Hermione shoved all of her concerns to the back of her mind the second she opened the library door and saw Ginny's tearstained face. Harry was unable to give her an update, obviously holding back his own emotions for Ginny's sake, and gave her nothing but a head shake as she rushed over to find out what was going on. Ron seemed to be quite the spokesperson lately and broke the news to her as Ginny huddled back into Harry's embrace with a fresh wave of tears. "The sodding ministry has denied their petition for exemption."

The flare of black fury that went through her was alarming, and she was surprised to find her hand wrapped tight around her wand. Hex first was usually a Harry policy. She was supposed to be the voice of reason. But Harry was busy comforting his distraught fiance, and this could not be allowed to stand. Something needed to be done. Still, cool logic was her weapon, so she scrambled around in her fried brain to find some. "They can't do that. The law states very clearly that legal bonds made prior to the law will be honored. Harry and Ginny had a legal engagement filed at the ministry months ago!"

"They are claiming that engagement filings don't count because it's not a binding agreement, merely a family tradition."

"That doesn't even make sense! It's a ridiculous argument. The engagement is filed at the ministry. It doesn't matter what the intent was or how easily the agreement is dissolved!" she fumed, already forming a challenge in her mind and itching to get to work. "What exactly did they say?"

Ron shoved the letter from the ministry in her direction, and she spent a few minutes reading it three times while Ginny and Harry rocked together and Ron paced. "Okay," Hermione decided to start at the beginning and clarify. "First things first, we need to get to the root of the problem. Why would they want to deny Harry and Ginny's engagement? Neither of them are blood purists."

She wasn't at all surprised that Ron, their resident strategist, had an answer to her question. He always thought about four chess moves ahead of everyone else. "Probably a preemptive strike against the old blood contracts that are typical with pureblood families. A lot of old families can pull out an old arranged marriage contract, dust it off, and say it's legal. Even though they are annulled as often as honored. A lot of purebloods probably have an arranged marriage they can fall back on, and the Ministry wants to get in front of that argument as soon as possible." Ron banged his hand on the table and went on, furious, "Bloody gits figure if they deny Harry Potter's petition, then no one can claim discrimination when they start denying all the pre-existing contract petitions."

Hermione nodded absently as she processed information and tried to think of ways around the denial. Ron ranted on, and she listened with half an ear as she mentally went over her research. The petition to honor their previous engagement had been the best plan for Harry and Ginny. But it hadn't been their only plan. Hermione grabbed a piece of parchment and began to do the math. She had hoped this wouldn't be necessary, but maybe they could dispute the ministry pureblood calculation.

Harry had scored a 58% pureblood score, which meant somewhere on Lily's side there must have been a witch or wizard. Ginny's score was 88% which meant there was obviously some muggle ancestors toying with her formula, too. If they could get Harry's score closer to the 22% Ginny needed, or reduce Ginny's score some, they could close the gap needed. Maybe if they could petition the ministry to go back further. Or if they could find an obscure relative and claim that the scores had been miscalculated. "What we need," she mused out loud, "is the precise mathematical formulas and data the ministry used to calculate the pureblood score."

"What we need," Ron hesitated, giving her a nervous look before he continued, "is for Harry to get Ginny pregnant."

"Ronald!" Hermione stood up, anxiety climbing her spine.

"There are laws about pureblood girls, Hermione. If Harry gets her up the duff, he is required to marry her. Those laws are hundreds of years old."

Hermione rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. This was hardly the time for Ron to pull out his sometimes antiquated views on women and families. "What about her education? Her future? Let's just start her popping out kids and all her problems are solved?" The more she spoke the more worked up she got, Ron couldn't actually think this was a good idea. "This is probably the stupidest, most boneheaded, moronic idea you have ever had. I can't believe you think chaining your sister to a baby is any kind of answer…"

"Chaining her to a baby?" Ron interrupted, full on sarcasm dripping from his tone as if what she was saying was completely irrational. "Like a kid is a prison? Why don't you just go ahead and tell us how you really feel about kids!"

So typical of him, twisting the subject. They were talking about Harry and Ginny having a baby when they were not even out of school, not whether or not kids were a positive thing in general. "You know I like kids just fine," she bit out, her temper rising, "but that doesn't mean I think it's okay for Ginny to squat in poverty and have a dozen before she finishes school!"

"Poverty?" Ron barked an angry laugh with just a hint of that old resentment. "Harry's bloody rich!"

"Shhhh!" Ginny had stepped between them, her arms wrapped around herself, her neck craning around to see if they were alone. "Someone will hear you!"

Hermione glanced at Ginny, expecting to see her simmering with fury, and then did a double take. Ginny was biting her lip anxiously, her face still a little raw from crying, but the uncertainty from before had vanished. Ginny looked determined. Harry peeled away from them to check the stacks for listeners, and they waited for him in silence while Hermione forced herself to be quiet instead of screaming that all of them had lost their minds.

