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.
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Chapter Eight: The Chains of Love
Draco settled himself onto a bench at the Slytherin table between Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, who merely grumbled a hello. He reached his arm across the table, grabbed a box of cornflakes, plonked it back in front of him and poured some into his empty bowl.
"Granger's looking heavy these days," Blaise mumbled as he idly turned a page of his Morning Prophet.
Draco frowned and watched Hermione bounce into the Great Hall with Potty, Weaselbee and Weaselette, chatting and laughing. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously. After the incident with Hermione's parents two weeks ago, Professor Dumbledore had arranged a small "house" adjoining to Gryffindor Tower for the two of them to stay in. Hermione and Draco had settled down into their new "home" perfectly well. They didn't even have trouble sleeping in the same bed, even if Hermione did constantly have to kick Draco back over to his side.
"She's not heavy," he retorted plainly, not even bothering to think up an argument like he usually would've done. He glanced up at Hermione again. He had left early to go down to breakfast, wanting to avoid a run-in with Weaselbee, who was not happy about their new living arrangements. Hermione was dressed for the weekend in blue jeans, a black and white striped top and trainers. She had added her Gryffindor scarf so that it strategically covered her bump. Her usually bushy hair was sleek and straight and pulled back from her face in a high ponytail. Draco had never seen her wear that style before. He decided he rather liked it.
"That's probably why she's got a scarf on. To hide the extra weight she's put on," Blaise remarked, raising his eyebrows at Hermione.
"It seems like it..." Draco trailed off, not thinking about what he was saying. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Simply put, Hermione looked radiant.
"Uh, Drac? You're drooling?" Blaise commented, looking throughly disgusted but Draco ignored him as he felt a surge of anger when Weaselbee glanced in his direction, smirked and then put an arm around Hermione's shoulders. What made him even more mad was that she didn't even bother to shake him off.
With shaking hands, Draco grabbed his spoon and dumped it in his bowl, flicking milk onto Goyle's navy blue jumper. At that moment, Hermione glanced up and met Draco's eyes. She flashed him a big, toothy grin and gave him a small wave. Draco's expression softened and he waved back.
"God," Blaise grumbled as he watched the exchange. "Please don't tell me that you like her."
Draco glowered at Blaise, feeling slightly irritated. "No, I do not! But I think that it's okay to be nice to the woman carrying my child."
Blaise snorted. "Whatever, Drac." He continued to read his paper. "So how's it going living with her?" Blaise asked without looking up.
"It's going pretty well. Why?"
"Just wondering, that's all. Have you heard back from your father?"
"Not yet," Draco sighed and felt his palms start to itch, which always happened when he was nervous. He sent a letter to his parents just two days ago, explaining the current circumstances he was going under at the moment and begging for their forgiveness. It repusled him to grovel but he knew that he had no other option. He was sure that his mother would eventually come around but his father... oh boy, his father... Draco knew that he would be disowned for sure. And what about his Aunt Bellatrix? She was safely locked up in Azkaban for the time being, but that stop him for being anxious for his child's wellbeing. He slouched down his seat and buried his face in his hands.
"Hi," he heard a soft, angelic voice announce, a voice he knew to be Hermione's.
"Mmph," he muttered back.
Hermione smiled quickly at Blaise and then situated herself next to Draco.
"You don't look very happy this morning. Is everything okay?"
When Draco didn't reply, Blaise decided to answer.
"He sent a letter to his parents saying that you were pregnant and that he's going to be around for you and he's worried about his parents reaction, most likely he will be disowed but there's a tiny possibility that they'll understand that this is all your fault, so you would understand that he's feeling a little bit under pressure at the moment," Blaise said all this without lifting his eyes up from his paper.
Hermione arched a thick, dark eyebrow. "All my fault? It takes two to tango, Zabini!"
"Two to what?"
"Ugh, never mind!" Hermione didn't feel like explaining the Muggle phrase to him.
"I don't think this is all your fault, Hermione," Draco lifted his head up but didn't meet her eyes. "We're both responsible in this."
"But your parents aren't going to think that, will they?" Hermione responded fiercely with tears in his eyes.
"God, don't cry, who cares about my parents? We'll just deal with whatever comes, alright?" He hated seeing Hermione cry, mostly because crying women made him uncomfortable and he wasn't the type of person who could deal with emotion, but also because it made his heart ache to see Hermione upset, even though he would never admit that.
"I guess." Hermione wiped her eyes, grabbed a piece of toast and started to spread generous dollops of peanut butter and jam onto it.
"Erm, what are you doing?" Blaise raised his eyebrows in mild horror. "That doesn't go together."
"Yes, it does," Hermione argued.
"Since when?"
