Hermione sighed, and read over her tenth, and hopefully final draft of the letter to her parents.

Dear Mum and Dad,

          How are you?  I miss you terribly and I'm looking forward to being able to spend a few days at home over the Holidays.  My studies are going very well; I'm busy preparing for NEWTs this year, and this first semester has simply flown by!

          I wish I could say that I'm writing this as a simple 'hello,' but something has come up that I need your help with.  Do you remember what I've told you about Ginny Weasley, Ron's little sister?  How she was kidnapped and raped? (Hermione had conveniently forgotten to mention that Ginny's kidnapper/rapist went to Hogwarts) Well, Ginny's recently found out that she's pregnant with her rapist's child and she obviously doesn't wish to keep it.  She's tried magical means, but for many long and complicated reasons, they didn't work out. Her only option is abortion now and she's asked me to help, as her family is composed of all Wizards and they have little information on the muggle world.   I told her I didn't know what I could do, but I'd write to you to ask for help.  We'd both appreciate any information you could owl our way.  Her name is Ginny Weasley (though I don't know how much help this will be, because she doesn't officially exist in the muggle world), and she's just started her second trimester (the last period she had was sometime in the last week of August).

Love,

 Hermione

Finally satisfied, Hermione sealed the letter and went off to borrow Hedwig.

~

            Harry steeled himself for what he was about to do.  He didn't think Ginny would take it too well, but he had to do this.  It simply wasn't safe for her to be dating him, and although he had no intentions of pushing everyone away, he also longed for Ginny to be safe.  Dating him would not exactly put her in the 'safe' category.

            "Hi Ginny," Harry said brightly.  "Do you think we could go somewhere private?  We need to talk." Ginny looked up at him with eyes full of worry.  She wasn't at her best, but she was aware enough to know that the worlds 'we need to talk,' were never good.  Harry felt a pang of guilt.

            "Umm sure," she said getting up.

            "Good.  Er—why don't you go up to your dorm and I'll come up in my cloak in a few seconds.  Ginny nodded, her face still twisted into a look of deep concern.

            "Is everything okay?" she asked slowly.

            "Yeah," Harry said nervously.  "We just need to talk."  Ginny nodded and started up the girls' staircase.

            It took her about two steps to start panicking.  Harry was going to break up with her; she knew it.  People only said 'we need to talk,' when they were breaking up with you, and Harry had most definitely just said, 'we need to talk.' Oh, she felt sick.  Why was he breaking up with her?  Wasn't she pretty enough?  Was her pregnant figure simply disgusting to him now?  Was she being annoying? Was he sick of her moods?  Ginny hmphed and crossed her arms.  He'd better not be sick of her because she was pregnant.  It's not as if she wanted to get pregnant, and if he was breaking up with her because she was pregnant, he had a lot coming to him.  She had worked herself into quite the frenzy by now. So, she sat on the bed, arms crossed, ready to face the evil Harry Potter and his judgmental ways.

            Harry was silently climbing the girls' staircase.  He really did not want to do this.  Very slowly, he creaked the door of Ginny's dorm open so she could easily blame it on the wind if someone else was in the dorm, but no one else was.  Instead, found Ginny sitting on the bed, looking in his direction as if she positively wanted to murder him.  Harry gulped, took off the cloak and went to sit warily beside her.

            "Ginny," he said gently taking her hand.  She angrily snatched it away.

            "What?" she hissed.

            "Ginny I'm worried about you," Harry said.  Even as he was saying it, he knew it was the wrong thing to say, but still couldn't think of the right thing.  "I'm worried about everyone close to me."  Harry was becoming extremely nervous, Ginny's body was tense; she looked like a tiger ready to pounce, and you did NOT mess with the Weasley temper.  "What I'm trying to say is.  I don't think… Er what I mean is…you see it—"

            "Harry Potter, if you think you're breaking up with me because I'm pregnant with another man's baby, then you 're obviously not the person I thought you were.  I'll have you know that I—"

            "Ginny," Harry said soothingly and rubbing her hand gently, "just hear me out."  Ginny did not look happy about it, but she shut her mouth and glared at him.

