Author note: Hey again, so decided that I couldn't not have Fred in this story so he is alive in my story. So yeah , enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter , J.K Rowling does.

Chapter 2

3 months later...

21st April 2000...

It was amazing how much could happen in a day. Amazing how a comment could drive you near to the point of insanity. It was also remarkable how a pharmaceutical contraption could ruin your day. And yet the universe made it pointedly clear to Hermione, that amazing or not, it was all possible.

Hermione stared at the offensive object as stared defiantly back and no matter how much she stared, she knew it was all in vain. She couldn't change the inevitable. And reality was, that she was pregnant.

She'd been to about three healers and even four gynaecologists, all their results as disappointing as the last. As a final act of defiance she had taken a pregnancy test and it too had let her down.

It wasn't that Hermione didn't want children, but she just didn't want them right now. It was way too soon and her life was going so well. She was madly in love, had a pretty good job and she was just starting to promote elfish welfare. A baby would complicate everything, but the biggest factor was that Harry wasn't ready. He was still piecing himself together and he also didn't want kids yet.

He also happened to be at the peak of his auror training, if they brought a baby into the equation, Harry would have to give up his dream job and get a ministry desk job. He'd already done so much for others and that Hermione wouldn't allow him to give up something he wanted. She couldn't do that to him.

Telling Harry would be detrimental though, he'd argue that there was enough in the Potter vault to support them. Hermione would tell him that babies were expensive and that their apartment was too small for a family of three. Harry also wouldn't like it for Hermione to put in extra hours because she was pregnant. And there was the fact that they were both too proud to accept help from anyone.

She was going to be held accountable for this, she'd been stupid and slipped up on her birth control and she'd deal with it.

Hermione's heart about shattered as she sat on their bed, pregnancy stick clutched in hand. There was only one thing left to do, she wouldn't let Harry give up something he wanted for her. She'd have to go somewhere far, tell Harry not to look for her and disappear from the British wizarding world.

Tear after tear fell from her face as she realized what her being pregnant entitled. Uncontrollable sobs racked Hermione's body.

It wasn't fair how life worked, just three months ago Harry was telling her that they'd be okay, she'd been through war, sacrificed more than most people her age ever did and yet again she found herself at fates rotten end.

Hermione sobbed harder at the unfairness of it all. After a few more minutes of tears and cursing her luck, Hermione got to her feet to asses the damage. In the bathroom, she found that her faces was all blotchy from crying and her makeup was smudged.

"Real attractive." She whispered sarcastically. With a flick of her wand Hermione cleaned her face and had her bushy curls in a very messy bun. Returning to the room, she made her way to the closet and got out of her work robes and into more comfortable clothing.

Hermione caught sight of herself in the closet mirror. She looked tired, with her shoulders sagged with regret and her eyes dead. Then tears started to well in her eyes once more. Furious with herself , Hermione wiped them away angrily.

"Get a grip Granger!" She told the reflection. "You'll be...okay." Her voice cracked a bit at the end, but Hermione didn't dwell on it instead she started tearing her clothes of the hangers and packing them away in her suitcases. After this, she searched every nook and cranny for anything that belonged to her. She'd leave the pictures though, she had her own photo album to go through, if the need would ever arise. Hermione shrunk the suitcases and boxes then tossed them all into her beaded bag.

By then it was four o' clock and Harry would be back at five, unless his mentor over worked him again, which happened quite often.

Harry would go to the Weasley's for dinner tonight alone without him at her side, she wondered how sad Ginny would be, they'd been each others confidants for a long time now and they were practically sisters. She'd miss all the Weasley's , Neville and Luna and her other friends and Draco Malfoy.

Hermione had started to talk to Draco a few months after the war. Draco had been hurt and alone and also in desperate need of someone to talk to. Hermione almost smiled as she thought about how her sworn enemy had become a close friend.

