Recap:

"Draco refused the Dark Mark before you say you lost your memories."

"Then that means—"

"He's always been good."

Chapter 16: Decisions

Hermione bent down and kissed Draco softly on the forehead. Though she knew he wouldn't wake under Melantha's spell, she didn't want to take any chances. He didn't need to see the agony in her eyes, the pain that came with the heart-wrenching decision she'd made less than an hour ago.

In a few months time, just before the baby would come, she planned to go into hiding. All the necessaries were in order and only Dumbledore knew where she was going; he would be her secret keeper. She would be completely safe and very well-informed.

And before she went she vowed to right her wrongs with Draco. She was going to give him a chance. This didn't mean she would be hid girlfriend, and it certainly didn't mean that she loved him, because of course she couldn't. It did mean, however, that she really didn't know what she felt for him. And now, circumstances being what they were, she was actually willing to find out if she couldlove him the way she had before their memories went. She told herself repeatedly that she was only doing him a favor, that nothing would come of this. He'd been practically begging her to give him a chance; tomorrow would be his lucky day. The only problem she had left was how to breech the subject; but something told her he would take care of that himself.

"You don't have to go," Melantha said, coming up behind her to place a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but only slightly, then looked over her shoulder. She tried to smile, but succeeded only in looking more sad. "Draco and I will protect the baby. We'll protect you. Dumbledore and others will help, you know they will."

"I won't put other people at risk for me or my mistakes. If there's no baby for Voldemort to find, then no one is in danger."

"Everyone is in danger of Voldemort no matter what. Hermione," she said, grasping her shoulder tighter, "if you leave he'll come after us anyway, to lure you out. And he'll target Draco, because he knows how to find weak spots."

Hermione stiffened noticeably. Melantha smiled, despite the seriousness of their situation. Of course she knew Hermione cared for him—the problem was the long, hard struggle she would inevitably endure to discover that she did love Draco. Melantha could see it in her every movement, she knew how that felt, the love she'd known for Dante.

"He loves me," Hermione said, bowing her head. Her eyes teared up and she choked back the sobs. Even after all he'd done to her, she couldn't stop herself from feeling awful. Did that mean she loved him? No, she thought, shaking her head. That was impossible. But then how can he love me

"I think so too," Melantha replied, her voice holding the same somber note.

"No, I know. He told me."

"How did you do it, Hermione?"

"Do what?"

"Tear down his walls. Find his heart. Make him love you."

"I—er—you know, Dumbledore wouldn't let me go unless he knew Draco would be ok," she said quickly, dodging the question. And Melantha decided to let it be. No matter what she would watch Hermione like a hawk. Nothing would touch her. Nothing.

The next day, as the morning sun crept in through the frosted windows, Draco awoke with a start, but found he was in a far better mood than when he'd been knocked out the night before. There was only one thing—or person rather—that could do anything to lighten his mood: Hermione. And she was lying fast asleep in his bed beside him, his aunt—er—mother no where to be found.

His head was swimming—there must have been an anxious fish stuck in there. Melantha was his mother! So then that made Narcissa his aunt?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. No, Hermione was what was important at the moment. As of hearing his thoughts, her eyes fluttered open and she actually smiled over at him. He did a double-take, then smiled back sleepily.

"Morning," she yawned, stretching her limbs, and keeping expertly from touching him even the smallest bit.

"Morning," he replied slowly. "You weren't here when I fell asleep."

"Nope." And she gave another deep yawn. "I figured out the password."

He smiled at her cleverness.

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing here, or should I assume—" His tone was slightly off; he was unsure of himself and Hermione knew this was a very foreign feeling for him.

"I've been turning things over in my head," she sighed, sitting up to lean against the headboard. "I've decided…to give you…a chance. But," she added sternly, pointing her finger in an almost accusatory manner, "if you screw up once, that's it. No more chances."

He sprang up and grabbed her face, capturing her lips firmly with his.

"Whoa!" She pulled back, holding him away at arms' length. "I said I'd give you a chance. That means you have to prove yourself."

He frowned slightly, but was completely accepting. Until, that is, it dawned on him.

"This is because of Voldemort, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly. She was hoping he wouldn't figure it out. Or maybe—secretly—she was.

"I am willing," she said honestly. "It has a lot to do with Voldemort, but if I truly wasn't willing then nothing could change my mind."

"Then you don't hate me?"

At this she laughed and people in the other beds stirred, but did not wake. She sighed with relief—she did not want to deal with any other Slytherins. Luckily for them the entire Slytherin House seemed to be unanimously ignoring them. She thought this would have bothered Draco, but he was indifferent—they never really meant anything anyway.

"No, I don't hate you," she finally said.

He smiled, glowing with Draco "charm".

"Does that mean I can take you on a date tonight?" He seemed to be back to his old self again.

She thought carefully for a good five minutes. It would be easy enough to tell Harry and Ron that they were shopping for baby stuff in Hogsmeade, and she could do with a nice, quiet, stress-free night out.

"Yes,"she answered slowly, averting her eyes; she'd grown pink with embarrassment. The last time she remembered being asked out was by Victor Krum, but that was ages ago. "We should pick up some stuff for the baby, too, you know?"

"Of course," she said with a wry smirk. "Wouldn't want Potter or Weasley to think we were actually together, would we?"

Hermione's pink cheeks flamed scarlet.

"I told you before. I won't hurt my friends. Not for anything."

"So what you want doesn't matter?"

"That's not how it is and you know it. Now stop it before I change my mind…I'm hungry," she said suddenly. The delicious smell of Saturday morning breakfast had begun to fill the castle. "And I think Dante is too."

"Dante?" He gave her a bewildered look. "Who the hell is Dante?"

