Disclaimers: JKR owns everything here.
A/N: I'm quite happy that some people are still following this story, even if I made you all waiting for ages for some chapters. These last chapters are quite light and something like fills-in, but I like them. I really hope that you'll enjoy them as well! Luv you all, readers..
To Danii: Thanks a lot for your help!
Speechless
When Emeric opened his eyes, his first thought was that he was dead. Then his eyes managed to focus on the first person at his right and thought that if he was really dead, he was in hell, because otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to explain the presence of Malcolm Weasley in heaven.
Then someone threw her arms around his neck and hot tears started to wet his forehead and his pillow. His eyesight was now obscured by a mass of bushy red hair.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound exited and that was very bad, since that all that hair was suffocating him. He patted Rachel's shoulder and she stood up.
"Oh Emeric," she said, while tears streamed down her cheeks. "You were going to suffocate."
He looked at her. She was very sensitive if she managed to understand something like that in only a few seconds. He opened his mouth again, but still no sound exited. So he just gave her the thumbs up.
He sat up and looked at her expectantly, only a question in his eyes, but unluckily, Rachel didn't seem to get it. He took Rachel's hand and placed it on his throat, then frowned.
"What?" she asked. "Oh, you're wondering why you can't speak, right?"
Emeric nodded. He was actually wondering who had won the Quidditch match, but once he would have been able to speak again, then he would have asked it by himself.
"Madam Pomfrey placed a Silencing Charm on you," she explained. "Oh, don't worry," she added hastily, "only for twenty-four hours."
He shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows, hoping that his girlfriend would understand that it was a 'why' that he was asking.
"Do you want some water?" asked Rachel, frowning.
"I think he wants to eat something," suggested Malcolm.
"I said you mustn't speak," snapped Rachel firmly. "This is all your fault."
Malcolm sighed and nodded. Emeric had never seen Rachel so severe towards her brother, and he had never seen Malcolm so subdued towards his sister.
Emeric shook his head and touched his throat, then shrugged his shoulders again.
"Is your throat hurting you?" asked Rachel patiently.
He shook his head again, then something turned on in his brain and he mimicked the movement of writing with his hands.
"Oh, you want to write," exclaimed Rachel, hitting her forehead. She took out a parchment and a quill from her pocket and gave them to Emeric, who looked at her strangely.
He started to write something, but before he finished, he drew a line through it and wrote something else, something he wanted to know with more curiosity.
He passed the piece of parchment to Rachel.
Why do you always go around with a quill and a parchment in your pockets?
Rachel stared at the question. "I don't know," she said after a while. "But it's useful, isn't it? I mean, you're using it right now, aren't you?"
Emeric nodded. Then he took the parchment back.
Who won?
"Who won?" Rachel read out. "That's all? You almost died and all you have to ask me is who won?"
Emeric took the parchment from her hands again and started to write something fervently.
"Don't you dare write that I don't understand Quidditch, because every person to whom I spoke today told me that," snapped Rachel.
Emeric drew a line through what he was writing.
So?
Rachel sighed. "So, Slytherin won."
Emeric grinned and started to laugh with noiseless laughter. Then he opened his mouth to rejoice, but no sound came out. He took back the parchment another time.
Why did Madam Pomfrey took away my voice?
He showed it to his girlfriend.
"Because your throat has been badly damaged, and she didn't want you to be unable to speak for the rest of your life," explained Rachel. "So she just cast that little charm; it will help you heal more quickly and more comfortably."
How did I hurt my throat? No, wait, what happened?
"Oh, finally you want to know something that concerns you, something of import," she said. "You banged into the stand of the teachers – no, you didn't hurt anybody – and you gained the victory for your team when you swallowed the Snitch."
I did what?
"You swallowed the Snitch," repeated Rachel. "Its little wings were the things that hurt your throat."
Oh…
"If you have nothing useful to write, you can always choose not to write and waste my ink," said Rachel.
Alright.
"And you can nod instead of writing 'alright', all right?"
He nodded.
Are you nervous?
"Should I? My boyfriend and father of my future child almost gets himself killed crashing into a stand because my cousin was pushing him off his broomstick, and my brother was teasing him in front of the whole school. I'm not nervous, I'm just wondering why I couldn't have been born on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean," said Rachel, giving vent to her feelings.
Which island?
"It was just an expression, Emeric!" snapped Rachel.
Emeric nodded hastily. Then he looked at Malcolm, who didn't dare to look back at him, and wrote something down.
Why did you say that it was all Malcolm's fault?
He re-read the question, then decided to write something else.
If I remember, it was Allyson who pushed me off my broomstick.
Rachel read it and looked from Emeric to Malcolm and back to Emeric. "Well, if he hadn't distracted Allyson, she wouldn't have had to push you off your broom to stop you catching the Snitch," she explained. "And he was very mean when he was doing the commentary."
"I was just trying to make Allyson pay for what she did," said Malcolm feebly.
"I don't care," said Rachel firmly. "You have been terrible."
"If you would have heard what she told me and what she said to Su, you wouldn't have said that," protested Malcolm.
"Did she yell to all the school that you were in love with Su?" asked Rachel.
"No, but-"
"Did she distract her own Quidditch team, just for fun?"
"No-"
"Did she have the Headmistress screaming against her?"
"Yes!"
Rachel looked at him darkly.
Emeric seemed aware only at that moment that Allyson wasn't there to annoy him as usual, nor to listen to their conversation. He would have bet that she would have made fun of him for life, because he crashed into a stand, and since she would have become his cousin, he wouldn't have enjoyed that.
Where's Allyson?
He had always suspected that he was a masochist.
Rachel sighed. "Over there," she said, pointing at a bed in the far end of the Hospital Wing. "She's sleeping."
