Deception Hurts More Than Death

Ron practically ran through his house in a frantic state. He gathered what he could get his hands on. He threw everything into a trunk and smashed the lid down. He hadn't decided where he was going yet, but he knew he needed to get away.
He pulled the trunk down the hallway. When he got to the end of the hall he looked over his shoulder. The office door loomed over him, calling his name. He was so close to the end. The last memory had been so close to her death. Ron wondered how many more came after it. He knew he had skipped quite a few memories in the middle but the end was important. If he didn't see the end it's all he would think about on his holiday. He knew what he had to do.
He opened the door slowly, the pensieve looming on the desk. The shiny liquid swirling about, as if it knew his obsession with it. He walked around the desk to the chair and sat down, with an almost apprehensive gesture. He pulled out his wand, readied himself and took a deep breath.
He dropped into his office once again. Hermione and Harry were in there, alone, but at least this time they were standing pretty far apart and completely clothed. Hermione looked very nervous, picking at a string on her sweater. And Harry stood by his desk looking through papers.
"Give me one second and we can get out of here. Where did u want to go anyway?" Harry asked, not looking up from his papers.
"It's okay. I actually want to talk first." Hermione looked to Harry, who now looked up from his desk.
“What is it?" Harry asked, concerned.
"Well, I don't really know how to say this. I know I never have a problem saying anything, but this is different." Hermione continued to pick at the string.
"You're scaring me. What is it , Hermione?" Harry walked around the desk and stood in front of her. "You can tell me anything, you know that." Hermione looked to the ground, not able to hold Harry's gaze.
"I'm pregnant." Harry's face fell and he backed away, slightly shaking his head. Ron fell into the wall. She had been pregnant when she died. He didn't only lose his wife, he lost his child.
"Wow." Harry stood dumbstruck, not knowing what to say. He paced a bit before turning back to Hermione, who's head was still lowered. "Well, I guess we should stop this then. We should have grown up and stopped this awhile ago. I hate to say it, but, I guess this is it."
"No, Harry, you don't understand."
"Hermione, we can't do this. I do understand. You're having a kid with Ron, you'll make him happier than anything. I can't do this kids involved, it's too much." Harry turned away from her and placed his hands on his hips.

"It's yours, Harry. So, no, you don't understand." Hermione looked to Harry's back. She watched as Harry looked to the ground. He slowly turned and looked to Hermione, a shocked look on his face. Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she looked at him.
"How?" Harry asked, barely above a whisper. "We were careful, weren't we?"
"Not always. Sometimes it was so intense and we were time constrained, we forgot to cast a charm.”
"Okay, but how do you know it's mine and not Ron's? There's no charm for that." Harry asked, acting as if he would hyperventilate. Ron stood in the corner, hoping Hermione was wrong, still shocked at the fact that Hermione's assumed it was Harry's.
"Ron can't have children." Harry and Ron dropped theirs jaws simultaneously.
"He never told me." Harry responded sadly.
"He doesn't know." Hermione answered, one lone tear falling down her face.
"How do you know and he doesn't?" Harry asked. Still not moving any closer to Hermione.
"I did a charm one night. I was nervous about having twins, if I was ever going to get pregnant with him. I found a fertility spell to determine those things, the likelihood of twins. But when I did it, it came back saying he was sterile. I did it three times, they all came back the same. I didn't how to tell him, so I kept it to myself. So now you see, if I am pregnant, and it's not his, it has to be yours." Hermione walked to Harry, still leaving a foot between them. She watched as Harry finally processed exactly what she was saying.

Ron stood behind her, tears in his as he learned the sad truth he would never have children. The fact that Hermione was pregnant with Harry's child was forgotten. All Ron could focus on was the results of the charm. Harry stood across the room, getting news from Ron's wife that she should have been telling him. He realized now the severity of the situation.
"What are we going to do? We can't really keep this a secret." Harry said, running his hands through his hair stressfully.