"Well, I've never been one for peanut butter but I swear this kid is making me have the strangest cravings," Hermione stated as she took a large bite out of her creation.
Within a minute, Hermione had completely polished off her sandwich. She smacked her lips together and wiped the crumbs off her lap.
"Well, I'm going back to bed. I'll see you two later."
"What's the point of getting all dressed up if you're just going back to bed?" Draco groaned, feeling as though he'd never understand the behaviour of girls. Hermione rolled her eyes. "And what's up with the hair?"
"Oh," Hermione giggled and touched it. "Ginny said that she always wanted to do it so I let her give it a go. It looks good, doesn't it?" She gave it a flick. "But I'm not doing this again, even just for fun. I'm an all-natural girl." With that, she waved goodbye and sauntered back to the Gryffindor table to say goodbye to her friends before heading back up to their new place.
Blaise shook his head and chuckled. "Well, I've never thought I'd be the one to say this, Draco... but Granger actually looks kind of... I don't know... hot like that."
"She's not hot!" Draco said in Hermione's defence. "She's beaut-" He caught himself just in time as Blaise smirked, leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry, she's what?"
"Nothing, I have to go."
Draco kept his head lowered as he grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder, his cheeks darkening more with every passing second. He could feel Blaise's eyes following him as he left the Great Hall as quick as he could.
As he climbed staircase upon staircase and took as many shortcuts as he could to get to Gryffindor Tower, he couldn't help but mentally scold himself. He had almost let slip that he liked Hermione. He couldn't let that happen again. It's not a crush, he reminded himself fiercely. I just like the person that she is. And she's not exactly sore on the eyes, either... But I don't like her like that.
"Finicky doctrinaire." He declared in a low voice to the portrait of two ladies dressed in matching frilly red dresses who were blocking the entrance to his and Hermione's room. The girls in the portrait giggled and winked at him before they let him gain entrance. With a small roll of his eyes, Draco stepped inside.
Their home was quite small and cosy but for some odd reason, Draco liked it. Of course, it was nothing compared to the Malfoy Manor but it was bright and simple and elegant. There was nothing sinister or indimating about it. It felt like a well-loved home and that was exactly the kind of environment that Hermione was keen to raise their child in.
"Hermione?" He called out as he pulled off his robes and dumped them onto the mocha brown suede sofa. Professor Dumbledore had made sure to decorate the place in neutral tones, so as not to create any amionsity between the two students from different Houses.
"In here," she shouted back from their bedroom. Draco walked past the small kitchen, which was the most eclectic part of their home. He thought it a bit pointless, seeing as all their meals were prepared by the house elves, but Hermione had jumped for joy upon seeing it, declaring that now she didn't have to be a part of slavery any longer. As it turned out, Hermione was a terrible cook but she was determined to learn. Still, Draco preferred eating with Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise at the Slytherin table. Hermione understood that he wasn't yet comfortable with them eating together in the Great Hall.
He turned into the small, crooked, dimly-litted hallway, strolled by the sea-green and white tiled bathroom and the baby's room which was completely blank at the moment until he got to their bedroom. He pushed on the ajar door so it opened up wider and stepped in to find Hermione lying on their double bed, reading Witch Weekly.
Hermione had been so excited to decorate their bedroom. Draco had relented and let her pin up her Gryffindor flag on one of the walls but absolutely put his foot down when she said she wanted the whole room to be scarlet and gold (it turned out she was just having a go of him). She settled on a calming ocean blue feature wall behind their bed and left the other three walls cream. The room was very simple with minimal furniture with the only decoration coming from the fairy lights strung up along the ceiling and a single painting of a unicorn patronus.
"Hi," she smiled and tossed the magazine aside.
"Hey," he smiled back lightly and pulled his shoes off.
"You okay?" She cocked her head to the side when she noticed his tense posture.
"Yeah, just thinking about my father."
Hermione sighed sympathetically and motioned for Draco to sit down next to her. He climbed on top of the bed and laid down next to her on his stomach with his eyes closed. She rubbed his back considerately. "Listen, it's going to be alright. He's your father, he'll understand."
"You don't know my father. He's a right git. The child's a half-blood, I've tainted the Malfoy heritage," he groaned and clutched at his head, making the intention of ripping handfuls of his hair out in frustration but Hermione grabbed his hands.
"It's going to be okay. And even if it isn't, so what? There are more important things in the world than heritage."
"Hermione, remember your father's reaction? Well, my father's reaction is going to be ten times as worse."
Hermione grimaced, remembering the day that her father had stormed into Hogwarts, tried to pull Hermione out and almost strangled Draco to death.
"God. How did we get ourselves into this?" She whispered and ran her hand across her rounded stomach.
"Sex," Draco simply stated.
