A/N: Here we go! I know it's been a long time coming and I'm sorry. I have been working on it and lots of other things as well. I want to warn you that Hermione is a little OOC in this chapter, but I hope you can forgive me for it. It's a nice length chapter (1,437 words).
Three months passed and Hermione's plan for revenge had stalled. There had been no luck finding the witch Ron had slept with, and they weren't able to spring a honey trap as he hadn't entered another relationship. It seemed as if she would never get to tell the world the truth.
Hermione heard the floo activate in the hall and wondered who was coming to see her as she wasn't expecting anyone until tomorrow.
"Hermione!" Draco called.
"I'm in the kitchen," she replied.
As Draco Malfoy walked through the door she could tell that there was something very wrong.
"Have you spoken to Astoria yet?" he asked demandingly.
"No, why?" Hermione replied taken aback by his tone.
He had never spoken to her that way since school, and it frightened her to think about why he would do so now.
"She's pregnant. She's saying that it's mine even though we have never…" he said trailing off.
Hermione understood immediately.
As she was now one of Astoria's closest friends Draco obviously thought that she might know the truth of the matter. The fact was Hermione didn't know anything and was just as confused as Draco seemed to be.
"I can't believe she's done this to me. I thought after seeing everything you have been through it would put her off doing anything like this," he rambled.
"Do you have any idea who the father may be?" Hermione asked.
"No. All I know is that it isn't Theo, Blaise, Adrian, or any other family who adhere to the old ways. They wouldn't risk their own betrothals to bed another pureblood witch,"
"I will talk to her and try to find out for you-"
"There's no point! She will just tell you that it's me!"
Hermione decided not to say anything and just let Draco calm down.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to shout at you, but we both know that she will stick to saying its mine," Draco apologised.
"Do you know how far along she is? It could help narrow down who the father could be," Hermione suggested.
"She said that the healer thought she was three months gone," he informed her.
Hermione's brow furrowed.
"What are you thinking?" Draco asked.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Hermione replied.
"It's obviously not if you're thinking about it."
"I broke up with Ron three months ago, and I've never found out who the witch was," Hermione stated hoping that she was wrong.
Draco stared at her as if she had grown another head.
"That makes perfect sense," he finally said.
"It doesn't make sense at all. It could be anyone," Hermione said doubting her original thought.
"Yes it does. Astoria knows that Ron doesn't follow the rules at all and that he wouldn't care about her being pregnant. He would shame her and because of that she would insist that I was the father so she could secure her and her child's future. With the types of vows that we take you cannot undo them and there would be nothing I could do once the baby is born and we find out that it's not mine. I would be the one who was shamed because I had been fooled by her," Draco explained.
Hermione had to admit that a lot of it made sense to her, but didn't want to think that one of her close friends would betray her like that.
"I know you don't want it to be true. Neither do I, but we can't ignore the possibility that it might be," he said gently.
"I know we can't," she admitted. "How do you suggest we approach it?"
"Well, we will need solid evidence before we even think about going to her father. He would take nothing less than that to convince him she lying."
"You can start by going over your calendar to see what you were doing three months ago. That way you know who to ask if you need an alibi. I could try and snoop through her diary to see if there is anything in that," Hermione commented making a mental checklist.
"I don't think I've ever truly appreciated your organisational skills until now," Draco said gratefully.
"Just don't tell Astoria that I'm helping you. If we keep it a secret then she might open up to me."
"Are you sure the hat didn't want to put you on Slytherin?"
"It did consider Slytherin, but it dismissed it pretty quickly because of my blood. It was then between a toss up between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and we know how that turned out," Hermione admitted.
"We sure do. How are you going to bring up the pregnancy with Astoria?" he enquired.
"I'm not. If I do then she will know I've been speaking to you and would probably distance herself from me. I'm also going to have to make her think that I believe her story."
"Why are you so certain that I am telling the truth?" Draco asked curiously.
"The expression on your face when you said that you couldn't believe that she had done that to you. There were emotions there that you just couldn't fake," she told him.
"Thank you, Hermione," he said.
"There's no need to thank me yet. I haven't done anything."
"You believe me, and that's something.I better go back now and face my father," he said wincing.
"He's not going to take it well at all is he?"
"No, but at least I know he will try and do everything he can to stop a wedding," Draco sighed.
"I will owl you if I make any progress," Hermione told him.
"See you soon, Hermione," Draco said before going out the way he came in.
Can it really be that simple? Hermione thought.
A large part of her brain was saying no, but another part was saying yes.
It would explain why Astoria was vehemently outspoken against her decision to move in with Ron more than her other friends. At first it seemed to be a bit odd, but after Hermione had found out about the traditions she thought that is was just concern. Now, however, it may have been because Astoria knew that the relationship wouldn't last and would have devastating consequences for her.
-0-0-0-
A few days later Hermione flooed over to the Greengrass estate after being invited to lunch.
"Hello, Hermione," Astoria said as she walked into the drawing room.
"Hello, Astoria. How have you been?"
"Not so good. I have something I need your help with," Astoria confessed.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
I have to remember to act surprised, she thought.
"I'm pregnant, and Draco is denying that he's the father. I don't know what to do. I have to prove he is otherwise I will be ruined," Astoria said as she started to panic.
"Calm down, Astoria. You could hurt the baby if you get too stressed," Hermione said trying to soothe her. "Now, tell me everything in detail."
And Astoria did. From how she and Draco managed to meet up without the prying eyes of their family, how they drank too much, and now how he denied that it had ever happened.
Even if Hermione hadn't spoken to Draco, things didn't make any sense at all. If they really had made a mistake then why wouldn't Draco own up to it? They were betrothed so the child would still be a Malfoy if they married before it was born. It seemed as if Astoria hadn't thought her story through very well.
"Are you sure no one saw you?" Hermione asked.
"I'm sure, I really wish someone had though," Astoria said sighing.
Now Hermione had spoken to her friend she was sure that Draco wasn't the father, but it didn't get her any closer to finding out who was. It was all well and good speculating that it may be Ron's, but there was no solid evidence and that is what they needed.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Can you talk to Draco and try to find out why he's saying it's not his?" Astoria asked.
"Of course," Hermione replied.
The rest of lunch was spent talking about trivial things such as the new Weird Sisters album, the latest victim of Rita Skeeter's acid quill, and Hermione's holiday to Australia.
It gave Hermione time to think about everything before forming a new plan to get to the truth.
Hermione hoped that her gut instinct was wrong and that it wasn't Ron who was the child's father. To be betrayed by him was one thing, but to betrayed by Astoria was another.
