The Baby Project

Chapter Twenty Two:

'I'm not lost,
I'm not lost.
Just undiscovered.

When we're alone,
we're all the same as each other.
You see the look thats on my face?
You might think it's out of place.

But I'm not lost,
I'm not lost.
I'm just undiscovered'


"She's absolutely gorgeous!"

Hermione gushed.
She hadn't expected her Mother to be so enthusiastic about having a baby
around the house again.

She watched as her father cooed into the pram, looking at his
'Grand-Daughter' for the first time.
Hermione had expected it to be more awkward...but then, why would it be
awkward when Airyn hadn't even been conceived naturally?

She broke out of her train of thought when she saw Malfoy appear in the
doorway, carrying both of their bags.
She smiled at him as he entered the little house; looking around him at the
pictures on the walls...noticing that it was nothing like his Manor.

Draco took it all in.
He hadn't even contemplated that he would be going to be living in a Muggle
house for the next two weeks...not even when he had been in the car on the
way here.

It had been a funny old day, really...

F L A S H B A C K



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


They had both boarded the Hogwarts Express to take their journey home for
the holiday's.
Granger had hold of Airyn, and Draco had the pram and the many other bags in
his hands...so he couldn't exactly complain when she lead him to the
carriage that her friends were sitting in.

To his amazement;
When he had walked through the panels of the carriage, almost all of the
participants in their seats had said hello to him!
Well...everyone except the two Weasley's...

Everyone had made small talk, whilst Longbottom had sat there with his baby
on his knee...
Draco suddenly remembered Pansy.
He wondered if Neville was giving her any type of support, besides taking
care of Bert...

Draco had gotten up from his seat then, making his way towards the closed
panel doors.

Hermione had looked at him strangely, but he just gave her a small smiled
and the disappeared out of the carriage.

Draco walked along the hallway, looking into every single carriage...until
he spotted her.

She sat there, facing the window.
All on her own...

He almost didn't want to disturb her.
But if he wanted to make his peace, then he had to do it now before
Christmas...

He slowly opened the panel doors and stepped inside.
To say that she looked surprised to see him was an understatement.
She smiled at him warmly...almost making him remember why he had liked her
all those years ago.

"Hey, you" She said quietly.
She looked ill.

Draco nodded at her.
"How come your in here on your own?"

She shrugged, turning back to the window.
"It seems like a good place to be, right now"

Draco took a seat opposite her.
She seemed so withdrawn...completely pulled into herself.

"Are you ok, Pansy?" He asked her, looking at her face.

She looked at him curiously.
"Why?"

Draco tried to tip-toe around the subject.
"No reason...I just thought that you looked a little down, lately"

"Maybe it's not me whose down, Draco" She told him. "Maybe it's you whose
up..."

Well, that could be one explanation.
But he knew it wasn't the right one.

"You don't seem like yourself, thats all"

She sniggered.
"Just because I'm not pouncing allover you like a lovesick teenager..." She
answered, her voice still quiet. "...doesn't mean that I'm not myself"

There was no getting through to her.
But then again, there never was.

"Blaise told me everything" He admitted, still searching her face; waiting
for some hidden emotion to show up there.

Her head suddenly snapped around to look at him.
If it was possible, her face suddenly went whiter.
"What did he tell you?"

"That your having trouble..er...helping out with Bert-"

"Bert?!" She said curiously. "Who the hell is Bert?"

"Your child?" Draco told her.


She really did have problems.

"Oh..." She remembered. "Yeah...I remember"

She just couldn't do it anymore.
She felt lost and confused when she saw her own baby...did that make her a
bad Mother?.

"I'm an Owl Post away if you need me" He told her, giving her a small smile.

She looked at him hard.
Since when did Draco Malfoy grow up and become the bigger man?
This was certainly a new edge...
Fatherhood suited him right down to the ground.

"Thank you" She told him honestly.

And then she jumped into his lap and squeezed him into a tight hug.
For once, she wasn't holding him just so she could get into his pants...she
was holding him because she needed to be held herself.

