Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, spells and pretty much anything associated with it that you recognize, m'kay?
Author's Note: I decided to split the first chapter in half mainly because editing it all at once made my eyes burn. So, that'd explain why this chapter seems a bit on the short side. But never fear, more chapters are well on their way.
Nine More Months To Go
-At the Café-
"I want the window seat!" Matthew announced as the four -no, five of us, including Ron Jr., stood in front of the table. Ron and Matthew had been bickering constantly ever since we left the office and I was beginning to get sick of them. Neville reckons it's because their so much alike…The waitress gave me and Neville sympathetic looks before she left us to deal with the annoying berks ourselves.
"I'm paying for this meal, I get the window seat!" Ron demanded stubbornly.
"Wibbow Bastawd! Wibbow Bastawd!" Little Ronnie chanted merrily as he rearranged the salt shakers on the table.
"Er, guys, we're outside, does it really matter who gets the window seat?!" Neville finally broke up their dispute.
"Idiots," I muttered while grinning slightly as I picked up my menu.
"Hmmm..." Ron muttered on after finally joining the rest of us at the table, long after Matt had plopped down in the seat across from Neville and was studying his menu intently.
"Ooh that looks good," Matt said referring to the table next to us where an attractive young woman was enthusiastically devouring a tower of oozing nachos slathered in cheese and chopped bell peppers.
"…The nachos or the girl?" Ron replied, somewhat in a daze. "Because they both resemble somebody's sloppy seconds to me,"
"Honestly Weasley," Matt thrust down his menu as he turned his attention to Ron, " You seriously have a one-track mind -oh hey, that guy's got pastrami special!" Matt began, thinking about his stomach once more.
"I'm positively starving!" Neville announced as he surveyed hi own menu.
I on the other hand knew what I was in the mood for...
"I think I'll start off with some...Salmon," I thought aloud, making all three of them turn to me and stare inquisitively.
"...What?"
"So I suppose you've stop having those ridiculous dreams then?" Ron questioned skeptically, raising an eyebrow in my direction.
"No," Neville answered for me, "He's just planning to vent his anger on all the fishy kind for haunting his dreams."
"Ah...very practical," Ron stated solemnly. I couldn't help but noticed Matt looked to be in the dark.
"What dreams?"
-Meanwhile-
"Would you ladies prefer the lounge or the patio?" the hostess asked a simple question that sent Grace and Ginny into an unraveling dispute.
"I want the lounge," Ginny said with an air of finality, silently daring one of them to disagree with her.
"Too much smoke isn't good for my complexion!" Grace noted, crinkling her nose in mild disgust, "We'll take the patio," she clarified, turning towards the hostess.
"Those birds will never allow us to have a decent meal in peace-" Ginny attacked immediately, giving just reasons to want to eat indoors.
"I'm the one paying for this-" Grace retorted sharply as Hermione cut in between the two of them.
"Which is closer to the loo?" Hermione cut in.
"The lounge Miss." the hostess answered cheerfully, leading them to a booth right next to the window out looking the people on the patio tables.
"We'll take it," Hermione confirmed, looking a bit peaky at the sight of the food at the passing tables.
As they sat down, Grace glared at Hermione at Hermione, piercing her with spiteful looks after they had ordered their meals.
"What's with you? Picking the lounge..."
"Well, would you rather me loose my lunch all over you then?" Hermione replied bitterly, spreading her napkin across her lap as Ginny observed her, obviously concerned.
"You really don't look so well Hermione," Ginny said slowly, concern evident in her voice.
"I-I'm just not that well, that's all." Hermione replied shakily.
Ginny noted she looked paler than usual.
"I think its stress. You worry yourself over the stupidest things sometimes," Grace said offhandedly as she took out her makeup kit and began to apply mascara. Ginny silently willed that there be a sudden earthquake or something that would cause her to poke out her eye because of her non-concerned attitude towards her sister.
"I don't think it is," Hermione stated firmly, her penetrating stare on Grace unwavering.
"What's up then, trouble in paradise?" Grace asked suddenly fully attentive as if she would simply adore the idea of there being marital issues between Hermione and Harry. As if.
"What?"
"Between you and Herman-"
"Harry," Hermione snapped suddenly, "His name is Harry, alright? We've been married for years now- you'd think you would at least give him the time of day-"
"No need to get stroppy with me," Grace sniffed indignantly. "I was just noting that I haven't seen him around you lately and he's usually so protective over his little 'Mione." Grace finished in a bittersweet tone.
"That's nonsense-" Ginny started to say.
"Well...There is something I've been wanting to...discuss with him..." Hermione began to say with an unsettled look about her.
"Ooh, secrets!" Grace said as Ginny's foot collided with her shin causing her to curse loudly, in a not so ladylike manner.
