It was now night time and Hermione and Charlotte were sat outside the tent in front of the small campfire, they were in silence until Lottie spoke up, expressing what has anxiously been on her mind since a couple of weeks ago.
"Mione, I think I'm pregnant." (A/N¹: Pause, before you go to complain that Charlotte might be pregnant in a war, you might've forgotten that Lily and James had Harry in a war too, so did Lucius and Narcissa with Draco, Molly and Arthur with Ron, etc. Yes, they were older, but still, the amount of comments that were saying for Lottie to kill the baby (if she is pregnant) was absurd. If you don't like that she might be pregnant, then leave, we don't want your presence on this book. Don't bother starting anymore arguments on who's Pro-Choice or Pro-Life, your negative comments will be deleted. It's my book in the first place, so, it's my decision, you have no say in it. Full stop.)
(A/N²: I'm aware that some of you are pissed off at me for saying my own opinion. IT'S A BOOK! + It's not a Y/N, so you don't really get to say whether or not you'd kill the baby or not. Yes, I know if someone gets pregnant whether it be due to r@pe, etc, and they don't want the baby due to financial problems, or simply cannot look after a baby, it's their body, so their choice. But I put the pregnancy plot in because it'd show that Charlotte is a strong character who has been through a lot. And like I previously put, if you don't like the pregnancy plot, then leave my book. The amount of times I've had arguements with readers who have nothing better to do than to judge authors or readers on their opinions/decisions is fucking ridiculous. Just stop, it's highly annoying. Also, I'm aware that a pregnancy plot is one of the tropes to a Wattpad story, but who gives a shit? It makes it more interesting.)
Hermione's head shot to Charlotte, looking shocked, she scooted closer and bombarded her with questions.
"Why do you think that? Have you missed your period? Have you had any morning sickness? Do some smells make you feel sick? Wait, that means you and Harry... GODRIC!"
Lottie immediately shushed her and she quietly apologized, Charlotte took a deep breath before explaining.
"Yes, I've missed my period, no, surprisingly not and yes. Also, yes, that means Harry and I.. Ya know."
She made a sexual gesture with her hands and Hermione gasped hitting Lottie's shoulder and asking eagerly.
"When?"
Charlotte let out a little laugh and told her.
"The night of Harry's birthday, we couldn't really give him presents because we were on the run, so I decided to give him mine."
She smirked before frowning and speaking in a worried tone.
"I mean, it's great that you might be, but what if you are? We are in a war, also, how are we going to do a test?"
Charlotte hummed in thought before realising.
"I know someone, but it might be difficult."
Mione was about to ask her who, until a snap of a twig caught their attention, they immediately got up and whipped out their wands, cautiously looking around in the dark. The two ventured off into the woods and kept close to each other, there was a rustling noise and they both froze. They listened and nothing else came, so they carried on. Hermione gripped Charlotte's hand as they heard another noise.
The two looked to where that noise was coming from and froze again as two people were walking towards them. One of them was carrying someone and the other, Charlotte had recognized, walked past them until he stopped and asked.
"What's that?"
He sniffed the air and walked to Hermione and Lottie, stopping right in front of them. They held their breath and stared at Scabior, his words were muffled from the enchantments, but they could hear what he was saying.
"What's that smell?"
He sniffed again and was going to speak, when the other man dropped the person he was carrying, Scabior asked in an annoyed tone.
"What you doing?"
The other man responded nonchalantly.
"It's heavy."
Scabior sarcastically muttered.
"Oh, sorry. Do you want me to carry it?"
The man didn't get his tone as he gratefully replied.
"Yeah, thank you."
Charlotte held in her laugh as Scabior scoffed and spoke to the man like he was a child.
"Don't be ridiculous, pick it up."
The man sighed and picked the person up, once Scabior and the man had walked off, Hermione and Charlotte let out a breath of relief. Harry's voice came up from behind.
"Snatchers, good to know your enchantments work."
Hermione spoke softly.
"He could smell it, our perfume."
Charlotte sighed and shook her head, hoping that Harry didn't hear what she had said earlier. He did, however, take a hold of her hand as they began walking back to the tent. Charlotte was silent as Hermione enounced when Harry asked her.
