Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter.
Previously:
"Draco, I need to ask you a serious favor," Blaise replied, the fact that he was begging was very evident in his voice.
"Whatever you need, Blaisey Boy."
"I need you to watch Declan today. His bag is by the floo," Blaise said as he walked out of the room in search of his wife.
"OI! WHAT?" Draco yelled after his friend's retreating back.
Blaise didn't come back.
Present:
Draco turned to look at the little boy who was swinging his legs happily lost in his own world. What was he going to tell his boss? Oh wait Pothead was his boss. Granger and Potty must still be friends so he would be okay with Draco having a younger shadow today.
"Okay Declan. Change of plans. You and me are going to hang out today. So pack your bag and let's head off," Draco said, helping Declan down from his chair.
"Bloody hell! That's awesome Mr. Draco," Declan said, running off to find his bag.
Draco paled at the tot's use of the words 'bloody hell'. He quickly ran after the boy.
"Declan, you can't say that phrase until you are eleven years old. If you say it again the goblins from Gringotts are going to come grab you and lock you in a vault," Draco said, in an attempt to keep the boy from telling his mother where he learned those new words.
Well, it certainly took effect with Declan burst into tears and threw his little body into Draco's arms. Through choked sobs, he cried, "Don't let them take me. I sorry, Mr. Draco."
Draco patted the child on the back and realized he may have taken it too far. His realization was seconded when a voice spoke, "Oh good job, Drake."
Draco turned his head to find that his disappearing best friend had materialized again.
"Thanks for the support, Blaise," Draco snarled out as Declan continued to cry.
Blaise shrugged, "Oh you need to meet Granger for lunch at The Palace Café in Diagon Alley to drop Declan off. Be there at 1pm and no later."
Draco nodded and picked Declan up in his arms. Once he had the boy and his backpack situated, Draco threw some floo powder into the fireplace and shouted "Ministry of Magic."
With a flash of green they were gone.
When Blaise saw his friend was gone he called out, "Luna, you can come out now. He bought your fake appointment act."
Being a Malfoy, Draco was always used to people looking at him. Plus in his own opinion, he was a high attractive male who women were dying to jump. But all their staring was nothing compared to this.
He and Declan were walking through the atrium of the Ministry of Magic, having just exited the floo system. And everything had come to a stop. It was all rather ridiculous. One man even walked into the side of the floo.
Declan giggled and swung Draco's hand back and forth, skipping gaily through the atrium with his little backpack on, completely unaware by all the attention.
A flash of blond out of the corner of his eye alerted Draco that Rita Skeeter had seen him. How that woman had yet to be avada'd by someone was astounding. He made a mental note to contact the editor of the Daily Prophet threatening Skeeter with Azkaban if she wrote any type of article about him and Declan. It wouldn't be the first time he had threatened her and he doubted it would be the last.
He could hear the whispers of those walking past him and was thoroughly annoyed. People had never forgiven or forgotten what his family had done in the war.
"Is that Draco Malfoy with a CHILD?"
"I thought he was banned from every producing spawn."
"Filthy Death eater scum."
"Is that Hermione Granger's son?"
Deciding that they needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, Draco lifted Declan into his arms and walked quickly to the elevators. Five minutes later, they were walking into the Auror office. Everyone was so busy that they didn't pay attention to the fact that Malfoy had a child in his arms. Well, everyone except for one man.
Harry Potter's jaw dropped when Draco Malfoy walked in holding his Hermione's son in his arms. The first thing that crossed Harry's mind was panic-what if something had happened to Hermione? Had Draco done something to her? And before he could stop himself, Harry was yelling, "Oi Malfoy! I didn't take you as the child stealing bastard type."
A hush fell over the busy office even though Harry's accusation made no sense. When would Draco bring a kidnapped child into the AUROR office? Everyone enjoyed a good Potter/Malfoy fight. There was a reason director Shacklebolt hadn't assigned those two as partners even though they were the top two students in their training class.
Draco froze.
Harry Potter had been a thorn in his side for years but had never crossed the line until today. Declan looked up into Draco's face with a wary expression on his face. Draco knew the boy could feel the anger rolling off him and tried to control himself.
Without turning around, Draco stated in a deadly calm voice, "What did you say Potter?"
"You heard what I said, Malfoy. What'd you do to Hermione?" Harry spat back, walking towards the pair.
Draco could feel Declan trembling in his arms and decided that this conversation needed to take place in his office. He walked over to one of the secretaries and set Declan down on the top of her desk.
"Hey Declan, this is Mindy and she is going to watch you for a few minutes while I talk to your Uncle Harry," Draco said, patting Declan's shoulder in a some what comforting manner.
"Is he going to hurt you, Mr. Draco?" Declan asked quietly.
Draco's face lit into a small grin, "Nah mate. He can't hurt me. I'm the best Auror in the department."
Ignoring Mindy's snort of laughter, Draco turned back to Harry, "My office now, Potter."
Harry knew better than to continue the fight out in the main area so he quickly followed Draco into his office, slamming the door behind him.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry shot out once the door was closed.
Draco sighed and sat down behind his desk and responded, "She's at work."
"They why on Merlin's green earth do you have her son?" Harry asked, completely flabbergasted at the thought of 'Mione entrusting Draco Malfoy with her son.
"Because of bloody Zabini and his little wife too."
"What do Blaise and Luna have to do with anything?"
"You better sit down Potter. This may be more than your little half-blood brain can handle," Draco sneered, leaning his elbows on the desk.
"Sod off, Malfoy. I just want some answers," Harry replied in a tired voice.
