Disclaimer: I own nothing apart from Ariadne Aurora Malfoy-Granger. Everything else belongs to the genius J K Rowling.

Summary: It was a normal day for Draco Malfoy, but as soon as he stepped out of the fire place and brushed the soot off his robes he knew something was wrong. On his bed was a wicker Moses basket stuffed with a bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby girl fast asleep. She had nothing with her except a letter addressed to him and a golden necklace he knew too well. T for safety.

A/N just a quick note to you guys to please check out my other story, The Cursed. If you want a good old drama and ball full of mystery then this one could be your fix. It involves a curse that is placed upon Draco by Lucius due to an accident that haunts Draco in his dreams and memories. And of course, Hermione has to find a cure for this curse or Draco will meet his untimely fate. Draco's curse involves him closing himself up to everyone in fear that if they love him, they will die and if he ever falls involve with the wrong sort again he himself will die. Intrigued, well, why don't you check it out and make sure that you leave a review!

Chapter Twenty Five

Secrets

"She's asleep as you can see, Zabini." Ginny whispered urgently as they looked down at a sleeping Hermione, tucked amongst the blankets in one of the spare rooms. Her youthful face was relaxed, all her worries gone, and one would think that she the carefree witch once more.

"How long has she been sleeping?" Blaise sighed defeatedly.

"Since she came over."

"Well, she does need some rest." Blaise nodded his head once at Ginny and padded his way to the door quietly. Just as he was about to open the door he heard a sleepy voice.

"Blaise?"

"Good afternoon, sleepyhead." Blaise plastered a forced smile on his face, before he turned around on his heels and perched on the foot of Hermione's bed. Hermione smiled, her eyes narrowing at Blaise's forced smile but before she can so anything she yawned rather unladylike.

"I'll give you a few moments." Ginny laughed at the sheepish expression Hermione pulled and Blaise couldn't help but chuckle.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Well, lets put it this way, you came to Potter on a Monday afternoon and its now Wednesday afternoon." Blaise patted Hermione's leg and Hermione let out a surprised gasp before she bolted up into a sitting position only to hit her head on the headboard.

"Your getting clumsy in your old age, Granger."

"Shut up, Zabini." Hermione scowled as she rubbed the sore part of her head "Why are you here anyway?"

"I've got both good and bad news." Blaise sighed tiredly and stroked the outline of his jaw like he always do when his anxious.

"Oh, bad news first." Hermione whispered, her eyes drawn to the window that overlooked the garden.

"Narcissa has got both Addie and my mother." Blaise said as he too looked out the window. Hermione took in a sharp breath but she remained stoic. There was a bout of silence between the two of them and to break it, Blaise cleared his throat and expanded his news.

"They're not at Malfoy Manor, naturally. We're trying our best to find Ariadne and my mother. Potter has dispatched about 30 Aurors to look for them, and another 20 Aurors all around Europe. Nearly every Ministry had been alerted, we will find them Hermione." Blaise shuffled up the bed and took her hand into his.

"And the good news?" Hermione sighed defeatedly, fighting back tears furiously,

"I'm not finished, Granger."

"There's more bad news?"

"Yes." Blaise frowned and Hermione could see that he was having an internal battle with himself. "Draco wouldn't like what I'm about to tell you, he won't like it one little bit. But what can he do now? You know how Draco is, he thinks he can fix things before anyone else notices."

"You're babbling, Blaise."

"Right, sorry. There's a reason why Narcissa is suddenly going after Draco. I don't doubt she's the one that sent Grimm to curse the bloke. Anyway, maybe three weeks before you came back Narcissa paid Draco a visit. As you might be able to tell, it was one hell of a surprise visit. I knew something was wrong because he started spending a lot more time in the Library. And during Addie's birthday, Mama said something to him that raised my suspicion. You must understand, Granger, I knew nothing about this until the morning of Draco's attack."

"What's going on?"

"There is an old Pureblood law, it involves the male's family laying claim on an illegitimate child in exchange for something else. Narcissa has twisted it, to suit her aims, and her terms are that Draco would marry a Pureblood bride. Upon the night of his marriage he will be reinstated as the legitimate heir to the Malfoy Fortunes. If not, Ariadne will pay the price. Draco has a year and he's convinced that Narcissa is under Blood Magic and if he can break it, he can persuade his mother to drop the claim." Blaise informed and Hermione sat still as she tried to digest everything.

