Disclaimer: Not mine! If it was…I totally wouldn't have Dumbledore die. Or Dobby *sobs* or Fred *sobs harder* or Lupin!!! *breaks into hysterics*

Hey guys! Oh My God!! I am so unbelievably sorry about the lateness of this chapter, and I know this is a completely lame excuse but I have exams in 3 weeks and I've been studying nonstop! But as it is Easter Break I just about have time to finish this chapter and send it to be beta-ed…so sorry! But Exams will only last the next few months and then it is summer break. So sorry! So moan over!

Thanks to: Arabella-Minette// fallingstar93// WinterMission// spikeecat// cyiusblack// crossy// RainbowKatie// Sparkie3222// esmerelda2134// Samera Longbottom// xcheerios// Secretly-in-love// xx-Mione-Fan-xx// CFCRockAngel// potterotica// trysomethingnew - I would have given a preview, but I haven't written the next chapter yet!

Glad you liked the last chapter! Oh and in the last few chapters I've been very good with my time keeping, but it is going pretty slowly. E.g. it is only the Thursday after they returned to school. And they returned on the Monday. So I might time jump in the next few chapters…so don't be mad and if you are confused about what time it is just PM me… .net/~marieheart

Natalie xxx

Chapter 7 - The First Task

Hermione ran across the common room and into Blaise and Ginny's room where they were sat doing Ginny's Transfiguration homework together. They looked up as the door burst open and saw Hermione fly towards Ginny and start sobbing onto her shoulder. Ginny sent Blaise a questioning look over Hermione's shoulder, which was answered by a shrug.

"Hermione? What's wrong?" Ginny said, completely at loss of what to do.

"Draco!" She sobbed harder.

"What about him?" Ginny asked worriedly, "What happened? I thought things were going well between you?"

"He-he w-was in our r-room…with P-Pansy…" Hermione broke into fresh tears and buried her head in Ginny's shoulder.

"That isn't a crime Hermione…" Blaise put before receiving an evil glare from Ginny, "I'm mean… I'm going to go and find him…" Ginny nodded looking pleased with herself. Blaise left the room.

"So, he was in your room with Pansy…" Ginny repeated, waiting for the rest of the story.

"And I w-walked in with H-Harry," Hermione wailed, "An-and they were k-kissing!!"

"Oh! Hermione! I'm so sorry! Are you sure it was like that? Maybe she came on to him…"

"She was topless! And he was kissing her back!" Hermione had stopped crying by now; her eyes were red, sore and now ran dry. "I can't believe I could be so stupid! I honestly thought he had changed!"

Hermione lent on to Ginny's shoulder, getting her breath back.

"I know…" said Ginny sympathetically, "It might not have been what it looked like… Blaise will find out for us."

Hermione nodded as Ginny hugged her and a fresh flood of tears came.

Blaise burst into Draco's room to find Draco sat on the end of his bed with his head on his hands.

Blaise stopped abruptly. "Where's Pansy?" he asked.

"Dunno, with Potter somewhere I guess." Draco miserably, "Where's Hermione?"

"What do you expect?! She's with Ginny, crying her eyes out. What in Merlin did you do? I thought you said you didn't like Pansy!" Blaise accused angrily.

"I didn't! I mean, I don't! She came on to me. Not the other way around I swear it. She came in dressed like a bloody slut saying her that I should – and I quote – "have some fun" and then she threw herself at me! I don't even know how she managed to remove her shirt. That girl is impossible!!! She would have gone after you but no! You're in love with the Weaslette!!" Draco finished, his voice was rising by now.

"Number one: Her name is Ginny, not Weaslette and number two: don't go blaming this on me! Just because I'm making the best out of the situation we have been put in!" He retorted sharply.

"Making the best? Don't be so stupid! You're in love with her!" Draco said with distaste.

"So what if I am? At least I know how to treat a girl, or do I have to remind you that it is your fiancé in there crying, not mine!" Blaise shouted back.

"Oh and just to let you know," he added whilst getting up, "Hermione is staying in my and Ginny's room for a bit, considering the way you treat her, I don't blame her." He left, slamming the door behind him.

Well done Draco, fifty points. He got himself showered and climbed into the bed, which felt uncomfortably big without Hermione lying across her half and part of his.

