Aleatory

chapter six

The rest of the day yesterday went by perfectly, except for the constant awkward moments between Ron and I.

As Ginny and I walk through the endless halls of Hogwarts to the Great Hall, she asks me, "So, what's going on with you and Ron?"

"Well, there is no more Ron and me. We fell out of love. Ron tried to tell me that he loves me but, you don't truly love someone if you're constantly cheating on them. If he has any sort of feelings for me still, they definitely would only be infatuation," I explain to her. She nods and takes a moment to ponder over what I just said.

Before she can say anything, I add, "Besides, I have to marry Malfoy."

"Why?" Ginny asks, looking up at me confused.

"The wizarding law states that if you get a woman pregnant, she must either be your spouse or fiancee. If she isn't, you'll still have to marry her," I explain again.

"You are so educated, Hermione. Seriously, it's very impressive, seeing as you're a muggle and all," Ginny jokes.

"Is that discrimination?" I laugh. Her eyes widen and she smacks my shoulder while also laughing.

We make it to the Great Hall, laughing and joking until we make it to the table. Ginny sits next to Ron and I take a seat next to Harry.

Owls flutter through the Great Hall, dropping letters and other things to their respective receiver. A Eurasian owl, drops a red envelope in front of me. My eyes widen and I watch in slight terror as it drops another in front of Malfoy. He looks up at me with the same wide eyes, as the owl patiently waits to be fed. Malfoy quickly snaps out of it and gives the Owl some food.

The owl lets out a loud chirp and then flies out of the windows. Malfoy counts to three before opening his howler, Lucius's voice rings out above all the noise in the hall, "Draco, I'm disappointed. How did you manage to bring a muggle into our family line? Honestly, it's not hard to just find someone else, but you had to go do with a muggle. And you got her pregnant? It's just...wow. How did you manage to mess up that bad?"

Malfoy, watched confused as the howler dropped down onto the table. He looked at Blaise next to him who shrugged, just as confused. I turned to the red howlers sitting on the table. Ginny, Harry, and Ron were also staring at it.

Before my brain could process what my hands were doing, I opened the howler, "Hermione Granger, you conniving snake. You've snuck your way into a pureblood family. I'm sure you're proud of yourself. The baby that you are carrying is going to have a hard time upholding the Malfoy name, but we will welcome it. Don't expect the same for you."

With the embarrassment of being yelled at and the exposure of my pregnancy, I couldn't help but get up and leave the Great Hall. I can hear a flurry of footsteps following behind me.

"Granger," Malfoy says behind me. I turn around to see his standing not far from the doors of the Great Hall. Harry, Ron, and Ginny walk out before Malfoy can utter a word.

Harry walks to me and pulls me into a tight hug, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"That's a little too tight, Harry," I manage to choke out. He chuckles the pulls away a little.

"You could have trusted us. We would have never told anyone. Well, I'm not sure about, Ron," Harry says softly.

"Hey!" Ron gasps. Ginny walks up to Harry and puts her hand on his shoulder.

"Let's let her and Malfoy talk," She says. Harry nods and follows her back into the Great Hall. Ron looks between me and Malfoy then follows behind them.

Once the doors to the Great Hall close, Malfoy says, "Look Granger, I'm s- I apologize that my father outed your pregnancy to the school. And I just want you to know, you're accepted into the family by mother and me."

"Thank you, Malfoy. But, he was a lot...nicer than I thought he would be. Anyways, why don't we call each other by our first names? We'll be married soon, anyways," I suggest.

"Alright, Hermione. Let's do that," he agrees. I nod and wave to him as he walks away towards the Slytherin common room.

I go back to the Great Hall, stomach grumbling from the lack of food.

· • -- ٠ ✤ ٠ -- • ·

Only a day has passed since the howler incident. I'm not sure what I was expecting but, I was not expecting for people to be treating me this differently. The stares and whispers had only gotten worse. 

Draco, Blaise, Ginny, Harry, and Ron were the only three people who treated me normally. Everyone else treated me like I was a living, breathing cat. The only type of confrontation I had about my pregnancy was with Pansy Parkison earlier today. 

"Lucius is right. We can all see that you desperately wanted to sneak your way into a pureblood family. Now, you've ruined the Malfoy family name! I hope you can live the rest of your life knowing Draco will hate you. He doesn't want to marry you or have that dumb child with you. He's in love with me after all," She had said, loudly in the library. 

"Hate is a strong word, Pansy. Maybe that's why Draco told me he hates you," I replied calmly. She sneered at me and before she could say one more thing, I sushed her and walked away. 

After the dumb confrontation, I rushed to the bathroom and barfed up everything I had eaten only minutes prior in the Great Hall. It was the first symptom of my pregnancy that I was experiencing. 

The deadline for McGonagall is also today. I haven't thought much on moving into the dorm with Draco, but it doesn't seem like too bad of an idea. I'm willing to do it as long as he is.