Recap:

"Does anyone else know?"

She nodded slowly, tears rising in her hazy blue-green eyes.

"Who?"

"Dumbledore," she whispered. "Dumbledore, and…and my brother-in-law, Galen Blake."

Chapter 13: It's A Baby!

Hermione and Draco walked eagerly towards the infirmary, the halls surprisingly warm despite the frigid winter outside. Today was the day they would find out for certain whether Hermione was carrying a boy or a girl.

They had just about reached the doors, when Draco casually pulled her aside and into a deserted corridor. Hermione bit her bottom lip; she'd been dreading this moment since they returned to Hogwarts. She'd hardly seen him since the weekend, and when she did they were never alone.

"Draco, I know what you're going to say," she blurted out, her back pressed against the wall, as far from him as she could get. "And I've been thinking a lot about it, and, well…Draco, there's no possible way for us to have any sort of a relationship. I know you've been trying, and that you think you have strong feelings for me, but really it's only your hormones. And to be very blunt, that day at your house I only wanted…sex."

To her complete surprise he smiled at her last statement.

"What?" Now she was confused.

"That's not what I was going to say," he said, laughter evident behind his voice. "Not that I haven't been giving that thought as well," he added with a wink.

"Then what?" She fought with every cell in her body to keep the color from rising in her cheeks.

"I think I found a name we can both agree on."

"Let's find out the gender first," she said, trying to walk around him. He pulled her back, forcing his mouth on hers. And this time, she was moved in a completely different way. She shoved him back as hard as she could, her eyes flaring with anger. He stumbled backwards, the back of his head colliding with the hard stone wall. Why did he think he could just do that! "Do I have 'Violate me' written on my forehead or something! Because I don't remember a time I ever said it was ok for you to kiss me!"

"You know what I find incredibly hard to believe?" he hissed, his hand pressed firmly on the throbbing bump on his head.

"What Draco?"

"That after having read the dreams I wrote out for you and knowing of the relationship we had, you can still be so damn stubborn with me!"

"Listen to me," she said through her teeth, yanking him forward by his collar to ensure he heard her words. "I don't give a damn about your stupid memory-dreams. They mean nothing to me. They've been completely useless in helping me figure out how I was stupid enough to get myself into this mess! I'm not going to be with you just because I'm having your baby, or because we somehow used to be together, or…or because you think we should be together. None of that matters to me, don't you get it? I hate you now more than ever, and I'm just fine with that. And the only reason I have ever submitted to your advances was because I'm human and have hormones just like everyone else. I don't love you."

"So you're just going to ignore the past?"

"That's exactly right. What happened is in the past, and that's where it belongs."

"But we—"

"Look me in the eyes when I say this." He obliged, his fiery rage mirroring her own. "I do not love you, Draco, and I never will."

"Say it again," he sneered, sticking his nose in her face. "I love to hear you say it."

"Draco—"

"You know something Hermione? You are exactly the way everyone says you are. A snotty, pushy, know-it-all who only does anything if it benefits her, and if not then the hell with everyone else!"

"Well maybe I could think about considering giving you a chance if you didn't try to shove your tongue down my throat every five seconds! I'm not one of your play things, Malfoy! I'm your enemy!"

"You—" But his voice, as well as his anger, fell. And with a heavy sigh he accepted his defeat. He would never have her, no matter how hard he tried. "I've never cared about any of the girls I've slept with," he said, his voice trembling. For an instant Hermione actually thought he might cry, though she couldn't fathom why. They'd fought a million times, hurling insults phenomenally worse. Certainly this wasn't the last straw. "I don't even remember being with you, but, for some reason, I can't get you out of my head. You've completely ruined my life, Hermione! I could have lived on never feeling what I feel right now and be the better for it, because at least then I would never know the pain that came with it!"

"What are you talking about!" she demanded, undeterred by his performance. As a Slytherin he would implore any means possible to meet his own ends.

"What am I talking about?" he laughed, shaking his head almost violently. "I'm talking about how weak I get when I'm around you! I'm talking about the dreams! And when I kiss you! And when you're angry or happy or upset or scared! I'm talking…I'm talking about what you've done to me, what's happened to me."

"And what's happened?" Her words were so cold and full of hatred even she felt startled by them. When had she become so heartless?