"I've told you, Ron isn't strong enough to apparate."
Harry reasoned with her.
"Well, then, we'll go on foot. And next time, as much as I like your perfume, especially yours, Lottie. Just don't wear any."
Charlotte nodded and they got to the tent, it was time for sleep and Harry and Charlotte slept on one bed as Ron and Hermione slept on separate ones. As Charlotte was cuddled up to Harry, a few things were on her mind.
If I am pregnant, what will I do? How would I tell Harry? We're not ready for a child, we're going into war soon.
Those thoughts swirled in her mind as she finally got to sleep.
⋆
Morning came faster than Charlotte would have liked and they were now walking through a field, as Hermione and Harry were in lead, Charlotte stayed not long behind with Ron, Lottie could tell he was jealous because Hermione was tending to Harry, instead of him.
However, Charlotte wasn't jealous because she knew how much Hermione loves Ron, she just doesn't know how to express it. Ron had a dark look on his face and it really creeped her out, to make it worse, he had the locket on, so his moods were even more darker.
They saw an abandoned barn up ahead of them and they rushed to it as several Death Eaters were flying around in the sky. Once they disappeared, they kept on walking. Charlotte got a chilly feeling as they went through many caravans that were burned severely, a tear came to her eye again when they walked past a swing set. A swing was just slightly swaying and she unknowingly placed a hand on her stomach at the thought of what happened here, especially what happened to the children.
Hermione noticed and grabbed her hand, holding it in hers as they walked away from the ruined place. They soon appeared at a bridge and set up their tent. Harry was in the distance throwing rocks and Hermione, Ron and Charlotte were sat watching him. Ron stated.
"He doesn't know what he's doing, does he?"
Hermione responded before Lottie could.
"None of us do."
Charlotte silently agreed with her and Harry soon decided that this wasn't a safe place to stay, so they reluctantly packed up again and found a large field. Lottie was wrapped up in a large blanket as it was freezing cold, watching amusedly as Hermione cut Harry's hair, Hermione suddenly stopped and articulated as she looked to Charlotte.
"Oh my God."
Charlotte snickered when Harry immediately panicked and let out a "what?" as he touched his head, thinking that Hermione did something wrong to his hair, Hermione responded with a "I'll tell you in a minute" and rushed to the table, shuffling through the stuff on the table. Harry got up and spoke as he too came over to the table.
"Maybe you could tell me now."
Hermione announced quickly.
"The sword of Gryffindor, it's goblin-made."
Harry gave her a thumbs up and let out a "brilliant". Hermione rolled her eyes and stated.
"No, you don't understand, dirt and rust have no effect on the blade."
She slid the book to Harry and carried on.
"It only takes in that which makes it stronger."
She pointed to an image and Charlotte spoke up, getting on the same page as her.
"Harry, you've already destroyed one Horcrux, right? Tom Riddle's diary, the one in the Chamber of Secrets."
Harry vocalised his point.
"With a Basilisk fang, if you tell me you've got one of those in that bloody beaded bag of yours..."
Hermione let out a laugh and explained.
"Don't you see? In the Chamber of Secrets, you stabbed the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor and saved Lottie, its blade is impregnated with Basilisk venom."
Harry remembered and copied what Hermione had said earlier.
"It only takes in that which makes it stronger."
He sat down with them and Hermione inputted.
"Exactly, which is why-"
Harry cut her off eagerly.
"It can destroy Horcruxes."
Charlotte piped up.
"That's why Dumbledore left it to you in his will."
Harry smiled and complimented them.
"You are brilliant, you two, truly."
Charlotte smiled and Hermione rambled on.
"Actually, I'm highly logical, which allows me to look last extraneous detail and perceive clearly that others overlook."
Lottie chuckled and Harry enunciated.
"Yeah, there's only one problem, of course-"
They were distracted as the lights disappeared, Charlotte sighed and realised that it was Ron, he stepped out and bitterly stated.
"The sword was stolen."
He let the lights back out and they could now see him clearly, he continued.
"Yeah, I'm still here, but you three carry on, don't let me spoil the fun."
Harry closed the book and asked Ron.
"What's wrong?"
