. He looked around to see if there were any angry parents making their way towards them. The little girl shook her head at him, her straight hair flying into her eyes, and she bounced towards the bench and sat beside him staring at him. Draco just stared back unsure of how to proceed. Sure he had been around Harry and Ron's kids but those were kids he had known their whole lives.

"What we're you thinking about?" The little girl asked him.

"I don't see how that's any of your business little girl. Now run along, don't you have parents who will be looking for you?"

"My Uncle is going to pick me up for ballet class soon." She said, hopping back off the bench. She started to twirl in front of Draco and practice her ballet moves.

"You talk funny Mister. Are you visiting?"

"You could say that." Draco replied while running a hand through his hair. Why wouldn't this little girl just leave him alone? Better yet why was he still sitting here? He stood, and the girl stopped her twirling and just looked up him.

"Are you leaving now?" She asked him. He gave her a short nod and turned to go.

"Have a good day Mister!" She said. He was astounded at how this little girl could be so friendly towards a stranger. Her parents really should teach her to be more careful.

"Er….you too. Have a good ballet lesson." He turned back around to leave but stopped quickly when the girl ran in front of him.

"I have auditions for my recital soon! My Uncle tells me I'm going to get the lead part no matter what but I want to practice so I get it for sure! We're going to be doing my Mother's favorite ballet and-" She stopped and looked around Draco.

"I have to go. It was nice meeting you Mister…" She trailed off expecting Draco to fill in his name. He laughed to himself, she reminded him of a first year Hermione.

"Malfoy…Draco Malfoy." He responded. What harm could come of telling a child his real name?

"It was nice to meet you Mr. Malfoy! I'm Clar….Clareese." With that she ran off. Draco shook his head. Children were so strange.

Hermione smiled as she watched her daughter perform flawlessly in her ballet class. She had met Blaise there after she had finished her pasta sauce and checked in at the gallery.

Over the last few years she had taken up an interest in the small art gallery that was nestled in the heart of the city. She volunteered her time and had helped put together numerous art shows that had brought more attention to the small business, Blaise and her had also made a generous donation. It was a good project for her, and it was nice to have something to keep her busy.

Blaise spent his time traveling to visit his Mother and chasing after young witches when he wasn't helping to take care of her daughter. He had been an amazing Father figure so far, but they had both agreed that they were going to be truthful and let her know right from the start that Blaise was just her Uncle.

Blaise came over to stand beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"She's the best. No doubt about it. Takes after her Mother, has to be the best at everything." He whispered to her. Hermione smiled.

"I wasn't the best at everything Blaise. I couldn't fly to save my life. Or predict anything from tea leaves."

"No one could predict anything from the tea leaves. Divination was a joke."

"Look at her though. How did I create something so perfect?" Hermione asked him. Blaise smiled and gave her a small laugh.

"No one would have ever expected any less than perfection from you." Blaise looked at her. They were interrupted with the end of the class and Hermione bent down and spread her arms wide welcoming her daughter into a big hug. She picked her up and set her on her hip.

"You were amazing! I have no doubt that you will get the part my little ballerina." She brushed her nose with the little girls.

"Uncle Blaise said there would be no doubt that I would get it. Did you finish the pasta Mom? I've been waiting for it all day! I've been practicing my glamour in the park after school. Magic is exhausting though!" Hermione laughed at her as Blaise held open the door for them to walk back to the house.

"Yes my love the pasta is all ready for you to eat as soon as we get home. And I've told you to not practice your magic unless we're at home. It's very important that we remain hidden from the Muggles, remember what I told you?" Hermione asked her. Her daughter nodded at her in understanding.

"Now tell us what you learned in school today la mia nipotina?" Blaise asked her. She started rambling off what she did for school that day as they made their way home, she decided to keep her new friend Draco Malfoy to herself, and secretly hoped that he would be at the park the next day.

Draco sat on the same bench in the same park as he had the day before. He didn't know what possessed him to come back, he should have been looking for Hermione, but he had felt drawn to the park. He had altered his appearance again with glamour but had changed a few things so he didn't look the way he had the day before. If he just so happened to run into Clareese again he wondered if she would notice that he looked different. He wondered why he really cared.

