Chapter Eleven: Above the Clouds
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling
Hermione sat on the sofa blindly watching whatever was on the telly, with an uneaten bowl of popcorn in her lap. It was 8:00pm at night and absolutely no word from Draco.
She was seething when he didn't show up for her appointment, but now she couldn't decide if she should stay mad at him or be worried that he hasn't come home yet.
If he didn't show up in the next 30 minutes then she was going to send an owl for him, asking him where the hell he was, and if she didn't get an immediate response then she was going to contact Blaise or Harry or someone and get them to track him down. Something horrible could have happened to him and she would have no way of knowing where he was. But her gut told her he wasn't hurt, or being held captive somewhere. Maybe he just forgot about the appointment…fine…but the least he could do was called or something.
Tears prickled in the corner of her eyes, she really wished he could have been there with her when she listened to her baby's heartbeat, so steady, fast and strong. She picked up the sonogram image that the doctor gave her to take home and keep and looked at it for what seemed like the millionth time. She had already memorized every curve and angle of her perfect tiny baby boy.
Seeing him on the ultrasound put everything in perspective. This was really happening; she really did have a baby growing inside of her. The doctor told her she was progressing nicely and that the morning sickness was normal. And like she told Draco earlier that day, every woman is different and some just experience it more so then others.
The only real instructions that the doctor told her was to eat more, since she apparently had been losing weight, but he assured her it is normal earlier on for weight to flux up and down, especially if they are prone to having morning sickness. He told her as long as she ate more protein, fruits and vegetables and increase her calorie intake and of course continues taking her prenatal vitamins then she will start to gain weight in no time.
A pop of someone apparating came from behind her in the kitchen. She stood up and practically ran to him. Before he was able to steady himself Hermione threw her arms around him.
"Thank heavens you're alright." She breathed a sigh of relief.
Before he could even react and put his arms around her to return the hug she let go then shoved him backwards. Anger replacing relief.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick." She yelled. "Do you not know how to pick up a phone and call someone?" She asked giving him another shove backwards. "Or send an owl telling me you weren't going to be here?" she started pounding at his chest, not violently but enough to get all of her frustration out. "The least you could have done is told someone else to send word to me that you weren't going to make it. It's not that difficult of a task!" she shoved him one last time until he was backed up to the countertop. "This is the third night now that you haven't been home to put Crissy to bed. She cries every night when you're not here. Do you know how heartbreaking that is to hear every night?" She started pounding at his chest again.
He stopped her by grabbing both of her wrists and held them out away from him. "I'm sorry. Your right, I should have sent word that I wouldn't get home until late tonight." Draco told her seriously.
She glared at him then wrenched her wrist free from his grasp. "You better have a damn good excuse for not being here today!" she said turning around and walking back to the sofa to retrieve her bowl of popcorn.
"I had last minute business to attend to, believe me it caught me completely off guard. If I knew of it ahead of time I definitely would have mentioned it." He told her following her into the living room.
"Did it have something to do with her?" she asked him.
"Her?" He asked.
"Quinn? Dwyn? Whatever her name is."
Okay now she was just being ridiculous and petty. But she did just spend the entire day being angry and worried and now stupidly jealous and relieved now that she knew he was alright. It was enough emotions all at once to make someone act ridiculous.
"You mean Gwen?" he said smirking slightly as she glared harder at him. "She was there yes."
"Well goody for you then." She said grabbing her bowl of uneaten popcorn. "Since you're here now I'm going to bed."
"It's barely 8:30pm." He told her smirking.
"I'm tired. It's been a long day. I hope you find the sofa comfortable tonight." She told him sarcastically and turned to leave.
"Wait Hermione I need to talk to you about something."
"I'm not really in the talking mood tonight Malfoy."
His smirk faded into a frown. "What are we back to last names now?"
"I'm going to bed." She said quietly and turned once again to leave.
"It's important."
"If it's important why don't you just ask Gwen? I'm sure she would love to attend to your every need."
He studied her, and then smirked. "You know jealously isn't a good look on you Granger."
"I'm not jealous." She told him and turned to leave once again.
"Please Hermione I need your opinion on something." He told her getting serious again.
"Can't it wait until morning?"
He stared at her frowning then nodded. "Fine whatever." He said sounding defeated.
