Forbidden Fruit

Ron sat uncomfortably in the library, Hermione reading diligently at his side. "What are you looking for?" he asked, peeking over her shoulder for a glimpse.

She covered the page quickly. "Nothing. I just? wait? Here it is!" She quickly grabbed her quill and parchment and began copying the spell.

"You're writing a whole lot of nothing," Ron noted, still trying to catch a glimpse of the parchment. He reached over and moved a strand of her hair, carefully savoring the feel of it between his fingers as he held it. Panic struck him as he caught sight of her notes, and he inadvertently tugged on the strand.

"Ow!" Hermione cried, yanking her head back. "What'd you do that for?"

"A spell to determine pregnancy?" Ron's face was almost glowing red. "Who? Is that for you? Hermione! I thought we told each other everything!"

"Ron, this is not something a girl talks about to her male friends. You and Harry are my best friends, but some things are just a little too awkward. Besides, it's n?"

"Too awkward? You're talking to me about too awkward? I was just trying to figure out how to ask you to go to Hogsmeade with me! That would have been awkward! You could have at least told us you were dating someone!"

"I'm not dating anyone!" Hermione said in a harsh whisper.

"Then you?Where is the bloody git? I'll beat him to a bloody pulp for this." Ron stood and started glancing around the library with narrow eyes, his mind running rampant with the possibilities.

"I do wish you'd sit down and shut up," Hermione hissed. "I'm not pregnant. There's no way that I am pregnant. I told you; I'm not seeing anyone." Her eyes widened. "Did you just say you were going to ask me to Hogsmeade?" she squeaked.

"Oh, uh, yeah?" Ron reddened further as he stared down at the table. "Can we forget I said that?"

Hermione sniffed and slammed her book shut. She picked up her parchment and marched past him. "If that's what you want, Ron Weasley, then fine."

"What'd I say?" Ron hurried behind her, his much longer legs having trouble keeping up.

"Do you know how sick I get of hearing you say that?" she snapped, not slowing for even a second.

"What'd I say?" he repeated, bewildered.

"That!"

Ron let out an annoyed grunt as he reached ahead and grabbed her robe, pulling her to an abrupt stop. "You're tiring, Hermione. I have no clue what you're going on about, but I wish you'd stop it and tell me what's wrong." He breathed heavily and slumped against a wall.

Hermione stared at him for a moment before she found the willingness to speak. Ron Weasley had just grabbed her. He'd chased her down and grabbed her! Of all the dreams she'd had, this wasn't the ending any of them had. She groaned with dissatisfaction. Her voice came out much softer than she wanted it to. "Why did you say you were going to ask me to Hogsmeade?"

Ron flushed; he'd hoped this conversation was over. "Well, because I was, if you really want to know. But I understand that you don't want to and that it would make things really weird and?"

"Who said I didn't want to?"

"You do?"

"Well, I mean I would go with someone if I was asked, but I haven't been asked."

Ron and Hermione both stared at the floor space between them when Ron finally reached out and took one of her fidgeting hands in his own. "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Hermione looked up and smiled as she nodded.

"Good." Ron smiled back. "Now that we have that in order, who's pregnant?"

Hermione groaned and pulled her hand away, walking once again through the corridor. "I can't tell you that, Ron. I want to. I really do. But I can't; you have to understand."

Ron nodded, but for some reason foreboding took over his body. He pushed it aside, deciding instead to focus on his soon to be date with Hermione. Finally.

~*~

Ginny sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the cubed piece of glass in her lap. "Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked nervously. Hermione raised an eyebrow and went back to reading her notes. "Wait. I don't think I want to know. I just had the Muggle flu. That's all."

"Would you quit interrupting? If that's all it was, this won't work, and you'll know. Now, I'm almost ready." Ginny sighed and stared back down at the cube in her hands. "All right, hold the cube to your stomach like?yes, like that, and repeat this spell." Hermione held the parchment in front of Ginny's eyes and held her breath as the words came out, a purplish haze surrounding the glass. The haze swirled and waved through the air, first around the object, then around Ginny herself before settling on the top square in a horrid, dark purple X.

Ginny smiled. "It's an X. That means no, right? It crossed out the possibility. I'm not pregnant!"

Hermione wanted to cry as she reached down and turned the object half a turn so that the plus sign was more apparent to her friend. "Not exactly, Ginny."

"Don't tell me that," Ginny groaned. "The spell didn't work properly. That's all. Bloody hell, how am I going to tell Ron? Or Draco. Oh Merlin, I have to tell Draco. That means I have to talk to Draco. And that means I have to see Draco."

"Or...there are other possibilities," Hermione offered. She closed her eyes tight and sank down on the edge of the bed beside her friend. "I mean?no one would ever blame you, really. If you just... There are many families that can't have babies. They wouldn't have to know the child was a Malfoy. Or if you really wanted the baby, then no one would need to know who the father is. I wouldn't tell."