"Our son," she beamed with pride. "I've decided to name him Dante Xavier, after Melantha's husband."

"And when were you planning on telling me?"

She smiled knowingly and crawled out of bed.

"Is there a problem with that name? I think it's rather charming."

"I—" be began, then stopped, the gears in his head turning as he mulled over the odd, yet strangely fitting, name. "No. No problem," he said with no enthusiasm. What did he think about using the name of his now-mother's late husband? It was a nice enough name—but would it work? "But only if I can choose the second middle name."

"Second middle name?" Hermione asked. She whipped her hair up into a messy ponytail.

"Yes. I think a nice long name is fitting." He climbed out of his bed as well, heading for the wardrobe to grab some clean robes.

"Any names in mind?" She was quite curious, though she didn't know why. The subject of baby names was always difficult for them. Though she was agreeable with anything right now because he had said yes to her choice.

"I told you last night," he reminded her, almost angrily. "Right before the fight."

Her face was painted with embarrassment once more. She nearly forgot about that!

"What was it?" she asked timidly.

"Cassio," he said, then turned and headed for the bathroom to take a quick shower before breakfast. He was starving! He wouldn't get any hard thinking done on an empty stomach.

It took Hermione a moment, and then she realized they that name sounded so familiar. She rushed into the bathroom after him, just as he closed to shower door.

"Where did you get that name from?" she asked, not wanting to be presumptuous. It couldn't be what she was thinking!

"Being a muggle," he said, poking his already soaking head out, "you should know."

"Shakespeare?" she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "But—"

"What?" he laughed. "Did you think I knew nothing about your world? I happen to big a rather big fan of the man's work. Some say he was a wizard, but no one knows for sure."

She was at a complete loss for words. Draco reading Shakespeare! It was more bizarre than the fact that she was carrying his child!

"Your parents must have named you after Hermione in Winter's Tale," he went on, to prove that he really did know his stuff. She already knew this was where her name came from, but hearing it from his mouth made it seem like new news. "Hermione?"

She snapped her eyes up, her breath caught at how amazing he looked. It made her want to run over, grab him, and do things she never thought she'd want to do with Draco Malfoy. Thankfully for her though, she had great willpower and resisted her hormones.

"I'll meet you out by the lake at 7:00," she said quickly, to cover for her staring. "Try not to let the whole school know where we're going."

He smirked and ducked back into the shower, sighing with relief when he heard the bathroom door close. Another minute and he would have pulled her into the stale with him. He prayed he'd be able to control himself tonight—he could not screw this up.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked as Hermione squeezed in beside him and across from Ron and Ginny. "Ginny said she went to bed last night and you weren't there."

"Melantha showed up," she said solemnly, as if just remembering this herself. "I—" She looked around the crowded table; everyone seemed to be too absorbed in themselves to pay any attention to the bulging Hermione and her friends. She leaned in, gesturing for them to do the same. And then, in a hushed voice that was barely heard, she explained exactly what had happened, leaving out the fact that she was giving Draco a chance, saying instead that she, Draco, and Melantha had stayed at the Manor the night before to discuss their options.

"So if Melantha is Malfoy's mother," Ron said, "then Narcissa—"

"She's nothing, actually," Hermione said. "Melantha was adopted by the Blacks."

"I can't believe how bad she's had it!" Ginny cried softly, so not to attract attention. "I mean, Lucius killed her husband, raped her, then stole her baby! I never would have thought!"

"I know," Hermione sighed. "It's awful. I can't even begin to comprehend how she got through it all…"

"So," Harry said, raising his voice. "What do you guys want to do tonight?" Silently everyone agreed to put the subject on hold. After all, the Great Hall was no place to discuss such things.

"I think we should go to Hogsmeade," Ginny said, much to Hermione's muted horror. "I haven't been there in ages."

"I agree," Ron said. "I've been wanting to get back to Fred and George's story all year. They owled me a few days ago to say they had some really great new stuff."

"What do you think, 'Mione?" Harry asked. He'd seen the apprehension in her eyes. If he only knew how badly she didn't want them to go.

"I…can't," she said, glancing at the Slytherin table, where Draco ate in silence, everyone around him completely ignoring his existence. How could he have gone from Slytherin King to invisible? Surely his involvement with Hermione wasn't all that bad. It made her want to wrap him in her arms and whisper that everything would be ok. She felt how strange this feeling was, the icy crawl in her skin, but she disregarded it. Things were different now and she had to accept that.

"Why not?" Ginny practically whined. "And don't say you have to study, because—"

"No, it's not that." She leaned in again, but this time no one else did. They'd seen her look over at Draco. "We're going to Hogsmeade too. To shop for Dante."

"Dante?" Ron asked, reacting the same way Draco had. "Who—"

"You finally found a name!" Ginny squealed, forgetting her sourness at Hermione's absence that evening.

"Not just one," she laughed. "Three!"

Again she looked over at Draco, somewhat startled when she found he was staring right back at her, a hint of a smile on his kissable lips. She smiled at him, wondering that if she could go back and do things differently, would she?

"We decided to name him Dante Xavier Cassio Malfoy."

YAY! A NAME! FINALLY! Heeheehee! Cassio was never on any list before, but I wanted to throw in that bit about Shakespeare, I thought it was cute :) And I love Shakespeare myself, so why not?

REVIEW!

Please excuse the fact that I took FOREVER to update. I recently got a job and I haven't had time to get on the computer. I work on this farm from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm, and by the time I get home I'm beat. But over the past few days I've been taking a notebook with me to write when I can. I hope it was worth the wait and that you'll forgive me for the next time, because I think it'll take just as long.

P.S. Also excuse the extreme shortness of the chapter, but after such a long wait I wanted to get it out as soon as I could:D