I know I wrote it, but I have an absolutely favorite line in this chapter. Curious to see if anyone can pick it out...

Chapter 4
Flourish and Blotts was across the street from Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, and that was where Draco stood when he spotted Hermione holding the hand of a little girl. The child laughed animatedly as she showed the witch a new purchase she had acquired. "Granger!" he called out as they passed him.

Using her hand to shade her eyes from the sun, Hermione turned and led the little girl back to the bookshop. "Afternoon, Malfoy," she greeted him.

The little girl by her side tugged on the bottom hem of Hermione's jacket to get her attention. "He's pretty, Mama," she stated matter of factly.

"I like her," Draco remarked, smiling at the little girl. He knelt down to her height and extended his hand. "And what's your name?"

"Kit," she replied, staring at this strange man's hand. "And I have a stuffed kitten named Kitty that my Uncle Georgie gived me."

"Would your last name happen to be Weasley?" he inquired, retracting the hand she never shook.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Draco," she said, catching his attention, "please stop interrogating my child."

Rising to his full height, he murmured an apology. "Could I buy you some ice cream to make up for it?" he offered. "I'd like to discuss the house with you."

Though she was hesitant to go anywhere with Malfoy, the thought of discussing her school was incentive enough to spend even a small part of her afternoon with him. Kit was excited when she heard ice cream, and on their stroll to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor, she and Draco discussed their favorite flavors. Together, they decided that ice cream should always contain chocolate chips, and when they entered the shop, he ordered her a small cup of chocolate chocolate chip ice cream. He turned to Hermione next and asked for her order.

"Nothing for me, thanks," she replied, turning away to find a table for three. Taking Kit's hand, she led the little girl to a table near the large front window.

"I like him, Mama," Kit declared, sitting on her legs so she could reach the table.

"He's very nice," Hermione agreed as Draco returned with a tray of ice cream.

He set a chocolate milkshake in front of Hermione and took his seat. "You have to have something," he stated, his tone as serious as if he were discussing a tragedy. "You'd just look pathetic if Kit and I were enjoying ourselves and you weren't. Besides, now that you're partaking, I can write this off as a business expense. Adrian hates when I do that."

"And you delight in making Adrian mad?" Hermione inquired, tasting the shake.

"Sometimes," was his honest reply. "I just think he worries too much about other things, so if I can get him mad at me for a couple of minutes about something dumb maybe he'll forget about some of the other stuff."

Hermione gaped as she listened to his reasoning. "This is why we need a school here," she decided. "To stop the spread of such awful logic. Couldn't you maybe, I don't know, treat him to lunch, find him a good babysitter? Something other than adding to list of worries."

"You know about Max then," he replied, pushing aside the rest of what she had said. Hermione nodded. "He's such a great kid. Sweet and funny, a bit shy when you first meet him. But really just a good kid. It's not hard to love him."

"What happened to his mummy?" Kit asked, trying her hardest to eat her ice cream and not wear it. As it was, chocolate already ringed her mouth and had begun to drip down her chin until Hermione wiped it away.

The adults exchanged a look that said neither knew how to answer that question, nor did they want to. In her defense, Hermione didn't know how to answer her daughter's question. And now, sitting in an ice cream parlor that was quickly filling with patrons, she didn't want Draco to answer it either.

"So, um, we should discuss the property," Draco said, sending Hermione a pointed look. She nodded enthusiastically, and he wondered if it was because of the subject change or her passion to open her school. "So, I take it you know by now that my family owns it."

"Adrian told me," she confirmed. "Any chance of me still getting it?"

"Absolutely," he replied. "In fact, my mother thought your idea was brilliant. Do you know how many of our former classmates have had children, and how many of them are fit to teach them anything more than the spelling of their names? Our world needs you, Hermione Granger. Am I right, Kit?"

"Can I have more?" she asked, holding her cup out to him. Draco took the cup and looked to Hermione for approval. Instead, she shook her head, and he put it back down on the table. Kit sighed disappointedly. "Please, Mama? Please, Mister..."

"Malfoy, sweetie. And no, you can't have more," Hermione replied. "So, Malfoy, why did Adrian lead me to believe it was a long shot?"

Draco shrugged and scooped a small amount of his uneaten ice cream into Kit's cup before pushing it back without Hermione seeing it. "You better than anyone understand what kind of people they are," he said. "Look, I'm not proud of the way I grew up, the things I believed in as a kid, and I'm not proud of the things my family did before and during the war. Yeah, my parents still believe in blood purity, but they aren't as fanatical about it as they once were. My mother supports your cause, and my father will go along with it because she'll tell him to."

"So, I'll get the house," Hermione confirmed.

Kit pulled on her sleeve. "You said we're not moving, Mummy," she reminded her, her blue eyes growing wider.

"That's not a bad idea," Draco chimed in. "There's a third floor. It's more of an attic, but it's spacious enough to be a flat. You and Kit would have separate rooms, there's a bathroom, and a small kitchen."

The incessant tugging on her shirt became more frantic, and Hermione had to pull away from her daughter. "Sweetie, we won't move," she promised, glaring pointedly at Draco.

He cleared his throat. "Anyhow, they want to meet with you to discuss your plans," he told her. "You know, just discuss whatever renovations you had in mind, what needs to be done with the furniture, if you want to keep any of it. That sort of stuff. It'll be painless."

Hermione laughed mirthlessly. "Right, unless you're a muggleborn walking into the home of people who hate you," she reminded him.

"I'll go with you," he offered.

She smiled. "I think I'd like that," she replied.

"it's settled then," he stated, his smile rivalling her own. "Tomorrow we'll meet with them, and then we'll get the papers signed so you can have your school."

Her smile grew until her cheeks hurt. She was one step closer to her dream.