After a few minutes of thinking about everything that had been going on, Hermione realized Sebastian must had been waiting for her in the store next door; when she got in, she greeted the owner and started looking for her son. After going through all the hallways of the tiny store, a new feeling arose within her: panic.
"Mr. Smith, have you seen a blond haired boy about this height?" She asked the man in charge, placing a hand barely above her waist.
"Yes, he bought some candy and left… about five minutes ago."
"Five minutes?" Not thinking twice about it, she ran to get out of the store and search for him. How could she have taken so long to go from one place to the other, and how could the boy have finished so fast?
Her questions and self-criticism finished when she found the child in front of her, carrying a bag of candy with one hand, an innocent look upon his face. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Hermione kneeled in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders, absolutely worked up,
"Where were you?" She sighed loudly. "Do you know how worried I was?"
Sebastian, surprised by Hermione's attitude, waited a moment to answer, not entirely sure of how he should react to his mother's concern. "I had something to do, I didn't think you'd mind." With each second that went by, his facial expression turned more like hers. "Did I take too long?"
"No, it's not that, Sebastian. You can't do anything without telling me first; something could have happened to you. I thought you would have met with…"
Before she could finish his phrase, the child's look changed from one of worry to one of horror, and he suddenly hugged Hermione's neck, hiding his face between her hair.
"Father is there." He whispered in her ear, as if he feared the man in the front sidewalk could hear him.
"Malfoy… I mean, you father, can't do anything to you while you are with me, Sebastian."
The child turned his head to one side to take a look at his father from that position, still with Hermione's hair working as a curtain covering his eyes.
"He looks odd." He commented.
"What's odd about his looks?" Hermione unattached herself gently from the child in order to stand up; the boy was so focused and clinging so tightly to her, he didn't react immediately.
"He looks as if grandmother had dressed him, he looks good." When he left Hermione's neck, he was quick to take her hand and stand on one side in order not to be seen by Draco. "And besides, he is with a different girl; his girlfriends usually aren't like that."
"¿Girlfriends?" Asked Hermione, suddenly curious.
Sebastian nodded his head. "They usually don't dress up like that; and they are usually as messy as he is; grandfather calls them a particular word, but grandmother doesn't allow me to repeat it."
It sure sounded like the Draco Malfoy of his time were devoted not only to alcohol; not only he was an aggressive drunk, but he also spent his time with whores? How could she ever be interested in someone like that? How could she choose him to have a child? If she had actually chosen him; if in truth, in the present, Malfoy was the same man Sebastian described. After all, how could she tell Malfoy didn't have drinking problems and frequented hookers? What she saw now could be just his exterior appearance, but during the night, far away from the eyes of the society that would judge him, maybe he carried on with a life out of control.
Although, in spite of not knowing him well enough, it was hard to believe Draco Malfoy could have a level of alcoholism and violence such as that her son described. Besides, along with his stories, the child had also said his father's appearance matched his life style, and right now that wasn't the case, his own son had said so.
"And do you see those girls often? Have you spoken to them?" It was something that worried her. How much contact had her son had with those kind of women? It was already bad enough that he could see him drunk and that he acted aggressively around him—even if his grandparents defended him, Sebastian knew what his father was capable of—but did he also have to meet his girlfriends?
"No, I know they are home but I'm not allowed to see or speak to them. I usually listen to grandfather yelling at my father to get them out of the Manor. I think they annoy him, they laugh so hard. Grandmother doesn't like them either, but she prefers not to talk about them."
"But you've seen them." Said Hermione with a hint of worry in her voice.
"Yes, I once saw father walking with one through a hall, he was very upset when he saw me…" Sebastian didn't seem to be comfortable talking about it. "But I usually see them from the balcony of my bedroom in the mornings, when they are leaving."
"It sure sounds like your father has a busy schedule." She commented with sarcasm.
"Grandfather says he wastes his life."
"Your grandfather sure knows what he says." It was probably the first time in her life Hermione could say she agreed with Lucius Malfoy; no doubt that was the oddest day of her life.
"Yes, grandmother always says that if I question him."
What was also amazing was the fact that Hermione felt strangely thankful towards Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy—at least to those of Sebastian's world—because it seemed they had taken care of him eagerly, they had raised him, taught him, defended him, maybe with methods she did not approve of, but at least they had kept Sebastian's innocence intact, despite his father's influence.
