Chapter 9
"Well, it's happened," Hermione groaned from the breakfast table after taking a quick glimpse at the front page of the Daily Prophet. She was holding a bottle to Scorpius' mouth idly while Draco was brewing tea in the kitchen.
"What has?" he asked, turning to her in confusion. He had a meeting later that day, but plenty of time to sit with his family for a little while.
"The speculation."
Draco looked over and was appalled to see a photo of him gripping a pale faced, obviously unconscious Hermione in his arms while he screamed at a Healer, the tendons in his next standing out with his ire.
"What does it say?" Draco asked, carrying her a mug of tea and setting it down beside the newspaper. Hermione spread the pages open so her and Draco were able to read the story simultaneously.
"Healing or Howling?
Outrageous Behaviour at St. Mungo's Hospital
Rita Skeeter, daily correspondent
Shocking events at St. Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries on Thursday last left several families shaken and perturbed. Your faithful correspondent has the whole scoop.
Hermione Granger, 24, war heroine, Order of Merlin First Class, was practically dragged into the hospital by notorious former Death Eater Draco Malfoy, 23, of Wiltshire. Readers will remember that the heir to the Malfoy fortune participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, nearly causing the death of the Boy Who Lived with recklessly cast Fiendfyre that destroyed a historic chamber of the castle. No one knows why the alleged couple were at the hospital, nor why the brilliant Miss Granger was in such questionable company. It was clear that Miss Granger had suffered some sort of accident – hardly surprising given her choice of companion. Healers at St. Mungo's have refused to answer questions about Miss Granger's condition, or the allegations of abuse by Mr. Malfoy. While Mr. Malfoy has not been charged with any crimes by Magical Law Enforcement and does of course enjoy the presumption of innocence, as head of the MLE was quite persistent in reminding your correspondent, such behavior does not seem outrageous given his past.
And what was Miss Granger doing in such company? She is, as our regular readers are quite aware, bosom friend to Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived (23, Order of Merlin First Class and a celebrated Auror for the Ministry of Magic). And bosom friend indeed, for readers will recall that a younger Miss Granger spent her years at Hogwarts toying with the Chosen Heart, playing with his feelings using not only international Quidditch star Viktor Krum, a fellow Seeker, but Mr. Potter's very best friend, Ronald Weasley, (23, Order of Merlin First Class and last year's second line Keeper for the Chudley Cannons). Perhaps lack of success led to drastic measures on Miss Granger's part, as Harry Potter is happily married and a wonderful father? Perhaps Miss Granger simply missed being in the spotlight and wished to garner the Wizarding World's attention. Regardless, our readers must hope that her friends can get through to her, for this "bad boy" has quite a Dark side. Well-wishers in the hospital expressed concern for her condition, having heard a Healer indicate she may have been beaten by an angry looking Mr. Malfoy. Many of our readers have owled us with similar wishes for Miss Granger's safety and health.
After all, this reporter personally witnessed a physical altercation between Miss Granger and the healer in question after some heated words, causing her to faint. Small wonder; battered witches often feel unable to ask for help and are of such frail constitution that they cannot fight for themselves. Such proved the case, as Mr. Malfoy whisked the unconscious Miss Granger away before her Healer was able to conduct a full examination. Our war heroine deserves better treatment, despite her apparently ongoing obsession with Harry Potter. She must return to St. Mungo's for treatment if she is ever to find happiness and love.
And what of the baby? For there definitely was a baby, by all accounts every inch a Malfoy heir in appearance. How deeply might Mr. Malfoy have abused her? How can the Ministry allow such a scandal? Perhaps the Malfoy name still carries its weight in Galleons, for an anonymous source within St. Mungo's revealed that Mr. Malfoy returned hours later, furious, to speak to the Chief Healer and that, as the result and after much shouting, the Healer who attended Miss Granger has been suspended. Can the word of a Death Eater have so much influence? Perhaps it can. Mr. Malfoy's father, Lucius Malfoy, 51, will be released from Azkaban prison a scant two weeks from now. Recall that he will be the first Death Eater released and that no others were awarded sentences less than twenty years for what one assumes to be equally heinous crimes. One wonders what his reaction will be to a half-blooded grandson. Many have cried out for the baby's removal, for his own safety.
