The Baby Project

Chapter Twenty Four:

'You're not alone,
together we stand.
I'm here by your side,
you know I'll take your hand.

When it gets cold,
and it feels like the end.
When there's not place to go,
you know I won't give in.

Keep holding on,
because we'll see it through,
see it through.
Just be strong,
because I'm here for you,
here for you.'


"That's so pretty!"

"It's revolting...if you even consider dressing our child in that, then I
will have to call Social services"

Hermione glared at him.
"But it's adorable!"

Draco shook his head.
"What would be the point? She'll only sick up on it anyway"

Hermione rolled her eyes and decided to just keep on walking.

'Note to self...NEVER bring Malfoy shopping around Muggle London
again'

Hermione walked in front of Draco as he pushed the pale pink stroller along
the street. He got a few odd stares from some of the men, obviously because
of the colour of the buggy, but he didn't care.

He was proud of the beautiful baby inside of it.
And she was exactly one month old.

Draco smiled to himself.
This time last month, he was holding Granger's hand in the infirmary and
telling her that everything would be Ok...
But everything wasn't Ok, because now they were both entranced by the life
that they had created...and no matter what happened, a bond had been created
and it would be too hard to want to break.

"Slow down, Hermione!" Came Paul's voice from the distance.

Draco stopped the pram and searched for the voices.
He knew they had been walking fast, but he hadn't realised just how fast.
He finally saw the top of Mr. Granger's curly head, and saw the small woman
almost at a run beside him to keep up with him.

Draco had decided that he actually liked The Granger's.
They were a quirky family, and they had many flaws...but he found it very
admirable.

Draco had been with them for four days now, and his living arrangements
hadn't gotten any better.
His legs got cramp far too often, and every now and again he got woken up in
the night by either Airyn crying next door, or the boiler starting up in the
room....

He felt like he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in ages!

"I swear she gets her shopping antics from you" Paul grumbled as they
finally caught up with Draco and their daughter.

"She most certainly hasn't...I'M not the one who takes forever just to buy a
bloody book" Janet told him accusingly as they walked closely behind Draco
and the buggy.

"What in god's name is she buying, anyway?" Paul asked her, rubbing his
glover covered hands together, letting them feel some warmth in the cool
winter air.

"Presents for her friends, apparently" Janet answered, holding her coat
tighter around her as a sudden gust of wind blew at them.

Draco hadn't even thought of that.
Christmas hadn't even entered his mind...and it was only two days away.

"Can you lot hurry your arses up?" Hermione shouted from in front of them. "I
still need to find that owl tracker for Ron...and I think I need to buy
presents for the babies, too"

'Shit...' Draco thought suddenly. 'I've bought fuck all for
nobody...'

And it wasn't like he had Muggle money, either...

The three slackers finally caught up to the Head Girl, as she was looking
through a toy store window.
Her face was positively beaming as she looked upon the splendour inside the
shop...her money hoping to be stretched far inside of it.

"Can we go in?" Hermione asked, looking around at her Mum and Dad, who
already had an array of bags to carry.

They both rolled their eyes.

Hermione smiled excitedly, before entering the store.

Draco gave Mr.Granger a look of curiosity. He had never seen this side of
granger before, and he was certainly clueless as to why she was so excited
to go inside.

"She's a big kid at heart" Was all Paul had said, shrugging his shoulders
and holding the door open for Draco to roll the pram inside.


_____________________________


Draco could see why.

They certainly weren't magical toys...but they were magnificent, none the
less.
There were several floors, full to the brim with cuddly toys and flying
aeroplanes, and anything that a young child could possibly love.

But it was all far too old for Airyn...she was still an innocent little
baby.
But she was still sitting in her stroller, looking around with wide eyes at
the scene in front of her.

She could focus on objects now. Draco could see it in her eyes, and she
could also distinguish the difference between her mother voice and her
father's...and this fact had filled him with pride.

It was just a pitty that he would only have one more month of this, before
she turned into a ten month old...and he was not looking forward to that.

Well, he was...but he wasn't looking forward to all of the other stuff that
came with it...

