Chapter Text
Harry stepped through the floo and glanced around the flat trying to figure out where Hermione was before he heard the music from the kitchen, Mariah Carey by the sounds of it which meant something was bothering her. Hermione only listened to muggle pop when something was wrong. Stepping into the kitchen Harry leaned against the counter and watched Hermione finish making dinner at the stove, after a moment he coughed slightly to get her attention.
Reacting on instinct Hermione pulled her wand out of the bun at the nape of her neck and spun to face the intruder, only lowering it when she realized it was Harry standing behind her, “Merlin Harry, you are going to get yourself hexed doing that one of these days!” Hermione exclaimed, lowering her wand in favor of swatting Harry on the arm.
“It's not my fault you didn’t hear me come through the floo.” Harry laughed as he rubbed at his now sore arm. “So what’s bothering you? You don’t normally get off in your head like that unless something is really wrong, add in the muggle music and I don’t think I’ve seen you that worked up since the trials after the war.”
The smile fell off Hermione’s face as Harry’s words brought back her conversation with Draco earlier that day. “Oh Harry, I’ve gotten myself in a mess this time. Promise me you won't hate me when I tell you what I’ve done this time?”
Harry rolled his eyes and pulled Hermione into a hug before she could work herself up any more than she already was. “First I could never hate you; I’m not Ron I don’t hold mistakes against people. And second, you are sounding like Ginny with all the melodrama, so take a second and breathe then start at the beginning.”
Relaxing into the hug, Hermione did as Harry said and took a deep breath before stepping back. “Well, you already kind of know the beginning, that I slept with someone at the summer solstice celebration you and Blaise dragged me to.”
“You were very willing to be dragged to that celebration and you know it,” Harry pointed out with a smirk as he turned to the fridge and fished out one of his favorite ales he knew Hermione always kept on hand for their Wednesday dinners. “Want one?”
Hermione shook her head as she turned back to the oven and pulled out the chicken that had been in the stove for an hour now. “None for me thanks, and my willingness aside you got me in quite a mess by dragging me there.”
“I knew you would make this my fault somehow.” Harry chuckled as he took a seat at the small table in the corner where they always ate.
Setting the roast bird on the table Hermione reached over and grabbed the mashed potatoes and gravy off the counter. “Yes well that is where your part in this ends, the person I slept with was as pissed as I was and apparently we forgot to use any sort of contraceptive charm.”
Harry nearly sliced his hand instead of the chicken he was carving when the knife in his hand slipped in surprise. “‘Mione are you telling me that you’re pregnant?”
“By none other than Draco Malfoy at that,” Hermione said dryly, deciding to get the worst of the shocks over all at once.
The knife in Harry’s hand clattered to the serving dish as Harry’s head thunked into the table. “Did you spike my drink with something? Because I have to be hallucinating right now.”
Hermione couldn’t stop the giggle that slipped past her lips as she reached across the table and patted Harry’s head. “No I didn’t drug you, and no this isn’t a prank the Weasley twins roped me into. I really am pregnant, it really is Draco’s, and I really am planning on marrying him within the next week thanks to the ministry's newest mess of a law.”
The silence from Harry’s side of the table at the newest tidbit of information Hermione had slipped into her mini tirade was so deafening that Hermione briefly thought Harry had actually passed out from shock.
After a few more worrying beats of silence Harry finally looked up at Hermione, “well I don’t hate you. If anything I rather admire how much you’ve thrown yourself into making a disaster, this rivals our fourth year in terms of how hilariously bad it is.”
Hermione relaxed when Harry finally spoke up, even if it was to make a joke at her expense. “Yes, well, being friends with you for over a decade had to have rubbed off on me somewhat.”
“So you’re marrying someone we loathed in school because of the Ministry’s latest bungle? And you are alright with this? It’s not something he’s forcing you into?” Harry asked, his tone more serious than it had been moments before.