"That stupid son of Merlin!" Blaise shouted as he re-entered his and Ginny's room slamming the door behind him and throwing himself in the bed next to Ginny and Hermione.

"So he did come on to Pansy…" asked Ginny questioningly.

"No he didn't she came on to him." Blaise answered bitterly.

"So you're angry because…?" Ginny asked, a confused expression appearing in her features.

"He blamed me!" He said exasperatedly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What? He blamed you? How does that even make sense?" Hermione asked, lifting her head from Ginny's shoulder to look at Blaise through red rimmed eyes.

"Apparently, Pansy went after him because she knows I like Ginny now," Blaise said, turning slightly red at declaring he liked Ginny, even though they already knew.

"Oh and obviously Draco hates me, so that would make him an easy target," she said bitterly.

"Hermione, he feels bad about it. He's just a git when he is like this." Blaise said defensively.

"Whatever," Hermione replied indifferently, "It doesn't change much. Gin, where do I sleep?"

Hermione woke up the next morning with a cramp in her neck from sleeping on the sofa in Ginny and Blaise's room. She looked around to see Ginny lying on the bed looking at her and Blaise had just walked into the bathroom and she could heard the shower start.

"So….Potions?" Hermione asked Ginny.

"Nope. To Care of Magical Creatures. If you wait I'm sure Blaise will go with you," Ginny replied, "Sorry."

"It's OK. I think I might take you up on that offer…….Ugh!" Hermione sighed.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

"I just realised all my clothes are in Draco's room." Hermione said closing her eyes and throwing her head back.

"Well, if you definitely don't want to talk to him you can borrow some of my stuff; I mean we must be about the same size right." Ginny offered.

"Um yeah, or you could go in there for me? I'll still need underwear." Hermione begged. She really didn't want to meet Draco now, and have to look at the cheating Slytherin. Even though she knew Draco wasn't to blame, she couldn't forgive him for not stopping it sooner.

"Fine," Ginny surrendered, after looking into Hermione's hopeful eyes. "But if I walk in on him naked you will own me big time."

"Deal, thanks Ginny!" Hermione sat up and waited for Ginny to return with her clothes.

The morning past in a blur. Draco didn't show up at breakfast or in Potions, as much as Hermione did not want to admit it; she was worried. Potions was Draco's favourite subject; so why wouldn't he show up? Unless he doesn't want to see me. Pansy was there looking slightly smug within herself, which led Hermione to think things along the lines of stupid bitch.


Hermione walked up to PRC with Ginny and Blaise. They had to split upon entering and Hermione went to sit down at her and Draco's table. He was already there, looking paler than usual. He looked up when she entered and looked as though he was going to stand up. Hermione ignored him and sat down. She continued to stare anywhere but him, her eyes gazing out the window, at the board and at the floor.

"Hermione," Draco attempted, "We need to talk about this; you need to understand-"

"I don't think there is much for me to understand Malfoy. You cheated on me. End of discussion."

"But I didn't cheat on you! It wasn't like that! I swear to you, if you would just let me explain-"

"Tell it to someone who cares Malfoy. Like, oh I don't know…. Pansy maybe?" Hermione gestured to a few tables down to where, sure enough, Pansy and Harry were sat staring in opposite directions. Pansy caught Hermione's eye and winked. This was met with a glare from Hermione and also from Ginny who was sat on the table behind them and had caught this last bit.

"Look! I don't care about her Hermione! I care about -" He stopped abruptly as the Heads of Houses entered the room. Each of them was levitating a large box.

"Afternoon class," started Professor McGonagall, "As promised at the beginning of last lesson we told you that you would be getting set a few challenges as a couple, to see how you cope, and to train you for what will inevitably come. Today we will start these challenges. As you know the Ministry has set a law that every one of you must be expecting a child by June of next year. Now how many of you have ever looked after a newborn baby?"

She looked around and only a few people had their hands raised, Hermione one of them. Draco wasn't.

"That's what I thought. Because of this; the Headmaster has decided what your first challenge should be." With this she delved into one of the boxes and pulled out what seemed to be a human baby. All the girls in the class gasped. It looked so real!

