AN- No I don't own the characters

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Chapter 8

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Burning heat.

That's all Hermione could feel at that moment as she rested her back against the bed. Right then, it felt as if everything was burning. Her face was drenched with sweat, she had the sensation of what felt like knives stabbing her legs, and someone was pinning her arms down tightly. All she can hear around her was a horrid screech-like sound and people's muffled shouts.

It wasn't until her eyes flew open did she realize the screech was coming from her.

"Hermione! Calm down!"

She snapped her head towards the voice. "Shut up, Ron! You have no idea how much this hurts," she growled when she had caught her breath.

"Hermione, try to relax," Harry said gently as he watched Ginny smooth Hermione's hair in comfort. "Just do as the Healer says; take a deep breath and –"

Hermione interrupted with a scream as another pain shot up her body. Once her breathing calmed again, she glared at her friend. "Don't tell me what to do, Harry Potter!"

"I thought you were casting some spells to make it easier for her?" another voice said quietly to the Healer, who was sweating and red-faced. "Shouldn't it be painless by now?"

Wait, I recognize that voice...

"I'm doing that now," the Healer informed them, before muttering a spell. "The previous one was to let me know if there was anything wrong with the baby or Miss Granger."

"Well it's obvious, isn't it?" the irritating voice snapped, "she's having the fucking baby!"

"Shut up!" Blaise said frantically, "just shut up, will you?"

"Watch your mouth," Ginny added, glaring at the blond with distaste, "in case you've forgotten, she's having your baby as well!"

"Everyone, please," Narcissa sighed, unwilling for the argument to break out, "just stop."

Hermione gritted her teeth as she sat up to look behind her. It took a few seconds for her vision to adjust before she saw who the voice belonged to.

Once she caught sight of the blond hair, Hermione gasped. "Malfoy?"

Draco glared back at her. "What now, Granger? Is giving birth too much for you? Are you stupid as you look–"

"Mr. Malfoy, I think she's ready now," the Healer interrupted sharply before turning to Hermione. "Miss Granger. Are you ready to push?"

Hermione hesitated for a second before turning to her friends. "What's he doing in here?" She nodded towards Draco and snarled.

"Hermione," Astoria, who had been quiet since the Healer arrived, said. "He's the one who carried you to his bedroom –"

"This is his bedroom?" Hermione asked surprisingly, momentarily glancing around the room briefly to distract her from the pain. "So?"

"What do you mean 'so'?" Draco snapped. "You should be grateful that –"

"Miss Granger, I need you to push now!" the Healer interrupted loudly, sounding impatient. "The baby is ready to come out!"

Hermione nodded and took a deep breath before pushing.

Merlin, whatever spell the Healer had cast on her felt like a waste of enchantment. She could still feel pain radiating in her lower body. Her heart was accelerating as she put more pressure into pushing and she was gasping with each breath she took.

"Good, good!" the Healer encouraged. "Take a few deep breaths and do it again, Miss Granger."

However, Hermione shook her head and whispered breathlessly, "Leave."

"I'm sorry?" the Healer asked, blinking momentarily.

"Not you!" Hermione snapped, after another push. She nodded towards Draco. "Leave, Malfoy."

"Excuse me?" Draco asked, staring in astonishment at her. "You've got to be –"

"Leave!" Hermione shouted. "You never cared for me or the baby, so why the hell are you here?"

Draco continued to stare at her, but stood in seething silence.

Who the fuck does she think she is? This is my bedroom. I was the one who ordered the Healer to come here! Draco could feel his patience with the Mudblood slipping away but didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone. Honestly though, who is she to tell him to leave?

Hermione screamed as the pain increased even more. Trying to regain her breathing, she opened her eyes again and rounded at Draco. "Oh my – wait, Draco Malfoy needs to leave, someone kick him out. Please!"

She didn't care that she looked like a demented hag. She was just determined not to let him see the baby. Or her pushing it out.

"Almost there, Miss Granger!" the Healer said. "Please Mr. Malfoy, leave! You're upsetting her and we really don't need any distractions at this point!"

Draco ignored him. His cold gaze was only set on Hermione. "You have no right –"

"I have every right!" Hermione cried out, not caring that Blaise, Astoria, Narcissa, and her friends were in the room as well. He just doesn't deserve to be here! I refuse to let him see her giving birth since, as he said so himself, he doesn't even care!

"Ron, get him out of here!" Ginny roared, wincing as Hermione dug her fingers into her hand.

"Hermione; deep breaths," Narcissa reminded her softly.

Draco, however, was flushed with anger.

He ignored Ron's attempts to remove him from the room and strode towards the bed. He leant down until his face was inches from hers. "Listen here, you filthy Mudblood! You do –"

He staggered backwards with a grunt when a sharp pain against his cheek interrupted his speech. The pain increased and starting stinging as he gaped at the woman who gave it to him.

