Note: As some of you may have noticed, I'm trying to stay as faithful to the books as possible, but I'm making a few addendums and "improvements" along the way in order for my story to make more sense. Please let me know if this makes the chapters seem at all vague or difficult to understand at certain times.
Harry's popularity soared even higher than it had been before the Quidditch match. Several members of the opposite sex from each of the seven years were finding him almost irresistible. At least one in thirty of the school's female student population was planning on sneaking Harry love potions. Each one was in hopes that he would leave Hermione for her.
Fortunately, Hermione had notified Harry of these little "conspiracies" before they had even started. But that did not stop several of the girls from trying anyway.
Less than an hour after Harry had warned Hermione, Romilda Vane had offered him a Gillywater in the Gryffindor common room. He politely refused, but wasn't off the hook yet. Romilda gave him a box of Firewhiskey-laced Chocolate Cauldrons as a gift. He simply told her "Thanks" and went to stash them in his trunk.
After that occurrence, Harry decided that he would not accept a free drink from anybody at Hogwarts. He decided that he wouldn't even accept one from a member of the male population. His reasoning was there was a chance that a member of the female population may have spiked the drink with a Love Potion and bribed the male student to give Harry the drink.
Relatively speaking, November seemed to zoom by faster than a Firebolt broomstick in pristine condition. Soon December was upon Hogwarts, and everyone was making plans for the Christmas Break. Harry and Hermione planned to spend it with Ron and his family at The Burrow. They made a note to discuss some of their objectives for the future while they were there.
Pavarti and Lavender were planning on throwing the expectant couple a baby shower before the break began. Pavarti and her twin sister, Padma, had seen to writing the invitations; Lavender and Ron took the responsibility of delivering them.
They held the baby shower in the Transfiguration Classroom, which Professor McGonagall was more than happy to let them borrow for one afternoon. Pavarti and the others took the time to decorate it. They had put up some poster boards with the word CONGRATULATIONS written on them in large letters. Other than that, the decorations were relatively modest.
Hermione had insisted on a "quiet shower." The shower was a little less quiet than she had in mind. But everyone there was happy for her and Harry.
Ron had gotten butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and all other sorts of refreshments from the kitchen. During the party, he let slip that the House Elves had told him to extend their best wishes to Hermione for them.
"You TOLD them the reason for why you were there, Ron?" asked Harry irritably.
"Yeah, I did." Ron answered simply. "So what? Virtually everyone else in the school knows."
"That is true, but this is not something you just blurt out." said Hermione.
"Harry, Hermione, relax, you're overreacting." said Dean.
Harry realized that Dean had a point. He sat down next to Hermione and said "You're right, Dean. Sorry about that, Ron. Hermione and I just have a lot on our minds right now."
"I know." Ron smiled at his two best friends. "But I should probably let you know, the House Elves did not seem concerned for the reason of why I was there."
"They actually seemed indifferent about the subject." said Lavender, who had accompanied Ron to the kitchen to help him with the refreshments.
"No doubt they were too preoccupied with work to have any thoughts on it." commented Hermione.
Hermione was still a strong advocate of House Elves' rights, but nobody seemed to side with her on the subject, not even the House Elves themselves. In fact, the House Elves would have been the last ones to take her side, as working was all they thought about.
After best wishes and gifts were given, the rest of the baby shower was pretty much laughing and talking. The gifts included various books on childrearing for wizards and witches, references to ideal child support agencies, and a few toys for the baby. Some of them were ones that Harry and Hermione were unfamiliar with, as they were made specifically for children in the world of magic.
"Thanks, Luna…" Hermione began as she unwrapped the fifth-year Ravenclaw girl's gift. The gift was a set of three bracelets. They were all white and they had a green emerald on one side. One of them was a little smaller than the other two in terms of its radius. Hermione looked up at Luna and asked her "What are they?"
"They're Baby Bracelets." Luna explained. "The smaller one is supposed to go around the baby's wrist. The other two are worn by the parents. Whenever the baby is need of anything- feeding, changing, or rocking to sleep- the emeralds on the parents' bracelets light up and vibrate. They're like the Wizard equivalent of a… of a… what do you call that thing again?"
"What thing, Luna?" asked Ginny.
"I can't remember what exactly," said Luna, "but I do recall that it is something used by Muggle parents to listen in on their children when they are babies."
"A baby monitor?" Harry guessed.
"That's it!" Luna nodded. "The bracelets are the Wizard equivalent of a baby monitor."
Harry and Hermione looked interested in the Bracelets. They would certainly come in handy over the summer and beyond that.
"Have you given any thoughts on godparents yet?" inquired Neville.
"We plan to work that out over the break." Harry answered. He was sitting next to Hermione with his arm around her shoulders. Obviously, they were the center of attention even after the shower had ended.
"Are there any promising candidates among us?" asked Padma.
"Maybe." Harry grinned. Hermione nudged him sharply in the side. Harry quickly added "But like I said before, we plan to work it out over the break."
"We look forward to hearing your decisions." said Neville.
"You know, from the moment I met you two, I had a feeling you would end up together." said Seamus truthfully.
Everybody scoffed at that statement, including Harry and Hermione. When they first met each other, they did not like each other at all. Hermione and Ron did not like each other either. But after Harry and Ron had saved Hermione from that troll in their first year, she became their friend.
Of course, even back then, Harry and Hermione had no idea that they would be having a baby less than six years later.
Another hour later, the baby shower ended and everybody helped clean up the room before classes resumed the following day.