The Baby Project

AN:

Ok, first of all I just want to thank ALL of you for your kind words!
my stepmother has now stopped her chemotherapy and i am happy to say that she is doing really well.
The doctor's decided not to proceed with the chemo because it was causing her kidney infections. Aswell as this, there is an 85% chance that the cancer will come back anyway because she has a 'faulty' gene. So the Dr's decided that she needed a mastectomy and a historectomy.

This chapter (as always) will be my last for a while, because as of the 8th of september I go on holiday for a week for a well earned break with my friends to cheer me up (i plan on drinking alot and not remembering the next day lol). After that, my stepmums operation for her breasts will be on the 24th of september, and she will be in hospital for a few weeks for recovery.

I will try my hardest to get chapters done, as i am feeling much better about everything now because i know she will get better.

Please know that I am telling you this information because in a strange way i feel like you have all been there for me, and the responce to my problem has been overwhelming (to the point where i showed my stepmum these reviews for the very first time a few weeks ago and she actually cried...it was actually quite emotional in a weird way lol). I feel you deserve to know her progress, and that she is well on the road to recovery after months :-)

Thankyou again, I really have know idea how else to show my appreciation...so I think I will have to write a VERY exciting chapter 32 (which, if planned right, is going to make you all VERY hot under the collar!!!!!!)

Shellie
xx



Chapter Thirty one

'Heaven knows that your with me now,
heaven knows that you hear.
I feel your breath around me now,
all the pain disappears.
It goes away,
it goes away.
And it only hurts when you cry,
I'm only sad when there’s tears in your eyes.'

Professor McGonagall bustled down the corridor, her tartan cloak billowing
around her. Once she reached the gargoyles she immediately uttered the
password and they jumped aside to accommodate her.
She wore a confident expression as she wound her way up the staircase. As she knocked on the door to the Headmaster’s office, she was sure that
her instincts were true.

As soon as she entered the circle stone room she met his eyes. Her confidence faltered when she realized his expression did not match hers. He looked slightly disconcerted.

"Am I mistaken?" she asked Professor Dumbledore, walking towards his desk as
he sat there quietly, contemplating something.

Dumbledore said nothing. Then, after a moment’s silence, he nodded his head.
"It appears you were under the impression that they were both safe."

McGonagall grew worried.
"As far as I could tell, Miss Granger did not seem like anything was
troubling her."

"She must not be aware yet," Dumbledore said quietly, rubbing his chin
absentmindedly with three fingers, still in deep thought. "It would seem
that word has spread."

McGonagall took a seat. "Surely not all the way to Lucius?" she fretted,
hoping it not to be true.

Dumbledore didn't give an answer, he didn't need to.

"Does the young Malfoy know?" the witch asked curiously.

"I have not heard anything on Master Malfoy's end as of yet, but I can
assure you that if Professor Snape has heard the news, then the young Malfoy
will not be left in the dark."

McGonagall frowned.
"But," she started, wondering if her next statement would sound crazy. "He
cannot get upset about a child that isn't actually real, can he?"

Dumbledore contemplated her question.
"That is possible. But then again, when an object or person gets in the way
of pureblood heritage, there is no knowing what a wizard will do to protect
their family line."

"I see your point," McGonagall said quietly. "But the Malfoy name would not
be under any type of threat at all, considering the project will be over by
the end of term."

The headmaster gave a little smile.
"That may well be the case, Minerva." He entwined his thumbs together and
brought himself forward in his seat as he began to whisper. "However, things can be complicated rather easily. Consider
this: two teenagers of the opposite sex are thrown together to work on a
project that will last the entire year. For years they have been bitter
rivals within the school, but then suddenly everything changes. Everything must change in order for their grades to be salvaged."

The professor frowned. "What are you suggesting, Albus?"

Dumbledore sat back again, with another smile on his face.
"Mind over matter here, Minerva. These two adolescents are growing up and
they are starting to see their first glimpse of the real world for the very
first time... and they are experiencing it together."

McGonagall's eyes widened in shock.
"Surely you are not suggesting-"

"Of course I'm not suggesting," Albus butted in, dipping his hand into a bag
of sherbet lemons. "I'm implying."

