The Baby Project

Chapter Thirteen:

'If I had just one tear running you cheek,
maybe I could cope,
Maybe I could get some sleep.
If I had just one moment at your expense,
then maybe my misery would be well spent.'


WEEK EIGHT : EIGHTH MONTH

"Control your breathing"


"I'm trying!"


"Ouch!"


"That was for touching me!"


Hermione couldn't help but feel sorry for Neville.
She knew she had drew one of the short straws when she had been paired with
Malfoy...but it appeared that Neville had drawn the other one.

She stared in front of her, where she saw the whole of her class doing the
same as her.
Sitting in the middle of the floor, breathing in and out.


She felt as big as a house...and the thought of only having one week left
was frightening her every time she thought about it.

She didn't feel prepared enough to go through any of this.

This was their first and last anti-natal class.
Professor McGonagall had said that it would be a double lesson so she could
fit everything in.

When Hermione asked her why they hadn't had one before, the Professor simply
explained that because the pregnancy only lasted two months, and the actual
labour would last for approximately one to two hours, that the girls would
only need to know the basics.

When Hermione asked why again; McGonagall had said that the teachers
felt that they did not want to put the girls into too much danger or
complication, and so the birthing process WOULD be as painful as a real
birth...but would not be as long.

Well, that was always a good sign.
At least she wouldn't be in pain for as long as she had thought she would be.


To say that the lesson was painful was an understatement...many of the girls
had now gone into denial...

According to Millicent; the baby was just going to stay there and not come
out of her.

"I don't see what the big deal is" Draco had piped up, among seeing the
classroom empty of desks when he had finally entered the room; his
classmates sitting down on the cold floor. "All she has to do is push, and
pop!, the baby shoots out"

"You try shoving something the size of a watermelon, out of something the
size of a can ring" Parvati had shouted back at him.

She had been a little uptight lately.
Maybe it was because the idea of twins had finally sunk in...and it wasn't
the happy little miracle she thought it would be.

"Take a seat, Mr.Malfoy"

Draco looked around the classroom until he spotted Granger.
He didn't even kick up a fuss anymore, since he had been sitting next to her
for the past two months anyway.

She sat there on the floor, looking like a beached whale.
Well...that's what he wanted to tell her, but she probably would have killed
him.

Instead, he put his bag and cloak at the back of the classroom, and then sat
down next to her.
She turned to him and gave him a stern look.

"Why are you always late?"

"Why are you always early?"

She caught him grinning at her.
She couldn't help but smirk back.

It was uncomfortable at first...
but since that day he had felt the baby inside of her, she had noticed those
little changes...
Subtle; barely-there changes...but they were noticed all the same.

And now they were getting on a little better than what they had done
previously.
He didn't glare at her as much, and he certainly tried not to call her all
of the horrible names she was used to.

His sarcasm was something he would never be rid of...but she knew that
without his sarcasm, then he wouldn't be the Malfoy she loved to hate.

"Okay boys, get behind your partners" McGonagall instructed.

Draco looked at her, absolutely baffled.
"Are you suggesting what I think your suggesting?" He asked mockingly.
"Because if your suggesting what I think your suggesting, then you should
definitely suggest something else because the thing you are suggesting is
not something that should have been suggested"

The class looked over at him as he spoke.
Obviously gibberish had entered into his vocabulary.

Hermione shook her head.
"Trust you to think about sex at a time like this"

She heard him snigger.
"It's just the way my brain happens to work"

Hermione watched as the boys shifted their positions, and sat on the floor
behind their partners, with their legs open...ready for their female
counterparts to lean back against them.

Hermione went stiff.

There was no way on god's green Earth that she was doing tha-

"Mr.Malfoy, Miss.Granger?" McGonagall asked them.
The whole class looked round at them.

Hermione's cheeks began to flame.

"Over my dead body" She heard Malfoy say from beside her.

