CHAPTER TWO
Draco, still oblivious despite the swirling rumors, went to bed early to do some reading, leaving Crabbe and Goyle alone in their part of the dungeon's rooms. When they were certain Draco was asleep, Crabbe asked Goyle what went down in the Hospital Wing. When he found out, he was stunned. How could this happen?
"I think we need to ask Draco. Madam Pomphrey asked if anyone gave me anything strange, and he's the only one we've ever taken anything from. He passes us a treat, we accept it. We don't think, and look where it's gotten me," Goyle said as softly as he could.
"Do you think he could be behind this?" Crabbe questioned.
"I have no idea. I'd like to think he isn't, but who can be sure anymore? Look at how much he's avoiding us right now. He didn't have reading to do. He just wanted to get to bed early. He's been doing that for weeks, and he's been absorbed by whatever he's been reading at the breakfast table," Goyle replied, spotting the item on the floor. He pulled it towards him with his foot and picked it up. Using the dim light of a candle behind them, the two looked the periodical over.
"This is a parenting magazine with pregnancy tips," Crabbe said with a confused expression, looking up to Draco's bed, "Do you think he's pregnant too, that he gave you whatever it was because he couldn't tell if he was or not?"
"And since I am, that means he is too," Goyle finished in a low murmur. He shrugged, "That would explain quite a bit actually. He hasn't been interested in Quidditch for months, but he's let the team pull him in to defeat Gryffindor. If you put together different pieces it makes sense."
"Are you going to tell anyone so we can make sure? I doubt he'd tell us the truth."
"You're right about that," Goyle nodded, sighing softly, "Madam Pomphrey wanted to know whatever she could. I gather this doesn't happen very often, so she needs to know if this is something that could spread. If Draco is pregnant and I'm pregnant, I know exactly who he'd use it against."
"Potter and Weasley," Crabbe agreed, nodding sternly, "He wouldn't touch Hermione. She'd be too smart and would predict whatever he tried to do."
"I'll have to tell her, but not tonight. I don't want to run the risk of this getting out and there was an incident during detention with Hufflepuffs, something to do with Snape's assignment. I can't have anyone else knowing, for now. I'll be showing soon. I won't be able to hide it then," Goyle sighed, tears coming to his eyes, "I wonder how the rest of the school will treat me."
"I'll protect you," Crabbe whispered, but he knew that could be a tall order. A pregnant girl was scandal enough, but a male? That implied things but neither of them knew what kind of things people would assume. They would have to wait and see, their stress levels rising.
Hermione eyed Harry as he fell asleep, his head falling back against the wall. He made no effort to wake up and examine himself, but she knew it had to hurt. She turned to Ron, who was also struggling to stay awake, but his struggle looked more like the typical "It's late and the Granger girl is making us study" tiredness they always exhibited.
"I think something is wrong with Harry," Hermione finally said. Ron looked over to Harry and shrugged. Hermione slapped her hand on the table, "I'm serious, Ron! He's been more tired lately, and he's also been ill at breakfast, not enough to throw up but enough to keep him from eating."
"Watching Goyle haul his bum to the loo to get sick every morning would make anyone sick," Ron argued, shaking his head, "I think it's all in your head, Hermione. Sorry but I just don't think there's anything wrong with him."
"I think there is. He just doesn't want to tell us because he's afraid it'll be something to do with You-Know-Who and things will go crazy again. He doesn't want us to be in danger every moment of the day, so if he feels off, he won't say anything," Hermione explained softly.
"Okay, so you might have some merit, but there isn't much I can do if he doesn't want to talk to us about it. Don't you think he'd tell me first? I am a guy like him, and guys go through the same things," Ron smirked.
Hermione shook her head, "If my theory about Goyle is right, then no, no they don't. Everyone has been talking about him crying suddenly and getting sick. I know those symptoms, Ron, and they aren't typical to males."
Ron put two and two together from his own experiences, "You think he's pregnant?!" he whispered sharply.
"Yes, I think it's a possibility, and the more his issue gets swept under the rug, the more likely it is that I'm right, and Snape was quick to get to him at breakfast this morning. While he treats his own house better than he treats us, I doubt he did it out of concern," Hermione muttered, looking around the room. "I'm going to look into other males too. Something is up around here but I don't know the source."
