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Ron Weasley was worried.
Okay, that was a lie. What did Ron have to be worried about? After all, it wasn’t like one of their teachers was torturing students for detention, or that his best friend’s name was constantly dragged through the mud, or that his father was nearly murdered a few months before, or that the most dangerous Dark Lord had come back to life at the end of the previous school year.
Oh no, Ron Weasley had nothing to worry about, right?
So, the redhead was worried. He had a feeling in his guts that something major was about to change his and his friends’ lives soon. But, even with Umbridge and Voldemort, Ron had no idea what could happen.
It was the reason why he was worried, after all. At least part of it. The other reason was his best friends.
Harry and Hermione spent a lot of time together nowadays. He knew there was nothing surprising about that, as they were dating since the formation of the DA. But his guts were flaring. He had a feeling there was something about them he was missing.
His concerns weren’t born out of nowhere either. Harry rarely slept a full night without waking up from nightmares, and Hermione had looked a bit sick every morning of the last week. While Harry’s nightmares were unfortunately nothing new, he had no idea where Hermione’s strange behaviour came from. The girl herself didn’t seem to be concerned, thinking it was nothing important and that it would disappear soon enough. Just a regular sickness, she believed.
Hermione believed her own words. So did Harry. But Ron wasn’t sure he believed it.
On one late afternoon of March, Ron decided to finally confide in his friends about his fears. His worries that something big was about to happen. However, he had one small problem to deal with:
He didn’t know where they were.
So, Ron decided to look at the most obvious place first. The library.
No Harry and Hermione.
Second, Ron went to the Room of Requirement. Maybe they were working on the next lesson for the DA. He paced in front of the wall three times and entered the DA room.
No Harry and Hermione.
Perplexed, Ron tried to think of more places the couple could be hiding. The Quidditch pitch, perhaps? Maybe Harry had gone to fly with one of the school brooms and Hermione went with him so she could warn him should Umbridge arrive? So, Ron walked down all the stairs of the castle until he was on the ground level. He exited the castle and went to the Quidditch pitch.
No Harry and Hermione.
This was getting ridiculous, Ron thought. Where could Harry and Hermione be hiding? He tried to think further. They could be in the Great Hall, but it seemed very unlikely as diner wasn’t for another two hours. He thought about the Chamber of Secrets, but figured he had no way of checking that location. Not even the Marauder’s Map would tell him.
Ron suddenly slapped himself on the forehead, feeling incredibly stupid. The Marauder’s Map! How did he not think about it before?! It was so obvious! The perfect way to figure out their location! He only needed to get to it.
So Ron ran back up the various stairs of the castle until he reached the common room. Inside, he found Ginny sitting alone on one of the sofas, reading one of her Transfiguration books. She looked up at his entrance.
“Ron? What’s with you?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” her brother asked, confused.
“You look like you just ran ten laps around the Black Lake.”
Now that she mentioned it, Ron could feel the sweat on his forehead and under his armpits. He felt his skin burn with heat, and his heart pumping faster than usual.
“Well, I kinda did.” Ron admitted. At her inquisitive look, he explained. “I’ve been running around the castle looking for Harry and Hermione! But I can’t find them anywhere!”
Ginny smiled. “Well, they are together. Maybe they’re in the Room doing an activity that involve them, a bed and no clothes.” she said, wiggling her eyebrows playfully. Ron turned green.
“Ew, Ginny! I don’t need the mental image of my best friends doing the dirty!” he said, swallowing like he was afraid he would throw up.
Ginny snickered. “’Doing the dirty’. Seriously, Ron.” she rolled her eyes.
Ron ignored her. “I already checked the Room anyway. It was empty.”
“Library?” she suggested. Ron rolled his eyes.
“What do you think?”
“Great Hall?”
“What would they do there at this time of the day?”
“The pitch?”
“Nope.”
“Well, maybe they are in some classroom.” Ginny eventually said.
“Oh yeah, because that’s going to be easy to search.” Ron sarcastically said. “Do you even know how many classrooms there are here?”
“Well what do you want me to say?” she answered hotly. Ron groaned.
