Hermione slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the bright sunlight coming into the room where her and Draco had forgotten to close the curtains. The sound of Draco still breathing deeply beside her let her know he was still asleep. She started to roll over to check the time when nausea that was all too familiar these past few days hit her full force.

She stilled herself, willing it to pass like it had done the other times, until she realized it wasn't going to pass. Nausea had been plaguing her for several days, but she had chosen to keep it to herself. If she told somebody, it might make it more than a stomach bug that she was lying the blame on. Part of her didn't know if she could handle her slight suspicions being confirmed.

It had been four days since the Halloween Ball and neither Hermione, nor Draco had heard anything from Dumbledore about their performance. To say it was disconcerting was an understatement. Both were suspicious about what he was up to, but neither wanted to confront the headmaster about it. Instead, they were waiting until he called upon them.

As Hermione darted towards the bathroom with one hand over her mouth and the other on her stomach, part of her was thankful Dumbledore hadn't called on them. If her fears were correct, he would know the minute she walked in the room. Insightfulness was one of Dumbledore's strongest attributes and Hermione had yet to decide if this was for the better or worse.

Any thoughts about Dumbledore were cut off as she spilled any contents that were in her stomach into the toilet. She hated getting sick more than anything, it was a nuisance and she had three exams coming up. A stomach virus, much less anything more, was the last thing she needed.

"Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione lifted her head from the coolness of the porcelain, wiping her mouth off while she did so, to notice a bedraggled Draco standing in the bathroom looking worried. She supposed she forgot to close the door on her rush to get in the bathroom and cast him an apologetic glance.

"Sorry for waking you up. I'm ok, I'm sure it's just a stomach virus. I can go get Madame Pompfrey to give me something for it and I'll be fine."

She noticed he didn't look convinced and furrowed her brow. She didn't need his worries mirroring her own. It was just sickness, that was all. If he started worrying about something else being a possibility that would just make it real and she couldn't handle that.

"Is this the first time you've gotten sick?" He slowly crossed his arms, leveling his gaze on her.

"Well, it's the first time I've actually gotten sick. Really, Draco, I'm fine, I'll just get some Pepper Up potion and I'll be on my way."

"You've actually gotten sick? So you have felt nauseous before now?"

Her eyes darted around nervously.

"Well, yeah, but I just assumed it was fatigue, it's only been happening the past few days or so."

Hermione watched as Draco unfolded his arms and walked over to her, kneeling down in front of her. He didn't meet her eyes as he stared at her abdomen and raised his hand over it muttering an incantation.

She wasn't sure how she felt about him casting a spell on her without her permission, but the evidence of how powerful of a wizard he truly was casting a nonverbal so easily impressed her once again. She had read that many purebloods were actually stunted magically because of all the cases of inbreeding to keep the blood pure. Apparently, this wasn't the case with Draco though.

Her attention was drawn away from her thoughts as she watched a yellow glow emit from her stomach and suddenly Draco closed any distance between himself and the floor, landing with a soft thud. A look a shock, terror, and amazement crossed his features all at once and Hermione suddenly found herself scared.

"Draco, what? What did you do? What is it?"

For once Hermione was lost on the spell he had cast. Normally, even without the incantation she could instantly tell what the spell was, but without wand movement or even some sort of affect on her it was lost on her. Part of her deep down knew the answer though, however much she didn't want to.

Finally Draco raised his gaze from her stomach and met her eyes.

"Hermione, you, we," he swallowed and seemed as if he was trying desperately to gain some sort of composure back before he continued. He sounded so out of character that she would have laughed had the situation not been so serious. "Hermione, you, you're pregnant."

Fear shot through her whole body. The worst possible scenario was confirmed, but her fear wasn't from impending motherhood at such a young age. It was for the safety of their lives.

She couldn't be having Draco Malfoy's baby. If Voldemort found out they would all be dead. Not to mention, Draco had enough on his plate. Being a spy against the Dark Lord was not an easy to task to put it lightly. Now he would have the burden of a child to deal with on top of it.

