Chapter 2

No no no no no.

Hermione's arm fell limply to her side, her whole body collapsing onto her bed.

No no no no NO.

She wanted to scream and throw something across the room, preferably the pregnancy test in her hand that had two small lines across it.

How had this happened?

Well, she knew how it had happened. She had gotten drunk one night and decided that sleeping with her friend would be a good idea. But… how?

Things had been awkward between her and Ron for the past three weeks. They'd tried to get things back to normal by attending their regular dinner dates, and speaking to each other like they always had.

But there was tension there now, an awkwardness that hadn't existed until three weeks ago.

She still couldn't remember the full details of the night. Every so often, little snippets came back to her, like how she was very certain she'd been the one to initiate the encounter. How she'd left his flat and then Floo'd back and… had she kissed him? She wasn't sure. Kissing had been involved, but she couldn't be certain she had started that part of it.

And the memory of seeing him naked still burned into her. He'd done his best to hide himself, but she'd caught a glimpse, and so had he of her. Friends weren't supposed to see each other like that.

Friends also weren't supposed to have sex, but she supposed she'd crossed that line too.

And now… She looked back down at the test. It was definitely positive. Clear as day in front of her. And she had thrown up for the past two days, not to mention there was no sign of her always regular period.

This just added salt into the wound.

This time she really did scream and throw the test across the room. She could do the magical test, but there was no point.

She was pregnant. To Ron. Her best friend.

How could she have been so stupid?

This was not what she wanted. Babies were the last thing on her mind. She was weeks away from being promoted to Deputy Head in the Magical Law department. She was striving to be Minister for Magic one day.

Kids… they were a far off distant alternate future that didn't even seem real. They had always been a maybe. Maybe if she met the right person. Maybe if she had achieved all her goals by the time she was thirty-five.

They weren't an 'accidentally sleep with your best friend and get pregnant' scenario.

How was she supposed to raise a baby by herself? She was almost certain that this wasn't what Ron would want either. He and George had just expanded their business, opening their third store in England. They were raking in the money and enjoying their lives, childless and single. She didn't think Ron had forgotten about their mistake, but this would not have occurred to him. It certainly hadn't occurred to her.

She imagined him now, smiling and laughing with his final customers for the day, blissfully unaware of the turmoil Hermione was currently going through. What had happened was in the past. He'd agreed not to speak of it again...

Should she tell him? The immediate answer was 'yes'. He had a right to know. And he wasn't stupid. They were still friends, after all, and he'd see her, he'd notice, and he'd probably put two and two together. He knew her well enough to know that she didn't make a habit of jumping into bed with people for the fun of it.

But… there were other options. Maybe if she never told him and didn't ever have the baby. He'd be none the wiser.

She shook her head, rubbing her hand over her face. Merlin, what was she supposed to do? Even if she did make that decision, it would eat away at her. She'd feel so guilty for never having told him. And when she would inevitably blurt it out when she could stand it no longer, he'd be angry.

No, he'd be furious. What if — in the off chance — he actually liked the idea of having a baby and she'd not even bothered to tell him?

Friendship over.

She sighed, fighting back tears. Her hand trembled as she picked up her wand lying beside her and pointed it at the test she'd thrown at her wall.

"That settles it, I guess," she said to herself as the pregnancy test flew back towards her. She was going to have to tell him, and it was going to be a very difficult conversation to have. But she knew he at least had the right to know.

She picked up her bag from the bed and put the test inside it, burying it deep within. There was no reason for him not to believe her, but just in case he needed proof, she could show him.

Then she stood, steeling herself. She sucked in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She repeated it two more times before she felt her nerves hold.

I'll catch him as he's leaving, she thought. He'll be in a good mood and more inclined to take it well.

Those were lies, but they were important lies she needed to tell herself. In truth, she was very confident that no matter how or when she told him, he was going to flip his lid and start panicking. But it was much better to do it sooner than later. Maybe, if she was lucky, they could freak out and panic together.

She spun on the spot, right from her bedroom and landed in Diagon Alley. The streets were quiet — very few people left for the day.

She made her way slowly down the path, wondering just how on Earth she was going to handle this situation, no matter what she chose.

