A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Here's the next chapter. Oh and I do accept anonymous reviews now. I didn't know that I didn't, so now I do. Please review!!
Chapter 10:
It was half past seven and Draco still hadn't shown up at the house to look after Haley as he had promised. Hermione was getting worried. She told herself that she would wait another fifteen minutes before going into a full-scale panic state and start looking for Draco. She paced the living room while Haley was sitting in her playpen, happily playing with her toys. She called Ginny and asked her if she could look after Haley in case Draco didn't show, but she and Harry already had plans. She tried calling Blaise, but he wasn't picking up his phone, and Ronald was nowhere to be found.
At eight o'clock sharp, the doorbell rang. Hermione opened the door to find a big bouquet of flowers and a huge teddy bear, instead of a man's face. Jason's head poked out from in between the two and had a sheepish smile on his face. "I'm sorry!" He said.
"Come on in," She said, taking the flowers from him, allowing him to put down the teddy bear.
"Look, Jason, I don't know if we'll be able to go out tonight." Hermione said hesitantly.
"What? Why?" Jason asked, looking extremely confused.
"Draco said he would be here to look after Haley, but he's not here yet, and I'm getting really worried."
"Haley?" Jason asked with his eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, my goddaughter." She walked over to the playpen and picked Haley up. "Her parents passed away recently and they gave Draco and me guardianship of her. I can't really leave her alone."
"No, definitely not," Jason agreed.
Hermione looked searchingly into his eyes. "I really hope that if tonight goes well, that me having Haley doesn't scare you off."
"No, no, of course not. I love kids. I have little nieces and nephews of my own."
"Really?" Hermione asked, somewhat hesitant.
"Really." Jason replied, warmly.
Hermione's phone started ringing. She lunged for it.
"Hello? Draco?" She said frantically.
"Sorry to disappoint, dearie, it's only me." Blaise said. "What's going on, Mia?"
"Draco is nowhere to be found and he promised me that he would be home to look after Haley. I have a date tonight, and I have no one to watch her."
"Ok, calm down Hermione. It's going to be okay. Mandy and I will come over and take care of her. You go out and have some fun. Go find Draco and kick his ass."
"Thank you, Blaise. I really appreciate it." Hermione hung up the phone and told Jason the situation. A few minutes later, Blaise and Mandy stepped out of the fireplace.
"Thank you, you two. I really appreciate it," Hermione said, hugging them.
"Anytime, " Mandy emphasized. "Now, go have some fun."
"Oh and Mia. If you want to find Draco, check at his favorite pub in Hogsmeade. It's called 'The Bull'." Blaise added.
Hermione gave Haley a kiss and handed her over to Mandy. Jason and Hermione stepped into the fireplace and found themselves in Hogsmeade.
"I thought we'd go to a cozy café that I like here. They make the most amazing lasagna."
"Before, we do, can we go to that pub so I can check on Malfoy? I want to convey a certain message to him, really quickly."
"Sure. Let's go. Even though he's my friend, I'd kind of like to see this."
They walked to the pub and pushed open the doors, and found it to be pretty deserted. Only two or three people were inside excluding the bartender. They didn't see Draco among those that were sitting at tables, but they did see a figure at the bar, with their head down. Hermione stormed over and found that it was indeed the missing Draco Malfoy. His cheek was pressed up against the counter with his hands on either side of his head. He was asleep.
Hermione turned to the bartender. "Excuse me, do you have some ice that I could borrow?"
The bartender put some in a glass and slid it over to her.
Hermione took the ice from the glass and put it down Draco's shirt and pants.
He immediately jerked up. "OY! What the hell?" He yelled.
Then he saw Hermione and put two and two together. Even though he was still completely inebriated.
"G-GRANGER! Did yooouuu p-pu-t iiice in mah paaants?" Malfoy slurred, dancing around, trying to avoid the ice from getting to his most prized possession.
Hermione crossed her arms. "No, Malfoy. You put it down there yourself." She rolled her eyes. She took a deep breath and tried to keep calm, but there was no stopping her.
"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY! You said that you would be home to take care of Haley so that I could go out with Jason-"
"Whaaaa? Youuu espect me tooo pick up yoouuuur slack so that you can have some fuuuuuun?" He said, still slurring his words.
"Let me remind you that you were the one who told me to give Jason another chance. YOU were the one who told me to go out with him tonight because he's a good guy. YOU volunteered to take care of Haley."
"Oh shiiiit, I forgot abou' Haaaley." He smacked himself on his forehead.
"Yes, you forgot about your goddaughter. How could you do such a thing?" Hermione yelled.
The bartender came over and interrupted. "Miss, I'm gonna have to ask you to take it outside."
Hermione glared at him. If looks could kill…
The bartender quickly backed off. "Take your time, Miss." He ran into the back room.
"This is strike one, Malfoy. Strike three, and you are out of my house, and out of Haley's life, for good." She said in a deadly voice.
"I'm going to get you home. Maybe Blaise and Mandy can knock some sense in to you."
She looked at Jason. "I'm so sorry about this. We can go to the restaurant after we drop him off at home."
"Don't worry about it. Let's just get him home."
They walked to the nearest fireplace connected to the Floo network and Flooed home, Hermione and Jason holding Malfoy up on either side.
