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

The Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 7

It was a beautiful day, approximately a week after Hermione had first brought Daniel to the Great Hall. She was glad she did it. She had forgotten why she had ever kept it a secret. People enjoyed playing with Daniel and vise versa. Once in a while there would be a person cracking jokes and calling her names, but that was no different than before she had Daniel.

Harry seemed okay with Daniel, almost enjoyed him even. She couldn't say much about their relationship, though. The more time Hermione spent with Draco, the more distant she grew from Harry. She couldn't help what she was doing, and was sometimes unhappy about.

He didn't blame Hermione for anything, though. In Harry's opinion, this was all Malfoy's fault. He made sure everyone knew he felt it was Malfoy's fault, too. One day, when the two were passing in the hall, Malfoy had made a snide comment to Harry about his scar. Harry, not showing any restraint, immediately lunged at him, throwing his fist into his face as hard as he could, as often as he could. Malfoy's face was so bloody you could hardly tell it was him, besides the fact that his hair stood out like silver on black. The screams of students brought a teacher to Malfoy's aide. Fifty points from Gryffindor: it was worth it. Or so Harry thought. The incident only brought Draco and Hermione closer. He lay in Hermione's common room in pain as she fussed and worried over him.

Draco was better. Unfortunately, his wounds did not heal cleanly, but instead left him with a scar from the outer edge of his eye to the edge of his hair. He was very upset about this, but Hermione assured him that it didn't mar his appearance.

The week of excitement had come and gone, though, and it was now the morning of the Slytherin--Gryffindor match. Hermione was currently walking towards the pitch, Daniel walking behind her as he watched hundreds of students bustling their way out of the school.

Not long after Hermione and Daniel had taken their seats, the players below stepped out onto the field. Hermione held Daniel tightly, afraid he would wander off near the ledge and hurt himself. He didn't care, though, for he was much too fascinated with what he was watching. It was his first quidditch game and he was more excited about it than Hermione was.

"Look Danny." Hermione whispered to her son and pointed at the people flying through the air. Daniel giggled with excitement and pointed at a person in green.

"Maco." Several girls around her cooed and sighed at what he had said. Hermione simply smiled.

"You're right. That's Draco. But look, there's Harry too." She squinted up through the bright morning light and spotted him, making laps around the stadium, ready for the game to start.

Hermione looked down and spotted someone in the crowd, someone who should have been seated across the stadium where all the other Ravenclaws were. She knew why she was here, though. She had been getting closer and closer to the Gryffindors ever since the beginning of the year. She wanted Harry, she was sure of it.

Amanda Brocklehurst was seated between Lavender and Parvati in the very front row, all three giggling like lunatics. She knew they were watching Harry, for their eyes moved around the field as he did, and once in awhile, Amanda would turn around and look at Hermione to see if they had been caught. Hermione would always look up though, pretending she hadn't seen them gawking.

It's not that Hermione hated her. That wasn't it at all. For some reason, though, she had a slight feeling of detest in the pit of her stomach every time she saw her. After all, her and Harry were still dating. They still had a relationship. Because of this, she felt as though the girl was moving in on her territory.

"That Mandy girl. Humph." Daniel looked at his mother in confusion, but soon turned back to the game. Hermione beamed and ran her hand through his soft brown hair, revealing his blue eyes. Hermione snorted to herself when she heard several girls next to her sigh. 'My child's a heart breaker already.' She pecked him on the cheek.

"Excuse me," Hermione was surprised to hear a deep male voice behind her and was quick to turn around, "can I sit here?" He pointed to the empty spot next to her. Hermione slowly nodded, but was puzzled as to why he would want to. 'What is he doing here?'

Blaise Zabini sat down next to her and looked straight ahead, squinting at the recently started game. His black hair glinted in the light, catching the eye of everyone sitting around them. He concentrated on the goals very hard, finally turning when Slytherin made a goal. 'That was strange.'

"I want to talk to you about something." His piercing eyes cut into her soul, making her feel naked. He stared at her with his deep blue eyes, waiting for a response. 'His eyes...they're Neptune...' Hermione's eyes grew wide. 'No! No, I'm being silly. They're much lighter than Daniel's eyes.' Thisdid not reassure her though.

