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 3:

Hermione waited patiently in the Black Bean Café where she always met Candy. As always, she was at the back, in the left corner. She sipped her strong black coffee. Candy was over twenty minutes late and she was getting worried. What if she had been found out? Worst case scenarios raced through Hermione's head. Suddenly she heard the front door tinkle and looked up. Candy had arrived.

Candy slid her long voluptuous body into the booth and flashed Hermione a quick smile. Hermione did not return it. "Where the hell were you?" she hissed.

Candy opened her mouth to speak, but then a waiter arrived, so she ordered a slice of carrot cake instead. Once the waiter was gone, Hermione looked at her questioningly. "Well? What happened?"

"Hermione darling, it's getting harder and harder for me to do what you want me to do. People are getting suspicious," Candy said.

Hermione sighed and massaged her temples with her fingertips. This was all getting so complicated. "If you don't want to, I'll understand, okay? You just say the word and I'll call it off. There's absolutely no pressure."

Candy didn't answer; instead, she examined her fingernails while she weighed the pros and cons in her head. It would be dangerous, but the danger gave her a thrill. Besides, she had forged a real bond with Hermione, she couldn't just leave her.

She sighed. "I'll stay, but that's only 'cause I love you so much," she joked.

Hermione released the breath she had been holding. She had been so worried that Candy was going to call it off.

Then Candy spoke again. "I've got the package you wanted."

"Oh my god! Are you serious?" Hermione said disbelievingly.

Candy nodded, very pleased with herself.

Hermione squealed. "Hand it over then!"

Candy reached into her large shoulder bag and pulled out a thin rectangular box in a nondescript plastic bag.

"Are you sure it's the right one?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, yeah," Candy replied. "One black ten inch dildo with built in vibrator. That's what you told me to get."

"Excellent."

Candy just smiled coyly. "I told you I would get it, now you can have your fun with it."

"Of course. Candy, babes, you are wonderful. Now, are you ready for Saturday night?"

"Ready as ever baby."

Hermione nodded. "Great, then I'll see you at the club at ten thirty."


Back at the office, Hermione looked around for her superior, James Whiting. She found him in the kitchen, making himself a cup of tea. He smiled when he saw her. "Ah, Hermione. My favourite little minion! What can I do for you?"

"Sir, you should probably sit down for this. You'll be shocked."

Whiting chuckled. "Hermione, I've been in Organised Crime for twenty years. There isn't much that can shock me."

"Yes, sir, I know. But trust me, you will be shocked," Hermione assured him.

"Very well," Whiting said, taking a seat at the table with his tea.

"Sir, I just had my weekly rendezvous with Candy. Do you remember how she helped with the Blackhall case?"

"Yes, yes. She was your informant. Carry on."

"Well," Hermione paused. She could barely suppress her excitement. "Well, I stayed in contact with her. We would still meet every month or so. And now we've become very…close."

Whiting gasped. "Hermione, are you gay?"

"What?" Hermione was shocked. She certainly wasn't expecting this.

"How close exactly did you get to Candy?" he demanded.

Suddenly Hermione realised that her wording had not been too good. She laughed. "Sir, you've got it wrong. When I said we got close, I meant that we have a trust thing going on."

Whiting stared into her eyes. Hermione knew that he was a certified Occlumence. She allowed him to enter her mind, to prove that her relationship with Candy was purely platonic. Once he was satisfied, he retreated. "Right, I apologise for jumping to conclusions. Please proceed."

Hermione smiled at him. "Thank you, sir. Now, as you know, Candy is a hooker. As such, she has access to certain people. Now, about a month ago, when I had a lunch date with her, she told me something that I thought was worth investigating."

Whiting stopped her there. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because sir, it was one of those things that could have been absolutely nothing. If I had told you, there would have been people working on a case that might not have been needed to be worked on. So I decided to see if I could gather some information to make sure that this was worth pursuing before coming to you."

Whiting nodded and motioned for her to continue.

"I trust you know who Warren Darkins is?"

"Yes, of course. We're currently investigating some suspicious looking accounts of his. As you should know – you are working on the case, after all," Whiting replied.

"Right. Well, it turns out, that Mr Darkins pays weekly visits to my friend Candy every Wednesday night at ten thirty."

Whiting leaned forward in his seat.

"Sir, are you aware of a certain object that, at the moment, around twenty people are trying to find, which holds the key to decoding every single one of Darkins files and accounts?"

