If This Were A Normal Day...

Chapter 23
Hermione In Malfoyland

Hermione’s eyes fluttered open.

Upon sitting up, she felt her stomach give a tumble. They were leaving for Malfoy Manor in just a few short hours and she had to say, climbing down into the belly of the beast did not sound appealing to her.

She looked around the hospital wing. Sunlight streamed through the windows, glinting off various potion bottles.

Curiously enough, there was a second year with a face full of large boils in the bed across from her.

Hermione was just about to question the child when Draco re-entered carrying breakfast.

He placed a plate in her lap and sat down on the chair beside her.

Noticing the disturbed look on her face, he spoke up.

“What\'s wrong?” he said, looking at her curiously. “I didn’t spit in it or anything.”

“I’m just not so sure about going to....umm....your house.” she said, frowning.

“Well, first of all, I don’t live in a house. I live in a manor. And there\'s nothing wrong with it!” he said,
sounding very hurt.

“No, not that there\'s anything wrong with your...uh...Manor,” she said, feeling a bit silly. “I just...what about your Mum? Isn’t she going to have a fit?”

“I guess we’ll find out when we get there, won’t we?” he said, stuffing a piece of bacon into his mouth.

“You mean she doesn’t even know we’re coming?!” Hermione cried.

“I want to surprise her!” he said, smiling.

“Oh yes, Draco! She\'s going to love this!” Hermione said, exasperated. “Showing up unannounced with a muggleborn carrying your child! I’m sure she\'s just going to go wild with excitement! Oh and as if that wasn’t enough, lets have her board at her house for a little while! That\'s not adding insult to injury!” Hermione spat.
Draco calmly sat his fork down and looked at Hermione.

“First of all, you don’t know my mother, so shut up. Secondly, its going to be your Manor one day so you need to get used to it.”

Hermione’s eyes widened in horror.

“What makes you think I’m going to live there??” She cried.

“Well, where else are we going to live?? Your house?? Oh that would be just splendid! We could pitch a tent in the backyard!!” he spat sarcastically.

Hermione gasped and started to retort, but was interrupted by the approach of Madame Pomfrey.

“Mr. Malfoy!” she cried. “I thought I told you Miss Granger needs rest! You must do your best not to put her under any stress! If you can’t lower your voice, you will be asked to leave!”

Draco took a deep breath and glared at Hermione, who returned the icy stare.

As Madame Pomfrey strode away, he leaned in and whispered.

“We are going, so I suggest you prepare yourself. I’m going to load our trunks into the carriage.” With that, he got up and left the hospital wing.

Hermione breathed deeply, slamming herself back onto the pillow.

“I’m not going!” she thought to herself, crossing her arms stubbornly. “I’m not! Absolutely no way am I going!”

****3 hours later****

Hermione found herself seated securely inside the carriage.

As the carriage was rumbling along, Hermione was bombarding Draco with questions.

“Well, what about our Heads duties??” she asked, looking worried.

“Dumbledore assigned someone to fill in.” Draco sighed, exasperated with her.

“And Crookshanks! Who will feed him??” She cried.

“Ginny said she’d take care of it!” he leaned back, covering his face with his hands.

The carriage grew quiet.

“What if your Mum doesn’t like me...” she asked with a frown.

“Mum will like you because I like you.” he stated, raising back up to look at her. “Will you stop worrying?? No stress, remember?”

She half smiled at him before looking back out the carriage window.

The cold wind blew and Hermione snuggled deeply into her cloak.

“How on Earth could he think bringing me to MalfoyLand would ease my stress level??” she thought. “Maybe
he\'s right. Maybe this won’t be so bad....or maybe his mother will kick me out onto the street.” she frowned to herself. “No, Draco would never allow that.”

She leaned her head back against the seat. Her eyes rolled and soon, she was asleep.

*******************

Draco gently shook Hermione’s shoulder.

“Look!” he whispered, pointing out the window.

She raised and peeked out.

A mansion unfolded before her eyes.

It was dark, with wide bay windows all draped with heavy curtains and rows of cascading steps leading to a set
of large black double doors, each with its own doorknocker in the shape of a coiled snake. It stretched out over many acres with parlors sticking out on many of the sides.

The roof came to several points, which indicated the mansion held many towers inside.

It was all surrounded by bare trees that held the promise of large blossoms in warmer weather.

Hermione’s stomach flopped once again at the sight of it.

“I don’t think this is a good idea....” she whispered as Draco helped her out of the carriage.

“Oh, will you just shut up! It’s going to be fine!” he hissed to her as the walked up the steps.

“Don’t you tell me to shut up! Of course it’s okay for you! You’re not the pregnant mudblood marching right up to the front door of MalfoyLand!” she hissed back.

“Be quiet!” he hissed sternly, implying to Hermione that further discussion would result in a fight and she knew that wasn’t what she needed. She was on his turf and had no where to go.

He was about to open the large doors, but was startled when Mrs. Malfoy pushed them open first.

Hermione studied her. Her face, though beautiful, was heavily lined with worry. It had a pinched sort of look,
like she had been thinking very hard. Her eyes were sad and held gray bags underneath.

Her face immediately lit up at the sight of her son.

She seized him around the neck, squeezing him tightly.

“Darling!” she squealed.

Hermione covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. Once again, she was reminded of Pansy.

Except with his mother, Draco wasn’t struggling to wiggle away. It was actually quite sweet seeing him with his mother. It gave him a human feel that suited him quite well in her opinion.

His mother was startled when she noticed Hermione’s presence.

She looked back and forth between the two of them, bewildered.

“Um, darling?” she began, eyeing Hermione warily. “Um...do you care to explain this?”

