Disclaimer: …

A/N- If anything is horrible beyond belief- it's Angel's fault. It it's amazing beyond belief- It's my work. Thank you. (Love you Angel! XOXO)

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Chapter 7- The Verdict

"You're kidding right?" Draco asked stunned.

"I never kid."

Draco took a deep breath and ran his hand through his blond hair. "Fine," he said slowly, "You can name time and place."

"Ok. Here and now." Hermione relied quickly.

"Motion rejected. Time and place is…?"

Hermione scowled at him indignantly, "Tonight, 8 pm. Malfoy Manor."

"My place? Why at my place?"

Hermione smirked, "That way they can take you straight to your bed after I kick your sorry arse. You can thank me for my thoughtfulness later," she finished sweetly, laying a soft kiss on his lips.

"Either that or I can take you straight to my bed after I win and make wild, passionate love to you," Draco countered, pulling her back to him to smash his lips onto hers. Their tongues battled for dominance as Hermione grabbed the couch for support. Suddenly, Draco pulled back- leaving Hermione gasping for air and yearning for more. He pulled her head closer and flicked his tongue over her ear. "See you tonight, love," he whispered, sending shivers down her spine as his breath cooled the wet area he had just created.

Draco walked out the door, pausing only to wink at her, before he disapparated. Suddenly mad at herself for giving into him so quickly, "YOU BASTARD! YOU COULD AT LEAST CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!" she screamed at the space where he had just been. Shaking with anger, she flung herself onto the couch. What the hell had she gotten herself into? "GINNY!"

Within moments Ginny was down the stairs and standing in front of her, "Yes? How'd it go? When's the wedding? I'm going to be the Godmother right?"

"You honestly think that I would trust you to raise my baby if anything happened to me?"

Ginny's smile disappeared, "You sure as hell would trust me with raising your baby. I have six brothers, I've been looking after babies my entire life, granted they are slightly bigger than your will be. They all turned out excellent. Well, Percy is kinda an odd ball…but that wasn't my fault. That's beside the point. Tell me what bloody hell happened. When's the wedding?"

"Well, it's sort of complicated…wait, how did you know that he asked me to marry him?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and gave Hermione the "you're a bloody moron for not figuring this one out" look (A/N- one of those looks you just can't describe any other way), "Why else would he come over here?"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't think of any other reason, "Wait a minute. Is that why you were all giddy?" comprehension dawned on Hermione as she repeated Ginny's words from earlier, "Or it could be because my best friend just hooked one of the hottest bachelors on the market…." Hermione hit her head with one of the pillows from the couch. "Why didn't you warn me?! A little heads-up would have been nice! Merlin!"

"Maybe because I thought it was totally obvious? He countered the contraceptive spell, you dimwit! He knocked you up on purpose! Why else would he do that?"

"To ruin my life?" Hermione asked weakly. "I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I see this before?" she groaned, burying her head underneath the pillow.

"You were probably in denial. Now tell me what happened, we were too busy wrestling over the Extendable Ears to actually eavesdrop on the conversation. Those stupid boys."

"We're going to duel to see whether or not I marry him," Hermione mumbled from underneath the pillow.

"Did you just say that you were going to duel him to see whether or not you marry him?" Ginny clarified slowly.

Hermione moved her head in anguish, "I am stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake! Give me that!" Ginny exclaimed, ripping the pillow from Hermione's grasp. "I'll take that as an affirmative response to my question. Now, for me to be a good Godmother- WHY. THE. HELL. ARE. YOU. DUELING. WITH. MY. GODSON? or goddaughter. HE. IS. WAY. TOO. YOUNG. TO. BE. DUELING. AND. I. DO. NOT. APPROVE!" Between every word, Ginny hit Hermione with the pillow she had just confiscated.

Hermione's jaw dropped, "Oh, shit! I'm pregnant."

"I thought we cleared that little confusion up this morning," Ginny stated dryly, folding her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, but I'm still not used to it. I can't duel while I'm pregnant. He'll just have to accept that fact and just leave me the hell alone," Hermione stated matter-of-factly.

"…you just try to get away with that one. You'll just have to forfeit. And once you and Draco are married, will you introduce me to Blaise Zambini?" Ginny asked batting her long eye-lashes at Hermione.

"You have Harry. And anyways, I'm not going to have to marry him because I'm putting the safety of my baby first," Hermione said letting a long breath out, "Thank goodness that's over."

"Ok, first of all, having Harry does not in any way limit the number of ridiculously gorgeous Italian men I can meet. I did not say I wanted to jump him and run off and elope. And secondly, even if he doesn't hold you to your word, then you can't hold you to yours. He'll be by every day and won't leave you alone for a minute," Ginny finished smugly.

"Why do you want to meet Blaise if you can't jump him? That's besides the point, I can't duel with a bun in the oven."

"I'll tell you again- Blaise is the finest man that has ever walked the face of the planet, why can't I just oogle at him? Next issue- no one says bun in the oven anymore 'Mione, please come back to this century. And, if you don't want to duel you'll just have to marry him!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Then I'll duel him!" Hermione said exasperated.

"YOU CAN DUEL HIM! THINK OF YOUR UNBORN CHILD, WILL YOU?!" Ginny screamed. "What kind of mother are you?"

"You're impossible. Why the hell do you want me to marry Malfoy so bad for anyways?" Hermione asked, closing her eyes.

Ginny plopped onto Hermione's legs, "You two would be perfect for each other. You are both geniuses, you're both rich, you're both powerful, you're both gorgeous, you're both strong-headed, you're both totally stubborn, and he's sex-driven whereas you're sex deprived. It works perfectly." By the time that Ginny had finished, a scowl had formed on Hermione's face.

"That doesn't sound like it would work perfectly- and I'm not sex deprived, thank you very much."

