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CHAPTER 21
Her feet hurt and needless to say they had swollen too. She whimpered and placed her hand on her back to support her weight then waddled to the nearest sofa. She only walked about twenty metres but panted as she had run a marathon. Eight more weeks to go and Hermione was suffering from fatigue, heart burns, shortness of breath, puffy feet, insomnia and hundreds of other pregnancy related discomfort. Finally, when she sat down, baby moved in protest and kicked her rib cage harder, and she groaned in pain.
'That's definitely the Malfoy gene.' She thought. "Sorry Love, Mummy needs to sit down my precious." She said rubbing her swollen stomach in affection. Then she took her wand and bent down to reach her feet. She knew her baby wouldn't like to be cramped, but she had no other option than using a spell to relieve her pain.
If he could avoid, Draco Malfoy never happened to be in the first floor for any purpose. It was his wife's floor and he tend to keep away from it, but that day for some reason he was there in her floor and caught a glimpse of his wife when he just tried to get away quickly. She looked exhausted and was struggling to aim the wand at her heavily swollen feet. Without thinking twice, he walked to his wife and sat next to her then gently picked up her feet and placed them on his lap and started to massage them slowly while she watched him in surprise. He was glad that he paid attention to Dr. Granger, when they had Dinner with in-laws last week. Dr. Granger explained him the way he massaged his wife's feet when she was expecting their daughter and Draco never thought it was going to be useful but just listened as he didn't want to be rude. With magic, he didn't see a real purpose of learning those techniques when they were able to recover from all aches and pains with a flick of a wand. But when he saw his wife was struggling to point her wand at her feet, he realised that sometimes things couldn't be achieved easily by magic. He didn't even know the reason he walked to her or offered her a muggle massage when he could use magic instead.
He massaged carefully avoiding her acupressure points, and she exhaled in relief but as usual both of them avoided their eye contact. Every day as a routine, Draco used to visit her and inquired about her health and she used to reply him politely. It was more like a formal affair and Hermione hid her discomfort from him successfully and only let him know the concerns she had about their baby. But he knew she was not comfortable though she didn't complain a single time. Slowly, slowly Hermione started to relax and drifted off to sleep. Her pregnancy insomnia had worsened since her seventh month, and she had started to fall asleep anywhere during the daytime. Draco had noticed this quite often, and his concern for her wellbeing had increased ten folds. He loved his unborn child very much but didn't like to see his wife was having a hard time. He didn't know how long he was massaging her feet, and he didn't want to stop or walk away when she was sleeping. He summoned a couple of pillows and placed them under her to make her comfortable. After few minutes, she moaned in pain and opened her eyes.
"Malfoy, What are you doing here?" She asked in confusion.
"Having my lunch..." He replied drily. "Do you suffer from temporary memory loss Granger? I thought you saw what I was doing, before you nodded off."
"B-but that was over an hour ago..." with a bewildered look, she checked the time. "Merlin! It's nearly two hours! Don't tell me you are massaging my feet without a break..." She cried.
"No, I ordered an elf to do it..." He scowled.
"I didn't say anything to make you upset..." she muttered.
"No, no you didn't, but you just sounded like I'm not capable of taking care of my very pregnant wife for a couple of hours..." He snapped.
She sighed. "I've been pregnant for past seven months and how many times you did something like this apart from reading out your morning questionnaire every day?" She snapped back.
"You never appreciate what I do, don't you?" He asked in a dangerous tone.
"Because you never truly mean them, you just do them for the sake of doing them." She spat.
"Really?"
"Yes, really!"
"So you think I gave you a foot massage for the sake of doing it, not because I care...Merlin woman! I should have used magic then..." He yelled
"I-I don't mean like..." She stammered.
"Do you know what your problem is?" He interrupted her. "You never trust me. For you I'm still a school bully and a death eater... a-and I don't think you will ever change your opinion because...because you always think you are right and never ever try to change your conclusions..."
"No, I'm not..."
