The Apple of My Eye

Summary: Diego is Hermione's son. He doesn't have a father. While playing at the park, he meets a very nice man called Draco. Hermione is unaware of her son's new friend. Then one day, she spies him sitting on the lap of a man she never wanted to see again.

Disclaimer: It's surprising I know, but I don't own anything.


Chapter 2:

The next morning, Diego bounded out of bed, feeling happier than usual and didn't even complain about brushing his teeth.

Hermione was surprised in the sudden change. He hadn't been this happy since his Uncle Harry had taken him to Disney Land in America for his birthday. She wondered why.

As the two sat down at the table for their breakfast, Diego chattered away as only small children can. In the half and hour they spent at the table eating, he had ranged from the picture he was going to draw for his new friend – what was his name? David? - to how Herbert (his favourite stuffed bear) needed to be mended yet again. All the while he had a rosy tint in his cheeks.

Hermione didn't talk much. She was content to watch her beautiful son. She felt a bubble of pride rise in her bosom. He was such a sweet child. Her mind wondered then, to his future. He needed a strong male influence. Harry and Ron were there. They were always there to help. And Diego was very attached to both of them. But somehow, they weren't enough.

She had considered marrying or having a boyfriend, but she couldn't find anyone. Not that she wasn't asked out, oh no. Hermione was attractive enough – not stunning, but pretty. She had been hit on a fair bit, but as soon as they realised she had a son, they seemed to suddenly have important meetings to rush off to. A couple had said they didn't mind, but they had pretended that Diego hadn't existed.

Hermione sighed. She didn't know what to do. Her mother had always said that things straighten themselves out in time.

Hermione then thought about her job. When she had first had Diego, she had only been out of Hogwarts nine months. She and everyone she knew thought her life would be over. There weren't many teenage mothers who were able to make it to the top. Hermione had been distraught. She had come out with marks equivalent to Albus Dumbledore's and she thought it would all be a waste.

But it seemed that in the wizarding world, if you were that intelligent, and had the right attitude; people were willing to give you a chance.

The job offers had been withheld until Diego was six moths old, then they came rushing in. Hermione Granger, the smartest witch of the time was in hot demand.

Her prospective employers were willing to negotiate almost anything with her. So she settled to work in the Organised Crime department of the Ministry of Magic. She worked five days a week, but from ten till three, but earned the equivalent of someone working sixty hour weeks.

She was had everything, so why was she feeling empty?

Her mind threatened to stray to Diego's father, but fought to think about other things. She had vowed never to think about that son of a bitch ever again, and she intended to do exactly that.


Diego was in heaven. His mummy had made his favourite breakfast – French toast – and he was going to see Draco again this afternoon. He couldn't wait.

He had been a bit worried about his mother at breakfast though, she seemed to have been a bit worried about something. But grown-ups could look after themselves couldn't they?

After his breakfast, Diego had gone up to his room and started drawing a picture for Draco. He carefully drew the lines as best he could to look like Draco, and himself feeding the ducks. It took him three attempts to get it right. Next he got out his colouring pencils. He coloured both of their clothes black because he liked the way the black clothing had looked on Draco and he wanted to look as good as him too.

After that he coloured in the grass, the pond and the ducks. Then he came to their hair. Diego had always had difficulty in colouring his hair, because it was neither white, nor blonde and Draco's was the same. His child-care teachers had told him to use yellow because it would be easier, but he refused. He couldn't tolerate things not being right. So he had devised his own method. It wasn't perfect, but it satisfied him. He lightly coloured their heads yellow, but made sure to leave a few gaps. Over that, he coloured in with the white pencil, pressing hard. Somewhere in the middle of all this, his mother came in and pressed her lips to his forehead and murmured a loving farewell. Diego didn't notice – he was too engrossed in his artwork.

Diego sat back and admired his picture. It was one of the best he had ever done. Draco was sure to like it. He looked at the digital clock on his bedside table. It was only eleven o'clock. He would normally watch TV or Wizarding TV, but he felt restless. He wanted to see Draco again.

He went downstairs and saw Bess, his babysitter, sitting on the sofa reading one her weird books with two people kissing on the cover. When his mother went to work at ten, Bess would come over if it was a Monday, Tuesday or a Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, he would go to the wizarding childcare centre that was a block down the street from where his mother worked.

He liked Bess, she was old, and really good for cuddles. He loved watching her face when she laughed because her face looked really pretty. She had been looking after him for as long as he could remember so she didn't bother making her arrival known to him – he knew she would arrive when his mother left.

