At the beginning of July, Hermione decided to spend one evening away from
her baby and have some fun. She hadn't had fun since Monica was born - she
deserved one evening of enjoyment, didn't she? Ginny had graduated already,
and Hermione asked her if she wanted to go out. Ginny agreed gladly.
"But if you want us to talk during this time, don't invite Harry and Ron," she said. "Harry and I are just going to talk all night."
Harry and Ginny were a romantic couple, of course; now that Ginny had graduated they spent almost all of their time together. Ron said he was happy he wasn't home a lot anyway, because Harry and Ginny settled in every day and interrupted him when he needed some quiet.
Hermione and Ginny went to have some Butterbear and cake in The Three Broomsticks, in Hogsmeade. As they sat down near one of the tables and looked around, they were surprised to see the place was nearly empty. Then they understood that they had been used to see the place full of students from Hogwarts, and there were no students there.
"Who is Monica staying with?" asked Ginny.
"She's with my parents," Hermione answered. "I've been taking care of her 24 hours every day for the last three months. I need one evening rest!"
Ginny laughed. "How is she, anyway?" she asked. "I haven't seen her since you had her! I just have to see her again. Has she grown up?"
"Yes, of course," said Hermione happily. It was her favorite topic (naturally). "I don't know if you could even recognize her now." She took out her purse and showed Ginny a copy of the very same picture she had sent Draco.
"Oh, she's so cute!" cried Ginny, staring at the picture. "And she has your eyes! Wow, what a sweetheart!"
Hermione smiled proudly. Ginny stared for another moment, then gave her the picture back. "But she looks a bit like Malfoy, you know," she added.
"I know," sighed Hermione. "He's her father, after all."
"Yes, her father..." said Ginny blankly. "Her last name isn't Malfoy - is it?"
"No, it's Granger. I couldn't give her the name Malfoy, I simply couldn't."
"I understand. Not after what he had done. Not after he had called you bitch and blamed you, and especially not after he injured your owl. You're right."
"You know, Ginny, I just don't get it," said Hermione. "When we were younger, first-years, second-years, all the way till the seventh year - he has always been this disgusting, annoying jerk who used to call me a Mudblood and insult my best friends. I've never liked him. Ever. However, when we started our seventh year, he - he changed. He became much nicer. He didn't insult us any more, he didn't play mean tricks on us, he didn't try to get us into trouble. Instead, he was much nicer. I even started to like him... so when he asked me out... I agreed. I thought no harm could come out, but..."
She took a deep breath and went on: "I've been an idiot. I should have known... people don't change. A snake will always remain a snake... it could never be a rabbit."
"You mean..."
"Yes. I mean Draco has never really changed - from the inside. He is still the same arrogant idiot he used to be."
Ginny looked at her seriously and asked: "Tell me the truth, Hermione, do you have any regrets?"
Hermione considered the question for a moment.
"I don't regret about that night," she said slowly, "because thanks to this I have Monica. I could never regret I had her. I do regret one thing, though. I wish - " her face twitched in frustration - "I wish I had never fallen in love with him. Because now... I cannot stop."
Ginny gasped. "You mean you still love him?"
Hermione clenched her teeth. "I do," she said miserably. "I hate myself for that. I know he doesn't deserve this, but I love him, I dream of him all the time. In fact... I want him to come back. I wish I could stop... I try to fight... but it's useless. This is why I regret letting myself love him in the first place. I was so stupid."
"Listen, Hermione," said Ginny suddenly. "What if I try to set you up with someone?"
"Huh?"
"You know, a blind date with someone. It could help you forget Draco. Maybe you could find new love, or at least cheer up."
"No, no, no," Hermione panicked. "Anything but that."
"But why? Just for fun, Hermione. You mustn't sit and mourn over Draco all day long! You have to be happy!"
Hermione shook her head determinedly, her lips clenched tightly.