The second Harry gave the all clear Hermione whipped out her wand and cast her own personal silencing charm around them, a bubble of security that this conversation obviously needed. "Ginny, you can't seriously be considering this!" she hissed with all the calm reason she could muster, which wasn't a whole hell of a lot.

Harry took Ginny's hand, and Hermione found herself staring at their intertwined fingers rather than look at Ginny directly while she spoke. "Harry and I want kids, this is just a little earlier than we planned."

"Okay, I know, okay." Hermione took a deep breath and forced herself to speak calmly. She glanced at Ron, noted his stubborn angry, mulish expression and knew she would find no support there. "But pregnancy should be a last-ditch effort. We haven't appealed the ministry, we haven't tried to fiddle with your scores, we haven't even challenged the law yet. There is no reason to even be talking about this yet."

They were emotional and upset and Hermione was not about to let her friends make some rash crazy decision they would have to live with forever without thinking it through. But her calm words of reason fell on deaf ears.

"We don't have time for that. Deliberately breaking the law could land Ginny in Azkaban. When we announce we are pregnant we need the Ministry officials to believe that Ginny was already pregnant when they denied our appeal," Harry whispered despite the privacy charm, and Hermione wanted to box his ears. Were they all crazy? They couldn't have a baby! Ginny was barely seventeen!

"Which is why we need to know how accurate pregnancy diagnostic spells are. We need to get pregnant tonight and then claim that she must have been pregnant last week we just didn't know it yet." Harry gave Hermione the look. The 'I need' you look. The 'I'm about to do something daring and brave and insane and I need your support' look. Hermione didn't care. The look had no effect on her. She wasn't going to participate in this. "How long does it take to brew a fertility potion?"

"You can't just get pregnant in one night, Harry! People spend years trying to get pregnant," Hermione tried to reason with them.

"It does happen really quick sometimes though," Ginny whispered, her eyes darting around for listeners. "When you go off the birth control potion, your system just kicks into high gear. Some girls get pregnant immediately, and some girls have the worst period of their life."

Hermione felt a chill go through her, the sex-ed lecture fresh in her mind. The potion was much more effective than muggle birth control, 100% effective. Unless you missed a dose. Then you became insanely fertile. It was recommended to avoid all intercourse for at least thirty days if you missed a dose. Almost all unplanned wizarding pregnancies were because girls just forgot one potion. "It doesn't matter how fast you can get pregnant because we are not doing something so irresponsible! Give me a few days, and I will figure out how to get around this stupid law."

But Harry was shaking his head, Ginny was leaning into him. "I can't risk it, Hermione."

If Harry had shouted, thrown things, broken something, Hermione would have waited for him to calm down and see reason. But she didn't know how to argue with a Harry who was certain and calm. This was the Harry that freed house elves and broke into wizarding banks and defeated Dark Lords. This was a Harry that could not be persuaded. "I won't give her up, Hermione. I almost let Voldemort take her from me once. I won't do that again. We will do whatever it takes."

"I'm not asking you to give her up, I'm just asking you to give me a few seconds to come up with a better plan than this one." Hermione found herself wringing her hands and stopped; she hated that stupid habit of hers that manifested when she felt out of control.

"Young pregnancy isn't all that bad. My mother was only seventeen when she had Bill. Wizards tend to marry pretty young." Ron was doing his best to be soothing, but his low tone of voice did not match his anxious upset face. Hermione shook her head, unimpressed.

"Girls have more choices now, more to life than being a mom."

"What's so wrong with marriage and families and babies?" Ron's voice went up an octave and Hermione finally twigged onto what had been bothering her about Ron's plan. He didn't think up this reckless scheme for Harry and Ginny. He had thought of it for her. If she got pregnant, she would have no choice but to marry Ron.

"There is nothing wrong with having a family," Hermione said carefully, suddenly feeling the need to tread softly before this blew up into a whole new problem. "If that's what a girl wants."

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a clear box full of tiny stoppered vials. "Fertility potions," he confirmed as he opened the box. "Three for Ginny. Three for you. George got them for me."

Hermione had to force herself not to take a step back and glanced around nervously. "Put those away before somebody sees," she hissed. "No one is taking a fertility potion."

"I am," Ginny announced, gathering up her half of the potions.

"Ginny wait, please think about this. You can't just make a huge life decision in a matter of minutes!"

"I have thought about it. In fact, we went off birth control three days ago. It's a long shot, but if we are going to try it, I'm probably most fertile right now. It might not even work, Keep trying to think of something else." Ginny nonchalantly slipped the potions in a pocket of her robes as if it was no big deal and leaned in to give her a firm hug. Hermione was so upset it took her a few seconds to realize she ought to hug back, and then she found she didn't want to let go. She wanted to hug some sense into the girl. All too soon, Ginny was pulling back, grabbing Harry's hand, and pulling him from the room.

They had discussed this, she realized. The three of them, without her. She stared at the box of fertility potions, refusing to look at Ron as he closed the box and put them back in his pocket. "Let's go somewhere else and talk about this."

