Trials Of Love!

Title: Trials of Love (10 of?)



Author: granger2malfoy



Pairing: D/Hr, B/G



Rating: Teen, unless so marked



Disclaimer: I do not own anything from HP verse.



Genres: Drama, Romance



A/N: Not HBP compliant. This is sequel to The Given Choices. Thanks to my beta.



Chapter Ten – Having Secrets



The rain beat down on the glass panes of the French doors in the large bedroom as Hermione watched from the middle of the large, unfamiliar bed. Warmth of the expensive blankets kept her fabulously comfortable and the sound of the storm outside kept her soul at peace as she thought of nothing at all. After a morning of being measured and modeling outfits, she became in desperate need of a nap and Blaise suggested going back to his family’s manor for the afternoon before returning to Hogwarts. His sister used this room when she was younger and still at home as she started at university last Fall.



Not knowing how long she napped and the fact the sun was beginning to set, she thought it best to go out and find where Blaise was, as well as find out what the plans were for the rest of the night. As she walked down the empty corridors of Zabini manor, Hermione noticed all the different portraits of Zabini family members through the decades.



She reached the end of the hallway and recognized the parlor from their short tour of the manor. From behind the closed doors, voices could be heard and she quietly stepped closer to have a better listen. “I do not mean any disrespect to you or the headmaster but I do not think she is ready to go back to Hogwarts tonight. She’s a complete emotional mess and hasn’t dealt with anything that happened last night. Several times during the day I heard her crying in the changing rooms. I know she needs to deal with everything that occurred last night but she is just blocking it out at the moment.”



“You’re opinion on the matter was neither asked for nor needed,” Snape’s voice spoke with a cold tone. “Miss Granger needs to been seen returning to the school and once that happens, she could stay in her room all day tomorrow or whatever other time is needed. But too many questions will be asked if she is known to be gone all day and night.”



For a few moments, neither spoke as Hermione’s mind went over the pros and cons of going back. Before she reached any kind of conclusion, from behind the door Snape asked a question to Blaise. “Since when do you refer to Draco as Malfoy? Yes, he was completely crossed many lines last night, but does that mean your friendship has built on such a weak foundation?”



“He started to be ‘Malfoy’ the moment he touched Hermione inappropriately,” Blaise’s voice burned with anger, even with a barrier in between them she could discern; in her mind she could see him standing in middle of the room with his fists clenched at his sides and face tightly scrunched.



A rustling of cloth from inside caught her attention as she tried to figure out what was going on and silently Hermione wished she borrowed Harry’s cloak to be able to see all that occurred behind the two doors in front of her.



“Interesting how you’re friendship dissolved because of her and not the moment he knocked you out.” Hermione’s breathe caught in the back of her throat, as she understood what her professor had meant by that. Her hands softly touched the doors as she stepped close to rest her forehead on the painted wood as Snape continued, “Maybe you are forgetting your place, Mister Zabini especially during a time of war, is not the time for misplaced feelings of love for a married woman.”



“Isn’t that the cauldron calling the kettle black?” Blaise coldly responded.



Hermione’s eye widened and she acted purely on instinct as she pushed open the doors, which she knew her entrance would delay any response from the Professor for her friend’s out of line reply. Both Slytherin males turned quickly towards her and the coldness of their prior words could be felt in the uneasiness of their demeanors. She began to open her mouth when Mrs. Malfoy came into the room behind her and walked up to Professor Snape as she handed him a cup of hot tea. “What is Albus’ decision?”



Snape nodded in silent thanks for the drink and looked at Hermione as he answered, “Miss Granger needs to go back to Hogwarts as soon as possible. She will be allowed any amount of time she needs with no questions asked but her presence is too much needed there for questions asked, especially by Potter, are not something we need at this point.”



Hermione nodded with understanding as Narcissa slightly smiled at her and then walked over to pull her daughter-in-law into a hug. “I shall owl Lucius and inform him that I will be extended our day to an overnight as well. I am sure I will not be missed.”



