OK, sorry I forgot the "thank you's" on the last chapter but here they are now

Fist of all, I owe a huge amount of thanks to my Beta Reader B4zooka Jules! She put up with a whole load of typos and helped out so much with my writing! So now all of you don't have to put up with my grammar anymore! Thanks Jules, you're the best!

Next is to all of my reviewers:

To

ButtaFlyXBabyXWitXHeartX06 (I'm glad that you knew it! I was hoping someone would figure it out),

Herbie Werbie (I'm glad you liked it! I was worried about the pregnancy bit.),

and Madison (Thank you! I try to make my work as original as possible without being too mushy. I hope I did OK and I'm glad you''re likeing how this turning out!)

who have reviewed me more than anyone! Thanks for keeping up with my fic!

Also thanks to:

sgrquill (I saw your name on my review and go "NO WAY, she like my favorite author!" I still can't believe you reviewed me and by the way I love that movie The Cutting Edge! Especially the "toe-pic" part! I can't wait to read that part! What will it be? "Broom-brakes"?)

Molly (Thank you for the complement! It meant a lot!)

Julie (I was reviewed by two Julie's on chapters three and four, but I'm pretty sure that it was the same person. However, if there are indeed two different Julie's, then I apologize. And do you really think my writing is good enough for a career!?! Thank you! I'm really glad that you like my work!)

BeaterWeasleyGRL (thanks for all the name suggestions. I might use them later, but the part of the story concerning the baby is already written. Thanks though. I will probably use them at some point.)

B4zooka Jules (who is also my wonderful beta reader and official idea inspirer since my muse had decided to be on vacation and will not answer my frantic calls of help)

Starfly (thank you for the wonderful complement! I'm glad you think so!)

Chapter Four Dare to Dream

Ron was home.

That was the only thing that Hermione needed, And now he had come home Hermione thought that he had been dead, but she had saved him. Or rather, her Head Girl badge had saved him. Hermione hadn't even known he had had it until that day in the bunks when she saw it.

Hermione didn't want to move or speak. All night had been spent looking into Ron's eyes and him looking into hers. There was so much in those eyes now. So much that just six months ago there had not been. Just two months ago there had not been that much, but in those past two months much fighting had reached those eyes.

Hermione remembered that his eyes used to be a piercing blue. Ever since she had known him the color had projected itself out. Maybe it had been his red hair, or maybe it had been his pale complexion, but whatever the case, his eyes had always shown out. Eyes that were always holding some sort of joke that only he could understand. Eyes that were continually laughing and carefree.

However, now his eyes were tainted. The piercing blue had turned to a stormy gray. The once clear eyes were clouded with worry and misery, a misery that was self-inflicted. When Ron had looked at her tonight, there had been too much in those eyes to take in. The joy at seeing her had been apparent, the worry for her safety had been there too, but there had been something else. There had been some sort of torturing and hurting. Ron managed to hide it well, but never from Hermione. Worst part was that not even she could take away the hurt.

Hermione wanted to take away the hurt in his eyes, but she found that not even she could do that. His eyes held a lot of pain. Every time Hermione looked into Ron's smiling face she still saw some pain behind the smile.

Hermione reached her hand and touched Ron's hair. His hair was still as long as it had always been but it was darker and his skin was rougher than it had been before. The war had worn him thin. It was due to the grace of god that he didn't have to go back.

Obviously, the Ministry had seen what he had had to go through during the war, but they didn't know the half of it. They hadn't seen how Ron had endured knowing that his to-be-wife, who was pregnant with his child, was on Voldemort's most wanted list. Being friends with Harry had put them there and even though they loved Harry as their brother Ron, for one, thought that this should not involve him or Hermione. It was selfish, but it wasn't fair.

Harry was now at some war camp with guards protecting him at every turn. He sometimes snuck Ginny a letter. In every letter he told her he was all right and asked how she was. It was funny that they had secretly been dating all that year.

When they were on the train to war camp he had told Ron everything. It tore Ron's heart out for Harry to tell him the things that they had done, but Harry felt it necessary for Ron to know how he felt about Ginny. True, they weren't as bad as the things he had done with Hermione but still they had kept something from their best friends. It had hurt that Harry and Ginny had never told them.

What had happened between Ron and Hermione had been years of hidden desire built up and a few moments of insanity. However Ginny and Harry had kept it from their other best friends for a whole year. They had gone as far to meeting in secret and making excuses just to be together.