"Good morning Bess," he said jovially.

"Good morning sweetie," she replied, looking up from her romance novel. "I baked some bickies at my place this morning. They're on the kitchen counter is you'd fancy a few."

With a grin, Diego scampered into the kitchen and came back into the living room with on in his mouth and six more in his small hands.

"Diego," Bess scolded. "You know your mother doesn't allow food in the living areas!"

The little boy just pouted at her. Or rather, he pouted as best he could with his mouth crammed with chocolate biscuits.

"Fine, you can eat here, just don't tell your mother. And don't tell her about all those other times I've let you eat out here okay?"

Diego didn't respond.

"Diego, are you even listening to me?" Bess couldn't see his face as his back was towards her. "Diego?"

Then she saw his shoulders shaking.

"Oh, my dear child!" she exclaimed, rushing over to the weeping child's side. "It's okay sweetie, you just tell Bess what's bothering you."

All her cooing and reassuring was a waste, however, because Bess soon realised that Diego was not crying. Rather, he was laughing, happy that he had gotten her all worried about him.

"Diego Granger! You naughty boy! You should be ashamed of yourself. Making old ladies like me all worried!"

All Diego could do was giggle, too caught up in his mirth to say anything.

Bess huffed in indignation. Then she relaxed her shoulders and smiled at the boy. He was so adorable it was impossible to be mad at him. He continued to laugh, his mouth still full of biscuit.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and steered him to the TV, which was charmed to broadcast both muggle and wizarding programs, and plopped him down on the rug.

"You, my little prince, will just watch your favourite little shows quietly, and without worrying me. Is the understood?"

Diego nodded, still giggling from his previous trick.

Bess sighed, he was impossible. Leaving him to watch his shows, she picked up her book and moved into the kitchen and placed herself at the kitchen counter and resumed reading her novel, while munching on a biscuit.

Her mind, however, was not in the mood for romantic fiction. She kept thinking about Diego and Hermione. They had created a little world for themselves. And they were very happy. But Bess, who had known Hermione from when she was Diego's age, knew that they were both incomplete. Hermione needed a partner and Diego needed a father.

The first word he had learned how to write was dad. And many times, while babysitting him at night, she would hear him murmur "daddy, where are you?" in his sleep.

Bess knew the story about Diego's father. It had brought her closer to Hermione. She just hoped Hermione would be able to deal with her son's questions when he grew older.


Draco Malfoy was a busy man.

He was also a very rich man.

He also happened to be extremely good-looking man.

This was a very good combination, in Draco's point of view.

His girlfriend Summer adored him. She could find only one fault in him – he seemed to be more committed to his father's business than her. This made her strive even harder for his attention.

That drove Draco further and further away from her. He didn't like clingy girls. But he did enjoy having sex with her. He didn't believe that women were only for sex, but that's was the only thing Summer was good at.

That was why, after all three of his meetings, Draco had accepted Summer's invitation to have a late lunch with her.

As he walked up the steps to her front door, he loosened his tie. He had two hours before he was going to the park.

Summer answered the door naked. "Draco," she purred.

Draco didn't answer. Talking to her turned him off because she was so dumb. He just scooped her up into his arms and pushed the door shut with his foot.

As he walked to her bedroom, he kissed her hungrily, to stop her from chattering.

On the bed, Summer, who knew Draco liked it rough, quickly began pushing his clothes off.

Once his shirt was off, she threw herself back onto the bed dramatically. "Touch me Draco!"

Draco moved his hand to her inner thigh and inched it up.

Suddenly Diego's little face appeared in his mind. His hand stopped.

Summer looked up. "Touch me Draco!" she demanded.

But Draco couldn't. He pushed himself off the bed and put his shirt back on.

"Draco," Summer said, "what are doing?"

"I'm leaving," he said tightly.

"What? You can't do that. I'm your girlfriend. You can't just leave!"

"Oh yeah?" he asked, "just watch me."

With that, he walked out of her house. As he walked down the street, he thought about shy he had stopped. He loved sex with Summer, so why had he stopped? Why did the thought of Diego make it seem so wrong to shag his own girlfriend?

He honestly didn't know.


