HERMIONE’S POV
I was stunned. There’s no other way to put it. I was undeniably stunned. It had been ten months since I broke up with him, and yet he still loved me. We stood in silence for a while; I didn’t know what to say. I mean, what do you say when somebody tells you they haven’t stopped loving you?
“Ron…” I began, still unsure of what to say, “I love you too, but… not like that. You are my best friend. You’re like a brother to me.”
“Don’t say that,” Ron whispered.
“You have to deal with it. Either you accept the fact that I’m marrying Draco and I’m having his child, or you don’t. It would make me happy if you accepted it, but if you don’t?” I sighed, “I won’t let you be a part of my of my child’s life. It’s your choice. Your family supports me and Harry supports me. Why can’t you?”
“Didn’t you hear me, Hermione? I love you. I don’t think I can ever accept you being with Malfoy, not when I feel like this.” He said, making a move at taking my hand in his. I stepped back.
“It breaks my heart to say this Ron, but this is it for us. I would have loved to have you in our lives, but it just won’t work out. Don’t bother coming to my wedding.” I could feel the tears pressing against my eyelids at each blink. Ron had no reply, he just turned on his heel and went back into the Burrow. I thought of following him for a second, but decided against it. Feeling bad for not saying goodbye to Harry and the Weasley’s I disapparated.
Draco still sat in our bed when I got home. He was watching some American muggle TV-show. He had become addicted to a couple of shows after I introduced him to them, but he turned it off the second I entered the room.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” He crawled off the bed and immediately pulled me close in a hug. I burst into tears as soon as his arms were around me. The front of his shirt was soaked in seconds. I tried speaking a couple of times, but all that left my mouth was sobs.
“Oh, love. It’s okay. Relax. I’m here.” Draco whispered into my hair, repeating the words over and over until I stopped crying.
“Ron and I fought about you and me,” I said a while later when we were both lying in the bed under the covers, our fingers were laced and we were on our sides looking at each other. “He doesn’t approve of us, so I told him to not come to the wedding and that I didn’t want him to be a part of our lives.” I continued calmly, deciding not to tell him about Ron’s declaration of his love for me.
Draco leaned in to kiss my forehead. His lips lingered a moment before he pulled back, “Good. He’s not good for you or the baby. I don’t want him messing with you. Mentally or physically.”
“I know. But it’s just so heart breaking. You know how much I care about him. He’s been my best friend since I was eleven!”
“I know, love. I know.” He whispered, and that’s the last words I heard before I fell asleep.
--
And I slept until I was awoken by pain in my abdomen. I cried out loud from the pain and Draco woke up immediately.
“What’s wrong? Hermione, what’s going on?” he kept saying.
“I don’t know. Ow! Oh shit!” I cried out of breath, panicking because I didn’t know what was going on. But then I felt it. The wetness of the sheets, “Oh my God. Draco, my water broke.”
His eyes widened, “It’s not time yet!” was the only thing he said, “It’s not the right time!” he sounded just as freaked as I felt. I didn’t blame him. There were still three months to my due date. He was right. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. But panicking about it wouldn’t do us any good.
“I know, love. But there’s nothing we can do now. Let’s get to the hospital.” I breathed through the pain. Oh God, I’d heard labour was painful, but this was worse than I’d imagined, and this wasn’t even the worst part.
“Yes, yes. The hospital.” Draco muttered, repeating the same words as in a trance as he quickly got dressed. I was glad I’d chosen a decent nightgown to sleep in, so I wouldn’t have to change. Draco lifted me bridal-style from the bed, and then we disapparated.
DRACO’S POV
“Drink some coffee.”
“I’m not thirsty.”
“Well, then eat a muffin.”
“Not hungry.”
“Draco… son, I know this is hard on you. But you need to eat something.” Narcissa Malfoy said. I had called her after Hermione and I arrived at Saint Mungo’s. I handed Hermione over to the Healers and they took care of her while I contacted my mother. She had arrived not soon after.
I had been with Hermione when she gave birth. I knew something was wrong when the room was quiet and I hadn’t heard the baby cry.
