Chapter 8

Draco didn't know what was going on with Hermione, but something was certainly off. She was eating better, gaining the weight she'd lost back, but she was quieter than normal and more distant. They still slept in the same bed every night, still made love, but things were different and it was bothering him.

It had been a month and a half since she'd been to see Madam Pomfrey and she had since stopped having late nights. But she still avoided the Great Hall for most meals, especially breakfast. He'd tried to question her about it, but she avoided his questions. Tonight they were meeting up in the secret dungeon room for dinner.

Hermione seemed nervous about it, but Draco hadn't a clue why. He glanced over at her now, as they were sitting in their last class of the week and she was taking notes, paying more attention than he was. She must have felt him staring, because she looked over and smiled softly at him before turning her attention back to her notes.

When the class was dismissed, Hermione started to pack her bag up. "I'll see you in two hours, okay?"

Draco nodded, a little saddened that he'd be getting himself ready in Theo's bedroom yet again. He'd wanted to spend the time with Hermione, to try and get her out of whatever funk she was in. But Hermione had made him promise that he'd stay with Theo until they met up in the dungeon room.

Before she could turn away, he caught her chin, tilting her head up for a kiss. She met his lips willingly, her eyes closing as her arm slipped around his neck. He could feel the swirling emotions behind the kiss and it gave him mixed emotions, but he could still feel the electricity there. "I'll see you soon."

He watched as she left, taking a deep, steadying breath. When she was gone, he proceeded to the eighth-year dorms, letting himself in with the password. He knocked on Theo's door and was let in by his friend, who frowned at the worry lines etched on the blond's face. "Mate, you look terrible."

Theo stepped aside and Draco moved into his room, pacing the small space. "What if she decides I'm not what she wanted and that's what this is about?"

He could feel those cerulean eyes on him as he moved back and forth. "Mate, I doubt she'd go through all this trouble just to break up with you. Plus, you're still sleeping together, right?" At Draco's nod, he continued, "So, that isn't what's happening. Just try to relax, take a few shots of firewhiskey and a nice hot shower."

Theo moved over to a bureau, his back to Draco and poured up two tumblers of firewhiskey, bringing them both over to his friend. "Here, drink up." As Draco downed first one, then the other, the flavor of the firewhiskey hid the dose of calming draught his friend had dropped into one of them.

"Now, go and take that shower, mate, and just calm yourself down. You don't want to work yourself up over nothing." Theo shoved him toward the ensuite bathroom and Draco stumbled in, undressing himself and stepping into the shower once the water had warmed up.

XxX

Hermione stood in front of her wardrobe, staring at the selecting of clothing in front of her. She had been trying to decide what to wear for an hour already. Her eyes left the items of clothing on the hangers and turned to the full-length mirror to her right, then dropped to her flat stomach.

She was seeing Madam Pomfrey weekly for right now, just to keep her nausea and appetite under control. Madam Pomfrey had also done a couple of more spells and now Hermione knew her due date. The baby would be here around the end of May and she was 10 weeks pregnant, only barely starting to show.

Draco had noticed that she'd put on weight, but he'd just chalked it up to her gaining the weight back that she'd lost. And she had gained it back, plus about eight more pounds. She ran her hand over the small little bump, watching in the mirror. She was nervous as hell about tonight. She was finally going to tell Draco her secret. She had decided on the dungeon room where they had made love and conceived their little miracle.

For that's what this baby was, a miracle. It had been conceived even though she had taken precautions against exactly that. In the spirit of that night, Hermione pulled out the blue dress once again. She had thirty minutes to get down to the dungeon, so she pulled on the dress and slid into a pair of flats this time.

Her makeup and hair already done, she left her room and the dormitory, pausing to turn and look back at the portrait. It truly changed to reflect the inhabitants, and Draco had been right. The peacock represented him, the golden color represented her, and now, the egg in the nest just to the side of the elegant bird represented their unborn child.

With tears welling in her eyes, she turned away and made her way to the dungeons, past the Slytherin dorms, leaning into the bust of Salazar Slytherin and whispering into his ear, "Bowtruckle."

The stone door slid back and she stepped through the black shroud into the dimly lit room. Draco was standing in front of the fire, facing its flames, his hands in his pockets. She smiled a small smile. He, too, had chosen to wear the same outfit as the first night. "Hello, Draco."

He turned to smile at her, "Hello, love. You still look stunning in that dress." He walked over to her and leaned down to kiss her tenderly. She rested her hands on his chest and kissed him back. She intended on waiting until after they ate to tell him, but her stomach was too knotted to be able to eat anything.

"And that color blue brings out your eyes and makes you even more handsome." Her hands came up to stroke his face for a moment before she sat down on the couch. He joined her, his body turned towards her with a smile. "Are you not ready to eat yet?"

Hermione shook her head with a smile, "No, not yet. My stomach is in knots. I've got something to tell you, Draco." She watched as a frown broke through his calm facade, and she grabbed his hands and squeezed them. "Firstly, you are so very important to me and it still baffles me how quickly I've become so attached to you."

