A/N: Another chapter! I got back yesterday and started writing and couldn't stop. I thought it would take a couple extra days to get this chapter together, but nope! You all have made me so incredibly happy! The last chapter got the most reviews of any other chapter. Twenty-three of them! I cried, I really did. You guys are really fueling me here! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 26

Draco had never felt so useless. There he sat, in the hospital wing of Hogwarts nearly six hours after Hermione had given birth to the most beautiful baby girl he had ever seen. Their daughter... While they had been given a couple of moments to be alone (most of the time in which Draco cried like a little baby, himself), their time together was short lived.

He had wanted Hermione to sleep. Madam Pomfrey had agreed, but not before she gave them the most horrible news. News that crashed their happiness instantly into, yet, another worry. Ellery was sick. So much so that when Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley returned to the room, they had someone else with them and it wasn't Draco's cousin.

Healer Simone Goodwinn was the best in her field, and her field just so happened to be congenital heart defects in the Pediatrics ward of St. Mungo's. While Draco had been sure Hermione understood all of the long words and technical sayings, Draco asked many questions until the Healer gave up and simply told him that Ellery had a hole in her heart.

At the time he had been holding Ellery. He had looked down at the sweet little being in his arms and wondered; how could she have a hole in her heart? That had been easily explained after the Healer did a quick test on Hermione which involved an overly dramatic wand wave. It had been declared genetic.

Healer Goodwinn then went on to ask Hermione questions about her family's medical history. Draco refused on the spot, telling the whole room in a loud voice that Hermione needed sleep as he had handed Ellery to Hermione to give her a bit of comfort beforehand. And, of course, Hermione shook her head and said she was fine.

It had been two hours before Hermione had finished giving the Healer everything she needed to know, during that time she finally fed Ellery for the first time. Hermione was too tired to tell him to turn around when her gown was pulled down her shoulders, but Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley weren't.

The next couple of hours were filled with tests and a couple of arguments. Mainly brought on by Draco's frustration over everything. Like why wasn't this hole in Ellery's heart found sooner, like before she was even born? Then they could at least have had some time to settle into the idea, instead of it being thrown at them like a pile of bricks.

Madam Pomfrey had looked almost close to tears when Draco ranted over it, and they all had been quiet (except for Hermione, who cried quietly while she cuddle Ellery close to her chest), until he was done.

Healer Goodwinn was most understanding and sincere, when she replied; telling him that magic wasn't always so reliable, and even medicinal magics couldn't pick up some illness unless it was being looked for purposefully. It was a miracle Mrs. Weasley even stumbled upon it. If she hadn't been trying to clear Ellery's airways and accidentally cast a unmitigated heart scanning charm in her haste to save the child, they wouldn't have known. Possibly until Ellery was a toddler.

But now that it was caught it could easily be fixed with a potion. However, the potion had to be taken for two months straight with one small dose every day before her morning feeding. And while that was good news, and had taken a bit of the weight off of his and Hermione's shoulders, the fact that Healer Goodwinn wanted to take Ellery to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mungo's for this, did not suit well with Draco. Not at all...

It obviously didn't suit well with Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley either, because no sooner had he hollered out an 'I don't fucking think so, you daft cow!' in true Draco Malfoy form, had the other two witches exclaimed their mutual feelings over the matter.

Healer Goodwinn evidently got the message and backed off. Saying that she would come to check on Ellery once every week to see how things were progressing. They already had a potions master, they didn't need to pay extra money on something Professor Snape would no doubt give to them freely.

Hermione, however, tried desperately to desist. Her weakened state not giving her much energy to do so though. Had she been her usual self, she would have fought with a passion, but now she was reduced to tears and saying Severus Snape had already done so much for them.

When Hermione's tears finally ceased, she fell asleep with Ellery nestled next to her on the bed and even with all the stress that had frazzled her nerves over the passed few hours, there was a modest smile on her lips.

Ellery was sick. But, they had a cure.

As Draco sat alone (Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley having left a while ago), he thought over how muggles did this. How did muggle parents get through this without magic? As he understood it, while even magic couldn't detect certain things without dilberate searching... When they did find something, wizards and witches could cure almost anything... Muggles, they either didn't have the cures they desperately needed, or their treatments were painful and took years, sometimes they didn't even work and sometimes they caused more problems.

Draco sighed. He would never be able to make it in the muggle world. He wasn't prejudice, it was just that had him and Hermione been muggles and had Ellery been born as she was with a hole in her poor little heart, he wouldn't be able to take all the waiting a muggle parent had to do in order for their child to be healthy. He was happy he was born a wizard and that his Ellery could just take a potion and within a couple months she would be right as rain.

