A/N: I really wanted to get this chapter posted last weekend, but things were a little rough for me (by that, I mean that I had too much tequila at drag queen brunch and puked multiple times in the subway station and was then hung over for three full days. So it was entirely my own fault, and I am sorry!) Also, this chapter is significantly shorter than other chapters, but it ended where I needed it to end, and I didn't want to add pointless stuff so... it's shorter. Sorry about that!

Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying this, because I enjoy writing it, and your feedback means the world to me and I appreciate it so very much!

"Okay," Hermione said, looking back and forth between Luna and Ginny as they sat in a secluded corner of the library. "I've talked with Luna and she's on board. Right, Luna?"

"Absolutely!" Luna nodded.

"Okay," Ginny said.

"So here's the plan that I've come up with," Hermione continued. "Now, I think it's best to not bring this to McGonagall until after Christmas. When we come back from break, I think, would be the best time. It's still early enough to not seem last-minute, but far enough in the school year that you would only have the last half to finish. And you also might be starting to show then, too, so it will get harder to hide, anyways."

"Okay," Ginny said again, agreeing without even hearing the full plan yet.

"And of course I will be there with you when you go to her, if you want me to."

"Me too!" Luna added. "Maybe it would be good for all of us to be there. Strength in numbers, you know? And then she'll see how serious we are about helping."

"You're right," Hermione nodded. "Ginny, is that okay?"

"Sure," she said. "I don't know the actual plan yet, but sure."

"Right, right, the plan," Hermione said. "So, I think that you could probably stay at Hogwarts for a while, probably until around Easter break. You'll be around eight months along then, so that seems like a good time for you to leave school. After you leave, Luna and I will both take notes for you for your classes, send them immediately by owl along with any assignments, which you can do from home and send back to us so we can turn them in for you. It might get a little tricky and difficult, but I think that we can make it work. Also, since you're of age, you'll be able to practice anything that we cover in class. Of course, once the baby is born, it may be even more difficult, but by then, N.E. won't be too far off. You could come for the exams, leaving the baby with Harry or your mum, and… finish school. I think that this can work. Do you?"

"I…," Ginny struggled to say something, but she was nearly speechless. "You're willing to do that for me?"

"Of course we are," Luna answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And, as far as Quidditch goes, Gryffindor doesn't have another match until after Christmas. If you don't want to completely stop training, you could go down to one practice a week and just take it easy. And then after Christmas…."

"Right," Ginny said, understanding that quitting the team would soon be very necessary. And as sad as the thought made her, she knew that she had to do it, and she knew that it would be okay.

"Does that sound okay to you?" Hermione asked. All Ginny could do was nod. She was touched that her friends would go to the trouble to help her be able to finish school. She couldn't help it when her eyes flooded with tears. She quickly looked down at the surface of the table, trying to conceal her emotions, but she heard Hermione stifle a giggle beside her.

"Thank you," she mumbled. "This really means a lot to me."

"It's really no problem," Hermione assured her. "We just have to hope that McGonagall will be okay with it."

Ginny simply nodded. She had already thought plenty about how she would tell Harry that she was pregnant, and how she would tell her mum and dad and her brothers, and yet, the idea of telling Professor McGonagall about her pregnancy terrified her more than the thought of telling any of the others. She was already imagining the look of disappointment on McGonagall's face. It was already making her feel guilty, and it hadn't even happened yet.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked her, and Ginny realized that her fear and guilt were evident on her face.

"Yeah, I'm just…," she trailed off with a shrug, not sure of what to say.

"Everything is going to be fine," Hermione said.

"It will be," Luna agreed.

Ginny nodded, but she felt unconvinced, and probably looked it, too. Hermione held out her hand, on top of the table, and without a second thought, Ginny took it, holding onto it. On her other side, Luna followed, offering her hand as well, and Ginny accepted. And there she sat, at a secluded table in the library, holding onto the hands of her two closest friends, feeling closer to them than ever.

"We'll be there for you," Luna said.

"No matter what," Hermione added.

All Ginny could do was smile, and try not to cry again.

