Ch 3_The Monstrosity
A/N : Just to tell everyone, this is NOT smut, even tho it's rated r. it's rated r fro language and some adult situations and conversations, but it's not filled with imagery all-out smut. So if that's what you came for.. Also I'm trying really hard to keep characters in character, but you have to realize that that's really hard.. and im putting in a lotta funny quotes. Most are just like anonymous profile quotes. Others will have double parenthesis (( )) around the names of the quoted.and also sometimes if something sounds weird its cuz I would have said it that way, instead of written it, and things that are said do not sound the same as if they were written...right.. last but not least, I will not be updating for at least like 5 days after each chapter, because I want to leave you all in suspense, and I want to have the next chapter written before updating again.Ok now w/o further ado..
Last Chapter:
Hermione still stood, dumbfounded as the realization of what had just happened hit her. It was unfathomable that she would ever fail to be named Head Girl, or relieved of her Prefect duties. She was quite certain that she was the smartest girl in her year, perhaps the school. She couldn't understand what had made her just erupt that way at Snape. She'd never done that before. She'd always had the power of restraint over herself. Now what would she do? She'd dreamed of this for too long. It couldn't be over. It just.. couldn't.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_---_---_---_----_----_----_-----_-----_---_--_--_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_
That night, she'd gotten almost no sleep. In the only rest she had procured, Hermione just dreamed about what would have happened if she had been put into Slytherin. She also wondered who would be Draco's new partner. It was this sole purpose that'd motivated her to even rise the following morning. Yet facing Snape would still be arduous. Malfoy, however, wasn't a problem. It wasn't as if he himself had repealed her duties.
Everyone in her dorm had already left for breakfast when she'd finally left the sanctuary of her curtained four-poster, not wanting to get into anything with her. Ergo, she was left alone to spruce herself up. The only problem was that she still couldn't get herself to look in the mirror; the torments of yesterday's events had made her loath to even look at herself. 'I don't need the mirror,' she thought, sniffing. She burst into tears. Hermione was too sensitive and fragile in instances such as the one she had gotten herself into yesterday. 'I don't even like to curse!' she thought uselessly. Resisting her sudden urge to strangle Snape with her bare hands- delicate flower that she is-, she stepped into the bathroom and began to wash her face. Only when she was finished did she glance up into the mirror.
And damn did she wish she hadn't.. Hermione nearly fainted at the tainted vision of her reflection. She was a sickly lime green, with reddish looking sores all over her face. Her lips were dark purple as though she'd frozen to death. The worst part was that it wasn't the first time this had happened to her. The same thing, as she was beginning to recollect, happened as a side effect of a dark spell. 'Well not dark per se, but in its nature..' she thought.
-----------------------------------------Flashback-------------------------- ------------
"Ickle Ronnikins.. tsk tsk. We'd never thought we'd find you here like this! Well done bro, we were beginning to suspect you were gay! Hey 'Mione," the twins said, grinning, in response to the abashed look that had found its way onto her face. Hermione blushed and averted her eyes.
Ron looked as if he would curse them to the moon if he knew how. Instead, he was perfectly intent on just performing the spell that would cause them their own personal equivalent. He gripped his wand in his hand so hard that it hurt and turned to face the boys, a nefarious look on his face. He suddenly began giggling manically.. like a maniac.. And pointed his wand straight at the twins, whose wide toothy smiles had melted away by now. Hermione noticed the look in his eye and knew she had to stop him before he did something rash.
"Ron! NO!" she shouted pouncing in front of Gred and Forge - I mean Fred and George- just as he'd screamed 'Incubo Aléatoire.' This resulted in Ron nearly snapping his wand in half and dropping it instantly, running to Hermione's side who'd fallen after her big leap. Fred and George were already at her side as they had been much closer.
"Ron! What have you done?"
