Chapter Text
The moment it happened, Hermione knew.
A gut-wrenching twist low in her belly stopped her dead in her tracks on the way to the library.
The pain was different. Sharper, more urgent, and devastatingly distinct from anything she’d felt before.
It wasn’t physical, not entirely.
It was a feeling of loss.
Not the dull ache of fear or the sharp pangs of late pregnancy. No, this was something deeper. Wrong, in a way that echoed through her very magic.
"Draco," she whispered, her hand instinctively pressed against her swollen stomach. The cold corridor of Malfoy Manor seemed to close in around her.
She immediately twisted her engagement ring in a full circle, summoning him and waiting for a response, for her finger to warm, indicating that he received her call and was on the way to her.
Nothing.
Her breath caught. Panic clawed its way up her throat.
She twisted again.
Still nothing.
Panic tightened her chest. Her breath came faster. Her fingers shook.
Once more, with trembling hands and a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening, she twisted the ring, knowing that nothing save death would stop him from coming back to her when she called, especially now that she was almost nine months pregnant.
Again…nothing.
And then she knew. Really knew.
Deep down, she knew the truth that her heart wasn’t yet ready to accept.
Draco Malfoy, her husband, the father of her unborn children, her love, was… gone.
The scream that tore from her wasn't human. It was raw, primal—the sound of something shattering beyond repair. She collapsed to the cold marble floor, back against the wall, legs twisted to the side, hands clutching her belly as if she could hold her world together by sheer force of will.
Lucius found her like that. His hands were gentle when they touched her face, brushing away tears she couldn’t feel streaming down her face.
"Hermione?" The fear in his voice was uncharacteristic. "The babies—?"
She shook her head, struggling to speak through shallow, panicked breaths as Lucius crouched in front of her, assessing her with worried eyes.
“No, they’re fine. It’s Draco. He’s not… He’s not answering my ring.”
Her voice cracked, the words barely more than a sob. “Lucius… I think he’s…Something has happened. I can’t…I can’t feel him anymore…”
She couldn’t say it. Couldn’t give shape to the nightmare that was the cold, hard truth.
Lucius hesitated only a moment before gathering her into his arms, pressing her against his chest.
“I will find him,” he assured her against her hair, his voice resolute and grounded in a moment that felt like the earth was swallowing her whole.
He waited for her to calm slightly, then gently helped her to her feet and apparated her to the bedroom she shared with Draco. He guided her to the chaise lounge, tucking her into the cushions before disappearing again with a crack.
A few seconds later, he reappeared, this time with Theo.
Theo immediately rushed to her side, kneeling and wrapping her in his arms as she sobbed into his chest.
“Do not leave her,” Lucius ordered, voice cold and clipped.
“I won’t,” Theo responded firmly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Lucius vanished again, leaving the two of them in the quiet devastation of the room.
Theo rocked her gently, his hand stroking over her hair until the sobs eventually subsided into shudders.
She stirred, lifted her head, and twisted the ring again, one last time. Nothing.
With a choked cry, she tore it from her finger and hurled it across the room.
Theo swallowed and then stared at her for a long moment, no doubt his head working out in real time what was happening.
“You don’t know for sure what’s going on,” Theo tried to reassure quietly. “Maybe…Maybe he took his ring off and that’s why—”
“He wouldn’t,” she snapped. Her voice cracked. “He would never do that. I felt it, Theo. I felt him…go. Something… something awful has happened. He’s gone. I know it.”
Theo didn’t argue, clearly not wanting to give her false hope. He just took her hand and held it in a comforting grip. He then used his free hand to brush over the wetness on her cheek.
“Everything is going to be okay, Hermione,” he reassured her softly, “I promise you…no matter what happens.”
Hermione stared at the floor, at the place where the ring had landed.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Nothing will ever be okay again.”
The long silence that followed agreed with her.