The next two weeks passed quickly, when Pansy did wake up she was just a slightly softer version of her previous self. The fire that once sat inside her had been extinguished and replaced by a deep devotion to Ron which was making him more than happy as she stroked his ego and looked to him as though he were the best think in her entire world. It was the next weekend as Draco woke up with Hermione wrapped around him that he realised this was becoming normal and he loved it. Everything had fallen into place, he had copies of the paper from each day since the ball sat on his desk as a constant reminder of how perfectly this was turning out. They were an array of happy photos of him and Hermione laughing with articles covering the charity initiatives Malfoy industries had just launched. The day after the Ball every publication in the magical world had been clamouring for an interview with them.
It was Saturday morning when she lay on Ginny's bed, the little red head screwed her face up as she held a copy of the Daily prophet in her hands reading from it out loud. "Please don't" Hermione buried her face in her hands but Ginny wasn't listening her voice was full of sarcastic drama "Miss Granger told us, its heart breaking to watch…he wakes up in the middle of the night distraught, I don't think he'll ever stop trying to make up for what his father did." Ginny skipped to another quote rolling her eyes "yes, he found it difficult to open up to me at first, his father was a cruel man who left Draco with emotional scars that are still healing. I stuck with it though because well… when you get to know the man underneath the past he's entirely worth it, Miss Granger flushed pink as she continued" Ginny screwed up her face. "Miss Granger should have vomited at the sound of those words leaving her mouth" Hermione groaned in agreement to Ginny's comment. "I didn't even say those things, I think he's manipulating what they print but I don't care, I don't want everyone to hate him or they'll hate me as well. I'm just leaving him to it." Rolling onto her back a sharp pain shot through Hermione from her chest to her stomach and knocked the wind out of her. Colour draining from her face Ginny grabbed her hand "Shit, are you ok you look awful?" she groaned clutching her stomach as the pain shot through her again it was like nothing she'd felt before. "No" she gasped for breath. Ginny flew to her feet "I don't know what to do, can you walk?" there was no answer, Hermione lay limp on the bed.
By the time she woke up she was laid in the infirmary laid on a bed with Madam Pomfrey and Ginny leaning over her looking concerned. "You're back with us dear well that's a start" Madam Pomfrey was quietly checking her over as a look of relief washed over Ginny. "What happened to me" Hermione groaned rubbing her head. "You passed out, I think it was the pain" Ginny filled her in.
"I meant why did I… what was that pain in my stomach, it was awful?" Madam Pomfrey gave her a Grim look. Before she could continue the doors flew open and Malfoy strode quickly down the ward past the empty beds and straight to Hermione's "I sent a message, I saw Blaise on the way here with you." Ginny whispered as he reached the bed "What happened?" his tone was one she'd only ever heard him use with his work. Madam Pomfrey looked to Hermione for permission to now continue and she nodded. "Ginny dear, you might be better waiting outside dear" Ginny shook her head furiously looking to Hermione. "No it's fine honestly, whatever it is she can hear it, Ginny's basically family." Madan Pomfrey nodded and stood in front of her as she swung her legs off the side of the bed stretching her torso to sit up straight. "Well my dear, I'll just come out with it. You seem to be pregnant." The colour drained from Hermione's face once more and the room started to spin slightly, she was vaguely aware of Draco squeezing her hand as he stood behind her. "The reason you had such horrible pain my dear is, well, you're suffering from an accelerated pregnancy." Madam Pomfrey didn't sound too sure of her own words. "It's very rare, in fact I've only ever read about it in books. It's possible but it's one in a million." Hermione could barely structure a sentence to ask the questions that were swimming around her head. Luckily Draco quite happily stepped in "What do you mean? How does that work? What's going to happen?" Madan Pomfrey looked like she wasn't sure of the answers herself, they were quite clearly coming from a textbook not experience. "Well" she took Hermione's hand "You're going to have a baby, just a bit faster than you normally would. It's a genetic anomaly but from what I've read its as safe as a normal pregnancy. The pain you felt earlier is just because things are being put in fast forward but the first bits apparently the worst. It shouldn't be that bad again" It simply hadn't sunk in as she sat there on the edge of the bed. Her hand fell to her stomach moving under her jumper, oh god, there is was a perfectly small bulge" She felt the colour drain from her again as her gag reflex kicked in. Having seen far too many pale children Madam Pomfrey placed a large bowl in front of her just in time as she lost her breakfast to it. Draco scrapped her hair back from her face and rubbed soothing circles into her back. Ginny just stood there watching it all unfold "Isn't there anything that can be done?" her