Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Time's Up	By : Gotbooks00 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Blaise Views: 23286 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I own many things, but not any recognizable characters, things, or places in the Harry Potter series. Somehow, I doubt that JKR would agree to joint custody…shame, that. Also, no profit is being made from the writing or posti

Chapter List
- 1-Time's Up
- 2-TWO
- 3-THREE
- 4-FOUR
- 5-FIVE
- 6-SIX
- 7-SEVEN
- 8-EIGHT
- 9-NINE
- 10-TEN
- 11-ELEVEN
- 12-TWELVE
- 13-THIRTEEN
- 14-FOURTEEN
- 15-FIFTEEN
- 16-SIXTEEN
- 17-SEVENTEEN
- 18-EIGHTEEN
- 19-NINETEEN
- 20-TWENTY
- 21-TWENTY ONE
- 22-TWENTY TWO
- 23-TWENTY THREE
- 24-TWENTY FOUR
- 25-TWENTY FIVE
- 7
- 8
- 9
Time’s Up, by Gotbooks93

Summary: After successfully hiding the existence of her son for eight years, Hermione is out of luck and out of time. When the father of her child discovers her secret, their quiet worlds are changed forever. Will things become better, or worse? Join Hermione as she finds out.

CHAPTER EIGHT

When Hermione was a child, she quickly learned not to lie to her parents. Not because she had a steadier hold on her moral compass than her peers, but because she was not a good liar, and always got caught. Her parents could always tell when she was lying, and always caught her when she tried to be sneaky about… well, anything.

Although Hermione had become a fairly proficient sneak during her time at Hogwarts, she had apparently become a little rusty in the years since. As she crept through the surrounding bushes, Hermione couldn’t help but cringe at the sound of every snapped twig, crushed leaf, and sucking puddle of mud. However, it was none of these noises that eventually alerted the house’s inhabitants to her approach, but the well- honed senses of her best friend.

Hermione was surprised to see the light in the kitchen window flip on, despite the late hour. Seeing this, Hermione abandoned any attempt at stealth, and padded up to the back door. Knocking firmly, she heard a rustle behind the door before Harry’s voice was heard.

“Who’s there?” His voice whispered.

“It’s Hermione. Let me in.” she whispered back.

“Prove it.” Challenged Harry, and Hermione smiled faintly at their old habits. Although the war was long over, many people still clung to the Ministry approved password method at nighttime.

“The first time you ever saw a boggart, it turned into a dementor. When you were fifteen Cho Change kissed you, while crying over her lost love. You told everyone you got an E on your Defense N.E.W.T., even though you got an O, so Ron’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt. You think Luna’s hair smells amazing. You’ve purposely given Xander the ‘grass’ flavored Every Flavored Bean several times, just to watch his face scrunch up. You secretly sneak to my parent’s house to watch the Rugby World Cup with my dad every year, instead of going to auror training, like you tell Luna.”

The door swung open, revealing Harry Potter, still dressed in his auror uniform. “How’d you know about the rugby games?” asked Harry, moving aside to allow her entry.

“Well, I wasn’t sure until now, but thanks for confirming it.” Hermione said as she breezed in, making her way to the kitchen table.

“Zabini must be rubbing off on you, because that was a rather Slytherin tactic.” Said Harry off-handedly. “So, not that I’m not pleased to see you, but what exactly are you doing at my house at-” He broke off, glancing at the clock over the stove. “twelve- forty five at night?”

“What are you still doing up at twelve- forty five at night, Mr. Potter?” Hermione asked evasively, not quite ready to confess to her crime.

“I had night shift at a suspect’s house tonight. Now, answer the question.” He said, and Hermione shifted uneasily in her seat.

“Hermione? What’s wrong?” Harry said, “Oh, Merlin, you haven’t done anything stupid, have you?”

“Er, define ‘stupid’.” Said Hermione with a weak laugh. As silence settled over the kitchen, Hermione watched Harry’s face morph into a mask of horror.

“Oh, Merlin, you killed Zabini, didn’t you? Oh, Hermione, this is bad. This is really bad. Shit. Shit. Okay, where are we going to hide the body? Maybe-”

“Harry! I did not kill anyone!” Hermione cut her friend off, stopping his rapid pacing.

“Oh. Well. That’s good news, isn’t it?” said Harry as he dropped into the seat across from her.

“Why would you think I killed Blaise?” asked Hermione, bewildered.