*Flashback*

The walls of Hogwarts felt unfamiliar as Hermione made her way to the astronomy tower. The halls were cold, so cold that the steam rose in puffs as words were uttered and you needed more than just your dragon hide gloves and cloak to keep you warm. The November air wasn't the sole perpetrator to blame of the hallways coldness, Hogwarts was just a bit more colder now. There weren't a lot of children that had come back and of those who were back, all of them seemed to have the same face, the face of someone who had seen to much and the laughter and happiness of the hallways were replaced by the coldness and gloom.

Hermione was among a few of the the seventh years that had come back to school, Ron and Harry had opted to go to auror training instead. So Hermione was left in the company of Ginny and Luna.

Hermione rubbed her hands together as she climbed the stairs to the astronomy tower, the wind getting colder as she ascended. When she reached the door at the top and opened it, she pulled her coat closer to her as she stepped into the night air.

Hermione placed herself in a corner, with her knees tucked under her chin. The sky was glistening with twinkles of silver and the half moon shone bright in the sky and Hermione embraced being alone in the dark, with the moon to comfort her.

Except she wasn't alone, Hermione caught a wisp of something white just then and found it was attached to a body and that something was actually hair, Draco Malfoy's hair. He was standing at the edge of the railing. And seemed to be sniffling a lot. And it occurred to her that he might be crying.

Hermione cursed to herself for not being vigilant enough, quietly she tried to slip away.

"I saw you Granger."Malfoy whispered with a voice unlike his own, there was something wrong with it. It lacked any hint of a smirk or its usual sneer.

Slowly Hermione wheeled around to face him. Malfoy had been indeed crying, though he had wiped away the tears, his eyes were still red and a bit puffy.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak and then closed it , how would she go about comforting Malfoy, did she even want to comfort him after all he had done.

Then Hermione took a good look at him, past the sneer and the blond hair she had learned to despise, past the skin and into his eyes. Malfoy looked...lost, helpless, he looked defeated and like he didn't have the will to carry on anymore and then there was disgust there, disgust with her? For being seen at his weakest? Then Hermione realised that it was disgust with himself, at what he had done and watched and let happen.

And in that instant Hermione realised that she did want to comfort him because she believed that there was a good side to Draco Malfoy , a side that had been hidden and over looked all these years.

Hesitantly Hermione stepped closer to him. Draco watched her with curiosity as she advanced but made no move to shy away from her.

When Hermione was close enough she stopped and looked into his eyes and he stared back. "You not a bad person Draco, sure, you joined the wrong crowd , but only because you were practically forced too and its all you've ever known. You've made bad choices too, but if you start making better ones, people might start seeing the good in you, that I do." Hermione offered with a tentative smile.

"I am going to hug you now." She told him gently and then carried out with the action. Draco stiffened as she did so, but finally relaxed and hugged her back.

"I am so sorry Hermione, I should have tried to help...or at least...", Draco began , but Hermione cut him off.

"Hey, its okay now and it'll get better, I promise, okay?" She told him.

"Okay."

Draco hugged her back one more time and silently pulled back." You don't tell anyone about this Granger."He told her in a playfully stern voice.

"Tell them about what?" She replied, feigning confusion. Draco's lips twisted into something almost like a smile.

"Thanks Hermione, meet you here tomorrow?"He asked trying to hide the hopefulness behind his question.

"Yeah, you will" replied Hermione.

*End Flashback*

It carried on with them meeting like that for the rest of their school year and after school they sent letters back and forth. They also met secretly, not because they were ashamed of being seen with each other but because they liked their secret relationship and the comfort in it. Hermione had helped heal Draco's heart but he had helped her too.

He was the one person she would keep in touch with and there wasn't a risk of anyone finding out, because none of her friends knew she had a relationship with Draco.

Hermione folded the the letters she had been writing into their envelopes. One for Ginny, for George and Fred, Ron and of course for Harry, she would write Draco when is reply letter came from the last one she had sent.

Hermione placed the letters on the kitchen counter and took her beaded bag filled with everything she owned. She walked to the the apartment door and before she closed the door, she looked back at the apartment and let herself remember memories of dinner parties, lazy Sundays ,fights that seemed so petty now and happy memories she would never forget.

Hermione turned and closed the door. The apartment was left eerily silent. Later Harry would come home and find that the love of his life had left him.