"Each couple will receive a SimKid and be required to look after it for a week. Some of you will receive twins. The SimKids have been built and charmed to react like any normal baby. They will grow sensitised to your voices as parents and will respond to you talking. They will turn toward a noise and will respond to their given name. They will need to be fed at regular intervals and the amount of times they have cried and the length of time they cry for will be registered on this piece of parchment. It will also show why they cried. There are many reasons as to why they cry, usually these are: they are wet and need there nappy changing, they are too hot or too cold - remember the common rule that they will need one more layer than you to be comfortable, they are hungry, they want to be held, they are too overwhelmed, or they are uncomfortable. If you try all of these and they are still crying, it may be ill, take it to Madam Pomfrey as it will react normally to potions. These manuals -" Professor McGonagall waved her wand and manuals flew out to every table, "should help you, if not feel free to see your Head of House. Form a queue please."

There was a deafening scraping of chairs and everyone lined up in their pairs. Hermione left a gap between her and Draco, but it wasn't big enough and she could still hear his frantic whispers.

"Hermione, please, just let me explain! She came onto me! I swear on Merlin believe me! I promise you. It wasn't provoked or anything," Draco whispered, with pleading eyes.

"Ah! Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger, I trust everything is going well?" Professor Flitwick asked merrily. He was standing on what looked like a great number of manuals, and still had to look up at them.

"Great thanks Professor," answered Hermione before Draco could.

"Lovely. I see you two have been put down to look after Number 203 if I'm not mistaken. Ah yes, a little girl, christened Cara. I trust you will take good care of her."

"We will Professor," Hermione replied as she took the SimKid from him and stalked back to her seat followed by Draco.

"Cara," Draco said as he sat down. "That's a nice name, German I think-" He trailed off as Professor McGonagall stood up and started talking again.

"When you return to your dormitories you will see that a cot has been placed in each room and each dormitory now has a door that will link directly to the school kitchen's which have now been equipped with all baby needs. Changing mats, clean nappies et cetera have all been put in your dormitory common rooms. SimKids will need to be supervised at all times and be taken to all lessons. As in real life, your social lives will have to take a back seat. For the rest of this lesson couples will resolve any issues they are having and become accustomed to being parents."

She clapped and all of a sudden the class went into uproar. All the babies started crying and all the students looked worried.

"Merlin, do they have to be so loud?!" Draco said at the top of his voice, in order to be heard above the din.

Hermione ignored him and immediately started checking what could be wrong with Cara. She could hear other couples around her, most seemed to be baffled by their SimKid. She turned around and saw Blaise looking bemused as he held a screaming SimKid while Ginny cooed at the other, which was smiling up at her. Because of their strong relationship, they were given two babies, as they seemed more likely to cope.

"Hey! No fair! I want the quiet one! Here swap!" Blaise said, holding out the wailing SimKid towards Ginny.

"Not gunna happen buddy! You will learn to deal with your daughter!" She laughed back Hermione grinned to herself as she heard Blaise muttering something about cursing her later. She turned back to her SimKid and pulled it to her chest upright and started jigging up and down.

"What are you doing for?!" Draco yelled alarmed. "You're going to make it sick!"

"I have looked after babies before Malfoy, I know what I'm doing thank you very much!" She shouted back over the screaming of her SimKid.

"Look, it isn't working! You're probably making the poor thing feel nauseous! Let me try!" he said holding out his arms for Cara.

"FINE!" she shouted and handed the baby over, as soon as Cara got into Draco's arms the crying subsided.

"Ha!" He said triumphantly, sticking his tongue out at her. Hermione just folded her arms and glared at him.

Draco regained his thoughts. He was trying to make her forgive him. not make her more mad.

"Sorry," Draco said. At least he has the decency to look ashamed. Hermione just nodded in response.

"Please Hermione; I've said I'm sorry. What more can I do?"

"You can get a time-turner and fix what you did. We were starting to get along and then you reminded me that you cause nothing but trouble and heartbreak," Hermione snapped.

She wrenched Cara away from him and held her close- as if seeking comfort from her. She sat down while Cara snored gently and Draco watched on. He was completely at a loss of what to do.

Again, sorry for the lateness. Hope you liked Natalie's chapter.

: )

shygirl135


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