A/N: I'm so, so sorry that I've not had the time to update recently. I feel so bad about having to leave this story for a while. Anyways, at least I have the time right now, but I can't promise that I'll have a lot of time in the coming months. My teachers are deciding to make me do two term papers at the same time, for math and science. Speaking of which, how do you write a paper on numbers? My teachers are so annoying. Lol. Umm, I hate the title of this piece, so if anyone has a better title in mind, tell me, and I'll switch it yet again. Repair Work makes it seem like a story about construction. Oh, last thing (I hope). How come no one wants to review my story. I have put up 11 chapters, well 2 were notes, but still, how come I only have 9 reviews? I look at some other people's stories and wonder how they get to have reviews numbering in the thousands. I feel so unloved! ::runs and sobs in a corner:: Ok I'm back. Enjoy the story!

Chapter 9~ A Companion

Draco's POV

I led Hermione along a corridor to a tapestry. Leaning close I muttered, "Semper Odimus Eosdem Quos Amamus."

"Is that Latin?" she asked.

"Yes, but I've no idea what it means," I answered as the tapestry moved aside, revealing a bolted door. I unbolted it, and we stepped through.

"Bienvenue à chez Hermione," I said.

"Ce n'est pas chez moi!" she snapped back.

(A/N: "Welcome to Hermione's house" and "It's not my house!" French translations for those who don't know it.)

"I must be leaving you now," I announced, "but I shall return to you later, my dear."

"Wait! May I-may I please keep my wand if I don't use it to escape from here? And may I have some books or something with which to keep myself amused?"

"There is a library inside that door," I pointed to it, "and there are 'crafts' inside as well. That door leads to your bedchamber and adjoining bathroom. The house elves will bring you up food." I swept out of her suite, and locked the door on my way.

Hermione's POV

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream, to shout, to rant and rave, anything to tell him just how frustrated with him I was. It wouldn't have mattered whether or not I had. Draco had probably put a silencing spell on the room.

I wandered into the library. There were rows upon rows of books, and overstuffed chairs in which to read them. I found muggle and wizarding games in a cupboard, including Exploding Snap, Clue, Monopoly, and Twister, just to name a few. There was a sewing kit in a drawer, and crochet hooks and knitting needles as well. In the drawer below them were fabrics and skeins of yarn.

"Madame Malkin's Never Ending Fabrics. Madame Malkin's Never Ending Yarn," I read.

In the corner next to the fireplace was an old chest. The wood was from a willow tree, and the leather straps serving as hinges seemed brand new. The clasp was made of bronze, and opened easily under my hand. I lifted the top, and found multiple stones inside. None were precious stones, that I could see anyway, instead they appeared to be polished minerals from the looks of them. I moved them to and fro, trying to discern if anything was beneath them. I found a cracked piece of old parchment, folded up. I carefully unfolded it, and attempted to read the miniscule old script. From what I could make out, it was talking about the fabled seeing stones of Merlin. If they were put in a circle in the correct pattern, the person who placed them would receive the powers of Merlin and the powers of his four descendants, otherwise known as the Founders.

"Damn! If I can figure this out, then, wow! I'd be a mage! I could do magic without a wand!" I was exhilarated. (A/N: Sorry- vocab word. Happy I used it Ms. Spada?) "I just have to figure this out!"

Draco came back the next morning with a mediwitch.

"Hello, dearie. I'm Nurse Marie Myers. Mr. Malfoy says you need to know whether or not you're pregnant. For this to work, Mr. Malfoy, you need to leave the room. I cannot perform the test in your presence, regardless whether or not you had anything to do with her alleged condition."

"I'll be outside." Draco left, and Marie turned to me.

"He's a D.E., isn't he?"

"Yes, how'd you know?"

Marie checked her watch, and smiled at me. "Just a minute now. He was cutting it rather close." A minute passed, and Marie began to transform. When she had finished, in front of me stood my best girl friend from Hogwarts, Ginny (Virginia) Weasley.

"Oh!" I cried, before she clapped her hand over my mouth.

"I really am a mediwitch, Mione. Just lay down on your bed and I'll perform the spell."

I lay down and she did perform the spell, giving me a potion to drink that tasted suspiciously like Hagrid's rock cakes, and performing a charm.

"We'll have the results in five minutes. I have to take my potion again." Ginny retrieved a vial from the bag she was carrying, and drank it down. I recognized the potion, it was the same as the one Ron, Harry and I used in our second year (I'm right, aren't I? It's not their third year?)-The Polyjuice Potion.

"Ginny, before you call him back in, I have to warn you. Learn your Patronus, and move your family away from your house. The Dementors are coming for your family, with Voldemort's full permission."