Minerva started to huff.
"They know the rules like every other partnership involved with the project.
They know that they are no permitted to-"

"-But when one is not permitted, the temptation to do that which is out of
bounds becomes all the more enticing."

McGonagall closed her eyes and thought for a minute.
"If this goes wrong and they do end up having sexual intercourse, then we
are going to have a lot of problems on our hands."

Dumbledore chuckled.
"My dear, I do not think that you quite understand the rules properly," he
told the witch in front of him. "I knew immediately that temptation would be
around every corner, what with teenage hormones being twice what they were
when we were that age." He saw Minerva nod her head in agreement.
"Therefore, the act of sexual intercourse itself would not be enough to
actually do any damage... it is only if the act involves that of love, also."

"It’s all the same thing," McGonagall said matter-of-factly, rolling her eyes.

"Surely you do not think that anymore. Perhaps many years ago the two went hand in hand, but no longer. Lust and love are completely different sides of a coin," Albus answered. "If
lust were involved in sexual intercourse, then there would be no harm
done... the effects only take place if an act of love is committed at the
same time as intercourse."

Minerva saw what the headmaster was getting at. She smiled.
"Well, that is not likely to happen between the two of them, so I do not see
any problems."

Dumbledore said nothing, and it unnerved the other professor.
"Indeed," he said finally, though the tone in his voice did not match his
word.
"But we must keep an eye on those two. If Lucius
requests that young Draco and Miss Granger are to make their presence known
at Malfoy Manor, then I get the feeling that we will have more than a few
harsh words on our hands."

"What did Severus say about the situation?" she asked anxiously.

"He simply stated that Lucius was not best pleased by the fact that his son
had been paired with a witch from a Muggle family... and was even more
displeased to learn that it was Miss Granger."

"How did he manage to find out?" she asked this time, with anger bubbling
within her. These old blood prejudices did nothing but unsettle her nerves.

"Apparently Theodore Nott had been telling his father all about the
escapades of his final year over Christmas, and just happened to mention Mr.
Malfoy and Miss Granger."

McGonagall sighed.
No matter how much they wanted to keep it a secret, she knew it was bound to
come out sooner or later.

"So what do we do?" she asked, sounding defeated.

"We wait," Dumbledore told her determinedly. "We wait for Lucius to make the
first move."

"Should we warn the couple?" McGonagall asked, getting out of her chair and
walking to the door.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, that would be wise."



_____________________________________



The cold bit at her face until she felt her cheeks go numb.
She found it sad that she had always so easily recalled the happy memories
of sitting beside the lake with Harry and Ron... but now
she could not recall a single one.

For what seemed like hours, she had sat there on the wet grass beneath the
oak tree just staring out at the lake and the shadows that the clouds were
casting upon it. Everything outside of the castle seemed so peaceful, and
Hermione was more than happy to spend as long as she could out there.

Her peace did not last much longer, however.

"I thought I might find you out here."

Hermione did not flinch.
"Congratulations," she said quietly, not looking round at her company. "I
suppose everyone was wondering where I had disappeared to?"

"No," Ginny told her casually, throwing her cloak onto the floor and sitting
down on it. "No one really seems all that bothered," she answered.

Hermione frowned.
Well, at least no one would bother her with questions, if that was the
case.

"I guess everyone would be more interested in Malfoy and his own
disappearing act," Hermione said, watching a few spots of rain fall onto
the still water, creating rings.

Ginny shrugged. "Not that I know of. I think everyone is more concerned
about Ron being branded a rapist..."

Hermione winced but said nothing.

"...but both of us know that isn't true, don't we 'Mione?" Ginny said, prodding.

Hermione knew exactly what she was getting at. Ginny’s expression when they had been in the corridor had said it all.

"Or do we?" Ginny asked again, prying for answers. "I know Ronald Weasley's
facial expressions like the back of my hand, and I know for a fact that he
looked at you with nothing but guilt in his eyes today. He's been funny
since Christmas night, and hardly anyone has managed to get a decent
sentence out of him as to why..."

Hermione did not dare to turn around to Ginny now.

"Why did you stick up for him?" The redhead asked her friend quietly. "If
it were me, I would have taken the matter further."

