A/n: Thanks to my beta Hunter's Heir! **Not yet edited.

It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew.

~Henry Rollins

For the following few days I wander through school in a daze. Draco and my friends can tell that something is wrong, but I refuse to share my worries with anyone. I just added something else to this life-changing equation. I want to be absolutely positive that I am pregnant before I go around blabbing to people.

I could go down to the hospital wing though and just take a pregnancy test, but something holds me back. I want to speak with my mother first, even if it is via owl. And so far I haven't heard anything back. So instead of confiding with anyone I struggle through my days, every single thought plagued with worry. I must have a million bags under my eyes.

If I could trust Ginny, she's probably the first person I would go to. She is a girl after all. But she's less than trustworthy these days and I refuse to endanger the small child that may or may not be growing inside my belly. There are just too many variables.

If I read that damn book first… we could've waited. Sex is great, but I'm sure if we knew that Siren's get pregnant ninety-six percent of the time the first time they engage in sex with a mate that we would've waited. We weren't ready, and if I hadn't been so distracted by everything going on in my life then nothing would've gone so terribly.

There's nothing we can do now though. Whatever is going to happen on that note… it's set in stone. And if I don't hear back from my mother soon I will have to go and see the hospital wing after all.

And trust me, I really don't want to do that.

"Christmas is coming soon," Draco said one night as we wander about patrolling. "I'll have to go see my parents for the holidays, and participate in whatever bloody events my mother has planned. I think it might be a good idea to bring you along."

"That's a good idea?"

He shoots me a look. "No, not really. But they're going to have to find out about what's going on one way or another. It's not like we can escape what's happening to us."

You don't even know. "True… but I'm not sure my parents will appreciate my absence for the entire holiday break. I did owl my mother a few days ago."

"Really now?" he asks, grinning. "That's excellent news! I'm glad the two of you are mending what happened. And I didn't mean that you have to spend your whole holiday there, just a bit of it. We can go over, ruin my parents plans for me, get screamed at for a while, and then we can go see your parents again."

"You wouldn't want to stay and fix things with your parents?"

"Hermione, so long as someone's after you I'm not putting that much distance between us. I can fix things with my parents, if things need to be fixed, via owl or something. But I'm not going to step away and wonder if you've been killed or not. Not until we know the cost is clear."

"Right." It's a sweet gesture, but it worries me. He doesn't even know the whole package deal yet but he's making these promises. They are sweet, but I don't want to alarm him too badly when I reveal the news.

Scratch that, he's going to be alarmed either way. We were trying to take things slow, but that might not be possible. We already had to move pretty fast in the relationship, and that was before the possibility of a baby.

"I'll tell mother that I'm bringing someone home, but I won't say who. If she thinks it's Pansy or even Blaise then she won't throw a fit. But if she thinks it's you all hell will break loose."

"And what about your father? How would we handle him?"

"He's a completely different story Hermione. He's a bit sour about everything that happened at the end of the war, so I'd just completely steer clear of him if I was you. I'm his son and he still practically hates me."

"Oh goody."

"It's not ideal, but one way or another we have to tell our parents. They need to understand that this wasn't something we did by choice."

I pause, turning to glare at him. "So if magical forces didn't throw us together you'd never look twice at me?"

He freezes, instantly realizing his mistake. "Well I-"

"I didn't realize I was that terrible."

Draco looks at me a little funny. Yes, I know that I probably shouldn't be so bothered by his statement, but something about it hits home. I feel a little hurt, and to deal with those feelings I try to make him feel bad? I shouldn't be so worked up, considering that I very well know our history before the Siren traits kicked in. In all honesty no, he probably didn't think anything pleasant or flattering about me beforehand. So why does that statement bother me so much?

"Are you okay?" he asks, crossing his arms. "You seem a little… sensitive tonight."

"I'm not sensitive!"

"Okay…"

Something's wrong with me. I'm sounding batty. Maybe I haven't gotten enough sleep between fucking Draco and researching until the wee hours of the morning, before heading off to repeat another long day of school. I guess I do sound a bit distressed, but I have no reason to be.

Well, no reason he knows about.

"I'm sorry," I grumble, looking away. "I'm not sure what's wrong with me."

"I wasn't really complaining Hermione, just wondering. You're not the type to whine or complain. If you were Pansy or Astoria, this would be a lot more common."

I make a face, beginning to walk again. "Well, be glad they didn't end up being your eternal mates."

"Trust me, I am."

We wander in silence for a while, finishing off our patrols. We're nearly finished when something catches my attention.

"Do you hear that?"

Draco pauses glancing around, his ears straining to hear something. "Yes, I do."

