Hermione felt isolated in the world that was falling down around her. She was pregnant and her parents were not excited to be grandparents. It had been a rather ugly conversation. She broke it to them as soon as she got home from school. They kicked her out right away. That night she had packed everything in her "small" bag and left. Hogwarts had been her home for a long time now anyways; she wasn't leaving anything behind. The summer was spent on friends' couches until Ginny invited her to stay with her in a small beach cottage owned by family. The last month had been heaven but now Hermione had to return to the real world.

School started today and she was Head Girl. She knew she should be happy, this is what she had worked for, but she just couldn't. She was only 4 months pregnant, but she already showed. Her school robes helped to hide the bump but she knew people would talk. Given her reputation, this was probably going to be the biggest scandal of the year. Goody-Two Shoes Granger pregnant at 17. She rolled her eyes. The worst though would be telling her friends who the father was. No scratch that; the worst would be telling the father it was his. She didn't know how she would tell him, if she told him. She didn't need him to be a part of this, but if her child looked anything like him, it would be obvious. His appearance wasn't exactly average.

She didn't want him to be involved. He was Head Boy, and she was sure he wouldn't be able to keep his nose out of it. She knew no one understood why she wanted to keep the baby given the circumstances, but the baby was still half her, and besides that, she knew it wasn't responsible for something that happened before it existed. She also knew what happened was not her responsibility; no matter, she didn't want to punish the baby. She wouldn't say she was excited, but she prepared.

When Hermione arrived at the train station, she didn't even bother looking for Harry and Ron. She didn't have the spare energy. She had not seen them all summer and she did not want to explain this to them now. Any bit of energy she had was going towards maintaining a calm exterior. She headed straight for the Heads compartment. Pausing briefly before she entered, Hermione prepared herself. The door swung open startling her. Draco Malfoy was peering out at her.

"Were you planning on coming in or were you just going to stand there the whole trip?"

They locked eyes briefly. She shook it off. He looked amused but it turned to a smirk when he noticed she was pregnant.

"Gryffindor's golden girl got knocked up? So was it Potty or Weasel?"

"Because they are my only options?"

"Well, no one else at our school would touch you."

"It was a friend from home…a muggle."

His smirk slide off his face. Malfoy studied Hermione for a moment. He seemed to shake his head before going back to his book. No doubt he was judging her poor taste in men. He didn't say anything the rest of the trip, and disappeared as soon as they got to Hogwarts. Had she been able to read his thoughts, she would have known he was shocked she hadn't used a protection spell. Someone as smart as her must know better. She didn't have any way to know this though and she assumed the worst of him, which was unsurprising based on his previous behavior. As Hermione got off the train she could hear people whispering about her, guessing who the father was. She ignored them and looked for her friends. Spotting Ginny, Hermione hurried after her.

"Ginny!"

Ginny spun around to see the pregnant Hermione running towards her. Hermione had her robes pulled strategically over her stomach. She let out a laugh and hugged Hermione.

"So are you ready to admit it?"

"Admit what?"

"That you're pregnant!" Hermione turned red and pulled her robes tighter. She looked around to make sure no one was listening.

"well, yes. How'd you know?" She asked the question even though she already knew the answer.

"I have eyes. Plus, we lived together. I've never seen such awful morning sickness."

Hermione laughed. It felt nice to be around Ginny after spending so much time stuck in a compartment with Malfoy. If anyone could suck the life out of you it was Malfoy; plus after everything that happened last year she hardly wanted to spend time with him in a small space. Ginny linked arms with Hermione, and dragged her to the Great Hall. Hermione had not confided in Ginny what had happened. She realized Ginny had not asked and she found it rather strange. Ginny was usually the first to dive head first into Hermione private business. Pushing this out of her mind, sermione looked around for her friends, but didn't see them.

"Ginny, where is everyone else?"

Ginny refused to meet Hermione's eyes and was looking at her feet.

"Well…see…they kinda went hunting for horcurxes without you."

'Why?"

It confused Hermione. She knew, given her state, she could not actually have gone with them, but they hadn't known, they hadn't seen her, unless... Ginny interrupted her thoughts.

"I may have told them you are pregnant."

"Why would you do that?"

Hermione was trying to stay calm, but she was upset that Ginny told them. She shouldn't be surprised, it was Ginny after all. To be fair, it's not as if she had asked Ginny to keep her secret. She hadn't even told her. Ginny had just figured it out. Plus now she didn't have to tell her friends. That, at least, was a relief. Ginny was still trying to piece together an answer.

"Forgot it. Anyway, now I don't have to tell them.

Ginny looked relieved. Hermione turned her attention to Dumbledore just as he said,

"…and head girl is Hermione Granger, everyone else is dismissed."

Hermione saw Malfoy make his way up to the headmaster and followed him after saying goodbye to Ginny. She felt awkward. Their short conversation on the train had done little to calm her nerves. She was just not ready for him to be mean to her. Not after everything. She barely paid attention to Dumbledore as he told them what was expected. She was sure she knew what it was anyways.

