A/N. HULLO READERS! This chapter is the shortest one yet, unfortunately /: it was SUPPOSED to be longer, but I had quite a bit of a busy day that I hadn't planned on having. I went to the doctor, thinking I had the flu and instead got some AMAZING NEWS. I'M GOING TO BE A MOMMY! And I know in the past I've mentioned how I'm a poor college student, and most often a girl would be freaking out about this news, BUT I AM SO EXCITED. And I have this amazing new job and I am going to be more than able to support myself and my child :)
And more than likely most of you are probably like "This bitch needs to quit talkin about how she got knocked up so I can fucking read what's happening to Hermione and Bill" but TOO BAD. I AM SO HAPPY.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. Once again.
…~oOo~…
Bill listened to the sound of Hermione pacing in her own room down the hall for most of the night. It was about eleven-thirty that he heard her get into bed and suspected she was asleep. He couldn't get a wink of rest, though, his head was spinning too much.
After he snogged her on the beach - best snog of his fucking life - they'd walked into the house holding hands. He could practically hear her mind whirling at a hundred kilometers per second, so he bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead and advised her to go to bed and to not stress on anything that happened. She'd just numbly nodded, with that far-off look in her eyes that she got sometimes and walked to her room.
And now it was around one o'clock in the morning and Bill still couldn't sleep. He was lying on his back, hands tucked behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. His body thought he was asleep, but his brain couldn't be more aware. He just kept replaying their kisses in his mind like a film.
Then there were the footsteps in the hall. He was slow to react to them and by the time he sat up, there was a light knock on the door.
"Hermione? Come in," he called out.
The door creaked open and there Hermione was in an oversized t-shirt and panties, but nothing else, barefoot and looking like a scared child with glassy eyes. "I had a nightmare," she said quietly.
He wasn't surprised. It happened quite often. Normally she'd come in, sit with her knees up against her chest and tell Bill all about it while he stroked her back. She liked with when he stroked her back, scratching it lightly - it calmed her down.
But tonight she just said meekly, "Do you mind if I sleep in here? I'd understand if you wanted your bed to yourself, of course."
"Come here," he said, gesturing her over and pulling back the covers on the side he never slept on.
Hermione gave him a watery smile and crawled in next to him. She worked herself into the same position that she did the last time they shared the bed at the Burrow. Snuggled half on top of him, arms curled around him, face in his neck.
"'Mione?" he whispered.
"Mmm?"
"When we share a bed…why do you lie the way you do?" he inquired.
She paused. "Am I too heavy? Because I can move -" She began to adjust, but he tightened his hold on her.
"No, not at all. I was just…curious." Bill moved his hand up at down her spine lightly, tracing shapes on her.
Hermione considered this for a moment. "If I lay like this…I'll know if you get up."
"Oh," was all Bill said.
"Bill?" she said, and he thought it was under her breath. "Can you scratch my back?"
Smirking Bill answered, "Sure." And he did as she said.
…
It was about four o'clock in the morning when Harry started brewing coffee in the kitchen. He couldn't sleep. Not after all that happened the night before. Never in a million years had he planned to let it slip to Draco Malfoy that he liked boys. I mean, if the man didn't like muggle born wizards, why would Harry think Draco'd like homosexuals?
It wasn't logical, yet it happened. Harry lifted himself up to sit on the dark stone countertops with his cup of coffee. He drank his coffee with a lot of cream and sugar until there was almost no coffee flavor. He knew this was probably counterproductive, but didn't care. In muggle films, when people couldn't sleep, what did they do? Went to the kitchen and made coffee.
Harry was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the footsteps that made their way into the kitchen as well.
"Oh. You," Draco said with sleepy surprise. "Can no one sleep in this godforsaken house?" He made his way to the pantry to pull out the cookie jar, popping the top open and taking out three of the baked goods.
Harry smirked. "Guess not, apparently. Do you need some Dreamless Sleep?"
"Nah," Draco said with a shake of his head. "In Sixth Year, that stuff was the only reason I could ever sleep. I was pretty much addicted, really. I don't want to have to touch it ever again. The only way I ever will is if I'm charged with murdering a one-hundred and fifteen year old Headmaster for a second time."
Harry gave a sad smile. "Fair enough. Not likely to happen, though."
"And thank Merlin for that." Draco stuffed the cookies into his mouth. "Why can't you sleep?"
"My brain won't turn off." Harry shrugged.
