Disclaimer: I do not own HP. That's the whole point of the disclaimer.

AN: Errrm, I think I'll be speeding up the time of Hermione's pregnancy. I think I won't dwell in it too much. So by now, I will ask a huge favor from you guys. I know you're generous and I need a little help. I need a name for Hermione's baby. I don't really have a preference. It can be a boy or a girl. And about the characteristics, it's up to you. But please make sure that there's something about the baby's appearance that can remind Hermione of Harry but it shouldn't be obvious that the baby's Harry's. Why, you ask? Well, it's for me to know and for you to find out. LOL! So please kindly fill up this form.

Gender:

Name: (Full name, please keep in mind to not make it too obvious that it's Harry's baby.)

Hair Color:

Hair characteristic: (Untidy or bushy or curly, it's up to you.)

Skin color:

Eye color:

I think that's about it. The one that'll be chosen will, obviously, be used in the story. Thanks in advance and I really hope you will help. I know I don't have so many reviewers but still I hope that many of you will help me. Thanks.

pixies114: You love Cedric? Well, who doesn't? He's just so adorable, isn't he?

pawsrule: Thanks for the review, mate! You're always one of the first reviewers, and one of my most active readers. Thanks a lot!

miyakosaku: About Draco and Hermione, you won't be disappointed. Thanks!

proudtobeatheatrekid: Thanks! Yay, you're back! Yeah, Cho will make up her mind…pretty soon… thanks a lot!

Chapter 28:

Draco Malfoy was climbing the stairs up the Astronomy Tower silently. It was nearly midnight and he can't sleep. That had been his problem for almost every night since the war. He thought he might have developed insomnia already. All those scared and terrified faces of all those kids who were trying to flee that night, the blank and lifeless faces of all the corpse lying in the Great Hall and all the grieving faces of all those who were abandoned by the unmoving, dead bodies, all of it haunted him.

He might not have told anybody about it but every time he flicks the light off in his room, he can see their faces floating in front of him, haunting him. And every time he closed his eyes, the memory just plays back again and again. He hated how it scared him. He hated how it made him weak and how it gave him shivers. But of all of the things he hated, the most the he hate was the fact that it made him feel guilty.

It was his fault, to begin with. He blamed himself for everything that happened a year ago. If it wasn't because of him, Albus Dumbledore wouldn't be dead. That's what he thought. He wanted to save his mother from the clutches of Voldemort. Because of the failure of his father, Voldemort threatened both his and his mother's life. The Dark Lord said that he has to kill the Headmaster. If he wasn't able to, he will kill not only him, but also his mother. He agreed, thinking about his mother's life. He can accept death but he won't allow his mother, who was only a victim to all these Dark things going on with their family, die. She shouldn't be involved with all these cruel things because she wasn't evil, in the first place. But if he succeeded, he will be looked upon by the other Death Eaters, that's what the Dark Lord told him.

During the first months of his mission, he thought about the reward he'll get if he succeeded. Letting his jealousy towards Harry Potter cloud his very being. He thought that he was the Chosen One of the dark side. He was their Harry Potter. And if he succeeds, he will achieve power, not to mention he will be able to save his mother.

But as he stood there in the Astronomy Tower, in front of Albus Dumbledore, he realized he really can't do it.

Yes, he had been a git since his childhood. He grew up thinking that power was the most important thing. He grew up with his father dictating to him that it is only natural to pull other people down in order to rise up. And that's what he did all his life. He insulted people and pulled him down so that they will cower in fear just because of his presence. But standing there in front of the man who never did anything bad to him, he realized, he wasn't ready to put an end to a life. He pulled other people down so that he can stand on their kneeling bodies just to be taller and higher than others. But he realized, he didn't want to stand in other people's corpse just be above others.

That is what pushed him to lower his wand that night and refuse to kill the old man. But still, Snape killed him. Snape killed him because of a rotten unbreakable vow. An unbreakable vow that his mother did with Snape just to be able to protect him. If it wasn't because of him, the vow wouldn't be made. If it wasn't because of the vow, Dumbledore would have still lived. If Dumbledore had lived, would all those people die? He thought not. Dumbledore would have been able to protect most of them. Things would have ended without so many lives wasted. Not to mention that he was the reason how the Death Eaters were able to attack the castle. So it all came down to one. It was his entire fault.

