a/n: Thanks to my beta Roxy Black for all her help with this chapter. Without her I don’t know if I ever would have started it.
Hermione rushed out of bed, hanging her head over the white porcelain bowl. Her mouth tasted like she had just eaten a handful of vomit flavored Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. She stood up shakily, flushing this torment down the bowl.
“You know if I didn’t know you Hermione, I’d say you were pregnant,” stated Lavender matter-of-factly, “but we all know you’re too much of a goody-goody.”
As Lavender turned and left, Hermione’s heart sank. Surely I couldn’t be pregnant, could I? No, no it’s because of the dreams, it has to be. Everyday that she had woken up sick, she had just risen from a dream of breaking up with Ron again, no, more like the memory of breaking up with Ron again.
***
Ron had sensed the tension between Harry and Hermione for almost a month, and they had gotten into a row she felt she couldn’t fight back in without the risk of him finding out the truth. She told him it was his imagination, he yelled. In anger, she accused him of not trusting her, and began to storm off to the dormitory. Realizing what she said, she stopped. Why did I accuse him of not trusting me? He shouldn’t trust me.
Turning back to Ron she calmly said, “I’m sorry Ron. I’m sorry for everything, and maybe we should take a break from each other…again.”
Before Ron could answer, she abruptly turned on the spot again and continued her ascent of the dormitory stairs. Upon entering her room, she threw herself on her bed and cried, cried for everything she had done, and for how she was hurting Ron. As much as she hated hurting Ron by not telling him, she knew it would only hurt him more if he was aware of what went on.
***
She dried her tears as they flowed freely from her again. Just what I needed, yet another memory of the break-up, she thought. She walked back into her room to get ready for her classes. As she got dressed, her eyes caught Lavender’s bed. Why would she think I was pregnant? I’m just sick, nothing more.
The clouds began to break outside and a small stream of light lingered over a book lying on Lavender’s trunk. Hermione couldn’t hold back her curiosity; it was as if the clouds had broken only to show her this strange book among Lavender’s belongings. She looked around realizing everyone had gone down to breakfast and smiled, no one will find out if I take a peek.
She walked over to the trunk and carefully raised the book to eye level. It was a faded green and obviously very worn. It looked as though it had been around for over a century. Passing her fingers over the silver font of the title, she read, Dr. I. N. Gravesco, Charms for the Union of Lovers. Hermione laughed a little at the interesting pen name the author had chosen, ingravesco. In Latin, it translated to: to become, pregnant, weary.
Knowing her stomach couldn’t handle any breakfast, she took the book over to her bed and began to flip arbitrarily through it while everyone else was still downstairs. The book contained contraceptive charms, and other interesting spells she would never learn at Hogwarts. Writing a few charms down, she smiled, hoping she’d get back together with Ron soon so she could try them out. Suddenly she came across a page that gave her a chilling shiver down her spine.
Pregnancy
How to find out if you are pregnant with a simple three-step talisman...
Quickly copying the page onto her parchment, she sighed with relief, now I won’t have to ask Madame Pomfrey. As she copied the last word, she the heard voices of those coming back from breakfast. She closed the book and hurried across the room to replace it before anyone came in. Returning to her bed, she swiftly tucked her new notes in her bag and rushed out of the room to class, passing Lavender and her other roommates at the door.
“Hermione, why weren’t you at breakfast?” ask Lavender, as Hermione pushed past.
Hermione just shrugged her shoulders and continued on her way.
“That’s strange,” Lavender stated to her fellow roommates, “she’s been acting so odd lately.”
***
That afternoon, after a quick lunch alone, she headed for Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. She took her new notes from her bag as well as everything she had collected throughout the day to make her new talisman. After completing the three simple steps it promised, she looked down into the pale, amber colored stone hanging from a simple silver chain.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and placed the thin chain around her neck. Please don’t turn blue...please don’t turn blue...she thought to herself. She muttered the incantation and opened her eyes to see the stone. To her own dismay it had turned a bright sapphire blue.