She just found herself staring at Draco, unable to say anything at all. Her mind quickly tried to calculate how far along she was. Had she had her period at all since they had been married? She couldn't remember, but she was certain he had whispered a contraception spell every time.

"Hermione, I'm so sorry. Dumbledore told me soul mates were more easily able to conceive than normal witches and wizards, but I used the spell he gave me every time. I swear!"

Her attention was snatched back immediately.

"Dumbledore gave you a spell?"

"Yeah, I questioned him about it, but he said I'd need a stronger one for us because of the reason I've already told you about."

Pieces of a puzzle were clicking together in her head and the conclusion was one she didn't like.

"Draco, you don't think," she paused, taking a breath, "you don't think Dumbledore planned this?"

It seemed only a second before what clicked her in head clicked in his. First, their vows and now this spell. Hermione jumped when, all of a sudden, Draco stood up.

"Fuck!" His fist slammed down onto the counter. "I never should have trusted him! I told myself what he was saying about the spell was shit. I should have followed my instinct. This is all of my fucking fault."

Hermione stood up, walking over to Draco and wrapping her hand around the one he just used in anger.

"This is not your fault. We both participated in what made this happen, if I do recall correctly. My main question is, why does it seem Dumbledore plotted for us to have a baby in the first place? We aren't even out of school and he knows the dangers with Voldemort."

Draco looked down at her before pulling her to him, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on top of her head.

"We can't tell him, Hermione. He wants our baby for something, I don't know what for, but what other reason would he have for making all of this come together?"

She stiffened at his words. They were true, but she still hated hearing them. The thought that someone she had once so looked up to would manipulate them to get their child was sickening. What could a baby do to anyone? They were soul mates, that they had accepted, but a baby never needed to be added during this time.

War was upon them at any moment. They knew it, Harry knew it, everyone knew it. It was only waiting for someone to make their move that had everyone in a false sense of security. Hermione took a deep breath, dreading what would come out of her mouth next.

"We have to tell him."

Draco pulled back from her shocked, a look of confusion across his face.

"What? You are willing to go along with his plan? To just let him use our child at his whim?"

"No! Of course not! Face facts though, Draco. Neither one of us are trained healers and we need to make sure the baby is ok. It's not like we can just use any mediwitch, they might go back and tell Voldemort or leak it to the Daily Prophet."

She looked into his eyes, watching a battle of emotions play upon them. The fact he wasn't hiding his emotions said more than anything about how distraught he was. Hermione knew he was skilled in Occlumency. What she once viewed as an impenetrable coldness to his demeanor, she now saw as sheer brilliancy.

The urge to hold him was strong, but he interrupted her, pulling her off of the floor.

"We will go to Snape."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but he was already pulling her out of the bathroom.

"We can't keep it from Dumbledore, but we can get advice first. Maybe he can help us somehow."

Draco was snatching clothes from their wardrobe and Hermione found herself putting on jeans and a jumper that he had tossed at her, while he donned his normal suit. Silently, she wondered if he even owned casual clothes. She made a mental note to check when she got free time alone.

When they were both dressed they made to leave their rooms. Right before they opened the door, Hermione reached to stop Draco. He stopped, his hand frozen on the door knob, to look at her quizzically.

"Draco, don't you think that we should, you know, at least discuss this between ourselves first?"

She saw something flash across his face that almost resembled anger, leaving her extremely confused.

"We will have time to talk later when we get this sorted out."

Hermione didn't have time to reply before he snatched the door open. She felt sadness tinged with disappointment flow through her. She knew they both had responsibilities. Apparently, it was them that would win this war, indirectly of course, and now they were almost positive their child had something to do with it.

Logically, Draco was correct in wanting to talk to Snape first. Her heart was conquering her head at the moment. All she wanted to do was crawl back in the bed and curl up next to the man she had created a child with like any normal couple would do after finding out they were expecting.

They weren't normal, though, and the war had put adult burdens on what would normally be deemed as children. In any time of peace, they wouldn't be married and they certainly wouldn't be bringing a baby into the world. A child was the last thing that needed to be brought into this mess.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts she didn't even realized they had stopped walking, much less that they were already in the dungeons, until a sharp knock on the door brought her attention back. Her nerves hit her full force, as if she was a first year having detention with the surly Potion's Master, when she heard the professor telling them to enter.