            "I don't want to break up with you," Harry said, and he saw Ginny's frail, little body go limp again.  "But I'm still worried about you."  Ginny nodded and looked at him with eyes full of love and devotion.  Harry felt his heart skip a beat.  "I just think that…er… I think it would be best if we didn't tell most of the population that we're together.  I'm so worried about you.  I feel like your whole family is at risk, and I don't want to put you at a greater risk than you already are."

            "What are you trying to say Harry?"  Ginny asked evenly.

            "I just think that it would be the best idea if we let people think we broke up."

            Ginny sat looking at Harry and thinking about what he had just said.  She was surprisingly calm despite her disposition to be overly emotional lately.  Part of it was because she knew what Harry was saying was true.  She was at great risk being with him.  It didn't mean they couldn't be together, and Ginny knew all of the Gryffindors were loyal.  The only change would be that they had to spend their time in the dorms instead of the common room.

            "I don't think that's a bad idea," Ginny said calmly.  Harry nodded and snuggled close to her on the bed.

            "Is it okay if I stay up here then, just to get some homework done?"

            Ginny nodded, thinking how nice it would be to have company without being in the common room that seemed to cause enormous headaches lately.

            Harry and Ginny had a public break-up in the Great Hall the next morning.  They had agreed to make it appear as if they were breaking up for various reasons, but mostly because Harry didn't really care about Ginny anymore.   They didn't make it messy per say, but Ginny did run off crying.  Watching her go, Harry was glad for the first time since coming to Hogwarts, that news of private affairs, predominantly his private affairs, traveled like wildfire through the halls. 

~

            Helen and Matt Granger were delighted to receive news from their daughter.  They missed her so much when she was away at school.  The instant the snowy owl (Hedwig, Hermione had said she was called), flew up to the window and politely tapped on the glass, the Grangers turned off the telly so they could concentrate 100% on the letter.  It had become a beloved tradition for Helen to read the letter aloud while Matt listened intently.  However, Helen's voice faltered as she started to read the second paragraph.

            "We should help her," Helen said.  She firmly believed that a woman should have the right to choose, and anyone who thought differently was just plain silly.

            "It's really not our place…" Matt interjected.

            "Honestly Matt, the girl's in trouble.  Those Weasleys have done so much for Hermione.  If we needed something magical to help her, we'd want them to look it up for us.  Wouldn't we?"

            "Yes," Matt Granger said. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

            "Too right," Mrs. Granger said and walked past her husband into the computer room to start searching through the Internet.

~

            Draco Malfoy sat in the Library watching Ginny.  Apparently, although she and Potter had broken up, she was still sitting with the trio. At least the two of them were sitting kitty-corner from one another.  Her body was just starting to show signs of pregnancy, but only if one knew what to look for.  He wondered how far along her plans were for getting that muggle treatment.  He sighed and once more looked down at the letter he was writing.  He'd lost count of how many drafts of this letter he'd written to his father.  It had been nearly two weeks since the 'potion incident,' and he'd yet to find the right way to put it into words, though years of writing such letters to his father should have taught him what to say.  What worried him most was that he was less than two months away from being initiated and he didn't really fancy his father telling the Dark Lord that he had messed up again. Though dealing alone with such incidents stuck at this horrific school would be very difficult, he couldn't afford to ask of his father's help once more. No, he had messed up too many times lately. The more he thought about it, the more he tried to convince himself that he didn't really need his father. Ginny was dealing with the abortion.  He'd write her a business like letter to see how everything was going.  There was no need to tell his father if Ginny was going to get rid of the child anyways.  Crumpling up his old letter, he took out a new sheet of parchment and quickly wrote to Ginny.

Virginia,

            I'm writing to find out how your plans on the abortion are going.  Do you think they will go through?

