One More Time

*

“John?”

“Too plain. Hugo?”

“Do you want him to have a bull’s-eye on him his whole life?”

“Well, you think of a better one.” Hermione crossed her arms and glared at Blaise from the couch. They were sitting in his living room, several of Hermione’s books spread across his coffee table.

The one Blaise was holding was entitled, “Baby Names Guaranteed to Please.” So far, they hadn’t done very much pleasing.

“Alright,” Blaise said, riffling through the book. “How about Mitchel?”

Hermione made a face and grabbed a different book from the table. “No,” she said. “What about Damien? That’s a cute name.”

Blaise raised an eyebrow. They’d decided to try to pick out potential names and had spent the past hour rejecting one after the other. He’d had no idea it was such a big deal to choose a name.

“Alright, alright,” Hermione said at his look. “No Damien. Blaise, this is impossible. We’ve already gone through about a hundred names and there isn’t one we both like, and this is only the boys!”

“We’ll find one,” Blaise said, not looking up from his book. He was cruising down a list of C names at the moment. “What about Chandler?”

“Too gay,” Hermione said dismissively. “Besides, how does Chandler Zabini-Granger sound to you?”

“Maybe you’re right,” Blaise murmured. He flipped to the next page. “Charles, Christopher, Casey, Cameron?”

Hermione glanced at him with a skeptical expression on her face. Blaise sighed and tossed the book aside. “Maybe C names aren’t good for us.”

Hermione shook her head. They were quiet for a moment as Blaise stretched back and closed his eyes, trying for the life of him to think of a boy’s name he liked.

“Oh!” Hermione said suddenly. Blaise’s eyes shot open and he sat up.

“What happened?” he asked urgently.

Hermione had a hand on her stomach and was staring. “The baby kicked,” she said slowly.

“That’s good, right?” Blaise asked, unsure.

Hermione actually smiled. “Yes, it’s good.”

He nodded and sat back in his chair, calming his heart that had jumped to his throat in the momentary panic. As Blaise stared at the pure white ceiling of his sitting room, he attempted to find a name he would want to name a child and have to say for the rest of his life.

He sat up suddenly as a name popped into his head. “I have a name.”

Hermione looked up at him from her book. “What is it?”

“Kaiser,” Blaise said.

“Kaiser?” Hermione repeated, feeling it out. “Kaiser Zabini-Granger. It has an interesting ring to it.”

“I like it,” Blaise said slowly. He hadn’t been sure at first, but hearing it come from Hermione’s mouth somehow made it even better.

“Kaiser,” Hermione murmured to herself. “Kai…Kaiser Zabini, Kaiser Granger, Kaiser Zabini-Granger.” She looked up at him. “I like it too.” She sounded surprised.

Blaise grinned. “So we’ve finally got the boy’s name,” he said. “Took long enough.”

Hermione made a motion of agreement. “Yes, now we’ve just got to pick a girl’s name.”

“Let’s save that for another time,” Blaise said, sitting back in his chair and shutting his eyes.

Hermione paused with her hand halfway towards another baby name book. With a glance at Blaise, she withdrew it and sat back on the couch.

She watched him for a few moments, thinking. It had been two days since Blaise had come to her flat and helped her move her things to his house. Most of it had been relatively easy to move, except when it came to her books.

She had nearly an entire closet full and it had taken several trips to get it all. As of now, they were packed away in the spare bedroom’s closet where Hermione was staying. Her clothes had been neatly packed in the dresser by the maid. Hermione had to admit it was nice to have help and she was obliged to approve since Blaise paid them more than was expected.

Hermione found life at Zabini Manor fairly quiet. When they’d been dating, she hadn’t really spent much quiet time in the Manor. Her memories were flurried, full of glimpses of other rooms on the way to the master bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, the sitting room. That was about it.

Now that she had more time alone in the Manor, she found out it was very large. She’d ventured about a few times since arriving and had found rooms she hadn’t even known existed.

All in all, she spent most of her time in the library. It was the quietest place in the house. She still wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision moving into Blaise’s house, but he’d been nothing but accommodating since she arrived. Granted, he was still aloof at times, vague about his reasons for wanting her to move in.

Hermione hadn’t forgotten about the kiss either. Blaise hadn’t mentioned it. In fact, Hermione wasn’t even sure he remembered it. He hadn’t acted any differently since it had happened and she wasn’t going to bring it up in case it started something she couldn’t stop.

She had tried not to think about what it might mean. Her stomach jumped every time she did. She told herself it had been a fluke, a mistake.

She glanced at Blaise, who was sitting casually in the adjacent armchair and staring out the window. Outside, the wind was blowing through the trees; leaves were fluttering over the ground. Fall had come and the weather was turning colder by the day.

Hermione’s thoughts turned to work and what she was going to do about it. She knew that pregnant witches could take time off after the baby was born, but she hadn’t told anyone yet. Soon, she would no longer be able to Apparate to work, which would present a problem. She had work to do, cases to work on. She couldn’t just leave them.

