A/N: Here's the next chapter – even though I have my computer final tomorrow... I'm doing my best, really. Thanks for appreciating it in your reviews. :-)

Crazy12/Sarah: I've just seen what you wrote about me on your profile – you are so sweet!!! Thank you!

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Against All Odds

Chapter Six

"Ginny, how about we go to your house today?" Daniel asked.

It was Monday afternoon; Daniel had about half an hour until his meeting with Draco. When Ginny heard this request, she raised suspicious eyes to meet his. "Why?"

"No reason," Daniel replied, shrugging.

"Is there anything you'd like to do there?" Ginny asked.

"No, nothing. I just thought it would be nice."

Ginny agreed, though she mentioned she still didn't understand why, and they all went to her house. As they got there, Daniel searched the front yard – Draco wasn't there. He checked his watch – he had five minutes left.

They got into the house, but then Daniel said he wanted to go out to the garden. "Why?" Ginny asked.

"I'll mow your lawn," Daniel offered. It was the best excuse he could think of.

"That'd be great, thank you, sweetie," Ginny said warmly. "You know where the mower is, right? It's inside the garage, right behind the old bicycle, where we keep all our – "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Daniel impatiently and ran outside. Draco still hadn't arrived. Now Daniel realized he had a problem – Ginny would really expect him to mow her lawn.

"Why couldn't I say I was going for bird watching?" he grumbled to himself as he got back from the garage, carrying the mower. "I have to learn how to make better excuses!"

He started mowing, and the mower was making the worst noise. At first it annoyed him; then he realized it was probably for the best, because it would keep Ginny convinced that he was busy, and she would not go out to check on him.

"Hey, Daniel!"

He raised his eyes, and immediately he felt himself smiling. Draco Malfoy was coming towards him, and he was smiling, too.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," Daniel said. "How are you?"

"Good, good. How about you?"

"Great, thanks," Daniel replied happily.

"You know, on my way over here I heard a joke. It was pretty funny," Draco said, almost shouting over the noise of the mower. "Listen: a teacher asks a student, 'If you could choose between money and brains, what would you choose?' The student answers: 'Money!' The teacher says: 'I would choose the second option if I were you'. The student answers: 'I understand you, everyone chooses what they don't have'."

Daniel laughed. "This reminds me of some of my teachers," he said. "They're not that clever."

"You go to school?" Draco asked in astonishment.

"Yes," Daniel answered. "Mom works till late every day, so she can't teach me. I wish she could, though. It would probably be more fun."

"You don't like school, huh?"

"No," Daniel replied. He hadn't told it to almost anyone before; but he trusted Draco completely, without knowing why. "I hate it there. Everyone is really mean to me. Mom says it's not because they're Muggles. I guess she's right; her parents – my grandparents – are Muggles, too, and they're really nice. But all the other Muggles I know are kind of mean."

"I think your Mom is right," Draco said seriously. "You should listen to her. Muggles' personalities vary just like wizards'. There are nice Muggles and there are evil ones; just like there are wizards who are great people and there are disgusting ones."

"Yeah, I know," Daniel said, still mowing the lawn. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts, though."

"How much time do you still have to wait?"

"Not much. I'm going there next year," Daniel said.

Draco's jaw dropped. He hadn't expected this answer; Daniel looked about eight or nine – not eleven. How was it possible? "H-how old are you, Daniel?" he asked.

"Ten. I'll be eleven in April."

"What's your birthday? I mean, the exact date?"

Daniel told him. Draco frowned, looking pensive. Hermione had had this boy ten years before... Had she had a boyfriend so soon after he had left her? This was not like Hermione... How do you solve this riddle? Something here was not right.

"Which house were you sorted into in Hogwarts, Mr. Malfoy?" he heard Daniel's voice.

He turned to look at him. Daniel DID resemble someone he knew; maybe someone he knew very well. Let's see, he told himself. The eyes... their shape is like Hermione's, but they were blue. The hair – it was blond; not white-blond, but golden. The face... the nose, the cheek bones, the chin... Something looked familiar...

Who the hell was this boy's father?

Then he realized Daniel was expecting an answer. Swallowing hard, he replied: "Slytherin." Daniel's eyes widened in horror – Draco understood he had probably heard terrible stories about the Slytherins. After all, he had grown with Hermione, Harry and the Weasleys. So he added: "But after my fifth year, I hated it there. I had changed; if I were to go there again, I would probably not get sorted into Slytherin."

Daniel looked relieved. "Almost all of Mom's friends were in Gryffindor, except for Luna, who was in Ravenclaw. I hope I'll be in Gryffindor, too, but I guess Ravenclaw isn't so bad either..."

Draco and Daniel kept talking until Daniel finished mowing the lawn all around the house, about an hour later. Then Draco looked at his watch. "Well, I guess it's time to go. Christine's probably wondering what I'm doing."

"Who's Christine?" Daniel asked.

"My fiancee," Draco answered. "We're getting married in about six months, I'll invite you to the wedding." He smiled, and then went over and gave Daniel a short hug. "It was great seeing you again, Danny. I'll send you an owl soon, okay?"

"Great," Daniel replied, smiling broadly. Draco turned and started walking away; Daniel wanted to keep looking at him until he couldn't see him anymore, but Draco only left the front yard, and then he Disapparated.

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Draco honestly tried to listen to Christine's blabbers about shopping and hair-dye, but it soon became too boring to even try. It reminded him of Professor Binns lessons. So instead, he pretended nothing interested him more than her nonsense, and while thinking of other issues, he said "Yeah" and "Right" and "Sure" every once in a while.