So, he still had no other leads other than the Marauder’s Map. Still feeling a bit exhausted, he decided to sit down and rest for a few minutes before continuing on his quest. But, barely he’d sitting down next to Ginny that the girl recoiled. “Ew, Ron! Go away!”
“What?! Why?”
“Do you even smell yourself? You stink!”
Ron sighed. He got the message. “Alright, alright.” he said. He was going to take a shower instead.
Ron went up to his dorm room and grabbed fresh clothes. Before he went inside the bathroom, he decided to check Harry’s bed just in case, but found neither him nor his girlfriend. Oh well.
Twenty minutes later, Ron exited the bathroom, feeling refreshed. Now clean all over, he decided it was time to continue his quest to find his best friends.
Ron went to Harry’s bed and opened his trunk. Without making too much of a mess inside, Ron looked every nook and cranny of the trunk for the Marauder’s Map. Not seeing it anywhere, he then checked his bedside cabinet, and then under his bed.
No map.
Groaning, Ron went back downstairs and approached Ginny once more. “Ginny, do you know who has the map right now?” he asked her quietly.
“Oh yeah, I have it.” she said. Ron’s eyes widened.
“And you didn’t think to mention it earlier?!”
“Shut up!” she glowered to her brother. Ron raised his hands in surrender.
Ginny dropped her book on the empty seat next to her and opened her bag. She took out the Marauder’s Map and activated it.
“Why do you even have the map?” Ron asked, suddenly wondering what was the answer.
“Harry leant it to me a few days ago and I forgot to give it back.” she told him, looking at the Map for the boy in question and his bushy-haired girlfriend. After a few seconds, she said “Ha! There they are!”
“What? Where?” he asked, throwing himself next to her to see.
“There!” she pointed at the map. Indeed, like Ginny had said, there were two name tags belonging to Harry Potter and Hermione Granger visible. Where? In a broom closet, of all places!
Ron groaned. “No wonder I couldn’t find them.”
He looked at the map, tracing a path from there to Gryffindor Tower to ensure he would find the right broom closet. Then, he took a closer look at the name tags. His best friends’ name tags were very close to one another, leaving little doubt as to what they were doing. Yet, for some strange reason, Harry’s tag looked deformed. It was longer, which was obvious when compared to Hermione’s nametag. Both were placed precisely over one another, yet Harry’s nametag was longer on one side. The other side of the nametag looked like there was a second border parallel to the original one.
“So, you have your answer now. Can I go back to studying?” Ginny asked.
“Wait.” Ron said, interrupting her as she made to deactivate the map. “Do you see this?”
“See what?” the girl asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“There!” he pointed at Harry and Hermione. “Do you see Harry’s tag? It’s longer. It look like-”
“Like it’s overlapping another nametag!” Ginny whispered, quickly coming to the right conclusion. Indeed, when Ron looked at the nametags, it did look like there was a third one hidden behind Harry’s with only one side visible, like they and Harry were standing side by side.
“But... who could be with them?” Ron asked. Ginny shrugged, as much as a lost as he was.
The two siblings continued looking at the map for an answer. Ginny’s studies were long forgotten. For a few minutes, only tiny movements could be seen on the map, letting them know that the couple was likely in the middle of a good snog. But, they had to resurface eventually and that time eventually came.
“Ron! Look! Harry is moving!” she whispered to him. Ron’s gaze sharpened on the nametags. He watched as Harry moved very slowly, like he was worried someone would see them walk out of the closet together (not that they would, Ron could see there was nobody outside in that corridor). As he moved, he slowly revealed more and more of the nametag he was unknowingly hiding. Then, a name began appearing.
U-
Un-
Unn-
Unna-
Unnam-
Then, figuring the coast was clear, Harry leapt out of the closet, revealing the rest of the nametag in one go.
Unnamed Potter/Granger Child
Ginny gasped. Ron’s mind went blank.
Unnamed Potter/Granger Child? It could not mean what he thought it meant, right? Clearly, he was hallucinating. His brain probably conjured those words to hide some horrible truth, like that it was Draco Malfoy who had been in the closet with them. Right?
