Keeping Secrets

A:N A thank you to everyone who’s reviewed so far they were very nice reviews and I loved reading them here is the next chapter I hope you all like it.

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Hermione woke in the early evening as the light coming through her bedrooms window faded to a dusky glow. She instantly remembered everything that she had learned earlier in the hospital wing and her promise to return. Running a brush through her hair which was as bushy and unmanageable as ever, she looked her reflection over and decided that she would have to do. She entered the common room intending to slip out of the Tower without alerting Draco if he was even in the Tower.

No such luck. “Where you off to Granger?” Draco’s voice stopped her halfway between her bedroom door and the Tower door, she hadn’t even noticed him sat on one of the sofa’s doing what looked like either homework or an epic of a letter.

“Hospital wing, I said I’d be back.”

“Want me to go get the father or Potter or Weasley to go with?” Draco asked thinking that she would have gone and told them first.

“I haven’t told them yet, I only told you because you live in the Tower and knew how sick I’d been getting.” Hermione said trying to push the panic she felt at the thought of the child’s father or Harry and Ron’s reaction to it all.

“They don’t know before me? Hell Granger are you trying to piss the Weasel off?” Draco shook his head, the girl had no idea sometimes. “Well since they don’t know and I do, would you like me to come with, you know so you don’t have to face it alone?”

Hermione was surprised at his generous offer and was about to refuse it when she remembered how well they had been getting along and how much she really didn’t want to be alone. Though knowing the baby’s father it might be better if no one knew and no one was with her. “Only if you’re sure, I mean it will probably just be a load of boring tests…”

“No problem Granger, I don’t want to intrude, but Mum said that Poppy can be a bit scary when you get pregnant still at Hogwarts and Poppy Pomfrey is scary enough as she is.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding.” Seeing as the child is your family too. She left unsaid. She waited patiently while Draco put his parchment and writing materials away and then they walked together to the infirmary, Draco ordered his friends to remain at the Tower and tell anyone who asked for them that they were busy and to come back another day.

Hermione walked into the Hospital wing first and Madam Pomfrey was immediately at her side, before the Healer could make any sort of greeting Hermione drew the medi-witches attention to Draco so that she wouldn’t say anything about the paternity of the baby which would make for a real awkward situation for all of them.

“Madam, I hope it’s ok, but Draco volunteered and I didn’t want to be alone and I haven’t told my friends and-“

“Calm down dear girl, it’s alright if you want Draco to stay, if at any point you want him to leave say so and I will remove him.”

“Thank you Madam Pomfrey.” Draco smiled, Hermione thought that today was shaping up to be weirder than the day her life was changed drastically when she discovered that she was a witch; so much today was strange and new to her and now Draco was smiling ?

“Well Hermione, perhaps if you would get onto the bed as you were earlier, I need to make sure that everything is progressing along nicely… unless you have already decided what to do?” The witch looked kindly upon Hermione and wanted to make everything easy for her, though it would be a near impossibility.

“I’m keeping it. I don’t care what anyone else thinks, it is half mine and I will just have to manage on my own.” Hermione got that fiercely determined look in her eyes, the same one she gets before every exam she aces and both Poppy and Draco knew that nothing would dissuade Hermione from her choice. The teen witch got up onto the examination bed and lay down as instructed.

“Go you! Hermione. That kid will be one lucky kid even if it does have a muggle-born mum.” Draco said still amazed at the vehemence of Hermione’s affirmation of intent.

“Right, well, this may tickle a bit.” The Healer warned and then cast a spell which did indeed make the skin over Hermione’s abdomen tickle. Through her skin rose an image of what was developing within her body which continued to rise in the air and enlarge slightly until it was very easy for madam Pomfrey to make the assessments she needed. “Hermione, how would your decision be influenced if you weren’t expecting just one ‘it’ but two?” The medi-witch asked gently.

“Twins?” Draco asked just to make everything nice and clear.

“Yes.”

“I- I-“ Hermione’s mind was refusing to focus properly, she had been raped and now was going to end up a single mother of TWINS? How did that change things, did it change things? After all it was just an extra baby, right? An extra mouth to feed, body to clothe, person to love. Why should that make things more difficult? Of course now she would have two things that might grow up into the image of Lucius as his first son had, and while dealing with one might be ok, two? Hermione stopped that thought where it was, there were already two, Draco seemed to be turning from the brat she hated into an acquaintance, possibly even a friend eventually if this nice streak continued, and she had already decided that the sins of the father cannot be held against the child. So now she just needed to figure out whether she would be able to afford twins, she could always ask her parents for help, they would understand, they loved her. “It changes nothing. They are mine and I’ll take care of them. Are they ok?”



