Hermione made the first move. She walked over to where Draco was standing with the pram, unclipped the carrycot and pulled it out of the pram frame.
"Draco could you fold up the frame and put it near the door?" she asked over the hushed whispers. Someone whispered loudly, 'She called him Draco!' Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco who smirked back. When the pram was folded at the back of the hall Hermione pulled Annie out of the carrycot and put that on the pram, then motioned with her head towards the Gryffindor table.
"See you guys after breakfast." Draco said to the Gryffindors, the whispers got louder. Harry and Ron walked to one side of the table and Rosie, Ginny, and Hermione holding Annie walked to the other side. They sat down and ate. People kept staring at Hermione, and Draco wasn't getting much peace either.
"Drakie baby why have you and that filthy mudblood shit suddenly become friends, and what is she doing with a baby?" Draco tried not to get angry, but he failed.
"Inter-house unity." He said slowly through gritted teeth.
"Hermione," said Lavender Brown in a sickly sweet voice, "Why do you have a baby in the spitting image of Draco Malfoy? Are you two, like, you know, an item?" she asked. Hermione's mouth dropped. Harry replied for her,
"I think Dumbledore explained that before we arrived, so why don't you leave Mione and Annie to their breakfast." Lavender huffed and turned round to relay the minimal information she received to Parvati Patil. Suddenly the whole room went quiet, the hushed whispers started again, Hermione turned round,
"Hey there." She said to Draco, "You ready to go?"
"Mmhmm." He replied. Hermione stood up, Draco took Annie and started cooing over her whilst Hermione climbed over the bench and picked up the pink rucksack.
"Hey you guys coming?" Hermione asked Ron, Harry, Rosie and Ginny.
"We'll be there in a minute." Harry said. Draco and Hermione turned around and started walking, "Wait," called Harry, "How do we get there?" Hermione scanned the room and smirked,
"I would tell you," she said loudly, "But I don't think you'd be the only ones listening." Draco stood smirking next to her. They turned to the door, Draco unfolded the pram and put Annie back in it, Hermione turned her head and shouted back to the Gryffindor table, "Use the passage Rosie." Then with a glance at Dumbledore who nodded, they turned on their way to the head's dorm.
"Well the common room doesn't look very different, oh look! Presents!" exclaimed Hermione as they entered the head's dorm. They folded down the pram and took Annie out of the carrycot, and then Draco carried her over to the couch. Hermione sat next to them and levitated over the pile of presents from the corner. "Ok," she said, "Right we have a note from Dumbledore." She undid the envelope, "Dear Mr Malfoy and Miss Granger, I am sorry I did not explain my full plan to Mr Malfoy last night, for I believe I did not tell you my intentions, therefore breakfast may have been rather trivial this morning. Before you arrived I did not actually inform the school of your 'predicament', just that you were bringing a visitor. You see my plan is for you two to have to explain the story yourselves, that way avoiding any conflicting ideas. The staff and I have left some gifts for Annie, and we welcome her to the school. I also mentioned to Mr Malfoy the rearrangement of the sleeping quarters, which you will soon see for yourselves. Your team of nannying house elves have agreed to arrive at 8:30 am. Until we meet again,
Albus Dumbledore.
Shit, I can see what he's trying to do." Hermione said, chewing her bottom lip as she read and re-read the letter.
"What?" asked Draco.
"What is the fastest form of communication around your house?" Draco thought for a minute,
"Pansy's mouth. So what's she got to do with it?" he replied.
"Inter-house unity my arse, more like inter-house gossip chain." Hermione stated. Draco groaned, Annie gurgled, Draco cooed over her then turned back to Hermione,
"So now we wait for some over dramatised crazy romance/betrayal story. Great. Well at least we have presents." He joked. Hermione laughed and picked up a large present.
"It's heavy." She said, "I wonder what it could be. It's from Professor McGonigal, she says it's for Annie when we have homework, which she expects us to do it says here. Ok, you gonna help me open it?"
"Sure, I'll do this side, you take that." Replied Draco. They ripped it open together to reveal a kiddie play frame, the one where the baby lies on the ground playing with rattles and other stuff hanging from the bar. They ripped open the rest of the presents to reveal more toys, an album for photos, books, and even Molly sent clothes for Annie with a note inviting them over for Christmas.
"Do you want to go?" Draco asked Hermione.
"Well it's her first Christmas, and I think we should spend it together as a family, it's probably going to be the only one where we're all together." She replied wistfully. I hope not thought Draco.
"Ok, well I don't know them very well, but it's up to you. How come you're not going to your parents for Christmas? Is it because they don't know a bout Annie, you said you never told them, I don't understand why though." Hermione looked down, her face dropped, Draco regretted mentioning her parents, and he could tell something bad had happened to them. He put Annie in her new kiddie play frame and put his arm around Hermione, she looked up, he could see tear tracks down her cheeks, he pulled her into a hug and rocked her gently, "Shh it'll be alright." He whispered, Hermione sat back and wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and told him what had happened,
"I was going to tell them, end of sixth year, so they wouldn't be surprised when I had her this year, but-" she breathed in, and let out a long breath, then said in a calmer voice, "they never made it to the station. I waited three hours, then a social worker turned up, and asked me was I Hermione Granger, I said yes and she told me my parents had been involved in an accident, I asked them what kind of accident but she said that information was disclosed. I asked her if I could see them and she said no, I couldn't because- because they were dead." More tears poured down her cheeks, "I was sent to stay with my 'aunt', I almost protested until I saw who my 'aunt' was, because both my parents were only children. She was an auror who I had met before. After the social service worker had left the auror took me to stay with her and explained my parents died in a death eater attack." Hermione broke down into sobs, Draco comforted her.
