Bedrest

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had to be on bed rest until the babies were born. The specialist who had come to Hogwarts insisted on it and wasn't persuaded to let her continue as she had been. She was only 25 weeks along; what was she going to do for the rest of them.

"How am I supposed to take my exams?" Hermione was particularly irritated today, and this news didn't help.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I think the professors will be more than accommodating for this situation. It is, after all, because of the law," the Healer then went on and listed all the things Hermione shouldn't be doing, giving the list to Draco.

"Thank you, sir," Draco smiled at his wife sympathetically and looked back at the Healer.

"I trust you do, I say; I don't want to meet those babies of yours until 30 weeks minimum."

"5 weeks in bed!"

"Or more. I would like you to be pregnant for as long as possible." the Healer didn't care at all who was sitting in front of him. All he wanted was for the babies to be healthy and for the mother to survive. The fact that Hermione Granger was giving him an attitude about bed rest didn't bother him in the least.

"Draco, what am I supposed to do for 5 weeks?" Hermione was glaring at him. The look she was giving him made him feel like she thought he was going to fix it. He wanted Hermione and the babies to be healthy, and he was going to do what the Healer said, whether she wanted to be mad at him or not.

"Maybe I can find you some new books?" Draco hoped this would be a good enough answer to calm her down. The point of this was to help him releave stress. At this moment, Draco didn't think it would.

"You are going to have to find a lot," Hermione knew in the back of her mind why she had to do this, but she hated being idle. She was so used to being busy all the time. She just wasn't sure how sitting and doing nothing was going to sit with her.

Hermione heard a knock at the door, and Ginny walked in smiling, Hermione knew she was here to take her mind off of all of this, and she was grateful; she only hoped she wouldn't take her anger out on her best friend.

"Now, I know you dislike chess, but it was the only game I could find, so I figured it was better than nothing. Plus, I thought if we practiced enough, we might be able to beat Ron." Ginny got the game ready, and Draco went to class and left the girls to their game.

"So, how long do you think you'll be able to sit in bed before you go crazy and talk the Healer into letting you do some things?" Ginny smiled at Hermione, and Hermione's eyes lit up.

"I was thinking 2 weeks. At first, I thought that I would just persuade him, and now I think it might be slightly more complicated. Seems like the kind of person who is not easily broken."

"Well, if you can't break him. What about Draco?"

Hermione thought about it for a minute and frowned, "I think Draco would be harder. The Healer kept talking about my safety. No way Draco is going to risk that."

"Guess your stuck in bed then," Ginny frowned, and her eyes softened. She felt bad for her friend. She had never been the kind of person to relax when there were so many things to be done, and that is exactly what they were asking her to do.

"Checkmate," Hermione smiled, and Ginny frowned. She hasn't paid nearly enough attention.

"Rematch?" Ginny hoped that focusing on something other than the fact this was day one would help Hermione.

"You are on," Hermione giggled, and the girls kept on playing. They were pretty evenly matched, and after each winning ten, they decided to call it a draw.

Draco tried to listen in class, but he knew that it was a waste of his time. If the Healer had put Hermione on bed rest so early, did that mean they were expecting something bad to happen? He didn't know a lot about babies, and he figured it was never good to have to take all of these precautions. He would have to be diligent in making sure Hermione was following all of the rules. He didn't care if it made her unhappy. He just wanted the four of them to be safe.

He wondered, though, if he would be able to take her down to dinner some days if he put her in a wheelchair. He thought about sitting in that one room would drive him nuts. He would have to owl the Healer about it. He just hoped that these 5 weeks would go by fast.