AN: I have to say that I am truly amazed at the amount of reviews I've received. Another chapter got written today because of them. I hope you all enjoy the next one. To those of you who don't sign in or have PMing disabled, thank you so much for your comment. And Tom Felton Me Up, have you been at my laptop, it's like you read a much later chapter….

Thanks to Astarte_Lydianna and Gnoir for their never-ending support, this isn't beta'd yet so bare with me.

Disclaimer: All recognized characters and situations belong to J. K. Rowling. I make no money from this story and I own nothing in the Harry Potter universe.

Harry stood frozen for a long minute after Hermione finally told him what had been bothering her since they went to Godric's Hollow two days before.

"Harry snap out of it" Hermione urged him as she ran around casting the protective spells.

Just as she cast the last Protego Totalum, Harry grabbed her arm and spun her around, tearing the Locket from her neck. "You're not wearing this anymore" he growled, clasping it around his own neck.

"Harry, you can't wear it all the time, you'll be impossible" Hermione argued.

"No. Now I understand why you were in pain this morning and what it's been trying to do to you since, no way are you wearing it again" He snapped.

"We can't keep hunting the Horcruxes, we'll have to disappear" Harry continued, pacing around Hermione as she stood with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Harry, for Circe's sake stop. We can't stop hunting the Horcruxes. We have to beat You Know Who. The whole world is waiting for YOU to save them" Hermione yelled when his muttering became too much for her short temper.

"Hermione, in the last three days we've barely escaped him twice! I can't keep putting you in danger. You go back to the Burrow, the Order can hide you and I'll keep hunting" Harry ordered as his pacing continued.

Hermione grabbed him as he passed her and gave him a hard slap across the face.

"Harry James Potter, how dare you? How dare you make out like I'm some kind of wilting flower now? Do I have to remind you that in both those situations I got you out? I can handle myself perfectly well no matter what condition I'm in. And how about giving the fact that I'm pregnant with YOUR child a second to sink in before you start worrying about the damned hunt!"

Harry dropped his head and ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Hermione. I've reacted badly. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes" Hermione answered simply.

"Hermione, what are we going to do? If we actually manage to make it out of this alive, you're going to have my baby, Ron and Ginny, they'll never forgive us"

"Ron left Harry. He left us at a time when we needed to stick together more than ever. He has no claim over me. Ginny on the other hand, I don't know Harry. She's one of my best friends and I don't want to hurt her but there is nothing to be done now"

"Don't try and put on a brave face 'Mione, I know you're in love with Ron. It was just one night. I can't believe this is happening" Harry sat down heavily on the ground.

Hermione sat across from him and took his hand, "one day at a time Harry. We have to save the world, then we'll worry about the rest"

"What do we do once your all big and not able to move quickly, I can't guarantee how long this is going to go on for, what happens if you have the baby before we find all the horcruxes, we can't drag a baby around the country..." Harry began rambling and Hermione put her hand over his mouth.

"Harry, I don't have the answers, this hasn't even sunk in yet. I mean, I did the spell yesterday. One day at a time" Hermione said in a calming voice, even though she knew everything he was saying was true and felt anything but calm herself.

That night Hermione pulled out the leftover chicken from the day before and warmed it over the fire. They ate quietly. Harry couldn't take his eyes off Hermione's flat abdomen.

His mind was so completely consumed that he didn't hear Hermione saying goodnight to him. She stood over him and shook his shoulder making him jump. "Harry, you cannot let this distract you so much, if we get distracted we'll make a mistake and everything will go to hell"

Harry looked up at Hermione and gently put his hand on her abdomen. "I'll protect you Hermione, know matter what it takes"

"I know Harry" Hermione replied, laying a hand over Harry's. "I'm going to go in, I'll relieve you at dawn"

Harry sat outside the tent by the fire with no activity. The night was silent and the cold was stabbing against the skin on his face. He kept going back to the night Ron left in his mind.

He could kick himself for what happened. He hadn't meant to kiss her and he hadn't meant to go any further. And now she was carrying his child right in the middle of a dangerous war. The fact that he couldn't get the feel of her body out of his mind ever since was not helping either.

….