Ginny sighed. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"
"Gryffindor quality, I guess," said Hermione, her eyes twinkling amusingly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Three months later, Draco still hadn't done anything about seeing his six- months-old daughter. He knew he had a responsibility - but WHAT could he do after he had insulted the mother of his child like this?
And then, one evening, his mother came back from her date with Snape and called him downstairs. From her voice he could hear something peculiar had happened.
As he walked into the living room, he found Narcissa sitting on the couch, her legs crossed. "Sit down, dear," she said. Draco sat.
"What's up, Mom?"
Narcissa didn't answer. "I wanted to ask you something," she said urgently. "Severus told me - did you know - did you know that Hermione had a baby?"
Draco swallowed hard. He wanted to deny immediately, but his mother knew him too well. "You DID know, didn't you?" she squealed. "DIDN'T you?"
"Fine, fine, I knew!" said Draco, annoyed. "What about it?"
"Well, Draco, just a simple question. Has Hermione ever cheated on you?"
Draco raised his eyes, surprised, and looked at her. "Cheated? Hermione? Of course not."
"I thought so," Narcissa confirmed darkly. "Just explain this to me. This baby is six months old. This means Hermione had to get pregnant about fifteen months ago - or a year and three months. Right?"
"I guess," said Draco worriedly, wondering what was coming next.
"However, a year and three months ago was somewhere between the end of June and the beginning of July. And if I'm not very mistaken, my dear son, you and Hermione were still very close at that time."
Draco almost fell off his armchair. Oh, dear God, she knows! He bit his lip forcefully and caught his knees to stop them from shaking. SHE KNOWS!
His mother had always been much nicer than his father. She had always protected him from his father. She had always been very kind and Draco loved her very much. He had never been terrified of her as he had from his father. Almost never. Because when SHE was angry, she was even more dangerous than Lucius - which was saying something.
Now Draco knew she was going to be very, very angry with him - and though he was already nineteen years old, he had to admit he was terribly scared.
"Could you please explain this to me?" said Narcissa dangerously.
"Well..." Draco swallowed hard again. How was he going to escape? There was no point in trying to lie to Narcissa, he knew this very well from past experiences. He shook his head and stared stubbornly at the floor.
"Answer this question, Draco," said Narcissa, and Draco was now too afraid to look at her in the eye. "Is this baby yours?"
Draco was shaking all over.
"ANSWER ME!" Narcissa's voice was horrible. "IS THIS BABY YOURS?"
His forehead was sweating. Not raising his eyes from the ground, he nodded a tiny nod.
"I thought so," said Narcissa in the very same voice. "And is this why you and Hermione broke up?"
Draco took a deep breath. "Yes," he said.
"Tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me everything you know about this. Look at me in the eye, Draco, and NO LIES!"
Draco raised his eyes, startled. "Well," he said, "she... we... on our last night in Hogwarts, we - we both got drunk. We weren't the only ones," he added rushingly, "almost everybody were drunk."
"Go on," said Narcissa quietly.
"Well - I don't remember almost anything, really. All I know is that she came with me to my room - and we - we had sex."
Narcissa's eyes were burning into his.
"I really don't remember it," said Draco faintly, "I know we had sex - because I woke up naked. We were drunk, so naturally we didn't use any protection. And this is all I know."
"And she got pregnant that night."
"Obviously, she did."
"What happened later?"
"Later when?"
"You know exactly when, Draco. Don't be ridiculous!"
"Well - " Draco took another deep breath. "She only found out three months later and told me."
"How did you react?"
"Well - I - I was angry."
"ANGRY?!" Narcissa jumped off the couch so quickly Draco flinched. "I'll show you angry! Angry about WHAT exactly, may I ask?"
"She - she got pregnant!" Draco protested. "I didn't want a baby - I was only eighteen - I wasn't ready to be a father!"
"Do you think Hermione was?"
"Apparantly yes, because she decided to keep it, didn't she?"
"Well, for your information, when you find out three months after getting pregnant, you can't abort!"
"Isn't there any spell for it?"