"And I'll be using his dead body as a shield..." She answered, crossing her
arms and becoming more defiant than him.

McGonagall had anticipated this problem.
But how were they supposed to learn when they couldn't even help each other?

She heard Malfoy sigh.
Then she felt him move.

Shocked was not a word that could describe how Hermione felt when she found
Malfoy's legs suddenly encasing her in the middle of the floor...but she
didn't feel anger, either.

What the hell had made him do it?
Usually he would just sit there and be out of the loop in the lesson.
And now...here he was, participating and doing what the Professor had asked
of him.

Malfoy could feel everyone staring at him.
What was he supposed to do?
Kick up a fuss until the Professor took house points from him and made him
lose marks on their project?

That was the first thing that sprang to mind.
The second thing however, was probably the best one to go with.

You see;
No one would expect Draco to play along with it...do as the teacher was
asking of him...so that was exactly what he planned on doing.

That way, he was sure that him and Granger would be viewed as a unified
partnership.
AND he would get extra points for even participating.

So there he sat.
His chest quite close to Granger's back...
Her fuzzy hair threatening to choke him.


"Okay..." Began the Professor, still eying Draco wearily. "How do you know if
you are about to go into labour?"

A few hands shot up into the air.


____________________________

There were three Anti-Natal classes built into the one;

1. First stage of labour - covering how do you know you are in labour,
when to go to the hospital, what to do etc.
All the first-time mums squirmed as they talked about perineal massage,
enemas, massage, hot baths and so on.

2. Second and third stages of labour - covering all the what ifs of
Caesarians, forceps, ventuose and so on. This really was the painful part of
the class - talking about pain relief and techniques and the joys of each
method. Talk by one of the Health Visitors about what to expect with a
newborn. This one was this weeks treasure. I'll come back to it.

And then finally;

3. Breastfeeding - But this class ended up being postponed as soon as
Seamus asked whether the lads could give it a go, too.


As the class departed, Hermione was left feeling completely bewildered.

What had just happened?

They did some breathing exercises...and Malfoy was getting praised for
Helping Hermione by 'showing' her how to do it!

AND THEN McGonagall showed the boys how to give the girls a simple, yet
effective massage to help calm them down during their labour....

Hermione could still remember it;

F L A S H B A C K



*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*


"Now, just lean back into your Partners chest, and let him put his hands
gently onto your shoulders-"

"-OUCH!" Pansy shouted again. "Longbottom, I SWEAR I am going to throttle
your windpipes in a minute!"

"-I said 'gently' Mr. Longbottom" McGonagall told him, seeing Pansy's
discomfort. "I didn't tell you to try and dislocate her shoulder"

But from the look on Neville's face, it was plain to see that that was
exactly what he had attempted to do.

Hermione leaned back slowly.
Anxiously waiting for Malfoy's usual bark of disapprovement...

But none came.

Then she felt her back come in contact with his chest.
Tentatively at first...she leaned in a little more, testing the waters.

She never realised he was muscular.
Not a beef cake...but there was definitely something there.

'Hermione!' She scolded herself. 'Don't even begin to contemplate
on what lies beneath Malfoy's shirt...that's just disgusting'

But it didn't feel disgusting.
If felt new.
She had never been in this sort of position before.

Taking a deep breath, she relaxed fully against his frame.
She could feel him tensing beneath her.
She didn't dare to turn around and look him in the eyes...she was likely to
get the glare of death or something...

She jumped when she felt his fingertips brush her hair away from her neck.
The sensation was completely new to her.

He placed her hair so it slightly overflowed on her left shoulder.
Then she felt the palms of his hands on the nape of her neck.

She felt his finger tips rise until they were on both sides of her neck, and
she felt a tickling sensation when he kneaded the skin between his thumb and
forefinger.

Hermione instinctively closed her eyes.
Whether she was supposed to or not, she really couldn't help it.

Who knew that a boy with such a jaded outer shell could be so soft centered?

