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**** HERMIONE ****

Draco stepped up behind me, slipping his hands around my waist and pulling me gently against him. I leaned my head back on his shoulder and relaxed into him feeling my body calm at his presence. I had been feeling off all day and it seemed that only his being near me settled me.

"What are you thinking?"

I ran my hand along his forearm, "Nothing really. Just taking it all in."

"Do you need a drink?"

I shook my head, "No. I'm okay."

"You've been awfully quiet today," He murmured against my ear, "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded, "I just feel a bit bleh, that's all. I'll be fine."

He kissed my neck, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." I reached back and caressed his cheek, "Just a busy couple of days dealing with this wedding, I'm sure I'll be fine after a solid night's sleep."

He huffed out a quiet laugh against my neck, "Won't be tonight, I promise you that."

I pinched his arm playfully, "Yeah, that's what you think."

We stood quietly, watching as Pansy and Charlie stared at each other as they danced, completely oblivious to the rest of us in the room. Pansy looked incredible, her pearlescent sheath gown was beautiful in its simplicity and hugged her curves in a way that had Charlie refusing to leave her side since she had walked down the aisle.

"He does know what he's gotten himself into?"

I chuckled, "They've been together long enough, I'm sure he's well aware."

And we all knew he was aware. Charlie was as besotted with Pansy as she was with him, and the current expression on his face told me that he was ready for anything she could throw at him. And there was something in the look of complete adoration on Pansy's face that had a warmth spreading through me and making my heart pound.

"Are you feeling up to dancing with me?" Draco asked.

I turned to face him, "But you don't dance Mr. Malfoy."

He laughed, "Ah, but I'm sure you're aware that I dance for the right woman."

I rolled my eyes, and then tangled my fingers into his, "The right woman had better be me."

He lifted my arm and twirled me onto the dance floor, "Have you ever seen me dancing with anyone else?"

"No," I said with a small shake of my head.

He placed his hands on my lower back, pulling me against him and I leaned into him, pressing my nose against his neck and breathing him in. He kissed my temple and I sighed.

"What's going on?" He asked quietly.

"Nothing," I told him, hoping that he wouldn't keep pressing me. As usual, he sensed something was wrong, but I hoped that he would believe me when I said I was just tired. "I've spent the entire day with Pansy, and not seen you. I've missed you, that's all."

I knew from his silence that he didn't believe me and there was no way that he would let this slide. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and his tone warning, "Hermione."

I lifted my head, "Draco, please just leave it."

He frowned at me, and then nodded, "You will tell me?"

"Later," I whispered and leaned my head back on his chest.

For two long years we had tried and I'd not gotten pregnant. We had assumed – incorrectly – that since we were brilliant at most things, making a baby would be a breeze. But it had been something that we had failed at. We had tried to stay positive and not let our failure be our focus, but as the months turned into a year, and then two, we had all but given up.

And just three months ago, we had decided to stop trying, decided to give ourselves the space to breathe again and take away some of the pressure we had put on ourselves. But as it seemed was always the way when a mutual decision like that had been made, I was now pregnant.

I had only realised two days before when I had met with Pansy to finalise some last minute wedding concerns she had, and she offered me tea. I had screwed my nose up and my stomach had churned at the mere thought of drinking it, and the realisation hit me.

I had managed to sneak off and find myself a muggle pregnancy test – knowing that Draco would have no idea what it was if he did happen to find it - and when the two pink lines appeared, a sense of relief had filled me and two years of frustration and disappointment left me in an instant. And I knew that this baby was the one that we were meant to have.

But with the wedding less than 48 hours away, I didn't want to let my news overshadow their day. So I kept my secret to myself, wanting so much to tell Draco, but knowing that even though I would insist that we wait to tell anyone, his own excitement would not be contained.

I felt his chin rest on the top of my head, "I love you, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"And we will be next."

I snorted against his chest, "You have to ask me first."

"I will."

I looked up at him, "You keep saying that."

He managed to look indignant, despite the grin on his face, "I'm just waiting for the perfect moment."

"So in the three years we've been together, the perfect moment hasn't cropped up?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

I rolled my eyes and then laughed, tucking my head under his chin again, "I won't wait forever, Malfoy. If you don't ask me soon, I'll steal your thunder."

