"What?" Ron's voice sounded shock but Hermione heard a hint of desperation in the one- word one- syllable reaction to the news.
"I'm pre-gna-nt." Hermione, being also a bit frustrated with Ron at the moment, sounded out each sound, hoping to annoy him a bit.
After a moment of silent thinking, he spoke again, "How?"
HOW? Hermione's face showed the rage in her mind, WHAT THE HELL DOES HE MEAN, HOW?
"I don't know, Ron!" She struggled to keep her voice down seeing as they were hiding behind Hagrid's hut, "Maybe it was a duck who came down, took out his wand, and with a flick of his feathers yelled 'PRODUCE A BABY WITHIN WOMB THAT WILL END UP LOOKING LIKE A MIX BETWEEN HERMIONE GRANGER AND RON FREAKING WEASELY'!"
Hermione took a few deep breathes hoping to calm herself. Ron continued to stare at the ground. Guilt coursed through his veins and kept him silent, until more question rolled up on his tongue.
"Sorry….." he suddenly felt obligated to say before he continued pounding the girl he loved with questions. "What do we do?"
Hermione felt equally as bad for yelling at him. It was his fault and she knew he was just as confused as she was.
"No," she sighed" look, Ron, I'm sorry. And, to be honest, I don't know what we're going to do….. maybe we cou-"
"There you two are!" Harry's voice filled their ears and the inconvenience almost drove them both over the edge. But, to keep their secret, they sucked up their fury and turned to face the now running towards them Harry.
"I have been looking for you two everywhere! And, say, what are you doing back here anyway……. Wait I'm getting off topic. I just came down to show you this." Harry pulled a folded piece of paper out of the pocket of his robes. 'The Daily Prophet' was written across the top. Under that, another title, above a picture of a street covered in a substance that looked sickeningly like blood, read: 'His Unsettling Message.'
Ron and Hermione made no objection to let Harry read the article out loud, (and they were actually a little relieved when he stood between them.)
"Muggles everywhere in England are frightened by You-Know-Who's message stating that he is on a mudblood hunt and the note itself was written in the blood of a local witch's, Makenzalyn Wiake. He also left a list of witches and wizards he would be looking for so readers beware of contact with the following: Angela Ruter, Anna Stake, Pavel Scings, Domani Much, and Hogwart's student, Hermione Granger."
Harry stopped reading. Hermione's stomach dropped. She was now being hunted by the most feared wizard who ever lived. She wouldn't be so afraid, if she wasn't sharing her body with a helpless child.
They all stayed silent for what seemed like hours. Harry shifted uncomfortably every now and then. Ron had kept slowly moving positions and gradually forming a protective shield with his arms in front of Hermione.