~A/N> I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long. My only excuse really is life, and my horrendously defective
back. I have degenerative disk disease, and sitting for long periods of time is something I can't do very often
anymore. I am finally back on track with this story though, so hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Thanks to
everyone that has reviewed so far, and I just want to say now that even though Harry's behavior may seem a
bit...off, there is a reason for it. Which you will find out in later chapters. Thanks as always to poppywillow who
always supports my writing and helps me out, even when she's sick. Get better soon hun :)
When Madame Pomfrey had started examining her, Hermione had still been deep asleep, her body ravaged by the fever. When
the nurse had practically forced the potion into her, she stirred and opened her heavy-lidded eyes. She tried to move
her arms and legs, but they felt as if they weighed a ton.
While awake, the nurse had spoken to her, informing her of her illness, and telling her that the potion would probably make her sleep for the rest of the day. And then she had filled her in on the rest. Right after, Jakob had walked in and Madame Pomfrey had said nothing else about it. Instead, she had gone out into the hallway to update Remus and Harry.Hermione was gobsmacked, unable to fully accept what she had been told, and wondered how in hell she would get by. Closing her eyes tiredly as the potion started to take effect, she barely registered that Madame Pomfrey had come back in before succumbing to the beckoning call of peaceful sleep.
When she woke sometime later, she opened her eyes to see that the room was dark, except for a light that seemed to be coming from behind her. Turning slightly, she saw that Harry was sitting up in bed next to her, using his wand as a light while he read. When he saw her move, he looked up from the book and smiled at her. "About time you woke up, sleepy head."
"What time is it?" she asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"It's about ten o'clock at night," he replied after consulting his watch. "You've been asleep for almost twelve hours now."
"Twelve hours?"
"Madame Pomfrey said that you would probably sleep until tomorrow, so I wasn't expecting you to be awake this soon."
Moving slowly, Hermione realized that her body didn't hurt that much anymore, but a dull soreness had settled into her muscles. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she leaned back against the headboard of the bed, mirroring the way Harry was sitting.
When she had settled herself and pulled the covers over her legs, Harry asked, "Are you feeling better?"
The concern that she could see etched into his face, along with the worry she picked up in his voice brought tears to her eyes. Cursing herself for being so teary, she smiled at him wanly and replied, "As well as can be expected, I guess."
Her answer only served to worry him more, and marking his place in the book he held, he put it aside. Extinguishing the light from his wand, he used it to light all the candles in the room, causing it to be cast in what would be considered a romantic glow in any other situation. Reaching up slowly, he cradled her cheek in his hand and asked, "Are you referring to whatever other illness you have?"
Her surprise registered on her face, and she whispered, "Did Madame Pomfrey tell you?"
Confused by her reaction he replied, "She only told us about giving you the potion, and how long you'd be asleep. She only remarked that she had found something else wrong that worried her."
"Something else...wrong..."
"Hermione, what's going on?" he asked, using his hand on her cheek to gently turn her face toward him.
"I-it's just that...well, see I..."
Her voice trailed off, and her sudden inability to finish a sentence really concerned Harry. When she stayed silent, he turned so that he sat facing her and brought his other hand up to cradle her other cheek, brushing his thumbs across the soft skin. Looking directly into her beautiful brown eyes, he said quietly, "Hermione, I love you. You can tell me anything, and I'll stand by you. I hope you know that."
She stared into his solemn green eyes, his words touching her heart and the tears she staved off before now returned. With her teardrops gently slipping from her eyes, down her cheeks to pool around Harry's hands, she replied, "I love you, too. It's just that, I'm afraid that if I say it out loud it'll become all too real. That, if I tell you, you're going to leave even if you say you won't, and I'll have to get through it alone."
The fear in her eyes would have normally caused him to be upset, because that meant that she didn't trust him. That fear, to her, was very real, and he'd been in so many perilous situations where he'd experienced that kind of fear himself. Trying to think of a way to reassure her, he leaned in and kissed her softly, the taste of her salty tears mingling with the sweetness of her lips. Grudgingly pulling away from her, he met her tearful eyes once more and said, "I will do anything to prove to you that I won't leave, just tell me what it is you want me to do."
Her heart melted at the sincerety of his words, and she replied, "You don't have to do anything, Harry. I'm sorry if I came across as doubting you. I'm just afraid, you're all I have left, and I don't know what I would do if I lost you."
