Disclaimer: obviously not mine. Why would it be on a fan fiction site?

Chapter eleven

Harry and Ron entered the common room ten minutes later to find Ginny and Hermione sitting in a set of armchairs in the corner of the room.

"What happened to your face?" Ginny asked Ron as the boys approached them.

"Uh…" Ron glanced at Hermione.

"Spit it out, Ronald" she said harshly, gripping the arms of her chair so tight that her knuckles turned white.

"Uh…" Ron repeated, this time looking at Harry who nodded darkly.

"I got in a fight with Malfoy"

"Oh, Ron" Hermione groaned, slumping slightly in her seat. "You should know by now that Malfoy can fight!"

"Well by the way you explained it, he got pretty beaten up at your party!"

"He was being held down!"

"Well Harry beat him up that day we won Quidditch!"

"It was two on one! Malfoy was trained to fight by assassins, Ron, so I wouldn't get on the wrong side of him if I was you…"

Ron sat down in an empty seat.

"You should have told me, Herm"

"Told you what?"

"About you and Malfoy"

"I didn't have to tell you. It's my business."

"You told Harry"

"Harry was supposed to be unconscious"

"Herm…"

"What, Ron?"

"Are you really pregnant?"

"Yes" she lifted her jumper to show him her bump. Ron's face slowly paled before he stood up, quite abruptly, and left.

Hermione sighed heavily and got up.

"Your not going after him, are you?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"Of course not… I have to go and see Dumbledore. I'll talk to you later" and with that she strode out of the common room and down to Dumbledore's office.

She had just reached the gargoyle when she realised that she didn't know the password. She was just about to turn and go back when the gargoyle slide aside and Dumbledore appeared.

"Ah hello, Hermione!" he said pleasantly.

"Sir…I was wondering if I could go and speak to my parents in person. I'd tell them through owl but it's really important and it can't wait so…"

Dumbledore held up his hand for silence.

"I understand, Hermione. Come up to my office, I'll send you via floo powder."

Several minutes later, Hermione stumbled out of the black marble fireplace in the parlour of her castle. Clarisse was sitting in a sunny part of the parlour sipping tea and received a massive shock when she saw her daughter appear.

"Hermione!" she spluttered, mopping up her spilt tea with a napkin. "What – what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you… is dad around?"

Clarisse gave her an odd look before reaching over to a small glass table and pressing a buzzer. Alfred appeared several minutes later. When he saw Hermione sitting opposite her mother his face lit up with a smile.

"Hermione! What a pleasant surprise!"

"Uh… yeah. Listen, dad, could you sit down? I need to tell you something really important…"

Alfred hesitated then sat down beside Clarisse.

"Ok… there's no easy way to say this so I'll just do it outright. You may have noticed me acting odd during the Christmas break… well I was acting odd because… because I'm pregnant…"

Her parents stared at her for a moment before Clarisse let out a strangled laugh. It didn't last long; seconds later she was serious again.

"Your what?" she asked, rather politely, as though Hermione had been mumbling.

"I'm pregnant"

"You – you cant be… how could you be?"

Hermione didn't answer.

"Well – well you'll have to get an abortion! Right, Alfred?"

Alfred didn't say anything. He simply stood up and left the room.

"I can't get an abortion," Hermione said quietly. "I tried and I cant"

"Well your going to have to! You can't have a baby! Could you imagine what it would do to us?"

"So that's all you care about; your stupid royalty."

"Of course that's not all I care about. So… your keeping the child… we'll have to set up a wedding. It can be a small, private one: no media aloud. Who's the father? He'd better be pureblood…"

Hermione opened her mouth to answer but a thought flashed through her mind. She didn't want to marry Malfoy. She had no feeling for him whatsoever… yet she knew this would happen. She'd have to marry him and both of them would have to live extremely unhappy lives. At least he was pureblood… and royal… that would make her parents slightly happier.

"Who's the father?"

"I – I don't know" Hermione said quickly, blushing and looking down at her hands.

"You don't know! YOU DON'T KNOW! What, were you raped?"

"No… I was drunk… I don't remember"

"Oh my god…"

"Mum?" Hermione shuffled forward slightly as Clarisse put her head in her hands.

"Get out" came her muffled voice. Hermione withdrew slightly.

"W-what?"

Clarisse lifted her head slightly to glare at Hermione.

