Hi everyone, I got some requests for the alternative ending so here it is :) It's right after Hermione wakes up and meets her daughter. I chose the other one because it had more Dramione and because at that point, Hermione's character development was a little different so you will see it doesn't fit as well at the real ending.

It's still a HEA, but with a more sad note to it.

THIS IS NOT AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER BUT SOMETHING I HAD WRITTEN IN AN EARLIER STAGE OF MY WRITING PROCESS. For anyone interested in additional chapters or a sequel, you are welcome to write it (as long as you mention my story in the A/N) :) I already moved on to new projects and won't continue this one.

I hope you like it! Let me know what you think of this version compared to the other :)

Thanks to FantasticLavenderCrystals for a last minute beta of this!

ALTERNATIVE ENDING

"You need to stop running away, Hermione."

She whirled around in the wide hospital hall.

Ginny.

Hermine straightened up. She opened her mouth to reply something, anything, a bad rebuttal better than the truth, but Ginny beat her to it.

"Don't even try to lie to me. I can see it in your eyes—that panic that everything will go downhill, that everyone will leave you just because my brother fucked everything royally up with you."

Hermione pressed her lips into a thin line: "Why do you care?"

Ginny sighed. "Of course I care. We are friends."

"Bullshit," snapped Hermione; that was just a ridiculous statement. "If you had your way, I would have never been godmother of Jamie.

"Jamie has nothing to do with this. You are unstable, and I want to know he's safe."

"Well, you can have that now. I won't bother you or your precious family anymore."

"And leave your daughter with Malfoy?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you will extend your motherly instincts, Ginny. You seem to have plenty of them."

"Listen, Hermione." Ginny took a step closer, cornering her. "Your baby might be doing well, she might grow up to be a lovely young witch, probably with enormous talent. She will receive all the love she needs, because we will always be close. But what about him? Malfoy is… well, he's Malfoy, but he's decent, you know? He cares."

Hermione snorted. "That's a contradiction if I heard one."

"He's been here for weeks." Ginny looked her in the eyes, a serious heaviness settling over her face like a sad blanket. "He waited and waited, talking to you until the nurses kicked him out late at night; he brought ridiculous amounts of flowers, practically purchased the whole florist's."

Hermione felt her lower lip trembling. She couldn't do this. Couldn't listen to this, couldn't know that he had been a better person to her than Ron had ever been when they were together and were happy, couldn't know that he cared!

"Malfoy might have been a prick in school, and he's still not a nice person by any stretch of the imagination," Ginny continued. "But he loves his daughter, has cared for her this whole time, asked me a hundred and one questions every day how to do things the proper way, always afraid of messing up."

That was reassuring, Hermione thought. She could safely leave her daughter with him—he'd take good care of her, he'd give her love and a stable life and happiness.

"And, you know what? I think he cares about you just as much."

A cold pin pricked her heart, sharp pain flashing through her chest. "You don't know a thing, Ginny." Hermione reached to collect her bag.

"Don't you dare!" Ginny looked furious now. "You have no right to leave your daughter; you are her mother, and you shouldn't leave him either!"

"I believe that is my decision," Hermione said, walking away with every intention of vanishing on the spot.

"So you're doing the same thing Ron did?" Ginny called after her.

Hermione froze.

"You're just going to chicken out? Hurt everyone because you're bloody selfish?"

It was a low blow. So low that it hit her straight in the gut like a Beater's bat. It was low, and she resented Ginny for it, but it was true, so fucking true that it hurt.

"I won't ever be a good mum, Ginny," Hermione said, her voice suddenly as quiet as a whisper. "I can barely hold my life together, I'm falling apart every single day."

Ginny came after her, turning her around, both hands on her shoulders. "Then get help. We are your friends and even if you are too stubborn to see that, we are here for you. We would never leave you."

But they had; she had been alone this whole time.

Poisonous tears leaked from her eyes, and suddenly Hermione felt like an eleven year old girl again, crying because she had no friends. "Ha—arry…. l—left me in this mess..."

"And I gave him hell for that," Ginny said vehemently, pulling Hermione close. "I told him if he'd be a tosser and leave you fighting this alone, I'd take Jamie and move in with mum and dad again. I told him he'd never get to see his son again until he decided to be a decent friend and a role model for Jamie.

Ginny hugged her. "I know—I know I can be selfish and a bitch. But I consider you a friend and I care about you, Hermione. P—please don't ruin this for yourself or your daughter," she said.

"I really can't leave now, can I? Why did I ever think that was an option? What kind of mother am I, Ginny?"

"You can learn to be a mother, Hermione. But you can't run from it. Hell, I don't think Malfoy deserves that even!"

They laughed a teary laugh as Hermione held onto Ginny.

END

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked this little alternative Ginny/Hermione scene :)

Big thanks to all my regular reviewers: Selene Blackburn, Fantasticlavendercrystals, Green Eyed Lana Lee, jacpin2002, PurpleCaboose and LillsBills (and everyoen else I forgot :) ). Also thank you to all the lovely guest reviewers that I couldn't reply to directly! Your reviews gave me plenty to think, moved me deeply and I was happy that I dared to write a story like this :)

See you all hopefully soon when I finished my next project!