A/N: I sincerely apologize for the long delays of my updates, shame on me!, this week I plan to update a lot of my stories and give all you wonderful amazing readers what you deserve :)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Harry Potter

Summary: The aftermath of a catastrophic event, and the birth of new beginnings...

Beautiful Thing

Chapter 12: Where Do We Go From Here?

I jumped out of bed, Ron was awake too, he was looking out the window horrified.

"What happened!" He cried yanking a shirt and shoes on.

I began to sob hysterically.

"Hermione?" He said quickly running to me.

"I knew something was going to happen! I knew!" I cried.

His eyes widened.

"What are you saying? What happened?" He demanded.

"I-I knew!" I wailed.

"Knew what Hermione?" He begged on the verge of shouting.

"I don't know I-I just know it's bad." I said pathetically.

Ron sighed and ran to look out the window.

A voice down the hall suddenly screamed:

"Hogwarts! It's been attacked!"

Ron and I stared at each other and he suddenly grabbed me.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I couldn't! It was the-the Imperius Curse!"

Ron's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.

"WHAT!"

"Hurry! We have to go!" I cried suddenly thinking of Harry and Ginny and stumbled out of the bed.

"Who did it to you!" Ron demanded.

"I... I can't remember..." I spluttered trying to block it out of my head, I couldn't make sense of that right now.

Ron looked furious, but believed me.

"Hurry lets go!"

We grabbed our wands and ran out the door and into the Hogsmeade streets.

Students were everywhere, many looked badly injured.

My stomach turned over with every person I saw and a uncomfortable guilty feeling washed through me.

"C'mon," Ron said briskly,

"We have to find Harry and Ginny."

We scrambled through the crowd, grabbing and pushing people.

"Ginny! Ginny! GINNY!" Ron screamed.

I began to call her name too, and Harry's, though sudden fresh tears that I could not control began to blur my vision and make my voice crack.

"Ron? RON! HERMIONE!" Ginny screamed.

I turned to look and saw her sitting under a blanket outside Zonko's surrounded by several Gryffindors.

"GINNY!"

Ron ran to her and grabbed her into his arms.

"Are you ok?"

There was a deep gash on her cheek.

"I'm ok... but I... I lost Harry."

Ron hugged her to his chest.

"What happened? Was it Death Eaters?" Ron asked her rubbing her back.

"Yes," she whispered.

"Are they gone? Are we all safe?" I quickly asked looking around us.

"Yes, left almost an hour ago."

"Lets take her back to the room." I said quickly to Ron.

He nodded and picked her up.

Ginny sobbed and clutched her stomach hysterically once she lay down on the bed.

"What is it Ginny? Your stomach? It hurts?" Ron asked trying to move her hands.

"What if he's dead? I don't know where he is! What if I have to raise the baby without him?" She cried shaking with sobs.

Ron looked about ready to faint and I ran to Ginny and cupped her cheeks.

"Shhh Ginny, stop crying."

"I can't do this without him Hermione!" She sobbed hysterically, clutching her small belly.

"Oh god," I whispered closing my eyes.

Harry could not be dead.

He just could not, he was survivor and had escaped multiple types of dangers before.

I refused to believe he was dead for a second.

"He's got to be alright Ginny... he is. I promise."

She cried harder into my neck clutching my back.

"You're pregnant?" Ron whispered standing rigidly ten feet back from his little sister.

Ginny nodded and sobbed looking up at her brother.

Ron fell into a chair and put his head in his hands.

"Oh my god."

He suddenly began to shake with what was unmistakable sobs.

Ginny fell back onto her pillow and cried deeply into the plush softness of it.

Before I knew it, there were hot tears welling up fast in my eyes and running down my cheeks uncontrolably.

I climbed next to Ginny in the bed and held her for the next several hours.

Several hours later later we were taken to Grimwauld Place where the rest of the Weaselys were waiting.

There we were told that Death Eaters had been brought into the castle and killed Professor Dumbledore.

They found Harry, and he had led them away from the grounds, then disappeared.

Nobody had heard from him or seen him or any of the Death Eaters since.

Nobody knew what to say or do.

Everyone was alert, but weakened by the pain of the loss of many innocent students who had died in the battle.

And the death of the Headmaster.

There was no closure to the ordeal, it came swiftly and sentenced everyone immediately into the uproar of war.

For the next week I laid in my bed and tried to not cry.

