AN: 1000+ Reviews! Wow! All I can say is thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to leave their comments; they are all inspirational in their own way and give me the courage and determination to carry on writing.
Just One More Thing
Chapter 31
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Saturday night had finally come around, and Harry and Hermione were both bursting with excitement. Not only was tonight going to be the night where they told their friends that they were engaged and expecting a baby, but because of Harry's big surprise, they also were going to tell them that Hermione was now the new owner of Flourish and Blotts. They couldn't even begin to imagine how their friends were going to react to all this news; it was certainly going to be interesting.
Hermione had just added the last candle to the table. She wanted everything to be perfect tonight and insisted on making everything look magical, including the dinning table where she, Harry and their friends would be eating tonight. A Gryffindor red cloth covered the table, along with gold candle holders and their finest silverware, which was a gift from Hermione's parents when they first moved in. That particular gift had made Harry and Ron howl at the time, Hermione's parents obviously thinking that she'd be eating with her hands if they didn't provide cutlery for her.
Hermione looked at the table one last time to make sure everything was just right. She smiled when she felt two strong arms circle her waist. "What do think?"
Harry nuzzled her neck. "I think it looks perfect."
"Not too over the top?"
"Of course not," Harry assured her. "It is a special occasion after all, right?"
"Right," she turned her head slightly to peck him on the lips. "It sure is."
"We don't always have to overdose on pizza and beer," he added. "It's nice to be distinguished sometimes and not be in a race to get pissed as soon as possible. Not that you and Ginny have that option at the moment."
Hermione grinned widely as she felt Harry begin caressing her stomach softly. "I'm not the slightest bit bothered about that either, not that I was that much of a drinker anyway."
Harry pulled his back slightly to look at he better. "I'm sure one glass wouldn't hurt."
Hermione shook her head. "Not for me. I know it's safe and all but I'm not taking any chances, not with some of the luck we've had this year."
"I think we've had all the bad luck we're going to have," he said kissing the side of her head. "Besides, we've had some amazing luck too you know."
Hermione covered his hand that was rubbing her belly. "We sure have."
Harry looked down to Hermione's stomach. "Only eight months and three weeks to go."
Hermione giggled. "And only two months and three weeks till the wedding." Harry gazed back into her eyes and shook his head in complete wonder. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing, just...I can't believe I get to be your husband."
Hermione turned in his arms and lovingly stroked his face. "And I can't believe I get to be your wife."
Harry smiled, and then leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips. Hermione's arms immediately reached up to wrap against his neck, the warm intimate kiss causing her to moan softly. It was quickly starting to become quite heated, when a knock at the door interrupted them.
Harry pulled back, closed his eyes and leant his forehead against hers. "Our friends timing is impeccable."
"We said 7.00pm, Harry," Hermione reminded him looking at her watch, also a little miffed that their make out session was so brief. "And it's 7.01pm."
Hermione took her arms from around his neck and slowly began removing her engagement ring. Seeing as how their friends didn't know about the engagement, a huge diamond ring would surely give away the secret. Hermione only got to wear it in the comfort of their apartment when it was just the two of them there, and was looking forward to when she could put it on and never take it off. Tonight was the night. She vowed that after they let their friends in on the engagement, the ring would never leave her finger.
"Want me to hold on to that for you?" Harry asked.
"If you promise to keep it safe for me," she said handing him the ring.
Harry took the ring and put it in his shirt pocket. "I'll only have to guard it for a little while, and then it's going right back where it belongs."
Hermione smiled and was about to kiss him again when another knock interrupted them, only this time it was louder. "Door. Right."
"I'll go check on the food," Harry said walking over to the kitchen.
Hermione answered the door and found Ginny and Draco standing there. "Hey you guys. Come in."
"What took you so long to the answer the door?" Draco asked with a smirk.
"A loving, tender moment," Hermione answered simply.
"That's cute," Ginny said, before looking at Draco and smacking him lightly on the chest. "Pervert."
Ginny walked in and kissed Hermione's cheek, followed by Draco who did the same. Hermione closed the door and ushered them further inside. "Drink?"
"Just juice for me Hermione," Ginny said sounding a bit pissed off. "Pregnancy can be a real bitch when you enjoy alcohol as much as I do."
Hermione just nodded her head. "Sure. Draco?"
