Draco Malfoy pulled along his little princess, Sadie, to her first dance class. He knew his daughter would love it as much as he had when he was young.
"Daddy, did you used to go to the same place for your dance class?" Sadie asked.
"Yes, and I enjoyed it very much. I know you'll love it just as much as I did, my little princess." Draco smiled warmly at his daughter.
"Is Aunty Hillary going to teach me, too? Like she did for at home last time she came?" she asked hopefully.
"No, I'm afraid not, princess. Aunty Hillary had to move to Sweden with her husband, so there will be a new dance teacher. Aunty Hillary said that this new dance teacher is very nice and very good at dancing, just like her. Aunty Hillary knew her for a long time." Draco said.
"Oh, I can't wait, daddy! Are we there yet?" Sadie asked excitedly.
"Yes, we are. Come on, let's get inside." Draco led his daughter inside Hillary's Dance Academy.
"Alright class, get into your ballet shoes." A familiar voice instructed the young children.
"Ahem." Draco said, trying to draw the teacher's attention. She turned around to see who it was.
She was surprised. Draco Malfoy? What was he doing here? She thought. Then, she noticed a hint of blonde behind his tall figure. She walked towards them and crouched to the level of the little girl, Draco Malfoy completely forgotten.
"Hello. I'm Hermione. What's your name?" Hermione held out her hand for the little girl to take. Sadie took it hesitantly.
"Sadie." She said quietly. She had been excited about her first dance lessons, but she was still not good when it came to meeting new people.
"Hi, Sadie. Is this your first day for dance class?" Hermione asked. The girl nodded. "Well, come on then. We'll be doing ballet today. Do you have your ballet shoes?" the girl nodded again, taking Hermione's offered hand.
"Are you going to be okay, Sade?" Draco asked. She responded with a tight embrace. "That's my girl. You have fun now. I'll see you at 3 o'clock. Okay?" Draco said.
"Okay, daddy. Bye." She called her dad to kneel down. When he did, she gave him a peck on the cheek. Draco returned it and hugged his princess for one last time before exiting the building.
"Come on, honey. Get into your shoes and then we can get started. Okay?" Hermione smiled sweetly, and went to the front of the classroom.
Noticing everyone ready to get on with class, Hermione cleared her throat and begun. "Alright. As you all know, we'll be doing ballet today. So, can anyone tell me what is or how to do a plie?" Hermione asked. None of the children raised their hands, except one. "Yes, Sadie. Can you show the class how to do a plie?" she asked.
Sadie got into the first position. She placed her legs together, her toes pointing outwards to the sides. She bent down, her knees to the sides and her arms out in a circle. She then came back up to her first position.
Hermione smiled. "Yes, very good, Sadie." She turned to the rest of the class. "Everybody, do the same. Put your feet together, with toes pointing outwards to the sides, your arms should be in front of you, forming a circle. When you've got into that position, bend down slowly until you make a rough circle with your legs. Then come back up. Continue doing this. Alright, you can all start now." Hermione instructed.
The young children begun their attempts of the plie and it seemed to be working out very well for most of the class, some were still struggling, but Hermione could see that Sadie was helping them out. She saw that a small boy, whose name was, if she remembered right, Jason, struggling to form a circle with his legs.
"Hey." Sadie whispered. The boy turned his attention to her. "Look, do it like this. And do it slowly." She showed him and the boy copied exactly what she did. Finally, he was able to do a good plie. She could become a teacher one day, Hermione thought.
She went back to the front of the classroom once again. "Well done, little ones. That was great. Now, we're going to get on our tip toes and try to walk around the room. Can all of you do that?" Hermione said. The class got to it straight away. Hermione noticed again, Sadie was having no trouble at all with this instruction. In her opinion, Sadie didn't need this dance class at all. She was already good.
Draco looked at the clock on the wall in his room. It was 2:55pm. He should get ready to pick up his daughter. He put his jacket on and headed outside so that he could apparate to Diagon Alley.
He was quite surprised to see that the new dance teacher that his cousin Hillary was talking about was Hermione Granger, but he guessed he could see why she was given the job. She was an amazing dancer. He remembered the day of the Yule Ball. They had dance the jive together and she was really good.
That was also the day when he had begun to have second thoughts about that bookworm, know-it-all. There was more to her than people believed. She had caused his heart to thump out of his chest. He could remember the sweet rose perfume she had worn that day.
That day was the day when he, Draco Malfoy, realised that he might certainly have fallen for Hermione granger, but he could never confess to her since she already had someone, Ronald Weasley, that good for nothing idiot she had fallen in love with since third year.
