Matched

CHAPTER 26: A Kick in the Ass





Lucius had been gone almost a month, and Hermione still cried for him everyday. Severus had not left her side, but she knew he couldn’t stay indefinitely, school would start at the end of the month and he would need to be there.



“You could stay at Hogwarts, I’m certain that Minerva would have no problems finding you a room.” Severus said as they sat on the sofa and watched a movie.





“Thank you Severus, you’ve been so sweet, but really I am not your responsibility, you don’t have to take care of me.” Hermione said. It was sweet really. She hadn’t thought Severus had much of a softer side, but she admitted that she was wrong; there were many facets to the dark wizard.





“Are you feeling better?” He asked. She had done little else but cry over the last month, and her melancholy was making her ill.





“Yes, I haven’t gotten sick at all today.” She smiled.





“Did you eat anything?”





“A little.” She hadn’t had much of an appetite; in fact she had begun to drop weight and was frequently pale and dizzy.





“You are getting too thin Hermione, you need to eat something.” Severus frowned at her when she stood.





“I know, I’m just so tired, I think I’ll just go…..” Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she went limp. Severus barely caught her before she hit the floor. He lifted her into his arms and went to the fireplace.



“Draco!” He yelled. The young man’s blonde head appeared a moment later.



“What the hell happened to her?” He asked, staring at Hermione unconscious in Severus’s arms. Draco stepped through and looked at her, she was pale and thin, the skin beneath her eyes dark and puffy.



“I don’t know, she passed out.” Severus said, looking at her. “Draco, take her to St. Mungo’s, you are family and can authorize treatment. I’m going after your asshole father.” Severus transferred Hermione’s limp form into Draco’s arms and watched as Draco disapparated them to St. Mungo’s.



Severus was breathing heavy with a scowl on his face when he apparated to the front stoop of a country mansion in Champagne. He pounded on the door until a house-elf opened it, and Severus shoved his way inside.



“Lucius!” He pressed his wand to his throat as he bellowed the wizard’s name, shaking the floors and rattling the walls. Within seconds the blonde appeared at the top of the stairs.





“Severus? Why on earth are you here?” He asked.





“You need to come with me, now.” Severus glared. Lucius didn’t look as though he were faring any better than Hermione. He too was pale and looked to be losing weight. He was dressed casually in trousers and button down shirt, and it looked as though he hadn’t shaved in a day or two as dark blonde stubble shadowed his jaw.





“What for? Has something happened?” Lucius’s brow furrowed, it was rare to see Severus so agitated.



“Your wife has been rushed to the hospital.”





“What’s wrong with her? What happened?” Lucius felt his blood pressure begin to rise, but he felt frozen, unable to move as fear overcame him.





“I suspect she may have grieved herself sick Lucius. If she dies of a broken heart you have no one to blame but yourself, this is your fault!” He grabbed Lucius by the arm and disapparated them to the front walk of St. Mungo’s. “Draco brought her in since he’s technically family and could authorize her treatment.”





“I…Severus I cant go in there….” Lucius backed up slowly and Severus cast an anti-disapparation jinx to keep him from leaving.





“You can and you will.” Severus grabbed his arm and dragged him forward.





“See, this is why I left….Caring for her makes me weak….” Lucius loved his wife, he had come to terms with that but he could not handle the possibility that he could lose her.





“Shut up you bloody selfish bastard! I have been with her for a month, I have cared for her, sat with her when she cried, held her hair when she puked, practically force fed her over the last several weeks only to have her collapse in my arms. And why? Because she loves you enough to grieve over you despite the fact that you don’t give a pixie’s ass about anyone but yourself.” Severus was breathing heavy, his shoulders heaving with the effort to get air into his lungs. Lucius just stared at him, his eyes blank and his mouth slack.





“I didn’t know.” He said softly. “I don’t want anything to happen to her, I don’t want her sick or hurting Severus.”





