SECOND CHANCES 9

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters.

The Burrow

If it hadn't been for Ron being by her side the entire time and Mrs. Weasley keeping them all so busy with wedding preparations she didn't know if she would have made it those few weeks. Every time that she'd had more than a few seconds to herself her mind would focus entirely on Henry and if he was okay, if he was too cold or too warm, or if he missed her, or if he was crying or if he was happy. She knew that obsessing about him wasn't going to make their separation any easier but she couldn't help it, what mother could she decided. Ginny had come close a few times to figuring out what was wrong or at least that it had to do with Ron but Fleur had interrupted at just the right time and her secret had stayed safe for another day. She had, much to her surprise, found that her usual ire towards the veela had almost completely disappeared since the last time that they had met. She had noticed that the hold that the older woman had seemed to have over Ron had almost seemingly completely gone away overnight, as if by magic. Their only combined bit of solace was to sneak off somewhere together and just spend the time wrapped in each other's arms, with or without what had created Henry. Both knew that they couldn't fully go through with it but the closer that they had come to going all the way the closer they had come to being able to stop hurting about leaving their son for even a split second.

"Hermione, are you in here," Ginny wondered aloud with a curious frown as she poked her head into the room and looked around, smiling in relief when her gaze landed on her best friend.

"Huh, oh uh yeah Ginny, is it Fleur or your mum," Hermione called back absentmindedly over her shoulder as she hurried to put the parchment away that she had been writing on and wiped away a tear, hoping that Ginny wouldn't notice.

"Neither…both, they're driving me up a bloody wall, all this wedding business, can't you help," Ginny shrugged with a rolling of her eyes and a soft groan as she sulked into the room and collapsed down onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow.

"I wish that I could help you Ginny…I really do, but after the wedding Fleur is going to be family for you whether you like it or not," Hermione continued with a tone of empathy in her words as she wiped away another tear given the opportunity before the redhead picked her head up and looked over at her, appearing as if she'd just gotten a great idea and had to share it.

"You could be family ya know, if you ever told that git brother of mine how you feel," Ginny offered up hopefully as she smiled broadly across the room at Hermione while propping herself up on her elbows and forearms.

"If he doesn't know how I feel by now Ginny…maybe he's a lost cause," Hermione replied softly as she turned in her chair and looked over at Ginny, hoping that her eyes were dry now.

"If you honestly believed that then you two wouldn't be spending so much time together, don't think that I haven't noticed, mum either," Ginny shot back with a slightly irritated scowl before she shifted her position on her bed so that she was sitting on it and crossed her arms across her lap, clearly not buying Hermione's answer to her question.

"Ron and I haven't been spending any more time together than you and Harry Ginny, I notice things too," Hermione pointed out with a knowing grin that she flashed over to her redheaded roommate, which caused the younger girl to flash a deep blush before she could say anything.

"I'm sure that I don't know what you're talking about, Harry and I…," Ginny scoffed out loudly at first with her nose in the air a bit before she calmed down slightly and tried to sound reasonable but failed just as Ron poked his head in the room.

"Harry and you what," Ron interjected with a randy grin as he pushed the door the rest of the way open and then crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back up against the doorway.

"Are none of your business you git, aren't you supposed to be helping Harry clean up the yard," Ginny snapped angrily as she halfheartedly threw one of her pillows at Ron and tried her best to glare him back out of the room while all he could do was laugh at her, forcing Hermione to turn her head away to keep her grin from being observed by either Weasley.

"We're done, mum gave us some free time and I was just coming to see if you two wanted to go for a swim…dad enlarged the pond for the wedding and thought that we should have a go while we can," Ron explained slowly with a pointed but light glare aimed at his little sister before he glanced briefly over at Hermione and gave her a quick wink that Ginny didn't seem to notice.

"Of course, just get out for a few minutes so that we can get changed and Hermione and I will meet you two out there," Ginny eagerly admitted as she hopped up off of the bed and then started to hurry across the room to push Ron out of the door and had almost gotten to him when Hermione cut in.

