The Start of Our Lives
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Summary: After a drunken one night stand, bushy-haired bookworm Hermione Granger finds out that she is pregnant to none other than Master of Apathy Draco Malfoy. They begin their lives as teenage parents and learn to live together and maybe even eventually fall in love? Read & Review.
~Previously on The Start of our Lives~
"I just want to let you know that I'm always gonna be there for you, through thick and thin. I promise that I will always stand by your side whenever you need be there. I swear it you Hermione, that I will always, always be there for you. So...I know that Malfoy isn't going to be a good father to your baby but I will be Hermione because I...I love you."
By now everyone who was in the Common Room had grown quiet and turned to watch.
"I love you too, Ron. But-"
She was distracted by Ron reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a small box. He got down on one knee and opened it. Gasps and "woos" were echoed throughout the room as it turned completely silent, everyone watching on keenly. Hermione was barely aware of it. All she could focus on was the ring nestled in the white velvet box. Ron took it out and held it up to her.
"Hermione Granger, will you marry me?"
Chapter Five: Who Am I To Say?
The reaction from the watching Gryffindors was tremendous. Girls were hugging each other, sobbing and boys were standing on tables, catcalling. But Hermione was completely oblivious to it all. Did Ron Weasley really just ask her to marry him? Now? In front of their entire house group?
Ron gazed up at her expectantly, swallowing hard every time he took a breath. Hermione smiled gently at the ring he was holding. It was just a simple gold band with a tiny blue sapphire rock, her birthstone in the middle. It really was a beautiful gesture.
"What do you say, Hermione?"
A million thoughts rushed through her head. If she said yes then she would be safe and her baby wouldn't be riduculed for being born out of wedlock. She could have a safe, happy life with Ron, her best friend. They could make each other happy.
But if she said no, she would be doing the right thing for the baby, despite the fact that she would break Ron's heart in front of everyone. She was torn between two people; Ron or the baby.
"Say yes!" A yell, courtesy of Fred Weasley, pierced her thoughts.
Oh, my gosh. This is so humilating. I'm never going to be able to look him in the eye ever again...
"No."
Stunned feedback of "What!" echoed throughout the room. People cried, "No!" but Hermione ignored them. Her heart was breaking as was Ron's as his mouth slowly dropped open and he unconsciously lowered his hands.
Am I seriously crying? NOW! They both thought simultaneously. Ron couldn't help it. The girl he loved with all his heart had just said no, in front of all these people. Hermione couldn't help it. Seeing Ron cry for the first time in her life triggered her for relapse. She felt so horrible.
She positioned herself on her knees so that she was eye-level with him and grabbed his hands.
"Ron, I love you so much but I can't marry you. It isn't right. It wouldn't be fair to me, it wouldn't be fair to you, it wouldn't be fair to the baby."
Ron wiped his eyes frantically and stared at a loose thread in the carpet. "Ron, look at me," Hermione whispered. He didn't but she continued anyway. "It is so sweet of you to offer me to marry you but we're only fifteen."
"But-"
"I just need you to be my friend for now."
And Ron understood, even though he really didn't want to. He simply nodded. Hermione pressed her soft, plush lips against Ron's forehead. "Sorry, Ron."
Ron watched the beautiful girl that he loved so much amble up to her room with her head held high, dignified and composed. Despite the fact that he was humilated and heart-broken, he knew that Hermione had made the right choice.
xox
Hogwartians were a gossipy bunch... especially in the mornings. Word of Ron Weasley's proposal to Hermione Granger spread to all four houses in a matter of hours. Not only that, they had somehow also managed to find out about Hermione's little breakfast adventure at the Hogsmeade Inn over the summer with Draco Malfoy.
"I heard that Granger's pregnant."
"To Malfoy? No way!"
"But didn't Weasley propose?"
"That's what I heard."
Whispers followed Draco as he made his way from his dormitory to the Great Hall for breakfast. He chose to ignore them, as usual. Besides, he had more important things on his mind.
Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise were already at the Slytherin table. Draco sat beside Blaise but didn't pull any food towards him.
"So? Is it true?" Blaise asked bluntly between mouthfuls of cornflakes.
"Is what true?" Draco enquired flatly.
"About you and Mangy Granger?"
Before Draco had time to retort, he felt a surprisingly powerful slap to his face. Right cheek smarting, he angrily looked up to see Pansy Parkinson, mascara streaks runnning down her face, reminding a half-irritated, half-amused Draco of a panda.
"What was that for?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"How could you do this to me, Draco?" Pansy screeched, her full lips pouting like anything. She mustered up all the strength she had in her to slap him again but Draco caught her wrist just in time.
"Would you care to explain?" he articulated carelessly as though it didn't bother him at all, even though his heart was pounding in the anticipation of finding out what exactly her problem was.
