Chapter 5

Hermione felt the crisp October breeze surround her as she headed towards the lake. It was Saturday evening and she had decided to take her kids down towards the lake for a small picnic since they had never experienced being outside the Hogwarts castle before. Hermione thought it would be nice for them to have some fresh air and experience nature. She had asked Draco to join them but he had Qudditch practice so it was just them three.

Several days have passed since the day Draco told Hermione about his mother's death. Draco has been getting better over the situation as each day passed. He and Hermione also have been getting along quite well, with an occasional fight here and there, but that's normal for the couple. Although they still weren't the best of friends, they weren't cursing at each other every time they were in the same room.

Hermione held Owen in her arm and was holding a basket with the other hand while Eleina walked a few feet ahead of her. Ever since Eleina had learned to walk it had been her favorite thing to do. She would not allow Hermione or Draco to hold her because she wanted to walk. Hermione was delighted at this. She decided that it was time for Owen to learn to walk and would teach him everyday. Eventually he got the hang of it, but unlike his sister, he would rather have Hermione or Draco carry him.

"Eleina, sweetie, stay close to mommy." Hermione yelled towards the little girl who had began to walk faster. Eleina stopped at her mother's voice and turned around, but as Hermione got closer to her she turned back around and started walking again, giggling as if Hermione was chasing her. Hermione smiled at her daughter.

She found a spot perfect spot underneath a big tree that provided a good amount of shade. She dropped the basket to the floor and had to run after Eleina before she got too far. The little girl had failed to notice that her mom stopped walking, mainly because she was in front of Hermione. After grabbing a hold of Eleina's hand and walked her towards their picnic spot, she pulled out her blanket and placed it on the ground. She set Owen down on the blanket and took out his favorite toy, a green dragon rattle, for him to play with and sat down on the blanket herself.

Eleina began to wander off again, but Hermione knew something that would get her back towards their spot. She looked through her basket and pulled something out.

"Mmm, Owen gets to eat yummy apple sauce!" Hermione said. At that moment Eleina came scrambling back towards her.

"Mommy, applesauce." Eleina tugged on Hermione's jacket. Hermione was so thankful for the children center. Not only do they take care of the children while their parents were in class, but they also taught the kids how to talk and walk. It was a great thing for the parents since they had schoolwork to deal with and pretty much had no time.

After eating, Hermione decided to read a picture book to her kids. She had been reading to them every night before bed time because she believed that it would help them become more intelligent. She was about to begin the story when a shadow approached them. Hermione quickly grabbed her kids and looked behind her.

"Jeez Granger, no need to get scared. I'm not going to attack you or anything."

"Zabini, what are you doing here? I already forgave you for what you did."

"I'm not here because of that." Blaise said and offered himself a seat next to Hermione.

"What happened to Qudditch practice? Where's Malfoy?"

"Draco let us off early. He probably went back up to his dorm to shower." Blaise explained as he ate some of the grapes that Hermione had put out on the blanket.

"Why are you here, then? Shouldn't you be taking a shower too?"

"I just wanted to talk."

"Talk? Why?"

"Granger, would you stop answering me with questions? You're just full of them aren't you?" Blaise said, a little irritated.

"Sorry, I'm just curious as to why you would want to talk to me."

"Honestly, I don't know the answer to that myself. Ever since that day in the Hospital Wing, I can't get you out of my mind. I was there after Potter and Weasley left and I couldn't really talk to you, so I had to wait. You looked so peaceful when you were asleep, like an angel."

Hermione was speechless. She didn't know whether she should be flattered or creeped out.

"I'm sorry; I don't know what's gotten into me." He said to her, as he patted Owen on the head and began to stand up to leave.

"Wait!" Hermione blurted out, and instantly regretted it. She didn't know what to say as she watched him turn around to face her.

"What?"

"Um…would you like to join us for a while longer?" Stupid, stupid Hermione, she thought to herself, why are you asking him to join you?

