A/N: Chapter 11, hand crafted, just for you! Yay!

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When You Lose Your Way

A Trip To The Ladies Room in Vain

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"Draco Malfoy, get over here right now!"

Mother of all things Holy. What now?

I grinded my teeth together in anger as I cautiously approached the almost five month pregnant woman sitting in our dorm room. "Yes, Hermione?"

"I said chocolate covered peanuts with a hint of sprinkles and pickles on the side."

I looked down at the ice cream cone I had placed in her hands not two seconds ago. I examined it. Chocolate? Yes. Peanuts? Yup. Sprinkles? Indeed. Pickles? Grotesquely enough, pretty much.

"Yes, I know. What's the problem?"

"I said a hint of sprinkles. Not the entire thing covered in sprinkles!" I looked closer. Ah, so I had put more sprinkles in there than I intended. Well, too. Freaking. Bad.

"I suppose now your cravings," I wanted to add insanely, preposterous, disgusting cravings, "will be more fulfilled. Right?" I said.

She pouted angrily at me. "I don't want it anymore."

I gave her a very, very, tight smile. "Well, you're going to have it, Hermione."

"I'm full now!" I scoffed. She definitely wasn't saying that five minutes ago.

"Granger," I bit out, going back to the name I used to call her, "I didn't go all the way to Diagon Alley, down the street and past the Weasley's annoying joke shop to Florine Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and get you that disgusting order for nothing!"

She humphed. "Fine, Draco. I hope you know this means that I'll be on your case the whole entire day."

I gave her another tight smile and turned around, walking away. It wasn't like she wasn't already on my case every single tiring day.

"Enjoy," I said fakely, as I stomped my way to my room. "Yell if you need anything," I told her without turning around. I know I shouldn't have said that because I was already tired in the first place, but I promised to be there for her and the baby. Sadly enough, I'm a man of my word.

We had been through a lot, Hermione and I. The past two months after accepting what happened, had been full of a lot of worrying, cat-calls from classmates and fighting. Not only did I have to take care of a ranting pregnant woman, but we had exam preparation for the month of May and I had the Quidditch semi-finals with Ravenclaw terribly soon.

I know it's only been four months of her pregnancy, but I don't know if I can handle the next five.

Hermione was getting plumper by the day. Of course I never tell her that, for I would surely be decapitated. But it was a pretty plumpness that suited her well. I was becoming more responsible (not that I wasn't already) and was learning many father type things. Like changing diapers, holding babies and potty training!

...Mind you, I'm teaching the potty training on the kid, not on myself.

But anyways. Life goes on, and I'm doing pretty well.

Knock, knock.

I rubbed my eyes and groaned. I'd only just layed myself down in bed, and she was already asking for something again?

"What is it, Hermione? Need me to help you see your feet? 'Cause you know, if you try really hard, you can see them. Just 'cause you can't see your feet doesn't mean your fat!" I yelled. I said that because Hermione usually got cranky when she realized she stopped seeing her feet when she looked down. This was a bad thing when she was into one of her mood swings, because she'd dissolve into a fit of whiny tears.

Oh, Merlin. Please not again.

"Oh, can't you help me, Draco, please? I miss my feet ever so dearly!" I raised my eyebrows. Hermione sounded oddly like a man.

"That's not funny!" I heard someone else screech in the living room. Okay, that voice was definitely Hermione's own.

I heard laughing from behind the door. "Okay, sorry, Granger. Oy, Draco, let me in!"

I rolled my eyes and got off the bed. I swung the door open and let Blaise go in.

"Very funny," I said aggravatedly, as he walked inside.

He chuckled, "I know, eh?"

"Don't make too much noise! I'm meditating!" the crazy pregnant woman screeched. I groaned inwardly. Checking outside for a brief moment, I saw Hermione sitting in front of the fire with her legs crossed in an odd way. She looked like she was taking a massive dump, instead of concentrating.

I slammed the door, regardless of the noise it made.

"What did I just say?" she yelled. I pounded my fists into the air in front of me and then flopped down onto my bed again.

