The Muggle Project

Morning Sickness

The sound of vomit splattering against the toilet basin filled the air. It was barely 8am on a Saturday and I was sick to my stomach. Draco was kneeled beside me, holding my hair back like he had been since the first experience of the sickness.

I was miserable, so miserable but I had to be greateful that my morning sickness managed to stay away until the end of month 1. At this point I was considered to be in my 4th month of pregnancy. My flat stomach now had a bulge. Its prominent roundness sat as a mound between my hips. It was life. Even though it was a charm it was life.

After five more minutes of vomiting and another three of dry-heaving I was able to sit back on my heels and take a breather while Draco went to the kitchen to get me a glass of Ale. The ginger flavor of the Ale tasted slightly acidic as it mixed with the stomach acid in my mouth.

I quickly swished and spit before taking another drink. This time it tasted alot better so I continued to slowly sip.

"How about breakfast?" Draco said as he put his hands under my arms and carefully brought me to my feet.

I brushed the back of my hand across my mouth. "I was going to make french toast if you are hungry." I replied as I made my way down the hall to the kitchen.

I brought out a bowl and began cracking some eggs to make the batter while Draco brought out the pan and bread.

"Here, let me." Draco said as he pulled the bowl of egg to himself and began dipping the bread. "Powdered sugar or no powdered sugar?" He dropped the first piece of egg soaked bread onto the frying pan and it immeadiately began to sizzle.

"On yours, yes. Mine, no. Raspberry syrup is sugar enough for me." I replied as I took a seat at the counter.

Draco moved to pour me a glass of orange juice and then went back to cooking the french toast. After another ten minutes he brought both our plates to the counter and we sat together and ate in silence.

When I finished I moved to the sink and began washing my plate.

"Have you seen Luna lately?" I asked.

"Actually, yes I have. Just yesterday in Muggle Studies. Remember, love, you were there too." Draco said as he lifted the final piece of his french toast to his mouth.

"Apparently Neville has some very strong genetics because she is so round for being just 4 months along."

I'm pretty sure that I brought this up atleast once a week but it was hard not too when I see how bad she has it. So far, out of all the females, she had gotten the worst. Her morning sickness hit her at the end of the first week. She spent about 50% of her classes hovering over the porcelain and still does so she must take a specially made potion to stem it off.

Luna's optomistic outlook on her situation though is what kept me going. Even at the worst of times, she would say 'It won't last forever'. This comment was usually mentioned between breaths while she hovered over the basin.

"So, anything planned for today?" Draco asked as he brought his plate over to the sink and began to wash it.

"Just the usual."

Every Saturday our friends would come over. Us females would talk about baby stuff, names, nursery ideas, school ideas, and pregnancy. While we did this the guys would do whatever it was that they did.

"Neville, Dean, Seamus and myself are going to go to the Three Broomsticks. Professor Krum is supposed to be there with a few people from the Ministry of Magic to talk to us about job oppourtunities."

My eyes widened as I looked at Draco. Since the beginning of this assignment he has changed so much. If I didn't know what Draco looked like I would have guessed that this man was an entirely different person.

"What is your future career path choice?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I haven't thought that far. That is sort of the point for this meeting." His eyes dropped to the floor. "I wasn't planning on coming back to Hogwarts."

"Why?"

He shook his head. "I didn't think I had a future."

I crossed my arms. "Then why are you here?" I asked curiously.

"Because I had no choice. It was either continue with a clean nose or pick out a cell in Azkaban along side my father. So, here I am."

"Here you are." I repeated.

"And I wouldn't change a thing." He reached out and took my hand. "This year is so much better than I could have imagined." With his other hand he reached forward and rest it on my baby bump. Then let free my hand and moved his second hand to my stomach. "I'm so glad to have you as a partner, Hermione."

"I'm glad to have you too."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Hermione!" Faye beamed as she crossed over the threshold with Seamus. Pavarti and Dean followed with Luna and Nevilla quickly following.

"You look well." I said to Luna as I put my hand on her stomach.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey made some pill form of the potion she had been giving me for my sickness. So now I don't have to go to her when I get sick, I can just pop them into my mouth and I will be better again. It's really conveinent."

"Very conveinent." Neville replied as he slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. "No more night visit to the Hospital Wing."

"That is definitely something to toast to, eh Longbottom." Draco said as he joined their side with a couple butterbeers.

Before he could hand them out I snatched them from his hands. "You will be going to the Three Broomsticks. The toasting can wait for just a couple minutes longer, don't you think?" I said before I turned to the kitchen.

After I put away the beverages I grabbed the platter of horderves, finger sandwiches and the tea tray, moving them to the butler cart which I rolled into the sunroom that overlooked the backyard.

"So, anyone thought up any new names?" Pavarti asked,

"I was thinking Eleanora for a girl and Alexander for a boy."

"Those are pretty, I like Evangeline for a girl and Dexter for a boy." Luna joined in.

Pavarti leaned forward to grab a horderve. "Suri and Joel." She said before popping the snack into her mouth. She leaned back as she chewed, slowly rubbing her belly as she did so.

