A/N: Hello! I'm getting another out! Yay! I seem to be getting better! I hope you enjoy the next installment of A Malfoy's Curse!
Chapter Twenty-Two – What's Really Going On
The next morning, Draco got up and groaned. Today was going to be interesting.
He walked down to the Great Hall, to find Hermione and the rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors talking amiably. Hermione did look very tired though. He walked up to them yawning.
'Hey all.' He muttered. They all greeted him and he wrapped his arms around Hermione. She rested her head on his, which was resting on her shoulder with his eyes closed and sighed.
'I don't think that we should have stayed up so late.' Draco said to her. Hermione nodded her head slightly, and Draco smiled at her.
'Let's go have breakfast.' He heard Ron say, and let go of Hermione so that they could walk into the hall. They each kissed their lover goodbye before heading to their respective tables.
Draco and his friends all sat down at the table and Draco rested his head down on the table.
'Long night?' Blaise teased, with a smirk. Draco nodded, looking up at Blaise with a serious face.
'You have no idea.' Draco answered. Then he thumped his head down on the table again.
'I heard you last night. I swear you didn't get any sleep last night.' Blaise said. Draco nodded.
'An hour, one whole, miserable hour.' Draco said, though his voice was slightly muffled because he didn't bother lifting his head again.
'What were you doing anyway that brought you back to the dorm so late?' Blaise asked with actual curiosity.
'I was up talking to Hermione in the Room of Requirement.' Draco muttered. Blaise smirked.
'Talking?' He asked. Draco nodded.
'Yes, Blaise, we actually talked not just snogged life out of each other. Actually, I think we only kissed twice, and that was to say hello and goodbye, and they were rather short.' Draco admitted. Blaise shook his head.
'What were you talking about?' He asked.
'You know about our dumb family curse right?' Draco asked in return. Blaise nodded, and then looked at him with wide-eyes.
'No way!' The idiot nearly shouted. Draco snapped up and shoved a hand over his mouth before he could say any more to get him into trouble. Hermione was still under age after all.
'Shut up you dickhead!' Draco whispered harshly, before turning to everyone that was looking at them funny and smiling at them. They turned away and went back to eating breakfast.
'Yes, Blaise, Hermione might be pregnant. We're going to find out on the weekend.' Draco told him in a whisper, straightening up and looking over to the Gryffindor table, where his love was only picking at the food on her plate. He sighed and turned back to Blaise.
'If she is, then it saves both of us, if she isn't, then we're just going to have to work on it.' Draco said. Blaise nodded and looked distantly at his plate.
'Do you think she'll be able to cope?' Blaise asked. Draco looked at his best friend thoughtfully.
'I think she might be able to. She's strong; she can handle almost everything else. I don't see any reason why she wouldn't be able to handle this. But if she can't, she knows that I will always be there to help her.' He answered truthfully. 'I mean, she faced my father for Merlin's sake. She should be able to handle this.'
Unknown, to Draco though, Hermione was not coping well. Because she was so tired during her classes, her grades seemed to be dropping and all the teachers were getting worried about her. Even Snape.
They were concerned enough to talk to Draco about it anyway.
'Mr. Malfoy!' Draco turned around to see his Head of House gliding towards him with a determined look on his face.
'Mr. Malfoy, follow me for a second.' Snape said when he had caught up to Draco. Draco turned and whispered a good bye towards Hermione before following Snape into a shadowy alcove.
'Would you be kind enough to tell me what you have done to Miss Granger to make her act the way she is in class?' Snape asked. Though it was dark in the alcove they were standing in, Snape could have sworn he saw the boy turn pale. Well, paler than he already was.
'Well, sir, um, you know about my families curse, don't you?' Draco asked nervously, not looking at Snape at all, but inspecting the wall beside him. He heard Snape groan.
'You didn't?' Snape asked, shaking his head, which was now in his hands.
'I don't know. We were going to check over the weekend, we thought it would be a better time than during our classes and everything, because we thought it would be even more distracting and we didn't have time or anything.' Draco had trailed off by the time he had finished and he still wasn't looking at his Head of House.
'What do your parents think of her?' Snape asked quietly.
'Well, my mother seems to like her, but father, well, put it this way, he tried to kill her. Painfully.' Draco answered. Snape groaned again.
'You do realise that the witch is still underage?' The older man asked him.
'Yes, that is why you can't tell anyone! Please! By the time she's of age, it'll be too late and I'll be gone. Please tell me you won't tell anyone.' Draco pleaded. Snape looked at him with thinly veiled disgust.
'That girl has stripped you of all Slytherin qualities, you know?' He answered.
'That isn't much of an answer and I did it to myself because I love her. Now promise me!' Draco demanded.
'Fine, boy, I won't tell a soul, but if your father gets wind of this, I was never told anything about it, got it, Malfoy?' Snape said. Draco nodded and they both shook hands before leaving the alcove and walking their separate ways.
Draco joined Hermione in class, and sat down beside her, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. She looked up at him and gave him a curious and questioning smile.
'What did Snape want?' She asked quietly. They were in Charms and he had turned up at least two, maybe three minutes late.
