'I shouldn't be this nervous for a family dinner', Ginny told herself, trying to calm her rising anxiety. Her Mum had truly outdone herself of the food though, as the sturdy kitchen table, currently in the garden along with several others, was groaning under the weight of all the dishes. It was probably out of excitement, was what Ginny was thinking, and if one knew Molly Weasley, it made total sense. All her children were back at the Burrow, something that became more and more of a feat as her brood grew up.
This though, was one family dinner Ginny was not looking forward to. "You okay Gin?" Harry whispered into her ear, surprising her.
"What do you think, Harry?" Ginny replied irritably, "We're about to tell my family I'm pregnant, of course I'm not bloody okay!"
"Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm nervous too." Harry wrapped his arms around Ginny, his hands lightly touching her stomach.
Ginny slumped in Harry's embrace, "I didn't mean to snap at you." she said meekly, and Harry simply kissed her cheek.
"Oy! Lovebirds! Food's getting cold!" Came George's yell from the garden
"Guess that's our cue to go." Harry said. Feeling the nervous feeling in her belly intensify, Ginny merely nodded and grabbed Harry's hand.
Once outside, Harry and Ginny quickly settled into the normal routine of a Weasley family dinner; there were at least three conversations going on, and people kept raising their voices to be heard over the steadily growing roar of conversation. Nobody really noticed that Ginny and Harry were both oddly quiet.
"Umhum"
"Umhum"
Rolling his eyes, Percy stood and raised his voice, "Oi!"
"Yes Perce?" Fred calmly put down the spoon of mashed potatoes he was about to launch at Bill and looked at his closest older brother.
"I have an announcement," The pompous tone was back, Ginny noticed, which meant Percy was nervous about something. George moved his hand in the clear 'yes, continue' movement. "I've been seeing this girl, Audrey."
Charlie wolf whistled. "It's about time!" Bill called out with a laugh, and Molly shushed her two oldest.
"You can continue dear."
Blushing a little bit from his brothers slight teasing, Percy continued, "We've been seeing each other for a couple of months, and I want to bring her around to meet everyone." He sat down quickly, grinning slightly from all the cheers and wolf whistles that had erupted.
Once the noise died down, Ginny stood and pulled Harry to his feet. "On that note," Ginny began, clearly very nervous, "Harry and I have an announcement to make as well."
Already knowing what was going to be said, both Molly and Arthur and Hermione and Ron didn't say a word.
"I'm pregnant." Ginny dropped the bombshell and grabbed Harry's hand like a lifeline.
"Bloody fucking hell, Gin, you can't be serious."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"This better not be a prank, Ginny, because this isn't funny."
"I'm not kidding Charlie, and that would be a terrible prank George."
"Watch your language." Molly chided Fred, while giving a pointed look to all her sons
"Prove it." Charlie crossed his bulky arms across his chest and glared at his baby sister and her boyfriend.
Sighing heavily, Ginny dropped Harry's hand. She pulled the fabric of her shirt tight, so it fully showed her stomach, which was not longer flat, but softly rounded. Ginny caressed her belly once, a look of love filling her eyes briefly, before looking directly at Charlie. "Is this good enough for you?" she asked, her tone partly sarcastic and partly irritated, staring down her second eldest brother.
It had seemed, that the more Ginny had shown of her belly, the angrier it made her brothers. "We're going to have a talk," Bill said, looking directly at Harry, "the six of us," he gestured to his brothers, "and you. Inside. Right Now." his scars, combined with his anger made Bill a scary figure.
As her brothers stood, and Harry-who was looking rather resigned- followed them into the Burrow, Ginny looked at her father pleadingly. Sadly, Arthur shook his head; this was something his boys had to do.
Looking defeated and close to tears, Ginny got up from the table and flead to the small orchard behind the Burrow. Giving a sad sigh, Hermione got up and made to go after her best friend; Angelina though, stopped her. "I'll go."
"It's fine-" Hermione began, but Angelina cut her off
"I was in her shoes six months ago," the older witch said firmly, awkwardly leveraging her eight months' pregnant body out of her chair, "I know exactly how she feels. You want to help, I know you do, but sometimes it's easier to talk to someone going through a similar situation." Hermione stayed put, and Angelina made her way to the orchard.
When she came to the first of the apple trees, Angelina found Ginny; back against the tree, with her face in her hands, which slightly muffled the sound of her sobs. Carefully, Angelina sat down and pulled her into a hug and Ginny buries her face in the older witch's shoulder and continues to sob.
Angelina rubs her sister-in-law's back in calming circles until the sobbing stops. "You know they're not going to kill Harry." She said, voicing Ginny's fears.
"You sure about that?" Ginny replies doubtingly, glancing briefly at the Borrow.
"I thought you knew that they all consider Harry one of them," Angelina replied, "and as furious as they are at him for getting you, their baby sister, pregnant, they're probably even more terrified of what you would do to them for killing Harry." Her tone was teasing and light, and Angelina smiled at Ginny.
