Packages

Ch. 1 - Pickles

          "Ginny, I bet this one fits. It says 5-6 months." Hermione Weasley held up the green top to show Ginny who was on the other end of the small shop. "It's really cute, too." Ginny walked towards Hermione.

          "How much does it cost?" Ginny took the shirt from Hermione and glanced at it.

          "Only about twenty-five American dollars, Gin." Hermione gave her good friend a quick smile then searched the rack again.

          "Oh, Hermione this is the PERFECT outfit for Christmas for you. It's just in your color, too." Angelina Weasley walked up behind them. Hermione took the pants suit from Angelina.

          "Thanks. so, ladies, shall we try them on?" Hermione took the four outfits she had and started for the dressing rooms, Ginny and Angelina followed.

          After giving each other tips of what looked good, whether they needed bigger or smaller sizes, and approving of pretty much all of the outfits, the three were walking out of the store with three shopping bags each.

          "I think it's time for an ice-cream break, girls." Ginny suggested, looking from Hermione to Angelina.

          "If you hadn't have suggested it soon, I sure would have." Angelina smiled at Ginny then walked/ran over to the ice cream stand located only a few feet away from the store they had just come out of.

          "I'd like a. triple-scooped chocolate ice cream cone with sprinkles and. hot fudge. low fat of course." Angelina almost ate the paper that came around the cone.

          "Gina. you might not wanna' eat that." Hermione took her large cup of vanilla ice cream with pickles in it.

          "Oh, Hermione. Pickles sound really good right now." Ginny ordered her very large ice cream cone also and they started to walk down the mall.

          "Ladies, I don't know about you, but eh. I need to take a rest." Angelina lowered herself onto a bench slowly.

          "I never knew being pregnant could get in the way as much as it does." Ginny lowered herself next to Angelina.

          "Yeah, well. Sometimes being a woman really sucks." Hermione said after swallowing her large mouthful of ice cream.

          "Haha. Guys get all the fun." Ginny ate another bite of her ice cream.

          "You got that right." Angelina leaned back.

          "Why do us pregnant women always crave ice cream and pickles?" Ginny asked looking quizzically at Hermione.

          "It has something to do with our hormones." Hermione started her speech about pregnant woman and food, but thankfully, they were interrupted by Parvati Patil and her husband. Once Parvati spotted the women, she rushed over to greet her three friends from school.

           "Hermione! Ginny! Angelina!" Parvati ran over to hug them. Hermione stood, helping Ginny and Angelina up.

          "Hello, Parvati." Hermione saw her amazingly good-looking husband who was standing behind her.

          "Hermione, Ginny, Angelina, meet my husband, Rob Stewart." Hermione shook hands with him first, then Ginny, then Angelina.

          "Nice to meet you, Rob." Hermione smiled politely then looked back at Parvati. Ginny just smiled a little and then looked away again.

Ginny and Parvati hadn't really liked each other all that well because Harry dated Parvati for a year and half and Ginny had become extremely jealous during this time. Angelina half-smiled and stood there looking at Parvati.

          "Hermione, it's great to see you again! How's everything going?" Parvati noticed that Hermione, Ginny, and Angelina were all heavily pregnant. "Well I see you all have been pretty busy." Parvati gave a broad smile and Hermione turned a little pink. "How far along are you?"

          "About six months." Ginny smiled, obviously very happy to the fact that she was a very pregnant woman.

          "And who are the lucky dads?"

          "Well, you could probably only guess." Angelina smiled at Parvati for the first time.

          "Oh let me see. Harry, Ron, and Fred?"

          "Ha. Not that hard was it?" Hermione, still smiling at Parvati, looked at Ginny who had never looked happier in her life.

          "No, not really." Parvati smiled and looked at Rob who was looking pretty uncomfortable around four women and three that were pregnant with large ice creams that were half eaten in their hands.

          "Well, we better be heading off. Great to see you Hermione," Parvati hugged Hermione, "Ginny." She hugged Ginny, too, who didn't really want to be hugged. And smiled at Angelina. "Good bye girls." Parvati took her husbands hand in hers and walked towards Goldsmith's.

          "That was interesting." Hermione looked at Ginny who still had a big grin on her face.

          "That was fun. I swear I saw some jealousy in her eyes when she figured I was pregnant with Harry's kid." Ginny smirked at herself as she said this and picked up her shopping bags. "So, where to?"