“You should have thought about that before you decided to dole out punishment without ground rules, did you even discuss it with her before hand or did you just tie her down and paddle?” Lucius looked away. “You are a jerk. What is wrong with you? You’ve been playing these little games with women for years and not once have you strayed from the rules. Why now?”



“That’s what I was trying to tell you! I can’t control my responses with her. I have never been jealous in my entire life Severus, not a single woman has ever made me feel like that, not even Narcissa. I see her teasing and laughing with you and suddenly I was filled with jealous rage…for nothing.” He held his hands out, palms up. “I know she wouldn’t stray, I know that, but none the less….”





“Lucius, you love her, it doesn’t make sense, it’s not supposed to. GET OVER YOUR PAST! Before you miss out on a fantastic future.” Severus jerked him forward and into the hospital. They stopped at the desk and waited while a half-troll receptionist ignored them for no apparent reason. She finally looked up with a bored expression.



“Can I help you?” She asked in a nasally voice.





“I’m looking for Hermione Malfoy please.” Lucius said. The receptionist looked down at a long scroll on her desk, reluctantly, she apparently didn’t care for her job.





“Are you family?”





“I am her husband.” Lucius said.





“I thought the cute blonde who carried her in was her husband?”





“No, that is my son, will you please tell me where I might find MY wife.” Lucius was becoming annoyed very quickly.





“She’s on the seventh floor, room 777.” She said, giving him a nasty look.





“Thank you.” Severus and Lucius made their way to the lift and up to the seventh floor. They knocked on the door and went into her room quietly. Draco was sprawled in a chair beside her bed and looked up when they entered.





“So you decided to bring your sorry ass out of hiding did you?” He sneered at his father.





“Draco, don’t say something you might regret.” Severus said softly. “He is your father.”





“Oh I wouldn’t regret it, and right now I’m ashamed to call him my father. How could you do this to her?” Draco gestured towards Hermione. She was lying in the hospital bed, several IVs running through the tubes attached to the needle in her hand.



“I didn’t…I never meant….is she alright?” He asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.





“She’s sedated; the medi-wizard will be in shortly.” Draco said, watching his father push her hair back from her face.



“She’s so thin, and so pale.” Lucius said softly, guilt starting to tear at him.





“She’s been ill, and she hasn’t eaten much, she spends most of her time crying.” Severus told him, increasing the weight of the guilt on his shoulders.





“I’m so sorry, darling.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.





“Mr. Malfoy?” A young wizard in glasses and a white coat entered the room.



“Yes?” Lucius and Draco both answered.



“You are her husband correct?” The doctor asked Draco. Lucius was frowning slightly.



“No, I am, this is my son.” Lucius told him gruffly.





“Oh…I thought you were her father….never mind. I’m Doctor Charles. Your wife is severely dehydrated Mr. Malfoy. She is also underweight and malnourished. She needs fluids and nutrients and she should be fine in a few days.” He looked down at the chart and pursed his lips. “Now her blood tests indicate that the baby is fine, but I should check just to make sure.”





“Baby?” Lucius, Draco and Severus all three said at the same time.





“Yes, your wife is almost eight weeks pregnant Mr. Malfoy. Didn’t you know?” The medi-wizard asked.





“Um, no, I don’t think she knew either.” Lucius said, looking towards Severus for confirmation.





“She thought she was sick because she was depressed.” Severus answered.





“Well, if you will just step aside for a moment.” Dr. Charles pushed a button on the bed and requested a portable ultra-sound machine to be brought to the room. While he waited he pressed on Hermione’s stomach gently and felt around.





“Where am I?” She asked groggily.





“You are at St. Mungo’s Madam Malfoy, how are you feeling?” Doctor Charles asked.





“Drowsy and a bit sick. Why am I here?” She asked.





“You are very dehydrated and malnourished, you fainted and your…step-son brought you in.”





“Draco?” She was confused, when did Draco show up?





