The Start of Our Lives
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.
Chapter Six: Swallowed in the Sea
Dear Mum and Dad
I'm so, so sorry about this. I'm so disgusted and disappointed in myself and I know you will be too but please, please, please don't get mad at me. I can't take it, I'm already stressed enough.
I'm pregnant. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. I hate myself too.
Please don't try to pull me out of Hogwarts. I belong here.
I love you,
~Hermione~
With a heavy sigh, Hermione folded the piece of parchment into tiny sqaures, stuffed it inside an envelope and tied it to the legs of the one of the school's many owls. The owl hooted in agreement to her soft touch, fixed her with it's beady amber eyes for a second and took off through the open window.
Hermione tried to bite back tears but once one escaped from her eyes, there was no stopping the rest of them. She fiercely brushed them away with the back of her hand and left the Owlerly.
She knew that she would be late to Transfiguration, but for once in her life she didn't care. She passed several students on her way to class and all of them sneered and pointed at her. She pulled her robes around her tighter and walked faster with her head down, shielding her face from the pouring rain.
When she reached the viaduct entrance, she pushed open the tall oak wooden doors and stepped inside. She wrung her hair to get all the water out, took off her soaking wet robes and stuffed them in her bookbag.
That was when she noticed a gang of Slytherin's hanging around the entrance to the dungeons.
Just ignore them, Hermione. They can't hurt you.
"Where're you going, Mangy?" one of them called out.
Hermione just lowered her head, wrapped her arms around her stomach and walked briskly up the stairs, trying not to slip over on the damp stairs.
She could hear dull, heavy footsteps thudding behind her and her heart sped up.
"Come on Mangy, tell us where you're going."
A tiny growl escaped from between her lips. She hated it when they called her Mangy. It was even worse than Mudblood.
"Are you deaf, Mangy? I said, tell us where you're going!"
Without thinking, she spun around on the top of the stairs but before she could glare at them, she slipped backwards and landed hard on her bottom.
The Slytherins roared in laughter, bent double and slapping their knees but Hermione didn't hear them. All she was focusing on was the sharp pain that was shooting up her spine. She clutched her stomach and scrunched her face up in pain. "Ooh! Woo!"
"What's going on here?" She heard the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy behind the group of Slytherins. And for the first time in her life, instead of feeling resentful, she was acually glad that he was there.
The tallest of the group, whom Hermione recognized as a seventh year called Adrian Patelli, immediately sobered up and glared at Draco.
"Why don't you see for yourself?" He then barked out a command for the group to part and Draco laid eyes on Hermione, lying on the top of the stairs, holding her stomach with tears streaming down her face. He gasped and hurried to her side, almost slipping on the wet stairs himself. He had to grip the railing to hold himself up.
"Hermione! Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"
"Step away from the slutty Mudblood, Malfoy or you'll never get to meet your unborn brat-"
WHAM!
In a split second, Draco had lunged out and connected his fist to Adrian's jaw. Hermione gasped and jumped up as fast as she could as several of the Slytherins stupidly fell back and watched their leader get pummelled. One of the boys, who had a solid build, grabbed Draco in a headlock but Hermione immediately whipped out her wand and screamed,"Petrificus Totalus!" His arms sprang together and he sprawled over backwards like a board. Hermione directed her wand at the rest of the gang threatingly.
"Come any closer and you'll have worms coming out of your eyes," she hissed like a snake. She flicked her wrist and red sparks flew out. "Go!"
Reluctantly, but with a hint of fear, they scampered. Adrian held up his hands, sporting a black eye and glared at her. "You may think that you've gotten away with this, Mudblood, but trust me, you haven't. We'll get you back one day."
And with that, he walked away.
Shaken, but experiencing a thrilling bout of fear, Hermione tottered over to her blonde-haired hero.
"Are you okay?" She put a hand on Draco's shoulder as he rubbed his throat.
"I think I should be the one asking you that." Draco gave her a small half-smile.