He chalked it up to being lonely and laughed at himself. Ron would get a kick out of him befriending a child because he was lonely. He wondered when he had started to think of Ron in any kind of friendly manner. But here he was, in a park waiting to see if a child was there, thinking about how Ron would make fun of him for being lonely.

"You like to zone out a lot don't you Mister Draco?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. He refocused his attention to the child in front of him. He was surprised to see that like his appearance, hers was also slightly changed. She wasn't as tall as she had been yesterday and her hair was a lighter shade of brown. So there were magical families here in Ravello.

"I practice my glamour after school in the park. It's the only form of magic my Mother says I can play around with but she doesn't like me to do it in public where the Muggles can see."

Draco just stared at her. Surely her parents wouldn't want her going around talking about magic and Muggles. She was being careless. He looked around to make sure no one else was around. He opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off.

"You changed your appearance. Not a lot but a little. You couldn't have done that unless you were a Wizard." She said matter of fact. "Is Draco Malfoy even your real name?" She asked him. He nodded at her.

"It is. I highly doubt your parents would approve of you going around talking about magic so openly though Clareese…if that is your real name." She grinned at him.

"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't." She started twirling around and practicing her ballet moves again. "My Uncle started teaching me when I was really young to recognize the signs of magic. So I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't able to recognize that you were using glamour. My Mom and Uncle use it all the time. They always say it's a game they play but I think their hiding." Draco perked up at the mention of this. He leaned forward and locked eyes with Clareese.

"What is your Mothers name?" He asked her suspiciously. The little girl smirked at him.

"I'm not telling you. I'm not telling you my Uncle's name either." She said. Her tone of voice had gone from light and bubbly to low and serious. Draco wasn't stupid, he knew he would have cajole her into telling him. But he had nothing but time so he could wait. He leaned back on the bench and took out an ice cream bar from his lunch bag. He took a second one out and handed it to her. She sat on the bench next to him and took it, changing back to the light and bubbly little girl she had been just a few moments ago.

"It's still cold!" She exclaimed. Draco laughed at her.

"I charmed it to stay cold." He stated simply. They went about eating their ice cream and making small talk until she had to leave. Draco sighed as he walked back to his boat, another afternoon wasted. But the loneliness was starting to slowly recede a little bit. He was grateful for that at least.

Hermione was inspecting a painting when a pair of little arms wrapped around her legs. She smiled and turned picking up her daughter. She nodded to the person she was with that the painting looked good to sell and to make the arrangements for it to be sent to the buyer that was interested.

"How was school today my love?" Hermione asked, rubbing noses with her.

"School was ok. Miss Maisey let me watch over Franklin, our class hamster, for the whole day! She told me she thinks he likes me the best but I have to keep it a secret. And then I was practicing ballet in the park and I met a wizard and we ate ice cream. And then Uncle Blaise picked me up and we went to see Grandma Zabini…I really hate apparating though Mom it makes me feel sick. I told Uncle next time I just wanna take the train even if it takes a lot longer. Then we came back and I picked these for you!" She rattled on and held out a bouquet of wild flowers. Hermione took them and smelled them, smiling.

"These are beautiful! Thank you. How was Grandma Zabini? And…wait a minute did you say you met a wizard in the park and had ice cream with him?"

Her daughter lowered her eyes and looked like she was contemplating what she was going to say next. She was about to celebrate her sixth birthday and it still amazed Hermione how incredibly smart she was for her age. But she had explained over and over and over again to her the importance of keeping their magic a secret. She felt like one day she was going to have to obliviate a whole lot of Muggles because her daughter just didn't seem to understand. It had been a fear of hers and Blaise's, living amongst Muggles, for this reason right here. She was going to have to talk to Blaise about it.

"Well?" She prompted.

"He was using glamour like me. I saw him yesterday too. He didn't like that I was talking about it in the open either. He says that magic has to be kept a secret to protect people like us." Hermione smiled at her daughters ability to befriend just about anyone.

"Well he's absolutely right. And you need to be more careful ok? I don't like the sound of a grown man sitting at the park two days in a row." She would definitely be having a talk with Blaise when she got home. They had put up a ward around the park so that her daughter wouldn't be able to leave without one of them. They never took into account someone coming into the park.

