The Apple of My Eye

Summary: Diego is Hermione's son. He doesn't have a father. While playing at the park, he meets a very nice man called Draco. Hermione is unaware of her son's new friend. Then one day, she spies him sitting on the lap of a man she never wanted to see again.

Disclaimer: It's surprising I know, but I don't own anything.

Chapter 1: A New Friend

Diego sat in the sand pit and drove his toy truck over the mound he had created. "Brum, brum," he muttered. He looked over to the other side of the pit. Another little boy his age was building a sand castle. Gathering all the courage in his little five year old body, Diego walked over to the boy, his truck clutched by his side.

"Hi," he said nervously.

The other boy looked up. "Hello."

Diego looked at the ground. He opened his mouth but no sound came out.

The other boy smiled. "Do you wanna play with me?"

Smiling nervously, Diego sat down beside him. "My name's Diego. What's yours?"

"Jack. But my mummy's French so when she says my name it sounds like Jaques," Jack said pulling a face.

Diego giggled. He liked Jack. He was funny.

Jack started talking again. "Okay, you can help me with my castle. But I'm the boss, so you have to follow my orders."

Diego frowned. "But I want to be the boss too. Can't we both be the boss?"

"NO!" Jack shouted. "I'm the boss because I said it first!"

"I don't want to play with you anymore," Diego said.

"No," Jack said more softly. "I'm sorry, okay? How about we play tag instead?" He gave Diego a smile to show that he was genuinely sorry.

Diego just smiled in response.

Before he knew what was happening, he was shoved roughly. "You're it!" Jack yelled.

"Hey, no fair," Diego said. But Jack was already running ahead. He quickly put his truck in his pocket and raced after him.

Jack wasn't very fast and Diego started catching up to him quickly. He stretched his hand out. He couldn't quite reach. He urged his legs to go just a bit faster. Closer now. Finally, he was able to firmly place his hand on Jack's shoulder.

They both stopped for a second.

"My turn," Jack said.

Before Jack could move his legs, Diego was off. He raced around a tree, past the sand pit and by the girls playing with their Barbies. He glanced behind him and couldn't see Jack anywhere. He stopped.

"Jack!" he called. "Jack!"

Suddenly, Jack appeared from behind a tree. He had one hand behind his back. His eyed glinted evilly.

"Jack!" Diego called in relief. "Where did you go?"

"I'm tired," said Jack. "I want to sit down."

He walked towards Diego. Diego felt scared all of a sudden.

Suddenly, Jack threw something at him. Instinctively, he raised his arms in front of his face, but it didn't stop the sand from hitting him and going into his eyes.

He screamed in pain. Through his blurry vision, he saw a figure which he thought was Jack running out of the park and down the street. He continued howling. The pain was unbearable.

The girls playing with their Barbies stopped pouring out their pretend tea and looked over at the wailing boy. They didn't know what to do. They wanted to comfort him because he was in pain, but they didn't want to get cooties either. So, just to be safe, they resumed their little Barbie tea party.

Diego dropped to the ground with his hands over his eyes. He didn't know what to do.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he heard a strong male voice say.

Without looking up, he just sobbed. "I've got, sob, sand, sob, in my eyes!"

Two strong hands pulled him up and carried him into the public toilets. He felt water being splashed onto his face. He then heard the man say something he didn't understand. It didn't sound English. Suddenly, the pain disappeared. He tried to open his eyes. It felt liked he had never had sand in his eyes.

He stood on his tippy-toes and peered into the mirror above the sink. His eyes weren't even red. He then noticed the man standing behind him.

He turned around slowly. "Th-thanks," he said soflty.

The man flashed him a smile. "No problem, kid."

The man was very good-looking. He had blonde hair and grey eyes. Diego especially liked his clothes. They were all black – black pants and a black shirt. He thought he looked like a hero.

"What happened to you?" the man asked.

Diego told him about Jack and how they were playing, but Jack was being really mean. He liked the way the man nodded and frowned in all the right places.

The man spoke again. "Do want to get some ice cream? I'll buy it for you."

Diego looked up at the man with wide eyes. "Can I get any flavour I want?"

"Any flavour you want," the man confirmed.

"Can I get a double scoop?"

"Sure."

Diego thought about it. His mummy had told him never to trust strangers. She had given him many examples of how little kids had been kidnapped by strangers who were nice to them. But the ice cream stand was right next to the park. There were heaps of people. If the man tried anything mean, he could always yell. He was good at yelling.

"You got yourself a deal mister," he said finally.

The man smiled at the boys answer. Cute kid, he thought.

The two walked side-by-side as they strolled through the large park.

"So, what's your name?" the man asked.

"Diego."

"Do you have a last name?"

"Yeah, but I don't know who you are, so I'm not telling."

This made the man chuckle. He really liked this kid.

"What's your name?" Diego asked.

"Draco."

Diego frowned. "That's a weird name."

Draco tried not to be offended. He quite liked his name.

"But I like it," the kid went on to say.

"Diego's a pretty strange name too you know, but it's nice," Draco said back.

"I know," was the answer. "My mummy said that Diego was one of the best names in the world." Diego smiled proudly.

"Do you know what your name means?" Draco asked.

"Yep! It's Spanish and it means 'the supplanter'. My mummy told me," the little boy beamed.

Draco was impressed.

"What does Draco mean?" Diego asked.

"Draco is Latin for dragon."

"What's Latin?"

"Uh, nobody really speaks Latin anymore, but um, a long time ago, in the country of Italy…"

"Oh! I know Italy! Mummy said that we went on holiday there when I was three!"