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Hermione returned to her dorm a few minutes before dinner. She had spent the rest of her picnic chatting with Blaise. Something she didn't think she would do in a million years, but she was quite surprised with him. He didn't seem like the evil git that she was use to. After they talked he even offered to walk Hermione back to her dorm, but she told him that he should probably get back to Lavender.

Hermione gave the old lady in portrait the password and walked inside to see Draco sitting on the couch, looking as if he had been waiting for their return. She set the basket down on the table and put Owen on the floor. Hermione watched as Eleina hurriedly walked towards Draco and he picked her up in his arms and set her down on his lap. Eleina sure loves Draco, Hermione thought and began to unpack the basket.

"How was the picnic, Granger?" Draco asked.

Even after Hermione insisted that he should call her by her first name, he would still refer to her by her last. Draco wanted to call her 'Hermione' but he felt a little strange since for the past five years, he's been use to calling her Granger or mudblood. Hermione understood where he was coming from and didn't force him on it, but if he wasn't going to call her by her first name, then she wasn't going to refer to him by his either.

"It was nice. I'm sure Owen and Eleina enjoyed it. I had a little surprise myself, actually."

"Oh? And what was that?" Draco raised his eyes, curious as to what Hermione's surprise was.

"Zabini came over towards us. At first I was shocked that he came over and thought that maybe he wanted to cause some trouble, but he actually just wanted to talk. Surprisingly, he was rather nice. We ended up talking for a few minutes before I decided that it was time to go."

Draco was shocked himself. What the hell is Blaise doing? Since when was he so into Granger? I need to have a little talk with him.

"That's good to hear," Draco said as he got up with Eleina in his arms. "We should probably get down to the Great Hall for dinner. I heard that Dumbledore has an announcement."

"Okay."

Draco put Eleina down on the floor, but still held on to her hand as they walked towards the portrait hole. Owen, seeing his sister holding on to Draco's hand, became a little jealous the she was getting all the attention from their father and walked to Draco's other hand and grabbed it. Hermione laughed, while Draco just smiled down at the kids.

They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at their designated table. Draco spotted Blaise and Lavender walk in with their two kids and sat down across from him. Blaise noticed that Draco was watching him.

"What?" Blaise whispered to him.

"Let's talk, after dinner."

Blaise gave him a confused look but nodded his head.

After awhile of eating and chatting with friends, Dumbledore stood up in front of the school for his announcement.

"Could I have all of your attention, please." He began as the entire Great Hall fell quiet.

"I have special announcement. This year we will be holding a Halloween ball here at Hogwarts."

Every student started murmuring to their friends, discussing what they should wear or who they would go with.

"Ahem!"

Once again, the hall became quiet.

"Now, since this is a Halloween ball, a costume is required. Students will be allowed to visit Hogsmeade to purchase anything they need. Next week, students will have a day off from classes for their trip starting with the first and seconds years on Monday, third and fourth years on Tuesday, fifth years on Wednesday, sixth years on Thursday, and finally seventh years will have their turn on Friday. The ball will be held on Halloween night which is in two and a half weeks." Dumbledore paused as he waited for the students to finish cheering.

"One last thing before I let you all return to your dinner, I need to speak with the sixth year students who are currently in the Family Life class on Monday after breakfast. Please report to the classroom we first met in for a short meeting. That is all. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your meal"

Once Dumbledore ended his announcement the Great Hall filled with students' voices again, but at the table with the sixth year students in the Family Life class everyone was staring at each other wondering what Dumbledore's meeting would be about.

After dinner, Hermione and Draco walked back to their dorm with Owen and Eleina.

"I'm going to give Owen and Eleina a bath." Hermione said while holding on to both child's hands and walking up the stairs.

"Oh, um..do you need help?"

"No I think I'll manage." Hermione said and smiled at his offer.

"Okay, well I need to go have a talk with Blaise, but I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Talk about what?" Hermione asked right when she was about to enter the bathroom. She wondered if it was because of Blaise's encounter with her that evening.

"Nothing, it doesn't concern you." He lied. Hermione nodded as she went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Draco walked down the corridor and towards the entrance. Before he left dinner, he informed Blaise that they would meet ten minutes after. As he approached the entrance, he saw Blaise leaning against the wall, watching him.