"Yes, you are... We hardly talk, but if we ever talk more than ninety-five percent we argue and you accuse me that I'm not caring enough. How many times I told you that I DO CARE! But it's not sinking into your thick head..."
"It is you who avoid me..."
"Because you don't like my company..."
"If I don't like your company, how come this happened...?" She asked pointing her stomach.
He raised his brows with a mischievous grin. "Do you really want me to explain..."
"NO!" She interrupted turning bright red, " I-I mean I don't hate your company, but based on our history, you think I do. It is really you who are thick headed to change your point of view." She rubbed her stomach slowly then looked at him with a smile. "Malfoy, give me your hand..."
"Errr... What?"
"Give me your hand quickly..."
He lazily stretched his arm. She quickly grabbed it and placed on her stomach. Then he felt it; a gentle nudge. His baby was moving inside her. With half-opened mouth, he looked at her.
"Baby's doing it since twentieth week. That means for twelve weeks. So tell me how many times you felt this before..." She asked raising her brows.
"None. This is my first time..." He looked at her with guilt filled eyes.
"Pray tell me, how come a caring husband and a father-to-be didn't feel it before?" She mocked him.
"it's because Granger... because it's all your fault.."
"How come it's my fault?" She knitted her brows.
"What will you do if I come and hug you, kiss you and caress your stomach? You will definitely look at me as if I lost my mind."
"No, I'm not! I never look at you like that..."
"Really? I sat with you and gave you a foot massage, and you gave me that look. Believe me Granger, it's killing me when you do that."
Hermione sighed. "I-I never...never feel uncomfortable in your arms or your company..."
He raised his brows with a smirk. "Maybe you might be missing my old self. Don't worry love, I can easily go back to that person if you really want me to..." He mocked.
She scowled. "I don't think you have changed at all..."
Before he could reply, he felt another movement. "He moved again!" He exclaimed. "And what is this?" he asked gently caressing a little protruding knob like thing.
"Firstly, baby can be a girl, so stop calling he every time and that thing can be either an elbow or a knee... and I think it's definitely a knee this time..."
"Does it...does it hurt when he...I mean when the baby kicks and turns?" He asked with concern.
Hermione shrugged. "Well, it's not comfortable sometimes, but I do really like when she or he does that. It means I'm caring a healthy live baby." She looked at him with a smile. "Malfoy, if you want... if you really want, you can talk to the baby..."
"Talk?" He looked at her with a surprise. "Can he... can he understand us."
"Again, I'm telling you, your 'he' can be a girl." She knitted her brows. "Of course babies can understand us. My muggle 'pregnancy guide' states parents should talk to their babies more frequently and our's responses to me most of the time." She looked at him hopefully. "So tell me, do you want to talk?"
He didn't reply but slowly knelt down in front of her and placed his both hand on her swollen belly in affection. "Hello baby, I'm your father..." he muttered without knowing what to say, and then gently kissed her stomach, giving her goosebumps. Without a delay, baby kicked harder at his face.
"Whoa! What's that for? Someone got their mother's temper..."He shouted in surprise.
"Serves you right Malfoy..." Hermione giggled. "Our baby is thirty-two weeks old and this is the first time their father ever talked to him or her. That explains the anger. What else do you expect?"
Draco furrowed at his laughing wife then continued paying attention to her belly. "I'm very sorry love, for not talking to you before. You are my first baby, and nobody told me that I could talk to you..." he said caressing the stomach with both hands. "Are you going to forgive your father?" Baby moved gently, and he smiled. "I promise you that I'm going to talk to you regularly... father loves you very much."
Hermione was speechless and watched him with half opened mouth. Draco continued talking to the baby. "I hope you'll take after your mother. She the bravest and most intelligent witch I've ever met, and she'll be a positive influence on you. Follow her footsteps baby, you'll be the luckiest person on earth..." He exhaled heavily. Before he continued, Hermione's trembling hands came to meet his. She placed her hands on top of his.
