Fic: After Effect, Harry/Draco, NC-17, [Complete]
Title: After Effect
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Summary: No one knew Draco had a daughter, but due to unfortunate circumstances surrounding the end of the War he'll have to bring her to school for his eighth year. Perhaps a bit of innocence can help to open eyes.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter Two
He’d brought Carina to classes already. She’d been to all of them yesterday and it had been just fine. But Draco was worried about Potions, and for good reason. Not only was she a risk to others, but she could easily get hurt. In fact, she could get killed. Draco’s stomach plummeted.
The class was gathered outside the dungeon doors when the two arrived and Carina reached up to grab Draco’s finger. He smiled and knelt down beside her. She looked at him anxiously. He could feel the eyes of everyone on them, but he determinedly ignored it and focused on his daughter.
“’Rina, Daddy needs you to behave really, really well in this class, okay? There are things that could hurt you if you touch them. Will you be careful?” She squeezed his finger more tightly and brought her other hand up to clutch at his sleeve.
“What kind of stuff?” Draco chewed the inside of his lip, thinking of a good way to describe harmful potions to a three-year-old.
“There are potions in the cauldrons like the ones Daddy made when you were sick, remember? But some of these ones are dangerous. I need you to promise me that you’ll be very, very careful.”
“Why are they dangerous?” Before Draco could respond he heard someone snicker close by and looked up to see Blaise laughing to himself. Had Carina not been there he’d have punched him in the face. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked back at his daughter, her dark brown eyes filled with curiosity.
“Because if you don’t make them right then they’re not good to use. I don’t want you to get hurt, love.” He grinned comfortingly and leaned in to kiss her cheek. He loved kissing her cheek; in fact, he loved kissing any of her skin. It was still smooth and soft, just like when she was a baby. It was innocent and beautiful and it comforted him more than anything in the world. “Promise you’ll behave?”
She held out her hand, angling her pinky slightly away from the rest of her fingers. She didn’t yet have the coordination to separate them completely, but she’d learned pinky promises somewhere and had taken a liking to them.
“A pinky promise?” Draco gasped in mock surprise. Carina giggled. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“It means ‘I promise’!”
“But it also means that if you don’t keep your promise I get to tickle you whenever I want for the rest of the day.”
“No!” she laughed, shaking her head and causing her pigtails to sway. Instead of giving her an answer he scooped her up in his arms and walked closer to the door, keeping his eyes away from the numerous stares.
“Malfoy!” Draco turned, nearly doubling back and leaving when he saw Theodore Nott standing there looking ready for a fight. He noticed Pansy behind him, arms across her chest and against the wall, pretending nothing worth her attention was going on. Draco lowered Carina to the ground once more and took her hands in his.
“Baby, I need you to close your eyes until I tell you to open them. Do you understand?”
“Why?” She was beginning to shake a bit, clearly aware that something was wrong with this boy who had just called for her father.
“Do as I say,” he said, a little more harshly than he’d meant. Tears sprang to her eyes and, before he could lean in to kiss her cheek again, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up and was astounded to see Hermione Granger standing there, biting her lip nervously.
“I can take her for a minute...”
Draco was speechless. But when Nott said his name again, this time more loudly, he swallowed his pride and nodded.
“Thanks,” he whispered. Granger led his daughter away and Draco stood to face his peer. “Can I help you, Nott?” he asked coolly.
“Yeah. Get your slimy arse to Azkaban where it belongs,” he spat. Draco merely rolled his eyes and made to turn away, but was forced to spin around again when he heard someone shout, “Expelliarmus!”
He was ready to be blasted backwards, which was why he was shocked to see Nott’s wand fly from his hand. It sailed through the air, only to be swiped by Harry bloody Potter.
Draco groaned.
“There are children here, Nott,” Harry said, walking forwards to face the boy.
