The Baby Project

Chapter Seventeen:

'I always have,
I always will.
You know that I just want to touch you,
whenever your close to me.
I always have,
I always will.
You know that I just want to show you,
just how much you mean to me'

Draco lay in his bed.

Countless times he had attempted to get some sleep.
But it was no use.
Nothing was settling him tonight.

He turned and saw the clock on his bedside cabinet.

2.35am

Dammit, he had spent almost three hours willing sleep to come!

He rolled over, onto his stomach.
He fluffed the pillow a few times, hoping it would make his head more
comfortable...
but he knew he wouldn't feel comfort at all tonight.

Airyn wasn't there with him.


Granger had been told she could go home today.
Madame Pomfrey had used all the necessary potions and healing spells to get
her and the other girls healthy again. Apparently she was 'far too busy' to
keep tending to all the girls...


F L A S H B A C K

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

Draco had met her from the Hospital after his last lesson of the day.
The girl's were allowed two weeks off to re-cooperate after giving birth,
whereas the boys had to have their last lesson today.


He had to smirk when he looked at her, wrapped up in her cloak.
Their daughter was wearing a white jump suit, which made her resemble a baby
snowman.
But he didn't blame Granger for wrapping her up so tightly...the weather was
terrible for Mid-November...blustering winds which had managed to knock even
the fattest of people over.

"What's so funny?" She asked him, seeing the smirk on his face.

Without any warning, Hermione handed the baby over to him.
She had her bag to carry, and Malfoy obviously wasn't going to offer to
carry it.

Draco struggled with his grip on his infant, the jump suit slipping a little
in his hands.
But he quickly got the grasp of it, and cradled her to him as both he and
Granger made their way out of the Hospital Wing.

When they got home to their Common Room, Draco felt a sense of pride fill
his heart.
His baby was home.

He couldn't help the feelings that were flooding through him, they were so
strong that he would of had a very difficult time hiding them.

Hermione plopped herself down onto the couch, taking off her thick cloak and
putting it behind her.
She looked over at Malfoy, and a smile suddenly beamed on her face.

He stood there;

Rocking the baby in his arms...looking at her like she was the only
precious thing he had in the world.

Who knew?

She never would have guessed that Malfoy would take to it this comfortably.
He seemed to come alive whenever he was holding her.

Hermione knew exactly how he felt, because she felt exactly the same when
she looked at their baby.

Hermione leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes.

Last night was a nightmare.
Malfoy had been told to go home by Madame Pomfrey. She had told him that he
needed some sleep...

But the thing that confused Hermione was the fact that Pomfrey had mentioned
that Malfoy had been there ALL day, the first day that Airyn had been
born.

Hadn't he told her that he had only just arrived when she had awoke from her
sleep?

Or was there something that he wasn't telling her?

Hermione had the inkling that something was amiss...she couldn't put her
finger on it, but she knew there was something that Malfoy was hiding from
her...but until the day she discovered what it was that he was hiding, she
would have to keep her thoughts to herself.

...Well, as soon as Malfoy went home from the hospital, Hermione instantly
regretted it.

Airyn had cried the whole night through, and nothing Hermione could do would
calm her down...
In the end, she had fed her twice and ended up rocking her asleep for about
half an hour.

Hermione opened one eye and glanced at Malfoy.
He was sat on the chair opposite her.
He just seemed to be staring at Airyn...but he seemed so content, that
Hermione didn't want to bring him out of his thoughts.

Draco couldn't take his eyes off her.

If it was possible, she had grown more beautiful since yesterday.
He had removed her little jump suit, finding a pink babygrow underneath.

He wondered how that had gotten there, considering all the babygrows that
had been delivered were either white or yellow...
But then again, magic obviously had something to do with it.

"I think she might need changing later" Hermione told him.

