First I want to say thanks to all of my reviewers and your nice words about my dad. He's doing okay, but won't be back home for another two weeks. Thanks again.

So this chapter switches point-of-views a lot and there is plenty of conversation to go around, but I love this chapter. I had so much fun writing it and maybe now you guys aren't in the dark about too much now, at least once you're done reading it. I originally hadn't planned it being like this, but I love how it ended up, and I can't wait for the story to continue. But until the real plot develops, read this chapter. Oh, and please R&R.

P.S. I will be updating Unwritten Words real soon. It's just undergoing some major changes and beta work. Maybe tomorrow I will post chapter two, but definitely by Sunday night.

Chapter Six
Slytherin Courage and Gryffindor Secrecy

"Blaise, I need you to do me a favor," Draco said confidently the second he walked into his business partner's office.

"Obviously it depends on what said favor is, but you can take a stab at it," Blaise replied after setting his quill down. It was nearing five o'clock and he only had one more filed request to go through before he would let himself leave to go home.

"I need you to go to my house after work and dismiss Granger for the day." He knew he couldn't do it himself, or else he would break down in front of her, something he had never done publicly before. It had almost happened when he saw her in his house earlier that morning. Therefore his best and loyal friend would have to do it. No question about it.

The dark haired Italian didn't respond straight away, but instead sat in his chair, barely swirling around in it. Draco, noticing his uneasiness, sat down in a chair across his friend's desk. "Draco, buddy," he began slowly, "you're going to have to do it sooner or later. And I'm not going to be over at your place tomorrow morning, so you might as well get it done now."

"A Malfoy doesn't beg, so I'm not going to. But blackmail is in the family handbook, you know…" he said with his commonplace smirk.

"And what exactly do you have against me? But the bigger question is who would you tell anyway?"

"I could always tell Pansy what you did on the night before the wedding. You know, at your supposedly restrained bachelor's party…"

The man in front of him looked as if he would practically blow, but not from anger. Then suddenly he started to laugh. "You dope… I thought you were supposed to be smarter than me. That so called stripper I had shagged was Pansy. You were just too shit-faced to realise that! Try again."

"I was actually saving that for when I would need it, so technically… I don't have any other chances."

"So, you do know what this means, right?"

"Screw you, Zabini," he tried to yell with malice before storming out of the office.

"No! How 'bout you screw Hermione!" Blaise made sure to yell after him. The door to the office was a hazed glass, but he clearly saw Draco freezing right on the spot after his statement. Score! Blaise – 1, Draco – 0.

XXX

Since Alyson hadn't taken a nap right after lunch like she said, she started wearing out around four in the afternoon. The poor girl had already heard the story being told of her mother plenty of times before, but with each time it got harder to hear. The words would bring sadness to the over joyous girl, and bring her hopes down. So when Hermione confronted her about eavesdropping after Blaise left, she tried consoling the poor girl.

After a few tears were shed, her energy swiftly came rushing back. After that, they wrote Aly's father the letter Hermione promised, and quickly received an answer back. So when the house owl returned, they quickly began dancing around. Only the basics of course.

"And this," Hermione had said with the heels of her feet touching back to back and legs perfectly straight, "is what ballerinas call first position."

Alyson struggled to stay balanced but after some posture techniques she quickly caught on. The older of the two continued to work through the five basic steps with the feet, and then adding the arm positions with the transitions. Hermione knew it was a bit too much to memorise in only one hour for such a young girl, but they could always go over it again the next day. And even the day after that.

Once two o'clock came around, Alyson was ready for her usual Tuesday math tutoring. It had absolutely amazed Hermione how incredibly intelligent wizarding children were. When she had been in her first year of primary school, most of the kids couldn't even count properly to twenty. And Alyson could add her numbers perfectly and even begin to do some complex subtracting like 123-95. If she remembered correctly, kids in the muggle world wouldn't get to those lessons until they were seven or eight. It just goes to show how right Ginny had been.

After her tutoring was over at three, they shared a quick snack before Aly started yawning profusely. She had fallen asleep sometime right after four while they were laying on her bedroom floor listening to the Wizard Wireless. Hermione picked up the sleeping beauty, tucked her into bed still with her princess outfit on, and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

As she was walking down the stairs to retreat to the kitchen, Hermione couldn't help but to think how much of a sweet girl Aly was, and she realised how much she was beginning to like her. Being at the Malfoy residence everyday surely wouldn't be a problem.