“Haven’t you had your fill of saving the day?” Nott drawled, earning a glare from most of the crowd. However, before anything more could be said, the door to the Potions room swung open and the new professor, a male, stood in the doorway staring at the gathered students. The professor eyed Harry, who was holding Nott’s wand, to Nott, who looked red-in-the-face with anger. His eyes then fell on Hermione, who was knelt on the ground, holding Carina as the girl cried on her shoulder.
“Problem?” the man asked. No one spoke.
“No, Professor,” Harry finally said, snapping the group out of a collective trance. He then handed Nott his wand and walked past the professor into the room. The group followed, Theodore glaring at Draco as he passed. Draco, Hermione, and Carina were left in the hall and very suddenly Carina sprinted into Draco’s arms, her sobs renewed.
“It’s okay, baby,” Draco said, smoothing her hair down. “Nothing happened.” He was distracted from his daughter when Hermione came up beside him. He stood up and cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks tint lightly. “Thank you.”
“Is she yours?” Draco nodded. Hermione looked down at the girl and then back at Draco. “If you ever need anything...” Again, he nodded. Hermione seemed to take that as her cue to leave because she finally entered the Potions classroom, Draco and Carina following behind.
* * *
“Hermione.” Harry nudged Hermione with his elbow and she shot him a dubious glare.
“What, Harry?”
“Who the hell is the kid?”
Hermione sighed. Harry couldn’t be bothered to care that she was getting annoyed with him. He was deathly curious as to who this child was that Draco Malfoy was dragging around the school treating like … well, like his daughter.
Hermione stayed silent for a moment before whispering, “She’s his.”
Harry’s jaw nearly dropped. What?
“What do you mean, she’s his?”
“She’s his daughter,” she hissed.
Harry felt lost for words. Of course, the idea had occurred to him when he’d seen the blond child with Malfoy at the feast, but he’d dismissed the notion as soon as it had crossed his mind. It was ridiculous. How could Draco Malfoy have a daughter? A daughter that looked to be at least three years old, no less. How could no one have known?
“It can’t be,” Harry said, shaking his head. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued fiddling with her potion. Harry had long since abandoned his own. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t know, Harry,” she said exasperatedly, still refusing to look at him. “He told me she was his just outside the classroom, that’s the only thing I-"
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Why in the world would he tell you that?”
Hermione made a noise that very much sounded like a growl and Harry recoiled.
“That just doesn’t make any sense that she could be his daughter,” he said quietly.
“I know that. But clearly there’s an explanation because I can think of even less reasons for him to lie about it.”
Harry silently agreed with this, but it didn’t stop him from being entirely baffled by the situation.
He stayed quiet after that, only half-heartedly working on his potion, before Hermione piped up again, reluctantly though it seemed.
“She certainly looks like him, doesn’t she?”
Harry nodded. “Spitting image except for the eyes.” Harry saw Hermione smirk and flushed. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s true. She must have her mother’s eyes.”
At the mention of the girl’s mother Harry’s stomach flipped violently. Until that point he hadn’t even considered that the child must have a mother out there somewhere-someone that Draco Malfoy had had sex with some time back in their, what … fifth year? Harry didn’t know why that made him so uncomfortable.
“I wonder if he loves her,” he wondered aloud. Hermione looked at him strangely.
“Are you kidding? Harry, he brought her to school with him, I think it’s safe to assume he-"
“No, no, no,” Harry said, shaking his head. “I mean, whoever the mum is. I wonder if, you know…”
“Oh,” Hermione said quietly. She cocked her head in thought. “I don’t know. Seems very … well, I guess it’s not the nicest thing to say, but it seems rather farfetched, doesn’t it? Draco feeling that way about someone?”
Harry didn’t know what to call it, but the conversation was making him feel weird. His stomach was starting to churn uncomfortably and he didn’t know why. He determinedly looked away from Malfoy and his daughter, to whom he was currently speaking over one of the many ingredients, presumably teaching her something about it. He always had been competent when it came to Potions.
“I’ve never seen him act like that,” Harry said quietly. He saw Hermione nod beside him. “Why d’you think he’s just now bringing her?”