Ron and Hermione both felt hurt by this. They had been their best friends. They didn't feel they had deserved that. Hermione thought that Ron would have taken it badly but that was no reason to keep it from them. Harry did love Ginny, he told her so in every letter.

Hermione and Ron hadn't known the risks when they became friends with Harry, but Ginny had and she had still chosen to accept. Ginny had known all about what was happening and she didn't turn away. Hermione remembered what Ginny had told her about him.

"He tells me that I should forget him," Ginny had said while she looked through the rack filled with maternity and baby clothes, "but I couldn't even if I wanted to. I know that Voldemort is after him, but I don't care. I love him, Hermione and that's all that matters to me. I love him and he loves me. I could care less what he looks like, how famous he is, or how he puts me in danger. I love him. That's all that matters. Now pink or blue?"

That was the first time that Hermione truly believed that Ginny loved Harry. It had been that last sentence, I love him and that's all that matters, unconditional love. It was the way she loved Ron and the way that she already loved their child. Hermione found that no matter how much Ron annoyed her or how much her son or daughter might drive her insane, she would still love them with all her heart.

Hermione was tired now. Even though she had spent all the night lying in her bed with Ron by her side talking and remembering things, she was tired. Tired even though she had been in Ron's old room for one day crying it seemed that she had not truly slept in days. It wasn't so much being physically tired but more emotionally tired. Her emotions were drained from her body with all the recent news. Hermione was not tired of body, but more mind.

Hermione withdrew her hand from Ron's face and watched him sleep. He muttered something and Hermione drew herself near. It was enough to be close to him, to know that he was alive and well.

She slowly bent her mouth to his ear and whispered, "It's OK. I'm here."

Hermione put her head back on the pillow and took his hands in hers. She kissed them and watched Ron sleep. However, Hermione was very tired, and soon she herself was asleep. For the moment Hermione had everything she wanted and in those last moments of consciousness before she closed her eyes, Ron was all she saw.

The next day there was a mixture of emotions going around. Whenever Mrs. Weasley saw Ron she would either do one of two things: Hug him and start crying, or lecture him about Hermione before hugging him and starting to cry. Needless to say the family didn't blame Hermione for her condition but rather Ron.

Ginny had reacted better than Mrs. Weasley. She would simply smile and say some kind of glad to have you back, although her eyes did tear up a bit. Mr. Weasley wasn't as open with his emotions as the girls were but would give Ron a manly hug and say he was glad that he was back.

Hermione never left Ron's side; wherever he was she was. Ron never wanted to let go of her again and the thought of letting go of Ron mentally hurt Hermione. She wanted to wake up by him ever morning. She wanted every day to be this good.

Owls were sent to all Ron brothers. All of them were very glad Ron was back, but the fact that the war still raged on held heavy on them. Many had been killed that day Ron almost died. However, the Weasley family still was in good graces. No one that they had known was dead, yet.

As the days passed on Hermione began to think about her and Ron's marriage. She really didn't want her children to see her pregnant in her wedding pictures but she wanted to be married when she had her baby. Transfiguration was an option but that was painful and highly dangerous when you were six months pregnant.

It wasn't like she didn't want to look bad in her wedding pictures, (even though she really wanted to look good) but nobody would be able to come to her wedding either. All her old school friends were either at war or in hiding; even the Weasley's had made their house unplottable and, with the help of Bill, made it impossible to apparate onto their property.

Hermione wanted to wait till after the war, but in only three months her baby would be born and it would only be by some miracle that the war would end that soon. Then, there was the fact of the baby itself. If people knew about the baby it too would become a target.

Few knew about Ron and Hermione being together since all had happened on that night in early June and what was better was that most still thought Ron to be dead. The Weasley family had received many sympathy letters over the past few days and they had decided to take advantage of everyone thinking that Ron was dead.

Mrs. Weasley had written back that she accepted their condolences and was very shaken by the 'death' of her son. She did, however, conveniently forget to mention the part about him not actually being dead.

So it had been with hard acceptance that Hermione and Ron would not be married when their baby was born. They would marry after the war. Ron hated it just as much as Hermione but they had no choice. For everyone to stay protected they must keep in hiding, even if it meant sacrificing a symbol of their love for a while.

For Hermione things were going good but what goes up always comes down. Wherever there is light there is darkness, and the stronger the light the deeper the darkness. As Voldemort's Death Eater's strengthened, the Ministry's troops only weakened. Even the order was struggling.

Harry had still not gone into battle, but the fighting grew nearer and nearer to him. Harry knew that he was the one that Voldemort was after and he was the cause of many innocent deaths. Harry was the noble one and never would sacrifice something if he could help it.

