Last Chapter: "… remember to make your decision wisely," the man said, sending pointed looks at Umbridge and the Jury. "Make sure that favouritism and personal opinion are unable to fall into the mix; look at the facts and the notes been made." He looked around the court once more. "You may go," he said before sitting down again.

Slowly the jury and Umbridge rose from their seats, and made their way through a small door at the other end of the courtroom. Hermione watched them go, bile rising in her throat.

"Please make the right decision," she whispered, rising from her seat and grasping Draco's hand. "please may they get this marriage annulled..."

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Umbridge, the shadow of a smile on her face, walked back into the courtroom followed closely by the jury. Hermione watched them sit down in the seats they had previously occupied, nervously biting her lip. She turned her head to take a look at Blaise, only to find him already looking back at her. He had a smirk on his face, sending chills up Hermione's spine, and was knowingly gazing into her eyes, making it so she couldn't look away. He quickly raised both his eyebrows at her and then turned his attention to Umbridge.

The chills intensified all over Hermione's body and she quickly turned her head away and looked down at the ground, holding her breath in. Blaise knew something she didn't, and it frightened her more than anything else. She didn't know what she would do if the marriage didn't get annulled. She couldn't live with Blaise; he was cruel, heartless and cold.

Her heart belonged to Draco and it always would. She had believed, up until this point, that nothing could keep them apart; in truth, however, there was that something could. If this marriage didn't get annulled, Hermione would be stuck with Blaise for the rest of her life.

Her heart started to race as she realized what might be about to happen and she could feel tears coming to her eyes. Just as one lonely tear was about to fall down her cheek, she felt somebody grab her hand and hold onto it tightly. She quickly looked up to see Draco smiling at her – or at least trying to. His lips were curved into a perfect, reassuring smile, but his eyes held what he was truly feeling. He was scared, just like Hermione was.

"It's going to be okay," Draco said quietly. "Once this is all over we can go back to our normal lives and get ready to have our first child." He paused for a brief second, inhaling a deep breath. "Everything is going to be okay."

Hermione wanted to smile back but she couldn't. Instead she just looked into his grey eyes and said the only thing that mattered: "I love you." They stared back at each other for a couple seconds more until Draco leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on her forehead.

Hermione had no time to respond or return the gesture, because at that moment Umbridge cleared her throat, wanting the attention of the courtroom. Everybody turned to look at her, taking a seat back in their chairs.

"After many discussions and much thought going into this case, the jury and I have come to our final decision. With the case of Mr. Blaise Zabini and Ms. Hermione Granger, we have decided to not annul the marriage."

There was a sudden yell of outrage coming from almost everybody on Hermione's side of the room, the most vocal of them being Harry and Ron. Hermione's breath hitched in the back of her throat as she stared down at the table, the words that Umbridge spoke replaying over and over again in her head.

She found herself looking up at Draco, but he was only staring at Umbridge with an unreadable, blank expression on his face. Hermione licked her lips nervously and gave Draco's hand a squeeze. "Draco…" She spoke his name softly, only audible to him, but Draco acted like he never even heard her speak. His eyes moved slightly at the sound of her voice, letting Hermione know that he had, in fact, heard her, but he did nothing more.

Umbridge cleared her throat again, smacking her gavel on the desk. "Order! Order! I will have order!" The room slowly died down and before long, everybody who stood, was seated again and waiting for Umbridge to continue. "Now, we didn't come to this decision lightly. After looking over the case and the evidence, we have no other choice other than to side with Mr. Zabini!"

"You lying two faced toad!" Everybody turned their heads to find Harry on his feet, pointing his finger at Umbridge. "He's guilty and you know it!"

"Mr. Potter, just because you saved the Wizarding world from Lord Voldemort doesn't give you the right to stand up in the middle of my courtroom and insult me just because you don't like the decision the court has made." Harry said nothing. Instead he just glared back at Umbridge as she did the same to him, ignoring the snickering coming from Blaise's side of the room. "Now, take a seat Mr. Potter or else I will have you arrested."