"Oh BLOODY FUCKIN' HELL, HERMIONE! Shit! That was NOT supposed to happen! Please don't be mad! It wasn't supposed to be for you! Oh, God.." He made a face.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but instead a slug slipped out, exactly as it had happened to Ron in their second year. Ron looked appalled, obviously empathetic. He desperately gave her a weak half smile, to which she responded with a very hostile, obscene uncharacteristically Hermione gesture with the hand that had not been clutching her stomach. Later, the twins and Hermione found out that it was a spell called, "Random Nightmare," as it caused its victim to live out a random nightmare. Anyway, the point of this story is that the day after, she was sporting the exact same appearance currently as in the flashback.
---------------------------------End of Flashback--------------------------- ----------------
"RONALD WEASELY WILL DIE TODAY."
Finally, Hermione, understanding what was going on, knew she had no choice but to wait off the coloring like last time. It had taken three hours then, and not even when she tried to magic it away with muggle and magic makeup did it clear up. Hermione sighed sadly, resolving to send Ron, Dumbledore, and Snape a note from the sleek and nimble Crookshanks when she'd finished washing up and got changed. But just as she'd finished brushing her teeth, an owl collided roughly with her window. It was an unfamiliar owl, just one from the Owlery. Brown. It held no significance toward her, so she was reluctant to open the window, but her curiosity got the better of her.
Miss Granger,
It has just been brought to my attention that you are a "complete nutter," and have jeopardized all your plans for anything. Living your nightmare. Anyway, you have to go back to the project anyway, even if you weren't acting merely under the spell, just because the Sorting Hat's rather unusual second choice for Mr. Malfoy's partner was Neville Longbottom.. Though I think that was just to piss Mr. Malfoy off and get you back on the job. No worries, it worked. You are hereby fully reinstated, and it has been recognized that your actions were wholly a consequence of a spell cast by Pansy Parkinson in light of your and Draco's partnership. Please make your way to the Prefect Common Room to receive your child. Now.
Sincerely,
Professor Dumbledore
It took a few seconds for the information to sink in, but finally she realized that she was off the hook. 'Pansy did it? Oh well.. That cow, I'll get her back..' She scuttled out of the room and began to venture into the common room, when she discovered that she was still a wreck and had accomplished nothing but brushing her teeth. Not to mention that her face was.. a monstrosity..
Upon the conclusion of her morning grooming rituals, Hermione tried once more to scrub her face with a scratchy loofa, but as last year's attempt, it proved as fruitless as getting a Malfoy to admit they were second best. Finally she felt there was nothing more she could do and become conscious of the fact that she was already late in getting her 'child'. "Oh bother," she sighed exasperatedly, scampering to the room, determined to ignore the stares of bystanders.
Dumbledore and Draco seemed slightly impressed at her unpunctual arrival. Hermione ignored this and uttered, "Sorry I'm late, Professor." When Malfoy rolled his eyes, she added, nodding, "Malfoy," to be well mannered.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with your face? Despite the obvious.."
"Miss Granger, I see yesterday's spell seemed to have some unsightly side-affects on you.." Dumbledore chuckled, eyes twinkling. "No worries, anytime another spell affecting your purity causing such a reaction can easily be cleared up -although it clears up eventually on its own- with a simple 'Purifique' spell. Now I think that we should be-"
"Erm, Professor, affecting my purity?" Hermione was perplexed and she loathed not knowing something.
"Yes. Some people, possess a certain.. aura, I suppose, of goodness, purity. It's like, well, do you notice how when you see a unicorn, it gives you a certain feeling? A feeling of goodness and warmth that can't help but make you smile, laugh, or at least want to?" Hermione nodded slowly. "Well some people radiate some kind of innocence of the sort. Only a few people. It's fairly rare. Take Mr. Malfoy for instance."
Malfoy looked shocked that Dumbledore was about to talk about him right in front of him. Especially of something like this. WAS HE ABOUT TO CALL HIM GOOD? A feeling stirred inside of him that did something to him that he didn't like. That he'd been taught not to like. The feeling was.. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was just a feeling of being good. In general.
"Mr. Malfoy does not actually smile or laugh or maybe even notice the feeling of goodness a unicorn fills you with, but even within HIM, somewhere, deep inside, really deep inside perhaps, subconsciously, he does." Malfoy's mouth dropped in outrage. 'It was a compliment to be called the opposite of Granger,' thought Malfoy smugly. Dumbledore continued, "A person, like you, Hermione, is so pure, that he/she feels it instantly, stronger than others, and has the ability to have such an atmosphere and never falters in administering it, brightening up a room just by entering it. Such people, when penetrated by a curse or spell or anything else impure so to speak, will experience dreadful side affects."
