Partners
"Professor there must be some kind of a mistake," Hermione handed back the sheet given to her by Professor McGonagall.
"I'm sorry Miss Granger, you and Mr Malfoy are transfiguration partners," Professor McGonagall left the room. On the other side of the room, Draco Malfoy had just looked at his project sheet.
"WHAT?" he shouted out in alarm. He glanced up from his sheet expecting to see McGonagall but to his dismay it was his partner, "Is this some kind of joke?" he asked.
"No, for your information I just asked McGonagall for a trade, but she won't give in."
"Wait till my father hears about this," Malfoy muttered.
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"I can't believe it! What was McGonagall thinking pairing me and Malfoy? Has she gone mad?" Hermione said to her best friends Harry and Ron.
"You and Malfoy! No I don't believe you, McGonagall knows that we hate Slytherins, she knows that Gryffindors and Slytherins don't mix, I bet you've you it wrong Mione," Ron said, he picked up an apple from the fruit bowl in front of him. It was now lunch time; afterwards the trio would have double potions with professor Slughorn.
Hermione searched through her bag when she found the sheet she gave it to Ron, who almost choked on his apple. "See, I haven't got it wrong, she paired me up with Malfoy, what am I meant to do now?" the two of them looked at Harry for some kind of response, but he was in his own little world.
"Harry mate, you ok?" Ron asked.
"Yeah fine," Harry said distracted. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances at each other but then went back to eating their lunch.
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It was now time for potions, when all the students entered the dungeon; Professor Slughorn was already at the front looking gleefully at the sheet in front of him.
"Right class, today we will do something different, actually we will do something different for the rest of the year," he said chuckling, the students began to look at him oddly and looking around the dungeon confused, "ok, ok, I have decided to do a project, and don't worry I have the headmaster's approval, this project will run for the whole year and effect the your end NEWT result. This is how it will go, I will split you up into pairs, boy and girl, from different houses, and then you will have the rest of our lesson time to make a potion that will make the girl become pregnant," the class looked at their teacher as though he had no head, there was silence until they erupted into a chaotic debate.
"I can't believe this," Hermione said weakly, she put her head on the desk, her arms covering her face.
"Right, ok, now that we have that in the open, I will discuss the partners … Abbot and Finnigan … Bones and Thomas … Brocklehurst and Longbottom … Brown and Goyle … Bulstrode and Potter … Crabbe and Patil … Finch – Fletchley and Perks … Granger and Malfoy … Parkinson and Weasley …" the list carried on, and the arguing was getting louder. When Slughorn was finished he simply put the ingredients on the board and left the class to their task.
Hermione got all the equipment out, she sat back at her desk and waited for Malfoy to come in her direction, but on the other side of the room he was doing the same as her.
"Are you going to come over here Granger? Or are you just going to stay there all night?" Malfoy asked.
"Do I have a choice?" Hermione slowly dragged herself across the room, the other partners had already started. She could already see that Ron and Pansy were fighting at the back of the classroom, it cheered her up a bit, she looked at Harry's direction, he and Millicent seemed to be getting on fine.
"Right, how about this … you do all the work and then I can just sit here and stare at the hot girls in this class?"
"You have got to be kidding me? You are so up your self Malfoy, you might as well stick your head up your arse, do the whole world a favour," Hermione popped some of the herbs into the cauldron, which gave off some smoke.
"That wasn't a very nice thing to say Granger, but remember I'm not a mudblood like you, I don't need to show off to be accepted in the magical world or hang around with Potter." Draco spat back at her. Hermione slammed a jar of ingredients on the table and gave Malfoy death glares.
"Go back to your hole Malfoy."
"Do back to your own world," Draco retorted. The two of them bitterly worked together for the rest of the lesson, they were the first couple to finish the task first.
"Well done both of you, I can see that you followed the instructions exactly, ten points to both houses," Slughorn picked the small bottle and labelled it before placing it into basket at the front of the classroom.
"Excuse me Professor, what shall we do now?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"Well, you can choose the sex of the baby that you want and choose baby names if you wish-"
"Sorry Professor, I thought we were just making the potions, we're not actually taking them are we?" Draco interrupted.
"Oh I'm sorry Mr Malfoy, did I forget to tell everyone?" Slughorn raised everyone's attention to himself, "I'm sorry, this potion that you're making is only a fraction of the work for this project, there is further work to do. It starts tonight, when at exactly nine o clock, the girl will take this potion. By tomorrow morning, most of the girls will be going into labour, and then for the rest of the year, you and your partner will raise this child."