"Come on, mate." Ron said, grabbing a hold of Harry's jacket and forcing him down into his seat. "You won't be much help to Hermione when you're in a cell in Azkaban."

Harry sighed and sat down, leaning over to whisper at Ron. "We can't let her do this. Zabini is guilty. Anybody with eyes can see that."

"Harry… there's nothing we can do." Ron whispered back as Umbridge continued to talk.

"With the case of Mr. Blaise Zabini and Mrs. Hermione Zabini, we have reviewed the evidence carefully and have come to the conclusion that there just isn't enough evidence to prove Mr. Zabini of faking the marriage. The fact that Mrs. Zabini can't remember anything is proof enough that this marriage is real and that she is nothing more than a heartless liar." Hermione's jaw fell to the floor at Umbridge's words, and just as she was about to stand to her feet to defend herself, she felt Draco grab onto her arm and hold her down, his eyes still glued to Umbridge.

Hermione, on the other hand, wouldn't have it. She quickly pulled her arm from Draco's grasps and got to her feet. "I am not a liar and I would be damned if anybody accused me of being one!"

"Hermione – sit." Draco wrapped his hand around her wrist to pull her back down, but she quickly pulled away from his grasps and pretended she hadn't heard him.

"Anybody here in this courtroom would be able to tell you that I am not a liar!"

"Mrs. Zabini, you need to take a seat." Umbridge warned.

"My name isn't Zabini!" She yelled. "It's Granger! Hermione Jean Granger, fiancé of Draco Malfoy, and a Gryffindor! The only liar in this room is that heartless man over there!" Hermione pointed over towards Blaise with her index finger. "He's a Slytherin, damn it! He's a natural born liar!"

"Mrs. Zabini you need to take a seat now before I have you arrested!"

"What about my baby!" Hermione yelled clutching her stomach. "He's already tried to kill it once!" Hermione pointed over at Blaise. "Who's to say he won't do it again!?"

"I say so!" Umbridge snapped. "And so does the court. If you were to sit down and allow me to finish you would know this."

"Hermione…." Hermione felt tears threatening to fall from her eyes as Draco grabbed onto her wrist again. He called her name softly, pleading with her to listen. "Hermione you need to sit down, please." She looked down at Draco for a couple more seconds before turning her gaze to Umbridge, then slowly taking a seat.

"Seeing as Mr. Blaise Zabini has already tried to harm you child, the court and I have come up with a way to keep your baby safe." Umbridge continued, addressing the whole courtroom. "If any more harm comes to this child in the hands of Mr. Zabini, then the court will rejoin and we will take another look at getting this marriage annulled."

Hermione bit her lips together and shook her head as she studied the table. "That's not enough," she said under her breath, tears threatening to fall once again.

"This case is now concluded!" Umbridge said, smacking her gavel on the desk and then quickly making an exit from the room.

Everybody else in the courtroom seemed to follow Umbridge's suit. Hermione and Draco slowly stood up, both turning to face each other. "It's not fair," Hermione said under her breath.

Draco tried to force a smile at Hermione, cupping the sides of her face and kissing her forehead. Hermione closed her eyes as Draco's lips touched her skin, and the first tear ran down her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his body and rested her head on his chest as Draco rubbed her back lovingly, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"It doesn't matter," Draco said softly. "I love you and no stupid law is going to change that."

"Hermione," The Gryffindor opened her eyes to see Ginny, Harry, Ron, and even Collette standing before them. "Hermione… it's going to be okay." Ginny said kindly, reaching her arms out to give her friend a hug. Hermione slowly pushed herself away from Draco to embrace all her friends. "It's going to be okay." Ginny said again, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself rather than Hermione.

"I don't know Gin," Hermione said sadly as Draco came up behind Hermione and wrapped his arm around her waist lovingly. "I just can't see a positive side to this."

