Hey guy, had a crazy week.
First we had our drama exam, and I really think it went well, second we had our leavers ball, it was so much fun but my feet were killing me afterwards and third I had to take care of a screaming baby that was very ill and pukng everywhere. So a very hectic week and barely found much time to write. Especially when the ball was the day before the drama exam so me, Kim, Chelsea and everyone else in our drama class was pretty tired!
I am very proud of this chapter and I hope you all like it and will review!
PS- My french accent still sucks.
After that night at the Leaky Cauldron Hermione became a little depressed. Not as bad that she needed to be put on medication, just that she just felt down.
Minerva and Fleur took her home. She was in such a state Minerva had to call the Knight Bus to pick them up and, of course, Stan Shunpike took a liking to Fleur and Hermione was sure that Fleur was going to stupefy him if he carried on flirting but, luckily for Stan, they made it home just before she got her wand out. The next day Hermione woke up in her bed, feeling awful, and went downstairs to find Minerva and Fleur in the kitchen making breakfast. Apparently they slept on the sofas in the cottage because they didn't want to leave Hermione in that state. Hermione was surprised that they would do something so nice for her and she felt blessed that they cared. This was over a month ago and they were still good friends to her. Especially since it must be killing them that they don't know the whole story about her and Ron.
Ron looked so upset that night and Hermione couldn't help but feel that it was her fault. It probably was but she had her reasons for leaving in the first place but she didn't think about what would happen afterwards. When she had the baby, would she go back to Ron? Would he accept her back with open arms? Would he even accept the child that wasn't his let alone love it? Whatever was going to happen, Hermione really didn't think it was going to be easy.
But the one thing Hermione did notice was that Fleur was getting a tiny bit excited every time Minerva had to go to Gringott's and she would always go with her. In some cases she even made up stories so that she could go to Gringott's. Of course, she was excited about the idea of meeting Bill again. Ever since that night at the Leaky Cauldron, all Fleur could talk about was Bill and what it was like meeting him and it was obvious, the first time they met that there was chemistry a brewing. They would talk about lots of things like what interests them, what their goals in life were, what they wanted in the future and a lot about their family and friends. Fleur had spoken to Hermione about Bill sometimes.
"`E is just amazing!" Fleur exclaimed, blushing. "Every time I see `im I feel like my `eart is about to burst out of my chest. One time `e told that someone needed to call `eaven. "
"Why?"
"Because they're missing an angel!"
Every day, Fleur would mention Bill. Strangely enough, after the past month, Hermione was starting too actually like Fleur. Yes she can be insulting and rude but she really doesn't mean to be all those things. She'd never had a friend that Fleur can really rely on, besides her sister, and the two were actually getting on to Minerva's delight to see her granddaughter happy. And her happiness was going to take another big boost…
"`Ermione, Grandma! Bill `as asked me out on a date!" said and ecstatic Fleur bursting through the door.
Hermione was sitting down on the couch and Minerva was in the kitchen and both of them were delighted.
"Oh Fleur, that is amazing!" said Minerva hugging her granddaughter.
"It was about time, too," said Hermione, stroking her baby bump.
"We're going out tonight. Where? I don't know but I can't wait!"
Fleur had spent about a good hour deciding what she was going to wear and she had dragged Hermione and Minerva into helping her. After going through her entire wardrobe, she was stuck between two dresses.
"I prefer the sparkling blue one," said Hermione, completely bored out of her mind and sitting on a chair in Fleur's room.
"But I like the red with the flowers," said Minerva, equally as bored and also sitting on a chair in Fleur's room.
"I don't know. Let me check for shoes," said Fleur, going back in her wardrobe.
When Fleur's back was turned, Hermione had got her wand out and hid one of the dresses in a box that was above the wardrobe. Hermione had had ENOUGH! Fleur came back and noticed a missing dress.
"Oh, well then. Sparkling blue it is," and Hermione could have groaned in relief. "Oh, `Ermione, don't be afraid to ask if you want to borrow my dresses. Then you won't have to wear your old hideous ones!"
And there's the insult.
When Fleur was dressed she looked STUNNING! She kept her hair down and wore the halter neck, sparkling blue dress that went down to her knees and she was smiling like no tomorrow. When Bill picked her up (Hermione was hiding upstairs) he looked like he was about to faint. His eyes were popping out of his sockets and his mouth hung open. He spent a good minute staring at her.
"You okay?" asked Fleur worried.
"I-uh- um- yeah- uh- you look- uh- um- Wow!" he had a bit of trouble speaking there didn't he.
"Shall we go?"
"Uh huh," he still can't speak.
Fleur waved goodbye to Minerva and set of on her date with Bill.
