A/N – Thank you to everyone who left me reviews! I actually wasn't planning on continuing this story. I just typed it up on my day off from college because I was bored. I will continue it, for now anyway, since you asked me to. Please ignore all spelling mistakes in this story!! I'm usually a pretty good speller but since the spell check on my computer isn't working I can't double check anything.

Disclaimer: (I forgot to do this for the first chapter) These characters do not belong to me. Anyone who has not spent the last ten years in a cave, on mars, with their eyes closed and hands over their ears will know this. If you want to sue me, I just used my entire life's savings to pay for college so too bad for you.



Hermione stood still for a moment, just staring at the spot from which Ron had just disappeared. She sighed and leant against the wall that Ron had just had her up against. Her eyes traveled around her room. Heavy wood door next to her, her bed off to the left, her wardrobe across from that… it looked the same as it always did, but the moment Ron left it just didn't feel right.

She let out a cry of frustration and walked over to her bed. She flopped down on it, just barely missing Crookshanks, who was still curled up by her pillow. Her yellow down blanket and pillows poofed around her. The conflicting emotions she was feeling were driving her crazy!! On one hand, Oscar was the best thing that had ever happened to her, despite all the trauma of getting pregnant just before the end of her last year at school and having her conservative parents kick her out of the house. Lately, however – in truth, ever since she had begun to look at Ron as something slightly more than a friend about a year ago – a small part of her was starting to wish that the indescretions that had left to his birth had never happened.

She felt her thoughts wander back to a familiar corner of her mind, one she had visited many times in the past five years. Back to the corner which held the memories of what happened the night she found out she was pregnant…

(flashback)

Hermione sat on the the plush red couch, staring blankly into the fire in front of her. It was after midnight, and the Griffyndor common room was completely empty and quiet for once. Most of the seventh-years had headed to bed early as the N.E.W.T exams were now less than a week away. Hermione emitted a low sigh and stared at the orange and yellow flames dance in front of her without really seeing them. She didn't even hear the creak of the door to the common room opening.

A little while later, she became aware that someone else – TWO someone elses – had entered room. Their soft laughter was the first sound she had heard that evening since the last student had departed hours ago. "Shut up, shut up!" one of the voices hissed. "Someone will hear you!" This only made the other person laugh harder, and eventually the first person joined in. Irritation coursed through Hermione. For the first time that night she felt her thoughts turn from the subject that was keeping her up all night. As Head Girl, she should have turned around and put those two troublemakers in their place. What did it matter now, though, she thought. Just sit and be quiet and hopefully they'll leave soon.

Their laughter stopped after a couple minutes. "They'll know who did it," a voice at normal-volume said. A familiar voice. "We'll lose points."

"We don't need those points anyway!" said the second, also familiar voice cheerfully. "After winning all those Quidditch matches, they could take a hundred points off and the other houses will still never catch us. Besides, this is just what we need to boost the moral of every Griffyndor seventh- year before the exams. Not to mention Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, too."

"For the good of the school, huh Ron?"

"Is there any other reason?"

They went back to their giggling again. "If only we could see their faces when they wake up!" Ron gasped.

"We'll see them at breakfast. That'll be good enough. They'll be livid!" said Harry. The thought of this just made them laugh harder.

Why can't you just carry on with this conversation in your rooms?! Hermione wanted to scream. As much as she loved Harry and Ron, she really wanted to be alone now. She had hinted as much to them earlier that evening when they invited her to play a game of chess with them. She had snapped at them and walked off. Then, however, her mood had been caused by fear of what could be. Now it was fear of what was. Her thoughts wandered back to her immediate problem. She was pregnant!! God, her parents would kill her.

She didn't know how long she sat there thinking those kind of thoughts, but suddenly she felt a hand shaking her shoulder. "Hermione? Hermione! What are you doing here? Have you been petrified or something?" She looked up for the first time that evening. It took her eyes a moment to focus on Ron, who was looking strange colors to her after staing into the fire for so long. "What's wrong with you?" he asked. "I never thought I'd see you up this late, especially the week that the N.E.W.Ts are on. Up studying, maybe, but not just sitting here wasting your energy."

Hermione tried to laugh. "I'm just getting myself psyched, that's all." She was quiet a moment, furiously praying that he bought her excuse. "Where's Harry?"

"We went up to our rooms like half an hour ago," Ron said. "I realized that I left my wand on the tale over there, so I came back to get it and here you were on the couch. You haven't been here all night, have you?"

"I heard you and Harry come in," Hermione answered evasivly. "What did you guys do to the Slytherins anyway?"

Ron grinned. "We figured they could use a little psyching up for the N.E.W.Ts, too. Tomorrow when they wake up, they'll find their entire common room covered with – well, newts."

