That Fateful Night

Chapter Five

Seeing Draco for the First Time in Years

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Dimitrius looked Katalia over carefully before choosing his words. "Stupid half-blood actually smart enough to get into Hogwarts?" After saying that with his usual sneer, he took his cold stare from Katie and looked at the witch pinning his robes on. "A bit longer." He said to the witch. "I don't need to look like a Weasley. My robes are supposed to fit me."

The witch nodded without saying anything. Then she removed the pins from the bottom and lengthened his robes so that he would shut up. She always hated working with Malfoy children. And if this one hadn't been so rude to the girl who had just walked in she would have sworn the girl was a Malfoy too.

Another witch came out of somewhere in the back then looked at Katalia. "Are you ready?" She noted the girl looked like a Malfoy and prepared for the worst. But as she pinned up the girl's robes, the girl was very polite and it shocked her.

The witch pinning Katie's robes just happened to glance to her left and saw Dimitrius. Without even thinking about it she asked, "Are you two related?"

Dimitrius looked utterly repulsed by the very thought. "Of course not! We don't look a thing alike!" He glared

at the witch, looking murderous. That was obviously the easiest way to piss off a Malfoy.

Well of course, saying the two didn't look a thing like was a complete lie. They both had the same white-blonde hair and the same shade gray eyes. Katie's, however, had a faint hazel ring around the gray while Dimitrius had a very light green ring around his. They were both ghostly pale and each had a very slightly pointed face. They did each have different noses though.

"Actually getting what they wanted Malfoy?" Katie asked, referring to the black robes. She was trying to be pleasant to the boy. She still wasn't sure what she had ever done to piss off Dimitrius in the first place but it was obviously something big because he'd always hated her.

"It's not that. I just don't wear anything but black. I suppose you'll be getting some stupid pink robes?" He smirked at her, then looked back at the witch pinning his robes. "My sleeves are uneven and my right is way too long."

"Ugh no! I don't want pink robes."

"And I guess you will want to be in the idiot Hufflepuff house or the moronic Gryffindor house with retards like that Weasley girl?" He smirked at Katie again, knowing he was really making her mad.

"Of course not!" She said, just to make sure he didn't win. She always hated it when she let him know that he'd made her angry.

"Well you'd never make it into the Slytherin house and you're too stupid to get into Ravenclaw so I suppose you'll have to leave." He paused for a second then spat, "Not like anybody would miss you."

"I bet I can make it into Slytherin just as easily as you!"

"Ha! Everyone in Slytherin has to have at least one pureblood parent and your mum is a mudblood and you father probably was only a half blood."

"Actually my father is a pureblood."

"If you say so." Dimitrius looked down and noted that the witch was done with his robes. So he hopped off the stool, handed his money to the witch, and left carrying no bags.

"Would you like your robes owled to you also, dear?" She asked, looking at Katie.

"No I'll carry them. I dunno if my mom would like it if I didn't come out with money or bags."

"Ok then. What colors would you like?"

Katalia thought for a few moments then told her. The witch nodded and walked to the back, telling her it would only be a few minutes.

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Hermione stepped slowly into Flourish and Blotts and looked around. Everything still looked the same. Shelves of books lined the wall and although there were a few new faces working there it almost brought her back to her school days. There were witches and wizards browsing and milling about. There were children with their parents joyfully picking out their first real schoolbooks or if they were older, miserably piling up theirs. It had been so long since she had been in here looking for her schoolbooks. And now there was no Harry and Ron here with her joking about stupid things.

Ron was off in America still a bit mad at her. Hermione had no idea what he was doing in America. She figured he was probably playing quidditch or something like that. Or that American game. She couldn't quite recall what it was called. But that had always been his dream and he'd made it come true. After he had found out whose child she was carrying he had left her and dedicated himself completely to quidditch.

Harry, on the other hand, was visiting in Romania on "Ministry business" or so she had heard. Actually, Hermione thought he was just there to visit Ginny who was there visiting Charlie. He was still in love with Ginny although her feelings were rather diminished. He too had gone on to complete his goal of becoming an auror.

Someone behind her cleared his throat, which brought Hermione back to the real world. She was still standing in the doorway of the shop. Hermione turned around to apologize when she found herself staring right into the cold eyes of Lucius Malfoy. She froze for a second then blurted out, "Lucius!"

"Draco…" The man paused and then his brows furrowed together. "Do I really look that old?" He smiled slightly at her. He had instantly recognized her when she had been blocking the doorway but hadn't wanted to say anything for fear of being beaten half to death if she was still pissed, which he wouldn't blame her for being.

"Draco! You-you look...different..." Hermione figured there was no use in being mad at him over something that had happened accidentally all those years ago. He was, after all, just a kid at the time. And she'd done just fine on her own so far.

"Well I am 28 years old now." He said, a slight smile tugging at his lips. It was good to know she was being civil. Now maybe he could find a way to work in that he wanted to see the child.

"So... what are you doing here?" She knew damn well what he was doing here but she was curious to see what he'd say.

"Buying Dimitri's school books."

"Dimitri?" Hermione asked curiously, playing it off as if she didn't know he had another child.