After Cedric's death he had felt responsible and ever since then he had worked to prevent anyone or anything from dying at his expense. Voldemort was after Harry and as much as anyone would want to deny it, it was true. No one had ever stopped Voldemort before, except for Lily Potter, and Lily Potter gave her life in the process.

"Curse them," cried Ginny as she sat at the breakfast table.

"curse who?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"The Death Eater's mum, who else. They have broken another barrier on their way to Harry's war camp. Voldemort knows that he's there," Ginny said.

"Gin, they don't know that Harry's there and don't say the name, dear" said Mrs. Weasley.

Ron put doesn't his glass on the table and said, "Mum, they know where Harry is. Why else would they travel in one direction for three months? And mum, when are you going to get over it. Just say it, Vol-de-mort. It's not that hard."

Mrs. Weasley gave Ron an incredulous look and Hermione said, "They do have a point, but there are six different war camps in that area. Harry's is hidden, too. I don't think that You-Know-Who knows exactly where Harry is. By the time he figures it out, they'll have caught him."

Ron smirked at her and said, "That's my Bright Eyes. Always the optimist."

Hermione blushed and got up from the table. She needed some air. Very few times was she able to go outside these days. If it wasn't the though **/thought** that someone would see her, it was the risk that someone would hurt her. Just yesterday the Patil sisters had come by to console the family. They were nurses now, as most of the girls had done once graduated from Hogwarts. Nurses had very little time that they weren't busy at St. Mungo's, but in between battles they were permitted visits to friends.

Thank Merlin Hermione and Ron had been upstairs when they arrived. It was a wonder that they didn't already know about Ron being alive since they worked at the hospital, but it just went to show exactly how much the ministry kept quiet these days. If either of them had seen Hermione or Ron then their whole plan would have given away, as one of the Patil sisters' traits was their big mouths. Ginny had 'rushed upstairs in tears' one or more times to check on them and try to 'persuade' Hermione to come down and say hello.

Unfortunately, Hermione had been in 'floods of tears' for the past few days and was indisposed. It had been a close call and the sisters had wanted to stay all day but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had suddenly received an owl from the Ministry and their guests had to leave immediately.

Parvati had kept going on about a new law that was to be installed very soon. Something about all no married persons being allowed to stay in the war zones or something but they all knew that she had really come to see Dean.

Before the war they had been together. Parvati had really never been one to settle down, she spent most of her fifth and sixth year at Hogwarts 'testing' out ever guy. Hermione remembered that there must have been a new guy very week. Once in fifth year, she even dated Ron, but that had all been before Dean.

Dean had been the one to turn her around. At the beginning of seventh year they had started to date and even from that time Hermione had known that this time, it was different. Usually after a "meeting" (since you couldn't really go out on a date a Hogwarts, you "met". It was usually just another name for a picnic dinner and a snog session on some secluded part of the grounds) Parvati would come back. Gab to Lavender about how wonderful/horrible time she had, make a prediction on how long this one would last, take a hot shower, and go to bed.

However this time had been different. Hermione didn't even think that Lavender knew exactly what happened on that night because when Parvati returned, she softly closed the door behind her and sighed before going straight to bed. From what Hermione knew, she didn't even change into nightclothes. Lavender had thought her ill.

But Hermione knew that Parvati suffered no affliction of any kind except maybe the thought that it took her so long to find Mr. Right. Hermione knew for a fact that Parvati didn't get any sleep that night because she too had thought a lot about herself and Ron that night, wondering if he would ever walk in he dorm like that as she listened to the silence of the night instead of Parvati's usual light snoring.

Hermione breathed in the morning air. It smelled so good and it was moist with freshly fallen dew. Hermione ran her hand across her stomach. She wasn't nearly as big as her aunt had gotten when she had been pregnant with her cousin.

Hermione bowed her head. She missed the Muggle world. She missed all her aunts and uncles. All of them thought that Hermione was dead. They all thought that her parents were dead too.

Even though Mrs. and Mr. Granger were not dead, but from the state they were in they might as well have been. They didn't even know who Hermione was. They shared a room with the Longbottoms at St. Mungo's. They lived from day to day not ever remembering what happened the day before. It broke Hermione's heart to go and see them but even if she wanted to, now she couldn't.

Hermione wanted to find a cure for the amnesia they suffered but that would mean she would have to study abroad and see similar victims of the curse. Hermione would love nothing more than to study all over the world but she couldn't. She had already sealed her fate.