The Healer had been running diagnostic spells while Hermione had been deciding and was able to honestly reply, “Yes, developing nicely, completely healthy.” She smiled but then remembered that Hermione was a muggle-born and that her desire to keep these children might be through a fear that getting a termination could have the same disastrous consequences for her later in her life if she wanted a family ever as muggle methods of abortion did sometimes. “Hermione, as your primary physician I feel obliged to inform you about Wizarding methods of termination, in case you haven’t ever heard about them. It would be a combination of three potions that make it pain free and simple task and don’t carry any risk to the woman, there are no ingredients in them that you are allergic to and so it would be risk free for you. There wouldn’t be any physical repercussions later on if you decide you want to start a family.”



“I’m not getting rid of my baby, babies. The, the father won’t have any rights over them will he? No way to force me to have an abortion?” Hermione thought that this question might make Draco suspicious but he was too busy looking at the image of the babies to notice the rather odd questions.

“No, especially not in your situation Hermione, the choice is fully yours, though it is very unusual.” Poppy told her kindly before slipping into full on healer mode and informing Hermione about what to expect. “Since you weren’t expecting to be pregnant you’ve probably been noticing little changes in your body and writing them off for other reasons, weight gain, bigger breasts, even your ‘morning’ sickness could have had other reasons, but they don’t. As you can see they both can move around a bit already and they are identifiably human.” They all gave a small smile, the babies looked like tiny little aliens with their big heads and odd transparency, but at the same time their tiny pink bodies had the features of a tiny human being. “Because you are carrying twins you may have noticed that you are already starting to get a little big around the middle, that is perfectly normal and you will show a lot faster than if you were expecting a single child. It is impossible to tell by conventional or muggle-like means whether you are expecting identical or fraternal and whether they are male or female or both. Of course we have magic and it is very easy to tell.” The Healer gave a smirk that either Malfoy men would have been proud to claim as their own. “So would you like to know the sex of your babies?”

Hermione knew straight away that she wanted to know and when she answered Pomfrey cast a spell on the image causing it to be surrounded by a pale lilac light which shifted and divided so that a pale pink glow surrounded one of the foetus’ and a blue one around the other. “Wow.” Hermione heard softly from Draco and she figured ‘wow’ was just about right.

“Fraternal twins, one of each sex.” Madam Pomfrey informed them.

“Madam, I was wondering, while I was doing potions research I found a spell that works on baby scans like that one,” Hermione indicated the one Draco was still staring at raptly, “and it shows what the baby will look like at a specific age. Since I am… estranged… from their father, could I please see how much they are going to resemble him?”

“Why? Would it influence your decision to keep them?” Poppy asked.

Draco managed to tear his eyes away from the image if the tiny twins long enough to raise an eyebrow but turning his attention back in time to see the little boy do a waving motion with one of his tiny arms. Hermione was beginning to suspect that their older half-brother was quite besotted with them already, and he wasn’t even aware of their connection yet. “No, I just want to know so I can decide what to let my friends know, if they are going to greatly resemble someone other than me I need to prepare them so Ron won’t get mad and do something stupid, Harry too for that matter.”

The medi witch disliked casting this particular spell because she believed people should accept what their children would become deeper than just their looks and didn’t want decisions about terminating the pregnancy to be influenced by something so petty. But Poppy knew that Hermione wouldn’t be dissuaded and she also knew that her friends had quite explosive tempers when they were properly ignited and Hermione’s children resembling members of a family they both appeared to hate would certainly set the both of them off and she would need time to prepare them for that. Hoping that her spell would reveal both children to look like Hermione more than Lucius Poppy had one final question to ask before she cast it. “Are you certain you wish for Mr. Malfoy to be present, or would you like it to be a surprise?”

Hermione wasn’t sure, but what she did know was that because she planned to stay around the Wizarding world he would eventually see them and it may as well be sooner where Hermione could control what he was told rather than allow Lucius to say anything to an innocent inquiry from his son, first born claimed son at any rate. “He can stay so long as he doesn’t mind the surprise being spoiled.”

“Draco?”

