Last Lesson in Love - (Sequel to Tutoring A Malfoy)

Chapter Five - 'Lasagne, boats, and wine.'

Rose widened her eyes in excitement and Hermione played along with her as she dressed her in pyjamas. She combed her hair and told her to shut her eyes before waving her wand so that her hair dried. Rose opened her eyes again, awed at her dried hair.

‘Draco?’ Hermione asked with Rose trailing after her. She expected the apartment to be empty, she expected Draco to have fled again. But that wasn’t the case. She saw him sitting on the sofa, drawing something on Rose’s sketchpad

‘Here you go,’ Draco said, handing Rose the sketchpad back with a smile. Rose took it from him and held it up so Hermione could see. It was a drawing of Hermione who was holding Rose in her hands, looking down at her lovingly. Hermione was drawn to near perfection, down to the freckle.

‘I’m going to put it in my room, Mummy!’ Rose said, hugging the picture to her chest Just before she ran off, she smiled at Draco, ‘thank you!’

‘How did you learn to draw like that?’ Hermione asked, glancing at Draco as she went into the kitchen. Draco got up and followed her, leaning against the doorway, as she took two plates out.

‘I had time to kill,’ he shrugged. In fact he had a lot of time to kill while being stuck in that same room all day, every day, getting crazier and crazier as the seconds ticked by...

‘I’ll just put Rose to bed and then we can eat,’ Hermione said quietly, turning to look at him.

‘Yeah, that’s fine,’ Draco shrugged as Rose came back to the kitchen. She took a seat, putting a sketchpad beside her, and then gestured for Draco to sit down next to her. A little amused, Draco sat on the seat as Hermione raised her eyebrows.  

‘Do you want to see my pictures?’ Rose asked, handing him the sketchpad, ‘I drawed Mummy, Grandma, Grandpa, my best friend. His name is Michael and he’s very funny!’

‘Ah, this is very nice,’ Draco said, smiling at the stick figures she had drawn and coloured in messily. He flicked through the pages, making various appreciative noises, ‘wow, you’re a great drawer, Rosie.’

Rose giggled, ‘only Mummy calls me Rosie.’

‘You don’t mind if I call you that, do you?’ Draco asked and smiled when she shook her head.

‘Draco Malfoy, good with kids, who would have thought?’ Hermione muttered, smiling at him. He really had changed quite a bit, he was less arrogant that’s for sure, ‘come on, love, let me put you to bed,’

Rose smiled at Draco before running off to her room. Draco watched Hermione go after her, his mind going back to the night when he had thought she was dead... He shut his eyes briefly, clearing that thought from his mind. She’s alive, she’s here, she’s well. He moved over and got two plates, putting lasagne on each and then taking them out to the living room. He came back to the kitchen and got two glasses, filling them with wine before bringing them to the living room. Draco took a seat on the sofa and glanced around.

The apartment was bigger than his but not by much. The front door opened to a living room that consisted of one sofa, two armchairs, a table, and a television. There was a green plant in the corner, spruced and very neat just like Hermione would have wanted. The kitchen had a blue and white colour code and the table in the kitchen matched the colour code. He hadn’t seen much else of the house but he did like it. It felt like a good home for a child.

‘She goes to sleep quickly,’ Hermione said, walking into the living room a couple of minutes later. She had changed out of her work clothes and was now wearing jeans and a loose top. She hesitated before sitting down on the sofa beside Draco, ‘she’s a really good girl, you know, and I love her.’