This boy, Daniel. How the hell had he been born? Hermione couldn't have gotten pregnant from the Holy Spirit, right? So how had it happened? Maybe she HAD slept with someone on the first date, or at some drinking party? But then again, it was hard to believe.

He had sent Daniel an owl, telling him he would visit him in his house in two days, but the question kept bothering him. Daniel was born at the end of April, less than a year after Draco had gone to America. That meant Hermione had no more than a few months to find someone else, but it was unlike Hermione to get together with someone so soon after a long-term relationship of hers ends in such a painful way. So what HAD happened there?

He had tried everything except for asking Hermione, and he had a feeling she wouldn't be so thrilled to tell him something she hadn't even told her best friends. He had sworn to himself he would not let go of Hermione until she told him why she was so angry with him; but he had neglected that decision, and now all he wanted to know was one thing, only one thing and nothing more: Who was Daniel's father? Who was the father this wide-eyed, innocent little boy, who had captured his heart like that? And how, the hell, was he going to discover this?

He had to talk to Hermione; he knew that now. There was no other choice. She had to tell him. She had to. He stood up.

"Where are you going, Draco?" he heard Christine's offended voice. "I'm in the middle of a story!"

"Sorry, sweetheart, but I've just remembered I have to do something," Draco answered, kissed her quickly on the lips and left.

It was Tuesday, two o'clock in the afternoon; Hermione was probably at St. Mungo's. Draco got there in about a minute. Where did Hermione work?

He remembered, as if it had been yesterday, the day he had come to St. Mungo's to visit Hermione, eleven years before...

FLASHBACK

Draco knocked on the door and stepped inside, holding a red rose – Hermione's favorite – behind his back. His eyes searched the room and quickly found Hermione, who was sitting and working on a file.

"Guess who," he said softly, coming up behind her.

She jumped and turned around. Her eyes filled with happy surprise. "Draco! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm here for no actual reason," he answered, stepping even closer. "I just came to remind you that I love you – make sure you don't forget." He kissed her on the cheek and gave her the rose.

"Wow!" said another Healer, who had been listening.

"Oh, Draco, you're so sweet!" Hermione clung onto him and kissed him. "I love you too, don't forget that... You won't ever forget that, will you, Draco?"

END FLASHBACK

No, he had never forgotten it. As he had promised himself when he had gone to America – he hadn't forgotten Hermione. He didn't even want to forget her. It took him four years to get over her in America and start dating other women. Apparently, it had taken her much less time!

Draco came closer to the very same door, knocked on it and came in. And just like it had happened eleven years before, Hermione was sitting near a desk and writing something.

"Hermione," he said.

Hermione raised her eyes and saw him. For a moment, Draco thought she was actually happy to see him – then her eyes filled with fury. She got to her feet. "What are you doing here, Draco?!" she snapped.

"We need to talk," he informed her.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of in the middle of work here," she replied sharply.

"I have noticed, but I'm sure you can give me five minutes."

Hermione gazed at him angrily, then turned to the Healer at the next desk. "Greta, will you cover for me for a few minutes? I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Sure," the Healer answered, and Draco and Hermione went out.

"All right, what is it?" Hermione demanded as soon as Draco closed the door.

Draco folded his arms. "I want to ask you something. I don't know if you'll even bother to answer, but it's really important to me. Look, I haven't been around for ten years, and I don't really know what has been going on here since I was gone. But let's face it, Hermione, I'm back now."

He took a deep breath. "Who is Daniel's father?"

The blood faded from Hermione's cheeks. Draco didn't understand what was going on – she looked as though she were about to faint, and looked around, perhaps searching for a chair. As she couldn't find one, she leaned onto the wall.

"Why are you asking?" she said in a voice that she obviously tried to keep sharp and harsh, but it came out almost trembling.

"I'm asking because it's important to me to know," Draco answered. He realized she was not going to tell him, and he grew almost as angry as she had been just a few minutes before. "I want to know, and I have the right to know, Hermione."

"And why is that?" she demanded, sounding a little hoarse.

"Because," said Draco, looking straight into her eyes, and noticed she was holding her breath, "I want to know who you slept with so soon after I had left for America!"

"What?" Hermione looked confused; as if she had been waiting for something much worse, and didn't know whether she could be relieved or not.

"It took me four years to start even looking at other women!" Draco raised his voice. "And you couldn't even wait four months to sleep with someone else?!"

He didn't understand why Hermione looked so relieved suddenly, almost as if she was about to laugh from relief, and it only made him angrier.

"Who was it, Hermione?" he demanded furiously. "Who the hell did you sleep with? I have to know. You must tell me! I want to know who's the father of this boy!"

Hermione closed her eyes and stopped smiling; she had pulled herself together. When she opened them again, she looked much more serious.

"Draco, you're wasting your time," she said calmly. "You're not getting that answer from me – I will not tell you, so you can forget about it right now."

"Fine, then don't tell me who he was! Just tell me how you got pregnant: did you have a boyfriend and you two weren't careful? Did you sleep with someone on the first date? Did you get drunk at some party? How the hell was Daniel born?!" Draco was almost yelling now.

"Calm down!" Hermione raised her voice. "How I got pregnant is my secret which is none of your business, so don't even bother to ask. I don't want to tell you and I'm not going to anyway."

"Very well, I'm leaving now," said Draco, looking livid, "but just for your own information, I'm keeping in touch with your son, and I'm going to visit him in your house whether you like it or not. I like this boy very much, and he likes me too, and if you're not thoughtful enough to tell me or him your big secret, don't expect us to be more considerate."

And enjoying the look of horror and fury on Hermione's face, Draco turned and left the hall, still shaking from anger, but as he walked quickly downstairs, he swore to himself: "I am going to find out Hermione's secret, and I am going to do whatever it takes to discover the truth about it."

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