Hermione shrugged. “Could be a number of reasons. The War’s over, for one. And, well, he doesn’t really have any parents to take care of her anymore, does he? And the mum is probably in school as well.”
“Yeah.” A thought occurred to him then and he found himself looking around the classroom, suddenly suspicious of every last girl. “Do you think she goes here?” he gasped. “To Hogwarts?”
“Seems unlikely,” Hermione said. She, too, looked around, though skeptically. “Why wouldn’t she be helping him out if she did?”
“I don’t know … doesn’t wanna deal with the stress?” Harry couldn’t have said why (nor did he want to, in fact, because the thought made him nauseous), but a feeling much too reminiscent of the envy he’d experienced over Ginny sixth year flared up at the idea that some girl in the school could feasibly have a child with Malfoy.
“I suppose…” she agreed. Harry knew she wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know, I think it seems much more likely that she goes to another school somewhere. Or maybe she’s older than we are. He may be acting the part of a father, but people don’t change that much that quickly. I just can’t see Draco letting someone get away with that.” She paused. “Besides, don’t you think the child would run to her mum the moment she saw her?”
“That’s true.” The evidence against the mum being in school with them made Harry feel better about the situation, but he still couldn’t seem to forget it entirely. The fact remained that someone somewhere was the mother of that child, and she very likely was intimately involved with Malfoy.
Harry was beginning to feel very sick indeed.
Why the fuck do I care? I don’t care. This is ridiculous. I don’t care. Why am I even thinking about this?
“Exactly. I don’t think the mother goes to Hogwarts,” Hermione said definitively. She looked over at him, eyebrows drawn together. “Are you alright?”
“Fine,” he said much too quickly. Hermione didn’t say anything more on the subject, though he would have bet all the Galleons in Gringotts she was contemplating something.
When the end of class approached Harry was just packing his things away when he noticed someone walking toward them out of his peripheral vision. He looked up and felt his stomach flip when he saw Malfoy, his daughter’s hand wrapped around his finger, approach Ron and Hermione, who were speaking on the other side of the table.
“Oh, hello, Malfoy,” Hermione said kindly, and then looked down at the girl. “I never asked your name,” she said with a smile, kneeling down so that she was face-to-face with the child.
“Carina,” the girl said shyly, her pale cheeks blushing red. Hermione laughed and looked up at Malfoy, who smirked. Harry had no idea why.
“What a beautiful name. Mine’s Hermione,” she said, holding out her hand. Carina shook it with the hand that wasn’t clutching her father’s. Hermione stood back up.
“I just wanted to thank you for earlier,” Malfoy said. Hermione smiled.
“Of course. Like I said, if you need anything else, just ask.” Malfoy nodded before turning to leave, except that Carina suddenly abandoned his hand and turned back to Hermione.
“Excuse me,” the girl said, tugging lightly on Hermione’s pants. Hermione turned back around and smiled brightly.
“Carina!” Draco reprimanded her. “That’s not polite.”
“It’s alright,” Hermione laughed. She knelt down again. Harry saw Ron watching the whole interaction in absolute astonishment. “What is it, Carina?”
“Do you like cats?” To Harry’s surprise, he heard Malfoy laugh.
“I do,” Hermione said. “I have one myself! Why do you ask?”
Carina looked like Christmas had just come early. “I have a kitty! Would you like to meet her? She’s the nicest kitty in the world, you’ll see!”
“Oh, er-” Hermione looked uncertainly up at Malfoy, who couldn’t seem to believe this was happening. “I’m not sure…”
Carina turned to her father with pleading eyes. “Papa, can Hermany come to see Emilie, oh please?”
Time seemed to stop as this little girl inadvertently attempted to merge two sides of a past War. Harry watched in anticipation, his heart pounding madly, while Ron seemed lost for words.
“You’re welcome to visit, if you’d like,” Malfoy said quietly, his cheeks positively flaming. Harry’s mouth dropped open. Malfoy looked up at him for just a moment, but when he returned his gaze to his daughter he was smirking. Harry’s stomach knotted.
Fuck.
