Not In Kansas Anymore

Chapter Ten: Subtle Counsel

The sun hit Hermione's eyes through the always-open door of her downstairs bedroom; she yawned and rolled over, happy to see Blaise still lying next to her. A pang rippled through the corner of her heart and she knew this wasn't forever, that this was just for last night? The weekend? She knew this was a tryst that was going to be something they shared but never spoke of.

Blaise gave her a wry smile as he cracked open his blue eyes, cocking his head against the pillow his eyes told her he knew just what he did. "Who was he?"

Hermione wondered later why she said it. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

He pulled her into a deep meaningless kiss that she returned readily, tugging her body toward his. "Promise."

Leaning her head against his chest she said, "It wasn't a guy," she cringed as she felt him pull away a little. Hurriedly she added, "Not like that. I think it might be better to start at the beginning."

Blaise nodded, pulling her back to him and running comforting fingers through her hair. "Please do, wait, let me guess. His name was Harry Potter."

Hermione smiled wryly; "Somebody reads the headlines."

"It was all over."

Hermione nestled closer to him and murmured, "You don't know the worst of it, he got me pregnant and then had an affair." She ran her words together; figuring if she got it all out in a few quick exhalations it would cause her less pain.

"Ouch."

"Yeah, you must have heard about the divorce and custody battle that followed."

Solemnly Blaise nodded, "But that's all I know."

Remorsefully Hermione added, "It ruined us, our friendship."

Holding her tightly Blaise said, in a disbelieving voice, "And you guys were always best friends, to save the world and back again."

"Maybe we should have stayed just friends," said Hermione, looking back over the past two years. Taking a deep breath Hermione continued, cutting Blaise off just as he opened his mouth, "Now, I'm staying with Draco, he let me barrow this, he's been wonderful..."

"But?" asked Blaise quietly.

Tears threatened Hermione again and she added, "Oh, its not Draco's fault, he saved me! But I lost the babies."

"Damn," said Blaise and he held Hermione for several long silent moments as she tried to dry her tears. "You can cry, its okay." He kissed her forehead and Hermione felt him rub the small of her back and that small gesture brought the tears she had fought so valiantly crashing down over her face.

Part of her wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation, cold tears were falling down her face in waves, she was crying in the arms of a near stranger, and crying for him in a way she hadn't been able to do with Ron or Draco, Fred and George, with Parvati or Ginny, with Lavender or her teddy bear. Perhaps she could show herself to him because she knew she would never see him again, perhaps it was because he obviously needed someone too, or maybe it was just time for her to cry. These were real tears, not the shocked tears that had happened at the hospital, they were not the tears of futile denial that had come on the beach. These were the harsh tears of smashing reality.

For a good long while Hermione cried and sniffled while Blaise made no motion to quiet her, he just hugged her closer and placed occasional kisses on top of her head, reassuring her that this was okay, and otherwise let her be.

Hermione untangled herself from Blaise and looked at the shock white ceiling before saying, through a stuffy nose, "Your turn."

*

Hermione's head snapped toward the sound of a voice saying her name. "Hmm?" she said.

Exasperatedly Harry said, "It's your turn."

"Oh," Hermione glanced at the cards in her hand and proceeded to make a very stupid play, which resulted in her hand blowing up.

Quietly Harry asked, "What is it Hermione?"

Biting her bottom lip Hermione said, "I'm just worried Harry."

Puzzled Harry studied Hermione. "About what?

Hermione shook her head. "I've got to mail some more wedding invitations and things like that, Ginny's coming over tomorrow to help."

"Right," said Harry, not really seeing why Hermione was stressing.

Fred and George chose that moment to enter the kitchen at headquarters, both of them looked a little worse for the ware and collapsed on either side of Hermione. "What happened?" she asked frantically, her color draining rapidly.

"We blew up our latest product," they said in unison.

Harry chuckled and bid the three of them good bye, claiming that he needed to go check on Buckbeak. Hermione sighed and began to pack her things into her bag, the empty card box and the pack of gum she had become accustomed to carrying. "I have to go," she said, her voice rusty and tired.

George stopped her and asked, "Anything we can do?"

Carefully Hermione thought, "Well, Ginny's going to help me with invitations, your mum is going to help cook dinner, but..." Hermione's voice fell off and a bright light clicked on in her eyes. "You can...oh never mind."

Fred and George pasted identical expressions of disapproval on their faces. "What?" they asked crossly.

Hermione sank dreamily down back on to the bench and looked intently at her knees. "You guys were there for me right after dad and mum died, and you've just been there for me, even back in fifth year. It'd mean a lot to me if you'd walk me down the isle."

*

"Writing?" asked Hermione her interest piqued.

Blaise smiled. "Yeah, I've been writing magic histories, she was kind of my muse."

"Which ones?" asked Hermione, totally sidetracked.

Blaise shook his head and said guardedly, "I use a pen name, you'll just have to read acknowledgments."

Huffily Hermione said, "Was she French?"

Resigning himself to the fact that he could no longer distract Hermione, Blaise began his story. "Yeah, we'd been living together for about two months when I come home one day for lunch and she's on the phone with a literary company trying to publish my new book under her name."

"What did you do?"

"Kicked her out of the apartment and brought myself down here to my family's bungalow, and met you and had a very nice night."