“Draco?” Hermione had looked exhausted as she glanced at me with teary eyes. She knew what I feared.
“I’m sorry.” The healer said as he faced us. Hermione immediately broke down. In his arms he had a stillborn child.
After a while the healer put Hermione in a room, where she could relax. I tried talking to her, but she was just looking straight into the air, not listening to me and not responding. Eventually I left her alone, and went out to find my mother.
We found a muggle café close by the hospital, where we sat down. Narcissa ordered coffee and breakfast for the both of us. Whilst she’d eaten hers I hadn’t even touched my food or my coffee.
“I lost her.” I whispered after a while.
Narcissa looked at me with soft eyes. It was a rare look. I had seen it every once in a while growing up, when Lucius had been too cruel and she felt sorry for me. Empathy wasn’t a trait the Malfoys carried with them. At least not according to my father. It was a sign of weakness, and the Malfoys weren’t weak. Maybe we weren’t supposed to, but right in that moment I felt very weak.
“Was it a girl?” Mother asked softly. At first I was confused, but then I realised she thought I was talking about the baby.
Of course I was sad about losing our child. But I was more terrified of the thought of losing Hermione. I knew how she distanced herself from others when things got tough. She had run off to another country without telling anyone about it. And after all the horrible things that had happened to her, like being tortured and losing her best friend, this baby was a light in the darkness to her, and now it was gone. The light had been blown out, and all was dark for her now. I was scared that I wasn’t enough for her anymore, that I wasn’t enough of a light. Maybe she wouldn’t want to stay with me after this.
“Oh!” Narcissa suddenly realised what I had meant, “Draco…” she trailed off as she put her hand on my arm. I looked up at her and caught her soft blue eyes.
“Don’t mind me, mother. I’m tired and delusional.” I tried smiling as I lied smoothly, “I don’t know what I’m saying.” Shrugging I forced myself to drink some of the lukewarm coffee, cringing at the taste. In my opinion coffee had to be drunk steaming hot or not at all.
“I understand you’re sad, but you can’t make this all about yourself,” my mother said sternly. Huh, there she was again, the Narcissa I had grown up with: cold as stone and heartless. “Think of Hermione. This must be even worse for her.”
“Mother, I am thinking of her. You don’t even realise how much I think about her. I worry about her every second of every day. That is why I know I’m losing her. She’s not been well lately and I know this will the last straw for her.”
“Don’t speak for her like that, Draco. You can’t possibly know everything that’s going on in her head. She loves you very much. You two need to stay together and help each other through this.”
“I know mother.” I sighed, taking another sip of the coffee, once again cringing. Damn, someone should take it away from me. “I better go check on her.” I said as I got out of my chair. Narcissa smiled sadly and nodded, saying she’d pay for our breakfast.
I felt bad for her having to pay for a breakfast that I didn’t even eat, but that was Narcissa. Stern. When she put her mind to something, no one was going to stop her. So I didn’t argue. I just went back to St. Mungo’s. I found Hermione easily, and relaxed a little when I saw her sleeping. She looked unnaturally peaceful, as she lay in her bed. I bent down to kiss her forehead and she stirred slightly, moaning something I couldn’t make out. Finding a chair, I pulled it close to her bed, sitting down I decided to rest a little while. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off.
--
When I woke up I felt her hand caressing my cheek, smiling I looked up at her. She sat up in her bed, a sad smile on her lips. I took her hand in mine and kissed it.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her carefully.
She leant back against the headboard and closed her eyes, sighing deeply before answering me, “I honestly don’t know.” She looked at me again, her brown eyes filled with sorrow, “I’m sad, angry, tired.” She listed.
Seeing her sad like that broke my heart. That was the moment I decided that I would do everything in my power to help her get better, I would help her in any way I could. I swore I would do anything to see her smile again.
A/N: I am so terribly sorry for making you wait this long for an update. I won't ever happen again. I was in a bad place and couldn't find energy to write. But That's all over, so now I'm back with exciting new updates! I'm gonna try for once a week!
Please forgive me for sucking.