"Seamus and I have decided on Seraphina for a girl and Tanner for a girl."

"You mean you decided." Pavarti teased. "It took Dean and I over two bloody hours to decide on Suri and Joel."

"Seamus wanted to name our daughter Clover." Faye made a face of disgust. "Really, Clover! That name is so terrible."

"This is why the mothers should choose the names, we have more style." Parvati said as she moved to pour herself some tea. "It is why I took hold of the reigns."

"Poor Dean." I teased. "How is that going by the way. I mean, we always talk about how the pregnancy is going but we never mention how our partnership in this project is going."

"Neville is a sweetheart, not to mention we have similar thought patterns. You should see what he came up with for the next issue of the Quibbler." Luna said in her airy voice.

The Quibbler, the pride and joy of the Lovegood family.

""Dean is a nightmare. I can't believe I got paired with him." Pavarti complained. "He is so annoying. I literally refuse to be in any room that he is in."

"What is so annoying about him?" I asked.

Pavarti pinched the space between her eyebrows. "He is like a man-child. Always playing with stupid action figures and these weird card games. He is slacking in class so every point we have I had to earn myself. If it wasn't for me working my ass off in my studies we would probably starve."

"If you think that is bad, imagine trying to keep a clean house with a person that never cleans up after himself, smells like boy funk and makes everything that he touches, blow up. Seamus is a sweetheart but that is the only good quality about him." Faye said. "What about you, Hermione? How bad is Draco?"

Pavarti, Luna and Faye seemed to gravitate towards me, moving to the edge of their seats as if not wanting to miss a word I was going to say.

"Draco.... Draco is a great partner." I said, simply.

"Draco?" Pavarti repeated. "This is Malfoy we are talking about. Right?"

I scrunched my forehead together as I nodded my head.

"Seriously, Hermione. Cut the crap, tell us the dirty details. How was your charm?" Faye pressed, eagerly.

I looked from one girl to the next. It was apparent, the only one who had a decent, somewhat-happy partnership in this project was Luna. And now it seemed like they all predicted that I be the most miserable because I had Draco Malfoy who has a history of being volital against mudbloods, which I technically was.

But, in reality, I was happy. Draco was perfect. Our partnership was perfect. Our project was going great and I couldn't ask for anyone better.

"Hermione, we promise not to make any snide comments about your pain and suffering from being Draco's partner. I mean, it was bound to be miserable since you are to him as a Jew is to Hitler." Faye said.

I covered my mouth, shocked from the use her analogy. She basically compared me and Draco to Hilter and the Jews. How cruel could she get?

"Really, it's going good."

"What?" Pavarti replied. She looked like she had just been stupified.

"Draco is so.... not Draco." I grinned. "He is sweet, gentle, funny, romantic... you guys, he is perfect." I responded with a dreamy look on my face.

"The charm?" Faye pressed, moving to the edge of her seat. "How was it?"

I felt my stomach begin to growl so I grabbed a finger sandwich and began nibbling on a corner. "Well.... Draco had to take a shower after." I didn't want to give away too much of the intimate details. I would prefer they used their imagination to fill in the details.

"That good?" Pavarti frowned. "Sounds so much better than my charm experience. Dean lasted two seconds not to mention he had no idea what he was doing!" She made a gagging sound.

"You too!" Faye exclaimed. "Seamus was so nervous and unceartain in mine."

All three of us turned to look at Luna who had yet to speak on her and Neville. She just stared at her journal in which she was given, just like the rest of us, by our muggle studies teacher.

"Luna, what is it that you are writing in your class journal?" I asked.

She finished writing in silence and then closed her journal. "I was writing about the fluttering in my stomach. It is quite fascinating, really. I think it's Tiblims."

"Tiblims?" I repeated.

Luna nodded her head. "Tiblims are little butterfly-like creatures that flutter around inside your stomach whenever you are feeling in love. They've been there for three days. They know I love Neville."

"Actually, I believe it would be the baby kicking."

Luna slowly shook her head. "No, it is definitely the Tiblims. Their touch is more gentle, like someone grazing your arm."

All I could do was smile. I mean, Luna definitely had a different perspective when it came to magical creatures but 9 out of 10 times she was right. She saw things that most people didn't.

"No, they are definitely kicks, Luna. I felt small ones yesterday." Faye said as she began rubbing circles on her stomach. "At first I thought it was a case of bubble guts from Seamus' awful cooking but it wasn't."

I frowned. I had yet to feel anything myself. Some part of my ached to feel something, anything, a kick a flutter. I craved to have Draco touching my stomach to feel the life that dwelled deep inside me. To smile at me everytime he felt a kick.

"Is anyone as curious as I am to see what they will look like?" Luna chimed. "Neville said if it is a girl it will look like me. I think that would be nice, Evangeline with blonde hair." She said as she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger as she seemed to go into a bit of a daze.

I could imagine that, Luna and Neville scurrying after a little blonde girl that closely resembled her mother.

