Just a simple little one shot I got stuck in my head. Enjoy.
"Uncle Fred?" Teddy piped above the din that was Sunday lunch at the Burrow.
"Yes mate?" Fred smiled at the innocent looking seven year old, waiting for the boy's very possibly loaded question. He wasn't disappointed.
"When are you and Auntie Mione getting married?" Teddy asked.
"What?!" Hermione squeaked from several seats away. Her cheeks turned a dark red and her eyes pointedly refused to look at Fred.
"Why would you ask that Teddy?" Fred groaned at the boy, ignoring the sniggers from his brothers all sat around the table. "And what makes you think me and Auntie Mione are getting married? Uncle Charlie isn't married either, why not Uncle Charlie and Auntie Mione?"
"Because Uncle Charlie doesn't look at Auntie Mione the way you do. It's the same way Uncle Harry looks at Auntie Gin, or the way Uncle Bill looks at Auntie Fleur or Uncle Percy looks at Auntie Audrey or Uncle Ron looks at Auntie Sally or-"
"Yes, thank you Teddy, I think we get the picture," Fred said gruffly.
"Uncle Charlie doesn't look at Auntie Mione like that, he looks at your friend Lee like that," Teddy said matter-of-factly. Charlie choked and everyone ignored him.
"You look at Auntie Mione like that, Uncle Fred," Teddy said with a big smile. "And I want to be a page boy again so I wanted to know when you and Auntie Mione are getting married."
"You can be a page boy at Uncle Charlie and Lee's wedding," Fred replied.
Charlie gawked. "Wait, so none of you would have a problem with me and Lee?"
"You say that as though you're good at hiding secrets," Bill scoffed at his little brother. "Dude, we've all known for ages. Your attempt to keep it under the radar was pathetic."
"Oh..." Charlie mumbled, his wide eyes hardening and his tone growing irritable. "Merlin, I owe Lee like a hundred galleons!"
"He's been our best mate since we were eleven," George laughed. "I think we've noticed him making goo goo eyes at you for a while now."
While the brothers began to banter among themselves, no one had noticed Hermione slip upstairs to the bathroom. No one but Ginny. As Hermione was puking her guts up, the redhead knocked on the door and forced her way inside.
"Merlin Gin! I could have been on the toilet!" Hermione growled in between up-chucks.
"But you weren't," Ginny said, giving her best friend a hard stare. "What's wrong with you? Why are you here with such an awful stomach bug?"
Hermione looked guiltily up at Ginny.
"It's not a stomach bug," she mumbled.
"But then...holy shit!" Ginny shrieked. "Are you serious?! You're fucking pregnant?! With a baby?!"
"Yell it louder Gin, I don't think the whole bloody county heard you!" Hermione snapped.
"Sorry," Ginny said, hushing herself. "But seriously? You're pregnant? You're having a baby?"
"Yes!" Hermione hissed. "I'm having a baby! Now calm down."
Unbeknown to Hermione and Ginny, little Victoire had heard the last part of their conversation.
"Auntie Mione, you're having a baby?!" Vikki squealed, so excited at the prospect of another little one to help with. "You're having a baby like mummy?!"
Hermione looked at her with wide and panicked eyes, Ginny's expression almost identical. Victoire, in her excitement, bolted from the hallway towards the stairs just seconds before both Ginny and Hermione lunged towards her.
"Vikki!" Hermione screeched, bowling after her in some desperate attempt to reach the five year old before it was too late.
Ginny was a bit slower, well aware that it was already too late.
"Mummy! Mummy!" Vikki cried, dashing across the room to Fleur. "Auntie Mione is having a baby!"
The whole room fell silent as Hermione reached the bottom step. She pressed her back against the wall and closed her eyes, begging her tears to remain where they were.
"Well, they were all going to find out eventually," Ginny said, walking past Hermione and seating herself back at the table.
"Oh Hermione, I'm so sorry!" Fleur called from the other end of the room. "Victoire! That was so naughty! What on earth-"
"Fleur, it's fine. It's not her fault," Hermione said. "I should have made sure the bathroom door was shut or dragged Ginny somewhere more private."
"Holy sh...sugar! So you are pregnant then?!" Harry looked aghast at her as she nodded slowly.
"What about the father?" Percy asked. "Who is he?"
Every eye in the room was on her. Every eye but one. She wanted him so badly to look up and catch the hidden message written on her face, but he refused to look at her.