She gathered her books and parchment once again like she had done earlier that morning, and began working on her lessons for next year. Even though Professor Vector had been an amazing teacher with great lesson plans and complex number charts, Hermione thought it wouldn't hurt to do extra research on the properties of the number six. When she had been an apprentice for the professor straight out of Hogwarts, Hermione had come up with a few ideas while listening to the lessons from a different perspective.

She had been so worked up in studying the number charts in the fold-out from the middle of the book, that she didn't realise that it was already five and had been startled when she heard the noise of apparition behind her.

"Gods, you scared me Malfoy," she said when she jumped in her seat to see who it was. Without thinking, she turned back around and returned to her reading.

"Umm… I didn't mean to…" he replied uncertainly while taking a seat in the chair opposite of her so that he could face her. "So… How's Alyson doing?"

Hermione looked up from her book to notice the easygoing nature of his expression, and smiled. "Well, she's taking a nap right now; all of the excitement from the day wore her out." She closed her book and slipped it back into her tote bag.

"Yeah, I heard from Blaise about your game. I also heard she's quite fond of you." She bit her lip in response to his statement, but her heart started beating slightly faster as the mention of a child liking her.

"She's a great kid, Malfoy. Even at her young age she seems to be aware of real emotion. But she can also be quite the restless child at the same time," she said with a slight chuckle.

"Thanks," he responded quickly after, with no sarcasm. "Really, it means a lot to know that someone doesn't assume her to be another bratty Malfoy who always gets her way."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at him and responded jokingly, "So was that a genuine word of thanks from Draco?"

"I'm serious when it comes to Aly. By the way, how did her math tutoring go?"

"She's also very smart. But then again, look at who her father is…"

"Wow, was that an actual compliment from Granger?" he imitated. Then he suddenly got serious again. "You know, I thought it was going to be a lot harder to come in here and talk to you.'

"Well, that's something good to know," she replied.

"No, seriously."

"I know, trust me Malfoy. It was hard enough for me to actually stay once I found out it was you I would be working for. But now, I find it hard to leave because of Alyson. She said that she actually liked me, and I wouldn't do anything to hurt her." Draco smiled at her comment, and was actually beaming from within. What kind of hysteria would burst within that household if anyone found out?

"Finally! Someone who actually cares!" After that, there was an awkward silence.

"I should probably be going now, if you don't need me any longer," Hermione said while making to get up out of her seat.

"Actually," she then sat back down, "I just want to ask you something." She nodded giving him approval to go on. "Why did you accept the job without asking how much you would be getting paid?"

"Merlin, I pathetically forgot about that! Um, well I was actually just trying to find something useful to occupy my time for the next two months. I'm not too worried about the pay, but it's a bonus!" she said with no embarrassment whatsoever.

"Okay, then if you don't mind me asking, why do you have so much free time for two whole months?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm a professor at Hogwarts now, teaching Arithmancy, and this past year was my first, teaching only third and fourth years while Professor Vector still taught the fifth through seventh years. And the professors don't have too much of anything to do during the summer holidays, except for a few meetings here and there."

"Oh," Draco responded. "I always figured you would be one of those rich and snotty Ministry officials."

"Yeah," she began with a big smile, "someone once told me to go after what I loved instead of accepting the highest bidder." Draco smiled in return. "So I followed their wise advice and went with my heart."

"You're making it so much harder for me…" he said with a sort of saddened smile.

"To do what exactly?" Hermione shifted slightly in her seat, trying her best to make her eyes look into his, but her stare was adverted elsewhere like it had been throughout most of their conversation.

"To resist you…" Uncomfortable pause. "Listen, I know I probably don't have a shot in hell, but I'll go for it anyway. Would you possibly want to go out to dinner with Alyson and me? I mean, you paid for our lunches and everything and it's the least I could do."

"I dunno, Draco… It would be too weird considering everything, and you're now my boss." A soft but noticeable bang was heard just outside the kitchen, but they ignored it as Draco broke in.

"For the second time today, a Malfoy doesn't beg, but I would actually love to take you out. And don't think of me as your boss, but as your… colleague… friend. I know Alyson would love to have you come with us." She sat there in silence for a bit, thinking about it, when Alyson ran in.

"Mya, you have to come!" the little girl begged. At least one Malfoy had the courage to plead…

Hermione began to laugh lightly at her new favorite child, and quickly nodded. "Fine, I'll go. I at least owe you that."

"Goody! Can Gumpfrey come, too?" Aly asked while holding her teddy bear up high.