…

Ginny sat, staring into the blue eyes of her counselor. They were both silent. They had been sitting like that for what felt like several minutes now. It was Ginny who had to break the silence, but she wasn't sure how. Simone was waiting for her to say something, waiting for her to answer the question that she had just asked.

"Answer me honestly here, Ginny," she had said, and Ginny had squirmed in her seat, already uncomfortable with the prospect of having to be honest about something. "What are you getting out of these sessions? Are you getting anything at all? I understand that delving into deeper issues may be more difficult for you than the average person, and that's alright. But for the past month or so, you've been seeming unwilling to discuss much at all. I don't want to push you, but I also want us to make the most of our time together. Are you feeling that you are not going to get anything from these sessions, or are you simply unsure how to move forward?"

Ginny hadn't known how to answer the question, and so she stared at her. And Simone stared back. Ginny hadn't fooled Simone in the slightest these past few weeks, talking about anything other than what was actually on her mind. She wasn't surprised by this, but still caught slightly off guard.

Finally, unable to look at her any longer, Ginny glanced down at her hands in her lap, and she began to pick at a fingernail, heart thudding against her chest.

"I think I'm going to be leaving Hogwarts," she said. It wasn't an answer to the question, but it was the best she could do.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, looking up at Simone again, but not meeting her eyes. "Not for a little while. But I'm going to have to."

"Why is that?"

Ginny hesitated.

"Everything I say to you stays confidential, right?"

"There are rare exceptions, but yes," Simone nodded.

"What are the exceptions?"

"If I think that you might be a danger to yourself or others," she said. "That's about it."

"Okay."

"Why? What is going on?"

"I'm pregnant."

It was the first time that she was telling somebody. Hermione had been there when she found out, and Luna had figured it out on her own. But Ginny was delivering the news to somebody for the first time, and the words felt strange coming out of her mouth, and she suddenly found it very difficult to look at Simone.

"You're…," she heard Simone mutter.

"Pregnant. Yeah," Ginny confirmed, picking at her fingernail again.

"How far along?"

"Three months or so."

"How long have you known?"

"About a month," she answered.

"Ah," Simone said. "I see."

"I couldn't talk about it before," Ginny continued, speaking softly. "I wasn't sure if… if I was going to have it or not. I was considering ending the pregnancy. But I didn't. I decided not to. It felt like the right choice. I mean, it still does. I'm just scared as hell."

"Of course you are," Simone said. "Impending motherhood is a very scary thing for a lot of women, regardless of age."

"But my age certainly doesn't help," Ginny said.

"No. It doesn't. That is true," Simone agreed.

"I keep thinking that I must be absolutely insane," Ginny sighed. "Especially since, when I try to rationalize it, I can't think of any logical reason why this is a good idea."

"Sometimes, motherhood defies logic."

Ginny nodded. That was something that she was already coming to realize. It was something that she was sure would continue to prove itself again and again.

She ended up telling Simone about her plan - Hermione's plan - to finish school. She talked about Hermione's support, and Luna's support, and how grateful she was for it. She told Simone that she hadn't yet told Harry about the baby, but she quickly moved on to another topic before she allowed herself to express any of her deep worry about the situation. She talked about her family and the ever-present anxiety at telling them about the pregnancy. She hadn't let herself think about it too much yet. Her main focus was on telling Harry, and she would deal with the rest when the time came.

"I think that is a good way for you to go about it," Simone told her. "Worry about one thing at a time. Worrying about it all at once will just overwhelm you."

"I know," Ginny agreed.

"I'm sure it seems like a lot to take on, and it is," Simone said. "But it seems to me like you have a good support system already in place, and you've clearly thought about this a lot already. You're smart and you're strong, and I know you can handle this."

Ginny smiled. It was one thing when Hermione and Luna offered their support. It meant a lot to her, but they were her friends, her peers. Simone was different. She was older, an authority figure almost, and to hear her say that Ginny could handle this made her believe that she truly could.

Ginny's eyes landed on a framed photograph on Simone's desk. She had seen it before, but she had never really looked at it. It was facing Simone, but angled slightly, enough for Ginny to see the little boy with curly blond hair and rosy cheeks, grinning up at the camera, sitting on the lap of a handsome man with Simone's arms draped around his shoulders. The photograph stayed still. It was clearly taken with a muggle camera.

