Author's Note: Hi. I couldn't help myself with this story. I know I have other things that I should be spending my time with but this idea would not leave me alone until I put down the first chapter down. Story starts in TDH when Ron abandons Harry and Hermione and then quickly diverges from canon.

Plot: There was a reason why a Horcrux was not supposed to be attached to a living person. Something that Harry and Voldemort learn the hard way when Lily's protection failed after Harry left Privet Drive for the last time. But that doesn't mean it ended up being a bad thing. Harry / Voldemort SLASH and MPREG

Warning: This contains SLASH and Male Pregnancy. Please do not ignore those warnings only to give me flames later on. If you don't like it then don't read it.

Here is my disclaimer that I do not own anything Harry Potter related and what follows is merely for entertainment purposes. No money is being made. All credit goes to JK for the wonderful world of Harry Potter that she gifted us with.

"Yeah, you're right!" Harry said to Hermione, momentarily forgetting the discomfort that had been plaguing him for the last several weeks.

He swallowed back the residual bile that always seemed to be present now from his recent bouts of throwing up and general nausea.

"So, would he have hidden the sword well away from Hogsmeade, then? What d'you reckon, Ron? Ron?"

Harry tore his eyes away from Hermione as he glanced around the tent wondering where Ron had gotten off to. He could have sworn the redhead had been here a few minutes ago.

Unfortunately, Ron had been physically quite close to Harry and Hermione the entire time they had been discussing the most likely places where Dumbledore had placed the real Goblin-made blade. In fact, the apparent ease at which his friends had forgotten his presence only made the nagging thoughts that had been festering in the back of his mind worse.

This wild goose chase was not what he had signed up for and the casual way that his very presence in the small tent had been ignored was the last straw.

"Oh, remembered me, have you?" He bit out harshly.

"What?" Harry turned towards the shadow in the bunk bed across from where Hermione and he had been sitting.

Ron snorted from where he lay on his back, his eyes looking at the bottom of the top bunk.

"Suddenly remembered that it's not just you two?"

Ron rolled onto his side and glared at them.

"What, what are you talking about?" Harry replied with furrowed eyebrows. He didn't know where this was coming from and he didn't really have the energy to deal with it.

"You know what – never mind!" Ron huffed out, his gimlet stare belying his statement.

"What is your problem?"

Harry's voice was louder now; he was not in the mood for this given how tired and off his whole body had been feeling.

"Problem!" Ron laughed harshly. "I don't have a problem."

"Clearly you do."

"I don't know, Harry, maybe – just maybe – I assumed that you had some semblance of an idea as to what we would be doing. I'm not exactly having the time of my life here living day after day in this Merlin-forsaken tent when everyday it becomes more and more clear that you haven't the slightest clue about any of the crap that Dumbledore left to you."

There was genuine rage in Ron's eyes and he glared at Harry with contempt.

"I thought you knew what you were signing up for!" Harry roared back, clearly blindsided by Ron's outburst.

Harry moved to stand only to suddenly find that his balance was off; he quickly threw his left hand out on the table between him and Ron to support himself.

The lightheadedness that he had been suffering from on account of not being able to keep much food down during the past two weeks was really catching up with him.

"I shared everything with you that I knew!" Harry growled in annoyance at Ron's antics.

"And I mean everything! Every little thing that Dumbledore passed onto me I passed onto you. What, did you expect that I was keeping things from you and that once we were away on our own I was suddenly going to pull out a treasure map with everything spelled out as to what we needed to do? Are you really that thick headed!"

Harry may not have been feeling that great but he was well and truly pissed off now.

"Ron…" Hermione said in a quiet voice that both boys heard but neither acknowledged.

"I just thought that you knew what you were doing! Hermione and I both did!" Ron was seething now.

"Ron…" Hermione said with a quiet but sharp voice. "Take the locket off. You wouldn't be talking like this if it weren't for the locket."

"Yeah, he would," Harry said without blinking an eye. "And before you begin, Hermione, I know you two have been talking behind my back. D'you really think I didn't notice the whispers ever since we moved on from Grimmauld Place?"

