Hermione couldn't believe it. She had come home from her fifth year at Hogwarts the day before to find out that her parents had gotten pregnant a week after she left for school, and had brought her baby brother into the world only three weeks before she returned home for the summer holidays. But it wasn't the fact that her parents didn't tell her, seeing as how they didn't want to distract her from her school work. No, the thing that she couldn't believe was the fact that her parents had named her baby brother Draco Isaiah Granger. Isaiah came from Hermione's late uncle, her father's twin brother, who had died in a car accident when Hermione was only five years old. And Draco came from Hermione ranting and raving about the insufferable git for the past four summers.

Her parents were currently out shopping and Hermione was sitting in the nursery, rocking Little Draco, feeding him his nap-time bottle, and singing him a lullaby. When Draco was only half done with his bottle and Hermione placed him at her shoulder to burp him, the doorbell rang, causing the baby to burp loudly then start crying. Placing a binky in his mouth, Hermione cradled him in her arms, grabbed the bottle, and headed downstairs to answer the door. She opened the door only seconds after the visitor knocked loudly three times. She was surprised to see who had come to visit.

There, on her front porch, was the one person she never wanted to see outside of school: Draco Lucius Malfoy.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here? Come to harass the 'Mudblood' at her home, have you?"

"But of course, Gran-"

That's when Little Draco decided to spit out his binky and start crying again. Frustrated, Hermione moved back to let Malfoy into her family's home. She lead him into the living room, offering him a seat on the couch while she took he father's rocking recliner, rocked her brother while feeding him the rest of his bottle.

"It's okay, Little D. there's nothing to be scared of… unless you count Malfoy's sudden appearance." Hermione whispered to her little brother. The whisper was soft, but Malfoy had been able to hear every word. His eyes darted from the décor of the living room to Hermione when he heard her start singing the same lullaby she had been singing when she was upstairs.

" So, what's up with the baby?"

"Hmm? Oh, this is my baby brother. He's only three weeks old. My parents didn't want to distract me from my studies, so they decided to wait until I came home to tell me about him."

"I see. So, what's his name?"

Hermione bit her lip, debating whether or not to tell him or to just change the subject. After a minute, she decided that if her parents returned home and Malfoy was still here, he was going to find out anyway.

"His name is Draco Isaiah Granger. I call him 'Little D', though."

Malfoy looked a bit surprised.

"Your parents named him Draco?"

"Yeah. I was completely speechless."

"The name they gave him, why that name? By the way, he's asleep."

Hermione looked down, and sure enough, Little Draco was fast asleep in her arms. Getting up from the chair, she motioned for Malfoy to follow her up to the nursery so she could lay her brother down in the crib. Once the baby was resting in his bed, with Hermione watching his peaceful form, Draco came over and got a closer look at the baby that seemed to be named after him.

"You didn't answer my question. Why did they give him that name?"

Hermione released a soft sigh.

"Draco came from me always complaining about you for the past four summers when I returned home from Hogwarts. Isaiah came from my father's twin brother, who died ten years ago, on the day that Little D was born. I was five when he was in the car accident. He died within minutes of the crash. And you never answered my question. What are you doing here?"

"I came to ask you for a favor. I know there's a very good chance that you'll say no, but at least I gave it a shot."

Hermione turned to look at Malfoy, her interest showing.

"And what favor could you want from 'Mudblood Granger', Malfoy? You've never wanted anything from me, except for me to die. So, why do you come asking for a favor now?"

"I know it may be hard for you to believe, but now that my father's in Azkaban, he can't control what I do. The Dark Lord is a current resident at Malfoy Manor, and has taken my mother as his lover, to which she did not object, much to my disgust. I never want to follow in my father's footsteps on the dark side. It's always been a secret ambition of mine to become a Healer, but I can't do that if I'm associated with the Death Eaters or the Dark Lord."

"Uh-huh. And the favor is what?"

Nervously shifting from one foot to the other, Malfoy looked down at his feet, which he found to be rather interesting at the moment.

"Even though we don't have the best history, I was wondering if you could convince your parents to let me stay here for the summer. On the way here, I picked up some applications for summer jobs, like 'Ethel's Ice Cream Shoppe', the public library's summer reading program, and even the bowling alley down the street. I can work around the house, too. Believe it or not, I can clean just like any muggle can, and I happen to be a pretty good cook. I can earn my keep. I'll even sleep in the room above the garage, if they want me to."

Hermione just stood there, looking at Malfoy like he hd grown a second head.

"I can ask them. I'm not promising they'll say yes, but you'll have to really kiss ass to make up for all the things that you did to me that I've told them about."

"Deal. Also, I should probably mention that I ran away from home. Stupid thing to do, I know. You were my first choice to ask. I know I won't be welcomed at the Weasley's place, so that'll be my last option. Potter's home is my second choice if your parents say no."

At that moment, Hermione's parents pulled into the driveway. Hermione ushered Malfoy from the room before checking on her brother once more, after which she left the room herself.

"Well, let's go downstairs and ask them, shall we?"

Malfoy nodded before following Hermione down to the first floor, where they waited until her parents entered the house.

Hermione's mother, Jane, entered the house carrying two big paper bags of groceries, and came to a sudden stop when she saw her daughter standing next to a young man that her and her husband didn't know. Since there were a lot of bags in the car, she chose to ignore the situation until everything was in the house.

"Hermione, darling, can you and your friend help your father bring in some of the bags?"

"Of course we can. Come on."

Malfoy shrugged his shoulders, but followed Hermione out the door to the car, where her father was trying to carry ten bags at the same time to reduce the number of trips.

"Dad, let us get some of those. Mom told us to come and help you with groceries."

Her father, Gabriel, looked relieved and handed two bags to each of the teens, one of which he knew that he didn't know. And like his wife, he decided to put it aside until the bags were all in the kitchen. When the teens entered the house, Jane came back out and grabbed a couple more bags and asked if he was just as surprised by the young man as she was. Gabriel nodded his head and the two of them went into the house just as their daughter and the unknown teen came out for the last four bags.

Once all the groceries were in the kitchen, and put away in their appropriate places, Hermione's parents turned to her and Malfoy.

"Okay, Hermione, could you please explain who this young man is, and what he's doing here?"

Malfoy's hands were sweating profusely, and Hermione's heart had started pounding like crazy.

"Mom, Dad, I want you to meet Draco Malfoy."