"Is that…?" Ginny began gesturing towards the photo.

"My son," she nodded.

It momentarily struck Ginny as odd that she didn't know that Simone had a child. She hadn't even thought much about her life outside of Hogwarts. But then the realization that Simone was a mother swept over her. Simone was a mother. She understood. She could talk to her about these things and she would truly understand. She glanced at Simone's hands. She didn't notice a ring on her finger.

"Are you married?"

"I'm not," she answered with a small smile.

"Oh."

"My son's father and I are together, though. We have been for many years. We just haven't married."

"You had a baby without being married?" Ginny asked, fully aware that she was likely being too personal, but she suddenly had so many questions.

"Yes," Simone nodded, a smile still playing at her lips. "You want to know if it was a surprise or not, don't you?"

"Yes," she admitted. "Is that an inappropriate question for me to ask you?"

"Perhaps," Simone shrugged. "But given the circumstances… I'll allow it. He was a surprise. A very happy surprise. I had wanted children, but by the time I was in my mid-thirties and still unmarried, I began to consider the possibility that it may not happen. But then it did."

"But why didn't you get married?" Ginny asked her. She had been wondering lately if she and Harry would get married because of the baby. She assumed that that was what they would have to do. She assumed that that was just how things were. She couldn't think of any unmarried couples with children that she knew. She figured that you either got married before having a baby, or got married because you were having a baby.

"It was in the plans," she said. "But I wanted to wait until I wasn't pregnant anymore, but then… things began to get a little bit more serious with the war and it sort of slipped away from us."

"Do you think that you will now, though? Now that the war is over?"

"I don't know. After so much time of being happily unmarried, we've began to wonder if it's really necessary. Many people do not understand it - our own families included. But it works for us, and that's all that matters."

"I don't want Harry to marry me because he thinks that he has to," Ginny said, very quickly, hardly processing the words at all before speaking them. It was something that had been lingering in the back of her mind for a while, but she was too afraid to think it, let alone say it out loud.

"I mean," she said, trying to choose her words carefully. "I wouldn't mind being married to him, I don't think. But if we were to marry because I'm pregnant, I think that I might always wonder if that is the reason that he wanted to. If he really wanted to… or if he felt obligated."

"A valid concern," Simone agreed.

"Of course, he doesn't even know yet. He may not even think of marriage at all," she said with a frown.

"And if he does?" she asked. "If he asks you to marry him?"

"I don't know," Ginny admitted. "I don't know if I would be able to say no. Or if I would even want to say no. I don't know."

"Perhaps that's something to discuss with him, when the time comes. Tell him your concerns. Figure it out together."

Ginny nodded.

"Parenthood involves a lot of figuring out things together. It'll be good practice," Simone added.

…

Dear Harry,

Finally! We've just been told of our next Hogsmeade weekend! December 12th. It's about damn time. I trust you'll pass the news on to Ron, although I'm sure that Hermione will be untrustworthy of us both and write her own letter to Ron, even though I've promised her that I would tell you to tell him. I'm not sure what she thinks might happen - that you'll just forget to tell him and come on your own and leave him at home? I really don't know. Either way, I am looking forward to seeing you again. The last Hogsmeade weekend feels like it was ages ago.

I do have something important to tell you when I see you next. It is news best delivered in person, which is why it has to wait until then.

Until then,

Ginny.

…

It was Friday. The day before the Hogsmeade trip. The day before Ginny would see Harry again. The day before Ginny planned to tell Harry that she was pregnant. She had a bubble of anxiety inside of her. Throughout the week, the closer the day got, the more the bubble of anxiety grew. It was all she could feel. That, and the pain in her lower back that had persisted for a few days.

She could barely pay attention in any of her classes. All she could think about was how, in twenty-four hours' time, Harry would know about the baby. She had already gone through nearly every single possible scenario in her imagination.

He could be thrilled, excited at the prospect of being a father, albeit a young one.

He could be scared, like her, but willing to make it work.

He could be completely appalled, angry, beg her to end it.

He could leave her. She didn't think that it was a likely option, but it still persisted in her mind. All of her worries pushed on her. Maybe he didn't love her, no matter what Hermione said. Maybe he didn't love her, maybe he didn't want to be with her, maybe he didn't want to be tied to her forever by a living being that they had created together.

