A/N: Thanks Nauf 4 da support ( see I wrote ur name here just like u asked). And make sure no one takes Jake. And… Draco is MINE! And mawii, cookie, jeje, and Sarah alk, '3aloosh, Hayat, aya, neena7, Lulu, Lama and Maria. Your support means the world. And silidons and the-recurring-dreams (did I get your name right?) for faithfully reviewing this story from its creation.

Chapter Four

"Her…Hermione?!" Draco croaked, stunned and barely able to get the words out of his mouth. His brain couldn't digest the facts.

Oh bloody hell! Shit! Am I dreaming?! Wait, she's in St. Mungo's, isn't she? For pregnancy tests or something. Of all the bloody rooms he could have blundered into, why did it have to be Hermione's? He ruffled his hair in frustration. It's all that nurse's fault. You idiot. No it wasn't. It's your fault not his. You must've messed up in the directions. You didn't even check the room's number, you were so bloody nervous. There wasn't any security there too.

Wow, she looks beautiful. The faint moonlight was falling on her face and illuminating her eyes. For a moment they glistened. But when he crept closer, the moment was gone. Her eyes were dead and dull, and he noticed dark circles under her eyes, and the tear stains on her cheeks. He wanted to hug her, comfort her, to be the one who swept all her troubles away. He barely caught himself from running to her. Silence overcame the room, and it felt like hours, years maybe passed by while they were just staring at each other. He watched as a single tear ran down her cheek. What was wrong? His hand came up and brushed the tear away, as if it had a mind of its own. He felt like a jolt had passed through his arm. Draco hadn't been this close to Hermione for more than a year. Oh, how he missed her! But she seemed so…lifeless.

She had known who he was as soon as he opened the door. The moment he walked in, the faint moonlight that Hermione had agreed to be let in her room, had reflected off his pale tousled hair. What was he doing here? The minute she woke up, she had made Ginny promise not to tell him, or anyone for that matter. Harry couldn't have told him either, because she had made him swear on his father's Invisibility Cloak too. Only Mrs.Weasley. Tonks, Harry, Ron, and Ginny knew. Why hadn't she wanted anyone to know? Because I don't want their pity. Hermione thought bitterly. Especially his pity. He must have found someway. Harry had said something about Draco knowing sooner or later because of …Oh, I don't care. Her brain hurt every time she tried to think.

She watched him as he uttered her name in disbelief, as if he'd walked in the wrong room. She watched him ruffle his hair, like he did whenever he was frustrated. No one spoke. They just sat there gazing at each other in this weird silence. Oh, how she needed him! She had needed him so much this past year that it had nearly killed her inside. At one point, covering the bruises and cuts, putting a happy face in front of everyone became so much, she nearly took her father's Muggle prescription pills to leave this world all together. Imagine, Hermione Granger, Gryffindor know-it-all, the strongest witch Hogwarts ever knew, was contemplating suicide. She didn't even know why she stayed with him, made excuses for him, to herself and everyone else. Then she remembered the life inside her, and decided to live after all. She decided to be strong for this soul, and convinced herself that this baby would make everything right again. Now that little soul has stopped beating its tiny heart, and Hermione's world crumbled beneath her. Its loss had made Hermione join the living dead. No one had told her, they hadn't dared because of Hermione's frail condition, both emotionally and physically. But Hermione knew, like only a mother knows, that the being she had lovingly carried around for five months, had died on that fateful night. The night he had told her, for the first time, the truth. The night she had confronted him; the night he had stabbed her to her death. Yes, to outsiders she was alive. But inside? You could have buried her 6 feet under and she wouldn't have cared. That night, her soul had died.

A single tear trailed its path down her cheek. She had no more tears to cry. Her reserve had given out at last.

She gasped inwardly as Draco suddenly brushed the tear off her face. Her heart leaped ever so slightly as she looked deep into his beautiful stormy gray eyes. The eyes she had once wanted to drown herself in. She wanted nothing more in this world than for him to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was alright. That it was just a nightmare and that she should wake up now. That she hadn't let her pride get in the way the day she ended up saying yes to Roger instead of Draco…

No, no! What was she thinking?! What would Draco want with her now after she had hurt him so horribly? She would never forget the look in his eyes when she told him…She shook her head unconsciously to chase out the thoughts. I don't care anymore, not now, not ever…

She was now so…lifeless.

