Disclaimer: a bit of wandering, but communication clears it up (hopefully) in the end.

Chapter 34. Maybe

She had just sat down in her normal spot across from Draco to work on their project when he reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Instinctively she flinched away but he held firm and never looked up from the book he was reading. Hermione glanced around and noticed a pair of Slytherins hiding behind a shelf behind her. Sighing, she relented and relaxed into the gesture, awkwardly managing to pull what had become of their essay from her bag and sift through the pages of parchment until she found where she had stopped editing last.

"By this time next week, we'll have no more project to work on," she muttered, chewing on the end of her self-inking quill. Her partner didn't reply, just squeezing her hand a bit tighter and letting the silence sit between them. The witch cleared her throat, growing ever more uncomfortable as she felt her palm begin to sweat. Or maybe it's his palm that sweating? Is it just me? Can he feel the sweatiness? Her mind began a path of anxiety and she adjusted in her seat, daring to look up at the blond across from her. As she suspected, he had his head bowed down as he continued reading. "We can't possibly have more research to do, we're nearly at the page limit and I'm pretty certain all we have to do is write our conclusion and a bit more editing," she voiced.

"I'm not researching for the paper," he muttered, turning the page and biting down on his lip in concentration. Frowning, she attempted to peer over and see what it was he was reading, but his outstretched arm conveniently covered the title at the top of the page and his shadow made it hard for her to make out the upside-down printing of the text. Defeated, she sat back in her chair, attempting to tug her hand out from his grasp, but he continued to hold on.

"What are you reading then?" The witch inquired, starting to tap her foot as she glanced around the library. Severus had been out of the infirmary for a while, but she had seen very little of him, and every time she looked at Draco, she thought of him. It made her miss him, dearly. She had hoped she would get to see a bit more of him since they had figured out her condition, but that didn't seem to be the case as it felt they sparsely made contact.

"Nothing, just-" he paused. "Nothing." Hermione wanted to protest, but frankly, she had given up caring about what the boy was hiding from her. He was nice enough, likely trying to make up for nearly strangling her outside his rooms, but he was distant. Everyone was distant from her as of late. The loneliness was beginning to get to her and she was torn between seeking out comfort in her friends or Severus. If she truly had the choice, there was nowhere she would rather be than the arms of her ornery potions master, but she had started to feel disconnected from her two best friends and she owed them at least a fake explanation.

"Well if we're not going to actually work on our project, I might as well head out," she suggested, finally managing to slip her hand from his grasp. She picked up the pile of parchment and started to tuck it back in her bag when Draco grabbed her wrist.

"If we finish the editing today, we can simply practice the time travel for the rest of the evening. Please stay." His pleading was more of a command than anything, and she sat back down in her seat. Releasing her wrist, he took his seat too and closed the tome in front of him, fixing his icy blues on her. Hermione bit her lip and stared back, feeling her stomach begin flipping.

"Alright," she agreed, spreading out the parchment once more and handing him the last two pages. "Work on these? I'll finish the page I'm on and then there's just one more, and we'll have it all done." The brunette swallowed hard as he took the pages from her, taking special care to graze her hand with his fingers and send shivers up her arm.

Making the last correction of the page, she glanced up to see him scribbling away. "Shall I write the conclusion?" She asked and he simply waved at her and nodded vaguely, obviously deeply focused on whatever train of thought he was writing out in the margins. So, she did, taking key points from the rest of the essay she'd read over enough times over the last week to recite word-for-word, and added a small table as an appendix. It contained the probabilities that certain events could be changed given certain actions and what the outcome would ultimately be had they made those changes.

Looking up, Draco handed her the parchment he'd been writing on and stood up. "Shall we go outside to do this?" She pondered for a moment what this was, then clued into his promise for time travel practice. Instinctively, she placed her hand over her stomach and squinted.

"Going back in time ages a person, only by a couple hours, but you do age just a bit more. So, for all the times I've gone back to take more classes, I'm just that much older than I should be," she thought aloud, chewing on her lip as a light clicked on in her mind. I'm just that much more pregnant, she mused. A couple of hours are nothing much, but I definitely don't want this to progress any more than it should before the end of the year. "What happens if you know someone is going back in time and you see them, both of them? What happens then?" Her subsequent question had him looking perplexed.

"What does one have to do with another?" He questioned, reasonably.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about the consequences of time travel. Out loud," she covered, glancing about, never making eye contact. The boy shrugged.

"I don't know, shall we test it?" He suggested to her satisfaction.

"I'll stay behind, and you come back and find us at this moment, okay?" She suggested, just as she was spun around and kissed passionately. Before she had the chance to push the person away, the witch flashed open her eyes at the sound of her name being called accusingly.