"Mia? What's going on?" Blaise asked confused from where he was sitting on the couch.
"Well, we found Malfoy. You were right- he was at that pub. If you could just look after him and knock some sense into him, that would be great. And don't let Haley see."
DMHGDMHGDMHG
Jason and Hermione walked over to the cozy restaurant in Hogsmeade. Hermione was still fuming about Draco, while Jason was trying to comfort her. He had an amused smile on his face.
As they sat down at the table, Hermione apologized about everything that happened that night.
"Don't worry about it, Hermione. It's fine," Jason said warmly. "I have to admit, that was really amusing, though. It's not everyday that you see someone put Draco Malfoy in his place like that, and put ice down his clothes."
"Yeah, well, he needs to learn that the world doesn't revolve around him." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Okay. Enough about that. Start groveling." Hermione said with a smirk on her face.
"What?" Jason asked, perplexed.
"I said, start groveling." She repeated, the smirk still in place.
"Oh," Jason said amusedly. "Ok, fine. But I think Draco has been rubbing off on you. You and that smirk could easily give Draco a run for his money.
"Now, where to begin? Oh yes, before you start could you put a spell on the people around us, just so that they won't hear me embarrass myself?"
"Nope."
"That's what I thought. If only I had my wand."
"I'm waiting." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest.
"Okay, look, Hermione, I am so, so sorry about leaving you at the party like that. I mean, you went to school with Pansy Parkinson. You know how she can be."
"Yes I do. Go on."
"Well, I'm sure you've seen that she can be extremely clingy. She wouldn't let me go. I tried and tried to get away from her, but she always found me."
"That's all fine, I know how Parkinson can be, but you had the chance to call me the next day, the next week. But you decide to call me the next month. What do you have to say about that?" Hermione's eyebrows were raised.
"Okay, well, I kind of figured that you would be mad at me and I thought that you would want your space." He said sheepishly.
"Jason, I wasn't mad that you got pulled away from Pansy. As long as you had tried to look for me again later that night, or even called me, I would have just laughed it all off. I could have used you that night, the next day. That very night, Haley's parents passed away. You knew Theo, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did. And I am so, so sorry. If I had known that had happened and how hurt you were, I would have been there for you. I mean, we were friends before that night, and you could have used one. " He came over and kneeled (on both knees) in front of her. "I would never do anything to deliberately hurt you." He whispered. "Please forgive me. I won't ever do anything like that again. I promise to be there for you whenever you need me. Do you forgive me?"
Hermione nodded. "Yes, you are forgiven."
Jason reached up and kissed her. "Will you go out with me again, Saturday night?"
"Yes, I will, as long as you promise to call me again before then."
"I will," Jason smiled and kissed her again.
DMHGDMGHDMHG
Hermione got home late, and found Mandy and Blaise asleep on the couch. She decided to wake up the two lovebirds because she knew that they would not be waking up in a very comfortable position in the morning.
She gently shook them awake. "Mandy, Blaise, I'm home."
Without opening his eyes, Blaise swatted her hand away. "Just five more minutes," he mumbled. She shook him again.
Finally, he opened his eyes. "Oh Mia! Sorry about that! We put Haley to sleep and then we fell asleep. We'll be out of your way in a minute."
"No, no, don't go. Stay the night. You can sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight, and leave in the morning or something. I think I'm going to need some back-up when I face Malfoy in the morning."
"Ok, Mia. Just show us where to go. I'll carry Mandy in there."
After showing Blaise to a room, she decided to go change and go to bed. She tossed and turned for a few minutes, and unable to fall asleep, she decided to go check on Haley.
She pushed open the door and found Draco asleep on the bed, with Haley asleep on his chest. His arm was wrapped protectively around her.
Hermione tip-toed over to the bed and quietly picked up Haley. She gave her a kiss on the cheek and put her in her crib. Hermione turned around to leave the room, but found that Draco was awake and watching her.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly.
Hermione crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. "For what?"
"For going and getting myself drunk. And forgetting about Haley."
Hermione fought the urge to yell. She pulled him out of the room and into her private study, where no one would be able to hear them.
"Did you even think about your actions, Malfoy? What would have happened if you hadn't fallen asleep at the bar? Would you have come home, completely drunk and inebriated, unable to know what exactly you were doing? Would you have unknowingly hurt Haley or me while you were drunk? How the hell could you have slipped like that? Think about the consequences before you go out and do something so stupid! I don't know how I'm going to be able to trust you again after this."
"You trusted me?" Draco looked up, surprised.
"Of course I did. I've seen you with Haley. You can be so loving and caring with her. And I trusted you with her. But after today-" Hermione was cut off by Draco's lips on hers. She was completely taken by surprise but sank into the kiss, thoroughly enjoying it.
Finally, she pushed away. As much as she wanted to do this, she wasn't sure if she could.
"Look, I'm sorry, Draco. I can't- We can't. I don't know if I can trust you." With that, she ran from the study.
Draco sank down into a chair, thinking. She didn't know if she could trust him with Haley or herself?
A/N: Eh, I wasn't too happy with it. And you all probably hate me for the Jason thing. But I made up for that with the kiss. Don't worry, things will get heated up very soon. Please review!!