The Baby Project - Dramione

twenty-five

Hermione briefly recalled her first year at Hogwarts.

She had been so thrilled. She knew she was going to work hard, ace her classes, and not get into trouble.

What had gone wrong along the way? She had had a plan, had been so set on following the rules and being..well, a renowned student in the teachers' eyes. She'd never had her shirt untucked or her tie tied sloppily, never was late for class or "forgot" to do her homework. No, Hermione was hell-bent on being a model student.

Instead, she was dating the school's biggest troublemaker (that was a debatable subject, actually, considering all the hassle Harry had caused over the years), had a very clear target on her back, and had proven herself to show no mercy in some fatal situations she's wound up in.

But hey. At least she was Head Girl.

Or will she be after this? Does Lucius Malfoy have some sort of influence over the school to make them take away the leadership she'd so obviously earned? Will he have the power to get her arrested for the scheme she and her friends had been plotting? No, there's no way. He can't hold that much power over her head. Not even his own son was willing to end their relationship.

But here she was, no longer a first-year, no longer innocent and naive and pure. She'd seen blood, she'd seen wars - hell, she'd been in them - and she'd seen death. Plus she and Draco had definitely done some...unholy things over the year.

Draco.

He blanched immediately at Blaise's words, even paler than he normally was. She could tell just by looking at him how terrified he was, despite his weak efforts to hide it. He slowly rolled up his sweater sleeves, not even making a move to remove it, despite it being a Gryffindor sweater. Hermione could feel a coppery taste in her mouth at just the thought of Lucius seeing Draco wearing it.

"Draco, take it off," she whispered then, tugging on his sleeve. He looked at her, confused. "Take the sweater off. Take it off, please. Please just take it off."

"No, 'Mione." He murmured, his lips against her hair. "It's going to be okay."
He was saying that like they'd already been defeated. Like they'd already been taken away from each other. To comfort her.

He then wiped his palms against his trousers and squeezed her hand once, twice, before facing Blaise and Theo. "Where is he?"

Both of them wore a twisted expression - Blaise's from pain, Theo's from being out of breath. "He's in the Slytherin dormitories," Theo panted slightly. "I don't know how he got there or who let him in, or they're probably just scared of him so it probably wasn't even hard for him to get in, or it was"-

"Why is he here, Draco?" Blaise asked clearly.

Draco shrugged, such a simple, defeated gesture that made Hermione's heart heavy. "You know my father. He never loses."

And he kissed Hermione's forehead gently, softly, and she felt his lips lingering there long after he'd pulled away. "I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded silently, words caught in her throat, and watched him walk away. She would see him later, he'd promised, and Draco always kept his word, and watching him leave made her-

Ginny whacked her. "What in Merlin's pants are you doing?"

Hermione whirled around, confused. "Blimey, Gin! What do you mean?"

The redhead spluttered. "What do you mean, what do I mean? You're just letting him walk away?! Who knows if he'll come back?"

"He promised he'd see me later." She told Ginny. After all of this, Hermione had forgotten that Ginny and Harry and Luna and Dean and the rest of the lot were all there. She figured Ron would be staring right at her, maybe, or perhaps pretending to not pay attention. But he was staring right into the Forbidden Forest, which, despite the time of day, was still dark and looming.