A/N Thanks to all who have been so patient with me and my sloooow progress. I still plan on finishing this story and How to survive so keep with me. I think this will have between four and six more chapters. Depending how I want to finish. Thanks again. Happy reading and please don't forget to review. Even if it is just to say hi.

Headlines

"What did you do Ronald Weasley?" Hermione screamed as she knelt over Draco.

Ron stared at her, anger seething from his whole body.

"Do you even realize what you just did?" he asked her. She shook her head no.

"You held his hand Hermione. Right in front of me. Tell me what is going on right now and I will put him right." Ron said pointing at Draco's frozen body.

"I did no such thing." she denied. But she thought for a moment and realized that he was right. She had done it out of habit, without her thinking that Ron was right there.

"You must have gone mental Hermione. That is the only explanation for your behavior. I just watched you hold his hand. His…not mine. All the times I asked for a little bit of affection, some sign that you still loved me, and I was denied over and over again. But here you are in the middle of Hogwarts holding hands with Draco Malfoy. And not even realizing that you were doing it. Which says to me that you have been doing that for quite a while for you to be so comfortable with it. Bloody hell I don't even know what to say."

Hermione swallowed hard. She knew she was going to have to come clean. Not only to get Ron to reverse the jinx but to be the person she used to be.

"Ron, I did love you. I still do. You are the father of my children and my best friend for as long as I can remember. But something hasn't been right for a while. I tried to ignore it. Put my own feelings on a shelf and push them to the back of the cabinet. But it didn't work. I was less than thrilled about working with Draco. Painful memories came back and you were so against it. But the challenge of the project made me want to do it. You don't understand how boring my job got. How boring our life had got. Same routine, same thing day in and day out. You say you wanted affection, but what you really wanted was sex. I would often reach for your hand at work, or walking in the park with the kids and you would drop it just as fast as you could. A nice romantic dinner always turned into an argument about the kids, or bills, or your family or something. And then you would expect me to jump into bed and everything be alright in your world. Never mind I was hurting in mine. While working with Draco we found out how much we had in common. We read the same books, liked the same foods. And I swear I never meant it to turn into anything than a professional friendship. But you are right. It did. And I am so sorry Ron. My heart is breaking in half right now. Half is yours and half is his. And I have none left for myself. I don't want to fight in front of the kids. I want to be civil to each other and make the kids lives as full as possible. But the two of us together haven't worked for a very long time. I want our divorce to be amicable. I want all these things that are probably not going to happen. Just please…" she said motioning towards Draco's body. "Let him leave."

Ron's face was as red as she had ever seen it. He didn't make any attempt to unfreeze Draco. He stood there trying to think of something to say. Ron opened his mouth several times but the words didn't come out.

"Please say something." Hermione pleaded.

"Do you love him?" Ron finally asked quietly. Hermione was surprised by his calm demeanor.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I do."

Ron nodded.

"You know I've loved you since we were 11. I always thought we would end up together. I never thought I would be coming in second to Draco Malfoy."

"You aren't second Ron." she said soothingly. Tears were running down her face.

"I'm sure as hell not first in your life anymore."

"I'm sorry this is such a mess. I'm sorry…" she said before breaking off into tears again. "All I ask is that you help me with the mess that Draco's wife has caused. For our kids sake. I am telling the truth when I tell you that Asteria has no feelings for her son. She doesn't care about the damage she is inflicting on him. But I know you do. You care about how Rose was feeling, you care about Hugo. Please Ron, don't make this harder." she pleaded.

"So the pictures were true?" he asked.

"Yes." Hermione admitted.

He nodded and looked at the floor.

"But we can stand against the prophet. Together." she said.

"And then what Hermione? You go off with Malfoy? What good will it do?"

"It will do our kids good. I know I screwed up…"

"That's putting it a bit mildly." he said.

"You don't have to like it. Or accept it. You can hate me and him but just don't take it out on our kids. If you do this…I won't bring up the thing with the girl in the bar in our divorce. I will make the unbreakable vow on that."

"What is it exactly that you want me to do?"

"We will go to the Prophet and give a proper interview. Draco can expose Asteria for the money grubbing woman she is."

"Hermione, do you really expect me to lie for you? To cover up this…this affair for you?"

"Not for me." she said. "Think of how Rose was crying over this. Think of how Hugo might feel in the future if he were to read the paper when he's older."

Ron looked at the floor.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "That you were so unhappy I mean…"

"I didn't realize I was until…"

"Until him." Ron finished. His voice was sad and distant.

"I am begging you Ronald. Please."

"I'm not sure what I can do. But I will try I guess. And there will be no mention of the bar incident then?"

Hermione shook her head no.

Ron pointed his wand at Draco and whispered something. Draco stood up and reached for his wand but Hermione stopped him.