"I don't know? All I could think about the last few days is what Ron and Ginny would do when the baby came out with piercing greens eyes or black hair, or both. There would be no denying it. But I can't help but think...." Hermione stopped, scared to continue.
"What?" Harry asked, taking one step closer.
"This is a sign. A sign we should have been together all along. We couldn't hide from it like we have. No matter what it would catch up to us. And now we have no choice but to face it." Hermione grabbed Harry's hand. He looked down at their clasped hands, his wedding band to Ginny set on his finger, one he always wished was with Hermione.
"We're the in the same position we were then. How do we do this? It's even worse now." Harry looked to Hermione, hoping she would have an answer, she always had the answers.

“It’s not the same situation. This time, Harry, I’m giving you a family, your own family. You’re not having to sacrifice that to be with me.” Hermione looked to the ground, and Harry knew he would not like her next response. “I think we should just leave, start over. Go somewhere no one knows us and start from scratch and be together. There is no way of doing this without hurting Ginny and Ron, but if we just leave, they can assume what they want, but not know the truth. It will hurt less not knowing the truth. We grew up muggle, we could live like Muggle’s without the crazy life we have, being who we are in the Wizarding world.”

“How can we just leave? Just walk away without a goodbye? They’ll look for us. And what if they find us?” Harry tried to fill in the flaws of Hermione’s plan.

“If we live like Muggle’s they’ll never find us. They’ll never look outside of the Wizarding world. Don’t you think it would be easier on them us just disappearing and them thinking up their own conclusion then for us to walk in and say,
okay, so we’ve always been in love, we’ve been having an affair behind your back like cowards, and now I’m pregnant, and we’re leaving you to finally be together.’ What do you think is best, cause those are the only two conclusions I can think of, cause I am not rasing this baby with anyone but you.” Hermione got very worked up in speech and more tears ran down her face. Harry closed the gap between them and took her in his arms. She rested her face on his chest and calmed down.

“You’re right, Hermione. You’ve always been right. I should have been a man all those years ago and walked in that tent and told Ron you were mine, and if I lost him and the Weasley’s then oh well. We should never have let this get as bad as it has. We’ll figure this out. We’ll leave and start over. I have enough money for us to be able to leave and make a good home somewhere. We’ll figure it out.” Harry ran his hand through Hermione’s hair, calming her even more.

“You mean it? We can finally be together?” Hermione looked up to Harry, her chin on his chest. Harry nodded and kissed her lightly on the nose. She laid her head back down on his chest and smiled. “We need to figure this out soon, because I am already over two months along and I’m going to start showing soon.”

Ron had about enough, he tore himself from the memory and landed in the office chair. He sat there, staring ahead as his mind flashed to the last two weeks of his and Hermione’s life together. They fought more than normal, mainly because she instigated them. The night her and Harry died, they had gotten in a huge fight and she stormed out. Ginny had come over saying the same thing about her and Harry. They had been fighting with them so that Ron and Ginny would have that to think on when they disappeared. But something had happened.

As they were leaving town, to run away and start a new life with their new baby, the car had slid and crashed. The winter had created more ice than normal and Harry’s car, which he rarely drove, especially in the winter had skidded across the street and wrapped around a light pole. Ron remembered seeing the car, the mangled wreck. He remembered his trip to the morgue at St. Mungo’s and having to identify their bodies. Neville had been there, teaching a class on healing and plants, and he had walked Ron through it. Ron had forgotten that until now, and felt double the guilt for lashing out at him. Harry and Hermione were clean, they had healed their wounds for appearances sake, to make it easier on Ron. He remembered how Hermione didn’t look dead, how she just looked asleep. And how he had prayed her and Harry were just sleeping after all.

Ron could now imagine them, happily driving away. Harry’s hand on Hermione’s lap. Their wedding bands discarded. They talk excitedly about where they are going and what they’ll do with their new life. As Harry hits the ice and they lose control, Hermione throws her hands to her stomach as any mother would. But nothing could protect them.

Ron relived the moment he had lost them. And despite it all, he was sad at their loss. It was a sad story after all, the story of their love. He had found himself on a few occasions, putting aside the hurt he felt and feeling sorry for them. And now was no different. His trip could wait a little longer, an hour perhaps, while he sat in silence and mourned for them once again.


***THIS IS NOT THE, OH NO, SO STAY TUNED FOR MORE.***