Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my imagination and whatever else is in this story that doesn't make sense. I was inspired by another romance novel i read and J.K. Rowlings wonderful world. Enjoy!
Chapter 11
"Wrapped so Pretty"
"…The wizard could not sleep all night for the banging of the warty old pot by his bed side, and next morning the pot insisted upon hopping after him to the breakfast table. Clang, clang, clang…."
Hermione sat among the children of wing four. A few of the older ones appeared a bit bored with the old tale having heard it so many times before. The younger ones however, where staring wide eyed, and with a look of awe when their healer revealed the large illustration of the storybook.
"…Clang, clang, clang went the cooking pot's single brass foot upon the floor, but now its clamor was mixed with the brays of a donkey….." Hermione searched their faces and couldn't hardly contain her desire to laugh as their eyes widen. One little girl grabbed her pillow to hide beneath it the tale went on.
The tale was that of The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, it was an old tale. Mrs. Weasley had given her a old dusty book the other day and thought Hermione should have it. Hermione had already started collecting magical story books of her own for her baby. But, since the collection had no use at the moment, and was growing fairly large, she brought a different story to work every morning. She was so intent on turning the page to the next phase of the story that she paid no attention to the disturbance that was unfolding beyond the hospital's double doors behind them.
"And now the tormenting pot filled to the brim with salt water…" Hermione stopped reading only slightly after she heard a co-worker scream "gr…groaning and slopping and hopping.. Then she heard more shouting moving up the hall.
"…whining...like...a...dog…" her book reading died away and she signaled for the children to run back to their beds, shouting turned into a faint muttering, followed by the children's chairs scooting along the floor. The children gasped. The little girl dropped her pillow and ran over to Hermione and pointed at the man standing by the door. Hermione turned and saw Draco Malfoy, staring back at her through the clear glass. The room went dark, although Hermione knew no one had touched the lighting. Her blood drained from her face and she lowered the book, letting it drop to the floor. Had her heart stopped beating all together? A thick silence fell across the room, two senior doctors rushed into the room as if they had been chasing someone, four nurse's entered next, brushing past Draco Malfoy, a third level healer and next Professor Helbert who started speaking abruptly as another healer held one side of the door open. "Mr-Mr. Malfoy welcome to our lovely children's floor. This of course, is the room for accidental wand incantations…if I had known you cared for a tour, I could have arrange someone one quite easily sir." said Professor Helbert.
Draco didn't respond. In fact everyone in the room seem to notice that he paid no attention to anything their Head Healer had just said. He only looked at her.
Hermione felt sick, really sick. Nothing like the nagging bit of morning sickness she'd been dealing with lately. No, nothing like that. This was a true, royal puke-my-guts-up-in-a-big-fat-cauldron kind of sick. How had he found her? How did he know she was here? For a moment, Hermione felt all fuzzy like she was about to faint and to be honest fainting was right there up on her list. She thought that maybe he didn't recognize her, he was so custom to the brunette after all. Today, she wore her usual green Healer's robe's. Her simple brown hair was pulled back into a bright yellow ribbon that one of the children had given her this morning. He simply could not know who she was looking like plain ol' Hermione. Could he?
His eyes were narrowed, and the stiffness of fatality stood right in the middle of them. The hard line that should have been his mouth looked like pure stone as he did nothing but look directly at her. Every curious eye in the room now centered on her, standing there beside her little wooden chair, with her silly little book beside her feet. She knew she was his target, and she had not endured such an undisguised hatred for a very long time.
"W..Would you be so kind to please wait for me outside, p...perhaps in the garden quarters?" she asked lowering her eyes and not lifting her eyes anymore to look directly at him.
After a long, long silence he finally said. "I'm not going anywhere." and for the first time he turned to stare directly at the Head Healer, Spleen Helbert. "I don't need a tour, but what I do need is for you to get these people out of here, while I have a word with your healer."
The nurses quickly scrambled to gather all the children as instructed by Professor Helbert waving his hands frantically for everyone to get out including the children, scooting them to their feet, closing their books and grabbing their magical crayola's, forcing some out of their beds and making them leave behind their toys.
Bonnet, a little girl whom favored Hermione rushed over and squeezed tightly to her arm. She didn't want to go and the presence of the stranger standing in the door frightened her. Seconds later a healer Hermione knew as Julie came to pry the little girl away. "I was nearly done anyway sweetheart," said Hermione to the child when she started to cry. "We'll finish tomorrow …okay….I promise, but you have to go with the others now."
Bonnet screeched and screamed as Julie forced her tiny fingers away from Hermione's robe. Hermione watched as they filed the children quickly into a herd and fled the room, some throwing back a glance at her before leaving. A Healer released the door from its latch, closing it, and twisted the lock as Draco instructed her to do.
