A/N: I got several great reviews and I am happy to know you guys like the story so far.

Here's the next chapter. I will be doing a time jump pretty soon so get ready for it.

Also, I received a review that wasn't so good and I just wanted to respond to them really quickly. Visitor: I didn't plan originally to make this story slash or yaoi of any kind, but it kind of turned that way. I have now put a warning in the summary so that I can lure more yaoi fans to read this. Besides that, I did in fact warn the readers that there was Yaoi or Slash in that chapter. I am sorry if you don't like that stuff, but if you skip it you won't be confused later on. Hope that helps you understand more!

I wanted to get this chapter out before the end of 2014.

Please Enjoy!

Chapter 15

Hermione walked down the hall to her room with the orb in hand, thinking about all that had just happened in the Gryffindor common room. She believed everything would turn out well in the end. She eventually made it to the portrait and said the password. Entering the room, she headed toward the bedroom to put the orb back in its case for later use. Unfortunately, before she could make it to the door, her foot caught on something and she fell forwards. In a defensive move, she dropped the orb and put her hands out in front of her. She vaguely heard the orb shatter just before she landed and a sharp pain shot through her hands and up her arms. She cried out and rolled over onto her back and cradled her hands to her chest. She felt a two hands slide under her legs and back and lift her up. She vaguely realized that Severus was carrying her somewhere but she was in so much pain that she didn't know where he was taking her. She could only assume that he was taking her up to the hospital wing so that she could be healed. She tried to stay conscious, but the pain was so bad that she had to really fight the darkness. Not even a minute later, she gave up the fight and everything went black.

Severus was reading his book when Hermione came back. She seemed to so deep in thought about something when he looked up at her. She wasn't paying any attention to anything around her so she didn't see the part of the rug that had come up at the corner from them walking on it. He opened his mouth to warn her, but he was too late and he watched as she fell forward. He threw his book down on the couch when he realized that the orb she had been carrying had shattered and that she had landed in the glass and a puddle of unknown liquid. He hurried over to her as she rolled away from the glass and he saw that she was bleeding badly. He knelt down and lifted her up, intending to take her to the couch at first. Then he thought about the orb and assumed it was supposed to have a special ability, so he changed directions and headed out the door toward the hospital wing. He felt Hermione fall limp and knew she had passed out from the pain in her hands. After several minutes, he finally made it to the hospital and walked through the double doors. He didn't see Madam Pomfrey anywhere nearby, so he placed Hermione on a bed not far from the door. He made sure Hermione's damaged hands were resting on top of her before he ran off to get the nurse from her office. He vaguely realized that his hands also hurt, but when he looked down at them, they seemed fine so he just shrugged and continued on the way to the office.

It only took him a minute to fetch the nurse, but when he got back to the bed with Hermione on it, she was awake and sitting up. Or so he thought. He stopped on the right of the bed and reached out to push her back to make her lie down, but she wouldn't move.

"Hermione, you need to lie down so that Madam Pomfrey can care for your hands." He said, but she just continued to stare at the wall opposite them as if she couldn't hear him. Looking closely, he realized that she was in a trance like state and her eyes were void. She was breathing as if she was only sleeping, so he didn't believe that she was in any danger.

Madam Pomfrey pushed him out of the way so that she could see what was happening to her patient. She waved her wand and spoke some spells Severus wasn't familiar with. He watched as the matron healed her hands and then wave her wand again to assess her again. Within a minute, Hermione began to glow a blood red color.

"What does that mean?" Severus asked, turning to look at the nurse.

"It means that a potion is newly present in her blood stream and it is doing something to her magic. I will do some more tests, but first I have a question that I am hoping is no." Pomfrey waited for him to nod for her to continue. "Is there any possibility that she is pregnant?" She asked this with a mostly straight face, her compressing lips the only sign that she didn't like asking this question.

Severus started to shake his head, but he had to stop and explain something. "Well, I don't believe so. We have never done anything consciously, but this morning we woke up in a… different place than we fell asleep in. A very intimate position, so there might be a possibility."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and waved her wand at Hermione's abdomen, speaking a pregnancy spell that Severus was familiar with. The only thing that he wasn't familiar with was the bubble's color that appeared almost immediately. The Matron gasped and dropped her wand to the floor in what he thought was shock.

"What is going on?" Severus asked, starting to get annoyed at having to ask so many questions and not understanding what was happening.

