Author's Note: My tendonitis has flared up badly, to the point that I can barely type. This means that I didn't post a chapter last week and may or may not next week. I will try to keep to my weekly schedule, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't. The drawing may also be late. I'm hoping that my hand will heal enough that I can type again for longer periods of time. Thank you for understanding.

Chapter 38

Hermione Granger strode confidently down the corridor leading to the library. As of today she was the official Hogwarts librarian. Madame Pince had finally retired after years of faithful service and had asked Hermione if she would take over. The young witch had leapt at the chance to work at her old school, especially amongst all the ancient, extremely rare tomes kept in the restricted section. Unfortunately she hadn't been able to start until the second week of classes because she'd been in Europe visiting her boyfriend. Viktor Krum was a professional Quidditch player, which meant that it was difficult for them to be together. Therefore, Madame Pince had agreed to remain the librarian until her return to Britain.

Before she'd left that June, Hermione had spent a week with Madame Pince going over all the proper procedures and such for the upkeep of the library. This made it easier for her to step into the role of librarian when she returned. That was probably the reason Professor Dumbledore hadn't said much to her when she'd arrived that morning. Either that or he was still dealing with the problem of the Death Eaters that had infiltrated Hogwarts. There had been stacks of letters, most likely from concerned parents, on his desk that he was reading through.

This is going to be wonderful, Hermione thought as she paused to open the doors to the library. I'll have time to do some research and start that paper I've been planning to write. Of course there will be students to help and charms that need maintaining, plus I want to go through and recatalogue everything before I start. Madame Pince put a number of unusual jinxes on the books that really should be written down because I KNOW some student is going to set them off. Therefore I'll need to know what they are to undo them. So by October I'll be able to start my research. Smiling happily, she shut the doors behind her. Hurrying through the rows of shelves to the back where her new office was, she mentally began planning out her time for the next two weeks.

Preoccupied with these musings, she nearly missed the pair of feet sticking out from amongst the rows of the restricted section. Taking two steps back, Hermione peered around the shelf and frowned. Sitting comfortably on the floor, legs straight out in front of her with large book resting on her thighs was a small girl. Black braids hung down over each shoulder, resting atop a green sweater with silver striping. To either side of her sat two large tomcats. One was a dark smoky blue color while the other was brown and gold striped. They glared up at her as if to say 'what are you doing here?' as the child flipped the page.

This must be the new DADA instructor's daughter, Hermione reasoned. Dumbledore had mentioned that they'd had to hire a new one, and that he was a young parent. Although, she didn't understand why the child couldn't be at home with her mother or grandparents instead of wandering loose around Hogwarts. It was poor parenting in her mind.

"Excuse me honey," Hermione said sweetly. The little girl looked up from her book. "What are you doing?"

"Studying curses," Cassie replied, staring up at the strange woman. She'd never seen her before; she wasn't one of the teachers she'd met. Although Daddy and Papa had said that Madame Pince was leaving and that a new librarian would be coming in today. This woman must be her. She didn't look pleased to see her or the cats.

"Well, curses are a little dangerous. Why don't you give me that book and we'll find something more suitable for you to be reading?" Hermione suggested moving closer.

"No thank you," Cassie replied focusing on one curse and mouthing it to herself.

"But this isn't a book for someone your age. Besides, you shouldn't be in the restricted section. It's full of bad things that a little girl shouldn't know until she's older." She said trying to coax the child to give up the book. "We don't want you to get hurt now, would we?"

"But Daddy said I'm supposed to study my curses," she informed the librarian.

"Did he?" The woman gave her a skeptical look. Cassie nodded firmly. "And where is your daddy?"

"In his classroom. He's a teacher." She told Hermione proudly.

"I see." Hermione said slowly. "The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Again Cassie nodded. "Why don't we go talk to your daddy?"

"But he's teaching right now. I'm supposed to stay with Vincent and Gregory until he comes to get me." Cassie told her as the cats continued to glare.

