With you in my Arms

97. There was no doubt

A/N I couldn't leave this story hanging as it did at the end of the last chapter. That lot wanted me to clean it up, so, I'm doing that in the moment. There will be one more chapter to come, an epilogue.

Let me know what you think. 

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The morning after the night before... Most people use this expression when they try to express a total disaster they had the bad luck to encounter. It was like Blaise felt the next morning.

He had spent the night awake and in the company of a bottle of Firewhiskey. The bottle was still unopened. He couldn't bring himself to try and drink his situation away any longer. If Ginny really was pregnant with his child he had to stop getting drunk whenever he felt like it. He couldn't go on a bender when the fancy took him. He also couldn't have eyes for any other girl ever again. Not that he hadn't more or less stopped that anyway, but now there was a very good reason for him to do so, the girl he loved would otherwise kill him. Or worse, leave him out in the cold.

He rubbed his hands over his burning eyes. Merlin! How could he have been so irresponsible! First it was only a game then his heart got involved and now... He was going to be a father and that meant he had to grow up. Pronto! Was this what Draco had been facing? Suddenly finding out that life had decided it was your turn for some special attention wasn't something most folk would be necessarily happy about. Blaise wasn't in any case. The very moment he had been getting to grips with the fact that the love of his life was going to be with another guy Fate seemingly had other plans. Was he meant to be with Ginny after all? He could only hope so. How cruel would it be, if he was given this glimpse of hope now, only to find out that it had all been for naught after all?

Her face appeared before his inner eye. She was dancing with him, as she had done yesterday. He had asked Potter before he took her for a whirl, but still that had at least meant she was relaxed and didn't think him up to anything. Not that she knew it was him anyway. Though... there had been moments when he had been holding her in his arms during that waltz when he had been wondering, if she could see right through his disguise. Her yes had narrowed and she had been thinking about something.

The memories of Draco dragging him into that room and giving him a piece of his mind came back. Did his mate know that he had been aiding Fate when he did that? Otherwise they would have never been able to overhear Ginny talking to Hermione. It had quite literally floored him when he realised what she was saying.

'There might be a son or daughter of mine being born before the year is out.' he thought.

Would his child be as gifted as Scorpius was? Draco had told him about the little guy being able to connect to the mind of their parents and that he had shown his father a little girl with black hair, dark eyes and tanned skin. They both had wondered about that as both Ginny and Harry were fair skinned. Neither of the friends had been daring to think about the possible explanation for the tone of the little girl's skin. It had seemed impossible at that time. It didn't seem impossible any longer.

Was Ginny going to be as much a pushover as Hermione had been? Was she going to be sick as much? What was it like to be with a girl that was pregnant?

He sighed. It was wishful thinking. He shouldn't get his hopes up. They would only be crushed again. Under normal circumstances, had she not been the betrothed of the one wizard who saved the world, he would now be as happy as any man could be. A new life would be coming into this world and it would be part of him. Maybe.

Another heavy sigh resounded through the silence of the early morning. He couldn't even go and talk to her about it. He wasn't supposed to know. Did Potter know about the happy occurrence by now? Had she told him that he was going to become a father? A sour taste was spreading in his mouth. Shouldn't she find out the truth first? Shouldn't she be trying to do the right thing?

He frowned. He sounded like a lover scorned. Well, in a way he was. He loved her. There was no refuting this fact. He would not hesitate to own up and offer her his hand, his heart and his name. At least she would know he didn't only propose because of what had happened. He would have done it anyway.

He slowly sat up and looked at the bed he had been lying on. Would she be sharing this bed with him? Would it be good enough for her to just watch him play Quidditch until she could go back to playing for the Harpies herself? How would they juggle the responsibilities for their child? It wouldn't be easy to bring up a child, not with both its parents playing professional Quidditch.

What idle thoughts all these were. She would be finding out that it was Potter's child and she would have her happy-ever-after with him. Filled with sudden rage Blaise threw the bottle against the opposite wall. It shattered, leaving a large amber stain on the light wallpaper.

"I love her!" he shouted, "I love her!"