"Wait, I'm coming with you" Hermione called after Draco who was rushing to his study. He took out a big potion box and started skimming through it and picking some bottles.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know what's happening over there, or who else is in the house, I need to be prepared" he explained as he hastily closed the box and walked out of the study, followed by Hermione who was taking long strides to match his pace.
They stood in front of Blaise's house, when the door finally opened they both darted inside.
"What happened?", "Where's Ginny?" both Hermione and Draco demanded in the same breath.
"She's upstairs" Blaise answered Hermione, "second door to the left" he added as she climbed the stairs.
"Blaise, speak" Draco ordered impatiently.
"I made a terrible mistake" Blaise trembled, "I just..I never thought it would happen like that..not in a million years would I have foreseen this." he shook his head exasperatedly.
"I'm starting to seriously worry now. Blaise, you need to clearly tell me what happened so we can fix it as soon as possible" Draco rationalized with him.
"A few days ago Ginny and I had a fight..it escalated more than usual, then she threatened that she'd leave and I'll never see her or the baby again. I didn't know if she'd go ahead with her threats or not, but it sounded like something she would do..so I..`I gave orders to the house elves to never let her get out of the house unless she was with me." Blaise explained.
"At first she was furious, but then she stopped fighting over it and just stuck to ignoring me all together so I thought she gave up on trying to leave." He added, "but then today while I was at the castle, one of my house elves popped up and told me Ginny was not alright.." he paused, sighing desperately and squeezing the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
Draco grimaced, his face telling that he already knew how the rest of the story went.
"How did it happen?" he asked
"She tried to leave again, they tried to stop her, and being the wretched fools they are, they didn't realize it was dangerous to try and pull her back when she was standing on top of the stairs" Blaise's voice was laced in what seemed to be a mix of anger and regret, "this is completely my fault, I should've known how literal house elves could be, I should've made it clear that while keeping her at the house they shouldn't hurt her...I just..wasn't thinking straight when I ordered them.." he explained.
"Ginny I'm so sorry" Hermione apologized, squeezing Ginny's hand as she barely fought back her tears. Hearing her friend explain how she was feeling as she lost her baby, made her guts twist.
"It's alright, Hermione. The potion Blaise gave me made a huge difference, I'm not half as bad as I look" Ginny smiled faintly.
"Speaking of Blaise, how do you feel about that?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"I don't know..I can't really blame him for what happened because even I didn't expect it to happen, I just hope he doesn't take it out on the poor elves, they weren't even forceful enough to hold me back..they were just..too skittish that I lost my balance. He kept saying it was his fault, but I don't really think it was anybody's." Ginny confessed, "I have to say though, a small part of me thought that maybe I shouldn't completely rid him of the guilt, because guilt could be my last safety card with him..I mean..what if now is the perfect chance for him to get rid of me after the baby is gone?" Ginny sounded like she was talking to herself rather than Hermione.
"Are you afraid he would hand you over?" Hermione's eyes widened in fear.
"Why wouldn't he? He was stuck with me because of the baby, and it's gone now. What would stop him from handing me over to you know who?" Ginny argued, "I thought that maybe if he felt guilty about what happened he'd still be willing to help me run away or at least let me go peacefully without reporting it..but I don't know if I can do that..I don't think anybody should live with that kind of guilt" she admitted.
"You're right, nobody deserves that." Hermione agreed, "but maybe it doesn't have to be like that..when we came in he seemed genuinely worried, maybe he's still willing to help you?" she tried to sound as optimistic as possible.
Before Ginny could reply, there was a knock at the door. Hermione opened it and Blaise walked in, followed by Draco.
"How are you feeling now?" Blaise asked as he skimmed over Ginny's resting figure, "and how's your ankle" he added as if he just remembered.
"Blaise, you already cast a healing spell on it twice, there really aren't any more bones to heal. I'm fine." Ginny assured impatiently.
Draco hovered awkwardly at the door for a moment, not knowing what he should say to Ginny since the two never had the slightest basis of friendliness.
"Sorry for your loss" he mumbled awkwardly as he moved to stand next to Hermione. Ginny just nodded back in acknowledgment.
"Did anybody else hear what the house elf told you at the office?" Draco asked Blaise
"No, I was alone, and even if, he didn't give any details" Blaise replied.
"So no one else knows about this except us?" Draco demanded
"Yes" Blaise insisted.
"No" Ginny contradicted suddenly as if she just remembered something, "Helga was here when I was getting ready to leave, I think she was still there when I fell."
"Who?" Draco frowned in confusion
"Helga Atkins, she's an old woman, a mu.." Blaise stopped in his tracks for a moment, glancing briefly at Hermione before continuing, "she's a muggle born who serves at houses. My house has some charmed rooms that the elves can't access, she cleans them...I just didn't know she was here today." he admitted.
Draco rolled his eyes annoyedly at the fact that this information is being presented just now.
"I'll go take care of that" he announced.
"You're not going to kill her, are you?" Hermione asked tentatively
"No!" Draco bit incredulously, "why do you always have to think that?" he demanded, "I'll just make sure she didn't see anything she shouldn't have. I'll be back soon" he added vaguely before heading out.
A long moment passed before Hermione finally broke the silence. Blaise's eyes kept traveling from Ginny to her, it looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't comfortable saying it with her around, so she decided to give the two some privacy, saying she'll wait for Draco downstairs.
"Ginny, I'm so sorry" Blaise repeated for what seemed like the twentieth time that day.
"Blaise, this is becoming redundant. It's alright, what happened happened, there's no point looking back." Ginny argued.
"I know, but it matters to me that you know that none of this was intentional" he moved from his chair to sit at the edge of the bed next to Ginny, as if the physical proximity would make his words more believable.
