Custody (REDRAFTED- NEW ONE IS POSTED)

Chapter Three

“I’m not making this up ‘Mione. He did.”

“Harry-”

“What is she doing here?” Hermione and Harry turned to look where the voice had come from. Draco didn’t seem surprised. His hair was uncharacteristically messy. It was easy to see why. Teddy, who was being held on his hip, was playing with his hair, giggling. Draco looked very tired. Teddy’s hair had turned blonde, matching Draco’s.

“Don’t be a prat Malfoy. Her and Ron are here all the time.”

“I assume that you don’t remember what I told you last night?”

Hermione watched the two carefully. They had been living in the house for barely a month yet they had already started acting like a married couple. A small smile spread across her face. They had no idea, did they?

“That… I needed to have the house elves get more milk?”

Draco sighed and put Teddy down. The toddler stumbled over to Hermione who picked him up. “I have to leave for a few hours today. You have to take care of Teddy.”

“But I- I take care of him all the time!”

“Well you are going to have to take care of him AND clean up the mess you left in the room. Have the house elves do it. But the second I went in there I nearly had a panic attack. It's disgusting.”

“But why?!”

“Because I have a date with this muggle that I just met.” Draco said, rolling his eyes. Harry blinked, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. “If you had been paying attention, you would have known the reason Potter. I have to go to Malfoy Manor. My parents need to see me.”

“About what?” That could be… worrying. He knew a little bit about what Draco’s home life had been like.

“I have no idea. Maybe they want to know why the hell I am living in one of the vacation houses with Harry Potter, taking care of a child.” He said sarcastically. Harry huffed in annoyance. The blonde started fixing his hair as he headed towards the door.

“By the way, nice to see you Granger.” Draco called before he shut the door. He walked along the path to the edge of the wards. As he neared the edge of the wards, he thought back to what Harry had said. “Is the war really over? Can it even be over?” He asked himself aloud, hearing his voice echo back to him. He looked down at his left forearm, not having to roll up his sleeve to know that the mark was there, burned forever into his arm. He took a deep breath and pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he prepared to apparate.

“ ‘Mione! I can’t find Teddy!”

“Oh no. Draco is going to kill us. Come on. We can find him. A toddler is hard to hide.”

Teddy had gone missing a few minutes after Draco had left to his parents’. The two friends had been searching everywhere for the toddler but they couldn’t find him. The little boy was being uncharacteristically quiet making it very hard to find him. They had been searching for half an hour and they were starting to get desperate. Harry had been about to recommend just using a summoning charm on the boy when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He sighed in relief as he pulled the invisibility cloak., revealing the giggling toddler.

“Found him!”

“Where was he?” Hermione asked, breathless as she hurried through the doorway.

“He somehow managed to find my invisibility cloak and put it over himself. Little troublemaker.” He kissed Teddy’s forehead, relieved to have found him. Hermione laughed.