Disclaimer: obviously not mine. Why would it be on a fan fiction site?

Chapter eighteen

Chaise was quite shocked to find out that Hermione had a daughter but he got over it quickly and continued to flirt intemperately with Hermione who wasted no time in flirting back.

The next day Hermione was alone in her room with Shia when Malfoy arrived for his visit. He came into her room grinning.

"How are my girls?"

"They've just woken up" Hermione replied, handing Shia to her father and running her fingers through her unruly hair.

"Hey Hermione" Chaise came into the room looking slightly confused. "Have you seen my guitar pick? Oh, I see your entertaining…" he stopped speaking and smirked at Malfoy.

"Draco this is…"

"Chaise" Draco replied coolly. "Yeah I know, we've met" Hermione looked at the blonde boy and saw that he was staring at Chaise; his eyes cold as ice and his expression set. Hermione was reminded forcibly of Charlie's (who still hadn't returned) behaviour the day before.

"Good to see you again, Draco" Chaise said warmly, looking between Hermione and Malfoy. "So, are you two dating or what?"

Hermione and Malfoy looked at each other, trying to read each other's minds.

"No" Hermione said finally, without breaking the gaze between she and Draco. "Of course we're not"

Something, Hermione wasn't sure what, flashed across Draco's eyes and, if he wasn't holding Shia, Hermione was sure that he would have hit Chaise.

Chaise seemed to know that he'd hit a nerve and he slowly backed out of the room, grinning all the same.

"Why did you tell him that?" Draco asked, placing Shia back in her bassinet and turning his full attention on Hermione. She thought she saw something in his hard expression. Something that reminded her of Lucius.

"Well we aren't really dating, are we?" she argued, wishing he'd leave; he was reminding her to much of his father "I know we had fun but neither of us really asked the other one out, right?"

"Right" Malfoy said blankly and walked away. At the door he paused and looked over his shoulder. "Be careful with him, Hermione. Chaise isn't all he's cracked up to be" then he left.

Chaise came back into the room, walked straight up to Hermione and kissed her.

"So you want to be my girlfriend, Herm?"

Pushing Draco's words out of her mind, Hermione managed to smile.

"Moving a bit quick, aren't we? You only just arrived"

Chaise shrugged. "Life's to short to be waiting for the right moment"

"To shay"

They kissed briefly before Chaise dragged her out the door by the hand.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked, looking back over her shoulder at Shia.

"Lets go find a skate park"

"I cant"

"Why not? Leave Shia here with your maid."

"No it's not that" Hermione bit her lip. "Charlie isn't back. I promised I wouldn't leave the castle until he arrived"

"He's a bodyguard. He can't tell you what to do"

"I trust Charlie. And if he says stay then I stay"

Chaise looked as if he wanted to argue but after seeing the set look on Hermione's face he simply smiled and led her to the parlour where they sat and talked.

Charlie arrived home later that afternoon looking utterly pissed.

"Where'd you go?" Hermione asked, following him from the main room to the kitchen where he got a large bottle of water from a massive silver fridge.

"Never mind" he grumbled, pushing past her and leaving. Hermione watched him go, completely miffed.

Chaise came into the room with his skateboard under his arm.

"Charlie's back. We can go now"

"Gee, nothing gets past you, does it?" Hermione smiled and he bought her into a one armed hug.

Twenty minutes later they were off, driving along in Hermione's convertible with Charlie, still looking pissed, in the back seat.

"So are you going to tell me where you went?" Hermione asked once they reached the skate park. Hermione and Charlie were sitting on a bench watching Chaise ride the half pipe. He was quite a good skater, better than the other teenage boys there, anyway.

"No" Charlie answered bluntly.

"Can I guess?"

"No"

"C'mon, Charlie, what's going on?"

"Nothing important"

"Nothing important! You were gone almost two days!"

"Just leave it, Hermione. If it goes my way you'll find out soon enough"

Hermione frown but said nothing more.

Draco came to visit Shia everyday for the next week. How he did it without Chaise being there, Hermione had no idea but he would show up, sometimes with one of the assassins, sometimes with out, when Chaise had gone to the skate park. He would sit, for an hour or so, simply nursing his daughter. Hermione sometimes tried to talk to him but he had become quite hostile towards her. Then, five minutes before Chaise arrived home, he would depart without a trace.

And to make things worse, Charlie's bad mood didn't lighten and yet he barely left Hermione's side.

The week after that Malfoy stopped coming altogether and Charlie's dark attitude increased.

It was in that same week, on the Thursday night, that Hermione's mother approached her and announced a party for the following night before they left for Australia for a holiday with Chaise' parents. (They told Hermione about the trip the week before)

"It'll be a casual party," Clarisse said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger. "So you can wear whatever you like."

"Ok then" Hermione replied dutifully. She was feeling a bit resentful towards her mother lately. (Clarisse still hadn't held Shia)

The party came on in full swing the next day. Hermione spent the whole morning being pampered and having her hair done by Joe then she spent the afternoon having a sleep with Shia.

It was getting dark when Hermione finally decided to get changed. She put on a matching pair of pink lace bra and undies then pulled on a short, black pleated skirt.

Before she could pull on the flowing blue top that she had purchased the day before, Chaise came crashing in without knocking. When he saw Hermione half naked he stopped.

"Hey, hey" he said, raising an eyebrow and looking her up and down. Hermione suppressed a giggle and watched as he advanced on her.

"I hope your going to the party like that," he said before kissing her softly.

"I think not" Hermione replied, putting her arms around his neck and grinning before kissing him back.

Malfoy appeared at the open door at that moment. "Knock, knock" he said quietly.

"What are you doing here!" Hermione asked, pulling away from Chaise and overing her upper torso with her arms.

