Disclaimer: All Harry Potter related characters, places and themes belong to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury and Scholastic.

Chapter 11

The weekend was past in a blur of activities including filling up the rejection forms for all three schools. Although Hermione did include a personal note of apology which Draco thought was entirely unnecessary, and thus concluded the first week of Aria entering the lives of Hermione and Draco.

Draco awoke to the distinct smell of sausages. He tumbled out of bed and padded slowly towards the dinning room, only to find it empty. Frowning he followed the smell and found himself in the kitchen.

"Morning Daddy!" His heart gave a sudden leap and he was left speechless, he opened his mouth and was about to say something when he caught Hermione's eye and she shook her head slightly. "Why are you up so early?" He questioned, his stomach growling loudly. Where were the house-elves?

"Its ten'o clock Daddy. You slept in, we're making breakfast." Aria exclaimed and sat at the counter top.

"I thought you couldn't cook?" Draco questioned as he turned to Hermione who simply shrugged. "I never wanted to, it's a simple spell Draco how hard can it be?" Hermione uttered with ease, her mind reminding her of the ten previous attempts she had made.

Draco nodded and lauded his plate with sausages before grabbing a cup of coffee off the counter. "Aren't you supposed to be in work?" Draco exclaimed suddenly as he realised that it was actually quite late on a Monday morning. Hermione shrugged.

"Mother was fired." Aria stated simply chewing on her toast. "What? Neville fired you?" Draco exclaimed turning to Hermione who was turning a bright shade of red.

"It's alright Dad, Mother is not hurting anymore." Aria exclaimed sliding of the counter and skipping over to Hermione. Draco frowned and turned to Hermione with an eyebrow raised. "Neville gave me a six month leave to sort everything out." He nodded tersely, expecting Hermione to bring out her planner and reschedule their days with Aria, but to his surprise she simply grabbed her own plate and joined him at the counter.

"Doing anything today?" She questioned as she took a sip of her orange juice. Draco shook his head. "Aria, what would you like to do today?" She asked the young girl.

"How about we go for… A PICNIC!" Aria exclaimed in excitement. Draco saw the sparkle in Hermione's eye. "Splendid" he heard her murmur. Draco sat up slightly. "Come'on lets goooooo." Aria wailed pulling at their hands. Hermione let out a laugh. "Aria how about you go change out of those clothes and we'll meet you at the door? The girl nodded eagerly.

Draco turned and watched as Hermione transfigured her clothes into a white sundresss, before she waved her wand and conjured several sandwhiches and chips and placed them into a basket.

Hermione turned to Draco, "You're com- Oh." He was now dressed in appropriate attire and was placing bottled water into the basket before he shrunk it and placed it in his pocket.

Hermione smiled and found herself unnaturally happy as the three of them set of for the day.

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Finding the best picnic spot in the world, as Aria had put it, had took up most of the day, and the three of them were tired by the time they settled down for lunch.

"I am soooooo tired, it's unbelievable." Aria exclaimed lightly as Hermione handed out their lunches. Draco rolled over and groaned, in an undertone he murmured, "She's tired, I just carried her half of the way" Hermione catching his remarks, tried to cover her laugh. Aria then raced through her lunch before running off to explore the 'best picnic spot in the whole wide world', leaving Hermione and Draco behind.

Draco rolled on his stomach and turned to Hermione only to find her picking up a book from her basket. "Oh no you don't" He murmured and grabbed the book from her hands.

And banishing it. He turned to find Hermione with a faint glare on her face and her arms crossed across her chest, her frown displaying her obvious annoyance at his actions.

"Beautiful Day." Draco uttered pointedly ignoring Hermione's glare as he leaded back onto the picnic rug.

"Give it back Draco."

"Give what back exactly Hermione, you should learn to be more specific. People might think you're referring to something else."

Draco's grinned deepened as Hermione developed a light blush before she narrowed her eyes at him once more.

"My book Draco. Give it back."

"Now why would you want a book on such a glorious day when there are so many other things we could be going?"

Hermione glowered at him and crossed her arms over her chest, "Like what?"

Draco grinned and flipped over onto his side, "Like following Bridget's advice."

Hermione frowned unable to recall any said advice that was applicable here.

"You're memory skills baffle me." Draco uttered earning a glower from Hermione.

"If he wasn't yours I would have jumped him right then." Draco drawled doing an apt impression of Bridget.

Hermione burst into laughter, "She said no such thing!" but she had to give him credit it did sound like something her cousin would say not to mention that the re-enaction was rather accurate.

"Did we not establish that I do not lie?" Draco remarked lightly

"But…But I would have remembered, she did not" Hermione added the smile tugging at her lips.

"Denial. Or is that jealousy?" Draco questioned causing Hermione to snort in indignation.

"Neither." She added.

"Or both." Draco added thoughtfully causing Hermione to break into laughter.

"Is there a point in this conversation?" She questioned rolling onto her stomach still smiling.

"Do all you're conversations have a point?"

"No but-" Draco raised his eyebrow at her causing Hermione to smile softly.

"I haven't laughed like this since…" She had not laughed like this nor felt so silly or carefree since she had last met up with Harry and …Ron. Unconsciously she bit her lip.

"…since a long time." She replied softly before turning her face upwards to Draco's with a smile. "Thank you."

She saw Draco observing her with one of his unreadable expressions. Slowly he reached out and thumbed her lip, pulling it from its confinements.

"You shouldn't bite your lip." He uttered softly, so much that Hermione could barely here him. "Sorry" she uttered instinctively and Draco's eyes flashed once. Tenderly he rubbed her lips. Morgana this woman with her apologies and gratitude was certainly going to be the undoing of him.

He watched as Hermione blushed and then frowned, "Stop it." She remarked tersely, but she heard the hesitation in her voice and Draco heard it too so he started to plant butterfly kisses along her neck and smirked inwardly as he heard her moan.

"Are you sure you want me to stop?" Draco murmured moving off her neck and onto her mouth. Hermione shook her head slowly, suddenly unsure of the feeling burning in her stomach. Gods this woman was insatiable Draco thought smirking into her hair. Only Hermione would try to fight him, and still respond to him so well.

"Aunt Hermione!" Hermione heard Aria calling to her in the distance and hurriedly pushed Draco away. "We shouldn't do this, it's not right." She exclaimed and hurriedly ran off towards where the voice of Aria was.

Draco sighed and flopped back down on the grass. Hermione was different, she was innocent, she was .. not like other girls he had been with. Draco thought wryly. He ran his hands through his hair, suddenly unsure why he was even bothering with Hermione when he had so many other girls. Because she is different. Because she is special, he found himself thinking. Before growling in irritation and rising to his feet, heading in the general direction from which he had heard Aria.

a/n: "Women of this age are hardly ever innocent"