Author's Note: Hey, thanks to BBRaelover4eva, PigWithHair and Tina 101 for your great reviews! Love to you both! Now on with the story (hope you like it)! By the way, I'm not sure how early you can find out the sex of a baby, so forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm just making it up!
Ron Weasley was awoken by a sudden whack by Harry hitting him with a pillow. He grudgingly sat up and groaned. "Whadya do that for?"
Harry laughed. "It's 9 am! Time to get up, you dimwit. Breakfast is ready and you need to go wake Hermione up!"
Ron swung his feet out of bed, stood up and stretched. "Alright, alright, I'm up. Is today Saturday?"
Harry nodded yes as he looked around his bed for a somewhat clean shirt to wear. Ron smiled. "Good, that means I can take Hermione to Hogsmeade. She's been dying to get some book and I want her to show me which one it is. After all, our anniversary is coming up in less than a month."
Harry looked up and saw Ron with a somewhat dreamy and dazed expression on his face. "Ron! Why are you going to stand there and daydream about Hermione when the real Hermione is in her room waiting on you?"
Ron turned red and grinned. He and Harry both got dressed quickly so they could go get Hermione and Ginny.
When they got to the Gryffindor common room, Harry sat down to wait for Ginny while Ron went to go get Hermione. He told Harry that they would meet him and Ginny in the Great Hall.
Ron reached the portrait that led into Hermione's dorm. He crawled through quickly and hoped that she was still asleep so that he could wake her up somehow or another.
When he was completely through the portrait hole, he started to yell "Hermione! Time to…" but he cut off when he saw how empty the room was. The furniture was still there, but everything that had belonged to Hermione was gone. The candles that Hermione usually kept burning on the mantelpiece were gone, all of her books were gone, the blankets she kept on the couch were gone, and all of the pictures from the walls and tables were gone, except for one. The only pictures left was one of Harry, Ginny, Hermione and himself and beside it were three letters, each one was addressed to either Harry, Ginny, or Ron and they were all in Hermione's writing.
Ron ran and grabbed the letter addressed to him. He tore it open and a picture fell out. It was his favorite one of Hermione. They were having such a good time together and that had been a wonderful day. He began to read the letter and with every word his heart broke more and more. She was gone. His beautiful Hermione had left. But why? Why would Hermione leave? He couldn't even begin to imagine why. He sank down onto the floor in a numb shock, and then the pain came. It was a pain like he had never felt before. He wanted to pretend none of this was happening; he didn't know what to do. Ron buried his face in his hands, wishing that he had Hermione back in his arms.
Harry and Ginny were sitting at the breakfast table, only halfway enjoying their food. They didn't know where Ron and Hermione were. They should have been there at least 30 minutes ago.
"Harry, don't you think we should go check on them?" Ginny asked. Harry finished the last of his pumpkin juice and nodded. "Yeah, let's go."
Harry and Ginny got up from the table and walked towards Hermione's dorm, hand in hand. They playfully pushed each other as they walked along the halls. They flirted and laughed all the way, but they abruptly stopped laughing when they went through the portrait hole.
Their mouths fell open as they looked around the almost empty room and saw Ron sitting on the floor with his face in his hands. Ginny grabbed the two remaining letters off the table and handed Harry his while she began opening hers and pictures fell out of theirs as well. They only looked at the pictures for a moment before starting to read their letters. Ginny finished hers first and sat down beside Ron crying.
"Oh Ron, I'm so sorry. Where did she go? Did she tell you in your letter? Did she tell you anything?" Ginny looked at her brother pleadingly. Ron took his hands away from his face to show his cheeks glistening with tears. He shook his head. "No, Gin. She didn't tell me anything about where she is. She just told me she loved me and to not forget her. I don't know what to do." Ron looked out towards the window as if to look for something to help him.
Ginny started crying harder and Harry came and put his arms around her. She looked up and saw he was crying too, but he was trying to fight it. "Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry made somewhat of a grunt to show he was listening. "Harry, I'm scared," she said.
Harry pulled Ginny closer to him. "I know Gin, I am too. I don't know why she left or where she is. We need to go to McGonagall. She'll know what to do."
The three of them ran to McGonagall's office and dashed up the stairs as fast as they could, but McGonagall wasn't in there. They found this odd since she hadn't been in the Great Hall for breakfast either.
"You don't think something's happened do you?" Ginny asked anxiously. Harry looked around the office. "No, I don't think anything bad is going on with McGonagall, I just wish I knew where she was so we could do something about this."
Ron had kept silent this entire time and continued to do so. He looked horrible, as if he was completely lost and didn't know where to go or what to do. As bad as Harry and Ginny felt, they both knew that they couldn't even compare to what Ron must be feeling.
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Hermione apparated into the Leaky Cauldron and found McGonagall, Remus, and Hagrid waiting for her with her things in a corner. She gave them a little wave then walked up to the bar to talk to Tom. As she walked up Tom saw her and his smile broadened.
