Ron, Harry, and Hermione all followed after McGonagall quietly. Harry was very tempted to ask McGonagall what her purpose of dragging them out of the common room at 4:30 in the morning happened to be this time, but he didn't say anything. Ron and Hermione were holding hands and whispering to each other for the thirty-seventh time in the past two days, but Harry ignored this.

He thought maybe they would be forced into Snape's office for a long session of verbal abuse, but McGonagall walked straight past it without stopping.

When they entered the Hospital Wing, Harry jumped when he saw Mr. Weasley, Fred, and Percy. It was Percy who they were extremely surprised to see standing angrily next to Fred, because he hadn't been on speaking terms with the rest of the family since before last year. They all looked worried and were staring at Ginny, who was sitting on top of the bed.

Dean Thomas and Seamus were gone, but Ginny was very pale, and avoiding everyone's glances. Her eyes were bloodshot, like she had been crying.

"Dad?" asked Ron. "What are you doing here? Fred? Percy?"

"Harry, Hermione," said Professor McGonagall. "If you would please stand out in the hallway for a moment, we'll explain in a moment."

"No!" shouted Ginny suddenly, shooting Ron an anxious look. "I want Hermione to be here!"

Harry scowled.

"Never mind," said Harry slowly. "I'll go."

Harry walked through the door and heard it snap shut behind him. He stood outside and leaned up against the wall, being as silent as possible, hoping to hear something. No one made any noise, or, perhaps the room was just protected by some kind of silencing magic. In any event, he heard nothing of importance.

He stood in the hallway for what seemed like hours. The only thing he had to entertain him was the occasional moving of shadows underneath the door to the infirmary. Every once in a while, someone would move and Harry would jump up, but no one came to claim him for a long time.

The portraits on the wall made fun of his pajama pants.

Inside the room, Ginny's jaw was shaking as she vied for the courage to say what she needed to say to Ron.

"Ron," she said. "I'm, er…pregnant."

Ron's mouth fell open and he stared, wordlessly, at his younger sister. Hermione stared too, just as blankly, also at a loss for words.

Hermione, who assumed that she was only in the room to restrain Ron, stood awkwardly. She didn't really know what to say. After all, the only thing she could think to say was:

"Well, um…congratulations, Ginny."

Ginny shook her head furiously. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but closed it.

"Dad," asked Ron. "Where's mom?"

At the mention of their mother, Ginny scowled and glared at Ron.

"She is…out of the room at the moment," said Percy. "She didn't feel well."

Ginny scoffed. They looked at her, but she looked away out the window, still scowling.

"Ginny," said Mr. Weasley. "Maybe you should talk to your mum. If you just try to reason with her, I'm sure she'll come to her senses."

"Yes, RIGHT," screeched Ginny. "Because that's really what she wants to right now. If she won't even believe me—"

"You have to admit, Gins, it sounds a little crazy. If you would just tell us the truth—"

"I HAVE TOLD YOU THE TRUTH!" She screamed at them, eyes flashing madly. Hermione steered Ron to a chair because he looked close to falling over, and walked back toward Ginny, trying to keep her on the bed. The small red-head was glaring at her father, once again close to tears.

"Wha—" Hermione started.

"They don't believe me!" demanded Ginny, pointing her hands at the different Weasley's in the room and Professor McGonagall, who was watching her with great concern. "I told them and they don't believe me and I am NOT MAKING IT UP!"

Hermione stared blankly.

"What?"

McGonagall cleared her throat nervously.

"Miss Weasley has claimed—is claiming that—that the—that she is—that the baby does not have a father."

Hermione raised her eyebrow and glanced skeptically at Ginny momentarily, hoping that someone was joking. She glanced at Ron, who was staring doubtfully at McGonagall, with his mouth still hanging open.

"Ginny," said Madam Pomfrey, who was standing in the corner. "It's very common for young girls to react this way. There's no need to feel guilty or anything, alright. It happens often, and you have nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed of anything! I didn't do anything! Me and Dean, we never—"

"What?" Ron said finally, staring at Ginny.

Ginny automatically seethed, turning on Ron.

"FINE," she barked. "DON'T BELIEVE ME! NOBODY EVER BELIEVES ME—"

"Ginny, I never said I doubted you, alright!" shouted Ron uneasily.

"Ginny," said Hermione soothingly. "It's going to be ok, alright? No one's going to think the less of you—"

"How would you know," Ginny spat. "You're the slut who got pregnant with this idiot's rat of a baby!"