"I can't believe they did that," Hermione said softly, the rouge colour in her face slowly disappearing.
"I can."
"Sorry."
Draco frowned at her. "What the hell are you saying sorry for? Shouldn't I be saying that?"
"I don't know. At the moment, I don't really care. I'm too tired to think."
Draco widened his eyes in mock surprise. "Hermione Granger, too tired to think? I never thought I'd live to see the day!"
Hermione slapped him on the arm. "Shut up."
"What? I'm just telling the truth."
She slapped him again, lightly this time and then yawned. Draco smiled and touched her arm. "Maybe you should go get some sleep."
Hermione's head jumped up and she stared at him as if he belonged in the looney bin. "Are you insane? Miss out on class? Who do you think I am?"
Draco arched an eyebrow. "Okay, sorry to break your bubble Miss Smarty-Pants, but you've already missed half of Transfiguration. There's no point on going to class now."
Hermione sighed and shook her head. "You're right. You're right."
"Woah!" Draco chuckled. "What is wrong for you today? First, you say that you're sorry, then you say you're too tired to think and now you're saying that I'm right? Are you feeling okay?"
Hermione laughed cutely and Draco suddenly felt light-headed, not in a nauseous kind of way, but because he had never heard her laugh before. Of course he had before on several occasions, but he had actually never listened to it. It sounded muscial; it was beautiful.
"Y'know what? I'm actually feeling good. Way better than I've felt in weeks. Of course, I'm still slightly naseous, even though I really shouldn't be. But, yeah, I feel good."
Draco let out an unexpected laugh. "You know what I like about you? I like the fact that you always give people a straight up answer, never a yes or a no answer, always a full answer, giving them exactly what they asked, whether they like it or not."
"I never noticed that I do that."
Draco smiled and Hermione looked up at him as a lock of smooth flaxen hair fell into his piercing silver-gray eyes with that rare sort of casual elegance and Hermione admired that fact.
"Um, I'm going into Hogsmeade this weekend... would you like to come with me?" She bit her lip nervously as she waited for his response.
"You want me to come into Hogsmeade with you?" He asked flatly as she continued making her intention of ripping a hole in her lip.
"You don't have to come!" She said quickly. "I just thought that maybe we'd like to get to know one another better over tea or butterbeer or... something..."
"Yeah, that sounds alright." Draco smiled and then checked the time on his watch. "Oh, I better get going, I have study period next." He threw her a quick heart-warming grin and started to climb down the stairs. "Oh, and Hermione?" He spun around. "I don't do tea. Firewhiskey's more my thing."
And with that, he gave her a surprising wink and cantered down the stairs to the dungeons, leaving Hermione feeling as though she was walking on air.
xox
Where the hell is she? Draco thought irritably as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his dark gray wool coat. The carriages had started to trickle out and he was still standing in the cold, amusing himself by puffing out the air from his mouth and watching it turn white and fade away.
He spotted Potter and Weasley climbing into a carriage at the back followed by those two annoying gossipy girls, Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil. He used to secretly fancy Pavarti as she had always been the most beautiful girl in their whole year with her gleaming raven-black hair that fell to her waist like a sheet of silk and her milk chocolate skin and her almond-shaped hazel eyes. But after hearing that she was the one who spread the rumour about Draco having Dragonitis in second year (not true!) he decided to 'dump' her.
All the carriages were now travelling away in the distance. Annoyed and slightly angry, he turned around to walk back into the castle when he heard a voice from behind him.
"Draco!"
He spun around as he was walking and almost stumbled over but he managed to steady himself. His breath sort of got caught in his throat as he watched Hermione run towards him. She was wearing dark denim jeans tucked into plain brown calf-high boots, a chunky cream-coloured sweater with embroidered roses and a forest green jacket for warmth over the top. Her bump was showing but she didn't seem to be bothered by it. Her long dark-honey-coloured hair was styled in a loose French braid under her knitted white beanie and her cheeks were rosy from the cold. She looked truly remarkable.
