The Babysitter (Dramione Fanfiction)

The Menace

He internally flinched, knowing that there was another choice to Granger's favor, but didn't want to dwell on it further. Draco had done a lot of thinking last night and hadn't even slept a wink, trying to make sense why he had agreed to be a bloody babysitter to a bloody child. He could have shunned them away, protest incessantly that he wasn't the right person to take care of a girl, much less her child. But then, he'd remember her eyes – big, wide, and desperate – and Draco hesitantly admitted that he really didn't have a choice.

"Why didn't she leave her with the Weasel's family?" Theo asked with genuine confusion, halting Draco's train of thought. "They're a big bunch. I'm sure her daughter will be well loved."

"They weren't on speaking terms."

His best friend knitted his eyebrows in confusion. A few seconds after, his eyes widened in understanding. "Skeeter's article," he merely replied, but Draco understood he was pertaining to Molly Weasley's infamous interview.

"What about her parents?"

"They don't even remember their daughter," he snarled, growing annoyed with the inquisitions. Knowing Theo for years, though, he knew they wouldn't stop even with Draco's request. "I doubt they will be happy to accept a stranger's daughter."

Theo fell silent, letting the situation sink in. "Blimey this is so fucked up," Theo commented and looked at him with a mixture of amusement, sympathy, and intrigue. "And Granger trusts you - an ex-Death Eater, a Slytherin bully, a Pureblood bigot - to take care of her daughter?"

Draco glared at his insults, and felt aggravated that they were all true anyway. "Like I said, there was no other choice," he grounded out. "Besides, we've been on missions together and I did save her arse a few times."

"A pretty arse, if you ask me," he murmured with a grin.

"I didn't ask you, Nott," the blond retorted with a glare. Not that he was denying, really, but Theo did not need to know that.

Theo made a face and haphazardly ran his hand through his hair. "I would have questioned your sanity by now, but of course this is Hermione Granger we are talking about." He gave Draco a pointed look.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, Draco."

Draco's cheeks lightly reddened. "No, I don't," he grumbled, petulantly crossing his arms against his chest.

Theo snorted and lazily leaned against the couch. "Nine years, ladies and gentlemen, and the idiot still denies," he declared to no one.

"Shut up, Nott," he grumbled.

His best friend rolled his eyes, and then raised his arms in surrender.

The Malfoy heir sighed and slumped back on his seat. "What am I going to do, Theo?" he wearily asked.

"Don't ask me, I'm as clueless as you are."

"Then why do I even bother talking to you, wanker?" Draco asked.

The brown-haired Slytherin gave him a dazzling grin. "Because I'm your best mate and you like me a lot," he stated it matter-of-factly. He laughingly dodged Draco's fist. "How long will she be staying then?"

"A week, maybe a month, I don't know. Granger wasn't exactly helpful when I asked her last night," he retorted.

Loud chuckles rang in his flat and it was a strange sound to be heard in his normally silent home. Draco frowned at this thought, shot a bewildered look at the Rose's bushy mane of red hair, and once again wondered if letting her stay with him was a good thing. All right, it was insane, but he'd done a lot of insane things in his life before. He wasn't just sure where this... this babysitting thing stands in the spectrum.