He was happy, but at the same time he felt guilty. Because muggle parents who were in his same position or in even worse situations didn't have the treatments his world had. Those parents were left to deal with doctors putting their children through terrible tests and procedures...

He sat up when he saw Ellery stir, glad for the distraction as he stood up. In two long strides he was at the bedside and looking down into the wide baby blue eyes of one Ellery Malfoy. He smiled down at her, her mouth opening in a state of wonder.

Draco lifted her into his arms, careful not to wake Hermione, and cradled Ellery against his chest.

"Hey, you," he whispered quietly, gently rocking her as he walked around the room.

Ellery just stared up at him. It was quite funny how she looked so impassive, while he had a large dimpled grin on his face.

"You are beautiful, yes you are," he said, almost cringing at the sound of his voice, an inner voice inside telling him he was completely and utterly screwed now. He was a Nancy and he would remain a Nancy until the day he died. However, he could only smile at the baby in his arms.

But a small squeak had him alert.

In a quick rush of movement, Ellery was held protectively against his chest and his wand was out and pointing at the empty room. His heart was thudding hard in his chest. Was the attack happening? Did someone break into Hogwarts? Why wasn't the school sending off alarms, surely Dumbledore would know!

"Put the wand away, Malfoy," came a snicker and he watched as Harry bloody fucking Potter whipped off his invisibility cloak and appeared.

He didn't pocket his wand right away. "Merlin's balls, Potter," he sneered, checking on Ellery quickly to find her face scrunched up in disapproval and her lip wobbling on a coming wail. He quickly put his wand away and then gently began rocking her again. "No, no... It's okay, daddy's here, love. I didn't mean to startle you..."

Harry was forgotten for the moment as Draco tried to calm Ellery. He didn't want Hermione to wake up, she had already been put through enough tonight. He was more than happy to care for Ellery while Hermione slept and regained her strength.

Ellery soon fell asleep in his arms and he gently eased himself into the chair beside Hermione's bed. Looking up and surprised to find Harry was still there.

"What do you want?" he asked quietly, frowning.

"I wanted to make sure Hermione was okay," the black haired boy replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Madam Pomfrey said no one was to visit until she was sure Hermione was one hundred percent back to her usual self."

Draco raised an eyebrow at that. "You have a bit of a problem with authorization, don't you?"

Instead of a protest, Draco was one again surprised. Harry grinned and shrugged his shoulders. But then the grin faltered. "We all saw the healer arrive..."

"All?"

"The whole group; Ginny, Nott, Neville, Luna, Parkinson and Zabini," Harry elaborated.

"Hmm..." Draco sounded, before he looked down at Ellery, gently brushing back some of the brown feather-like hair off her forehead.

He heard Potter shift, and when he looked up he was sitting in another chair. "What's wrong with Hermione?"

"Nothing," Draco replied quickly, shaking his head. Should he tell Potter? While the shithead had been there for her lately, what about in the beginning? He had to remind himself that Hermione forgave him and he sighed and reluctantly opened his mouth. "Ellery's sick. She'll be fine," Draco added quickly when Harry opened his mouth to speak. "But, her heart isn't right and it'll take some time for a potion to heal it properly."

The was a long silence, before Harry spoke. "How's Hermione taking it?" He finally asked.

Draco shrugged. "As best she can. You can imagine how upset she was, but knowing that it can be healed helped."

Harry nodded and another silence fell over them. It wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, but it was a little weird. He never really had such a civilized conversation with Potter before...

"Can I hold her?" Harry asked after the third time he looked off towards the door to make sure Madam Pomfrey wasn't coming.

Draco stared at him for a long moment, before he looked at Ellery. It was very obvious that Draco wasn't her father. Besides looking just like Hermione, Ellery did have a rather aristocratic nose, but one that looked nothing like his. And her little chin, while a little chubby had a bit of a point to it, that once again was not even the least bit similar to his own pointy chin.

With a sigh, he stood. Walking over and debating in the mean time whether this was such a good idea. Should he wait for Hermione? But he couldn't very well refuse Potter. There would be questions... Hell, there was going to be questions anyway!

Very slowly he settled Ellery into Harry's arms, moving the pink blankets away from her face, so he could see her clearly. Might as well let the boy wonder see it straight on. He stepped back and watched as the smile slowly faded from the boy-who-just-wouldn't-die's face, watched as his eyes grew twice as large as a pair of bludgers, and his mouth fell open. In the past he might have laughed, but it wasn't really funny now.

Ellery didn't have his blood, but she was his child.

"She..." Harry looked up and Draco grit his teeth together. "But, you- Hermione- What the bloody hell, Malfoy?"

"It's really not my story to tell," Draco said and he looked to the child in Harry's arms. "I told you to ask her when you wanted to know what was wrong in April... Apparently you didn't really want to know."

