Harry and Hermione's eyes were drawn to the skeletal and pale form of one Bellatrix Leastrange, whom beneath her smirk, a look

Harry and Hermione's eyes were drawn to the skeletal and pale form of one Bellatrix Leastrange, whom beneath her smirk, a look of disgust passed over her features. Harry automatically went in front of Hermione, who was wrapping her hands over her stomach protectively.

"Now hand over the mudblood, and no one gets hurt." Bellatrix said while holding her wand out warningly to the pair of them.

"No." Harry said wile mirroring her action and raising his wand.

Bellatrix smirked, "And to think I was going to give you a chance to make it out unscathed."

Harry looked at her menacingly, "If you lay a hand on her . . . I swear that I—"

"You'll what? Turn me into a wr―"

"Wristwatch? Nah. How about a pile of dust on the floor?"

Bellatrix laughed menacingly, "Baby Potter? You'd never accomplish that in your dizziest daydreams."

He raised an eyebrow, "Wanna bet? Expelliarmous!"

She blocked it easily with a flick of her wrist and smiled. "Crucio!"

Harry turned around and grabbed Hermione by the arms, dragging her to the stone floor with him. They missed the curse by mere inches. "'Mione, I need you to get out of here." He whispered.

She nodded her head, "Okay."

"I'll distract them."

Hermione nodded again and remained on the floor while Harry stood up and faced the Death Eaters ahead of him. Voices echoed off of the walls while curses and hexes were flung left and right. Harry looked around the room every free moment he had to spare to see how far Hermione was from the exit. Ten feet . . . five feet . . .

A few suggestive comments and many shouted spells later, Harry's face was covered with blood and sweat. Breathing heavily he noticed that all of the Death Eaters were on the ground. All except for one.

Turning around frantically, Harry saw Bellatrix and . . . something else. Someone else. Someone with brown curls and chocolate eyes. "Hermione!"

She was being held by the collar of her shirt while Bellatrix's wand was at her thought. Shaking slightly with her eyes lazily closed, Hermione looked very weak. "What did you do to her?"

"Absolutely nothing. She just tried to hard to resist my binding charm. Tires a person out . . . even a mudblood whore."

Harry's jaw clenched, "Let her go."

Bellatrix feigned thinking for a moment, "You know . . . I don't think I will."

"I'm warning you."

Bellatrix raised her wand to Harry momentarily, "You will do nothing to me . . . or your girlfriend here will bite the dust."

The wand being replaced to her thought, Hermione's voice was above a whisper and had a raspy sound to it, "Just do it Harry, I'll be fine."

"No." he said, "Remember what I said to you earlier? It's not just your life at risk here."

"Yes, yes, we all know about the little half-breed." Bellatrix interrupted. Harry glared at her. "But the truth of the matter is . . . I'm going to take little miss mudblood here with me, and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Oh yes there is." Harry said. He started to walk towards the pair of them.

"Ah." Bellatrix said. She lifted Hermione by her hair and pulled her closer, her wand digging in her skin painfully, causing a slightly rounded and deep bruise to form. "One more step and she gets it."

Harry halted in his steps. He knew that Bellatrix wouldn't kill Hermione; because of the information Ron had just told them. But there was nothing mentioned about Hermione not being able to be harmed.

Bellatrix smirked, "Figured it out, have you?"

Harry averted both pairs of eyes staring at him as best he could, but the lure of Hermione's warm familiar eyes was overpowering. But the sight that greeted him was far less than he expected. Lifeless and dull were the only ways to describe the usually vibrant and brightness of her eyes.

Seeing her in that state was what sent him off of the edge. He charged at the both of them and forgot all about the conditions that were keeping him away. With a smirk placed upon her face, Bellatrix muttered a spell and a beam of light came from the tip of her wand and struck Hermione.

She collapsed to the floor in a heap and started twitching and turning, screaming for all she was worth. The pain was unbearable for her and she felt very odd twitching in her stomach. The baby. She thought; I have to be strong for the baby.

Harry stopped yet again in his tracks and looked at Bellatrix with pure hatred radiating off of him. Bellatrix lifted the curses off of Hermione and she lied still, breathing raggedly on the floor. "Should I finish her off?"

"Your boss wouldn't be too happy about that."

"He said not to Avada Kedavara her . . . the Dark Lord said nothing about other spells."

Harry's breath hitched as he started to run towards them again. Bellatrix realized she didn't have much time and shouted a spell at Hermione's form. "Desideratus Mors Mortis!"

The emerald light struck Hermione in the back and a white luminescent light filled the room. It blinded Harry, causing him to cover his eyes with his arm. After about ten seconds the light succeeded and he could see Hermione on the floor . . . ceding in movement.

"Hermione!"

He sprinted towards her. When he reached her he turned her over on her back and felt for a pulse. Pacing his two forefingers upon the base of her neck, he felt what seemed to be a dull throbbing. He sighed in relief and looked around the room for the cause of this mess.

Nothing.