"What the bloody hell Hermione!" With that, she pushed the person away, who happened to be Draco and spun around to find the other Draco hiding in a stack of books, looking at himself with wide eyes. Oh, gods, this is bad, she panicked, turning to the Draco who had come to find her from the future. Her eyes flicked to Ron and Harry who came storming up to her, the ginger's face a shade of tomato red as he looked about ready to punch Malfoy in the face.

She stepped in front of the blond and protected him from the incoming assault. "Move Hermione, that ferret assaulted you!" Ron shouted, grabbing her shoulder and attempting to push her out of the way. Draco yanked his hand from her arm and bent it, sending the ginger tumbling off only to be replaced by an even angrier Harry.

"Stop it! All of you!" Hermione cried, attempting to place distance between the blond and her friends, but Harry nearly broke her arm pushing past her and she crumbled, toppling back and gripping her sore wrist. "I said stop!" She attempted again, marching back to the altercation where Harry was readying his fist which was aimed at the boy's face. The witch lurched forward, grabbing his elbow and bringing it down, wincing as a pain emanated from her wrist.

"Why are you protecting him, Hermione?" Harry demanded, never shifting his glare from the Slytherin who was stepping towards the wall to cover his back. She didn't know what to answer, swallowing air and holding him back with all the strength she could muster, hoping that Ron wouldn't try to get in the fight again.

"Because she's my girlfriend," Draco announced, in an almost mocking tone that made Hermione wince even more than her swelling wrist had.

"Oh, you prick," Ron muttered, launching himself towards the blond before being thrown back against the bookshelves.

"Whatever it is you boys are fighting over can wait until detention and when you're not in my library!" Madam Pince screamed, her shrill voice nearly causing Hermione to cover her ears. She did let go of Harry who had not quite finished bottling his rage because he made a move towards the cocky posture of Draco opposite him. The older witch was having none of it and slammed the boy-who-lived against another bookshelf. Hermione gasped at the sight, both of her friends pinned down and the boy who once hated her standing in front of her, completely unharmed.

Hermione grabbed Draco's hand and dragged him out of the fray, magically gathering their things and stuffing them all in her bag which she slung over her shoulder. "I will not have my favourite place in Hogwarts turned into a war zone," she muttered as she dragged the blond out into the hall. The witch quickly spun to face him and cast a quick muffliato around them, glowering at the boy. "What on earth were you thinking?" she seethed, stepping towards him accusingly. Draco had his trademark smirk as he looked down at her and shrugged. The stress was making her stomach bubble and she swallowed wearily.

"Just thought those two oughts to know where we stand," he answered cockily.

"Where we stand?!" She repeated in a screech. "Harry and Ron hate you and now they're going to hate me just as much for supposedly being your girlfriend and you thought that was a good idea?" The young witch stomped her foot as she fumed, noticing the library door open, she clenched her jaw. "Pretend like you're checking my arm," she commanded, much to Malfoy's confusion. "Now!" She insisted, holding up her wrist, which was swelling, and twisting her face into one of pain. His eyes genuinely widened with worry and she wordlessly cancelled their silencing charm.

"I better take you to the infirmary," Draco whispered in a concerned tone that shook Hermione for a moment as her cheeks flushed. Ron and Harry stormed over to them and Ron pulled the blond away from Hermione before socking him across the jaw.

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing over to put herself between the boys. "Stop it! All of you! I said stop it!" Tears were forming at her eyes from the pain in her wrist, the nausea that was building in her stomach, and the feeling of her heart shattering in her chest. They were her friends. Fighting the person they thought Hermione was dating. Without hesitation, Ron punched Malfoy. Without asking why they were together. With a shaky inhale, she let loose a sob and nearly collapsed, but Draco skilfully caught her and held her up, even though he'd just been decked in the face.

"I'm taking her to Madam Pomfrey. Don't think she won't find out who broke my bloody jaw," Draco spat as he helped her down the hall towards the hospital wing. Hermione had no choice but to cling to the boy as she gasped for air.

"You betrayed us, Hermione," Harry called after her, making her bite her lip to hold back tears.

Draco was sat on the cot next to her, his jaw slowly mending back into place with a quick charm and pain potion. Hermione's wrist had to be put on ice to get the swelling down before Madam Pomfrey could figure out what it was that was exactly wrong with it.

Her eyes felt heavy as she laid back on the bed, and watched Draco watch her do so. "I'm sorry," he said, just as she fell asleep.

