Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
Umbridge, the shadow of a smile on her face, walked back into the courtroom followed closely by the jury. Hermione watched them sit down in the seats they had previously occupied, nervously biting her lip. She turned her head to take a look at Blaise…
He was already looking at her.
He had a smirk on his face that sent chills down Hermione's spine, and was knowingly gazing into her eyes. Hermione stared, transfixed, unable to look away. He raised both his eyebrows at her and then turned his attention to Umbridge.
Hermione felt the coldness intensify, and she quickly turned her head too. She looked down at the ground, holding her breath in. The feeling that Blaise knew something lay heavy in the pit of her stomach, and it frightened her more than anything.
If this marriage didn't get annulled…
Her heart started to race at the thought, and she felt the tears come to her eyes. Just as one lonely tear fell down her cheek, she felt somebody grab her hand and hold onto it tightly. She quickly looked up to see Draco smiling at her – or at least trying to. His lips were curved but there was a pinched tightness about them. It was his eyes, however, that held what he was truly feeling.
He was scared, just like she was.
"It's going to be okay," Draco said quietly, inhaling a deep breath. "Everything is going to be okay."
Hermione wanted to smile back but she couldn't. Instead she just looked into his grey eyes and said the only thing that mattered: "I love you, Draco."
Draco leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead.
Hermione had no time to respond or return the gesture, because at that moment Umbridge cleared her throat, wanting the attention of the courtroom. Everybody turned to look at her, taking a seat back in their chairs.
"After many discussions and much thought, the jury and I have come to our final decision." She paused, her wide mouth peeling back into a feral grin. Her brown eyes were alight with an almost evil satisfaction. "With the case of Mr. Blaise Zabini and Miss Hermione Granger," she continued, "we have decided to not annul the marriage."
There was a sudden yell of outrage from various people surrounding Hermione, the most vocal of them being Harry and Ron. Hermione's breath hitched in the back of her throat as she stared down at the table, her mind numb from everything except Umbridge's words, which were on constant replay inside her head.
She looked to Draco, to find him staring at Umbridge with an unreadable, blank expression on his face. Hermione licked her lips nervously, and gave Draco's hand a squeeze.
"Draco…"
She spoke his name softly, so that it was only audible to him. Other than his eyes moving slightly at the sound of her voice, letting Hermione know that he had heard her, he continued to remain in an emotionless and blank state.
Umbridge cleared her throat again, smacking her gavel on the desk. "Order!" She cried, raising her voice over the shouts of protest. "I will have order!" The room slowly grew quiet, as people unwillingly obliged Umbridge's request and sat back down in their seats again, waiting for her to continue. "Now, please bare this in mind; we didn't come to this decision lightly. However, after looking over the case and the evidence, we had no choice other than to side with Mr Zabini. We –"
"You liar!" Everybody turned their heads to find Harry on his feet, pointing his finger at Umbridge. "He's guilty and you know it!"
"Mr Potter," Umbridge's seemingly sweet tone did nothing to hide the danger dripping between her words. "Just because you saved the Wizarding world from The Dark Lord does not give you the right to stand up in the middle of my courtroom and insult me. Whilst this is an understandable reaction, your behaviour holds no excuse." Harry said nothing. Instead he just glared back at Umbridge. "Now, if you'd be so kind, Mr Potter, please take back your seat, or else I will have you arrested."
"Come on, mate," Ron said, grabbing a hold of Harry's jacket and forcing him down into his seat. "You won't be much help to Hermione when you're in a cell in Azkaban."
Harry sighed and sat down. "We can't let her do this, Ron," he hissed, his ears still ringing with anger. "Zabini's guilty; anybody with eyes can see that."
"Harry, there's nothing we can do," Ron whispered back as Umbridge continued to talk. "As much as I hate to say it, but the old toad's word is final."
"With the case of Mr Blaise Zabini and Mrs Hermione Zabini, we most certainly reviewed the evidence carefully. As a result of there being little evidence, the jury and I quite readily came to the conclusion that Mr Zabini did not fake the marriage. The fact that Mrs Zabini cannot seemingly remember anything is proof enough that this marriage is real. Furthermore, it also goes to show that she is nothing more than a heartless liar."
Hermione felt her cheeks burn at Umbridge's words, and the urge to defend herself at this statement boiled through her. Just as she was about to stand to her feet, she felt Draco grab her arm and hold her down. She glared at him. His gaze was still determinedly fixed on their old professor.
She quickly pulled her arm from Draco's grasp and got to her feet. "I am not a liar –"she began, before being forced to sit down again by her fiancé.
