Train Journey

Beg Note: Thanks to my reviewers Robyn Hawkes, bigmommak, pstibbons, MagicalRain, nmyphadora, also I would like to say to my anonymous reviewer as I could not reply back the them, that I didn't rush last chapter, it was originally apart of the chapter before so it had already been written. I skipped bits like Draco sending the letter because it dragged on, so I cut it out, it will be touched on in this chapter. And Creevey isn't the only person in the school with a camera, it's just Draco doesn't have one andhe secretly likes Collin, who doesn't tell Ginny because Draco bargained with him. Anyways, that's enough explaining, because you're supposed to read to find out.

--

'Where was he?' Hermione thought evilly, the next time she got her hands on that boy, there would be hell to pay. He probably knew what she was thinking; he was keeping his distance.

"Hermione, how are you feeling today?" the matron asked kindly.

"I'm fine," Hermione smiled.

"That's good to hear, we've decided to keep you in the hospital wing until the end of term, is that okay, you can still go to lessons, but we want to watch both you and the baby's progress, encase there was hidden complications.

Hermione's smile wavered for a moment, "Is there something wrong?" She asked worriedly.

"No, it's just a precaution, everything should be okay,"

Hermione nodded but she didn't feel reassured.

--Malfoy Manor--

Lucius was furious; he thought he had brought up Draco better. Obviously not, no, it was his wife's coddling, which had made the boy turn out wrong.

"Lucius, you've not been yourself," said a timid voice from the doorway. Lucius didn't even turn to look up, he couldn't face her at the moment, okay he had agreed at the school but that was because he was about to loose his cool and that was something a Malfoy didn't do.

"Darling, why don't you tell me what you're thinking," Narcissa suggested as she moved closer to her temperamental husband.

"You know very well what I'm thinking," was the cold reply. Narcissa was stumped for a second but then recovered herself.

"Are you going to say that you are not pleased with what your son did?"

"You can not be please with it,"

"Oh but I am, I was worried that…" Narcissa stopped; she daren't go on and talk about things she didn't know fully about.

"What could be more worrying then our predicament?"

"Well don't you remember what happened at the world cup?"

"Yes, Ireland won and we had a big celebration afterwards. And somehow those, weasels, managed to weasel themselves into the top box, the game would have been more pleasant if that family hadn't stunk it up. What has this to do with Draco?"

"You're forcing it out of me. I mean, who sent up the dark mark?" she queried.

Lucius had a feeling she would say something along the lines. He wondered as well but as soon as the thought surfaced in his mind he pushed them away. He knew as well as she did that it could not have been any of the death eaters in the group levitating muggles, none of them had been faithful enough to go to prison for him or go look for him. but whenever he thought this he forced himself to think that it was a good thing whatever the truth, also his dark mark had been getting darker all year, it had been quite worrying, the dark lord wasn't very forgiving, and he had lost the diary that was entrusted to him, he also tried to turn these thoughts into reassurance, the dark lord was merciful after all.

"We have gone through this before, we don't know who sent up the dark mark, but it doesn't matter, we will not go through this again." He said firmly.

"Don't you want to know what I think," Narcissa burst out desperately.

"No because I already know what you think and there is now way…"

"I may not have a dark mark but I have seen yours, don't think that you have hidden the fact that it is getting darker." Narcissa burst out her voice intensifying.

--

Draco had still not come back, 'I'll see you in potions' she thought as she made her way up to Gryffindor tower. She needed to get her school robes and books.

Hermione pushed open the door to her dorm to find it empty; the girls must have gone down to breakfast already. She was running late because Darius wouldn't stop crying, Madam Promfrey had said it was okay, but she had wanted to quieten him herself.

Hermione quickly dressed and grabbed her books, and then tired and hungry she made her way down to the hall. Without thinking she sat down next to Ron who was opposite Harry, it wasn't the nicest of welcomes back to lessons. Trying to ignore the coldness she could feel from them she began to fill her plate.

The three walked up to their first lesson in silence. "Are you two just going to ignore me all day?"

Ron kept walking, but Harry stopped and pulled Hermione to a halt too. "We don't think it's the right time to talk to you,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked outraged.

"No, nothing like that, we just want to see…"

"Him, his name's Darius, if you wanted to see him so much why didn't you come to visit?"

"Ginny said something outrageous," Harry said uneasily.

"You two are supposed to be my best friends, you should have come to see me no matter what Ginny said,"

"I know, but you know how Ron gets, we're coming tonight though, so it will be all fine then."

