Chapter 16

With a swift bang, Malfoy was on the floor, and his jaw aching in pain. He raised his hand to find his mouth was bleeding and looked up to find Sacks standing over him, his wand pointing down at him once more.

"Tell me where she is."

"Fuck you," Malfoy hissed harshly, before yelling again and doubling over, his eyes watering in pain as another curse hit him in the stomach. He rolled over, coughing madly into the concrete, before a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him up, thrusting him into the brick wall so Malfoy banged his head against it. Malfoy stumbled, feeling unbearably dizzy, his arms out to try and feel the wall, before he was smashed into it again.

"Tell me where she is, Malfoy, or I'll kill you now," Sacks screamed at him as his hand clutched at his throat tightly, causing Malfoy to choke. "Take me to her!"

He let go of him and Malfoy fell to the floor, gasping for air as Sacks stared coldly down at him. He tried to reach for his wand but Sacks already had it in his other hand, pocketing it before lifting Malfoy off of the floor.

"Move." He commanded.

"Oh Merlin, no…Harry? Harry!"

Ginny fell to the floor and shook him hard, panicking when she felt warm liquid gush through her fingers and realized it was blood. She screamed his name and shook him harder, trying desperately hard not to sob as she did so. The door behind her slammed shut and she barely had time to register what was happening before she was lifted up by a pair of strong arms and watched blurrily as Harry too was lifted, and carried away-

"Ginny Potter?"

Ginny was snapped out of her thoughts and looked up confusedly to see a nurse standing nearby, looking sympathetically down at her.

"Your husband is awake, if you'd like to come through and see him?"

Ginny immediately stood up with a nod and followed the nurse through the corridor and into the room, swiftly moving to the bed where Harry lay and taking his hand. He squeezed her hand gently before his eyelids fluttered open and he looked up at her weakly.

"Oh love," Ginny breathed, bending down to press a tender kiss into his forehead. "Tell me who did this to you."

He shook his head a little, only numbly stroking her cheek with his finger before trying to get up. Ginny was having none of it; she pushed him back down.

"No." She told him firmly. "Tell me what's happening."

Harry sighed, opening his mouth and coming out with a croaky voice: "Hermione… stalker…"

"Stalker?" Ginny repeated, alarmed. "Harry, are you saying that Hermione has a stalker? Who-

"-Tim…Sacks…"

"Tim-

"-Where...Ethan…Gin..."

"I've left him with mum. He saw you… on the floor, b-bleeding. Exactly how I found you when I came to check up on you. I thought he was being silly, but he was telling the truth." Ginny was now biting her lip with both worry and confusion as Harry looked at her, also baffled. "I think...I think he has the gift of Sight."

Harry snorted, but immediately stopped, wincing as his ribs screamed at him in pain. Ginny was alarmed but they were both interrupted by the door opening and a Healer walking in.

"Good evening," the Healer smiled at the pair, writing some notes on his clipboard. "How are we faring, Mr Potter?"

"Fine…" But Harry was wincing again and the Healer immediately moved to the bed to feel gently at his ribs.

"You're recovering well," The Healer removed his hand, writing more notes down. "But someone put you here, Mr Potter. Who was-

"-Tim Sacks," Ginny interrupted. "I presume Timothy Sacks… although I have no idea who he is."

"Do you know why he'd want to harm Mr Potter?"

"No," Ginny's eyes widened. "No I don't."

"Gin…" Harry pushed himself up forcefully. "Can't… be here… need to go... Hermione…mission..."

"You can't go anywhere, Mr Potter. You need to recover." The Healer told him firmly as he looked over at him over his spectacles, flicking his wand to force Harry back down upon the bed. "I will contact the Auror department-

"Ron," Was all Harry said. "Only Ron. Secret."

The Healer looked at Ginny, who nodded. "Very well."

Ron frowned at the owl tapping on his window, sighing as he got up to walk over and retrieve the letter that it carried.

"Alright, alright," Ron muttered as the owl hooted impatiently, finally releasing the letter from its feet. "There."

He went back over to his bed, sitting down upon it to open the letter, still frowning as he started to read it.

'Dear Mr Ronald Weasley,

I understand that you are on a secret mission regarding Hermione Granger, as Mr Harry Potter informed me just now. It is unfortunate to have to tell you this, but earlier this evening a man of the name Timothy Sacks, whom I understand you should know more of, attacked Mr Potter. Be assured that Mr Potter is in recovery and will be perfectly fine, but cannot leave until he is discharged. I suggest you guard Miss Granger carefully as it is likely Mr Sacks intends to harm her. I understand the nature of the mission and will not reveal any information to anyone. Miss Granger is a highly regarded colleague in St Mungo's and I sincerely hope you succeed in your mission.

