It was close to midnight, two weeks after the new year had begun. Snow was falling, and blanketed the exterior of the Castle. It really was beautiful. It was also completely peaceful and utterly serene. The Order has just adjourned their latest meeting, and the pack of teachers, followed by the Trio apparated to the outside of Hogwarts and entered the Castle. The Trio did not have an enforced curfew on nights that meetings were held. They did not loiter in the halls, but often traveled up in silence to their dormitories, so instructing them on hurrying to bed appeared to be futile, least unnecessary. Biddings of good night ensued this night, and the three students travelled up the stairs and found themselves facing the open doors to the Great Hall, where they stopped for a brief moment.

'Well guys, I don't know about you but I'm beat,' said Ron, half talking and half yawning. His eyes had dark circles beneath them, and he looked as though he would fall asleep at any moment.

'Yeah, I'm tired too. I'll be up there,' Harry said pointing up towards the moving staircases leading to Gryffindor Tower, ',,,in just a second.'

After Ron shuffled up step by step towards the Tower, footsteps echoing throughout the empty staircase, Harry made sure he had walked some distance before turning to Hermione.

'How are you feeling?' Harry said in a low tone to Hermione. No one could deny the worried look consuming his face. He looked at her with eyes of love, mixed with concern.

'A bit better,' Hermione said. 'Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion for the nausea, and said that she needed more ingredients for a pepper-up potion, but she would get them from Professor Snape tomorrow afternoon.'

'That sounds good,' said Harry. No doubt he could not mask the concern etched on his face or in his voice. Hermione meant everything to him. She was the reason, he believed, that he had the strength to keep fighting the good fight. If anything were to happen to her, it would break him. Especially now. Especially with the current circumstances.

For Hermione Granger was pregnant…

Flashback

It was one day after Christmas, and the two were spending most of their free time at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. She had come into his room that night, worried, crying, and with a look of pure defeat across her face. He motioned for her to come lie with him, and she obliged, scooting into bed next to him, under the pile of covers, head resting on his chest, arm snaked around his midsection.

'Harry…' she whispered through tears, '…we're losing, aren't we? He's winning. He's winning, Harry.…why do we keep fighting what can't be won?'

Harry looked down at her, tears brimming in his own eyes. He could feel her desperation, her lack of hope. And then for one moment, he truly regarded what she was saying.

They were losing.

Innocent people were being killed. Two weeks ago, to that very night, they had attended the funeral for Mundungus Fletcher, who had been killed by the hands of Lucius Malfoy. Hope, what they had thought they had been clinging onto, was falling by the wayside.

'Harry…' Hermione whispered, pulling Harry out of his thoughts, 'Harry,…are you alright? Are you even listening to me?'

'Hermione…' Harry whispered, 'we need hope. Hope will get us through this. As long as I'm here, as long as I'm with you, we have hope. You mean the world to me, and I will never let you go. Not now. Not ever…'

'Oh Harry,' Hermione looked up at Harry, '…if you're not giving up, then…then neither am I…Harry…I…I….' stuttered Hermione, '…Harry, I think I love you. I mean, I don't think. I do. I do love you. I know that something, something wonderful has happened to us within the past few months…Oh, this is coming out so wrong…' Hermione half smiled and blushed considerably, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

Harry looked at her with a smile and said what he had been meaning to say for the past three weeks. 'Hermione Granger, I have loved you from the very beginning – from your big bushy hair, to your big brown eyes…you are everything to me…and…I love you too…with all my heart…I know this is kind of new for us, and I'm not sure where it's going, but…I like it…I really do…I love you,' said Harry.

At that point, Hermione gazed up at Harry, and with her heart full of emotion, and newfound hope, inched up on one elbow to look directly into Harry's brilliant green eyes. Harry, with a look of passion and love, looked at Hermione with all the want in the world, and the two embraced. Passion soon consumed them. A new magic, a deeper, more powerful form of magic, more than they had ever experienced before was felt. And before the sun rose the following morning, a new life had been created. A life conceived by love, passion, and above all…Hope.

End of flashback