Hermione was now five months pregnant, and Ron was doing everything to make sure she was happy. Hermione loved that Ron cared enough about her and the baby to always be available. He would cook every meal and make sure the house was always clean enough to pass Hermione's inspection.

However, sometimes Hermione would insist that she was not helpless being pregnant, and insist to make a meal or two. There would be an argument, but Hermione would always win in the end.

Whenever Ron was sure Hermione and the baby were happy, he would go off and fight Death Eaters with Harry, which scared Hermione to no end.

Ron's birthday would take place at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place that year. Percy and Audrey had had their second child, a girl named Lucy, not long after Ginny had had James, and Ron and Hermione had yet to see her due to the Death Eaters' attack.

Furthermore, Ginny and Angelina were both pregnant with their second children. Ginny was a few months behind Hermione, and Angelina was due to pop anytime.

As Ron and Hermione Disapparated in front of Grimmauld Place, Ron had an eerie feeling that they would find the house empty, despite the fact that they were ten minutes late.

Ron and Hermione made their way up the steps (All the way Ron helping Hermione and Hermione insisting she was perfectly capable to walk on her own) and rang the doorbell. When there was no response, Ron opened the door with the key Harry had given them.

Inside, the mansion was completely deserted. Ron rounded on Hermione. "Are you sure it's the right time?"

"Yes," Hermione said, looking around after glaring reproachfully at Ron. "HARRY? GINNY?" They both hurried from level to level searching for their family. Finally, they met back in the entryway.

"No one's here," Hermione said, running a hand through her hair worriedly. "Something bad happened…I can feel it…"

"Don't say that," Ron snapped. "I –"

Suddenly, all the lights in the house went out and Ron heard a scream he knew only too well echo through the darkness. The lights turned back on as abruptly as they had gone out, and Ron found that Hermione was gone from his side.

"Hermione?" Ron called through the house apprehensively. When he heard nothing, he began to panic and search the level he was on. "HERMIONE! HERMIONE?"

He kicked open the door to the kitchen but before he could make a step further, something heavy collided with the back of his head and his world was lost.

Ron woke tied to a chair in an oddly familiar room. As he looked around more, he found he was in one of the drawing rooms of Grimmauld Place. In the doorway stood three men Ron wished he never saw again.

Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the shadows and Ron had never felt more hatred towards one person.

"Finally awake, Weasley?" Malfoy asked with the usual drawl in his voice. "I suppose you're wondering where your dearly beloved is." The man behind him snickered evilly, and Ron recognized him as Yaxley. As Ron looked closer, he saw the third man was none other than Draco Malfoy, looking solemn.

"What did you do with her?" Ron shot out, now struggling to break the ropes binding him the chair free. He realized his wand was missing.

"Oh come now, Weasley, you don't need to know details," Malfoy said with torment, his eyes sparkling with cruelty. "We've simply placed her in a separate place than you. No harm done."

Ron's blood began to boil in his veins as he struggled more than ever. "I swear, if you touch her, I'll –"

"You'll curse us into the next millennium. Yes, we've heard that before," Malfoy waved his threat away with boredom. "But I do suppose you can see her one last time. That way it'll be even more fun to wrench you apart." Lucius Malfoy flicked his wand, and Hermione appeared out of nowhere as if she had just Apparated there.

Malfoy grabbed her arm and looked back at Ron. "We'll leave you alone because we have some other business to attend to. If you try anything smart" – Malfoy pointed to Hermione's growing baby bump with his wand – "this one will be the first to go."

Malfoy shoved Hermione towards Ron and the three men Disapparated.

"Ron," Hermione said breathlessly. She hurried over to him and kissed him fully on the lips.

"I want to know what they did to you," Ron said bluntly and seriously.

"They put me in this dungeon with the rest of the family. I guess they got here before us to capture everyone. I don't know where it was though, and I couldn't recognize it…they Stunned me and I woke up in the dungeon."

"Did you feel the baby move at all after that?" Ron asked right away.

"Yes, I don't think it affected the baby too bad," Hermione said. "We've got a strong one," she said with a sense of pride in her voice.

A wave of relief passed through Ron. "So no Cruciatus Curse?" Ron asked hurriedly. Hermione winced at the forcefulness in his voice, and shook her head. Another powerful relief wave hit him.

