Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters and world belong to the wonderful JK Rowling.

Hermione woke up in Draco's large and comfortable bed again. Her head spun with thoughts of the last couple of days since that horrible night with Voldemort. She smiled. Things had definitely changed.

It had been four days ago when Hermione had woken in Draco's arms, her entire body aching. She had been surprised that he hadn't left her during the night, but she was grateful not to wake up alone. She didn't know why he had stayed. Maybe it was simply because she was in pain and he didn't want to wake her up once she was asleep. Or had it been something more? That day Draco had made her stay in the bed and try to recover from the events the night before. He had brought her the food the house elves left on the small table for her, he had checked her over for further injuries, he had been nice.

The next day, she was feeling much better. Her body still ached somewhat, but she was able to get up and do some more re-reading. That day was when things began to shift.

Hermione sat on the sofa with a book on her lap. She had read the book eight times already, but she had read the others that many times as well and it gave her something to do. She was still shocked about what had happened the other night, mostly, Draco's actions. He had healed her, cared for her, held her. She didn't know what to think about it.

Draco sighed beside her and closed the book he was re-reading. "I need to tell you something," he told her.

"Okay? What is it?" Hermione replied.

"It's something I should have told you a long time ago but it slipped my mind until now. I don't blame you if you can't forgive me."

She stopped breathing. What was was going on?

Draco continued. "The day before our wedding, I learned that Fleur had been killed."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked slowly, not grasping what was going on.

"One of the Death Eaters got too carried away and she was accidentally killed."

Tears built up in her eyes. Fleur was dead. She wondered if Bill was still alive. He would be absolutely devastated. Fleur had been dead for almost three weeks while she had been warm, comfortable, talking and laughing. How could she have done that? Then it hit her. Draco had known about this for that entire time. Her tears turned to anger. How dare he claim that her death simply slips his mind!

"How could you have known about this and not told me!" she demanded.

"It was the day before the wedding and I knew how nervous you were, I didn't want to add anything else to the burden," he tried to explain.

"That doesn't explain why you haven't told me until now, almost three weeks later! How could you!" she shouted.

"I forgot," he replied.

"You just forgot? How do you forget about something like that? She was my friend! And what about Ginny! Is she alive?"

"Yes, as far as I know, Ginny is still alive. But that was three weeks ago," he said.

Then the tears came full force. She had one night of torture in over a month and Ginny had spent that time in constant pain. And Fleur, at least she wasn't in pain anymore.

"Hermione," Draco spoke softly.

"No! Stay away from me!" Since they were trapped in the same room it would be difficult to get away, find her own space. She ran to the bathroom and slammed the door, sliding down to the floor in sobs.

Hermione had stayed, sobbing on the bathroom floor for what seemed like hours before she could cry no longer. It felt good to cry, really cry. Hermione found it cleared her mind. She thought about Draco. He probably hadn't even known Fleur, had only seen her the few times when she had been at the school for the tournament. Could he have really just forgotten? People must die around the manor all the time. Could he have gotten so used to it that he just forgot to tell her? Then she realized the tone in his voice when he told her. It was calm, practiced. Why would he be like that? It struck her, could he have wanted this to happen? Could the kiss they had shared that night have something to do with this? She recalled Draco turning away from her after. She had thought maybe he still hated her, was disgusted by her, and maybe he was. Did he find out she had feelings for him and want to squash them? She remembered his words, "I don't blame you if you can't forgive me". That actually seemed very plausible. Slowly, she left the bathroom.

Draco was still sitting in the same place on the sofa.

"I forgive you," she told him plainly.

Draco looked up at her with eyes full of pain. "Why? How? I don't understand. I am nothing but a Death Eater. Evil."

"I forgive you," she told him again.

He draped his head in his hands, confirming her belief. He had wanted to push her away. Was it because he was still disgusted by her? Or was it out of self-loathing?

"You shouldn't. You should want to stay as far away from me as you can. Don't forgive me for anything," he insisted.

She sat down beside him. "What if I forgive you for all of it?"

He looked back at her. "Don't," he said, shaking his head. "What happened to you the other night was my fault. I knew that he wanted us in the same bed, attempting his task, and I told you to sleep on the sofa. I could have stopped you from going to him, but I froze. These things are going to keep happening, I'm going to keep hurting you!"

"Don't do this to yourself! It was not your fault! I chose to do it. I chose to go to him. I chose to protect you. This situation is not your fault."

"No matter what you say or think, it doesn't change the fact that I am not good enough for you."

"I don't still disgust you?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Why would you think that?"

"You said on that first night that everything about me disgusted you, not just my blood," she explained.

"You girls and your memories for this stuff. I realize that I was really shallow back then. All I knew about you was who you were on the outside. I was wrong." Some sort of weight was lifted off her chest as he said this. "But that still doesn't change the fact that you are too good for me. I am evil, I've tortured people Hermione! I not a good person. You should want to run from me. Save yourself, not me."

If only to get him to stop talking, she kissed him. His arms came around her and held on as if he never wanted to let her go. How could she forgive him? Because he wasn't who the world saw him to be, he wasn't even who he saw himself as. He had been blinded by what he had been forced to do, forced to become.

Now, Hermione lay awake and once again naked under the covers. These past couple of nights, Draco had left a blanket beside her so she could cover herself in the morning. Her smile faded. Something wasn't right. Suddenly, she was feeling very nauseous. She grabbed the blanket and wrapped herself as she ran to the toilet. As soon as she got there she was vomiting.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Draco asked from outside the door. He had probably heard her retching.

Trembling, she flushed and went to the door. She had an idea of what was happening, but she had to be sure.

"Draco, can you perform the charm? The one that detects pregnancy?" she asked him.