“R-Ron?” Ginny stuttered. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. “I’m n-not seeing things, r-right?”
“Does it s-say ‘Unnamed-’.” He did not need to continue. Ginny was nodding furiously. There was a moment of silence as both contemplated the truth.
Harry, Hermione, and an unnamed Potter/Granger child. Hermione was pregnant with Harry’s kid!
“B-But... how?” he asked to himself.
Any other day, Ginny would have made a joke, pretending to give the Talk to Ron to explain how babies were born. But she herself was too shocked to be able to talk clearly, much less make jokes about it.
“What are we going to do about it?” Ginny eventually asked. She turned to Ron. “Did they tell you?”
Ron shook his head. “They never told me a thing!” he said. “Why would they hide that?”
Ginny looked at him like he was stupid. “After everything that happened this year? With Umbridge and You-Know-Who? You seriously wonder why they didn’t tell anyone?”
Ron grimaced. He hadn’t thought about them. If Umbridge learned of it, she would quickly use their baby as an excuse to expel them, first Hermione for being pregnant and thus ‘unable to study magic’, and then Harry for impregnating her. And if Voldemort learned of it, then the man would not stop at anything to kill the baby, if only for the twisted pleasure of taking even more of Harry’s family from him.
“But why didn’t they tell us?” he then asked. Ginny shrugged. “We need to confront them.” he said. “Tell them we know about their baby, that we’ll help them.”
“You’re right.” Ginny said. She looked at him with an almost proud look. Ron decided not to question it. “Where are they?” the youngest of the family asked to herself, returning to the Map.
The two Weasleys found that the two – no, three nametags were moving in direction of Gryffindor Tower.
“We need to get to them before they arrive here.” she said, suddenly standing up and startling her brother.
“What? Why?” he asked. Ginny looked at him like he was stupid.
“Do you really want to have this conversation here? Where everyone can overhear?”
“Good point.” He also stood up and followed her outside of the common room.
Ron and Ginny followed the path that would lead them to the couple. They turned three corridors, walked down a flight of stairs, turned two other corridors, passed through a tiny passage, walked down another flight of stairs and turned one final corridor to find themselves face to face to Harry and Hermione.
“There you are!” Ron exclaimed, feeling relieved at finally seeing his best friends with his two own eyes after all this time of searching. He could not stop himself from looking down at Hermione’s belly, and was almost surprised to find it flat. Not that he should, considering it was the same as this morning.
“Hey, guys!” Harry said with a grin, holding Hermione’s hand. “What’s up?”
“What’s up?!” Ginny shrieked. “When were you going to tell us?!” she demanded.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, baffled. “Tell you what? You already know we’re dating.” Hermione spoke, looking at them like she was wondering if they were alright.
“Don’t try to pretend like you don’t know. We’re talking about your little secret! We saw it on the Marauder’s Map!” Ginny revealed, bringing the Map up.
It did not have the effect she expected. All it did was confuse the two even further. “What little secret?” Hermione asked at the same time Harry said “What did you see on the Map?”
The truth hit Ron like a ton of bricks. “Ginny!” he gasped. “They don’t know!”
Ginny paled, all of her anger vanishing immediately. “You-... you don’t know?” she whispered.
“Know what?!” Hermione demanded, starting to feel annoyed.
It was Ron and Ginny’s turn to glance at each other. They were silently wondering what they were supposed to tell them.
“What did you see on the Map?” Harry asked once again. The siblings came to a decision. It’s not like they could hide it from them. It wasn’t fair.
Ginny cleared her throat awkwardly. “Well...” she started. “Ron was looking for you, so we decided to look up for you on the Map. And... we saw something strange about your names-...”
She turned the map around, allowing the couple to see their nametags. “What about it?” the raven-haired boy asked, confused. “There’s nothing strange.”
Ron leaned over the map, looking at it upside down. He found the tags. Once again, Harry was placed strategically to hide the third nametag. It was his turn to clear his throat awkwardly. “Mate... maybe you will want to take a few steps back.”
