I woke up in Dracos arms to the shrill ringing of the telephone. I snuggled back down into the comforting depths of my loves arms, and almost fell asleep when I remembered the previous nights events. I immediately jumped up and grabbed the phone, almost breaking it.
"Hermione? Are you okay!?"
"Hermione? Who's that? I'm Dudley! I have some important news!"
I was incredibly disappointed, but tried to mask it.
"Oh Dud! How are you? What's the news?"
"Harry! I'm getting married!"
"Congratulations! Oh my god! This is amazing!"
"Harry," Dudley sounded really nervous, "Will you be my best man?"
"Yes! Of course!"
I suddenly remembered that I hadn't told Dudley about the baby.
"Dudley! Guess what?"
"What?" Dudley sounded intrigued
"I'm having a baby!"
"Oh my gosh! When?"
"Now!"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I have to go buy you a present, bye!"
I walked over and woke Draco up with a shake. He rolled over and groaned
"What?"
"Dudleys getting married! And I'm the best man!"
"Oh that's great! Has Hermione called yet? I want to see this baby!"
"Nope. You've got to give her time though, babe. It can't be easy pushing a baby out of your vagina!"
"I know Haz. I love you, you know that. Right?"
"Of course, Dray. I love you more though,"
We started kissing, and it wasn't sexual at all- it was more romantic and loving. We were broken up by the ringing of the telephone. This time, Draco jumped up to answer it. You could see the tension in his eyes.
"Hermione!? How are you?"
I cast a spell that allowed me to listen to whatever was being said.
"Hermione? Why is everyone calling me this today? I just wanted to ask whether I should get a neutral coloured present, or if it doesn't matter?"
"Oh, it's you Dudley. It doesn't particularly matter what colour you get- we can always turn it a different colour when we find out the sex. Thanks for getting the present though, Dud."
"Okay, thanks. I've got to go, bye!"
Draco put down the phone and walked over, solemnly.
"It was only Dudley. Look, Harry, I'm going to go down to the hospital. You wait here and start setting the nursery up, okay?"
"Okay," I gave Draco a hug and started going upstairs.
~Draco~
As Harry walked upstairs, I leant beside the sofa. My tattoo was hurting again. I rolled my sleeve up and winced as it throbbed and pulsed red- I had been getting this a lot recently and I knew a lot of other former Death Eaters had. I thought about what it might mean as my vision faded and I was welcomed by an image of darkness. It was Voldemorts grave, and you could see the uneasiness of the earth nearby. It was black. The trees and earth were black. Everything was black, scorched by a curse. I had to break free of this vision, of all the visions. My child couldn't deal with this. Neither could Harry. All I knew was that I had to keep it in. As this thought went away, so did the dark image. I was free to go.
I apparated to the Hospital and was greeted with the smell of disinfectant. I rushed up to a nurse and asked 'Where the hell Hermione Granger was?'. As soon as I saw the nurses face I was devastated. I knew something was wrong.
"I'm sorry, love. Hermione... she's dead. She died a couple minutes before you arrived. Her baby survived, though. Her last words were, 'give her to Harry and call her Astrid'"
"I'm Harry's husband. I'll take her home now. My spouse and I will be back within the week to arrange a funeral,"
"Okay, my dear. I'll take you to her now,"
The nurse took me to a room full of about 100 babies, 99 of them screaming. All of them screaming except Astrid. She was lying there kicking her chubby legs and she looked up at me with a pair of wide, chocolate eyes and I melted. She mseemed to have all the best parts of Hermione. The beautiful eyes and honey coloured skin. I scooped her up and apparated home, bracing myself to tell Harry that his best friend was dead.