She walked down the short hallway and into the bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind her. She leaned her back up against it and let out a disappointed sigh. She might have acted a bit harsh out there, but she couldn't change it now. She thought as she walked towards the bed and got in under the covers then sat the bowl of popcorn on her lap. What was she supposed to do now? She wasn't in the least bit tired; she lied to him about that. It was either pretend to be tired and go to bed early or start weeping like an idiot in front of him or go about punching at him again.
What the hell was her problem? He understood why she was upset about him not telling her where he was all night, but it wasn't something to be really mad about. Shaking his head he walked into the kitchen to get something to eat.
He sighed; this night…day was not turning out how he expected it to go. Something on the coffee table caught his eye. He bent over and picked it up.
It was a photograph of some sort. It was black and white and the picture wasn't very clear so it was hard to make out exactly what it was. He flipped it over. It was dated on the back. He flipped it back over to look at the picture once again. Maybe it was one of those hidden picture puzzles and that if you crossed your eyes the picture would show, but it wasn't one of those.
He had seen something like this before, but he couldn't remember where. He couldn't make out the shape…it kind of looked like that blob there was a head or something, and that there…was that a foot? And that…was that a hand? Wait a minute; he remembered where he had seen a picture like this before. He walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out Crissy's baby photo album and flipped it open.
There on the second page was a similar picture, next to it, was a caption that read 'Crissy sonogram 12 weeks'. He stared at the photo in his hands; he saw it now a tiny baby curled up on its side. He flipped it over and read the date again. It was dated today…shit…no! The appointment…he completely forgot. Taking the picture he walked into the bedroom.
Hermione sat in bed eating salty, buttery popcorn and reading a novel she found in her bedside table. When the bedroom door opened and in walked Draco.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" she asked as he climbed into bed next to her.
"I'm sleeping in here tonight, I can't stand spending one more night on that sofa, hope you don't mind." He said sweetly getting in under the covers.
She rolled her eyes at him and pretended to go back to her reading, ignoring him. A couple of seconds later he slid the sonogram picture in front of her.
"I'm sorry. You can't possibly know how much so. I know it was really important to you that I be there. And I wanted to be there, I really did. I was all ready to go after practice, when Gwen and Robbie whisked me away to Chudley without any warning. They barely left my side for more than two seconds and it just slipped my mind. I have no other excuse other than I'm an ass with a bad memory."
Hermione's lips tilted up slightly against her will. "I just wished you remembered enough to at least send word informing me where you were going to be. I spend all day worrying that you were lying in a ditch somewhere bleeding to death and being completely angry with you at the same time thinking you just didn't care about any of this."
"Of course I care. I wanted to be there. I wanted to see for myself the baby. Is she healthy? Growing normally? Did the appointment go as planned?"
Hermione smiled a bit bigger now, the anger she felt was slowly disappearing. "He is in fact healthy and developing normally."
"He? It's a boy!" He said excitedly grabbing the sonogram and studying it.
"Are you disappointed? I know you were pretty certain it was going to be a girl."
"What! No of course not, I've always wanted a son." He squinted at the picture. "How can you tell…that it's a boy?" he asked studying the picture and turning it sideways and tilting his head another way.
Hermione chuckled. "Um well how else do you distinguish a boy from a girl?" she asked.
He squinted harder trying to look for the distinguishing factor, she rolled her eyes and leaned over and pointed. "That there is the proof that he is in fact a boy."
Draco squinted even more. "It's not very big."
Hermione snorted very unlady like. "First off he still has a good six months ahead of him to grow and second does size even matter?"
"I don't know does it?" he teased her.
She rolled her eyes at him and tried to get the blush that was in her cheeks to simmer down.
He chuckled, and then turned serious again. "I truly am sorry for not being there and again for not remembering."
"It's okay there's always next time. And I'm sorry too for going all crazy on you back in the kitchen. I want to be able to blame it on my out of whack hormones, but I've always been known to have a bit of a temper."
"Oh I know all about that. I specifically remember that one day you punched me in third year, you almost broke my nose that day."
"Yeah well you have to admit you deserved it back then."
He chuckled in agreement.
"So what was it that you needed to talk to me about?"
"We don't have to talk about it tonight."
"But you said it was important."
"It has to do with my career as a quidditch player." He told her.
"Is it bad?" she asked getting a bit worried, since he was acting all serious.
"No, no nothing bad just different…the Chudley Cannons want me as their starting seeker."
"Wow that's great...uh right?" she asked when he frowned.