"Tell me a story."

Draco rolled his eyes. For the third day in a row he found himself sitting on the park bench entertaining this little girl. Today she had short red hair and green eyes. She reminded him a lot of his cousin Teddy who had gotten his Mother's Metamorphmagus genes.

"A story huh? What kind of story do you wanna hear?" He asked her.

"Show me what you look like without glamour and tell me a story about where you come from." She said. She had stopped practicing her ballet and was sitting cross legged on the grass in front of him.

"I won't drop my glamour but I can tell you a story I suppose." He paused thinking for a moment. Then a smile snuck it's way onto his face.

"Alright I got one. Once there was a little lioness cub. She was a bossy know it all who liked to read books and get herself into trouble with her little cub friends. She went to the most prestigious school for magic even though no one in her family had magical abilities, just her. In the same year as her was a cunning and sly snake. The snake came from a long line of purebloods and didn't like the lion cubs. For years the cubs ruined the snake's life. The lioness cub was always better at the snake in class and the other cubs always beat the snake at Quidditch."

"You're talking about Hogwarts and Gryffindor and Slytherin!" Clareese giggled, interrupting him. Draco smiled, what child with magic abilities didn't know about Hogwarts? He nodded at her and continued on with his story.

"One year the snake's best friend decided to befriend the lioness cub so the snake had to be around her more and more. He started to notice that she had grown into a beautiful adult lioness and he decided he wanted to be friends with her too. The snake was having a really hard time that year but all of that went away when the lioness decided she wanted to be friends with the snake as well. Eventually the snake and the lioness fell in love."

"And they lived happily ever after!" Clareese shouted throwing her hands up in the air. A sad smile crossed Draco's features and he shook his head at her.

"No little one, they didn't live happily ever after. The snake made a very bad mistake and he lost the lioness' trust. He got into a lot of trouble and by the time he was out she had left and he was never able to find her." He finished the story, looking down at his hands.

"Well that isn't a very happy story Mister Draco. My Mom has told me all about Hogwarts! She went there when she was younger! Uncle says she was a Gryffindor, a lion like in your story! And he was a Slytherin, also just like your story. That's what this necklace stands for! Mom says she got it when she was in school."

Draco had frozen listening to the girl talk. He watched as she reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace and leaned forward to show him. His breath caught in his throat as he came face to face with the necklace he had given Hermione all those Christmas' ago in the Room of Requirement. The little girl looked at him puzzled as to why he had gone quiet all of a sudden.

"Are you ok Mister Draco?" She asked him.

"If I remove my glamour will you remove yours?" He asked her in a whisper. She stood up and took a step back from him.

"Why are you being so weird?" She asked him. Draco stood earning another step back from the little girl. He let his glamour slip and when he opened his eyes to look at her again he found that she wore a look of complete shock on her face.

"Clareese will you remove yours now?" He asked her again. She shook her head at him.

"My name isn't Clareese Mister Draco…it's Clara." She let her glamour slip as she said it.

Draco's heart skipped a beat. He had told Hermione once that if he ever had a little girl he would want to name her Clara, from The Nutcracker Ballet, the same ballet that this little girl was practicing for.

When her glamour had faded away she had shrunk a couple of inches and her hair had grown long and curly and pale blonde. Her skin tone was darker than his, the same shade as Hermione's. She opened her eyes and grey met grey. He felt like his heart was in his throat. Clara looked just as shocked.

"You look just like me." She whispered. Neither of them moved and neither of them noticed another figure approaching them from the side. It wasn't until a hand found its way to Draco's shoulder that he finally snapped out of it. He looked at the person who had laid a hand on his shoulder and received another shock.

"Hello mate. I guess you finally found us."

Draco couldn't find the words. He had been waiting for this moment for six years and now that it was finally here he couldn't find anything to say.

"Uncle Blaise you have a lot of explaining to do!" Clara shouted putting her hands on her hips. Draco shook his head in disbelief, she had taken the words right out of his mouth.

Author's Note: Yay! Finally got a chapter done! Three more to go. Please review!