Times Of Surrender

Chapter Seven

Draco stepped quickly out of the spinning fireplace into the family’s sitting room. There wasn’t anybody in the room and he took the chance to sit down and think about the situation alone. The pamphlets and the DNA test results were sitting in his lap. He stared down at them blankly and sighed. What was he going to do now that he knew that he was the father of Granger’s baby?

He picked up the test results and stared at them as if it might change the result answers in some sort of way. They didn’t change and they definitely stated that he and the baby's DNA was linked; he was the father. He, an eighteen year old boy, was the father of an unborn half breed child that was sure to shame himself and his family. He’d gone to tell Granger that she needed to terminate the pregnancy, get rid of the little beast inside of her. But now that he had seen the ultrasound pictures of the embryo and heard the heartbeat, it had all become something so real. He couldn’t tell Granger that the thing inside of her had to be terminated; he just couldn’t because it wasn’t his place.

He’d been there through the whole appointment with Granger and he had taken in everything that the doctor had said. His child was a tiny little speck sitting in her womb that was slowly growing. She probably wouldn’t start showing until the end of her third month but her body would change a little at a time. She was three weeks pregnant counting the two weeks before the twenty four hours it took for his sperm to meet her egg and start to develop. He had learned so much that was so interesting, even if he had tried not to show it.

He heard his mother walk into the room behind him. He could tell it was her by the swish of her skirts brushing against her legs. It was a very slight sound that Draco always listened for when he didn’t want to speak with her. She came around the couch and sat to face him.

“Well, Draco?” She questioned with interest.

“Well what, Mother?” Draco asked indifferently.

“Do not answer my question with another. Did you speak with Granger or not?” She demanded crossly. She tossed her long locks of blond hair over her shoulder impatiently and looked intently at Draco with her pale blue eyes.

“I didn’t.” He said grouchily.

“What do you mean you didn’t? Where in the name of Salazar have you been all day?” She asked tapping her finger nails against her jaw.

“I was with Granger. We just didn’t get a chance to speak about the termination of our child.” Draco dropped his gaze not wanting his mother to read the emotion that was in them.

“Your child; you’ve found out that it is indeed yours?” Narcissa raised a perfectly arched blonde eyebrow in demand.

“Yes, the result are right here.” He tossed the plastic bag to his mother for her own inspection.

She glanced at the two matches and wouldn’t meet Draco’s eyes. These were in fact the results to a wizarding DNA test. She wasn’t quite sure of what she should say. “Draco, I know that this child is part yours. You can’t think of that now.”

“What do you mean I can’t think of that now? I was at her appointment with her today. I got to see the embryo through ultrasound. I could see its heart beat in its misshapen body; it’s alive, Mother.” Draco said, frustrated with what he was feeling. Though he knew that this baby was half-bloody, he couldn’t get past the fact that he was its father. He had a child and it was growing in the womb of Hermione Granger.

“You cannot think about that, Draco!” Narcissa hissed crossly giving her son a glare. “Your father will be out of Azkaban soon; if he finds out about this and that this hasn’t been dealt with he is going to put an attack out on the Granger girl. Either way it is as good as dead Draco, there is nothing we can do about that. You wouldn’t have to feel this way if you hadn’t been so irresponsible to begin with.”

“I wasn’t being irresponsible at all, Mother.” Draco said defiantly. He glared at her from just a few feet away and saw something in her eyes; something that looked like it might be regret.

“I’d like to know what you’d call it then, Drake.” She rarely used the nickname for him anymore, not since he had grown up into an adult.

“I call it having needs! It was just an unfortunate accident.”

“Did you hear yourself just now? You said 'an unfortunate accident.' That’s all this can be; it can’t be any more. You know how proud your father is about our family blood line, do you really think he would allow this?” Narcissa leaned back and looked at the DNA results again.

“What about you, Mother? If it was just you, would you still ask me to kill your grandchild?”

Narcissa’s eyes clouded over and she tried not to let Draco see it happen. She was definitely not her husband in all senses. Blood didn’t mean as much to her and her bloodline. Perhaps if Lucius could accept it, she wouldn’t allow her own flesh and blood to be killed. “Draco, your father and I have many things in common. This is not one of them. If I could see a way around it I might leave it be. What would you have me do? How would it really help? And she’s a mudblood, Draco!”

“I…I…admit that I have an attraction to Granger. I don’t know how I feel about her, but it ended in this. She’s pregnant and I’m to be a father. I do know that this little creature pulls at me even now. I know that she is a muggle-born, but she is carrying my child.”