Percy, Mr. Weasley, McGonagall, and Fred's jaws all dropped.

"Ginny," gasped Ron.

Hermione only stood for a second, staring at her. Ginny glared at her and Hermione turned away rigidly. She walked straight out of the room and slammed the door.

Hermione appeared on the other side of the room and gave Harry a dark look.

"What's going on?" asked Harry, scared by the look on Hermione's angry face more than anything else.

The only thing Hermione did was shrug, and she continued down the hallway.

Harry tried to walk through the doorway, but Ginny and Ron suddenly appeared soon after Hermione's departure and were about to run right into him.

"That was completely uncalled for!" shouted Ron.

"GO AWAY," she screamed, and Ron flew backwards across the floor and hit his head on the wooden door.

Harry helped him up and Ron rubbed his head.

"EVERY DAY!" Ron shouted at him. "EVERYONE HATES ME SUDDENLY AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!"

"I don't hate you, Ron," said Harry, slapping him on the shoulder. Then, whispering, he said: "What went on in there?"

Ron shook his head and moved on down the hallway, muttering to himself.

"I can't, Harry…I've got to find Hermione," he said, running slowly.

Harry scowled and walked down the hallway back toward the common room. When he entered the boy's dormitory, Harry noticed that Ron and Hermione and Neville were all there, but Seamus and Dean were gone. Hermione and Ron were sitting next to each other on his bed, and Neville was watching from his own.

"I can't believe she would say something like that to us!" Hermione was screaming through sobs. Ron was rubbing her shoulders.

"I know," he said blankly.

"Considering what she's telling everyone!"

Harry stopped in front of them.

"Does somebody feel like telling me what's going on?" asked Harry sourly. Hermione and Ron's secret world was enough for one week.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other sternly.

"Ginny's pregnant and she's gone completely insane!" barked Hermione.

Harry blinked. His jaw dropped and he stared, scandalized.

"And!" she screeched. "And she's telling everyone that there isn't a father!"

Harry wasn't exactly sure he heard this at first. He had the sudden overwhelming desire to hunt down and murder Dean Thomas. It was very fortunate he happened to be out of the room, which, actually, was probably no coincidence at all.

"Wait…no father?"

"Yeah," she replied, nodding furiously. "She's pulling a virgin Mary card and claiming that she just miraculously got bumped!"

"Hey," said Ron. "Watch it!"

She shot him a very terrifying look.

"DON'T STAND UP FOR HER RON! HOW COULD YOU STILL BE STANDING UP FOR HER AFTER WHAT SHE SAID ABOUT US AND OUR BABY!"

"Whoa, whoa," said Harry. "What'd she say?"

Ron glanced nervously at Hermione, who looked manic.

"She said that, uh…that Hermione was—"

"A SLUT!" Hermione screeched. "AND THAT OUR BABY WAS A RAT AND THAT HE'S AN IDIOT!" she finished, pointing one shaking finger at Ron.

Harry gaped.

"No, she wouldn't…"

"Well, she did," Hermione snapped.

Neville coughed nervously. Undoubtedly, he hadn't expected to hear about another pregnancy.

"No word of this goes out to Lucius Malfoy, Neville," said Ron, suddenly noticing him.

Neville frowned.

"Well…" Harry started cautiously. "I'm sure she'll apologize, Hermione. I mean, she just found out she was pregnant. Don't you remember how upset you were when you found out? Crying all over the place and everything…"

"I didn't call my best friend a slut!" she barked. "I remember that much!"

Hermione and Ron sat on his bed while Harry changed behind the curtains of his. Hermione shot him an angry glare as he left the room for breakfast, and he ignored it.

In the Great Hall, Harry was nervously eavesdropping on nearby conversations to see if anyone knew anything about Ginny. It was his intention to keep Ginny's news as quiet as possible for as long as possible; however, as Dumbledore had said a long time ago in his first year, any secret meant to be kept by the staff was normally known by every student in less than a few days.

"Harry!" someone called. Harry jumped. It was Luna.

"Oh," he said, spotting her. "Hi Luna."

She sat down next to him.

"What happened to Ginny?"

Harry dropped his fork.

"What?" he demanded. "How do you know anything!"

She smiled knowingly.

"Severus told me."

Harry's insides turned inside out at the sound of Luna calling Snape by his first name. He cringed, and said nothing, only shaking his head. After all, he wanted to keep it as quiet as possible and that meant not talking about it in the most crowded room in the building.

"Harry," she said sternly.

