There was a string, attached to both of them by the fates, that had no doubt been spun and woven to deliver them precisely to this moment and this time. Hermione was aware that their meeting was under no normal circumstances, and that even one decision along the way could have brought them to very different places in their lives. The turmoil within her churned unhappily, willing the burning sensation in her lower abdomen to find a way to release itself.