I stepped out of the floo to a smiling Draco, but the dizzying vortex had not been kind and I barely managed to make it to the bathroom, landing on my knees and hunching over the toilet, before losing the contents of my stomach.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Draco asked from the doorway.

I flushed the toilet and sat back against the bathtub, rolling my head back and closing my eyes. I felt his hands on my knees and smiled.

"Hermione?" His voice sounded worried, and I guess after my evasiveness, he had every right to be. "I told you to stay away from James."

I opened my eyes and frowned, "What?"

"Ginny said he's been sick, clearly you've gotten whatever he had."

I chuckled and patted his cheek, "You're cute." I grimaced and then leaned over the toilet again, my stomach lurching.

Draco reached up to the basin and filled a glass with water before handing it to me. I smiled weakly at him, shifting so my back was against the bath. I sipped the water slowly, hoping it would stay down, and smiled as Draco moved to sit beside me.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, "It's not James."

"What is it then?"

I took his hand in mine, "Draco, I'm—" My hand flew to my mouth and I was back over the toilet bowl, cursing the stupid floo network. I'd hadn't felt sick at all, not until tonight.

I let out a shaky breath and sat back down beside him. His face was pale; I knew he had a weak stomach when it came to anyone being sick, but he was doing his best to not show it.

He brushed my hair from my face, and I smiled up at him. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you, but Draco…you're going to be a daddy."

He was silent, just staring at me, and the emotion I saw in his eyes was something I had never seen before. He looked awed, looked completely at a loss for words.

"Draco?"

"What did you just say?" His voice was barely a whisper; his eyes looked as though he could hardly believe what I was saying.

I took his hand and placed it on my stomach, "I said you're going to be a daddy."

"You're sure?" he asked and I noticed that tears had begun to form in his eyes.

I nodded, "It's early, really early. But yes, I'm pregnant."

I was in his arms in an instant, held tight to his chest, and feeling as though he would never let me go. He buried his face in my neck, and I heard the quickening of his breath as his emotions welled and then exploded in tears on my skin. I ran my fingers through his hair, feeling my own emotions form in a lump in my throat. I hadn't expected to tell him here, not on the floor of the bathroom while I threw my guts up into the toilet, but his reaction was so amazingly precious, now I couldn't imagine a more perfect way to tell him.

He tugged at my dress, and I shifted my hips, knowing exactly what he wanted. He wanted to touch my bare skin, wanted to be as close as possible to the tiny life inside me. He yanked my dress over my head, and I stifled a laugh. Ordinarily after ripping my clothes from me he would be focused solely on my underwear and getting me out of it, but in that moment he only had eyes for my stomach.

He pressed his hand gently against me, his thumb sliding over my bare skin. His cheeks were wet with tears, but he was smiling.

I caressed his cheek, "Hey, talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking."

He lifted his face to mine, leaning in to capture my mouth with his, kissing me long and slow, his hand never leaving my belly. He pulled back, looking down again, "I knocked you up, huh?"

I slapped his shoulder, but laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck, "You knocked me up."

"When did you find out?"

I shrugged guiltily at him, "I took a test two days ago, but I didn't want to overshadow Pansy's day."

He frowned at me, "And how would you have done that?"

"Not me, you."

"How would I—"

I kissed him quickly, "You would have hovered over me all night and everyone would have suspected something."

He opened his mouth to respond, but snapped it shut, knowing I was right. He had been more anxious, more frustrated than I had been.

In one particularly heated discussion we'd had, he'd pointed out that while I had been blaming myself, he had been doing the same. And he had been right; I'd been so adamant that everything was my fault that I hadn't realised that he had been torturing himself with the fact that the reason we hadn't gotten pregnant might be because of him.

***** DMHG *****

"Hey, I have a surprise for you."

I smiled at him, but my heart wasn't in it. It had been yet another month and once again my period had arrived, signalling another yet failure.

"We're headed away for a week in Prague. We leave on Sunday."

My eyes went wide, "But we...I can't," I stammered, "I can't leave the greenhouses, not now. We have too many plants that need attention."

"Hannah and Olsen are perfectly capable of looking after everything for you." He said.

"No! You can't ask them to do that," My voice rose in anger.

"Why not?" He asked me, his own voice sharp, as if this was not the reaction he had expected.

