"Of course you can. I just... it's a little dirty." He blushed furiously, wishing desperately that he'd at least cleared stuff off the coffee table. It looked like a pigsty, probably smelled like one too. But Hermione looked more relieved than disgusted, shrugging out of her coat and pressing a tired palm to her stomach. His eyes followed the movement, momentarily worried.

"Are you-? Is everything fine with-?" He waved awkwardly in the general vicinity of her tummy and she looked down at herself in surprise.

"Oh? No! It's not- I mean, the baby's fine. I just... Did you know he was cheating on me?" She blurted out, looking open and vulnerable and it felt like a sucker punch to his stomach. Reeling in shock, he shook his head furiously.

"What the-? Of course not! Cheating on you? What kind of an idiot would cheat on you?" He said without thinking. Hermione looked momentarily floored by his choice of words, but quickly recovered.

"I found him with Lavender Brown." She said quietly, shaking her wet hair miserably. He quickly shrugged out of his jacket, tossing it on the couch and moving to get a clean towel. That took a while and when he came back, she was down to her dress, a flimsy soft peach gown, draping over her ample curves in a mess. He smiled fondly at the sight. She looked so... womanly.

"why are you smiling?" She snapped at him and he quickly sobered up, holding the towel out and ducking his head abashedly. He'd forgotten what a firecracker she could be.

"If it makes you feel better, he probably didn't mean it." He said carefully . She ran the fabric of the towel through her waist length hair and glared at him.

"No , Harry. That doesn't make me better." She snipped.

Silence.

"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be taking this out on you but-" The tears came, brimming over her honey toned eyes and coating her smooth cheeks. He reacted on instinct, arms moving to engulf her in heat , careful not to squash her tummy. She cried for less than a minute, the sobs slowing to soft little sniffles and finally fading in a small hiccup.

"I'm not crying for him." She said strongly, rubbing her face with the back of her palm, moving out of the circle of his arms. Harry stared, bemused.

"Oh?" He said , feeling foolish. Other than a burning instinct to hunt Ron down and castrate him, he wasn't really good with feelings.

"I'm not. It's just that... I wasted my life on him. My entire life. I gave up so much." She looked up then, eyes boring holes into his face and he looked away, embarrassed. It wasn't that he was blind. He knew Hermione had a soft spot for him. Maybe something a little more than a soft spot.

He'd always done his best not to encourage her. Partly because he hadn't really felt that way about her and partly because Ron had been a jealous bastard. The first five years at Hogwarts had been hard enough , trying to discourage the lingering glances , pretending he didn't notice the way she curled against his side at the slightest oppurtunity.

Sixth year had been marginally better. Ron had started showing interest in her and Ginny had agreed to go out with him. The entire thing had died a natural death.

Until that time , seven years ago, when they'd been holed up together. No Ron, no one else. Just them. Harry had missed being surrounded by people. The weight of what they'd had to do had weighed heavily on his shoulders, sometimes threatening to crush him . Hermione had been miserable, missing Ron and missing home. They'd tried to take as much from each other, without taking too much. Hugs , snuggles , sleeping wrapped around each other. they'd kissed once, just once. And that had been all Hermione, her tear soaked face hot against his as she tried to twist and turn, eager to slot their lips together in that perfect way.

To Harry it had felt like cheating. Not cheating on Ginny, but cheating Hermione.

But he'd been so tired, so exhausted and drained and if he was fighting a war with nothing but love on his side, he certainly deserved a little love of his own, didn't he?

But they'd gotten over it, at least he had.

Until that night five months ago.

He tried not to think of that, firmly believed that he couldn't really be the father. Physically, it was possible but that had been one night. Not even the entire night . Just a couple of hours and he'd been drunk out of his mind. The only way he could have done something like that for Ron.

"Dude, you gotta help me out. Its our anniversary and if I don't turn up she's going to so frigging pissed. I can't trust anyone else to-"Ron's voice had broken off then, static from across the Atlantic making it hard to hear him clearly. Harry wanted to reach across the ocean and wring the bugger's neck.

"You can't be serious, Ron! That's just sick!" He spat out, still reeling from the amount of insensitivity Ron managed to exhibit. The years hadn't changed him one bit. And neither apparently, had marriage to one of the most wonderful women on the planet.

"Just tonight. Just for a couple of hours. I even talked to Luna about it, it apparently lasts longer and-"

"Don't , just don't." He hissed, furious with himself for still talking to the git.

"Listen, this isn't for me. This is for her. after everything she's done for you, the least you can do is make sure she isn't alone on her anniversary."

And of course, that would be the final punch.

Because at the end of the day, if it was for Hermione, nothing was wrong.

