A Father\'s Revenge

Hermione\'s mind reeled. \"Me? Why the hell would you have to have a baby with me?\" Hermione thought she might faint any second. This honestly couldn\'t be happening. Was Dumbledore even in the room anymore? She wanted to go turn around to see, but Draco Malfoy\'s eyes wouldn\'t let her move. His eyes seemed to pin her to the very spot she was standing on. As she gazed into his grey depths she noticed that she had never seen this expression before in his eyes. She had seen hatred, obviously, it happened every time he looked at her. She had seen frustration after every quittich game because he could never beat Harry and catch the snitch. She had seen happiness, everytime she saw him with Blaise last year.. Blaise Zambini.. or Blaise Malfoy, she guessed she should say. \"Malfoy.. you said that Blaise had your baby..\"

\"Don\'t you listen, Granger? Or does all that hair mess up your brain activity?\" Draco sneered, giving her his trademark smirk. He watched her eyes turn into black slits. He almost smirked again.. how many times had he seen her like that? He honestly cou't c't count that high. As much as he loved giving Granger a hard time, he had to stop. He needed her for his plans.. for his revenge against Lucius. Time to play nice, Draco. \"Would you like to see her, Granger?\"

Hermione\'s eyes lit up. \"Her? You have a little girl?\" Hermione watched in awe as his eyes changed and became softer, more loving. \"What\'s her name?\"

He stood up straighter with paternal pride. \"Christine Blaise Malfoy.\"

Hermione smiled slightly. \"I would very much like to see her, Malfoy.\"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco and Hermione walked in silence to the sick ward. There was a tension between them, so thick you could cut it with a knife. He knew she was questioning whether or not he was telling the truth, and she knew he was questioning whether he they could handle being married to a mudlblood like her. Before either one of them knew it, they were walking in on Poppy trying to soothe the crying child.

Be Her Hermione could blink, Draco sprang into action. He took the howling baby from Poppy and began to speak to her in a combination of latin and english, a language only the child seemed to understand. She seemed to calm down the moment she heard her father\'s voice. Hermione had to admit, there was something soothing about the way his deep voice carried through the room. It was deep and... sensual? Somehow, Hermione couldn\'t imagine Lucius holding a child, much less with the caring and loving nature that Draco was showing his daughter. Was he really telling the truth? Hermione was thrown out of her thoughts by another round of crying from the infant.

Draco\'s brow furrowed as he looked at his daughter. \"Blaise.. honey.. what\'s wrong?\" He looked over at Poppy. \"Is she wet or hungry?\" Poppy shook her head. Draco looked back at Blaise. \"Oi, honey.. what\'s wrong?\"

Hermione walked shyly over to Draco. \"Malfoy, why don\'t you let me try? I have three younger sisters... I used to take care of them when my mom needed a break.\" She held out her hands. \"May I?\" She watched as Draco held Blaise closer to him for a second. \"I\'m not going to run off with her.\" And then something miraculous happened. Draco Malfoy smiled at her. A real smile.. and he handed the child over. It was then that Hermione got her first good look at the child in her arms. Large peweter eyes looked up at her arched with brown brows. The top of the child\'s head was full of curly brown waves with a little green bow holding her hair up. Chubby little cheeks gave way to the cutest mouth she had ever seen... Draco\'s mouth. Then Hermione realized something.. the child had stopped crying.

Draco watched as Blaise looked up at Hermione, a small smile playing on her face. He could make out Blaise\'s little dimples as she smiled up at Hermione. Draco would have smiled, et fot for the fact that every time his child smiled like that he was reminded of the lost love that was ripped from his life because of his father. He could feel the anger boiling inside of him to the point where nothing mattered except revenge. \"So, Granger, are you going to help us or not?\"

Hermoine tore her gaze away from the smiling baby. \"I understand why you need me now. If someone were to look at Blaise, she looks like she could be ours. Blaise and I have the same coloring.... we could fool everyone coudln\'t we?\"

Draco nodded. \"That\'s the idea, Granger. My orders were to seduce you and break up the golden trio... If Harry Potter was thinking about you then Voldemort could attack and finally beat the-boy-who-lived.... everyone knows that the three of you work better together than apart.\" He paused, looking straight into Hermione\'s eyes. \"What would piss off Lucius more than to think I fell in love with you, Granger? You know that the only way to get out of a wizard marriage is death.\" Draco nearly whispered the last part. The memories of his last marriage were still too painful.

\"How did she die, Draco?\" Hermione asked, laying down the now sleeping Blaise in cri crib.

Draco\'s smile was humorless. \"She told me to go get something to eat.. she said she was sick of cooking.. I took the baby with me and left her there... when I came back she was dead and the darkmark was in the sky. There was a letter next to her body from Lucius... saying that he took care of it and I shouldn\'t let my hormones get in the way of service to the dark lord.\" Draco grimaced. \"You know what\'s funny, Granger? No one knew she had my baby or that we were married... my father only knew that I loved her. I thought that love was supposed to move mountains.. not be a death sentence.\"

Hermione could feel the tears swimming in her eyes. She had never felt so horrible for anyone in her life. \"So, you need me to spite your father?\"

Draco\'s hard eyes delved into hers. \"I need you for revenge, Granger. Could you imagine the look on my father\'s face when he finds out that I fell in love with you? The Dark Lord only wanted me to have a child with you... he says that child would have the power to either destroy him or give him life....if I can convince him that I am trying to sway you to the dark side, he will give me the time I need.. I can help the order and be there when my father and The Dark Lord are killed... I will have my revenge, Hermione.... my revenge for my daughter and for Blaise.\"

\"Can I tell anyone if I was going to help you?\" Hermione asked, looking at her hands.

\"Are you going to help me?\" Draco asked, chucking her chin up to look into her eyes. \"Are you going to pretend that you love me and say that my child is yours?\"

Hermione took a breath and let a tear fall down her cheek. She took a breath.

\"Yes.\"

And sealed her fate.