Waiting to Exhale

A/N: Heh, I am almost at the end of my little story as I now have a definite stopping point in mind. *le sigh* This story, as happy and OOC as it has been, has made me giggle entirely too often. Must be the joy I feel after finally finding words to write (even if they weren't the best) It had been almost 6 months since the last tie I wrote for my own enjoyment, you know? But anyway, I hope this chapter made you smile.

As always, please R&R

She felt awful like someone was wringing her tummy through a grinder and tap dancing on her esophagus. Three days, three days of nausea and headaches and dizzy spells. Did she know what Madame Pomfrey would tell her once she'd allowed her husband to force her into going to the hospital wing? Yes and THAT is why he had to force her.

It would not be true if no one said the words, right?

Wrong. So much wrong.

"Hermione, I am not arguing this. We need to know and that means we need to go. End of discussion." His voice was calm but the gleam in his gray eyes was decidedly less so.

"No, Draco. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do and I," She paused, gagged, and ran from the common room. 

Blaise glanced over at his friend, one dark eyebrow winging skyward. HIs lightly accented tones filled the silence, barely repressed laughter evident in every syllable.

"Drake, you and I both know your wife's pregnant..."

Draco nodded and rolled his eyes, "She is in serious denial."

Hermione chose that moment to make her weary way back into the common room, her face a study in misery. She was not the brightest witch in an age for nothing and she understood what her newest issue was but she did not want any of it, not yet. Hell, the school was just starting the very first of the N.E.W.T. exams and there was only a month or so left before her schooling was officially over!

'Dammit, I should have kept taking the contraceptive potion, at least until this summer,' she thought, her head all the while banging and clanging like some sort of gong. 

Being pregnant just had not been in her plans, yet. She and Draco had only been married for four months!! 'Friggin' wizarding super sperm!' They were supposed to still be able to shag like bunnies for at least the first year! 'Stupid marriage law!' At the end of the day, it just sucked and she was not ready.

She hated it.

"Mio MIne, get out of your head and come on."

That term said outside of the bedroom and in front of others, brought an immediate cessation of thought as her brown eyes flicked up to meet his gaze. Soon, she felt a delicate fluttering in her belly while warmth pooled and drifted, teasingly, between taut thighs. Yes, he was not playing fair. By the expression on his face? He KNEW she'd give in because wasn't she already walking toward the door?

'FUCK!'

A long, silent walk later had the young couple waiting to be seen by the Matron. Madame Pomfrey noted the paleness of Hermione's face, the slight smirk that graced Draco's mouth and rightly put two and two together. WIth an almost motherly sigh, she motioned the pair over and waited while they settled themselves; Hermione on a bed and Draco upon a chair.

"Pregnancy worries? Not the first this year, doubtful that you'll be the last. So then," here the older woman trailed off and motioned for Hermione to remove her robe. Once the young woman had removed the offending garment, Madame Pomfrey removed her wand from its pocket 

"I know Muggles have pregnancy tests but they require things that wizard tests do not. All I need for you to do is to lie back and pull your shirt up, slightly. There will be a whispered incantation and then the result will be either gold for yes or silver for no. A further incantation will determine how far along. It will be possible to know the gender of the child but not until twelve weeks."

Hermione nodded.

With no further explanation, the Matron's wand gave a slight flick which ended with the point just above Hermione's belly, a word~Gravidum~ before the small enclosure lit up in a blazing shimmer of gold.

"SHIT!"

Laughter greeted her outburst and Hermione wasted no time glaring at the offensive miscreant who thought all of this was enjoyable. Madame Pomfrey grinned but focused quickly upon her next task,

"A Conceptu!" Again, her wand swished and then pulsed...eight times.

"You are about eight weeks along. Too soon to tell the gender but there are other things I need to know and potions I can give to you for nausea and headaches. One moment, please."

Within fifteen minutes, Hermione and Draco had their hands filled with potions and heads filled with directions.  As they made their way back to the Eighth Year Dorm, Draco could not stop smiling and glancing at the increasingly grumpy, curly-haired witch beside him.  They'd done it and he KNEW that their first would be a boy, one who would look just like him except for a slight difference in a skin tone and wild curls.

Blaise was the first to look up when the pair entered, his dark gaze immediately falling to the collection of potions and parchments. His smile lit up the room and soon enough everyone else had turned around to see what had made him so damned happy. Hermione's pout put paid to all queries because Ginny saw that expression, laughed loudly, and announced, "Hermione's pregnant!!"

"Ah, fuck you, Gin!"