"You and that... that... Mudblood!" Pansy spat.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Draco barked, pulling her closer because several people had now turned around to listen.
"I trusted you, Draco!" Pansy whisper-shouted. "I loved you."
"What's with using the past tense?"
"Because I don't love you anymore. I can't even stand to look at you, not after what you did!"
"And what would that be?"
"Oh, what? You've been with so many girls that you can't even remember who you've slept with-"
Draco cut her off. "Wait! How did you know that I slept with her?"
Pansy smirked and crossed her arms over her low-cut shirt, making her cleavage ripple and practically double, causing Crabbe to stare open-mouthed. "It's all over school. Everyone's talking about it. Oh, and another thing you might want to know." Pansy leaned in and breathed in Draco's ear so that only he could hear. "She's pregnant. Granger's pregnant, Draco. And it's yours."
Satsified, she blew an air-kiss to Draco and sauntered away, her behind swinging jauntily after her.
Goyle's muffin fell out of his mouth, Crabbe stared at Draco, confused and Blaise burst out laughing. If their reaction was peculiar, it was nothing compared to Draco's
His entire body froze into a state of semi-shock. His jaw dropped open so low that it was in danger of hitting the floor. Every cell and every nerve in his body was on fire. Because there was no way that Hermione Granger could possibly be pregnant with his child.
But, a little voice in the back of his mind said, she wasn't the type to sleep around. Then again, she wasn't the type to get drunk and have sex with her mortal enemy.
"Draco?" Crabbe grunted.
"Huh?" Draco snapped out of his thoughts with a jolt of surprise.
"What does pregnant mean?"
xox
Draco had combed the first two floors of the castle from top to bottom. He needed to find Potter and Weasley. It was pretty late and he realised that he probably had no chance in finding them at this time. They were probably in their common room already. So he got quite a shock when he rounded the corner and found them sitting near the statue of the hump-backed witch on the third floor.
He tried to get closer so that he could hear what they were saying without being seen.
"-reckon I shouldn't've done it," Weasley was saying. Potter shrugged.
"You thought that she would say yes."
"I don't know why I did it in front of all those people." He put his face in his hands and shook his head. "I'm never going to be able to show my face around here ever again. Especially with Fred and George as witnesses. They're never gonna let me forget it."
"I think that this is a different situation."
"No, Harry. I'm gonna be humilated by them for the rest of my life. You'll see."
Draco couldn't stand to listen to Weasley whinge any longer. He withdrew his wand and aimed it carefully at Potter's bag, which he had haphazadly thrown three feet behind him.
"Accio map and cloak." Draco murmured. Luckily Potter's bag was half unzipped. The Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak zoomed out of the bag and into Draco's hands. Flushed with his success, he put the Cloak on and ran as quietly as he could until he got into the next corridor. He whispered, "Lumos," and ran the light of his wand over the map. He grinned. Potter hadn't wiped out the contents of the map. Good thing, otherwise it would be completely useless to Draco.
After a few minutes, he finally found Hermione in Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor. Rats! This was going to be more difficult than he thought. He put out the light, took off the cloak and ran as fast as he could, checking the map every so often so he knew that he was going the right way.
He finally reached the seventh floor and began his search for the Tower. It was bound to be concealed behind a wall, like Slytherin's common room was. Or maybe behind a portrait? He looked at the map again and found that he had to go through another corridor and then take a right turn. He did so. He decided to put the Cloak back on. It was safer.
The map led him straight up to a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. He snorted. This was absolutely the most ridiculous way to hide the entrance to a common room. Even though he didn't like Slytherin's way very much (finding the wall was always difficult), he came to appreciate their way a lot more now.
What on earth could the password be? Mudbloods rock? Or Weasley's suck? Or Dumbledore's brainwashed puppets? Before he could make up his mind, the portrait swung open and Fred and George Weasley stepped over the threshold. Draco ducked in before the fat lady's portrait could close up.
He looked around. The Gryffindor common room was red and gold, decorated with cushy red armchairs with tables and chairs for studying and a great view of the lake. Despite the low-celling and a toad croaking in the corner and Colin Creevey running around excitedly holding up the photos he had recently developed, he found that he didn't despise the room. It was cosy, much cosier than the Slytherin common room in any case, though it liked the regality that his own common room held. It felt more like a home.
There were two doors on either side of the room. Draco checked the map again. The one on the right led to the girls dormitories. Quietly, he stepped over a pair of first-years and slipped into the ajar door, trying not to move it open any further.
He walked up the stairs and almost collided into two girls, one was crying and the other was comforting her. He swerved to avoid a crash and continued to make his way up the stairs. On the far right of the corridor was a door that said "Fifth year girls dorms." He nudged his way inside and found five four-poster heads with heavy red hangings. It was empty...or so it seemed. The middle bed was the only one with the hangings pulled shut. He knew that Hermione was in that bed.