"Just a beer for me thanks," he replied, causing Ginny to narrow her eyes at him.
"Fine," Ginny said. "Rub it in."
Draco cleared his throat and looked at anywhere but his wife. "So, what smells?"
"Leg of lamb," Hermione replied.
"Oh," Draco and Ginny both said with a hint of disappointment.
Hermione rolled her eyes then chuckled whilst shaking her head. "Harry cooked everything."
Ginny and Draco's faces instantly lit up. "It sounds great!" they cheered in unison.
It took another half hour for the rest of their friends to turn up. Luna and Ron were the next to show followed by Seamus and Lavender and last but not least, Dean and Neville. They were all sat around the table eating dinner engaged in general chit chat, and catching up on what the other had been doing as they always did when they got together as a group.
The current topic was Dean and Neville's double date that had happened earlier that week. Dean had just got through telling them what had happened to him that night much to the disgust of the girls, well, apart from Ginny that is.
"You said that you weren't going to see that girl again," Draco reminded him. "That it was against your rules to go to bed with the same girl twice."
"Now you see, this is one of the things affecting society today," Dean said. "There are too many people like you who think that you actually have to stick to what you say."
"I personally think that you've got a soft spot for this girl," Hermione teased.
Dean laughed as though her comment was absurd. "Hermione, that's ridiculous. The only reason I went to bed with her for a second time, was because, I forgot to steal her underwear the first time."
"Ew!" Lavender screeched, whilst the men just laughed.
"That's just gross," Luna scolded.
"You actually stole her underwear?" Harry asked when his laughter subsided. "Dean, don't you think you're getting a bit old for that?"
"A collector never stops collecting, Harry," Dean retorted seriously.
"I don't really want to hear anymore of this," Hermione said.
"I do," Ron grinned, earning a nudge from Luna.
"I'd rather hear about what happened with Neville," Hermione said.
"Oh yeah, Miss Titty," Draco laughed.
"Her name is, Kimberley," Neville corrected him. "And she's a lovely woman."
"Things go well then?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Better than well," Neville said happily. "We're seeing each other again on Tuesday."
"Well that's great," Hermione said clasping her hands together in delight.
"Where you goin?" Seamus asked in interest.
"Just out for dinner," Neville replied shyly. "She's reading what I've already gotten written for the new book I'm working on. You know kind of testing it out for me."
"What's she testing?" Dean asked. "How long it takes before it puts you to sleep." Everyone laughed apart from Hermione, and Neville who looked a little offended. Dean punched his arm teasingly. "I'm only joking you soppy git."
"He's only jealous of your intellect, Nev," Hermione said trying to comfort him. "I for one will be the first one to buy it. Who knows, you may even get to do a book signing at `Flourish and Blotts'". Hermione glanced briefly at Harry who then began to smile.
"Oh, so you're allowed to tease him then?" Dean quipped at Hermione.
"I'm just saying," Hermione said not wanting to give anything away just yet.
"It doesn't matter anyway," Dean looked at Neville. "Even if she thinks your book's crap, I saw the way she was looking at you. She had serious `come fuck me' eyes man. Trust me; I know what they look like."
Harry shook his head grinning, as did the others. Hermione, though, had had enough. She could see that Neville was becoming more and more embarrassed and decided to come to the rescue.
"It is a very superior talent, Dean," Hermione said in a sickeningly sweet and calm voice. "But if you don't stop teasing him right this second, you're going to know what my `get the fuck out of this apartment' eyes look like."
Everyone laughed and Dean held up his hands. "Fine, let's talk about something else."
"Like who wants what for desert?" Hermione smiled, noticing everyone's plates were empty. She stood up and began collecting the plates up.
Harry got up and began helping her. "Give us a minute."
Harry and Hermione left the table for the kitchen, leaving their friends to talk amongst themselves. They placed the plates into the sink and Hermione huddled close to him, their backs to their friends. "I want my ring."
"What?"
"I'll put my ring on, then one of them will notice, and it will lead us in nicely to our news," Hermione explained holding her left hand out.
Harry chuckled and nodded in agreement as he took the ring out of his pocket. He kissed her gently on the lips and slid the ring on her finger, which is where it was going to stay this time. He went and opened the fridge where there were two desserts, passing her one to take over to the table. Taking the other in one hand, he grabbed the ice cream from the freezer. "Ready?"