And why was she so relaxed about it all?
This was Malfoy...not two weeks ago, they were at each other throats.

This time back then, it was most likely that either he or she would have
told the professor that they intended to take no part in this part of
the Class...

So what had changed since then?
She knew that since he had felt the bump up close and personal, that he
seemed to have changed his attitude towards her slightly...but she had never
quite imagined Malfoy to be like this.

Willing to take part in their classes, almost as if he had been doing
it all along...

Did she not expect enough from him?
Did she under estimate him in some way?

Was he finally coming to terms with the fact that this was how it had to be
for the rest of the year?

Was she finally coming to terms with the fact that Malfoy was going to be
there every step of the way?
In all honesty, she didn't know.

But she honestly didn't think she would have minded if he did.

Call it a turn of events, hormones or whatever...but if Malfoy was going to
continue to be this casual and willing to help, then she wouldn't have
minded at all.

It could have been worse.
It could have been Neville.

Malfoy peered down at the bump.
He wanted to touch it again.

It was almost a week ago since he had realised exactly what this thing was
all about...and now he wanted more of it.
He wanted to reach out and place his hands on her stomach...he wanted to
interact with that tiny life inside of her.

Malfoy felt her relax against him.
Her full body weight was now being supported by him.

And to his utter amazement;
He didn't dislike it.

He liked the feel of knowing she was depending on him to keep her
there...keep her and the baby where they were.

And so he kept kneading the skin between his fingers absentmindedly.
He looked around briefly to see that many of the other lads were doing the
same thing.

Only it looked like it came natural to them.
And it certainly didn't come natural to him.

And yet...it felt natural...

'Maybe Granger's bloody pheromones are getting to me, too...' he
thought to himself.

He looked over her shoulder slightly to see that she had her eyes closed.
There was a content look on her face; he had never seen her look so relaxed
in his presence before.

This irked him a little.

Was he loosing his edge?

Slowly, he leaned his head down to her ear.
"Enjoying this, are you?" He asked her, feeling her jump when his breath met
her ear.

Hermione kept her eyes closed.
"No, it's bloody awful"

Malfoy chuckled.
Just the reaction he had expected.

Never in a million years did he even think he would be sat here with Granger
in between his legs whilst giving her a damn good massage....

'They might as well cart me off to the loony bin, now...' He thought
to himself as he heard Granger let out a sigh.

Hermione realised just how relaxed she was.
She had actually SIGHED!

How embarrassing!
And yet...Malfoy didn't even flinch.
He just kept going...maybe he didn't hear it.


"Very good" Came McGonagall's voice in her ears, somewhere in the distance.
"It looks as if you have gotten the hang of that..."

Malfoy removed his hands slowly.
"Did I get the hang of it, Granger?" He asked her, his mouth close to her
ear again.

Hermione; her eyes still closed with a content expression on her face,
shook her head.
"Not even close"

Malfoy smirked to himself.


That had definitely got to her.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*




E N D F L A S H B A C K

It was now 11.45am ... and her appointment with Madame Pomfrey was at
11.50am.

Hermione walked from the class, leaving Malfoy lagging behind somewhere.


She had been preparing to walk into the Hospital wing, when a hand reached
out and grabbed her arm from behind her.

Hermione whirled around quickly, putting her free arm over her stomach,
instantly wanting to protect it.

"Easy, Granger" Came his voice.

Hermione looked up at him and glared.
"You scared the shit out of me!"

"Easy now" He told her mockingly. "Watch your stress levels...We don't want
your water breaking now, do we?"

Hermione huffed and carried on walking.
Then she turned around to face him again.

He was following her.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Following you" He answered her simply.

"Why?" She asked him, folding her arms over her chest.

He shrugged.
"McGonagall told me to"

Hermione put her arms down by her side.
"Oh"

For a moment, she had thought that he was just doing it to annoy her...
but he actually had a reason, after all.

