Chapter 10

Dynamics

She was in her room when there was a knock at the door and she opened it to find Draco standing in the corridor.

"Hi?" she phrased the word as a question, wondering what she'd done to deserve this honour.

"Can I come in?" he asked and she stepped back to let him in.

"Is something wrong?"

Draco shook his head. "No, nothing at all," he said. "I wondered if you'd like to eat dinner with the me and the children tonight?"

Hermione was completely taken aback by this invite and stared at him dumbly for a few moments.

"Errr…..," Hermione struggled with her reply. "Sorry, yes that would be lovely."

Draco nodded. "See you at 8pm."

Hermione changed outfit three times, not feeling happy with her choices. She wanted to look smart but not too smart. She then she got annoyed at herself for worrying so much about it.

At 8.01pm she was sat on the sofa in Draco's kitchen with another glass of wine and Draco was cooking. It all felt very strange and far too domesticated and she was very nervous about meeting the children, so she shuffled about on the sofa, thinking of something she could start a conversation about.

Draco came over, topped up her wine and took the sofa opposite hers.

"The food will be okay for a few minutes," he said. "I can leave it to cook now."

"It smells delicious," Hermione said. She wanted to say 'I didn't know you could cook' but the truth was she didn't know anything about him at all, let alone if he could cook.

"Let's hope it tastes delicious too," Draco looked up as there was a noise by the door. "They're here."

Hermione turned as Lucas and his siblings entered the kitchen. Lucas smiled at her and sat next to his father.

"Max, Aria – this is Miss Granger. She's painting the dragons for us," Draco made the introductions and both children nodded at Hermione and smiled.

"Hello Miss Granger," Aria greeted her. She was very pretty, petite with big blue eyes and very long, white blonde hair. "I can't wait to see the paintings. Would I be able to watch you paint?" She reached out as she said this and shook Hermione's hand. Hermione was so surprised, she had to stop herself from laughing. Very formal for a twelve-year-old!

"You won't be allowed to," Max answered in the typical way that big brothers speak to little sisters. "Hi, Miss Granger," he added, remembering his manners.

"Hello Max, Aria," Hermione answered choosing to stay out of the watching her paint argument.

Max turned to Draco, "they have that new broom on display again," he said. "The one I wanted for my birthday." He had a typical teenage hunched over look, as if everything was too much trouble. His skin and hair were much darker than his siblings and father but he had Draco's eyes and his mannerisms.

"Let's discuss that another time, Max," Draco said. "Miss Granger doesn't want to hear about it."

"I don't mind," Hermione said. "What broom is it, Max?"

Max looked over at her, obviously deciding if she looked like she would know a single thing about brooms before he answered.

"It's a Stargazer 2990 – it's the 2nd edition. All the Target team have them." He at least sounded a little bit enthusiastic about this.

"My friend helps coach the Targets," Hermione said. "She used to play for them."

She suddenly had Max's full attention, his energy levels jumping up in an instant. "Really? What's her name?" he asked.

"Ginny Weasley."

Max's eyes opened wide. "Ginny Weasley! Really?!"

Hermione nodded. "I went to school with her."

Max blinked rapidly. "She was brilliant. I've seen some of the replays. Of course, she's a bit old now…" he stopped speaking, realising what he had said. "No offence, sorry."

"None taken," Hermione said.

"If you went to school with Ginny Weasley, that means dad did too," Lucas looked over at Draco who sighed.

"Yes, I did too," he admitted reluctantly.

Max jumped up and walked over to his father. "You never said a thing!"

"You never asked," Draco came back quickly.

"Why would I ask that? Oh dad, did you go to school with any of the Target team from 15 years ago?" Max chuckled at his own humour. "I can't believe you didn't mention it!"

"I'm going to check the food, won't be long," Draco stood up and walked close to Hermione. "Name dropper," he whispered to her and she watched him walk into the kitchen, knowing he was joking with her and pleased that he was.

"Miss Granger, you know Harry Potter too, don't you?" Aria jumped into the conversation and Hermione turned to look at her.

"Yes, I do." Hermione felt a little nervous about the subject matter as she knew Harry was probably a sore subject around Draco.

"Dad said he used to bully him."

Hermione stared at the young girl in front of her in shock. Draco had told his daughter that Harry used to bully him?! Why on earth had he said that?! And how was she meant to reply?

Aria wasn't waiting for a response and she chatted away about how she'd seen Harry's wand on display once and that her friend at school slept in the bed that Harry used to.

Hermione wasn't feeling at all comfortable with this conversation and wondered at Aria's interest in all things Harry Potter. Surely, Draco Malfoy's daughter wouldn't have been encouraged to have any interest in Harry?

Draco came back over and sat down. "Go lay the table please," he instructed and all three children moaned. Nevertheless, they went over to the kitchen and Hermione could hear Lucas giving the other two instructions about knives and forks and where they had to be laid.

"She has a thing about Potter," Draco said, nodding towards his daughter who was currently poking Lucas with a fork. "I'm not sure where it's come from to be honest, I think Eva probably encourages it because she knows how much it will annoy me."

Hermione couldn't let the bullying comment go, no matter how amicable Draco was now being. "You shouldn't have told her that Harry bullied you," she shook her head. "No matter what went on, you shouldn't have said that."

Draco stared at her and said nothing, remaining silent for so long that Hermione felt uncomfortable and spoke again.

"I wouldn't expect you to be nice about him but that's really over the line," Hermione babbled on a bit, not quite sure how to deal with his lack of response.