"My son. He'll be going off to Hogwarts this year."

"I didn't think you'd have a son that old yet judging by the way you acted last time I saw you." Her tone was slightly condescending. She didn't quite mean for it to come out that way but maybe she'd get an explanation of why he'd made no slight attempt to even see Katie, well, aside from the whole being married part.

Hermione thought she saw a slight pink tinge appear in his cheeks. "Sorry about that... I got forced to marry some French girl, Angeli, a friend of the family… Mother wanted some grandkids so you can figure out the rest... What are you doing here?" He too, knew why she was here but figured it'd be a slick way to learn about the child.

"Buying books and waiting for Katalia."

"Who?"

They both knew damn well that he could guess on his own who she was talking about but Hermione decided to humor him and answer. "M- our daughter." She had almost just said her daughter until it hit her that she was talking to the girl's absent father. Though he couldn't be considered a parent. All he did was send some money every month.

"She starting Hogwarts?" Hermione noticed a slight change in him but could not place what kind of change. It seemed almost like he was sad, possibly over the fact he hadn't seen the girl grow up. And it serves him right. Should have been around. But she reasoned with herself. He is married.

"Yeah. She'll be 11 in February."

"Hi mum I – "Katie walked in smiling, but stopped dead in her tracks and looked like she had seen a ghost when she caught sight of Draco. He was stunningly handsome and looked so much like both her and Dimitrius. There was no mistaking who this man was. She simply stared at him. Was this really the day she would finally meet her father?

Hermione looked at Draco and saw he was just as shocked as Katalia.

Draco looked at the girl. She looked nothing like her mother at all aside from the nose. She had his hair, his face, and his perfect but pale complexion. She even had his eyes. For a moment he felt as if he was staring at a 20 years younger version of his distant cousin Paris.

Hermione was the one to break the silent staring contest. "Katie this is your father, Draco Malfoy. Draco meet your daughter, Katalia Skye Malfoy Granger."

"Um...hi..." Katie mumbled. She was so scared that he wasn't going to like her. She used to think he stayed away because he hated her and didn't want to see her. But now that she was meeting him she had gained a new fear. She was afraid if she messed up, even once, he wouldn't like her at all.

"Hi." Hermione noted that it was amazing how young Draco looked at that moment.

"So what did you get Katie?" Hermione asked, trying to reenter a sense of normalcy. After all, it wasn't too utterly shocking the two would meet someday. London was only so big. They'd have been bound to run into one another eventually.

"I got some pale blue ones, some black, some dark green, some dark blue, one red, and a couple others." She paused for a second then said, "But I only got three sets just like you said."

"Green? You going to be a Slytherin?" Draco asked trying to enter the conversation. He figured she'd probably want to be a Gryffindor like her mother and all of her mother's friends but it was worth a shot.

"I'm considering it um... what should I call you?" She looked at Draco. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she really had no idea of what to call him.

"Er - um...Draco would be fine… Though I suppose you could call me whatever you want to." He added that as an after thought. He was hoping she wasn't going to call him anything...bad... but of course he realized he'd deserve it if she did. He knew he hadn't done anything at all to help her and Hermione other than send them 80 galleons a month. He wanted to send more but Hermione had once sent some of it back telling him 10 galleons a week was all she'd take. He, however, wrote her back, sending 40 galleons back, saying that he'd send no less than 20 a week.

"All right. I guess I'll call you Draco... It seems a bit strange though..."

"You were in Madame Malkin's right?" Draco asked, although it was obvious. It got them off the other topic though.

Katie nodded, wondering why he wanted to know. Though a second asked she'd nodded it occurred to her he was probably looking for his son.

"Did you see a boy around your age that looks a lot like me?"

"Dimitrius?" Katie made a disgusted face. "Unfortunately."

"I take it you don't like him much..." Draco said, not sounding shocked at all. Dimitri was quite the little Lucius Malfoy therefore, he was an asshole. It didn't even occur to him that Dimitrius was just like he had been in his early Hogwarts years except a bit worse.

It's amazing how much one person can change. Hermione thought. Draco didn't sound as if he liked the way Dimitrius acted. Though, Hermione couldn't blame him. If her child acted like that she'd be embarrassed to take her into public.

"Ugh father why are you talking to these people?" Dimitrius drawled, having suddenly appeared at his father's side. If only it had been about 17 years earlier, he could have passed off as Draco's twin. Hermione saw a faint ring of emerald green around the gray in his icy eyes. She also saw the way he sneered at Katie and the glare he sent Hermione's way and knew Draco couldn't have raised him with the way Draco was now...

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A/n: Wow finished another chapter in a day. Next one will be out hopefully near the end of the week. I have a concert to go to tomorrow and the next day I'm going to an amusement park so yeah… I'll be busy until Friday.

But yeah, hope you like Draco and dislike Dimitri. We get more of Dimitri's lovely comments in the next chapter. The one after that is the train ride. And anyone who had read the previous version I put up will start to recognize the 7th chapter through the 11th. I won't really need to edit those too much.

Oh yes, I've also decided that the character named Blaise Zabini that I had as a female will be changed to another character named Aliza Dezmoni.

Please review!