Draco put his arms around her and squeezed her tight.
He had known Pansy for many years...at the end of the day, if she wasn't his
girlfriend then she was almost one of his friends...
He cared about her like he would Blaise.

It was funny how it took something as serious as an illness to make him
realise that.

And so he held her in his arms, giving her the comfort she needed...

But he didn't see the girl looking at him angrily from outside the Carriage
door...


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




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


...And now here he was.
It was late afternoon but it was already pitch black outside.

When they had gotten off the train, Draco had watched as Granger said her
goodbyes to her friends...and their babies.
It was very surreal; seeing everyone separate and talk about making
arrangements to 'floo' each other everyday...

Himself and Granger were probably the only ones who would be living in the
same vicinity together.

The teaching faculty had sent a letter addressed to his family, telling them
the reason that Draco was not to return to the manor for
Christmas...apparently they said it had something to do with extra
curricular activities...whatever that meant.

What it did mean, however was the fact that Draco was not freely allowed to
enjoy his holiday with his daughter and the presence of the head girl..or
whatever she was to him lately.

Granger had found her Mother first.
She was a fairly short woman, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes...her hair
flicked out from her head, making her look like the Queen of Hearts from
those Muggle playing cards.

Her father was quite different, however.
Very tall...and he had his daughter's hair.
His mustache was finely combed, and he had glasses which reminded him of
Potter.

Draco had not really seen how they could create a daughter like Granger...
She didn't look like either of them, if he was honest.

"This is Mal-" Her parents looked at her strangely. "Draco Malfoy"

Mr.Granger's hand protruded from his side instantly.
"Hello Draco, I am Paul granger"

Draco shook his hand hesitantly.
He looked at Granger as she smiled at him.

"I'm Janet" Granger's mum told him, smiling at him warmly.

Granger had her mothers smile...so there was one similarity.

"Thank you for letting me stay on such short notice" He told them both as
they made their way out of the station, towards the carpark.

"No trouble at all, Draco" Paul told him casually, deactivating the car
alarm as they approached the Metro.

It wasn't a big car...
And it wasn't expensive looking...
But Draco found it endearing all the same.

All his life, Draco had been told that he needed to have the biggest and the
best of everything...but when he saw these people making do with what they
had....
It was enough to make his own ideals incomparable.

"Awwww, mum!" Hermione gushed from beside him. "You didn't have to!"

Draco looked at where she was looking inside the car.

"Nonsense, you want your baby to be safe, don't you?"

A baby seat.
A little pink baby seat..fit for his little Princess.

Hermione plucked Airyn from her pram and then placed her in her baby seat.
Hermione cooed at her sat there.
Draco had dressed her this morning; A little white T-shirt with wooly sheep
on it, tiny little baby jeans, with tiny pink socks to keep her feet warm.
He had protested when Granger had made him put the thick jump suit over the
top of it to keep her warm when she was outside...she looked so adorable in
her little outfit that it was almost ashame to hide it.

The pink little bobble hat had topped off the outfit.
And now she sat there; snug as a bug. Looking around with her big blue eyes
at everything going on around her.

"Get in" Hermione told Malfoy cheerfully.

He gingerly bent over to dive inside the car.
Hermione was very tempted to smack his arse...but thought better of it...who
knew where that would lead.


The journey to the Granger home was uneventful...and yet very eventful at
the same time.
Driving through Muggle London, it was easy to see why Muggle's had to make
do with what the had.
There were no brooms in sight, and every now and again Draco could see old
aged people driving around on wheel chairs that somehow moved on their own
accord...weird...

Paul Granger looked into his rearview mirror.
He could see the young Malfoy looking out of the window avidly.
So this was the boy that his Hermione had been prattling on about for the
past Seven years? The one who used to torment her to her wits end?

He looked like butter that wouldn't melt.

"How's it going then, sweetpea?" He asked Hermione as he glanced at her in
the mirror.