She had been the smartest witch in her year, Head Girl, and had stood up for many causes in her day, but that had been before she had gotten mixed up with all this. That had been before the war had been announced and she had gotten herself pregnant. Not that she was sorry for any of it, because she knew that she couldn't love her child more even though he or she wasn't born yet. She couldn't have loved Ron more either, but still.

Hermione wanted to travel the world. She wanted to see all the great cities of ancient times. She wanted to find the lost continent of Atlantis (which had actually already been found). She wanted to study in Egypt, paint in Italy, hike up the highest mountain and show the world that she could do anything she set her mind to. Only problem was, she couldn't now.

She had shown so much promise in school but look at her now. She would never amount to anything more than a housewife. Hermione though of what her parents would think. Getting pregnant at seventeen and hopefully getting married at eighteen while war was going on all around them.

Just then the door slid open and Mrs. Weasley walked out. She put her hand on Hermione's shoulder and sighed, also breathing in the fresh morning air. Mrs. Weasley smiled down at her giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"Nice out here isn't it?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley, it is" Hermione said in reply.

Mrs. Weasley sighed and said, "I wanted to talk to you about that."

Hermione felt a lurch in her stomach and said, "What is it, Mrs. Weasley?"

Mrs. Weasley sat down in a chair on the patio and said, "Around your age the same thing happened to me as is happening to you. Arthur and I got into some trouble and I thought I was pregnant. Of course, I didn't tell anyone besides him and right after Hogwarts, we were married. Now a month later I found out that I was wrong. I had all these dreams for my life but I realized that since I had made a mistake many of those dreams, I couldn't follow up."

She paused for a second and continued, "Did you know that I was Head Girl in my year, Hermione?"

Hermione looked shocked and said, "No."

Mrs. Weasley smiled as if she was remembering some very good memories and said, "You don't think they get all their brains from their father, do you?"

"Guess not," Hermione laughed.

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said, "I had some dreams and for a while I thought I would never achieve them. When we had Bill I knew that I wouldn't have been happier any other way. The first time I held him in my arms, I knew I couldn't have been more right to make that mistake. Then my dreams changed. Now, I have goals of finishing the endless pile of laundry and of having more than two seconds of quiet in the house-neither of which I have achieved ...yet. I didn't give up on my dreams, they just changed."

Mrs. Weasley paused again and continued, "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think what my life could have been like if I hadn't made that mistake ...and there is not a day that I am not grateful that I had made it. You remind me a lot of myself at your age. Never give up on your dreams, Hermione. Whether it be to explore the world or to be the best damn Mother there ever was. Never give up on them."

Hermione's eyes teared up and she said, "Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

Mrs. Weasley smiled and said, "You're welcome Hermione."

Hermione smiled and turned around to go inside but Mrs. Weasley called her back and said, "Hermione."

"Yes?" Hermione replied.

Mrs. Weasley smiled and said, "Call me Mum."

Hermione smiled back and said, "Thank you .Mum."

With that Hermione went inside and Mr. Weasley went outside saying to his wife, "What was that about?"

Mrs. Weasley shrugged and said, "Baby names and stuff."

Mr. Weasley shrugged and said, "Oh, stuff."

Hermione smiled to herself and entered the living room. Ron sat on the sofa and Ginny was working the old radio. Ron saw Hermione and immediately jumped up helping her over to the sofa. Ginny let out a sequence of coughs that sounded strangely like "wrapped around your finger".

Ron glared at her and said, "Oh, look an owl from Harry."

Ginny jumped up saying, "wherewherewhere."

Ron and Hermione laughed and Ginny sat down back on the floor pouting and began to mess with the radio again. It took a minute but she got it and a rather airy voice came on.

"Attention, Attention," the voice said, "a new order has been announced today by the ministry of magic. It decrees all women and children under the age of thirty to be evacuated from the area of Britain, France, Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain. Tomorrow all Ministry personnel from these countries will be visiting all the homes of citizens. If the couples are married and have protection set up they have the option to stay. However, this is not advised. The women and children will be transported to a secure location, the whereabouts of which are classified. All women and children to be ready tomorrow. If you do not come by free will you will come by force. Be at Kings Cross tomorrow at nine o'clock. That is all."

The radio went dead and the room was silent. Ginny got up and ran to her room. Ron pulled Hermione close and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood at the door-frame apparently having heard the whole thing, but quickly left feeling that Ron and Hermione needed to be alone.

Hermione buried her head into Ron's shoulder and said, "They can't do this to us. Haven't we been through enough?"