It seemed like Bellatrix escaped . . . bringing the unconscious Death Eaters with her. He picked up Hermione and started towards the door, deciding it was best to get her to the hospital before her dull pulse became duller.

When he looked down he saw her lips turning a light shade of blue he felt panic settle through his body. His heartbeat quickened and he felt tears stinging his eyes. He couldn't lose her . . . them. Not now. Not ever.

He sprinted as fast as he could with Hermione's body in his arms, finally reaching the Hospital Wing with his breath ragged.

"Madame Pomfrey!" he yelled breathlessly at the empty room.

A few seconds later she came in from her office at the corner of the room. "What do we have here, Mr. Potter?"

"I-It's Hermione . . . h-her lips are blue . . . c-curse . . . barely pulse . . ."

The matron's eyes widened, "Put her on the bed over there." She said pointing to the bed nearest to them.

He set Hermione down on the bed gently, the bed molding to her body as she touched the white mattress. He leaned over and lightly kissed her brow just as Madame Pomfrey came bustling to the bed, pushing a metal cart in front of her.

When Harry observed what lay atop the cart, he saw a lot of different items he didn't recognize, and some he did. The items he did recognize were a needle and a pair of rubber gloves. Everything else was totally unrecognizable.

"Stop staring Mr. Potter, these aren't for her . . . now."

"Now?" he asked worriedly.

"These are only if her condition worsens. Now excuse me while I perform some tests."

"I can't leave her." Harry protested.

"You can and you will." She said sternly.

Harry lowered his head in defeat and walked out of the Hospital Wing and started to wander to corridors. What's the matter with her? He thought to himself, what was that curse that she used on her? I swear if Hermione is harmed in any way—

"Harry!"

Harry turned around to see Ron running up to him from his rear. Ron had a concerned look across his features, and when he reached him, Harry took notice of it. "How are you guys? Alright?"

"Uhm . . . I'm fine . . . but Hermione . . ."

"Hermione what? What happened? She's okay, isn't she?" Ron asked hurriedly.

"We don't know Ron . . . but she doesn't look good." Harry told him sadly.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry, mate." Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. "But if I know Hermione . . . she'll pull though this."

"I know." Harry said, looking him in the eyes, "but it's not just Hermione's life at stake anymore, is it?"

Ron looked down and removed his hand, and after a few minutes, nodded his head gloomily. "Yeah. But I still have full confidence that they'll both pull though."

Harry smiled a little, "Thanks, Ron."

"No problem, mate." Ron replied, "I think we should go and tell Ginny, though."

Harry nodded, "Alright."

After the relief of Hermione's return, Ginny experienced a whole different emotion not twenty seconds later when Harry and Ron told her that Hermione was in critical condition.

"What!" she exclaimed, "why?"

Harry looked her in the eyes and explained to her the whole scene that happened in the Room of Requirement. With each syllable, it seemed, that Ginny's eyes were getting filled with tears to their full capacity and her face became as red as her flaming hair. When he finished Ron and Harry came over to her and shared a thee-way hug.

"I'm living every girl's fantasy right now." Ginny mumbled into the closed off space that their body's were creating.

Ron lifted his head up and looked down at her, "Wha?"

"I'm smooched between the two most drop dead gorgeous guys in the school. Any girl in their right mind would give an arm and leg to be where I am now. Under different circumstances, of course." She said, wiggling free of Harry and Ron's grip.

Harry mustered a slight smile, causing a chain reaction with the other two. "Trust you to make light of the situation." Harry said to her, causing her to fake a blush and look down at the floor.

"Aww shucks."

The three chucked lightly and took up seats on the familiar overstuffed couch by the fire and started to discuss anything that wasn't related with Hermione's current condition. But after a few minutes they ran out of things to talk about and decided silently agreed to go to the Great Hall for a well-deserved dinner.

Dinner was a silent affair, as most of the school knew of Hermione's current position in the hospital. There were many glances thrown their way while the three friends sat at the table, and they did their best to ignore it.

"Hey guys." They heard a voice say from their right. Their heads slowly arched upward and came to find the friendly face if Neville.

"Hey Neville." They chorused.

He sat down next to Ginny and started to fill his plate with the chicken and mashed potatoes from the table. After a few awkward bites Neville looked across the table to where Harry and Ron's lowered heads were.

"So is it true?" he asked.

Already knowing what he was inquiring, the two of them nodded their head and mumbled a faint 'Yes'. Neville looked sympathetically at the three of them, "I hope she gets better soon."

Harry actually looked up at Neville's face, "Thank-you, Neville."

"You're welcome," he said and then reached down under the table and grabbed what looked to be a folded piece of cardboard and handed it to him. "When we found out about it, everyone decided to make a card for her. It's the least we could do."

This time it was Ron who gave thanks on behalf of them. Neville nodded and excused himself from the table. "Well, go on and open it Harry." Ginny told him.