Draco was brought out of his thoughts when he saw two little boys run past
him, wearing armoured suits of some kind, and they were shooting invisible
lasers at each other....

Such strange customs for ordinary Muggles.

But lately Draco had noticed that Muggles weren't what the seemed.
To some degree, they almost seemed the equivalent of Purebloods...the other
end of the spectrum.

Draco continued watching the boys curiously, seeing them disappearing around
the corner.

"Over here, Mal-" Hermione cursed herself. "Draco" She shouted,
waving at him from one of the isles.

Draco strolled over, passing Granger's parents who were looking at an oddly
shaped plastic rug on the floor.

Draco rolled right over it with the stroller, sensing nothing was
wrong...until every step he took started to play a part of a piano keyboard.

He stopped dead when he heard a few sniggers from people he had passed by.
Deciding to shrug it off and forget about it.
He started walking again.

And that same piano tune followed him.

Draco looked around him, and saw Paul and Janet laughing.
He frowned.

"Look down, Draco" Paul told him, an amused expression on his face.

Draco did as he was told, not really wanting to know what was the cause of
his troubles.

But what he did see confused him to no end.
The plastic rug looked like a piano keyboard...a very large piano keyboard.

"What the bloody hell is this?" He asked curiously, not daring to move a
muscle in case he set the instrument off again.

"It's a musical Piano Keyboard" Paul told him, pressing one of the black
notes down with his foot, hearing the sound play. "You play it like a real
Piano, only with your feet"

Draco studied the artifact carefully.
Experimentally he lifted his left foot, and then put it back down
again...the note sang its beat.

"What are you up to?" Came Granger's voice from his left.

He looked over at her, feeling a little bewildered.
They certainly didn't have anything like THIS in the Wizarding world...

"I guess I'm playing the piano..." He told her quietly, this time picking up
his right foot and placing it back down onto a different key.

"Do you play?" Janet asked him curiously from the sideline.

Draco looked over at her. "I used to...my Father made me practice"

Paul gave him a small smile. "Let me guess, he made you play 'chopsticks'
until your fingers were bloody?"

Draco smirked.
"'Chopsticks' wasn't the problem...'Beethoven's symphony No. 9' was the
dilemma..."

Paul stretched out his left leg and joined Draco on the piano mat.
"So you can play it well, I take it?"

Draco shrugged.
"I don't like to brag...but yeah"

Mr.Granger smiled widely at him.
"Excellent...let's see what you've got"

Draco knew his jaw had hit the floor.
Did Granger's father want some kind of Mexican stand off?

"Excuse me, Sir?" Draco asked him, his eyes widening.

Hermione shook her head at her father.
"Dad, you're making a scene in front of loads of people...Draco might
not even want to play"

Draco looked from Granger, and then to her father.
A smile suddenly lit up on his face.

"Take the pram" He told Hermione seriously, pushing the stroller towards her
and off the piano.

He then looked at Mr. Granger and bowed his head in admission.
"Let's see what you've got, Mr. Granger..."


__________________________________

Hermione was still in a state of disbelief.

Draco Malfoy was one hell of a good Piano player...and she hadn't even
realised that her Father was, too!

They had caused such a scene in the toyshop, frolicking around on the big
Piano keyboard, that eventually Security had asked them to leave the store!
Hermione hadn't really understood the problem...until she was told by her
Mother that once her Father and Draco had decided to get through the 'show
off' stage, that they decided to become crowd entertainers instead, and had
taken it in turns to slide on their knees across the stretch of plastic,
making as much noise as they could as the crowd whooped!

Well...that was all well and good...until they had dared each other to see
how far they could get, and Draco ended up pushing her Father so far down
the keyboard that he flew off the other end and landed in a pile of neatly
stacked Care-bears...

The funny thing was, that Hermione had never seen her Father look happier.
And she certainly hadn't seen Malfoy enjoy himself so much...

Could it be possible that Malfoy was getting along with her Father, to the
point where he could actually relax around a Muggle?

Hermione was stirred from her thoughts when she felt sick trickling down her
best top.
Well...it didn't take long for Airyn to be winded, that was for sure...she
should have used a bib.