"I know what that's like." Draco leaned against the counter opposite Harry. "Thinking about the bloke you're trying to seduce? Because he's not going to like you very much with bags and circles under your eyes."
Rolling his eyes, Harry answered, "That's none of your business. And who knows, maybe he'd like the nocturnal look. Girls fall for it in those bloody vampire movies."
Draco just stuffed another cookie in his mouth. "Whatever. Just some friendly advice. No need to be a sour puss about it."
"Draco…" Harry said hesitantly. He took a sip of his coffee. "Have you ever been in love?"
"Bloody hell," Draco grumbled. "Now we're getting down to the deep stuff. I'm going to need at least four more cookies and a bottle of Firewhiskey to handle this garbage."
"Well, gee, all you had to say was no."
The blonde boy took a deep breath. "Let me make this clear. Love doesn't happen often in this world. So I try my best to avoid believing in it because chances are that the moment you do find love, it'll all go to hell. That being said…yes. I have been in love. And it sucked," he added wryly with a sneer.
Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his hair.
"Don't look so shocked," Draco growled, "and pour me a cup of coffee. If we're going to have a heart to heart, caffeine is in order."
"Who were you in love with?" the boy with the scar on his forehead asked as he poured his roommate a healthy mug of coffee.
"Am in love with, Potter. True love - at least in my experience - never really goes away." Draco accepted the mug of black coffee and took a long pull of the burning liquid. "And don't tell anyone I ever said that. Because I'll strangle you in your sleep and feel no remorse over it."
"Yes, sir," Harry said sarcastically.
Draco eyed him scornfully, but took another drink of the coffee. "Anyone, who it is, is none of your business."
"Is it someone we went to school with?"
"Yes," Draco said simply. "And that's the only hint you're getting. Now, I am going to take this coffee and go up to my room where I will brood now that you've got me thinking about how loveless my future is destined to be. Thanks, Potter." Draco slumped out of the room exhaustedly and Harry was left behind to think.
Eventually, Harry just took the Dreamless Sleep.
…
The next morning, there was a knock on the front door of the Cottage. A very demanding, loud knock.
Bill learned very quickly that Hermione doesn't wake up for anyone. She he picked her up like he had when she wouldn't get up for breakfast, wrapping her around his torso, and hurried down the stairs to meet their visitor. Opening the door without thinking, Bill was stunned at who he found.
"Please tell me that you haven't drugged her," Severus Snape said with a sneer, looking pointedly at Hermione's sleeping form clinging to Bill. "If you have, I'm afraid I won't hesitate to kill you."
"Come on in, Snape," Bill said, ignoring the threats. "I'll make some breakfast."
"Actually, you'd be making lunch. It's noon."
Bill's eyes popped open wide. "Really? Thank Merlin it's the weekend. Hermione and I would probably get fired for being so late," he said with a chuckled, leading Snape to the kitchen while Hermione continued sleeping deeply. She had a rough night sleep-wise, so he understood.
"Indeed," Snape said, sounding just as unpleasant as he always did. Bill enjoyed his company nonetheless. "I've come to deliver Hermione's birthday present. I could not get away from the rebuild yesterday to deliver it personally, and I would not trust an owl with something so delicate." He pulled a little parcel from the inside of his dark cloaks, the size of a small jewelry box.
"Are you proposing?" Bill taunted good-naturedly. "If so, congratulations. It's about time there was a Mrs. Snape. She'd probably accept, too."
Snape did not look amused by this. He simply took his seat at the kitchen table and glared, as usual. Bill gently set Hermione down in the seat across from her favorite professor and whispered in her ear, coaxing her to consciousness.
When Hermione finally moaned and agreed to open her eyes, she saw Snape and gave a smile that she kept on through a long yawn. "Hello, Professor," she said, sounding sleepily happy. "What brings you to the Cottage this fine day?"
"Happy Birthday," Snape said simply, sliding the small box across the table to her.
Hermione beamed, her eyes still droopy, and began to pluck apart the paper and find a wooden box the size of a ring-box. She lifted the lid carefully and found inside a thick steel ring with a seal on the front with a Star of David-looking pattern and decorative lines around the edges, but little circles between the points of the star.
"Its called the Seal of Solomon. Surely you've heard of it in mythologies?" Snape said.
Hermione nodded, entranced by the ring. "It's said to capture demons."