"Actually Ginny, I think that I'm going to pass, I'm not feeling too well today, I don't think that I'm sick or anything…I think that I'd rather just stay here and read, but don't hold back because of me, go and have fun," Hermione reluctantly interrupted with a less than pleased expression as she did look a little under the weather though she managed to put forth a convincing smile and tried to keep the younger girl from asking to many questions.

"Okay…if you say so," Ginny replied with a wary look at Hermione before she finally got to her brother and pushed him out of the door and then shut it after him.

"Okay I'm going," Ron called out from the other side of the door in a slight huff before he threw his hands up in defeat and headed off back to his room.

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The Burrow-Ginny's Room

"You alone," Ron asked softly with a hesitant expression as he slid back into the room and shut the door behind him, expecting Hermione to be sitting at the small desk but instead finding her sitting on Ginny's bed.

"Huh…oh uh yeah Ron, but what are you doing here, I thought that you'd be swimming with Harry and Ginny," Hermione replied with a lost in thought tone to her words as she only very briefly looked up from the parchment in her hands before she returned her gaze to it, studying it intently and silently reading it out loud with her lips moving but making no noise.

"I will, but I wanted to check on you first, are you really not feeling well," Ron asked again with a nervous look before he sat down on the bed beside her and looped an arm around her shoulders, being silently glad when she almost instinctively leaned into him and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"Well…no, physically I feel fine, I'm just not in a big hurry to slip into a swimsuit so soon after Henry and…well, then I thought of something important," Hermione nervously stuttered with a shaky little laugh as she briefly picked her head up off of Ron's shoulder so that she could give him a quick smile to show that she actually was okay.

"What," Ron asked softly as he gave Hermione a quick one armed hug and laid his other hand on her knee and tried to get a peek at what was on the parchment but he couldn't make anything out.

"We're leaving with Harry right after the wedding and we don't know how long it will take or even if we'll live through it…I can't go off on a mission like that without making sure that if something does happen to me…or you…that Henry doesn't end up in the same boat as Harry, never having anything from his parents, and so…," Hermione explained slowly with a very deliberate tone of voice as it was clear to Ron that's he was forcing herself to remain calm and think things through as clearly as she could as it was all that she could control from the Burrow.

"What's this," Ron asked with a curious look as he lightly tugged on the parchment that was in her hands and noted that she didn't really resist letting him have it.

"It's a letter that I'm writing…to Henry, so that if I don't make it he knows that I loved him and that I wanted him to be happy and…," Hermione answered with the pain clearly evident, even to Ron, in her words as briefly glanced over what was written before he set it down on the bed on the side opposite her and he turned back to her.

"We're going to make it Hermione," Ron declared strongly as he pulled her into a strong hug and then kept silent as she sniffled through a few tears and he had to grit his teeth to keep his own eyes from getting wet.

"How can you say that Ron, you don't know for certain," Hermione harshly asked, her voice full of worry and fear more than anger, as she started to pull away from his hug but he wouldn't let her go and she didn't fight him.

"Of course not, but we just have to, there's no other alternative right…," Ron offered up skeptically as he tried to hide the fear in his voice before he shrugged his shoulders a bit and tried to laugh but nothing came out.

"Oh how I wish that were true Ron, but the sad reality is that Henry might grow up without us…you should write a letter as well ya know, to Henry…just in case," Hermione pointed out with a smile of fear at the start before she changed her expression to one of great worry and a little bit of terror.

"What would I even say," Ron wondered aloud as in truth he hadn't a clue what to write to a son that was only about two months old and thinking about things years into the future at that moment his head hurt a fair amount.

"That you love him, that you loved me, that you were happy that he was born, that you never wanted to leave him but you had to, try to make…help…him understand…he has to understand…," Hermione shot back softly as she struggled to get through the words because even the thought of what they would mean was quickly becoming more than she could handle and had she not had Ron physically there to support her she probably wouldn't have been able to continue through till the end.

"Hermione…luv," Ron replied as he tried to break up her line of depressing thought before she really got going and got to depressed about it all but she hurried to keep on going anyway.

