Someone to Watch Over Me

Someone to Watch Over Me

Chapter 21: One More Day

Professor Snape awoke to the sound of his bedroom being slammed open.

Joyce entered pulling Hermione by the arm, which was not easy as the pregnant woman kept digging her heels into the carpet.

"I said bed-rest, Hermione, and I meant it," Joyce snapped and then turned to glare at Snape.

"You'll have to keep a closer watch on her," she admonished him.

"But I feel fine! I just wanted some breakfast..."

"Then you should have awoken me," Snape growled.

Hermione glared at him.

"I tried! You're impossible to wake," she sniffed.

Joyce shook her head in frustration.

"No one is impossible to wake; you just didn't try hard enough."

Hermione suddenly found the carpet very interesting.

Between the two of them, Joyce and Snape were able to wrestle Hermione back into bed.

"I'm hungry," she complained, pouting.

Joyce rolled her eyes.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

"Blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, strawberries, and a side of mayonnaise," she answered without hesitation.

Snape made a face, and Joyce couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, I better start cooking then," she said leaving the room.

"Oh, I forgot sour cream and pickles!" Hermione called after her.

"What?" she asked Snape, who was looking at her with ultimate disgust.

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Joyce whipped up an incredible spread for breakfast, and loaded up a tray to take to Snape and Hermione. Upon returning to the kitchen, she saw that Blaise, Ginny, and Draco had loaded up their plates and sat at the table.

Blaise gave her a questioning look and motioned toward Ginny and Draco, who were quietly picking at their food.

Joyce shrugged at her husband, and gave him a quick kiss before filling her own plate.

There was a tense silence for a few minutes.

"I caught Hermione trying to sneak down the stairs this morning," Joyce commented.

"Is she okay?" Blaise asked, concerned.

"Yes, she's back in bed now."

"Wait a minute, why can't Hermione come downstairs?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, I forgot you two were already in bed. Hermione got upset and almost miscarried last night," Joyce explained, glad that Ginny was talking.

"But she's okay now?" Draco inquired.

"Yes, but we all need to keep an eye on her. Make sure that she stays in bed as much as possible," Joyce said, looking the Malfoy's in the eye.

They nodded.

"I guess I should go sit with her when Snape leaves for school," Ginny said reluctantly.

Joyce gave Blaise a look.

He cleared his throat.

"If there's something else you need to do, I can stay with her," he offered.

Joyce smiled at him, pleased.

"Thanks, Blaise. Draco and I have something to take care of this morning, but I'll come relieve you this afternoon," Ginny said, gratefully.

The tension was back, and Draco and Ginny avoided looking at each other.

"Well, I need to get to work," Joyce said, getting to her feet.

She kissed her husband and waved goodbye.

After she left, the silence became unbearable.

"So Ginny, did you ask Draco for a horse yet?" Blaise asked nonchalantly.

Draco choked on his toast.

Ginny pounded him on the back while Blaise chuckled.

When he was able to catch his breath, Draco scowled at Blaise.

"Do you have a death wish, Zabini?" he asked dangerously.

"What? Why don't you like horses, Draco?" Ginny asked curiously.

Draco turned his glare to Ginny, but she just narrowed her eyes at him.

"If you don't tell her, I will," Blaise threatened.

Draco stiffly got to his feet and went to refill his coffee cup. He stood over the kitchen sink, staring out the window.

After a few minutes of silence, Blaise began the story.

"We were ten years old when we first met," Blaise told Ginny, a smile crossing his face as he remembered a simpler time.

"His mother brought him to my house that summer. You see, his mother and my mother had been very good friends at school. He was so arrogant! Bragging about everything he owned and how much nicer his house was."

Ginny smiled, remembering how horrible he'd once been.