"Glad you made it early." Draco said once he reached Blaise.

"Yea, well I had nothing better to do. So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? Let me guess, does it have to do with Granger?"

"How did you know?"

Blaise snorted. "I'm not an idiot, Draco."

"Why were you talking to her?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know she was off limits."

"Answer the question, Blaise."

"Because I wanted to, okay? I just wanted to. We had a nice conversation and I'm sure she enjoyed it as well."

"Oh, so now you are best friends with her. How nice!" Draco rolled his eyes.

"Why are you so angry?"

"Me? Angry? Maybe it's because you decided to befriend Granger of all people! You should just stay away from her, understood?" Draco said and turned around to walk away not waiting for his reply.

"Why should I stay away from her? Are you jealous?" Blaise yelled towards him.

Draco stopped dead in his tracks. Was he jealous? Why would he be? It's not like he had any feelings towards silly little Granger. Or maybe…Draco shook the thoughts out of his head. He decided to not answer Blaise and continue walking back towards his dorm not even glancing back.

Once he got back inside, the living room was empty. He walked up the stairs and into the children room where he found Hermione reading them a picture book like she did every night. He watched how Hermione would smile every time she finished a sentence and when one of the kids would point at the picture while trying to figure out what that was.

Hermione finished the book and looked up to see Draco leaning against the door frame. He walked over towards them and sat next to her on the couch.

"Granger, can we talk?"

"Sure. Let me just put these two to bed."

"Let me." Draco said and he picked up both kids.

Hermione smiled at his offer and watched as he set both of them in their cribs. It was nice to see a softer side of Draco once in a while and whenever he was around their kids, that's when Hermione saw it the most.

They both walked out of the room and down towards the couch. Hermione sat down on one of the couches while Draco paced next to the fireplace.

"Don't you want to sit?" Hermione asked with raised eyes.

"I'm fine, this won't take long."

"Okay…."

"Look, I'm just going to blurt this out, so here it goes." Draco paused, contemplating on whether he should say it or not.

"What is it, Malfoy? Spit it out."

"Do you like Blaise?" Draco said rather quickly.

"What!?" Hermione was thrown off by this question, but after a few seconds she started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Draco stopped pacing and stared at the girl laughing in front of him.

"What's funny is the fact that you think that I would have feelings for someone who almost killed me. That's what's so funny." Hermione said as her laughing died down.

"Well, Blaise was telling about the happy little conversation during your picnic."

"Oh, so you lied to me."

"What are you talking about?."

"You told me that you were going to talk to Blaise, but you said that it didn't have anything to do with me."

"It didn't….until he brought it up!" Draco secretly applauded himself for recovering from the lie.

"Yea, I'm sure he did," Hermione said sarcastically, "Don't worry; it was just an innocent talk. I don't like him any more or any less than I did before."

"Well….good." Draco said and began to walk up the stairs to their bedroom. "I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed now, goodnight." He said right before he got into the bedroom. Hermione followed him up and walked inside to see him take his robes off. She quickly turned around though once he looked up at her.

"It's okay, Granger. I'm use to girls seeing me topless." He smirked.

"Do you think you could sleep with a shirt on?" Hermione said, slowly turning back around but not looking at him. She walked to her bed and crawled under the blanket. She had already changed into her pajamas earlier.

"Nope. I like sleeping without my shirt on." He replied while he turned off the lights and got into his bed too.

They layed there for a few seconds, before Hermione spoke up.

"Malfoy, why do you care if I have feelings for Blaise?"

Draco's eyes shot up at her question. He didn't exactly know the answer to that. He wanted to ask that question to himself.

Hermione turned her head to look at him, but couldn't really see since her eyes haven't adjusted to the darkness yet. She waited patiently for his answer, but it never came. She sighed and assumed that he probably fell asleep already and decided that she should have some good night sleep too.

Draco was thankful that Hermione didn't continue to ask him. He knew that if he stayed silent maybe she would think that he fell asleep, which she did. Draco closed his eyes again and slowly drifted off to sleep wondering what the answer to that question might be.