The clouds were letting raindrops fall from them now.
Hermione could feel the air getting damp, and she felt the electricity of a
brewing storm run through her body.
"He's my friend."

Ginny snorted. "Some friend."

Hermione finally turned and looked at her.
"We were drunk and I don't think he meant-"

"Doesn't make a difference," Ginny butted in. "I know he's my brother and
everything, but it still gives him no right to try it on with you like that."
Ginny looked at her friend for a minute, sadness rimming her eyes. "He
didn't... you know..." she asked awkwardly. "He didn't actually... you
know... did he?"

Hermione's eyes widened.
"God no," Hermione told her defensively. "He just..." She closed her eyes
momentarily and tried to block the images out of her mind. "He just kissed
me and ground himself against me..."

"But he would have gone further if you hadn't said anything?" Ginny asked
her curiously.

Hermione nodded slowly.

"Did you tell Malfoy?" the redhead asked inquisitively.

Hermione shook her head, pulling her cloak around her as the rain started to
fall harder, making a pleasant trickling noise against the leaves of the
tree that was protecting them.
"He read a letter that Ron had sent me and went mad."

"Understandable."

"I told him not to say or do anything, and he told me he wouldn't," Hermione
told Ginny quickly, suddenly feeling the need to stick up for Malfoy. "But I
think he just saw Ron and saw red." Hermione could not help the tiniest of
smile that played on her lips after her unintentional pun.

Ginny thought for a few minutes, the cogs working overtime in her head.
"Why did Malfoy care so much?"

It was not Hermione's facial expression that gave it away, and it was not
her silence either... it was the colour of her crimson cheeks. Ginny did not
know whether to be outraged, sympathetic or happy.
"Do you like him?"

Hermione did not know how to answer that question.
She sighed and rested her head against the cool bark of the tree. "Sometimes
when we're alone I see a completely different side of him that I don't think
anyone ever sees... A side he never allows anyone to see. And then there are other times when he's just the same old Malfoy, just like today."

"Do you feel like there’s something there?" Ginny asked honestly,
pulling up blades of grass with her fingertips.

The other girl shrugged.
"Sometimes I do. Sometimes I can feel something that’s stronger than
anything I have felt before towards any other boy." She smiled slightly.
"Like when he was with me in my house, and he was so polite to my mum and
dad... and he's so good with Airyn. I just get those good vibes from him."

"More than Krum?"

Hermione nodded slightly.

"More than Ron?"

She did not answer for a minute, but when she finally nodded her head,
Ginny's eyes widened.
"So what about the times when he's not so nice?" Ginny asked her seriously.
"I mean, if you two had any type of relationship, then it is bound to be a
rocky-"

"There's no relationship happening," Hermione told her friend with another
sigh. "At least not after today, anyway."

Ginny almost gasped. "You mean there was one before today?"

Hermione looked back at the lake. The rain had decided to fall in buckets
now, as a sheet of mist-like water spread all around the grounds.
"Not really. We were both aware that something was there, but we didn't
know what it was so we had decided to just go with the flow..."

"And how did the flow go?" Ginny asked her humourously, earning her a grin
from the Head Girl.

"I couldn't tell you," she said honestly. "But I think it's safe to say that
the flow has stopped."

Ginny almost felt guilty for prying in on Hermione's new relationship with
Malfoy, but she had to know.
"Why did you stick up for Ron, then? You knew he was in the wrong, and you
knew that Malfoy was defending you. What made you call him a liar, if you
were planning on seeing what type of relationship could be around the corner
with him?"

"Because friendship always comes before relationships," Hermione answered
half-heartedly. "I've been friends with Ron for a lot longer than I've
been... attracted? to Malfoy. If I had agreed with Malfoy then my
relationship with Ron would be in tatters, like it still is... but-"

"-But your relationship with Malfoy hasn't been given a chance," Ginny told
her, sympathy etched into her tone.

"There was no real relationship to be tarnished with Malfoy,"
Hermione answered. "We hated each other for years, and I know that he would
expect me to side with Ron.

"But what about your new relationship with Malfoy?" Ginny asked her
curiously. "Would that not have taken a few knocks after all of this?"