Harry sent Ron a strange look, but complied. He took a step back. Then a second. Then a third.
Hermione gasped in shock. Harry stopped and look at the map. He turned bone white. Even at a distance, he could see it.
Unnamed Potter/Granger Child
Harry looked unsteady, like his head was turning heavily. Hermione looked like she had a hard time breathing.
“T-That can’t be right!” she cried. She started walking in random motions, her brown eyes fixed on the third fifth nametag. Its motions matched hers perfectly, like it was attached to her. “It can’t be! I c-can’t be p-p-pregnant!” The word was stuttered heavily, like its mere thought was enough to make her sick.
“Hermione...” Ginny said with a pitiful voice. Hermione shook her head, like she wanted very much to deny it. But, she could not.
Suddenly, her eyes were full of anger and rage. Her head snapped in direction of Harry, who was leaning on the wall, looking like he was on the verge of either a heart attack or of fainting. “You!” she cried. “It’s all your fault!” She pulled out her wand.
Fearful green eyes met furious brown eyes. “Hermione-”
Without warning, Hermione threw a powerful stinging hex right between Harry’s legs. Ron flinched when Harry collapsed on the ground with a sob of pain.
“It’s all your fault, you bloody-”
“Hermione, no!” Ginny cried. She slung her arms around Hermione and pulled the pregnant girl away from her sobbing boyfriend.
“Let me go, Ginny!” Hermione protested. She was also crying. “I’m going to be expelled by Umbridge! My parents are going to disown me! I’ll be pregnant and have nowhere to go! I’m going to be murdered by You-Know-Who to get to Harry! My life is going to be ruined, and it’s all his fault!”
“Hermione! Stop it! You aren’t thinking clearly!” Ginny cried in the brunette’s ear. The girl was reacting very badly. She was consumed by her fears, to the point where she put all the blame on Harry, making him the sole focus of her anger. Ginny knew that once Hermione calmed down and began thinking rationally, she would be incredibly ashamed of her reaction and downright horrified by the abuse she sent Harry’s way. Ginny didn’t want Hermione to do something she would regret later on.
“Let me go!” Hermione yelled, fighting the younger girl’s hold on her. “Let me go so I can hex him! I want him to feel an once of the pain I’m going to go through!”
“Hermione, stop it!” Ginny pleaded.
“Let me go!” the brunette cried.
“Stupefy!”
A red bolt shot toward Hermione and hit her. The girl immediately collapsed in Ginny’s arms, unconscious. The girl sighed. “Thanks, Ron.” she said.
Ron nodded and went to Harry. His friend was lying on the ground, whimpering in pain as tears leaked out of his eyes. Ron wasn’t entirely sure what was the cause behind the tears. Was it caused by the physical pain? Was it because Hermione blamed him for ruining her life? Or was it because he found out he would be a father at fifteen? Maybe it was a combination of the three.
No matter what, Ron needed to get Harry up. “Come on, mate. You need to go to the hospital wing. Get your... get that healed.”
Harry shook his head. “I-I deserve it. The pain.” he whispered.
Ron scowled. “No, you don’t!”
“Hermione thinks so.”
“Hermione’s not thinking clearly, mate. She’s going to agree you don’t deserve it once she got some time to process the news.”
Harry did not look like he believed him, but he didn’t fight Ron when the redhead helped him back on his feet. “There you go. Do you think you can walk to the Hospital Wing or do you want me to levitate you?” he asked him.
“Walking will be fine.” he whispered. Ron nodded.
He looked around for Ginny and Hermione but found them missing. Ron assumed Ginny already went ahead and would meet them at the Hospital Wing with Hermione.
The location of the altercation wasn’t that far away from the Hospital Wing, and if Harry could walk at a normal pace, they would have reached it in five minutes. But Harry could barely crawl ahead, refusing any offer from Ron to carry him there. In the end, it ended-up taking them nearly half an hour to get there.
When they arrived, Ron saw Hermione sleeping on one of the beds, an empty vial of Sleeping Draught on her nightstand. Ginny was sitting at her bedside, while Madam Pomfrey was standing next to her, observing the sleeping witch. When the healer noticed them, she immediately beckoned them to a bed.
