So here goes another chapter. Thanks so much for reviewing, you guys rock, please keep them coming, like you know that motivate me. Thanks to my wonderful beta ScarlettBlush. After posting this chapter I'm not sure how long I'm going to take to post the other one. I already send it to my beta but I don't know when she's going to check it, you see her computer is not working and she's using her brother's.
Two weeks later…
It's been two weeks since the reunion in Mr. Rogers's house, since that moment I haven't seen Draco. And why is that you might ask? Because I've made sure to keep my distance from him. Every time I know that he's going to be in a specific place in the ministry, I avoid it like the plague. Although I'm beginning to think that he too has been hiding from me as well, I mean it's not that easy to stay in such a place without seeing someone here for a long time. Bottom line; I'm happy with this.
You should know that the Weasley's already know about the pregnancy. Of course they weren't completely happy. To be honest George wanted to kick Draco's ass and Mr. Weasley (believe it or not since he's a very calm person), wanted to curse the living hell out of him. They weren't mad at Lucius, they said that it's Draco who was listening to his every wish. In reality I blame Draco as well.
I'm almost four months and a week pregnant. The morning sickness is driving me crazy, the mood swings too. I love the cravings, although I think Kingsley and Harry hate them, I'm eating the oddest things: like cereal with ketchup, which sounds disgusting but the baby apparently likes it.
The day after the meeting at Mr. Rogers's house I discussed the new House Elves law with the Minister; he approved it and decided to put it at work fast. So starting in two weeks the House Elves are going to start to get paid if they agree. I haven't talk to them but I think today I should do it. I can't keep postponing it waiting for the Minister to talk to them. Besides, I'm almost positive that Kingsley wants me talking to them myself.
So that's the job of the day. Right now I'm in my office thinking of different ways of talking with the elves. I'm pretty sure it's not going to be easy. I have to find a way to persuade them, to make them realize that getting paid is the best for them, and if they want freedom, they can ask for it.
"Hermione," I hear Ron's voice from the door.
"Hey," I say looking up, frowning a little when I see that he looks tired and sad. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing that you need to worry yourself over," he says softly entering the office and sitting in the chair in front of my desk.
"You look sad," I say worried.
"I had an argument with Sofia yesterday, nothing to worry about," he says again.
Sofia has being Ron's girlfriend for the past year. I'm glad that he has her, Sofia is everything he needs; she's charming, loving, caring, charismatic, very pretty (with shoulder long black hair and big brown eyes). There's only one thing that makes their relationship unstable, Sofia is really open minded and Ron…well, he isn't. If it was up to him they would have been married by now, taking care of their house, cooking and raising their kids or probably expecting them. Sofia doesn't want any of that at this moment. She loves to party, loves to be with her friends, loves to drink and sometimes smoke, loves to work and loves to have a free life. Ron once told me that she even loved to talk about her sex life, something he didn't appreciate a lot since he is such a private person. They do live together though; I think that's a start for Ron.
I sigh and enquire further, "What happened now?"
"She went to a party and got home a 5 am, I told her that a woman doesn't do stuff like that and she got seriously pissed off. She told me that she would do whatever she wanted to do, that I can't do anything to stop her and if I couldn't accept the way she is well then I should considerer breaking up with her."
"Oh…that was harsh. Ron you already know her. I don't want to sound like her but I have to say that you did meet her at a party as well."
He ran his fingers through his hair, "I know, but I thought having a boyfriend was going to make her change," he mumbled.
"I think…I think you should give her a break, you know leave her alone for a couple of weeks. Let her make the choice," I say after a couple of seconds.
"Hermione," he says in a hurt, sad tone. "What if she decides that she doesn't want to be with me?"
"Well then you know what to do. Ron, maybe she's too young to have the commitment that you want with her. Maybe…"
"She's old enough. For crying out loud she's older than me!" he says angry.
"Only a year Ronald!"
"Well…she had one year to party more than me," he says stubbornly. "I can't believe her. And that's not the only problem Hermione, we've been fighting for the last three weeks. Last month I found out that she had slept with more than 10 guys, TEN, can you believe that? She might be a really smart girl and all, but she's a slut too."
"Ron, don't say that," I say disapproving of his behavior. If he wasn't angry he would never talk about her in such a way. "Besides, you sort of knew she was like that, you were the one that told me that you two first had sex before starting a relationship."
"I know." He mutters.
"Look Ron, I think you should wait until the water calms down a little and then talk to her in a calm way. Now I have to go, I have to talk with the house elves. I hope Martin brought them," I say standing up, ruffling his hair on my way out.
I walk to the meeting room where the House Elves are supposed to be. Surprisingly, waiting for me is Regina. And this puzzles me. She doesn't work here…or anywhere for that matter. The latter mentioned by Kingsley.