Ron lifted her chin and said, "Hermione, you've been though more than your share of war, but we can't help this. We've got to be strong."

Hermione looked up again and said, "I ...I could be Herman Grunting again. I can stay here with you."

Ron smiled at her and said, "No, you can't. Remember ...Herman Grunting died in the first battle. Plus if you think that I would let you go out there again you're crazy."

Hermione was crying hard now but said through the tears, "What do you mean, go back out there? You're staying here ...right? Ron, tell me you're staying here."

Ron sighed and said, "I got a letter from Dumbledore today. He's asked me to come back. He said that he knows that you and Ginny and mum and dad don't want me to, but since everyone thinks I'm dead-I don't know how he knows I'm alive-it'll be helpful to the war as well as the order. He doesn't want me to either but you know as well as I that I've always been there when someone needed me. I feel like it's my duty to go. He's already arranged for members of the order to pick me up tomorrow at the train station."

Hermione sobbed and Ron held her close. Both of them had known that this life was too good to last but at least they'd been together for a while. Hermione knew that Ron had to go but she wanted him to stay. She wanted to have a nice life with him, but no matter what dream she had it always was destroyed.

Ron carried her up to her room and closed the door. All night she cried and all night Ron held her telling her it would be OK. But while he was comforting Hermione, Ron couldn't help thinking at the back of his mind that everything wasn't going to turn out okay. He was more trying to persuade himself to believe what he was saying that he was Hermione.

The next day with all their stuff packed away, Ginny and Hermione went to King's Cross. Ginny and Hermione had both cried all night. Ron escorted her covered with the invisibility cloak Harry had given Ginny "just in case." Hermione wore huge robes to hide her pregnancy and avoided familiar faces.

Finally it was time to say goodbye. Hermione lead Ron into a corner and he took off the invisibility cloak had I to her which she quickly stuffed under her robes. She kissed him, trying to memorize the way he tasted and the way he smelt, but it was in vain. He pulled away from her and lifted up the left side of his jacket to reveal none other than the Head Girl Badge that had saved his life once before.

Hermione felt her eyes tear up and pulled up her large sleeve to reveal the ring he had gave her. Ron lifted her hand and kissed it bringing it to her face and then to her stomach. Hermione smiled and Ron wiped away a tear from her face.

Then a familiar voice from behind them interrupted their goodbye saying, "Is this going to take all day, Weasley? Our train left five minutes ago."

Hermione turned around to see none other than Draco Malfoy. Hermione almost thought that she saw him smirking. Ron rolled his eyes and gave him a look that clearly said 'sod off'.

"Not you," he said to Draco.

"Yes, me Weasley," Draco replied, "and guess what, you're late. The A. T. D. G. will not be happy."

"What's the A. T. D. G.?" Ron asked.

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "The Associating of Thought Dead Guys, Order of the Phoenix. Now let's go."

He turned back to Hermione and gave her one last kiss before hugging her and whispering, "I love you, my Bright Eyes," to her.

Hermione felt the urge to cry but held it back and watched him walk away with Draco. She didn't want to let him go but something inside of her told her she had to. Hermione watched him disappear into the crowd and softly whispered, "I love you, too."

Hermione then felt of hand on her shoulder and she turned around only to see Ginny. She looked at the train and saw all kinds of women and children board it. Ginny smiled at her.

"Time to go," she said, "stuff's all on board."

Hermione took one last look back at this world she had entered when she was eleven years of age. She remembered all the good times she had and all the bad times too. Hermione breathed in and out loudly and turned to face Ginny. She knew there was no point in dwelling on the past.

"Let's go," Hermione said soundly.

Hermione knew that her life would never be perfect. The fates had never allowed her that. Every time something good had happened it had been taken away from her. However, Hermione also knew that if she kept dreaming someday her dreams would come true.

Someday she and Ron would be together and the war would be over. Until that day all she could do was dare to dream about tomorrow and someday tomorrow would come. Hermione would be ready for that day. Hermione would always dare to dream about that day and when it came, she would she would be ready for it.

With those thoughts, Hermione boarded the train and didn't look back on yesterday but forward to tomorrow. Hermione closed her eyes and Mrs. Weasley' s voice rang through her head helping her take that step on board.

"Never give up on your dreams, Hermione. Whether it be to explore the world or to be the best damn Mother there ever was. Never give up on them."

Hermione would always dare to dream.

To be continued.

(A/N: Well, that all there is for now. The next chapter is called Saving Grace and should be out soon as I do some work on it and it gets beta read. Hope you all are enjoying this story! Review me if you have time!)