"Damn, and I like this top as well"

Draco looked over at her from his place at the dinner table.
"Just put it in the wash and go and change it" He told her matter of factly.

Paul nodded in agreement.
"It's only a bit of baby sick...it's not going to cause a fatal disease"

Hermione glared at her father.
"I'm well aware of that, thank you" She told him.

Hermione suddenly passed Airyn to her Mother, whom was waiting for the baby
with outstretched arms at the other side of Hermione.

"I won't be a minute" She told them, vacating the table and making her way
upstairs.

Janet admired her 'Grand-child' for a moment.
"She's absolutely gorgeous...it's just a pity that we'll never get another
one like her" She said quietly, more to herself than anyone else.

"The only way for that to be possible would be for our Hermione and young
Draco here to get together" Paul told her, speaking almost as if Draco
wasn't in the room. "And we all know that would never happen in reality"

Draco put his head down.
He wasn't ready to think about any of that right now...it lead to bad things
that would only get worse the more he let it all in.

"It's a shame, though" Janet continued. "I would love to see what she would
look like, all grown up...who she would actually take after...whose eyes and
hair she would have..."

"Probably our Hermione's...she's got dark hair already" Paul told her,
cooing at Airyn as she sat in her Granger's Mother's lap.

Draco had to agree with that.
He didn't mind that Airyn would look more like Granger than himself...Sure,
Granger had her flaws but she wasn't unattractive. in fact, lately he had
come to find her very attractive indeed...

And it had been so long since he had kissed her...
He had not held her in any intimate form in a long while...he was starting
to think that maybe she had decided that she didn't actually feel a certain
way about him...maybe she was getting her lines crossed after all...

"Oh, dear God!" Janet suddenly said, standing up from the table.

"What?" Paul asked her, looking at her anxiously.

"Out there!" She said, pointing out of the window. "Look...it's an Owl, and
It's heading straight for the window!"

Draco looked around quickly.
The Owl was picking up speed, preparing to fly straight through the unopened
window.

"We can't let it in" She told them both worriedly. "It'll frighten poor
Airyn to death"

It looked to be quite the opposite, in fact.
Airyn was trying to focus on the bird that was getting closer to the window.
Her eyes were as round as saucers, and her mouth was not hanging open,
exposing her gums.

Draco smiled at her.
Far too advanced for her age.

Draco stood up and leaned over the kitchen sink, until he reached the
window.
He managed to open it just in time, as the bird flew in and scattered itself
across the dining table in a heap.

"My mashed potatoes!" Paul said alarmingly, picking feathers out of his
dinner.

"Sorry" Draco said quietly.

He looked at the bird for a moment.
He recognised it...but he couldn't place the owner.

Draco saw Mr. Granger plucking a small scroll from the Owls leg gently, and
then held it up to the light so he could see the addressee through his
glasses.

He suddenly looked at Draco.
"It's for you"

___________________________________

He had been distant with her since she had come back down from her room
after getting changed.
She didn't know what had brought on his change of mood...but she knew it
wasn't something good.

Hermione looked down into her arms, as she saw Airyn feeding from her
breast.
3am...3am and she was still awake.
It was driving her absolutely mad!

Usually she would have enlisted Malfoy to help by now, but tonight she found
herself not wanting to.

After she had come back downstairs, she had seen the bird sitting on the
table, pecking at her father's dinner.
Her mother was too busy shielding Airyn from a nasty case of bird flu, and
Malfoy was too busy reading some letter -

'The letter!' She thought suddenly. 'That must be it...'

But who would send him a letter?
His mother and father had no idea he was here...they thought he was spending
Christmas at Hogwarts...
So it had to be someone else...

Crabbe or Goyle?

'Why would he be pissed off with me about them?'

Blaise?

'Nah...and its not like he OR the other two know where he is over
Christmas...'

So it had to be someone else...
And the only other people that Draco Malfoy fraternized with in Hogwarts
were girls...

So he's been getting messages from girls?

Hermione felt that odd twinge in her stomach again at the thought of another
girl sending him messages through Owl...of another girl talking to him...of
another girl thinking about him...