Are they a couple?! Is the baby their love child? Your correspondent has tried to procure interviews with all of those connected to the ersatz lovebirds, but no one has been cooperative. Will Draco Malfoy keep the famous muggleborn witch around after his father is released? Something tells us that Hermione Granger and the unknown baby will be on the streets the second Lucius Malfoy is apparated from the dank, moldy island that houses Azkaban Prison."
Hermione was speechless; she had felt her jaw drop while reading the first paragraph, and things just escalated and got even more nightmarish the more she read.
"How dare she?" Hermione seethed beneath her breath, catching Draco's wide eyes as he finished the story and looked at her. "This will be retracted," Hermione swore, plucking the bottle from Scorpius' mouth and marching away with a determined stride.
Draco didn't know what to do for a solid five seconds, sitting in shock at the accusations that had been hurled at him from the front page of a newspaper. He had no idea the actions of a day over a week ago would have such devastating effects on his family; he thought he had been helping Hermione in that moment, but apparently it just made things worse.
He got to his feet heavily and followed Hermione down the hall slowly, he could hear her moving around in Scorpius' room, and the angry mutterings coming from the bedroom reminded him of a nest of bees.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked as he stepped warily into the bedroom; he was so tired. He made mistakes when he was a child, that was obvious, and he hadn't even been the idiot to start the damned Fiendfyre in the room, but it seemed as though the negativity would follow him around for the rest of his life. He wanted a drink.
"I'm getting Scorpius dressed," Hermione said as she snapped up the front buttons of a sleeper. "If that bitch thinks she can get away with this, she has another thing coming. She will not get away with disparaging my family this way." Hermione was angry, though her movements while dressing the baby were gentle.
"I don't think anything we say will make a difference," Draco noted, his throat absolutely burning for whiskey.
"Well I am not just going to sit here and let her get away with this. It will be retracted." She put tiny socks on Scorpius' feet and picked up, laying him over her shoulder now that his neck was getting stronger.
"Come on Draco, get dressed," she said, pointing to the doorway. "This is serious."
"I don't know if it will make things better, though. Last week I was taking my injured girlfriend to the hospital and look at how that turned out."
Hermione stopped and looked at him for the first time, noting that he looked a little paler than she was used to. "You did nothing wrong, Draco, and we're going to prove that. You didn't hurt me that day, you certainly didn't rape me and get me pregnant… this woman has had it out for me for years. We're fixing this, so please, let's go get dressed."
Scorpius was in Hermione's arms, his butt nudged into her elbow crook, and he turned his head and looked right at Draco, almost pleading with him to listen.
Hermione walked away the next second, going to get ready, and Draco followed again. They began dressing, Draco pulling on a pair of dress pants and a button down, and as he buttoned the cuffs he stopped and watched Hermione, who was pulling her hair into a messy bun.
"I don't want the world to know that you aren't Scorpius' mum," he said suddenly, causing Hermione to turn to him sharply. Scorpius was on a blanket on the floor enjoying some 'tummy time' while Hermione was marching around the room, but she stopped in her tracks when Draco spoke.
"I was going to try and leave Scorpius out of it altogether," Hermione admitted.
"You know that won't work, Hermione. She's going to grill us both about anything and everything."
Hermione sighed, knowing he was right. "Then what should we do?"
Draco bit his lip, the odd movement catching Hermione off guard. He seemed nervous as he ran a hand through his hair.
"You're in this for the long run, right?" he asked, looking adorably vulnerable.
"You know that I am," Hermione responded, unable to resist approaching Draco and pulling him into a comforting hug. Scorpius was making cooing noises from the floor and Draco was unable to stop cracking a small smile.
"How would you feel about publicly claiming him as yours?" He asked, pulling away so he could look into Hermione's eyes, which we rapidly tearing up.
"I would love nothing more."
"You understand the significance of this, right?"
"Of course I do, everyone would believe that he was biologically my child - I love him like he is mine, Draco."
"I know," he responded with a small smile, wiping his thumbs beneath her eyes to catch the moisture. "I love you, Hermione Granger."
