Chapter 2: Pairs
Hermione awoke to the shrieking of Lavender and Parvati.
The two were busily getting dressed and talking about who their future partners were going to be.
"Oh, Hermione you're awake! I hope we didn't wake you," whispered Lavender excitedly as her eyes past over the brunette's form lying awake on the bed.
"No, not at all," grumbled Hermione while pulling herself from the warm blankets. Stretching her arms she gave a yawn, arching her back in the process.
"Padma told me that all the Ravenclaw students owled their parents about the project and she also said that she thinks I'll be paired up with Harry! She asked Professor Trelawney about it and she looked into her crystal ball and saw me and Harry together," beamed Parvati after catching her breath.
Hermione grumbled lowly, her eyebrows furrowing. The only thing that woman could predict was death. And everyone dies at one point or another! Harry was most likely going to paired up with someone smart, someone that was…not like Parvati.
"No, I'm pretty sure I'll be Harry's partner. We are so much alike, you know." Lavender said, shaking her head at her friend. Before Parvati could retort, Hermione blurted out.
"If you want to know who your partners are going to be, then I suggest you better finish getting dressed so we could get to breakfast!" The loud shrieks emitting from the besotted teenagers had Hermione reaching for her robes and pulling them on in record time. Grabbing her wand, she pocketed it before slipping on her shoes and heading out the door. Walking out of the girl's dormitory she found Harry and Ron sitting in the common room atop the large blood red couch. When they saw her, they rushed over. Ron nearly bringing down a side table in the process.
"Hermione, I don't think I could do this." Harry let out once Hermione was in whispering range, "Last night Dean was talking about the parenting project and he said something about being paired with Slytherins."
Ron's face paled considerably.
Harry kept going, "So someone's going to be paired up with Parkinson, Bulstrode and Moon."
Ron made a sour face.
Hermione thought for a minute, her fingers coming up to tap lightly against her chin, "Moon, I remember that name. Isn't her father in Azkaban?" The boys nodded their heads.
"Elizabeth Moon, she's not that bad."
Ron screwed his face up even more. "Hermione, are you even living on the same planet as us? That girl is the most annoying, most sluttiest whore in the whole school," he noticed Hermione's glare and added hastily, "Except for Parkinson. But she's next in line!"
"Ronald, don't you talk about her like that. She may be a Slytherin but she is nowhere near Pansy! Elizabeth is smart," Hermione added, "She's in my Ancient Ruins class." The two Gryffindors stared at her, awestruck.
"Okay what did you do with our Hermione?"
"Oh come on," Hermione rolled her chocolate brown eyes at the two disbelieving faces. "Breakfast is starting in a few minutes and I want to hear what Dumbledore has to say. And besides, since we had the night to think about it there are bound to be a lot of questions."
With that said, she walked out of the common room with Harry and Ron following silently behind her. A few minutes later, they entered the dining hall to find it nosier than ever. Apparently the other students found out about the details for the new project. When Hermione, Ron and Harry sat down at the long wooden table Ginny slid over to them.
"Okay this is going to be the biggest scandal ever! Just imagine it! I bet you that the goblet of fire is going to put Hermione and Malfoy together!"
"Don't jinx it!" The trio yelled in unison. Throwing disbelieving looks at Ginny.
That union would only result in war!
Harry could see it now. Neville running down the hallway dodging a hex cast at him by Blaise Zabini while the others pelted the Slytherins with gunkachoo bombs...curtesy of Fred and George Weasley.
The red haired Weaselette shrugged her shoulders, "You have to admit it would be the craziest thing. You two hate each other with a passion that could fuel the entire wizarding population!"
"Yes, but Malfoy and I can't even stay inside the same room for five minutes without hexing each other," Hermione grabbed a piece of toast and started buttering it, anxious to get off the topic of Malfoy. Taking the hint, Ginny sighed and grabbed the piece of toast Ron had just finished buttering. Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she bit into it and scooted back to her friends. Ron blinked twice, looked down at his empty hand and furrowed his brow. He then stretched out his arm to grab himself another toasted piece of bread, all the while grumbling to himself about lazy women and toast stealing siblings.
After breakfast, all the students left except for the seventh years who were led to the goblet of fire by Madam Hooch. When all were seated, Dumbledore approached the cup. His wrinkled hand gently touching the age old metal. "I would like you all to take a piece of paper and write your names on it, then quietly put it in the goblet."