A week after Hermione revealed her pregnancy to Harry he sat out on watch duty. He had spent the whole week watching her like a hawk. He made extra effort to find food for them every single day and even held her hair back when she began vomiting. She told him not to panic, she was sure it was just morning sickness and that she would look it up in the healer book that she had brought with her.

He suddenly felt changed towards her. He had always been protective over his friends, but now he felt such a strong urge to look after her that he struggled not to argue with her when it was her turn to watch outside while he slept.

He was sat thinking about her when his head shot up as a bright light shone in the distance. He whipped out his wand and stood up, just in case one of the enchantments failed and whoever it was saw them.

The light became brighter and brighter and elongated until it formed the shape of a doe. It inclined its head and turned away from Harry. It slowly began to walk away and Harry began to follow it. He turned back to the tent after a moment and realized that he couldn't leave Hermione. She was asleep and relying on him to keep her safe; her and the baby.

He ran back in and quietly crept up to Hermione sleeping form. He shook her shoulder and whispered "Hermione" until she began to stir.

"What is it Harry?" she held panic in her eyes and Harry almost kicked himself. Of course she would think something was wrong for him to come and wake her up.

"Don't panic, nothing's wrong, but you need to come outside" Harry told her in his calmest voice.

Hermione got out of the bed and pulled her jumper over her head and her trainers on her feet, she was still dressed under the covers just in case they had to move suddenly, and followed Harry out of the tent.

The doe had stopped moving and was looking back towards Harry, inclining its head when it saw them and began to walk into the tree line.

"I think it wants me to follow it" Harry told Hermione.

"Ok, but I'm going with you, just in case" Hermione demanded, crossing her arms and daring him to argue with her eyes.

"Fine, but stay behind me" Harry agreed. They started forward and Harry took Hermione's hand, keeping a hold of her at all times, and reveling in the slight tingle that their connected skin brought, he felt it every time he touched her now.

They followed the stag through the forest for what felt like forever until they came up to a small frozen lake. The doe turned and looked directly at them, bowed its head and disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared to Harry.

"Well that was a waste of time, what the hell did it bring us here for?" Harry grumbled.

When he didn't get a response he turned around and saw Hermione looking down into the center of the frozen lake. "My guess would be that" she pointed something silver at the bottom.

"The sword" Harry gasped.

He immediately pointed his wand at the ice and cast Diffindo, cutting a large enough whole for his body to fit through.

"Harry you'll freeze!" Hermione chided him.

"Hermione, so far has summoning it worked? I've come to terms with the fact that everything about this hunt is going to be hard, so I might as well just get in and get it over with" Harry deadpanned.

"Fine, but take the locket off. It's evil and it will do something to stop us destroying it, you can't have it around your neck while your swimming towards its destruction"

Harry huffed and took the locket off, "Don't put it on, just have it near you, if there's trouble you can just hold it by the chain"

"Fine, I won't put it on" Hermione grumbled.

Harry took his jumper, t-shirt, trousers and trainers off and put the locket on top of them. He sat on the edge of the hole, took a deep breath and jumped in, swimming straight down towards the sword.

Hermione had looked away as he got undressed, even though considering her current condition it was slightly pointless now. She looked back when she heard the water splash and watched Harry wade his way down to the bottom of the lake.

"Hermione?"

Hermione's head shot up as the voice she knew so well called her name in question.

"Ron? How... I mean...Ron is that really you?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah Hermione it's really me" Ron replied with a smile.

"Prove it, what chess piece did I play when we were trying to get to the Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione demanded, using their security question and raising her wand to aim straight at his face.

"You were the Rook 'Mione, put your wand down" Ron answered calmly.

"How did you find us?" Hermione asked.

"With this?" Ron held up the Deluminator willed to him by Dumbledore.

"Explain" Hermione ordered, even as relieved as she was to see him alive and safe, she was still furious that he had left them seven weeks before.

"I will, when you and Harry are together. Where is Harry? What are you doing out in the forest in the middle of the night?" Ron asked.

"Oh My God Harry!" Hermione threw herself onto the ice and looked down into the dark lake. Harry had the Sword in his hand but wasn't coming back up.