"It's no doubt that any child of ours will have bronze colored skin." Pavarti said. "Beautiful, curly, dark hair and bronze skin. I hope its a girl so I can dress her up."

"A girl would be nice. Maybe then I can teach her some manners, which her father doesn't seem to have. She will be a clean child, Seraphina. Dark hair, ivory skin, green-blue eyes. What about you, Hermione?" Faye asked.

I never really thought about it until now. What would our offspring look like? Would it have brown hair like mine or blonde like Draco? Would it have my brown eyes or his grey? What about skin tone, would it be pale like Draco's or a gentle peach like my own?

I shrugged my shoulders. "I... don't know. It's hard to imagine it just yet. I mean I get a million images popping up in my mind."

"Well, what is your favorite, tell us that." Luna said.

I began rubbing my stomach. "Brown hair like mine, but straight like Draco's. My long eye lashes paired with Draco's grey eyes. His pale skin with my faint blush. My smarts with Draco's spunk-" I chuckled at that thought. "And I think I would like a girl too. Eleanor Dracona Malfoy. But a little Alexander would be nice too."

"Dracona?" Pavarti arched an eyebrow towards me.

I quirked my lips, trying to supress a grin. "In my family, and his, the first born childs middle name takes after the mothers first name and the surname takes after the father. Jean is my mothers name, Granger from my father." I paused as stomach began to churn. I brought the back of my hand to my mouth and did my best to hold back the vomit that threatened to come up. After several deep breaths I continued. "Eleanor Dracona Malfoy sounded a lot better to me than Eleanor Hermione Malfoy."

"So you feminized it?"

I nodded my head.

"Monday we get to find out whether it will be a girl or a boy." Luna said.

All heads turned to look at Luna.

"What do you mean?" Pavarti asked.

"Meryl Perkins recent achievement-" She began.

"Meryl Perkins, a Beauxbaton's Alumni from 1975. She was the first Muggleborn student to get pregnant while still in school, and to graduate with perfect OWL and NEWT scores. Her post-Beauxbaton studies consisted of creating potions to help the knowledge of pregnancy, maternity and birth. Thanks to her we now have potions that we can take to prevent pregnancy, potions we can take to determine the s*x of the pregnancy and potions to help subside the pain during labor."

All Faye could say was, "Wow."

"My father's friend Douglas is Meryl's husband."

"Douglas Perkins, as in the second chair on the Board of Governors, Douglas Perkins?" I said in a rushed voice.

Luna smiled. "The very same. Mrs. Perkins had originally wanted to use her gender reveal potions for the Project but it was considered using magic. So instead we will get to go to London, where her sister runs a woman's health clinic, and find out the gender like Muggles do."

"London?" Pavarti and Faye said in unison.

"Yeah, it will be nice. I haven't been to London since our fifth year." Luna stated.

It was like my heart dropped once the memories came back. Memories of the battle at the Ministry of Magic.

Just let it go, Hermione. Don't think about it. Just breath. Don't think about it.

I breathed, calmly, for several minutes before I opened my mouth to speak.

"Isn't the Ball in 6th weeks?" I said.

"That's right, it is! Merlin, we can actually get some decent dresses!" Pavarti exclaimed. "By then we will be back to our normal sizes."

"I need to get 4 dresses." Faye said as she got carefully to her feet. "Do you think we will be able to use our own money or no? If we can I am going to have to get some muggle money from my parents."

"Why 4 dresses?" Pavarti asked.

"Well, technically it should be 5 dresses unless one wants to recycle a dress, there is the Founders Ball, The Debutante Ball, The Fall Social, The Project Ball and the Graduates Ball." I explained.

"So basically they are like the Yule Ball?" Pavarti asked.

I slowly shook my head from left to right. "These Balls are for 7th years only. I don't exactly know much about them except the obvious. The Founders Ball is to celebrate the Founders of Hogwarts. The Debutante Ball celebrates us transitioning from being children to adults. The Fall Social, I am not one hundred percent accurate but I think it will bring together the other 7th years from Beauxbaton's and Durmstrang. The Project Ball is to celebrate the Muggle Project and the Graduates Ball is about us Graduating."

"I really hope they let us buy dresses while we are in London. How long do you think we will get to stay in London?"

"A week. That is how long we get to stay." Luna said. "My father also mentioned that because it will be only Mrs. Perkins sister that will be working with us that it would take at least a week to see all twenty of us. We will be staying at the Leaky Cauldron"

"Hopefully we get our own rooms. I can't stand the idea of having to share a small room with Seamus." Faye complained.

"Hey, if it comes down to it you can room with me." Pavarti offered.

"If it comes down to it. I honestly have no idea how the hell I am supposed to raise a child for 7 months with Seamus."

I rose to my feet and moved to stare out the large windows of the sunroom. The sun was setting, painting the sky with beautiful colors. It was sad, knowing that my friends were going to be experiencing a miserable school year just because they were forced to play house with someone they couldn't get along with.

But I wasn't going to make myself miserable because my friends were. This year was going to great. I knew it. After all the pain and suffering I went through this last year, how could it not be.