Another update! Read and review!

Draco Malfoy bursted through the big doors of Malfoy Enterprise and sped down the clammy path towards the apparating point. He looked worriedly at his gold muggle watch. Breathing a sigh of relief upon finding that it's only 6 and he still had a couple of minutes to kill before picking up Scorpius and having dinner with him and Hermione.

He took a deep breath as he prepared to apparate into Diagon Alley, He's planning to buy something for Scorpius. A toy maybe. Some flowers wouldn't hurt Hermione as well right?

And with a small crack he was whisked away to Diagon Alley. He plants his feet firmly on the cobbled steps as he opened his eyes to its picturesque view. This is one of the things that he would never get tired of. One of the places that made him admit to himself that he is quite proud to be a wizard. The idea of it being secret and unknown to a million people in the world had always fascinated him. He made his way through the busy streets, scanning the windows for anything that might interest Scorpius or Hermione.

When all of a sudden, a bright flash startled him.

He turned to see a balding wizard holding a large camera in front of his beady eyes.

"Oi! Misterr Malfoy Sirr Won't you give a nice big smile to me camera."

He had a strong accent which made it seem like he was having troubles enunciating the letter r.

Draco decided to continue on as if nothing happened. He learned from back when he was little that the best way to deal with gossipmongers was to not deal with them at all. After passing about four or five more shops, the balding man still had not given up. In fact now he was asking Draco questions about his life.

"Does Malfoy Enterrprise rreally own a drragon?"

"What did you have ferr Brreakfast today Mrr. Malfoy?"

"Is your favorite color Grreen?"

As time dragged on, the man seemed to become even more persistent as his questions became more personal.

"Did Asterria really allowed you to take mistrresses?"

"Is it trrue she was involved with Mrrr. Zabini?"

"Is it true that yerr son, Scorrpius is messed up because of his motherr's death?"

Upon the man's last question, Draco finally snapped.

"How dare you bring my son unto this?!" he bellowed.

The man cowered and took an instinctive step back towards the sidewalk. People are starting to gather around them, trying to see what the hubbub was about.

"He is just a little boy for God's sake! You don't have the right to talk about him. Hell, you don't even have the right to say his name! I can take any rubbish you throw at me, but do not bring my son into this!"

With a loud groan of anger, he snatched the man's camera and threw it to the ground. If only a few people were looking at them a few minutes ago, the crash caught a lot more people's attention.

"Now Mrr. Malfoy therres's no need for violence." The man replied with a shaky voice.

"I'm just trrying to make a living eh?"

"Well then make a living in a dignified way! Not by feeding off of rumors and gossips concerning young children!"

With that final statement, Draco pounced on the man. Punching him everywhere he can get his hands on. Draco was blinded with fury. He barely felt the pain of the few lucky hits that the man had made.

How dare this man talk about his son as if it was nothing more than a piece of trash? His son's life probably costs more that his whole house! After what seemed like an eternity of anger, they were finally pulled apart by some bystanders while some Ministry officials finally came to investigate. Draco was held by the arms of two elder wizards as they tried to pull him off of the balding man who quickly took off upon seeing the ministry Officials. He wrestled his way out of the wizards' arms and shook his shoulder, feeling his joints pop back to place. He looked around as the ministry officials lead him away from the scene still keeping an open eye as to where the rubbish of man had gone.

The clock chimed loudly from Hermione's living room, catching her attention for a while as she stops reading with Scorpius.

6…7….8…

8 loud rings, she counted in her mind.

Where in Merlin's name was Malfoy? He made it very clear that he would pick up Scorpius at 7.

She glanced at Scorpius as he enthusiastically turned the colorful pages of a large children's book. Well, he still doesn't seem to notice that his father is late in picking him up.

Hermione got up from their comfy place on the floor and made a beeline for the kitchen, seeking coffee. He's probably out on a date, she thought as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Or maybe something keeping him up at work. Yeah, that's probably it.