"Percy!" Audrey chastised him gently. "You can't just ask something like that!"
"Why not? She's not got a boyfriend," Percy said. "At least not one we know about."
"Yeah, who is the father Hermione?" Harry asked, looking perplexedly at her.
"Well, he doesn't know it's-I haven't had chance to tell him yet, so I can't tell you," she stammered.
"But you know who it is, right?" Ginny said, frowning at Hermione.
"Of course I know who it is! It's the only guy I've slept with in nearly half a year! It can only be one guy!" she barked at the smirking witch.
"Okay! Sorry! I was just checking!" Ginny sniggered.
Hermione huffed and came to sit back at the table. As she plonked herself down she chanced a glance at the one person who'd been refusing to look at her and now had his eyes firmly planted on her. Fred.
Her eyes widened and she looked guiltier than ever, her cheeks reddening the longer he held her gaze. Fred's heart was beating manically in his chest as he his remained fixed on hers.
"Uncle Fred?" Teddy piped up and Fred tore his eyes away from Hermione.
"Yes mate?" he said, doing his best not to croak it. He was still in shock. A lot of it.
"When are you and Auntie Mione getting married?" he asked innocently.
Fred looked exasperatedly at the boy, trying his hardest not to panic. Before he could answer him, his brothers had all started adding their few pennies worth.
"Teddy, Auntie Hermione and Uncle Fred aren't getting married," Bill sighed.
"They aren't even dating," Percy said haughtily.
"Why would you think they'd be getting married now?" George scoffed, ignoring the kick to his shins from Fred.
"Because Grandma said to get a baby you have to do sleeping and Auntie Mione said she's only slept with one man and I saw her sleeping with Uncle Fred the other day," Teddy said, in the calm and innocent way only a child can.
"WHAT?!" the whole room erupted.
Hermione shrunk into herself, wanting the ground to swallow her up and the whole ordeal to be over.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Fred yelled, rolling his eyes at the rest of his family. "Merlin people! Do you honestly think we'd have let Teddy walk in on us going at it and still forced him to keep it a secret?"
The table grew silent again.
"Merlin, I thought you were the father of Hermione's baby for a minute there!" George chuckled. "Phew! What a relief-"
"You're a dick," Fred snapped. "You know I am."
"WHAT?!" the whole room erupted for a second time.
Fred shot Hermione a forlorn look and mouthed his apology across the table. He could see she was torn between glaring at him or smirking, finally opting for a roll of her eyes and a small shrug. Fred took that as a win.
"How the bloody hell did that happen?!" Ron cried, looking in shock between both Hermione and Fred.
"Ron, your wife is six months pregnant. I'm sure you can figure out the how," Fred sniggered.
Hermione huffed and fixed a pointed glare on Fred. "That is not helping," she growled.
"Well, what d'you want me to say?!" Fred asked indignantly. "You refused to talk to me properly after it happened!"
"I didn't refuse to talk to you-"
"No, you just apparated out the door as fast as you bloody could and avoided me at all costs," Fred said.
"Teddy woke us up and Harry and Ginny were about two seconds behind him! What did you want me to do?! Stay and try explain to my best friends, one of which is your little sister, that we got a bit drunk and had some fun?!" Hermione breathed hard, rage and frustration filling her face.
Fred felt like he'd just been slapped. "No I suppose you're right. We wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand the situation."
"You're not supposed to do special grown-up cuddles and kisses for fun," Victoire said, her hard little eyes darting back and forth from Hermione to Fred. "My daddy says you're only supposed to do it when you love someone and you think you want to spend forever with them."
Hermione gaped at her and wanted to retreat back into the ground that she hoped earlier would swallow her. She didn't really have an answer to that, and Fred's simply floored her.
"I know Vikki," he sighed. "That's what I was taught too." Without looking at anyone, he stood up from the table excusing himself quietly and walked out the back door. He just needed a minute to think and a minute to breathe.
Everyone turned to Hermione, in about as much shock as she was. She gaped at the door and then around the table, her eyes finally finding George's. He was looking at her with his eyebrows raised and an exasperated expression on his face.
"Auntie Mione?" Teddy said. "Don't you want to marry Uncle Fred? You look at him like Auntie Ginny looks at Uncle Harry, and like Auntie Fleur looks at Uncle Bill, and-"
"Ted, I think that's enough now mate," George said softly.