"Now Malfoy if you could excuse me, I need a moment alone with Miss Granger."

As Malfoy left Dumbledore turned his sparkling blue eyes to Hermione.

"First, I'd like to congratulate you on your pregnancy…"

"Professor, I hardly see it as a thing to congratulate."

"Yes. Well I do. New life is a gift, without it the cycle of life could not continue."

Hermione silently nodded her head. Dumbledore lowered his voice.

"Secondly, if you would like the child's father is welcome to stay in the dorms with you."

Hermione took a deep breath and looked at her feet. It had not occurred to her she might tell Dumbledore, but now that it had come up, she wanted to. She wasn't sure why she wanted him to know. Maybe just to prove him wrong. To show him no, this baby was not a good thing. She felt shame at the thought. She hoped thing resentment she felt towards her own child would diminish in time. She turned her mind back to the current conversation.

"I believe he already is."

Dumbledore studied her, surprised. His face creased into a frown. He sensed that there was something wrong with this. Something out of the ordinary would have had to have happened to lead to the two of them together. Hermione tried her best to avoid his gaze but finally looked up.

"Malfoy is?"

"Yeah"

"Would you like to talk about it?"

Last year Malfoy and Hermione had sex against her and his own will. She didn't want anyone to know especially not Malfoy. He had been such a mess after it happened. As soon as the spell over him broke, he had shutdown refusing to speak to anyone. It pained Hermione to see any person in that much distress, even if it was Malfoy. His memory had been wiped clean thanks to Snape. Snape was the only one who she had told the truth to. He assured her he would discover what happened and resolve the issue. She had declined his offer to wipe it from her memory as well. It had been tempting but she couldn't do it. To just not know that something like this had happened to her would not change the fact that it happened. Plus she didn't want to have an abortion. She wanted to believe it hadn't had an effect on her anyway; that she was stronger than that. She was starting to doubt whether that was really true. All the more reason to leave things the way they were.

"No."

"Very well, please tell me if you need anything."

"Of course"

Hermione turned and left only to find Malfoy standing right outside the door listening. He looked enraged.

"If you think some muggle is coming to live in our dorm you are insane Granger and I am NOT okay with it!"

"Okay Malfoy."

"AND I…oh…um…well yeah."

Hermione stared after him. How could he have missed that? She had clearly said the father was living with her and Dumbledore had confirmed that, yes, she meant Malfoy. Clearly he had selective hearing. That, or the thought of living near a muggle filled him with so much rage that it rendered him deaf. She felt as though she should be offended on behalf of her baby's pretend father. Grinding her teeth, she started down the hall.

"Granger, hurry the fuck up. You'd think you would look decent considering how much time you spend getting ready. Yet when you emerge, I bet you are as ugly as ever."

Hermione smirked as Malfoy pounded on the bathroom door, as he had been for the last hour. It might be cruel but she didn't care. He was insufferable and she wasn't sure being Head Girl was worth it. She called out to him as she flipped the magazine page.

"I'll be done in like 10 minutes. It just takes sooooo long to get ready because I'm pregnant." It was true it did take her longer to get ready than it used to, but this was obviously ridiculous, which was the point.

"Yeah, OK. You'd better look like the queen of England when you come out of there."

Hermione only laughed and turned to the next page. It was an article about Narcissa Malfoy and her affair. It was of course a shame for Malfoy but she couldn't help but admire the man Narcissa was with.

"Oh my gosh, Malfoy."

"What?"

He sounded bitter as she flung open the door. He looked pretty bitter too, actually.

"You look awful. Had a bad morning, Draco?" Hermione asked sweetly. It was almost as if she was born to piss him off.

"Hey! You were reading a magazine all this time! you little bitch"

" That's not very nice! So did your mom really have any affair?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

Hermione held up the page for him to see. He wasn't looking at it though; he was glaring at her. She studied the picture for a minute.

"You know I could understand if she did. I mean look at this guy. He looks gorgeous and you can only see the back of him."

She looked back up at Malfoy. He was giving her the strangest look. It was like nothing she had ever seen. He seemed to between a smirk, a smile, and downright hate.

"What?"

"As I said, my mother did not have an affair. The picture they used was actually of my mother and me.

"Oh."

Hermione was desperate to escape, but Malfoy was blocking the hall. He was leaning casually against one wall with his arm blocking her escape route. He seemed very at ease and Hermione realized this was his comfort zone. He was used to being desired. He, if only for a moment, had the upper hand.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't question my mother's integrity," His grin spread, "and focus on your assessment of my appearance. You think I'm gorgeous?"

"NO!" She answered too quickly. He raised an eyebrow at her and didn't move. Hermione rolled her eyes. It was true he was appealing in this one picture, but only before she knew who it was.

"Apparently, but it doesn't even begin to make up for your personality."

Malfoy's face was unreadable, but he let her slip around him.