From Venice with Love

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When Hermione awoke in the morning, Draco was gone. She felt terror rise like bile in her throat. No matter what she said the night before, she couldn’t get him to say aloud that he would stay. There was a distance between them that had never been there before, she could feel his distrust of her coming off of him in waves. She knew that they were bound in marriage forever, but that couldn’t force him to stay near her, or to be with her and their child. She rolled over to the side of the bed he had slept on and began to cry.

After a moment, she felt a hand on her back and looked up. It was Draco, looking at her with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?” he said. “Are you ill?”

“Where were you?” she said, sitting up and hugging him. “I woke up and you were gone.”

“I went to the bathroom,” he said. “I was gone 5 minutes.”

“I thought you left,” she said, still crying.

“Hermione, calm down,” he said, patting her back awkwardly. “It’s Saturday. I don’t have anywhere to be, I’ll stay.” He pulled the covers back and laid down with her, smoothing her hair off her forehead. “You shouldn’t get so upset,” he said. “It isn’t good for the baby.”


“You’re not mad, then?” she asked, hopefully.

His hand paused a moment. “I thought about it a lot last night,” he said finally. “I can see what you mean about Potter and the Order, but I have to be able to trust that if I tell you something it will stay between us, unless I tell you otherwise. That you won’t go off with them opening houses or vaults. You have to promise me that, or I can’t do this. You have to trust that I will do what’s best for us and the baby.” He turned her so he could see her eyes. “Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can,” she said after a moment. “As long as you let me argue with you if I think that you’re wrong.”

“Done,” he said, kissing her cheek. They lay there, content, until there was a knocking at the door.

“Hermione?” Harry’s voice came through. Draco groaned and rolled away from her. “Do they ever sleep?” He threw a pillow over his head.

“Yes, Harry?” Hermione called.

“It’s me and Ginny. Can we come in?”

Hermione looked at Draco who sat up. “Why not?” he grunted. Hermione got up, grabbed her robe, and went to open the portrait.

Harry and Ginny came in immediately, and their gaze was drawn to a shirtless Draco, sitting in bed. Harry looked quickly away and Ginny grinned. “I see you made up, then?” she said to Hermione, who nodded. She threw a shirt at Draco, who put it on, and Harry and Ginny sat on the chairs by the table.

Harry began immediately. “We were able to get in the house, but there wasn’t much of interest. It didn’t look like it had been used recently. Let me get to the point, Malfoy. We’re looking for a bracelet, gold with rubies. Have you ever seen it?”

Draco shrugged. “My mother has a lot of jewellery.”

“This wouldn’t be worn,” Harry said. “If you had a picture, would you tell me if you’d seen it?”

“I suppose,” Draco said testily.

Harry took a photo out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione, who glanced at it before handing it to Draco. Draco frowned as he studied it. “I’ve seen it. It was sold in Knockturn Alley last fall.” He handed the picture back to Harry. “Can I go back to sleep now?”

“Where in Knockturn Alley?” Harry asked,

“Borgin & Burkes.” Draco said. “If you didn’t know I was here, what were you going to ask Hermione?”

“We guessed that you were here. Pansy was whining about your absence at breakfast,” Ginny said. “We were just going to give her the picture to give you if you weren’t here.”

“If you have something to ask me, ask me,” Draco said. “I don’t want Hermione in the middle again. She doesn’t need any more stress then she already has. Make sure your oaf of a brother knows that.”

“Ron will calm down,” Ginny said.

“I’m not going to be a spy for you either, Potter,” Draco continued. “I may choose to answer you, if I think it’s beneficial to me.”

“You really are an arse, you know that Malfoy?” Harry said, shaking his head. He stood up and Ginny followed suit. “Will we see you at lunch, Hermione?” he asked.

“Maybe you’ll see her at dinner, depends on how exhausted I am,” Draco winked at him and Harry blushed as Ginny giggled.

As soon as the door closed behind her friends, Hermione returned to bed. “You’re horrible!” she laughed, as she snuggled against him underneath the covers.

“You think so?” he asked, kissing her cheek. “You’ll have to pay for that remark.”

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The days passed quickly after that. Hermione was as happy as she could be given the circumstances. Ron still wasn’t really talking to her, barely acknowledging her and giving one word answers to any questions she asked. Ginny was back to normal and Harry was doing pretty well, he seemed to choose his words carefully any time the war was mentioned and he cringed every time he saw Draco touch her, which Hermione thought Draco did more than necessary just to irritate her friend. Otherwise, Hermione spent a lot of time on her Head Girl duties and reading her pregnancy books. The baby kicked all the time now and Hermione was having a harder time hiding the bump that seemed to grow bigger daily.

“I swear it’s trying to beat me up!” she said to Ginny one Friday afternoon as they sat by the lake with Harry and Ron. Ron rolled his eyes but Ginny laughed and felt Hermione’s stomach.

“It’s certainly active,” she said.

“Why don’t you find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” Harry asked, stretching his legs out in the sun.

“I want to be surprised,” Hermione said. “Besides, it doesn’t matter what it is.” She stood up. “I’ll be right back. I want to grab a book from my room.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Ginny asked.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be right back.” Hermione began walking back towards the castle, smiling to herself.

