"You're seriously going on a date?" Draco asks me over the phone as I am standing outside the Burrow waiting for Molly to come to the door. Draco has been nagging me ever since I agreed to go on this date with Oliver. "You're going to leave Stella with someone else while you go off gallivanting with some old flame?"
"Oliver is not an old flame, first of all," I say with a roll of my eyes. "Second of all, she will be in excellent care with my Aunt Molly. She will even have a playmate because Molly said that she will be babysitting Teddy as well. So I know that Stella will be in good hands tonight."
"Come on, Al," he pleads. "Wood is bad news. Something about him seemed really off when he came to meet you."
"Relax Draco, if you are that worried about her, take off work and you watch her," I say finally as Molly opens the door and takes Stella and her baby bag. I silently mouth, 'Thank you' and she closes the door. "Now I have to go. I will talk to you tonight. Bye Draco."
"You look lovely," Oliver says to me as I approach him at the restaurant.
"Thank you," I say, blushing and giggling slightly. The host leads us to our secluded table for two and brings us each a glass of butterbeer.
After dinner, Oliver took me to a Muggle theatre with a movie playing. I had seen movies before, having been friends with Hermione, but never had I seen one on such big a screen. After the movie was over we went for a walk in a park and just spent good time with each other.
After the date, which was lovely I might add, Oliver and I are stood in front of the doors to my house.
"I had a wonderful time," I say, smiling up at him. He grins and kisses me. I continue to kiss him until the door opens and Draco clears his throat.
"Are you aware of what time it is, Allison?" he asked expectantly. I roll my eyes and kiss Oliver goodbye before walking past Draco and hanging up my jacket. "It is Half Two in the morning!"
"I'm aware, Draco," I say, not worried about waking Stella. She was spending the night at the Burrow since both Draco and I would be coming home late. "I'm not a child."
"No, but you are a parent now," he argues. "You can't just be coming home from dates late all the time. It's irresponsible."
"Don't come at me with that, Draco!" I shout. "Just because I'm not what you would describe as responsible does not make me a bad parent. I love Stella! Just because you were ready to be a dad does not mean that you can turn this around on me and say I'm a bad mum. I was not ready to be a parent, Draco! You were!"
"Not without my best friend to help me out, Allison!" he yells. The vein in his forehead is bulging and his ears are turning red so I know I have made him angry. "I was ready to be a dad with someone I loved! I was ready to become a dad with my best friend by my side so that he could help me out when I had questions! Daphne and Blaise always knew what to do! So no, Allison, I was not ready to be the dad of my best friends' baby without them."
"They were my best friends too, Draco," I say softly. I begin to feel a surge of guilt for yelling at him. "I just don't know how to be a parent."
"That's why they chose both of us," he says quietly, grabbing my hands. "They chose us so that we could help each other because I think they knew that the only way we could get through this was with each other and with Stella."
"I wasn't ready for them to be gone, Draco," I cry, leaning into his shoulder. He wraps his arms around me protectively and cries along with me.
That is the closest I have ever felt to Draco Malfoy.