So that's why Draco was asking her about Blood Magic. She felt hurt that Draco didn't tell her about his situation, she knew she should be angry for keeping everything quiet but she couldn't find it in her heart to do. She felt... numb.

"Who's the chosen bride?"

"Astoria Greengrass." Blaise grimaced as the words left his mouth bitterly. Hermione knew of the youngest Greengrass' infatuation with Draco, she's seen in at first hand. The way Astoria pretty much worshipped the ground Draco walked on and the way she hang on his every word. Hermione remembered the days Draco would complain about the clingy Sixth Year and how he would try to shake her off. Hermione certainly thought that Astoria would be over it by now, but she had a feeling the younger witch still clung to her obsession.

"And what's the good news?"

"Draco's awake." Blaise smiled thinly as Hermione's head snapped towards his direction and looked at his with wide eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes pooled with tears and Blaise didn't know if they were tears of joy or fear. Hermione sniffed and wrapped her arms around her mid section.

"What's wrong? I thought you'd be happy that Draco's awake. And with Draco, we'll find Addie quicker and this will all be over." Blaise inquired, his voice soft and velvety.

"Narcissa is going to kill my daughter and then she's going to kill me." Hermione muttered her reply.

"Narcissa can't kill her, without Addie she doesn't have a bargaining chip and she definitely needs to get her hands on everything she can to even have the slight chance of Draco doing what she wants. But it won't come to that, we'll put an end to this madness." Blaise said, his brown eyes sparkled with a promise.

"But what if it does, she kills us both and Draco will have no choice but to do it. She gets everything she wants; we'll be out of the picture, Draco will be a true Malfoy once more and of course she'll be expecting an heir to carry on the pure Malfoy bloodline."

"But, Hermione, Draco can't have another child. The Malfoy curse says so and the Malfoy name ends with Ariadne."

"Ariadne is a girl, Blaise. Every single Malfoy born after the curse has always been a boy." Hermione looked at him sadly

"No longer would a Malfoy be limited to one child." Blaise said slowly, the realisation slapping him across the face.

"Draco's gone and broken the curse. This is more than the family fortunes, it's more about the bloodline. Narcissa knows she can afford to kill Ariadne, she won't care about innocent blood. The curse is broken, and now because of me more innocent blood will be spilt..." Hermione trailed off vaguely, tightening her grip around herself.

"What do you mean, Granger, more innocent blood?" Blaise frowned, not familiar to the way Hermione was speaking in riddles. Hermione cast her eyes onto her lap and muttered something Blaise couldn't quite catch.

"What? I didn't quite catch that."

"I said; I'm pregnant, Blaise." Hermione muttered a little louder and in response Blaise spluttered in disbelief.

"What? How far along?"

"Six weeks, give or take." Hermione sniffed and when she lifted her eyes to meet Blaise's surprised ones he noticed that a lone tear stained her cheeks.

"Oh, Hermione." Blaise cooed and gathered her into his arms. She melted willingly into him and grateful for the comfort and warmth he offered.

"Because of me, my unborn child will die too. Die for something that never happened in their lifetime." Hermione's muffled sob echoed around the silent room and Blaise tightened his arms around her, whispering comforting words.

"No, Hermione, no one is going to die. Not Ariadne, my mother or your unborn child. If anything they are the reason you'll live, and you will be able to give them the best life they deserved. We will fight this, put an end to it and then we can put it all behind us. Draco will never let any more harm come to you, Ariadne or the little one, and nor will I. I can promise you that. After all you're Hermione Granger, the Brightest Witch of our Age, the Golden Girl. You ran with Potter and you defeated one bastard of a Dark Lord, what those sons of bitches throw at you now will be next to nothing with what you achieve when you were just a third of their age." Blaise murmured into her hair and Hermione let out a strangled chuckle.