Draco

As much as he wanted Ginny to be linked to him forever, he didn't want to deal with this.  It would be messy.  He'd send the letter tomorrow afternoon during his free period.

~

            Helen and Matt Granger were sitting at their kitchen table having a rather heated discussion.  They had searched everywhere for a clinic to take Ginny to, but everyone in the public sector were saying the same things, 'she's too far along,' and some people were even saying that in the private sector, too.

            "Helen," Matt was saying, "we have to tell them now."

            "Matt, I can't"

            "We've exhausted all of our resources, she's much too far along by now.  She'd need two doctor recommendations and she's already in her eighteenth week!"  Helen Granger sat stubbornly at the table, refusing to write a letter to her daughter.  For four weeks they had looked up ways to help the Weasley girl's problem, but Ginny wouldn't be able to come home until Christmas, when she would be only a month away from her second trimester.  It simply couldn't be done through the public sector by then, so they decided to search the possibilities of the private sector. They had told them that if they could see the girl during the following week, there might be a possibility. However, when the Grangers explained that the only time Ginny would be able to visit them was Christmas, they had basically said that there wasn't so much as a chance. Helen Granger sighed, and yanked a pen off the counter to write Hermione a letter.

~

            It took three days for the letter to reach Hogwarts, and Ginny's eyes lit up when it did.

            "Is that it?"  Ginny asked excitedly when Hedwig landed in front of Hermione.

            "It could be," Hermione said hesitantly.  She knew the odds of an abortion working out for Ginny were slim to none; Ginny was even starting to show.  Unlike her, she had not been looking forward to this letter arriving.

            "Open it!" Ginny urged.

            Very slowly, as if to delay revealing the contents of the letter too quickly, Hermione pealed open the letter and very slowly unfolded it.  It was in ballpoint pen, written on what appeared to be sparkling white computer paper.  Hermione swallowed and began to read; with Ginny reading over her should the entire time.

Dear Hermione,

Thanks for your letter honey, it was nice to hear from you, and we're really looking forward to seeing you at Christmas, too.  I'm afraid we have some terrible news.  We've checked everything out, and it doesn't seem possible for Ginny to get an abortion.  We know it's not the same, but we can look into muggle adoption agencies if you can't find a Wizarding one.  We're really sorry it didn't work out and wish desperately that we could do something to help.

With Love,

Mum and Dad

Behind her, she heard Ginny breathing get shallow.

            "Can I-can I," she struggled for breath and pointed to Hermione's letter.  Hermione handed her the letter and Ginny continued to read it over and over, her breathing become increasingly fast and shallow with each run through.  Harry, who hadn't yet read the letter, but was able to surmise that its contents could be considered 'not good,' hit Ron under the table.

            "Comfort her!" he hissed.

            "Why can't you?" Ron hissed back.

            "Because we're not supposed to be a couple anymore."  Ron nodded and took Ginny's hand to lead her up to the common room.  Harry followed behind, his green eyes narrowed on Ginny.  She was gasping for breath, putting them in an odd dilemma. She needed to get her away from everyone fast, but they really couldn't rush her, because she was already struggling for breath.

Draco Malfoy watched from across the hall, and could immediately tell that Ginny's plans were NOT going well.  He took out the letter he was planning to send and ripped it up into little tiny shreds.  Things were not looking up.

            It took some time for their odd brigade to reach Gryffindor tower.  They led Ginny to an open chair by the fire.  Harry immediately squeezed in beside her and took her hand reassuringly.  He was starting to feel a little panicky himself.  Ginny's little hand was freezing, and there was cold sweat all over her body.

