p class="MsoNormal"Dracospan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanwas not aware that among the onlookers at the Mungo's waiting area was Hermione Granger-Weasley. She had gone to the hospital for Rose's monthly check up. She just wanted to make use of the opportunity of being at home on a weekday, to do things she otherwise didn't have time for, but she didn't think she'll encounterspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spananythingspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanlike that. She was just about to leave when Malfoy had flooed in and was talking to a mediwitch , then all of a sudden he had pushed her away and ran to a few healers at the end of the hall. Slowlyspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spantheir voices escalated and it wasn't long before a screaming match ensued. Everyone there were staringspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanunabashedly and Hermione could hear every word even from the end of the hall before the guards manhandled him./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione exited the place to see Malfoy a few feet away staggering across the street. She wanted to know what was wrong. From what she heard , she drew the conclusion that the hospital had refused to treat Malfoy's son but her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know the details but knew it wasn't her place. She was just about to apparate when she noticed that Malfoy had slumped nearspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spana wall. He looked ragged and Hermione slowly approached him. She had just put a hand on his arm to catch his attention when Malfoyspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanflopped forward. Hermione managed to catch him before he hit his head on the pole right in front but couldn't very well leave him there. She had brought him home and he was now lying on the couch in the living room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose was asleep upstairs which left Hermione alone with the prat wondering what she was gonna do when he wakes up. She can't help but notice Malfoy looked a mess. He had bags under his eyes. His once shiny hair that was always slicked back was now lying limp. He looked too thin like he was starving himself or something. He was all skin and bones. His skin had an unhealthy palour to it and his clothes...they looked too old and all mismatched. She was finding it hard to believe that the once pristine Draco Malfoy could even look like this. His phone had been ringing for the past fifteen minutes and that was another thing! span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDraco Malfoy had a mobile phone! it was ringing again but Hermione didn't think it will be right to pick up his phone. Curiosity got the better of her and she started sifting through his contacts and tried to get a few of his details. There were a couple of new messages which she hesitated but opened anyway./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Draco, why are you not picking up the phone?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCall back as soon as possible. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span10:50 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Draco , is everything alright? Pick up the call./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanScorpius has been asking for you/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"11:12 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Scorpius has become unmanageable./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe has been crying non-stop. Comespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanfast Draco./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"11:21 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You know I have to go to work, don't you./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI already asked you not to be late./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI have already declined strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"two/strong clients and cannot afford to do so again. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAre you coming already?!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"11:25 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"All the messages were from someone named Claire. Even the missed calls were from Claire. Hermionespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanknew she couldn't ignore the calls anymore. So as soon as the phone started ringing again she picked it up./p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;""Draco!...You know I have to work! Just because you have been hiding from Graham , you don't expect me to do the same too, do you? Not to mention that Scorpius has been crying for the past half hour and nothing I say is calming him down. Now will you bloody well say something?" /strongspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanshe practically screamed in Hermione's ear./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello?" said Hermione/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello...I thought it's Draco's number. I think I dialedspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spana wrong number. I'm so sorry for screaming like that..."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh no, this is Draco's number. He's just not well at the moment so couldn't pick up your calls"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione can feel the other woman getting anxious. "What happened?!" Claire asked hastily." Is everything alright? And may I know who I'm talking to?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""He'll be fine. I'm Hermione. Draco and I were in school together. You seem to have some important business to attend to. I don't mind taking care of Scorpius if you like."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh...no, it's ok, I don't want to bother you-"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione cut her off . "It's no problem at all. I already have a two year old daughter, so I can easily take him in. Besides, Draco is here, so Scorpius will be happy."/p
