"What mudblood?" I ask, though I know exactly who he's talking about.
"Granger. Curly hair. Rather shag a book than you. Kinda hot, you know, if you like mudbloods."
I shoot him a disguisted look, "You want me to shag Hermione Granger? A mudblood? Why?"
He shrugs, "I just want to see if you'll do it." He grins, figuring he'd already won.
I was not going to lose this bet, mudblood or no.
"Deal."
One minute the dark mark on my wrist was burning, I was yawning, and I was walking, off to find a bathroom, for the one in the dorm wasn't working.
The next thing I knew I was crashing into someone, her bushy curls in my face, her books scattered all across the ground.
"Studying this late? Really, Granger?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
She looks up at me with tired eyes, "Yeah." My eyebrow raises a notch. Granger with no witty retort? She must really be tired.
"O.W.L's aren't that bad, Granger," I say.
She sighs.
"Not like you're going to get anywhere in life, anyway, being a mudblood and all."
She spins around to stare at me with wide eyes, her lips parting in surprise, then her eyes narrow, "Yeah well, you being a Death Eater and all isn't going to get you anywhere either." My eyes widen. How in the bloody hell did she know I was a Death Eater?
I step closer to her, "Tell anyone and I swear to god- Does Potter know?"
Her jaw is set stubbornly, "Doesn't matter."
"To hell it doesn't," my teeth grind together in annoyance.
"And it doesn't matter that I'm a mudblood." she says, glaring up at me with those chocolate brown eyes, a curl hanging in her face that I desperately want to brush off.
I raise an eyebrow.
"Say it," she demands, "I just wanna hear you say it once."
"Or?" I challenge.
She puts her hands on her hips, "Or I'll tell everyone your a deatheater," her eyes go to my arm.
My jaw hardens, and I lean against the wall with a roll of my eyes, "It doesn't matter that you're a mudblood."
Her lips twitch into a satisfied smile.
"Say it doesn't matter that I'm a Death Eater," Not sure where that came from.
She raises her eyebrows.
"Do it or I'll tell everyone we slept together," I cross my arms over my chest with a smug smile.
Her jaw tightens, nostrils flaring at the lie, "It doesn't matter that you're a Death Eater."
"Good," The bet flashes across my mind and the next thing I know I'm kissing her, one hand in those bushy curls, the other on the small of her back.
I wake up the next morning with her in my bed, bushy hair in my face, hot breath on my chest.
Her cold fingers are pressed up against my Death Eater mark, relieving the pain.
I'm gone before she wakes up.
I wake up with a start and last night runs through my mind. The smell of Draco. My hands in his white-blonde hair. His silver-gray eyes. His abs under my hand, the veins sticking out against his arms like cords, the Death Eater mark on his wrist. His laugh. His lips against mine.
I glance around. The curtain is closed around the bed and I thank god because if anyone saw me here...
I turn to Draco, only to find an empty bed.
My lips tremble. I should have known, though I'm not sure why he chose me, a mudblood when there was Pansy or any other Slytherin to sleep with.
I peek out the curtains, wanting to make it to the bathroom. Luckily no one's there; everyone's already in class.
Oh crap!
I'm off the bed and shoving my clothes on, anxiously wiping at the tears running down my face.
I get to class ten minutes late and Gryffindor loses five points.
Whole fourth period Draco and I meet eyes and I either look away or shoot him a death glare.
He doesn't even look a little bit ashamed.
I crave different foods all day, then when we get to lunch the smell of onions makes me throw up.
I decide that Draco gave me the flu.
Then I nearly start crying again.
I'd been so stupid.
My hands go into fists and I stand up. Next thing I know I'm across the room at the Slytherin table.
And I punch Draco Malfoy in the face, not for the first time.
He staggers backwards and I come at him again but he grabs me, locking his arms around me so I can't hit him again.
I struggle against him, angry tears running down my face.
"How could you?" I scream, "How could you?"
I finally collapse against him, whispering, "How could you"
He pulls me against his chest and I bury my face in his shirt, breathing in his smell.
The Great Hall is silent, everyone watching us. Even McGonagall looks surprised.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, burying his face in my hair and rocking us back and forth, "I'm sorry."
We stand like that for several minutes, before both of us pull away.
He bends down slightly and wipes my tears with his thumbs.
"It won't happen again. I swear to you," he whispers.
I nod, my lips trembling.
He presses a quick kiss to my lips. I float back to the Gryffindor table in a cloud, defiantly meeting everyone's eyes.
Harry and Ron stare at me, outraged.
I sit down next to them.
"What in the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron's so mad he's shaking, blue eyes blazing.
"Draco Malfoy and I are dating." I meet his eyes.
"You and Draco Malfoy are dating?" Harry asks.
"When the hell did this happen?" Ron asks,gripping the table so hard, his knuckles turn white.
I simply shrug.
"He's a Death Eater, 'mione. What the hell are you thinking?" Ron asks.
I shrug again, "He's Draco. It's not like he wanted to be a Death Eater."