The student's began to talk in whispers, each more excitedly then his neighbor.
The corners of Snape's mouth twitched as his eyes narrowed into slits. "Do I need to stress the point that he said QUEITLY!" He bellowed.
That shut everyone up.
With speeds that would make even the snitch jealous, the seventh years quickly wrote their names on their pieces of paper. Then one by one they went and dropped it into the goblet.
Snape folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Glaring daggers at the sniveling lot of students. Daring one of them to speak.
Not even a peep escaped their lips.
Once everyone was seated Dumbledore rose again, eyes twinkling, "Are there any questions?"
Like clockwork, hands shot up all around the room.
"Where are we going to live while we do this project?"
Dumbledore smiled, "During the summer the minister sent officials to build a housing quarter connecting to the dinning hall. Each pair will have quarters which they can enter by giving a specific password to the portrait. Now that reminds me," he smiled again, "The living quarters are large. Therefore, we had to put in street signs so the place looks like a little town. There are going to be four pairs living on one lane."
That earned the headmaster some puzzled looks, however the students chose to let that slide as another question was asked.
"Where are the babies going to go after the project?"
There was complete silence when Dumbledore spoke again, "Since this is a simulation, the babies will disappear once the assignment is over. These aren't real infants. They are simply very complex spells that simulate everything a real baby does. Since an egg and a sperm are being extracted from every one of you, the child will resemble the parents, however they are not real. But you will treat them as if they are."
"How much of this is going to be our overall grade for this year?"
Snape chose to answer this question, "A big part. So I suggest you do it well because if you don't, consider yourself failed."
"Anymore questions?" Snape barked.
Heads shook from side to side ferociously.
"Very well then, we'll start the pairings," Dumbledore concluded and walked over to the goblet. Mumbling a spell the cup levitated into the air and began to burn brightly, spitting out green flames every few seconds. All the Slytherins seemed to grin at this.
Two pieces of paper flew out and landed into Dumbledore's outstretched hand. Pulling his eyeglasses closer, he read aloud, "Mister Longbottom and Miss Bulstrode!" The Slytherins and Gryffindors glared at each other as Neville and Millicent walked down to the front. Madam Pomfrey quickly took them behind a door. Seconds later there were two sharp yells, one from Millicent and one from Neville.
"I wonder what she's doing in there," Blaise asked Draco as Dumbledore read off the second pair.
"Mister Zabini and Miss Parvati Patil!"
Blaise glared at the Gryffindor girl and exchanged glances with Draco.
Cocking an eyebrow the Slytherin prince smirked, "I guess you'll be finding out soon enough." He then watched as Blaise walked down to the front and vanished behind the same door Neville and Millicent went through along with Parvati.
"Mister Finch-Fletchley and Miss Abbot!" The two Hufflepuff students walked down to the front and went to the door.
"Mister Potter and Miss Brown!" Harry gave Hermione and Ron a nervous glance before walking to the door with Lavender. Both Gryffindors swallowed hard as they watched Harry disappear from sight.
"Mister Boot and Miss Bones!"
"Mister Nott and Miss Brocklehurst!" Draco watched them disappear behind the door.
"Mister Crabbe and Miss Moon!"
"Mister Thomas and Miss Padma Patil!" Dean grinned, he had secretly been crushing on Padma. His eyes met with those of the Ravenclaw girl and he gave her a friendly smile.
"Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger!"
Silence.
Dead Silence.
All at once the Gryffindors and the Slytherins got up and began yelling.
"You can't do that!"
"Are you insane?"
"They'll kill each other!"
"He'll kill her!"
She'll kill him!"
"SILENCE!" Yelled Snape.
The two houses glared at each other.
"Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy please come down," McGonagall said after rising from her seat. Her feline like eyes coming to rest on the head boy and girl respectively.
"I am going to kill Ginny the next time I see her," mumbled Hermione just loud enough for Ron to hear.
"And I give you permission because I'll be there to help you kill her," Ron said as he glared at the Slytherins. He turned to Hermione and gave her an awkward hug before watching her step down.
Right when she walked in the door Hermione heard Dumbledore say, "Mister Weasley and Miss Parkinson!" She didn't know who it was that had screamed, but she could bet all the galleons in her bank account that it was Ron.