“I’m staying if Hermione doesn’t mind it.” He said giving a genuine smile to Hermione for the second time in the day. “They’re so cute like this, I’ll bet they’re even cuter a bit older. Just as long as they don’t turn out to be Weasley’s or something nasty like that.”

“My best friend happens to be a Weasley, watch what you’re saying.”

“Fine, ok, just let me stay, please?”

Hermione’s jaw would have hit the floor except that there was her body and the bed in the way. Malfoy saying please to me a mudblood? “I said you could stay, just stop insulting my friends.”

“Sure.” Draco agreed.

Poppy cast the spell silencing them both. “Hermione, all you have to do is tell the image what age you would like to see them at.”

“Five.” She decided would be a good age to start at. The images of the tiny twins vanished and suddenly stood at the foot of the bed were a small boy and girl of five years age robed in plain white robes. The boy had straight brown hair while the girl had wavy pale blond locks flowing down her back. Both had a slender elfin build and they were of a similar height, child hood masked how their features would differ when they were older. Both blinked simultaneously covering liquid silver eyes.

Hermione swallowed hard. This was not turning out well. “Fifteen.” ‘Crap.’ Hermione thought summed the situation up very well indeed; apparently there was something to be said for the Malfoy genes after all, they had certainly taken dominance over hers in both of the twins. Both of the twins were unmistakably of the Malfoy line, down to the tiny automatic smirk that graced her son’s face even though he had her nose and colouring minus the eyes which were Malfoy grey. Her daughter looked like a female Draco.

“Umm, Granger?”

“What?”

“We didn’t, I dunno, get absolutely shit faced and have sex that I just can’t remember, did we?”

“Language Mr. Malfoy.” Poppy Pomfrey warned.

“Yes, well that’s where it gets just a little complicated…” Hermione started feeling she owed Draco an explanation.

“Complicated? Simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ Granger, are they my kids?” Draco said beginning to get a bit angry and frustrated.

“No. They aren’t your children, they are however related to you so yes it is a family resemblance.” Hermione said after thinking about the best way to say it and hoping that Draco would, by some miracle, leave it alone.

No such luck. “Then tell me which of the idiots it is.”

“No. I don’t think you will want to hear it. Please Draco, just calm down, at least this way you know in advance so when we’re all older it won’t catch you by surprise.”

“I am perfectly calm. I just want to know which member of my family was stupid enough to get you knocked up while you were still at Hogwarts, and perhaps why they were with you in the first place.” Despite his obvious lie in the first sentence he was still managing to keep a level of control that Hermione was certain she would not receive from Ron.

“Fine, just remember that it is you who asked and you who wanted to know, not me and that you probably won’t like what you are about to hear.” Hermione cautioned deciding that telling him everything was probably the best option now since he knew part of it, and since the children looked like him and were conceived while they were living in the Tower together others might make the same assumption he had and therefore he deserved to know. He probably deserved warning about what he would be expected to become if he became a Death Eater too.

“Look Hermione, I have heard plenty of nasty things about my family in the past few years, I’m sure this won’t be too bad. Just tell me already.” He said trying to figure out who in his extended family would be most likely to have offspring bearing these looks who wouldn’t mind having a muggle-born in their bed.

“Ok, Madam, could you make sure no one can come in or over hear us please?” Poppy nodded and headed off to ensure no one would be finding out about the paternity of Hermione’s twins and left the two to talk. “I found another useful charm, one I can do myself at the same time I found the image one, it shows the name of the father of the child/ children. If when you hear what I have to say, you don’t believe me I’ll cast it, though perhaps I should do it anyway since I’m still having trouble believing it myself.” Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket, not only for the purpose of the charm, she just wasn’t sure how Draco would react to her news.

“Just get on with it already.”

“Ok, Draco, I don’t know if you have any siblings because though we’ve been getting on a bit better we haven’t ever talked about our families really. But whatever your answer to that may have been, you are now going to have to add the twins into your answer, to me at least.” Hermione said.

“Ok, Granger, perhaps you hit your head at some point while getting to the bathroom to puke, but there is no bloody way my father would sleep with a mudblood. It just wouldn’t happen. Now tell me the truth.”

