Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I repeat I do not own Harry Potter. In contemplation I'm not sure I'd like to either. It must be one stressful job, being J.K Rowling and having three quarters of the world eagerly awaiting her next release. I'd be extremely paranoid that nobody would like it, if I was J.K, which fortunately I'm not. :-) Although it would be nice to own her bank balance!
Big thanks to Lain, for beta-ing this chapter and no doubt making it readable:-).
Chapter 21: The Art of Skiing.
Hermione blinked into the darkness and rolled her head over to face the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was exactly 5:04am.Yawning, Hermione rose her upper body up, and leaned into the headboard of the bed. For a few seconds she stared out of the window to the left of the bed, and wondered why she was awake. Before she could formulate an answer, her stomach made an odd noise and she was up, sprinting towards the en-suite bathroom. She yanked up the toilet seat and retched into the bowl, her hair falling forward and tendrils of brown curls getting splattered with vomit. Coughing heavily into the toilet seat, Hermione spat out pieces of sick still left her in mouth, and gathered up her hair. Rising from her knees, she flushed the toilet and hurried over to the sink.
She turned on the cold water tap, washed her hands, and splashed her face with water. She grabbed her toothbrush from the small cup container next to the soap, and put a pea sized amount onto the brush. As she brushed her teeth, she started into her reflection, her forehead shining with water droplets, her cheeks pale. She finished brushing her teeth and turned the tap off. Glancing into the bedroom, she saw that she fortunately she hadn't awakened Draco. He was sprawled out on the bed, three quarters of the quilt over him and twisted around his legs. Shaking her head, Hermione closed the door and turned the shower on.
Around half an hour later, Hermione now fresh and clean walked back into the bedroom she shared with Draco and joined him back in bed. Roughly pulling some of the quilt away from Draco and over her, she lay her head down on his bare chest and sighed. She hoped she wasn't coming down with the flu or something. She hadn't brought any pepper-up potion with her, which now she thought about it was oddly stupid of her. It was after all a cold climate, with snow everywhere. It was likely that at least one member of the family would come down with either a cold or the flu. She couldn't perform magic either, as this was a muggle ski-resort. Ly had informed Draco of this earlier that day, and Draco had been slightly surprised, a little angry but mostly wondered how he would survive without using magic for a week.
Hermione began to feel nauseous again and decided that she would get up and try and find some paracetamol to hopefully rid herself of the sick feeling in her stomach.
A few moments later, Hermione plodded down the wooden stairs and into the kitchen, where she vaguely remembered her mother placing some small, square shaped boxes earlier that day. She was surprised to find the fire crackling away, and Lysander sat on his lonesome, draped on a couch, a cup of steaming coffee in one hand, a magazine in the other. Silently she crept over to her, finding it odd that he hadn't heard her coming down the stairs. The answer to this puzzle was soon solved, when she heard the faint sound of music as she neared closer to her brother. He was listening to his iPod.
She poked him in the cheek with a cold finger, and he jumped his hand rising up and wrapping itself around Hermione's wrist, twisting it softly. He quickly spun his head around, and seeing who it was released his grip. Startled, Hermione rubbed her wrist gently, which was now throbbing and glared at him wide-eyed. He pulled the headphones out of his ears and simply said "Oh it's you".
Hermione gaped at him. "Of course it's me! Who'd you expect it to be? Voldemort?" she asked sarcastically. "Maybe" was his cheeky answer. He flashed his big sister a lopsided grin, and took a sip of the still steaming coffee, which luckily hadn't spilled when he had jumped.
"What are you doing down here this early anyway?" she asked Ly as she walked over to the kitchen. "Couldn't sleep" he said simply. "Why aren't you in bed cuddled up to the wonderful ferret?" he said a frown appearing on his handsome face. "I was sick and couldn't go back to sleep either" she said, popping two white pills out of a packet of paracetamol, placing them in her mouth and washing them down with a glass of water.
"I'd be sick too, if I slept next to that" Ly commented wryly. "Why do you hate him so much?" Hermione questioned her eyes downcast. It was important to her, that her brother get along with her fiancée. Ly hesitated before answering. "Its just he's the epitome of everyone that has made my life hell at Hogwarts. Even with Voldemort gone, most of the purebloods are still stuck up, ignorant snobs and view me as vermin for being a muggle born. And, Hermione he hurt you for so many years. You can't just expect me to forgive him just yet. He needs to stew!" Lysander said heartily, smiling at Hermione.
