Harry supposed he should have been expecting it. But he jumped as high as everyone else when Luna and Ron rushed into the house. They were tanned from two weeks in the Bahamas, and dragging bags behind them. Luna dropped everything in the entry hall and shrieked. "We eloped!" she took a look around, turned to her husband?. "Ron, since when is there a baby in here?"
Ron's gaze flew to Carys. "Ginny had the baby. Ginny had the baby! Why didn't anyone call me? I can't believe you didn't call, or come get me!" he ran over to ogle his niece. Carys reached up and grasped a stray lock of his hair, pulled as sharply as a newborn could. "And Harry, what's going on? Why is Hermione crying?"
Harry scratched his head. "I, uh, proposed. About five minutes ago."
Luna tackled Hermione. "Oh my Merlin! I have to get writing. The Quibbler must report this. Can I have an interview? You too, Draco and Ginny. I have to go get a quill." She ran upstairs and all the attention turned to Ron.
Draco was grinning wickedly. "Turned a vacation into a honeymoon, huh?"
Ron turned red. "It was just so romantic, and she wanted to, and I love her, and we just did it one night. Went to the hotel's chapel, got married by some Muggle named Elvis Presley and had a couple of GoGo Dancers, whatever those are as witnesses."
Harry snorted and burst into laughter. Hermione and Alisa were also cracking up. Elvis and GoGo Dancers. It was somehow fitting for Ron and Luna. Completely and totally loony and outside the box. Nothing traditional or normal about it.
Harry spoke around laughs. "What did she wear?"
"Some sort of dressy thing. It looked a bit like a nightgown. She said it was worn by Priscilla, whoever that is."
Hermione patted Ron's shoulder. "It's okay, Ron. Priscilla was Elvis' wife. It was probably a replica of her wedding dress. I can't believe you got married by an Elvis impersonator. My parents are going to love this. He was popular when their parents were teenagers."
"You mean it wasn't really Elvis? How do you know? Do your parents know him?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, Ron. I know it wasn't him because he died almost forty years ago."
Ron seemed to mull that over for a few minutes, but then didn't get a chance to say anything because Luna came barreling back down the stairs, parchment and quill in one hand. She set her sights on Ginny. "Ginevra Weasley, how does it feel to have just given birth to Draco Malfoy's daughter?"
Ginny looked at Luna and rolled her eyes. "I change my name, Luna. I'm a Malfoy. And she's my daughter as much as she is his."
Draco lifted a finger. "I beg to differ on that point, Luna, if I may."
Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione and started talking to Ron, Wood and Alisa. It was a fairly typical day in the Potter/Weasley/Malfoy/Granger household. Nothing much out of the normal.
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Hermione had to take an annual physical exam as part of her teaching contract. She had chosen to take hers in the summer. She was always in the best shape then, and the least stressed. Which meant that the doctor was less likely to tell her she was going to get an ulcer or a hernia if she didn't slow down and take it easy.
And she had been taking it easy. It was August, she was on break, and she had just, the day before, become engaged to the only man she wanted to spend her life with. They'd decided on a fall wedding, November, and the place was Hogwarts. McGonagall has been owled the night before and the response had come immediately. Absolutely. No problem. Hogwarts would be honored.
They'd told Lily and James, and her parents Catherine and Julian that morning. Both sets of parents had been enthralled. Lily and James had insisted on throwing them an engagement party, and Catherine had started contacting designers about wedding dresses. Hermione didn't know if she wanted a gown, or just wedding robes. She hadn't given it a lot of thought.
Lily had had her obstetrician appointment only an hour after Hermione's checkup, so the women had gone to St. Mungo's together, with plans to go out to lunch and do some shopping afterward. Hermione soon found herself sitting on the examination table, getting poked and prodded by a Healer.
"Any soreness? Pain, nausea? Any sickness we need to know about?"
Hermione shook her head. "Nope. I feel great."
The Healer tested her reflexes, listened to her lungs. "Are you on any Muggle medications?"
"Does that include Tylenol every once in a while?"
Healer Thompson laughed. "No. Any complaints about anything?"
"Nope."
"Any missed menstrual cycles?"
Hermione shrugged. "I'm irregular."
Thompson nodded, made a notation. "Are you sexually active?"
"Yes."
"On birth control potions?"
"Yes."
"When was your last period?"
Hermione thought back. "About eight weeks."
"Is that unusual for you?"
"Not really, no. I've gone as much as three and a half months."
"Lucky girl. Any history of ovarian cysts?"
"Nope."
"Okay, any chance that you could be pregnant?"
Hermione laughed. "Not in a million years. Those potions are very reliable."
"Only about as effective as the Muggle pill, and they have to be taken every time you have intercourse. Not just every night, or morning."
Hermione sat up. "No, that's not how it works."
Thompson laughed. "I assure you that it is, Miss Granger. I'm the doctor, you're the patient. I know more about medicine and potions than you."
"It can't be. The bottle says that you take it once daily." Hermione was sounding panicky. "You have to be mistaken."
"Miss Granger, calm down, please. We don't know if there's anything to be worried about yet. Just let me do a blood test, and we'll find out if you're pregnant. And it isn't the end of the world if you are. I'm seeing an engagement ring there."
Hermione was still surprised when she looked down and saw the ring. It still amazed her. "Yeah. Harry proposed last night."
"Congratulations. Where in the world did he get that ring? Small prick now."
Hermione grit her teeth against the needle. "A shop in Pelicula Alley. Oliver Wood, and his wife Alisa went with him. My ring was made by Godric Gryffindor for his wife when they got engaged. It was found a few months ago and authenticated three weeks ago."