Best Regards,

Healer Philippe.'

It was not long before Ron had left, the door slamming behind him as he stalked down the hallway.

"Timothy Sacks."

Hermione jumped and turned around, almost sighing with relief, her hand to her chest. "Ronald! Don't bloody scare- Wait, what? Timothy Sacks?"

"You know him?" Ron demanded.

"Well y-yes, we sometimes work together...he's in Draco's department-

"-Has he flirted with you?"

Hermione was taken aback, her eyes widening. "Are you suggesting that Timothy is my stalker? Ronald, don't be-

"-Harry was attacked. By Timothy Sacks. Who happens to work alongside of you and Malfoy." Ron started stalking up and down, his hand pushing through his hair. "We need to find- Hermione, WAIT."

Hermione had run past him, storming down the stairs and through the hallway as she flicked her wand and the door flew open, immediately running down the street: Ron fast on her heels.

"Hermione, come back!" Ron yelled as he tried to grab at her, but she narrowly missed him, sprinting down the street before stopping dead in her tracks.

A little further down the road, Timothy had Malfoy in a headlock. Hermione felt sick rise in her throat as she started to shake her head.

"No…" She whispered, before opening her mouth properly to scream: "Draco!"

"Stay back, Hermione!" Ron warned, his wand at the ready, but Hermione only hurried down the street towards the couple hurriedly. Ron cursed, immediately following her.

"Timothy…" Hermione whispered as she approached them, her wand pointing at Sacks. "Please, please no…"

"I'll kill him," Sacks raised his voice threateningly as he held Malfoy upright, who was too weak to respond. "I'll do it-

"No... no… please…"

"You ignored me!" Sacks yelled at her, starting to shake as he stared at her wild-eyed, pulling Malfoy into a tighter grip. "You never acknowledged me! You wanted him! You wanted…You…"

"Sacks, let him go, before I make you," Ron told him calmly. "You're under arrest for harming and intending to kill-

"No!" Sacks screamed, pulling at Malfoy, causing Malfoy to groan in pain. "Hermione… Hermione…" His voice died down as he began to whisper her name repeatedly, starting to release Malfoy a little as he began to try and move over to her, but Hermione only pointed her wand more firmly.

"I'll kill you before you can even try anything." Hermione whispered.

"No-

With a quick flash, Sacks was on the ground, along with Malfoy. Hermione whirled around and saw Ron with his wand pointed, before their eyes met and he sighed. Hermione took only a moment to stare at him before swinging back around and falling to her knees beside Malfoy, tears streaking slowly down her face as Ron only looked on.

"Will he be alright?"

"Yes."

Ron nodded, watching as Hermione continued to look down at the sleeping Draco in the hospital bed. He bit his lip before carefully saying: "I've just seen Harry. He'd like a visit from you."

Hermione only shrugged.

Ron tried again. "Please don't blame yourself, 'Mione."

"I don't," Her voice was high-pitched and cold. "I blame you."

"W-What?" Ron stared at her in shock, completely taken aback. "I saved Malfoy-

"-You emotionally blackmailed him. You knew he'd leave once you started putting thoughts into his head. Now look at him."

"You said… he'd be… alright-

"-Oh for goodness sake Ronald," Hermione spat, swinging around to glare at him, her hair slowly falling from its messy bun. "Of course he will, but the fact is he shouldn't even be in this position!"

"Hermione-

"-Get out," Hermione snapped before turning back to Malfoy. "I don't want you near me."

Ron froze, feeling rage hit him hard. Here she was, still completely infatuated with Malfoy and ignoring his efforts once again. He spat a "fine" before turning on his heel and storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him on his way out.

Hermione ignored everyone as she walked briskly down the hallway, her thoughts whirling about as she approached her desired destination. Flicking the door easily with her wand, she entered a large, cool room, looking around unimpressively before turning to a man next to her.

"Hermione Granger. I've been given permission to be here to see Timothy Sacks."

The man nodded and she walked forward without another word, sitting herself down in a chair before the table in the centre of the room. She heard approaching footsteps and forced herself to sit upright, determined not to show any emotion whatsoever.

Timothy Sacks, his hands bound by invisible chains, moved slowly into the room, stopping in his tracks in shock when he spotted her. The guard behind him murmured a few words and slowly, he took the seat opposite her at the table, avoiding any eye contact.

Moments of silence passed before Hermione decided to get this over with.

"I want to know everything," She demanded coolly. "And if you don't tell me the whole truth, I'll personally ensure you spend the rest of your life regretting it."

Sacks visibly swallowed hard, before carefully choosing to answer her. "What exactly do you want me to tell you?"

"Why." Hermione snarled simply.

"I… I liked you-

"-And that behavior is normal when you like someone, is it?"