His eyes widened and he got out his wand, nodding. He waved his wand across her and muttered the incantation. It took a few seconds for Hermione to start feeling a tingle deep inside her and a soft golden glow began to emanate from her center. They looked at each other with stunned expressions. They were going to have a child.

Draco was stunned. He knew this was coming, but he hadn't quite expected it to be this soon. Snapping out of his daze, he realized Hermione was still standing in a blanket. Quickly he got her some robes and sent her to change. Draco then collapsed onto the sofa.

It was confirmed that he would be having a child. His child was growing inside of Hermione. This both amazed him as well as terrified him. Draco didn't think he could ever be a good father. He never had a decent one himself so how was he supposed to be any different? He didn't want his child to grow up the way he had; learning to hate, to never show weakness, to never be allowed to fail. He wanted his child to know love and happiness. He knew Hermione could give that but could he?

Was he expected to stay and be a father to this child? It was his blood, and even though he was terrified of the prospect of being a father, he didn't want his child to grow up without one. At least Hermione was safe now that she was pregnant. His future, on the other hand, became more uncertain. His job could be finished. That meant he would likely be facing his death soon.

He heard Hermione come out of the bathroom and felt her sit down on the sofa beside him.

"I was thinking about something," she said quietly.

"And what was that?" he asked.

Hermione took a deep breath before continuing. "He always talks about me, having a son, it seems that he wants a boy to train to become his heir."

Draco nodded. "Makes sense."

"What happens if I don't have a son? What happens if I have a daughter?"

They sat in silence both thinking through what would happen.

"We have a few weeks until the gender can be known right?" Draco asked.

"Yes."

"So we should wait to worry about these things."

"Would he kill her, if I had a little girl?" Hermione asked quietly.

"I don't know. Probably," he answered truthfully. This shook him. Would he just stand there and let the Dark Lord kill his daughter? Would he be forced to do it? Those thoughts horrified him. He honestly didn't know what he would do. Would he be able to stand up to the Dark Lord? Would he already be dead and unable to do anything? He shook the thoughts from his head. He had a few weeks until it came to that problem.

"I think we should expect a house elf to come check in on us any time now," Hermione told him. He just nodded. "If you get let out of here, what will happen to you?"

"I don't know."

"Will you be forced to leave? Will you have to leave our child?" she asked.

"It's very probable that the Dark Lord wouldn't want me around anymore," he replied solemnly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I think he has been noticing my lack of enjoyment in many of the Death Eater's activities and after this task is finished, I am nothing but a liability," he told her.

"Is he going to kill you?"

"I have accepted it a long time ago that he probably will."

"Draco," she whispered and took his hand in hers. He shook it off.

"No. This will be better for you. Don't you see? If I die, you are no longer bound to me, no longer a Death Eater's wife!"

"Is that what you've convinced yourself? That I would be better off without you? Are you not even going to fight? What about our child?"

"It isn't really even ours, it's the Dark Lord's child!" he yelled. He instantly regretted saying those words to her. Hermione looked completely shocked and hurt. She went quiet and placed a hand over her belly.

"Draco," she said his name this time with so much pain in her voice, and he hated that he was the one who put it there. "How can you say that?"

Guilt cut its way through his body. He couldn't even believe he had said it. Silence followed. He didn't know why he had told her that. It just proved the point he made a couple days earlier; he wasn't good enough for her. He was just going to keep hurting her. Why couldn't she have just taken the cruel bait. He had told her about her friend's death that way for a reason. He had wanted her to hate him, to never forgive him. Then she had gone and done just that. As much as it hurt him to consider, it would be better if she didn't forgive him this time. It would be less painful for her later.

A pop finally broke the silence and the same dreaded house elf as last time stood in front of them. This time, he didn't speak to them. He simply stretched out his hand to Hermione's belly again. A light golden glow began to emit again from her center before disappearing. Immediately, the elf disapparated.

The two looked at each other. The Dark Lord would soon know of the pregnancy. No matter what he had said to Hermione, the child was definitely theirs and he worried about what would happen to them too, but Voldemort would still take the child if it was a boy. Who knew if he would even need Hermione anymore? He could get the house elves to mostly raise the boy. If it was a girl, who knew if either of them would live.

By dinner time, Hermione was still not over what Draco had told her. Was he right? Was the child practically Voldemort's? Would he take their child away and give them to somebody else to raise, and train them to become the next Dark Lord? The thought chilled her.

With the dinner meal, came something else unexpected. Another letter was delivered.

Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy,

I hear good news and I am pleased. Once the gender of the child is discovered, Hermione will once again be brought before me. Until that time, young Malfoy must stay where he is.

Your Lord

They looked at each other. They had known he would probably want to know the gender, but being brought into his presence at the time confirmed their suspicious of what would happen if they didn't have a boy.

Hermione could tell that Draco was affected greatly by the letter. He was shaking. The letter extended his life for the few weeks they had until they could know the gender. She took his hand. Draco seemed surprised by this action; as if he thought she wouldn't care that he lived. Did he think that because she was still hurt by his comment earlier that meant she wanted him to die, that she wasn't relieved to know he had a few extra weeks? She squeezed his hand a little to let him know he was wrong.

She had seen a part of him that he didn't give himself credit for. They were both scared and needed each other to get through it. Draco might not see that he deserved to have anything but fear and darkness, but for some reason, Hermione did.

Author's Note:

So it seems that chapter 9 is staying up now…hopefully…hopefully this chapter stays up too. Thanks Tala for the advice about the disappearing chapter! A Thank-you to everyone else who reviewed, you are awesome! Keep them coming! I am leaving on a week long family vacation tomorrow so I may not be able to post another chapter until then. I will update as soon as I can!