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

The Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 5

Hermione woke to the sound of laughter. Opening her eyes, she spotted Daniel sitting at the foot of the bed watching a children's program. She looked up and spotted Draco, who was still sleeping. His right arm was curled around her neck and his left was snaked around her waist. 'What the heck is going on?' In a dizzying flash she recalled the events of the previous night. She knew the fact that she was enveloped in Draco's arms was not normal, but when she took a deep breath, the faint scent of expensive cologne erased all rationale from her mind.

Hermione glanced at Draco's watch. Twenty minutes until class. She took her hand and ran it through Draco's hair, rousing him from sleep. Slowly, his curly lashes parted, revealing two light blue eyes. Draco grinned and stretched his legs.

"Draco, class starts in twenty minutes." Hermione tried to explain, but was cut off when his lips found hers. Hermione was momentarily shocked, but without her rationale functioning, her ability to differentiate between right and clearly not right was lost. He trailed soft kisses all over her face, unleashing a stream of silent giggles from Hermione. When he finally stopped, the two disappointedly pushed themselves out of bed. Hermione left the room on her way to her bathroom.

Draco stood up and glanced at his clothes. They were bunched and wrinkled from sleeping in them and were definitely not good enough to wear a second day.

Pulling his wand out of his pocket, he was quick to change his clothes. With a flick of the wrist, his trousers were finely pressed and his school uniform melted into a newer, cleaner one. He didn't bother touching his rumpled hair, though, because it would only behave with the right hair treatments.

Hermione reentered the room, hair shining and teeth gleaming. She walked over to Daniel and picked him up so she could lay him on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Draco curiously walked over to where they were but soon regretted it.

"That's disgusting." Draco's face contorted with repugnance. He took a few steps back when both Hermione and Daniel began to chuckle. Hermione was in the middle of changing Daniel's diaper.

"Oh, come on, now. Everyone uses the bathroom. He can't help it." She tickled Daniel's feet then rolled up the dirty diaper.

"Isn't there a spell that would dispose of...that stuff?" Draco eyed the diaper and hesitantly took a step forward, as if it would blow any second.

"Maybe," Hermione lifted Daniel's legs and slipped a new diaper under, "but I believe this encourages more bonding. See, we spend more time together this way." She looked down at Daniel's smiling face and winked. She pulled his pants up and patted his bottom, indicating he could go back to what he had been doing before.

"Whatever casts your spell, I guess." Draco shrugged and offered a hand to her. When she was off the ground, Draco pulled her closer to him. The two shared a brief kiss before Hermione pulled away. This was very disappointing to Draco. But the image of Harry was beginning to slip into Hermione's conscious again. How could she justify her actions with Draco? 'Well, he's really hot. No one can say no to really hot...except for me. Why can't I control myself then?' She shrugged.

"I need to get Danny fed and asleep before class." Hinting to him that she was pressed for time. He let her hand go and she was able to walk over to Daniel.

"Come on Danny." She lifted him and walked out of the room and into the nursery. 'Danny's getting heavier every day.' She readjusted the way she held him. Draco decided to wait in the common room. When she set Daniel in his crib, she was quick to call the nanny.

"You call, miss?" The elf squeaked.

"Ah—yeah. I'll be back in a few minutes with Danny's breakfast. If you could just watch him." The elf bowed. When Hermione started towards the door, though, Daniel began crying out.

"Mum!" For the first time, he was able to say this clearly with articulation. He reached out to her in his crib and started to cry, similar to the way he had weeks earlier.

"Oh...no..." She lifted Daniel up and rocked him, but he would not calm down.

"What's wrong?" Draco walked in, concerned about all the screaming Daniel was doing. "Is he hurt?"

"No. He doesn't want me to leave him." Hermione was worried she would have to miss her first class of the morning, Potions, if she couldn't get him to stop.

Draco just smirked.

"I guess bonding isn't necessarily a good thing, eh?" Draco was close to laughing, but Hermione gave him a threatening look.

"Why not take him with us?" Draco's voice was firm and was on a serious note for once.

"What?" Hermione gave him a disbelieving look, not able to process why he had even suggested it. "No. I'd rather go to the kitchens."

"That will take longer. The Great Hall is closer." Draco lifted an eyebrow.

"Why take him with us? Why?"

