After Draco left, Jade was completely devastated for a few months. She was so distraught and heartbroken, that she even contemplated to actually abort the child she was going to have. The idea was completely against what she stood for so Jade quickly dispelled the thoughts from her head. She received support from Samantha, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Harry but she never completely felt happy.
Jade was completing her 6th month and going on to her 7th month. She hardly slept comfortably with such an enormous belly and had to shop around for maternity clothes, since she wasn't fitting into anything. She loved being pregnant, loving the way her tummy stuck out and the admiring looks on everyone' faces as they saw it. Almost always the baby would make him or herself known by kicking constantly.
"One moment Jade." Hermione said squeezing clear blue-green water based gel on Jade's stomach. She then grabbed a hand held probe and started to move it around, trying to get a clear picture of the baby.
Jade placed her arm behind her head and watched the image of her child on the screen. "All right well we know this will be a very healthy baby. Look at that…my niece looks just like her Aunt Hermione." Hermione said turned to Jade who gaped.
"A girl? I'm having a girl?" Jade asked seeing Hermione nod.
"I'd hug you but there's gel all over my hands." Hermione said. Jade grinned and looked back at the picture seeing a curled up baby girl in her womb. "Other than that, everything else seems fine. The placenta looks intact, amniotic fluid…pelvis, everything's working normally." Hermione said getting up. Hermione switched the lights on and cleaned up the probe. She handed Jade a couple of tissues to wipe her belly off. She switched off the ultrasound machine and helped Jade up from the patient's bed.
"Hungry?" Hermione asked as Jade nodded.
"Am I! I'm extremely hungry." Jade said smoothing her dress down.
"I'm done for the day, so let me get out of this robe and we'll be leaving right now." Hermione said taking off her lime green robe. She placed it in her closet and closed it, fixing her hair. "Let's go!"
Jade and Hermione left to Hogsmeade to eat out. They spoke to each other, shopping for clothes and grabbing a bite to eat. "You know it's so hard getting into these chairs. I can't even reach for my plate." Jade said giggling as they sat down to eat.
"May I have your orders Madams?" the waiter asked as Jade and Hermione looked over the menu. Jade ordered a three course meal as Hermione went for something that was calorie friendly to shed off her baby weight.
"I think I gained from 16 to 20 pounds. I hope I give birth to a 20 pound baby." Jade said as Hermione started to laugh.
"You have no idea how hard it was to lose weight after both Rose and Hugo were born. Look at me now, it's been a year and I'm still unable to get rid of my weight!" Hermione said.
"I think you look beautiful." Jade said watching the waiter set their food down.
After eating three meals, the girls paid the bill and left the restaurant to walk to Jade's organization. Jade tried to walk past Florean Fortescue's Ice-cream Parlor but couldn't resist the temptation. She ran in with Hermione by her side and the two ordered their favorite flavor on the biggest cones available.
"Oh bugger." Hermione said as her wand started vibrating.
Jade turned, licking her ice cream and watched Hermione check her message, and stuff it back into her bag. Jade went to turn around but she slammed right into someone, causing her ice cream to fall between them. Jade gasped sharply as the ice cream fell on her chest and drop with a plunk on the floor and she looked up to see Draco standing in front of her, looking down on his shirt covered in chocolate and vanilla ice cream with Ron right next to him.
"My ice cream!" Jade blurted.
Draco looked up and froze, seeing Jade, who looked incredibly different. She looked away from him, wearing a short white maternity dress; her belly enlarged by her pregnancy and she was simply glowing.
"Jade? What are you standing here for?" Hermione asked walking towards her. She stopped seeing Draco and Ron together.
"What are you both doing here in Hogsmeade?" Ron asked kissing Hermione. He kissed Jade's cheek and fished out a handkerchief for Jade to wipe herself with.
"We came here to shop for maternity wear and eat. What are you two doing here?" Hermione asked as Jade wiped her dress.
"Great, chocolate on my dress." Jade mumbled.
Draco could do absolutely nothing but watch Jade wipe herself, feeling incredibly embarrassed to be in front of her. This was the first time he had seen her after their fight and his insides danced as he saw her carrying their child. Knowing that there was a part of him in her brought the familiar experience of being a father all over again when Alcaeus was in Pansy's womb.
"Well we were going to have lunch and meet up with Harry. If you told me before, we would have come earlier to eat with the both of you." Ron said.
"Yeah, like that would ever happen. Excuse me; I have to go back to the kids." Jade said leaving.
"Bye Jade." Ron said as Jade waved.
"I'll see you soon." Hermione said giving Ron a kiss. "Bye Draco." Hermione said squeezing his hand.
"Bye Hermione." Draco said.
They watched the girls leave and Ron turned to Draco. "Why couldn't you just talk to her?" Ron asked.
