Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. All credit must be given to J.K.

The Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 4

Hermione was sitting at her window in her room. Daniel was playing with a trinket from his nursery, agape and wide-eyed. The object produced a beautiful, harmonious sound that excited him. Hermione did not notice this. She had her hand under her chin as she tapped her fingers back and forth.

It had been a hectic few weeks, but somehow she was able to get through it without too much strain. Draco never did tell anyone about Daniel, which shocked her. It almost lifted the weight off her shoulders, but she was always bracing herself in case he did.

Maybe, with his father gone away in Azkaban he felt freer to be civil. She hoped so. 'But Malfoy's always been a git in the past. Why would he change?'

Hermione was now sitting by the window staring longingly at the quidditch pitch. From her room she was able to see red and blue dots quickly zooming back and forth. Loud cheers escaped the stadium every few minutes. She was almost jealous. She didn't even like quidditch. It was the first game of the season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, though, and she couldn't go. Why? Daniel.

"Come on, Danny." Hermione pulled Daniel onto her bed. At first he whined, but after a while, he was silent. It was getting late in the evening and she wanted him to sleep so he wouldn't be irritated later on. She held Daniel close to her, both of them finally falling asleep. Within no time Hermione drifted into an odd, surreal world.

Hermione stood in a long hall that seemed to stretch on forever. It didn't, though, because she could see a boy at the end. She couldn't make out what he was doing, though.

Hermione trekked down the hall, curious as to what the boy was doing. When she was about a meter from him she frowned, realizing who it was.

"Draco?" He looked younger than he was now, but older than when she had left. She guessed it was Christmas break of his sixth year, since it was freezing and he wasn't at Hogwarts.

She went to set her hand on his shoulder but, caught off guard, was shocked when it went right through.

"What the hell?" Hermione glanced at her hands, waving them in front of her face. Merlin, they were transparent! Draco's sudden movement caused her to jump. She soon lost interest in her hands. He was frowning and slightly biting on his lower lip in contemplation. If Hermione had to guess, she would say he looked unsure and nervous. 'But why?'

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him. He did not respond though. Smacking her forehead, she finally grasped the fact that he didn't know she was there. Curiosity always ruled over privacy with her, so she couldn't help but peak over his shoulder.

He was reading a letter, a letter that was apparently the source of Draco's apprehension. She quickly scanned over it.

Draco, help me now and you'll never regret it. The Dark Lord has used his power to free us, his loyal followers. My life is currently full of perpetual running to escape these blasted Aurors. For four days I've been on the run. They'll never find me where I'm going though. I'll arrive at the manor in a short time, and you, me, and your mother will leave for our summer home in the south. I need you to open the floo system to the manor so I can get home in time. Give your mother my regards. Lucius Malfoy

Draco was now walking quickly down the hall. In a beat Hermione caught up, leaning into him to hear what he was currently mumbling.

"Of—Of course, father. I'll make sure the fireplace is reconnected to the floo network immediately." He folded the paper with shaking hands and tucked it into his robe pocket. They approached a very large door, causing her to stop in her tracks. The dark, looming entrance gave off a wave of foreboding. She watched as Draco opened and promptly shut the door.

Hermione stood there for a while, not able to move. She had never felt so cold in her life. She didn't want to go into the room, but she felt compelled. Standing up to her own faceless fear, she crept over to the door, but was soon dumbfounded. How was she to get inside?

"Hmmm..." Hermione remembered her hand falling through Draco and decided to try it on the door. Sure enough, her hand fell through, followed by her entire body.

A soft chatter engulfed the room, surprising Hermione. There were several people in the room talking in excited voices about who knew what. By the looks of it, they worked for the ministry. They weren't Death Eaters, for a man in a sleeveless shirt (which baffled her) did not appear to have a Mark upon his arm.

"Moody?" Hermione blinked, but he did not vanish. There he was, standing in a corner of the room, cackling to himself about something.

"He'll be here soon. The bastard. Thinks he's so smart, doesn't 'ee?" His scratchy voice made Hermione cringe.

As he said this, the room suddenly fell silent. Hermione could see the anticipation practically sweating off the heads of everyone. She glanced at the fireplace where everyone else held their attention, noticing small shower of ash, steadily growing larger.

Hermione had barely caught sight of white-blond hair before the entire group rushed at him, simultaneously pointing their wands. Over all the cheering and jeering from the large group, Hermione could barely make out the shouts from the struggling Lucius.

"Damn you! Damn you all!" He kicked furiously at the men, who Hermione safely assumed were Aurors.

"YOU!" His piercing blue eyes struck Hermione like icicles. Her eyes grew wide and her heartbeat sped up considerably. Calming down, she turned and caught sight of Draco standing behind her. His face mimicked what hers may have looked like seconds before. Pale and shaken.

"You traitor! You scoundrel! You'll regret this." His shouts tapered off as he was taken further and further away. She turned back to Draco to find him standing stock still.

He seemed to be looking her way, similar to how Lucius had. She turned to look behind her to see who he was glaring at. There was no one in the room but her. She felt her knees collapsing underneath her, but before she hit the ground, he caught her.

Draco pulled her up, holding her against him, for she could no longer stand on her own. She looked up at him as he pushed her hair away from her eyes. He leaned in and closed his eyes, his face finding its way to her ear, where he suspiciously whispered to her.