'I doubt it' Hermione thought but she didn't want to be late for lesson so she carried on down the hallway.

--

It was lunchtime so Hermione made her way down to the hospital wing to check up on Darius. Draco was there. "Here you are?"

"Why are you sounding so surprised? My girl and my baby are here, where should I be?"

"Actually I just turned up, you were trying to see him without seeing me, I bet you thought I would go and eat first."

He looked around trying to change the subject, "When is he going to wake up?"

"Babies sleep sixteen hours a day you know," Hermione lectured. Then she changed her tone, "Draco, why didn't you tell me you were telling your parents?"

"I didn't want you to worry,"

"Of course you didn't," Hermione scoffed quietly.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, come Draco, what if they didn't react favourably, you know how much trouble that could have caused."

"But no trouble was cause, so it's all fine,"

"What were you thinking, God, I can't tell what your thinking anymore!" Hermione exclaimed perturbed.

"God?" Draco asked perplexed.

Hermione was about to make a reply when Harry and Ron chose that moment to enter. They stopped as what they saw took a moment to process in their brains.

"It's true then?" Harry said in a half whisper.

"What's true?" Hermione ask peeved, although an idea occurred to her, a way to give no excuse for Ron and Harry to not co-operate.

"Ginny said she saw you and Malfoy going to the hospital wing, and she says that it explains why he wanted to get into Gryffindor tower last month,"

"He wanted to get into Gryffindor tower, why?" Hermione asked surprised, momentary forgetting what she was going to say.

"Don't play innocent, that baby is a replica of him!" Ron burst out.

"Ron! And Harry too! He told his parents and they accepted me, if you two don't then you are worse than they are." Hermione felt good, she couldn't be bothered to fight with her two best friends and they was no way they could find an excuse to be angry now. Not that they wouldn't be angry, she knew they were acting calmer then what they felt.

"Your lying, they wouldn't!" Ron said dumbfounded.

"Oh but weasel, they did," Draco said smirking, Harry and Ron started, they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

Ron began twitching, he could not accept any of this and at the moment he had a strong urge to punch this boy in the face.

Harry was perplexed; all he knew about the Malfoys had just fallen on its head. This could not be happening. It just didn't make any sense.

"Did you think that the evil Malfoys were going to leave Granger in the dirt with a baby, so you could pick up the pieces?"

Ron hated the fact that ever since Ginny had told them, that had been exactly what he had been thinking, wasn't that suppose to happen?

--

Easter was in a week and Hermione was going home for the holidays, she thanked God that Madam Promfrey hadn't found fault about it. The way the matron had been acting since the birth was as if the there was something wrong with the baby, like he needed extra care, he was quite small, only 5½lb's but many babies were small.

She had another worry that had been troubling her since the birth. She still hadn't started producing milk yet, Promfrey said that it sometimes takes a few days for milk production to start and it would be delayed if the mother was stressed so Hermione tried her best not to be worried and stay calm. Even so, thoughts nagged at her saying 'failure, you can't even produce milk for you own baby'. She didn't want to tell anyone these thoughts but sometimes she just felt like crying at it all.

About Wednesday night Hermione awoke, her nipple felt a little wet and itchy, she was surprised, had she began producing milk, she had calmed down quite a bit, only this evening, Draco had relented and told her why he had told his parents. Hermione sort of understood his reasoning and was surprised with his logic, Draco seemed to be embarrassed about having a connection with the baby, apparently that was a mother's thing. To get away from her teasing he told her about the Creevey boy in year below to distract her.

Hermione wouldn't have thought those two would get on but apparently, they were in a little business deal from last year. Draco didn't go into details about the deal but it seamed that Colin owed him a favour.

Anyways that night she hadn't been worrying about been a bad mother for the first time since Darius was born and now this. She got up and used the apparatus to get as much milk as she could into the bottle. They were sort of like the muggle equivalent but the pump didn't have to be attached to the bottle, it sort of reminded Hermione of vanishing glass.

In the morning Hermione gladly told the matron what she had achieved and the matron was happy to give the milk as soon as the baby woke.

"It's a good start," Promfrey said emphatically, "I will give him this and then some solution, because this isn't enough for a whole meal so don't feel ashamed to leave lesson if you begin to leak again.

"I suggest you go down to breakfast, it's a good time to eat things to produce good quality milk, even if it's a little it will be beneficial, as it's full of antibodies unlike solution that's why we encourage mothers to breastfeed, even with potions as advanced as ever, nothing beats antibodies designed for the purpose to help the baby grow strong."