"Yes, well, that's a load of rubbish," Snape said. Hermione giggled at that. He continued, "It does, however, absorb negative energies. Such as when you're sleeping. It keeps away nightmares."
"Really?" Hermione said, looking up with large, round eyes. "That's…incredible. Thank you so much." She stood up and walked over to give Snape a hug around the neck. He slowly patted her back.
"Um…Miss Granger?" he said.
"Yes, Severus?"
"Why are you not wearing pants?"
Hermione looked down and realized that she was still wearing her big t-shirt and panties. She shrugged. "Because I just woke up."
"Perhaps you should go dress."
Hermione groaned because of the effort that would require, but knew better than to argue with Professor Snape. She dragged herself up the steps to her bedroom.
"You realize," Bill said as he started pulling food from their fridge, "that the moment she gets to her room, she is going to fall asleep in her bed and never come down, right?"
"Is that a habit of hers?"
Bill nodded. "Most definitely. It's hell getting her to work in the mornings."
"Who can blame her," Snape murmured silkily. "Those goblins are horrible to deal with. Which is why I don't understand why you ever came back to work at a desk while being surrounded by dozens of ill-tempered, pointy-eared dwarves."
"Who are you to call anyone ill-tempered?" Bill asked rhetorically. He bent around the archway to the kitchen and peered up the stairs. Predictably, he head no movement and called out, "HERMIONE! WAKE UP AND COME DOWNSTAIRS!"
There was a loud unintelligible half-groan half-yell that Bill took to mean that he could sod off.
"Excuse me for a moment," Bill said to Snape politely and began marching up the stairs.
Bill knocked on Hermione's bedroom door and received no answer. He opened it and found…nothing. It was empty. Panic it him hard in the chest. He checked the bathroom. Empty. The guest room. Empty.
Finally, as his last resort, he peeked into his own bedroom. Sure enough, there she was curled up on her side, breathing softly. He realized that she'd managed to actually get dressed before passing out, wearing what looked to be a brand new white sundress. Bill suspected that Ginny must have been involved in the purchase of it because Hermione was stubborn about clothes shopping. If it were up to Hermione, she'd walk around either nude or in pajamas constantly, so actually taking time to pick out such a pretty piece of clothing was obviously Ginny's doing.
Bill walked over and shook her awake, saying her name several times. She eventually opened her eyes and they weren't sleep-filled. They were quite aware, actually.
"I wasn't sleeping," she said so quietly he barely caught the words.
"What were you doing?" he asked.
"Thinking…" she murmured. "Trying to figure out if last night was real or a dream."
"It all depends," Bill said. "On what you think happened last night."
"It doesn't matter," Hermione dismissed, sitting up. "I've realized it was a dream, anyway. No big deal."
"Hermione -"
"Yes?" she asked innocently.
Bill swallowed. She obviously thought that their kissing on the beach was a figment of her imagination, and he had to admit himself that it'd been surreal. But he knew the truth. He considered that maybe the reason she so quickly wrote it off as a dream was because really she just wished it never happened. It was easy to forget something unpleasant if you convince yourself it wasn't real.
If that was the case, he did not want to bring it up. If she wanted it to be a dream, then a dream it shall remain.
"Never mind," Bill said with a shrug. "Just wanted to know what you wanted for lunch. Which, I realize now is a silly question because I know your answer -"
"Pudding," they both stated in unison, making Hermione laugh.
Oh Merlin, Bill thought miserably, that laugh will be my undoing.
…
Rodolphus had grown gaunt and hairy during only his first few months in Azkaban. Sitting in the corner of his cell, he stared at the call at his tally-marks that he made with his eating utensils. Every breakfast, he carved another line into the wall to keep track of his days.
When the wedding band on his left hand started growing warm and vibrate as softly as a butterfly's wing, it was like church bells ringing in his chest.
Rodolphus Lestrange let a manic smile cross his face. His wife was back.
...~oOo~...
A/N. PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
Challenge: 1. Who do you think it is that Draco's been in love with since Hogwarts? 2. Do you want to see Snape more often? 3. Do you think Hermione will ever realize that her and Bill's moment on the beach wasn't a dream? If so, how? 4. HOLY SHIT, BELLATRIX WHATTHEFUCK? What do you think Rodolphus's ring coming to life means?
AND. 5. Since I'm about nine weeks along - EEEK! - I guess I should start thinking about names, so what is your favorite names for boy and girl babies? (Only if you want to share of course)