Once we finally manage to peel our hands off each other and make it outside, Draco and I spend the majority of the rest of the afternoon swimming, making sure to take breaks often so I don't get sunburned or too exhausted. Though I always find him extremely attractive, each time Draco steps out of the pool I can't help but think that he looks like a sex-god, with the way the beads of water roll down his washboard-like abdomen and the way he brushes his wet hair backwards with his hand, moving the wet locks away from his eyes. I'm fairly sure Draco realizes how badly the sight of him is tempting me; though he pretends to be oblivious I catch him chuckling to himself every so often. The even more hilarious thing about the situation is that I really can't blame him because I catch him staring at me quite a few times, and also chuckle to myself quietly when I do.
We finally decide to stop swimming around five p.m. and go inside to don more appropriate attire, since Lucius and Narcissa should be home for dinner shortly. We each shower quickly and then get dressed, and shortly after Narcissa comes in to tell us that dinner will be ready soon and ask how our days were. "Okay," we both reply quietly. There's an awkward silence for a moment, and I assume that Draco's not going to tell his mother about my incident in the dungeons. This is fine with me; I'm sure I'd be rather embarrassed if Narcissa found out about what happened today. A moment later, however, Draco speaks to his mother again, rapidly destroying my hopes.
"Mum…where were you today?" he asks inconspicuously.
"Oh, I had some baby shower business to attend to," she replies. "Why do you ask, dear?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Draco replies, "I just wish I'd known Jayde was going to be here by herself today."
"Oh nonsense!" Narcissa replies, dismissing his statement with a wave of her hand. "She's a grown woman, Draco, she can take care of herself." She turns and walks from the room as an indication that this conversation is over.
As soon as she's out of ear-shot, however, Draco says quietly, "Apparently not." It takes me a moment to realize the significance of what he's said, and my eyebrows furrow and I gasp and open my mouth wide as I turn to look over at him. When my eyes are resting on him I notice he's wearing the largest smile I've ever seen on him; he'd apparently been joking when he made that statement.
"That was NOT funny!" I exclaim, hitting him on the shoulder lightly. My playful hit makes Draco laugh loudly; I cross my arms and turn away from him in response, pretending to be genuinely angry at him.
Seeing the pouty look on my face, Draco tries to suppress his laughter and comes to stand behind me, giving me a gentle kiss on the cheek and whispers "I'm sorry," in my ear. I pretend not to be touched by this gesture, and Draco continues trying to appease me. He removes his wand from his pocket and flicks it towards the wireless radio, causing my favorite song to come on; the one by the Broken Broomsticks. I can't help but smile slightly as Draco whispers "Dance with me," and turns me around to face him. All joking aside, I wrap my arms around Draco's neck and lean my head against his shoulder, and the two of us slowly begin moving and turning in time with the music. When the song comes to a close I lean up and give Draco a gentle kiss, and then he turns the radio off and takes me by the arm, leading me downstairs to the Dining room for dinner.
As we eat dinner with Lucius and Narcissa that evening, Lucius unfortunately brings up the day's happenings. "Son, I heard from the Minister that you had to leave work early today," he says. "Is that true?"
"Yes," Draco replies quickly, before returning his attention to his dinner plate. I feel my entire body tense up, but I keep eating and try to look nonplussed by the conversation.
"So am I to assume that Jayde breaking her arm, which is the explanation the Minister gave me, is also true?" I hear Narcissa gasp and drop her fork, but I continue eating as though I'm not phased by any of this.
"Yes, Father," Draco replies shortly, "I had to come home and fix her arm."
Draco tries to continue eating to avoid further discussion of the situation, but Narcissa will have none of that. "Oh my God!" she exclaims, jumping from her seat and running over to stand beside mine. "Are you alright?" she asks as she kneels beside me.
"I'm fine," I reply, finally giving up on avoiding the conversation and placing my fork beside my plate on the table. "Draco's already had Mrs. Taylor come and examine me, she said everything's okay."
"Oh thank Merlin!" Narcissa replies, leaning up and pulling me into a suffocating hug. "No wonder Draco was upset at me for being gone all day! Oh I should've never left you here alone! I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!"
"No it isn't," I reply, trying to calm Narcissa as I feel heat rushing to my face, knowing that I'm blushing by now.