She looked up at his eyes reflecting in the mirror.
"Not too bad...we're both exhausted, but I guess it has been worth it"

Hermione held on to her little girl's hand.
In the back of the car sat Draco on the right hand side...Airyn in the
middle seat in her baby chair...and then Hermione on the left behind the
front passenger seat, where her Mother was sat.

"I think it's a bit harsh to make you do it all full time, though" Janet had
cut in at her muse. "And I can't believe they made you go through child
birth!"

Hermione shrugged.
"Well, if they wanted us to learn the hard way, then they have certainly
gone about it in the right way"

Draco smirked.
That was definitely true.
At the beginning he had got it into his head that this whole thing would be
a doddle...but now he knew the blatant truth, and he wasn't afraid to admit
it.

The rest of the journey had been quiet.
Everyone seemed to be buried deep within their own thoughts.

When the car had pulled up at the small house in a tiny street in the middle
of the suburbs, Draco had to take a second glance at his surroundings.
Everything was so unlike his own home...so small and simple.

He was still sat inside of the car when the rest of its occupants had
decided to vacate it.
He only made a move when he saw Granger lifting their child out of her baby
seat.

She smiled at him momentarily.
"Come on, my Dad wants to lock the car, and he can't do it if your still in
here"

So Draco opened the passenger door, and watched as Granger disappeared into
the house with Airyn.
He was about to walk after her when he felt a rather large package being put
into his hands.
He looked down to see a bag being thrust at him.

"Make yourself useful, Draco" Paul told him cheerily, having opened the boot
to get out the bags that the teenagers had brought home with them.

Draco sighed.
He wasn't used to doing all of the fetching and carrying.

"Follow me" Paul told him, finally locking the door and walking in front of
Draco.
There was an odd bounce to his step...like he was genuinely happy.
Draco had never seen that before.

So Draco did what he was told, following Granger's dad into the house...
A house that Draco had never dreamed he would even consider stepping over
the threshold.



____________________________________

"Hungry?"

"Very" Hermione answered, stuffing turkey sandwiches into her mouth.

She could hear Airyn crying in the living room.
Malfoy had been in there for almost half an hour, now.

"He's fine" her dad had told her, sitting down at the table. "He couldn't
get her wind up, but I think he's managed it, now"

Draco walked through the doorway and into the dining area, Airyn's head
resting on his shoulder.
"She's stopped" He said triumphantly.

Janet Granger had a smile on her face.
"I remember when Hermione was that age...she never stopped crying, and you
knew whenever she needed feeding, because she would scream the house down"

"Mum!" Hermione hissed, her cheeks glowing red.

Draco laughed at her.
"Then I know who Airyn takes after"

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.
It was so embarrassing having her mum talk about her like that...especially
to Malfoy, considering he would probably take the piss out of her for as long
as she lived.

"Oh, you know I'm only playing with you" Janet told her daughter
affectionately.

"You'll be doing this with children of your own, one day" Her Dad told her
with a smile.

Hermione was about to agree.
But something stopped her.
A bittersweet sadness of the knowledge that whoever the child was, it
wouldn't be Airyn... it never would be.

Draco seemed to notice her sudden lack of happiness.
He looked at her curiously, noticing the way she was gazing at Airyn.
He knew what she was thinking.
He had been thinking exactly the same thing.

"I think it's time we showed Draco to his room" Paul told everyone, changing
the subject.
He had noticed the sudden change of atmosphere in the room.

Draco nodded, still holding Airyn on his shoulder.
He followed in silence as Mr. Granger and his daughter told him to follow
them up the stairs.

When they had gotten onto the main landing, Granger had turned and held out
her arms to take the baby.
He handed her to the girl gently, and watched as she took her into another
door, opposite the one that her father had stopped outside.

The room was tiny.
More like a box room. He would barely be able to sleep in it.

"Sorry it's so small" Hermione told him apologetically. "We only have two big
bedrooms"

Draco shrugged.
It wasn't what he was used to, and ordinarily he would turn his nose
up...but he had better manners than that.
"It's fine"

"Right then, we'll leave you to it" Paul told him as he left the room.