Ginny chuckled, one hand moving to her stomach and going around in absent-minded circles, "Damn right they should be. Though,"- her tone was uncertain now, "It's taken so much for me and Harry to get to a point where we're both positive about the baby, I'm terrified this is going to send him ten steps back. I need him, Angie." Ginny gripped both Angelina's hands tightly, looking teary, "I have other people I can rely on, I know that, but without Harry it feels like part of me is missing. For nearly a month I felt like that, if we go back to that point again…"
"I know," Angelina said sincerely when Ginny trailed off, "when I found out about this one," She affectionately patted her round belly, "George and I had just had a massive row and I was sleeping on the couch at Katie and Oliver's. Took me two weeks to screw up the courage to go back. When I told him," she paused for a moment, her voice going soft "I thought he was going to walk out. Stopped what he was saying and walked to the door. Surprised me when he leaned against the door and cried though-"
"George, crying?" Ginny interrupted, her voice slightly shocked, "Blimey."
Angelina nodded, a small smile crossing her face. "Turns out he was just as scared as I was.", she zoned out for a moment, rubbing her belly.
"Are you the only one?" Angelina asked after a moment's silence
"There's a couple others," Ginny said, "One girl's pregnant with twins- she's bloody huge."
Angelina's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Is she tall with blonde hair?"
Ginny nodded, "Why?"
"I think I've seen her at the healers before. This tall muscular bloke is always with her too."
"That's Megan," Ginny said, "The bloke's Justin, her fiancé."
"Ange? Ginny?" A voice called, sounding somewhat concerned. The speaker, which turns out to be George hurries up to the orchard, "You all okay?" He asked, looking down at the two witches sitting on the ground.
"Just peachy, love." Angelina replied, Ginny scowling at her brother, "I'm assuming that you lot haven't killed Harry?"
"You best not have," Ginny said quickly, "Or I'll hex your bits off." She glared at her brother, who had paled rather dramatically, casually reaching for her wand.
"Harry's still alive," George said, "and in perfect shape." He added quickly, seeing Ginny's raised eyebrows and her wand casually aimed at his crotch, "he's looking for you two now actually-"
George wasn't able to finish, as Ginny had jumped up and raced towards the garden and, presumably to her boyfriend. He went to follow his sister, but was stopped by an impatient throat clearing.
"And you expect me to get up from here by myself?" Angelina asked, hands on her round belly; a small part of her regretting sitting on the ground, as getting up was going to be an arduous task.
"Of course not!" George replied. He crouched down and helped his wife get up on her knees, then from there on her feet. They stood for a moment, to let Angelina catch her breath, then followed Ginny's path to the garden.
The rest of the family was at the table, waiting for their return to finish eating- Ginny was happily nuzzled in Harry's side, while her brothers were, mostly, looking normal. Charlie, always passionate, still looked rather peeved. "Took you two long enough." Bill replied cheerily, his arm draped over Fleur's shoulders. Angelina raised her eyebrows, giving her brother-in-law a look that clearly said 'really?'
"Angie is eight months pregnant, oh wise eldest brother," George said, placing one freckled hand on Angelina's belly, "I think we get a pass."
"Just wait till Fleur's at this point, Billy boy," Angelina said, sitting down next to Alicia. She leaned over and whispered something to her best friend, both women sharing knowing grins.
The aforementioned Fleur raised one perfectly arched eyebrow, "And what, precisely, is that supposed to mean?" She asked Angelina, reaching for her glass.
Angelina smirked, one hand pressing lightly on her stomach, "Nothing of gravid detail, if you get my point." George dropped into the seat next to Angelina, looking thoroughly amused by the conversation between the two sister-in-laws.
Percy, the great lover of words, snorted. "Mum?" Ginny asked suddenly, looking down at her stomach in confusion, "Is it supposed to feel like there's popcorn popping in my belly? Is that normal?"
Molly gasped, while the other looked confused, "Where are you feeling it?" She asked, nearly bounding out of her chair in obvious excitement.
"The lower part of my belly?" Ginny was still confused, and kept glancing down at her belly. She nearly jumped out of her seat when Molly hugged her from behind, "What the bloody-"
"That's your baby, Ginny," Molly explained, "it's perfectly normal. The healers call it flutters."
Ginny's eyes glistened, she had been feeling this for weeks now and thought it was indigestion "Can I feel it?" Harry questioned, placing a hand on Ginny's belly and looking hopeful.
"Probably not," Angelina answered, "Baby's too small at this point for you to feel anything, Harry. You'll get plenty of chances later though, when baby gets bigger." She grinned wryly.
Harry looked momentarily disappointed. "Congrats?" Fred offered, followed by an equally confused "Congratulations," from Percy.
And then Molly hurried back into the kitchen to pull out dessert, (because apparently this was a cause for celebration), Fred 'accidentally' let a plate of roast fall into Charlie's lap, and the normal chaos of the Weasley family began anew.