She released his hands and pulled a set of pictures from a pocket she'd added to the dress. Last weekend, she'd went to visit her parents alone, and while visiting, she went to see a Muggle doctor. She'd wanted a second opinion, even though she'd known that Madam Pomfrey was right. She'd also wanted Draco to have visual proof, something he could see with his eyes.

Hermione hoped that it would ease the shock and the hurdles before them now. Taking a deep breath, she handed him the pictures, knowing he wouldn't know what they were and would ask questions. Sure enough, after a few moments of silence and looking at the five pictures, he turned to her and asked, "What is this?"

Another steadying breath and Hermione began to speak, "Our night in this room was beyond amazing and beautiful. It was something I never expected to happen and I would never take it back. You have made my life so much better the last three months and I know that I have been distant the last few weeks. I've just had a lot on my mind. We both know, from working on that contraception potion, how difficult they can be.

"It can be very easy for a batch to go bad, or a bad ingredient to get thrown in. You know how faithful I am with my own contraceptive potions, you've watched me take them every day. Except for the last five weeks." At his confused look, Hermione smiled softly and nodded.

"I know, you thought you saw me taking them. In reality, it was a similarly colored potion that helps with nausea and my appetite. Draco, one of my contraceptive potions failed on our first night together. It was a bad batch, I guess, because I took it that morning at seven exactly, just as I always do."

She paused, her eyes on the blonde sitting next to her, his eyes searching her face before returning to the pictures in his hand. "What are you-are you saying that-are you pregnant? Is this some kind of Muggle picture of a baby?"

The shock was evident in his tone, but she couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She swallowed around the lump in her throat as she looked down at the picture in his slender fingers. The glossy paper was shaking, as his hand and body were trembling. She could feel the vibrations through the couch.

"Yes, I am pregnant. Those are pictures of our baby." Hermione swallowed again, the urge to vomit sliding up her throat and she choked it down, swallowing over and over quickly. She still couldn't gauge his reaction and it scared her. Especially as he went silent and the sound of the silence stretched out and rang in her ears as loud as a cannon.

She couldn't hold it back anymore, she transfigured the nearest pillow into a rubbish bin and bent over it, vomiting right into it, her stomach heaving.

XxX

The retching next to him jerked him out of his surprised shock, he grabbed Hermione's hair quickly, pulling it away from her face and rubbed her back, frowning deeply. Another round of vomiting overtook her and he felt terrible that he didn't know what to do.

A few minutes later, she recovered, collapsing back into the couch. He summoned a napkin from the table and wiped the sweat away from her brow, then wiped her mouth gently. "You're really carrying our baby?"

She nodded with her eyes closed and the incandescent joy he'd just started to feel when she'd started vomiting returned. His lips spread into a wide smile, his gaze returning to the pictures he'd laid on the couch. "Can you tell me what I'm looking at here? It just looks like some kind of bean with two little twigs or something sticking up."

He turned to look at Hermione and the smile that lit up her face took his breath away. It was as if all her worries had melted away and he immediately knew why she had been so distant lately. She had been scared of his reaction. He relaxed back into the couch next to her, maneuvering his arm under her head and pulling her close to him.

She moved to snuggle into his side, her hand coming up, finger moving to lovingly caress the picture. "I guess you're right, our little miracle does look a little like a bean." Her slender finger moved over the right end of the bean, tracing the biggest bulbous end. "This right here is the baby's head. So this little twig, as you called it, is an arm and the other is a leg. And this end is its little bum."

Draco's vision began to get wavy as he looked at each picture, all from different angles, but kept coming back to the profile. He couldn't believe that this was real, but he was beyond happy. He sat up, looking down at Hermione, reaching up to cradle her face. "Thank you so very much for this beautiful gift. This is beyond my wildest dreams and I couldn't think of a better woman to mother my children. And I want you to know that I love you, Hermione, with all that I am. And this is sudden and I don't have a ring, but-"

He slipped from the couch and got down onto one knee, taking her hands into his. "I can't imagine my life without you. I really can't. Especially not now. Not to mention, my mum would kill me if I didn't do the right thing. Not only is this the right thing, but this is what I've seen as my future for the last month. Hermione Jean Granger, we're doing this all backwards, but will you marry me?"

XxX

She couldn't help it, she'd started to tear up the moment he'd asked her to describe what he was looking at. When he thanked her for giving him the gift of their child, the tears began to slip free. Then came his proclamation of love and the tears got bigger, by the time he launched into his proposal, she was full out sobbing.

When the question slipped from his lips, she was so humbled and awed that she was having trouble breathing. She pulled her trembling bottom lip between her teeth as she pulled her hands from his and placed them on his face. She took a steadying breath and managed to speak clearly through the sobs. "I would be honored to be your wife."

Draco lunged forward and covered Hermione's lips with his own and she kissed him back with fervor, her arms sliding around his neck. After a few minutes, they broke apart and she smiled at him, her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck. "And I love you, too."