“It unfortunately is the truth.” Hermione said feeling like she was about to burst into tears but willing them away. “Remember how my permission to go off site was revoked very soon after the Hogsmeade weekend at the start of term, roughly two months ago? Remember the Death Eater raid? They took me. Whether that was by random chance or I was a target as the muggle-born Head Girl I don’t know. Even if I was told at the time I don’t know because when I was dumped back at Hogwarts my memories were suppressed. While I was held by the Death Eaters I was raped.” Hermione gave a short and biter laugh. “Until I found out about the rape and pregnancy today I thought that I was still a virgin. Stupid really, clever as I am and I still didn’t notice my mind had been messed with or that I was pregnant.” She shook her head sadly. “Guess which Death Eater was the one and only Death Eater recorded in my victim statement as being my rapist?”

“But he wouldn’t. He just wouldn’t.” Draco sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Hermione.

She closed her eyes and recalled the spell softly intoning it with her wand directed at her abdomen. “Genitor pueri.” She waited a few seconds for the spell to have worked providing both proof to Draco and chasing away any room for doubt in her own mind. “Draco, look, you heard the spell, you know what it does, there is no way around the fact that your father got me pregnant when he raped me.” Hermione said wand pointed now at the letters of black fire that spelt out the name of the father of three persons present; Lucius Malfoy. It burnt bright for a few seconds before fading away to nothing.

“So the Malfoy twins have finally shown themselves for this generation. We were beginning to think that perhaps my Granddad and Great-Auntie Ceres were the last lot of twins.” Draco said grabbing hold of the only part of the situation that was non-threatening to his current mental state.

Hermione too was grateful that he seemed to have accepted without too much of a problem and so didn’t mind talking about the frequency of twins in the line she was now unwillingly a part of. “So the chances of me becoming a Grandma to a set of twins is quite high then?”

“Yes, so far only three sets of first pregnancies in our line haven’t been twins, I think a spell must have been placed on us or something because of how strange it is to get twins that often over a span of over a thousand years.”

“So twice a Grandma to twins then?” Hermione said relieved to see Draco give her a small smile when he answered that yes it was most likely. Hermione looked at the images of her children when they would be nearly as old as she was now. “Oh god, they’re going to hate me aren’t they?” She said suddenly very worried that she would be the worst mum in the world to go with their bastard of a father. “They’ll blame me for them being bastards, say that I should have married their father, oh God how do I explain to them that I was raped, that there was no way to make it better?” Hermione asked while getting off of the bed so that she could look at the images more closely. She was beginning to cry, the tears no longer able to stay in.

“Aww damn it Granger, Hermione, don’t go getting all upset, I’m sure they’ll understand, I mean they’d have to be smart kids seeing as they’re yours, and they’re related to me and I’m hardly failing am I? They’ll know it isn’t your fault, without you having to explain it to them.” Draco said not sure what he should be saying to make her stop crying.

“People will talk, about them, about me. No one knows… the statement will only be presented in the event he is captured for any reason and it’s not like I want everyone to know in the first place.” Hermione brushed away a few tears and looked from her son to her daughter. “Concealment spells won’t hide the fact they look very much like Malfoy’s and there is no way I am subjecting them to polyjuice potion from infancy- who could I change them into any way? Muggles have colored contact lenses but it would be ages before they could use those safely, so their eyes will just have to remain grey. They look nice anyway. Hair dye I suppose could be used on my little girl after a while and passed off as her hair color darkening naturally. But that will be so much hassle to maintain.” She said frowning. “Oh god. I’ll have to go into the muggle world. There’s no bloody way around it, they are obviously who they are and altering their appearance is impossible to do practically from a young age. Unless something really weird is going on and the half of their genes not given by me are just being annoying and giving them looks but no magic, they aren’t going to be squibs. I’ll have to make sure they don’t find out about that… Harry’s family managed that for eleven years, why shouldn’t I be able to do it their whole lives?”

“Hermione, stop right there. No, I don’t want to hear another word until you think about what you are saying.” Draco said sternly interrupting Hermione’s plotting. “Are you seriously willing to give up everything, your friendships with Scarhead and those Weasels, your career opportunities in the Wizarding world, your magic for something that wasn’t your fault?”

“I- I guess if that’s all I can do. I don’t want people to know what happened, I can’t even remember what happened. I don’t want them to be blamed for it, or to have them labeled as less than worthy just because the space on their birth certificates where their fathers name is meant to go is blank. I’ve seen how this world treats unmarried parents, it isn’t exactly with hugs and smiles is it?” Hermione said.

