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On another hand, my deepest apologies for not updating yesterday! Football got in the way...

Chapter 15

Go With Her

Wife?

Husband?

Married?

Her mind was reeling. She felt as if every organ in her body had been taken out and then put somewhere else in her body that it didn't belong. Her stomach was in her toes, her nerves were all where her stomach should be, and her heart was in her throat…

Her voicebox, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found…

"Hermione…" he continued, "Will you marry me?"

Hermione was able to properly understand and analyze every word in that sentence except the important one. "Marry."

Clearly her brain had got up and run off with her voicebox, hence why she couldn't think or speak right then.

Earlier in the week when Draco had kissed her, her walls had tumbled down. Now, they were simply gone. Disappeared. Not even ruins. Not a single, lone, solitary pebble left of them. She was completely alone and vulnerable, in the middle of the Malfoy Manor gardens…

And the man she was in love with… the owner of those gardens… had just… proposed… marriage… to her?

Yes, marriage! Her brain shouted at her. Marriage! Two people, together forever, the whole glorious thing!

Good Lord… Draco Malfoy was asking her to marry him!

Jesus, Hermione, answer him! Answer! Answer! ANSWER!

And, quite suddenly, her brain and her voicebox both returned from their holiday (though her voicebox had to shove her heart out of the way since it was currently taking residence in her throat) and she was again rendered with the ability to process rational thought.

"Yes…" she said. "Yes… yes!" She smiled and Draco beamed.

"I'd hoped you would say that…" he said quietly, and he gently pulled the beautiful ring out of the box and slipped it into her finger.

"We can go out and search for another one tomorrow…"

"No," she cut him off. "This one is perfect… it's beautiful… You don't need to spend needless money to replace something so gorgeous…" She looked up at him to find him smiling.

"If you're sure," he said.

"Yes, absolutely…"

He kissed her again. She felt like she surely must be dreaming. This couldn't be happening… her? Hermione Granger? Engaged to Draco Malfoy? She kissed him back greedily, savoring each moment in case it was, indeed, a dream. He pulled away slowly.

"Will you sleep with me tonight?"

Her expression was shocked and he realized he should have chosen his words better.

"Not what I meant…" he said, stuttering over his words. "I just meant… will you sleep… with me… next to me… in my bed… tonight?"

She regarded him cautiously.

"No sex, I promise," he said, kissing her again.

"Then sure, I can do that," she said.

"Hopefully tonight will be the first of many more…" he murmured. She smiled. "Shall we go to bed?" he asked.

"Certainly," she replied. Draco smiled again.

"Dmitry!" he called. The Orhomme appeared in front of them.

"Sir!" Dmitry said. "A most confusing evening, I must admit…" Dmitry gazed at Draco and Hermione's clasped hands.

"Oh?" asked Draco.

"Well, sir, your fiancée has departed most suddenly, and, indeed, has said that she is no longer your fiancée at all, and that I should find you in the east garden with your governess, should I need you… As I did not need you, I waited until you called… and I find that you are indeed in the east gardens with the mademoiselle."

It was, by far, the longest monologue Hermione had ever heard from Dmitry.

"So Michelle is gone, then?" Draco asked.

"Oh, long gone, sir," Dmitry affirmed. "She called for me as she was packing and left not five minutes after."

"Wonderful," Draco said, and he lifted Hermione's left hand – now containing her engagement ring – to his mouth and kissed it.

Dmitry noticed.

"Sir?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, Dmitry?"

"It appears, sir, that you already have another fiancée…" he eyes gleamed like his skin as he gazed at the ring.

"You have inferred correctly, Dmitry," he said, kissing Hermione briefly on the lips.

"Sir!" he cried. "Oh my… Davius!" he called. Immediately the second Orhomme appeared.

"Heavens, what is it?" asked Davius, dusting himself off.

"The master and mademoiselle are engaged to be married!" Dmitry said excitedly. Davius gasped.

"Well congratulations sir and madam!" he said. "She is a much better choice than that blonde idiot…"

Dmitry smacked Davius with his glove.

"Not that I don't agree, sir," Dmitry leaned in to explain, "but Davius should not be so rude!"

Draco and Hermione both burst out laughing before they dismissed the two Orhommes with instructions to change the sheets on Draco's bed and walked leisurely up to Draco's room. They each kicked off their shoes when they entered.

Hermione, upon seeing Draco's bed, felt a little uneasy.

"Draco…"

"Hermione, the sheets were changed. There is no more of Michelle in this room anywhere, not even her scent."

"I know, it's just… just last night you were sleeping next to her…"

"Not happily," he added. "Tonight, for the first time in weeks, I will sleep not only soundly, but happily, with you by my side instead of across the house."

This put Hermione more at ease – albeit slightly – when suddenly she realized something strange.

"Draco, all of my things are in this room…"

Draco smiled.

"Dmitry and Davius tend to go overboard with service," he explained. "Would you like help changing?" he asked slyly.

She smiled slightly. "Sure…" she said. Draco, without removing his eyes from hers, waved his wand and her nightdress suddenly appeared in his hand.

And by "hers" she meant definitely one that she owned, but one that she'd not worn in a long, long time…

"How did you find that?" she breathed. It was black and silky, short, with lace trim and a super-low neckline.

He leaned in close to her and placed his mouth right next to her ear. "Magic," he answered. His breath sent a chill down her spine. With the thin straps of her nightgown draped over one of his fingers, he slowly moved his hands around to her back and unzipped the back of the pink sundress she'd worn that day. She felt it come loose and gap around her figure and she watched as he slowly slid the straps off her shoulders, down her arms, until the dress slipped off and pooled in a pile around her feet. She'd worn a white bra and white hipster panties that day… suddenly she felt a little embarrassed.