Madam Pomfrey greeted Hermione and Draco and asked them to take a seat on a wooden bench provided for them. They did, scooting as far from each other as possible in the process. "Now this might hurt a bit but I'll need you to work with me," she handed both of them a glass vial with an inky black liquid inside it. "Drink this. I'm warning you though, it tastes simply horrid so drink it quick."
Hermione and Draco both nodded and quickly downed the potion, nearly gagging in the process. It had the foulest of tastes. Hermione nearly spat it back up but managed to hold it down at the last minute, swallowing the last drop down with a wince. As the noxious potion slid down her throat, Hermione felt her stomach twist into a knot. With a gasp she fell to the floor and grabbed her stomach, eyes widening into the size of dinner plates. Draco on the other hand, was experiencing quite a different kind of pain. It felt like he had been kicked in the gonads at least a dozen times. Grabbing a hold of himself, he squirmed on the ground, whimpering slightly. Eyes filling with unshed tears Draco wanted to cry out and scream. But Malfoys weren't allowed to show pain or fear. So swallowing hard, he held back and suffered in silent agony.
Neither of them took notice as a tiny gold thread came out of their mouths and flitted through the air into a little glass vial held in Madam Pomfrey's hand. As soon as the threads were fully inside the vial, she quickly corked it and began to shake it, mixing the gold threads with the purple potion inside. The pain Hermione and Draco were experiencing seemed to stop immediately after and they looked up to find Madam Pomfrey shaking the little vial vigorously. A few seconds later she handed it to Hermione.
"Make sure to drink this at exactly eleven thirty. You will get pregnant and that's when your assignment begins. You have exactly one hour until that time, so go and find your rooms." Hermione nodded and took the vial from Madam Pomfrey.
"Where are our rooms?" She asked.
Before Madam Pomfrey could answer, Draco did, "You really are a stupid witch. Didn't you hear Dumbledore say that out living quarters are connected to the dining hall?" He turned angrily and marched out. Madam Pomfrey sent Hermione an apologetic look. Sighing, Hermione looked up at the ceiling before following Draco out.
They walked into the dining hall to find one of the ministry officials standing near a big doorway that hadn't been there during breakfast. Approaching the man, Hermione smiled up at him. The official smiled back, eyes crinkling at the corners.
"Names?" He asked.
"Hermione Granger."
"Draco Malfoy."
The man nodded and gave them a piece of parchment with a picture of their portrait and their password.
Draco read the text, "What does Daedafue mean?" He asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Icy fire or fiery ice, whichever pleases you," said the man.
Hermione sighed and thanked the official before walking through the door. When she did she stopped abruptly causing Draco to nearly collide with her backside.
Anger rising, Draco seethed,"Granger you don't just stop walking in the- bloody hell!"
What he saw made his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. The place they had just walked into was anything but a room. Draco looked up at the ceiling, mouth opening slightly as a cloud flitted over head. He blinked twice as he realized the ceiling had been enchanted to mirror the sky. Emeraled green grass grew alongside a paved pathway winding its way into what seemed to to be a village with charming little houses arranged in rows. Hills loomed over the horizon and trees swayed in the distance as a light breeze blew.
Of course the houses looked more like little cottages with quaint portraits adorning their fronts instead of doors. Hermione's mouth hung open in a very unladylike fashion as she looked upon a lamppost nearly grown over with ivy. She had never before seen any enchantments like this!
"Oh my," she finally managed to mumble out as her eyes raked over the place.
"You got that right Granger," Draco stuck his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat, "Blimey, this is really something! The minister has really outdone himself this time." He said as he ran a slender hand through his blonde hair. Turning to face his partner he grunted, "So what's our…address?"
Hermione looked at the piece of parchment in her hand, "Seventeen Phoenix lane…Oh look!" She pointed to the map with a finger, jabbing Malfoy in the gut with her elbow. "The parchment turned into a map! Look!" She grinned, "Here we are and our house it right….here!" She tapped the spot where a house was marked. It was four blocks away from where they were standing. Without wasting another minute, the two began to walk towards their cottage. Glancing at the map, Hermione chuckled.
Annoyed, Draco squeezed the bridge of his nose, "What now, mudblood?"