"Wh-Who else is a.."
"'Pure Soul?'"
"Yeah.. I guess.. And why didn't I know or notice anything?"
"It's something that's unconsciously receptive and noticed. I just know that you are, because it's in my job description. As to the other question, I think you can answer that for yourself. For as you are now aware of it -and I hadn't told you earlier because I'd always thought you'd known, as you read so much - I believe it's up to you to deduce."
"Harry?" Draco sneered at the mention of another thing he'd be better at than him in some way.
"No. It's not even his disregard for the rules that does it, you seem to be developing one as well, if I may say, but do you really think he has the essence of a Pure Soul?"
Shaking her head, she racked her brain again. "I don't know. Is there anyone else?"
"I actually don't even think so, if you think of anyone, let me know." She nodded. "Anyway, I believe that now we must be going." They walked across the room to a similar cauldron that they'd seen when Snape had been doing this. "A strand of hair please."
This time, Hermione yanked out her own hair and Draco kept to his own as well. They handed them to Dumbledore. He dropped them in and stirred for thirty seconds, exactly like Snape had. Ladling the substance into a small vial he took them also into another room where there was a shimmering, gold egg that he picked up gently, setting it into a small bowl/cauldron on the small table before them. Hermione and Draco took the liberty to remain upright regardless of the inviting soft leather couch that had been cannily noted by both of them. Dumbledore made a flourishing gesture with his hand, cueing them to sit, and when he didn't start after a while, they gave in and a took a seat as apart from each other as was seemingly possible.
Ultimately, he initiated the process of forming their 'offspring.' Surprisingly to both kids, Dumbledore took an eyedropper that had sprouted out of his wand and dipped it into the pot, apparently attempting to suck something off of the egg. Draco appeared unimpressed at Dumbledore's seemingly frivolous efforts. But after a few seconds, it looked as though the egg was splitting in half. And it did. In the stint of time the egg stayed open, Dumbledore was steadily dropping drops of the vials contents into it. When he was done, the egg closed itself up, unscathed, the gold lacquer had bubbled and resealed. Then another miraculous thing happened.
The egg's shelled cracked open and out oozed a thick dark pink substance. Then the shell somehow.. evaporated.. And the substance was solitary in the pot. Dumbledore put back the eyedropper and exchanged it for a blanket. He delicately shifted the pot and lay the blanket over the table. Next he made the pot extend into a human child mold. In a bit more time the child seemed to be ready and Dumbledore very meticulously turned over the mold onto the blanket, making sure the child didn't fall out. As he slowly, shrewdly lifted the mold, he wrapped the cold baby in the blanket.
Now you could see the tiny head. This baby didn't appear 9 months old, it hadn't even opened its eyes. But its platinum blonde hair was already distinguished. Dumbledore picked up the baby and very warily and vigilantly supported its neck. "Who would like to hold their child?" asked Dumbledore to the awed couple. Draco, to Hermione as least, looked as if maybe the features in his face had softened.
But she still knew that he wouldn't hold it. Not yet at least. "I-I will Professor."
"Yes Miss Granger, er, shouldn't I really be saying Mrs. Malfoy, now?" Hermione and Draco both cringed involuntarily.
"Please don't," they said in unison.
Dumbledore handed the infant to Hermione, who marveled at how small, and beautiful, and innocent it looked. It. She still didn't know if it was a he or a she. "Professor, is the baby a boy or a girl?"
"A girl."
Both sighed. It turned out they both had names for girls. Hermione went first. "I like Alyssa."
Draco thought about it. He had actually considered it himself. "Alyssa it is," he said without emotion, not wanting to give her a feeling triumph in achieving his consent.
