She moved toward him... but stopped suddenly when she saw a bunch of parchment behind the sofa. She raised an eyebrow at Malfoy who saw what she was looking at and made a move for them.
His eyes widened 'Just homework' He said with a smile.
She leaned down and picked a bit up. "I hate Granger?" She said softly looking at the writing that covered the page. 'Ok, I know you hated me but why did you have to write it out so many times?' Hermione said slightly hurt, she had thought she was making progress with him.
He grabbed the piece of parchment from her hand, picked up the rest and walked out of the room without saying a word.
He strode down the hall with his face like thunder. He used his wand to make the parchment in his arms disappear and walked into the great hall making the large door slam. Many people looked up from what they were doing to see Malfoy throw himself onto the bench and put his head in his arms.
'You Ok Draco?' He heard a stupidly sweet voice say from next to him. He picked his head up a bit to meet the face of Pansy.
'Fine' He mumbled.
'Having a bad day?' He heard another voice say from the other direction. He turned to see the smiling face of Blaise who was playing with a quill.
'You could say that'
'Got anything to do with a girl?' Blaise said casually while most of the Slytherin table listened intently.
'No' He said very quickly 'Why would you think that? Who told you that? I mean, it's not true but where did you hear that?'
Blaise smiled. 'So it has got to do with a girl'
'Draco?' Said Pansy's shocked voice. 'Another girl?!' She shrieked causing Malfoy to shoot a glare in her direction.
'I'm just confused'
'I know what would make you feel better ... wanna go bully someone for a bit? Get some aggression out?' Blaise suggested hopefully.
Malfoy looked at him incredulously. No, he didn't want to go bully anyone. At that moment, all he wanted to do was think... and throw himself off the top of the astronomy tower for thinking certain things. He smirked ... no, he wouldn't let a stupid mudblood get to him. Not now, not ever. Even seeing the hurt in those chocolate coloured eyes wouldn't make him forget that he was above her.
'Come on Blaise, lets go find Potty and turn him into a rabbit or something' He said standing up with Blaise following behind him.
It was dark when Malfoy decided to walk back to his room. He opened the door ready to say something but stopped when he saw Hermione silently rocking Ella in her arms. She noticed him and put one finger against her lips. 'Shhh, she's just about to nod off'
Malfoy looked questioningly at her for a moment before moving next to Hermione and kissing Ella on the forehead. Hermione dissapeared into the bedroom with a soft smile on her face but when she came back out, her face was contorted with rage.
'Where the hell have you been today? You have a responsibility to Ella!' She said raising her voice a little.
He wasn't about to apologise. 'She's just a magic baby...thing' he said waving his arms about.
'Yes but she's a screaming and crying magic baby when her "father" isn't around!' She said her voice getting even louder.
'It's only a baby' He said tiredly as he let out a yawn.
'Only a ...' She shook her head in disbelief. 'Your not a good father Malfoy'
'You've said that before' He said dazed.
'This time I mean it'
'Look I've had enough of all this baby crap ok? I don't care anymore! I don't care about anything!'
'Why have you suddenly come to this conclusion?'
'Because I have!' He yelled stamping his foot.
'Stop being such an ass for once in your life Malfoy!'
'Stop being such an insufferable bossy little mudblood'
'Why are you always so mean to me Malfoy? I've never done anything to hurt you, have I?' She shouted, her eyes now covered in a thin layer of silver.
'It's easier this way!' He shouted walking a step closer to her.
'Easier? Stop talking in code!' She yelled, seething in anger.
'Don't bother Granger' He said through gritted teeth.
'My name is Hermione!' She snapped.
'Shocking, I'll log that away' He deadpanned.
'Asshole' she muttered.
'Know it all'
'Git'
'Mudb-'
'Shut up!' She screamed. 'I hate you'
It hurt more than he thought to hear her say that. His gaze shifted to a more guarded expression instead of anger.
They looked at each other, the moment seemed to last forever as they stared at one another not knowing what to say.
'I hate you too' He said but that's when he realised he didn't mean it. It hit him hard as he looked at the petite brunette infront of him. 'I should hate you' Malfoy mumbled to himself with a slightly confused expression fixed to his face.
