One More Time

*


Hermione sat at her desk, a stack of papers in one hand and a glass of water in the other. She was staring at the papers but her eyes weren’t moving. She’d been looking at the same spot on the parchment for the past ten minutes.

Mr. Gunders is accused of breaking into Gringotts bank and stealing some valuable jewels held in vault number 243, the contents of which follow: a diamond heart necklace, children’s earrings, diamond and ruby bracelet all of which belong to Ms. Annabelle Gagnon…

Hermione shook her head as she reread the same sentence for the 12th time. She hadn’t been able to concentrate lately. Every day at work she would arrive and take the papers out of her inbox, preparing to work but oftentimes she would find herself distracted.

She took a breath and attempted to focus on the passage in front of her, but found her mind wandering again.

Stealing… heart She had been thinking a lot about Blaise lately. She hadn’t heard from him in over a week and a half. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be expecting, but she was growing anxious over his lack of contact.

Valuable… She had been trying to figure out what to do about the whole situation. She hadn’t told anyone yet. She was afraid of what their reactions would be and what they would say.

She was the smart girl who would never in a million years do something as stupid as get pregnant. She hated to think what people were going to assume about her. It was bad enough just getting pregnant but then having to say that Blaise Zabini was the father… Blaise was very well-known in the wizarding world, if not only for his name, but also for his many by lines in the Daily Prophet that garnered much praise of his talents. There was always constant speculation in the wizard tabloids about his playboy attitude and his many conquests.

When they had first gotten together, Hermione and Blaise, she had been shocked at the amount of press it had earned. Every other day was a new article speculating about their relationship; why he was with her, what the family thought, if it was a prudent match.

The press had died down after a while, and Hermione had learned to live with it. She found it similar to dealing with Rita Skeeter. Simply ignoring the reporters and refusing to answer their questions did much more good than trying to avoid them.

Blaise had always taken everything in stride. He was used to reporters wanting to know about the girls he dated. He kept as much private as he could. He worked in a newsroom, after all, and had some control over what was published about him.

For the most part, news about his social life was kept down, usually taken over by something Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy had done. Blaise was often glad that there were other less interesting people to take the limelight.

After they had broken up, Hermione had stopped reading the Daily Prophet. Luckily, the news of their split had not been first page news. She had a suspicion that Blaise had something to do with that. But ever since then, little articles about Blaise’s new girls seemed to be slipped in among the real news.

Hermione always wondered why there weren’t more important things to report on rather than someone’s insignificant love-life. She had stopped getting the paper, instead listening to the Wizard’s Wireless for the news. She found it much more relaxing.

Hermione sighed to herself as she shook the paper in front of her, attempting to bring her attention back to her work. She found herself getting more easily distracted with each passing day.

She needed to focus or someone might get suspicious. She wondered just how long she could hide this before people began to notice. She figured once she started showing it would be pretty obvious what was going on.

She intended to tell people as soon as she got it all figured out. The problem was that she had no idea how to even begin figuring it out.

Hermione sighed again and set down the paper, knowing it was no use to try and concentrate.

She looked up as a knock sounded on her door. She hastily pushed her hair back, hoping she didn’t look suspicious at all.

“Come in,” she called, sitting up straight in her chair and placing her hands on the desk.

The door was pushed open and a man poked his head in the door. Hermione smiled, feeling a little relieved.

“Hi, Harry,” she said, unclasping her hands and setting them on her lap.

Harry grinned and came in the room fully, shutting the door behind him. “Hey, Hermione, I was just passing by and I thought I’d say hello.”

“Sit,” Hermione said, offering the chair in front of her desk. Harry took the seat. “What have you been up to lately? I heard there was some trouble in Azkaban last week?”

Harry shrugged. “Just someone trying to escape. Nothing special. What about you? I haven’t seen you in a while. You canceled lunch on me and Ron last week. Were you sick?”

Hermione paused, forcing her mouth into a smile. “Of course not, I just had a lot of work to do and I didn’t have a lot of time.”

Harry nodded. “I know what you mean. Work is certainly taxing, isn’t it? I can’t believe all the things I have to do.” He paused, tilting his head to the side and looking at Hermione. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? You look kind of tired. Maybe you should take the day off.”

“I’m fine, Harry, really,” Hermione assured him, smiling. She tucked her hair behind her ear and stood up from her chair. “It’s just a big case load and all the training does take up a lot of time.” She walked over to a filing cabinet and began rummaging through it, hoping Harry wouldn’t notice that she was blatantly lying to him.

She heard Harry make a noise of agreement. “Still, you shouldn’t work yourself too hard. You should come out with Ron and I. Ron’s taking Mandy out to a concert on Thursday and he invited me and Padma along. How about we find you someone and you come along?”

Hermione sighed and turned from the filing cabinet. “That’s nice, Harry, but I really have too much to do.”

Harry frowned. “But it’s been so long since you came out with us. Besides, what happened to Wayne? I thought you had a date.”

Hermione avoided Harry’s eyes as she moved back to her desk and Harry stood up. “It didn’t work out. He’s nice but just a little boring.”

“Oh,” Harry said, frowning again. “Well, what about Graham from the Unspeakables?”

Hermione rolled her eyes and cringed a little. Graham was a former-Slytherin and she didn’t like to think what Blaise might say if she went out with Graham. Then she shook herself mentally. She shouldn’t be thinking about what Blaise would say. He had no impact on her life anymore, no say in what she did. Or at least, he hadn’t…

“Harry, I don’t need to be set-up,” she said with a patronizing air one would use with a five-year old.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Come on, Hermione. You haven’t really been with anyone, as in more than a date, since—“

He was interrupted by a knock on the door behind him. They both turned to look and Hermione walked over, opening it.