"Hermione – sit," Draco snapped as she struggled against him. A quick elbow in the ribs had him releasing her, and the bold Gryffindor got back on her feet.
"Anybody here in this courtroom would be able to tell you that I am not a liar!"
"Mrs Zabini, you need to take a seat," Umbridge warned, eyes thinning into slits.
"My name isn't Zabini!" She yelled. "It's Granger! Hermione Jean Granger!" Hermione pointed over towards Blaise with her index finger. "He's the liar!"
"Mrs Zabini, you need to take a seat now, or I will have you removed from the room!"
"What about my baby?" Hermione yelled clutching her stomach. "He's already tried to kill it once!" Hermione pointed over at Blaise. "Who's to say he won't do it again?"
"I say so," Umbridge snapped, her own temper flaring. "And so does the court. If you were to sit down, and allow me to finish, you would know this."
"Hermione…" Draco's soft plea had the tears finally falling freely from her eyes. Succumbing to her sorrow, she numbly obliged her fiancé's request. "Hermione, you need to sit down. Please."
"Seeing as Mr Zabini has already tried to harm your child, the jury and I have come up with a way to keep your baby safe," Umbridge continued, addressing the whole courtroom. "If any more harm comes to this child in the hands of Mr Zabini, then the court will rejoin and we will take another look at getting this marriage annulled." At this, she turned and gave Blaise a very pointed look.
Hermione bit her lip, and shook her head. "That's not enough," she said under her breath, as the tears continued to run down her cheeks.
"This case is now concluded. Court adjourned." Umbridge smacked her gavel on the desk one last time, before quickly making her way out of the room. Everybody else soon began to follow.
Hermione and Draco slowly stood up, both turning to face each other. "It's not fair," Hermione muttered, voice hoarse. "This isn't right."
Draco tried to force a smile at Hermione, but it was weak and the edge of his lips twitched from the strain. Cupping the sides of her face, he kissed her forehead. Hermione closed her eyes as Draco's lips touched her skin, and allowed the tears to continue down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around his body and rested her head on his chest.
"It doesn't matter," Draco said softly. "I love you, and no stupid law changes that."
"Hermione…"
The Gryffindor opened her eyes to see Ginny, Harry, Ron, and even Collette standing before them.
"Hermione, it's going to be okay." Ginny said kindly, brown eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Hermione slowly pushed herself away from Draco to embrace all her friends. "It's going to be okay," Ginny said again, trying to convince herself rather than Hermione.
"I don't know Gin," Hermione said sadly, reaching for Draco's hand. "I just can't see a positive side to this."
"Oi, Malfoy, get your hands off of my wife!" Everybody turned their heads to see Blaise walking towards them with a smug look on his face. Following closely behind him were Pansy, Theodore Nott, and Blaise's mother. "You have no right to touch what's rightfully mine."
"I'll give you what's rightfully yours," Draco snarled, letting go of Hermione and charging at the dark-skinned man. Harry and Ron quickly grabbed hold of Draco's shoulders, and held him back.
"Let me go!" Draco growled, thrashing to get out of Harry and Ron's grip.
Blaise let out a chuckle, just standing out of Draco's reach. He turned to Hermione.
"Now, as for you, Mrs Zabini, I'm guessing you'll want time to pack before you relocate to Zabini Manor?" Hermione glared at him. "I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon, possibly around lunchtime. Twenty four hours should be enough time, right darling?" His smirk grew as he moved closer to her, and brought up a hand to graze her cheek.
Hermione quickly stepped back.
Smack.
The sound of skin hitting skin in lightning speed echoed across the walls, as Hermione's hand made contact with Blaise's cheek. He stared at her, brown eyes wide, completely caught off guard at Hermione's surge of violence. "You're a bastard, Zabini," she sneered. Recovering himself, Blaise glared back.
After a few short minutes of unbearable silence, Blaise cleared his throat. "I'll see you tomorrow then." With one final glare, Blaise quickly turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, followed by his three companions.
As soon as the door slammed closed, Ron and Harry released their grip on Draco. He immediately wrapped his arms around Hermione. "Come on, love," he said in her ear. "Let's go home."
Draco and Hermione arrived back at their flat in silence.
They held onto each other tightly, but no words were said. Nothing could be said.
They had just lost each other for the rest of their lives. Neither of them wanted to talk about it, even though it was on both of their minds.
"I'll – I'll go make us some tea," Draco said, releasing his grip on Hermione's hand and making his way towards the kitchen.