…

"Hermione! How wonderful to see you! What brings you to our fine premises on this late afternoon?"

The bag of Nose-bleed Nougats Ron had been adding to the Skiving Snackboxes slipped from his hands. He watched as the sweets rolled across the bench and landed on the floor before he dared to look up at the tinkling bell of the closing door.

It was five minutes before close and Hermione was standing in the entrance, wringing her hands together nervously. Her eyes scanned the room, settling on Ron briefly before looking away again.

Ron didn't move, the only sound being the last of the Nose-bleed Nougats hitting the floor. Hermione never came into this place. Things were much too chaotic for her, and she didn't approve of the vast majority of products Ron and George sold. Whilst she indicated pride in his achievements, he knew she thought he would have been much better staying as an Auror like Harry had.

"Oh," Hermione said softly, finally turning to George. "I was just… looking for Ron."

George stuck a thumb out over his shoulder. "Over there. And here I was thinking you were coming to spend some of your well-earned money. Help a friend out and all."

Hermione offered him a weak smile and then headed over to where Ron was. She looked down at the dropped sweets and navigated past them to stand on the other side of the bench.

"Hi," Ron said.

"Hi."

Things had not been right between them since… well, since the morning after his party, but they'd done their best to get their friendship back on track. Their weekly dinners, their conversations… it had been difficult, but they'd been making progress. Sometimes there were uncomfortable silences that hadn't existed before, but not like this. Hermione seemed completely and utterly beside herself about something, which could only mean one thing.

Despite their agreement to forget what had happened, she wanted to talk about it.

In truth, Ron couldn't blame her. He hadn't done a very good job himself at putting it behind him. Every day, little pieces of the puzzle returned to him. Not enough to get a full picture, but he did know that it was her that had started it. But he hadn't done much to deter her, his drunken self living out the long-held fantasy sober him had been too afraid to start.

There was enough in his memory now to remember how her lips had tasted of Firewhisky, and her body had just seemed to fit perfectly against his as she kissed him, and he kissed her back. A vague flash of having her pinned against his bedroom wall in a passionate, tense embrace had reached him a few days ago and just that image had had his body roaring with life as if it remembered the moment. It had been intense, that he now knew.

Maybe Hermione had remembered more and was here to tell him.

"Ron…" Hermione began softly, not meeting his eyes. "There's… there's something I really need to talk to you about. But…" She looked over her shoulder to George, who was working on one of their new products. Its full functionality had eluded them for some reason — neither him nor Ron could figure out what magic it needed for it to work properly. George seemed not to even be listening to their conversation. "I don't think we should talk about it here."

Ron grimaced, doing his best to hide it from her. "Erm, is it really important?" he asked. "I mean… didn't we agree to just forget —"

"I really need to talk about this," Hermione replied, and he didn't miss the pleading in her tone. "Can we go for a walk after you're finished? Maybe the Leaky Cauldron. That… might be a good idea."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "You really think us drinking together is a good idea?" He smiled despite himself.

Hermione flushed. "Maybe not," she said quickly. "Let's just go for a walk, okay? Please?"

For a moment, he stared at her. What did she have to tell him that seemed so important? Did she think that their night together had meant something to him and she was here to let him down gently? Was it too much for her to handle and she wanted to remove herself completely from his life? His chest tightened at that thought. He wasn't sure he was ready for that. She was everything to him and he loved her so damn much. In more ways than she would ever know. He couldn't lose her as a friend.

He nodded, slowly. "Alright," he said. "I've just got to clean this mess up," he indicated the floor, "and then we can go somewhere. Just tell me one thing. Is it about… the party?"

She nodded, but didn't say anything more. Ron felt his stomach drop. Surely they could get through this. As hard as it was now, maybe in a few years time they could laugh it off. That was what he'd imagined. They couldn't have been the first friends in the world to do something like that.

"Okay. Just… give me a moment."

Hermione went to stand by the door and Ron gathered up the dropped sweets and put them back in the bag using magic. His heart thumped so loud in his chest that he was sure George and Hermione could hear it.

He disappeared out the back to gather his belongings.