Ginny sat quietly, willing her mind to stop spinning. How could she make a decision like this? How could she make this choice alone? She shouldn't have to! But? Hermione did have a point. Draco didn't have to know. Ron didn't have to know about Draco. It was a good suggestion, in all aspects except one. She knew, in her heart of hearts, she had to at least let Draco know. Even if he was angry. Even if he didn't help her make the decisions that needed made. Even if he...hated her.

And he would.

She sniffled and looked up, oceans filling her brown eyes in a way they hadn't in years. Since the Chamber. She hadn't thought anything would be as hard as that. Her life was supposed to be cake after all of that. But she was a Weasley. Easy didn't seem to be in their planning, in their genes. They always made it, though; they always came out victorious. As would Ginny.

Somehow.

She shook her head. "He deserves to know. I'll...tell him. I'm not ready to tell anyone else, but I'll tell him."

Hermione released an agitated sigh. "I thought you learned, Ginny. Draco is evil. He's evil like his father. He won't help you!"

Ginny flushed with rage. "You don't even know him, not really! He may help. He may do something. And he's much better at planning than you or I. He may have some kind of idea." The anger subsided quickly as she glanced back down at her wringing hands. "And even if he doesn't, I can't just keep it a secret. That would be wrong. He deserves to know."

"I've known him for seven years. That's enough for me," Hermione said with distaste. "I don't even know how this happened, and frankly I don't want to. I'll keep secret who the father is because I don't think it'll hurt anything. But if you're going to continue to be involved with him? Ginny! He's evil. You'll get hurt. Look what's already happened! You can't just?"

"Don't tell me what I can and cannot do! I realize you're trying to help, but if it were Ron, would you not even tell him that he's going to have a child somewhere in the world?

Would you, Hermione?"

"Well, Ron just asked me on our first trip to Hogsmeade, so I don't think babies are in the near future plans. Besides, Ron isn't connected with the Dark Lord. Ron's good."

Ginny just stared, her jaw slightly open in shock. "Ron finally asked you, and you hadn't told me yet?"

Hermione blushed. "We've been a little busy," she pointed out. "And it wasn't the most romantic thing in the world."

Ginny held her laugh in check. "What'd he say?"

Hermione relayed the story, laughing a bit that anyone could think she was pregnant. Her laughter died down slowly as she saw the look on Ginny's face. "You have to do something," she sighed.

"I know." Her frown was back as she stared out the window in heavy contemplation. She could see a tiny green dot flying high above the Quidditch pitch and followed it with her eyes for as long as she could before it dropped down out of sight. "Do you think you could get me Harry's invisibility cloak without raising suspicion?"

"I won't help you see Malfoy."

"I'm not asking you to. We've been over this. I just need to tell him about?this. I swear it, Hermione."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Hermione nodded and disappeared through the door.

~*~

Draco ducked a Bludger and rolled before coming back up in his normal graceful manner. His eyes, however, gave away his anger. His face was firm and impassive, but something in the way he looked about his team gave him away. Maybe they just knew him well.

It didn't matter.

Someone was in trouble. Quite a bit of trouble by the way Draco's broom was racing around the pitch and toward the rest of the Slytherin team. It was quite funny to bystanders to watch one under-grown, under-developed, blonde Slytherin make so many... bigger... Slytherins quake on their broomsticks. His anger, his temper was phenomenal to all who had ever heard of Draco Malfoy.

This thought alone scared Ginny, even from her secluded spot. Secluded in the stands. Under Harry's invisibility cloak. It was the only way she could get close enough to him to tell him. And, before she told him, she would enjoy a few last moments of watching him, unhindered by the hate that was sure to come.

"Do you think," Draco yelled, his broom coming to an abrupt stop in front of both Crabbe and Goyle, "that you can learn to hit before the game this week? I should replace you now! Go find Millicent Bulstrode; she'll teach you properly."

The team snickered, mostly glad it wasn't them sitting in front of Draco. Crabbe and Goyle stared at him, awestruck. It was Crabbe who first got the nerve to speak. "Millicent doesn't even play Quidditch."

"And yet she could still take both of you," Draco drawled, his sneer evident even from Ginny's position in the stands. "If you do it right, maybe I won't be ducking the bloody thing instead of catching the Snitch."

Ginny was glad to see the boy nod; the last thing she needed was for Draco to be in a bad mood even before her... joyful news. She bit down on her lip as she watched him fly. Practice would be over soon; she wanted to memorize. She watched his graceful ascent into the air and death-defying descent toward the ground. It took her breath away. Just before he became one with the surface of the pitch, he used the muscles she'd personally examined and found to be more than adequate to pull himself back up. He looked happy out there. Peaceful. At ease. He was the Draco she'd known, not the one everyone else knew. She loved him. She'd never told him that, thank the gods. Today would be the turning point, the day she'd look back on for the rest of her life with regret. Yet she had no other choice.