Hermione was startled, she didn't know that breast milk was so important for a baby, "Why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked curiously.

"I didn't want you to worry, that would have made it even harder to produce any if you felt like you were endangering your baby in some sort of way"

Madam Promfrey stopped to survey Hermione then continued. "Also it's okay if a baby can't have breast milk, some women don't produce any and they still have healthy babies, it just more convenient to get the right antibodies for the child."

Hermione smiled, she felt so much better today, it was like a huge weight had lifted from her shoulders.

--

Darius had began to grow at alarming speed, not that he wasn't before but Hermione noticed more now, he had gained a few more pounds and Madam Promfrey was confident that he didn't have to be in the hospital wing anymore.

Hermione packed up her things and took them down to the horseless carriages with the help from Ron and Harry. They were one of the last to leave so she didn't have to confront the hoards of people that were also going home for the holidays. She said bye to Harry, who was staying like usual, and Ron, who was keeping him company. There friendship was more rocky than normal but it couldn't be helped.

"How come your getting on the train, can't you go some other way?" Ron enquired.

"No, I've told you before, that wouldn't be fair to the other students if I got privileges when I don't deserve them,"

"Who says you don't deserve them, you've been through a lot this year," Harry said.

"It doesn't matter, see you guys after the holidays," Hermione said before closing the door to her carriage. The carriage pulled off and she heard them call after her, instead she wondered what it would be like at Malfoy manor.

At Hogsmead she boarded the train but it was a bit more difficult then expected, luckily Draco snuck up behind her, half frightened her to death before carrying her things so Hermione could carry Darius. They sat in a compartment together, "Where are your friends, I swear they all go home for the holidays,"

Draco seemed to have ignored her question, "Remember you're coming over to mine for a couple of days," Draco said sternly, as if he didn't trust her to keep her end of the bargain.

Hermione groaned, she had agreed so she could find out the workings of his mind and she still didn't know how it worked so she shouldn't be tied to her end of the deal. Right? Wrong, Draco wasn't letting her off the hook so easily, "You promised you would come so you have to." He whined, well he said it normally but Hermione knew it was a whine.

Hermione was hesitant about going to Malfoy manor, what if there were traps that stopped her from ever escaping in one piece. She screwed her face up at the thought.

"I don't see why I have to come, I mean I…"

"My parents want to see Darius, and I'm sure you won't let go of him so easily, so you have to come as well." Draco said patronisingly.

"Oh, so they don't want to see me," Hermione sulked, she didn't know why she felt her heart sink but it felt as if she would never be accepted.

"Of course they want to see you too," Draco said in a voice Hermione couldn't quite believe.

The journey became relatively silent save for a few outbursts from Darius. It seemed like the two were thinking desperately about what would come.

Both were so confused, Draco more so, he had spent months denying what was right in front of him. He could still go denying it if he wanted, Hermione couldn't do anything about it, even if she went and told the newspapers, he parents were too rich and influential to be ruined with her scandal. But he didn't want to, he didn't know why, it was more difficult this way, more complicated for him, had Hermione known that he couldn't turn his back forever?

He doubted it, he had seen how hassled she had been all through the year but she coped and didn't once betray he immoral demand. Why had she done that, if he were in her position he wouldn't have. He would have tried to cause himself the most amount of pain as possible.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" he suddenly asked. He was hating this part of himself, the part that couldn't shut up and couldn't keep the thoughts locked inside his head. Soon it would be his undoing.

Hermione looked up tiredly, she had been dozing. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Draco said quickly.

"Wrong answer," Hermione said suddenly more awake, Draco was shocked because all the tiredness seemed to have left the girl in a moment.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked timidly.

"I mean that whenever you say that, it's always a cover for something important you were thinking but are just to proud to say."

"No it's fine," Draco couldn't take Hermione in foreboding mode, "Fine, I just wanted to know why you never told anyone about me?" 'Draco, you couldn't keep your mouth shut, she's not that intimidating!'

End Note: I'm going to murder this computer! It deleted my chapter, again! Okay not all of it but still it's annoying. Ha ha, I will leave it there. This chapter was so different to how I planned it. I really don't have anything to say so I'm going to go and I've finished my exams! Sorry for the long wait I had this chapter written but then I got extra busy with my job and going back to school but hopefully the next chapter should be out sooner.