"Of course not!" shouted Narcissa. "But this is not the point. The point is that my own son dumps his loyal girlfriend and leaves her to raise their baby all alone!"
"It wasn't like that at all!" said Draco bitterly.
"Oh, it was exactly like that," said Narcissa darkly. "I'll tell you one thing, Draco Malfoy, I'm ashamed to be your mother!"
Draco stared.
"I am!" she screamed. "You have no shame, you idiot. How could you do this?! This is your baby too! This is your problem, too! Just because Hermione has been carrying the baby doesn't mean it's none of your business. For God's sake, Draco, you have a six-months-old daughter and you don't even know her name!"
"What IS her name?" Draco dared to ask.
"I don't know!" Narcissa yelled, "And don't you try to talk about something else. I'm telling you the truth, I'm ashamed to be your mother and I'm even more ashamed of the fact you don't understand what you have done wrong!"
She came closer and went on, her voice shaking from anger. "Hermione was loyal to you. She loved you. I knew how much she loved you, and I know you knew than too. So the moment you found out she was pregnant, you simply blamed her as if it was not your fault too..."
"Why was it MY fault?"
"How dare you ask such a thing!" Narcissa screeched. "You are even dumber than I thought, and that's saying something! You got drunk just like she did, didn't you? You took her to your room, didn't you? You slept with her - DIDN'T YOU?"
"Yes, but - "
"Don't answer me! I will not take this anymore. Draco Malfoy, I'm giving you ten minutes to go to Hermione's place and ask her to forgive you. Beg on your knees if you must! Then you will keep in touch with your daughter at least twice a week and help Hermione as much as possible. Do you hear me?"
"But - "
"I said, DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"Yes, but what if I don't - do that?"
Narcissa's eyes flamed, and Draco cursed himself for asking.
"Then," said Narcissa in a low voice, sounding surprisingly as threatening as Snape used to sound in his lessons, "you would leave this house. I am not going to live with an idiot calling himself my son. Now go!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Oh, what a mean place to stop, isn't it? Well, at least this chapter was relatively long. Reviews please! I'll try to update as soon as possible, promise. :)
"But if you want us to talk during this time, don't invite Harry and Ron," she said. "Harry and I are just going to talk all night."
Harry and Ginny were a romantic couple, of course; now that Ginny had graduated they spent almost all of their time together. Ron said he was happy he wasn't home a lot anyway, because Harry and Ginny settled in every day and interrupted him when he needed some quiet.
Hermione and Ginny went to have some Butterbear and cake in The Three Broomsticks, in Hogsmeade. As they sat down near one of the tables and looked around, they were surprised to see the place was nearly empty. Then they understood that they had been used to see the place full of students from Hogwarts, and there were no students there.
"Who is Monica staying with?" asked Ginny.
"She's with my parents," Hermione answered. "I've been taking care of her 24 hours every day for the last three months. I need one evening rest!"
Ginny laughed. "How is she, anyway?" she asked. "I haven't seen her since you had her! I just have to see her again. Has she grown up?"
"Yes, of course," said Hermione happily. It was her favorite topic (naturally). "I don't know if you could even recognize her now." She took out her purse and showed Ginny a copy of the very same picture she had sent Draco.
"Oh, she's so cute!" cried Ginny, staring at the picture. "And she has your eyes! Wow, what a sweetheart!"
Hermione smiled proudly. Ginny stared for another moment, then gave her the picture back. "But she looks a bit like Malfoy, you know," she added.
"I know," sighed Hermione. "He's her father, after all."
"Yes, her father..." said Ginny blankly. "Her last name isn't Malfoy - is it?"
"No, it's Granger. I couldn't give her the name Malfoy, I simply couldn't."
"I understand. Not after what he had done. Not after he had called you bitch and blamed you, and especially not after he injured your owl. You're right."