Thompson winced. "I don't even want to think about how much that cost him."
"Neither do I." Hermione watched Healer Thompson move around the room, testing the small vial of blood that she had taken from Hermione's arm. "I'm sure it was an arm and a leg. But he can afford it. He's Harry Potter."
"That he is. Let's get your gynecological exam out of the way while that test processed. Lie back and feet in the stirrups. You know the drill."
Hermione did as instructed. "What are the odds that I'm pregnant?"
"Don't know. Any cramping lately?"
"Not since my last period."
"Any lumps in your breasts?"
"No."
Hermione continued answering awkward questions until the tube of her blood started changing colors as the chemicals worked. Healer Thompson walked over, removed it from the stand and held it up to the light. Seconds later, she made a notation on Hermione's chart.
"Well?"
"Congratulations, Mom. You're eight weeks pregnant."
Hermione paled, stood up straight with her jeans around her thighs. "I'm what?"
"Eight weeks pregnant. So you'll be due on about March twenty fourth. Everything seems to be fine. The morning sickness normally starts as soon as you find out you're pregnant and last through the first four months. Don't try to resist the craving, and the baby will start kicking in another eight or nine weeks. Set up an appointment at the front desk with an OBGYN Mediwizard. You'll need monthly checkups right now, and then twice a month during your last two months. Other than that, you pass with flying colors. You'll want to arrange with Headmistress McGonagall for a substitute the last two and a half months of school next year. Maternity leave and such. From March twenty fourth to September first is about five and a half months, so the baby will be ready for a sitter." Thompson handed Hermione a slip of parchment. "There you go. Shall I go get Mrs. Potter?"
Hermione nodded, sat down in the chair, still trying to wrap her mind around everything. "Please." A baby. She was having a baby. Like Ginny had and like Lily would. A baby. A small person living inside her. Growing. She was going to need do many things.
Maternity clothes and things for a nursery, and all the things that a baby would need. There was no easy way to do it. She'd have to redecorate one of the guestrooms for a nursery, and start furniture shopping. She had to have lists. Absolutely had to make lists. There had to be a logical path for her to take. A teddy bear and baby booty formula. She was mulling that over when Lily rapped on the door and poked her head in.
"Hey, sweetie. Healer Thompson said that you needed me?"
Hermione looked up at Lily, tears swimming in her eyes. "Oh, Lily, I don't know what to do!"
Lily was instantly maternal, rushing across the room, and gathering Hermione close. She rocked back and forth while the younger woman cried. Hermione held onto Lily, burying her face in Harry's mother's shoulder and fisting her hands in her shirt. "What's wrong, honey?"
"I'm pregnant!"
Lily shrieked and crushed Hermione even closer to her. "Oh my God!" she kissed Hermione's cheek happily, took Hermione's face in her hands. "This is a good thing, right? I mean, you and Harry are getting married, so it's all right isn't it?"
"I'm so scared. I'm not ready for this, Lily. I can't be a mother!"
"Why not? From what I've seen these last years, you've never failed at anything. Why would this be any different? You're a very capable woman, Hermione, and you can do this. You and Harry can do this. You'll be wonderful at it."
"Are you sure?"
Lily grinned. "Hey, I'm the mother of Harry. If I like you and think you're good enough for my son, then you've got to be something special. You can do whatever you want to do. There's nothing that you can't do, Hermione. Except maybe play Quidditch."
That succeeded in making Hermione laugh. "Thanks. Lily, can I ask you something?"
Lily led Hermione from the room and to the front desk, where the nurse handed her an appointment card. "Sure you can, sweetie."
"Will you help me make my lists?"
"Sure. Now let's go get lunch and do some shopping. You don't need maternity clothes just yet. I can't even tell you're pregnant, so that can be put off for a while. How about paint today?"
Hermione nodded. "I'm thinking yellow. Nice and pastel, light and airy."
"Lavender would be nice."
"Not if I have a boy."
Lily nodded. "True. Could go with green."
"I like green. Rosemary. That real soothing green. Or blue. Girls like blue too."
"Could go with teal. Or turquoise. Something along those lines."
Hermione was getting into the spirit of things. "Who don't I do one in green, and one in blue? That way if I have a boy, he can go in the blue room, and if it's a girl, it can go in the green room?"
Lily chuckled. "That wouldn't be too logical, Hermione, my dear. Why don't you just go with the green?"
"Would Harry think that it's too Slytherin?"
"Just tell him you wanted the room to match his eyes."
"That's a horrible line."
"But it will work."
"True. Okay, let's go."
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Harry got home and found Hermione, Lily and Draco painting a bedroom upstairs. The bedroom directly across the hall from the room he shared with Hermione. The way the house was laid out, it had four wings. They all shared the bottom floor, with the living rooms, dens, and the kitchen. Ron and Luna, Draco and Ginny, and Harry and Hermione all took a wing. Harry and Hermione had the west wing. Draco and Ginny had the east wing, and Ron and Luna had the north. Each wing had two bathrooms and four bedrooms. The South wing was shared, and was where they had a game room and a couple offices, along with other guest bedrooms.
"Hi guys. What's going on?"
Hermione stopped painting to look at her fiancé. She didn't really have a problem announcing her news in front of the two people who already knew. "I went to the doctor today."
Harry nodded. "Everything okay?"
"Not exactly."
Harry's focus was shifted from the paint going on the walls, to Hermione. "Are you all right? Is it serious?"
Hermione nodded. "Very serious."
"What is it?" Harry was nearing the point of panic.
"I'm pregnant."
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oohh. Evil cliffhanger. Want to see how Harry reacts? Review. I want 25 before the next chapter comes out.
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