Diego lay lazily on his bed, staring at his clock. It was now three o'clock. Even though his favourite wizard shows were on at the moment, he had not been able to digest anything. Bess had offered to go to the park with him so they could play together, but Diego felt strangely possessive of Draco. He knew that if Bess was at the park, she would meet Draco. And he knew that if she met Draco, she would like him. He didn't want that. Diego had just met Draco; he didn't want to share him just yet.

As he watched the clock change to 3:02, he put his thumb in his mouth. His mummy strongly discouraged thumb-sucking. She had tried many ways to stop him, including covering his thumb in hot chilli powder. It hadn't worked. Diego would just liked the powder off. Of course, he had cried the first few times, but now he was used to it. He would have made any Indian family proud.

When his mother had seemed to be at the brink of pulling her hair out about it, Diego decided to stop. Well, he stopped doing it in front of her. He usually sucked his thumb in bed, because he was sure his mother didn't watch him while he slept.

He looked back at the clock.

3:17.

Still too early. But he could wait in the park.

He went downstairs. Bess was still reading her weird looking book.

"Bess, I'm going to the park," he called.

"Do you want me to come, sweetie?"

"No," he answered. He quickly gave her a peck on the check and raced out the door.

He skipped happily past the three houses that separated his home from the park and continued along to the same table where they had fed the ducks the previous day. There was a family having a picnic there, so Diego decided to just stay around that area so that he could spot Draco when he came.

He sat down at a different bench and looked up to see Jack, the boy who had been so mean to him, walking over.

"Hiya, Diego!" Jack greeted him happily.

"Hi," Diego replied uneasily. He hadn't forgotten about Jack chucking sand in his eyes.

Jack plopped himself down next to him, and just smiled, as if to say that he was innocent. "Wanna play?"

Diego thought about it. It was still a while before Draco would arrive, but he didn't really like Jack. "No thank you," he said politely.

Jack frowned. "Fine!" And with that, he ran off.

Diego watched him run away. He giggled to himself when Jack tripped over a stick. Suddenly, he remembered that he had left his picture for Draco back in his room. With a gasp he sprang up. He didn't know what time it was, so he didn't know if he had enough time to go home and get it. He looked over at the family eating by the pond. They seemed like nice people.

He walked quickly over to them.

"Excuse me," he said nervously, "but would you be able to tell me what the time is?"

The family stopped talking and looked over at the small boy. The mother smiled kindly and looked at her watch. "It's 3:45, darling."

Diego smiled back. "Thankyou maam," then he ran off. He had just enough time to run home.

When he got home though, Bess wouldn't answer the door. "Bess!" he kept calling, but to no avail. He was running out of time. He had no idea how long Draco would wait at the park. He ran around to the side of the house and looked for an open window. There, the family room window was open! But it was too high for him.

In their backyard they had an outdoor furniture set. He could get one of the chairs to stand on. He ran into the backyard, panting. He grabbed a chair and began hauling it over to the window…only to realise that it was too heavy for him.

He gave out a scream of frustration. He couldn't go back to the park without the drawing – he just couldn't! Now everything would be ruined. And he didn't know what had happened to Bess. What if she had died? He sank into the grass as tears began spilling over his cheeks.


Draco sat in his car. He had parked a street away from the park. In the passenger seat next to him was a neatly wrapped package for Diego. It was a remote control car. He wondered if it was appropriate to give him such a present when they had only met the day before. It seemed too much too soon. There was still ten minutes to four.

He started the car and drove to a mall that was just a few blocks away. He got out and looked around at the shops. He went into a store that sold novelty stuff. Draco wondered what Diego would like. Toys seemed out of the question. He didn't even know if the kid had told his mother about him.

He decided to just get a packet of chips and two bottles of coke. Nothing could beat good old junk food. He glanced at his watch. 4:01.

"Shit!" he cursed out loud. A mother, shopping with her three young sons glared angrily at him.

He hurried back to his car and made his way back to the park. He hoped the kid hadn't left already.

Bess had fallen asleep at a particularly boring part of her novel. She was awakened by a faint sobbing noise. When she heard a crash, she bolted out of her seat, fully alert. The sound had come from the backyard. She crept as softly as she could to the back of the house and peered as stealthily as she could through the curtain. What she saw shocked her.

Diego was sitting on the grass, next to the step of the patio and was crying. It seemed to her that Diego had pushed over one of Hermione's pot plants and shattered the pot. That explained the noise she had heard.

Bess threw open the back door and scooped the child into her arms.

"Oh, honey," she cooed, "it's okay, sweetie. You just tell old Bess what happened."