Three hours later
"You should have seen Bill's face; it was like he'd forgotten how to breathe!" said Minerva, ecstatically.
"I wonder when she'll be back," said Hermione, checking her watch. It was nearly eleven at night.
"Any moment soon. I want to hear all about it."
"Yeah."
"I have also noticed that you two are now friends," Minerva stated, drinking her cup of tea.
"You were right, Minerva, she is a nice person, after all, even if she does tell me that my hair is twice the size of my head."
"I told you it wouldn't be so bad," Minerva said, like she knew what was best.
"Since when did you tell me that?"
"Not going to say," and Minerva took another sip of her tea.
They sat in silence for a while and Hermione's hand started to repeat it regular circle motions on her belly. She was now eight months gone and Hermione wonder what her little one will look like. Would it have her brown hair that frizzed with the slightest touch of water, would it have her annoyingly accurate knowledge about everything in the world, or will it her chocolate eyes. Or will it be like its father….
"Do you miss him? Ron?" said Minerva, looking at Hermione curiously.
Hermione looked up at Minerva and she realised that her eyes were filling up with tears. She blinks them back before they have the chance to escape but one of them had fallen down her cheek and she wipes it away. Minerva puts her cup of tea down and gives Hermione a hug.
"Yeah I do," Hermione answers on Minerva's shoulder.
"Then why don't you go home?" asked Minerva releasing Hermione from the hug. "Why won't you return to him when you love him desperately?"
Hermione just sat there, looking at Minerva and decided to tell her the truth. And hopefully she will understand…
"Minerva, the baby-"she was cut off.
Fleur had come through the door and slammed it behind her. She goes into the living room and says all that Minerva needed to hear.
"The baby's not Ron's!" she exclaimed, flabbergasted.
"What!" said Minerva.
"How did you find out?"
"Bill told me. I asked `im what was wrong with `is brother and `e said that `is wife told `im that `er baby wasn't `is and she left."
"Is this true Hermione?" Minerva asked.
All the emotion, all the tears and all the pain she kept inside was finally spilling out and it was to much for Hermione to take. She burst out crying and ran for her bedroom, feeling lousy and awful.
An hour later, Minerva and Fleur followed Hermione to her room. They found her lying on the bed in complete darkness so Fleur turned on the light switch. Hermione got up to a siting position and Minerva can see that her eyes were swollen and red from all the crying. She and Fleur sat on the bed with her; Hermione didn't move away, she hadn't moved at all.
"Around the time I got pregnant," Hermione said in a hoarse voice "there was this girl who, out of nowhere, told me her and Ron were having an affair behind my back. It was weird hearing that because Ron is the most trustworthy person I know so I knew she was lying. Then she told me stuff about Ron that only I, Ron, Harry and very close people we knew. Like where we were during our seventh year and during the battle and she convinced me that what she was saying is true. I was broken, so I confronted Ron and he said he had no idea who this girl was and swore that he never cheated on me but he was always a bad liar and he knew that. So I just went out."
Minerva and Fleur listen to what Hermione was saying and as they looked at Hermione, they realise that she didn't seem to care that she was going to spill her darkest secret to them and it would shame her and change what they thought about her, at that point, she didn't care.
"I went to drown my sorrows at the Leaky Cauldron and, of course, I was drunk as a clumsy goblin. The booze was able to numb the pain so I kept drinking till I couldn't feel it anymore."
Hermione's eyes were tearing up again, her face darkened as her story continued.
"Then the next day, I wake up with my head in agony and in someone else's bed. I remembered that I met him at the Leaky Cauldron and we started chatting. I thought he was just a stranger that I would never see again if I snuck out, but then I realised who he was. I put on my clothes and left feeling like the worst person in the world. I went home to Ron and he told me the truth. The girl was Luna; she had escaped from St Mungo's, after having a meltdown that she will never recover from and told me a pack of lies. Ron and Harry were both assigned to track her down, they did in the end but she had to be permanently kept at St Mungo's. I could barely even recognise her because she was so bad.
Minerva and Fleur didn't say anything.
"So Ron didn't have an affair and I am a cheating whore. I tried to forget that it ever happened but the guilt was eating me alive. I went to the doctors and they told me I was having a baby. I was excited at first but then he told me how far I was and I knew that it wasn't Ron's. I couldn't pretend any longer so I told him the truth, he was devastated. He couldn't look at me anymore and I hated myself for what I did to him. So I left and now close to having a baby."
Minerva and Fleur were silent for a long time as Hermione just sat there looking into space. And, after a while, Fleur plucked up the courage to ask:
"With whom?"
Hermione looked up at Minerva and Fleur, through blood shot eyes, revealed the baby's father.
"Oh," sighed Minerva, with a haunted and troubled look on her face. "Oh my."