Play the Game
Second chapter! Yay!
Voldemort is defeated, but so are a large number of wizards. The ministry decides on the "Baby Law".
I only wanted the 7th years to be affected because they are the only age of teens I could think of that would be the most mature to handle a baby. The rest of the magical community are over 30, don't forget 50% of the W. community were killed in the war.
BIG thanks to all my reviewers and everyone who favourited the story
I hope I cleared that all up!
OH YEAH! I forgot to mention, Ginny is in 7th year after proving she was worthy of skipping a grade after demonstrating her skills in the war. She did her owls early during the summer holidays and is now a newt student.
As soon as Hermione stepped out of the Hogwarts Express, a gust of cold, sharp wind woke up her up and reminded her of her newly- discovered fate. I'm getting married to Malfoy, and having his kids. Great, my kids are going to be platinum blond with bushy hair. GREAT combination McGonagall, spot on, Hermione thought to herself, giving out directions to lost first years looking for the "big, nice man".
"Miss Granger, come over here please," McGonagall ushered at Hermione to stand next to herself and Malfoy who was looking bored to death.
Hermione walked through the bustling crowds of excited first years and other similarly happy students until she finally reached a rather impatient-looking professor and an annoyed Malfoy looking back at her.
Hermione started a hasty apology, "Sorry Malfoy, professor. I dropped my books because a third year bumped into me, then –"
"That's quite alright Miss Granger. Before you go into your carriage," McGonagall pointed out a black carriage slightly bigger than the other normal ones, with a big sign on the side saying "Head Boy & Girls Carriage" in gold lettering,
"I need to tell you the terms & conditions of your new role. You both will share a dormitory, including a bathroom, living room with a few muggle, emphasis on the word muggle, inventions which you already know, from the letter you both received. However, a few spells have been cast to insure no hexes are used on one another within those walls. When your child is born,"
Draco and Hermione exchanged worried glances,
"The locked room inside your dormitory will be opened and will reveal a nursery. Are they any questions?"
"How do we know what our password is?" Hermione asked, looking at Professor McGonagall inquisitively.
"Your password for now Unity, under Dumbledore's orders," Draco rolled his eyes at this," But this will be changed every so often," McGonagall replied.
Hermione and Draco said goodbye to the Professor and entered the carriage waiting for them.
"Uhh, Hermione, you smell nice," Draco said hesitantly.
Did he just call me Hermione? WHAT THE HELL! Hermione thought to herself, turning her head to face a slightly embarrassed Draco Malfoy.
"Thanks. By the way, I think we should call each other by our first names, so we can be…friends?" Draco said looking at Hermione in her eyes, hoping for an "ok".
"Yeah that's fine, what are you doing Draco?", Hermione asked, watching Draco spray himself with a can of Lynx Chocolate.
Wow, I never knew how great Lynx actually smelt, especially on Draco. Woops, Draco is looking at me weirdly, I had better finish my sentence, Hermione decided.
"I thought only muggles used lynx?"
"No, Lynx was created by that wizard Linst Burton. Chocolate is the best one, don't you think?" Draco said leaning into her slightly, so she can catch the scent.
This reminded both Hermione and Draco of the conversation that led to a kiss earlier on, causing Draco to suddenly spring backwards into his seat and scoot to the over end.
Hermione took out her book from her side bag and decided to read that for the rest of the journey whilst Draco fidgeted about uncomfortably.
Hermione and Draco walked into the massive, elegant castle, and then waited in a corner for the crowds of students to walk into the great hall, to avoid their friends asking them about what Professor McGonagall said and if they're any surprises coming up.
Hermione spotted Harry, Ron and Ginny conversing animatedly over what seemed to be about the Holyhead harpies. They looked so happy, Harry and Ginny holding hands and sneaking glances at each other, whilst Ron still looked comfortable enough to talk.
They won't be happy for long, Hermione thought to herself bitterly, still waiting for the students still trailing behind.
"Well, the corridor is completely empty now, so let's go in. Don't forget the password either," Hermione said, walking briskly towards the Great Hall to join her friends.
"Oh thanks for leaving me to be the last inside!" Draco shouted at her back, watching her walk inside and close the door behind her.
