Test

Hermione stood in front of the sink and stared into the mirror. Her pale face was unreadable, even to her. So many emotions were running through her that she couldn't pin down one feeling. These were the longest three minutes of her life.

When the timer finally went off, cutting shrilly through the silence, she took a deep breath to prepare herself. Her eyes roved from the mirror down to the stick she held in her hand, but only for a second. When she looked back into the mirror her eyes were now wide in panic. This could not be happening, could it? They'd always been so careful.

But excitement was battling the panic. She wasn't quite sure if the crickets hopping rapidly around in her stomach were from nervousness or enthusiasm. She didn't know how long she stood there, looking into the reflection of her wide, wild, brown eyes, before she heard the thing she had been dreading.

"Hermione, where are you, love?"

She heard the front door squeaking shut. She didn't want to respond right away, but when her fiancé repeated the yelled question from a closer proximity to the bathroom, she had to reply.

"I'll be out in a moment!" she said, her voice cracking unnaturally. It scared her.

"Is everything all right?" Blaise was now right outside the bathroom door. Panicking, Hermione opened the medicine cabinet and shoved the pregnancy test in before shutting it hurriedly. She opened the bathroom door to come face-to-face with the man she loved. When he saw her expression, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"Everything is fine," said Hermione unconvincingly. She was out of breath, though she wasn't sure why.

"What's wrong?" Blaise put his hands on her upper arms.

"Nothing," said Hermione in a strangled voice. She cleared her throat and repeated, "Nothing is wrong."

He surveyed her, scrutinizing. "Love, you can't hide things from me." It really pissed her off when he called her "love" all the time; he knew that she couldn't lie to him when he used that affectation.

Hermione averted her eyes from his, knowing that her lies would be seen in her eyes. "I'm fine." She pulled from his touch. She walked past him, her head down, into the bedroom. She was already in pyjamas in preparation for going to sleep, so she climbed into the plushy bed quickly, laying down and turning her back to him. "How was your day?" she asked, turning out her bedside lamp and pretending that everything was perfectly normal.

Blaise was still standing outside the bathroom. He turned around slowly to look at his fiancé, though she couldn't see him. "Hermione, will you please tell me what is wrong?" He turned on the lamp on his side of the bed to illuminate her once again.

Hermione pretended that she didn't hear what he said.

Exasperated, Blaise sighed, flicking on the bathroom light and searching to see if there were obvious signs of whatever was bothering her. Hermione rolled over from her position on the bed just as Blaise's head emerged from the medicine cabinet, a white stick in his hand, his face thoroughly shocked.

Hermione sat bolt upright, scared. Her hand already flew to her stomach. She'd waited until the last possible moment to take a test, so, odds were, she was already 5-6 weeks along. It would be the size of a grain of rice.

Blaise didn't want kids, she knew that. Whenever she brought up the subject, he always told her that now wasn't the time: they were both too busy with work. He had to get used to the idea of raising children. He wasn't the father type. He hated kids. He never had a real father around so he didn't know how to be a dad. He wasn't good with kids. Kids hated him. Blaise had an entire list of reasons why he was anti-children at the moment. He might want her to get rid of it.

Hermione studied his face to see how he would react to the pregnancy test. She was afraid that he was going to explode. Whenever they made love, he made sure they were using contraceptive spells. Hermione did not, under any circumstances, want to get rid of the child that was now growing inside of her, but she didn't want her baby boy or baby girl coming into an unwelcoming home. She watched her husband as his head pivoted to face her, the positive pregnancy test still in his hand.

"Hermione," he spluttered, waving the stick at her. He walked towards the bed, but seemed to change his mind halfway there and stopped. He ran a hand through his dark, curly hair, sighing again. She'd never seen him look so bewildered.

"Blaise," Hermione said, almost pleadingly. "I –" Hermione wasn't sure where she was going with that sentence. Should she apologise? No. This wasn't her fault. He was the one with the sperm. In fact, this wasn't a fault at all. The feeling that finally won out in her was joy. "Say something, Blaise," she demanded.

He finally came and sat down on the bed. He looked at her, eyes darting back and forth, searching hers. "You're pregnant," he said stupidly.

Hermione fought the urge not to slap him for his idiocy. She said, evenly and deliberately,"Yes, Blaise, I'm pregnant."

"And were you ever planning on telling me this?" he asked.

Hermione was hurt by this. "Yes," she replied defensively. "Of course I was! I literally just found out. What, did you think I was going to be laying in a hospital bed, the baby crowning, saying, 'Oh, by the way, Blaise, I'm pregnant'?"

Blaise obviously didn't appreciate her sarcasm. His voice became softer. "Hermione, love, were you afraid to tell me?" He reached out and took her hands in his. It was so rare that he showed such vulnerability.

Hermione considered her answer for a moment. "I know you don't want kids, Blaise." Her voice was surprisingly hard.

"Whatever made you think—" Blaise stopped mid-sentence, thinking of what he was about to say. "It's different, now that it's real, Hermione."

Hermione studied his face again as unreadable emotions flashed across it. Just like what she saw in the mirror not fifteen minutes earlier. She knew he was wrestling with the right thing to say to her. She squeezed his hands in encouragement.

"I love you Hermione," he said finally, and his voice was forceful. "And I'll love our child. You shouldn't be afraid to tell me that you're pregnant. Did you think I'd tell you to get an abortion?"

Hermione opted not to say anything, as that had been exactly what she was thinking. Her eyes just darted away from his.

"Hermione!" Blaise exclaimed, reading her nervous response. He grabbed her chin to turn her head, searching her face with his darting eyes. "Listen to me, Hermione: there is absolutely no way I would ask you to get rid of our child! Sure, children weren't in my ideal plan right now, but…" He pulled her across the bed into a tight embrace, the pregnancy test falling from his hand.

Hermione sighed loudly into her fiancé's chest. "We're going to be parents. You're going to be a father, Blaise."

He pulled out of their embrace and looked away from her. "What if I'm awful?" he asked in a whisper. She could see that he was scared.

She put a hand on top of his. "Blaise, of course you won't be an awful father." He had never had a father figure in his life, so Hermione knew that this was a natural fear. His mother had been married a suspicious number of times and he was mostly raised by nannies. Her thumb rubbed circles on the back of his hand. "You'll love it and do your best to provide for it. You'll be around - you'll be here. That's what matters. You'll be brilliant."

They were both silent for a while, and then Blaise said, "I hope it's a girl." Hermione was surprised by this. He read her mind. "And I like the name Lenore."

Hermione couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, almost splitting it in half. One of Blaise's hands found its way to her stomach, and Hermione covered it with her own.