"Er, I mean. You know what they say, 'Nothing lasts forever...'." she said insensitively making Hermione gasp in horror at the idea.
"No! I don't want to break it off with him, I love him-"
"Yup, I used to say the same with Tom..." Grace pointed out dismissively, waving her hand.
"-Until he caught you cheating and you ended up getting sacked?" Ginny asked hopefully with a malicious glint present in her eyes.
"-And he wouldn't want to leave me...at least...not yet, I'm sure..." Hermione said as her eyes slowly began to glisten with tears.
"Er, oh look at these curtains-" Grace began to change the subject, earning a swift kick from Ginny's direction yet again.
"Why would you say that, Herms?" Ginny asked tenderly, making Grace roll her eyes and utter a derisive noise.
"I mean- Yes-please-tell-us-as-we-care-so-much." Grace said stiffly, mentally gagging herself for the forced display of sisterly love.
"Do you guys...suppose Harry -hypothetically speaking, of course- do you guys think he would...er, enjoy children?" Hermione managed to get out meekly glancing between the two of them, desperate for a response.
"..."
"..."
"..."
There was -daresay- a pregnant silence that surrounded the trio momentarily as Grace and Ginny gaped dully at Hermione while Hermione searched both of their empty expressions in hope of some implication of a response. Suddenly, Ginny gave sort of a strangled chortle before inquiring if she heard correctly.
"...Are you saying what I think-" Ginny began to say before their waiter approached their table presenting three dishes.
"Aright then, ladies. I remember you had the Caesar salad," he stated placing a dish in front of Grace who had taken up smiling seductively and twirling her hair around her finger, a habit she had went she went into "slut mode" as most of her siblings had put it.
"And tell me, which one of you two ordered the...Fish filet?" he questioned eyeing Hermione and Ginny, raising his bushy eyebrows suggestively as he peered between the three of them.
"Fish?" Ginny looked puzzled as she assumed the waiter had made a mistake seeing as Hermione made it very clear that she detested fish or any type of seafood whatsoever. "I had the chicken sandwich-"
"...That'd be me," Hermione spoke up slowly, surprising both Grace and Ginny who had been to busy arguing to noticing when she ordered.
Grace and Ginny turned quizzically to Hermione, looking for an explanation.
"...What? I just had the strangest craving for seafood today!" she said defensively, picking up her utensils. She hadn't realized how famished she really was until just then when the platter of steaming fish filet had been placed in front of her.
"...Ooh, wait 'till I tell Daddy he's gonna be a Grandpa..." Grace squealed in a deviously excited way, drumming her fingers together in quite a sinister fashion.
"Grace!" Hermione hissed, as if she half expected her father to emerge from the booth behind them and begin chastising her.
"Exactly how far along are you-"
"I'm not! I mean -I'm not sure -I- argh! I can't even tell if I'm-I'm-" Hermione stuttered, burying her face with her hands, sounding exhausted all of a sudden.
"Go ahead and say it," Ginny urged, an unwavering smirk plastered on her freckled face.
"Shut up, you guys, I-I gotta go." Hermione said, hoisting herself up from her seat abruptly, nearly knocking over her glass of water in the process.
"Let me come with you baby sis. You need help in your fragile state," Grace said gleefully. No doubt, this would be the highlight of her day, well, that is, until she told their father.
"I-am-not-fragile!" Hermione shouted, gaining the attention of a group of people passing by. Grace simply ignored her and grabbed her arm and began to steer her through the crowd.
"Move it people, woman with child coming through!"
"Grace!"
-A While later-
"...It ate your head? The fish you mean, not Hermione, right?" Matt asked, a smile was creeping onto his face.
"Why does everyone ask that?"
"Sorry Harry, it's just that-" he was cut off by his own cackles, the git. "What kind of a nut are you to be having dreams like that?" He managed to get out before dissolving into another fit of snorts. It must've been a contagious sort of thing because Ron Jr. was caught in a fit of boyish giggles of his own. Either that or Ron Jr. was a bit touched in the head-just like his father (Oh, Lavender wouldn't like that at all…)
"Oh-Oh, Sod off!" I retorted lamely, crossing my arms immaturely. Who could blame me? I could've had a serious psychological trauma-issue whatsit from fish because of this and all that that git could do was laugh.
"You have the nerve to sit here and eat that Salmon after a dream like that?" He questioned incredulously, finally sobering up after like what, a century of laughing his pathetic arse off?
"What do you think it means?" I asked helplessly.
"Um..." He bit his lip pensively and extended his fork sideways towards my plate, "Stop eating fish?"
"I've tried that, Matt!"
"Well," Ron started, stroking his rusty goatee, trying to look wiser (and failing miserably, I might add), "Maybe you shouldn't go fishing with Hermione anymore since it's obviously traumatizing you,"
"Aw Gemmy!" Ron Jr. squealed out as he bounced up and down in Ron's lap, flailing his short arms wildly at the window.