“What happened to him?” she asked, seeing Harry’s pale, pain-filled face.
Ron winced. “Hermione hexed him between the legs. A powerful Stinging Hex.”
“Ah, yes.” Madam Pomfrey said, looking at Harry with pity. “Painful, that. Thankfully, you are far from the first boy to have been hexed there, nor will you be the last. Which means we have the required potions to fix that up in large quantity. Why, I believe Miss Daphne Greengrass has sent a dozen boys here with similar predicament in the last two years! Mind you, none of them impregnated her.” she finished quietly.
Ron decided not to say anything. He dropped Harry in the bed next to Hermione’s while Madam Pomfrey went to seek the potions. She came back with five vials. “Hop you go, first potion for you, Mr. Potter. A potion to reduce the pain.” When Harry clearly looked like he had no intention of drinking it, she said “Not the time to play noble, Potter. Drink it. Now.” she ordered.
With little choice, Harry drank the potion. Relief was immediately found on his face, and the tension in his body left in part. The four other potions followed until they were all drunk.
“See? That wasn’t so hard.” the healer said. “Don’t worry, Mr. Potter. In a few hours, you should be right as rain!”
“Thanks.” he said quietly, turning to look at the sleeping Hermione. It was obvious by his look that he was wondering how things would be going forward.
“Mate, it’s going to be alright.” Ron told him.
“I hope so.” Harry muttered, his eyes not leaving his girlfriend.
The two teenagers spent the rest of the day in the Hospital Wing. Harry watched over Hermione during the night, thinking about her and their unborn baby. He was terribly afraid of what her reaction would be once she woke up. He was terrified she would hate him, curse him and tell him she never wanted to see him again. It would be in her right, after all. She was right when she said he ruined her life. If only he’d been more vigilant, if only he’d thought with more than what was in his pants. Then maybe he would have thought about casting the Contraceptive Charm that night in the Room.
Too late for that, he told himself.
The following morning, Harry found himself sitting on the same chair Ginny had occupied the previous afternoon. He was looking at the sleeping Hermione, wishing she would wake up, yet dreading it all the same. How would she react to his presence?
A few minutes past eight-o-clock, it happened. Harry saw Hermione’s eyes flutter open. She looked around until their eyes met. She looked... confused.
“Harry?” she asked, blinking like she was trying to clear up her vision.
“Hey, Hermione.” he whispered. “How do you feel?”
Hermione looked around. “Why am I in the Hospital Wing?” she asked.
Her boyfriend gulped. “Do you remember what happened yesterday?”
Hermione closed her eyes, thinking. She remembered the pleasant snogging session she had with Harry, and then meeting Ron and Ginny on their way back to the tower.
Unnamed Potter/Granger Child.
She, Hermione Granger, was pregnant! With Harry’s child!
She suddenly shot up in her bed when the memories returned. She saw Harry flinch away, like he was afraid she was going to start attacking him. His reaction reminded her of her own reaction to the news. The anger did not return, instead replaced with pure, unadulterated shame.
“I’m so sorry, Harry.” she whispered, looking down in her lap.
“I- huh?” Harry mouthed, confused. “What are you sorry for?” he asked her quietly.
Hermione felt shame burn even hotter inside of her. Of course Harry wouldn’t understand. Everyone was always putting him down everywhere. He could not see that her reaction of attacking him and blaming him for everything was not right at all, because he didn’t know better. She was his girlfriend. She should have been the one not to continue the cycle. Support him when others tried to do it, make him see it wasn’t right at all.
Instead, Hermione had jumped in the pile, pushing even more abuse in Harry’s lap. She felt tears of shame build in the corner of her eyes.
“For the way I reacted.” she whispered. “I should not have hexed you. I should not have blamed you.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. If only-”
Hermione interrupted him. “No, Harry! Nothing excuses that sort of behaviour! Nothing.”
“But it is my fault.” he told her. “I didn’t even think of the charm! If only I had, then you wouldn’t have your life turned upside down because of me!”