"Harry, we weren't…"

"Don't lie!" Ron shouted. "You said it too, that you were disappointed; that you thought Harry had a bit more to go on than -"

"Not like that, Ron!" Hermione cried. "I didn't say it like that, Harry."

There was silence for a few moments before Ron apparently realized that he had more to say.

"And it's not like things are getting any better… this sword is now just another thing we have to add to our list of things to find. That is, if Harry doesn't keep getting sicker and sicker. Don't tell me the stress of this isn't getting to you. I see you excusing yourself to throw up when you think no one is looking – you've barely been able to keep anything down… probably from all the guilt of leading us along blindly!"

"If things are so bad for you then why are you still here?"

"I've been asking myself that more and more, you know."

"Then go home!" Harry yelled, needing both hands to now steady himself on his feet.

"You know what? That sounds like a great idea."

Ron then felt the need to bring up his family and how Harry obviously didn't care that Ron spent the majority of his time worrying about something bad happening to them. However, he crossed a line when he said, "it's all right for the two of you though, what with your parents safely out of the way-"

"My parents are dead!" Harry interrupted in a cold fury.

"And mine could be going the same way!" Ron yelled right back.

"Then go you supreme git! GO!" said Harry, ignoring the faint dizziness beginning to seep into into his mind.

Ron turned to leave and Harry slammed his fist on the table, not even caring that he was momentarily unbalanced.

"Leave the Horcrux!"

A second later and Slytherin's Locket bounced across the table before Ron grabbed his bag, turning to face Hermione.

"What are you doing?" He asked pointedly.

"What do you mean?" Hermione replied in a hollow voice.

"Are you staying, or what?"

Hermione had a pained expression on her face.

"Ron…" she said while her eyes brimmed with tears, "I'm staying. We said we would go with Harry, we said we would help-"

"I get it," he spit out. "You choose him. Fine."

Ron then spun on his feet and exited the tent.

"Ron!" Hermione cried, running after him.

Harry felt the adrenaline leave him and he slid back into his chair. He was exhausted and didn't have the energy to think too deeply on what had just happened. He felt weak, to the point of passing out even.

But still he reached for the Locket. His fingers closed around the metal and he took a few deep breaths as a wave of relief washed over him. He was still quite tired but he at least had the energy to crawl over to his bunk and fall forward.

He had just turned over to his side when Hermione reentered the tent, her face white and her eyes vacant.

"He's gone…" she whispered to no one before making her way over to a chair and falling into it.

Her sobs picked up just as Harry gave into his exhaustion and closed his eyes.

The next time Harry opened them was morning, though he barely felt like he had gotten any meaningful rest. His body still felt like it had been stretched too thin for too long and he had no idea why. He knew that something was wrong but he refused to believe that it had anything to do with what Ron had said. He had been up front with them and had actually tried to talk them out of going with him.

The only positive note that his tired mind quickly grabbed onto and focused on instead was that at least his stomach finally felt like it could keep something down. In fact, for the first time in several days he was both hungry and had an appetite.

Small miracles, he supposed.

Harry sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, testing his balance before pushing off the mattress with his hands at the same time that he stood. Then he walked over to what had become their little eating area, passing Hermione who was curled up in the chair that she had passed out in over her grief with Ron's departure. The underside of her eyes were red and swollen and it only confirmed in Harry's mind that the events of last night had actually happened.

Ron was gone; he had abandoned them.

"Of course he did," Harry muttered darkly under his breath.

He wasn't surprised in the least that Ron had tapped out right when the going got tough.

"It's not like it's the first time he's done something like that," Harry said quietly to himself while he moved to prepare some oatmeal for breakfast.

He had just finished heating the combination of oats and water with a heating spell when Hermione stirred in the chair.

She moaned and her eyelids shot open to reveal bloodshot eyes. Her neck snapped from side to side as she took in the sparse tent; it was clear that for the briefest of moments she had been hoping that last night had just been a terrible dream.

Harry turned to look at his bowl, avoiding her eyes as the realization that his first friend really was gone settled in.