He looked up at her.
"Well, I'll give her back to you, then" He told her, getting up from the
chair. "You can have the...err...pleasure of that little task"

Hermione got up off the couch before Malfoy could bring Airyn any closer.
"Nuhuh" She told him defiantly, walking around the couch so it was now
in between herself and Malfoy. "I did it before...and I believe you haven't
had the...err...pleasure of experiencing it for yourself, yet"

Draco scowled.
He would feed her, change her, wind her and even bath her...but there was no
way he was cleaning up her mess.

"But it's disgusting" He told her, looking down at the baby.

Hermione laughed.
"Don't tell me your shit smells of roses, Malfoy"

He chuckled beside himself.
Atl east his shit wasn't being carried around inside a nappy all day...

Babies really were dirty little creatures, when you got down to the bottom
of it.

'Bad pun, Draco...' he thought to himself.

"Oh come on, Granger" He asked her, following her around the couch until she
made a dash for the other side of it, getting away from him again. "Your used
to cleaning up other people's shit"

Hermione looked at him incredulously.
"How so?" She asked him, folding her arms over her chest.

"You've been cleaning up Potter and Weasley's since first year"

Hermione scowled at him.
"I'll choose to ignore that comment"

Draco shrugged.
"I don't know how to change a dirty nappy, anyway" He told her. "So until I
do learn, you'll have to do it"

Hermione smirked at him.
"Don't think you're getting out of this so easily" She told him, finally
coming around to him at the back of the couch. "I'll show you how"

She took the baby from his arms, and carried her over to the couch.
She lay her down on it, before pointing her wand at the door that lead to
her dorm room.

"Accio Changing mat!"

Draco watched as a yellow piece of plastic covered sponge flew through the
air, before landing in the centre of the floor, in front of the couch.

Hermione picked Airyn up again, and then placed her on the changing mat.

Hermione looked over at Malfoy.
"Come here" She told him.

And it wasn't a request.

He peered over the couch, watching what she was doing.
Then he slowly moved around it, until he was leaning over Granger's back,
watching her pop the buttons underneath the babygrow.

"The nappies and sudo-crem are in my bag" She told him, taking their
daughters tiny legs out of the babygrow.

Draco looked through the bag, until he found them.
He passed them to her, but she shook her head and smiled at him.

"I'm not doing it" She told him. "You are"

Draco's face paled.
"I'll be sick"

Hermione rolled her eyes.
"You big wimp!"

He didn't care.
There was just something about seeing someone else's excrements that made
him want to hurl.

Hermione carefully undid their babies nappy, trying her best to take it off
considering Airyn was kicking her legs up into the air.

Draco noticed that she kept trying to fit her whole fist into her mouth.

Draco smirked to himself.
Definitely Granger's daughter...only her foot tended to live in her
mouth, rather than her fist.

"Malfoy, get your ass down here and do this" Hermione told him, poking him
in the knee cap when he didn't respond.

Draco sighed.
Slowly, he sat down next to Granger on the floor and watched what she was
doing.

And then he smelt it.

"Eurg!" He exclaimed, holding his nose. "That's absolutely revolting!"

Hermione laughed, and then passed him the baby wipes.

He looked at her, confusion etching his features.
"What?" He asked her.

"Wipe her clean" She told him.

Draco shook his head.
"No" He answered, still holding his nose, just for effect. "There's no way
I'm doing that"

Hermione too drastic action.
She pulled the nappy away from Airyn's bottom, and put it right in front of
Malfoy's face.

"I've called you shit face a few times in my lifetime, Malfoy..." She
told him, a smirk playing on her lips as his back hit the couch, trying to
get away from the offending diaper. "...but I never meant the term
literally..."

Draco took a deep breath.
"Fine" He told her defiantly. "But you owe me one"

He begrudgingly took the baby wipes from her hand, and tentatively wiped
Airyn's bottom; his nose wrinkling in disgust when he saw the weird
greenish-coloured crap on the wipe.

This was obviously one of the more degrading parts of Parenthood.

Hermione watched him as he cleaned their baby.
Well, at least he had finally took the bull by the horns and decided to
really get his hands dirty.

When Airyn's backside was finally clean (and the rest of her too,
considering she just wouldn't stay still when Malfoy was cleaning her),
Hermione had shown Malfoy how to put a clean nappy back on, and how to
adjust the babygrow so that it was fastened back up.

