The Child's Atrocity 3

A/N#1: LilbLueangeL1223: No, Viktor Krum is alive. Could you please tell me what gave you the impression that he was dead, so that I can fix it? Thanks!

Hermione chose not to answer her ex-nemesis's question. "We'll discuss this later," she said coldly, throwing a furtive glance at the children, who were quite blatantly eavesdropping.

Draco saw this too. He made a mental note to teach Ivy a few things when he got home: to not eavesdrop, as what the regular, goody-goody parent that he most certainly was (well, maybe) would do, and the vital lesson of if-you're-going-to-eavesdrop-you-might-as-well-do-it-properly. The Art of Eavesdropping 101. How could she not know it? She was already thirteen! But in response to Granger's question, he agreed thoroughly. Maybe they could keep putting it off until the summer was over. "Yes. Do give me a floo," he replied insincerely.

Hermione nodded briskly. "Of course I will," she said acidly. "I'm sure Chase and your daughter will have a simply marvelous time." The sarcasm was hard to miss, but for two extremely excited children, it was rather easy. Neither noticed that although their parents were being disgustingly polite it was only a façade to hide the not-so-pleasant feelings between them.

Grabbing his daughter, Draco headed off, not casting a single glance behind. He could not believe his rotten, rotten luck. Perhaps it was all a phase. Children went through so many of them. Children loved phases. Maybe she knew of the past between Granger and himself and was doing this solely to torment him. He'd read somewhere that teenage daughters truly enjoyed giving their parents anguish. Maybe she was doing that. Well, goddamn it, she was succeeding.

Hermione sighed exaggeratedly as she and Chase entered their smallish but still expensive and light, pretty home. Chase of course had to go round and say hello to the two cats, the cook, and his nanny, who had been re-hired for the summer. Although Hermione doubted she'd use her much after all considering Chase was talking about all this spending-time-with-Ivy nonsense.

As soon as Chase was done, he demanded something to eat. Actually, 'something' was putting it rather lightly. Chase was a teenage boy with a ravenous appetite. He could eat anything, anytime, anywhere. Every time Hermione looked at him she was fondly reminded of Ron Weasley. All the times that used to repulse her now had been reduced to happy memories. It was actually quite amazing what a mother's blind love can do. When Chase had polished off two ham and cheese sandwiches, a separate platter of chips, and at Hermione's insistence, an apple, Hermione brought in the topic of school.

"So, darling, how was the school year?" Hermione asked pleasantly.

"Good," Chase replied off-handedly.

Hermione sighed again. Chase's answers were always so laconic. Would it be life-threatening if he just told her what the teachers had taught or how much he studied for those difficult Transfiguration exams? "Care to expand on that?" she asked lightly.

Chase grinned. "Not particularly."

She groaned. Since when had her little boy grown up to be so annoying? Controlling her quick to rise temper she answered half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Now tell me how school was before I hex your new posters off."


Chase pouted. "Mum, you know how much I love the Witch Brothers! Their music is completely cat."

Cat? Was that one of those teenage words that were exclusive to the age-group. Hermione hated the fact she'd grown so old! "Cat? Is that the 'in' word this year? How cool," she said flashing him a grin.

Chase was apparently far from pleased about her attempt to act sly with the words. "Mother," he said seriously, "you must never, ever say 'in' word or 'cool'. Please. Don't try to act young. You're too old for that."

Shocked at his brazenness, Hermione chalked it up to the fact that he must have learned this speaking-back tactic, something she would never have done (well, maybe a little…okay, maybe a lot) from his new friend, that Ivy Malfoy. "All right then," she said wearily.

"And by the way," he continued. "Cat is not some cool word that interesting people use these days. It's short for catastrophic." At Hermione's puzzled look he continued, "Catastrophic? Come on mum, haven't you ever heard catastrophic music? It's loud and raunchy, and very appealing."

"Don't play that garbage in my home," Hermione said crossly as Chase went up to his room. Gods. Teenagers these days. They were pure torture.

When the two of them arrived home, Ivy rushed in and greeted all the house-elves with spectacular enthusiasm, something that Draco could not understand. Must be something she'd inherited from Lisa. "Ivy, would you like something to eat?" Draco asked crisply.

"Oh, no. I had quite a bit of chocolate frogs on the train."

"Chocolate frogs?" Draco asked with a small frown. "Darling, you do know that chocolate is bad for your complexion?" He hated to be a picky parent, he really did, but who knew whether or not Lisa had had acne? He himself had not a spot on his face during those rocky teenage years, and by golly, there was no way he was going to let his daughter have those nasty things. He was going to do everything in his power to keep those blasted pimples off his daughter's face, and if it meant going easy on the chocolate frogs, so be it.

"Oh, dad," she said, rolling her eyes (was it his imagination or was every other word out of her mouth accompanied by the roll of the eyes? He chalked it up to another phase). "It' just a myth."