“You really do not need to go to any trouble. I can just use Professor Snape’s Dreamless Sleep potion for another night,” Hermione tried to assure the older but beautiful woman.



Narcissa smiled sweetly as she pulled back out of the hug and walked towards the door. “Nonsense, I could use a bit of female company as well. Severus and I can make the appropriate changes to your larger bedroom to accommodate us and even Blaise, if you wish.”



“That will not be necessary,” Snape spoke up as he set down his fine china cup and walked up to Narcissa at the double doors, at the front of the room as he continued, “Mr. Zabini can stay for as long as Miss Granger is awake but I see no reason for him to keep watch tonight with you there. I shall accompany these two back to the castle in twenty minutes and wait for your arrival in my studies.”



With a quick glance, Hermione noticed Blaise roll his eyes at their professor’s comments but held his tongue as the young Italian walked over to the nearest window to stare out upon the darkness. The two adults silently went opposite directions from the room to leave them alone for the moment. In the back of her mind, she processed the conversation she walked in on and remembered how protective Blaise had been of her all day. Was he falling in love with her? Or was it just feeling protective of her since the night before when he was the one to save her from her husband by summoning Professor Snape?



Those memories of last night caused her to remain silent as she fought off the tears and stood slightly behind Blaise as she also stared out of the large window with streaks of rain pouring down the glass panels. Images, worries and fears crept into her mind but she felt a strong hand take her shaking one. In the glass, she saw the warm, caring indigo eyes of her close friend whose strength and compassion silently eased her soul with just the taking of her hand. In her heart, she knew she could completely trust him and that he would never hurt her. Over the past year, their friendship grew into this new, strong form of relationship that continued to grow each day. What kind of relationship they had, she didn’t know. All she knew is that with everything that was going on from the attack by Draco to her pregnancy, though she knew Blaise still knew nothing of, she needed Blaise for his strength, understanding, empathy and friendship.



Blaise softly ran his thumb over the top of her hand as he spoke, “You should really get your things together so we can leave soon. Though I would love for you to stay the night here at my home and take all the time you need here but alas, that is not my decision. You are always welcome here, Hermione. Know that.”



“Thank you, Blaise. That means so much to me. It shouldn’t take me long to go get the couple bags from our shopping trip since Narcissa insisted on sending the other twenty bags to my room at Hogwarts. She really shouldn’t have bought all those clothes for me, I don’t need them,” she commented with a heavy sigh as they began to walk through the parlor and down the hall to the room she had napped in.



He chuckled as he tucked her hand into the nook of his arm as he lead the way and said, “You may not ‘need’ them, my dear. But I think more it was the fact she needed to.”



She began to blush at his term of endearment and she used her free hand to tuck a stray bang behind her ear. Several times over the past few months, Blaise used little terms like that with her but this was the first time since she began questioning the true nature of his feelings for her. Her stomach began to flutter and the red hue on her cheeks became darker as she asked, “What do you mean ‘she needed to?’”



“Well, I know how my mum gets when she takes my sister on a shopping day, even if I end up coming along. She acts like it’s a true ‘mother’ time for her, kind of like when one of us would get sick during winter holiday. She gets all smiling, takes our temperature a hundred times and begs to wait on us for whatever we need,” Blaise explained and opened the door to his sister’s room to help Hermione gather the things she got earlier in the day. “I would think that since Mrs. Malfoy has never had that mother-daughter time and you’re the closest she will ever come to having a daughter of her own, plus with everything that is happening in the world, a little normal, happy time is something she needs right now more than ever.”



“True, I can completely understand that,” Hermione agreed as she walked over to the other side of the bed to pick up her necklace to put on, pulled the pearls up around her neck as she turned in Blaise’s direction and began to fasten the clasp as she noticed him watching her. Well, more like his stare at her stomach. As soon as she finished with the necklace, her hand went down to her barely showing stomach and began to worry if he knew but there was no way. She had been so careful not to let on in any way.