tone was the grey area between shock and concern but Hermione's eyes flew up to look at Madam Pomfrey for an answer but instead the woman just shook her head "I'm afraid not dear, there's been so few cases that there's no tested way to slow it down it's just an anomaly." Draco knew it wasn't an anomaly, it was the side effect of conceiving while accelerator potion was in your system of course it was never something anyone would admit to because the potion was illegal so over the years it was written off to genetic anomaly. He only knew this because through the generations acceleration potions had been rife within pureblood arranged marriages. He could curse himself for not having been more careful but in the moment he took to think it over he realised this could be quite a good thing. "Does she have any other options, other than slowing it down?" Ginny flushed embarrassed by her question she couldn't bring herself to say what she meant. Draco knew what she meant though and snarled at her "That's not an option, not even a consideration" he hadn't been able to stop himself. He saw Madam Pomfrey flinch "I apologise, I just, it's not an option, not for me at least, I want my child." It was his words that finally snapped Hermione from her own thoughts. She nodded her head in agreement "No, it's not an option" Madam Pomfrey smiled, "Well I must say I'm glad because even if you wanted to I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that now. Hermione's heart stopped for a moment as she realised she had no idea about any of this other than the basic information she'd been given in classes back in fifth year. "How far along is it and how quickly is it happening?" Draco seemed much more composed than she was. Madam Pomfrey put her hand lightly on Draco's shoulder. "Well from the brief examination I'd say you're about three to four months. There's no way for me to tell you how long it will take because there's no standard time for this condition. Draco gulped, he knew enough to know that the speed was usually dependant on the strength of the potion. He'd stepped up his timeframe before the ball and had Fumri ply her with the stuff. This was not good. "How long ago did?" before she could finish her question Draco answered "about 2 weeks" he noted the look on Madam Pomfreys face as she gulped and collected herself "Well then my dears, I'd estimate based on that you're looking at things moving very quickly. I've never, I've never heard of it happening that fast but it can slow itself down just as easily as speed up so you never know." Hermione shivered at the thought "So I'm not going to know how long I've got, I just have to wait and see?" she couldn't believe what she was hearing as Madam Pomfrey nodded.
They sat in the living room in silence, Hermione hadn't moved from the sofa in over an hour whilst Draco paced in and out of his room writing letters. Every so often he stepped outside to talk to Blaize who'd been running backwards and forwards sending owls since they'd gotten home. Finally he sat on the sofa next to her and scooped up her chin in his hand. "I know how scary this is" his eyes locked with her and she felt better knowing he was there "But we don't have time on our side. We don't have time for you to fight me, I want to look after you and I need you to let me." She just nodded almost thankful that the responsibility was briefly being taken out of her hands. "We need to leave here, we'll need to leave here soon. We can't go through this here we can't have a child at school that's not how things are done." Deep down she knew this already, Hogwarts was home for her but it was still a school she could hardly keep her baby in a spare room at boarding school, something felt childish and shameful about that. "I promise we'll stay as long as we can though but we'll have to hold up in here a bit to avoid questions." She was happy with what he'd said so she just nodded.
He brushed his thumb lightly over her cheek, "This is the start of our lives not the end" he grinned and gently pressed his lips to hers, as he did a strange sensation came over her. It was slightly uncomfortable and felt like hot butterflies were filling her whole body and desperately trying to fly out of her skin. He felt her quiver and knew what was happening "Oh god" she groaned squeezing his shoulder. Her body couldn't decide what it felt it clearly had no idea what was happening to her either, every part of her was suddenly sensitive as she felt all the butterflies pool in her stomach, moving inside her and a heavy full feeling settling as she felt a familiar throbbing and wetness pooling between her legs. Draco watched it happening not sure what to do but wasn't expecting what happened next. She crashed her lips to his frantically pulling her shirt off over his head. Her eyes were filled with the same lust he'd seen the night before the Ball and he couldn't hold himself back as he let her undress him. Leaning over her he wrapped his hand around her back holding he and his other automatically reaching under her jumper to pull it off. That's when he felt it and as she lost the jumper he saw it too. Her swollen stomach bulging over her jeans. He pressed his fingers against it, holding it as he kissed down her neck. He felt the movement, felt her growing in his hands. He was rock hard and straining against her, he'd never wanted her as much as he did right now.