Hermione felt tears prick the back of her eyes and grinned at her younger brother. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a bear hug. "My little brothers all grown up" she whispered softly. Releasing him she said in a sob choked voice "Thanks Ly, your thoughts mean a lot to me, I hope you'll accept Draco one day as a member of the family".
Lysander's dark eyes seemed to melt, and he nodded. He leaned forward and kissed his sisters nose, like he used to do when he was younger, whispered "Night" and trudged up the stairs and back into bed.
With nothing else to do, Hermione threw herself down into Lysander's vacated couch, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and picked up his discarded iPod. Most of the stuff on there was heavy rock like Slipknot, System of a Down, and P.O.D, but he did have quite a variety. Hermione after a lot of fiddling around, managed to figure out how to use it, and began to listen to Friends Will Be Friends, by Queen.
Half an hour later, Hermione was asleep, her head lying on a pillow, the headphones still on, and the melodious voice of Freddie Mercury singing softly into her ears.
It seemed to Draco, early the next day, that skiing was a ridiculous sport; invented by muggles to make innocent folk such as himself, look like total idiots. He had fallen onto his backside more times than he cared to remember, and he was aching everywhere. It did little to help Draco's bruised ego, when he saw his son and daughter skiing down slopes as if it were as natural as walking and the ever annoying Lysander showing off on a snowboard to impress a horde of female teenagers who were squealing among themselves about his "beautiful dark eyes and strong shoulders".
Draco trudged off the snow; his skis clasped tightly under his shoulders and a frown marring his face. It seemed to Hermione that his features were slightly ironic. He looked like some sort of Ice God, with his pale skin, almost white blond hair, clear blue eyes and taut jaw. However, he was certainly no ice god on the snow; Hermione had thoroughly enjoyed watching him not be good at something for once. She figured it would do his ego well.
Later that day, after lunch, Hermione decided she would take to the slopes with the twins and Ly. After all, she figured, she couldn't possibly be as bad as Draco. And it turned out, her fears were unfounded. She skied gracefully, and only fell over twice. A record for her. She determined that she better sliding down slopes than she was flying through the air on a broom. Oddly, this conclusion comforted her as she skied over to where Draco was camped, clutching a drink and watching the people ski with a dubious, foreboding look on his face.
"Hey" greeted Hermione clambering up the stairs with her skis, and onto the hotel restaurant/bar decking. She sat herself down into the chair next to Draco, and propped her skis up against the circular log table. "Whats up?" she questioned, seeing the look on his face. He grumbled an answer in response. Hermione simply nodded, and followed his line of sight. He was watching the twins with Lysander. He was teaching them different snowboarding tricks, and the trio looked like they were having a whale of time.
"Whats wrong Draco?" Hermione tried again. Draco shifted the glass in his hand and stared at the decking below his feet. "I don't feel like their father" he admitted softly. Hermione didn't reply, just simply stared at the twins in the distance, now pelting Lysander with snowballs. "Lysander is more of a father figure to them than I am" Draco said very quietly in a sort of anguished, jealous voice. "I doubt I'll ever have a relationship with them as close as they are with Lysander, I feel rejected" Draco said succinctly. Hermione sighed and closed her eyes. She opened them a few moments later and looked at Draco's tenebrous face. Slowly, she lifted her hands towards his face, and placed her hands under his chin. She tilted his head up until he was looking her in the eyes and she leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his cold lips.
"Just give them some time okay?" Hermione whispered once she had pulled away. "They just need some time to adapt. And yes, they love Ly, but as an Uncle, they love you as a father, honestly…" Hermione told him, staring into his eyes as she tried to convince him again. Draco nodded simply, running his thumb over Hermione's cheeks. He leaned closer and placed his forehead over Hermione's, and clasping her small hand in his large one. He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles and kissed her nose softly.
"Draco?" Hermione asked softly, breaking the comfortable silence. "Hmm?" he replied. "This might not be the best time to tell you, but I think I'm pregnant…"
Authors Note: Howdy! I'm sorry it took so long for me to post this, small chapter, and I apologize for the cliffhanger! Thank you all for sticking with me through the long and wait and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
My operation went fine, and I'm currently wearing a leg brace, and slowly learning to walk again, which is really surreal! Thanks a million zillion for all your beautiful reviews, wishing me well, they cheered me right up! Thanks!
The next chapter should be posted soon! I am going to be really busy as I have my GCSEs coming up which I need to revise for :-(. Exams are the bane of my existence. My first exam is on the 25th May, and it's English Literature. Fun.
Thank you all so much! Hope you enjoyed this installment and review :-).