When Lucius had informed him that his daughter wished to speak to him urgently the last thing Voldemort expected was to hear that she was pregnant. Her announcement had taken him completely by surprise, and he'd mentally seen all his plans crumbling around his ears. Not at all impressed, he'd sent Hermione and Draco back to Hogwarts before he could say or do anything he might regret. He then left the manor to return home in order to get his head around the announcement and to re-strategize.
Pouring himself a generous helping of fire-whiskey, he turned away from the liquor cabinet only to have second thoughts and grab himself the whole bottle of amber alcohol. Voldemort rarely drank to deal with his problems, but if ever he needed a drink, it was today.
Settling down in his favourite armchair, he knocked back his first glass of fire-whiskey and cursed the fact he loved his daughter. Life had been so much simpler when he hadn't cared for another living soul. He could simply do as he wished and damn the consequences, but now he had Hermione to think about. And like it or not, the decisions he made affected her. Even more so now that she was expecting a child of her own. His grandchild.
The thought sent a cold shiver down Voldemort's back and he poured himself another glass of fire-whiskey, wondering if he had it in him to love yet another person. Truth be told, it still shocked him that he loved Hermione. He'd certainly never expected to love her. In fact he'd come very close to walking away before she'd even been born.
Despite not being one for emotions, Voldemort was still a man, and he did still have needs of a sexual nature. Needs which had led him to have a brief fling with a witch he'd met in Ireland. When she'd then turned up on his doorstep a few months later, informing him she was pregnant, his first instinct had been to turn her away. However, at the last minute he'd done no such thing, and while he refused to promise anything in regard to helping raise the child, he did promise to help support the witch he'd gotten pregnant.
Not wanting everyone to know his private business, Voldemort had spoken to Lucius and convinced him to allow his wife, Narcissa, to take his former lover under her wing. And so Jean Granger became one of Narcissa Malfoy's best friends, and no-one but the Malfoys knew the child she was carrying belonged to The Dark Lord.
Throughout the pregnancy, Voldemort had been undecided how he was going to handle the arrival of his child. Sometimes he'd considered accepting the child and raising it as his heir, and other times he'd vowed never to let it anywhere near him. As such, he'd made no firm decisions by the time Jean went into labour, and it was rather reluctantly he'd visited her in the private hospital hours after she'd given birth. However, the visit changed his life forever as the second he'd been handed his daughter, he'd felt something he'd never felt before. Love. A wave of pure love for the tiny child in his arms had washed over him, and Voldemort had known he would never be the same again.
After bonding with his daughter, whom her mother had named Hermione, Voldemort had made the decision to accept her and do whatever he could to make her life as perfect as possible. However, he'd known her very existence could prove problematic and would make her a target for his enemies, so he'd made sure no-one let it slip that he was Hermione's father. She was given her mother's name, and no father was named on her birth certificate. Voldemort even went as far as asking Jean to keep a low profile and not advertising her friendship with Narcissa. And so no-one knew who Hermione truly was aside from her parents and the Malfoys.
Despite loving Hermione, it didn't change Voldemort's darkness or his desire for power. If anything, it only made him more determined to take control. He knew he'd gone too far down the path of darkness to be redeemed, not that he wanted redemption. But even if he was defeated, his legacy of darkness would live on, and as his daughter, Hermione would be judged by his actions. So in his opinion the only way for her to truly be safe was for him to be in charge. And then if he reigned supreme, no-one would dare do anything to his daughter.
Sadly things did not work out that way and his plan to take out the Potters backfired spectacularly and left him a shell of himself. Not wanting his daughter to witness him in such a state, Voldemort went into hiding and only kept in brief contact with Lucius. Given the state he'd been in, all he could do for a long time was promise Lucius that one day he would be back and beg him to keep his daughter safe. And Lucius had done just that as even though Jean maintained her low profile and no-one knew of her connection to Voldemort or the Malfoys, she and Hermione were both regular visitors to the manor, and Hermione grew up happy and safe.
It was only as time moved on and Voldemort realised that Hermione would be heading to Hogwarts that he'd allowed Lucius to bring one more person in on their secret. Severus Snape was informed of the situation, and he aided Lucius in his mission to get Hermione admitted into Hogwarts as a muggleborn. Voldemort had to admit it wasn't a plan he'd been happy with at the time, but he'd accepted Lucius's reasoning that it would be the best way to keep her safe as if she was a muggleborn, no-one would ask her questions about her family.