"Thank you. Here's the results. Mr. Malfoy," Ginny got extremely loud now, we had been speaking in whispers before, "you can come in now." Draco walked back inside. "Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Marinetta, Congratulations! You're going to have twins!"

"T-twins?" I asked, sinking into the nearest chair.

"Do we know the sex of the babies?" Draco demanded.

"Yes, Ms. Marinetta, twins. And yes, Mr. Malfoy we do. You two are having a boy and a girl. Mr. Malfoy, as much as I would love to stay, I have other patients to attend to. Would you mind showing me out?"

"Unfortunately, Nurse Myers, I have to talk to Hermione. One of the house elves will show you out." After she was escorted out, Draco turned to me. "Looks like you're going to be living a while longer."

I refused to rise to his bait. Instead I asked a question that had been pressing on my mind for some time now. "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"What you said, right before you left, and after we…" I trailed off.

~Flashback Draco's POV~

"We should get dressed," I say finally.

"You're right. We should."

Just as we finish getting dressed, I clasp my forearm in pain.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Crap. She noticed.

"Mione, I have to go. I love you."

~End Flashback~

Hermione's POV

"I-Hermione, I…"

"Forget it. Forget I ever asked. It was just something you said. It didn't mean anything. Now go!" I was nearly in tears by the time he left. When I heard the lock pull shut, I broke down. After my crying subsided, I recalled the seeing stones.

'it's worth a shot,' I thought, and went into the library. I delved back into the chest, this time taking out the stones to make it easier to search. At the bottom of the chest I found a large book, bound in leather, with strange markings on the cover. I opened the book, and was unable to decipher the writing. The book appeared to be in Latin or another ancient language that I did not know. I stood, and scanned the shelves to see if there were any Latin-English dictionaries.

There weren't any. But I did find a spell that would transfer any language into the native language of the castor.

"Now to get my wand back," I muttered.

I purposely slipped while getting out of the shower that night. I had wrapped a towel around myself before getting out, and there was one on the floor, but I had managed to spill enough water on the floor to make it look an accident. I screamed, and Draco was there in an instant.

"What the bloody hell happened?" he asked.

"I slipped, what does it look like?" I retorted. "This wouldn't have happened if I had had my wand to clean up the water."

"Maybe we should get that mediwitch back."

"The same one?" I asked hopefully.

"You seemed to like her. Do you want her to stay with you during your pregnancy?"

"Draco, you're being unusually nice to me today. What's up?"

"I'm concerned about my children, that's all!" snapped Draco.

"Okay. Sheesh, you don't have to snap. Would you mind helping me get up? I may not be fat yet, but since I found out I was pregnant, it's become more important to me not to curl up my abdomen." I wasn't serious in the beginning, but later on I was deadly serious.

"Do you want your wand back that badly?"

"Are you a Malfoy?" I shot back.

"Point taken. Accio Hermione's wand!" My wand came to rest in Draco's clenched hand.

"Are you going to give it back or just taunt me?" I asked, my eyes lingering on it.

"I'll give it back, let me help you up first." Draco wrapped his arm around my waist, and lifter me up. All the while I was struggling to keep the towel safely around myself. "Worried I'm going to see something, Marinetta?" asked Draco sardonically.

"What? No."

"Not like I haven't seen it before."

"You perverted prick!"

"Now, now. Be nice. I can easily snap your wand."

"Fine." I pouted.

Draco deposited me, rather unceremoniously I might add, on my bed.

"Are you going to get Nurse Myers first or give me back my wand first?"

"What makes you think I'm going to do either?" he sneered.

"You gave you word, and, from what I've heard, a Malfoy never goes back on his word."

"You're right." He went over to the fire, threw a powder in it, and called "Nurse Myers! Come here!"

She climbed out of the fire a moment later, her hair disheveled and her robes sooty.

"Was there something either of you needed, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Marinetta?" she inquired politely.

"How would you like to be employed here for the next nine months or so?" Draco asked.

"I would be helping Ms. Marinetta, I presume. if that is the case, I accept. Allow me first to return home to pack my things," said Ginny.

"You would. You may go. I'll find quarters for you in the meantime," he replied.

'What was I, chopped liver?' I thought angrily. 'How dare he just ignore me!'

"Why couldn't she just stay here?" I interrupted. I directed my next comments to her. "Would you mind? We could portion off a section of the living area, although it would take some time."

"I wouldn't mind being in close proximity to my patient. But," here she chose her words carefully, "it would be easier for me if we converted Ms. Marinetta's bedchamber into a dormitory, sort of. That way I could keep an eye on her at all times."

"If you wish," agreed Draco.

"I do wish. If you'll excuse me, I need to get my belongings." Nurse Myers used Floo powder to return to her home.

Draco looked at me, seeing what I was wearing for the first time, or so it seemed. He snapped at me to get dressed.