Hermione squealed and turned a bit red before rolling over to look at him. "Thanks."

*

"Of course," replied the twins, not batting and eye.

Relief flooded Hermione, "Thank you so much, that's one less thing for me to worry about."

She was about to leave when Fred and George pulled her back down into her seat, looking at her George said, "When was the last time you ate?"

"I had some gum earlier when I went for a last fitting."

Fred frowned. "You're working too hard and not eating enough."

Hermione squinted at them and picked an apple up off the cabinet, crunching a large chunk off of it she said, through a mouthful, "See? I ate."

George sighed deeply and shook his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets, stepping back he let Fred handle it. "Is there anything else we can do to help?" Fred asked earnestly.

"No," said Hermione tossing the half-eaten apple into the bin. "There really isn't anything," said Hermione, wishing she wasn't so late in getting to her meeting with the photographer. "Thanks," she kissed them each on the cheek and buzzed out of the room.

*

Hermione leaned over the deck, looking over her apple at the sand wet with ocean spray; Blaise walked out to her carrying two mugs of streaming coffee, his hair hanging in wet slices over his forehead. "What?" he asked nonchalantly, noting how quite Hermione had been since they crawled out of the bed.

"Nothing," she said directly to her apple core. Skeptically Blaise rolled his eyes but didn't say anything and looped his arm around Hermione's neck.

Hermione didn't know how long it was they sat there, leaning over the rail, but she supposed it was a while because the next sip of her coffee was cold and bitter. The next thing out of her mouth surprised her. "I was going to give them up."

Caught totally off guard Blaise said, "Who?"

"The twins, the doctor told me I was pregnant and I knew Harry didn't want kids yet, so I though I'd just get rid of it. Then he told me it was twins and I couldn't do it. To take one life is something, to take two is another ball game." Hermione rambled incessantly until she heard her voice begin to shake.

"Ball game?" asked Blaise. "A game with one ball?"

*

The blurs shot through the wintry air and Hermione's breath rose in clouds all around her. Rubbing her gloved hands together she took the hot chocolate thermos from Parvati just as Hufflepuff scored a second goal. Hermione sighed, not only were they gaining on the Gryffindors but she'd have to listen to more of Ron's blow by blow on each goal he blocked or missed.

Lavender on the other hand squealed. Parvati slapped her on top of her snow hat saying sharply. "They scored not us!"

Not taking her eyes off of her binoculars Lavender said, "No but Seamus has decided to hover just over our head and I have a great view of his ass."

Ginny squeaked but could not pull the binoculars away from Lavender. Hermione just gave the two of them a wide berth and she and Parvati finished off the hot chocolate with the other two girls none the wiser.

*

Blaise's back was getting smaller as he walked down the beach, the sand washing over his footprints so it looked like he had never been there. Grinning Hermione breathed deeply, she felt so relived, somebody had listened and hadn't judged. It amazed her how good it felt to get all of that off her chest, with that sentiment Hermione walked back into the house, her feet bringing more sand in.

Wondering how best to celebrate her freedom Hermione made herself a glass of mango tea and was wandering aimlessly though the house when she walked by the fireplace. On instinct she tossed green powder in over the ashes and called Ginny Weasley.

*

A candle was lit in the bedroom when Hermione entered; it surprised her a bit because Mrs. Weasley was prowling about outside, listing to make sure they were all going to sleep.

"Fred and George put a spell on it so it only shines in this room," hissed Ginny. Nodding Hermione pulled on her pajamas and crawled to the foot of Ginny's bed. "What did they talk about?" asked Ginny eagerly.

Hermione smiled and repeated as much of what Sirius and Reamus had said when there were two cracks in the darkness. "Two galleons to me," chimed George matter-of-factly.

Ginny laughed into her hand and asked quietly, "What were you betting? That we'd still be awake?"

"No, we knew you'd still be awake. We were betting on whose bed you'd be sitting. Obviously I said Hermione's bed and I was wrong," grumbled Fred.

Through nobody could see him very well in the dark George's face turned up in a malicious way. "Did you tell her everything...about the weapon?"

"Yes," answered Hermione.

Ginny, knowing her brothers much better than Hermione asked, "What did Harry and Ron think."

"They are both a bit on the naïve side..." began Fred.

*

"How naïve do I look Hermione?" said Ginny, taking in the villa and seeing the trails of sand leading into the bedroom.

"Do you fancy a swim?" asked Hermione changing the subject and handing Ginny a butterbeer.

Ginny sank into the sofa cushions saying, "What was his name?"

From inside the bedroom Hermione answered, "Should I wear my red or black suit?"

"Was it good?"

"Red it is then."

"How long?"

"You can barrow the black one, but we might have to use a shrinking spell."

"Did he have any brothers?"

"I can't find my matching sandals!" hollered Hermione from the bedroom.

Her legs draped over the side of the sofa Ginny admired her newly acquired foot ware; "I have no idea where they could be."

Noting the sudden change in Ginny's topic of choice Hermione dashed out of the bedroom and made a swipe for the shoes, Ginny took them off and sat on them in one swift movement.

Angry Hermione sat on the coffee table, tapping her bare foot impatiently as she recited, "Blaise, yes very, I didn't count, yes again."

Ginny's face twisted into a grin that made Hermione all too aware of who her older brothers were. "Oh in that case where's the black one?"