Diego was thrilled to see Bess. Since he now knew that Bess was alive, his tears stopped. He struggled to get out of her grip.

"Bess, let go of me," he said.

Bess blinked in surprise and let go off him. Once released, Diego dashed up to his room where the drawing was lying on his bed. He grabbed it and ran down the stairs, where Bess was waiting for him.

She grabbed his arm as he tried to rush past. "Now hold on young man," she said crossly, "were you putting me on again?"

"No, Bess, I wasn't. But I really have to go now. I promised to meet my friend at the park at four o'clock, but now I'm late. Please let me go," he pleaded.

Bess, who was a stickler for things like punctuality and keeping promises, let him go. "But you better tell me the whole story when you get back young man!" she called after him.

Diego ran as fast as his little legs could take him. He prayed that Draco was still there.


Draco walked quickly over to the pond. He couldn't see Diego anywhere. He noticed a family packing up a picnic at the table he and Diego had sat at the previous day.

"Excuse me," he said. "Have you seen a small boy about this high with hair like mine?"

The mother smiled up at him. "Yes, he was here about twenty minutes ago. He asked us the time and ran off."

Twenty minutes ago? What was he doing here that early? But it seemed as if he had already left. Draco made as if to turn around, when the woman spoke again.

"You're son's very polite. He's very cute too. You've raised him well."

Draco stared at the lady. Was she serious?

"Uh, the kid's not my son. We're not even related," he said awkwardly.

The lady blushed. "Oh, sorry. It's just that, well, you're hair, as you said yourself, is very similar. So, I just sort of assumed that…well, sorry about that."

"It's okay," Draco said quickly. Since Diego had obviously left a long time ago, there was no point in staying. Muttering a quick good bye to the family, he turned around and began walking briskly back to his car.

Just as he exited the park, he heard a voice calling his name. He spun around to see Diego running towards him, waving a piece of paper in the air. As he drew closer, Draco opened his arms and pulled the boy into a warm hug.

"Hey there kid," he said into his hair, "I thought you weren't coming."

Diego could barely talk – he was so excited. Draco hadn't left!

He started babbling out his story about drawing the picture and breaking his mummy's pot plant and Bess being dead and so on.

Draco stared at him in amazement. How could he talk so fast and still breathe? Then Diego waved the picture in his face. He looked at the crude drawing of two figures next to a blue circle with brown spots in it and fell in love. In love with the drawing and in love Diego.

"I love it," he said.

Diego stopped talking in surprise. "You do? Really?"

"Yeah, really."

Diego gave him another hug to show him that it meant a lot to him.

"So," Draco said, "you want to have some chips and coke?"

"Oh, yes please!" Diego said with excitement.

Together, they reclaimed their table by pond and spent the rest of the evening chattering away like only the best of friends could. They were only interrupted twice by Draco's business calls.

They parted with plans to meet again the next day. Each slept better than they ever had before.


A huge thankyou to all my fabulous reviewers! I can't believe I got twenty! That's more than what I got for Unfortunate Fates. I still can't get over it.

Oliver's Quidditch Crazy – my first reviewer! I love your reviews because they're long and, well, just wonderful! Thankyou! Sorry that you don't have a dad.  But you still seem like a really upbeat person.

runaway mental patient – thankyou for reviewing!

rainbowsrock – glad you thought it was inventive

sporty12gd4u – thanks for taking time to review

sexy-jess – thanx for reading my bio! You're probably right about Draco being the father. I had a twist in mind, but I don't know if I'm going to use it.

Hidden-Me-05 – thanks for reviewing!

Bea - you're probably right.

trapped-in-a-dream – I hope you liked this chapter

Emily – I'm glad you like it!

Tiniwiel – you're probably right, but I might include a twist. Hermione will find out soon - but not too soon. Maybe another two chapters or so.

Icea – hope this chapter satisfied you.

Red Satin and Black Silk – I love your name

Parcheezie – well, I'll see. I'm not quite upto that stage yet.

neville's princess – thanx for reviewing

i own u eddie stack – one of my favourite reviewers! Thanx for reviewing

colorguard06 – glad you thought it was good

Tru-Pinai 4-eva – thankyou for reviewing

Sherezade-Meisuke – well, here's the next chappie for you!

The-Dragon's-Angel – I love your name

Thanks again guys!

Just a note, it will take me longer to update my two tow stories now because school's just started again. But I'll do the best I can.

Please remember to review this chappie too guys!

Love,

A vision of violets