Prophesied

Chapter 14

Revelation

(This part is in Hermione's POV)

I was going to check on her...I heard about what happened from Harry and Malfoy and I thought I'd go check on her. I never thought I'd see what I just saw....

Jeff told me last month what he kept telling her in Elvish. It's the only phrase I know because I hear him say it all the time. Only to her though. Only to her.

He tells her he loves her. He says it to me too, only I know it's different. He cares more about her than he ever will of me. He was her everything, she was his. I don't think she knows that.

She told him she loved him, the same way he did her. He told me that saying those words was like being married to the person you said it to. Well, now they're married to eachother, but he's still dating me. Merlin, what did I do to deserve this? Why do I have to care so much about him? Why does this have to hurt so badly?

They didn't notice me as I ran away, back to the safety of my room--our room. But there was no safety here, I realized as I started to cry. This was where she and Jeff.... I know they did, I know they remember. I know they lied to keep me safe. I also know that Lita and Jeff fought about it. One worried that I would find out, the other insisting that I should know if it made any difference about their situation. I'd like to think that Jeff was the one worried about my finding out, but I know that he was the one who wanted me to know. He wanted me to break up with him so he could be with her.

I wanted to go out onto the balcony, but that was her spot. I couldn't invade that.

So I went outside. I don't know why, but I found myself standing in the very spot where I told Harry that I loved him. The same spot Harry chose Draco Malfoy over me. Harry choose him over Lita too. How could he? How could he choose a Slytherin over a Gryffindor? I still don't understand that.... And furthermore, how could he choose his rival over his best friend? What had Harry felt in those days?

"Hermione?"

"Stay away from me, Jeff," I whispered. "Go back to her, after all, you're married to her now."

"How--"

"I saw you," I answered. "I went to go see how she was doing and I saw what happened between you. Don't you dare hang around me, not when she needs you this badly...."

Hmm...I wonder if that's how Lita sounded when she broke up with Harry....

~*~*~*~

"Harry, we need to set a date."

"I know that, Draco," I snapped, irritated. There was so much going on right now. We all had to study for N.E.W.T.s and Hermione and I had so many things we had to do, and now with her and Jeff breaking up and Jeff and Lita being married.... I hated every minute of it right now. I wanted the calmness of last year back. Just not the end result of the year.

"Don't get mad at me, Harry," my fiancé replied calmly. "I know you're busy, but right now, we're supposed to be planning this wedding of ours. Now that you have some actual free time that you can sit and do nothing."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I'm just swamped."

"It's not just the school, Harry, I know that. You two may not be together anymore, but it kills you that she chose him and married him, not even a month after she left you. But think of where you would be if she hadn't done what she did. I would be dead, Harry, and if I know you, you would be suffering because of it, if only because you would believe that it's your fault because you could have saved me. She obviously knew something, thank her for it, don't punish me."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I know."

~*~*~*~

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," I said leaving the hospital wing.

I walked in a daze back to the common room with one thought repeating itself in my mind. I was pregnant.

But whose was it? Jeff's--my husbands, or Harry's--the only other man I've been with?

And if it were Harry's, what would I do? Harry's with Draco now. And happy. If it was Harry's child, then what about Jeff? He'd be crushed.

I was bringing a child into the midst of a war. How insane was I?

Pretty insane with what I was about to do.

"Jeff," I said quietly.

He looked up, gold eyes glinting in the firelight. He'd long-since abandoned his homework. He quit that when I left an hour ago--his report hadn't gotten longer.

"What's wrong?" he asked, instinctively knowing. Another thing the Binding does.

"We need to talk," I said. I looked up at the balcony. Still snowing. "Outside," I added, knowing no one would be out there. I wanted to add that Harry should join us, but I knew better than that. Even if this was Harry's kid, Jeff needed to be the first to know. He was my husband after all.

I sat on the somewhat icy rail and gazed at him, uncertain with what I had to do.

"Lita?" he asked, wrapping his cloak tightly around him.

I sighed. Just do it, damnit. "Jeff, I'm pregnant," I told him. His eyes lit up, but I wasn't finished. "But I don't know if--if it's yours or--or--"

"Harry's," he finished for me. I nodded, feeling the rage radiating from him. He'd known Harry and I had slept together, he just didn't know if it had been more than once, or just the once. Just the once.

"You knew we did, Jeff," I said needlessly. "You even know when."

He glared at me, and then his face softened. "Is there a chance?" he asked.

"More than, my love," I assured him.

"You have to tell him," he said. It was probably the hardest thing for him to say, and I knew it. "He has a right to know."

"He does," I nodded in agreement. It was hard for me too.

I looked inside to the common room. Harry and Malfoy sat on the floor leaning against the couch in each others arms, watching the fire, talking quietly.

Jeff opened the door. "Come on, love," he said. "Let's do this now."

Let's. Jeff would be there no matter what; I'd known that all along.

Harry looked up at us curiously as we sat down on the couch beside them.

"What's up?" he asked

I looked down at my hands. "You remember Christmas, don't you?" I asked. I chanced a glance up. His eyes darkened. Of course he remembered, I thought as I looked back down at my hands. Stupid question, Lita. "Christmas eve," I clarified. I chanced a glance up again. His eyebrows had nearly disappeared into his hairline (that was saying something, his hair being as short as it was).

"Why?" he finally asked.

"Something may have happened," I said, talking to my hands again. It was easier to tell them than it was to tell him. I felt Jeff put his arm around me, giving me strength.

"Like?" Harry prompted.

"I'm pregnant, Harry," I finally said. "She may be yours."

Malfoy pulled away from Harry, a horrified and hurt look on his face, and walked into the room they shared. Merlin, I've crushed him.

"What was that about?" Jeff asked.

"Draco didn't know," Harry answered.

"Sorry," I answered.

"Don't be," he said, getting up off of the floor. "Take care of her," he said before turning to follow his lover. Now it was my turn to be crushed.

~*~*~*~

"Draco," I said softly as I opened the door.

He sat on our bed, twirling his wand in his hands.

"You could be a dad, Harry," he nearly whispered. "And she'll be a mum. Where does that leave me? I'll be done with, out of the picture, tossed aside like a toy that no one likes anymore because they got a new one."

"You'll be a step-dad, Draco," I answered. "And there's no way you'll be tossed aside. I'd never do that to you. You're not some toy; you're the love of my life. Always and forever."

"I still don't like this."

"Neither do I," I answered. "I'd rather none of this happen, but it is, and we can't really fight it. Besides, the kid's probably Jeff's."

I hope it is....

~*~*~*~

I walked out onto the balcony.

[Your path is in England,] I heard my father's voice say. [Your path is before you now. Follow it, wherever it may lead. And please, my daughter, be happy with both your choices and your child.]

Finally getting back to me...

[Do you know whose child it is?] I asked in response. If he knew about my daughter before I did, maybe he'd know the identity of the father.

I hoped the wind would carry my question quickly...I needed the answers soon....