          After the girls had finished shopping, they decided to head back to Hermione's house. (Angelina, Ginny, Fred, and Harry were all spending about two days there then all three couples were going to head to the Burrow for Christmas holiday.) Opening the door to find no husbands, Ginny started to talk, but Hermione shushed her. There were male voices coming from upstairs in the office.

          "Let's go listen." Hermione whispered and nodded her head toward the back staircase. The girls followed Hermione and they silently put down their shopping bags in the kitchen by the back stairs.

          "Well, Harry, I don't understand why you don't want to get the latest model for your future son." Ron's voice came through strongly and the girls rolled their eyes skyward. "Of course you could always get it the new Quidditch package featuring the Chudley Cannons including a golden snitch, bludgers, and quaffles."

          "Ron, I know what it includes. I don't know."

          "I thought this was going to be something important." Hermione whispered to Ginny and they stifled giggles.

          "I got the best present for Ginny." Harry was telling Ron and Fred. "It's a big surprise. We're supposed to 'get stuck' in that lonely little cabin out by the old Quidditch field that we all used to play at when we were kids."

          "You mean the one with the double-wide bed and fireplace with a nice little kitchenette and even a hot tub that actually works?" Fred sounded surprised.

          "That's the one."

          Ginny caught the grins that were being given to her by Hermione and Angelina.

          "And how do you expect to get her up there, you can't drag her by her hair, ya know?" Ron asked.

          "I don't know. I was thinking maybe like 'Oh, I forgot something real important back at the office, honey. Want to come with me to get it?' and then just fly to the little cabin stating that that was where I had left my work."

          "I always knew you were a brilliant man, Harry." Angelina rolled her eyes at Fred's statement.

          "So what are you two planning on for a Christmas gift for your 'significant others'?"

          "I was thinking a little champagne. some chocolate. red roses. You get the picture." Angelina turned a little red when Fred said this.

          "Do you think we should make our presence known?" Hermione whispered to Ginny. Ginny nodded her head, but then Hermione heard Ron start to speak.

          "I was thinking to leave her at the Burrow with the kids and make an excuse to get away from there for awhile, probably make her really angry and then. she usually forgives me about six times in one night." Hermione turned bright pink and ran to the door, opened it and closed it to make sure that the men stopped their little talk.

          "Honey, We're home!" Hermione screamed then ran back into the kitchen to see Ginny and Angelina exploding with laughter and the three men coming down the stairs to greet their wives.

          "We weren't expecting you girls home so early. How was your day?" Harry asked and took the bags from Ginny and started to carry them upstairs to the guest bedroom in which they were staying in.

          "Not bad, we ran into Parvati Patil!" Ginny exclaimed and by the look on her face you could tell she as anxious to see her husband's reaction. Harry dropped a shopping bag and turned around.

          "No fist fighting, right?"

          "We were very civilized," Hermione cut in.

          "Who is that Rob guy she married?" Ron asked while pulling out a chair for his wife who seemed to be exhausted, well at least he thought that she always was every time she became pregnant.

          "He's quite a looker." Angelina smiled at Fred who had once looked happy to see her five seconds ago, now looked jealous. "But of course. not better than any men in this family." She smiled at Fred who relaxed a little and smiled back.

          "Ron, really I don't need to sit down." Hermione smiled sweetly at her husband, but showed a little annoyance in her tone.

          "Of course you do. Rest is what a pregnant woman needs."

          "You'd think I'd know when I need rest or not having been pregnant three times previously." Hermione sighed and turned her back to Ron, looking at Angelina who was now laughing a little. "Anyway, continuing on about Parvati's husband. His name is Rob and he is quite nice, not that he got to sneak a word in edge wise with his big-mouthed wife who gave Ginny a look that could kill the already dead."

          "Sounds so much like the Parvati I knew," Fred said. "So, what's for dinner?"

          "Men and food. I swear, if this world was run by men, the only shops available would be fast food restaurants and banks so they could get money to buy more food." Hermione picked up her shopping bag and her and Angelina walked up the back staircase following Ginny and Harry who had gone up a good five minutes ago.

          "What do you ladies want for dinner?" Ron called after them.

          "Pickles and Ice Cream!!" Hermione and Angelina called in unison.

          "What is it with pregnant women and pickles?" Fred ask Ron, who shrugged.