He knew he didn't deserve her, she couldn't be his and he knew that, after all that he did to her at Hogwarts, she would never forgive him for all that, though it wasn't his fault. He would never had insulted Hermione so much if it hadn't been for his father, convincing him that only Purebloods were superior, and that the muggleborn should be treated as dirt. He hated his father for ruining not only his life, but also his mother's. He would never forgive him for what he had done to them. But now, Lucius was in Azkaban for good, and he and his mother could finally have their freedom from his dictatorship. Draco and Narcissa never had believed in his Pureblood beliefs, they had to or they feared he would harm them again, but now, that was all over.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice that he had reached his destination, until he slammed into the door of the classroom his daughter was in. He stumbled back and rubbed his temple, before entering the room.
He heard laughter echoing in the room and looked up to see that the entire class was laughing at his little stumble, even Hermione. He couldn't help but smile himself. Her laughter was so infectious for him. Then, he started to chuckle.
When they finally stopped, Hermione spoke up. "That will be all, class. I hope you have all had as much fun as I did." Hermione smiled at the little ones. The class scattered and started to change into their normal shoes.
Sadie ran up to her father's arms, who lifted her up and kissed her cheek. "You had fun, my princess?" Draco asked.
"Yes, daddy! It was really fun! Ms. Hermione is very nice, too!" she beamed.
"I'm glad you liked it, sweetie." Hermione said as she came up to them. "You must tell me where you learnt how to do the plie."
"Aunty Hillary thought it to me." Sadie said with pride.
"Oh, that explains it all. You must be her niece. She talks about you a lot to me." Hermione said.
"Really? What did she say?" Sadie asked eager to know.
"She told me that you loved sweets." Hermione pulled put a sweet from behind Sadie's ear and gave it to her. Sadie was in astonishment and took the sweet Hermione offered to her.
"How did you do that?!" Sadie asked.
"Magic." Hermione simple said. She turned to Draco, who seemed to be staring at her. She looked away, blushing. Then, making sure the redness on her cheeks had subsided, she spoke. "She's a very talented girl. And to be honest, I don't think she needs this class. She looks like she knows it all, considering that Hillary had taught her." Hermione complimented.
"Hillary only thought her the basics of a few dance styles, but thank you." Draco said.
"Oh, aright then. I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow. We'll be doing tap dancing. She will need her tap shoes tomorrow. Make sure you bring them." Hermione said.
"I will. Thank you. And um...sorry." Draco added.
"For what?" Hermione asked confused.
"For all those years at Hogwarts. I was so cruel to you, with the name calling and other insults. I never meant to do all those things to you." Draco said truthfully.
Hermione was surprised, but she understood why he had acted the way that he had. "It's fine, Draco. It was not your fault, you were forced to follow those beliefs, you hadn't done those things voluntarily." Hermione assured.
"But I could have stopped it. I could have, but I didn't, and I'm sorry for that." Draco insisted.
"Really, it's okay. If you had tried to stop this, your father would have gotten angry with you and might have hurt you and-" Hermione stopped. Maybe she shouldn't have said that about his father. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way." She apologised.
"No...You're right. He would have hurt me, and...He did..." Draco said quietly.
Hermione placed her hand on her mouth, shocked to hear that his father would hit his own son. "If I ever did something wrong, he would beat me with his cane, until he believed it to be enough." Draco confessed. Sadie hugged her dad, letting tiny tears fall on her cheeks. Draco hugged her back, and stroked her hair to calm her down.
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Hermione said.
"Don't be." He shook his head. "Well, we should be heading home now. Mother's probably wondering why we're taking so long. I'll um see you tomorrow." Draco nodded curtly.
"Bye, bye sweetie." Hermione said and kissed her on the cheek. Sadie smiled with her tears still filled with tears. Hermione wiped her tears away. "Don't cry, darling. It's alright now." Hermione assured. Sadie nodded and kissed Hermione back on her cheek. She waved goodbye to Hermione as Draco took her away. Draco looked back once and smiled genuinely. A smile that said, 'thank you for understanding'. Hermione smiled back and watched as they left through the door.
The other parent then started to flood in, taking their children and left. Soon, the dance room was empty, with only Hermione inside. Hermione gathered her belongings and left the building, after locking the door securely behind her.
"She's pretty." Sadie said, out of the blue.
"Who, princess?" Draco asked.
"Ms. Hermione." Sadie said. Draco smiled. He couldn't argue with that. She was beautiful.
"Daddy?" Sadie's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"Do you like her?" she asked.
"Um...yes, princess. I do." Draco admitted. He couldn't really lie to his daughter, she knew him to well, and she could detect a lie from him a mile away. He was surprised that she could tell that he liked Hermione, though.
"Then ask her out on a date! What are you waiting for?" Sadie cried.
"But, darling, I think she has a husband." Draco sighed, believing that Hermione had gotten married to the weasel.
"Oh." And she left it at that. She was disappointed to hear that. She had really thought that her dad could finally be happy after her mother abandoned them for someone else.
Wait. He said that he thinks Ms. Hermione has a husband. She might not. Sadie smirked inwardly. She couldn't wait to get started on her matchmaking.