"To hell he didn't! We saw it, Hermione. Are you really that stupid?" Ron asks, eyes blazing.
My eyes flash, "No, actually. Otherwise I'd be dating you." I stand up and walk away, but not before I see the hurt flash across Ron's face.
Zabini gives me shit all day, angry he has to pay me one hundred bucks, "What in the hell was that about in the Great Hall? Did you actually apologize for shagging her and then leaving?"
I shrug, a carefully blank look on my face.
He eyes me suspiciously, "You actually like her!" He sits up straighter in his chair, "A goddamn mudblood!"
I sigh, "Do you ever shut up?"
"I can't believe it. You do realize your parents would shit a brick, don't you? You'd be disowned. Then Voldemort would kill you where you stand!"
My hands tighten into fists, "Good thing they don't know, Right?" I threaten, stepping closer.
He narrows his eyes, standing up to accept my challenge, "You sure as hell didn't try to hide it in the Great Hall, did you? I'm sure they're getting about five letters right now," he tilts his head to the side, acting as if he can hear them now.
I glare at him, my eyes like ice.
He steps back, "You know I'm right, mate," he walks backward out of the room, hands up defensively, lips pursed in apology.
No letters from my parents come. All the students eye me suspiciously in the halls, Slytherins openly laughing when they see me.
Hermione comes into my bed almost every night, most of the time only to sleep.
I live for those nights; her bushy hair in my face, our breaths mingling, her cold fingers pressed up against my mark.
I begin to notice the hardening of her stomach and I can tell by her furrowed eyebrows that she notices it too.
"What's that?" I ask, eyeing the bump.
Her lips tremble, worry in her eyes, "I'm-I'm not sure." she sits up and pokes at it, then lets out a gasp.
"What is it?" I ask.
"It just-" she meets my eyes, awe on her face, wonder in her eyes, "It just.. moved. Feel it."
She guides my hand to her stomach. Sure enough, it kicks me.
I stare at her with wide eyes, and instantly tears fill her chocolate brown ones.
"Oh god," her hands fly to her mouth, tears streaming down her face, "Oh god."
"Holy shit," I breathe, running a hand through my hair.
"What if I'm-" she starts to whisper, but I cut her off.
"Shh. It'll be alright," I pull her close, bringing her shaking hands into mine, cold as always.
She sniffles and wipes her eyes and we just stand there, foreheads pressed up against eachothers.
We stay like that for a while, just taking it all in.
First thing in the morning I find Ginny curled up on the common room couch.
"Ginny-" I hesitate, "I'm sure you know about me and Draco."
She looks up at me in surprise, "Well, yeah."
I start crying then.
"Oh, Hermione," she pulls me into a hug, "Did he break up with you?" she smooths down my hair.
I shake my head.
"What's wrong?" she pulls back a little to look at me, brows furrowed with concern.
"I think I'm-," I swallow hard, "Pregnant," I choke out the word and instantly start crying again.
I'm pretty sure her jaw drops open.
"With Draco's-?" she questions.
I nod, letting out another sob.
Her eyes widen, and she puts her hand to my mouth. Then she sees the expression on my face and quickly drops it.
"Come on. Let's go to the library and find a book on pregnancy. I'm sure there's a spell to know for sure," she stands and pulls me along with her.
Sure enough we find one, after nearly an hour of searching.
We check it out and the librarian gives us suspicious looks. We take it back to the common room and lock ourselves in the bathroom.
"Alright, it says to take off your clothes, point your wand at your stomach and scream 'Baby Maybe!" her lips twitch.
I stare at her.
"Kidding, Kidding!" she tries to hide her grin, "Okay." she pulls out her wand and points it at my stomach, saying something in latin that I don't quite make out.
Next thing I know the toilet starts bubbling. We both stop to look at it.
"It says we have to wait five minutes and if it turns green, you're pregnant, red, you're not," she looks at me, "Sounds easy enough." she shrugs.
I nod and sit down on the tile floor. She sits beside me.
"You know it'll be okay don't you?" she leans her head back against the wall and looks at me, "No matter what? I'll help you out with the baby," she offers.
I stare at her, starting to tear up again, "You'd do that for me?"
She nods with a small smile.
"Thanks," I wipe at my eyes.
"Hey wanna do a spell? To see if it's a boy or a girl? I'm not sure if you're far enough along yet, if you're even pregnant, but hey. Why not?" I shrug, "Sure."
She pulls out her wand again and presses it instead to the side of my stomach before speaking the words.
Something makes me look to the mirror, still fogged up from the previous shower taken here.
Slowly a G gets written in the fog.
I turn to the toilet and flip open the lid. Sure enough it's green.
My hand goes to my mouth and I start crying.
Ginny pulls me to her and we sit there like that on the bathroom floor for what seems like forever, me crying into her shoulder.
I pull away slightly, sniffing and wiping my eyes.
"Well," she says quietly, "Looks like you're having a girl," she smiles at me rather sadly.