NINE
The next day, Hermione was getting ready to see her parents, but she was not sure what their reaction would be like. She had always been a good daughter. Her parents were very proud of the excellent student she had always been and the responsible adult she was turning into. She knew they'd be disappointed to find out she hadn't been as responsible as they expected.
Half an hour later, Hermione apparated to her parents' living room. The room was empty, but she could hear noise coming from the kitchen. Mrs. Granger was there washing some dishes, her back towards the door.
Hermione walked in and before speaking, she took a deep breath. "Hello mum."
Hermione's mum turned around and let out a gasp after seeing her daughter had appeared out of thin air. She still couldn't get used to Hermione's apparating skills. A porcelain cup that had been in the woman's hand fell to the floor, crashing into tiny peaces.
Hermione walked closer, took her wand out, and after saying "reparo" placed the cup back in her mother's hands. Mrs. Granger hadn't said a word looking questioningly at her.
"Mum," Hermione said softly. "I think you'd better sit down."
Mrs. Granger did as she was told. Finally, she was able to speak. "Thomas?" she called out to her husband in a shrill voice. "Will you come here, please?"
Hermione let out a sigh. "Here it goes," she thought.
"Coming Julie," responded Mr. Granger while walking down the stairs. Minutes later, he walked into the kitchen. As soon as he saw Hermione, a look of shock appeared in his face - bigger than Harry's.
"Hermione!" His voice sounded upset. "What the bloody hell happened here?"
"Mum, Dad… I'm pregnant," said Hermione looking from her one to the other.
"Oh dear!" simply said Mrs. Granger, not really looking at her daughter. Mr. Granger, however, looked about to explode.
"You want to tell me how the devil this happened?" started yelling Mr. Granger. Hermione, remembering that Damara had asked her a similar question thought about answering him in the same way, but after looking at her father's furious face decided not to.
"How could this happen?" kept saying Mr. Granger. "How could you be this careless?" Mr. Granger didn't seem to really expect Hermione to answer any of his questions, but then he asked something he did want an answer for. "Who did this to you? Who was it?"
"Dad, nobody did anything to me, okay?" Hermione responded in a calm voice trying to keep the situation from escalating. "Things just happened."
"Things don't just happen!" yelled out her father. "Tell me, who the bloody hell is responsible for this?"
Hermione remained quiet for a while. She looked at her mother, but Julie Granger seemed to have lost the ability to talk. Finally, Hermione spoke.
"Harry," said Hermione in a soft voice barely audible. Then speaking more clearly she quickly added, "But he's not the only responsible. I am, too."
"Of course you are! Dammit Hermione, I can't believe you threw away your life like this! And what about your studies?"
"I'm done. I talked to them and they made arrangements for me to finish early," explained Hermione. "I just have to go back in December to graduate, but you don't have to be there if you don't want to."
Hermione's mother finally seemed to regain consciousness. She stood up and walked to her daughter. "Why did you wait so long to tell us?"
Hermione was glad to see that at least her mother wasn't yelling at her. "I wanted to do it in person, mum. I didn't want to tell you over the phone."
"At least you should've warned us, Hermione." Mrs. Granger's voice also showed disapproval, but her attitude was completely different from her husband's.
Hermione always thought things would be the other way around. Her mother had been more critical while her father had always spoiled her. The disappointment Mr. Granger felt did not let him see how hurtful his reaction was for Hermione.
"I can't believe this!" Mr. Granger kept saying. "I never expected this of you, but we're going to fix this right away. You and that friend of yours are going to get married, as soon as possible."
"I'm sorry Dad," said Hermione firmly. "I'm not going to marry him."
"Why not? Don't tell me that boy is running away from his responsibility because if he is I'm going to…"
"No Dad!" interrupted Hermione. "It's not like that. He asked me to marry him, but…"
"But what?" demanded to know Mr. Granger. Mrs. Granger following their discussion intently.
"I said no."
"YOU WHAT??" His eyes were wide open. He seemed ready to attack. In two quick steps, he got next to Hermione and grabbed her by the arms. He started shaking her. "Are you insane? Don't you know what it's like to be alone, to be a single mother?"
"Thomas, please!" Mrs. Granger intervened. "Violence won't solve anything."
Mr. Granger let go of Hermione taking a couple of steps back. "Didn't you hear what she said?" He said talking to his wife. Then, looking back at Hermione he asked, "Why the hell did you say no?"
Looking at her hands, Hermione responded after a while. "I have my reasons." She didn't want to tell them "because he doesn't love me," knowing that detail wouldn't matter to her father.
"You… you have your reasons!" he repeated sarcastically. "Well I don't care what reasons you may have. You are going to marry, him or anybody else. I don't care. You're going to fix this problem, you hear me? And I don't want you setting foot in this house until you've done it."
"Thomas!" said Mrs. Granger, but he ignored her.
"Okay!" responded Hermione. "If that's what you want I won't set foot in your house anymore. I'm an adult now Dad, and I'm not going to do what you say. It's my life and it's my choice. If you can't deal with that, then I'm sorry to hear it, but you won't make me change my mind."
Right after she said that, Hermione disapparated.
--- * --- * --- * ---
That night Hermione was lying down in Luna's room. She could understand her father's reaction. In a way, she knew he had the right to be upset, but it still hurt her. He had always been a loving father. She wished his anger would soon go away.