Even with the precautions Lucius was taking with Hermione, Voldemort had wanted extra eyes on his daughter as she started school, and coincidentally his search for a way to return had led him to a former Hogwarts Professor, Quirinus Quirrell. Quirrell had once taught muggle studies at Hogwarts, but had left to explore Europe and learn more about Defence Against the Dark Arts, with the hopes of returning to Hogwarts to teach that subject. And that was exactly what had happened, only when he returned, Voldemort had found a way to possess his body. Or rather, share his body as Quirrell had quite the strong mind and refused to let Voldemort take over completely. But still, sharing a body had suited Voldemort's needs. It had enabled him to get close to Hogwarts, where he'd learnt that Dumbledore had hidden the Philosopher's Stone, and to keep an eye on Hermione.
Given her muggleborn act, it hadn't been surprising when Hermione wasn't sorted into Slytherin. However, what did surprise Voldemort was that she was sorted into Gryffindor. From everything Lucius had told him about his daughter, she was smart as a whip, so he'd honestly expected her to end up in Ravenclaw. But then again, given the act she would have to put on, maybe Gryffindor was the place for her as she was certainly brave to walk the halls of Hogwarts every day knowing she was lying to everyone.
Despite Hermione being in Gryffindor, the same house as Harry Potter, who had somehow survived the night Voldemort had killed his parents, The Dark Lord had never considered that they pair would become friends. However, he was shocked to see a friendship developing in the latter half of the first term. There were times, stuck as he was in Quirrell's body, that he feared that he'd lost his daughter and the fact he'd never been there for her growing up meant she didn't care what happened to him.
He especially feared the worst when she helped Potter steal the Philosopher's Stone from his grasp, therefore forcing him to seek another way to regain his body and strength. However, Lucius had assured him that Hermione had wanted nothing more than his safe return, and she had merely been taking advantage of the situation and getting herself ensconced in Potter's inner circle.
To be honest, Voldemort was never entirely sure of where his daughter's loyalties truly lay until he finally did manage to return at the end of her fourth year. That summer was the first time he'd truly spent with his daughter, and she'd dazzled him with her brains, her fire and most of all her devotion to the cause. There and then she'd made him the promise that she would deliver Potter to him on a plate.
All Hermione had asked for in return was the chance to finish her education in peace. She'd pointed out that killing Harry wasn't going to get Voldemort what he wanted straight away. There would still be fighting of some description, and while all that was going on, Hogwarts would be in upheaval. But she'd argued that if they waited until she'd finished school, she could still deliver Harry to him, and also be able to be by his side and help him to fight, knowing that her exams were over, and her future was secure.
Voldemort had surprised himself by agreeing to Hermione's terms, and he knew that if anyone else had even suggested he hold off on trying to kill Potter, he would have hexed them so badly they would consider themselves unlucky to still be alive. But as it was Hermione, he'd agreed because he loved her. Only now she'd gone and messed up everything they'd been working towards. It was true that she still had time to bring him Potter, but she certainly wouldn't be able to stick around at Hogwarts until she'd taken her exams. The very reason he'd held off dealing with Potter had just been thrown away, and quite frankly as much as he loved his daughter, right now he could happily strangle her.
"Sodding children," he muttered as he downed yet another glass of fire-whiskey.
Given what was going on with Hermione, they would simply have to bring their plans forward and ensure she delivered Potter to him before she had the baby. However, he didn't want to make things that easy for his daughter and her boyfriend. The truth was, they'd screwed up and they needed to be made aware of how unhappy he was. They needed to work for his forgiveness, and he was damn well going to see that they did. He would work out a plan that would get him what he wanted, while at the same time reminding Hermione and Draco that they'd messed up and needed to work to prove themselves to him.
Time passed agonisingly slowly for Hermione and Draco as they waited on word from Voldemort. At the same time they had to carry on as though everything was normal, when really their entire world was changing around them. Their lives were now on an unexpected path, and even though they were still hiding it, the fact was that within a few months they would be parents. They would have a tiny life, depending on them to love and support them. It was terrifying, and it didn't help that they were on pins and needles waiting to see what Voldemort was going to do about the situation.
Finally, Severus sent word to Draco that they were to be in his office just after curfew on Friday evening, slightly less than a week after they'd broken the news of Hermione's pregnancy to Voldemort.
"How do you think this will go?" Draco asked as the couple made their way through the deserted corridors of Hogwarts. Thanks to the time, they could use the excuse that they were doing the last patrols of the night, checking that no-one was sneaking around after curfew.
"I have no idea," Hermione admitted. Since she'd never been in a situation anything like this, she was totally in the dark about how her father would react. For all she knew, she wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts after he was done with them.
Reaching Severus's office, they found the Potions Master was waiting for them and the floo was already active, just waiting for them to head to Malfoy Manor. Wishing them luck, he sent them through the floo, to discover just what Voldemort had planned for them, and what they would be doing in coming months to make amends for the mistake they'd made.