Only a few minutes later, mother and son were strolling through Diagon Alley, far away from Draco Malfoy's sight. Sebastian had an ice-cream in one hand, and Hermione's hand on the other, she, in the meantime, was calculating how many galleons she'd have after paying the school and the list of books they had given him. Education was, with no doubt, the most expensive issue when raising a child, but she had also chosen a pretty expensive institute. Anyhow, her son deserved it, and besides, it was Malfoy's money.
Ironically, just as she was imagining the face Lucius Malfoy would put on if he ever found out the expense his grandson would inflict on him, she almost had a heart attack when her son let go of her hand and run up to the same man she had been thinking of.
"Grandfather!" yelled Sebastian, running through the mass of people who thankfully didn't mind the strange scene. Hermione followed him almost immediately, but her size prevented her from having the same ease to dodge people, so, when she finally reached him, the child already was already in front of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, the last had just Apparated by Lucius side.
"Sebastian?" Asked Narcissa with interest and a touch of insecurity in her voice. Hermione had never seen her with uncertainty when speaking much less with an interested and curious gesture instead of her usual cold and derogatory one.
"Look, grandmother, my mother is just like you said." Sebastian pointed at Hermione, who was by his side, and took Narcissa's hand, who was totally unprepared and appeared to be speechless while she admired the child that looked so much like her own son. "You don't mind if I stay with her?" he asked before anyone could add anything.
The Malfoys stared at the child with interest, and in light of his question, they looked at each other, without really knowing what to do about it. Hermione, not knowing what to say or what to expect, wondered if the child was asking for permission to his grandparents to stay with her or was simply worried about their reactions towards his decision.
Lucius cleared his throat and replied: "No, of course not. But I don't think it would be fair for us to loose you completely either."
"What?" Exclaimed Hermione, astonished. Of all of the answers she had thought of, that one wasn't one of them. What was Lucius Malfoy planning? Why did he want to keep in touch with his grandson, the fruit of what to his eyes had been an impure relationship? And why was he doing her the favor of keeping Sebastian from knowing he wasn't in the right time?
"Are you surprised that after taking care of him for eight years we want to continue enjoying his company, Miss Granger?" Asked Lucius, acting his part, with his usual arrogant face and haughty manners.
"Seven years, you mean, Mr. Malfoy." She corrected him gritting her teeth. Although she was grateful to them for not saying anything out of place to the child, she couldn't avoid being suspicious.
"Seven? I thought they were more." He said making a gesture with his hand as if the mistake had no importance. "Anyway, you must agree with us, we can't just from one day to the other divest the child of his grandparents, who had raised him up until now"
"It would be most traumatic for any child." Said Narcissa, who didn't even bother to look at Hermione when she spoke. She only had eyes for Sebastian, who listened very carefully to everything the grownups said, without knowing which side to take. "He himself sent us a letter to inform us where he's staying, and to request our presence and approval; do you think it's fair to deprive him of his grandparents?"
Hermione was speechless, all she did was take a look at Sebastian with a question in her eyes, waiting for the child to agree with Narcissa, wondering how he had had the time to send them a letter in the few minutes she left him alone not long ago. The child nodded his head once, looking sort of ashamed, opting to stare at the floor while the grownups continued talking.
"No, of course it wouldn't be fair." She started saying, with much caution, choosing her words very carefully. "And I am sure we can do something sometime, despite our busy schedules."
Of course she didn't want her son to have any sort of contact with the Malfoys, even less so knowing the two elders were planning something. Truthfully, did it make any sense for them to be interested in a child whose existence—according to their beliefs—was an insult to their legacy? It would be absolutely irresponsible to allow the child to be alone with them, not alone or with her watching over him. But what explanation could she come up with to prevent them from seeing each other? Even if the Malfoy's attitude was just an act, what they said was true, it wasn't reasonable to switch the child from one environment to another from one day to the other as if nothing happened, it wasn't logical, he was far too young, and since he had been raised by them he'd surely miss them when all the emotion of being with his mother passed.
"What do you think about having dinner with us tonight, sweetheart? Your mother is invited too, of course." Narcissa asked Sebastian, showing a smile, surprising Hermione, who had never seen her smile. When Narcissa smiled, one could easily tell Sebastian was related to her. It was impressive to realize her son had the same smile as Narcissa Malfoy; that realization left her so astonished it took her a moment to realize that the woman who had to hate her deeply had invited her to have dinner that night using her son as the conduit.