But that was all in the past. In another world, even. Hermione had no idea it was Harry that night. She had no idea that the reason he'd snuck out the minute she'd fallen asleep was because the potion had began fading. And he didn't want to think about her knowing, ever.

So he looked away, moving to the bedroom and pulling out some clean sheets to help settle her in for the night.

She couldn't sleep.

It wasn't physical discomfort. Harry's bed was warm and soft, but clearly not slept in. She wondered why that was. The idea of Harry owning a bed but not sleeping in it felt a bit... sad.

Maybe he was too lonely?

She eased herself upright, shifting around the couple of pillows to lay on her other side. Sleeping on her back was something she genuinely missed. Also the full night's sleep that she could no longer get, courtesy her reduced bladder capacity and seemingly never ending hunger.

Nevertheless she had a lot of things to think about.

This wasn't a permanent solution of course.

Harry would want her to leave and she had a store to run. She imagined going back there, to the small room upstairs, the rickety old stairs and she wanted to cry. She'd avoided going up there, after finding out she was pregnant. When she closed the store for the night, no matter how late, she always found a way to get back to the condo .

But now there was no condo. Ron was there and the thought of seeing him again was just a bit too much. She could technically move back into the store, maybe change one of the store rooms into a bedroom, so she wouldn't have to climb all the way up to the third floor and risk-

"Hey, Awake?" A voice called out from the living room and she realized she'd sat up and started pacing, almost without her knowledge. Cursing herself for disturbing him, she quickly made to get back into bed, but Harry was already in the room, switching the light on and looking worried.

"Is everything okay?" He said, glancing around in concern. She shook her head and then blushed when her stomach rumbled.

"Ooh, my little boy is hungry , isn't he?" Harry laughed, kneeling at the foot of the bed and lightly knocking on her tummy.
He looked up at her and bumped her nose, before moving to his feet and walking to the fridge.

Ten minutes later, he returned with orange juice, toast and an omelet.

"I'll be gone in the morning." She said quietly, trying not to look at his face.

He was quiet for a second and then placed a warm hand on her knee.

"Where to?" He asked gently , moving to sit back on his haunches.

"The store, I guess," she shrugged, the movement making her loose fitting dress slip off her shoulders," I can move things around a bit, maybe shift the room downstairs and-"

"No. No, absolutely not." He shook his head firmly, fingers gently easing her sleeves back in place and patting her shoulder," You aren't doing any such thing. I'll come by and look it over , see what I can do. We'll get through this together, alright?" He smiled, open and guileless and she wanted to cry.

"I-I'm not sure if-"

"If Ron's going to be okay with that? Mione, if I could I'll gladly kill that bastard twice over but I'm not going to be much help to you from prison. Besides, the only reason I'm letting you go to that store is because even I can tell that this isn't the right place for a pregnant girl." He waved an arm around, indicating his cramped apartment.

She had to laugh at that.

"I'm not a girl, Harry!" She protested . He grinned at that and then shook his head.

"You'll always be that eleven year old girl who stopped me from getting expelled. Thanks for that by the way," he winked, " and I think you should sleep now. Don't trouble that pretty little head of yours, alright? We'll work things out."

Before she could reply , he was out the door, letting it close behind him.

"The child is whose? " Percy spluttered in shock, staring at his brother in shock.

"It's Harry's, but... but she doesn't know that." Ron muttered, scratching the back of his head in abject misery. Percy gave him a look that clearly said what kind of drug are you on.

"A woman has sex with a man and gets pregnant. And she doesn't know he's the father when in fact he's her best friend. What part of that makes sense to you?" He demanded.

"It was...Polyjuice potion! I was on tour, couldn't make it to our anniversary and I just thought-"

"Holy shit, Ron that's a whole new level of low, even for you!"

"How was I supposed to know the bitch wanted to fuck on that night? She wouldn't give me the time of the day, not even when I practically went drooling after her like a dog and then he comes along , feeds her a lousy meal and she gets in bed with him! " Ron hisses .

"So she thinks that-"

"That I'm the father. " He shakes his head in disdain.

"Is that why you cheated on her?"

Ron had the good grace to blush. After all the cheating had been going on for a long time. Lavender was hardly the first.

"So, what about Harry, does he know?" Percy persisted and Ron reached for another drink.

"I don't care whether he does. That bastard betrayed me. He isn't going anywhere near my wife."

Percy laughed at that.

"Your wife? Why one earth would she get back with you?"

"She will. The thing about girls like Hermione, is they can't grow out of their habits. And that's exactly what I am. A habit. She'll be crawling back before long. "

Ron smiled, eyes narrowing on the glass of scotch.

A/n :- Reviews are love :) :)