One More Time

*


Hermione sat nervously in the waiting room, continuously glancing up at the clock on the wall. It was ten past one in the afternoon. The door tinkled as it was opened and she swung around to look but was disappointed as someone she didn’t know walked in.

She sighed in frustration and nerves as she looked at the clock again. Blaise was supposed to have been there by now. He was supposed to have been there ten minutes ago.

Hermione folded her hands together to stop their nervous shaking as she looked around the white waiting room. On the table next to her were several magazines about parenting, but she couldn’t bring herself to read any.

Through the window, she could see a cluster of trees and a large green lawn spreading out for a long ways. She had chosen a Healer far away from London. She didn’t want the possibility of accidentally meeting someone she knew. She was in no hurry for people to find out.

It was her first real checkup she was going to. She was nervous and she had told Blaise to come. If he wanted to be involved, he should be aware of what was going on. But he was late. Very late. And it was beginning to grate on Hermione’s nerves.

She took a deep breath and told herself to calm down as she glanced at the clock again. Soon, she would have to go in. She wouldn’t admit to anyone, but she was scared. This was something she wasn’t prepared for at all.

Just as she was thinking of getting up and leaving, the door tinkled open and Blaise strode in. He didn’t look nervous at all, simply confident. He looked around and caught sight of Hermione. He came over and leant down to kiss her on the cheek.

Hermione made a noise and pushed him away. “What are you doing?”

Blaise paused for a second. “Old habit,” he said by way of explanation and took his seat beside her.

Hermione sighed. “You’re late,” she said out of the side of her mouth, not wanting any of the other people in the waiting room to hear.

“Meeting ran long,” Blaise replied simply, picking up one of the magazines and leafing through it, uninterested.

“Meeting,” Hermione huffed. She knew perfectly well what type of meeting it was. “Jenna must have had something particularly poignant to say, then?”

“Jenna’s long gone,” Blaise said, not looking at Hermione.

Hermione was surprised for a second but after a moment figured she should have known. “Already bored? So who’s the next Mrs. Zabini? I assume Isabella has already got four girls in line for your hand.”

Blaise glanced up as Hermione stopped, looking around. Several of the people had glanced at them when his name had been mentioned. He paid them no attention, but leaned into Hermione. “Can we discuss this later? Besides, my personal life has nothing to do with you, remember?”

Hermione didn’t look satisfied but sunk into silence as they waited. The people around them slowly went back to their own pursuits.

“Ms. Granger?” The nurse came out with a chart in her hands. “The Healer will see you now.”

Hermione picked herself up dignifiedly and followed the nurse down a hall. She had picked the best Healer outside of London as her caregiver. She wasn’t sure it would be alright to go to a non-wizard doctor, and she felt more comfortable with a wizard Healer anyway.

Blaise followed Hermione and the nurse as she led them into a small room with a sort of bed in one corner. Hermione climbed onto the bed as the nurse left and she and Blaise were left alone.

They were silent for a while. Blaise looked around the room, seeing some sterilization tools. He had no idea what was going to happen. He’d never been through this before.

After a few moments of silence, Hermione cleared her throat.

“So what was discussed at your meeting?”

Blaise didn’t look at her, instead, running his hand over the counter. “Article length and content.”

“Oh,” Hermione said quietly. “Are you writing about anything interesting?”

“Not really,” Blaise shrugged.

Another silence followed and Hermione sighed. This wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. She wanted to know why Jenna hadn’t worked out.

“Your mother,” she said slowly, “has she found a new husband yet?”

“Not that I’m aware,” Blaise said, turning around and leaning against the counter. He crossed his arms and watched Hermione. “Why don’t you ask what you really want to know, Hermione?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hermione said loftily. She hated how he always knew what she was thinking.

“You want to know why I threw Jenna back,” Blaise supplied.

Hermione paused. “I might be curious,” she said indifferently. She looked away from Blaise, fingering the edge of her skirt.