"She's driving me insane."

"Yeah, I can see that," Blaise said, completely and thoroughly and amused.

"You try taking care of that girl! I mean, it was fine taking care of her for a while, 'cause I got to piss her off by being too caring, but now, I think she thinks I want to be caring for her!"

"Don't worry. It's just a stage."

"I hope it's a short one," I grumbled, as I rolled face first into my pillow. "What's up?" I said, with a muffled voice.

"Zero. How's the kid?"

I raised my eyebrow into the pillow. "You do know it's not born yet, right?" He didn't answer. I believe he couldn't translate the muffled noise that came from the pillow. I lifted my head and yawned. "It's fine," I told him.

Blaise nodded. "That's cool."

"Yeah. I'm actually really excited for it to be born."

"Is Granger?"

"Are you kidding? She can't wait till the thing pops out of her and she can start seeing her feet again for goodness sake."

"You should get her shoes as a baby shower gift. Hey, what size is she?" he asked jokingly.

"Eight and a half," I said promptly. Blaise arched an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yup," I said, while taking my quidditch things out. "You want to go out and practice Quidditch? It's going to be May soon, and our semi-final game's about two weeks into it."

"Sure," Blaise said, as he began watching me grab my equipment.

"Hey, you've got new gloves," he said, as I took my seeker gloves out from my cabinet. I nodded.

"Yeah, they're velvet. Hermione said velvet was more easy with the hands than leather." I stuffed my fingers inside of them and flexed it.

"Really now?" he asked, with some sort of suspicion in his voice. I shrugged.

"Yeah, so?"

He didn't reply. "Hey, by the way," Blaise said instead, "what's Granger's favourite colour? You know, I'm just thinking about a baby shower present for her."

I eyed him suspiciously. "Sunset gold and royal dark blue."

He raised both his eyebrows. "What's her favourite food?"

I scoffed. "Before she got all pregnant-woman on me? Hmm... assorted treacle tarts, as long as they're not made by Hagrid. But right now, it's pretty much anything with pickles in it."

"What does she do in her spare time?" he continued to question. I went with the flow.

"Reads, of course."

"What's her favourite book?" Blaise inquired almost immediately after I answered.

"It varies by author and by mood. Right now it's anything by Richard Hawkins, the wizard who writes about romance."

He smirked. "Who's her favourite band?"

"Tied between the Thumping Thestrals and the Weird Sisters."

"Her lucky number?"

"Six for even numbers and nineteen for odd."

He gave me odd looks, most being triumphant. Blaise continued to throw me question after question, and I continued to answer with correct, precise, detailed answers. I was surprised I knew half of those things myself.

"Favourite type of quill?"

"Silver gray eagle feather."

"Favourite class?"

"Arithmancy, but only with Professor Vector."

"Favourite Hogsmeade shop?"

"Honeydukes, no questions asked."

"Favourite hair style?"

"Long and somewhat curly. It needs some bounce when she walks, but not so much."

"Name for the baby?"

"Well, I'm positive she's thinking about naming it - " I paused, "wait a second. These are all questions for a baby shower, are they?" I asked with narrowed eyes. By now I was already fully clothed in my quidditch uniform and I pointed my Nimbus 2001 straight at his face.

He backed off with a smile. "Maybe."

"Okay," I said slowly, "what were the questions really for?" I demanded.

Blaise smirked at me. "Draco, you're so smitten."

Excuse me? I'm what?

I gaped at him. "Define smitten."

"Smitten. Adjective. Any one person who is clearly interested in someone. Ways of knowing this are continuous talking of said person, staring of said person, and knowing everything of said person." He smiled at me.

"What?" I exploded.

"Mate, you like her! And you haven't even realized it!"

"No I don't!" I yelled. "How could you be so insane as to even think that?"

"How could you be insane enough to like her?" he countered, though with amusement in his eyes.

"Blaise, erase this thought from your head. It's definitely one of your more crazier ideas."

He smirked. "Maybe so."

"You're psycho," I muttered, while grabbing my duffel bag and heading for the door.