"Well, I have to say that I am unable to tell you whether she is or isn't pregnant." She said stooping to pick up her wand, "But the thing is that she could be pregnant. The only problem is that there seems to be something, a kind of barrier, keeping me from knowing for sure." She glanced back at Severus for a moment just in time to levitate a chair under him before he fell to the floor in shock.

Severus sat there while the nurse took most tests, thinking about the possibilities of this news. Finally, he spoke up.

"We can't tell Hermione about the possibility. Not yet." Pomfrey turned to look at him with an indignant look on the face. "She won't believe it. Plus, adding this to everything else that she is dealing with as it is might just make her crazy with not knowing and we don't want that. I will take care of her until she realizes what is happening to her body, whether it is or not, and then we will both tell her after you are able to positively test and confirm your suspicion or not. I will even take the blame for keeping the possibility from her." He explained with a wave of his hand as if to brush any concerns she had aside.

It only took the nurse a moment to nod and then she turned toward the sitting witch in the bed.

"I have run all of the tests that I am able to in her current condition and I believe that the potion in her blood stream will be absorbed soon. It won't do her or her potential baby any harm that I can tell. After she wakes up, we will assess her to see if it has affected her in any other way." She stated, walking away to her office after placing a spell around Hermione that would inform her of any change.

Severus sat there just wondering how much more his life could be changed by the girl in the hospital bed. He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice when Hermione slowly lowered back into a flat position. He only came out of his thoughts when he felt something touch his hand which had been tightly gripping the chair arm. He raised his head to see Hermione laying propped up on her elbows.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked with obvious concern. Severus smiled and then frowned before answering her.

"That should be my question. You were the one who fell and hurt yourself. I am just fine. How are you feeling? Is there any pain or anything that doesn't feel right to you?" Severus asked. He watched Hermione as she thought and assessed herself before she answered.

"Not much pain, but I do kind of feel a little odd. Actually, I don't remember all of what happened to land me in the hospital wing in the first place. I know that I was coming back from Gryffindor tower after having been there for about less then an hour. I walked through the door to our rooms and then… nothing. I don't remember anything past that." Hermione stated and slumped back into the pillows obviously very frustrated with herself.

"You tripped on the rug in the common area of our rooms and fell. I am sorry to say that your orb broke and you landed in the glass and liquid that spilled out. Poppy tested you for any effects and she seems to think that it wouldn't affect you in any bad ways. She should be in here soon to see if there were any effects that she can detect now what you're awake." Severus said only seconds before the nurse came bustling into the room and right up to Hermione.

"How do you feel, dear?" She asked, while she began casting more diagnostics spells. She obviously still couldn't find anything out with these spells, so she waited for Hermione to answer before she asked her next question.

"I feel a little odd but I can't quite pin-point anything specific about why or where the odd feeling is." Hermione finally answered, shifting around on the bed.

"That is quite alright. I cannot find anything wrong with you at the moment, but if anything happens that isn't normal I want you to come here immediately." She turned to Severus before continuing. "And if you notice her doing anything unusual, get her up here as soon as you are able to." She finished before quickly dismissing Hermione and hustled away.

Hermione quickly shifted to get up out of the bed, but Severus was there, picking her up to carry her back to their room.

"I can walk just fine. I don't need you to baby me just because I had a little accident." She said, attempting to make him put her down, but he won't let her get anywhere without his help. He wouldn't take no for an answer in the case.

As she was carried back to their room, she thought about how much he had changed in only a few days. She had a feeling about something for just a moment and she couldn't keep from answering this feeling just as they reached the same floor as their rooms.

"I didn't expect to say this so soon after I was told that we were soul mates, but I think that I could be falling in love with you." Hermione said. Severus suddenly stopped walking toward their room and he looked down at Hermione with very obvious shock on his face. While he was distracted, Hermione reached up and pulled his head down to hers and she kissed him for a few moments without him responding to her. She was just about to pull back from the kiss when he began to respond very enthusiastically. His tongue brushed her bottom lip as if asking for permission to enter. She immediately responded by opening her mouth to allow him access. They didn't move for a few minutes except their mouths and what they didn't realize was that someone was taking a picture from only a few feet in front of them.

In another part of the castle, a well-known old man leaned over a large book and gasped in realization.

"Well, this isn't good!" He said, slouching back into his chair and shaking his head.

Questions I leave you with:

Who took the picture?

What are they planning to do with it?

When will Dumbledore tell Hermione and Severus what he found?

What did the potion do to Hermione?