"Ah, Hermione! I wasn't expecting you this soon! But no matter, the sooner the better. How are you feeling? I expect you'll be wanting me to show you to your new room then?" Tom said this all very fast and Hermione smiled.
"Thanks for everything Tom. I can't tell you how much this is going to help me out," Hermione said as they walked over to help take up her things. Since Hagrid technically couldn't use magic, he took the largest trunk up to the room by hand, while McGonagall and Remus bewitched the rest to follow by itself. Hermione tried to insist on helping, but they would hear nothing of it. "We're not taking any risk of you getting hurt. We want you to have a healthy child, so no big magic," McGonagall said sternly. Hermione sighed. She was right, so she followed up the stairs after the rest. She was almost halfway up the stairs when heard a familiar voice call out.
"Wotcher Hermione," Tonks said cheerfully. Hermione dashed back down the stairs and the two girls embraced in a hug.
"Tonks! Thank you so much for coming, how are you?" Hermione asked.
Tonks chuckled. "How am I? I should be asking you! How do you feel? Been getting sick at all?"
Hermione nodded grimly. "Almost every morning. Hopefully this stage will pass or I might just get unlucky and get sick every morning for the next seven and a half months."
"Oh, so that means you're about a month and a half along then?"
"Yeah, almost to date, but I found only found out a couple weeks ago. Come on, let's go see my room, I haven't even seen it yet."
They walked up the stairs talking as they went. They found the room on the floor directly above the pub and walked in. Hermione's mouth opened a little, but then she smiled. The room itself wasn't really all that big, but it was perfect for Hermione and her baby when it came. There was a small sitting room with a fireplace and a teeny kitchen was in the corner. There were two smaller rooms and a bathroom too.
"Do you like it?" Tom asked hopefully. Hermione couldn't help but squeal a little with glee.
"Oh I love it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Hermione gave Tom a big hug and went to look in the rest of the rooms. When she came back out, she said, "It's wonderful. I'll start work tomorrow."
"Okay, that will do fine, but I'm not letting you work too hard. Can't be too careful with you now!" Tom said jokingly. He gave Hermione her keys and then left for her to get her things unpacked. Everyone else left too, except for Tonks who was staying behind to help Hermione get the apartment furnished and decorated.
They went to into Diagon Alley and got a single bed for Hermione and a nice bedspread and sheets. The got a small vanity to put in the room and bookshelves to put all of her books. Once they had Hermione's room arranged nicely, they went back to Diagon Alley to pick out a cradle and other things. As they looked around, Hermione couldn't help but smile and put a hand on her stomach. But it mad her sad too, because she had always pictured Ron with her as she did these things. She was jolted out of her thoughts when Tonks called out for her.
"Oi, Hermione! Come look at this!"
Hermione went over to her and saw that she was looking at a beautiful cradle that could be for a boy or girl. They purchased the cradle and moved it into the second room right beside Hermione's. Seeing all of the different boy and girl things had made Hermione start thinking.
"Hey Tonks, do you think I should find out whether I'm having a boy or a girl?"
Tonks looked up. "Well sure. I mean, it would make shopping for all of this stuff a lot easier."
Hermione agreed. The next day she went to a small doctor's office in Diagon Alley after she finished working in the Leaky Cauldron for the day. They tested her and told her to wait in the lobby for about a half an hour while they got the results. Hermione was halfway through a parenting magazine when a nurse came out and said, "Congratulations Ms. Granger, you're having a baby girl."
Hermione's face broke into a huge smile. She really had wanted a girl all along, but would have been glad with either. She told the nurse thank you, paid her bill and walked back out into the street. Not many people were in Diagon Alley and Hermione wandered around for a little while, buying knicks and knacks along the way. She bought a small pink blanket and teddy bear and put them in the cradle back in her apartment.
Hermione couldn't shake the sadness of the day though. She wanted Ron to be with her so badly, but she knew he couldn't be. She wiped her eyes quickly when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to find Tonks and McGonagall standing there. She warmly welcomed them in and they took seats on a new couch and chairs they had put in the living room.
"So, Hermione did you find out whether you're going to be having a boy or girl?" McGonagall asked curiously. Hermione smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I did. I'm going to have a little girl!"
Both Tonks and McGonagall congratulated Hermione several times. They left a few hours later saying that they would visit again very soon. Hermione walked with them down to the pub where they apparated away.
Hermione looked at the time and saw how late it really was and then realized she was quite tired too. She dragged her feet back up the stairs and into her apartment. She looked into the nursery and smiled, thinking that not long from now, a little baby girl would be sleeping in there. Against her will, Hermione started thinking of Ron, Harry and Ginny. She tried to shake off the thoughts by taking a long, relaxing hot bath. It worked for a little while but as soon as she curled up under her new, soft covers in her single bed, the thoughts came back. She fell asleep wondering if Ron was thinking about her as much as she was thinking about him.