Chapter 12 – A night at St Mungos

Hermione got up to the cafeteria at St Mungos; she bought a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee and sat down by one of the tables. She pictured Becky in her mind; she was sleeping peacefully with a small smile on her lips. She my own sleeping beauty, Hermione thought and smiled to herself and took a sip of her coffee. She noticed that a tall man walked into the cafeteria but she didn't pay attention to look any closer at him, until two minutes later when he was standing in front of her table…

"Look who's here", he said. "I'm starting to believe that you're stalking me Granger"

"Maybe I am", Hermione replied quietly and looked straight into the eyes of Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here? Not sick, are you?" He asked.

"It's my daughter", she answered not sure if she wanted to tell him exactly what had happened. "And you?" She asked before he had the time to say anything.

"I'm here with my mother", he replied. "She's here for some cancer treatment and she did not want to go alone", he continued in a tone Hermione never heard him use before. It was warm and friendly, a tone that you spoke with when you talked about someone that really you loved from the bottom of your heart.

"Oh, I'm sorry", Hermione said. "She will be ok, right?"

"I don't know, the healers say it's pretty serious and she's in a lot of pain", Draco answered. "And what about your daughter? Is it serious?"

"No, it's just a concussion and a strained ankle, she's going to be just fine", Hermione replied and noticed that his eyes weren't blue as they always had been before, they were grey…

"Do you mind if I sit down?" Draco asked, Hermione smiled a little, he took that as a 'yes' and sat down beside her. "I can't stand being in that room watching her lay there, pale and with empty eyes, staring at the ceiling", Draco continued and took a sip of his coffee. "I'm afraid I might lose her too"

Hermione remembered that Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, was the first in line of the death eaters to receive the dementor's kiss. Hermione, Ginny and Harry had seen when it happened; Draco had also been there to see. Hermione could clearly remember the look on Draco's face when he saw the dementor suck his father's soul out… She could picture it in front of her, the moment when Draco walked up to his father after he'd received the kiss. How he'd called his fathers name but without any answer and then how Draco had knelt to the ground with tears in his eyes… Knowing that his father would never recognize him again, he would never be around to share the few happy memories they had together and he wouldn't be around to watch him grow up, get married and start a family of his own. Lucius died three days later, he wanted to die… A life without a soul is not anything anyone ever wishes for.

"She's the only family I have left", Draco said quietly.

"You've still got Pansy"

"She's not my family, she's my… er… whatever… I don't count her as one in the family", he replied.

"How can you say that about someone that's going to be your wife?" Hermione wondered.

"Easy, cause I don't love her", Draco snorted.

"That's odd", Hermione said and raised an eyebrow. "Why would you marry someone you don't love?"

"We're betrothed to each other", he replied. "Our marriage have been planned since we were born"

"Oh", Hermione sighed and took a bite of her sandwich.

"But at least she seems to love me so I guess I can learn to love her, or something", he said and took a sip of his coffee.

"Um, sure", Hermione said and tried to smile at him to make him feel like he really could learn to love someone, she didn't know if that was possible but she wanted him to think so… "When's the wedding?"

"December", Draco replied. "And that's a good start since I hate everything that has to do with the winter", he continued and rolled his eyes. Hermione looked deep into them.

"Why do you hate the winter?" Hermione asked. "It's so beautiful with all the snow and Christmas-"

"I hate Christmas", he interrupted her. "I have always hated Christmas, and I will always hate Christmas", he said. Hermione sighed, there's no point in me talking to him if he's going to be so negative all the time, she thought and took a sip of her coffee.

"Christmas eve for me is like this; I give Pansy tons of expensive presents and then she wants to have sex the entire night but I don't so she goes angry, runs out of the house and stay out the whole night", he continued and looked bored.

"Thanks for the information", Hermione sighed and tried to understand how he must feel. Marrying someone that you don't even love… I must say something that can cheer him up a little bit, something that will give him some hope for his future with Pansy. "Do you know what Malfoy? I think a winter wedding suits you perfectly"

"Why? Because I'm cold-hearted?" He replied.

"That's not what I was thinking about!" She exclaimed.

"Then what were you thinking?" Draco asked and raised an eyebrow.

"You said you hate the winter so much, but now you will at least have something to celebrate"

"Oh, it's going to be terribly funny celebrating a marriage with a woman I don't even love", Draco snapped and rolled his eyes at Hermiones answer.

"I'm sorry, I am trying to be nice here", Hermione said and looked away from him. Silence broke out between them. Draco seemed to regret that he snapped at her so he didn't take his eyes away from his cup of coffee. The silence was almost embarrassing. Hermione finished her sandwich and drank her coffee.