As she turned around and began walking again, Malfoy walked in step with
her, all the way up to Madame Promfrey's wing.

When they walked through the entrance doors, they saw a few of the other
girls lying down on their beds happily, talking with each other excitedly.

"I don't see what they're so happy about" He said, whispering into her ear.
"This time next week, they'll be lying on those beds, begging for any drug
Pomfrey can give them that isn't illegal"

"You have such a rosy outlook on the whole birthing prospect, Malfoy"
Hermione told him, cheerfully.

"Yeah well...I'm not the one that will be going through it, am I?"

Hermione gave him a look.
As if she needed to be reminded about exactly what would be going on when
she's giving birth...just thinking about it was giving her the wiggins.

"Miss Granger" Madame Pomfrey shouted, walking towards her with a clipboard.
"So it's your turn this time, I take it?"

Hermione nodded nervously.
Malfoy gave her an inquisitive look.

This was her first time.
Because the pregnancy only lasted two months, Dumbledore had insisted that
the girl's would only need one Ultrasound, to make sure that the baby
was safe.

She had planned on having the scan sooner, but apparently the teachers
wanted to wait until the girls were blooming, and the babies were already
close to being birthed.

She had no idea why.
Maybe it was so they could see the baby in its almost entire form...
maybe it made it easier for them to check everything was in order.

"I take it this is your other half?" Madame Pomfrey asked her, looking
sharply at Draco.

Draco wanted to glare, but thought better of it.

"Come this way" She told Hermione.

Draco followed the two women, wondering exactly what the hell was going on.

When Granger had left the classroom, McGonagall had told him that he had
better go, too...
Draco didn't complain, considering it was getting him out of his lesson....
But now that he was here...

"Lie down on the bed" The medi-witch told Hermione.

Draco watched as Granger lay on the bed, and lifted up her school shirt.

His eyes widened.
There it was...in all its glory...his child.

Granger was talking about something or other with the medi-witch...it wasn't
important.
Draco couldn't take his eyes off her stomach.
The bulge was bigger than he remembered from the last time he had touched
it.
But then again, he hadn't felt Granger's skin on his bare hands...it had
been an innocent touch through the feel of her fabric.

"This will feel a little cold" Promfrey told Hermione, spreading a thin
layer of what looked like lubrication gel allover her stomach.

Draco wrinkled his nose.
"That's disgusting"

"Well, it has to be done I am afraid" Madame Pomfrey told him.

"What will I be able to see?" Hermione asked her expectantly. "It's not like
the Ultrasounds that Muggles have, is it?"

Madame Pomfrey shook her head.
"God no" She said with a smile. "Us wizards and witches were using those way
back in the stone age. We are far more advanced than that, now"

Hermione smiled to herself.
She chanced a glance over at Malfoy, to see him standing there with his
hands in his pockets, not knowing what to do with himself.

"Don't you want to see it?" She asked him from the bed.

He looked at her, puzzlement etching his featured.
"Don't I want to see what?"

Hermione frowned.
Wasn't this the reason that he was come with her?

"McGonagall-

"Professor McGonagall" Madame Pomfrey repeated sternly, the blue
sparks now flying out of her wand suddenly being absorbed by Hermione's
stomach.

"Professor McGonagall-" She began again, looking at the medi-witch. " - sent
you here so you could see it with me, didn't she?"

"See what?"

Suddenly there was a flash of light.
Out of nowhere, a large, thin screen of white plastic had appeared on the
left hand side of Granger's bed.
It was like one of those Muggle projector screens...

Something was beating.

"Oh my god..." Granger said in a whisper, looking in awe at the screen.

Malfoy could still hear the beating.
Pummeling his ear drums...heightening his instincts.

Fast...slow....fast...slow...all at the same time.

He slowly took a few steps, to see what she was looking at.

"It seems all in order...It's healthy" Madame Pomfrey said with a smile,
looking at the picture on the plastic screen.

Malfoy took a few more steps...coming to stop at the end of Granger's bed.

