A/N: WOW! You guys really did make it 40:) Thanks for all the lovely, lovely, reviews!
SelfHatred : NO! I AM NOT EVIL! Thanks for the review. :)
ravenclaw witch: yeah, I realized that, and in this chapter, you will definitely read more on the Weasleys, but it's going to be a bit sad, so I hope that's alright with you. Thanks for the review!
Loca4Anime: Wow. Thanks!
goldenlioness1102 – Lol, thanks:)
FruityGrrl- Thanks for the advice, I'll do that! Thanks for the review!
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Hermione covered her ears as Ginny squealed loudly. Ginny jumped around the room, laughing and clapping. "Ginny-"
"He asked you on another date! He did! And you accepted! I knew you were attracted to him! I knew it! I didn't think he would ask you out again, but he did! You and Hailey are going to the park with Malfoy! This is so cool! I-"
"Ginny, please stop talking. You're giving me a headache! I am attracted to Malfoy, fine, but that's it! Did you notice that Hailey seems to like him a lot? Anyway, how are things going with you and Blaise?"
Ginny sighed dreamily. "Blaise is amazing…"
Hermione smiled. "Good for you. How are things with Ron?"
Ginny's face darkened. "Ron's fine. They say he's very rebellious when they try to do anything. Hermione, sometimes I don't think I can handle it anymore…he has to get over Harry soon, or else…I don't know if I'll bother with him anymore. He just can't let go, and his state doesn't seem to be improving at all, and-" Ginny stopped talking, and burst into to tears. Hermione instantly pitied Ginny. Imagine having your brother in REHAB, and having to carry the entire burden, since the rest of the Weasleys were either dead from the war (Fred and George), too busy with work (Bill and Charlie), didn't give a shit (Percy), or too busy grieving over the loss of two of their children (Molly and Arthur Weasly). Basically, the Weasleys had fallen apart.
Hermione hugged Ginny comfortingly until Ginny calmed herself and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Hermione-"
"It's alright, Ginny. Anyway, will anything cheer you up at the moment?"
"Talking about Blaise."
Hermione grinned. "Let's talk about Blaise then."
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Hermione walked out of the REHAB building along with a hysterical Ginny leaning on her. Hermione shook her head sadly while supporting Ginny and walking back to her apartment. Ron was not doing so well. He had looked empty and horrid, and screamed when they tried to talk to him. Hermione, although she would not admit it, was scared out of her wits. She didn't think Ron would turn out like he had. She knew he would be depressed for ages after Harry's death, but…never like this.
Hermione looked at poor Ginny crying on her shoulder and wanted to cry herself, but she wanted to be strong for Ginny. "Ginny, is it okay if we sit down for a while? We can both calm down and talk about this."
Ginny didn't answer, but Hermione made her way to the nearest bench and sat down with Ginny. After a few minutes, Ginny finally spoke up. "Hermione…what am I going to do?" She sounded so helpless and alone, that Hermione hugged her, hating to see her friend so distressed and not even knowing what to do.
"Ginny, stop crying…come on…we'll come up with something. We will, and Ron will be back to normal."
"What if he never becomes normal again, Hermione? What if…what if he becomes insane?"
"Ginny, Ron will NOT become insane. He won't . Today, he was too depressed to know what he was doing. He's just depressed, but the people there can fix that. Sooner of later he'll give up rebelling, and he'll be treated and be the Ron you know in no time…"
"I wish….I wish Harry was here."
Hermione nodded. "I do too, Ginny. I do too."
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Hermione rushed about in her apartment that Sunday, making her and Hailey look presentable, because she was meeting Draco for the picnic in around 15 minutes. She changed Hailey's outfit twice before deciding to leave. She Apparated to the entrance of the park with Hailey, who clapped and laughed in delight. Hermione smiled at Hailey's reaction.
It really was a beautiful park. Everything was grassy and green…full of flowers and a lake full of rather interesting fish. She looked at the name of the park on the archway. "Dumbledore Park" and under it said "In memory of the most spectacular, successful wizard of all time". Hermione smiled even wider as she pushed Hailey in her stroller into the park.
It was a massive park, but she managed to find Draco soon enough, and she gasped. The picnic looked wonderful. A variety of mashed food was included, especially for Hailey's benefit, and an array of cakes and ice cream were also presented. She also spotted salads and sandwiches as she took Hailey out of her stroller and sat down with her in her lap.
"Wow, Malfoy. You really went all out, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Do you think Hailey likes it?"
