Hermione walked to the receptionist's desk.

"Susan, I was called in for an emergency. What happened?" She asked.

"Ma'am, Mrs. Pansy Malfoy is in labour and she's unconscious... But there's something odd about the entire situation. We need to get the baby out as soon as we can," the receptionist replied.

Both of them were sprinting to Pansy's ward as Susan explained the big picture to her.

"She's 7 months pregnant but it looks like the baby doesn't want to wait. Right now, we're running some tests to check how far has dilated. We'll need to get the baby out ourselves since the mother is in no state to do so."

Hermione nodded. She was too busy evaluating what needed to be done that she didn't realize that she missed an important fact.

"Wait a second... did you say Pansy Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy's wife?" Hermione asked curiously as she thought back to the details Susan had given her.

"Yes, he's waiting out in the lobby. Hot temper, that man has," Susan said with a roll of her eyes.

"Sounds like the Malfoy I knew and loved," Hermione winked at Susan as they walked into Pansy's room. Hermione said a spell with the correct hand movements of her wand to see the baby inside the patient's stomach.

As Hermione studied the movements in front of her, her eyes widened.

"This isn't looking good, Susan. Please bring me vials of healing potions immediately!" Hermione demanded, not taking the risk of glancing away from the ultrasound of the delicate unborn baby.

One hour. He had been sitting on this wretched chair for a whole damn hour. He was furious. Couldn't they get anyone other than freaking Hermione Muggleborn Granger to come in? Draco really didn't want her, "the smartest witch in their year", to deliver his kid. Even Merlin knew how much he despised that woman.

And on top of that, he had to keep sitting on this wretched, uncomfortable chair, until someone told him what the hell was going on.

"Draco, is Pansy all right?" Narcissa asked her son with a concerned look as she sat down beside him.

"I don't know. These bloody healers haven't said a word," Draco growled.

Narcissa placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder only to have Draco angrily nudge it off.

"Control yourself, Draco. Someday your temper is going to be the end of you," his mother warned him as she stood up and moved to a chair away from her son.

Draco sighed. Annnnd he screwed up once again.

No, no, no, no. This wasn't what was supposed to be happening. Pansy was falling into a more critical condition as the minutes ticked by and there was nothing Hermione could do to save her.

A few more healers were called in and each of them did their part to try to stop, what seemed like, internal bleeding. From each spell to every healing potion - nothing made a difference.

The usually confident witch now felt helpless. She had to watch one of her former classmates (a Slytherin as she might be...) - literally - bleed her insides out. Oh God.

"Miss. Granger," one of the other healers said, looking at the monitors grimly. "We sent some of the reports and observations to the Ministry. They suspect that a Death Eater may have cursed Mrs. Malfoy. This sort of dark magic is almost impossible to perfect and there is no spell reverse it. Ironically enough, we were able to save the baby, except it's so fragile that it seems highly unlikely that it'll survive more than 24 hours."

"Don't say that," Hermione winced. "The Ministry got the report already?"

The healer nodded, "They're sending people to investigate tomorrow."

All at once, every monitor in the room started beeping. Hermione rushed by Pansy's side, trying her luck again to revive her. It was complete chaos.

The racket hushed when all she could hear was a faint hum made by the single, straight line shown on the moniter's screen.

"We lost her," Hermione whispered.

For the first time since they had been waiting, Narcissa and Draco made eye contact when they saw two nurses rush into Pansy's ward. Both had a nervous look on their faces.

"Everything will be okay, right?" Narcissa asked worriedly.

"I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe Pansy had a roommate who wasn't doing so well," Draco guessed, hiding his concern.

His mother nodded, not quite buying it.

They waited some more. It was almost agonizing for Draco, not knowing what was going on. His wife in the hands of stupid Granger- Pothead's smartass dog. He wanted to scream out loud. This was more than he could take.

Hermione walked out of Pansy's room with a sullen look upon her face.

The She-Devil herself. Draco thought, standing up from his chair.

The former Slytherin and Gryffindor stood face to face. Hermione almost an entire head shorter than Draco's strongly built body. But it was something about Hermione's facial expression that caused Draco's stomach to knot and he knew he needed to sit back down.

"Well...?" Narcissa asked, demanding an answer.

"I think you might want to have a seat, Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione began, as she watched the elderly witches' mouth turn into a frown.

"We're really sorry. We weren't able to save Pansy," Hermione said, trying to keep her composure together.

Narcissa's eyes began watering and she started to weep.

"Wha-what exactly do you mean? What the hell happened?" Draco yelled, not quite able to comprehend what he had just heard.

"Pansy was cursed, Draco. We did everything we could to reverse the spell but it was impossible. She was bleeding internally, and we tried stopping it but the curse... it was too powerful. "

Draco angrily brushed away the stray tear falling down his left cheek.

"So you just let her die?" He asked.

"There was nothing we could've done for her. The Ministry suspects a Death Eater used dark magic on Pansy. The curse was irreversible," Hermione said.

Narcissa spoke up, after listening to the evening's events, "What happened to the child?"

Merlin. "He's alright, at least?" Draco asked with pleading eyes.

"The baby is in critical condition. We want to keep her for a few more days to monitor her progress," Hermione said, hoping that the baby will give the Malfoys some happiness despite their future troubles.

Draco's blood grew colder as his mind evaluated the small pieces of information the witch was giving him. His mouth shaped into a rigid line. Neither woman noticed.

"Thank the Lord. Is it possible for us to go see them?" Narcissa asked, trying to control her tears.

Hermione nodded. "You can go into her room. A healer will help you," she said sympathetically, gently pulling the woman into a hug. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

Hermione might not have been fond of the woman, but she had helped her and her friends escape her sister's tight grip... and for that, Hermione felt that the smallest gestures could help the Malfoy woman through the pain.

Narcissa forced a smile, "Me too." She walked to the door where her late daughter-in-law and newborn granddaughter lay. She paused a moment before going inside.

Hermione was about to follow her but she felt a tug on her wrist. She turned back around and saw Draco letting go of her hand.

"A girl?" he asked, tears threatening to fall out.

Don't cry in front of her, Draco. You'll lose all the dignity you've ever worked for.

"Yeah, congratulations, Malfoy. You're a father," Hermione said with a tint of sadness in her voice. He looked almost... broken? It was something she had never thought that she would see on her former enemy's face.

"Oh." Draco slouched back down onto his chair and rest his face down on the palms of his hands.

Hermione knew that he probably wouldn't want her to, but she sat on her knees in front of him and rest a comforting hand on his back.

"Don't you want to meet your daughter?" She whispered.

"Just leave," Draco muttered.