The Babysitter (Dramione Fanfiction)

The Gift

"Okay, Hermione, let's cut the crap," the younger witch said, pulling her chair closer to hers. "What is really going on here?"

Her frown deepened, confused. "What do you mean?"

Ginny released a huge sigh and inched her face closer. Hermione blinked at her in surprise and smiled, reminiscing about the days when Ginny would sneak into the higher year dormitories to have some late heart-to-heart talks with her.

"Between you and Malfoy!" she exclaimed matter-of-factly. "Or should I say Draco?"

The memory of his soft lips resurfaced in her mind once more and Hermione deeply blushed. "W-what do you mean?" she repeated, refusing to meet Ginny's eyes in fear of cracking.

But the Weasley was having none of it. "Hermione, we haven't seen each other for ages, but even I can see that something is definitely going on between you two," she pointed out.

Her mouth ran dry, her eyes drilling holes on the kitchen top. "Nothing's going on, Ginny," she mumbled miserably, once again wondering why they hadn't talked about that fateful night. Maybe she was reading in too much of his actions, and maybe she was just stupid for doing so. "Well, maybe there was that one time we kissed" – "WHAT?!" – "But we're just friends."

Ginny grabbed both of her shoulders and turned her around so that she could directly look into her eyes. Hermione felt queasy under her scrutinizing gaze and when a look of understanding shined in her blue eyes, the older witch knew that she was already caught. "Obviously, there's something for you," she said with a brilliant grin.

Hermione weakly smiled in return, not trusting herself to speak when her heart was threatening to burst through her chest.

"Oh, Hermione," Ginny gushed back. "Open your eyes. There's something for Malfoy, too."

She once again remembered that fateful night, when he couldn't stop looking at her lips. But Hermione had crushed that bubbling hope before it could fester just to save herself from any heartbreak that might occur. She couldn't afford to wallow in her feelings, now that she had a daughter to take care of and a vile Death Eater to imprison.

"I don't know, Ginny," she whispered in reply, sadly frowning at the floor.

"Hermione," the younger witch firmly said. Once her eyes settled back into her blue ones, she continued, "I... admit that it makes me uncomfortable. I mean, Merlin, you were married to my brother! But I promise you, I have nothing against you finding a new love."

Hermione turned into a brilliant shade of red. "Love seems like a big overstatement, don't you think?" she inquired, followed by a nervous chuckle. Her traitorous mind whispered, however, that she was dangerously teetering between like and love. 'Shut up, brain,' she mentally thought.

Ginny merely gave her a knowing look. "I think you know that Rose needs a father, too," she continued. "I'm not saying you as a single parent is a bad thing. Hermione, you're brilliant for raising a sweet, kind girl alone. But Rose terribly misses Ron, and I know nobody can replace him, but maybe a new, constant male figure in her life wouldn't be so bad now, would it?"

"There's Harry," she protested, but Ginny merely rolled her eyes.

"Tough luck, love, but I plan on keeping him for myself and our future children," she replied, making her smile at the sincerity behind her words. "Of course I plan to share Harry, but... ugh, you know what I mean. And as much as it pains for me to admit it, Draco freaking Malfoy is actually good to Rose."

Hermione couldn't help but to silently concur with her words. After watching Draco and her daughter interact in the past few months, she hadn't seen her daughter quite happy ever since her father died. Draco was bloody brilliant with Rose and she wanted him to continue being a constant presence in her daughter's life.