The Baby Deal

Chapter Six

The next morning, Madame Pomfrey released me from the hospital wing with several different potions to take to ensure the baby's best possible health. Thankfully, they were clear and unmarked, so I could easily drink them in front of people under the pretense that I just really, really wanted to drink some water. However, to my utter astonishment and horror, news of my predicament - or at least different versions of it - seemed to have leaked out all over the school over night.

I first noticed the difference in how my peers were treating me at breakfast. After showering and avoiding Harry and Ron at all costs, I'd walked down to the Great Hall with Ginny, book bag in tow, and walked through the double doors. Immediately, the normally loud hall hushed as everyone glanced toward me before breaking into whispers. Some looked at me as if I were something alien, some looked at me with smirks - mainly the Slytherins - though most looked at me in pity. 

They knew about the baby.

I was frozen at the stares until Malfoy, of all people, stood up from the Slytherins' table and sauntered over to me. The whispers stopped; you could've heard a needle drop on the ground as he came up to me with a slightly strained smile on his face and stopped, much too close to my body for comfort. Ginny and I watched him wordlessly, both of our mouths parted slightly, as he reached forward, brushed a loose strand of my hair behind my ear, and gently pulled the strap of my bag off of my shoulder.

"You shouldn't be carrying so much, Granger. Don't want to hurt anything," he murmured in what could've been a caring voice, had you not seen the glint in his eye or the smirk on his face which, incidentally, no one behind him could. They definitely heard him, though. There was a collective gasp from our audience as he slipped his arm around my waist and, shouldering my book bag, guided me to the Gryffindor table. I was too shocked to do anything else other than stare at him and walk with him. Ginny followed, still gaping like a fish. 

When we reached the table, he set my bag down on the bench with a light drop as if it weighed nothing more than a feather and, still standing, took my hand softly in his and kissed it. More gasps, more whispers. He acted as though they didn't exist, though, staring deeply into my eyes as if he wanted to drink me in. Instinct told me to flinch at his touch, to glare at him and call him every bad name in the book, but I couldn't.

All I could do was stare into those two pools of silvery grey that watched me with an equal amount of tenderness and amusement as he whispered, "Let me know when you're ready to go to your class. I'll walk you."

With that said, he gave my hand a little squeeze and strode back to the Slytherin table as if what he did was the most natural thing in the world.

"Hermione, you should sit down," Ginny murmured, tugging on my sleeve ever so slightly. I dropped onto the bench, not touching my food, and instead glanced Malfoy. I know we had agreed on him pretending to be the father for now, but what was that about? We didn't have to pretend that we were together, did we? Had that been part of our agreement? I racked my brains, trying to remember, when the most annoying girls in the universe wiggled their way down the table to us and began talking to me.

"So, Hermione, is it true?" Parvati Patil asked eagerly, glancing at my flat stomach with wide eyes as if there were already a beach ball sized bump there. Ginny glared at her as Lavender Brown snorted and said, "Of course it is, Parvati. Didn't you just see that little exchange between Hermione and Malfoy?"

"Is what true?" I asked neutrally, grabbing a fork and playing with the eggs that had somehow appeared before me. My guess was on Ginny, who was now alternating between watching my plate like a hawk to make sure I ate and glaring at Parvati and Lavender, both of whom were looking at me as if I were the juiciest steak they'd seen in years.