p class="MsoNormal"After a moment Claire hesitantly agreed and asked Hermione to message her the address so she can drop Scorpius off. After twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. Hermione opened the door to a black-haired, blue-eyed girl. She had put on lots of make up . Her hair was worn in a mushroom cut and she wore high heels, short skirt and a matching top. She seemed to be in a hurry. She glanced inside the house to make sure Draco was there and then she handed a wailing kid to Hermione, thanked her and left in the waiting cab./p
p class="MsoNormal"Scorpius was crying uncontrollably but as soon as he saw his father lying on the couch, he silenced himself and toddled unsteadily towards him./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daddy...Daddy..." he tried to wake him up. Hermione kneeled beside him and spoke politely" Daddy is tired and sleeping , Scorpius. Maybe we should let him sleep, hmm?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanScorpius nodded. Hermione couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between Malfoy and his son. The same platinum blonde hair, the same grey eyes, the same pale skin, he looked like a young Malfoy clone. Scorpius climbed atop his father and soon fell asleep. She carried him upstairs to Rose's room and put him beside Rose in the crib./p
p class="MsoNormal"She came down and started cooking lunch. She was almost done and saw that it was already 2:00pm. Malfoy had been unconscious for three and a half hours. That wasn't normal. She went back into the living room and cast a few diagnostic spells on him. He was starved and malnourished. He had almost no fluid in his body and his starvation had caused a few ulcers to erupt in his abdomen. Well, that explains the skin and bones. She quickly got some porridge ready before casting em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Rennervate./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Malfoy jerked awake and snapped his eyes open. He looked around trying to take in his surroundings and then his eyes fell on Granger. He sat bolt upright and stared at her with shock. He quickly came out of his musings and asked "What am I doing here, Granger?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello to you too, Malfoy" she said./p
p class="MsoNormal""Cut the crap, Granger!" Atleast some things never change./p
p class="MsoNormal"She sighed and continued span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I was at the hospital when you had that row with the healers and then I came outside to see you flumped against the wall. Before I can say anything you passed out, so I brought you here."/p
p class="MsoNormal"" 'Here' in the sense, this is your house?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "I couldn't just leave you there."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Of course you couldn't " he replied sarcastically while looking around the house."Now, could you tell me what the time is?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""It's almost 2:15." she replied./p
p class="MsoNormal""strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"2:15?!" /stronghe looked at her as though she had sprouted an extra head. "Shit, I had to pick Scorpius from-"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Scorpius is upstairs."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What ?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Scorpius is upstairs." she repeated calmly. "Claire called you many times and I picked up the call. She said that she had to go to work and something about already missing two clients so I offered to take care of Scorpius."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh"...Draco didn't know what else to say. He had wanted to meet Granger this morning but after the turn of events at the Ministry he didn't think it will work out anyway. Hermione glanced at him, pushing the bowl of porridge into his hands. "I made you some porridge."/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's all very nice, Granger ,but no thank you. I don't want to intrude upon your hospitality. I should span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanprobably get going. If you could bring Scorpius down"...He placed the bowl on the side table and stood up. And as soon as he did that the world spun and he almost passed out again. Granger caught his hand and pushed him back on the sofa./p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, of course, I'll just go bring Scorpius and then you can go." she said sarcastically. Malfoy glared./p
p class="MsoNormal"She pushed the bowl back into his hands but Malfoy still made no move to eat it. "Lose the attitude, will you, Malfoy?" she spoke roughly. "You are starving which has resulted in abdominal ulcers and you still want to be a stubborn git. Just eat!" Draco couldn't argue with that and the smell of food was very tempting so he quickly began consuming it./p
