I have no defense for this.

[rsadelle]

"Hermione?" Harry put one hand on the crying girl's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Hermione shook her head and unsuccessfully tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes. She took a deep breath and said, "I'm pregnant."

Harry's eyes widened in shock. "Hermione." He sat down next to her. "Wow."

She laughed hoarsely. "Yeah, wow." She looked down at the handkerchief she was twisting in her hands. "I was so careful with the birth control spell too. I know I did it right. He must have done something to make it stop working."

"Done something? But Ron would never--"

Hermione smiled sadly. "I haven't slept with Ron."

"Oh. Oh!" Harry looked at her. "What are you going to do?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know."

"Are you going to tell Ron?" he asked hesitantly.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears again. "I don't know."

Harry put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it worse. You know if you want to talk to me you can."

Hermione patted his knee. "I know Harry." She managed a watery smile. "You're a great friend, but I think I have to do this myself."

***

"What do you want, Granger?" Malfoy sneered.

"Why did you do it?" Hermione asked tonelessly.

"Do what?"

"Disrupt the spell."

"Oh, that."

Hermione turned on him angrily. "Yes, that. Why did you do it?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Wanted to see if I could."

Hermione paled. "You wanted to see if you could?" She paced away from him and back. "You wanted to see if you could? Well you bloody well can," she nearly shouted at him. "I'm pregnant."

"That's rather inconvenient."

"'Inconvenient'," she snarled. "I'm pregnant and that's all you can say?"

"Careful there, Granger. You're starting to sound like a parrot." He eyed her coolly. "I don't see how this involves me at all."

"It's your child," she ground out.

"You can't prove it."

"I'll do a paternity spell."

"You wouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't want that Weasel of a boyfriend of yours to know you've been fooling around on him."

Hermione smiled coldly. "And you wouldn't want that elitist house of yours to know you'd slept with a Mudblood. This is just as much your problem as it is mine."

Comments

[rsadelle]

Hmm. The thing is that Harry doesn't really have a reliable way to contact Draco. Draco just shows up when he wants to talk, and this is before they're sleeping together, so he's not around as much as he is later in the story. So either the creature (ooh. Excuse to go flipping through the magical beasts book) shows up at a time when Draco's dropped by, or it has to be something that they can just let sit for a few days until they figure out what to do with it. And it can't be so awful that they're too tired/injured for sex afterwards.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Hm, damn.

Part of me wants to suggest something about a virgin sacrifice, but I don't think they'd be virgins anymore at this point.

(I kind of want to write that as a humour piece, Draco deflowering Harry because it's the only thing that'll keep a monster away. Or something. I think I've read too much Buffyfic.)

[rsadelle]

Yes, fuck-or-die! Actually, I kind of like the touch-or-die corrollary better, which is part of why I loved most of "Protective Bonds." What kind of creature in the HP universe demands a virgin sacrifice?

That won't work for this story, though. The battle doesn't make them have sex; it just gets their adrenaline flowing, and then they go home and have sex.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

My knowledge of HP-universe monsters extends to "Generally, they tend to bite, and have big claws." So I'm afraid I can't help you there. :/ (How about a demon?)

Ah, well never mind then. ^_^

[rsadelle]

I see I shall now have a legitimate excuse to go sit in the bookstore and read Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them. Yay!

Are there demons in the HP universe? One would think there would have to be, but do we have any evidence of them?

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

If you want me to help, I can steal my brotherr's copies. :) (Hey, I bought them for him, he can bloody well let me use them for once!)

I don't know. I'd say so, since there are monsters and ghosts, but ...

[rsadelle]

If you want to read it, I'm willing to help you have an excuse to do so. ;) Actually, you might want to read the Quidditch one as research for the HP Wannabe Novel of Doom if you haven't done so already.

I'd think so too, but I suspect JKR is staying away from that so as not to give the Harry-Potter-is-witchcraft people any extra ammunition.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I read them both before I gave them to him, but I'll have to re-read the Quidditch one, yeah.

Hm, there is that, of course. Hm.

[rsadelle]

On the other hand, just because JKR is avoiding it doesn't mean I have to. I'm not trying to convince people I'm not an agent of Satan.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

That'd be pointless anyway. We know you're an agent of Satan. :p

[rsadelle]

My point exactly!

I like the idea of a demon. What sort would it be? And what kind of spells do you use against a demon?

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Hey, keep that point away from me!

Hm. I'm not sure. (Random thought: isn't a boogieman supposed to be some sort of demon?) I'm pretty sure I know where to find species and names and such of mythological demons, if I tried. Unless you want to make one up.

[rsadelle]

Actually, here's what I'm thinking now: Draco drops in to report to Harry. Harry's already exhausted because some nasty shit has been going down. When Draco asks what's wrong, Harry tells him about a Dark Wizard they defeated. Draco tells him that said wizard used to boast about having a dragon in London. Harry, being the responsible worker of light that he is, gathers together a team and goes after the dragon, which does, indeed, live in London.

Sound workable?

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Sounds quite workable, yes. :)

[rsadelle]

Meep! Now I have to actually write the damn thing. Back, battle scene! Back, I say.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Battling the battle scene, eh? ;D

[rsadelle]

I don't know how to write a battle scene!

[rsadelle]

No more battling with the battle scene! It needs some tweaking, but I have the first draft of it done. And, eep! This thing is over 8,000 words already, and I think it needs at least two more scenes before it's done.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Wooo! Go you! (And damn. I mean. Damn! That's LONG!)

[rsadelle]

I know. If I write 2,000 more words, it will cease to be a short story and become a novella.