“Oh … well, I’d love to meet Emilie,” Hermione said with a smile. “Perhaps I could bring mine and they could play. How does that sound?”
“Lovely!” Carina squealed. Harry couldn’t help laughing.
“It’s a date, then.” She stood and faced Malfoy. “After dinner?”
“Sure. We’ll see you later, then.”
“Goodbye!” Carina said amiably, waving goodbye to Hermione as she and her father left the room.
Hermione turned to look at him and Ron.
“The fuck..?” Ron whispered.
“That was in the top three weirdest things that has ever happened to me,” Harry said.
“The other two being?”
“I don’t know, but they definitely had to do with Voldemort.”
Hermione laughed. “He’s changed. How it happened is beyond me, but I suppose we should just go with it.”
“We?” Ron said, raising a brow. “He didn’t even look at me or Harry.” Hermione glanced at Harry for a moment.
“Yes, well … it would do both of you well to try and get along with him. His daughter’s just darling.”
“I agree with Harry,” Ron said dramatically. “Possibly the most bizarre thing I have ever witnessed.”
Hermione chuckled. “Let’s go. We have another class after this break.”
“Yes, and then a play date with Malfoy’s daughter after dinner.” Hermione smirked as she lifted her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the room, Harry and Ron behind her.
* * *
“Are you two coming?”
Harry felt his stomach knot up. He wished he could have declined and been completely unaffected by it, but he couldn’t. Instead, he had to decline with a horrible pit in his stomach.
I’m losing my mind.
Ron, on the other hand, simply laughed and wished her luck.
“I don’t think we were invited anyway,” Harry said, moving toward the stairs in the entrance hall. “Are you coming to get Crookshanks?”
“Yes, after I talk to Malfoy. Find him, will you? He’s probably hiding beneath my bed.”
“Hermione,” Ron deadpanned.
She looked at him for a moment before smiling.
“Oh! Right. Send Ginny to do it, then, if he’s up there.”
* * *
Hermione watched as Harry and Ron made their way up the stairs, whispering between themselves as they went. She would have given anything to know what was going on inside Harry’s head. Since the War had ended he’d been perfectly happy; spending time with Ginny, his friends, the Weasleys, and simply smiling and laughing enough to make up for all the lost time. She hadn’t seen him look this uncomfortable since before Voldemort had been defeated, and it didn’t slip her notice that it had been sparked by Draco and his daughter. Something was going on; she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
Hermione abandoned her thoughts when she saw Draco and Carina walking out of the Great Hall.
“Hello,” she said as she approached them. Carina beamed up at her. Draco simply looked unsure of the whole situation.
“Look,” he said quietly, scanning the entrance hall, “if you don’t mind, I think it would be better if we went to the quad or out by the lake instead of the Slytherin common room.”
“Of course,” Hermione said happily, secretly relieved she wouldn’t have to enter the snake’s den. The War may have been over, but Slytherins were still Slytherins. “I have to get Crookshanks. I’ll meet you two here?”
“Yeah,” Draco said with a nod. He glanced at the stairs. “Are…?”
“No,” said Hermione quietly. She wondered whether he’d wanted Harry to come. Certainly not Ron, but Harry? She doubted it. He may have matured a lot but that didn’t mean the rivalry wasn’t still there. Draco nodded. “See you in a few.”
Hermione walked into the common room to find Harry and Ginny on a couch, his arm draped over her shoulder, Crookshanks purring contentedly in her lap.
“Thanks, Gin,” she said, gently pulling the cat into her arms.
“He was down here,” she said. “Are you really..?” She glanced at the portrait and back at Hermione.
“Yes. His daughter’s adorable. And he’s changed quite a bit himself.”
“I can’t believe he’s got a daughter,” Ginny said with a shake of her head. “Knew he was a slut.” She smirked evilly and looked at Harry, who laughed.
“I’ll be back soon.” She looked at Harry directly. “You and Ron should start your Transfiguration essays. They’re due Friday. It may not be McGonagall anymore, but Cornwall doesn’t seem much more lenient.” Harry nodded dully. “See you later.”
