Chapter three – A bad mother

When Hermione dropped Becky of at the muggle day-care centre the next morning she met Ginny, who was taking a walk with James.

"Hey Hermione, Becky", Ginny said and smiled brightly.

"Hey Gin, and hi James", Hermione replied and looked at the little boy who looked so much like Harry. "I'm sorry but I don't really have time to talk now, we're already a little late", Hermione replied.

"Did your mother over sleep once again?" Ginny asked and looked at Becky.

"Yes, she's so lazy"

"Thanks Becky, let's get inside now", Hermione said as Ginny burst out laughing. "By the way Gin, can we eat lunch together today? We have to talk"

"Sure, I've got nothing better to do", Ginny said. "The Leaky Cauldron, 1 o'clock?"

"Perfect, see you then", Hermione replied and opened the gate to the day-care.

"What do we need to talk about?" Ginny called after them.

"My new boss", Hermione called over her shoulder as they approached to the house. She opened the door and Becky ran inside, Hermione looked at Ginny and said: "You have no idea who it is!"

"Tell me!" Ginny exclaimed.

"I will, at lunch", Hermione said and smiled at Ginny before she went inside the house. One of the ladies, Emily McFadden, who worked at the day-care came up to Hermione and pulled her aside.

"When you pick up Rebecca today, we need to have a little talk, if you've got time…" She whispered.

"Sure" Hermione replied and didn't really understand what Emily was talking about because she was too busy thinking about that she already was 15 minutes late to work, and her meeting with Draco.

"Alright, I'll see you later then", Emily said and smiled a weird smile at Hermione.

"Ok", Hermione mumbled. "Becky, come here", she continued and turned to look at her daughter. Becky ran up to her and Hermione lifted her up in her arms. "I love you honey"

"I love you to mummy"

When Hermione arrived to the Daily Prophet she bumped in to Colin Creevey in the door.

"You better hurry Hermione", Colin said. "He's been asking for you"

"Thanks Colin", Hermione sighed before he walked out the door and she walked towards Dracos office. She took a deep breath before knocking at the door. The door flung open and she stepped in.

"You're 43 minutes late Granger", Draco snapped. "What's your explanation?"

"I…" Hermione begun. "My daughter, she…"

"That's not good enough", he interrupted. "But I won't fire you this time", he continued.

"Thanks", she snapped and rolled her eyes, then she sat down at a chair in front of his desk.

"Mind your attitude"

"That came from the right person", Hermione said but regret it at once. It felt like she was back at Hogwarts again, same old quarrels with Draco. We're not at Hogwarts anymore, we're 24 years old, I have to act more mature, she thought to herself. Silence broke out in the room. Draco looked out of the windows and Hermione looked straight at him. She noticed that his eyes really wasn't grey, like everybody always said, they were blue.

"No, um, we should get back to business", he said and looked at Hermione again. "What are you staring at?"

"Isn't that obvious? You!" Hermione replied without taking her eyes of him. He smirked and looked deep into her hazel eyes. That's when he noticed something that he recognized, in her eyes he saw a combination of emptiness and fear, and he'd only seen that in once other person's eyes before… That person was himself… "Oh, well, thanks I think", he mumbled.

"Your …er… welcome", Hermione said. He smiled at her, nope you read it right, he really smiled at her. It was an honest and real smile, not one of his famous smirks.

"What was it you wanted to talk about?" She asked and felt comfortable for actually having a normal conversation with him, maybe they could get along after all.

"I want you to write an article about the new boss at the Daily Prophet"

"Oh ok", she replied. The boss at the Daily Prophet, wait a minute that's… "You want me to write about you?"

"Exactly"

"Eh, no, I don't think so", Hermione said and rolled her eyes. So much for their 'normal conversation', he was still the egoistic spoiled brat he'd always been.

"There's gotta be an article about me in the paper tomorrow, because everybody wants to know who the new owner of the Prophet is", Draco said and rose from his chair, he walked towards his big windows and stopped there. With his back against Hermione he said: "There's no one else but you that I want to write this article", he turned around and looked at her again. "You really have no choice, I want this article done by tonight, 8 pm, is that clear?"