"Open that door!" she demanded immediately. "We can talk with the door open."
"Talk." he said "You're lucky if I don't rip you apart."
She gasped and held her breath, panic filled up inside of her, she began to search for an escape, should she need one.
"Now she wants to talk….before you were only in for a quick fuck!…what's the matter Granger, you scared everyone might learn our little secret!" He took long steps, closing distance between them, and she took equally large steps backing away from him.
"You know what, you disgust me now,more than you ever have." He forced out the words.
She went back as far as she could go, stepping over a doll, and several odd toys.
"At least with Potter you kept your head straight,"sneered Draco inches from her. "Now that genius brain of yours is so brilliantly filled with muggleshit, it's taken over where your heart use to be. Bet you planned on me not ever knowing?" He taunted her with an attempt to mimic her voice. "Well, Of course Draco, super-smart Granger had it all worked out!"
She knew at this point she couldn't run so she just froze as he moved in inches from her. "Because you have me pegged as just some dumb jock right! You were counting on that weren't you mudblood. Counting on me, to be to stupid to put it all together."
"I don't know what you're talking about." cried Hermone, she bumped into a rocking horse. Her skin felt hot, sweaty and clammy. "I want you to leave…NOW!….GET OUT!"
He advanced on her a third time with enormous speed and she flinched, turned and shielded her unborn baby instantly.
Anger flushed through him as her hands flew to guard her stomach, shielding it. It confirmed the truth "I just bet you do." his hated stare could have burn a hole clear through her. "You know what….You're a liar a filthy lying whore. just like all of them!" He was so close, his face touched hers. He snatched her roughly by both the arms, inches from her face, snatching her hold free from whatever it was she was trying to protect. "But don't you dare lie to my face, not ever. You know bloody well what I'm talking about. I hear you've set yourself out to have a Malfoy… and I hear …you've hit the jackpot!"
All her strength drained from her body. She felt like sludge in his hold. Not this….God no anything but this…She wanted to curl up and fade away. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew the truth, some how he had found out about the baby.
"It doesn't have anything to do with you…please….please just go, forget about it. I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."
She gave a sudden scream, when he pushed her away. "FORGET!" he screamed and looked so icy pale, so engulfed with anger. "YOU WANT ME TO JUST FORGET IT!"
She was trembling as she tried to speak."You weren't suppose to know, I never wanted you to know….I didn't think you'd care, I'm sorry, it's not to late please…I'll go away. As far as you want...I.. I'll leave London. No one knows, not a soul has to ever know. I just wanted the perfect baby so badly." she was crying so hard now she could barely see through her tears. "I'm so sorry, you weren't suppose to know."
He was on her in seconds, she gave another deep scream, he was frightening her. "Get rid of it!"
"NO!" She scream with every ounce of breath in her, and pushed him off of her as hard as she could muster.
He had not expected it, Her sudden attack back.
This was not an attack on her, he wanted to hurt her precious child. Now they stood face to face, eye to eye. She would die fighting him before she'd murdered something so helpless, something so innocent, something that poured through every part of her being. "I don't care what you say! Do you understand me Draco Malfoy. As a matter of fact its very clear I've never cared what you wanted. But this is my baby, no body's baby but mine. I'm not proud of what I did." She moved away from him and tears of mixed emotions and out right anger poured from her eyes. "I've already told you, I'm so very sorry….. You weren't suppose to ever find us….but there is nothing I can do at this point but hide if you want, I'll leave forever, even disappear if you ask me too. But if you so much as think of causing her harm, you'd better kill me… because I'll die to protect her."
He wanted to scream at her, stomp her, curse her, hex her...he'd never had to nerve to kill another human before but now, now it seemed like the only option worthy for her. She had no right to destroy his lineage like this…
Hermione spun away, hugging herself and moved closer to the window behind her. She looked out into the garden quarters. Then back into his face, she clung to her uniform surrounding her belly, drawing it tighter as she turned slightly to protect her baby. One of these windows were unlocked and she knew it, but couldn't remember which. She could put as much distance between them as possible. She would move somewhere far away. She would quit her job, today, the moment he left. She dreamed of her daughter while she thought of all these things. Hermione dreamed of her going to Hogwarts. But that no longer mattered. She had to protect her first. She could feel him advancing on her again and quickly turned her back to him. Preparing, making herself ready, should he attack her or tried to harm her child.
His voice rattled with anger. "This is the way it going to be Granger. First thing tomorrow we're leaving London. In fact we're leaving the bloody fucking continent, the two of us are taking a trip to the west to America, where no one is likely to sniff us out. And once we're there, we're getting married. Pack light it ain't no fucking honeymoon." he sneered with venom upon every word. "And keep your fucking mouth shut about it, do you understand? This will be a marriage made in hell, and that's a promise! Once the kid is born, we're getting a divorce."