Link to Chapter Three
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: NC-17
Summary: No one knew Draco had a daughter, but due to unfortunate circumstances surrounding the end of the War he'll have to bring her to school for his eighth year. Perhaps a bit of innocence can help to open eyes.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter Two
He’d brought Carina to classes already. She’d been to all of them yesterday and it had been just fine. But Draco was worried about Potions, and for good reason. Not only was she a risk to others, but she could easily get hurt. In fact, she could get killed. Draco’s stomach plummeted.
The class was gathered outside the dungeon doors when the two arrived and Carina reached up to grab Draco’s finger. He smiled and knelt down beside her. She looked at him anxiously. He could feel the eyes of everyone on them, but he determinedly ignored it and focused on his daughter.
“’Rina, Daddy needs you to behave really, really well in this class, okay? There are things that could hurt you if you touch them. Will you be careful?” She squeezed his finger more tightly and brought her other hand up to clutch at his sleeve.
“What kind of stuff?” Draco chewed the inside of his lip, thinking of a good way to describe harmful potions to a three-year-old.
“There are potions in the cauldrons like the ones Daddy made when you were sick, remember? But some of these ones are dangerous. I need you to promise me that you’ll be very, very careful.”
“Why are they dangerous?” Before Draco could respond he heard someone snicker close by and looked up to see Blaise laughing to himself. Had Carina not been there he’d have punched him in the face. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked back at his daughter, her dark brown eyes filled with curiosity.
“Because if you don’t make them right then they’re not good to use. I don’t want you to get hurt, love.” He grinned comfortingly and leaned in to kiss her cheek. He loved kissing her cheek; in fact, he loved kissing any of her skin. It was still smooth and soft, just like when she was a baby. It was innocent and beautiful and it comforted him more than anything in the world. “Promise you’ll behave?”
She held out her hand, angling her pinky slightly away from the rest of her fingers. She didn’t yet have the coordination to separate them completely, but she’d learned pinky promises somewhere and had taken a liking to them.
“A pinky promise?” Draco gasped in mock surprise. Carina giggled. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“It means ‘I promise’!”
“But it also means that if you don’t keep your promise I get to tickle you whenever I want for the rest of the day.”
“No!” she laughed, shaking her head and causing her pigtails to sway. Instead of giving her an answer he scooped her up in his arms and walked closer to the door, keeping his eyes away from the numerous stares.
“Malfoy!” Draco turned, nearly doubling back and leaving when he saw Theodore Nott standing there looking ready for a fight. He noticed Pansy behind him, arms across her chest and against the wall, pretending nothing worth her attention was going on. Draco lowered Carina to the ground once more and took her hands in his.
“Baby, I need you to close your eyes until I tell you to open them. Do you understand?”
“Why?” She was beginning to shake a bit, clearly aware that something was wrong with this boy who had just called for her father.
“Do as I say,” he said, a little more harshly than he’d meant. Tears sprang to her eyes and, before he could lean in to kiss her cheek again, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up and was astounded to see Hermione Granger standing there, biting her lip nervously.
“I can take her for a minute...”
Draco was speechless. But when Nott said his name again, this time more loudly, he swallowed his pride and nodded.
“Thanks,” he whispered. Granger led his daughter away and Draco stood to face his peer. “Can I help you, Nott?” he asked coolly.
“Yeah. Get your slimy arse to Azkaban where it belongs,” he spat. Draco merely rolled his eyes and made to turn away, but was forced to spin around again when he heard someone shout, “Expelliarmus!”
He was ready to be blasted backwards, which was why he was shocked to see Nott’s wand fly from his hand. It sailed through the air, only to be swiped by Harry bloody Potter.
Draco groaned.
“There are children here, Nott,” Harry said, walking forwards to face the boy.
“Haven’t you had your fill of saving the day?” Nott drawled, earning a glare from most of the crowd. However, before anything more could be said, the door to the Potions room swung open and the new professor, a male, stood in the doorway staring at the gathered students. The professor eyed Harry, who was holding Nott’s wand, to Nott, who looked red-in-the-face with anger. His eyes then fell on Hermione, who was knelt on the ground, holding Carina as the girl cried on her shoulder.
