The Contract (Hermoine/Voldemort story)

Chapter 16

It was the morning of New Year's Eve, and the weather was stormy. The wind was howling and without magic, it would have been impossible to keep the room warm. The first thing Voldemort did when he woke up was cast a warming spell over the bed. His wife was still asleep and she didn't seem to be bothered by the cold. She slept on peacefully with her hands on her big stomach.

Voldemort wasn't in the mood to leave the bed just yet. It was not even six am and if the newspaper was right, the storm hadn't reached its peak yet. It would hopefully be over in the evening. Since it was quite risky to Apparate in this weather (body parts could blow away before you managed to put them all together, or you could land somewhere dangerous and get a tree in your head), there was very little he could do. Except researching. This would be a perfect day to find out if the girl had had any breakthroughs. Although for that, she needed to be awake. He wouldn't make the mistake to wake her up before she was ready. The last time he did that, he got a pillow in his head and she had been sour and annoying all day. It wasn't worth it.

Instead, he hissed softly for Besch. The little serpent made her way up into the bed and stopped on Voldemort's chest.

"What has my mate done this last couple of days?" he asked the serpent in Parsel.

"She is always sitting with those book-things," Besch complained. "No fun. Only fun was when half-female came and yelled."

"Half-female?" Voldemort asked.

Besch nodded and told him how his wife had spoken to the "half-female" who smelled like wolf. Voldemort didn't know who this half-female was, although he guessed it was a werewolf. He would ask the girl about it. Besch told him that the girl and the half-female had spoken about power and some favour, however, she was unable to repeat the whole conversation. Voldemort stroked the serpent and listened with half an ear when she started to tell him about the mouse she had found a couple of hours ago.

So the girl tried to make friends? Well, he wasn't surprised. Hopefully she would make the right kind of friends. It sounded like this half-female could be good for her. She would need another woman to talk to once the child was born. He knew woman loved to talk about their little babies and he didn't want to listen to it. Hmm, speaking of the baby, he should call that Healer and ask her to do a check-up. If something was wrong with the baby, it would be even harder to care for it. He didn't want that.

He was pulled out from his thoughts when he heard a gasp from his right. His wife had woken up and she had probably seen the serpent. He couldn't help but to smile. Her fear was so amusing.

"Do you have to have her in the bed?" his very annoyed wife asked.

"Well, you were asleep and I didn't have anyone to talk to," he said and turned his head toward her. "And it was too early to get up."

The girl had a frown on her forehead. "Why are you even awake?"

"It was cold," he simply answered and helped Besch down to the floor before he turned his whole body toward his wife. "You didn't seem to notice."

She snorted. "No, I feel like a walking fireplace. I guess it's because of the baby."

He placed a hand on her stomach and nodded. She was very warm. He removed his hand. "I was thinking about getting you a Healer. Any wishes?"

She seemed surprised. "No I don't know any Healers, but thanks for asking."

He just smiled. He had been quite sure she didn't know anyone, so it was safe to ask for her opinion. She yawned and he watched as she absentmindedly scratched her breast. He arched an eyebrow as her finger started to move around her own nipple. What was she doing?