Hermione Weasley paced the living room of her in laws home for almost an hour before she gave up and went to bed. Her husband and best friend should have been home an hour ago. At first she was angry with them for being late and now she was worried.

"Hermione, I am sure they will be home soon" Ginny replied soothingly. "Ron may be dense but he would never break a promise to you"

"The baby could be born any minute now" Hermione whined. "I need him"

Helen came up behind her sister and hugged her tightly. Hermione began to sob into her shoulder.

"Come on now, Mio" Helen whispered. "You are stronger than this and you know it."

"I can't" Hermione cried. "I can't have this baby without him"

"If you have to, you will" Helen told hermione sternly.

"What if something happened to them," Hermione continued as if she never heard her sister. "I can't raise a baby alone"

Helen gently led Hermione to her bedroom and quickly put the hysterical teenager to bed. Helen left her sobbing into her pillow and shut the door tightly behind her.

Bill, Fleur, Charlie and Ginny were down stairs in the kitchen having a cup of tea discussing Harry and Ron, wondering what could possibly have made them late. Charlie handed Helen a cup of tea and she smiled at him as she took a seat.

"Hermione sounds distraught" Charlie said," is she ok?"

"Mio, has some issues with abandonment" Helen explained. 'I guess being pregnant and Ron being late, is a little too much for her"

"Why would Hermione have abandonment issues?" Ginny asked looking concerned.

"I guess you don't know much about our childhood" Helen sighed. She took a sip of her tea and finally spoke, "When Hermione was a little girl, maybe five or six, our father and mother separated."

"But they always seemed so happy" Ginny said, a look of complete shock across her face"

"They are now," Helen explained. "See, Daddy was always a workaholic. He stayed long hours at the office and never spent time with us at all. So, mum left and took us with her. But our mother had never lived alone and it terrified her. She started going out with friends, going on dates, leaving us with Lucy, the maid. For over two years our mother and father were all but absent from our lives."

"Oh my" Fleur whispered looking teary eyed.

"Howard and I did our best for Hermione" Helen continued. "She had nightmares and she refused to go to school. Then one-day mum packed us up and moved us back to dads. We never talked about what happened and we were expected to go on as if it never happened. Hermione was best at pretending. She threw herself into her books and schoolwork. Howard spent no time at home, choosing to play sports and join clubs. I went as far extreme as possible. I went from being almost motherly to rebelling like a teenager, skipping school, drinking, shop lifting. I know kind of dumb"

The table was silent and Helen started to laugh.

'No one ever understood how Hermione and I got along so well" Helen told them. "We were polar opposites. I guess we both admired one another. I envied Hermione's ability to deal with he stress so well and she admired me for taking care of her"

"I never knew any of that," Ginny whispered. "How could she not tell me? How could she not tell any of us?"

"Hermione has really managed to pretend it never happened" Helen advised. "But she has always had a fear that everyone she loves will walk away at any moment"

"Wow, that explains so much" Ginny whispered

"Do you think they are ok?" Helen asked.

"I wish I knew" Bill answered, "But honestly, we have no way of knowing"

At that moment Ron and Harry apparated into the kitchen.

'We did it" Harry cried.

"Did what?" Ginny asked rushing to her brother and Harry, looking them over critically.

"We destroyed all of the horcruxes, except for the last one" Ron rushed on looking crazed.

"The last one" Helen asked looking confused. "What is the last one, where is it?"

"It's him," Harry answered. "Lord Voldemort"

The silence was broken by a scream upstairs.

"Hermione" Ron cried running out the room followed by everyone else. He opened the door and found Hermione lying on the floor.

"Hermione" Ron asked kneeling down at her side. "What's wrong"?

"I don't know" Hermione sobbed clutching her stomach in pain. "It's the baby, something's happening. I need to go to St Mungo's now"