"Have you gone daft Malfoy, I will not marry you, not in a million years."
"Like hell you won't. I don't care what you want, you see muggle, a pureblood would never leave his garbage lying about. It's bound to get out and I have to protect my own damn reputation and I'm not going down for just dropping off some mudblooded kid."
"No! Draco, now you listen to me. I-will-not-marry- the-likes-of-you. My baby is not a stray and its not a mudblood!" she huffed spitting with anger at his verbal assault on her child. she could kill him now for what he'd said. "and neither am I! You have no right to-"
Hermione winced in extreme pain when he grabbed her arm without warning. "SHUT UP! I've got a shit load of rights, and I'm going to make damn sure that every one of them are spelled out for you and that brilliant little fucked up mind of yours. All the way down to the joint custody if I decide that's what I want!"
He could have out right slapped her and had the same effect.
"Joint custody," she said as if the wind had been blown out of her chest. Tears flooded her eyes "You-can't You can't do this!"
"That's what you think witch! You lost your rights to that kid when you came up with this filthy scheme to tarnish my family's bloodline."
"I don't care what you say, I won't marry you!" she bellowed through tears.
"Yes, -you will. And do you know why Granger? Because I'll destroy you before I let a selfish bitch like you, raise my kid as a bastard."
She was crying so hard. she wanted going to be sick and could feel it rising in her throat. "Things...things are not that way anymore, there are millions of single mothers. No one thinks that way anymore."
"Are all muggles as stupid as you are? This is not your pathetic, tragic little world from the other side, what you've done is a absolute disgrace to my family, to me and to that kid. You think you're so damn intelligent. I sure hope you're use to rolling around in the mud, cause a fight is what you got coming. You've lied to me, deceived me and my friends, and weaseled your way into destroying my family's good name. What you've done is flat out thievery, pure and simple. The Prophet will eat you alive, there's not a pureblood in the country that wouldn't love to toss your ass in Azkaban for this. Don't you cross me witch, I'll have full custody of that baby before you can even spit it out! So now, we can either do this quiet and clean, or we can go public and see just how nasty your little scheme looks to my world….either way Buttercup I'm calling the shots!"
She couldn't say a word. and if she could nothing she wanted to say could escape her frozen lips. The world she thought she saw was now suddenly filled with pain again. Speech was impossible. She tried not to absorb what he was saying to her, but she knew it was the truth. "Please..." She begged almost groveling at him, unable to even hold herself upright. "Please...please don't do this….please, please you don't even want this baby. Please just let us go Draco for Merlin sake please." she felt the sickness riding in her throat, she wanted to vomit, she could taste the sourness, but she was crying so hard she simply couldn't breath yet alone bargain with him.
"Hell no I don't want it. This baby was the last thing I wanted. But its like I told you…there has never been a Malfoy that was a bastard, and I'll curse you until the day you die Hermione Granger. But that seed you're carrying is a Malfoy, pureblood or not. It's not his fault that his mother is a lying bitch! Our family's lawyer will be owling you this afternoon with papers to sign. My financial responsibilities are to that kid only."
Hermione was crying so hard with what he was doing. She would never hand her precious baby over to this monster, not even for short visits. "Why wont y-you listen t-to me? I-I don't want your money Draco."
He ignored her. She could tell. She was going to fight him, he had no right to place a claim on her baby. Her baby would never be born under a Malfoy name, she would be born a Granger and proud of it, just like her. She didn't care how much money he had. She would fight him until her last breath…He had no right —...
But that tiny inner voice inside her, that annoying O-so-holy-bitch that she hated, slammed headstrong into her diluted and justified conscience. He did have rights. He had every right! Thanks to her manipulating lies, her worse enemy had some how become her lover and the father of her child. And it didn't matter if she liked it or not, she knew Draco had a say in his baby's future. Her guilty heart made her face the bitter truth staring her down. She had been warned by Ginny and by others she asked on the matter. Fatherless children just were not a part of this world. She had gotten herself in this fix by turning her back on principle. Looking down her nose at laws that would always be there no matter how she fought them.
She was a mother now and she wanted a life of peace and happiness for her angel. And if she wanted the life of joyous memories for her baby she couldn't fight anymore. From this point on she had to think of more than herself, she had to do what was best for the baby. She tried so hard not to make the child a misfit, but it seems she'd done just that. Crying she walked past him and picked up her copy of The Hopping Pot, from the floor and sat back down in her wooden chair. "I'll think about it." she said.
"Yeah why don't you do that. You have one hour before the papers arrive." he said and he walked out, leaving her sitting in the wooden little chair.