"I fell in love with you," he snarled, as if it were an insult, then turned and stalked off, leaving her alone and trembling in her shock and confusion.

It took nearly ten minutes for Hermione to collect herself and continue on to the infirmary. With or without Draco she was going to find out what her child was. She wanted to be angry—and rightfully so she thought—but his last statement prevented her from being anything but sad. She felt sorry for him, for there was no denying that he had been telling the truth. She felt sorry because not only had he spilled his heart, but she couldn't return the feelings. She did not love him, no matter how attracted she was to him, for there was more to love than attraction and the connection they shared with the baby.

It absolutely baffled her that, after only two months of knowing the truth of paternity, that Draco could form such strong feelings for her. Perhaps the reason he'd sounded so convincing was because he truly believed that he did love her. How or why he believed this was beyond her, and she hoped he would come to his senses soon and realize just who she was and how they were supposed to act towards one another.

Why does he insist on upsetting the natural order of things? she thought bitterly, then slipped into the infirmary.

Harry and Ginny waited impatiently in the common room for Hermione to return with the news. And while their friend firmly believed she carried a boy, for reasons unknown to them, there was always a chance the always-right Hermione could be wrong.

"You know something," Harry said, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" She didn't look at him, her eyes glued to the porthole. Any minute now she could return.

"I think I'm beginning to feel alright about all this." Ginny's eyes snapped on her boyfriend, her face brightening with a smile. "I mean, despite who the father is, Hermione is really happy about the baby. I never would have thought that coming from our bookworm," he laughed.

"But she'll make a great mother. Her kids are going to be the smartest in the entire wizarding world."

"Kids!" came a mock-shocked voice from the doorway. "I think I'll stick with one illegitimate child for now."

"'Mione!" they cried in unison, bombarding her with hugs.

"What is it?" Ginny demanded, pressing her hands to Hermione's belly.

"It's a baby, what else?"

"Hermione Granger!" Harry snapped playfully. "You tell us right now or—"

"Ok, ok. I don't want the great Harry Potter angry with me," she laughed, leading them over to the couch they'd been sitting on. She'd decided on her walk back to the tower that she wouldn't trouble Harry with what Draco had told her; Ginny, on the other hand, was a gossipmonger and would no doubt assault her verbally if she found out before Hermione told her. "You want me to just say it or t—"

"Just say it!" they both practically shouted. This was just too much fun for her!

"It's a boy," she said calmly, a hanger-sized smile pulled at her face. Not that she wouldn't have wanted a little girl, but the idea of having a boy just made her giddy all over. Perhaps her next child—who she would wait for marriage to the man she fell in love with—would be a girl.

"So you were right," Ginny said excitedly. "Oh! I'm so happy for you!"

"Still no luck on the name though," Hermione sighed.

"You have four months to figure that out," Harry reminded her. "Don't worry about it. When it's the right name you'll know it."

"You think?"

"I know," he said with a smile, pulling her close to give her a kiss on the forehead. "Now, tell me what my price limit is for buying stuff for the baby."

Ginny threw herself backwards on the bed, crying out with tears running down her face. Anyone outside the door might mistake her cried for pain, when in fact she was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. When she was able to slow her breathing to normal, she sat up and wiped at her eyes, a small giggle still in her throat.

"And he said it with a straight face?" she asked, wanting to know every little detail. This was big news indeed. Daily Prophet news!

"I really think he believes it's true," Hermione sighed, exasperated. Ginny might have been enjoying herself, but Hermione knew that with this new "revelation" came a thousand and one headaches and arguments with Draco. She didn't know if she had the energy or the patience to be alone with him again. "We were yelling back and forth, and then, all of a sudden, he gets really quiet and his voice is shaking. And when he said…what he said, it sounded so spiteful, like I'd hurt him somehow."

"Well you know what it sounds like to me?"

"What?"

"That he really does love you. I mean, he never even acknowledged that he liked the girls he slept with, and here is his confessing he loves you. It's not entirely impossible, you know."

"For Draco?" she laughed. "Yes, it is. I think his brain was scrambled when we lost our memories."

"Well we're just going to have to wait and see if he lives up to it."

"Lives up to it? What do you—"

A knock at the door silenced her immediately. Ginny slowly climbed off the bed and answered it, a little more than shocked at who was on the other side.