"You mean the nameless object that he was heard talking about?"

Hermione nodded smugly.

"Hermione, do you mean to tell me that you know what this object is?"

She smirked. "Sir, I can do one better. I've got it in my bag."

Whiting choked on his saliva and dropped his tea cup. It shattered onto the floor. "Merlin! What is it?"

"Uh…it's a dildo sir," she said rather awkwardly.

Her boss raised his eyebrow. "You can hand that to me, and I will send it away to our friends working in that department. Hermione, do you realise that you are now going to be an even bigger star than before?"

Hermione shrugged modestly.

"You can expect a promotion in approximately…" he looked at his watch, "…seven minutes."

"Seven minutes?"

"I have to make myself another cup of tea first."

Hermione laughed. "Of course sir, tea always takes top priority!"

She then left the kitchen and went over to her desk. She sat down and looked at the many pictures she had of Diego on her desk and on her walls. It was his birthday in three months – quite a long way away, but she liked to be ahead of things and she hadn't thought of what to do for him yet.

The two of them had been invited to Harry's apartment for dinner. She would discuss it there as Ron and Ginny would be there too.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an American voice. "Um, excuse me. Are you Hermione Granger?"

She looked up and her breath caught in her throat. There, in her doorway stood a sex god! He had dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes that crinkled slightly at the corners as he smiled. His skin was lightly tanned. The man's body was long, lean and muscular. She gulped. "Y…yes, I'm Hermione Granger. Can I help you?"

"I don't really know. I've just been transferred here from the American Ministry of Magic. I was told to see you because I'm supposed to work with you or something like that. I'm not really sure..." he trailed off.

Hermione didn't say anything. She was too busy staring at his body. Feeling nervous, the man spoke again. "I'm Dan, by the way. Dan Wakefield."

"Right, Dan. Um…come in."

Dan stepped into the office and noticed many pictures of a little boy with blonde hair. Some of pictures were moving, others weren't. That obviously meant that she associate with muggles. "Cute kid," he said. "Is he yours?"

Hermione studied his face. "Yeah, he's my son Diego." Would he run away now?

"He's got your eyes.Very nice eyes."

She blushed. "Whose eyes? Mine or Diego's?" She was shocked that she had said that, but the words had come out before she could stop them. Now, she blushed even more.

Dan saw her red cheeks and laughed. "You've both got gorgeous eyes." He winked at her. Hermione was quite pretty. He was a bit surprised that she had a son, she was only twenty-two, after all, and her son looked like he was four or five. But that didn't put him off. Dan loved kids. He wondered if Hermione was married. "His hair must be his dad's since you've got brown hair."

Hermione's smile faltered a bit. "Diego doesn't have a dad."

This told Dan everything he needed to know. "How about we have lunch together and you can tell me what working with you is going to be like."

"Oh, I've already had lunch. Sorry."

"That's okay. I'll have lunch, and you can watch me eat and tell me what working with you is going to be like." He gave her a charming smile.

"Oh, alright then." As they walked out of the building, Dan held the door open for her. As she passed him, he placed a hand on her lower back as he walked next to her. Hermione would normally have been appalled that a guy would touch her so soon, but Dan's hand felt oddly comforting.

This is it, she thought. He's The One!


James Whiting walked into Hermione's office to discuss her promotion to find her absent. He asked Dawn at the front desk if she knew where Hermione had gone. He was told that she had left with the new American transfer. He chuckled to himself. No matter how intelligent and mature Hermione seemed, she was a real girl at heart. That girl needed some lovin'!


Diego sat happily on his bed, looking out his window at the beautiful sky. He had been meeting Draco everyday now, for the past eight days. Each time, Diego would draw another picture for Draco, which he would happily accept. Draco said that he had put two of them on the walls in his office, and five of them in his bedroom at home.

That day, when he had first drawn a picture for Draco, Bess had demanded him to her what was going on. He had started to, but then his mother had come home, later than usual because of a hectic day at work. She had also brought Uncle Ron with her, so Bess had never gotten to hear the part of the story where Draco was involved. After that, she had forgotten to ask him again.

He wasn't going to see Draco today because Draco had said that he was going to be too busy at work. Diego had been disappointed, but Draco said that work had to be given importance too. Because of his daily meetings with Draco, he had requested his mother to allow him to stay at home with Bess. She still didn't know that his friend was Draco Malfoy. In fact, she didn't really know what his friend's name was at all.