“Problem?” the man asked. No one spoke.
“No, Professor,” Harry finally said, snapping the group out of a collective trance. He then handed Nott his wand and walked past the professor into the room. The group followed, Theodore glaring at Draco as he passed. Draco, Hermione, and Carina were left in the hall and very suddenly Carina sprinted into Draco’s arms, her sobs renewed.
“It’s okay, baby,” Draco said, smoothing her hair down. “Nothing happened.” He was distracted from his daughter when Hermione came up beside him. He stood up and cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks tint lightly. “Thank you.”
“Is she yours?” Draco nodded. Hermione looked down at the girl and then back at Draco. “If you ever need anything...” Again, he nodded. Hermione seemed to take that as her cue to leave because she finally entered the Potions classroom, Draco and Carina following behind.
* * *
“Hermione.” Harry nudged Hermione with his elbow and she shot him a dubious glare.
“What, Harry?”
“Who the hell is the kid?”
Hermione sighed. Harry couldn’t be bothered to care that she was getting annoyed with him. He was deathly curious as to who this child was that Draco Malfoy was dragging around the school treating like … well, like his daughter.
Hermione stayed silent for a moment before whispering, “She’s his.”
Harry’s jaw nearly dropped. What?
“What do you mean, she’s his?”
“She’s his daughter,” she hissed.
Harry felt lost for words. Of course, the idea had occurred to him when he’d seen the blond child with Malfoy at the feast, but he’d dismissed the notion as soon as it had crossed his mind. It was ridiculous. How could Draco Malfoy have a daughter? A daughter that looked to be at least three years old, no less. How could no one have known?
“It can’t be,” Harry said, shaking his head. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued fiddling with her potion. Harry had long since abandoned his own. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t know, Harry,” she said exasperatedly, still refusing to look at him. “He told me she was his just outside the classroom, that’s the only thing I-"
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Why in the world would he tell you that?”
Hermione made a noise that very much sounded like a growl and Harry recoiled.
“That just doesn’t make any sense that she could be his daughter,” he said quietly.
“I know that. But clearly there’s an explanation because I can think of even less reasons for him to lie about it.”
Harry silently agreed with this, but it didn’t stop him from being entirely baffled by the situation.
He stayed quiet after that, only half-heartedly working on his potion, before Hermione piped up again, reluctantly though it seemed.
“She certainly looks like him, doesn’t she?”
Harry nodded. “Spitting image except for the eyes.” Harry saw Hermione smirk and flushed. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s true. She must have her mother’s eyes.”
At the mention of the girl’s mother Harry’s stomach flipped violently. Until that point he hadn’t even considered that the child must have a mother out there somewhere-someone that Draco Malfoy had had sex with some time back in their, what … fifth year? Harry didn’t know why that made him so uncomfortable.
“I wonder if he loves her,” he wondered aloud. Hermione looked at him strangely.
“Are you kidding? Harry, he brought her to school with him, I think it’s safe to assume he-"
“No, no, no,” Harry said, shaking his head. “I mean, whoever the mum is. I wonder if, you know…”
“Oh,” Hermione said quietly. She cocked her head in thought. “I don’t know. Seems very … well, I guess it’s not the nicest thing to say, but it seems rather farfetched, doesn’t it? Draco feeling that way about someone?”
Harry didn’t know what to call it, but the conversation was making him feel weird. His stomach was starting to churn uncomfortably and he didn’t know why. He determinedly looked away from Malfoy and his daughter, to whom he was currently speaking over one of the many ingredients, presumably teaching her something about it. He always had been competent when it came to Potions.
“I’ve never seen him act like that,” Harry said quietly. He saw Hermione nod beside him. “Why d’you think he’s just now bringing her?”
Hermione shrugged. “Could be a number of reasons. The War’s over, for one. And, well, he doesn’t really have any parents to take care of her anymore, does he? And the mum is probably in school as well.”
