Never Give Up

Chapter Five

‘Like I haven’t noticed, Harry! How many times are you going to say that!’ Hermione muttered and then she looked down at her stomach as she ate her pizza. Hermione rubbed the bottom part of her huge bump, ‘I am afraid but I guess most women are.’

‘I guess so. What are your plans for the future, money wise?’ Harry asked, his voice adopting  a serious tone. This was another thing that Harry felt obliged to mention to Hermione, as though reminding her that she only had a limited amount of money to her name. She didn’t want to talk to him about money since he would probably offer her some so she tried to ignore him and eat but Harry wasn’t taking it, ‘I want to help you.’

‘I will not take your money, Harry,’ she said, stubbornly. Harry sighed and opened his mouth to speak but Hermione shut him off by placing her empty plate on the table, wiping her hands and turning in her seat to face Harry, ‘it’s not your fault for everything I’ve been through, okay? I know you want to help me, Harry, but you are not the father of my child. The father of my child hasn’t spoken to me in... that doesn’t matter actually. This is about my child and I can do whatever I want. Raise it however I want.’

‘Do you need money from Fred because I can tell him-’

‘He doesn’t need to give me money, Harry!’ Hermione yelled and sighed as though he didn't understand what she was talking about. Harry just raised his eyebrows at her, knowing better than to argue with a very pregnant Hermione but he also knew he couldn't give up so easily. Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head as she said, ‘he’s not associated with me anymore. Legally, he doesn’t have to give me anything since we were, thankfully, not married.’

‘But he slept with you, got your pregnant, lied to you by saying that he won’t leave you and then he left,’ Harry muttered, taking her hand, trying to soften her up but Hermione glanced down at their hands and then into the green eyes that held so many torturous memories of the past. She closed her eyes impatiently as Harry said, ‘believe me, he owes you.’

‘Harry, I don’t want his-’

‘Did you sleep with Malfoy?’ the question was so sudden that Hermione took her hands out of his and turned to face the television. She sighed, shook her head once, pursing her lips and furrowing her eyebrows. She obviously thought that this was not any of Harry’s business but she couldn’t say that to him, not after everything he’s done for her. Harry scooted closer to her and then sighed, ‘why did you cheat on Fred?’

‘Harry, I didn’t cheat... well... I did but... I had to do it! I had to so that he could make some money for us, so that he could get back on his feet. I told him not to do business with Malfoy but...’ Hermione shrugged and a tear fell out of her eye. One tear was all it took for Harry to wrap his arm tightly around her waist and try to comfort her. She was still upset over everything and that was not surprising at all, ‘Malfoy kissed me and I know I should have stopped it but... Harry... I...’

‘But...’ Harry paused, knowing he should stop asking her, knowing she was going to start crying but he had to know... why was she so embarrassed? Why was she blushing when she talked about Draco? Didn’t she blush when she talked about Fred... a blush just like the one right now, ‘but what, Hermione? You didn't... you didn’t like it, did you?’

‘Can we talk about something else? I don’t want to stress myself out by thinking of him, okay?’ Hermione muttered and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Harry quickly obliged although his curiosity peaked to a high extent. He had to know but he would start to stress Hermione out and he didn’t want to do that.

His mind was racing with thoughts that revolved around Hermione. He thought of nothing about his wedding and not even about Ginny who he was going to marry in about three weeks time. He was concerned about Hermione, his best friend and the person who probably knew more about a subject than the teacher teaching it did. The only thing she couldn't learn from a book was love. She had to experience that the hard way and he wished he could stop her from breaking her heart.