Emeric started to write something, but Rachel stopped him. "She's not wounded or anything," she said, answering before Emeric had the time to place the question on the parchment. "She's just stressed."
Emeric raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, stressed," confirmed Rachel. "Firstly, because of the commentary." She glared at Malcolm another time. "Second because at the beginning, she thought that she had killed you, and I was desperate."
Really?
Rachel nodded. "I also fainted," she whispered, as if it was something bad, or as if she was ashamed of it.
A concerned expression appeared on Emeric's face.
"I'm fine," she said, smiling. "Now that you are awake, I'm fine."
He smiled and, coming closer, he started to place small kisses on her lips and nose. They were interrupted by a snort coming from Malcolm. Rachel glared at him once again before continuing with her explanation.
"And then, when they understood that the thing that made your face turn blue was the Snitch and that, catching it, Slytherin had won the Cup, well, she became hysterical and started to yell," said Rachel, sighing. "She also jumped Malcolm, but I fainted at that moment, and I don't know what happened. I just know that I would have loved to see the black eye on Malcolm before Madam Pomfrey healed him."
"Is that your maternal instinct?" asked Malcolm.
Rachel ignored him. "Anyway, Madam Pomfrey had to give her something to make her sleep, or she would have jumped on all the Slytherins she found on her path."
Didn't you send Sybella on her path?
Rachel laughed. "No, I fainted, remember that?"
Emeric smiled and nodded.
Right at that moment the doors of the Hospital Wing burst open and a very angry Headmistress entered. She glanced at Allyson, who was deep asleep in her bed, and then turned her attention towards Emeric.
"Mr. Malfoy, how are you doing?" she asked.
Emeric nodded and smiled.
"Can't you speak?" asked Professor McGonagall, a bit annoyed.
"Actually, no, Professor," answered Rachel. "Madam Pomfrey performed a Silencing charm on him."
"Really? Why, very well, then," answered Professor McGonagall. "I'm happy to see that you're fine. And you'll be much better than Mr. Weasley, after I'm finished with him."
Malcolm gulped. "Am I going to get a detention?" he asked hoarsely.
Professor McGonagall looked at him severely. "Saying improper things over the megaphone during a Quidditch match. Disturbing the players. And above all, the Slytherins won the match."
"But Headmistress, I-"
"I don't want to hear any 'buts', Weasley."
Emeric snapped his fingers to attract everybody's attention. Then he passed the parchment to Rachel, who read out loud, "Excuse me, Professor, I thought you had to be impartial."
Professor McGonagall glared at Emeric. "I am impartial, Malfoy."
Emeric raised his eyebrows, but couldn't add anything else, about the comment against Slytherins. To the contrary, he simply nodded.
"Anyway, I'm not here to talk about my preferences in regards to Quidditch, especially because I don't have any," she pointed out. "I'm here firstly because I wanted a word with you, Mr. Weasley, before I sent you to Professor Lupin."
Malcolm nodded.
"You could have been expelled," said Professor McGonagall gravely. Both Malcolm and Rachel paled. "But, since Madam Pomfrey stated that the pregnancy of your sister is affecting you in some way, then we don't want to do things which we would regret. So you may stay."
Rachel threw herself at Malcolm, hugging and kissing him like she had never done before.
"Thank you, Headmistress," answered Rachel for him.
"Don't thank me," answered Professor McGonagall crisply. "I just did what is right. After all, it's not completely his fault."
Malcolm looked at her and frowned. "Headmistress? Excuse me, what do you mean that my sister's pregnancy is affecting me? Will I have morning sickness?" he asked, horrified.
"No, Mr. Weasley, you have just been acting a little stranger than usual. It happens sometimes," answered Professor McGonagall. "But now it's finished. You have released all the tension."
Malcolm nodded, sighing in relief.
"You can go now, Mr. Weasley," said the Headmistress.
"Go?"
"To Professor Lupin's office," she answered firmly. "I think you'll have something to do in the Trophy Room. Last time someone gave it a dusting was about eighteen years ago. And it was your father who did it."
Malcolm nodded and disappeared through the door.
Professor McGonagall looked at Rachel. "Miss. Weasley, I need a word with you as well," she said.
"Yes, Professor," answered Rachel promptly.
"Since it's already May, and in a couple of weeks it'll be June, and your pregnancy is already very advanced, then Madam Pomfrey suggested that you should complete your exams a little bit earlier this year," said Professor McGonagall.
Rachel looked at her, worried. "How much earlier?" she asked.
"The end of May?"
"I can't, Professor," she answered hastily. "It's too early, I haven't started studying anything."
Emeric passed her a note.
Accept. You already know everything.
"I can't," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I can't."
"And if your child arrives earlier?"
"Well, can't I do them in September?" asked Rachel shyly.
Professor McGonagall seemed to ponder the question carefully. "Yes, I think you will be able to do them, but Miss. Weasley, are you sure you'll find the time for studying, this summer?"
Rachel nodded. "I'll try, at least. And I'll be more prepared than now, at least."
Emeric snorted, and Rachel glared at him.
"All right, Miss. Weasley," answered the Headmistress. "It's up to you. Now, it'll be better if both of you will get some rest." She left them, walking quickly out of the Hospital Wing.
Emeric took back the parchment from Rachel and began to write something.
You could have done the exams and then told me the questions.
She glared at him. "I would never do something like that, it's cheating." And without a further word, she kissed him and lay down on the bed next to his.
"Good night," she muttered, closing her eyes. Then, she heard him scribble something and said, "I know it's not night, but I'm tired." And she fell asleep, with Emeric looking at her and smiling without a real reason, or perhaps there was a better reason – he loved her.