-x-

When she woke up, the infirmary was dark and she shot up from the bed. Looking to her left, she noticed Draco's form still tucked under the sheets of the cot next to her's and sighed in relief. She glanced around, hoping the mediwitch would be nearby to let her go back to her tower, but it seemed they were currently unsupervised, so she slid from the cot and puttered over to Draco's. "Malfoy, are you awake?" She whispered, nudging him and he simply groaned and turned further away from her. The witch puttered around to the other side and nudged him again. His eyes cracked open and he gave her the most pissed off frown she'd ever seen from the boy, and it made her giggle.

"Fuck off, Granger," he grumbled, rolling back onto his right to avoid her. She ran her fingers through her untamed hair and pattered back to the right side of his cot and stood there. "What do you want?" He demanded, never opening his eyes, but twisting his face as though he were in pain.

"I wanted to thank you for rescuing me, or well, keeping me safe. Harry and Ron were really pissed, and you took a punch just to keep me safe. To keep Severus safe," she spoke quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder before removing it quickly.

"That couldn't have waited till morning?" He groaned, burying his face for a moment in the pillow as he stretched out a bit. "Besides, I can't very well let the princess of Gryffindor die before she even got to fight the war, what fun would that be?" The blond joked.

"I'm serious, Draco, I really am thankful for what you did for me." He paused a moment at her words before sitting himself up and facing her. Her blouse had been transfigured into a nightgown while she slept and she suddenly felt very self-conscious under his gaze. She thanked Merlin for the poor lighting and folded her arms over her chest.

"Madam Pomfrey found out something last night while you were sleeping." Hermione's stomach dropped at his confession, noting his pale face become nearly translucent. She knew what was coming, her nausea was bubbling up again and she began digging her nails into her forearms to keep calm as she waited for him to continue. She prayed she was wrong, that the mediwitch had found something else out. That she'd broken her wrist or was coming down with pneumonia. "I told her it was mine, that it hadn't been planned and it was the reason we were together. She believed me, thankfully, but I would tell Snape if I were you," he finished, making Hermione nearly gag. Oh gods, he knows. Why must he know everything?

"Severus knows," she finally said, scratching her head. He nodded once and sat up just a bit more. She wanted to vomit, but she managed to hold in her stomach contents as she hadn't even made it to dinner.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," he apologized, but she shook her head.

"You weren't supposed to know," the witch dismissed his apology, and instinctively touched her abdomen.

"Still. How long had you and Snape been together before I-" He started to ask, but she interrupted him before he could finish.

"Not long," she added and he nodded.

"So, it was probably before I told him that I had feelings for you," Draco determined.

"Probably," she agreed, genuinely unsure of that particular timeline.

"And you're not very far along, Pomfrey said." Hermione winced, the thought of the mediwitch knowing her condition was bad enough, but her thinking it was the result of a one-night stand with Draco Malfoy threw her into a pool of embarrassment.

"About a month," she confessed.

"Not long at all." There was a pause between them as they both digested the situation. "I still want to be your friend, Hermione," Draco finally said to her shock. It's not that she didn't consider him a friend, it's just that she had never actually thought about whether they were friends or not. They were civil, stuck in a situation that made both their lives hell as they desperately tried to wiggle out from under the power of Voldemort, but she hadn't shared her darkest secrets with the boy. Well, until he found one out on accident.

"I want to be your friend too, Draco," she replied, a smile pulling at her lip. "And I guess I'll have to start acting like a proper girlfriend now that the news has likely spread all over the school," she joked with a sigh. "We'll get through this, just three more weeks before I'm rescued and we can stop pretending to be together."

"I'm not sure how I'll handle that with You-Know-Who," Draco answered, resting his back against the headboard. Hermione hopped up onto the edge of the bed and kicked her legs. "He brings you to my home to be murdered in front of me but doesn't succeed because I will have gone back in time and rescued you. Would it have the desired effect? Would I realize you were just a weakness and continue to fight for him? Or would I consider it the ultimate betrayal and finally leave his side for good?" He debated aloud. She wasn't sure if he was looking for her to give an opinion or if he was simply airing his struggles in hopes of coming up with his own solution.

"That would depend on who you are," Hermione offered. "You're doing this, all this, to save your parents' lives. If you leave his side, you leave theirs," she reasoned.

"But if I stay I leave yours," he countered, glancing up at her for a moment. She chewed her lip and continued kicking her legs as she considered the situation.

"Maybe you can do both," she suggested optimistically.

"Maybe," he sighed thoughtfully.

-x-

Draco had been healed enough that he was ready for his Quidditch game on Saturday and Hermione promised she would show up in solidarity. It wasn't as though they were playing against Gryffindor, so she didn't feel too guilty as she made her way up into the stands. Peering around the benches, she found Ginny and quickly made her way to the girl who gave her a sympathetic look when she sat down. "I'm sorry Hermione, we can't be seen together," the ginger said nearly immediately. Hermione's eyes widened and her heart broke as she looked into her friend's eyes. "Harry and Ron told me you're dating Draco and I just-" Ginny stopped herself, looking out over the pitch and shaking her head. "I can't believe you would do that to us, after everything we've been through. After what he's said about you," she continued.

