Unrequited

Disclaimer: The usual legal bullshit :P
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Who the fuck did Granger think she was? I was in a tearing mood as I exited her rooms. All I can say is thank Merlin I didn\'t run into Potty or any of the Weasels. I\'d have decked them before any of them could get a word out. Virginia included. God, but the littlest Weasel was fucking annoying. Like a rat, once she got hold of something she couldn\'t let go.

Fucking hell. I still couldn\'t get over Granger\'s gall. She dumped me. Me! Obviously I was just a toy to her. Once she got what she wanted, she was done with me. The bitch. And she said I was a crap lay. I think that\'s what bothered me the most. Whatever feelings I had beyond lust were moot at this point. I would\'ve ended things eventually, but she beat me to it and then called me a crap shag. The whore ought to have been glad I didn\'t slap her face.

I thought last night would\'ve marked a stand down. But no. Now she has made it clear that all she wants from me is war. If that\'s the way she wants it, no problem.
*************

The rest of that day I spent avoiding all human contact and desperately trying to find a way to figure this mess out. That meant hiding in a corner of the library surrounded by books. All I can say is: thank God for books. The musty tomes allowed me to step away emotionally from the problem and look at it academically.

I lost all track of time in the library. Only the repeated growling of my stomach alerted me to the fact that it was now after three in the afternoon. I\'d been there since around seven-thirty that morning. Gah. Too late for lunch and too early for dinner. I\'ve got some chocolate stashed in my room. I got up from the chair and stretched. Flicking my wand over the books and watching them slip back into their places, I left my little hidey-hole. And who do I run into? You guessed it. *Him.*

\"Watch where you\'re going, Mudblood.\"

\"Oh, so we\'re back to petty name calling, are we Ferret?\" I raised my eyebrow at him.

He only smiled cruelly and brushed past me. I left the library, managing not to break a sweat. I was genuinely afraid that he might have pulled something right there in that secluded corner. Madame Pince gave me a funny look as I went through the door, but I ignored her. I had bigger things to worry about than her.
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Poor little Granger. I should\'ve known that the first place she\'d run to was the library. Let\'s just see what she waslooking for. I pointed my wand and all the books she had been perusing flew down onto the table. The musty pages opened to where she had been researching. When I picked up the first one, I was astounded. Looking through the rest of them I was amazed. What possible reason could Granger have for seeking out medical information - especially info about pregnancy?

My mind flashed back to the scene that morning. Granger sitting there with her head in her hands, looking as if someone had told her that the sky was green and grass was blue. Such a change from the cocky girl of only hours before. What happened in the time between falling asleep and waking to find her in such a state? I had an idea, but I was loath to go and broach the subject with her. Somehow, I thought ruefully, I\'d only be treated to the same attitude that I\'d received that morning. So. It\'s back to spying. That I can handle.

Nearly seven years of skulking around inside these walls has endowed me with the undeniable skill of being able to be in places unseen and unheard. An admirable trait for a Slytherin to possess, n\'est pas? No invisibility charms for me. Just a slight Non-Noticing spell. If Granger didn\'t want to notice me, then she didn\'t. A bit chameleon like. Fitting. I smirked as I cast the charm on myself and left to catch up with her.

I found her going up the insane amounts of stairs that Gryffindors have to climb to get to their common room. It never made any sense to me why anyone would want to have to climb seven flights (at least, if the stairs were being good that particular day) just to get to their common room. Silly Gryffindors. As if hardship was a mark of honour. If that was true then I suppose the all of the Weasels are on the fast track to sainthood.

She took the detour back through the corridor where the Head Girl\'s rooms were located. I still didn\'t hear the password as the portrait of Artemis swung open. But I managed to catch it with my foot and ease in. She still hadn\'t noticed me. That was all to the good. Granger went to a little chest that sat on the dresser. When she opened the drawer, I saw the tell-tale purple of a Cadbury wrapper. Just as she tore open the golden foil, I heard her stomach give an enormous gurgle. She broke off a piece of the chocolate and ate it. The look of pure pleasure on her face nearly made me end the charm right then and there. But I resisted. Good for me, I thought sourly.

Granger all but devoured the bar right there and tossed the wrapped in the bin. Just as she turned to leave the room again, presumably to find her moronic friends, a head appeared in the fireplace. Shocker of shockers, it was my godfather. Now whatever would *he* be doing calling *her* in her chambers? I slipped into a corner behind a chair so that Severus wouldn\'t see me. He was damnably observant and would notice me there in an instant.