"You heard me you – you little whore! Get out! You're an embarrassment to the entire family! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Clarisse threw her teacup at Hermione who ducked and let the china smash on the wall behind.

"GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Hermione jumped to her feet and ran to the fire, pulling a little sachet of floo power out of her pocket and tossing it into the flames.

When she emerged in Dumbledore's office she had tears streaming freely down her cheeks. The office was empty so she ran for the door, planning to go back to the Gryffindor tower.

She was halfway there when, blinded by her tears, she tripped on the stairs and stumbled. A firm hand grabbed her wrist and steadied her before she toppled over completely.

"Well we're in a rush, aren't we?" Hermione tried to break away from Malfoy but he pulled her around to face him. When he saw her tears, the grin on his face vanished. "What's wrong?"

When Hermione was unable to answer he led her into a nearby empty classroom, sat her down on one of the desks and bent slightly so they could see eye to eye.

"What's wrong?" he repeated.

"They – they kicked me out"

"Who did?"

"My – my p-parents. They kicked me out of the house when I told them… my mother called me a whore…" she put a hand over her mouth to prevent a sob escaping and turned her watery brown eyes away from the grey ones that pierced them. "I – I have nowhere to go… no money. I should have gotten an abortion… Oh god, what'll I do?" she was becoming hysterical. Malfoy pulled her to her feet and forced her to look at him.

"Listen to me, Granger. Do you really believe that I'd just desert you… and our baby?"

"I'll end up on the streets… I'll have to go into prostitution…" Hermione muttered wildly, paying no attention at all to the boy in front of her.

"Granger!"

"Huh?"

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"Your – your what?"

"I'm not going to let you end up on the street, or go into prostitution. Its my baby too, do you really think I'd desert you both?"

"What are you saying…?"

"You can come and live with me until your parents sort themselves out. Don't worry, they'll come round."

Hermione bit her lip and stared up into his suddenly kind eyes.

"Thank you" she whispered as a fresh set of tears leaked from her eyes. Malfoy laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"Anything for a princess."

"I didn't tell them that you were the father. I told them I was drunk and I didn't know…"

"Why'd you do that?"

"So we don't have to get married"

"Oh… well thanks… I guess"

"Draco! What are you doing with her?" Pansy was standing in the doorway staring at her boyfriend with shock horror and betrayal written all across her puggy face.

"Pansy!" Malfoy pushed Hermione away and made to go to the door. Pansy shook her head and ran away.

"Damn" Malfoy muttered and sat down on a desk.

"Go tell her" Hermione said softly, stepping over to him.

"Tell her what?"

"About the baby"

Malfoy raised his eyes and looked at her, trying desperately to read her blank expression. When he couldn't he stood up.

"Are you sure? You're going to cop hell over this."

"I know. Better to cop it now then later, right?"

"Right" Malfoy gave her hand a quick squeeze before leaving the room at a run. Hermione sighed and glanced down at her watch. There was still an hour until dinner, which gave Pansy plenty of time to spread the word about Hermione's pregnancy.

Deciding to worry about how to deal with Pansy later, Hermione wandered at a leisurely pace back to the Gryffindor tower. Despite the fact that her mother had called her a whore and kicked her out, Hermione was feeling considerably lighter. She finally realised that Malfoy was serious about having this baby and that while he was around, Hermione wouldn't have to worry about a thing.

There were only two people in the tower at that moment. Harry was sitting with Parvati in the common room, both of them struggling with homework.

"Have you been crying, Hermione?" Parvati asked kindly when she joined them.

"No. Just allergies" she lied and pulled her own homework towards her. She had only written a paragraph (which was more than Harry and Parvati) when she felt a stabbing pain in her gut. She drew a quick breath and pressed a hand to her stomach.

"What's up, Herm?" Harry asked, eyeing her with suspicion.

"It's kicking"

"It's kicking?" Parvati said incredulously. "What's kicking?"

Hermione fixed her with a withering glare.

"I know you were here when I told Ron, Pav. You don't have to fake anymore"

Parvati glanced at Harry as Hermione pulled her jumper off and lifted up her shirt.

"You want to feel?"

Harry looked at the bump hesitantly before reaching over to touch it. Hermione took his hand and guided him to where the baby was kicking. When he felt it, his face lit up with a grin, much like Malfoy's had when he first felt it.

"Let me feel!" Parvati squealed, pushing Harry's hand aside and pressing her fingers expertly against Hermione's skin. "Ooooh, I can feel it!"