Scooping some potatoes onto her plate, Hermione took a moment to seriously consider everything that had happened that day to make sure she was actually alright with it. Finally, she nodded. “It is far from how I pictured life going, but can either of us really say anything has gone as planned since we got our Hogwarts letters twelve years ago?”
Harry grinned wryly at the truth of that statement, Hermione had a very good point there. It seemed like from the moment they had stepped foot on the Hogwarts Express for the first time things had always found a way to go awry. This was just going to be another of those things they would have to roll with and figure out as they went.
~~
While Harry and Hermione were discussing the events of the day at Hermione’s flat, Blaise was in the flat he shared with Harry getting ready for his weekly poker game that it was his turn to host. Just as he set the bowl of crisps on the table the floo flared to life and Draco stepped into the room carrying what looked like a bottle of firewhisky.
“You’re early,” Blaise pointed out as he turned back to setting up the table. “I’m guessing it’s not because you wanted to help me set up?”
“Nope, I’m here to get a celebratory shot in before everyone else shows up.” Draco replied, holding up the bottle before summoning a pair of glasses from the bar cabinet in the corner.
Blaise accepted the glass Draco held out to him and took a healthy swig, not needing any more of an excuse to drink.
“To me getting Hermione Granger pregnant and her agreeing to marry me!” Draco said as he held his own glass up in a toast before taking a swig himself.
This was so far from what Blaise was expecting the toast to be for that the mouthful of firewhisky he had just taken came out his nose instead of going down his throat when he tried to swallow. After sputtering and coughing for close to five minutes Blaise finally choked out the word what, trying to make sure he had actually heard correctly.
Draco sipped his drink and waited until he was sure Blaise wasn’t actually dying from choking before speaking again. “Remember how I told you I ended up sleeping with a witch at that summer solstice event you told me about? Well, that witch was none other than Hermione Granger and by some cruel twist of fate we were both drunk enough to forget any sort of contraception.”
“You’re an arse for telling me like that.” Blaise groused as he wiped at his nose with his handkerchief before taking another tentative sip of his firewhiskey. “So because of that law we couldn’t stop you are marrying her? Why not just adopt the child?”
Pouring another shot Draco considered how he was going to explain to Blaise that he was actually more than just alright with marrying the witch he had once hated. The truth of the matter was he hadn’t actually disliked Hermione since that day in the manor near the end of the war. Watching Hermione be tortured by his crazy aunt and not break had made him look at her in a new light and he had been forced to admit that he had been wrong about Hermione. That realization hadn’t sat well with him but it had made him reconsider a lot of the things his father had taught him, in the five years since the war his entire world view had been turned on its head.
Blaise watched Draco get lost in his head with a wry smile, this had become a common occurrence since the war had forced them both to grow up and reconsider everything they had learned in Slytherin. “You want to marry Hermione don’t you?” Blaise finally asked, breaking Draco out of his thoughts. “It’s alright to admit it, she’s a fine young woman and she would be a brilliant match for you intelligence wise.”
“I do want to marry her, though I wish I had gotten a chance to know her before this mess happened.” Draco admitted, pushing thoughts of the war into the back corner of his mind.
“Well think of it this way, it’s basically an arranged marriage at this point so you will have plenty of time to build a relationship just like purebloods have been doing for centuries. And plenty of those couples have actually formed loving relationships, they weren’t all like your parents.” Blaise offered reassuringly, grabbing the bottle to pour them one last shot before everyone else showed up for poker night. “Now come on, I still need to finish setting up before everyone else gets here.”
Draco downed the refilled shot before heading into the kitchen to find the snacks that he was sure were waiting to be brought out. “Oh, and I need you to use your connections in the Department of Records to fudge this so it looks like we got married at the solstice and the Ministry is forcing it to come to light.”
“Good thing Zacharis is coming tonight then, I’ll let him win a couple of hands then ask him if he can help.” Blaise shouted back as Draco disappeared around the corner laughing. Even though it was a complete mess of a situation Blaise was one hundred percent certain this was going to work out alright in the end, he had meant it when he said he thought they were a good match once they moved past their childhood rivalries.