"I asked him if he'd ever ridden a horse," Blaise continued. "At first, he'd been offended at the ridiculous idea of riding a muggle animal. But I insisted that it was a lot of fun and that he ought to at least try it. He agreed, and we went to the stables. I saddled up Pecan, a tamed old mare, and demonstrated how to mount, and trot a couple of laps around the pen. When I finished, I asked him if he'd like a go, he sneered at the horse, and insisted that it was unfit for a Malfoy. He then demanded that I let him ride Goblin, a black stallion with a foul temperament. I tried to make him reconsider, but he was determined."

"What happened?" Ginny asked, enthralled in Blaise's tale.

Draco huffed and marched back over to them.

"What do you think happened? Blaise helped me climb on the great hulking beast, and it took off."

"I'd forgotten to shut the pen, and Goblin made for the open countryside. When dad and I finally caught up to them, the saddle had slid down around the horse's belly, and had Draco been any taller, his head would have been dragging the ground."

Ginny did her best to keep a straight face, but she just couldn't get the picture of young Draco riding upside down on a horse out of her mind.

Draco put a hand up to his silky white-blond hair.

"I thought I'd never get all of the leaves and dirt out..." he mumbled absently.

Ginny collapsed in giggles at that.

Blaise's shoulders started shaking in silent laughter, and even Draco couldn't keep a smirk off his face.

Blaise finished off the last of his coffee and got to his feet.

"I'll go relieve Snape. See you later."

Quiet once again descended on the kitchen.

Draco looked at Ginny who was staring at the table.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, okay?"

"No, it's not okay! I don't understand how you could even think of doing something so stupid. It's bad enough that Harry's going through with it..."

Draco started pacing, irritably.

"What do you want me to do, Gin? Potter has made up his mind, I can't stop him, but I can be there to help him."

"You're both being stupid! And so is Dumbledore!" she shouted.

"She is right, you know."

They both turned around to see Snape at the door.

"Professor, please talk some sense into him," Ginny begged.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Mal- Ginny. But I don't think he'd listen to me anyway."

Ginny slumped in her chair, defeated.

"The Headmaster has called a meeting for this afternoon. The plan will be finalized then."

"I want to go, too," Ginny cried, jumping to her feet.

"No Gin. You and Joyce need to stay with Hermione," Draco said.

"But I..."

"No. If you come, you're just going to yell at everyone. Perhaps Blaise, Severus, and I can talk some sense into them. But if you're there, it'll just make things worse."

Ginny said nothing; she just glared at the hardwood floor.

Snape nodded to Draco, and then left.

Draco walked over to his wife, and tried to pull her into an embrace, but she stepped away.

"Ginny, please don't be like this," he begged her.

She turned from him and ran all the way up to their room. She threw herself across the bed, and cried harder than she ever had before.

A few minutes later, Ginny felt the bed dip as he sat down beside her.

He started rubbing her back with one hand.

Finally she sat up and reached for him, snuggling as close as she could get.

Draco held her tightly, not saying a word. What could he say?

"Promise me..." she whispered.

He pulled back so he could see her face.

"Promise me that you'll do everything you can to come back to me," she demanded.

"I promise," he replied, then sealed it with a kiss.

The kiss quickly turned passionate, and they began tearing each other's clothes off. There was a desperation as they made love, as if they might never get the chance to again.

The second time was slower. They leisurely kissed, and licked each other to new heights of pleasure as if they had all the time in the world.

Ginny struggled to remain conscious as he rolled onto his back and cradled her head to his chest, but the soothing warmth of his body and the rhythmic beat of his heart lulled her into a deep sleep.

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Blaise could feel Hermione's eyes on him as he tried to read his book. After five minutes of her intently staring at him, he couldn't take it anymore.

"What is it?" he demanded, looking at her in exasperation.

"Nothing," she responded, but kept staring at him.

He glared back at her, and it suddenly turned into a staring contest.

His eyes started to burn, from being open so long, but he wasn't going to give in.

Hermione was trying really hard to keep from laughing at how absurd they were being.

Finally, Blaise made a face and stuck out his tongue. Her eyes shut as she giggled, and when she looked up at him again he had picked up his book with a satisfied smirk.

