I do not own Harry Potter or make money off this fic. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling and associates.

Taking a deep breath, he blurted out the only words he could think of.

"You don't understand, Mother- I love her!"

Draco sighed and raked a hand through his hair before looking up at his reflection. "Well, that reeked. Augh! How am I supposed to convince my mother that I care about her?"

Lie, like you always do. Like you do best. He smirked and then grunted, turning on the tap. Splashing some cold water on his face, he reconsidered. It was only in front of Hermione that he would have say things like that, of course. In private he could lead his mother to believe the other truth- that he was only using her to get close to Potter and Dumbledore. Not that he even knew which lie he believed himself. Everything was starting to get rather confusing- between his attempts to assassinate the old man and convincing Hermione (how strange to think of her as Hermione and not mudblood) that he really was a nice guy…you are a nice guy. To your mother. And occasionally Pansy. He frowned and splashed some more water around before turning off the tap. I'm never really nice to her or Crabbe and Goyle- more like I tolerate them. Which is sufficient. But as for Hermione…

Things just weren't going the way he thought they would, that was all. She still didn't seem to really trust him (although he knew full well that was perfectly normal- he had been abusing her the last five years, after all), but besides that, she kept making googly eyes at the dumb red head. He was going to have to put a stop to that. No matter how well Snape said her lessons were going, she would never convince half the Death Eaters he knew, let alone the Dark Lord, that she and himself had been cavorting in empty closets.

Draco sighed and rubbed at his eyes before grabbing a nearby towel and drying his face. Then he ran a hand through his hair, made another face, and headed out the door. There was no point in feeling sorry for himself. If there was a job to be done, it was better to face it now than wait and have the entire thing blow up in their mutual faces- although that would probably take care of Dumbledore for him. He smirked as he walked down the hall.

It was almost dinner time, wasn't it? Perhaps it was time for another public display of power.

Hermione hadn't been feeling well since that afternoon. She'd taken the rest of the day off (again, ugh) and had sequestered herself in her favorite study corner of the library. Ginny had joined her for study hall and the two had been passing notes ever since, give or take a half hour here and there when Hermione felt the need to retch. She was decidedly out of sorts…and pregnant, to boot. It was extremely uncomfortable and she wasn't even out of the first trimester.

How annoying.

How are things with Malfoy?

Hermione read the latest note from Ginny and rolled her eyes. The girl was positively playing matchmaker, she could swear.

Bothersome, she responded.

Ginny stuck out her tongue and made a lewd gesture.

Not that kind of bothersome, Hermione added. He, well…her hand stopped moving and her thoughts trailed off the page. How could she describe the current state of affairs? Draco wasn't making her do anything she didn't want to- other than spending time with him to begin with, and she could hardly fault him for that. She was supposed to be madly in love with him, after all. And he was being as nice as possible without actually acting like a friend, or even an acquaintance. The act was going as far as setting rumors in motion and nothing else. It almost bugged her, that, though for reasons she could hardly fathom at the moment. She frowned and started to say as much to Ginny when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up, nonchalantly covering the paper with her arm and sliding it out of the way. Ginny glanced up at the intruder as well and smiled brightly.

"Hullo, Harry. What's up?"

Harry brushed a lock of his ever unruly hair from his eyes and looked to both girls, smiling comfortably in return. "Nothing much. Studying? You've been missing an awful lot of classes, Hermione. Slughorn is starting to worry." He pushed some of the books on the table aside and took a seat next to them. "Not that I mind. I'm number one in Potions, now," he added slyly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Only because you're cheating. And anyway, I just haven't been feeling well."

"What's wrong?" he asked, brow furrowed. He looked to Ginny for answer, as Hermione could only blush and look away.

Ginny shrugged and shook her head. "I dunno. I think it might be catching, though. Maybe you should go- we've got that Quidditch game coming up on Saturday."

"Like you're not playing in it too," Harry returned, grumbling a bit, but he stood up anyhow. Hermione sighed and tugged at her messy ponytail.

"It's just womanly troubles, Harry. Don't worry about, okay? I'll catch up all my schoolwork. I always do."

Harry's face turned a slow pink and he hemmed for a bit before nodding and heading off towards another section of the library. "Oh- well, that makes sense, I suppose." He suddenly couldn't meet Ginny's eyes and dashed away after securing a dinner date with them both.

Ginny stared after him. "What on earth was that?"

Hermione snickered. "He's being a boy, Ginny. And I'm fairly certain that means he noticed that if he asked anymore questions he'd be talking about the female physiology around a girl who is making him increasingly uncomfortable."

Ginny's mouth made a little o shape and then she smiled, a predatory look upon her face. "I see," she murmured.

Hermione was rather sure that she did see just then, and was glad of it, because it suddenly took all the pressure off of herself and Draco and the mess she was in. She turned back to her books, relieved. She really didn't want to discuss her feelings- or lack thereof- or any other sort of emotional issues she might be having. They were a bother to think about and even more of a bother to pretend to have in the first place. It would be useless to even try and sort them out at the moment, so she didn't see any reason to try.

Madame Pomfrey had been very helpful so far, of course, but even she didn't really know how to help. So, she was stuck studying the books she had been given and hoping for the best. And now…now, she was going to have to talk to her parents about things, without telling them the truth, and while she was happy to be allowed to speak to her mother, she wasn't entirely certain that was going to help much, either. If she couldn't tell her mother everything, what was the point of trying to discuss it?

Hmmph. It was all most distressing.

Her stomach growled and she looked down, embarrassed. Ginny glanced up from her work again. "What, dinner already?"

Hermione laughed. "I guess it is for me and-" she paused awkwardly. She was trying out a recommendation from the last book she'd gotten, about building up a bond with the…with her child. Ginny looked at her questioningly, waiting for her to finish the sentence.

"For us," she finished lamely, gesturing towards her still flat belly. Ginny watched her sympathetically.

"You don't have to do that, you know," she whispered. "Try so hard, I mean."

Hermione shook her head. "If I don't learn how to love this thing, who will? Besides, it's my responsibility. Even Draco has been surprisingly-" she stopped again.

"What? Do you mean he's actually being nice about it and not just trying to bugger you?"

"Well, yeah." She fidgeted in her seat some and then began putting her books away. "We have to build up some memories of a real relationship. Otherwise it's never going to work. That's what he says, at least. And Snape is seconding him."

Ginny frowned and then shrugged before speaking seriously. For all her mirth and lewd remarks, Ginny had as low an opinion of the Malfoys as anyone, if not more. "Well, as long as you don't mind…I believe that idiot is capable of a convincing performance. After all, we all thought for years he was just a harmless bastard. Now it turns out he's actually taken-" she stopped suddenly as well as Harry moved over to their table once more.

"You ready for dinner?" he asked. He gave no indication he'd heard their conversation.

Hermione smiled. "Harry, you've barely been in here fifteen minutes!"

"So? We all know I'm not a scholar. Besides, I can study after practice- but if I want to make practice I have to get to dinner early. So…are you ready?"

Ginny and Hermione shared one last glance before nodding and standing. Ginny winked at her friend and then started out the library ahead of Harry and Hermione. Harry watched her walking and Hermione poked him in the side.

"What?" he asked, startled.

"Nothing," she responded before stepping ahead to join the red haired witch, "perv."