As I was changing, in the bathroom of course, Draco was reorganizing the bedchamber to accommodate two women.

"Are you finished?" I called, towel drying my hair simultaneously. (Remember, Draco hasn't returned her wand…as of yet.)

"Yes, I'm done."

I walked into the bedchamber, partially bent over, and still working my wet tresses with the towel.

Draco's POV

I looked up as Hermione entered the room, dressed in a pair of sweatpants, rolled at the hip, and a low(er) cut tank top. She was slightly bent over as she walked, enabling her curls to cascade over her shoulder in order for her to dry them as she walked.

I felt a twinge of…something pass through me. I could spend all day just watching her. Instead, I walked over, and led Hermione to the bed. She looked at me nervously when I asked her to sit, and I sensed her growing agitation when I sat behind her. I took the towel from her hands and placed in around her shoulders, yet still underneath her hair.

Wrapping her hair in the towel, I began to dry it. When it was only slightly damp, which took a surprisingly short amount of time as compared to the sheer volume of her hair, I began to work through the snarls from the curls.

Hermione's POV

Like the colonist rebel, George Washington, (remember, she's British) I cannot tell a lie. At least not when it comes to my feelings. When Draco led me to my bed, he scared the hell out of me. I didn't know what to expect. That's why I was so scared. I need to be in control of a situation, or at least be able to predict what my adversary is going to do. Otherwise I feel powerless. That's not a feeling I like. I shuddered when Draco began to unsnarl my curls. He would, on occasion, brush the tips of his fingers against the side of my neck or my earlobe; two of my most sensitive spots. But I began to relax as he worked his magic (no pun intended) on me, and was feeling drowsy when my nurse returned.

"Where is everyone?" she called. Draco and I sprung apart when we heard her voice.

"We're in here," I answered, my voice unusually high.

"Lovely," declared Ginny upon seeing the room's transformation. "All it needs is a few cabinets and a desk for my medicinal ingredients and other such nonsense."

"How about my and-way?" I asked mischievously.

"I-ay o-day ot-nay ike-lay ig-pay atin-lay," Draco responded, "but I shall get it to you at the next available time."

"It's in your pocket," I stated crossly.

"So it is," Draco fished it out and tossed it to me. "Here you go."

"Thank you," I said. I was surprised. I hadn't thought he was actually going to give it back.

Draco made apologies as to why he couldn't stay, and left us.

"Thank Merlin," I said, "he's gone."

"Hermione?" asked Ginny. (A/N: I'm sure by now you've all realized that Nurse Myers and Ginny Weasley are the same person.) "1, can you help me unpack? And 2, tell me what the hell's going on!"

"Sure, but only if you tell me how everyone is. I haven't heard from y'all in ages. As for what's going on, I haven't a clue."

We unpacked as we chatted about our daily lives and the rest of the Weasley clan. I talked mainly about what had happened to get me where I was right now, and Ginny told me that her family was safe now, thanks to me.

"Gin-I don't feel like much of a help to anyone these days. I mean, look at me: 17 and pregnant by the amazing bouncing ferret." My voice was full of self disgust.

"Mione, it's going to be okay. I promise you that." She came over to give me a hug. "At least he gave you your wand back."

"True," I whispered, "but what good is it in a set of rooms sealed with strong Dark magic?"

"You're a captive here?"

"Yes, and n-now you are, too."

Ginny left the room and went to the door, where she rapped loudly.

"What?" Draco asked when he came in.

"Am I to be held here same as my patient, or am I to be allowed to leave occasionally in order to get needed supplies?"

"Hmm, hadn't thought about it yet, really. I'll get back to you on that." Draco turned and left us.

"It's hopeless," I sobbed into a couch. "He'll never let you go, and he'll just kill you after the babies are weaned. Just as he will me." I collapsed again in a fresh bout of tears.

"Now, Mione, I don't think that your hysterics are going to help any. Come on, up you go, I think it's far past your bedtime." Ginny helped me into bed, tucked me in, and brushed a strand of hair off of my forehead. I smiled. No one had done that since I was a child.

ThankS~

HarryPotterExpert ~ Thanks for your vote of confidence. It boosts my self esteem.

Felicity ~ I wrote more. Happy? Jeez, one would think you actually like the story! JK. But constructive criticism is much better for me

Butterscotch duck ~ Happy now?

animegirl-mika ~ Thanks for liking it! I now accept anonymous reviews. Hopefully more people will review now.

G*Ness ~ I'm continuing…just in a rut right now, so bear with me, okay?

Willow Daydreamer ~ Again, as stated above, I now accept anonymous reviews. BTW, you should really check out your forum…I've been writing in it.

Riverchic1998 ~ Tell me about it! Now I have 2 reports to do at the same time! Thank God for holidays, ya know?

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