"So are you not going to stay at this auror's house?" he asked once she had composed herself again.
"No, it was only a temporary arrangement, I can move out when I come of age, which is pretty soon." She replied. He grumbled. "What was that?" she teased, trying to be more positive she continued teasing him, "Mr Malfoy are you jealous?" she asked in wonderment.
"I'm not allowed to move out. When I come of age I inherit the entire Malfoy fortune and it's estates." He said.
"Oh I'm sure you could buy your way out of it, you're pretty famous for that you know, buying your way into and out of things, especially with a dad like Lucius Malfoy." She joked.
"You can't buy everything, you can't pay for the most important things in life." He snapped.
"Like what?" said Hermione.
"Love, and freedom." He muttered.
"You can love anyone you want, and as for freedom, that's something you earn." She replied.
"You're wrong." He snapped.
"I'm never wrong." She hissed.
"I can't love anyone, especially who I want." He said.
"Oh really? Why not?" She asked irritably.
"It's a curse." He replied. Hermione thought he was joking. Suddenly the noise of voices came from the bedroom.
"Malfoy," Called Harry "Come in here a minute, we need you to explain something to us." Draco stood up and stalked out the room, Hermione picked up Annie and started talking to her,
"SON OF A BITCH!" shrieked Malfoy, Hermione jumped up and ran to the room to break up an alleged fight between the two boys. She flung the door open and gaped.
"Oooooooh shit!" she groaned. The room contained a cot, two wardrobes, two chest of drawers, two desks, a large mirror, a long window with a big window seat, a door to the balcony, a door to the bathroom and one large double bed.
"Now what gave him the idea that you two would be sleeping together?" Asked Ron in an unusually high voice. Harry and Ron looked on breaking point, Rosie was smiling and Ginny was smirking. Draco turned to Hermione,
"You don't think he-"
"He couldn't of-"
"Well he may have, I mean there's the bed!"
"That's sick." Harry and Ron were confused, Harry spoke in a calmer tone to Ron's but his voice was also unusually high.
"Enlighten us to your revelations, you have obviously concluded that he had a reason, now what was it?" Hermione took a deep breath,
"Draco has slept in my room for a couple of nights before Annie was born in case I went into labour, I guess Dumbledore saw." She replied. Ron stepped forward,
"He slept in your bed?" Ron asked angrily. His cheeks were flushed and his fists were clenched, ready to punch. Draco turned to Ron,
"She wouldn't let me sleep in the chair, and there was no room to transfigure another bed, and I needed to be able to carry her to the hospital wing without a stiff back." Harry and Ron nodded, they were calming down a bit, "I'll go see Dumbledore about it later, it's a mistake that I'm sure he can sort out." Draco added. Hermione hastily changed the subject,
"Cup of tea anyone?" she asked. They all nodded and followed her through to the lounge area where Hermione handed the baby to Draco, then she busied herself in the kitchen where Rosie and Ginny joined her. Hermione didn't want the bed subject coming up again so started on a new one.
"Rosie, what are your plans for Christmas?" she asked.
" I'm going home to stay with my parents, Christmas is a big thing at ours." She replied smiling.
"Mione are you coming to the Burrow for Christmas? Mum said she asked, she really wants to see Annie, but she doesn't know what Malfoy would think." Hermione sighed; it was a difficult situation. She opened her mouth to reply but she was interrupted by a dozen loud CRACKs. Quick as a flash Harry and Ron were on their feet with their wands out,
"Mione, Ginny, Rosie take Annie and run, it's a death eater attack!" Yelled Ron. Draco looked Hermione and rolled his eyes, Hermione looked at the clock and smirked back.
"Master Harry!" shrieked an overjoyed house elf.
"Dobby?" said a very confused Harry Potter.
"Yes master, my friends and I heard about the baby and offered to take full care, it is what we do best sir. Is the baby yours master Harry? It would be an honour to take care of your baby master Harry." Babbled Dobby who was clutching for dear life onto Harry's leg.
"Dobby? Is that really you?" gasped Draco, Dobby's eyes widened and hid behind Harry's leg in fear, "No, no, don't worry, father's not here, these are my living quarters at school, and well, the baby, Annie, well she's my daughter. God Dobby I thought father had killed you; you just disappeared. I'm so happy you're alive. Are you in charge of looking after Annie?" asked an amazed Draco. The rest of the room were just gaping as the house elf squealed and ran over to Draco and hugged him.
"Yes master, Dobby is honoured to care for your baby. But master Draco, does the mother, know about the-" Draco waved his hand subtly motioning for the house elf to stop.
"No Dobby." He said quietly
"Master, may Dobby inquire who the mother is?" asked the house elf.
"Hermione, Hermione Granger." Hermione walked up behind Draco and greeted the house elf, who was more than a little bit shocked.
"Err you two, we're going to be late for lessons." Interrupted Harry.
"Oh you should go then, we have the morning off." Hermione said.
"We do?" Draco asked but Hermione butted in frowning at him.
"See you after lunch." She said and the others all left. Hermione turned to Draco, "Come on you weren't planning on turning down a morning off were you?" she teased.
"Miss Granger you rebel!" he replied smirking. The two of them met each house elf, eleven in all. Dobby was in charge of the team, and Hermione introduced them all to Annie, then she and Draco went for a walk outside.
"We should go and see Dumbledore about that bed." Said Draco as they were walking.
"Why don't we give it a try, see how it goes?" Hermione said looking him in the eye. He smirked and raised one eyebrow but didn't say anything. By the time they got back the house elves had settled in nicely and were playing with Annie. It was nearly lunchtime so Hermione had a shower then Draco had one. They got changed and put on their robes and packed their bags. They left the rooms and headed down to the great hall for lunch.