Hermione hadn't slept all night. She was too nervous about spending time with her proper family, she hadn't even rejoiced in the fact she had a new baby brother from her 'old' family. She thought that because they weren't blood related, then she couldn't call them family so she had dismissed them from her life. They hadn't cared about her and every time they sent her a letter she sent it back unopened, hoping that they would get the message but they continued to send letters and parcels. A few days before hand she had decided to look in one and saw pictures. 'Her' baby brother was looking up at her and smiling to the camera. It made her feel sick that this baby had been brought up into a family where his elder sister had been stolen from another family. They had called him David John, the names Hermione had told them she wanted him to name the baby if they had a boy. Hermione had to say that he looked like her when she was a baby. They had taken pictures when Hermione had been younger when her hair was just starting to grow, and the little boy had brown hair already, that covered most of his head. She felt the pressure building in her throat and her stomach empty and it wasn't because of the photograph.
Running to the bathroom, Hermione made it in just in time, wrenching the door open and skidding down onto the floor. The train ride was uncomfortable for Hermione, even as she lay in Draco's lap while he read a book. It was bumpy and Hermione knew that travel sickness wasn't the cause of this vomiting. She looked down at her stomach and placed her arms around it protectively. In nine months she would be the size of a house and she was worried about what people thought. Hermione, Head Girl, former Gryffindor Princess, former member of the Golden Trio, was pregnant with non other than Draco Malfoy's baby. There was something odd about it but Hermione felt happy she was going to be a mother. She felt ready for the task as if she had been prepared for it. Flushing the toilet, washing her mouth and her hands, she stepped out into the corridor and bumped into the new Golden Trio.
Harry, Ron and Ginny regarded Hermione as their enemy now and had been waiting for a time to pounce when Draco wasn't around. They had seen her run past their compartment alone, and knew that they would find her at the toilet for that would be the only reason she would step out of her 'comfort zone'.
"Ahh look, Pretentious Parkinson has stepped out of her safety net." He spat at her, while Hermione looked smug.
"Ahh look, Potty hasn't got the brains to come up with a decent nickname for his former friend!" she retorted in a snotty voice.
"Harry lets just leave her! She isn't worth our time!" Ginny said throwing what she hoped was a sour look Hermione's way.
"Ginny. I have a question. You have to answer truthfully! How does it feel to be second best?"
"I don't know what you mean!"
"Well, you have kind of taken my place in the…'gang' and I was just wondering how you stand being known as Harry Potter's friend and not been known for other things. I mean, Scarhead here is the poster boy for the whole operation. He is the…. Actually I haven't got a clue what Won-Won is. As for you, you don't have the brains to take my place. So what do you do? Just stand there and TRY to look pretty?" she cackled evilly before turning on her heel and walking away from the group. As she blinked, she saw Ginny reach for her wand and mutter a spell and when she opened her eyes, she heard the rustle of a pocket. Instantly, Hermione turned and saw Ginny wave her wand and mutter a spell. However, Hermione was protected against the spell from some unknown barrier and when Hermione pushed her hand out to touch it, Ginny went flying backwards through the air.
Harry and Ron stared at Hermione, who was looking shocked at her hands. She hadn't been able to do that before. Power surged through Hermione's veins and she couldn't understand where it had come from. Her eyes darted upwards towards Harry and Ron and an unconscious Ginny. Muttering a spell, Hermione enervated her old friend without thinking and stalked off down the corridor. Harry, Ron and Ginny stared after her, not because Hermione had helped them and revived Ginny but because Hermione had hurt Ginny. They knew she had changed but they had never thought it would go this far. A piece of parchment had fallen out of Hermione's pocket during the scene and she hadn't noticed that it was gone. Harry bent down to pick it up and looked at the name. 'Lily Evans'. He read the sheet fully and tried to read Ginny's mind but couldn't. Could that mean that Ginny wasn't his soul mate?
'Christ… Christ. What the hell was that?' Hermione thought, glad Draco had chosen to allow her thoughts be kept to herself. 'What did I just do? I hurt Ginny. I insulted her and then decided to fling her across the corridor! Then I enervated her. WHAT?'