They carried on looking at one another. Both of their gazes softened after awhile, Hermione had a silent tear sliding down her cheek.
'Whats happening to me?' He said into the quiet of the room as he collapsed on the sofa. 'We remind me of my parents when I was younger, always fighting about something'
'Well, if you weren't such an idiot. I would never argue with you' She said softly. 'I'm off to bed, night' She walked into the bedroom and shut the door leaving Malfoy alone with his thoughts.
It was 3am and Malfoy was in the exact same position he was in when Hermione left him. His face held a slightly disgruntled expression to it.
'She is a mudblood' He muttered to himself for the thousandth time that night. 'If my father knew what I was thinking about right now, he would kill me'
The last thought Draco Malfoy had that night involved the girl with brown hair and chocolate coloured eyes lying in the next room.
Hermione walked out of the bedroom bright and early the next morning, with her robe around her shoulders and Ella in her arms. She sighed when she saw Malfoy lying in what looked like a very uncomfortable position on the couch. She sat on the edge of the sofa next to his head. The only time that she even considered liking Malfoy was when he was sleeping because of the lack of insults coming out of his mouth.
'Watching me sleep Granger?' He suddenly said sleepily not opening his eyes.
'Perhaps' She smirked. 'You look like a little fairy when you sleep'
His eyes snapped open and he looked like he had been insulted. 'Fairy? How dare you!' He said with the corners of his mouth twitching up. 'You forgiven me for last night?'
'No, but your going to make sure Ella is cared for today because you abandoned me yesterday'
'Fine' He yawned sitting up and carefully extracting Ella from Hermione's arms and placing her on his chest. Ella let out a giggle as Malfoy pecked her on the nose causing Hermione to smile.
'Well, we have potions in about 30 minutes so you better move it' She said standing up, flicking her hair over her shoulder and walking to the bathroom.
35 minutes later Malfoy strolled into the potions classroom, sat down at his desk and shot Hermione a smile when he saw Ron looking at him. He went red and stared towards the front of the classroom. It had only been 10 minutes when he was brought out of his daydream by a voice infront of him.
'Psst, Malfoy'
'Granger, what?' He said brusquely.
'Who did you leave Ella with?'
'Some Slytherin in the year above'
'You left her with a Slytherin? Typical' She hissed. 'Name?'
'Oh, I did know her name' He put his fingers under his chin as he pretended to think.
'Malfoy' She warned.
'Delilah Montey' He said rolling his eyes.
'Ok, just wanted to know'
'Yeah god forbid you don't know something'
'Shut up' She hissed but with a slight smile.
'Make me' He said leaning forward with a challenging eyebrow raised.
'Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy' A voice drawled from the front of the classroom.
'Sorry sir' Hermione muttered turning round to face the front.
The door suddenly opened and a girl with long, flowing blonde hair strutted in.
'Yes Miss Montey?' Snape said obviously annoyed that he was being interrupted.
'Umm I need to speak to Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger sir'
'You shall speak to them when the class is over' He said. Meanwhile Malfoy and Hermione exchanged curious looks.
'It's urgent sir' She said smoothly.
'Fine' He snapped as Malfoy and Hermione quickly threw their books into their bags and headed out of the classroom with everyone behind them looking intrigued.
When they got out of the classroom they both turned towards the Slytherin girl expectantly.
'It's Ella' She said in an almost bored voice. 'She was sick-'
'Is that it?' Malfoy said sighing.
'-then she went to sleep immediately and didn't wake up' The girl continued. 'She's in the hospital wing now'
Neither Malfoy nor Hermione said another word as they ran towards the hospital wing at full speed. When they got there, they walked in out of breath and looked around. They saw Professor McGonagall standing by a bed looking grave.
'What's – wrong – with – her?' Hermione panted as she looked at the tiny baby on the large hospital bed. Hermione studied her closely, there was nothing obviously wrong with her appearance. She simply looked like she was peacefully sleeping.
'We are not quite sure' McGonagall said looking at the pair.
'She's going to be ok though?' Malfoy said in an emotionless voice.
'We don't know but I think you two should bare in mind she is just a spell'
Hermione looked towards Malfoy helplessly as a tear slid down her cheek and for the first time in history, a Gryffindor hugged a Slytherin.