She gave a huge sigh and made an effort to compose herself as she went back to focusing at Scorpius as he asked yet another question about dragons. Yet as she enjoys her quality time with Scorpius, in the back of her mind there was a small voice whispering that something bad had happened to Malfoy. She bites her lower lip hard, drawing the tangy metallic taste of blood.

Oh Merlin, let him be safe.

His eyes went everywhere, searching as to where the bald man had ran off to.

"Just walk away buddy." The Ministry Official whispered.

He turned his head, blindly. Still feeling adrenaline coursing through his veins as he took a good look at the older man and realized that it was Arthur Weasley. He nodded in assent and let Mr. Weasley guide him towards one of the small bistros decorating Diagon Alley.

Draco barely even noticed the aches he has all over his body until he was lowered by Mr. Weasley unto one of the outdoor chairs.

"Easy does it." Arthur mumbled as Draco gave out a small whimper.

"You ought to get yourself looked at." Mr Weasley advised, taking a seat across Malfoy.

Draco nodded in affirmation as he took inventory of his injuries. His face is full of slashes and bruises and there seems to be a tender spot beside his lips. His head is pounding badly, probably from the impact of the punches he received. And his shoulder looks like it's dislocated. Mr. Weasley was looking at him closely as Draco finally decides to break the awkward silence.

"Uhhh… thank you for umm back there."

Mr. Weasley only smiled and waved his gratitude away.

"Its nothing, He was taunting your son wasn't he?"

Draco could only nod. Even that small action made his vision blur. He really should go see a healer.

"I know what that's like. You are right, he is only an innocent boy. He doesn't deserve the cruelty of our world, well not yet. But there will come a time that he would have to face everything. Until then the duty of us fathers is to protect them."

Draco nodded once more, making his head pound even harder.

"Well we should get you to St. Mungos." Mr. Weasley mutters as he helped Draco off of his seat.

"I just thought you needed a moment to calm down before going to the healers."

"No! Wait! Don't take me to St. Mungos. Take me to Herm….Granger's place instead."

"Hermione's? Are you sure about that?" Arthur retorted abashed.

"Yeah, My….my son is there."

Now Mr. Weasley was even more surprised. What was his son doing there? Maybe his head received quite a hard pounding, he thought. Oh well it wouldn't hurt to take him there, Hermione is a healer after all. She'll take care of him no matter what or who he may be. He slung Draco's arm over his neck and helped him up into a comfortable standing position.

"I think it's best if we apparate. I don't think you'll be able to hold yourself up if I send you off to floo."

Draco only nodded, already dizzy from standing for a short amount of time. With his wand in one hand and a tight grip on Malfoy with the other, they apparated a few meters away from Hermione's house, into a bush of Gardenias.

"Her house is just a short walk from here." Mr. Weasley whispered.

"Oh blast it!" he exclaimed as he looked at his old battered watch.

"Molly would be losing her head by now, looking for me. We have an important dinner you see."

"You can leave me here, Arthur." Draco said trying to make his voice sound normal.

"I can manage the walk on my own."

Mr. Weasley looked at him speculatively.

"Are you sure? You still look shaken. I'm sure Molly would understand."

"You can just tell me which way to her place and I can manage."

Draco held his right hand to Mr. Weasley signaling him to take it in a form of a handshake. Arthur couldn't do anything but grasp the young man's soft hand.

"I can not express my gratitude enough to you Arthur."

Mr. Weasley only smiled, and winked.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the ministry wouldn't get wind of this uh…..little run in you had with that vermin."

Draco smiled back, making his face ache.

"You just take that wide street over there, the 5th house is hers."

"Thank you once again."

Draco stepped back to give the man some space to apparate.

With a last small wave, Arthur Weasley disappeared with nothing but a small crack.

Draco stared at the darkness where Mr. Weasley was a few seconds ago, wringing his swollen knuckles.

Now, for those flowers for Hermione, he thought as he bent down to take a few Gardenias.

As usual I want to thank all of you guys for the support and reviews I've been receiving since I started writing this story. I really do appreciate each and every one of you! Hope you liked this chapter and I promise I'll update as soon as I can.

xoxo,

TheMalfoys