“You’d willingly accept this baby? In all honesty, wouldn’t you see it as a mudblood just like your father would? Has he not made his mark on you?” Narcissa looked at her son trying to understand what it was that he needed from her, how she could help her own child.

“I know that I wouldn’t turn my own flesh and blood away, even if it were a half-breed. I’ve learned a lot from Father’s mistakes and don’t intend on making them myself. I might be cruel at times, but I am not hateful. I am not him!”

“Draco, this has gotten out of hand, there is no way that this is possible. You need to shove those thoughts away and focus on the real point. Your father will be back and he will not accept this. You’re at the end of your rope.” Narcissa stood up and made like she was going to walk toward the door.

“Who is at the end of their rope, Narcissa?” A cold voice questioned, cooling the air from the doorway.

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Hermione sat on her bed and looked over the information that Dr. Roth had given her. Thoughts of the appointment had plagued her mind all day. It wasn’t anything that Dr. Roth had said that was bothering her, either. It was the fact the Draco Malfoy had been there and he hadn’t seemed to mind. Hermione knew that Draco and his family could never accept a half-blooded child into their family and she wasn’t so sure she wanted them to. The whole family was pure evil.

“Hermione, you home?” Harry’s voice traveled up the stairs and startled her. She clamored from the bed and hurried down the hall.

“I’m here, Harry!” She thumped down the last few steps and entered the living room. Hermione was surprised to see not only Ron and Harry, but Ginny as well. She bit her lip and walked forward uncertainly. “Hello, Ginny. How have you been?”

Ginny turned and gave Hermione a bright smile. “I’ve been good, how about you?”

“I’ve been great.” Hermione said a bit uncertainly, she didn’t know if Ginny knew about her pregnancy.

“She knows. She overheard Ron, Molly, and I speaking yesterday. She’s the only one that knows, though.” Harry said as if he could read what she was thinking.

Hermione sighed and smiled at her three friends. “That’s alright; I just want to be comfortable with it before everybody else is. Does that seem childish?”

“Not at all!” Ginny said enthusiastically. She was absolutely glowing with excitement over her friend’s pregnancy.

“I don’t think I’d ever be comfortable carrying Malfoy’s spawn.” Ron said a tad bitterly, not meeting anybody’s gaze. Hermione only smiled and ducked her head.

“I know how odd it may seem, but I’m actually glad that I’m having this baby. I think everything happens for a reason and there has got to be one for this as well.” Hermione said, getting up from her chair. “Come upstairs, I have a bunch of stuff you guys can look at.”

They followed her upstairs and into her room. There was a mess of papers across the comforter and she shoved some of them aside so that her friends could sit down.

“I’ve never been up here before. It’s rather roomy isn’t it?” Harry commented as he looked around.

“Yes it is. I love living here on my own.” Hermione said brightly. She gave her friend a warm smile and started to ruffle through the papers.

“Not for long, soon your going to have a screaming child to take care of that’ll no doubt treat you worse than Malfoy himself.” Ron stated in a matter of fact way.

“I’m aware of me not being alone for long, Ronald, and my child won’t treat me badly just because it has Malfoy’s genes as well. Despite the fact that it is Malfoy’s child too, I am actually confident that my baby and I will get along perfectly.” Hermione plucked her ultrasound picture from the stack and held it out to Ginny.

“I don’t understand how it was that you ended up shagging Malfoy. I agree with you though, Hermione, the baby won’t hate you just because it is Malfoy’s.” Ginny looked down at the blackish gray photo at the little speck of the baby. “Wow, this is it? It doesn’t even look like a baby.”

“It's just a speck..” Ron stated with an odd look on his face. “And how do you know so much about babies, Ginny Weasley?” He asked suspiciously.

Harry turned then to look at Ginny as she turned red. She’d been dating Neville Longbottom for the past year and they had gotten rather close. Harry wasn’t naïve; he knew that the possibilities of Neville and Ginny having sex were rather likely. Ron however wouldn’t accept the fact that his sister was growing up and wasn’t a child anymore.

“It’s common sense, Ronald Bilius Weasley!” Ginny claimed loudly and looked at her brother with an innocent face. Ron was just about to go off at her again but Hermione intervened and saved her from a long interrogation.

“Malfoy and I met with a medi-witch today. Her name is Petra Roth and she seems to be nice enough. I was going to go back to my muggle doctor but I’ve decided that I am going to continue seeing the magically inclined. I figured that it might be better since I am a witch and all.”

