Authors Note: Ok kids, I realize chapter one is slow, but if you keep reading, it does get better.

I can't help it that I'm bad at beginnings.

Hermione's face turned a very violent shade of green. Madam Pomfrey stood there with a pitying look on her face, clearly unsure of what to say. It was very possible that she had dealt with this sort of thing on numerous occasions, but this time she was totally dumbfounded. Some of the other girls got pregnant, but not smart ones like Hermione Granger.

Hermione sat on the hospital bed, silent tears pouring down her cheeks. Madam Pomfrey patted her shoulder. She wanted to know exactly how Hermione felt about the pregnancy before she asked her the same question she asked all the other girls with this specific problem. She thought it over in her mind for a moment, then asked a different question.

"Who is the father, dear?" She didn't think it was a very good idea to go any further without knowing the father of the child. "Is it Harry? Is Harry Potter the father?"

There was a strangled yelp from the bed across the room. Draco Malfoy's pale, pointed face appeared from behind the white curtains. He fell off the bed, entangling himself in the curtains as he did so, and hurried to free himself.

"OMG!" He shouted, making a giant leap for the doors, throwing them open, running as fast as he could all the way down the corridor back towards the Great Hall, screaming shrilly as he went. His hair was still slightly purple from the hex Harry had performed earlier.

Madam Pomfrey darted over to the open doors, looking stunned and terrified.

"DRACO MALFOY YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs. Hermione sobbed into her hands; she knew that there was no way Madam Pomfrey would ever have a chance at catching him. As soon as he reached the Great Hall, her reputation at Hogwarts would be shattered.

She continued to cry in this way until Madam Pomfrey came back into the Hospital Wing, looking pale and guilty.

Suddenly, a new thought occurred to her.

"OH MY GOD!" She whispered to herself furiously.

"Hermione," said Madam Pomfrey. "I think it would be a very good idea if you sat down."

But Hermione was also too quick for Madam Pomfrey, and she slipped right out the door as quickly as Draco had.

"Oh, come on!" she shouted after Hermione, whose form was quickly fading away in the dark hall. "I'm trying to help, you know!"

Hermione ran straight past the Great Hall, the kitchens, and the library all the way back to the Gryffindor common room without stopping to take a breath. "Frange femur!" she shouted at the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung open.

Ginny was sitting in a chair reading a book. She waved at Hermione, but Hermione didn't even notice it. She started to make her way up the stairs to where Harry and Ron slept, taking them three at a time.

"RON!" She shouted, bursting into the room. To her great disappointment, the room was empty except for Harry, who was sitting on his bed reading a book. He looked up slowly, glanced at her, looked up again, and finally registered her shabby state in his head.

"Hermione? What is it? What's wrong?"

She was clutching her side, taking in gasps of air, looking as if she was about to faint.

"Ron! Just found out…" she took a gasp of air, looking close to tears. "…And Draco! Found out…he was in the hospital...wing…and, he heard…he heard everything!" She was hysterical. "And Harry! Harry he thinks it was you!"

Harry stared at her from his bed, not really sure where to start asking question.

"Ok…what?" He asked, putting the book down and getting out of his bed. He tried to help her into a chair, but she was gasping for air and about to fall over.

Then she started bawling and babbling at the same time. He couldn't understand her for a minute, until he heard one word that stood out from all her meaningless rambles.

"Wait a minute…did you just say…did you just say…" he couldn't bring himself to say the word. "Pregnant?"

She let out a howl and buried her face in her hands, but he could tell that she was nodding, even through her sobs.

However, as Hermione was making her mad dash towards the common room, Ron was searching the courtyard madly for his sister, who he had heard was out with Dean Thomas. He didn't trust Dean at all, and was very aware of the kind of things that could go on in bushes, having experienced them himself on a number of occasions.

Just as he was doing so, Pansy Parkinson and a number of her pale, evil-looking Slytherin she-devils came out into the courtyard, spotted him, and started giggling to each other like mad. He could have sworn that all eight of them were staring directly at him, although there was rarely a reason for anybody to be looking at him. He thought for a moment that they were probably all still angry over what Harry had done to Malfoy earlier that afternoon, but he couldn't understand why they would be smiling about that. He stared at them uneasily, wished quickly that they would go away, and went back to calling for Ginny.

It was clear that they were not going to leave. In fact, they seemed to be seeking him out.

"That's a real shame what happened to your friends," said Pansy, an evil grin spreading across her face, which was mostly unattractive.

Ron stared at her, narrowing his eyes as the Slytherin girls all walked over to him slowly. He was very aware how out-numbered he was.

"What are you talking about," he said, sounding a little worried.

"You don't know?" asked Pansy, still grinning foully. "They didn't even tell you?"

A tiny laugh rippled through the rest of the group. Ron stared at them quizzically, unable to tell if they were serious or trying to play some kind of sick joke on him. Something about the look on Pansy's face bothered him; she didn't normally go out of her way to talk to him.