"Ron don't…it's the truth, no matter how much we try to not see it…it is, I'll feel better if I know that we've done this, my parents won't remember me anyway but I hope that they'd understand…but Henry won't…he wouldn't have any memory of us at all," Hermione continued with a far off look in her eyes as she stared out the small window in the room as she began to dig her nails into Ron's arms to keep from breaking down into a fit of sobbing and Ron had to bite his bottom lip to keep from making a noise because of the pain.

"Alright, you convinced me…but you know that I'm not good at this type of thing," Ron replied through a deep breath as he admitted defeat and smiled sweetly before he pulled Hermione into a quick kiss on the lips, one that she was happy to oblige him.

"It won't matter Ron, the important thing is that you put forth the effort and that you cared…and if everything works out and we both make it then we can just burn the letters and live," Hermione pointed out with a relieved smile, punctuated by another quick kiss on the lips, before she brightened up noticeably at the end.

"I like that idea," Ron eagerly grinned as he tried to put that idea into his head as the only possible outcome for their actions and a happy thought to look forward to on the long and lonely nights that he guessed were in his future.

"So do I, do you think that maybe we should write letters to your parents and others, explaining why we didn't tell them about everything, I can only guess Ginny's reaction when she finds out that we were not only dating but had a child and she's an aunt," Hermione nodded as she unhappily forced herself out of Ron's arms, though giving him a look to say that she wasn't particularly happy to split from him but that she felt that they had to do it to keep up appearances, as she wiped away a few tears and headed over to the desk that she had been sitting at earlier.

"I would but, that'd be a lot of writing and make it harder to keep it all straight in my head, we'd end up with like a dozen letters and that would get a bit obvious that something was going on," Ron groaned with a confused sigh as he flopped back onto Ginny's bed and stared up at the ceiling, wishing that things were different the entire time.

"You're right, we can just include all of that in our letters to Henry, that way he can tell them for us," Hermione weakly smiled as she stood up and took a couple of steps towards the doorway before Ron leapt up off of the bed and hurried over to her, the parchment that she had been writing on rolled up and in his back pocket.

"I love you," Ron whispered softly into her ear as he pulled Hermione back into his arms as her back came to rest against his chest and his arms wrapped themselves protectively around her.

"I love you too…now get to writing," Hermione replied after she took a deep breath and leaned into Ron a bit more, hoping that the task that she brought up wouldn't take any longer than it had to and that they would be together again soon.

"Yes luv," Ron pouted with an exaggerated jutting out of his lower lip as he gave Hermione a few lingering kisses on her neck before a quick squeeze and then headed out of the room, having no idea what he was going to write but knowing that he certainly wasn't going to let Hermione or Henry down.

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London-Number Twelve Grimmauld Place

She was still coming down from the rush that had been their flight from the Burrow hours earlier. Now she was worried sick for not only her own family but Ron's as well, though moments later she'd realize that the two families were now truly one with Henry's birth. After making the old place seem a bit more livable Harry had taken first watch at the Ministry, saying that the house reminded him to much of Sirius. She had accepted that and decided to take a bath, especially since it had been days since her last one and all of the effort of cleaning up the house had taken its toll. She had forced Ron to take one as well, though before and without her, an act that had taken most of her self-control.

She didn't know where Kreacher was and hoped that the old house elf would be kept busy cleaning something as she slowly began to pad her way back to her room. She had been angry at herself at the realization that she had forgotten her beaded bag back in her room and therefore only had a towel to wear for the trek. She knew that Ron wouldn't care but it would certainly raise a note of confusion from Harry. She let out a small sigh in relief when she turned the knob and slipped into her bedroom, only it wasn't hers but Ron and Harry's.

"Hermione, what are you," Ron gasped in alarm as he shot up in bed and turned her way, with him reacting so fast that she let out a squeak of alarm in reply before she could compose herself enough to speak clearly.

"Ron, what are you doing in my…wait…this isn't my room, what am I doing in your room," Hermione began to exclaim in shock and alarm before she furtively glanced around the room and realized that she wasn't where she thought that she was and gave voice to the obvious question of the day.