She watched as he sat back on his heels, his hands moving to rest on her hips, a wide grin spreading across his lips. "What?" Hermione asked, grinning back.

One of his large hands moved, fingers splayed out to rest on her lower stomach, "Our baby is in here." His grin was so infectious and adorable and Hermione nodded. "Yes, it's really tiny, about the size of a strawberry. It's also why I've been so tired, a little moody every now and then. Why I would only eat broth. Also why my breasts have seemed bigger and why my belly has a slight rounding to it."

His eyes were on her stomach, rubbing gently over the little swell and he grinned up at her for a moment. "I just can't believe it. I am so happy. When do we find out the sex? It'll probably be a boy, all Malfoy firstborns have been boys for the last century." She watched as he appeared to chew on the inside of his lip in thought.

"The muggle doctor said not until around eighteen weeks, but we could probably do the spell sooner. The muggle doctor does it with the pictures, though, like we have here, and you can hear the heartbeat. Actually, I asked Madam Pomfrey for a spell for that." Hermione grinned wide, pulling her wand from her hair, pointing it at her stomach and recited the spell.

After a moment, the rapid sound of the heartbeat filled the room, sounding like hummingbird wings, and she watched as Draco's facial expressions changed from happiness to awe, his eyes brimming with tears. The words leaving his lips sounded like a praise. "My little hummingbird." Hermione ran her free hand through his hair as he lowered his lips to her stomach, resting them there as the heartbeat continued to flutter around them.

As the spell wore off, Draco sat up and looked at her with bright eyes, smiling softly. "You said eighteen weeks, what are you at now?"

"I'm at a little over ten now." She smiled at him and gestured for him to join her back on the couch again. He obliged her and pulled her close. "When do you go back to that Muggle doctor? I want to go with you and watch them do their picture thing."

Hermione giggled softly, resting her head on his chest. "I am going back in two weeks. I will be entering my second trimester and they want to do their check up for that. But over Christmas break we will go to St. Mungo's and find a Healer. My due date is tentatively May 27th and I will have to Floo from here to there. Because I will finish my schooling."

She could feel Draco's chuckle vibrating under her ear, "Of course you will. We will have to go and talk to McGonagall, because I'm assuming you haven't told her yet." Hermione shook her head and sighed softly. "No, I haven't. I've only told you and Harry. But Professor McGonagall will need to be made aware, as will all of the other professors, so that when it comes time, they will understand. Professor McGonagall can add St. Mungo's to all the fireplaces."

"We also need to tell our parents. What about the wedding? Do you want to do that before or after the baby is born?" Draco asked and Hermione blew air into her cheeks before releasing it.

"Merlin, I didn't even think about that. I want to be married before the baby comes, so that he or she is born into a proper family. Perhaps we can do a small ceremony over Christmas? My family, yours and whatever friends we want to come?" Hermione began to chew on her bottom lip, thinking of all the things they would now need to do.

"My mum will throw a fit over a small ceremony, but if we let her plan it, I think that would appease her. Would you be willing to have it at the Manor?" He asked quietly, kissing the top of her head.

Hermione thought about it for a moment and nodded, "If we can have it in the library."

Draco barked out a laugh, but nodded against her head, "Deal. So, when do we inform our parents?" Hermione swallowed thickly, closing her eyes. "I suppose we can go to your parents next weekend and when we go for the muggle doctor the following weekend, we can stop by mine."

"Sounds like a plan, love." Draco said, rubbing her arm gently. Hermione's stomach let out a rumble and Draco sat up to grab the rubbish bin but she stopped him. "No, I'm not going to be sick again. I'm just finally hungry. I was so nervous that I couldn't eat and when I didn't know how you were going to react, the nausea overwhelmed me."

He set the bin down, pulling his wand free, casting a quick Scourgify on it and smiled over at her. "Well, let's go get my loves some food." He stood, holding his hand out for her. Hermione slid her hand in his and stood, walking with him to the table.

She'd gotten the house elves to prepare some barely seasoned chicken, potatoes and the one weird craving she had, pickled radishes. She had never liked pickled radishes, but apparently, that was what the baby wanted. Draco's nose turned up at the sight of them and she laughed, "I know, but get ready for some crazy cravings. This is just the beginning, apparently." He pulled out her chair, helping her to sit, before taking his own. "Let's just hope you don't crave anything too off the wall or I'll think you've gone off your rocker."

Hermione laughed loudly, her hand dropping to her stomach to rub it in gentle circles. "Get ready to think that, because there is also apparently such a thing as pregnancy brain, which makes you forget all kinds of things. I won't be your swotty little know-it-all for a little bit." His shocked silence had her laughing well into their dinner.

XxX

Hours later, Draco was holding Hermione in their bed, her back pressed against his chest as his hands rested on her stomach. There was nothing that could douse his happiness in this moment. He had never imagined his life taking this turn, but he wouldn't trade anything for it. He had everything he ever wanted right here in his arms.

No matter what anyone said in the coming months and years, Hermione was his forever. She and their child were the only things that mattered to him. He kissed her neck gently as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.