"Oi, Malfoy! Get your hands off my wife!" Everybody turned their heads to see none other than Blaise Zabini walking towards them with a smug look on his face. Following closely behind him were Pansy, Theodore Nott, and Blaise's own mother. "You have no right to touch what's rightfully mine." Blaise said with a smirk.

"I'll give you what's rightfully yours, you Fucking Prick!" Draco yelled, letting go of Hermione and charging at Blaise. Blaise, who had seen it coming, quickly dodged Draco's grasps as Harry and Ron each got a hold of Draco's shoulder, holding him back. "Let me go!" Draco yelled, thrashing to get out of Harry and Ron's grip. "I'm going to ruin your life just like you ruined mine, you Son of a Bitch!"

Blaise let out a chuckle, just standing out of Draco's reach. "You shouldn't call my mother names when she's standing right here, Draco. It's not very nice." Blaise let out another small chuckle as he watched Draco boil with anger, still trying to fight off Harry and Ron's hold on him, before turning to Hermione. "As for you, Mrs. Zabini, I'm guessing you'll want time to pack before you relocate to the Zabini Manor?" Hermione glared at him, using everything she had to not murder the man in front of her. "I'll be picking you up at your place tomorrow afternoon. Twenty four hours should be enough time, right Darling?" Blaise smirked at her, bringing his hand up and grazing it along her cheek.

Hermione stepped back quickly and then…

SMACK!

Her hand had made contact with Blaise's cheek in lightning speed, catching him completely off guard. "You're a Bastard, Zabini," Hermione said through her teeth and Blaise glared back at her.

Blaise cleared his throat, giving Draco, who was no longer fighting to get free from Harry and Ron, a glare, before, once again, turning back to Hermione. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow afternoon at your home, then."

Hermione shook her head and then took a step back, grabbing Draco's hand. "Our home."

Blaise glared at them all one more time before quickly storming out of the courtroom, followed closely by Pansy, Theo, and his mother.

With Blaise now gone, Ron and Harry released their grip on Draco, allowing him to wrap his arms around Hermione. "Come on, Love." He said in her ear. "Let's go home."

Both Draco and Hermione arrived back at their flat in silence. They held onto each other tightly, but no words were said; none needed to be said really. Both of them knew they had just lost each other for the rest of their lives and neither of them wanted to talk about it, even though that was what was on both of their minds. They had lost the case, and now only had twenty four hours left to be together.

"I'll – I'll go make us some tea," Draco said, releasing his grip on Hermione's hand and making his way towards the kitchen.

"Okay…" Hermione said under her breath, slowly making her way towards the living room. As she entered the room, her eyes fell on the photographs lining the walls and the fireplace. She smiled despite herself as she approached them, looking up into the faces of her family and friends. She walked silently by the photos, the tips of her fingers running along the bottom of the frames, only pausing when she reached the fireplace.

Before her was one of her favourite pictures, which would explain why it was in the centre. It was of her and Draco, and both of them were smiling up at the camera; they were sitting out on the porch of Harry's house, snuggled up close on a bench that hung freely from the ceiling. Draco was sitting straight, while Hermione's legs lay over the top of his, her body resting against his side. Draco's hands rested on her legs, whilst one of Hermione's was wrapped around his shoulder and the other rested on his chest. They would stare at the camera, then turn and look at each other with smiles on their faces, sharing a small chaste kiss.

Hermione let out a tiny, sad laugh as a tear ran down her cheek. She then brought her hand up to the picture and rested it next to Draco. "I love you."

She didn't know how long she stood there, gazing into the picture which was taken back when everything was okay and normal, but next thing she knew, she heard Draco call her name. "Hermione, are you okay?" She slowly turned her head to see Draco approaching her, two cups of tea in his hand.

"Yeah," Hermione breathed, forcing a smile for Draco. He forced one back, handing her a cup of tea when he reached her. "Thanks," She spoke softly, the sadness starting to take over.