"Yeah it is they offered to triple my annual salary and sign me on for five years."
"But?"
"But, the Bats want to keep me on for an additional ten years and they will match what the Cannons are willing to pay me."
"Well they both seem like great offers, but I don't see why my opinion would matter, it's your career. Which team do you want to play for more?"
"That's the thing, if I play for the Cannons, which is a great opportunity I'll have to move there."
"Move to Chudley? That won't be too bad. I work from home so it wouldn't be any disposition to move, even though I am growing rather fond of this house. But we'll have to expand eventually. And…"
"They just want me to move…not you and Crissy."
"What? I don't understand. What do you mean just you?"
"The Cannons will only pay for my living arrangements. And I toured it today and it's not much, barely the size of a water closet. And the practices are more grueling and will take up more of my time. We can keep the house here for you and the kids. But they want me to stay in Chudley during the week and then I can come home here on the weekends."
"Oh…and is that something you're considering?" she asked him uncertain.
"No, I mean if it means being away from you and the kids weeks at a time then no I don't want to take their offer. Even though there pretty dead set on trying to convince me to play for them."
"And if you play for the Bats, you'll be able to stay here and keep your normal schedule?" she asked him.
"Yeah that's the plan."
"If you played for the Cannons, how soon would you be starting?"
"In the next month or so."
"That soon?" She asked surprised. "I mean I understand that being asked to play for the Cannons would be huge, but I'm just thinking about Crissy and what that will do to her if she couldn't see you every day."
"I've already talked to Gwen and Robbie and told them I won't accept the Cannons offer if I couldn't have you guys come down with me during the week."
"And what did they say about that?" She asked.
"They're still discussing it with the Cannons coach." She nodded. "Anyway I just wanted to let you know what was going on. But if the Cannons won't change their terms then I'm staying with the Bats."
Hermione set her book down in her lap while she stared off into the distance thinking, "How long do you think we'll be stuck here?" She asked Draco quietly.
"I don't know. You haven't heard anything from Candlewick yet have you?"
She shook her head. "What if she does contact us back, but she can't help us? What if we can't find a way to get back to Hogwarts…to get back to the year 2010? What if we're stuck here forever?" she asked getting worried.
"Then we'll deal with it. We'll just have to take it one day at a time. We don't know for sure that there isn't a way to get back. But until we find out what our options are we'll just have to stick it out…together." He grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
She nodded. "It just makes me wonder, since you're already contemplating making plans for months to come if it's even necessary, because we might not be here, but at the same time for all we know, we will still be here, maybe even longer than that. Maybe we should send another letter to Candlewick tomorrow. She's the only person I can think of that would have answers to all of this. "
"Sounds good to me."
"Do you have practice tomorrow?" she asked him trying to change the subject, if they kept talking about their situation she would fret over it all night and not get any sleep.
"Yeah we have a game on Thursday, so we have practice every day until then." He told her.
"Do you have another meeting with Gwen that I should know about?"
He gave her a look and smirked. "Not that I'm aware of, but I'll make sure you're the first to know if I do."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and handed him the bowl of popcorn she had sitting in her lap and got out of bed to get to the bathroom and brush her teeth. When she came back out she found Draco lying in bed with his hands behind his head watching some late night TV show on the telly with the sound turned down low.
"You know I'm not all that jacked up on muggle inventions, especially when you can use magic instead. But this-" he gestured to the telly. "-is definitely genius and I wouldn't mind acquiring one for the Slytherins common room when we get back." He told her as she climbed back into bed next to him.
They laid there in compatible silence watching TV until they both drifted off to sleep.
The next day Hermione sent another letter to Candlewick, pleading for her help and waited impatiently for any response, but it was already three o'clock in the afternoon and still no word. So she went and looked endlessly through all of her old school books she found in the closet in the office, to try to find a spell or a potion about time travel. But she didn't have any luck.
All that she found was information about going into the future, but nothing about going back in time or reversing a spell that takes you into the future. Time was a tricky and dangerous thing to mess with and that's why the professors never taught them anything about it.
She put the book that she had been studying down, she was frustrated and hot. The weather outside was absolutely sweltering; even the air conditioning and ice cold drinks couldn't keep the heat away. Crissy was hot and fussy and Hermione needed a break from getting absolutely nothing accomplished that day.
