Hermione's POV:

The tension in the air is thick, thicker than molasses, thicker than veritaserum, thicker than anything known to man.

"...Ummm...." Pansy and Lavender chorus at the same time. They turn to look at each other, both looking extremely nervous, and almost...sick?

"Well?" Theo asks, now starting to get nervous. The funny and happy guy I once knew was now sitting there nervously, and for the first time ever, he doesn't look ready to crack a joke.

"Ummm..." They chorus again, shrinking back into the seats.

"Girls, you can tell us anything," I assure them, reaching out and putting my left hand on top of Pansy's, and my right on Lavender's.

They both looked down at me and let out a small smile, it was small, but they already looked worlds happier.

"Ok," Lavender takes a deep breath.

I go back to my seat next to Draco and stare at the two girls expectantly, just like the rest of my friends.

"I know this is a surprise," Lavender says. She wrings her hands together, refusing to look at anybody, so she looks down at the floor.

"But we have some serious news..." Pansy trails off, turning her head to look at the floor too.

"Two months," Lavender announces.

"Three weeks," Pansy blurts.

They both slap a hand over their mouths. Ginny, Astoria, Luna and I gasp.

"No!" Astoria claps a hand over her mouth too.

"Two months and three weeks for what?" Theo looks around confused.

Ron shrugs, being as thick as ever. "I'm not sure."

Pansy and Lavender both frown, looking as if they were about to gasp.

Neville stares at them, dumbfounded. "You thickheads, they're pregnant!"

Theo and Ron gasp. "Pregnant?"

"Pregnant," Lavender and Pansy confirm.

"We're going to be fathers!" Theo and Ron gasp, looking at each other.

"So cool!" Ron shakes his head and kisses Lavender. "We're going to have our own little baby!"

Theo goes over to Pansy. "It's going to be you and me, and that little baby." He pokes her stomach and she giggles.

Ginny whoops. "I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE!" She starts partying to herself, dancing with Pansy and Lavender.

"That means just Hermione, Luna and Astoria left," Harry nods, motioning to each of us in turn.

"So just half of us," I say, suddenly feeling extremely pressured. Pressured to have two children within three years, just as the law had said. I felt pressured because that meant I had about half a year until I had to be pregnant with his child. Was I ready for that?

"This law is just stupid," Astoria whines. Blaise looks at her sadly.

"Why?" He asks, his voice dripping with hurt.

"We can't have two children in three years! It takes a year to be pregnant, pop of the child and for us to heal. Then we need at least another six months to mentally prepare ourselves again!" Astoria huffs.

I nod, agreeing with her words. "I think forcing us to do this once is enough," I say, turning to look out the window.

The girls mumble in agreement, and we fall into a short era of silence.
________________________________________________________________________________

"Put your robes on girls," Blaise suggests. "Forty five minutes until we get there."

I nod. "We have the Welcome back feast, right?" I remember how we had to wear our robes for feasts and other special occasions, but otherwise we could wear whatever we wanted to wear. (If it was school appropriate of course!)

"Yeah," Ginny opens her trunks and pulls out a set of maternity robes.

"Let's go!" Luna skips out of the compartments and into the bathrooms.

I pick out my robes and a Gryffindor tie before skipping out the compartment with her.

We turn around a corner and get to the bathrooms. We all step into our own stalls and start to get changed.

I pull off my white sweater and pull on the white dress shirt of our uniform. I put on some knee-high stockings, black shoes, and my tie and robes.

I step out and brush through my hair with my fingers.

Click.

I whip around, but I just see Luna stepping out of her stall.

I let out a sigh of relief, but at the same time, I grow to be even more nervous than I was before.

"Still haven't figured out what's watching you?" She asks me.

I shake my head. "Not yet, but I hope I do soon."

Astoria and Ginny come out of their stalls, followed by Pansy, and a second later, Lavender comes out too.

"We'll help you 'Mione," Ginny assures me.

"No matter what happens," Pansy says.

"Thanks girls," I laugh. I pull open the door to head out, but I end up bumping into an innocent sixth year. She had long, coiled red hair and bright green eyes.

"Sorry!" She gasps, quickly stepping out of the way to let me by.

"No no, it's my fault," I apologize. I shoot her a smile, and she tightly smiles back, as if smiling was either A., something she was not used to or B., planning something that could go terribly wrong. (I had seen the smile on Ron and Harry a lot.)

I move past her and head back to the compartment where I find the boys completely changed into their robes, talking peacefully. This was certainly something to talk about, because just six months ago they were all trying to kill each other! (And I'm not just talking about the war.)

"Hey boys," I greet them. My female friends follow behind me, and also look quizzically at the boys.

