Chapter 34

Araminta sauntered slowly back to the castle. She didn't even feel like turning back into a unicorn on the way. This had to be the most horrible day of her life. Her family was nothing like she thought it was. Her daddies didn't really love each other. She had her awful, awful Aunt Hermione for a mother, and there was the possibility that she wasn't even going to be born.

She wasn't really paying attention to where she was walking. Suddenly, she realized that she was standing outside the Slytherin common room. "Bad is the new good," she said, feeling more terrible than ever.

Draco was still on the couch, looking beautiful in an otherworldly way. "Hey, Minta, you didn't bring back a toadstool. What happened?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Araminta fell to the floor, sobbing and shaking like there was no tomorrow. Heck, for all she knew, there really was no tomorrow. She'd screwed up everything just by being here, and she might never be born, meaning that she couldn't come back in time, and that the world would be messed up forever.

Draco kneeled down next to her and touched her hair, which had come loose from its braid and was covering her like a cloak. "Minta, don't cry. It can't be that bad."

"Y-y-yes it can," she sobbed.

"Does your dad want you to become a Death Eater?" he muttered coldly.

"Worse," sobbed Minta.

"Oh, Minta," said Draco, and he gathered her up in his arms and carried her back to the couch. He held her in his arms and let her cry, stroking her hair in a way that reminded Araminta of the future, the future she might never get to have. "Don't cry. Please, don't cry."

Araminta sobbed harder, trying not to drip on her dad. Finally, she curled up close to him and they slept together on the couch.

The next thing she knew, a cold rush of air was waking her up and Aunt Hermione--no, Mom--was walking into the Slytherin common room. Her hair was bushy and tangled and it looked like she had been crying too. When she saw Draco and Araminta entwined on the couch, she jumped to the wrong conclusion and her jaw dropped.

"How could you?" Hermione asked Draco as he blinked his silvery eyes sleepily. "We only broke up yesterday!" She turned around and fled the room.

"Granger, wait!" shouted Draco, and he started to get up from the couch but Araminta pushed him back down.

"It's all my fault," she said unhappily. "Let me at least try talking to her first, okay? After all, we're both girls so we understand each other better."

"Okay," Draco agreed reluctantly.

Araminta steeled herself and walked out to find Hermione. She was going to make Hermione date Draco, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer. After all, if they didn't date, they'd never get married, and Minta might never be born.

It was a matter of life and death.