Drug of Choice

Chapter 4

The Bachelorette

Even when freshly washed and relived of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.

- Fran Lebowitz

Monday morning, Draco was sitting at his breakfast table, sipping his coffee and waiting for the morning paper to arrive along with a copy of Witch Weekly. His head was pounding and he was wishing that he hadn't drunk so much the night before. He was actually considering a Pepper-Up Potion, but it usually had odd effects on him. He preferred to stay away from them when at all possible.

It was the day he had been dreading for at least a week. He didn't want to go on a date. Not with someone whom he had never met. Not with someone who had been chosen for him by a magazine. Not with someone that is possibly a great deal older than he is. Not with someone that he knew nothing about, except for their profession.

His mother was delighted at the fact that Draco was being forced to date someone. She couldn't hold back her glee. She had been released from St. Mungo's the day after the interview and when Draco went to check on her, she had been decorating the dining room and telling him, "he must bring this wonderful woman to the Manor."

Draco had not seen his mother happy in such a long time that he agreed before he even thought about to what he was agreeing. But, a promise to his mother was one that he would not break, so he knew he would go through with it sooner or later.

Draco sat down his empty cup just as an owl came fluttering through the window. It dropped Draco's paper and magazine neatly on the table beside his coffee cup and was off without payment.

Picking up the magazine, Draco thumbed through it until he found the page he was looking for. Oddly enough, he had made number four this year. Potter must have one, or so he thought. Turning to the first bachelor, Draco found that it was a man he had never seen or heard of before in all his life. Oh, well, not important.

Lucky lady number four, who was she? Draco was having a hard time finding the page; it was farther back, lost in the ads.

Oh! Well...This was interesting.

Ginny Weasley, the girl weasel. Odd indeed. He would never have thought that he would date a weasel.

His mind started to race. There had to be a way out of this. He could just tell Doris no. He could say that he had met someone and didn't want to chance things. He knew it would not work. He had already told Doris that he would do it. She would hold him to his promise.

As if on cue, the phone rang and Draco made his way to the living room to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Draco. This is Doris. Have you received your copy of Witch Weekly yet?"

"Yes, Doris."

"Oh, wonderful then. Are you excited?"

"No."

"Oh, Draco, if you prefer, I am sure that I could get you a date with one of the bachelors."

"No, thank you, Doris. I believe that I will stick with the ladies."

"Suit yourself, Draco. Get a quill, dear, I'm going to give you all the information that you will need for your date."

"Go ahead, Doris, I'm ready."

"You have reservations at the X for eight in the evening on Friday. It will be under your name, dear. Miss Weasley will be waiting for you. I assume that you went to school together?"

"Yes, but she was a class under me and we didn't speak often."

"But everything should work out, yes?"

"We can only hope for the best."

"What do you mean by that, Draco?"

"Nothing to worry about, Doris. Don't you have others to contact?"

"Yes. Have a good day, Draco. I will call you again on Saturday to arrange another interview. Bye, dear."

"Goodbye, Doris."

With that, Draco was off the phone and out the door. He Apparated to his office and hastily paged Lisa.

Potter had managed to get permission to proceed to build on the property he had in mind and Draco had come up with a blueprint the next day. Draco had called in two of his best construction teams and set them to work on "The Potter Project" by Sunday.

He preferred to be on-site when he was building for a big customer, but hadn't found the time to do so just yet. Lisa, being the wonderful woman that she was, had been popping in and out of Draco's office to give him reports and get answers to questions from the team.

Lisa gave a swift knock on the door before entering with a cup of coffee and a little blond streak that shot over to Draco's desk the second the door was opened.

It was most certainly little Amber, whom Draco had taken to calling Amy because he could not remember her given name for the life of him. Lisa had lost her babysitter for the day, which meant trouble would abound.

Draco didn't see Amy much, but she had taken to him the second she had laid eyes on him. He didn't much care for kids, not in the least, really. But Amy was a different story altogether. Lisa insisted that she had accepted Draco as a father figure and informed him, with a finger pointed in his face, that he was not to disappoint her. Draco hadn't said anything about his employee's demand, but merely smiled at the sight of an enraged, yet extremely happy mother.