"Right then," said Dumbledore. "Now, I must make Alyssa - beautiful name, by the way, - age a few months." Hermione looked a bit disappointed for a second, but then understood that she'd have to breast feed it or something to that like, had Alyssa not been aged a few months, and that the assignment simply wouldn't work with a newborn. She'd even forgotten it was an assignment in the spur of the moment. Dumbledore uttered a growth charm of some sort, and the baby instantly grew to be about the same as Padma and Ron's had been. Suddenly something occurred to Hermione.
"Professor, could Alyssa be a Pure Soul?"
"Very easily. And I believe that that's even quite plausible Miss.. er, Granger," he said with a hint of disappointment.
Hermione sighed heavily, and noticed something unusual about her daughter's hair. It was platinum blonde at first, when she was younger, but now it appeared to have natural highlights of Hermione's dark brown/reddish/burgundy color. She liked it. It was a vibrant contrast, but it seemed to somehow suit her. The hair was curly too. Curly and full of volume. Thick and healthy, as hers had been when she was younger, even though her own had taken a turn for the worse. But Hermione had a feeling it wouldn't with Alyssa, since Malfoy's hair was straight and perfect.
Dumbledore broke the awkward silence. "I think you both should spend some time together, here if you like, getting to know your child alone together. I'll leave you two to it too. That was fun.." Dumbledore raved to himself, walking away.
"I'm not going to take care of Alyssa alone, Malfoy."
Rolling his eyes, he retorted, rather aggressively, through gritted teeth. "Fine. You take her now. I'll get her from here, later, at about 3 o' clock. Later."
"But Dumbledore said that-"
"Is there a point to your incessant ramblings??"
"He's a Professor, a brilliant man, a genius really and I know that he deserves our respect and loyalty and for us to do as he wishes, even if it does happen to be the most revolting thing currently on my agenda."
"Wrong answer." And with that Draco left Hermione standing, speechless. She hadn't a clue what she was going to do at this point. Everyone had to have known about it but did everyone know about her flip out and the curse and did people see her and did they know she lost eligibility for Prefect and Head Girl yesterday even though today that was null and void? Did they know? Did they not know? What did they know? Did they know she was a Pure Soul? Did they know what a Pure Soul was? She was completely lost.
A/N : Just to tell everyone, this is NOT smut, even tho it's rated r. it's rated r fro language and some adult situations and conversations, but it's not filled with imagery all-out smut. So if that's what you came for.. Also I'm trying really hard to keep characters in character, but you have to realize that that's really hard.. and im putting in a lotta funny quotes. Most are just like anonymous profile quotes. Others will have double parenthesis (( )) around the names of the quoted.and also sometimes if something sounds weird its cuz I would have said it that way, instead of written it, and things that are said do not sound the same as if they were written...right.. last but not least, I will not be updating for at least like 5 days after each chapter, because I want to leave you all in suspense, and I want to have the next chapter written before updating again.Ok now w/o further ado..
Last Chapter:
Hermione still stood, dumbfounded as the realization of what had just happened hit her. It was unfathomable that she would ever fail to be named Head Girl, or relieved of her Prefect duties. She was quite certain that she was the smartest girl in her year, perhaps the school. She couldn't understand what had made her just erupt that way at Snape. She'd never done that before. She'd always had the power of restraint over herself. Now what would she do? She'd dreamed of this for too long. It couldn't be over. It just.. couldn't.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_---_---_---_----_----_----_-----_-----_---_--_--_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_
That night, she'd gotten almost no sleep. In the only rest she had procured, Hermione just dreamed about what would have happened if she had been put into Slytherin. She also wondered who would be Draco's new partner. It was this sole purpose that'd motivated her to even rise the following morning. Yet facing Snape would still be arduous. Malfoy, however, wasn't a problem. It wasn't as if he himself had repealed her duties.
Everyone in her dorm had already left for breakfast when she'd finally left the sanctuary of her curtained four-poster, not wanting to get into anything with her. Ergo, she was left alone to spruce herself up. The only problem was that she still couldn't get herself to look in the mirror; the torments of yesterday's events had made her loath to even look at herself. 'I don't need the mirror,' she thought, sniffing. She burst into tears. Hermione was too sensitive and fragile in instances such as the one she had gotten herself into yesterday. 'I don't even like to curse!' she thought uselessly. Resisting her sudden urge to strangle Snape with her bare hands- delicate flower that she is-, she stepped into the bathroom and began to wash her face. Only when she was finished did she glance up into the mirror.