"Goodness. The whole school knows by now. Even Draco knew, and they didn't even bother to tell you?"
The look on Ron's face was very different from the one they had expected. He knew that the "they" Pansy had to be talking about was Harry and Hermione, and felt he was more than obligated to know what was going on between the two of them.

"What happened."

Pansy was disappointed by this reaction.

"She's pregnant."

Ron's jaw dropped. For a minute, he completely forgot where he was and why he was outside.

"She…what? She's WHAT?"

Pansy sneered at him, folded her arms, and sighed.

"Draco overheard her telling Madam Pomfrey that Harry's the father."

For a moment, he barely recalled hearing this. In the end, it was what finally snapped him out of his trance.

"Wait a minute…HARRY?"

He looked very angry now. Pansy had been expecting him to cry or something, but certainly not get angry.

He walked toward them, but Pansy wouldn't get out of his path.

"GET. OUT. OF. MY. WAY. NOW."

She glared at him.

"Make me!"

Ron made a grab for his wand. Pansy did the same, but he beat her to it. He didn't even have to say anything; she blew off the ground as if a strong wind had pushed her out of Ron's way. She flipped through the air, screaming, and landed safely in the lake nearby. The other Slytherins took one look at his wand, screamed at the top of their lungs, and scattered off into many different directions.

Ron barely heard them. He stormed off to the castle, running as fast as he could. He looked angrier now than he ever had before; his eyes were slits, his hands were balled into fists, and his face was growing redder by the second. He didn't notice the people looking at him or pointing as he passed; they all knew about it by now. Miraculously, they all seemed to speed out of his way as soon as he came around a corner.

He yelled the password at the fat lady, who gave him a disapproving look.

He didn't see Ginny, but she saw him. He stormed up the stairs and she followed; she had been in the common room for hours and was completely oblivious.

Ron slammed into the door; it too miraculously seemed to jump out of his way. He took one look at Harry, who was sitting on the bed with a calmer Hermione.

He lifted one of his balled fists and pointed a shaking finger at Harry.

"YOU."

Hermione's face turned green again. Harry took in Ron's red face, wand, and shaking hand, understood instantly, and automatically fumbled around for his wand.

"Ron, listen—"

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU SO MUCH!" Bellowed Ron, interrupting Hermione.

"Ron, STOP!" Yelled Harry, lifting his wand a little as Ron walked slowly over toward him, looking more and more like an angry dog by the second. "Malfoy didn't hear what he thought! He was—"

Ron leapt at him, completely abandoning his wand. Harry had no time to react, and they both fell to the floor; Ron attacking him and Harry doing his best to fight him off and fish for his wand at the same time. Ginny was screaming behind them and Hermione was sobbing again, trying to grab onto Ron's arms and pull him away.

In an instant, Neville, Seamus, and Dean all appeared at the door. They all looked anxious, but not at all surprised to see what was going on in the room. They darted across the room, pulled Ron off of Harry slowly, and held him back as best they could at the other end. Ginny was no longer screaming, but she was staring at them, both terrified and confused. Hermione was across the room, desperately trying to calm Ron down. Ron was still screaming curses and hexes at Harry, but his wand was safely on the other side of his bed, out of sight.

Neville and Seamus were still trying their best to restrain him, but it was very difficult. Slowly, Harry got to his feet, looking for his glasses, which had snapped in half. He looked very different without his glasses on, and was now quite angry.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" He yelled at Ron, no longer concerned about Ron's well being. "Are you completely INSANE?"

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO GOT MY GIRLFRIEND PREGNANT YOU STUPID BLOODY PRAT!"

"I DIDN'T GET HER PREGNANT YOU IDIOT!" Harry bellowed. "YOU GOT HER PREGNANT YOU FLAMING GIT!"

Ginny took this opportunity to glance at Hermione, flabbergasted. Hermione blushed and avoided her eyes.

Ron still looked angry, but his eyes were suddenly filled with confusion. He stopped struggling for a moment, looked at Hermione, and said "What?"

Hermione cleared her throat nervously.

"I was…down in the hospital wing and Draco overheard Madam Pomfrey and I having a…conversation," she shot an awkward look at Seamus, Dean, and Neville, who all looked as if they would rather not be in the room. "He ran off and told everyone that Harry was…was…the reason for, my…for me being in the hospital wing."

She cleared her throat again.

Ron stood in the corner of the room for a minute, staring at her. Beating up Harry seemed like a very easy way to deal with his anger and surprise, but now that he knew Hermione's current…situation was not Harry's fault, but indeed, his fault, he didn't really know what to say or do.

Harry was still standing in the corner, looking sour and holding his broken glasses.

Ginny coughed nervously.

"Dean, Seamus, Neville…I think everything's alright in here now."

They were glad for the excuse to leave, let go of Ron immediately, and took off out the door.

Harry also decided it was a good time for him to leave. Ron was staring at Hermione, they both looked a little uneasy. He followed after Ginny, closed the door, and went into the common room.

That night, Harry, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Ginny all slept in the oversized chairs. They didn't go back into their room until early the next day when Hermione appeared at the bottom of the stairs, sprinted across the room, leapt up towards her own dormitory and vanished.