"You know, Ginny, I just don't get it," said Hermione. "When we were younger, first-years, second-years, all the way till the seventh year - he has always been this disgusting, annoying jerk who used to call me a Mudblood and insult my best friends. I've never liked him. Ever. However, when we started our seventh year, he - he changed. He became much nicer. He didn't insult us any more, he didn't play mean tricks on us, he didn't try to get us into trouble. Instead, he was much nicer. I even started to like him... so when he asked me out... I agreed. I thought no harm could come out, but..."
She took a deep breath and went on: "I've been an idiot. I should have known... people don't change. A snake will always remain a snake... it could never be a rabbit."
"You mean..."
"Yes. I mean Draco has never really changed - from the inside. He is still the same arrogant idiot he used to be."
Ginny looked at her seriously and asked: "Tell me the truth, Hermione, do you have any regrets?"
Hermione considered the question for a moment.
"I don't regret about that night," she said slowly, "because thanks to this I have Monica. I could never regret I had her. I do regret one thing, though. I wish - " her face twitched in frustration - "I wish I had never fallen in love with him. Because now... I cannot stop."
Ginny gasped. "You mean you still love him?"
Hermione clenched her teeth. "I do," she said miserably. "I hate myself for that. I know he doesn't deserve this, but I love him, I dream of him all the time. In fact... I want him to come back. I wish I could stop... I try to fight... but it's useless. This is why I regret letting myself love him in the first place. I was so stupid."
"Listen, Hermione," said Ginny suddenly. "What if I try to set you up with someone?"
"Huh?"
"You know, a blind date with someone. It could help you forget Draco. Maybe you could find new love, or at least cheer up."
"No, no, no," Hermione panicked. "Anything but that."
"But why? Just for fun, Hermione. You mustn't sit and mourn over Draco all day long! You have to be happy!"
Hermione shook her head determinedly, her lips clenched tightly.
Ginny sighed. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"
"Gryffindor quality, I guess," said Hermione, her eyes twinkling amusingly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Three months later, Draco still hadn't done anything about seeing his six- months-old daughter. He knew he had a responsibility - but WHAT could he do after he had insulted the mother of his child like this?
And then, one evening, his mother came back from her date with Snape and called him downstairs. From her voice he could hear something peculiar had happened.
As he walked into the living room, he found Narcissa sitting on the couch, her legs crossed. "Sit down, dear," she said. Draco sat.
"What's up, Mom?"
Narcissa didn't answer. "I wanted to ask you something," she said urgently. "Severus told me - did you know - did you know that Hermione had a baby?"
Draco swallowed hard. He wanted to deny immediately, but his mother knew him too well. "You DID know, didn't you?" she squealed. "DIDN'T you?"
"Fine, fine, I knew!" said Draco, annoyed. "What about it?"
"Well, Draco, just a simple question. Has Hermione ever cheated on you?"
Draco raised his eyes, surprised, and looked at her. "Cheated? Hermione? Of course not."
"I thought so," Narcissa confirmed darkly. "Just explain this to me. This baby is six months old. This means Hermione had to get pregnant about fifteen months ago - or a year and three months. Right?"
"I guess," said Draco worriedly, wondering what was coming next.
"However, a year and three months ago was somewhere between the end of June and the beginning of July. And if I'm not very mistaken, my dear son, you and Hermione were still very close at that time."
Draco almost fell off his armchair. Oh, dear God, she knows! He bit his lip forcefully and caught his knees to stop them from shaking. SHE KNOWS!
His mother had always been much nicer than his father. She had always protected him from his father. She had always been very kind and Draco loved her very much. He had never been terrified of her as he had from his father. Almost never. Because when SHE was angry, she was even more dangerous than Lucius - which was saying something.
Now Draco knew she was going to be very, very angry with him - and though he was already nineteen years old, he had to admit he was terribly scared.
"Could you please explain this to me?" said Narcissa dangerously.
"Well..." Draco swallowed hard again. How was he going to escape? There was no point in trying to lie to Narcissa, he knew this very well from past experiences. He shook his head and stared stubbornly at the floor.