Her actions caught his attention and broke his staring as he tried to find something to come up with as to why he had been staring at her stomach. His mind ran ramped with thoughts about her becoming a mother and thoughts if it was a girl with which she would one day do the same or whether it would be a boy instead. Nothing came to his mind, no quick come back, nothing to cover his obvious mess up. Fear built in her beautiful brown eyes and broke his resolve. His feet moved him instantly to her side and took her in his arms. Blaise couldn’t stand to even remotely cause her pain, even if he never intended to tell her that he knew. With his hand, he raised her chin up to look into his eyes and knew she could see the truth there as he whispered, “You’ll make a great mother, Hermione. I have no doubt in that and your secret is absolutely safe with me.”



Tears slipped from the far corners of her eyes and she tightly hugged him as those two sentences put to ease all her foolish fears and doubts she had about what he would think of her becoming pregnant so young. Words gushed from her as she admitted, “Blaise, I know you would never tell anyone. I was planning on telling you soon but just didn’t know how you would react. I mean I didn’t mean for it to happen. I had been even taking a potion from Snape to ensure it wouldn’t happen. But some how it did.”



He sat them down on the edge of the bed and he took a handkerchief from the side table to wipe her tears as he asked, “So, I take it Professor Snape does not know? What about the headmaster?”



“No, the only one besides you that knows is Professor Meadows and I am still unsure how she realized it,” she sniffed as she dried her tears and nervously handled the soft cotton material. “She promised not to tell any one unless something was to happen. But I am so relieved that you know now. I hated wanting to tell you something or get your opinion and knowing I couldn’t since you didn’t know.”



He got up from the bed to close the door and placed a silencing charm on the door as he then began to gather her bags to place them on the bed, in case Snape came looking for them to go. “I only discovered the fact last night. When you had fallen asleep before Draco came back, I wanted something to read and ended up summoning your pregnancy book. I started reading some of it and a lot of things became clear as I read it; like your eating habits of late and the light-headed incident the other day.”



Hermione’s eyebrow rose as she asked, “You actually read it?”



Blaise looked around to ensure all of her things were together as he took his place back at her side on the bed. “Only the first two chapters, but yes.”



“I couldn’t even convince Draco to read it,” her words halted at that as her heart began to race again at the thought of Draco and the image of him roughly handling her last night.



With his hand on hers, Blaise leaned forward and said, “Everything will work out, one way or another. I will be here for you no matter what happens. I promise.”



She nodded as she knew he spoke straight from his heart to hers. It didn’t matter the term of their relationship, right now whatever it was worked for them. Hermione wasn’t betraying Draco by being close to Blaise.



A knock came from the other side of the door, but with Blaise’s charm they knew whoever was there did not hear what they had been discussing. They got up from the bed and she gathered her few bags as he opened the door to reveal Professor Snape leaning on the door jam with his normal questioning eyebrow. Blaise glanced over to Hermione and then back to the professor as he said, “We’re ready.”



“I would hope so,” he snarkly remarked as they passed by him and walked down the hall to the fireplace to floo from Zabini Manor back to Hogwarts. The professor followed closely behind and once they reached the appropriate room, he instructed, “We’ll be arriving at the headmaster’s office during the end of dinner. The plan is to make your appearances and then meet Narcissa and I back in your larger bedroom. Mister Zabini, thank you for allowing us to use your home today and you are to be the first to leave.”



“Yes, sir,” Blaise commented as he stepped into the large marble arch of the fireplace, winked at Hermione before he threw down the black powder and said, “Hogwarts, headmaster’s office.”



Snape shook his head and Hermione shrunk her bags to slip them into her pocket as she slipped into the empty fireplace. Her professor spoke, “Sometimes I don’t know what to make out of that boy.”



She smirked as she took a handful of powder but before she followed in her friend’s action, she replied, “I am sure Dumbledore thought the same of you at our age.”



Alone in the room, Professor Snape again raised his eyebrow at her comment, even though she was already on her way back, and agreed, “You are probably correct, Miss Granger.”



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To Be Continued