"What?" the class practically screamed at him, they all look horrified.
"I'm sorry sir, but is this even legal?" Lavender asked.
"Yes it is Miss Brown, like I said before I asked permission from the headmaster and he agreed this is the best thing for house unity. And don't worry, your parents have agreed to this and they do know about it."
"No way, my father would never agree to this," Malfoy said.
"Yes he did Mr Malfoy, I have the letter in my office to prove it, I have everyone's parent's letters." The whole class started to murmur things to each other.
Seamus raised his hand, "Professor Slughorn, I fail to see the point of doing this, it has nothing to do with Potions."
"Your very right Mr Finnigan, but it has a lot to do with your future options, this is just a practice."
"But sir, what about our lessons? Will we have to take the babies with us?" Parvati asked.
"No, that won't be necessary, there will be a day care centre by the hospital wing where all the babies will stay during the day on weekdays."
"Sir, what will happen to them afterwards, after the year has finished?" Hannah asked.
"Well, you can either carry on raising the child, or we can provide a home for it with another family," the class began murmuring things again.
"But sir, where will the child stay when they're here?" Lavender questioned.
"Oh yes, I forgot … we are providing dormitories for you and your partner to stay in for the year."
"Sir," Hermione raised her hand, "is it just our class that are doing this project?"
"Oh no, the whole seventh year is, Professor Dumbledore loved the idea so much he insisted upon it," Slughorn began to chuckle to himself, "but yes, we only have a few minutes to go until the lesson finishes, I think it would be best if I dismiss you early to go to the Great Hall, there Professor McGonagall will talk about everything else."
The class did as they were told and made their way down to the hall for another discussion. They were reunited with other seventh years and the whole hall exploded into chattering.
"Parkinson, I'm paired up with Parkinson," Ron was a pale colour from shock, he then burst into tears, "our child is going to be a slut!"
"There there Ron, I know how you feel," Hermione said patting his back reassuringly.
Professor McGonagall was at the front by the teacher's table, she started to cough for some attention from the other students, "uhum uhum, very well, you might already know why you are here; I must admit this is very odd for a school like Hogwarts to do," she quickly looked at Professor Slughorn then back at the students, "you have already been paired up, and have made the potions, tonight at exactly nine o clock, the female student will take the potions, by tomorrow afternoon, all of you will have your own child with your partner. May I repeat this is a yearly project, and it will decide some part of your NEWT grades," she said sternly. She summoned up a parchment, "I will now read out what dorms you will be situated in, I will remind you that they are on the West side of the castle, and they are separated in to three floors."
"On the first floor, we have Hannah Abbot and Seamus Finnigan, dormitory 1. You can now make your way there, don't worry your belongings were delivered there earlier," she handed them a piece of paper with their password and then carried on talking, "Ok, next Susan Bones and Dean Thomas," Professor McGonagall did the same for them as well. Finally Hermione and Draco found out they were on the second floor with Ron and Pansy.
They calmly walked to the corridor that they were on; Draco ripped open the piece of paper with the password. Chocolate Frogs. He said the password and the door swung open to a quite luxurious suite. Hermione and Draco both went to explore it; they found out that there was an open living area, a bathroom and a bedroom with ONE bed.
Hermione looked at Draco who had already made himself comfortable on the bed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm a little bit tired, do you mind? I'd prefer it if you weren't here."
"There's only one bedroom ferret, I suggest you sleep on the sofa."
"Why should I sleep on the sofa?"
"Because you're not the one who'll be pregnant in …," Hermione looked at her watch, "ten minutes time."
"So?" Draco shrugged his shoulders.
"Well I'm not sleeping on the sofa, either you move or we can sleep in the same bed."
Draco thought about his options, "I'll take my chances," he finally replied. Hermione groaned, she went into the bathroom and got changed into her night-gown, she wished that she had something that was not so revealing but she never knew that this would happen.
She came back into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed away from Malfoy, she looked at her watch again … there was only thirty seconds to go … twenty … ten … five … one … Hermione opened the bottle and knocked it back, she immediately started to cough as the effects began to take place. Malfoy didn't look too bothered; he didn't even try to help Hermione but sat and watched her, amused.
When Hermione had finally settled down, she decided to go to bed, Draco was in the bathroom. Hermione sat on the bed, she already had a slight baby bump (at least she wasn't vomiting), she pulled the duvet over herself and fell into a deep sleep, Draco soon joined her half an hour later.