"Who are Vincent and Gregory?"

"The kitties," the little girl said nonchalantly.

"I see. Well, why don't you AND your kitties come with me to talk to your daddy?" Hermione asked, throwing on her most enticing smile. There had to be a way for the child to give up the book. Plus she wanted a word or two with her careless father.

Cassie thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I guess. But if I get in trouble, it's your fault."

Sighing, Hermione waited for the girl to close the book and climb to her feet. Silently cursing the child's negligent parent, she led the way out into the hall. How could someone be as idiotic as to let a small child run around loose in the library where she might get into trouble! This DADA instructor must have brains about on par with Gilderoy Lockhart's before he erased his own memory.

It took her a brief moment to remember where the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was. Once she did, she took off at a brisk pace while Cassie trudged along behind. With the thick tome pressed to her chest, she followed directly in Hermione's shadow, her cat sentries never leaving their posts on either side. Tails held high in the air they dared anyone to try and harm Cassie while they were on duty.

Thankfully, class was almost over with, so they waited outside the classroom. Leaning against the wall Hermione glanced down at Cassie. The little girl was staring at the door with a bored expression on her face. This is not how I wanted to spend my morning, but her father needs to know I won't tolerate her in my library unsupervised, Hermione told herself angrily.

Finally the door opened releasing a flood of students into the corridor. A few paused to look at them, but most rushed off to their next class without acknowledgement.

As the crowd thinned, Hermione craned her neck to get a glance at the instructor. Spotting him at his desk shuffling parchment, she marched forward into the room ready to lecture him on good parenting practices. She was half way into the room before she got a good look at him. Her steps faltered leaving her frozen momentarily with her mouth slightly ajar.

Cassie ignored the suddenly still woman and walked up the Draco's desk. "Daddy, this lady says I'm not supposed to be studying my curses," she said, bringing Hermione back to her senses.

Draco set down the parchment then turned to give his daughter and the new librarian his full attention. "She did, did she?"

"Yes, and she dragged me down here even though I told her I was to wait in the library for you." She continued while the large smoke colored cat hopped up on the desk and sat.

"I see." He replied, his voice lowering slightly with disapproval.

"Draco Malfoy?" Hermione gasped not believing what her eyes told her.

"Yes, Granger?" He replied fixing her with a stern look.

"You're the new DADA teacher?" She blurted out.

"Yes."

"And this is your daughter?" This was unreal to her. Draco Malfoy shouldn't be teaching.

"Yes. Observant as ever I see," Draco muttered, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Now exactly why did you tell my daughter she couldn't study curses?"

The remaining shock dissipated at the sound of his irate voice. Crossing her arms in front of her, she took a calming breath before beginning.

"Because she's obviously too young to be studying such things. Not to mention there are many books that are extremely dangerous. That's why they're in the restricted section. You shouldn't let your child in the library unsupervised. Hogwarts is no place for a small child to be roaming freely." Hermione said crisply.

"First, it is not your place to go against something I've explicitly told her she's to do. Second, she needs to study curses and I've Dumbledore's permission to allow her in the restricted section for such purposes. Third, she was not unsupervised. Vincent and Gregory were there." Draco explained trying not to let his temper get the better of him.

"He what? I can't believe Dumbledore would allow such a thing," she huffed.

"He did." He replied through gritted teeth. Percy I can handle, Natalie I can handle, hell I can even deal with Ron! Hermione on the other hand, I'm going to curse if she doesn't get off her high broomstick!

"That is crazy, she's too young to be reading such books." Hermione growled, fixing Draco with a heated glare.

The cats glared at her and meowed loudly in Draco's defense.

"Thank you Vincent, Gregory." He said, glad that his friends were on his side.

"Weren't those the given names of your two bodyguards during school? You named your cats after them?" Hermione questioned recognizing the names. She'd always been good at remembering people and who they were associated with.

"I didn't name them, that's what they're called." Draco retorted hotly.