He shut the door silently behind him and locked it. He didn't want any interruptions. He took off the Cloak, dumped it on the floor and made his way through the piles of clothes strewn about on the wooden floorboards. It looked as though all the wardrobes threw up at the same time.
"Granger?" he whispered.
No answer.
"Granger?" he said, louder.
"Hmm?"
"Granger, open up."
He heard a sniffle and the sound of a book being tossed to the end of the bed. Hermione drew the curtains, saw Draco, froze and screamed.
"Shut up!" he hissed and clapped a hand over her mouth. "I don't need anyone hearing this."
He waved his wand at the door and muttered "Muffliato."
"What the hell are you doing here?" she whispered through clenched teeth.
"I need to talk to you, Granger."
"What about?" Hermione pulled her bed covers up to her chin. She knew what he wanted to talk about. She knew that he had found out.
"About... about... that thing!"
Hermione frowned coldly. "Are you refering to the baby?"
Draco snorted. "If you want to call it that."
Hermione self-consciously brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
"But I don't believe it."
"Believe what?" she grumbled.
"I thought you, of all people Granger, would have more common sense. Why the hell would you want to get pregnant on purpose?"
Hermione gaped at him in disbelief. "Ex-excuse me!" she spluttered. "You think, you actually think that I wanted this to happen?"
"Yeah." Draco shrugged his shoulders nonchantly. "And I know the reason why."
"Oh, and what might that reason be?"
"No one loves you, Granger. And you felt lonely so you thought that if you have a baby you would have someone that would loves you."
"Are. You. Out. Of. Your. Mind?"
"But I guess you didn't plan this through," Draco continued as if he didn't hear her. "If you did then you would've slept with Potty or Weaselbee. I mean, they care about you, or pretend to at least."
"Draco," Hermione choked out. "Do you honestly think that I would want to get pregnant at fifteen? I'm not that type of person and you bloody well know it so don't you dare try to blame this on me! And by the way, I've decided to keep it. I have my morals, I don't believe in killing a child. Even if it is yours," she sneered.
Draco laughed out loud. "Even if it is mine? Granger, you must be delirious. If I were pregnant with your child, I'd kill the thing straight away."
Anger boiled in Hermione's very veins and she clenched her fists together. "Well, Draco, here's the difference between you and me. I'm not a miserable, evil git who only cares about himself. I'm going to take care of this baby myself and I don't want you coming anywhere near us."
Draco turned the corners of his lips up into a smirk. "You can't stop me, Granger."
"Oh, yes I can."
"I have right's as its father. I can come near it as much as I want."
"Oh, now you're admitting that you're the father."
"There's no reason not to." He sat down right on the edge of Hermione's bed and snarled, "If I want to be involved, then I will be."
"You're contradicting your own words, Malfoy."
"What?" he snapped.
"You just said you'd kill the baby if you had your way and now you're saying that you want to be involved."
"I can say whatever the fuck I want Granger."
Hermione glared at him, her eyes red and glassy. "Don't you dare swear at me."
"Didn't I just say that I can say whatever the fuck I want, Granger?"
"You're just being petty!" Hermione spat, knowing that she was about to go too far but not being able to stop herself. "Because I said I don't want you involved, you're going to be involved just out of pure spite?"
Hermione made a move to grab her wand from her bedside table but Draco beat her to it. He tossed it to the other side of the room and pointed his own wand between her eyes. "Granger, I don't care if you're having my baby, I'll kill you if I have to."
Hermione saw the fire in his eyes and knew that he was serious. Her chin trembled and she quickly nodded. A little part of Draco felt bad because he knew that he was bluffing but he brushed that off. He was still angry at her. He lowered his wand and turned his back on her.
After a few minutes of listening to Hermione sniffle and blow her nose, Draco announced that he should probably head back to his common room. He was about to walk out the door when Hermione called out, "Wait!"
"What for?" he asked irritably.
'Um," Hermione bit her lip. "Just exactly how involved do you want to be?"
Draco hesitated. She was right, he had said he would be involved because of was motivated by spite. Great, how was he going to get himself out of this now? "I don't know. Depends on how comfortable you are with me being involved."
Hermione fidgeted and twirled a lock of hair around her index finger. "Well... I'm not sure how I feel about you being at ultrasounds."
"Same here."
"And I definitely don't want you at any birthing classes."
"Too damn right."
"And there is absolutely no way in the world that you're going to be there for the birth."
"Granger, I'd have to be out of my mind to actually want to witness that."
"Yes," she agreed breathlessly. "That's why you're not going to it."
"Exactly how much stuff do you think I should be involved in?"
Hermione giggled nervously. "Do you mean in the pregnancy or after the baby's born."
She didn't know why, but Draco's face suddenly softened. He looked as though he was trying to stop himself from saying it but he couldn't restrain himself and blurted out, "So is it okay if I go to the ultrasounds?"