"Wake up, Hermione. Wake up." Hermione knitted her eyebrows. They grew closer when he slowly began to shake her.

Hermione's mouth opened wide without control and a large gasp escaped, sounding as if she had been a human under water her entire life and could finally come up for air. Draco's face disappeared into a gleaming white light, so bright she could hardly see.

Hermione squinted at the light and sat up. The light took the shape of Draco, who now looked older.

"Draco?" He set down his lit wand, exposing how dark it was outside. Hermione's voice revealed how exhausted she was. She turned to Daniel to find him still asleep.

"Sorry I woke you," his large grin lessened a bit, "Maybe I should have waited for you to wake up. What' wrong with me these days?" 'Good question. I've no idea.' He began to leave but was stopped when Hermione grabbed his wrist. She quickly dropped it, though.

"Let me freshen up real quick." She climbed out of bed and had to face the harsh cold stone floors of Hogwarts.

Draco sat on Hermione's bed and looked down. Daniel's small body was hidden under the sheets but he could still see his light brown hair. The thought of having to grow up so soon was disheartening, but everyone at Hogwarts did. It was a disease, growing up was.

Hermione walked back into the room and Draco stood up. Her hair had been combed back into a high ponytail, still reaching the middle of her back.

"Okay. What's up?" Hermione motioned to the sofa pushed against the foot of her bed. He took a seat and she plopped down next to him.

"Let's talk." Hermione lifted an eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"I'm surprised. Why have you been acting so differently around me lately? A mudblood of all people."

"Actually, I'm trying to recruit as many people to follow the Dark Lord as possible. You'd make a perfect spy." Hermione laughed loudly, but was quick to cover her mouth, remembering Daniel was asleep.

"Honestly. You're probably one of the sexiest women at Hogwarts right now. I believe it's in both our best interests to mate." Draco nearly choked at what had just spilled out of his mouth, but smirked it off when he noticed that Hermione's face had turned bright red.

"A little shallow, aren't you?" She tried shaking off what he had said from her face.

"Anyway," She changed the subject, "How did you ever get the Head Boy position? You were never extremely smart. Not as smart as many of the Ravenclaws." She looked him straight in the eye to see if he was offended. He appeared unfazed.

"I think you'd be surprised. Just because I slacked off didn't mean I was stupid. I cleaned up my act when you were gone. It was easier being at the top of the school with you out of the picture." Hermione wasn't sure if she was supposed to be offended. She shrugged.

After an uncomfortable silence Hermione finally sighed and spoke up, "Well, that's it then? You just wanted to talk?" Draco blinked.

"Er—actually, not at all. The talking was just a spur-of-the-moment thing." He began to pull out his wand, causing Hermione to stiffen.

"Relax. The reason I came here," Draco cleared his throat and continued, "was to show you this spell."

"A spell? You want to show me a spell?" Hermione was almost in a fit of hysterics.

"Yeah," Draco's voice had a hint of sarcasm in it, but it was still sincere, "Dumbledore said you might like it. Not sure why he thought this, but after trying it I quite enjoyed it. I find it fascinating, really. I tried it in my living quarters." Draco was grinning now, his blue eyes twinkling with excitement behind his lashes. Whatever it was, it must have been good.

Draco mumbled something she couldn't hear and pointed at a bare wall. His wand emitted tiny sparks before casting a jet of rainbow light at the wall. Hermione's mouth slid into a grin as the color took form of pictures.

"Amazing! Television." Hermione giggled and threw her arms around Draco, pecking him on the cheek. 'Score one for me. I'll have her yet.'

"This is wonderful. I can't believe it." But sure enough, her favorite sit-com was now playing on her wall, no television set involved. She was sure Hogwarts couldn't do things like that. But it was a spell: of course it would work.

"Look here. You can change the pictures by squeezing your hand around your wand. I've gotten quite addicted to it, actually. It's like crack." Draco turned slightly red at this.

"Draco, you know this how?" Hermione smirked at the pink spots on Draco's cheeks.

"Er—had a few junkies in the family." He looked up at her and noticed she was making her way to her bed now.

"Come sit with me, Draco. It'll be just like at my home." She smiled at the memories of watching television with her parents. 'Oh. It won't hurt. Besides, he's been really nice tonight.'

Draco walked over to Hermione's side of the bed where she was now grinning at him. 'Gods she's beautiful.' He immediately understood her tacit words and slipped off his school robe, revealing black trousers and his gray school vest. He slipped off his shoes and crawled into bed, slipping under the covers without waking Daniel. For some reason, sex was the last thing on his mind, which was odd, because that was the only thing on his mind when he intended to show Hermione the spell.Hermione wasn't sure how long they had lain there, watching program after program. It had gotten darker than before, though, and neither seemed to care. Draco held her closer to him as the night grew on. Daniel had awoken earlier that evening, but spotting the moving pictures like at home, quickly settled himself on Draco's other side, watching the program until he was fast asleep. Hermione found the sight sweet and Draco didn't mind either.

They fell asleep, all three of them, in the bed that night. Draco wasn't sure what was happening, but he somehow felt affection for Hermione. Only a few weeks ago he had remained collected and guarded around the perfect Head Girl. Perhaps discovering her imperfections had let his guard down. As for Hermione, she saw Draco as the only person who understood. He knew about Daniel. Not even Hermione's boyfriend, the great Harry Potter, knew about Daniel. He hadn't said anything about Daniel to anyone. She could trust him.