Hermione thought about that for a minute.
"If Malfoy is as serious as I think he is about taking this one step at a
time, then I think he might count this as a 'two steps forward, one step
back' situation." At Ginny's confused look, Hermione smiled slightly. "It's
nothing that can't be mended. We're both too stubborn to actually admit we
are wrong and say sorry, but I know that we can move on and forget it eventually."

"But what if Malfoy won't let you this time?"

Hermione watched as the lake swirled with the rain.
"Then there was nothing really there at all."



_________________________________


"Did you make the appointment?"

"I have owled Dumbledore and requested an arrangement, yes."

"Has he answered you?"

"Give it time... He is aware that I may have some kind of strategy."

"Don't you always?" She put her arms around her husband’s shoulders slowly
from behind, bending down and resting her head against his cheek.

"Dumbledore cannot refuse me."

"You have been restless since you found out this news," She told him sadly.
"I could curse Nott for telling you such ghastly information."

"I actually prayed that it was not true," he answered almost sadly. "But I
cornered Severus within the Dark Lord's sanctuary yesterday and he told me
everything."

"A Mudblood." The words slipped off her tongue like acid.

"Indeed..."

"I blame the professors for the mix up."

"I just need to see it for myself to believe it," Lucius told her, stroking
her right arm with his hand.

"What will you do?" Narcissa asked him quietly, purring into his ear.

The blond haired man smirked to himself. "The only thing that seems right."



_______________________________



Hermione walked into the common room and lead instantly dropped into her
stomach.
Draco was sitting on the couch with Airyn.
She was lying with her back on his chest, staring up at the ceiling
sleepily.

Draco's head shifted slightly to acknowledge her entrance, but he said
nothing.
She stood there several more moments waiting for... well, she wasn't sure
what. But she certainly wasn't expecting silence and apathy.
Although, if he had decided to revert to his old self perhaps that's how he
would react...


"Are you going to say anything?" she asked finally.


"Hadn't planned on it," he said curtly.

Hermione sighed quietly in exasperation.


"Fine," she said, hiking her book bag higher onto her shoulder and walking
toward the staircase. All she wanted to do was get into a hot bath and ignore
all of her worries for the time being.
As she reached the foot of the staircase his voice stopped her.


"He knows," he said, loudly enough for his voice to carry across the room.


"Who knows what?" Hermione said impatiently. She really wasn't in the mood
to talk about anything that had happened that morning. Then again, she
wasn't in the mood to talk at all.


"My father," was all Draco said. There was a brief silence.


"Shit," Hermione said quietly.


"Yeah," he replied.


"That's bad... right?" she asked


"That's very bad," he answered.

Hermione put her bag down and went to sit in the chair across from Draco.

Momentarily forgetting that they had even argued earlier, Hermione looked at
him anxiously.
"But what can he do? I mean we're inside Hogwarts’ walls. He'd never be able
to lay his hands on Airyn right?" she asked, suddenly very concerned.


"My father can do all sorts of things when he sets his mind to it," Draco
said.


"Well what can we do about it?" Hermione asked him.


"Dobby came in earlier to tell me that Dumbledore and McGonagall want to
speak to us. I would assume it's about my father," he answered.


"That's good then if they know. They'll be on guard for anything out of the
ordinary," Hermione said, trying to sound confident.


"Why did you do it? Defend him?" Draco said. Hermione could have sworn she
saw hurt swirling somewhere in his expression.


"Draco, please," she said, pausing at how his first name had come right off
her tongue. "I don't want to get into this. I had a terrible day and I'd
really just like to go to sleep."


"Sure," he said, raising his voice. "Run away from another confrontation.
It's what you're best at."


"I am not running away," she said, matching his volume.


"Then tell me why you defended that fucking would-be rapist!"


"I didn't mean to hurt you!" Hermione yelled fervently. Airyn stirred from
her light sleep as silence hung in the room.


"Who said it hurt me?" Draco said coldly. He gathered his baby girl into his
arms and made his way to his dormitory.


"It hurt me," Hermione said quietly to no one in particular.
She wasn't sure what exactly she was referring to: the part when Draco had
called her a Mudblood or when she had all but called him a liar.

"Meet me down here at five o'clock" she heard him shout from the stairs.
"The Headmaster is expecting us."