"Yes," she told him.
They walked over to rejoin their friends and placed the desserts on the table. The bowls had barely touched the table when Ginny closed her eyes and held up a hand dramatically. "Hold it!" she voiced loudly.
Everyone jumped and looked at her expectantly, especially her husband who looked concerned. "What's wrong, Gin?" he asked.
Harry and Hermione knew what she had seen and began smiling like idiots, as Ginny broke into to a broad grin and allowed her eyes to flutter open slowly. The plan worked quicker than they had thought. Ginny looked at them both and then down to Hermione's left hand.
"Can someone please tell me why Hermione has an iceberg on her left hand?!" she screeched excitedly.
Everyone stared at Hermione's hand and saw the huge diamond ring that was adorning Hermione's finger. Luna and Lavender squealed, Draco and Dean blocked their ears, and Neville, Ron and Seamus looked ecstatic.
"You're getting married!" Ginny announced in delight. "You're actually getting married!"
Harry and Hermione put their arms around each other and nodded. At their conformation, Luna, Lavender and Ginny all jumped up and quickly walked over to Hermione. Harry reluctantly let his fiancée go in order to be embraced by their friends.
Ron got up and went over to Harry with the biggest smile on his face. "I told you didn't have anything to worry about."
"Yeah you did," Harry smiled, and then pulled his friend into a hug. "Best man." Ron clearly touched, hugged his friend tighter.
Ginny lifted up Hermione's hand and shook her head in amazement. "Oh my god! That is gorgeous."
Luna took Hermione's hand from Ginny. "It's exquisite!"
Lavender took Hermione's hand from Luna. "How are you able to lift up your hand?!"
Hermione blushed at the comments. "It's just...perfect."
"Watch this," Ginny instructed the girls. "Draco darling?"
"Yes dear?" Draco replied.
"Why isn't my ring as big as this?" she asked, causing the girls to giggle.
Draco stared at Harry who was standing next to Ron. "See what you did?"
"Sorry," Harry shrugged.
Neville walked over to Harry and shook his hand. "Congratulations, Harry. I really am very happy for you both."
"Yeah me too," Draco finally stood up and hugged his friend. "Congratulations."
Seamus was next. "Yeah, congratulations buddy."
"Thanks you guys," Harry said sincerely.
They all looked over to Dean who was just sitting there saying nothing. "What?" he asked.
"What do you think?" Harry asked.
"Another two of us is getting married," Dean said. "Is there something in the water or what?! It sucks!"
Harry didn't take offence at his friends comment. Dean was always like this and he'd be worried if he'd reacted any different. "Dean, you could always settle down yourself you know?"
Dean finally laughed. "Not as long as there's a hole in my arse!"
"So when's the big day?" Ginny asked getting everyone's attention, ears perking up.
Harry and Hermione sought each other out and again put their arms around each other. "Eleven weeks time," Hermione replied.
"Wow," Draco said in surprise.
"That's...fast," Ron said. "But you know...good too."
"No faster than Ginny and Draco," Lavender commented.
"True," Ginny said. "But you guys are having a wedding right? I mean we eloped."
"Yeah, we're having a wedding," Hermione confirmed.
"You should get Justin to plan it," Ginny suggested.
"Justin?" Hermione asked. "Finch Fletchley?"
"Yeah," Ginny replied. "He's supposed to be really good."
"Well I guess we could think about it," Hermione said looking at Harry.
"Anything you want sweetheart," he said pecking her lips.
"Just out of curiosity," Ron said. "What's the rush? I mean...it's great but...three months?"
"Well," Hermione started. "There is something else."
"What's that?" Seamus enquired.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and smiled goofily.
"Well?" Ginny asked.
"The thing is," Harry started. "We..."
"Oh my god," Luna gasped. "How could I have not seen it before?"
"Seen what?" Lavender asked and looked at her in confusion, as did everyone else.
"What she going on about?" Draco asked them.
"Well..." Harry gazed at Hermione.
"We're having a baby," Hermione announced happily.
Mouths dropped and gasps filled the room.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Oh shit, not another one."
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These chapters are getting shorter, but it means you get an update quicker. What's more important...you decide.
Merry Xmas everyone!
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