"N-no… No… I… I just… I w-wanted…I hate. Malfoy. I hate him. How could you…" He swallowed again before forcing himself to raise his voice a little more. "How could you be happy with him? H-he's foul. Egotistical. You deserve… I wanted… I wanted you."

"And so you took pictures of me and started to threaten my well-being? Is that it?"

"N-no… no… I didn't mean to hurt you," Sacks pleaded, leaning forwards, now looking at her intently. "Please… I never wanted to hurt you… I lost…I lost myself…Whenever I'm with you…Hermione. I just wanted to be able to have you, just for myself, just for a few hours at least… just you…"

Hermione was starting to feel incredibly sick. She forced herself to take a deep breath, meeting Sacks with her eyes. "You didn't need to hurt Harry or Draco-

"-Yes," He suddenly hit the table hard with his fists, causing Hermione to jump up and a guard to bound over and restrain him. Sacks' eyes were mad with anger as he stared up at her wildly. "Yes I did! Don't you understand? Don't you see? I love you. I always have, Hermione, always! Always you! Every time you walked into a meeting, nothing else mattered! It was always you! The files I accidently "forgot" to give you! It was never accidental! I did anything to talk to you. Anything. And yet you did nothing. You liked him. Then Potter… Potter knew… he knew. I had to hurt him! I had to show him. I wanted to show you. Show you I'd do anything, anything for you, everything for you, kill for you, only you!"

"I've heard enough," Hermione choked out, before swinging around and moving as fast as she could towards the door. She heard him push himself to his feet and carried out walking, tears streaming from her eyes.

"I did it all!" He yelled after her, struggling against the restraining guard. "I was the one who hit you when you left your work late, was hired by Narcissa Malfoy to hurt you! She knew I liked you! Told me to hurt you only a little… only a little to make Malfoy stay away from you, to realize your relationship could cost your life! I was the spy for her, the one who informed her all of what you two were doing!"

Hermione had frozen in her spot, unable to move anywhere as she listened to him intently, everything clicking into place… Everything starting to make sense. He saw that she had stopped and continued.

"You had Ethan… how did you think his parents knew his whereabouts? I tipped them off! Told them if they got him I'd pay them. I couldn't have you have him. Couldn't have you have a child with him… With anyone else…I hurt Blaise! Narcissa Malfoy ordered that! As if she could hurt him herself! As if she would ever hurt him directly- wouldn't want to get her nails dirty! I did it: wanted Malfoy to be shaken by it. But no… he carried on… and Narcissa never mentioned me in her confession. Not once. She thought I'd kill you for staying with Malfoy, didn't realize what I felt for you was stronger than she imagined: she was wrong. I wanted you. I would do anything for you."

Hermione didn't know what she was going. Didn't know fully what she was hearing. All she knew was that she had eventually pulled open the door and stumbled out, breathing heavily as she leant against the wall in the corridor, finally giving in and sobbing hard.

One Month Later

The Daily Prophet

MINISTRY EMPLOYEE FACES AZKABAN SENTENCE.

Timothy Sacks, a Ministry of Magic employee, has today been arrested on charge of hurting two other Ministry employees with intent to kill, stalking and harassment.

Sacks, 24 years old, confessed to these charges in the High Court today and was given a four year sentence in Azkaban.

Sacks was heavily infatuated with one of the Golden Trio, Hermione Granger, who refused to give any comment, along with her rumored fiancé, Draco Malfoy, heir of-

Hermione put the paper down with a sigh. Draco Malfoy, who was sitting next to her, removed his spectacles and stopped reading his book to glance at the newspaper in her hands before looking over at her.

"He's been arrested?" He asked her carefully, taking her hand and rubbing it with his thumb.

"Yes... for four years."

"Ah," Malfoy nodded, visibly relaxing. "That's... good."

Hermione nodded in agreement, shuffling closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder and sighing again when he kissed her on top of her head. "I'm just glad it's all over. Hopefully the press attention will die down."

"Big ask there," Malfoy chuckled as he kissed her head again before turning back to his book. "It won't die down, not now when they think we're engaged."

Hermione groaned, causing Malfoy to chuckle again. She turned her head to look at the book in his hands. "Hey, I've read that."

"I know, love. You've read every bloody book."

She poked him with a giggle, before standing up, brushing down her pencil skirt. Malfoy immediately looked up at her with a frown. "You're not going to work at this hour, are you? You're working far too much."

"It proves a good distraction," She bent down and kissed him gently on the lips. "Will you be alright?"

"I suppose so." He replied with a small sigh of disappointment. "But I'd rather hoped we could have dinner tonight."

Hermione sent him an apologetic smile. "I really should check up on my patients. I promise to be as quick as possible."

"I'm still a patient."