Draco stood where he was for a while and ended up having a little chat with Dobby, who survived his wound from Bellatrix (it missed his heart and went to his shoulder instead).
After about Half an hour of talking to Dobby, he realised that he was extremely late for the beginning of year speech.
"Dobby, I have to go sorry. Talk later?" Draco said, whilst walking quickly towards the entrance of the Great Hall.
Ok. On the count of three I will open the door, Draco thought to himself.
One…
Should I walk in calmly or burst in?
Two…
Burst in and sit down quickly would be best.
Three…
No, walk in calmly and coolly.
Draco breathed in deeply and looked at the double doors, and pushed against it. Nothing happened, why the hell is it not opening? Draco thought confused at why the door wouldn't open.
"Ahh crap," Draco whispered, kicking the wall.
"OUCH," Draco winced and sat down on the floor, "Great, now I look like a bloody tramp,"
"Sit on the bench next to me then,"
Draco jumped and looked everywhere, then realized he recognized that voice.
"Hermione, is that you?" Draco whispered hesitantly, in case he was incredibly wrong and it turned out to be someone like Millicent Bulstrode.
Hermione smirked at this and replied, "Nah, it's a troll training on becoming a ballerina. YES, it is Hermione. Now unless your secret ambition is to become the Tramp of Hogwarts, I suggest you get off your ass and sit over here,"
Draco got up from the cold stone floor and walked over to where Hermione was sitting.
Draco decided to break the silence and ask,
"Why aren't you in the hall? I saw you go in,"
Hermione replied,
"I know, but Filch told me it was too late to go because they already started the sorting and they didn't want another interruption like when Harry walked through after YOU broke his nose,"
Draco fidgeted uncomfortably and said,
"Oh yeah, I remember that,"
After a few minutes of silence, Draco broke the silence and said, "We're locked out of the Great Hall,"
Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco's statement, uncrossed her arms and said to him,
"Really? I was under the illusion we were skydiving with Professor Snape,"
"I was only trying to make a conversation," Draco muttered under his breath.
"Sorry, I can be quite sarcastic. Anyway –"
"I noticed that," Draco said, interrupting Hermione, who glared at him as she continued,
"ANYWAY, I think they are finishing up in the Great Hall. I have a feeling that Professor Dumbledore is going to keep the 7th years back anyway, so all we have to do is play the waiting game, " Hermione said, in her "answering a professor" voice.
As soon as Hermione said that, huge crowds of students burst out of the hall, surprising Draco so much that he fell of his seat.
A bunch of 3rd years saw Draco fall onto the hard floor and laughed hysterically, until Draco stopped them abruptly with an evil glare and scowl.
Hermione stifled a laugh.
After several minutes of Draco whining about his sore bum Hermione helped Draco up so they can walk inside the Great Hall.
"Harry Potter is partnered with Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley is –"
"Sorry Professor, we were locked out of the hall for the school speech," Draco said innocently, hoping it would work.
Professor McGonagall looked at the both disapprovingly, but Professor Dumbledore smiled at them warmly and said,
"Never mind, its fine. As you already know all the details from what Professor McGonagall told you, you can go straight up to your dormitory, unless you want to hear your friend's partners,"
Hermione smiled back at Dumbledore and answered,
"We would like to stay and hear our friend's fates, Professor Dumbledore,"
Hermione and Draco both walked other to their respective tables and sat down next to their friends.
Professor Dumbledore nodded at both of them and continued with what he was saying previously,
"Ginny Weasley is to be partnered with Harry Potter, and finally, Ron Weasley is to be partnered with Lavender Brown"
"Hey, I'm partnered with Ginny, isn't that awesome!" Harry whispered to Hermione, nudging her softly, watching Ginny beaming at her.
"I'm with Lavender!" Ron whispered, who was on the other side of Hermione.
"That's great Harry, I'm really happy for you. I'm happy for you too Ron. I'm partnered with Malfoy, but we're working on it," Hermione whispered back smiling yet shocked that Harry and Ron hadn't spontaneously combusted yet from the supposed pure madness of it.