"Hey," she says jumping from the table and hugging me. "Wow, you look bigger than the last time."
She pats my stomach and I feel awkward. I wonder if she would pat my stomach if she knew the baby was Draco's.
"What are you doing here?" I ask when she stops looking at me with goo-goo eyes.
"Oh, well you see, Daddy wanted me to be here. He didn't want you saying something to the elves that wasn't in the proposal. I told him to trust you but he insisted, so I came. Anyway it's not like I have any other things to do. My boyfriend is working so I don't really have someone to talk to."
"You talk a lot with him?" I ask wondering if Draco is truly nice to her. He used to talk to me a lot.
"Yes we do. He's like my best friend right now," she says dreamily.
"That's nice," I say honestly. I used to see Draco as my best friend too. Now I remember the conversation I heard him having with Regina when he promised to treat her right. Now I realize that he truly cares for her, he might not love her, but he cares for her feelings. And to be honest, I'm happy for her, if she can't have her love Gustav at least she deserves to be treated right.
"Yeah…never thought Draco could be such a gentleman, I'm glad daddy found him for me," she says before turning red and looking to the floor. That wasn't supposed to be said I guess.
"Your dad found him for you?" I ask not caring if she could talk or not about it. I want to know every detail about this lie.
"I…I'm sorry, I can't talk about it," she says before getting out of my sight, still red in the face.
I sigh and concentrate on the words I'm going to use with the elves. I shouldn't have been asking stupid question that are not going to lead to anything good.
Five minutes later Martin walks in followed by a bunch of House Elves that looks slightly scared.
"Hello," I say softly to the first one in the line.
He gives an exaggerated bow and looks at his other fellows.
"So," I say fast to stop their anxiety. "You might know that Ministry of Magic has decided to make some laws to help you. We decided that the House Elves deserve to get paid for their work."
"House Elves don't get pay. Daly refuses to get pay," one of them screeches.
"But why?" I ask kneeling in front of her or him. "You can have your money to buy clothes and books and food."
"We can cook, and we don't need clothes; our master gives us clothes," another one yells, after realizing that he yelled he runs to the wall to smash himself.
Martin gets him first and stops him from hurting himself.
"Daly…don't you want to have pretty clothes and pretty accessories?" I ask when I realize the elf is a she because she's wearing lipstick (which is covering her lips and shin) and has a big necklace.
"Well…Daly already has this," she says pointing at her stuff.
"Yeah…but don't you want to go to Diagon Alley and buy more stuff?"
She stays looking at me and a couple of seconds later she has tears in her eyes, but she manages a small nod. I bet she feels like she's betraying her master and friends.
"We are not taking away anything from you. House Elves are going to keep working and doing the same thing, the difference is that you are going to get some money to buy yourself stuff," I say hoping that they agree and we can finish this meeting.
"We…we don't want to…we don't want help from a Mudblood," another one hiding in the back yells.
Some of the other elves gasp. Me, I really don't know what to say. I didn't expect this meeting to turn so difficult.
"Well…" But I'm not able to say anything more since Draco enters the meeting room looking a little angry.
"I don't care if you like it or not Dupe, you are getting paid," he says serious.
"Yes master," the elf said trembling.
"And don't you dare used that word again Dupe," he says anger running through his face.
"I…I'm sorry master," the elf squeak before running and hitting himself with the wall.
I thought I recognized the elf; he's Malfoy's new elf or new when we were together.
I look away from him to Regina. She smiles broadly when she sees him walking to her.
"Draco, I thought you were working?"
"I am…Kingsley told me to come and check on H…Miss Granger," he says glancing at me. "The Minister said that she's too kind and that she wasn't going to be able to handle them. They might be creatures with heart, but they don't care of hurting others."
"You are so good Draco," she says before throwing her arms around his neck.
I stiffen, taking in a long breath and say, "Well, do you agree with this law or not?"
Some of them nodded, others just stood looking at me and then glancing at Draco. I bet they won't dare say anything more knowing how Draco is with them. Although I should say Draco was one of the people that supported my campaign for Elves rights.
"Okay, that's good that you like it. So there's another thing, the Ministry also believes that if House Elves want to be free they should say it and be granted their freedom."
At this some of them gasped and others started sobbing.
"Are you trying to get rid of us?" Daly asks with tears in her eyes.
"No, of course not," I say feeling a little bad for saying the words without thinking about the consequences. "I just meant that if for any reason you House Elves decided that you don't want to keep working you could tell us about it."
"But working is our life," she says.
"I know," I say half smiling at her. "So…you can all go back to your work."
I walk out of the room fast. I feel someone following me but I don't look back. When I get to my office I open but before entering I hear a soft, girly voice, "Hermione."
I turn around and Regina is standing behind me looking slightly embarrassed.