Draco saw her blushing.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" he asked, kissing her neck lightly before meeting her eyes.

"I don't… feel very… sexy," she struggled to find the words.

He raised his eyebrows.

"Are you aware it is taking every ounce of my self control not to simply throw you on that bed and ravish you right now?"

She stared.

"Trust me. You're sexy."

Before she could reply, he'd unclipped her bra and it fell to the floor to join her dress. Her breasts were firm and her nipples, despite her plea for no sex, were hard. He couldn't help himself… as he bent down to slide her panties down her thighs, he gave each of them a quick flick with his tongue. She gasped both times. He continued down onto his knees to help her step out of the tiny white cloth before dipping his tongue briefly into her crevice to touch her clit.

She moaned.

"Draco…"

"Nope, no sex. I promised," he said, standing up straight and holding up the nightie that was still hooked on his finger. "Arms up," he said gently, and she did as he asked, holding her arms above her head as he gently slipped the nightgown over her head and let it fall down over her curves.

Fuck she looked damn sexy…

"Your turn…" she murmured, and she took a step closer to him and brought her mouth up to his in a deep kiss. He growled into her mouth as she slowly rubbed her thigh against his very obvious arousal while she unbuttoned his shirt. Soon he'd shrugged it off and she moved down to her knees where she unbuckled his belt and unfastened his pants. They slid to the floor and he easily stepped out of them, only in green silk boxers now.

"This is my sleeping attire," he said, "but you're welcome to continue…"

"No, I think I'm fine…" she said, smirking at him. "No sex, you know."

He smirked back when she used his own promise against him. He then took his wand off the bureau and turned out the lights. Only the moonlight glowing from the French doors lit the room.

"Shall we?" he asked, and he lifted her up to place her gracefully on the bed. Once she was there she snuggled under the covers as Draco walked to the other side and also got into bed. He laid on his back and she crept close to him, laying her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest.

"I love you, Draco…"

"I love you, too, Hermione… I'm sorry that I never told you sooner…"

"It doesn't matter now," she assured him, closing her eyes. "We're together now…"

And with that, she drifted off into sleep.

She awoke over and over again throughout the night. She was not used to sleeping next to someone and she kept waking up drenched in a cold sweat and a tight bundle of nerves in her stomach. It had been years since she'd ever slept next to someone this way, but she thought it might be a little better given that he was to be her future husband…

Her stomach fluttered at that and she drifted to sleep again.

At six o' clock in the morning she was awoken so suddenly that she thought sure someone must have called her name, that there was an explosion, that there was some kind of danger… But as her brain gained consciousness she realized that it was, in fact, the tight bundle of nerves in her stomach finally showing their displeasure. She jumped out of bed and only barely made it into the bathroom in time to vomit.

She stayed there, kneeling by the toilet for a moment before focusing all her energy – which wasn't a whole lot - on calling her wand to her. She breathed a sigh of relief when it slowly rolled into the bathroom and she grabbed it the moment it was within her arm's reach. After spitting a last bit of last night's dinner and stomach acid out of her mouth, she mumbled the most promising spell she knew for fixing an upset stomach.

It didn't work.

Deciding that she must be a little delusional from tiredness and being sick, she tried again, more carefully this time.

Again, it didn't work.

She growled. That spell was flawless. She'd always performed it properly. She'd read up on it. There was only one case where it wouldn't work on an upset stomach and that was…

…morning sickness.

"Oh, fuck," she said out loud, and vomited again at the thought. Shaking, she slowly stood up and bent over the sink, washing her mouth out repeatedly and magicking her hair back in a bun to get it out of the way. After she washed her mouth out, she splashed a good bit of cold water on her face. Now that she'd thrown up twice, the sick feeling was lingering but not nearly as powerful. Once more, she tried her no-fail spell.

And it failed.

She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth to keep herself from panicking.

Don't worry, Hermione, don't worry, just a little fluke, there's one way to prove for sure…

She supported her weight against the sink and pointed her wand at her belly, muttering a slightly complicated spell that she'd learned to master as soon as she'd started her period when she was thirteen. If the resulting cloud of dust around her belly turned black, it meant her womb was empty of life. Blue, it signaled she carried a boy. Pink, it signaled she carried…

"A baby girl…" Hermione whispered, horrified, as the spell created a pink dustcloud around her belly. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor, holding her head in her hands.

Pregnant? She'd just gotten engaged and now she was pregnant?

Her mind was reeling. It was Draco's. It had to be Draco's, he was the only person she'd had sex with in years…

She was caught between the insane desires to either laugh or cry.

A mother… she was going to be a mother… she was going to have a baby girl… with Draco Malfoy… Was she even ready for that? Could she raise a child of her own?

Yes, of course she could, she reasoned… she had said she would marry Draco earlier and that meant also agreeing to raise Scorpius as her son, which she was apparently so adept at…

Perhaps she was still in a half-awake delusion, but she felt she had reason enough to be happy about this…

She had to tell Draco.

She jumped up off the floor, making her head spin and her stomach uneasy for a moment, but she soon recovered and dashed out of the bathroom and to Draco's side of the bed.

"Draco."

No movement.

"Draco!" she said, louder.

"Mmmm…"

"Draco, wake up!"

He groaned again.

"Draco, this is important…" she said desperately. He rolled over. Thinking quickly, she grabbed her wand and hit him with what she liked to call the slapping spell. Made the receiver feel like they were being slapped in the face… very useful for a proper woman.

Draco sat up and rubbed his cheek. "What the hell, Hermione?" he asked. Hermione kissed him, then quickly glanced down at her stomach. The pink dust was still there.

"Draco…" she said softly. "Look…"

He looked down at her stomach and his eyebrows went sky high.

"Draco… I'm pregnant…"