"It'll be interesting, if nothing else," Ginny said, causing Hermione to open her eyes to stare at her friend in surprise. Ginny laughed then continued, "But seriously, think of it this way- he won't get bored of you. Hell, I've known you for a while and I still can't predict what you're going to do. You'll have a challenge everyday, just waiting for you. You'll have even more money to spend on whatever you want to. You're kid is going to be the most beautiful child ever born. And the sex will be great. What's wrong with that?"

Hermione almost laughed at the description Ginny had given her, "So let me translate that- He won't dump me because he'll be married to me, so he can't. I'll have a challenge everyday- meaning that we'll argue a lot and apparently that's supposed to make things interesting. I'll have even more money to invest and never really use. My kid is going to beautiful whether I marry Malfoy or not, I don't even know how to translate that. And…..yeah, you're right…the sex would be great."

"So you're going to marry him?" Ginny asked eagerly.

"No, I'm going to owl Luna."

"What?! Why?" Ginny asked confused.

"To see if I can duel or not. I won't forfeit to that bastard," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"The way he goes on about his blood, I doubt that he's a bastard," Ginny mumbled under her breath.

Dear Luna-

I wanted you to be the first to know outside of our household- I'm pregnant. I just found out this morning. I'm writing to you to ask a very important question regarding my pregnancy. Would it in any way harm my unborn child if I was to duel its conceited, overly-confident, pain-in-my-arse father? Please respond as soon as possible, for if dueling will not harm the child, I need to prepare to mutilate a very special someone.

Much love,

Hermione Granger

"There," Hermione exclaimed as she opened the window for Hedwig (A/N- yes, Hedwig is alive). "Now we just have to wait to an answer. Where are the boys?"

"Oh, upstairs. I locked them in a room so I could talk to you privately," Ginny replied, picking up a magazine.

"Aren't you going to let them out?" Hermione asked after a few moments of silence.

"Wasn't planning on it."

Hermione sighed, "What room are they in?"

"The master bedroom," Ginny answered, flipping through the magazine.

"I'll go get them," Hermione said as she trudged up the stairs.

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A healer sat in the waiting room outside Draco's office. He looked nervously around the room, not knowing why Draco would call him in on so short of notice. "Mr. Malfoy will see you now," the receptionist told him, leading him to the intimidating double doors. The doors opened at they approached, allowing them entrance. The healer stepped inside, he froze the receptionist did not follow him in. She motioned for him to continue as the doors closed, blocking her from view.

"Thank you for joining me Healer Rance. Please, take a seat," came the silky voice of Draco Malfoy.

"Yes," Rance stammered, "What do you need, sir?"

"Ah, yes, straight to business," Draco said as he stood and rounded his desk. He sat on the corner of his desk and faced Rance, "I just wanted to ask you a…hypothetical question. Let's say that someone was going to do duel…someone. And that someone that that someone was going to duel was…pregnant. Would that someone be injured by that other someone if they were to actually duel? Well, that is to say, would the child of that someone be injured if that someone dueled someone?"

"Umm…we're speaking hypothetically?" Rance said, a confused expression on his face.

"Yes."

Rance nodded and began, "Well, if the first someone was to go easy on the other someone- taking in consideration the state of that someone- then there would be no danger for the child of that someone. However, if someone was to duel another someone using dark curses and other specific curses, that someone, could in fact, unintentionally harm that someone's someone. How pregnant would that someone be? Hypothetically?"

"That someone would happen to be four weeks pregnant when that someone dueled that other someone," Draco replied.

"Well then, someone needs to know what curses to use and not to use in order not to harm someone. And the someone dueling the pregnant someone would not want to aim any curses at that other someone's stomach. And, of course, the someone would not want to use the killing curse on the other someone. Because when someone uses the killing curse, someone dies- in this case it would be two someones."

Draco frowned, "What curses would someone not use on another pregnant someone?"

"Why would someone who's dueling another someone need to know what curses not use on that other someone? Why would someone be dueling someone if that someone cares about the other someone's welfare?" Rance asked.

"Hey! I wasn't my idea! I mean, the someone didn't have a choice in the matter, and that someone didn't plan on the whole dueling thing happening."

"Well, if that someone is being challenged to a duel by the other pregnant someone, why does that someone care if he or she harms the other someone's child?" Rance asked, almost smiling.

Draco's eyes narrowed, he leaned toward the healer, "Because someone wouldn't ever have sex with me again if I harmed her baby, got it? Now, tell which bloody curses not to use before I take back all the funding for your hospital."

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"Hedwig's back!" Hermione almost sang as she ran to open the window. As soon as Hedwig was inside, Hermione practically rips the letter open.

Dear Hermione-

Fabulous to hear from you. I don't have much time to talk now, because I am currently on a break through in the hospital. I have almost discovered how to use Knargle snouts as an antidote for dark curses that consume your mind and drive you insane. It's quite lovely business actually.

Anyways, I wouldn't advise dueling with a bun in the oven; however, the baby shouldn't be harmed if it's just good fun. Nothing too serious, though. I would be delighted to see you mutilate your special someone. Please send me the time and place.

Good Day,

Luna Lovegood

"He's not my special someone…" Hermione mumbled, "And I'm not the only one who uses the 'bun in the oven' expression."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Oh, joy. Luna uses the expression, too. Well, then, it must be a popular saying then."

"Oh, shove it," Hermione said as she sent the time and place of her duel to Luna, along with a note informing her that the duel was not likely to happen.

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A/N- Angel made me end it like this…I was going to actually have them duel in this chapter. Angel is making me, so don't kill me.

Some things that might be confusing- Luna works at St. Mungo's and that whole conversation between Draco and Rance is supposed to confusing. It's just more fun that way.

Love,

Shadow