Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: Hola chicos. This is Kathy here. I should be doing my homework right now, but this story just kinda popped in my head. I was at first deciding to make it a oneshot, but it's actually longer than I expected. So I guess it'll just be a pretty short story. And on with the show…

The One Who Baby-sits

Chapter 1

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Twenty-five year old Hermione Granger hit the snooze button on her alarm clock.

'Urgh! Why am I so tired today? Probably because I ate so much last night at Ginny's birthday dinner. Why do I always stuff myself so much when I know…… … zzzzzz'

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! BEEP!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" She said to no one in particular as she turned off her alarm.

'It's already 9 o'clock, Hermione. Get your butt up and into the shower.'

After using all her will power not to stay in bed any longer, Hermione finally got up to get ready for the day, but decided to take a jog first to freshen her mind up.

OOOOOO

After running for about 30 minutes, Hermione decided to visit her 4-year-old niece, Emma, at her day care center since she hasn't seen her for a while. She apparated into the alley next to Mrs. Bommer's Day Care Center, but when she popped in, someone who apparently seemed to be in a rush, turned the corner and knocked the wind out of her. Before she reached the ground, she was held up by a strong male figure. She looked to see who he was, but only saw the blur of him since she was still a bit winded.

"So terribly sorr – Granger?" The unknown man said. His voice sounded awfully familiar, but she couldn't place it on anyone.

Hermione blinked a few times before she was able to see him clearly. She saw his white blond hair and pointed nose and recognized him immediately.

"Malfoy?" She was surprised to see him as well and then remembered that he nearly made her fall. "Don't you look ever when you run? You could run into some poor person and knock them over! Look what happened to me!" She lectured him.

"Hey, I caught you didn't I?" He said with a smirk. "Of course, if I knew it was you, I probably wouldn't have."

Hermione, not in the mood for a argument, said, "You're so despicable, Malfoy. What are you doing here anyway? It's muggle London."

Draco put a hand above his heart and replied, "Granger, I'm insulted. Just because I'm so above muggles you think that I would never set foot in a place where is it contaminated with them?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but Draco continued. "I'm here to pick up my son from his day care center. His babysitter had to quit on me during the busiest time of the year for my business. I had no choice, but to bring him to this mugglefest." He said with distaste in his voice.

"You have a son? Who's the lucky mom?" She said sarcastically.

"Yes, in fact, I do have a son. He turned five last month," Draco explained, as it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyway, I'm late picking him up."

He turned the other way and left, but shortly came back and sighed before asking, "I can't believe I'm so desperate as to ask you this favor, but do you think you could baby-sit Damian tomorrow? Damian is my son's name, if you haven't already realized that. I desperately need someone to watch him while I go to work and a muggleborn is better than a bunch of muggles corrupting his brain."

"Is that your way of asking someone for a favor, Malfoy?"

"I'll pay you 100 pounds an hour."

"100? Are you nuts?" She asked incredulously

"No, actually, I rather don't like to be called a peanut. Take it or leave it."

"Fine, I'll do it. What tim – "

"Come by my manor tomorrow morning at nine." And with that, he left, leaving Hermione standing there, shocked by his bluntness.

She huffed as she turned around to leave, forgetting about her niece that she was going to visit.

"What a bloody wanker! What gives him the right to boss me around like that anyway. I should not even show up tomorrow just to show him that he can't boss Hermione Jane Granger around. But then again, I could use some easy money. His son can't be that bad, right? Ugh! That Draco Malfoy irks me to no end!" She mumbled to herself.

"You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity," drawled an indifferent voice from behind her.

Hermione whipped around to see Harry leaning on the wall, amused. "I am not insane!"

"Denial is the second," Harry replied with a smile. When he only got a blank look in return, he asked, "What's wrong 'Mione?

"It's nothing, Harry. I'm just hungry; I haven't had lunch yet. Want to join me?"

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" he asked skeptically. "You only talk to yourself when you're distressed."

Hermione sighed. "I'll talk about it when we eat, but I'm telling you, it's not a big deal at all."

---

A/N: Hmm, is this chapter too short? I'm not too sure. Sigh I'll write more next time when I don't need to be working on my project. :(

Be sure to check out my other story, A Week of Chaos, that Taylor and I wrote together.

OctoberSkies.