Everynight I thought of Harry and where he was, he was probably being very closely followed by Death Eaters and staying away from us for that reason.

Everynight I thought of Ginny and how scared she must be at the idea of bringing a child into this world after what had just happened.

And everynight I saw his face in my head and felt his presence in my heart... it haunted me.

I couldn't stop thinking of him and I couldn't stop thinking, why?

Why did he save me?

I erased Ron's memory of me telling him I had been under the Imperius Curse.

I didn't want him or the Order to question me about it, because I didn't want them to know it was him and that he contacted me before.

They would get suspicious about him reaching out to me and only me.

But it still didn't make sense why did I not tell the Order it had been him, that he knew and had probably planned and let the Death Eaters into the castle.

We were enemies, but for some reason I couldn't have the courage to tell the Order of my knowledge.

Yes Malfoy and I had had a... thing, but he was a cold, heartless, evil person that cared for no one except himself and probably Voldemort, so why was I protecting him?

I tried to delete any images, feelings or thoughts of him, but as hard as I tried he lingered in the back of my mind coming up to assault me whenever I least expected it.

The Order was already convinced of his involvement though, he hadn't been seen since the ambush and many people testified that they had seen Draco Malfoy fighting with the Death Eaters.

I felt lost and saddened.

Where do I go from here?

The Wizarding World had literally become severed and it didn't seem like anything was the same anymore.

Thing were much more dangerous and I was hidden away from everything and everyone by the Order, along with the Weasley's.

Ron and I spent much time together and as the days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months we became each others everything.

Ginny had to confess her pregnancy to her family as the months passed.

She beginning to show and was having health concerns.

Mrs. Weasley became absorbed my Ginny's needs and focused primarily on her daughter.

The Weasley's didn't seem upset by her pregnancy, but they did seem concerned.

Rightfully so, Ginny was only sixteen and there was a major war raging on surrounding us.

There was news about Harry often, he contacted only Kingsley Shackelbolt and sent messages only to Ginny, Ron, myself and an occasional Order member such as Mad-Eye or Lupin.

It had been nearly six months, Ginny's stomach was swollen and her face had rounded.

The Weasley's all looked grimmer and thinner than before and I had manged to almost completely forget about him.

I only felt anger toward him when I did think of him.

He was evil all along.

I felt disgusted that I had given my virtue to him and that I had wasted a lot of feelings and thoughts on him.

Ron was my rock now, he comforted me and loved me.

One night I was in the small library of Grimwauld Place reading a book on some ancient spells.

Ron entered and I looked up at him immediately.

"Evening my love." He greeted me.

I smiled putting down my book.

"I want to talk to you Hermione," he said walking over and sitting next to me on the green velvet couch.

"What is it?" I asked shutting the book and placing it on the coffee table in front of me.

Ron looked at me for a few second then closed his eyes.

"I love you more than anything else in this world Hermione Granger."

My chest tingled and warmed at his words.

I leaned in and kissed his lips fully.

When I pulled away I responded,

"I love you the exact same."

He smiled and laced his right hand's fingers with my left hands.

Slowly he lowered himself down onto the black carpet and smiled nervously.

"I really can't see myself with anybody else other than you Hermione... as long as I live."

I gasped.

"So I think I want to make that official. Make you mine. Forever."

I was elated by his words and fell against him.

"Are you serious Ron?"

"I am."

"You don't think its'... foolish of us do you?" I whispered in his ear.

He chuckled.

"We were always going to get married Hermione, that's just been our destiny, why don't we just do it sooner than we anticipated?"

I laughed and nodded.

"Yes."

"Yes?" He asked with wide eager eyes.

"YES!"

Draco's POV

"This mark symbolizes your lifelong allegiance to the Dark Lord, do you accept this?" My father spat at me from where he stood above me.

"Yes." I said looking up from my kneeling position from ground.

A few yards behind my father I could see all the Death Eaters lined piercing me with their murderious eyes.

In front Voldemort stood with an evil stare directed at me.

He smiled in the most twisted horrifying way I had ever seen.

Then I felt the stab of the mark, the feeling of hot needles piercing me and setting my whole insides on fire.

I refused to shout out, to show weakness.

Instead I gazed directly back at the Dark Lord until the burn simmered to a light sting.

My father's lips curled into a nasty sneer that was his smile.

"It is done." He whispered.