The small boy simply nodded and went back to eating his dinner. Several members of the Weasley family felt that it was probably for the best if they followed his lead, and they all began eating again and beginning half-arsed, awkward conversations as though Fred hadn't just up and left the table after sort-of-confessing his love to a woman pregnant with his child as a result of a one night stand.
Unfortunately for Hermione, George wasn't one of them.
"Granger? A word?" he said, standing up and gesturing to the back door.
"But-"
"Fred won't be out there if that's what you're worried about," George said. "He'll have stomped off into the woods by now."
Hermione nodded and got quietly to her feet. A few tears fell down her face as she sullenly walked to the door. She felt terrible, she hadn't intended for Fred to believe it meant nothing to her. It meant everything to her. But she was so scared that he wouldn't feel the same way she'd shut her heart off before she got hurt.
"What the hell Granger?!" George cried, rounding on her as they got outside and she shut the door.
"What?!" Hermione cried back defensively, taking her irritation with herself out on George.
"You've been in love with my brother for how long now? And your explanation for this unplanned pregnancy was that you got a bit drunk and had some fun?!" George looked at her in disbelief. "Merlin Hermione, you're so smart when it comes to books and laws and knowledge and magic. But boy are you bloody dumb when it comes to love and matters of the heart."
"I know that George!" Hermione shrieked. "Why d'you think I said all that stuff in the first place!"
"Uh, because you stupidly talked yourself into believing that Fred couldn't possibly love you back, and then when you discovered you were pregnant you turned all your emotions off since you figured it would be easier to deal with such a messy situation if you didn't really feel anything," George said. "Only, now you've lied to yourself and you've lied to Fred and he's stormed off and you're panicking because you don't know how you're going to cope raising a child with a man you're insanely in love with who now probably won't believe you when you tell him the truth because he's just as stubborn as you are. Stubborn enough to believe his own paranoid thoughts about why you said it was all a bit of fun, convincing himself that you'd only admit to loving him because it would be easier to raise a baby that way, and because you felt bad, and then you'll both end up rolling through life as one big ball of misery with a million fake smiles on top because you're both idiots. How am I doing so far?"
Hermione glared at him and folded her arms in a huff. "Just because you get me better than I get myself, doesn't mean you're allowed to be so damn smug about it," she grumbled.
"Yo! Freddie!" George called, much to Hermione's horror. "What about you? Is that about it? Did I sum it up pretty well?"
Fred huffed his way over from behind the first few trees that dotted the edge of the woods. He glared at George.
"Well?" George asked. "Have I about got it right?"
"Probably," Fred sulked.
George sighed. "Guys, in nine months time you're going to be parents. Suck it up and get on with it, because you can't do this every time you're too scared to talk to one another." With that he stalked back into the house and left the pair of them staring at each other.
"It wasn't just fun," Hermione blurted.
Fred's gaze softened slightly but the hurt was still in his eyes. "So why'd you say it was?"
Hermione sighed and decided to take George's advice. "Because, I didn't want you to feel like I was backing you into a corner. And I didn't want to tell you how I felt in front of your entire family in case you didn't feel the same way, and then felt you had to pretend you did just to keep everyone happy."
"Is that what you're doing now?" he mumbled.
"Oh fuck off Fred!" she snapped. "It was dick move and you know it!"
Fred shuffled uncomfortably. "I am not going to disagree with you. But I'm not going to admit you're right either." He looked up at her with a cheeky glint in his eye.
"You're an arse," she muttered.
"I am," he said with a grin. "But I'd quite like to be your arse, if you'll have me?"
"Hmm..." Hermione frowned at him, a contemplative gaze holding his eyes. "Well, it's not like I'm going to get rid of you anytime soon. I am having your baby after all. But I don't really want an arse, I already have one of them."
"And a very fine one, if I may say so," Fred said, looking wickedly at her.
"You may," she giggled. "I could use a slave though, if you want to be one of them?"
"How about I meet you in the middle, and go for husband?" Fred asked, chuckling at her wide and surprised eyes.
"Fred, that's a real commitment," she said seriously, all joking removed from her tone.
"I know," he said. "I happen to think having a child together is a bigger commitment, but we can focus on the proposal if you want."
"I don't want to get married just because we're having a baby together," she said, her eyes watering and her throat closing over. She didn't want him to launch into something with her for the sake of someone else. She wanted to be loved, she wanted to be enough on her own.