"Are you okay?" He looked concerned for her. He set his hand on her shoulder, but she jerked back in fear, unintentionally scaring Daniel.

"Sorry, Danny." Daniel's attention was now focused on the man sitting next to him. She could see it now, though. Both of them so close together like that: she could see it. Their eyes...they were exactly alike. She felt her teeth begin to chatter and her knees begin to shake. No one took notice, though, for it was the beginning of fall.

"There are too many people here," Blaise turned towards all the Gryffindors around them, especially the girls to their right, leaning in to listen, "but I still want to speak with you later. I think you'll want to know this." He leaned into her so no one would be able to hear. "It's about him." He nodded to Daniel, who had gone back to the game, fixated on the blurry figures.

Blaise stood up, striding out of the Gryffindor stands with grace, resembling Draco's graceful walk.

By now Hermione had a lump the size of an orange in her throat and it felt like she was choking. All she wanted to do was cry. She wanted to cry until she was no longer upset. 'It was him. It was him this entire time.' She felt her eyes watering, but quickly closed them. The nosey girls to the right were still looking over at her.

"Mama?" Daniel tried to turn around, but Hermione had set her head on his shoulder. She simply squeezed him tightly, not wanting to let go.

When the game ended, Hermione slowly made her way to the pitch with Daniel, who was trying to take the stairs by himself, his mother holding his hand firmly, though. When they had spotted Draco on the pitch, Daniel immediately let go of her hand and had run over to him. Some girls to her right, who she was now sure was following her, sighed when Draco picked Daniel up. Hermione signaled to Draco and his beaming face grew suddenly upset.

Hermione made her way over to the Gryffindor team, where Harry was quick to envelope her in his arms. He leaned down and pecked her on the lips.

"Good game." Hermione grinned up at him but he merely shrugged. "You can't win them all?" Harry said.

"Was that a question?" Hermione laughed and untangled herself from his arms.

"I need to change out of my uniform. I'll meet up with you later, okay?" Hermione nodded and watched him walk away and into the locker rooms.

"That stupid idiot." Hermione turned around and found Draco behind her, Daniel in his arms. He was still upset. "He was smirking at me as he hugged you, you know."

"Oh come on." Draco set Daniel down and they all started for the school, Draco still in full uniform.

"Nice going out there, by the way." Hermione interrupted the silence with her complement. Draco cracked a smile, his sour mood slowly dissipating.

"Yeah." It was all he said. It was all he needed to say, I guess, for his excitement was evident by his expression. Draco grabbed the snitch before Harry. That was the first time since...ever. The two laughed, Draco in excited disbelief, Hermione in amusement of Draco.

Her good mood was soon squashed when they began to head up the stairs to the castle. She glanced behind her and spotted Blaise trekking slowly behind. He gave no notice to her or Draco, but continued walking up the stairs.

"Are you feeling well?" Draco had taken note of Hermione's unusually pale face. She nodded silently and continued to walk up the stairs.

"Draco?" Hermione looked over at him when they had reached the Entrance Hall. "Can you take Danny up to my room while I run a quick errand?"

"Sure. That is, if you promise you're not going to see Potter." He looked her in the eye to make sure she wasn't lying.

"Promise." With this, he heaved Daniel up and onto his shoulders and was soon up the stairs and out of sight. 'I do remember one thing from that night. The guy had a Dark Mark on his arm.' Hermione waited in the hall a few seconds when Blaise finally pushed open the doors.

"I'm glad Draco isn't with you." He walked over to her in no hurry. Hermione, however, had an eerie feeling in her stomach. When he was close to touching her, she put her hand up, stopping him from coming any closer. She grabbed his wrist tightly, causing him to knit his eyebrows. "What are you—" Before he realized what she was doing, she had quickly turned his arm over and pushed his sleeve up.

"Wait! Come back!" Hermione had thrown his arm down in fright and had staggered backwards with a scream. She was stumbling up the stairs as quickly as her legs could carry, which wasn't far, considering her entire body was shaking. 'It was there. As clear as day.'