In sickness and in health

Any character or place you recognize belongs to J K Rowling


Hermione was very worried for about a week and a half but soon she got used to the idea that she was going to be a mother. It was two weeks after she learned of her pregnancy that Hermione recieved a letter:

One gone, send our love

HP RW

Hermione knew what it meant. One of the horcruxes was gone. After that Hermione perked up considerably. She started answering questions in class again and eating more but still she didn't talk to anyone except Draco. She talked to him quite a bit. He had been so friendly and helpful. He was quickly becoming her closest friend. Eventually Hermione decided it was time to resume her morphi training.

She learned an owl, eagle, hawk, and sparrow in the course of only three nights. Having already learned how to fly it was relatively easy to adjust to the other sizes and styles of the various birds. Flying had become one of her favorite things to do. She loved the feeling of freedom.

Draco watched her as she learned more animals. She learned a doe, a dragon, a snake, a bear, a tiger, a panther, a lion, a horse, and a monkey. It took her two more months to learn all these. She felt that all of them were good ideas to know right off. She loved her cat forms and her dragon form. Four months into her pregnancy Hermione was already showing considerably.

After she had learned these forms Hermione took a break and started messing with her looks. She had great fun wearing different looks into class and confusing her classmates. One day she came with black hair and another with a long nose. The different ideas went on and on but her classmates had no idea she was doing them herself. They just decided people had been casting spells at her to change her looks although they couldn't guess why.

One night Hermione was talking with Draco about nothing in particular as they played a game of wizard chess. When she had lost they moved onto the couch. Draco scooted closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders. They continued to talk and as if they were magnetically attracted to eachother the two's heads drifted together until their lips were a breath apart. There was a pause before they connected. Both felt a jolt of energy rush through them.

Hermione was self concious and still very aware of what had happened that summer but she was drawn to Draco for some reason and in magic internal instincts were often good to go by. His lips were soft and he tasted like sugar as he pushed his tongue into her mouth. They finally drew back gasping for air. Draco looked ashamed of himself.

"I'm sorry Hermione. I know you probably aren't ready for that. I don't know what came over me." Hermione turned his head to face her.

"I do." She kissed him lightly and drew back with the faintest hint of a smile on her face. Draco jumped.

"Hermione your hair it's-" Hermione felt her hair. No flames. No water. She dashed to the bathroom. Her hair was silver streaked with blue. It was really quite lovely and it accented her pale skin. She changed her hair back to brown but it was like being in one of her forms. It wasn't her normal hair color anymore. Hermione shrugged. So many strange things had happened to her recently that she was hardly surprised. She went back to Draco and winced as she felt the baby start to kick.

She took one of Draco's hands and placed it on her stomach. He looked startled. He had never felt anything like it before. Then he became thoughtful and then worried.

"Er-Hermione, I think I feel more than one pair of feet in there." Hermione lept up.

"What?!" She performed a quick wandless spell. She no longer needed her wand for anything. Her morphi abilities had taken care of that. Her stomach became blue for one second and then pink for another.

"Well my dear it looks as if you are going to have twins." Hermione sighed.

"Well I suppose it isn't much worse than it already was."

"No Mione. It isn't. It just means you're going to get fatter than you already are" Hermione punched him lightly in the arm and Draco grinned. He kissed her again. "So does this mean we're together then?" he asked hopefully. Hermione nodded and gave a small smile. Despite everything that had happened she was having a moment of intense happiness.

Draco pointed out the window. It had begun to snow outside. Hermione curled up next to him and lay her head on his shoulder. Christmas break began in three days and the two would have the castle to themselves.

Christmas day was perfect. The Hogwarts grounds looked like a postcard covered in white and there was a blazing fire in the fireplace of their shared commonroom. A large christmas tree stood in the corner with presents all around it. Mostly for Hermione but a few for Draco. Hermione was always up early on Christmas morning and she waited impatiently for Draco to appear. After an hour of waiting she climbed up the stairway to his room and turned into a dog. She jumped onto his bed and began licking his face all over.

Draco sprang awake. "Eeeew. You didn't have to do that." Hermione changed back into herself.

"Come on. Come on. It's Christmas let's open presents." Draco got sleepily out of bed and followed her down to the common room where she had already separated the gifts. She shoved Draco's five presents towards him and ripped open her first one from Mrs. Weasley. She had sent the usual sweater and some homemade fudge.

"What is this?" Draco asked pulling out a sweater of his own. Hermione giggled.

"It's one of Mrs. Weasley's sweaters. She makes them for everyone she cares about." Draco shrugged and pulled the somewhat misshapen sweater over his head. Hermione recieved a package of Weasley Wizard Wheezes products from Fred and George, a thick book on sword fighting from Lupin and Tonks, rock cakes from Hagrid which she delicately set aside, and a lovely dream catcher from Ron and Harry designed to really catch bad dreams and only give her good ones. it was decorated with lovely crystals of every shape and color.

The last gift she opened was from Draco. It was a small box but it contained something beautiful. It was a gold ring circled in emeralds and rubies. She gasped and slipped it onto her index finger. It fit perfectly. She turned to thank Draco but found him staring in disgust at a piece of parchment.

"Draco what is it?"

"Christmas greetings....from my father."