"You should really eat something," Hermione said to her. Ginny snapped out of the daze that she was in, finding herself in the Great Hall. She felt like she had been simply floating from place to place all day, barely conscious, just going through the motions while her mind was elsewhere. She could barely remember how she got to the Great Hall. And was it lunchtime or dinnertime? She had been staring at the food in front of her. Nothing looking appealing at all. Her stomach was in knots.

"Not hungry," she told Hermione.

"You've barely eaten today."

"It's fine," Ginny assured her.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm just nervous about tomorrow, that's all."

"Have you figured out what you're going to say to him yet?"

"I'll probably just be straightforward. Just tell him. Get it over with."

"Right," Hermione nodded. "It shouldn't be too difficult to steer Ron elsewhere, give you two time alone."

"That'll be the easiest part."

"Yeah. It will be," Hermione agreed. "Everything is going to be fine."

"Will it?"

"Yes. It will. I'm sure of it."

Ginny sighed, willing herself to believe Hermione. She looked at the food in front of her again. It still looked unappealing. She began to stand up from the table.

"I think I'm going to go back up to the common room early," she told Hermione.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I think I just want to be by myself for a little bit," she said.

"Okay," Hermione said, giving her a small, encouraging smile.

Ginny went straight to her bed and fell asleep early.

…

When Ginny was eleven years old, she had her first period. She was in Egypt with her family, and she could remember waking up in the middle of the night, her abdomen aching fiercely. When she woke up the next morning, she had begun to bleed. She knew what was happening, but she hadn't been expecting it for another couple of years or so. She remembered crying as she told her mother. She wasn't sure why she cried, but she did. She was embarrassed, convinced that all of her brothers knew, and she was miserable - cramping, hot, sticky, constantly paranoid that she was going to get blood on her pants. When it finished, she rejoiced, but it returned, month after month and eventually, she just got used to it.

She was remembering her first period, and how she had woken up in the night with her first cramps, and she hadn't been entirely sure what was happening, but she knew that it hurt and that she had wanted it to stop. She was remembering it so clearly, as she lie awake in her four-poster bed, her breathing growing increasingly more ragged with panic as she felt the familiar aching throb in her abdomen, but much stronger and much more painful than ever before. She placed a hand over her stomach and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, shifting onto her side, bringing her knees up to her chest, curling herself up as small as possible, resisting the urge to cry out.

She wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but she knew that it hurt, and she wanted it to stop.

"Hermione."

It came out weak, barely more than a whisper, and she knew that it was useless. She pushed her blankets off of her, sliding out of her bed, clutching her belly as she moved the short distance to Hermione's bed.

"Hermione," Ginny said again, placing a hand on her sleeping friend's shoulder, and Hermione jumped, letting out the tiniest frightened squeak before seeing that it was only Ginny.

"Hermione," she repeated, and even she could hear the panic in her own voice.

"What? Ginny, what…. what is it?"

"Something's wrong," she whispered, and Hermione immediately sat up, wide-eyed, looking at her with worry.

"What do you mean? What's happening?"

"I don't know. But something's wrong. I think something's wrong with the baby."

"What…," Hermione started, but then trailed off, and even in just the dim moonlight, Ginny could see her friend's expression change, her face falling and something like sad realization dawning on it.

"Hermione?"

"Ginny… Ginny, you're bleeding."

Ginny looked down. A part of her already knew what she would see, and yet the sight of the dark blood spreading over the fabric of her light pink pajama pants made her stomach drop, her chest tighten, her hands shake violently. She could feel her breath catching in her throat, her lungs felt like they were being squeezed.

She turned towards the nightstand, reaching a shaking hand out to grab her wand.

"Ginny?"

She grabbed it, and she was barely able to croak out the incantation.

"Concepi."

She watched the smoke erupt from the tip of her wand, unfurling as if in slow motion, illuminated from the moonlight streaming in from the window. Her heart pounded until it seemed to stop, and everything from her brain to the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes seemed to go numb as she read the smokey words in front of her.

YOU ARE NOT PREGNANT.