"Dayco!" Amy squealed as she bound over to him and attached herself to his leg.

"Hello, Princess." Draco greeted as he picked her up and sat her on his knee.

"Draco, I am so sorry. Kim had family problems and couldn't take her and I didn't know about it until I was on her doorstep and the neighbor is out of town, so I didn't have any other choice but to bring her." Lisa started her usual apologies, but Draco cut her off.

"Don't worry about it, Lisa. I am sure that Amy is doing a wonderful job of helping you today. Am I right?" Draco asked Amy. She stuck her fingers in her mouth and nodded heavily.

"Good then."

"Is it true? What Witch Weekly says? You're going on a date with Ginny Weasley?" Lisa asked as she sat Draco's coffee on his desk and took the chair opposite him.

Draco picked up his coffee and nodded as he drank.

"How long has it been since you have been on a date, Draco?"

"I have not been on an actual date in a while. But that does not mean I don't go out. I just don't like to attach myself to anyone."

Lisa nodded and gave a small, knowing smile.

"How are things going on the Potter Project?"

"Oh, Draco, I have not had the chance to check on anything today. As of yesterday, though, everything was going so well that they were ahead of schedule. I won't be able to check in with them today because I have Amber with me. Draco, I am so sorry, I forgot all about that." Lisa looked as if she were going to die on the spot. Amy looked from Draco to her mother in confusion.

"Don't worry. I have time today. I'll be able to be on-site most of the day. Nothing is going on around here that involves me. I think that you and Amy can hold everything down for me." Draco said, looking at Amy for confirmation. Though she had no idea what Draco was talking about, she nodded again, squirming with happiness.

"If you need anything else, just let us know, Draco," Lisa said as she came around the desk to get Amy.

Seeing her mother, Amy latched onto Draco's neck and gave an ungodly squeal. "Want to stay wif Dayco!" she screamed into Draco's ear. This was why he did not like children.

"Sweetheart, Draco is leaving. You can't go with him. He is much too busy for that. Come with me." Lisa attempted to pull Amy off Draco, but her daughter only squealed in response.

"Nooooooo!"

Narcissa's influence was beginning to show in Draco now. He couldn't bear to see Amy so upset. She was so tiny and cute and fragile. He felt the need to spoil her, as he often did when she was around.

"It's alright, Amy. Look at me. Come on, Princess, look at me," Draco coaxed.

Amy shook her head into Draco's neck, refusing to move.

"Would it be bad if I took her with me? Just to show her around the site. We won't be gone long," Draco asked Lisa, not having the slightest clue why.

"Draco, it's not a good idea. It would be easer on you if she stayed with me," Lisa said and attempted to retrieve her daughter again.

"Pleeeeeeease!" Amy squealed again.

"Fine," She sighed. "Just don't put her down, and don't let her put anything in her mouth. Don't let her get hurt and don't be too long." Lisa switched her focus to her daughter. "Amber, look at Mommy. You can go with Draco. Give me a hug."

Amy turned from Draco's neck to her mother and hugged her quickly before turning back to Draco.

"Ready," she announced and Draco smiled.

"Tell your Mum thank you," Draco instructed.

"Thank you, Mummy."

With that, Draco and Amy popped out of his office.

Amy squealed with delight as they appeared on the Potter construction site.

Draco made his way around talking to his men and checking on the work they were doing. Boards were flying about and nails sailed through the air after them. Amy was squirming with delight at all the action going on around her.

"You have a kid?" a voice asked from behind Draco.

Draco turned to see Potter walking up behind him with a cigarette pressed between his lips. "You smoke?"

"You have a kid and I smoke, we learn something new every day."

"This is not my kid. Do you want to introduce yourself, Princess?" Draco asked Amy. She shook her head and buried it in Draco's neck.

"This is Amy. She is my secretary's daughter."

"Hello, Amy. My name is Harry," Potter said as he gave the small child a wave. "Have something going with your secretary, Malfoy?"

"Apparently, I am supposed to have something going on with Weasel's sister."

"I noticed that, Malfoy. You be good to her."