It can’t be right, she screamed to herself. I made it wrong, I must have. As rage set in, she tossed everything back in her bag and ran down the stairs and out of the building. She ran across the grounds until she couldn’t run anymore and climbed a small set of stairs into a nearby deserted archway. At the top of the stairs, she leaned her back against wall and slid down it, raising her knees to her chest and sobbing into her robes.
Hogsmeade weekend is tomorrow, she thought, I’ll just see if I can find another book at Libreto Carte. I’m sure they’ll have something similar on their bookshelves.
With her new plan in mind, she quickly dried her tears and headed off for her remaining classes. She did not go to dinner that night for fear of having to be around Harry and Ron with her great secret, and instead had Ginny bring a plate to her room. After eating heartily, she thanked Ginny and drifted to sleep in hopes that the sooner she slept the sooner she’d be in Hogsmeade.
The following morning, she had woken up early again, and sick as well. After leaving the bathroom, she quickly threw on a pair of jeans, a heavy sweater, and her cloak. She paced the room, twirling her hat and scarf in her fingers, waiting for the announcement that it was time to leave for Hogsmeade.
At a quarter till the hour, she left to meet Ginny in the common room. As she reached Ginny, she saw Harry and Ron exiting the dormitories, and quickly grabbed Ginny arm and hurried out the portrait hole. Ginny was shocked, but didn’t ask questions.
They sat in the Three Broomsticks sipping butterbeer, neither saying a word. Hermione only looked up when she noticed Ginny started waving to someone. It was Harry and Ron. Hermione mumbled a quick, “See you later,” and pushed past the other patrons and out the door. Harry and Ron were shocked, but not as shocked as Ginny. Ginny knew she’d been upset with Harry and Ron, but she couldn’t imagine that she was upset with her as well.
Hermione rushed down the street to Libreto Carte, making sure that nobody was following her. She opened the door and ran straight to the back of the shop to rummage through the various bookshelves. Fingering the books as looked, she came across Dr. I. N. Gravesco, Charms for the Union of Lovers, the same book Lavender had, but this one was in better condition. Next to it was a dark blue book with a slanting copper font. The binding was slightly worn, as was the embossed title, So You Think You’re in Love, Spells you’ll never learn at Hogwarts.
Making sure no one could see her, she quietly pulled the book off the shelf and sat down on the floor. She carefully retrieved a piece of parchment and quill from a small bag she carried, and again looked around to make sure no one was watching. She opened the book to the index and her finger followed straight to the letter “P” and then to the subject she needed.
Under the section on pregnancy, there were two choices, a similar talisman, which she decided she wouldn’t try again, and a potion. She hastily wrote down everything she needed to make the potion and placed the book back on the shelf. Leaving the store, she headed back up to the castle, only stopping once to watch her best friends laughing in the Three Broomsticks. Oh how I hope I don’t have to hurt you...both.
After a quick stop to her trunk for ingredients, Hermione headed back to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom where she carefully mixed the ingredients for her potion. She was glad she kept her potion ingredients well stocked, and also glad that everyone who might look for her were likely still in Hogsmeade. She found the potion to be very simple and to her delight, it completed rather quickly.
She proceeded to a stall with her potion and re-read the directions for use. This is just like a muggle test, she thought to herself. After adding the last necessary ingredient, she closely watched the small bottle of light green potion slowly change into a brilliant shade of royal blue. Tears welling up in her eyes, she vanished the potion and returned her belongings to her bag.
She ran all the way to the dormitories and threw herself onto her bed, crying into her pillow. She laid there with sobs wracking her body, until she began to fall asleep. The last thing she thought before finally drifting off was, how am I going to tell them?
Upon returning from Hogsmeade, Ginny went straight up to Hermione’s room to check on her. She found her asleep on a tear stained pillow and didn’t have the heart to wake her. No wonder you’ve been acting strangely Hermione, you don’t want to show your pain. It’s alright, sleep it off, and we’ll talk when you’re ready. But Hermione wouldn’t tell a soul, at least not until she could decide how to tell Harry and Ron.
a/n: In case anyone was confused, this was another flashback chapter. The next chapter will pick up directly after the events of Chapter 1. Thanks so much to everyone for reading and for reviewing. And another very special thanks to my beta.