"Can we go?" Asked Sebastian with a pitiful look on his face. It would be hard to say no, but she was not going to have dinner with the Malfoys. Not only was that against her principles, but also, thinking about it, it would be ridiculous and even insulting to have dinner with the Malfoys—even if it was for her son's sake—before telling her own parents what was going on, and what about Ron and Harry? They had reason enough to feel betrayed already without her meeting with her son's grandparents. And, of course, there was the fact about the father of her child to whom she would have to go to in order to get out of this.
"I don't think we can go tonight, sweetheart. We have to take advantage of all the time we have left to prepare you for Monday." She explained to him carefully, with a sweetness in her voice; then she rose her head up to talk to the Malfoys. "Besides, I don't think Malfoy Manor is the best place to meet… not with Draco's drinking problem…" she added in the same manner Narcissa did, pretending to know about the child's circumstances. Her advantage—she hoped—was that she knew more than them. And such a declaration would catch them off guard.
And just like she had guessed, the Malfoy's expression changed drastically. Lucius stared at her with incredulity and suspicion, while Narcissa was left speechless and worried. But having so much experience with cheating and lying, they wouldn't be seen like that for long.
"That's one of the many subjects we have to discuss, Miss Granger," said Lucius, pretending to clear his throat. "As well as everything concerning this child."
No doubt the Malfoys wanted information, Hermione was sure about that. It made sense for them to leave behind all of their prejudices if they could benefit from the child's knowledge, although a child that age couldn't have as much information as they would like. Come to think of it, Hermione thought, it would be useful to have the Malfoys by her side to find out about things that worried her, they might even have something in common. Lucius Malfoy himself had said so, they wanted to find out everything regarding the child's existence, but she couldn't allow her son to be the means to an end for the Malfoys, who, unlike her, only wanted him not for his own good but their own.
"Anything regarding him it's my business, Mr. Malfoy." Replied Hermione sharply, and politely at the same time.
"Yes, I know my son gave you full custody." Lucius shook his head disapproving, and exasperated, he went on. "But with the right kind of legal advise those issues could be resolve." When he said that, he showed a wicked smile and a cold stare. Hermione realized that was a threat, but she wasn't going to let him intimidate her, no she knew what her position was and which was theirs: since after the war, the Malfoys couldn't risk doing anything illegal, freedom had been very expensive for them, and despite being free, they were being watched closely by the Ministry.
"Not even the best lawyers in the world could take the custody from me."
"But what makes you think we'd do something like that? We'd never deprive the child of his mother." Said Lucius, pretending feeling insulted by Hermione's words. "A shared custody, however, does seem appropriate to me."
Hermione's heart started raging when she heard that; of course there was no way they could get full custody, but they could make Draco ask for shared custody, and with all the money they had, it wouldn't be hard for them to achieve it. Of course, that was no more than a threat, the Malfoys weren't really interested in having custody of the boy, but they were capable of starting a trial and eventually get what they wanted; and they'd get it despite her opinion.
"I don't want to go back to father, grandfather." Interjected Sebastian carefully before his mother could speak, he showed a bit of fear at his participation in the conversation, he had probably been taught he wasn't supposed to intervene in adult conversations. "Won't we get to see each other even if I live with my mother?"
"Of course we will, honey." Said Narcissa with her unique sweet voice, a voice Hermione had only heard her use for Sebastian. "But it may take us some time."
Hermione was between a rock and a hard place as Lucius Malfoy's arrogant and triumphant grin indicated. Sebastian wanted to spend time with them, and it made sense because they were his family. And one couldn't expect them to give up, they would get their way somehow. How could she avoid it?
"I am sure we can get to an agreement with no need of a mediator." said Hermione, resigned and trying to pretend to be calm, because later she'd have to explain the matter to Sebastian.
"Very well, we shall keep in contact." Lucius Malfoy smiled widely, with the same arrogant expression as before. "We'll see you soon." He winked at Sebastian, and, followed by his wife who was also saying goodbye to the child, Disapparated.
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A/N: Next chapter Ron appears! Reviews are much appreciated and make the author update faster. Thank you to Elena for betaing this chapter.