"Don't get your knickers in a bunch, Potter. I'm not going to touch her."

"If you do, Malfoy..."

"So, Potter," Draco interrupted. "Who are you building this house for?"

"That is not the point here, Malfoy."

"Actually, I think that it is, Potter. I take it you approved of the blueprint that I sent you?"

Potter gave a sigh and tossed his cigarette to the ground. "You did a better job than I thought you would, Malfoy. I think that your men are doing marvelous work. It's turning out to be much better than I expected it to be. I guess they call you the best in the business for a reason."

"Thank you for the confidence, Potter. If this weather holds out, my men tell me that they should have the finished product by Thursday."

"That's brilliant! You don't, by any chance, do interior design, do you?"

"Not myself personally, but my company does partner with a wonderful designer. I would be happy to give you her name if you are interested. She does fantastic work."

"That would be great! I actually need the house furnished by Friday."

"Potter, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you not have any concept of time?"

"I didn't think about it, Malfoy. I don't do this kind of thing every day."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin!" Draco reached into his trouser pocket to retrieve his mobile phone. He placed a quick call to Lisa, who in turn called Daphne Greengrass, their designer. She asked her to come to the site and take a look at what was available and see if she could get any ideas.

Potter made a few calls insisting that he needed someone else to talk to the designer, knowing full and well that he would be of no use.

Draco had lit a cigarette while waiting for Daphne to arrive. He let Amy down to keep the smoke out of her face and kept a close eye on her while she chased a butterfly as it made dizzying patterns amongst the flowers.

"Honestly, what is a child doing at a construction site?" Draco heard a voice question from Potter's left.

"She's Malfoy's," Potter answered.

"I didn't know that you had a child, Draco," Granger said as she shook Draco's un-offered hand.

"I don't," he grumbled. "Come here, Princess," he called to Amy. She bounded over to him happily and jumped into his arms after he had discarded his cigarette.

"Hello, sweetheart. What is your name?" Granger asked Amy.

Amy smiled and wiggled in Draco's arms but answered, "Amy," she giggled out, before hiding in Draco's neck again.

Granger smiled at Draco for a brief moment before turning back to Potter. "Ginny will be here soon. She's pretty mad at you for not thinking any of this through, but she thinks it's incredibly sweet of you, Harry. They are going to be so happy!"

Potter looked uncomfortable as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, yeah. I think they will be."

Granger smiled at him before turning back to Draco. "Are there any refreshments?"

Draco pointed to a small tent filled with coolers.

Granger gave a nod before turning to Amy. "Would you like to come with me to get a drink, Amy?" she asked in a motherly voice. Draco couldn't help but find it odd that know-it-all Granger could be sweet.

Amy nodded her head and ran over to Granger to be picked up. Draco noted her questioning eyes and nodded his approval.

"Why the bloody hell do you have your secretary's kid?" Potter asked as soon as the little girl was out of earshot.

"It doesn't concern you, Potter."

"I was just wondering. It's not every day someone takes their help's kid to work with them."

"Shut up, Potter."

Draco heard a pop as Ginny Weasley apparated onto Potter's building site. She was dressed in St. Mungo's robes and had her flaming red hair piled on top of her head.

"Harry, this is so sweet of you, but why the hell didn't you think all of this through?"

"Gin, I've told you. The idea just popped into my head. I have never done anything like this before. I don't have any clue what I'm doing."

"Nothing new there," Granger added as she returned with Amy who had a cup of water and was reaching out to Draco. "How is Charlie doing?" she asked once she had handed Amy over.

"He's fine. Who's this?" Weasley asked as Draco took Amy into his arms.

"Malfoy's kid," Potter told her.

"I didn't know you had a child," Weasley told him, looking interested.

"I don't. She's not mine."

"Well, whose is she?"

"She is my secretary's daughter."

"Why is she at a construction site?"

"She wanted to come, so I brought her with me."

"I never pictured you liking kids."

"I don't. Amy is an exception. Why the bloody hell are we still talking about this?"

"Is this a bad time?"

Draco turned towards the voice and was relieved to see Daphne Greengrass standing behind him, holding several large books of samples.