Chapter 52 – Test

"Anything new?" The woman didn't wait for any answers, but threw the letter she had received at the man who had joined her. She was sitting in an big armchair in front of the fire that made her white hair reflect the flames as if she herself was a flame. He bend down to pick up the parchment, the rustle of his black clothes being the only noise coming from him.

"Isn't it cute?" Her voice was cold, but amused.

"My little pet still believes in me. Even after I lost my nerve with him last time. How much he longs to be loved, even remembering my birthday."

The man looked over the letter for some time until Delphi snapped.

"Aren't you done yet? You can't still be that bad at reading, it's just a few words."

He didn't react, but set the parchment down next to her chair. His face gave nothing away when he looked at her.

"So where is my birthday present from you?" She asked sweetly, her outburst already forgotten. "I assume that's the reason you are here and not at Hogwarts, like I told you to be!"

Her voice was friendly, but he knew better. He had disobeyed her command, and would pay for it.

"Nothing to say?" Her wand was in her hand, she held it almost lazily, but her eyes gave her away. They narrowed in on him and flickered in the dim light provided by the fire.

"A triumphant birthday for my Lady." He bowed at her feet when he said it and kept his head down. The words coming out of his mouth were foreign, as he never talked. But he was here, after all, because she was the reason he lived, so he would fulfil whatever role she deemed suitable for him.

"I think I know what I want for my birthday from you..." He didn't dare to look up when she mocked him.

"What do you wish for?" His voice sounded so deep it was nearly inaudible over the crackle of the fire.

"Lets see..." She answered, and he felt the spell take over his body and shuddered. His body creaked and a hiss broke out of him. He shuddered and his frame convulsed under the pressure of the spell.

His bones crocked, until only his clothes in a pile were left.

The heap was poised for a few moments, until it shuddered and a small black crow hopped out of it. It's eyes watched the woman in front of it and made her laugh.

"You can't turn back to your human form now Crow." She told him and swung around her wand lazily again.

"That should teach you to do as I say until this mission is over. I hope it's not to cold out there without your clothes and your wand."

The window was thrown open by an invisible force and her eyes narrowed on him again.

"Go!" She ordered him, and sunk back into the chair when she was finally alone.

All this waiting strained her nerves, sometimes it was good to have fun. Looking at the clothes and the wand in front of her she started laughing.

XxX

The muggle test she got from a pharmacy when she had been to London a week earlier sat heavily in her hand. A small detour the morning after she had visited Harry and Ginny.

Hermione knew there were faster ways to find out, different charms to try, but in this she went back to her muggle roots. She had never preformed any of the spells for pregnancy, so she wanted to make sure she did it right.

For a moment her thoughts went back to Severus, who had taken care of the spell work the first time she had been pregnant and bittersweet feelings overtook her. He had been her support, her rock. They had grown close the days when Draco wouldn't even visit her in his anger. Thinking of him made her miss his calmness and insight, his snark and his drawled advices. He would never talk to her again, and it made her hurt all over again. For years and years he had been her companion, the person she could count on. A pepper up potion for the kids, or sarcastic remark when she felt down, he always had it. She had banned any thoughts of him into the back of her mind until now, to keep from acknowledging that he was gone, just like her daughter.

What she hadn't calculated, when buying the test, was the unnerving feeling that made her heart and stomach clench in fear, while she had to wait five minutes for a result. It gave her head time to remember, but also calculate the different outcomes and she didn't like what she came up with. She bit her lips until she knew she bleed, she could taste the cooper on her tongue, and fiddled with the small stick in her hand.

It would be either one line that would crash her hope, or two that could change her life back to a better version of what it had been, or make it living hell.

She wanted nothing more than to have her small girl back. These last two months she had seen a world where her baby girl could grow up to be a proud witch. Where the children had no worries and the worst thing was sending them away to Hogwarts for most of the year. There was no war here, no Death Eaters around every corner.

She saw the children run around the Great Lake and laughed when she looked out her window. Of the few hundred students, some stayed back for Christmas and hit each other with snowballs. Spells were thrown around to gain an advantage, but it was in a friendly nature.

There were still problems, caused by the war so many years ago, but to her they all looked manageable. She wanted to help Scorpius, but she knew it wasn't a matter of life or death, as it had been for her just three months ago.

Just that one thought made it easier for her to feel less stressed about the test in her hand. She could handle the outcome, Hermione told herself, steeling for the result. She bit her bleeding lip again and twitched when it stung, before she looked down and the small muggle gadget.

What Hermione saw, made her blink. She looked at the manual not far from her to made sure she read it right. Rereading the instructions her hands clenched around the test and she leaned back against the window she had looked out of moments ago.

There was so mistake, the result was final. One small window showed her that the test was valid, and the second one showed her result.

Sliding down the wall into a sitting position, Hermione hugged her legs and buried her head against her knees.

The small white stick lay forgotten beside her, as she tried to come to terms with the outcome.

Courtesy of a desicion my beta Eva and me made this morning you are left with another cliffhanger, cause we deleted the part that included the test result...

The desicion how this will go was already made weeks ago. I think I told you I kinda rewrote some part, and this the main part of it. Let me know how you think this will go on, cause I'm soooo curious. I'm gona make you a deal. You tell me what you think will happen and I'll hurry up and publish the next chapter earlier ;)