Tears stained her face as she gathered her bag and made her way up to her
room alone... completely and utterly alone.


_______________________________


It wasn't until an hour and a half later that Draco walked back down his
dorm room stairs again, carrying a giggling little girl in his arms. As he
entered the common room however, what waited before him made him stop dead
in his tracks.

"How the bloody hell did you get in here?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Hermione is one of my best friends, there’s nothing we
don't share with each other."

Draco looked at her curiously. What else could they have shared?
Airyn made an adorable googling noise, breaking the electric tension in the
air. Draco looked down and smiled, placing a kiss on the top of her blond
head of curls, and then set her down upon the floor.

"If you're looking for Granger, she’s either upstairs brooding in her room,
or terrorising some other poor sod with blinkers on."

Ginny glared for a moment, before noticing that his vocal tone did not match
his harsh words.
"It's not Hermione I've come to see, actually," she answered.

Draco looked over at her, while keeping one firm eye on the devil child
who was currently attempting to crawl along the carpet towards a rather
large and dirt-filled plant pot.
"Oh?" he asked, before finally giving in and taking Airyn in his arms once
again, placing her on his knee. "Come to have another go at me, have you?
Come to stick the knife in a little deeper?"

Ginny paid him no attention. Instead, she secretly admired the way he could
so easily manage his offspring. Not that Airyn was a difficult child, but
considering she had only seen Ron battling with Benny and Joon so often, it
was a nice change to see a man actually having fun and sharing quality time
with his child.

'A man? Ginny thought alarmingly. 'Since when was Malfoy
considered a man amongst his species?'.

"You really love her, don't you?" she asked, smiling slightly as she watched
Airyn playing with her daddy's green and silver neck tie.

Draco did not lift his head, nor did he need to answer the question. The
answer was already playing out for Ginny to see.

"You know she feels terrible about what she did, don't you?"

At this, Draco's head shot up. "Why should she? It's not like we're friends
or anything," he told the redhead bitterly.

"Don't lie," she said crossly. "You can't tell me that you haven't bonded
with Hermione since Airyn was born?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. Airyn looked up at him with wide eyes and
pulled firmly on his tie, almost as if she was telling him to tell the
truth.

"Maybe," he answered finally. "But it’s only for Airyn's sake."

Ginny snorted in disapproval before taking a seat across from him.
"Look, I don't like you and I know you don't like me, but Hermione is in
both of our lives, and if we want to keep her there then we will have to
sort a few things out."

Draco glared at her.
"I don’t take orders from Weasleys; especially not the type who have rapists
for brothers."

Although Ginny felt a desperate need to stick up for her brother, the words
would not leave her mouth. Instead, she continued to stare at the blonde.
"What my brother did was beyond his personality. No one has ever seen that
sort of behaviour come from him before, and I very much doubt-"

"Both him and Granger made a liar out of me," Draco interrupted venomously.
"I don't give a shit about his behaviour or his intentions, I just want to
see him punished for what he tried to do."

Ginny almost felt guilty for understanding the Slytherin. She knew he was
right, and she knew that deep down she did want some sort of punishment
directed towards her brother, but there had to be some other way of making
him pay for what he tried to do, other than what Malfoy had in mind.

"You can defend the bastard all you want, Weasley," Draco told the girl,
bouncing the toddler up and down on his knee. "But the next time I see him,
he won't know what hit him."

”I didn’t say a word.” Ginny could not help but smirk, even through the darkness of the situation.
"Is all this hatred for your benefit or for Hermione's?"

Draco glared at her. "What do you think?" he asked. "Why should I care about
her anymore? She obviously didn't see fit to even bother to defend me. I'm
her child's father for bloody hell's sake!"

Ginny grinned all the more.
"Maybe she wanted to defend you, but knew that her friends came first,
before-"

"Before what?" Draco asked her demandingly.

"Before partners."

Draco thought the word through, keeping his eye on Ginny as she stared
directly back at him.

She knew.

So what should he do? Should he put up his walls of defense and play it cool?
Admit nothing and let her go away with her tail between her legs? Or should he
give in and finally let an outsider into his thoughts about the utterly
confusing Gryffindor girl?
Maybe it was all a big plan? Maybe Weasley and Potter had sent the wench to
the head quarters to get the dirt on Draco? Watch how the mighty had fallen?