Hermione didn't need to look at her daughter to answer him. "Definitely."
Draco smiled at this. "Well, I guess we should get on with the picnic then."
"Yeah, guess so." And the dreaded awkward silence began again.
They did nothing for a while, staring at anything but each other. "Well-"
Hermione was interrupted by a gurgling, squealing sound, and looked at Hailey as saliva dribbled from her mouth to her cute, little bib.
Draco and Hermione looked at each other and burst out laughing, Hailey had managed to break the ice.
"We really should start to eat you know, the ice cream is melting," said Draco, and he took a bite of a ham sandwich, and Hermione a bite of Caesar salad, after feeding Hailey some orange mashed food, she really couldn't tell what it was, she suspected it was carrot, but Hailey seemed to like it, so Hermione fed her some more.
Meanwhile, Draco watched Hermione with Hailey, and he realized how nice it must be to have a child. Hermione always had a smile on her face when she was tending to Hailey, and it made Draco jealous. Why didn't she smile at him? He drove those thoughts out of his head. Jealous of a baby? Right…
He decided to try the chocolate cake, and found out it was delicious. "Granger, want some cake?"
Hermione shrugged. "Yeah, sure." Draco cut Hermione a slice and she tried it hesitantly for some reason. She chewed it slowly and closed her eyes, savoring the taste.
"That good, eh, Granger?" She opened her eyes and hit him playfully.
"Yep." He smiled at her and she smiled back, and if any of them looked at Hailey at that moment, they would have seen she was smiling too, and staring at them with a knowing look. Hermione scooped some chocolate ice cream into a bowl for Hailey, and fed her, still oblivious to Draco's wistful eyes. The picnic was fairly short, and after it was over, Draco and Hermione had no idea what to do next, so they just sat there for a while, until a restless Hailey seemed to reach out for the lake, and the two adults glanced at each other, shrugged, and walked towards the blue, glittering pool. Hermione looked into the lake, and immediately started to watch all the different fish, and animals that she didn't even recognize, but they were just as fascinating.
Draco, Hermione, and Hailey sat down on the edge of the lake together, and to passersby they looked like a happy family, and both were unconscious of it until a lady went over to them. "Aww, how old is your little girl?"
"4 months old," Hermione answered absently.
"You two must be proud to be her parents-"
"WHAT?" Draco and Hermione said in unison, wearing shocked faces.
"I'm sorry, Miss, we are far from being married."
The woman blushed deeply. "I'm sorry, I just thought-"
"Well you thought wrong," said Draco harshly, and the woman nodded and hurried away.
"You didn't have to be that harsh on the girl! It's an honest mistake, Malfoy, although it was rather shocking." Not to mention embarrassing and highly unexpected, Hermione added silently.
When Draco didn't answer, she continued. "Why are you in a bad mood all of a sudden?"
"Because I would never want to be mistaken as your husband or the father of that child!"
Hermione looked infuriated as well as confused. "I thought you were over that school, Mudblood crap! Why are you like this? And you have absolutely no right to insult Hailey! You-"
"-don't give a shit! You know what, if you insist on having this conversation, I think I'll have to ask you to go-"
Hailey started to cry, and Hermione looked at him with an injured look.
"What the hell is with you, Malfoy? You are so strange! And to think I thought you were sensible!" Before he could get another word in, she Apparated right in front of him with a wailing baby in her arms.
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Draco sunk down on the grass, realizing what he just did, which was start a fight for no reason. He didn't exactly know what he did it for, but it was like the lady had reminded him unconsciously who Hermione was, and that he shouldn't have anything to do with her. It was that whole "school, Mudblood crap", and he had no idea how to get rid of it.
He headed back to their picnic area, and cleaned everything up with a flick of his wand. He shrunk the picnic basket to fit his pocket, and trudged out of the park, looking back at the beautiful park as he did so, and it was then that he realized Hermione had left something rather important, and he smirked as he thought up a way of apologizing and returning the rather useful item.
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Hermione climbed the stairs leading to her apartment, stomping on the steps, creating quite a racket. She flung her door open, and would have screamed if she did not have a baby to calm down. She changed Hailey's diaper, which held quite a surprise, and she sang Hailey a lullaby before putting her in her crib.
She then called Ginny, for Ginny always wanted to know the details of her dates with Malfoy, no matter how depressed she was.
It was then that she realized something that made her smack her head. She had left Hailey's stroller.
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A/N:
YEaH, hoped you liked the chapter! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