Rolling her eyes at him, Hermione explained, "There are names popping up above houses as we speak. The house next to ours is occupied by Blaise and Parvati. The one directly in front of ours is occupied by Harry and Lavender and the one diagonal from ours is occupied by Ron and…Pansy. "
Draco suddenly stopped short and turned around, "Pansy is living on our lane?" Hermione watched as Draco's shoulders tensed, his face coloring angrily. "God, that bitch won't give me a minute's rest!" Growling he kicked a pebble into the brush and stormed off in the direction of their cottage. Hermione sighed, tucking the map into her robe pocket before stepping in stride with Draco.
"I don't see what's wrong with Pansy living next to us," Hermione said.
Draco stopped abruptly yet again and turned to glare at the bookish female. "She is the most clingiest girl I have ever met! I mean, I know I'm attractive and hard to resist but that doesn't mean I want her hanging on me every hour of the blasted day!" He grumbled, " She is a good shag but that's about it," he concluded as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
"Don't give yourself so much credit, Malfoy." Hermione glowered, "She's practically the only girl who will shag you." Smiling triumphantly, Hermione watched as Draco whirled around wand in hand. Grinning smugly, she motioned to her already drawn wand.
"Granger, I have shagged nearly every girl in our year, half the girls in sixth year and some of the fifth years. Heck I even shagged the Weasley." He blinked twice, "I only found out it was her in the morning when I awoke with a massive headache. That's what comes from drinking to much fire whiskey." Draco inwardly grinned as he watched the clear display of emotions running plainly over the witch's face. She was definitely going to hex him.
Only problem was...she couldn't pick which hex to use. Sighing, Hermione shook her head and decided to put her wand away. Looking squarely at the blonde devil she turned around and began walking away, "Ferret, grow up."
When they reached their cottage Hermione smiled widely. There was a quaint little garden in the front with flowers growing all around. Roses wound themselves over the white washed fence surrounding their little abode. Tulips were in full bloom beside the windowsill, dancing in the morning breeze. A portrait of a cute little girl and boy sitting on a bench holding hands greeted them, "Password?" They asked together.
"Daedafue." Hermione and Draco said in unison and the portrait swung open revealing the cottage interior.
Hermione squealed in delight when she walked into the living room. There were shelves and shelves of books, a couch in the middle facing a fire place and a rich cream carpet adorning the floor. The walls were painted a heavy champagne with white roses stenciled into them. Hermione quickly bounced into the next room which was a little kitchenette equipped with cabinets and an oven with a small table standing in the corner. The floor was made of polished wood and walls were painted a beautiful shade of caribbean blue.
"This is so lovely," Hermione cooed as she picked up a book called Raising a Magical Baby. Draco internally groaned, what was it with females and babies?
Together they accessed the bathroom which had a tiled stone floor with a big tub sporting a shower head. One sink sat against a wall, a large framed mirror hanging above it. Hermione admired the mermaid mural on the wall above the hot tub while Draco examined the white porcelain toilet, pushing down the handle to make sure it worked. When they were done analyzing, the two of them walked out of the bathroom and approached the final door. Taking a deep breath Hermione walked in first, only to scream at the top of her lungs a split second later. Draco glanced over her shoulder only to start swearing colorfully.
There was only one bed.
Just then a voice rung out across the room.
This is a recording activated by the opening of this door. As you can see there is only one bed. The minister of magic found that it was necessary to have only one bed when raising a child. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape argued this point with him but he would not be swayed. So I'm sorry to say there is nothing that can be done to this arrangement, however if we hear that students have been participating in unruly behavior, they will be put in detention with Professor Snape for three weeks as well as have an owl sent home to their parents. I wish you luck and I bide you adieu.
Dumbledore's voice faded and Hermione and Draco stared wide eyed. Faces still in shock at sight of the giant king sized bed. Draco cast a quick glance at Hermione, who was still staring at the bed. A crazy thought ran through his head and he looked at her curiously.
"Granger, are you a virgin?" Her eyes quickly darted to Draco who was standing in the room with his arms crossed, face unreadable.
She blanched, "Why would you want to know, and why would you care?"
"Just curious," He smirked, eyes twinkling evilly.
"For your information," Hermione drew herself to her full height, "I am a virgin and would like to remain one until I find the right person," she stated.