“Malfoy went with you?” Harry asked suddenly.

“Not by my wishing. I was late for the appointment and he grabbed my arm as I went to floo. I told him I wouldn’t allow him to go with me again.” Hermione affirmed with a look of irritation. She’d rather have not had him there, but what right did she have to deny him the possibility of seeing if it was his kid? He wouldn’t have believed her if she had insisted it was, even if she spoke until her face turned blue.

“Why was he here?” Ron asked forgetting all about his questions for Ginny.

“He said it was because he wanted to speak about our ‘situation’.”

“He’s probably come to tell you that he didn’t want to be involved.” Ron stated confidently. “He probably wants you to have an abortion.” He said leaning back on the bed and picking up one of the pamphlets.

“Well, whatever his reasoning, it isn’t any of our business. What did the medi-witch say to you while you were there?” Ginny said still looking at the small picture of Hermione’s baby.

“She said that I’m three weeks along and that my due date is February fourteenth. She asked me a bunch of questions about our family histories and then did a physical exam as well. She said everything seemed to look alright for the time being.”

“Until the baby grows horns and tries to kill you from the inside.” Ron claimed, standing up from the bed. Hermione had known that he wouldn’t take the news very well and she’d steeled herself for his attitude.

“My baby will not grow horns, Ronald.” Hermione bit out just a little angrily.

“I think you should talk to your Mum about the pregnancy, Hermione.” Ginny said and stood up from the bed as well.

“I planned on telling everybody soon. I want to at least get the information to my own family first. I’m still a little worried about how my own parents will react.” Hermione swept all of the papers into a pile and set them on top of her bedroom table.

“They’ll be alright with it, I’m sure.” Ginny gave Hermione a tight hug and said, “Oh, and am I ever so mad at you.”

“Whatever for? I’ve done nothing at all.” The brunette asked guardedly.

“You didn’t tell me about Ron and Harry, and here I was, thinking we were best friends!” Ginny protested teasingly and looked towards her brother.

Hermione smiled, “It wasn’t my place to tell you about Ron and Harry’s relationship. They care for each other and they wanted you to find out when they were ready. You do know that you’re doing the same thing to your family, not telling them about me and all.”

“I know, I just would rather you had told me about it than walk in on them kissing.” Ginny said with a blush. Harry looked at Hermione with a cheeky grin. Ron wouldn’t look at anybody in particular.

“Well…” Hermione said teasingly and raised a brow.

"C'mon Harry, Ginny, we need to be going.” Ron said quickly and headed for the bedroom door. He was obviously uneasy about speaking of such things in front of his sister.

“You’re leaving already?” Hermione asked following the others out of the room.

“Yeah, Mrs. Weasley told us to get back before dinner. She said to bring you back if you’d like to come, Hermione.” Harry said over his shoulder.

“Oh, not tonight, Harry. Thanks anyways. I’m a little worn tonight and I was just going to relax and watch some television.” Hermione said with a grateful smile. She didn’t notice Ginny lean over and pluck something from the cushion of the couch until she held it out to her. “What’s this?”

“This is a little card I made for you, nothing special really, just a congratulations card. Something you can see that will remind you that your friends will always be there for you.” The girl said brightly and watched as Hermione read it.

“Aww, that’s so sweet, Ginny, thank you so much for being so supportive.” Hermione looked up a little teary eyed and blinked rapidly. She didn’t want to cry in from of her friends over something as silly as a card.

“We’re all here for you, ‘Mione. You should always remember that.” Ron said softly. Not to long ago he and Hermione had been dating. This was before Ron had realized that he was fonder of boys than girls. Though they had never shared anything sexual, he was still warmhearted for her as only the best of friends could be.

“Even if I am carrying the spawn of Malfoy?” She said and couldn’t stop the tears from slipping down her cheeks.

Ron turned a little pale and looked down uncomfortably. He hadn’t meant to make her upset or hurt her feelings. Taking a deep breath he said, “Yes, even then.”

Hermione rushed forward and swept the lanky boy into a hug. “Thank you for being here for me, Ron. Thank you all so much.” She stepped back and gave everybody a watery smile. “Look at me, I’m always crying when we meet. You’d better get going, Molly won’t be very happy if you miss supper.”

The three nodded and said their farewells. Reassured many times by Hermione that she would be alright left alone, they were gone with a pop.