"I came to see Shia. It's been a week"

Chaise looked between them and smirked.

"I'll go get ready for the party"

He headed towards the door but stopped beside Malfoy.

"The lady needs to get ready, are you coming, Draco?"

"No" Malfoy replied bluntly

Chaise stared at him and Malfoy stared straight back.

"Just go, Chaise. I'll see you downstairs"

"If that's what you want" Chaise replied hesitantly. Hermione nodded gratefully and he left. Malfoy came into the room.

"Why are you with him?" he demanded, looking into Shia's bassinet while Hermione pulled on her shirt.

"Why would it matter to you?"

Malfoy looked up at her sadly.

"What happened between us, Hermione? One day we were having the time of our lives and the next your hooking up with Chaise"

"What have you got against Chaise, anyway?" Hermione snapped, slyly avoiding his question.

Malfoy opened his mouth to answer then closed it and shook his head. Hermione turned away from him and to the mirror to put on some makeup. In the mirrors reflection she could see him picking Shia up and placing her on Hermione's bed. He then lay down next to her and stared at her. Hermione closed her eyes to clear her thoughts. When she opened them again she found Malfoy watching her with a small smile on his face.

"What?" Hermione asked, meeting his eye through the reflection of the mirror.

"Nothing. Your really pretty, that's all"

"Thank you" she picked up a brush and ran it through her hair. Malfoy continued to watch her.

Eventually Kellie came in with a bottle so she could look after Shia for the night. Hermione and Malfoy left together for the party.

Chaise was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Hermione and when the couple arrived he slipped between them, linking his arm through his girlfriends. Malfoy dropped back several paces and followed them quietly out to the gardens where several larges tents were set up.

Jolly music was playing and people aged from young teen to middle-aged were dancing and chatting happily. Malfoy disappeared from behind them as Chaise pulled Hermione forward to dance.

Malfoy, in fact, had gone off in search of Frederick. He found the older boy sitting alone at a table watching the mini-bar that had been set up.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" he asked tiredly when the blonde boy sat opposite him.

"He's back," Malfoy said in a low voice, looking around the crowd.

"Who's back?"

"Chaise"

"You're kidding me?" Frederick paled considerably and he glanced over his shoulder. "I thought they took him away"

"They did… now he's back, staying here at the Granger's with Hermione. Is Lilly around?"

"She should be" Frederick bought his eyes back to Draco's "so he's back here, huh? What does Hermione's bodyguard think?"

"He's absolutely furious."

"And why is he at the Granger's?"

"Dunno. But he and Hermione have hooked up… look over there" Malfoy pointed to the dance floor where Hermione and Chaise where no longer dancing but making out.

"Bloody hell" Frederick paled even more. "Bit quick, isn't it? He couldn't have been here that long. And anyway… weren't you with Hermione?"

"I was. I think he might have slipped her a love potion but when it wore off she didn't notice because she was already attracted to him"

"Her parents are going away. We have to get him out of there"

"I agree. But how?"

"Lets just kill him" Frederick made to stand up but Jamie-Lyn came over at that moment and sat down beside Malfoy.

"Did you see? Chaise Wood is back!" she said brightly. "He said he was on a vow of silence"

Malfoy and Frederick glanced at each other darkly.

Lilly joined them minutes later with a smile on her face.

"Just like old times" she said, sitting next to Frederick. "You know, before Princess Granger over there showed up"

"Jamie-Lyn" Frederick said sweetly, "Could you get us some drinks? Four vodkas in soda"

Jamie-Lyn looked slightly disgusted but stood up and left.

"Chaise is back," Frederick said to Lilly. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand while her eyes widened in horror.

Jamie-Lyn came back with four drinks and handed them out. At the same time Chaise and Hermione walked past, arms wrapped around each other.

"Frederick, good to see you again!" Chaise said jubilantly. Frederick looked like he was going to get up and smash Chaise into the ground. Malfoy kicked him under the table to remind him where he stood.

Hermione looked between Frederick and Malfoy with a quizzical look but neither expression gave anything away. She and Chaise moved on.

Lilly groaned and slumped down in her seat.

"What's up with you?" Jamie-Lyn asked, waving goodbye to Chaise.

"Jamie-Lyn, come dance, aye?" Nigel called. Jamie-Lyn grinned and jumped up. Lilly waited until the other girl was out of earshot before speaking again.

"I think I might go home," she said in a quiet voice. Malfoy reached across and put a hand on her shaking arm.

"He'll be gone before you know it" he assured her. "Trust me, I'm not letting him hang around for much longer"

Lilly nodded and left. Frederick stood up and stretched.

"I'm going to get another drink"

"Whatever"

Frederick went to the bar and ordered another Vodka. While he waited Hermione appeared beside him. He grabbed her arm.

"Hermione, can we talk?"

"No" she answered, trying to pull away. He gripped her wrist even tighter.

"It's really important"

"Let go, Freddie"

"Hermione!"

"Hey! Let her go!" Chaise barged in between them and shoved Frederick away. Frederick shoved him back into the bar. Before the fight could progress any further several Guards came in and broke them apart.

"He's dangerous, Hermione!" Frederick shouted as he was dragged away. The guards eventually let him go when he'd calmed down enough.

The moment the prince was by himself, though, Malfoy rammed him up against the castle wall.

"What the hell are you doing?" the blonde boy hissed, pushing on Frederick's throat with his hand.

"I was trying to warn Hermione!"

"You cant do that! We don't have proof!"

"Well how do we get it, smart ass?" Frederick managed to prise Malfoy's hands off.

"Oh don't you worry" Malfoy smiled humourlessly, "I'll get proof If it's the last thing I do!"

Every memory of looking out the back door
I have the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

Like it? So… any guesses whom Chaise is yet?

I'll leave you to it…