Chapter 10
Hermione awoke to the strange feeling that she wasn't alone. It was still early enough in the morning that the sun had yet to rise. The only light in the room came from the digital clock on the bedside table. Rolling over carefully, her heart hammered at the thought of who laid beside her. Blond hair disheveled, shirtless, and completely dead to the world, Draco slept on with his arms tightly wound around her.

She breathed a momentary sigh of relief that it was him. Then she wondered what he was doing there in her bed in someone else's home. Deciding she couldn't wait until morning for answers, she shook him until he awoke. His eyes blinked open and he stared at her dazedly. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a harsh whisper. "Do Pansy or Blaise know you're here?"

He yawned once and closed his eyes. "No," he replied tiredly. "I just couldn't sleep."

"So you broke into their house?" she asked incredulously.

Shaking his head, he replied, "Floo. They never remember to close their floo."

"Why are you here?" she asked, her anger beginning to dissipate.

Sighing, he opened his eyes and rolled onto his back. "I told you - I couldn't sleep," he replied.

Leaning on her elbow, she propped her head up with her hand. "How come?" came her softly spoken question.

"I missed you," he responded truthfully.

"It's been a day," she pointed out.

"I know," he replied, tucking his arm beneath his head. "It's just...we've never spent time apart like this. Not with one of us angry at the other."

She placed her head back on the pillow. "I'm not mad at you," she told him. "I think it was just the hormones. I read they can make you a bit crazy."

He struggled to hide the crestfallen expression he was sure resided on his face. "Oh," he said, tossing back the blankets. "Um, I should go. I don't want Pansy or Blaise to freak out that I'm here."

Nodding, she replied, "I think that's for the best. I promise not to tell them you broke in last night."

"Thanks," he told her with a smile. "Will you come home tonight?"

"I don't know, Draco," she replied, sitting up. The blankets pooled around her waist, revealing the gentle curve of her stomach. Of their child. "We need to talk, but I don't know if now is the time."

His brow wrinkled in confusion, but he said nothing. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I'll talk to you soon," he promised before leaving her alone.

She slid back down and pulled the blankets over her head. He came to her. He needed her. But that didn't mean he wanted her. What bothered her more was how upset he seemed when she said she wasn't mad at him. It should have made him happy.

Needing someone to talk to, she got out of bed and walked down the hall to the master bedroom. Rounding the bed to Pansy's side, she knelt down and shook her friend's shoulder. "Pans, wake up," she insisted, shaking her harder. "Please, I need to talk to you."

"Go back to bed, Hermione," Pansy mumbled, burying her face in her pillow.

Hermione gave her shoulder another nudge. "No, please," she replied. "It's really important."

Groaning, Pansy threw back the blankets and climbed out of bed. "You better be having contractions," she muttered, walking ahead of her house guest to leave the room.

"Is that even possible? It's only been three months," Hermione wondered, following her to the kitchen.

Pansy began to prepare a pot of coffee, secretly glad that she couldn't share it with Hermione. "Okay, what's this about?" she inquired. "What was so important that you dragged me out of bed at half past five in the morning?"

"Draco said he misses me," Hermione told her. "And then he seemed mad at me for not being mad at him. And then he left. What do I do with that?"

Pansy held up a hand in hopes of silencing her. "Wait, Draco was here?" she asked. "In my house?"

Hermione nodded. "I promised him I wouldn't tell you, but it slipped out," she excused. "He was in my bed this morning, and we talked. Sort of. So, what do you make of what he said?"

Moving around the kitchen, she pulled out a mug, milk, and sugar, and poured her coffee. "What I make of it is he misses you," she said flatly. "Isa could have told you that. Because you said it yourself."

"But why is he upset that I'm not mad at him?" she wondered.

Taking a seat at the small table, Pansy began to stir several teaspoons of sugar into her coffee. "Can't you be the smart one for the both of us?" she asked. "It's just too early for me to be smart."

Hermione shook her head. "You know relationships better than I do," she pointed out. "My only frame of reference is Ron. Plus, you've known Draco since birth. Who could possibly know him better than you?"

"You," Pansy retorted. Running a hand through her hair, Pansy sighed. "Okay, fine. Maybe he's mad because he hoped that what he said to you about dating other people struck a cord. Maybe he wanted you to be mad that he's trying to push you away. And as I recall, you were pretty unhappy about just that yesterday."

"It did hurt when he said it, it hurt the longer I continued to dwell on it yesterday, and it still hurts today," Hermione replied, sitting down across from her. "But I'm not about to tell him that."

Finishing her cup, Pansy rose to refill her coffee. "Sure, because honesty is never the best policy," she remarked.

Hermione turned in her seat. "In this situation, I think it might be better to lie," she said sadly.

"Better for who?" Pansy demanded. "You? Draco? The baby who might one day ask why Mummy and Daddy aren't together and never were? You can't spend the rest of your life hiding your feelings from him. And it will be the rest of your life because this baby is Draco's as well."

"I know that," she agreed. "And I've thought about what we'll tell our child when the time comes that he or she asks that. Then there are the times that I think maybe you were right, maybe having this baby means Draco and I will be together. But I've also seen him cut people out of his life over much less. What would stop him from doing that to me if he doesn't like how I feel?"

Moving back to the table, Pansy offered her friend a kind smile. "Because you're you," she replied. "He won't risk losing you. Not now. Not ever."

Hermione prayed that she was right.