It was supposed to be a great day, she noted as she sat at her bed after yet another morning of emptying her bowels. It had been two weeks since it had started and at first she had written it off as a bug but it hadn't stopped and here she was two weeks later, still unable to stomach a meal, or enter a restaurant, or any place with food without feeling like heaving her stomach out through her mouth. It was at time like these that she hated having such a rational mind. Her mind knew she had to consider that possibility as much as she didn't want to. It pained her to think that if it was true, if her damnable mind was right she would have to be in closer proximity with the insufferable git known as Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy had woken up that day with a positive outlook. He had decided that he was finally going to accept his heritage as a Malfoy. He was going to find the perfect wife like his mother had been begging him since he left Hogwarts. I don't want to be dead when my grandchildren are born, Draco, she had reasoned with him and he couldn't argue with her. He felt like he owed her his life, as Merlin only knew how many times she had risked her own life for his where Voldemort was concerned. He was sexually frustrated because of his restraint at sleeping with random females, and angry and in his mother's opinion, he was acting like a pregnant woman. The last time he had been able to sleep with anyone was that night two months ago when they had that war event they had every year. He was piss drunk, and he had slept with Miss Iron-knickers, higher-than-thou Granger. Of what he could remember she was quite a minx in bed but that night of drunken tumbling had led him here.

Draco looked up at the foreboding building that was St Mungo's, it was here where his fate would be sealed. The rest of his life depended on the outcome of today and he prayed to all deities above that what he feared most would not become his reality. Spotting Hermoine across the way in front of an office with Luna Lovegood, Draco made his way towards them and smiled his dazzling smile and had the pleasure of seeing both women's faces register shock before quickly composing themselves.

"Granger." He stated as he stopped in front of the women.

"Malfoy." She replied in a small voice. Draco figured he couldn't blame her, he was only just keeping his cool, this was the craziest and most trying moment of his life.

"Draco," Luna said from beside Hermione, "You've been well?"

"Yes thanks. And you?" he asked, his eyes trained on Hermione, who was pointedly avoiding his gaze and looking a sickly shade of green.

"Oh, I've been wonderful, but we aren't here for that are we?" she said as she gave Hermoine a tender and comforting pat on the shoulder, "Please, come in."

Luna entered her office which Draco was not surprised was filled with strange artefacts, "I've already taken the sample from Hermione so we're just waiting on the lab to get back to us. I think it must be ready now, so I'll just go fetch it shall I?"

Hermione looked up from her lap at that, her eyes begging Luna not to leave her with him. But she knew they had to talk and as soon as Luna left the room she sighed in defeat.

At least the road that got her here wasn't that bad, Hermoine remarked as she played with non-existent lint that was on her skirt. It was quite enjoyable, if she remembered well. And if she would swallow her pride she would admit (only to herself of course) that it was the best she had ever had. It had put the rumours she had heard in the girl's bathrooms to shame really, he was more. Much more! And she was getting quite hot just thinking about it. She had been reluctant to go to this victory day celebration at Hogwarts. All she had wanted to do was watch a couple of tear-jerkers, with a tub of ice-cream, but her best friend Luna Lovegood , soon to be Potter, would hear none of it. She had said that Hermoine's pitiful love life came from the fact that she refused to get out and loosen up. Hermione could not even begin to fight Luna on that because she was absolutely correct. And Hermione was sick and tired of being lonely so she had agreed. Now look where that had landed her.

Hermione sighed. She didn't understand why she was so unlucky as to get into this position with Draco Malfoy, what she had done to get her here with him , the bane of her existence, the man who made her school days a misery. She sighed again hoping to God, Merlin, Morgana and all other deities that she was wrong, that the one night she had forgotten her hate wouldn't come back to bite her hard in the ass. It was the one night she had decided to get absolutely, fucked out of her mind by having too much fire whiskey. She prayed to the universe, and all higher powers, hoping that the predicament wouldn't be what she thought it was.