"Yes sir", Hermione snapped and glared at him with anger. And there it was again, the smirk.

"We're done now", he sneered. "Get back to work"

She started to write the article about Draco as soon as she got back to her office.

Draco Malfoy is an evil bitch who thinks he can tell everybody what to do and…

She stopped writing, crumpled the paper and threw it in the wastepaper basket.

The new owner of the Daily Prophet is Draco Malfoy. He is only 24 years old but already such an arrogant and egoistic jerk who thinks he … I hate him, everybody here hates him!

Once again Hermione crumpled the paper and threw it away, this time she missed the basket. That made her even more upset. She didn't at all know what to write. Draco trusted her to write something really good, but she couldn't think of anything good to write about him. Were she supposed to make things up and say that he was the best thing that's ever happened to the Daily Prophet?

Ok Hermione, think positive thoughts, he trusts you, he thinks you're one of the best writers around here, you can do it, she tried to convince herself and it actually helped. When it was time for Hermione to go to the Leaky Cauldron and eat lunch with Ginny she had finished half the article.

"Mione, you've gotta tell me about your new boss! How old is he? Is he married? Is he hot?" Ginny asked. "Maybe you can date him?"

"He's 24"

"So are you, good start!" Ginny replied and took a bite of her fried chicken.

"He's engaged"

"Oh", Ginny sighed. "But he's only engaged, that means you still have a chance to steal him before the wedding, now tell me is he good looking?"

Good looking – Draco Malfoy? Hermione had never thought about that before. She pictured him in her mind and yes… When she thought about it, he didn't look too bad.
"Yes, he is", Hermione answered and that made Ginny smile. "And his name is Draco Malfoy", Hermione continued and Ginnys smile slowly faded away.

"Is HE your new boss?"

"Unfortunately"

"Dear Merlin, this can't be good", Ginny mumbled and both of them burst out laughing.

"We actually held our first normal conversation today"

"Oh, really? He's normal?"

"Yeah, until he asked me to write an article about him for tomorrows paper, he's so egoistic", Hermione said and her thoughts wandered away to his blue eyes. "An arrogant, spoiled, petty, evil, snotty jerk… That's what he is"

"That sounds like out Draco", Ginny replied and they both laughed again.

When Hermione got back to work after her lunch she finished the article in no time, she read it twice and felt satisfied. Then she walked up to Dracos office, knocked the door, it flung open so she stepped in and found Draco and Pansy, making out. She was sitting on his desk with her legs wrapped around Dracos waist. As soon as he heard the door he pulled away and turned to Hermione.

"Knock, knock", she said and now finally it was her turn to smirk at him. "So this is what our beloved boss is doing when the doors are closed and he thinks no one can see him", she continued still with a smirk on her lips. Finally she had the power to make him feel uncomfortable. Pansy jumped down from the desk and started to button her shirt.

"What do you want Granger?" Draco snapped, but not in the same evil tone as usual, he actually sounded embarrassed.

"I was going to give you the article", she replied. "But I might wanna change it now when I know what you're really doing in here"

"Just give it to me", he said and pulled the papers away from her. "If it's good enough you'll read it in the paper tomorrow, if it sucks you can consider yourself fired", he continued. "You can go home now!"

She was in an awfully good mood when she arrived to the day-care to pick up Becky. Emily, the day-care lady, came up to her when she stepped into the house and said:

"Let's go to my room"

At first Hermione really didn't understand why, but then she remembered that Emily wanted to talk about something with her.

"It's about Rebecca", Emily said quietly as they both sat down.

"Um, ok, tell me" Said Hermione and felt worried because of the look on Emily's face, it looked like she had something very important to say.

"I don't know how much she has told you already, but we have noticed the other kids are teasing her", Emily explained. It felt like Hermiones heart stopped beating, not my little baby, she thought.

"She's not told me anything about it…" Hermione replied.

"Oh", Emily sighed. "It's hard being a young parent", she continued and looked down at her feet.

"Are you saying that I'm a bad parent?" Asked Hermione and looked rather confused.

"No, or… maybe", Emily said. "Becky doesn't seem to wanna share important things with you, something must be wrong"