They walked in, and if the professor wasn't so good at hiding his emotions, she would have sworn she saw surprise flicker across his face at seeing them both. As soon as Draco made sure she was seated, he turned to his godfather and cut to the heart of the matter.

"She's pregnant."

At this, Snape sat up straighter, his eyes cutting to Hermione's before returning back to Draco's.

"Are you certain?"

"I performed the test myself."

"You used the spell Dumbledore gave you every time?"

"Of course I did and if we are correct that bloody spell is what got us into this mess."

Snape seemed to tense up as Hermione silently watched the scene occur before her with baited breath.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about Draco."

Draco tensed up, gripping his wand tighter than necessary, taking a step closer to Snape's desk. He used the fact he was standing to his advantage and Hermione had to admit he took on quite an intimidating appearance when towering over the elder Slytherin.

"I'm sure you do. You heard our vows. They all but screamed for us to have children and then this stupid spell that we supposedly have to use because our chances of conceiving our greater than normal!"

His voice rose to yelling, causing Hermione to stand and walk over to him. It wouldn't do them any good to offend the one person that seemed to be somewhat sympathetic towards them.

"Draco, calm down," she murmured, placing a hand on his arm.

Turning her attention to Professor Snape, taking a deep breath to calm herself before addressing him.

"Professor, if we are incorrect then I apologize for any offense we have made, but it does seem a little odd. You can agree with that at least can't you?"

His eyes stared into hers. Suddenly, he looked exhausted and Hermione felt a pang of sympathy for the man in front of her. He had enough on his plate and now they were burdening him with their own problems.

He released a rush of breath that Hermione hadn't been aware he was holding and then continued to answer her, his attention drawn back to the parchment on his desk.

"I can clearly see where your assumptions have come from, but let me assure you that they are false. The spell Dumbledore gave you would have prevented any pregnancy from happening without a chance of failing. The fact that it did means something went wrong. We must see Dumbledore immediately."

As he finished, he tapped his wand on the parchment causing it to disappear. Without a word he stood up and walked around his desk, motioning for the young couple to follow him. They followed wordlessly. The whole way, Hermione could feel the anger radiating from her husband. It seemed Snape wasn't going to give them the help they had hoped.

It wasn't until they were sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk that Draco said anything else, addressing the Headmaster with a coolness that only a Slytherin could master. Any Gryffindor would have flown off the handle, not able to contain their rage.

Hermione didn't know which was more terrifying. Screaming and throwing things or being so withdrawn that there was no way of knowing what move would cause the eerie calmness to break.

"The spell you gave me failed."

Dumbledore didn't even blink. In fact, Hermione watched annoyed as the headmaster popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

"I assume this is to mean that Mrs. Malfoy is with child."

It wasn't a question. Yet, he did not show any emotion, either, keeping as calm as Draco was. Honestly, the school should just replace the Sorting Hat. It clearly didn't know what it was doing half of the time.

"We wouldn't be here if she wasn't."

"Draco!" Hermione looked at him wide-eyed in shock.

He had just deliberately been rude to a wizard that was not only their elder, but their Headmaster. Not to mention, this man just might hold the fate of their child in his hands. Dumbledore turned his attention to her.

"Mrs. Malfoy, do you have any idea when you conceived?"

A blush spread across Hermione's face at the mention of her and Draco conceiving a child. She didn't think she would ever be comfortable discussing her sex life with others, unlike most of the girls her age that couldn't care less.

"Um, no sir. I can't remember the last time, er, that time of the month occurred." She absolutely refused to meet anyone's gaze within the room.

"Not a problem, we can get Severus to cast a diagnostic spell. Severus?" He motioned for him to cast the spell.

Snape walked over to Hermione, crouching down and not meeting her eyes before casting the spell that would not only tell them how far along she was, but when she was due.

"Conceptum manifestat."

The room watched as a silver smoke drifted up into the air looping to reveal a number floating in the air.