A knock on the door interrupted the beginning of Draco's story. Mindy popped her head through the door, "Mr. Malfoy? Declan is causing quite a ruckus and I would appreciate if you could please keep him here in your office for the rest of the day."
Harry and Draco looked at each other both wondering what on earth the child could have done in five minutes. Mindy opened the door and they both got a look at the department. It resembled a war zone. The walls had been turned a disgusting shade of purple and bodies were flying all over the place, trying to avoid paperclip daggers.
"DECLAN!" Draco and Harry called at the same time.
The little boy in question was standing on top of the desk using his fingers to aim the paperclips at Aurors and their assistants who stayed in one place too long. When he heard his name being called out he looked over at the two adult and waved, accidentally causing fifty paperclips to come shooting at them.
"Potter look out!" Draco yelped as he pushed Harry out of the way.
The paper clips hit Draco's door like darts on a dartboard, embedding themselves deep into the wood.
"Merlin," Harry whispered, looking Declan who was now upset at having almost offed his two favorite men.
"Mr. Draco, I sorry!" Declan cried, tears running down his cheeks.
Draco decided it would be safe to make a run for the boy while Harry called out, "Finite Incantatem."
The paperclips dropped to floor.
"And you call yourselves Aurors," Harry spat out disgustedly before walking back into Draco's office. At least they had the notion to look ashamed but to their credit they had been diving killer paperclips.
Draco had made his way over to the desk Declan was standing on. As soon as Draco was close enough, Declan launched himself into his arms. Caught by surprise, Draco still managed to catch the little boy.
Declan's little arms wrapped around Draco's neck and he was genuinely upset. Draco just rolled his eyes at the dramatic display and carried the miscreant into his office. Harry was sitting down in the chair in front of Draco's desk and motioned for Draco to give Declan to him. Eager to get rid of the extra weight, Draco passes Declan off to Harry.
"Why are you still here, Potter?" Draco asked, as he sat back in his office chair pinching the bridge of his nose. He could already feel a headache coming on and it was only 10 am.
"I want to hear the story you were going to tell me before Mindy interrupted us."
"Bloody hell. I can't take much more lunacy," Draco muttered underneath his breath.
"Just tell me, Malfoy," Harry insisted, shifting Declan in his lap so they were both facing Draco.
"Don't get your muggle panties twisted in a wad."
"Malfoy! Come on and I don't wear panties."
"Okay fine, I was at the Zabini's manor this morning when Granger and Declan came in. Blaise was going to watch Dec but he forgot that Luna had an appointment for her spawn so he asked me to watch Declan until 1pm. Then I am to meet Granger at some restaurant," Draco said as fast as he could in order to get Potter out of his office so some real work could get done.
Draco looked up from his desk to find two pairs of eyes looking at him incredulously.
"What?" Draco snapped.
"Blimey mate. I don't think I've ever heard a bloke talk that fast before," Harry muttered while Declan giggled, "You sounded like Aunt Ginny when she gets together with mommy."
Scoffing Draco replied, "Thank you for comparing me to a woman, Declan."
The sarcasm in his voice was clearly missed when Declan replied, "You're welcome, Mr. Draco."
Potter even had the audacity to laugh at him.
"Well Malfoy, I'll let you talk to Declan about misusing magic. I've got work to do," Harry said, standing up to leave.
"Wait, Potter has he even used magic before?" Draco asked anxiously.
Harry laughed again, "Yeah he has. Get Hermione to tell you some of this kids exploits. He gets it from his father."
Draco couldn't imagine Declan getting anything good from Adrian Pucey so he decided to ignore that part of Potter's statement. After Potter left, Draco walked back around the desk to squat in front of Declan, who was sitting on the chair. He really had no idea how to handle the situation but decided to bring out the talk his father had given him when he killed all his mother's flowers with a random burst of magic during a temper tantrum.
"Declan, please look at me."
Declan lifted his eyes innocently to Draco's, "Yes, Mr. Draco?"
"Why did you turn the walls purple and start shooting paperclips at people?"
"Because I was angry that you left me there with that bint, Mindy," Declan stated in a precocious tone and even added a roll of his eyes.
The thought that Declan had such control over his magic at such a young age made Draco very nervous. He was definitely going to have a chat with Granger about her son's rather Slytherin magic display.
"Declan," Draco said sharply, "What did I say about using bad words this morning?"
Declan gulped, "That the goblins were going to come get me."
"Well, consider this your last warning."
"Okay Mr. Draco, I promise not to say bloody hell or bint again," Declan replied in a sincere tone.
"Good lad, now we need to talk about your use of magic today."
"You're not going to tell mommy, are you?"
Draco cringed. He could only imagine what Granger would do when she found out. Taking a deep breath, Draco started in on the lecture, "Declan, no matter how upset you get you can't let your magic ever get the best of you. You need to learn to control it at all times until you are 11. If you can't control it then you are going to get in trouble. Please be very careful from now on, Dec. Someone could have gotten hurt today. Now promise me that you will be careful from now on."
"I prowmise Mr. Draco," Declan replied solemnly.
"Good deal, now we can have some fun. Would you like to help me play detective?" Draco asked.
At Declan's eager nod, he sat down in the chair next to the boy and started explaining the case he had been looking at, leaving out all the gory details.
The pair worked for nearly three hours before Draco realized that they needed to meet Granger in 15 minutes at the café. He quickly had Declan pick up the mess he had made with his toys and hustled them out the door. They quickly walked to the elevators waving goodbye to Harry. Draco once again carried Declan through the atrium to avoid all the gawking people.
What he didn't notice this time was a brown haired former Slytherin watching the pair with anger in his eyes.
AN: Oh No! What do you think is going to happen? I love all the follows but I love reviews even more. Let me know what you think in a review :)