The team was huddled mid-pitch. She couldn't discern what Draco was telling them, but they all listened intently. She almost laughed. Almost. She knew better. She stood quietly and made her way under the stands. Draco always went under the stands before showering. He considered it his cool down period. Plus, it gave the rest of the Slytherins time to get out of the dressing room, so he could have it to himself. He hated being crushed in there with so many sweaty classmates. The thought sickened him. Today, however, he wouldn't be alone. Ginny would be waiting for him.

The sun was beginning to set by the time he walked through the crack in the stands. The orange rays reflecting off his silvery hair were almost brilliant. Ginny gasped, unthinking, at the sight. What she wouldn't do to have the situation different! Maybe he would just hold her and kiss her and tell her everything would be okay. He'd tell her that he'd take care of her and the baby, to hell with his father and his family! He'd tell her...

It didn't matter what he'd tell her in this fantasy land that had seeped into her brain. That land didn't exist. Ginny was stuck in reality.

Draco turned upon hearing the soft gasp from the darkness. His wand already raised, he narrowed his eyes. "Who's there?"

Slowly, Ginny let the cloak slip from her body, announcing herself physically rather than verbally. She watched him closely, ready and willing to read any emotion that got past him. She watched in vain. His cold stare never faltered, not that she'd expected it. "I need to talk to you," she whispered.

He took a step forward, then stopped. "What about, Weasley? Couldn't stay away? No, I suspect not."

"Be serious for just a minute, Draco?" Ginny asked. Her body was at war. Part of Ginny wanted to run to him and make him hold her, comfort her, acknowledge her. The other part threatened to draw her wand and turn him into the toad he was acting like. Instead, she stood still.

"Be serious?" His contempt rang through the empty column of boards. "Are you serious, Ginny? You tell me that you can't stand to look at me, so I give you space. Then, you show up in the one place you know I'll be alone. For a Gryffindor, you don't exactly play by the rules."

Ginny rubbed her eyes in frustration and let out a sigh. She looked at the walls, the dirt, even his broomstick, everywhere but at Draco. It was now or never; she was about to lose her nerve. "And I meant it," she whispered, "but something else came up. The rules have changed."

"Such big words for someone who sees the world in black and white," he interrupted, but thought better of doing it again as her glare hit him full force.

"Have you ever thought what our kids might look like, Draco?"

Her question caught him off guard. He tried to speak but couldn't. Where the hell had that come from? Instead, he shrugged. "I don't see where it's relevant. You know it won't ? can't ? happen."

"Oh, but you're wrong, sweet." She almost laughed. She would have laughed had the situation not been so serious. "It can happen, and it will. In about seven months."

A Stupefying Charm wouldn't have worked better to catch Draco's attention. "What?"

"Do you need me to use Sonorus?" she asked, making sure her hands were not on her wand as she did. The last thing she needed right now was for all of Hogwarts to hear this conversation.

"No! No?" Draco dragged his hand through his hair and looked back up at her. "Are you sure?" She nodded. "But how?" She only looked at him; they both knew how. He began to pace. His steps seemed louder than they had upon his entry to the tunnel somehow.

Maybe it was the huge boulder she'd just dropped on his shoulders.

Suits him right though, she thought; now she didn't have to carry it alone.

"Then you lied to me." He had stopped pacing and turned, full of rage, toward her. "You bloody lied to me."

"I did not! I'm telling you right now."

"In the hospital. You knew, and you lied." He laughed sardonically. "The Muggle flu. How could I not have known?"

"Because I didn't know," Ginny suggested. "No one knows but you and I. And... Hermione."

"Granger knows? And she knows..." He pointed to himself and rolled his eyes when she nodded. "Well, that was smart. The whole school will know by the time we go inside."

"No, they won't," she whispered. "She's promised to keep that to herself. But I have to tell Ron about the baby."

"The baby," Draco repeated. "That sounds so odd. Father. I'm going to be a father." He seemed to be in a daze, understandably, so Ginny carefully inched her way toward him. He scrubbed his scalp again, rigidly taking her into his arms as she nestled close.

For several moments, Ginny lived out her fantasy world. He kissed her forehead and told her everything would be okay. He held her. He comforted her. Just as he should. Finally, reality hit as he pushed her away suddenly. She looked up, startled. "Why didn't you use a bloody contraception charm?" he asked. Malfoy was back, meaner than ever. She saw it written all over his face; he'd remembered their situation.

"Why didn't you?" she countered, just as vehemently.

"I've never had to! The girl has always taken care of that."

"Yeah, well, I've never had to either. For much more obvious reasons, like, I don't know any. You knew I'd never done this before!"

He shook his head and began to pace again. "What do you want me to do then?"

She laughed a little, sadly. "I don't want you to do anything. I just thought you had the right to know."

He nodded before turning his back to her. "Well, now I know."

"Now you know," she repeated. The softness in her voice, the finality, hurt them both.

"Bloody Gryffindor," he muttered as he walked toward the crack and out of the tunnel.

"Some things are better left unsaid."

Ginny wholeheartedly agreed as she quietly watched him stalk into the dressing rooms. "Some things are," she whispered. "I love you, Draco."