"Because I'm not some delicate flower that needs to hide because life is shitty!" I yelled.

"I never said you were." He retorted.

"You don't have to say it," I touched my stomach, "Every time this happens, you tiptoe around me, treating me as if I'm going to break! I don't need to run away and hide. I just—"

He cut me off, his voice sharp and angry, "You do realise that this is not just about you? That maybe I am just as devastated? Have you even thought about that? Are you even aware that while you're blaming yourself, I'm angry and frustrated that I can't get you pregnant? That maybe I'm the problem, not you?"

My eyes went wide with shock, "Draco I-"

"I hate seeing you so disappointed and upset. But what I hate more is that it might be my fault!" He snapped, "You know what? If you don't want to go to Prague, we won't. We'll just fucking stay here and be miserable, and go through all this again in another month!" He stormed up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door.

I was stunned. Draco was right, I hadn't realised how hard this had been on him, that he was blaming himself as much as I blamed myself, probably more so. The fact that any issues we were having may have been because of him had never occurred to me. I had put it all on myself, and he had hidden his own feelings to protect me and I hadn't realised.

I took several deep breaths and waited a full minute before heading to the bedroom. I opened the door tentatively, not sure what I'd find, but the view almost broke my heart. He was sitting on the end of the bed his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking as a year and a half of tears fell from his eyes.

I walked over to him, and brushed my hand through his hair, "I'm sorry," I whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"What if we can't? What if there's something wrong and we can't have a baby together?" His voice was muffled by his hands.

I sat beside him wrapping my arm across his back, "So be it." I almost sobbed.

"No, that's not your answer." He looked at me, "Try again."

My own tears spilled over and I took shuddering breath, "I would be devastated."

He pulled me onto his lap, my legs falling either side of his. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his face to my neck, "So would I."

"I'm so sorry Draco. I've been so angry at myself, I forgot you were involved in this as well. I never even considered how you felt or that you were blaming yourself."

"Don't apologise," He said softly, "There's no blame on either of us. We're in this together."

I leaned back to look at his face, "I'm still sorry," I said, "I'm the one who said we shouldn't be disappointed if this didn't happen straight away, and look how I've been acting."

"You're allowed to be disappointed," He sighed, "But I think our expectations have been too high and we've both put too much pressure on ourselves."

My mouth twitched, "Yeah, because we never do that."

He huffed out a tiny breath of laughter, and pulled me back into him, "And I know it's not helping with Ginny."

I winced slightly. Ginny was about six months into her second pregnancy, I was excited for her, of course I was, but I still felt like I was failing and I hated myself for hating her just a little bit.

I relaxed into his chest, wrapping my around his shoulders, "So, Prague?"

"Only if you want to."

"I think it's what we need," I ran my fingers along the nape of his neck, "I'm sorry I forgot about you."

"That's okay, your mind was elsewhere."

"I know, but I think that's part of the problem. We've been so concentrated on this baby thing, we've forgotten each other. Promise me we'll never do that again."

He kissed me gently, "I promise."

*****DMHG *****

Prague hadn't been the miracle we'd hoped, but it had allowed us to forget about anything but the two of us for a week. And when we had come home, we'd both felt recharged, patient and much calmer, felt like all the frustration that had been building had left and we'd been able to just get back to us.

And now, here we were, just a few months later, pregnant with our first child.

Draco stood and helped me up from the floor. He wrapped me in his arms, holding me with a gentleness that had the lump returning to my throat. "We're having a baby, Hermione." He whispered into my hair, "This is unbelievable."

"I know," I whispered back and the enormity of it suddenly sunk in. I'd not really had the chance to think about it much more than the two lines on the test, and how I would tell Draco. But now, I had said the words out loud. Had told him he was going to be a dad, had watched his reaction and now I could actually realise the truth that I was pregnant with his child. With our child. Tears sprang to my eyes and I gripped his shirt in my fist. His hand came up to cup my head, and he kissed my forehead. "We're having a baby, Draco."

I heard the smile in his voice when he said, "Yeah we are."

"Is he in there?" I stopped in front of Erica's desk and stabbed my finger in the direction of Draco's office.

Erica grinned and quirked an eyebrow, "What did he do?"