"How did you get into their common room?"

Ron shook his head playfully. "Secrets of the trade, dear Hermione." He plonked himself down next to her on the couch. She was glad he didn't leave, despite her thoughts half an hour ago. She was at a stage where she could use some company, and why not one of her best friends? "So, what was up with you earlier anyway?" he asked, reaching into his robes and pulling out several chocolate frogs. He offered her one, but she shook her head.

"Just nervous, I guess," she said quietly in response to his question. There was silence between them for a moment while Ron munched on his chocolate. Hermione felt tears starting to come to her eyes. Oh no, not now, not now, she thought. She had managed to keep from crying the entire time since she had confirmed her suspicions. Please, please, don't let me lose control while Ron's here!

Her tears had a mind of their own, howeve, and they began to slide silently down her face. She quickly made a move to wipe them off, but Ron saw her. "Don't cry, Hermione," he said softly, and put an arm around her shoulder. "Yhou're the smartest person in the whole school. You probably got more O.W.Ls than Dumbledore got when he was at school. Trust me, you'll ace the N.E.W.Ts."

"Its not that," said Hermione through her sobs. She had given up trying to cry quietly and was letting all the fear, anger and confusion she had been battling the entire night come out. "I'm in trouble, Ron. Big trouble. Non- fixable trouble." She put her head against his chest and continued crying. The fire in the fireplace died out, leaving them in darkness.

Obviously in shock, Ron absently stroked her shoulder as she continued crying. "You know you can tell me whatever it is," he said finally, still staring straing ahead. "I'll help you though it. Me and Harry will."

Hermione pulled her head up from his chest and disentangled herself from him. She wiped at her eyes, trying to catch her breath. "I'm pregnant," she finally whispered.

Her words had a shocking effect on Ron. He lept back from her, his mouth hanging open. "Are you serious?!" he practically screamed.

"Shh, shh," Hermione said frantically. It would be just her luck if the entire house woke up with Ron's yells and came to investigate. She moved over closer to him and grabbed both his hands with hers. "I'm serious," she said sincerely, staring him straight in the eye. Ron didn't meet her gaze.

He opened and closed his mouth several times before managing to pull himself together enough to form sentances. "I mean, are you sure."

"A hundred percent."

"Oh, man," said Ron. He pulled his hands from hers and flopped back onto the couch, running his hands through his hair. Hermione waited anxiously for him to say something. If her best friend took the news this way, what in god's name would her parents do?

They sat in the silence and darkness for a long time, Hermione feeling worse and worse with every passing moment. Suddenly Ron's voice came out of the darkness, hitting her like something solid. "Do you know if its a boy or a girl?" he asked with a thoughtful note in his voice. She had to laugh.

"I'm only just over a month pregnant, Ron," she said.

"Oh," was his reply. "What about the father?" he flinched slightly after saying this, as if he were afraid that her answer could inflict physcial harm on him.

She shook her head violently. "He's not going to be a part of this. I don't want him him my life. I doubt he even knows I'm pregnant."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"No. But I expect he'll find out soon enough." She looked at him, and the unspoken question written on his face. "I can't tell you who it is," she said softly.

He nodded, disappointed but respecting her reasons for secrecy. Finally, he turned to her. "You know I'm always here to help you with whatever you need, right?"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I know you are, Ron," she whispered in his ear. "Just like you always have been."



Hermione opened her eyes and stared at the roof. Ron had been so good to her. How could he stand by her after everything she had done to him? Invaded his home, demanded his and his family's attentions every day for three long years – but worst of all, in her mind, was the fact that she had gone and slept with someone else in their seventh year when his feelings about her were obvious. And then he had enough decency to love her son as his own.

And now that she finally felt the same way about him, she wasn't worth of him.

Hermione was jerked from her thoughts by a pounding on her front door. It took her a moment to remember who she was, what she was doing – she was no longer seventeen, and her child was no longer a thing she feared or dreaded. She smiled as she looked at the clock and saw that it was already four. Oscar was home.

She launched herself out of bed and went to the door, sliding the chain off and twisting the lock. "Hi sweetie," she said as she opened the door. Oscar's bright eyes stared back at her.

"Mummy!" he cried, and launched himself at her legs. She laughed and knelt to return his hug.

"Come on inside, you silly goose," she said as she straightened. "You're letting all the heat out. I have some biscuts for you, and you can tell me about school." She ushered him inside and closed the door.

The moment the door closed, a rat that had been sitting, unobserved by anyone, across the hall scurried off. It quietly slipped into a lift that was making its way to the ground floor. Odd…anyone who saw would have thought that the rat had been watching Hermione's flat.