“Blaise,” Hermione said, feeling her throat constrict at the sight of him.

Blaise stood in the doorway, dressed nicely in a pair of black slacks and green shirt with a sleek jacket, like always. His dark hair fell into his face and he brushed it back, glancing at Hermione.

“Granger,” he said in greeting. “I need to—Potter.” Blaise cut himself off as he caught sight of Harry, who was standing just beyond Hermione and glaring at him.

Harry scowled. “What are you doing here, Zabini?”

Blaise’s expression fell back into his practiced look of indifference, one he had perfected over the years of rooming with Draco. He quirked an eyebrow. “I’m here to see Hermione,” he said smoothly, reverting to her first name just to irk Harry. “I don’t believe it’s any of your business.”

Harry glared at Blaise and then turned his eyes on Hermione, silently asking her what was going on.

Hermione avoided both men’s eyes.

“Hermione,” Harry said, trying to get her attention, “what’s going on? What is he doing here?”

“Mind your own business, Potter,” Blaise said before Hermione responded. He glanced at her, noting she was still staring at the floor. “I’m here to talk to Hermione and it doesn’t involve you.”

Harry merely glared at him. He sighed impatiently and turned to Hermione again. “Hermione, wha—“

“It’s okay, Harry,” Hermione said suddenly. “Just go, please.”

Harry stared at her for a second. Then he took a slow step towards the door, his glance flitting back to Blaise, who looked completely inconspicuous. Harry’s gaze turned warning as he left the room, still watching Blaise suspiciously.

Blaise watched him until the door was shut and he was sure Potter was gone. When he was sure, he turned back to Hermione.

“What was he doing here?” he asked.

Hermione sighed and walked back to her chair, sitting down tiredly in it. “He’s my friend, and he came by to see how I was.”

“How you are?” Blaise repeated. “Did you tell him?”

“No,” Hermione said tiredly. Then she looked up suddenly. “What are you doing here, Blaise? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with this.”

“No, you didn’t want me to have anything to do with this,” Blaise corrected her, walking over to her desk and sliding onto it.

“Did you ever think I was right?” Hermione asked, getting some of her confidence back. His sudden appearance had startled her.

“I did for about a day,” Blaise said casually, picking up a quill and twirling it between his fingers. “But you’re not always right, even if you think you are. I know you, Hermione. You’re acting all cool and collected right now, but inside you’re a bundle of nerves. You don’t know how you’re going to handle a baby. You don’t think, actually, you know you can’t do it alone. You’re afraid to tell anyone because of the consequences. I’m the only one you have right now. You can’t do it without me.”

Hermione was silent for a moment. She hated how he knew all these things about her.

“And just what do you intend to do?” she asked, scowling. “You’re not ready either, I know. You can barely keep hold of a girlfriend. How do you expect to take care of a child? You’re irresponsible and just how do you think your mother is going to react to this? I know she wants a Zabini heir, but obviously she doesn’t want it with me.”

“Must you analyze everything?” Blaise asked, frustrated. “We don’t have to tell my mother, at least not yet. I can barely figure this out for myself. I don’t even want to think about her. What about you? Do you plan on telling Potter and Weasley any time soon?”

Hermione frowned and stared at her desk. “No,” she muttered, knowing he was smirking knowingly. “But that’s different. They’ll still love me when I tell them. They’ll just hate you more.” She looked up and gave Blaise an exaggerated smirk.

Blaise’s eyes narrowed. “My mother won’t disown me for such a trifling thing as a child.”

“A trifling thing?” Hermione repeated incredulously. “Do you have any idea how hard this is going to be? I can’t believe it had to be with you. This is all your fault!”

“Before we start assigning blame again,” Blaise said quickly, “I think we should discuss our little problem here.”

Hermione scowled at being cut-off. She had a lot of pent-up anger and Blaise was the perfect person to take it out on. She forced herself to calm down, taking a short breath and letting it out equally quickly. “What would you care to discuss?” she asked, her tone cold.

Blaise hesitated. He’d been thinking about this for the past week. He hadn’t seen his mother, hadn’t talked to Jenna, as he’d promised he would. He’d simply written an article for work and sent it in. Otherwise, he’d isolated himself, trying to figure out what he wanted.

It was a difficult thing. Whatever he wanted would always be punctuated by what was good for the family name, what his mother wanted, what the rest of the world thought.

“I want to be involved,” Blaise said finally. “It’s my… kid, and I am prepared to do whatever’s necessary.”

Hermione was taken aback. Blaise taking responsibility wasn’t unheard of, but it was rare in Hermione’s experience.

“Really?” she asked. “So if I need you to come over at midnight, you’ll come? If the baby gets sick and you have to miss work, you’ll do it? If you’re on a ‘date’ and I need a babysitter, you’ll drop everything and come over?” She watched him carefully. She knew how much he loved his dates, if you could call them that. She hated thinking about them.

“Yes,” Blaise said seriously. “Whatever it takes.”

Hermione was still doubtful. “And if your mother decides that having this baby is against her beliefs and you’re unworthy, then what?”

Blaise paused. “She won’t.”

Hermione scowled and was less pleased when Blaise slid off her desk, handing her back the quill he’d been playing with and gave her a suave smirk.

“Enjoy the rest of your day, pet,” he said. “I have a date to get to.”

Hermione growled to herself as he walked out the door, giving her a sly nod as he slipped out. She sat back in her chair, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

This was going to be a long journey, she could already tell.


~~**~~


A/N: *falls behind again* Sorryness. Please review!