Hermione gave him a look.
"Not all of them!" He covered up quickly. "Maybe just one of them."
Hermione wasn't used to seeing or hearing Draco like this. He had his head lowered and he spoke in a soft voice. "You can go to as many as you want." She immediately regretted saying this. He didn't need to see her stomach. "Uh, just as long as you don't look."
"Fine by me," Draco agreed. And then he laughed at the sheer craziness of the situation. "I can't belive that I'm actually going to do this."
Hermione laughed too. "Yeah, neither can I."
There was a heavy pause. And then...
"Sorry," Draco uttered mellifluously. Hermione gawked at him.
"You can't be serious! You, Draco Malfoy, of all people in this crazy world, are saying sorry? To me, the jumped-up Mudblood?"
"Shut up, Granger. I'm not that bad."
Hermione guffawed loudly. "Not that bad! Who was the one who tried to get me, Harry and Ron expelled? Who was the one who wanted me dead when the Chamber of Secrets was opened? Who was the one who constantly tried to ruin Hagrid's classes? Who was the one who laughed when me and Ron couldn't find Harry in the crowd after the third Task last year? Who was that?"
Draco grimaced. "Alright, you do have a point. But, Grang-Hermione... My father sent me Howlers all the goddamned time, telling me that it was up to me to keep the "evil" up and running at this school. I did my best, I'll admit it. But... during the summer holidays I had thoughts about doing all that crap. I just thought, why am I doing this and who am I doing this for? And then... I realised that I don't want my dad controlling me over the things I say or the people I hang out with or what sort of actions I take. So, as from today, I'm becoming my own person."
Hermione's jaw dropped. "Did you seriously just say that?"
"Why yes, Granger, I did."
She let out a low whistle. "I never thought I'd see the day when Draco Malfoy finally realised that he was an asshole."
Draco smacked her lightly on the arm and they both giggled. A playful smile crept upon Draco's mouth as he sat down next to Hermione. "So. When do you find out if it's a boy or a girl?"
Hermione beamed and put a hand to her stomach. "I'm fourteen weeks now so I think I find out in a couple of months."
"What do you want?"
Hermione rested her head against the headboard of her bed and smiled. "A girl. You want a boy, of course."
"I know it's a boy. Malfoy's only have boys."
"So? My family has a lot of girls."
"Poor them," Draco muttered darkly.
"Do you think that if its a boy, you'd like it better?"
"Definitely!" He joked. Hermione pouted. "Oh, don't do that, I was kidding. I told you that I'm not that bad a person. And don't you dare make me feel bad about this at all! I already have enough guilt on my shoulders, what with getting you pregnant and all. Just remember that I have to break the news to my father."
Hermione winced. "He's going to kill you."
"He'll probably kill you first."
"Damn, if only I were pureblood," she said sarcastically.
"It's a shame you're not. But, then again, as part of turning over a new leaf, I've decided that blood status doesn't matter anymore."
"I can't believe you people think that the purer your blood is, the better you are! There are millions of more Muggles than magical people in this world and you'd be surprise at how they've managed to get by without magic. It's incredible! We still live in the Dark Ages and they've all got electricity and televisions and computers and mobile phones and-"
Draco held up his hand. "You lost me."
"Anyway, I think it's what's on the inside that counts."
"Who cares about your insides? They're pretty gross if you ask me. It's the outside that matters."
"No, Draco," she touched his arm. "It's who you are as a person that is important."
"Hmp. You do have some sort of a point."
"When do I not?" She smiled cutely and Draco yawned.
"I best be off, the boys are probably wondering where I am." He stood up, stretched and yawned again.
"By the way, how on earth did you get in here?"
"Oh, I "borrowed" Potter's Map and Cloak."
Hermione gasped. "Oh, Draco, you didn't!" She knew what he meant by 'borrowing'.
"Don't worry, I'll give them back to him tomorrow. Remind me to thank him." He crossed the room and picked up the items. "Night."
Hermione watched him close the door and suddenly wished that he didn't have to leave. She felt a hard knot in the pit of her stomach and a voice nagging her to yell at him to come back. She didn't.
She shut her hangings again so that they blocked out the light in the room and snuggled down into her comfy bed. She rubbed her stomach, smiling. Something had shifted between her and Draco. They weren't friends yet, but she got to see a different side of him. He didn't seem like a monster anymore. He had let down his guard and shown his true feelings, and that made him almost human.
"Goodnight, baby," she whispered to her stomach.
She had a feeling that things were about to change for the good.
A/N: ok ok im sorry! i cant stand writing Draco as the bad guy so I made him a little bit nicer (eventually) in this chapter. but hey, who knows? maybe they'll have a falling out or something or he'll decide that he doesn't want to be involved? anyway, please review, it'd do you good :)