Author's note: okay, i'll BETA everything myself, but the chapters are going to be a little more far between and if i make litle mistakes i WARNED you! rawr. so anyway, Ice, i no longer have fuzzy feelings for sheep-penguins and gerbils. LAY OFF OF THEM!

also, Ben and Jerry's does not belong to me. I just eat it all the time.

Chapter 11 - The Events of February

February passed quickly for anyone who was not Hermione. Sure, Gryffindor was going to win the interhouse cup again this year; so she knew every lesson they were taking up like the back of her hand due to intense studying that she did every night with Malfoy and without him; so said Malfoy kept out of her way; she was still uncomfortable half the time.

Wait, no. disregard that. All of the time.

First of all there was all the barfing. She was honestly never ever going to complain about anything to her mother every again. Then there were the cravings. Possibly worse, she kept craving things she would eat at home. Muggle things like American Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Oh God, what she wouldn't do for a large pint of Strawberry Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

the wonderfully light cream mixed perfectly with just the right amount of sugar, then blended with only the most succulent of strawberries. Then the hand picked bits of marvelous, juicy fruit are mixed in with the thick, sweet cream for the maximum amount of taste. it was enough to make a girl shudder. every single bite was an explosion of the flavors not just of strawberry and cream, but also of long sweltering summer days melting into chilly winter nights, like meadows that are too green and tropical oceans where the water was way too blue, of dewy spring mornings and new snow on Christmas day. it was like a little piece of heaven that had been packaged by the people at Ben and Jerry's. It was ice cream but, Oh GOD! it was so much more. It was the perfect blend of everything that made the world heavenly-

SNAP OUT OF IT, Hermione.

Anyway,

Worst, worst of all was that she could not talk about this with anyone. Hermione was not a secretive person by nature, and if she was displeased with something she would generally voice her complaints, now she couldn't. Technically, she could talk to someone about it, she could talk to Draco Malfoy-her husband-but that was just as bad as not having anyone to talk to, not to mention left a bad taste in her mouth. It wasn't as if the pureblood would suddenly sympathize completely and allow her to cry on his bloody shoulder.

Yeah, that would happen.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Asked Ginny worriedly. "You haven't touched your Dinner."

Hermione bit back the initial urge to snap at Ginny.

Of course she wasn't okay, she was far from being sodding okay. she was pregnant with Draco Malfoy's love child and they were getting married, all the teachers knew about their... mistake and at this moment she would have gone over to the dark side and provided Voldemort with all the necessary information to take down the Order of the Phoenix if he just rewarded her with a pint of Ben and Jerry's strawberry ice cream.

"Fine." she muttered, pushing the food around her plate. She spooned some roasted chicken into her mouth and smiled at Ginny. "Just a little worried about OWls,"

She knew the excuse was becoming a tad over-used, but it was the closest thing to the truth she could tell her friend.

Ginny cocked an eyebrow.

"You Know, Mione," she said in a rational voice. "You have lots of time to study."

Hermione sighed and nodded.

"I know, I know." she said, she spared her a friend a wan smile. "I know I shouldn't be worried or else I'm going to go mad long before they hand me my exam paper, but I can't help it."

Ginny nodded. Her best friend did tend to become neurotic when it came to school work.

"You'll do splendidly, 'Mione." she said.

Hermione nodded.

Right, she would do wonderfully in her OWLs, that would be just bloody brilliant, except that it wasn't the OWLs she was afraid off. She wondered if she was going to be able to find a way to make her situation better.

Suddenly, the great hall became too crowded. Ginny had struck up a conversation with Alysse Richards, another Gryffindor in her year. Suddenly she found herself deeply resentful of everyone else in Hogwarts. All of them eating and chatting happily with their housemates. All of them carefree save for the rare fifth or seventh year or fifth year scared for OWls or NEWTs. Abruptly, she stood.

"Hermione?" asked Ginny turning to see why Hermione had gotten up so rapidly, But Hermione was already striding out of the hall.

She needed to be somewhere else. Somewhere where she could be miserable on her own and not have to see everyone happy around her. Rubbing in the fact that she wasn't like them anymore. She ran until she was well ways away in the deserted History of Magic corridor. She wasn't innocent and carefree. From here on in she would be responsible for a life, a life other than her own. Perhaps this is what Harry felt like.