            "I can't," she choked out, "I won't."  The group simultaneously urged Ginny not to talk while Hermione preformed a calming charm on Ginny.  After that, her breathing slowed back to a normal pace, but apparently, the charm only worked on her body and not her mind, because she continued muttering things about how she could possibly keep the baby.  Harry simply held her hand and patted it soothingly.  He had known this was a possibility; in fact, he and Hermione had talked about what to do in this very situation. He had come up with a plan of his own.  After much thought and self-examination, he had come to a rather simple conclusion, that he loved Ginny.  He loved Ginny very much indeed, and he couldn't bear to see anything happen to her, emotionally of physically.  So, not long after he had discovered her trying to take that potion, he decided that he would take care of her no matter what, even if it meant raising Draco's child with her.  He already knew that he probably wasn't ready to be a father, but he was certain he'd be a better father than Malfoy, and that's all that counted.  After much time, Ginny's mind had calmed down and she had slipped into an odd sort of state. 

            Ginny sat like that for hours, Hermione's letter clutched in her hand.  She felt ill, very, very ill.  This couldn't be happening, it simply couldn't be happening.  She was now going to have to live with and raise Draco Malfoy's little monster.  Hermione had mentioned something about some muggle method where you had the child, but let someone else keep the baby afterwards, but Ginny knew her parents wouldn't hear of it.  No, she would see this baby almost everyday for the rest of its life, and every time she saw it, she'd be reminded of how it was born, and who the father was.

            "Ginny?" she heard Harry's voice calling, tearing her from her thoughts.  Ginny was silent, she didn't feel much like talking, "Ginny, I need to talk to you."  Harry slipped in next to her and pulled her gently to him so she could rest against his shoulder.  She settled in comfortably and let Harry play with her hair.

            "I hate it," she finally whispered, "and my parents will hate me for it."

            "That's not true!" Harry protested,  "Listen, it's not as bad as you think.  Now that you have to carry the baby to term, we can use it as proof that you weren't lying about where you were last August, not even Fudge can ignore proof like a baby."

            "I don't care if it can put the Malfoys away.  I don't even care if it can defeat You-Know-Who.  I don't want Malfoy's little brat around me."

            "Just listen to me Gin," Harry said shakily, "I want… Err rather…what I'm trying to say is…" Ginny lifted her head to look at him but he was gazing into the fire. She watched as his hand shook a bit on her shoulder,  "Err...You and the baby… I'd very much like…" he paused and took a deep breath, "Iwanttoraisethechildwithyou" he said so fast that Ginny didn't catch it.

            "What?" she asked.

            "The child," Harry said more slowly, "I want to raise the child with you," he gulped.  "I want to call it my own, and take care of it, and pay for it."  Ginny couldn't say anything; she was speechless.  The idea that Harry would want to raise this child with her completely floored her.  "I know that your parents would have to raise the child while we're still at school, and maybe even next year while you're at school, but after that, well, I think we'd make a great family."  Ginny still didn't know what to say.  Harry continued to ramble on, interpreting her silence as negative, "we don't ever have to tell the child it's not official our baby, I'll never think of it as Malfoy's.  And I don't care who knows about it.  I mean, the first year we'll hang low so no one can use it against me, but after that, when I'm fully trained, I could protect you and the baby from Voldemort.  I wouldn't let the Malfoy's near it."   Harry paused to take a breath of air and Ginny finally spoke up.

            "I don't know what to say," she said slowly, and then another thought hit her, "are you proposing that we get married?"

            "Well yes," Harry said, "and I don't have a ring or anything, and it'd probably be best if we waited until we were out of school, or even until Voldemort is out of power, but who knows how long that will be and—"

            But Ginny cut him off with a solid kiss on the lips.  Once they parted, Harry pulled Ginny against him again and rested a hand on her tummy.  Ginny sat in Harry's arms; she wasn't thinking of carrying Malfoy's child, she was thinking of a life married to Harry Potter, carrying his children.  She had dreamt about marrying Harry since before she even came to Hogwarts.  If it took carrying Malfoy's little brat for Harry to realize that their marriage would be a good idea, then so be it.  Besides, she could forget the child was Malfoy, and it might even be worth this whole ordeal if it meant that Lucius and Draco would end up in Azkaban.

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