"Gin's not here, Ronnie," Ron retold the child, rolling his periwinkle eyes which matched the child's, I noted. No wonder why Lavender couldn't bare to look at the kid for more than a week at a time, he looked just like Ron.
"But Ron, we don't even go fishing, that's the thing! In fact, Hermione doesn't even like fish..."
"That's odd. Why would Hermione be having the steamed fish filet platter if she doesn't like fish?" Neville questioned clearly puzzled, causing all of us to stare at him as if he was loosing it.
"What are you going on about?" Matt asked him, perking up at the mention of one of his regular meal choices.
"Aw Gemmy!" Ronnie wailed yet again, struggling to be released fro Ron's tight grasp around his waist. We all turned to where he was flailing his arms madly at the window not so far from us. Sure enough, there on the other side of the window was Ginny or `Aw Gemmy', alongside Grace, Hermione's insufferable sister, and Hermione herself. And sure enough, she was munching on a piece of breaded fish, though for some reason her face seemed...wet? Yes, wet, as if she had been crying.
"Hmm..." Ron said looking down at the struggling child. "I always said the kid had more sense than I ever would..."
And we never doubted him.
-~-~-~-~-
"So how far along are-"
"I'm not sure I'm- yet." Hermione sputtered testily. She seemed to have difficulties saying the word `pregnant', both Ginny and Grace noted, though Grace was the only one finding so much pleasure in her discomfort.
"So how far along do you think you are?"
"I'm not sure," Hermione retorted curtly, taking a hearty bite of the fish before her as Ginny stared on in amazement.
"So you and Harry have been shagging so frequently that you can't pinpoint the time of conception? How absolutely scandalous…" Grace questioned smirking at a Hermione who appeared as though she was mere seconds away from delivering a well deserved kick to her sister's jaw.
"You shouldn't say much when your company is armed with knives," Ginny warned her flatly, noting Hermione's radiating bitterness.
"Just how would I tell him though? We've been so happy! And it's not just a subject you drop on somebody as part of normal after dinner conversation. I can imagine it now, `Oh, hullo darling. How was work? Have you seen the Canons mention in the Prophet today? Oh yeah, there may be a new arrival on its way here in a matter of months so you might want to look out for that…' If I were-"
"Knocked up," Grace filled in the ominous blank.
"...I prefer pregnant-" Hermione dropped her fork and gasped audibly, "I said it," She announced breathlessly.
"Ha!" Grace said triumphantly, giving a satisfied smirk.
"If I were, I'd suppose just about everything would change; I'd have to take off from work-"
"As of that would kill you-"
"It would, believe me," Ginny whispered audibly across the table.
"-Not to mention how difficult they are to raise. What if the kid ended up hating me or something and-and-Harry runs off with that Rosemary trollop from his work or- what if the kid turns out to be a-a squib or something? Harry'd blame it on me because I'm a muggle born or some nonsense or the-" Hermione would've continued to rave but Ginny let a silencing hand hang in mid-air.
"-One, you're getting hysterical. Two, I've been gathering the information that Rosemary is actually a man in drag. Third of all, Harry has trouble blaming your moods on you; do you really think he'd blame the child's magical ability or lack thereof on you, especially since his own mother was a muggleborn? Come on now, get serious," Ginny stated rationally, looking at Hermione as if she were being ridiculous, which she was- A common trait Hermione'd get when nervous.
"...What the hell is a squib?" Grace questioned, clearly in the dark.
"But-" Hermione started, ignoring her sister, "If I were, how or where could I tell him? This is so hard, not being able to discuss something openly with Harry. I mean, we've known each other since we were eleven-"
"Why don't you tell him now?" Grace questioned, gazing out the window.
"Wha-?"
"Eep!"
"Aw Gemmy! Aw Gemmy!" a little red haired cheered as he traipsed over to the window, followed by two men, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
"I have to go-" Hermione said shortly as they began to walk towards the door to them, only stopping as a hand flew out and grabbed a good portion of her sleeve, slowing her down. Hermione stared down at Ginny who was glaring at her incredulously as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Now?" Ginny hissed, looking up at Hermione expectantly.
"Yes, now! I-"
"You cannot avoid this Hermione!" Ginny warned, taking a firmer grip of her friend's blouse.
"I can sure as hell try, now can't I?" Hermione hissed to Ginny as she headed off towards the toilets yet again, this time taking her purse and cloak. Before the three were upon them Hermione poked her head around the corner once again.
"Grace, I know what you're thinking. If you tell Dad, I will kill you," was the last thing they heard followed by a sharp crack and Hermione was gone.
"...I do not believe her!" Ginny exclaimed to a very confused Harry and Ron as the arrived to their table.
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