"Of course, sweetheart," Draco answered before giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek while picking her up to sit on his lap.

"Now you have to give Mya a kiss, Daddy!" the blonde girl exclaimed with a smile. Both of the adults' faces were inched with shock as they stared at the little girl.

"It's okay Aly, I know he cares…" Hermione responded as she felt her face burn and could easily imagine the exact shade of crimson they had turned.

XXX

"So you actually went out on a date with Granger?" Pansy Parkinson… err… Zabini asked surprised, sitting in a blonde's living room on her husband's lap.

"Well, yeah… Is that a bad thing?" Draco asked in response.

"It's about flippin' time, Draco. How long has it been, six years?" Draco then stared sternly at Blaise as if would Avada Kedavra him at any second.

"You told her!" he shrieked.

"No, she was the one who told me!" Blaise responded in defense with his hands in the air. "You remember when you had first told me and I said I already knew? Well, you never asked me exactly how I found out."

"Holy Merlin, so just about everyone knows about my own personal life?" he asked while sulking and sinking back into the armchair.

"Listen, sweetie, we just want to help you out," Pansy said comfortingly. "At least she doesn't hate you. If she still carried around the tension you two had, she would have bolted through the door when she showed up at your place. And now that you have taken the first two steps in correcting the past, everything will eventually fall into place."

"At least dinner was a success. She's just as smart as she has always been and just as witty, too. I know there is something there in here that makes us Malfoys attached to her. First me and then Alyson. I'm just glad my father wasn't or isn't around."

"Of course," Blaise and Pansy said simultaneously.

"So, are you actually going to go through with it all?" Blaise continued.

"I don't know for sure. I just don't want to get my heart stomped on yet again. Even though I finally have my chance to get back some love I was deprived of, who says she won't stomp on it again?"

XXX

"I still can't believe you went out on a date with Draco!" Ginny squealed. She was sitting with Hermione in her living room while a muggle movie was being playing unnoticed on the television set.

"Hey," Hermione said warningly, "it was not a date. He just wanted to repay me for the lunch I bought for him and Aly," she kept on as if it had been the most obvious reason in the universe.

"Quick being so naïve and trying to ignore the obvious signs! He wants you back in his life and loves it that you're getting along with his daughter. What kind of a man wouldn't want to pursue a woman who's absolutely in love with his child? Well, at least pursue again."

"Listen, it was just a fling that happened at the end of seventh year, and I'm sure we're both over it."

"Are you sure you're over it?" Ginny asked with her eyebrow cocked, and Hermione let out a long breath she was actually trying to hold in.

"No," was her quick response. "Blaise even said that I broke his heart; and of course he was talking about me, because he even pointed out that he knew about the situation."

"Okay… well… did you ever try talking to him about it and apologise for what you did?"

"No… What is this? Twenty questions?" Hermione asked. Ginny just rolled her eyes.

"Maybe now would be the best time…" Ginny said while picking up Hermione's phone then dialed Draco's number and shoved the handset to her chest.

"No…" Hermione whispered.

"Yes!"

"Hello?" said the faint voice of someone from the other line on the phone. Hermione unwillingly put the phone to her ear.

"Hi, Draco, it's Hermione," she said shyly.

"Oh, um, hi."

"Listen, I'm sorry to bug you right now, but I was actually wondering… if we could talk sometime. I mean, only if you want to."

"No, of course I want to. I mean… Yes, that's great. How about you have dinner with me on Friday night, just us two without Aly this time."

"Sounds fine with me. So, see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Bye." –click-

"So, what did he say, Hermione?" Ginny asked excitedly, bouncing in her spot on the couch, more worried about Hermione's love life instead of hers.

"He asked me out on another date… without Aly," she said, still a bit shocked. Ginny shrieked making Hermione wonder if she could actually be deaf by the time she turned twenty-six.

XXX

"Blaise, why in the bloody hell did you do that?" Draco yelled as his friend put the phone back on the hook.

"Because she wanted to have a nice long chat with you, and if it had been you on the phone, you would have chickened out. Plus, this gives you a chance to talk about the past without Aly." Blaise took his seat back on the sofa and placed Pansy back on his lap, but she plopped down so her back was on the couch's cushions.

"Exactly," Pansy said once she was situated. "I'll be glad to watch Alyson for you, I haven't stayed with her in a long time."

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, not knowing what he was uncertain of: Pansy staying in his house for hours at a time and having his best friend shag her on his couch, or taking the chance of going out on a date with his ex-girlfriend from six years ago.