\"Miss Granger.\"

\"Yes, Professor?\"

\"I think that I may have found a solution to your problem. That is, if you wish to hear it.\" I could see Severus\' smirk in the green flames of the floo.

\"I\'m all ears, Professor.\" Hermione sat in chair facing the disdieddied head and attended to it eagerly.

\"There is a potion we can use to...accelerate the cause, if there is one. Once speeded up, we can address the situation appropriately.\"

\"And what if I\'m not?\" Not what, I wondered curiously.

\"Then your cycle will simply speed up and you\'ll be even more unpleasant than you normally are.\" I almost laughed aloud at Snape\'s droll observation.

\"Fine sir. I\'m willing to try anything at this point.\" That brave little soldier look that Granger had on irritated me.

\"I have the potion ready. You may come down now and take it.\"

\"My thanks, sir.\"

\"Don\'t thank me. I have no wish to see this Quidditch season ruined by a lack of good common sense. Immediately, Miss Granger.\" Severus\' head disappeared along with the flames.

Granger got up and left the room. I stayed in there a bit longer. I knew a shorter route to Snape\'s offices and I could be there in five minutes. The fireplace blazed to life once more.

\"Draco.\" It was Snape. That sneaky bastard.

\"How did you know I was there? That was my best Anti-Noticing charm.\"

\"Draco, really. Did you honestly believe that *that* charm would escape my notice?\"

\"Well, it *is* an Anti-Noticing charm.\" I felt sort of pettish saying that. I was more peeved that he noticed me than anything.

\"Enough of your bruised feelings. Miss Granger is surprisingly fleet and should be here in a minute or two. Come through the fireplace, and for Merlin\'s sake, don\'t let her see you!\" Snape\'s aggravated head disappeared through the flames and I grabbed a handful of floo powder from Granger\'s little pot on the mantel. Soon I was tumbling through into Snape\'s sanctum sanctorum.

It always surprised me to see that his quarters were not decorated in a very dark, heavy style. They were very light, if monochromatic. All done in shades of grey, there was a touch of white and black here, but nothing forbidding at all. The rooms were very soothing, if anything. I dusted myself off and got up from the floor. My godfather was smirking at me.

\"Took you long enough.\"

\"What? All of three-point-five seconds?\"

His sneering mouth was about to say something when the knock came on the door to the inner office. \"Stay here,\" he instructed.

Severus left through the slightly opened door. I peered through the crack into his familiar inner office. There were tables lined with bubbling cauldrons and beakers full of things. Snape crossed to the other room and I heard her voice come floating through.

\"So where is it?\" She demanded, rather impatiently I thought.

\"Calm yourself. It\'s here in this cauldron.\" Severus pointed to a black iron pot with a sizzling lilac potion in it.

Granger crossed to the table and ladled herself a cup. The brew was steaming so she blew on it to cool it down. Those little rosebud lips were quite adept at blowing things.

\"You need to take it while it\'s hot. Any cooler and it loses its potency.\"

Granger cocked a russet brow. \"And if I should scald my lips off?\"

\"Madame Pomfrey can fix them.\" My godfather was wonderfully dismissive of her petty concerns.

She gave him a dirty look and sipped at the cup. When it was drained, Granger set the piece of blue crockery down onto a work table. When a long minute passed by with no discernable effects, she raised that arrogant little eyebrow at him. He merely curled his lips unpleasantly and looked at the egg timer, which was nearly out of sand.

When the last grain fell, there was nothing very visible going on. But the oddest expression passed over Granger\'s face. It looked vaguely like nausea and she hastily conjured up a mirror. She examined herself for a long moment in the glass and then raised her shirt, looking at the bit of belly revealed by her low-waisted jeans. I could see nothing different. I shook my head at my godfather and quietly flooed to my own room.
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When the time ran out on the minute-glass, I could feel something swelling within me. My clothes got a bit tight and it felt like I\'d swallowed a cricket ball. It crowded the chocolate I\'d just eaten and I got a bit queasy. I conjured up a mirror from the wand stuck in my back pocket and looked at myself. When I pulled my shirt up and saw the convex rise of my stomach above the waistband of my jeans, my heart sank into the pits of my toes.

I, ladies and gentlemen, had actually fallen prey to unplanned pregnancy. I, the most cautious girl in school was to be an unwed mother. How ironic is that? I could feel my legs going wibbly beneath me and managed to sit in a chair by the worktable.