No, Harry's burden had been with him since he was a child. It was not a product of his own stupidity. It wasn't his fault. This was hers, admittedly hers and a certain insufferable Slytherin, but hers all the well.

God, she felt like crying. She could feel the tears welling up behind her eyes. Suddenly she felt too heavy for her legs to keep her upright, she leaned up against the wall letting her head loll back and her eyes fall shut.

"Granger?"

His voice jolted her out of her reverie.

She would know that voice anywhere. She had been hearing it way too much lately.

"Must you do that?" she demanded harshly. She rested her fisted hands on her forehead and forced the tears away, she could not bear for him to see her like this. She would never live it down. "Must you just pop out of nowhere?"

Draco Malfoy smirked.

"I am evil," he drawled. "Therefore I lurk. I wouldn't be a big bad Slytherin if I didn't lurk. In fact, Snape offers us Slytherins mandatory luking lessons."

The looked of loathing that she graced him with spoke in volumes how much she did not appreciate his words or humor.

He frowned. It was one of those times that he was with his fiancée and he didn't know how to proceed. Usually, he would have passed a scathing comment and left her to her solitude, but he knew that he couldn't do that. Neither could he comfort her, not only did he find the idea revolting, he was rather sure she would agree with him.

"listen, Granger." he said, shoving his hand in his pocket to search for something he had gotten in an unsanctioned trip to Hogsmeade, Harry Potter wasn't only one who traipsed around the halls to his own liking, Draco was just not stupid enough to get caught. "I have something for you."

Hermione looked up at him. Good Merlin's toenails, she was in worse shape than he had though. Her face was pale with splotchy bits of red.

"What is it?" she demanded in a dangerous and suspicious voice. "It better not be anything childish like a lizard or one of your stupid 'Potter stinks' badges left over from last year."

He backed up a little. She looked just a tad scary at the moment.

"Because this is all your fault, you know?" she added curtly. All day she had been forced to keep all her complaints a secret. Well, Malfoy could hear them and she was going to make sure he heard them. ALL of them. "It's your fault I'm stuck like this. I'm going to pop a baby out, get married to my worst enemy at FIFTEEN, I have CRAMPS like you would not even believe, my breath stinks, my breasts hurt," at this point she didn't care that she was spouting WAY too much information. Draco had to fight the urge to recoil. "I can smell everything, my feet hurt and most of all; I would sell my bloody soul for the one thing I cannot get here at Hogwarts. The ONE thing. Muggle ice cream. Ben and Jerry's Strawberry ice cream to be exact."

At this point, he very nearly didn't give it to her, dare she use that tone of voice with him? Dare she lecture him? He was here wasn't he? A lesser man would have denied all knowledge of being with her and left her for dead with a child she could not raise herself.

He didn't do that. He had bloody decent upbringing, it was HER he wasn't damn sure about.

"Are you finished?" he demanded rather haughtily forgetting for a moment what had happened last time he had asked her that and immediately regretted his words. He wure she was just going to yell at him some more.

Hermione, however, just scowled.

"I am not even close."

He was actually rather surprised. When he used that tone most girls, hell, most people shut up and skulked away. Not his fiancée, she stood back straight, arms crossed and chin up, and she was waiting for him to continue.

Despite her bravado, however, a single solitary tear managed to escape out of the corner of her eye.

Bloody hell.

Evil as he was, or as everyone thought him to be, Draco could not stand to see a woman, even a woman he hated, even a mudblood, cry. ESPECIALLY if he was the cause. making people cry did not hold the same weight for him, however, usually by the time a girl cried because of him, he was off with another one and she was sobbing for a whole different reason. He hated to see it happen in front of him, just plain could not stand it.

He sighed, allowing his hostile posture to melt back into a more relaxed pose, Hermione remained poised to strike.

He, however managed to dodge the attack when he pulled an object out of his pocket and held it out to her.

"What is it?" she reiterated casting him a wary glance.

He refrained from a witty remark, he rather liked his balls where they were, thank you.

Hermione was actually when he said nothing scathing. She was not in the mood to engage in banter with the damn Slytherin ferret.

"A two way mirror." he said. "To communicate. The use of owls is too risky."

Having said this, he swept away leaving her all alone, just like she wanted him to.