"Answer this question, Draco," said Narcissa, and Draco was now too afraid to look at her in the eye. "Is this baby yours?"
Draco was shaking all over.
"ANSWER ME!" Narcissa's voice was horrible. "IS THIS BABY YOURS?"
His forehead was sweating. Not raising his eyes from the ground, he nodded a tiny nod.
"I thought so," said Narcissa in the very same voice. "And is this why you and Hermione broke up?"
Draco took a deep breath. "Yes," he said.
"Tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Tell me everything you know about this. Look at me in the eye, Draco, and NO LIES!"
Draco raised his eyes, startled. "Well," he said, "she... we... on our last night in Hogwarts, we - we both got drunk. We weren't the only ones," he added rushingly, "almost everybody were drunk."
"Go on," said Narcissa quietly.
"Well - I don't remember almost anything, really. All I know is that she came with me to my room - and we - we had sex."
Narcissa's eyes were burning into his.
"I really don't remember it," said Draco faintly, "I know we had sex - because I woke up naked. We were drunk, so naturally we didn't use any protection. And this is all I know."
"And she got pregnant that night."
"Obviously, she did."
"What happened later?"
"Later when?"
"You know exactly when, Draco. Don't be ridiculous!"
"Well - " Draco took another deep breath. "She only found out three months later and told me."
"How did you react?"
"Well - I - I was angry."
"ANGRY?!" Narcissa jumped off the couch so quickly Draco flinched. "I'll show you angry! Angry about WHAT exactly, may I ask?"
"She - she got pregnant!" Draco protested. "I didn't want a baby - I was only eighteen - I wasn't ready to be a father!"
"Do you think Hermione was?"
"Apparantly yes, because she decided to keep it, didn't she?"
"Well, for your information, when you find out three months after getting pregnant, you can't abort!"
"Isn't there any spell for it?"
"Of course not!" shouted Narcissa. "But this is not the point. The point is that my own son dumps his loyal girlfriend and leaves her to raise their baby all alone!"
"It wasn't like that at all!" said Draco bitterly.
"Oh, it was exactly like that," said Narcissa darkly. "I'll tell you one thing, Draco Malfoy, I'm ashamed to be your mother!"
Draco stared.
"I am!" she screamed. "You have no shame, you idiot. How could you do this?! This is your baby too! This is your problem, too! Just because Hermione has been carrying the baby doesn't mean it's none of your business. For God's sake, Draco, you have a six-months-old daughter and you don't even know her name!"
"What IS her name?" Draco dared to ask.
"I don't know!" Narcissa yelled, "And don't you try to talk about something else. I'm telling you the truth, I'm ashamed to be your mother and I'm even more ashamed of the fact you don't understand what you have done wrong!"
She came closer and went on, her voice shaking from anger. "Hermione was loyal to you. She loved you. I knew how much she loved you, and I know you knew than too. So the moment you found out she was pregnant, you simply blamed her as if it was not your fault too..."
"Why was it MY fault?"
"How dare you ask such a thing!" Narcissa screeched. "You are even dumber than I thought, and that's saying something! You got drunk just like she did, didn't you? You took her to your room, didn't you? You slept with her - DIDN'T YOU?"
"Yes, but - "
"Don't answer me! I will not take this anymore. Draco Malfoy, I'm giving you ten minutes to go to Hermione's place and ask her to forgive you. Beg on your knees if you must! Then you will keep in touch with your daughter at least twice a week and help Hermione as much as possible. Do you hear me?"
"But - "
"I said, DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"Yes, but what if I don't - do that?"
Narcissa's eyes flamed, and Draco cursed himself for asking.
"Then," said Narcissa in a low voice, sounding surprisingly as threatening as Snape used to sound in his lessons, "you would leave this house. I am not going to live with an idiot calling himself my son. Now go!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Oh, what a mean place to stop, isn't it? Well, at least this chapter was relatively long. Reviews please! I'll try to update as soon as possible, promise. :)