“Well, it’s something that Lu and I were talking about the other night…”

“Oh, please, do share.”

“Well, she was saying that mothers do crazy things for their kids…and if I ever tried to take Albus or James from her, she would set a pack of divarian hopwinks on me.”

“…okay?”

“Divarian hopwinks are, apparently, venomous.”

“Ah. I see…So, Luna told you she would kill you if you got between her and the kids?”

“In a roundabout way, yes.”

Hermione was quiet for a moment. “You know, I think I admire Luna a little more, now. But I don’t think Blaise is going to try and take Xander from me. More, like, just bring him into his family.”

“I don’t think Xander is the only one Zabini wants in the family, Hermione.”

“Don’t be dense, Harry. Now, to the reason I’m here.” Said Hermione, pulling the bag across the table so that it sat in front of her.

Leaning forward curiously, Harry snapped his body back when Hermione reached in and extracted a snake.

“I know.” Said Hermione, heaving a sigh. “Before you ask, it’s Xander’s new pet. Blame Blaise.”

“Ah. And you brought this snake to me at one in the morning…why?”

“Well, we think it’s Xander’s familiar, because the snake has been so friendly and attached to him. But…Harry, what if it’s not really a snake?”

“You’re worried about another Pettigrew incident.” Harry stated instantly, and Hermione was vaguely surprised that he came to the same conclusion so quickly.

“I won’t take the chance, Harry. I know Blaise thinks I’m being paranoid, but I’d rather be wrong and have a harmless snake in my home, than a death eater in disguise, waiting to hurt my family.”

“I don’t blame you, Hermione. I cast every revealing spell I could find on that damn bird of Luna’s when we first got it.” His face was serious as he looked at the frozen snake.

“Well, I just want to see if it’s an animagus, first.”

“Alright. If I remember correctly, the spell needed to force an animagus to change needs two people, yeah?”

“Yes. It’s the Homorphus charm.” Hermione showed him the correct wand movements, and soon the pair was standing across from each other, with the snake on the table between them.

“One, Two, Three!” The spell hit the snake with a flash of light, sending it vaulting towards the ceiling. It came back to the table with a thud, only to…

Do absolutely nothing. Hermione and Harry breathed a collective sigh of relief as the snake remained in its true, serpentine form.

“Well, there you are Hermione. Looks like you kidnapped your son’s familiar for no reason.” Harry said with a chuckle.

“Just one more thing?” asked Hermione as she gingerly picked up the snake. “Could you talk to her? I mean, you’re the only parseltounge I know. Just to figure out if it’s an evil snake, or anything. Oh, and tell her I don’t hate her.”

Gathering Hermione’s abandoned pair of dragon-hide gloves, he slipped them on, taking Selena from her grasp.

“Okay, I’m going to take the freezing charm off her. One, two, three!”

As soon as the charm lifted, Selena began to hiss angrily, struggling against Harry’s firm grip.

Harry gave a sharp hissing noise, and the snake jerked to a stop, obviously startled by the reptilian sound coming from a human mouth. Harry continued to make hissing sounds, keeping his eyes on Selena.

The fine hairs on Hermione’s arms rose as she watched her friend communicate with the snake, and she fought the urge to shiver. Sure, she had seen and heard her friend speak parseltounge before, but now her attention was entirely focused on Harry. And quite frankly, it was a little creepy.

After a moment, Selena hissed back, and the sounds continued. Once or twice, Hermione could have sworn the snake tilted it’s head in her direction, and she tried to suppress her worry. What if her actions made her son’s familiar hate her?

After a minute or so, Harry broke his gaze from the snake in his grasp, and his hand loosened its hold. Selena wound down his arm and onto the table, wrapping its coils around in loose loops.

“Well, she’s not terribly pleased with your pet-napping scheme,” began Harry, “but I explained you did it for your child. She views Xander as a cross between her child and her nest- mate, so you’re forgiven for being protective of him.”

“Oh, well that’s a relief.” Said Hermione, her voice holding a tinge of sarcasm.

“Anyway, she forgives you. But she says next time you try to do something like this, she’ll wrap around your throat until you stop moving.”

Hermione, torn between amusement and worry, nodded her assent before tentatively extending her hand toward the snake. Selena began to wrap around her hand and arm, coming to a stop when she was at Hermione’s shoulder. Taking this as a sign to leave, Hermione rose and moved toward the back door. Just as she was about to turn the knob on the door, she glanced over her shoulder at her best friend.