She remembered seeing a plastic blowup pool in the backyard. It was a hot sunny day, might as well make the best of it. She got Crissy all suited up in a purple bathing suit and lathered up in sunscreen from head to toe. Hermione put on a swimsuit herself. Unfortunately she didn't have any one piece that fit over her belly, so she had to put on a black tiny bikini. Luckily it was just going to be her and Crissy, so no one else would be around to see her and Draco wouldn't be home for another two hours.
In the last couple of days her belly had really started to stick out, whereas a week ago it was only a little bump that was almost unnoticeable. With Crissy all set in her arms, Hermione grabbed extra towels, sunscreen, toys and some ice water to drink and they went out back to play in the pool.
Draco apparated back to the house, thank Merlin the coach let out practice early today, since it was disgustingly hot outside. England was experiencing an unnatural heat wave this week. He went to the refrigerator to get something cold to drink.
He noticed that Hermione wasn't in the house, neither was Crissy. He looked out back and sure enough there they were. Crissy was playing in some sort of tub fill with water. He realized that it must have been a small baby pool. Hermione was lying out next to it on a towel reading a book.
She wasn't facing him so he couldn't see whether or not she was wearing a bathing suit. He started walking towards them and Crissy saw him and squealed a greeting to him. Hermione looked up from her book and immediately grabbed a towel to cover herself up. Yup, she was definitely wearing a bathing suit, a little black number that showed off her body and growing belly.
"You're home early." She said wrapping the towel around her body.
He couldn't tell if she was blushing or if it was just from the heat that had her face flushed and tinted pink. He would bet money on it that she was blushing. He couldn't help but smile knowing that he was the one making her all flustered and worked up.
"The coach let practice out early because of the heat." He smirked at her when she pulled the towel tight around her body. "You know you're wearing a bathing suit right?" he asked amused.
"So?" she glared at him.
"So, that means you don't need to cover up. Besides I've already seen you in your knickers, a bathing suit isn't that much different." He told her pulling his shirt off over his head.
Hermione's eyes widened and she blushed when he unzipped his pants and striped down to nothing but his boxers. "Wh…what are you doing?" she stared at him blushing.
"I'm getting in the pool. It's hot out here." He said stepping in to join Crissy in the baby pool.
"And you apparently don't have any time to put on any swim trunks?"
"Nope." He smirked.
"Just try not to traumatize our daughter to much."
"Care to join us?"
She laughed, looking at him taking up the majority of the pool. "If I get in there, there won't be any water left in the pool."
"Suit yourself. Crissy and I will enjoy the cool water all to ourselves." He said as he tried to stretch out in the pool, but his legs were too long.
"You know she probably peed in the water." The look on Draco's face was hysterical; it was a mix between horror and disgust. Hermione burst out laughing. "I'm kidding; she's wearing a special diaper that's waterproof."
He recovered quickly and chucked a toy ball that was in the pool at her. She was caught off guard and dropped the towel around her body in order to catch the ball.
Draco smiled at her as he looked her up and down. "Nice."
Hermione had a feeling he wasn't talking about her catching skills, but the fact that she dropped her towel instead. He now had an eye full of her bikini top that was about a cup size too small and her belly that was sticking out. She settled down on the towel that was lying out on the grass, ignoring his heated stare.
"I sent another letter to Candlewick today."
"Yeah, did she answer back?" he asked handing a pool toy to Crissy in the water.
"No, it's been over a week since we sent the first letter. I'm beginning to think maybe she's not around anymore or she doesn't care about what happens to us." She said picking at a blade of grass. "Maybe we should go to Hogwarts and talk to one of the professors there? Maybe McGonagall or Slughorn will know what to do. I've spent all day going through my old school book and didn't find a thing. Nobody ever taught us anything about time travel; going back in time or forward into the future. I really don't want to go to the Ministry about this. They'll probably think we've gone completely mad and then they might take Crissy away from us. What if…"
"Hermione. Relax. Just because Candlewick hasn't responded right away doesn't mean we need to start freaking out about it. If we don't hear anything in the next couple of days or so, then we should consider taking alternative actions."
Hermione took a deep breath, she didn't like it but he was right, nothing good would come out of this if they started freaking out about it. "Okay. Well if you keep an eye on Crissy. I'm going to go get dinner started." She said getting up from the ground.
"Uh, are you going to try to cook again?" He asked her.
She rolled her eyes and smirked at him. "No I'm going to order in pizza."
"Mmm ordering pizza sounds great."