And damn did she wish she hadn't.. Hermione nearly fainted at the tainted vision of her reflection. She was a sickly lime green, with reddish looking sores all over her face. Her lips were dark purple as though she'd frozen to death. The worst part was that it wasn't the first time this had happened to her. The same thing, as she was beginning to recollect, happened as a side effect of a dark spell. 'Well not dark per se, but in its nature..' she thought.
-----------------------------------------Flashback-------------------------- ------------
"Ickle Ronnikins.. tsk tsk. We'd never thought we'd find you here like this! Well done bro, we were beginning to suspect you were gay! Hey 'Mione," the twins said, grinning, in response to the abashed look that had found its way onto her face. Hermione blushed and averted her eyes.
Ron looked as if he would curse them to the moon if he knew how. Instead, he was perfectly intent on just performing the spell that would cause them their own personal equivalent. He gripped his wand in his hand so hard that it hurt and turned to face the boys, a nefarious look on his face. He suddenly began giggling manically.. like a maniac.. And pointed his wand straight at the twins, whose wide toothy smiles had melted away by now. Hermione noticed the look in his eye and knew she had to stop him before he did something rash.
"Ron! NO!" she shouted pouncing in front of Gred and Forge - I mean Fred and George- just as he'd screamed 'Incubo Aléatoire.' This resulted in Ron nearly snapping his wand in half and dropping it instantly, running to Hermione's side who'd fallen after her big leap. Fred and George were already at her side as they had been much closer.
"Ron! What have you done?"
"Oh BLOODY FUCKIN' HELL, HERMIONE! Shit! That was NOT supposed to happen! Please don't be mad! It wasn't supposed to be for you! Oh, God.." He made a face.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but instead a slug slipped out, exactly as it had happened to Ron in their second year. Ron looked appalled, obviously empathetic. He desperately gave her a weak half smile, to which she responded with a very hostile, obscene uncharacteristically Hermione gesture with the hand that had not been clutching her stomach. Later, the twins and Hermione found out that it was a spell called, "Random Nightmare," as it caused its victim to live out a random nightmare. Anyway, the point of this story is that the day after, she was sporting the exact same appearance currently as in the flashback.
---------------------------------End of Flashback--------------------------- ----------------
"RONALD WEASELY WILL DIE TODAY."
Finally, Hermione, understanding what was going on, knew she had no choice but to wait off the coloring like last time. It had taken three hours then, and not even when she tried to magic it away with muggle and magic makeup did it clear up. Hermione sighed sadly, resolving to send Ron, Dumbledore, and Snape a note from the sleek and nimble Crookshanks when she'd finished washing up and got changed. But just as she'd finished brushing her teeth, an owl collided roughly with her window. It was an unfamiliar owl, just one from the Owlery. Brown. It held no significance toward her, so she was reluctant to open the window, but her curiosity got the better of her.
Miss Granger,
It has just been brought to my attention that you are a "complete nutter," and have jeopardized all your plans for anything. Living your nightmare. Anyway, you have to go back to the project anyway, even if you weren't acting merely under the spell, just because the Sorting Hat's rather unusual second choice for Mr. Malfoy's partner was Neville Longbottom.. Though I think that was just to piss Mr. Malfoy off and get you back on the job. No worries, it worked. You are hereby fully reinstated, and it has been recognized that your actions were wholly a consequence of a spell cast by Pansy Parkinson in light of your and Draco's partnership. Please make your way to the Prefect Common Room to receive your child. Now.
Sincerely,
Professor Dumbledore
It took a few seconds for the information to sink in, but finally she realized that she was off the hook. 'Pansy did it? Oh well.. That cow, I'll get her back..' She scuttled out of the room and began to venture into the common room, when she discovered that she was still a wreck and had accomplished nothing but brushing her teeth. Not to mention that her face was.. a monstrosity..