She hadn’t discussed this with Blaise yet. His work was flexible. He hardly went into the office, mostly doing his own research on his articles and then sending them in.

As Hermione watched Blaise without really seeing him, she had an idea. If she could pull it off, it would work perfectly and no one would suspect anything.

Safe in the knowledge of a plan, Hermione grabbed a name book from the coffee table and settled back to find a few girls’ names she liked.

**

Hermione stood behind her desk, gathering papers and placing them in her bag carefully, organizing them alphabetically. Next, she turned to the filing cabinets and began pulling out files, placing them in her bag as well. She’d had to perform a space enhancing charm on the bag in order to fit it all.

She’d already been to her boss that morning to ask if she would be able to work from home for a few weeks or months, as the case may be. Her boss had been accommodating, not asking too many questions as to why Hermione wanted to work from home. As most of Hermione’s work centered around research at the moment, writing up court documents and such, a transfer to home wouldn’t be that difficult.

Hermione had decided that working from home was a better step for everyone. Her explanation had been that she hadn’t been feeling very well the past few weeks, which could hardly be denied as everyone in the office had noticed that she seemed tired and unwilling to talk as much as usual.

This wasn’t because of the pregnancy but because of the weight of the secret she was carrying. She felt guilty not telling her coworkers and friends. At home, she felt, it would be less stressful, easier to manage her work without worrying about what people might be guessing about her health.

As Hermione packed away a paper weight, the door opened behind her. She didn’t hear the creak of the door as she rustled through papers in her file cabinet, trying to decide whether or not they were important enough to take home.

“Hermione?”

A voice startled her and she whipped around. “Harry!” she exclaimed. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Harry apologized, moving into the room. He looked around it, his eyes taking in the messy desk covered in files and the bag next to them. “What are you doing?”

Hermione glanced at the desk and flushed a little. “Oh, I was just taking some things home with me.”

“You’re going to work at home?” Harry asked, if not a little suspiciously.

“Yes,” Hermione said simply, turning away from him. “I think it will be easier, less stress.”

“But you’ve never had that problem before,” Harry said, picking up a file but not really looking at it. “Are you okay?”

“I’m not sick.” Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. He seemed to ask this question every time he saw her.

Harry frowned. “Fine, you’re not sick. Are you coming to the wedding?”

“Wedding?” Hermione asked, distracted as she glanced between two files.

“Ron and Mandy,” Harry said seriously. “It’s in January. You got the announcement, right?”

“Oh,” Hermione said, feeling a bit ashamed that she had forgotten. “I—yes, of course I’ll come.”

Harry didn’t say anything for a moment. Hermione still had her back to him, rummaging through the cabinet. “Hermione?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to propose.”

Hermione stopped rummaging and looked back at Harry. “To Padma?” she asked finally.

“Yes,” Harry said, looking like he was gauging her reaction. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s wonderful!” she cried. “You two will be very happy, I know it.”

Harry broke into a smile. “I’m glad you think so. Hermione, I was thinking,” he said suddenly.

Oh no, Hermione thought.

“You know Thomas, from the Floo Regulation Panel?”

“Yes,” Hermione replied cautiously. She could see where Harry was going with this.

“Well, he’s a nice bloke and since you don’t have a date to Ron’s wedding, maybe you could go with Thom.”

Hermione sighed. “It’s a nice thought, Harry, but I’d prefer to go alone.”

Harry looked disappointed. “Come on, Hermione. I know you haven’t exactly dated a lot since Zabini, but there are other guys, nicer guys. I wish you’d stop dwelling on him. I know you liked him a lot, but he was a jerk, you know that. I want to see you happy with someone. Why can’t you just try dating someone else?”

Hermione bit her tongue to stop herself telling Harry that he was wrong about Blaise. Instead, she merely shrugged. “I’d prefer to move on in my own time.”

Harry frowned again but knew it was no use. He’d been trying for months to get her to forget Zabini.

“Fine,” he sighed finally. “I’ll let you know when I ask Padma.”

“Alright, Harry,” Hermione said, turning back to her filing cabinet. “I’ll see you later. Good luck.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Harry murmured as he backed out the door and closed it behind him.

As the door click shut, Hermione sighed and turned around, sinking into her chair. She knew Harry was just trying to help. Placing her hands over her growing stomach, she glanced at the door. All her friends were getting married or engaged and soon they would have children of their own. Here she was, pregnant, not engaged, hardly even in a relationship. The thoughts bore down upon her and she felt depressed.

Placing the last of her files in her bag, she took a last scan around the room. On her desk in the corner was a photograph of her, Ron, and Harry in front of Hogwarts on their last day of school. They were all grinning and waving at the camera stupidly.

Hermione smiled fondly at the picture and picked it up, sliding it into her bag. One last look around the room and she went to the door. She hoisted her heavy bag on her shoulder and sighed, closing the door behind her with a snap.

*