"You've been discharged," Hermione rolled her eyes before bending down to kiss him again. "Whereas Harry still needs to stay for another week."

"True." Malfoy admitted before turning back to his book. "I'll see you later. Tell Potter I said...hello." He added a little reluctantly, not quite used to extending social niceties to Harry.

Hermione and Malfoy had moved into their new bungalow only two weeks after Malfoy's stay in hospital. Hermione had imagined they would have had to talk about everything, but when Malfoy had woken up, it was all forgotten. Hermione was only relieved he was okay, and Malfoy relieved she too, was alive.

And both suddenly were starting to realize just how much they meant to each other.

They were quieter together, choosing to stay in the bungalow for as long as they could, only leaving when absolutely necessary. The last month had been a stressful one, with Timothy Sacks' case all over the media and that, in turn, causing Hermione and Malfoy to be prime targets for interviews. Both, had of course, refused.

Ron had not spoken to either of them, and the guilt had kicked in for Hermione. She tried to contact him to apologize, but had had nothing back. Harry assured her Ron was probably very busy with Sacks' case but Hermione knew he didn't truly believe it. Ron had been portrayed as the bad guy, when he was only acting as he thought was right.

As for the engagement rumors, they had not stopped. Malfoy had tried to insist once to the press- when they had ambushed him at the Ministry- that they were certainly not engaged, but the media had refused to listen.

As always.

He sighed and carried on reading his book. He had other things to worry for.

Like how to get Hermione home as soon as possible.

"Hermione Jean Granger, what are you hiding?"

"Nothing," Hermione smiled as she checked Harry's temperature, resisting the urge to giggle. Ginny met Harry's gaze and they both immediately turned back to her.

"Spill it," Ginny threatened whilst Harry nodded along with her. Hermione only shook her head, writing some notes down before moving towards the door.

"No, no. Not yet. I should go home, Draco is waiting." She kissed the sleeping Ethan on his head as she passed, waving the bewildered couple goodbye before winking playfully and leaving to apparate back home.

Malfoy stood up as he heard the familiar pop, signaling Hermione's arrival. He opened the library door and smiled when he saw her standing directly outside.

"Hello," He greeted her with a small kiss. "You weren't as long as I thought."

"No, I hurried home," She took his hand and pulled him into the library gently, towards the loveseat they always sat together in. "I wanted to tell you something."

Malfoy immediately sat down as she indicated, looking up at her as she, instead of sitting next to him, moved to slide into his lap. His arms immediately went around her waist as he pulled her close, now frowning a little with worry.

As if sensing this, Hermione smiled at him with assurance. "I haven't even told you anything yet, and you're already anxious."

"Can you blame me?"

"Well, no." She admitted, a little distracted as his nose skimmed her neck and he breathed in her scent. "But I hope you won't be when I tell you my news."

"What news?" He murmured as he kissed her neck. Hermione gently, but firmly, pushed him away a little so she could look at him properly.

"Draco." She moved to cup his face in her hands, biting her lip a little as she was suddenly hit with nerves. "I… didn't want to tell you until I was sure but...I'm pregnant."

A/N: I'm going to be honest: I'm not confident with this chapter. Probably because I've been away for a bit, so I'm a bit more fussy. I don't know. You all decide!

Shout out to:

flower123, Expixie, rec2527, HarryPGinnyW4eva, Sapphire 1031, nature love 95, Jade2099, CheshireCat23, Ulquishinee, Sarah Liz B (Of course you will be my beta!), MrSmee27, BellsBeingBad, HotWolfGirl, frostykitten and ehkooner.

You are all so lovely to review, you all take your time to do so and it is extremely appreciated.

Few notes:

Sapphire1031: I totally take your point, and of course everyone has their own opinions.

I think Malfoy is yes, very proud and unlikely to listen to Ron, but the strong guilt he feels of his relationship with Hermione having caused her to be in danger has been there for ages and Ron only triggers him off. He, at first, did resist what Ron was suggesting, but eventually comes to realize it's sort of true. So I do think it's believable. Also remember he was under extreme pressure and stress, and silly actions to us are not necessarily silly actions to them: but definetely see what you're trying to say. Thank you for your review!

-I understand this chapter could have been a bit full on: we are literally thrust right into sharp snaps of the story. I wanted this, it was planned to be that way, so I hope you're all alright with it.

-Some might think that Timothy Sacks is very... well, crazy! But researching into it, stalkers can really develop deep "feelings" for the object of their 'desires' shall we say... He was always planned to be in this story, to be the link between Narcissa and her plots, but I didn't want him to completely take over everything at the same time, hence he was "caught" quite quickly.

-This story is almost at a finish. I have a new story I would like to write, but if anybody has any challenges/plot ideas they would like me to reply, by all means let me know.

Thank you for reading and please review!