"Yes it is!" Narcissa replies, "I promise dear, I'll never leave you alone like that again!"
"Mum, it's fine," Draco says from his seat to my left. "Jayde's going to be spending time with her friends at the Burrow sometimes while I'm at work from now on."
Narcissa releases me from her death-grip and sits back on her heels, clearly hurt by the idea that I'd rather spend time with my friends than with her. "Why?" Narcissa asks, unable to hide the sinister tone in her voice as she looks across me at Draco. I'm sure Narcissa's only questioning this because she feels guilty; to her it must sound like Draco doesn't trust her with my well-being anymore.
"Because she doesn't get to see her friends very often and I don't want her going insane from boredom," Draco replies with a hint of finality in his tone. "Besides," he continues, "Would you rather for her friends to come here?" Narcissa shudders at the thought, and though I don't find the situation a bit funny, I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing at Narcissa's reaction. My doing so causes Draco and Lucius to chuckle heartily, and Narcissa joins in almost immediately.
"Okay," she finally replies, "I see your point." Narcissa gets back to her feet and hugs me once more, repeating her apology and telling me how thankful she is that I'm okay. She then returns to her seat and the rest of the meal is carried out in a lighthearted mood without further discussion of what happened today, for which I am very thankful.
Draco and I take a trip to Diagon Alley after dinner, and when we return at 9 p.m. we go straight up to bed, exhausted. Over the weekend, Draco shows me the slide projector that's in the Drawing Room; I never knew there was one before. He shows me how to use it and we spend the entire weekend together, either swimming, going to Diagon Alley for a while, or watching films. When Draco leaves for work on Monday, which is the second of August, I shower and get dressed, preparing to make a visit to the Burrow and surprise my friends. I feel a little nervous about seeing Harry again as I walk through the gates to Malfoy Manor, but I quickly clear my mind of all thought and disapparate, landing in the familiar field in front of the Burrow. Not finding anyone outside, I quickly make my way to the wooden door and knock loudly. Realizing that I haven't hidden my stomach yet, I quickly grab my wand and do so, and luckily I finish just before the door begins to open. I'm greeted by Ginny, whose jaw nearly kits the kitchen floor when she realizes it's me.
"Jayde!" she squeals happily. She releases the door and runs forward, pulling me into a huge hug, which I return enthusiastically. When she releases me she tells me I look amazing and I return her compliment sincerely. She ushers me inside excitedly and calls up the stairs as she closes the kitchen door behind us. "MUM, HERMIONE!" she screams, "JAYDE'S HERE!" There's an instant echoing of gasps and my name being called throughout the house, followed by the sound of at least two pairs of running feet. Mrs. Weasley appears first, wearing her favorite brown dress and white apron. She smiles at me excitedly and rushes over to where Ginny and I are standing, pulling me into a motherly hug.
"How are you, dear?" she asks.
"Great," I reply happily.
"And you look it, too," she says, "You've got the color back in your cheeks and I can tell you've been sleeping better. You're practically glowing; I'm glad to see you so happy."
"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," I reply. "If it hadn't been for you, I might never have come to my senses and gone home in the first place." Mrs. Weasley simply smiles in response. By this point, Hermione's reached the bottom of the stairs and is walking quickly towards us; a huge smile on her face. Mrs. Weasley steps backwards a bit to give Hermione room, and she immediately takes advantage of it and pulls me into yet another hug.
"It's so good to see you!" she says happily.
"It's great to see all of you, too," I reply.
"Come on, dear, have a seat," Mrs. Weasley calls. "You should get off your feet."
"Right," Hermione says, "You don't want to put too much strain on the baby." I freeze mid-step as my heart starts beating rapidly and I feel the color quickly vanishing from my face at Hermione's words; she made that last statement rather loudly considering there are still some people in this house who still don't know I'm pregnant.
Not missing a beat, Ginny quickly says, "It's okay, Jayde... Harry and Ron aren't here."
"Oh," I reply, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. My heart rate slows a bit and I start walking again, finally taking a seat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. Hermione and Ginny take the chairs to my immediate left and right, and Mrs. Weasley stands behind the three of us.