"Please refrain from moving Mister Malfoy, I know this is uncomfortable but the stiller you are the faster I can work." An irritated Healer plastered a cold salve on his back and Draco let out a low hiss because of the sting upon contact. Ever since the Weasley with the scarred face woke him up from his curse, he'd had potions, oitments, salves here and there, been poked and prodded by needles, wands and fingers. He's actually surprised that he didn't develop new bruises because of the way they man handled him. All his bruises, cuts and broken bones on his front had been healed and they made him flip on his stomach so they could do the same to his back.

"That's disgusting." Draco groaned as he got a whiff of the salve they were plastering him with and it smelt like one of Crabbe's rotting old sock that Draco had the unfortunate luck of finding it in his trunk during Sixth Year. It definitely doing nothing good for his dull headache.

"There you go Mister Malfoy, you're good as new. Though I advice you stay here for a week of bed rest because you're still weak and go easy on yourself for Merlin sake." The Healer said, rubbing her hands together before she brandished her wand to pack away the ointments, salves and potions into a leather bag and she left the room. When the door clicked softly into its lock, Draco swung his legs over onto the floor and pushed himself up using his arms. He stumbled a little, unsteady on his feet, but he caught himself by swiftly putting his arm out onto the bedside table. He felt slightly dizzy and now he understood what the Healer meant by weak. Slowly he made his way to the bathroom, but not before taking with him a loose shirt that was slightly worn out by age and a pair of grey cotton jogging bottoms, Blaise had carefully set out on the bottom of his bed.

Draco sighed when he caught sight of himself in the mirror. His fair hair stuck out in all different directions as if someone had run a current through him and he frustratedly patted it down. He had dark rings under his eyes, his cheeks were slightly sunken and he was paler than he normally is. He really did look sick and it looked as if his skin was permanently stained grey. He looked... awful.

With a groan, he stripped off his clothes swiftly and stepped into the shower. He sighed with content as the hot water drops pelted his tight muscles, loosening them up and relaxing him. He tilted his head upwards to let the water run down his face and he thought back to his unconscious state. All he could remember was the searing hot pain as the curse hit him, Pansy's hysterical screams and then a sea of endless nothing. The next thing he knew was the feeling of warm calmness of floating in the sea of darkness, the feeling of its gentle waves beneath him and the night's constellations above him. He could hear voices too but he couldn't quite make them out so he just let the voices wash over him and lull him to a dream of stars and pretty silver eyes that he had the feeling belonged to a child. But just as he was about to slip back into a welcoming sleep the searing hot pains came back and jolted him from the calm sea. The sea beneath him raged like angry red tide and disappeared just as quickly before he plummeted down into a bottomless pit. He could hear the echoes of tortured screams and he convinced himself that he was dead, this was his judgement and he was going straight to hell for his past sins. But then, the sea of nothingness was back and he was once again floating on his back with the stars winking playfully at him. Then a beam of gentle light came onto him, familiar voices calling out to him and when he finally opened his eyes the first thing he saw were the curious gazes of Potter, Blaise and the second oldest Weasley looming over him.

Feeling refreshed and clean he stepped out of the steaming shower, the mist actually doing wonders for his headache as he shrugged into fresh clothes. He once again caught himself on the mirror and this time thankfully his wet hair framed his face, he looked more awake and he had a pink tint on his cheeks. Grabbing his towel to dry his hair he stepped out of the bathroom and he only got as far as one stride when he collided with some one that had curly hair and smelled strongly of vanilla and jasmine.

"Careful Granger, I'm still a bit sore." Draco chuckled softly as he dropped the towel and wrapped him arms around Hermione. Hermione mumbled something into his chest and he planted a kiss on her head before resting his cheeks into her soft hair.

"What was that, Princess?"

"Never frighten me like that again, Draco Lucius Malfoy, or my soul can't take it." Hermione stepped out of his embrace and scowled at him with a scolding finger.

"I'll try not to, love." Draco winced at the use of his full name before he pulled her scolding finger towards him and kissed it. Hermione couldn't help but laugh and shake her head. Draco then pulled her back to his arm and directing them to sit on the couch. Draco laid down and rested his head on her lap, and closed his eyes whilst playing with her fingers.

"A-Ariadne..." Hermione started but Draco shushed her.