“Harry?”

“Yes, Hermione?”

“Earlier, when you thought I killed Blaise, you said we were going to hide the body. If I ever did-”

“Yes, Hermione, I would have your back. I’m a best friend first, an auror second. But- I mean- you don’t really have any plans to go off anyone, right?”

“Oh, Merlin, no! No, I just…thanks, Harry, for having my back through everything.”

“Anytime, Hermione.”

After giving Harry a one- armed hug, Hermione stepped onto the back stoop before apparating home.

~(0)~

It was half- past two in the morning when Hermione stumbled back into her rooms at Hogwarts, bone tired. She quickly gave Kurty her thanks, and quickly found herself alone with Selena in the living room.

Moving her way to the door to Xander’s room, she silently moved towards Selena’s tank, gently placing her inside. She gave the snake’s head a quick stroke before she replaced the lid of the tank, and backed out of the room.

Making her way through the rest of her living space, Hermione snuffed out candles as she walked towards her bedroom. Using her wand to lower the roaring fire to a quiet smolder, she turned towards the hallway, already imagining the warmth and comfort of her bed.

This thought was brutally interrupted as the fire behind her roared to life in a torrent of green fire. Spinning around, Hermione watched as the head of Elena Zabini appeared amid the flames.

“Hmmm. Still have that dreadful head of hair, I see.” The beautiful witch commented from her place at the hearth.

“Lovely to see you, too, Elena? How are you? I’m quite well, myself, even though you’re floo calling me at three in the bloody morning.”

“Ah, the time difference always confuses me, darling. My apologies for the early hour.”

“Elena, England is only an hour behind Italian time.”

“Exactly, it’s four o’ clock here! That is my usual wake- up time. I mean, really darling, do you think I look this good by natural means? I have an hour- long beauty regimen to complete before my husband wakes up. Can’t have the buffoon seeing me as anything other than divine.” The Italian woman gave a smirk. “Speaking of beauty, that hair of yours must be tamed. I suppose it’s a tad better than it used to be, but-”

“Elena, we haven’t talked in over a decade, and the first thing you say to me is that you still hate my hair?” Hermione felt that she should have been more upset, but was too tired to care.

“Well, I could start by asking you where my grandchild is?” the older woman snapped, dropping all pretenses of civility. “I take a look at the early edition of the paper, and what do I see? A picture of a grandchild I never knew existed! Of course, those dreadful reporters have all been trying to get a quote from me, but I know better than to talk to them. They’re all so greasy, and pushy. Not a speck of class among them. Of course, I tried to get a hold of Blaisey, but he’s not returning my owls.”

“Hmm, imagine that.” Hermione muttered sarcastically.

“What was that?” Elena asked, her eyes narrowed.

“Nothing, Elena, nothing.” Hermione sighed.

“Now, how long has Blaise known about the boy? Surely, he wouldn’t have kept such a thing from me for long.”

Hermione was tempted to tell Elena that Blaise had known for years, knowing it would enrage the other woman. However, Hermione liked her head attached to the rest of her body, and wasn’t sure if this would be the case when Blaise found out about her deception. Instead, she informed Elena that it had only been a few weeks, and the two of them had decided to keep it quiet for as long as possible.

“Well who else knew about this- this- unsuitable mixing of the bloodlines?” asked the other woman.

“I seriously hope you’re not referring to my son.” Hissed Hermione, her maternal instincts rearing up.

“Well, granted, it’s hardly the boy’s fault that his father dallied with a witch out of wedlock, and a muggleborn witch at that!”

“Elena, I’m warning you-”

“No doubt you’ve spoiled the poor boy’s mind, poisoning him against all our magical traditions!”

“I’ll poison you…” Hermione muttered under her breath, her temper coming to a boil. It was rather fortunate that the floo chimed with an incoming call when it did, or Elena Zabini would have been the recipient of a rather nasty hex.

“Elena, I have an incoming call.” Hermione snapped, grabbing her wand to switch floo lines.

“Hermione, don’t you switch over on me!”

“Too late.” Hermione said with a sticky sweet tone, smirking as she flicked her wand.

Her smirk dropped rather quickly when she saw who was on the other line.

“Ah. Hermione, what are you still doing up?” Asked Blaise, surprised.

“Oh, Blaisey, you’ll never guess who I have on the other floo line.” Hermione sneered.

Blaise sighed. “Yes, she’s what I called you about- although I had hoped to come wake you up and warn you about it before she could track you down.”