For the next several moments Harry focused on his oatmeal to give her privacy. At first he spooned small bites into his mouth and chewed slowly before swallowing to make sure his stomach was ready for food. Once he determined that not only would he be able to keep the food down but that it felt good in his stomach, Harry began to take larger and larger spoonfuls.

"I can't believe he did that," Hermione said with a pained expression on her face as she sat down at the table.

She crossed her arms in front of her and shivered.

"Here," Harry slid a steaming bowl across the table. "Eat."

There was silence as both finished their meals.

When she was finished, Hermione looked up at the empty bowls in front of them.

"You ate."

"Bout time."

Harry raised his head to meet her eyes.

"I… thanks for staying, Hermione. I'm not sure I could do this without you."

She looked like she wanted to say something but when she went to open her mouth nothing came out. So she nodded.

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"It's not your fault," she managed to return.

Then she took a deep breath.

"Anyways, it's my turn for the locket. I don't think either of us should go more than half a day… we can't afford to let it affect us like that."

She shifted in her chair and extended her arm to Harry, leaving her fingers flat and her palm turned upwards.

Without thinking about it Harry brought up both hands to lift the locket over his head, only, as his right hand began to reach out to give it to her he suddenly began to feel very off.

He continued to hold onto the chain even as Hermione's fingers closed around the locket and began to bring it closer to her.

"Sorry," Harry shook his head to the side when he noticed that he still hadn't let go.

His verdant eyes flickered and his gaze shot from the chain to stare directly at his friend.

"I suddenly don't feel all that well."

A fraction of a second later and his gut clenched sharply.

"Ahhhh!" Harry moaned as his hands dropped to encircle his stomach. He leaned forward in the chair and inched himself painfully to the side so that he could fall to the floor.

"Hermione!" Harry pleaded desperately as his body curled up into the fetal position.

"It hurts…." He whispered painfully.

At once Hermione forgot about the Locket and dropped it on the table before moving around to hover over her fallen friend.

"What's wrong?" She inquired in a nervous fear as her eyes darted over his body, making sure that whatever was causing him pain wasn't overtly obvious.

"My… stomach…" Harry gasped through gritted teeth.

It felt like an explosion had gone off inside of him and for the next several minutes he focused on his breathing while Hermione's wand waved frantically over him.

"I don't know what I'm looking for!" She cried, quickly beginning to work through the few diagnostic spells that she had made it a point to learn during the previous summer.

However, one by one they turned up inconclusive. Though, now that the immediate panic was over, her mind was able to think more clearly as it ran through a list of the most probable causes and if any of her remaining diagnostic spells could rule them in or out.

"An Ulcer," she whispered so quietly to herself that Harry didn't hear her.

Of course, Harry was too focused on the pain to pay her that much attention. The only thing he cared about at this point was that whatever unholy hell had been unleashed felt like it was starting to subside. Slightly.

"Damnit!" Hermione huffed in annoyance when her Ulcer hypothesis came back negative.

She was running out of ideas and spells to test them with.

Just then, however, while Hermione noticed that Harry's breathing was returning to normal and some of the tension was leaving his face she had an unexpected thought.

"No," she said just as quickly before she had a chance to fully consider the extreme and completely unlikely idea that had popped into her mind.

However, as the seconds ticked by she found that her crazy notion just would not leave her alone.

In fact, the more she thought about it the more it explained what she knew about Harry's recent behavior and symptoms… and, technically, it was possible for wizards on account of magic.

No matter how uncommon it was in the wizarding world, it was possible.

Her unsteady hand caused her wand to move in a small circle over Harry's stomach as she whispered the incantation she couldn't believe that she actually thought could give insight into what was wrong with Harry.

"Fetus revelio!"

A second later she gasped as a light blue fog made it all too clear.

"Harry, you're pregnant."

The hows and why will be explained in the next few chapters and I'm sure you can take a wild stab at who the father will be. Sorry not sorry, though reviews would be encouraging. For those who care, I'm making significant progress on The Dark Lord's Equal.