Hermione shook her head and smiled. "Chicken." She taunted.
"Hey I'm not chicken. I just don't want to get food poisoning from something I eat."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh please I told you I only burnt dinner that one time and you weren't even around the second night I made dinner and that turned out fine."
"Oh really? So why did I find it all in the trash bin when I came home that night?"
She shrugged and turned around and walked back to the house, while he chuckled at her retreating form.
After dinner Hermione was in the bedroom folding laundry. This was probably the fourth load of clothes she had to wash in the last three days. Who knew children could be so messy. After she put away the clean clothes in the nursery, she went out into the living room to get Crissy ready for bed. But she wasn't there, and neither was Draco come to think of it. They weren't in the bedroom because she had just come from there. She started to walk towards the kitchen when something out the back window caught her eyes. It was Draco mounting a broom and Crissy was strapped to the front of his chest. What the bloody hell did he think he was doing? Hermione marched out to the backyard to stop him.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him hands on her hips.
He shrugged. "I'm going up for a night ride." He told her calmly.
"Not with Crissy you're not! It's not safe."
"Of course it's safe. I've been flying since I was a tiny boy and that's what this harness thing is for, so she won't fall out."
"Well what if you fall off your broom?"
He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not going to fall off the broom. I've been flying for a long time, so I know how to stay on. And besides these brooms have a special ward that surrounds them that helps keep the rider on the broom. The only way to fall off is if you're physically knocked off by an outside force or if you're an idiot and fall asleep or become unconscious while flying."
"Up, up, up" Crissy squealed clapping her hands in front of her.
"See. She wants to go up for a ride. And clearly we've done this before otherwise we wouldn't have this flying baby harness."
Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "I still don't like it." She said eyeing the slender stick of wood with doubt.
"Well maybe if you came with us, you'll see how safe it really is." He told her holding out his hand for her to take.
Hermione took a step back. "What? Are you mad? I can't go up with you, that broom couldn't possibly hold all that weight."
"These brooms are made to hold three times the weight of a single rider. So it's perfectly safe."
"I don't care what you say. I'm not getting on that thing."
Draco shook his head. "You still don't like to fly do you?"
"I've never liked flying."
"Well it's time to change that." Draco told her holding out his hand towards her again.
"No that's okay. I'm perfectly fine right here on solid ground thank you. You can take Crissy up…but don't go too high…or too fast."
"No you're coming with us." He told her.
"No I'm not…I'm not feeling well."
He rolled his eyes. "You're a terrible liar."
"Really I don't want to go up."
"Don't you trust me?"
She stared at him not giving him an answer.
He shook his head. "Look at me. I wouldn't ask you to come with us if I didn't think it was safe or if I didn't think you would have fun."
"I don't know." She said eyeing the broom.
"Please. I'll come down the second you don't like it. Just try it…please?" He held out his hand again.
Hermione bit her lip, but then hesitantly reached out and grabbed a hold of his. "I don't know how you talk me in to these things." She muttered.
"It's all part of my charm, and you just can't resist."
She rolled her eyes and slowly mounted the broom behind him. She wrapped her arms around his stomach to hold on.
"You're going to have to hold on tighter than that." He said over his shoulder.
She did as he asked. "Just don't go too high, or…"
"Too fast. Got it."
And with that he lifted off the ground and into the sky. Hermione immediately wrapped her arms tight around him and squeezed her eyes tight. After a moment or two when she didn't feel like they were plummeting towards the earth, she managed to open her eyes and looked around.
They were flying over somewhere out in the country. A large field of wildflowers passed quickly underneath them in a blur of colors. The sun was setting behind them, leaving the sky and clouds in beautiful shades of pinks and oranges. She soon relaxed her body against his, enjoying the view around her.
Though she would never admit to him, but flying wasn't all that bad, just as long as she was a passenger and not the one doing the actual flying. She could feel the muscles in his body move as he maneuvered the broom in the sky. And the heat radiating off his body was oddly comforting and soothing making her feel safe, against her better judgment. And the smell of his skin and hair that she had become so familiar with helped as well.
After a few moments of flying in silence she managed to peek over his shoulder to check on Crissy. Who just happened to be fast asleep in her harness against his chest. If that's all it took to get her to sleep, then they should have done this more often.
AN: Hey everyone, hope you liked this chapter. I'll try to get chapter 12 up as soon as possible. But as always please keep reading and reviewing I love getting your feedback!