Draco was so absorbed with his thoughts that he didn't even realize that the tower was occupied. He was already on the last steps when he heard two voices coming from the top of the tower. One was familiar and the other was unknown. Both voices were high pitched and it was obvious that they were fighting. Draco went down a few steps and decided to eavesdrop. That was a part of him that still didn't change along with being teasingly annoying and giving good comebacks that seem to irritate others.

"Looks like you'll get a dose of your own medicine, Granger." One of the voices said. Draco didn't know where he heard that voice but he really felt like he knew that voice from somewhere.

"Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here, Rita Skeeter." A trembling voice asked. Draco recognized the voice to be Hermione Granger's. So Rita Skeeter, he wasn't wrong. He did hear it before.

"Well, aren't used to it yet? After all, you're the one who first knew about my secret technique on how I get juicy news." Rita said in her famous intimidating voice.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I was just roaming around the castle and looking for something that I can start a rumor about. And lucky me, I found you here, talking to yourself." The reporter started. She cackled annoyingly and then continued. "I can see the headline now. 'Famous witch, Hermione Granger, a real nerdy or a complete slut?' I mean, pregnant without a husband, or even a boyfriend. Now that's something, dear. I never really thought of you as hot but look at you. You managed to have someone knock you up. I gotta give you credit for that."

"If you do that I'll hex you." Hermione threatened. But if you take her voice into account, you'd say that it was her voice that was trembling.

"Again, that threat? Don't you have something else to threaten me with? If you hex me, after I recover, I'm still gonna post that story and I'm telling you, if you do that, it'll get even worse. So just sit back and relax, sweetie, while I publish this story." Rita offered. Draco expected Hermione to retort back but it seemed that she'd lost her voice.

"Look at what we have here." Draco drawled as he emerged from the stairs and walked towards the two ladies, hands in his front pockets. "What's going on?"

"Oh Draco, dear. You're just in time. I found the next juicy news. Thanks to Ms. Granger here." Skeeter said, her smirk widening after seeing Draco.

"Well, I don't care. You're not publishing it." Draco's face was stony and fixed.

"Wait, what? I think I didn't hear you well." Skeeter was taken aback. After all she thought Draco would be delighted to know that she found another way to torture the said mudbloood.

"No. You heard me well, Skeeter. You're not publishing that ridiculous story." Draco threw a quick glance at Hermione to see why she's not reacting. She was just looking at him with surprise etched in her beautiful face.

"Ridiculous? It's the news of the year. The Queen of the Golden Trio who stopped the Dark Lord, knocked up. It would be mania, Draco. I'm telling you." Skeeter argued. She was persistent in convincing Draco.

"And I'm telling you, no. You're just a pathetic disgrace to the paper." Draco said. He said it with such power that even Hermione winced.

But Skeeter's face changed. From being confused, it turned to determination. "Why do I have to listen to you? I can publish this story whenever I want and you can't do anything about it, you pathetic Death Eater. If I'm a disgrace, then you're worse." Skeeter said. She pocketed her notebook and quill and then turned to the stairs, ready to leave.

Draco's demeanor darkened. His look dimmed even more and became more fixed and stony. "Publish it and you'll go down." He threatened. His voice was dripping with poison. It was so cold and vicious that it gave Hermione goosebumps.

"What do you mean?" Rita turned around and faced Draco.

Draco smirked viciously. "My father's in Azkaban. My mother's dead. I'm their heir, which means the Malfoy Fortune is all mine. And most importantly, all business transactions that my father left, will be handle by me." Draco pulled his hands away from his pockets and crossed it in his chest. "Have you forgotten, Skeeter? The Malfoy fortune is responsible for all your luxuries since ten years ago. We funded your column not only in the Daily Prophet but also in other newspapers and magazines. We funded your trips around the world in order for you to get scandalous news. And we didn't take even half your salary in all those ten years. The only condition was that you write about anybody who we would want you to write about and you will not write something nasty about the people we don't want you to write about. We had a magical contract to prove that, Skeeter."