"Hermione, we've got to get out of here," Ron said, desperately trying to release himself from the ropes. Hermione kneeled down next to him and was able to loosen the knots enough to untie them. Ron shook off the ropes and kicked the chair aside to hug Hermione tightly. "I thought I lost you," he whispered into her hair.

"I'll never be gone, Ron," Hermione said. "It'll take a lot to do me in."

Ron and Hermione spent probably ten minutes searching for a trapdoor in the room they were in. The door was locked, and there were no trapdoors or windows.

After an hour left alone in the room, Ron was still feeling the walls for trapdoors and Hermione, who had given up long ago, was frantically pulling books from a nearby bookcase in the corner of the room.

"Hermione, this isn't the time for books!" Ron hurled at her.

Ignoring Ron, Hermione continued to pull books from the bookcase. Finally, after pulling Dark Items and Where to find them from the top shelf, the bookcase swung open like a door.

Ron, reacting instinctively, pulled Hermione by the waist in order for her to avoid being knocked aside by the heavy case. Once the bookcase was swung aside, they found that a tunnel had been hidden behind the false bookcase.

Ron's mouth dropped as he stared at the tunnel. "You…are…brilliant."

Hermione blushed and opened her mouth to respond, but her lips were met by Ron's before she could say a word. She broke the kiss a bit early for Ron's taste, but he saw the fear in her eyes and understood they needed to start moving.

The tunnel seemed to be very dark. As much as he didn't want to say it, Ron turned to Hermione and said, "We're going to have to close the bookcase so they don't know how we got out." Hermione looked very reluctant, especially since Malfoy took their wands and they had no light source besides the light from the room they were in. However, she bravely nodded and together, they were able to close the bookcase so they were sucked into complete darkness.

Hermione had felt around for Ron's hand and found it. "Don't let go," she said from the darkness.

"I won't," Ron promised solemnly. He felt his way through the tunnel, leading Hermione behind him.

It felt like they were there forever, and the darkness was swallowing them before Ron was ready. Finally, Ron hit a wall in front of them. Don't tell me it's a dead end…No, we can't die here…not with a child on the way…

"It's a dead end!" he exclaimed to Hermione. "We're done for!"

"Wait Ron, don't you always carry around that Deluminator from Dumbledore?" Hermione voice came from nowhere.

Ron internally kicked himself. How could he not remember he had the Deluminator? He took the small silver object out of his pocket and clicked it open. Several miniature suns hung in the air and he saw Hermione's face for the first time in what felt like hours. Ron looked around: they were definitely at a dead end, no other forks or hidden pathways.

However, Hermione was feeling the wall at the dead end as if to try to find another secret passageway.

"Hermione, I highly doubt there will be –"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hermione had turned a loose brick in the wall and the wall turned to reveal the Weasleys and Potters. They all turned to look at Ron and Hermione, then froze with horror on each of their faces.

"Well done," a cold voice came from the front of the dungeon. Ron looked around George to see Lucius Malfoy for the second time that night. Ron felt himself stepping in front of Hermione.

"I suppose the Mudblood figured out how to get you out? Because we all know that the Weasley blood-traitors could never find their way out of a paper bag –"

Ron's anger was at a boiling point, but before he could do anything, Hermione had pushed past him and shoved him out of the way.

"You just got a very hormonal pregnant woman very angry," she whispered, her voice shaking with rage. And with that, she punched Lucius Malfoy in the face, just as she had slapped his son almost twelve years ago. He fell to the ground and his wand fell out of his hand. Hermione rushed to pick it up and Stupefied Malfoy before he could get up.

Hermione then began going through his pockets, and retrieved several more wands, no doubt taken from the family. She tossed them to random members of the family, Ron included. "Everyone needs to Disapparate out of here now! Go somewhere safe!"

No one argued with her, for they all heard footsteps hurrying towards them. But the Trio being the Trio, they all waited until everyone had Disapparated until they themselves did. Ron watched Harry, Ginny, and James Disapparate, then felt Hermione grip his hand.

The last thing he saw was two Death Eaters entering the dungeons, looks of fury on their faces.