Everyone in the room held their breaths.

"Leave," Hermione repeated. She stared at him defiantly until she saw something flicker in his eyes.

"Fine," Draco said, after a few quiet seconds. He dropped his hand from his cheek, his expression void of any emotion as he gave her one last look. His voice was cold and calm. "Once you've finished, I want you and the bastard to leave and never come back."

"What is the matter with you?" Astoria asked bitterly, staring at the man in horror.

Draco ignored her and continued to glare at Hermione. He couldn't think. All he wanted right now was to hurt her. Fuck that she's having the baby now, how dare she embarrass him? "I mean it this time, Granger. If I see you and that filthy spawn of yours, I will make your life a living hell."

Before Hermione could reply, Draco walked away and left the room, the door slamming behind him. Hermione stared at the door, shocked and – although she hated to admit it – scared. What if he was serious this time?

"Push!" the Healer shouted, his concentration set. "Miss Granger, focus!"

Hermione pushed harder and she felt more excruciating pain. It felt like being hit with the Cruciatus curse.

Everyone in the room gathered around as the throbbing pain increased. After many minutes of pushing, screaming, encouragement, and crying, Hermione finally gave birth to a baby boy.

Finally.

"Hermione, he's adorable," Ginny cooed, watching the Healer clean up the infant.

Even Astoria was smiling when she saw the newborn. But Hermione noticed how the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Give him to me," Hermione murmured quietly, her voice scratchy with exhaustion.

"Let me just finish getting him ready for you, Miss Granger," the Healer said, wrapping the crying infant with a blanket. "Here you go."

Hermione was beginning to black out. Even though she was thinking of her new baby boy, her last thought lingered to the look on Draco's face before she had told him to leave. She couldn't help but notice that, behind those threatening words, his voice had seemed to crack as if he was wounded.

Draco Malfoy, hurt?

That was impossible.

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"We need to talk."

Draco let out a groan and rolled his eyes at Astoria. "There's nothing to talk about."

Astoria gaped at him. "What do you mean, 'there's nothing to talk about'? We were supposed to get married! But now, you have a baby with –"

"Don't," Draco growled harshly, whirling around to glare at her, "don't you dare finish that sentence, Astoria. That half-blood bastard is not mine."

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Draco Malfoy?"

Astoria and Draco turned around to see a furious Blaise walking towards them. Draco fought the urge to roll his eyes again. What does he want now?

"How can you say that?" Blaise continued. "Have you forgotten what just happened?"

"And have you forgotten the part where the Mudblood kicked me out?" Draco snapped, throwing himself down onto the nearby couch.

"That's because of the way you've been treating her!" Blaise snapped back. "Now that everything is calmer, it would be a good idea for you to go and see your son."

Draco stiffened. He didn't understand why his heart was thudding in such an unnatural way and why his palms were becoming moist with sweat.

"I – I have a – It's a boy?" Draco asked, clearing his throat when his voice cracked.

"Yes," Blaise said, grinning. "It's a boy with blonde hair and grey eyes. Thank Merlin he has his mother's skin complexion and not his father's albino –"

"Stop," Draco whispered.

He didn't want to hear this. Any of this.

Blaise sighed and shook his head. He glanced at Astoria for help, but she shrugged in return. He tutted and turned to Draco again. "Look, all I'm saying is if you want to see your son –"

"Who says I want to see the boy?" Draco interrupted with a scoff. "I told you and Granger, I don't bloody care, all right?"

Blaise stared at him for a while. He couldn't believe this git in front of him. "So, you don't want to be involved with him?"

"No," Draco replied in a bored tone after a few seconds of hesitation.

Blaise shook his head again and looked at Astoria. "Care to join me? I'm going to see if everything is okay in the other room."

Astoria agreed immediately.

Before they closed the door behind them, Draco lifted his head and asked the question that had been burning inside his mouth to get out.

"What's his name? Granger's boy, I mean."

Before Blaise could answer, Astoria beat him to it. "No way," she fumed. "If you don't want to be any part of Hermione's child's life, then you don't get to know his name."

Before Draco could retort, they were already out the door.

Bitch.

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Hermione's consciousness was slowly coming back to the surface. She could faintly hear murmurs around her and what sounded like a soft cry coming from a baby.

A baby.

She opened her eyes to see Harry, Ron, Ginny, Blaise, and surprisingly, Astoria, talking in whispers as they all watched the infant trying to sleep.

"How is he?" she asked, clearing her throat as she sat up. "Is he okay?"

"He's doing great, Hermione," Ron grinned, "you did really well. I honestly thought you were going to pass out in the middle of it all!"

