Hermione hated being pregnant. She felt horrible for thinking it, but it was true. She hated the way her body felt swollen and the way her ankles were always sore. She hated using the toilet every five minutes and not seeing her toes. But she wanted a child, Ron's child. A perfect mixture of the two of them, she just wished she could have that without the actual pregnancy part.

She also hated this dingy little cabin that they were supposed to call their home for, well however long it took to end this situation. First and foremost, it was filthy. Completely, disgustingly filthy. She had refused to let Ron unpack anything when they arrived, insisting that the entire building be Scourgifyed thoroughly—twice. The second reason she hated it was its size. It was just so small. She could walk around the entire place in a matter of seconds, well she more waddled than walked, but that was beside the point. There was nowhere for her to work in private and she had no idea how she was supposed to get any work done with Ron looking over her shoulder all the time.

But, she had gotten them both into this mess, so she was determined to make things work the best she could and to find a solution to this debacle as quickly as possible. She was not giving birth to her baby in this backwoods cabin if she had anything to say about it. That gave her a little under two months to figure out how to destroy a ring that countless others had tried to destroy throughout history and that several had lost their lives in the attempt to do so.

She looked around the newly cleaned cabin and eyed her collection of books. Perhaps she needed a few more. Oh, god could they get more books if they needed them? Her heart sunk to her knees as she felt the walls close in on her. She was trapped here and she might not have enough books.

Hermione was on the floor hyperventilating when Ron found her. "Just breathe," he said soothingly as he put his arms about her.

Hermione struggled to control her breathing, concentrating as hard as she could. A panic attack could not be good for the baby.

"Alright, love?"

Hermione nodded, struggling to find her voice. "What if I need more books?"

Ron's face broke into a grin and he let out a small chuckle. "Don't worry, the ministry will see that you have anything you need. Just let me know and I'll get it for you."

Hermione relaxed into his arms. "Good, because I was thinking that I might not have brought enough. I mean what if I had left the one book that I need to solve this problem in my lab or on the bedside table?"

Ron stood pulling Hermione with him. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her towards the bedroom. "I love you. Did you know that?"

Hermione nodded and let him carry her away. "I love you too."

"Ginny," came Harry's voice followed by a soft knocking on her door.

She must have fallen asleep since her confrontation with Harry because the room was now shrouded in shadows. She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. It had been a long time since she had cried over what had happened between her and Harry. She thought she was over it, or at least that she had put it behind her, but now it was here staring her in the face.

He knocked again. "C'mon, Gin, open up."

Ginny rolled off the bed and straightened her clothes before making her way to the door. She flung it open to reveal Harry standing in the doorway, obscured by shadows. "What do you want?"

"Look, I'm sorry—"

"—Don't," Ginny said. "Just don't."

Harry looked into her face and could see the tear streaks still down the side of her face. He didn't know what made him say what he had said. Yes, he had meant it, but there could have been a more tactful way to say it. "The supplies have arrived. I thought we might go through it together so we could decide where we wanted everything situated?"

"Alright, I'll be out in a minute," Ginny said closing the door on him.

It was ten minutes before Ginny walked into the sitting room. Harry could tell she had freshened up a bit before she came out, something for which he was grateful. He didn't want to be reminded of his earlier blunder and it made him physically sick to see her look so distraught.

Ginny noticed several large boxes in front of the fireplace and suddenly she felt like it was Christmas morning as she fought the urge to jump in with both hands.

Harry was standing beside the boxes reading the labels on each one. "Right, well I suppose we ought to bring them into their respective rooms before we rip into him. It wouldn't make sense to open the kitchen box in the sitting room."

Ginny nodded in agreement and grabbed up a box labeled kitchen and rushed out of the room. Finally something productive to do she thought as she plopped the box down onto the kitchen table. Harry followed moments later with two more boxes.

"This is it for the kitchen," he said.

That was all Ginny needed to hear as she immediately dove into the first box, pulling out various pots and pans, dishes and cups, silverware and linens. Once she had the box unpacked she turned and eyed the cupboards, flinging each cabinet door open and examining the dirty inside. Behind her, Harry was opening another box.

A quick Scourgify later found Ginny placing dishes in the cupboard beside the sink and Harry placing canned goods in the cupboard next to the refrigerator. They worked side by side for the next hour, unpacking and placing, disagreeing on what should go where and discovering that they both liked the silverware in the same drawer. It was all so homey and Ginny let herself enjoy it. She relished in the feeling that they were playing house and slowly she felt herself relaxing around Harry for the first time in years.

After the last towel was hung in the bathroom, Ginny returned to the sitting room and collapsed onto the sofa. Today had been one rush of emotion after another and she felt drained. She looked up as Harry entered the room, taking in his form with a slow perusal. He still made her heart flutter after all this time and deep down she knew he always would.

"I'm going to bed. Did you need anything…err…I mean will you be all right?"

Ginny smiled at him and Harry felt it straight to his toes. He wouldn't wish these circumstances on either of them for the entire world, but he loved seeing her smile at him. "I'm fine, Harry. I think I'll turn in as well."

Ginny awoke the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. She hadn't expected to sleep well, assuming she would spend the entire night tossing back and forth, but once her head hit the pillow all the day's stress drained away and she floated off into one of the most relaxing slumbers of her life.

Stretching, she climbed from the bed, pulled on her robe and made her way to the kitchen.