It was Harry's turn to bat Parvati's hand away. She glared at him as he pressed his hand on the same spot she had.

The portrait hole opened and Ron stepped it. His eyes swept over the small group, falling lastly on Hermione, before he stormed up to the boys' dorm.

"Ok, that's enough!" Hermione said, pushing their hands away and pulling her shirt down. "I want to get this homework done before dinner."

Hermione went down to dinner with Harry. When they reached the entrance hall Hermione immediately noticed a group of Slytherin girls, crowded around a crying Pansy, near the doors to the great hall. Hermione sighed and braced herself for the chain of insults that was to come.

"Whore"

"Floozy"

"Slut"

"Skank"

"Cyprian"

"Cyprian?" Harry muttered as Hermione dragged him onwards, confidently ignoring the girls.

"Another word for slut" Hermione explained as they walked down between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. Pansy had certainly gotten the word around. Lots of people were staring at her curiously but most had looks of disgust on their faces. One of these were Lavender who, when Hermione sat down opposite her, got up and stalked to a seat further down the table.

"You shouldn't have to take this, Herm" Harry said, glancing around the hall.

"What else am I going to do? And no, Harry, you aren't going to hex them" she added when he opened his mouth.

"Can I hex them?" Ron came and sat down on her other side. Hermione smiled gratefully at him.

"Thanks but no, Ron. It's easier to simply let them wear themselves out."

Much to Hermione's dismay, Pansy did not wear herself out. On the contrary, she seemed to get worse; two months later she was hissing death threats to Hermione when she walked by and trying to trip her down the stairs. Hermione was never able to speak to Malfoy alone because Pansy was always with him.

Hermione's stomach was so big now that she could no longer hide it behind her black jumper but people seemed to be getting used to her being pregnant. Some would even approach her in the corridors and ask if they could touch it.

One person, who didn't accept it, apart from the Slytherins, was Lavender.

Two nights after finding out Hermione was pregnant with Malfoy's, her crushes, baby, she came to confront her in the common room. Unfortunately for her, Hermione was having terrible mood swings from lack of sleep (due to baby's kicking) and she lashed out at Lavender, causing a horrible bitch fight between them.

Now, with only three months until the birth, Hermione was becoming quite sick of all the bitching.

It was a comfortably warm day when Hermione found herself, like any other day, being approached by Pansy in an empty corridor.

"You know" Pansy said maliciously, blocking Hermione's path, bringing her to an abrupt halt. "Draco doesn't even want your stupid kid. He told me last night that he wishes you would fall over and lose it before he become's the father of a mudbloods child"

"For your information, Pansy" Hermione said, "I am actually pureblood. More pureblood than you are in fact and I know Malfoy wants the baby. He wouldn't have stopped me getting an abortion if he didn't."

"He hates you"

"Well he can hate me. I seriously couldn't care less"

"He hates the baby too"

"Look, just because the baby you murdered didn't have a decent father, doesn't mean mine can't have one"

"How dare you, you slut!" Pansy gave Hermione a hard shove and she fell back against the wall.

"Hoi!" Malfoy can striding up the hallway and pushed Pansy away. "What the hell are you doing, Pansy?"

"She was dissing me about my abortion!"

"Oh yeah, and you haven't been giving her crap for the past two months? I don't even know why I bother with you anymore!"

"Hermione" Ron came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. With one last glance at the fighting couple, Hermione took his outstretched hand and followed him. Instead of leading her back to the Gryffindor tower, he took her to an empty classroom.

"Hermione, I just want you to know I'll always be there for you"

"Thanks, Ron"

"And for the baby… I – I really like you Herm, and more than friends. If you wanted, I could be a father to your baby…"

"Ron, my baby has a father"

"Yeah but…"

"And that father loves the baby"

"I just want what's best for you"

"I know, and I truly appreciate it but what I think is best is that my baby grows up with it's natural father. Malfoy can provide for a child and not have to work two jobs. You can do more for me by being my friend than my baby's father."

"If that's what you want"

"It is" she stretched up and kissed him on the cheek.

I got a disease

Deep inside me

Makes me feel uneasy baby

I can't live without you

Tell me what I am supposed to do about it

Keep your distance from it

Don't pay no attention to me

I got a disease

Well. Thanks for all the reviews. They've been really positive so keep em coming! That last chapter sent my reviews past the 100 mark so thanks!