"I can't leave. I'm supposed to meet Malfoy," she replied numbly, her mind racing ahead while she tried to catalogue this new life-altering bomb that was attempting to blow up her life. This was three bombs. First the Law. Then, yesterday, was the Malfoy situation. And today, her boyfriend wanted to get her pregnant. Much more and there wouldn't be anything left to her life except smithereens.

"Screw sodding Malfoy! Hermione," Ron grabbed her hand, forcing her attention on his very intense expression, "we need to talk about this."

She focused in on Ron's sweet face, all bunched up and red and anxious. She had not really given children much thought, always thinking about having a family in an abstract 'maybe someday' kind of way. She wasn't opposed to having a child, someday. But she certainly didn't want one nine months from now. She wasn't going to let this stupid law derail her entire life. She was going to get it repealed. She wanted to travel. She wanted a career. She wanted to make a difference in the world. A baby would put a kink in all of those plans.

She pulled her hand out of his, needing to have some distance, already shaking her head before her thoughts were completely formed. "I'm too young for a baby," she tried. "Maybe someday, but not now."

"You have to be married in three months time anyway," he huffed. "Three months. No birth control allowed. What difference does it make if you are pregnant now or if you are pregnant three months from now?"

"You can apply for an exemption for birth control if you are in school. I've got a whole year at Hogwarts plus I plan to go on for my Masters. I'll be in school for the next five years, if not longer. That's a huge time difference. Besides, I'm getting the law repealed." She heard the stubbornness in her voice, felt her heels digging in, and took a deep breath. Ron was not the enemy, he was just desperate. She would not allow this law to drive a wedge between them and start a fight. She deliberately reached out and grabbed his hand again, pulling him close, close enough to kiss. "We can't make rash decisions based on a law that will be abolished as quickly as it was written."

"Don't be so stubborn." He pulled her in for a hug and spoke into her hair. "You know this law might stick for awhile. You, of all people, know how the Ministry is. That's why you had Harry file for exemption. That's why you had us go down and try to bid on you. If you can get the damn thing repealed, then great, but what if you can't?"

She hugged him back for a few minutes, just enjoying the physical reassurance before pulling back, taking both his hands and speaking earnestly and honestly, "That's true, I did want us to take some precautions. An engagement is a temporary thing, even a marriage can be dissolved. A baby is forever. You can't really compare signing a contract with making a person."

Her heartfelt explanation fell on angry, red ears, and Ron squeezed her hands just a little too hard in frustration. "So, an engagement with me is just a piece of paper then...not a permanent thing?"

"Ron! That isn't what I'm saying…"

"Just what the hell are you saying, Hermione? That you'd rather marry and fuck sodding Malfoy than have a family with me?"

"Ron, just calm down!" Her voice came out in an angry snap despite her best efforts to be calm and sweet, and she wrenched her hands from his grip before she could stop herself. "No one is marrying sodding Malfoy, I'm getting the damn law repealed. That is the plan."

"Fuck the plan!" He shouted, throwing up his hands, the redness from his ears spreading all over his face. "The plan is shaky at best. We need to think ahead for five seconds."

"I am thinking ahead," she shouted back, beyond diplomacy. Ron often brought out the worst in her. Her hands went to her hips and her blood pressure skyrocketed. This was exactly why it was a bad idea to have kids with Ronald. She could just see her child huddled under the covers while they had a huge screaming row. Maybe after they were older, when Ron had matured. But right now, she wouldn't have a kid with him if he was the last man on earth. "I'm thinking ahead to the fact that I don't want a baby while I try to finish my education and start my career! Does that even matter to you at all? When you are looking in your crystal ball at our future, are you even thinking about what matters to me?"

His face twisted into an ugly sneer, and Hermione cringed inside, knowing that what came out of his mouth next would be unpleasant. She knew better than to be drawn into a fight with Ron. It was better to wait for him to be calm. "What matters to you is to keep your options open." He pulled a handful of envelopes from one of his pockets. "Well, you are not the only one with options, Hermione. You think Purebloods with no Death Eater ties are common? I've got dozens of letters from families begging me to bid on their daughters, even offering to pay me the bride price ten times over if only I will please bid. Maybe I ought to think about my options. Think about marrying a girl that actually wants to marry me and isn't horrified at the thought of having a kid with me!"

"Just because I don't want to have a family at eighteen doesn't mean I don't want to be with you!"

"Well, I can't bid on you," he spat. "So I need a yes or no on the pregnancy plan."

Her "no" came out a bare whisper but he heard her anyway, crumpling his letters when he made an angry fist and looked away. He noticed something, and she turned her head to see Malfoy leaning on the open door, outside their circle of silence, watching them.

Ron shoved the letters back in his pocket and straightened up. His voice was strangely calm when he spoke. "Okay then, I guess we will talk when you get the law repealed."

Then he was walking away, bumping Malfoy rudely when he shoved past him on his way out of the library.


A big round of applause for dialog master LightofEvolution who helped with this chapter. Thanks so much for taking time out during your anniversary weekend to help me get this story back on track.