"Yes?"
"I was wondering…well you see I think you are a very nice person and I was wondering if we could like hang out sometime?" she asks blushing a little. She seems to be doing that a lot.
See, no matter how much I would love to hate her, I can't. Regina is the sweetest person I have ever met, even sweeter that Luna and that's a lot to say.
I sigh. "Sure…do you want to come inside?" I ask just because I can tell that she wants to talk.
"Oh sure," she says almost breathlessly with apparent delight, almost running inside the office.
She sits down in the first chair she sees and starts looking around the office, "I love your office!"
"Thanks," I say looking around. My office doesn't have anything to call people's attention. Draco once said that it was boring; the walls are painted white, I have two Muggle paintings of Picasso, and in every corner I have books and papers. I don't know if she's saying it only to comment about something.
"No I mean, I like soft colors and a lot of space," she says smiling. "You like reading?"
"Yes."
"A lot? Because you have a lot of books."
"Yeah…after my job, reading is pretty much my life," I say chuckling.
"You meant to say after your baby and job," she says genuinely.
"Yeah…that's what I meant to say," I say smiling broadly for the first time in a long time.
"So you like protecting House Elves. I think that's very nice. Poor creatures! Draco told me that you had something called S.P.E.W back at school."
"He told you that?" I ask a little shocked. I didn't expect him talking about me with her.
"Yeah, he told me that he knows you very well," she says looking at my face.
"Yes," I mumbled.
"So how was Draco at school?" she asks putting her arms on my desk.
Why does she have to talk about him?
"I…we really didn't talk to each other at school. You see with me being in another Hogwarts house and being a Muggle born."
"Yeah when You-Know-Who was in power Daddy told me he was after you because you are a mud…I mean a Muggle born," she says blushing madly for her almost mistake.
"I know, that was one of the reasons. I was a disease in this world."
"I'm glad we won the fight. Muggle born are as talented as many wizards and witches."
"Thanks. So your dad looks like a tough man," I say changing the subject.
"Oh, well, he looks like that, but he's not. He's a very charming man, he cares a lot for me and my well being," she says suddenly a little sad.
"Oh…so that's the reason he made an arranged marriage?" I ask, forgetting I wasn't supposed to know.
"Excuse me?" she asks with wide eyes.
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to say it like that," I say awkwardly, suddenly wanting the earth to open up and swallow me whole.
Me and my big mouth! I'm sure Regina needs people that help her with this not someone who succumb her into sadness.
"How do you know?"
"I didn't…I just thought about it." I lie looking at my hands not wanting to give myself away. "I mean you said earlier that he found Draco for you."
"I'm glad you know. I haven't talked about this with anyone, well only with Draco, but that doesn't really count because he really doesn't want to marry either. My father and his mother did it for different reasons…"
"His mother?" I ask confused.
"Yeah, Narcissa wants him to get married to a pureblood."
"I thought it was Lucius, he…" but I get quiet not wanting to say that he told me that it was his father's idea. So he lied to me. But why? What different does it makes if it was his father or mother.
Regina continues taking me away from my thoughts, "Please don't say anything of what I'm going to tell you." I nod and she continues fast, "His mother wanted him to marry a pureblood to finally have an heir, my father…well he wants me to have stability with someone, you see I'm his only child, like I said he cares about my well being, and for him it can only be okay if I married a pureblood…a rich pureblood. He wants to see me walk all in white to the altar. Hermione," by this point she has tears in her eyes, before she chokes up in a bundle of emotions, "My dad is dying. Doctors have only given him a couple of months, maybe a year; he wants to make sure that I have the perfect person so when he leaves I could be okay."
"But that's…not right," I say, shocked by this discovery and saddened by her plight, "What about the things you want?"
"I'm pretty sure Draco doesn't have a problem with me doing what I want. I want to study and work…and I don't want to have children, I think that's going to be tough because Narcissa is sure that I'm going to have them the minute I get married."
"Whoa," I say processing everything she has told me. I can't believe this turn of events. Draco is doing it for his mother. But why? I can understand that he's scared of his father, but his mother? Regina doesn't want to do this and she's doing it to make her father's last wishes come true. And me, well I'm carrying the Malfoy heir, but I bet that in Narcissa's eyes it doesn't count because it's not a pureblood. I'm sure the minute she finds out, she's going to think of it as a bastard and nothing more.
"So," she says after wiping away the tears and smiling, "When can we go out?"
"Hmm…well not now, but maybe another day. I would love to learn more about you," I say truly. It's doesn't matter any longer if she's meant to marry Draco, Regina needs a friend right now and I'm willing to be that for her even though I might get hurt in the process.
So what do you think? I hope you like it. I know, hardly any Draco in this chapter, but I need to introduce a little bit more of Regina. Please remember to review.