Draco warily sat in the chair beside her bed, not removing his gaze from her eyes. He thought he saw something in them, but…no. They were as dull and dead as they were before. The absence of the spark in her brown eyes was weighing down on Draco's heart. It seemed as if Hermione had lived a nightmare. What was wrong?

"What's wrong Hermione?" Draco asked gently, without meaning to. He cringed; he had planned to say something completely different.

Something stirred deep inside Hermione when she heard him say her name so tenderly. The words she had promised to keep to herself came tumbling out.

"My baby's dead."

"What? Why? What happened?" Draco was stunned. Did he hear her incorrectly?

"Everything. I lost my child." She was talking in a cold, flat voice. "I lost my whole life."

"What? What are you on about?"

So he didn't know after all. Well, saying the words out loud won't make a difference. Nothing makes a difference anymore.

She turned her head and gazed at the stars outside the charmed window. She used to find them soothing, enchanting even. Why had she thought them so beautiful? They were just a cluster of annoying haphazard dots messing up the clear night sky. Nothing was enchanting anymore. Even reading books was boring now. Repeating the words wouldn't cause her no more pain then what she had already endured.

"I was stabbed. I was stabbed over and over again to the stomach. He said he didn't want a mudblood's baby. He said he was just using me to do what he wants. Everybody thinks I don't know, that I shouldn't be told. The idiots. My baby's dead." She repeated, in that same dead flat voice that pierced Draco's heart like a knife. His head was reeling from the shock. Stabbed…? Stomach? Idiots? Mudblood's…?? He couldn't piece the words together. Over and over again to the stomach…No, she can't be! "No!" Draco whispered, in hushed voice. "No! You're not…You can't be…" He shook his head in disbelief.

Suddenly realization dawned on him. Mudblood's baby.

"Roger? Roger did this to you?" The expression on his face was unreadable.

Something stirred inside Hermione; she felt her soul was ripping to two when she heard his name. She thought there was no more pain to be felt! But Draco, saying his name, had brought back all the memories of injustice and abuse. Suddenly her eyes threatened to spill new tears. Where did they come from? She thought they were gone. But she didn't want to cry. She just wanted to close her eyes and never open them again.

She closed her eyes and nodded.

There was a shuffling sound. Hermione opened her eyes to see Draco standing up. Something like disappointment, underneath all the pain and wounds, sparked, but a soon as it came it disappeared again.

Draco was seething inside. His heart and brain was ablaze with fury and pain; fury for everyone involved, and pain for Hermione's state. A million questions were flying in his brain; foremost of all was "Why didn't Harry fucking tell me??" He had stood up suddenly, energy coursing through his blood, every cell alert. He will get Roger if it was the last thing he did. He will die. I'm going to make him pay for fucking ounce of pain he caused Hermione. He wrote his own death sentence when he messed with her!

"Where's Harry?" Draco demanded.

"I don't know. I think he had something important with Ginny." Hermione listlessly answered.

He practically ran to the door. "I'll come back soon. I promise. I just have to go murder Harry first." He called over his shoulder.

"Why? Oh no don't, I made him promise not to tell anyone." Hermione said in a weak voice.

He was outside the room by then. She didn't know if he heard her.

Draco sprinted down the corridor; ignoring the protests of the nurse, who was still in the storage for some reason. He ran all the way to the hallway of fireplaces. He went into the nearest one, threw some Floo powder, and stepped inside while clearly saying, "Godric's Hollow."

Harry was in deep, deep trouble.

A/N: OMG! Hermione, thinking reading books is boring?! She must be seriously messed up! Poor thing. Here's the long awaited chapie 4. Sorry for the lack of dialogue. You guys don't know what I went through to put this chapie from my head onto paper. I rewrote it so many times I can recite it by heart now! It's just that the fic is based on this chapter, and it's so emotional and important that I was scared I messed it up. You can ask Nauf how the first draft was, (right dude?) Your comments are all welcome. Oh yeah one more thing. I know that I said Hermione was pregnant for 3 months in the earlier chapters, but it was just the guys getting it all mixed up since they don't understand the 1st thing about pregnancy.:P Cheers, I hope you enjoy the chapie!