Hermione stayed a few moments longer.
"If you need anything, my room is just opposite"

'I need you, what about that?' He felt like saying.

Instead he chose the more un-pathetic option.
"Thanks"

Hermione smiled at him.
He was taking all of this rather well, considering he wasn't used to
such...err...small circumstances.
He had held his tongue around her parents...he had been rather polite...and
he hadn't even batted an eyelid at his latest bit of accommodation.

"Airyn will be in my room, there's more space in there" She told him.

She turned on her heel and stepped into the hallway.
Then she looked back at him, a smirk on her lips.
"Feel free to come and help out"

Draco raised his eyebrows in question.

Had Granger just openly invited him into her bedroom?

_______________________________

"What do you think?"

"I'm not too sure...he seems pleasant enough, but you never know...he could
have a side to him that we are not seeing"

Paul nodded in agreement.
When he had been told by the school that it was Draco Malfoy who was going
to stay with them, he had instantly jumped on the defensive side of his
daughter, remembering the stories that his little girl had told him.

He wasn't too familiar with the school, he had been there a handful of times
and met a few teachers...but the Magical world was quite a conundrum to him.

"Do you think his parents are aware he is here?" Janet asked him, turning
the pages of her novel as she sat up in bed.

Paul didn't know.
From what he had heard of them, it was likely that they wouldn't be too
thrilled that he was here.

"I think the teachers have probably attempted to tell them otherwise..."

Janet agreed.
Nothing good had apparently stepped out of the Malfoy family...
But young Draco had surprised her today.
Mainly because she had not expected him to be so...what was the
word...pleasant?

"Well, he's really not what I was expecting" She told her husband casually.
"I was expecting someone a lot more...ghastly"

Paul smirked at her.
"Never judge a book by its cover, Jan" He answered. "You remember your first
impression of you, don't you?"

She smiled at him.
"How could I forget?" She laughed. "You were a complete and utter arsehole"

He laughed and shook his head.
"Obviously a misconception"

She gave him a smirk as she looked at him from over her book.
"Not as much of a miss as it would seem..."

He gave her a look that said it all.

________________________



A/N:
Hope you all liked it.
I like writing these chapters because it lets me think of exactly how Draco can charm the pants off Hermione's parents...and obviously once he has charmed the pants off them, he is MORE than likely to charm the pants off her!!!! *Sniggers*


CHAVELA:
I'm really happy that you have decided to give my fic a chance!
I'm also really happy that you like it!
I wasn't having a go at you or anyone in my A/N, because i wouldn't do that. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and it's fair enough.
But THANKYOU for reviewing, it means alot to me!!!

MADELIENE:
Wow, i feel so honoured that this is the only fic you have commented on!
I'm really pleased how everyone isnt flaming me for the lack of smut...i really thought i would be hung, drawn and quartered by now lmao!
Anyway, thankyou for all of your support, and i am very pleased that you are reading and enjoying this fic!!

TINA:
A friend of mine is still suffering with PND (In england it is post natal lol) and she is finding it difficult to be able to bond with her baby...its very sad to see her going through this :-(
Maybe hers is a slightly more extreme case, but I think her bravery has been incredible thus far, because she has been trying to battle with it and she may now be succeeding. I wanted to sort of give her a little tribute in the story, and so i gave Pansy her troubles...its hard to see someone you love suffer.
But thankyou for reviewing, because it means alot that people are taking on board all of the plot lines and the things inbetween!! So thankyou xx

SESSH'S SANGO:
She might not have been watching them the whole time...but you never know, with her being Draco and hermione's baby, she is one curious little thing lmao!!!

LEXY MALFOY:
As always, I bow down and kiss your feet! lol
Thankyou for all of your kind reviews!!!!!!!


Thankyou to everyone who has reviewed thus far.
I really appreciate it, and I hope that others will read this one day and not judge a story by it's title lol

xxx