"She is going on four weeks."

Draco stared at the number and then suddenly rounded on Dumbledore.

"I said the spell every time. Explain to me how it is that we have a child on the way in practically eight months!"

He was no longer seated, but standing, his perfect hair falling out of place from where he kept it swept it to the side. Hermione wasn't paying attention though. She was busy calculating her due date.

"June," she whispered under her breath.

"June 29th, to be exact," Severus corrected her, standing up and walking back to his spot across the room.

Hermione looked up to see the date she was due fading away. Dumbledore chose then to address Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm sure there had to be at least one time you forgot the spell. Otherwise, we would not be sitting here now. Think hard for a minute."

"I did no such-" he was interrupted with a gasp from Hermione. His anger quickly turned to concern at her outburst.

"What? What is it?"

She slowly met his eyes, hers filled with tears.

"He's right. The night you received the mark, nothing was cast."

Draco's hand ripped through his hair as he threw himself back into the chair.

"This is all my bloody fault!"

Hermione couldn't resist the pull to comfort him, even knowing Dumbledore and Snape were in the room. It wasn't his fault; he was in pain beyond anything she could imagine that night. Slowly, she kneeled down in front of him, resting her hand on his knee.

"Draco," she paused as he refused to look at her. "Draco, look at me. This isn't your fault. Things happen. You had just went through a life-changing event. Both of us were upset. This isn't your fault."

Her voice was firm, but gentle and as she talked she saw his eyes soften. In a fluent move that shocked Hermione to the core, he wrapped her into his arms and whispered into her hair.

"I'm so sorry." A tear slipped down her cheek as she heard his own tears in his voice.

A few seconds passed when she heard a throat being cleared. Slowly they pulled apart, but she did not step away from his side, instead she chose to stand beside him, her hand never leaving his arm. He was her strength as much as she was his.

"As you know, nobody must know about your child. For the first half of your pregnancy, you should be fine continuing your classes. Since this is your first pregnancy, it will take longer for you to show. After that, we will keep you in your rooms."

Hermione nodded numbly. She would be isolated from all of her friends. It was a small price to pay in the scheme of things, but it still hurt.

"What about graduating and finishing my courses?"

"You will be allowed to finish your schooling, but I'm afraid the actual ceremony is out of the question. We cannot risk anyone noticing, even if you are covered in robes. I can arrange where Draco brings you your assignments every day."

"Won't that bring up questions in itself? If my father has any reason to think I've made friends with," he stopped unable to say the word, leaving his intent hanging in the air.

"I will have the teachers hand them to me directly. Professor Snape can then make sure they are passed onto you. This will be the same method used for turning in assignments."

"What about people questioning my absence?"

"I will handle it. Don't concern yourself with that."

Once again, Hermione nodded. Then it sank in. She was pregnant. A child, one that she and Draco made together, was within her. Slowly, her eyes lowered and her hand went to her stomach. Outwardly, there was no sign that anything was there, but it was. She was going to be a mother.

Dumbledore smiled softly at her, noticing where her hand was resting.

"That will be all for now. Any other questions can be answered later. I believe it is time that you two head to class before someone takes notice of your absences."

"Thank you, Professor."

With that, her and Draco left the room, his hand protectively resting on her lower back.

Immediately, Snape rounded on Dumbledore.

"You lied to them."

Dumbledore looked up at him calmly.

"Of course I did, my dear boy."

"Why?"

"They cannot know. They are young. The chances they would forget a spell at least once was inevitable."

Snape looked at the man with disgust written plainly on his face.

"Don't give me that look, Severus. We have to win this war. That child is the key to our victory. You have heard the prophecy."

"I have heard the damn prophecy, just like I heard the one that killed Lily! How can you sit there knowing-"

Dumbledore cut him off before he could say anymore.

"I can sit here because I'm aware sacrifices must be made for happiness to be achieved."

A/N: Finally, things are speeding up! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Also, thank you so much for your reviews and support! I'm blown away by the response this story is receiving and my gratitude is endless.

I hope to continue to hear your thoughts on the story!