Hi, thanks so much for all the reviews, they really mean a lot! Feel free to P.M me if you think I'm going the wrong way with the story – I'd love to have someone to reign in my farfetched daydreams! I've kept this one quite short as I'd really like feedback on Sirius's whole macho power trip thing...kind of like the idea of playing with that for a while xxx
The ancestral home of The Black's was for once empty. Sirius ducked his head quickly into the kitchen, just to be sure there were no Order members quietly lurking, before returning to the library where he had deposited an exhausted Hermione on their return from The Ministry.
'Fucking hell Granger,' he exhaled deeply as he sat down on the chaise lounge beside her. A puff of dust erupted from the faded blood red velvet as he did so, and Sirius made a mental note to take Kreacher to task once more about his lack of commitment to cleaning anything other than the portrait of Mrs. Black, which still hung stubbornly in the entrance hall.
'I know,' Hermione looked at him with frightened eyes. When she had proclaimed to Umbridge that she was pregnant it had merely been a fear; the absent period, the nausea – she had spent the last week wishing that they were merely signs of stress. A Healer had been called from St. Mungo's however, and it was quickly confirmed that 'Mrs. Black' was indeed carrying the future heir to the Black Family legacy, and Hermione's heart had plummeted.
'What are we going to do Sirius?' she whispered. He had taken her hand and was caressing its palm soothingly with his thumb, but he stopped, surprised, when she spoke.
'What do you mean what are we going to do?' he questioned, a little sharply.
'I mean,' Hermione's voice rose in panic, and irritation – how could he not see what an awful situation this was? 'What are we going to do? I can't have this baby Sirius.'
He looked at her with narrowed eyes. 'What do you mean you can't have this baby? You're pregnant Hermione, there's not much you can do about it.' Sirius knew where her thoughts were heading, but he was determined to block them off.
'There are doctors,' she spoke so softly, that at first Sirius wasn't sure if she had spoken at all. '-Muggle doctors,' she continued, her voice growing more calm, more assured. 'They can make it go away...it's just a tablet. It's not really anything yet...just a bunch of cells'
'You mean an abortion?' Sirius was sure that his voice was angrier and louder than it had any right to be, but he didn't care – was she really thinking of getting rid of his baby?
'You can't do it,' he stated firmly; he knew he was being high handed, but she was being ridiculous.
'Sirius I have to,' Hermione repeated, 'I can't do this. I can't bring a baby into this mess we're in – it's bad enough just the two of us. How can we inflict this on a child?'
'We won't be inflicting anything on the child Hermione. It will be loved – by me at least.' He cast her a dark glare, then his gaze softened – she was afraid, that was all it was.
'I'm going to have a termination Sirius,' Hermione was resolute, her face taking on the stubborn look it always did when she thought that she was right.
Silence fell between them; the strange male pride that Sirius had felt since the Healer from St. Mungo's had confirmed that Hermione was indeed pregnant was being replaced by a simmering anger. He tried to take a deep breath, tried to calm himself down, but he couldn't. With a cool gaze he stared down his wife, who was gazing back defiantly at him.
'No you're not Hermione,' he spoke slowly, 'Because I forbid you to'.
With all the powers of Proclamation 2.2, he thought wryly to himself as his 'wife' cast him a disgusted look and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her.