And yet here she was in a healer's office waiting for the predicament and praying. She almost laughed out loud at the irony. These were not the kind of situations Hermoine Granger got into. Although now that she thought about it, her life hadn't exactly turned out to be how Hermione Granger's life was supposed to have been. She was supposed to have married Ron, but she wasn't because she refused to subject herself to a lifetime of feeling bad for being smart and being "the smartest witch of her age." She also refused to be a housewife and pop babies out like Molly had, although no offense to Molly, she still wanted to have a vagina by the time she 40. Not a birth canal. Instead she was single and lived with her cat Crookshanks 2, the first Crookshanks had died and the second Crookshanks looked and acted like the first Crookshanks so she named it so, everybody else called it Crookshanks 2 and the name stuck. She was also supposed to be high up in the professional world, making lots of money and generally putting her smarts to great use but she was a proud owner of a magical book shop and café. So you can understand why she really didn't want to be in a healer's office with Draco Malfoy.

Draco risked a look at her after the fifteenth sigh, and yes, he had been counting. She looked about ready to cry and he sincerely hoped she wouldn't because he did not feel like and hated dealing with crying females. He also didn't want her to cry because he knew normal Granger would not cry about anything and if she cried it would prove she was hormonal.

And now she was nervous. Looking for something other than sitting and thinking to do, she began to wring her hands. The silence in the room, stood before them like a pregnant elephant they both pointedly ignored. She was beginning to regret sending him the owl but even she couldn't deny the fact that even though he refused to talk to her, she found his presence oddly comforting and the fact that she didn't have to go through this alone was also relieving, even if he wouldn't talk to her…

And now she was downright panicking. What would she do if he refused to help her? She couldn't do this alone, she was a self-employed book shop owner, she barely made enough to pay for her survival, let alone someone else's. She was going to die of hunger and he wouldn't even bat an eyelid because he would have nothing to do with her mudblood germs. And, and…

Her train of thought broke off as she felt him put an arm around her shoulders, patting her, albeit awkwardly, offering the comfort he could.

"You need to relax Granger," he began as he rad his hand up and down her arm, "If you panic, then I will too. We need to appear sophisticated and cool, calm and collected."

She stared at him then, shocked. Those were the first words he had said to her since they had got here twenty minutes ago. She was shocked to say the least. And absolutely frazzled to feel the butterflies in her stomach purring with approval as his hand continued to run up and down her arm. She was more than angry with herself at choosing that moment in her life to find him beautiful. She had always admired him, though she would never admit it to anyone, especially him, it was true. He was the first person she had noticed on her first day of school, he stood out like a beacon with his silver-blonde hair, and his strikingly beautiful, molten platinum eyes.

"Thank you, Dra-Malfoy." She said. She mentally hit herself. She had almost called him Draco. This would be so much easier if he were ugly, she thought to herself as she caught a whiff of Dra-Malfoy's cologne as he moved in his seat.

"No problem, Granger," she said with a dazzling smile that left her dumbfounded. By God his smile was, what it was! She had never seen anyone with a more disarming smile. She was sure if he had smiled at her like that all the time she would be putty at his feet. "Do you have any idea why this is taking so long?"

"I don't know," she replied dumbly. Oh for God's sake, she thought, I am Hermione Granger, I faced Voldemort, and I suffered at Bellatrix Le Strange's hand. One smile from Draco Malfoy's beautiful face cannot be doing this to her.

"Sorry for the delay," Luna Lovegood said as she entered, a file in hand. She had grown up since her Hogwarts days, the war did that to some and completely destroyed others. She was still pleasant and, well, Luna-rish but she no longer had her head in the gutter, although I believe she still believed in some of those non-existent creatures.

"No problem Luna," Hermione replied as she felt Dra-Malfoy, tense beside me. She put a hand on his thigh to comfort him and continued, "So…"

"Well," Luna said, "It's either good news or bad news. But judging your histories, it's not too good."

"Cut the crap Loony and tell us already! Is Hermione pregnant or not?"

"Yes!" Luna squealed and clapped her hands in glee, "Isn't it wonderful?"

And that was the last thing Hermione heard and saw before everything went black.