"What's done is done," Hermione said. "We can't change the past."
"We could with a time-turner... Not that I'd want to do that!" He quickly added when Hermione had given him a cold frown.
"Y'know, I'm really glad that we're getting along so well," Hermione smiled at Draco. "When I first found out that I was pregnant, I was a mess. I thought that you would force me into getting an abortion and refuse to have anything to with this but I'm actually relieved that you decided to step up, stop being an ass and help out."
Draco smiled sleepily up at her. "Hardest thing I've ever done in my life."
Hermione scoffed and smacked his shoulder but she giggled at the same time. "Tired?"
"Yes."
"Goodnight," Hermione said teasingly.
"It's still morning," Draco mumbled into his pillow.
"Well, Mr Smarty Pa-aants!" She broke off with a squeal as she felt a little flutter inside of her body.
"What?" Draco hadn't noticed that Hermione had suddenly sat up straight. Her hand flew to her stomach. A soft little nudge bumped her hand. Hermione gasped. Her eyes became glassy. She pressed her hand to her stomach tighter and waited. Within in a few seconds, a tentative nudge bumped her again.
"Draco!" She panted, shaking him. "Wake up!"
"Mmph?"
"Draco, get up!"
"What?" Draco opened his eyes and looked around. He must've fallen asleep. And then he noticed that Hermione was sitting straight up with both hands on her stomach and without further ado, he jolted up.
"Hermione? What's wrong? Are you in pain or something?"
"No, I'm not in pain, just, Draco, I think the baby's moving!"
Draco paused. "Has it ever done that before?"
"No, this is the first time."
He hesitated before slowly reaching out and putting one hand lightly on the side of Hermione's stomach. The baby kicked his hand and he jumped a little bit in shock, but then he smiled. Hermione noticed this and of course got tears in her eyes but she wasn't blaming them on the hormones this time.
Draco looked up just the first tears escaped and trickled down her cheeks. "Why are you crying?" He asked, concerned as the baby kicked again. Hermione just shook her head and smiled. Draco knew then that they were happy tears, thankfully and so he hugged her with one arm. Hermione rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him back, wishing that they could stay in that position forever.
"It's up in the morning and on the downs, and the little white clouds are like gambolling lambs, and I am breathless over you," Hermione sang under her breath as she washed her hands in the kitchen sink. Draco was asleep in their bedroom and she had started to get back pains. Singing always helped take her mind off things. It helped her get through hard times in her past, especially in her first days of Hogwarts, where she was friendless and hated.
"And the red-breasted robin beats his wings, his throat it trembles when he sings, for he is helpless before you. The happy hooded bluebells bow And bend their heads all a-down, eavied by the early morning dew. At the whispering stream, at the bubbling brool, the fishes leap up to take a lool, for they are breathless over you."
Hermione fondly recalled the times she and her mother would sing together, in the car, baking cupcakes or getting ready for bedtime, their voices a perfect harmony. Sometimes her father would join in. Her heart ached a little as she realised they would never sing together again.
"Still your hands, and still your heart, for still your face comes shining through and all the morning glows anew. And still your mind, and still your soul, for still the fare of love is true, and I am breathless without you."
Smiling to herself, Hermione turned around and almost collapsed. Draco was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed and his infamous cocky smirk painted on his features.
"Not bad, Granger. Not bad at all."
Blushing furiously, Hermione grabbed the dishtowel and wiped her hands on it, staring at the ground.
"How long were you listening for?"
"Long enough to know that you've got a pretty good voice. That song... did you write it?"
A half-smile crept upon Hermione's plush pink lips. "No, I didn't. It's a Muggle song."
Draco switched his weight to his left foot and studied her. "You really are full of surprises, aren't you?"
"I try."
Hermione smiled at Draco and walked past him into the living room. Draco watched as she elegantly picked up a spare piece of parchment lying on the coffee table and perched herself delicately on the sofa. She crossed her legs, picked up a quill and started scratching away.
"What are you writing?"
"I just thought of a new name for the baby."
Draco ran a hand through his hair and frowned. "Already."
Hermione barely glanced up as she started on a new line. "What do you mean?"
"The baby won't be here for another four months, why do you have to start thinking about names now?"
Hermione chuckled and shook her head. "Draco, a name is extremely important. You're stuck with it for your entire life. I want to give our baby a name that she will appreciate and like."
Draco arched an eyebrow. "She?"
"Or he."
"It's a he."
"How would you know?"
"The Malfoy line has produced seven generations of males. Highly unlikely that my first child will be of the opposite sex. How would you know?"
"Mother's instincts."
"Right, like that counts," Draco scoffed.