She paced the corridor outside the Head's compartment. She knew if she went in like this, Draco would ask, Hermione would lie, he would find out the truth and go beat up Harry and Ron. No, she decided. She had to control herself from now on and find out what was happening, even if that meant confiding in Lucius Malfoy. At one time the thought would have sent shudders of revulsion throughout her body but this time she seemed like that although they hated each other in the past, he would have the answers. Finally controlling herself she opened the carriage door and watched Draco as he read. She remembered the morning where she had come down sleepy and had seen Draco sitting in their kitchen, without a shirt, reading a book with hair falling across his glasses. Her heart melted and Hermione knew that the love she felt for Draco was real.
As if he knew he was watching her, he looked up slowly, knowing full well that Hermione was hormonal and aching for him. Every girl had the same response when he did that and it was to whimper uncontrollably. He grinned as he watched Hermione's jaw fall to the floor as she watched his gaze. He felt proud that he had this affect but he also knew that this bachelor life would be coming to an end with Hermione being pregnant. However, he seemed happy that he wouldn't be sleeping around with hundreds of girls and he was happy that he would have Hermione and the baby to come home to.
"Hermione, I have to tell you something!"
"Yes"
"Well. I, being charming and exceptionally good looking- I will ignore the snort. As I was saying, because of all these qualities I am part Veela. My mother did not carry a full muggle term when she was pregnant, she only carried for four months because of being Veela, which means that soon you will be very big and then soon after that we will be parents." His voice trailed off towards the end as he knew what was about to happen.
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT I AM GOING TO HAVE A BABY IN THREE MONTHS? THREE?" Hermione repeated whilst screaming at the top of her lungs
"Yes"
"BLOODY HELL" Hermione started pacing again. She was going to be the size of a house when she returned to Hogwarts in January. Why hadn't Draco told her this before? Why was he mentioning it now? She started to think about what was going to happen now.
He looked up at her, knowing that if he even attempted to interrupt her thoughts he would be castrated and then shoved into a lion pit. He even tried using his baby eyed technique where he would slowly open his smoky eyelashes to reveal the metallic silver eyes that lay beneath but all he received from Hermione was a scathing look. He knew she wasn't to be trifled with so he left her to pace and think over what he had just said. He was reading The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman and couldn't believe that people enjoyed the rubbish like daemons that accompanied you everywhere. That was completely make-believe but Hermione had suggested it so he was trying to read it.
The rest of the train ride passed in silence, with Hermione scowling in the corner and Draco reading the same sentence over and over again. He couldn't concentrate when Hermione was angry so by the end of the journey he knew a sentence off by heart. He took her bag so she didn't have to carry it and she rolled her eyes at him, yet she was grateful for the relief of not having to lug it everywhere. They stepped off the train onto the platform and saw everyone milling around. She saw Molly Weasley throw her a look and then her jaw dropped when Hermione took hold of Draco's hand. Pansy and Blaise joined them a minute later and they all waited for Draco's parents to arrive.
Hermione felt nervous. She was about to meet the boyfriends parents and in the books Hermione liked to read, the girl always felt like she was about to be sick. The Malfoy's had met her, however she had been a Granger and a mudblood but now she was a Parkinson and receiving orders from the Dark Lord himself. They had to be on equal footing now.
"Relax" Draco muttered into Hermione's ear and gave her hand a squeeze. He didn't know what he was talking about. When he had told his father that Hermione Granger, mudblood extraordinaire was Pansy's sister, Lucius hadn't been very happy. Narcissa had looked happy but then remembered her place and the stone cold look replaced the smile. Draco had not questioned it at the time but he guessed that she had known this would happen.
"Mr Malfoy?"
"Yes Chamberlain"
"Your parents wish for you to join them at home, and are sorry they couldn't come to pick you up as they have important business to attend to"
"I expected as much." He said to Chamberlain who waved his wand and the bags disappeared. They followed him out to the car which was more like a limo. The outside was black with blacked out windows and looked like a normal posh car. However inside, a spell had been cast which made the inside huge and as soon as everyone was in, there could have been another five people inside there was that much room. Music was softly playing and Draco muttered something about his mother's taste in music, and switched it to, to Hermione's surprise, Bon Jovi. Her shock must have been registered on her face because he told her the story about how he had heard them one day and then met them the next. This story lasted all the way out of London, and Hermione looked out the window once he was finished and they were in the middle of the country. It had gone over so quickly that she couldn't believe it. Then Draco muttered two words she wasn't ready to here
"We're here!"