"That doesn't make any sense. You either you named them after Crabbe and Goyle or you didn't," she pointed out.

"I don't have time for this." Draco growled, noticing a few students beginning to trickle in. "I have a class to teach. Why don't you find Harry and tell him your concerns of how I'm raising Cassiopeia?"

"Harry's here?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded. "I thought it was just Ron. Although now that I think about it, Dumbledore did mention two Aurors."

"Yes, Harry's here. Why don't you go talk to him?"

"I think I will." She huffed, turning abruptly and nearly tripping over Vincent in the process. The tabby meowed loudly at the indignity as Gregory flattened his ears at her.

"Should I go back to the library Daddy?" Cassie asked as more students filed in. Draco thought a moment and shook his head.

"Why don't you sit at my desk and read quietly while I teach?" He suggested. She nodded and hurriedly climbed onto the chair.

"Do you think Papa will be mad at the lady for shooing me out of the library?" Cassie wondered as Hermione finally reached the door.

Once she made it out of the DADA classroom, Hermione paused a moment to ponder what Cassie had said. She'd called Draco Daddy, so who was Papa? Was that Lucius? She doubted that, the man wasn't a "Papa-type". He'd prefer Grandfather. Maybe it referred to her mother's father. That was possible. Still the statement seemed to insinuate that Papa was here. Why would Draco send her to see Harry? Suddenly she stopped. When had Draco started calling Harry by his first name? He'd always called him Potter. This didn't make sense, none of it.

Turning back to the mission at hand, she went in search of Harry.

Surprisingly the first person she bumped into was Percy Weasley. Ron had mentioned he was there doing something for the Ministry, but that was back in June. Hermione hadn't expected him to still be at Hogwarts.

"Good day Hermione." Percy said smiling. "I hear you've taken over for Madame Pince. Congratulations."

"Thank you. What are you still doing at Hogwarts? I thought the business for the Ministry would have ended by now."

"It did, but I decided to quit the Ministry." Hermione looked aghast at this. Working for the Ministry of Magic was his dream job. "They wanted to move me into the same department as my father. I refused." Percy explained.

"That's terrible. What are you doing now?" She asked feeling a bit sorry for him.

"I'm the History instructor here," Percy stated, a smug expression fixing on his face.

"You're what? Wait, what happened to Professor Binns?" She felt perplexed, a lot had changed in the three months she'd been on the continent. Percy tried to hide an amused smile.

"A little Malfoy informed him he was a dead right before classes started. He was quite surprised and asked how long he'd been a ghost. She told him he'd been one since Snape had been a student, and he decided that it was about time he crossed over to the other side." Percy paused in his narration. "Have you met Cassiopeia Malfoy yet?"

"Yes. I wish someone had TOLD me Draco Malfoy was our new DADA instructor."

The red head coughed and looked a bit guilty. "Yes, well…" She eyed him suspiciously for a moment. "Anyway, where were you going in such a hurry?"

"To find Harry. I had to deliver Miss Malfoy to her father because she was in the restricted section unsupervised reading a book on curses. And not the first year ones, but the ones we learned in sixth year!" She exclaimed once more fuming. "The child could've been hurt."

"But she's supposed to be studying curses," Percy interjected before she could give him her opinion on Draco's parenting skills.

"Why!" She snapped.

Percy chewed his bottom lip. "I think it's best you hear this from Harry. He's in the teachers' living area. He traded places with Ron after the Crabbe and Goyle incident. He's currently the Auror assigned to the school, although Ron isn't far away."

"What Crabbe and Goyle incident? Oh, do you mean the two Death Eaters that broke in here a month ago?" Percy nodded. "The paper didn't mention their names."

"Yes, well." Percy didn't finish the sentence. Instead he pretended to look at his watch. "I should be going; I have students that need to be taught."

"Then I'll have to talk with you later Percy."

"That would be nice. You should get going. Harry's in his quarters I believe. Good luck." Percy said letting her pass by. "You'll need it."