Draco felt proud of himself.
Call it a conquering of the fears, if you will.

He clapped his hands together enthusiastically, rubbing them.
"So, what now?" He asked her.

"Probably her feed, and then a nap" Hermione told him, taking the baby in
her arms and sitting back down on the couch.

Draco nodded.
But he didn't really understand exactly why Airyn had to sleep so much.
When she was asleep, he couldn't peer into her eyes.

Draco watched out of the corner of his eye as Granger undid the first few
buttons of the three-quarter sleeved white blouse she was wearing.

Not this again.
He didn't think he could take it.

Instead, he made his excuses and walked to his dorm room.

Hermione watched him go.
She felt awkward...was he that repulsed by the sight of her feeding their
child?

Hermione looked down as Airyn took Hermione's nipple into her mouth with
ease.
Hermione rocked her slowly, patting her tiny bottom with her left hand as
she sat there, staring into space.

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


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


...Draco had been downstairs twice since then.

Once to see if Granger needed any help, and a second time to say goodnight
to Airyn.

He knew that his daughter needed to stay with Granger for a night or two;
her milk was obviously an important source of food for the baby at the
moment.

But Draco was anxious to have her all to himself.
To be there when she woke up, needing comfort.

To see her twinkling eyes when she looked up at him, figuring out who he
was.

Draco rolled over in his bed yet again, willing sleep to come to him.
But it was useless.

He threw the covers off himself, before throwing on a pair of black baggy
pajama bottoms and heading for his door.

He walked into the Common Room; searching for something to do.

But instead he found something much better.

Granger lying on the couch; Airyn lying on her chest...eyes wide open,
looking around curiously at her surroundings.

Draco walked towards them slowly.
Granger was sleeping peacefully.

He smiled down at the baby.
Obviously she was having problems sleeping, too.

He reached down slowly, watching Granger's face as he did so.

She really wasn't all that bad looking, when her mouth was shut.

Her light brown hair cascaded around her, the curls traveling over her
shoulders, and onto the arm of the couch that she was using as a pillow.

He came to the realisation that she was remotely attractive...which was a
dangerous thing to admit to himself...and he was fully aware of it.

Draco plucked Airyn from Granger's chest slowly, so he didn't wake her.

Bringing the baby closer to him, holding her head in the palm of his left
hand, he smiled down at her.

"What are you still doing awake, eh?" He asked her.

Airyn moved moved her head around, as if trying to figure out where she
was... feeling his fingers on her scalp. She brought one fist back into her
mouth again, and the other shot up into the air, waving around meekly...

Draco smiled at her.
"Can't sleep...?" He answered for her. "Neither can I"

He sat down with her on the chair opposite Granger's sleeping form.

He carried the conversation on with himself, still looking adoringly at his
daughter.

"I don't suppose your liking it very much at the moment" He told her,
holding her outstretched hand in his own, playing with her tiny fingers. "But
I wouldn't worry; it'll probably get better when me and your mum get our
acts together"

Draco glanced at Granger.
"She's not bad, really" He continued. "You will actually find that you can
get on with her, when you want to"
He looked back down at Airyn. "But then again...I can tell your going to be
Daddy's little girl...."

"That's what I was thinking"

Draco's head shot up, looking at the girl on the couch.

When the hell did she wake up?
Had she been listening to what he had been saying?

Hermione pulled herself into a sitting position, yawning and stretching as
she did so.

Draco couldn't help but glance at the small bit of flesh that had flashed at
him as she stretched her arms into the air...the tank top she was wearing
riding over her stomach.

"Why did you fall asleep down here?" He asked her.

Hermione looked at him tiredly.
"I couldn't get her to sleep, so we came back down here for a bit" She
picked the book up that had fallen off the edge of the couch. "When Airyn
finally fell asleep on me, I picked up a book and started reading"

Draco accepted her answer.
Obviously she was finding it harder to cope than she was letting on.