He chuckled to himself, a lock of blonde hair falling into his face. Just then the clock on the wall struck eleven. Both students glanced at the clock and Hermione's hand tightened around the glass vial.
"In half an hour I'm going to be pregnant with your baby," Hermione said distastefully.
Draco scowled, "It's not like I want you to be the mother of my kid. Remember, this is a project and I hate it just as much as you." He stopped suddenly and turned to stare at her for a minute, "You know what's scary?"
She shook her head.
"That I might actually fail this project." Hermione's heart sunk.
"Why would you say that?" She asked cautiously.
He sighed, "I don't know how to handle kids. My father was never the kind to be very emotionally attached. I don't really know what to do," he collapsed onto the bed with a loud sigh. "I could brew the hardest potion, transfigure a ten foot tower, cast a complicated charm, but I don't know what to do with…a baby."
Hermione felt her heart lurch. Everyone had learned that Draco's father hadn't been the best of parents. Rumor had it that the elder Malfoy had beaten his son when he either disobeyed or didn't learn his lessons fast enough. They knew what kind of screwed up life he led…well the Order did. None of the other students knew.
"It's alright Malfoy. I know what to do and I'll help you learn. Besides we have three or even fours months before the baby comes and I'll be the one carrying it inside me anyway...for the most part." She tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear, "We could start working on your socializing skills," Quickly she placed the vial and the piece of parchment on a nearby table and plopped down on the bed beside him, crossing her legs. "Okay first off you have to be nicer to people, starting with me."
He looked at her and quirked an eyebrow mockingly, "Granger, that's almost impossible. You and I can't even have a civil conversation."
She smiled, "We just did," he looked at her oddly and frowned, eyes meeting hers. "Okay."
"Alright then," She cleared her throat, "From now on you can't make fun of me and you have to address me as Hermione not Granger, bookworm, know it all or…mudblood."
He grumbled under his breath but nodded, "And you have to call me Draco then instead of Malfoy, git, prat and my favorite...ferret," she bit her lip, trying to cover the small smile trying to work its way onto her face and nodded.
"Okay that's progress already," She grinned up at him and patted Malfoy on the shoulder causing the blonde to wince. "What?" She asked bouncing in her seat.
"You're shaking the bed, ido- I uh mean Herm-Hermione," he struggled with his words.
"Sorry," she blushed and looked at the clock, "Well we have ten minutes before I have to drink that vile stuff so, what do you want to do?"
Draco thought for a minute, "Well what I would normally do when I have ten minutes to spare is shag a girl," Hermione paled, "But since I'm going to be here with you I guess I have to strike that idea off the list." She nodded her head vigorously. Draco scratched his chin, "Well then I guess we could look at our due dates for this blasted assignment."
Hermione nodded and reached for the parchment she had put on the table along with the glass vial. "All right, first we have to begin decorating the nursery since it's the first thing that's going to be checked. Then when I'm pregnant it says we have to take an hour each day to sit and talk to the baby."
Draco stopped her, "Wait, how do we do that?"
Hermione shrugged her shoulders, "I guess we just talk about the baby while talking to my stomach. Also, we'll be finding out the gender of the baby in four days." Hermione glanced at the clock and swallowed, "I have three minutes left," she reached for the vial and uncorked it nervously. "Imagine, I'll be pregnant without having to have had sex just like Virgin Mary," she laughed to herself.
Draco kept staring at the clock. Just one more minute left to go and Hermione would be carrying his child.
30 seconds
Hermione looked at Draco.
15 seconds
Draco looked at Hermione.
10 seconds
She gripped the vial tightly.
5 seconds
She brought it to her lips.
1 second
As soon as the minute hand struck twelve, Hermione downed the potion. Almost instantly she began choking and gagging, falling to the bed her body began to convulse, back arching up off the mattress. Draco jumped off the bed and moved away, silently watching as Hermione's body levitated into the air. Slowly her midsection began to glow with a golden yellow light. The ends of her hair hit the ceiling as Draco squinted, the yellow light growing brighter. Finally, Hermione's body began to descend, coming to rest on the feathery bed. As soon as the light went out, Hermione shot straight up in her seat, eyes wide and neck dripping with sweat. "I'm pregnant," she said before bounding off the bed and running to the bathroom.
Seconds later Draco heard her heaving.
Well how was that? I hope you guys liked it! Please review!
Smartcat