"Lavender? What do you want?" As far as she and Hermione were concerned, Lavender was the reason any of this mess had happened in the first place. She deserved any and all glares and insults directed at her.

"To speak with Hermione for a moment," she answered, ignoring Ginny's blatant rudeness. "Alone."

"Whatever you have to say you can say it in front of me, right Hermione?"

But the brown-haired girl remained silent on the bed.

"Herm—"

"I'll come get you when we're done," she said, casting her eyes at the floor.

"But Hermione!"

"Please Gin," she sighed. Wasn't there some rule that said pregnant women weren't supposed to be stressed?

"Fine," she huffed, shoving into Lavender as she exited the room, her nose turned up.

"Don't mind her," Hermione laughed nervously. It was the first time since "that night" that the two girls had been anywhere near each other, let alone by themselves. "She thinks she needs to protect me or something."

"I didn't come here for me," Lavender admitted, staying close to the door. "I came here for—"

"Ron. I figured that. That's why I told Ginny to leave."

"Then you're willing to speak with him?"

Hermione shrugged and nodded. Since she'd learned she was pregnant, everything else took on a muted hue. Besides, she never planned on being cold to Ron forever. Only enough time for him to realize just how much he'd hurt her, not only with the events Lavender revealed, but with his behavior regarding her and Draco. And before she agreed to hear him out she wanted to know just how sorry he was.

"Tell him I'll meet him in his room in ten minutes."

"Sure."

"And Lavender?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

She was noticeably startled, and very confused.

"If you hadn't done what you did I might have been hurt much worse in the future."

Once she was alone again, Hermione found her thoughts were again centered on Draco. He was such a cold, hard, arrogant person, his past rooted with hatred and evil. Yet the Draco she'd come to know these past few months was somewhat different, while still bearing the elements essential to being a Slytherin and a Malfoy. He showed her that he could be kind and caring and selfless. She knew without any hint of a doubt that he would make a wonderful father to their son. There was no questioning that, or the fact that she herself would be safe at the Manor. But to go so far as to think he was in love with her? She simply didn't understand what could have possessed him to come to such a conclusion.

Finally, as she headed towards the boys' dormitory, she decided that she would speak with Draco directly about it. There was no sense in keeping secrets if they would be living together. Which brought her to another unsettling thought—Melantha's secret. It was obvious that she hadn't said a word yet, and Hermione wondered just how long she would go on with yet another person knowing and not say a word. Maybe she was milling it over, deciding on the best way to breech the topic and receive the least backlash. Whatever the case she hoped she came clean soon, because Hermione didn't know how much longer she could stand keeping it to herself.

She walked into Ron's room without knocking and found him sitting nervously on his bed, his eyes wide and almost scared when he saw her.

"I didn't agree to speak with you so I could yell at you," she said off the bat. His rigid back went lax immediately. "But I do want to get something straight before I listen to anything you have to say on our situation."

"Yes?" His voice sounded so small, so un-Ron like. It made her sad to think that they'd grown so far apart in only a short time. Maybe their friendship hadn't been as strong as she always believed.

"First, why do you want to speak with me?"

"I want to apologize," he said quickly, as if rehearsed. "I want…I want you to know that I know it's my fault that this happened. If I hadn't been so stupid and selfish you would never be in the mess you are with Malfoy…I don't expect you to forgive me, I just wanted you to know that I regret what I did…and I hope there is still a chance you can have a happy life with how much I've screwed it up."

"Don't worry about my future," she said, coming to sit opposite him. "I'm happy now, so I don't foresee anything more tragic than what's already happened that could crush me."

"You're not upset about the baby?"

"Not anymore."

He smiled meekly. He had been so prepared for a raging battle.

"Now that we got that out of the way," she continued. "I want to know something else."

"Anything." She had to suppress her laughter at his willingness to please her.

"When are you going to ask out Lavender?"

I know everyone wanted to know Melantha's secret in this chapter, but trust me, it'll come soon enough. Perhaps in the one after this. I don't know, maybe I'll think of another twist between then and now, heehee! I so love my twists!

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A lot of you inquired about the library scene. And yes, I did get it from Beauty and the Beast. I always loves that scene in the movie and that it would be fitting here. :)