"You will never lose me," Harry reaffirmed, smiling while his love for her shone in his eyes.
She knew he meant the words, but the smile she gave him didn't reach her eyes and his smile faltered a bit when he noticed. Wrapping his arms around her, hoping to reassure her, he held her tightly. She returned his hug half-heartedly and lay her head on his shoulder, wishing things were different. Wishing she knew what his reaction was going to be after she told him. Pulling away from him just a little bit, she took a deep, calming breath and looked into his eyes. Quietly she said, "I'm pregnant."
He heard the words, he knew what they meant, but for the life of him it didn't register right away. What she said echoed inside his head, and with a look of shock and surprise on his face he repeated, "Y-You're pregnant?"
"That's what Madame Pomfrey said," she confirmed, watching his reaction closely. There was a bit of the expected shock, but he also had a look on his face that she'd never seen before, part awe and part euphoria, and her heart fell as she realized he might be happy about it.
"You're going to have a baby?" he asked, his eyes traveling down to her still-flat stomach.
"We're going to have a baby," she replied quietly, not meeting his eyes.
"We're going to be parents."
"Yes, we are," she replied, a small part of her wishing she could be as excited and happy about it as he seemed to be.
"I'm going to be a dad." The thought seemed to derail whatever thoughts he had been having, and reaching out, he gently placed his hand over her stomach and said, "I don't know how to be somebody's father."
Covering his hand with hers, she finally met his eyes and said, "You're going to be a great father."
They stayed like that, neither of them saying anything, until Harry broke the silence. "So then on your birthday...?"
"On my birthday," she confirmed. "Unexpected birthday present."
A bark of laughter escaped him, and just as quickly he became serious as he said, "You've just given me the best Christmas present ever, and it's not even officially Christmas yet."
"Happy early Christmas," she replied softly.
When the two of them remained quiet, his hand still covering her stomach protectively, he looked into her eyes and asked, "So then why don't you seem happy or excited about it?"
A knot formed in her throat as she noticed the dulled light in his eyes, and swallowing the sob that threatened to escape her she replied, "I want to be excited about it, to be happy, but...Damien..."
The tears escaped her then, the thought of the threat looming over her and their unborn child becoming a very real living nightmare. She couldn't get the coversation she had with Sorcha out of her mind, the way her trainer had lost not only the man she loved, but their unborn baby as well, and if Damien found out that she and Harry were to be parents...
"Hey," Harry said quietly, breaking into her frantic thoughts. "Nothing's going to happen to you, me, or the baby." Even as he was saying it, years of growing up without his parents flashed through his mind, each memory causing an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. When Hermione had first told him, all his thoughts had been of happiness and excitement; now, his thoughts turned to danger, death, and the scary fact that there was a possibility their child could grow up as he had...an orphan.
"You can't say that for certain," she whispered, swiping angrily at the tears that fell from her eyes. "Until I can defeat Damien for good, none of us are guaranteed to be safe. Even an innocent child."
At a loss as to what he should say next, Harry simply drew her to him once again, hoping not only to comfort her, but himself as well.
~*~
As everyone sat around the kitchen table, enjoying a home cooked Christmas meal by Molly Weasley, Jakob kept his eyes glued to Hermione and Harry. Ever since they had come downstairs earlier in the day, Harry had stuck by Hermione's side, never letting her more than five steps away from him, and this new closeness had him nervous. He just wished he could figure out exactly why.
Once dinner was over, they all made their way into the sitting room where a modest Christmas tree had been erected. They proceeded to open the presents, with the exception of Hermione's and Jakob's since they had been left back at Empyrean the night before when they had made their hasty escape. As everyone said their thanks and hugs were given and received, Ginny got up from where she had been sitting on the floor amongst her brothers to make her way to where Harry sat with Hermione on the sofa. Not caring that she seemed to be interrupting a private conversation between them, Ginny smiled at Harry and then turned her gaze to Hermione. "Glad to see you're okay, Hermione," she said sweetly.
"Thanks," Hermione replied, a bit confused at the redhead's sudden niceness.
"I imagine it wasn't too hard being away from Harry though, what with spending all your time with Jakob."
"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked, his obvious jealousy causing Ginny's smile to widen.
"Nothing, really," she replied. "I just know that training wouldn't be half as hard having a trainer as good looking as Jakob." Seeing that she had gotten the reaction from Harry that she wanted, Ginny stood up and said, "I promised mum I'd help her clean up, so I'll talk to the two of you later."