"It is not," he answered stiffly. But more than anything he just wanted to get off this topic. "So how was the school year?" he asked casually.

Lucky for him, or maybe not so lucky, depending on one's point of view, Ivy was rather talkative. "Long!" she began excitedly. "In the first week I met Chase. I can't believe I hadn't seen him before; honestly, that boy can blend in so easily! I wish I could do that, makes for an excellent spy trait don't you think? And did you know Sally dyed her hair pink! Can you believe it? And have you seen those new robes? I simply must get some, everyone has them. Chase and I are going to go looking for exotic animals this summer, you know, and oh, did I mention that Bradley shrunk his nose! Yes, he had a special spell performed by a mediwitch and now it's half the size! Oh you should have seen it before, it was absolutely massive…"

Somewhere between the opening of Drooble's Secrets, an exotic lingerie store where "everybody" shopped and the plans to go on a world Quidditch tour, Draco lost her. Sometimes he really wished she talked a little less. Wouldn't a short, crisp answer be so much better?  He smiled and nodded at her blabbering but didn't really hear a word. He was suddenly hit with a wave of love for his daughter and felt, oh dear, was that really tears welling up in his eyes? Gods. He was going soft!

Shaking his head he gave his daughter a frown, as if to hide his feelings. "All right, then. I presume, since you're so excited about it, you had a fairly good year?"

She gave him a huge smile. "Absolutely. And do you know why?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I met Chase! I mean it, Daddy, our personalities click so well! Chase said his mum had a fabulous time at Hogwarts because she was very close to her best friends and I'm sure it'll be that way for Chase and me as well, no?"

But Draco was immersed in deep and dark thoughts. "Potter, Weasley, and Granger," he muttered darkly.

"Are you talking about Chase's mum's friends? You knew them, did you?" Ivy asked pleasantly.

Draco decided it was time for him to let his daughter in on a little secret. "Now, Ivy," he began placidly. He wasn't much for telling stories, and this was stretching the parental meter he'd steadily built up over the years. "Chase's mother…and I…went to school together, bu—"

"Did you now!" Ivy exclaimed. "Ooh, tell me about that! I didn't know the two of you were friends! That's so fantastic! Oh, Dad, I have an excellent idea, why don—"

Draco cut her off, horrified and repulsed at her words. "No, no, Ivy," he said hurriedly. No more slowly breaking it to her that this whole visiting Granger's kid was not possible, no scratch that, was absolutely and positively out of the question and was never going to happen. "Chase's mum and I were fa—"

Teenage girls have a nasty habit of talking when they please. In fact, Ivy was notorious for it. Ivy cut her father off without slightest regard for manners. "I'm talking!" she wailed. "I just had this beyond wicked idea, Daddy! Please please let me tell you! I'm sure you will love it especially since you knew Ms. Granger in Hogwarts! Daddy!"


Draco wanted to slam his head into the nearest wall. Kids these days! When he was young, he would never have dared to interrupt his father when the old man was going on and on about some ridiculous topic, join the Death Eaters, work for evil, make all Os…but here Ivy was, plainly stopping Draco from explaining his point. She must have learned it from Granger's child, yes, that was it, she definitely had. Oh, sweet Merlin, perhaps it could wait another few seconds. "Very well," he said wearily. "Proceed."

"You are absolutely going to adore this idea. And it is so, so, so much better than anything we had in mind earlier, I promise," Ivy said excitedly. Draco had a premonition that he was most certainly not going to 'adore this idea'. In fact he was a bit worried that his reaction might be quite the opposite. "Both of us and Chase and his mum can all go vacation in our villa in Spain! It'll be fabulous, you know we go there every year and it's rather boring for me because I have no company. Well you can have company and I can  have company and it will be just dandy! Blimey, never thought I could come up with such a crazy idea! So, what do you say?"

At the moment, Draco couldn't say much anything. Speechlessly and mouth gaping open like a fish, he stared at his daughter, not exactly sure what to feel. But his first thought was that he was truly, truly doomed.

Ivy was a persistent child, yes, but in this case he could not let her win. Oh no. No way in hell was he spending time vacationing in Spain with Granger and her son! He'd rather sell his soul to the Devil than do such a horrendous act!

But that wicked gleam in Ivy's eyes, inherited from her father dearest of course, made his stomach flutter with anxiety and he just couldn't get rid of this awful feeling that in some bizarre circumstance, Ivy's 'fabulous' idea was eerily going to enter reality.

A/N: Well, there we go, another chapter is out. I know, it wasn't very quick, but it wasn't that long of a wait, was it? Well, as usual, I'd really like it if you review, especially as I am not exactly certain what path I'm taking with the story. Thanks! And wow, thanks so much for all of your reviews. They are the best motivation ever.