The Request by redhead414

Chapter 1

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7711642/1/The-Request
THE ORIGINAL BOOK

"No, no! We don't hit the kitty, Scorpius! We pet the kitty! See!" Hermione knelt down and grabbed Scorpius' wrist gently, moving his small arm slowly as she helped him pet the untamed orange hair of her cat, Crookshanks, as he continued to stay perched upon the ottoman in front of the large leather char. "Be nice to the kitty," she repeated gently, still helping him move his arm.

"Nice kitty!" two-year-old Scorpius whispered with a grin.

Carefully, she let his arm go and watched as he repeated the motion, repeating nice kitty with each stroke. Looking over her shoulder, she saw thirteen-year-old Anya looking unamused as she sat on the matching couch, mindlessly clicking through the television channels on the flat-screen in Hermione's condo in downtown London. "Are you hungry? I could fix you something," she said as she used the elastic around her wrist to tie up her long, curly brown locks into a messy bun high on her head.

"I'm fine," Anya snapped, her thumb still clicking away as she surfed the channels.

As Hermione stood up from the floor, she heard the girl mutter under her breath. "Excuse me - what did you say?"

Scowling, Anya threw the remote onto the couch and hugged her arms to her chest. "I said that I don't want to be here. I want to be with my mother! I'm sick and tired of being treated like a child!"

Hermione silently nodded, and quite honestly didn't blame the poor girl. If she were in Anya's shoes, she would have wanted to be with her mum as well. Butunfortunately, that wasn't a part of the plan. Sighing, Hermione watched as Anya stared back, a spitting image of her mother with her long black locks and almond shaped eyes. "I'm sorry," Hermione spoke quietly. "But this is what your father wanted and you know how he is."

"You don't need to tell me how he is because I know how he is! I know what he says!" Anya screeched. "And I don't care!"

A tow headed girl appeared from the hallway, carrying a handful of Barbies. Claire was six, and everyone always remarked about how much she resembled her late grandmother. "Why is Anya yelling?"

"She isn't," Hermione quickly replied, keeping one eye on the eldest. "She was just...voicing her opinion. Loudly."

Claire pursed her lips together as she pondered Hermione's words. "I think that's the same thing as yelling, Hermione."

She walked over to the little girl, bending down to drop a kiss on the top of her head, currently sporting two braided pigtails thanks to Hermione upon the children's arrival that morning. "What can I say...you're just too smart for me, Claire Bear."

"I know," she replied with a grin, before turning back around and heading towards the spare bedroom where the toys were kept. Hermione's condo wasn't exactly kid friendly, but it had acquired more kid friendly things over the past year, such as her old Barbie dolls she pulled from her parents attic this past summer.

She felt a tug on her hand. Turning around, Scorpius held up one of the toy cars she picked up at the supermarket last week. It was nothing special - just a small thing that she figured could amuse him when he was at her place. Last time the kids where at her place, Scorpius was running around with a Barbie in each hand and while Draco might not have known what a Barbie was - all he needed to know was it was a doll, and Malfoy men did not play with dolls.

"Car?" Scorpius said with a smile.

"Yes baby, it's a car," she said, lifting him up as she perched him on her hip.

"Car!" he exclaimed, driving the little wheels up and down her shoulder. "YaYa - car!"

Anya's frosty demeanor thawed as she looked at her little brother and his muggle toys. "Can you make a car noise?" she asked, taking a small step towards Hermione.