“Hermione, these kids are my family, I refuse to let you bring them up in the muggle world. I’ve seen what happens to single mothers in both worlds, muggles may be just a tiny bit more accepting but it would still be bad for you. What would happen if you left and gave up your magic and don’t say you wouldn’t have to do that because you would, it’s one of the downsides of being muggle-born they gloss over, use it or lose it magic. What would happen if one of the kids got sick? Got injured? Muggles have technology sure, but can they regrow bones? Can they get rid of meningitis with a single potion? No. They can’t. You would be spending their whole lives hiding their magic from them and endangering them at the same time.” Draco looked both upset and angry at the thought of something like that happening to the kids. “I will not allow you to do that.” He growled and set his mind to work to come up with a workable solution.

It took a few minutes but he mentally worked through every solution that would keep the twins away from the muggles with wizard folk and their mother where they belonged, where he could keep an eye on them and make sure they were ok. There seemed to be only one solution that was agreeable to him and would be relatively easy to pull off. “Hermione, who do I have to ask for permission to propose to you?” He asked wanting to do things properly if he was going to be doing them at all.



“WHAT?!” Hermione exclaimed. “Draco, do you have any idea what you are suggesting?”

“Well, I do believe I am attempting to make sure I have my family with me. Ok, so they might have to grow up with me for a father but at least I haven’t raped you, nor do I intend on doing so. Perhaps when they’re older they’ll understand. Look I won’t let you turn yourself into a squib and put them at risk, if you married me we could pass them off as my own children rather than by siblings, I wouldn’t have to worry about you being made a pariah and leaving because you are an unmarried woman with bastard kids. I mean they look enough like me, it isn’t like we would be trying to pass of Weasel or Scarhead’s kids as mine now is it?”

“But Draco, what about you? I mean, don’t you want a life for yourself? Wizards can’t get divorces… you hate me!”



“Now, now, what is all this fuss about?” Poppy said, she had been startled out of her paperwork and come to investigate when she heard raised voices.

“He’s gone crazy, he proposed.” Hermione said.

Draco frowned at this, “I did no such thing, I ask you how I should ask to obtain permission to propose.”

“Oh yes, because that makes all the difference. You aren’t thinking clearly, you don’t want me, you don’t want us!” Hermione insisted.

Poppy looked between the two students and slowly said. “Perhaps, Hermione, it would be for the best for you to at least seriously consider Draco’s generous offer.”

“But, but are you CRAZY? He hates me, he doesn’t really want to be tied to us for the rest of his life, the rest of our lives! I don’t even know why he is offering. And if Lucius was to find out the truth, hell if he discovers what we are going to present as the truth he will be more than a little pissed off! He will already be mad enough that I didn’t die!” Hermione shouted. She was really getting into it when Draco clamped a hand over her mouth, earning a disapproving look from Pomfrey but no words of reprimand.

“Hermione, you should know better by now. I’m a Slytherin, I’m a Malfoy, both of which means that there are many reasons for almost everything I do. Believe me when I say if I didn’t want to be doing this I wouldn’t. I want those children safe, I want them protected and the best way I can think of doing that and ensuring that you are equally safe is for you to marry me. My father may be a complete total and utter evil git, but he isn’t stupid and an attack on you while you were married to me and supposedly carrying my children just wouldn’t look good for him and he knows it. You are safer with me and neither you nor the children would have to worry about hiding or money or anything you didn’t want to worry about.” Draco said. “Please, just think about it. I don’t care that you’re not a pureblood if that’s the next argument that you plan on using, nor do I care that you are completely muggle-born. And if you even think about using my being a Slytherin as an excuse…” Draco shook his head and moved his hand off of Hermione’s mouth.

“Draco, what do you get out of this?” Hermione asked softly almost afraid of what the answer might be.

“I get everyone’s safety, and perhaps a family that will care about me beyond my name one day.” He replied somewhat sadly.

“My Dad.” Hermione said quietly. “You would need to ask my Dad.”

“Ok, when we get back up to the Tower you can give me the details. I presume that the Headmaster already knows the truth?” Draco asked.

“Yes, Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore, you and me and that’s it for the whole truth. Mum and Dad know about the rape but I fell asleep before I could write to them earlier.” Hermione said.

“Are going to tell them all of it, the truth I mean?” Draco asked Hermione.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know.” She said sadly but offering a small smile to Draco anyway.