“Of course mother.” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “Just let me get Hermione settled and we’ll talk,
okay?” He gave her a warm smile, which she returned. She once again gave Hermione a once-over, before turning and walking away.

“Oh Merlin.” Hermione said, smacking herself in the forehead. “Why didn’t I just stay at school? It would be a
lot less stressful than this.”

She sighed and looked away, tears blurring her eyes.

Draco gently slipped his arm around her.

“I promised it would be okay, didn’t I?” he whispered. “Just let me talk to her.”

He took Hermione by the hand and led her inside. There were large, spiral staircases leading in every
direction with many paintings of past Malfoy’s hanging on the wall...all glaring at Hermione and mumbling
amongst themselves.

“This way...” he whispered, leading her up a set of the steps.

They turned down a large, red velvet carpeted hallway. Many portraits gasped at the sight of her and rushed into each other’s frames to hiss and whisper into each other’s ears.

The stopped in front of a heavy, mahogany door.

Draco leaned in with his shoulder and gave it a hard push.

It opened with a creak, which reminded Hermione of the many muggle horror movies she had seen in the past.

She shuddered in spite of herself.

When she stepped inside, the room took her aback. It had a large, king-sized bed with a dark velvet, forest
green comforter on it. There were silk bed hangings surrounding it of the same color. The bed was flanked by a small, night table with a drawer. It had the same, familiar handle of a snake coiled on it.

The carpet was plush and white. There was a wardrobe in the corner made of a hard, black wood that Hermione couldn’t recognize.

There was a roaring fire in the fireplace which was flanked by large, green overstuffed chairs. Large candles in
scones light the room, giving it a creepy dungeon feel, but at the same time, felt home-like.

And the whole place smelled wonderfully like Draco.

“Come in, get comfortable and I’ll be back soon, okay?” He said, kissing her forehead before turning to leave.

“Am I going to be okay here alone?” she asked uncertainly.

Draco laughed.

“Of course you will. Just stay here and don’t wander. We might never find you.”

He laughed once again at the terrified look on her face, before turning and exiting the room.

Hermione slipped off her cloak and placed it over one of the chairs.

She walked over to the bed and slipped off her shoes, climbing on it.

It was like laying on a cloud.

The smell of Draco enveloped her and despite her uneasiness, she immediately felt better about being there.

She stretched her arms high over her head, lolling in the scent.

She looked around and the drawer once again caught her eye.

She turned onto her tummy and extended her hand for the handle, but quickly pulled back when the snake
sprung to life and attempted to bite her.

She gasped as the snake hardened once again, turning back into a handle.

She absentmindedly rubbed her hand and made a mental note to be more careful about what she touched.

A shiver once again ran through her body.

She sat up and surveyed the room. There was a large door to her left.

She stood and approached it cautiously.

The large handle was, once again, a coiled snake.

She extended her hand slowly, prepared to snap it back at the first sign of a transformation, but sighed with
relief when she noticed it didn’t move.

She grabbed the handle and pulled hard, using all her weight to move the heavy door.

She stepped inside to see it was a bathroom.

There was a large tub in the center of the room that looked like a Jacuzzi with steps leading down into it.

To the side was a separate shower will large glass doors. The handles were once again snakes.

“He must really be all about his house.” she thought, frowning. “If I’m ever to live here, these snakes will be
the first to go.”

She pulled them open and looked inside. Aside from a large showerhead on the wall, there were many other jets made to shoot water out at all angles.

She closed the doors and scanned the rest of the room.

There were hard, dark Italian Marble floors and counters, polished to a brilliant shine.

Hundreds of large black pillar candles lined the room and it smelled of a heavy rain shower.

Despite the warmth of the room, the marble was cold under her feet, so she returned to the soft, plush carpet of Draco’s bedroom.

She wrung her hands nervously.

The long absence of Draco was beginning to worry her.

“I almost wish I’d just went home...” she thought. “I’m sure telling my Mum I’m pregnant would be no where near as bad as this.”

She jumped back up on his bed, curling up in a fetal position and cuddling one of Draco’s large, fluffy pillows.

Many minutes passed.

Hermione was lost deep in thought when Draco re-entered.

“Cozy?” he leaned forward and whispered into her ear.

She sprang up, prepared to run, but settled when she seen it was just Draco.

“So, how did it go?” she asked, laying back down.

“Well,” he said, crawling in behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “I think most of the screaming and crying is over now...”

Hermione looked at him over her shoulder, eyes wide with sadness.

“I’m just joking.” He said, cuddling her closer. “I actually think she\'s just happy to have me home, so she\'s not pushing the situation. She gets so lonely now that Dad’s gone.”

They both frowned at the sound of Draco’s father and didn’t pursue the subject.

She felt his hand roam down to her tummy and rub it softly.

Hermione placed her hand over his, stroking it with her thumb.

“I’m taking you shopping in Diagon Alley tomorrow...” he whispered into her ear. “Would you like that?”

“Can we buy baby clothes?” she grinned at him.

“We can buy anything you want.” he stated.

Hermione turned over to face him.

“But...” she began. “How will I know what color to buy?” she said, still holding her grin.

“Well, what color would you like to buy?” he asked, staring into her eyes.

“Well, I kind of had my heart set on pink frilly dresses and bonnets...”

He leaned forward and kissed her nose.

“I think you should play you hunch.” he smiled back at her.


A/N: Okay, I know a lot of you wanted a boy, but the idea of a Daddy’s girl just sounded too appealing to me. Oh and to the one who posted “A suicidal match made in heaven”, that REALLY cracked me up!
Oh! Once again! To the person who went and looked at that damned website I worked so hard on and posted on the Tagboard, I LOVE YOU! lol