"Hi," he grinned clumsily as he studied her appearance.
"Hey, yourself," she said happily as she caught up with him. "Sorry I'm late, I just didn't want the whole world to know that we were going out together."
He nodded in understanding. "So, how are we going to get there? Can you walk?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Draco, I can walk. I'm pregnant, not disabled."
"Well, you never know. So? How do you plan on getting there? All the carriages are gone."
"I suppose we can walk."
"Are you sure you're up to it?"
"Ugh!"
They started down the snow-covered path, hands stuffed into the the pockets of their coats. Hermione regretted wearing her knitted white fingerless gloves, because her hands were numb.
"So, I have an appointment in two weeks so I can find out the sex of the baby and I was wondering if you would like to come?" Hermione asked nervously. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I figured that you have every right to, seeing as you are the baby's father but please don't feel pressured, if you don't feel comfortable being there, I can just tell you after-"
"Hermione, I'm fine with being there if you're fine with me being there," Draco interrupted her.
Hermione's cheeks turned scarlet and she fidgeted with her hair. "Yeah, I guess so."
"When exactly is it?"
"Two Tuesdays from now. Madam Promfrey said that we can come as soon as we're done with afternoon classes."
"Okay, should we meet up at the hospital wing or after class?"
"Well, since I have Herbology and you have Transfiguration, we could meet up in the Entrance Hall and then go up there together."
"Smart thinking."
"Always."
It took them about twenty minutes to trudge through the ankle-deep snow but they took hardly any notice of the fact that their socks were soaked through. Hermione was amazed at how easy it was to talk to Draco. Just a few months ago she had hated Malfoy's guts and she had laughed herself silly for weeks every time she thought about how she, Harry, Ron, Fred and George had all hexed Malfoy at the same time on the way home from Hogwarts last year and turned him into a giant slug. She knew the feeling had been mutual. But now here they were, chatting about whatever came to mind and feeling completely comfortable being in each other's presence. It was funny how so much could change in so little time.
They finally reached the little village of Hogsmeade. Hundreds of kids were milling around, diving into the toasty-warm shops around them. Honeydukes and Zonko's were absolutely crowded, so Hermione pulled Draco through the crowd and led him to The Three Broomsticks, possibly her favourite place in Hogsmeade. Hermione only had to look at the inn's timber ceiling beams to be reminded that this place had been here for hundreds and hundreds of years and would remain till long after she was gone. Countless patrons over the years had settled in at a table, basking in the cosy atmosphere with the people they were closest with to have a few drinks. How many stories these walls could tell. It was things like that which reminded Hermione that she was only one person in this world.
"Go get us a seat, I'll get the drinks." Draco murmured and headed to the counter. Hermione weaved in and out of the tables, trying to spot a free one. She saw one in the very back corner and couldn't help grinning. She had been hoping that because there were so many people in here, they wouldn't notice that she was sitting at a table with Draco.
"Perfect!"
She slipped off her coat and put it over the back of her chair as she waited for Draco to come back with the drinks
"That will be five Sickles and one Knut, thank you," Madam Rosemerta said breezily as she waited for Draco to hand her the money.
"Keep the change."
"Well, thanks very much," Madam Rosmerta gave Draco an amorous smile.
He picked up the two mugs filled to the brim with delicious, frothing Butterbeer and turned, craning his neck to spot where Hermione was sitting. He started to make his way over to her but almost dropped the drinks when someone bumped into him.
"Watch it!" He yelled as some of the butterbeer slopped over the side of the pewter tankard and splattered onto his boot.
"Oh, sorry, Draco," Pansy Parkinson said in a low, throaty voice. "So, I saw you walking in here with Mangy Mudblood Granger. You aren't actually going to be involved in this whole stupid thing, are you?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but yeah. I am. And don't call Hermione a Mangy Mudblood, Parkinson."
Pansy's blue eyes widened as she gasped in surprise. "Oh, my god, are you serious, Draco? You can't be interested in that... that... slut!"