He held up his hand to stop her speaking. "Have you quite finished?" he asked and she nodded begrudgingly, knowing that no excuse he could give her would be good enough but also that she probably shouldn't have said anything. She wasn't here as Hermione Granger; she was here to do a commission that her studio was paying her well for and one which she had a sneaking feeling she might be about to lose. "I'm not sure that you are here to judge me but then that is the Gryffindor way, isn't it?"

This was the first time Hermione had heard him refer to school and any of the stereotypical house types.

"I wasn't judging you. Just what you'd told your daughter."

"Well, I don't owe you an explanation but I'll give you one anyway," Draco said. "My lovely chatterbox of a daughter over there didn't make it clear what she meant. She said, 'Dad said he used to bully him'."

"Yes, that's exactly what she said," Hermione agreed.

"Dad said he used to bully him," Draco repeated, "Dad being me, Him being Harry Potter." Hermione suddenly heard the sentence in a completely different way.

"Oh!" She sat back in her seat and put her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, indeed." Draco said.

Hermione felt mortified that she'd totally misconstrued Aria's words. She'd jumped completely to the wrong conclusion, more than happy to believe that Draco had been lying to his daughter when in actual fact he had been brutally honest with her, admitting he had bullied Harry at school.

"I'm so sorry, that was wrong of me."

Draco's face said everything and he let her squirm in her own embarrassment for a few moments. "You should be," he said, his lips set in a line. "You couldn't wait to believe it, could you?"

Hermione sighed. "I jumped to conclusions but you can't say I don't have a good reason to."

"That was 15 years ago, Hermione. You asked me to draw a line under it all so I would expect you to do the same." Draco didn't even attempt to put Hermione out of her misery.

"Am I off the job?" Hermione asked. She fully expected him to say yes as she knew Draco wouldn't want their past interfering with the present. And although no-one could really blame her for thinking the worse of him, she was here to work for Draco, to provide a service, not to judge him on his past or present behaviour.

Draco shook his head disbelievingly. "Off the job?" he repeated. "Yes, Hermione, you dared to question me so you must leave now! Right now!" his sarcasm was in full flow.

"I'm not off the job?" Hermione asked.

"No! Of course you're not!"

"Thank you."

Draco shook his head impatiently. "Let's eat or it will be ruined."

Dinner went well considering how it hadn't started off. Luca was great company and Hermione liked him a lot. He knew a lot about dragons and she thought he would make a great keeper one day.

Max ate hungrily and didn't attempt to join in the conversation but Hermione wasn't offended. She remembered Harry and Ron when they were his age and he was just being a typical teenage boy. He had a lot of characteristics that she recognised from Draco but he was lacking the haughtiness and self-righteousness.

Aria seemed older than she was. She chatted away happily to Hermione about anything that came into her head.

"Kaitlyn said that I should cut my hair," she said to Hermione who tried to put the expression that Aria was expecting, on her face.

"No." Draco's voice came across the table.

"Everyone is cutting their hair, Father. Only 1st years have long hair."

"I don't care- you're not cutting it short."

Aria gave her father a glare and leaned towards Hermione conspiratorially. "Kaitlyn says she's been asked out by at least five boys since she cut hers."

Hermione knew that Draco was listening and didn't really want to get involved but as Aria was looking to her for a comment, she knew she had to.

"How short?" She gently touched Aria's white, blonde hair which was all the way down her back. "It would be a shame to cut all of this off."

Aria twisted her lips, not satisfied with Hermione's reply.

"Are we having this conversation again!?" Max asked, sulkily. "No-one cares about your hair Ari."

"Max!" Draco reprimanded his son. "Don't be rude to your sister."

"So, can we go and have a look at the broom?" Max asked, pushing his empty plate away.

"How much have you saved up?" Draco asked.

Max shrugged. "A bit."

"How much of a bit?"

"I dunno."

"Well, when you do know and are willing to tell me how much a 'bit' is, maybe we can discuss it again."

Hermione hid the smile that came to her lips, finding it amusing to hear Draco saying typical parent expressions.

"Mother said she'd let me have it cut if you agreed." Aria hadn't given up and looked over at Draco who sighed.

"I'm sure she didn't phrase it quite like that," he pointed out.

"What do you think Hermione?" Aria asked directly.

"Miss Granger to you," Luca corrected his sister.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind you calling me Hermione." She glanced up at Draco to try and judge his mood. His expression was neutral. "I think that maybe a compromise is in order," she said to Aria. "Have it cut but not drastically at first. Then if you all like it enough, you can go a bit shorter. Do it a little at a time."

Aria looked over at her father expectedly. Draco rolled his eyes. "That might be allowed."

Aria gave him a grin. "Here?" she indicated a line above her shoulder.

"Maybe," Draco said. "Maybe not."

"It's my hair!"

"I don't think that's going to help your case," Luca commented wryly to his sister who huffed at him.

"What must Miss Granger think of you all," Draco shook his head. "I want, I want, I want!"

"I saw your sketches, Miss Granger," Max commented suddenly as if he's fathers words had hit home. "They are brilliant!"

Hermione was slightly taken aback by his compliment but pleased to hear it. "Thank you, Max. That's nice of you to say."

"They are," Max repeated. "The dragons look so real, as if they could fly off the page. The one with dad and Mavis is the best one."

"I think so to," said Hermione. "It's going to come out really well with oils."

"Of course the one with me in is the best one," Draco commented and all three of his children groaned at him.

"Shut up, father," Aria said and Hermione had to bite her lip to not laugh.