"I didn't know how to ask," he replied, having to lower his voice when it started to rise.

Draco stepped forward and took Ellery once again. "What I can say is, she might not have my blood running through her veins, but she is my daughter. Alright, Potter? If you want any other information, you have to ask Hermione," he told him with a glare. "When she's feeling better."

Draco placed the sleeping Ellery back down on the bed beside Hermione. Making sure she was covered correctly and that the blankets couldn't cover her face before he sat down again, running his hands over his face with a sigh.

Both of them sat there for a long time, staring over at the bed where Hermione and Ellery lay sleeping. Draco was exhausted, he knew he needed sleep, but there was no way in hell he would be able to.

Not tonight.

"So..." Harry said after nearly thirty minutes passed and nothing was said. It was very clear Draco wasn't going to talk anymore about his and Hermione's situation. "Uh, you know Daphne Greengrass, right?"

Draco's eyebrows shot up, and he looked over at him curiously. He almost wanted to smirk, but he miraculously held it in. He didn't say anything, only gave a nonchalant nod.

"Is she- Well, is she really-"

"Is she really that sweet or is she just playing some sort of game with you?"

Harry's eyes grew wide once again and this time Draco did smirk.

"Pansy told me that the sorting hat was going to place her in Hufflepuff. If you can believe that?" Draco told him, seriously. Not really knowing why he was telling Potter this. But he saw the look of surprise on his face it nearly made him want to laugh. He held it in, however. Thankfully. "But she asked it not to. The Greengrass', while they don't follow that pureblood insanity, they have been in Slytherin for more than seven generations. To be in Hufflepuff, in her eyes, would have shamed the family."

Draco watched as he soaked all that information in. And it wasn't too long before Harry left and told him to tell Hermione he came by and that he really would like to talk to her when Madam Pomfrey finally approved visitations.

/-/-/-/

May 7th, 1997

"Merlin's hairy balls, Hermione!" Draco exclaimed as he lugged in a suitcase. "What the fuck are you packing in this thing?"

"Language, Draco," Hermione tsked.

Hermione was now free to leave the hospital wing, but she was in no way leaving her daughter behind. No sir! And Draco backed her up. Ellery needed to stay some place that she could be checked on every hour and just by chance if something went wrong she would already be in a stable environment. St. Mungo's was out of the question. And now that Ellery was born, Hermione was skeptical of the safety of the school, especially with the knowledge of the oncoming attack.

But, Dumbledore had assured her that measures were being taken. If his word wasn't enough the sight of Remus Lupin and Tonks sure did reassure her that when the time came, they would be under a great deal of security.

So while Ellery was stuck in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey had fixed up the room in the corner of the infirmary for special cases. Giving them a bed to sleep in beside Ellery's crib.

Tonks walked in with another suitcase. Draco's suitcase, so it was feather light and she easily plopped it onto the floor.

Hermione turned to the pink haired witch and once again engulfed the clumsy, older girl in her arms. "Thank you so much for being there," she said for the umpteenth time, scowling when she saw Draco roll his eyes, but she smiled at Tonks' laugh.

"Hermione, you are an admiral witch. I would do anything for you," Tonks said. "If you could do just one little thing for me, hm?"

"What?" she smiled, brightly. Noticing, Draco cross his arms over in the corner as he looked at them.

"Please, stop thanking me," she told her, pleadingly. And Hermione threw a glare over her shoulder when Draco laughed. "I wasn't even there when you gave birth."

"I know," Hermione sighed. "But you were there at the start and that's something..."

Hermione had already thanked Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley as many times as she had Tonks, and she did notice that all of them were getting more than a little annoyed with her because of it. But she couldn't help it. They helped bring Ellery into the world, and on top of that Mrs. Weasley saved Ellery's life.

Both her and Draco owed the oldest Weasley woman a life debt.

/-/-/-/

After they were settled in the room and Tonks had left, Hermione wanted to jump into her school work while Ellery was napping. Of course, the moment she opened her book the door burst opened and the room filled with familiar faces she hadn't seen in days.

Hermione forgot Madam Pomfrey gave them the go ahead on visits.

The noise, nevertheless, woke Ellery and her daughter was soon passed around from person to person.

Pansy had shattered into tears and Blaise patted Draco on the back, before he kissed Pansy's cheek and whispered in her ear. This surprised Hermione, but made her happy beyond reason. Pansy told Blaise! And Blaise didn't seem at all mad, he seemed happy. If not a little nervous, but who wouldn't be?

Ginny had cooed over the baby while Theo gave Hermione a big hug. The tears in his eyes didn't escape her, however, and she pulled him back into a bone-crushing embrace that lasted for so long, she didn't even know how much time passed until they let go when Ellery began crying. When they looked they found Neville holding her with a petrified look on his face. Draco easily transferred their daughter into Luna's arms next.