"Baby, your father is one of the most caring men I have ever met." She said. "He is willing to go any length to protect his loved ones, even to scarify himself and his happiness. So be glad to have him as your father. He will teach you and show you everything that your mummy cannot do. He will teach you to ride a broom and play Quidditch and many more things... He loves you endlessly... yes, he does..." She muttered.
Draco stared at her as he had seen a ghost. He looked into her eye without saying a word then slowly got up keeping his eye contact. He gently cupped her face and pressed his lips to hers for a quick kiss.
"I-I have to go now..." He mumbled. "See you both tonight..."
Hermione nodded her head. He took her both hands and kissed them softly before removing himself from the room quickly as possible.
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"MUM!"
Molly Weasley nearly fell off the bed when she heard someone was calling her in a panic. It was around four thirty in the morning, and she poked her still sleeping husband and woke him up.
"What?" He stirred sleepily.
"I heard someone calling me."
"Probably a dream Molly, I didn't hear anything."
"MUM! ARE YOU AWAKE!"
"It's George!" Molly jumped out of the bed and rushed to the nearest fireplace and Arthur followed her as quickly as a flash.
"Yes, I am. What is it George? Is everything alright?"
"No mum, Millie is not feeling well. Would you mind come and see what's wrong with her Please." He pleased.
"Step away from the floo I'm coming." Molly disappeared into green flame and Arthur followed her without a delay.
George was pacing in his study anxiously and ran to his mother when she arrived.
"What's going on George?" She asked her agitated son.
"Millie... Millie didn't join me today." He mumbled struggling with shallow and rapid breathing. "She never did that before for... for any reason. So I went to check on her. She was up but didn't look alright, and she told me she felt lightheaded. Then suddenly she ran to the bathroom and became violently sick and passed out. I carried her back to bed and called you because... because I don't know what to do. Please...please do something mum, I'm very worried about her health..." He added panicking.
"Calm down Child. I'll go and see what's wrong with her." She said heading towards the door, and George followed her in a hurry. "Stay here with your dad. Don't come with me looking like that because it's definitely going to make her upset. She will be devastated if she sees her husband is panicking."
After his mother had left the room, George sighed heavily and rubbed his temples vigorously then started to pace back and forth in frustration.
"Sit down George, sit and breathe..." Arthur finally opened his mouth when it was quite unbearable to watch his son any longer, but he didn't listen to his father and continued pacing while running both hands through his hair in distress.
His Millie...his dearest Millie... it was impossible to watch when she was suffering. Their marriage didn't happen based on love but since the day she came to his life, she siphoned out the extraordinary emptiness he had after Fred's death. Of course, she couldn't replace his twin but her caring company enlighten his life in a different way. Since the very first day of their marriage, he was attracted to her. It was neither lust nor a mere physical attraction but in some very deep emotional way he was bonded to her. She became his everything... he couldn't imagine his life without her. He even knew the society pitied him when he got paired with her. She was a very plain, simple and plump girl, but she had a heart made up of gold and that matter him the most than her physical appearance. He was lucky, indeed very lucky to have a wife like her.
His mother was late, and he kicked a chair hard making his father swear loudly. After he had felt like ten years, she returned with a happy smile and twinkling eyes, and he ran to her impatiently. She completely ignored him and turned to her husband who was looking at her with raised brows.
"Just as I guessed..." She said happily, and Arthur smiled.
"WHAT? What's wrong with her?" George impatiently yelled.
"Nothing, nothing wrong with her at all." Molly shrugged.
"How come nothing wrong? She was violently sick and passed out..." He shouted back.
"They are just symptoms George. She doesn't have a serious illness." Molly said in a very casual tone. "Why don't you go and see her? She got something to tell you..."
"Symptoms... something to tell..." He muttered. Then he realised it. Ginny, Fleur, Audrey and even Hermione had those symptoms. They used to complain about dizziness and used to throw up when they were... "Merlin!" He gasped. "Merlin...!" He muttered again after collapsed into the nearest chair with wide opened eyes and raised brows. Yes, finally he understood every word came out of his mother's mouth...
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