Harry obliged and opened the card. It was amazing. It seemed as though everyone they knew and a few others signed it with little encouraging messages. Harry passed it to Ron, who passed it to Ginny. "That was really sweet of them." She commented.

"Yeah." Ron agreed. "I think we should take it up to her."

"I agree." Ginny said and stood up from the table, card in hand.

Harry and Ron followed suit and followed her footsteps out of the Great Hall. They were, of course, very aware of the eye's that followed them out, but they didn't give a care. They needed to see Hermione. Now.

When they reached the Hospital Wing, it looked as though Hermione had multiple needles in her forearms. And when they got closer, it became clear that there really were needles in her arms . . . along with a small monitor that Harry recognized from one of the soaps he caught his aunt watching once. It was supposed to show her pulse, and right now . . . it didn't look so good. The luminescent spikes were very tiny and spread pretty widely apart.

"What the bloody hell are in Hermione's arms?!" Ron yelled.

Hearing Ron's voice, Madame Pomfrey bustled into the room, "Oh, Mr. Weasley, don't make such a fuss. They're just some muggle contraptions that I had to result to using."

"What do you mean 'result to using'?" Harry asked.

"Well . . . it seems as though Miss Granger's pulse is so faint that no spell can detect it. I do not know what spell she was hit with . . . but whatever it was is harming her badly . . . her and the baby."

Harry shook his head, tears threatening to pour down his cheeks. "No." he stated, "They'll be alright . . . I know Hermione . . . she'll pull though this."

The matron shook her head and looked at Hermione's limp form, "I know for a fact that if it was just Miss Granger's life at stake, then she would have recovered by now. But it isn't . . . It seems the spell effected the baby more than it did her. And with magical pregnancies, the mother sometimes relies on the child for her energy, that is why they tend to be less worn out than regular Muggle mothers."

Ginny looked down at Hermione and strolled over to the chair at her side. Taking one of her hands in-between her own, she felt the coldness that enveloped them. Tears pooled in Ginny's eyes and rolled down her pale cheeks. Hermione couldn't die . . . Hermione and the baby couldn't die. "Is their anything we can do?" she asked hopefully.

"I am afraid that what I am doing for her right now is the most anyone can do at the moment. Even with magic . . . there is a chance that we might loose them."

Harry couldn't take it, the tears spilled down willingly down his face and the room was filled with his sobs. Ginny got up and out of her place on the chair beside the bed and enveloped him in a comforting hug, rubbing his back affectionately. Ron stood by their side and tried his best to control his tears as well. He couldn't help the sense of guilt that washed over him.

Madame Pomfrey left them to themselves. Not that they noticed.

They each took seats by Hermione's bed and started to talk quietly and maintain their tears. For Hermione. She wouldn't want them crying over her. And they knew it, so they obliged her silent wishes.

"So about this pregnant thing . . ." Ginny started.

Harry looked down a bit shamefully, "Yeah . . . I guess I owe you an explanation for that."

"Just a bit."

Harry explained the whole story to her, other than the birds and the bee's talk, of course. Ginny listened intently the whole time he spoke, hanging on every syllable and taking in every detail.

When he was done she exalted a long breath. "So I was the only one who didn't know, basically?"

"Yeah . . . sorry about that."

"Oh and Ron, you and I are gonna have a talk later."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Can't wait."

Ginny nodded her head, "I bet you can't."

Three days. Three long and antagonizing days was the amount of time Harry, Ron, and Ginny had been in the Hospital. It was well into January, and the students who were on vacation (or lack thereof, considering the rising power of a certain dark wizard) would be returning soon. Which meant more questions to be answered and more torture to be endured.

Harry was currently eating a bagel from the tray that Dobby had brought in from the kitchens (which he properly thanked him for and left him a generous tip) and engaged in conversation with Ron about how they were going to engage in the plan that Hermione had come up with a few days ago. It was the only thing they could actually talk about while not mentioning Hermione's name at all . . . but thinking of her and giving them the boost they needed to continue on.

"I think that you should find out when Voldermort wants the Final Battle first." Harry suggested.

"I agree. But how exactly do I do that?"

"Well . . . you could listen into some Death Eater conversations and put the pieces together."

"You make it sound so easy." Ron said, looking at Harry admirably.

"That's because it's simple if you have the right ideas."

Ron nodded, "Right."

"Hey guys." Ginny said, taking a seat next to them.

"Hey Gin." Harry said. "We were just going over that plan I told you about earlier."

"Oh . . . you mean with the midgets and huge vi—"

"No. The other one." Harry interrupted, looking sternly at her.

"Oh, that one."

"Yeah . . . we've decided that our first plan of action is to find out when and where the Final Battle will take place."

"Good thinking." Ginny said.

"It was all my idea." Ron said.

"Sure it was, Ron . . . sure it was." She said, patting him teasingly on the back.

They were interrupted with a high-pitched ring filling their ears. They all clamped their hand over their ears. Harry immediately looked at the monitor . . . and what he saw made his stomach drop to a dangerously low level.