"This is not a part of some big conspiracy against you, if that’s what you're
thinking," she told him, smirking. "I'm just a friend of Hermione's who wants
to see her happy."

Draco almost snorted. "Yeah. Happy. That's what she is when she's with me."

Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Boys... you just don't realise something when it's right in front of your
face, do you?"

Draco frowned. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Ginny smiled at him for the first time since he could ever remember.
"That Hermione-"

"That Hermione, what?" Came a voice from the far end of the room.

Both teenagers froze as they looked around, to see the Head Girl standing
there with her hands on her hips, looking at them both curiously.

"Hey, Hermione," Ginny said anxiously, getting up from her seat. "Malfoy said
you were upstairs so I was waiting for you down here."

Hermione glanced at Draco, whose head was lowered as he played with his
little girl's tiny fingers.
"Sorry Ginny, you should have just come up the stairs, I was writing in
those baby journals."

Ginny smiled sheepishly.
"I can't even remember what I came to ask you, to be honest," she told the
Head Girl hesitantly. "I... er. I'll go back to the common room and catch up
with you later, if I can remember what I was going to say."

Hermione nodded, not at all convinced of her friends answer. Something was
definitely going on.
"See you later, Ginny."

As Ginny said her goodbyes and escaped through the common room entrance,
Hermione glared down at Draco.

"It's almost five, we should be going to see Dumbledore."

Draco looked over at her.
"Yeah... he'll be expecting us anytime now."

He watched as Hermione walked straight past him, her hair flowing from side
to side. She held an air of a woman truly aggrieved, and against his better
judgment, and against everything that made him who he was... he called her
name.

She turned on her heel and looked directly at him, her eyes like steel.

Draco faltered for a moment, having realised that he had called her name
out loud and that he actually had not prepared anything to say to
her... saying anything less than what he felt like saying right now would
probably make her hate him all the more.

"Look," he began, changing Airyn from each arm nervously. "I've had some time
to think about it, and I've realised that, for you, friends come first."

Hermione narrowed her eyes.
"And how did you come to that conclusion?"

Draco sighed in defeat. "With a little help."

Hermione turned to walk away from him, but he hastily grabbed her arm.
"Hang on," he told her, trying to prepare his words better. "This really
isn't easy for me to say, and you're not making it any easier." He held onto
her wrist as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Hermione stopped her pulling and looked him dead in the eyes.

"I'm sorry for practically telling the whole school about what happened, and
I'm sorry for making you feel like you were stuck in the middle." He took a
deep breath. "But I got so angry because he was getting away with something
that can be punished."

Hermione put her eyes on Airyn.
"He will be punished enough by having to remember what he tried to do for
the rest of his life. I will remember, and so will he... that’s enough
punishment for the both of us."

Draco wanted to understand, he really did. But he really was not like these
Gryffindors... all with their feelings and their contempt... for Slytherins,
you paid for your actions through punishment. It was the Slytherin way.

"It doesn't take away the hurt of what you called me, though," Hermione told
him quietly, looking up at him again.

Draco felt guilty. He didn't feel it very often, and that was why he
despised it all the more.
"I didn't mean it," he admitted. "I think you know how I feel about you by
now."

He could feel her eyes on him.

"Yes, I do"

Draco looked up at her. Those eyes of warm honey that had now softened
towards him.
"Do you still feel the same way about me?" he asked her timidly.

Hermione took her time to answer, mulling the question over in her head.
Did she still feel the way he felt? Even after he had made a fool of her
in front of the whole of seventh year? Even after he called her all those
names? And even after she had saw him standing there in front of her, guilt
written all over his face... as if somehow he had finally began to understand
exactly who she was?

Her answer came as a whisper, one that Draco almost did not catch.

"I'll show you tonight."


__________________________




*LazyDaze: All of the lyrics at the beginnings of the chapters are from songs that I love!

And also....I think it's time that I told you that AIRYN is Pronounced ERIN....just spelt differently lol.

Gosh, i now know how it felt for JK Rowling when people were confused about how you prounounced Hermione lmao!! :-D


xxx