"It's okay." she said. "I have it all worked out for now. I'll be in touch Ron to set something up. Would you like to take Hugo home tonight?"

Ron nodded.

"I'll call my mum and tell her to expect you." she said approaching him with caution. Hermione reached up and put her arms around Ron's neck and hugged him. "Thank you." she whispered.

Ron didn't reply. Draco was staring Ron down. Hermione took him by the hand and led him out of the office and down the marble staircase leaving Ron behind.

"What just happened?" Draco asked angrily as they were exiting the staircase and heading for the main doors.

"I told him about us. And he has agreed to help us with the Prophet to keep our kids safe."

"You are kidding." he replied.

"No, I am not." she said. "He's hurt by this, but he had to know the truth. I felt like a real arse lying to him even after he found out on his own."

"If he ever pulls his wand on me again…" Draco said through gritted teeth.

Hermione kept quiet the rest of the way down to the whomping willow. She froze the tree and squeezed back through the small opening. When they reached the shrieking shack they apparated back to Draco's cottage.

She ran for the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. She had no idea what she was going to tell the Prophet when they went in. She couldn't hold the tears back any longer. Hermione slumped onto the bathroom floor and sobbed again. She couldn't remember ever making a mess that she couldn't fix. But this seemed like it. Draco found her lying there, sad and broken, and swore that he would get revenge on his soon to be ex if it was the last thing he did.

Rita Skeeter sat at her desk, her mind whirling with different ideas, headlines, scathing remarks. It was heaven for her. After all she had to pay Hermione Granger back for almost ruining her career twenty odd years ago. She owed her that much at least. And the quotes from Mister Malfoy were delicious. Easy to twist into what she wanted them to say. As she tapped her pen the words began to flow just as quickly as she thought them. When she was done she smiled wickedly and ran to her editor.

Draco held Hermione that night as she cried. He didn't try to tell her things would be alright. He just sat there and held her as she sobbed. Her tears staining his shirt. He felt helpless. She finally fell asleep after a few hours of dry sobs and he carried her to his bedroom. She clung to his neck like a helpless child as he laid her down on the bed and removed her shoes. Her eyelashes fluttered with what he could only assume was a bad dream. Hours passed as he watched her, making sure she was alright, keeping her wrapped in his arms. It was then that he swore he would never let her go.

The next morning arrived dark and gloomy. An overcast chilly start to what might be the worst day of Hermione's life. She didn't know what was going to happen when they went into the office of the Daily Prophet. Would Ron keep his word? It was hard to say with that temper of his. But she had to assume that he would. He had uncursed Draco yesterday like he said, so maybe he was starting to accept that the divorce was the best thing for the whole family right now. Draco stirred next to her. Sleeping in the same clothes he had worn all day. He smiled briefly at her and leaned in to kiss her. Just a soft kiss to reassure her. She put her forehead to his and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Morning." he said, his mouth close to hers.

"Morning." she replied.

"We don't have to do this you know." Draco told her. "Go into the Prophet I mean. I can handle this on my own. I don't want you to have to pretend to be happy with your husband if you don't want to."
"I don't want to Draco, but I need to. For Rose and Hugo. And even for Scorpius."

"Scorpius?" Draco asked.

"Yes, your son is hurting as well. I could see it on his face yesterday. And Rose is worried for him as well. I never thought that I would hurt so many innocent people. It's just not like me."

Draco put his arm around her neck and pulled her head down onto his chest.

"I could walk away Hermione. I swear I could. You could go back to your husband and have your family back together again. I will do it. I would never bother you again, it would take all of my strength but if you think it was best, all you need to do is ask." he sighed. He ran his hand up and down her hair.

Hermione teared up. Could he really walk away from her and not look back?

"Why would you say that?" she asked sitting up.

"I'm just telling you that if you want to go back to Ron I would support you and not try to mess up what you might want to fix."

"As chivalrous as that is Draco, it's not what I want. Although I agree how much easier it would make my life, its just not…" she broke mid-sentence and kissed him. "I'm so selfish."

"I think you are just living for you. It's not a crime." he responded.

"It might be. I haven't looked it up." she replied.

"Well we had better get ready to go." he said standing up and stretching. His neat white shirt untucked exposing his stomach as he did. "What time did you say we had to be there?"

"I didn't. I told Ron I would owl him this morning and set something up. He has to take Hugo either back to my mum's or to Harry's house. So I don't want to rush."

"You can shower first then." he said removing his shirt and belt. "I'll go get the paper."

He walked into the living room as he heard the shower start up. The owl was pecking to get in. Draco paid him and took the paper from his leg. He yawned as he unrolled it. But there as a glaring headline were the words he never thought he would see.

Hermione Weasley pregnant by Draco Malfoy