"Why are you down here?" She asked him.

"I couldn't sleep" He admitted, still playing with his daughters fingers.

He could see her eyelids starting to flutter shut.

"I think she's going to sleep, now" He told Granger.

Hermione got up from the couch and walked over to stand by Malfoy at the
side of his chair, looking down at their daughter.

"She always puts her fist in her mouth" Hermione said fondly.

Draco smiled.
"I think it's cute"

Hermione looked at him, a shocked expression written on her face.
Since when did Malfoy call anything or anyone cute?

"Have you seen her try and pull at the hairs on her head?" Hermione asked
him, crouching down beside the chair, reaching out to stroke the infants
delicate head.

Draco shook his head.
"No, but i\I've seen that look in her eyes that she gets when she's trying to
suss something out"

Hermione laughed quietly.
"I've seen that too"

Draco looked over at Granger.
"It reminds me of you"

He could see those emotions written on her face...full of love and
contempt for their daughter.

He felt the same.

"I think I should put her in her crib" She told him, reaching her arms out
to take the baby.

Draco kept a firm hold, withdrawing from Granger's grasp.

Then he got up from the chair, walking over to the door that lead to
Granger's dorm room.

She followed him, wondering what he was doing.

He opened the door, and disappeared up the stairs.

"Malfoy?" She asked him, walking behind him. "Where do you think your
going?"

Malfoy turned on the stairs and looked over his shoulder at her.
"I'm putting Airyn to bed"

Hermione looked at him strangely for a moment.
Did he not think that she could do it on her own?

But...it was endearing to know that he felt the need to want to do these
things for himself.

Draco pushed Hermione's door open; walking into the room and going straight
over to the tiny crib in the corner of the room.

Hermione was just in front of him when he placed their now sleeping daughter
into her new sleeping quarters.
she looked so small, lying there surrounded by white fluffy bedding...an
array of small cuddly toys surrounding her as she slept.

Draco couldn't help the small smile that illuminated his face.
He had the urge to want to put his baby girl to bed himself...he needed to
do it to put that overwhelming feeling of need to rest.

But it wasn't satisfied.
And it would never be satisfied.

He looked at the back of Granger's head a moment, for some reason he noticed
the two-toned shade of her hair. The light brown with the dark blond...

'Draco, what a time to be studying Granger's hair!'

Hermione looked longingly at her daughter.
She had been holding her not moments ago..and yet she missed her warmth so
much.

It was crazy.

Hermione moved away from the crib before Draco did without realising it, and
her fore head bumped into his chest as she collided with him.

And it was the first time that Hermione realised that he was naked from the
waist up.
Her eyes were inline with the feint outline of his pectoral muscles...and if
she looked down an inch or two, she would have been able to see those abs
that she had heard some of the girls talking about every now and again...

When her head came into contact with Draco's chest, his hands had instantly
came out to hold her arms; just in case she fell backwards towards the crib.

And now he found himself almost holding her in his arms.

'Wow...this could be seriously embarrassing' Hermione thought to
herself, still guiltily admiring his chest.

Hermione looked up at him slowly, ready to apologise for being such a clutz.
She could easily blame it on being tired...

But when she looked up at him, all words seemed to fail her.
The moonlight through the window had created a sharp shadow on his face, his
sharp features becoming more prominent...and his eyes all the more silver.

In that moment, she realised what all the fuss was about when it came to
Draco Malfoy.
She realised why all the girls found him so oddly attractive...

It wasn't because of who he was...and it wasn't because of
what he was...

It was because somewhere deep inside of him, there was a man waiting
to be discovered...
A man waiting to be brought out of his boyish exterior...wanting to grow up
and realise what life was all about...

And Hermione could not help but find that extremely attractive.

He was looking at her curiously.
As if sussing her out...finding out what she was thinking.

Hermione felt his hands on each of her forearms...she could feel his
fingertips tightening slightly.

Draco stared into her eyes like he did that day on the Quidditch.
He wondered if she could tell what was going through his mind...wondered if
she would ever know.