Blaise pushed off the counter edge and moved towards her. He stopped a foot away from her and waited until she looked at him again. “How curious would you be, and why?”

Hermione frowned. “It doesn’t matter why. I would just like to know what flaw this one had that couldn’t be overcome. Surely she was beautiful enough. You’re mother would have made sure of that. We can’t have the Zabini heirs being ugly with bushy hair and buck teeth, now, can we?”

Blaise sighed at the reference. “She never understood you,” he said finally.

Hermione looked taken aback. “What?”

“Nothing,” Blaise said, taking a step back. “Jenna was vapid and didn’t have a single original thought in her pretty blond head. That’s why I broke it off.”

“So you think she’s pretty?” Hermione said quickly.

Blaise shrugged. “They all are. You said so yourself.”

“Who’s next then?” Hermione asked, her tone sharp. “Maybe some foreign girl to shake things up. Why, how about some beautiful Italian princess? She’d match you perfectly. I should make the suggestion to your mother.”

“What are you on about?” Blaise asked, wondering why she was getting mad at him. He had no control over the girls his mother picked.

Hermione’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “Oh, nothing,” she said snidely. “Be sure to let me know who the next future wife will be.”

“Hermione,” Blaise started but was interrupted as the door swung open and a plump, balding man came in.

The Healer was all smiles as he walked in the door, shutting it behind him. He turned to Hermione and Blaise, neither of which looked particularly pleased.

“Good afternoon!” he said. “My name is Healer Robinson and I’ll be in charge of your health for the next nine months.” He smiled as though it was a joke they should partake in but when no laughter was forthcoming, he paused. “You are expecting, Mrs. Granger?”

“It’s Miss Granger,” Hermione corrected him, “and, yes, you are correct.”

“Right,” the Healer said, glancing down at his chart. He looked up at Blaise. “And you are Mr…”

“Zabini,” Blaise supplied. “Blaise Zabini. I’m the father.”

“Ah, Zabini,” the Healer said, his eyes taking him in more closely. Blaise and Hermione exchanged a glance but said nothing. The Healer finished looking over Blaise and seemed to snap back to his cheerful self. “Alright, Ms. Granger. We just need to do some routine tests to make sure everything is in order. If you take care of yourself, I shan’t need to see you very often until the baby is born.”

He told Hermione to lie down on the bed and she did so, her hands folded over her stomach and her gaze fixed on the ceiling. She was instructed to lift her shirt to reveal her stomach and she did so, feeling the nerves gathering.

Blaise stood next to her, wondering exactly what the doctor was going to do. Healer Robinson sat down in a chair next to Hermione and took out his wand. “You may feel a tingle,” he warned with a wink and Hermione forced a laugh, but it came out nervous.

The Healer began to wave his wand in a circle over Hermione’s stomach and they waited. While he was doing this, he engaged them in conversation.

“So, Mr. Zabini,” he said as his wand continued to circle. Hermione glanced at Blaise, who was looking at the Healer. “How did you two meet?”

Blaise paused for a second. “We met at school a long time ago.”

“Ah, yes,” the Healer said, “I get a lot of couples who’ve been together since school. You went to Hogwarts I guess? Excellent school.”

“We’re not together,” Hermione interjected.

The Healer looked at her, a little surprised. “Really? You seem the perfect couple.”

Blaise glanced at Hermione, who was frowning. “No, we dated for a while, but it didn’t work out.”

“Pity,” the Healer said, waving his wand over Hermione’s stomach still. “You’d be surprised what having a child does.”

“Excuse me?” Blaise asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Healer Robinson said. “So Mr. Zabini, are you the son of Isabella Zabini?”

Blaise hesitated. He knew Hermione had been worried about recognition. “Yes, I am, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about this.”

“Of course, of course!” Robinson exclaimed. “Healer-patient confidentiality, you know. I’m not at liberty to discuss my patients with anyone.” He made a motion of zipping his lips and winked again at Blaise.