"You underestimate the strength of a woman, Weasley," Astoria tutted, smiling at Hermione.

Hermione smiled back, but it immediately dropped when she remembered what Astoria must be feeling at that moment. "Astoria, I'm so sorry –"

"We'll talk later," she interrupted kindly. "Right now, let's focus all the attention on you and the baby, okay?"

Hermione, shocked, nodded. "Okay."

"Narcissa has gone to deal with Draco, but she said that you're welcome to stay until you've got your full strength back," Astoria said. "You could stay here for a few weeks, if you'd like."

Hermione planned on leaving much sooner than that.

Tonight, maybe.

Or in a few minutes. Or seconds.

"He's going to grow up to be so handsome, I can tell," Ginny sighed, lovingly stroking the infant's head.

"No doubt he'll have Hermione's compassion and knowledge though," Harry laughed, "Unlike some git we know." He threw a grimace towards Astoria and added, "No offense, Greengrass."

Astoria only rolled her eyes.

"Let me hold him," Hermione pleaded, extending her arms. Once he was placed in her arms, she gently pushed the blanket away from his face and gazed at her baby boy. "Hello there, little one."

The baby seemed to have recognized its mother's voice and touch, because its eyes slowly opened and blinked. His grey eyes were strikingly similar to his fathers.

But none of his gaze held hatred or anger.

He was curious, but obviously very tired. He reached his little fingers up to touch her cheek and made a sound. His fingers traced her cheek and then her nose. He blinked again, as if trying to stay awake while he opened his mouth again and gave another soft sound.

"That's right, I'm your mommy!" Hermione smiled and kissed his fingers as he cooed in response before closing his eyes again.

"Look at him," Harry sighed, "Please stop, little boy, you're going to give Ginny some weird ideas about having a baby of her own."

Ginny smacked him in the arm.

"Anyway, we really should be going," Ron sighed, "someone needs to tell my mother what's been happening."

"So soon?" Hermione asked sadly. If they're leaving, she wants to leave. There's no way she's staying here.

"We'll come back," Ginny assured her, "we'll come back tomorrow."

"Besides, you and the little one need to rest," Harry added. "Speaking of the baby, have you thought of a name yet?"

Hermione bit her lip. "I'm still deciding."

"Well, tell us the choices!" Ginny exclaimed. "It's not like we're going to laugh."

Hermione blushed. "Um, all right. I'm still deciding between Aidan and Ladon."

Silence, before Blaise interrupted. "I see what you did there." He chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

She blushed even deeper.

"Either one sounds great," Ginny grinned, pulling Harry with her. "But we really need to go now, and I can tell you need more rest."

After trying her best to get them to stay, Hermione sighed in defeat as she bade them all goodbye. She watched them all disappear before turning to Astoria.

"Thank you," she said, feeling awkward. "And I am so sorry –"

"We'll talk tomorrow, Hermione." Astoria smiled. "Just rest."

"Okay," she sighed, settling back down into a comfortable position.

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to use your wand," Astoria added before leaving. "I altered the wards so you can use it."

"Thanks," Hermione said again, watching her leave.

Once Astoria disappeared, she turned her head down to gaze at her sleeping newborn. Smiling, she leaned down to kiss his head before resting her head back down on the pillow.

She didn't realize how tired she was until she closed her eyes.

She drifted to sleep right away, failing to notice that another pair of grey eyes had been listening and watching over them the whole time, hidden behind the door. She was already deeply unconscious; she didn't even hear the person entering the bedroom, nor the sensation of a protective spell being cast over them, nor the soft feeling of a new blanket covering them.

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Hermione woke up with the sound of her son whimpering. She looked down and saw him opening his eyes before closing them and drifting off to sleep.

This boy is going to give her a hard time when it comes to sleep. She can already tell.

Chuckling, she kissed her son on the head and sighed. "Mommy loves you, darling."

"He's been doing that a lot," someone said softly, "waking up and going back to sleep."

Hermione gasped. "What are you doing here?" she whispered back angrily.

Draco merely shrugged and stood up. He lit the tip of his wand for light as he headed towards the door. Before he left, he turned around and looked at Hermione again.

"Aidan."

She frowned. "What?"

"I like that name... Aidan," Draco shrugged, "means something like 'fiery one', doesn't it?"

Hermione blinked and stared. Why is he here?

Draco stared back before sneering. He turned the doorknob and walked away, leaving Hermione in mixed emotions. Angry, because how dare he walk in here without permission? Confusion, because what the hell was that about?

And of course, annoyance.

Because she could have sworn the corner of Draco's lips had curled into a real smile before he had hid it with a sneer.

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THANK YOU TO MAGICIS-MIGHT FROM TUMBLR FOR BETA-ING THIS CHAPTER! YOU'RE AWESOME!

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