Author's note: Hey this is pretty quick, but I adore this story so.. here's the next chpater hot of the presses

Chapter 21 – A Moment Between Malfoys

Draco was sitting in the library, for once he was alone. for once not constantly followed by his father's guard dogs, Crabbe and Goyle. They would not follow him here. The library was the only place that he could fond some precious moments to himself, other than the room that he shared with his wife.

His wife.

He could never get over it.

But it wasn't as if there was anything he could do to change it.

He wasn't even quite sure what to call her. Granger seemed inappropriate, he was not suicidal so he had no further plans to call her 'mudblood', it was not as if he could call her 'Malfoy' and 'Hermione' was simply out of the question. he should stick to just plain calling her 'love' she seemed to hate it so much it didn't really matter that it was an 'endearment'. He hated love, and he hated Hermione Granger-Malfoy. Seemed to stick.

He glanced down at the band of platinum that he had enlarge to fit his thumb so as not to arouse suspicion. The inside said rather plainly in Latin: I hate you.

Well, at least she had a sense of humor.

He cringed.

Correction:

She had a sense of humor sometimes.

The OWLs began the day before, but it was too beautiful a spring day to be spent inside. Even Crabbe and Goyle disregarded their previous responsibility of never leaving him alone.

He found that he rather liked being alone.

For a moment he didn't have to be anyone, he could just be. Sitting there in the library he could let his thoughts soar back through the pages of his notes. Notes that he had committed to memory thanks to Grang-his wife's persistence.

Draco had never before in his life studied hard. Though ambitious by nature, he was just never driven to over-excel at academics. He was content to receive the high marks that he did not work for. Usually the day before the exam he would simply flip thought the pages of his notes and take mental Photographs for reference just in case he didn't know the answer to a question.

Now he didn't have to go through them to have mental photographs.

And this was because she had insisted he review her on each and every topic.

Why she couldn't make her so-called friends perform this certain task was beyond him. Although he did have a feeling that she did the same to them, just to make doubly sure.

Draco shook his head.

He would not put it passed her. Just one of these days he wished she would have a mental block and just forget all the answers.

Wait, he took that back. Should that ever happen she was going to rant to him about it. rant about that and some other pregnant things that she simply could not discuss with anyone else.

Oh joy.

He truly felt the intimate closeness that one often does with one's spouse when one is comfortable enough to share everything with her.

He had to suppress the shudder.

Intimate closeness his arse.

Well, this did solve one problem he had, if he wanted to switch sides-which he did, for so many reasons it would take a while to enumerate them all- there was a chance Albus Dumbledore may have turned him away before the old coot would not be able to turn him away now. Sure, he would have wondered what his motives were and since they were purely selfish before his er-situation (eg: self preservation, backing the winning horse) he was untrustworthy. Now, however, he was practically a shoo-in for this Order of the Phoenix that Dumbledore's side was calling it self.

What a wholly appropriate name for Potter and his drones. People who keep getting shot down and yet get up and fight again like annoying little ants.

But anyway,

Thinking back, the marriage was a very strategic move for him, and he was completely sure that Snape saw through the act. Perhaps one of these days he would have a chat with his godfather about it all. Snape would definitely be of a lot of help. Of course he would have to explain to Hermione that he was not a Deatheater. He had come to this conclusion on his own, he had known right after he and Hermione had gone to him in need of help. He would have never reacted the way he did if he was a loyal servant of Voldemort. That Dumbledore was a crafty one, for sure.

Suddenly, he was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard a soft grunting and then the sound of the rubberized soles of shoes in contact with the stone floor. He turned to the source of the noise and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was.

Wasn't she supposed to be out frolicking or something?

"Trouble, love?" he asked.

Hermione turned to him, her eyes wide. They were the first two words he had said to her in a week.

She was having trouble, though; she was trying to get a book that was too high on the shelf for her to reach. She would have used the ladder, but she was holding four other books and didn't seem to want to put them down, so instead she stood on her tip toes and tried to stretch for the tome she wanted so much.

Draco rolled his eyes. He stood nearly a foot taller than her and reached the book easily. He hesitated, however, before he handed it to her.

"You shouldn't be carrying that load." he said matter of factly. "With-"

He trailed off with a meaningful glance at her tummy.

Hermione nodded, balancing the books in one hand and pushing a hank of unruly hair behind her ear before reaching her hand out of the volume impatiently.

"I know." she said. "It's just-"

She stopped abruptly and dropped the books she was holding.

"Oh my God!" she cried.

Draco frowned.

"What?" he cocked his head to one side and peered at her, curious despite himself. It struck him rather suddenly that she could be in the middle of something rather serious. "You still have another four months to go, love, so I seriously hope that-"

Hermione shook her head, a smile spread across her face.

"It kicked!" she whispered excitedly.

Before Draco even knew what was going on, Hermione grabbed his hand and laid it against her abdomen, sure enough, he felt the child inside her womb, his child, kick the place where his hand was pressed again her. He looked down at their clasped hands in awe and then looked back up at Hermione. Their eyes locked and they both suddenly realized exactly what they were doing and where they were doing it. Of course, they had done a lost worse things in this library before but for some reason this seemed a lot more incriminating. People catching them fucking would run away and assume it was Malfoy doing another curly haired girl, but this moment was rather tender should it have been put in other circumstances.

Hermione dropped his hand and looked away.

Draco bent and gathered the books and handed them to her.

"Your books." he said matter of factly.

Hermione nodded, turned on her heel and walked out of the library.