"Letting your heart lead the way, bloody hell Hermione, it took me like three trips before I could finally end up back here…always ended up at your door," Ron guessed with a look of dark amusement in his eyes as he shrugged his shoulders and swung his legs over the side of the bed but made no effort to actually stand up.

"But why," Hermione shot out as quickly as she could as she felt heat rising up in her cheeks and she had to make a very concentrated effort to not let her gaze trace every visible line on Ron's body just quite yet.

"Isn't it obvious, the heart wants what the heart wants and all that I guess," Ron joked with a sly grin and a hungry look in his eyes as he leaned forward on the side of his bed and stared intently at her and she could feel herself smiling happily at his interest.

"Where did you ever come up with that," Hermione replied as she did her best to sound like she found the whole idea funny and not curious while throwing her head to the side so that she didn't have to look at Ron for a few seconds, lest she start ogling him again.

"I'm not sure, must have heard about it from someone or read it somewhere, fits though," Ron shrugged with an impish grin curling up one corner of his lips as he slid off the side of the bed and walked to the foot of it, his gaze never once leaving hers.

"That it does, but what were you doing just now, and why aren't you dressed," Hermione huffed out loudly as she tried to change the subject while she still had coherent thoughts in her head and the ability to speak without mumbling it all as she took in every square inch of exposed skin that she could see, desperately trying to not start counting his freckles.

"I could say the same about you luv, as for me I was laying here trying my best not to think about you in the bath," Ron nervously stated through a blush of his own as his ears were now pretty red and he couldn't help but smile as he started towards her.

"How'd that go," Hermione softly asked with an almost excited smile before she tried to act like she wasn't flirting with him at warp speed.

"Okay…until you showed up wearing nothing but a towel and looking incredibly beautiful," Ron replied as he tried very hard to not admit just how much he had been daydreaming about her moments before as he walked up to stand directly in front of her, not seeming embarrassed to only be wearing a towel that looked to be coming loose.

"Er…sorry, I didn't exactly plan this," Hermione countered with the inability to look him in the eye as she chewed on her bottom lip a bit and tried to restrain her heart from racing.

"Must be…destiny, or something," Ron joked as quickly as he could with the trademark grin that Hermione found so appealing as then she found that she couldn't keep her hands from reaching themselves out and landing on his hip bones, with no interest in moving from that spot just yet.

"Somehow I doubt that Ron," Hermione whispered with a warm smile of her own as she felt Ron reach out and pull her closer until the two were standing chest to chest.

"And yet here you are…here we are," Ron breathed down at her, allowing her to smell the cakes from the wedding that he had obviously brought a few of with him when they fled.

"True…and who am I to argue with destiny," Hermione replied softly with the two almost sharing the same breath before she pulled him down into a kiss that left little doubt in either's mind what both wanted before he pulled back just far enough to speak.

"I'll get the door," Ron managed to say before he retrieved his wand and locked and muffled the door, only turning around just in time to see Hermione's towel hit the floor, his followed soon after. Harry would return almost two hours later to find Hermione sitting at the table in the downstairs kitchen pouring over one of the books that she had taken from Hogwarts and Ron rummaging around in one of the cupboards. Both jumped when he initially spoke and blushed as red as he thought possible all while hesitating to answer anything more than simple questions or even look at each other. He found it all a bit odd but just shrugged it off and told them what he had seen.

END OF CHAPTER 9

Author's Note: Thank again to everyone for reading and reviewing this and the other chapters. As always reviews, questions, and comments are greatly appreciated. There's a good chance now that this story will be more than twelve chapters long as my mind has come up with a few extra things to include, like the letters to Henry in this chapter and such. This story won't be some twenty chapter epic I don't think as then it begins to stretch being believable to the limit. I still view comparisons between the golden trio and the trio from Dawson's Creek, with Hermione and Joey being much the same and Ron and Pacey a lot alike, with Harry and Dawson a bit alike though without the romantic bit with Hermione thankfully. The bit at the end might have gotten a bit sappy but I just thought it up and liked it, though I'm not having a pregnant Hermione on the horcrux hunt and it's too soon after Henry was born for that anyway. Thank You.