"I'm surprised you didn't hear it first," I say, smiling softly. He doesn't return the gesture. "Because you're supposed to have super hearing to pick up on threats, you know?"

His eyebrows draw together. "Maybe it isn't a threat. Come on, let's go look."

Wandering in the direction of the noise, I find my hand drifting to rest on my belly. I find it a little odd since I don't know if I will actually end up pregnant, even though the statistics in my newfound book are remarkably high for things like that. Yes, I went out and found my new book to read. Sure it's on Veela's, but Siren's and Veela's seem to have an awful lot of similarities.

Part of me hopes it's just a restless student trying to cause havoc, but in the pit of my stomach I feel very uneasy. Draco's moved steadily closer to me until he's practically standing on top of me. I don't know why his protective traits have to kick in right now. I mean, we don't even know what the problem is!

Maybe that is the problem…

We almost round a corner, or footsteps next to silent when I suddenly pull him back. He spins to look at me but I press a finger to his lips, signaling for him to be quiet. Around the corner I can hear voices talking.

"You're going to ruin everything you stupid girl! Can't you do anything right?"

I glance at Draco, his hand moving to grasp my own. In one fluid motion he has me pressed to him, a protection spell appearing around us, accompanied by an invisibility spell. That's Nott's voice.

"You didn't tell me in the beginning who we were after," a woman replies, and my eyes widen. That's Ginny… so Ginny and Nott really are collaborating on something.

"And you didn't back out when you figured out who it was."

"I… I'm not thinking clearly. You won't let me. Look, I didn't follow through with the other night, and I can't say that I regret it. I would've regretted my actions that much more if I did go through with the plan. I know it sounded like a good idea in the beginning, but I don't think so anymore. It was a joke Nott, one that we exchanged just once. Then you took it that much further… and I can't finish this. I refuse. I will not harm Hermione."

"That's your choice then," he seethes, "But don't think that I will take you back up on your offer. I still need to finish this for him. I promised him that things would be alright. And if you don't want to be a part of the deal anymore, that's fine. You already finished what I needed you to do tonight. And I don't need the extra baggage."

My eyes widen as both Draco and I step from behind the corner. Beneath the spells no one can see us, but I can see Ginny and Nott. He has a wand to her head and instinctively I try to rush forward and help, but the arm around my waist refuses to let me. I watch as Nott speaks, his wand tip lighting up.

"Obliviate."

Her eyes widen, pupils shrinking. We're close enough that we can see this, but not close enough to hit Nott in the head. That's okay though, because Draco's apparently one step ahead of me.

"Stupefy."

I'm out from the spells in a moment, destroying them as I pull away from him. Nott lies on the floor just in front of Ginny, who's slowly shaking her head.

The noise we both heard… it was the sound of footsteps. Two sets of footsteps. But now, Nott's gone and removed Ginny's memories. I don't know what they were doing before we found them.

After a moment she looks up and meets my eyes. I'm standing in front of her, prepared to grab her if she sinks into the floor. On the outside I'm composed, but on the inside I'm screaming.

She was working with him. But her motive? Her reasoning… what she knew, all of its gone now that he erased her memories. I can't get any answers from her. And it's such a shame, seeing as she seemed so willing to detach herself from what his main goal was. If he hadn't gone and gotten to her first… maybe she would've sought me out. Maybe I would understand what was going on in her head… in both of theirs.

I should've pushed Ginny harder from the beginning.

"Hermione?" she says softly, looking me in the eyes finally. "What's going on?"

I shake my head, feeling on the verge of crying in frustration. We should've interfered just moments beforehand, and then she wouldn't be so confused and lost now… and neither would we.

I glance back at Nott, still stiff on the floor. Draco stands beside him wand out, but his eyes directed at me. Apparently, he's waiting for me to make the next move.

"What do you remember?"

She hsakes her head, looking floored and confused. "I… I don't know. Wasn't it jut breakfast time? It's dark outside now."

Yeah, she won't prove to be any help at all. Sighing I glance back at Draco. "We need to take them to see Dumbledore right now."

"Do you know how many times I've seen that old man this year? More times than I can count- more than I have in all my other years combined actually."

"Come on Draco," I mutter, helping Ginny straighten out. She shoots me an odd look.

"Did you just call him Draco?"

I sigh, inwardly cursing. Why can't things be simple anymore? Gesturing to the blond he begins levitating Nott's body, and I grab Ginny's hand as we start off towards his office. I don't care what anyone has to say, but this has gone on long enough. Something needs to be done about it, right now.

I'm sure there's something we're missing though. Something feels out of place. I'm almost second-guessing whether or not this situation is real at all.

"The Aurors have to come," he says as we enter my room. "No matter what we like to believe, it's not over just because we caught them speaking. There's going to be a lot of questions, but at least we finally caught them in the act. Obviously they've been after you the whole time."