p class="MsoNormal"" I'm going to wake the kids up so they can have lunch. I think you should give it some time before consuming solid food because of the ulcers. Stay on a liquid diet for a couple of days"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco nodded. He didn't even know when he was going to get his next meal and Granger was talking about 'liquid diet'. He snorted but Granger didn't hear. She came down carrying Scorpius and a little ginger-haired girl following quietly behind. As soon as Scorpius saw Draco, he jumped into his lap with his hands around Draco's neck./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey Scorp...have a good nap?" asked Draco. Draco was relieved to see Scorpius was fine and enveloped him in a hug. Thank Merlin no strange symptoms erupted while he was away. He discreetly started checking him but everything seemed fine./p
p class="MsoNormal""Rosie, go introduce yourself to Mr. Malfoy." Hermione said ushering her towards Draco./p
p class="MsoNormal"She walked confidently to him and held out her hand. "I'm Rose Granger-Weasley. " she said in a squeakish voice. It was rather cute to see a two year old behaving like this. She reminded him of Granger when she was little. Draco shook her hand. "Hello there Rose, I'm Draco and this is Scorp" he said gesturing to Scorpius./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco looked up at Granger and said with a playful smirk- " She is adorable, Granger and we can see she has inherited her mother's attitude."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione smiled. She was quite surprised that Malfoy was behaving very politely to her daughter and Rose soon became comfortable with him. They had their lunch and Hermione could see that Draco adored his son from the way he was feeding and playing with him. Scorp and Rose started playing with her toys and all the while Rose was chattering about her play school, friends and dolls . Malfoy listened intently and replied to all her questions. Hermione didn't think Malfoy can be so good with kids and since Rose was so busy with Malfoy, she didn't even annoy her. It was only when Malfoy decided to leave did she throw a tantrum. She was rolling on the floor and crying as she didn't want them to go./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hush, Rose. Mr. Malfoy has to go home. Now, be a good girl and stop crying."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, I don't want them to go!" she cried./p
p class="MsoNormal""He said he will come back tomorrow, Rosie. Stop rolling on the floor. You don't want to be dirty when daddy comes home, do you?" Hermione sent a pleading look towards Draco./p
p class="MsoNormal""No! No! NO! NO! " Rose screamed./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione was steadily losing her temper. "Stop it, Rose. You can't force people to act to your whims!" Shespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanin turn screamed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, hey, hey...I'm not going ok? Stop crying." Malfoy spoke gently. He kneeled down and picked her up. Rose stopped crying and sent a watery smile his way. He wiped the tears and sent her up to play with Scorpius./p
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks, Malfoy but you shouldn't have done that. Those tantrums are an everyday occurrence. I would have somehow managed." she sighed./p
p class="MsoNormal""That's ok. Children are expected to throw tantrums. I'll stay until she goes to bed."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, well...Ron will be back home soon and Harry is coming home for dinner today and...I don't know how they'll ...react seeing you." she said hesitantly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco had been dreading seeing Weasley if he came home when he was there and now Potter was gonna be there too. Shit! What was he gonna do? Before he could reply, the front door opened and Weasley stepped in with a bouquet of flowers. He didn't notice Draco and walked straight to Granger./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, Mione, I'm so sorry I walked away like that this morning. See, I brought you your favourite flowers and I promise I won't forget to buy eggs again." saying this he almost kissed her before Granger pushed him away with a horrified expression. Only then did Weasley notice Draco and he let out a very unmanlyspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spansqueak./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco was trying very hard not to burst out laughing but he couldn't contain his smirk. His eyes were shining with amusement./p
p class="MsoNormal""Malfoy!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello again, Weasley."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You're in my house!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""A very astute observation. I must compliment you on your gifted skills for stating the obvious, Weasley." he smirked./p
p class="MsoNormal""And how exactly did you get here?" Weasley asked./p
p class="MsoNormal""Let me explain." Granger broke in. She went into the long tale of how she came to be in the hospital and everything that she witnessed. Draco had had no idea at the time that Granger had been at the hospital and had seen him in a vulnerable state. She spoke as though Draco was not present in the room. When she was done, Weasley turned to him and said- "I apologise for Harry's behaviour in the morning, Malfoy." Before Draco could say anything, Granger broke in em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"again./em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wait a minute, am I missing something?" she asked, looking at Ron and Draco./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron glanced at Draco for permission and at Draco's nod, he repeated everything Draco had said that morning. At the end of which , Granger started giving him sympathetic glances which he absolutely hated./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stop looking at me like that, Granger. I don't want your pity." he snapped./p
p class="MsoNormal"She quickly looked away, embarrassed. All three were then left standing in the middle of the hallway in an awkward silence. Neither knew what to say. Hermione was the one to break the silence./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm going to make dinner. Harry will be on the way." she said and made her way to the kitchen./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'll just go get changed." Ron muttered and left./p
p class="MsoNormal"Which left Draco contemplating fleeing from the house but Scorpius was upstairs. He didn't want to see Potter but he didn't have a choice. So he just walked back to the living room and plopped down on the couch. He definitely needed a drink./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione exited the place to see Malfoy a few feet away staggering across the street. She wanted to know what was wrong. From what she heard , she drew the conclusion that the hospital had refused to treat Malfoy's son but her curiosity was piqued. She wanted to know the details but knew it wasn't her place. She was just about to apparate when she noticed that Malfoy had slumped nearspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spana wall. He looked ragged and Hermione slowly approached him. She had just put a hand on his arm to catch his attention when Malfoyspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanflopped forward. Hermione managed to catch him before he hit his head on the pole right in front but couldn't very well leave him there. She had brought him home and he was now lying on the couch in the living room./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose was asleep upstairs which left Hermione alone with the prat wondering what she was gonna do when he wakes up. She can't help but notice Malfoy looked a mess. He had bags under his eyes. His once shiny hair that was always slicked back was now lying limp. He looked too thin like he was starving himself or something. He was all skin and bones. His skin had an unhealthy palour to it and his clothes...they looked too old and all mismatched. She was finding it hard to believe that the once pristine Draco Malfoy could even look like this. His phone had been ringing for the past fifteen minutes and that was another thing! span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanDraco Malfoy had a mobile phone! it was ringing again but Hermione didn't think it will be right to pick up his phone. Curiosity got the better of her and she started sifting through his contacts and tried to get a few of his details. There were a couple of new messages which she hesitated but opened anyway./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Draco, why are you not picking up the phone?/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanCall back as soon as possible. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span10:50 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Draco , is everything alright? Pick up the call./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanScorpius has been asking for you/em./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"11:12 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Scorpius has become unmanageable./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe has been crying non-stop. Comespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanfast Draco./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"11:21 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"You know I have to go to work, don't you./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI already asked you not to be late./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI have already declined strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"two/strong clients and cannot afford to do so again. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAre you coming already?!/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"11:25 am/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"All the messages were from someone named Claire. Even the missed calls were from Claire. Hermionespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanknew she couldn't ignore the calls anymore. So as soon as the phone started ringing again she picked it up./p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;""Draco!...You know I have to work! Just because you have been hiding from Graham , you don't expect me to do the same too, do you? Not to mention that Scorpius has been crying for the past half hour and nothing I say is calming him down. Now will you bloody well say something?" /strongspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanshe practically screamed in Hermione's ear./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello?" said Hermione/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello...I thought it's Draco's number. I think I dialedspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spana wrong number. I'm so sorry for screaming like that..."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh no, this is Draco's number. He's just not well at the moment so couldn't pick up your calls"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione can feel the other woman getting anxious. "What happened?!" Claire asked hastily." Is everything alright? And may I know who I'm talking to?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""He'll be fine. I'm Hermione. Draco and I were in school together. You seem to have some important business to attend to. I don't mind taking care of Scorpius if you like."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh...no, it's ok, I don't want to bother you-"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione cut her off . "It's no problem at all. I already have a two year old daughter, so I can easily take him in. Besides, Draco is here, so Scorpius will be happy."/p
p class="MsoNormal"After a moment Claire hesitantly agreed and asked Hermione to message her the address so she can drop Scorpius off. After twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. Hermione opened the door to a black-haired, blue-eyed girl. She had put on lots of make up . Her hair was worn in a mushroom cut and she wore high heels, short skirt and a matching top. She seemed to be in a hurry. She glanced inside the house to make sure Draco was there and then she handed a wailing kid to Hermione, thanked her and left in the waiting cab./p
p class="MsoNormal"Scorpius was crying uncontrollably but as soon as he saw his father lying on the couch, he silenced himself and toddled unsteadily towards him./p
p class="MsoNormal""Daddy...Daddy..." he tried to wake him up. Hermione kneeled beside him and spoke politely" Daddy is tired and sleeping , Scorpius. Maybe we should let him sleep, hmm?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanScorpius nodded. Hermione couldn't help but notice the striking similarities between Malfoy and his son. The same platinum blonde hair, the same grey eyes, the same pale skin, he looked like a young Malfoy clone. Scorpius climbed atop his father and soon fell asleep. She carried him upstairs to Rose's room and put him beside Rose in the crib./p
p class="MsoNormal"She came down and started cooking lunch. She was almost done and saw that it was already 2:00pm. Malfoy had been unconscious for three and a half hours. That wasn't normal. She went back into the living room and cast a few diagnostic spells on him. He was starved and malnourished. He had almost no fluid in his body and his starvation had caused a few ulcers to erupt in his abdomen. Well, that explains the skin and bones. She quickly got some porridge ready before casting em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Rennervate./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Malfoy jerked awake and snapped his eyes open. He looked around trying to take in his surroundings and then his eyes fell on Granger. He sat bolt upright and stared at her with shock. He quickly came out of his musings and asked "What am I doing here, Granger?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello to you too, Malfoy" she said./p
p class="MsoNormal""Cut the crap, Granger!" Atleast some things never change./p
p class="MsoNormal"She sighed and continued span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span"I was at the hospital when you had that row with the healers and then I came outside to see you flumped against the wall. Before I can say anything you passed out, so I brought you here."/p
p class="MsoNormal"" 'Here' in the sense, this is your house?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "I couldn't just leave you there."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Of course you couldn't " he replied sarcastically while looking around the house."Now, could you tell me what the time is?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""It's almost 2:15." she replied./p
p class="MsoNormal""strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"2:15?!" /stronghe looked at her as though she had sprouted an extra head. "Shit, I had to pick Scorpius from-"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Scorpius is upstairs."/p
p class="MsoNormal""What ?"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Scorpius is upstairs." she repeated calmly. "Claire called you many times and I picked up the call. She said that she had to go to work and something about already missing two clients so I offered to take care of Scorpius."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh"...Draco didn't know what else to say. He had wanted to meet Granger this morning but after the turn of events at the Ministry he didn't think it will work out anyway. Hermione glanced at him, pushing the bowl of porridge into his hands. "I made you some porridge."/p
p class="MsoNormal""That's all very nice, Granger ,but no thank you. I don't want to intrude upon your hospitality. I should span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanprobably get going. If you could bring Scorpius down"...He placed the bowl on the side table and stood up. And as soon as he did that the world spun and he almost passed out again. Granger caught his hand and pushed him back on the sofa./p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, of course, I'll just go bring Scorpius and then you can go." she said sarcastically. Malfoy glared./p
p class="MsoNormal"She pushed the bowl back into his hands but Malfoy still made no move to eat it. "Lose the attitude, will you, Malfoy?" she spoke roughly. "You are starving which has resulted in abdominal ulcers and you still want to be a stubborn git. Just eat!" Draco couldn't argue with that and the smell of food was very tempting so he quickly began consuming it./p
p class="MsoNormal"" I'm going to wake the kids up so they can have lunch. I think you should give it some time before consuming solid food because of the ulcers. Stay on a liquid diet for a couple of days"/p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco nodded. He didn't even know when he was going to get his next meal and Granger was talking about 'liquid diet'. He snorted but Granger didn't hear. She came down carrying Scorpius and a little ginger-haired girl following quietly behind. As soon as Scorpius saw Draco, he jumped into his lap with his hands around Draco's neck./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey Scorp...have a good nap?" asked Draco. Draco was relieved to see Scorpius was fine and enveloped him in a hug. Thank Merlin no strange symptoms erupted while he was away. He discreetly started checking him but everything seemed fine./p
p class="MsoNormal""Rosie, go introduce yourself to Mr. Malfoy." Hermione said ushering her towards Draco./p
p class="MsoNormal"She walked confidently to him and held out her hand. "I'm Rose Granger-Weasley. " she said in a squeakish voice. It was rather cute to see a two year old behaving like this. She reminded him of Granger when she was little. Draco shook her hand. "Hello there Rose, I'm Draco and this is Scorp" he said gesturing to Scorpius./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco looked up at Granger and said with a playful smirk- " She is adorable, Granger and we can see she has inherited her mother's attitude."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione smiled. She was quite surprised that Malfoy was behaving very politely to her daughter and Rose soon became comfortable with him. They had their lunch and Hermione could see that Draco adored his son from the way he was feeding and playing with him. Scorp and Rose started playing with her toys and all the while Rose was chattering about her play school, friends and dolls . Malfoy listened intently and replied to all her questions. Hermione didn't think Malfoy can be so good with kids and since Rose was so busy with Malfoy, she didn't even annoy her. It was only when Malfoy decided to leave did she throw a tantrum. She was rolling on the floor and crying as she didn't want them to go./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hush, Rose. Mr. Malfoy has to go home. Now, be a good girl and stop crying."/p
p class="MsoNormal""No, I don't want them to go!" she cried./p
p class="MsoNormal""He said he will come back tomorrow, Rosie. Stop rolling on the floor. You don't want to be dirty when daddy comes home, do you?" Hermione sent a pleading look towards Draco./p
p class="MsoNormal""No! No! NO! NO! " Rose screamed./p
p class="MsoNormal"Hermione was steadily losing her temper. "Stop it, Rose. You can't force people to act to your whims!" Shespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanin turn screamed./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, hey, hey...I'm not going ok? Stop crying." Malfoy spoke gently. He kneeled down and picked her up. Rose stopped crying and sent a watery smile his way. He wiped the tears and sent her up to play with Scorpius./p
p class="MsoNormal""Thanks, Malfoy but you shouldn't have done that. Those tantrums are an everyday occurrence. I would have somehow managed." she sighed./p
p class="MsoNormal""That's ok. Children are expected to throw tantrums. I'll stay until she goes to bed."/p
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, well...Ron will be back home soon and Harry is coming home for dinner today and...I don't know how they'll ...react seeing you." she said hesitantly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco had been dreading seeing Weasley if he came home when he was there and now Potter was gonna be there too. Shit! What was he gonna do? Before he could reply, the front door opened and Weasley stepped in with a bouquet of flowers. He didn't notice Draco and walked straight to Granger./p
p class="MsoNormal""Hey, Mione, I'm so sorry I walked away like that this morning. See, I brought you your favourite flowers and I promise I won't forget to buy eggs again." saying this he almost kissed her before Granger pushed him away with a horrified expression. Only then did Weasley notice Draco and he let out a very unmanlyspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spansqueak./p
p class="MsoNormal"Draco was trying very hard not to burst out laughing but he couldn't contain his smirk. His eyes were shining with amusement./p
p class="MsoNormal""Malfoy!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""Hello again, Weasley."/p
p class="MsoNormal""You're in my house!"/p
p class="MsoNormal""A very astute observation. I must compliment you on your gifted skills for stating the obvious, Weasley." he smirked./p
p class="MsoNormal""And how exactly did you get here?" Weasley asked./p
p class="MsoNormal""Let me explain." Granger broke in. She went into the long tale of how she came to be in the hospital and everything that she witnessed. Draco had had no idea at the time that Granger had been at the hospital and had seen him in a vulnerable state. She spoke as though Draco was not present in the room. When she was done, Weasley turned to him and said- "I apologise for Harry's behaviour in the morning, Malfoy." Before Draco could say anything, Granger broke in em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"again./em/p
p class="MsoNormal""Wait a minute, am I missing something?" she asked, looking at Ron and Draco./p
p class="MsoNormal"Ron glanced at Draco for permission and at Draco's nod, he repeated everything Draco had said that morning. At the end of which , Granger started giving him sympathetic glances which he absolutely hated./p
p class="MsoNormal""Stop looking at me like that, Granger. I don't want your pity." he snapped./p
p class="MsoNormal"She quickly looked away, embarrassed. All three were then left standing in the middle of the hallway in an awkward silence. Neither knew what to say. Hermione was the one to break the silence./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'm going to make dinner. Harry will be on the way." she said and made her way to the kitchen./p
p class="MsoNormal""I'll just go get changed." Ron muttered and left./p
p class="MsoNormal"Which left Draco contemplating fleeing from the house but Scorpius was upstairs. He didn't want to see Potter but he didn't have a choice. So he just walked back to the living room and plopped down on the couch. He definitely needed a drink./p