"Look, I'll tell you later. I don't want to say anything in here, where we're always being listened to and everything."

She nodded and stood up, however unwillingly.

In the corner, Harry spotted Dean Thomas, who was standing with his arm around Parvati Patil. He was whispering something furiously to Seamus Finnigan, who was laughing. Also standing nearby, oddly, was Draco. Harry glared at him.

Draco, he noticed, no longer had white, blinding hair (or even purple hair, the color he had attempted to change it a few days before). Instead, it was black, and he had a small, thin girl with pale skin and shadowy, dark eyes hanging onto his shoulder.

Harry automatically sensed the trouble in this. Draco hated Gryffindors, even ones like Dean and Seamus, who he never really talked to.

Ron and Hermione strolled into the Great Hall. They both looked mad, but Ron, at least, had calmed down a lot. Hermione was still glaring at anything that stepped into her path.

"Hi Harry," said Ron, sitting down next to him. Hermione sat on the other side of Ron and didn't look at Harry, but he assumed that she was still angry with him.

When they were finished with breakfast, they all got up and went outside for a bit before their classes started. Ron glared at Dean when he saw him, still standing next to the dark-haired Draco. Luna followed them outside and leaned up against the tree nonchalantly, obviously waiting for Hermione and Ron to leave. Harry glared at her.

"Dean's talking to Draco?" Hermione said stiffly. "Since when does that happen?"

Harry wasn't entirely sure how much Dean knew about the night before. Someone, at least, might have asked him about it.

Lavender Brown crossed the courtyard and walked up to where Dean, Seamus, Parvati, Draco, and Icicle were all standing underneath a tree. Harry stared at the back of Dean's head while Hermione and Ron grumbled to each other.

"I knew it," Harry heard Lavender say. "She was acting so weird yesterday…"

"I know," said Dean, shrugging conceitedly. "But it's not my fault, if you know what I mean."

Harry twitched nervously. Ron and Hermione weren't paying attention…

"What?" gawked Lavender. "But I thought—"

"No," said Dean, as if the idea was ridiculous. "She's a prude. Either that or she's a tease."

Harry's fists clenched. Ron looked up and stared at the back of Dean's head, as if he could sense what was coming.

Parvati scoffed. "Right."

"Well, yeah, I guess not," he said, and they all laughed meanly. "I mean, she's there for somebody, isn't she? I didn't know she was such a slut."

Ron stood up so violently that Hermione was pushed backwards.

"Ouch!" she yelled loudly. Dean, Parvati, and Lavender heard and they turned.

"DEAN!" screamed Luna. "RUN!"

Ron shoved Harry out of the way and he flew, face first, onto the ground. Dean saw the look on Ron's face took off running; obviously, he hadn't realized that Ron was there.

Ron, on the other hand, was busy chasing after him. They were both running faster than Harry had ever seen anyone run.

Luna disappeared through the door and Harry clambered back to his feet.

Harry raced after the both of them, screaming "RON! NO! DON'T!"

As much as he longed to beat up Dean himself, it wasn't worth being expelled.

Hermione was pulling herself off the ground, searching for her wand in her pockets. When she found it, she started running after them.

Ginny and Luna burst through the doors, gasping for breath, spotted Harry, Ron, and Dean's disappearing dots and began running again. Ginny screamed as she ran, "RON YOU IDIOT! STOP!"

Luna was clutching her side, red in the face.

A few scared first years jumped out of the way. Hermione, when she was close enough, tried to lift her wand, but it was too much to ask for a good shot. Finally, she gave up on her wand at all and screamed "IMPEDIMENTA!" louder and stronger than Harry'd ever heard before. Not only did Ron stop running in mid-air, several of the scared first years, an older Ravenclaw, Harry, Ginny, Luna, and Dean all fell on the ground with angry crashes.

Hermione was the only one still able to move.

"Sorry about that Harry," she said, stepping over him loftily. "I only meant to stop Ron, but you know how these things work sometimes..."

Ginny couldn't move, but her eyes were angry.

Hermione lifted Ron off of the ground and slapped him.

"RON, YOU IDIOT! DO YOU WANT TO BE EXPELLED?"

She let him fall back onto the ground with a loud thump.

Hermione unfroze all of them except for Ron, who Luna, Harry, and Ginny all helped carry back to the common room. When they were a safe enough distance away from Dean, Hermione unfroze him and they had a huge argument in the common room that ended with them snogging in the corner.

Harry watched Ginny retreat out of the room to go to class, ready to face the rumors and gossip of her classmates on her own terms.