She was alone, more so than she had ever been in her entire life.

Leaning her head back, she allowed the the cool night air to calm her frantic heart, unsure of what the next course of action would be. She had never planned on this happening, though if she had been more careful she wouldn't be in this mess.

And what a mess it was.

Taking a deep breath she slowly rose from the ground, dusting off her backside and picking up her discarded robe. The party was still going inside the ballroom, though she had no desire to re-enter. It had been a mistake coming, because seeing Ron all over his new fiancée was enough to induce vomiting, though she really didn't need any help with that lately.

No, this whole night had been a mistake, but she had foolishly allowed herself to believe that she could walk right up to him and tell him of her pregnancy. She had every intention to do so, until Lavender had gushed that she was two months pregnant. Her heart had dropped to her feet and she barely had enough time to excuse herself from the well wishes of the Weasley family and friends before her legs buckled beneath her.

She had been a fool to believe that Ron loved her, to believe that he would leave his fiancée for her. She had been stupid to believe that she was in the right, and now she was the one left pregnant and alone. There wasn't any way she could ever tell him about the baby, but how could she possibly keep him from knowing the truth? She refused to abort her baby, and she knew there wasn't any way to say it was another's because everyone would want to know who the father was.

"You alright there Granger? You bolted out of there pretty quick." The voice belonged to the very last person she wanted to be around at this time.

"Get lost Malfoy. I don't have the energy to deal with you." She didn't turn around, just simply rested against the wall.

"See, I wouldn't dare leave a lady out here by herself looking the way you do." She turned around at that and lifted one perfectly filled in brow.

"Looking the way I do? Pray tell, how exactly do I look?"

"You're white as a ghost and look as if you could fall at any given time." Great, she looked as bad as she felt.

"I'm fine, just tired. You can assure your mother than you did your chivalrous duty." She just wanted him to leave her alone so she could gather her wits.

At that moment she felt her stomach lurch and she barely managed to turn before she threw up in the bushes that decorated the pathway. How long she kneeled there she was unsure, but she felt a presence at her back the whole time.

Finally the heaving stopped, though she stayed on the ground, rocking back on her bum with a soft thud.

"Yeah, I can't say I believe that you're fine there Granger." He knelt down besides her, offering her a cloth so she could wipe her mouth. She took the item from him and set about cleaning up the best she could, tampering down her embarrassment at throwing up in Malfoy's presence.

"You see, I happened to come across a file the other day while doing my rotation in OB. Imagine my surprise when I saw that it had your name on it."

Her eyes widened in shock as she took in the serious expression on his face.

"You can't say anyth-" she started, before he placed a hand up to stop her.

"Legally I can't say a word, and you know the last thing my family needs is any type of controversy."

"Then why say anything at all?" Now she was cold, tired, on edge, and hurt. Why would he even bring any of this up?

"I wasn't going to. I had assumed it was Ron's but I had also assumed it would have been a welcomed surprise; I had no idea he had gotten engaged to the blonde bimbo."

"That doesn't explain-"

"Why I said anything?" She nodded, unable to speak. "Because as soon as I saw them together and then their announcement I knew something wasn't right. I figured I had been wrong and that you must have had a new man. Of course, my original suspicions were proven correct when I saw your face. Tell me, why did you allow him to string you along?"

She was grinding her teeth so hard she feared she would chip a tooth. "It's none of your business."

He gave a half smile at that, and she felt as if something was stirring in his head.

"Now now, Granger, I'm trying to be nice."

"You? Nice? To a mudblood?" He blanched at her use of the derogatory word. To say she was surprised was putting it lightly.

"I hate that word Granger, and I haven't used it since school."

How he made her feel petty she was unsure, but she felt the need to apologize. "Sorry."

He stared at her for several long seconds before lifting a shoulder. "Accepted. Now, it seems to me that you're in a bind. It also just so happened that I know of a perfect way to fix it."

"Really? And what would that be?" She really didn't have the energy to deal with any of his crazy ideas, but she also didn't want to go back into the stupid celebration.

"It seems that no matter how hard I try, the Malfoy name still has dirt attached to it. I had foolishly believed that once my father left Britain's wizarding society the negative would have gone with him, but it seems he left a permanent stain upon our family. My mother has been a wreck the past seven years and each day it seems to get worse. So it seems I have something to offer you, and in return you have something to offer me."

"Something to offer me? Pray tell, what could you possibly have to offer me?"

"While the name has been tarnished, the money has not. I know you're buried up to your eyeballs in school debt, and working in the Muggle Born Relations department at the Ministry doesn't pay nearly enough to tackle your debt and rent. To add a child on top of that would be even more disastrous." He stated the misery her life had become so easily, like he was telling her the weather.

"On the other hand, I have more money than I know what to do with, and a huge home that longs for a family."

She narrowed her eyes at him, because surely he wasn't going to suggest what she thought he was. "What are you getting at? I'm well aware of my financial struggles, so I don't need you to restate them to me."

"What I'm getting at is how we could help each other, while helping ourselves." He raised his brows at her, and she knew without a doubt what he was suggesting.

"Why in the hell would I ever consider marrying you?" He had to be drunk, or something.

"Because you need support and I need something to help my family name, which in turn will help my mother."

"I'm muggleborn, if you've forgotten. I doubt your mother would be thrilled if you brought home me home, carrying a bloodtraitor's child no less." Surely he was kidding, because he was being completely mental.

"First off, my mother hasn't ever really cared about blood status; that was all my father's doing. Second, while Ron may be the biological father, there is a way to make the child a Malfoy magically. Blood Adoption counts for far more in our world than biology, and it can be done while the child is still in the womb."

Her eyes widened at that, because it was something she had never heard of before. "What in the world is Blood Adoption?"

He gestured to a bench to their right, and she found herself following the blonde man, sitting down besides him.

"Blood Adoption was created during a time when Pure Blood women were having a hard time conceiving a child with their Pure Blood husband. It was decided, that in order to keep their lines pure, that a form of Blood Magic would be created to adopt children born to women who carried a non Pure Blood child. While biologically the child would be a half blood, magically he or she would be Pure Blooded. It precedes any claim the biological father would have, and the child would take on the traits of the magically adopted parent."

"How is that even legal? Or possible?" Surely she would have heard of such a thing in all her research.

"Legal?" He let out a short laugh. "Blood Adoption is a spell that is passed down generation to generation, to insure the survival of the family line. The Ministry has no control over family magic, so it has never been something that could be outlawed."

She sat there stunned, not only because of what Malfoy had said, but because for the first time in a long while she felt a flicker of hope.

And she felt so ashamed that she was finding hope in Malfoy.

"If you agree, we can perform the Adoption tonight, and begin planning our bonding ceremony in the morning."

"Wait. Tonight? Are you crazy? We've never gotten along, and now I'm to believe that you want to adopt my child and bond with me?" Surely he wasn't that crazy.

"I'm not crazy, at least not entirely."

"I can't decide something like this tonight! I still don't believe that your being truthful!"

He sat and looked off in the distance for a long while, before turning back to her. "In the morning I have a shift at St. Mungo's and it'll last until the late evening. I'll come by your apartment afterward with the family book that the Blood Adoption rite is in and let you see it and study it. That'll give you almost 24 hours to think and decide, and if after you see the book you still want to move forward we will. If not, then I'll leave and never mention this again."

He seemed so sincere and she felt so desperate that she found herself agreeing, even shaking on it.

She felt like she was making a deal with the devil himself.