Hermione had thought her mother would be the one freaking out. She had always emphasized to Hermione how she had completed her studies and made a career for herself before Hermione was born.
She had been so deep in her thoughts, she didn't hear someone walking in. Harry, thinking that perhaps she was asleep, didn't say a word. He walked around the bed until he got next to her. He kneeled down by her head and looked at her puffy eyes.
"It didn't go well, did it?" he said softly pushing aside her brown curls. "What did they say to you?"
In a few words, Hermione explained to him how her father had reacted to the news and what he said to her. Harry hated to see her pretty eyes like that. He helped her sit up, sat next to her and placed an arm around her. Hermione leaned towards him and dropped her head onto his shoulders.
"See? That's why I told you we should get married."
Hermione pulled back, resolution in her eyes. "No Harry. I'm not going to do what he says. If he doesn't want to see me… or my baby, that's his loss. I'm old enough to make my own decisions."
"Hermione…"
"We already talked about this Harry. I've made up my mind," she said firmly.
"Okay," he agreed. "If that's what you want, but next time you go see your parents I'll go with you, okay? I'm not going to let you face them alone anymore, no matter what you say."
She smiled softly at him. "Don't worry. That won't happen for a while."
--- * --- * --- * ---
Saturday morning started with a bright sun, which came in freely through the window in Luna's room, which Hermione had left wide open. Feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin energized her. It showed her the future would be bright.
That day she and Ginny went to take a walk. There was a nice little park a couple of blocks away from their apartment. After that they went back home. Luna and Ron were due back that afternoon.
At about four o'clock, Harry apparated to Ginny's place. He wanted to be there when Luna and Ron got there. Harry and the two girls were in the kitchen talking animatedly, when their two friends arrived.
"Hello! I'm home," called out Luna. Seconds later, Luna walked in the kitchen followed by Ron. Harry, Hermione and Ginny stood up to welcome the newcomers.
"Hermione!" said Luna excitedly while hugging her. "When did you get here?"
Ron, however, looked at her with his mouth hanging open. "What the hell is wrong with your stomach?!"
They all laughed. Hermione walked up at him, smiling to her dear friend. "There's nothing wrong with it, Ronald. I'm pregnant."
Ron opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it again. Once more, he opened his mouth. "Who did this to you?" he asked.
Harry looked at him and answered his question. "Uh, that would be me."
If Ron had been shocked before, there were no words to describe how he looked now. He kept looking from Harry to Hermione. Both Ginny and Luna were laughing at his expression.
"You… you guys had sex!" Ron finally said.
"Well, that's kind of necessary for something like this to happen honey," said Luna trying hard to stifle her giggles.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, amused by Ron's reaction.
"You guys had sex!"
It seemed like the more he said it, the less he could believe it. "You guys had sex!" he said yet again.
Luna grabbed Ron's arm. "I think you need to move on to something else Ron," she said to him.
Ron looked at her about to say something, but didn't. He looked at Harry and spoke again. "When did this happen?"
Luna looked curiously at Harry. She had been wondering that too.
"Last December," said Harry. "That weekend I went to Athens."
Ron's face illuminated. Now things were making sense for him. He remembered perfectly well that talk he and Harry had a little more than a month ago.
"So, that's what all that was about!"
The girls looked questioningly at Ron. Harry, however, immediately knew what Ron meant.
"That's why you were all…"
"Ron," interrupted Harry to keep him from saying more than he ought to. "Can I talk to you outside for a moment? NOW!"
Without waiting for Ron to respond, Harry grabbed Ron's arm and dragged him all the way out of the apartment. Ron didn't seem to mind being dragged, as if he couldn't even notice it. When Harry finally let go of him, he looked at Harry amusedly.
"Blimey Harry, I can't believe you're going to be a daddy!"
Harry smiled.
"So, man… you and Hermione, uh?" said Ron teasingly. "Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Of course I wasn't going to tell you. This is our private business, you know."
"Not anymore," said Ron smiling at him. "We all know about it now, don't we? So, did you finally dismiss Laura?"
"Actually, she dismissed me," said Harry with a mischievous smile on his face. "She got a little upset, you know, when I told her about Hermione being pregnant."
"What did you expect?" said Ron laughing. "Besides, now that you have Hermione, you don't need her anymore, do you?"
Harry looked more seriously at him. "I'm not with Hermione."
Ron looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean you're not?" he asked. Then, after looking at Harry's expression, he added, "Didn't you tell her how you feel?"
Harry shook his head.
"Why the hell not?" asked Ron confused.
Harry let out a sigh and looked away for a while. "I asked her to marry me, you know," he said. He then looked at Ron, who motioned him to keep going. "She said no."
"She said no? Why?"
Harry thought about it for a while. "I reckon I'm not marriage material," he said not looking at Ron.
Ron could not believe his ears. "If you're not marriage material mate," he said shaking his head. "Then there's no hope for the rest of us. You're the most marriage material I know. There must be another reason."
"Then the only other reason," said Harry after a while, "is that she doesn't feel anything for me. I'm telling you, Ron. She doesn't want to marry me, and I asked her twice!"
"This doesn't make any sense," said Ron shaking his head in disbelief.