Malfoy's response to her howler and the renewed rumours that he and Hermione were soon to be engaged was radio silence. He no longer accompanied his mother, even to public events. For weeks he disappeared from the face of the earth until his face was not on the cover of Witch Weekly but the front page of the Daily Prophet .
~ Daily Prophet – Thursday, 6 July 2005 ~
The Beginning of a New Era
The revolutionary joint venture between Malfoy Industries and the Royal Pharmaceutical Association heralds a new era. In collaboration with Muggle specialists, Draco Malfoy hopes to drastically expand the range of healing methods and make them more accessible. A testing facility for the use of non-magical ingredients and substances to enrich ointments and potions is already under construction. Especially considering Mr Malfoy's background as a pure-blood, this represents a considerable step in opening up the market for Muggle goods.
When we asked him if he was worried about dissenting voices concerned about his past as a Death Eater, Mr Malfoy confidently replied, "Even the smartest witch of her generation said it was a good idea. My involvement alone in this will not make it a bad venture."
Mr Malfoy is confident that initial doubts can quickly be proven wrong with the quality and efficacy of the products.
Should this venture gain a foothold in the wizarding world, which Mr Malfoy is convinced of, an exchange between St. Mungo's healers and Muggle doctors is planned as well.
Hermione still thought it was quite a fantastic idea and hoped Malfoy was right and it was successful. However, the fact that he had not mentioned her by name, but had alluded to her, made her anger boil up. What kind of game was he playing? Was he trying to exploit the rumours about their relationship to advertise his project?
She was still furious when she met up with Ginny to shop for some baby clothes and other necessities she would soon need. Six months pregnant, Ginny was already showing quite a bit. The ultrasound picture that Harry and Ginny had gotten for Arthur, who had always wondered about that kind of Muggle technology, was already showing a well developed fetus. They were expecting a little baby boy.
"You okay?" Her agitation was not lost on Ginny, a hand resting caringly on her shoulder.
"Just Malfoy again." The wicked grin spread on Ginny's lips made no sense to Hermione and she frowned.
"You think it's funny?"
Before Hermione could scold her friend for not taking her side, Ginny grabbed her by both shoulders.
"Quite. He is playing games with you, but he has so much more to lose and now it's your turn."
Not understanding what her friend implied, Hermione shook her head questioningly.
"You want Mafloy to finally step up and end these rumours, right?"
"Of course." Hermione had practically talked about nothing else since this whole ordeal had started.
"I guarantee you Malfoy only wants gossip about you two of a certain kind because depending on how this ends, it might make him look bad. Really bad."
What Ginny said made perfect sense, yet despite Hermione wanting the rumours to stop, she did not want to make Malfoy seem like a bad guy.
Although he had been the reason she had lost some customers, there were some Hermione would not mourn. She had been horrified when an elderly witch had come up to her and ranted that a Death Eater like Malfoy would be best off rotting away in Azkaban. If a nice lady could still harbour such prejudices against Malfoy even years after the war, what would some others say about him?
No, making Malfoy look bad out of spite was the last thing she wanted to do. He may have his faults, but Malfoy was not a bad person and if Hermione was honest with herself, she had to admit that in his absence she had often thought how strangely empty her store was without his silent presence in his secluded corner. Hermione would never let him know that she had come to think of that particular armchair as Malfoy's armchair, though. Merlin knew how inflated his ego already was.
"I… I don't know, Ginny." Her friend slowly let her fingers glide from her shoulders down to her hands and grasped them in hers.
"I don't want to tell you to do something to ruin his reputation, 'Mione. But! There are things you can do and easily clear up later and make it out to be a misunderstanding." Ginny's eyes gleamed with mischief like she already had something in mind.
"Any suggestions?" Although Hermione knew that Ginny would have blurted out her idea straight away anyway, she wanted to play along.
" Yessss ," Ginny answered with a gleeful hiss, drawing out the s.
"And we are at just the right place to set it in motion." She happily opened the door to the small baby boutique, grinning widely. Taking Hermione's hand, Ginny pulled her to a revolving clothes rack.
"All you have to do is help me shop for some baby clothes and touch your belly from time to time." Astounded at the wicked mind of her friend, Hermione's mouth fell open.
"Ginny!"
"What? When the going gets tough, you can claim you had a stomachache or your period." A quick shrug of the shoulders and the subject was done for Ginny and she devoted herself entirely to the cute baby rompers on the clothes rack.
Just then Hermione noticed that they were positioned visibly through the display window. Ginny Potter was an evil mastermind and Hermione would be damned if she ever crossed the woman.
Even though it made Hermione's stomach ache at first to throw a pregnancy into the bubbling pot of rumours about her and Malfoy, she quickly gained pleasure from casually stroking her belly again and again. In the end, she even got a kick out of smiling and showing Ginny a Slytherin green romper. Even if no reporter was shadowing her, she had spent an enjoyable afternoon with Ginny.
Witch Weekly did not disappoint.
~ Witch Weekly Issue 28/2005 ~
Heir on the Way?
Just a few months have passed since the relationship between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger became public. While we are all eagerly waiting for Mr Malfoy to put a ring on Ms Granger's finger, there seem to be far more interesting developments. Ms Granger was seen shopping for baby clothes with Ginny Potter in a small boutique on Thursday. Now, of course, we all know that the Potters are expecting their first offspring, but could there also soon be a successor to the Malfoy legacy? The constant caresses Ms Granger gave her belly during the whole shopping spree suggest just that.
Now it is high time, Mr Malfoy, that you finally make an honest woman out of Ms Granger.
None of Skeeter's lurid tall tales had given Hermione as much pleasure as this one. It was now up to Malfoy to finally show more commitment in fighting the rumours.