A Second Look - A Dramione Story

Chapter 17

Warning: This is not my story. It is from RiverWriter on ao3.

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Scorpius' first word was 'no,' screamed at Draco in a way that made it clear he fully understood what it meant. It had made Hermione laugh so hard she cried.

It was just over a week after the Malfoys had moved into their new house, the two of them and Hermione had been eating dinner. Draco was feeding Scorpius a jar of mashed peas, which he clearly hated, but Draco was adamant that he finish. Personally, Hermione thought he was being overly stubborn about it- Scorpius was usually a good eater, there was no need to force food on him that he obviously didn't like- but she also wasn't sure it was her place to say anything about it.

As a result there was far more of the mushy substance on Scorpius, and to a lesser extent Draco, than had actually made its way into the baby's mouth. Finally, when it was clear that they were both at the end of their ropes and Hermione was about to volunteer to take over before Draco's temper erupted, Scorpius just grabbed his father's wrist and shoved the spoon holding the offensive food away from his face with impressive force screeching, "no, no, no!" the whole time.

Everything went still. Hermione glanced between Draco and Scorpius, the little boy- who had been on the verge of a tantrum was now looking quite pleased with himself and Draco was just staring at him. Hermione felt like she could actually see his mind working, trying to decide how to react.

If he felt anything like her, he was absolutely giddy with happiness, but also felt a responsibility not to praise Scorpius lest he misunderstand.

But Hermione couldn't help herself, she started to giggle. She clapped a hand over her mouth but it didn't help. She just started to laugh harder, wrapping an arm around herself as she tried to hold it in. She looked up to see Draco and Scorpius with identical expressions of confusion on their faces. And that only increased her amusement.

And then Draco's eyes narrowed and he dropped the spoon that he was still holding a few feet in front of Scorpius' mouth. "You think this is funny, witch?" He growled, and then he reached for her and she bolted.

Pinning her down and tickling her was his new favorite form of entertainment and she wasn't going to allow herself to be so easily caught. She sprinted from the dining room into the kitchen and then made her way around the island hoping to confuse him before she ran towards another part of the house- the kitchen still seemed to leave him utterly disoriented- but, unfortunately for her, his legs were much longer than hers and he captured her with an arm around her waist as she attempted to run out of the kitchen towards the main living room.

He pulled her back against his chest, "exactly what was so hilarious about that?" He growled.

"His first word was 'no!'" She cackled, wiping the tears from her face.

"Yes, I heard it. So what?"

"It's just that it was so very Malfoy of him. He's just so sweet that sometimes I forget he's actually your child!"

He went still and for a moment she was afraid she'd taken her teasing too far. But then he attacked, digging his fingers into her sides in the way he knew would have her screaming with laughter. "Take it back," he demanded.

"I can't! It's true!" She howled as she tried to capture his hands and stop the torture, but he was so much stronger than her, she never stood a chance.

"Admit it, you can't resist Malfoy men. You're crazy about us," he insisted.

She snorted as a thought occurred to her and she looked over her shoulder at him and attempted to smirk through her laughter. "I don't think you'll see me allowing your father to kiss me anytime soon."