Upon the conclusion of her morning grooming rituals, Hermione tried once more to scrub her face with a scratchy loofa, but as last year's attempt, it proved as fruitless as getting a Malfoy to admit they were second best. Finally she felt there was nothing more she could do and become conscious of the fact that she was already late in getting her 'child'. "Oh bother," she sighed exasperatedly, scampering to the room, determined to ignore the stares of bystanders.
Dumbledore and Draco seemed slightly impressed at her unpunctual arrival. Hermione ignored this and uttered, "Sorry I'm late, Professor." When Malfoy rolled his eyes, she added, nodding, "Malfoy," to be well mannered.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with your face? Despite the obvious.."
"Miss Granger, I see yesterday's spell seemed to have some unsightly side-affects on you.." Dumbledore chuckled, eyes twinkling. "No worries, anytime another spell affecting your purity causing such a reaction can easily be cleared up -although it clears up eventually on its own- with a simple 'Purifique' spell. Now I think that we should be-"
"Erm, Professor, affecting my purity?" Hermione was perplexed and she loathed not knowing something.
"Yes. Some people, possess a certain.. aura, I suppose, of goodness, purity. It's like, well, do you notice how when you see a unicorn, it gives you a certain feeling? A feeling of goodness and warmth that can't help but make you smile, laugh, or at least want to?" Hermione nodded slowly. "Well some people radiate some kind of innocence of the sort. Only a few people. It's fairly rare. Take Mr. Malfoy for instance."
Malfoy looked shocked that Dumbledore was about to talk about him right in front of him. Especially of something like this. WAS HE ABOUT TO CALL HIM GOOD? A feeling stirred inside of him that did something to him that he didn't like. That he'd been taught not to like. The feeling was.. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was just a feeling of being good. In general.
"Mr. Malfoy does not actually smile or laugh or maybe even notice the feeling of goodness a unicorn fills you with, but even within HIM, somewhere, deep inside, really deep inside perhaps, subconsciously, he does." Malfoy's mouth dropped in outrage. 'It was a compliment to be called the opposite of Granger,' thought Malfoy smugly. Dumbledore continued, "A person, like you, Hermione, is so pure, that he/she feels it instantly, stronger than others, and has the ability to have such an atmosphere and never falters in administering it, brightening up a room just by entering it. Such people, when penetrated by a curse or spell or anything else impure so to speak, will experience dreadful side affects."
"Wh-Who else is a.."
"'Pure Soul?'"
"Yeah.. I guess.. And why didn't I know or notice anything?"
"It's something that's unconsciously receptive and noticed. I just know that you are, because it's in my job description. As to the other question, I think you can answer that for yourself. For as you are now aware of it -and I hadn't told you earlier because I'd always thought you'd known, as you read so much - I believe it's up to you to deduce."
"Harry?" Draco sneered at the mention of another thing he'd be better at than him in some way.
"No. It's not even his disregard for the rules that does it, you seem to be developing one as well, if I may say, but do you really think he has the essence of a Pure Soul?"
Shaking her head, she racked her brain again. "I don't know. Is there anyone else?"
"I actually don't even think so, if you think of anyone, let me know." She nodded. "Anyway, I believe that now we must be going." They walked across the room to a similar cauldron that they'd seen when Snape had been doing this. "A strand of hair please."
This time, Hermione yanked out her own hair and Draco kept to his own as well. They handed them to Dumbledore. He dropped them in and stirred for thirty seconds, exactly like Snape had. Ladling the substance into a small vial he took them also into another room where there was a shimmering, gold egg that he picked up gently, setting it into a small bowl/cauldron on the small table before them. Hermione and Draco took the liberty to remain upright regardless of the inviting soft leather couch that had been cannily noted by both of them. Dumbledore made a flourishing gesture with his hand, cueing them to sit, and when he didn't start after a while, they gave in and a took a seat as apart from each other as was seemingly possible.