"Alright, I'm off for the night. I'll see you tomo —"

"I got it!" George shouted, stopping Ron mid-sentence.

"What?" Ron said.

George turned to Ron, grinning wildly. "I figured it out! What was missing. Look." He took a step back and pointed his wand at the spinning globe. He muttered an incantation and a moment later, the globe spun faster, and faster, until it was a blur. Then it stopped just as abruptly, exploding into a miniature fireworks display.

Ron watched, then, as the pieces suddenly came back together and the globe looked whole again. Until now, that was where they had come unstuck. The globe had never fully repaired itself.

"Can I ask," Hermione said, joining them at the counter, "just what exactly is the purpose of that?"

"It's part of our Party of a Lifetime range," Ron explained, grinning at his brother's success. "A new range we're hoping to get up next month. There's nothing fancy about them, nothing all that funny, just for having really great parties. You saw some of them at my place a few weeks back."

Hermione's face reddened. Apparently even the mention of that night made her uncomfortable.

"Right," she said after a moment. "I…"

Ron looked back at George. "What was the trick?" he asked.

"Something neither of us should have overlooked," George answered. "I just had to tweak the structure of the globe as a whole, then add a little more glue, and…" He gestured at the product. "Voila."

Ron beamed. "Fantastic!" he said. "This is the best news I've had today. Really made my day. We've now basically got the whole range working. We should be good to go as planned, right?"

George nodded. "Yep. I have no doubt now. Care for a celebratory drink?"

Ron looked at Hermione, who was staring at the globe with uncharacteristic interest. "I've got to talk to Hermione about something tonight." He couldn't go another day not knowing. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Alright," George said. He looked Ron over. "You're off now?"

"Yes. See you tomorrow."

George lifted a hand in farewell and Ron silently indicated to Hermione that they should leave. She followed, her mind seeming to be a million miles away.

When they were far enough down the street, them being the only two around, he asked, "Everything okay?"

Hermione didn't speak. They walked on in silence, with her lost in her own thoughts. Eventually, she said, "You're really proud of what you've achieved, aren't you?"

Ron frowned. That was unexpected. "Yeah… yeah, I am. It feels right… doing what I do now. George and I make a great team."

"I can see that. You're really successful. You make a lot of money, and you just seem… happy."

Ron nodded. "Yeah."

Hermione didn't speak for a long time again, and Ron's nerves broke. He stopped, and so did she. They looked at each other.

"What's on your mind?" he asked. She seemed incredibly nervous about something, and the more she looked like that, the more he realised that whatever she'd come to tell him wasn't good news.

"Ron… I… I'm…" She swallowed. "I'm, um… just glad that we can still be friends after everything. Like… it's weird, but not too weird that we can't talk or anything like that."

Ron wasn't entirely convinced that was what she'd been trying to tell him, but this sounded better, so he didn't question her. "I'm glad too," he agreed. "I don't know what I'd do if we weren't friends. We'd be stuck with just Harry…"

They both smiled at that and it felt good to be smiling. They both loved Harry dearly, but their time when it was just the two of them was special too.

"Do you think it's time we stop worrying about it?" Ron then said. "I mean… I've been so worried that this could change things for us, but it doesn't have to. I'm starting to remember bits and pieces, and of what I remember, it was… good. Really good. And fun. We had fun. Let's just leave it at that and move on, yeah? Acknowledge that it happened, it won't happen again, and let's stop being awkward."

Hermione visibly paled in front of him. She suddenly looked unwell, as if she might be sick, but she managed a small nod. "Normal."

"Yeah, normal. Like old times. Nothing needs to change between us."

This seemed to upset Hermione, for tears welled in her eyes. She looked up at him. "I… I have to go, Ron. But thank you."

Ron smiled at her. "Any time. Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded. "I just needed to know things were okay between us. And that you're in a good place. Thank you again." She turned and almost ran from him, leaving Ron standing alone in an empty Diagon Alley, wondering yet again if, despite his words, it was something they could ever truly get past.

Thank you all so much for your positive feedback! Your enthusiasm encouraged me to get this chapter up quickly!

Thanks again to cheesy for going over this chapter!