"I'll help if I can," Ron said, but he didn't know if he'd be able to. This seemed like a serious issue, as well as a sensitive issue. If boys at Hogwarts were becoming pregnant somehow, then there was a major problem going on, but he had no idea what.
Dumbledore sighed, "I wish you told me this morning as soon as you knew, Severus. This is a very serious matter, but it's not unheard of. It just happened before Madam Pomphrey's time here at Hogwarts, which just shows how old I've become," Dumbledore chuckled.
"What happened before?" Professor Snape inquired.
"From what I remember, because I was a young lad when this happened, there was a disgruntled older professor, a female, who desperately wanted a child. She brewed a potion and didn't clean the cauldron properly. Well the next group to come in was the Hufflepuff head-of-house for the time brewing a hygiene potion for the stink males in his house. A few weeks later, several had symptoms, but none knew what had happened. When the female professor in question was also pregnant and the timeline was similar, the Potions Master for the time figured it out."
"What do you think happened here?" Professor Snape questioned.
"I have no earthly idea, but I doubt young Goyle is the only case. I'm going to discretely tell the others to keep an eye out for ill young males or males with unexplained weight gain. That will give us the answer we seek, if there are more cases. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. Something is going on here, and this feels much more intentional than before otherwise we would know for sure by now," Dumbledore commented, eying the clock, "Time for my last round for the evening. I recommend you start looking first thing in the morning, and I want you to search their rooms for more clues."
"I'll do that first thing in the morning," Snape agreed, walking out with Dumbledore but soon returning to the dungeons.
Snape received the formal letter from Dumbledore during breakfast letting him know about a possible male pregnancy and to keep an eye out for more. Like the other heads-of-house, he was to spend the first class period of the day searching student rooms. He decided to end with the block that contained Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco, and his search was over quickly in the other rooms. There was nothing to be found, but in the last block, there was.
Like Crabbe and Goyle, he easily found the various parenting periodicals Draco had hidden among his private things—in his trunk, under his mattress, and wrapped within his robes. As Madam Pomphrey asked Goyle to do, Draco had robes of several sizes, and it looked like his smaller ones were still inside the trunk.
Professor Snape shook his head and gathered the evidence. Then he took it to Dumbledore, who had Filch pull Draco out of class. When the boy arrived, they studied him carefully. As Snape expected, Draco was a little rounder in the middle.
"We need to discuss an important matter with you, Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said, looking up as Madam Pomphrey entered with a syringe and the potion needed for the test.
Draco didn't protest as the blood was drawn. Madam Pomphrey moved to Dumbledore's desk and performed the test. After a few minutes passed in silence, she eyed the test and nodded to Dumbledore. Like with Goyle, Malfoy's pregnancy test was positive.
"Mr. Malfoy, you need to explain how this could have happened," Dumbledore said firmly.
"I have no idea, but it seems the pills I ordered through the mail worked, otherwise I wouldn't be expecting. I was unsure if they worked though, so after the first month, I put some in Goyle's tea and gave another to Oliver Wood and Potter for body aches. Wood doesn't seem to be expecting, but the others are," Draco said proudly with a hint of delusion.
"Why would you want to become pregnant?" Snape asked with a disgusted tone.
"I wanted something that would be mine, Professor. I have nothing here but material possessions and an owl that could care less about me. I want unconditional love, and this baby will give that to me. I'll finally have the baby I need and deserve, the love I want," Draco smiled. "It'll be amazing!"
"Impregnating the others through these pills is illegal," Dumbledore said firmly, "and I doubt the Ministry of Magic will be willing to let you get away with this crime simply because you are pregnant too. I'll be contacting them at once to get their attention. Snape, lock him in the prisons. Madam Pomphrey, I'm going to get Mr. Potter and Mr. Wood and bring them to you shortly. Draco, are there any others?"
"No, but what I did was right. I had to be sure," Draco said with such conviction others might've believed him. But Dumbledore didn't, and Draco was sent to the prison in the dungeon without a single question from Snape, whose face was etched with disappointment.