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She was late. And she was never, ever late.
It wasn’t as if Hermione and Neville hadn’t been careful. After all, she’d been on the potion for ages, and as a back up, she always cast a contraception charm. Boots and suspenders. It was safer that way, given neither was one hundred percent effective on its own.
Unsurprisingly, they’d both ended up back at Hogwarts, she working on a joint Mastery in Transfiguration and Arithmancy with the Headmistress, and Neville working to take over for Pomona Sprout.
They were good friends, but what they were doing was decidedly casual, owing more to the fact they were the youngest two people in the castle. And they were both busy, so they didn't really have time to be involved with others.
And, well, Neville was surprisingly hella fit and rather talented.
Still, the fact remained that they were nothing more than friends with benefits. But somehow, Hermione now worried that they had ended up with a little more than either one of them had bargained for.
Hermione checked her calendar one more time and sighed before picking up her wand to cast the charm she didn’t really need, as she already knew what it would say.
She thought about what it all would mean. It was rare in Wizarding society for there to be unwed parents; that part of the Muggle world had not filtered through yet. Still, if one was going to end up tied to someone for the foreseeable future, Neville wasn’t a bad option. That is, if he would acknowledge her. No, them.
Her head raced along, thinking about how things would work. A pause in her Mastery work. A delay in her being able to fully take over for Minerva.
Minerva. She hoped the headmistress wouldn’t think badly of her. Hermione taught the contraception charm to the girls, after all. She’d look ridiculous trying to explain how she’d ended up pregnant herself.
Molly would be overjoyed on one hand, but sad on the other, and perhaps a smidge disappointed in her, although it wasn’t as if plenty of Wizarding couples didn’t rush down the altar when they found themselves expecting.
Still, that was when two people were in a relationship, and she and Neville decidedly weren’t.
And then Neville. As the only heir of a Noble and Ancient House, she knew he had obligations to his family. Hermione wondered where siring a Half-blood might fit into the picture. She wouldn’t hold him to anything, though. She’d let him know and then give him space to figure out what he wanted to do about it.
She’d accept whatever it was. She wouldn’t trap him into something he wasn’t ready for or didn’t want. She was perfectly capable of raising a child on her own.
She sighed and cast the detection charm, wincing as a soft blue light glowed over her abdomen.
And there it was, iron-clad proof.
“Fuck,” she exclaimed, a little louder than intended.
“Everything okay?”
A voice called out from the other side of the door before she heard a knock.
Neville’s voice. He was probably stopping to grab her on the way to supper.
“Hermione?” he called out when she didn't respond.
She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to think through her options: what she should say and how he might react. None of her thoughts mattered, though. What mattered was the life they had inadvertently created, and she needed to be upfront with him about that.
She got up and opened the door. He wore a smile, as he almost always did, unless he was dealing with a particularly problematic plant. Still, he would say that any day that he had his hands in the dirt was a good day.
“Hey Hermione, I was just heading to-“
She interrupted, worried she’d lose her nerve, if she didn’t get this over with.
“Hey Nev, do you have a moment to come in?”
He nodded, and a look of concern fell on his face, as he crossed her threshold and took a seat. She settled herself on the sofa and wrung her hands.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, realizing she was fidgeting. There was nothing for it. She had to dive in.
“Well, yes.” She bit her lower lip. “And no. See…”
How did you tell someone that whatever plans they had for themselves were now totally and irreparably changed? It wasn’t as if she had even wrapped her head around it herself.
“So, I’m late.”
Neville looked at his watch and chuckled. “We’ve still got plenty of time to make it.”
“No,” she pressed, “I’m late.”
She watched his face as it cycled from question to confusion to dawning realization.
“Really? You’re late?”
She nodded, frowning. This was where he’d disavow her. But, instead, his face was carefully neutral.
“And it…” He gestured between the two of them wildly.
“Of course! I barely have time for you. Do you really think I have time to sleep with someone else?”
Or inclination, she thought. How absurd a question! He seemed to be available whenever she asked, and he never left her unsatisfied. All in all, it has been quite an advantageous arrangement, at least until now.
She watched as an enormous smile broke across Neville’s face.
“You’re serious? You’re pregnant?”
“Yes. I just cast the detection spell. I honestly don’t know how this happened. We’ve always used the charm and I’m on the potion.”
He got to his feet and shook his head.
“I don’t care.”
She looked at him, trying to understand his reaction. “You don’t care?”
“Hermione. I’ve been in love with you for years. I know you may not be in the same place I am, but if I had to accidentally have a kid with anyone, thank goodness it’s you.”
He came and sat by her on the sofa, pulling her into his arms.
“I know this may be a shock to you, and I’m sure your mind is racing to catch up, but I am here by your side for every step, for as little or as much as you’ll let me.”
Hermione was floored, trying to understand Neville’s feelings and process her own. She felt relief that he’d taken this so easily, and wonder for what his declaration had meant. However, she had no doubts that he’d meant what he’d said. She could do this. They could do this, together.
He leaned down and kissed her hair.
“You’re going to be a fantastic mother.”
At his words, her tears spilled over, feeling the weight of the entire situation, anxiety and relief all merging into one.
Neville waited patiently, holding her tight, and conjuring a handkerchief to dry her face when she was finished.
“It’s all such a surprise. I just can’t understand how this happened.”
All of a sudden, Neville sat still.
“What?” Hermione asked.
“Uh…”
“Neville, what?”
He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.
“Remember last month when I was harvesting the black snakeroot?”
Hermione’s eyes went wide. How could she forget. While she was the one who normally initiated their encounters, because Neville was being polite — or so she thought, that night he’d shown up at her door like a man possessed. She hadn’t minded, as he had made it a point to show her again and again, just how much he’d changed from the timid, clumsy boy she’d met on the train all those years ago.
“So, funny thing about black snakeroot, particularly when it’s harvested by moonlight… It enhances libido,” Neville explained.
She’d not known that, but if it also enhanced virility, maybe that was all that had been needed.
“So you’re saying, your super-charged sperm overrode the contraception charm? And my potion?”
“Maybe?”
He looked chagrined, perhaps worried to how she might take that bit of information.
She sighed and burrowed herself further into his chest.
“I might have to kill you later.”
He chuckled, “Yeah, but then you’d have to do everything on your own.”
“I’m plenty capable, you realize.”
“Noted.”