AN: sorry this took so long my laptop broke so had to get a new one and it took a while to save but in back.

Chapter 2

Hermione had decided what she was going to do; she wanted to keep the baby and raise it on her own if she had to. It wasn't the right choice for her, but then, she wasn't thinking about her - she could never take the life from something so small and defenseless. She knew that that the father wouldn't want this child. She had been with him a few times over the summer, and they had agreed that they would have no contact after no matter what happened, no exceptions. Even the eventuality of pregnancy had been addressed; Hermione hadn't been happy about it, but then, unexpected pregnancy was something that happened to other people. She scoffed at herself now; after everything, how could she just dismiss something as 'happens to other people'?

She spent the afternoon thinking of what she was going to tall Harry and Ron, wondering how they would react to her decision; she worried about what would happen.

Hermione was sitting in the common room when Harry and Ron came back from dinner. She looked at them, brown eyes kept carefully impassive, and waited for one of them to speak, allowing the tension in their small space to grow. It was Ron who finally spoke, though he didn't seem to notice the anxiety that hung in the air.

"Where have you been all day, Hermione? You missed all your lessons!" Ron looked a little panicked once he said that, and questioned, "Are you sick?" Harry just looked at her, worried that there was something wrong with her, and, unlike Ron, sensing the tension that hung about her like a veil.

"We need to talk," Hermione finally replied. "But away from prying ears. Let's go to the Room of Requirement so we can talk about... something."

The boys looked at her, and were about to question her. She wasn't going to stand for that; she started walking to the portrait, and the boys quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind.

They soon reached the Room of Requirement and the door appeared as if summoned, letting them all walk through. They looked around, unsure of what they would find inside. The room was decorated in Gryffindor colours with a large fire with a sofa and two chairs, and the general air was one of comfort and safety. This was a room designed to keep tensions from rising. Hermione took the sofa and Ron and Harry each took a chair and, satisfied, Hermione started to talk.

"Harry," she started slowly. "Ron. I have... some rather important information for you, and I'm not sure how you are going to take it." She took a deep breath. "The reason I missed lessons is because I had to go see Madam Pomfrey, and it was rather urgent." The boys looked worried, and Harry asked,

"Are you okay? What's wrong, are you hurt?"

Hermione gave him a tiny smile, glad to see that he was concerned, but it quickly dropped. "No, Harry, I'm not hurt. I went for... a pregnancy test. The result was positive." The last sentence spilled from her mouth in a barely-discernable rush, and Hermione waited to see the boys' reaction. She was right; they didn't take it well. Ron was the first to start, and by start, she meant explode.

"What the bloody hell?!" he exploded. "How could you do this, Hermione? You knew I was in love with you! Who's the father? I'll kill him!" He was practically frothing at the mouth, each word rising in steadily mouthing fury and hurt. "If you're going to keep that thing then don't expect any support from me, Hermione Granger!"

"Well, Ronald, I didn't want this it was an accident," Hermione spat back with venom. She'd never cared for Ron, at least not that way. He was too brash, too thoughtless. "The father doesn't matter; he won't be in my life, and he certainly won't be in my child's. I'm keeping it, and 'that thing' is a growing child, Ronald. I was hoping you'd understand and that you would help out, but you have made it quite clear that you are too small-minded for anything of the sort, so I suppose this is goodbye." She tossed her head to the side and pinned Harry with a confrontational gaze that blazed with anger. "What about you, Harry, what have you decided?" There was a clear threat in her voice, and Harry looked uncomfortable pinned between his two friends.

"Well... Hermione, I just don't think you're making the right decision. I know how much you've hurt Ron when you knew how he felt about you, and now you've ruined everything. I just don't think I could be friends with you anymore" He gave a short, false smile. "I hope you understand."

Hermione didn't stay to listen anymore. She ran out of the room and down the stairs, all the way to the library. The library was already closed, but as a prefect she had access to it after hours. She darted to the secret room in the back of the library that only prefects, teachers and head boys and girls knew about, and ducked in. As soon as Hermione was in the room, she burst into tears, no longer even caring if she was alone.

She was scared, she didn't know how she was going to cope without her best friends, but she was also furious about their decision, the way they blamed her for all of it.

Hermione stayed there till eleven thirty, when Snape came in to do his regular patrol of the library. Hermione knew he would find here in the library, but she didn't care, she just waited.

After ten minutes, Snape did find Hermione, just sitting there, crying into a text book. Normally, in this sort of circumstance, he would just scold (read: yell at them) them and send them away, regardless of their emotional state, but something about Hermione in that moment just looked so broken.

And so he reacted very differently.