\"Fuck.\"

Snape gave derisive snort of laughter. \"I rather think that\'s what\'s gotten you into this mess, Miss Granger. The question is, what are you going to do about it?\"

\"I don\'t know. How long do I have to think about it?\"

\"The potion advanced you two months. You have a couple of weeks to figure it out. Whatever happens, not one other wizard is to know. If anyone else knew, you\'d be thrust into motherhood without a second thought. Although, I\'m not quite sure that shouldn\'t be your punishment for such heedlessness.\"

Fed up with his constant condescension, I snapped, \"What about your precious godson?\"

\"Draco?\"

\"Who else, Snape,\" I sneered.

\"Droll, Miss Granger. And it\'s *Professor*. As for Draco, of course the gossip would be most damaging, but in this day and age, with you as the mother, he\'d bounce back from it. You on the other hand would be stuck with the night feedings and the nappies and runny noses and wet bottoms. The wizarding world is still very conservative. You would be seen as the teenaged temptress and for Draco it would only be a matter of a young man sowing his wild oats.\"

At the end of Snape\'s speech, I couldn\'t help but feel trapped. Here I was, a month into my last year at Hogwarts and preggers. How was I supposed to concentrate on my studies and NEWTs and everything else if I had to worry about a frigging baby? I made my mind up right then and there.

\"Alright then. On the next Hogsmeade weekend, I\'m going to have the problem taken care of.\"

Snape cocked an eyebrow. \"And how will you accomplish that? You don\'t know how to Apparate as of yet.\"

\"I don\'t?\" I smiled toothily at him.

\"Ah.\" He shook his head at me. \"I should have known better.\" Snape got up from his post, leaning on the worktable and poured two glasses of whiskey. Handing one to me, he clinked it. \"To a successful Quidditch season.\"

I snorted at that sentiment. But it summed up exactly how I wished things would go. I drank the alcohol in one go and the fire hit me right in the gut. Apparently the parasite inside me didn\'t like that very much. And before I could figure out where the bathroom was, to my supreme mortification, up it came. After giving me a look of utter disgust, he gave me a swift *Scourgify*.

\"That was the most singularly disgusting thing I\'ve been treated to in quite some time, Miss Granger. Don\'t ever repeat it in my presence.\"

\"I\'ll try.\" I got up and fled the room. So much for that.
***********

Not suprisingly, I got a visitor dropping out of the fireplace not very long after I left. Severus unfolded his long frame from the hearth with an elegance borne out of long practice. I\'d seen my father exit a fireplace in the same manner. I could never master that particular skill. I always end up on my arse, brushing the soot from my robes.

\"Well?\" He enquired of me shortly.

\"Well what?\"

\"What are you going to do about it?\"

\"Do about what, Godfather? As far as I\'m concerned there is *nothing* to be done about it. As a matter of fact, nothing that concerns Granger is any business of mine.\" I got up to stroll leisurely around the room. \"My only business is settling down and winning the Quidditch cup this year.\"

Severus gave me a look that was half chiding and half resignation. What he could be reproachful about, I hadn\'t the foggiest. I meant what I said. What Granger did from here on out was her own business. \"Fine then Draco. I\'ve booked the pitch for the team tomorrow at three o\'clock. Do try to make it to practice.\"

He left my room in a swirl of black fabric. It still escaped me how he could do that in a room completely devoid of a breeze. It had to be a charm. The vain bastard. Now I had to think of something spectacularly rotten to do to Granger. Anything to cause her extreme amounts of humiliation would do. It gave me sort of a warm glow to think about it.

So where would the little bitch be? Probably hiding away in the library under a stack of books or hanging about those moronic friends of hers. Pathetic. Yet another reason I couldn\'t stand her. Her bloody friends. Could they be more idiotic? Probably not. I think I would have to enlist the help of Pansy on this one. Pansy might be dumber than rocks but she had a wicked mean streak. Her pranks were always spectacular. I got up from my chair and sought her out.

She was hanging around Blaise and his new boyfriend. Not surprisingly, it was that other little pouf, Finchley, Fletcher...whatever his name is. Fitting couple really. Now they could cuddle and discuss plans to redecorate the country estate.

\"Hallo all.\" I smiled engagingly at the trio.

\"Hi Draco!\" Only Pansy greeted me enthusiastically, the other two mumbled their greetings.

\"Pans, would you come walking with me a minute, I have something I wish to discuss with you.\"