"I already ruined her ice cream…you'll never expect her to be nice to you if you ruined her ice cream." Draco said as Ron chuckled.
"What's wrong with you Jade?" Hermione asked.
"What? What did I do? I'm pregnant Hermione. I am not going to run around begging for his forgiveness. Didn't I tell you why we fought in the first place? He thought I was going to die if I gave birth. He's extremely paranoid and what was I supposed to do Herm? I couldn't act so casual about it, he was asking me to kill my child!" Jade said as Hermione rubbed her back.
"I understand but you should have sat down and calmly discussed about it." Hermione said as Jade shook her head.
"If you were there, you'd understand. He was nowhere near calm. He wasn't even listening to anything I was trying to tell him. Not a single word. He told me it was either him or the baby. What would you have done?" Jade asked as they walked into the building.
"Yes, that was a bit ridiculous." Hermione said. They saw children sitting in a circle, playing games and Jade spotted Samantha waving to her.
"Jade!" the children yelled. They all came to hug her and Jade giggled, not being able to bend down or pick them up.
"Guess who I bought today." Samantha said.
"Who did you get?" Jade asked.
Samantha pointed to Alcaeus who ran towards Jade. "Oh my goodness." Jade said hugging him tightly.
"Are you having a baby?" Alcaeus asked as Jade nodded. "Does that mean you're married to someone else?" Alcaeus asked fearfully.
Jade shook her head and smiled. "I'm not as lucky." Jade said seeing Alcaeus's puzzled expression. "How have you been love?" Jade asked sitting on a chair.
"No one makes fun of me anymore. I can read just as well as anyone else in my class." Alcaeus said. Jade smiled and kept him close, not understanding how cold Draco would be to keep Alcaeus away from her.
"You know I love you right?" Jade asked.
"Then come back. Father misses you." Alcaeus said.
It pierced Jade's heart to hear this. She knew Alcaeus was lying and hated it that the child was caught in the middle of this. For the rest of the evening, Jade spent as much time as she could with Alcaeus. They spoke about what they missed in these months and Jade wondered if she would have to tell Alcaeus that he was going to have a sister. Jade decided against it and sent a very persistent Alcaeus back to Samantha to take him home to his father.
Alcaeus returned back home and saw his father walk down the stairs to receive him.
"Is everything ok?" Draco asked seeing how glum Alcaeus looked.
"Yes, he's fine. Tired, that's all." Samantha explained.
"Son? Are you tired?" Draco asked. Alcaeus shook his head and walked off.
"She was really happy to see him…I think that was the happiest I've ever seen her in months." Samantha said seeing Draco nod.
"I bet Alcaeus was pretty happy." Draco said seeing Samantha nod.
"Goodnight Mr. Malfoy." Samantha said leaving.
Draco bid Samantha a good night and went upstairs to see Alcaeus in the study, gazing at his mother's painting. He questioningly watched his son stare at his mother until Alcaeus spoke up.
"Why am I stopped from having a mother?" Alcaeus asked quietly.
Draco stood there, hearing his son question the injustices done to him at an early age.
"The very first mother that I had…that I never knew died. Now…the one that I was so close to…who could have been my mother was pushed away because of you." Alcaeus said turning to Draco. "You only care about yourself and no one else. Jade was wrong…I'm not the last person you want to see cry…I'm the first person you want to see cry." Alcaeus said.
With that, he left, leaving Draco speechless. So many things swirled in Draco's mind; he couldn't grasp any one of them.
"Yes and keep standing there like an idiot. Your son, the common sense in your life has just broken it down for you. Do you want him to write it out in blood now?" a voice asked.
Draco turned around to see Pansy standing there, looking furious. "Go away; go away, you are just a projection of the voice in my head." Draco said to himself.
"I'm sure you've also heard that the voice in your head is the most annoying and critical useful tool known to mankind? That every time you do something stupid you know you're not supposed to do, it tries to talk to you?" Pansy asked.
"What do you want from me?" Draco asked.
"Want from you? I don't and can't have anything from you, but yes, you can make your son happy by being less of a pompous, self centered arse you always were." Pansy said sitting down.
"I wish everyone would stop saying that about me! I am never a self centered and pompous arse!" Draco defended himself.
"Then why did you ask Jade to abort her child?" Pansy asked.
"Because I'm scared! I'm scared! I'm insecure and if that's selfish to you, then yes I am selfish. I'm selfish because I don't want someone I love to die again, the same way I lost you Pansy. This isn't a game to me…I can't make myself vulnerable again to get hurt. I can't afford to lose her." Draco said, feeling his throat tighten and his words being shouted out, all the blood pumping through his head. He looked up and saw no one, nothing, except himself.