"Cheater," she taunted.

"I'm not going to argue with you," he said in a singsong voice.

"Why not? I'm bored," she pouted.

He sighed in annoyance and put his book back down.

"Isn't there something that you can read?" he asked.

"I'm sick of reading. I wish I had a TV."

"I've seen one of those. They wouldn't work here," he pointed out.

"I know that," she snapped.

Hermione sighed, and looked over at Blaise again.

"How do we kill Voldemort?" she asked suddenly.

Blaise blinked at her abrupt change in subject.

"I don't know. Isn't that supposed to be Potter's problem?" he asked with a sneer.

"No. It's everybody's problem. What if he kills Harry? Then what? We just give up?" she asked.

"Possibly."

She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"You know, Zabini, when you say things like that it makes me wonder just whose side you're really on."

He glared back at her, and silently counted to ten. He knew she was just trying to provoke him.

He calmly got to his feet and walked over to her bedside.

Hermione swallowed nervously, but kept her chin up.

He leaned down so that their faces were inches apart.

"Let's not forget that I am a Slytherin. I could just be waiting to see who will win," he growled.

Hermione saw the mischievous glint in his dark blue eyes, and leaned in closer to him.

"Back off, coffee breath," she growled, in a perfect imitation of him.

He pulled back with a grin, shaking his head.

"There is no way to intimidate you, is there?" he asked her, fondly.

She blushed slightly.

"Do you remember who I'm married too? It'll take a lot more than that to intimidate me," she smirked.

He sighed, and sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Honestly though, you don't have to worry about me betraying you," he said seriously.

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but that's not too reassuring."

He shrugged and picked at a loose thread in the blanket.

"Blaise, why did you become a Death Eater?" she asked.

He was quiet for a minute, gathering his thoughts.

"Some Death Eaters killed my parents a few weeks before we graduated," he said finally.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said.

"I was so angry. I wanted them all dead; I knew the only way I could do that would be to become one of them. I went to Draco, and he helped me enlist. I didn't know it, but at the time he was already thinking about defecting. For my initiation I was supposed to use the killing curse on a man. I didn't want to kill him, but I'd never be allowed near the Dark Lord and his inner circle if I didn't."

"Did you do it?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Yes." His eyes were daring her to condemn him.

However, Hermione was no dunderhead, and she knew there had to be more to it than he was saying.

"Just like that. They said, 'kill him' and you did it?" her question was slightly sarcastic.

"I might have," he said defensively.

"But you just said you did," she pointed out.

He sighed, not believing that she had gotten so much out of him.

He finally just decided to tell her the whole story.

"I was still trying to make up my mind when I saw him. He was raping Joyce. I didn't know who she was at the time, but something inside me snapped, and the next thing I knew I was casting the curse."

"But you did it to save Joyce, that should make it okay," Hermione said.

"Does it really? Oh, come on Hermione. You know that there are many legal curses I could've used instead."

She didn't say anything.

"Do you know what it feels like to cast the killing curse on someone? It feels like an invisible hand made of ice is squeezing your heart, and you can feel a chunk of your soul being sucked away. I had nightmares for weeks afterward," he admitted.

She shivered at his description, and placed a hand to her belly.

The strong kick beneath her palm made her flood with warmth at the affirmation of life growing inside of her.

"So what made you change your mind?" she asked him.

"About destroying the Death Eaters? Joyce. The Dark Lord 'gave' her to me as a reward for a job well done that night. We quickly married, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had more to think about than just myself. Ever since then, I've been doing my best to keep us both safe. When Draco came to me and told me that he'd joined Dumbledore, I took it as a sign. I never really believed it would all end with a suicide mission though."

Hermione looked back down at her hand on her belly, then back up to him.

"Whatever happens tonight, we can't give up," she declared.

"Why not?"

She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her stomach.

He gasped in wonder at the powerful kick he felt.

End chapter 21