“Yeah.” A thought occurred to him then and he found himself looking around the classroom, suddenly suspicious of every last girl. “Do you think she goes here?” he gasped. “To Hogwarts?”
“Seems unlikely,” Hermione said. She, too, looked around, though skeptically. “Why wouldn’t she be helping him out if she did?”
“I don’t know … doesn’t wanna deal with the stress?” Harry couldn’t have said why (nor did he want to, in fact, because the thought made him nauseous), but a feeling much too reminiscent of the envy he’d experienced over Ginny sixth year flared up at the idea that some girl in the school could feasibly have a child with Malfoy.
“I suppose…” she agreed. Harry knew she wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know, I think it seems much more likely that she goes to another school somewhere. Or maybe she’s older than we are. He may be acting the part of a father, but people don’t change that much that quickly. I just can’t see Draco letting someone get away with that.” She paused. “Besides, don’t you think the child would run to her mum the moment she saw her?”
“That’s true.” The evidence against the mum being in school with them made Harry feel better about the situation, but he still couldn’t seem to forget it entirely. The fact remained that someone somewhere was the mother of that child, and she very likely was intimately involved with Malfoy.
Harry was beginning to feel very sick indeed.
Why the fuck do I care? I don’t care. This is ridiculous. I don’t care. Why am I even thinking about this?
“Exactly. I don’t think the mother goes to Hogwarts,” Hermione said definitively. She looked over at him, eyebrows drawn together. “Are you alright?”
“Fine,” he said much too quickly. Hermione didn’t say anything more on the subject, though he would have bet all the Galleons in Gringotts she was contemplating something.
When the end of class approached Harry was just packing his things away when he noticed someone walking toward them out of his peripheral vision. He looked up and felt his stomach flip when he saw Malfoy, his daughter’s hand wrapped around his finger, approach Ron and Hermione, who were speaking on the other side of the table.
“Oh, hello, Malfoy,” Hermione said kindly, and then looked down at the girl. “I never asked your name,” she said with a smile, kneeling down so that she was face-to-face with the child.
“Carina,” the girl said shyly, her pale cheeks blushing red. Hermione laughed and looked up at Malfoy, who smirked. Harry had no idea why.
“What a beautiful name. Mine’s Hermione,” she said, holding out her hand. Carina shook it with the hand that wasn’t clutching her father’s. Hermione stood back up.
“I just wanted to thank you for earlier,” Malfoy said. Hermione smiled.
“Of course. Like I said, if you need anything else, just ask.” Malfoy nodded before turning to leave, except that Carina suddenly abandoned his hand and turned back to Hermione.
“Excuse me,” the girl said, tugging lightly on Hermione’s pants. Hermione turned back around and smiled brightly.
“Carina!” Draco reprimanded her. “That’s not polite.”
“It’s alright,” Hermione laughed. She knelt down again. Harry saw Ron watching the whole interaction in absolute astonishment. “What is it, Carina?”
“Do you like cats?” To Harry’s surprise, he heard Malfoy laugh.
“I do,” Hermione said. “I have one myself! Why do you ask?”
Carina looked like Christmas had just come early. “I have a kitty! Would you like to meet her? She’s the nicest kitty in the world, you’ll see!”
“Oh, er-” Hermione looked uncertainly up at Malfoy, who couldn’t seem to believe this was happening. “I’m not sure…”
Carina turned to her father with pleading eyes. “Papa, can Hermany come to see Emilie, oh please?”
Time seemed to stop as this little girl inadvertently attempted to merge two sides of a past War. Harry watched in anticipation, his heart pounding madly, while Ron seemed lost for words.
“You’re welcome to visit, if you’d like,” Malfoy said quietly, his cheeks positively flaming. Harry’s mouth dropped open. Malfoy looked up at him for just a moment, but when he returned his gaze to his daughter he was smirking. Harry’s stomach knotted.
Fuck.
“Oh … well, I’d love to meet Emilie,” Hermione said with a smile. “Perhaps I could bring mine and they could play. How does that sound?”