Charlotte glanced at Hermione as Ron responded.
"Wrong? Nothing's wrong, not according to you, anyway."
Lottie held in a breath as Harry spoke sourly.
"Look, if you've got something to say, don't be shy, spit it out."
Ron glared and expressed his opinion.
"Alright, I'll spit it out, but don't expect me to be grateful just because there's another damn thing we've gotta find."
Harry fired back.
"I thought you knew what you signed up for?"
Ron scoffed and replied.
"Yeah, I thought I did too."
Harry stood up and stated.
"Well, then, I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand. What part of this isn't living up to your expectations? Did you think we were gonna be staying in a 5-star hotel? Finding a Horcrux every other day? And thought you'd be back home by Christmas?"
Harry walked past Ron and stood at the entrance of the tent, Hermione and Lottie cautiously got up, hoping this argument won't get out of hand. Ron spat back in a tone of frustration.
"I just thought, after all this time, we would have actually achieved something, I thought you knew what you were doing? I thought Dumbledore told you something worthwhile, I thought you had a plan."
Harry tried to reason with him.
"I told you everything Dumbledore told me, and in case you haven't noticed, we found a Horcrux already."
Ron let out a laugh/scoff and retorted back.
"Yeah, and we're as close to getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them, aren't we?"
Hermione stood in front of Ron and told him to take the locket off, but he shoved her hands away, Hermione also tried to reason with him, but he ignored her and turned to Harry.
"Want to know why I listen to that radio? To make sure I don't hear Ginny's name, or Fred, or George, or mum or dad."
Charlotte swallowed the burning lump in her throat as she thought about her family. Hermione looked exhausted and Harry just had to rile Ron up some more.
"You think I'm not listening? You think I don't know how this feels?!"
Ron shouted back something that Charlotte never wants to hear him say again.
"No, you don't know how it feels! Your parents are dead! You have no family!"
Charlotte gritted her teeth in anger and glanced at Harry who was frowning in sadness. She then stepped forward and did something she never thought she would, she slapped him across the face. Hermione gasped and Ron held his cheek as he looked at his twin sister in shock. Charlotte pointed her finger to the tent exit and demanded in a dangerously low tone,
"Get out. Now."
But Ron just stood there, still in shock. Charlotte thought he would apologize, but apparently not as he scoffed and let go of his face, which was bright red. He was about to make another remark about Harry not having any parents, due to the locket messing with him, when Harry suddenly lunged at Ron and they began fighting. Hermione and Lottie intervened and got the boys to stop as they stood in between them, holding them back, out of breath and in disbelief that any of this just happened. Harry shouted out as Lottie held him back.
"Fine, then go! Go, then!"
The boys breathed heavily and Ron angrily got the locket off his neck, he let out a "fine" and threw it to the ground. He picked up his bag and Hermione called for him, he turned to Hermione and asked her.
"And you? Are you coming or are you staying?"
Hermione looked to Harry and Charlotte and then to Ron, she looked at him incredulously and let out a heavy breath. Ron then looked to Charlotte and she burst into tears, avoiding eye contact with him as her emotions got the best of her and looked to the ground, Ron scoffed and stated.
"Fine, I get it. I saw you three the other night, what was that, some sort of threesome?"
Hermione defended the three of them as Charlotte stood there, looking at Ron incredulously.
"Ron, that's.. that was nothing."
He scoffed again and Charlotte looked up to see him angrily leave, Hermione immediately ran out of the tent, calling after him. Charlotte looked to Harry to see him trying to calm down, he looked at her and she just shook her head, following Hermione.
"Ron! Please come back! Ron!"
Hermione sobbed and begged him to come back, but they watched as he apparated away, a horrible feeling erupted from Charlotte's stomach and she immediately ran behind a tree to throw up, Hermione was instantly by her side, holding her hair. Lottie wiped her mouth and mumbled. (A/N: Now, now, don't start complaining, it's annoying and not needed.)
"There's the sickness."
Hermione sighed and explained.
"It's probably from the stress and exhaustion."
Charlotte nodded slightly, half believing her and half not. And once she was done, they went back into the tent. Charlotte went straight to bed, tired from everything that had happened.