"He's changed, he's not like that anymore," Hermione tried, seeing the blond shoot up into the air from her periphery. Tears were blurring her vision and she choked back a few sobs, biting her lip to keep from begging.

"I'm sorry, 'mione, but I'm with the boys on this one," Ginny said, standing from her spot. Hermione watched her go, the pit growing in her stomach as she watched her friend walk away from her. Her throat hurt and she buried her face in her hands, hiding her sobs. She wanted to chase after her, to tell her that it was all a ruse and everything would go back to normal. Eventually. But she couldn't. Because if anything got out. If anyone knew that what she and Draco had was anything less than romance, the death toll would rise considerably. She was walking a thin line and losing her friends as she did.

-x-

After the match, Hermione waited around for Draco to come out of the locker room as she genuinely didn't know what else she could do. She'd noticed Severus glancing at her during the match, but she was so distraught over her fallout with Ginny that she was hesitant to make the line any thinner beneath her feet. Instead, she focused on the boy she was supposed to love and watched him win the match. He appeared around the corner and smiled when he saw her, which warmed her heart considerably.

"Just the witch I was hoping to see," he greeted, dragging his broom behind him. "Come with me, I have something I want to show you," he motioned for her to follow him as he walked passed her. Hurriedly, she tagged along, taking two steps for every one of his strides, her hands buried in the pockets of her jumper. He led her up to the seventh-floor corridor, where the Room of Requirements was and summoned the door. He opened it, letting her through and she gasped at the sight. It was packed full of things. Useless things, as if it were her Nan's attic. There were mirrors, and piles of silverware, books and chairs stacked upon one another that went nearly to the ceiling.

"What makes you need all of this?" She questioned as he took her hand and guided her further into the mess of things.

"It's somewhere to hide. If someone were to come into this, they wouldn't know where to start looking. I come here to think," he explained and she chuckled at the joke she was brewing.

"So, you don't come here often," she teased, and he laughed.

"More often than you'd think, Granger," he retorted, and she grinned. He led her to a small clearing

in the objects where a large cabinet stood before them and motioned for her to sit on the rug. They looked at each other for a moment before she felt a little bit uncomfortable and decided to glance around the room as she tapped her fingers against her knees nervously. "Look," he commanded lightly, and she did, glancing down at his exposed forearm where the dark mark was burned into his skin. It was red and irritated, but fresh. "I got it this summer, as punishment for my father's failure to retrieve the prophecy." Hermione gulped at the confession, recalling her part in that plot. "It's not settling because I didn't take it of my own free will," he continued.

"Why are you telling me this, Draco?" She asked cautiously, the safety that she had come to associate with her friend beginning to melt away just a bit.

"Because I trust you," he breathed. "My father, the Dark Lord, they use what I love to get me to do what they want me to. My mother, and now you. I've never had a choice in the matter, but since I started at Hogwarts... My perceptions changed. I've changed. You're brilliant, and kind, and wonderful. Not at all like I was told muggle-borns were. They were supposed to be barbaric and thick, but you changed that," he explained, making her heart warm once more. It always felt nice to be complimented. "I'm sorry your friends can't see past my old habits, and I'm sorry you're having to put your life at risk because of it, but if nothing else, I wanted you to know that you had a great impact on me."

"Oh Draco," she smiled, a tear trickling down her cheek. His words made her happy, but the memory of her friends rejecting her cut her deeply. The witch had never been popular in muggle school, always the weird one. She was bookish and insufferable, but she had managed to make friends and hold onto them once she made it to Hogwarts. And now, in her sixth year, she destroyed all that work for a man she loved and she couldn't even be with him. Her tears multiplied, and she felt the salt water cling to her chin as she tried to even out her breathing. "Thank you," she whispered, leaning into him as he held her. "Thank you for being my friend."

"Your secret is safe with me, if mine is safe with you," he said, rubbing her back.

"That you're a Death Eater? That might come out," she joked, sitting back up and wiping the tears from her eyes. "Maybe," she teased.

"I still won't tell anyone you're pregnant with Snape's kid. Does that make me their uncle?" He teased and she pushed him.

"Oh, shut up," she chuckled then snuffled, summoning a tissue to wipe her face with.

A/N: I hope you're all still with me! Please keep reviewing and reading and favouriting and following! Makes my day and motivates me to write more. Hopefully your Octobers are going well and you're looking forward to Halloween (if you celebrate it), I'm going as a Slytherin (so basically going as myself)