After this, there are only 4 chapters left :( I've already begun working on something new. Today I'll probably start writing chapter 7 of that. It's either that or spot check four large boxes of books here at work. I haven't started either yet. Maybe after lunch.
Chapter 12
"You think you're what?" Ginny shrieked once they were in the privacy of the single person lavatory.
Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes. "Pregnant, Ginny," she repeated for the third time. "Please stop making me say it."
"And you came to this conclusion how?" Ginny wondered. Hermione explained her symptoms - nausea, heightened sense of smell, cravings she couldn't explain. The redhead pulled out her wand. "Have you told Draco?" she asked, casting an incantation in the direction of Hermione's abdomen. Hermione merely shook her head before looking down at her stomach, waiting for something to happen. "It'll take a few seconds before you know," Ginny informed her. Half a minute later, a blue aura began to glow around Hermione.
"What does that mean?" Hermione asked fearfully.
Ginny was unsure as to which facial expression she should wear as she replied, "It means you're pregnant."
Hermione seemed faint as she leaned against the nearest wall for support. Her vision began to blur, though whether from tears she refused to cry or the news she'd just received she wasn't sure. They'd been safe every time, she assured herself.
Not every time though.
Bits and pieces of a drunken night together a month before came back to her. She had had too much firewhiskey and forgot to cast a contraceptive charm. One stupid night and now she was pregnant with Draco Malfoy's child.
"I can't tell him," she murmured, looking at Ginny with wide, glistening eyes.
Ginny furrowed her brow and crossed her arms, letting them settle just atop her rounded stomach. "And why can't you tell him?" she inquired, frowning at her friend.
Pushing away from the wall, Hermione paced around the small bathroom. The older witch scoffed twice as she made a list of the reasons Draco couldn't know. He drank too much, they fought too often. They weren't even in a relationship and had no plans to commit to one another. It wasn't until Ginny asked what she planned to do now that Hermione ceased her pacing.
"It's my baby. I'm keeping it," Hermione decided.
Back in the reception tent, Draco wandered around looking for his date. Paying little attention to those around him, he bumped into Harry Potter, sloshing firewhiskey on both of them.
"Watch where you're going, Malfoy," Harry said angrily as he used his hands to clean off his robes.
"Where is she?" Draco asked, not caring at all that the wizard in front of him looked ready to hex him into next year. "I saw her go off somewhere with your wife. Where is she?"
Harry shrugged as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He noticed the way Draco's gray eyes glassed over and his steps were unsteady. An hour into the reception and his former Slytherin enemy was drunk. Neville had alluded to Draco having a drinking problem, but he had thought that Hermione had him on the mend.
"Potter, please," Draco murmured, holding onto Harry's arm for support. His eyes were pleading, urging Harry to take him to Hermione.
It was against Harry's better judgment, but he told Draco what he knew. "They went to the ladies' room about fifteen minutes ago," Harry told him.
He let go of Harry and ran on shaking legs out of the reception tent. The lavatories had been set up just twenty feet from the reception. The doors were clearly marked and Draco burst into the ladies' room.
Two heads snapped towards the door and drunk man standing in the archway. "What are you doing, Malfoy?" Hermione demanded, hastily wiping at her eyes so he wouldn't see the evidence that she was upset.
"Oh, so I'm Malfoy again?" he asked, ignoring her question. His cheeks filled with a deep crimson color as his alcohol-induced anger rose.
Hermione shook her head and stepped around Ginny to be closer to him. "You're drunk again," she observed.
"Twenty points to Gryffindor," he replied facetiously, his words slurring as he spoke.
"Go home, Draco. Have some coffee," Hermione instructed, not ready to deal with him in such an incapacitated state. "You're drunk, and I'm in no mood for it tonight." And try as she might, using all of her force to push him away, she couldn't get him to budge from the doorway.
"You are my date," he bit out. "You're the reason I'm even at this stupid wedding. If I leave, you're coming with me."
Draco had a loose grip on Hermione's arm that she quickly shrugged off. "Go home, Draco," she murmured softly. "I'll meet you there a bit later."
Draco seemed to accept this compromise because he kissed her cheek and left her and Ginny alone.
The two women stood in silence as Hermione watched Draco's retreating form. "What are you going to do now?" Ginny asked quietly.
Hermione turned around to face her friend. "I'm going to tell him it's over between us," she replied sadly. Hermione exited the ladies' room and made her way to the Apparition point, but not before Ginny stopped her from leaving.
"Hermione, he has to know," Ginny told her. "He has the right to know he's going to be a father. I don't think much of him, but it doesn't mean I'm siding with you on this."
"This is my decision, Gin," Hermione replied, standing her ground. "I have to do what's right for this baby and myself. I can't have an incessantly drunk Draco Malfoy handling my child."
Ginny sighed; she hated it when Hermione made a valid point. "I see your point," she conceded. But before she let the distraught brunette leave, she made her an offer she hoped Hermione would not refuse. "Listen, I'm pretty sure Adrian isn't much of a kids guy. If you need to, I want you to come live with Harry and me. James or Lily will be here in a few months, which will give you a bit of practice with your little one. Just think about it, Mione."
With tears in her eyes, Hermione pulled Ginny into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered before pulling away and Apparating to Malfoy Manor.
