Test

Author's Note: Reviews, yes? I like them. They are really cool. Thank you you're awesome.

Hermione stood in front of the sink, staring into the mirror. Her face was unreadable, even to her. So many emotions were running through her that she had no idea what she was feeling. Her eyes roved from the mirror down to the stick she held in her hand, but only for a second. When she looked back into the mirror her eyes were wide in panic. This could not be happening. But, at the same time, Hermione found herself excited and she wasn't sure if the crickets hopping rapidly around in her stomach were from nervousness or enthusiasm. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, looking at her wide, wild, brown eyes, before she heard the thing she had been dreading.

"Hermione, where are you, love?" Hermione heard the front door squeaking shut. She didn't want to respond right away, but when her husband repeated the yelled question from a closer proximity to the bathroom, she had to reply.

"I'll be out in a moment!" she said, her voice cracking unnaturally. It scared her.

"Is everything all right?" Blaise was now right outside the bathroom door. Panicking, Hermione opened the medicine cabinet, obscuring her scared face from the mirror, and shoved the pregnancy test in before shutting it hurriedly. She opened the bathroom door to come face-to-face with Blaise. When he saw her face, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Everything is fine," said Hermione unconvincingly. She was out of breath, though she wasn't sure why.

"What's wrong, love?" Blaise put his hands on her upper arms.

"Nothing," said Hermione in a strangled voice. She cleared her throat and repeated, "Nothing is wrong."

He surveyed her, scrutinizing. "Love, you can't hide things from me," he said. It really pissed her off when he called her "love" all the time; he knew that she couldn't lie to him when he called her that.

Hermione averted her eyes from his, and he tried to catch her gaze. "I'm fine," she said, and, breaking away from him. She walked past him, her head down, into the bedroom. She was already in her nightgown in preparation for going to sleep, so she climbed into the plushy bed quickly, turning her back to her husband. "How was your day?" she asked, turning out her bedside lamp and pretending that everything was perfectly normal.

Blaise was still standing outside the bathroom. He turned around slowly to look at his wife, though she couldn't see him. "Hermione, will you please tell me what is wrong?"

Hermione pretended that she didn't hear what he said.

Exasperated and bewildered now, Blaise sighed and walked into the bathroom to see if there were obvious signs of the thing that was bothering his wife. Hermione turned around from her position on the bed just as Blaise's head emerged from the medicine cabinet, a white stick in his hand, his face thoroughly shocked.

Hermione sat bolt upright, scared.

Blaise didn't want kids, she knew that. Whenever she brought up the subject of children, he always told her that now wasn't the time: they were both too busy with work. He had to get used to the idea of raising children, he told her. He wasn't the father type. He hated kids. He wasn't good with kids. Kids hated him. Blaise had an entire list of reasons why he was anti-children at the moment. He might want her to get rid of it.

Hermione studied his face to see how he would react to the pregnancy test. She was afraid that he was going to explode. Whenever they made love, he made sure they were using contraceptive spells. Hermione did not, under any circumstances, want to get rid of the child that was now growing inside of her, but she didn't want her baby boy or baby girl coming into an unwelcoming home. She watched her husband as his head pivoted to face her, the positive pregnancy test still in his hand.

"Hermione," he spluttered, waving the stick at her. He walked towards the bed, but seemed to change his mind halfway there and stopped. He ran a hand through his dark, curly hair, sighing again.

"Blaise," Hermione said, almost pleadingly. "I –" Hermione wasn't sure where she was going with that sentence. Should she apologize? No, she decided, she shouldn't apologize. This wasn't her fault. In fact, this wasn't a fault at all. It was a joy. "Say something, Blaise," she demanded.

He looked at her, eyes darting back and forth, searching hers. "You're pregnant," he said stupidly.

Hermione fought the urge not to slap him for his idiocy. Was he mocking her? She said, evenly and deliberately, "Yes, Blaise, I'm pregnant."

"And were you ever planning on telling me that you are pregnant?" he asked.

Hermione was hurt by this. "Yes," she replied defensively. "Of course I was! What, did you think I was going to be laying in a hospital bed, the baby crowning, saying, 'Oh, by the way, Blaise, I'm pregnant?'"

Blaise obviously didn't appreciate her sarcasm. His voice became softer. "Hermione, love, were you afraid to tell me?"

Hermione considered her answer for a moment. "I know you don't want kids, Blaise." Her voice was surprisingly hard.

"Whatever made you think—" Blaise stopped mid-sentence, thinking of what he was about to say. "It's different, now that's its real, Hermione."

Hermione studied his face again as unreadable emotions flashed across it. She knew he was wrestling with the right thing to say to her. To comfort him, she crawled across the bed and got off silently. Not until she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest did he speak.

"I love you Hermione, and I'll love our child. You shouldn't be afraid to tell me that you're pregnant. Did you think I'd tell you to get rid of it?"

Hermione opted not to say anything, as that had been exactly what she was thinking.

"Hermione!" Blaise understood what she was thinking without her having to say it, and he took her upper arms and held her at arms length, searching her face with his darting eyes. "Listen to me, Hermione: there is absolutely no way I would ask you to get rid of our child! Sure, children weren't in my ideal plan right now, but…" He pulled her into a tight embrace, the pregnancy test falling from his hand and hitting the red-carpeted bedroom floor.

Hermione sighed loudly into her husband's chest before turning her head to the side, enabling her to talk. "We're going to be parents. You're going to be a father, Blaise."

That was when Blaise's knees started to go weak and he had to let go of his wife and sit down on the bed. He looked up at Hermione and she could see that he was scared. "What if I'm an awful father?" he asked in a whisper.

Hermione sat next to him on the bed. "Blaise, of course you won't be an awful father." He had never had a father figure in his life, so Hermione knew that this was a natural fear. She rubbed his back with her hand. "You'll be brilliant."

They were both silent for a while, and then Blaise said, "I hope it's a girl."

Hermione was surprised by this. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you."

"I want to name her Lenore."

Hermione couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, almost splitting it in half. One of Blaise's hands found its way to her stomach, and Hermione covered it with her own. "You're fantastic, Blaise."