Diego thought about how Draco was when he talked on his mobile to people at work. He sounded so different, like kinda mean and strict. At first, it had worried him. What if that was what Draco was really like? But he had soon come to realise that he only talked like that when the calls were work related. Once, Draco's mother had called him. While talking to her, he had sounded really nice and affectionate. He then remembered two days ago when his girlfriend Summer had called. Draco had sounded really annoyed.

Diego had asked what the problem was. Draco replied that Summer was really annoying and that he didn't really like her anymore. Diego had suggested that he dump her. That had surprised Draco. He didn't think that a small boy like Diego would know about girlfriends and boyfriends and dumping, but he did.

When he saw Draco tomorrow, he was going to ask Draco to meet his mother. He was certain they would like each other. Maybe, they would even fall in love! Then he would have a perfect family! He really wanted a dad like Draco.


Draco was very busy at work. His company, which had originally belonged to his father, invested in many other large and successful companies. Now that his father had decided to retire, the entire weight of Malfoy Inc. fell into Draco's shoulders.

He didn't mind. He liked to be busy. But now that little Diego had come into the picture, he was quite pissed at the fact that he wouldn't have time to see him today. He looked up at his wall. He had stuck two of Diego's drawings there. Everyone who had walked into his office had automatically been to them. They were quite out of place. His secretary, Bonnie, had been the first to say anything about them.

"Why, Mr Malfoy," she had said, "I didn't know you had kids."

He had snapped at her that he didn't have kids and that they were gifts from a child he had befriended at a park. After Bonnie, there had been several other employees commenting on them. No one said anything bad, but Draco was very touchy on the subject – children's drawings in his office looked wrong for his image. But still, he kept them up.

He had five more on his bedroom wall. He had no idea why he was keeping them, instead of throwing them away. He was even more puzzled about the fact that he had created such a strong bond with the child.

Why?

What was so special about him?

He looked at his watch. Time for yet another meeting.

Sigh.


Hermione couldn't remember a time she had been more besotted with a man. Dan was absolutely amazing. He made her talk a lot about herself, and he would return talk about himself.

They both knew they were attracted to each other and neither fought the feeling. Hermione knew that he was different. He had not been perturbed by the fact she had a child. Diego would love him, she was sure. Dan was definitely The One.

Dan really enjoyed Hermione's company. She was different. Women had always flocked to him because of his physical attractions. Hermione was definitely attracted to him physically, but there was another level to it. They appreciated each other in a different way, they respected each other.

Hermione was the sort of girl he could take home to meet his parents and not be embarrassed about her. She was a very respectable person. Something else that drew him to her even more was the fact that she was so besotted with her son. She was a very caring person. She was perfect.

They were at the restaurant for an hour and a half before they both realised that they hadn't spoken a word about work related matters – the reason for their little lunch date. That was when they decided to head back to the office.


Once at the office, they didn't have time to resume their personal chat as there was a ton of work to be done, and Dan needed to be trained in the ways of British Organised Crime. But even in work, they would always look at each other and smile when they caught the other's eye.

James Whiting observed each and every smile, blush and nudge. He smiled to himself. Along with being Hermione's superior, he was also a friend of her and Diego. He was one of the few people who knew her story. Now, finally, it seemed that her life would be complete. Dan Wakefield was a good man. They would be happy.


Bess was washing the dishes when Diego came downstairs seeking some company.

"Aren't you going to the park to meet your friend today?" she asked.

Diego scrambled onto a chair so that he could sit on the kitchen counter. "No, he has to work today." He decided it would be okay to tell Bess about Draco now.

This set of an alarm bell in Bess's head. "Isn't he a little too young to work, honey?"

"No. He's old. He's mummy's age."

Slightly alarmed, Bess asked; "What's his name?"

"Draco."

Bess dropped the plate she was washing. Luckily it didn't break. It could be someone else, she tried to reason with herself. "What's his last name, sweetie?"

"Malfoy." Although Draco hadn't actually told him, when he answered his mobile, he would say; "Malfoy here".

Bess dropped the same plate again. This time it broke. Diego frowned. "Bess, are you okay?"

Bess turned off the tap but didn't bother to clean away the shards of broken china. She turned around slowly, trying to calm herself. Breathe in, breathe out, she chanted under her breath. "Diego, does he know your last name?"