"Bu-"

"Shhh, Granger. I know about it, Blaise told me, so don't you go blaming yourself. I know how your whirring mind works and it is not your fault. None of this is your fault, my mother has just got it in for me." Draco reassured before Hermione started her its-all-my-fault rant. He opened one of his silver eyes to look into her sad ones and he reached his hand up to caress Hermione's cheeks.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione whispered so softly that Draco nearly didn't hear but he still caught it.

"What?" Draco stiffened, his muscles locking as he had an idea of where this conversation was going.

"Blaise told me about Narcissa's ultimatum. Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione repeated, a small frown knitting her eyebrows together. Draco sighed dramatically and pulled himself up but instantly regretted it as it sent a bout dizziness through him.

"I can deal with it, Hermione." Draco sighed once more.

"Oh yeah, it does look like you're dealing with it all right! Is being admitted to St. Mungo's the new Malfoy way of dealing with things?" Hermione inquired, bitterness bubbling through her tone. There was a sudden anger and frustration coursed through her and she felt that she needed to let it out. She needed to know why Draco hasn't told her and what exactly were his reasons!

"This is not the time or place to discuss this, Granger." Draco scowled, his face hardening with irritation and his eyes turned cold and stony.

"Really? When are we going to discuss it? The day you're going to marry Astoria bloody Greengrass? I found out from Blaise, for Merlin's sake, I should have found out from you!" Hermione pulled herself up to her full height quickly and began to pace in front of him angrily.

"As if you don't keep secrets from me." Draco quickly retorted, echoing her anger but he remained seated and curled his hands into fists instead.

"What secrets have I kept from you, Malfoy?" Hermione hissed, her eyes stinging with tears but she blinked them away.

"You have a lot of secrets, Granger, and you bloody know it!" Draco exclaimed, finally losing his cool. Hermione had secrets, lots of them but he never pushed to find out. He simply lets her tell him when she's ready yet when he didn't tell her something she flies off the broom handle.

"At least I didn't ask you to marry me so I can hide behind a marriage bond. Death do us apart, Malfoy!" Hermione flopped her arms beside her sharply. "Is that why you're marrying me, because once we're married you're tied to me? So you don't have to marry Astoria! Coward."

"Yes, that's why I asked you to marry me! Is that what you want to hear, Granger? I'm marrying you so I don't have to deal with Narcissa's ultimatum. It's a coward's way out, is that what you think? I'm marrying you because I fucking love you. So damn much, it fucking hurts." Draco narrowed his eyes at her, telling her what she wanted to hear.

Yet Hermione kept quiet and still, staring him down, a flicker in her eyes told him that there's a chance that she didn't believe him.

"Well? Answer me, Granger! Is that what you believe? I'm taking a coward's way out? Well reality check, I am a coward, always have been. I'm not like you bloody Gryffindors with your bravery and courage, swishing my wand around like swashbuckling wizard."

"You're an arsehole, Malfoy, did you know that?" Hermione whispered quietly. Draco merely shrug, he knew it was slightly childish but he couldn't help it. He was too tired to argue, his part of the argument already drained him and he was feeling weak and dizzy once again. Hermione looked at him for a moment, her eyes gradually softening, but Draco refused to meet her eyes and opted to stare at a spot on the wall. Hermione then sighed, turned on her heels and walked off, the heels of her shoes echoing softly and she closed the door behind her.

"Yes, you are an arsehole, Draco Malfoy. The world's biggest arsehole." Draco muttered to himself as he turned and stared at the door. He picked himself up only to flop unto the bed face down, and this is exactly how Blaise found him, hours later, wallowing in self pity and in silence.

A/N here you go, guys! Review, review, review! Pretty please! On a different note, kmwilson (shout out!) suggested that I should write up a prequel for this story! Hands up, who's interested in reading what happened in Hogwarts during their Eight Year and how Harry and Ron pushed Hermione away and into Draco's awaiting arms? It'll probably cover Hermione's back story when she was on the run and all the way up to Ariadne's birth and the day she leaves little Addie in Draco's care... Let me know what you think!

P.S please please check out my other story The Cursed! And review! I'll give you virtual cookies if you do, you know you want to! Pip Pip! Xx