"Neither do I," Fred said. He slid a hand gently along her jaw, resting his thumb on her cheek and forcing her eyes to meet his. "I want to marry you because I love you. Because you make me a better man. Because you drive me absolutely fucking crazy in more ways than one. I want to marry you because the morning I woke up with you in my arms was the best morning of my life, and because for a revelatory moment I wished that the child waking us was ours. I want to marry you because out of all the people on this planet, you are the only person I can't do without. You're my morning coffee, I can't function without seeing you."
Hermione's breath wobbled, her eyes misted over and she sobbed quietly. "Fuck I love you Fred," she murmured.
Fred laughed, breathing in relief. He leant forwards and captured her lips in a sweet and hungry kiss. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life, kissing him for all she was worth.
"Is that a yes then?" Fred snickered as they came up for air.
"That depends," she mumbled in between soft kisses.
"On what?" he asked.
"On whether you have a ring?" She smirked up at him and he sighed, rolling his eyes. Then he did something that Hermione was not expecting. He grabbed hold of her hand and dragged her gently back towards the Burrow.
Fred stalked through the back door, pulling a squeaking Hermione behind him. He set her on her feet beside him and looked briefly around the room.
"I need to borrow a ring," he said. "Well, not exactly borrow, more keep forever."
"What do you want a ring for?" Ron asked with a frown. George rolled his eyes at his oblivious little brother and chucked a bread roll at him.
"I need a ring because this daft witch won't agree to marry me if I don't have one," Fred explained.
"Fred!" Hermione squealed.
Molly stood up and dashed towards the stairs.
"Oh Fred, now we've gone and upset your mother!"
All the Weasley children scoffed simultaneously at that, including Ron. Several seconds later, Molly came shuffling back down the stairs, holding out the most beautiful antique diamond ring that Hermione had ever seen.
"I've been waiting years for one of you to ask me that for years!" Molly gushed.
"Cheers mum," Fred grinned. He turned to Hermione. "What d'you say now witch?" He smirked at Hermione.
Hermione shook her head, her eyes wide and her face aghast. "I was only joking Fred. I don't need a ring, I'll agree to marry you without one. I can't accept such a precious and sentimental thing, it wouldn't be right."
"Hermione, that ring was my grandmother's. It's been gathering dust for a while now, and she'd want you to have it. She'd want to see me happy, and nothing would see me happier than watching my Freddie marry the woman he loves," Molly said firmly. "Fred and I will talk later about how he managed to get you pregnant before he even asked you on a date or told you he loves you." She smiled at Hermione, flicking her gaze towards Fred and turning it into a reproving glare. Fred merely nodded.
"It is beautiful..." Hermione breathed.
"Would you just put it on so we can sit and finish lunch?" Fred asked impatiently.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him and gave him her hand. She couldn't help the elated little smile that crept onto her face as Fred grinned at her and slid the ring on her finger.
"Uncle George," Teddy piped up. "When do I get my galleon?"
George groaned and hung his head while the whole room gaped at him. It was Hermione who laughed first, closely followed by Fred. George looked up and gave them a sheepish smile.
"In my defence, I had no idea Hermione was pregnant, and I was aiming for a date not a marriage. At least not for a little while," George said.
"I think, considering how well it worked out, that you're forgiven," Hermione said.
Fred nodded. "I don't know what I'd do without you Georgie."
"Pine after the only witch you've ever loved, forever," George answered.
"That was rhetorical," Fred muttered.
"Thanks for the help George, I think we both needed it," Hermione said, smiling softly at Fred.
"Anytime, it's not like I could stand by and watch you both end up miserable, is it?" he chuckled.
"Also known as, you were driving him freaking nuts," Ginny added, sniggering to herself.
"Yeah, you really were," George said. "How half of these lot didn't know something was up with you two is a mystery to me!"
"We're obviously a whole lot better at it than Charlie and Lee," Fred scoffed.
"Hey! We're in an actual relationship, we aren't still dancing around each other like you pair were," Charlie huffed.
Fred sat back down at the table and George made some room for Hermione to squeeze in beside him. Soon, Sunday lunch had resumed and they were all back to chatting amongst themselves and in small groups. Hermione rested one hand on Fred's knee, feeling happy and safe for the first time since she'd taken the pregnancy test. Her other hand rested on her still-flat stomach, and she smiled as Fred's arm casually snaked it's way around her waist and his hand came to rest with her own. This was something she'd dreamt about too many times to count and it was finally real.