When Luna held Ellery, the dreamy smile on her face almost sobered and she had looked at Neville pointedly, her words making the whole room burst into peels of laughter.

"I want ten of them."

As Ellery fell asleep, all of their friends gave them small goodbyes and then left for them to rest. Madam Pomfrey had come to check on Ellery once more and then left with a smile on her lips.

Finally they were alone. With Ellery in her crib, fast asleep, Hermione cuddle in Draco's embrace. But something was bothering her. All of her friends had come, but not Harry. Draco told her Harry had shown up when she was sleeping that night she gave birth to Ellery, had told her he wanted to talk to her. But where was he?

Hermione eventually fell asleep, homework forgotten, and both her and Draco were given leave on their classes. Thank Merlin. Although, Hermione still wanted to keep up with her studies...

It was in the middle of the night that she was gently shaken awake and Hermione looked up to see Draco smiling down at her, with Ellery in his arms.

"Do you want me to take her?" she asked him, tiredly. They had come to know over the past couple nights that they wouldn't get a good nights sleep for some time. But neither were too bothered about it. Eventually they might get Ellery on a schedule. Hopefully.

"No," he whispered quietly, leaning down and kissing her briefly on the mouth. "Someone's here to see you," he told her and then reached to turn on the bedside lamp.

Hermione sat up and noticed Harry in the doorway.

"Harry? What are you doing here?"

Harry looked over at Draco and Hermione noticed a very odd silent conversation take place between them. Before she could say anything, Draco kissed the top of her head and then left the room with Ellery, humming the song Magic Works by the Weird Sisters as the door closed behind him.

"Harry?" Hermione tried again, as she watched her friend worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

Harry shook his head and slowly stepped forward and took a seat on the edge of the bed. He sighed and looked down at his hands.

"Ellery's not Malfoy's is she?"

"What?" Hermione felt her eyebrows disappear into her hairline. She wasn't at all ready for that question. Hell, she had just woken up and it was... Looking at the clock she nearly growled. It was three in the goddamn morning!

"She doesn't look like him at all, Hermione," Harry said sadly, and finally looked at her. "I've been a horrible friend. I know this. I've been desperately trying to sort it out between us, but I haven't been going about it correctly, have I? I should have asked you questions... One's I've had for a long time, but didn't know how to ask."

Hermione bit her lip as she felt the sting in her eyes. Any resentment at being woken up at such an ungodly hour gone. So it was time then. Finally, Harry was catching on.

"I want you to start when it all began... During the summer," he added more quietly, knowing that it was already a sore subject with her parents death. If only he knew all of it... And it seemed he would know it in only a short time. "Don't hold back. Don't tell me only half truths. I want it all. Everything. I need to know."

Hermione stared at him as he looked at her expectantly. Where to start... How to start, really. She hadn't told this in what seemed like forever. Closing her eyes for a moment she took a deep breath. "It happened after lunch," she said, seeing it all before her eyes. Helping her mother with the dishes, while her father went to go get a book from his office that he had told Hermione about when they had been eating. Shaking her head she opened her eyes and looked back at Harry. She delved into what happened, and as Harry had asked, she left out nothing. As ugly as the truth was, she let it all out.

By the time she was done, she hadn't shed one tear. Which was quite unusual. Harry, on the other hand, had crumbled. During the whole story she had noticed how his hands clenched, she'd seen the vein in his temple throb with anger and now that the story was over he was brought over by the grief. He was finally understanding, and he was finally seeing that he had left her to the dogs at such a crucial time- A time when she had needed him more than anything.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," he sobbed into her neck, as she comforted him, holding him and running her hands through his messy black hair. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh. It's okay. I've forgiven you, Harry. You are forgiven," she had told him this a couple times before he fell asleep, having cried himself into a fitful slumber.

She covered him up with the blankets and when Draco came back he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Where am I going to sleep?"

"On the floor."

"Oh, I think not, witch."

"What? Are you going to sleep with both Harry and I?" she asked him, teasingly.

Draco growled as he set a sleeping Ellery back in the crib and then turned on Hermione, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Scoot over," he told her.

Hermione's eyebrows jumped up. "Really?" she asked, but she did so anyway.

Draco got into the bed and wrapped his arms around Hermione as she snuggled up against him, Harry fast asleep on the other side of her. "How did he take it?" he asked and she smiled when his lips pressed against her temple.

"I've never seen him cry like that before," she answered quietly, almost sadly. "He broke, Draco."

"Of course, he did," Draco replied and she looked up at him curiously. He only smiled back. "He's one of your best friends. A brother, just like Theo. I would be surprised if he hadn't."

And with that they fell asleep in each other arms. Harry Potter snoring lightly beside them.

TBC