'I had to tell him why you weren't acting the same in class. He was oddly determined to find out why. I made him promise not to tell anyone though.' He added hastily when he saw the worried look on Hermione's face.
'Good. I don't even know if it's true yet. I think we should find out after dinner.' She decided. Draco stared at her.
'Why? I thought we agreed we would when we had more time on our hands.' He whispered urgently.
'I need to know Draco. I can't handle acting this way and not knowing. I can see the looks the teachers shoot me when they see my head resting on the table, instead to sitting up, ready to answer questions. I can see the way the rest of the class talk about me. Lavender and Parviti are already betting that I am pregnant. I have to know if this is why.' Hermione begged. Draco nodded and hugged her tightly.
'Ok love. We'll go to Madame Pomfrey tonight after dinner. We are going to have to get an escort back though.' He said thoughtfully.
'Snape's the only teacher that knows. Dumbledore might know though, he knows everything, but would Snape do it?' Hermione asked.
'I'll make him.' Draco said determinedly.
That night, at dinner, Draco went up to Snape at the Head table. Hermione and her friends watched with awe as he talked heatedly with the Potions Master.
'What's he doing?' Harry asked in a whisper as he watched the exchange.
'Well, we decided that we were going to check if I was pregnant after dinner, but we realised the we were going to need an escort on the way back so that we wouldn't get into trouble with any other teachers that happen to walk the halls at night, though he seems to be the only one that does, we wanted to be careful. And he knows about Draco's curse.' Hermione answered. Harry nodded and looked back down at his dinner.
Hermione continued to watch though. She saw Snape finally nod and send Draco on his way. The boy turned to Hermione and nodded his head to her, smiling brightly. Hermione nodded back and smiled lightly at him. Her stomach didn't seem to like her much at the moment, so she didn't eat very much before the end of dinner came and Dumbledore said that they were to go to bed. That was when Draco came up behind her and placed a hand at the small of her back.
'You coming?' He whispered to her. Hermione nodded and they both got up and walked to the door. Draco turned back around and nodded to Professor Snape, who got out of his chair with a sigh and followed along beside the group of teenagers gossiping and talking. He reached the two outside the Great Hall, and they started to walk again once they saw him.
Draco made sure to keep a reassuring arm around Hermione, who was to be trying to take calming breaths. He squeezed her closer to him.
'Try not to be too nervous love. Everything will be fine.' He reassured.
'I don't know if I want to be or not.' She confided in him. Hermione looked up at Draco to find him smiling at her gently.
'I don't mind either way. But I think that I'd prefer it if you were.' He said. Hermione laughed lightly.
'You know. If it's true, you are going to have to put up with my mood swings constantly.' She said, raising an eyebrow. Draco was glad to see that she was slowly loosening up and becoming more of the Hermione he loved.
'I put up with those every month anyway.' Draco said, waving his hand in dismissal. Hermione pinched him lightly in the arm and they walked the rest of way joking and laughing.
But that soon stopped as they reached hospital wing. Hermione and Draco each drew a breath.
'Well, are you going in or what? You have successfully wasted my time up until this point; I have other things that I wish to be doing other than escorting hormonal teenagers all over the castle. Now hurry.' Snape snapped (Hah!). Hermione rolled her eyes and walked into the Hospital Wing. Draco followed behind her and Snape followed grudgingly behind him.
Hermione reached Madame Pomfrey quickly and explained the situation. Draco came up behind her as she spoke and put a reassuring hand on her back. Snape stood by the closed door and just listened.
At the end of Hermione's story, Madame Pomfrey nodded and took her to a bed.
'Don't worry dear girl, this won't hurt at all, I just need to run a spell over you. Can you lay on the bed for me?' The old Matron said. Hermione lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. Draco took her hand and held it comfortingly.
Madame Pomfrey held her wand over Hermione and whispered a couple of charms to detect if their suspicions were correct.
After at least five minutes of constant muttering, Madame Pomfrey pulled away from the bed and put away her wand.
'Well, I'm pleased to inform both of you that you will be proud parents within 7 months.' Madame Pomfrey said.
Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and neither did Draco, so they both just sat their looking at her.
'If you two are done looking like morons, I would like to escort you back to your dorms so I can get some rest. And after that announcement, it looks like Miss Granger is going to need some too.' Snape said. Hermione and Draco stood up and turned to leave, but not before thanking the Matron.
'Thankyou Madame Pomfrey. Can I ask you to keep this to yourself though? It's just-' Hermione started, but she was cut off by Madame Pomfrey waving her hand at her.
'You don't need to tell me that. I'm under a confidentially contract. I can't tell a soul, even if I want to.' Madame Pomfrey winked at us and we smiled and left.
'Well, now we know.' Draco said to her. Snape was trailing so far behind that that he was able to bring Hermione into a hug and kissed her softly.
'I don't know whether I'm happy, or sad.' She whispered to him as they stood and held each other.
'Why would you be sad?' Draco asked, letting his hold on her go a little so he could look at her at arms length.
'Oh, I just feel too young. I mean, I'm in school still. I don't feel as like I should be pregnant yet.' She whispered.
'So you shouldn't be.' A voice spoke out from behind them. . .
A/N: And here are my wonderful reviewers!
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