She smiled and her eyes refilled as she replied, "I love you too."
Their lips had just touched when they heard someone calling out from the floo. Hermione groaned and Draco huffed a breath before he turned away and made his way, sans shoes and a jacket, to see who was entering their home.
Draco strode down the hallway and got to the living room in time to see Harry emerging from the fireplace.
"Have you seen this?" He shouted angrily, brandishing the newspaper over his head. "I cut out on work today so we can get this… this… travesty sorted. How dare this woman?"
Harry Potter was well and truly pissed off. Ginny and James emerged from behind him and the redhead's eyes were narrowed, her mouth in a thin line.
"Where is she?" she asked stonily, and Draco gestured to the hallway quickly, more than happy to avoid the legendary Weasley temper. The thought had just flicked through his brain when King Weasley himself came barrelling out of the fireplace, his face red and clashing terribly with his hair.
"Oh, you guys have all seen it then," he acknowledged, seeming to deflate before their eyes. Lavender and Rose came into the house behind him and Draco immediately told the witch where Hermione and Ginny were, she nodded once and disappeared into the back of the flat.
"I don't know where this bitch gets off," Harry spat, the newspaper now hanging loosely from his hand. "How can she possibly think she can get away with spreading these lies?"
Draco just shrugged non committedly and was more than happy just standing by while Harry and Ron bickered about how to go about fixing things. Ron was spouting off a far fetched idea that included a mason jar and perfectly timed spell, but he cut himself off as the floo, yet again, roared to life.
Pansy sauntered out, doing a good job at keeping control of herself; Blaise followed, looking resigned and amused by his wife.
"I swear to Merlin, Draco, I will charm a steel cage so she will never be able to get out and keep her in my basement. Either that or burn the entirety of Quick Quote Quills on the market."
Ron snorted, finding the comment hilarious, before looking shocked he would find something said by Pansy Parkinson… funny.
"I'm sure Granger will have a plan," Blaise commented, leaning against the wall casually and watching everyone around him. "A plan that doesn't land us all in prison," he reiterated as Pansy opened her mouth. She huffed before twirling around and heading down the hallway, her footsteps loud on the wooden floor.
"Hermione said that she will claim Scorpius as her own, I know that much," Draco informed the other males. No one looked surprised and Draco couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow in amusement; apparently they were all waiting for this. "The rest, I'm unsure about at this point."
"I'll obviously be able to provide testimony about the day of the hospital trip."
"A testimony, Potter? Merlin, they aren't going on trial.
"Aren't they?" Ron replied to Blaise, an eyebrow raised in question.
Blaise opened his mouth to respond before closing it again. "Well, I guess you're right about that. Trial in front of a lot of judges, too; the entirety of Wizarding Britain."
"Right that," Ron answered, heading into the kitchen.
"Help yourself," Draco muttered as the fridge opened from the other room, causing Harry to grin for a moment before they all followed to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. Hermione and Draco's abandoned Daily Prophet was laying on the table, and Harry slammed the one in his hand down on top of it.
"She won't have a job much longer if she keeps this up," he said, referring to Skeeter.
"The public love her," Draco corrected. "Regardless of whether she's right or wrong."
"Well she's messing with the wrong people this time," Ron tossed out as he pulled a casserole dish from the fridge.
"She's always messed with you guys," Draco pointed out.
"Well, we're older now," Ron said as he dug shepherd's pie from the dish and put it into a bowl. "And Hermione is ruthless; when she was younger she tried to tamp it down a little bit I think, scared of breaking the rules and whatever, but now that we're older she's much more willing to "do what needs to be done', as she puts it."
Harry nodded in agreeance. "She's bloody terrifying."
Blaise couldn't help but laugh, and the ladies entered the room with the babies at that moment. Hermione looked so innocent and good that he could hardly imagine her being able to string someone up by their balls and make demands.
"Draco!" she reprimanded, causing her boyfriend to jump. "Seriously, go finish getting ready! We have things to do today."
Draco got to his feet quickly and reminded everyone he had to go to a meeting that afternoon before excusing himself to get dressed.
Blaise snickered behind his hand.