The house was empty when Hermione got home, Ron hadn't come back from his quidditch game. Hermione peeled off her salty, sopping clothes and threw them in the wash, and hopped in the shower.

As she let the heat and hot water wash over her, Hermione could feel her thoughts becoming more and more troubled. Lockhart only wanted to meet her once more, and then she would be free of him forever. But somehow, Hermione couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Lockhart, and the way he had walked away alone on the beach, holding his wounded shoulder. If it hadn't been for him, it would Hermione who the knife struck.

Yet, when Hermione remembered what Lockhart had done to her, she would get angry. But the more she thought about it, the more her anger turned into guilt and regret. She felt guilt because of the pleasure she felt when Lockhart had forced her to have sex with him, and regret because she wished none of it had happened.

But after this first week with Lockhart, the more she thought about it the more she realized that he didn't really have any intent to harm her any further than he had. Hermione could sense that from the beginning Lockhart never had any intent to cause her physical harm, unlike Yaxley had intended today. Lockhart never did anything like that to her physically, and even though Lockhart had grabbed her forcefully before, he always drew back when Hermione showed any signs of hurt or pain.

And after what he had said at the beach, Hermione also realized that Lockhart didn't want to cause any further harm to her feelings either, whether they be her own or her feelings for Ron. Suddenly, Hermione had a chilling thought, thinking, could it be that Lockhart actually cares for me?

Hermione couldn't tell whether it was the heat from the shower or own disturbing thoughts, but she suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach and lightheaded. What if Lockhart really did care for her? Maybe one day, she could overcome her own emotional pain but how could she ever forgive him? And if she did, what would that make her? Moreover, Hermione had Ron already, how could she accept feelings from another person? Hermione thought that even if she had no grudges or past history with Lockhart it still wouldn't be right to have more than feelings of friendship for another person…

Hermione forced her thoughts from going any further and tried to think of how to deal with Yaxley, Wendel, and Malew. At first she wanted to go immediately to the Ministry and Gringotts and reveal everything but she remembered how Malew had hesitated when he had the opportunity to hex her. Maybe there was a better way to resolve this with the Wendel party, but what about Yaxley? Hermione couldn't decide what to do, and somehow Lockhart's warning had made her uneasy.

As Hermione's thoughts continued to wander, she remembered how Yaxley had almost killed her and how in the last moment, magic had burst out of her unconsciously. She had never done anything like that before and in heat of the moment she didn't think much of it. But now when Hermione tried to cast a drying spell without a wand, a spell much less complex than summoning, nothing happened.

The sound of the door cut through all of Hermione's thoughts, and Hermione shut off the shower to dry off and get dressed.

—

Hermione was almost dry when Ron burst in the bedroom and saw her.

"The Cannons won!"

Ron looked excited, probably because his favorite team the Cannons had won their first game all season, but more likely because Hermione was half-naked. Hermione could also see Ron was surprised to see her like this in the middle of the day, but Hermione didn't care. She remembered how she had almost died earlier in the day. Hermione was suddenly overcome with both guilt and desire. She wanted to tell Ron everything that had happened to her, but she was afraid of hurting Ron. But she still wanted Ron to affirm his love for her, to forgive her for everything, to tell her everything was okay.

"That's great," Hermione answered softly. "Ron, I was thinking…"

Hermione had a towel only around her waist, and she could see Ron glancing at her breasts.

"Hermione…" breathed Ron.

"Let's have a child."

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed as he came over to hug her. "What's this all of a sudden… didn't you want to wait?"

Ever since the moment when Hermione had faced all those killing spells, she realized that she wanted a child immediately. If they had a child together, at least part of her could live on with Ron, and he wouldn't be alone. It had also become clear to Hermione that even though her career was important, she had only wanted to succeed to prove to herself that she could. She knew she could succeed as much as Ron could if she put her mind to it, and so did Ron, and that was all that mattered. It wasn't important who the breadwinner was in their family as long as they loved each other, and she could always work for George after she had her child.

"No. I want you to be able to tell your mother the good news when we go over for dinner next week."

Hermione couldn't help herself anymore. She grabbed Ron and started removing his shirt.

"Hold on!" Ron said, laughing, "Let me have a shower first…"

But Hermione didn't want to wait and grabbed her wand, dispelling the anti pregnancy enchantment she used on herself. She pulled Ron to the bed and kissing him hard on the mouth. She took off his pants and underwear with almost supernatural strength, surprising both Ron and herself.

"Touch me," whispered Hermione. Hermione could see Ron was becoming heavily aroused, his cock already fully erect and throbbing. Hermione normally didn't act this way, but the in the last week something had changed in her.

Some of the passion must have passed into Ron, because he suddenly flipped over to be on top of her, running one hand down to her pussy while the other played with her nipple. It was strange because immediately Hermione was sensitive, she could feel her pussy already tingling under Ron's touch. Why was it that easy for her to enjoy sex?

"Get ready to have a boy," Ron murmured in her ear. Hermione felt him kiss her ear, then neck, then her breast.

Ron started to thrust, and already Hermione felt like coming.

"Girl," was all Hermione could muster, as she shuddered, her whole body suddenly rigid as her pussy contracted. She could feel a familiar ache as Ron continued to thrust, and not too long afterwards a hot wetness reach her inner depths, as Ron spent his seed inside her.

As Ron fell to lie beside her, Hermione looked at Ron, and said, "Ron, swear to me that no matter what happens you'll love me…"

Ron looked taken aback, not expecting a question like that, but he answered, "Of course, I swore when we married remember? I'll love you, till death do us part, "

Hermione smiled and snuggled closer to Ron, closing her eyes. Before she knew it she fell asleep, shedding all the worries of the day behind her.

—

Next Chapter 14