He looked at the screen curiously.
Something was moving inside of it....

It had arms...it had legs...it had a pair of gigantic, big blue eyes....

He looked over at Granger.
He could tears prickling her eyes.

He felt something tug at his heart.

He looked at the image on the screen again, this time seeing it more
clearly.

Those little arms looked as if they were reaching out for
something...searching for something in the darkness that it could only sense
was there...

The baby was reaching out for them.
For its mother and father...

At that moment, Draco had never felt an emotion like it.

A tidal wave of adoration, like he had never felt before.

Something actually needed him...
Something was actually craving his attention.

"Do you want to know the sex?" madame Pomfrey asked the two pupils.

He felt Granger's eyes on him.
He looked down at her, a small smile playing on his lips.

"What do you think?" She asked quietly, seeing that warmth again in his icy
orbs.

Malfoy thought a moment.

What did he think?

"I think thats our baby" He told her simply.

And yes,
He did realise that he had said it.



_____________________________


Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Again, I am forever in EVERYONE's debt for reviewing! All of the kind reviews everyone has left me has got me on a mad fic-bender!!!!!!!!



ZAIRAPHEL:
All i can say is thankyou so much for the wonderful review you left for me!
I too hate fics where the characters automatically fall for eachother. At the end of the day, characters have to go through all sorts of stages before they can even begin a relationship with someone they hate...


WINTERWATER:
I had to read your review twice before I realised you weren't flaming me lmao!
(Im very surprised that I have not got a flame yet...*touches wood* hehehe)

GUARD GEEK:
I LOVE DAVID EDDINGS!!! The whole reason i picked 'Pawn of prophesy' is because those series of books remind me alot of Harry Potter (what with the sorcery and everything lol).

FORGETFUL LOVE:
What can i say? Your reviews make me smile everytime i read them!!!
I LOVE your idea!! ...but i've already written the birthing scene...and a few chapters after that, hehehehehhe!!
(Yup, I have no life and spend most of it either working or writing lol)


WENMEI:
I agree that hermione calling her child a 'little shit' does seem out of character...but I guess I thought about what i would say myself, if i was being kicked in the stomach from the inside lmao


JAMIELBLYE:
I LOVE 'Narcissus' !! I watched a video on youtube.com to that song...and ofcourse it was about Draco. It describes him beautifully!!!!
Keep reviewing, I love hearing from you!!!


SAM:
I'll let you in on a secret...Ron doesn't have feelings for hermione...not right now, anyway lmao!!


LEXY MALFOY:
You have got to be one of my favourite reviewers!!!
I have been on your LJ and I was SO PROUD and HONOURED that you pimped my story!!! I sat there giggling to myself like a little girl for about half an hour lmao!!!
THANKYOU SO MUCH!!!

HERMIONEMALFOY:
My N0#1 fan...I LOVE YA!!!!! Thankyou for all of your support, and I am depply honoured and flattered that you love this story so much!!!!!
THANKYOU!!!


THE CHARMED ONE:
I'm glad you have taken time to read my story!
Thankyou, and I hope you continue to enjoy it!!


LOVELYLADY:
I'm sorry I made you lose sleep lmao!
But i hope you enjoyed it enough, to go to bed feeling satisfied that you had read something that was worth reading lmao!!!

DRACOLUVAH:
I update everyday because I am like 5-6 chapters ahead...and I will email you everytime I update!!





If anyone wants me to email them whenever i update, just let me know and i will send an email to you, letting you know.
(It beats staring at the AFF.NET screen, clicking refresh until you see a new chapter arrive lmao!)


Also, I really appreciate how patient everyone is being towards draco and hermione's relationship.
Yes, they are taking their time (but that is to be expected considering they loath eachother so much in the books lmao).

Love takes time, people...

But you WILL get your smut eventually!!!

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!


Keep reading and reviewing, I really appreciate all of your support!!!!!!