Our Constellation--Dramione

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, plotlines, characters, places, events (etc.) all belong to J.K. Rowling, she is the rightful owner. When a character is created by me, you'll know right away ;)

--

17 December 1997

As a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Minerva McGonagall was no stranger to stressful situations. But this--delivering the child of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy to a safe home was something entirely different on the spectrum of stress. It wasn't even her child, for heaven's sake! She hadn't felt so much pressure on her shoulders for a situation such as this since James and Lily were murdered.

At the time, it wasn't her place to correct Albus's choice in sending Potter to the Dursley's. She'd been watching them over a day and knew the boy would suffer a miserable childhood. Surely Albus knew that as well.

Now that the great headmaster was dead, she could only point out the mistake of sending him there in the first place. He was greatly abused under their neglectful care.

No matter, she reprimanded herself. Hermione Granger had come to her. She refused to make the same error Dumbledore made with Harry. This child was going to be safe.

But the offspring of Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy?! It was just as strange to say as was the fact of it. She may not have been as fond of Malfoy as her coworker Severus was, but he was always a gifted student, loath as she was to admit it. Up until last year, he was a model student, always rising behind Granger. No doubt he hated being compared to someone he considered to be below him. So how in the world did they have a child together?!

She rolled her eyes. She knew the deed, but two students that hated each other must've been either fantastic liars to the world around them or seriously disturbed and angry.

No! She shook her head at the rate at which her thoughts were spiraling.

How this child came to be wasn't as important as fulfilling her promise to get him to safety. So McGonagall slipped in through the castle doors and hustled to the hospital wing.

What the headmistress didn't know was that a certain Slytherin lurked about the shadows and had been notified when she both departed and entered the grounds.

--

"Poppy, we've got quite the dilemma," she stressed, waking the school's healer from her slumber.

"Minerva, what has Longbottom--" Like McGonagall before her, she was rendered speechless upon first glance at the sleeping boy.

"Whose child is this, and why didn't they come and see me?!" she demanded.

"There are many reasons for that, Poppy, the most important being that she is in hiding!"

Madam Pomfrey turned her head to the side and inspected her friend. "You don't mean--"

"--Shh!"

Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand over her mouth. Her shock was short-lived, as the headmistress quickly transferred the child from her arms to the healer's.

"He needs immediate medical attention right now, I wasn't told how long ago he was delivered."

Placing him on a cushioned mat over one of the hospital beds, she ran a diagnostic test.

"He's such a small baby. I'm guessing he's maybe preterm in gestational age, although there is no sign of jaundice thus far--"

"--Will you hush?! I care that he is healthy, not about what he could have possibly contracted."