"Ron, something's wrong, quick" Hermione screeched.

Ron shrugged his jacket off and threw his shoes into the growing pile of clothes at the side of the lake, throwing himself into the water and used his long legs to push him towards Harry as quickly as he could.

He caught hold of Harry's hand and dragged him back up to the surface; with Hermione's help he pulled Harry and then himself out of the water.

"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione gasped, her hands flapping around him as he caught his breath.

"I'm fine, there were some weeds surrounding the sword, I got caught" Harry explained through coughing up water.

"Wait, how did you get me out, Hermione you shouldn't have got in the water!" Harry panicked, his face taking on a bewildered look when he realized the only thing wet about Hermione was her sleeve.

Hermione smiled and nodded towards a spot behind Harry. He turned and saw Ron behind him, sopping wet and trying to catch his breath after his plunge into the icy water.

"How...We're in the mid...What?" Harry was extremely confused.

"I'll explain, but first we have a Horcrux, and a sword that can kill Horcruxes, who wants the honour?" Ron quipped, holding the sword out.

"That would be you" Hermione decided, pushing the sword away. Harry picked up the locket and lay it on a log near the lake after getting dressed.

"Err, no. You do it 'Mione. I'll only mess it up" Ron tried to hand the sword to Hermione again.

"She isn't going near it" Harry snapped.

Hermione flinched at the anger in Harry's voice. She knew it was just him trying to protect her and the baby but Ron didn't even know about it yet, she needed to get Harry to calm down.

"Go on Ron. Considering how badly it affected you, it should be you" she coaxed, making the situation a lot friendlier.

He nodded and gripped the sword in both his hands. "I'll have to talk to it to get it to open, I don't know what it will do but if it's anything like the diary it's not going to be friendly, just ignore it and stab ok" Harry told him, and Ron nodded holding the sword out ready.

Harry began to hiss and the latch on the locket clicked. The locket sprung open and threw all three of them backwards with sheer magical power.

Voldermort's voice boomed out of the small piece of gold sending a chill down Hermione's spine. Harry crawled around the log to Hermione and checked her over. He pulled her away as Voldermort began talking to Ron and kept his hand over her abdomen as if it would help him protect the baby even more.

"Ronald Weasley... They don't want you here Ronald...you know it to be true... They are better without you..." A black smoky substance began to emit from the locket and formed into a picture.

It showed Hermione laying next to Harry with her head on his chest, Harry rolling them over as he kissed her, Hermione writhing beneath Harry, her back arching and her mouth open as she silently cried out, "they never wanted you" Voldermort's voice continued.

"Ron, don't listen, stab it!" Harry screamed at Ron.

Ron was completely absorbed in the scene playing out in front of him. Hermione felt the tears streaming from her eyes at the painful look on Ron's face.

"Ron stab it" she urged.

Ron took an almighty swing and stabbed at the locket with as much force as he could muster. Voldermort's voice screamed and the scene disappeared as the locket smashed.

Ron continued stabbing it even after the gold was smashed to pieces. He seemed to be taking all his rage that had been building up for six months of hunting out on the tiny piece of broken jewelry.

Harry stood and helped Hermione up from the floor. He pushed her behind him when Ron turned around with the sword still in hand, his chest heaved from the exertion.

"That was just the locket, you wouldn't do that to me, I know it was just the locket" Ron muttered, more to himself than to the pair standing in front of him.

"Oh hell, not now" Hermione mumbled. She pulled away from Harry's hand holding her behind him and turned to be sick.

Harry automatically turned and rubbed her back. When she finally stopped heaving and stood up he put his hand on her abdomen as had become habit all week and asked if she was ok.

"What the hell Harry?" Ron shrieked at the intimacy that was clearly showing between them.

Harry dropped his head, "We have to tell him 'Mione" he whispered.

Hermione began shaking her head but Harry turned to Ron anyway. Hermione dropped her head; she couldn't look at Ron, not when they were about to really hurt him.

"Hermione is pregnant"

AN: Ooohh, Ron's going to be soooo mad. I hope tonight's installment lives up to expectations. I wonder if we can keep this reviewing streak up…