"Hey girls," Draco greets. I smile at him and take a seat, happily leaning into his touch.

"McGonagall said that she had an announcement," Harry warns us. I gasp, surely there wasn't another thing concerning the marriage law?

"No way mate," Ron shakes his head. "That's too much for us to handle!"

"It's not about the law," Harry assures us. "It's about the summer."

I look over at Draco. "Didn't your mother want to go to Barcelona?"

Draco nods. "With everybody, yeah."

"Well as much as I'd love to go," Ginny shrugs. "I guess we can't."

The train comes to a halt at the station near Hogwarts. Whistles and horns go off, signaling that we were back. The boys all simultaneously reach up to get our trunks, getting both theirs and their partner's.

Draco hands me my trunk. "Thank you," I grin, stepping out of the compartment. I inhale the sweet smells of all the flowers, the candy and sugary scents from Honydukes. Hogwarts stands proudly rebuilt in the middle of a bustling town, standing as a definite sign of hope.

The first years excitedly crowd around the carriages, for this would be the first time they would ride them, ever!

I can still remember how happy I was, sitting down in a carriage and reading, just to find my two best friends waiting for me, smiling and waving.

I heft myself into a carriage, which would only fit four people instead of twelve, so we broke off into pairs of couples. Ron and Lavender with Astoir and Blaise, Luna and Neville with Pansy and Theo, then finally Ginny and Harry with me and Draco.

The fact that both Pansy and Lavender were pregnant was a big thing. I was extremely happy for the, of course, but I now felt more pressured than ever to have a child. Since Astoria and Luna both truly loved their fiances, I had no doubt they would have a wedding night, and become pregnant soon after that.

Of course I felt something for Draco, though it was more of an intense and burning affection, not truly love. It wouldn't be fair to him, nor would it be fair to me either.

Having a child was special, and so was getting married. You were not supposed to marry somebody, simply because they were assigned to you from a test. You were not supposed to bear said person's child just because you were told to do so either.

"So, 'Mione," Ginny sits next to me and whispers in my ear as Harry and Draco start chatting away about god knows what. "How are you feeling about a child with Draco Malfoy?"

I glance over at him, and I once again realize that he is my husband! I want so desperately to go around and gloat, to show him off to the press, to tell everybody that he had changed. Instead, I remained in the carriage, sitting quietly and responded to Ginny.

"Not sure," I admit.

She just giggles softly and puts a hand on her stomach. "Give me all the details when you do!"

I smack her arm and she just bursts into another fit of giggles. "What?" Draco asks, turning away from Harry and the conversation they were having to look at us.

"Oh, nothing," I say, grinning at Ginny. "Nothing at all."
________________________________________________________________________________

Upon entering the Great Hall, a lavish feast was spread, just as it always when we arrived after a break. The round tables replaced the old house ones, and even though it was probably better this way, I did miss sitting with Gryffindors, and just Gryffindors. I remember how many memories Harry, Ron and I made sitting at that table alone!

"Well back, students!" Professor McGonagall calls. Everybody hushes and quickly goes to find a seat.

"Hello, Headmistress!" We all chorus, greeting her happily.

"I have one announcement, concerning the seventh years," She announces. All the seventh years groan, knowing that she was going to say something about the marriage law.

"In light of what has recently happened," She looks directly at us. "I have decided to add a short summer course about the dark arts, not only defense."

I gape and stare. What?

People start clapping, even the sixth and fifth years! I break into a grin, extremely happy that it wasn't yet another wrinkle in the law!

"It is an optional course," She continues. "You must sign up before final exams, and of course, the entire castle will be inhabited only by those who take the course, professors and the dark objects we will be using to study. That is all, so let the feast begin!"

She waves her hand at us, and we all begin to dig in. Ron, of course, being married to Lavender, was working on his manners, but he still wasn't doing that well. I still commended his effort, however.

"So guys," Harry takes a bite of his piece of chicken, with actual manners. "What do you all think?"

"I'm doing it," I respond automatically. "I'm definitely doing it."

"Me too," Ginny says, nodding along happily.

Harry frowns. "You're pregnant, Gin!"

Pansy huffs. "Mind you, just because somebody is pregnant and is going to have a child doesn't mean that we can't do something!"

"Preach," Lavender says, ripping a piece of bread off a loaf.

Harry starts leaning back away casually in his seat, surrendering to the girls. "Of course, sorry. Molly can watch the kids then...right?"

"It would be better for them to stay at a manor," Theo argues. "Much more space, plus house elves to care for them."

"Your parents can visit too," Draco offers.

Ginny looks over at Draco happily. "Thank you."

Just as I was about to say something, a letter appears in front of me.

'Hermione Granger, I have a bone to pick with you'