The Next Morning
After their productive outing of the day before, Hermione's small room is littered with schoolbooks, new robes and a myriad of school supplies. Hermione sleeps soundly on the bed and Harry snores quietly from the chair near the fireplace. Stirring awake to a tapping noise on the window, Harry stretches and rubs his eyes groggily before retrieving the note from the disgruntled owl.
Shaking Hermione awake gently while reading the note Harry says "Hermione, wake up, we're told to be at the Weasley's by 10 tomorrow morning, their sending a car, so I'll pack your things, we ought to be ready to go in an hour"
Hermione pulls the covers over her head and groans, "I don't want to go!"
Throwing books into the trunk he pulls at the bottom edge of the covers "Well, we're going, so get up"
Setting aside a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a dusty pink hooded sweater, which Harry decided would hide her belly nicely, he packs the remaining contents of the wardrobe into the trunk.
"Hermione, come on, we have a nice long car ride for you to sleep in, I know you're not feeling well but I need you to get dressed." pulling the covers up from over her head, he sits her up gently, "Now, here's some clothes, put them on, while I take your things down stairs, alright?"
Hermione nods, pouting slightly "Thanks Harry!" she says as he exits and waves in return as the door shuts behind him.
Removing her pajamas, she dresses quickly and does a once over of the room, making sure nothing was left behind. Finding nothing, she exit's the room, walking rather slowly as she goes to meet Harry downstairs.
Met by a sleek black ministry car, in front of the run down pub, the driver is loading Hermione's things into the trunk of the car. Harry opens the door for Hermione as she climbs into the surprisingly spacious back seat (magically altered, no doubt).
Preparing for the insanely long car trip to the burrow, Harry pulls out a few extra books he bought the day before and climbs in behind Hermione.
"I brought some entertainment for you." he says handing her the first book titled 'Unlimited Baby Names for Soon-to-be Wizarding Parents'
Hermione takes the book and leaning on Harry's shoulder flips through it slowly " I wonder if it's a boy or a girl…" she says quietly, resting her hand on her midsection.
Looking down at her, Harry smiles "I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be a beautiful healthy baby"
Hermione smiles "This one's pretty, Emmaline…I like it." folding over the corner of the page as she looks through the book.
Looking over her shoulder, he points out a few he likes "Evelyn is pretty…"
Talking over baby names for a majority of the ride, they come to a stop in front of The Burrow, much sooner than they expected. Unloading their things and entering the large house, it appears to be empty. Harry shrugs and checks the many rooms to see if anyone is around.
Tucking the baby name book away safely in her trunk, buried under clothes, she heads towards the stairs, only to be nearly run over by a hurried Ron. Taken aback she steps away, and Ron looking equally shocked to see Hermione, he nearly falls off the last step. Harry returns from the back rooms, and scratches his head idly.
"Hello Ron, Hermione's stayin here for the rest of the summer…" Harry says, walking over to them.
"Um…why?" Ron asks looking at the both of them, confused.
"Well, you two really should have a little chat about that one, really's not my place, I'll take her things upstairs though…" hauling the trunk upstairs, Harry leaves the pair downstairs.
"Well?" Ron asks slightly impatient, glancing around the 1st floor
"Perhaps you should sit down…" Hermione says quietly looking at the floor
Ron shakes his head "Out with it, Hermione. You don't need to dance around it, what ever it is…"
"The thing is, I'm pregnant…" Hermione says quickly
"Oh…" looking down at his shoes, pausing for awhile before responding, "Err, well if you need anything, I'll do what I can…"
Hermione nods "I appreciate it…just don't tell your parents yet…"
Ron nods; looking increasingly bewildered "Alright. We'll talk more later…I gotta go…"
Ron heads out the door, running his hand through his red hair and shaking his head, slightly in disbelief. Harry emerges from the top of the stairs, as he hears the end of the stilted conversation.
"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Harry says
Hermione shrugs and wipes a small tear from her face "No, I s'pose it could have been worse"
Pulling her into a quick hug, He nods "Everything will be fine, now I put your things up in a spare room upstairs. Why don't you go lay down for bit?"
Hermione nods "Wake me when anyone arrives."
A few hours later, Hermione wakes to a rustling noise in her room and notices Ron coming in through the window.
"What in heaven's name are you doing?" she says groggily rubbing her eyes
"I needed to talk to you and wanted to avoid my family, so I took the window…" Ron says shrugging "We need to come up with a plan, about the..baby and all"
Hermione sits up and pulls a blanket around her "Alright..?" brushing her mussed hair away from her face and rubbing her eyes again "Any ideas?"
"Well…I wasn't sure what you were thinking, but I think we should keep it…" sitting down on a chair on the opposite side of the room, "We'll hafta tell my parents eventually, but I would prefer to avoid it as long as possible"
Hermione nods "I think we should keep it too, I'm due sometime in January so, as long as I stay at school for winter break, we could hide it up until It's born if needed."
"A winter baby, that's nice." Ron says genuinely, "What about once the baby is born, what do we do then?"
Hermione shrugs, "I'm really not sure…" and with that there's a knock on the door. Instinctively Ron goes to get it and opens it to a very surprised Harry
"Oh I didn't mean to interrupt anything, but I was coming to wake Hermione up, carry on though, I'll be downstairs" Harry says turning to head back down the narrow staircase
"Wait, Harry." Ron says "Stick around." gesturing for Harry to come in and closing the door behind him.
"But we only have one year left of school, so we'd just need to figure something out for the last 5 months or so of 7th year."
Hermione nods "Right, and then after that….I mean, are we going to live together, or do we need to figure out some form of a custody agreement"
Harry chimes in "I think living together would be more practical, since neither of you could really afford a house on your own, and then the responsibilities of the baby would be split."
Both Ron and Hermione nod "I s'pose we could give that a try…" Ron says slightly uncomfortable.
Suddenly Hermione gets up, bolting to the bathroom her hand over her mouth, morning sickness being particularly bad lately.
"Is that normal?" Ron asks Harry
Harry nods "Yeah I think so…so how're you taking it?"
"Um, well how would you be taking it, your ex-girlfriend, whom broke up with you because she felt that you wanted different things when in fact that's so far from the truth, shows up one day and tells you she's pregnant with your child?" Ron says sarcastically, sitting back in the chair.
"Good point." Harry says, sitting on the edge of the unmade bed "Well, no one's back yet, not quite sure where they went, but perhaps we ought to find out."
Upon Hermione's return, the trio heads downstairs. Finding the Weasely family just returning from a shopping trip in Diagon Alley.