Blaise shrugged at Hermione and she looked a little appeased. She lifted her head to watch the circling wand. “What exactly are you doing?” she asked.

“Simple procedure. If you wait just a moment…” The Healer removed his wand and made a motion as if flicking the tip. After the third flick, a photograph erupted from the end. He unrolled it and made a study of it for a moment.

He then handed it to Hermione. “Looks like the baby is perfectly healthy. You can see it there.” He pointed to a little black dot on the picture. “If you give me a moment, I will calculate the due date and then give you some information on keeping healthy.”

He waved his wand and tapped the picture Hermione was holding. On the bottom of the picture, a date scrawled across it.

“January third,” Hermione read. She looked up from the photo to the Healer. “That’s the due date?”

“Yep,” Healer Robinson said cheerfully. “So I wouldn’t be planning any vacations in those last few months. Apparating isn’t good for the baby.”

“No Apparating?” Hermione asked, concerned. She was used to Apparating everywhere. Sure, she had a Muggle driver’s license, but she wasn’t very good at it.

“’Fraid not,” Healer Robinson said. “Here are some pamphlets on healthy eating while pregnant and some activities that are good for the baby.”

“I—“ Hermione said as the Healer gave her a multitude of pamphlets.

“Eating a balanced diet is one of the most important things while pregnant,” the Healer said. “It’s best to start right away so I’d recommend stopping by the market on the way home.”

“But—“

“Have you two thought about living arrangements yet? There are a lot of things to buy for a baby and it’s always better to start early than late.”

Hermione looked like she was becoming overwhelmed as she sat up, pulling her shirt down. Blaise caught sight of this and helped her down. He turned to the Healer.

“Thank you, sir, we’ll take this all into consideration.”

He began to steer Hermione towards the door and the Healer called after them. “Talk to the nurse on your way out. It’s always best to schedule an appointment a few months in as well.”

Blaise nodded but said nothing as he guided Hermione out. She couldn’t say anything for a while and was silent as Blaise talked to the nurse, arranging another appointment a few months down the road.

As they stepped outside the door into the fresh spring air, Hermione regained herself. She made to turn back. “Wait! I didn’t ask him about the diet! What am I supposed to eat? Is it alright that I don’t like squash? I have to go back!”

Blaise kept a firm grip on her as she tried to run back inside the office.

“Hermione, it’s fine. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out.”

Hermione stopped struggling and turned to him, pulling her arm out of his grasp. She was glaring at him and he sighed, knowing she was about to yell at him.

“Figure it out?” she repeated. “You don’t have any idea what you’re doing. We don’t even know what’s going on with this thing. We have so much to do, so much to buy, so many things to prepare and all you can say is that we’ll figure it out!” She brought herself up to her full height and poked him in the chest with her finger. “We need help figuring it out and right now the Healer is the only one who can!”

“Hermione,” Blaise said as she turned and began to stalk away from him. “You just need to relax, take things as they come.”

“Oh, because that’s your way of doing things,” Hermione spat, turning around and he nearly ran into her. “'I’ll just throw away whatever I don’t like. People don’t have feelings. I’ll take things as they come. If my mother picks another, I’ll fuck her until I get tired.’ That’s how it is with you, Blaise, isn’t it? Always has been. You’re not interested in long-term goals. You like to take life as it comes to you and hope that nothing bad will happen. Well, I’ve got news for you. Some things don’t just go away and you can’t sit back and watch your life slip by. Sometimes you have to act no matter how bad things get. I don’t think you know that.”

With that speech, Hermione turned and Apparated away, leaving Blaise in the middle of the country side, sighing and rolling his eyes. He hoped this was only hormones talking and not the underlying concern he could see beneath her words.


~~**~~


A/N: Posting! Because I'm tired of working on my NaNoWriMo novel. 4 days and 20,000 words. I'd say that's a good start, wouldn't you? :) Please review!