I clenched my jaw, "More like 'what did he do this time'"

She laughed, "Head on in. His schedule is clear for, oh, the next hour."

I tapped my fingers on her desk, "Don't let anyone in?"

She nodded, "Should I have a healer on standby?"

I pretended to consider her offer, "No. He can just bleed to death on the floor."

She was still laughing when I shut his office door behind me.

Draco shot out of his chair as I stalked across to him, "Hermione, are you okay?

"Sit," I told him and threw my hand in the air. The ripple of magic floated across the room as the silencing charm took hold.

"Hermione, what—"

I put my hand on my hips and glared at him, "I said, sit."

He held his hands up in surrender and sat back in his chair. I sat opposite him, crossing one leg over the other, seeing his eyes drop to the hem of my skirt as it rode up my thigh.

I swallowed, hard. He'd been so cautious with me, so gentle and tender, nothing like the rough and domineering man I had fallen in love with. But the current look in his eyes and the flare of his nostrils had me almost forgetting why I had come here.

"What did I do?" he asked when he finally dragged his eyes from my legs.

I bit back my smile. "You're hovering," I said, trying to keep the snark in my voice. I wanted to be angry at him, but the fact the he knew that I was annoyed about something made it hard.

In the three weeks since we'd learned I was pregnant, he'd spent most of his days constantly checking in on me in the greenhouses. I had insisted that we keep our little secret just between us for a few more weeks, so for the first few days I had let it slide, knowing that he was simply concerned. But with the amount of hovering he was doing I was almost certain that everyone suspected something.

"Sorry," he said giving me one of his patented smiles that always brought me to my knees.

I sighed and stood, stepping around his desk to stand in front of him. I leaned my hips on the edge of the desk and took his hand in mine. "I know you're just worried, but you have to stop. If everyone hasn't already guessed, they will soon."

"He leaned forward and gently touched my stomach. "And I have good reason to be worried. I know you Hermione, you don't think anything can stop you, and I love you for that. But we've waited so long for this, I don't want anything to hurt you or the baby."

"And nothing will. Especially not me." I kissed him, "And I've missed you."

His brow furrowed, "You've missed me? What...oh."

"Three weeks, Draco, and you've not fucked me once." I gave him a pointed look, "Why is that?"

His cheeks went pink, "I...ah...don't want to do anything to damage the baby."

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing and patted his cheek, "You're big, Draco, but not that big."

"You're laughing at me?"

"I am," I nodded, "Because you're incredibly sweet and thoughtful, but also incredibly idiotic."

He squeezed my fingers, "This is all new and I have no idea…" he shrugged, "About any of it."

I smiled at his confession, "I know. It's all new for me too. But what I do know is that we won't do our baby any harm by having sex. Because if you think I'm going seven more months without you fucking me, you'd be wrong."

He let go of my hand and touched my knee, "So what you're saying is, that if I went a bit higher," he slid his hand along the inside of my thigh and I could see a faint fire flaring in his eyes, "I might find out just how much you missed me?"

I inhaled deeply; I hadn't seen this coming. "You might, but aren't there rules about this?"

He pulled his hand away, but instinctively I grabbed it and brought it back to me. He huffed out a smug laugh, "We gave up on those rules a long time ago."

His hands pushed my skirt higher, his thumbs brushing gently over the sensitive skin of my inner thighs. I tensed and looked to the door; Erica's word was good, but I was fully aware that someone could try to come in and see Draco at any moment. I flicked my hand and heard the click as the lock turned. Draco chuckled and I turned back to him. His expression was wild and the fire in his eyes had turned into pure desire. His adorable stupidity had blinded him; he wanted this as much as I did.

I raised my hips as he shoved at my skirt, pushing it up so it was bunched around my waist, sucking in a breath when he saw my underwear. He glanced up at me, pupils dilated, eyebrows raised.

I grinned at him. The white lace triangle of my thong covered me, and that was it. The tiny strings of cloth were tied in bows at the sides and I saw his fingers twitching to tug them free. I had planned to tease him at home, after work, but now was as good a time as any.

He ran the tip of his finger over the lace of my underwear, dragging it slowly from the band at my waist and pressing on my clit on his way down between my legs. I sighed in relief, not caring in the slightest that we really shouldn't be doing this here; it felt so completely wrong, but also completely right.