"Hey, you're not freaking out because you don't want her to know, are you?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Uh, no! I don't like her!"

He rolled his eyes. "You're just scared she doesn't feel the same way."

What the fu -

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"I'm sorry, Blaise," I said.

He looked at me puzzled. "For what?"

"For telling Mungo's they could release you early from your pyscho ward. I think you should check back in there."

He punched me on the shoulder. "You like her," he said, and he opened the door and walked past me.

"I don't!" I whispered, close behind him, making sure Hermione wouldn't hear.

"You do," he sing-songed away from me.

"I don't!"

"You do."

I growled. "Let's just get to the pitch, okay?"

He smiled at me, as I quickly said goodbye to Hermione and told her I'd be back in an hour or so. "I left your favourite lasagna with pickle in the oven over there if you're hungry. And if you're bored, I put that book you like so much on the coffee table."

She smiled at me. "Thanks. Sorry I was being cranky earlier."

I smiled at her and patted her hand. "It's fine."

I turned around and almost crashed into Blaise's smirking face. "Drop it," I hissed, as I walked past him.

He was insane. Really. I hadn't even thought of liking Hermione at all until he mentioned it. Honestly, this guy was a piece of work. Now I would be thinking of it all day.

I grabbed the door and swung it open, hoping it hit Blaise in the face to stop him from talking. Sadly, it didn't. "I don't," I said suddenly. He didn't answer.

"You do."

And for a moment I thought he had stopped. How stupid of me.

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Well. That was fun.

I had wasted about two hours of my time, trying to fly and get myself ready before an upcoming, important, life changing match, while Blaise insisted that "I do," every five seconds for the whole entire practice.

Talk about annoying, will you?

"You do," he repeated, following me inside the changerooms.

"I don't," I said, taking off my practice uniform.

"You do."

"No, I don't."

He rolled his eyes. "What's her favourite muggle drink?"

"Rootbeer and anything diet."

He smirked wildly in front of me. "You do!"

I let out exactly one million exasperated breaths. "I do not!"

"You do."

"I don't."

"You. Do."

"No, I really don't!"

"You - "

In one swift movement I dropped everything in my hands and pinned him against the wall. With a mighty growl, I shoved him further up against it, and tightened my grip on his uniform. He looked at me with half surprise and amusement on his face. This only made me angrier.

"Finish that sentence and you'll be a permanent part of this wall, Zabini."

He chuckled. "Will I now?"

With my less stronger hand, I thumped it on the space beside his head, so he would think that I was going to hit him. He ducked just a little bit.

"Don't tempt me, mate," I threatened.

He gave me a serious look. "Okay, okay. Let me go," he ordered.

Slowly, my grip loosened on him and I let him slide down the wall. He seemed to breathe a little bit better after I had done so.

Blaise ignored me for a few moments before he started changing and went to one of the cubicles to take a shower. I let him go. When he came back, his hair was wet and he was in new clothes, while I was sitting on the changing benches, my head down, hands crossed. I hadn't moved an inch since he showered.

"Ready to go?"

"Not quite," I said, removing what was left of my uniform from my body.

"Alright, well, I'm going to go ahead."

"You do that," I said, while slipping off my shirt.

"Okay." He turned and walked towards the door. He seemed really apologetic from the looks of it. I smiled a little at that. "Hey, mate?" he called to me seriously after my thought. I sighed and turned around to face him.

"What's up?"

He looked at me sympathetically. And then his lips cracked into an amused smile. "You do!"

My lips scrunched together into an ugly, pinched form, and I gave him one angry look before I dashed forwards to get him.

"See ya!" Blaise yelled, before running off in a direction I couldn't follow.

I heaved angrily and only just stopped myself from punching the wall. I snarled.

"I do not."

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I had already heard their voices when I walked into the common room after practice. I didn't know what I should do since Hermione was occupied, so I guessed I would get some homework finished before dinner, and then rest the remainder of the night if it continued like this. Finally, a good night's rest.

"Hermione?" I said, popping my head into the bathroom.

