Chapter 26: Celebration
"What took you so long?" George asked as he was ordering drinks at the bar with his twin brother.
"She couldn't find the right shoes," Fred mumbled.
"Yeah, right!" George winked at him before placing his order to the waiter behind the bar; "eight mojitos please"
"Make one of them virgin!" Fred quickly added.
"Virgin? What the hell Freddy? I thought we were celebrating, you wuss!"
"It's not for me…"
"Who the hell ordered a virgin then?"
"You cannot tell anyone that I told you this." George nodded eagerly as Fred prepared himself; "Hermione might be pregnant."
"…Might be? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"She doesn't know yet."
"Bloody hell… Congratulations, man!" George smiled, patting Fred between his shoulder blades.
"Congratulations? This is a fucking disaster, George!"
"Why? I thought you were planning on being with Hermione for the rest of your days?"
"I don't know. I love her like crazy but we've only been together for six months. And could you ever imagine me with the responsibility that comes with being a father?"
George nodded, "Yeah, actually, I could".
"Are you fucking serious? I don't think you get it. Can we please have this talk when your girlfriend of 6 months gets pregnant with your child."
"If I'll ever get to love anyone as much as you love Hermione, and she was carrying my child – I'd pop some Cristal, brother."
George padded Fred on the shoulder again, and left him at the bar more confused than ever.
Fred couldn't get George's words out of his mind: They rang in his ears all night. Every time he looked at Hermione, he could see the fear in her eyes, and he too got afraid of what the future might bring. He constantly tried to capture her gaze; he wanted to tell her that everything was going to be all right, but she avoided him.
As Hermione exclaimed she would go to the restroom, Fred followed her with his eyes.
"Are you okay, mate? You've seemed a little distant all night," Lee said.
"I'm okay. I guess I'm just tired – it's been some hectic few weeks!" Fred forced a smile.
"So everything between you and Hermione is okay? She seems just as distant as you."
Fred assured Lee a thousand times that he was okay, but he knew he wasn't convincing for his mind was on Hermione who hadn't returned from the restroom yet; she had been in there for almost half an hour now.
"Excuse me, Lee. I'll just go check on Hermione."
The ladies' restroom was empty except for one door that was locked. He could hear sobbing from the stall.
"Love, are you okay in there?"
The lock turned from red to green and Fred stepped inside the stall, facing Hermione with tears streaming down her face.
"What happened?"
She flung her arms around his neck, crying harder than ever.
"We'll get through this, Love. I'm here, with you, forever."
"Fred I'm not pregnant…" She smiled at him, tears still streaming down her face.
"What?"
"It just happened, just now. I could feel it so I rushed out here. Oh, I'm so happy Fred," she gave him a big hug again.
"You scared me so much! You have no fucking idea how relieved I am!"
She smiled at him, trying to remove the mascara from her cheeks.
"Look at you," he smiled at her, "Love, do you want me to do anything for you?" Fred asked her.
She laughed a little; "could you please ask Ginny if she has a tampon?"
The rest of the night they partied hard! George and Verity made out in front of everyone and left the bar early. Ron and Harry sang karaoke, which sounded horrible, and Ginny and Lee talked about Dean Thomas, who was Lee's childhood friend.
Fred and Hermione laughed at the others and had a lot of shots to celebrate the fact that they weren't having a child. Especially Hermione bought most of the shots and drank most of them as well.
"I think I've had too much to drink, Fred. Can we please go home?" a very drunk Hermione said to Fred at 4 o'clock in the morning.
As they stepped outside Hermione exclaimed; "Let's just have sex right here in the snow!"
Fred laughed, "Love, it's August – there is no snow. Come on, let's get you home in bed."
It was a struggle to get Hermione straight home; she kept finding small alleys they could have sex in, but Fred declined time after time.
As they arrived at the flat, Fred could hear moaning and loud bumps against the wall from George's room. Him and Verity had left the bar 3 hours ago and Fred made a mental note to ask George about his stamina.
Hermione fell asleep right away but Fred could still feel the shock from earlier nagging him. She had been so relieved when she had found out that she wasn't pregnant after all, way too happy.
And know, as he came to think of it; it was her that had bought all the shots to celebrate! Fred had wanted to celebrate too, but not as much as her – he was happy that she wasn't pregnant but she had seemed ecstatic.
Was it because she didn't want to be with him for the rest of her life? Was she relieved because then she could cut off all contact to him when she wanted to? Had she already found somebody else?
Fred slept poorly that night. He couldn't get the image of Hermione with a tall, faceless stranger out of his head.