A Deal with Dumbledore

Hermione nodded, barely noticing Ginny's departure before she took a blank sheet of parchment and begin to methodically write a list of the villages and towns that could be in the running for an attack. Now, for the next step. Making a list was one thing. Getting to the villages, especially while the term was still on would be difficult. Dumbledore might be able to help though.

Not much later, Hermione was riding the stairs up to the Headmaster's office, list of villages clutched in her sweaty hand. He had to say yes. What would she do if he didn't? Forget about it til summer then."

She entered the office to find Professor Dumbledore and the Minister of Magic having a late drink together. Dumbledore acknowledged her presence with a nod and smile, Fudge stood up and beamed. "Miss Granger, how nice to see you. The statements that you and Mr. Weasley provided have proved invaluable to the Ministry these past weeks."

"Thank you, Minister." Hermione said nervously.

"What can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked as Fudge returned to his drink, content to wait the professor and his student out.

Hermione glanced at Fudge sideways. He probably wouldn't appreciate her motives. "I've done some research and have found a vague pattern associated with Harry's attacks. It's impossible to predict precisely when or where he will strike, but I would like to have the chance to randomly visit these villages and hope that perhaps I'll be there at the right time. I have a list of possible targets right here."

"What for?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Someone needs to talk to Harry." Hermione answered nervously. "Maybe he can see reason." That wasn't the whole reason, but there was no point in explaining further. Especially with the Minister in the room.

Fudge stood up. "I doubt that he'll see reason, Miss Granger. But I still like your plan. If we can actually get an eyewitness to testify that Harry is responsible, then the public will respond more eagerly to our attempts to fight him. If you're there, you might also be able to glean important information about the attacks in general."

Dumbledore frowned at the Minister. "How can you approve of one of my students putting herself in danger like this?"

"Nonsense! She's a capable young witch, I reckon that she'll be fine." Fudge said, paying no attention to the aged professor. "We'll have to arrange for transportation though. I can arrange for a special Portkey that will be programmed to take you to any of those villages."

"That would be wonderful." Hermione stated as calmly as possible.

Fudge nodded importantly. "If you'll just let me have that list, I'll see about getting that Portkey."

Hermione handed him her list. "All right then, I'll be waiting for that Portkey."

She nodded to the two men, Fudge who looked immensely satisfied and Dumbledore who seemed slightly disapproving, and then exited the office. Perhaps this would help to ease the guilt that she had a hard time overcoming.

It could create problems though. Ginny had not seemed terribly excited by the prospects, and might be inclined to tell Ron everything. Little did she know how wrong she was about Ginny's feelings concerning the matter.

After her talk with Hermione, Ginny had rushed up the stairs of the Gryffindor girls' dormitories. She opened the door to the fifth-year dormitory and entered the empty room. Upon dropping her things onto the floor, Ginny collapsed upon her four-poster bed.

As she lay there, she couldn't help but think about what had just occurred downstairs. She found it very odd that Hermione, one of Harry's former best friends and one of the chief witnesses against him, was going out of her way to help him.

The thing that gnawed away at her the most though, was that Ginny knew that she owed Harry a life-debt. She had not done , nor was she doing anything about it. These thoughts began to overwhelm the youngest Weasley and she began to sob bitter tears of self-recrimination.

Morning arrived and Harry woke up. However, he did not open his eyes or get out of bed because he couldn't help but enjoy and luxuriate in the feeling of Bellatrix snuggling up to him. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought that she might be somewhat awake as well.

When she abruptly stiffened and stopped breathing for a moment, Harry became fairly sure that she was indeed awake. Before he could ask what was wrong, Bellatrix threw off the bedcovers and darted across the room and straight into the bathroom.

Almost immediately, Harry could hear her noisily retching. Frowning, he got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. When he entered he found her heaving into the toilet. Fortunately, her business seemed to be finished. "Are you sick?" he asked.

Bellatrix shook her head negatively as she finished and flushed. She then washed her mouth out. "It's called morning sickness."

"What's that?"

"It commonly afflicts pregnant women." Bellatrix explained as a silver platter with saltine crackers and a glass of water appeared.

"Oh." Harry said, the meaning not quite registering in his slightly groggy mind. It wasn't long before it did though. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Do you mean to say that you're... you're pregnant?"

The largest smile that Harry had ever seen graced Bellatrix's face and she wrapped her arms around him tightly and kissed him when he returned the embrace. "Yes, I'm pregnant. We're going to be parents around Christmas or early January. I'm not sure as to the exact date conception occurred, but every calculation and spell has indicated that time period."

"That's wonderful." Harry said with a vague smile. He was going to be a father. Did every man feel like this when he found out that his wife was pregnant? He hoped so. "So you're feeling okay? Nothing wrong or anything, right?"

Bellatrix smiled knowingly. "Other than just heaving my guts, everything is perfectly fine. Morning sickness is nothing to new to expecting mothers all over. Nothing to worry about in the health department."

"Good." Harry said before he hugged her even more tightly and kissed her.

They spent the rest of the morning in bed, holding each other close and silently contemplating this new development. Bella was currently resting her head on her husbands chest listening to his heart beat. With all of the running to and from the loo it helped to have something to take her mind of her queasy stomach.

As she did this Harry was thinking of all the things that he would do with their child. Harry was bound and determined that his child would have all the things that he himself had been deprived of. Bella smiled as Harry placed butterfly kisses upon her face until he became so overjoyed at his impending fatherhood that he captured his wife's lips.

Bella was enjoying all the attention Harry was giving her at this most tender of moments. She smiled happily and mentally rejoiced as she pondered what in her life had she done to ever deserve this.

.....

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