"I'm sorry," he murmured against my ear as he slid his finger back up, pressing at my clit. "I just want to take care of you."

"I know," I said fumbling with his trousers, unbuttoning and unzipping, and reaching in to find him half hard. His hands left me for several seconds to shove at his pants, pushing them down his legs letting them pool around his feet. I encased his cock in my hand, sliding down and then back up, loving the shudder that wracked his body. "But you need to take care of me as well."

He smiled, "Do you want my mouth?"

I shook my head, looking down to where his hand was untying the tiny ribbons on each of my hips. I looked back up at him, taking his hand and pressing it against me, "Just your hand."

He kissed me, his fingers gently caressing my slick folds, and I shuddered at his touch. It had been too long and I was a bomb that was about to explode.

I sucked in a breath, revelling in the soft skin over his granite-like cock while he ran his thumb over my clit. Two fingers thrust into me, causing me to jerk my hips forward and grip him harder in my hand. We both looked down, watching as our hands worked in unison, mine flying over him, his thrusting hard into me.

I placed my free hand behind me, leaning back and lifting my feet to rest on the edge of the desk, spreading my legs wide. He swore, thrusting hard into my hand.

"Granger. Shit. What—"

"Touch me...there." I panted, watching his eyes go wide as he realised what I wanted. He dragged his fingers out of me, replacing them with his thumb, and circled my backside with one finger before slowly pressing in. I dropped my head back and not realising I had stopped moving my hand over him, he covered it with his, squeezing hard.

"I'm going to fuck you so hard when we get home." He hissed and fucked into my fist.

I let out my own hissed breath when he pressed his finger and thumb together, the wall of muscle between them feeling a stab of pleasure-pain that was so intense, I felt my eyes burn with tears. I had missed him more that I had realised.

I knew that he had been making up excuses to not do this with me and I'd tried to be patient, tried to make sense of what he was thinking, but I really had no idea. But watching him now, I realised that he'd been scared, terrified of doing anything that might hurt me, or harm his child. My heart slipped into free-fall. He told me every day just how much he loved me, but I was suddenly struck with just how big his heart really was.

A low throbbing hum built in my belly, spreading downwards and settling between my thighs. I released his cock, and leaned back further, almost laying across his desk, while his hand began to fuck me hard and fast. He added a second finger to my backside, and I exploded instantly, my thighs trembled and my spine snapped, arching and straining, a loud cry ripping out of my throat.

I didn't have time to think before I felt him thrust inside me, his cock filling me while my body still spasmed around him. His hands gripped my hips and I wrapped my legs around him, and groaned at the heavy feeling of him dragging through me.

"Hermione, you feel...fuck!...not missing this again," his thrusts became sharp, jabbing into me as he grew wilder, rougher, and I felt my orgasm build again. My spine tingled and I gripped him harder with my thighs. The coil inside me snapped and I exploded again, wet and warm, my hips jerking as I spasmed, my toes curling and the office filling with the sound of his name falling from my lips.

He leaned over me, holding himself up on his hands, grinding into me, over and over until he started to tense. "You like this? You like me fucking you like this?"

I reached up and fisted his shirt, nodding quickly and lifting my head to watch him fuck me. He snapped his hips, and he threw his head back screwing his eyes shut. He groaned, a loud, throaty growl, as his cock twitched and he came inside me. He dropped his head to my chest, his cock still pulsing, his breath hot and warm through my shirt. I ran my hand through is hair and stifled a giggle. He looked up at me, his own face coloured with amusement.

"What happened to 'home'?"

He shrugged, "That will still happen."

"Not scared then?"

"No. Not scared," He placed his hand on my belly, "But you two are the most important things in my life and I will do everything I can to protect you both, whether you like it or not."

I sat up and wrapped my arms around his neck, "And we love that you will do that for us. But you and me," I winked at him, "Will be doing more of that. Much more."

He kissed my lips, soft and gentle, sliding a single finger through the mess dripping out of me, "Fucking on my desk in the middle of the day? '" He nodded slowly, "I can definitely handle that."

A/N:

Another three chapters being written at once...and a new story brewing in my head has been trying to push everything else aside...stupid creativity that wakes me up at ridiculous o'clock in the morning!

Anyway...as always, thanks for loving this story xx