"Yes?" she asked. She stood in front of the mirror with Ginny, both doing something with their hair. I looked at them both oddly because of the style they were experimenting with their hair. "What are you doing?"

"Just trying out some new do's," Ginny said. That would explain the dye and chopsticks.

"Okay. Well, I'm going to be doing homework in my room or sleeping, but if you need anything - "

" - Just yell," Hermione finished. She smiled at me through the mirror. "I know. Thanks." I nodded and left the door slightly ajar so I could hear if Hermione was going to yell.

I walked towards my bedroom and switched the light on. I let myself fall onto my bed.

Sleeping was not an option at the moment. I pretty much have Blaise to thank for that.

I couldn't like her. I really couldn't. She was Hermione and I was Draco. The thought would have never crossed anyone's mind. The only way we would be together is if one of us were drunk and -

Scratch that. That's already happened.

But that was different! Completely and utterly different.

But the thought wouldn't be that preposterous, would it? To like Hermione? She's pretty enough for me, even Blaise admits it. And she's just as smart as me! I hate dating dumb girls, so that's definitely a plus. But she's got two best friends that hate me... which would only make dating her that much more fun. Liking Hermione wouldn't be disgusting at all!

Sort of.

But the definite upside of this would be that our baby would have parents who are together. Not seperated parents or anything like that. And I wanted what was best for our baby. I smiled.

I could hear Hermione and Ginny chatting softly, as I'd left my door slightly open. I sighed. I didn't really care at the moment whether or not I'd be able to sleep, so I could at least try.

With lots of effort, I dragged myself up out of bed, and stood up to fully close my door.

"So how's Draco doing so far?" I heard Ginny ask. I stopped.

"He's fine."

"No, not like that. How's he doing so far with the responsibility? Taking care of you and things like that."

I raised my eyebrows. Hermione waited to respond.

"He's doing very good. I didn't know he could be this responsible to be honest." I smirked. Darn right.

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's with me everywhere I go. He wants to make sure I'm okay wherever I am, and truthfully, I like having him around."

Ginny didn't reply to that. I'm not entirely sure that was a good thing.

"So you two are hanging out a lot more than usual?"

"Of course," Hermione said, "but I have a feeling that even if he wasn't the father, he'd still be trying to take care of me."

"You think?"

I waited patiently for her answer.

"Well, yeah. Draco's a good guy. He's great," she said.

"Great, huh?" I narrowed my eyes. 'Course I'm great! There should be no questions asked!

"Wonderful," Hermione said. I smiled inwardly.

"Wow. You think pretty highly of him now," Ginny comented. Hey, that was true.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

Ginny paused for a moment. "Hey... you don't... like him, do you?"

My mouth dropped to the very bottom of the floor. I waited for Hermione to reply, but she didn't. Come on woman, hurry up!

"Do you?" Ginny asked.

"No," Hermione said simply. My heart skipped a beat.

"Really?"

Hermione sighed. "Yeah. I mean... it's too soon to tell. I'm positive I don't, but hey, you never know."

"That's interesting."

"How so?"

"Oh, just 'cause. A while I go I actually heard - "

I shut my door. I didn't want to hear anymore.

I walked back to my bed and sat down slowly.

She didn't like me?

Hermione Granger doesn't have feelings for me.

The mother of my child is not interested in me.

Our child's mother was not romantically interest in me.

How many other ways could I say it?

But hey, if she didn't like me, that was fine. There were plenty of other fish in the Great Lake. And I was almost positive that I didn't like her, so there's no reason to be disappointed. We were both fine, and so that means I should be okay.

I rested my head onto my pillow and drifted to sleep. My thoughts were "I don't," and it repeated itself in my mind over and over again. Because it's true. I don't like Hermione Granger.

Right?

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To be continued...

A/N: Oh gosh, forgive me if that was rushed. Seriously, I'm so so so sorry. Especially if the whole "Draco liking Hermione" thing came too soon. I'm so conscious of the speed in this story, I may either be doing it too slow or too fast. Tell me how I can improve if you like! Review, review, review! Thanks and much love!