Then again, Harry and Ron somehow seemed to become acquaintances with Malfoy, and could handle the fact that he and Hermione were friends, as they were very alike. At least everyone else is happy, Hermione mused, twiddling her thumbs once again and looking around at all the happy couples.
"You are dismissed. A small piece of parchment will appear in your front robe pockets which will present a map of you will be staying for this year," Dumbledore finished, nodding at everyone then walking out of the Great Hall.
Hermione said bye to her friends and walked up to her dormitory. Hermione walked up to what McGonagall described as "the sneaky looking woman in red".
Here is a picture of what she looks like: .
"She actually does look rather sneaky," Hermione said to herself, tilting her head slightly.
The portrait woke up, glared at Hermione
"Instead of wondering if I look sneaky, how about saying the password so I can go back to sleep?"
"Unity," Hermione replied, annoyed at the portrait's abruptness.
As soon as Hermione walked in, she ran into all the rooms. The living room felt comfortable to be in. The walls were green and yellow, and the unbelievably warm sofa was brown leather with red and green pillows. There was also a coffee table with one flower vase and two red candles on either side.
Living room: .com/HGTV/2007/07/20/hccor-yellow-green-living-room_
The bedroom was beautiful as well, it looked so delicate. The wallpaper was mostly grey with a white flower pattern, they reminded Hermione of snowflakes. All together, the bedroom was beautiful, it looked like winter.
Bedroom: .
Hermione sat down on the sofa and decided to turn on the television, one of the muggle objects that Dumbledore decided on.
Halfway into the muggle film titanic, Hermione jumped when a little note appeared on the coffee table.
Dear Hermione,
Please wait up. We need to talk.
From Draco
Oh no. Hermione knew what this was going to be about, the kiss on the Hogwarts express.
Hermione decided to take her mind of that and looked through the DVDs that were suggested by Dumbledore.
Hmmm, Hermione thought, let me see what DVDs are here….
Dear John, Love Actually, Pearl Harbour q, Pride and Prejudice (2005), P.S I love you, the notebook and titanic.
"They are all romance! Dumbledore must be trying to help us as much as he can," Hermione said to herself, smiling at Dumbledore's kind intentions.
Hermione decided on titanic, a lot goes on it that film and it will definitely keep her mind of her impending doom with Draco.
Just before Jack tells Rose to "never let go", Hermione paused the film and went to go get a glass of water.
Draco trudged up the last five steps up the staircase with so much effort he had to lean against the wall next to the portrait which McGonagall described as "the sneaky looking woman in red".
Draco sighed heavily and whispered to himself,
"I am SOOO tipsy. I need to keep it under control when I'm talking to Hermione or I am going to get killed. What forced me to send Hermione that note?"
I know why. It's because I HAVE to know, Draco reasoned with himself.
At this point, the portrait woke up, and feeling rather grumpy angrily whispered,
"ANOTHER TALKER! Look, just go in"
Draco tried to glare at the portrait, but to his dismay he ended up looking like a moping toddler, so he just walked in.
I need some water to sober me a bit, Draco thought, walking towards the kitchen.
"Draco?" he heard Hermione say.
"Huh? Oh hey 'mione," Draco replied, standing in front of Hermione, hoping she couldn't smell the firewhiskey on his breath.
Hermione could in fact smell the firewhiskey on his breath, but decided to talk about that later.
"Let's go in the living room, I have a movie on. I can't be bothered to tell you what happened," Hermione said cheerfully, hoping Draco didn't see her wrinkle her nose in disgust.
"Err right," Draco replied.
I learnt about…"films" in muggle studies, so I knew what she was talking about, I just haven't seen one. Thank goodness she didn't smell the firewhiskey, Draco thought to himself, following Hermione into the living room.
"It's nice in here," Draco said.
"I agree, now sit down so you can watch the film with me," Hermione replied quickly, tapping the space next to her on the brown sofa.
"Draco, why did you come back to the dorm so late?" Hermione asked staring at Draco.
"I had a few drinks in the Slytherin dorm," Draco mumbled, looking away from Hermione.
"YOU WERE DRINKING? I knew that was firewhiskey on your breath!" Hermione shouted at him, pushing him slightly.