“Blaise, I swear to Merlin that if you don’t get her to shut her bigoted mouth right now, I cannot and will not be held responsible for my actions.”

“I was afraid of this.” Said Blaise. “Stand back, I’m coming through.”

“No you are not! I want to go to sleep!” Hermione protested, to no avail. Blaise stepped right through the floo, stumbling into Hermione in a rare pique of clumsiness.

With their floo connection technically finished, the call flipped back to Elena’s waiting face.

“Oh, so this is what you’ve switched over on me for!” she exclaimed, watching Blaise and Hermione try to untangle their limbs. “Honestly, you could have at least said goodbye to me before you two start being intimate! Although, that doesn’t seem such a good idea, since neither of you seem to be proficient at the contraceptive charm! And I hardly think getting her pregnant again is going to help anything, Blaisey.”

“Mother, I assure you, Hermione and I were nowhere near being intimate. Now, why are you bothering Hermione at this hour?” Blaise said, finally detangling his right elbow from Hermione’s left calf.

“Perhaps I should be asking you why you were in a young woman’s home at this ‘late hour’ as you put it, figlio mio.” Said Elena sweetly, before taking a deep breath and exhaling dramatically. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. What I do want to know is this: whatever were you thinking, keeping my grandson from me?”

“Oh, Mother, barely anyone knew, it was nothing personal. Now, surely we can discuss this at a more suitable time?”

“And have you ignore all of my owls for a week? I think not. Stand back, I’m coming through now.”

Again, Hermione attempted to protest the uninvited intrusion, and was again denied. To her credit, Elena did not stumble into either of the other living room’s occupants - although Hermione may have stuck out a foot with high hopes of her tripping.

The discussion that followed was a basic catch- up session of the last month’s events. Hermione explained that only Molly Weasley, Harry Potter, and Pansy Parkinson were fully aware of Xander’s true parentage, although she suspected several of her friends likely had their own strong suspicions. Plenty of those suspicions would undoubtedly be confirmed with the delivery of the Prophet, but Hermione had no intention to officially confirm the story. Blaise assured his mother that Xander would be presented and acknowledged as part of the Zabini time at some future point, much to Hermione’s annoyance. Apparently Blaise had his own agenda in regards to Xander.

Any mention of their own budding relationship was non- existent, although Elena slyly glanced at the foot- long space between the pair with a speculative gaze.

During the discussion, Hermione couldn’t help but notice Elena’s change in demeanor. She had met Elena a handful of times before, back when Blaise and Hermione were still in school, and a few times in the years after. Apparently the woman still wasn’t terribly fond of Hermione, and continued to hide her sharp intellect and cutting remarks from Blaise.

‘Some things never change, I suppose.’ Mused Hermione as she watched Elena titter mindlessly at Blaise.

As the clock on the wall chimed four times, Hermione was relieved to see both Zabinis stand. Moving toward the hearth, Elena artfully threw in a hand full of floo powder.

“I’ll be by to see my grandson at some point.” Elena’s perfectly- plucked eyebrows scrunched for a moment. “There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say. Oh, well. Ciao, darlings!” With that, Elena disappeared and the flames flipped back to their normal hue.

Turning to Blaise, she noticed his eyes looked as tired as she felt.

“How long has Pansy known about Alexander?” Blaise questioned, to Hermione’s surprise.

Hermione paused. “You didn’t know she knew?”

“Not until you just told my mother. Any ideas as to why she didn’t tell me earlier?” Blaise asked as he ran a tired hand over his face.

“Well, she didn’t know for sure until recently. I think she suspected it for several years, since she knew we were together when we were younger. But I only confirmed it a week or so before you found out. She probably kept it to herself because of Ginny.” Searching for a definite emotion on Blaise’s face, Hermione couldn’t help but feel bad for the Slytherin woman.

Blaise paused, and then shrugged. “I know I should be angry right now, but I’m too tired. I’ll owl you when I regain consciousness, cara. Sleep well.” A moment later, Hermione found herself alone in her living room.

Fighting drooping eyelids, Hermione trudged to her bedroom, determined to get some rest.

Hello everyone!

This chapter was a breeze to write, in comparison to the last one. However, this chapter was almost cut off at “Hermione watched as the head of Elena Zabini appeared among the flames.” But I decided that was mean (and short) so you got a little extra.

Leave a review, because I love them : )

XOXO,

Gotbooks93
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