Dammit, why was all of this so hard?
Personal feelings were never supposed to become involved in all of this...it
was just supposed to be a Project...

Airyn brought her head away from Hermione's breast, silently telling her
mother that she had had enough.
Hermione held Airyn up and put her over her shoulder, winding her for the
umpteenth time that day.

Wasn't all of this for Airyn?
Weren't they supposed to be getting along because of Airyn?
...and now it was all Airyn's fault that she had started to feel this way
about Draco Malfoy...

The boy that was across the hall that she desperately wanted to talk
to...touch...embrace...hold...kiss...

Among other things.

'Hermione Granger!' She scolded herself. 'Getting involved with
Draco Malfoy in that way will NEVER be a good thing...no matter how you try
to think about it'

And it wasn't like she could think about it now, anyway.
There was another girl on the scene...talk about having your cake and eating
it!

Not three weeks ago, Draco Malfoy was kissing her senseless...wanting more
from her...her wanting more from him...

And now he was suddenly talking to other girls...getting messages from them
in HER house?!

Sacrilege!


___________________________________


Draco lay on his cot of a bed, reading the letter over again.
He could scarecly believe it.

He hadn't meant to be off with Granger, but seeing those words written down on paper...it made him realise just how much he had really changed over the past few months.
it was gradual, and it was so slow that he barely noticed...but the proof was now right infront of him on a piece of parchment.

It just goes to show what a baby can really do to you.

Draco,

Thank you for the other day on the train.
It means a lot to me that we can actually be friends.
You know I think a lot of you, and I always will.
I had to ask Longbottom nicely, but he let me know where
you were staying and WHO with.
I have to let you know that I think it is very noble of you;
going all the way into the Muggle world, just to look after your child.

Me and Longbottom have been continuing to get visits
from Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall.
I must admit, at first I found it hard to come to terms with
the fact that it was NEVILLE'S baby that I was carrying...
but after spending a few days with him over the Christmas holidays,
I've realised that I could have done a lot worse.

But I also could have done a lot better.
He's been telling me all about you and the way you are
with Airyn.
Sometimes I wish it could have been me...and I could swap
places with Granger...but I think I'm past that now.
I couldn't help but notice the way you are with each other in school.
I don't know whether it is all an act, or whether you two have actually
found
some mutual respect for each other...but I actually find it quite endearing.

I've done some growing up, Draco.
Life isn't all about what you can get, and what you want.
It's about what life throws at you, and how you handle it.
I think I have finally learned all of this, but it is funny how it
has taken a maternal illness to make me realise...

I'm bonding with my baby, Draco.
I never thought I could do it, but the other day I just looked at
him and realised that he is the most adorable thing I have ever seen...
And I also realised that I was feeling what you had felt all along...
A sense of being complete.

I'm writing to let you know that I am getting better.
Myself and Longbottom are finally starting to share responsibilities,
and I think I can finally come to terms with the fact that the baby is
going to be called BERT for the rest of the school year...

It sounds like a bloody muppet from that Muggle television program!

But if I can accept everything that has been happening to me,
then I am sure I can accept that.

Happy Holidays, Draco,
Stay safe.

Pansy

Draco studied the letter a few times.


Then he smiled to himself.


He wasn't the only one going through some changes.


_____________________________________



A/N:
I would just like to thank everyone for all of their support.
I was overwhelmed that so many of your wished my step mother well, and it really means alot to me that you guys are so understanding.

Chapter 25 needs to be sent off to my beta, so it may take a day or two, but i will be putting it up asap :-)

I'm trying to write upto chapter 30 (as my story changes there, so i have got to get my background knowledge all sorted for it lmao!) and then from there it should be plain sailing lmao!!

Thanks again for your patience!!!
It makes it so much easier to write when you know you have support behind you!!!

THANKS AGAIN!!

Shell
xx

P.S - Just incase anyone was wondering...i stole the piano scene from one of my favourite tom hanks films - 'BIG' hehe!
LOVE the film, and thought it would be rather silly and fluffy to put it in...i just couldn't resist lol!