"Why not? Eventually, everyone will find out," Hermione frowned and shook her head at this, "whether you like it or not. You can't keep something so huge as a child secret. Impossible." By now, Daniel was silent and watching Draco as he spoke. Daniel fidgeted in her arms and she was soon forced to put him down. The second his feet touched the ground he had attached himself to Draco's leg.

Hermione was close to tears, but somehow held them in. She didn't want people to know, but he was right.

Hermione stood frozen in front of the Great Hall doors, her knees ready to buckle from all the shaking. She held Daniel with her left arm and with her right hand squeezed Draco's left. Draco gave her a reassuring smile before leaning down to kiss her.

"You better get to breakfast. Only fifteen minutes until class." He grinned and opened the doors. The chatter was so loud Daniel flinched. He hadn't been exposed to so many people before. Until now.

Hermione watched Draco walk off to the Slytherin table. She longed to just sit with him. 'Then again, this was his idea.' Hermione began to regret ever listening to him. Finally, she stepped into the loud room towards the Gryffindor. When she reached the table, she decided to sit between Harry and Ron, neither of who looked up.

Harry leaned to his right, intending on kissing Hermione's cheek, but was surprised when his lips met a tiny ear. His eyes flew open and he was quick to curse, catching the attention of most everyone around them.

"Who the hell is that?" Harry looked at Daniel as if he weren't human. Ron's face drained of all color, leaving a clash of red and white that did not suit him well.

She ignored Harry at first, not wanting to answer his question. But everyone was looking at her, so she could not avoid him for long. Ron, who was apparently much wiser than he was two years ago, knew immediately what the answer was to be and began to rub his temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache. It was going to be a long day.

"Harry, will you calm down?" Ron wanted to make sure he wasn't too full of energy when she answered him. Ron, oddly enough, had a feeling this was why she had left, but didn't have enough evidence to support his theory. When he had seen her at the beginning of the year, his theory was soon forgotten due to the joy of her being back. When he had hugged her though, he knew certain parts of her didn't feel as they used to. ;)

When Hermione had finished feeding Daniel, who was now fast asleep in her lap, she stood up and followed Harry out of the hall. Though the hall was loud, Daniel did not wake.

The two stood by the stairs in silence. Hermione wasn't going to speak if Harry didn't speak first. At last, Harry managed to say something.

"We've never had sex together." He almost looked hurt when he had said this. It made Hermione feel extremely heartbroken. 'I guess he was able to figure it out on his own.' She suddenly felt torn with emotions. It was exciting, being around Draco. Then again, she felt as though she was leaving Harry, her boyfriend, in the dust. As if she had found someone new and was no longer interested in him. Malfoy, their enemy. It hurt.

"I know, Harry." Hermione lowered her head and felt her tears burn her eyes. 'Why have I become such a baby?' Seeing the tears, Harry comfortingly rubbed her back. She didn't want to cry: Daniel had just fallen asleep.

"I never wanted to tell anyone. I was raped our fifth year. It was horrible," She blinked her tears dry and heaved a sigh of determination, "but I'm fine now. Don't worry." She hated explaining. It made her feel stupid and careless for allowing it to happen. She allowed him to pull her closer to him as he rubbed her back. She knew he was worried and upset, but he masked it well.

"I need to get Daniel into his nursery before class." He simply nodded as he watched her disappear up the stairs. When she had disappeared from view, he couldn't help but contemplate everything that had just happened. He was brought out of his reverie, though, when a violent shove sent him flying to the ground.

"Where the hell is she?" He looked up into the face of Draco Malfoy. Harry's face immediately scrunched into anger as he spat at his feet.

"Why do you care? She's just a filthy mudblood to you, isn't she?" Draco's face began to turn red but he said nothing. He kept his knuckles clenched, though.

"You think I haven't noticed how you look at her? I've seen you ogling. She's my fucking girlfriend, so stay away." Harry's eyes were dancing with a fiery hatred.

"SHUT UP, POTTER!" Draco's jaw was clenching and unclenching like crazy. "Don't tell me how I can and can't look at people. And you can stop worrying; I have not and will not touch your precious girlfriend." A glint of amusement seemed to flash in his eyes, but when Harry looked again it was gone.

'Oh, what the hell!' Harry pushed himself off the ground and rushed towards Draco, shoving him as hard as he could. The two scuffled momentarily, but the sound of the Great Hall doors opening pried them apart.

"I'm watching you, stupid git." And with that, Harry pulled back his fist and punched Draco in the face.