Two months passed with no word from either Harry or Ron. Lindy had returned from her journey three days later with no reply, much to Hermione's disappointment. She spent much of her time during the two months reading up on what to expect during a pregnancy and fighting exhaustion. She found herself resting more and more often, hoping that she could fight off the impending sleepiness. She also found it difficult to maintain one emotion for too long. Often she was irritable, cheerful, and sad all within a two-minute time period. Her morning sickness continued, although slowly drifting away, but headaches replaced any sickness some mornings. She also noticed that, although only slightly, her pregnancy was beginning to show. She only noticed this in the shower; it could not be noticed through her clothing.

Hermione was writing in her journal that she kept for all her thoughts and feelings on one Thursday afternoon when a knock sounded at the door. Puzzled as to who her visitor could be, she rushed to the door, beating the house help there. "I'll get it, thanks," she told them, pulling open the door.

Her scream of joy brought the help running back to the foyer. Hermione stood holding the door open, staring in wonder.

Harry and Ron's grins beamed back at her. "Hey Hermione," Harry said, entering the house and kissing her gently on the cheek. He stepped past her and stood his suitcase up by the wall. Looking around, he nodded in approval. "Nice," he commented.

Ron's greeting was much more ambitious. "I can't believe I'm seeing you again!" he cried, picking her up and swinging her around. Hermione didn't have the heart to tell him that she would be sick if he did that again. He threw his luggage down on the floor by Harry's and marched around the front foyer. "Do you ever get lost in here?" he questioned.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hermione asked, closing the door quietly. Her face was alight with smiles and her eyes were dancing merrily. "Why didn't you just write me back?"

"We wanted to say hi to our best friend in person," Harry commented, wandering around the foyer in awe. "Especially when she's having a baby."

"I'm due in November," Hermione revealed to them, secretly wishing that they would stay until then. Ever since her work schedule had been cut so drastically, she had found herself incredibly bored during her time at home alone. She desperately needed some company and what better company to have than her two best friends?

Neither of the boys had changed that much; Ron's hair was still fiery red and Harry's was still as out of control then ever before. They both wore identical grins and the three friends stood in shock and silence for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

"You haven't changed much," Harry commented, looking Hermione over. "I hope Malfoy's treating you well. If not, Mad Eye Moody is still willing to turn him into a ferret."

Hermione winced at the memory of their fourth year. "Everything's fine," she assured them, nodding to the help to let them know that she was okay and that they could go back to the kitchen. "Draco's changed a lot since our schooldays."

"I remember," Ron said bitterly, chewing at a fingernail. "We were at your wedding, remember?"

"Will Malfoy mind if we stay here?" Harry asked, but Ron interrupted him.

"Do we care what Malfoy thinks?"

"I, personally, don't care how long you stay," Hermione told them honestly, "but staying until the baby's born is a little extreme." She paused as a thought occurred to her. "Where are you guys living anyway?"

"Ron's still living at home," Harry filled in as they trucked through the kitchen to the sitting room. "I'm renting a small place near the Burrow; we're both working at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George expanded and now have a chain of stores."

"How many?" Hermione asked as she lowered herself into a large armchair by the fire.

"Two in total," Ron piped up, gawking at the enormous sitting room. "Theirs and ours. I know, you can't stand the excitement." He gave a huge sigh and grinned again. "It is good to see you again, though."

"I still can't believe you're here!" Hermione cried. She immediately felt tears spring to her eyes. It was wonderful to see her friends after so long; absence makes the heart grow fonder and Hermione couldn't have felt closer to her friends than she did right then.

"Hello!" Draco's voice echoed through the house and Hermione froze. She knew Draco wouldn't get angry but what would his reaction be?

"In here!" she called back, ignoring the warning looks from Harry and Ron. She relaxed calmly in the chair and watched Draco's face contort as he spotted the visitors. "Honey, we have guests."

Ron looked absolutely mortified at the sound of Hermione calling Draco 'Honey' but he chose to keep his mouth shut and smile tightly. Harry repeated his actions and Draco nodded at them both slowly.

"Is that your luggage in the foyer?" he asked almost painfully.

Harry took great joy and replying, "Yep. That's ours. Enough stuff in there for three weeks."

Draco's smile grew as his eyes widened with more pain. "I'll have the help take it up to the guest rooms," he told them before leaving the room for the kitchen. As soon as he was gone, Ron began hooting with laughter.

"Did you see his face?" he cried, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Harry, that was brilliant! But we only packed enough for a week."

"I know," Harry replied, grinning slyly. "I just wanted to make him suffer."

Hermione smiled and laughed aloud. It was great to have her friends back.

Later on that night, after everyone had gotten settled, Hermione headed up to bed, feeling exhausted. Draco soon joined her and they heard the two boys tiptoe past their room to their own guest rooms, whispering quietly.

"Are they really staying for three weeks?" Draco asked, trying to be sweet about the whole situation. Ever since he discovered that Hermione was pregnant, he was taking extra precautions not to upset her.

"No," she confessed, smiling as she turned away from him. "They're only staying for a week."

She could hear him breathe a sigh of relief. "Not that I mind," he added quickly. "I just wanted to know is all."

"Right," Hermione said, her smile growing. It was thoughtful of Draco to add on the complete lie for her sake, but she rather he tell the truth. It wasn't as if she didn't notice the immense tension all evening. Supper was uneventful but as they sat in the sitting room after dinner, Hermione could have cried at the amount of unsaid insults that were being flung in every direction. Draco couldn't help bringing up the times that Slytherin beat Gryffindor in Quidditch, mainly due to Ron's lack of Keeper ability. Harry couldn't help mentioning 'ferret' in any sentence possible and Ron shot dirty looks at Draco the entire night. All in all, considering there was no bloodshed, Hermione thought it went rather well.

"I have another doctor's appointment on Tuesday," she told Draco. "It's at five-fifteen at the hospital. I would really enjoy it if you came with me."

"That's fine," Draco replied, shutting off the lights with a wave of his wand. "I'll leave early from work." He turned over to go to sleep and Hermione could tell that he was kind of angry that she hadn't discussed her friends staying at the house with him. If she had known, she might have said something, but she didn't want to start and argue with him about it now. Instead, she mustered the strength to bury her face in the covers, fighting a mad urge to laugh at the entire situation, and tried to fall asleep.