"But Draco… it doesn't seem right. It seems so easy. We've known that Nott's been after me forever, and we really never had any proof. Now suddenly not only is he dropping hints like there's no tomorrow but he's having serious discussion in the halls, knowing that we always patrol on Thursdays? It's too coincidental."

"Come on Hermione, there's nothing left to worry about. Nott will be arrested for everything, and she might be charged depending on what can be pinned on her. That all depends on his own memories."

"Yeah… if he didn't conveniently swipe those too."

"He couldn't darling," he replies, rubbing my back. "His plan went astray Hermione, but now there's nothing left to fear. Both Nott and Weasley had to be taken into custody for precautionary reasons. They will be questioned, and we might even have to go in and let them see some of our memories, but that isn't a big deal. You should be happy. Things cleared up faster than either of us ever thought they would!"

I shake my head, sighing. "It's too perfect Draco, and you know it. Right now it seems okay because the danger inside Hogwarts is past, but there's still something amiss. Nott mentioned another person, meaning there were at least three people in on the deal. I even told Dumbledore and the Aurors that. Someone else is in on this, I know it."

"Even if someone else is, Nott will be forced to take the truth serum. He'll have to tell the Aurors what's going on, and then everything will be fine. Really Hermione, I think you're going to be okay. Nott had a slip up, and we were around for it. The danger has passed."

"I don't think so," I reply, sliding out of his grip. "Actually, I think the danger is far from over."

"That's why you have me around, to ensure that you're not in any danger."

I almost bring up that I have him around to ensure that our child is alright too, but I press my lips together and say nothing about it. I have to be certain about that. Maybe I'm not with child at all.

"I can handle myself you know."

"I'd be a fool if I thought otherwise."

"Yes, you would be. Just trust me on this one Draco, I don't think it's over."

"Well, the worst of it is. Hell, the last accomplice could be Nott's father or even someone like Marcus Flint. We thought about him as a possible suspect earlier on, remember? One of them is probably our final culprit, and we'll make sure that whoever it is will be put in Azkaban. Their threats are enough to do that. Nothing else is going to happen darling. Please, breathe a sigh of relief. Things are straightening out, slowly but surely."

I smile at that, nodding as he pulls me into a hug. But try as I may, I just can't buy into his words. I know Draco wants to believe that things are really over and they're going to get easier, but I just can't do it. Something seems fixed about this whole situation. In the back of my mind, I can't help wondering if we were set up to believe that things are okay. I have a sneaking suspicion that sometime soon something terribly bad is going to happen.

Maybe I'm just too paranoid.

I make sure to check my room before going to sleep with Draco. I don't so easily forget that Nott said something to Ginny about completing her task for tonight before erasing her memory, and considering my lack of luck with Nott I'm not taking any chances. I don't find anything out of place, but I'm too worn out to look through all of my belongings. For all I know something could be missing.

That would really annoy me, considering I had to chance the password again. How people got my password to begin with I still don't know.

I'm finally about to relax into bed with Draco when a tapping sound on the window catches my attention. We both glance over, noting the owl sitting perched there. My face pales a bit as I recognize the bird.

"Who sends mail at two in the morning? That's not a letter from Nott, is it?"

I'm hardly paying Draco any mind as I wander over to the window and open it, letting the bird in. It drops the letter next to me and immediately heads for the food dish sitting on the other side of the room. Poor thing must be famished.

"Hermione?"

I pick up the letter, running my fingers over it. It's a response from my mum. I can't read it while Draco's standing there, not until I know what it has to say. Without really thinking about it, I shove the letter into the top drawer of my desk, turning to look at him.

"It's just a letter from my mother."

"You're not going to read it then?" he asks oddly. Oh right, he doesn't know that I sent an apology to my mother because it was with the same letter I sent a few days ago questioning my possible pregnancy. I didn't tell him a single thing about it. As far as he knows, I'm still not on the best terms with my parents.

"It's late," I reply, scooting towards the bed, "And my parents probably sent it before going to bed. I'm exhausted from today. I'll have time to read it tomorrow before classes."

He shrugs, slipping beneath my covers. Tonight we're both too tired to try anything, and he falls asleep only a few minutes after we've climbed into bed, an arm wrapped around my waist. But I can't find that sort of bliss.

Today was just too much. I'll be up all night thinking about that letter, Ginny, Nott and the possible third person. I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight.

A/n: Happy Holidays! This chapter is longer than the last one, so here's to a merry celebration for everyone this holiday season :) I didn't send out PM's because I ran out of time between writing and Christmas shopping. Ah, my life always moves a million miles an hour.

Enjoy everyone. Thoughts?