Snow Storm - D.M , H.G

17. A fathers love

It'd been a long sixty hours or so. Sunday night Hermione was able to get the potions ingredients she needed from Professor Slughorn, and first thing the next morning they began brewing the complex recipe. Draco allowed Hermione to assist him in preparing the ingredients, and got the brew started before going to class. He didn't like leaving Hermione to attend to the potion by herself, because she was sick, her flu-like symptoms of withdrawal piling on top of her morning sickness, but by attending classes himself he was able to excuse her absence, truthfully explaining that she was too ill to attend. He stopped back at the dorm every chance he got, checking on her, and the potion. At night while she slept, he woke every two hours to change the direction of the stirring. It was the most high-maintenance potion he'd brewed to date.

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, the potion was ready, and thank Merlin, because Draco wasn't sure he could go another minute without learning if he was going to be a father or not. He sat on the couch next to Hermione, the potion simmering as clear as water on the coffee table in front of them. "Are you ready?" he asked, ladling the potion into two of three cups. According to the instructions, he'd drop his blood into one, and her the second. Then they would pour both at the same time into the empty cup. If the potion turned green, the samples would be a match, his blood would match that of her unborn child. If it turned orange, there was no match.

It had been an especially rough couple of days, the ginger tonic didn't do much to help her morning sickness, which was amplified by the withdrawal that made her feel like she had been hit by a train. It hadn't started out so badly, but grew worse by the hour. She didn't go to her classes, but since Draco was attending she was at least able to keep up on her homework. As miserable as she was, she wanted to keep her grades up, because the more the drug left her system, the more she realized she still had ambition to do well in school.

She tended to the potion while he was in class, but for the most part he had been treating it like it was his baby, which, in a way made sense. This would tell him if he did in fact, have a baby on the way. When it was finally time, she sat next to him, watching him pour the potion into the two cups, leaving the middle cup empty. "As ready as ever." She told him, and poked her finger with the needle she had already sanitized for the occasion. She let a drop of her blood fall into her cup, and waited for Draco to do the same. She held up her cup, ready to pour them at exactly the same time.

Draco pricked his finger next, and watched as a couple drops of blood fell into the potion. He lifted the cup to hers, almost as if to cheer, before he began to pour the concoction into the empty glass.

She lifted her cup as well, and at the same time began to pour the liquid in with his own mixture. When her cup was empty, she set it on the table, waiting nervously. As she watched, the mixture slowly started to turn green.

Draco didn't realize at first that he'd been holding in his breath, until the potion began to turn an undeniable shade of green. "Oh thank Merlin," he said, relieved, and wrapped his arms around Hermione, pulling her into a relieved hug. His reasons for hoping the baby was his were not entirely selfish. It was saving her from having to deal with Weasley as well.

Hermione felt a great sense of relief, and when Draco wrapped his arms around her, she felt even better. He was happy it was his, he was actually happy! She hugged him back, smiling against his shoulder. "I can't wait to tell Ron he can sod off forever." She said, and it was true. After what he had tried to do, she would never trust him again. Part of her wanted to tell him to his face, while the other part never wanted to see him again.

Draco pulled back and smirked at her. What a Slytherin thing to say. "I only wish I could see the look on his dumb freckled face when he finds out that he has no claim on you." It was Draco who had the claim on her now, and unlike Weasley, he didn't plan to force it on her. That was the difference between them. He'd make Hermione want him and no one else.