"If I had the slightest idea that the orders I gave the house elves could hurt you, I would've never given them. I don't know what made you so adamant on leaving this time but I swear if I had the choice between letting this happen and letting you go, I'd let you go.." he promised genuinely.
Because the baby is all that ever mattered, a cruel voice spat in Ginny's head.
"I wasn't going to leave" Ginny said, "I mean yes, I did threaten to leave but I didn't mean it. Regardless of everything, we were having a child, I wasn't going to take him or her away from you for good, if not for you then at least for them. I just couldn't be at the same house anymore at this point" she admitted.
"But why? What happened?" Blaise pushed for an answer.
"Look, Blaise, it doesn't matter now," Ginny sighed deeply, "I know this situation was never ideal for you, I dunked you headfirst into it, and..I know you only went along with it for the baby. But that's no more." she had to drag out those last words out of her; it hurt to have to say it out loud.
"I'm not sure I get where this is going.." Blaise frowned, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes on Ginny.
"All I'm saying is, I understand that this situation we had is over now. But I still need you to help me. If anybody finds out I lost the baby, any protection I had will be gone..you know who will have my head before I can take two steps out of here. And even though the idea of death itself is currently very tempting, I don't think it would be good for me on the long term" she twisted her mouth ruefully. "All I'm asking for is more time, I'm getting better physically, but mentally I'm not well..at all. I need some time to wrap my head around everything that's happened and see what my next steps are. Alright?" she looked up at him hopefully.
Blaise stared intently at the woman sitting in front of him. He doesn't remember a time when Ginny looked so..blank. She used to walk into any room with a distinguished air of feistiness. The time they had spent together showed him a few interesting sides of her, but none of them looked like the one he was seeing now. This was affecting her on a deeper level, he noted grimly. He had expected her to cry, to yell at the top of her lungs, to even blame him for everything. But he wasn't prepared for that broken version of her.
He didn't know what to say at this point. His first instinct was to hug her and tell her he would never let her walk into her own death, but that had consequences. This time he won't be able to say that he was forced into it, there are no traps this time, if he refuses to let her go, he won't have any excuses to hide behind. He'd have to actually make a decision for himself, and then explain to her why he still wants her to stay, and even worse, explain that to himself.
"Do you think he's going to be cooperative? I'm afraid he'd see it as a chance to free himself from the commitment" Hermione asked anxiously.
"You don't give Blaise any more credit than you give me, do you?" Draco frowned.
"What do you mean? And what does this have to do with you? I never denied you credit as you put it!" Hermione argued
"You just keep acting like we're emotionless beings. Blaise lost a child today too." Draco stated somberly.
"You're right" Hermione admitted after a long pause, "I'm just too worried for Ginny because it's not just a baby she lost, her life can be in danger now. And they're not exactly best friends so I find it a very passable scenario if Blaise decided he doesn't want anything to do with helping her" she argued.
"You don't know Blaise the way I know him. If he wanted her dead, she wouldn't have made it that far" Draco stated matter of factly, "He's confused yes, but how he feels about her runs deeper under his skin than he cares to admit" he revealed.
"Are you saying he..has feelings for Ginny?" Hermione gaped at Draco incredulously.
"Why is that so hard to believe?" he raised an eyebrow at her, "he saved her life when every rational ounce of him should've told him not to, and he was even going to have a baby with her. What sane man starts a family with a woman he feels absolutely nothing for? That would be a death sentence!" Draco's voice trailed off as he cursed himself in his head for saying too much.
"I can think of at least one who would do it" Hermione quipped dryly.
Draco was saved from a heated argument that was about to erupt when Blaise's footsteps were heard descending the stairs.
"She's asleep now" Blaise announced, "Draco did you find Helga?" he demanded.
"Yes, she left before anything happened, I interrogated her thoroughly" Draco assured, and Blaise nodded in acknowledgement.
"So? What are we going to do about this?" Blaise asked exhaustedly, "any brilliant ideas?" he turned his head to Hermione raising an eyebrow at her.
"Blaise, it's very complicated, we haven't thought of…" Draco started to explain only to be cut off by Hermione
"I have an idea actually, but..it's not easy to execute, and..you really need to want to save Ginny for you to go to that extent" Hermione discussed hesitantly.
"Consider that a given" Blaise clipped, "what's the idea?" he demanded.
"Alright..but you have to keep a very open mind about this" Hermione persuaded.
"Why do you make it sound like I'm being sent off to battle a Manticore?" Blaise frowned at her.
"Well, no battles will be involved, per se. But it's still not an easy task" Hermione maneuvered, still trying to gradually pass over her crazy idea.
"Hermione, just shoot. The fact that you have to loiter makes it sound worse" Draco advised.
"I think we should hide the news, keep Ginny at home until the supposed delivery time comes, and when it does, you could..adopt a baby. A newborn, it won't be easy to find but if we start listing all the orphanages and start paying them casual visits, we'll eventually find a baby young enough to pass as a newborn." Hermione animatedly explained her plan to the two men that were looking at her blankly.
"Look, this would've been a good idea, if you actually had any idea about how adoption works here. First, there are barely any orphanages..I guess there are like..4 or 5 all over the wizarding world, and only one of them is in London. And there's no way I can adopt a child from there without the entire wizarding world of London finding out about that. And I won't even start explaining how impossible it would be to find a baby that young" Blaise listed impatiently.
"I know all that" Hermione rolled her eyes on him, "I meant a muggle baby.." she added with a worried look at her face. The incredulous look on Blaise's face and the way Draco gaped at her, told her that convincing them wasn't going to be remotely easy.