Hermione nodded, slowly making her way towards the living room. As she entered, her eyes fell on the photographs lining the walls and the fireplace. She smiled despite herself as she approached them, looking up into the happy faces of her family and friends. She walked silently by the photos, the tips of her fingers caressing the bottom of the frames, only pausing when she reached the fireplace.
Before her was one of her favourite pictures.
It was of her and Draco. Both of them were smiling up at the camera; they were sitting out on the porch of Harry's house, snuggled up on the stairs that led down into the garden. Draco was sitting straight, leaning against the banister, while Hermione's legs lay over the top of his, her body resting against his side. Draco's hands rested on her legs, while one of Hermione's was wrapped around his shoulder and the other rested on his chest. They would stare at the camera, then turn and look at each other with smiles on their faces.
The sequence then repeated.
Hermione let out a tiny, sad laugh as a tear ran down her cheek. She brought her hand up to the picture and rested it next to Draco.
"I love you…"
She didn't know how long she stood there, but next thing she knew was the sound of Draco's voice as he called her name: "Hermione, are you okay?"
She slowly turned her head to see Draco approaching her, two cups of tea in his hand.
"Yeah," Hermione breathed, forcing a smile. He forced one back, handing her a cup of tea when he reached her. "Thanks," She spoke softly, the sadness starting to take over.
Draco wrapped an arm around Hermione and kissed the side of her head before looking at the same picture as she. "I love this picture," Draco said, running his hand down it just like Hermione had. "It was… easy then."
Hermione nodded. "This isn't fair," she sighed, making her way to the sofa. She sank down and looked into the murky depths of the warm, brown liquid, eyebrows furrowed.
"I know," Draco said softly as he joined her. Hermione brought her legs over his and rested her head on his chest, just like she did in the picture.
"We were supposed to spend the rest of our lives together." Hermione's fingers slowly circled round the rim of her mug. "Blaise wasn't supposed to do this, he wasn't meant to come back. He wasn't meant to tear everything to shreds."
"He didn't tear everything," Draco said quietly, staring off into the ashes of the fire.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, looking up at Draco.
Draco slowly looked down at her, a small smile on his face: "This." He spoke softly, placing a hand on Hermione's lower stomach. "He can never take our child away from us."
Hermione smiled back at Draco, and placed her hand on her stomach as well, directly next to his. "It's not the same though," she stated sadly.
"We would have raised it together," Draco said, nodding his head in agreement.
The perfect child, indeed. And even though we will be apart, our baby is going to be all that, and more. I know they will. Intelligent, brave, kind…"
"Try not to turn it into that much of a Gryffindor, Hermione," Draco said, pulling a small face. "Believe it or not, I still have a Slytherin reputation to uphold."
"Or not," Hermione quipped, letting out a laugh. "We both know you're not really a Slytherin at heart, Draco. That much became obvious after you and – and Blaise changed sides during the war. Besides," Hermione remarked, quickly changing the subject. "Our child will be placed in the House that the Sorting Hat sees fit; they won't have to listen to us. We'll still love them all the same."
"They're going to be brilliant, no matter what," Draco added. "Just like you."
Hermione smiled up at Draco. She then licked her lips and turned her head so it was facing the pictures that lined the walls again.
"We could have spent the rest of our lives together doing whatever we wanted and watching our child grow to become the witch or wizard we always dreamed of raising." They sat in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's presence, until Hermione spoke again. "We could have spent every day doing exactly what we're doing right now."
"Just lying together on the couch and talking?" Draco asked.
"Yeah," Hermione said in a sad voice. "Exactly…"
Draco gave Hermione a kiss on the top of her head. "I like the sound of that," he murmured, sinking lower into the sofa.
In the end, the couple stayed on the sofa for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep by the warm fire. Neither of them thought of Blaise, the weeks gone by or the weeks ahead; neither of them thought of the struggles that they were going to face for the rest of their lives. Instead, they lay there in each other's arms and thought of each other. For just that one evening, the nightmare that consumed them vanished, and they slept peacefully, content to be in each other's arms.
For that night, nothing mattered but them…
Author's Note: So, I'm just going to keep this short and sweet before I'm met with an onslaught of people hating on me. I'm sorry, but I regret nothing. Do you honestly think I was going to let Hermione out of this marriage that easily? Man, I hope not. There's definitely a lot more to come.
I should also add that this chapter (as well as chapters 11 and 12) were written by alosercanwin. However, I have edited them slightly, and a couple of things (very small things, mind) have changed. Anywho, please review! They're great and really encouraging. Thank you,
VickytoriaGreengrass