Ultimately, he initiated the process of forming their 'offspring.' Surprisingly to both kids, Dumbledore took an eyedropper that had sprouted out of his wand and dipped it into the pot, apparently attempting to suck something off of the egg. Draco appeared unimpressed at Dumbledore's seemingly frivolous efforts. But after a few seconds, it looked as though the egg was splitting in half. And it did. In the stint of time the egg stayed open, Dumbledore was steadily dropping drops of the vials contents into it. When he was done, the egg closed itself up, unscathed, the gold lacquer had bubbled and resealed. Then another miraculous thing happened.
The egg's shelled cracked open and out oozed a thick dark pink substance. Then the shell somehow.. evaporated.. And the substance was solitary in the pot. Dumbledore put back the eyedropper and exchanged it for a blanket. He delicately shifted the pot and lay the blanket over the table. Next he made the pot extend into a human child mold. In a bit more time the child seemed to be ready and Dumbledore very meticulously turned over the mold onto the blanket, making sure the child didn't fall out. As he slowly, shrewdly lifted the mold, he wrapped the cold baby in the blanket.
Now you could see the tiny head. This baby didn't appear 9 months old, it hadn't even opened its eyes. But its platinum blonde hair was already distinguished. Dumbledore picked up the baby and very warily and vigilantly supported its neck. "Who would like to hold their child?" asked Dumbledore to the awed couple. Draco, to Hermione as least, looked as if maybe the features in his face had softened.
But she still knew that he wouldn't hold it. Not yet at least. "I-I will Professor."
"Yes Miss Granger, er, shouldn't I really be saying Mrs. Malfoy, now?" Hermione and Draco both cringed involuntarily.
"Please don't," they said in unison.
Dumbledore handed the infant to Hermione, who marveled at how small, and beautiful, and innocent it looked. It. She still didn't know if it was a he or a she. "Professor, is the baby a boy or a girl?"
"A girl."
Both sighed. It turned out they both had names for girls. Hermione went first. "I like Alyssa."
Draco thought about it. He had actually considered it himself. "Alyssa it is," he said without emotion, not wanting to give her a feeling triumph in achieving his consent.
"Right then," said Dumbledore. "Now, I must make Alyssa - beautiful name, by the way, - age a few months." Hermione looked a bit disappointed for a second, but then understood that she'd have to breast feed it or something to that like, had Alyssa not been aged a few months, and that the assignment simply wouldn't work with a newborn. She'd even forgotten it was an assignment in the spur of the moment. Dumbledore uttered a growth charm of some sort, and the baby instantly grew to be about the same as Padma and Ron's had been. Suddenly something occurred to Hermione.
"Professor, could Alyssa be a Pure Soul?"
"Very easily. And I believe that that's even quite plausible Miss.. er, Granger," he said with a hint of disappointment.
Hermione sighed heavily, and noticed something unusual about her daughter's hair. It was platinum blonde at first, when she was younger, but now it appeared to have natural highlights of Hermione's dark brown/reddish/burgundy color. She liked it. It was a vibrant contrast, but it seemed to somehow suit her. The hair was curly too. Curly and full of volume. Thick and healthy, as hers had been when she was younger, even though her own had taken a turn for the worse. But Hermione had a feeling it wouldn't with Alyssa, since Malfoy's hair was straight and perfect.
Dumbledore broke the awkward silence. "I think you both should spend some time together, here if you like, getting to know your child alone together. I'll leave you two to it too. That was fun.." Dumbledore raved to himself, walking away.
"I'm not going to take care of Alyssa alone, Malfoy."
Rolling his eyes, he retorted, rather aggressively, through gritted teeth. "Fine. You take her now. I'll get her from here, later, at about 3 o' clock. Later."
"But Dumbledore said that-"
"Is there a point to your incessant ramblings??"
"He's a Professor, a brilliant man, a genius really and I know that he deserves our respect and loyalty and for us to do as he wishes, even if it does happen to be the most revolting thing currently on my agenda."
"Wrong answer." And with that Draco left Hermione standing, speechless. She hadn't a clue what she was going to do at this point. Everyone had to have known about it but did everyone know about her flip out and the curse and did people see her and did they know she lost eligibility for Prefect and Head Girl yesterday even though today that was null and void? Did they know? Did they not know? What did they know? Did they know she was a Pure Soul? Did they know what a Pure Soul was? She was completely lost.