"Yeah…okay. Well, Hundreds of years ago, the people of Italy spoke a language called Latin…" Draco trailed off. He didn't know how to explain such things to really little kids. He had no idea if Diego had even understood any of that.

He felt a hand tugging his sleeve. He looked down and saw Diego trying to get his attention. "Excuse me Draco," he was saying. "But we've reached the ice cream place."

Draco looked up and blinked. "So we have," he muttered to himself. Then to Diego he said; "What flavours do you want?"

Diego looked at the board and squinted. He tugged again on Draco's sleeve. "Does the third one say rainbow?" he asked.

Draco stared at the child in surprise. "You can read?"

Diego looked at him like he was stupid. "I am five, you know," he said.

"Right, right," Draco mumbled. "Uh, the third one does say rainbow. What other flavour do you want?"

"I want the peppermint choc chip."

Draco bought their ice creams and together they walked back into the park and looked for a bench to sit. They found a picnic table near the pond and sat down.

It suddenly occurred to Draco that the child was alone.

"Diego, where are your parents?"

"My mummy's at home doing some grown-up stuff."

"So where's your dad?"

Diego looked down. "I don't have a dad."

"Don't be silly. Everyone's got a…oh," Draco suddenly realised what the boy was talking about. "I'm really sorry. How did he die?"

"He's not dead, silly. He's just, not here. I've never met him."

"Oh, sorry," Draco felt stupid.

"That's okay." Diego just smiled and continued licking his ice cream.

Draco ignored his own cone and stared at the boy. How could a five year old be so mature? It amazed him. Draco wasn't very fond of his own father, but he couldn't imagine growing up without a male in the family. But this little boy looked so content slurping away at his cone and swinging his legs while looking at the ducks on the pond.

He felt a strange feeling course through his body. He struggled to identify it as affection. He smirked to himself. What would people say if they knew that Draco Malfoy was feeling affectionate? And that too, to a little boy he barely knew.

He looked again at the boy. Diego was cute with white-blonde hair, just like his own, that fell lightly into his eyes. His eyes were a warm brown. Draco predicted that he was going to be a really heartbreaker in his teen years. Just like me, he thought, a smile brightening up his face. He wondered if Diego was a wizard. He couldn't ask him in case he wasn't. It would just frighten him.

"Hey, do you want to feed the ducks?" he asked instead.

The child brightened up at this. "Could we really?" he asked excitedly.

"Sure, we'll just go buy some bread first."

Diego stopped him. "No, you've spent enough money on the ice creams already…"

"Look kid," Draco interrupted, "don't worry about money, I've got heaps."

"That's okay," Diego continued, "but instead of you buying the bread, I can quickly run home and get some of ours. We've got heaps."

"How far away is your house?" Draco asked.

"Just up the road."

"What if your mother doesn't allow you to take the bread?"

"Then you can buy the bread." Without waiting for a reply, he ran off.

Draco sighed and sat back down. There was something about this kid. Something made Draco want to spend time with him. He wondered who Diego's mother was. Whoever she was, she was obviously a very good one.

Diego raced up the front steps and banged on the door. He hoped Draco hadn't left. He was really nice. He banged the door again. Where was she?

"Mummy!" he shouted.

"Coming!" he heard her reply.

Finally, the door opened. Hermione looked down at her son. "Finished playing in the park?"

Diego pushed past her. "No. I made a new friend. We're going to feed the ducks, so can I take some bread?"

"Sure." She walked into the kitchen and pulled out half a loaf of bread. "Here you go." She handed the bag to Diego.

"Thanks mummy," he said and made towards the door.

"So who's your new friend?" she asked. But Diego was already running along the footpath to the park.

Hermione leaned in the doorway and watched him. He was such a good child. He did what he was told and he was very smart for his age. Like me. He was also very charming. Just like his father.

His father.

Hermione knew that as Diego got older, he would demand to know who his father was. That's when she would be in trouble.

Diego raced back to the park as fast as he could. He prayed that Draco hadn't left yet. As he approached the pond, he saw that Draco was still sitting there. He sighed in relief.

Draco looked up as he saw Diego approaching. He smiled. He didn't know why. The sight of the child just made him look happy.

"Here it is," Diego panted, out of breath from running so fast.

Together, the two of them fed the ducks, talking and laughing. Both content with just each others presence. Somewhere, amongst their bantering, Diego's hand found itself in Draco's.

They were interrupted an hour later when Draco's mobile rang. Excusing himself, Draco took the call.

Diego watched him while he talked. He looked very different. He didn't look so friendly anymore. He looked like he meant business. He really liked Draco a lot.

When Draco came back, his face was apologetic. "Sorry, kid, but I've gotta go now."

"Why?"

"Well, something came up at work and they need me there to help urgently."

Diego's face fell. "Oh."

Draco knelt down beside him. "Hey cheer up. We had fun right?"

Diego nodded.

"Well, that's what counts. I'm really glad I met you Diego." He stood.

"Wait. Can I see you again?"

Draco was surprised. Did the kid really like him that much? "Sure. I'd love to."

Diego's face lit up. "Can I see you tomorrow?"

Draco thought. He two meetings tomorrow. But he was free in the afternoon.

"How about I meet you right here at four o'clock?"

"It's a deal!" Diego looked so delighted Draco couldn't help but grin himself.

"Seeya kid," patting him on the head, Draco turned and walked away.

Diego watched Draco's back. He wished he could have a dad like Draco.

Sighing, he turned back to the ducks and threw the rest of the bread into the water before making his way home.

That night, as Diego fell asleep, his dreams were filled with images of Draco, his mother and himself having a picnic on the beach.