“Lovely!” Carina squealed. Harry couldn’t help laughing.
“It’s a date, then.” She stood and faced Malfoy. “After dinner?”
“Sure. We’ll see you later, then.”
“Goodbye!” Carina said amiably, waving goodbye to Hermione as she and her father left the room.
Hermione turned to look at him and Ron.
“The fuck..?” Ron whispered.
“That was in the top three weirdest things that has ever happened to me,” Harry said.
“The other two being?”
“I don’t know, but they definitely had to do with Voldemort.”
Hermione laughed. “He’s changed. How it happened is beyond me, but I suppose we should just go with it.”
“We?” Ron said, raising a brow. “He didn’t even look at me or Harry.” Hermione glanced at Harry for a moment.
“Yes, well … it would do both of you well to try and get along with him. His daughter’s just darling.”
“I agree with Harry,” Ron said dramatically. “Possibly the most bizarre thing I have ever witnessed.”
Hermione chuckled. “Let’s go. We have another class after this break.”
“Yes, and then a play date with Malfoy’s daughter after dinner.” Hermione smirked as she lifted her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the room, Harry and Ron behind her.
* * *
“Are you two coming?”
Harry felt his stomach knot up. He wished he could have declined and been completely unaffected by it, but he couldn’t. Instead, he had to decline with a horrible pit in his stomach.
I’m losing my mind.
Ron, on the other hand, simply laughed and wished her luck.
“I don’t think we were invited anyway,” Harry said, moving toward the stairs in the entrance hall. “Are you coming to get Crookshanks?”
“Yes, after I talk to Malfoy. Find him, will you? He’s probably hiding beneath my bed.”
“Hermione,” Ron deadpanned.
She looked at him for a moment before smiling.
“Oh! Right. Send Ginny to do it, then, if he’s up there.”
* * *
Hermione watched as Harry and Ron made their way up the stairs, whispering between themselves as they went. She would have given anything to know what was going on inside Harry’s head. Since the War had ended he’d been perfectly happy; spending time with Ginny, his friends, the Weasleys, and simply smiling and laughing enough to make up for all the lost time. She hadn’t seen him look this uncomfortable since before Voldemort had been defeated, and it didn’t slip her notice that it had been sparked by Draco and his daughter. Something was going on; she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
Hermione abandoned her thoughts when she saw Draco and Carina walking out of the Great Hall.
“Hello,” she said as she approached them. Carina beamed up at her. Draco simply looked unsure of the whole situation.
“Look,” he said quietly, scanning the entrance hall, “if you don’t mind, I think it would be better if we went to the quad or out by the lake instead of the Slytherin common room.”
“Of course,” Hermione said happily, secretly relieved she wouldn’t have to enter the snake’s den. The War may have been over, but Slytherins were still Slytherins. “I have to get Crookshanks. I’ll meet you two here?”
“Yeah,” Draco said with a nod. He glanced at the stairs. “Are…?”
“No,” said Hermione quietly. She wondered whether he’d wanted Harry to come. Certainly not Ron, but Harry? She doubted it. He may have matured a lot but that didn’t mean the rivalry wasn’t still there. Draco nodded. “See you in a few.”
Hermione walked into the common room to find Harry and Ginny on a couch, his arm draped over her shoulder, Crookshanks purring contentedly in her lap.
“Thanks, Gin,” she said, gently pulling the cat into her arms.
“He was down here,” she said. “Are you really..?” She glanced at the portrait and back at Hermione.
“Yes. His daughter’s adorable. And he’s changed quite a bit himself.”
“I can’t believe he’s got a daughter,” Ginny said with a shake of her head. “Knew he was a slut.” She smirked evilly and looked at Harry, who laughed.
“I’ll be back soon.” She looked at Harry directly. “You and Ron should start your Transfiguration essays. They’re due Friday. It may not be McGonagall anymore, but Cornwall doesn’t seem much more lenient.” Harry nodded dully. “See you later.”
Link to Chapter Three