“Look who it is,” Hermione’s smile faded as she saw herself face to face with Pansy Parkinson’s sneering face. She looked around quickly, she couldn’t see Harry, Ron or Ginny anymore. It was only Pansy and Millicent Bullstrode. She tried to shove past, but Pansy grabbed her arm. “Not so fast,” her eyes widened at Hermione as she glanced down at her open robes. Hastily, Hermione closed them, but it was too late. “You’re pregnant,” Pansy said, a nasty smile coming to her face. “It makes sense now.”

“Move, Parkinson,” Hermione said, reaching into her pocket for her wand. She realised then she had left it back with her friends.

“”It all makes sense now, you little Mudblood slut. You got pregnant in order to trap a pureblood into marrying you.” Pansy’s grip on her arm was fierce.

“I got pregnant in January, after my wedding, thank you,” Hermione said stiffly. She reached her hand up to her necklace and sent a quick message to Draco, praying he’d see it immediately.

“You must think I’m very stupid,” Pansy said, her smile gone and replaced by a look of anger. “How dare you pollute our genes with your little half breed!”

Instinctively, Hermione placed a protective arm on her stomach. “Leave me alone.”

“You think I won’t touch you because you’re Head Girl? Or because of that…thing you’re carrying? Believe me, it would be better for everyone if you had a little…accident.” She nodded at Millicent, who moved up menacingly.

Hermione was panicked now. “Stay away from me,” she whispered.

“Are you scared, Mudblood?” Pansy whispered, her nails drawing blood from Hermione’s arm. “You should be.”

“Parkinson!” They all three turned towards the shout. It was Draco, looking livid. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He strode towards them.

“Draco!” Pansy said, backing away a little, but still keeping hold of Hermione’s arm. “The bitch is pregnant.”

“Pity,” Draco said. “She’s still Head Girl, Pansy. Do you want to be expelled?”

“But Draco-“

“There are better times and places for this,” he said, pulling her arm off of Hermione’s. “Alessandro is a friend of mine. I won’t have you disrespecting him by manhandling his wife.”

Pansy stared at him, eyes wide. “But she’s pregnant! She tricked him into marrying her, don’t you see?”

Draco shrugged. “That’s his concern, not ours. Come along, Pansy, Millicent.”

“This isn’t over,” Pansy hissed. “Everyone in school will know what a little slut you are before the day’s out.” She gave Hermione one last look before allowing Draco to pull her away.

Hermione ran back towards the lake, shaking.

“Hermione, what happened?” Harry asked, standing up immediately as she ran back to them.

“Pansy Parkinson knows I’m pregnant,” Hermione said, telling them what happened in a rush.

Harry took her arm. “We need to go tell Professor Dumbledore,” he said. “Come on. You stay here,” he said to Ginny and Ron. Ron, who had barely looked up, nodded. Ginny was more reluctant, but agreed.

Hermione and Harry walked quickly to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore’s office. “Chocolate frogs,” Harry said to open the passageway.

They knocked on the door. “Come in,” came the voice inside. Inside sat Professor Dumbledore with Draco standing in front of him, looking upset. He went to Hermione immediately and hugged her.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I got there as fast as I could.”

“She didn’t hurt me, she just threatened to,” Hermione said.

“I’ll announce to the school this evening that you’re pregnant and due in September,” Professor Dumbledore said. “That should help. You may have to leave school sooner than we thought, Hermione.”

“No,” Hermione said stiffly. “I will not let anyone force me to leave before graduation.”

“Hermione-“

“No, Harry. I’ll just be careful, make sure I’m not alone. It’ll be fine.” Hermione said firmly.

“I really think that you should consider it.” Getting no response, Harry turned to Draco. “Malfoy? Some help?”

“I think Potter’s right, unfortunately.” Draco told her. “I’m sure that you can do your N.E.W.T.S. from hiding, right?” He looked at Professor Dumbledore, who nodded. “I can’t really protect you here, Hermione, without drawing attention to it.”

“No,” Hermione said again. “I’m not scared of that silly little..” she stopped, looking at the professor.

“It won’t be just her, once the Slytherins know. They’ll all be out for you.” Draco said.

“No.” Hermione crossed her arms and began to walk back towards the office door. “That’s final.”

Harry and Draco looked at each other, clearly exasperated. “Hermione, please, think about it.”

“We should be going to dinner,” she said, opening the door. Harry and Draco shared one last look before Harry followed her out the door.

“Hermione-“

“Don’t start, Harry. We’ll see how it goes. I’m going to be in hiding from June on anyway. Remember how hard it was for Sirius? I don’t want to be hiding any longer than needed.”

Harry was quiet. “Alright.” He looked up from the floor. “If anyone threatens you again though, you’ll have to.”

“I’ll consider it,” she said. “It was great though, to see you and Draco get along.”

“We didn’t-“ Harry broke off, knowing Hermione was right. “Well, we both care about you, I guess. Sometimes, we’ll agree, concerning you. But I won’t be inviting him round to play chess or anything, Hermione.”

“It’s a start,” Hermione said, laughing.