Hermione watched her walk away, a strange feeling that something wasn't right with the youngest Weasley overcoming her. When she moved her gaze from Ginny to Harry she had to stop herself from sighing at the outright look of jealousy he wore as he stared back at her. "What?"
"What do you mean, 'What?'?" he asked. "Do you think Jakob is a good-looking bloke as well?"
"He's my trainer, Harry," she replied, exhasperated. When he just sat quietly staring back at her, she sighed loudly, leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "He's nothing compared to you. It's you I love, you silly man. Don't let Ginny Weasley get into your head like that, it's obvious she was just playing with you."
"I love you, too," he said quietly, silently cursing himself for letting Ginny get to him like this. "I just...I don't know why the hell I'm so jealous of Jakob. The two of you just seem so close sometimes, and I let it get to me. I'm sorry."
"There is no reason to be jealous," she reaffirmed. Dropping her voice to barely a whisper she added, "You're the one I want to be with," before pressing her lips to his in a gentle kiss.
As he wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss, they seperated quickly when someone loudly cleared their throat directly behind them.
"I need to speak to the both of you in the Library," Jakob ordered. "Now."
As the two young adults watched him walk away, Harry turned back to her and asked, "What do you think that's all about, then?"
"I have no idea," she replied, knowing just by Jakob's body language that something had upset him. "But I'm sure we'll know soon enough."
As they stood up to follow Jakob to the Library, Harry took her hand in his and asked, "You don't think he knows about...?", gesturing toward her stomach.
With her hand coming up unconsciously to cover the spot where their child grew inside of her, she answered, "But how would he know? Unless Madame Pomfrey told him?"
"He was in the room with you when she was examining you," Harry said, the anger of not being with her then coming back to him as he remembered. "She might have muttered something to give it away."
"I don't think she'd do that, Harry. She takes her work very seriously."
"I know she does," he said. "But she also knows that Jakob is your trainer now, and he's expected to watch over you."
Walking the rest of the way to the Library in contemplative silence, they walked in to find Jakob pacing back and forth in front of one of the two sofas situated by the fireplace. When he saw them come in he pointed to one of the sofas and said, "Sit."
Hermione's eyes narrowed angrily at him, his tone of voice and orders starting to grate her already raw nerves. Sitting, she asked, "Really, Jakob, what's this temper tantrum all about?"
Turning to pierce her with angry, ice blue eyes, he simply waved his hand towards the door and it slammed shut with a resounding 'bang'. Looking from Hermione to Harry, he asked, "What's going on with the two of you?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, as Harry's grip on her hand tightened almost painfully. She knew he was trying to control his temper, she just hoped he wouldn't explode. Having both Jakob and Harry angry would not turn out any other way but bad.
"I mean," he replied, drawing a deep breath, "this closeness between you. I knew you were close before, but I can tell something's changed, and I want to know what it is."
"What business is it of yours what's between Hermione and I?" Harry asked, unable to sit any longer. Standing up, his blazing green eyes met Jakob's blue one's and held. "You show a lot of interest in Hermione for just being her trainer."
Almost snarling now, Jakob took a step closer to the young man and asked, "What are you insinuating, Potter?"
"I think you already know the answer to that," Harry replied cooly, his hands fisting at his sides.
When the two of them moved to close the distance between them, Hermione quickly stood up and put a hand on each of their chests, pushing them gently away from each other. Looking from Jakob's angry face to Harry's, she said calmly, "I think that Jakob deserves the truth, Harry. He'll have to know anyway to be able to continue training me."
"What truth?" Jakob asked.
"Continue training?" Harry asked at the same time, his eyes meeting hers. "You don't seriously mean that?"
"I most certainly do," she replied, staring into Harry's troubled eyes. "Now, could we please sit down and discuss this as if we're all adults here?"
"But..."
"Harry, please?"
Receiving two glares for her comment, she sat wearily as the two most important men in her life finally sat as well. Taking a deep breath, she fought down the bubble of fear that seemed to form in the pit of her stomach and said, "Something is different, Jakob, and it could possibly change all of our lives forever."
~A/N2> I apologize to those of you who were hoping Hermione wasn't 'in a family way', and I hope you'll still stick with this story. It is an essential part of the plot for the development of this story.