Rita gulped and paled. It made Draco's inner smile widen, so he continued. "Publish it, you know what'll happen. I can always file a case. Yes, I was Death Eater but I'm carrying the Malfoy name, one of the most ancient bloodline in all of the Wizarding World. I file a case; you'll lose your job. And more importantly, you will have to pay half of your salary for the past ten years for breaking the contract. I don't like how you're using my money for rubbish. I'll want you paying for everything." Draco gave her a loathing look from her head to her toes. "But something tells me that due to your, err, travel plans for the past two years, going on vacation in the muggle world just to evade the war in our world, it tells me that you can't pay even a quarter of your salary for the past decade. But no worries, if you don't want to pay, Azkaban will do the trick."

By the time Draco finished, Rita was already sweating beads. She gulped and then said in a squeak. "Fine. I won't publish it." Then she turned to the stairs once more.

"Oh yeah, one more thing. Don't even think about passing this information to your co-columnists. You are the only one who knows about this. You're the only one foolish enough to sneak inside the castle. I don't want to hear or read about this matter in any way, whether it's the paper, magazine or any other way. If ever I encounter news about Granger regarding this matter, even though it's written by other writers, you'll be the one responsible for it. You'll be the one paying the consequences." Draco finished. Skeeter can only give a nod and then she shakily transformed back into a beetle and then vanished in the darkness.

"So, you DO know." Hermione said in a low voice. She was now on a cross-sitting position on the floor and leaning against the wall.

Draco sighed slowly and walked towards her. He sat next to her and leaned his head against the cold stone wall. He folded his knees and brought it close to his chest. With his hands over his knees, he closed his eyes. "Yes. I do."

"Since when?"

"Since the first week."

"How?"

Draco snorted. Looks like this would turn into an interrogation session. He thought. "Well, it first bumped my mind when I first saw you going down from the train without your cloak on." Draco explained while his eyes were still closed. "I noticed the bump. It's not proportional to your body. You didn't get fat, that much was obvious because of your palpable curves. I found it weird that your stomach is rounder. I kept a close watch on you after that and after a week, everything clicked. That morning when you, I and Diggory were conversing during breakfast, he mentioned it. It was then that everything I noticed over the week clicked together."

"Oh. I see."

"Can't you just thank me and get it over with?" Draco suddenly said. He opened his eyes and glanced at Hermione.

Hermione looked back at him with wonder in her eyes. "But why are you helping me?" Finally, she got it out. She had wanted to ask him that certain question ever since that night when he found her outside Hagrid's hut. She found it weird that he was helping her. The git Draco Malfoy, helping Hermione Granger, the one he considered as a mudbloood. Yes, he had changed, he was not insulting anymore but still, she found it ridiculous.

Draco sighed. She still wouldn't quit the questions, eh? He thought. "Let's just say that I'm also doing myself a favor whenever I'm helping you." Draco answered. The truth was… He was helping her because that was the only way his mind can be put into comfort. With all those nightmares bothering him every night, the guilt wrapping his whole being, helping somebody eases everything bit by bit. And Granger needed help at the moment. And she's too humble to drive him away.

"I still don't understand why. You've changed. Even though you're still annoying, I think that bit would never change no matter what, but you're not as immature as before. And now you're helping me. I don't get why. But what you did tonight, it means a lot. I never thought I'd say these words to you but… Thank you…Draco." Hermione said and then she gave him one warm smile.

Draco stood up from his position and went to the stairs. Then he turned around and said. "You're welcome…Hermy-one." Then he laughed. "I think you should plan how you'd tell the others. It's better to do it soon." Then he gave her a sincere smile. Smiling every once in a while wouldn't hurt him, right? He went down the stairs and waved his pale hand without turning around. His last sentences echoed through the cold walls of the tower. "Goodnight, Hermione." At last, he's sure he'll have a nightmare-free sleep.

Hermione smiled at the retreating figure, his last two sentences not only echoing through the walls, but also reverberating repeatedly in her mind.

AN: There it is. I don't know how I did with Malfoy. I just hope he's not OOC. Please send me feedback and please help me think of a name for Hermione's baby. Thanks!

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