“I’m here Hermione.” He poked his blonde head over the medi-wizard’s shoulder and smiled at her. Just then an orderly wheeled a large cart into the room with an ultrasound machine set up on it.



“What’s that for?”





“I need to check on your baby Madam.” Dr. Charles told her as he withdrew his wand and tapped the top of the machine smiling when it hummed slightly and started up.





“My baby?” Her eyes widened and her hand immediately went to her still flat abdomen.





“Yes, you are about eight weeks pregnant.” The doctor informed her as he began to set up his machine.





“Oh no, Lucius is going to be even more angry with me.” She started crying again, sobbing as she covered her face with her hands.





“I was never angry with you Hermione.” Lucius stepped from behind the machine and went to the other side of her bed and sat on the edge.





“You left me.” She said softly.





“I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry.” He told her.





“How could you do that Lucius? Why did you have to break my heart?” She asked between sniffles and soft sobs. “I love you, and you left me.”





“I was stupid, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” If she didn’t stop crying he was going to have breakdown.





“Alright, let’s take a look at this little one shall we?” The doctor pulled her blanket back and raised her gown as he lowered the back of her bed slightly. He applied a copious amount of blue gel onto her bare stomach then pressed a small handheld device rather hard into her abdomen. At first, there was nothing to see, just a black and white grainy image. Then a dark black area came into view and a tiny little dot with a softly flickering area in the center appeared. “There we go.” The doctor said as he pressed a button and the room was filled with a soft whooshing sound. “Oh wait a second, I have an echo.” He moved the device a little more. “Wait, nope, not an echo…that’s a twin.”





“A what?” Lucius asked, mesmerized by the image on the screen.





“Two babies, twins. That explains why she dehydrated so fast. You’re going to have to increase your fluid and calorie intake Madam Malfoy.” The doctor told the stunned witch in the bed. He printed off a couple of small photographs and turned off his machine. “You need to stay overnight so we can re-hydrate you, but you can go home in the morning.” He gathered his things and left Hermione alone with her three wizards.



“Wow, I’m actually going to be a big brother.” Draco was smiling.



“I should have caught on earlier that she was pregnant.” Severus frowned slightly. “Come on Draco, let’s go get something to eat so they can talk.” Draco and Severus took turns leaning in to kiss her cheek before excusing themselves from the room.





“I’m sorry Lucius, I didn’t do it on purpose.” She said softly.





“Do what on purpose?” He asked dazedly.





“Get pregnant, I didn’t do it on purpose…”





“I didn’t believe you had, I was there too you know, I could have prevented it.” He smiled. “I never thought about it to be quite honest, I tend to lose my head around you.”





“I never thought…twins.” She exhaled forcefully, blinking several times as though it would help her accept the situation easier.





“Are you upset? Don’t you want to have them?” He asked, almost afraid to hear her answer. He wasn’t sure how he felt about becoming a father again, especially to twins, but he knew that he wanted to have them regardless, they were his children.





“I’m not upset, I’m just….stunned. Of course I want to have them, even if it means doing it on my own.” She looked down at her hands where she twisted them in her lap.





“Not on your own. If you will forgive me…I will try to behave better, but I can’t promise you that I will not freak out again Hermione. I love you, and I didn’t want to, I can’t stand the thought that someone might harm you or my children to get to me, and I can’t help the jealousy….”





“You love me?” She asked, the utter shock on her face was the reaction he had so hoped to get from her for months now.





“I do, I thought you knew, it’s why I left. I love you so much, and I hurt you, I crossed the line….”





“Lucius, I never told you to stop. I have no doubts that if I had asked you to, you would have stopped. It was scary at first, I’m not going to lie but it was also…intriguing.” She blushed softly.





“I think you have more faith in my ability to think clearly than you should.”





“I have faith in you, I love you Lucius.” She reached for his hand and tugged him closer. She moved over and let him crawl into the bed beside her. “I missed you so much.”





“I missed you too, darling.”