Draco, The Babysitter by mgle_teacher
Chapter Notes: I want to thank my 'consultant' Gina (Gmariam) for putting herself in Draco's shoes, and giving me her honest opinion.
I also want to thank my wonderful beta, Kate (helgaandgodric) for catching me on all the grammar I usually call out others for doing.
And last, but not least, thanks for the readers who insist it's a funny story, even though I don't think I've gotten to the funny parts, yet! *hugs*
Enjoy!
Draco was beyond angry. He was at a complete loss of words, until he felt tugging on his trousers. Scowling, he looked down into the eager and waiting face of his charge, the Mudblood. Narrowing his eyes, he saw that she had a huge silly grin on her face and strangely enough noticed she had perfectly straight teeth.
“What do you want, Mudblood?” he sneered, resentful that he had to ‘baby sit’ her.
Almost as if she understood the meaning of the word, the little girl scowled before kicking him on the shin, and took off running down the dark hallways.
“Granger!” he screamed in annoyance as he limped after her.
***
Sighing in frustration, Draco decided to sit down in one of the hallways. He had been looking for the Mudblood for over ten minutes, and couldn’t find her. Even though, he was pretty sure she was still in the house, he couldn’t help but be concerned that Potter or worse, Weasley, would find out that he had lost their best friend. No doubt, he would surely be flayed alive, dragged through mud, and be hanged.
Curiously, Draco wondered the age of Granger. It appeared to him that she couldn’t be more than five years old. She was awfully quiet, he realized, for her age. He, himself, had been a rather rambunctious toddler.
All of a sudden, Draco heard giggling coming from the library.
Figures that’s where the Mudblood would go, he sighed.
As he quietly entered the library, he realized that he couldn’t actually see Granger, just hear her “ it was completely dark; it appeared that she had hidden herself well.
“Mud-Granger!” he called out, his patience wearing thin.
He was answered with a fresh round of giggles. With a deep sigh, Draco took a tentative step into the dark library with his arms stretched out before him so he wouldn’t fall face first if he were to bump into any furniture.
When he was halfway into the room he realized he should have left the door opened. At least the candlelight from the hallway would have lit his path.
All of a sudden, he bumped into what he thought was the back of a chair, and reached to steady his balanced when he felt a soft pair of hands sliding up his leg followed by a laugh. Draco wouldn’t have screamed had he realized that the pair of arms that were wrapping themselves around his right leg belonged to the toddler version of Granger. However, he momentarily forgot, and he did scream. To his horror, mini-Granger began screaming as well “ whether of fear or delight he had no clue. Suddenly, the door to the library burst open, engulfing Draco and Hermione in bright white light as they both continued screaming their lungs out.
***
Molly Weasley stepped out of the fireplace of Grimmauld Place expecting to find the Malfoy boy and Hermione waiting for her in the kitchen. From what Harry had told her, the Malfoy boy had de-aged Hermione back to a toddler. Harry had instructed her that Malfoy was to take care of Hermione as punishment, but Molly couldn’t help but wonder if Hermione wasn’t the one who was being punished more. Mrs. Weasley doubted Malfoy had any idea how to care for a child, especially one that he wasn’t inclined to like. Molly was also aware that Harry had confiscated Malfoy’s wand, and told him to do things the ‘Muggle way,’ as Tonks had managed to say between bursts of laughter, Lupin at her side. If Draco was going to take care of a child without a wand he would definitely have his hands full for the next couple of days until he found a way to ‘fix it.’ Harry had told her that Malfoy had to ‘fix Hermione,’ but Molly knew that she’d have to help in some way. However, the most important matter was to get Hermione comfortable with a room suited for a little girl.
The Weasley matriarch sat down on the kitchen bench, mentally making a checklist of the items Hermione would need to survive Malfoy. She was also making a list of items they would need to make the place hospitable. One of the main reasons, she had agreed to move into the Order headquarters was because the war had hit home, literally. The Burrow had been attacked by Death Eaters only a couple of days before, and Molly no longer felt safe there. Fortunately, only the twins had been home during the attack, and they had Apparated away. The Order had stormed the place a few minutes later. In either case, Molly had refused to return home. She and Arthur had taken residence in the Leaky Cauldron until Bill and Charlie finished checking the Burrow for Dark Magic traces or hidden Portkeys.
Just as Molly was beginning to wonder where Malfoy and Hermione were, she heard screaming coming from upstairs. It sounded like someone was being murdered in cold blood. Even though Harry had put up the Fidelius Charm after Dumbledore’s death, and the Order still used Grimmauld Place as the main headquarters, it was not a safe place to live; too many Dark artefacts were hidden throughout the dark house. She bitterly recalled the time that a set of purple robes that tried to strangle Ron two years ago. Molly had always frowned upon Hermione using the drawing room as the make-shift potions lab; it seemed, to Molly, that it was the most dangerous room.
She dashed up the stairs as fast as she could, wand ready. Her heartbeat racing, she followed the screaming to the huge double doors that led to the library.
She threw the doors open ready to Stun anyone behind the doors. However, she was rather surprised to find a sweet looking brown hair girl clinging to the leg of Draco Malfoy who looked paler than usual.
***
Draco was rather embarrassed to have been found screaming like a little girl. The worse part was that between him and the Mudblood, he was the one who had been scared. The Mudblood, he bitterly realized, did not seem to be bothered by the darkness, or anything else for that matter. She was a rather talkative child, once she got past her initial shyness, very inquisitive, and from his observations - too friendly for her own good.
Once he and the Weasley matriarch recognized each other, they had an uncomfortable moment of silence until Granger broke the awkwardness.
“Who you!” she demanded of the red-headed woman, hiding behind Draco.
“I’m Mum Weasley, dear.”
“Mum Weazy,” she cried out, “’Ary told me about you. He said you and Fewat would take care of me. I’m hungry.”
“Come along then, we have a tummy to feed,” the older woman smiled as Draco stood, looking stunned that Potter had told the Mudblood to call him ‘Ferret.’
They shared a quiet, and unfulfilling dinner, per Draco’s observations, until Granger had asked what ‘Mudwud’ meant to the older Weasley woman.
Mrs. Weasley scowled at Draco, and glared at him silently, clearly stating ‘we will talk later’ to the Slytherin.
Even though he knew that a lecture was awaiting him, Draco quietly sulked as he watched Mrs. Weasley transfigure some of Granger’s ‘big girl’ clothes into ‘my ziwe’ clothes as the Mudblood had so cheerfully stated.
He noticed that for a Muggle child who probably had no knowledge of magic, she didn’t seem to be scared by it. Instead, she would let our shrill cries of joy every time Mrs. Weasley brandished her wand around.
As he watched Mrs. Weasley interact with Hermione, Draco felt a stir of resentment within him.
What is wrong with me? The Mudblood bloody kicked me in the shin, and then scared the living daylights out of me. Called me ‘ferret,’ and then told ‘Mum Weasley’ I called her Mudblood, he rationalized mutely, glaring hatefully at the four year old currently sporting a very cheeky grin.