Hermione laid the parchment next to her and motioned for Draco to sit down next to her. When he did, she turned excitedly to him and handed him the parchment. He looked at it sceptically. "Come on!" Hermione pressed the quill into his hand. "Write down all the names that you like."
"Why?"
"Because I said so," Hermione said in a voice very much like Professor McGonagall's when she was telling off her misbehaving students.
"Fine," Draco said huffily and began scrawling across the page.
Hermione situated herself so that her back was lying on the arm of the sofa and her feet were mere centimetres away from Draco's lap. She bit her lip in anticipation.
"Sorry, it's not that good," Draco tossed the parchment into her lap. Hermione grabbed it immediately and scanned the list. She looked up, disappointed.
"There are no girl names!" she whined.
"I don't know any girl names!"
"You are so pathetic!" Hermione crossed her arms and started to sulk. Why couldn't he take this seriously? Did he think this was some sort of joke?
"Look," Draco said softly albeit somewhat exasperated. "How about this. You give me your top ten favourite girls names and your top ten favourite boys names and I'll do the same. Sound fair?"
"I guess," Hermione said quietly, twirling a lock of hair around her index finger.
"So," Draco said after a long, awkward moment of silence. "What names do you like for girls?"
Hermione immediately brightened up. "So many, I can't choose! I have like thirty on my list!"
"Thirty! Woah, hell no! Why don't you just cut it down to ten?"
Instead of pouting and arguing, Hermione smiled even bigger. "Well, I guess I can tell you the ten I like right now."
"Shoot."
Hermione cleared her throat and, without looking at her list, rattled off names as fast as a speeding bullet.
"Well, I really like the names Abigail, Elisabeth, Zoe, Victoria, Lucy, Grace, Iris, Romany, Sienna and Cleo!"
Draco blinked, looking taken aback. "O... kay... erm, wow. I have to think about mine some more."
"Tell me your boy names first!"
The back of Draco's neck darkened in colour. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, now come on!" Hermione unconsciously put her hand on his thigh and Draco looked nervously at it.
"Ok, fine! Don't be pushy." He grabbed the list off of her and scanned it. "Okay, I like Draco Junior, or Draco the Second. I like Atlas, Finlay, Leo, Phoenix, Morgan, Maverick, Leander, Theseus, Forrester, Heath... Sorry, I'm not really good at thinking of names," Draco added sheepishly but Hermione was smiling.
"I take note that you like names that are celestial or mthylogical?" Hermione quilted an eyebrow. Draco crossed his arms over his chest huffily.
"And I take note that you prefer plain Muggle names."
"I take note that I have not thought about which I prefer."
"Okay, fine. Which boys names do you like."
"Well, I quite like Alistair, Daniel, Oliver, Alexander, Peyton, Aiden, Declan, Ever, Hawk and Jordan."
Draco let out a low whistle. "Gee, you've really put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Hermione switched positions so that she was sitting on the balls of her feet. Her eyes were shining. She looked like a little girl about to get her first pony. "Alright, now you have to give me your favourite girl names!"
Shyly, Draco adverted her gaze as he gave it some serious thought. "Well, I guess I like the name Avalon... Graciela, that was one of my distant cousin's name. Erm, Elsa, Florence, Guinevere, Celeste, Juliet and Lyra. I can't think of anything else."
"Draco..." Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "Those names are really lovely. See, you do know girl names!"
Draco scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess I do."
"I like Graciela, that's really pretty. Juliet is simply divine. I've never heard of the name Lyra but it's gorgeous. I see you prefer celestial or mythological themed names. Hmm, what do you think of Star?"
Draco cocked his head to the side. "You're kidding me, right? What about Venus?"
Hermione wrinkled her nose. "No, thanks. I like Audrey. It's classic and timeless."
"I like that too. Blair sounds alright too, but for a middle name."
"Alright, so we both like the names Blair, Audrey, Juliet, Graciela and Lyra. What about boys names?"
"Well, I like Draco Junior-"
"We are not naming our kid Draco Junior!" Hermione interrupted shrilly. "I like Christian, I think that's cute. And Ever, isn't that sweet? Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention my absolute favourite boy name of all time- Silas!"
"Yeah, they are all great names, but-"
Knock, knock
Hermione and Draco looked at each in surprise. The portrait in the frame outside giggled and spluttered inconspiciously.
"Wonder who that could be..."
A/N: OMG AM I FKN SRS? A CLIFFY? You read that right :) SO. Review please my petals :) i love you all SO much, you are all so supportive! It makes me so happy.
so. What boys names do you like? What girls names do you like? tell me which ones you like the best! i don't like 'wizard' names. haha. All those names are the ones I like but I can't choose one! I'm really bad at picking boys names so maybe you guys could help me with that? kthnxbyeee :)