"Watch it Pansy, or I'll put the Bat-Bogey Hex on you faster than you can blink."
"Bullshit, Draco! You know that I'm so much better than her! I'm pretty and I'm great in bed. You know that. We used to have such amazing nights together... remember?" She trailed her hand up Draco's chest but he nudged her hand away.
"I remember, but whatever. That's over now."
"God, why can't we just have one more night of passion?"
"Because I'm having a baby with Hermione, that's why. Just leave me alone." He stalked away, leaving Pansy looking hurt and confused.
"What took so long?" Hermione asked as Draco set the drinks down on the scrubbed wooden table.
"Long line," he muttered and immediately started to gulp down his drink.
"What happened to Firewhiskey?" Hermione asked teasingly as Draco set down his empty mug.
"McGonagall's here, I don't need to get a detention. Besides, you're pregnant and I don't think that alcohol would be good for you."
"Well, that's considerate of you, thank you."
They lapsed into silence and took in their surroundings for a few moments. As it was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year, nearly every student in third-year and above was visiting and it seemed like most of them were in here. Hermione suddenly found herself wishing that all her friends could be sitting with them, but knew that that was impossible. She wondered if they would ever except the fact that she was having a baby with Draco Malfoy.
"Oh, my god!" Hermione suddenly gasped.
"What? What's wrong?" Draco asked anxiously, thinking that something was wrong with the baby but Hermione was pointing behind him. He turned around and saw an owl flapping towards them across the room. It dropped a letter on their table and zoomed out.
Hermione picked up the letter and teared it open but immediately wished that she hadn't because it was a letter from her mother.
Hermione,
How could you let this happen? What on earth were you thinking? Your father and I had trusted you to go to that school and not get yourself in any trouble. We thought you were responsible! You're coming home right now. We're on our way to get you. Is it too late to have an abortion? If it isn't, then please do so. You are not ready to have a child. Your father and I think that's for the best.
Mum
Hermione laid her head down on the table and started to sob. Draco wildly thought that her parents had died or something. He pulled the letter out from under Hermione's head and quickly scanned it. He felt himself growing more and more angry with every word that he read. Abortion? Pulling her out of Hogwarts? Were these Muggles crazy?
"Hermione?" Draco said cautiously. She didn't repsond so he scooted his chair closer to her and started to rub her back. "Are you okay?"
She lifted her head off the table and glared at him through glassy red eyes. "Am I okay? Of course I'm not okay! My parents want me to have an abortion! Little too late for that, though," she added as she rubbed her stomach. "I knew that they'd have trouble with this but I never expected them to want me to do this. How could they?"
"Not to mention the fact that they want to pull you out of Hogwarts," Draco shook his head in disbelief and Hermione cried even harder.
"Don't do that in public! Look, let's get back to the castle."
It took Hermione a few minutes to calm down. When she finally did, Draco took her hand, helped her into a coat and led her outside into the bustling village.
It was only when they had walked far enough down the path not to be spotted that Draco wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned her head onto his chest.
"It's going to be okay, Hermione," he reassured her, not actually knowing if it really would be.
He didn't know how they made it but before they both knew it, they were stumbling into the Gryffindor common room.
"C'mon, let's get you up to be-eeeeeed-" Draco lost his voice midsentence when he saw Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall standing in the middle of the common room, looking very solemn. Beside them stood a woman with long curly brown hair and deep brown eyes and a man with short brown hair, blue eyes and glasses. Even though he had never met them before, Draco knew immediately who these people were.
"Hermione!"
CLIFFY! Geez, am I predictable or what? Sorry this chapter took so long to get up, I've been quite the busy gal lately. So, please review you know you want to ;)
BTW: I NEED YOU GUYS TO VOTE ON WHETHER THE BABY SHOULD A BOY OR A GIRL! Please just say what you think it should be in your review. And also what you think the name should be! Please tell me your suggestions.