She went for his hand and held it firmly. “It’s not your fault, Harry. At least, not only your fault. It takes two to make a b-baby, Harry.” she stuttered. “I didn’t think to cast the charm either. It work on both girls and boys, so I don’t have the excuse that it’s only your duty because it only work for you. I shouldn’t have put the blame on you, Harry. I’m so sorry.”
Harry did not accept her apologies with words, instead doing so by kissing the back of her hand. Hermione smiled, making him smile in turn. The smile did not last long though, as Harry asked an uncomfortable question.
“What do you plan to do with the baby? Do you...” he hesitated. “Do you want to abort it?”
“I-” she started, but stopped. She honestly had no idea. All the options she formed in her heads had their pros and cons.
On one hand, having an abortion would make everything so much easier. She and Harry weren’t ready to raise a baby, far from it. Not only were they teenagers still at school, but the baby’s mere existence would make it a target to Voldemort. Their son or daughter would never get a chance to live a normal life. It was no condition to live in.
Yet, Hermione felt uncomfortable at the thought of killing the fragile life living inside of her. Another option could be to give the baby up to adoption after its birth. But Hermione did not feel comfortable with the idea. Giving her baby to a stranger to raise made her shiver uncomfortably. And, she knew Harry would never accept this option. Having been raised without his parents, he would never wish it on anyone else, especially not his own child. Harry wouldn’t give his child for adoption just because it made his life more convenient, even if it ended up making the child’s life better as well.
Finally, they could keep the child. Raise it as a family. Her as a mother. Harry as a father. The idea was the most appealing at first glance, but it was also the most risky. Danger would be all around them, with people constantly wanting to kill them and their baby.
She could not help but admire Lily Potter for raising Harry in a time of war. The woman must have been made of steel. Hermione already felt like crumbling, and her baby wasn’t even the size of her thumb yet!
In the end, Hermione decided to ask Harry’s opinion instead. “What would you prefer?” she asked. Harry immediately shook his head.
“No, no. This baby is going to affect your life the most. You’re the one who will have to carry it for nine months and change your whole schedule around it. I-” He hesitated for a moment before bringing himself closer to her. “No matter what I do, you’re the one who will be the most affected with the pregnancy. But, I promise this to you, Hermione. I will follow you every step of the way, and I will do everything in my power to help you through everything.”
A tear leaked down Hermione’s cheek. “Harry...”
“I promise you this, Hermione. I love you.”
Hermione blinked back her tears. She leaned forward and kissed him full on the lips. Harry smiled and returned the kiss.
They kissed for a few minutes before Hermione finally regained her senses and gently pushed him away. “We already have a baby on the way. Maybe we should wait a bit more before getting too excited together, if you get my meaning.” she said. Harry blushed furiously, which made her laugh, in turn making him laugh.
Their laughter helped make them feel better. But, it did not last long, and Hermione once again asked her question. “What would you prefer? Do you want to keep the baby? Abort it?”
“Well... before I say anything, I want to remind you that it is your choice.” he said. “But... I want us to keep the baby. Raise it ourselves.”
“Really?” she asked, surprised. Harry nodded.
“I know it’s risky, with everything going on. But I really can’t imagine giving our baby to adoption, or aborting it. I mean, it’s our baby! Our child! A mini Hermione/Harry blend growing together. A boy with my hair and your eyes? Or a bushy haired girl with bright green eyes and glasses? We’re going to have a child! It’s insane!” he said with a wet laugh. He looked at her in the eyes. “While the timing is atrocious and couldn’t be any worse, I honestly can’t imagine having a child, starting a family with anyone that isn’t you, Hermione Granger.”
Hermione found herself with wet cheeks once more. “Harry... you’re making me cry.” she whined. He chuckled.
“I love you, Hermione.”
“I love you, Harry.” she returned with a smile.
She looked down at her flat belly before making a decision. She hoped she wouldn’t regret it later.
“Okay, let’s keep it.” she said. “We’ll raise our child together.”
Harry’s beaming smile was worth everything.