Diego thought. "Um…no. I never told him my last name was Granger."

Bess gave a sigh of relief. So he didn't know who Diego was. Good. "So," she said, "what do you call him? Mr Malfoy?"

"No, I call him Draco. He's really nice. And, he's my best friend."

Bess's heart was racing. This was not good. Not good at all. "Tell me about him."

So he did. From the way Diego described him, Bess had to fight very hard not to like Draco Malfoy. It was obvious that the child was very fond of the man.

When he was finished Bess said, "Would it be okay if I came with you tomorrow so that I can meet Draco myself?"

Diego was pleased. To him, it seemed that Bess had liked Draco so much from what he had said that she wanted to be friends with him too. "Sure. You'll really like him." Bess just smiled.

"Diego, sweetie, I need you to promise me two things okay?"

"Okay, what?"

"You have to promise me that you won't tell your mother about Draco and must not tell Draco your last name. Can you promise me that?"

Diego was confused. "Why?"

Bess looked straight into his eyes. "Do you trust me?"

Diego stared back at her. "Yes."

"Then you have to trust me on this, okay? You have to promise me. You're too young right now to be told everything, but please trust me on this sweetie. Please."

Diego nodded. He didn't understand, but he would trust Bess. "Okay Bess, I trust you and I promise not to tell mummy about Draco and I also promise not to tell Draco my last name."

"Good boy." Bess gave a warm hug. He was such a sweet child.

Tomorrow she would be able to assess Draco Malfoy for herself.


Writing this fic is soooooooo fun! I just love Diego! He's so cute.

Anyways, thanks to every one of my beautiful reviewers.

BTW, it's now official; I've deleted Bringing Malfoy Down. It wasn't good and I wasn't getting many reviews for it.

Back to my reviewers:

runaway mental patient – a very, very late Happy Australia Day to you too. I'm Aussie too, you see. I live in Brisbane.

dawn1 – glad you thought it was interesting

BrennaM – I know what you mean. I like seeing a soft side of Draco too.

katherose – thanks for reviewing!

Hidden-Me-05 – yeah, you're right. Draco doesn't know that Diego is Hermione's son.

Draco Forever - Don't worry, your English is pretty good. I could understand it just fine. I thing it's really good that you are brave enough to review even though you're not that confident in your English. Lot's of people just don't bother to review because they're too embarrassed or something. So good on you!

Kanui d'Astor – thank you for reviewing

luvfaytdestini – glad you thought it was creative

Oliver's Quidditch Crazy – aww…you really flatter me well. It's a really good boost for my ego! lol I agree on what you said about both Bess's and Draco's character. But I don't think I'm going to use the twist anymore. It's probably for the best, eh?

sporty12gd4u – thanks for reviewing!

i own u eddie stack – yeah, you're one of my favourite reviewers. I don't really why, but, yeah, you are. Maybe 'cause I like you're name so much. I dunno.

dracodolenz :blushes madly: thanks

Mystery-Angel-Me – I'll try

suz - you're probably right

Sherezade-Meisuke – thanx for reviewing

horse-crazy-gurl – I know! Diego is really cute. I'm a genius. Lol

Surrounded By Idiots – that's okay. Hermione and Draco will probably meet in chapter five, possibly six. In the next one, Bess is gonna meet him. So…Ihope that's not too long for you

Samara Potter – Draco and Hermione are about 22 years old.

Anonymous - don't worry, I'm not goning to dixcontinue

Angelbornnhell – awwww…thanks!

RumorGoddess – I'm glad my story is unique. That's what I was hoping it was. I really like your closing sentence.

yanely1167 – yeah, he is, isn't he?

Alexis – I will

LiLy MaLfOy13 – glad you like it

Parcheezie – that's okay. Thanks for reviewing

x1nfernal – hope there was enough Hermione in this for you. She'll be in this more now.

sunshine - thanx for reviewing!

Eliot Z. Wheatherbee – glad you like it

sexy-jess – yeah, I loved that part too!

Crimson-Lies :blush: thanks - loving the name

scholcomp25 – glad you thought it was interesting.

Red Satin and Black Silk – I agree!

trapped-in-a-dream – they'll meet soon! I think I said it before, um…in chapter five or six. In the next one, Bess is gonna meet him

Sucker For Romance – thanks for reviewing

TheUsedObsession – really? Wow, thanks :blushes furiously: