Friday September 22, 2006
The days before had gone by in a flash of research and since she had been holed up in the library for most of the day she had not had the opportunity to see Draco and tell him that she had spoken to Molly Weasley about Scorpius becoming one of her charges the night before.
However, upon arriving at the burrow via floo with Rose in hand she saw that she needn't say anything to Draco since he was currently sitting in the living room, Scorpius beside him as he talked to Molly about his son and his schedule.
"Good morning Hermione, Rose." Mrs. Weasley smiled as they exited the floo.
"Good morning, Molly." Hermione replied as Rose ran to give her Grandmother a hug. When she pulled away she turned her gaze on the blond boy on the couch, looking him over and assessing as he stared back at her unblinkingly.
"Who is that, Gramma?" Rose asked, turning her inquisitive brown eyes on Molly.
"Rose, this is Scorpius. Why don't you take him out back to where the rest of the kids are? I'll be out in a jiff after I talk to Scorpius' daddy."
Rose nodded and held out a hand to Scorpius and urged, "Come on."
Scorpius stared at her for a minute, gave Draco a quick hug, and jumped off the couch to take Rose's hand. The three adults watched as the red head and the blond walked down the hall to the kitchen and waited until the back door shut before turning their attention back to one another.
"Thank you again Mrs. Weasley for understanding." Draco stated.
"I think Scorpius will do well here; don't worry about him. We deal with worse situations between siblings and cousins every day, so we won't be kicking your son out for accidental magic. He will be punished though if he does so with intent as you explained."
"Understood."
Molly smiled, "Well, then if you don't mind me I better get out back and help Angelina and Fleur."
Once Molly was gone, Draco and Hermione were left alone in the burrow's living room, gazing at each other curiously.
"Thank you for telling her about my situation." Draco said suddenly.
"Think nothing of it; Molly is excellent with children. It sounds like he could benefit from her."
Draco chuckled, "Yes, he could. Well, I'll see you at work then."
Hermione didn't wait to watch him floo away, instead she headed out back to drop off Rose's bag, which she still held in her hand. After waving goodbye to her daughter, Hermione headed back inside and flooed to the office.
Xxx
After being holed up doing research all day, Hermione was ready to get out of the office and head home after gathering Rose from the burrow. Thankfully, today was Friday so that meant that the weekend was hers to enjoy. She and Rose were having a mother daughter day on Saturday, followed by a birthday dinner for her at her parent's house. And Sunday was going to be a day of relaxation before returning to the headache inducing research for this Haversham case.
With that on her mind, she didn't notice the other person headed towards the same fireplace as she was, and nearly would have collided with him, had it not been for him reaching out and steadying her by grasping her upper arms.
Hermione looked up into the grey eyes of Draco Malfoy's and gasped at her idiocy. How could she have been so absorbed as to not notice she was about to walk into someone, especially when that someone was Draco Malfoy?
"Distracted much, Granger?" Draco teased as he stared down into Hermione's flushed face.
Bloody hell, but she looked attractive with her cheeks flushed that color, and her dark brown eyes filled with uncertainty and mortification.
"Sorry, I'll be careful to watch where I'm going from now on." Hermione replied.
"On your way to the burrow to get your daughter?"
Hermione nodded, "Is that where you're headed, to get Scorpius?"
Draco nodded his head, desperately trying to remember what Hermione's daughter's name had been. He felt guilty for some reason that Hermione knew his son's name and he had no idea what her daughter's was. Of course, his son's was a lot more memorable than a lot of other children's names.
"After you, Granger." Draco indicated, waving a hand out before him towards the fireplace.
With a nod of thanks Hermione grabbed a handful of floo powder, and stepped into the fireplace. Once she had disappeared in the green flames, Draco grabbed his own handful and flooed to the burrow stepping out of the fireplace behind Hermione.
Most of the children had already been taken home for the day, leaving Rose and Scorpius alone in the living room. However, what had caught Hermione dead in her tracks was the sight the two of them made. Scorpius sat close to Rose's side as she read him one of her favorite picture books. Rose had learned how to read earlier that year and had since loved to read to the younger children at the day care. Apparently Scorpius was no exception, but never before had Hermione seen Rose cuddled with another child that wasn't her cousin before.
Draco also caught sight of their children and stared just as Hermione did at the pair. He had never seen Scorpius be affectionate with any other child period. So to see him cuddling up against Hermione's red headed little girl was a bloody amazing sight.
"I see you've noticed the shining they've taken for one another." Molly said quietly as she walked into the room where Hermione and Draco were still staring at their children.
"I've never seen Scorpius be affectionate with any other children." Draco admitted.
Molly nodded, "Rose took him under her wing immediately. After she introduced him to all of the other children, he stuck by her side all day, and now they are great friends. Amazing isn't it, how kids are completely unaware of their parent's prejudices?"
Draco had the decency to look down in embarrassment at Mrs. Weasley's well aimed comment. The moment between their children was broken, though, as Rose snapped the book shut and looked up to see her Mom there waiting for her. Scorpius also looked up to see his Dad, and after Rose gave Scorpius a hug they both ran to their respective parents.
Draco scooped up Scorpius immediately, holding him close and placing a kiss on his forehead. He was so proud of him at the moment and promised himself that his son would continue to not know blood prejudices for the rest of his life. At twenty six years old, Draco had worked hard to reverse the prejudices he had grown up with. He no longer classified Hermione as a mudblood, but his unease with her now stemmed mostly from the fact that she was one of the golden trio and someone he had treated poorly in his past. He honestly didn't know if she would ever forgive him, even if he tried to apologize, and he knew that he didn't deserve it in the first place. But since they would be working together, he had promised himself to treat her as he would anyone else, and so far he had succeeded. Despite the awkwardness that naturally hung in the air between them.
"Thank you again Mrs. Weasley, I'll see you Monday morning." Draco smiled, still holding Scorpius on his hip.
"You're welcome, Mr. Malfoy. Goodbye Scorpius, be a good boy now!"
Scorpius smiled and waved to Mrs. Weasley before Draco turned and flooed the two of them away from the burrow.
Once they were gone, Hermione turned to Molly.
"I have to admit, I was surprised you accepted having Scorpius here."
Molly glanced down at Rose, who was distracted with another book at the moment, before she replied to Hermione, "Sins of the father shouldn't be placed on the son."
"Do you mean Scorpius or Draco?"
"Both. Draco came to me and apologized for everything he said or did to harm my family and I forgave him. Both Draco and Scorpius need the chance to break away from the rain cloud Lucius Malfoy has placed over their heads, and I'm happy to help with that. That and I could tell that Scorpius would benefit from coming here every day and receiving feminine affection. And after one day, I can already see I made the right decision."
Xxx
After taking Scorpius home for a dinner of his favorites, Waffles and bacon, Draco had decided to further award his good behavior by going to get ice cream. Before going though, he had decided to invite another favorite of Scorpius'—not just for his son, but also for himself.
"Blaise!" Scorpius screeched excitedly as his Uncle Blaise met the two of them outside of the ice cream parlor.
Laughing, Blaise bent down and scooped Scorpius up into his arms. "I hear someone is being rewarded with ice cream for his good behavior today. Who would that be?"
"Me!"
"Of course! We shall buy you a giant scoop of your favorite flavor!"
Sure enough, ten minutes later Scorpius sat frantically licking at his cone, while Draco and Blaise quietly used their spoons to pull their ice cream from their dishes.
"Mrs. Weasley is taking care of your son?" Blaise asked in surprise after Draco had explained exactly why Scorpius deserved the treat.
Draco nodded, "I was desperate, and honestly she is the best pick for Scorpius. She had a good handle on discipline and she, unlike those broads at the other nursery schools, is actually affectionate to all children no matter what."
Blaise chuckled, "Oh, I know she has a firm handle on discipline. Remember those howlers she would send her kids?"
Draco laughed, "How can I forget? Those were some of my favorite days."
"I mean honestly, you know a woman has to be good at discipline when she has seven children, six of which are boys."
"That and I know she means business in protecting them too. Like when she killed my Aunt. Can't say I was sad to hear about that; the crazy bitch."
Blaise nodded solemnly and the three boys continued their ice cream in comfortable silence. That was until Blaise finished his ice cream and decided to ask the next hard hitting question.
"So, how is working with Granger?"
Draco paused with his spoon midway up to his mouth and shot Blaise a look, "She's been researching most of the time. So far she's found me everything I've asked for and more."
Blaise nodded, "I'll be finding out for myself, Greengrass and I are on that nasty Bulsltrode divorce and we need Hermione to do some research into the Bulstrode family."
Draco grimaced, "Good luck with that blood bath."
"Be happy you've got Haversham. It looks like child's play next to dealing with fighting with the Bulstrode family."
Draco had finished his own ice cream by this point and turned his gaze to Scorpius who was covered in chocolate ice cream. With a sigh, Draco took a napkin and proceeded to clean most of the mess up before he took out his wand and preformed a quick cleaning spell on the boy. Once that was done, Draco took the soggy cone from Scorpius, who at this point was half asleep from an ice cream overload, and tossed it into the trash.
"Looks like I need to get him home; see you Monday, Zabini."
Xxx
Saturday September 23, 2006
Hermione had been looking forward to her Saturday morning of sleeping in, but with a four year old around, sleeping in extravagantly was never really an option. Sure enough, at eight Rose came barreling into her room and jumped up on the bed, thoroughly waking Hermione up from her pleasant dreams.
"'Morning Mommy!"
"Morning, Rose."
"I'm hungry."
"Of course you are." Hermione chuckled as she rolled out of bed and put on her robe. Just like Ron, Rose could pack food away. Thankfully Hermione had been able to successfully teach her proper eating manners, manners that her father had always seemed to lack.
"Can we have bacon?"
"Yes, and what else? We can't just have bacon."
"We could."
Hermione smiled, "How about pancakes?"
Rose made a face.
"French toast?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, come on you can help me make breakfast."
Starting their mother daughter day off right Hermione and Rose proceeded to make breakfast together. While Hermione did most of the cooking, Rose set out plates and silverware, as well as syrup and some juice at the table.
After their delicious breakfast had been eaten and cleaned up, the two had showered and gotten dressed for their day at Mister Krazy Kanes Kids Playground. Truthfully Hermione would have liked to have gone somewhere else, but she had promised Rose. Mister Krazy Kane's was an indoor fun house for wizarding children. Similar to muggle play areas; it contained a giant pit of balls, tubes to crawl in, and slides galore. And there was a place for parents to sit together, while watching their kids, and commiserating about the struggles of parenthood. However, since Mister Krazy Kane's was literally a magic place, the tubes and slides constantly changed directions, and the ball pits charmed so no kids fell underneath, it was sure to be an exciting day.
Rose was excited for her first trip to the place. After hearing her cousin's James, Albus, and Lily boasting about the place she had wanted to go immediately. Hermione had promised to take her in celebration of her new job and for Rose being such a good girl lately, but she kind of regretted the fact that she hadn't invited one of Rose's cousins or friends to accompany her. On the bright side though, Rose was a friendly girl and probably wouldn't have any trouble making a little friend at Mister Krazy Kane's.
The place was already well populated when Hermione and Rose arrived. After giving Rose the run down on what was expected of her, Hermione took her shoes, and watched as Rose ran off and jumped into the ball pit excitedly. Smiling at her daughter's obvious joy, Hermione headed for the parent area and found a nice cushioned chair to sit in which provided a good view of the entire play area. She spotted Rose immediately and seeing that she was climbing up into the tubes, she turned her attention to the other parents within the area.
Most of them were couples, a lot of them hanging on to younger, crying children, as their older ones ran about in the play area. They seemed to pay no attention to Hermione as she sat there alone and suddenly she wished she had brought a book or something to read. But just then, she saw something out of the corner of her left eye, and turning her head she noticed Draco Malfoy sitting a few seats down, reading the Daily Prophet.
Sensing a pair of eyes on him, Draco immediately looked up and locked eyes with Hermione. The two stared at each other for a minute before Hermione hesitantly stood up and moved to sit next to him.
"Looks like single parents aren't too common around here." She stated awkwardly.
Draco nodded, "They're almost exclusionary about it. The first time I brought Scorpius here I tried to talk to some of them but they wanted nothing to do with me."
"Well, there may have been other reasons for that." Hermione pointed out, and then immediately realized that had not been a good thing to say. Embarrassed, Hermione's cheeks flushed and she looked to the floor to avoid Draco's grey eyes.
Instead of the anger she had been expecting he laughed, "True. But I know a couple other single parents who come here and have the same thing happen to them. They're ignoring you, aren't they?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, that was rude of me to say."
Draco shrugged, "You were just speaking the truth, don't worry about it."
Hermione nodded and looked back out into the play area and noticed that Rose and Scorpius had also found each other somewhere in the tubes, for they were now sliding down one of the slides together. Noticing her smile, Draco turned his head in the same direction and couldn't stop a smile from gracing his face at the sight of their children.
"Looks like they're friends." Hermione stated. "Molly said Rose took him under her wing."
Draco nodded, "When I went to put him to bed last night he insisted that I read him the story Rose had read to him earlier. Unfortunately he could only remember something about unicorns so I had no idea what book it could be."
"Probably was The Unicorn's Horn, it's one of her favorites."
"I'll have to look for that."
Draco and Hermione enjoyed an hour of comfortable silence together watching their children play together, with the occasional pleasant comment passed which usually referred to something about their children. However, their comfortable silence was broken when as Rose was jumping down out of the ball pit, her foot hit a stray ball and twisting her ankle, she fell to the floor with a scream.
Hermione was up in no time, running over to her daughter, with Draco hot on her heels. Scorpius had jumped out after Rose and joined her on the floor crying even though he wasn't hurt. When the adults reached their children, Hermione immediately started to sooth her daughter, hugging her close before pulling away to inspect her ankle. It was already swelling.
"Oh no; I can't fix this, I'll have to take her to St. Mungo's."
Draco had pulled Scorpius on his lap and quieted his sympathy tears. Looking down at Rose's ankle he noticed that Hermione was very right in her assessment. He knew Granger was brilliant with a wand, but this was something best left to the professionals.
Taking this as his clue to give Hermione some space he stood up with Scorpius in his arms, only to have the boy scream 'No' in his ear. Apparently Scorpius did not want to be separated from Rose. Bending back down he set Scorpius on the floor and watched as his son grabbed one of Rose's hands, holding it in his little one.
"I'll come with you; Scorpius doesn't want to leave her."
"Can you carry her? I think she's too heavy for me now and I don't want to jostle her too much by trying to carry her and at this point I don't think I could concentrate enough to properly levitate her."
Draco nodded and after getting Scorpius to let go of her hand he scooped Rose up carefully into his arms. Hermione grabbed Scorpius' hand and then the four made their way out of Mister Krazy Kane's.