Draco wrapped an arm around Hermione and kissed the side of her head before looking at the same picture as she. "I love this picture," Draco said, running his hand down it just like Hermione had. "It was… easy then."

"Back then we thought we had the rest of our lives together," Hermione sighed, turning away from the picture and making her way towards the couch. "Now we have less than a day." As she spoke, she sank down to the edge of the couch, gripping her tea cup with both her hands and staring down into the brown liquid. Draco watched her sadly before joining her. He rested a hand on her back and rubbed it in circles gently. "It's just not fair." Draco leaned back in his seat and then grabbed Hermione's hand, bringing her back as well.

"I know, Love," Draco said softly as Hermione sat back with him, bringing her legs over his and resting her head on his chest, just like she did in the picture. "We'll just have to make the rest of today count."

"But that's just not enough, Draco," Hermione whispered as he brought his hand around her back, bringing her closer to him. "We were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together." Draco sighed through his nose, kissing Hermione on the top of her head as she ran her fingers along the top of the tea cup. "We practically planned our whole lives together just for somebody to come and tear it all to shreds."

"He didn't tear one thing to shreds." Draco said quietly, staring off into the ashes of the fire.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, looking up at Draco.

Draco slowly looked down at her, a small smile on his face. "This," He spoke softly, placing a hand on Hermione's lower stomach. "He can never take our child away from us."

Hermione smiled back at Draco, giving him a kiss on the lips before placing her hand on her stomach as well, directly next to Draco's. "Just imagine how perfect our lives would have been with our child if Blaise hadn't come and ruined everything."

Draco let out a small chuckle. "We would have raised it together."

"And we would have been brilliant at it as well." Hermione leaned her head back on Draco's chest, placing her tea on the coffee table. "Our baby would have had amazing manners, a kind smile, and an amazing personality."

"Try not to turn it into that much of a Gryffindor, Love," Draco said, pulling a small face before twisting his lips upwards. "I still have a Slytherin reputation to uphold."

Hermione let out a laugh. "We both know you're really not a Slytherin at heart Draco." Draco just shrugged, kissing Hermione on the top of her head. "Besides, our child could have picked whatever house it wanted. It wouldn't have to listen to us."

"It would be brilliant no matter what," Draco added. "Just like you."

Hermione smiled up at Draco. "And then it would have graduated from Hogwarts with perfect marks, and then going on to become the best witch or wizard in the world."

"Right next to you of course," Draco laughed, gaining a small kiss from Hermione.

"And I'd drag you with me." Hermione licked her lips and turned her head so it was facing the pictures that lined the walls again. "We could have spent the rest of our lives together doing whatever we wanted and watching our child grow to become the witch or wizard we always dreamed of raising." They sat in silence for a few more seconds, just enjoying each other's presence, until Hermione spoke again. "We could have spent every day doing exactly what we're doing right now."

"Just lying together on the couch and talking?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," Hermione said in a sad voice. "Exactly…"

Draco gave Hermione another kiss on the top of her head. "That sounds like a great idea."

And the couple did just that. They stayed on the couch for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep by the warm fire. But what they did for the rest of the night or where they fell asleep, didn't matter to them anymore. All they wanted to be was with each other, wrapped tightly in the arms of the person they loved. Together, they both fell asleep with their hands pressed against Hermione's stomach, with both Draco and Hermione hoping to wake up and realize that there was nobody by the name of Blaise Zabini and that everything had just been one big nightmare….

Hello everybody!

I hope you liked the chapter, especially since it was the first chapter since Vicky stopped writing!

Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter! I would thank you all personally like I usually do, but fanfiction keeps messing up what i write (this is the fourth time i've written this authors note, just to give you an idea), so i dont want to take chances by typing a lot and then it just deleting it in a couple minutes.

Let me and Vicky know what you thought in a review please! We are dying to know what you thought of Umbridge's decision :)