Draco was slightly angry at the fact that Hermione was overreacting so he replied with,
"So what, it isn't that big of a deal, it was only a few fire whiskey shots…"
Draco tailed off when he realised that Hermione's glare was getting stronger and if he carried on he would have two holes for eyes because Hermione burned them out.
Ok, let's change the subject, Draco thought quickly.
"What the hell is that?" Draco asked, gesturing at the television that was paused on Rose's distraught face.
Yay, I can teach Draco something, Hermione thought to herself.
"A television, this is what muggles use for entertainment," Hermione explained.
"They watch trapped muggles in a big black box be miserable for fun?" Draco asked, confused.
"They aren't trapped and they aren't always miserable, it's not a bloody prison" Hermione explained, a little annoyed at Draco's lack of common sense.
"But look, that woman is crying," Draco argued, pointing at the screen.
"This is the muggle film "Titanic", a lot of people dies in this. I am sure you have heard of the Titanic disaster," Hermione replied.
"Muggles make "films" out of disasters? No wonder they are so damn weird. Stupid muggles…" Draco muttered, air quoting the word film.
"Malfoy," Hermione started, standing up,
"My parents are muggles, are you calling them stupid?"
"No, it's just a bit stupid that muggles enjoy watching people cry," Draco answered, standing up also. He didn't like the feeling of being overpowered.
Hermione casted the silencio spell, (she was always considerate) and screamed at Draco, whilst hitting his chest,
"WELL THIS IS THEIR ENTERTAINMENT SO SHUT THE HELL UP"
Draco stopped Hermione's attacks by holding her forearms and answered indignantly,
"Hell no! I am not shutting up. I do not shut up for anyone. I am a Malfoy!"
"SO! Your surname is the same as everyone else's!" Hermione argued back, yanking away her arms from Draco's grip.
"If my surname was the same as everyone else's, all of our surnames would be Malfoy, but they aren't." Draco reasoned.
"SHUT UP MALFOY!" Hermione threatened.
"Oh back to Malfoy now is it? Well, I am going to stand here and whistle purely because you told me to shut up!" Draco said, starting to whistle.
"Shut up," Hermione said to Draco, glaring at him once more.
Draco decided to ignore her and started to whistle even louder, missing Hermione walk closer towards him.
SHUT UP, SHUT UP AND SHUT UP! I HATE WHISTLING! Hermione thought to herself, I KNOW WHAT I WILL DO!
That is when Hermione grabbed Draco by the face and kissed him full on the lips without a second thought. Draco responded back, and they continued like that for at least one minute. Until Hermione realised what the hell was going on…
"OMG! I am sorry, it's the only way I could shut you up without hexing you," Hermione explained, hoping he would buy her reason, and secretly hoping that so would she, because she wasn't winning the battle in her brain.
You liar. You kissed him because you wanted to.
Shut up brain!
Nope, because if I did, you would be an idiot, and we don't want that now do we?
Whatever!
"Uhh, I don't mind, really I don't. I understand," Draco answered, hoping she wouldn't hear the happiness in his voice.
"Hermione?" Draco asked, not knowing what the hell his brain was doing.
"Draco?" Hermione answered, humouring him.
"What are we?" Draco asked stupidly, fiddling with his fingers behind his back.
"We are humans, Draco," Hermione said, laughing nervously; she knew what his question REALLY meant.
"You know what I mean," Draco said annoyed at her silliness and her beating-around-the-bush.
"Uhh, im really tired im going to bed. See you in the morning," Hermione said quickly running into the bathroom and closing the door before even finishing her sentence.
Draco frowned. Well, that went well didn't it? I'll just go to bed, he thought to himself, walking into the bedroom.
Hermione was in the middle of brushing her teeth when she heard the bedroom door slam.
What are? I mean, we are definitely not enemies, but more than friends. I, for once, do not know what the answer is, but I think I am going to like it, Hermione thought to herself, tying her hair into a messy bun.
When Hermione entered the bedroom tip-toeing, Draco was already asleep.
Thank goodness, Hermione thought, walking towards the beautiful bed.
Hermione slipped into the bed and soon after she was fast asleep.
However, Hermione and Draco failed to notice the letter that popped up right after they kissed.
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