"Er… I think I better go back to Becky now", she said and rose from her chair. It was like Draco didn't hear what she said, he was still staring at his coffee. "Hello?" She exclaimed and waved her hand in front of him. He woke up from his thought and looked up at her. "Draco?" She said.

He lost his breath for a second when he saw how her lips curved when she said his name. She's so damn fine, he thought.

"Draco, are you alright?" Hermione asked and sounded worried. He was staring right at her but his eyes were so empty that it almost scared Hermione. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Draco?"

"Um… what?" Asked Draco and looked rather confused.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah… I'm ok", he replied quietly and felt a strange feeling growing inside of him. What the hell are these feelings good for? I can't stare at her like this, damn, stare at the coffee, oh, interesting coffee… So black so beautiful, just like her eyelashes. Wait a minute? Did I just think about her eyelashes, dear Merlin, I seriously have to get away from her, he thought and quickly got up from his chair. So quick that he spilled the coffee all over his pants. "Damn!"

"What are you smirking at?" Draco snapped and as he looked up at Hermione.

"I'm sorry", Hermione giggled.

"This is not funny, I'm soaking wet", he said. "Reminds me of Venice when you-" He stopped in the middle of the sentence. Do not bring that up Draco, you did not at all enjoy what happened in Venice, so for gods sake do not talk about it! A little voice in his mind said.

"Do you need some help?" Hermione asked.

"Do you have any pants in my size in your pocket so yes please, I could really use them", he replied.

"I don't, sorry, but I know a good spell that'll get you dry in no time"

"Well, what are you waiting for, use it!" Draco exclaimed.

"I don't have my wand", she said and smirked at him.

"Use mine", he said and handed it over to her. When she reached out her hand to take the wand she accidentally touched his hand. They froze for a second and looked into each others eyes. They both looked away at the same time as Draco let go of the wand. Hermione pointed the wand at his pants and said the spell that made them dry again. He thanked her as she gave back his wand.

When Hermione got back to Becky's room Mike, the healer, was sitting on the edge of Becky's bed talking to Becky. As soon as he noticed that Hermione stepped into the room he rose from the bed and smiled brightly at her. Then he gave Becky a wink, she giggled.

"There's your bed Miss Granger, just call on me if you need anything", he said. "And Becky, it's our secret, ok?" He continued and smiled at Becky.

"Yes", Becky replied and giggled even more. Mike burst out laughing and turned to face Hermione.

"She can go home tomorrow", Mike told Hermione and smiled as he left the room. Hermione sat down at the edge of Becky's bed.

"What's you secret?"

"If I tell you it won't be secret anymore", Becky replied and smiled. "I missed you mummy", she continued and that made Hermione feel bed for not being there when she woke up.

"Mummy missed you too", Hermione whispered and kissed Becky's forehead. "You really scared my honey, what were you thinking jumping out from the window?"

"I had to escape from Lord Voldemort", she replied seriously.

"Becky, don't ever do that again, ok?"

"You don't want me to escape from Voldemort?" Becky gasped.

"I don't want you to jump out any windows ever again, is that clear?"

"Ok mummy", Becky said. "Not even if I have wings?"

"As soon as I get enough money I'll buy you a broomstick, until then, no flying!" Hermione said and stroke her hand over Becky's cheek. "Now tell me, what were you and doctor Mike talking about?"

"I can't tell you", she replied and yawned. Hermione smiled, even though she badly wanted to know about their secret she wasn't going to ask Becky more about it right now. She could see that Becky was really tired. "Can you tell a story mum?"

"What kind of story?"

"About a princess who's got a silver pony…"

"Ok… Once upon a time there was a young and very beautiful princess, she lived in a castle with her family. She had everything she could ever wish for but she still wasn't happy… Something was missing in her life and she was going to find out what it was", Hermione told Becky who was listening intensely. "So the princess decided to leave the castle and go out in the world looking for the missing part of her life, she said goodbye to her family, took her silver pony and left"

Becky yawned once again and closed her eyes and drifted into a peaceful sleep, Hermione smiled.

"What would I have done if I lost you?" She asked quietly and kissed her forehead once again. She lies down beside Becky and put her arms around the little girl, not noticing that Draco was standing outside the door watching her…

He listened closely to every word of the fairytale Hermione told her daughter and he watched her smile as she little Becky fall asleep.

"What would I have done if I lost you?" She asked quietly and kissed her forehead once again. Draco smiled, the love between mother and daughter was really beautiful.

That's the kind of mother I want my children to have, he thought, still smiling.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" A voice behind him asked.

"Eh… um… nothing, I was just…" Draco replied and turned around quickly to face a healer. It was Mike Walls, but Draco had not seen him before so he had no idea who it was.

"I think you should leave them alone", Mike said and closed the door to Becky's room. He was just going to ask Draco if he knew Hermione or Becky but when he turned around Draco was gone…