"So what brings you here?" Ginny asks. "You and Draco haven't had a row again, have you?"
"Oh no, of course not!" I reply. "I just get really bored while Draco's at work, so he and I decided that I should come here and spend time with you all from now on."
"That's great!" Hermione responds.
"Indeed," Mrs. Weasley replies, "It'll be good to have you around here during the day."
"So how have things been going since you went back?" Hermione asks immediately afterwards.
I can't help but smile as I think about the past week, and I can feel myself blushing. "Things are great," I reply, "Never better."
"Oh Jayde, we're so happy for you," Ginny says. I turn back to my right and smile at Ginny in response.
"So I take it you'll be staying with us for lunch, dear," Mrs. Weasley says probingly.
"If that's alright with you," I reply, craning my neck around my right shoulder to look at her.
"Of course," she says, smiling. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going upstairs to finish the laundry. I'll be back down a little later, but I imagine you girls have a lot of catching up to do."
"Okay," Hermione, Ginny and I reply. Without another word Mrs. Weasley walks from the room. Immediately, the questions begin.
"How did Draco act when you went home?" Hermione asks.
"Can we see your belly?" Ginny pries.
Deciding to tackle the questions one at a time, I begin with Hermione. "Draco was ill when I got back," I reply, "But he was glad to have me home." "And yes, Ginny," I continue, you can see my belly." I quickly retrieve my wand from my pants pocket and perform the anti-concealment charm, causing my baby bump to become visible again. I lean back in my chair slightly so that my friends can see the bulge.
"Oh my goodness!" Hermione cries. "It's getting so big!"
"It really is!" Ginny replies, "Can we touch it?"
I laugh at Ginny's question but take her hand, placing it on my raised stomach. "You won't be able to feel it right now, but that's where it's kicking at the moment," I say as I move her hand to where I can feel my tiny baby moving. Apparently being shy for some unknown reason, the baby stops kicking when I place Ginny's hand in its general location, but a moment later I feel it kick again. Ginny doesn't feel it, however, but she still seems awed. She quickly grabs Hermione's hand and places it right beside hers, and all three of us stare down at my belly as we wait for the baby to kick again.
I look up at the girls and say, "It's kicking" when it does so again, but both girls remain unable to feel the baby moving. They finally give up a moment later and sit back in their seats, smiling enormously.
"Is it a boy or girl?" Hermione asks.
"We don't know," I reply, "We want to be surprised when the baby's born, so we told the healer we don't want to know the sex."
"Aww, how sweet!" Hermione replies. There's an expectant silence for a moment, and then Ginny speaks up.
"Wow…this is really strange," she says quietly.
"What's strange?" Hermione and I ask in unison.
"This!" Ginny replies. "Jayde, you and Draco are already living like a married couple, and you've got a baby on the way. You're only 17 but you already know who you're going to be with for the rest of your life; you've already got a family. What's it like? Being a wife and mother, I mean. I know you're happy… but to be honest, I envy you. You've got to tell us what it's like."
I'm a bit stunned by Ginny's confession, so I wait in silence for a moment, contemplating my answer to her question. "It's hard to explain," I begin. "It just comes naturally to Draco and I because we love each other very much."
"I'll say," Hermione says, "I never thought Malfoy was capable of love until you came along and softened him up. I guess it's true what they say; you'll know when you've found the right one because everything changes." I smile in response to Hermione's statement, but Ginny presses on.
"But I mean, it's got to be difficult," she says, "Don't you ever get nervous about things around him? Like shagging, for instance, what's that like?" I can feel my face turning red immediately at Ginny's question.
"Ginny!" Hermione scolds, "That's too personal!"
"Actually," I begin, "Draco and I haven't shagged since… well, since the night our child was conceived. We're going to wait until we're married."
"Oh, well that's nice," Hermione says quietly.
"But what was it like that one time?" Ginny asks.
"Um…I really don't remember too well," I reply honestly. Then, trying to make sure I don't give away too much, I change the subject. "But as far as being pregnant," I continue, "There's really no other way to explain it than amazing. It's a lot to get used to, and it's very stressful and challenging to the body, but I'm really glad Draco and I are having a child."
"Well you've certainly got the stressful part right," Mrs. Weasley says, re-entering the room.