Did she realise the way he would look at her now?
The way he held that respectful gaze just for her?

No, and she would never realise; because he never wanted her to know.

She didn't need to know that it was all her fault that he was feeling like
this...
Never knowing whether he was coming or going, and never really understanding
the feelings that he kept hidden whenever he saw her face light up in a
smile...

Draco let go of her suddenly, looking down at the floor.
"It's late" He said quietly. "I should get going"

Hermione nodded.

What had just happened here?

One minute they were getting along...then they were locked in some kind of
embrace...and now he was being off with her?

And he says that HER hormones are up the wall?

Draco looked up and gave her a small smile.
And it was killing him.

There was a niggling inside of him, telling him to just dip his head down
and kiss her.

'Whoa!' he thought, shocked at the feeling that had just gone through
him. 'Where the hell did that just come from?

But he would be damned if he was going to do it.
He really didn't understand what was happening...and doing something on a
whim would only prove disastrous.

Until he figured this thing out, he knew he would have to try and keep his
mind focused solely on the baby...like he was supposed to be doing.

But why would he be getting the instinct to actually kiss her?
Was it down to confused feelings?
Yes, maybe his feelings for Airyn were so strong that they were crossing
over the Granger, too....

This was very dangerous.

He turned and walked towards her door, leaving her standing there in the
same position she had been in when he had held her.
And even that had felt right...

She seemed to fit perfectly against him...her slight frame being able to
mold to his shape.

Draco went to walk out of the door.

"We should do this every night" He heard her say.

He turned and looked at her.
Do what?
Knock into each other and then embrace unknowingly?

Hermione gave him a small smile, finally moving and sat down on her bed.
"Put Airyn to bed together..."

She saw Malfoy's eyes light up in realisation.
Did he think she had meant-

"Yeah, thats a good idea" He told her, his frame leaning against her doorway
momentarily. "It'll show that we're a unified front"

Hermione nodded in agreement.


"It's my dorm tomorrow, Granger..." he told her, giving her a small smirk.
"...I hope your prepared to enter the den of the Slytherin Head Boy"

"As ready as I'll ever be" She told him.

Draco nodded.
"Goodnight, Granger..."

And with that, he turned and closed the door behind him.

Hermione was left to sit and ponder upon the events that had just taken
place.

Knowing full when that some kind of wheel had just been set in motion....



_____________________________


A/N:
Thankyou once again for all of the reviews, by now you all know how much i appreciate them!!!




MOXIE:
Not too long to wait now for the smut...I promise!!!


SAM:
yes, Sex is good...and i can't actually wait to write it for this story lmao!
(I'm just trying to build it up as realistically as possible lol)

WENMEI:
Your sort of along the right lines with the baby thing...i can't give away too much because it will spoil some stuff...but there is a way to make the babies real *giggles!*

BUFFYXO:
The other lads are kind of having feelings for the other girls (except for neville, Blaise and *GASP!* Ron, which will become clear as the chapters move on....but i don't want to give away too much about that lmao!!)

LEXY MALFOY:
As usual, i owe you my life lol!


JAKKIE STARR:
I can't give away too much about what will happen when the babies are gone...but obviously there will be a few broken hearts....

SESSH'S SANGO:
No worries, i knew the last chapter wasn't exactly my best work.
I take any critcism as positive criticsm, otherwise there would be no point in me writing lmao! Thankyou for stating your opinion and i really do value it!!
(i just hope that this chapter, and the ones to come are more satisfactory for you!!! hehe)

LILMISSMALFOY:
Thankyou so much for your wonderful review, i was left with warm fuzzies for the rest of the day lol!!! I'm glad your still enjoying this fic...and things are about to get more interesting!!!!

CHAVELA:
I'm glad you decided to give this fic another go. I can understand if it isn't everyone's cup of tea. At the end of the day you either like it or you don't, and i appreciate everyone's opinion on it.
Thankyou for reading and letting me know that it has turned around for you!!!





Keep reading and reviewing, you know how much I enjoy reading your opinions!!!!

xxxx